INFO: Top-selling comics for February 1999
Michael Burns
charts available at www.genesis.com that contain the charts as reported in
the Diamond Dialogue with the data with actual figures that Matt High posted
some days ago.
I also used Matt High´s configuration for previous months, so all of this
wouldn´t be possible if it wasn´t for him.
I have offered myself to do the same for previous 3 months, and I can do the
same for the next few months until Matt´s schedule permits him to take the
child back into his arms.
This charts is not as elaborate as Matt´s as I don´t have any data from the
previous month to establish comparations, I list 150 not 200 titles, I am
not as pacient as Matt so no best comic for each company after 150, nor
percentage by companies.
I hope this is useful for anyone out there.
Top-selling comics, comics-related magazines, and graphic
novels for February 1999. For a detailed explanation on how
these sales figures were calculated, see the end of the list.
estimated #
# Title Publisher sold (1000's)
1 Uncanny X-Men #367 Marvel 130.8
2 X-Men #87 Marvel 129.3
3 Battle Chasers #5(res) Image 109.4
4 Danger Girl #5(res) Image 101.1
5 Earth X #1 Marvel 98.9
6 Spawn #83 Image 98.1
7 Avengers #15 Marvel 90.0
8 Wolverine #137 Marvel 88.5
9 JLA #24 DC 85.5
10 Daredevil #6 Marvel 79.5
11 Amazing Spider-Man #4 Marvel 78.7
12 Hulk #1 Marvel 77.8
13 Peter Parker, Spider-Man #4 Marvel 73.5
14 Fantastic Four #16 Marvel 72.1
15 Thor #10 Marvel 67.3
16 Captain America #16 Marvel 66.8
17 Gambit #3 Marvel 66.5
18 Iron Man #15 Marvel 63.7
19 Mutant X #7 Marvel 62.6
20 Avengers Forever #5 Marvel 62.5
21 Spiderman Chapter 1 #6 Marvel 59.2
22 Witchblade #30 Image 58.6
23 Crimson #9 Image 57.5
24 Darkness #22 Image 55.0
25 Generation X #50 Marvel 54.0
26 X-Man #50 Marvel 49.9
27 X-Force #89 Marvel 49.6
28 Aria #3 Image 48.6
29 Inhumans #6 Marvel 48.6
30 Green Lantern #111 DC 48.3
31 Titans #2 DC 46.9
32 Spidergirl #7 Marvel 46.6
33 Cable #66 Marvel 46.0
34 Batman #564 DC 45.7
35 Thunderbolts #25 Marvel 44.9
36 Buffy Vampire Slayer #6 DHC 44.9
37 Kiss Psycho Circus #17 Image 43.7
38 Detective Comics #731 DC 43.2
39 Nightwing #30 DC 43.0
40 Crow #1 Image 42.7
41 Black Panther #6 Marvel 42.0
42 Action Comics #753 DC 41.1
43 Superman #143 DC 40.8
44 Star Wars: Vader´s Quest #1 DHC 40.8
45 Buffy Vampire Slayer Ori.#2 DHC 40.8
46 Adventures of Superman #563 DC 39.8
47 Preacher #48 DC 39.5
48 Batman&Superman:World Fin#1 DC 39.2
49 Webspinners: Tales of Spi.#4 Marvel 39.2
50 Cap. America:Sold. Of Lib #8 Marvel 38.4
51 Superman: Man of Tomorrow #13DC 38.1
52 Gen 13 #38 Image 37.9
53 Flash #147 DC 37.7
54 Planetary #1 Image 37.6
55 Hourman #1 DC 37.5
56 Young Justice #7 DC 37.3
57 Batman/Superman: Gen. #4 DC 37.1
58 Star Wars #3 DHC 37.0
59 Deadpool #27 Marvel 36.7
60 Batman Shadow of Bat #84 DC 36.4
61 Star Wars: Bobba Fatt #2 DHC 36.2
62 Batman Legends Dark Kn #116 DC 34.8
63 Ascension #15 Image 34.5
64 Green Lantern: New Corps #2 DC 34.5
65 Tenth: Black Embrace #1 Image 34.5
66 Cable 1999 Marvel 34.1
67 Doctor Strange #3 Marvel 33.9
68 A Next #3 Marvel 33.9
69 Star Wars: Crimson Emp.II #4 DHC 33.5
70 Robin #63 DC 33.2
71 Darkminds #8 Image 33.1
72 Avengelyne #1 Awesome 32.5
73 Spirit of Tao #8 Image 30.9
74 Catwoman #67 DC 30.8
75 Supergirl #31 DC 29.7
76 League of Ext. Gentleman #2 DC 29.6
77 J2 #7 Marvel 29.2
78 Lady Death/Vampirella Chaos 28.8
79 Batman Chronicles #16 DC 28.7
80 Stone II #1 Image 28.2
81 Slingers #5 Marvel 28.0
82 Vampirella/Lady Death Harris 27.7
83 Wonder Woman #143 DC 27.7
84 Legends of the DC Univ #15 DC 27.3
85 Flash 80-Page Giant DC 27.2
86 Martian Manhunter #5 DC 27.1
87 Starman #52 DC 27.0
88 Gen13: Wired DC 26.5
89 Birds of Prey DC 25.3
90 Superman Nemesis:Lex Luthor#2DC 24.9
91 Batman Beyond #2 DC 24.7
92 Lady Death #14 Chaos 24.6
93 Sandman Presents: Lucifer #2 DC 24.2
94 Coven II #3 Image 24.2
95 Superboy #61 DC 23.7
96 Aquaman #54 DC 23.2
97 Azrael #51 DC 23.2
98 Hitman #36 DC 21.1
99 DV8 #0 Image 20.9
100 Savage Dragon #58 Image 20.6
101 DCU Villains Secret Files #1 DC 20.6
102 Doctor Midnite DC 20.4
103 Grendel: Black,White & Red#4 DHC 19.9
104 Purgatori #6 Chaos 19.7
105 Legion of Superheroes #114 DC 19.6
106 Hellblazer #136 DC 19.0
107 Legionnaires #70 DC 18.9
108 Trenchcoat Brigade #2 DC 18.6
109 Batman Gotham Adventures #11 DC 18.4
110 Pokemon #4 Viz 18.4
111 Simpsons Comics #39 Bongo 18.3
112 Sailor Moon #5 Mix 18.1
113 Kabuki #6 Image 18.0
114 Conjurors #1 DC 17.6
115 Human Target #1 DC 17.4
116 Impulse #47 DC 17.3
117 Body Doubles #1 DC 17.3
118 Books of Magic #59 DC 17.3
120 Dreaming #31 DC 16.9
121 Fathom Coll. Ed. #1 Image 16.6
122 Transmetropolitan #20 DC 16.4
123 Jonah Hex:Shadows of West #3 DC 16.1
124 Fanboy #2 DC 15.6
125 Resurrection Man #23 DC 15.4
126 Gifts of the Night DC 14.7
127 Evil Ernie #5 Chaos 13.9
128 Sergio Aragonés: Groo/Ruff #3DHC 13.9
129 Human Torch Comics Marvel 13.3
130 Superman Adventures #26 DC 13.3
131 Ghost Vol.2 Stare Sun #3 DHC 13.0
132 Impulse: Bart saves Universe DC 12.9
133 Deity vol. 2 #5 Awesome 12.5
134 Cremator Hells Guardian Chaos 12.4
135 Deity II Catseye #4 Awesome 12.3
136 Vext #2 DC 12.2
137 Strangers in Paradise v3 Abstract 12.2
138 Dragonball Z Part 2 #3 DC 12.2
139 Lobo #61 DC 12.1
140 Aliens Apocalypse Dest.AngelsDHC 12.1
141 Lady Pendragon Remastered #1 Image 11.9
142 The Crow #2 Image 11.8
143 More Than Mortal Truths #5 Liar 11.7
144 Oh My Godess: The Devil in #4DHC 11.6
145 Ash Fire & Crossfire #2 Event 11.1
146 Resident Evil Official Comic DC 10.8
147 Dragonball #8 Viz 10.8
148 Smiley Buttons Psichotic Mov Chaos 10.7
149 Gunsmith Cats Bean Bandit #2 DHC 10.5
150 Darkchylde Battlebook Crusade 10.4
WHAT DO THESE SALES FIGURES MEAN?
Approximately two months before a comic book is published,
comic book retailers and specialty stores in the direct
market place advance orders for comic books and other
related items. The "estimated number sold" listed above is
an estimate of the total number of copies pre-ordered
through Diamond Distribution, measured in thousands. This
includes sales up to mid-January, 1999 (the cut-off date
for pre-orders), and does not include advance reorders,
regular reorders, or other sales outside of Diamond
Distribution. On average, advance reorders (orders placed
after the cut-off date, but before the book actually ships)
usually add an additional two percent in sales in the two
weeks following the cut-off date. Regular reorders (orders
placed after the book ships) can vary widely depending
upon how well the book is received by retailers and fans.
Diamond Distribution is currently the largest and only
nation-wide (U.S. and Canada) distributor of direct-market
comic books. Diamond currently handles around 98-99%
of the comic book direct market, and the following
publishers are currently available exclusively through
Diamond: Archie, Awesome, Brainstorm, Dark Horse, DC Comics,
Gemstone, Image, Marvel, and Wizard Press. Other direct market
distributors include FM International, Hobbies Hawaii,
and Cold Cut Distribution -- all of which are very small
compared to Diamond, but may be a significant percent of
sales for smaller publishers.
The "comic book direct market" currently consists of
around 4100 specialty stores (primarily in the United
States and Canada) that order comic books and other
specialty items from Diamond Distribution and other
distributors on a non-returnable basis. This is different
from the newsstand or mass market, where comic books
are sold on a non-returnable basis. Only a few of the
largest publishers sell their books on newsstands,
including Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse, Topps, and Archie.
Sales levels for newsstand comics are not widely known,
but it is generally estimated that the newsstand accounts
for roughly 25% of all comic books sold in the United
States. For some publishers (such as Archie and Gladstone),
newsstand sales represent a majority of their sales, but
this is the exception rather than the rule.
Note that the "estimated sales" listed above are for sales
to comic book stores, and do not reflect actual sales of
comic books in stores to customers. Currently, there is
no accurate measure for actual sales, but it is estimated
that roughly 80% of the comics ordered by stores are sold
to customers within four weeks (80% sell-through). Sell-
through varies widely from title to title. The "estimated
sales" also do not include sales outside of comic book
stores (such as mail order, subscriptions, special orders,
convention sales, or comic books sold directly to stores
by the publisher).
Estimated sales are included for comics-related magazines and
graphic novels in addition to comic books. Sales figures are not
included for non-printed items (such as action figures, posters,
and t-shirts) or for non-comics-related books (such as science-
fiction paperbacks) and non-comics-related magazines.
Note: This information is made available by Diamond
Distribution, and is published monthly in DIAMOND
DIALOGUE (available to comic store owners). I do
not make any claims as to the absolute accuracy of
the information above, and none of these sales
figures should be considered absolute fact.
For reference, 1 order index point from the Diamond
Dialogue = 457 comics sold.
DrN...@hotmail.com
Looks good here. I missed these a lot. Thanks very much for sharing.
Anyhow, some questions and comments.
> estimated #
> # Title Publisher sold (1000's)
>
> 3 Battle Chasers #5(res) Image 109.4
> 4 Danger Girl #5(res) Image 101.1
I read somewhere that DC has delayed these indefinitely, right? (I believe
it was in the Comic Book E-Mag) Those are some darn high numbers, so I was
wondering, what sort of effect does the delay have on DC and/or the shops who
budgeted themselves for so many copies, but won't see the revenue on them for
a long time to come?
> 6 Spawn #83 Image 98.1
Why does toddler keep saying that this is the #1 comic in America? Can he
not count? Is he speaking in a potty sense? Something else?
