Comix Experience best-sellers 2015
/After the cut, it's a big long data-dump for people what like that kind of thing!
I’m posting this year’s sales analysis a bit wider than usual (Hello Reddit!), so let me write a little more about myself and my CV and my stores than typical. My name is Brian Hibbs and I own two comic book stores in San Francisco: Comix Experience on Divisadero St, and Comix Experience Outpost on Ocean Ave. I opened the original store 26 years ago in 1989, when I was just twenty-one years old, and I purchased Outpost almost exactly two years ago, in order to stop it from closing overnight.
San Francisco is currently home to nine comic book stores (The others include: Cards and Comics Central, Collector’s Cave, Isotope, Whatever, Amazing Fantasy, Mission: Comics and Art, and Two Cats); down from twenty-four when I opened in 1989. There are also something around a dozen general independent book stores (note that San Francisco has no national chain bookstores!) that also carry a solid selection of “graphic novels” (which is usually really just a highfaluting name for “bound collection of comics”, and isn’t really any different in any substantial way from “comic book”, except that it makes people feel better about themselves) – but it is the comics specialty stores that are selling the most comics material, and it is my belief that my two Comix Experience stores sell roughly a quarter of all comics material in The City.
As I noted, I have been selling comics since 1989, and we’re the oldest comic store with the same ownership in the same location in San Francisco. For a quarter of a century I’ve written “Tilting At Windmills”, a regular column about comics retailing, also published in two volumes from IDW Publishing; I’ve been a judge of the Eisner Awards (Comics’ equivalent of the Oscars); I’ve sat on the Board of Directors of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (an organization that protects the First Amendment rights of comics creators), I was one of the original founders of ComicsPRO (the comics retailer trade organization); and I even led a successful Class Action lawsuit against Marvel Comics that won more than a million dollars for comic book retailers internationally.
Most recently, in response to rising costs in San Francisco, we launched an international Graphic-Novel-Of-The-Month Club where we hold streaming meetings with authors (like Neil Gaiman!) for literally hundreds of folks around the country (and globe!), and we also have a sibling club for kids aged 8-13, which is co-hosted with my twelve year old son.
(*whew*)
2015 was an excellent year for Comix Experience – sales were up by 14.41% in the main store, and by 19.53% at Outpost; something that I attribute mostly to my superlative staff (Douglas, Emma and Sienna at the main store, and Nathan, Cameron, and Jay at Outpost) – and we’ve had our best year ever at both locations.
The two stores are VERY different from one another with different tones and tenors. The main store is very much a book store that specializes in comics material: 56% of our sales came from book-format comics this year, while 40% came from periodical comics (usually stapled, usually 32 pages). Only 4% of our sales come from other material (including toys and t-shirts and so on). Comix Experience is less about the characters (Batman and Spider-Man, et al.) and much more focused on the creators that bring those characters to life. As a creator-driven store, our sales reflect that passion, as you will see below.
Comix Experience Outpost runs pretty differently – it was an existing store that we took over, and because of its location and the nature of its traffic, it is FAR more focused on the periodical comic (as well as the back issue). Outpost is 70% periodical-format comics (10% of that is back issues), and just 23% in book format comics. 7% of sales there are toys and other merchandise. It’s a very different sales mix than the Mothership!
Let’s take a look, store-by-store, at sales this year, and see what the best-sellers are in each category, and get a sense of maybe where the market is heading. Let’s look at BOOKS, first, since that’s the biggest category at the bigger store!
One important consideration here is that these numbers DO NOT include the Graphic-Novel-Of-The-Month Club numbers, every one of which would top the #1 in-store book! In fact, we’ve been told that, for at least some of the titles we selected (which were, in order: ILYA’s “Room For Love”, Ryan North and Erica Henderson’s “Unbeatable Squirrel-Girl”, Liz Suburbia’s “Sacred Heart”, Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba’s “Two Brothers”, Neil Gaiman and JH Williams III’s “Sandman: Overture”, and Cullen Bunn and Tyler Crooks’ “Harrow County”), the GN club represented 8-10% of the print run of those books!
As always, our single biggest entry is the generic “Sale Book”, where we’re marking down unsold books by roughly 50% of cover price to get them out – that catchall, combined, sold more copies than our #1 book. This is true at BOTH stores. But, I’m not including that in this presentation because I think it muddies the waters too much.
