Super hot collectible alert!

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[Don't forget that we've got Scott Allie and Kevin McGovern on Wednesday from 5-7 -- please try to come!]

In about 20-25 years, when my son is a famous artist, you're going to want to have in your collection a copy of SCOOBY DOO #149, out this week. Why? Because Ben's first published piece of artwork is in there on the letter's page!

I'm actually a little shocked how long it took to run -- I think it was nearly eight months ago that we sent it in, and they run 4-6 pieces from kids every month (can you tell I've been religiously checking every issue as they get released?) -- I'd actually given up hope it was going to run... so that's a lot of art they must be getting sent by kids.

Also, below the jump, if you care about pictures of what Divisadero St. looks like during the construction, you can find some there. I'm told the major drilling/smashing/whatever will be done on Saturday. I pray to God that is so...

Right, this first picture (if I'm linking correctly) is what Divisadero St., in front of the store, looked like at 8 AM this morning, just before the workers started working in earnest. Note that to get onto our block you have to dodge that funky corner thing. Also? The two western lanes (ie, my side of the block) are closed to through traffic while the guys work...

Divisadero at 8 am 10/20

This second one is looking directly out our door this afternoon, as they decided they needed to rip into the sidewalk to fix another sewer line. Joy for me!

October 20, out the Door of CE

This is why I've barely got any writing done the last bit of time -- hard to concentrate with all that noise going on outside!!

-B

 

Murder, Most Foul

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I'm in hell.

We're coming up on the... fourth? week of the "Divisadero Streetscape Improvements", where they're completely gutting the street to replace sewer lines, and then, eventually, to give us a wider media with trees and stuff, and while I'm sure that, in the end, it will be very pleasant and wonderful, it's horrific right now -- deafening destruction (I can barely hear the phone ring during most of our business hours), an utter lack of parking in about a three block radius, and shutting off at least half of the four lanes on Divis most of the time.

Business STINKS because of it -- we're down by nearly a third. Yay for "stimulus"!

It's funny, if PG&E shuts loses power for even a few hours, there's forms one can fill out to get reimbursed for your business losses. As near as I can tell there's nothing remotely the same for when the Government catastrophically annihilates your business...

(If there is something that I don't know about, please feel free to let me know, because I'm bleeding thousands of dollars a month, yay!!)

Anyway, that's one of the reasons I'm barely writing the last few weeks -- I can barely hear myself think, let alone string two sentences together.

Plus, we've got buckets of rain falling now, which is always welcome in a paper-based economy -- and getting the new comics to the store is going to be funfunfun in this weather and street closures world.

Anyway, I'm in a lousy mood, so what a perfect time to try and write something about something...

RED TORNADO #2: It seems to me this comic was based on a throw-away line in, I think, 52, by, I think, Grant Morrison. Morrison is an awesome idea machine, tossing off little that-sounds-cool continuity gifts left and right. Thing is: they're not always really worthy of having entire stories based around them.

The tossed off idea here is that Professor T.O. Morrow didn't only build Reddy, but he also made other androids like The Red Torpedo, and The Red Inferno. This could be a somewhat interesting b- or c-story plot in a group book like JLA, but it is, in no way, an a-level plot capable of carrying its own mini-series.

This is not a terrible comic or anything -- but it's not something that anyone without money falling out of their butts is going to be willing to spend $3 a throw on. It's not quite EH, so the Savage Critic scale insists that it must be AWFUL.

DOCTOR VOODOO AVENGER OF THE SUPERNATURAL #1: My, that's a long title! It sounds like one cooked up by marketing, to me -- to try and work "Avenger" into the title, since that's now Marvel's strongest franchise. Can you imagine trying to convince some one in 1997 that The Avengers would be Marvel's tentpole in the early days of c21? Nah, me neither. 'course they kind of screw the pooch by having "avenger" being in teensey tiny letters, and covered up (on the first issue, no less!) by the figure on the cover.

Here's the thing I don't get, however. "Brother" Voodoo could never ever sustain an ongoing title. And Dr. Strange has largely proven over the decades that he can't either. So why does anyone think that this one can possibly work as an ongoing? It might be one thing as a mini-series, but this is clearly an unsustainable project that will be lucky to make it to issue #13. Especially with a $4 launch.

Here's the thing, though: this isn't shitty. Far from it, in fact -- up until hitting the non-ending of the ending, I was basically enjoying it just fine. This is perfectly OK comics -- but you need to be WAY better than "OK" to 1) be a monthly ongoing in this climate, and 2) To charge $4 for a story that just suddenly stops in a pretty ambiguous place.

GRANDVILLE HC: Yeah, very tasty material -- I really like all of the nice worldbuilding going on here, and I'd like to see more of these characters. VERY GOOD.

PLANETARY #27: Great ending. Telegraphed a lot, but great nonetheless. Would been even better if it had come out four years ago, but I was very happy with this: VERY GOOD.

BATMAN & ROBIN #5: The art continues to annoy me, but the story and the characterization is top notch. I'd be perfectly fine if Jason Todd did die, however. GOOD.

OK, my head hurts too much from the concrete saws outside to keep going on... but I'm going to try to do an "old style" SC column by Friday, if I can (though me and the boy are in Disneyland on Thursday [father & Son trip for his Birthday, FTW!], so we'll see...)

What did YOU think?

-B

Scott Allie and Kevin McGovern @ CE 10/21!

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On Wednesday, October 21st, from 5-7 PM, Comix Experience is pleased as punch to bring you an in-store appearance with EXURBIA co-creators Scott Allie and Kevin McGovern!

Most of you probably know Scott Allie as the Editor Extraordinaire on such (awesome) books as BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, CONAN, and HELLBOY, but he's also an accomplished writer (THE DEVIL'S FOOTPRINTS, SOLOMON KANE: THE CASTLE OF THE DEVIL, and THE FOG, among others) EXURBIA is his newest book and it’s received great response from folks like Gilbert Hernandez, who wrote, “Exurbia boldly continues and transmogrifies the type of lunatic stories that only comics can do with any justice. Try as films and TV might, here is the real stuff. Bravo and yikes at the same time.” Now THERE'S a pull quote!

EXURBIA is artist Kevin McGovern's debut comic, and he's got a very appealing bigfoot cartooning style. While I'm generally loath to send people off to other retailer's websites, you can read a 13 page preview of EXURBIA over here.

Scott is a genuinely nice guy who has an infectious love of comics, so I really want to urge you to come on down and meet him and help support his writing.

(Please note: while Scott is a Big League Editor at a Major Publisher, and while he'll be happy to talk to you about BUFFY or HELLBOY, we're asking that people DON'T try to hit him up for portfolio reviews or listen to your pitch during the signing-- that's why God invented the Post Office!)

Wednesday, October 21st, 5-7 PM, Comix Experience -- 305 Divisadero St., at Page, in San Francisco -- be there!!

-B

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

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[ONE EDIT: 9/9/09 9:54 PM, scroll to the next brackets]

As you may have now heard, Paul Levitz is now out at DC, and DC Comics will now become "DC Entertainment", headed by Diane Nelson.

This is, I think, much bigger news than the Disney/Marvel thing from last week. Paul certainly has his shares of detractors, but I've always thought of him as the Smartest Man in Comics, and absolutely one of the key Architects and Protectors of the DM.

