East of West is THE best Image book right now

[rui no onna]

Image is in a really good place right now though. Descender, Southern Bastards, Kill or Be Killed, Extremity, and many other great titles. When I go to the comic shop, I just head straight for the independent section and grab a stack of Image books. I was a kid when the original Image titles came out and many of them don't hold up super well in hindsight (though I've always been and still am a Dragon mark), but the label itself has really matured. The versatility and quality are unrivaled by any other publisher at the moment, IMO. Too bad the sales figures don't reflect that! People never seem to get tired of Batman/Superman/X-Men/etc/etc.

Image titles tend to do decently via book market and unlike superhero titles, they tend to sell past new comic Wednesday. Image seems to operate more similarly to traditional book publishers than comic book publishers. I'm guessing Image titles have fairly decent long tail via digital, too.

http://www.jimzub.com/creator-owned-...the-long-tail/

For 2016, there were 804 Image books that sold a total of 278,661 with total retail value of $5,350,089 that didn't make it to the Top 750. For 2015, the top #750 title sold an estimated 3,475 copies and for 2016, the top #750 title sold an estimated 4,053 copies. These are estimated sales to customers and includes data from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Walmart. It does not include sales to libraries, Scholastic book fairs, etc.

Gotta say, wow, Kirkman's book market sales absolutely demolishes combined sales of TWD floppies and GNs via the direct market. Granted, the TV show and product licensing deals probably make him a lot more money than all the books do.

2015 BookScan Top 750 - Image Comics

AUTHOR	# OF BOOKS	EST. UNIT SALES	EST. RETAIL PRICE
KIRKMAN ROBERT	40	522,371	17,603,181
VAUGHAN BRIAN K.	6	171,659	2,756,718
REMENDER RICK	4	29,008	317,390
GILLEN KIERON	2	25,036	292,895
WIEBE KURTIS J.	2	23,489	289,495
FRACTION MATT	2	23,231	282,638
SEJIC STJEPAN	3	15,769	236,377
SNYDER SCOTT	1	14,683	146,683
ADLARD CHARLIE	1	3,697	129,358
DECONNICK KELLY SUE	2	12,479	124,665
HICKMAN JONATHAN	2	9,670	116,453
AARON JASON	2	7,782	77,742
LEMIRE JEFF	1	7,379	73,716
ELLIS WARREN	1	4,078	61,129
BRUBAKER ED	1	4,026	40,220
BUSIEK KURT	1	3,905	39,011

2016 BookScan Top 750 - Image Comics

AUTHOR	# OF BOOKS	EST. UNIT SALES	EST. RETAIL PRICE
KIRKMAN ROBERT	40	525,153	17,787,624
VAUGHAN BRIAN K.	9	193,838	2,892,207
WIEBE KURTIS J.	3	30,562	405,579
GILLEN KIERON	4	29,833	400,106
REMENDER RICK	4	26,182	287,313
LIU MARJORIE	1	24,128	241,039
LEMIRE JEFF	2	19,654	232,504
FRACTION MATT	2	11,576	147,229
HICKMAN JONATHAN	2	9,259	115,947
DECONNICK KELLY SUE	1	10,328	103,177
SNYDER SCOTT	1	9,913	99,031
YOUNG SKOTTIE	1	8,424	84,156
SEJIC STJEPAN	1	4,779	71,637
ELLIS WARREN	1	5,026	50,210

[cc008]

Forgive my ignorance, but where does the 40 for Kirkman come from? Genuinely curious. Does that include all of the Skybound books?

[rui no onna]

Forgive my ignorance, but where does the 40 for Kirkman come from? Genuinely curious. Does that include all of the Skybound books?

Primarily The Walking Dead and a few Outcast TPBs.

The TWD Compendium TPBs (3x 48 issues @ $59.99) are the biggest sellers and are awesome bang for the buck for new readers. The Deluxe HCs (13x 12 issues @ $34.99) are also good sellers. Then you've got the regular TPBs (26x 6 issues @ $14.99). I think only 21 of the 26 TWD TPBs made the Top 750.

