Diamond Comic Distributors
Image reveals Chris Giarrusso variant cover for Chew #29
From Chris Giarrusso's variant cover for "Chew" #29
Image Comics has announced a Chris Giarrusso variant cover for October’s Chew #29, by John Layman and Rob Guillory. For every 10 copies of the issue retailers order, one of those will feature a Giarrusso variant.
Best known for G-Man, Giarrusso previously created Image 20th-anniversary variants for Youngblood, Spawn, The Savage Dragon, The Walking Dead, ShadowHawk and Morning Glories.
Check out Giarrusso’s variant and Guillory’s regular cover below. Chew #29, which originally was scheduled for September release, goes on sale Oct. 17.
DC reveals three early-shipping titles for December skip week
A day after Diamond Comic Distributors informed direct market stores that it won’t ship products the week of Dec. 24 because of the holiday, DC Comics has announced it will deliver three issues early, allowing retailers to offer new merchandise during the “skip week.”
Other publishers and manufacturers are expected to follow suit.
In an email sent this morning to store owners, Diamond said Aquaman #15, Before Watchmen: Nite Owl #4 and Justice League #15, described as “three key titles,” will be included in the Dec. 19 delivery to go on sale Wednesday, Dec. 26. DC similarly provided Blackest Night #6 to retailers a week early in 2009, the last time the distributor experienced a holiday-triggered skip week. On that occasion, some stores broke the Dec. 30 embargo date, with scans appearing online within hours of delivery.
While the three titles being offered this year may not be the hot commodity that Blackest Night was in 2009, Justice League #15 and Aquaman #15 are the first two parts of the “Throne of Atlantis” crossover (and the former marks the debut of new art team Ivan Reis and Joe Prado), while Before Watchmen: Nite Owl #4 is the conclusion of that miniseries.
Diamond announces December skip week, ‘Death of the Family’ die-cut overcovers
Diamond Comic Distributors
Diamond Comic Distributors informed retailers this morning that it won’t ship products the week of Dec. 24 because of the UPS delivery schedule. However, selected items will be included with the previous week’s shipment to go on sale Wednesday, Dec. 26.
The distributor last experienced a holiday-triggered “skip week” in December 2009, leaving the direct market without Diamond deliveries for two Wednesdays. That year, DC Comics stepped in to ship Blackest Night #6 early, ensuring retailers had a major new title on Dec. 30 (of course, some put them on shelves early), while some saw the delay as an opportunity to promote independent comics.
This year, however, the wait will be significantly shorter: Retailers will receive another shipment on Friday, Dec. 28, for sale on Wednesday, Jan. 2. Retailers will be notified later which companies will make products available for early delivery.
In a separate email, Diamond also announced the addition of a “die-cut, cardstock overcovers” by Greg Capullo spotlighting the Joker for the following “Death of the Family” crossover issues: Batman #13, Batgirl #13, Catwoman #13, Suicide Squad #14, Batman and Robin #15, Detective Comics #15, Nightwing #15, Red Hood and the Outlaws #15 and Teen Titans #15.
Comics A.M. | Despite overall growth, sales slipped for most of Top 25
Aquaman #12, one of just two ongoing titles in August's Top 25 that saw an increase
Retailing | ICv2 analyzes the August direct market numbers and comes up with some interesting patterns: While the market as a whole is up, the number of comics with sales of more than 1,000 has been declining; sales dropped a bit for most ongoing comics series in the Top 25, but strong sales of Before Watchmen and two annuals more than compensated for that; and graphic novels sell in far lower numbers than comics, but because many of them are backlist titles, the numbers still increase from year to year. ICv2 also posted lists of last month’s Top 300 comics and graphic novels. [ICv2]
Publishing | Yet another big publisher spawns a graphic novel imprint: This time it’s Penguin, whose Berkley/NAL division will launch a graphic novel imprint, InkLit, next month. Helmed by former DC vice president and Yen Press co-founder Rich Johnson, InkLit will publish both original graphic novels and adaptations of prose works. The line will begin with Vol. 1 of Patricia Briggs’s Alpha and Omega, which collects the trades published by Dynamite; the second volume will be all new material. Also in the works are books by Charlaine Harris, Laurell K. Hamilton, and Sage Stossel. [Publishers Weekly]
Bluewater breaks with Diamond, partners with Comic Flea Market
Bluewater Productions, the publisher largely known for its biographical comics about political and showbiz personalities, has announced a complete break with Diamond Comic Distributors. Bluewater comics will now be distributed, and printed, by Comic Flea Market.
