August 2014 Sales Discussion

[Keith]

It's that time of the month, again:

http://www.newsarama.com/22054-august-c ... month.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


PUBLISHER - DOLLAR SHARE - UNIT SHARE
MARVEL COMICS - 34.27% - 35.85%
DC ENTERTAINMENT - 28.71% - 32.56%
IMAGE COMICS - 8.83% - 10.97%
IDW PUBLISHING - 5.43% - 4.67%
DARK HORSE COMICS - 4.73% - 4.03%
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT - 2.59% - 2.40%
BOOM! STUDIOS - 2.32% - 2.14%
EAGLEMOSS PUBLICATIONS - 1.65% - 0.43%
RANDOM HOUSE - 1.14% - 0.38%
VIZ MEDIA - 1.04% - 0.42%
OTHER NON-TOP 10 - 9.28% - 6.17%

[Ramses818]

Hmmm didn't you forget something? If not I do not like August anymore! Lol

[ilzuccone]

doooooooooom

[hawkeyeps]

Yep it's over... I'm going to go jump off a cliff now

[lorddunlow]

Dynamite seems to be doing well...

[BugsySig]

Hmmm didn't you forget something? If not I do not like August anymore! Lol

Gotta wait for the full numbers. The preliminary list is based on number of issues shipped, not the actual top ten share holders. Valiant shipped 9 again (plus whatever trades) which was probably not enough to land them on the initial list.

[ShadowTuga]

Waiting for some sort of Chartocalypse here.

[hawkeyeps]

Chartocalypse Now-

[Ramses818]

I am still waiting for the gay Canadian goat jokes!

[betterthanezra]

I am still waiting for the gay Canadian goat jokes!

There coming...soon

I'm sure of it..

-Brian

[mkb28]

Chartocalypse Now-

The horror...the horror!

[Keith]

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page ... e&id=55365" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

161 Delinquents #1 12,912
191 X-O Manowar #28 9634
197 Rai #4 9394
200 Armor Hunters #3 8966
206 Unity #10 8491
209 Harbinger: Omegas #1 8316
234 AH: Bloodshot #2 7286
242 AH: Harbinger #2 7043
249 Archer & Armstrong #23 6776

107 X-O Manowar vol. 6 887
130 Bloodshot vol 5 752
142 Shadowman: End Times 719

[nycjadie]

I'm only disappointed that Archer is the lowest selling book. It's my favorite book. And home run on Delinquents!

[lorddunlow]

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page ... e&id=55365

161 Delinquents #1 12,912
191 X-O Manowar #28 9634
197 Rai #4 9394
200 Armor Hunters #3 8966
206 Unity #10 8491
209 Harbinger: Omegas #1 8316
234 AH: Bloodshot #2 7286
242 AH: Harbinger #2 7043
249 Archer & Armstrong #23 6776

107 X-O Manowar vol. 6 887
130 Bloodshot vol 5 752
142 Shadowman: End Times 719

I'm too lazy to check, but I think these numbers are significantly better than the last few months, aren't they?

[jaden_sai]

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page ... e&id=55365

161 Delinquents #1 12,912
191 X-O Manowar #28 9634
197 Rai #4 9394
200 Armor Hunters #3 8966
206 Unity #10 8491
209 Harbinger: Omegas #1 8316
234 AH: Bloodshot #2 7286
242 AH: Harbinger #2 7043
249 Archer & Armstrong #23 6776

107 X-O Manowar vol. 6 887
130 Bloodshot vol 5 752
142 Shadowman: End Times 719

I'm too lazy to check, but I think these numbers are significantly better than the last few months, aren't they?

July Title Breakdowns:

208 Armor Hunters #2 11,224
213 Rai #3 10,665
236 X-O Manowar #27 9138
245 Harbinger #25 8766
247 Unity #9 8485
264 AH: Harbinger #1 7518
271 AH: Bloodshot #1 7334
285 Archer & Armstrong #22 6883

162 Unity v2: Trapped By Webnet 868

[hawkeyeps]

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page ... e&id=55365

161 Delinquents #1 12,912
191 X-O Manowar #28 9634
197 Rai #4 9394
200 Armor Hunters #3 8966
206 Unity #10 8491
209 Harbinger: Omegas #1 8316
234 AH: Bloodshot #2 7286
242 AH: Harbinger #2 7043
249 Archer & Armstrong #23 6776

107 X-O Manowar vol. 6 887
130 Bloodshot vol 5 752
142 Shadowman: End Times 719

I'm too lazy to check, but I think these numbers are significantly better than the last few months, aren't they?

Perhaps if there was some sort of graphic which could illustrate this data so it is easier to see trends, I forget what they're called.

