Will the Nick show overshadow IDW's Turtles?

[NinjaPug]

Do those 16,000 copies include e-sales? I'd imagine more and more people are buying their comics digitally these days.

[ToTheNines]

Originally Posted by NinjaPug

Do those 16,000 copies include e-sales? I'd imagine more and more people are buying their comics digitally these days.

They do not. And they also don't count the people who wait for the trade paperback collections either.

[CyberCubed]

Originally Posted by jth

As I stated, the comic industry is dead...and it has been for quite a while.

If the comic industry was dead, I severely doubt any companies not named DC or Marvel would still exist.

Obviously IDW, Image, Dark Horse, etc. are still making money if they're in the industry. If noone was truly buying comics anymore we'd probably see them all go bankrupt and only DC and Marvel would be around.

[Gabriel GP]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

If the comic industry was dead, I severely doubt any companies not named DC or Marvel would still exist.

Obviously IDW, Image, Dark Horse, etc. are still making money if they're in the industry. If noone was truly buying comics anymore we'd probably see them all go bankrupt and only DC and Marvel would be around.

Well, this isn't so far from truth. The comic industry already is a monopoly of Marvael and DC, the others companies are so little compared to those two. When jth said that the comic industry is dead. He wasn't lying. Just compare the profits that all the companies had in the past and what they have now. They are fighting for survival now. What is very sad, since most of the original source of almost every kind of entertainment that we have on television, came from books and comics.

[Konchadunga]

To be fair, IDW was a runaway success a few years ago. It was carving out a big niche for itself as the nostalgic series-based graphic novel company. I haven't kept up with them, but I still see their books in stores, so they must not be doing too badly.

I do think the IDW TMNT book was a letdown, though. On paper, it's attempts to mix elements from disparate universes was admirable, but I just didn't care much for the result; see my posts in its own board for why. I may check it out again some time in the future, though, to see if it moved on from nostalgia-milking.

[CyberCubed]

Originally Posted by Konchadunga

I do think the IDW TMNT book was a letdown, though. On paper, it's attempts to mix elements from disparate universes was admirable, but I just didn't care much for the result; see my posts in its own board for why. I may check it out again some time in the future, though, to see if it moved on from nostalgia-milking.

Yeah, that's kind of why I switched to the trades for IDW. I was actually getting a bit bored of the book on a monthly basis, but I didn't want to drop it entirely. So now I just wait for the trades so I can read a whole story arc at once.

The IDW comic is pretty good and competently written, it just hasn't done much to officially, "Wow" me yet. Most of it as you said, is mostly nostalgia-milking of past storylines and characters with new twists...and honestly Nick does that better.

[Bossa Nova]

Personally speaking, the IDW series tops the Nick series ten to one. Just like Nickelodeon, they're taking familiar, old elements and making them their own, but unlike Nick, they're doing a VERY good job at it. Where with the show I'm constantly disappointed, let down, or just plain rolling my eyes, IDW, has gripped me, found ways to persuade me to accept ideas I might not have liked before (such as the reincarnation bit), and even helped me to like characters I've never liked before (like the Neutrinos). IDW's original characters are way more interesting and complex than Nick's (Hob and Alopex v. Dogpound and Fishface), and overall I wish this series had been turned into a television show instead.

But, given how comics in general are viewed today compared to a television show on one of the most popular kids networks around, I really can't say I'm surprised Nick is doing better. I wouldn't claim it has 100% correlation to the quality of its product though.

[JTH]

The main problem now a days isn't because kids don't want to read comics, it's because they don't have access to comics.

And no one had better even try to tell me that a comic book store or especially the internet is having access to comics, cause if you think that, you're nuts.

Access to comics is being able to find comics in the general public.

Hell, when I was a kid, there wasn't a comic book store within 70 miles from me, yet I still bought comics all the times. Cause when we were kids, you could go to any Convenient Store, Grocery Store, a K-Mart, or Toys R' Us and buy comics. They were easy to obtain.

It's just not like it was back in the day.

[Leo656]

Sad but true. I had my comic shops I went to every few months for half-price sales and back issue binges, but week-to-week, my go-to was 7-11. Come to think of it, the first time I fell out of collecting in '96, it was mostly because all the 7-11s stopped selling comics. I was kinda broke, too, but that had never stopped me before. After that, for a few years my money went to other forms of entertainment, until as an adult I was able to make the weekly trip to an actual comics shop.

You're right, it isn't the same. I DO see a ton of parents bring their kids to comic shops whenever I'm there, but it's not the same as a kid just walking or riding their bike to the corner store, and beyond that, kids couldn't even afford to collect comics nowadays even if they DID have access. When I was a kid, I could *always* find a buck in change to go buy a comic, even if I was flat broke. $4? No kid can swing that.

Now I hate the current state of the world. Thanks.

[Shark_Blade]

Originally Posted by jth

The main problem now a days isn't because kids don't want to read comics, it's because they don't have access to comics.

I agree with this. TMNT IDW app is the most useless and dumb app I've ever downloaded. I was excited when I first open the app but not a single comic is viewable or featured. Nope, nada nothing. It is entirely empty. I thought I could buy some comics but they don't care about me.

I suspect this is only for US people, which is DUMB. I have apps from other comic publishers and they work perfectly worldwide, even Dark Horse for Usagi Yojimbo.

If TMNT IDW fails and is cancelled in the not so distant future, I say they are asking for it. They deserve it. Their own fault for not reaching out and making it available for the customers. They can rot for all I care, I have no time to waste over such stupidity. Mere imbeciles.

[LivingMutagen]

I don't think so. They're there own different thing. (oh and btw, I think IDW is one of the most (after Marvel and DC) well-known comic book companies atm, because TMNT, Transformers etc)

[CyberCubed]

Originally Posted by Shark_Blade

I agree with this. TMNT IDW app is the most useless and dumb app I've ever downloaded. I was excited when I first open the app but not a single comic is viewable or featured. Nope, nada nothing. It is entirely empty. I thought I could buy some comics but they don't care about me.

I suspect this is only for US people, which is DUMB. I have apps from other comic publishers and they work perfectly worldwide, even Dark Horse for Usagi Yojimbo.

If TMNT IDW fails and is cancelled in the not so distant future, I say they are asking for it. They deserve it. Their own fault for not reaching out and making it available for the customers. They can rot for all I care, I have no time to waste over such stupidity. Mere imbeciles.

IDW TMNT won't get cancelled anytime soon. Despite not being as popular as the show it's still IDW's second best selling comic overall.

The only thing that could kill the comic is IDW publishing itself going bankrupt but that doesn't look likely either.

[Shark_Blade]

They should do something if they dont want to keep missing out on potential customers and money prospect. People like me.

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by ToTheNines

They do not. And they also don't count the people who wait for the trade paperback collections either.

LOL! Nothing about that number accurately represents who is reading the book. Just because a comic sells "16,000 copies" does not mean that it has "16,000 buyers" (let alone readers).

Basically, those sales figures are the representation of orders sent to vendors who order the title. I'll tell you now that there is no way in this market that IDW's (an independent publisher) Ninja Turtles book has 16,000 actual readers. You can cut a swath of thousands out of that number just by accounting for LCS overstock ordering, and then an additional swath by accounting for the "stuffing orders" that stores do just to receive variant incentive books such as 1:50 RI covers and so on and so forth.

To be clear about my point here, it's that if the order numbers are 16,000 copies, that actually translates into (and I'm arbitrarily making this number up to illustrate the point) something like 12,500 real copies sold to end-readers like you or I. There is not even close to 16,000 people buying the IDW TMNT book each month.