2004 in Review - the Diamond Numbers

[drice6900]

Outstanding write-up:

 

TOP COMICS, GRAPHIC NOVELS FOR 2004 DATA RELEASED

 

"Of course, the Top 100 also represents, as it does most years, of the continued strength of the established brand - aside from Conan and, perhaps 1602 (just because for a while, no one knew what in the hell was going on), the entirety of the Top 100 are the marquee characters - the known brands. Or, in other words, there is not one comic in the Top 100 for 2004 (this time counting Conan) that was created less (or based on one created) than 40 years ago."

[Silver Surfer]

New Avengers #1 in 2nd spot in terms of numbered shipped, I would have never guessed.

[Ajax]

rofl, with all those varients :-/

[Stromm]

rofl, with all those varients :-/

I was going to post something like this too, and mention that this represents Diamond's sales to retailers and other venues, (read speculators), not actual sales to consumers.........

[Zanarkand]

That’s right – almost 20 years after it was published, the Watchmen collection still sells well enough to beat a majority of the other trades offered in any given year by any other publisher. Around this time of year, a tongue-in-cheek intra-office joke at DC usually goes around, wondering just who is still buying the Watchmen collection, as the sheer volume of collections sold in the past years could fill many warehouses. Of course, as we mentioned when last year’s Top 100 came out, Watchmen, while being a good story, is also a perpetual (to date) money-making machine for Alan Moore, who, along with artist Dave Gibbons, gets a nice check from DC for Watchmen royalties.

 

Ok, call me a heretic, but I just don't get Watchmen. I mean, it may have been groundbreaking at the time, but it doesn't hold up. When I finally broke down and bought the thing a year ago, I was disappointed. I confess that after the first half I began skimming through the book to see if anything interesting was going to happen. Nothing did. It was boring. The ending was contrived and kind of dumb. Ok, sorry, end rant.

[Fan4Fan]

Ok, call me a heretic, but I just don't get Watchmen. I mean, it may have been groundbreaking at the time, but it doesn't hold up. When I finally broke down and bought the thing a year ago, I was disappointed. I confess that after the first half I began skimming through the book to see if anything interesting was going to happen. Nothing did. It was boring. The ending was contrived and kind of dumb. Ok, sorry, end rant.

 

Heretic!

 

I first read Watchmen shortly after it was collected and made its way to the local library. I had been out of comics for about 10 years, but was wondering what the fuss was about. While I enjoyed the story, I found this English guy Moore to be a bit long-winded and the story a bit more horrific than I'd have liked.

 

I re-read Watchmen a couple of years ago when I had been back in comics for a few years. While I enjoyed the story, I found it less interesting than many of the other Moore stories (Promethea, V for Vendetta, Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow) in that it seemed too much like an outline for a story - with incomplete infilling of backstory - and that the actions of the "heroes" didn't seem forceful enough to bring about the change they wanted.

 

Thanks,

Fan4Fan

[shadroch]

Z-

Did you read the Tales of The Black Freighter segment,or Roshachs essay on his father?

Just curious.

[Kevin Boyd]

DC released the following Press Release

 

SUPERMAN #204 is the top-selling comic of 2004 in units, according to Diamond Comic Distributors. Diamond also reports that IDENTITY CRISIS #1 is 2004’s top-selling comic in dollars.

 

DC claimed eight of the top ten best-sellers in units sold for 2004, including SUPERMAN/BATMAN #8 (in the #3 slot), IDENTITY CRISIS #1 (at #4), SUPERMAN #205 (at #6), SUPERMAN/BATMAN #10 (at #7), IDENTITY CRISIS #2 (at #8), SUPERMAN #206 (at #9) and SUPERMAN/BATMAN #9 (at #10 on the chart).

 

Nineteen of the top 25 best-sellers in units for the year were DC titles.

 

On the dollars side, DC held the nine of the top ten slots, including AVENGERS/JLA #4 (at #2), SUPERMAN/BATMAN #8 (at #3), IDENTITY CRISIS #2 (at #4), SUPERMAN #204 (at #6), GREEN LANTERN: REBIRTH #1 (at #7), SUPERMAN/BATMAN #10 (at #8), IDENTITY CRISIS #3 (at #9) and IDENTITY CRISIS #4 (at #10).

