What happens when you leave the fishbowl

[sombrefan]

It's always interesting to see what others outside the fandom think of the sales figures.

Indie Month-to-Month Sales: June 2010

111. Angel (IDW)

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06/2010: Angel #34 - 17,467 (-0.3%)

Another book that's quite stable this month.

151. Spike (IDW)

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06/2010: Spike The Devil You Know #1 - 12,057

The Spike After the Fall miniseries ended with sales of about 30,000 a few years ago. Interest in this franchise has really dropped off since then.

Comments

[2maggie2.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing the latter is why Lynch has been begging for people to do pre-orders. I was wondering what was up with that. It's also a funny comparison, since of course the Angel numbers are also well off from where they were a few years ago... they've just stabilized at their new low level. (Wasn't the peak more like 70,000?)

[simonf.livejournal.com]

Including reprints, Angel After The Fall #1 got over 75000 copies ordered. But currently the Angel and Spike The Devil You Know comics are still selling around twice as many copies than the Angelverse comics that came out before After The Fall launched. Back in 2006/2007 Shadow Puppets was getting around 7000 copies ordered, Auld Lang Syne slightly less.

If I was a betting man I would think that IDW will play up the Buffy Season 8 and Joss connection to boost sales for Lynch's new series.

[2maggie2.livejournal.com]

"still selling around twice as many copies": This is why I never got the defense of BW in the BW vs. JW epic. Whedon gave IDW a huge gift when he gave them his name for AtF. It's a huge chunk of whatever value that franchise has. (It's also why I'm so very harsh on IDW -- the bulk of the value of the franchise is due to a name their stories don't even aspire to live up to).

"If I was a betting man": It's not a bet. It's a certainty. They can do the math. Why do you think they bark about canon as much as they do?

[simonf.livejournal.com]

"the bulk of the value of the franchise is due to a name their stories don't even aspire to live up to"

Yeah. I view IDW's pre-After The Fall woes as the following:

1) They couldn't directly tell what happened after Not Fade Away. So any stories set after the events in the alleyway could only allude to what happened. And that didn't interest the fans.
2) The two big Angel mini-series The Curse and Old Friends were lacklustre to say the least.
3) Woeful artwork.

Saying that Spike vs Dracula was a great tale and the one-shots were worth reading. Brian Lynch did turn the corner for IDW in terms of fan approval with his two Spike mini-series but it wasn't reflected in sales.

[angearia.livejournal.com]

Interest in this franchise has really dropped off since then.

IDW's been playing the name game to try to drive up sales. They keep looking for writers with big names like Armstrong or Willingham. I read a script by a friend who'd submitted it to IDW hoping to get a comic going, but it was rejected because the writer wasn't a big enough name for IDW's biggest title(the pitch had the support of Mooney and Lynch even, but the higher up said no-go for a newcomer). This was a really good script. It actually made me tear up just from reading it--I can only imagine how great it would've been with the art.

The reason it was so good was because the writer knew how to write Whedonverse. It's not something every big name writer is going to be good at, so they really need to get off the ethos kick.

The only name that really matters in the Whedonverse is Whedon. Beyond that, they need to be looking for a great pitch and someone who can write the characters. Maybe IDW is wising up in having Mariah and Tischman write it, but I've read some recent reviews of their work together and it seemed a bit lackluster. My enthusiasm has dimmed a bit since I heard the news about the writers replacing Willingham.

I think IDW is mismanaging the ANGEL title.

[simonf.livejournal.com]

Shame about your friend. Hopefully they can go onto better things.

"I think IDW is mismanaging the ANGEL title."

From a financial angle, IDW's Angel license is beating the likes of the Fringe, X-Files, Supernatural, Stargate comic books. Those titles don't sell that well and don't seem to make that big an impact on their respective online fandoms. However IDW's main problem seems to be that no one knows how to consistently write well for the character of Angel. Lynch and Byrne seem to be the best of the bunch but even so they can be a bit hit or miss. I do wonder sometimes if the success of After The Fall made IDW greenlight an ongoing Angel title without thinking it through properly.

[angearia.livejournal.com]

From a financial angle, IDW's Angel license is beating the likes of the Fringe, X-Files, Supernatural, Stargate comic books.

I see that as the benefit of Whedon's name on AtF--it's not something IDW had control over, but something they were handed and that helped them achieve success. I don't think it's the problem that no one knows how to write Angel well; it's that IDW hasn't hired anyone who knows how to write Angel well.