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Bleeding Cool Bestseller List – 30th January 2017 – "Please Marvel, Fix It!"

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jl-vs-ss-6

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.

And this past week, Justice League VS Suicide Squad continued to dominate, DC will miss its absence come Wednesday. It's also notable that the last issue of Saga as the series goes on break till at least May, beat all Marvel titles save for Star Wars…

  1. Justice League Vs Suicide Squad #6
  2. Detective Comics #949
  3. Flash #15
  4. Star Wars #27
  5. Saga #42
  6. Wonder Woman #15
  7. Suicide Squad #10
  8. IVX #3
  9. Black Panther #10
  10. Action Comics #972

Thanks to the following retailers,

Who had this to say,

Yet another week with no Marvel books in our store's Top Ten. The bloom is even off the Star Wars rose, as that former top-ten title no longer breaks into the charts. Star Wars came in at #13 in our store; the highest ranked Marvel Universe title, Infamous Iron Man, came in at a very weak #19. Readers have bailed on books like Captain America Steve Rogers and Deadpool to such a degree that those books can no longer crack our top 25. Bubbling just below the top ten: Delilah Dawson's Ladycastle #1, which took eleventh place in our store–a great beginning for a well-crafted comic.

Strong interest in 1980s and 1990s comics–good reading at not-very-high prices.

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Had a weird Wednesday. People who usually do not show up on Wednesdays did. Not sure if the snow got people to come early in case the weather got worse or what. Justice League vs Suicide Squad 6 sold out on Wednesday. All of the covers. Suicide Squad 10 sold out also. The JL vs SS crossover boosted its sales. Why am I somewhat surprised? Because the Civil War and Inhumans vs X Men crossover issues did not get a boost. Marvel had three in the top 10 this week. Star Wars 27 did very well. Punisher 8 had a cover people took to. Deadpool 25 sneaks in the top ten even with the $4.99 cover price. Somehow Hellblazer sold out Wednesday also and almost made it into the top ten. The Kamandi Challenge did terrible sadly. Reborn has really slipped sales wise. Avengers as a brand almost seems toxic now. The Avengers 1.MU was outsold by almost all of the other titles that came out the same week. It stuns me because with the popularity of the Avengers movies it makes no sense. Back to the Future Biff to the Future 1, Batgirl 7, Bloodshot USA 4, and more outsold and are outselling the various Avengers titles and spin offs. Years ago I would never have thought that possible. Marvel needs a new direction. Marvel NOW yet again is not working.
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Very few surprises this week. Saga continues to be our best selling book in all its forms. DC generally dominates, with two Marvel non-Star Wars books cracking our top 10. Monsters Unleashed tie-ins are as DOA as the main mini. I keep waiting for the inertia on Rebirth titles to start to wane, but attrition has been very small. And with the crossovers we know about planned for the spring, I expect interest to at least hold.

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Big Week – Lots to choose from. With most MARVEL titles still trending downward as readers vote with their wallets, they did still pull 4 titles on our top 10 best selling books of this week.

Lots of interesting and varied requests this week for silver-age stock. Sub-Mariner (go figure – no one ever wants) – Silver Surfer, Katy Keene, Little LuLu. Just some overall odd requests. As usual everyone that request the odd stuff wants it for nostalgia and is shocked that it might cost more than a couple dollars to get an issue.

I have not reported our top ten in a couple weeks because there was basically not much to say that I didn't say every week.. DC Dominance and events, events, events!
However this week Doom Patrol (a truly special book) finally came out after months of delays and it sold extremely well. If you are not reading this comic you should it will give you hope!!

