sales for Young Liars

[cap5]

170 - YOUNG LIARS (Vertigo)
03/2008: Young Liars #1 — 13,177
04/2008: Young Liars #2 — 9,917 (-24.7%)That’s a standard second-issue drop. Mark Young Liars down as another Vertigo periodical failing to sustain sales above 10,000.

thats a big 2nd issue drop

[NathanBethell]

From Lapham's own forum:

The facts:

Retailers order #2 and sometimes even #3 before they've seen #1. A drop is normal. What I'd like to have happen is around #4 to see the numbers begin to climb. What makes that happen is word of mouth. Word of mouth is golden.

Some facts:

Trade sales are hugely important to Vertigo. Everybody knows they put everything in trade format. How this effects issue sales I don't know, but strong trade sales are every bit as important as issue sales in determining whether to continue a series.

I am almost done with 12 issues of YL. They've paid me for them. You'll see at least 12 of these suckers.

Comics don't sell as well as they once did, so even "successful" books come in at surprisingly low numbers. A few thousand copies one way or another is big.

What you can do:

If you like the book, buy it.

If you have a friend you think would like it, recommend it to them.

Another thing you can do is recommend this Standard Attrition board to new people. I think a sense of community really helps expand all of our fan base.

Unless you're a trust fund kid with money to burn, you don't have to go buying multiple copies. A good word goes a lot further and it's free. On the other hand if you ARE a trust fund kid and you want to buy an extra 5000 copies every month, feel free.

Thanks.

I think it's probably a little early to adopt a sky-is-falling attitude towards the title, for the reasons Lapham outlines above. I hope the title sticks around, because I really enjoy it. Each issue makes me reconsider everything that has happened in previous issues, and it's a fun little mental puzzle trying to figure out what's a trustworthy representation of the characters' past. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes Vonnegut, Palahniuk, or other authors whose narrators don't always tell you the whole truth.

[Mr. Palmer]

I love the book. I'll be aboard for all 12 issues and (hopefully) many more.

[Fatguy]

Yeah, great series. I just finished #3 and I'm really, really liking it. It's an effed up trip.

[MartinRedmond]

I liked this issue alot better than the others.

[Tanjint]

will probably cop in trade as the preview to number one enticed me and i've been wanting to get into even more less mainstream stuff

-T

[Jack-In-The-Box]

It's been great so far.

[Alex Smith]

I thoroughly enjoyed the first 3 issues. They were amazing. The 4th as pretty good, not as good as the first 3, but decent. All in all I think it's the best book I'm pulling at the moment, so I recommend everyone start buying it so it sticks around for a while.

[matt levin]

I'm expecting sales to follow the curve suggested by David L. The book is solid in its writing, characterization and dialogue, and art work. Sure hit, right? Hope so--!

[Presidentpez]

I hope this title sticks around for awhile. I finally sat down and read the 3rd and 4th issues and i really enjoyed them. It's a strange book, but very compelling. I've never read Stray Bullets, is Young Liars close in tone?

[Pixie_Solanas]

I haven't picked it up since #1. I guess im part of the problem.

[dademan]

You know, I like the series, but it seems like the story goes every which way...

I may have to go re-read the 4 that have come out again.

[mgs]

I normally like Lapham's work, but honestly, I got one issue of this and am dropping it as it seems like a mish-mash of silliness.

[Jack-In-The-Box]

Anybody else actually have all the albums they list at the beginnings of these comics? They're suggesting some great punk/new wave albums.

[CoreyB]

It's a great read so far. I miss Stray Bullets but this will certainly do.

I don't really get the "mish-mash of silliness" or "story goes every which way" comments. There's definitely some weirdness but the characters are pretty authentic and grounded. The story doesn't seem all that tough to follow either. You've got the present and you've got flashbacks from different characters' perspectives. You're usually dealing with two time periods per issue. Not much more complicated than any other story, and certainly no more confusing than wacky super-hero comics time traveling all over the place.