Saturday, October 10, 2009

Top 10 Preorders at Rogues Gallery 10/14/09

1. Green Lantern Corps #25
2. Blackest Night Batman #3
3. Uncanny X-Men #516
4. Batman #691
5. Detective Comics Annual #11
5. Red Robin #5
6. Fables #89
7. Deadpool #900
8. Batgirl #3
9. Action Comics #882
9. Enders Game Command School #2
9. Incredible Hercules #136
10. Secret Six #14

Tied for 11th: GI Joe Origins #8, Hellboy Wild Hunt #5 & PS238 #41.

This doesn't measure sales, just pre-sales, as we see how many subscribers had preordered on various titles, just to gauge relative interest levels.

Amazing Spider-Man didn't come out this week, but if it had, it would be tied for spot #10, an indicator that there a lot of better-selling books this week. There aren't as many ties, so it's not a huge week of best sellers, but when I look at the top 8 and see that six of the nine books in it are either Batman or Blackest Night related, it tells me two things: 1) The momentum in superhero comics is pretty squarely on DC's side right now and 2) It's going to be a pretty good week for sales.

Also? The big Batman revamp that DC has done has paid off huge, and I'm afraid that just like Marvel's decision to return Steve Rogers in 2009, the decision to bring back Bruce Wayne in 2010 without even seeing how the revamp sells is jumping the gun and undercutting themselves. Certainly I'm shocked to see a Batgirl series and Robin series selling this well.

Deadpool and Uncanny X-Men are Marvel's representatives in the top 5 this week, with Incredible Hercules and Ender's Game Command School their other representatives in the top 10. Hercules is a bit of an anomaly, in that we're all huge fans, because it's such a great book. Ender's Game is a licensed book that doesn't sell many shelf copies, and that's fine with me... I sell it to be a good retailer, not because I'm any particular fan of noted homophobic crazy person Orson Scott Card.

I have to admit, I expected a bit of a drop for Fables after the big issue #50 - I know that my own interest has dropped off a bit, and I haven't read it for several issues - but that hasn't happened. Instead, the book remains one of our best sellers, both in single issues and trades. We got behind this book early on and it remains our best-selling trade series, just a tiny bit ahead of The Walking Dead.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Hi Randy! I would have originally gotten Ender's Game, when it first came out, were it not for your comments. I did read up on your claims and decided not to support Card. In fact, I won't ever buy anything he writes ever again unless he publicly recants his homophobic views. And I am a straight middle-aged man with not even a single gay or lesbian friend. I just can't stand people who want to force their views of "morality" down other people's throats! And yes, Incredible Hercules is a *great* book! Being unemployed, I now buy about half as many comics as before but that one is on my current list! :)