Black Panther Appreciation: Wakanda Forever!

[Mike_Murdock]

No, for that I look at other numbers. There's a rather funky piece out there that includes an analysis of relaunch numbers... and shows that, over the long run, books actually LOSE readers after a relaunch. Unfortunately, because the article is a "twine", I can't link to the data directly, and it's a bit too long to cut & paste, but he runs the numbers for WOLVERINE< UNCANNY X-MEN, and ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN, so I think it's a valid sample.

If a book gains about 100,000 sold, even if it loses more in the long run, is it really a lower total number?

[DigiCom]

That's what you call your "short-term thinking".

Which would YOU rather have. 100K for one month, and 20-30k each month thereafter... or 60K a month for a long time?

The 125K sales made by issue #1 of the relaunch may sound impressive... but it tells me that Marvel is utterly failing to capitalize on one of the best-selling superhero movies of all time. Hell, in the same week the comic came out, the movie sold roughly 128K tickets.... after 15 weeks. And that was two weeks after the DVD came out!

[XPac]

That's what you call your "short-term thinking".

Which would YOU rather have. 100K for one month, and 20-30k each month thereafter... or 60K a month for a long time?

The 125K sales made by issue #1 of the relaunch may sound impressive... but it tells me that Marvel is utterly failing to capitalize on one of the best-selling superhero movies of all time. Hell, in the same week the comic came out, the movie sold roughly 128K tickets.... after 15 weeks. And that was two weeks after the DVD came out!

I'd argung part of the reason they did the relauch was to try and capitalize on the success of the movie by creating a relatively easy jumping in point for new readers.

But really, movies rarely if ever actually generate a bump in sales. That's just how it is.

[Mike_Murdock]

That's what you call your "short-term thinking".

Which would YOU rather have. 100K for one month, and 20-30k each month thereafter... or 60K a month for a long time?

Is there any reason to think it would maintain 60,000 for a long time?

The 125K sales made by issue #1 of the relaunch may sound impressive... but it tells me that Marvel is utterly failing to capitalize on one of the best-selling superhero movies of all time. Hell, in the same week the comic came out, the movie sold roughly 128K tickets.... after 15 weeks. And that was two weeks after the DVD came out!

The movie and comic audiences are not the same. Everyone has a movie theater. Not everyone has a local comics shop or feels comfortable going in there every week or month to buy a $4 book for 10 minutes of content.

[Vic Vega]

Is there any reason to think it would maintain 60,000 for a long time?

Not really, no.

This book has never been able to maintain sales numbers over time with any writer in its past. You can argue about the relative steepness of the curve, but that's avoiding the issue.

Nothing Marvel has is gonna do 50K a month like clockwork other than Spider Man or Star Wars let alone 60K a month.

Xmen can't even do that now (X-Men Wedding Special: 53,222).

[DigiCom]

I'd argung part of the reason they did the relauch was to try and capitalize on the success of the movie by creating a relatively easy jumping in point for new readers.

If so, it's an utter failure, because the first issue has MAYBE one character in common with the movie. And he's an amnesiac who acts completely differently from the movie portrayal. Admittedly, the book was available for pre-order the week after the movie came out, but I wonder how many of the thousands of viewers that weekend know how to order a comic, as opposed to going in to see what's for sale?

But really, movies rarely if ever actually generate a bump in sales. That's just how it is.

Absolutely true. And yet, nobody ever asks WHY.

Is there any reason to think it would maintain 60,000 for a long time?

Honestly, no. But that has less to do with the quality (or lack thereof) of the comic itself, and more to do with how broken the direct market system actually is.

The movie and comic audiences are not the same. Everyone has a movie theater. Not everyone has a local comics shop or feels comfortable going in there every week or month to buy a $4 book for 10 minutes of content.

Agreed. Which I think the real takeaway from this is. In terms of cultural awareness, the movie dwarfs the comics. In the eyes of the world, THAT is who T'Challa is. Coates' version, no matter how much the press tries to make it otherwise, is a minor curiosity at best.

Nothing Marvel has is gonna do 50K a month like clockwork other than Spider Man or Star Wars let alone 60K a month.

Xmen can't even do that now (X-Men Wedding Special: 53,222).

Indeed. But somehow, nobody ever blames Marvel for it, even though they are shipping fewer units now than the year they declared bankruptcy....

[XPac]

If so, it's an utter failure, because the first issue has MAYBE one character in common with the movie. And he's an amnesiac who acts completely differently from the movie portrayal. Admittedly, the book was available for pre-order the week after the movie came out, but I wonder how many of the thousands of viewers that weekend know how to order a comic, as opposed to going in to see what's for sale?



Absolutely true. And yet, nobody ever asks WHY.



Honestly, no. But that has less to do with the quality (or lack thereof) of the comic itself, and more to do with how broken the direct market system actually is.



Agreed. Which I think the real takeaway from this is. In terms of cultural awareness, the movie dwarfs the comics. In the eyes of the world, THAT is who T'Challa is. Coates' version, no matter how much the press tries to make it otherwise, is a minor curiosity at best.