Bluewater had already announced a distribution partnership with CFM for some of its titles, so the news piece here is that the publisher is making a complete break with Diamond. Bluewater comics are also available digitally through the usual channels.
Give Bluewater President Darren G. Davis credit for putting a bold front on it and saying in the press release that Diamond “abruptly” canceled several Bluewater comics because they didn’t make their sales benchmarks. In an interview with MTV Geek in March, Davis presented Bluewater’s problems with Diamond as a clash of business models.
“It’s really difficult, because according to these benchmarks your comics have to make a certain amount of money, or they won’t issue you a purchase order,” he said. “I get it – they’re a bigger company. And if we have a book that only sold 500 copies, there’s no reason why they should distribute it. But it just doesn’t help me as a publisher. But I don’t condemn them for it.”
Davis emphasized today that this move does not mean Bluewater is abandoning the direct market; on the contrary, he pledged to continue to offer Bluewater comics to retailers at about the same discount they were receiving from Diamond.
“My experience has shown me that if your name is not DC or Marvel, it is very difficult to get support from Diamond,” Davis said in the press release. “As an independent producer, I felt it was time to take our titles to the next level.”
Comic Book Resources reached out to Diamond and Davis for comment but has yet to receive a response.
Diamond U.K. drops Chaykin’s Black Kiss II over content concerns
Black Kiss II #2
Less than three weeks after British customs agents temporarily held the first issue of Howard Chaykin’s sexually explicit Black Kiss II, Diamond U.K. has decided to stop importing the series due to concerns about its graphic content.
Bleeding Cool reports the distributor notified British retailers that, after reviewing the second issue, it has canceled all orders the title, including the second printing of Issue 1. The first issue will be made returnable (although it seems likely that it just became a very hot commodity).
“Retailers will be aware that the first issue of Howard Chaykin’s Black Kiss II was rather explicit compared to other comics distributed by Diamond UK,” the distributor wrote in a notice to retailers. “We at Diamond have now had the opportunity to review the second issue and the explicitness has not diminished at all! In fact there are scenes depicted which may fall foul of UK Customs’ regulations on the importing of indecent and obscene material. Consequently Diamond has taken the decision not to distribute any further issues of Black Kiss II in the UK. Had Diamond UK continued to import this title and encountered problems with Customs, it could have had a knock-on effect on the timely distribution of all titles in the UK. A situation wanted by no one.”
In ‘official’ tally, The Walking Dead #100 still tramples all other comics
John Jackson Miller takes a hard look at the July sales charts, starting by parsing the numbers for the month’s top seller, The Walking Dead #100. Diamond Comic Distributors estimates place sales of the regular comic at 335,000 copies, plus almost 31,000 of the $9.99 Chromium Edition. That’s a bit less than the 383,612 copies Image Comics announced, but as Miller notes, the Diamond numbers don’t include reorders, overseas sales, newsstand sales and other channels.
Anyway, just adding those first two numbers, U.S. direct-market sales of the regular issue and the variant cover, this comic sold 366,000 copies, setting a new record for the highest orders for a comic in a single month, handily beating The Amazing Spider-Man #583 (the Barack Obama issue), the previous top seller for the 21st century, and The Darkness #11, Image’s previous all-time top seller.
Miller spends a bit of time contemplating whether variant covers should be included in the one-month total. I paused to wonder how many of the variants are being bought by collectors who are picking up the standard cover as well, but in the end, a sale is a sale, regardless of why it occurs.
While all this is great news for Image, Miller makes an observation further down in the post that should give readers pause: “As reported last Friday, the market overall continued to percolate, up nearly 20% over the previous year. A gap is developing between the sales of the Top 300 graphic novels and graphic novel sales overall; the Top 300s for the last seven months are up 25% over last year, whereas everything in the category is only up 14%. That suggests a list that’s been top-heavy with unit volume and/or dollars.”
