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Around the Tubes

Posted on September 14, 2011 by Brett

It’s a new Wednesday and that means a new release of number ones from DC comics. You’ll probably want to get to your local comic book shop, there’s a good chance there’ll be a rush for these as well. While you wait for your comic book shop to open up, here’s the news you might have missed.

Around the Blogs:

The ComiChron – Full August 2011 comics sales estimates now online – Congrats to DC, but one month isn’t a recovery.

Con Coverage:

Spandexless – SPX Pulls: Mini Comic Roundup 1

Spandexless – SPX Pulls: What Had Happened Was… I and III, Domitille Collardey

CBLDF – HABIBI by Craig Thompson, SPX Exclusive Edition

CBLDF – SPX Raises $12,500 for CBLDF!

Spandexless – SPX Pulls: Luci’s Let Down, Marjee Chmiel & Sandra Lanz

Publishers Weekly – Small Press Expo Gets Bigger Despite Earthquake

Around the Tubes Reviews:

IGN – American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest #4

Publishers Weekly – Comics Reviews: August 2011

Around the Tubes

Posted on September 13, 2011 by Brett

It’s looking like it’ll be another solid week for DC comics, so make sure to get to your comic shop early tomorrow if you haven’t pre-ordered any comic books being released. While you scramble, here’s the news you might have missed.

Around the Blogs:

CBLDF – CBLDF Liberty Trading Cards in Stores this Week – Support the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund!

The Mary Sue – Amazon’s New Netflix-Style Library for eBooks Coming Soon? – Will comics be a part? How long before we see that?

Comicvine – Is DC Reviving the Comic Book Industry? – Isn’t it too early to ask this question?

The ComiChron – Early DC relaunch sales help erase half 2011’s decline – We’re starting to see how the DC shake up is starting to play out in sales.

Con Coverage:

Comics Girl – Small Press Expo 2011!

Spandexless – SPX Day 2: Consummate Professionals

Spandexless – SPX Day One: God, Look at this Haul

Around the Tubes Reviews:

CBR – Action Comics #1

Cartoon Movement – The Big Lie #1

CBR – Men of War #1

CBR – Moon Knight #5

Nerdage – Animal Man #1 and other The New 52 week 2 comic book reviews

MTV Geek – Dark Horse Advance Reviews: B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth – Russia #1, and The Guild: Clara #1

Around the Tubes

Posted on September 2, 2011 by Brett

Football game + coming home late = late Around the Tubes. I’m sure your morning wasn’t complete, so here’s the news you might have missed.

Around the Blogs:

CBLDF – Creators Come to the Rescue With New CBLDF Auctions! – Give to a good cause!

The Beat – Sales charts: the shape of the market – Always interesting to see trends over time.

Con Coverage:

MTV Geek – FanExpo Canada Interview: Peter Milligan on The All-New ‘Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’

MTV Geek – FanExpo Canada 2011 Interview: Andy Kubert on The End of Flashpoint and The New 52

Bleeding Cool – Video: Lining Up With Len Peralta At Dragon*Con

Bleeding Cool – Inside The Exhibitors Room At Dragon*Con

CBR – C2E2 Announces 2012 Dates

Fantagraphics – Things to See: SPX 2011 program cover by Jim Rugg

Bleeding Cool – Wizard World, WonderCon And C2E2 Co-Operate Over Dates

Fantagraphics – Fantagraphics at SPX 2011!

Around the Tubes Reviews:

CBR – Incredible Hulks #635

Blogomatic3000! – Modesty Blaise – Million Dollar Game

CBR – Secret Avengers #16

IGN – Comic Book Reviews for 8/31/11

Digital vs Reality, Where Comicshop.net Gets it Wrong

Posted on August 23, 2011 by Brett

In an article posted yesterday ComicShop.net responded to another article about digital sales, brick and mortar stores and the habits of bloggers for not quoting facts. The article spends the first half attacking bloggers while the second glosses over the bigger issue of digital sales versus real world retail.

When comic blogs speculate about the doom of shops as the digital option increases, they either refer to each other’s blogs as evidence. Or worse they lazily use the “some people say” method where they don’t have to actually cite anything, but speculate openly as if that all that’s being talked about on the street or in the square.

The generalization might be the case for the sites writer Chris visits, but he himself throws out statistics and makes assumptions in this article which aren’t “fact” either. Let me show an example.

