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Augh I have to wait another month augh augh augh

Aloha Hawaiian Dick looks great and deserves to sell more copies; I am very impressed by both story and art, I also buy every issue of Low and Outcast. This company is doing things right: every title is its own universe and independent concept.
I hope that comic readers will support Image titles, they are fresh and interesting. (and I don’t work for them, ha ha) Bravo.

Look at how many creators fled Marvel and DC to do their own thing at Image. Are fanboys really just interested in capes and tights, or quality work by creators who love what they do?

Considering that good chunk of them are selling below DC/Marvel cancellation levels I’d think that people are reading DC/Marvel for creators AND characters,

Skottie, most of these numbers are even worse than DC and Marvel. It’s admirable you’re always on these every month championing creator owned books but you’ve never said anything more than “Buy creator books!” Which ones in particular do you think everyone should be buying?

Seems to be mostly about charcater than creators; Recently Ted McKeever (who hasn’t done work for the Big 2 in years) announced he was levaing comics, becuase his heart is not into it. How many will follow suit?

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2016/06/08/the-current-state-of-the-comic-book-industry-is-the-lowest-ted-mckeever-talks-to-bleeding-cool-about-quitting/

Since I cannot edit or remove, here goes, fixed typos:

Seems to be mostly about characters than creators; Recently Ted McKeever (who hasn’t done work for the Big 2 in years) announced he was leaving comics, because his heart was not into it anymore. How many will follow suit?

“Skottie, most of these numbers are even worse than DC and Marvel.”

Which means . . . what? The creators are actually making more money from these numbers at Image than the page rate at Marvel or DC. Scott Snyder famously said he makes multiples on Wytches than what he earns from writing Batman.

If you’re so concerned about lower Image numbers, then fucking buy their books and help out.

We have to remember that mine gold for creator-owned books are in the trades,a lot of books that are performing poorly on this chart are doing very fine on Amazon e etc.

I read quite a bunch of Image Waking Dead, Invincilbe, Nailbitter, Citizen Jack, Huck + tons others.. Not all people pick up a comic based on who did it. I dont think I have ever picked up a comic based solely on creative team. I will though not pick up a series based on writer or artist when they have a track record of not releasing books before moving onto other projects. Tony Harris how many projects got abandoned by him. Anything Bryan Hitch Image title Real Heroes. Any non Marvel Rob Liefeld title if you get 2 issues it is a shock. If the book grabs me will read it but honestly could care less about creative team

Gra^hic Inida (kind of a revival of the late Virgin Comics) is also an editor with very nice products, at an amazing price (everything is $3 with often more than 20p per story). Grant Morrisson’s 18 Days is amazing and Chakra and Devi aslo look interesting. But I don’t think any of their title ever make it to the Top300 :(sc

I love Skroce, but his art on this did nothing to me. It seems a lot of artists who had a very rough and loose style in the ’90s dialed a lot of their excess back in the past couple decades, and now it just looks tame and sterile.

Great interview!

Kind of a bummer that Haun isn’t drawing the second arc at all. I wonder why.

A new pic of Henry Cavill on the Batman vs Superman set, and fans are relieved to find out that his Superman suit
is seeming a lot more colourful than Zack Snyder’s first promotional images proposed
it might , together with the familiar red, blue and yellow very much in evidence.

Kinda curious about how this is different from what they were already doing, which was selling Image comics on their Web site. Does this allow for the 12-issue pre-pay like a traditional magazine subscription?

“Practical”?

The fact of the matter is that paying for staff and rent and utilities and licenses and fees and everything else we do makes a major publisher pushing a deep discount as their thing kind of unpalatable.

-B

Not sure where the “Saga takes a tumble!” tagline for this article came from, but it wasn’t from me…

Man, those figures for Starve, Invisible Republic and Stray Bullets upset me. Those books should sell so much better.

How do you know what the break-even point of a comic book is?

@Martin: Short answer is: you don’t. There’s just too many variables and too many unknowns to generalise. Especially for indie books.

Which of course doesn’t stop people from trying.

Wonder Women will come out twice a month so “every other issue” basically means that Scott will be doing monthly WW for at least 6 months.

