Mayo Report

[drew]

A few questions...
>Is the early success of an original black character with black creators a remarkable feat at the big two? If so, could it be replicated?
>Did Marvel perfectly time and execute a synergistic relationship between a comic and movie (Civil War)?

Some of the success I would contribute to acclaimed writer Ta-Nehisi Coates bringing in some non comics readers to sample the book, which is a very good thing as well

[erickowabunga]

A few questions...
>Is the early success of an original black character with black creators a remarkable feat at the big two? If so, could it be replicated?
>Did Marvel perfectly time and execute a synergistic relationship between a comic and movie (Civil War)?

Some of the success I would contribute to acclaimed writer Ta-Nehisi Coates bringing in some non comics readers to sample the book, which is a very good thing as well

I would also contribute some of the success to this being a character that may not have been as well known to many new/recent readers, but with the announcement of a movie there is greater awareness. There were also a myriad of variants that can bump order numbers up a bit.

[NDHorse]

Here is your monthly Comic Bento update from the trades list.

The books in the April box were:
Fantastic Four: Season One hardcover (Marvel)
Book of Death (Valiant)
Surface Tension (Titan)
Four Points: Horsemen (Aspen)

Nothing from this month's box was on the April trades list. However, two of the books were on the March trades list:
Fantastic Four: Season One, 4463 copies
Book of Death, 3040 copies

Book of Death looks right in line with what I have guessed Comic Bento's total subscribers are. The Fantastic Four book obviously had other orders. I have read that Marvel has recently cleared out their Season One books, so this was probably on big sale for everyone.

[MisterFerro]

So I'm currently listening to the trades podcast and John mentions the Didio comment about telling Gotham by Midnight in Batman, I have to agree with John.

I agree that GbM shouldn't be told in Batman but could instead be potentially told in Detective as a story arc or two.

The biggest problem that I had at the start of the Nu52 in 2011 was DC didn't do enough to differentiate between all the Bat solo books and I dropped both Tec and TDK before #5 because Batman was vastly superior.

I'm glad that Tec looks to be telling an 'Eternal style story to start Rebirth off which sets the book apart from Batman and All-Star Batman.

[drew]

CNBC weighs in on comic sales with quite the rosy outlook:
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/06/05/comic-bo ... urish.html

Digital disruption has upended virtually every corner of publishing, but in the world of comic books, something curious is happening: Print sales are thriving alongside the rise of their digital counterparts.

not sure if i would say thriving

"We have not seen any cannibalization in sales either in periodical comics or trade paperbacks," Gerry Gladston, chief marketing officer at New York City–based Midtown Comics, one of the industry's leading retailers.

which is further support for a DC unlimited model akin to Marvels

Just like trade paperbacks give single-issues a second life as bound collections, digital comics take "some of the pressure off the individual comic book by adding an additional revenue stream for basically zero expense," he explained.

some good points, nothing groundbreaking...

[drew]

From Trades Episode:

Fantagraphics is on pretty much every social media platform discussing their latest releases as well as having a email newsletter: http://fantagraphics.us11.list-manage1. ... 35a5a5049c

[fudd71]

Relaunches, Reboots, and Rebirths: Comic Books and the Industry’s Growing Obsession with Recency

really interesting read, nothing new or that hasn't been said a bunch by many commentators. Getting the perspective from creators and retailers is new and not always heard. There are also some hard numbers that add some perspective.

The truest thing

but the reality is simple. It’s what people want, even if they say otherwise. People love using the phrase “vote with your dollar,” especially in comics. Well, the votes are in: people are in pursuit of what’s new above anything else.

[MisterFerro]

The part about more being written about Omega Men when it was thought to have been cancelled than when it actually ended is mentally painful to read.

[drew]

nice article - i too would have bet the farm the most number 1s are being released now and not the mid 2000s

"In ye olden days of comics, people kind of just kept reading ongoings because that’s what they did, whether they were good or not."

[MisterFerro]

So John posted the full May numbers and Batman #52 stayed above the 100k unit threshold. I went ahead and calculated the unit & delta loss from #1 to #52 and the numbers are very surprising.

