2014-04-18
Elsewhere: Mayo Report podcast March Diamond Trades Chart
Latest episode of John Mayo's podcast, discussing the March 2014 Diamond Trades chart with Chris Marshall, is now available.
2014-04-17
Elsewhere: Beat Marvel March Sales Analysis
The Beat has Jason Enright's analysis of the month-to-month sales trends for Marvel for the March 2014 Diamond comics chart.
2014-04-16
Elsewhere: Mayo Report podcast March 2014 Comics
John Mayo's monthly podcast on the Diamond Comics Chart for March 2014 is now available.
2014-04-14
Elsewhere: Beat DC Chart March 2014
David Carter has the DC Month-to-Month comparisons for March up at The Beat.
Observations on March 2014 Comics Chart - The Rising
Quick look at the comics to post a more-than-trivial increase in sales in the March 2014 Diamond Top 300.
GI JOE A REAL AMERICAN HERO #200 (IDW) : 11780 - +77%
This series carries on the numbering and continuity (and writer) from the old Marvel series, so it gets up to #200, a rarity in modern comics. However, big landmark numbering increases usually get completely reversed within a few issues.
STRAY BULLETS #41 (IMA) : 8297 - +59%
This concludes the story from the self-published version, which ended in 2005. I wonder how close to a record that is for consecutive issues of a book? Well, I guess a case could be made for GI JOE, above. Pretty good, though far below the 14208 the new STRAY BULLETS THE KILLERS #1 sold, also in March.
IRON MAN #23 .NOW (MAR) : 43912 - +51%
Marvel's ".NOW" starting point issues are heavily promoted with variant covers, ordering incentives and sometimes include digital codes for not only the issue in question but also a collection of an earlier run on the series. They also almost invariably lose most of their increases with the following issue. The temporary increase this buys varies wildly, this is one of the better ones.
CROSSED BADLANDS #50 (AVA) : 8685 - +48%
Landmark numbered issue, even more covers than usual, and the original writer (but not The Original Writer) returning. Don't expect it to hold most of this increase next month.
TRANSFORMERS REGENERATION ONE #100 (IDW) : 11153 - +39%
Another series that continues from the old Marvel numbering so reaches an unusually high landmark number for comics in 2014. This is the last issue, so nothing more to learn from these numbers.
X-MEN LEGACY #300 (MAR) : 22422 - +29%
A few numbering tricks to get to a landmark number for the final issue of this series, as the previous issue was #24. In theory this is the final issue of the series which launched with X-MEN #1 in 1991 with claimed sales of 8.1 million copies, so it held 0.27% of the sales. Another way to look at is an average drop of 1.9504% per issue (if my calculations are right), so there's your standard attrition right there.
FOX #5 (ARC) : 4993 - +27%
Archie comics are always hard to get a handle on since they so frequently fall off the Top 300, and the direct market is far from their primary market. Anyway, this is the last issue, so I guess we'll have to wait to see if there's another series to see if this is a trend or an anomaly.
UNCANNY AVENGERS #18 .NOW (MAR) : 63516 - +19%
DEADPOOL #25 .NOW (MAR) : 48775 - +18%
UNCANNY X-MEN #19 .NOW (MAR) : 64514 - +17%
About average for Marvel's ".NOW" promoted books, expect matching drops with the next issues.
ZERO #6 (IMA) : 8081 - +16%
Good sign for the first issue after the first collection, which sold well in February and had decent re-orders in March.
UNITY #5 (VAL) : 12268 - +15%
BLOODSHOT & HARD CORPS #20 (VAL) : 7929 - +8%
Valiant seems to occasionally have these small increases, which are never sustained, in fact usually followed by even larger drops. Not sure why, as I don't really follow their line, so these could be content driven, but are more likely marketing driven (variant covers, order incentives).
APHRODITE IX #9 (IMA) : 5352 - +7%
FATALE #21 (IMA) : 14799 - +6%
MANIFEST DESTINY #5 (IMA) : 14152 - +6%
Looks like there might be some genuine interest in these, worth watching for a few months to see if they're bucking the old "standard attrition" trend.
