Print Run Predictions

[sanman]

Thanks for the discussion guys--I didn't know just how few comic book readers were left today.

[superman-prime]

not many circulation of most cheep printed material is down for years i blame the evil internet

[StarBrand]

Hiring Shooter is both a short term move and a long term move. Short term because he's most likely going to put out quality stuff that sells. Long term because he potentially will build a foundation for the characters at Dark Horse for long after he's gone.

[Daniel Jackson]

DH definitley wanted to get the attention of the fans by bringing Shooter onboard.

[Draco]

Thanks for the discussion guys--I didn't know just how few comic book readers were left today.

If you look at the comic print runs, then add the tpb's and various printings, plus libraries and free view on the internet etc, maybe there arent as little as we think.

Maybe.

[wrunow]

DH definitley wanted to get the attention of the fans by bringing Shooter onboard.

Well, I guess they got our attention, all 50/60 guys here that are a little active, but they are gonna have to do a lot better than that to have this line be a success. I think the JS announcement is very relevant to us, the hard core VALIANT fans, I just don't know how relevant it is in todays comic market with the competition that's out there. When you come right down to it, JS's best and most successfull work was done 17 years ago. I am certainly one of the many here that hold out high hopes that he and DH can succeed in this venture, I wish them the best of luck and look forward to reading the stories.

[StarBrand]

DH definitley wanted to get the attention of the fans by bringing Shooter onboard.

Well, I guess they got our attention, all 50/60 guys here that are a little active, but they are gonna have to do a lot better than that to have this line be a success. I think the JS announcement is very relevant to us, the hard core VALIANT fans, I just don't know how relevant it is in todays comic market with the competition that's out there. When you come right down to it, JS's best and most successfull work was done 17 years ago. I am certainly one of the many here that hold out high hopes that he and DH can succeed in this venture, I wish them the best of luck and look forward to reading the stories.

I believe the bottom line is if the quality is there like it was with VALIANT early on the readers will come.

[Daniel Jackson]

DH definitley wanted to get the attention of the fans by bringing Shooter onboard.

Well, I guess they got our attention, all 50/60 guys here that are a little active, but they are gonna have to do a lot better than that to have this line be a success. I think the JS announcement is very relevant to us, the hard core VALIANT fans, I just don't know how relevant it is in todays comic market with the competition that's out there. When you come right down to it, JS's best and most successfull work was done 17 years ago. I am certainly one of the many here that hold out high hopes that he and DH can succeed in this venture, I wish them the best of luck and look forward to reading the stories.

I believe the bottom line is if the quality is there like it was with VALIANT early on the readers will come.

That's what it's all going to boil down to. Great stories, continuity and solid artwork. If Shooter manages to pull it off again (and I believe he can), the rest will fall into place like in the early days of Valiant.

They do have a tougher mountain to climb this time around though. Comic sales are not exactly what they were in the early to mid nineties.

[superman-prime]

or ever this low

[vikingspawn]

Here're the numbers for Shooter's last run on "Legion of Super- Heroes":

11/2007: LoSH #36 — 26,814 (- 2.0%)
12/2007: LoSH #37 — 45,803 (+70.8%)
01/2008: LoSH #38 — 33,045 (-27.9%)
02/2008: LoSH #39 — 31,123 (- 5.8%)
03/2008: LoSH #40 — 30,377 (- 2.4%)
04/2008: LoSH #41 — 28,939 (- 4.7%)
05/2008: LoSH #42 — 27,940 (- 3.5%)
06/2008: –
07/2008: LoSH #43 — 27,531 (- 1.5%)
07/2008: LoSH #44 — 29,954 (+ 8.8%)
08/2008: LoSH #45 — 25,783 (-13.9%)
09/2008: LoSH #46 — 24,959 (- 3.2%)
10/2008: LoSH #47 — 23,751 (- 4.8%)
11/2008: LoSH #48 — 22,917 (- 3.5%)
12/2008: LoSH #49 — 22,180 (- 3.2%)
01/2009: LoSH #50 — 22,327 (+ 0.7%)

http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog ... #more-7327

Shooter took over with #37 (2 covers) and #44 had the Variant Neal Adams cover too.

