Broken Frontier

Greetings, ladies and germs.  Mike Wellman here.  I run The Comic Bug in Manhattan Beach, California.  You’re asking yourself “who the hell is this guy?” or “why am I reading this?”  Well, you’ll get no answers from me!  I’m going to leave the rest a mystery for now.  Like they used to say about Wolverine’s origin, “all WILL be revealed… eventually.”  And, just like the old canucklehead, when it IS revealed, it will probably be more than you ever wanted to know.

Our premiere column here serves a higher purpose… and functionality, if you will.  Every month here at The Pull Service I’ll be dedicating a column to the Diamond sales chart and to the newest issue of Previews.  There’s nothing I love more than delving through the depths of that phone book sized catalog and finding treasures both hidden and in-your-face.  The sales chart thing is a little trickier.  Ya see, I’ve never been the most analytical cat.  I sell comics for a living, but I’ll be honest in telling you that this is the first time I’ve EVER looked at Diamond’s Top 300 books of the month.  I found it both enlightening and, sometimes, even a little bit disturbing.  So, hop on in and let’s see what they were shilling in that rosy month of February 2007 .

#1-50 Highlights:

#1: Civil War #7.  Nothing sells better than an “event” nowadays.  However, unless that event is pulled off with style and grace, sometimes it can be thrown off the top of the mountain.  Even with major delays, Civil War managed to stay on top.  Marvel did something right here.

#2: Dark Tower #1.  Ahhh, new faces.  Make no mistake, Dark Tower was an EVENT unto itself.  Rabid Stephen King fans came out in droves, many for the midnight sales that Marvel and Diamond coordinated with shops across the country.  (Great idea, by the way!)  Luckily, it looks like stores ordered enough here to more or less meet the demand.  Kudos.

#5: Astonishing X-Men #20.  I know that it’s no phenomenon to see an “X” book near the top of the charts, but being that this isn’t really tied to the big company-wide crossover and didn’t have the benefit of nationwide press, it still warms the cockles of my heart to see this book maintain its momentum on the high quality combo of story and art Whedon and Cassaday are putting out consistently.  I’ll be sad to see it all end.

#7: Justice #10.  Alex Ross’ boyhood memories of the Super Friends, now all grown up and balding, makes for some of the purtiest eye-candy on the shelves.  It’s nice to be able to pick up a book with Bats and Supes and not have to worry about understanding the ending of Infinite Crisis or its repercussions.  This is DC’s highest charting title and for good reason.

#8-11: 52 Weeks 40-43.  It makes sense that these books would form a death-grip to take a four week chunk of chart real estate month after month.  At OUR shop, we’ve been ordering highly on this book and still selling out.  To give you an idea, the first few months were returnable and we were ordering around 200-250 copies.  Over time, our orders have dropped down to a still impressive 90 copies.  However, we find ourselves restocking anywhere from 15-20 extra copies soon after.

#13: Brave and the Bold #1.  Mark Waid + George Perez = high sales.  It’s nice to see these guys have still got it!

#25: Thunderbolts #111.  Warren Ellis and Mike Deodato’s polish on Marvel’s Suicide Squad gives this book the strong push it needs to get it from the bottom of the chart up to number 25.  Will it last?  I think so, as long as these boys are onboard.

#38: Ghost Rider: Trail of Tears #1.  Ghost Rider is burning up the sales chart, no doubt, due to the movie release.  Ghost Rider comics are clogging up our shelves at the moment, no doubt also, due to the movie release.

#51-100 Highlights

#51: Superman and Batman vs. Aliens and Predator #2.  The title is a mouthful and the concept sounds utterly ridiculous, but damn if this comic isn’t a tasty surprise.  We’re always a little conservative when there’s a $5.95 price tag, but this book continues to fly off the shelves.

#52: Shazam vs. the Monster Society of Evil #1.  While a #52 placement is nothing to sneeze at, I was surprised this title didn’t rank higher.  This is a perfect book for the kids and Jeff Smith’s take on Captain Marvel is priceless.  It’s like Tom Hank’s character in “Big” meets “Superman”.  Again, this book deserves to be much higher on the chart.

#57: Star Wars: Legacy #8.  The highest ranking non-Marvel/DC book.  This book has been a fun ride so far.  Just when you think they’ve explored every corner of the Star Wars universe, Dark Horse brings us a new, intriguing generation of adventure.

#76: The Spirit #3.  Darwyn Cooke’s Spirit continues to bring in respectable sales.  We all know The Spirit is a classic, but even the all star line-up Kitchen Sink brought to the book about a decade ago (Alan Moore and a bunch of others I can’t remember right now) couldn’t keep the book afloat.  Maybe consistency is the key?