UNWRITTEN VOL 2 APOCALYPSE #3 (DC) : 7890 - +4%
A small uptick for the relaunched DC/Vertigo series at a point when most books are still shedding sales at a 10% clip has to be encouraging, although the sales are still well below any of the 54 issues of the first series.
NEW AVENGERS #16 .NOW (MAR) : 48731 - +3%
An almost trivial increase for this Marvel ".NOW" issue, mostly of interest to see if it sees the same kind of trivial drop next month, or something bigger.
This series carries on the numbering and continuity (and writer) from the old Marvel series, so it gets up to #200, a rarity in modern comics. However, big landmark numbering increases usually get completely reversed within a few issues.
STRAY BULLETS #41 (IMA) : 8297 - +59%
This concludes the story from the self-published version, which ended in 2005. I wonder how close to a record that is for consecutive issues of a book? Well, I guess a case could be made for GI JOE, above. Pretty good, though far below the 14208 the new STRAY BULLETS THE KILLERS #1 sold, also in March.
IRON MAN #23 .NOW (MAR) : 43912 - +51%
Marvel's ".NOW" starting point issues are heavily promoted with variant covers, ordering incentives and sometimes include digital codes for not only the issue in question but also a collection of an earlier run on the series. They also almost invariably lose most of their increases with the following issue. The temporary increase this buys varies wildly, this is one of the better ones.
CROSSED BADLANDS #50 (AVA) : 8685 - +48%
Landmark numbered issue, even more covers than usual, and the original writer (but not The Original Writer) returning. Don't expect it to hold most of this increase next month.
TRANSFORMERS REGENERATION ONE #100 (IDW) : 11153 - +39%
Another series that continues from the old Marvel numbering so reaches an unusually high landmark number for comics in 2014. This is the last issue, so nothing more to learn from these numbers.
X-MEN LEGACY #300 (MAR) : 22422 - +29%
A few numbering tricks to get to a landmark number for the final issue of this series, as the previous issue was #24. In theory this is the final issue of the series which launched with X-MEN #1 in 1991 with claimed sales of 8.1 million copies, so it held 0.27% of the sales. Another way to look at is an average drop of 1.9504% per issue (if my calculations are right), so there's your standard attrition right there.
FOX #5 (ARC) : 4993 - +27%
Archie comics are always hard to get a handle on since they so frequently fall off the Top 300, and the direct market is far from their primary market. Anyway, this is the last issue, so I guess we'll have to wait to see if there's another series to see if this is a trend or an anomaly.
UNCANNY AVENGERS #18 .NOW (MAR) : 63516 - +19%
DEADPOOL #25 .NOW (MAR) : 48775 - +18%
UNCANNY X-MEN #19 .NOW (MAR) : 64514 - +17%
About average for Marvel's ".NOW" promoted books, expect matching drops with the next issues.
Good sign for the first issue after the first collection, which sold well in February and had decent re-orders in March.
UNITY #5 (VAL) : 12268 - +15%
BLOODSHOT & HARD CORPS #20 (VAL) : 7929 - +8%
Valiant seems to occasionally have these small increases, which are never sustained, in fact usually followed by even larger drops. Not sure why, as I don't really follow their line, so these could be content driven, but are more likely marketing driven (variant covers, order incentives).
APHRODITE IX #9 (IMA) : 5352 - +7%
FATALE #21 (IMA) : 14799 - +6%
MANIFEST DESTINY #5 (IMA) : 14152 - +6%
Looks like there might be some genuine interest in these, worth watching for a few months to see if they're bucking the old "standard attrition" trend.
UNWRITTEN VOL 2 APOCALYPSE #3 (DC) : 7890 - +4%
A small uptick for the relaunched DC/Vertigo series at a point when most books are still shedding sales at a 10% clip has to be encouraging, although the sales are still well below any of the 54 issues of the first series.
NEW AVENGERS #16 .NOW (MAR) : 48731 - +3%
An almost trivial increase for this Marvel ".NOW" issue, mostly of interest to see if it sees the same kind of trivial drop next month, or something bigger.
2014-04-13
Observations on March 2014 Graphic Books Chart - New Release Breakdown
So, there were 141 new releases on Diamond's March 2014 Top 300 Graphic Books chart. Just a quick overview of them this month, there's some stuff I want to get into when we have a month where there are more new books listed, not as much backlist, unless the type of liquidation sale flood we've seen the last few months is the new normal. The books that made the chart this month can be broken down into five categories for more easy mental digestion.
