Tag Archives: comic book industry

Those Two Geeks Episode 218: Behind the Industry Scenes with Matthew Klein

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Alex and Joe are joined by Matthew Klein to talk about Crashing, the nature of variant covers and the buying habits of comic readers and buyers, and… eventually… wrestling. But we actually stayed away from sports entertainment for more than 40 minutes!

Matthew can be found on
Twitter @matthewklein316
Instagram @macktheknife1116
The Rhyme Scheme: https://tapas.io/episode/2830249

You can reach Alex and Joe can be found on Twitter respectively @karcossa and @FirstRonin4 if you feel the need to tell them they’re wrong individually, or by email at ItsThose2Geeks@gmail.com.

Music by AlexGrohl from Pixabay

Who Are the Marvel Fans On Facebook?

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Marvel is celebrating they’ve crossed 3 million fans on Facebook.  So, that motivated me to find out exactly who their fans are.  Using some magic I looked at their statistics for over a dozen countries from all over the world (though a third of their fans are from the United States) comprising a data set of 2,315,300 individuals out of their fanbase of 3,200,000 (covering 72.35% of the total).

Gender

Comics are thought of as being the entertainment for men and 98% of the data set let us know their gender.  As expected men dominated with almost 77% of them being male.

Education

As far as percentages of those who answered, men were a higher percent of college graduates but the women were better represented in college and high school.  The overall majority with a little of 70% are college graduates.

Age

The largest chunk of fans are between the age of 18 and 30 and interestingly there’s an uptick in men 18-21 before a drop off while women drop off right from the beginning.  In the end we can say, comics aren’t just for kids.

Relationship Status

The stereotype is that comic book fans are single dorks who have issues with the opposite sex.  The majority of those in this data set are single, but men skew more so than women and women tended to be in relationships more.

Around the Tubes

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The weekend is here! That is all.  While you relax and enjoy yourself, here’s the news you might have missed.

Around the Blogs:

ComiChron – Direct market dollar orders up double digits in October 2011 – I still think it’s a short term bubble.  Talk to me in six months.  But congrats to DC for getting that market share.

The Beat – Cartoonists and the law: Susie Cagle arrested, charged with misdemeanor – Damn the man.

The Beat – Cartoonists and the law: Steve Rude update – Interesting….

MTV Geek – The 10 Most Awesome Political Candidates From Comics – I didn’t know a good chunk of these.

 

Around the Tubes Reviews:

Mindtrick’d – Batman: Noel

IGN – Batman: Noel

ICv2 – The Complete Major Bummer Super Slacktacular!

CBR – Heart #1

CBR – New Mutants #33

SciFi Mafia – Star Wars: Darth Vader and the Lost Command

Who Are the Digital Comic Book Fans on Facebook? – 10/27/11

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A few hours ago I posted statistics of the self-identified comic book fans on Facebook.  During this same time period, I also looked at who the fans of digital comics are.  Are they different from the regular comic book fans?  The answer is yes, yes they are.  Using the same method, but different search terms I pulled the exact same data for comparison.  The universe is much smaller to search from, but there’s enough that only at the extreme edges are there issues with the reporting.

Facebook Digital Comic Book Fan Population: Over 7,540 in the United States

You can see the number is much smaller than the 2.6 million population for the general comic book fans.  The terms are much more narrow, searching for brands instead of generic terms.  Keep in mind, these are the fans of Graphic.ly, comiXology, iVerse, etc., not web comics.  That’s a whole other population in my opinion.  The goal here is to try to figure out who buys digital comics.

Below you’ll see the breakdown of the population as well as a comparison to the general comic book fan population.  You’ll see there’s some significant differences, much more than the smaller Spanish speaking population (only 1.59%, compared to the general’s 2.14%).

Gender and Education

Interestingly enough, digital fans skew much more male and are more educated than their mass fan brethren.  The average population is 29.12% college grads while digital fans are 54.38% college grads.  Men dominate as well, making up a little over 81% of the population.

Age

Age is the second area you absolutely see a difference.  The general population is primarily under the age of 40 and mostly under the age of 30, digital comic book fans are between 26 and 41 and peak in the 34-37 age.  This is over a decade difference compared to the general population.  The size of the populations are much evenly distributed between ages 22 and 45.

Notice the digital peak.

