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Friday, August 27, 2004
He’s King Midas in Reverse
This may be a depressing post, but at least I’ll be able to say I made a Hollies reference.
Looking at the month-to-month sales and analysis that The Pulse provides for DC and Marvel I noticed something. If I buy a book you better watch out because that book will get a beating in sales. Could my interest in a title truly spark a type of “curse” upon it? Let’s look at the facts.
Here are the on-going books I currently buy from the top two (all are DC except one):
Ex Machina
The Losers
Plastic Man
She-Hulk (that’s the Marvel one!)
Sleeper
Superman
Y: The Last Man
Of those only Superman is a big seller, but at least Y: The Last Man is one of Vertigo’s best selling books.
Let’s look at what’s going on with them and all the other books I enjoy from The Big Ones (commentary by Marc-Oliver Frisch on DC books and by Paul O’Brien on Marvel books):
Ex Machina
“If you like a book, then this is the stage where writing letters of support or helping to spread good word of mouth will do the most good. If you wait until impending cancellation is obvious or spelled out, it's going to be too late already more often than not.”
The Losers
“That's the old standard decline reeking its ugly head again over here.”
Plastic Man
“I suspect the reason why this is still around is the collection that's scheduled for September. These numbers are positively terrible, though, so unless the trade paperback sells like crack, I doubt it's going to make a difference.
She-Hulk
“Reportedly safe through to issue #12, but the drops remain worryingly high. Unless things turn around soon, it's hard to see Marvel extending it beyond that.”
Sleeper
“It's nice to hear that trade paperback sales are better, but this relaunch has been a disaster for the monthly, so far.”
Even the best selling book I buy has its troubles:
Superman
“Still plummeting, and, unless there's been a hold-up or an error in the system somewhere, it appears that reorder activity for SUPERMAN has come to a complete halt as well.”
Y gets off easy with the old “business as usual.”
In terms of what sells in the direct market I am, as Ian MacKaye sang, out of step with the world. The fact that I am thinking of picking up Human Target now that Cliff Chiang is drawing it and perhaps following Gotham Central in trades just further builds my case.
Granted, I am going to pick up titles like Captain America, Iron Man and JLA with the creative changes on those books. Those books will probably not face what books like Sleeper do, even though Sleeper and Gotham Central will have the same writer as Captain America. That might be because Sleeper is trying to sell readers something new while many readers are already comfortable with ol' Cap.
Maybe that’s it. I follow creators more than I do characters. DC and Marvel can pump out as many X-Men and Batman books they want because there are thousands of fans who will buy every single one of those books simply because they are X-Men or Batman books. There are only so many books that Brian K. Vaughn can write or Kyle Baker can draw (funny enough the Brain K. Vaughn book I’m not following is Ultimate X-Men, although I do plan on reading it in trades).
How many of my favorite titles will be cancelled or go through hideous “re-workings” before I finally give up and get a new hobby like, I don’t know, knife making?
I love comics, I just don’t know if comics love me back.
Permanent Link: 3:54 PM |
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