"The Walking Dead" #100 Tops 380k In Sales

[Johnny P. Sartre]

Wow, this is an amazing achievement. The Walking Dead has not used any of the teasers that Marvel or DC has used. It hasn't used any big press releases and hasn't had to leak any details to Entertainment Weekly or hold any big panels. Yet despite all this, this series manages to outsell Marvel and DC's top selling comics and in the middle of a big event in Avengers vs. X-men no less. That's more than an accomplishment. That's unprecedented. The Walking Dead is also the only series I know of whose TV series actually drives up comic sales. Even big budget movies like Avengers didn't exactly bump up sales of the Avengers comics in the same way the Walking Dead has. Whatever formula Robert Kirkman has found, it has set a new standard in comics and he should be very proud. He's done something amazing here and who knows if we'll ever see it again?

Wait what?

If I remember correctly there articles bout how big this was and the various number of covers there would be for it. TWD most definitely used the press for this issue. Not trying to jock TWD p.

Also, while the show definitely helped TWD in sale, it also helps that there is a beginning, a vol 1 and it not being bogged down by previous continuity.

[Johnny P. Sartre]

Edit: damn you double post god

[AndItsOn!]

Man, this is crazy! Wait, did it has something to do with comic-con or anything? Whatever, this is crazy! (apparently TV show helped A LOT!)

[AndItsOn!]

A movie can never achieve much in terms of increasing the selling of comics from my perspective. But for a TV show, people watch it every week and they will eventually get hooked to a large extent, either by a character or characters or story itself. So it's definitely a much better way to promote the comic series, which is why marvel's movies don't mean a thing for their comic sales.

[Let's Kill Hitler]

This is a major achievement for creator owned comics. Even as someone who reads a lot of DC right now it's great see a book that doesn't contain people in tights who have been around for over 50 years get these kind of sales. I'm glad that a book like this has defied the odds and become as big a franchise as it has, it gives me hope for the future of comics. Which is weird given how little hope their is within the book itself.

[ColonelLee]

TWD went against the conventional wisdom for comics .. and succeeded ..

[Let's Kill Hitler]

TWD went against the conventional wisdom for comics .. and succeeded ..

It's true. Black & white, slow paced, zombies are just a backdrop, character driven, major characters killed off without warning, pretty unknown writer (at the time)...who could have seen this having the success that it has?

[Let's Kill Hitler]

2 posts for the price of 1

[Trey]

Same. I read the first compendium - 48 issues I think - and basically just figured out I'd had enough of all the suffering. Still, here we are at #100 and 360,000 people clearly disagree with me. Oh well. Animal Man, Monocyte, Hit Girl... plenty of other stuff to read.

ahem, thats 36,000 people.

Retailers (stupidly) ordered 10 times normal so they can get the varients...... There will be 1000s of issue 100.....unsold

[The Adventurer]

It's true. Black & white, slow paced, zombies are just a backdrop, character driven, major characters killed off without warning, pretty unknown writer (at the time)...who could have seen this having the success that it has?

It has been a pleasant surprise. Other comics have tried to buck trends and conventions, to only moderate success (see: Savage Dragon) or abject failure. Kirkman has managed to pull this off with not one, but TWO vastly different on-going titles.


Funfact that I came to realize the other day. The Walking Dead is the only comic I have ever started reading at #1 and have continued to read without break or interruption for 100 issues. Invincible will be the second in a couple of months. Considering I'm the sort of person who will drop any title I'm unhappy with, regardless of how long I've been reading it (not a 'brand loyalty' kinda guy) this is really impressive to me. Walking Dead must be doing something right.

[Let's Kill Hitler]

Funfact that I came to realize the other day. The Walking Dead is the only comic I have ever started reading at #1 and have continued to read without break or interruption for 100 issues. Invincible will be the second in a couple of months. Considering I'm the sort of person who will drop any title I'm unhappy with, regardless of how long I've been reading it (not a 'brand loyalty' kinda guy) this is really impressive to me. Walking Dead must be doing something right.

Interestingly the Walking Dead is the only comic I've stopped reading for long stretches of time, not because of a dip in quality, but because it makes me depressed.

