INFO: Top-selling comics for October 1996
AP's Matt
As always, comments are greatly appreciated. Also, new sales charts
have recently been published in Marvel Vision and Comics Retailer -
I'll get to those later.
-------------------
Top-selling Comics for October 1996, based on pre-orders
through Diamond Distributors. These figures do not include
Marvel Comics.
estimated #
# Title Publisher sold (1000's)
1 Spawn the Impaler #1 Image 173.0
2 Spawn #55 Image 163.1
3 DC Marvel Access #1 DC 150.8
4 Curse of the Spawn Part 2 Image 137.1
5 Gen 13 #14 Image 122.1
6 Witchblade #10 Top Cow 92.5
7 Lady Death the Crucible #1 Chaos 91.8
8 Tales of the Witchblade #1 Top Cow 87.4
9 Green Lantern #81 DC 72.4
10 Star Wars Shadows Empire #6 Dark Horse 71.1
11 X-Files #23 Topps 70.8
12 Batman #537 DC 70.1
13 Darkchylde Glory #1 Image 68.9
14 Supergirl #4 DC 67.4
15 Wildcats #33 Image 66.4
16 Darkchylde Avengelyne #1 Maximum Pr 65.2
17 Star Wars Golden Age Sith #1 Dark Horse 65.2
18 Detective Comics #704 DC 64.2
19 Batman The Long Halloween #1 DC 63.3
20 Superman #118 DC 62.8
21 Nightwing #3 DC 56.7
22 X-Files Season One #4 Topps 56.3
23 Crypt of Dawn #1 Sirius 54.6
24 Batman Shadow of the Bat #57 DC 54.0
25 Superman Wonder Woman #1 DC 53.4
26 Batman Legends Dark Kn #89 DC 51.6
27 Robin #36 DC 51.3
28 Preacher #20 DC 51.3
29 Preacher Special Story #1 DC 49.8
30 Batman Death of Innocents #1 DC 49.3
31 Flash #120 DC 49.2
32 Robin Plus #1 DC 49.0
33 Catwoman #40 DC 48.4
34 Lady Death Women Gallery #1 Chaos 47.4
35 Worlds Finest Superboy #1 DC 46.7
36 Shi Kaidan #1 Crusade 45.8
37 Wonder Woman #116 DC 44.9
38 Green Lantern Plus #1 DC 44.2
39 The Dreaming #7 DC 43.9
40 Wetworks #22 Image 43.0
41 Cyberforce #28 Top Cow 42.7
42 Batman Gordons Law #1 DC 41.1
43 Avengelyne #0 Maximum Pr 40.9
44 Azrael #24 DC 40.7
45 Astro City vol. 2 #3 Homage 39.2
46 Teen Titans #3 DC 39.0
47 Azrael Plus #1 DC 38.6
48 Superboy #34 DC 37.5
49 Wonder Woman Annual #2 DC 37.3
50 Weapon Zero #8 Top Cow 36.0
51 Backlash #25 Image 35.2
52 Impulse #20 DC 34.5
53 Hitman #9 DC 34.5
54 Superman Adventures #2 DC 34.4
55 Aquaman #27 DC 34.2
56 Glory Celestine Dark Ang #2 Image 34.1
57 Birds of Prey Manhunt #4 DC 33.7
58 X-O Manowar vol. 2 #1 Acclaim 33.4
59 Grifter #4 Image 33.0
60 House of Secrets #3 DC 31.9
61 Superboy and the Ravers #4 DC 31.8
62 Starman #25 DC 31.3
63 BW Smith Storyteller #1 Dark Horse 31.1
64 Books of Magic #31 DC 30.8
65 Vampirella 25th Anniv Spec Harris 30.4
66 Stormwatch #41 Image 30.3
67 Hellboy Wake the Devil #5 Dark Horse 30.1
68 Brass #3 Image 28.6
69 Crow Wild Justice #1 Kitchen Sink 28.4
70 Legion of Superheroes #87 DC 27.8
71 Glory #16 Image 27.7
72 Legionnaires #43 DC 27.3
73 Batman and Robin Advent #13 DC 27.2
74 Vampirella Strikes #7 Harris 27.1
75 Lobo Demon Helloween #1 DC 26.2
76 Lady Rawhide #1 Topps 26.1
77 Allegra #3 Image 26.0
78 Strangers in Paradise v3 #2 Homage 25.4
79 Night Force #1 DC 25.2
80 Treehouse of Horrors #1 Bongo 25.0
81 Simpsons #25 Bongo 24.9
82 Hellblazer #108 DC 24.9
83 Bloody Mary #3 DC 24.7
84 Legionnaires Annual #3 DC 24.3
85 Razor #1 London Night 24.2
86 Power of Shazam #21 DC 24.0
87 Lobo #34 DC 23.9
88 Tempest #2 DC 23.9
89 Evil Ernie #1 Chaos 23.7
90 Friends of Maxx #2 Image 23.5
91 Lobo Death and Taxes #3 DC 23.3
92 Savage Dragon Destroyer D #1 Image 23.3
93 Sovereign Seven #17 DC 23.2
94 New Gods #13 DC 23.2
95 Ash Fire Within #3 cover A Event 22.5
96 Madman Comics #11 Dark Horse 22.4
97 Predator Dark River #4 Dark Horse 22.3
98 Green Arrow #115 DC 21.9
99 Black Lamb #2 DC 21.8
100 Youngblood #13 Image 21.8
101 Grifter and the Mask #2 Dark Horse 21.7
102 Sandman Mystery Theatre #45 DC 21.6
103 Spectre #48 DC 21.6
104 Green Lantern #81 DC 21.5
105 Green Lantern Gallery #1 DC 21.4
106 Lady Supreme #4 Image 21.3
107 Tomoe #1 Crusade 20.8
108 Ess. Vertigo Sandman #5 DC 20.7
109 Sovereign Seven Annual #2 DC 20.5
