Sales Discussion: Batman, Bat- Family and Related Titles

[NOCTPHOENIX]

If they have to stack the creative team. I mean its nice when they do, but a problem when its the only way they can sell a character. We have been seeing it for a while now, we saw it with Young Justice, and were seeing it with Tim Drake Robin #1. Tim's marketability isn't what it was.

Didn't UL lead to a sales boost with the Tim reveal though or was that due to the Robin brand?

[Konja7]

Well, Young Justice and Tim Drake: Robin are written by the same writer. It's obvious, that Fitzmartin's direction just doesn't work.
I'm curious, how different sales would be, if writer was some bigger name, like Zdarsky.

I think Godlike13 is sepaking about Young Justice by Bendis. That book was the big return of YJ4 with a big promotion from DC, but the sales fall pretty fast.

People like to blame Bendis for this, but the fall happened too soon (even the book becomes really bad).

[dietrich]

The reason is the creative team. Tim Drake is my favourite character and I didn't buy the book.
The scenario Fitzmartin settled for Tim is not at all what I've been waiting for so long. And Rossmo art... brrrrrr!

It's not just the creative team. they are just the scape goat. look at Tim's performance since the landscape became more competitive.

RR didn't do spectacular it sold on par with RSOB. A beloved well established character shouldn't be selling the same numbers as a new highly divisive character.

YJ by Bendis was a flop
Tim Drake Pride #1 charted at no 119
Robin Eternal was one of the lower selling FS titles.

At some point the excuse of it's the wrong creative team stops working.

[dietrich]

For Tim's solo at least when taking into account October sales for issue 1 (resolicitations), it ended up at 178

I know. Just like Damian's robin series it charts then re charts as a resolicitation due to being released towards the end of the week.

However even with that Asterix Tim drake Robin performed very poorly compared to Robin by Williamson.

[NOCTPHOENIX]

I know. Just like Damian's robin series it charts then re charts as a resolicitation due to being released towards the end of the week.

However even with that Asterix Tim drake Robin performed very poorly compared to Robin by Williamson.

Oh I agree. I was noting that even taking into account October it did pretty bad.............

It's not just the creative team. they are just the scape goat. look at Tim's performance since the landscape became more competitive.

RR didn't do spectacular it sold on par with RSOB. A beloved well established character shouldn't be selling the same numbers as a new highly divisive character.

YJ by Bendis was a flop
Tim Drake Pride #1 charted at no 119
Robin Eternal was one of the lower selling FS titles.

At some point the excuse of it's the wrong creative team stops working.

I thought the Red Robin series sold pretty well

[Drako]

I was talking in another thread that we don't really have the whole picture of sales, it's very difficult to have a grasp on the numbers and what is Ok for DC and what isn't. Jeremy Adams said some time ago in a podcast that they are happy with their book but in the icv2 charts of October he is around the 100 mark.

That being said, a number 1 looking that low is very weird, even with skewedish data. Also, Jeremy Adams word-to-mouth is very positive and the creative team of Tim's book is the oposite. Who knows, maybe it sells well digitaly.

[Felipe Silveira]

There are almost 500 comics every month, 100 are closer to the top than the floor.

[Aahz]

YJ by Bendis was a flop
Tim Drake Pride #1 charted at no 119
Robin Eternal was one of the lower selling FS titles.

YJ by Bendis was also pretty bad, the other two were written by the same writer as his current series.

And honestly the big problem is that basically none of the books lead by Tim since Flashpoint have been good (or at least mediocre).

[NOCTPHOENIX]

I was talking in another thread that we don't really have the whole picture of sales, it's very difficult to have a grasp on the numbers and what is Ok for DC and what isn't. Jeremy Adams said some time ago in a podcast that they are happy with their book but in the icv2 charts of October he is around the 100 mark.

That being said, a number 1 looking that low is very weird, even with skewedish data. Also, Jeremy Adams word-to-mouth is very positive and the creative team of Tim's book is the oposite. Who knows, maybe it sells well digitaly.

Aren't digital sales only like 10 percent of actual sales in the longrun though?

[dietrich]

YJ by Bendis was also pretty bad, the other two were written by the same writer as his current series.

And honestly the big problem is that basically none of the books lead by Tim since Flashpoint have been good (or at least mediocre).

You can't use that excuse with bendis when right from the jump the numbers weren't spectacular. The 1st issue of a core 4 title [if they were still as popular as they used to be] should have done better.

RR was seen as spectacular by a large percentage of the fanbase and yet the sales were just good.

Every character has a bad title at some point, that isn't exclusive to Tim. This is why it's important to take into account the numbers sold by beloved runs [RR] and highly anticipated runs [YJ by Bendis issue 1 and 2 before anyone knew what the story was going to be]

Dick Grayson even while the Ric arc was going on was still one of the better selling dc titles that is how you know a bankable character. Tim used to be bankable but since more choice was introduced he stopped being so bankable.

[Konja7]

I thought the Red Robin series sold pretty well

Red Robin sales were good, but DC likely expected more from Tim Drake's solo at that time. That's why dietrich is saying Robin Son of Batman has similar sales.

The fact that Red Robin sales were good but no exceptional is likely one of the reasons why they put Tim in Teen Titans for New52.

[Drako]

Aren't digital sales only like 10 percent of actual sales in the longrun though?

I don't know. They made a big deal about it when Digital First was launched with the New-52, i thought it would be more.

But that was ten years ago and Amazon butchered comixology, so it's probably right.

Dick Grayson even while the Ric arc was going on was still one of the better selling dc titles that is how you know a bankable character. Tim used to be bankable but since more choice was introduced he stopped being so bankable.

The Nightwing book was at his lowest during the Ric saga and the sales reflected that. He was not selling well by the numbers we got.
It only got better with the Joker War crossover bump and then when he got back to being himself.

[dietrich]

Oh I agree. I was noting that even taking into account October it did pretty bad.............



I thought the Red Robin series sold pretty well

It sold well but my point is that at that point Tim's popularity had already started to fade if a beloved series focusing on him sold on par with Damian who was new and originally hated.

[dietrich]

I don't know. They made a big deal about it when Digital First was launched with the New-52, i thought it would be more.

But that was ten years ago and Amazon butchered comixology, so it's probably right.



The Nightwing book was at his lowest during the Ric saga and the sales reflected that. He was not selling well by the numbers we got.
It only got better with the Joker War crossover bump and then when he got back to being himself.

Yes but it was still one of the better selling Dc titles despite the premise which fans hated.

[Konja7]

The Nightwing book was at his lowest during the Ric saga and the sales reflected that. He was not selling well by the numbers we got.
It only got better with the Joker War crossover bump and then when he got back to being himself.

Nightwing sales were terrible at that time. However, it still often sell better than many other DC titles (like Red Hood, Batgirl, between others).