When it comes to digital comics, let’s go with the assumption that the target demographic is the same as print which is 18-24 year-old males. Only 15.2% of iPad owners are between the ages of 18-24. That’s a lot of kids, but the majority of iPad owners are older and wealthier. And maybe that’s because of the price. The average income for 18-24 is $15k per year.

The article should be focused on facts about digital comics. It’s a growing area of retail and revenue, that is true. I wish I could throw out stats, but the companies that have shared those with me have sworn me to not divulge them, but it’s increasing leaps and bounds. At the same time, as those digital sales are increasing, physical sales seem to be shrinking, according to statistics published on sites like ICv2 or ComiChron, the year is down. At the same time, attendance is up at conventions. So what is the deal about digital sales and physical sales?

Comicshop.net is more than likely correct when it says that the death of Borders is likely due to poor management, not the state of print. At the same time, this article comes at the same time Atomic Comics announced it’s closing it’s doors. No matter how you cut it, sales are down, the stats show that. Is it due to the economy? Are people just tired of comics? We won’t have a real answer unless someone asks the customers the industry is hemorrhaging.

But, convention attendance is up. So, what’s the disconnect? Could it be people are tired of the idea of monthly serials? Do they not want to make weekly trips? Or, is the metric for sales not showing the complete picture? There is no one measurement that tracks digital, direct market and mass market sales. Maybe people are leaving stores and instead purchasing items from other sources like Barnes & Noble or Amazon? Maybe they’re going to digital sales instead?

The real figures of who is reading digitally is interesting. It’s not the youth Comicshop.net cites in their hyperbole of an argument. Doing a search on Facebook, those who identify they like digital comics is actually in the 31-40 year old range. The largest segment is those age 35-40. That skews older than the rest of the comic market on Facebook by over a decade. Digital comic fans (on Facebook) are older, and more educated. We can also guess that they probably have more income than their younger counterparts (but that’s conjecture).

If you really think comic shops are slowly dying off because of the demand for digital, your privilege is showing. Comic shops are dealing with a tough economy because comic books are a luxury—the first thing that gets cut when people are trying to save money. Food or comics? There’s no app for that.

But, what Comicshop.net fails to cite with this is statistics. Here’s actual sales numbers for DC and Marvel over the years. In a similar economic climate of the lates 70s, sales dipped, but stayed somewhat steady. The market also boomed during the recession of the late 80s and 90s at the same time gimmicks took off. The mass market was shrinking as the direct market grew.

During the 2000’s graphic novels exploded and have seen continued growth in popularity, but during that time period we also saw their increased exposure in the mass market and big box stores.

Instead of blaming the economy, which it seems sales is inconsistent, but slightly weaker, the history actually seems to show that sales has suffered from the loss of the mass market. That’s as much as the economy seems to be a likely culprit and issue. Less exposure in high trafficked and high exposure stores is where we should be looking as much as anywhere.

Around the Tubes

Posted on August 12, 2011 by Brett

The weekend is here and I plan on catching up on three weeks worth of books and begin the backlog of reviews. There’s still quite a few cons coming up, so planning begins for those as well. While I do that, what are folks plan for the weekend? While you contemplate that, here’s the news you might have missed.

Around the Blogs:

The Mary Sue – Womanthology Sets the Record Straight On Where Its Funds Are Going – One take on the controversy.

The Beat – Womanthology: $100k may go to help start a new comics imprint — UPDATED – Another take on the controversy.

The Beat – One Piece set record with 2 million sold in 4 days – See, sales can be good.

ICv2 – Wahlberg Ready to Strap on ‘2 Guns’ – Another comic movie!

Ars Technica – Spoilers don’t spoil anything – An interesting article about spoilers and if they really ruin things.

