Ultimate Spider-Man came in second to Dog Man on the December graphic novel sales charts. Diamond has explained the delays of comic books from their distribution centers. Mark Millar is at it again, promoting a “hugely controversial” book with John Romita Jr.
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Episode Transcript:
Dog Man beats Spider-Man.
Diamond explains delays.
Mark Millar at it again.
This is Comic Book Club News for January 9, 2025.
Spider-Man Can’t Beat Dog Man On December Graphic Novels Sales Charts:
There’s only one character who can beat Spider-Man, and that’s Dog Man. The canine cop took down Ultimate Spider-Man Volume 1 to snag the top slot on December’s graphic novel sales charts.
Per ICV2, the latest volume of Dav Pilkey’s hit series took the number one slot, though Ultimate Spider-Man hung on strong at number two, for the third month in a row on the charts. Marvel also charted with the first volume of Ultimate X-Men, as well as the comic book prequel series to X-Men ’97.
DC’s Compact Comics once again had a strong month, with five slots on the Top 20. But the rest of the list is an interesting mix, with Transformers Volume 2 from Skybound and Image at number three, Skottie Young and Jorge Corona’s Ain’t No Grave at number nine, and two volumes of Something is Killing the Children charting, as well.
Just missing the top ten was The One Hand and the Six Fingers, while Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees fell to number 12.
The big winners, though, were arguably the DC Versus Marvel omnibuses, with the two, $150 volumes coming in at the top slots on the dollars sold list. So, when’s the next crossover happening?
Diamond Has Explained The Delays From Their Distribution Centers:
Before the holidays, we reported on significant delays from Diamond due to the shutdown of their Plattsburgh distribution center. Well, the delays have continued, though the company has commented on what they’re doing to get back on track.
Per multiple outlets, Diamond’s Chief Sales & Service Officer, Chris Powell sent a note to shops explaining that the way they ship products is to start with shops closest to a distribution center, then those beyond that, etc. With the reduction of one major shipping center, they’ve had to reprioritize the rest of them.
Said Powell, “This process is not working as it needs to, obviously, but modifying it takes time. Ideally, changes would have been planned and tested while we continued to operate as we had been at Plattsburgh. With that no longer an option, we must make changes and test them with live data and shipments while trying to minimize the impact on retailers.”
So expect delays to continue. And compounding the problem, rival distributor Lunar has also been hit with delays, with three DC titles, and potentially others, delayed a week to stores.
More on this as it develops.
Mark Millar Teases “Hugely Controversial” Comic With John Romita Jr.:
We are sad to report that Mark Millar is at it again. The writer is teasing a “hugely controversial” comic with artist John Romita Jr. that, “Nobody will have seen this coming, but we’ve spotted a huge gap in the market we plan to fill.”
The news comes via Bleeding Cool, though doesn’t provide a source for the quotes from Millar, so presumably it’s all fed directly from his brain to the website. As for what the huge gap in the market is, knowing Millar it’s likely Wolverine, but the twist is he’s all metal with just a little bit of meat inside of him.
This is one of many projects Millar has going with Dark Horse, including a new Nemesis book, and the “What if vampires tried to eat the Pope” book Vatican City, which coincidentally is also the plot of Conclave. We’ll have more news on this Millar and Romita Jr. book once he sends the mental commands over to Bleeding Cool.
For Comic Book Club News, I’m Alex Zalben. Just a big, sharp Wolverine-type character, but he has a human pancreas. Crazy stuff.
Got tips or stories you’d like us to cover? Email us at comicbookclublive@gmail.com.
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