#93: Red Sonja #19.  Dynamite Entertainment is doing a good job of using familiar franchises, multiple covers and quality product to loosen the chokehold the big boys have on the chart.  While it may be a bad idea to make Bill Bixby angry, I’ve learned that it’s even more dangerous to anger a redhead.

#101-150 Highlights

#101: Walking Dead #35.  Robert Kirkman’s zombie soap opera has been the best of the crop since all the revival hoopla began.  This is Image’s highest ranking book on the chart this month.

#115: Conan and the Midnight God #2.  Intriguing take on the barbarian as king brings in respectable numbers.  We’ve sold through two orders of the first issue and the second issue is selling strong as well.

#201-250 Highlights

#202: Local #8.  Why isn’t this book higher on the charts?  Brian Wood is creating slices of life from around the country in this one, something that’s unique and solid!  If you’re not ordering this book, you’re not only doing yourself a disservice, you’re depriving readers of one of the best indy books currently on the market!

#204: D’Airain Aventure #1.  Ashley Wood is one of those artists with a style that you either love or hate.  I used to hate it.  Then something happened.  I don’t know what.  The last year or so, I’ve discovered an energy in his work, plus he draws some of the hottest ladies… doing some of the hottest things.  (Fold open the front cover of this here book and you’ll see what I’m saying.)  I was really impressed with the production quality of D’Airain Aventure and it’s a solid seller for us.

#211: Grimm Fairy Tales #11.  The boys at Zenoscope are onto something here.  The adult fairy tale wave might be the thing that supplants the current glut of zombie comics, but these guys beat most of them to the punch.  With fun, saucy Al Rio covers and innovative takes on stories we’re all so familiar with, this is a nice addition to our shelves.

#219: Fear Agent #11.  It is said that you poop what you eat.  If that’s the case, then Rick Remender has been eating out of my cereal bowl since I was a wee lad.  Fear Agent is, hands down, my favorite title on the shelves currently and that’s because it incorporates everything I’ve loved about science fiction and comics EVER!  There’s nods to old EC comics and artists of yore, plus Heath Houston is one of the most loveable lugs to grace comic pages in quite some time.  Imagine Buck Rogers mixed with that old Dragon’s Lair game (oh, that’s Space Ace, huh?) then add in a bottle of Jack Daniels and you’ve got Fear Agent.  Don’t just read it, live it!

#221: Rex Mundi #4.  I met Rex Mundi writer Arvid Nelson and artist Eric J. nearly a decade ago.  They had just begun work on an epic 36 issue mini-series entitled “Rex Mundi”.  They had copies of their first, self-published issue.  I thought it was pretty good, but when I did the math, I figured there would be no way in hell that they’d ever see their grand vision through.  Well, flash forward 7 or 8 years and Arvid is still going strong. No scratch that, STRONGER than when he first began this title.  Now, the book is at Dark Horse, Juan Ferreyra has ably replaced Eric J. and frickin’ Johnny Depp has snatched up the rights to produce and star in a Rex Mundi motion picture!  What the hell do I know?
Stock up on the trades, too.  This is the kind of book that isn’t very “hop-on” friendly, but it is SUCH a rewarding read.  As soon as Depp’s pretty boy posters are plastered around bus stops at cities around the globe, people will be wanting to check this book out.

#251-300 Highlights

#259: Okko #2.  Initially, we only ordered this book for a special order at our shop.  Once I flipped through the pages, we immediately snatched up a handful for our shelves.  The artwork is AMAZING!  Could this be the next Mouse Guard?  Who knows?  All I know is that the boys at Archaia Studios Press have been consistently putting out great books since they’ve been on my radar.

#261: The Killer #3.  Another home run from Archaia!  This apparently is a translation of a French comic, and our customers can’t get enough of it.  We’ve moved through about 30 copies of the first issue and the second issue looks to be just as strong.

#270: Anita Blake #4.  Is this right?  This isn’t a resolicited book is it?  Anita Blake caught us off guard when it was initially released.  Laura Hamilton fans came out of the woodwork for this book and many have stayed onboard.  Granted, later issues didn’t sell quite as strongly as the first (I believe we sold over 100 copies of the first issue), this should be WAY higher than #270 on the charts!  The book is still a strong mover for us and the Dabel Brothers seem to have a knack for finding unique properties to bring to our medium.  See kids?  It pays to read books without pictures sometimes!

And that wraps up our first pow wow here at “The Pull Service.”  Stay tuned.  Next week, we’ll be taking a look at all the exciting things in April’s Previews catalog!  Until then, may your floors be vacuumed and your toilets be flushed!

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Mike “The Chief” Wellman, is the manager of The Comic Bug, the finest comic store of all Manhattan Beach, CA. His biggest strength is being able to lift 2 long comic boxes 85% full of 70's & 80's comics. Visit The Comic Bug’s website at www.thecomicbug.com.