> 11 Amazing Spider-Man #4 Marvel 78.7
> 12 Hulk #1 Marvel 77.8
> 13 Peter Parker, Spider-Man #4 Marvel 73.5
D'oh! I guess sorry reboots are just as effective as really good ones, huh?
> 18 Iron Man #15 Marvel 63.7
Here's the highest ranked comic I read. And I'll probably jump ship once I
can get a regular Astro City fix. (Of course, that could be another year)
> 29 Inhumans #6 Marvel 48.6
I'm glad this is doing well. It's a pretty clever book.
> 33 Cable #66 Marvel 46.0
> 35 Thunderbolts #25 Marvel 44.9
Doing better than Thunderbolts, and still they feel the need to change
creative teams? So very sad.
> 41 Black Panther #6 Marvel 42.0
> 56 Young Justice #7 DC 37.3
These books are both okay, but I'm not entirely certain if I want to keep
reading them. If it comes time to start cutting, these are at the top of my
list. Not certain why, both have great writers. Same with Martian Manhunter.
> 57 Batman/Superman: Gen. #4 DC 37.1
Someone correct me if I am wrong, but if this is about $6 an issue, with
those sales, wouldn't it make more money for DC than their highest selling
book? Six bucks times 37K is more than two bucks times less than 85K. You do
have to subtract printing costs, but I suspect they aren't different enough
between the two books to make a difference. No wonder DC likes prestige
format books so much.
> 75 Supergirl #31 DC 29.7
> 76 League of Ext. Gentleman #2 DC 29.6
My two favorite titles. Glad they are at DC! By the way, is Peter David
suppossed to be picking up a fourth book? I could use something to replace YJ,
but I hope he isn't stretching himself too thin.
> 85 Flash 80-Page Giant DC 27.2
Hey! I thought 80 page giants were doing great!
> 86 Martian Manhunter #5 DC 27.1
Boy, sales here have kind of taken a header. Psst! DC! I bet Suicide Squad
could outsell this! (Well, maybe not, but MM seems kind of lame compared to
the Squad)
> 109 Batman Gotham Adventures #11 DC 18.4
So sad that this great book is ordered so poorly.
> 121 Fathom Coll. Ed. #1 Image 16.6
Um, just out of curiousity, is there a reason why this book is way way way
lower than previous Fathom books?
> 139 Lobo #61 DC 12.1
Gee, I wonder what DC's cutoff is. And why it's so different from Marvel's.
Just because Marvel is all bankrupt and stuff? That perplexes me. If Marvel
owes so much money, why cancel any book that makes a profit? Ah well,
economics is well beyond my small social worker brain.
> 147 Dragonball #8 Viz 10.8
Finally, this is my favorite book, so it must be America's #1 comic! =)
Take Care
Nate
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Todd VerBeek
>> 139 Lobo #61 DC 12.1
My pal DrN...@hotmail.com said:
> Gee, I wonder what DC's cutoff is. And why it's so different from Marvel's.
>Just because Marvel is all bankrupt and stuff? That perplexes me. If Marvel
>owes so much money, why cancel any book that makes a profit? Ah well,
>economics is well beyond my small social worker brain.
Remember that this is an incomplete picture of sales. DC's Adventures
books, for example, sell a significant number of additional copies through
newsstands. And, according to one report, /Lobo/ sells well overseas.
(Even so, rumours of its impending cancellation seem credible.)
Cheers, Todd
freshie
>In article <7afpjn$483$1...@duke.telepac.pt>,
> "Michael Burns" <mbur...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> I'm glad this is doing well. It's a pretty clever book.
>
>> 33 Cable #66 Marvel 46.0
>> 35 Thunderbolts #25 Marvel 44.9
cause they ae good numbers for a comic book, but not fox an X-book?
> Doing better than Thunderbolts, and still they feel the need to change
>creative teams? So very sad.
>
>> 41 Black Panther #6 Marvel 42.0
>
> These books are both okay, but I'm not entirely certain if I want to keep
>reading them.
Merely OK. This book is so off-beat an fun.
>> 139 Lobo #61 DC 12.1
>
> Gee, I wonder what DC's cutoff is. And why it's so different from Marvel's.
>Just because Marvel is all bankrupt and stuff?
Marvel is now longer in bankruptcy. But all their books DO need to be
profitable. I'm not sure that DC has the same stipulation.
Alt_Real
Diamond's cut-off date. Stores that do their order on disc get
a week after the manual order cut-off and those that do their
orders online get two weeks past the manual cut-off date.
I wonder how many stores order via computer and how these
numbers affect the numbers that exist? I'm going to speculate
that those stores that do order by computer are more in tune
with their sales patterns than those that do it the "archaic" way.
Thoughts?
Ralph Mathieu
Alternate Reality Comics
Las Vegas, NV
Brian C. Saunders
wrote:
>> "Michael Burns" <mbur...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>> 139 Lobo #61 DC 12.1
>
>My pal DrN...@hotmail.com said:
>> Gee, I wonder what DC's cutoff is. And why it's so different from Marvel's.
>>Just because Marvel is all bankrupt and stuff? That perplexes me. If Marvel
>>owes so much money, why cancel any book that makes a profit? Ah well,
>>economics is well beyond my small social worker brain.
>
>Remember that this is an incomplete picture of sales. DC's Adventures
>books, for example, sell a significant number of additional copies through
>newsstands. And, according to one report, /Lobo/ sells well overseas.
>(Even so, rumours of its impending cancellation seem credible.)
Mania's solicts say Lobo's last issue is in May.
Brian, seems to know much, probably knows little.
Paul O'Brien
>
>> 11 Amazing Spider-Man #4 Marvel 78.7
>> 12 Hulk #1 Marvel 77.8
>> 13 Peter Parker, Spider-Man #4 Marvel 73.5
>
Well, in January, Incredible Hulk #474 was down there with
Thunderbolts. Looks like the reboot has boosted sales.
But number 12 isn't too good for a reboot placing. Mind you, Daredevil
only made it to number 10 on its first issue, and it's held on to the
readers pretty well.
Paul O'Brien
pa...@esoterica.demon.co.uk, www.tardis.ed.ac.uk/~prob/
Like Bunty, but written by tramps.
SRoweCanoe
>> 6 Spawn #83 Image 98.1
>
> Why does toddler keep saying that this is the #1 comic in America? Can he
>not count? Is he speaking in a potty sense? Something else?
Maybe it sells extemely well on newstands? Or has a lot of subscriptions?
these figures as "only" sales via Diamond.
Steven Rowe
########################################################################
Don't forget to Delete "Unspam" if you wish to e- mail me.
Add witty and clever sayings here...
PatDOneill
>> Why does toddler keep saying that this is the #1 comic in America? Can he
>>not count? Is he speaking in a potty sense? Something else?
>
>Maybe it sells extemely well on newstands? Or has a lot of subscriptions?
>
>these figures as "only" sales via Diamond.
On the rule of thumb that newsstand and subs amount to only 20% of total
circulation for most titles, that would put Spawn's sales at about 120K total.
I still suspect the five titles ahead of it are doing better, when you add
THEIR 20%.
Best, Pat
The words and opinions expressed are those of Patrick Daniel O'Neill and do not
represent the opinions or policies of WIZARD: THE GUIDE TO COMICS.
Nat Gertler
>
> On the rule of thumb that newsstand and subs amount to only 20% of total
> circulation for most titles, that would put Spawn's sales at about 120K total.
That rule of thumb works pretty badly for some books.
Really, we don't know what it sells unless we know what it sells.
David W. Stepp
Actually, the average newsstand contribution is about 20%. There are
some that are much higher and some that are much lower (i.e. the STDEV is
large). If my understanding is correct, high profile things like Batman
and Superman perform significantly better than 20% outside the DM, while
things like Starman, Impulse, Legion, etc far significantly worse. Vertigo
has roughly zero newsstand penetration. Ergo, it is likely that high end
DM books have a higher than 20% newsstand penetration than others. Given
how close the high end books are running, single digit variation in the
newsstand percentage could push the 4-5th place book up to the top. To
split this hair, we would need to know the newsstand percentages and
sell-through for several companies, something we would never get them all
to agree to. I suspect McFarlane knows this and takes advanatge of the
resultant confusion to make a claim no one can accurately refute.
D.
Bob Heer
: As a retailer, I place my orders at least two weeks later than
: Diamond's cut-off date. Stores that do their order on disc get
: a week after the manual order cut-off and those that do their
: orders online get two weeks past the manual cut-off date.
: I wonder how many stores order via computer and how these
: numbers affect the numbers that exist?
From what Matt High has posted in the past, the figures Diamond provides
are orders up to the middle of the previous month (so the February figures
are orders up to mid-January), which I think is still well after the date
even online orders have to be in.
Bob Heer bg...@torfree.net http://www.geocities.com/area51/dimension/1428
--
That's how Arm-Fall-Off-Boy got his start.
--
Bob Heer
To provide some more context for those numbers, here's a comparison of
some of the books with the figures Matt High posted a year ago, for
February 1998, in order of their percentage change.
Title 98/02 99/02 %Change
DAREDEVIL 25.5 79.5 211.8
TITANS 30.9 46.9 51.8
PETER PARKER SPIDER-MAN 55.7 73.5 32
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 61.6 78.7 27.8
HULK 62.6 77.8 24.3
GREEN LANTERN 40.1 48 19.7
TRANSMETROPOLITAN 13.8 16.4 18.8
HELLBLAZER 16.1 19 18
GHOST VOL 2 12.9 13 0.8
THUNDERBOLTS 45.5 44.9 -1.3
PREACHER 41 39.5 -3.7
INVISIBLES VOLUME 3 17.9 17.2 -3.9
X-MEN 135.4 129.3 -4.5
SIMPSONS COMICS 19.3 18.3 -5.2
UNCANNY X-MEN 138 130.8 -5.2
FLASH 39.8 37.7 -5.3
NIGHTWING 45.6 43 -5.7
STARMAN 28.8 27 -6.3
BATMAN LEGENDS O/T DARK KNIGHT 37.2 34.8 -6.5
KABUKI 19.3 18 -6.7
SAVAGE DRAGON 22.2 20.6 -7.2
DETECTIVE COMICS 47.5 43.2 -9.1
BATMAN 51.2 45.7 -10.7
SUPERBOY 26.7 23.7 -11.2
HITMAN 24.1 21.1 -12.4
JLA 98.2 85.5 -12.9
COVEN VOL 2 27.9 24.2 -13.3
SUPERMAN ADVENTURES 15.5 13.3 -14.2
BATMAN SHADOW O/T BAT 42.6 36.4 -14.6
WOLVERINE 103.7 88.5 -14.7
DEADPOOL 43.2 36.7 -15
LEGION OF SUPER HEROES 23.1 19.6 -15.2
ACTION COMICS 48.7 41.1 -15.6
LEGIONNAIRES 22.4 18.9 -15.6
ROBIN 39.5 33.2 -15.9
AVENGERS 107.5 90 -16.3
RESURRECTION MAN 18.4 15.4 -16.3
BOOKS OF MAGIC 20.9 17.3 -17.2
ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN 48.5 39.8 -17.9
LEGENDS O/T DC UNIVERSE 33.3 27.3 -18
IMPULSE 21.2 17.3 -18.4
DV8 25.7 20.9 -18.7
KISS PSYCHO CIRCUS 54.3 43.7 -19.5
SERGIO ARAGONES GROO 17.4 13.9 -20.1
SUPERMAN 51.7 40.8 -21.1
SPAWN 124.5 98.1 -21.2
AQUAMAN 30.2 23.5 -22.2
DREAMING 21.8 16.9 -22.5
WONDER WOMAN 35.9 27.7 -22.8
CATWOMAN 40.5 30.8 -24
SUPERGIRL 39.1 29.7 -24
X-MAN 66.7 49.9 -25.2
X-FORCE 68.4 49.6 -27.5
GENERATION X 74.8 54 -27.8
CABLE 64.3 46 -28.5
CAPTAIN AMERICA 94.9 66.8 -29.6
LADY DEATH 35.5 24.6 -30.7
AZRAEL AGENT O/T BAT 33.9 23.2 -31.6
FANTASTIC FOUR 107.1 72.1 -32.7
WITCHBLADE 88.4 58.6 -33.7
LOBO 18.4 12.1 -34.2
IRON MAN 96.8 63.7 -34.2
DARKNESS 85.3 55 -35.5
GEN 13 61.1 37.9 -38
ASCENSION 59.8 34.5 -42.3
--
Aaron S. Veenstra
man, these numbers look absolutely *horrible*. Only 25 titles selling
over 50K?!? Only four over 100K?!? I want to be optimistic, I really
do. I can safely afford the ~$100 a month I spend, and I try to replace
anything I drop from my pull, but this is ridiculous.
