BBretall

March 9, 2011 5:23 pm I'm the exact opposite, since I collect down around VG - F conditions.   There has been such an explosion of high-end collectors who would not dirty themselves on a VG book, it makes those VG books, even keys like Amazing Spider-Man #1 way more affordable for "regular" collectors who want the books, but are not looking a them as investments for their retirement.  I've gotten other keys like Showcase #22 & Brave & Bold #28 in VG 4.0 - 4.5 condition very cheap.  In fact I have gotten CGC'd books in $.0 - 5.0 for half guide since the CGC collectors market mostly focuses on the higher grade stuff.

March 4, 2011 6:09 pm @daccampo  Cliff Chiang is only doing the cover of the Deadman book.  If he was doing the insides too, I'd definitely be getting it.   As it stands the Azzarello/Risso Batman book is looking like the only "must buy" shown here.

February 18, 2011 1:46 pm You have given me some things to think about Tom.  Thanks for the great article!

February 17, 2011 5:31 pm Well deserved recognition to all in the top 10, and a GREAT top 4.

February 17, 2011 10:43 am @HailScott  You're correct, the Vertigo Crime HCs are priced at $19.99, they move to $12.99 if/when they get put out in softcover.   Full list here:
http://www.dccomics.com/dccomics/search/?q=%22vertigo+crime%22&s=na&f=10933

February 16, 2011 6:10 pm I'll be curious to see how the Borders bankruptcy affects 2011 sales.   Fewer places for people to wander in, browse, & buy.

What would be really interesting is seeing some kind of "buyer demographics" (but we don't have those).   That there are sales of Vertigo continuing series that don't translate to the OGNs suggests that the sales have something to do with pre-existing "buzz" getting people to try out the trades.

Wood points out that Manga sales peaked several years ago.  I think a lot of the consumers aged out of the market and did not transition from the kid & teen manga volumes to some of the more mature titles (20th Century Boys & Monster come to mind).  I think a problem here is a lack of a really popular stepping stone between Naruto & 20th Century Boys for older teens.

January 21, 2011 1:32 pm When you say "every publication" does it not include minis?   I ask because it has the current "Astonishing Spider-Man" and Wolverine mini, but seems to be missing minis from the past like:

Spider-Man & Mysterio (Jan-Mar 2001)
Spider-Man: Quality of Life (July-Oct 2002)
Spider-Man: House of M (Aug-Dec 2005)
Spider-Man & the Fantastic Four (June-Sept 2007)
Spider-Man: Siege (one-shot June 2010)

Those are a couple off the top of my head, there are a LOT of other Spider-Man minis, one-shots, cross-company teamups (who can forget Superman/Spider-Man?  I can understand forgetting Spider-Man/Badrock......)

Anyway.....you can do a whole separate chart of Spidey minis.......

September 23, 2010 1:16 pm

Another point is that the really well-regarded Wildstorm books (like Ex Machina & Mysterius) could just as easily have been published under the Vertigo imprint.   In fact, I'm not completely sure why they weren't.  it seems like most of the non-Wildstorm-Universe titles (with the excpetion of the media tie-ins) that WS has published have been "misplaced Vertigo books".

 The really good stuff (just my opinion) to have come out from WS can easily be published under Vertigo.

June 5, 2010 10:58 pm

@rush: In addition to RSS feeds, most puiblishers have their solicits viewable on-line, starting about 2 weeks before the printed Previews hits the stands.  These are reported on various comics news sites.  I typically aggregate a set of links to all the solicits over on the Previews thread I start each month on ComicBookPage.com, just to make it easy to find the solicits on-line.

And even if you don't order from DCBS or Heroes Corner, it's true that these sites can serve as a free on-line Previews also (though they generally get updated a week or so after the Previews catalog hits the street.)

June 5, 2010 10:52 pm

Sorry for the lateness of comment, Wood, been on vacation (sitting in Maui/Hana looking at the ocean even now)......

I know some people don't like pre-ordering, HOWEVER, what John & I always stress on our Previews show is the importance (as you point out) of letting stores know when you want something from the "back half" or even stuff from Marvel/DC/DarkHorse/Image/IDW that are not "Top" titles.

 I set foot in well over 100 comic shops a year, and I'd say 75% of them have terrible selections of stuff outside the top 50-100.  So, for those people who are not lucky enough to live someplace that has a LCS with a great selection, the ONLY way they can get some of the best comics being published is to "ask for it by name" .  One thing I note in more every Mayo Report show is how many of the titles in the bottom 50 are really really good comics.   AND most people never even see these books.

 Anyway, great article.  I want comics to thrive, and having people ask for comics they want os one way to help that happen.