So, starting with The Mothership, Comix Experience on Divisadero, the top 100 (or so) books looks like this:
| 1 | SAGA TP VOL 04 |
| 2 | SAGA TP VOL 05 |
| 3 | SAGA TP VOL 01 |
| 4 | SAGA TP VOL 03 |
| 5 | SAGA TP VOL 02 |
| 6 | SAGA DLX ED HC VOL 01 |
| 7 | TREES TP VOL 01 |
| 8 | DEADLY CLASS TP VOL 01 REAGAN YOUTH |
| 9 | WICKED & DIVINE TP VOL 01 THE FAUST ACT |
| 10 | SPACE DUMPLINS GN VOL 01 |
| 11 | SEX CRIMINALS TP VOL 01 |
| 12 | SEX CRIMINALS TP VOL 02 TWO WORLDS ONE COP |
| 13 | SANDMAN TP VOL 01 |
| 14 | MS MARVEL TP VOL 01 NO NORMAL |
| 15 | LOW TP VOL 01 THE DELIRIUM OF HOPE |
| 16 | MS MARVEL TP VOL 02 GENERATION WHY |
| 17 | EAST OF WEST TP VOL 01 THE PROMISE |
| FADE OUT TP VOL 01 | |
| 19 | SANDMAN OVERTURE DELUXE ED HC |
| 20 | BLACK SCIENCE TP VOL 01 HOW TO FALL FOREVER |
| 21 | FABLES TP VOL 22 |
| 22 | DEADLY CLASS TP VOL 02 KIDS OF THE BLACK HOLE |
| Y THE LAST MAN TP BOOK 01 | |
| 24 | EAST OF WEST TP VOL 04 WHO WANTS WAR |
| IN REAL LIFE GN | |
| 26 | AMULET SC VOL 01 STONEKEEPER |
| BLACK SCIENCE TP VOL 02 WELCOME NOWHERE | |
| THIS ONE SUMMER GN | |
| WICKED & DIVINE TP VOL 02 FANDEMONIUM | |
| 30 | BONE COLOR ED SC VOL 01 OUT FROM BONEVILLE |
| SANDMAN TP VOL 02 THE DOLLS HOUSE | |
| 32 | APOCALYPTIGIRL AN ARIA FOR THE END TIMES TP |
| THE INCAL HC | |
| 34 | BITCH PLANET TP VOL 01 EXTRAORDINARY MACHINE |
| 35 | RAT QUEENS TP VOL 01 SASS & SORCERY |
| STEP ASIDE POPS HARK A VAGRANT COLLECTION HC | |
| UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL TP VOL 01 SQUIRREL POWER | |
| 38 | WATCHMEN TP |
| 39 | LOVE AND ROCKETS NEW STORIES TP VOL 07 |
| 40 | NIMONA GN |
| PROPHET TP VOL 01 REMISSION | |
| PROPHET TP VOL 04 JOINING | |
| 43 | BEE AND PUPPYCAT TP VOL 01 |
| KILLING & DYING HC | |
| RAT QUEENS TP VOL 02 FAR REACHING TENTACLES OF N'RYGOT | |
| 46 | DESCENDER TP VOL 01 TIN STARS |
| OGLAF BOOK TWO | |
| 48 | BRYAN LEE O MALLEY SECONDS GN |
| CIVIL WAR TP | |
| HAWKEYE TP VOL 01 MY LIFE AS A WEAPON | |
| HAWKEYE TP VOL 03 LA WOMAN | |
| MS MARVEL TP VOL 03 CRUSHED | |
| 53 | EAST OF WEST TP VOL 02 WE ARE ALL ONE |
| EAST OF WEST TP VOL 03 THERE IS NO US | |
| FUN HOME TP | |
| OGLAF BOOK ONE | |
| 57 | BLACK HOLE COLLECTED SC |
| 58 | AMULET SC VOL 02 STONEKEEPERS CURSE |
| DARTH VADER AND SON HC | |
| MEANWHILE IN SAN FRANCISCO THE CITY IN ITS OWN WORDS | |
| WRENCHIES GN | |
| 62 | BATMAN TP VOL 01 THE COURT OF OWLS |
| BLACK SCIENCE TP VOL 03 VANISHING POINT | |
| COPRA TP ROUND TWO | |
| EX MACHINA TP BOOK 01 | |
| TWO BROTHERS HC | |
| 67 | BATMAN YEAR ONE DELUXE SC |
| CAT PERSON | |
| DAYTRIPPER TP | |
| FIGHT CLUB (Prose) | |
| MANHATTAN PROJECTS TP VOL 05 THE COLD WAR | |
| NEMO RIVER OF GHOSTS HC | |
| V FOR VENDETTA NEW EDITION TP (MR) | |
| 74 | ADVENTURE TIME TP VOL 01 |
| BATMAN THE KILLING JOKE SPECIAL ED HC | |
| FABLES TP VOL 01 LEGENDS IN EXILE | |
| GOODNIGHT DARTH VADER HC | |
| SMILE SC NEW PTG | |
| SUPERMUTANT MAGIC ACADEMY GN | |
| WALKING DEAD TP VOL 01 DAYS GONE BYE | |
| Y THE LAST MAN TP BOOK 02 | |
| 82 | DEADLY CLASS TP VOL 03 THE SNAKE PIT |
| HAWKEYE TP VOL 04 RIO BRAVO | |
| MOON KNIGHT TP VOL 01 FROM DEAD | |
| PREACHER TP BOOK 01 | |
| SANDMAN TP VOL 03 DREAM COUNTRY | |
| SISTERS GN | |
| THROUGH THE WOODS GN | |
| WALKING DEAD TP VOL 23 WHISPERS INTO SCREAMS | |
| WALKING DEAD TP VOL 24 LIFE AND DEATH | |
| 91 | ATTACK ON TITAN GN VOL 01 |
| BATMAN DARK KNIGHT RETURNS TP | |
| CHI SWEET HOME GN VOL 01 | |
| FABLES TP VOL 21 HAPPILY EVER AFTER | |
| FROM HELL TP | |
| HARK A VAGRANT HC | |
| HELLBOY TP VOL 01 SEED OF DESTRUCTION | |
| MANHATTAN PROJECTS TP VOL 01 SCIENCE BAD | |
| SACRED HEART GN | |
| SCULPTOR HC GN | |
| STAR WARS JEDI ACADEMY YR HC VOL 01 | |
| TRANSMETROPOLITAN TP VOL 01 BACK ON THE STREET | |
| ZERO TP VOL 01 AN EMERGENCY |
As you can see, it is Brian K. Vaughan’s world, we just live in it, as “Saga” utterly sweeps the top of the chart. It is almost not fair… except, that it is an excellent comic, and sales are very much deserved. “Saga” is published by Image comics, and Image entirely dominates the charts with a pretty staggering thirty-five out of the 104 books listed here.