On my way out to a small convention, so shorter than usual comments, but again, NO Marvel in our top ten this week. Marvel hits with IVX at 13, then Thanos, CapSteve, Dr Strange and Extraordinary at spots 17-20. Our FFF top ten is JL/SS on top every week it was out, Detective at 2, Flash, Saga (best/darkest issue yet), Suicide Squad, Action, JLA: Killer Frost, Hal Jordan, WW, and Batman TMNT Adventures, with Reborn at 11 and Animosity: Rise outselling every Marvel book but IVX for us. Saga 42 is one of my favorite comics that ever made me sad, but it was a perfect comic book. We will sell a lot more over the rest of the month, and it will probably outsell JL/SS, which we are close to sold out of, other than folders that still have them. Saga, like Walking Dead and Paper Girls, our other best sellers have a real long tail. Super heroes books sell week of in most cases. Creator books sell for weeks and months if they're good enough. And then the trades sell for years and years too. 

Great sales on new issues, but a little more of a lull than a usual week as people try to pay off holiday gift credit card abuse this month and next. We're still up about 10% vs last January so far, while selling a lot less Marvel, so imagine if Marvel was bringing in new people or hitting their audience. 5 spots towards the end of our top 20 isn't where I want them to be either. You have the most recognizable super heroes in the world, just make better comics, or reach a new audience to sell them to. 

I don't have time for my usual ramble, so I'll just say, "Please Marvel, fix it!"

Walking Dead, Saga, old Batman and New 52 Batman, 1990's Wolverine, decent amount of horror comics and low cost ASM, Uncanny and Generation X. No matter what you enjoy, keep voting with your dollars and they'll make more comics like that!
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Star Wars wiped the floor with all the other titles this week. I guess i must be the only one selling Marvel Comics in the USA. Running on fumes from Monsters Unleashed from last week…or what i call the next wave of Marvel movies.Giant Monsters getting thrashed by Super Hero's…what's not to like in that equation.Oh yeah,DC Comics had 4 spots in the top ten.

X-23 and Amazing Spider-Man ruled the back issue market. Figure that will be the trend for the next few weeks.
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Big week. I had a hard time fitting everything on my new releases rack. Between the extreme number of titles and alternate covers galore, I doubt this problem will go away any time soon. Though, with the notable drops (again!) in (primarily) Marvel's bottom-tier books, I expect that many are soon for the chopping block.

That issue of Saga, though… wow. BKV and Fiona Staples knocked it out of the park again. Sales on Image books have never been better. (Okay, okay, barring the first year, but that was just weird.)

DC Rebirth is continuing strong. One of the things I like best about it (as a retailer) is that sales have been very consistent, with very little drops after the third to fifth issues. That's unusual (and welcome) in today's market.

This week was typical for us. Being a traditional superhero store, it's not surprising to have a top 10 without any of the smaller publishers. The biggest observations for this week: Sales wise, Justice League/Suicide squad stayed ridiculously consistent along with IVX. Despite coming out last week, both Batman 15 and Amazing-Spiderman #23 made the top 10 (due to shipping issue) which is a testament to how loyal our customers are to those two titles.

Without surprise Saga #42 is dominating as the number one best seller, along with its last release (issue 41) at number ten. Kill or Be Killed continues to be a hit, as last week's issue #5 is our number two seller, and held the top of our list last week. As for DC, Batman came in at number 3 followed by Doom Patrol and All Star Batman; intermixed is Marvel with Black Panther and Invincible Iron Man. The Unquotable Trump, (at number 4 on our top sellers list!) continues to be a huge success in our store, this small press book by artist R. Sikoryak features recreations of classic comic book covers with Donald Trump portraying all your favorite villains, and uses real quotes by the president himself. You can see why it would be a hit.

Yoda takes the #1 spot.   Pretty solid week for every publisher.  We saw a Huge push for Mad Love for Harley.  Older Liefeld, Image and Extreme comics have become a High Demand from our back issue customers.   Drek comics have become a very nice pick up for investors lately.

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Rich JohnstonAbout Rich Johnston

Founder of Bleeding Cool. The longest-serving digital news reporter in the world, since 1992. Author of The Flying Friar, Holed Up, The Avengefuls, Doctor Who: Room With A Deja Vu, The Many Murders Of Miss Cranbourne, Chase Variant. Lives in South-West London, works from Blacks on Dean Street, shops at Piranha Comics. Father of two. Political cartoonist.
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