Monthly/Quarterly Sales:

ICv2 – ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ #666 Tops July Sales

ICv2 – Top 300 Comics Actual–July 2011

ICv2 – Top 300 Graphic Novels Actual–July 2011

Around the Tubes Reviews:

IGN – The Amazing Spider-Man #667

CBR – Amazing Spider-Man #667

IGN – American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest #3

IGN – Artifacts #9

IGN – Batgirl #24

IGN – Batman and Robin #26

IGN – Black Panther: The Man Without Fear #522

IGN – Booster Gold #47

IGN – Criminal: The Last of the Innocent #3

IGN – Daken: Dark Wolverine #12

IGN – Deadpool #41

IGN – Fear Itself #5

CBR – Fear Itself #5

IGN – Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force #2

IGN – Flashpoint: Citizen Cold #3

IGN – Flashpoint: Deadman and the Flying Graysons #3

IGN – Flashpoint: Emperor Aquaman #3

IGN – Flashpoint: Frankenstein and the Creatures of the Unknown #3

IGN – Ghost Rider #2

IGN – Hellboy: The Fury #3

CBR – Hellboy: The Fury #3

IGN – The Incredible Hulks #634

IGN – Morning Glories #11

IGN – The New Avengers #15

IGN – PunisherMAX #16

IGN – The Red Wing #2

IGN – Spider-Island: Cloak & Dagger #1

IGN – Spider-Island: Deadly Foes #1

IGN – Ultimate Comics: Fallout #5

IGN – The Unwritten #28

IGN – Vengeance #2

IGN – War of the Green Lanterns: Aftermath #2

IGN – X-Men #15.1

IGN – X-Men Legacy #253

Paste Magazine – Comic Book & Graphic Novel Round-Up (8/10/11)

IGN – Comic Book Reviews for 8/10/11

The Case for #comicmarket and #comicretail

Posted on August 3, 2011 by Brett

Comic book retailers, artists, writers, fans and the industry as a whole received a black eye on Sunday over comments made by a prominent retailer regarding speculation the new Ultimate version of Spider-Man would be African American. The reality is a bit more complicated than that, as Miles Morales was revealed to be the new person under the Spidey mask. Miles is a new mixed-race character who seems to embrace the heart of what Spider-Man is about. He’s the embodiment of that core that makes the character beloved and so easy to relate with. And in a way the Twitter discussions using #comicmarket and #comicretail should be the same. Embodying the positive core that is the comic book industry and hobby.

#comicmarket is an ongoing discussion between comic book retailers, creators, publishers and fans where new ideas on how to move the hobby and industry forward flows back and forth. On Monday, I vented some frustration that the discussion had turned negative, populated with insiders who weren’t open to all of the new individuals participating, though they may claim it, and pepper what’s generally positive discussion with threats to comic creators and publishers who don’t participate. What was a great idea turned into an insider’s tool that was all to quick to reject what could be valid viewpoints from outside individuals.

#comicretail on the other hand was started in reaction to the racist comments mentioned above. So far the discussion is positive, dominated by retailers who want to learn from each other and independent comic book creators looking to those retailers for ideas how to get their product out before a wider audience. It’s young, not heavily trafficked, but has the right attitude, inclusion.

As #comicmarket descended into a Twitter pile-on on Monday, you could feel the tension rise, as numerous new individuals caught wind of Sunday’s incident. It’s also apparent some didn’t learn their lesson, and there’s issues deeply rooted within the community when it comes to race in comic books. My plead to them is stay. Stick around, and participate. I Tweeted the below later in the day:

Some artists, writers and publishers publically and privately stated this incident is why they don’t participate in the discussion and is the perfect example of what’s wrong with the comic book retail end of things. It was the public example of the unprofessional nature by some of those who sell the wares, and unfortunately those unprofessional members are also some of the most vocal and high profile.

While it’s sad there’s a need to deal with this behavior, it was necessary. The tension and frustration was building for many, and you can see that in the #comicretail split off discussion. But, #comicmarket and #comicretail can be and should be a vital part of the greater movement to expand and professionalize the comic book industry. It’s the progressive voice of what has been a stale business with a failing model. It can break through the entrenched institutions and democratize purchasing and sales.

For the first time in history, people throughout the world have the ability to discuss things in real time, sharing information, techniques and data as to what is working for them. It allows writers, artists and publishers to reach stores easier, stripping power away from a broken distribution and marketing system. What at times waited for conventions, conferences or conference calls, can now occur 24/7 365, unfiltered. This is unprecedented, important and also allows for those who might not be involved in day to day operations of the comic book industry to weigh in with their knowledge which might be helpful. There is no wall anymore, these two hashtags are an embodiment and example of the community. But most importantly, an embodiment that is open to all, and where no one can be excluded. That being said, we’ll deal with issues like Sunday, but it spurred a vital discussion about race in comic books, so we can’t say there wasn’t a positive. The Twitter discussion might have been started by a few, but it was never theirs. It’s for us all.

