Greetings everyone,
So I figured I'd start out with the obvious.. why is there ANOTHER comic librarian blog? There are tons out there and they all cover this! So what am I going to bring differently?
To be honest, I'm not the other people. I'm myself and I have my own opinions and views of the comic world, so there is that. I've been a comic fan since I was in middle school, read and own over several thousand comics and I follow a lot of the trends and things that are going on in comics. I'm also a huge fan of the Golden Age of Comics, which started about 1938 into the 1950s, actual end date varies on who you talk to but it definitely ended in 1956 with the appearance of Barry Allen as Flash, and obscure/lesser known characters and titles. I'm the guy who is going to be able to tell you the entire history of Yellow Peri, if you care.
But besides all that, I've also talked to a lot of librarians about comics and read comments and suggestions on comics and I've noticed a startling pattern.. Librarians purchase and recommend comics they like and think are popular, not necessarily what is really popular. I'll explain more about what I mean with that in a bit, but if you look at any number of blogs or social media groups that talk about comics when someone asks for a recommendation, regardless of the details and information provided about who is looking for the comics, you will see a startling number of.. the same exact books being recommended, over and over and over again. And while that's fine, these books aren't necessarily what is big outside the librarian world or even outside the comic buzz of the moment and not having comics or pushing comics that are what is more popular may actually push people away from the libraries. By in large, it's hard enough to get hardcore comic fans into the library to check out books, but not having books that they will look for (and I include myself in this) will guarantee that they don't bother. Yes there is Inter-library loan and other ways to get these books, if another library happens to have them, but again, that's a huge hassle especially when someone can just go down to a local shop and fork out a few bucks and take it home or order it online from Amazon and get it to their house in a few days.
Also with the New York Times eliminating their Best Selling Graphic Novel category, I think this is important to show people other ways to look at the information or find it that can keep them relevant (not that the New York Times best seller list was always the best indicator either).
So with that said, what comics come up often that I've seen that aren't necessarily as popular as it seems? Ms. Marvel (Marvel), Mighty Thor (Marvel), Saga (Image), and Lumberjanes (Boom Studios). There may also be mention of popular TV stuff like Walking Dead or popular Marvel movies like Avengers or Guardians of the Galaxy. There is nothing wrong with suggesting these or particularly wrong with these series, but these aren't exactly the most popular comics out right now, even in trade or graphic novel format.
So let's look at March 2017 for top selling comics from ComicChron. There are other places to look at this, ICv2 is another that does monthly sales of comics, but they haven't gotten March up yet as of this posting and I figured I'd use the most current numbers rather than 2 months back.. Here are the top 10 individual comics for March:
Units
here are the top 10 graphic novels/trade paperbacks:
Units
So what do we see? Yes Saga is popular (and if you look it's monthly sales are typically pretty strong too). Walking Dead is also doing well... But if we look at the others on the list?
Mighty Thor is at 57 in individual issues and it isn't on the trades list.
Ms. Marvel is at 119 for individual issues and the trade doesn't appear until 231, and yes it is the first trade, but it's below the Superman newspaper Dailies from 1942-1944, so obviously older stuff can sell again.. and it's the first volume, so it's not surprising it'd pop up now and again, but none of the later volumes make the list at all.
Lumberjanes doesn't even make it onto the top 440 and no trades on the list.
This is merely to show that the list of typical popular books aren't the popular ones and that maybe, just maybe there are other books out there that would appeal and would do with a push.
Also, it isn't exactly good for the comic market and comic community if libraries are artificially inflating sales by buying copies of books to keep them alive when the comics aren't being supported by the fans. If libraries are the only ones buying them, then are they really what people want or are they what librarians want?
Are these books really popular because people are reading them or because librarians push them? That's something I'm not 100% sure on, but it's pretty clear.. they aren't massive megahits and maybe there are other books out there to look at and read and push too.
Update: Let me be perfectly clear on this. I'm not suggesting that any library should only buy the top selling comics or that that is the only metric they should look at. I've never stated that and never will. I'm merely stating that there are other great books out there that maybe should be looked at for inclusion and maybe sales numbers can help determine some items collected since the New York Times Best Seller list for Graphic novels doesn't exist anymore. Just giving more resources and another way to look at thing.
