The Four Color Media Monitor

Deadline reports screenwriter Derek Kolstad's new comic, Planet Death, allegedly sold a ton in a way not seen for an indie comic since Image's early days:

John Wick and Nobody franchise scribe Derek Kolstad‘s Planet Death from Bad Idea and Lunar Distribution has sold 655,000 copies before hitting store shelves, a milestone for an independent comic book and the best sales since 1992’s WildC.A.T.s #1 from Jim Lee.

Planet Death #0 arrives in stores April 30 and is timed to Free Comic Book Day, which falls on Saturday, May 3.

The current total represents orders from stores that have taken a position early; the number of copies could skyrocket by April 30. Major orders have been placed by New Dimension Comics, Third Eye Comics, Bedrock City Comics, Collector’s Paradise, Borderlands Comics and Games, DCBS and Atomic Empire, we’re told.

Well this pretty much sums up nothing's new under the sun. What it really means is that store sources ordered as many as 600,000 copies, but does not confirm anybody's buying them en masse off the shelves. So what's all the fuss about?

Planet Death is the first title in a slate of upcoming comics hitting store shelves this year from Bad Idea including Ordained, Cul-De-Sac, Survive, Save Now and Habitat. Bad Idea recently announced at San Diego Comic-Con that Kolstad would be writing the feature adaptation of Ordained. In addition, Akela Cooper (M3GAN, Malignant) is currently adapting The Lot as as a feature for Bad Idea.

Hey look, I wish them good luck in their business going forward, but lecturing us that a comic that hasn't sold big at store level yet is something to get excited about only insults the intellect. If movie producers wait until the box office results are in, and give filmgoers a chance to judge whether it's something to rush to movie theaters to see, then comic distributors should follow the same example, ditto press sources. It's already pretty apparent a comic with a title like "Planet Death" is seen as a big deal simply because of the violence it implies, not because it's written and drawn on merit. So maybe the news sources and publishers should wait until the comic sees dollar signs at store level? Unfortunately, that's unlikely to be how they'll operate, so this looks to be yet another farcical report that's not guaranteeing the comic in question will be a success.

And as the news indicates, the comic sold less than a million copies so far, proving nothing's changed in how print runs are turned out.

Labels: indie publishers, msm propaganda, sales, violence