> 1 Uncanny X-Men #367 Marvel 130.8
> 2 X-Men #87 Marvel 129.3
Our manifest destiny has arrived; Terry "Remember the end of WEB OF
SPIDER-MAN?" Kavanagh is going to write the two best selling titles in the
country.
> 5 Earth X #1 Marvel 98.9
The scene: Marvel HQ. The time: Fall 1999. "Good news, Mr. Harras. That
Alex Ross relaunch of BARBIE FASHION is selling like hotcakes!"
> 6 Spawn #83 Image 98.1
Question: what do you read when all your friends and/or acquaintances are
either busy playing MAGIC or working the third shift at Taco Bell?
> 8 Wolverine #137 Marvel 88.5
Can we get Kavanagh on this one, too?
> 7 Avengers #15 Marvel 90.0
> 9 JLA #24 DC 85.5
For two stock super-hero books masquerading as cutting edge comics, these
numbers are pretty decent.
> 10 Daredevil #6 Marvel 79.5
Watch the numbers go insane over the next couple months as retailers try
to remember which is Kevin Smith's last issue.
> 11 Amazing Spider-Man #4 Marvel 78.7
> 12 Hulk #1 Marvel 77.8
> 13 Peter Parker, Spider-Man #4 Marvel 73.5
> 14 Fantastic Four #16 Marvel 72.1
> 15 Thor #10 Marvel 67.3
"The relaunches aren't just numbering gimmicks, they signal a new era of
creative excellence!" Feh.
> 22 Witchblade #30 Image 58.6
> 24 Darkness #22 Image 55.0
Weren't these top 15 books a few months ago?
> 27 X-Force #89 Marvel 49.6
Oh my god, it's under 50K. Someone call Liefeld; we need 100CC's of tiny
heads, stat!
> 28 Aria #3 Image 48.6
Watch the sales plummet as fanboys realize the chick in BATTLE CHASERS has
bigger hooters.
> 29 Inhumans #6 Marvel 48.6
Outselling THUNDERBOLTS at $2.99 a pop. Well done.
> 32 Spidergirl #7 Marvel 46.6
So what happens to this book after the inevitable folding of the MC2 line?
> 36 Buffy Vampire Slayer #6 DHC 44.9
So like a knife is your betrayal. How could this book suck so much? HOW,
I ask you! Somebody (Brereton) needs to (Brereton) replace Andi Watson.
(BRERETON!)
> 45 Buffy Vampire Slayer Ori.#2 DHC 40.8
You see what I mean? Much better.
> 48 Batman&Superman:World Fin#1 DC 39.2
"How can we do even more completely pointless, standard super-hero
stories, but in a way that makes Superman look like Nicholas Cage? I bet
Karl Kesel would know!"
> 52 Gen 13 #38 Image 37.9
How the mighty have fallen.
> 59 Deadpool #27 Marvel 36.7
> 81 Slingers #5 Marvel 28.0
ATTN: Joseph Harris. I know you mean well, but it's plainly obvious that
if DEADPOOL is on the chopping block, and we know it is, that SLINGERS is
in just as much danger. I mean, I'm enjoying the book and will continue
to buy it, but let's be reasonable.
> 64 Green Lantern: New Corps #2 DC 34.5
> 65 Tenth: Black Embrace #1 Image 34.5
This is a bit off-topic, but I glanced past this and my eyes saw "Black
Intern: New Embrace". Is that weird?
> 66 Cable 1999 Marvel 34.1
This is below the cancellation point; does that mean no more 99 Marvel annuals?
> 98 Hitman #36 DC 21.1
I'm glad DC's cut-off point is lower than Marvel's, cause I *need* that
double-dose of Ennis every month.
> 100 Savage Dragon #58 Image 20.6
Go buy this book. Now. I know all your little reasons and arguments
against it, but you know what? Shut up. Go buy it.
> 109 Batman Gotham Adventures #11 DC 18.4
Why is the BATMAN BEYOND *adaptation* outselling this? ARGH!
> 114 Conjurors #1 DC 17.6
Anyone know why DC thought this would work?
> 132 Impulse: Bart saves Universe DC 12.9
Cripes, no wonder I can't find a copy.
> 145 Ash Fire & Crossfire #2 Event 11.1
Note to self: Quesada without big corporate logo and filmmaker doesn't sell.
Aaron
--
_ _ _
/ \ \ \ / / | aa...@portup.com
/ 0 \ aron \ \/ / eenstra | http://www.etchouse.com
/_/ \_\ \__/ | graphic, web, multimedia design
Paul O'Brien
<dst...@NOSPAMpost.its.mcw.edu> writes
>I suspect McFarlane knows this and takes advanatge of the
>resultant confusion to make a claim no one can accurately refute.
He does also have the advantage of knowing for sure how many comics
he's selling, and seeing the Statement of Ownership in Marvel's
books. It's possible that these figures support his claim.
Spawn is also the top selling solo book on the charts (most months),
which lends some credibility to his claim that Spawn is the most
popular superhero in America.
Matthigh
>> Why does toddler keep saying that this is the #1 comic in America? Can he
>>not count? Is he speaking in a potty sense? Something else?
>
>Maybe it sells extemely well on newstands? Or has a lot of subscriptions?
>
>these figures as "only" sales via Diamond.
On the rule of thumb that newsstand and subs amount to only 20% of total
circulation for most titles, that would put Spawn's sales at about 120K total.
I still suspect the five titles ahead of it are doing better, when you add
THEIR 20%.<<
Unfortunately, it is *very* imperfect rule of thumb. Sonic, for example, sells
under 10,000 copies through comic book stores, but ten times that through
newsstand outlets. Uncanny X-Men sells 130K through comic stores, then about
twice as many more copies through the newsstand.
Even so, the Toddster keeps saying "Spawn is number one! Spawn is number one!"
And the reason he can say it is simple - it because he can *get away with it*
without anyone of importance telling him he is wrong.
It will be interesting to see if Spawn sees a jump in sales next month (March),
since it is billed as "SPAWN MONTH", with the cover to Previews.
Best,
- mlh
Nick Eden
>Cool, thanks Michael.
>
>To provide some more context for those numbers, here's a comparison of
>some of the books with the figures Matt High posted a year ago, for
>February 1998, in order of their percentage change.
>
> Title 98/02 99/02 %Change
> DAREDEVIL 25.5 79.5 211.8
> TITANS 30.9 46.9 51.8
> PETER PARKER SPIDER-MAN 55.7 73.5 32
> AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 61.6 78.7 27.8
> HULK 62.6 77.8 24.3
Which is of course a tiny bit misleading, since these books have all
been rebooted in the meantime.
Still nice to see Transmet on the up.
-------------------------------------------------
Driving for Loons
The American Southwest: Too many miles in too few days
http://www.pheasnt.demon.co.uk/Driving.html
SRoweCanoe
In article <19990219134807...@ng109.aol.com>,
patdo...@aol.comnospam (PatDOneill) writes:
>On the rule of thumb that newsstand and subs amount to only 20% of total
>circulation for most titles, that would put Spawn's sales at about 120K
>total.
>I still suspect the five titles ahead of it are doing better, when you add
>THEIR 20%.
yeah but Heavy Metal sells like 80-90% on the newstand, so you can't really
generalize like that.
Steven Rowe (who has no idea how much Spawn actually sells)
Tal 2000
says...
>> 6 Spawn #83 Image 98.1
>
>Question: what do you read when all your friends and/or acquaintances are
>either busy playing MAGIC or working the third shift at Taco Bell?
Vertigo?
>> 22 Witchblade #30 Image 58.6
>> 24 Darkness #22 Image 55.0
>
>Weren't these top 15 books a few months ago?
Most certainly. Look for Witchblade Month and a relaunch soon. :)
>> 100 Savage Dragon #58 Image 20.6
>
>Go buy this book. Now. I know all your little reasons and arguments
>against it, but you know what? Shut up. Go buy it.
Way ahead of you.
Talon T M
Scott Bierworth
> > 75 Supergirl #31 DC 29.7
> > 76 League of Ext. Gentleman #2 DC 29.6
>
> My two favorite titles. Glad they are at DC! By the way, is Peter David
> suppossed to be picking up a fourth book? I could use something to replace YJ
Did I miss an announcement or something? I Peter David leaving Young
Justice?
Scott
Todd VerBeek
>> > 76 League of Ext. Gentleman #2 DC 29.6
>DrN...@hotmail.com wrote:
>> My two favorite titles. Glad they are at DC! By the way, is Peter David
>> suppossed to be picking up a fourth book? I could use something to replace YJ
My pal Scott Bierworth said:
>Did I miss an announcement or something? I Peter David leaving Young
>Justice?
I believe DrNate is indicating that =he's= dropping it.
Cheers, Todd
Tim Roll-Pickering
> >> 11 Amazing Spider-Man #4 Marvel 78.7
> >> 12 Hulk #1 Marvel 77.8
> >> 13 Peter Parker, Spider-Man #4 Marvel 73.5
> > D'oh! I guess sorry reboots are just as effective as really good ones, huh?
> Well, in January, Incredible Hulk #474 was down there with
> Thunderbolts. Looks like the reboot has boosted sales.
Has it? Retailers often don't have a reasonable picture of how sales
will settle until about issue #4, by which time they've already ordered
further issues in advance. With a renumbering a good excuse to jump OFF
a title, I don't think we can judge until October if it's worked.
> But number 12 isn't too good for a reboot placing. Mind you, Daredevil
> only made it to number 10 on its first issue, and it's held on to the
> readers pretty well.
How many anomolies, such as one shots, variants and the like were there
in the top ten that month? Perhaps we should have a second chart for
regular series (inc all mini series longer than four parts, but a new
series can only be shown after three issues) so we can more
realistically judge the performance of regular books.
Tim Roll-Pickering
> Unfortunately, it is *very* imperfect rule of thumb. Sonic, for example, sells
> under 10,000 copies through comic book stores, but ten times that through
> newsstand outlets. Uncanny X-Men sells 130K through comic stores, then about
> twice as many more copies through the newsstand.
Are you serious?
BTW, how much do international sales contribute normally?
Robin Riggs
> On Fri, 19 Feb 1999 23:57:55 GMT, bg...@torfree.net (Bob Heer) wrote:
>
> >Cool, thanks Michael.
> >
> >To provide some more context for those numbers, here's a comparison of
> >some of the books with the figures Matt High posted a year ago, for
> >February 1998, in order of their percentage change.
> >
> > Title 98/02 99/02 %Change
> > DAREDEVIL 25.5 79.5 211.8
> > TITANS 30.9 46.9 51.8
> > PETER PARKER SPIDER-MAN 55.7 73.5 32
> > AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 61.6 78.7 27.8
> > HULK 62.6 77.8 24.3
>
> Which is of course a tiny bit misleading, since these books have all
> been rebooted in the meantime.
Why is it misleading? Wasn't the whole idea of rebooting them to
increase their sales?
