Publishers

Or at least that's what a a wraparound ad on this week's Publishers Weekly states. (The ad in itself is a bold, pricey buy.) The...

By Paul O'Brien

[Editor's Note: As noted this is Paul's last column for now. He's been an incredible collaborator and commentator, and I think we all owe him a big round of applause! And yes I know these are late -- we'll have the new guys in place VERY shortly! Thanks again, Paul.] And so the end of an era is upon us. No, I do not speak of the latest cancellation of DEFENDERS, nor even of the final OZ miniseries. As Heidi explained a little while back, this will be my final sales column, after over a decade of writing these things. Good luck to whoever takes over for this; I'll be reading with interest, and with a sense of relief that I didn't have to do the number crunching. So. One last time! December sees a barrage of Inhumanity tie-ins, all building to the launch of the new series that's since been delayed. We also have the start of ORIGIN II, and the first of the Marvel Now Wave 2 titles. As per usual, Marvel had the largest share of the North American direct market, leading DC by 37% to 31% in unit terms, and 35% to 28% in dollars. Thanks as always to ICV2.com for permission to use these figures.

1.  ORIGIN II
12/13  Origin II #1 of 5 - 131,724

Books set in the past and with no direct impact on present day continuity generally seem to be a tough sell. But ORIGIN II is the top seller of the month, presumably because Marvel have successfully portrayed it as an event - in the sense of a book fans will be talking about.

Archie have announced that Alex Segura has rejoined their company as Senior Vice-President for Publicity and Marketing... as well as in a new role...

Because nothing says love like Armstrong. Hope you're having day with your loved one, and if you don't have a Valentine...remember, love yourself and...

Straight from the offices of Publishers Weekly, it’s More to Come! Your podcast source of comics news and discussion starring The Beat’s own Heidi...

Here's another special for Dynamite's 10th Anniversary , a gallery of Jae Lee's covers for the company. Reading about the decline of the comics...

This is a teaser for an upcoming book called Weird Love, edited by Craig Yoe about which you will learn more today, I believe,

David Lapham's Stray Bullets is back in March with a NEW issue, a NEW mini-series and a NEW massive collection of the first 40...

Dynamite Comics is 10 years old in 2014, and to celebrate they have 1500 comics at half price on Comixology – the sale ends tonight so hurry over now. But in the meantime here’s a FREE copy of Uncanny #1 by Andy Diggle and Aaron Campbell. We had a brief chat with Dynamite president Nick Barrucci about what he has planned for the anniversary year, and there’s a lot, including more of the Gold Key line that launched with a bang with Turok, Dinosaur Hunter. Up next, Magnus Robot Righter by Fred Van Lente, and Frank Barbiere’s Doctor Solar. And “theGold Key Phase Two will appear later in the year.”

Chew's John Layman & Rob Guillory, the Revival's Tim Seeley & Mike Norton, are cooking up a team-up crossover for May, Image Comics...

Elizabeth Olsen is a lovely, normal young woman, but she isn't a superhero or a fitness model, and she's nixed the idea of wearing...

Marvel have announced, via the beaming presence of an interview feature with Albert Ching, that Greg Rucka and Russell Dauterman will be the creative...