Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Success Metrics for the new DCU

Tomorrow the era of the new DC Universe (DCnU) begins with the release of Justice League #1. The "New 52" (as DC are calling it) represents a bold and, as DC have more-or-less admitted, somewhat desperate publishing strategy: 52 new (or new-ish) monthly titles starting with #1 issues, available day-and-date as print and digital versions. They are hoping to attract new readers to DC Comics, or at least capture back a good number of lapsed readers. So how might the success of the DCnU be judged? Here are some possibilities:

(Note that I am considering success from the publisher's perspective in this post. For we readers, success will and should be determined by quality of the comics themselves.)

Profit. Actually, the chance of making a profit from the venture is slim at best. But that's okay, as profit isn't the main motivator for DC anyway. Oh sure they'd be happy if all of their titles were making money, but I suspect they'll be perfectly happy with simply losing less money overall, especially if some of the other metrics are met.

Sales. Obviously, increasing sales is one of DC's main goals. This could be measured in many ways, e.g. by increase in individual titles that are being relaunched, or the number of the 52 titles over a certain threshold. But as this is a complete line-wide revamp, perhaps the most salient number to look at will be the average sales of the entire DCU line. Courtesy of The Beat, here's a table of the line-wide averages for the DCU as of this past June's sales figures:

DC UNIVERSE
06/2006: 53,274
06/2007: 47,986
06/2008: 35,800
06/2009: 36,329
---------------
06/2010: 34,612 (- 7.6%)**
07/2010: 35,372 (+ 2.2%)
08/2010: 33,411 (- 5.5%)
09/2010: 32,042 (- 4.1%)
10/2010: 32,832 (+ 2.5%)
11/2010: 34,180 (+ 4.1%)
12/2010: 30,870 (- 9.7%)
01/2011: 24,321 (-21.2%)**
02/2011: 25,887 (+ 6.4%)**
03/2011: 26,720 (+ 3.2%)**
04/2011: 29,126 (+ 9.0%)
05/2011: 27,745 (- 4.7%)**
06/2011: 28,673 (+ 3.4%)**
----------------
6 months: - 7.1%
1 year  : -17.2%
2 years : -21.1%
5 years : -46.2%
 

Notice a trend? Even the two-year comparison is bad, and the five-year number is atrocious. Now part of that five-year decline can be attributed to DC pumping out even more low-selling titles; one sure way of raising the line-wide average would be to cut out all of the low-selling titles and publish fewer comics. But since DC seem determined to publish 52 monthly titles (or more, with additional mini-series coming starting in October...), getting the line-wide average as it stands a year from now up to at least where it was in 2009 would be considered a win.

Market Share. Despite DC's claims to the contrary, I believe that a market share win against their cross-town rivals at Marvel will be considered a victory. Market share is one of the things you can trumpet even when you are not actually making money. And if market share wasn't a top concern, there would be no reason to be pumping out so many new comics every month, most of which are losing money and whose only purpose seems to be taking retail shelf space away from your competitors. It seems highly likely that DC will see a market share win in September; if they can keep that going for a majority of the coming twelve months—or at least keep it more competitive than it has been in the recent past—they will consider the New 52 a success.

Digital Sales. With the day-and-date availability of digital versions of all of the DCnU titles, DC is obviously hoping to pick up new readers who are willing to pay for online comics. To date, digital sales on most comics have been a small fraction of the print sales, due to: 1) inconsistent availability; 2) the gawdawful hard-to-use old comiXology app (a new revised version was released last week, and based on my initial few minutes of testing it appears to be vastly improved); and 3) competition from cost- and DRM-free illegal scans. With all of the DCnU titles now available online on a consistent basis, they should see an upswing in the number of people buying online. The question is how big that upswing will be? I don't imagine that the number of people who are willing to pay the parity-with-print $2.99 cost for the digital comics in their first month of release will be huge; but there may be enough people willing to cough-up the month-old $1.99 price for titles to make up for any deficiencies in the sales of print.