--
Robin Riggs
Tim Roll-Pickering
> > > Title 98/02 99/02 %Change
> > > DAREDEVIL 25.5 79.5 211.8
> > > TITANS 30.9 46.9 51.8
> > > PETER PARKER SPIDER-MAN 55.7 73.5 32
> > > AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 61.6 78.7 27.8
> > > HULK 62.6 77.8 24.3
> > Which is of course a tiny bit misleading, since these books have all
> > been rebooted in the meantime.
> Why is it misleading? Wasn't the whole idea of rebooting them to
> increase their sales?
I can't comment on Titans, but Hulk and the two Spidey books have had
the reboot so recently that there simply haven't been enough issues to
know how longterm sales have been affected.
Daredevil has now had six issues (order wise) and so a slightly clearer
picture can be gleamed.
Tim Roll-Pickering
> > 66 Cable 1999 Marvel 34.1
> This is below the cancellation point; does that mean no more 99 Marvel annuals?
Since it's a higher price than $1.99, I'd guess the cutoff point is
lower.
Elayne Riggs
> Paul O'Brien wrote:
>> Well, in January, Incredible Hulk #474 was down there with
>> Thunderbolts. Looks like the reboot has boosted sales.
> Has it? Retailers often don't have a reasonable picture of how sales
> will settle until about issue #4...
But Paul didn't say "settle sales," he said "has boosted sales." New #1s
have a tendency to BOOST sales. Whether they stay at the boosted level or
not is an entirely different issue.
> Perhaps we should have a second chart for
> regular series (inc all mini series longer than four parts, but a new
> series can only be shown after three issues) so we can more
> realistically judge the performance of regular books.
This kind of tracking makes little sense to me in an era where various
gimmicks are tried all the time to boost short-term sales, from crossovers
to Events to reboots.
- Elayne
Elayne Riggs
>> > > Title 98/02 99/02 %Change
>> > > DAREDEVIL 25.5 79.5 211.8
>> > > TITANS 30.9 46.9 51.8
>> > > PETER PARKER SPIDER-MAN 55.7 73.5 32
>> > > AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 61.6 78.7 27.8
>> > > HULK 62.6 77.8 24.3
>> > Which is of course a tiny bit misleading, since these books have all
>> > been rebooted in the meantime.
>> Why is it misleading? Wasn't the whole idea of rebooting them to
>> increase their sales?
> I can't comment on Titans, but Hulk and the two Spidey books have had
> the reboot so recently that there simply haven't been enough issues to
> know how longterm sales have been affected.
I don't understand what reboots have to do with long-term sales. In most
cases (LSH being the possible exception) they're done for the quick sales
boost, same as events and crossovers are.
- Elayne
Tim Roll-Pickering
> >> Why is it misleading? Wasn't the whole idea of rebooting them to
> >> increase their sales?
> > I can't comment on Titans, but Hulk and the two Spidey books have had
> > the reboot so recently that there simply haven't been enough issues to
> > know how longterm sales have been affected.
> I don't understand what reboots have to do with long-term sales. In most
> cases (LSH being the possible exception) they're done for the quick sales
> boost, same as events and crossovers are.
I think they aimed to increase the general sales of a title for more
than just a few months at a time, which is why comparing some of the
very recent renumberings is very dubious. The ultimate test of whether a
renumbering works is surely the level of sales that a title settles at,
and about the earliest that can be judged is the sixth or seventh issue.
Paul O'Brien
writes
>Elayne Riggs wrote:
>
>> I don't understand what reboots have to do with long-term sales. In most
>> cases (LSH being the possible exception) they're done for the quick sales
>> boost, same as events and crossovers are.
The Heroes Reborn books did rack up a long-term increase in sales,
and it looks very much like Daredevil will achieve the same. Certainly
it doesn't seem to be dropping down the charts at any noticeable rate.
The Spider-Man books might yet return to their previous sales level.
But given the track record of these reboots in boosting long term
sales, I don't understand why you suggest there isn't a connection.
>I think they aimed to increase the general sales of a title for more
>than just a few months at a time, which is why comparing some of the
>very recent renumberings is very dubious. The ultimate test of whether a
>renumbering works is surely the level of sales that a title settles at,
>and about the earliest that can be judged is the sixth or seventh issue.
Agreed.
Matthigh
> This is below the cancellation point...
Um, according to who? Please quote your reliable source, please.
Tired,
- mlh
aa...@portup.com
Tom Brevoort, among others. Here's a citation:
From Message-ID: <199809130031...@ladder01.news.aol.com> in
rec.arts.comics.marvel.universe on 9/13/98:
>The 35,000 rule is a financial necessity, and it's applied equally to all of
>the books Marvel publishes. I don't see how that can be seen as particularly
>destructive, since it treats all titles and creators equally. If a book hasn't
>found enough of an audience to survive, it's bound to be cancelled. And 35,000
>copies is still a heckuva lot less that the cut-off was when I started in 1989.
Happy?
Aaron
-----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own
DrN...@hotmail.com
Yeah, I said it up there around the YJ and Black Panther entries. Plus I
said "a fourth book"; neat trick, if he drops one of the three he is working
onnow!
Anyhow, thanks for clearing that up on my behalf. I would hate to be
credited as the source of nasty misinformation.
And I read the Camping Out YJ, and I'm still not convinced to keep it.
Probably I'm just overly hard on it because it's a team book.
Take Care
Nate
Nick Eden
Riggs) wrote:
>Nick Eden <ni...@pheasnt.dont_spam_me.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> On Fri, 19 Feb 1999 23:57:55 GMT, bg...@torfree.net (Bob Heer) wrote:
>>
>> >Cool, thanks Michael.
>> >
>> >To provide some more context for those numbers, here's a comparison of
>> >some of the books with the figures Matt High posted a year ago, for
>> >February 1998, in order of their percentage change.
>> >
>> > Title 98/02 99/02 %Change
>> > DAREDEVIL 25.5 79.5 211.8
>> > TITANS 30.9 46.9 51.8
>> > PETER PARKER SPIDER-MAN 55.7 73.5 32
>> > AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 61.6 78.7 27.8
>> > HULK 62.6 77.8 24.3
>>
>> Which is of course a tiny bit misleading, since these books have all
>> been rebooted in the meantime.
>
>Why is it misleading? Wasn't the whole idea of rebooting them to
>increase their sales?
Perhaps I should have left the rest in for context. It's misleading in
that they generally aren't the same comics. (More or less) the same
title, and (generally) the central character is wearing the same
costume, but looking at figures alone you'd believe that the creators
are doing a good job and raising sales. Which they haven't.
Looking at Transmetropolitan with a welcome 18.8% rise in sales you'd
think that the Hulk's creative team had done an even more impressive
job to get their 24.3%. Except it's different people, and those people
are still on first issue boost.
Mikko Aittola
aa...@portup.com writes quoting darn near everybody:
> > > > 66 Cable 1999 Marvel 34.1
> > > This is below the cancellation point...
> >
> > Um, according to who? Please quote your reliable source, please.
>
> Tom Brevoort, among others. Here's a citation:
[Major speculation alert.]
My guess is that Brevoort was speaking mainly about the $2 books.
Annuals have higher cover price, so it might be that they're
profitable with a figure like that.
BTW, I suspect Slingers has not been canceled yet partly because it's
a $2.50 book.
Now, I don't read Deadpool and I'm sorry to say I couldn't care
less if it's canceled...but those who read it: Would it be
a good idea for Marvel to increase the price to $3 and see
if it would be profitable?
/Mikko
Tim Roll-Pickering
> > > This is below the cancellation point...
> > Um, according to who? Please quote your reliable source, please.
> Tom Brevoort, among others. Here's a citation:
> From Message-ID: <199809130031...@ladder01.news.aol.com> in
> rec.arts.comics.marvel.universe on 9/13/98:
> >The 35,000 rule is a financial necessity, and it's applied equally to all of
> >the books Marvel publishes. I don't see how that can be seen as particularly
> >destructive, since it treats all titles and creators equally. If a book hasn't
> >found enough of an audience to survive, it's bound to be cancelled. And 35,000
> >copies is still a heckuva lot less that the cut-off was when I started in 1989.
One obvious thing-the figures we have AREN'T the total sales in this
case.
And I recall reading that the reason why the two Manga books hadn't been
cut was because they sell at a higher price.
Todd VerBeek
>One obvious thing-the figures we have AREN'T the total sales in this case.
>And I recall reading that the reason why the two Manga books hadn't been
>cut was because they sell at a higher price.
Another reason could easily be the fact that they material is already
sitting on the shelf. Unless there are royalty or licensing fees to
reprint the material that are greater than the cost of producing a new
series from scratch (which I rather doubt), this would also tip the books
in their favour.
Cheers, Todd
Ojerasmus
>
>One obvious thing-the figures we have AREN'T the total sales in this
>case.
>And I recall reading that the reason why the two Manga books hadn't been
>cut was because they sell at a higher price.
>
>
>
While that couldn't hurt the reason I heard about the Manga
books was that they were already paid for so the overhead
is lower.
Owen Erasmus
Paul O'Brien
<matt...@aol.comPINKMEAT> writes
>> > 66 Cable 1999 Marvel 34.1
>
>
>Um, according to who? Please quote your reliable source, please.
The 35,000 figure has been quoted by Marvel editors before as being
roughly the cancellation point for ongoing stories. This, of course,
is an annual, and given that annuals are larger than normal issues
and sell at different prices, the same mathematics may not apply.
Mark Schlesinger
>In article <19990222045353...@ng138.aol.com>,
> matt...@aol.comPINKMEAT (Matthigh) wrote:
>>
>> > This is below the cancellation point...
>>
>> Um, according to who? Please quote your reliable source, please.
>
>
>From Message-ID: <199809130031...@ladder01.news.aol.com> in
>rec.arts.comics.marvel.universe on 9/13/98:
>
>>The 35,000 rule is a financial necessity, and it's applied equally to all of
>>the books Marvel publishes. I don't see how that can be seen as particularly
>>destructive, since it treats all titles and creators equally. If a book hasn't
>>found enough of an audience to survive, it's bound to be cancelled. And 35,000
>>copies is still a heckuva lot less that the cut-off was when I started in 1989.
>
>
The fact that Cable 1999 sold 34,100 pre-ordered from Diamond
does not mean that Cable 199 sold less than 35,000 copies. You have to
include re-orders and newstand sales in there also.
Mark
--
Mark Schlesinger When criminals in this world appear
schl...@primenet.com And break the laws that they should fear
Typical Boring Sig And frighten all who see and hear
The cry goes up both far and near for Underdog
Bart Gerardi
> I still suspect the five titles ahead of it are doing better,
>when you add THEIR 20%.
Doubt it.
Ahead of it are Danger Girl, which had 4 issues, Battle Chasers 4
issues, and Earth-X, a new #1. I doubt pretty highly that they out-sold
Spawn for the year. Yearly sales matter, no? Otherwise, Darkness and
Fathom are the top comics (Issue #11 and #1 respectively) right?
Bart
Aaron S. Veenstra
Schlesinger) wrote:
> The fact that Cable 1999 sold 34,100 pre-ordered from Diamond
> does not mean that Cable 199 sold less than 35,000 copies. You have to
> include re-orders and newstand sales in there also.
I doubt newsstand sales are factored into the 35K figure -- DEADPOOL is
the most often cited example, and it's hovering right around 35K in the
direct market. Perhaps TPTB take the direct figure as an indicator of the
newsstand figure, which they won't know exactly for some time afterward.
Aaron
--
_ _ _
/ \ \ \ / / | aa...@portup.com
/ 0 \ aron \ \/ / eenstra | http://www.etchouse.com
/_/ \_\ \__/ | graphic, web, multimedia design
John Northey
wanted to see the whole 300, so I tossed the data into Excel and ran
it. So, since we all know the disclaimers (I assume) I thought I'd
just toss the data out and let everyone have fun with the rest of the
story.
