Comments on: Marvel Month-to-Month Sales January 2008

by: NickR77

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 02:16:00 +0000

I stopped buying Moon Knight because the art looked poor after Finch left the book, and now the Charlie Huston is off the book that just makes things worse. I was a fan of his hard-boiled novels, and nothing against the new writer, but I dont know his work.

by: Don Alsafi

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 20:01:35 +0000

It’s worth pointing out that INCREDIBLE HERCULES #113 wasn’t solicited as such; it was originally offered as INCREDIBLE HULK #113 (or INCREDIBLE XXXX #113?) and only announced the change later, after orders were in.

Which is to say, a lot retailers probably ordered what it IS based on what they THOUGHT it was … and I expect the numbers from #114 on, when they actually had the correct information, to plunge sharply.

A shame, as HERCULES is quite enjoyable.

by: jq

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:06:55 +0000

Yahooooooooo
Marvel is kickin DC ass bad !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

by: Corey

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 20:49:27 +0000

I know this is a chart for January comics, but I just wanted to mention that Terror, Inc.’s final issue was late but came out in February.

And that whole mini-series was excellent.

by: Alan Coil

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 15:51:23 +0000

“Bucky is Cap”

And how soon do we find out that Steve Rogers is really not buried at the bottom of the sea?

by: FD

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 08:03:41 +0000

Moon Knight is failing because David Finch left the book. I’m a big fan of Marc Spector, but the art has taken a huge drop, so sales should accurately reflect that.

by: kingdom2000

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 05:52:17 +0000

Ult. Spider-Man needs a new artist stat. The problem isn’t the writer or the story. Its an artist that is very clearly out of his depth and not able to reach the standards set by bagley in storytelling styles. All that needless linework, the teenagers and adults being identical, and most important = the complete inability to convey genuine and subtle emotion has made Immonen a complete failure. His history with the character shouldn’t give him any more slack then another artist would be allowed.

by: Ryan Higgins

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 20:27:07 +0000

I always wonder about the “these books do most of their business through other channels, so the direct market numbers aren’t especially meaningful” when it comes to the Marvel Adventure titles, and even Brian Hibbs mentions it in his 2007 Bookscan T@W column:

http://www.newsarama.com/Tilting2_0/Tilting49.html

“Much like last year, none of Marvel’s kid-oriented digests appear anywhere within the top 750, but thanks to having the Long Tail, I can tell you that the one that sells the best doesn’t even mange 2800 copies, with the vast majority of them selling under 1000 copies for the entire year (and most under 500 copies). Logically, these books have to be selling somewhere, otherwise they wouldn’t have such an aggressive publication schedule, but they don’t seem to be moving any significant number of copies in any retail source that can be tracked. Perhaps they’re selling to libraries or at school book fairs?”

by: Marc-Oliver Frisch

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 18:26:49 +0000

““Second printing” is meaningless as a metric.”

I tend to agree. All it means, really, is that retailers underestimated demand. Whether or not this is going to have a significant effect on sales in the case of THE TWELVE, we’re going to see a few months down the road - it’s quite possible that it will, but it’s not a given.

For now, I agree with Paul: 35k for a reasonably well-promoted in-continuity maxiseries written by Straczynski isn’t especially impressive.

by: Joseph

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 17:13:17 +0000

Lycaeon - addressing your examples: OMD led to 3x monthly Amazing, which is selling great; Red Hulk was the #1 comic for Jan; She-Hulk hasn’t exactly dropped the comedy, so I’m guessing you haven’t read David’s run yet, and the title wasn’t burning up the charts with Slott anyway; Cap remains a solid seller and critically acclaimed; and since Iron Man has a major movie coming out in May it’s easy to understand why he is presently at the forefront of the Marvel U.

So while the current Marvel direction isn’t working for you, your theory of “bad editorial decisions” is not supported by the sales charts.

by: Matt

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:18:32 +0000

Whats with the price complaints. I can go on amazon or buy.com or instocktrades.com or dcbservice or any other number of sites and buy big collected editions for 30-40 % off. There are many options for those of you who are hit by some phantom recession.

by: Lycaeon

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 04:14:05 +0000

I say it boils down to bad editorial decisions. OMD, Red Hulk, She Hulk dropping comedy, Bucky is Cap and Iron Man is king of Marvel?

I used to drop $30 a week on Marvel. Now I send it all to Dark Horse with Hellboy and Buffy. The economy has some to do with it. I think Marvel’s direction is the real problem here.

by: Samy Merchi

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 02:03:05 +0000

A book that sells two copies can go to a second printing, if the first printing was one copy.

“Second printing” is meaningless as a metric.

by: George W.

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 22:00:20 +0000

There is no recession! Everything is fine! Everyone go back to making you usual monthly comic purchases - I will be sending you all between $300 and $600 in the coming months to get you started!

by: ChaosMcKenzie

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 19:13:11 +0000

Uh… just wanted to say that I personally found the artwork in The Twelve to be amazing - Mr. Weston did an excellent job making them look like folks from the ’40s, and not modern Joes with ’40s stylings… I love the Jane Mansfield/Mae West-ness of the Black Widow… it’s a smashing job!

by: Somebody

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 18:54:13 +0000

*points out that Loners went to second printings on at least two and possibly three issues, despite never breaking the 20k barrier IIRC…*

by: The Beat

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 18:49:11 +0000

Chris, oddly enough, me and Future Mr. Beat were just talking about The Twelve this morning, as he had just read it and thought it was cracking. The merits of your artwork were also discussed at length.

So, Paul, you’re on notice!

by: Jason Green

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 18:43:36 +0000

There’s an interesting debate going on at the Image Comics board about whether or not accurate sales numbers should be made public. Thought some of you number minded folks might be interested…

http://www.imagecomics.com/messageboard/viewtopic.php?t=40261

by: Alan Coil

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 18:41:08 +0000

Chris Weston,

Don’t accuse Heidi. She didn’t write the article, Paul O’Brien did.

For a book that Marvel wants us to believe is “Watchmen done right”, I’d say that 35,000 is a disappointing number.

When a book goes to a second printing, it almost always means they didn’t print enough copies for the first printing. It has gotten to the point where Marvel almost always has a second printing, usually with a ******* zombie cover. I hate zombies.

by: Chris Weston

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 18:21:30 +0000

So, sales of the Twelve are “disappointing”, eh? Despite all three issues getting second printings.

Thanks, Heidi.