Another thing that is probably worth noting is that super-hero comics aren’t doing that great on this list – only nine of the Top Sellers for the year are Marvel super-hero titles, and just a paltry four are DC super-hero books. Meanwhile? I count seventeen books on our Top Sellers that are aimed squarely at kids!
Meanwhile the Outpost has a very different looking list – the top is somewhat the same, but then it diverges wildly:
| 1 | SAGA TP VOL 01 |
| 2 | WICKED & DIVINE TP VOL 01 THE FAUST ACT |
| 3 | SAGA TP VOL 04 |
| 4 | SAGA TP VOL 05 |
| 5 | EAST OF WEST TP VOL 01 THE PROMISE |
| NOWHERE MEN TP VOL 01 FATES WORSE THAN DEATH | |
| SAGA DLX ED HC VOL 01 | |
| 8 | BLACK SCIENCE TP VOL 01 HOW TO FALL FOREVER |
| 9 | CIVIL WAR TP |
| 10 | DEADLY CLASS TP VOL 01 REAGAN YOUTH |
| 11 | SAGA TP VOL 02 |
| 12 | SAGA TP VOL 03 |
| 13 | EAST OF WEST TP VOL 02 WE ARE ALL ONE |
| MS MARVEL TP VOL 01 NO NORMAL | |
| PRETTY DEADLY TP VOL 01 | |
| SEX CRIMINALS TP VOL 01 | |
| SOUTHERN BASTARDS TP VOL 01 HERE WAS A MAN | |
| 18 | BATMAN THE KILLING JOKE SPECIAL ED HC |
| BLACK SCIENCE TP VOL 02 WELCOME NOWHERE | |
| NIMONA GN | |
| RAT QUEENS TP VOL 01 SASS & SORCERY | |
| 22 | MOON KNIGHT TP VOL 01 FROM DEAD |
| MS MARVEL TP VOL 02 GENERATION WHY | |
| 24 | DEADLY CLASS TP VOL 02 KIDS OF THE BLACK HOLE |
| LUMBERJANES TP VOL 01 | |
| 26 | FADE OUT TP VOL 01 |
| LOW TP VOL 01 THE DELIRIUM OF HOPE | |
| RAT QUEENS TP VOL 02 FAR REACHING TENTACLES OF N'RYGOT | |
| 29 | DEADPOOL TP VOL 01 DEAD PRESIDENTS NOW |
| INFINITY GAUNTLET TP | |
| WALKING DEAD TP VOL 23 WHISPERS INTO SCREAMS | |
| WRENCHIES GN | |
| 33 | BATMAN TP VOL 01 THE COURT OF OWLS |
| CHEW TP VOL 01 | |
| FLASH TP VOL 01 MOVE FORWARD | |
| SEX CRIMINALS TP VOL 02 TWO WORLDS ONE COP | |
| SPACE DUMPLINS GN VOL 01 | |
| WICKED & DIVINE TP VOL 02 FANDEMONIUM | |
| 39 | BATMAN ETERNAL TP VOL 01 |
| BATMAN TP VOL 03 DEATH OF THE FAMILY | |
| BEE AND PUPPYCAT TP VOL 01 | |
| BITCH PLANET TP VOL 01 EXTRAORDINARY MACHINE | |
| BLACK SCIENCE TP VOL 03 VANISHING POINT | |
| BONE COLOR ED SC VOL 01 OUT FROM BONEVILLE | |
| DEADPOOL TP VOL 01 SECRET INVASION | |
| DEADPOOL VS CARNAGE TP | |
| EAST OF WEST TP VOL 03 THERE IS NO US | |
| SANDMAN TP VOL 01 PRELUDES & NOCTURNES NEW ED | |
| THEYRE NOT LIKE US TP VOL 01 BLACK HOLES FOR THE YOUNG | |
| TREES TP VOL 01 | |
| 51 | BATMAN DARK KNIGHT RETURNS TP |
| BIRTHRIGHT TP VOL 01 HOMECOMING | |
| COPRA ROUND ONE TP | |
| DARTH VADER & FRIENDS HC | |
| DEADPOOL KILLS MARVEL UNIVERSE TP | |
| DISNEY FROZEN CINESTORY | |
| EAST OF WEST TP VOL 04 WHO WANTS WAR | |
| HOUSE OF HEM TP | |
| JUPITERS LEGACY TP VOL 01 | |
| LOCKE & KEY TP VOL 01 WELCOME TO LOVECRAFT | |
| RUMBLE TP VOL 01 WHAT COLOR OF DARKNESS | |
| SAILOR MOON TP KODANSHA ED VOL 01 | |
| STAR WARS DARTH VADER TP VOL 01 VADER | |
| STAR WARS JEDI ACADEMY YR HC VOL 03 PHANTOM BULLY | |
| STREET FIGHTER TP VOL 01 | |
| WYTCHES TP VOL 01 | |
| 67 | ALAN MOORE WRITING FOR COMICS GN |
| ALL OVER COFFEE v2: EVERYTHING IS ITS OWN REWARD | |
| AUTUMNLANDS TP VOL 01 TOOTH & CLAW | |
| BATMAN HC VOL 07 ENDGAME | |
| BATMAN LIL GOTHAM TP VOL 01 | |
| BLACKEST NIGHT TP | |
| BRYAN LEE O MALLEY SECONDS GN | |
| DARTH VADER AND SON HC | |
