By Matthew Murray

Only two non Marvel/DC titles made the top 100 this month, as both companies put out a higher than usual number of comics. Buffy regained top spot as best selling non-big two comic, while Archie held up better than many people expected.

Further down the list I’ve included every indie comic from 100 to 150 on the charts, and a number of others lower down.

Thanks to icv2.com and Milton Griepp for permission to use these numbers, which can be found here.

31.

<strong>Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Dark Horse)</strong> 

09/2007: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #6 - 96,556
09/2008: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #18 - 77,589
=====
01/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #21 - 69,980 ()
02/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #22 - 67,575 (-3.4%)
03/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #23 - 64,108 (-5.1%)
04/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #24 - 60,916 (-5.0%)
05/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #25 - 58,740 (-3.6%)
06/2009: BTVS Tales of the Vampires one shot- 45,568 (-22.4)
07/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #26 - 55,393 (+21.6%)
08/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #27 - 53,403 (-3.6%)
09/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #28 - 52,303 (-2.1%)
				6 month (-18.4%)
				1 year (-32.6%)
				2 year (-45.8%)

Still dropping, but also still selling very well. It’s currently set to run until issue 40, before relaunching as Season 9.

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by Marc-Oliver Frisch

More “Blackest Night” and more Batman make September another good month for DC Comics’ periodical business. This year’s retelling of Superman’s origin doesn’t set the charts on fire, on the other hand, despite the big-ticket creative team of Geoff Johns and Gary Frank — maybe it’s time to retire the character. In other news, J. Michael Straczynski, who’s had some success recently writing the Hollywood film Changeling and Marvel’s Thor, was also meant to do something for DC in September, but I can’t seem to find it, so maybe … ah, hold it, there it is. My bad, I wasn’t scrolling fast enough.

Average DC sales remained relatively steady on balance, which for the publisher’s Vertigo and WildStorm imprints means that they sold around 10,000 units each of the comic books, give or take a few. (Vertigo: give a few; WildStorm: take a few.) Vertigo’s big periodical launch was Jeff Lemire’s post-ap-oddball-yptic Sweet Tooth, the latest new-series launch to retail for $ 1.00. At WildStorm’s comic-book department, the most noteworthy development is that they had four books below the 5K mark, two of which missed the Top 300 chart altogether. Reportedly, WildStorm’s made some lucrative wholesale deals with the video-game industry recently, to be fair, which would explain the continued existence of at least some of its titles.

See below for the analysis, and please consider the small print at the end of the column. Thanks to Milton Griepp and ICv2.com for the permission to use their figures. An overview of ICv2.com’s estimates can be found here.

—–

1 - BLACKEST NIGHT
07/2009: Blackest Night #1 of 8  — 177,105          [196,066]
08/2009: Blackest Night #2 of 8  — 146,092 (-17.5%) [155,512]
09/2009: Blackest Night #3 of 8  — 140,786 (- 3.6%)

Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis’ Blackest Night remains the best-selling comic in the North American direct market by about 30,000 units; the number-two book, Marvel’s Reborn #3, sold an estimated 108,331 units.

Blackest Night is levelling off very quickly for a high-profile miniseries, while reorders for previous issues also remain strong: Blackest Night #1 sold another 10,996 units in September, issue #2 another 9,420 and July’s Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps #2 also made the chart again, with an additional 4,098 copies — and there were more, see below.

As usual, I should point out that the book’s numbers — and especially the smooth drop-off — probably have a lot to do with the available variant-cover editions. For Blackest Night #1, there was a 1-for-250 edition, which means retailers needed to order 250 copies of the regular edition for every copy of the variant edition; for issue #2, there was a 1-for-200 edition; starting with #3, there are 1-for-100 editions for all remaining issues — also, all issues of Blackest Night are promoted with additional 1-for-25 variant-cover editions.

Still, even taking into account that there’s likely some distortion going on at the retail level thanks to the gimmick incentives, Blackest Night keeps performing very, very well.
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By Paul O’Brien

It’s an unusually hectic month on Marvel’s release schedule. Aside from the usual raft of Dark Reign tie-ins, major releases include the OLD MAN LOGAN one-shot, the second month of the relaunched Ultimate imprint, the DARK AVENGERS/UNCANNY X-MEN crossover “Utopia”, the LIST one-shots, and relaunches of SPIDER-WOMAN and MOON KNIGHT.

As usual, Marvel had the biggest share of the North American direct market. They beat DC by 41% to 30% in dollar terms, and 48% to 33% in units.

Thanks as always to Milton Griepp and ICV2 for permission to use their figures for these calculations.

2.  CAPTAIN AMERICA: REBORN
09/04  Captain America #31  -  37,128
09/05  Captain America #10  -  52,609
09/06  Captain America #22  -  82,230
09/07  Captain America #30  -  79,554
=====
09/08  Captain America #42  -  75,574  ( -11.1%)
10/08  Captain America #43  -  72,405  (  -4.2%)
11/08  Captain America #44  -  75,493  (  +4.3%)
12/08  Captain America #45  -  71,186  (  -5.7%)
01/09  Captain America #46  -  73,184  (  +2.8%)
02/09  Captain America #47  -  62,850  ( -14.1%)
03/09  Captain America #48  -  62,108  (  -1.2%)
04/09  Captain America #49  -  63,874  (  +2.8%)
05/09  Captain America #50  -  72,708  ( +13.8%)
06/09  Captain America #600 - 123,152  ( +69.4%)
07/09  Captain America #601 -  87,844  ( -28.7%)
07/09  Reborn #1 of 5       - 197,565  (+124.9%)
08/09  Reborn #2 of 5       - 125,366  ( -36.5%)
09/09  Reborn #3 of 5       - 108,331  ( -13.6%)
                               6 mnth  ( +74.4%)
                               1 year  ( +43.3%)
                               2 year  ( +36.2%)
                               3 year  ( +31.7%)
                               4 year  (+105.9%)
                               5 year  (+191.8%)

This one comes with two variant covers, with 1:10 and 1:25 incentives. Since issue #2 had three 1:25 variants, the drop’s actually quite modest. Meanwhile, issue #1 picks up estimate reorders of 4,423, which is enough to scrape the bottom of the chart at number 289.

When you bear in mind that REBORN is effectively a CAPTAIN AMERICA story arc, these are great numbers. The “death of Steve Rogers” storyline has been boosting sales for years now already, but this has sent them even further skyward. If you judge this as CAPTAIN AMERICA #604 - which it could easily have been - the numbers are clearly stellar.
(more…)

Diamond has released their Top Ten list, covering direct market sales for October, and Blackest Night spells Biggest Sales for DC, as they have the top six comics for the month. Marvel remains the top publisher, and OLD MAN WOLVERINE was the top graphic novel. Perhaps the biggest surprise for us — the strong showing for Dark Horse’s NOIR, coming in at #5 on the GN list, with very little fanfare. Complete charts below the cut:

(more…)

By Matthew Murray

[EDITOR’S NOTE: We’re giving an indie sales chart a whirl once again. Please let us know what you think!]

