The Mayo Report: Before Watchmen Launches Huge for DC

[CBR News]

John Mayo is back with analysis for the industry's June 2012 sales numbers, which saw DC Comics' Before Watchmen series' open big while AvX continues strong, though its companion titles lag behind.


Full article here.

[Fan-El]

But here's the contextual piece that's missing. It's easy for Mr. Mayo to say that Watchmen's sales financially justify DC publishing them. But please don't say "profit." DC and Marvel haven't turned a profit on their books in 20 years. They lose money publishing comics. DC can continue to publish because Warner Brothers owns them and wants the TM's kept alive for merchandising and movies. Marvel's movie division kept it afloat until Disney bought them.

So NO, it didn't really benefit DC financially to publish Before Watchmen. They may have lost less money, I suppose. But they've also driven more people away from the hobby. And given the pitiful numbers of people reading comics now, that's a bad thing.

[Alex]

So i guess all the people who said they weren't going to buy it on principle either lied or were a vocal minority.

[Darrell D.]

So i guess all the people who said they weren't going to buy it on principle either lied or were a vocal minority.

Did you run a tally of all the people who said that?

[timeismoney]

But here's the contextual piece that's missing. It's easy for Mr. Mayo to say that Watchmen's sales financially justify DC publishing them. But please don't say "profit." DC and Marvel haven't turned a profit on their books in 20 years. They lose money publishing comics. DC can continue to publish because Warner Brothers owns them and wants the TM's kept alive for merchandising and movies. Marvel's movie division kept it afloat until Disney bought them.

So NO, it didn't really benefit DC financially to publish Before Watchmen. They may have lost less money, I suppose. But they've also driven more people away from the hobby. And given the pitiful numbers of people reading comics now, that's a bad thing.

Well there are many reports that say you're wrong, as one writer said that work for Marvel is that he get a check only if the book make a profit and guess what he been getting a check. So i am sorry you don't know what the hell you're talking about unless you got number to show.

[Drew Mathieu]

It's nice to see Dark Avengers doing well afte the semi-relaunch. Hopefully the title gets more attention and infect some freshness into the Avengers line.

[Greengo]

So i guess all the people who said they weren't going to buy it on principle either lied or were a vocal minority.

Keep in mind these are retail orders and not sales. On the Where Monsters Dwell Podcast, it was mentioned that a store had ordered 50 of the number ones and had, to date, sold 17 of them. So by issues 2 or 3, we will see a more accurate number based on actual sell through.

[abysslord]

But here's the contextual piece that's missing. It's easy for Mr. Mayo to say that Watchmen's sales financially justify DC publishing them. But please don't say "profit." DC and Marvel haven't turned a profit on their books in 20 years. They lose money publishing comics. DC can continue to publish because Warner Brothers owns them and wants the TM's kept alive for merchandising and movies. Marvel's movie division kept it afloat until Disney bought them.

I find it hard to believe a giant company would keep a division going if it were not giving them money. Wouldn't it be more cost effective to publish the minimum required for TM and bank in whatever else is making a profit according to you? They wouldn't be publishing 52 titles where almost all of them aren't giving them money.

[BrotherUnitNo_4]

But here's the contextual piece that's missing. It's easy for Mr. Mayo to say that Watchmen's sales financially justify DC publishing them. But please don't say "profit." DC and Marvel haven't turned a profit on their books in 20 years. They lose money publishing comics. DC can continue to publish because Warner Brothers owns them and wants the TM's kept alive for merchandising and movies. Marvel's movie division kept it afloat until Disney bought them.

You sure about that?

[Paladin King]

So i guess all the people who said they weren't going to buy it on principle either lied or were a vocal minority.

That's how it is almost every single time when it comes to people raving on internet forums. Best example was Left 4 Dead 2, over in gaming. So many people were outraged that Valve would release a sequel one year later instead of just offering free downloadable content, and there were actually organized boycotts and such. the outrage was massive. And yet the game outpaced the first game in pre-orders and 3 years later, has sold 3.8 million copies, outselling the first game.

It's just the way it goes. People furiously hammering their keyboards on forums have almost never represented the majority.

[Captain Planet]

But here's the contextual piece that's missing. It's easy for Mr. Mayo to say that Watchmen's sales financially justify DC publishing them. But please don't say "profit." DC and Marvel haven't turned a profit on their books in 20 years. They lose money publishing comics. DC can continue to publish because Warner Brothers owns them and wants the TM's kept alive for merchandising and movies. Marvel's movie division kept it afloat until Disney bought them.

So NO, it didn't really benefit DC financially to publish Before Watchmen. They may have lost less money, I suppose. But they've also driven more people away from the hobby. And given the pitiful numbers of people reading comics now, that's a bad thing.

I would be very interested to see your numbers and citations for this. Otherwise I'm just going to go ahead and say Marvel and DC actually make one million dollars off of each book they sell.

[Genki Sudo]

Keep in mind these are retail orders and not sales. On the Where Monsters Dwell Podcast, it was mentioned that a store had ordered 50 of the number ones and had, to date, sold 17 of them. So by issues 2 or 3, we will see a more accurate number based on actual sell through.

^^^This

10chars

[king mob]

So i guess all the people who said they weren't going to buy it on principle either lied or were a vocal minority.

Have you compared it with sales of Watchmen, because there's light years between them.

Also, all those unsold piles I see in shops are just illusions are they?

[Darrell D.]

I say screw talking about Before Watchmen; LOEG 2009 came out about the same time, and made every one of those books look like warmed over yesterdays.

[Cthulhudrew]

Well there are many reports that say you're wrong, as one writer said that work for Marvel is that he get a check only if the book make a profit and guess what he been getting a check. So i am sorry you don't know what the hell you're talking about unless you got number to show.

Who said that? Because if anyone's actually working on spec, they're doing something wrong. Or they're extremely desperate.