This July, a new Marvel book written and illustrated by uber talent Skottie Young will debut starring Rocket Raccoon, appropriately titled “Rocket Raccoon.” It’s one of two books to spin out of the “Guardians of the Galaxy” series in addition to “Legendary Star-Lord”, in anticipation of the assumed success of the film. I can’t imagine most people wouldn’t want to read a book about a loud-mouth raccoon with big guns, and if anything is going to sell toys (no matter how weird or awkward) at the very least it’s going to be said talking raccoon that does it.
What makes this book noteworthy, though, is that according to Bleeding Cool — the source of the information — it has sold nearly 300,000 units without any “major retailer incentive scheme.” If true, this is something well worth discussing and posting about; “Rocket” doing well in anticipation of the movie (again, at nearly 300k without any boosts or schemes) is an incredible reflection on the series and the faith being bestowed upon it, whether that is due to the lead character or the creator.
However, in the post, Johnston did not source where he got his information from. I sent an e-mail asking so I could source it in a post about the sales, but at the time of this posting I have not received a reply.
With that number being as high as it is, though, I don’t think it’s unfair to describe it (both positively and negatively) as rather unbelievable — especially for something supposedly done without any boost from incentives.
Which strikes me as odd. In fact, it seems highly unlikely. And a bit problematic.
Lets talk about a book we all know did well to start.
For comparison, “Amazing Spider-Man” #1 sold a bit over 530k units (according to Comichron) in April, the #1 selling title of the month, and that was a book that had about 50 variants, including retail-specific exclusive ones. The second issue of that book, published in the same month, dropped to 135k. What this says to me is that potentially around 350-400k units would have have been in relation to the ordering of variants via incentives, give or take, since both issues would have to have been ordered together. The second issue didn’t come with variants, so it reflects a somewhat more accurate standard order for the issue without any boost — again give or take.
The reason for the drop is easy to explain, of course: retailers will often order more of #1 than they do of #2 knowing their customer base. The trend, for books from Marvel or anyone else, is to order more #1’s for the potential new customer wandering in looking for something for word of mouth, as an example. It’s easy to sell a #1, but shops will order less of #2 as to mainly cater to people who have pulls, something I confirmed by making a few calls to local retailers, with one retailer (Comicazi in Somerville, MA) saying on average they drop their #2 orders by 20% from their #1’s.
So, if we’re rounding and probably being generous, I’d speculate “Amazing Spider-Man” #1 without a boost is probably at over/under 200k units for the regular #1 issue. If we use Comicazi’s method as a baseline for all shops, for example, that would give us about 170k for “Amazing Spider-Man” with no variants ordered.
Given this notion and the tendencies of our market to praise #1’s and then watch book sales drop steadily, why would a “Rocket Raccoon” series — a cult/niche character at best, pending the film — sell more than “Amazing Spider-Man,” which came out timed with its related film, without a boost? With a boost, sure. Without?
Now, consider this: when “Guardians of the Galaxy” #1 debuted in March last year, long before the film announcement, it came in at about a little over 200k. A trade of classic “Guardians” material barely pushing past 1k the same month. A month previously, “Guardians of the Galaxy” #0.1 only sold 80k units, coming in at #15 for the month.
“Guardians” was the #1 selling comic in March, beating “Age of Ultron” #1 at almost 175k (written by the same author, Brian Bendis) and “Batman” #18 at a little under 140k (which is the book that sets the bar for how sales are weighed).
Continued belowAs of April of this year, “Guardians” has fallen to #23, with about 53k units sold — and I’ll remind you that April’s “Guardians” was the big “100th” anniversary of the series that brought back fan favorite’s Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning. It was a heavily publicized/promoted issue.
That’s a big drop, even with a movie on the horizon.
So why would “Rocket” do so triumphantly better?
It should be worth noting that Rocket has not been truly introduced to the public yet (a potential reason as to why people would be so excited), as this book goes on sale a full month before the film, which could leave many copies laying around. You could assume people will love him once we break past his current hardcore fan base, as one retailer told me, but that doesn’t necessarily translate to sales, and certainly not immediate ones.
What’s more: as noted, I called a few of my local retailers. While there are not a lot of FCBD books left over, I’m told that some stores still have the “Rocket Raccoon” book. I asked about FCBD policies and most stores did note that they had a limit on how many books people could take, but it would appear that the “Rocket” book (complete with Skottie Young cover, though not written or illustrated by him) was not necessarily picked over other titles, especially the “Guardians” FCBD book.