| DEADPOOL BY DANIEL WAY COMPLETE COLL TP VOL 01 | |
| DEADPOOL TP VOL 02 SOUL HUNTER NOW | |
| DEADPOOL TP VOL 05 WEDDING OF DEADPOOL | |
| DOCTOR WHO OFF GUIDE HOW TO BE TIME LORD HC | |
| EX MACHINA TP BOOK ONE | |
| FATALE TP VOL 01 DEATH CHASES ME | |
| GREEN ARROW TP VOL 04 THE KILL MACHINE | |
| INFINITY WAR TP (JAN062102) | |
| JUSTICE LEAGUE TP VOL 01 ORIGIN | |
| MAGNETO TP VOL 01 INFAMOUS | |
| MS MARVEL TP VOL 03 CRUSHED | |
| NIGHT OF LIVING DEADPOOL TP | |
| PHONOGRAM TP VOL 01 RUE BRITANNA | |
| RUNAWAYS COMPLETE COLLECTION TP VOL 01 | |
| STAR WARS JEDI ACADEMY YR HC VOL 01 | |
| STAR WARS TP VOL 01 SKYWALKER STRIKES | |
| TRANSMETROPOLITAN TP VOL 01 BACK ON THE STREET | |
| VELVET TP VOL 01 BEFORE THE LIVING END | |
| WALKING DEAD COMPENDIUM TP VOL 01 | |
| WALKING DEAD TP VOL 01 DAYS GONE BYE | |
| WATCHMEN TP NEW ED | |
| 96 | APOCALYPTIGIRL AN ARIA FOR THE END TIMES TP |
| BATMAN & ROBIN TP VOL 01 BORN TO KILL | |
| BATMAN EARTH ONE HC VOL 02 | |
| BATMAN HUSH COMPLETE TP | |
| BATMAN THE LONG HALLOWEEN TP NEW ED | |
| BATMAN TP VOL 05 ZERO YEAR DARK CITY | |
| BATMAN YEAR ONE DELUXE SC | |
| BATTLING BOY SC GN VOL 01 | |
| BLACKSAD AMARILLO HC | |
| BTVS SEASON 10 TP VOL 01 | |
| CAPTAIN MARVEL TP VOL 01 HIGHER FURTHER FASTER MORE | |
| COWL TP VOL 01 PRINCIPLES OF POWER | |
| CRIMINAL TP VOL 01 COWARD | |
| DAREDEVIL TP VOL 01 DEVIL AT BAY | |
| DEADLY CLASS TP VOL 03 THE SNAKE PIT | |
| DEADPOOL TP VOL 02 DARK REIGN | |
| DIVINE GN | |
| FABLES TP VOL 22 | |
| FUTURAMA TP VOL 01 O RAMA | |
| GOTG BY ABNETT AND LANNING COMPLETE COLL TP VOL 01 | |
| HILO GN VOL 01 BOY WHO CRASHED TO EARTH | |
| INJECTION TP VOL 01 | |
| JUSTICE LEAGUE TP VOL 02 THE VILLAINS JOURNEY | |
| KINGDOM COME TP NEW EDITION | |
| LAZARUS TP VOL 01 | |
| MAGNETO TP VOL 02 REVERSALS | |
| MAKING COMICS STORYTELLING SECRETS SC NEW PTG | |
| METAL GEAR SOLID OMNIBUS TP | |
| MILES MORALES ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN TP VOL 01 REVIVAL | |
| MORTAL KOMBAT X TP VOL 01 | |
| MY LITTLE PONY FRIENDS FOREVER TP VOL 01 | |
| NAILBITER TP VOL 01 THERE WILL BE BLOOD | |
| SANDMAN OVERTURE DELUXE ED HC | |
| SANDMAN TP VOL 02 THE DOLLS HOUSE NEW ED | |
| SENSATION COMICS FEATURING WONDER WOMAN TP VOL 01 | |
| SHE-HULK TP VOL 01 LAW AND DISORDER | |
| SMILE SC NEW PTG | |
| SOUTHERN BASTARDS TP VOL 02 GRIDIRON | |
| SPIDER-VERSE HC | |
| STAR WARS JEDI ACADEMY YR HC VOL 02 RETURN OF PADAWAN | |
| SUICIDE SQUAD TP VOL 01 KICKED IN THE TEETH | |
| THOR PREM HC VOL 01 GODDESS OF THUNDER | |
| UNNATURAL CREATURES STORIES SELECTED BY NEIL GAIMAN SC | |
| USAGI YOJIMBO SAGA TP VOL 01 | |
| WALKING DEAD TP VOL 02 MILES BEHIND US | |
| WALKING DEAD TP VOL 19 MARCH TO WAR | |
| WALKING DEAD TP VOL 20 ALL OUT WAR PT 1 | |
| WALKING DEAD TP VOL 24 LIFE AND DEATH | |
| WOODS TP VOL 01 | |
| Y THE LAST MAN TP BOOK 01 | |
| YOUNG AVENGERS TP VOL 01 STYLE SUBSTANCE NOW |
There are 146 titles on Outpost’s list of “Top Sellers” (Compared to Experience’s 104), mostly because of all of the ties towards the bottom. Honestly, only the top 24 titles by quantity would even place on The Mothership’s list, and Outpost’s #1 book sold about twenty percent of Experience’s #1 – like I said, Outpost is mostly periodical sales!