Also, if you look at the top 10 graphic novel sales, there is a bisexual woman (Harley Quinn) in the lead who rarely gets mentioned that I've seen in recommendations even for LGBTQ women and girls and there is another young woman, Batgirl, who is a genius in STEM fields (she's a hacker and programmer). Not to mention age diversity with Old Man Logan and Deathstroke, who is missing an eye as well.. so it's not exactly a straight male only. Though it is admittedly rather white all around.
Update 2: I'm also going to assume that you know your community and how to best reflect your community vastly better than I can. I'm just going to offer an opinion and you can take it or leave it.
I'm assuming as well that you are diversifying your collection based on the needs of your library. No one who doesn't work in your system with your population can tell you exactly what books to buy or not to buy and what will circulate and what won't. So yes, of course you should have some diversity in your collection as per your population (I know for instance in some areas having LGBTQ comics may be difficult., so you may have to choose more carefully). I'm not judging you for your collection or telling you that you absolutely have to have X, Y, and Z or you're bad.. and I'm not stating that any book I recommend is perfect for every library system or every librarian or every patron. Just stating my opinion, sometimes with a little number crunching to show you something you may not have thought of before. If you have, cool. If not, cool too.
So I figured I'd start out with the obvious.. why is there ANOTHER comic librarian blog? There are tons out there and they all cover this! So what am I going to bring differently?
To be honest, I'm not the other people. I'm myself and I have my own opinions and views of the comic world, so there is that. I've been a comic fan since I was in middle school, read and own over several thousand comics and I follow a lot of the trends and things that are going on in comics. I'm also a huge fan of the Golden Age of Comics, which started about 1938 into the 1950s, actual end date varies on who you talk to but it definitely ended in 1956 with the appearance of Barry Allen as Flash, and obscure/lesser known characters and titles. I'm the guy who is going to be able to tell you the entire history of Yellow Peri, if you care.
But besides all that, I've also talked to a lot of librarians about comics and read comments and suggestions on comics and I've noticed a startling pattern.. Librarians purchase and recommend comics they like and think are popular, not necessarily what is really popular. I'll explain more about what I mean with that in a bit, but if you look at any number of blogs or social media groups that talk about comics when someone asks for a recommendation, regardless of the details and information provided about who is looking for the comics, you will see a startling number of.. the same exact books being recommended, over and over and over again. And while that's fine, these books aren't necessarily what is big outside the librarian world or even outside the comic buzz of the moment and not having comics or pushing comics that are what is more popular may actually push people away from the libraries. By in large, it's hard enough to get hardcore comic fans into the library to check out books, but not having books that they will look for (and I include myself in this) will guarantee that they don't bother. Yes there is Inter-library loan and other ways to get these books, if another library happens to have them, but again, that's a huge hassle especially when someone can just go down to a local shop and fork out a few bucks and take it home or order it online from Amazon and get it to their house in a few days.
Also with the New York Times eliminating their Best Selling Graphic Novel category, I think this is important to show people other ways to look at the information or find it that can keep them relevant (not that the New York Times best seller list was always the best indicator either).
So with that said, what comics come up often that I've seen that aren't necessarily as popular as it seems? Ms. Marvel (Marvel), Mighty Thor (Marvel), Saga (Image), and Lumberjanes (Boom Studios). There may also be mention of popular TV stuff like Walking Dead or popular Marvel movies like Avengers or Guardians of the Galaxy. There is nothing wrong with suggesting these or particularly wrong with these series, but these aren't exactly the most popular comics out right now, even in trade or graphic novel format.
