No Comic Over 100K
'Scott Pilgrim Vol. 6' Repeats on GN Chart

Published: 09/14/2010 12:00am
http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/18352.html



For the first time since March of 2009 no comic sold more than 100,000 copies in August. There was no equivalent for July’s X-Men #1, which, supported by numerous incentive covers and a heavy marketing push that included launch parties, sold over 140,000 copies. Issue #2, which had considerably less marketing help, sold just over half as many copies, a steep drop even for a second issue.

Seventeen titles in the top 25 sold fewer copies than their previous issues, with just six showing increases in circulation. DC’s Brightest Day took the top two spots with the only titles that managed to sell over 90 thousand copies—down slightly from previous issues, but still a strong showing for a title that ships two issues a month. Marvel managed to place 5 Avengers titles in the top 25 (and one at #26), clearly demonstrating the current potency of that property.

The Joe Quesada-penned Amazing Spider-Man #640, part 3 of the "One Moment In Time" story arc that promised to answer the many nagging questions stemming from the controversial "One More Day" storyline, showed a major gain in circulation. Grant Morrison’s Batman #702, Neil Adam’s Batman: Odyssey #2, and JMS’ Superman #702 all held up reasonably well and Guy Gardner managed a successful return in Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #1.

Marvel took six out of the top ten spots and 16 out of the top 25 with DC grabbing the other nine. The top non-Marvel and DC title was Dark Horse’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Riley One-Shot well back at #40.

The likeliest culprit in the overall trend of declining circulations is the cumulative effect of the shift to the $3.99 per issue cover price. Sixteen of the top 25 books were priced at $3.99.

With a dearth of potent new graphic novel releases holdovers topped August sales. Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim graphic novels continued to rule the direct market chart in August, but didn’t dominate as much as they did on the bookstore list (see “Scott Pilgrim Dominates in August”). Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs. the World may never make its $60 million cost back, but all six Scott Pilgrim titles finished in the top15 in August on the Diamond chart. Note that Scott Pilgrim #1 was the #4 title, and that the first volume of Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead was #6—clear indicators that lots of new readers are discovering these titles thanks to their exposure in other media.

In a welcome sign that “young readers” books are gaining some traction in the direct market, Jeff Smith’s Bone Tall Tales from Scholastic came in at #7, and Archie’s latest Sonic the Hedgehog collection ended up at #17.

It was a pitiful month for manga sales in the direct market with Viz Media’s Inuyasha Vol. 51 at #67 the bestselling manga release.

Here are ICv2's estimates of the sales by Diamond Comic Distributors to comic stores on the top 25 comic titles in August:

93,459 Brightest Day #7
91,546 Brightest Day #8
87,333 Avengers #4
81,354 New Avengers #3
74,655 Secret Avengers #4
73,656 Amazing Spider-Man #640
73,414 Batman #702
71,464 X-Men #2
69,052 Uncanny X-Men #527
68,332 Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #1
67,124 Green Lantern Corps #51
67,086 Amazing Spider-Man #639
60,733 Justice League of America #48
55,518 Avengers Prime #2
53,870 Ultimate Comics Avengers 3 #1
53,236 X-Men: Legacy #239
52,834 Captain America #609
51,362 Captain America #608
51,076 Thor #613
50,441 Astonishing X-Men #35
50,023 Superman #702
49,012 Invincible Iron Man #29
48,903 Hulk #24
48,420 Justice Society of America #42
47,675 Batman: Odyssey #2

The answer is simple.

Raise prices.

Eventually they'll print one comic for one rich guy for $500,000 an issue.

Sales of comics by character/group.

Avengers 306,639
X-Men 292,017
Batman 197,314
Spider-Man 188,963
Superman 150,444
Justice League 139,449
Deadpool 137,823
Green Lantern 135,456
Captain America 130,075

The 37 combined Batman titles can't break 200,000? Ouch.

I was one of those young readers who bought that. It was a fun book.

Wow. I had no idea sales had declined that badly. Only a few years ago there were several titles over 100,000, and total DM sales had actually gone up a bit the previous few years.

But honestly--how on Earth can anybody stand to spend $3.99 on a single issue of a standard-format comic book? With sales tax that works out to about $50 a year for the average monthly title! I can eat for two weeks on that. It's rare that I spend as much as that on anything I don't absolutely have to have.

I guess a lot of fans really do live in their parents' basements. Moving in with Mom and Dad so I didn't have to pay rent is certainly the only way I'd be able to afford to keep reading comics!