[superman-prime]

compaired to anything in the 90s thats just sad

[leonmallett]

compaired to anything in the 90s thats just sad

But that isn't a realistic comparison - two wholly different markets due to the speculator boom (and bust).

I'd rather see a solid small-scale market than a wild and unpredictable boom-bust market.

[JCVaughn]

Here're the numbers for Shooter's last run on "Legion of Super- Heroes":

11/2007: LoSH #36 — 26,814 (- 2.0%)
12/2007: LoSH #37 — 45,803 (+70.8%)
01/2008: LoSH #38 — 33,045 (-27.9%)
02/2008: LoSH #39 — 31,123 (- 5.8%)
03/2008: LoSH #40 — 30,377 (- 2.4%)
04/2008: LoSH #41 — 28,939 (- 4.7%)
05/2008: LoSH #42 — 27,940 (- 3.5%)
06/2008: –
07/2008: LoSH #43 — 27,531 (- 1.5%)
07/2008: LoSH #44 — 29,954 (+ 8.8%)
08/2008: LoSH #45 — 25,783 (-13.9%)
09/2008: LoSH #46 — 24,959 (- 3.2%)
10/2008: LoSH #47 — 23,751 (- 4.8%)
11/2008: LoSH #48 — 22,917 (- 3.5%)
12/2008: LoSH #49 — 22,180 (- 3.2%)
01/2009: LoSH #50 — 22,327 (+ 0.7%)

http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog ... #more-7327

Shooter took over with #37 (2 covers) and #44 had the Variant Neal Adams cover too.

Just wanted to point out that though the credits on the HC read incorrectly, Jim had nothing to do with Legion #50. I suspect you guys knew that.

[JCVaughn]

compaired to anything in the 90s thats just sad

But that isn't a realistic comparison - two wholly different markets due to the speculator boom (and bust).

I'd rather see a solid small-scale market than a wild and unpredictable boom-bust market.

Jim's part of Valiant is just before the specualator boom really kicked in full force. Comparisons between then and now should always be taken with a grain of salt. That said, I believe that we are leaving a LOT of sales on the rack these days... it will be interesting to see how this goes.

[StarBrand]

it will be interesting to see how this goes.

+1

[vikingspawn]

Here're the numbers for Shooter's last run on "Legion of Super- Heroes":

11/2007: LoSH #36 — 26,814 (- 2.0%)
12/2007: LoSH #37 — 45,803 (+70.8%)
01/2008: LoSH #38 — 33,045 (-27.9%)
02/2008: LoSH #39 — 31,123 (- 5.8%)
03/2008: LoSH #40 — 30,377 (- 2.4%)
04/2008: LoSH #41 — 28,939 (- 4.7%)
05/2008: LoSH #42 — 27,940 (- 3.5%)
06/2008: –
07/2008: LoSH #43 — 27,531 (- 1.5%)
07/2008: LoSH #44 — 29,954 (+ 8.8%)
08/2008: LoSH #45 — 25,783 (-13.9%)
09/2008: LoSH #46 — 24,959 (- 3.2%)
10/2008: LoSH #47 — 23,751 (- 4.8%)
11/2008: LoSH #48 — 22,917 (- 3.5%)
12/2008: LoSH #49 — 22,180 (- 3.2%)
01/2009: LoSH #50 — 22,327 (+ 0.7%)

http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog ... #more-7327

Shooter took over with #37 (2 covers) and #44 had the Variant Neal Adams cover too.

Just wanted to point out that though the credits on the HC read incorrectly, Jim had nothing to do with Legion #50. I suspect you guys knew that.

#50 was a brutal read. (except for the Manapul/Livesay wraparound cover which looked nice). I would have loved to have seen the rest of Shooter's planned "Legion" arc finish up.