Jim Zub (writer of Wayward, Skullkickers, etc) said 8000 copies sold makes the art team a profit. So a break even point somewhere around there, I guess.

Nice!

Brilliant, love this bundling. Now, how about making this bundle all available online, iin addition to print.

The Marvel insert is a pain in the ass. It always falls out. Its only good for people who only buy Marvel. I don’t know of anyone who only buys Image.

Why couldn’t they just put info on their website and leave Previews as is? Why do they need a dead tree version of what I get from here and other news sites?

As someone who grew up on Warren magazines and Marvel’s black-and-white mags (like Bizarre Adventures), I’d love to see the return of b&w anthology comics magazines. Alas, looks like this will be mostly company hype. Isn’t that what the Internet is for?

[…] Movie Ever Martin Freeman’s Character in Captain America: Civil War Has Been Confirmed Image Comics Partners with PREVIEWS to Announce IMAGE+ Magazine The Spider-Man/Machinery Sequence Sana Takeda on the Beauty and Darkness of Monstress   […]

What you said made a bunch of sense. However, what about this?

what if you composed a catchier title? I mean, I don’t want to tell you how
to run your website, however what if you added a post title to maybe get people’s attention? I mean MATT CHATS: Otis Frampton on ‘Oddly Normal’ and its Atypical Journey to Publication — The Beat
is a little plain. You might look at Yahoo’s front page and see how
they create article titles to get people to click.
You might add a related video or a related picture or
two to get readers excited about everything’ve got to say.
In my opinion, it might bring your blog a little livelier.

More people should read CHEW.

I actually think that you should STOP lowering Image “returnables” by 10%. Why? The “10% rule” was established for books like “52” that were “open to buy” returnable — that is, it is returnable, if a retailer buys 2 copies or 200,000 copies or any number on any side of those. Therefore, it was expected that a wide swath of retailers will qualify for said returns, and that returns could be “meaningful”.

Image, conversely, heavily gates their returnable books — for the discount bracket that I am in (equivalent to my bracket for DC and Marvel sales), I need to order *40* copies in order to qualify for returnable orders. That’s a big number in today’s market for a lot of accounts. I only have about eight regular monthly Marvel and DC periodicals combined that sell 40 copies!

If we assume 2500 retailers, 40 copies each would be 100k — CLEARLY this shows that the overwhelming majority of retailers aren’t qualifying for and/or participating in, Image’s returnable program — especially on something like CITIZEN JACK with sub 10k reported sales. I’ll be a little surprised if even 100 stores took Image up on the returnability with that sales number.

Food for thought.

-B

Thanks, Brian. I had noticed over the past few months of doing these Image charts that the returnability was operating differently from Marvel/DC, but didn’t know why that was so or what the mechanism was that was operating behind it. Your information here explains a lot! I will likely revise how I handle the numbers for returnable Image titles on these charts going forward.

Any word on when we’ll get sales charts for Dark Horse, Valiant, & IDW?

More people need to be reading Black Magick! Greg Rucka and Nicola Scott, drawing her butt off for this book. I mean, the art. Have you seen the art? WOW. And it’s actually a great book, too!

I think Southern Cross finished its first arc and will be back at some later date with a second? Though with those sales numbers it might not be back. Pity, since I rather enjoyed it; very much like those “we’re trapped on a spaceship and people are dying mysteriously” episodes of Doctor Who.

I’m also enjoying Faster Than Light, although the story is pretty fragmented so far.

The sales on BLACK SCIENCE, EAST OF WEST, and LAZARUS break my heart. So many people are missing out on (respectively) fun, epic, and intriguing storytelling.

Just popping in to say that Head Lopper is, besides the fact that it is one well-done comics, is one hell of a good idea in its packaging and sales format. It’s one huge quaterly, you take a smuch time reading it than good old 70’s-80’s comics, you can change your mind if you don’t like it because you’re preorder isn’t yet confirmed once you are done reading it, and you don’t feel cheated because that’s a very nice cover price ($6).

@Christopher: There used to be an indie comics monthly round-up, but the last one I see is March 2015.

I imagine it’s tough enough putting together informed commentary for DC/Marvel/Image, let alone the plethora of smaller titles.

