My LCS, VALIANT and the "Shooter Effect"

[deathmedal]

I was just at my local comic shop, i have been noticing very few new Valiant comics. I asked why this was, and the owner said that they liked Valiant, but they were basing their order numbers on how Jim Shooters/ Darkhorse Goldkey stuff did. Which was very poorly.
So it looks like massive flop that Shooters Goldkey stuff was has actually hurt the numbers of what valiant could have done.
My question is; how badly did the "shooter effect" hurt Valiant?

[dhudson1]

I was just at my local comic shop, i have been noticing very few new Valiant comics. I asked why this was, and the owner said that they liked Valiant, but they were basing their order numbers on how Jim Shooters/ Darkhorse Goldkey stuff did. Which was very poorly.
So it looks like massive flop that Shooters Goldkey stuff was has actually hurt the numbers of what valiant could have done.
My question is; how badly did the "shooter effect" hurt Valiant?

Given their numbers, I can't image it hurt too much

[Zaphod]

There are a lot of factors that work against Valiant, not the least of which is the name Valiant. Lots of comic store owners blame them for the speculation and crash of the comics business in the 90's which is ludicrous.

Poor business practices is why those stores went under, not a single publisher.

At the end of the day Valiant will succeed or fail due to their own choices.

[StarBrand]

I was just at my local comic shop, i have been noticing very few new Valiant comics. I asked why this was, and the owner said that they liked Valiant, but they were basing their order numbers on how Jim Shooters/ Darkhorse Goldkey stuff did. Which was very poorly.
So it looks like massive flop that Shooters Goldkey stuff was has actually hurt the numbers of what valiant could have done.
My question is; how badly did the "shooter effect" hurt Valiant?

The print runs of the new Valiant books vs the print runs of the Shooter Dark Horse books favor the Valiant books by a wide margin. Fortunately, not many seem to adhere to the ordering strategy for the new Valiant books that your store does.

[FormerReader]

There are a lot of factors that work against Valiant, not the least of which is the name Valiant. Lots of comic store owners blame them for the speculation and crash of the comics business in the 90's which is ludicrous.

Poor business practices is why those stores went under, not a single publisher.

At the end of the day Valiant will succeed or fail due to their own choices.

[dhudson1]

I was just at my local comic shop, i have been noticing very few new Valiant comics. I asked why this was, and the owner said that they liked Valiant, but they were basing their order numbers on how Jim Shooters/ Darkhorse Goldkey stuff did. Which was very poorly.
So it looks like massive flop that Shooters Goldkey stuff was has actually hurt the numbers of what valiant could have done.
My question is; how badly did the "shooter effect" hurt Valiant?

The print runs of the new Valiant books vs the print runs of the Shooter Dark Horse books favor the Valiant books by a wide margin. Fortunately, not many seem to adhere to the ordering strategy for the new Valiant books that your store does.

Plus the marketing the VEI put them leaps and bounds (not sure how far a leap or a bound is) ahead of the Dark Horse books, not to mention the quality being so much higher (oops, I mentioned it)

[paradise]

I was just at my local comic shop, i have been noticing very few new Valiant comics. I asked why this was, and the owner said that they liked Valiant, but they were basing their order numbers on how Jim Shooters/ Darkhorse Goldkey stuff did. Which was very poorly.
So it looks like massive flop that Shooters Goldkey stuff was has actually hurt the numbers of what valiant could have done.
My question is; how badly did the "shooter effect" hurt Valiant?

Stupid is as stupid does - as true here as anywhere else. Any store ordering new Valiant on the basis of Dark Key deserves whatever loss of business they get.

[drmirage]

Its strange that this topic came up. I visited a comic book store in Las Vegas a few days ago. *Velvet Underground" These guys have been around for 22 years. He said he ordered heavily with the Dark Key books and it tanked. So he doesn't want to fall into the same trap again with the new Valiant.

The owner claims he is one of the largest comic book stores in Las Vegas. He also mentioned he ordered tons of all the covers of TWD #100 which all were sold by his customers.

Needless to say, I was told that no one had been asking the shop for the new Valiant books.

Lastly, the owner also mentioned that he carries a large VH1 collection and has been keeping them. He did not want to sell the books because they "were getting warm"

[manga4life]

I was just at my local comic shop, i have been noticing very few new Valiant comics. I asked why this was, and the owner said that they liked Valiant, but they were basing their order numbers on how Jim Shooters/ Darkhorse Goldkey stuff did. Which was very poorly.
So it looks like massive flop that Shooters Goldkey stuff was has actually hurt the numbers of what valiant could have done.
My question is; how badly did the "shooter effect" hurt Valiant?

That sounds more like an isolated incident than a general view of whats going on in the comic book industry, it sounds like the comic book store owner either is very out of touch with how to manage his orders or he may be struggling and can't afford to order a lot of non DC/Marvel books in fear that they won't sell. Either way he missed the boat on the initial orders it seems.

[Newton]

My LCS quoted this as a reason they ordered few issues of the new Valiant books as well. Additionally, despite only ordering small quantities of the books there are still several on the shelves a month later. I don't live in a large city, but the owner said they are in the top 15% in sales so this isn't a small time shop. I should note that promotion of the Valiant books in my LCS has not been strong.

