Post-March 2021 DC Titles

[Hypo]

but also because it shows that a lot of those chart topping books every month do not actually end up selling to readers.

It doesn't show that though - this is one shop's sales.

[skyvolt2000]

It doesn't show that though - this is one shop's sales.

I think the issue is how many of those copies actually go to a real person.

Because we got owners demanding folks heads over 2 or 3 unsold Ms Marvel books yet got a shelf full of Batman.

If half the Batman books you order are still on the shelf after 6 months (mainly because you want to jack up the price on certain issues (issue so many OTHERS have at cover price elsewhere)) that is not good business.

That is just inflating numbers. While throwing fits over books that they don't like existing or REFUSE to order.

Sorry if Green Lantern with black folks won't sell at your store. WHOSE issue is that? Not DC Comic's issue.

There are 1999 comic book stores out there. Can't pander to a few. Black Mask, Image nor Boom are losing sleep over books not being in every store. Marvel SURE doesn't care.

[cranger]

It doesn't show that though - this is one shop's sales.

Sure, and I did allow for that, but not one of those other 150K+ books like Wolverine #1, Spider-Woman #1, Wonder Woman #750 or Thor #1 (which all shipped over twice the average/lower Batman title on that list) managed to crack the top 50 at that shop but sold through 90% or more at every other shop that must have picked up the slack? Come on, we know those books don't sell. All of our shops have piles of these books still sitting somewhere on some shelf or plugging up the dollar bin. While just one shop, this kind of sold to customers data is way more useful for trying to figure out if the product is to the readers liking than if the publishers marketing can strongarm retailers into over ordering.

edit: and I KNOW that this list also shows quite a bit of liking of Batman variants and speculation with multiple covers of the same issues making the top 25.

[Konja7]

There are a few interesting things about that list, the most important one is that those are actual sales to customers as opposed to Diamond tracking sales to retailers. Now not so interesting thing is that of course Batman is going to take up most of the top 25/50 slots given the main Batman series is pretty much the top selling ongoing month after month. Now the next interesting thing is sort of a combination of these first two, and that we don't see all those big books that sold 100K+ on that list. Part of that is going to be because that shop seems to skew towards DC, but also because it shows that a lot of those chart topping books every month do not actually end up selling to readers.

What it does not show is that there is demand for Batman beyond the main title and the 3 Jokers. There is nothing on that list about any of the "many" other Batman titles. We do have other sources for that, of course, but I think that list there is just typical of throwing something up quickly and letting it tell a whopper of a tale.

Yeah. Other Batman titles apart from the main title don't sell so good.

That's why some Bat-family members won't have a solo anymore either.

DC seems to want to use Batman name in titles, since they want to sell.

[Lee Stone]

Yeah. Other Batman titles apart from the main title don't sell so good.

That's why some Bat-family members won't have a solo anymore either.

DC seems to want to use Batman name in titles, since they want sell.

I suspect that DC's new Omniverse was really someone's ingenious plan to get even more Batman titles published without having to worry about the limits of using one character.

Now they can do a Gotham by Gaslight Batman series, an Arctic Batman series, a Batman in Space series, a Medieval Batman series, and so-on and so-on...
52 titles, with about 20 featuring a different Batman.

[SJNeal]

Now they can do a Gotham by Gaslight Batman series, an Arctic Batman series, a Batman in Space series, a Medieval Batman series, and so-on and so-on...
52 titles, with about 20 featuring a different Batman.

Pretty sure I still have all of those action figures locked away in a box somewhere...

[Hypo]

https://twitter.com/whatthe_shea/sta...03652377538565

[cranger]

https://twitter.com/whatthe_shea/sta...03652377538565

"rooftops"... another Batman book, huh?

But seriously, any guesses? Wishes? The artist was doing Justice League Dark, but Andrea was on Aquaman, Hawkman and Shazam as well as JLD and a couple more.

[SJNeal]

"rooftops"... another Batman book, huh?

But seriously, any guesses? Wishes? The artist was doing Justice League Dark, but Andrea was on Aquaman, Hawkman and Shazam as well as JLD and a couple more.

I think a new volume of Justice League Dark is the most likely...

[Hypo]

Sure, and I did allow for that, but not one of those other 150K+ books like Wolverine #1, Spider-Woman #1, Wonder Woman #750 or Thor #1 (which all shipped over twice the average/lower Batman title on that list) managed to crack the top 50 at that shop but sold through 90% or more at every other shop that must have picked up the slack? Come on, we know those books don't sell. All of our shops have piles of these books still sitting somewhere on some shelf or plugging up the dollar bin. While just one shop, this kind of sold to customers data is way more useful for trying to figure out if the product is to the readers liking than if the publishers marketing can strongarm retailers into over ordering.

edit: and I KNOW that this list also shows quite a bit of liking of Batman variants and speculation with multiple covers of the same issues making the top 25.