Of Outpost’s 146 best-selling books, fifty-one are Image books, and fifty-one are Marvel/DC superhero books (21 DC, 30 Marvel), but I still feel optimistic about this list because 16 of the Top 20 are from Image, and they also feature sixteen titles that are aimed squarely at kids. Outpost has an entrenched and trained customer base, and I believe that it takes somewhere between three and five years to build trust and shift tastes in any kind of a meaningful fashion. This looks like a pretty great start to me, at the end of year two!
What about periodical comics? Periodical comics are the crank that drives the engine – they provide a regular, steady, dependable cash-flow, and get people visiting us “52 weeks a year”. As noted above, Experience is 40% periodicals this year (I am a little surprised: that is up from last year when it was 39% -- I put this primarily on Marvel cover prices).
I actually stumped Divisadero’s staff this year when I asked them what the best-selling periodical was. They (and I!) assumed it was SAGA, or, maybe PAPER GIRLS, but, no….
| 1 | FIGHT CLUB 2 #1 |
| 2 | PAPER GIRLS #1 |
| 3 | SAGA #25 |
| 4 | SECRET WARS #1 (OF 9) |
| 5 | FIGHT CLUB 2 #2 |
| 6 | SAGA #26 |
| 7 | SAGA #28 |
| SANDMAN OVERTURE #5 (OF 6) | |
| 9 | SAGA #29 |
| 10 | SAGA #30 |
| 11 | SAGA #27 |
| 12 | SECRET WARS #2 (OF 8) |
| 13 | FIGHT CLUB 2 #3 |
| 14 | PAPER GIRLS #2 |
| 15 | SANDMAN OVERTURE #4 (OF 6) |
| 16 | SECRET WARS #3 (OF 9) |
| 17 | ISLAND #1 |
| 18 | STAR WARS #1 |
| 19 | SECRET WARS #4 (OF 9) |
| 20 | SAGA #31 |
| 21 | FIGHT CLUB 2 #4 |
| 22 | BITCH PLANET #2 |
| 23 | SANDMAN OVERTURE #6 (OF 6) |
| SECRET WARS #5 (OF 8) | |
| 25 | MONSTRESS #1 |
| 26 | SEX CRIMINALS #11 |
| 27 | CASANOVA ACEDIA #1 |
| 28 | PAPER GIRLS #3 |
| 29 | BITCH PLANET #1 |
| 30 | 8HOUSE ARCLIGHT #1 |
| 31 | DARTH VADER #1 |
| 32 | NAMELESS #1 |
| 33 | BITCH PLANET #3 |
| 34 | DESCENDER #1 |
| 35 | SECRET WARS #6 (OF 9) |
| 36 | WE STAND ON GUARD #1 |
| 37 | STAR WARS #2 |
| 38 | DOCTOR STRANGE #1 |
| INJECTION #1 | |
| 40 | STAR WARS #3 |
| 41 | JOURNEY STAR WARS FASE #1 (OF 4) |
| 42 | SECRET WARS #7 (OF 9) |
| 43 | ARCHIE #1 |
| 44 | DYING AND THE DEAD #1 |
| 45 | INJECTION #2 |
| PROVIDENCE #1 (OF 12) | |
| 47 | DARK KNIGHT III MASTER RACE #1 (OF 8) |
| PRINCESS LEIA #1 (OF 5) | |
| WE STAND ON GUARD #2 | |
| 50 | BITCH PLANET #4 |
| DARTH VADER #2 | |
| 52 | ISLAND #2 |
| STAR WARS #4 | |
| TOKYO GHOST #1 | |
| 55 | DESCENDER #2 |
| SEX CRIMINALS #10 | |
| 57 | BATMAN #40 |
| LOW #6 | |
| WE STAND ON GUARD #3 | |
| 60 | DARTH VADER #4 |
| FADE OUT #4 | |
| FIGHT CLUB 2 #5 | |
| STAR WARS #5 | |
| 64 | NAMELESS #2 |
| 65 | EAST OF WEST #16 |
| 66 | AUTUMNLANDS TOOTH & CLAW #3 |
| DOCTOR STRANGE #2 | |
| SECRET WARS #8 (OF 9) | |
| SEX CRIMINALS #12 | |
| UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL #1 (Ser 1) | |
| 71 | 8HOUSE ARCLIGHT #2 |
| BLACK SCIENCE #12 | |
| STAR WARS #6 | |
