Captain America 600 goes to second printing
Marvel has announced that the much-hyped Captain America #600 has sold out at the distributor level. (Copies may still be available at retail.) Marvel will go back to press on the book, with a release date of July 15.
Judging from a Thursday sellout report, moving the release date to Monday was a gamble that paid off at least for Marvel. There have been mixed reports at retail, but the book looks to have performed to Marvel’s expectations, anyway. Marvel quotes large New York operations Midtown Comics and Jim Hanley’s Comics in the press release trumpeting the sellout, while the Robot 6 report quotes less excitement from San Francisco stores Isotope and Comic Relief. Could it be an East Coast vs. West Coast thing? My own conversation with Oklahoma stores indicated a reasonable amount of excitement about the news. Overall, I think “Captain America” #600 will be big with the existing Marvel Comics fanbase.
Craig Lopacinski, of Neptune Comics, praised Marvel’s attempt at creating a Monday buzz.
“People all day were excited and upbeat wondering what was in store for them when they read the issue,” Lopacinski said in the release. “A big thank you goes out to you and Marvel for making this possible. I know that thinking out of the box can be challenging in the selling of comic books, and not everyone is on board. However, it is nice to see a publisher try to make a historically slow sales day into a fun, and profitable one for us.”
David Gabriel, Marvel Senior Vice-President of Sales & Circulation, praised retailers for getting on board with the Monday release plan.
“Despite what might have been the largest overprint we’ve ever done for a book, copies sold out well before even the early on sale date,” Gabriel said in a release.
I assume that “largest overprint” means in recent history, in the direct market, as obviously books prior to the direct market system were overprinted much more heavily.
I think you have to call the Monday experiment a success for Marvel; was it a success for stores? It appears that at least some of the stores who participated received a significant boost. While the news of Steve Rogers’ planned return wasn’t earthshaking – and probably hyped the “Reborn” book more than “Captain America” #600 – it did catch quite a bit of attention. I don’t think anybody expected “Captain America” #25 numbers, but a quick sellout and healthy nationwide buzz are positive indicators for Marvel.
- Matt Price
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