Are Transformers still going strong? Options

[Onyx Minor]

IDW has had the Transformers franchise for awhile, but how are things going? Let's take us for a look at the numbers from the beginning. What trends do you see?

Based on information from this source:

http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/1850.html


Here are some numbers to get started:

Then and now:
30 TRANSFORMERS INFILTRATION #1 45,468 (January 2006)
146 TRANSFORMERS DEVASTATION #5 13,185 (February 2008)

The trend:
68 TRANSFORMERS INFILTRATION #4 28,835
138 TRANSFORMERS ESCALATION #1 20,625
148 TRANSFORMERS DEVASTATION #1 15,704

Spotlights
159 TRANSFORMERS SPOTLIGHT HOT ROD 14,133
155 TRANSFORMERS SPOTLIGHT MIRAGE 11,046
152 TRANSFORMERS SPOTLIGHT GRIMLOCK 11,411

Not even the movie brought the numbers:
88 TRANSFORMERS PRIME DIRECTIVE MOVIE PREQUEL #1 23,658
114 TRANSFORMERS PRIME DIRECTIVE MOVIE PREQUEL #2 18,039
114 TRANSFORMERS PRIME DIRECTIVE MOVIE PREQUEL #3 18,000
127 TRANSFORMERS PRIME DIRECTIVE MOVIE PREQUEL #4 17,306

109 TRANSFORMERS MOVIE ADAPTATION #1 (Of 4) 18,071
123 TRANSFORMERS MOVIE ADAPTATION #2 (Of 4) 16,204
121 TRANSFORMERS MOVIE ADAPTATION #3 (Of 4) 16,247
122 TRANSFORMERS MOVIE ADAPTATION #4 (Of 4) 16,210

From what we can see, their numbers are less than 1/3 what they started out to be. What do you guys think? Are Transformers losing some of their momentum? If so, what is the cause?

[Moroboshi Ataru]

Part of the reason the story lines are being changed up, according to the Ryall/McCarthy Q and A, (i.e. Shortening Revelation and nixing Escalation, introducing All Hail Megatron) was because Chris decided a change in direction was necessary (Or a good idea) to help strengthen sales. So perhaps the current storyline was not to some peoples' liking? I'd hate to think it was something like "Who's Sixshot, I don't remember him from 1984-85, after which Transformers died". (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-fire.gif) )

I personally loved how the story was going, but at the same time, I'm fine with their changing directions, as long as new stories are always done with care and quality.

In any case, at least this decline of sorts is not accompanied by Dreamwave-style tomfoolery. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-fire.gif)

[Tm_Silverclaw]

Here is an idea.. Get the comic out of comic book stores and into book stores and Target and Grocery stores and crap like that again. That might help boost sells.

[Stormrave]

Silverclaw: That idea will work only if there are enough other markets willing to carry the book, ie, believing it is a profitable way to use their space. The fact is there are less grocery stores, corner stores, etc willing to carry comics. Expanding beyond the comic book store is a good idea, but in many ways beyond IDW's control as they cannot change other stores' marketing plans--htey have to work with them.

Part of me figures that there's a steady core market for Transformers comics. These are the people who will faithfully buy TF regardless. Then there's a much less dependable "varying market" group who buy what's new, what's hot, what's pretty, etc.

The core numbers must be good enough as IDW was granted the GI Joe license....

I'm surprised that Spotlights are so weak sales wise as I like those stories best. I wonder if the one-off format lends itself to sporadic purchase, while an ongoing storyline requires regular buying or you miss part of the story?

I suppose these numbers also don't count those who prefer to wait for the GN (and those are hte people buying more at bookstores, etc)

[Blueshift]

I remember hearing that IDW do most of their comic sales business, or at least a hugely disproportionate chunk in the trade / bookstore market, so I wouldn't be too worried about those numbers. Heck, HMV had the movie prequel trades displayed prominanly for a while

Also issue 1s ALWAYS sell a ridiculous number and then plummet, its how the comic industry works.

[Buruko]

None of these numbers really scare me, Transformers never was a big comic property in the US but the trends are pretty stable in sales. Except the big drop from your list...