| STAR WARS #8 | |
| WALKING DEAD #145 | |
| 76 | FADE OUT #5 |
| LOW #7 | |
| 78 | A-FORCE #1 SWA |
| DARTH VADER #3 | |
| FADE OUT #6 | |
| JUPITERS LEGACY #5 | |
| OLD MAN LOGAN #1 | |
| THOR #8 | |
| WALKING DEAD #138 | |
| 85 | BATMAN #39 |
| SEX CRIMINALS #13 | |
| STAR WARS #7 | |
| WALKING DEAD #136 | |
| WALKING DEAD #137 | |
| WALKING DEAD #141 | |
| 91 | 8HOUSE #3 KIEM PART ONE |
| BATMAN #41 | |
| CRIMINAL SPECIAL ED ONE SHOT | |
| DESCENDER #3 | |
| FADE OUT #7 | |
| LOW #9 | |
| ODYC #1 | |
| WALKING DEAD #139 | |
| WALKING DEAD #146 | |
| WICKED & DIVINE #8 |
In a never-before-seen thing, there are *exactly* one hundred titles on the Top 100 this year, and the bottom of the list is about 20% higher sales than the bottom of 2014’s list. The top is also much higher – more than a third! Also, the top 22 books were all triple-digits, which is a significant deepening from the top. From my perspective, periodical comics are sort of thriving?
FIGHT CLUB 2 #1 takes the top spot, at least in part, because we had Chuck Palahniuk in for a signing. That moved the needle a little! We also get the strongest super-hero performance we’ve had in like a decade, with SECRET WARS #1 in at position number four. We sold as many copies of SW #1 as we did (almost) the next three Marvel superhero comics combined. If only lateness hadn’t plagued that project, and sent sales dropping by 20% across-the-board on later issues.
A few things I am proud of: ISLAND #1 as a Top 20 book, MONSTRESS #1 as a Top 25 title, and 8HOUSE: ARCLIGHT #1 as a top 30 book. Oh! And ARCHIE #1 as a Top 50 title!
Overall, Image is a staggering fifty-eight of the Top 100. But note how many of those are #1s and how you’re seeing fewer #2-4s on this list. This indicates people are SAMPLING, but maybe not STAYING with those titles (at least not in the “top 100 in a year” sense)
Just eighteen of our Top 100 are traditional superhero comics – with fourteen from Marvel, and just four of those from DC. My best-selling ongoing periodical DC superhero title that isn’t Snyder & Capulo’s BATMAN is BLACK CANARY #1 way way down at (you can’t see it) 174.
As I said, fourteen Marvel Super-hero comics, but ALSO fourteen Marvel STAR WARS comics. That’s crazy, and huge! Also, you can see the occasional “(ser 1)” notation for Marvel books (MUCH more so on the next chart), that’s because Marvel released more than one “issue #1” this year for certain series, creating a wicked amount of market confusion. The UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL #1 that is in our Top 100 here is the first one, not the second one.
My final note: I ran the chart out to 200 places for my own knowledge (I think that would drown you in data), and SANDMAN OVERTURE #1 (released two years ago!) placed at #185 That’s what you call a long tail! Ugh, and that it sold so much better than most of DC’s bread-and-butter superhero comics, too. DC is in serious trouble.
