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§ October 16th, 2007 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on "THOGAL RITUAL IN THE CAVES OF NANDA PARBAT!"
Haven’t done a “let’s look at DC’s solicitations” post in a while, but this time around I found a few items I wanted to comment upon:
- Finally, finally being released is the Teen Titans story by Bob Haney, Jay Stephens and Mike Allred (as Teen Titans: The Lost Annual), delayed for…well, quite a while, actually. I have a desktop wallpaper featuring Stephen’s pencils for the story on my computer, and the file is dated from August of ’03.
And sure enough, some quick Googling turned up this 2003 post from Stephens on the Mike Allred message board about the cancellation (that I originally saw on an old Newsarama posting that I can’t get to load at the moment):
“They say the story, written by original Titans CREATOR, Bob Haney, is simply ‘too weird’ and contradicts the current, highly successful, efforts of the new Titans monthly. In fact, they actually argued that the timing was bad, and that releasing the comic when the Titans weren’t so popular would be a better idea. This is the first time I’ve heard the argument that a tie-in to a hit project is uncommercial.”
Whatever the reason for it finally being unleashed (probably something to do with the Teen Titans Year One mini), I’m just glad it is. Some lost Haney craziness is most welcome, especially if the powers that be thought it was “too weird.” That’s like a badge of honor…can’t wait to see it. And what I’ve seen of Stephen’s pencils look wonderful, so this is going to be one fun and good-looking package.
Here’s the Nick Cardy cover:
- Batman #673 – For some reason, this sentence lodged itself in my head:
“This special flashback tale also revisits Batman’s life-changing Thogal ritual in the caves of Nanda Parbat!”
“THOGAL RITUAL IN THE CAVES OF NANDA PARBAT!”
“THOGAL RITUAL IN THE CAVES OF NANDA PARBAT!”
This makes for a good personal mantra. Repeat that sentence to yourself in times of need.
- Legion of Super-Heroes #38 – Reading this description:
“Saturn Girl, Timber Wolf and Star Boy’s mission on the moon of Triton goes awry as Invisible Kid leads them into a lethal predicament. Meanwhile, Lightning Lad’s duties as team leader aren’t going any easier as he’s forced to sit through a painful tryout session for new Legionnaires.”
…and knowing that Jim Shooter is responsible fills me with some small measure of hope. It just sounds like an old-fashioned Legion story, so let’s just say I’m cautiously optimistic.
- Okay, The Spirit #14…this part had me sold:
“Written by Sergio Aragones & Mark Evanier”
I liked Darwyn Cooke’s Spirit stories at first, though I got a little weary of them after a while, for no real good reason I can name. But those two creators have rekindled my interest in the title.
And this next bit just absolutely clinched it:
“Art by Mike Ploog”
Anything that gets me new Ploog funnybook art on a regular basis is a must-buy.
- Trials of Shazam #11 – Holy frijole, is this comic still not done yet?
- Batman: The Killing Joke Special Edition HC – Not too thrilled that it’s an eighteen buck hardcover, but at least it’s available outside of that Alan Moore trade paperback. Not that the Moore book is bad (especially since they’ve finally fixed the errors), but judging by the number of first printing Killing Joke prestige format comics we’ve sold lately, there’s still demand for just the one story on its own.
Then again, a new first edition hardcover will likely attract more attention from buyers (and orders from retailers) than reprint #17 of the old prestige format edition.
- Time Masters TP – I liked this series, and I’m really hoping the coloring is vastly improved. Not that the original colorist was bad or anything, just that the reproduction in the original comics seemed a little shaky.
- American Virgin #23 – Whoa, final issue? I know it wasn’t a huge seller, but it seemed to be doing okay, at least for our shop. Was this a planned ending to the series or was it, um, decided for them?
- Jack of Fables #19 – They’re really really really trying hard to make Babe the Miniature Blue Ox a wacky cult favorite character, aren’t they?
- Batman: The Killing Joke Collector Set –
The last thing we really need is yet another Batman figure, but that Joker figure is fantastic.
- Showcase Presents Series 1 Action Figures –
YES: Finally, a Jonah Hex figure. (Alas, no Hex variant.)
NO: Please, no more Superman or Hawkman figures.
