ICv2.com reports that, in response to increased interest in Watchmen spawned by the movie trailer, DC Comics has ordered a 200,000-copy new printing of the trade paperback.
The trailer, which accompanies The Dark Knight, sent the collection of the 1986 Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons series rocketing up the Amazon.com and USA Today bestseller lists.
Retailer Brian Hibbs notes that Watchmen has flown off the shelves of Comix Experience in San Francisco:
Last Tuesday I had what would normally be a month’s worth of WATCHMEN in stock (and if you remember back to last week’s post, WATCHMEN was my #2 best selling TP in the last 12 months, so we’re talking about a real number of copies). Every single copy sold out by mid-Saturday morning. The calls have been coming in by the dozen or more a day “Do you have WATCHMEN?!?!”, so I’m going to go on a limb and suggest that no one in San Francisco has them. I put in a direct order for a “3 month supply” that I should have tomorrow, but even then I’m going to order another big stack on my next reorder cycle (unless I pay a LOT for shipping them faster, reorders take about 10 days to show) just to cover my bets (it’s not like, worst case, we won’t sell them *eventually*)
Update: The Los Angeles Times puts the print run at 250,000. And director Zack Snyder, passing along figures from Warner Bros., says 75,000 copies of Watchmen were sold just last week.
July 25th, 2008 at 9:29 am
Ingram (the largest mass market book distributor) was completely out of stock on WATCHMEN at all of it’s warehouses when I checked last night — each had an order in for about 2,000 copies (though now the orders seem to have been adjusted down to about 1,000 copies each).
July 25th, 2008 at 10:46 am
One of Alan Moore’s complaints against DC regarding WATCHMEN is that the rights were never returned to him. This is because (as is standard in every book contract an author signs), rights do not revert until a book goes out of print. WATCHMEN has never been out of print. It sold well even before the movie was announced and is now selling even better. Unless Alan isn’t getting royalty checks, I don’t know what he’s complaining about. DC didn’t hijack his book. They just kept selling it and selling it.
July 25th, 2008 at 11:41 am
Watchmen has indeed been selling like mad in San Francisco thanks to the increased interest the movie trailer has brought. Thank you Zack Snyder and thank you DC!
Copies have been available at the Isotope here in SF all week (thanks to our raid-restocking friends at Diamond)… although I am willing to bet we’re going to run out over the weekend!
July 25th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
James Van Hise: That’s not true of all contracts. Remember that Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan’s Demo was originally at AiT before moving over to Vertigo.
July 25th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
James Van Hise,
As I understand, Alan Moore asked in the contract for Watchmen to be returned. DC agreed. It wasn’t until later he discovered the clause said the book had to go out of print first.
Whether that was sneaky and underhanded or someone needs to read contracts better, it should be pretty easy to understand why Moore would want his book back.
It is disheartening that you think Alan Moore does anything for money. Of course, that’s the problem with most people today: they think everything comes down to money when for a chosen few people, it comes down to right and wrong.
I’m not trying to be snide, but I honestly hope one day you can understand and at least appreciate the difference.
July 25th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
“Unless Alan isn’t getting royalty checks, I don’t know what he’s complaining about. DC didn’t hijack his book. They just kept selling it and selling it.”
From something Rich Johnston posted on the Bendis Board the other day, Moore has requested that money from the print editions of his DC books go to the artists.
July 25th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
While I can admire Alan for standing by his priciples (while not trying to claim he was “tricked” or something, and go the litigious route), it seems to me that a far better way to protect one’s creation is to remain connected to them, not to write off all interaction with the company, essentially allowing them to do whatever they like with your work. At least if you remain friendly with them, you stand a chance of them listening to you.
A chance, anyway.
And remember, this ALL started with five buttons. DC made a set of Watchmen buttons that they sold through comic shops. Alan Moore was supposed to receive a taste of all merchandising. DC claimed the buttons were not merchandising, but a promotional item, from which Moore did not receive any money. Alan stood up and walked away. DC lost out on the opportunity to publish more from one of the greatest writer comics has had, because of what was probably a couple thousand dollars. Eventually, dictionaries will refer to this event when defining “Short-sighted”.
Alan’s actions have come close to seeming petulant to me on occasion. I think to a degree he likes playing the martyr. It’s slightly easier to play than the guitar, and not as annoying as the bagpipes…
July 26th, 2008 at 5:15 am
I think more than playing the martyr, Moore just has a very strict code of what is right. When someone violates that “Circle of Trust” then they are almost permanently out. DC did manage to get an end run at a second chance when they bought Wildstorm and got ABC, but as I recall, they even managed to mess that one up, too.
July 27th, 2008 at 4:57 am
I think the way Brian characterizes the contract between Moore and DC is one sided and inaccurate. The description of the negotiation—”Alan Moore asked in the contract for Watchmen to be returned. DC agreed. It wasn’t until later he discovered the clause said the book had to go out of print first.”—is quite obviously authorial spin and, as an aside, total hogwash. As pointed out above, the contract signed was a standard contract, and it’s called standard for a reason. The publisher’s “reward”, if you will, for paying the author for his work is the ability to sell it until it is no longer deemed profitable (i.e., out of print). WATCHMEN is that rare (in the grand scheme of publishing) and magical book that has found an audience over many years and stayed in print—much of that due to the creators’ work, and much of it due to the efforts of the publisher. It is the book’s SUCCESS that Moore complains about.
Both parties have been amply rewarded over the years—and it is also inaccurate when Joe Lawler/Rich Johnston says above that Moore turns over his book royalties to his artists—it’s the movie money he turns over. Since that distinction has been made time and again by Moore, it is a fair assumption that Mr. Moore has faithfully cashed each and every one of the enormous royalty checks sent his way regularly by his publisher. The poor tortured artist.
The problem with people today, I would submit, is that they consistently want to shirk their rights and responsibilities. At the end of the day, if you sign a contract, then you abide by the terms of the contract–what is right and wrong is quite clear in such a situation.
I’m not trying to be snide, but I honestly believe, Brian, that you do understand and appreciate the difference, given how smartly you have run your career.
July 28th, 2008 at 11:26 am
“DC did manage to get an end run at a second chance when they bought Wildstorm and got ABC, but as I recall, they even managed to mess that one up, too.”
IIRC, Moore agreed to continue to write for Wildstorm since the contracts were in place before the sale, and he was promised that he’d have no interaction with the staff of DC. That, apparently, didn’t happen, and he left Wildstorm as well; a damn shame, I think we’ll all agree.
Everybody loses when a situation like this occurs. The publisher loses the chance to release a new work by a popular creator, the creator loses the potential market of a major publisher (say what you like, but DC can get books into a lot more locations that TopShelf Publications) and the reader loses out for not getting to read the work of a favorite creator, possibly completely if they cannot or choose not to seek out another publisher.
Alan Moore seems quite happy not working, or at least not working much. He’s got sufficient income/savings that he doesn’t need to, and he can eat out on his reputation for the rest of his life. The fact that he won’t (likely) be doing any work for Marvel or DC or much of any big publisher is far more injurious to the reader or the publisherd than it is to him.
I’d love to know what it’d take to bring him back to DC. I’m sure the money isn’t the issue, I imagine there’s certain persons who he holds responsible for the decisions made in the past, and simply won’t work there while they are still employed. And odds are that’s not a price DC is willing to deliver.
August 3rd, 2008 at 11:03 am
I’m glad for the reprint.
It shows that active literacy is on the rise, also…. anything that gets people reading more is better for society.