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THREAD: Diamond hasn't yet resumed its monthly comics sales charts, and while we have good reason to believe they'll return, we expect it'll happen only when supply and demand have stabilized.
Supply levels still haven't, as you'll see in this tour of the spring in comics... 1/
Supply levels still haven't, as you'll see in this tour of the spring in comics... 1/
After Diamond shut down in March, @DCComics made its deal with new distributors UCS and Lunar. They started shipping April 28, and only three comics came out that month. It's a safe bet DAPHNE BYRNE #4 was the top Direct Market comic in April; it was in 132nd place in March! 2/
Only UCS and Lunar sold DCs until Diamond reopened for new comics May 19. It was mostly backlog, what was already in process. DC's release slate was less than half its March size; overall slates were down by 80%.
VENOM #25 was the likely #1, with UNKILLABLES #3 the lead DC. 3/
VENOM #25 was the likely #1, with UNKILLABLES #3 the lead DC. 3/
By June, DC was getting up to speed, with its release slate size approaching its March level; DC announced June 5 it was dropping Diamond by the end of the month. But the market apart from DC was still regrouping, with fewer than half as many new releases as they had in March. 4/
And now, July. Like April, all new DCs came from Lunar and UCS — and the slate was actually smaller than June. Meanwhile, Marvel's ramped up, but isn't back to 50% of its pre-shutdown slate size.
So new comics offerings have been increasing in number, but haven't stabilized. 5/
So new comics offerings have been increasing in number, but haven't stabilized. 5/
Another reason why we can say release counts are still greatly in flux is on the graphic novel side.
Recall that graphic novels continued to ship through the book channel through the pandemic; in the Direct Market, UCS's site reports it got 27 DC titles for resale in April. 6/
Recall that graphic novels continued to ship through the book channel through the pandemic; in the Direct Market, UCS's site reports it got 27 DC titles for resale in April. 6/
May saw Diamond reopening, but little new material went out. Much of it from publishers whose main business is outside the Direct Market; these are in the "other" category. Remember, the book channel was still moving, so their presses and trucks rolled. 7/
In June the GN deluge began, as books that intended to ship in April and May all started landing at Diamond — including a LOT of manga. No less than 48 titles from Yen Press, another 32 from Viz. June's graphic novel release slate was 70% larger than March's.
And in July? 8/
And in July? 8/
July saw the GN floodgates open even MORE at Diamond. 68 Viz titles, 67 Yen titles, 47 from St. Martin's. Comics publishers could adjust their schedules; book publishers, not so much. Four months of books dropped in eight weeks. July's GN release slate was +124% over March! 9/
So with periodical slates still recovering, we also have a graphic novel bottleneck, either of which could make sales charts less useful and reliable before we even consider demand.
We DO expect Diamond's charts to return, but likely when the signal-to-noise ratio improves. 10/
We DO expect Diamond's charts to return, but likely when the signal-to-noise ratio improves. 10/
For now, that leaves the reorder charts, which Diamond resumed on May 3. The advance-reorder reports, which are forward-looking, have been looking more "regular" after gyrations due to the pandemic and DC's departure. The latest ones are just out. 11/ https://twitter.com/comichron/status/1288507655489753090