The Violent is a fantastic comic. Same goes for Stray Bullets. And Savage Republic. Really a pity that the more (social-) realistic, complexly written titles don’t do as well as the crazy over-the-top-genre stuff. Maybe people assume they’re less entertaining?? Which is not true at all.

Brandon should love TDK2, it’s great. That’s the kind of idiosyncratic comic I’d like to see more of from the Big Two.

They already said Hulk was going to be in Thor Ragnarok.

Some really impressive numbers in there -thanks for the analysis. And for Paper Girls fans – look for my interview with Cliff Chiang in my weekly column next Monday.

While I’m digging those 8house comics, the numbering and titling is terrible. Some ideas seem great when stoned, but in reality are pretty whack.

I’m really enjoying Paper Girls. Good characters, story and art. I feel like the creators are putting care and thought into this one, and I’m along for the (bike?) ride!

@Paul Houston: Brandon Graham and/or Image would seem to agree with you. The upcoming issues of 8House, subtitled Mirror, have been canceled and re-solicited under the simpler title of “Mirror,” now its own series, like From Under Mountains. It remains to be seen how (or perhaps if) the unconcluded 8House stories, Arclight and Kiem, will continue.

I hope the “So far no further issues have been solicited.” doesn’t mean we won’t see any more Manifest Destiny. It’s one of my favorite books being published right now.

Wow. Two things.

1) I had no idea there was a new series by Greg Rucka (!) and Nicola Scott (!!) – Massive PR fail. I’d have bought that book. Fail.

2) I loved Prophet by Graham. Hadn’t read any of his work before. I would have bought 8 House – but I could not figure out what the hell it was. Once those other books not by Graham , but still called 8 House started showing up, I decided not to bother and did not buy any 8 House. I’m looking at the Image site right now and I still don’t understand what 8 House is. Marketing Clarity Fail.

But seriously – Elevator Pitch answer this for me – What the hell is 8 House? Can anyone help when Image’s site can’t?

I agree re: 8House:Arclight. The branding is a bit confusing – made it seem to me like a sequel to something that I had missed? Still not sure.

In general I find there’s a lack of overall basic info in Inage solicits that would be helpful. Most of the solicit text is about the plot (I.e. “Steve and Bob are on the run from Jane but things are about to take a turn for the worse!”). I’m being a little facetious, but most of the solicits leave me wondering what the book is even about. Is it sci-fi? Horror? What’s the basic premise? If you happened to miss the solicit for issue #1 you’re out of luck. It’s not as much of an issue for the big 2 since their books feature mostly super-hero stories set in their universe – but Image publishes such a diverse array of stuff. Doesn’t help that lately so many of the titles sound the same – “Starve”, “Savior”, “Surface”, “Spread”

Overall tho – buying more Image books than ever. Loving Manifest Destiny and Rumble – hope their sales pick up or are stronger in digital & trades.

I buy everything this guy writes. Love his stuff. I was very sad to see Umbral just kind of end.

[…] ITEM! UMBRAL / THE FUSE’s Antony Johnston interview on writing comics you want to write and letting the … […]

[…] ITEM! UMBRAL / THE FUSE’s Antony Johnston interview on writing comics you want to write and letting … […]

Best enterprise publications.

McKeever actually did both Miniature Jesus in 2013 and The Superannuated Man in 2015 for Image. Check ’em out!

While Image’s biggest handicap is the lack of an editorial focus, their commitment to publishing comics can’t be denied. Hopefully, fans will respond, and the big two will have some market competition at last!

“Don’t Don’t Don’t Restart”

They Might Be Giants reference? Well played, sir. Well played.

Whoever thought that SEX could be boring? (but it is, in the comic book)…

I wish more people were buying so many of the excellent books by Image (I stopped buying overpriced Marvels nowadays, and fewer DCs).

Astronauts in Trouble, Thief of Thieves, They’re Not Like Us, Birthright, Savior, and Nailbiter are amongst the best adult offerings in comics! If you aren’t trying them, then look at them again PLEASE!

…which reminds me why I don’t read sales number columns: They’re too depressing. Things I’m learning, though:

$9.99 trades don’t always work. Someone posted recently about why his collection wasn’t going to be $10 and why others should consider a more profitable number for their first volume. I can see why now.