110 Terminal City #6 DC 20.5
111 Supreme #43 Image 20.2
112 Showcase 96 #11 DC 20.0
113 Leave It To Chance #2 Homage 19.7
114 Scare Tactics #1 DC 19.4
115 Ash Fire Within #3 cover B Event 19.3
116 Steel #33 DC 19.1
117 Aztek The Ultimate Man #5 DC 19.1
118 Mythos The Final Tour #1 DC 19.1
119 Stray Bullets #11 El Capitan 18.2
120 Bone #12 reprint Image 17.7
121 Bionix #1 Maximum Pr 17.6
122 Decade of Dark Horse #4 Dark Horse 17.3
123 Space Jam #1 DC 17.1
124 Seekers Into Mystery #11 DC 16.6
125 Teenage Mutant Ninja Tur #4 Image 16.6
126 Grendel Devils Legacy #3 Dark Horse 16.4
127 Battlestar Galac Journeys #4 Maximum Pr 16.2
128 1111 #1 Crusade 16.2
129 Cyberella #4 DC 16.1
130 Body Bags #3 Dark Horse 15.8
131 Poison Elves #17 Sirius 15.7
132 Power Rangers Zeo Youngbl #1 Image 15.7
133 Jaguar God #6 Verotik 15.5
134 Satanika #5 Verotik 15.0
135 Black Pearl #2 Dark Horse 14.7
136 Newmen #23 Image 14.5
137 Vermillion #3 DC 14.4
138 Blood A Tale #2 DC 14.2
139 Elfquest #6 Warp Graphics 14.2
140 Dark Horse Presents #114 Dark Horse 14.2
141 ER Burroughs Tarzan #4 Dark Horse 13.9
142 Priest #3 Maximum Pr 13.4
143 Hate #25 Fantagraphics 13.3
144 Ranma 1/2 V #11 Viz 12.9
145 Gunsmith Cats Return Grey #3 Dark Horse 12.7
146 Power Rangers Zeo #2 Image 12.6
147 Vanguard Strange Visitors #1 Image 12.6
148 Vertigo Verite Unseen H #4 DC 12.6
149 Hazard #6 Image 12.6
150 Gemini Blood #4 DC 12.6
The top-selling comic books from publishers that did not
quite make it into the top 150...
154 Cerebus #211 Aardvark-Van 12.2
167 Hari Kari Rebirth #1 Blackout 10.0
169 Mike Danger #7 Big Entertain 9.8
172 Knights on Broadway #4 Broadway 9.6
173 Donald Duck #300 Gladstone 9.5
176 Horseman #2 Kevlar Studios 9.3
181 Lillith Demon Princess #2 Antarctic Pr 8.8
182 China Jazz Code Name Doub #1 High Impact 8.7
183 Sabrina Teenage Witch #1 Archie 8.6
188 Pandora #1 Brainstorm 7.7
193 Tales From the Crypt #18 Gemstone 7.0
197 Snowman 1944 #1 Entity 6.8
208 6 Lethal Origins #1 Byron Preiss 6.2
209 La Blue Girl #4 Central Park 6.0
215 Araknis #5 Mushroom 5.8
218 Berlin #3 Black Eye 5.6
222 Tribe #0 Good Comics 5.5
224 Hellina Hells Angel #1 Lightning 5.5
245 Bacchus #18 Eddie Campbell 4.4
246 Star Blazers #8 Argo Press 4.4
251 Gothic Nights Two Rebel Studios 4.3
252 Lost #1 Caliber 4.3
255 Joe Psycho and Moo Frog #2 Goblin Studios 4.1
257 Vampire Bayne vol. 2 #1 Comico 4.0
259 Archangels the Saga #4 Eternal St 3.9
268 Tug and Buster #6 Art and Soul 3.7
270 Warrior #3 Ultimate 3.6
280 Milk and Cheese Other #1 Slave Labor 3.2
295 Blue Dog #1 Ground Zero 2.6
Comic Book Market Share, October 1996:
1 DC Comics 32.86%
2 Image Comics 14.54%
3 Dark Horse 7.37%
4 Top Cow 3.72%
5 Topps 3.31%
6 Wizard Press 3.21%
7 Maximum Press 2.52%
8 Chaos! Comics 2.41%
9 Viz Communications 1.60%
10 Fantagraphics/Eros 1.58%
Note: This information was obtained from Diamond Distrib-
ution's DIAMOND DIALOGUE, which publishes various sales
charts every month, and is available to comics retailers.
This listing includes sales of all comic books (excluding
Marvel) sold through Diamond, which
constitutes 98-99% of all direct market comic book sales.
This list only includes pre-orders, and does not include
advance reorders, reorders, or cancellations. This listing
also does not include trade paperbacks, magazines, or other
non-comic items.
John Holbrook
AP's Matt wrote:
>
> As always, comments are greatly appreciated.
This is really facinating information - thanks for the effort!
>Also, new sales charts
> have recently been published in Marvel Vision and Comics Retailer -
> I'll get to those later.
Any way you could weave MARVEL's sales figures into the below?
Would make for interesting comparisons.
>
> -------------------
>
> Top-selling Comics for October 1996, based on pre-orders
> through Diamond Distributors. These figures do not include
> Marvel Comics.
