January 2014 sales estimates

[the authority]

A Voice in the Dark is down about 1000 copies to 4000. I'm curious about this. Do you guys support the creators of books that speak to us on this site ?

And yet the demand for ASM 1 variants is through the roof. We complain about re numbering, variants and other cash grabs, but when it comes right down to it, we the buyers are the reason for it. Meanwhile, great books languish at 3-10K sales.

 

Well I'm not buying any ASM anything and I don't begrudge anyone who does, I've had my fill. I'm hoping more people give these great stories a shot.

[500Club]

A Voice in the Dark is down about 1000 copies to 4000. I'm curious about this. Do you guys support the creators of books that speak to us on this site ?

And yet the demand for ASM 1 variants is through the roof. We complain about re numbering, variants and other cash grabs, but when it comes right down to it, we the buyers are the reason for it. Meanwhile, great books languish at 3-10K sales.

 

Well I'm not buying any ASM anything and I don't begrudge anyone who does, I've had my fill. I'm hoping more people give these great stories a shot.

My read list looks a lot like yours. (thumbs u

[the authority]

A Voice in the Dark is down about 1000 copies to 4000. I'm curious about this. Do you guys support the creators of books that speak to us on this site ?

And yet the demand for ASM 1 variants is through the roof. We complain about re numbering, variants and other cash grabs, but when it comes right down to it, we the buyers are the reason for it. Meanwhile, great books languish at 3-10K sales.

 

Well I'm not buying any ASM anything and I don't begrudge anyone who does, I've had my fill. I'm hoping more people give these great stories a shot.

My read list looks a lot like yours. (thumbs u

 

I thought so based on our previous discussions. Now we just need to convince a small percentage of the people that will buy ASM to try something new.

 

 

[ThoseBackPages]

i wonder if ASM #1 variant demand would be a little lower if the main cover wasnt absolutely pathetic looking

[Whizzer]

Only one title, Batman, cracked 100K in sales this month. Even the latest Marvel #1, Avengers World #1, could not top it. Interesting.

 

 

It's interesting that you mention AVengers World as it is a good illustration as to why these figures are largely meaningless.

 

These figures only represent what is sold to comic shops from DCD at the wholesale level, not retail sales.

 

many comic shops have plenty of copies of AW and Origins II still sitting on their shelves weeks after release.

 

These figures do not represent what is selling at the retail level.

[Geaux]

Man, it's a shame to see such a great book like Zero at 6k or so. I feel like if people knew the book existed it could at least pull in 10-12k, even if the spy genre as a whole is pretty well represented.

[fastballspecial]

A Voice in the Dark is down about 1000 copies to 4000. I'm curious about this. Do you guys support the creators of books that speak to us on this site ?

And yet the demand for ASM 1 variants is through the roof. We complain about re numbering, variants and other cash grabs, but when it comes right down to it, we the buyers are the reason for it. Meanwhile, great books languish at 3-10K sales.

 

You pretty much have hit the nail on the head. Speculators are now driving our market. This is a very dangerous thing. As many older collectors can tell you we have been thorough this before. Tread carefully it can come crashing down very fast. Its also the reason why many long time modern board members don't post here anymore.

 

 

 

[Garf]

Sex criminal's increase is probably driven by the variant

What variant? Are you referring to the fourth print of #1? If so, I HIGHLY doubt a fourth printing of #1 has any impact on the sales for issue #4.

 

Also, Saga's sales numbers dropped by less than 200. You try a little too hard to be an auto-contrarian.

 

... it's a popular variant. In general if you look at Sex Criminals #4 then the first print is actually quite an easy find now... it makes sense that more stores would be making an adjustment if #1 & #2 sold out with a few printings, but Whizzer's comments are a more relevant response.

 

Only one title, Batman, cracked 100K in sales this month. Even the latest Marvel #1, Avengers World #1, could not top it. Interesting.

 

 

It's interesting that you mention AVengers World as it is a good illustration as to why these figures are largely meaningless.

 

These figures only represent what is sold to comic shops from DCD at the wholesale level, not retail sales.

 

many comic shops have plenty of copies of AW and Origins II still sitting on their shelves weeks after release.

 

These figures do not represent what is selling at the retail level.

