Those May Direct Market Numbers

People seem really happy with the May Direct Market numbers; John Miller's analysis at Comics Buyer's Guide is usually the most sober -- for instance he's quick to point out with these numbers that the comparison between 2006 and 2005 is a comparison between five and four shipping dates -- and even he's impressed.

I'm not sure I find the numbers all that surprising. The major players have been priming the Direct Market for a couple of years to handle more than one really big crossover series and company-backed title relaunches at the top of the charts. I'm happy that the market is able to handle this many copies of anything, and I know I may receive some grief for this, but these results seems to me like it could be proof the Direct Market can hold a certain number of ping pong balls in its mouth more than evidence of a flowering of general DM health. I would like to see other signifiers. For instance, I'm curious to see if this surge leads to new stores, which would seem to me a necessary extension of overall market health, and the continuing absence of which would definitely characterize its nature.
 
posted 12:49 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Daily Blog Archives
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
 
Full Archives