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Bleeding Cool Bestseller List – May 7th, 2017 – "If Secret Empire #1 Doesn't Pick Up Over The Weekend, We Will Have Lost Money."

Published Sun, 07 May 2017 16:00:23 -0500

This is the Top Ten Bleeding Cool Bestseller List, as compiled by a number of comic stores from their sales on Wednesday and Thursday. It measures what are known as the "Wednesday Warriors", those who can't wait to the weekend to get this week's comics. We salute you, and the keenness you bring to your passion.

Batman #22
Secret Empire #1
The Walking Dead #167
Superman #22
Justice League #20
Nightwing #20
X-Men Gold #3
Paper Girls #14
Injustice 2 #1
Bane Conquest #1

Thanks to the following retailers…

Dr. No's Comics & Games Superstore of Marietta, Georgia
Famous Faces & Funnies of West Melbourne, FL
Comix Experience Outpost, San Francisco, CA
Comix Experience, San Francisco, CA
Rodman Comics of Ankeny, Iowa
Geek Out, Burleson, Texas

…who have this to say:

For the first time in quite a while, a Marvel title cracked our store's Top Ten as Secret Wars #1 came in fourth place. Marvel ended up with three spots in the top ten, while DC took the lion's share (six spots) and Image took a top ten slot with Walking Dead.

Continued interest in affordable 1980s and 1990s Marvel and DC titles–particularly Batman, Superman, X-Men, and Avengers.
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DC continues to sell well with most Rebirth titles but The Button is absolutely crushing other titles. Secret Empire is starting strong, but time (and release schedules) will tell if it can maintain the initial numbers. X-Men Gold was just shy of the Top Ten which is good, but could be better. The controversy seems to be fading, and interest in the book looks to be following. On the Indie side Pestilence from Aftershock was #20.
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Batman 22 easily took the top spot. Secret Empire for a Marvel Event did poorly for us. For the upcoming issues I am ordering a lot less. I now totally understand why Marvel doesn't offer returns. If Secret Empire 1 doesn't pick up over the weekend then we will have lost money on the book. I thought the week would be a lot slower with Free Comic Book Day this Saturday. Meaning people would wait till Saturday to come in and get freebies along with a discount. Thursday ended up being a very strong sales day. Getting ready for the crazy day known as Free Comic Day. Will all the people picking up free comics actually buy something? A few at least?

Out of the blue Marvel's G.I. Joe back issues started selling along with the first series of Avengers. No idea why but glad to see it.
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Secret Empire #1 did pretty well for us, coming in third with Paper Girls #14 and Walking Dead #167 taking first and second, respectively. Paper Girls and Walking Dead always do really well for us so it's not surprising that both outsold Secret Empire. Paper Girls is a real MVP in our store.

Jessica Jones continues to be one of our bestselling Marvel titles, but it was slightly surprising that All New Guardians of the Galaxy didn't do a little better with the movie coming out. It didn't make our top 10 this week. Saladin Ahmed and Christian Ward, however, proved to be a pretty strong team with Black Bolt #1 selling out for us. Another talented duo, Sarah Vaughn and Jonathan Luna, seem to have convinced quite a few Alex + Ada fans to try out their new Image title Eternal Empire.

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Batman #22 was the biggest seller, with Secret Empire #1 and Walking Dead #167 close behind. This is the first book from Marvel we have had crack the top 5 in quite a while, even though it sold only a single copy more that the Walking Dead. It was also the only Marvel book in the top 12 at the shop. Walking Dead was by far the most talked about title this week, with the death of Andrea. DC also placed Injustice 2 #1, and Nightwing #20 in the top 10.

Extremity is picking up steam, and it came in at #4 for us, and could have gone higher, but we sold out. Amory Wars is another book that placed high, coming in at #6 for us, and more people are starting to talk about it. Alterna Comics scored big with their initial offerings of newsprint books – with only a $1.50 cover price – place TWO books in the top 10 with Croak and Adam Wreck coming in at #8 and #9 respectively. The other two books from Alterna, Amazing Age and Lilith Dark also beat out many other books (including most Marvel books, except Secret Empire and Black Bolt#1) and both landed in our top 15. But, rounding out our top 10, was Youngblood #1 from Image, and fans were eager to see what the team will be doing going forward.

So, DC had 3 books in the top 10 this week, Image had 3, Alterna had 2, Boom had 1 and Marvel had 1.
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Back issue sales were strong ahead of our Free Comic Book Day sale, and graded comics continue to move, especially issues of Walking Dead, and any signed Stan Lee books, or books signed by older artists and writers.