August was the best month for Archie for a long, long time in the direct market, with the first issue of the “Archie gets married” story line being the best selling non-Marvel/DC title in the direct market.

For other comics, Chew’s sales continue climbing very rapidly, while there seems to be an oddity relating to Tyrone Gibson’s Mayhem.

I’m listing all the non Marvel/DC titles in the top 100 (all seven of them) and a number of other titles, which are well known or “important”. Let me know if there’re any titles you’d like to see included next month.

Thanks to icv2.com and Milton Griepp for permission to use these numbers, which can be found at here.

 35 Archie (Archie)

08/2005: Archie #559 - 2,888
08/2006: Archie #568 - 2,697
08/2007: -
08/2008: Archie #588 - 2,818
=====
01/2009: Archie #593 – 2,318
02/2009: -
03/2009: Archie #595 - 2,484
04/2009: -
05/2009: Archie #597 - 2,563
06/2009: -
07/2009: -
08/2009: Archie #600 - 54,170
				6 month (n.a.)
				1 year (+1822.2%)
				2 year (n.a.)
				3 year (+1908.5%)
				4 year (+1775.7%)

The “Archie gets married” story begins. Percentagewise this must be one of the biggest increases any comic has ever received. As you can see, Archie (the best selling of the Archie universe* comics through the direct market) usually sells somewhere in the mid 2000s, and is generally pretty stable. The blanks are for months when its sales do not reach the minimum needed for the top 300.

I know the Archie digests are primarily sold through supermarkets and the like, but I’m not sure if/how well the full size comics do through those markets. Or if this particular issue would have been ordered more heavily there. It’ll be interesting to see how well these orders hold up for the rest of the storyline, and if any of the readership will stick around after that.

*By comparison, Archie’s best selling comic in the direct market is usually Sonic the Hedgehog, with this month’s issue (#203) selling 8,166 copies.
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by Marc-Oliver Frisch

August was another fairly strong month for DC Comics’ periodical output, mainly thanks to the continued success of the Green Lantern and Batman franchises. With Blackest Night #2, Batman and Robin #3, Green Lantern #45 and Blackest Night: Batman #1, the publisher again managed to place four of its DC Universe titles in the Top 10. DC’s mainstream superhero line also saw superstar writer J. Michael Straczynski’s arrival with the four-part event Red Circle, the start of Geoff Johns’ Superboy/Legion of Super-Heroes revamp in Adventure Comics #1 and the company’s latest attempt at a Doom Patrol series.

Vertigo’s average periodical sales remained down in their usual orbit around 11,000 units in August, which isn’t surprising, given the lack of new launches or other special events. Instead, the imprint’s focus was on the debut of the Vertigo Crime line of comics novels. The two inaugural releases were off to a decent start and both made the Top 10 of Diamond’s Graphic Novels chart: Brian Azzarello and Victor Santos’ Filthy Rich claimed the No. 5 spot, selling an estimated 5,371. Ian Rankin and Werther Dell’Edera’s Dark Entries charted at No. 8, with 4,330 units.

For WildStorm, August was another nail in the coffin. The imprint’s average periodical sales crashed to 7,977 units, the second-lowest level in the imprint’s history. Red Herring, a new creator-owned limited series by David Tischman and Philip Bond, debuted with estimated sales below 6,000 units.

See below for the analysis, and please consider the small print at the end of the column. Thanks to Milton Griepp and ICv2.com for the permission to use their figures. An overview of ICv2.com’s estimates can be found here.

—–

1 - BLACKEST NIGHT
07/2009: Blackest Night #1 of 8  — 177,105          [185,070]
08/2009: Blackest Night #2 of 8  — 146,092 (-17.5%)

DC’s big-event series of the year grabs the top spot on the August chart, with a solid distance of 20,000 units to Marvel’s Captain America: Reborn #2. Not bad for what’s essentially a Green Lantern spin-off.

This is a smooth second-issue drop-off for a book selling above 150K, certainly, but once again, the observation comes with a disclaimer. As you recall, sales of Blackest Night #1 were boosted through a 1-for-250 variant-cover edition, which required retailers to order 250 copies of the regular comic for every variant edition.

Unlike Batman and Robin #2, however, Blackest Night #2 was promoted through a 1-for-200 variant edition, and there will be 1-for-100 editions for subsequent issues (all in addition to the usual 1-for-25 variants, of course). So, while the real drop-off is probably somewhat less pronounced than it was for Batman and Robin, bear in mind that sales of Blackest Night #2 are still more distorted by gimmicks than those of Batman and Robin #2 were, back in July.

None of which is to say that Blackest Night is not a great success, of course. The first issue sold another 7,965 units in August, and there are reorders for various crossover books, as well. All three issues of July’s biweekly miniseries Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps appeared on the chart again in August, selling between 4,000 and 5,000 units; Green Lantern #43 and #44 posted reorders of 3,577 and 4,536, respectively.

That’s a fairly reliable sign that Blackest Night and its tie-ins aren’t just clogging up store shelves.
(more…)

by Paul O’Brien

Marvel’s big project for August was the relaunch of the Ultimate imprint, with the first issues of the unwieldily titled ULTIMATE COMICS AVENGERS and ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN both reaching stores. There’s also the first issue of the MARVELS PROJECT miniseries, and the “Utopia” crossover between UNCANNY X-MEN and DARK AVENGERS. Plus, the familiar army of Dark Reign titles.

As usual, Marvel had the largest share of the North American direct market, beating DC by 44% to 36% in unit share, and a rather closer 40% to 33% in dollars.

Thanks as always to ICv2.com and Milton Griepp for allowing us to use these figures.

2.  CAPTAIN AMERICA: REBORN
08/04  Captain America #30  -  38,464
08/05  Captain America #8   -  51,842
08/06  —
08/07  Captain America #29  -  83,781
=====
08/08  Captain America #41  -  85,035  (  +7.2%)
09/08  Captain America #42  -  75,574  ( -11.1%)
10/08  Captain America #43  -  72,405  (  -4.2%)
11/08  Captain America #44  -  75,493  (  +4.3%)
12/08  Captain America #45  -  71,186  (  -5.7%)
01/09  Captain America #46  -  73,184  (  +2.8%)
02/09  Captain America #47  -  62,850  ( -14.1%)
03/09  Captain America #48  -  62,108  (  -1.2%)
04/09  Captain America #49  -  63,874  (  +2.8%)
05/09  Captain America #50  -  72,708  ( +13.8%)
06/09  Captain America #600 - 123,152  ( +69.4%)
07/09  Captain America #601 -  87,844  ( -28.7%)
07/09  Reborn #1 of 5       - 193,142  (+119.9%)
08/09  Reborn #2 of 5       - 125,366  ( -35.1%)
                               6 mnth  ( +99.5%)
                               1 year  ( +47.4%)
                               2 year  ( +49.6%)
                               3 year  (   — )
                               4 year  (+141.8%)
                               5 year  (+225.9%)

That’s pretty good. REBORN was always going to see a big second issue drop after the huge sales of its first issue. But even after that drop, it still outsells CAPTAIN AMERICA #600, and it’s miles ahead of the book’s usual sales. When you bear in mind that this issue is effectively CAPTAIN AMERICA #603, these are really excellent numbers. There are four covers on this issue, including three 1:25 variants, but that doesn’t really detract from the numbers.
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by Marc-Oliver Frisch

July brought the expected boost for DC Comics’ periodical business. Largely thanks to Geoff Johns’ Blackest Night series and its various spin-off and tie-in books, the average DC Comics and DC Universe periodical sales increased significantly, to their highest levels in almost two years. The weekly Wednesday Comics, DC’s other big launch in July, debuted with much more modest figures: Wednesday Comics #1 charted at No. 36, with estimated sales well below 50,000 units.