 

 

Yup. There are places that have decent stacks of recent comics like Avengers World, even (or should I say especially) Saga or Walking Dead, on the shelves or scattered amongst the £1 / $1 back issue bins. TWD 107 is a year old now and easy to pick up at cover or less.

[VEI Reborn]

#4 will be around 3.7k, so the drop is leveling off. At 3k+ I'm still making enough to keep doing this.

 

The trade is out in June, and stores ordering 10+ copies are getting an original sketch by me as an incentive. I've been greenlit to go ahead and start doing the next arc, which would be #8-#12, and they greenlit a 4-issue mini spin-off about Zoey's homicide detective uncle.

 

 

That is GREAT news Larime. Cant wait (thumbs u

[revivedrevival]

Here is a link for the top graphic novels for the same month (Jan-2014)

ICV2 Top 300 Graphic Novels

 

 

What stood out to me on the graphic novels

 

Saga volume 1 continues to pull in new readers.

Ten Grand's TPB did very well; I'll have to check out the series.

 

What stood out to me on the comic book sales for January

 

Super heroes run the show.... again...

It amazes me how super heroes continue to pull in what? -- 95% of all comic book revenue? (that is my guesstimation).

Where the non super hero stories stand:

 

#11/12 TWD

#22 Saga

#70 East of West

#80 My Little Pony

#97 Black Science

#99 Velvet

#102 Sex Criminals

#117 Pretty Deadly

#132 Fatale

#136 TMNT

#139 Adventure Time

#158 Manifest Destiny

#163 Egos (#1)

#165 Rat Queens

#166 Chew

#180 Revival

#186 Sex

#199 Harbinger

#211 Uber

#219 Letter 44

#226 Bedlam

#227 Massive

#230 Three

#237 Five Ghosts

#240 Sheltered

#264 Peter Panzerfaust

#299 Clone

 

 

My thoughts

(+) Pretty interesting to see Revival and Chew are next to each other in the rankings considering they will soon have a cross over issue.

(+) I'm very happy to see Pretty Deadly sell so well.

(+) I am very surprised as to how Sex is doing

(+) Considering all the speculation recently, I'm surprised Manifest Destiny is low in the rankings

(+) I'm interested to see what kind of sales bump Sheltered will have considering the recent news.

[aaronc]

Sex criminal's increase is probably driven by the variant

What variant? Are you referring to the fourth print of #1? If so, I HIGHLY doubt a fourth printing of #1 has any impact on the sales for issue #4.

 

Also, Saga's sales numbers dropped by less than 200. You try a little too hard to be an auto-contrarian.

 

My error. It should be the 4th printing, not a variant. In that case, the numbers might reflect more of an increased in readership.

 

As for Saga, the drop is small but the decline is starting to show.

 

I am not an auto contrarian but there is nothing in the data that is encouraging. I would love to see popular series growing in leaps and bounds but that is not happening. What we have is a bunch of very supportive customers holding up a large number of titles. To me, it is not a healthy sign.

[Lonzilla]

The very low print runs of the recent issues of Sheltered, Clone, and Todd are going to make NM-MT full runs scarce when their respective projects hit the screens. For a book that has something in the area of 5k to 7k copies, how many are truly 9.8's or even 9.6's? Especially is some shops only get a few copies in

[awakeintheashes]

Sex criminal's increase is probably driven by the variant

What variant? Are you referring to the fourth print of #1? If so, I HIGHLY doubt a fourth printing of #1 has any impact on the sales for issue #4.

 

Also, Saga's sales numbers dropped by less than 200. You try a little too hard to be an auto-contrarian.

 

My error. It should be the 4th printing, not a variant. In that case, the numbers might reflect more of an increased in readership.

 

As for Saga, the drop is small but the decline is starting to show.

 

I am not an auto contrarian but there is nothing in the data that is encouraging. I would love to see popular series growing in leaps and bounds but that is not happening. What we have is a bunch of very supportive customers holding up a large number of titles. To me, it is not a healthy sign.

 

I'm going to quote myself to give you some context, as well as illustrate that the January data isn't really a sign of anything, which Whizzer also pointed out.

