Comics Sales - March 2014

[aggr1103]

Out of curiosity I googled what Manga does numbers wise. (which I know nothing about at all)

 

The weekly manga and light novels rankings for March 5th - 11th

Rank / This week's sales by copies / Cumulative sales / Titles

 

Manga

*1, 1,842,220 2,247,140 One Piece Vol.69

*2, *,429,693 *,432,196 Bleach Vol.58

*3, *,327,856 *,377,478 Ansatsu Kyousu Vol.3

 

So it's not the artform, it's packaging, pricing, cultural or other things. Looks like readers respond just fine to quality strorytelling, if invitingly priced and marketed. (note they're charting "this week's" sales, not Monthly)

 

Are those domestic manga sales or foreign and domestic?

[Davenport]

Don't know. Their quoted source is in Japanese.

But even if you split it, half domestic, half foreign, their weekly numbers compaired to Diamond's monthly numbers is staggering. It tells me people do love the artform, it's everything else that slows their roll.

[Garf]

You can expand it out to the whole print / pub market. Magzines, newspapers, etc... you are probably going to see a similar decline.

[RCheli]

Comics are not going away. There are more readers now than there were in the late-90s/post crash, and the types of comics being published now is more varied than it has been for 60 years.

 

While monthly sales may not jump out at you, between digital downloads (a small, but growing number) and trades (a large and ever growing number), the business is healthy.

[RCheli]

Also, those Japanese numbers are a little skewed.

 

Manga is published initially as large (300+ page) anthology books (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly), and if the stories show interest with fans, they are collected into their own volumes. Those large anthology books are disposable. Nobody collects them. They read them and then throw them out or leave them on the subway for others to read.

[1904 Comics]

Comics are not going away. There are more readers now than there were in the late-90s/post crash, and the types of comics being published now is more varied than it has been for 60 years.

 

While monthly sales may not jump out at you, between digital downloads (a small, but growing number) and trades (a large and ever growing number), the business is healthy.

 

I question another market crash given all the insanity with variant covers and low production purchases on #2 issues. at what point are more people buying more for the movie speculation or false investment and not for the reading quality?

 

The variations of titles are more diverse to a wider audience, but the audience isnt exactly as into it as in previous generations. People who grew up to comics utilized them as a means of escape, entertainment, and the heroism that this generation now eludes to in the cinematic universe. The problem is this newer demographic population of readers don't even care to read the books, the smaller popular titles - most dealers will raise the prices due to supply and demand thereby discouraging potential readers from collecting, and older collectors begin to hate the absurdity in creating a franchise that went from just 1-5 titles (ex. UXM, XM, etc.) to 15-20 (ex. Wolverine, Magneto, Iron Fist, etc.)

 

I know that Marvel has movies slated until 2024 so the market drive will continue to have speculators empty their wallets everytime a new show or movie is announced, but my reasoning leads me to believe that there will inevitably be another crash as digital comic sales increase and cinematic feature films begin to wither there effectiveness on impact for investments.

[Davenport]

Yeah, "collecting" kind of skews the whole deal. It's not like readers love the stories, then collect. Now they're also collected to potentially make a buck later, even if they hate the story and can't stand the art. Or as run filler. Or for the variant covers.

 

Storytelling and quality is still on the list somewhere, just not a primary driver.

[miraclemet]

Also, those Japanese numbers are a little skewed.

 

Manga is published initially as large (300+ page) anthology books (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly), and if the stories show interest with fans, they are collected into their own volumes. Those large anthology books are disposable. Nobody collects them. They read them and then throw them out or leave them on the subway for others to read.

 

But the quoted numbers aren't for the big weekly Manga phone books that have 10 different stories in them, they are for the collections (a'la trades) that come after a book becomes successful.

[RCheli]

 

But the quoted numbers aren't for the big weekly Manga phone books that have 10 different stories in them, they are for the collections (a'la trades) that come after a book becomes successful.

 

You're right. My bad.

[RCheli]

I question another market crash given all the insanity with variant covers and low production purchases on #2 issues. at what point are more people buying more for the movie speculation or false investment and not for the reading quality?

 

The variations of titles are more diverse to a wider audience, but the audience isnt exactly as into it as in previous generations. People who grew up to comics utilized them as a means of escape, entertainment, and the heroism that this generation now eludes to in the cinematic universe. The problem is this newer demographic population of readers don't even care to read the books, the smaller popular titles - most dealers will raise the prices due to supply and demand thereby discouraging potential readers from collecting, and older collectors begin to hate the absurdity in creating a franchise that went from just 1-5 titles (ex. UXM, XM, etc.) to 15-20 (ex. Wolverine, Magneto, Iron Fist, etc.)

 

I know that Marvel has movies slated until 2024 so the market drive will continue to have speculators empty their wallets everytime a new show or movie is announced, but my reasoning leads me to believe that there will inevitably be another crash as digital comic sales increase and cinematic feature films begin to wither there effectiveness on impact for investments.

