May 2006 TF Comic Sales

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 4:15 am

83 TRANSFORMERS INFILTRATION #5 estimation 25,650 copies

100 TRANSFORMERS BEAST WARS #4 estimation 21,327 copies

109 GI JOE VS TF VOL 3 ART O/WAR #3 estimation 19,520 copies

150 TRANSFORMERS GENERATIONS #3 estimation 13,091 copies

(estimation based on last months index figures by IDW)

Note the drop in sales of Generations with the price increase. If you run the numbers, you see that IDW likely lost money with this strategy. The price hike in sales X the number of units sold likely brought in less than the lower price X thousands of more copies sold. Might be better to drop the price back down, no?

Overall, though we don't have the final tally, pretty stable figures of all other TF titles, with the slow oozing of a thousand readers here and there.

Predabot · Post by **Predabot** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 11:45 am

Beast Wars went out on a good note.

Yes, lowering the price of Generations seems to be the most logical action for IDW to take currently.

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 5:23 am

http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/8855.html

Actual tally in:

May 2006 TF Sales Rankings in:

83 TRANSFORMERS INFILTRATION #5 27,264 copies sold (-1571 copies from last issue)

100 TRANSFORMERS BEAST WARS #4 22,590 copies sold (-1376 copies from last issue)

109 GI JOE VS TF VOL 3 ART O/WAR #3 20,612 copies sold (-774 copies sold from last issue)

150 TRANSFORMERS GENERATIONS #3 13,844 copies sold (-4874 copies from last issue)

Post by **Best First** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 8:36 am

the fact that Arse of War has the lost attrition rate is a horrible, horrible thing.

Aardvark · Post by **Aardvark** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 9:08 am

The Art Of War is a classic piece of modern literature. Incidently here's the much-anticipated 5-page preview of #4 IN this gripping series http://www.devilsdue.net/5pagers/jvtfIII04/index.htm

You'll notice that the above link does in no way back up the previous statement. But in all honesty from what I can gather from the Devils Due and Joe forums and various other comic sites, its fan base appears to be of far more Joe fans than Transformers, which isn't that surprising considering that Seeley seems to have only watched like two episodes of the cartoon and skimmed through a brief summary of the comics.

Despite its shortcomings and hilariously bad art, it does have a certain mindless "fun factor" which Infiltration may be lacking.

Predabot · Post by **Predabot** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 12:25 pm

I'm not sure the art is attrocious?

Sure, it's not NgBoy's best work, but it aint that bad.

Aardvark · Post by **Aardvark** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 1:57 pm

Well in the case of #2 I would go as far as to say that the art atrocious. Then again that entire issue was considerably worse than the others.

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 2:00 pm

I thought issue 1 amongst his best work. Issue 2, not so hot.

Aardvark · Post by **Aardvark** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 3:42 pm

The Preds and the Seacons are woeful in #2. #3 is a vast improvement on #2 in terms of both story and art but even at that there's many noticeable mistakes and some truly bizarre background characters.

BB Shockwave · Post by **BB Shockwave** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 4:27 pm

Aardvark wrote:Well in the case of #2 I would go as far as to say that the art atrocious. Then again that entire issue was considerably worse than the others.

But it has Predaking!!! Big Gestalt Mayhem! OMG!!!

Cartoon extravaganza! Mad Brick fans faint from the exictement!

And in #4, we have Prime kicking Gestalt tailpipe DW-style. (Plus killing poor Sixshot who only got to demonstrate a whooping 1 of his alt modes...)

Aardvark · Post by **Aardvark** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 4:42 pm

I'd love to see AOW Sixshot's definition of coward.

Predabot · Post by **Predabot** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 6:15 pm

the tf/joe #3 preview has been taken down btw...

Aardvark · Post by **Aardvark** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 6:42 pm

It was a 5-page preview of #4 and by was I mean is. Some foolish tosspot most certainly not me posted the wrong link

...
... but tada http://www.devilsdue.net/5pagers/jvtfIII04/index.html

OneShallStand · Post by **OneShallStand** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 12:32 pm

I agree with the poster above who described the TF/GI joe series as mindless fun. That's what I like about it too. Leave the serious stuff for Infiltration and let's watch those gestalts doing battle.

In regards to the sales, which is the orginal point of the thread, I've a thought on Generations 3. I don't think its the price that is detering people, because its still pretty cheap and there are is far more story packed into those 22 pages than in 32 of the modern comics. I reckon it has more to do with the story they are reprinting. Rock n' Roll Out, while blessed with some classic moments (Jetfire's Autobranding and the bots shopping for fuel with their dummy human drivers) it is a pretty silly story. I mean, as if Shockwave would bother hiding out under a Brick Springhorn concert to fill energon cubes with sound.

I think issue 4's sales will be even worse as Plight of the Bumblebee is not one of the memorable Marvel stories. The Smelting Pool on the other hand is a gold plated classic and they can expect to do well with that reprint.

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 12:37 pm

Yep, the choice of reprints has been mainly poor I've thought.

And why not reprint some UK classics?

Or even recolour some Earthforce? Or is that blasphemous?

Predabot · Post by **Predabot** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 2:42 pm

That panel with OP smashing Astrotrains face into the pavement is great.

I would suspect Titan has the SOLE rights to publishing such things. Alas, impossible. And why bother? All of the worthy to reprint UK-stuff has been reprinted by Titan hasn't it?

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 3:19 pm

Predabot wrote: All of the worthy to reprint UK-stuff has been reprinted by Titan hasn't it?

Crisis of Command?

The Wrath of Grimlock?

Aardvark · Post by **Aardvark** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 3:40 pm

I Wholeheartedly agree in regards to the two aforementioned stories. They should be reprinting stuff that's hard to find rather than readily available. They should be reprinting stuff like the UK stories which Titan have yet to reprint, the Universe comics, the Halloween special and even the dreaded “classic” Joe crossovers

Though should I be "shoulding" them The sales are relatively healthy given that its a reprint title and if it helps IDW and doesn't do anything to harm me (Like a paper cut or something...) then its not really a problem. Though if they are going to be reprinting readily available stuff then at least they should be picking stories for from various periods of Transformers comics given the title. A couple of the different Dreamwave titles, Marvel UK stories, Headmasters, G2 etc etc.

Now I know that the quality of the stories reprinted is down to opinion but in all honesty I cannot find a single reason for Shooting Star to be reprinted. It has nothing to do with anything, the scripting and characterisation is atrocious and the artwork is ungodly. It’s bland, pointless with not an ounce of period charm. I just don't see why of all stories they would pick one with an idiotically named clichéd gangster who carries a badly drawn and conveniently and somewhat selectively forgetful Megatron. Nothing is resolved and Megs lets the prick live.

Shanti418 · Post by **Shanti418** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 5:16 pm

Well, a thread that I see through Shooting Star, Rock n Roll Out, and Plight of the Bumblebee is that they all feature the whole "Robots in Disguise" angle that IDW loves so much in "Infiltration."

Megatron's just a gun owned by a guy, The new Autobots try their hardest to stay incognito at the concert, and Bumblebee hides out in the used car lot.

But yeah, I would have preferred some stories that aren't already abundantly available.