It’s an incredibly busy day in the comics world. The Avengers movie is releasing; see our post on Avengers sales history. It’s the day before Free Comic Book Day; see our post on its history. And it’s also May-the-Fourth-Be-With-You Star Wars Day (and USA Today just announced my new Star Wars comics series minutes ago). … Read more
UPDATED to reflect new information Diamond Comic Distributors has released the full lists for March 2012, and as reported here last week, while March itself was against a five-week month and slightly off, it nonetheless contributed to the first time in the 21st century the direct market has ordered more than $100 million in the … Read more
Over the past two months, we haven’t been able to make a very good comparison with 2011’s comics sales. January was up against a month in 2011 in which many of Diamond Comic Distributors‘ products missed their shipping month because of the distributor’s switch to Tuesday arrival dates; February was had an unusual five shipping … Read more
I have written many times that the recovery in comics sales that began in earnest at the end of 2001 was built upon a “virtuous cycle” developing, in which retailers placed the money from strong-performing comics not solely into paying down other expenses, but into ordering more of the next big project. With Marvel’s … Read more
As you might expect from a site with a name like The Comics Chronicles, we pay special attention to the calendar — and thus took special note of the fact that last month was one of those one-in-28-year Februaries with five Wednesdays. This is why, last month, we cautioned that just as this January was … Read more
In comics, the month of January has often stolen the life from whatever good things were going on in the trade, saleswise, so it is usually good enough when we can say that the first month of the year didn’t foul the nest. This January, however, seems to have been a good one for the … Read more