Visibility. The real business of DC Comics, as far as their corporate overlords are concerned, is in generating characters and other intellectual property that can be exploited for profit in other media. Not just blockbuster movies like The Dark Knight, but in video games, television, licensed apparel, etc. So every time a story about the DCnU hits the comic press, or especially the mainstream press, it is a win for DC. Even if all of the other metrics we've discussed are moderate at best, the amount of publicity already generated is likely being viewed as a success.

Long Term. It will be tempting to look at the first-month sales figures for the DCnU titles and make a snap judgment about the New 52's success. But the real measure won't be apparent until at least a year, or even better two years, down the line. How many of the New 52 are still being published in 2013? Will the "cancellation floor" for the line as a whole rise? Can titles maintain their initial sales boost? Will DC be able to successfully launch new comics and properties? Answers to these kinds of questions will ultimately tell us if this big experiment has really succeeded.

Friday, August 26, 2011

Amazon Top 50

Here are the Top 50 Graphic Novels on Amazon this morning. All the previous caveats apply.


1 (-). Cabin Fever (Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Book 6) *
2 (-). Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
3 (-). Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History
4 (+10). Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began
5 (R). Hark! A Vagrant *
6 (-2). Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art
7 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid 5: The Ugly Truth
8 (-3). Dork Diaries 3 (Kindle edition)
9 (-). Dork Diaries 3: Tales from a Not-So-Talented Pop Star
10 (+19). Amulet #4: The Last Council *
11 (-5). Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
12 (+4). V for Vendetta
13 (+6). The Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book (revised and expanded edition)
14 (-2). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days
15 (+5). Sailor Moon 1 *
16 (-3). Watchmen
17 (-6). Batman: Year One
18 (-10). The Walking Dead Volume 14: No Way Out
19 (+7). Batman: The Killing Joke
20 (-10). The Complete Peanuts Boxed Set 1979-1982 (Vol. 15-16) *
21 (+10). Codename: Sailor V 1 *
22 (-4). We3 Deluxe Edition
23 (-2). The Walking Dead, Book 7 *
24 (+3). Dork Diaries 2 (Kindle edition)
25 (-2). The Walking Dead Compendium Volume 1
26 (+2). Dork Diaries (Kindle edition)
27 (+3). Batman: Arkham Asylum (15th Anniversary Edition)
28 (-4). Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Popular Party Girl
29 (-14). The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume III: Century #2 1969
30 (-13). 5 Very Good Reasons to Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth
31 (-6). Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Boxset
32 (+6). Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight Volume 8: Last Gleaming
33 (+7). Twilight: The Graphic Novel, Vol. 2 *
34 (N). Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ultimate Collection Volume 1 *
35 (R). The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes & Nocturnes
36 (N). Dork Diaries 3 1/2: How to Dork Your Diary *
37 (-). Big Nate: From the Top
38 (R). Big Nate Out Loud (Kindle)
39 (-). The Complete Peanuts 1981-1982 (Vol. 16) *
40 (R). Big Nate Out Loud
41 (R). Locke & Key Volume 1: Welcome to Lovecraft HC
42 (N). Fables: The Deluxe Edition Book Three
43 (-10). Batman: The Long Halloween
44 (-22). The Complete Maus: A Survivor's Tale
45 (N). Y: The Last Man, Vol. 1 (Deluxe Edition)
46 (R). Palestine
47 (R). Castle: Richard Castle's Deadly Storm *
48 (-16). Batman: Hush
49 (-8). Garfield Lard of the Jungle: His 52nd Book *
50 (N). Big Nate Boredom Buster



Items with asterisks (*) are pre-order items.

N = New listing appearing on list for first time
R = Item returning to the list after having been off for 1 or more weeks


Commentary:

* Two upcoming releases show strong interest this week: Kate Beaton's Hark! A Vagrant collection leaps from down off the charts all the way to #5, and the latest in Kazuo Kabishi's Amulet series hops up to the #10 spot.