>
> estimated #
> # Title Publisher sold (1000's)
>
> 1 Spawn the Impaler #1 Image 173.0
> 2 Spawn #55 Image 163.1
> 3 DC Marvel Access #1 DC 150.8
> 4 Curse of the Spawn Part 2 Image 137.1
> 5 Gen 13 #14 Image 122.1
Looks like IMAGE rules the top 5. Also note the high placement
for the DC/MARVEL crossover special - I'm guessing this will be
happening more often...
> 6 Witchblade #10 Top Cow 92.5
> 7 Lady Death the Crucible #1 Chaos 91.8
> 8 Tales of the Witchblade #1 Top Cow 87.4
> 9 Green Lantern #81 DC 72.4
Green Lantern is DC's highest selling title? I know this issue
was the death of Hal Jordan (special cover too) but geeze!
> 10 Star Wars Shadows Empire #6 Dark Horse 71.1
Also, notice the distance between the top spot and number 10 -
Over 100,000 copies sold seperates them??? Would these gaps not look so
huge is MARVEL's titles were on this list as well?
> 11 X-Files #23 Topps 70.8
> 12 Batman #537 DC 70.1
> 13 Darkchylde Glory #1 Image 68.9
> 14 Supergirl #4 DC 67.4
Interesting that SUPERGIRL outsells any of the other Superman
Family titles. I hate to say it, but I think a lot of the credit for
that goes to Gary Frank....Peter David's other DC title (AQUAMAN) comes
in much further down on the list.
> 15 Wildcats #33 Image 66.4
> 16 Darkchylde Avengelyne #1 Maximum Pr 65.2
> 17 Star Wars Golden Age Sith #1 Dark Horse 65.2
> 18 Detective Comics #704 DC 64.2
> 19 Batman The Long Halloween #1 DC 63.3
> 20 Superman #118 DC 62.8
> 21 Nightwing #3 DC 56.7
> 22 X-Files Season One #4 Topps 56.3
> 23 Crypt of Dawn #1 Sirius 54.6
> 24 Batman Shadow of the Bat #57 DC 54.0
> 25 Superman Wonder Woman #1 DC 53.4
> 26 Batman Legends Dark Kn #89 DC 51.6
> 27 Robin #36 DC 51.3
> 28 Preacher #20 DC 51.3
> 29 Preacher Special Story #1 DC 49.8
> 30 Batman Death of Innocents #1 DC 49.3
> 31 Flash #120 DC 49.2
Wow - isn't FLASH making serious gains on this list? I seem to
recall FLASH typically coming in somewhere in the bottom half of the top
100 list...Elayne do you know anything about this?
> 32 Robin Plus #1 DC 49.0
> 33 Catwoman #40 DC 48.4
> 34 Lady Death Women Gallery #1 Chaos 47.4
> 35 Worlds Finest Superboy #1 DC 46.7
> 36 Shi Kaidan #1 Crusade 45.8
> 37 Wonder Woman #116 DC 44.9
Wonder Woman too seems to be making gains....
> 38 Green Lantern Plus #1 DC 44.2
> 39 The Dreaming #7 DC 43.9
> 40 Wetworks #22 Image 43.0
> 41 Cyberforce #28 Top Cow 42.7
> 42 Batman Gordons Law #1 DC 41.1
> 43 Avengelyne #0 Maximum Pr 40.9
> 44 Azrael #24 DC 40.7
> 45 Astro City vol. 2 #3 Homage 39.2
Way to go Kurt! KBAC is the highest selling HOMAGE title, and
makes the top 50! I hope you don't mind me asking, but where abouts is
the break-even point for KBAC sales?
> 46 Teen Titans #3 DC 39.0
> 47 Azrael Plus #1 DC 38.6
> 48 Superboy #34 DC 37.5
> 49 Wonder Woman Annual #2 DC 37.3
> 50 Weapon Zero #8 Top Cow 36.0
> 51 Backlash #25 Image 35.2
> 52 Impulse #20 DC 34.5
Hunh....I thought IMPULSE was more "hot" than FLASH was...
> 53 Hitman #9 DC 34.5
> 54 Superman Adventures #2 DC 34.4
> 55 Aquaman #27 DC 34.2
See my comments regarding SUPERGIRL...:) Respectiable numbers
for SUPERMAN ADVENTURES...
> 56 Glory Celestine Dark Ang #2 Image 34.1
> 57 Birds of Prey Manhunt #4 DC 33.7
> 58 X-O Manowar vol. 2 #1 Acclaim 33.4
> 59 Grifter #4 Image 33.0
> 60 House of Secrets #3 DC 31.9
> 61 Superboy and the Ravers #4 DC 31.8
> 62 Starman #25 DC 31.3
> 63 BW Smith Storyteller #1 Dark Horse 31.1
> 64 Books of Magic #31 DC 30.8
> 65 Vampirella 25th Anniv Spec Harris 30.4
> 66 Stormwatch #41 Image 30.3
> 67 Hellboy Wake the Devil #5 Dark Horse 30.1
> 68 Brass #3 Image 28.6
> 69 Crow Wild Justice #1 Kitchen Sink 28.4
> 70 Legion of Superheroes #87 DC 27.8
> 71 Glory #16 Image 27.7
> 72 Legionnaires #43 DC 27.3
I had heard the LSH titles were picking up some readership....I
seem to recall them placing somewhere between 22k-24k so yea...a bit of
a jump.