Average periodical sales of the Vertigo and WildStorm imprints remained at their usual levels, with just above 11,000 and 8,000 units, respectively, and no trend reversals in sight. Notably, Vertigo published another $ 1.00 loss-leader with Greek Street #1, but failed to match the sales of its predecessor, The Unwritten #1. At WildStorm, Free Realms debuted, but the first issue of a twelve-part series based on a role-playing game missed the chart altogether, evidently.

See below for the analysis, and please consider the small print at the end of the column. Thanks to Milton Griepp and ICv2.com for the permission to use their figures. An overview of ICv2.com’s estimates can be found here.

—–

2 - BLACKEST NIGHT
07/2009: Blackest Night #1 of 8  — 177,105

At this stage, given the encouraging sales of both Green Lantern series over the last year, it doesn’t come as a great surprise that Blackest Night is a sales juggernaut. The book beats June’s Batman and Robin #1 by about 8,500 units and is only 16,000 units behind July’s top book, Marvel’s Reborn #1, which was massively hyped.

Like Batman and Robin #1, Blackest Night #1 was promoted not just with the usual 1-for-25 variant-cover edition, but also with a more limited 1-for-250 cover edition. (For the uninitiated, this means that retailers had to order 250 copies of the regular comic to be able to order one limited edition.) This could mean that the figure we see is massively inflated, which would result in a large second-issue drop, but it doesn’t seem like this happened with Batman and Robin #2 — see below.

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by Paul O’Brien

There’s a lot to talk about this month, as Marvel’s publishing schedule steps up a gear. July saw the launch of the much-hyped REBORN miniseries, the 600th issues of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN and INCREDIBLE HULK, the climax of ULTIMATUM, a crossover between DARK AVENGERS and UNCANNY X-MEN, and a second ongoing DEADPOOL title… plus the ongoing Dark Reign event and a bunch of other minis.

You won’t be surprised to hear that, once again, Marvel had the largest share of the North American direct market. This month, they beat DC by 43% to 34% in unit share, and 37% to 30% in dollars.

Thanks as always to ICV2.com for permission to use these figures.

1,9. CAPTAIN AMERICA
07/04  Captain America #29  -  40,221
07/05  —
07/06  Captain America #20  -  47,357
07/07  Captain America #28  -  89,721
=====
07/08  Captain America #40  -  79,317  (  -0.0%)
08/08  Captain America #41  -  85,035  (  +7.2%)
09/08  Captain America #42  -  75,574  ( -11.1%)
10/08  Captain America #43  -  72,405  (  -4.2%)
11/08  Captain America #44  -  75,493  (  +4.3%)
12/08  Captain America #45  -  71,186  (  -5.7%)
01/09  Captain America #46  -  73,184  (  +2.8%)
02/09  Captain America #47  -  62,850  ( -14.1%)
03/09  Captain America #48  -  62,108  (  -1.2%)
04/09  Captain America #49  -  63,874  (  +2.8%)
05/09  Captain America #50  -  72,708  ( +13.8%)
06/09  Captain America #600 - 123,152  ( +69.4%)
07/09  Captain America #601 -  87,844  ( -28.7%)
07/09  Reborn #1 of 5       - 193,142  (+119.9%)
                               6 mnth  (+163.9%)
                               1 year  (+143.5%)
                               2 year  (+115.3%)
                               3 year  (+307.8%)
                               4 year  (   — )
                               5 year  (+380.2%)

Two issues this month. CAPTAIN AMERICA #601 is something of a red herring - it’s essentially a fill-in story with art by Gene Colan, set during World War II. Of course, it also meant that there was an issue of CAPTAIN AMERICA in the July solicitations, which initially tried to create some mystery about what REBORN was.

As it turns out, REBORN is indeed the long-expected return of Steve Rogers, and the regular CAPTAIN AMERICA title will go on hiatus for the duration of the five-issue miniseries before returning with issue #602 later in the year. That effectively makes REBORN issues #601A-601E, and so I’m counting them as part of the regular title.

REBORN was always going to be a big seller, particularly given Marvel’s promise of mainstream media coverage. It wasn’t guaranteed to top the charts, though, because July also saw the release of BLACKEST NIGHT #1, DC’s latest crossover. As it turns out, they’re fairly close. REBORN was about 16,000 ahead. Intriguingly, though, Diamond’s chart lists BLACKEST NIGHT at number 1 in the dollar rankings - despite both books costing the same. I can only assume that this is because the extra sales generated by incentive variants (order ten, get one free) count for the unit sales, but not the dollar chart. Anyhow, it suggests that the two projects were closer together than the sales figures might first suggest.

Issue #601 has three covers; REBORN #1 has five (six, if you count a Dynamic Forces version), including 1:25 and 1:75 variants. Oh, and issue #600 also picks up a further 10,865 in sales. As usual, they’re added in above.

(more…)

Comics sales bounced back behind a five-week month, behind dark/black nights, reigns and, possibly, coffee, ICv2 reports:

Shades of black predominated in the top comic titles in July 2009, as three story arcs with noirish titles accounted for 14 of the top 25 comics, according to the rankings release today by Diamond Comic Distributors. DC’s Blackest Night was the strongest, with seven of the top 25 titles, but Marvel’s Dark Reign (3) and Dark Avengers/X-Men Utopia (4) storylines together accounted for another seven of the top 25.

MORE: July dollar trends
Top 300 Comics Actual–July 2009
Top 300 Graphic Novels Actual–July 2009

ALSO: John Jackson Miller stands at the ready, as ever.

by Marc-Oliver Frisch

Thanks to strong debut numbers of the revamped Batman line and the perpetually solid Green Lantern franchise, June brought the expected recovery for DC Comics’ periodical sales. Led by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s Batman and Robin, which claimed the top spot in the Top 300 chart, the publisher managed to place four titles in the top ten, while average periodical sales remained well within the usual spectrum of the last few years. June also saw the debut of back-up strips and a higher cover price for several DC Universe series, but without any significant impact on sales.

Over at Vertigo and WildStorm, June was business as usual. Despite “The Great Fables Crossover,” average Vertigo sales remained just above 11K. At WildStorm, the six-part horror-property crossover Freddy Vs. Jason Vs. Ash: Nightmare Warriors debuted with surprisingly good numbers, but the imprint’s average figures were still stuck below the 9,000 mark.

See below for the analysis, and please consider the small print at the end of the column. Thanks to Milton Griepp and ICv2.com for the permission to use their figures. An overview of ICv2.com’s estimates can be found here.