[leonmallett]

compaired to anything in the 90s thats just sad

But that isn't a realistic comparison - two wholly different markets due to the speculator boom (and bust).

I'd rather see a solid small-scale market than a wild and unpredictable boom-bust market.

Jim's part of Valiant is just before the specualator boom really kicked in full force. Comparisons between then and now should always be taken with a grain of salt. That said, I believe that we are leaving a LOT of sales on the rack these days... it will be interesting to see how this goes.

Good points JC. The market has evolved, especially due to the importance of collected editions.

[Brother J]

Here're the numbers for Shooter's last run on "Legion of Super- Heroes":

11/2007: LoSH #36 — 26,814 (- 2.0%)
12/2007: LoSH #37 — 45,803 (+70.8%)
01/2008: LoSH #38 — 33,045 (-27.9%)
02/2008: LoSH #39 — 31,123 (- 5.8%)
03/2008: LoSH #40 — 30,377 (- 2.4%)
04/2008: LoSH #41 — 28,939 (- 4.7%)
05/2008: LoSH #42 — 27,940 (- 3.5%)
06/2008: –
07/2008: LoSH #43 — 27,531 (- 1.5%)
07/2008: LoSH #44 — 29,954 (+ 8.8%)
08/2008: LoSH #45 — 25,783 (-13.9%)
09/2008: LoSH #46 — 24,959 (- 3.2%)
10/2008: LoSH #47 — 23,751 (- 4.8%)
11/2008: LoSH #48 — 22,917 (- 3.5%)
12/2008: LoSH #49 — 22,180 (- 3.2%)
01/2009: LoSH #50 — 22,327 (+ 0.7%)

http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog ... #more-7327

Shooter took over with #37 (2 covers) and #44 had the Variant Neal Adams cover too.

Just wanted to point out that though the credits on the HC read incorrectly, Jim had nothing to do with Legion #50. I suspect you guys knew that.

#50 was a brutal read. (except for the Manapul/Livesay wraparound cover which looked nice). I would have loved to have seen the rest of Shooter's planned "Legion" arc finish up.

I quit reading the Legion even before Shooter's run was done, just because I didn't give a rat's rip about the characters plus I thought the art was substandard. Shooter's writing was excellent, but even he can't make me buy something if I don't like the subject matter.

That being said, I'm very much looking forward to the Gold Key stuff.

[UnknownTales]

Hard to guess, but I think they will roll out Solar or Magnus first. I think the print runs will float near 20,000 and then slide considerably after that. I could see Solar leveling at 14k, and Magnus just below that.

I will by these, and all the frackin' chase covers.

Go Big Jim!

[maraxusofkeld]

I know this isn't completely Dark Horse related but I am shocked that big selling books now sell under 100,000 copies like Uncany!

[Crow331]

Wow, I'm shocked too. Comics must really be second. third, fourth fiddle now when it comes to the making money side of this business. Comics only exist to make the real money in films and merchandising.

I guess it makes sense though. I haven't collected comics in 5+ years, yet I still go to comic-con every year. These new Dark Horse books are actually going to get me reading comics again. I'm excited about it

[superman-prime]

comics dont make nada anymore its the secondary rev.

did all of marvel comics make as much as hulk and iron man last year at the movies i dont think so, its a means to a end now

[UnknownTales]

Why buy a comic that is 10 minutes of entertainment when a video game is days or weeks of entertainment.

[Elveen]

Why buy a comic that is 10 minutes of entertainment when a video game is days or weeks of entertainment.

I think they are totally different. Reading is such a different experience.

[leonmallett]

Why buy a comic that is 10 minutes of entertainment when a video game is days or weeks of entertainment.

I think they are totally different. Reading is such a different experience.

Agreed. The tactile and even olfactory sensations are an importnat component for me (I love the smell of brand new books as well as aging books), and holding a comic remains an importnat part of the reading experience.

Plus, I find it easier to re-read a specific issue than trying to replay a specific video game segment...