> 73 Batman and Robin Advent #13 DC 27.2
> 74 Vampirella Strikes #7 Harris 27.1
> 75 Lobo Demon Helloween #1 DC 26.2
> 76 Lady Rawhide #1 Topps 26.1
> 77 Allegra #3 Image 26.0
> 78 Strangers in Paradise v3 #2 Homage 25.4
> 79 Night Force #1 DC 25.2
> 80 Treehouse of Horrors #1 Bongo 25.0
> 81 Simpsons #25 Bongo 24.9
> 82 Hellblazer #108 DC 24.9
> 83 Bloody Mary #3 DC 24.7
> 84 Legionnaires Annual #3 DC 24.3
> 85 Razor #1 London Night 24.2
> 86 Power of Shazam #21 DC 24.0
Oof...disapointing numbers on POS. Anyone know if these are up
or down from months past?
> 87 Lobo #34 DC 23.9
> 88 Tempest #2 DC 23.9
> 89 Evil Ernie #1 Chaos 23.7
> 90 Friends of Maxx #2 Image 23.5
> 91 Lobo Death and Taxes #3 DC 23.3
> 92 Savage Dragon Destroyer D #1 Image 23.3
> 93 Sovereign Seven #17 DC 23.2
> 94 New Gods #13 DC 23.2
> 95 Ash Fire Within #3 cover A Event 22.5
> 96 Madman Comics #11 Dark Horse 22.4
> 97 Predator Dark River #4 Dark Horse 22.3
> 98 Green Arrow #115 DC 21.9
> 99 Black Lamb #2 DC 21.8
> 100 Youngblood #13 Image 21.8
> 101 Grifter and the Mask #2 Dark Horse 21.7
> 102 Sandman Mystery Theatre #45 DC 21.6
> 103 Spectre #48 DC 21.6
> 104 Green Lantern #81 DC 21.5
I'm assuming these are the sales of the non-enhanced cover of
this title...or is this a mistake?
You've gotta wonder if these titles selling below 20k are making
for losing money....
>
> The top-selling comic books from publishers that did not
> quite make it into the top 150...
>
>
> Comic Book Market Share, October 1996:
>
> 1 DC Comics 32.86%
> 2 Image Comics 14.54%
> 3 Dark Horse 7.37%
> 4 Top Cow 3.72%
Interesting....add TOP COW's numbers to IMAGE (now that they are
back together) and put MARVEL on this list and I'll bet less than 10%
points seperate DC and IMAGE.
Best,
--
John B. Holbrook, II - Human Resources Representiative - Keane, Inc.
E-MAIL:jb...@ix.netcom.com WWW: http://www.netcom.com/~jbh9/personal.html
Keane Inc. is currently hiring programmers - mainframe & client server.
E-Mail or call me if you have interest. (888) 475-3263 - toll free.
Kurt Busiek
John Holbrook wrote:
>
> Way to go Kurt! KBAC is the highest selling HOMAGE title, and
> makes the top 50! I hope you don't mind me asking, but where abouts
> is the break-even point for KBAC sales?
I don't really know, since the financial end is now Homage's to deal
with. But sales on #3 are actually higher than this -- we've been
getting advance reorders since shortly after #1 came out.
kurt
David J. Warner
In article <53jn2t$g...@news2.texas.net>, AP's Matt <ant...@texas.net> wrote:
>
> estimated #
> # Title Publisher sold (1000's)
>
> 1 Spawn the Impaler #1 Image 173.0
> 2 Spawn #55 Image 163.1
> 5 Gen 13 #14 Image 122.1
>
And people wonder why nobody takes comic books seriously....
--
------------------- |*************THE BUCKTOWN TIMELINE HOMEPAGE*************
David J. Warner | A Generation X(tm) fan-fiction thread
manc...@netcom.com | gone COMPLETELY out of control
------------------- |-*NEW SITE*---->http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/4234<-----
Nat Gertler
John Holbrook wrote:
> You've gotta wonder if these titles selling below 20k are making
> for losing money....
>
Depends on the title. The break-even point varies depending on the folks
producing it, color versus black and white, and cover price. For
example, I would guess that Poison Elves, selling around 15,000, is
doing quite nicely for everyone involved. If Untold Tales Of Spider-Man
were selling the same amount of copies for 99 cents each, I would not
make the same guess.
> > Comic Book Market Share, October 1996:
> >
> > 1 DC Comics 32.86%
> > 2 Image Comics 14.54%
> > 3 Dark Horse 7.37%
> > 4 Top Cow 3.72%
>
> Interesting....add TOP COW's numbers to IMAGE (now that they are
> back together) and put MARVEL on this list and I'll bet less than 10%
> points seperate DC and IMAGE.
Yes, but you'd also have to pull the Extreme books numbers out of Image.
AP's Matt
In article <325DCD...@teleport.com> Kurt Busiek,
Which is very good news - we NEED good books like Astro City and
Strangers in Paradise to sell well and bring more customers into the
stores.
I should hasten to point out that the chart I posted earlier only
compares pre-orders for that month, and does not include advance
reorders or reorders. FOR MOST COMICS, advance reorders will only
increase sales by 2-4%. But, if a comic book is well-received by the
readers and retailers, then reorder activity will be much heavier.
Best,
- mlh
bart
Always the most interesting post in the groups, Matt! Thanks!
Btw, did Diamond give a number for the retro-solicited Superman Wedding? Or
will that appear next month?
