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Dear Eric, Kowabunga Comics,

Re: DC Universe: Rebirth

Are you guys experiencing problems (such as, getting half your order; or as my LCS last week didn't get their shipment and, at that time, weren't too sure if they would get the second printing.) in getting second, or third printings, of this issue?

Aloha!

This is an interesting question and reply on the CBR message board for the new diamond numbers. I think if the data supports the reply then what Snyder&Capullo did with Batman is even more impressive in the current comic's market.

The question from Werehawk - So here is a Mayo question, when was the last time a comic did that (topped 100k its whole run, or for 50 issues or something)?

The reply from BobH - The last run close to that was the first NEW AVENGERS run, which stayed above 100k until #45. For anything more than that, you'd have to go back to the 90s, and different reporting metrics, and before the Diamond monopoly so no consistent reporting. For example, SPAWN sold over 100k through Diamond (then reporting pre-orders, not actual shipped copies) until #82 in 1999. It looks like X-MEN stayed above 100k until at least #110, with #111 dipping just below to 99,712 as measured back then (http://www.comichron.com/monthlycomi...1/2001-02.html), probably going over 100k when re-orders were done, then staying over 100k with the re-naming to NEW X-MEN until #137, after which it briefly dropped below that point.

Why can't Marvel do this with Amazing Spiderman? Spidey is as popular as Batman. Scott is considered equal to Snyder. This is a good argument against renumbering.

Hatings owes $1.6 Million to Diamond

Never good news for the distributors or the distributors suppliers. $1.6 Million in loss will be a major drain on the comic business and its one distributor. Even if they get $0.05 on the dollar which is generous for the #11 on a bankruptcy list. That is still $1.5 Million out of the comic book market. On the bright side it isn't as bad the average $3 Million owed to big 4 DVD/BluRay distributors.

man i loved that hastings carried comics...50% off sale on all comics is bittersweet

another batch of comics stores closing...sad

Tom King went on the WordBalloon podcast to talk about Rebirth and he revealed at the 1:04:00 mark that Batman #1 sold 350,000 copies.

MisterFerro wrote:Tom King went on the WordBalloon podcast to talk about Rebirth and he revealed at the 1:04:00 mark that Batman #1 sold 350,000 copies.

Wow. Very impressive.

John and Sam,
Great comics episode.

A quick shoutout to Invader Zim. The book went up in sales, and I'm happy to see it. It's a terrific book that is getting more readers. Love seeing it.

Also, I love the cartoons in TV talk when talking about Future Quest. I have watched cartoons of all of the characters in the book. I saw most of these characters however on USA's Cartoon Express in the late 80's and early 90's in syndication. I love Space Ghost, Herculoids, the Impossibles, and Frankenstein Jr. among others. That Cartoon Express show was like an education on Hanna Barbera. It ranged from Huck Hound and Yogi Bear all the way to Smurfs, Hong Kong Phooey, Pac Man, Clue Club, and so on.

I saw Jonny Quest in syndication in the 80's on TBS superstation (Turner).

Thanks for the great episode!

Oh, John, thanks for championing Scooby Doo Team Up again! The book is wonderful! So glad it did not get cancelled.

Perseus wrote:Oh, John, thanks for championing Scooby Doo Team Up again! The book is wonderful! So glad it did not get cancelled.

Since I read Scooby Doo Team Up #16 I've ordered the the first trade with #1-6, the second trade with #7-12 and issues #13 and #14 from DCBS. Neither DCBS nor the local shop I checked had #15. hopefully I'll either be able to find it in San Diego or I'll just order it from MyComicShop.com.

MrAloha wrote:Dear Eric, Kowabunga Comics,

Re: DC Universe: Rebirth

Are you guys experiencing problems (such as, getting half your order; or as my LCS last week didn't get their shipment and, at that time, weren't too sure if they would get the second printing.) in getting second, or third printings, of this issue?

Aloha!

Jason - Sorry I didn't get back to you in a timely fashion! No, we were not allocated any of our issues. Most stores reported "damages" with their orders for the variant covers. If you look at the variants along the top 2/3 of the spine, most copies have a pink hue to them. This is because Diamond stacks the books all facing the same way. Thus, with the heavy pink on the back covers of all rebirth titles, there was a lot of rub off. We were also not allocated on Rebirth, itself.