Rich Johnston (of all people) has probably the best "eulogy" for Paul over on Bleeding Cool.

[HERE'S THE EDIT: Kurt Busiek nails it even better than Rich]

I think Paul is a Class Act, and there's nothing more that I fear than Warners completely ruining the DM. I'm absolutely shattered by this news -- I was hoping we'd have AT LEAST another decade with Paul at the helm, and now everything -- everything -- is up in the air.

Chances are that, by 2012, nothing in comics will even remotely resemble what it does today.

You can read Paul's farewell statement over here. I appreciate the fact that Paul specifically mentions retailers. He also uses the words "comics" as a noun five times.

You can read an introduction from Diane Nelson over here. This is probably the most relevant paragraph:

DC Entertainment’s mission is to deeply integrate the DC brand and characters into all of Warner Bros.’ creative production and distribution businesses, while maintaining the integrity of the properties and DC’s longstanding commitment to and respect for writers, creators and artists. The founding of DC Entertainment is about Warner Bros. taking DC to the next level and giving DC an even greater degree of focus and prioritization in all the businesses in which we operate—films, television, home entertainment, digital, consumer products and videogames.

She doesn't use the noun "comics" even one time.

That terrifies me.

I'll probably have more later, but right about now I have to start checking in my comics shipment...

-B

Tilting at Windmills #183 is up!

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People were asking me to follow up on the "why retailer's conservatism hurts" bit from a month or two back, so here we go. Go read the column on CBR!

Also, in the follow-up category, Percy Carey has quit as Marketing Director of Tyrese Gibson's Mayhem! in part due to the stuff I discussed in last months column. You can read Carey's press release here.

-B

Neil Gaiman is 32 flavors of awesome

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It was a very very nice event.

Neil read from WHO KILLED AMANDA PALMER (which I overnight Saturday deliveried a case of copies in -- I should have had THREE cases, damn it; I'll be restocking those, for sure!) for about a half hour, then we did the signing itself.

Despite the fact that he had lunch plans with Daniel Handler, he still took the time to talk to each and every person in line for five minutes or so, and did little head sketches for most of them. He was utterly gracious with his time and attention, and sat through scores of photos, and everything else.

We were scheduled to end at 12:30, and, instead, wrapped at something closer to an hour late because Neil wanted to talk to each and every person there -- now that's pure class!

Thank you to all of the attendees, all of whom seemed to leave the store with huge glowing smiles on their faces (and, in one case, what ended up 20 minutes later as a permanent tattoo) (Seriously, she came back with permanent ink, and got a big smooch from Neil as a secondary reward)

Thanks to my god-damn good staff: Carissa, Matt and Susan. They totally rocked it.

Thanks to the generous volunteers who helped with line control and keeping people happy and moving: Seth & Skye, Tim & Lisa, Matt N., James, Shannon and Antoine. We literally could not have done it without all of you, and you've got a lot more than just my thanks coming.

And thanks most of all to Neil Gaiman for being such a generous guy with his time and being a master of charm and enthusiasm. Let's do this again for the store's FORTIETH anniversary, aye?

-B

Newest Tilting is up!

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Look: it is the new Tilting At Windmills, and here I talk about Neil Gaiman and Tyrese Gibson and Social Networking and Marketing, and how perfect storms are pretty imperfect after all.

Some months are a long hard search for a subject, but this month was, in a way, a gift as it was 100% obvious what I HAD to write about.

If you don't/won't/can't comment at CBR, well you can say something here (but Jonah'd be more happy if you said something over there, yeah)

-B

Neil Gaiman At Comix Experience, 7/19: the Facts

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(There’s a long, rambly story that goes with this, which you can find here, but just so as to not bury the lede…)

Comix Experience is very proud to announce, as part of its ongoing 20th anniversary celebration, a rare San Francisco reading/Q&A/Signing with acclaimed author Neil Gaiman on Sunday, July 19th from 11 AM to 12:30 PM.

Later Edit: The event is now completely sold out, and we thank everyone for their interest and patience!

-B

Neil Gaiman at Comix Experience, 7/19: The Story

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OK, so you all remember that 2009 is Comix Experience’s 20th anniversary, right? (April first, to be exact!)

Those of you who are actually customers may also note that we didn’t exactly do anything special for it (like a party or something). This is because my plan was to do several events throughout the year to celebrate, probably culminating in that party on the Twenty-First birthday because, y’know, then she’s legal to drink and all.

I’d actually been thinking about this for a very long time. How long? Well, it was way back on February 15th, 2006 (!) that I first emailed Neil Gaiman a message with the title “How Is Your 2009 looking?”

Neil’s one of those Major League guests nowadays – his schedule is overbooked, all of the time, and everyone wants him somewhere always. This is why I started three years early!

Why Neil? I mean, besides the “Uh, duh he’s a major league super-star” bit? Well, in a lot of ways because I think Neil and I came up together in comics.

See, I had creators that I was passionate about whom the store supported (and they supported back) dating from before I started CE – the Matt Wagner’s, the Dave Sim’s, and so on. (I actually have a story involving both of them and my reasons for starting CE that’s nearly old enough that I might be able to tell it out loud in public one of these days…) – Comix Experience was effectively created because of the passion I had for those guy’s works at the time.

And as the store went on, that passion for creators and their work expanded way out to even more people who then did events and things for us, and became friends of the store and friends of me personally – Garth Ennis, Warren Ellis, Grant Morrison, dozens and dozens of other people; all of that happened after the store opened, and the medium to began to expand in tone and depth.

But Neil? Neil was my first. Neil was the very first contemporaneous creator who I felt that same passion as I did for my heroes.

Comix Experience opened, as I said, in April of 1989. Sandman #1 has a cover date of January 1989. I was utterly enamored by Sandman, and we worked like hell to sell it to every person we could, and it very quickly became one of our store’s best sellers.

I’d read Violent Cases, of course, as well -- maybe one of 1200 people in America who had at that point? So, yeah, I was a fan of this guy, and I really really wanted to do anything I could to help him and his career in whatever small ass way I might.

We met in San Diego that year, and I guess my enthusiasm worked OK on him – this was, of course before he was “NEIL GAIMAN”, he was hustling for work like anyone else, and was still a little awestruck with being an author with a monthly book from DC (Vertigo didn’t exist yet) at the San Diego ComicCon, I asked him if we could do a store signing (I think that maybe this would be his second or third signing ever?), and he agreed.

Here’s a photo from that day. Man, we’re both absurdly young! If I recall correctly, this is the window display for that signing.

Now, twenty years gone I don’t remember the exact details and timing, and the scrapbook is sitting at the store right now, so I can’t look it up, but I believe it was the week that Sandman #10 was released? That puts it sometime in November of ’89 then, per www.comics.org. I’m not sure why Neil was in from England then, but he made the trip to SF. Heh, let me tell you just how low rent we were back then – Neil actually slept on our sofa in our living room! Man, today I couldn’t even imagine asking a creator to crash on my sofa!

One neat thing happened at that signing. A few months before, DC did a free overship (100%? I don’t recall now) of Sandman #8. Since we were doing the signing, DC decided to send us some of what they had around the office. They sent a case of Sandman #8.