Let’s move back over to Outpost, and look at their periodical comic sales. This is a VERY VERY different chart. Remember, too, that 60% of Outpost’s sales are periodical comics (plus 10% for back issues)
| 1 | SECRET WARS #1 (OF 9) |
| 2 | SECRET WARS #4 (OF 9) |
| 3 | SECRET WARS #2 (OF 8) |
| 4 | SECRET WARS #5 (OF 8) |
| 5 | SECRET WARS #3 (OF 9) |
| 6 | DOCTOR STRANGE #1 |
| 7 | AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #1 |
| 8 | SECRET WARS #6 (OF 9) |
| 9 | MONSTRESS #1 |
| STAR WARS #1 | |
| 11 | SECRET WARS #7 (OF 9) |
| 12 | PAPER GIRLS #1 |
| 13 | DARTH VADER #1 |
| 14 | BATMAN #41 |
| THORS #1 SWA | |
| 16 | BATMAN #40 |
| 17 | GUARDIANS OF GALAXY #1 |
| 18 | INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #1 |
| 19 | CIVIL WAR #1 SWA |
| 20 | BATMAN #38 |
| STAR WARS LANDO #1 (OF 5) | |
| 22 | BATMAN #39 |
| 23 | EXTRAORDINARY X-MEN #1 |
| 24 | BATMAN #43 |
| 25 | BATMAN #42 |
| SPIDER-GWEN #1 | |
| 27 | MIGHTY THOR #1 |
| STAR WARS #4 | |
| 29 | STAR WARS #3 |
| 30 | AMAZING SPIDER-MAN RENEW YOUR VOWS #1 SWA |
| BATMAN #44 | |
| JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #1 | |
| 33 | ALL NEW ALL DIFFERENT AVENGERS #1 |
| STAR WARS #5 | |
| 35 | FIGHT CLUB 2 #1 MACK MAIN CVR |
| 36 | STAR WARS #7 |
| 37 | DARK KNIGHT III MASTER RACE #1 (OF 8) |
| 38 | BATMAN #45 |
| SPIDER-GWEN #1 (ser 1) | |
| STAR WARS #2 | |
| STAR WARS #6 | |
| 42 | A-FORCE #1 SWA |
| BATMAN #46 | |
| CIVIL WAR #2 SWA | |
| OLD MAN LOGAN #1 | |
| 46 | AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #2 |
| AMAZING SPIDER-MAN RENEW YOUR VOWS #2 SWA | |
| SILK #1 (Ser 1) | |
| 49 | ALL NEW HAWKEYE #1 |
| CAPTAIN AMERICA SAM WILSON #1 | |
| DOCTOR STRANGE #2 | |
| SECRET WARS #8 (OF 9) | |
| 53 | AMAZING SPIDER-MAN RENEW YOUR VOWS #3 SWA |
| UNCANNY INHUMANS #1 | |
| 55 | STAR WARS VADER DOWN #1 VDWN |
| 56 | ALL NEW WOLVERINE #1 |
| AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #12 SV | |
| AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #13 SV | |
| DARTH VADER #2 | |
| DARTH VADER #4 | |
| DEADPOOL #1 | |
| FIGHT CLUB 2 #2 MAIN CVR | |
| PRINCESS LEIA #1 (OF 5) | |
| 64 | CIVIL WAR #3 SWA |
| DARTH VADER #6 | |
| INFINITY GAUNTLET #1 | |
| MONSTRESS #2 | |
| STAR WARS #8 | |
| 69 | ANT-MAN #1 |
| BATMAN ANNUAL #4 | |
| DEADPOOLS SECRET SECRET WARS #1 (OF 4) | |
| JOURNEY STAR WARS FASE #1 (OF 4) | |
| STAR WARS #9 | |
| 74 | AMAZING SPIDER-MAN RENEW YOUR VOWS #4 SWA |
| AMAZING SPIDER-MAN RENEW YOUR VOWS #5 SWA | |
| PAPER GIRLS #2 | |
| X-MEN 92 #1 SWA | |
| 78 | CIVIL WAR #4 SWA |
| DARTH VADER #3 | |
| STAR WARS #10 | |
| 81 | DARTH VADER #5 |
| THOR #8 | |
| WOLF #1 | |
| 84 | AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #3 |
| UNCANNY AVENGERS #1 | |
| 86 | A-FORCE #2 SWA |
| AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #14 SV | |
| AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #15 SV | |
| DARTH VADER #7 | |
| EXTRAORDINARY X-MEN #2 | |
| WE STAND ON GUARD #1 | |
| 92 | AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #18 |
| JUSTICE LEAGUE #41 | |
| SAGA #25 | |
| 95 | BATMAN #47 |
| DARTH VADER #8 | |
| MS MARVEL #1 | |
| SAGA #26 | |
| STAR WARS #11 | |
| STAR WARS #12 | |
| THOR #4 | |
| THOR #6 | |
| THOR #7 | |
| TOTALLY AWESOME HULK #1 |
So, yeah, a pretty super-hero oriented store!
Things I like here: MONSTRESS #1 as a TOP TEN book (Wow! Staff loved that one, obviously!), and FIGHT CLUB 2 #1 in at #35.
There are 104 titles here, with only eight of them being Image (big difference to the main store!), though another difference between the stores is that The Mothership doesn’t really do multiple covers, unless there is an artistic reason to do so (the split covers on SANDMAN OVERTURE, for example), but Outpost is much more collector-oriented, building up customer bases for things like the Skottie Young variants (which sell better than many many Marvel comics) or the Hip Hop covers, etc. These numbers are COMBINED cover sales, so many of these titles have somewhere between 1/3 and ½ of their sales as being variant covers (and therefore, less likely to represent long-term readers)
“Star Wars” is almost a quarter of the Top (104) here – twenty-four SW books chart here, and there are a staggering (compared to Divisadero, I mean, not against the entire industry!) seventy comics that are super-hero oriented. Fifty-six of those Marvel, and just fourteen DC. Like I said, DC is in really deep trouble.