Indeed. But somehow, nobody ever blames Marvel for it, even though they are shipping fewer units now than the year they declared bankruptcy....

You can blame marvel to some degree, but to what extent?

The thing about it is that print media pretty much across the board is dying a slow death. Newspapers, magazines, comic books... media is evolving to meet with the times. I'm not sure things like comic books and newspaper will every COMPLETELY die.... but I think it's a given that little by little it will decline regardless of the quality of the product, because again print media across the board is taking a hit in the new digital age.

At best marvel can do it's best to slow the decline, but I don't think they will ever really be able to turn things around at least in regards to sales of the singles. Its possible that online sales are making up for that and the readership isn't necessarily smaller even if the units of the floppies are lower, but obviously we don't see the numbers there.

[Ezyo1000]

It will tell us the interest in the concept/plot, yeah.

But, obviously, not if people are enjoying it or not. That takes a few issues to catch up on.



Ok, just went ahead and updated the graphs btw:

Coates Run:




Complete Black Panther ongoings:




A look at the three most recent mini series:

I will forever say Rise should of been the first spin off to come out, then WOW and crew. Rise would of been the most successful and likely could of turned into more because of the interest on BP

[DigiCom]

It's true that print is dying. But that doesn't mean that COMICS are dying. Only that the readership has changed, and the publishers need to adapt.

Unfortunately, they are utterly failing to do so, due to their fetishization of the direct market. Despite the fact that pretty much every other print medium has embraced online sales to one extent or another, Marvel (and, admittedly, DC) still treat digital sales as a poor country cousin.

(I'm not even going to get into how poorly conceived Marvel Unlimited is).

[KOSLOX]

I will forever say Rise should of been the first spin off to come out, then WOW and crew. Rise would of been the most successful and likely could of turned into more because of the interest on BP

Rise should have been first just due to the fact that it would have meant there was a BP: "Year One" on stands when the movie came out.

People could have walked into a BAM or Barnes and Noble and walked out with a pretty good primer on BP's comic history. I honestly don't understand how it's this difficult to coordinate these kinds of things.

[DigiCom]

Here's an even better question: Why not market it to bookstores as an OGN? And do a little basic advertising in the theaters so that filmgoers know it's available?

(The answer, sadly, is because publishers suck at marketing.)

[Ezyo1000]

Only thing I can think of is positive word of mouth and Doom on the cover.

Man, imagine if something like rise came out during the great Black Panther boom that WoW got to take advantage of.

WoW may be one of the biggest mistakes in Black Panther comic history looking back. The mythos had a chance of a true spin off, there was massive hype going around, and they wasted it on a writer that had no business writing comics.

Even if I have issues on the story they wanted to tell (about the Dora revolution)... the writer they picked was so bad that no great plot could have saved it.

Not only all of this, but for some strange reason, Marvel thought this new idea of giving neophyte writers complete control without editorial stepping in and making sure that what they are doing doesn't ruin hype what so ever, and that also killed the book and momumtum from spin offs going forward.. like who is the genius who allowed gay to have the characters **** all over the title Character who's name was on the cover of the book? Nade worse that she had the audacity to say the MA didn't need T'Challa and could stand on their own, yet these were Characters will had... 4 issue's worth of appearance yet they got this spin off.. so much wasted potential. Rise should of Been first as it would of been a true jumping on point since Coates started mid story, and an year one would of been useful. Ugh so much wasted potential it makes the brain hurt

[Ezyo1000]

BoG & TfA, you guys are both right on the money. There is so much that could be done and should of been done. Rise should of came first. Then wow after seeing if there was actual interest in The MA.

Digital sales and trades are the way of the future. I think something marvel should try is trades, sell complete stories with creative teams and try to get trades out once every few months. So you may get 3-4 trades with a specific team every year, but your getting complete stories, something casuals can get into because they aren't trying to coordinate with the monthly grind

[XPac]

Rise should have been first just due to the fact that it would have meant there was a BP: "Year One" on stands when the movie came out.

People could have walked into a BAM or Barnes and Noble and walked out with a pretty good primer on BP's comic history. I honestly don't understand how it's this difficult to coordinate these kinds of things.

Rise was on the stands when the movie came out. Had it been put out first, it would have finished before the movie came out. I think having it out when the movie came out is exactly why it didn't come out first.

People in the bookstores already have Priest and Hudlin trades so they were covered.

[Vic Vega]

Indeed. But somehow, nobody ever blames Marvel for it, even though they are shipping fewer units now than the year they declared bankruptcy....

Well DC's answer to poor sales was MOAR BATMAN!!! and a dollar off most of the line.

Marvel can't provide the former and are too greedy to try the latter. So much of this is on them.

It will be interesting to see what (if anything) happens when GameStop starts selling floppies (But why floppies tho and not trades? Whose idea was that?). The thinking is that those stores regularly get customers who have never set foot in a LCS.