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Bleeding Cool Bestseller List, 22nd October 2017, Marvel Legacy – "A Gamble We Lost Badly"

Published Sun, 22 Oct 2017 09:00:21 -0500

Last updated Sun, 22 Oct 2017 09:29:47 -0500

This is the Top 10 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.

And this week, Batman takes the top two with the Metal one-shot and regular series. No other Metal crossover for the week let a few more Marvel titles in the top ten, but Invincible's final issue also brought people out for the conclusion.

Batman The Drowned #1
Batman #33
Superman #33
Mighty Thor #700
Justice League #31
Invincible #593
The Wild Storm #8
X-Men Gold #14
Nightwing #31
Super Sons #9

Thanks to the following retailers, a welcome to big Planet Comics of Washington DC and a welcome back to Pittsburgh Comics.

Famous Faces and Funnies – West Melbourne, Florida
Pittsburgh Comics – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Velocity Comics – Richnond, Virginia
Ssalefish Comics Winston-Salem – North Carolina
Big Planet Comics – 4 stores in the Washington DC area
Comix Experience – San Francisco, California
Comix Experience Outpost – San Francisco, California
Fat Jack's Comicrypt– Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Rodman Comics – Ankeny, Iowa
Dr. No's Comics & Games SuperStore – Marietta, Georgia

And here's what they had to say,

Again and again, Metal leads the charge with Baman: The Drowned at #1 in our store's Top Ten this week. Batman: The Regular made it to #2 which is normal but I feel like I have to mention the absolutely gorgeous art from this week's issue. Metal #3 on it's second week managed to outsell every new Marvel book from this week in the #5 spot. That being said, Marvel did pretty well this week (just not with Legacy).

The Mighty Thor was the only Marvel Legacy book in our Top Ten this week. Even then, it was outsold by Deadpool vs Old Man Logan. Star Wars: Captain Phasma was the third and final Marvel book in the FFF Top Ten. Thor normally sells well and I'm sure the big round number on the front helped to boost sales a little bit, hopefully the upcoming movie will help maintain the numbers. Star Wars being the Top Ten is no surprise, but it's been a hot minute since a Deadpool book has done so well. Invincible Iron Man made it into our Top Twenty at #17, which goes to show that big numbers might not always mean big sales.

On the indie side of things, Realm made it to #8, Babyteeth (on it's second week) was #15 and Invincible crept into #16. Realm was definitely a sleeper hit that came out of nowhere. A hot #1 means a hot #2. Hopefully it stays that way and we don't see a sharp spike downwards. Babyteeth is a store favorite, so no surprise to see it still doing well in the second week. Invincible has kept steady numbers. The fact that it's ending so soon has actually helped us push older back issues, but the new stuff is staying consistent with its numbers.

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DC rules the roost again.
We do very well with Black Hammer and the fans were eager to get Sherlock Frankenstein.

Just to counter Brevoort's "Everything is awesome!" tweets, here's the sell through of the books we had to over order to get lenticulars:
Week one books – 57%
Week two books – 44%
Week three books – 45%
We can't pay the rent on 45% sell through.

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Marvel Legacy continues to languish– Thor 700 would've charted with or without the gimmick, and that's the only Marvel book in our top 10. This was a very expensive gamble for us, supporting this initiative… and it's a gamble we lost badly. Thankfully DC is firing on all cylinders to pick up as much slack as possible, but we've definitely lost a bunch of Marvel-faithful customers. Image continues to impress as well, with Steve Skroce's excellent MAESTROS outselling everything except Batman-related books.

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Metal is stealing all the thunder every week so far of Marvel Legacy. Lenticulars and storylines have peaked interest again for people but not in the same way it did when DC had Rebirth. The trepidation seems stronger this week in terms of sales than the past two. Honorable mention does go to Monsters Unleashed, and historically low seller for us, for selling so many Lenticulars with the neat homage to FF #1. Our Plastic Trade Paperback sales were strong this week in preparation for next weekends Doug Wagner signing we're hosting.

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Marvel is back. Thor 700 is exactly what my customers were looking for. Hopefully Marvel keeps it up. The Metal train will not stop. Metal books keep selling no matter what else comes out.

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Legacy titles are definitely stronger this week. Mighty Thor #700 was our top seller overall, and a couple other Legacy books showed up a little further down the list. Invincible Iron Man #593 very likely would've made the list, too, but our shipment was late (just received them like a half hour ago). We've got a good amount of subs signed up for it, and those sales alone would've gotten it in the top 10. The only #1 to make our list this week is Jeff Lemire and David Rubin's Sherlock Frankenstein & The Legion of Evil #1.

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Batman continues his hold as reigning champion of our sales charts, as BATMAN #33 takes our top seller spot featuring the continuing aftermath of the Big Proposal. Just behind that is the latest of the Metal tie-ins, THE DROWNED #1. Speaking of Metal, DARK NIGHTS METAL #3 earns a spot in our Top 10 for its second week in a row, in case there was any lingering doubt that Metal has been a hit.

Marvel made a fair showing for us this week, with PETER PARKER SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #5 showing us that there's still plenty of interest in some more light-hearted Spidey adventures. Meanwhile in another corner of the Marvel Universe, Ed Brisson takes over CABLE #150 for that title's return to Legacy numbering. The book features an exciting new X-Team comprised of some much more deep-cut mutants than what we're seeing in the core X-books.

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Not too bad of week. Marvel's Lenticular covers are still only seeing a small increase in sales. It was not worth ordering higher to get the lenticulars. Batman the Drowned was easily the number one selling title. Marvel managed to get two titles in the top ten. Deadpool vs Old Man Logan and Venom 156. Both outsold all the lenticular Marvel titles even though they were not lenticular. Marvel has lost its way.

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Another strong week for DC, with Batman books taking the top two slots. Alas, only one Marvel Legcy book cracked our top ten–Cable, at #9. Readers flipped through the books to see if the Odinson Thor was back as Thor or if Tony Stark was back as Iron Man or if Bruce Banner was back as Hulk, then decided that they didn't need these books after all. Disappointing, since I gambled big that the books would be successful…

And notable sales of the week:

Incredible Hulk #182 vg $75.00 – One of the first appearances of Wolverine. It wasn't in the best shape, but Wolverine sells.

While we haven't sold them yet, the timing couldn't have been better for a set of Watchmen 1-12, almost all graded 9.6, to come in earlier this week. Probably be talking about how the set sold next week.

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