Looks Like DC drops the ball with Milestone.

[EarthTone]

Static Shock currently has about 1.8 million viewers a week on Disney XD. In reruns on Cartoon Network it had as many as 5 million viewers per single showing. In its original run, it averaged nearly 3 million viewers a week. There are some customers out there, if anyone wants to go looking for them.

The question is though: how many of these viewers buy comic books? How do you get them into a comic book store?

I was looking at estimated Direct Sales (US) for June. These were the top 5 sellers, ranked number 1 to number 5:

1: Batman and Robin 1: 168,536 copies estimated (Reveal new Batman)
2: Captain America 600: 112,242
3: Dark Avengers Uncanny X Men Utopia 1: 97,641
4: Batman 687: 96,874
5: Dark Avengers 5: 95,707

Average Sales, comics with sales rank number 6-10: 87,216

Avg Sales, comics with sales rank number 11-20: 69,394

Avg Sales, comics with sales rank number 21-50: 49,705

Avg Sales, comics with sales rank number 51-100: 28,966

I would guesstimate that the US Direct Sales Market - the number of people who actually go to comic book stores in any given month - is maybe 200,000 to 250,000 people. That's just a guess, I don't have a formula for translating these sales numbers to the actual number of buyers.

But the key point is, the number of people who actually go to comic book stores is much much much less than the number of TV viewers.

Again: I would bet that, if these cartoon viewers went to a comic book shop, seeing Static in a TT comic - or in his own comic - might be appealing enough that they'd buy it. But they'd have to actually be in the store to make that purchase - and that doesn't seem to happen a lot.

[acevedo-marzan]

I'm late joining in on this and hate to be heavy-handed, but...

We just elected a man President despite and/or because of various identitiy "issues".
And he won by a respectable margin.

However, folks still resist chamge. Just look at the healthcare debate.

That being said, we are fighting against a (hopefully receding) tide of cultural (re)indoctrination and just like the Prez (say, I bet we'd see that title from DC before a book about Static), we have to keep pushing back, with moral support of creators, purchase of product and a MASSIVE petition online (or dead tree version) to insist that we get what we want.

Though I don't agree with some of the posted opinions, I support your right to free expression
(I just refuse to debate).
Because without you right to speak freely, my right to do so would soon cease to exist.
And without free speech, where would comic books be.

Props and respect to Dwayne for all his hard work. I'm a HUGE fan of your JLU work (think I might have told you so at a convention in Philly a few years back).

Thumbs down to DC for lacking vision.

Wasn't Dan DiDeo hired for the potential cross-media marketing because he had a background in TV. Or was there just a TV in the background when he was hired?

Hey, DC... how about Prez Vs. Reboot... golly gee, that would be awesome!

Okay, maybe I don't hate being heavy-handed.


P.S. Check out my mini-comic Alien Son X at comixpress.com

[Dwayne McDuffie]

Static Shock currently has about 1.8 million viewers a week on Disney XD. In reruns on Cartoon Network it had as many as 5 million viewers per single showing. In its original run, it averaged nearly 3 million viewers a week. There are some customers out there, if anyone wants to go looking for them.

The question is though: how many of these viewers buy comic books? How do you get them into a comic book store?

I was looking at estimated Direct Sales (US) for June. These were the top 5 sellers, ranked number 1 to number 5:

1: Batman and Robin 1: 168,536 copies estimated (Reveal new Batman)
2: Captain America 600: 112,242
3: Dark Avengers Uncanny X Men Utopia 1: 97,641
4: Batman 687: 96,874
5: Dark Avengers 5: 95,707

Average Sales, comics with sales rank number 6-10: 87,216

Avg Sales, comics with sales rank number 11-20: 69,394

Avg Sales, comics with sales rank number 21-50: 49,705

Avg Sales, comics with sales rank number 51-100: 28,966

I would guesstimate that the US Direct Sales Market - the number of people who actually go to comic book stores in any given month - is maybe 200,000 to 250,000 people. That's just a guess, I don't have a formula for translating these sales numbers to the actual number of buyers.

But the key point is, the number of people who actually go to comic book stores is much much much less than the number of TV viewers.

Again: I would bet that, if these cartoon viewers went to a comic book shop, seeing Static in a TT comic - or in his own comic - might be appealing enough that they'd buy it. But they'd have to actually be in the store to make that purchase - and that doesn't seem to happen a lot.

