A Renewed Focus on Graphic Novels at San Diego Comic-Con 2017

As more than 130,000 pop culture enthusiasts and comics fans flooded downtown San Diego for Comic-Con International, the news was all about lines—literal and literary. At the annual pop culture show, held July 19-23 at the San Diego Convention Center, the lines—the queues—for exclusive releases, signings, screenings and offsite attractions seemed even more immense than usual.

The publishing news involved lines as well—new book lines, imprints, and releases. Comic-Con continues to present a growing awareness of the importance of graphic novels in an evolving comics marketplace.

Nevertheless, Diamond Comics Distributors announced at its retailer breakfast that graphic novel and comics periodical sales were flat or worse for the year thus far. Graphic Novel sales are down 13% and periodical sales are down 4%, so far, in 2017. No one has been able to pinpoint a single reason for the slide, although various theories—from a lack of hot titles to the end of the New York Times Bestseller list for Graphic Novels—have been floated.

While movie and TV announcements can drown out comics news at Comic-Con, there was still plenty of publishing news flowing out of the show. As reported, Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman’s Skybound imprint announced a new deal with Atria Books for a line of prose SF and fantasy books. And manga/graphic novel publisher Yen Press, a joint venture of Hachette and Kadokawa, announced the launch of JY, a middle grade graphic novel line headed by Yen’s deputy publisher JuYoun Lee.

DC Comics offered several new lines, including a previously announced Young Readers line, and a 25th anniversary publishing tribute to the Harley Quinn character of Suicide Squad fame. At DC’s “Meet the Publishers” panel featuring DC co-publishers Jim Lee and Dan DiDio, Lee gave some details about an upcoming line of standalone graphic novels by top talent (like Neil Gaiman) with mature themes. The titles in this line will be in the vein of DC superhero epics such as The Dark Knight and Watchmen.

Reinforcing DC’s focus on book format comics, acclaimed writer Grant Morrison made a surprise appearance on the panel to announce two DC graphic novel projects: Wonder Woman Earth One Vol. 2, a sequel to last year’s successful release (with art by Yanick Paquette) that takes a closer look at Princess Diana’s mother, Queen Hippolyta. He also announced Arkham Asylum 2 (with art by Chris Burnham), a sequel to Morrison’s classic Batman tale from 2005.
more at:  https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/comics/article/74326-a-renewed-focus-on-graphic-novels-at-san-diego-comic-con-2017.html

Related Posts

In First Week On Sale, ‘Fire and Fury’ Sells Fewer Than 30,000 Copies

Customers that couldn't get a physical copy of Michael Wolff's Fire and Fury were in good company. According to figures from NPD BookScan, the hottest book of the year sold 28,567 print copies in the three days it was available for sale last week (ended January 7). BookScan covers 80- 85% of all print sales, excluding those through libraries. Although the figure is surprisingly low for a book that has captured the attention of the media and the President in such striking fashion, that number was still enough to make the White House tell-all the top-selling title in the country last week. John Sargent, CEO of Holt parent company Macmillan, told the Wall Street Journal that Fire and Fury had a 150,000-copy first printing. The discrepancy between the announced first printing and last week's sales is likely, in part, the result of Holt moving the book's publication date up, from January 9 to January 5. Shipments of the book that were timed to hit stores early this week may have been on the road over the weekend. Click Read More below for additional information.

Postal Service Delivery Holds Steady at 2.5 Days

FY23 third quarter service performance scores covering April 1 through June 9, included: *First-Class Mail: 92.3% of First-Class Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, an increase of 1.3 percentage points from the fiscal second quarter. *Marketing Mail: 96.0% of Marketing Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, an increase of 1.4 percentage points from the fiscal second quarter. *Periodicals: 88.8% of Periodicals delivered on time against the USPS service standard, an increase of 2.4 percentage points from the fiscal second quarter.

The ODP Corporation Announces Third Quarter 2021 Results

Third Quarter 2021 Summary(1)(2)(4) *Total reported sales of $2.2 billion, down 7% versus last year, largely driven by 160 fewer retail locations in service compared to last year and lower demand year-over-year in certain product categories related to the COVID-19 pandemic *GAAP operating income of $104 million and net income from continuing operations of $73 million, or $1.33 per diluted share, versus $102 million and $34 million, or $0.63 per diluted share, respectively in the prior year *Operating cash flow from continuing operations of $121 million and adjusted free cash flow of $123 million, versus $256 million and $259 million, respectively in the prior year *$1.7 billion of total available liquidity including $753 million in cash and cash equivalents
Back To Top
×Close search
Search