Too many have images of “The Comic Book Guy” from The Simpsons when they think of the register jockeys who sell funny books. #comicmarket and #comicretail is an opportunity to break that mold. It’s a public face of the industry, which is what was so disturbing about Sunday. The incident painted retailers and fans in a bad light, but it also turned off so many past, present and potentially future participants.

I plead you to still participate. Don’t let one incident deter you. If nothing else, after Sunday, you should engage more and show your professional attitude and add your voice to the discussion. You need to add to the progress we’ve made, and help pave what’s yet to come. The more that do, the easier we can control and drive a productive atmosphere that benefits us all and puts a positive face on a form of entertainment that too many forget exists.

The #comicmarket problem

Posted on August 1, 2011 by Brett

Yesterday, things came to a head on the #comicmarket discussion on Twitter. #comicmarket was started by Larry’s Comics and a few others to foster discussion among retailers, fans, publishers, artists and writers in how to improve the comic book industry. In doing so, it has become a public resource, growing each week. It has become a public relations tool, showing off what the comic book industry has to offer. Unfortunately, that came to a screeching halt, as the same Larry’s Comics who helped start the forum for discussion also belittled it and those who participate by posting what can only be described as racist comments.

The discussion began over the rumor of the next “ultimate” Spider-Man being black. Larry thought it was a publicity attempt and then proceeded to post the following:

There’s no excuse for those comments. They are unwelcoming to new participants, combative and racist. Unfortunately the comments didn’t end there. Some other “open minded” individuals piped in when a few of us called out the comments.

Just like race jokes, comments about AIDS also crosses a line.

There’s so many issues with this incident. The first is the clear tone deaf reaction by Larry’s Comics. He deleted the offending tweets not because they were wrong, but because he didn’t want to deal with responding to them. But, that’s what he’s been doing all day today.

No it wasn’t a “good natured joke.” It’s something you might say to your friends in the privacy of your home or store (if you choose), but in a public forum that represents us all it’s uncalled for. Today Larry agreed it was “unprofessional and tacky.”

If that’s the case, why post it to begin with? But Larry has decided to dig himself further into the ditch he created by posting this to numerous spots:

I think the old saying goes, “if your friends jump off a bridge, would you?” Larry has in the past made inflammatory comments, it’s “who he is.” But that doesn’t excuse them or his behavior. When this same retailer wonders why he doesn’t have a lot of female customers he refers to the women as “chicks” in his attempt to discuss the issue. In the past he’s posted a photo of a topless woman, covering her breasts wearing Lantern rings to promote things. That might have something to do with your “woman issue.” Both are uninviting. But, there’s also the use of “gay” to refer to “lame” things among other offenses. Another retailer has referred to his staff member as a “pussy” on Twitter for various reasons I can’t remember. That behavior is unprofessional.

The greater issue is, it’s a black eye for the #comicmarket. As a whole the discussion has been positive, and a lot of great things have come out of it, but a few people can ruin something easily. The discussion at times, beyond this incident, has been combative, negative and participants are dismissed due to their status of not being retailers. Threats towards artists, writers and publishers that mimic George Bush’s “you’re with us or against us” pepper the discussion as if those tweeting are a La Costra Nerdstra.

We need open forums to foster discussion of a form of entertainment that’s barely surviving. For as many steps forward we make there’s days like yesterday and today that take us back quite a few pegs. As a whole we need to grow up and put the face forward we want the public to see, one of an industry an entertainment form that deserves to be around.

Bleeding Cool has further discussion on the topic as well as some more of the history surrounding past antics.

Comic Book Fans on Facebook – June 27, 2011

Posted on June 28, 2011 by Brett

As what seems to happen every so often the statistics that Facebook returns in this reporting takes a dip. It’s unknown why, but it usually falls to a similar amount each time. We took last week off to give a DC comics specific breakdown, but we’re back to the normal look at comic books in general.

Total Estimated United States Comic Book Fan Facebook Population = over 1,661,700. This is quite a dip from the last report we did two weeks ago.

Men vs. Women

No matter what raw numbers returned, there’s usually a consistent percentage of about 66% for guys and 32% for women.

