The Mayo Report: Before Watchmen Launches Huge for DC

[Charles RB]

While fan-El is exaterating anyone who has followed the annual financial reports Marvel puts out knows comics are only a small percentage of their profits, and their franchising and merchandising is what makes them the big bucks.

Which is something very different to what he claimed.

[cactusmaac]

Was anyone predicting this would sell Watchmen numbers? The hopes were for a modest hit and the numbers are a lot better than that.

Talking about drop-offs is irrelevant since each of the minis lasts a grand total of four issues.

The success of this might lead to an ongoing monthly being published when the next batch of new series launch.

[Darrell D.]

I'm guessing the next step is to do crossovers with the DCU. DC has already shown they really don't give a fuck about the original Watchmen beyond 'Gotta make some green'.

[Charles RB]

The hopes were for a modest hit

They gave this a big publicity campaign, including house ads in every issue of every comic they had - DC don't do that for modest hits.

[cactusmaac]

Really? I remember the campaigns for Blackest Night and even Flashpoint being more prominent.

[Bsavini781]

Fan-El, comics at this point are loss leaders, to sell other products. movies, cartoons, t-shirts and whatnot are where they are making their money.

[king mob]

Vertigo books rarely make a profit as we learned.

Never used to be the case. There was a point when Vertigo sales kept DC afloat, not to mention brought in the sort of critical praise DC seems increasingly desperate and clingy for.

[king mob]

Was anyone predicting this would sell Watchmen numbers?

For those who'd bothered to research how much Watchmen actually sold (the shop I worked in back in Glasgow at time were selling more of that than X Men) yes, and DC were pushing and hoping it to be a huge hit as were retailers who are now stuck with piles of unsold copies.

The hopes were for a modest hit and the numbers are a lot better than that.

No, the hopes were for a massive critical hit, especially judging by the 'fuck you' attitude from DC. The numbers didn't translate to actual sales it seems.

Talking about drop-offs is irrelevant since each of the minis lasts a grand total of four issues.

No it's not. You'll always expect a drop off for any mini series, but it's the percentage decrease that's going to be interesting to see. If it's a massive decrease then DC might have to start backtracking on their 'fuck you' attitude.

The success of this might lead to an ongoing monthly being published when the next batch of new series launch.

The thought of that makes me wet myself in horror.

[Charles RB]

A massive dropoff and piles of unsold copies would be big news indeed.

[king mob]

A massive dropoff and piles of unsold copies would be big news indeed.

Two of the three shops here in Bristol have plenty of unsold copies. Mates who are still in retail are talking of this being a turkey and retailers wildly over ordering.

I'd expect a 20% drop-off tops, but if it's more than that then DC should worry.

[cactusmaac]

Never used to be the case. There was a point when Vertigo sales kept DC afloat, not to mention brought in the sort of critical praise DC seems increasingly desperate and clingy for.

When was this? If Vertigo was keeping DC afloat, wouldn't it have made sense for DC to expand the line aggressively? I can't recall that ever happening. Vertigo's biggest title was Sandman and it sold well but I can't remember it being a big commercial hit to the extent of say The Walking Dead.

For those who'd bothered to research how much Watchmen actually sold (the shop I worked in back in Glasgow at time were selling more of that than X Men) yes, and DC were pushing and hoping it to be a huge hit as were retailers who are now stuck with piles of unsold copies.

Who was predicting it would sell Watchmen-like numbers? Do you have names, quotes and sources?

Bob Wayne predicted sales would be in the Top 10 back in May and seemed quite chuffed with that at Kapow, hardly disappointed.

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/dc-e...inity-war.html

No it's not. You'll always expect a drop off for any mini series, but it's the percentage decrease that's going to be interesting to see. If it's a massive decrease then DC might have to start backtracking on their 'fuck you' attitude.

If they debuted in the top ten, they're likely to have made back their outlay in spades. It's not going to drop off to the extent of being a disappointment since retailers have to order three months in advance and product is non-returnable.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Its pretty clear that the Watchmen mini-series were hits. They had no real connection to the DCU , were characters that were 20+ years old at best and were all in short lived mini-series. To generate what they did its impressive. Now the question is... will DC keep the ball rolling with more miniseries based on the characters ?

[Darrell D.]

Vertigo is just limping along, mainly because the creator-owned contracts aren't very creator friendly.
I can't see the line lasting much longer, unless to use it for 'mature' stories about their corporate characters.

[Darrell D.]

Its pretty clear that the Watchmen mini-series were hits. They had no real connection to the DCU , were characters that were 20+ years old at best and were all in short lived mini-series. To generate what they did its impressive. Now the question is... will DC keep the ball rolling with more miniseries based on the characters ?

If it makes them money, sure.
They have made their intentions clear with the use of these characters.

[Charles RB]

Two of the three shops here in Bristol have plenty of unsold copies. Mates who are still in retail are talking of this being a turkey and retailers wildly over ordering.

Good.

(Well, not for the retailers, obviously)