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[originally posted 4/6/2007]
Hello everyone -
- First off, let me say that I think this is a great subject for a forum. Comics fans often don't understand the reality of why things happen to their favorite (or not-so-favorite) comics, and in lost cases, it comes down to sales, plain and simple.
I'm wondering if there's any info out there estimating sales for the kid-friendly Johnny DC and Marvel Adventures comics. My kids like them a lot (and I do too) but I have a hard time believeing either DC or Marvel would keep them going if they sold at the paltry (sub-15,000) levels reported by Diamond. Here in Northeast Ohio, they're available at Border and Barnes & Noble bookstores as well, although Borders seems to give them more favorable display space. Any insight on this topic would be appreciated.
Thanks - and keep up the great work!
- FE
Wickliffe OH
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| Re: Non-comics shop sales |
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[originally posted 4/6/2007]
The only way to really learn the newsstand sales for DC would be to get hold of the BPA or ABC numbers -- whoever is auditing DC's titles. I've seen some of that data for Marvel, but not any for DC books for some time.
Marvel, at least there's also the possibility that there's a Statement of Ownership for some of those titles that would give us the non-Diamond figure: however, I haven't found any to date. I have a big stack of Statements from 2006 that I need to get on the site here soon, but there's no Marvel Adventures there. I would suspect that those Marvel titles haven't run long enough to have a Statement in them -- though the delay in first running Statements is by no means as long as it was in the 1960s.
I have at times had access to numbers from Ingram, a bookstore distributor, that are quite detailed -- though I didn't have the ability to look up too many magazines. That would presumably be another piece of the puzzle -- though, of course, nothing would beat having reports from the publisher itself.
Best, John Jackson Miller • Curator, The Comics Chronicles |
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| Re: Non-comics shop sales |
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[originally posted 4/7/2007]
If the likes of Batman Strikes and Justice League Unlimited are selling 7k-9k via Diamond, do you think they're selling a similar amount outside of Diamond?
In this case, you'd probably have to look at sell-through rates also, since I'm sure Borders and Barnes & Noble get to return whatever comics they don't sell.
- FE |
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| Re: Non-comics shop sales |
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[originally posted 4/7/2007]
And I'd hope that DC is donating a bunch of those titles to local and school libraries in an attempt to boost awareness. That's a no-brainer, right there. That would add another 10,000 to each title, easily.
(Along those same lines, it's astounding that Catholic Guild reported circ #s for Treasure Chest in the 1960s. Wasn't that given away for free in Catholic schools?)
- FE
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| Re: Non-comics shop sales |
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[originally posted 4/7/2007]
The question with those books is whether they follow the Archie model -- which is that the newsstand percentage of the overall total is not just higher than the Diamond percentage, but substantially higher. I would suspect it's somewhere in between.
Treasure Chest indeed had a cover price, at least starting with Volume 14 in 1958. It was 10 cents until 1969, when Volume 25 was 15 cents; Volume 26 in 1970 was 25 cents; and Volume 27, the final volume in 1972, was 35 cents. My recollection from those who actually got it was that it was not a giveaway (at least not in the 1960s) -- the nuns would distribute copies in class to the kids who paid for it, just like books in a Scholastic circular today.
Now, whether there were postal subscriptions is another question. Obviously, there was a Statement, so there must have been a Second Class permit. But it's possible the subscriptions were really for the biweekly summer editions, which came out in 1966 and 1967.
The man to ask on Treasure Chest would be Brent Frankenhoff, who has a subforum over at Comics Buyer's Guide, and who did a lot of work on the title for the fourth edition of the Standard Catalog.
Best, John Jackson Miller • Curator, The Comics Chronicles |
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| Re: Non-comics shop sales |
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[originally posted 4/11/2007]
There's some really good work being done in the DC animated titles - and that's been the case for several years.
The late Mike Parobeck did some exceptional art on the Batman animated title in the 90s, and Joe Staton might be doing some of the best work of his long career on the current incarnation of Scooby-Doo - not that anyone's reading it.
Artists like Ty Templeton and Min Ku also have excelled. DC must see these comics as tie-ins to licensing and continue them even at small losses. I can't believe they would have kept Looney Tunes going for more than 10 years now with a monthly circulation of less than 5,000.
- FE |
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| Re: Non-comics shop sales |
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[originally posted 4/12/2007]
But also keep in mind the role of repurposing. This material is probably reprinted in other venues around the world. So the even together with the newsstand, the U.S. numbers may not be the whole picture.
Best, John Jackson Miller • Curator, The Comics Chronicles |
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