 

Actually, to put this all in context, EOW hitting 30K is great and Saga hitting 50 is AMAZING. Flashing back a few years ago check these numbers out...

 

47 Walking Dead 96 $2.99 Image 36,931 - April 2012

54 Walking Dead 95 $2.99 Image 33,916 - March 2012

63 Walking Dead 94 $2.99 Image 32,361 - February 2012

59 Walking Dead 93 $2.99 Image 31,596 - January 2012

58 Walking Dead 92 $2.99 Image 31,496 - December 2011

68 Walking Dead 91 $2.99 Image 31,813 - November 2011

78 Walking Dead 90 $2.99 Image 31,778 - October 2011

79 Walking Dead 89 $2.99 Image 31,351 - September/October 2011

51 Walking Dead 88 $2.99 Image 31,839 - August 2011

 

East of West is close to 2012 Walking Dead numbers, which had 90+ issues behind it. East of West is still young and selling great. Saga is a freaking monster!

 

Decreasing numbers of 300-400 really didn't bode well for the health of Walking Dead, eh?

[aaronc]

Great idea to use Walking Dead as a benchmark.

 

Anyway, even using your own data, you can see increasing trend. Any decline was quickly overcompensated for within 2 months or less. Of course, I am willing to be wrong if Saga experiences another increase after 4 months of minor decline.

 

 

 

[500Club]

A 200 copy drop is statistically insignificant.

[500Club]

The very low print runs of the recent issues of Sheltered, Clone, and Todd are going to make NM-MT full runs scarce when their respective projects hit the screens.

What makes you think these projects are hitting any screens? There are so many ways these things can fall apart.

[jreezy]

Great idea to use Walking Dead as a benchmark.

 

Anyway, even using your own data, you can see increasing trend. Any decline was quickly overcompensated for within 2 months or less. Of course, I am willing to be wrong if Saga experiences another increase after 4 months of minor decline.

 

 

 

I wouldnt worry about saga at this time. I think it has been hovering in the 50k mark for some time now. We will probably see another spike once they come back from their hiatus. I'm hoping the TPB readers jump on to the monthlies for issue #19. =)

 

Saga is Image's #2 cash cow when it comes to sales. I think the series will be ok.

[the420kid]

The very low print runs of the recent issues of Sheltered, Clone, and Todd are going to make NM-MT full runs scarce when their respective projects hit the screens.

What makes you think these projects are hitting any screens? There are so many ways these things can fall apart.

 

lots of wishful thinking in these parts can't a good comic book be just a good comic book anymore?

[the authority]

The very low print runs of the recent issues of Sheltered, Clone, and Todd are going to make NM-MT full runs scarce when their respective projects hit the screens.

What makes you think these projects are hitting any screens? There are so many ways these things can fall apart.

 

My gut tells me Clone will make it to the screen and I'm hoping for Ken that Todd makes it. Sheltered is a cool book but who knows. All of these books are worth reading imo.

[revivedrevival]

The very low print runs of the recent issues of Sheltered, Clone, and Todd are going to make NM-MT full runs scarce when their respective projects hit the screens.

What makes you think these projects are hitting any screens? There are so many ways these things can fall apart.

 

important note I am not Lonzilla. These books are on the top of my list. That said, here is my 'rationalization for unwarranted high hopes'.

 

Clone It was a television -script before it was a comic. David Schulner admitted he first thought of the story seven years ago when he thought to himself: I *(#&@ love my son so much I want to clone him -- and it spiraled out from there. Schuler is not a comic book writer; he is a writer for television.

Further more, aside from Spiderman & Star Wars, Clones seem to be relatively untapped.

Lastly, NBC doesn't want to repeat their mistakes as they did with TWD and Revival.

 

Todd It was picked up by an animation production studio (Titmouse). The cost to produce many episodes is in the same ballpark as producing one. There won't be a pilot. It'll be one of two extremes: dropped by the studio or it will air for a full season on television some where.

 

Sheltered The 'news' was about ten days ago. It was good to see that not only was it optioned but they already have the Director, writer and producers in mind.

The chances of Sheltered becoming a movie is likely inversely proportional to the number of scripts Jesse Peyronel (writer/director) has worked on in recent past. I'm dying to know the level of attention Peyronel is giving to Sheltered.