I mean once again you're extrapolating off of one stores sales, you can't do that. Higgins in particular has mentioned multiple times on twitter/podcasts that he's fairly conservative in how he orders, basically only ordering what he knows will sell to his existing customer base.

I'm sure there's a chunk of shop owners that operate as super fans, ordering based off what they want to succeed rather than what their internal sales data tells them will but in order for what you're describing to be true the majority of shops would have to function like that in which case the industry would've already collapsed.

[Vordan]

"rooftops"... another Batman book, huh?

But seriously, any guesses? Wishes? The artist was doing Justice League Dark, but Andrea was on Aquaman, Hawkman and Shazam as well as JLD and a couple more.

Which “office” is Shea under? Batman, Superman, JL? Because that will tell us right away. Honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if it is another Batbook.

I think a new volume of Justice League Dark is the most likely...

Nah JLD is going to be backups in JL for the foreseeable future apparently.

[cranger]

I mean once again you're extrapolating off of one stores sales, you can't do that. Higgins in particular has mentioned multiple times on twitter/podcasts that he's fairly conservative in how he orders, basically only ordering what he knows will sell to his existing customer base.

I'm sure there's a chunk of shop owners that operate as super fans, ordering based off what they want to succeed rather than what their internal sales data tells them will but in order for what you're describing to be true the majority of shops would have to function like that in which case the industry would've already collapsed.

Yes, I have followed Higgins for quite some time and I acknowledged this data is specific to this store. But my thought is that this kind of data is more useful to seeing what customers are actually buying. What I find interesting is trends that you really only get with actual sales. For example, unless for some reason his report left 01/01/20 off the results, X-Men #5 sold better than #4 at his shop. A little looking at it might make one wonder if there are a lot of people who are not completionists, who don't just pull blindly, so a book with three dudes wearing suits walking into a UN meeting room was far less appealing than Storm and Armor in action poses and the threat of some deadly nemesis.

[cranger]

Which “office” is Shea under? Batman, Superman, JL? Because that will tell us right away. Honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if it is another Batbook.

Nah JLD is going to be backups in JL for the foreseeable future apparently.

Well I listed most of the books but you can get a list here and see there are no Batbooks.

Do you have a source about JLD or is it just the way the solicits are worded?

[Vordan]

Had a friend spoil the last issue of DCeased 2 since he was still reading it and I wasn’t: spoilers:

Anti-Life Superman and Darkseid aren’t addressed at all. The final shot ends with the sun in the background which is a pretty pointed reminder that Anti-Life Superman is still out there.

end of spoilers
So there’s definitely a DCeased 3 coming down the line. I’m guessing they just took a break to avoid fatigue.

Well I listed most of the books but you can get a list here and see there are no Batbooks.

Do you have a source about JLD or is it just the way the solicits are worded?

Right but what editorial office is she currently working in? Editors approve book based on their corner of the DCU. If she’s in the Bat Office it will be a Batbook. Historically she seems to have worked in the Super and JL offices, so if she’s still there it will be a book in one of those branches.

The backups news comes from a recent WB podcast with Ram V: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas...=1000504986359

[skyvolt2000]

For example, unless for some reason his report left 01/01/20 off the results, X-Men #5 sold better than #4 at his shop. A little looking at it might make one wonder if there are a lot of people who are not completionists, who don't just pull blindly, so a book with three dudes wearing suits walking into a UN meeting room was far less appealing than Storm and Armor in action poses and the threat of some deadly nemesis.

You do have folks who do that. Not as high as it was at one time because now we get trades out faster.

You also have folks who will BUY every variant of at least the first issue. One guy who owns 6-7 stores says he has had at least 3-4 guys who will buy every first issue and its variants. No matter WHO it is. At least for Marvel & DC-MAYBE Boom Studios.

Also some stores do FOC-like mine. Where you can get the books you want ahead of time. This is helpful as I can get the variant I WANT at the cover (close to it) price via FOC. Since many of those books are jacked up in price when they come out.
So it's harder to drop a book that you already paid for a month (or months in advance). So the numbers for issue 6 would be higher than issue 7.

I also know there are case where store owners get the hint a book will not sniff reorders. So they encourage buying those books. I know Xombi was one of those titles. Nobody could reorder the book.

And finally there are cases where SALES and other stores help an issue. While it's HARD to get the data-how many folks went to say Half Price books and got the first 5 issues of say Nightwing for half the cover or 25 cents each and read them and liked them and put the book on their pull list?
While it did NOT help-one store I went to did all books before Nov 2018 were a dollar. You would THINK that would get folks trying books. It didn't outside of me.