Comic Book Page: The Mayo Report: 2007-01

Mayo Report for 2007-01


Mayo Report: 2007-01 Comics podcast episode	Mayo Report: 2007-01 Trades podcast episode

This time Brian Hibbs of Comix Experience joined us for the comic book discussion. Brian Hibbs has been a retailer for about 20 years and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the discussion.

Unforuntately I hadn't been told ahead of time that Brian would be on the episode. While it was great to discuss comic book sales with him, I would have preferred to have gone in prepared to talk with him. As it was, I was not only surprised that he was on the segment but blindsided by the reversal of the agenda for the episode. My plan had been to discuss the January 2007 sales, ending on a discussion of the sales of 52 and using that to springboard into a discussion of how the upcoming Countdown might sell. Instead, I was immediately put on the spot when I was asked what questions I had for Brian Hibbs. This compounded my frustration about having been told Brian would be on the episode but making me look unprepared after having spent a signifcant amount of time preparing for the episode and sharing those notes with the others on the episode. I salvaged want I could of my notes and we talked about the challenges that a retailer faces in figuring out how many copies to order of things like the upcoming Countdown series. While it was a good discussion, it was not the one I had spent time preparing for.

Below are the rough notes I put together in preparation for the podcasts. I've added linked to the charts for the titles mentioned. I use these notes as a guide for the podcast be we never cover all of the titles I have in the notes and we frequently discuss many other things that I don't have in my notes.

Top Comics List Top Comics Breakdown Top Trades List Top Trades Breakdown

2007-01 IndexPointValue:

CBG = ~724.97

Down about ~44.64 from 2006-12 (~769.61)

ICv2 = ~724.99

Up about ~-44.68 from 2006-12 (~769.67)

MARKET SHARES

Marvel

Comic book units: 48.08% (3,222,700)
Comic book dollars: 48.43% ($10,115,193.00)

Comic book units: 37.41% (2,507,300)
Comic book dollars: 35.68% ($7,451,388.00)

Image

Comic book units: 3.29% (220,800)
Comic book dollars: 3.53% ($739,036.00)

Dark Horse

Comic book units: 3.22% (215,800)
Comic book dollars: 3.11% ($649,526.00)

Comic book units: 1.91% (128,500)
Comic book dollars: 2.45% ($512,715.00)

COMICS

Top 300 Comics (~6,701,400)

Down about ~272,500 (-3.90%) from 2006-12 (~6,973,900)

1 titles sold over 200,000 copies

Civil War #6 (~259,300)

5 titles sold between 100,000 and 199,999 copies

Civil War Return # (~125,700)
Wolverine #50 (~115,600)
Amazing Spider-Man #537 (~114,800)
Ultimate Spider-Man #104 (~108,100)
52 #35 (~105,100)

8 titles had more than one new issue released this month

52 (5 issues released)
American Virgin (2 issues released)
JLA Classified (3 issues released)
JSA Classified (2 issues released)
Punisher War Journal (2 issues released)
Scarface Scarred For Life (2 issues released)
Star Wars Knights Of The Old Republic (2 issues released)
Tales Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2 issues released)

MARVEL

New Items: 77, Reorder Items: 11, Total Items: 88

Minimum Cover Price: $2.95, Average Cover Price: $3.14, Maximum Cover Price: $3.99

Rank #1: Civil War #6 (~259,300)

Top selling title for Marvel
Down about ~20,200 (-7.23%) from #5 (~279,500)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 5
Once again Civil War tops the list. No surprise there. This series has been a huge sales success for Marvel.
Even after a drop of over 7% from the previous issue and a total drop of 81,200 units (-23.85%) from the sales peak of #2 ~(340,500 units) it sill outsold the rank 2 and 3 items combined.

Rank #2: Civil War Return # (~125,700)

I have to wonder if this would have sold as well if the identity of the returning heroes had been in the solicitation.
My gut feeling is that it sold this well based on the expectation that it would be Thor that returned, not the character that did. If so, this is a case in which vague solicitations that played off reader expectations paid off for Marvel.

Rank #3: Wolverine #50 (~115,600)

Up about ~36,800 (46.70%) from #49 (~78,800)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 111 Same: 0 More: 21
Big bump with the "magic number" issue #50.

Rank #5: Ultimate Spider-Man #104 (~108,100)

I'm a bit surprised by this massive bump. This outsold nearly ever other part of this storyline (aside from #100 which did ~116,200 units) by a wide margin.
Some of this can be chalked up to it being a double-szed "things will never be the same again" kind of issue.
In any case, this exceeded my expections on how it would sell. Yet another reason I'm glad I'm not a retailer these days as I'm sure I probably would have under ordered this issue.