But, oddly enough, and seemingly unknown to anyone at the time, Sandman #8 had actually been misprinted. It had a recap / intro at the front (the same one, I think, that was in early printings of “A Doll’s House”). But it was also supposed to have had an introduction by Editor Karen Berger on the inside front cover. The majority of the print run, for whatever reason, didn’t -- it ran the usual Jenette Kahn DC house ad.

Now DC told me that there were only 600 copies of this, and they sent one to me and one to some other retailer I don’t recall now, and basically I had a third of the print run. Somehow I actually disbelieve that story now because I know enough to know that just flicking the big machine on and off produces more than 600 copies – realistically there’d have to be more than 1000 of these out there, minimum, but 600 was the official story.

I know, once I opened the box, what I had. Potentially, this was a gold mine. I mean, if I had those copies now, and had CCGed them, I’d have gotten a purely gross and evil return. Thankfully, I had a soul, and I put them to their intended use – I gave that shit out for free. You can see them in the picture above, actually, with my crappy hand-written sign. And the ones that we didn’t give out when Neil was in the store? (Because, I don’t think there were even 50 people who showed up that day? It was one of those nice, “have a nice 5 minute chat with each attendee” kind of signings.) Well those copies, I stuck a flyer for the store in, with some sort of bounceback coupon, and just started Johnny Appleseed-ing them across The City. Left them on buses, at barber shops and Laundromats, and in paper boxes at school campuses. I recall we got some sort of nutty return on those – like 10% or something, maybe?

The main lesson though, was that doing the “right thing” – actually giving out the comics like we were supposed to, instead of, dunno, selling them off for $5 a throw or something (hey, in 1990 dollars!), earned me new customers who then became devoted Sandman readers month-in and month out, and some of them started branching out into other books, and a few of them even still occasionally shop with me today. Long-term seeding really does work better than short-term gain!

This also gave me a good rep with DC, which still pays dividends for me today. A year or so later, Sandman had got the attention of Rolling Stone Magazine, and there was some sort of article about Sandman as one of, I think, 10 “hot” things that year. DC rushed out a paperback collection of “A Doll’s House”, and, suddenly a whole new way of thinking about things was born.

Prior to that, there were collected editions of comics, of course – I think DC’s backlist at that point was maybe 20 items deep, if that? I do know that I kept my very first order form from month #1 of the store, with all of its precious little “1”, “2”and the very occasional “5” written in it, and that month was the premiere of the first Alan Moore Swamp Thing collection. I think it was a decade later before every Moore issue was finally collected…

Anyway, I was all about the paperback. Dude, awesome – a format where we can sell the best stories forever and ever and ever and ever? I’m all over that. Hell, I opined in probably ’91, ’92 that there wasn’t even any point in publishing stuff that you weren’t going to collect and make the long green from – this is the business we’re supposed to be in. There was a meeting in Los Angeles sometime in there with me, and the late and well loved Bill Liebowitz (Golden Apple) and Rory Root (Comic Relief) (And boy, do I miss both of those guys right about now!), and DC staff of Paul Levitz, Bob Wayne and the gone-but-not-forgotten Bruce Bristow. Me and Rory insisting to these guys that paperbacks were the model, and Bristow just being absolutely incredulous. Luckily Bob and Paul understood what we were saying…

Comix Experience was always the prototypical “Vertigo Store” – not that we sold the most number of copies of comics-meant-more-for-adults (I almost typed “sophisticated”!), but as a proportion to our superhero sales we were way up in the upper parts of the curve. And I want to believe that it was stores like mine that made the imprint possible at all. And that made the sense, company wide, that backlist was a viable model. And that, at the end of the day, is ultimately why DC took their chance to do exclusivity with Diamond and to be able to dictate the building of the infrastructure that allowed the modern era of comics to come to pass. “Real” book publishers wouldn’t be doing graphic novel lines if the Direct Market, and stores like mine hadn’t proved the model out.

I’m chatting with Neil a lot at this point – like at least once a week, sometimes 2-3 times a week, often for an hour or more – comics, comics comics, what can we do, how do we fix it, ah, I was such a Phone Queen back then. All I can say is we only sorta kinda had an internet back then, y’know?

Anyway, fast forward a little, and Season of Mists is about to come out. As a hardcover! Whoa, this is not at all common for a reprint. Thing looks like an old bible, too, with a leather cover, no dustjacket. Woulda won an Eisner if “Publication Design” had existed as a category then. The thing was lush.

And we did a signing for that.

Not just with Neil, but also with, let’s see, Sam Kieth, Mike Dringenberg, Kelley Jones, Matt Wagner (my original hero!), and Steve Oliff. I don’t think I’m forgetting someone? Now this was no repeat of the first one. This was a Rock Star kind of day. Crazy lines down to the end of the block, carnival atmosphere, I think we were selling copies of the hardcover at like one a minute. Absolutely insane.

Here’s a picture from that one: note Neil’s Rock Star sunglasses (but at least he’s not wearing the leather jacket!) -- and here’s the window display we did for it. Yeah, we did a black and white window display; I liked it!

(We also had a Matt Wagner signing for Sandman #25, window here)

Finally, we had Neil in (alone this time) for the “A Game of You” tour, which we immediately called “A Gaiman/You” and here’s the window display: http://comixexperience.com/agaimanyou.htm

Well, I said “finally”, but then Comix Experience also sponsored a west coast leg of Neil’s Guardian Angels Tour, where Neil read and raised $15,000 for the CBLDF.

So, yeah, this will be the fifth appearance of Neil Gaiman in San Francisco in conjunction with Comix Experience.

And it feels pretty awesome, really.

See, there’s absolutely no reason for Neil to actually do a signing here any more – I’m just one pokey little comics store, and I’m not going to enhance his profile any longer, really. And we barely ever speak – maybe once every year or two there will be occasion for a call. Neil “rarely” does comics any longer, and comics is what I’m all about, but we came up together and that counts for something.

So the punchline to this long rambly thing is that, like I said, I approached Neil about doing something in 2006 – three years in advance. Every six months or so I’d send a little tickle email, but, y’know, I was sorting thinking it wasn’t going to happen, because the man be busy, right?

Neil contacts me out of the blue on Monday, “Hey I’m going to be in San Francisco in two weeks, can we work something out?”

Look, honestly, twelve days isn’t half the amount of time that one really needs to plan a signing and make all of the pieces come together. But it is Neil, right? And who is going to say no to him? Certainly not me! Mama Hibbs didn’t raise no idiots!

And it is going to be butter – smoother than silk, and Neil’s going to help me celebrate 20 years of selling and loving comics because the man is, frankly, a mensch.

Thanks again, buddy!

-B

CE '09: The First Half: The Comics

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Now we'll look at the periodical comics. Again, under the jump...

Again, we'll start with sorting it by PIECES sold.

Yeah, the quarter book permutations win (and "10 for a buck" is counted as ONE item, not TEN), followed by Barack Obama and Spidey, followed by "back issue" as a generic item, then we get into the BUFFY's and other stuff. You'll recall that our '08 list was ABSOLUTELY dominated by BUFFY, but it spreads out a bit from there.