It did well compared to non-Marvel books, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t leftovers (some of which, I should note, are apparently being held until the film actually comes out to help promote the new book for movie fans who may wander in).
Additionally, I was provided the order information for “Rocket,” which included six variants, and I had a couple retailers confirm this. Here’s the order information:
ROCKET RACCOON #1 BLANK VAR
NOTE: Exceed 125% of orders for Guardians of the Galaxy #12 (DEC130694) with orders for Rocket Raccoon #1 reg cvr, and this variant is order all you want.ROCKET RACCOON #1 CASTELLANI STAN LEE LEGO VAR
NOTE: Exceed 125% of orders for Guardians of the Galaxy #12 (DEC130694) with orders for Rocket Raccoon #1 reg cvr, and this variant is order all you want.ROCKET RACCOON #1 MOVIE VAR
NOTE: You may order 1 variant for every 15 regular you purchase.ROCKET RACCOON #1 PETERSON RACCOON VAR
NOTE: You may order 1 variant for every 25 regular you purchase.ROCKET RACCOON #1 YOUNG VAR
NOTE: Exceed 125% of orders for Guardians of the Galaxy #12 (DEC130694) with orders for Rocket Raccoon #1 reg cvr, and this variant is order all you want.
There was, at one point, a 1 in 50 Mike Mignola variant, but this was cancelled because Mignola wasn’t contacted.
Long story short, to get most of the “order however many you want” variants, retailers need to order 125% of how much they ordered “Guardians” #12, which came in at #17 in February with about 55k units sold. On average, the retailers I spoke with didn’t order very many — the mean number was about 20, accounting both for people to grab off the shelf and for people with pulls — so that would mean that at least 25 had to be ordered before you could order any additional variants — which translates directly to a boost from a retailer incentive.
What’s worrying is that one shop I spoke with (That’s Entertainment in Worcester, MA) actually noted that often times they will attempt to order variants through this system and not actually receive them, due to the limited quantity of variants actually produced. This means that the shop will have too many of the regular covers but not the variants they were planning to sell — which could in turn ostensibly allow us to call this a “scheme.”
Which is what this was reported as not being:
Continued belowI understand that orders for Rocket Raccoon #1, the new comic from Mister Skottie Young that received such a strong showing for Free Comic Book Day, is close to topping 300,000 pre-orders from Marvel Comics.
And that’s without any kind of major retailer incentive scheme that other launches received and with a handful of covers rather than the many many that others have been able to use to goose their numbers.
So somehow, “Rocket Raccoon” #1 is doing what other books from Marvel can not do without help to become a massive success. “Rocket Raccoon” #1 is beating “Amazing Spider-Man” #1, which to me is like saying that the world’s most famous, popular form of apple that just came in season is underselling against a less popular, niche apple that won’t be in season for another few months.
Now, the information I’m sourcing from comes mostly from non-chain shops (albeit popular stores here — and, in That’s Entertainment’s case, an Eisner-winning one at that), but they’re stores that have survived and thrived for years. For the most part, a large amount of apathy was expressed towards the variant system.
The chain store that I called, Newbury Comics, which is all over New England with 26 retail locations, unfortunately could not put me in touch with the person who did all of their ordering. There was a lot of runaround in that department, but most of the employees that I talked to said that they simply get what they get and they’re not involved with that process.
As a frequent visitor of Newbury, though (they’re also the preeminent vinyl shop in New England, so I’m by quite often), I’m well aware of the stock that they carry — and I can confirm that the ones I frequent are over-flowing with leftover Baby Variants and marked up incentives. In fact, if I wait on buying a new #1 from Marvel and don’t pre-order it, Newbury is where I’ll go to get my copy — even two or three issues in, and that’s all for first prints.
And, of note more to what I’m about to get into, Newbury’s are beginning to close. One store that I used to frequent in freshman year of high school (in Newton) is shutting down now — and it’s not the first of this chain; not even recently.