In article <325D8B...@ix.netcom.com>,
John Holbrook <jb...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>> 1 Spawn the Impaler #1 Image 173.0
>> 2 Spawn #55 Image 163.1
>> 3 DC Marvel Access #1 DC 150.8
>> 4 Curse of the Spawn Part 2 Image 137.1
>> 5 Gen 13 #14 Image 122.1
>
> Looks like IMAGE rules the top 5. Also note the high placement
>for the DC/MARVEL crossover special - I'm guessing this will be
>happening more often...
What's most interesting here is that McFarlane rules the top-five because
he's producing one (actually three now) of the stablest comics in the
market. His sales are going down, they're just going down slower than most.
Gen13 has begun to slide (it pushed 200k earlier in '96), and the numbers
on this Marvel/DC event are down considerably from the spring. Spots in the
top five seem to belong increasingly to miniseries and one-shots, expect
more of them in the future.
>> 6 Witchblade #10 Top Cow 92.5
>> 7 Lady Death the Crucible #1 Chaos 91.8
>> 8 Tales of the Witchblade #1 Top Cow 87.4
Sales on all three of these are up. It's a bad girl's world, other comics
just live in it.
>> 9 Green Lantern #81 DC 72.4
>
> Green Lantern is DC's highest selling title? I know this issue
>was the death of Hal Jordan (special cover too) but geeze!
If you add the sales from the regular cover it goes to 94k (#6 position),
close to double its normal sales. Expect to see more of this type of thing
from DC I guess.
>> 12 Batman #537 DC 70.1
I'm guessing that this is the lowest selling issue of Batman ever. There
was talk about this time last year that Batman was selling at an all time
low and the title has declined every month this year except where it had a
special event. We still don't seem to have reached the end of the collapse
of the superhero market.
>> 14 Supergirl #4 DC 67.4
>
> Interesting that SUPERGIRL outsells any of the other Superman
>Family titles. I hate to say it, but I think a lot of the credit for
>that goes to Gary Frank....Peter David's other DC title (AQUAMAN) comes
>in much further down on the list.
The good news (if you like Supegirl I guess) would be that these numbers
went up after the first issue. Presumably retailers are responding to
favourable response to readers after the debut. If the trend continues this
will be the best-selling DC regular title as early as next month.
>> 28 Preacher #20 DC 51.3
>> 29 Preacher Special Story #1 DC 49.8
The engine that drives the post-Sandman Vertigo world and DC's only
consistently improving title in terms of sales. Inches it's way up every
month.
>> 31 Flash #120 DC 49.2
>
> Wow - isn't FLASH making serious gains on this list? I seem to
>recall FLASH typically coming in somewhere in the bottom half of the top
>100 list...Elayne do you know anything about this?
Flash is remarkably consistent (between 45k-50k every month this year
except for the bump last month from the crossover) which means that it
moves up by standing still as everything else drops below it. This is a
victory for Flash fans in that the title is holding its audience, it's just
not growing (much). This is a case of same-sized fish in a smaller pond
>> 32 Robin Plus #1 DC 49.0
The best-selling Plus special. Probably not an idea that gets trotted out
again.
>> 37 Wonder Woman #116 DC 44.9
>
> Wonder Woman too seems to be making gains....
It's sales are falling (from more than 50k at the beginning of the year),
just not falling as fast as others on the list so it looks like it's going
up. It's all done with mirrors :)
>> 39 The Dreaming #7 DC 43.9
Just keeps on dropping
>> 52 Impulse #20 DC 34.5
>
> Hunh....I thought IMPULSE was more "hot" than FLASH was...
Nope, it's consistently 15k behind Flash. Has been for some time.
>> 57 Birds of Prey Manhunt #4 DC 33.7
This is a very slight adjustment up, interestingly
>> 58 X-O Manowar vol. 2 #1 Acclaim 33.4
Given the ads and the hype and the to-die-for catalogue position you would
think that this would be a disappointment but considering that it is by far
and away the best sales Acclaim has had in a while, maybe not.
>> 63 BW Smith Storyteller #1 Dark Horse 31.1
I wouldn't have predicted this level of success for a high cost
Windsor-Smith book. I'm impressed.
>> 64 Books of Magic #31 DC 30.8
The very model of a consistent seller. It's been parked at that spot all
year.
>> 70 Legion of Superheroes #87 DC 27.8
>> 72 Legionnaires #43 DC 27.3
>
> I had heard the LSH titles were picking up some readership....I
>seem to recall them placing somewhere between 22k-24k so yea...a bit of
>a jump.
LSH has yo-yoed all year betwen 25k and 32k. This is actually a decline but
Legionnaires is a gain so maybe they cancel each other out. I'm amazed,
btw, that the market has shrunk so badly that high 20k range is considered
a safe book at DC.
>> 78 Strangers in Paradise v3 #2 Homage 25.4
Moving to Image (and colour) raised the sales on this book 40%
>> 80 Treehouse of Horrors #1 Bongo 25.0
>> 81 Simpsons #25 Bongo 24.9
For whatever reason the SImpsons comics have been going up all year.
>> 86 Power of Shazam #21 DC 24.0
>
> Oof...disapointing numbers on POS. Anyone know if these are up
>or down from months past?
Down about 3k over the course of the year. This book is dropping slower
than most.
>> 93 Sovereign Seven #17 DC 23.2
Sovereign Seven, for instance, has dropped more than half its sales this
year.
>> 108 Ess. Vertigo Sandman #5 DC 20.7
The good news: consistent sales mean that DC may be willing to reprint
other titles. The bad news: A third time available book is beating most of
Helix, and a chunk of Vertigo.