Sold $
Rank Rk # Title Price Publisher
1 3 130.8 UNCANNY X-MEN #367 $1.99 Marvel
2 4 129.3 X-MEN #87 $1.99 Marvel
3 2 109.4 BATTLE CHASERS #5 (RES) $2.50 DC
4 5 101.1 DANGER GIRL #5 (RES) $2.50 DC
5 1 98.9 EARTH X #1 $2.99 Marvel
6 9 98.1 SPAWN #83 $1.95 Image
7 12 90.0 AVENGERS #15 $1.99 Marvel
8 13 88.5 WOLVERINE #137 $1.99 Marvel
9 15 85.5 JLA #28 $1.99 DC
10 7 79.5 DAREDEVIL #6 $2.50 Marvel
11 17 78.7 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #4 $1.99 Marvel
12 6 77.8 HULK #1 $2.99 Marvel
13 21 73.5 PETER PARKER SPIDER-MAN #4 $1.99 Marvel
14 24 72.1 FANTASTIC FOUR #16 $1.99 Marvel
15 28 67.3 THOR #10 $1.99 Marvel
16 29 66.8 CAPTAIN AMERICA #16 $1.99 Marvel
17 31 66.5 GAMBIT #3 $1.99 Marvel
18 32 63.7 IRON MAN #15 $1.99 Marvel
19 33 62.6 MUTANT X #7 $1.99 Marvel
20 10 62.5 AVENGERS FOREVER #5 $2.99 Marvel
21 19 59.2 SPIDER-MAN CHAPTER 1 #6 $2.50 Marvel
22 20 58.6 WITCHBLADE #30 $2.50 Image
23 23 57.4 CRIMSON #9 $2.50 DC
24 25 55.0 DARKNESS #22 $2.50 Image
25 16 54.0 GENERATION X #50 $2.99 Marvel
26 18 49.9 X-MAN #50 $2.99 Marvel
27 50 49.6 X-FORCE #89 $1.99 Marvel
28 34 48.6 ARIA #3 $2.50 Image
29 22 48.5 INHUMANS #6 $2.99 Marvel
30 54 48.0 GREEN LANTERN #111 $1.99 DC
31 39 46.9 TITANS #2 $2.50 DC
32 59 46.6 SPIDER-GIRL #7 $1.99 Marvel
33 61 46.0 CABLE #66 $1.99 Marvel
34 62 45.7 BATMAN #564 $1.99 DC
35 27 44.9 THUNDERBOLTS #25 $2.99 Marvel
36 30 44.9 BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #6* $2.95 Dark Horse
37 51 43.7 KISS PSYCHO CIRCUS #17 $2.25 Image
38 65 43.2 DETECTIVE COMICS #731 $1.99 DC
39 66 43.0 NIGHTWING #30 $1.99 DC
40 41 42.7 CROW #1 $2.50 Image
41 42 42.0 BLACK PANTHER #6 $2.50 Marvel
42 69 41.1 ACTION COMICS #753 $1.99 DC
43 71 40.8 SUPERMAN #143 $1.99 DC
44 36 40.8 STAR WARS VADERS QUEST #1 $2.95 Dark Horse
45 37 40.8 BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER ORIGIN #2* $2.95 Dark Horse
46 72 39.8 ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #566 $1.99 DC
47 49 39.5 PREACHER #48 $2.50 DC
48 8 39.2 BATMAN & SUPERMAN WORLDS FINEST #1 $4.95 DC
49 52 39.2 WEBSPINNERS TALES OF SPIDER-MAN #4 $2.50 Marvel
50 76 38.4 CAPTAIN AMERICA S-LIBERTY #8 $1.99 Marvel
51 77 38.1 SUPERMAN THE MAN OF TOMORROW #13 $1.99 DC
52 55 37.9 GEN 13 #38 $2.50 DC
53 78 37.7 FLASH #147 $1.99 DC
54 56 37.6 PLANETARY #1 $2.50 DC
55 57 37.5 HOURMAN #1 $2.50 DC
56 58 37.3 YOUNG JUSTICE #7 $2.50 DC
57 11 37.1 SUPERMAN & BATMAN GENERATIONS #4 $4.95 DC
58 60 37 STAR WARS #3 $2.50 Dark Horse
59 79 36.7 DEADPOOL #27 $1.99 Marvel
60 81 36.4 BATMAN SHADOW O/T BAT #84 $1.99 DC
61 40 36.2 STAR WARS BOBA FETT ENEMY O/T EMP #2 $2.95 Dark Horse
62 84 34.8 BATMAN LEGENDS O/T DARK KNIGHT #116 $1.99 DC
63 64 34.5 ASCENSION #14 $2.50 Image
64 14 34.5 GREEN LANTERN THE NEW CORPS #2 $4.95 DC
65 44 34.5 TENTH BLACK EMBRACE #1 $2.95 Image
66 38 34.1 CABLE 1999 $3.50 Marvel
67 45 33.9 DOCTOR STRANGE #3 $2.99 Marvel
68 86 33.8 A NEXT #7 $1.99 Marvel
69 48 33.5 STAR WARS CRIMSON EMPIRE II #4 $2.95 Dark Horse
70 88 33.2 ROBIN #63 $1.99 DC
71 68 33.1 DARKMINDS #8 $2.50 Image
72 70 32.5 AVENGELYNE #1 $2.50 Awesome
73 74 30.9 SPIRIT OF TAO #8 $2.50 Image
74 91 30.8 CATWOMAN #67 $1.99 DC
75 94 29.7 SUPERGIRL #31 $1.99 DC
76 63 29.5 LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN #2 $2.95 DC
77 96 29.2 J2 #7 $1.99 Marvel
78 46 28.8 LADY DEATH VAMPIRELLA DARK HEARTS $3.50 Chaos
79 67 28.7 BATMAN CHRONICLES #16 $2.95 DC
80 83 28.2 STONE VOL 2 #1 $2.50 Image
81 97 28.0 SLINGERS #5 $1.99 Marvel
82 53 27.7 VAMPIRELLA LADY DEATH #1 $3.50 Harris
83 98 27.7 WONDER WOMAN #143 $1.99 DC
84 99 27.3 LEGENDS O/T DC UNIVERSE #15 $1.99 DC
85 26 27.2 FLASH 80 PAGE GIANT #2 $4.95 DC
86 100 27.1 MARTIAN MANHUNTER #5 $1.99 DC
87 85 27.0 STARMAN #52 $2.50 DC
88 87 26.5 GEN 13 WIRED $2.50 DC
89 112 25.3 BIRDS OF PREY #4 $1.99 DC
90 89 24.9 SUPERMANS NEMESIS LEX LUTHOR #2 $2.50 DC
91 113 24.7 BATMAN BEYOND #2 (RES) $1.99 DC
92 80 24.6 LADY DEATH #14 $2.95 Chaos
93 82 24.2 SANDMAN PRESENTS LUCIFER #2 $2.95 DC
94 92 24.2 COVEN VOL 2 #3 $2.50 Awesome
95 118 23.7 SUPERBOY #61 $1.99 DC
96 119 23.5 AQUAMAN #54 $1.99 DC
97 106 23.2 AZRAEL AGENT O/T BAT #51 $2.25 DC
98 105 21.1 HITMAN #36 $2.50 DC
99 90 20.9 DV8 #0 $2.95 DC
100 108 20.6 SAVAGE DRAGON #58 $2.50 Image
101 43 20.6 DC UNIVERSE VILLAINS SECRET FILES #1 $4.95 DC
102 35 20.4 DOCTOR MIDNITE #2 $5.95 DC
103 73 19.9 GRENDEL BLACK WHITE & RED #4 $3.95 Dark Horse
104 95 19.7 PURGATORI #6 $2.95 Chaos
105 114 19.6 LEGION OF SUPER HEROES #114 $2.50 DC
106 115 19.0 HELLBLAZER #136 $2.50 DC
107 117 18.9 LEGIONNAIRES #70 $2.50 DC
108 120 18.6 TRENCHCOAT BRIGADE #2 $2.50 DC
109 137 18.4 BATMAN THE GOTHAM ADVENTURES #11 $1.99 DC
110 93 18.4 POKEMON: ELECTRIC TALE OF PIKACHU #4 $3.25 Viz
111 121 18.3 SIMPSONS COMICS #41 $2.50 Bongo
112 101 18.1 SAILOR MOON #5 $2.95 Mixx
113 104 18.0 KABUKI #7 $2.95 Image
114 107 17.6 CONJURORS #1 $2.95 DC
115 109 17.4 HUMAN TARGET #1 $2.95 DC
116 131 17.3 IMPULSE #47 $2.25 DC
117 123 17.3 BODY DOUBLES #1 $2.50 DC
118 124 17.3 BOOKS OF MAGIC #59 $2.50 DC
119 111 17.2 INVISIBLES VOLUME 3 #12 $2.95 DC
120 125 16.9 DREAMING #35 $2.50 DC
121 47 16.6 FATHOM COLL ED #1 $5.95 Image
122 128 16.4 TRANSMETROPOLITAN #20 $2.50 DC
123 116 16.1 JONAH HEX SHADOWS WEST #3 $2.95 DC
124 132 15.6 FANBOY #2 $2.50 DC
125 133 15.4 RESURRECTION MAN #23 $2.50 DC
126 122 14.7 GIFTS O/T NIGHT #3 $2.95 DC
127 129 13.9 EVIL ERNIE #9 $2.95 Chaos
128 130 13.9 SERGIO ARAGONES GROO & RUFFERTO #3 $2.95 Dark Horse
129 103 13.3 HUMAN TORCH COMICS $3.99 Marvel
130 161 13.3 SUPERMAN ADVENTURES #30 $1.99 DC
131 134 13.0 GHOST VOL 2 STARE AT THE SUN #6 $2.95 Dark Horse
132 75 12.9 IMPULSE BART SAVES THE UNIVERSE $5.95 DC
133 135 12.5 DEITY VOL 2 #5 $2.95 Awesome
134 136 12.4 CREMATOR HELLS GUARDIAN #4 $2.95 Chaos
135 138 12.3 DEITY II CATSEYE #4 $2.95 Awesome
136 153 12.2 VEXT #2 $2.50 DC
137 144 12.2 STRANGERS IN PARADISE SONGS & LYRICS $2.75 Abstract
138 139 12.2 DRAGONBALL Z PART TWO #3 $2.95 Viz
139 154 12.1 LOBO #61 $2.50 DC
140 141 12.1 ALIENS APOCALYPSE DESTROY ANGELS #2 $2.95 Dark Horse
141 155 11.9 LADY PENDRAGON VOL 1 REMASTERED #1 $2.50 Image
142 126 11.8 J OBARRS THE CROW #2 $3.50 KIT
143 142 11.8 MORE THAN MORTAL TRUTHS & LEGENDS #5 $2.95 Liar
144 143 11.6 OH MY GODDESS: DEVIL IN MISS URD #4 $2.95 Dark Horse
145 146 11.1 ASH FIRE & CROSSFIRE #2 $2.95 Event
146 102 10.8 RESIDENT EVIL COMIC MAGAZINE #5 $4.95 DC
147 150 10.8 DRAGONBALL #12 $2.95 Viz
148 151 10.6 SMILEY PSYCHOTIC BUTTONS MOVIE SP $2.95 Chaos
149 152 10.5 GUNSMITH CATS BEAN BANDIT #2 $2.95 Dark Horse
150 127 10.3 DARKCHYLDE BATTLEBOOK* $3.99 Crusade
151 110 10.2 DARK MINDS #0 $5.00 AME
152 163 10.2 MINX #7 $2.50 DC
153 156 9.9 BLADE O/T IMMORTAL DARK SHADOWS #30 $2.95 Dark Horse
154 157 9.7 HEART THROBS #4 $2.95 DC
155 158 9.4 NEON GENESIS EVANGELION BOOK FOUR #1 $2.95 Viz
156 147 9.4 TICK & ARTHUR #1 $3.50 NEW