Here's the list:

Quarter Book - 10 for a Buck
Quarter Book - Single
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #583
Back Issue
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #21 CHEN CVR
BATMAN AND ROBIN #1
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #22 CHEN CVR
Dollar Book
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #23 CHEN CVR
BATMAN #686 (NOTE PRICE)
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #24 CHEN CVR
FINAL CRISIS #6 (OF 7)
FINAL CRISIS #7 (OF 7)
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #25 CHEN CVR
DETECTIVE COMICS #853 (NOTE PRICE)
ASTONISHING X-MEN #28
FLASH REBIRTH #1 (OF 5)
UNWRITTEN #1
DARK AVENGERS #1
UNCANNY X-MEN #506
CAPTAIN AMERICA #600
ASTONISHING X-MEN #29
SANDMAN DREAM HUNTERS #3 (OF 4) (MR)
HELLBOY WILD HUNT #2 (OF 8)
UNCANNY X-MEN #509
INCOGNITO #1 (MR) (C: 1-0-0)
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #20 CHEN CVR
DARK AVENGERS #2
IGNITION CITY #1 (OF 5) (MR)
INCOGNITO #2 (MR)
NEW AVENGERS #49
WOLVERINE #71
JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #22
SANDMAN DREAM HUNTERS #4 (OF 4) (MR)
UNCANNY X-MEN #507
UNCANNY X-MEN #508
UNCANNY X-MEN #510
UNCANNY X-MEN ANNUAL #2
WOLVERINE #70
KICK ASS #5 (MR)
HELLBOY WILD HUNT #4 (OF 8)
MIGHTY AVENGERS #21
Starter Set
BATMAN #684
HELLBOY WILD HUNT #3 (OF 8)
CAPTAIN AMERICA #46
FABLES #83 (MR)
FINAL CRISIS SUPERMAN BEYOND #2 (OF 2)
IGNITION CITY #2 (OF 5) (MR)
INCOGNITO #3 (MR)
NEW AVENGERS #50
THOR #600
BOYS #26 (MR)
ULTIMATUM #3 (OF 5)
WOLVERINE #72
DARK AVENGERS #4
FLASH REBIRTH #2 (OF 5)
SEAGUY THE SLAVES OF MICKEY EYE #1 (OF 3) (MR)
FINAL CRISIS LEGION OF THREE WORLDS #3 (OF 5)
KICK ASS #6 (MR)
LITERALS #1 (OF 3) (MR)
NEW AVENGERS #51
NEW AVENGERS #52
BATMAN #687
BOYS #29 (MR)
CAPTAIN AMERICA #50
DARK AVENGERS #3
NEW AVENGERS #53 DKR
BOYS #28 (MR)
UNCANNY X-MEN #511
UNWRITTEN #2 (MR)
ANGEL AFTER THE FALL #16
BOYS #27 (MR)
DETECTIVE COMICS #854
FABLES #81 (MR)
FANTASTIC FOUR #562
FINAL CRISIS LEGION OF THREE WORLDS #4 (OF 5)
BATMAN #685 (FOE)
BTVS TALES OF THE VAMPIRES ONE SHOT JO CHEN COVER
DARK AVENGERS #5 DKR
FABLES #80 (MR)
FABLES #82 (MR)
GREEN LANTERN #36
BPRD BLACK GODDESS #2 (OF 5)
DAREDEVIL #115
FABLES #84 (MR)
GREEN LANTERN #40
INCOGNITO #4
JACK OF FABLES #33 (MR)
JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #23 (FOE)
NO HERO #3 (OF 7) (MR)
SEAGUY THE SLAVES OF MICKEY EYE #2 (OF 3) (MR)
ULTIMATUM #4 (OF 5)
ASTONISHING X-MEN #30
BOYS #30 (MR)
BPRD BLACK GODDESS #1 (OF 5)
CAPTAIN AMERICA #45
CAPTAIN AMERICA #47
CAPTAIN AMERICA #49
FLASH REBIRTH #3 (OF 5)
GREEN LANTERN #38

----------------------------------------------------

OK, same thing, sorted by DOLLARS SOLD. Done this way Quarter books drop way down (for 10 for a buck), or completely off -- but "Starter Sets", packaged runs of books (eg; "10 issues of BATMAN") soars right up:

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #583
Back Issue
Starter Set
BATMAN #686 (NOTE PRICE)
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #21 CHEN CVR
BATMAN AND ROBIN #1
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #22 CHEN CVR
FINAL CRISIS #6 (OF 7)
DETECTIVE COMICS #853 (NOTE PRICE)
FINAL CRISIS #7 (OF 7)
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #23 CHEN CVR
CAPTAIN AMERICA #600
Quarter Book - 10 for a Buck
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #24 CHEN CVR
DARK AVENGERS #1
FLASH REBIRTH #1 (OF 5)
NEW AVENGERS #50
THOR #600
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #25 CHEN CVR
IGNITION CITY #1 (OF 5) (MR)
DARK AVENGERS #2
UNCANNY X-MEN ANNUAL #2
ASTONISHING X-MEN #28
FINAL CRISIS SUPERMAN BEYOND #2 (OF 2)
IGNITION CITY #2 (OF 5) (MR)
NEW AVENGERS #49
ULTIMATUM #3 (OF 5)
DARK AVENGERS #4
INCOGNITO #2 (MR)
ASTONISHING X-MEN #29
NEW AVENGERS #52
NEW AVENGERS #51
INCOGNITO #1 (MR) (C: 1-0-0)
DARK AVENGERS #3
NEW AVENGERS #53 DKR
BATMAN #687
FINAL CRISIS LEGION OF THREE WORLDS #3 (OF 5)
CAPTAIN AMERICA #50
SEAGUY THE SLAVES OF MICKEY EYE #1 (OF 3) (MR)
SANDMAN DREAM HUNTERS #3 (OF 4) (MR)
ANGEL AFTER THE FALL #16
UNCANNY X-MEN #509
INCOGNITO #3 (MR)
DETECTIVE COMICS #854
DARK AVENGERS #5 DKR
FINAL CRISIS LEGION OF THREE WORLDS #4 (OF 5)
NO HERO #3 (OF 7) (MR)
HELLBOY WILD HUNT #2 (OF 8)
WOLVERINE #71
ULTIMATUM #4 (OF 5)
UNCANNY X-MEN #508
SEAGUY THE SLAVES OF MICKEY EYE #2 (OF 3) (MR)
UNCANNY X-MEN #507
SANDMAN DREAM HUNTERS #4 (OF 4) (MR)
WOLVERINE #70
UNCANNY X-MEN #510
KICK ASS #5 (MR)
THOR #601
HELLBOY WILD HUNT #4 (OF 8)
UNCANNY X-MEN #506
HELLBOY WILD HUNT #3 (OF 8)
MIGHTY AVENGERS #21
NEW AVENGERS #54 DKR
NO HERO #5 (OF 7) (MR)
ANGEL #17
FABLES #83 (MR)
DARK AVENGERS UNCANNY X-MEN UTOPIA #1 DAX
WOLVERINE #72
FLASH REBIRTH #2 (OF 5)
KICK ASS #6 (MR)
INCOGNITO #4
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #20 CHEN CVR
LITERALS #1 (OF 3) (MR)
NO HERO #4 (OF 7) (MR)
BATMAN #684
BATMAN BATTLE FOR THE COWL #2 (OF 3)
STAND CAPTAIN TRIPS #4 (OF 5)
DARK AVENGERS #6 DKR
UNWRITTEN #2 (MR)
ANGEL #18
UNCANNY X-MEN #511
BOYS #26 (MR)
SEAGUY THE SLAVES OF MICKEY EYE #3 (OF 3)
SECRET WARRIORS #1
BATMAN BATTLE FOR THE COWL #1 (OF 3)
FABLES #81 (MR)
BTVS TALES OF THE VAMPIRES ONE SHOT JO CHEN COVER
WAR OF KINGS #3 (OF 6)
FABLES #80 (MR)
BATMAN BATTLE FOR THE COWL #3 (OF 3)
IGNITION CITY #3 (OF 5) (MR)
BOYS #27 (MR)
FABLES #82 (MR)
BPRD BLACK GODDESS #2 (OF 5)
ANGEL #19
FABLES #84 (MR)
GREEN LANTERN #40
JACK OF FABLES #33 (MR)
FINAL CRISIS SECRET FILES #1
GREEN LANTERN #36

These will change a lot, probably more than the books chart, when we get to the end of the year -- for example, Morrison's B&R has only been on sale for a month, and I'm going to get a lot more sales before THAT ride is done... but I like the snapshot anyway.