There are 24 manga books from the major manga publishers, Viz, Kodansha, Yen and Seven Seas. The best selling ones are the two first volumes of the ATTACK ON TITAN spin-off books. There are also a few manga books from the other publishers, like Dark Horse and Fantagraphics. I have to admit my knowledge of manga is pretty spotty, so you won't see much on this blog about these books.
Marvel had 34 entries, a bit of a heavy month for them, starting with ALL NEW X-MEN TP VOL 02 HERE TO STAY. Last month's breakdown has more detail on a typical Marvel month.
DC has a typical month, with 27 entries on the list, topped by the hardcover JUSTICE LEAGUE TRINITY WAR HC. You can see last month's breakdown for a more detailed look at DC's current graphic books publishing line. The top Vertigo book was AMERICAN VAMPIRE TP VOL 05.
The other three publishers that Diamond classifies as "premier publishers" form a convenient group, and they collectively have 29 entries, 10 from Dark Horse, 7 from IDW and 12 from Image. The top two are the latest volumes of WALKING DEAD and SAGA from Image, with over 25k and 21k respectively. That's a pretty unusually high sell-in for anything. WALKING DEAD has had first month sell-ins of over 20k since volume 14 (and more relevantly, since shortly after the TV show began), it's a first for SAGA. Dark Horse's top book is the latest AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER book and IDW's is a collection of Batman newspaper strips.
That leaves the ever popular "Other" as the catch-all for 27 other books, led by NEMO ROSES OF BERLIN HC, the latest LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN book as the top book. Here's the full list:
NEMO ROSES OF BERLIN HC (TOP) : 8777 copies
ADVENTURE TIME ORIGINAL GN VOL 03 SEEING RED (BOO) : 4288 copies
GAME OF THRONES HC GN VOL 03 (RAN) : 1946 copies
SONIC MEGA MAN WORLDS COLLIDE TP VOL 02 (ARC) : 1840 copies
CROSSED TP VOL 08 (AVA) : 1541 copies
UBER TP VOL 01 (AVA) : 1410 copies
UNITY TP VOL 01 TO KILL A KING (VAL) : 1237 copies
QUANTUM & WOODY TP VOL 02 IN SECURITY (VAL) : 1092 copies
CANNON WALLY WOOD TP (FAN) : 1071 copies
GARTH ENNIS RED TEAM TP VOL 01 SEASON ONE (DE) : 1047 copies
GRIMM FAIRY TALES TP VOL 15 (ZEN) : 1013 copies
HELHEIM TP VOL 01 WITCH WAR (ONI) : 965 copies
GFT WONDERLAND TP VOL 04 (ZEN) : 885 copies
OCCUPY COMICS TP (BLA) : 883 copies
PEANUTS TP VOL 03 (BOO) : 787 copies
GFT OZ HC (ZEN) : 751 copies
SIMON & KIRBY HC LIBRARY HORROR (RAN) : 746 copies
SMURFS GN VOL 17 LAZY SMURF (NBM) : 730 copies
OKKO HC VOL 04 CYCLE OF FIRE (BOO) : 727 copies
WALT KELLY POGO COMP DELL COMICS HC VOL 01 (HER) : 606 copies
LORDS OF MARS TP VOL 01 (DE) : 604 copies
SUICIDE RISK TP VOL 02 (BOO) : 584 copies
NIJIGAHARA HOLOGRAPH HC (FAN) : 574 copies
SHADOW GREEN HORNET TP VOL 01 DARK NIGHTS (DE) : 539 copies
ROBOCOP TP VOL 02 LAST STAND PT 1 (BOO) : 508 copies
BEST OF ARCHIE COMICS BETTY & VERONICA TP VOL 01 (ARC) : 508 copies
SHADOW TP VOL 03 LIGHT O/T WORLD (DE) : 507 copies
There are 24 manga books from the major manga publishers, Viz, Kodansha, Yen and Seven Seas. The best selling ones are the two first volumes of the ATTACK ON TITAN spin-off books. There are also a few manga books from the other publishers, like Dark Horse and Fantagraphics. I have to admit my knowledge of manga is pretty spotty, so you won't see much on this blog about these books.