157 159 9.3 RANMA 1/2 PART SEVEN #13 $2.95 Viz
158 149 9.2 TICK HEROES O/T CITY #1 $3.50 NEW
159 168 8.8 MASAKAZU KATSURAS SHADOW LADY #5 $2.50 Dark Horse
160 175 8.7 CEREBUS #239 $2.25 Aardvark
161 145 8.4 EIGHTBALL #20 $3.95 Fantagraph
162 172 8.2 POISON ELVES #44 $2.50 Sirius
163 164 8.2 USAGI YOJIMBO #27 $2.95 Dark Horse
164 165 8.1 ELFQUEST #33 $2.95 WaRP
165 160 7.9 SIRIUS GALLERY PIN-UP COLLECTION V2 $3.41 Sirius
166 166 7.8 TONGUE LASH II #1 $2.95 Dark Horse
167 170 7.1 ZORROS LADY RAWHIDE OPB #1 $2.95 Image
168 200 6.9 SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #70 $1.79 Archie
169 174 6.8 SUBHUMAN #4 $2.95 Dark Horse
170 167 6.5 FAUST 777 THE WRATH #2 $3.50 AVA
171 140 6.5 MAGE THE HERO DISCOVERED BOOK VIII $5.50 Image
172 148 6.5 MAGE THE HERO DISCOVERED BOOK VII $4.95 Image
173 162 6.5 SATANIKA #11 (RES) $3.95 VER
174 176 6.3 DRAKUUN THE HIDDEN WAR (5 OF 6) #23 $2.95 Dark Horse
175 177 6.2 CHERRY #20 (A) $2.95 CHE
176 179 6.1 SLAYERS #5 $2.95 CEN
177 180 6.1 ARTESIA #2 $2.95 Sirius
178 181 6.0 KELLEY JONES HAMMER THE OUTSIDER #1 $2.95 Dark Horse
179 182 5.9 KABUKI CLASSICS #2 $2.95 Image
180 183 5.7 LITTLE RED HOT CHANE OF FOOLS #1 $2.95 Image
181 178 5.6 INU YASHA A FEUDAL FAIRY TALE PT2 #8 $3.25 Viz
182 186 5.6 DARK HORSE PRESENTS #140 $2.95 Dark Horse
183 195 5.6 KINI #1 $2.50 Image
184 219 5.4 KNUCKLES #24 $1.79 Archie
185 188 5.4 LODOSS WAR GREY WITCH #4 $2.95 CEN
186 221 5.4 SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH #25 $1.79 Archie
187 209 5.3 SCOOBY-DOO #21 $1.99 DC
188 189 5.2 TERRITORY #2 $2.95 Dark Horse
189 184 5.2 NO NEED FOR TENCHI PART SIX #4 $3.25 Viz
190 190 5.2 NIGHTWARRIORS DARKSTALKERS RVNG #4 $2.95 Viz
191 173 5.2 VAMPIRELLA HELL ON EARTH BATTLEBOOK $3.99 Crusade
192 193 5.2 WEDDING OF POPEYE AND OLIVE #1 $2.75 OCE
193 191 4.9 ADVS RHEUMY PEEPERS & CHUNKY HLTS #1 $2.95 Oni
194 192 4.9 ONI DOUBLE FEATURE #11 $2.95 Oni
195 218 4.9 ANIMANIACS: PINKY AND THE BRAIN #47 $1.99 DC
196 187 4.5 SILKY WHIP #11 (A) $3.50 ERO
197 206 4.4 DEADSIDE #1 $2.50 ACC
198 169 4.4 MIXXZINE VOL 2 #5 APR MAY 99 $4.99 Mixx
199 194 4.3 MAISON IKKOKU PART EIGHT #7 $3.25 Viz
200 197 4.3 VALHALLA #1 $2.99 Antarctic
201 171 4.2 CROW RAZOR KILL PAIN LOST CHAPTER $4.95 EH!
202 185 4.2 SEX PHILES #2 (A) $3.95 ERO
203 199 4.2 GOLD DIGGER #48 $2.99 Antarctic
204 201 4.0 BUFFY/VAMPIRE SLAYER PHOTO CVR #1 $2.95 Dark Horse
205 212 4.0 VAULT OF HORROR #27 $2.50 GEM
206 216 3.9 IMPACT #1 $2.50 GEM
207 217 3.9 ACES HIGH #1 $2.50 GEM
208 202 3.9 AREALA ANGEL OF WAR #3 $2.99 Antarctic
209 204 3.8 LUFTWAFFE 1946 #15 $2.99 Antarctic
210 242 3.8 ARCHIE #483 $1.79 Archie
211 222 3.8 NIO #4 $2.50 ACC
212 198 3.7 ORIGINAL BONDAGE FAIRIES #4 (A) $3.50 ERO
213 249 3.7 BETTY & VERONICA #135 $1.79 Archie
214 208 3.6 MEGATON MAN HARDCOPY #1 $2.95 Image
215 240 3.5 LOONEY TUNES #51 $1.99 DC
216 211 3.5 LEGEND OF LEMNEAR #14 $2.95 CEN
217 231 3.4 AKIKO #32 $2.50 Sirius
218 255 3.4 BETTY #73 $1.79 Archie
219 213 3.3 CAVEWOMAN PANGAEAN SEA PROLOGUE $2.95 BAS
220 215 3.3 KNIGHTS O/T DINNER TABLE #28 $2.95 KEN
221 214 3.3 ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST #107 $2.99 Archie
222 203 3.3 CUDA #4 $3.50 AVA
223 260 3.3 VERONICA #87 $1.79 Archie
224 261 3.3 CHERYL BLOSSOM #22 $1.79 Archie
225 196 3.3 WING BIRD VEROTIK GIRLS PIN UP BOOK $3.95 VER
226 225 3.0 VOLCANIC REVOLVER #2 $2.95 Oni
227 226 3.0 DESPERATE TIMES #5 $2.95 Image
228 227 3.0 NEW VAMPIRE MIYU VOL 3 #5 $2.95 STU
229 270 2.9 BETTY & VERONICA SPECTACULAR #35 $1.79 Archie
230 228 2.9 PALS N GALS DOUBLE DIGEST #40 $2.99 Archie
231 229 2.9 SPIDER-MAN MANGA #30 $2.99 Marvel
232 230 2.9 WARRIOR NUN BLACK & WHITE #17 $2.99 Antarctic
233 232 2.8 SPIDER-MAN MANGA #31 $2.99 Marvel
234 233 2.7 MEASLES #2 $2.95 Fantagraph
235 268 2.7 BETTY & VERONICA DIGEST #103 $1.99 Archie
236 243 2.7 WISP #1 $2.50 OKT
237 234 2.7 X-MEN MANGA #25 $2.99 Marvel
238 247 2.6 VIRTEX #3 $2.50 OKT
239 210 2.6 JINX TORSO #3 $3.95 Image
240 280 2.6 JUGHEAD #116 $1.79 Archie
241 250 2.6 WONDERLANDERS #2 $2.50 OKT
242 235 2.6 X-MEN MANGA #26 $2.99 Marvel
243 273 2.6 CARTOON NETWORK PRESENTS #20 $1.99 DC
244 274 2.6 FLINTSTONES AND THE JETSONS #20 $1.99 DC
245 236 2.6 WARHAMMER MONTHLY #12 $2.95 GAM
246 237 2.5 FUTABAKUN CHANGE VOL 2 #2 $2.95 STU
247 239 2.4 UROTSUKIDOJI LEGEND O/T OVERFIEND #8 (A)$2.95 CEN
248 220 2.4 DREAMSMITH STUDIOS BOOK #3 (RES) $3.95 DRE
249 241 2.4 SUPERMODELS IN THE RAINFOREST #3 $2.95 SIR
250 281 2.3 LAUGH DIGEST #149 $1.99 Archie
251 285 2.3 JUGHEAD WITH ARCHIE DIGEST #148 $1.99 Archie
252 245 2.3 BROKEN HALOS: NOTHING SACRED #3 $2.95 BRO
253 205 2.3 RAZOR DARKEST NIGHT #1 (RES) $4.95 EH!
254 248 2.2 DRAGON WARS #11 $2.95 STU
255 244 2.2 RAZOR GOTHIC #3 (RES) $3.00 EH!
256 251 2.2 NOBODY #4 $2.95 Oni
257 252 2.2 GENUS #34 (A) $2.95 RAD
258 207 2.2 RAZOR DARKEST NIGHT #2 $4.95 EH!
259 253 2.2 RAZOR GOTHIC #4 $3.00 EH!
260 254 2.1 SHADOWGEAR #1 $2.99 Antarctic
261 238 2.1 ARTBABE VOL 2 #4 $3.50 Fantagraph
262 256 2.0 NAUGHTY BITS #28 $2.95 Fantagraph
263 258 2.0 CRUSHER JOE #2 $2.95 STU
264 259 2.0 7TH SYSTEM #6 (RES) $2.95 Sirius
265 262 2.0 OGENKI CLINIC VOL 3 #6 (A) $2.95 STU
266 269 2.0 ACTION GIRL COMICS #17 $2.75 SLA
267 263 1.9 CRYPT OF CUM #1 (A) $2.95 ERO
268 264 1.9 EDDIE CAMPBELLS BACCHUS #42 $2.95 EDD
269 265 1.9 FEMFORCE SP RAYDA CYBERIAN CNCTN #1 $2.95 AC
270 267 1.9 FEMME KABUKI #4 (A) $2.95 STU
271 223 1.8 BATMAN PHANTOM STRANGER $4.95 DC
272 224 1.8 THRESHOLD #13 * $4.95 AVA
273 286 1.8 THREE GEEKS #9 $2.50 3 F
274 272 1.7 CHASSIS #0 $2.95 HUR
275 275 1.7 HYPER DOLLS VOL 2 #1 $2.95 STU
276 288 1.7 DECEPTION #2 $2.50 Image
277 276 1.7 FURRLOUGH #74 $2.95 RAD
278 278 1.7 PANTHEON #5 $2.95 LON
279 283 1.5 MECHANICAL MAN BLUES #2 $2.95 RAD
280 282 1.5 WEIRD #4 $2.99 DC
281 289 1.5 DEMON GIRLS X #1 (A) $2.95 ILL
282 290 1.4 VAMPEROTICA #49 $3.00 BRA
283 291 1.4 LORD FARRIS SLAVEMASTER #7 (A) $2.95 ERO
284 266 1.4 MYTHOLOGYS MISTRESSES (RES) $3.95 CAL
285 292 1.4 HOT TWISTED LOVE $2.95 ACT
286 271 1.4 NOWHERE #5 $3.75 DRA
287 294 1.4 GEAR #4 $2.95 FIR
288 295 1.3 ZEN COWGIRLS #1 $2.95 RAD
289 246 1.3 JLA IN CRISIS SECRET FILES #1 $4.95 DC
290 296 1.3 EMPTY LOVE STORIES 1999 $2.95 FUN
291 297 1.3 GREMLIN TROUBLE #16 $2.95 Antarctic
292 311 1.3 ELVIRA #70 $2.50 CLA
293 284 1.3 MADMAN IN MY MIRROR $3.50 KIT
294 277 1.3 SCARY GODMOTHER BLOODY VALENTINE #1 $3.95 Sirius
295 301 1.2 CRYSTAL BALLS #4 (A) $2.95 ERO
296 300 1.2 DOUBLE IMPACT ALIVE 2000 SPECIAL ED $3.00 ABC
297 303 1.2 LEMON KIDS #1 $2.95 ALT
298 302 1.2 BOX OFFICE POISON #13 $2.99 Antarctic
299 318 1.2 POE #15 $2.50 Sirius
300 313 1.2 CAPTAIN GRAVITY #3 $2.75 PEN
Sad to see so many quaity titles at the bottom, sub 2000 eh? Poor
Bendis, Torso is just #239. Also, some titles here are reorders (JLA
in Crisis for example). I filtered nothing and no, I have no interest
in trying to do % growth/drop.