Still, it is very highly improbably that anything will beat that issue of AMAZING SPIDEY. Note, however, that that had NO follow-through impact whatsoever on the series...

Again, anyone see anything interesting to you?

-B

CE '09: The First Half: The Books

/

Since the first half of the fiscal year just closed, let's take a quick look at Comix Experience's best-sellers, year-to-date.

Below the jump for those of you who don't care about these things...

Because of the formatting issues, I've decided to not attach ranking numbers to the chart. I figure you guys can count just fine!

I've gone a little past #100 -- this is actually our top 127 best selling items, because I wanted to have my own book appear on the list, ha!

This first list is PIECES sold. Yes, the first item is marked down books on sale. And, finally, something else breaks the Vulcan Death Grip that WATCHMEN had last year.

(Totally sorry for all of the Diamond bullshit in the listings. I COULD clean it up, but it would take a year and a day, and this is just for snapshot purposes, so there you go.)

Sale Book
LOEG III CENTURY #1 1910 (MR) (C: 0-1-2)
WATCHMEN TP (FEB058406)
SCOTT PILGRIM GN VOL 05 SP VS THE UNIVERSE (DEC084184)
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 09 HERE WE REMAIN (MR)
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 01 DAYS GONE BYE (JUL068351) (MR)
ALL STAR SUPERMAN HC VOL 02
LOEG VOL ONE TP (JUL068290)
CRIMINAL TP VOL 04 BAD NIGHT (NOV082430) (MR)
DMZ TP VOL 06 BLOOD IN THE GAME (MR)
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 08 MADE TO SUFFER (MR)
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 10 WHYS AND WHEREFORES (MAR080241) (MR
BTVS SEASON 8 TP VOL 03 WOLVES AT THE GATE (JUL080042)
FABLES TP VOL 11 WAR AND PIECES (AUG080229) (MR)
POWERS TP VOL 12 COOLEST DEAD SUPERHEROES
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 02 CYCLES (OCT058281) (MR)
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 04 SAFEWORD (APR058056) (MR)
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 05 RING OF TRUTH (MAY050306) (MR)
UMBRELLA ACADEMY TP VOL 1 APOCALYPSE SUITE
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 01 UNMANNED (OCT058020)
BOYS TP VOL 03 (MR) (C: 0-1-2)
FREAKANGELS TP VOL 02 (MR)
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 06 GIRL ON GIRL (SEP050317) (MR)
BTVS SEASON 8 TP VOL 01 LONG WAY HOME (JUL070028)
BTVS SEASON 8 TP VOL 04 TIME OF YOUR LIFE (C: 0-1-2)
FABLES TP VOL 01 LEGENDS IN EXILE (APR058372)
SANDMAN TP VOL 02 THE DOLLS HOUSE (APR058268)
THE FART PARTY TP
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 03 ONE SMALL STEP (MAR068027) (MR)
ALL STAR SUPERMAN TP VOL 01 (MAY080205)
BATMAN DARK KNIGHT RETURNS TP (DEC058055)
BATMAN THE KILLING JOKE SPECIAL ED HC (NOV070226)
LOEG VOL TWO TP (FEB058407)
SECRET INVASION TP (NOV082460)
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 02 MILES BEHIND US (NOV068026) (MR)
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 09 MOTHERLAND (FEB070362) (MR)
ALAN MOORE LIGHT OF THY COUNTENANCE GN (O/A) (NOV083804) (MR
BLACK HOLE COLLECTED SC
BOYS TP VOL 02 GET SOME (DEC073541) (MR) (C: 0-0-2)
BTVS SEASON 8 TP VOL 02 NO FUTURE FOR YOU (FEB080102)
CRIMINAL TP VOL 01 COWARD (MR)
PREACHER TP VOL 01 GONE TO TEXAS NEW EDITION (MAR050489) (MR
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 07 THE CALM BEFORE (MR) (C: 0-1-2)
BONE COLOR ED SC VOL 01 OUT FROM BONEVILLE
FINAL CRISIS HC
FREAKANGELS TP VOL 01 (SEP083753) (MR)
JACK OF FABLES TP VOL 05 TURNING PAGES (MR)
SANDMAN TP VOL 01 PRELUDES & NOCTURNES (DEC058090)
SCOTT PILGRIM GN VOL 01 SP PRECIOUS LITTLE LIFE (MAY042851)
SCOTT PILGRIM GN VOL 04 SP GETS IT TOGETHER (JUN073779) (C:
TOP 10 TP BOOK 01 (OCT058279)
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 07 PAPER DOLLS (FEB060341) (MR)
ACME NOVELTY LIBRARY HC #19 (MR)
PREACHER TP VOL 04 ANCIENT HISTORY NEW EDITION (MAY050299) (
SCOTT PILGRIM GN VOL 02 VS THE WORLD (DEC042750)
SCOTT PILGRIM GN VOL 03 INFINITE SADNESS (OCT053132)
SWAMP THING TP VOL 02 LOVE AND DEATH (JUL058053)
BONE COLOR ED SC VOL 09 CROWN OF HORNS (C: 1-1-2)
BOYS TP VOL 01 (DEC078191) (MR)
CRIMINAL TP VOL 02 LAWLESS (OCT072158) (MR)
DMZ TP VOL 01 ON THE GROUND (MAR060383) (MR)
DMZ TP VOL 02 BODY OF A JOURNALIST (NOV060292) (MR)
FABLES TP VOL 03 STORYBOOK LOVE (MAY068085) (MR)
FABLES TP VOL 05 THE MEAN SEASONS (JAN050373) (MR)
FABLES TP VOL 10 THE GOOD PRINCE (FEB080297) (MR)
HELLBOY VOL 01 SEED OF DESTRUCTION TP
JOKER HC (JUL080124)
JUSTICE TP VOL 01 (FEB080252)
PLANETARY TP VOL 01 ALL OVER THE WORLD AND OTHER STORIES (FE
PREACHER TP VOL 06 WAR IN THE SUN NEW EDITION (MAY050301) (M
PREACHER TP VOL 07 SALVATION NEW EDITION (MAY050300) (MR)
SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING HC BOOK 01 (MR)
SANDMAN TP VOL 03 DREAM COUNTRY (JAN058148)
SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN TP VOL 05 (C: 0-1-2)
SERENITY BETTER DAYS TP (C: 0-1-2)
TALES FROM OUTER SUBURBIA HC (C: 0-1-2)
TRANSMETROPOLITAN TP VOL 01 BACK ON THE STREET (MR)
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 04 HEARTS DESIRE (SEP051681) (MR)
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 05 BEST DEFENSE (MAR061834) (MR)
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 06 SORROWFUL LIFE (DEC061874) (MR)
WALTZ WITH BASHIR SC (C: 0-1-2)
100 BULLETS TP VOL 01 FIRST SHOT LAST CALL (SEP068078)
AIR TP VOL 01 LETTERS FROM LOST COUNTRIES (MR)
BATMAN RIP DELUXE EDITION HC
BPRD TP VOL 10 THE WARNING (C: 0-1-2)
DMZ TP VOL 03 PUBLIC WORKS (JUN070267) (MR)
DMZ TP VOL 05 THE HIDDEN WAR (APR080273) (MR)
EX MACHINA TP VOL 01 THE FIRST HUNDRED DAYS (SEP058036) (MR)
EX MACHINA TP VOL 07 EX CATHEDRA (JUL080199) (MR)
FABLES TP VOL 04 MARCH OF THE WOODEN SOLDIERS (OCT058021) (M
FABLES TP VOL 07 ARABIAN NIGHTS AND DAYS (MAR060384) (MR)
FABLES TP VOL 08 WOLVES (SEP060313) (MR)
FROM HELL TP NEW PTG (MR)
HELLBLAZER ROOTS OF COINCIDENCE TP (Diggle v3 of 3)
LOEG BLACK DOSSIER TP (JUL080193)
PREACHER TP VOL 05 DIXIE FRIED NEW EDITION (JUL050315) (MR)
RESURRECTION TP VOL 01
SANDMAN TP VOL 04 SEASON OF MISTS (OCT058022)
SCALPED TP VOL 01 INDIAN COUNTRY (MAY070243) (MR)
TOP 10 TP BOOK 02 (APR068255)
V FOR VENDETTA NEW EDITION TP (MR)
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 08 KIMONO DRAGONS (AUG060299) (MR)
A DRIFTING LIFE TP
BERLIN TP BOOK 02 CITY OF SMOKE (JUN083900) (MR)
BLACK SUMMER TP (JUL083705) (MR)
DMZ TP VOL 04 FRIENDLY FIRE (DEC070294) (MR)
EX MACHINA TP VOL 04 MARCH TO WAR (AUG060269) (MR)
FABLES TP VOL 09 SONS OF EMPIRE (MAR070271) (MR)
FUNNY MISSHAPEN BODY GN (MR) (C: 0-1-2)
GARTH ENNIS BATTLEFIELDS NIGHT WITCHES TP (C: 0-1-2)
GOON TP VOL 07 PLACE OF HEARTACHE & GRIEF (C: 0-1-2)
JUSTICE TP VOL 03 (OCT080172)
NEIL GAIMANS CORALINE TP
PATH OF THE ASSASSIN TP VOL 15 BAD BLOOD PART 2 (C: 0-1-2)
PREACHER TP VOL 03 PROUD AMERICANS NEW EDITION (JUL068334) (
PREACHER TP VOL 08 ALL HELLS A COMING (SEP058101)
PREACHER TP VOL 09 ALAMO (APR078094) (MR)
SHORTCOMINGS HC (JUL073524) (MR)
SHOWCASE PRESENTS AMBUSH BUG TP VOL 01
SUPERMAN RED SON TP (NOV058130)
SWAMP THING TP VOL 01 SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING (APR058269)
TILTING AT WINDMILLS SC VOL 02
UNDERSTANDING COMICS THE INVISIBLE ART
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 03 SAFETY BEHIND BARS (MR)
WARREN ELLIS AETHERIC MECHANICS GN
WARREN ELLIS CROOKED LITTLE VEIN MMPB
WE 3 TP (APR050419) (MR)