Rank #24: Thunderbolts #110 (~65,000)

Up about ~37,700 (138.10%) from #109 (~27,300)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 91 Same: 0 More: 0
Huge increase on what is essentially a relaunch of Thunderbolts. It is also sort of a Civil War tie in issue as well.

Rank #29: Spider-Man Reign #2 (~56,800)

It is unusual to see this sort of a jump on a second issue, much less on the second issue of a miniseries.

Rank #36: Newuniversal #2 (~44,800)

Up about ~1,600 (3.70%) from #1 (~43,200)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 1 Same: 0 More: 0
It is a good sign to see an increase of the second issue here.

Rank #46: Annihilation #6 (~38,200)

WatchList: Event: Annihilation
Unchanged from #5 (~38,200)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 1 More: 4

Rank #62: Anita Blake Vh Guilty Pleasures #4 (~30,400)

Up about ~22,900 (305.33%) from #2 (~7,500)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 2 Same: 0 More: 0

Rank #63: Ghost Rider Finale # (~29,800)

So, does this count as being on time or about a decade late?

Rank #138: Wonder Man #2 (~15,600)

Down about ~6,700 (-30.04%) from #1 (~22,300)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 1
This is both a sharp drop and just low sales. But, I can't say I'm surprised. The soliciation art was very unimpressive so I passed on the title myself.
I kind of figure that any Marvel or DC comics feature mainstream super-heroes that I decided to pass on because it looks bad is just kind of doomed.

New Items: 85, Reorder Items: 13, Total Items: 98

Minimum Cover Price: $2.25, Average Cover Price: $3.03, Maximum Cover Price: $5.99

Rank #6: 52 #35 (~105,100)

Top selling title for DC
WatchList: Event: 52
Up about ~6,700 (6.81%) from #34 (~98,400)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 16 Same: 0 More: 22
This issue was solicited as having two covers but only one cover was actually released.
This is the first issue to see an increase over the previous issue since #15 (with Booster Gold's death).
This is also the only gain above a hundred or two for DC this month.

Rank #10: 52 #36 (~96,800)

WatchList: Event: 52
Down about ~8,300 (-7.90%) from #35 (~105,100)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 3 Same: 0 More: 35

Rank #11: 52 #37 (~96,600)

WatchList: Event: 52
Down about ~200 (-0.21%) from #36 (~96,800)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 2 Same: 0 More: 36
The question of Who is Supernova has been a big one in the series but these numbers indicate that not even the revealation of a major mystery like this will bump up sales.

Rank #12: 52 #38 (~95,900)

WatchList: Event: 52
Down about ~700 (-0.72%) from #37 (~96,600)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 1 Same: 0 More: 37

Rank #13: 52 #39 (~94,900)

WatchList: Event: 52
Down about ~1,000 (-1.04%) from #38 (~95,900)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 38

Rank #15: Justice Society Of America #2 (~86,200)

Down about ~20,100 (-18.91%) from #1 (~106,300)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 1
This is a slightly smaller than typical second issue drop. But this sis still around twice what the JSA series typically did.

Rank #32: Batman Confidential #2 (~47,400)

Down about ~13,700 (-22.42%) from #1 (~61,100)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 1
This is right around the standard second issue drop area.

Rank #54: Ion #10 (~33,700)

WatchList: Event: Infinite Crisis Aftermath
Down about ~1,900 (-5.34%) from #9 (~35,600)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 9

Rank #66: Justice League Of America #5 (~29,000)

Reorder activity
This is some amazing reorder activity for this issue and puts the total known sales for this issue at ~161,400.

Rank #95: Shadowpact #9 (~22,900)

WatchList: Event: Infinite Crisis Aftermath
Down about ~1,000 (-4.18%) from #8 (~23,900)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 8

Rank #101: Checkmate #10 (~22,000)

WatchList: Event: Infinite Crisis Aftermath
Down about ~1,400 (-5.98%) from #9 (~23,400)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 9

Rank #124: Hawkgirl #60 (~17,900)

Down about ~200 (-1.11%) from #59 (~18,100)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 10
I wonder if this is going to level out before it gets cancelled.
This series has dropped to about half (51.59%) of what it was selling when with the One Year Later relaunch at #50 (34,700).

Rank #126: Manhunter #27 (~17,800)

WatchList: Cancelled, Extended
Down about ~6,000 (-25.21%) from #26 (~23,800)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 21 Same: 0 More: 5

Rank #170: Friday The 13th #2 (~9,600)

Down about ~6,200 (-39.24%) from #1 (~15,800)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 1
This is nearly double the standard second issue drop.

Rank #191: Boys #6 (~8,100)

Reorder activity
This puts this final issue from DC: Wildstorm up ~8,400 (31.34%) from #5. That is around ~900 units shy of where the series started at (~36,100).
I had this pegged back at issue 3 as something that could do fairly well if given a chance to find and build an audience.
The shift from DC: Wildstorm to Dynamite could possibly result in an initial drop in sales of 5,000 to 10,000. It may be very informative to see how this series does over at Dynamite compared to how it was doing at DC: Wildstorm.

