Godland: Why it's not selling better

[Tinmansstory]

I was looking at Newsarama's #'s for comic books sold for October. Godland sold for 4,000 issues. The top civil war comic sold for 200,000+ issues. Now, obviously Godland is not going to sell that well. I don't think anyone would expect it to, in today's market. But is there any reason why this series is not selling better than it should? I originally strayed away because adding another comic to my usual purchase meant an additional $3 a month which I felt I could avoid, but I bought the first trade and was enamored by it. It's got the flair of Lee / Kirby book but the feel of a modern take on the subject. I'm not gonna spend much more time talking about why I like the book because it's somewhat irellevant and, also, I have been drinking, but it just shocks me a little that a book of this caliber isn't reaching a higher audience. Again, that's not to say I don't collect or read the top 20 or so, but I'd just assume it would do better.

[Erik Larsen]

Baffles the hell out of me--but judging from the latest hot books from the big two I'd have to say that Gødland doesn't have enough rape and crying.

[Agent Helix]

I'm buying it, dammit. And I'll keep buying it. Because the world needs more hep cat skulls in jars.

[Jeff F]

People just don't love Joe Casey's work as much as I love Joe Casey's work.

Hell, I'm pretty sure Godland is my favorite ongoing right now.

It's everything I want a comic book to be. Mostly.

[Gavin Higginbotham, BotF]

Because comic readers are retards.

Of course, that's a gross stereotype that insults not just us and even myself, but generally speaking, it seems to be true.

Why Savage Dragon doesn't sell ten times what it does confuses me. It's the best comic ever!

I guess it's easier for fans to buy the Marvel and DC books as there's some level of "safeness" with getting their stuff as it's less likely to be cancelled mid-run. It still happens, but not as much as some independant stuff does.

Perhaps the fear of getting into something really good and then losing it before it's conclusion scares people away. The trouble, of course, is that they may miss out on some awesome books along the way.

I know that when I first started collecting comics, it was strictly Marvel. I was more familiar with the characters from arcade games, cartoons, toys, etc. I was on a very limited budget so I went with stuff I assumed I'd know and like.

It was less a risk starting on something like UNCANNY X-MEN than it was SAVAGE DRAGON. I regret now not getting into Image and other publishers earlier as I missed out on some great stuff when it came out. The upside was that I got to hunt them all down in back issue bins afterwards. But if I'd have started with Dragon back in January 1995, I'd likely have been even happier than starting in 1999. Ah well.

Going back to Godland... I dunno. The creative team on this book is fantastic. The character designs rule. Their personalities are great. The storyline is fun as hell. But they aren't the X-Men or Batman or whatever. So people get worried about taking a chance on excellent books like Godland.

Pussies.

[Jack Roberts]

"Godland: Why it's not selling better?"

People unfamiliar with the book probably tend to write it off as a Kirby "cover book," and retailers may not have the space on their shelves for it with the barrage of books Marvel and DC publish.

[The Scribe]

I was looking at Newsarama's #'s for comic books sold for October. Godland sold for 4,000 issues. The top civil war comic sold for 200,000+ issues.

200,000 copies!? No, wonder Marvel and DC will never change much. :rolleyes:

People like to read regurgitated stories.

I've heard that people believe Godland is a Kirby knock-off. It's not, it's a homage to him if anything.

I like Godland and I've been buying it since the first issue, I also have all the trades. :D ;)

[superhornet34]

I guess it's easier for fans to buy the Marvel and DC books as there's some level of "safeness" with getting their stuff as it's less likely to be cancelled mid-run. It still happens, but not as much as some independant stuff does.

But couldnt you say in Savage Dragon's case that since its up to issue 130 that it is "safe" as well?

I agree that most comic readers want the same thing over and over. Look what happens every time someone tries to change Superman or Batman or Spidermans costume. Everyone gets angry and complains like theres no tomorrow. They want to see Superman wearing his outside underwear costume from the 30's fighting lex Luthor for the millionth time. Or, they want there vast collection of comics to be of use when Geoff Johns resurrects an obscure character from 30 years ago and makes him act tough and "reinvents" him.

[FanboyStranger]

I suspect that G0dland sells better in trade format. People who have followed Casey over the years are probably more in line with the average Vertigo reader who will wait for the trade over individual issues. These are probably people who he wowed with WildCATS. More casual fans would probably only know Joe from his mediocre X-Men and Superman runs, and as a result, wouldn't rush out to buy something with Casey's name on it.

Of course, I bought G0dland in trades, so maybe I'm just projecting.

[shyguy]

The market of people who actually buys comics right now is just too weird for good series to actually be recognized in terms of sales.

If comics were sold to the public at large, I'm convinced that books like Godland and Invincible would be selling like gangbusters.

Unfortunately, comics are sold to a shrinking group of male readers who like long-established characters, hyper-realistic art, and graphic violence. And, y'know... that's not really where Godland's strengths lie.