MAYBE: Variant “Red Kryptonite” heads for Superman. I don’t want more Superman figures, but, but…RED KRYPTONITE HEADS.
§ August 13th, 2007 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on Regions and reprints.
So Caleb asked yesterday why some stores can’t seem to move any issues of Countdown, while we seem to be selling them just fine.
A few stats that I looked up at the shop on Sunday: not only is Countdown consistently matching or outselling DC’s previous weekly series 52 in sales, I noticed it was outselling Ultimate Spider-Man nearly 2 to 1. In fact, it’s outselling nearly all the high-selling titles from Marvel and DC…it outsells Justice League of America, any given X-title…the only thing I can think of from the Big Two that outsells Countdown right now is the World War Hulk mini-series.
My answer to Caleb that any difference in performance on a particular title from store to store can primarily be chalked up to regional differences. Perhaps we just have more DC fans than some other stores, or perhaps Countdown is more to our customers’ tastes than to another shop’s customer base. (All Star Batman is also selling extremely well for us, so clearly our customers have excellent taste.) But over the years, reading market reports from other stores about what sells for them and what doesn’t and how we differ from them, and seeing what comics get canceled for poor sales even though we’re doing okay with them…well, I just find it a curious phenomenon, even if I don’t have a more specific reason why.
There may be other, more negative, reasons, which I hesitate to bring up because Caleb mentioned a specific retailer and I don’t want this to come across as a criticism of that retailer. Because, really, I’m not trying to. At all. Don’t even think it.
However, this post came from some stores I’ve been to (not the Caleb-mentioned retailer, to re-emphasize), where certain prevailing attitudes and habits may hurt sales on certain books. You know…they don’t order copies for the shelf because it doesn’t sell, and it doesn’t sell because copies aren’t ordered for the shelf, or just openly badmouthing titles and/or companies…those are self-fulfilling prophecy-type behaviors from certain funnybook sellers (not the mentioned retailer, nor, hopefully, me) that are guaranteed to lead to failure.
(However, I have been thinking about what impact having sites like this one have on that percentage of my customer base that’s aware of my weblog. If I criticize a particular book/company/creator on my site, will that discourage a customer from trying something out at the shop? I haven’t noticed any significant impact of that sort…but who knows? But that’s a post for another time.)
Then again, it’s not as if I went out of my way to promote Countdown, either. I put up the big ol’ promo poster, I racked plenty of copies on the shelf…it just sorta sells itself. And people aren’t just buying it out of habit, simply because there’s a new issue every Wednesday (though I’m sure that’s part of it)…I’ve had a number of customers mention to me that they really, really like it…even more so than 52.
So, Caleb…I don’t know exactly why Countdown sells for us and not so much for some other stores. It’s probably no more complicated than “our customer bases want different things,” which isn’t an in-depth answer, but likely an accurate one.
Building on my remarks yesterday about Essential Dazzler‘s surprising sales, and considering how well Marvel’s recently-released Devil Dinosaur hardcover has been doing for us, I’ve been wondering. I don’t have any exact numbers at my fingertips, here, but my general feeling is that the Showcase and Essential volumes that sell marginally better are the more oddball ones. Showcase Presents Jonah Hex and Metamorpho moved more copies than any of the Batman volumes, and we’ve sold more Essential Howard the Duck than, say, Essential Defenders.
There could be a variety of reasons for this…maybe people have had enough Batman reprints for the time being, or that some books just plain look better in the black and white format (like Tomb of Dracula) while your standard issue superhero stuff tends to suffer without color.
But it got me thinking. How well would a trade paperback of Marvel Comics’ U.S. 1 series sell?
Yeah, really, U.S. 1. The comic about the superhero/sci fi truckers. Hey, people laughed at Dazzler and Devil Dinosaur, too, and yet I can’t keep those reprint books on the shelves. And while U.S. 1 perhaps isn’t good in a traditional sense, it’s still kinda goofy, innocent fun. It’s certainly more entertaining than…well, pick your own way-too-serious superhero book. Anyway, I’m betting a trade of U.S. 1 would probably do fairly well, given how well the much-maligned Dazzler has done as a reprint, finally finding an audience decades after its initial release.
