The Legion #1 from a retailer's perspective - 10/15/04 10:57 PM
The following is by Brian Hibbs of Comix Experience in San Francisco, as originally seen at http://www.newsarama.com/pages/Tilting/Tilting10.htm
"Legion of Super-Heroes #1 is also a real tricky order. There’s an awful lot of people who like the Legion, but there’s not that many people who buy it, y’know? Waid and Kitson have what sounds like an interesting take, but it also sounds so far afield from what people (think they) want from a Legion comic too. My biggest problem is that I think the Legion might be like Star Trek right now. I think they probably should have given it a year or two “off the market” to build up a little demand, to get people to be genuinely happy to see it again. To me it’s “Oh, a Legion #1 again? Have we passed the dozen mark yet?” So I scratch my head and stare out the window and write down “40” as if I know what I’m doing. If subs are higher than 16 I’ll bump that further, but I’m largely the cynic on this one. And I like the Legion!"
I agree with him when he says, "it also sounds so far afield from what people (think they) want from a Legion comic." Not to rag on the current reboot, but it seems to me that mainstream readers (not to be confused with Legion diehards) have a mental image of what they think the Legion is, and DC hasn't published anything resembling that since... well, since Levitz left the title, which is why the Legion has been a poor seller ever since then.
(40 copies ordered for the first issue) x (however many retailers also overorder number one) = (disappointed Legion fans when those numbers come back to earth a few months later). I'd be surprised if Mr. Hibbs orders 25 copies a month when number three is available. I only bring all of this up to remind people that retailers see things much differently than we do, and they've got access to harder data (number of copies actually sold) than we do.
"Legion of Super-Heroes #1 is also a real tricky order. There’s an awful lot of people who like the Legion, but there’s not that many people who buy it, y’know? Waid and Kitson have what sounds like an interesting take, but it also sounds so far afield from what people (think they) want from a Legion comic too. My biggest problem is that I think the Legion might be like Star Trek right now. I think they probably should have given it a year or two “off the market” to build up a little demand, to get people to be genuinely happy to see it again. To me it’s “Oh, a Legion #1 again? Have we passed the dozen mark yet?” So I scratch my head and stare out the window and write down “40” as if I know what I’m doing. If subs are higher than 16 I’ll bump that further, but I’m largely the cynic on this one. And I like the Legion!"
I agree with him when he says, "it also sounds so far afield from what people (think they) want from a Legion comic." Not to rag on the current reboot, but it seems to me that mainstream readers (not to be confused with Legion diehards) have a mental image of what they think the Legion is, and DC hasn't published anything resembling that since... well, since Levitz left the title, which is why the Legion has been a poor seller ever since then.
(40 copies ordered for the first issue) x (however many retailers also overorder number one) = (disappointed Legion fans when those numbers come back to earth a few months later). I'd be surprised if Mr. Hibbs orders 25 copies a month when number three is available. I only bring all of this up to remind people that retailers see things much differently than we do, and they've got access to harder data (number of copies actually sold) than we do.