 

There have been investors in comics for 40+ years. I think that there are those who go for the exclusive covers, but they are a much smaller minority than those buyers in the past who bought 5-10 copies of each new comic. I think that a lot of people on this board (and I'm not singling you out or anything) don't go to comic shops any more. If you do, you would see that there are plenty of readers left. And, as I mentioned, they're picking up a large variety of different books. Super hero, sci-fi, horror, western, cartoon, etc. Nearly every genre has one or two good selling books, and a lot that are talked about.

 

There will always be people out there looking to buy the new, hot thing, the latest movie optioned, the coolest 1:100 variant cover. But for the most part, it's still readers. And a lot of the readers are also those who never step foot in a comic book store. That is something new for the industry and is only helping it.

[1904 Comics]

There have been investors in comics for 40+ years. I think that there are those who go for the exclusive covers, but they are a much smaller minority than those buyers in the past who bought 5-10 copies of each new comic. I think that a lot of people on this board (and I'm not singling you out or anything) don't go to comic shops any more. If you do, you would see that there are plenty of readers left. And, as I mentioned, they're picking up a large variety of different books. Super hero, sci-fi, horror, western, cartoon, etc. Nearly every genre has one or two good selling books, and a lot that are talked about.

 

There will always be people out there looking to buy the new, hot thing, the latest movie optioned, the coolest 1:100 variant cover. But for the most part, it's still readers. And a lot of the readers are also those who never step foot in a comic book store. That is something new for the industry and is only helping it.

 

I think you highlighted my point completely. people are out there to buy the newest, hottest things, 1:100 variant covers, etc.that otherwise set the value or rarity of an issue before the reading. I frequently visit 5 LCS in my area on a routine basis. There are approximately 15 total in San Diego and I recall a similar instance in the 90s where comic shops boomed around every corner. With technology increasing our capability of online stores, the convenience of "eBay stores" creates even more underlining opportunities for self-retailer stores (ref 1990s)

 

Ther other day at a LCS I visit, I saw a father and son looking at comics and I figured he was instilling the wisdom he had learned about the characters he grew up too. Instead, he was telling his son that he should buy these #1 New52 and MarvelNow! issues as though they would give him a lucrative future (ref 1990s)

 

I definitely agree with you that I see a lot of new readers excited to talk about reputable writers and artists. However, in my area, the latter is a line I stand in to see these 'new readers' that buy comics for all the wrong reasons.

 

I see people go in asking things like "Do you have any _(insert title here)__ first prints"

I see them buy 5 of the same issue (ex. Bunker #1) that will probably end up on eBay,

I even hear people asking "what's the print run" for certain issues (ex. anything printed by Image).

 

No matter how much I have observed these sales, I feel more inclined to warn anybody heavily invested that these driving numbers will inevitably lead to another crash. It's a bet that statistically I would put a large wager on given the generation gaps in reader knowledge over more popular charaters, low production numbers in popular titles that may not keep readers interested long-term, and the extremes that certain publishers are doing in the number of titles they are making.

 

The only true hope for revival this new generation has had as "Superhero uprbinging" is Rick Grimes which fits into modern day society's belief that a hero no longer needs to dawn a cape but fit a mortal state of overcoming vulnerability.

 

We don't have genocide, or major civil threats to escalate comics in an analogical state to drive sales (although I did read they were doing some issue about Russia-Putin). The closest thing next to historical iterations in comics was the Obama ASM covers but next to nothing else of historical correlation. These sales will either be the tonberry of many or what hopefully should be the revival of an industry that really needs an awakening.

[Crimebuster]

These sales will either be the tonberry of many

 

 

 

 

 

[RCheli]

I don't disagree that there are people out there buying multiples of things and looking for the hot books. But this is nothing new. People were buying multiples of Shazam #1 or Howard the Duck #1 or whatever since the 1970s. When I worked at a comic store in the mid-80s to early 90s, I saw similar people buying multiples.

 

But when I go shop at comic stores now, especially when I can make it on Wednesdays, I see people lining up at the register talking about the comic stories and the art.

 

I suspect that sales of the Saga trade paperbacks well outnumber the single issues. The same goes for the first volume of the New 52 Batman (the owls one... I can't remember the name). To me, that's saying that people are reading the stories, because trades are not an investment.

[1904 Comics]

These sales will either be the tonberry of many

 

 

 

 

 

 

he's shy guy, but he'll get ya

 

 

[ChrisInBaltimore]

We talk about Variant sales and I know a lot of people buy variants so it can't be ignored. I just wonder how many real modern readers buy variants…

 

I read about 20+ titles a month. I rarely, if ever, buy variants. My local LCS rarely even has them. They usually put them up behind the counter and they just sit. I imagine he sells them eventually, but I don't think it is a huge part of his business anymore.

 

I honestly think it is all the speculators and hardcore collectors. I remember when 700 came out watching someone in the store going through them all. I found it odd. He also went through the variants they had. It was a snowy day so the store was pretty empty. He left without buying anything. I asked the guy working and he'd never seen him. I think he was just trying to find some 9.8 candidates. Those people aren't truly readers. I know there is a lot of them out there. Just look at the Moderns section here. There are a few story posts, but most it is people talking about price points.

