Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, Dynamite Entertainment, entertainment, howard chaykin, Mission To Moscow, the shadow

Are Retailers Under Ordering The Shadow: Midnight In Moscow #1?

Talking with a source at Dynamite Entertainment, they are thinking that retailers have seriously under-ordered the first issue of The Shadow: Midnight In Moscow by Howard Chaykin. This is the return of Chaykin to the character after 30 years and it created quite a bit of buzz when it was announced. So with the final order cut-off date being Thursday, I wondered if Dynamite was right about the book being under-ordered.

As of right now the orders stand at right around 8,000 units. How does that compare to the regular Shadow series from Dynamite? The most recent issue, #23 came out in March and sold roughly 7,900 units. So only 100 issue increase for a new #1? That seems a bit low right off the start. A new #1 with a new creative team usually spikes the numbers up for a few issues before it finds its new level.

Let's try comparing it to another Shadow side series by a well known artist. The Shadow: Year One #1 by Matt Wagner came out in February 2013 and sold 19,000 units. That's more than double the order numbers for Midnight In Moscow and arguably I think Matt Wagner and Howard Chaykin are comparable when it comes to name recognition.

So let's take a look away from The Shadow and focus on Chaykin on his own. Avengers 1959 #1 came out in October of 2011 and sold over 32,000 units. Satellite Sam #1 came out in July of 2013 and also sold over 32,000 units. Those are nice, consistent sales numbers to compare… but then you have to take into the fact one is a Marvel/Avengers book and the other is written by the popular Matt Fraction.

Out best comparison may come from a mature reader book and a sequel… Black Kiss II #1. The book came out in August of 2012 and did 10,000 units. A black and white book with nudity and adult content sold over 2000 units more than the initial sales of a brand new Shadow series.

Which brings us back to the original question, are retailers under ordering The Shadow: Midnight In Moscow? I'd say yes. Going back to the 7,900 units sold of the last regular issue of the Shadow, I'd think a new #1 with Howard Chakyin doing the writing and art should bring the book up to wear The Shadow: Year One was…. 19,000.

The source at Dynamite seems to think that the reason for the lower pre-orders is simple. Unlike most of their books, The Shadow: Midnight To Moscow has only one cover. No variants, no retailer incentives, no sketch or blank covers. Just the one cover from Chaykin. The speculate that had they done the usual 4 covers for a book, they would have orders around 15,000 to 18,000. The Shadow: Year One had 12 different covers including a couple convention exclusives. If true, that makes an interesting stat for the argument for and against variant covers.

Unless there is a rush to up orders before the FOC on Thursday, I think we'll hear about a sellout for the first issue fairly quickly and a second printing scheduled. Which means those of you that can get a first printing copy may just want to grab one for your collection… or eBay.

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