April sales are out

[comicartfan]

I've been looking at posts in this thread and I think there are some important things that need to be factored in before everyone "jumps ship".

 

While the sales numbers are what they are, I think they can be misleading when it comes to actual popularity of a title.

Do these numbers factor in 2nd, 3rd, 4th prints ? - Do they count ALL variants ? What about trade paperbacks and digital comics ?

 

 

Let's say a title is at issue #10 mark. It sells 10K copies for the month, which is down from 22K for issue # 1. The sales get published, collectors/speculators say it's a failure, it's headed for doom. But the fact that the trades are out, multiple prints are out there and readership could actually be higher than amount sold.

Is readership down or is it just the under ordering of comic shops ? - Do titles that sell 15K for issue 3 drop to 10K mean that it's lost 5,000 readers ?

 

There is the secondary market which is impossible to keep track of with the amount of cons (large and small), literally hundreds of dealers, EBay, comic shops..

It's sort of like when a show is aired, but they don't count DVR or on line viewers. Add in DVDs, people handing them off to others to watch, reruns on TV, etc.. ..

 

And oh, welcome back CBT !

 

 

[Hulk44]

 

 

 

The "RAREST" of any series 1st, will always be the one that attracts the big money. Having 0 variants, means the 1st print will be "the one". Having "one variant", will make that variant be "the one". Having multiple variants will make the "rarest" variant be "the one". It's that simple, nothing more nothing less.

 

Throwing in more and more middle or low tier variants will just push "the one" higher. If the book is a long term success, "1st Prints" and "the one" will be the books to own, and the guys that see the biggest gains.

 

 

 

 

This is 100% on the money....

[Mike's Rack]

 

 

The "RAREST" of any series 1st, will always be the one that attracts the big money. Having 0 variants, means the 1st print will be "the one". Having "one variant", will make that variant be "the one". Having multiple variants will make the "rarest" variant be "the one". It's that simple, nothing more nothing less.

 

Throwing in more and more middle or low tier variants will just push "the one" higher. If the book is a long term success, "1st Prints" and "the one" will be the books to own, and the guys that see the biggest gains.

 

 

 

 

This is 100% on the money.... except when it is unclear which variant is the "one" and when collectors are unsure whether new more limited variants will be released that will change the "one". This is what happened with nowhere men, people weren't sure which was the one and each subsiquent variant threatened those that came before. Über is going the same direction, which variant for #0 is the one? What about for #1?

[Mike's Rack]

I've been looking at posts in this thread and I think there are some important things that need to be factored in before everyone "jumps ship".

 

While the sales numbers are what they are, I think they can be misleading when it comes to actual popularity of a title.

Do these numbers factor in 2nd, 3rd, 4th prints ? - Do they count ALL variants ? What about trade paperbacks and digital comics ?

 

 

Let's say a title is at issue #10 mark. It sells 10K copies for the month, which is down from 22K for issue # 1. The sales get published, collectors/speculators say it's a failure, it's headed for doom. But the fact that the trades are out, multiple prints are out there and readership could actually be higher than amount sold.

Is readership down or is it just the under ordering of comic shops ? - Do titles that sell 15K for issue 3 drop to 10K mean that it's lost 5,000 readers ?

 

There is the secondary market which is impossible to keep track of with the amount of cons (large and small), literally hundreds of dealers, EBay, comic shops..

It's sort of like when a show is aired, but they don't count DVR or on line viewers. Add in DVDs, people handing them off to others to watch, reruns on TV, etc.. ..

 

And oh, welcome back CBT !

 

Also with some of these books you can't compare to the #1 issue. With speculators overbuying, the #1's were vastly overprinted. The good books will settle into a stable print run and you can factor the success based on that mean.

[awakeintheashes]

In regards to uber, the blitzkrieg version of #0 will be the one, I think. The RRP of #1 will be the one to own. It is the rarest of the covers (850)

[Mike's Rack]

Well there is a Phoenix Comicon variant of #1 coming out next week limited to 350. I haven't seen the cover though.

[whetteon]

So some interesting information here in April.

 

So ignore some books(WD, Chew, MG and PP(Speculator Driven)

 

Saga and Nowhere Men are holding the best with Saga pulling away from the pack and standing alone with increases in readership nothing else is close. Invincible is showing a slow steady increase which is great I thought the book was dead after around 60.

 

In the decline area taking out some due to only less then 4 issues you see Revival, MP, Todd, Fatale and ToT all finding audiences stabilizing and seeing slight decrease which happen.

