Man Of Steel Orders Lower Than Expected

Last week we learned that DC Comics was making the entire run of the Man Of Steel weekly mini-series by Brian Bendis and selected artists returnable for retailers if the retailers upped their orders considerably. The trick is used to inflate order numbers by retailers and ensure that there will be more comics in print for all six issues. Also it is noted that there may be some problems giving all the different quality artist the time they need to finish the page count that they were given for the…

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Marvel Legacy Branding Doesn’t Seem To Help Sales

This is the Top 10 Bleeding Cool Bestseller List, as compiled by a number of comic stores from their sales on Wednesday and Thursday, 8th October 2017. It measures what are known as the “Wednesday Warriors”, those who can’t wait for the weekend to get this week’s comics. We salute you, and the keenness you bring to your passion. Batman takes the top four (and he pops up in the fifth as well) Walking Dead outsells all Marvel titles and Paper Girls outsells them all apart from X-Men Gold. And…

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Marvel Q&A At New York Comic Con With Retailers Goes Bad

A closed Q&A between Marvel Comics and comic book retailers erupted at the New York Comic Con on Thursday after one retailer became vocally critical of the publisher’s decision to change the ethnicity, gender, and sexuality of some of the classic characters, Bleeding Cool reports. The tensions began when an unnamed seller “specifically [expressed] his distaste for Iceman ‘kissing other men,’ and Thor ‘becoming a woman,’” Newsarama writes. “The retailer’s complaints sparked an outcry among the other retailers present in the room, some echoing his frustration, with multiple attendees raising…

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Why Are Marvel Comic Sales Down?

Recently I have been monitoring the message boards and blogs about the drop in sales of comics in general and especially Marvel sales. Many people blame the drop in Marvel sales is because of the direction they are going by abandoning the classic characters and becoming more diverse in story telling. The classic Marvel heroes have been primarily white and not of color, so their efforts are to introduce more people of color like Miles Morales (Spider-Man) and Riri Williams (Ironman). While that may have been the perception in modern…

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Marvel’s Civil War II – Success or Failure?

When Marvel Comics began teasing a sequel to their Civil War comic book event last year I had mixed feeling that it could be done again and succeed as a major crossover story arc again. Are they tryng to capitalize on the fact that it is the 10th anniversary of the original series written by Mark Millar and art by Steve McNiven or the fact that the Cinematic Universe experienced a Civil War of its own in the third Captain America movie. Some would say that if done well it…

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STAR WARS: FORCE AWAKENS Breaks Opening Day Record With $120.5m

December 19 at 12:03 p.m. E.T.: Like the Millennium Falcon and the Kessel Run, Star Wars: The Force Awakens has broken the record for opening day box office sales according to Variety. Current estimates have the seventh installment of George Lucas’ franchise earning $120.5 million in its opening day, beating previous record-holder Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2’s record of $91m. Original Story: Star Wars: The Force Awakens earned $57 million in its Thursday night showings, breaking a record previously held by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows:…

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DC Comics Profits Down in 2015

Bleeding Cool is reporting that DC Comics is down over 2 million dollars for their financial year beginning in 2015. Reasons cited include the cost from moving the offices from New York to Burbank were higher than expected as well as the poor performance from the less than stellar Convergence event series and tie-ins, in addition to the post-Convergence relaunch doing all that not great. DC also offered their comics to be returnable, which has only added to the problem, as obviously the issues are not selling and retailers are…

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A Look Back At The Superman Movie 1978

On the last week before the release of the Man Of Steel movie which premiers on June 14th I thought a look back at the Christopher Reeve’s Superman, Richard Donner directed movie in 1978. Superman: The Movie was considered a success with over 300 million made globally and the cost of 58 million. On many levels it was a success because it introduced the best known superhero to thousands of people who have never read a comic about Superman. It gave DC Comics a boost in sales in the competition…

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DC Sells Top 10 Comic Titles in January 2012

DC Comics has all the titles in top 10 in January great sales beginning the new year. Diamond Comic Distributors shows Marvel comics with slight lead in Dollar sales DC leads in Unit sales and has become very popular since coming out with the New 52 back in September 2011. DC had a great month, taking every slot of the top ten single issues and topping the industry in overall units sold with Geoff Johns and Jim Lee’s “Justice League” #5 leading the pack. “Justice League” has been the top…

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What Is The Top Selling Comic Book Issue Of All Times?

I have been around comics for many years and I know comics as well as the next guy but this question got me thinking for a while. What single issue comic sold the most issues of all times. I thought of the Death of Superman in Superman #75, The Amazing Spider-Man #583 (the Obama issue) went into I think six printings, and the Death of Robin in Batman #428 one of the first comic events to make mainstream news. Then I remembered the comic event by Marvel of the 1991…

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Year 2011 Marvel Lead in Comic Book Sales DC Close Second

Marvel Comics was the leading publisher in Retail Dollar and Unit Market Shares based on total sales of comics, graphic novels and magazines to comic book specialty stores in 2011, according to Diamond Comic Distributors. Justice League #1 was the top seller for the year, with more than 230,000 copies sold to North American retailers across several printings. The top winners in sales DC the New 52, Marvels Mega series, and Image Comics “The Walking Dead”. Marvel, DC Comics and Image Comics all shared 81% of the market share according to…

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2010 in Review Best Selling Comics

Diamond Comic Distributors announced this January 6th the leaders in sales for 2010, calculated based on total unit sales to comic book specialty shops most of us go to every Wednesday to grab weekly books. The best-selling comic book of the year was Marvel’s Avengers #1, written by Brian Bendis with art from John Romita Jr. The publisher snagged the #2 spot as well, courtesy of X-Men #1. Marvel also took the top spot as the leading industry publisher, boasting a 43% Unit Market Share and a 38% Dollar Market…

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