Here’s Dallas Middaugh talking about book sales:
Position six was held by DK’s Marvel Avengers: The Ultimate Guide. While not itself a graphic novel, the book features information about Marvel’s most popular heroes along with art from the comics in which the Avengers appear. Curiously, none of those comics have ever shown up in the monthly top 20 list on BookScan, despite the film’s massive success. (Yes, I pointed that out last time, and no, I’m not going to stop pointing it out until the situation changes. To be unable to sell Avengers graphic novels to casual readers in 2012 is an indication of deep-rooted problems at the “House of Ideas.”)
That’s from ICv2′s look at Bookscan’s list of the top 20 selling comics in the mainstream bookstore market. I’ve gone on about Marvel’s absence from these charts before, but Dallas is spot on here. Considering just how insanely successful the Avengers movie was this year, it’s really, really odd that there isn’t even one Marvel book in the bookstore Top 20. Is it a distribution problem? A promotion problem? Why is Marvel failing in bookstores?
November 9th, 2012 at 2:02 pm
Maybe people don’t care about boring and heavy guide books?
The Avengers movie was also far too light to work in book form. It was a popcorn summer blockbuster. Does not really make for a compelling reading experience.
November 9th, 2012 at 3:07 pm
@Jane A He’s wondering why NO Avengers books were on the list, not just books about the movie.
In other words, with the Avengers being seen by millions upon millions of people, why was Marvel unable to turn those viewers into buyers of graphic novels (or collections) at bookstores?
We ask this question after every big movie and the answer is always the same: movies don’t translate into sustainable books sales. It looks like a spike the month the movie is released is the best we generally get.
November 9th, 2012 at 3:21 pm
The answer is always the same, but it’s not that it doesn’t translate.
The answer is 8 books with “X-Men” in the title. 7 books with “Avengers” in the title. No seminal stand alone tale to point to. No clear starting point.
There is no Walking Dead Vol. 1, or Batman Year One, or Dark Knight Returns, or Watchmen.
The Walking Dead has a clear sustained increase in readership thanks to the success of the show. The reason, unlike any Marvel property, is there’s a plain and clear book to pick up when you go into a book store (Vol. 1), and a clear progression of books to move on to when you’re done.
November 9th, 2012 at 3:53 pm
Hey Ziggy!
But that’s also why, as much money as WALKING DEAD is able to make for AMC and Image and Kirkman, it will never be as profitable, ultimately, as anything from Marvel. It is precisely the breadth and width of these properties that make them malleable enough to succeed in the mainstream marketplace. There’s no “starting point” because it is a virtually infinite thing, backwards, forwards, sideways, and slantwise.
I’m sure Marvel wishes they were selling more AVENGERS books in proper bookstores, but how are those WALKING DEAD action figures doing at Target? Will we have Rick turning up in cartoons, movies, or cereal boxes in twenty years?
It’s this strange thing we as fans do to ourselves, thinking that Barnes and Noble sales will redeem our hobby. I’ve begun to feel that it’s ok that comics are a niche market and rich soil for intellectual property.
November 9th, 2012 at 4:35 pm
But a property’s multimedia potential isn’t whats at question here. Nor am I talking about “legitimizing” the medium with book store sales (though I realize book store sales is what the post was initially about).
I’m talking about definitive and sustained increase in sales of graphic novels, and even monthly comics, whether it be in books stores or comic shops, feeding off a mainstream success like a movie or TV show.
The lack of a clear destination for curious new readers for pretty much any Marvel property is the reason they don’t see a bump in readers from the success of their movies. Batman ALWAYS sees a bump when his movies come out because Year One, DKR, Long Halloween and Hush are clear easy choices. Walking Dead sees a bump in books stores and comic shops, in both trades and single issues. Because the only choice the reader has to make is do they want their Volume One to have 6, 12, or 48 chapters in it.
November 9th, 2012 at 7:01 pm
Whenever I read this stuff, I’m lead to believe my store is some kind of weird oasis of comics buyers. I get people in here all the time who want to “finally make the leap” after being fans of the movies. Maybe because my store is also a record store??
November 9th, 2012 at 9:45 pm
Used to work in a library and as the resident comic expert I had tons of people coming to me for help on the best place to jump on to Avengers and X-Men and Batman and others. Could be that people would rather get things for free then pay $20-$25 for something that they aren’t sure they’ll like.