"The chart ends before the point where we should really see if their more innovative changes, namely the titles that would lead to the formation of the Vertigo imprint would lead to overall gains or not."

Outside of a handful of titles, Vertigo sales have traditionally been much lower than DC super-hero books.

Mike

According to the list at the bottom, in 1950, comic book sales by the big 2
were approx. 13.5 million... in a country of 152 million.

By 1987, the big two sold about 10.4 million comics... in a country with 242
million people.

That's a 23% drop in sales, in a country that was 38% bigger. And that was
24 years ago.

Again, according to this chart, the combined number of comics sold by the
big 2 in 2006 was 7.4 million... in a country that's closer to 300 million in
population.

You can certainly factor in Image and Valiant etc. into the mix where
appropriate, but to do so you need to also add Archie and Gold Key and EC
etc. into the earlier numbers (I think that makes it worse).

Edited by Sean Blythe on 24 August 2011 at 10:57am

Traditionally, solicits are 2 months in advance...not sure there's anything to more to it that needs to be read into.

••

Against the context of the history of the industry, there is PLENTY more to be "read into it", not the least of which is taking a close look at that word "traditionally".

These months-in-advance solicitations are a manifestation of the Direct Sales Market, and they are all about speculators who want to know if a book will be "worth buying". IE, will it have a suitable (to them) combination of hot artists, hot writers, hot characters -- and, preferably, some "event" that will make the book a "collectible".

In the days before the DSM, books were announced the month they came out, in house ads and on flak pages like the Bullpen Bulletins. There were fanzines like THE COMIC READER or THE COMIC BUYER'S GUIDE that listed upcoming issues, but they reached only a tiny portion of the audience. For most readers -- key word there -- of comics, what was happening in the "next issue" of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN meant literally the next issue, not one scheduled for three months down the line.

I still look back with some degree of wonderment, at the fact that for most people a true event like the first SUPERMAN/SPIDER-MAN crossover was something they didn't know about until they saw the house ads or, in some cases, actually saw the book on the rack!

The main difference in all this being, of course, that it was possible to plot ahead without fearing that one's stories would be blown by the solicitations. Ask yourself if the Dark Phoenix conclusion (pretending for a moment here that it played out as something Chris and I had planned all along) would have had the memorable impact it did if the month X-MEN 134 hit the stands, the solicitations were already telling the readers what was going to be in 137.

As a kid (of the 80's), the "first look" I used to get at the next month's issue was in the letter column of the current month's issue.

It was great to read a comic, get to the cliffhanger, and only then get "teased" in the letter column by the next issue's cover.

That very example of X-Men 137 is one that has crossed my mind over the years. I've thought if Previews/Newsarama,etc. was around back in the day, that issue (which was more than just one great issue, but a culmination of many issues) would have been ruined. I would've hated seeing the iconic cover JB did for 138 prior to even opening 136. Part of the fun was just dwelling on what you had just experienced and wondering where they (the creators) were going with their stories.

I honestly don't remember if there was any special hype for that issue prior to its release; I do remember it knocking my socks off after reading it. I don't know how creators can possibly build great stories today without them being given away. I guess the generic covers "help."

So, which books are in line fior the first week?

Will i have my Batgirl & my Firestorm?

Hawkman? Aquaman? Blackhawks? Justice League Dark?

Probably one of the Batman titles?