(Of note, for posterity: Newbury Comics, despite the name, is not really a comic shop anymore. They were early on, then they switched over to CDs/DVDs, and in recent years have been dealing more with clothes and tchotchkes. So there are quite a few reasons why a store in the chain would close down. They are, however, a major source to get a variant when attempting to find one here, unless you pre-order it specifically from another retailer. That, and there have been occasions where I could only buy a variant rather than a regular cover, as well, because that’s all they’re left with.)
So with all that out of the way, here’s why I bring it up.
We don’t do a lot of reporting on sales in this fashion on this site, and for the most part not a lot of comic book sites do. As associate editor Brian Salvatore put it to me, it’s pretty much the definition of “inside baseball” reporting, and I can’t disagree.
You’d probably be amazed how friendly and excited and honest retailers are when you call them up and ask them questions about this and more relating to the direct market, but things like this are not often discussed in most comics journalism. Most retailers seemed surprised I was calling at all.
With news of this nature, though, of nearly 300k units sold without boosts from variants and incentives and without any source for where the information is coming from, it seems a touch dubious. It just doesn’t reflect all current data we have available in regards to market trends and analysis; it defies logic.
And surely, you’d imagine if the book was doing that well, more sites would be intrigued in covering it. Shouldn’t there be a press release?
So I ask: why would news like this be offered up? And what are the potential repercussions, if any?
Well, the easy answer to the former would be to help create buzz and excitement for a series, which would in turn perhaps boost orders. You see it sometimes when smaller creator-owned titles sell out and get second printings, sure, but this is different, primarily as there’s still time to order #1. And from what I’ve heard from my discussions on this subject, most retailers noted that the supposed near 300k sales with no boost sounded more like a marketing tactic in order inflate sales.
Continued belowA fair number of retailers read Bleeding Cool as a source of industry gossip, particularly in regards to its coverage of the market, what’s hot and what’s not. This type of report points readers towards wanting to add a book to their pull, and retailers to upping their orders — and given the popularity of Bleeding Cool, you can assume that this information is seen. Calling the site a trendsetter of sorts doesn’t seem entirely unreasonable; if Bleeding Cool says “Rocket” is selling near 300k on its own, who is to say it isn’t? And shouldn’t you then want it too?
This kind of information in turn reflects positively on Marvel. With positive buzz, retailers may want to up their orders on “Rocket,” assuming that it can do well without the need of any incentives — but while I contest the truth of this, where this gets a bit troublesome for me is that this translates to a higher amount of stock than a retailer could necessarily sell.
The problem grows from retailers feeling like they need to have a certain item, and a certain amount of that item, to the point that it has a detrimental effect on their business. The more they order of a book that they’re hoping will sell to a market that may not exist, the more money that shop could potentially lose as they’re ultimately just cluttered with books they can’t move, which in turn reflects on their orders overall for the future.
The massive amount of variants and incentives lead to odd and perhaps unfair value and perception given to books. Speculatively, it leads to inflation of the market; at speculative worst, it allows Marvel increased control of the direct market, which isn’t healthy for the future of the direct market all.
So if nothing else, these type of variant situations seem to adhere to the law of diminishing returns, which is very dangerous for your favorite shop. Marvel is potentially given a nice boost based on information with no source, and their market share can assumedly increase, but having their books gain massive pushes, pre-orders and re-orders via the current system, as some retailers fear, could push us towards a crash as shops close due to having merchandise they have no way of selling.
In an attempt to be totally fair and balanced, I’ll add that this is something our very own David Harper discussed earlier this year and noted was probably much ado about nothing. It’s a fear that I’ve heard, but David’s article is fairly insightful into the nature of sales and the market.
And, to level the playing field, the same criticism can be applied to DC, with their weekly books and month-long variants for books that sit on shelves or in back issue bins when the shelf gets too crowded.
Marvel and DC aren’t solely guilty of publishing variant incentives to boost sales on books, either. Certainly not; just about every publisher does variants. Image’s “Nailbiter” #1 for example, came with quite five variants; so did “Pretty Deadly” #1. You see this sort of thing happen with new launches.
But what you don’t hear too much of is information coming out that nearly 300k units of a book were sold of their own accord, conveniently a week ahead of the FOC — which, for “Rocket Raccoon” #1, happens to be next week: 6/9/2014.
With this information presented, I asked a few retailers if this kind of information would make them want to boost their sales in order to get in on what could be a big seller. The answer was almost universally “no” — though, admittedly, this question was met with a fair amount of apathy.
