The Outhouse - The Greatest Comic Book Forum

by **LOLtron** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 10:42 am

The milestone issue had over 380,000 sales.

Image announced that The Walking Dead #100 was the bestselling comic of the century, having sold over 380,000 copies last week. While the phrasing was technically correct, more accurately the comic was the bestselling comic of the last fifteen years, since December 1997, when Image released Darkness #11. That issue also had multiple covers and beat out heavy hitters such as Avengers and Iron Man, both of which had begun new series with shiny new #1 issues. For comparison purposes, the last issue of The Walking Dead #99 sold approximately 56,000 copies.

While it's doubtful that The Walking Dead can maintain such inflated sales figures, it should be interesting to see whether there's any noticable boost in sales. The series is one of only a few titles in the industry which actually gains sales as time goes on. Most series battle attrition throughout their runs, forcing companies to rely on marketing gimmicks or creative shake ups to boost sales. While there's no doubt that this was a classic gimmick, the fact remains that the series has proven it can gain readers every single issue.

Written or Contributed by: ThanosCopter

READ THIS ARTICLE ON THE FRONT PAGE, HUMANS!

by **LobsterJ** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 10:48 am

Who was it that was arguing with me earlier this year that Bendis makes more money than Kirkman?

by **Log-Man** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 10:56 am

There was almost a 700% increase in sales for this single issue? :shock:

Was there some kind of special tie in to the TV show, or is the wild speculation market back?

by **GOSD** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 11:05 am

No, but Kirkman mentioned the book more than a few times last weekend when AMC aired a sneak peek @ Season 3 of TWD.

Good for him.

Hey TheBass? :lol:

by **Chesscub** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 11:15 am

Log-Man wrote:There was almost a 700% increase in sales for this single issue?

Was there some kind of special tie in to the TV show, or is the wild speculation market back?

There were 10 variants or so as well. I know the shop I was going to was doing a promotional event with it.

by **Chris** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 2:35 pm

LobsterJ wrote:Who was it that was arguing with me earlier this year that Bendis makes more money than Kirkman?

It's tough to say without knowing what their pay is from Marvel and Image, respectfully. Based on other media alone, though, I would say Bendis is slightly ahead.

Yeah, Walking Dead is a huge hit on TV, and he's involved with Thief of Thieves or whatever... but Bendis is on the Marvel Studios advisory committee, and is involved in developing the Marvel MMO video game, along with Powers' TV show development on FX and a regular paying gig teaching comic writing at Portland State University.

Kirkman is also publishing his comics through Image, so the publisher takes a cut of the profits of every book to cover publishing and marketing costs.

I would say the biggest x-factor of the debate would be how much Kirkman is making from his executive duties as COO of Image, which might be a considerable boost for him.

Either way, I would say both are easily at or near the top of the industry in terms of money, and neither is hurting for it. Not sure why it should be a race to see who makes more or whatever, though.

by **Bass,The** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 2:38 pm

*kills self*

by **GOSD** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 2:38 pm

WTF?

by **Victorian Squid** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 2:40 pm

Chesscub wrote:
There were 10 variants or so as well. I know the shop I was going to was doing a promotional event with it.

The shop I went to treated you like a dick and refused to sell them to you if you wanted more than 2 covers. Most of the copies looked like a large cat had slept on them on a couch overnight or something anyway. The next shop I went to was happy to take my money (I buy copies for a couple friends who don't read other comics), and that first shop loses a regular customer who bought 3 copies of Walking Dead every month plus all his other comics there. Maybe putting up a sign instead of being a dick at the register would have been a good idea--judging from the number of people I overheard taking books off of their pull lists in that shop I would have thought more sales for them would be a good thing, not something to deter.

But most online (or more savvy in-store) retailers were happy to give special deals on all 10 or however many there were, so I imagine the preorders on sets of covers from DCBS or places like it was huge.