Posted in: Comics | Tagged: bestseller list, Comics, HRL

Bleeding Cool Bestseller List, August 20th, 2017 – "A Dismal Sign Of The Problems That Marvel Will Face"

Published Sun, 20 Aug 2017 10:00:40 -0500

Last updated Sun, 20 Aug 2017 10:01:51 -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.

It is very rare for any title to get an across-the-board bestseller for every single store that contributes to the Bleeding Cool Bestseller list. But not only did every store report Dark Nights Metal #1 as their bestselling title, but every store reported that Batman #29 was the second best seller. And that is the first time every store has reported the same top two…

Dark Nights Metal #1
Batman #29
Superman #29
Justice League #27
Astonishing X-Men #2
Star Wars #34
Mighty Thor #22
Generations Wolverine #1
Aquaman #27
Wonder Woman #28

Thanks to the following retailers…

Dr No's Comics & Games SuperStore of Marietta, Georgia
Graham Crackers Comics 11 locations in Illinois/Wisconsin
Famous Faces and Funnies of West Melbourne, FL
Ssalefish Comics Winston-Salem of Winston-Salem & Greensboro, NC
Comix Experience Outpost, San Francisco, CA
Comix Experience, San Francisco, CA
Rodman Comics of Ankeny, Iowa
Fat Jack's Comicrypt of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

…who had this to say:

Dark Nights Metal #1 killed it with everyone interested in trying, luckily we ordered heavily so we have not sold out yet and should be good for awhile. Reviews on the book have been mixed with choppy storytelling and sometimes rushed looking Capullo artwork.

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Metal absolutely demolished every other title this week. We sold 136 copies in the first THREE days! Which is a record for our store! Metal definitely has the traction that every recent Marvel has seriously lacked. People are excited about the event and the reaction so far seems positive. While I don't expect the numbers to stay this high, I don't foresee a dive as drastic as Secret Empire saw. For the rest of the Top Ten, we had more DC titles and Babyteeth #3 (in it's second week) at #9. The first Marvel book wasn't until #13 with Generations Wolverine. As usual, the only other Marvel books in our Top Twenty were X-Men/Spider-Men/Star Wars related.

—–

We did a midnight party for Dark Nights Metal that had excellent turnout. Metal is the big winner this week with a sizable gulf between the #1 and #2 slot this week. Totally Awesome Hulk #22 created a buzz as did the War of Jokes and Riddles storyline in Batman.

—–

Dark Nights Metal got off to a rocking start this week (sorry, had to!)! It was, by far, our bestseller, and it also seemed to give a little boost to some of the other DC titles that came out this week, like Batman #29, Wonder Woman #28, and Justice League #27, all of which were pretty high up on our top 10 list.

A new title that didn't quite make the bestsellers list but worth mentioning is Rich Tommaso's Spy Seal. We sold out on Thursday, and our customers are loving the nostalgic James Bond/Tintin feel of the debut.

—–

This week has quite a bit in common with last week: our Top 10 is entirely the Big Two, there's a pretty dead-even split in real-estate on the list between them, and DC commandingly took the top spot. Dark Nights Metal already had a fair amount of steam behind it simply for reuniting modern-day Batman masters Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo, so I am fairly certain it would have been our #1 book this week regardless of the big "surprise character".

The rest of the list is filled out with Marvel and DC's usual suspects: Wonder Woman, Wolverine, Superman, etc. Not particularly exciting, and I prefer to see the list filled with fresh blood, but solid sales on the staples is still good news.

—–

Sales were much better this week than last week. Getting people moving into town to get ready for college that are happy to find a nearby comic store. Dark Knights Metal was a big hit. Easily took the top spot. Crazy fun. Read it myself Tuesday night and enjoyed it. Complete opposite of Civil Wars or Secret Empire. Star Wars and Astonishing X Men managed to make it into the top ten for Marvel this week.

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DC took all ten slots in our store's Top Ten this week–and if we had counted each cover of Dark Nights Metal as a separate title, that book would have taken the top four slots! Marvel's best-selling book was 11th in our store's Wednesday sales, and their highly-touted Generations didn't even sell double digits on Day One–a dismal sign of the problems that Marvel will face luring readers back to a line they have abandoned.