* It's slightly cheaper to buy the two volumes of Maus separately in paperback than to buy the one-volume edition in hardcover, but only slightly so. Me, I'd rather have it all in one nice hardcover for just a couple of bucks more, but then I'm not a broke college student trying to stretch my book-buying dollar as far as possible.

* The upcoming new Sailor Moon editions are showing remarkable staying power for manga, moreso than any other manga in recent memory on this chart (including Naruto and One Piece).

* All of the debuts this week are in the lower part of the chart, led by a sizable collection of classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a Dork Diaries spin-off, and deluxe editions of Fables and Y, the Last Man.









Thursday, August 25, 2011

Shameless Friend Promotion: JimO's Feynman

Pal Jim Ottaviani has a new book out next week: Feynman (drawn by Leland Myrick).

Today over on John Scalzi's blog Whatever, Jim has a guest post in the Big Idea series.

Also, all week excerpts from the book are running over on Tor.com.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Monkey Covers

Sunday is Monkey Covers day here at YACB. Because there's nothing better than a comic with a monkey on the cover!

Sad Sack learns that there's a good reason for the 'Do Not Feed the Monkey' sign at the zoo on the cover of Sad Sad Sack World #25 (1970) by George Baker.

Image courtesy of the GCD. Click on the image for a larger version.

Friday, August 19, 2011

Amazon Top 50

Here are the Top 50 Graphic Novels on Amazon this afternoon. All the previous caveats apply.


1 (-). Cabin Fever (Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Book 6) *
2 (-). Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
3 (+1). Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History
4 (+8). Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art
5 (-2). Dork Diaries 3 (Kindle edition)
6 (+1). Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
7 (-1). Diary of a Wimpy Kid 5: The Ugly Truth
8 (-3). The Walking Dead Volume 14: No Way Out
9 (+4). Dork Diaries 3: Tales from a Not-So-Talented Pop Star
10 (N). The Complete Peanuts Boxed Set 1979-1982 (Vol. 15-16) *
11 (-3). Batman: Year One
12 (-1). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days
13 (+1). Watchmen
14 (-4). Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began
15 (-6). The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume III: Century #2 1969
16 (-1). V for Vendetta
17 (+3). 5 Very Good Reasons to Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth
18 (N). We3 Deluxe Edition *
19 (-2). The Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book (revised and expanded edition)
20 (+4). Sailor Moon 1 *
21 (+26). The Walking Dead, Book 7 *
22 (+6). The Complete Maus: A Survivor's Tale
23 (-). The Walking Dead Compendium Volume 1
24 (+11). Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Popular Party Girl
25 (-). Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Boxset
26 (-4). Batman: The Killing Joke
27 (-8). Dork Diaries 2 (Kindle edition)
28 (-10). Dork Diaries (Kindle edition)
29 (+16). Amulet #4: The Last Council *
30 (-9). Batman: Arkham Asylum (15th Anniversary Edition)
31 (-5). Codename: Sailor V 1 *
32 (+1). Batman: Hush
33 (-3). Batman: The Long Halloween
34 (+9). Blackest Night
35 (+7). Daytripper
36 (+8). The Complete Calvin and Hobbes
37 (+1). Big Nate: From the Top
38 (-4). Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight Volume 8: Last Gleaming
39 (N). The Complete Peanuts 1981-1982 (Vol. 16) *
40 (-24). Twilight: The Graphic Novel, Vol. 2 *
41 (N). Garfield Lard of the Jungle: His 52nd Book *
42 (-10). The Walking Dead Volume 13
43 (N). Mega Man Gigamix Volume 2 *
44 (N). No Such Thing as Ghosts (Dragonbreath)
45 (R). The Walking Dead, Vol. 1: Days Gone Bye
46 (R). The Hobbit
47 (R). Batman: Dark Victory
48 (R). The Stonekeeper's Curse (Amulet, Book 2)
49 (R). The Stonekeeper (Amulet, Book 1)
50 (R). The Walking Dead, Book 6



Items with asterisks (*) are pre-order items.