Another good Essential candidate: Rom Spacenight. Yeah, I know, it’s based on a toy license, but if Marvel paid a one time fee to the owners of Godzilla for the Essential reprint of their ’70s Godzilla series…surely paying a pittance for the license of a toy that wasn’t all that popular to begin with isn’t that much of a hurdle. ‘Course, ownership of the Rom license may be obscured slightly, or perhaps whoever owns the character thinks it’s worth much more than it really is, and is asking too much.
Whatever the reasons preventing it, a Rom collection would be nice, and would probably sell like gangbusters.
Any other weirdo reprints from the Big Two you think might go over well?
§ July 30th, 2007 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on Just a few short bits of business…
…as I’ve been otherwise occupied:
- So, remember my “Satan Speaks” panel with the blank word balloon I had up a few days ago? I finally got around to gathering links to folks who supplied their own amusing and/or terrifying dialogue, so be sure to go back to the original post and find the links to some very funny contributions. And like I say there…if I missed your contribution, let me know!
- So long as I’m linking back to older posts…I may have griped about that stupid flap of skin on Jonah Hex’s face, but Dr. Polite Scott actually did something about it.
- I was reminded of Dr. Scott’s Hex post over at the Want List’s Jonah Hex Badass week, starting here.
- Whlie Employee Jeff was at the San Diego Con, he made sure to tell Grant Morrison about how I was singing my little song based on something he wrote. I’M NOT CRAZY, GRANT…I’M NOT!
- Haven’t seen The Simpsons yet, but I did see Transformers over the last weekend (blame the girlfriend’s nephews, who were coming with us, and outvoted me on which flick to watch). As I’ve said a few times before, I’ve no particular attachment to the Transformers, but the movie was reasonably entertaining, even if it was near impossible to figure out what the hell was going on in some of the battle scenes.
- Special San Diego version of the Iron Man movie trailer, via Camcorder Vision, and already posted everywhere else:
[EDIT: YouTube yanked the video.]
Not ideal viewing conditions, admittedly, but I liked hearing the crowd’s reactions to the trailer. And the movie itself doesn’t look terrible…so far.
§ July 25th, 2007 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on Hex, Trek, and The ‘Nam.
Jonah Hex is on his way to the silver screen, it seems. The headline of the article I linked actually reads “Comic anti-hero ‘Hex’ comes to the big screen,” which immediately made me think of this Hex, which would be fantastic.
I mean, honestly, how cool would that be? Everyone’s sitting there, watching what they think is yet another western flick, and suddenly Jonah’s whisked away into a distopian, Mad Max-ian future, with ray guns and giant mutant insects and gals in space bikinis. That’s the movie I want to see.
Apparently the actual direction they’re going with the Jonah Hex flick is based on the supernatural-themed Vertigo series by Joe R. Lansdale and Tim Truman, which is fine, too, I suppose. This means no giant robots, so don’t get your hopes up. Also, if some “tail wagging the dog” results from this Jonah Hex movie, as it usually does with most comic book movies, we’ll likely see a change in Hex’s facial scars to reflect whatever slightly more feasible scarring we’ll see in the film. Because, honestly, as has been pointed out several times before, there’s just no way that flap of skin over the side of his mouth would not have been cut off by Hex long, long ago.
I don’t imagine we’ll be seeing the Winter brothers on the soundtrack album.
The seemingly just on the verge of being confirmed rumor that’s sweeping the nerdinet is that Heroes villain Zachary Quinto is one pointed ear away from playing Spock in the next Star Trek movie.
That would be good casting…Quinto has a bit of an otherworldly look about him, handsome yet sort of off-kilter, and just plain kind of Vulcany, that would make an interesting interpretation of Spock. ‘Course, the handful of Trek fans still alive will probably have conniptions that they’re recasting the original crew, and the producers are taking the chance the reboot won’t attract a new audience while alienating the old fanbase and being left with nobody for their newest Star Trek attempt. But, who knows…people do like Quinto, and maybe a “going back to basics” approach will revive interest in a franchise that’s become increasingly insular and resistant to fresh fans.*
I still think a new animated Trek series, like Cartoon Network’s Star Wars: Clone Wars cartoon, would be the best way to get people (especially kids) excited about the Trek franchise again. Well, the real best way would be to let the franchise rest for about twenty years, and revive it with an actual fresh start like they did with Battlestar Galactica, but I doubt Paramount’s going to want to let one of its prime cash cows, diminished as it is, lay fallow for any longer than necessary.