___________________________________________________

OK, same thing, but this time sorted by DOLLARS sold. It looks similar, but not identical:

Sale Book
WATCHMEN TP (FEB058406)
LOEG III CENTURY #1 1910 (MR) (C: 0-1-2)
SCOTT PILGRIM GN VOL 05 SP VS THE UNIVERSE (DEC084184)
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 09 HERE WE REMAIN (MR)
SECRET INVASION TP (NOV082460)
POWERS TP VOL 12 COOLEST DEAD SUPERHEROES
ALL STAR SUPERMAN HC VOL 02
FABLES TP VOL 11 WAR AND PIECES (AUG080229) (MR)
BOYS TP VOL 03 (MR) (C: 0-1-2)
LOEG VOL ONE TP (JUL068290)
UMBRELLA ACADEMY TP VOL 1 APOCALYPSE SUITE
FINAL CRISIS HC
FREAKANGELS TP VOL 02 (MR)
FROM HELL TP NEW PTG (MR)
SANDMAN TP VOL 02 THE DOLLS HOUSE (APR058268)
BTVS SEASON 8 TP VOL 03 WOLVES AT THE GATE (JUL080042)
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 10 WHYS AND WHEREFORES (MAR080241) (MR
CRIMINAL TP VOL 04 BAD NIGHT (NOV082430) (MR)
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 05 RING OF TRUTH (MAY050306) (MR)
DMZ TP VOL 06 BLOOD IN THE GAME (MR)
BOYS TP VOL 02 GET SOME (DEC073541) (MR) (C: 0-0-2)
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 08 MADE TO SUFFER (MR)
BATMAN THE KILLING JOKE SPECIAL ED HC (NOV070226)
STARMAN OMNIBUS HC VOL 02
BLACK HOLE COLLECTED SC
LOST GIRLS DLX SLIPCASED ED CURR PTG
BTVS SEASON 8 TP VOL 01 LONG WAY HOME (JUL070028)
FREAKANGELS TP VOL 01 (SEP083753) (MR)
SANDMAN TP VOL 01 PRELUDES & NOCTURNES (DEC058090)
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 02 CYCLES (OCT058281) (MR)
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 04 SAFEWORD (APR058056) (MR)
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 01 DAYS GONE BYE (JUL068351) (MR)
SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING HC BOOK 01 (MR)
BTVS SEASON 8 TP VOL 04 TIME OF YOUR LIFE (C: 0-1-2)
SWAMP THING TP VOL 02 LOVE AND DEATH (JUL058053)
TOP 10 TP BOOK 01 (OCT058279)
A DRIFTING LIFE TP
LOEG VOL TWO TP (FEB058407)
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 09 MOTHERLAND (FEB070362) (MR)
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 06 GIRL ON GIRL (SEP050317) (MR)
BTVS SEASON 8 TP VOL 02 NO FUTURE FOR YOU (FEB080102)
BATMAN RIP DELUXE EDITION HC
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 02 MILES BEHIND US (NOV068026) (MR)
PUNISHER BY GARTH ENNIS OMNIBUS HC
HEAVY LIQUID HC (MAY080261) (MR)
THE FART PARTY TP
POPGUN GN VOL 01 (NEW PTG) (SEP071958) (C: 0-1-2)
WALKING DEAD HC VOL 01
WALKING DEAD HC VOL 02
JOKER HC (JUL080124)
BATMAN DARK KNIGHT RETURNS TP (DEC058055)
CRIMINAL TP VOL 01 COWARD (MR)
PREACHER TP VOL 01 GONE TO TEXAS NEW EDITION (MAR050489) (MR
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 03 ONE SMALL STEP (MAR068027) (MR)
STARMAN OMNIBUS HC VOL 03
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 01 UNMANNED (OCT058020)
BLACK SUMMER TP (JUL083705) (MR)
ALL STAR SUPERMAN TP VOL 01 (MAY080205)
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 07 PAPER DOLLS (FEB060341) (MR)
TALES FROM OUTER SUBURBIA HC (C: 0-1-2)
SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN TP VOL 05 (C: 0-1-2)
DOKTOR SLEEPLESS TP VOL 01 ENGINES OF DESIRE (AUG083788) (MR
FABLES TP VOL 10 THE GOOD PRINCE (FEB080297) (MR)
PREACHER TP VOL 06 WAR IN THE SUN NEW EDITION (MAY050301) (M
PREACHER TP VOL 07 SALVATION NEW EDITION (MAY050300) (MR)
JACK OF FABLES TP VOL 05 TURNING PAGES (MR)
HELLBOY VOL 01 SEED OF DESTRUCTION TP
LOEG BLACK DOSSIER TP (JUL080193)
SANDMAN TP VOL 04 SEASON OF MISTS (OCT058022)
V FOR VENDETTA NEW EDITION TP (MR)
ACME NOVELTY LIBRARY HC #19 (MR)
BOYS TP VOL 01 (DEC078191) (MR)
WATCHMEN HC (JUL080172)
WATCHING THE WATCHMEN HC (AUG084300) (C: 0-1-2)
WALTZ WITH BASHIR SC (C: 0-1-2)
BOYS DEFINITIVE ED HC (NEW PTG) (JUN083805) (MR) (C: 0-0-2)
WATCHMEN THE ABSOLUTE EDITION HC (JUL080174)
Y THE LAST MAN DELUXE EDITION HC VOL 01 (JUN080308) (MR)
PREACHER TP VOL 04 ANCIENT HISTORY NEW EDITION (MAY050299) (
LOCAS A LOVE & ROCKETS BOOK HC VOL 01 (O/A) (MR)
COMPLETE PERSEPOLIS TP
FABLES TP VOL 04 MARCH OF THE WOODEN SOLDIERS (OCT058021) (M
FABLES TP VOL 08 WOLVES (SEP060313) (MR)
OVERSTREET COMIC BOOK PRICE GUIDE SC VOL 39 AVENGERS (O/A) (
SWAMP THING TP VOL 01 SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING (APR058269)
FABLES TP VOL 01 LEGENDS IN EXILE (APR058372)
BERLIN TP BOOK 02 CITY OF SMOKE (JUN083900) (MR)
SHORTCOMINGS HC (JUL073524) (MR)
UNDERSTANDING COMICS THE INVISIBLE ART