Marvel had 34 entries, a bit of a heavy month for them, starting with ALL NEW X-MEN TP VOL 02 HERE TO STAY. Last month's breakdown has more detail on a typical Marvel month.
DC has a typical month, with 27 entries on the list, topped by the hardcover JUSTICE LEAGUE TRINITY WAR HC. You can see last month's breakdown for a more detailed look at DC's current graphic books publishing line. The top Vertigo book was AMERICAN VAMPIRE TP VOL 05.
The other three publishers that Diamond classifies as "premier publishers" form a convenient group, and they collectively have 29 entries, 10 from Dark Horse, 7 from IDW and 12 from Image. The top two are the latest volumes of WALKING DEAD and SAGA from Image, with over 25k and 21k respectively. That's a pretty unusually high sell-in for anything. WALKING DEAD has had first month sell-ins of over 20k since volume 14 (and more relevantly, since shortly after the TV show began), it's a first for SAGA. Dark Horse's top book is the latest AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER book and IDW's is a collection of Batman newspaper strips.
That leaves the ever popular "Other" as the catch-all for 27 other books, led by NEMO ROSES OF BERLIN HC, the latest LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN book as the top book. Here's the full list:
NEMO ROSES OF BERLIN HC (TOP) : 8777 copies
ADVENTURE TIME ORIGINAL GN VOL 03 SEEING RED (BOO) : 4288 copies
GAME OF THRONES HC GN VOL 03 (RAN) : 1946 copies
SONIC MEGA MAN WORLDS COLLIDE TP VOL 02 (ARC) : 1840 copies
CROSSED TP VOL 08 (AVA) : 1541 copies
UBER TP VOL 01 (AVA) : 1410 copies
UNITY TP VOL 01 TO KILL A KING (VAL) : 1237 copies
QUANTUM & WOODY TP VOL 02 IN SECURITY (VAL) : 1092 copies
CANNON WALLY WOOD TP (FAN) : 1071 copies
GARTH ENNIS RED TEAM TP VOL 01 SEASON ONE (DE) : 1047 copies
GRIMM FAIRY TALES TP VOL 15 (ZEN) : 1013 copies
HELHEIM TP VOL 01 WITCH WAR (ONI) : 965 copies
GFT WONDERLAND TP VOL 04 (ZEN) : 885 copies
OCCUPY COMICS TP (BLA) : 883 copies
PEANUTS TP VOL 03 (BOO) : 787 copies
GFT OZ HC (ZEN) : 751 copies
SIMON & KIRBY HC LIBRARY HORROR (RAN) : 746 copies
SMURFS GN VOL 17 LAZY SMURF (NBM) : 730 copies
OKKO HC VOL 04 CYCLE OF FIRE (BOO) : 727 copies
WALT KELLY POGO COMP DELL COMICS HC VOL 01 (HER) : 606 copies
LORDS OF MARS TP VOL 01 (DE) : 604 copies
SUICIDE RISK TP VOL 02 (BOO) : 584 copies
NIJIGAHARA HOLOGRAPH HC (FAN) : 574 copies
SHADOW GREEN HORNET TP VOL 01 DARK NIGHTS (DE) : 539 copies
ROBOCOP TP VOL 02 LAST STAND PT 1 (BOO) : 508 copies
BEST OF ARCHIE COMICS BETTY & VERONICA TP VOL 01 (ARC) : 508 copies
SHADOW TP VOL 03 LIGHT O/T WORLD (DE) : 507 copies
2014-04-12
Observations on March 2014 Comics Chart - Launches
Some notable first issues from the March 2014 Diamond Top 300.
Boom
RUSH CLOCKWORK ANGELS #1 : 11602 copies
EVIL EMPIRE #1 : 9296 copies
RETURNING #1 : 5090 copies
I'll have to admit, CLOCKWORK ANGELS did a lot better than I was expecting. I didn't think retailers would guess the crossover between fans of old Canadian progressive rockers and people interested in buying single issue comic was nearly that high, especially for a tie-in to a 2-year-old album. Boom second issues drop in the 30% range, so expect that to drop below 9000, and similar drops for the other two.