For some reason, I just had a vision of the new Star Trek movie, with an entirely new set of actors and actresses portraying the Original Series characters, with the exception of Walter Koenig still playing Chekov. I picture him sitting behind the same old console, muttering “well, crap” under his breath the whole time.
I received an e-mailed press release for a forthcoming comic/celebrity convention, which had this to say in a short bio for one of the guests:
“Chris [Noel] co-starred with Elvis Presley in ‘Girl Happy’ and is the only actress to appear on the cover of a regular issue comic book.”
I suspect there’s some kind of qualifier missing, there. Doesn’t Dell’s I Love Lucy series count as a regular comic book, each issue of which featured a cover photo of Lucille Ball? Or how about, as Kevin suggested when I mentioned this to him, Dale Evans?
Anyway, a visit to her site reveals that the comic she appeared on was this issue of The ‘Nam. You know, I must have seen this cover a hundred times, and never realized the woman on the front was based on an actual person. That’s what I get for not reading it, I suppose. Well, I don’t have that excuse any more, since a PDF file of the story in question is available at that second link.
The whole site is actually a lot of fun, and Ms. Noel does good charity work for vets, so I’m glad that odd statement from the convention folk got me to seek out her site for more info. Plus, she dressed up as Margo Lane for a taping session for an upcoming documentary about the Shadow, and you can’t say that’s not cool.
* In fairness, I should note that Employee Aaron was helping a couple of ten year old kids with trading cards at our card counter, and they were awfully excited about, of all things, Star Trek: Voyager cards. “Are you sure they weren’t just short adults?” I asked Aaron. “No, they were definitely kids,” sez he.
§ September 18th, 2006 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on "It wouldn’t do to have a naked Hulk running around."
Some of you folks who’ve been reading my dumb weblog for a while may remember when I was looking for a particular house ad for DC’s Hex series (the series that took the Old West character of Jonah Hex and made him all sci-fi ‘n’ stuff, in case you didn’t remember). Well, I didn’t find the one I thought I remembered, but it’s a similar one that commenter Layne had mentioned:
It was in Jonah Hex #89 (Feb ’85), and why it didn’t occur to me back then to go through the latter Jonah Hex issues to find the ad, I don’t know. And yeah, I know I mention in the comments section that I have a “cunning plan” for all this Hex stuff, and I still sorta do, but it’s going to have to wait until I get more of that “free time” I keep hearing about.
And as long as I’m just throwing up random scans, here’s one from Dynamite Magazine #3 (1974):
That’s just a lead-in to a reprinting of a couple pages from Hulk #1 (1962), and, alas, no actual heavy rapping with the Hulk is involved. The closest you get is a one page FAQ on ol’ Jade Jaws titled “Handy Hunks of Hulk History to Hold Over Your Friends” (“Until They Beat You Up For Talking About The Hulk All The Time” being the unstated conclusion of that phrase). For example:
No, that just wouldn’t do at all.
A couple days back, that rascally Chris Sims posted the Most Silver Agey word balloon in the entire Silver Age, and, yeah, that pretty much takes the cake. But since reading that post, I’ve found myself spotting panels and bits of dialogue here and there that make me say, “Yeah, that’s it, that’s the Silver Age!” Here’s one of them:
I love you, Robot Jimmy Olsen. That panel is from Superman #218 (July ’69), in a story reprinted from Action Comics #273 (Feb ’61).
I’m only presenting this next sequence (from Superman #225, April ’70) because it made me laugh for no good reason:
Yeah, I know, it’s Superman keeping another Superman in a cage…it’s a long story, and not entirely worth the trip. But really, what the heck is Super-Chess? Superman made up his own chess variant, and named it after himself? Man.
Okay, now I’ve seen the cover (of Superman #216, May ’69) for this next story dozens of times at the shop…Joe Kubert covers always catch the eye, but never did I look inside the comic until this weekend. So there’s this U.S. soldier in Vietnam, grown to massive size and apparently fighting for the other side, which leads another soldier to dub him thusly:
KING CONG. Oh good Lord.