John, you were looking at how many variants there were for Rebirth. I am aware of 4 (edit, accidentally typed 5). There was the standard cover, and then the midnight wrap around cover. Neither of which were allocated to any of the shops in our area. There was also a 1 per shop black and white variant cover that each store received. (trended upwards of $100+ for the first few days, and have settled back into the $50-80 range on eBay - your milage may vary). There is also a Blue Banner variant that was posted by Ethan van Sciver - https://twitter.com/EthanVanSciver (https://www.ebay.com/itm/122023918963) that is a blue fade variant with no price printed. It is my understanding that these were printed and given out by DC. I doubt these would be represented by Diamonds numbers.

Thanks for the information Eric.

Are you customers still excited about Rebirth?

I've like some of the titles and loved a few. By and large, while the backstory and status quo has changed a bit, the storytelling style hasn't changed all the much for most titles in my opinion.

For me, Batman and Action Comics have been the best titles so far.

Hello, first time poster...i've been listening to your podcasts for a couple years now, and the Mayo Report is always both an entertaining and insightful listen.

In your discussion on the Future Quest title (which I echo your thoughts on it being the only one of this particular line to so far capture the spirit of those cartoons), John mentioned living in San Diego at the time, and that reminded me of my own early exposure to these cartoons. I was never really a big fan of Johnny Quest, but a lot of the others, especially the Herculoids, were among my favorites. I'm a native of Orange County, CA...and was watching cartoons in the mid to late 70s and early 80s. I remember one in particular that wasn't initially available in the LA market, but if I tuned my black & white set (complete with bunny ears) just right, I could tune in San Diego's channel 6 (XETV), and one of the shows they aired was called "Hanna Barbera's World of Super Adventure" (see link to the promo below)....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tL9RVMZnwn0

It's funny too...this particular show included the 1967 Fantastic Four cartoon in its lineup, and the Fantastic Four just happens to be my overall favorite comic book....coincidence? Perhaps.

Anyway, I really hope this title succeeds, and perhaps even allows some level of expansion of the "Hanna Barbera universe", but I also recognize that most of these characters are practically unknown to people who didn't grow up watching the cartoons, so we'll see.

Regards,

DM Haight

dmhaight wrote:Hello, first time poster...i've been listening to your podcasts for a couple years now, and the Mayo Report is always both an entertaining and insightful listen.

In your discussion on the Future Quest title (which I echo your thoughts on it being the only one of this particular line to so far capture the spirit of those cartoons), John mentioned living in San Diego at the time, and that reminded me of my own early exposure to these cartoons. I was never really a big fan of Johnny Quest, but a lot of the others, especially the Herculoids, were among my favorites. I'm a native of Orange County, CA...and was watching cartoons in the mid to late 70s and early 80s. I remember one in particular that wasn't initially available in the LA market, but if I tuned my black & white set (complete with bunny ears) just right, I could tune in San Diego's channel 6 (XETV), and one of the shows they aired was called "Hanna Barbera's World of Super Adventure" (see link to the promo below)....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tL9RVMZnwn0

It's funny too...this particular show included the 1967 Fantastic Four cartoon in its lineup, and the Fantastic Four just happens to be my overall favorite comic book....coincidence? Perhaps.

Anyway, I really hope this title succeeds, and perhaps even allows some level of expansion of the "Hanna Barbera universe", but I also recognize that most of these characters are practically unknown to people who didn't grow up watching the cartoons, so we'll see.

Regards,

DM Haight

Welcome aboard DM

JohnMayo wrote:Thanks for the information Eric.

Are you customers still excited about Rebirth?

I've like some of the titles and loved a few. By and large, while the backstory and status quo has changed a bit, the storytelling style hasn't changed all the much for most titles in my opinion.

For me, Batman and Action Comics have been the best titles so far.

Yes, our customers are still very much enjoying Rebirth. I would agree that the story telling style has not changed much, but I can now argue more clearly that New 52 failed because of the characterizations, not the style. We had 0 people with Green Arrow on their pull list. As of last check, we now have 7. For myself, Titans has been the best so far, followed by Detective, Batman, and Flash. The only ones that I have personally been indifferent on are Aquaman and Green Lanterns.

We just submitted our order for August, and our DC orders continue to be very high (in a healthy way)! DC is back in our store, we just hope the excitement stays.

Hi John,

Forgive me if this question has come up before, I was wondering if you have ever done a sales analysis across the various volumes (and publishers) of Astro City?