Let’s take a little look at how the marketshares break out. Since we’re already with Outpost, let’s stay with them. This is both categories combined, comics and books (and toys and shirts, and everything else, too!)
| MARVEL COMICS | 40.04% |
| DC COMICS | 21.61% |
| IMAGE COMICS | 15.55% |
| IDW PUBLISHING | 4.08% |
| DARK HORSE COMICS | 3.89% |
| BOOM! STUDIOS | 3.28% |
| D. E. | 1.34% |
| ONI PRESS INC. | 0.82% |
| ARCHIE COMIC PUBLICATIONS | 0.81% |
| TITAN COMICS | 0.58% |
| GRAPHITTI DESIGNS | 0.46% |
| AVATAR PRESS INC | 0.46% |
| :01 FIRST SECOND | 0.40% |
| FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS | 0.39% |
| KODANSHA COMICS | 0.33% |
| BONGO COMICS | 0.30% |
| GRAPHIX | 0.26% |
| VIZ MEDIA LLC | 0.24% |
| DRAWN & QUARTERLY | 0.17% |
| VALIANT ENTERTAINMENT LLC | 0.17% |
Looks a lot like the typical market, really. But DC is starting to approach only half of Marvel, which is bad juju for them. And Image is nearly within 6 percentage points, wow. Image taking the #2 spot next year would not be a surprise. Note that Marvel and DC are both losing ground to Image compared to Outpost last year – Marvel was 41.4% and DC 26.7% compared to Image’s 12.1% (or IDW’s 3.1% or Boom’s 2.6%). Between those percentage changes, and the kind of scarily massive impact of open-to-buy Marvel variant covers on the Outpost comics list, I get worried about having a periodical focused store, despite the double digit sales growth. Year three is going to be an interesting year to see how and where things stabilize – because outside of a very few exceptions (MONSTRESS!), we’re not seeing the Image effect really landing like it does at the main shop.
Experience looks very very different than Outpost in 2015:
| IMAGE COMICS | 21.01% |
| MARVEL COMICS | 20.70% |
| DC COMICS | 18.28% |
| DARK HORSE COMICS | 6.85% |
| IDW PUBLISHING | 4.67% |
| BOOM! STUDIOS | 3.25% |
| FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS | 2.46% |
| DRAWN & QUARTERLY | 1.52% |
| :01 FIRST SECOND | 1.34% |
| ONI PRESS INC. | 1.27% |
| VIZ MEDIA LLC | 1.18% |
| AVATAR PRESS INC | 1.08% |
| HUMANOIDS INC | 0.97% |
| GRAPHIX | 0.90% |
| D. E. | 0.84% |
| ARCHIE COMIC PUBLICATIONS | 0.71% |
| KODANSHA COMICS | 0.69% |
| PANTHEON BOOKS | 0.63% |
| REBELLION / 2000AD | 0.54% |
| TITAN COMICS | 0.46% |
This is the second year in a row that Image was Experience’s #1 publisher, and the first year that I feel like it’s actually a real thing: in 2014 we had Brian K. Vaughan signing the first SAGA hardcover, and that represented hundreds of $50 books we wouldn’t have sold otherwise. But in 2015? These were honest day-to-day sales not swayed one way or another by a magnet signing.
And here is the thing: Image is crippling itself by charging $9.99 for many TPs. While there is some slight marketing value in a $9.99 trade, I firmly believe that we would still be stilling at least 90% of what we do if these books were $14.99 instead. Why do I think that? Because ALL of our top-selling $9.99 Image titles are books we PUSH. Further, the spread between v1 and v2 is better than the average spread between many other books – these are selling based on content, not on price! We sold more copies of SAGA v4 and v5 than we did of v1 this year – that indicates to me that I am losing $5 on each and every SAGA v1. And so are Brian and Fiona. There is a clear inelastic demand for these books, and Image’s pricing strategy really strongly needs reevaluating in my opinion.
Marvel and DC are just going to decrease further from here, I think. While Marvel is up 0.7%, most of that seems to be from the pricey relaunch at the end of the year – and while a $5 first issue of DR. STRANGE helps me just fine, that’s not a repeatable thing every year, at least not at that sell-through number. Further, I’m not looking at any major demand with the new backlist their current frontlist is likely to be generating, and, unlike DC, they do a pretty mediocre job of stocking and positioning their older backlist.
DC lost 1.5% this year, and they REALLY don’t have any new backlist to sell from current frontlist titles, and both of their proposed/rumored plans for next year (twice-a-month shipping on some books and a full relaunch on issue #52s) sound like giant major audience-losing ideas (Seriously? Relaunching BATMAN to #1 and twice-a-month sounds on the face of it to guarantee it no longer selling 100k month, but maybe 75k or so max, right? I want DC to bring more books to sell like BATMAN, not bring down BATMAN to sell more like DETECTIVE)
Overall, both stores seem to be going in the right direction, and we’re seeing a lot of strength in a lot of great comics. We’ve absolutely got a comic that you’re going to like, and we’d love it if you came by and let us show you all of the possibilities that comics have, whether that’s at our main store on Divisadero, or at the Outpost, out on Ocean ave., or through our Graphic-Novel-of-the-Month Club or our GN Club for Kids! We LOVE comics, and we want you to love them too!
Feel free to make any observations about our sales in the comment section below – we’re always interested in questions and feedback.