It would be interesting to take a closer look and see where the drop-off occurs; it may not be at 300, and if it’s further up the list, that would suggest a winners-and-losers scenario that could be bad news in the long run.
When’s the last time a non-Big Two comic topped the sales charts?
The Walking Dead #100 has already been trumpeted as the bestselling comic, in initial orders, since 1997, so it comes as absolutely no surprise that those 383,612 copies were more than enough to lead Diamond Comic Distributors’ Top 10 list for July. It’s the first time in its nearly nine-year run that the horror series by Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard has topped the chart.
However, it also marks another milestone: It’s the first time in almost a decade that a comic published by a company other than Marvel or DC has claimed the top spot in the direct market. That honor, in November 2002, went to another Image title, Masters of the Universe #1, by Val Staples and Emiliano Santalucia. Of course, that comic sold about 270,000 fewer copies than the 100th issue of The Walking Dead, according to the invaluable Comichron archives.
Before that, though, the now-defunct Dreamwave Productions had a pretty good run, with its Transformers series leading the monthly sales charts for a full half of 2002.
Comics A.M. | DiDio and Lee on state of DC and industry
Jim Lee
Publishing | ICv2 sits down for a three-part interview with DC Comics Co-Publishers Jim Lee and Dan DiDio that takes the long view of the past year, covering the launch of the New 52, the effect of digital and the loss of Borders, and the recent discussions around creators’ rights. “It’s a cyclical thing. It’s an issue that constantly comes back,” DiDio said. “We hear about the great jobs and the great books that creators might participate in, but what we don’t hear about are all the books we’ve invested in over the years that never delivered, where we’ve invested in the talent and the time to make sure they had the opportunity to tell the stories they tell. It’s a very big picture, and it’s a very complex issue that can’t be boiled down. One thing I feel the most strongly is that I feel extraordinarily confident that we do everything we can to make this a very creator friendly company, to make sure they have an opportunity to tell the stories they want to tell with our characters and also in their creator owned stories too.” [ICv2]
Comics A.M. | Retailers remain upbeat: “2012 is rocking it”
The Walking Dead #100
Retailing | Heidi MacDonald reports on the retailer lunch at Comic-Con International, where spirits were running high after an exceptionally good year, with sales up 13 percent over 2011. Retailers shared success stories, Diamond Comic Distributors offered incentives for new businesses, and MacDonald pulled out an interestingly eclectic list of titles that are spurring sales, including The Walking Dead, Saga, and Jeffrey Brown’s cat cartoons and Vader and Son. [Publishers Weekly]
Publishing | ICv2 talks to the Viz Media executives about a range of topics, including the stabilization of the manga market, new interest from comics retailers, the shift to digital, and an uptick in the popularity of shoujo (girls’) manga. [ICv2]
DC postpones release of Batman Incorporated #3 following shootings
In the wake of Friday’s shootings in Aurora, Colorado, DC Comics has delayed the release of Batman Incorporated #3, originally set to go on sale Wednesday, because the issue “contains content that may be perceived as insensitive in light of recent events.” It will instead be released Aug. 22.
In an email sent Monday to retailers, the publisher explained that, “Out of respect for the victims and families in Aurora, Colorado DC Entertainment has made the decision to postpone the release of BATMAN INCORPORATED #3 for one month because the comic contains content that may be perceived as insensitive in light of recent events. We request that retailers do not make this issue available as previously solicited.”
Artist Chris Burnham addressed the delay on Twitter, writing, “Batman Inc #3 is going to be delayed a month due to some grim imagery that would seem wholly inappropriate given the Aurora killings. The book printed on time. I’m looking at a copy on my desk right now. This isn’t a scheduling excuse, we’re trying to do the right thing. It’s not just a Batman comic with guns in it. There’s a specific scene that made DC & the whole Bat-team say ‘Yikes.’ Too close for comfort.”
