We all know that print journalism is hurting. Magazines, newspapers, even comic books have all taken a sharp dip in sales. This past week, when Diamond Publishing released the sales numbers for August, the industry was shocked. Sales were down 17% from August in 2009. Graphic novels were down 21%. Now many things can be blamed on this, but I have a few ideas as to why there was a such a steep decline.
Lets look at 2009. By August, “Blackest Night” was into its third month, while Marvel was deep into the “Dark Reign” branding. Marvel also had the “Utopia” mini-event going on between “Dark Avengers” and “Uncanny X-Men.” While it many seem like a lot of events, it’s nothing in comparison to this year. For events, we have “Shadowland,” “Brightest Day,” the overarching “Heroic Age” branding, the mini-event “Curse of the Mutants,” “The Thanos Imperative,” and “Chaos War” to start very soon. Sometimes trying to have a lot events make people just say forget it. In something like “Secret Invasion,” people would be more likely to buy the secondary stuff. But in this case, with so many events, people can’t afford those. They stick with the main story, and if they happen to be reading a title that crosses over, well that’s fine.
This time last year, the economy looked like it was recovering more than it does now. Buyer confidence has defiantly declined in the last year. People are more careful about what they buy, sense if the comic doesn’t entertain them 100%, they will drop it from their pull list.
One thing I notice the other day when looking at the comics I bought last month, was there were a lot of delays on the more popular comics. Grant Morrison’s “Batman and Robin” and “Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne” were both delayed to September and October respectively. “Green Lantern” and “The Flash” were also delayed into September. It may not seem like a big deal, but these titles sell like hot cakes every time they are released. Strangely, Marvel didn’t have this problem during August.
“Brightest Day” #7 and #8 topped the list, with “Avengers” #4, “New Avengers” #3, and “Secret Avengers” #4 filling out the top five.
Movie Time
Photos of Chris Evan’s stunt double have surfaced. He is wearing the full Cap garb, and it look all right. Won’t make judgment until the final product is seen. HYDRA minions were also shown, looking almost nothing like they do in the comics. Instead of the traditional yellow and green, they went with all black. Still looks good though.
A trailer for “Thor” leaked, and it looks epic.
The trailer for “Priest” and “RED” have been released in the past couple of months
A Doctor Strange and Iron Fist movie are in the works
Trade/Series for Newcomers
Started reading “The Walking Dead” during the summer and I am stunned by how great it is. Easily one of the best comics to come around in the decade. The zombie setting is great and it’s something George Romero should read to make his movies better. Plus it’s going to be a TV series on AMC
Here is the first volume on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Walking-Dead-Vol-Days-Gone/dp/1582406723/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1284489679&sr=8-2
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