N = New listing appearing on list for first time
R = Item returning to the list after having been off for 1 or more weeks


Commentary:

* Persepolis, Maus, and Understanding Comics are at #2, 3, & 4 on the chart; looks like college classes are starting soon!

* Several debuts this week, led by the latest Complete Peanuts Boxed Set at #10 and the We3 special edition at #18.

* The long-out-of-print Hobbit adaptation sneaks up onto the list again. Strange...




Tuesday, August 16, 2011

An Alternate DCnU

A few weeks ago I wrote a post where I detailed some alternate DCnU titles that I would have liked to have seen in the relaunch.

Well, Jon Morris has done me one better. For his new blog, DC Fifty-TOO!, Jon has asked a plethora of cartoonists to come up with their own ideas for DCnU relaunch titles, and he's posting four new titles each day from now until the real DCnU launches at the end of the month. Check it out, as it looks to be two weeks of interesting and fun!

Friday, August 12, 2011

Amazon Top 50

Here are the Top 50 Graphic Novels on Amazon this morning. All the previous caveats apply.


1 (-). Cabin Fever (Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Book 6) *
2 (-). Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
3 (-). Dork Diaries 3 (Kindle edition)
4 (+3). Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History
5 (-). The Walking Dead Volume 14: No Way Out
6 (+2). Diary of a Wimpy Kid 5: The Ugly Truth
7 (-1). Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
8 (+1). Batman: Year One
9 (-5). The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume III: Century #2 1969
10 (+1). Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began
11 (+4). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days
12 (+1). Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art
13 (-3). Dork Diaries 3: Tales from a Not-So-Talented Pop Star
14 (+4). Watchmen
15 (+4). V for Vendetta
16 (+5). Twilight: The Graphic Novel, Vol. 2 *
17 (-3). The Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book (revised and expanded edition)
18 (-2). Dork Diaries (Kindle edition)
19 (+12). Dork Diaries 2 (Kindle edition)
20 (+6). 5 Very Good Reasons to Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth
21 (+3). Batman: Arkham Asylum (15th Anniversary Edition)
22 (+5). Batman: The Killing Joke
23 (-6). The Walking Dead Compendium Volume 1
24 (+1). Sailor Moon 1 *
25 (-13). Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Boxset
26 (+16). Codename: Sailor V 1 *
27 (+7). Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Lost Adventures
28 (+7). The Complete Maus: A Survivor's Tale
29 (R). The Walking Dead Volume 12
30 (-2). Batman: The Long Halloween
31 (R). Big Nate Out Loud (Kindle edition)
32 (+17). The Walking Dead Volume 13
33 (-10). Batman: Hush
34 (-14). Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight Volume 8: Last Gleaming
35 (+1). Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Popular Party Girl
36 (-7). Jericho Season 3
37 (R). Ghost World
38 (-8). Big Nate: From the Top
39 (N). Amazing Spider-Man by David Michelinie & Todd McFarlane Omnibus *
40 (-8). Big Nate Out Loud
41 (R). Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life
42 (R). Daytripper
43 (-). Blackest Night
44 (+3). The Complete Calvin and Hobbes
45 (-8). Amulet #4: The Last Council *
46 (R). Brightest Day, Vol. 2
47 (N). The Walking Dead, Book 7 *
48 (R). Twilight: The Graphic Novel, Volume 1
49 (R). The Walking Dead, Book 2
50 (N). Blue Exorcist, Vol. 3



Items with asterisks (*) are pre-order items.

N = New listing appearing on list for first time
R = Item returning to the list after having been off for 1 or more weeks


Commentary:

* A relatively sedate list this week, with most book showing small increases or decreases, and only a few jumping large on the chart.