Now compare the two data sets:

Relationship Status

With an”older population” you’d expect there’d be a greater chance they’d be married and that’s reflected in the data.  41.33% is married compared to 21.19% of the general comic book fans.  In digital, the married population has primarily grown out of the”single” status and partially out of the”in relationship” status.

Gender Interest

You can see the digital has a pretty decent shift from the general comic book fan base.  They’re interested in the opposite gender in greater percentages.


Around the Tubes

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And the days linger down for New York Comic Con which kicks off later in the week.  We’ll be there covering it all!  Until then, here’s the news you might have missed.

Around the Blogs:

The ComiChron – September 2011 comics sales estimates online; highest unit sales since 2008 – Business is a booming…

Con Coverage:

Comics Alliance – The ‘Ultimate Nerd Guide To New York City’ Maps Comic-Friendly Destinations

The Mary Sue – NYCC 2011 – The Panels Your Butt Will Go Numb Waiting For

MTV Geek – 10 Tips For Surviving New York Comic Con

The Beat – NYCC: Rock Comic Con 2011

The Beat – GeekGirl Con was a sellout

CBLDF – Kick Off NYCC with CBLDF, IDW, and Dark Horse!

Press of Atlantic City – Shore Mall brings superheroes to Atlantic City area at Comic Con

Around the Tubes Reviews:

CBR – Avengers 1959 #1

Primary Ignition – reMIND

Publishers Weekly – The Final 13: ‘PW Comics World’ Reviews DC’s ‘The New 52’ Week 4

Around the Tubes

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It’s Sunday, but with a long weekend, that just means the weekend is only half way through! Yay!  If you’re like me, you’ll spend it watching football, and while you do that here’s a bunch of articles for you to spend some time with.

Also, I’ll be flying solo tonight for our weekly radio show.  So listen in and call in to join the discussion.

Around the Blogs:

Bleeding Cool – Social Funding A New Distributor For Comics – A bit torn on this.  It’s one thing to support a comic to get published, but who knows if their business model is viable.  It is great to see social funding used for this.

Con Coverage:

The Beat – NYCC 2011: Behind the Green Door (or: I Am Curious (Black)

Around the Tubes

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The weekend is here and it’s a long weekend!  Yay!  To kill some time, here’s news you might have missed.

Around the Blogs:

Death & Taxes – Do Rick Perry and Superman Have the Same Swagger? – Does that make Romney Bizzaro Superman?

ComiChron – DC reboot boosts September 2011 unit sales – Anyone shocked about this?

The Mary Sue – Netflix Strikes Exclusive Deal For AMC’s The Walking Dead – Ok, maybe I won’t give up my Netflix.

The New York Times – Barnes & Noble in Graphic Novel Dispute – Having talked to publishers stores like Barnes and Noble sell magnitudes more in graphic novels compared to comic book stores.

Con Coverage:

The Beat – Dont forget: this weekend is GeekGirl Con in Seattle

Around the Tubes Reviews:

CBR – Animal Man #2

ICv2 – Gon Vol. 1

USA Today – Holy Terror

MTV Geek – Snarked #1

MTV Geek – Solatorobo: Red The Hunter

CBR – The Walking Dead #89

Around the Tubes

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Did you hear we have a radio show tonight?  We’ve also got a special guest.  A Mr. Ron Marz.  You might have read his comics like Witchblade, Artifacts or this week’s release Voodoo.  So, tune in tonight and join in the conversation on Twitter and make sure to call in.  Until then, here’s the news you might have missed.

Around the Blogs:

Bleeding Cool – IDW Replaces British Doctor Who Writer With An American – Congrats Joshua, maybe I’ll finally give the Doctor a try.

Bleeding Cool – All Crisis Events Removed From DC Continuity – Way to make me feel like more of an ass for buying Final Crisis.

The New York Times – So Far, Sales for New DC Comics Are Super – 1) How long until sales plummet, 2) Nice to see the MSM notice, 3) Doesn’t this just encourage horrible habits, like deaths…

Around the Tubes Reviews:

Comics Forge – Lovestruck

What Culture – TURF

All 52 first issues of DC Comics-The New 52 sell out and receive second printings!

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Official Press Release

Inside the Numbers: All 52 first issues of DC Comics-The New 52 sell out and receive second printings!

It’s official! All 52 first issues of DC Entertainment’s historic publishing initiative DC COMICS – THE NEW 52 have sold out from Diamond Comic Distributors in advance of publication. And all 52 issues will receive second printings.