>> 112 Showcase 96 #11 DC 20.0
>> 114 Scare Tactics #1 DC 19.4
>> 116 Steel #33 DC 19.1
>> 117 Aztek The Ultimate Man #5 DC 19.1
>> 118 Mythos The Final Tour #1 DC 19.1
>> 124 Seekers Into Mystery #11 DC 16.6
You've got to wonder how long DC will tolerate books that are at less than
20k and going down.
>> 120 Bone #12 reprint Image 17.7
>> 121 Bionix #1 Maximum Pr 17.6
That's just a fulfilling feeling
>> 133 Jaguar God #6 Verotik 15.5
>> 134 Satanika #5 Verotik 15.0
Sales are on their way back up...
>> 143 Hate #25 Fantagraphics 13.3
Huge Diamond bump as Hate's former Capital City numbers are added in. Half
of Hate's sales came from Capital (which gave FBI much better catalogue
treatment than Diamond does). It'll be interesting to see what being buried
does to this title. Similar is Black Eye's Berlin, which sold more through
Capital than Diamond.
>> 150 Gemini Blood #4 DC 12.6
Selling half of what #1 sold. Buh-bye.
Thanks for letting us play with the numbers, Matt. A true public service.
bart
Kevin J. Maroney
bbe...@po-box.mcgill.ca (bart) wrote:
>>> 118 Mythos The Final Tour #1 DC 19.1
>
>You've got to wonder how long DC will tolerate books that are at less than
>20k and going down.
This really amazes me. It's by john rieber--who consistently sells 30K
on Books of Magic, as noted--*and* it's an Endless tie-in. Are
retailers *that* scared of anything new?
>>> 150 Gemini Blood #4 DC 12.6
>
>Selling half of what #1 sold. Buh-bye.
Yeah. What's really depressing is that I think it's the best of the
Helix titles (based on reading #1 of each of the first five series).
--
Kevin J. Maroney | Crossover Technologies | ke...@crossover.com
Games are my entire waking life.
Bryant Durrell
In article <3268a180...@news.crossover.com>,
Kevin J. Maroney <kmar...@crossover.com> wrote:
>>20k and going down.
>
>on Books of Magic, as noted--*and* it's an Endless tie-in. Are
>retailers *that* scared of anything new?
It's not being heavily billed as an Endless tie-in, though -- it's
also the first Endless tie-in that isn't a Gaiman book. Unless you
count BoM, but that's not heavily tied in.
--
Bryant Durrell (sysadmin, cynic, coyote) | "well, it seems doable so we should
dur...@innocence.com / dur...@bofh.net | do it. if we can't then we should
http://www.innocence.com/~durrell | get no biscuits."
| -- t...@meer.net
Johanna Draper
>>
>on Books of Magic, as noted--*and* it's an Endless tie-in.
I love BoM. This was very different, and not to my taste. It's a lame duck
mini.
Johanna
Karl Hiller
Kevin J. Maroney (kmar...@crossover.com) wrote:
: bbe...@po-box.mcgill.ca (bart) wrote:
:
: >>> 118 Mythos The Final Tour #1 DC 19.1
: >
: >You've got to wonder how long DC will tolerate books that are at less than
: >20k and going down.
:
: This really amazes me. It's by john rieber--who consistently sells 30K
: on Books of Magic, as noted--*and* it's an Endless tie-in. Are
: retailers *that* scared of anything new?
I'm enough of a John Rieber fan to be very interested in this one.
However, I didn't order one for my subscription file, and I don't think
I'll pick one up off the shelf except to flip through it. Why?
For the same reason I didn't buy the Amber limited series: because
it's way too expensive.
Karl, worried that some day soon that will hold true for most of what I
buy now...
----------------------
"When I die, I want to go like my grandfather, peacefully, in his sleep...
------------------------------- not screaming and yelling, like his
http://ezinfo.ucs.indiana.edu/ | passengers." - Jack Handey
~khiller/home.html |
Rachel K. Warren
AP's Matt (ant...@texas.net) wrote:
> As always, comments are greatly appreciated. Also, new sales charts
> have recently been published in Marvel Vision and Comics Retailer -
> I'll get to those later.
*eyebrow up* Oh really?
> # Title Publisher sold (1000's)
> 1 Spawn the Impaler #1 Image 173.0
> 2 Spawn #55 Image 163.1
> 3 DC Marvel Access #1 DC 150.8
> 4 Curse of the Spawn Part 2 Image 137.1
> 5 Gen 13 #14 Image 122.1
Whew! Look at that. Four Image's and One DC. Then again, three
of those are Spawn titles.
> 9 Green Lantern #81 DC 72.4
You gotta be kidding me.
> 14 Supergirl #4 DC 67.4
Looks like another book that RAC* doesn't like too much, but most of the
comic reading population likes ok (including me).
> 27 Robin #36 DC 51.3
> 28 Preacher #20 DC 51.3
> 29 Preacher Special Story #1 DC 49.8
How did Robin beat two Preacher stories? Amazing.
> 37 Wonder Woman #116 DC 44.9
Well, WW seems to still be doing ok...
> 45 Astro City vol. 2 #3 Homage 39.2
> 46 Teen Titans #3 DC 39.0
Hey, Astro City beat Teen Titans!
> 50 Weapon Zero #8 Top Cow 36.0
> 51 Backlash #25 Image 35.2
> 52 Impulse #20 DC 34.5
> 53 Hitman #9 DC 34.5
This is funny. Impulse gets beaten out by two "Image" books (to heck wiht
this Top Cow stuff), but still beats out Hitman.
> 70 Legion of Superheroes #87 DC 27.8
Hmmm. Not so good for the LSH.