FABLES TP VOL 03 STORYBOOK LOVE (MAY068085) (MR)
FABLES TP VOL 05 THE MEAN SEASONS (JAN050373) (MR)
SANDMAN TP VOL 03 DREAM COUNTRY (JAN058148)
TRANSMETROPOLITAN TP VOL 01 BACK ON THE STREET (MR)
CRIMINAL TP VOL 02 LAWLESS (OCT072158) (MR)
JUSTICE TP VOL 01 (FEB080252)
SCOTT PILGRIM GN VOL 04 SP GETS IT TOGETHER (JUN073779) (C:
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 07 THE CALM BEFORE (MR) (C: 0-1-2)
SCOTT PILGRIM GN VOL 01 SP PRECIOUS LITTLE LIFE (MAY042851)
PLANETARY TP VOL 01 ALL OVER THE WORLD AND OTHER STORIES (FE

At the end of the day I'm super happy with our sales patterns, and I think they show a pretty high level of diversity.

Anything interesting YOU see?

-B

On REBORN (update 2)

/

Happy birthday to me! (No, really, it is my birthday -- and yet I'm working. What's up with that?)

Just for a quick follow up: The New York Daily News has now run the story that REBORN #1 is, in fact, the return of Steve Rogers. (It also doesn't say anything about CAPTAIN AMERICA #600, out this week, ah well)

...

...

...

That's me waiting for the phone to ring.

Yeah, not going to happen -- resurrections just don't pack the same punch that deaths do.

At the end of the day, Marvel decided to fuck with retailers in the hope that news would break big. That doesn't seem to have happened.

The shame of it is that if they had told us this at point of initial solicitation I could have played it up in store, I could have gathered subs and interest and preorders, and I would have had a stronger order placed because there would have been excitement about the "how" of it.

Now, not so much.

I'll sell plenty of copies, I'm sure -- but not "Civil War" plenty or "Secret Invasion" plenty, or, most certainly, not "Spider-Man and Obama big". Or even "Death of Captain America" big.

I feel bad for those retailers who bought/are buying the book at any of those kinds of "big" levels, BUT THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU LET A PUBLISHER "GAME" THE SYSTEM.

At the end of the day YOUR orders determine what publishers do. If you automagically buy 10% more copies of a book to get that 1:10 variant cover, you're guaranteed they will do more and more variant covers. If you order blindly on the HOPE that there's a story published in the news, AND that that story will have meaning and resonance with the general public, then they're going to continue to do that, as well.

Just something to think about.

-B

(Oooh, seconds before I was about to hit "post" I got a call asking for CAP #600. As near as I can tell, no one in town bit on the early shipping thing? Anyway, he didn't sound like a civ, though I didn't interrogate him or anything)

REBORN #1 follow-up

/

As hoped, Marvel has officially extended the FOC date for REBORN #1 to Tuesday June 16th, so we should have basic information about REBORN in place before our orders are due.

"REBORN FOC MOVED TO TUESDAY 6/16 TO ALLOW MORE TIME FOR ORDERS!
Reborn #1 (MAY090412D, $3.99) is expected to receive nationwide mass media coverage on June 15, and in an effort to give retailers more time to adjust orders, the issue’s FOC date will be moved from Thursday, June 11 to Tuesday, June 16. The on sale date of July 1 is unaffected by the FOC adjustment."

Therefore, Comix Experience WILL now be able to rack the book.

See, complaining in public does occasionally do some minor amount of good.

However, everything about this sort of hinges on trust: how much does one trust Marvel to be able to "deliver" "nationwide mass media coverage". Clearly a news story has been brokered, but it is utterly an open question whether or not it will actually RUN (Any number of stories could very easily push it out of the "news cycle"), and, much MUCH more importantly, whether any one or not will CARE about whatever the revelation is.

There are several possibilities of what "Reborn" might be referring to, of course -- some suggest it might be the return of the Cap from "Truth: Red, White and Black", or, it could be the "Heroes Return" Cap (Since that version of Bucky is evidently in CAPTAIN AMERICA #600), or it could just be "our" Steve Rogers coming back from the dead. Or it could be something else. We won't know until 6/15. Happy birthday to me!

One of those stories might entice the general public (and the "Obama Grandmothers"), one won't even create a ripple within the Direct Market, and the last is likely to create a collective "So?"

