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NEWS: CLAMP does Marvel Project


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Aaron White
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Joined: 23 Aug 2002
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 29, 2004 1:23 pm Reply with quote
Craeyst Raygal wrote:
Actually, Miyu, it's the other way around.

Marvel and DC are still the top names. Yes, sales of their comic books have been taken away due to manga sales. However, their sales (as I understand from local shops) have been on a steady climb because of the radical popularity of all the (good or bad) superhero movies coming out recently. Marvel is, with Spider-man and X-men (two multi-billion dollar franchises) the 800-pound gorilla of comic books.

They're coming in to play with the little kids who're invading their sandbox.


No. Manga is easily outselling superhero comics.
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xxmiyuxx



Joined: 08 Jun 2004
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Location: Bordentown, NJ
PostPosted: Tue Jun 29, 2004 1:52 pm Reply with quote
Aaron White wrote:
Craeyst Raygal wrote:
Actually, Miyu, it's the other way around.

Marvel and DC are still the top names. Yes, sales of their comic books have been taken away due to manga sales. However, their sales (as I understand from local shops) have been on a steady climb because of the radical popularity of all the (good or bad) superhero movies coming out recently. Marvel is, with Spider-man and X-men (two multi-billion dollar franchises) the 800-pound gorilla of comic books.

They're coming in to play with the little kids who're invading their sandbox.


No. Manga is easily outselling superhero comics.

I don't think it's a matter of who is selling more....it's a matter of Marvel wanting to get a peice of the manga gravey train. And who better to assist them in their quest than CLAMP? It makes perfect sence. So they are jumping into the Japanese sandbox, so to speak.
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jfrog



Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 925
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 29, 2004 4:57 pm Reply with quote
Aaron White wrote:
No. Manga is easily outselling superhero comics.


Really? And manga hasn't taken sales away from DC and Marvel - the reason they're looking for a slice of the pie is because a whole new market that (for the most part) doesn't touch their stuff has just started reading comics.
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Tenchi



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
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Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer.
PostPosted: Tue Jun 29, 2004 5:02 pm Reply with quote
jfrog wrote:
Aaron White wrote:
No. Manga is easily outselling superhero comics.


Really?


I know; I think a lot of people get that false impression by comparing apples to oranges; the bulk of American comic books are sold as monthly issues, while the bulk of American-translated manga these days is sold direct-to-paperback. While you can buy certain paperback collections of American comic books, since it's reprints of stuff Americans have seen already, it usually doesn't get as high on the paperback charts. It doesn't mean that somehow manga suddenly got more popular than American comics with Americans, it just means that people buy Japanese comics in a different format than American comics.
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Aaron White
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 29, 2004 5:16 pm Reply with quote
jfrog wrote:
Aaron White wrote:
No. Manga is easily outselling superhero comics.


Really?


Yes, really. You're looking at Diamond's sales report, but Diamond is only a distributor for the direct sales market. If you add the returnable (a.k.a. bookstore) market into the picture you'll find that manga is gang-banging superhero comics sales. For example, the average issue of Shonen Jump sells in the tens of thousands of copies; top-selling superhero comics might sell a tenth of that in a record week.
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Aaron White
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 29, 2004 5:27 pm Reply with quote
Also, Marvel has been teetering on the brink of bankruptcy for years now. They're doing much better, but it's all because of the movies. In other words, it isn't because of the comics. And Time/Warner keeps DC on life support as an R&D lab for properties which can be turned into movies, cartoons etc. Superhero comics themselves hardly ever turn a profit anymore.

Meanwhile the manga market has become a $100 million industry in the west, according to IVN. Superhero comics publishers are sick with envy.
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Aaron White
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 30, 2004 10:18 am Reply with quote
Duh! I don't know why I didn't think to mention this before, but anyway: like I say, that Diamond sales chart shows you what is and isn't selling in comic book shops, not what's selling in bookstores, online, or at newstands. But furthermore, the second chart-the one of bestselling titles-only includes comics in traditional monthly pamphlet format. And how much manga is published in that format anymore?

Furthermore lots of hidebound comic book stores have been slow to pick up on manga. If they don't stock it, they can't sell it. Bookstores and Amazon are where the manga revolution is really happening.

Bear in mind, I'm not taking sides in some kind of "brand loyalty" thing; I want all comics to do well.
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Tempest
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 30, 2004 10:33 am Reply with quote
Aaron White wrote:
For example, the average issue of Shonen Jump sells in the tens of thousands of copies; top-selling superhero comics might sell a tenth of that in a record week.


Shonen Jump sells close to or over 300 000 copies every week. The top selling comic books sell closer to 200 000 copies.

I'll see if I can get a number for Graphic novels.
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Aaron White
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 30, 2004 10:56 am Reply with quote
Well, I was wrong all over with my guesstimated numbers, but I stand by my general contention.
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Twilight Dragon



Joined: 28 Jun 2004
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 30, 2004 7:21 pm Reply with quote
Who is drawling th marvel books?
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Generator_Gawl



Joined: 23 Dec 2003
Posts: 9
Location: Middle River, MD
PostPosted: Mon Jul 05, 2004 11:08 am Reply with quote
Quote:
Who is drawling th marvel books?


Ummm... that would be CLAMP. Hence the article. Very Happy

BTW- I've seen X-Men mentioned in the posts, but as they haven't named the characters to be used, who is everyone hoping will get the CLAMP treatment?

I think Ghost Rider would be pretty neat...
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