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So what do all those numbers mean anyway?

Honestly, I haven't been really paying any attention to when The Beat posts the sales numbers for the past few months.  Of course, I give them a cursory glance but those numbers don't really affect the way I buy or enjoy books.  I buy books at the top of the sales charts and I buy books at the bottom of the sales charts.  But for some reason today, I decided to read this months sales reports (DC, Marvel, Indie,) really wanting to check out the comments.  The first comment in the Marvel post is from Brian Hibbs, the owner of Comix Experience out in San Francisco.

If I could make one single change in the way you report these things, sir, it would probably to change every time the word “sales” appears, to globally replace it with “orders”.

As a very general rule, the orders for an issue reflect only the sales of TWO ISSUES BACK (sometimes three)

“Sales trend” is probably OK usage, but in virtually every other case what you actually mean to be saying is “orders”, or, perhaps if you prefer, “sales to retailers” — when you talk about that line in ASTONISHING X-MEN that’s not even good speculation about consumer reaction… it will be #35 that will tell you how #33 sold to consumers…


By now, I think we all know that the "Sale Numbers" aren't true sell-through but only reflect the amount of comics that Diamond sells to comic specialty shops.  And even that's suspect since the sales numbers are really just estimates based off of arcane and secret equations, taking the square root of Batman sales and multiplying it by Pi.

It's the line about how the orders really reflect the sales of two issues back where things get interesting.  Based on the way shops have to order stuff weeks in advance of when they're published, These numbers, according to Hibbs, reflect the sales of a couple of months ago, and not actual June sales.

I would think the truth is somewhere more in the middle because retailers have to do a certain amount of speculation on titles, events, creative teams and changes to the status quo when it comes it making their choices I'd imagine.  I'm indulging in a certain amount of arm chair quarterbacking here (and it's an extremely comfy chair) but I think that there's a certain amount of reliance or just plain acceptance on the retailers behalf that something like The Heroic Age or Brightest Day will be a shot in the arm for lagging sales.  Wasn't it just last year we were talking about the undeniable dominance by Marvel in the top 10?  Now DC owns half of the top 10 as both companies ride the wave of their events.

But Hibbs's statement is probably true once we get out of the hyped top sellers and that's kind of fascinating.  As retailers adjust their orders based off their own monthly sales, the charts and distribution are lagging two months behind for your average, run of the mill, uneventful ("unevented?) comic. 

But it's had to look at the top sellers and not see anything that isn't somehow driven by a creative event or creative team.  That's what Marvel adn DC are about right now, constantly churning out books and then revamping them before you get too comfortable with them.

All I know if that I admire anyone who can make a living right now selling comic books.  You're so dependent on Marvel and DC and their decisions seem so random that you've got to be living and dying by the solicits.