Posted in: Comics | Tagged: bestseller list, Comics, HRL

Bleeding Cool Bestseller List, 3rd December 2017 – "Batman Annual Destroyed"

Published Sun, 03 Dec 2017 14:00:10 -0600

This is the Top 10 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.

It was another clean sweep; the kind that only DC Comics titles get of late. Every store reported Batman Annual #2 by Tom King, Lee Weeks and Michael Lark was their best-seller, even as issues sell on eBay for two to three times their cover price. And even last week's Doomsday Clock #1 still outsells the best-selling Marvel title, Old Man Logan. Still, we are seeing a greater sneaking into the top 10 by Marvel than they have of late — but most of their titles are still outsold by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips's Kill Or Be Killed, making its debut in the top 10.

Batman Annual #2
Super Sons Annual #1
Doomsday Clock #1
Old Man Logan #31
Hal Jordan & GLC #33
X-Men Blue #16
Batman: Creature of the Night #1
Moon Knight #189
Kill Or Be Killed #14
Mystik U #1

Thanks to the following retailers…

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

…who had this to say:

Pretty light fifth week at FFF with Annuals and books from previous weeks (8 out 10 from DC) taking the majority of the spots in the Top Ten. The hot book this week was obviously the Batman Annual which sold almost double of the next top book which was Doomsday Clock on it's second week. Baby Teeth #6 also made the Top Ten again on it's second week at #6. Unable to let a week go by without a top selling Metal book, Batman Who Laughs landed just behind Baby Teeth at #7. Even with the lion's share of books on the shelf this week, Marvel only had one book in our Top Ten with X-Men Blue at #10. Batman: Creature of the Night continues the new tradition of Elseworlds Batman Stories selling well.

Marvel had a few more books in our store's Top Twenty, but none of them sold stellar numbers. Moon Knight, Old Man Logan, Star Wars: Mace Windu and Darkhawk (WHAT?!) all sold less than all of the DC Annuals and Batman: Creature of the Night, showing us that people are willing to pay a dollar more every so often if the content is actually decent. The fact that a Star Wars book didn't sell better is a little disconcerting. I get that it's not the main title, but Mace Windu is still a pretty popular character and Denys Cowan on art should be a draw for comic fans from the 80s & 90s, but apparently people care more about Aquaman and Green Arrow doing their best For the Man Who Has Everything.

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It takes a 5th week for Marvel to chart so well these days… although DC still beats them with the #1 book (take a guess) and 5 charting books to Marvel's 4. Pleasantly surprised though to see the excellent new run of Moon Knight at #2. I am hopeful that some of the better books in the Legacy initiative will be noticed by our lapsed Marvel customers. That said, I don't see any upcoming Marvel release coming close to competing with Metal, Doomsday Clock, nor the Batman family of books… I wish that wasn't true because we're definitely down this year and Marvel is the main reason why. Fingers crossed 2018 will be better!

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Slow week after thanksgiving. Batman Annual 2 of course took the top spot. Marvel did get two titles into the top ten. John Wick after what seems like many delays finally made it in and made it into our top ten.

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Terrible sales but for a fifth Wednesday not surprising. Thought we might make up for it with trade sales, as is common with low output weeks but, nope. We did have great sales last weekend so a lower than average Wednesday was, again, not surprising.

Batman Annual destroyed but Creature of the Night didn't even make the top ten. Our list is typical BigTwo long box filler with two exceptions. Barely making the list (and wouldn't come close on a normal week) was John Wick #1. And at #3 for the week was Kill or be Killed which made me very happy. Brubaker and Phillips can do no wrong.

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While still primarily Marvel and DC, we had a somewhat more eclectic mix for our best sellers this week. Unsurprisingly the much bandied about BATMAN ANNUAL #2 was our top seller, while the juggernaut hit that is DOOMSDAY CLOCK #1 sits comfortable at second place in its second week on the shelves.

More interestingly, cult film hit turned comic book JOHN WICK #1 did very well for us this week and, along with KILL OR BE KILLED #14, broke the usual Marvel/DC chokehold on our weekly sales. The bottom half our our list is populated with exciting titles like Max Bemis' MOON KNIGHT #189 as well as Kurt Busiek and John Paul Leon's fantastic BATMAN CREATURE OF THE NIGHT #1.

Lastly I think it's worth noting that despite a hefty six dollar cover price, MYSTIC U #1 sold quite well for us.

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DC and Batman won the week, with the Annual as well as Creature of the Night #1 topping our bestseller list this week. We had quite a few speculators buying the Annual, but we were one of the few stores in our area to get our shipment on time so that probably contributed to the demand. Doomsday Clock #1 is also still going strong, making a repeat appearance around the middle of our list. Only one Marvel comic (Mystik U #1) made our bestsellers list–probably because Image turned out to be a big player this week. 5 Image titles made the top 10, 3 of which made the top 5, including the first issue of Gabriel Rodriguez's epic miniseries Sword of Ages.

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An unusual week with mostly Annuals allowed a book that was released last week to chart for us (#6 Doomsday Clock Lenticular cover) – I imagine if the other stores that are submitting their numbers still had this in stock that it would have placed for them as well.

All the Bleeding Cool articles about Batman Annual #2 caused a run on the book – luckily DC announced a 2nd print coming first week in January to take care of anyone that didn't make it in the first week (I imagine we will be sold out by next week)

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Incredible traffic due to our big back issue sale. Perfect timing for a skip week!

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DC didn't even release ten new superhero titles, and they STILL took eight of our top ten slots, with a two-week old book (Doomsday Clock) outselling every new Marvel. Dynamite hits our top ten with John Wick #1, which sold only one copy fewer than Marvel's Old Man Logan #31.