Dark Horse
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER SEASON 10 #1 : 27851 copies
VEIL #1 : 14445 copies
WITCHER #1 : 6525 copies
BLACKOUT #1 : 5513 copies
BUFFY is up substantially from the last "Season 9" issue, but way down from the "Season 9" debut. Hard to imagine a "Season 11" with this trend. And then maybe we can stop calling comic book series "seasons". VEIL has a pretty decent launch for a new creator-owned book from Dark Horse. WITCHER is based on a game and it's hard to predict how that kind of thing will do. It could end up selling really well to fans of the game, though possibly not in the direct market. BLACKOUT faces the general indifference of the market to Dark Horse's latest attempt at a company-owned line.
DC
SUICIDE SQUAD AMANDA WALLER #1 : 16534 copies
Only one on-going book debut from DC, the return of AMERICAN VAMPIRE from its hiatus, with a 40% jump from the last regular issue. Not bad, but I would think they'd have hoped for more with the higher profile of the writer since then. By comparison, THE WAKE began at about 45k and is still selling over 26k per issue. BATMAN SUPERMAN ANNUAL sells in the high end of the expected range for an Annual, 90% of the parent title, while the SUICIDE SQUAD one-shot sells 75% of the parent title. They might have been better off calling it SUICIDE SQUAD ANNUAL #1.
Dynamite
MAGNUS ROBOT FIGHTER #1 : 27497 copies
SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN SEASON 6 #1 : 11493 copies
As expected, the second Gold Key revival comes in below the first, TUROK, by about 10%. TUROK already saw a huge decline with #2, so I'd expect MAGNUS to follow suit and lose over half those numbers by #2. SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN launches with over three time the sale of the last issue of the BIONIC MAN series, which unlike the new one didn't use the continuity or likenesses from the TV show, but still over 30% less than BIONIC MAN launched with. I'd be curious how much better it would have done if the previous series hadn't diluted the brand. Anyway, probably under 10k by #2.
IDW
MONSTER & MADMAN #1 : 7065 copies
ROCKY & BULLWINKLE #1 : 7022 copies
ROGUE TROOPER #1 : 6259 copies
CROW PESTILENCE #1 : 5149 copies
STAR SLAMMERS REMASTERED #1 : 3812 copies
Some pretty uninspiring launches all around. These are all the types of books that trend towards at least a 25% drop, so probably all in the 5000 or lower range with #2, maybe all below the chart radar within a few issues.
Image
STARLIGHT #1 : 34080 copies
REAL HEROES #1 : 23716 copies
STRAY BULLETS THE KILLERS #1 : 14208 copies
TALES OF HONOR #1 : 13827 copies
SOVEREIGN #1 : 13204 copies
Also of note, STRAY BULLETS #41 at 8297, concluding the El Capitán series from 2005. That series ended selling steadily at about 5200 per issue, so that's a pretty healthy bump up, especially with over 3800 copies of the $60 collection with all 41 issues. That'll be the most interesting one of these to watch over the next few months. Image's second issue drops seem to be increasing lately, so we'll see if that trend continues with this group.
Marvel
DAREDEVIL #1 : 76006 copies
SILVER SURFER #1 : 64919 copies
MOON KNIGHT #1 : 58022 copies
MAGNETO #1 : 55337 copies
WOLVERINE AND X-MEN #1 : 54675 copies
ALL NEW GHOST RIDER #1 : 50072 copies
CAPTAIN MARVEL #1 : 44248 copies
SECRET AVENGERS #1 : 34036 copies
AVENGERS UNDERCOVER #1 : 31936 copies
IRON PATRIOT #1 : 31773 copies
That's a lot of first issues from Marvel. The top ones there actually have pretty good numbers for what are generally second or third tier characters, and I could see them settling down in the 30-40k range within a few months, which should be enough for Marvel to keep them going for a long run (which these days is anything over 20 issues). Those bottom three, though, that's a rough level for an on-going Marvel title to launch at, I'd be surprised to see a #7 solicited for any of those.