As I said in an earlier post in this thread, that's correct (another reason why TV ads don't work). That said, Static is better known to comics fans than The Shield and The Web. It outsold them both in the nineties, and since then has appeared regularly on TV for eight years. I think Static is as well known to comic book fans as Ben 10, or at least Secret Saturdays, both of which appear in a DC Comic.

[babybro]

As I said in an earlier post in this thread, that's correct (another reason why TV ads don't work). That said, Static is better known to comics fans than The Shield and The Web. It outsold them both in the nineties, and since then has appeared regularly on TV for eight years. I think Static is as well known to comic book fans as Ben 10, or at least Secret Saturdays, both of which appear in a DC Comic.

And there lies the very fishy situation. Most of milestone characters has essentially sold more than the new outgoings that are going to be release by red circle, so sales itself doesn't justify the matter on this occasion. Someone mention that perhaps the reason the shield is receiving a hard push is because DC doesn't have a captain america type character. While this true, DC also doesn't have a super strong person of color like Icon, nor a Iron man type PoC like hardware. (In fact, I don't think they have a iron man type character in general. The closest is John Henry but his armor doesn't have no where near the gadgets as Iron man.)

Overall, there will be plenty of reasons and excuses, some legitimate, most not, as to why diversity is constantly placed on the backburner, but in the end, this occasion completely shows as nothing more than corporate greed mixed with apprehension towards diversity. And with that, I'm just about done with DC.

[Geoff Thorne]

THis crap drives me CRAZY.

However, Disney has a publishing arm. Possibilities there?

I know they bought up the entire CROSSGEN catalogue.

[devious1]

Dwayne what's the current status of the previously mentioned Milestone limited series that was to appear at the end of the year?

Are those plans now off for the moment?

[Dwayne McDuffie]

Dwayne what's the current status of the previously mentioned Milestone limited series that was to appear at the end of the year?

Are those plans now off for the moment?

No. The book's in the pipeline.

[EarthTone]

As I said in an earlier post in this thread, that's correct (another reason why TV ads don't work).

That said, Static is better known to comics fans than The Shield and The Web. It outsold them both in the nineties, and since then has appeared regularly on TV for eight years. I think Static is as well known to comic book fans as Ben 10, or at least Secret Saturdays, both of which appear in a DC Comic.

If the question is, why is DC giving a series to the Shield and the Web and not to Milestone characters?... that's something DC management has to answer.

***
Off topic: I mentioned earlier that according to June 2009 estimated direct sales, these were average sales for titles that ranked 21st to 100th in volume:
Average Sales, comics with sales rank number 21-50: 49,705 copies sold (estimated)
Average Sales, comics with sales rank number 51-100: 28,966

Think about that. This country has 300 million people. But the 51st to 100 best selling comic book titles averaged around 29,000 copies sold, direct market.

That's disheartening news for people like myself who've thought of maybe self-publishing/self-financing a book. The market isn't there to make it financially viable. And that's before we acknowledge that the comic buyer market seems stuck on characters that have been on the market for 30-40 years.

It makes you wonder: is this as good as it gets, and it's all downhill from here?

[kick]

It won't work, the network won't run them (it makes the show a half-hour commercial for the product), they cost too much to produce and air, and even if they worked, where would a casual buyer go get a comic?

Who is supposed to pay for these hypothetical commercials? DC doesn't do commercials for the books they already publish let alone "potential" books. And Time Warner obviously has no interest in making money from Static Shock since there are no plans (that I've heard of) for any DVD collections of the series, even though it has been asked for for many years.

I think DC and I are done until I see a solicitation for Dwayne's Milestone series.

I meant if they were to do a Static book in the future. My thinking was that to save costs, they could just air near the end of each ep, a small 7-second notice featuring the cover of the book against a generic background, saying "Hey! make sure to try out so-and-so/blahblahbla/etc." But then again, you're right in that it would cost too much to air. Back when Rebirth of the Cool and Trial by Fire came out, I was hoping they would do something like this. And given the show was Kids WB, the whole "It will turn our cartoon block into a commercial" could have been negated by the Warner higher-ups with "We don't care what you think! Do it anyway!", especially since Kids WB and DC are technically the same company. But then again, it would cost too much to air. At least it would have been better than all of those toy commercials airing during Static's show (of which, ironically and sadly, there were no Static toys).

