Oh no, not more charts? Yes! This time it’s something we haven’t seen much talked about before: Diamond’s BACKlist charts. As all publishing watchers know, the backlist is where you live and die; it’s the retirement fund; it’s the guarantee. Diamond released their January Star System best sellers, and it’s quite interesting to look at, especially with all the changes coming to the distribution system. Let’s have a looksee, shall we?
JANUARY STAR SYSTEM BACKLIST TOP SELLERS
TOP 10 COMICS
VENDOR |
DOLLAR SHARE |
VENDOR | UNIT SHARE | ||
| DC Comics | 40.75% | DC Comics | 36.83% | ||
| Marvel Comics | 22.16% | Marvel Comics | 20.03% | ||
| Dark Horse Comics | 8.86% | Dark Horse Comics | 9.89% | ||
| Image Comics | 5.97% | VIZ LLC | 9.30% | ||
| VIZ LLC | 4.69% | Image Comics | 6.06% | ||
| IDW Publishing | 1.31% | TOKYOPOP | 2.04% | ||
| TOKYOPOP | 1.20% | Random House | 1.54% | ||
| Dynamite Entertainment -Dynamic Forces | 1.20% | IDW Publishing | 1.16% | ||
| Random House | 1.17% | Dynamite Entertainment- Dynamic Forces | 1.07% | ||
| Fantagraphics Books | 1.15% | Fantagraphics Books | 0.98% | ||
| Other | 11.54% | Other | 11.10% | ||
| TOTAL | 100.00% | TOTAL | 100.00% | ||
QTY RANK
|
RTL RANK
|
|
TITLE
|
PRICE
|
PUB
|
|
|
1
|
2
|
COURTNEY CRUMRIN/PRINCE OF NOWHERE
|
$5.95
|
ONI
|
|
|
2
|
1
|
PRO (MR)
|
$7.99
|
IMA
|
|
|
3
|
3
|
UNCLE SCROOGE #380
|
$7.99
|
GEM
|
|
|
4
|
4
|
JUSTICE LG OF AMERICA SUPER SPECT #1
|
$5.95
|
DC
|
|
|
5
|
8
|
WALT DISNEYS COMICS & STORIES #667
|
$6.95
|
GEM
|
|
|
6
|
5
|
EMILY THE STRANGE #2
|
$7.95
|
DAR
|
|
|
7
|
16
|
KABUKI #2 (MR)
|
$2.99
|
MAR
|
|
|
8
|
6
|
EMILY THE STRANGE #1
|
$7.95
|
DAR
|
|
|
9
|
19
|
KABUKI #1
|
$2.99
|
MAR
|
|
|
10
|
11
|
BATMAN GIANT BATMAN ANNUAL #1 FACS ED
|
$4.95
|
DC
|
No wonder Slave Labor is going to miss the pamphlet. Also, this is where the genre material lives: kids comics, goth comics, Kabuki. DC and Marvel don’t really make individual pamphlets available as backlist, so not too surprising not to see them here.
TOP 25 GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS
|
QTY RANK
|
RTL RANK
|
|
TITLE
|
PRICE
|
PUB
|
|
1
|
1
|
WATCHMEN TP
|
$19.99
|
DC
|
|
|
2
|
2
|
JOKER HC
|
$19.99
|
DC
|
|
|
3
|
3
|
RED PROPHET TALES/ALVIN MAKER PREM HC V. 01 BM ED
|
$19.99
|
MAR
|
|
|
4
|
4
|
WATCHMEN TP INTERNATIONAL EDITION
|
$19.99
|
DC
|
|
|
5
|
6
|
BATMAN THE KILLING JOKE SPECIAL ED HC
|
$17.99
|
DC
|
|
|
6
|
17
|
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 01 DAYS GONE BYE
|
$9.99
|
IMA
|
|
|
7
|
21
|
FABLES TP VOL 01 LEGENDS IN EXILE
|
$9.99
|
DC
|
|
|
8
|
7
|
BATMAN DARK KNIGHT RETURNS TP
|
$14.99
|
DC
|
|
|
9
|
18
|
WALKING DEAD TP V. 09 HERE WE REMAIN (MR)
|
$14.99
|
IMA
|
|
|
10
|
23
|
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 01 UNMANNED
|
$12.99
|
DC
|
|
|
11
|
24
|
WALKING DEAD TP V. 02 MILES BEHIND US (MR)
|
$12.99
|
IMA
|
|
|
12
|
14
|
FABLES TP VOL 11 WAR AND PIECES (MR)
|
$17.99
|
DC
|
|
|
13
|
10
|
BATMAN THE LONG HALLOWEEN TP
|
$19.99
|
DC
|
|
|
14
|
29
|
WALKING DEAD TP V. 03 SAFETY BEHIND BARS
|
$12.99
|
IMA
|
|
|
15
|
13
|
SANDMAN TP VOL 01 PRELUDES & NOCTURNES
|
$19.99
|
DC
|
|
|
16
|
32
|
FABLES TP VOL 02 ANIMAL FARM
|
$12.99
|
DC
|
|
|
17
|
25
|
WALKING DEAD TP V. 08 MADE TO SUFFER (MR)
|
$14.99
|
IMA
|
|
|
18
|
19
|
ARKHAM ASYLUM ANNIVERSARY ED SC (MR)
|
$17.99
|
DC
|
|
|
19
|
15
|
BOYS TP VOL 03 GOOD FOR THE SOUL (MR)
|
$19.99
|
DYN
|
|
|
20
|
65
|
100 BULLETS TP VOL 01 FIRST SHOT LAST CALL
|
$9.99
|
DC
|
|
|
21
|
28
|
BATMAN YEAR ONE DELUXE SC
|
$14.99
|
DC
|
|
|
22
|
9
|
CIVIL WAR TP
|
$24.99
|
MAR
|
|
|
23
|
44
|
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 02 CYCLES (MR)
|
$12.99
|
DC
|
|
|
24
|
45
|
WALKING DEAD TP V. 07 CALM BEFORE (MR)
|
$12.99
|
IMA
|
|
|
25
|
27
|
BTVS SEASON 8 TP V. 03 WOLVES AT THE GATE
|
$15.95
|
DAR
|
WATCHMEN topping a sales chart? You don’t say! What’s interesting about this list is that Marvel is kind of a non-starter. RED PROPHET TALES is one of those Dabel Brother adaptations of an Orson Scott Card fantasy novel. CIVIL WAR does show up, showing that sticking with McNiven for a consistent trade was the right idea, but upon reflection, Marvel doesn’t yet have the backlist depth that DC does. Marvel has the classic characters and runs, but they don’t translate as well into $19.99 paperbacks.