68 TRANSFORMERS INFILTRATION #4 28,835
138 TRANSFORMERS ESCALATION #1 20,625
148 TRANSFORMERS DEVASTATION #1 15,704

I'd chalk this up to first time comic buyers and Transformer fans that aren't into comics. The Infiltration series was brought to BotCon '05 attendees and I'd imagine it stoked up some sales that wouldn't be return buyers... Of course this trend may indeed be why we have a story line change as the drop off trend continued to the first issue of the third chapter, if you will, hinting at unhappy reader population.

I pick up one or two of each issue, I don't buy all the covers though. I think if they wanted to help sales and reduce costs maybe they should consider just two cover options instead four then shop owners wouldn't be so hesitant to buy a good quantity of the book. Also I think the biggest line to take a hit are the reprint of the Marvel issues. I mean us collectors love 'em but most folks are just confused by 'em.

[Mecha KJ]

The data isn't completely accurate though.

Many buyers have switched to trades and or/the hardcover release, which obviously wasn't an option with Infiltration 1.

Many people were curious and picked up an issue anyway, and there were a boatload of variant covers. (at least 6, I think)

Trade sales make up a substantial amount of income.

[MirageAg99]

I know I've started waiting for the TPBs and then buying them online. The comic book stores here sell out before the second day on the shelf, and don't buy the spotlights at all in most cases. Add into the equation that the closest store is 15 miles away and you can see why I am reluctant to go to a store that probably doesn't have the comic I am looking for.

[1987olds442]

Like others have already mentioned I wonder what the sales numbers are on the trades... I'm still buying but I have been thinking about stopping buying the individual issues and switching to the trades they read so much better all in one sitting.

[rjk7]

The dropoff in numbers is certainly a concern, but is also just one piece of the puzzle. It has been stated on IDW boards by Ryall and others that the trend for comics is to slowly trickle down and then something is done to 'shake things up a bit' so that's why we're getting 'All Hail Megatron.' I think though the dropoff seen in the direct market is a combination of:

1. people not buying anymore because they didnt' like; a. The story (too many humans was an often heard complaint), b. the art, or c. the mini-series format...all of which are being changed up in AHM (shift in story, new artist, new writer, 12 issue format)

2.

I think if they wanted to help sales and reduce costs maybe they should consider just two cover options instead four then shop owners wouldn't be so hesitant to buy a good quantity of the book.

This has already been done. Infiltration and BW: The Gathering were the only 2 series that had four regular covers and multiple variant covers. The standard now seems to be 2 regular covers with 1 or 2 retailer incentive covers. Which is point number 2 for the dropoff in sales. People who bought all 4 covers for Infiltration and then there was only 2 covers for them to buy for remaining series. (Most likely though that's fairly small portion of the dropoff)

3. Another reason for some dropoff was when the price shifted from $2.99 to $3.99. So here is one caveat with reading the numbers from ICV2's sales. Instead of overall numbers, look at revenue generated. An issue that sells 12K at $3.99 is on par with an issue selling 16K at $2.99.

4. People shifting from issues to trades. A lot of people seem to get them from Amazon and those sales would not be reported on ICV2's numbers either.

Here is an idea.. Get the comic out of comic book stores and into book stores and Target and Grocery stores and crap like that again. That might help boost sells.

This is the other caveat with reading the sales reports. They do not include sales outside of the direct market, i.e. major bookstore chains and places like Target, Walmart, and Toys R Us, and it does not include sales made outside of the US. When the movie came out last year not only did the movie prequel and movie adaptation appear in mass numbers in all of these places, but the major bookstore chains also stocked up on trades for Infiltration, Stormbringer, and the first Spotlight. Hence this quote from IDW president, Ted Adams:

"2007 has seen IDW make major moves outside of the direct market. In January, Alan Payne joined IDW as our VP of Sales and he's done an incredible job of getting our books into bookstores. We, literally, shipped millions of copies of Transformers comic books and graphic novels in 2007. Because 95% of those books were sold outside of the direct market, that success goes unnoticed in the comics press because those sales don't end up on Diamond's monthly market share report or top 300."

So hopefully the shift with AHM, the new animated series, and movie related items will give a boost in the direct market and outside. I believe Ryall when he says things are not "dire" but things could be better too.

[Reload]

The data isn't completely accurate though.

Many buyers have switched to trades and or/the hardcover release, which obviously wasn't an option with Infiltration 1.