Comic Book Resources has an exclusive preview of Batman Incorporated #3, which features the New 52 debut of Matches Malone, and finds Batman on the trail of who’s trying to kill Damian.
Comics A.M.| New motion in Superman legal feud; a case for optimism
Superman
Legal | In a motion for summary judgment filed Monday in the long-running legal battle for the rights to Superman, attorneys for Warner Bros. are revisiting their 2009 argument that the estate of Joe Shuster has no grounds to reclaim the artist’s share of the copyright to the Man of Steel. They point to a 1992 agreement in which the estate relinquished all claims in exchange for “more than $600,000 and other benefits,” which included DC Comics paying Shuster’s remaining debts follow his death earlier that year, and providing his sister Jean Seavy with a $25,000 annual pension. Daniel Best has the documents, while Jeff Trexler provides context, noting that the new filing “filing wasn’t a Perry Mason-esque unveiling of surprising new facts. Rather, it was a routine motion for summary judgment.” A hearing is scheduled for Aug. 20. [20th Century Danny Boy, The Beat]
Comics A.M. | The annual ‘Will Comic-Con Move’ pool begins
San Diego Convention Center
Comic-Con | The dust hasn’t even settled on Comic-Con International, and already the hand-wringing has begun anew over whether organizers will keep the event in San Diego past their 2015 contract. A proposed $550 million expansion of the San Diego Convention Center would have to break ground by the end of the year to meet a 2016 deadline. [Fox 5]
Conventions | To coincide with the 40th anniversary of the first San Diego Comic-Con, some of the founders are organizing San Diego Comic Fest, a small-scale event — it’s described as “an old-school comic con” — to be held Oct. 19-21. [UT-San Diego]
Comics A.M. | Comic sales up 18.6% for first half of year
Avengers vs. X-Men #6
Retailing | Sales of comics and graphic novels in the direct market rose 18.6 percent for the first half of the year, compared to the same period in 2011, reports the retail news and analysis site ICv2. John Jackson Miller adds that, “Retailers have already ordered more material through June — nearly $223 million in retail dollars— than they did in last year through July.” He also points out that the second half of the year has outperformed the first half every year for the past decade, by an average of 10 percent, meaning we can probably expect 2012 to finish strong. [ICv2.com, Comichron]
Publishing | The new Valiant Entertainment would like to follow the movie “blueprint” that Marvel has laid out, according to a new profile of the reborn company. “Investors like to be able to compare concepts to other concepts,” said Valiant chairman Peter Cuneo, former CEO of Marvel. “With Valiant, we very much have a blueprint to follow, which is Marvel.” The profile mostly focuses on the business side of Valiant, as well as some of its history. [The New York Times]
Two tales of the comics shop
Christopher Butcher has a nice reminiscence of how he discovered comics that shows up both the advantage the newsstand had and its fatal shortcoming. Little Christopher spotted The Transformers #3 in his local convenience store:
I loved Transformers, and didn’t realize that there were comics. I knew that there WERE such things as comics, I’d see them in the Beckers’ convenience store across the street from my house, but I wasn’t really interested … I asked (probably demanded) that my mom get it for me, that there are TRANSFORMERS ADVENTURES NOT ON TV AND LOOK IT ALSO HAS SPIDER-MAN IN IT THAT’S CRAZY. She relented.
But when he went back to the store, he learned that, unlike TV, the comics industry doesn’t churn out a new episode every day, and he would have to wait a month for the next comic — which, when it came in, was Issue 5. Which was equally awesome, but … what about Issue 4? I remember this problem — specifically, I remember when comics went from being mostly self-contained in a single issue to four-issue arcs, and suddenly it mattered what the number on the cover was. Here’s the thing about newsstands: They were everywhere, and you had the serendipity of just running across a comic you never knew existed, but because distribution wasn’t consistent (and neither were trips to the drugstore), you never knew if you would be able to get the next issue. Chris’ story has a happy ending (spoiler): His parents discovered a local comics shop and got the missing issues, and now grown-up Chris runs one.
On the other side of the coin, David Brothers writes about how he has gradually given up his Wednesday visits to the comics shop for reasons of both quality and space.