 

Seventeen of the top 25 best-sellers in dollars were DC titles.

 

“2004 was one of DC’s strongest years ever, thanks to such major projects as the ‘For Tomorrow’ storyline in SUPERMAN, IDENTITY CRISIS, GREEN LANTERN: REBIRTH, SUPERMAN/BATMAN and so many others,” says Bob Wayne, DC’s VP — Sales & Marketing. “The creative and editorial teams drove these sales, and we thank them for their extraordinary efforts. We’d also like to thank our retailers and readers for their support and enthusiasm. Just wait until you see what we’ve got for you in 2005.”

 

DC dominated several other 2004 sales charts as well.

 

The BATMAN: HUSH VOLUME 1 TP was #1 on the Graphic Novels/Trade Paperbacks chart in units sold, followed by the SUPERMAN: RED SON TP. VERTIGO’s Y: THE LAST MAN — ONE SMALL STEP TP was the #7 seller for the year, with WildStorm’s THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN VOLUME 2 TP at #13 on the list. Perennial seller WATCHMEN, now in its 18th year of continuous publication, was #18 on the list.

 

JLA/AVENGERS: THE COLLECTOR’S EDITION OVERSIZED SLIPCASED HARDCOVER was the #1 book in dollars.

 

Eighteen out of the top 25 toys in dollars were from DC Direct. The BATMAN: HUSH ACTION FIGURES MASTER CASE ASSORTMENT came in at #1, followed by the BATMAN: HUSH SERIES 2 ACTION FIGURES MASTER CASE ASSORTMENT, the SUPERMAN STATUE and the BATMAN JAPANESE IMPORT COLLECTOR ACTION FIGURE WAVE 2 MASTER CASE.

 

Nine out of the top 10 posters this year in dollars were from DC Direct. The #1 poster in units sold was the BATMAN & NIGHTWING POSTER, by Jim Lee & Scott Williams, followed by Ed McGuinness’s SUPERMAN/BATMAN POSTER and the JIM LEE BATMAN #619 HEROES POSTER.

 

The JIM LEE BATMAN #619 HEROES POSTER from DC Direct landed at #1 in dollars on the Top 10 Posters chart, followed by the ALEX ROSS JLA OVERSIZED POSTER, the JIM LEE BATMAN #619 VILLAINS POSTER, the BATMAN & NIGHTWING POSTER (with art by Lee & Williams) and the SUPERMAN/BATMAN POSTER (with art by Ed McGuinness).

[Ajax]

Those fella's at D.C. when they ganna learn?

[Zanarkand]

Z-

Did you read the Tales of The Black Freighter segment,or Roshachs essay on his father?

Just curious.

 

I recall the Tales of the Black Freighter bits. I found it interesting how, superheros being "real", comic books diverged into pirate stories. The story itself reminded me of classic b&w Eerie mag horror. So I went and read some of those. I don't remember Rorshach's essay offhand.

 

I suppose the suggestion is that I must not have read the good parts. I'll give any title a chance, but after half of a 12-issue series, if it still hasn't captured my attention, I have better things to do.

[Zonker]

I've often wondered if I'd have enjoyed Watchmen as much if I'd read it all together as a TPB. Reading it one month at a time I really had a chance to get into the text pieces that flesh out the back-story, and get to know the characters as if they had been around for years rather than new creations. I can imagine reading it all in one sitting, you don't have time to develop an empathy for who these characters are, or to have much time to ponder the things going on in the background.

[rob_react]

Z-

Did you read the Tales of The Black Freighter segment,or Roshachs essay on his father?

Just curious.

 

I recall the Tales of the Black Freighter bits. I found it interesting how, superheros being "real", comic books diverged into pirate stories. The story itself reminded me of classic b&w Eerie mag horror. So I went and read some of those. I don't remember Rorshach's essay offhand.

 

Actually even in the real world, where superheroes don't exist, comics diverged into plenty of other genre in the 50s, including a few pirate titles (the EC title "Piracy" being a particularly apt example.)