And should you ever find yourself in a similar situation, fighting an apparent turncoat who’s been turned into a giant and now fighting for the Viet Cong, and Superman isn’t around to help, here’s a useful piece of advice:
Yeah, put those politicians to work for once.
§ July 7th, 2006 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on New Comics Day. But first…the taste of the whip.
So pal Dorian was giving me a wee bit of grief over my bringing up Snakes on a Plane the other day. I let him know that I had to bring it up again, because there’s a novelization, for God’s sake!
At that point, Dor tells me that it’s a novelization by “a bondage model.”
Wha–? No way, dude, I sez. It’s gotta be a coincidence…it just so happens that the author of the Snakes on a Plane novelization has the same name as the model, right?
Nope…Dor speaks truth.
Is there anything associated with this movie that isn’t 100% fantastic?
Okay, new comics day:
Tom Spurgeon linked to Brian Hibbs’ mad-on for Avatar this week, and I have to agree. It’s bad enough when Marvel pumps out a half-dozen or more X-books in the same week, but those generally will still sell, eventually. When Avatar cranks out multiple issues of all their licensed horror titles, including two consecutive issues of the same series (Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Grind #2 and #3), all of which have multiple covers, that’s gonna impact sales to a fanbase that hasn’t quite decided that they want to follow these comics. “Too much to follow, forget it” has killed more than one franchise and/or company.
That said, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre comic that has the die-cut hole on the cover in the shape of Texas (with Leatherface peekin’ out) is pretty swell. And our die-cut cover variant of Nightmare on Elm Street still had all the bits that were supposed to be cut out still just barely attached in the holes. “RARE UNPUNCHED DIE-CUT VARIANT H@T CGC SEXY NO RESERVE – opening bid $1,000.” Anyway, should have scanned it, sorry. Maybe I’ll have it up this weekend for all to enjoy.
The second series of the Crisis on Infinite Earths action figures are out, and, being the sad old fanboy that I am, I need an Earth-2 Superman to add to my Justice Society set. The Flash figure comes with an extra orgasm-face (that sample at the DC site looks all withered and pained…in real life, it just looks like the Flash is shouting at somebody), and Armor-suit Luthor comes with no peripheral vision whatsoever. You know, I never really thought about that before…I think seeing an actual 3-D representation of Lex in that armor finally drove it home.
You know, I totally forgot that the new Hate Annual was due. And I laughed out loud in the shop when I realized that was Stinky’s body on the cover. Yes, I laughed. I’m not really a very nice person.
Couple new Boom! Studios books out this week: I was intrigued by Talent‘s first issue, but this second issue really drove the concept home for me. Nick survives a plane crash, only to discover that not only has he somehow acquired the skills and knowledge of the crash victims, he finds himself driven to take care of their unfinished business. It’s a great idea that really lends itself to an ongoing series, particularly when the fantastic elements of series’ premise find themselves butting up against some more down-to-earth investigators (who find Nick’s odd behavior clearly indicates criminal activity) and the brutally-violent methods of the mysterious group that wishes to control him. Compelling and suspenseful reading.
War of the Worlds: Second Wave #4 continues the fun movie serial/cliffhanger-style adventure, as Miles and his band of survivors find themselves facing one obstacle after another, some from within their own group. Keeping the aliens offstage this issue (beyond a dead ship and some aliens looming off in the distance) add to the feeling of impending menace. It’s a fun series, with a slowly-increasing cast of unique personalities, that would appeal to anyone who enjoys the similarly-constructed Walking Dead series.
Licensable Bear™ #3 from Nat Gertler and About Comics is unleashed upon the world this week. Now, I know Nat, so I might be a bit biased, but Licensable Bear™ never fails to amuse. He’s just a cute little bear who wants his image to be put on every kind of product and/or service possible, and the stories center around his continuing efforts. His licensability is even a superpower of sorts, as he comes to the aid of a gay couple in “Licensable Bear™ Forms A Union.” Funny and witty, and Licensable Bear™ is cute as all get out.