[BugsySig]

Well we know that multiple issues from August are going back to print and were therefore under ordered. Still, the total sales number is pretty good. Here's the updated shares from Comichron:

Share of Overall Units
Marvel 35.85%
DC 32.56%
Image 10.97%
IDW 4.67%
Dark Horse 4.03%
Dynamite 2.40%
Boom 2.14%
Valiant 1.07%

Share of Overall Dollars
Marvel 34.27%
DC 28.71%
Image 8.83%
IDW 5.43%
Dark Horse 4.73%
Dynamite 2.59%
Boom 2.32%
Eaglemoss 1.65%
Random House 1.14%
Viz 1.04%
Valiant 0.99%

Back to 8th in Units. If you take out Eaglemoss, Random House and Viz, who don't publish monthly comics, VEI is 8th in Dollars as well. And here's the new items and items in the Top 300:

New comics released
DC 85
Marvel 78
Image 63
IDW 42
Dark Horse 36
Dynamite 25
Boom 23
Valiant 9

Items in Top 300
Marvel 80
DC 75
Image 42
IDW 27
Dark Horse 20
Dynamite 17
Boom 11
Valiant 9

All 9 titles in the Top 300. Marvel had 80 in the Top 300 with only 78 new books, so they had reprints make the list. Other than that, no one has as good a percentage.

[rjrjr]

We have returned to 9 titles this month. Comparing to the last month with 9 titles (June 2014), we have:

83330 comics in June 2014
78819 comics in August 2014

The difference between August and June is Delinquents 1 versus Armor Hunters 1 where Armor Hunters 1 did better. I think this could be expected though, since Armor Hunters was Valiant's summer event title and received a large push from Valiant. The other drops and gains are in line with what we've seen from Valiant titles over the last year, so nothing unexpected here.

[bygranddesign]

Yeah agreed with everyone above (except for Dunlow - he can suck it)

I think The Delinquents number was pretty strong. I think there was a nice marketing push that included some creative store exclusives (A$$Map) which probably helped a lot.

Its going to be interesting how Dr. Mirage does next month ... Not a strong marketing push, no store exclusives, only 1 variant(pullbox plus), no incentives... etc. I hope the number's comes in strong - I think 8K would be impressive but I wouldn't be surprised if its one of the lowest selling number 1's that Valiant has put out.

But its a great story .. one of the best issue #1's I have read from VEI. So I appreciate Valiant going low key with this title and hopefully it can build up some momentum.

[bygranddesign]

Just read in another thread that Dr. Mirage sold out - it probably didn't have a high print run compared to most #1's but still its a great sign.

[lorddunlow]

Yeah agreed with everyone above (except for Dunlow - he can suck it)

I think The Delinquents number was pretty strong. I think there was a nice marketing push that included some creative store exclusives (A$$Map) which probably helped a lot.

Its going to be interesting how Dr. Mirage does next month ... Not a strong marketing push, no store exclusives, only 1 variant(pullbox plus), no incentives... etc. I hope the number's comes in strong - I think 8K would be impressive but I wouldn't be surprised if its one of the lowest selling number 1's that Valiant has put out.

But its a great story .. one of the best issue #1's I have read from VEI. So I appreciate Valiant going low key with this title and hopefully it can build up some momentum.

[leonmallett]

Yeah agreed with everyone above (except for Dunlow - he can suck it)

I think The Delinquents number was pretty strong. I think there was a nice marketing push that included some creative store exclusives (A$$Map) which probably helped a lot.

Its going to be interesting how Dr. Mirage does next month ... Not a strong marketing push, no store exclusives, only 1 variant(pullbox plus), no incentives... etc. I hope the number's comes in strong - I think 8K would be impressive but I wouldn't be surprised if its one of the lowest selling number 1's that Valiant has put out.

But its a great story .. one of the best issue #1's I have read from VEI. So I appreciate Valiant going low key with this title and hopefully it can build up some momentum.

Actually, for Dr. Mirage there look to be a couple of variants from viewing ebay.

[leonmallett]

The glut of minis (5 out of 9 books for August) seems to be little better than having had ongoings previously; so why not stick to what many are asking for (more ongoings) and cycle them out as their sales dwindle significantly?

[krylox]

i'm relieved the dropping has lost momentum, at last. i'd say this might be the best month-to-month comparison, yet, and it looks like vei orders are finally bottoming out. i think most fans would have been hoped the overall level to be better (more 5 than 4 figure-ish), but those are still pretty decent sales for an indie publisher.

now, it will be interesting to see if some of the core titles can manage to climb. x-o is showing some tendencies and the bloodshot mini is also holding very very well on it's second issue.

with armor hunters being not so much a sales phenomenon, but being very well received by critics and fans, with "the valiant" bible-style mini coming up, which will serve as another perfect introduction for new fans and (supposedly) at least one big name attached to the bloodshot reboot and with variant craze being reduced to a necessary minimum, i'd say: this is going in a very healthy direction.

i was never more bullish for vei.

[FormerReader]

i'm relieved the dropping has lost momentum, at last. i'd say this might be the best month-to-month comparison, yet, and it looks like vei orders are finally bottoming out.

I was going to say the same thing. It appears like the orders have finally leveled off so we now have a good idea of the sales numbers for each title. Now the trick is to slowly grow the numbers either through new "hot" talent or through the growth of the line.