CBI Archive
Comic Book Pet Peeve
- by Brian Cronin
- in General
Wednesday, May 9th, 2007 at 4:52 PM EST
Updated: Wednesday, May 9th, 2007 at 5:44 PM EST
Chris Butcher just recently did a bit on one of the more annoying items for comic retailers - Dark Horse’s stocking system of books related to “hot” media properties. I know quite a few comic retailers who were so worried that they wouldn’t have copies of 300 in stock for the movie that they began stockpiling copies in late 2006, which is just pretty silly, isn’t it? That a store had to lay out cash months in advance of actually selling the product, simply because they did not believe the books would be available to order when they actually NEEDED them. Stores felt this way because that was the case for Sin City and Serenity - neither books were available to retailers when the movies were in the theaters. You know, when they needed them.
Dark Horse did a good job with 300, though. The stores that stockpiled them ended up not really NEEDING to stockpile them. However, as Butcher notes, the same problem is popping up with the popular Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 series. Dark Horse has been GREAT about keeping the individual issues in print (DC and Marvel could take some tips from them on this point), but the popular series contains advertisements for trade paperbacks by Joss Whedon that AREN’T IN STOCK and won’t BE in stock until late June/early July!!
That is pretty annoying. I understand that Dark Horse has their own monetary concerns, but why oh why would you advertise for something that comic retailers do not have to sell? Has anyone seen Dark Horse give any statements on this subject?
5 Comments
Bryan
May 9, 2007 at 9:01 pm
I have had a long resentment towards Dark Horse after they cancelled a Tarzan series after number 6 of an 8 issue mini-series. It had a finite end and they couldn’t resolve the storyline?
stealthwise
May 9, 2007 at 10:44 pm
Dark Horse is one strange cookie, in that they seem to make quite a bit from their licensed properties, moreso than most books, with the exception of, say, Hellboy and a few select others. Maybe they need to feed off of the mainstream ties a bit better and make sure that retailers are able to get the volumes that they need.
God forbid another Aliens and/or Predator movie were to come out, everyone would be doomed I say!
Ryan Day
May 10, 2007 at 7:38 am
I think this is a case of DH not understanding that in order to make money, you have to spend money. Yes, it costs money to keep your back catalogue in print, but when you manage it correctly it’ll be great for business. I’m sure DC is absolutely zealous about making sure stuff like Watchmen and Sandman are never out of print for more than a month.
I wonder if all this demand is still kind of new for them. Dark Horse has always kind of flown under the radar, but all of a sudden (relatively speaking), they’re seeing massive demand for their books. Mind you, they’ve seen it first with Hellboy, then with Sin City, then 300, now Buffy; you’d think they’ve got a handle on it now. (and apparently they did with 300)
stealthwise
May 10, 2007 at 10:09 pm
Ryan,
Watchmen CAN’T go out of print, because then DC would lose the rights to the books to Moore and Gibbons, as per the clause in their contracts at the time.
So even if this (excellent) title were to stop selling, they’d still keep it going in order to hold onto the very valuable ownership rights.
Mark Clapham
May 12, 2007 at 5:31 pm
Here in the UK the old Buffy TPs are still sale material - Titan printed loads when the series was massive, and they’ve been deadweight ever since, selling very cheaply.
I’m not entirely sure that the interest in a Whedon-written, official continuation of the series would translate into more sales for old material set in earlier seasons, written by different writers. They’re the same property, but very different products. Dark Horse might be right to not rush into reprinting in this case.