Sunday evening sales report.
from Superman Family #195 (June 1979) – by Ross Andru & Dick Giordano
Some brief thoughts on recent funnybook sales trends at the shop:
Infinite Crisis – Sales up on IC and tie-in comics across the board. Firestorm in particular has benefited from the current crossover.
Walking Dead – Comic sales (new and back issue) are down, as are the trade paperback sales. I haven’t had to call in a reorder on these books in weeks.
Astro City – Trades are moving again, which is unusual since sales generally pick up only when there’s a series currently on the stands. Maybe in anticipation of a forthcoming series?
Marvel Zombies – Like printing money. And, surprisingly, copies are still available for reorder, so I’m able to (mostly) meet demand. I know there’s extreme demand for this series because, unlike every other Marvel series in recent memory, people will still buy the current issue even if the previous issues aren’t available.
Hellboy – The new comic by Mignola and Corben has sold very well. Trade sales still soft, but Hellboy Jr. is suddenly in demand.
Animal Man/Invisibles – Trades suddenly moving again, perhaps in the case of the former due to its possible connection to Infinite Crisis, and in the case of the latter possibly due to increased interest in Morrison’s work.
Sonic the Hedgehog – Sales down on the original series, Sonic X dead in the water. Still plenty of kids coming in…just not interested in Sonic right now, I guess.
Mad Magazine – Just noticed that I’m apparently the only person buying it from our store right now. Goes in cycles…it’ll consistently sell out for a few months, then die completely for a few months. We must be in the “down” part of the cycle.
G.I. Joe/Transformers – Someone please put these franchises out of our misery. Nobody cares anymore.
Red Sonja – Stealth seller. Always looks like we have a lot on the rack, always looks like no one is buying it…but then at the end of the month, somehow we’ve sold a bunch. Go figure. Must be ghosts.
Powers – Trade sales up, individual comic sales way down. It’s even dipped below our numbers when we were ordering it from Image. (I’ve discussed Powers‘ sales before, if you’re interested.)
Hulk – “Planet Hulk” storyline has bumped sales up…now we’re sold out of the first chapter. With no reprint apparently forthcoming, we’ll see how this hurts sales on future installments.
X-Men: Deadly Genesis – Strong seller, helped by availability of all issues. People seem actually interested in this crossover, as opposed to House of M which most of our customers seemed to buy sorta grudgingly.
Johnny the Homicidal Maniac/Lenore/Squee – After all these years, still strong sellers. Very popular with our female customers.
All-Star Superman – Very strong seller. Tons of requests for #1s, and #2 is moving very well.
All-Star Batman and Robin – Also selling well…demand is increasing for all issues. Must be all that good word of mouth on the internet.