 

Next you have books that are either A.) Highly speculated or B.) they just havent got a readership yet and might never. This is important for some of out here who are still hyping some of these books. They are all 30%+ down in sales with several being over 45%. The numbers dont lie with these books.

 

Bedlam

Clone

Blackacre

Mind the Gap

Comeback

Snapshot

Lost Vegas

Great Pacific

 

Don't forget that Sex #2 has less of a down grade than a ton of the others you mentioned. So apparently hand drawn porn sells better than content these days. Speculators, take note.

[awakeintheashes]

Well there is a Phoenix Comicon variant of #1 coming out next week limited to 350. I haven't seen the cover though.

 

And that is the reason why people stop trying to collect all of the different covers. Too many to keep track of and too expensive. I guess I shouldn't have expected anything less from an Avatar title.

[THE LAUGHING M4N]

Well there is a Phoenix Comicon variant of #1 coming out next week limited to 350. I haven't seen the cover though.

 

And that is the reason why people stop trying to collect all of the different covers. Too many to keep track of and too expensive. I guess I shouldn't have expected anything less from an Avatar title.

 

For speculation, surely the RRP will drop off? There's one for issue 2 being released, and not even the Phoenix edition will be the most limited, it'll be that insignia set of three "limited to 200 sets", until the next month...

 

Anyway, those charts make for interesting reading CBT (thumbs u

 

Some of the Image titles I read are at the very bottom and their figures reminded me of this

[ThoseBackPages]

CHARTS!!!!!!

[Mike's Rack]

Well there is a Phoenix Comicon variant of #1 coming out next week limited to 350. I haven't seen the cover though.

 

And that is the reason why people stop trying to collect all of the different covers. Too many to keep track of and too expensive. I guess I shouldn't have expected anything less from an Avatar title.

It just got worse

 

Uber #1 Insignia Set - The most limited edition UBER! Limited to 200 sets. $100 ea.

Uber #0 Enhanced Phoenix Blitzkrieg - Limited to 750. $14.99 ea

Uber #0 Enhanced Battleships - Limited to 2000. $5.99 ea.

Uber #1 Art Nouveau - Limited to 1500. $5.99 ea.

Uber #1 First Appearance HMH Colossus - A new concept in collectable variant editions, the first appearance of a major character in advance of their appearance in the books. Limited to 1500. $5.99 ea.

Uber #1 Phoenix VIP - Limited to 350. $50 ea.

Uber #2 Retailer Bonus - Ltd to 500. $25 ea.

 

Got an email from Avatar's Comic Cavalcade offering these just now. Probably won't last long!

I guess I'll wait for the trade.

[awakeintheashes]

Well there is a Phoenix Comicon variant of #1 coming out next week limited to 350. I haven't seen the cover though.

 

And that is the reason why people stop trying to collect all of the different covers. Too many to keep track of and too expensive. I guess I shouldn't have expected anything less from an Avatar title.

It just got worse

 

Uber #1 Insignia Set - The most limited edition UBER! Limited to 200 sets. $100 ea.

Uber #0 Enhanced Phoenix Blitzkrieg - Limited to 750. $14.99 ea

Uber #0 Enhanced Battleships - Limited to 2000. $5.99 ea.

Uber #1 Art Nouveau - Limited to 1500. $5.99 ea.

Uber #1 First Appearance HMH Colossus - A new concept in collectable variant editions, the first appearance of a major character in advance of their appearance in the books. Limited to 1500. $5.99 ea.

Uber #1 Phoenix VIP - Limited to 350. $50 ea.

Uber #2 Retailer Bonus - Ltd to 500. $25 ea.

 

Got an email from Avatar's Comic Cavalcade offering these just now. Probably won't last long!

I guess I'll wait for the trade.

 

I wonder if any will be embossed or have a hologram on the cover.

[seanfingh]

 

Avatar likes to use different color foil for the various editions. Like Leaf Limited from 1996.

[Katchoo]

how low is the print run goes for image cancel a book?

 

Image don't really cancel books. It tends to be the creative team that decides to end their own book because they can't afford to do it anymore due to low sales. What that point is will be different for each book depending on the costs associated with it, how fast the writer and artists can produce each comic and how much other work they're doing alongside it which can help them money-wise to prop up a book that's not selling so well but they still really want to do it as a labour of love as it were. That's my understanding anyway. It's completely different from the way DC cancel books because DC pays writers and artists per page and own the rights to the book (as opposed to books at Image being creator-owned) so when it's not profitable (enough) for DC anymore they'll cancel it.