Big Films Mean Big Comics Sale

Marvel, Dark Horse rack up sales with a host of Spidey and Star Wars tie-ins and related titles

by Douglas Wolk -- Publishers Weekly, 6/17/2002

It doesn't take a genius to know that Spider-Man and Star Wars graphic novels are hot in bookstores and libraries right now—they're two of the biggest movies of the summer, and young customers want to read the comics about their favorite characters. What does take some work is figuring out which of the dozens of Star Wars and Spider-Man graphic novels and trade paperbacks in print are likely to be the best jumping-on points for new readers.

Dark Horse Comics is the publisher for all the Star Wars comics material currently in print, and its flagship item right now is Henry Gilroy and Jan Duursema's adaptation of Attack of the Clones, which is likely to be one of the bestselling graphic novels of this year. Dark Horse also offers trade paperback adaptations of the four earlier movies in the series, the first three of which are slightly revised from the versions originally serialized by Marvel Comics in the '70s and '80s: "At the time," explained Dark Horse's Randy Stradley, "Lucasfilm was not forthcoming with references for what, say, Yoda actually looked like." For fans of both Star Wars and manga, Dark Horse also has multivolume Japanese manga adaptations of episodes I, IV, V and VI. And A New Hope: Infinities is a sort of "what if" variation on the original movie, imagining what might have happened if the Death Star had not been destroyed. (The Empire Strikes Back: Infinities graphic novel is in production now)

Beyond that, Dark Horse offers quite a few "expanded universe" graphic novels, original stories extrapolating on the background story and characters from the films. The Dark Empire titles, in particular, are perennial bestsellers for the company—the first in the series has sold about 100,000 copies. There are two volumes of Star Wars Tales, in which cartoonists are invited to come up with stories that don't fit into the established canon. Published last year, the graphic novel Twilight introduced the character Aayla Secura, whom George Lucas liked so much he included her in Attack of the Clones. And, for fans of the old-style Star Wars comics, the entire original Marvel series will be reprinted in seven paperback volumes. The first was launched last month; additional volumes will appear in July, November and December.

Attack of the Spidey Titles

Marvel's Spider-Man property has at least 30 graphic novel titles in print right now—some more appropriate for new readers than others. Spider-Man: The Movie includes an adaptation of the film, written by the character's co-creator Stan Lee, and a selection of other accessible stories. But the biggest marketing push, according to Marvel marketing/communications manager Bill Rosemann, is actually for the Ultimate Spider-Man books: two trade paperbacks (the first of which has already gone through four printings in a year), and a hardcover that includes everything in both of those along with some behind-the-scenes material. "They're most like the movie," Roseman explained—the main characters are still in high school (after 40 years of Spider-Man comics, Peter Parker is long since out of college in the non-Ultimate line). There's also a paperback collecting USM's companion series UItimate Marvel Team-Up (a hardcover is due in August). Both of those Ultimate titles are written by award-winning writer Brian Michael Bendis, and are designed specifically as starting points for new readers and promoted through a program of free samples.

Beyond those books, Rosemann suggests the recent Spider-Man graphic novels Coming Home (by J. Michael Straczynski, the creator of TV's Babylon 5), A Day in the Life and One Small Break as particularly friendly to readers who haven't spent the last 20 years reading comics. For older, nostalgic readers, Marvel also has two lines of books reprinting Spider-Man comics from the '60s and '70s. The budget-priced Essential line (which includes collections of Spider-Man and the original, '70s Marvel Team-Up, as well as other series like X-Men) reprints several dozen early issues in each fat, black-and-white, newsprint volume; while the Marvel Masterworks are premium-priced (around $50) hardcovers for serious collectors, usually reprinting 10 issues with lush production values (nice paper, full color). And, in another strategy for drawing in new readers, the prices on Marvel's entire graphic-novel line (including Spider-Man books) will drop in September: $5 off hardcovers, $1–$3 off paperbacks.

Graphic Novel Sales Way Up

The sales figures for graphic novels are continuing to rise steadily in comics specialty stores, but they're rocketing skyward in general trade bookstores.

ICV2.com, a pop culture trade news Web site, recently reported that overall advance orders on graphic novels in comics stores were up 23% in the second quarter of 2002 over the second quarter of 2001. ICV2.com president Milton Griepp pointed out that those figures represent orders placed by the end of April, before stores knew how well the Spider-Man film was going to do. That figure follows a 47% year-to-year increase in the first quarter 2002, compared to. 2001. In bookstores, the picture is even rosier.

"The [direct-sales comics specialty] market usually orders about 5,000 copies of each trade paperback," said Marvel's Bill Rosemann, "but you can have one bookstore chain order 5,000." Marvel's total first-quarter trade paperback graphic novel sales this year were up 240% over first quarter 2001, partly thanks to improved distribution and an accelerated publishing schedule, but also because bookstores have been catching on to comics in general and chains like Barnes & Noble have been expanding their graphic-novel floor space.

"There's substantial built-in growth as people see sell-throughs," Griepp said. "Anecdotal evidence has been great."