[Xarcon]

http://i1107.photobucket.com/albums/...rkmancomic.jpg

That was amusing. I don't think Kirkman actually hates his readers, but everything else was spot on.

That last panel is something I've been saying for a while and it's why I ultimately dropped the book. It seems I'm in the weird position of having got tired of something and dropping it just when everyone seems to be getting excited and jumping on the bandwagon. Go figure.

Same. I got the compendium this past Christmas and enjoyed it. I then borrowed some trades from a friend of mine and bought some back issues. I made it all the way up to issue 90, then stopped. I had been hoping for some plot progression but it became perfectly clear that the story would just continue to go around in circles, retreading the same plot over and over again. It got boring.

It's also hard to keep up with a book when you can't become invested in the characters. When you know that everyone will eventually die, not only does it make those deaths less dramatic, but it also makes it pointless to care about the characters. Maybe if the story itself was amazing, or groundbreaking, or anything other than boring and cyclical, it might balance out the character problem. Unfortunately, the story doesn't offer any such counter-balance.

Still, this is still quite an accomplishment, especially for an indie publisher. Even though I don't like The Walking Dead, I'm glad it's doing so well. More money and attention for Image will hopefully translate into being able to put out more new series from bigger and/or new creators. That's never a bad thing.

[Joecooler2u]

Not giving specifics here in any way so if someone finds this post spoiler-filled (it isn't but I had an issue with someone that somehow didn't know Rick lost his spoilers:

hand

end of spoilers ) well what do you expect? I'm talking about a comic called THE WALKING DEAD after all lol. You know I realize it sucks when characters we all like die. The more we like them the worse it feels to lose them. My point is that instead of being mad at Kirkman for killing characters we love, be happy he made those characters in the first place. It's a point of fact that everybody dies in the real world. Sucks, but true. The Walking Dead reflects that in a large way. People only come back as zombies. This isn't Phoenix, Jean Grey or the countless others who've died and come back in various Marvel & DC comics over the years, but that's part of the cool thing about what Kirkman is doing. If he creates characters you love and kills them, don't you think it's possible he will introduce other characters you love eventually? It's about that journey these characters take. Not about where they end up so much. Enjoy the ride instead of focusing so much on the ending of it.

[Xarcon]

well what do you expect? I'm talking about a comic called THE WALKING DEAD after all lol. You know I realize it sucks when characters we all like die. The more we like them the worse it feels to lose them. My point is that instead of being mad at Kirkman for killing characters we love, be happy he made those characters in the first place. It's a point of fact that everybody dies in the real world. Sucks, but true. The Walking Dead reflects that in a large way.

I'm not mad at Kirkman for killing characters. There are times when character deaths can be used to propel the story or for various other engaging purposes. The problem is that Kirkman's deaths don't really serve any purpose. It's all just gruesome death for the sake of gruesome death. There's no substance. If all you're looking for is people being brutally tortured and killed, then The Walking Dead is great. If you're actually looking for a story, though, the series fails miserably.

And I don't really see how The Walking Dead reflects reality. Zombies aside, it's not a common pattern in my life that I get close to someone, care for that person, then watch as that person dies a violent, bloody, painful death, then get close to someone else and start the process all over again.

People only come back as zombies. This isn't Phoenix, Jean Grey or the countless others who've died and come back in various Marvel & DC comics over the years, but that's part of the cool thing about what Kirkman is doing. If he creates characters you love and kills them, don't you think it's possible he will introduce other characters you love eventually?

That's the problem though. Why bother caring about these characters when you know they're just going to die? If your mindset is, "I don't care if these characters that I like die because there will just be new characters for me to like later," then how strongly can really feel about them?

It's about that journey these characters take. Not about where they end up so much. Enjoy the ride instead of focusing so much on the ending of it.

If the journey was something special, I would agree with you. However, the "ride" that The Walking Dead takes you on is fashioned like a carousel. Sure it's fun at first, but eventually you're just riding around in circles, seeing the same things that you've already seen a bunch of times. Kirkman uses a plug-and-chug formula for stories that I find boring after a while.

[The Adventurer]

The problem is that Kirkman's deaths don't really serve any purpose.

Death is often sudden and senseless.

That's the problem though. Why bother caring about these characters when you know they're just going to die? I

Why care about anyone? Everyone dies someday.