DC Sales & Estimates

[GlennSimpson]

It's possible the shops were already over-ordering Detective and Robin because they're good mainstays that will sell months after release on name alone, while the others were probably being under-ordered because they have more niche followings.

Or (similar but slightly different), the people who were interested in Robin War were already buying Detective and Robin, so there was no need to increase orders.

[Bruce Wayne]

When you put the title in crossover, it actively kills the core audience. I remember back when it had buzz, lot of people uninterested in Superman title got in it. This happened with few of my friends and lot of people at my LCS. If they hadn't thrown it into a crossover, core audience that title built would have continued on with it.

This is also very true.

Personally, I would take Mahnke over Daniel any day of the week. Not saying that Daniel's a bad artist but Doug Mahnke is one of my favorites.

What you (or I) think personally about the artists doesn't matter here. Yes Mahnke is a better artist, but Daniel attracts more readers. That is unfortunately the reality of the situation. There are dozens of artists better than Jim Lee, but there is only one Jim Lee for a reason. The merits being an A-list comic book artist as you can see has very little correlation to do with skill (as we see time and time again with Rob Liefeld).

[Mister Ferro]

It's possible the shops were already over-ordering Detective and Robin because they're good mainstays that will sell months after release on name alone, while the others were probably being under-ordered because they have more niche followings.

I don't think shops over-ordered Tec and R:SoB otherwise they would have had a small bump just like Grayson. If anything I think the shops under-ordered Robin War #1 because what if people who read none of the books decided to try out this Robin event?

Or (similar but slightly different), the people who were interested in Robin War were already buying Detective and Robin, so there was no need to increase orders.

That would be great if its true but there should still have been even just a slight bump for those who read Grayson but don't read Tec/R:SoB.


To put it in perspective, both Star Wars and Darth Vader saw bumps for the Vader Down xover of 13.6% and 26%. Darth Vader #14 still has a bump of 8% over #12. The shops over-ordered Vader Down #1 (by a crap-load, gotta get those variants!) because of the thought of non-Star Wars readers buying the first issue to check it out.

Why then should it be any different for the Robin event?

[GlennSimpson]

I don't think shops over-ordered Tec and R:SoB otherwise they would have had a small bump just like Grayson. If anything I think the shops under-ordered Robin War #1 because what if people who read none of the books decided to try out this Robin event?

No, he means they always over-order those books, and it's just that in this case, they may have sold more of what they ordered up front rather than down the road.

That would be great if its true but there should still have been even just a slight bump for those who read Grayson but don't read Tec/R:SoB.

Well, again, it's possible that most of the people who read Grayson also already read Detective and Robin.

To put it in perspective, both Star Wars and Darth Vader saw bumps for the Vader Down xover of 13.6% and 26%. Darth Vader #14 still has a bump of 8% over #12. The shops over-ordered Vader Down #1 (by a crap-load, gotta get those variants!) because of the thought of non-Star Wars readers buying the first issue to check it out.

Why then should it be any different for the Robin event?

I'd say there are a lot of other things going on with Star Wars fandom that we don't know about.

[Bruce Wayne]

This may be selection bias going on. But most of the diehard SW fans I know are lukewarm towards the comic. Some appreciate Gillen's Vader, but people are hostile towards the main ongoing.

[HsssH]

Movie came out, probably main SW titles would have seen the bump regardless of the crossover. There is also that "first Marvel's SW crossover" factor that Robin War doesn't have.

[Lee Stone]

Movie came out, probably main SW titles would have seen the bump regardless of the crossover. There is also that "first Marvel's SW crossover" factor that Robin War doesn't have.

And then there's the theory that movies and shows don't translate to comics sales.
I wonder if they do get a boost if they're more representative of the movie/show versions.

[Frontier]

And then there's the theory that movies and shows don't translate to comics sales.
I wonder if they do get a boost if they're more representative of the movie/show versions.

I think it depends on the property. Star Wars and Guardians of the Galaxy, at least for a bit, seem to be the biggest (or only) successes in terms of movie hype translating into comic sales and Marvel also capitalized on the hype by putting A-list writers on the titles.

[Bruce Wayne]

Star Wars is riding on the Disney driven advertising campaign for TFA though.

If the Superman Batman movie had as much advertising and hype, I would think the Superman and Batbooks would do just as well.

[RobinFan4880]

And then there's the theory that movies and shows don't translate to comics sales.
I wonder if they do get a boost if they're more representative of the movie/show versions.

I think there is a correlation but the comics need to be very similar to the look, feel and tone of the movies.

That often is not possible because comic characters have their own histories and status quos, it is often difficult to translate the movies to the books without a lot of mental gymnastics. Guardians was special because Marvel, basically, rebooted the entire family and made it exactly similar to the movies.

This is why comic companies make comics set in their movie and TV universes (like the Arrow and Flash comics or the Marvel tie-in comics). You lure people into shops/ComiXology with the promise of getting in-continuity stories for their favorite properties, then you hit them over the head with the "real comics" and try to make them into regular customers.

[Nite-Wing]

Marvel didn't have to do much to make Guardians like the very popular movie
Once you know an audience is there for a franchise they will back it big
The problem with Arrow and Flash is that while they are good shows the audience does not overlap with the current comic buying demographic.
The Walking Dead got a big boost because of the tv show becoming a hit

Why aren't Flash and Arrow seeing similar boosts? The audience isn't there maybe that can change after the Flash movie

[Bruce Wayne]

Probably because GotG post-movie had a bigger fanbase than all the people who watch Flash or Arrow.

[GlennSimpson]

I do sorta have this weird fantasy about DC rebooting again, and this time, from that point on, everything that has, say, Superman in it (movies, TV, cartoons, comics) all actually fit together, the way Star Wars does. Same for the rest of the characters.

I know, never happen.

[hammergiant]

Marvel didn't have to do much to make Guardians like the very popular movie
Once you know an audience is there for a franchise they will back it big
The problem with Arrow and Flash is that while they are good shows the audience does not overlap with the current comic buying demographic.
The Walking Dead got a big boost because of the tv show becoming a hit

Why aren't Flash and Arrow seeing similar boosts? The audience isn't there maybe that can change after the Flash movie

The Walking Dead seems to be the exception to the rule. Movies and TV shows just don't translate into comic sales. If they did, Avengers would be the top seller in the market. There are a lot of reasons; price, availability, cultural resistance, issues with floppies. Movie goers do not, by and large, become comic readers.

[stephens2177]

The Walking Dead seems to be the exception to the rule. Movies and TV shows just don't translate into comic sales. If they did, Avengers would be the top seller in the market. There are a lot of reasons; price, availability, cultural resistance, issues with floppies. Movie goers do not, by and large, become comic readers.

The walking dead is taken extremely serious And considered "accepted" by ppl.

The marvel movies are such a big part of movies as a whole that ppl can pull it iff.

Deadpool is a killer,and a adult joke character.

Batman is dark and serious and batman.

Man of steel gave superman a serious,and acceptability,BUT it was 1 movie,and it will still take time to "get over" with the "too cool" for comics crowd