Had at least one person ask if the new issue of Jonah Hex (#9) was a reprint, since the black and white image (with some red spot-coloring) looks somewhat similar to the “sketch” covered second or third printings both Marvel and DC have done recently.
In other news:
Linkable Laura notes that a single-issue version of Girl Genius #14 should soon be available via a print-on-demand service. That’ll be good news to my many customers (hi, Rob!) who were pretty ticked at the prospect of buying a full trade paperback reprinting three issues they already had just to get the 1/4 of the book that was new. I like the Girl Genius comic and online strip, I understand the economic reasons for going away from single-issue publishing to trades-only, but that “missing issue #14” thing really turned off a lot of folks at our shop. I’m glad this is finally being addressed.
§ June 11th, 2006 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on Read the explanation before you get mad at me.
So, Saturday at the store, we laughed at a customer because he had cancer.
…
Perhaps I should explain that.
Customer Rob was talking to Employee Aaron about his enjoyment of the current Jonah Hex series. At one point in the conversation, Rob asked if Aaron had read the previous Vertigo Jonah Hex series. Aaron replied in the negative, and Rob mentioned that one of his favorite parts of those series was Hex’s flippant replies to questions about his hideously-scarred face:
“Jonah, what happened to your face?”
“Cut myself shaving.”
Or:
“Jonah, how’d you get your scars?”
“Bit my lip.”
You know, like that.
Anyway, after saying that, Rob pulled up his shirt slightly, revealing a long operation scar, and stated that he should use responses similar to Hex’s when people inquire about his scar.
Aaron then asked, “So, how did you get that scar?”
Rob: “Cancer operation.”
Aaron (thinking that was a Hex-esque response): “Oh…ha ha!”
Rob: “Um…no, really, it was a cancer operation.”
Aaron: “…”
And of course me, being Mr. Sensitive, immediately jumped in and made things worse for my minion by exclaiming in mock shock: “Aaron! You didn’t just laugh at a customer for having cancer, did you?” There was then much merriment had by all, poking fun at Aaron’s mortification, and Rob was laughing harder than any of us.
Anyway, I should emphasize that 1) Rob has been a good customer of ours for many years, 2) he wasn’t offended by this incident in the slightest, 3) he’s been thankfully cancer-free since his operation, and 4) he reads this site, and gave permission to relate this story. (In fact, if anything he gives me grief for not mentioning him more often…so there you go, Rob, a whole entry just about you!)
§ June 2nd, 2006 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on New comics day.
So a couple weeks ago I received from our distributor a reorder of Jonah Hex #1, and most of the copies had an orange ink mark in the corner (as pictured to the right). I know, it’s no big deal, but I think our customers would rather have copies with no ink mark, so I called them in as damaged copies, and replacements turned up in short order.
This week I received our order of the second printing of Fell #4…and one of those had a green ink mark, about the same size and in the same place as on the Jonah Hex cover.
So, hey, whoever’s waving the markers around at the warehouse…watch where you’re puttin’ those things!
A few notes about this week’s comics:
Punisher: The Tyger: John Severin can still draw like nobody’s business, and Garth Ennis’ look at Frank’s childhood is both fascinating and unnerving. There was something wrong with that kid from the get-go, wasn’t there?
Hero Squared #1 – After a one-shot and a mini-series, the regular series finally launches, by creators Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis, and Joe Abraham. Like I’ve said before, the combination of the humorous dialogue and the unique premise really drives this title’s success. The climatic battle of the book, involving Milo and Captain Valor (parallel universe versions of each other) and their girlfriends/arch-enemies Stephie and Caliginous (also paralled versions of each other), doesn’t involve a single punch being thrown, a single caped person being tossed through a building. It’s all in the dialogue, with witty jabs and sudden revelations, that’s far more involving and dynamic than any superpowered fistfight.
Second Wave: War of the Worlds #3 – Miles and the group of folks he’s joined up with try to escape a city under siege by Martian invaders…only to run smack dab into more Martians in the countryside. It’s a fast read, as once we leave the city the panels suddenly become large and spacious and dialogue-light…but that only enhances the feeling of immensity of the huge Martian ships/creatures. It’s a fun action movie of a comic, with leaves you wondering what’s going to happen next, as good serial fiction should.