#52 had a unit loss from #1 of 86,223 and a delta loss of -45.76%.

[drew]

isnt 235,791 copies for DC universe rebirth a disapointment? although it is going into its 3rd printing - i would have assumed twice that many sales...

part of me thinks there is a reboot/relaunch fatigue by the retailers/readers and the bad taste of convergence probably didnt help matters...

if the fully returnable launch titles in June arent all over 100k or close i would call this a bust...or maybe i am jumping to conclusions

[doctormo]

So John posted the full May numbers and Batman #52 stayed above the 100k unit threshold. I went ahead and calculated the unit & delta loss from #1 to #52 and the numbers are very surprising.

#52 had a unit loss from #1 of 86,223 and a delta loss of -45.76%.

Quite an impressive feat, especially considering the final issue was by an entire different creative team.

Iron Man congratulates Batman on sticking the 100k unit sales chart landing throughout its entire run!

[SpideySavestheDay]

isnt 235,791 copies for DC universe rebirth a disapointment? although it is going into its 3rd printing - i would have assumed twice that many sales...

part of me thinks there is a reboot/relaunch fatigue by the retailers/readers and the bad taste of convergence probably didnt help matters...

if the fully returnable launch titles in June arent all over 100k or close i would call this a bust...or maybe i am jumping to conclusions

I don't think this is as much a disappointment as an extremely cautious approach by retailers. Frankly, I'm a little surprised retailers were willing to buy as much as they did. Convergence and Future's End burned them bad (fool me once...). This is a reaction to poor efforts by DC over the last few years.

[NiklasJ]

Did readers just stop buying DC when rebirth was annoounced? If you highlight MAR (ctrl+f mar) on the side of the top 300 list there is an absolute dominance for marvel titles in the top 80ish. (it has been that way for a while now)

There is some talk about average comic sales being down a lot over the year, I understand the market and all comic shops and companies always want sales to increase but is it really realistic or healthy to expect that every year should set a new record? Last year was the year of the Star wars boom and secret wars, not everything Marvel does will blow the hat off customers all the time unfortunately.

Also the year is not over yet and there is this DC rebirth stuff that (I guess?) will see "bloated" sales on new #1 issues. Though with their double shipping we will see fewer new titles than marvel sent out during ANAD.

Looking below the top 20 (where we have events, #1-issues and absolute top sellers) at places 20-30 6-10 issues into ANAD (except for the future questing) these are apparently the main Marvel titles after peter parker and deadpool.

20 MAR Old Man Logan (2016) 6 52,761
21 MAR All New All Different Avengers (2015) 9 52,296
22 MAR All New X-Men (2015) 9 51,548
23 MAR Uncanny X-Men (2016) 7 50,935
24 MAR Extraordinary X-Men (2015) 10 50,015
25 MAR Spider-Gwen (2015b) 8 49,68
26 MAR Doctor Strange (2015) 8 49,427
27 MAR Invincible Iron Man (2015) 9 49,334
28 MAR Spider-Man (2016) 4 49,167
29 DC Future Quest (2016) 1 48,626
30 MAR Obi-Wan and Anakin (2016) 5 48,43
31 MAR Mighty Thor (2015) 7 47,424

I dont have a long standing knowledge of comic sales but wolverine, iron man and thor seems mainstays that are doing good? As well as new sellers spideygwen and dr strange. Even X-men dont do half bad (even if they have this apoc war going in separate ways now). ANAD Avengers is certainly down from the highs of the Bendis era but with the cast of ms marvel, spiderman and nova, surely its not doing too bad.

Also seemingly stable sales for controversial(?) ANwolverine, MsMarvel.

[MrAloha]

Dear John and Sam,

Do you guys think the second printing of DC Universe Rebirth #1 (at $5.99) will be in the top 20 for June?

I was fortunate that Dragon's Lair (Hawaii) got their shipment of the second printing for today, Wednesday, 6/15. I picked up a copy.

Last Wednesday, 6/8, they did not get their shipment of second printing and didn't know if they were going to get it (shipment of second printings).

I hope this is clear. If not, let me know through the forum.

Aloha!