 

Just a ramble… I'm also still waiting until we see online sales numbers. With Amazon buying Comixology, online comic sales must be half decent, right?

[ChrisInBaltimore]

There have been investors in comics for 40+ years. I think that there are those who go for the exclusive covers, but they are a much smaller minority than those buyers in the past who bought 5-10 copies of each new comic. I think that a lot of people on this board (and I'm not singling you out or anything) don't go to comic shops any more. If you do, you would see that there are plenty of readers left. And, as I mentioned, they're picking up a large variety of different books. Super hero, sci-fi, horror, western, cartoon, etc. Nearly every genre has one or two good selling books, and a lot that are talked about.

 

There will always be people out there looking to buy the new, hot thing, the latest movie optioned, the coolest 1:100 variant cover. But for the most part, it's still readers. And a lot of the readers are also those who never step foot in a comic book store. That is something new for the industry and is only helping it.

 

I think you highlighted my point completely. people are out there to buy the newest, hottest things, 1:100 variant covers, etc.that otherwise set the value or rarity of an issue before the reading. I frequently visit 5 LCS in my area on a routine basis. There are approximately 15 total in San Diego and I recall a similar instance in the 90s where comic shops boomed around every corner. With technology increasing our capability of online stores, the convenience of "eBay stores" creates even more underlining opportunities for self-retailer stores (ref 1990s)

 

Ther other day at a LCS I visit, I saw a father and son looking at comics and I figured he was instilling the wisdom he had learned about the characters he grew up too. Instead, he was telling his son that he should buy these #1 New52 and MarvelNow! issues as though they would give him a lucrative future (ref 1990s)

 

I definitely agree with you that I see a lot of new readers excited to talk about reputable writers and artists. However, in my area, the latter is a line I stand in to see these 'new readers' that buy comics for all the wrong reasons.

 

I see people go in asking things like "Do you have any _(insert title here)__ first prints"

I see them buy 5 of the same issue (ex. Bunker #1) that will probably end up on eBay,

I even hear people asking "what's the print run" for certain issues (ex. anything printed by Image).

 

No matter how much I have observed these sales, I feel more inclined to warn anybody heavily invested that these driving numbers will inevitably lead to another crash. It's a bet that statistically I would put a large wager on given the generation gaps in reader knowledge over more popular charaters, low production numbers in popular titles that may not keep readers interested long-term, and the extremes that certain publishers are doing in the number of titles they are making.

 

The only true hope for revival this new generation has had as "Superhero uprbinging" is Rick Grimes which fits into modern day society's belief that a hero no longer needs to dawn a cape but fit a mortal state of overcoming vulnerability.

 

We don't have genocide, or major civil threats to escalate comics in an analogical state to drive sales (although I did read they were doing some issue about Russia-Putin). The closest thing next to historical iterations in comics was the Obama ASM covers but next to nothing else of historical correlation. These sales will either be the ton berry of many or what hopefully should be the revival of an industry that really needs an awakening.

 

Really? I see the revival every few months at the box office. I saw the revival at the movie theater this past weekend that was filled with kids 8-12. I see it when I go pick up my 2 year old and almost every boy is wearing some property that started in comics.

 

The bigger issue and wave of the future is online. Kids just don't read like they used to unless it is on a screen. Put comics online for .99 cents and see what happens.

 

We're in a new age of comics. When a property that was created in the last 15 years is already thrown up on a big screen I just don't think you can ignore comics and act as if they are dying. They are source material for a massive part of the box office success.

[rjrjr]

how are digital downloards. I gather that digital downloads reveal more about readers than floppies, you just can't imagine collectors hoarding digital copies.

 

The latest figures put digital comics at 10-15% of print.

[the blob]

Yeah, "collecting" kind of skews the whole deal. It's not like readers love the stories, then collect. Now they're also collected to potentially make a buck later, even if they hate the story and can't stand the art. Or as run filler. Or for the variant covers.

 

Storytelling and quality is still on the list somewhere, just not a primary driver.

 

Except nowadays, unless something is influenced by potential movie/TV hype, it actually needs to be good to be collectible 90% of the time. Walking Dead, Saga, Chew (I know not everyone liked it), etc. succeeded because they were good.

[the blob]

The bigger issue and wave of the future is online. Kids just don't read like they used to unless it is on a screen. Put comics online for .99 cents and see what happens.

----------

 

I just don't know if this is true as kids' fiction (Harry Potter and a bazillion other popular series out there) seem to be doing just fine with the 6 - 14 year old crowd. Then again, some $6-9 paperback gives a lot of bang for the buck and we're talking about a middle class/upper middle class crowd I suppose.

 

I go to my local libraries (and i live in an inner city area, though my little enclave happens to be yuppified) and I see plenty of kids (who most likely receive free lunch at school and whose parents do not use actual money to buy their groceries) reading graphic novels, etc... They just can't afford to pay for them!