Superman/Batman #26 – This is the Sam Loeb tribute issue, plotted by writer Jeph Loeb’s late son, and featuring contributions from folks like Brad Meltzer, Jim Lee, Joss Whedon, and others. The back-up story is a tie-in of sorts to Loeb and Tim Sale’s Superman: For All Seasons, related the story of young Clark and his pal Sam, obviously based on Sam Loeb. That story is a real heartbreaker, particularly when you think about how Jeph Loeb must have felt as he was writing it. I’m not going to be critical of this book…heck, I’ll even give Rob Liefeld a pass…as regardless of what you might think of the execution of this funnybook, you can’t deny that it’s certainly a nice gesture in honor of a young man who left this world too soon.
Mouse Guard #3 – Primarily being purchased by people looking for the new hot thing to invest in. Yeah, that is a shame.
Mona Lisa Eve Of All Saints #1 – I suppose the involvement of Tim Vigil should have indicated that this was an Adults Only title…but I was so busy breaking down the order and pulling for the comic savers that I never even checked. So there it was, right on the rack next to Metal Gear Solid, for most of the day. Hey, kids, comics! Luckily I didn’t sell any of these on Thursday…”luckily” being relative, of course.
So, are you folks finding the “Links Pal Dorian and I Found” sidebar link-log useful? Interesting? Can you tell who’s posting what? (I bet in at least a couple cases you’d guess wrong!)
§ February 13th, 2006 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on More sales reports.
I enjoyed doing the sales report post from yesterday, and while I’m just sitting around and waiting for people to come over and do some repair to the house, I thought I’d do it again. Enjoy, won’t you?
Sgt. Rock: The Prophecy – Sold very well, though there was some initial resistance from the older Rock fans to the non-Joe Kubert alternate covers. However, I am now getting requests from those fans for the other covers.
Showcase Presents – Hard to judge what’s going to sell. The Metamorpho volume did very well, the Justice League volume just kinda sat there. Green Arrow didn’t move as expected, but we sold out of Jonah Hex and House of Mystery immediately. Maybe the oddball titles are more in demand…if that’s the case, I expect Haunted Tank to do tremendously well.
Fury: Peacemaker – The first issue hasn’t exactly taken off, perhaps because people who want to read Garth Ennis’ take on the character preferred the over-the-top, black humored MAX line version to the relatively played-straight version in this series. It’s a good read, and maybe first issue sales will pick up once we get two or three issues in.
Mickey Mouse and Friends – I wish I could make sense of this title. Of the Disney comics, the Mickey titles always pale in sales comparison to the Duck books. And some months, this current series just sits there on the rack and doesn’t move a single copy. Then, for a few issues in a row, it’ll sell through completely. Very frustrating come ordering time.
Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories and Uncle Scrooge – These high-end Disney titles ($6.95 the copy) sell okay in general, but they fly out the door in good numbers whenever there’s a new (or, at least, previously-unprinted in the U.S.) Don Rosa story inside.
Sable and Fortune – Combine a Spider-Man villain that isn’t nearly as interesting as Marvel seems to think she is, with a character that was pretty much only done right when his creator, Howard Chaykin, was working on him, and the end result? One D.O.A. mini-series. When it was time to call in order reductions on this title to our distributor, the customer rep didn’t seem terribly surprised.
Alias comics in general – Tenth Muse does okay, due to local artists working on the book. Other Alias titles…not so much.
Conan – Still selling well, with good back issue movement. Beginning to see an increase in interest in the original Marvel mags and comics again, too.
Schizo #4 – The long-awaited new release from Ivan Brunetti is selling okay for us, given the unusual size and price point…just had to put in my third reorder.
Maze Agency – First issue sold okay, second issue selling primarily to people who were fans of the previous Maze Agency series.
Freshmen – The “created by Seth Green” novelty has worn off. Sales way down.
Nodwick – Not a big seller, but with a vocal and loyal following.
Jonah Hex – Still maintaining its strong sales, with good back issue movement. I was lucky enough to get copies of #1 and #2 before DC ran out, so I’m able to feed demand for the time being.