Many people were curious and picked up an issue anyway, and there were a boatload of variant covers. (at least 6, I think)

Trade sales make up a substantial amount of income.

Yeh, I've switched to trades now.

[Spark]

The data isn't completely accurate though.

Many buyers have switched to trades and or/the hardcover release, which obviously wasn't an option with Infiltration 1.

Many people were curious and picked up an issue anyway, and there were a boatload of variant covers. (at least 6, I think)

Trade sales make up a substantial amount of income.

Indeed. The number of single issues I've picked up is minute, but I've bought all the trades excepting the Marvel one. The single issues offer nothing to me but ads I don't care about, especially now that the newest issues haven't had any extra content like design sketches and such.

[Magnusblitz]

IDW hurts their own single-issue sales by pandering to the trade market (which I absolutely hate... but won't go away any time soon because there's a big cycle between publishers making the trades more attractive, so more people buy trades, so the publishers continue ramping them up, etc). Still, as Moroboshi pointed out, the low sales numbers are the reason for the big shift in the IDW story.

[sharkicon]

I believe they are.

[Blueshift]

Traditionally in the comics market though, maxiseries don't do that well at all, so it really threw me that IDW released All Hail Megatron as 12 issues with an untested writer. Still hey, if it works...

[Denyer]

Just as a general comment on bookstore sales; IDW uses Diamond as a book distributor, but it's a separate division to comics stores sales and nowt to do with reported figures.

I'm surprised that Spotlights are so weak sales wise as I like those stories best. I wonder if the one-off format lends itself to sporadic purchase, while an ongoing storyline requires regular buying or you miss part of the story?

Broad generalisation, but fiction that engages fans most tends to be of less general interest, unfortunately -- though the bigger issue is that you'll get stores that'll order issues of a miniseries but won't touch one-shots or will order low and not reorder if the stock sells out by the weekend.

I'm assuming that IDW knows what it's doing. It deals with licensed fiction for properties that have millions of viewers, seems solvent and to be growing at a measured pace, has a good continuing relationship with Hasbro, and yet very few of its titles have notable sales as singles. They seem to have a business model that suits them, and to treat books as personal interests rather than just cash cows.

What I'd like to see now is tighter editing and more Nick Roche. We're definitely getting the latter, and I'll keep an open mind on AHM. Furman has tended to write best around another writer.

[Jim S]

What I'd like to see now is tighter editing and more Nick Roche. We're definitely getting the latter, and I'll keep an open mind on AHM. Furman has tended to write best around another writer.

I can say that, from my experience, IDW seems to have really taken their editorial responsibilities up a notch. For The Ark I, our deadline got moved forward so we had to rush some elements. This resulted in some sloppy mistakes. For The Ark II, we stuck to the original deadline, then had about a week of back and forth between myself, my editor (Justin Eisinger, great guy) and my proofreader. We caught a bunch of small mistakes and corrected them all. Overall I think it will result in a much more polished book.

-Jim S

[Deathy G1]

For The Ark II, we stuck to the original deadline, then had about a week of back and forth between myself, my editor (Justin Eisinger, great guy) and my proofreader. We caught a bunch of small mistakes and corrected them all. Overall I think it will result in a much more polished book.

Woohoo Ark II!

Has a release date been announced for it?

[Jim S]

For The Ark II, we stuck to the original deadline, then had about a week of back and forth between myself, my editor (Justin Eisinger, great guy) and my proofreader. We caught a bunch of small mistakes and corrected them all. Overall I think it will result in a much more polished book.

Woohoo Ark II!

Has a release date been announced for it?

July 2008, probably towards the end of the month: http://forum.idwpublishing.com/viewtopic.php?t=3780

Jim S

[Denyer]

For The Ark I, our deadline got moved forward so we had to rush some elements. This resulted in some sloppy mistakes. For The Ark II, we stuck to the original deadline, then had about a week of back and forth between myself, my editor (Justin Eisinger, great guy) and my proofreader. We caught a bunch of small mistakes and corrected them all. Overall I think it will result in a much more polished book.

Mmm, and I think on the whole people will be understanding of schedules changing if when stuff turns up it's spot on -- the combination whammy of the BW sourcebooks was they got delayed, rushed, and were a high price point.

Hopefully the lead time built in before the Revelations spotlights will have paid off too.