John Northey.
Crazy Canadian and creator of the Fans of Teri Sue Wood site.
http://www.sentex.net/~jnorthey/TSW
Matthigh
Actually, yes. Thank you.
Mark Schlesinger
Aaron S. Veenstra <aa...@portup.com> wrote:
>In article <7asolt$ao8$1...@nnrp03.primenet.com>, schl...@primenet.com (Mark
>Schlesinger) wrote:
>
>> The fact that Cable 1999 sold 34,100 pre-ordered from Diamond
>> does not mean that Cable 199 sold less than 35,000 copies. You have to
>> include re-orders and newstand sales in there also.
>
>I doubt newsstand sales are factored into the 35K figure -- DEADPOOL is
>the most often cited example, and it's hovering right around 35K in the
>direct market. Perhaps TPTB take the direct figure as an indicator of the
>newsstand figure, which they won't know exactly for some time afterward.
>
2) The numbers given reflect pre-order sales only. They don't count
re-orders and late orders.
Any comic which is ~35K in pre-orders is most likely above 35K in
actual orders.
Kevin J. Maroney
>I doubt newsstand sales are factored into the 35K figure -- DEADPOOL is
>the most often cited example, and it's hovering right around 35K in the
>direct market. Perhaps TPTB take the direct figure as an indicator of the
>newsstand figure, which they won't know exactly for some time afterward.
It's possible that _Deadpool_ has negligible newsstand sales.
--
Kevin J. Maroney | Crossover Technologies | kmar...@crossover.com
"Love doesn't have a point. Love *is* the point."--Alan Moore
JohannaLD
>It's possible that _Deadpool_ has negligible newsstand sales.
Are all Marvel titles on the newsstand? I know not all the DC's are.
-- Johanna
Comics Worth Reading -- http://members.aol.com/johannald
James
If so, would someone be so kind as to post the URL or e-mail
it to me. :-)
I'd like to compare sales over the past few months.
Thanks so much!
James
skel...@vt.edu
Mute
>From: kmar...@crossover.com (Kevin J. Maroney)
>>It's possible that _Deadpool_ has negligible newsstand sales.
>Are all Marvel titles on the newsstand? I know not all the DC's are.
I've seen Deadpool on newstands in Australia, so I can only assume
that it is in the US as well.
Of course, it's never on the SAME newstand from month-to-month, but
I can't help that...
-Mute.
________________________
kirby...@flashnet.it
jnor...@SPAMISEVILsentex.net wrote:
> 54 56 37.6 PLANETARY #1 $2.50 DC
Well, don't get me wrong. As many many others I highly appreciated your
effort to carry on the Matthew High top selling-comics infos tradition.
But I wonder why Warren Ellis claimed in a Newsarama interview that Planetary
had 60K pre-orders, plus a strong re-orders activity. Either Ellis is a liar,
DC lied to him as an act of mercy, or the charts overestimated Planetary (and
maybe other books). Perhaps the index isn't correct.
I don't think that Planetary is even distributed in newstands or such. By the
way, it's a great book.
Andrea Materia (Rome, Italy)
Killans - First And Last And Always
>joha...@aol.com (JohannaLD) wrote:
>
>>From: kmar...@crossover.com (Kevin J. Maroney)
>
>>>It's possible that _Deadpool_ has negligible newsstand sales.
>
>>Are all Marvel titles on the newsstand? I know not all the DC's are.
>
> I've seen Deadpool on newstands in Australia, so I can only assume
>that it is in the US as well.
Presumably, though, that's down to Australian newsstand distributors.
And, presumably, it doesn't necessarily mean that US newsstand
distributors put the same stuff on US newsstands.
Or have I got it wrong?
Mike
--
Mike Collins
Paul O'Brien
writes
>
>But I wonder why Warren Ellis claimed in a Newsarama interview that Planetary
>had 60K pre-orders, plus a strong re-orders activity. Either Ellis is a liar,
>DC lied to him as an act of mercy, or the charts overestimated Planetary (and
>maybe other books). Perhaps the index isn't correct.
The chart doesn't include newsstand sales. Possibly the 60K figure
includes those. Having said, if that's the case, a hefty chunk of
the 60K will be returnable.
Carl Henderson
>In article <7b147v$n16$1...@nnrp1.dejanews.com>, kirby...@flashnet.it
>writes
>>
>>But I wonder why Warren Ellis claimed in a Newsarama interview that Planetary
>>had 60K pre-orders, plus a strong re-orders activity. Either Ellis is a liar,
>>DC lied to him as an act of mercy, or the charts overestimated Planetary (and
>>maybe other books). Perhaps the index isn't correct.
>
>The chart doesn't include newsstand sales. Possibly the 60K figure
>includes those. Having said, if that's the case, a hefty chunk of
>the 60K will be returnable.
I don't believe that PLANETARY was distributed on newstands. At least, none of
the newstands in my area appeared to have it.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Carl Henderson
carl.he...@airmail.net
------------------------------------------------------------------
Carl Henderson
>In article <36d63758...@news.sentex.net>,
> jnor...@SPAMISEVILsentex.net wrote:
>
>
>effort to carry on the Matthew High top selling-comics infos tradition.
>
>had 60K pre-orders, plus a strong re-orders activity. Either Ellis is a liar,
>DC lied to him as an act of mercy, or the charts overestimated Planetary (and
>maybe other books). Perhaps the index isn't correct.
I don't think Warren Ellis or DC have to be lying about this.
What you are forgetting is that these charts are based on Diamond's
PRE-ORDERS. They don't take into account advance re-orders (i.e., re-orders
that are made before the book actually comes out). Many people tend to lump
advance re-orders in with pre-orders when talking of sales. With comic shop
owners ordering more conservatively than ever, advance re-orders can be
significant on a book with a good pre-release "buzz" like PLANETARY.
Also, keep in mind that these sales charts cover sale in the United States and
Canada. Warren Ellis is fairly popular in Europe. And European sales alone
could easily add another 10K to the totals.
Jochen Garcke
> Also, keep in mind that these sales charts cover sale in the United
> States and Canada. Warren Ellis is fairly popular in Europe. And European
> sales alone could easily add another 10K to the totals.
Are you sure about the 'these sales charts cover sale in the United
States and Canada' ? The European comic shops get their US-comics
also from Diamond, so I would guess these numbers are worldwide.
UT,
Jochen
--
Jochen Garcke
Institut fuer Angewandte Mathematik, Universitaet Bonn
http://garcke.ComicWebWorld.nu
http://GCD.ComicWebWorld.Nu GCD Deutschland
Tim Roll-Pickering
> > Also, keep in mind that these sales charts cover sale in the United
> > States and Canada. Warren Ellis is fairly popular in Europe. And European
> > sales alone could easily add another 10K to the totals.
> Are you sure about the 'these sales charts cover sale in the United
> States and Canada' ? The European comic shops get their US-comics
> also from Diamond, so I would guess these numbers are worldwide.
I'm not too certain. I recall a few years ago when Marvel abandoned
Heroes World that it was stated that UK distribution had not been
handled by HW, but instead by a different group, and I don't know
whether that is still the case.
Bob Heer
> joha...@aol.com (JohannaLD) wrote:
> >From: kmar...@crossover.com (Kevin J. Maroney)
>
> >>It's possible that _Deadpool_ has negligible newsstand sales.
>
> >Are all Marvel titles on the newsstand? I know not all the DC's are.
>
> I've seen Deadpool on newstands in Australia, so I can only assume
> that it is in the US as well.
>
> I can't help that...
Are the copies you get in Australia (newstand and comic shop) the same as
the ones we get here (do they have a US/Canadian cover price, or an
Australian price printed on the cover)?
As far as I know, the most reliable way to tell if DC/Marvel books are
available on newstands is that direct-only books don't have the one inch
colour-coded bars across the top to tell newstands when to pull certain
books for returns (with DC books you can also just check their listings in
Previews). When I checked a while ago (after noticing that for some
reason DC apparently distributed =all= the "1,000,000" books to newstands,
so they were all colour-barred. Not sure if that was a good idea, since
while most of them were at least stand-alone stories they also seemed
contrived and not indicative of the regular series. And several were
final issues of books which weren't on newstands to begin with) DEADPOOL
and THUNDERBOLTS were among the few on-going Marvel books without the bars
(some minis also didn't have it).
Anyone with a good selection of recent Marvel books want to check which
ones have the bars and which don't?
Bob Heer bg...@torfree.net http://www.geocities.com/area51/dimension/1428
--
It is hard to live in a land where everyone thinks you are as stupid as you
used to be...
--
kirby...@flashnet.it
<393B715E3DAACB33.8316BCCF...@library-proxy.airnews.net
>, carl.he...@airmail.net (Carl Henderson) wrote:
> In article <7b147v$n16$1...@nnrp1.dejanews.com>, kirby...@flashnet.it wrote:
> >I wonder why Warren Ellis claimed in a Newsarama interview that Planetary
> >had 60K pre-orders, plus a strong re-orders activity. Either Ellis is a liar,
> >DC lied to him as an act of mercy, or the charts overestimated Planetary (and
> >maybe other books). Perhaps the index isn't correct.
>
> I don't think Warren Ellis or DC have to be lying about this.
>
> What you are forgetting is that these charts are based on Diamond's
> PRE-ORDERS. They don't take into account advance re-orders (i.e., re-orders
> that are made before the book actually comes out). Many people tend to lump
> advance re-orders in with pre-orders when talking of sales. With comic shop
> owners ordering more conservatively than ever, advance re-orders can be
> significant on a book with a good pre-release "buzz" like PLANETARY.
>
> Also, keep in mind that these sales charts cover sale in the United States and
> Canada. Warren Ellis is fairly popular in Europe. And European sales alone
> could easily add another 10K to the totals.
Carl, thanks for your reply. Unfortunately, in Europe not even the best
selling ever Warren Ellis _translated_ book sells one tenth of Dragonball Z.
US comics simply aren't popular anymore in the Old Continent. And, anyway, as
I said, consumers buy translated editions. I don't think that UK only can add
10K to a comic print run.
Besides, I always thought that Diamond charts refer to worldwide pre-orders.
But that's not the point. Warren Ellis talked about 60K pre-orders. He hoped
to go even up with re-orders. But let's assume he based his calculations on
pre plus re-orders. Matthew High often said that re-orders are about 3% of
the total print run. I don't think that in Planetary case, DC had 23K of
re-orders.
Since I don't work in the comics distribution field, I would like to hear
from a pro about that.
kirby...@flashnet.it
hey, I'm the editor of the Italian Lobo magazine (a 72-page monthly stapled
comic book, no ads, quality paper, with reprinted contents from Lobo, Hitman
and Major Bummer) so... whoever said that, he was right. At least as far as
Italy is concerned.
In Italy Lobo outsells Superman and Batman. Slightly, but regularly since its
first appearance. I don't know about Marvel Italy print runs, but, although
Marvel is more popular in Italy than DC the numbers don't change
dramatically. Spidey sells better than Lobo. Lobo sells better than Supes.
But together they don't even sell one tenth of Dylan Dog or Nathan Never (see
Dark Horse solicitations for March and April to check them out).
Paul O'Brien
proxy.airnews.net>, Carl Henderson <carl.he...@airmail.net> writes
>
>Also, keep in mind that these sales charts cover sale in the United States and
>Canada. Warren Ellis is fairly popular in Europe. And European sales alone
>could easily add another 10K to the totals.
Diamond distribute in the UK as well - are you sure British figures
aren't included?