Rank #228: Skye Runner #6 (~5,600)

Down about ~2,100 (-27.27%) from #5 (~7,700)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 5
This is a drop of ~9,000 units from the first issue.

IMAGE

New Items: 26, Reorder Items: 0, Total Items: 26

Minimum Cover Price: $2.95, Average Cover Price: $3.57, Maximum Cover Price: $5.99

Rank #94: Witchblade #103 (~22,900)

Up about ~8,600 (60.14%) from #102 (~14,300)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 39 Same: 1 More: 56
Bold new direction and a huge sales spike. The question is how much of the increase will last.

Rank #107: Walking Dead #34 (~21,200)

WatchList: Robert Kirkman
Unchanged from #33 (~21,200)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 30 Same: 2 More: 1
Because I find this amusing,based on how Spawn and Walking Dead have been trending over the past year here are my educated guesses on when Walking Dead could sell as well as or better than Spawn:
If both titles remain on the current sales trends, they should have roughly equivalent sales around September 26th, 2007 of about 23,250 units or so.
If Spawn holds were it currently is and Walking Dead remains on the current trend, Walking Dead should reach the current level of Spawn sales of 24,500 by around April 9th, 2008.
If Walking Dead holds were it currently is and Spawn continues on the current trend, Spawn should drop to the current level of Walking Dead sales of 21,200 by around July 9th, 2008.
If both Spawn and Walking Dead hold were they currently are, well, not much happens...

Rank #148: Invincible #38 (~13,500)

WatchList: Robert Kirkman
Unchanged from #37 (~13,500)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 34 Same: 2 More: 1

Rank #221: Drain #2 (~6,200)

Down about ~4,600 (-42.59%) from #1 (~10,800)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 1
Hmmm. The series might be fairly atply named as the sales seem to be going down the drain. It is possible that we'll see some reorder activity for this issue next month.

Rank #244: Meltdown #2 (~4,700)

Down about ~1,400 (-22.95%) from #1 (~6,100)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 1
It seems a bit odd to see a second issue drop on a two issue series.

Rank #254: Nightly News #3 (~4,100)

WatchList: CGS Indie Challenge: September 2006
Up about ~200 (5.13%) from #2 (~3,900)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 1 Same: 0 More: 1

Rank #259: Savage Dragon #131 (~3,900)

Down about ~3,300 (-45.83%) from #130 (~7,200)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 100
There were an additional 4,700 units for this issue listed in the 2006-12 numbers. That puts the total at around 8,600 which is a gain of 1,400 (19.44%).

DARK HORSE

New Items: 14, Reorder Items: 1, Total Items: 15

Minimum Cover Price: $2.99, Average Cover Price: $3.02, Maximum Cover Price: $3.50

Rank #86: Star Wars Knights Of The Old Republic #13 (~24,100)

Down about ~5,700 (-19.13%) from #11 (~29,800)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 7 Same: 0 More: 4
NULL

Rank #187: Usagi Yojimbo #100 (~8,400)

Up about ~2,500 (42.37%) from #99 (~5,900)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 42 Same: 6 More: 45
Big bump with the "magic number" issue #100.

OTHER PUBLISHERS

Rank #146: Mouse Guard #6 (~13,600)

WatchList: CGS Indie Challenge: ???
Down about ~500 (-3.55%) from #5 (~14,100)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 4 Same: 0 More: 1
This is the best opening numbers for the series so far. Odds are that the drop of 500 will be made up on reorders.
The initial numbers for #1 were only 5,600. This issue did 243% of that.
This has been a fun to watch the numbers of this small press hit. Hopefully the follow up miniseries will continue to climb in sales.
I'm curious how the hardcover will do on this. I can easily imagine it opening with strong enough sales to match or possibly even exceed how the miniseries did.

Rank #281: X Isle #4 (~2,700)

WatchList: CGS Indie Challenge: March 2006
Down about ~400 (-12.90%) from #3 (~3,100)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 3

Rank #285: Lost Books of Eve #1 (~2,600)

WatchList: CGS Indie Challenge: September 2006

Rank #288: Tales Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #31 (~2,600)

Down about ~100 (-3.70%) from #29 (~2,700)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 11
I am surprised we aren't seeing a bump on this from the upcoming movie and the new cartoon series.

TRADES

Rank #2: Marvel Zombies HC (~7,300, Total Known Sales: ~29,800)

This is doing much better than I expected. I'm not surprised to see it back on the list but I didn't expect it to rank so high. This is yet another Kirkman Zombie success story�

Rank #3: Hellboy Animated Vol. 1 Black Wedding (~7,200, Total Known Sales: ~7,200)

This is new comic book tales of the animated characters based on the live action movie that was based on the comic book characters� All we need now is a musical version, maybe one on ice skates to really round things out...