As I said in an earlier post in this thread, that's correct (another reason why TV ads don't work). That said, Static is better known to comics fans than The Shield and The Web. It outsold them both in the nineties...

Although it's annoying, I could sort of see where there went with the Red Circle stuff. DC was trying to court JMS after he left Marvel, due to the One More Day debacle. The Red Circle stuff was one the main things JMS was interested in and wanted to work on. So DC went out and got it for him and then... they gave it to him. Given how Impact tanked in the 90's, I'm not sure DC would have even bothered acquiring the Red Circle license if it wasn't for JMS. This is why I was suggesting finding ways to get DC creators with some substantial level of pull interested in the Milestone characters. The more pull, the better. If some of these guys are, then readers need to know about it. Though, I don't understand the logic behind launching Red Circle ongoings without JMS writing them. I also don't understand the part about licensing the Thunder Agents (though IICR, DC has been going after that for a while). I just hope the Thunder Agents don't get their own projects before the Milestone characters do.

...and since then has appeared regularly on TV for eight years. I think Static is as well known to comic book fans as Ben 10, or at least Secret Saturdays, both of which appear in a DC Comic.

About popularity outside of comics, therein lies the problem. Except for when the Watchmen movie came out, this has almost never translated into book sales. Though, Iron Man did see a spike because he was made more "important" (i.e. Civil War and "Fuhrer Tony" ). Blade has had a highly successful movie trilogy with at least two of those movies being critically acclaimed (in terms of the general public) as well as his own TV series. Yet, every book he has recieved since then has been cancelled. This was aggravating, since I was enjoying the stories in his recent solo book for the most part. It doesn't help that the only book he had been appearing in after that (Captain Britain and MI: 13) has ALSO been recently cancelled. Now I fear that Blade is stuck in limbo... AGAIN.

Still, Static and the rest of the Milestone characters still need plenty of media penetration (cartoons, video games, movies, all of that). I really hope WB would get on the ball with this. This would result in further getting their names known throughout the general public. And even though it won't guarantee sales, the more fame they have or the more their name is known throughout the general public, the more chances they would have of getting their own book from time to time compared to other characters, whether a miniseries at the very least or a full ongoing solo title (see: Aquaman). And even though they didn't sell well, it's most likely the reason Blade got multiple solo books during and after his film trilogy ended. Sadly, this is also probably the reason DC is concentrating on just Static instead of the rest of the Milestone heroes. Like I said, a whole lot more of the Milestone characters should have shown up in Static Shock. This would have worked wonders for them like it did for Virgil.

You have a point about Ben 10 and Secret Saturdays getting their own books. I think a DCAU Static title or a Static title in the vein of Teen Titans Go! would be great avenue to get started with (though there would be the problem of it not being "canon"). I still don't understand why this wasn't done when Static Shock was originally airing. Why did every DC animated show get their own book except for Static Shock (and Zeta Project, I think)?

On a side note, I've finally managed to track down the numbers for the Rebirth of the Cool trade:

88.......Static Shock Rebirth of The Cool.......$19.99.......DC.......1,278

http://www.comichron.com/monthlycomicss ... 09-05.html

This really pisses me off. I was really hoping more people would buy this trade. What about newsstand sales? Are there any figures for those?

I'm trying to figure out ways for people to actually buy this stuff or at least give it a look. Are there any ways to advertise these trades on your site? Like you said, broadcast commercials probably won't work. How about internet ads?

[EarthTone]

88.......Static Shock Rebirth of The Cool.......$19.99.......DC.......1,278

http://www.comichron.com/monthlycomicss ... 09-05.html

This really pisses me off. I was really hoping more people would buy this trade. What about newsstand sales? Are there any figures for those?

I'm trying to figure out ways for people to actually buy this stuff or at least give it a look. Are there any ways to advertise these trades on your site? Like you said, broadcast commercials probably won't work. How about internet ads?

Do the comicchron numbers for tpb's include bookstore (Borders, Barnes & Noble) sales? I don't think so, although I'm not sure.

Also: My understanding is that very few tpb's are sold in the newsstand market.