—–

1 - BATMAN AND ROBIN
06/2009: Batman and Robin #1  — 168,604

As expected, Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s new Batman flagship is the best-selling DC series in June, also outselling everything else on the chart by a wide margin. Marvel’s highly promoted Captain America #600, which came in second, sold an estimated 112,287 units, for instance.

On the surface, 170K looks like a great number, certainly. There have been comics that shifted more units in recent years, but those were all Marvel books and part of special events (such as the “Obama issue” of The Amazing Spider-Man, or Civil War). Looking for either a new ongoing-series launch or a DC book that sold in equal or better numbers, one has to go back almost three years, to the release of Justice League of America #1, which moved an estimated 212,581 copies in August 2006.

In this context, Batman and Robin #1 looks like one of the greatest successes in the periodical comics market in quite some time.

On the other hand, there’s a wildcard involved in its numbers, because the book was promoted with two variant-cover schemes. The first involves a 1-for-25 edition, which, though it’s probably boosted sales quite a bit, has been relatively common for a while. The second, though, is a 1-for-250 edition; this means, in other words, that retailers who wanted to get one of those editions had to buy 250 non-returnable copies of Batman and Robin #1. The prospect was received controversially among retailers, not surprisingly.

Right now, we don’t know how many retailers swallowed the pill and upped their orders to get those particular variant editions. But considering that the scheme only applies to issue #1, I suspect we might get a reasonably good idea of that next month, when the figures for issue #2 are released. If sales are insanely inflated due to the variant, it will show on the chart.

So, for now: a great-looking number, but take it with a pinch of salt.
(more…)

By Paul O’Brien

After a quiet May, things pick up a bit this month. The big event of the month, of course, was CAPTAIN AMERICA #600. Meanwhile, Dark Reign continued to sprawl over the rest of the Marvel Universe. The more notable tie-ins include WOLVERINE’s relaunch as DARK WOLVERINE, and the start of a crossover between UNCANNY X-MEN and DARK AVENGERS.

It’s a quiet month for new titles, though, with only one new book - the fortnightly X-MEN FOREVER.

Once again, Marvel had the largest share of the North American direct market by a comfortable margin. They beat DC by 51% to 29% in units, and 45% to 27% in dollars.

Thanks as always to ICV2.com for permission to use these figures.

2.  CAPTAIN AMERICA
06/04  Captain America #27  -  36,212
06/05  Captain America #7   -  47,160
06/06  Captain America #19  -  47,315
06/07  Captain America #27  -  99,108
=====
06/08  Captain America #39  -  79,387  (  +0.0%)
07/08  Captain America #40  -  79,317  (  -0.0%)
08/08  Captain America #41  -  85,035  (  +7.2%)
09/08  Captain America #42  -  75,574  ( -11.1%)
10/08  Captain America #43  -  72,405  (  -4.2%)
11/08  Captain America #44  -  75,493  (  +4.3%)
12/08  Captain America #45  -  71,186  (  -5.7%)
01/09  Captain America #46  -  73,184  (  +2.8%)
02/09  Captain America #47  -  62,850  ( -14.1%)
03/09  Captain America #48  -  62,108  (  -1.2%)
04/09  Captain America #49  -  63,874  (  +2.8%)
05/09  Captain America #50  -  72,708  ( +13.8%)
06/09  Captain America #600 - 112,287  ( +54.4%)
                               6 mnth  ( +57.7%)
                               1 year  ( +41.4%)
                               2 year  ( +13.3%)
                               3 year  (+137.3%)
                               4 year  (+138.1%)
                               5 year  (+210.1%)

Ah, comics. Where else would you find consecutive issues numbered #50 and #600? (When Marvel use a number, it means just what they choose it to mean, neither more nor less.)

Anyway, this was plainly Marvel’s biggest release of the month, promoted heavily (if elliptically) as a book that retailers really might want to consider ordering in very large quantities indeed. Marvel even offered to ship the book early, to tie in with expected media coverage.

Evidently, a lot of retailers took the bait. However, the media coverage turned out to be more concerned with the upcoming REBORN series. Now, it’s worth bearing in mind that the Diamond chart only deals with sales to retailers - it doesn’t tell us how many copies were sold on to customers. With an established title, the retailers should be able to make a fairly educated guess; with a book like this, the room for error is a lot higher.

A second printing of issue #50 adds another 5,780 to its sales; as usual, they’re added to the number above.
(more…)

by Marc-Oliver Frisch

Overall direct-market sales crashed in May, and DC Comics contributed its share. Like Marvel, though, DC has a pretty good excuse. While Batman: Battle for the Cowl and The Flash: Rebirth continued apace, May was basically an in-between month for the publisher. There were no big launches, and everybody kept waiting for June’s revamp of the Batman line and July’s debuts of both Blackest Night and Wednesday Comics, which can all be expected to be sales juggernauts. So, with all that in mind, there’s no reason to panic just yet. If anything, there are some signs that things might actually be looking up for DC in the second half of the year.

At Vertigo, average periodical sales received a much-needed shot in the arm in May and rose to their highest level in more than two years. The two main reasons for the boost were “The Great Fables Crossover” and the debut of Mike Carey and Peter Gross’ new series The Unwritten. At a cover price of one dollar, of course, The Unwritten #1 was two thirds a promotional item and is unlikely to have made Vertigo any money as a single issue. Still, it sounds like a perfectly reasonable idea to market a new comic. It should be interesting to watch the effects.

Diamond’s “Graphic Novel” chart, meanwhile, was topped by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen — Century: 1910, the latest chapter of another best-selling property that DC’s WildStorm imprint no longer publishes. May should have been a good month for WildStorm: With a new StarCraft series, one of their more promising licensed properties debuted; and both of the imprint’s long-running creator-owned titles, Astro City and Ex Machina, came out. In practice, though, WildStorm’s average periodical sales once again failed to escape their limbo significantly below the 10,000-unit mark.

See below for the analysis, and please consider the small print at the end of the column. Thanks to Milton Griepp and ICv2.com for the permission to use their figures. An overview of ICv2.com’s estimates can be found here.

—–

2 - BATMAN: BATTLE FOR THE COWL
05/2004: Batman #627 —  76,885
05/2004: Batman #628 —  74,348 [75,832]
05/2005: Batman #640 —  66,640 [71,120]
05/2006: Batman #653 —  77,257 [78,435]
05/2007: Batman #665 —  80,122
——————————-
05/2008: Batman #676 — 105,039 (+47.9%) [122,877]
05/2008: Batman #677 —  96,116 (- 8.5%) [111,065]
06/2008: –
07/2008: Batman #678 — 103,213 (+ 7.4%)
08/2008: Batman #679 — 103,588 (+ 0.4%)
09/2008: –
10/2008: Batman #680 — 103,941 (+ 0.3%)
11/2008: Batman #681 — 103,151 (- 0.8%) [114,657]
12/2008: Batman #682 —  93,469 (- 9.4%)
12/2008: Batman #683 —  90,272 (- 3.4%) [ 91,885]
12/2008: Batman #684 —  79,953 (-11.4%) [ 82,903]
01/2009: Batman #685 —  72,654 (- 9.1%)
02/2009: Batman #686 — 111,353 (+53.3%) [124,542]
03/2009: BfC #1 of 3 —  91,619 (-17.7%) [103,913]
04/2009: BfC #2 of 3 —  89,120 (- 2.7%)
05/2009: BfC #3 of 3 —  89,170 (+ 0.1%)
—————-
6 months: -13.6%
1 year  : -11.3%
2 years : +11.3%
5 years : +17.9%

The book has done very well for DC, obviously, especially so if you consider that Tony Daniel didn’t really have any track record of critical or commercial success as a writer. Evidently, the market didn’t care, and there’s barely been any drop-off at all for The Battle for the Cowl.

