Marvel announces Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1 broke digital comics record
Oh, it's on! Perhaps inspired by a headline The Beat come up with just to give a link a fresh spin, Marvel has just announced that Ultimate Comics SPIDER-MAN #1 broke their own record for first-day sales of a new release. Not a whisper of a real number of course, but then, that's par for the course. As David Brothers points out at length, and Spurgeon sums up in what might be termed Spurgeon's Caveat, as long as we have only an abstract discussion over degree and nothing solid to go on...it's all hype.
Continue ReadingComics sales up yet down for August
ICv2's sales numbers are out for August, and Although JUSTICE LEAGUE #1 doesn't top 200K on the chart, as explained before, this is because the number doesn't include reorders (the book was released on the last day of August) or overseas sales. But JL #1's 176,00 copies was still way more than FLASHPOINT #5's 94K and FEAR ITSELF #3's 90,000 -- below the top, August was a bit anemic. If you're looking for the reason things needed a shake-up, here you go.
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Diamond’s full chart of the top 300 comics — August 2011
Here's the full Top 300 Comics list for August -- take a long look at all those Marvel comics at the top of the chart, because it may be a while before you see that kind of thing again.
Continue ReadingAll week 2 and 3 New 52 books go back to press; 10 topped 100K
DC has broken its usual silence on sales matters to crow about the performance of the first week of new 52 books. And why not? It's a hit! While JL #1 topped 200K with its first print run, 9 others topped 100K. IN addition all of the books from week 2 and 3 have sold out from Diamond and will have second printings. Of some interest; these sales figures evidently do NOT include digital sales -- although it does include the JL #1 combo pack.
Continue ReadingJustice League #1 was the top book in August as overall sales rose
Although Marvel retained the top publishers spot in August, JUSTICE LEAGUE #1 and FLASHPOINT #5 were the top periodicals, and comics sales were UP both from July and from 2010. Lest you think it was only the New 52 driving sales, graphic novels were up even more than periodicals -- up 24% from July and 31% from 2010, led by Joss Whedon's SERENITY: BETTER DAYS AND OTHER STORIES leading the chart. Total comics sales were still down about 4% year to date from 2010.
Continue ReadingComics make money on the iPad
Since this seems to be digital news week, word that three out of five of the top grossing apps on the iPad are comics apps is quite notable. MediaBistro has the chart:
Continue ReadingToday’s digital comics bestsellers — UPDATED
What's selling at the various comics apps -- both standalone and publisher-centric? It's easy to find out. METHODOLOGY: These charts are from the iTunes app store; every app has a "Top In App Purchases" list which is where I got these from. I don't know how they're compiled, but I'd guess live updating, so these really show only best sellers at THAT MOMENT. However, I do check these fairly regularly, and they are pretty stable, even if a sudden spike would be missed by random checks.
Continue ReadingDigital sales figures: a comparison
In a CBS survey of DC's tack to the digital winds, some more sales metrics trickle out:
Continue Reading“Indie” Month-to-Month Sales: June and July
The June sales estimates didn’t come out until August, and due to several factors (no internet at home, visiting relatives, going to a wedding, moving house, no internet at the new house, etc.) I was unable to get them done, so I’ve combined the June and July numbers into one column. Since I’m doing two months I’m using a different format and am going through each publisher one by one, and grouping similar titles.
Continue ReadingDC Comics Month-to-Month Sales: July 2011
Here's a number for you: Out of 65 DC Universe comic books published in July, 32 were by the writer/artist creative teams listed in the solicitations -- less than half of the bunch. Most of the others were either completely drawn by guest artists or had help from one or more of them. And for a couple, even the story credit changed. Not counting the six DC Retroactive books, the video-game adaptations and the New Wave titles, none of which are involved in the day-to-day of the DC Universe, the strike rate is 22 out of 55. So, presuming that's not a coincidence, it looks like the big DC relaunch was about 40% well-planned, at this juncture.
Continue ReadingSales charts: The shape of the market
Just to put everything being discussed into perspective, let's go back to John Jackson Miller's charts once more with three graphics that explain much:
Continue ReadingMarvel Month-to-Month Sales: July 2011
Quite the busy month, July. FEAR ITSELF is still rumbling onwards, but it's now joined by two other events - the "Spider-Island" crossover, and X-MEN: SCHISM. And there are relaunches of DAREDEVIL, GHOST RIDER and CAPTAIN AMERICA (which spawns a spin-off into the bargain). Oh, and now that the FEAR ITSELF crossover arcs are firmly underway, this seems a good month to ask: is it really having much of an impact on sales of the tie-in books? As per usual, Marvel had the largest share of the North American direct market, leading DC by 44% to 35% in unit share, and 39% to 31% in dollars. Thanks as always to ICV2.com for permission to use these figures.
Continue ReadingDC Comics Month-to-Month Sales: June 2011
by Marc-Oliver Frisch The countdown to DC's big relaunch continued in June with a whole lot of Flashpoint tie-in books -- few of which seem to have stood out in any way to retailers, if the sales figures are any indication. Given that the upcoming relaunch titles are drawing on the same pool of creators, characters and concepts, that's not ideal for DC. If it's asking too much of readers and retailers to pick and choose among 16 titles of a certain mold, putting out 52 of them at once seems ill-advised. Over at the publisher's Vertigo imprint, meanwhile, almost half the current ongoing series are about to end within the next year. There's still plenty of time for Vertigo to announce replacements, certainly. But in combination with the recent WildStorm shutdown and the re-absorption of a number of key Vertigo properties into the DC Universe line, there seems to be a lot less patience than there used to be at DC for material that's not expected to immediately do well in the direct market.
Continue ReadingMarvel Month to Month Sales: June 2011
Yes, yes, I know. June? It's August. This column is horrendously late. The July sales are already out. So I'm going to focus on the big events this month and otherwise keep the commentary pretty brief. Then we'll be back on track, the sun will shine, and everything will be lovely. The big news in June is, of course, the death of a Spider-Man. (Don't worry, they've got a spare.) FEAR ITSELF continues to sprawl across the Marvel Universe line, and there's also the first issue of a new GHOST RIDER series. As normal, Marvel had the largest share of the North American direct market, leading DC by 43% to 33% in unit share and 39% to 28% in dollar terms.
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