* Top debut this week is Amazing Spider-Man by David Michelinie & Todd McFarlane Omnibus at #39 (also Marvel's only book on the chart). Also debuting are the newest Walking Dead hardcover, and the manga Blue Exorcist.


Sunday, August 07, 2011

Monkey Covers

Sunday is Monkey Covers day here at YACB. Because there's nothing better than a comic with a monkey on the cover!

The Fly and Fly Girl battle a monster gorilla on the cover of The Adventures of the Fly #22 (1962) by John Rosenberger.

(Standard disclaimer about giant gorillas not really being monkeys applies).

Image courtesy of the GCD. Click on the image for a larger version.

Friday, August 05, 2011

Amazon Top 50

Here are the Top 50 Graphic Novels on Amazon this morning. All the previous caveats apply.


1 (-). Cabin Fever (Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Book 6) *
2 (+7). Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
3 (-). Dork Diaries 3 (Kindle edition)
4 (+1). The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume III: Century #2 1969 *
5 (-1). The Walking Dead Volume 14: No Way Out
6 (+4). Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
7 (+5). Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History
8 (-2). Diary of a Wimpy Kid 5: The Ugly Truth
9 (-1). Batman: Year One
10 (+3). Dork Diaries 3: Tales from a Not-So-Talented Pop Star
11 (+11). Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began
12 (+17). Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Boxset
13 (+2). Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art
14 (+2). The Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book (revised and expanded edition)
15 (-1). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days
16 (+11). Dork Diaries (Kindle edition)
17 (-). The Walking Dead Compendium Volume 1
18 (+3). Watchmen
19 (+5). V for Vendetta
20 (+3). Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight Volume 8: Last Gleaming
21 (-1). Twilight: The Graphic Novel, Vol. 2 *
22 (R). 5 Very Good Reasons to Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth (Kindle)
23 (+8). Batman: Hush
24 (+1). Batman: Arkham Asylum (15th Anniversary Edition)
25 (+11). Sailor Moon 1 *
26 (-). 5 Very Good Reasons to Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth
27 (-9). Batman: The Killing Joke
28 (+9). Batman: The Long Halloween
29 (+21). Jericho Season 3
30 (+18). Big Nate: From the Top
31 (-12). Dork Diaries 2 (Kindle edition)
32 (+10). Big Nate Out Loud
33 (R). Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
34 (-2). Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Lost Adventures
35 (R). The Complete Maus: A Survivor's Tale
36 (R). Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Popular Party Girl
37 (-4). Amulet #4: The Last Council *
38 (N). K-ON!, Vol. 3 *
39 (-37). The Stonekeeper (Amulet, Book 1)
40 (-12). Diary of a Wimpy Kid Box of Books
41 (R). The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes & Nocturnes
42 (-1). Codename: Sailor V 1 *
43 (+2). Blackest Night
44 (R). Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight Volume 7: Twilight
45 (-1). The Walking Dead, Book 1
46 (N). Warriors: SkyClan and the Stranger #1: The Rescue
47 (R). The Complete Calvin and Hobbes
48 (R). Blood Work: An Original Hollows Graphic Novel
49 (-19). Walking Dead Volume 13
50 (-3). Batman: Dark Victory



Items with asterisks (*) are pre-order items.

N = New listing appearing on list for first time
R = Item returning to the list after having been off for 1 or more weeks


Commentary:

* It's only the first week of August, but that seems to be close enough to the start of school that books like Persepolis, Maus, The Dark Knight Returns, and Understanding Comics are starting to show gains as students take a look at their syllabi for their upcoming classes and the University Effect begins.

* There are seven Batman books—all catalog titles—on the list this week; two of them in the top ten. And that's without a movie this summer...

* Only two debuts this week, and both in the bottom half: a new volume of the manga K-ON!, and a new Warriors.