The Bullpen

[Kamakazi010654]

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=32367

So...Fear Itself with only 128K...while that is decently large it isn't exactly Earth shattering. I guess I just figured with all the publicity put behind it that it would be a bit more robust.

[Vernson]

Wow, really surprised that Action #900 didn't even breech the top 10.

Curious, because I don't know if another American comic will legitimately reach the 900 mark again.

[BobBretall]

Interesting in that Marvel broke DC's hold on the Top 10.  6 of the Top 10 are Marvels.

A 46k gap between the #1 & #2 book is also very interesting.

And look how far down the list Fear Itself: Home Front debuted, slot #45 with ~32.6k sales.  I think this indicates that except for hard-core fans, people are a bit tired of the tie-in-minis.

[Kamakazi010654]

Interesting in that Marvel broke DC's hold on the Top 10.  6 of the Top 10 are Marvels.

A 46k gap between the #1 & #2 book is also very interesting.

And look how far down the list Fear Itself: Home Front debuted, slot #45 with ~32.6k sales.  I think this indicates that except for hard-core fans, people are a bit tired of the tie-in-minis.

I think that May will be more interesting, with most of the Fear Itself mini's kicking in and of course the OMFG LOOK AT ALL THE FLASHPOINT MINI'S kicking in as well.

[jack239]

events sell so i think that flash point will jump this is sales spot but not numbers.

Flashpoint will pull more dc title in the top 10.

[Jay Tomio]

Just looks terrible. The drop off after a generation is stunning to me.

[Dean S.]

Boy....that top of the list looks pretty soft.  The only promising thing (and I'm really digging for a silver lining here) is that the middle/bottom of the list looks like a lot of titles are finding a "bottom" in the 15-30K range. 

The thing I find fascinating about these lists are when a title double ships (like Amazing Spider-Man) the second title is always a little lower which means that there are comics shops ordering 10 issues of #655 and 9 issues of #656.  That just seems weird to me.

[Farrell]

The thing I find fascinating about these lists are when a title double ships (like Amazing Spider-Man) the second title is always a little lower which means that there are comics shops ordering 10 issues of #655 and 9 issues of #656.  That just seems weird to me.

Maybe it means there are a few store owners who didn't notice it was double shipping and didn't order the second issue at all.

[BobBretall]

The thing I find fascinating about these lists are when a title double ships (like Amazing Spider-Man) the second title is always a little lower which means that there are comics shops ordering 10 issues of #655 and 9 issues of #656.  That just seems weird to me.

Maybe it means there are a few store owners who didn't notice it was double shipping and didn't order the second issue at all.

Not really.  It's just that ALMOST EVERY issue of ALMOST EVERY comics sells less than the previous issue (barring marketing gimmicks, crossovers, variant covers, etc.).  I've myself been fascinated by this seeming conundrum.

Maybe some of the bigger retailers just have automated ordering programs that automatically cut orders by 5% every issue 

[deadcowaroma]

I heard a rumor that Image books are selling better than they were a few years ago. Anyone know if this is true? If so....

[SilverBulletKY]

I've bought mostly all digital since I got my iPad.  I'm sure this accounts for a little of the decline at least.

[ValorPhoeniX]

I've bought mostly all digital since I got my iPad.  I'm sure this accounts for a little of the decline at least.

[BobBretall]

I heard a rumor that Image books are selling better than they were a few years ago. Anyone know if this is true? If so....

I'm sure you can take some interpretation that would make this true.  Walking Dead is one of the ONLY comics on an upwards sales trend.   Image is, in general, publishing WAY more comics now than years ago, so may in aggregate be selling more than some point a couple of years ago.

In specific, pretty much all comics are selling worse now than a few years ago.  In fact, the sales of many comics now that are considered perfectly acceptable would have been grounds for instance cancellation years ago.

I'll bring up this question to John when we record the next episode of the Mayo report this weekend & see what he has to say about it (he'll have lots of data to back it up).  That episode will go up next week.

[deadcowaroma]

I'm sure you can take some interpretation that would make this true.  Walking Dead is one of the ONLY comics on an upwards sales trend.   Image is, in general, publishing WAY more comics now than years ago, so may in aggregate be selling more than some point a couple of years ago.

In specific, pretty much all comics are selling worse now than a few years ago.  In fact, the sales of many comics now that are considered perfectly acceptable would have been grounds for instance cancellation years ago.

I'll bring up this question to John when we record the next episode of the Mayo report this weekend & see what he has to say about it (he'll have lots of data to back it up).  That episode will go up next week.

Nice! Looking forward to it. 

[Wood]

I heard a rumor that Image books are selling better than they were a few years ago. Anyone know if this is true? If so....

Not true. It's just that Image is putting out a LOT more books per month, so their overall market share is up. Slightly.

[deadcowaroma]

Not true. It's just that Image is putting out a LOT more books per month, so their overall market share is up. Slightly.

Their #1 issues aren't benefiting from extra speculation due to things like Chew? I think that was the reasoning I might have heard, but like I said, no idea if it's actually true.

[Wood]

Their #1 issues aren't benefiting from extra speculation due to things like Chew? I think that was the reasoning I might have heard, but like I said, no idea if it's actually true.

#1 issues are doing well (witness Nonplayer launching at 12K+ and Super Dinosaur at 14K+), but they have to sustain those numbers to really matter.

[BobBretall]

#1 issues are doing well (witness Nonplayer launching at 12K+ and Super Dinosaur at 14K+), but they have to sustain those numbers to really matter.

Even then, it's not ALL the #1s, just a handful of their total output.......  Image has been putting out a LOT of #1s lately, I'd say definitely less than 1/3rd are launching in what I'd consider to be a strong position, but that # is a gut feel, I'd have to dig out some spreadsheets and do some research to get more accurate, something I don't have the time to do right now.