And that figure for the X-franchise means they can't be averaging more than 4-5,000 each. Of which 20-30% can't stand to read whoever the current writer is, but have to maintain their complete runs whether they read them or not....

*ahem* I do live with my mother.

But yes, it's quite difficult to pay that much money for comics
even if I can afford them. Just today, I was looking over bargain
comics: a lot of Adventure Comics featuring the Legion of Super
Heroes (stuff before I started buying them as a kid)—and they
were all in VG to Fine shape, and priced at only $1.99 each.
And there's at least two times the story in each issue.

Almost all of my comics were bought as inexpensive back issues. I haven't been able to afford new comics on a regular basis since the early 1990s.

You mean she lives with you, right?

Is $2.95 a reasonable price for, say, an indie with 16 pages of story?

also: have a poll coming ahem it's about "if singles are $2.95, and you've bought the first two issues,
would you feel okay with the company producing no singles for 3-5 but putting out one trade for 10.95? 11.95? Are they committed to producing singles runs for their fans who've started that way?"

I'll try to pick it up later...

Guess it depends on how badly one wanted to read it. I doubt many people would buy a 16-page comic now, even if it cost proportionately less. Standard-format comics already seem thin enough as it is to most people.

But not in the basement.

Not for me. I don't like trades.
I was buying the Indy title The Middleman, and they began by issuing
black and white four issue mini-series, then another series, and then
another, and then TRADE-ONLY. I stopped buying. I would have been
extremely pissed if it had switched to trade in mid-mini-series.

And, if you're going to charge $2.95, you might just as well charge $2.99.

One approach I liked with mini-series, was to issue the first issue at 99¢,
the second at $1.99, and the last two at $2.99. You have to let people
know up front that the first couple of issues were discounted, though,
as an incentive to get you to buy them. Maybe price them $2.99, then
also print a slash through the price with 99¢ written below it.

Despite my not liking trades, I think Indy titles may have to go trade only
if they want to print and distribute them. More pages is a better choice
than less pages.

I think I would try 99¢ digital copies, then print a Trade of four issues later
on at $9.99, possibly six issues at $14.99.

No, the basement wouldn't be good for her.

I don't want to hear anymore about how great comics are doing and how negative I am because I've been saying for years the "ahem" higher numbers were deceiving, they were milking and manipulating an existent fan base, and there is trouble coming down the pike.

This is the bottom line. If printed comics have a future, real businessmen would enter the field and the number of stores would decrease. But even with all the supposed higher numbers the last few years, stores still kept closing.

If I was still with Future or any comic company with some weight behind it, I would be hounding Jobs left and right and would go all digital and have him do his magic bragging about the future. USA Today is contemplating this and yet Marvel, owned by Disney (of which Jobs is a major part of) is doing nothing original there or anything that the others aren't already doing.

In terms of other printed media - aren't comic sales doing better? Magazines are failing left and right as are newspapers (the newstand ain't no savior no more thats for sure). Aside from some high profile mags don't most of them sell way less than your average comic or trade?

Same with novels..aside from the top ten..most novels would kill to get the circulation numbers of comics from what I understand.

That being said - we should be seeing cheaper cover prices and $1 digital downloads of TONS of books. Thats what I would do if I were a publisher (plus lots of free content to suck people in - the first issue of every vertigo trade should be online and free IMO.

It's really bad. That whole discussion we had about a mainstream magazine recently -- the backdrop of that in my mind was a life-threatening decline in comic book store sales. No new readers are finding them.

Warren Ellis mentioned a while ago that sales were proportional to the number of stores out there (especially for the lower level stuff like Vertigo titles) - DC and Marvel should do more for stores (especially new ones that want to open). The move to shipping books tuesday night with a wednesday sale date is a step in the right direction but they do need more.

A dedicated marketing force for starters would not hurt (like book publishers have) - i would even dedicate a book/trade paperback sales force to libraries and schools (but that's another idea). Some financing help (or preferable payment terms) to new and existing stores would also be a big boon. Help set up their trade library, goive them a cash flow break for the first 60-90 days of opening. The stores need help and the occasional free poster ain't cutting it.

Agree 100%.



Today its tough for any magazine but an app/mag hybrid, pushing new stories to the device, new previews/advance looks, that could work.



I don't think there is any hope for the shops but if I had to do something, you're right. All good ideas.