Posted in: Boom, Comics, Image | Tagged: boom studios, department of truth, image comcis, james tynion iv, something is killing the children

Something Is Killing The Children #10 Outsells #2

Published Wed, 26 Aug 2020 06:00:18 -0500

by Rich Johnston

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Everyone knows that James Tynion IV is one of the hottest writers in comics today. His current "Joker War" event in Batman, along with the introduction of characters like Punchline, Clownhunter and others, is driving interest and sales for DC. His surprise series from Boom, Wynd, set sales records for the company. And his upcoming launch from Boom cold war rival, Image Comics, Department of Truth, is one of the most hotly anticipated series of next month. Looks like Image Comics has just signed off a 1:100 ratio variant launch cover too.

But another story we've been tracking is the sudden rise of JT4 and Werther Dell'Edera's Something Is Killing The Children, which has been called "the next Walking Dead" by some… and is seeing massive jumps in orders and sales well into its second story arc.

We first noticed that the series was building heat earlier this summer, with Something is Killing The Children #7 as a top speculator target, which is unusual for any comic series after the first few issues, along with huge aftermarket interest in every printing of every issue as noted by the Key Collectors Comics app.

Now, not only have issue #7 gone back to a second printing, but it's selling for as much as $20. More impressively, the orders for the second printing of issue #8 came in 50% higher than those for issue #7. Which is not the usual, direction for these things.

More impressive still, last week orders on Something Is Killing The Children #10 came in at 25,909 copies at FOC. Jumping by over 10,000 copies in just 2 issues would be head-turning enough, but selling more copies of issue #10 than of issue #2 is almost unheard of in the comic market. Suddenly, comparisons to The Walking Dead and even Saga don't seem so far fetched.

And I'm hearing it's likely that this trend will continue as retailers have already jumped in on at least 5 retailer exclusive variant covers for October's Something Is Killing The Children #11. The only real question is how long can this upward sales trend last… and will they climb high enough to rejoin Boom's 50K Club it broke into with issue #1?

All of this momentum bodes well for next week's Boom Studios launch, Al Ewing and Simone di Meo's We Only Find Them When They're Dead, which despite the biggest orders for any Boom Studios' original series ever, is likely to sell out and have retailers and fans chasing the latest Boom hit. But will it be able to outsell JT4's Department of Truth launch? Um… no. But that 1:100 ratio variant we mentioned earlier for DOT? That is to be drawn by Something Is Killing The Children's Werther Dell'Edra. as a a parody of Something Is Killing The Children #1. So… kinda??