Secret Wars #4 Interior Art News 

The Rundown: Diamond’s July Sales Numbers; ‘Fantastic Four’ Flops, and more

By | August 10th, 2015
Posted in News | % Comments

Welcome back to The Rundown, our daily breakdown on comic news stories we missed from the previous day. Have a link to share? Email our team at rundown@multiversitycomics.com.

– Diamond reported the numbers for July monthly comic sales and “Secret Wars” #4 topped the charts for bestselling comics. Marvel, on the whole, dominated the list, with 80% of the bestselling titles, though the new “Archie” #1 managed to crack the charts. “Batman” #42 was the other big non-Marvel seller. Don’t forget how heavily jacked up these numbers are though. These sales are counted when comic shops order a book rather than when you actually go in and buy the thing, so there’s really no way to tell how well the monthly magazines are doing. It also sort of reveals how conservative shops play at their orders. These numbers do not reflect how well titles do on Amazon or Barnes & Noble or even Comixology. In fact, if we go look at the New York Times Bestselling Graphic Novels list for this week (paperback), we get entirely different results, with not one single Marvel book charting (“Thor” vol. 2 did make the hardcover bestselling list, however). The list, here, is owned by Raina Telgemeier’s work (which, you know, has sold millions of copies on its own without having to resort to cheap tricks and tactics like Loot Crate). Take a moment and compare these with the Diamond numbers. Point being: this system is broken and these Diamond numbers are so bastardized that at best you can only take them with a grain of salt.

– Ho ho holy cow, the 2015 Fox Fantastic Four reboot absolutely failed. We’re talking kaiju-creating levels of bombing over here, as the movie took in only about $26.2 million against a $120 million budget this weekend, coming in at number two after Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. Worldwide, the movie only managed to pull $60 million. From a troubled production to a press tour where Fox seems to do everything they can to vilify director Josh Trank, the movie reeks of studio mandated edits by non-creative executives and a desperate attempt to retain the film rights. It’s a pity because Michael B. Jordan is super legit and deserves better than this.

– Speaking of Fantastic Four, as we at Multiversity Comics watched the reviews come in, we asked you why you don’t think the Fantastic Four have worked as a movie yet in our Friday reader’s poll. 46% of you speculated that it was a disconnect from the source material, while 30% of you thought the films just haven’t been well made. 10% of you felt the source material just doesn’t translate well to movies. I feel that studio and executive interference have probably derailed most of the FF train. It’s also a good time to remind everyone that The Incredibles is the best superhero film yet made.

– Okay so, “Hip-Hop Family Tree” is one of the coolest comic projects around. Ed Piskor continues his ballin playlist article over at Paste for the upcoming “Hip-Hop Family Tree” Vol. 3. There are some legit gems in there.

– Do you love “Lumberjanes”? Is there a younger reader in your life (younger sibling, cousin, kid of a friend, niece, nephew, etc.) who’s caught up in the world of Miss Quinzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet’s Camp for Hardcore Lady Types? Of course you do! But a month is a long time between issues, so Melody Schreiber over at Panels.net provides a list of other titles to try out. A part of me suspects that a lot of you already read these.

– Multiversity columnist, Paul Lai, pointed this one out to me: Nick Sousanis, a cartoonist and educator and postdoctoral fellow at University of Calgary has turned his dissertation about the importance of visual thinking in teaching and learning entirely as a comic. He talks with Steven Heller at PrintMag.com about his ambitions and the stuff he’s learned. It’s an interesting read.

– Finally, in Webcomics Worth Clicking: Abby Howard was the runner-up on the Penny Arcade-sponsored webshow, Strip Search (which I binged watch last week and it’s addicting in all the best ways). Though she didn’t win, Howard did manage to launch her comic, “The Last Halloween.” It tells the story of the guardian between the monster world and human world getting murdered and demons crossing dimensions to kill their human counterparts. But it’s actually super funny, features a fully realized and enduring cast of characters, has awesome monsters, and some super cool art from Howard, with heavy blacks and intricate crosshatching.


//TAGS | The Rundown

Matthew Garcia

Matt hails from Colorado. He can be found on Twitter as @MattSG.

EMAIL | ARTICLES


  • News
    The Rundown: March 28, 2024

    By | Mar 28, 2024 | News

    Welcome back to The Rundown, our daily breakdown on comic news stories we missed from the previous day. Have a link to share? Email our team at rundown@multiversitycomics.com.– Via AIPT, Titan Comics have announced “Girl Rebels,” a new graphic novel anthology, written by Laurent Hopman, Fabien Morin and Julien Derain, with art by Gigé, Jocelyn […]

    MORE »
    News
    The Rundown: March 27, 2024

    By | Mar 27, 2024 | News

    Welcome back to The Rundown, our daily breakdown on comic news stories we missed from the previous day. Have a link to share? Email our team at rundown@multiversitycomics.com.In case you missed it, we revealed Nick Cagnetti’s cover for the upcoming Kickstarter anthology “Death of Comics Bookcase,” and interviewed “A Tale as Tall as Jacob” author […]

    MORE »
    The Big Burn #1 featured News
    The Rundown: March 26, 2024

    By | Mar 26, 2024 | News

    Welcome back to The Rundown, our daily breakdown on comic news stories we missed from the previous day. Have a link to share? Email our team at rundown@multiversitycomics.com.In case you missed it, we have an exclusive preview of May’s “Lester of the Lesser Gods” #1, and on a much more severe note, Ed Piskor was […]

    MORE »

    -->