Rank #5: Star Wars Clone Wars Advs Vol. 7 (~6,400, Total Known Sales: ~6,400)

This has been a fairly solid starter for Dark Horse as it usually openes between 5,300 ad 6,500 units. None of the reorder activity even hits the monthly sales lists but there is evidence that at least some of the volumes could be moviing as much as an average of a 100 or 200 units a month.
I woudl imagine that this does well outside the direct market between the low price point and the high profile licensed property.

Rank #6: Batman Year One Hundred (~5,200, Total Known Sales: ~5,200)

This series sold between 26,000 and 30,000 units as a monthly series. (#1: ~29,900, #2: ~27,500, #3: ~26,000, #4: ~25,800)
Opening numbers of 5,200 is fairly strong given those monthly sales.

Rank #7: Twisted Toyfare Theatre Vol. 8 (~5,200, Total Known Sales: ~5,200)

This actually does fairly well in trades. Diamond wasn't released trade sales information when the first volume was released.
v2 ~9,600.
v3: ~8,200.
v4: ~7,400
v5: ~6,600
v6: ~6,400
v7: ~6,400
v8: ~5,200
Clearly the numbers are dropping but still, these are better sales than most trades do.
Somebody needs to ask Augie DeBlieck what he'd do to turn around the downwards sales spiral on these trades...

Rank #8: Showcase Presents Brave & Bold Batman Teamups Vol. 1 (~5,100, Total Known Sales: ~5,100)

These are fairly standard opening numbers for a Showcase Presents trade.

Rank #9: Showcase Presents Justice League of America Vol. 2 (~5,100, Total Known Sales: ~5,100)

I haven't been looking at the trade sales trends long enough to know if they have the same sort of second volume drop that a monthly series has but this seems to fall right in line with that sort of trend.

Rank #13: 300 HC (~4,400, Total Known Sales: ~18,400)

Clearly the upcoming movie is helping to move more units of this hardback.

Rank #17: Ultimate Annuals Vol. 2 (~3,600, Total Known Sales: ~3,600)

Packaging the Annuals together was an intriguing decision. I hadn't realized they had done that last year. (I tend to read mainly monthly comics.)
These sales indicate that trades could fall victim to the same second volume drop that monthly comics do. I'll have to look into this some more to see if that is really the case or not.

Rank #29: Iron Man Extremis (~2,900, Total Known Sales: ~2,900)

This trade includes all of the issues of the Iron Man series from November 2004 through March 2006. Now, in some cases this would require an Omnibus. But, thanks to the miracle of time dilation, plot compression and other wonders of Stark Technologies, this has been compressed into a handy little 160 page trade paperback. Of course, since only size issues came out during those 18 months, it really isn't all that impressive. Actually, I am impressed. Just not favorably...

Rank #33: Marvel Masterworks Atlas Era Heroes Vol. 1 HC (~2,600, Total Known Sales: ~2,600)

Diamond merged the sales of both variants of this hardcover into a single entry on the sales charts. I have no idea why they did that.

Rank #41: Manhunter Vol. 2 Trial By Fire (~2,400, Total Known Sales: ~2,400)

I'm disappointed that DC is taking so long to release this series in trades. I mean, I've got all the monthly issues but the lack of trades can't be helping the ongoing monthly series.

Rank #43: Marvel Masterworks Warlock Vol. 1 HC (~2,300, Total Known Sales: ~2,300)

Diamond merged the sales of both variants of this hardcover into a single entry on the sales charts. I have no idea why they did that.

Rank #54: Fables Vol. 1 Legends in Exile (~1,900, Total Known Sales: ~8,800)

WatchList: CGS Book of the Month: September 2005

Rank #59: Walking Dead Vol. 1 Days Gone Bye (~1,800, Total Known Sales: ~50,800)

WatchList: Robert Kirkman, CGS Book of the Month: August 2005

Rank #63: Watchmen (~1,700, Total Known Sales: ~37,000)

WatchList: CGS Book of the Month: March 2006

Rank #83: Fables 1001 Nights of Snowfall HC (~1,400, Total Known Sales: ~22,300)

Fables always does well in trade so it is no surprise that this hardcover or original material has appeared on the list every motnh since it came out. I really need to find the time to read my copy of this�

Rank #86: Walking Dead Vol. 4 Hearts Desire (~1,300, Total Known Sales: ~26,200)

WatchList: Robert Kirkman

Rank #93: Walking Dead Vol. 3 Safety Behind Bars (~1,300, Total Known Sales: ~27,400)

WatchList: Robert Kirkman