(People seem to like Bucky-Cap just fine, after all)

If it IS the most obvious result (The return of Steve Rogers), then I'm willing to predict a still birth on this -- Brubaker's CAPTAIN AMERICA is a fine comic book, indeed, but rebirths almost never generate any real market heat, with the possibly notable exception of GREEN LANTERN: REBIRTH which had on its side the fact that probably half (?) of GL readers actively disdained Kyle Rayner (the other half LOVED him), as well, to my mind, the idea that that would usher the return of the GL CORPS (Probably the best idea that comics, up to that point, had ever "thrown away")

It is worth mentioning (largely because this is getting fairly confusing) that CAPTAIN AMERICA #600, the putative lead-in to REBORN #1, will be "early released" on the Monday the news is meant to hit. For those who wish to pay for it, natch. That kind of direct shipping cost is fairly likely to run at about 5% of retail on the book, completely wiping out the benefit from the order incentive that Marvel ran.

But if the news DOES hit, there will be a bifurcation in the market -- because retailers have to pay the incoming shipping, additional staff and labor, etc etc, I'm not going to expect that a majority of retailers will actually pull that particular trigger. Which means the stores that DO will have a fairly hefty advantage. On the other hands if it is "just" "the return of Steve Rogers", I don't see a lot of civilian consumers biting -- people like death, they're less excited about returns.

(And, if you don't believe that, I'm sure I could act as a broker on AS MANY CASES of ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #500 as you might possibly want)

Comix Experience will not be one of those stores -- partly because we have Tuesday delivery, so paying 5% of retail for a (maybe) 24 hours advantage doesn't seem sensible to me; and partly because I'm not *expecting* any revelation other than "Steve Rogers returns" at this time.

What's horrifically fucked up about the CAPTAIN AMERICA #600 portion of this game is that that, effectively, most retailers had about a 3 hour window (on a Wednesday, fercryinoutloud -- when most retailers are frantically trying to help customers and don't have time to be obsessively checking email every 3 minutes) to make the decision whether to bring in those Monday CAPs or not. If you waited until Thursday it was too late to place order increases. Too bad, so sad.

Whatever these books end up being, however they end up selling, Marvel in my opinion handled this very poorly -- not giving retailers enough information OR time to make a properly formed decision. It was all "trust us".

And so far in this case, I'd argue they haven't given us enough reason to do so for these specific books.

On the other hand, they've generated a LOT of conversation, and way more "free press" then they would have otherwise, and I'm sure there are PLENTY of stores out there spiking their numbers up over all of these books. MARVEL is going to sell a whole lot more of these comics then they would have otherwise.

I just hope they sell THROUGH at retail.

-B

On Marvel's REBORN #1

/

The Direct Market is sometimes an awkward beast: publishers solicit books roughly 3 months before publication, which can lead to problems in releasing information in such a way that can spoil those upcoming titles. I am very sympathetic to these concerns.

Direct Market retailers, of course, buy comics non-returnable -- if we order too many copies, we simply eat them. This means we need as much information as we can possibly get at the time of solicitation so we can make proper, informed judgments of the saleability of a specific work.

There's no doubt this is a substantial conundrum -- in this particular aspect the publisher's best interests are diametrically opposed to the retailer's. They want to preserve suspense, we want as much information as is possible (in fact, the best possible world would be to be able to read every comic before we had to finalize our orders)

Marvel, over the last few years, has taken to making certain high-profile title's solicitations "Classified" where they provide retailers NO solicitation information at first, instead releasing it, typically, the final day that Final Orders are due. This is extremely annoying (I can't help build interest in a work via pre-orders if the first piece of hard information I receive is 3 weeks before a title ships), but we've been able to work with it fairly adequately to date because, generally, we were talking about essentially "just another issue of IRON MAN", and the trade off was "spoiling the end of SECRET INVASION", y'know? I have cycle sheet data for IRON MAN, I know the general range it is going to sell, I can work around it. As long as they finally give me the solicit by the time of Final Order Cutoff (FOC).

Which brings us to REBORN #1.

REBORN is a 5-issue mini-series. It is by Ed Brubaker and Bryan Hitch. It is 32 pages long, in color, and retails for $3.99. That's every piece of information that we have. We don't know who or what is "reborn", and, really, we aren't precisely sure if that's the exact title of the final comic book. It certainly could be the return of the Steve Rogers Captain America, but it could just as easily be something to do with "Heroes Reborn", or even some version of Captain America that has nothing to do with Steve Rogers. It could also have nothing whatsoever to do with Captain America, regardless of what Rich Johnston is reporting. My point is we simply don't know.

Unlike previous situations with "classified" solicitations, this does not appear to be done to protect the conclusion of a line-wide crossover like CIVIL WAR or SECRET INVASION. As near as I can tell, no other comic is being impacted by this book in the short term. There's a possibility that this spins out of CAPTAIN AMERICA #600, I suppose? But that would be the absolute limit.

No, this is Marvel trying to "game" the system, as far as I am concerned -- trying to create interest in something in what I consider to be an underhanded way, and completely against the moral intent of the processes of the Direct Market.

And now we come to what I consider to be the real problem: Marvel has apparently pre-arranged press coverage with a tame journalist with embargoed exclusivity with one media outlet with a promise to go wide on it. This week's Marvel Mailer (a retailer-only mailing with Marvel news in it) they say the following:

"REBORN #1’s solicit and cover will not be revealed before its FOC date due to upcoming mainstream press regarding the series. Please see the Marvel page of Diamond’s Retailer Service Area for more information"

Going to that page, we get this detail (I'm not printing the details of the incentive deals):

"REBORN #1, by Ed Brubaker and Bryan Hitch, will be receiving nationwide press on 6/15, possibly on par with the media coverage we received during Civil War.

However, this means that the solicit and covers for Reborn #1 cannot be shown before the FOC of 6/11. Marvel will do everything possible to ensure an overprint is on hand to counter huge anticipated demand, but the incentives below and qualifying for free variants will only be available for orders placed before FOC"

So, basically, Marvel is cutting the retailers out of the information loop in order to hopefully make a splash in the wider media. There are two problems I see with this strategy. One: depending on news going wide is a dangerous and risky move. What if 6/15 is the day that the President is assassinated, or we declare war on North Korea, or we find out a planet-killer asteroid is on its way, or whatever else of a billion things that could knock any media interest in ANY comics project into the garbage?

Two: like we saw with CAPTAIN AMERICA #25, if there IS press coverage, and we don't have the information to even attempt to order properly, then we can't capitalize on it.

As a retailer, I object to these actions. I find these tactics ethically abhorrent and morally repugnant, and flatly against the best interests of the Direct Market and it's constituent retailers.

If we let this pass silently, then we're telling them to do it again and again and again -- hell, why even actually solicit ANYthing? We'll accept that, right?

So, there's really only one thing I can do at this point to protest these tactics, and that's to decline to carry the book. Assuming that Marvel doesn't change their mind on this, before FOC time, I'm going to cut my rack copy orders to zero.

Obviously I will stock the book for any customer who is interested in preordering the title, but I can not, in good conscience, spend my own discretionary money on something that is against my best interests. To do otherwise would be to condone what Marvel is doing here. I have no other way to express my displeasure than voting with my dollars.

Marvel won't care, I'm sure. The thirty to, say, one hundred and fifty copies I might have sold (Depending on what the comic really is) won't make or break them. It probably won't hurt Ed or Bryan either, but I have to make a public stand in the only way I can.

But what else can I do? To participate is to say that what Marvel is doing is acceptable business. And it just isn't. Some times you have to stand on your principles, even if it costs you a little bit of money.

-B