Sales figures for June

[Username taken]

If it were me, and it was one of those areas with no local retailer I'd go digital. I know there are some areas of Indiana or SW Michigan where there's hardly a comic book shop to be found. There used to be 5 shops within an easy drive for me but it went down to 3. None of them were with a large chain like that. I find those kind of multimedia stores like a Hastings rarely stock as many comics as an LCS where comics and some related merch like actions figures, trades, etc. are their bread and butter.

Too bad the chain went under though....this article has an old commercial of theirs and they look like they would have been my kind of store to shop in. We still have one FYE in this area with CDs, DVDs and a small collection of collectibles. No comix though.

Exactly.

I think this is a problem that a lot of people willingly ignore because of the narrative that's being spun. There are literally several places where you can't find comics to buy and it's affecting the entire industry (comic sales are down across the board for the big two).

It's far worse outside of the US. In Cardiff (in the UK), there's only one (1) comic store (Forbidden Planet) which is insane.

Although I've moved from Cardiff I've gone all digital simply because it's becoming increasingly...no nigh impossible..to find comic stores. The days of comics being displayed everywhere are gone and the industry will simply have to find a way to evolve with the times. And this evolution doesn't include constant relaunching and endless events because even strong digital sellers like Miles Morales and Ms Marvel have been impacted by those.

[Iron Maiden]

And how much of it represents international numbers?

I've never seen any reporting of those. This looks like a case for Rich Johnston and his Bleeding Cool site.

[John Ossie]

Exactly.

I think this is a problem that a lot of people willingly ignore because of the narrative that's being spun. There are literally several places where you can't find comics to buy and it's affecting the entire industry (comic sales are down across the board for the big two).

It's far worse outside of the US. In Cardiff (in the UK), there's only one (1) comic store (Forbidden Planet) which is insane.

Although I've moved from Cardiff I've gone all digital simply because it's becoming increasingly...no nigh impossible..to find comic stores. The days of comics being displayed everywhere are gone and the industry will simply have to find a way to evolve with the times. And this evolution doesn't include constant relaunching and endless events because even strong digital sellers like Miles Morales and Ms Marvel have been impacted by those.

I can't speak for the rest of the U.K (Though I'd imagine places like Manchester and London have more than one comic store) but in Liverpool there's two comic stores in the City Centre and aren't that far away from each other either.

[rui no onna]

Exactly.

I think this is a problem that a lot of people willingly ignore because of the narrative that's being spun. There are literally several places where you can't find comics to buy and it's affecting the entire industry (comic sales are down across the board for the big two).

It's far worse outside of the US. In Cardiff (in the UK), there's only one (1) comic store (Forbidden Planet) which is insane.

Although I've moved from Cardiff I've gone all digital simply because it's becoming increasingly...no nigh impossible..to find comic stores. The days of comics being displayed everywhere are gone and the industry will simply have to find a way to evolve with the times. And this evolution doesn't include constant relaunching and endless events because even strong digital sellers like Miles Morales and Ms Marvel have been impacted by those.

We may not have exact figures for digital but we do have relative rankings. Also the fact that Marvel cancels series quickly suggest sales aren't at a level they're happy with (although a large portion of their line is sub-20K at this point so maybe they won't be so trigger happy with cancellation/relaunches in future).

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...uEL9A/htmlview

Marvel Unlimited readership is a black box but given titles sometimes get cancelled before they even make their way there, Marvel doesn't seem to be taking that into account when it comes to cancellations.

[rui no onna]

And how much of it represents international numbers?

Estimate +15%.

[Digifiend]

Exactly.

I think this is a problem that a lot of people willingly ignore because of the narrative that's being spun. There are literally several places where you can't find comics to buy and it's affecting the entire industry (comic sales are down across the board for the big two).

It's far worse outside of the US. In Cardiff (in the UK), there's only one (1) comic store (Forbidden Planet) which is insane.

Although I've moved from Cardiff I've gone all digital simply because it's becoming increasingly...no nigh impossible..to find comic stores. The days of comics being displayed everywhere are gone and the industry will simply have to find a way to evolve with the times. And this evolution doesn't include constant relaunching and endless events because even strong digital sellers like Miles Morales and Ms Marvel have been impacted by those.

I can't speak for the rest of the U.K (Though I'd imagine places like Manchester and London have more than one comic store) but in Liverpool there's two comic stores in the City Centre and aren't that far away from each other either.

Hull has one, called Amazing Fantasy.

[Iron Maiden]

I'd have to check to see if Marvel Digital has some of the recently cancelled series. I do love to use it. I'm thinking of getting rid of a lot of my back issue boxes because as time goes on, I have less and less room for them. They've been adding some surprising choices there like Marvel Fanfare from the 1980's . It's kind of spotty right now as to how many issues have been digitized.