Perhaps more significantly, these figures suggest that there’s a great deal of interest in the Batman franchise right now, so maybe “Batman R.I.P.” was on to something, after all. These figures — and those of the various spin-off books — are nothing but good news for June’s relaunch of the Batman line.

There was a 1-for-10 variant-cover edition, as always, while a second printing of issue #1 sold another 8,133 units in May.

(more…)

by Paul O’Brien

It’s an uneventful month, in every sense of the word. By ICV2’s estimates, sales were down a massive 19% compared with the previous year. But then, that’s hardly surprising. May 2008 saw the release of FINAL CRISIS #1, SECRET INVASION #2, INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #1, GIANT-SIZE ASTONISHING X-MEN #1 and two issues of the “Batman R.I.P.” storyline. There was a lot out.

By comparison, there wasn’t much going on in May 2009, either at Marvel or DC. Yes, there are the Dark Reign tie-ins, and yes, there’s a crossover going on in the third-tier X-books. But the biggest new launch of the month was NEW MUTANTS, at the bottom end of the top 20.

So it’s not really a case of would-be events failing to deliver; it’s more that the would-be events don’t exist in the first place. Well, there’s ULTIMATUM, but that didn’t come out in May. And there’s “Dark Reign”, but that’s more comparable to the “Initiative” books that came out after CIVIL WAR - though admittedly, they had a more visible effect on sales.

As usual, Marvel had the biggest share of the North American direct market. In dollar share, they had 45% to DC’s 30%; in units, it’s 39% to 26%.

Thanks as always to ICV2.com for permission to use these figures.

1.  NEW AVENGERS
05/04  New Avengers #82 -  55,711
05/05  —
05/06  New Avengers #19 - 123,318
05/07  New Avengers #30 - 126,425
=====
05/08  New Avengers #41 - 109,185  ( -6.8%)
06/08  New Avengers #42 - 108,495  ( -0.6%)
07/08  New Avengers #43 - 108,751  ( +0.2%)
08/08  New Avengers #44 - 106,385  ( -2.2%)
09/08  New Avengers #45 - 103,326  ( -2.9%)
10/08  New Avengers #46 -  99,513  ( -3.7%)
11/08  —
12/08  New Avengers #47 -  95,703  ( -3.8%)
12/08  New Avengers #48 -  95,688  ( -0.0%)
01/09  New Avengers #49 -  94,291  ( -1.5%)
02/09  New Avengers #50 - 106,831  (+13.3%)
03/09  New Avengers #51 -  95,340  (-10.8%)
04/09  New Avengers #52 -  93,975  ( -1.4%)
05/09  New Avengers #53 -  94,367  ( +0.4%)
6 mnth  (  — )
1 year  (-13.6%)
2 year  (-25.4%)
3 year  (-23.5%)
4 year  (  — )
5 year  (+69.4%)

NEW AVENGERS was number 5 in April, behind DETECTIVE COMICS #853, FLASH: REBIRTH #1, WOLVERINE: WEAPON X #1 and DARK AVENGERS #4. This month, without significantly increasing its sales, it’s back at number one - more due to the absence of big releases than anything else. As you’d expect, WEAPON X drops off with the second issue; DARK AVENGERS didn’t come out at all (though chances are it would have sold in similar quantities).

This is a Dark Reign crossover issue, and as usual, there’s a variant cover. Leave aside the spike for issue #50, and sales have been extreme steady.

(more…)

OUCH. After staying ahead of the pace in the floundering retail economy, the comics “fantasy economy” crashed hard in May, ICv2 reports. It isn’t pretty.

After rebounding in April, comic sales dropped a staggering 19% in May versus May 2008, while graphic novel sales declined by 13%, leading to an overall drop-off for the month of 18%. A lack of potent #1 issues as well as the absence of Dark Avengers certainly didn’t help comic sales this May, a month in which no single title even came close to breaking the 100K barrier. In contrast in May of 2008, which boasted seven titles over 100,000, comic sales were boosted by Final Crisis #1, Avengers/Invaders #1, Invincible Iron Man #1, and Giant Size Astonishing X-Men #1, all of which made the top ten along with 4 Secret Invasion titles and two issues of Batman RIP. The paucity of big event titles and strong #1s, the continuing deep recession, and the financial drag of higher cover prices all worked together to help produce the steep decline in comic numbers in May.

More:
Periodical and GN sales analysis
Top 300 Comics Actual–May 2009
Top 300 Graphic Novels Actual–May 2009

John Jackson Miller has his own analysis at Comichron:

The top of the chart, again, was the main factor. Diamond’s Top 50 were off 28%, or 1 million copies, from last May, and that’s the lion’s share of the shortfall. Last May had Secret Invasion #2, Final Crisis #1, and three other #1s in the Top 6. Meanwhile, the highest ranking premiere this May was in 20th place, New Mutants #1. This month’s top-seller at Diamond, New Avengers #53, only sold around half the issues of last year’s top-seller.

Too many stunts? Not enough stunts? Not enough regular periodical sales? Too many webcomics? Everyone will trot out their favorite theory, no doubt.

There are more #1s in June, so hopefully, the market will rebound. This kind of drop makes the “Doomsday Scenario” look not quite so farfetched.

John Jackson Miller, author and master number collater, alerts us to the fact that  Diamond’s May 2009 comics sales charts have been released, and contain a new “Top 50 Small Press” chart.

The new element this time out is that Diamond, which began releasing a Top 50 Independents list at the end of last year, added a Top 50 Small Publishers list this time out. (Or “Small Press” — I’m not sure what they’re calling it.) The Top 50 Indies list, in practice, just wound up reiterating items in the existing Top 300, since once you remove Marvel, DC, Image, and Dark Horse, you almost always still have 50 books left. Only one time did the 301st place item materialize in the Top 50 Indies list.

The Top 50 Small Publishers list has a few of the same items on that Top 50 Indies list — MOUSE GUARD from Archaia, SONIC from Archie — but it extends downward to capture 15 more items not in the Top 300 list, finishing with CASTLE WAITING Vol. 2, #15 from Fantagraphics at 334th place. It’s not clear what qualifies a publisher for the Small Publishers list (especially as some also make the Indies list); my guess is that they’re all publishers with dollar market shares below one percent, or something similar. I have a query in with the distributor.

