The HUNGER GAMES: Retail & New DC 52
Retail Report
THE HUNGER GAMES:
Retail & New DC 52
It’s been just over a week since DC Comics rolled out their first titles of their highly publicized re-launch event. Justice League #1 by Geoff Johns and Jim Lee came out last week, with 13 more titles shipping the following Wednesday.
All titles not just sold out from the publisher at the distribution, but at the retail level everything has been wiped out too. It’s not like the streams of meaningless Press Release hyperbole. Copies of the books are in the hands of public. It’s not just the highly anticipated ACTION COMICS #1 or controversial “Batgirl walks again” or the gruesome Joker story from DETECTIVE #1.
The C-List characters, or the “Knock Around guys” from DC also sold out such as SWAMP THING, HAWK & DOVE, and ANIMAL MAN. Each of these books boasted the stellar talents of Scott Snyder, Rob Liefeld, and Jeff Lemire, respectively. But in all fairness, the last time ANY of these title characters enjoyed their moment of being “Fan Favorites” was perhaps in the late 80s.
There was a good response on Justice League International, Green Arrow, and Batwing- all had ties to successful, long time DC Families. Although a cynic could make the point these characters might be the red headed step children of those families, the titles looked good, sold out early from the JayCompanyComics.com retail booth at the frank and sons show, which was echoed by national reports, as well.
Perhaps the most impressive sellouts from retail and publisher point of view have been their Rehab Projects- OMAC, Static Shock, Men At War, and Stormwatch. I felt kinda funny as I scrambled to scoop up any remaining copies for resell, but was smiling ear to ear as fans consumed these at nearly the same pace.
The bottom line, there is a HUNGER for the new DC 52.
Comic COLLECTING has been reignited. We may have seen a mere glimpse of this briefly in the early Quemas era of Marvel where books like Wolverine Origin, Ultimate Spider-man, and the 911 Black cover, where Marvel titles were strictly printed to order in order to alter the supply/demand curve. But nothing truly compares to the current frenzy in my 17+ years of comic retailing.
Perhaps the last time we saw this hunger for new books, and the mass consumption by existing fans and newbies alike was 20 years ago with the launch of IMAGE COMICS…
But what do you expect when the charge is led by guys like JIM LEE, ROB LIEFELD and a ton of Splash Action Artists? Of course there’s more than a hint of irony that Stormwatch, Grifter, and Voodoo are all part of the new DC52 as well
Now it’s up to the #comicmarket to decide which DC 52 Re-launch books are the equivalent to SPAWN/YOUNGBLOOD/WILDCATS, and which batch is more akin to Savage Dragon/Cyberforce/Supreme/Brigade, and which ones are most like Shaman’s Tear’s/Tribe/Splitting Image.
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Jimmy S. Jay makes his money at the Comic Conventions, which is a dream job when one is 13 years old, but it's still pretty awesome when one is 37! In addition to operating the biggest national dealership with his brother Bill, and successful retail site www.JayCompanyComics.com, Jimmy has launched his signature brand of comic cons called AMAZING COMIC CONs.