BoomRUSH CLOCKWORK ANGELS #1 : 11602 copies
EVIL EMPIRE #1 : 9296 copies
RETURNING #1 : 5090 copies
I'll have to admit, CLOCKWORK ANGELS did a lot better than I was expecting. I didn't think retailers would guess the crossover between fans of old Canadian progressive rockers and people interested in buying single issue comic was nearly that high, especially for a tie-in to a 2-year-old album. Boom second issues drop in the 30% range, so expect that to drop below 9000, and similar drops for the other two.
Dark HorseVEIL #1 : 14445 copies
WITCHER #1 : 6525 copies
BLACKOUT #1 : 5513 copies
BUFFY is up substantially from the last "Season 9" issue, but way down from the "Season 9" debut. Hard to imagine a "Season 11" with this trend. And then maybe we can stop calling comic book series "seasons". VEIL has a pretty decent launch for a new creator-owned book from Dark Horse. WITCHER is based on a game and it's hard to predict how that kind of thing will do. It could end up selling really well to fans of the game, though possibly not in the direct market. BLACKOUT faces the general indifference of the market to Dark Horse's latest attempt at a company-owned line.
DC
BATMAN SUPERMAN ANNUAL #1 : 52937 copies
AMERICAN VAMPIRE SECOND CYCLE #1 : 18966 copiesSUICIDE SQUAD AMANDA WALLER #1 : 16534 copies
Only one on-going book debut from DC, the return of AMERICAN VAMPIRE from its hiatus, with a 40% jump from the last regular issue. Not bad, but I would think they'd have hoped for more with the higher profile of the writer since then. By comparison, THE WAKE began at about 45k and is still selling over 26k per issue. BATMAN SUPERMAN ANNUAL sells in the high end of the expected range for an Annual, 90% of the parent title, while the SUICIDE SQUAD one-shot sells 75% of the parent title. They might have been better off calling it SUICIDE SQUAD ANNUAL #1.
SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN SEASON 6 #1 : 11493 copies
As expected, the second Gold Key revival comes in below the first, TUROK, by about 10%. TUROK already saw a huge decline with #2, so I'd expect MAGNUS to follow suit and lose over half those numbers by #2. SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN launches with over three time the sale of the last issue of the BIONIC MAN series, which unlike the new one didn't use the continuity or likenesses from the TV show, but still over 30% less than BIONIC MAN launched with. I'd be curious how much better it would have done if the previous series hadn't diluted the brand. Anyway, probably under 10k by #2.
MONSTER & MADMAN #1 : 7065 copies
ROCKY & BULLWINKLE #1 : 7022 copies
ROGUE TROOPER #1 : 6259 copies
CROW PESTILENCE #1 : 5149 copies
STAR SLAMMERS REMASTERED #1 : 3812 copies
Some pretty uninspiring launches all around. These are all the types of books that trend towards at least a 25% drop, so probably all in the 5000 or lower range with #2, maybe all below the chart radar within a few issues.
STARLIGHT #1 : 34080 copies
REAL HEROES #1 : 23716 copies
STRAY BULLETS THE KILLERS #1 : 14208 copies
TALES OF HONOR #1 : 13827 copies
SOVEREIGN #1 : 13204 copies
Also of note, STRAY BULLETS #41 at 8297, concluding the El Capitán series from 2005. That series ended selling steadily at about 5200 per issue, so that's a pretty healthy bump up, especially with over 3800 copies of the $60 collection with all 41 issues. That'll be the most interesting one of these to watch over the next few months. Image's second issue drops seem to be increasing lately, so we'll see if that trend continues with this group.
MarvelSILVER SURFER #1 : 64919 copies
MOON KNIGHT #1 : 58022 copies
MAGNETO #1 : 55337 copies
WOLVERINE AND X-MEN #1 : 54675 copies
ALL NEW GHOST RIDER #1 : 50072 copies
CAPTAIN MARVEL #1 : 44248 copies
SECRET AVENGERS #1 : 34036 copies
AVENGERS UNDERCOVER #1 : 31936 copies
IRON PATRIOT #1 : 31773 copies
That's a lot of first issues from Marvel. The top ones there actually have pretty good numbers for what are generally second or third tier characters, and I could see them settling down in the 30-40k range within a few months, which should be enough for Marvel to keep them going for a long run (which these days is anything over 20 issues). Those bottom three, though, that's a rough level for an on-going Marvel title to launch at, I'd be surprised to see a #7 solicited for any of those.
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