Jackson has more in the link, including the main charts and some analysis, so you number junkies might want to check it out to get your weekend discussion group primed and ready to go.

This is as good a place as any to bring up the “Indie Sales Chart” that a lot of people have been asking about. Steve Horton, author of several books, comics and games, did the chart once as a test, and of course, it would be a very popular feature here, but I was concerned that indie publishers would be upset by it. It’s no secret that a pretty strong faction of folks associated with the Big Two think that the Marvel and DC Sales Charts are gradually killing periodical sales, and although I’ve never heard anyone on the retail end back up this theory, I do take it seriously enough that I wanted to make sure that running an Indie Sales Chart wasn’t going to strangle a bunch of titles in their crib.

In the end, publishers I spoke with were ambivalent about a potential chart. None of them jumped for joy at the idea, but no one thought it was the sure hoof beat of the Apocalypse, either. I felt the charts would be useful — transparency is generally a good thing, and I thought it might point out some interesting trends.

However, for now, this chart is on hold. Steve is just too busy with his freelance career for this to work out for him right now. So, we imagine a lot of creators are breathing a sigh of relief right now. As for ongoing indie sales analysis, The Mayo Report over at CBR does look at the entire top 300, and is a great addition to what Paul and Marc-Oliver do here.

So, that’s the latest on charts and what not. Back to our nap. Have a great weekend!

[This really got delayed due to MoCCA madness. Many apologies to Marc-Oliver and faithful readers.]

by Marc-Oliver Frisch

After a terrifying March performance, DC Comics’ periodical sales in the direct market rebounded in April. The second part of Neil Gaiman’s “Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?” and the debut of Geoff Johns’ The Flash: Rebirth claimed the two top spots for DC, for starters, which is something that hasn’t happened in a while. Also, with The Battle for the Cowl, the soaring Green Lantern franchise and “The Great Fables Crossover,” there were a number of other strong projects from the company, all contributing to an improved overall performance.

Mainly, though, DC’s recovering average sales were due to more new comic-book releases from its main DC Universe line, which accounts for the bulk of the publisher’s periodical sales. After producing only 36 new comics in March, Executive Editor Dan DiDio’s office ramped up its output to a more conventional 49 releases in April.

Whereas the average periodical sales of DC Comics overall and the DC Universe line in particular showed signs of recovery, however, the Vertigo and WildStorm imprints remained largely unaffected by the upturn. At Vertigo, the second act of Grant Morrison’s Seaguy saga proved to be a commercial non-starter, while three of WildStorm’s series, once again, failed to make the chart.

See below for the analysis, and please consider the small print at the end of the column. Thanks to Milton Griepp and ICv2.com for the permission to use their figures. An overview of ICv2.com’s estimates can be found here.

—–

<strong>1 - DETECTIVE COMICS</strong>
04/2004: Detective Comics #793 --  34,800
04/2005: Detective Comics #805 --  39,077
04/2006: Detective Comics #818 --  60,440 [68,189]
04/2007: Detective Comics #831 --  56,284
-----------------------------------------
04/2008: Detective Comics #843 --  48,431 (- 2.0%)
05/2008: Detective Comics #844 --  48,394 (- 0.1%)
06/2008: Detective Comics #845 --  48,920 (+ 1.2%)
07/2008: Detective Comics #846 --  72,417 (+48.0%)
08/2008: Detective Comics #847 --  71,134 (- 1.8%)
09/2008: Detective Comics #848 --  68,306 (- 4.0%)
10/2008: Detective Comics #849 --  65,878 (- 3.6%)
11/2008: Detective Comics #850 --  64,196 (- 2.6%)
12/2008: Detective Comics #851 --  64,961 (+ 1.2%)
01/2009: Detective Comics #852 --  56,656 (-12.8%)
02/2009: --
03/2009: --
04/2009: Detective Comics #853 -- 104,107 (+83.8%)
-----------------
6 months: + 58.0%
1 year  : +115.0%
2 years : + 85.0%
5 years : +199.2%

There was a 1-for-50 variant-cover edition of Detective Comics #853 that likely boosted sales to no small degree.

That said, Neil Gaiman and Andy Kubert’s two-parter “Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?” probably wouldn’t have needed the help to be called a big whopping success.

The first chapter of the story, published in Batman #686 in February (see below), sold another respectable 8,056 units in April, bringing the total to 124,542.

Evidently, retailers’ faith in the material was justified.

(more…)

By Paul O’Brien

It’s Wolverine month at Marvel! To tie in with the film, we have a new ongoing Wolverine title, and a whole bunch of Wolverine variant covers. Elsewhere, the Dark Reign books continue, MARVEL ZOMBIES and DARK TOWER are back with new miniseries, and there’s the first issue of FANTASTIC FORCE, the abortive Fantastic Four spin-off.

As normal, Marvel had the largest share of the North American direct market, beating DC by 40% to 28% in both unit and dollar share.

Thanks as always to ICV2.com for permission to use these figures.

DC take the top two slots on this month’s chart, with DETECTIVE COMICS #853 and FLASH: REBIRTH #1. But we kick off the Wolverine-fest at number 3 with…

3.  WOLVERINE: WEAPON X
04/09  Wolverine: Weapon X #1 - 97,896

Yes, it’s a fourth ongoing monthly Wolverine title, to join WOLVERINE, WOLVERINE: ORIGINS and WOLVERINE: FIRST CLASS.

But it’s not quite that simple. Because WOLVERINE is about to become DARK WOLVERINE, a series about his son.

That might be a temporary thing for Dark Reign. However, it could also be a soft relaunch, of the sort that we’ve already seen with IRON MAN and HULK in recent years: Wolverine’s original title becomes a Daken book or gets cancelled, this takes its place, and there’s a few months of overlap in the middle.

The new book, by Jason Aaron and Ron Garney, launches just under the 100K range. That’s broadly comparable to the numbers that Mark Millar and Steve McNiven have been getting for their “Old Man Logan” story on the existing WOLVERINE series, but that’s an unusually popular storyline. By general standards, this is a good number for Wolverine.

On the other hand, let’s not get carried away. Marvel hurled variant covers at this book - there are five, including 1:20 variants by Olivier Coipel and Alan Davis, and a 1:100 sketch cover by Adam Kubert. Also, the second printing came out in the last week of April, so it ought to be included in these numbers. All this should be boosting the sales significantly, so it’ll be interesting to see where issue #2 lands up - it has only two covers, and neither is an incentive.

4.  DARK AVENGERS
01/09  Dark Avengers #1 - 139,239
02/09  Dark Avengers #2 - 102,277  (-26.5%)
03/09  Dark Avengers #3 - 101,978  ( -0.3%)
04/09  Dark Avengers #4 -  95,854  ( -6.0%)

A third printing of issue #1 came out in April, adding a further 6,078 sales. There’s also a second printing of issue #3, which adds 5,432. As usual, they’re included in the total above.

If you go by first month sales alone, the drop this month is minimal. Overall, the Dark Reign flagship book is levelling out very nicely.

This issue has a 1:15 variant cover by Stefano Caselli - but there was a similar incentive scheme for issue #3, and first month sales are only down by a few hundred.