> 78 Strangers in Paradise v3 #2 Homage 25.4
Has Strangers in Paradise ever been in the top 100 before?
> 82 Hellblazer #108 DC 24.9
> 83 Bloody Mary #3 DC 24.7
Huh. Hellblazer beat out Bloody Mary.
> 93 Sovereign Seven #17 DC 23.2
Ooof! And over a year ago, S7 was in the top 10.
> 94 New Gods #13 DC 23.2
Dang, Chris Claremont beat out Byrne. But Byrne has Wonder Woman,
which is in the top 50.
> 109 Sovereign Seven Annual #2 DC 20.5
Jeez, we are at Annual #2 already? Where does the time go?
> 113 Leave It To Chance #2 Homage 19.7
AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
This book should be higher up in the charts. *sigh*
> 125 Teenage Mutant Ninja Tur #4 Image 16.6
> 127 Battlestar Galac Journeys #4 Maximum Pr 16.2
Oh well. At least it beat out turles and Battlestar Galac.
> 146 Power Rangers Zeo #2 Image 12.6
Can I barf now? *SPEW*
> The top-selling comic books from publishers that did not
> quite make it into the top 150...
> 172 Knights on Broadway #4 Broadway 9.6
Knights on Broadway is their top selling comic? Is Broadway doing well?!
--
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
warr...@jmu.edu ! Rachel Warren / Paul Smith and Alan Davis Groupie
warr...@cs.jmu.edu ! "Reality is something that happens to other people."
rkwa...@pen.k12.va.us ! http://sys12.cs.jmu.edu/homes/warrenrk/index.html
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Staffan Dahlberg
kmar...@crossover.com (Kevin J. Maroney) wrote:
>bbe...@po-box.mcgill.ca (bart) wrote:
>>>> 118 Mythos The Final Tour #1 DC 19.1
>>
>>You've got to wonder how long DC will tolerate books that are at less than
>>20k and going down.
>This really amazes me. It's by john rieber--who consistently sells 30K
>on Books of Magic, as noted--*and* it's an Endless tie-in. Are
>retailers *that* scared of anything new?
I don't think that retailers are scared of new stuff. It costs $6 per
issue. Shadow's Fall by the same author bomed. With that in mind,
losing only a third of BOM readers seems quite ok.
Staffan Dahlberg
The Revenge Of Don Brinker's Evil Twin
warr...@falcon.jmu.edu (Rachel K. Warren) wrote:
>AP's Matt (ant...@texas.net) wrote:
>> 9 Green Lantern #81 DC 72.4
>You gotta be kidding me.
That was the Hal Jordan funeral Issue. Probably pulled in a lot of
old fans who dropped the book once Marz came on board.
>> 70 Legion of Superheroes #87 DC 27.8
>Hmmm. Not so good for the LSH.
Actually, that's an increase. IIRC, they usually sell aroun 25K,
so...
>> 82 Hellblazer #108 DC 24.9
>> 83 Bloody Mary #3 DC 24.7
>Huh. Hellblazer beat out Bloody Mary.
And this is a surprise because...?
>> 113 Leave It To Chance #2 Homage 19.7
>AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
>This book should be higher up in the charts. *sigh*
Hey, it's only issue #2. Give it some time to build an audience...
[Followups set to misc only ...]
- Don
Kevin J. Maroney
dan...@aurora.cis.upenn.edu (Johanna Draper) wrote:
>>This really amazes me. It's by john rieber--who consistently sells 30K
>>on Books of Magic, as noted--*and* it's an Endless tie-in.
>
>I love BoM. This was very different, and not to my taste. It's a lame duck
>mini.
What the heck does that mean?
Mike Chary
>
>>>This really amazes me. It's by john rieber--who consistently sells 30K
>>>on Books of Magic, as noted--*and* it's an Endless tie-in.
>>
>>I love BoM. This was very different, and not to my taste. It's a lame duck
>>mini.
>
>What the heck does that mean?
There's a picture of Caroline Kennedy wearing one in the current
Newsweek. :)
--
Court Philosopher and Barbarian, DNRC http://ezinfo.ucs.indiana.edu/~fchary
"I bought the Star Trek chess set and the Civil War chess set. Now I have
the South fight the Klingons." -- Dave Spensley "The best argument against
democracy is a five minute talk with the average voter." - Winston Churchill
Marc Fleury
warr...@falcon.jmu.edu (Rachel K. Warren) wrote:
>AP's Matt (ant...@texas.net) wrote:
>> 45 Astro City vol. 2 #3 Homage 39.2
>> 46 Teen Titans #3 DC 39.0
>Hey, Astro City beat Teen Titans!
>> 82 Hellblazer #108 DC 24.9
>> 83 Bloody Mary #3 DC 24.7
>Huh. Hellblazer beat out Bloody Mary.
>> 93 Sovereign Seven #17 DC 23.2
>> 94 New Gods #13 DC 23.2
>Dang, Chris Claremont beat out Byrne. But Byrne has Wonder Woman,
>which is in the top 50.
There sure seems to be a lot of "beating out" here, doesn't there?
Actually, if you look at the numbers, the "beatings" are, at most only
200 copies, and in the case of Claremont and Byrne, there is a less
than 100 copy difference.
The *Exact* ranking of each individual book says very little. It's
almost pointless to go down the list and compare each book with the
books immediately above and below it.
-- Fleury.