I constantly recommend the book to people and use it as an example of all the great stuff Image is publishing right now, but I guess it doesn't really surprise me that it hasn't caught on. Heck, if Will Eisner was just starting up The Spirit today, it'd probably linger at the bottom of the Diamond charts every month because it didn't feature members of the X-Men or Justice League getting raped and murdered.

[Froggy]

I like it and i cant get it monthly :(, thats why its suffering

DAMN ME AND MY BROKENESS!

[Joey Friday]

It's like everybody says, people aren't willing to try out something different. Whenever I go to blogs, it's Marvel or DC; when I go to comic stores, the folks working there hype Marvel and DC; whenever I go to comic forums, the Marvel/DC sections get filled top to bottom with threads while everybody else is quoted as miscellaneous or independents and the threads get new discussions every few weeks.

I believe its because Marvel and DC have bigger resources to hype their stuff. The independents stay below popular radar because that's their thing; try indie music for example. Godland is an indie comic, I believe it doesn't need a lot of sales to be cool (although the folks at Image would disagree with me), it needs great stories. That's what it's got.

[the goddamn batman]

Beause it's, you know, good, smart, original (yes, it is) well written, well drawn, on time every month(unless previously stated), no rape and crying every few issues, no mega crossover earthshattering perception altering events every six months... and the majority of comic readers are fucking idiots... the inbred kind that should be left in the car at the family reunion.

People will cry entire bodies of water over All Star Batman being the worst thing since unsliced bread, and yet, it still is the #1 seller any month it actually ships. (my screen name is more of a joke, though I do like Miller)

A lot of Joe's original work get's the can. In all reality, we should thank the heavens it's still going.

Automatic Kafka (which is just fucking brilliant) was axed 3 issue early... see #9.

Wildcats 3.0 was canned, despite being one of the only comics my non comic reader friends have read, enjoyed, and wished there was more of for them to read. (even something similar)


I had to stop reading those lists, one month fucking 'Street Fighter' sold better than several actual comics that could have even the slightest bit of something interesting in them. But, Street Fighter? Really? Seriously? (oh, and a Sonic the Hedgehog book too)

Sure, I buy Metal Gear Solid, but Ashley Wood is teh man, and you should too. What really awesome artist is drawing Street Fighter?

I'm sure Metal Gear (as well as his other non comic work) pays the way for most anything else Ash wants to do with his time and art... and feeds his kids.

I love IDW, but they publish some absolute bullshit. I'm sure it helps them continue to publish books by Ashley Wood & Ben Templesmith. Their series of art books, or Doomed! (which I think is done) or, well, anything at all when you consider that IDW makes up 1.2% of the market share, and Marvel is, what, 49% or more?


In the end, I put the blame on Marvel (and DC). They not only monopolise the market with 40 trillion spiderman books, they actually manage to publish creator owned work... then fail to promote it.

Seriously, just look at numbers on a Bendis book. Then look at the numbers on Powers.

Look at the numbers on anything by Marvel or DC that Warren Ellis does, then look at his indie books sales.

I see guys buying upwards 30 issues a month, and admiting they don't even like, let alone read them anymore... but do they pick up something else? No. Do they at the very least stop buying it? They can't. I don't know why... if you're not even reading the crap you hate, then why buy it? And this is in a shop where the 'indies' are NOT relegated to the back corner shelf... it's all alphabetical.

Hell, IDW's Zombies vs Robots book has only done as well as it had because of one word. I'll let you guess which one. ;)

It's about the company, or the characters, not quality books. Shit, we can't even move beyond the single issue format... no matter how much we cry about it.

Then again, grown men actually watch wrestling so, obviously I know nothing about people.

I hate the comic industry some days.

rant over.


p.s. don't even start me on people who buy two copies of each issue... one for bagging right away, and one for reading! Insanity.

[superhornet34]

People will cry entire bodies of water over All Star Batman being the worst thing since unsliced bread, and yet, it still is the #1 seller any month it actually ships. (my screen name is more of a joke, though I do like Miller)

I think the problem is a large percentage of the comic buying audience consists of completists, collectors and the evil completists/collectors. These are the people who will buy a slew of batman titles so they dont have a whole in their ridiculous collection. I agree on the All Star Batman thing, as soon as the next issue comes out, it'll sell like 180,000 copies and everyone will be back to complaining how much they hate it.

Godland is great, i really like Sciolis art, it fits the comic. Im reading it in trades and i hope it lasts for several more trades. I think 4000 is prob ably enough to keep it going as long as the creative team is committed to it.

[Generic Eric]

Ignorance. That's the only reason I can think that few people will read Godland. Most people pre judge it because of the art, concept and that it is an unknown quantity. Or maybe they are broke. Is there any reason to believe this serie will not last many more issues? I'm glad that there are interesting and unique books out there like godland. Most mainstreem superhero comics seem to be on autopilot, retreading them same old storylines and generally putting me to sleep.