Posted in: Comics | Tagged: babyteeth, Batman, bestseller, Comics, dc, entertainment, marvel, walking dead

Bleeding Cool Bestseller List – 11th June 2017 – Marry Him

Published Sun, 11 Jun 2017 07:00:18 -0500

This is the Top Ten Bleeding Cool Bestseller List, as compiled by a number of comic stores from their sales on Wednesday and Thursday. It measures what are known as the "Wednesday Warriors", those who can't wait to the weekend to get this week's comics. We salute you, and the keenness you bring to your passion.

Batman takes the top two, with a special drive due to a certain news story dominating the headlines. And as Walking Dead beats everything that's not-Bat-related (and quite a few that are), looks like without a Secret Empire, Marvel is beginning to slip back down, with their first superhero title at no 7. But what a blast of a launch from Babyteeth, for a non-Big 5 publisher.

Batman #24
Dark Knight III Master Race #9
Walking Dead #168
Justice League #22
Star Wars Darth Vader #1
Superman #24
Amazing Spider-Man #28
Babyteeth #1
X-Men Gold #5
Paper Girls #15

Thanks to the following retailers…

Dr. No's Comics & Games Superstore of Marietta, Georgia
Fat Jack's Comicrypt of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Comix Experience Outpost, San Francisco, CA
Ssalefish Comics of Winston-Salem, NC
Rodman Comics of Ankeny, Iowa
Famous Faces & Funnies of West Melbourne, FL
Graham Crackers Comics – 11 shops in Illinois/Wisconsin
Geek Out, Burleson, Texas
Comix Experience, San Francisco, CA

Who had this to say…

Amazing response to Babyteeth #1, which hit the Top 10 in our store this week. Of course, Batman took the top honors with Batman #24 in first place and Dark Knight III Master Race #9 in 2nd.
Everyone wanted to get Happy… Grant Morrison's Happy, that is. Sold out of every back issue we had in the past week.

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A healthy week of new releases, meaning plenty of books people have been looking forward to, as well as a nice mix between MARVEL/DC/INDY. Even with the bandwagon of 'screw you Marvel' that so many are chanting, they still vote with their wallets and Marvel hit 5 of the top 10 best sellers between our 11 shops.

Dr. Strange, while spectacular, probably would have done even better had it been released in numerical order. Customer told me, nah I quit when Aaron left, not realizing Marvel released #21 before #20. Darth Vader surprised me doing even better than expected, and I sadly did not forsee the media blitz of Batman #24. Thank goodness for a quick reaction from DC to rush a 2nd print to the press. Just wait until everyone rushes in to get #25 and find out it's a story that takes place before the scene in #24.

While Deadpool 1st appearances and Cable 1st appearance have both slowed down, ASM #300 sold multiple copies this past week, $225, $350 & $400 respectively, Killing Joke #1 1st print and lots of 'keys' that hit that sweet $50-$75 price point sell rapidly.
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Lots of foot traffic early in the day and lots of people I didn't recognize as our regulars ran us out of Batman fast. Luckily, it is our most subbed title in the store so our regulars were mostly covered. That second print can't get here fast enough. Dark Knight III made a huge splash and several of the last two to three issues sold as well with people not realizing they had missed them. An erratic shipping schedule on that book for sure. Walking Dead did well like it always does and will continue to have legs through the coming weeks. Unlike a lot of books, Walking Dead never cools and we generally sell out completely in 1 month.

An Avengers #1 flew out as quick as it came in this week. Heroes Con is next week in Charlotte NC, and if they hadn't pulled the trigger on it we would have definitely sold it this coming weekend.

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Babyteeth is a slam dunk! Our first ever Famous Faces store exclusive did extremely well. It sold more copies than the regular cover and variant combined (Though those sold very well as well).

Batman almost sold out. People who haven't picked up any other issues of the series came in and grabbed a copy. USA Today may have something to do with that.

In the Top Twenty, the next Marvel book is Spider-Man/Deadpool at #16 followed by Amazing Spider-Man at #20. Outcast was the only other indie book at #14. DC is holding a commanding lead on sales in our store. People haven't gotten tired of Rebirth and while the price increase on monthly titles hurt a handful of books, the bi-weekly titles continue to do very well. Marvel on the other hand isn't gaining any ground in our store and it seems like Spider-Man and X-Men are the only books that sell. The price boost on Secret Empire won't help their cause any.
Back issue wise, we've sold a handful of older Wonder Woman comics from Greg Rucka's first run. We've also sold a handful of Spawn and Superman comics from the early 90s on top of the usual Spider-Man, Batman, X-Men and Rebirth back issues that always seem to sell.
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School is out. New people from two stores that have closed make for a very odd sales week. Batman of course took the top spot. Psst, Marvel Batman is up to issue 24 showing a non first issue can sell. Justice League 22 sold out on Wednesday. Bane Conquest 2 sadly was hardly touched even though Bane is a pretty well known character. Marvel managed to get one title in our top ten, Darth Vader 1 of course. Still wish Marvel hadn't canned the previous series right before the last Star Wars movie came out. Amazing Spider-man I miss the days when you were a top ten title. Iceman is DOA. Marvel once again over does it and produces too much X material chocking their whole X Men line.
Action Comics and Superman Rebirth back issues are doing well this week along with Wally West Flash back issues.

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think we're a bit of an outlier when it comes to bestsellers, and it's even more apparent than usual this week. Paper Girls #15 was our top title, which is pretty much always the case when it comes out, but it went up against two strong DC issues this week, including the conclusion of the Dark Knight III run. That being said, both Batman #24 and Dark Knight III #9 sold really well. For our customers, though, they just couldn't compete with the beloved Brian K. Vaughan/Cliff Chiang series. Speaking of BKV, last week's Saga also showed up in the top 10 again, likely because of the appealing price.

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Batman 24 sold out almost immediately, as there was something at the end of this issue that makes this a key issue. Darth Vader was Marvel's highest placing book for us, coming in a distant 2nd to Batman, but fairly easily in its 2nd place spot. BUT, like most first weeks after a 5th week, it was mostly DC dominating the top 10 spots with half of them. Marvel held 2 spots with Darth Vader, and Daredevil – which has been picking up readers lately, and rightfully so. The final 3 top 10 spots for us went to indie titles, with continued strong showings from The Walking Dead, Valiant's Faith picking up readers as it hits the #12 issue mark, and Aftershock's Babyteeth #1 starting out with a bang. Just on the bubble of the coveted top 10 were several other indie titles to keep an eye on, like Magnus, Predator Hunters, Extremity, Red Line and Kiss/Vampirella.
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