/--------------------------------------------------------------------\
| Bored? Restless? Sorry, can't help ya. But go read my web page! |
| |
| Writing for Comics! http://www.gl.umbc.edu/~lmize1/writing.html |
\--------------------------------------------------------------------/
Michael R. Grabois
On 15 Oct 1996 21:16:04 GMT, warr...@falcon.jmu.edu (Rachel K. Warren)
wrote:
>AP's Matt (ant...@texas.net) wrote:
>> 9 Green Lantern #81 DC 72.4
>
>You gotta be kidding me.
Post "Final Night" bump.
>> 70 Legion of Superheroes #87 DC 27.8
>
>Hmmm. Not so good for the LSH.
Actually, it IS good. Sales have been rising a bit; they have been around
24-25K lately. But is this a Final Night bump? Time will tell.
-----
Michael R. Grabois | http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/mgrabois
Houston, TX | or...@ix.netcom.com CI$: 74737,2600
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"If you can read this, you're an alien trying to steal my brain
just like you did to Elvis."
Johanna Draper
In article <3266137b...@news.crossover.com>,
Kevin J. Maroney <kmar...@crossover.com> wrote:
>dan...@aurora.cis.upenn.edu (Johanna Draper) wrote:
>>I love BoM. This was very different, and not to my taste. It's a lame duck
>>mini.
>
>What the heck does that mean?
It means that Sandman is over (so it's not seen as necessary for those
readers), and that we're probably never going to see these characters
again.
Johanna
Kevin J. Maroney
sta...@algonet.se (Staffan Dahlberg) wrote:
>I don't think that retailers are scared of new stuff. It costs $6 per
>issue. Shadow's Fall by the same author bomed. With that in mind,
>losing only a third of BOM readers seems quite ok.
I honestly don't know the sales on Shadow's Fall, but at the time it
was published, john was a complete unknown and John van Fleet barely
better-known. john r. is now one of Vertigo's best-selling writers.
AP's Matt
In article <543vv4$i...@news.nstn.ca> Marc Fleury, tet...@fox.nstn.ca
writes:
>There sure seems to be a lot of "beating out" here, doesn't there?
>Actually, if you look at the numbers, the "beatings" are, at most only
>200 copies, and in the case of Claremont and Byrne, there is a less
>than 100 copy difference.
>
>The *Exact* ranking of each individual book says very little. It's
>almost pointless to go down the list and compare each book with the
>books immediately above and below it.
Very true. For a book selling in the tens of thousands, a difference
of a few hundred copies is essentially "background noise". Every
comic book fluctuates a little bit from issue to issue, for a number
of reasons (mostly because stores are going out of biz and new stores
are popping up all the time). To say Comic A "beat out" Comic B by
200 copies is not really fair - what *is* important to look at is the
overall picture, not the individual "battles".
I should also point out (one more time) that the chart only measures
pre-orders, and does not include advance reorders, reorders, or sales
outside of Diamond. All of these added up are quite small (usually
2-4%), but in some individual cases it can add up to a lot of copies.
For example, Comic Company A gets its pre-order sales figures in for
two of its books, Doleman #1 and Clintonman #1 - both sold, lets say,
10,000 copies in preorders. However, because of advance reorders,
three weeks down the line when the book actually ships the total sales
on Doleman #1 come in at 10,300 copies, while total sales on
Clintonman #1 comes in at 11,000 copies. And then, after both books
come out, Doleman #1 gets an additional 500 copies in reorders over
the next couple of months, while Clintonman #1 gets 1000 reorders.
So, while both books started out at the same level, after a couple of
months Clintonman #1 ends up selling 11,500 compared to Doleman #1 at
10,800.
There is a lot of talk in this thread about Leave It To Chance and
Astro City - these are two books that are probably seeing
much-higher-than-average advance order and reorder activity, no doubt
adding a substantial chunk to their sales. So, the figures in the
Diamond charts can be a little misleading. What this means is that
over the next several months you will probably see their rankings in
the charts go up and up as retailers learn how to adjust their orders
correctly and order the proper number of copies the first time around.
Best,
- mlh
David Goldfarb
)
)Sales have been rising a bit; they have been around
)24-25K lately. But is this a Final Night bump? Time will tell.
IIRC, _Legion_ #85 (or was it 86?) sold 32k, which was
quite definitely a Final Night bump. Seems to be going back down
to regular levels...
David Goldfarb <*>|From the fortune cookie file:
gold...@ocf.berkeley.edu |
aste...@slip.net |"Sell your ideas -- they are totally acceptable."
gold...@csua.berkeley.edu |
John Holbrook
Just curious - you indicated when you originally posted the October
rankings that you'd be able to add MARVEL's figures to the group - have
your already done that and I missed it, or is it forthcoming? Thanks
again for the hard work...
Johanna Draper
In article <547f46$5...@agate.berkeley.edu>,
David Goldfarb <gold...@csua.berkeley.edu> wrote:
> IIRC, _Legion_ #85 (or was it 86?) sold 32k, which was
>quite definitely a Final Night bump. Seems to be going back down
>to regular levels...
85, I think. But right now it's going back down to higher than regular
levels. (I think this in part because sales on Legionnaires have gone up,
and they didn't cross over.)
Johanna
First And Last And Always
In article <3268a180...@news.crossover.com>,
>>20k and going down.
>
>retailers *that* scared of anything new?
>
a Prestige title, which means it's expensive. Time was when the Prestige
format was reserved only for those titles that justified it on art grounds
backed up with a good story. But there's been so much less-than-killer
stuff printed in Prestige format that it's scarcely worth it. These days,
the Prestige format price is enough to guarantee I *won't* try out a
new book without a very good reason.
Mike
--
Mike Collins