David Crowe
: I don't remember who wrote about Lobo being fairly popular in Europe, but,
: hey, I'm the editor of the Italian Lobo magazine (a 72-page monthly stapled
: comic book, no ads, quality paper, with reprinted contents from Lobo, Hitman
: and Major Bummer) so... whoever said that, he was right. At least as far as
: Italy is concerned.
: In Italy Lobo outsells Superman and Batman. Slightly, but regularly since its
: first appearance. I don't know about Marvel Italy print runs, but, although
: Marvel is more popular in Italy than DC the numbers don't change
: dramatically. Spidey sells better than Lobo. Lobo sells better than Supes.
: But together they don't even sell one tenth of Dylan Dog or Nathan Never (see
: Dark Horse solicitations for March and April to check them out).
Any ideas as to why Lobo sells so well there? Is he similar to popular
local characters is some way? Does he touch some chord in the Italian
psyche? I'm curious as to how what is basically a one-joke character can
outsell the iconic Superman.
--
David "No Nickname" Crowe http://www.primenet.com/~jetman
"Fool! You have not the _strength_ to kill..."
-Slaymaster's last words, Captain Britain TPB
Matthigh
aren't included?<<
It represents pre-order sales for all comic books sold through DIAMOND -
regardless of whether the person ordering the comic book is in Iowa, Sweden, or
New Zealand. However, the overwhelming majority of Diamond's comic book sales
are in the United States (of course) and to a lesser extent, Canada and
England.
Personally, if Warren Ellis says that DC had preorders of 60K on his book, I'd
tend to believe him. On a "hot" book like Planetary, I could imagine initial
pre-orders of 34K, with an additional 6-8K advance pre-orders (i.e. orders for
the book after the orders are officially due, but before it actually ships),
plus another 1-2K "cushion" by Diamond to handle reorders for a few weeks, plus
additional sales to non-direct-market markets outside of Diamond...adding up to
60K if you add everything together.
It bears repeating that "Diamond pre-orders" are not the end-all, be-all of
comic book sales. For many books, it can be a very poor indicator of actual
sales. For example: Clerks #1 sold some 30-40K in advance orders ON THE
CHARTS, but has sold around 100K to date. Another example: when I used to
work for Antarctic, we sold around 5-6K of Bondage Fairies #1 ON THE CHARTS,
but two to three times that many copies through mail order, conventions, direct
to retailers, other distributors, etc, etc. Another good example would be
anything published by Archie, where Diamond only represents 10-15% of their
total sales.
So what ARE the Diamond charts actually good for? Exact sales figures -
definitely NOT. But they are good for COMPARATIVE SALES - to see how one comic
book sells compared to another, or how well one comic book sells over a long
period of time. It is the most accurate for long-running, regularly-published
titles, such as X-Men, or Superman, or Spawn. It is the least accurate for
"hot" books, irregularly-published titles (i.e. less than bimonthly), or comics
that have historically strong sales outside of the comic book direct market.
As always, take ALL sales figures with a grain of salt.
BTW, the old "Sales Estimates Web Page" that used to be at texas.net is moving
because I have moved - from Texas to California. Now that I am more settled,
it will return soon, with new, up-to-date information, and it will be located
at *either* www.radiocomix.com, or at www.coldcut.com - not sure which one yet.
Stay tuned!
- Matthew High, Cold Cut Distribution.
WindyTWise
>>>Diamond distribute in the UK as well - are you sure British figures
>aren't included?<<
>
>It represents pre-order sales for all comic books sold through DIAMOND -
>regardless of whether the person ordering the comic book is in Iowa, Sweden,
>or
>New Zealand. However, the overwhelming majority of Diamond's comic book
>sales
>are in the United States (of course) and to a lesser extent, Canada and
>England.
>
>
>It bears repeating that "Diamond pre-orders" are not the end-all, be-all of
>comic book sales. For many books, it can be a very poor indicator of actual
>sales. For example: Clerks #1 sold some 30-40K in advance orders ON THE
>CHARTS, but has sold around 100K to date. Another example: when I used to
>work for Antarctic, we sold around 5-6K of Bondage Fairies #1 ON THE CHARTS,
>but two to three times that many copies through mail order, conventions,
>direct
>to retailers, other distributors, etc, etc. Another good example would be
>anything published by Archie, where Diamond only represents 10-15% of their
>total sales.
No question that individual book stats will vary from the actual pre-order
sales, and the lower on the charts the book is, the more misleading the
pre-order numbers from Diamond can be.
Archie is a great exception for obvious reasons.
>So what ARE the Diamond charts actually good for? Exact sales figures -
>definitely NOT. But they are good for COMPARATIVE SALES - to see how one
>comic
>book sells compared to another, or how well one comic book sells over a long
>period of time. It is the most accurate for long-running,
>regularly-published
>titles, such as X-Men, or Superman, or Spawn. It is the least accurate for
>"hot" books, irregularly-published titles (i.e. less than bimonthly), or
>comics
>that have historically strong sales outside of the comic book direct market.
>
>As always, take ALL sales figures with a grain of salt.
I couldn't have said it better myself. Thanks as always.
>
>BTW, the old "Sales Estimates Web Page" that used to be at texas.net is
>moving
>because I have moved - from Texas to California. Now that I am more settled,
>it will return soon, with new, up-to-date information, and it will be located
>at *either* www.radiocomix.com, or at www.coldcut.com - not sure which one
>yet.
> Stay tuned!
As always, Matt. And I will gravy train off of your numbers to update my chart
when I can get those numbers.
Walt Stone
an updated and link corrected (2/8/99) list of E-Texts of H. Rider Haggard
(Allan Quatermain, King Solomon's Mine, etc) are at:
http://members.aol.com/windytwise/sales.htm
Mute
> mute...@hotmail.com (Mute) wrote
>> joha...@aol.com (JohannaLD) wrote:
>> >From: kmar...@crossover.com (Kevin J. Maroney)
>>
>> >>It's possible that _Deadpool_ has negligible newsstand sales.
>>
>> >Are all Marvel titles on the newsstand? I know not all the DC's are.
>>
>> I've seen Deadpool on newstands in Australia, so I can only assume
>> that it is in the US as well.
>>
>> Of course, it's never on the SAME newstand from month-to-month, but
>> I can't help that...
>Are the copies you get in Australia (newstand and comic shop) the same as
>the ones we get here (do they have a US/Canadian cover price, or an
>Australian price printed on the cover)?
Imported American editions, with the US/C prices.
-Mute.
________________________
Mute
>In article <36d3...@news3.us.ibm.net>, Mute <mute...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>joha...@aol.com (JohannaLD) wrote:
>>
>>>From: kmar...@crossover.com (Kevin J. Maroney)
>>
>>>>It's possible that _Deadpool_ has negligible newsstand sales.
>>
>>>Are all Marvel titles on the newsstand? I know not all the DC's are.
>>
>> I've seen Deadpool on newstands in Australia, so I can only assume
>>that it is in the US as well.
>Presumably, though, that's down to Australian newsstand distributors.
>And, presumably, it doesn't necessarily mean that US newsstand
>distributors put the same stuff on US newsstands.
>Or have I got it wrong?
Well, I figure Marvel wouldn't send stuff to foreign newstands that
they only distribute through Diamond in the States...
-Mute.
________________________
Killans - First And Last And Always
Marvel doesn't send any comics to any newsstands. As I understand it,
Marvel will send any comics to any distributor who's willing to pay
for them, and the distributor can do whatever he or she likes with them.
If US distributors don't want Deadpool, then they won't get it. If
Oz distributors want it, they'll get it.
At least, that's my understanding. Maybe there's more to it than that?
Does Marvel only offer certain titles to newsstand distributors? Do
the offer a package, so that distributors don't have to choose titles?
If so, Marvel would want to select only titles that they felt would
sell enough to keep the distributors coming back for more. Maybe they
feel that Deadpool would sell better in the Oz market?
Anyone out there know?
SRoweCanoe
>Marvel will send any comics to any distributor who's willing to pay
>for them, and the distributor can do whatever he or she likes with them.
>If US distributors don't want Deadpool, then they won't get it. If
>Oz distributors want it, they'll get it.
>
>At least, that's my understanding. Maybe there's more to it than that?
>Does Marvel only offer certain titles to newsstand distributors? Do
>the offer a package, so that distributors don't have to choose titles?
>If so, Marvel would want to select only titles that they felt would
>sell enough to keep the distributors coming back for more. Maybe they
>feel that Deadpool would sell better in the Oz market?
>
>Anyone out there know?
Since all newstand comics are returnable, and paument is not made till
afterwards, Marvel is very picky about what they send to distributors.
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Killans - First And Last And Always
SRoweCanoe <srowe...@aol.comUNSPAM> wrote:
>>Marvel doesn't send any comics to any newsstands. As I understand it,
>>Marvel will send any comics to any distributor who's willing to pay
>>for them, and the distributor can do whatever he or she likes with them.
>>If US distributors don't want Deadpool, then they won't get it. If
>>Oz distributors want it, they'll get it.
>>
>>At least, that's my understanding. Maybe there's more to it than that?
>>Does Marvel only offer certain titles to newsstand distributors? Do
>>the offer a package, so that distributors don't have to choose titles?
>>If so, Marvel would want to select only titles that they felt would
>>sell enough to keep the distributors coming back for more. Maybe they
>>feel that Deadpool would sell better in the Oz market?
>>
>>Anyone out there know?
>
>Since all newstand comics are returnable, and paument is not made till
>afterwards, Marvel is very picky about what they send to distributors.
So they only offer the titles that they know will have the highest
percentage of sales (i.e. lowest returns)? Makes sense to me. I
wonder why they push Deadpool on Aussie newsstand distributors if
it's not considered popular enough for US ones?
WindyTWise
>>>At least, that's my understanding. Maybe there's more to it than that?
>>>Does Marvel only offer certain titles to newsstand distributors? Do
>>>the offer a package, so that distributors don't have to choose titles?
>>>If so, Marvel would want to select only titles that they felt would
>>>sell enough to keep the distributors coming back for more. Maybe they
>>>feel that Deadpool would sell better in the Oz market?
>>>
>>>Anyone out there know?
>>
>>Since all newstand comics are returnable, and paument is not made till
>>afterwards, Marvel is very picky about what they send to distributors.
>
>So they only offer the titles that they know will have the highest
>percentage of sales (i.e. lowest returns)? Makes sense to me. I
>wonder why they push Deadpool on Aussie newsstand distributors if
>it's not considered popular enough for US ones?
>
Well, I don't know anything, but I'd be willing to wager a buck or two that
there are packages of titles. If specific requests on top of a minimum package
deal is made, I would bet that the "returnable" policy for the requested titles
wouldn't be in effect. Packages of titles are pretty obvious if one goes to
various newstand type outlets. For example look at a single one sided
"spinner" rack (like mounted on a wall in the toy section of a large grocery
store, etc. I'm sure there are deals on this, as the selection of comics with
a location like that is different from that of a large super magazine store or
bookstore chain. For example, if there are only eight slots for comics in a
grocery store, I'd wager that Sonic is going to have one of those slots.
That's 12% of the rack, and I'd bet there wouldn't be any Spawn to be found.
The reasons for this is pretty clear to me, and makes perfect sense.
There is probably a decent breakdown on how the various distributors handle
various displays. But requesting specific titles by the distributor?
I'd like to read if this actually happens, but it doesn't make too much sense
on the surface.
Actually knowing the breakdown of the stats on demographics and the buying
numbers off of the newstands would be interesting.
Lastly, most of us have a few anecdotal pieces of evidence on newstand buyers
(of comics), and I'm no exception. I have a few thoughts on this I'll keep to
myself. Suffice to say that if I ever do a comic that would be targeted at the
under 15 age group, I know what to do when it comes to designing the cover in
order to get the newstand buyers to pick up the comic. It seems covers make a
lot of difference to the buyers at the newstands than what is thought to appeal
to the die-hard comic fan.
At least in my opinion.