[grendeljd]

Its strange that this topic came up. I visited a comic book store in Las Vegas a few days ago. *Velvet Underground" These guys have been around for 22 years. He said he ordered heavily with the Dark Key books and it tanked. So he doesn't want to fall into the same trap again with the new Valiant.

The owner claims he is one of the largest comic book stores in Las Vegas. He also mentioned he ordered tons of all the covers of TWD #100 which all were sold by his customers.

Needless to say, I was told that no one had been asking the shop for the new Valiant books.

Lastly, the owner also mentioned that he carries a large VH1 collection and has been keeping them. He did not want to sell the books because they "were getting warm"

This guy kind of sounds like a moron... he won't order new because he's afraid it won't sell, but DOES hang onto old stock that is likely all the high-print run, relatively worthless variety [dollar value only ] because he has heard its getting popular...

[xodacia81]

There are a lot of factors that work against Valiant, not the least of which is the name Valiant. Lots of comic store owners blame them for the speculation and crash of the comics business in the 90's which is ludicrous.

Poor business practices is why those stores went under, not a single publisher.

At the end of the day Valiant will succeed or fail due to their own choices.

Indeed, but unfortunately bad business practices seem to be the norm among the neckbeard crowd that tends to run most comic and gaming/comic shops. A sad state of affairs. I just edited what I really wanted to see, but suffice to say Warhammer and World of Warcraft are not sufficient or legal-tender fill ins for real life. Marvel v. DC doesn't matter at the end of the day, and no single publisher "killed" the bubble...and it was a bubble, which means it had to burst eventually.

[BugsySig]

Indeed, but unfortunately bad business practices seem to be the norm among the neckbeard crowd that tends to run most comic and gaming/comic shops. A sad state of affairs. I just edited what I really wanted to see, but suffice to say Warhammer and World of Warcraft are not sufficient or legal-tender fill ins for real life. Marvel v. DC doesn't matter at the end of the day, and no single publisher "killed" the bubble...and it was a bubble, which means it had to burst eventually.

I prefer the term "furtlenecks".

[Aram]

From what I see arould my parts probably 10-20% of the shops around "miss the boat" on all upcoming comics because they only order established titles that show demand. Thankfully it seems most comic shops don't follow this small trend and those are the ones growing.

[xodacia81]

From what I see arould my parts probably 10-20% of the shops around "miss the boat" on all upcoming comics because they only order established titles that show demand. Thankfully it seems most comic shops don't follow this small trend and those are the ones growing.

I wish I could believe that.

[deathmedal]

Intresting i'm not the only one who has encountered this.
Hopfully what this really means is, valiant could have sold even more comics had smaller shops been more open to it.
the demand seems to be there givin the amazing numbers so far.
I am expecting the number of orders to grow by a large margin by the end of the year on each title.

[jmatt]

The best shop around here is doing the same thing, only ordering a handful of each Valiant title, as much as he thinks he can sell rather easily (which means no variants and no second printings). Says he hasn't had a groundswell of demand for the books.

I can't blame him. It's just prudent business.

[xodacia81]

Went to the LCS I frequent, and they said "These aren't selling any better than the Valiant books that Dark Horse did." I simply sighed and said "Those were Gold Key books. These are true Valiant books. There's a difference. As for sales, my understanding is that nationwide, they are doing well for a new company." I was then told "they've flopped." There's just no pleasing some people. Whatever, because the quality is there. It's just gonna take a while to get the "real" numbers in and carve a new niche. As long as I can get my copy, I don't care what a bunch of Marvel cultist, Hero-Clix hawkers think.

[depluto]

The guy at my shop orders about 25 of each Valiant ... complete sell-through with X-O and Bloodshot, but the Harbingers are just sitting there on the shelf.

[BugsySig]

The best shop around here is doing the same thing, only ordering a handful of each Valiant title, as much as he thinks he can sell rather easily (which means no variants and no second printings). Says he hasn't had a groundswell of demand for the books.

I can't blame him. It's just prudent business.

I don't understand how someone can be in a business and then know nothing about it. It's one thing to think you could gauge the Vliant sales based on the DH Gold Key books...that is at least somewhat logical, if flawed. But blatant ignorance? No wonder they are a dying breed.

[SJS4]

No X-O issues on the shelf when I picked up my comics this evening. Don't think the store is ordering any XO outside of my pull box, kind of surprising to me but it is their store. FWIW, there were issues of Harbinger #2 on the shelf last week when I picked up my comics, but they were all gone by today (so there must be at least some Valiant demand in the store).

I am really curious to see the sales on XO #3. Hoping they didn't dip below 20k.

[jmatt]

My shop had 4 X-O #3 on the shelf today, I bought 2. I went real late (*:30pm) so perhaps a bunch moved before I arrived.

[slimydog]

Interesting - here in San Diego - it's relatively easy to find all VEI issues right now (even going back to X-O #1). It's starting to pick up though. Before, the VEI variants were super easy to get. Now, they're gone before the Wednesday lunch hour.