So let's look at March 2017 for top selling comics from ComicChron. There are other places to look at this, ICv2 is another that does monthly sales of comics, but they haven't gotten March up yet as of this posting and I figured I'd use the most current numbers rather than 2 months back.. Here are the top 10 individual comics for March:
Units
| Dollars | Comic-book Title | Issue | Price | Publisher | Est. units | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Amazing Spider-Man | 25 | $9.99 | Marvel | 113,934 |
| 2 | 2 | Dark Knight III Master Race | 8 | $5.99 | DC | 107,892 |
| 3 | 6 | Batman | 18 | $2.99 | DC | 98,100 |
| 4 | 7 | Batman | 19 | $2.99 | DC | 97,501 |
| 5 | 4 | Iron Fist | 1 | $3.99 | Marvel | 89,652 |
| 6 | 3 | X-Men Prime | 1 | $4.99 | Marvel | 83,689 |
| 7 | 8 | Star Wars | 29 | $3.99 | Marvel | 72,017 |
| 8 | 5 | All Star Batman | 8 | $4.99 | DC | 71,809 |
| 9 | 12 | Walking Dead | 165 | $2.99 | Image | 70,422 |
| 10 | 18 | Justice League | 16 | $2.99 | DC | 62,515 |
here are the top 10 graphic novels/trade paperbacks:
Units
| Dollars | Trade Paperback title | Price | Publisher | Est. units | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Saga Vol. 7 | $14.99 | Image | 22,903 |
| 2 | 2 | Walking Dead Vol. 27 Whisperer War | $14.99 | Image | 19,048 |
| 3 | 6 | Harley Quinn Vol. 1 Die Laughing | $16.99 | DC | 5,879 |
| 4 | 7 | Suicide Squad Vol. 1 The Black Vault | $16.99 | DC | 5,801 |
| 5 | 10 | Death of X | $17.99 | Marvel | 5,335 |
| 6 | 11 | Titans Vol. 1 The Return of Wally West | $16.99 | DC | 4,764 |
| 7 | 5 | Wolverine Old Man Logan | $29.99 | Marvel | 4,301 |
| 8 | 13 | Deathstroke Vol. 1 The Professional | $16.99 | DC | 3,953 |
| 9 | 15 | Batgirl Vol. 1 Beyond Burnside | $16.99 | DC | 3,666 |
| 10 | 27 | Deadly Class Vol. 5 Carousel | $14.99 | Image | 3,367 |
So what do we see? Yes Saga is popular (and if you look it's monthly sales are typically pretty strong too). Walking Dead is also doing well... But if we look at the others on the list?
Mighty Thor is at 57 in individual issues and it isn't on the trades list.
Ms. Marvel is at 119 for individual issues and the trade doesn't appear until 231, and yes it is the first trade, but it's below the Superman newspaper Dailies from 1942-1944, so obviously older stuff can sell again.. and it's the first volume, so it's not surprising it'd pop up now and again, but none of the later volumes make the list at all.
Lumberjanes doesn't even make it onto the top 440 and no trades on the list.
This is merely to show that the list of typical popular books aren't the popular ones and that maybe, just maybe there are other books out there that would appeal and would do with a push.
Also, it isn't exactly good for the comic market and comic community if libraries are artificially inflating sales by buying copies of books to keep them alive when the comics aren't being supported by the fans. If libraries are the only ones buying them, then are they really what people want or are they what librarians want?
Are these books really popular because people are reading them or because librarians push them? That's something I'm not 100% sure on, but it's pretty clear.. they aren't massive megahits and maybe there are other books out there to look at and read and push too.
Update: Let me be perfectly clear on this. I'm not suggesting that any library should only buy the top selling comics or that that is the only metric they should look at. I've never stated that and never will. I'm merely stating that there are other great books out there that maybe should be looked at for inclusion and maybe sales numbers can help determine some items collected since the New York Times Best Seller list for Graphic novels doesn't exist anymore. Just giving more resources and another way to look at thing.
Also, if you look at the top 10 graphic novel sales, there is a bisexual woman (Harley Quinn) in the lead who rarely gets mentioned that I've seen in recommendations even for LGBTQ women and girls and there is another young woman, Batgirl, who is a genius in STEM fields (she's a hacker and programmer). Not to mention age diversity with Old Man Logan and Deathstroke, who is missing an eye as well.. so it's not exactly a straight male only. Though it is admittedly rather white all around.
Update 2: I'm also going to assume that you know your community and how to best reflect your community vastly better than I can. I'm just going to offer an opinion and you can take it or leave it.
I'm assuming as well that you are diversifying your collection based on the needs of your library. No one who doesn't work in your system with your population can tell you exactly what books to buy or not to buy and what will circulate and what won't. So yes, of course you should have some diversity in your collection as per your population (I know for instance in some areas having LGBTQ comics may be difficult., so you may have to choose more carefully). I'm not judging you for your collection or telling you that you absolutely have to have X, Y, and Z or you're bad.. and I'm not stating that any book I recommend is perfect for every library system or every librarian or every patron. Just stating my opinion, sometimes with a little number crunching to show you something you may not have thought of before. If you have, cool. If not, cool too.
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