Online Comics Vs.
Printed Comics:
A Study in E-Commerce and the
Comparative Economics of Content
Chapter 1 - An Introduction to Print Comic Books,
Their Economics, and Fall from Circulation Grace.
(Con't)
The next highest selling independent comic book is MICHAEL TURNER PRESENTS ASPEN #3, at number 71 with 27,864 estimated copies ordered. Again, Turner is a popular artist who recently left Image Comics and that comic features his "Fathom" character, who headlined a popular comic for Image.
The first independent comic not strongly associated with Image by both creative team and characters or a possible ownership arrangement with Diamond is DARK DAYS #6 from IDW at 116 and with an estimated 18,536 copies ordered. So a truly independent book does not rank within the top 100 comic books ordered. El Cazador, the most popular title from Crossgen, is estimated at just under 18,000 copies, and more independent books start to show up after this.
Still, these are color books, and the independent publishers, particularly the self-publishers that popularized the direct market in the 1980s and 1990s, used to publish in black and white. This is the format from which the now famous "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" came. The highest selling independent black and white comic book is Knights of the Dinner Table #86, the 201st most ordered comic book for December 2003 with an estimated 6,304 copies requested. Other top selling black and white independents include Cerebus #297 estimated at 6,194 and Queen & Country #22 estimated at 6,139 copies.
Perhaps a better demonstration of this phenomenon is the sales drop of G.I. Joe. G.I. Joe was licensed by the art studio, "Devil’s Due," and published through Diamond premiere partner, Image Comics. The orders for the title in October, as estimated by ICV2, were 36,662 copies, 38,849 in November, and 36,300 in November, all under the Image banner. In January 2004, Devil’s Due withdrew from their relationship with Image and published the book under their own name. January sales were estimated at 31,417, a 13.45% drop off from numbers that had been somewhat consistent over the previous quarter, despite continuous numbering on the title.
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