[Digifiend]

Anything from at least 2007 (when the service launched) should definitely be on Marvel Unlimited, unless it's less than six months old.

[johnnybourbon]

I agree. I think these numbers are somewhat deceptive because they only tell part of the story. It's something Tom Brevoort goes out of his way to point out every time someone throws these numbers in his face. These are just estimates. These only cover the direct market. They say nothing about the digital market, which is where more and more markets are going. The market of comics in 2017 just isn't the same as it was five or ten years ago. That's just an inescapable fact. As dire as these numbers are for certain series, I don't think you can say they're bombing without knowing the digital sales figures, which aren't made public for some reason. I'd be very interested in knowing how Secret Empire is doing in that domain. But without those figures, we're still left with an incomplete picture at best.

I don't have the source for it but around a year ago I read that digital sales accounted for around 10% of Marvels sales figures. If you go to somewhere like Comixology and check their Best Sellers list https://www.comixology.com/comics-best-sellers it reads fairly similar to the Diamond list in terms of sales trends (Batman, Spiderman, X-men, Star Wars, Logan, JL, ect) with 2 notable differences: the occasional inclusion of back issues and less of the cross-overs. In fact the newest issue of Secret Empire doesn't even appear till around page 5.
This is anecdotal but a lot of the people that I know who buy digitally have a more intermittent buying pattern. They mostly only buy a couple of titles, more indies, and don't keep up with the larger universe. Many of my friends would keep a pull list that cost $100+ dollars a month up till a couple of years ago, now a lot of them just buy the occasional title online because the books they are interested in are so few and far between that it doesn't justify buying floppies. If Marvel were to increase their quality these people would likely drop digital and go back to having a large pull list of floppies. Ultimately out of the 10+ people that this example covers none of them buy Secret Empire, but to be fair most of them have largely moved away from Marvel all together for the time being.

[rui no onna]

I don't have the source for it but around a year ago I read that digital sales accounted for around 10% of Marvels sales figures. If you go to somewhere like Comixology and check their Best Sellers list https://www.comixology.com/comics-best-sellers it reads fairly similar to the Diamond list in terms of sales trends (Batman, Spiderman, X-men, Star Wars, Logan, JL, ect) with 2 notable differences: the occasional inclusion of back issues and less of the cross-overs. In fact the newest issue of Secret Empire doesn't even appear till around page 5.
This is anecdotal but a lot of the people that I know who buy digitally have a more intermittent buying pattern. They mostly only buy a couple of titles, more indies, and don't keep up with the larger universe. Many of my friends would keep a pull list that cost $100+ dollars a month up till a couple of years ago, now a lot of them just buy the occasional title online because the books they are interested in are so few and far between that it doesn't justify buying floppies. If Marvel were to increase their quality these people would likely drop digital and go back to having a large pull list of floppies. Ultimately out of the 10+ people that this example covers none of them buy Secret Empire, but to be fair most of them have largely moved away from Marvel all together for the time being.

Secret Empire #5 was released several 06/28, iirc (and it was top 2 that week). The fact that it's still on the comiXology top 100 for the latest week is actually a good sign.

That said, yeah, caveat for digital is it never runs out of stock so there's no immediacy. I wouldn't be surprised if some who are switching to digital mean they're waiting for $0.99 sales.

[nnelg]

I don't want to go digital because digital hurts the economy. Look at movie rentals. How many jobs were lost when blockbuster went under? Or record stores?

[Rich Johnston]

And how much of it represents international numbers?

None of it.

EDIT: Sorry, it includes Canada.

[Captain Craig]

I don't want to go digital because digital hurts the economy. Look at movie rentals. How many jobs were lost when blockbuster went under? Or record stores?

I didn't want to get a car either, love my horse. Was thinking of those blacksmiths making shoes and leather artisans making reins and saddles.
Things change. The people will find new work.

[Iron Maiden]

I don't want to go digital because digital hurts the economy. Look at movie rentals. How many jobs were lost when blockbuster went under? Or record stores?

The digital age has no doubt made some sweeping changes. The post office doesn't deliver as many letters but on the plus side people who order online have to have those package delivered to their homes.

It's not only affecting comics but you have magazines, newspapers, etc all feeling the pinch. I still get a 2 newspapers delivered....but I wonder how long that will last. I think we've been lucky to have had online versions but you have to put up with the ad popups. Some online versions limit your amount of free looks at articles. I think the NY Times does this. It will be a case of sticker shock if they ever stop printing copies and then you have to subscribe to read anything online.

[Prof. Warren]

I don't want to go digital because digital hurts the economy. Look at movie rentals. How many jobs were lost when blockbuster went under? Or record stores?

I wouldn't go digital just because I prefer comics as a physical entity. Digital just doesn't hold the same appeal to me.