Dark Horse has announced that BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SEASON 8 #1 had sold out of a 100K+ initial printing.
Following the book’s release yesterday, Dark Horse will be going back to print on the much anticipated first issue of Buffy: Season 8. Since the book was announced last summer, Dark Horse has garnered a great deal of attention both in and outside of the comic market. With high profile press coverage, buzz among fans, and excitement from direct market retailers, orders exceeded the initial printing of over 100,000 copies!
“Admittedly, our expectations were already gigantic, but this has surpassed even those” says Dirk Wood, Director of Marketing. “We couldn’t be happier about how this has launched, and have high hopes for upcoming issues.”
“We’ve done something unique here. We’ve taken something really popular from the most mainstream of media, television, and we’ve transplanted it with total authority into comics” says Managing Editor, Scott Allie. “This is Buffy, by Joss, as much as the show ever was. And the sales seem to suggest that people are getting the message.”
The upcoming second printing will feature a full bleed version of the breathtaking Jo Chen cover, with some of the design elements removed for a cleaner, and more stripped down look. This new version will be arriving in stores with an on sale date of March 28, just a week before the release of issue #2. Dark Horse encourages retailers to backorder Buffy The Vampire Slayer #1 with confidence, as orders will be filled in full with the new printing.
This will come as a big “duh!” to anyone who knows how popular Whedon and Buffy are among comics-friendly readers, over on the Engine, Warren Ellis wonders why:
And here’s the thing. Printing numbers aren’t set until the order numbers are in. And no-one wants to sell out a print run inside 24 hours of release, so you look at the numbers and you set an overprint, an additional number of copies to satisfy re-order demand.
Lots and lots of books have been selling through their overprints like wildfire. More and more, in fact. And I can tell you that the overprint percentages aren’t being reduced on my books, many if not most of which have been selling out lately.
So what the fuck is going on, that the market cannot guess the demand for BUFFY, SEASON EIGHT, EXCLUSIVELY TOLD IN COMICS AND WRITTEN BY JOSS, to the extent that the overprint is fucking VAPORISED something like twelve hours after the book hit the shelves? If I’m missing something here, please tell me.
And people tell him for 50 messages or so.
All I can say is that word of mouth on this book even made it to the front page of the LA Times Sunday Calendar edition.
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Coat
Nicely rendered cover, but poorly drawn. What’s with her arms?