TOP 10 MANGA
|
QTY RANK
|
RTL RANK
|
|
TITLE
|
PRICE
|
PUB
|
|
1
|
2
|
LEGEND OF ZELDA GN VOL 02
|
$7.99
|
VIZ
|
|
|
2
|
5
|
DEATH NOTE TP VOL 01
|
$7.99
|
VIZ
|
|
|
3
|
7
|
NARUTO TP VOL 32
|
$7.95
|
VIZ
|
|
|
4
|
9
|
NARUTO TP VOL 31
|
$7.95
|
VIZ
|
|
|
5
|
4
|
FRUITS BASKET GN VOL 21
|
$9.99
|
TOK
|
|
|
6
|
11
|
DEATH NOTE TP VOL 02
|
$7.99
|
VIZ
|
|
|
7
|
14
|
BLEACH TP VOL 24
|
$7.95
|
VIZ
|
|
|
8
|
1
|
HELLSING TP VOL 09
|
$13.95
|
DAR
|
|
|
9
|
21
|
BLEACH TP VOL 01
|
$7.95
|
VIZ
|
|
|
10
|
22
|
NARUTO TP VOL 28
|
$7.95
|
VIZ
|
Not too many surprises here.
As always, it would be informative to see a deeper list on trades in particular, although one would expect it to match up closely with the Bookscan numbers.
DC trumps Marvel here almost 10-to-1 in backlist sales. I’ll never understand the cries of “DC is doomed!” when Blue Beetle sells 10k copies. This is where they’re making their money.
Actually, I think the really interesting part is that 6 of the top 25 are WALKING DEAD collections. Robert Kirkman = ch-ching!
This is interesting as a novelty, but without more points of reference (unit numbers and sales over time), I’m not entirely sure how much or how little this means.
BUT I’m curious to find out.
Ok, guess I’ll be the idiot and ask; what do you mean by backlist sales? It’s the first time I’ve heard of the term…any help would be appreciative.
Here’s an article, written for laymen, on publishers’ backlist sales.
SRS
The interesting part I just noticed is that Marvel doesn’t technically have a TP in the top 20. The Tales of Alvin Maker book was given away to direct market retailers as part of a liquidation sale, a retailer who ordered certain titles would get copies of that book for free as a result. So that book being third on this list is deceptive of the reality.
What it tells me is that Marvel needs its own VERTIGO-type line.
“By contrast, here’s the January frontlist publishers chart. As you can see, it’s a complete reverse from the regular monthly chart, with DC dominating Marvel quite handily”
Sorry, was there some typo in this one? i clicked on the link and it’s the other way around – Marvel dominating DC.
Anyway, very interesting site. I’ve always wanted to read about the behind the scenes work involved in producing comic books today.
One question, do you have any posts as far as how dc or marvel conducts its market research in terms of which characters to push, which story arcs sell, etc?
“By contrast, here’s the January frontlist publishers chart. As you can see, it’s a complete reverse from the regular monthly chart, with DC dominating Marvel quite handily”
Sorry, was there some typo in this one? i clicked on the link and it’s the other way around – Marvel dominating DC.
Anyway, very interesting site. I’ve always wanted to read about the behind the scenes work involved in producing comic books today.
One question, do you have any posts as far as how dc or marvel conducts its market research in terms of which characters to push, which story arcs sell, etc?
Marvel’s best sellers in trade are Anita Blake and Dark Tower. Super-hero-wise… not much. The only backlist of Marvel which I have seen sell consistently were the Essential volumes. However, Marvel is aggressively issuing hardcover collections of classic material, so perhaps that backlist will sell. I suspect the Marvel digests sell, but that may not appear on a Diamond COMICS list, since most of those sales would be via Diamond BOOKS.
Compare and contrast with Bookscan?
link
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