5.  NEW AVENGERS
04/04  Avengers #81     -  54,987
04/05  New Avengers #5  - 162,412
04/06  New Avengers #18 - 121,550
04/07  New Avengers #29 - 125,378  ( +4.9%)
=====
04/08  New Avengers #40 - 117,201  (+13.7%)
05/08  New Avengers #41 - 109,185  ( -6.8%)
06/08  New Avengers #42 - 108,495  ( -0.6%)
07/08  New Avengers #43 - 108,751  ( +0.2%)
08/08  New Avengers #44 - 106,385  ( -2.2%)
09/08  New Avengers #45 - 103,326  ( -2.9%)
10/08  New Avengers #46 -  99,513  ( -3.7%)
11/08  —
12/08  New Avengers #47 -  95,703  ( -3.8%)
12/08  New Avengers #48 -  95,688  ( -0.0%)
01/09  New Avengers #49 -  94,291  ( -1.5%)
02/09  New Avengers #50 - 106,831  (+13.3%)
03/09  New Avengers #51 -  95,340  (-10.8%)
04/09  New Avengers #52 -  93,975  ( -1.4%)
                           6 mnth  ( -5.6%)
                           1 year  (-19.8%)
                           2 year  (-25.0%)
                           3 year  (-22.7%)
                           4 year  (-42.1%)
                           5 year  (+70.9%)

Another Dark Reign tie-in. As usual, there’s a variant cover. Sales are slightly down, but still well within the normal range.

(more…)

The pamphlet is back! Whoo hoo! Buckle down, Winsocki! ICv2 reports that comics sales were up in April , for the first time this year:

Comic sales rebounded in April from a lousy March (see “No Comic over 100k in March”), with sales at both the top and bottom of the Top 300 list improving substantially. The #1 title in April, Detective Comics #853 (part two of a long delayed Neil Gaiman story), sold around 9% more than the #1 title in March, Dark Avengers #3. And of the top 25 titles, 13 sold more than the corresponding issues in the previous month, an unusually high percentage.

Sales at the top of the list were heavily influenced by multiple covers; nine of the top ten titles had variant versions.

MORE:
Dollar trends.
Top 300 Comics Actual–April 2009
Top 300 Graphic Novels Actual–April 2009.

DC rebounded strongly in April, as well, with the top two comics, and half of the top ten, led by new storylines for Green Lantern, Flash and Batman, which must have many people breathing a sigh of relief.

by Marc-Oliver Frisch

Average DC Comics periodical sales in the direct market dropped to their lowest point yet in March 2009, in the context of the six years worth of available data. One reason for that was that the Vertigo and WildStorm imprints remained at very low averages for their periodical lines.

Mainly, though, the decrease is down to the fact that the publisher’s DC Universe department, which traditionally has the highest periodical sales among the three imprints, only released 36 new periodicals in March, as opposed to 45 in February, 51 in January and between 48 and 63 per month in 2008. Taken on their own terms, average DC Universe periodical sales were actually slightly up against February.

While a few DC Universe series did miss their March 2009 shipping dates, however, the draught is mostly down to the simple fact that the line just didn’t publish a lot of comics in March.

See below for the analysis, and please consider the small print at the end of the column.

Thanks to Milton Griepp and ICv2.com for the permission to use their figures. An overview of ICv2.com’s estimates can be found here.

—–

3 - BATMAN: BATTLE FOR THE COWL
03/2004: Batman #625 —  83,371 [84,753]
03/2005: Batman #638 —  59,797 [82,651]
03/2006: Batman #651 —  69,805 [79,616]
03/2007: Batman #664 —  80,497 [82,107]
——————————-
03/2008: –
04/2008: Batman #675 —  71,138 (+ 4.3%)
05/2008: Batman #676 — 105,039 (+47.9%) [122,877]
05/2008: Batman #677 —  96,116 (- 8.5%) [111,065]
06/2008: –
07/2008: Batman #678 — 103,213 (+ 7.4%)
08/2008: Batman #679 — 103,588 (+ 0.4%)
09/2008: –
10/2008: Batman #680 — 103,941 (+ 0.3%)
11/2008: Batman #681 — 103,151 (- 0.8%) [114,657]
12/2008: Batman #682 —  93,469 (- 9.4%)
12/2008: Batman #683 —  90,272 (- 3.4%) [ 91,885]
12/2008: Batman #684 —  79,953 (-11.4%) [ 82,903]
01/2009: Batman #685 —  72,654 (- 9.1%)
02/2009: Batman #686 — 111,353 (+53.3%) [116,486]
03/2009: BfC #1 of 3 —  91,619 (-17.7%)
—————-
6 months:  n.a.
1 year  :  n.a.
2 years : +13.8%
5 years : + 9.9%

Batman: Battle for the Cowl was DC’s big new launch in March, effectively replacing the main Batman title for three months until the big revamp of the line in June, and it’s off to a respectable start.

Given the absence of brand-name creators, the publisher marketed the book solely on the strength of it being the next step in the Batman saga, and if these sales are any indication, it’s working: The numbers aren’t up at “Batman R.I.P.” or “Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?” levels, but they still handsomely beat those of the Grant Morrison run prior to “R.I.P.”

As you might expect, there was a 1-for-10 variant-cover edition which likely boosted sales. Batman #686, the first part of Neil Gaiman and Andy Kubert’s story, sold another 5,133 units in March, meanwhile.
(more…)

by Paul O’Brien

Dark Reign continued in March, with more tie-in issues and miniseries. As with the Initiative books a couple of years ago, Dark Reign isn’t a crossover so much as an umbrella branding for books that use the backdrop of Norman Osborn running the show. How much difference is it making to sales? Well, look below.

March also saw the start of the WAR OF KINGS crossover among the various cosmic superhero books, and the “Messiah War” crossover between X-FORCE and CABLE. And, after more than three years, ULTIMATE WOLVERINE VS HULK #3 finally emerged blinking into the daylight.

You won’t be surprised to learn that Marvel had the largest share of the North American direct market once again, beating DC by 47% to 28% in units and 43% to 27% in dollars.

Thanks as always to Milton Griepp and ICV2.com for permission to use these figures.

1.  DARK AVENGERS
01/09  Dark Avengers #1 - 133,161
02/09  Dark Avengers #2 - 102,277  (-23.2%)
03/09  Dark Avengers #3 -  96,546  ( -5.6%)

It may be number one, but DARK AVENGERS gets there with estimated sales below 100,000. This is the lowest number for a chart-topping book since ICV2 started tracking sales eight years ago. Nor is it due to major titles failing to ship in March; THOR did slightly better last month, but that was for issue #600, and the book would almost certainly have returned to normal levels.

However, it’s fair to say that both Marvel and DC are currently between the major events that tend to drive the top end of the chart. It may also be the case that the higher prices for top books are starting to hurt - though clearly they aren’t causing the sort of damage that would leave Marvel worse off in the short term.

