Saga #19 Sells Out, on Verge of Beating The Walking Dead in Sales. Kirkman to Shave Beard.

[Groo Odyssey]

Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples’ multiple Eisner and Hugo award-winning New York Times bestseller SAGA returned with the beginning of its fourth arc this week and has instantly sold out at the distribution level. To meet demand, Image Comics is sending SAGA #19 back to press for a one-time-only second printing.

“One of the greatest things about working with talent as inventive as Brian and Fiona is that Saga is never short on surprises,” said Eric Stephenson, Publisher at Image Comics. “If it’s not the story itself, it’s the velocity this book sells at, and even after establishing itself as a sales juggernaut over the last 18 issues, Saga has once again exceeded our expectations. We went big on the overprint with this issue and still came up short. I’m stunned.”

“This book is a living, breathing phenomenon—its sales trajectory far surpasses that of The Walking Dead at the same point in its publishing history—and we are constantly looking for new ways to grow what is shaping up to be one of most wonderful and enthusiastic fan communities we’ve ever encountered. Given how much work Brian and Fiona are putting into making this one of the greatest series of all time and how easy it is to sell new readers on this incredible story, there’s really no reason Saga shouldn’t be every retailer’s highest ordered series.”

So after promising fans and retailers that Saga will never go into a second printing ever again, Image has changed their minds and caved in to satisfy customer demand. I think this is really impressive if Saga was ever able to outsell The Walking Dead given that Saga doesn't have a tv or movie deal with millions of ravenous fans. In Jan TWD #120 sold 65,286 and Saga #18 sold 53,139, so it's pretty close and it's all by word of mouth that Saga increases sales every month. Volume 3 of the trade has outsold vol 1 and 2. Pretty damn impressive and deserves some recognition. Robert Kirkman has vowed to let BKV shave his beard if Saga ever outsells TWD. Let's do it guys! (although I'm reading both )

https://imagecomics.com/content/view/got-saga-lying

[MindofShadow]

What is Saga about in a nutshell?

[Groo Odyssey]

What is Saga about in a nutshell?

Quite simply the greatest comic ever made, I'm not kidding. Has everything I love about comics, excellent story, lovable characters and absolutely stunning art from Fiona Staples. It's an epic story that's part Star Wars, part Romeo and Juliet. I won't be able to do it justice, you'll just have to read the first few issues to see for yourself what all the hype is all about. It's unlike anything you've ever read, it's hard to describe. It's like someone asking you to describe what Breaking Bad is all about in a nutshell. Just pick up the first trade but be warned, there's no turning back.

I was at a local comic shop this past week and there was a new comic book fan asking the girl at the counter to recommend some books to her. Without hesitation the she screamed Saga. She told her it was the greatest comic ever made. I just smiled and nodded. LOL

[Ilan Preskovsky]

This is great news. BKV and Fiona Staples deserve every last drop of success they've had with their wonderful, wonderful comic book.

[Kid A]

Quite simply the greatest comic ever made, I'm not kidding.

Holy hyperbole, Batman.

It's a good book, but probably not even in the top 10 comics being published right now.

[Groo Odyssey]

Holy hyperbole, Batman.

It's a good book, but probably not even in the top 10 comics being published right now.

[Jim Purcell]

Holy hyperbole, Batman.

It's a good book, but probably not even in the top 10 comics being published right now.

Care to generate that hypothetical top 10 list? You know. For science.

I don't rank Saga as #1, but its certainly in my top 10. And this is coming from someone who hated Y the Last Man, and got bored of Ex Machina. So I'm no BKV fanboy.

[TotalSnorefest]

Call me an idiot, but why exactly did they promise to never reprint issues? That sounds really counter-productive? You'd think they would like lots of copies in circulation right, so if people miss one issue they can still find it for sale, rather than having to settle for the trade instead. Anyone with economical knowledge who can clear this up for me? It just sounds weird; publishers like Boom! are constantly putting out reprints of previous issues, usually with a new cover, so that new readers can jump on early. Why not Saga?

[Dark-Flux]

Holy hyperbole, Batman.

It's a good book, but probably not even in the top 10 comics being published right now.

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Kirkmans beard has gotta go!

[Junior Wormwood]

Holy hyperbole, Batman.

It's a good book, but probably not even in the top 10 comics being published right now.

Gotta say I'm in agreement. I stopped picking this up a few issues back. It's got some great qualities, but I honestly never got to the point where I truly cared about any of the characters. Except for The Will and that awesome feline companion of his.

Glad to know there are others who don't get why everyone's so crazy over this book.

That being said, I love both of the creators on this book. I'm super happy for them! And it would be cool to see the sales on this title surpass that of TWD, for reasons mentioned by someone else earlier. Any comic that can move those kinds of numbers only helps the entire industry.

[Deviancy]

While I'm all for Saga selling well, I have to disagree with those who want to see it outsell TWD for one reason.

It can lead to over saturation.

We're already seeing it with the zombie thing. Kirkman's success with zombies has cause the zombie bubble to grow in a big way, I mean there were random zombie games before TWD but now there seems to be a new zombie game every few months, and I don't know how many zombie comics are out there, but there are far more zombie books now, and toys, and other things. Over saturation is bad.. and over saturation played a big role in 80's metal getting owned by grunge, people burn out when there's over saturation and start looking for something new, and well, there was Nirvana and Pearl Jam. If 80's metal had just remained Poison, Warrant, and maybe two or three more bands, I don't think people would have burnt out as fast as they did, but there were so many 80's metal bands doing the same thing...

Here's a list of just the ones I can remember at the moment, I know I'm forgetting quite a few.

Poison, Winger, Warrant, Def Leppard, Ratt, Guns N' Roses, Bon Jovi, Slaughter, Steelheart, Firehouse, Tuff, Bang Tango, Skid Row (they got more aggressive later), Kix, Dangerous Toys, Bullet Boys, Faster Pussycat, LA Guns, Love/Hate, Europe, Nelson, Tiger Tailz, and those are just the ones I can think of at the moment. Sure, some of those bands didn't deserve to be lumped in with the rest but they were.

Funny thing.. out of all those bands mentioned above, one of them is still actually just as popular as they were in the 80's, and when it comes to ticket sales, they're one of the biggest ticket sellers, they're right up there with U2.

Can you guess which one? I know I was shocked when I found out.

In short, Saga selling well is good.. but over saturation would be bad.. very bad. And yes, I do think it did play a minor role in the bubble bursting in the 90's, I think a lot got sick of the over saturation of superhero books. But many things factor into why the bubble burst in the 90's.. or should I say.. there's many theories as to why.

[coveredinbees]

What is Saga about in a nutshell?

There's a war. Two opposing soldiers fell in love and had a child. They ran. Their respective empires are hunting them.
It's told from the child's point of view.

[crimsonspider89]

Go Saga. Go. Oh yeah covered in bees forgot there is a ghost babysitter who rocks, the mom is lewd, and the star...lying cat.

[Groo Odyssey]

Go Saga. Go. Oh yeah covered in bees forgot there is a ghost babysitter who rocks, the mom is lewd, and the star...lying cat.

Don't forget the nekkid giant

[crimsonspider89]

Yes, the naked giant.

There is more.

The book is just fantastic and is a pulpy science fiction story with a fantastic world that addresses our believes that aliens would not have the problems we have.

They have those plus more.