None of the $100 Omnibus HCs and Invincible collections made it to the Top 750 (4,053 was the lowest) but I'm sure those sold a number of copies as well. The Omnibus HCs probably have higher profit margins.

[Joker]

I read Goon, Shaolin Cowboy, Usagi Yojimbo and some of the various Mignola-verse books - what are some of their other good creator owned books?

Harrow County, Black Hammer, Dept.H to name a few. Might not all be to your taste, but they're very solid books.

Dark Horse have always done licensed comics, but I feel like they've got a solid stable of creator owned books right now.

[cc008]

Since we're talking about Image bests... Just jumped on the Kill or Be Killed train. I've never read anything from Brubaker but this creative team has gotten soaring reviews for everything they've done and I'm also a fan of the Punisher... so this sounds right up my alley (I know this isn't EXACTLY like the Punisher, even so..).

[OldManBrian]

Since we're talking about Image bests... Just jumped on the Kill or Be Killed train. I've never read anything from Brubaker but this creative team has gotten soaring reviews for everything they've done and I'm also a fan of the Punisher... so this sounds right up my alley (I know this isn't EXACTLY like the Punisher, even so..).

I love everything by Brubaker and Phillips. If you're ever interested in some of their older work with a superpowers and espionage slant, buy the Sleeper omnibus, great book. If you like gritty street crime stories, Criminal is excellent as well.
Also if you like espionage stories, check out Velvet by Brubaker and Steve Epting. It's another excellent one.

[son of booyah]

I love everything by Brubaker and Phillips. If you're ever interested in some of their older work with a superpowers and espionage slant, buy the Sleeper omnibus, great book. If you like gritty street crime stories, Criminal is excellent as well.
Also if you like espionage stories, check out Velvet by Brubaker and Steve Epting. It's another excellent one.

I would add that the first trade of Fatale is just brilliant (that's all I've read, I heard the series dives after the second trade tho?)

[WaxHawk]

I love everything by Brubaker and Phillips. If you're ever interested in some of their older work with a superpowers and espionage slant, buy the Sleeper omnibus, great book. If you like gritty street crime stories, Criminal is excellent as well.
Also if you like espionage stories, check out Velvet by Brubaker and Steve Epting. It's another excellent one.

I'm not especially a fan of espionage stories and I thought this was great. A very pleasant surprise.

[ishikabe]

I dropped East of West from my pull box. I've met both Hickman and Dragotta. The artist was stationed in a library and only one other person was there at the time, so I got to spend alot of time talking to him while no one else showed.

The artwork in East of West is great. The characters are great too. I like the white pages with sayings/quotes on them, but the story is a bit slow for me. I will probably pick up the trades, but after 30 something issues, there wasn't enough there for me. I'm not saying it's a bad comic, I just lost interest.

I told people to read this comic the past 2 years, even got the first issue signed by both guys. If you haven't read it yet, jump on it. But it's a long epic.

[Ilan Preskovsky]

I would add that the first trade of Fatale is just brilliant (that's all I've read, I heard the series dives after the second trade tho?)

Nah, it's great all the way through. It does get pretty trippy though!

[Spike-X]

This is the last "year" of the apocalypse.. so like 12 more issues or so according to a Dragotta tweet from some time ago

But does that mean the end of the series? Or will there be further 'post-apocalypse' stories?

[cc008]

But does that mean the end of the series? Or will there be further 'post-apocalypse' stories?

Dragotta said "final year" and 12 to 15 more issues.. back whenever he tweeted it. Idk what their plans are after that.

[Spike-X]

Dragotta said "final year" and 12 to 15 more issues.. back whenever he tweeted it. Idk what their plans are after that.

Gotcha. I don't mind the story ending as planned. I hate when stuff gets dragged on too long. Just curious.

[cc008]

Gotcha. I don't mind the story ending as planned. I hate when stuff gets dragged on too long. Just curious.

Agreed. Don't try to ride on the coattails and do more if it's going to be forced. Just end the series naturally whenever that is.

[DeeCee]

Wow, just finished reading the two Hardcovers and I am blown away at everything. From the world building to the art work, I am glad I bumped into this. Honestly though the series was already over though so was surprised at the cliffhanger ending at the end of Year 2.