Anyhow, this is still Marvel’s strongest seller at the moment. And there’s some sign of buzz. Issue #1 is still adding sales, with the second printing notching up 2,852 copies this month. Issue #2, meanwhile, picks up healthy re-orders of 8,724. Those numbers are added in above - and they mean that first-month sales for issue #3 actually went up slightly, always a good sign.
(more…)

Two more stories on the continuing effects of Diamond’s tougher benchmarks:

§ Robot 6 quotes a letter from SLG :

SLG Publishing was planning on following up the recent Warlord of IO and Other Stories one-shot with a mini-series — definitely good news for fans of James Turner. Or at least it would have been, if Warlords of IO and Other Stories had sold better, but Diamond Comics Distributor won’t be carrying it. According to an email from SLG, the mini-series won’t be published*, but they do plan to release it on the web.

“While that comic has been released to great reviews from both readers and online critics, the sales to comic shops were, well, less than spectacular,” the email said, in regards to the one-shot. “As a result our comics distributor has declined to carry the follow-up mini-series Warlords of IO, which continues the story from last month’s one-shot.”

Turner is known for REX LIBRIS and the famed MAP OF HUMANITY, so it’s not like he’s a schmoe. We just got a copy of the WARLORD OF IO one-shot and it’s a quirky, good looking book. Serializing IO on the Web for eventual collection sounds like a sound way to go, even if it leaves SLG without a crucial second stream of monetization. Developing.

Another story that got a lot of play this week was the news that Diamond would not be carrying Classics Illustrated any more, which sounds pretty dire. The news was sent out via a press release on PR Newswire.

The Classics Illustrated logo and material is currently controlled by Jack Lake Productions, which is licensing out the classic (sorry) logo to company such as Papercutz, which has been putting out nice-looking library-ready editions of the CI material First/Berkeley produced in the early ’90s, and new material as well. Those books are not affected by the current change.

Here’s a quote from the press release:

President of Jack Lake Productions Inc., Jaak Jarve, commented, “That this is another example of a knee-jerk reaction to the tough economic environment everybody is struggling with to get through.” He also added, “Ironically, here we have an American intellectual property (consisting of 325 classical literature titles) which are being dumped in favor of spandex-super-hero titles. Oddly enough the American-owned and -produced Classics Illustrated series is being welcomed more by foreign publishers than our own North American publishing community. Maybe those foreigners are investing in the knowledge that classical literature will help teach our children to cope with the realities of the real world much better than these caped-crusaders who like jumping off high buildings. Splat! That’s all I have to say.”

We were curious about all this and dug a bit further.
(more…)

John Jackson Miller has a pretty fascinating analysis of the Top 300’s long tail — complete with charts! (How does he DO it?) With March 2009 presenting, for the first time in a long time, the top selling comic coming in at under 100K, he makes comparisons to March 2003 and March 2006. The main finding is in the lower 150, where, as many have noted, the average sales ranking is up. But it’s mostly because Marvel and DC publish so many more titles now:

So what’s going on? The arc of 2003 slope has been flattened — with sales from the top of the list and the upper midlist pushing down toward the lower portion, and making sales on the whole list more evenly distributed. There’s a simple reason: Look again at the table for March 2003. The 200s are populated by familiar names like Archie and Antarctic, but also smaller publishers like Gutsoon and Aerosol. Marvel is pretty much not to be found there: it had 57 entries in the Top 300, and only 1 item in the 201st-300th place range. In March 2009, it had 99 entries on the list — and 22 in the bottom third of the chart. Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse, and CrossGen (the top five) combined for 215 slots in March 2003; 237 in March 2009 (with IDW in place of CrossGen).

Dollars are up in general, however, he notes.

As always, WATCHMEN and NARUTO top this week’s Graphic Books Best Seller List. Tatsumi’s epic A DRIFTING LIFE debuts at #3 on the paperback list, reflecting the surge from the huge article in the New York Times last week.

The list has definitely calmed down now, and resembles way more closely what you would see on BookScan or Amazon. The makers are obviously refining their methodology as they go along…it’s kind of sad to not see all the oddball items on there, but hardly unexpected.

Okay so arriving at my Publishers Weekly desk today, I found the following:

And what do you think was in these two boxes?

Several other people we know were shipped copies from Amazon as well.

So…in the end, this was just a writer promoting a book via sending out copies. Nothing sinister. We’re guessing that jumping up the Amazon chart was a byproduct, not a goal. The real, bigger story is just how many copies does it take to shoot up the Amazon chart, anyway? It probably isn’t 1000.

UPDATE AND FINALE: aaaaaaaand we just got this email from Ivory Madison herself:

Hi Heidi, I would never have known it hit #10 or had proof if you hadn’t noticed and taken a screenshot, so I am really grateful. I wasn’t even sure you knew who I was last week. By the time I heard about your blog post the next day from Ed Catto (who, by the way, is reviving the Captain Action franchise at http://www.captainactionnow.com/about.html), I rushed to pull it up and it had fallen to #23, but was still #1 in “Comics & Graphic Novels,” as well as #1 on subcategories “Superheroes” and “DC Comics,” so I got screenshots of those, too. You broke the news, even to me.

The real end result of all this, is that the picture that’s going over my desk is of Chavez giving Obama my book. That will be the enduring change to my life. That really made my week, more than the Amazon thing. Thanks to you for that and to Christian Dumais for noticing this important piece of international diplomatic news. I also enjoyed reading the comments, from savvy marketing plans to the guy who had people passionately claiming that Huntress: Year One is better than Watchman. I disagree, but if any of those people are in San Francisco or New York (I’m bicoastal…although my Amazon ranking issue was not related to any bicoastal content in Huntress), send them to me and I will take them to lunch.

Okay, so as you know, I founded Red Room (http://www.redroom.com), a community of authors, and I do know something about book marketing. The problem is that even when you know what to do, having the time or money or organizational skill to do it is another thing.

Many successful authors send out coordinated email blasts to friends linking to Amazon in the hopes that a high response rate will not only help sales and create buzz, but can also give a book a temporary spike in ranking, which can create even more buzz. Around the time of an email blast like that is a good time to also send out review copies and gift copies to loyal fans, industry types, opinion leader friends, whomever you think will like it and talk about it.

So I sent out emails encouraging friends to buy the book, and I have bought a lot of copies from random comic book shops and bookstores I’ve walked into, and from Amazon, over the past two months, which I’ve paid for out of my pocket. I finally got it together in these past two weeks, kind of late considering the book was released two months ago, to send copies to a list of friends and colleagues I thought might review it or talk it up. I’m glad this had the added effect of giving me rankings screenshots that no one takes seriously, but are fun. Amazon says they hope we find their rankings “interesting!” which indicates it’s more like gossip than statistics.

I haven’t checked yet with DC Comics to see what my overall sales are, which is much more important than a momentary Amazon sales ranking, and I’m kind of afraid to ask because I don’t think they’re very high. I’ve been really lucky having so many people get passionate about this book, and lucky I found the time to do a little promotion, although I did screw up many of the emails I sent out. I even got on Twitter. If anyone does know how to get Ashton Kutcher’s attention to promote my book, please do.

Also, I saw the piece today on Anne Cleveland and loved it. I promise to read you every day now. Thanks again.