Some of my favorite books sell in painfully low numbers. (“Thief of Thieves” is that low? ::sigh:: “Shutter”? “Rumble”?) If I ever launched an Image book I’d name it “Secret Wars: Something or Other” just to stay over the 10,000 number. Marvel’s lawyers won’t notice, right?

And something Robert Kirkman has been preaching for years: A regular schedule is a big help in selling an on-going series. All those misses months and sporadic issues will kill you.

Great column!
I just don’t understand your remark on the no post-collectino bump for the 9.99$ trade. This price of 9.99$ is only for the first trades of almost all the Image titles. after that, the price is normal for all the others trades.
So if, in fact, the first 5-6 issues of the Image titles should sell less (because it’s way les expensive to buy the first arc in trade), there shoul dbe more people switching to the single format after that, because only the first collection is at a lower price. So pricing those first collections at 9.99$ should, on the contrary, help the single sales past the first issue arc.
I know that’s what I’m doing right now: waiting for the first trade and then, if I like it, switching to the singles. It’s especially easy with Image, as there is often a small gap beetween arcs in single issues.

What Image is probably lacking right now is labels. It seems like they are just launching as much series as they can, but it’s difficult to differentiate one from the other.
There should be some lines under the Image imprint. Probably not easy to do, but it would help. I gave their chance to randomly chosen first trade series, and some of them really lower my enthousiasm for the whole Image revival boost. The quality of the series published really goes from one extreme to the other, and there is almost nothing helping the reader to choose which titles are the most likely to please him.
And yes, the Skybound label, even with some glinches here and there (Invincible a little, Thief of Thieves a little more) has gained a standart for quality. I know, personnaly, that I can trust them almost with blind eyes. Thatmakes a difference.
Image needs something else like that, perhaps putting different series under an “editor”, who would only be the man chosing which serie he wants to see published under his small imprint.

Velvet, Fade Out, Lazarus, Saga, Drifter, They’re Not Like Us, Manifest Destiny, Outcast, etc. All amazing books. I mean, has anyone cracked open a copy of Drifter and looked at the art alone? It’s freakin’ gorgeous. Like, European comics gorgeous.

It’s nice to see that the fantasy about european comics being gorgeous is still quite vivid. Trust me, t’s only a fantasy. We have lots and lots of garbage also. :)

Jim Valentino has also a nice label, Shadowline, at Image. But I don’t remember if it’s written on the cover of books.
And I’m also surprised by the 9.99 comment for the same reasons as Xavier. I would like to add that first issues of Image series are most of the time are to find: speculation for one reason, limited printing for another. So when issue 6 is published, it’s very difficult to get issues 1, 2 and 3. Or really overpriced. A 9.99 price enables all readers to get the beginning of a series (without getting digital versions – which at the end is near 10$).

A couple of the post-trade jumps (and some first-issue-to-second-issue drops) you’re seeing are down to a program Image had (and technically still has) with retailers, wherein they would get a bunch of copies on consignment for a period of time.

And no, the $9.99 trade doesn’t always help the singles market – but a HUGE factor in that is retailers not utilizing the sales opportunity. I see a huge difference in attempting to sell a person on a volume one at $9.99 than I do for a book sitting at $14.99 – though a caveat: it’s been quite a while since the $9.99 scheme began, and I firmly believe that Image or whoever could adjust that to $11.99 with little change. Or more to wit, take a look at what places like Scholastic are publishing their serialized all ages books at for price points. They have the resources to have market tested the hell out of their price points, and have threshold-priced those books at a point where parents pick it up and don’t give the price a second thought. That’d be my advice.

Brandon, I can’t think of a returnable Image title that didn’t do the first THREE issues (so not a drop from #1 to #2)

One problem with the $9.99 trade is that there are SO MANY of them, and not all books are served by the “hand sell” equally. And, without that hand-sell, all the $9.99 trade does is reduce EVERYone’s income.

Ales Kot announced that MATERIAL was ending (early), and I would assume that at least some of that was due to the first trade being $9.99…. and only selling 1600 copies in month #1

-B