Here’s a further look inside the numbers for DC COMICS-THE NEW 52:

  • ACTION and BATGIRL already have third printings and JUSTICE LEAGUE, the bestselling comic book to date for all of 2011, is in its fourth printing.
  • AQUAMAN #1 is the eleventh title in DC Comics-The New 52 with sales of more than 100,000. The series joins the sales ranks of the previously announced titles ACTION COMICS, BATGIRL, BATMAN, BATMAN AND ROBIN, BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT, DETECTIVE COMICS, THE FLASH, GREEN LANTERN, JUSTICE LEAGUE and SUPERMAN.
  • BATMAN # 1 joins JUSTICE LEAGUE # 1 and ACTION COMICS # 1 as the third title with sales exceeding 200,000 copies.

“We at DC Entertainment thank our creators, our retail partners, and our readers, and remind them all we’re just getting started,” said John Rood, DC Entertainment Executive Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Business Development. “We’re thrilled to be making history, but we’re not standing around congratulating each other. We’re working behind the scenes to leverage our recent success into our long term vision for this company and its iconic characters and brands.”

SLG Publishing Switches To Digital First Distribution

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Official Press Release

SLG Publishing Switches To Digital First Distribution 
Comic Book Format For New Series To Be Replaced With Digital Downloads

San Jose, CA – 9/19/2011 – San Jose based comic book publisher SLG Publishing is embracing digital distribution of its titles and switching the company’s model for comic book series to a digital first distribution policy. “The market has been pushing us away from serialized comics and more towards books and graphic novels for some time” said SLG president and publisher Dan Vado “However it is difficult to publish a 200 page graphic novel from an unknown artist without having some sort of lower-cost entry point like a comic book series to help build an audience, so going digital first seems like a good way to introduce readers to new creators and build an audience which we can build on for potential book releases.”

SLG digital releases will be available in a number of formats and places. From it’s own website SLG comics will be available in .PDF, .CBZ and ePub format “Our ePub files have been formatted to look best on an iPad using iBooks” pointed out Vado ” but they should look good on whatever you like to read ebooks on”. In addition to selling from their own website new SLG releases will also be available at the iTunes store for readers with iOS devices who prefer the convenience of purchasing media inside the iBooks application. Nook and Nook Color owners will also be able to purchase books for those devices through BN.COM

This is in addition to SLG’s current digital distribution through app based stores like Comixology and iVerse “People like to consume in ways they are familiar and comfortable with, it’s not my intention to try and force our readers or new readers to have limited choices in terms of digital consumption. SLG has always maintained a strategy and policy of keeping it’s products in as many venues as will have them and that will extend into the digital world.”

SLG has already begun serializing two series which would have originally gone to print; Sanctuary by Stephan Coughlin, described by the publisher as The Jungle Book crossed with Lost,  tells the story of a mysterious island research facility and the animals and humans who live on it. Also being distributed digitally is Monstrosis by Chris Wisnia which is a follow-up to last years quirky humor/adventure comic Doris Danger: Giant Monster Adventures. Both titles are available at the SLG Publishing digital store as well as iTunes and BN.COM. The first issue of each series is a free download at both the publisher’s site as well as the iTunes store, each subsequent issue is 99¢.

 Upcoming series to see digital first releases include Snow White:Through A Glass,  Darkly by Van Jensen and Robin Holestein: Knights of the Living Dead (a zombie story set in the time of King Arthurs Round Table) By Dustin Higgins and Ron Wolfe and Peabody & D’Gorath by M.D Penman.

Vado admits that the current market for digital is minuscule but also points out that so was the market for digital books at one time and that now all reports are that eBooks are outselling physical books  “Digital has the virtue of being a great way to market and see if new creators and concepts can gain any traction and also has the potential to be a real growth area for the medium.”

SLG digital comics can be found at the following places
www.slgcomic.com/eyemelt – it’s own website
BN.COM -(For Nook and Nook Color)
Comixology
iVerse
Graphicly
Panelfly
SLG Publishing is the San Jose, CA based comic book publisher is celebrating its 25th year and best known for being the publisher of Johnny the Homicidal Maniac by Jhonen Vasquez. In addition to Vasquez, SLG has been the initial stepping-stone for many popular cartoonists including Roman Dirge and Evan Dorkin.

www.slgcomic.com

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