Spider-Man titles – Sensational Spider-Man #23 seems to have confused a few folks…”What’s this? Where are the first 22 issues?” “It used to be the Marvel Knights Spider-Man title.” “What?” It’s selling okay, and that striking cover helps (hey, I happen to like Angel Medina’s work). The other Spider-titles are beginning to show more movement after an initial resistance to the 12-part “Other” storyline, with people catching up on the back issues they originally skipped. The variant/alternate covers for each “Other” chapter, while popular at first, no longer seem to be in demand. I think it was the “Peter Porker” cover that killed it.
Simpsons titles – Still strong movers, both as a new issue and as a back issue. Trade sales are good as well.
Speakeasy comics in general – Well, Beowulf does okay for us, anyway.
§ January 22nd, 2006 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on X-Men, ads, store stuff.
Thank you for many varied and well-chosen suggestions for good X-Men comics for new readers, particularly given my initial request was a tad more negative than I intended. Let me add a couple thoughts to some of your suggestions:
- I agree that the Grant Morrison run probably would be good for new readers…if their primary exposure to the characters was the movies, this comic would be a natural extension of same. However, the more you know about the X-books, the more you get from this series, particularly once you see it as a tour of all the standard X-cliches, given a new coat of paint and made to appear fresh again.
- The Asgardian Wars sequence of stories is…well, I don’t know how good that would be for new readers, as it seems like an awful lot of information for a newbie to absorb, but I do want to say that this is one of my favorite X-Men stories. Art Adams and Paul Smith art? Fantastic.
- God Lives, Man Kills – I read this years and years ago, and remember very little about it. In fact, my primary memory of the graphic novel is seeing it (along with several other Marvel comics) being discussed on a religion television show shortly after its release. The hosts of the show were, as I recall, a little taken aback by the scene where a crucified Xavier hallucinates his X-Men, including Kitty Pryde “phasing” through his body. After discussing this and other comics (“They’re calling this ‘Thor’ character a ‘god!?‘”), the conversation ends with this exchange:
“So, what’s the price on a comic like that?” (indicating the God Loves, Man Kills graphic novel)
“It’s $5.95.”
“Wow, they’re expensive…I remember when they were a dime!”
- Uncanny X-Men Annual #11 – Another comic I read years ago and barely remember…but I remember enjoying it, and it is drawn by Alan Davis, who’s made many a troublesome script go down easy.
So that issue of Punchy And The Black Crow where I got that ad I posted yesterday has an interesting mix of other advertisements contained within. You’ve got your standard comic book ads, like “Grit” and “Gain Weight Now,” but then you also have things like “Beautiful Bust for You,” “Cover Up Those Varicose Veins,” and that happy fellow to the left, there, in the slimmin’ suit.
Of special note is a full-page ad for Fantagraphics publications, which was (at least in my copy of this comic) printed horribly off-register. There’s a portion of said ad to the right. It seems like an odd mix, but there is a minor connection between this comic and Fantagraphics, as Milton Knight, creator of Hugo (another title featured in the ad) is plugged as a future cover artist for Punchy on Charlton’s hype page.
It’s been said that a good way to tell what a publication’s perceived audience is by looking at its advertising, so I guess this comic’s readers were veiny, skinny (but still in need of a slimmer look), Grit-selling mystical chanters who read Love & Rockets. That’s prime demographic, baby!
Around the store:
- The new Jonah Hex series is selling quite well, with lots of requests for the first two issues. Luckily I managed to get my reorders in and processed on these issues before DC Comics announced sell-outs on them.
- Firestorm has seen a jump in sales over the last couple of issues, thanks to the Infinite Crisis tie-in shenanigans.
- Speaking of which, the Jim Lee cover for Infinite Crisis appears to be the cover of choice for our customers this time.
- Haunted Mansion #2 was a quick sell-out…I’m very curious how the other Disney titles from Slave Labor will do. Tron, in particular, seems to be greatly anticipated by some of our customers.
- From the Secret Files 2 series that came out this week…we blew through all the figures except the lonely, lonely Martian
Pegwarmer Manhunter. The gimmick of switching heads on these figures (well, except Supes) has me wondering the obvious: can the heads from these figures be put on the headless Crisis figures I just happen to have floating around?
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