Age

Another pretty consistent stat no matter what. The percentages stay fairly the same with some shifts here and there, but overall it’s pretty stable.

Relationship Status

It’s crazy that no matter what the general universe size is the percentages stay pretty consistent. You can see more of that below.

Gender Interest

This one now has the corrected percentages. There was a mistake with earlier percentages in that they were based off of a constant number instead of changing based on the number of responses. Below and going forward, the percentages will be accurate.

Comic Book Fans on Facebook – June 20, 2011 – Special DC Comics Edition

Posted on June 21, 2011 by Brett

Part of DC comic‘s talking points during their tour around the country to talk to retailers about the upcoming relaunch/reboot, some on their staff have stated that the comic book market has been shrinking. This series of posts has two points, one to show the market is much larger than it is and two, to show the demographics of the market. I decided to put aside the weekly update and instead call DC on their false statement.

This edition is dedicated to just fans of DC properties on Facebook in the United States and I’m about to lift the hood on how I go about some of this. I started with the key terms and they were broken down into segments (some of the terms might be across segments):

Comics: – 171,040 people like

DC Nation, DC Comics, Dc Comics Presents, Crisis on Infinite Earths

Movies/Television/Shows: – 3,294,020 people like

Dc Comic Movies, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Batman the Dark Knight, Superman Returns, Superman Movies, Green Lantern First Flight, Green Lantern Movie 2011, Constantine, Batman The Animated Series, Batman Movies, Batman Returns, Batman Forever, Batman and Robin, Batman Live World Arena Tour, Young Justice

Characters: – 1,195,380

Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Green Lantern, John Constantine, Martian Manhunter Jonn Jonzz, Green Lantern Corps, Hawkman, Justice League, Swamp Thing, Teen Titans

Before we even get to the demographic breakdown and compare it to what we know about the general comic book populace, I think it’s fair to say there’s a disconnect here. Look at the number of fans of movies and individuals characters compared to some general comic book terms. There isn’t a dwindling comic book market, there’s a failure to do the basic work to reach out to people who have identified they like these things. If 10% of the fans of the movies was converted into comic book purchasers, you’d double the estimated size of the current comic market. I believe the term folks are searching for is #fail.

When you go further at the overall total of all three segments you’ll see many of the “DC comic fans” are fans of characters or the movies, but the fan of the movies are not necessarily “DC comic fans.”

Onto the demographic breakdown.

Total Estimated United States DC comics Comic Book Fan Facebook Population = over 4,150,860.

Men vs. Women

When it comes to the percentages, DC comics skews a little more female than the general comic book populace. Women are boosted by 6%.

When it comes to education, DC comic book fans are more educated, especially the amount of them in college or high school. This is across both genders by similar percentages.

Age

The DC comic book fans are similar to the general populace but skew a little younger by a few percentage points.

Relationship Status

When it comes to percentages as far as relationships, the DC fans are pretty similar to the general population.

Gender Interest

I found an error in previous editions on the percentages that were posted, though not the raw numbers. That’s been corrected for future editions. Here’s the DC comic fans breakdown.

Comic Book Fans on Facebook – June 13, 2011

Posted on June 14, 2011 by Brett

This week, I’m left completely scratching my head as the statistics have barely shifted from the week before. You’d think there’d be a shift of a few hundred each week, but it’s 20, 20 people seem to be the number here. The number of fans is exactly the same, but the number of women or an age demographic or relationship shift by 20 a couple of times. It’s actually pretty impressive. We’ll see if next week stays stable.

Total Estimated United States Comic Book Fan Facebook Population = over 1,801,920. There was no change from the previous week. Below is the usual further breakdown.

Men vs. Women

20 individuals went from being identified as women to unknown. There are no other changes at all. As far as education there’s mostly drops of 20 or 60 people here or there, but again, it’s pretty steady compared to the roller coaster of weeks before.

Age

Similar to education there’s not much of a shift, 20 people here and 20 people there. It’s really steady as a whole though and again not showing the changes we’ve seen in weeks past.

Relationship Status

Just a dip of 20 people who are married and that’s it when it comes to change from the previous week.

Gender Interest

There’s 20 less women who like men but 20 more men who like women in this stat. Again, a similar shift we’ve seen for the other demographics this week, the magic number 20.

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