DC Comics Regains Marketshare Dominance In July 2012 But The Walking Dead Takes The Star Prize

[SAMURAI36]

SIGH, I apologize to anyone who read this other than Sam. I'm done with him and this thread. Didn't mean to hijack it.

Oh please. This is just another insincere and disingenuous response from you. You didn't seem to have this remorse when you were clicking 'send' on three consecutive insulting responses in a row, prior to this half-hearted apology. This is just you trying to save face.

As far as I'm concerned, I have nothing to apologize for. Besides, as I'm sure is par for the course around here, I'm sure everybody's getting a kick out of reading all this.

[betty boolean]

True that... My pocket money used to be 50p and paperback books were 17.5p. You will not believe how hard and shamelessly I wheedled and connived to get that extra 2.5p out of my mum...

Cheers

Sho' nuff but those old time penny dreadful s are strictly non canonical what with teh nu52 and all.

[rahonavis]

So I know Joe and others will dismiss this but two things about these numbers.
1) While BW is selling well, there was an average of 38% drop between issue 1 and 2 (the lowest was minute men at 36%, the highest silk specter at 40), so given the "second wave" only started at 88, 210, it is likely all will settle down at around 50-60 K by issue 3. That is good, but is it the numbers to be called a major success or just a modest one?

2) Even factoring that in BW is the major cause for DC's high score. The four BW issues on this chart (all values take from here
Comic Book Sales Figures for July 2012) account for over 11% of all DC sales. Let me say that again, 4 books which are not part of the new 52 account for 11% of the sales while representing 5% of the output. IF you take them away, than the "NuDCU" sales are actually significantly lower than Marvels (they come in at about 32.45% or about 3% lower than Marvels). So again, not "the sky is falling", better than last year, but it seems that the sales spikes are caused primarily through the sales of the moderately successful BW series. Of those books in the NuDCU the highest sellers (with teh exception of JL and Action) are Batman and Green Lantern. Now I know Joe does not like this, but the fact remains that the histories and past actions of the stars of those books (including events like Blackest night, and much of past few decades of bat books) have intentionally been left intact. They have been sealed off in such away that it has been noted by places like newsrama and this site that it causes major problems for the rest of the DCU to keep Batman or Green Lantern the way they are. This signals that these numbers have little to do with the relaunch, except by interest generate by the publicity surrounding it. Lower down books in the DCU tend to be those most effected by the changes (action and JLA excepted, but then again the writers on those books also account for alot of those sales, but I will give them to you as a counter point).

So once again, the numbers look good for DC, better than last year. But in truth (because at this time last year story lines were wrapping up for the relaunch it may not be a good baseline) the sales spike is gone and DC is settling back into the low 30% range for its main titles. What does this mean? Not much. If the industry as a whole continues to sell well a 30% share is better than a 40% in a poor market (the stronger economy helps too, as comics sales track the economy quite well). But it does mean that much of the initial shine is off most books, and only a couple truly benefited from the relaunch as opposed to say another equally hyped "crisis" and moving the same creative teams to them (and much of the spikes even on those books can be linked to say putting Morrison or Johns on a book and having superman do something as opposed to walk across America). I am not the only one who sees it, take this
Walking Dead #100 Stomps On Everyone as Marvel and DC Huddle in July*|*The Beat
it also talks about how below the top couple (and BW), DC is settling back down.

So all in all good numbers for DC, but to Joe and others who are bragging, a closer look shows that really nothing much has changed and all the relaunch did was bring numbers back to about 2008 levels, from which (if the economy does not improve) they will slide just like before. It did not bring in "new blood" (i.e. new readers) in any significant level and, since most cross promotions still use the old designs and looks, has not had much effect on how the outside world sees comics. So will this last , or is the 2013 "war" the prelude to another round of major changes? Only time will tell.

[Joe Kalicki]

The Batman and GL numbers don't show anything about their relation to old continuity. The 50,000 readers a month gain (or whatever tens of thousands number it might be) isn't because people love the old continuity. If that were true, wouldn't the numbers be essentially the same as before the reboot?

[B-Thom]

I'll also add that if you remove an event such as Before Watchmen, then why not remove the Avengers Vs X-Men series and all related tie-ins from Marvel? They are just as much part of the publishing plan as BW is for DC, common continuity or not.
You can also add Teen Titans and Wonder Woman as high selling titles (though obviously not on the same levels as Batman or Justice League) doing better than before with completely different continuity than before. I really don't like what they did with Teen Titans but the facts are there.
In addition to that, DC's hightest selling titles have numbers that exceed by far their highest selling titles from last year, which means it's not just keeping readers from the old DC but that it truly worked. However, and right from the beginning it was admitted that mid to lower seliing titles were seeing lower sales.
You could also add that digital sales account for about 10% of sales now which are not represented here. It shows a very healthy DC Comics (and probably the same for Marvel though the bestseller list of comixology seems to show DC generally with a slight edge over Marvel in that department as well).
Also, Comics Beat, (just like Comics Alliance) tend to have a slight bias against DC. As an example, Comics Beat recently did an article on sexism between Marvel and DC and found Marvel to be better in that domain.

[SAMURAI36]

Also, Comics Beat, (just like Comics Alliance) tend to have a slight bias against DC. As an example, Comics Beat recently did an article on sexism between Marvel and DC and found Marvel to be better in that domain.

Wow, really? That's a hoot, considering that Marvel only has one female book on their whole roster, and even that is extremely recent. Meanwhile, we all know how many DC has (at least a half dozen)

[SAMURAI36]

So I know Joe and others will dismiss this but two things about these numbers. .....

So all in all good numbers for DC, but to Joe and others who are bragging, a closer look shows that really nothing much has changed and all the relaunch did was bring numbers back to about 2008 levels, from which (if the economy does not improve) they will slide just like before. It did not bring in "new blood" (i.e. new readers) in any significant level and, since most cross promotions still use the old designs and looks, has not had much effect on how the outside world sees comics. So will this last , or is the 2013 "war" the prelude to another round of major changes? Only time will tell.

I'm really curious if all these dudes that invest all this amount of time and energy researching the "numbers" on an economist's level, actually dedicate half that amount of time to actually read and enjoy the product.

This reminds me of all the discussions I used to have with people, in regards to musical recording artists, and their level of success based on "who was selling". Basically, if you weren't going platinum with every album release, then they were considered "wack" or no longer "relevant".

Of course, when you ask these people if they actually bought the albums in question, of course the answer was no, since they don't buy albums. LMAO.