I’ll admit: I feel like part of this article reads like me dumping on “Rocket Raccoon,” and that’s honestly not the intention.
I am interested in reading “Rocket Racoon” #1 as a big fan of Skottie Young’s work. I have nothing against this book, and if this was a situation where we were being told that “Maggott’s Amazing Adventures In Lala-land” had done similar numbers in a similar situation I would’ve followed that thread as well.
So I will admit that I put “Rocket” in to my retailer to hold me a copy almost immediately. I have no doubts in my mind that someone as talented as Skottie Young can put together an incredible book worthy of a large audience. He’s an Eisner-award winner, and a personal favorite. And when it comes out, someone will review it here.
Continued belowI don’t mean to dump on Bleeding Cool or Johnston, either. For what it’s worth, I think Johnston has worked incredibly hard to get where he and his site are at today, and he continues to do so everyday.
I don’t believe the reported information, though.
Perhaps, between the original report and when this article comes out, new information will arise or clarifications will be made. But when reading about these kinds of incredible numbers under the pretense that incentives did not boost the sales, it feels fairly questionable, if not just plain false.
And every shop I called echoed my thoughts; literally (and I’m not being facetious in the use of that word) everyone I talked to claimed that it was impossible when I read them the report.
So what bothers me is the distribution of this information like it doesn’t matter, or like it’s not noteworthy to check up on for readers, fans, or retailers.
What bothers me is that we just take unsourced and potentially inaccurate information at face value, only really getting excited about this sort of thing when it’s an announcement that someone is going to die or get replaced by a super villain — and we’re not un-guilty of this. Again, talking about sales is not appealing to the average fan, I don’t think.
But one thing you hear a lot from all walks of comic life — Big Two, independent, et al — is how important pre-orders are to the survival of a series. A book like “Rocket” will have a few issues pre-ordered before the first issue actually comes out in July, and obviously any publisher of any book as well as its creative team will do all they can to help engender readership to support the book. That’s not wrong.
But potentially inaccurate information distributed, especially without a source, is questionable when shops are already dealing with the issues of over-stock. The idea that readers and retailers could be motivated to pick up a book — even one done by Eisner-Award winning Skottie Young — based off of information that could be described as false marketing spin is a scary one, though one that is certainly possible.
For every retailer that potentially buys into this, they place themselves in immediate danger of once again being stuffed to the brim with books that they now have that they can not make their money back on, via sales or returns. Those books will just sit there, waiting for someone who may never arrive.
And if you don’t believe me, go to your local shop and look around. Visit a few shops and see what they have, and then attempt to figure out the value of that #1 you were told you needed to have for any reason — whether that be from a positive review from us, a press release copy/pasted with no commentary, or that it had a popular character in it.
How many of your shops still have various different copies of “Amazing Spider-Man” #1, for example?
That’s a real issue. It gets worse every year.
Honestly, I urge you: talk to your retailers about their sales and ordering habits. It’s incredibly sobering. If you love comics and you want the industry to be a thriving one, it’s worth thinking about this sort of thing.
To quote Eric Stephenson, via a quote David also used in his previously mentioned article,
Having a Big Two is not a sign of a healthy industry. Any industry that is dominated by two businesses – whether you’re talking about comics or anything – that means if one of those businesses goes down, you’re fucked.
Every retailer I’ve spoken with have echoed this sentiment. In terms of the books Marvel has given big pushes to in their marketing, they still have plenty leftover — whether this is their latest #1, event, crossover, jumping on point or what have you.
And they’re almost always a result of ordering too many copies in order to get the variants or incentives.
Personally, I can’t help but find the distribution of this information to be problematic, and not very good towards having an honest and accurate depiction of the market. What’s more, I tend to agree with Stephenson in that this kind thing, where a book being clearly bolstered by retail incentives and variants is not good for a healthy market whatsoever.
Continued belowMarvel is an incredibly dominant figure, especially currently, and I don’t imagine we’ll be escaping that anytime soon. Certainly not if a book like “Rocket Raccoon” can sell nearly 300k units on its own without any help.
But it almost certainly is. What will orders of issue #2 look like? How many stores are going to be left with unsold “Rocket Raccoon” #1s, and how many of those unsold copies will be the variants and incentives?
It’s bad for your local shop’s business.
It’s bad for the entire market.
