Last Word on Wednesday Comics Sales

According to Diamond's July sales estimates as reported on Comic Book Resources, the first month of Wednesday Comics hovered around 50th place among comics that month, selling around 40,000 copies per issue. This puts it in the neighborhood of titles such as Streets of Gotham, Millar and Hitch's Fantastic Four, and the Superman-less Superman and Action Comics.

As far as my predictions go, it's safe to say that they were at least half right. 40,000 copies is far too few to include a significant infusion of any new readers. Of course, this might have more to do with marketing realities than the book's content. It's unlikely that many outside of the comics-reading world really knew about Wednesday Comics, as it wasn't available on grocery store magazine racks or online outlets like iTunes.

I'm also inclined to suggest that the other part of my prediction was at least partially accurate, thought it was admittedly not very bold. I mean, there are certainly greater limbs to go out on than to say "This unconventional comics experiment isn't going to top the charts!" But while these figures for Wednesday Comics aren't bad, they don't exactly qualify the series for smash hit status either. Still, they are better than I thought they would be, and I can understand why. Though I didn't originally intend to become part of Wednesday Comics' readership, the positive buzz online eventually won me over. This is a comic that does have a lot to offer the die hard fanboy, despite its simplicity of story and detachment from continuity.

One can hope that these modest but decent numbers will support the release of a Wednesday Comics II next year. Perhaps one that, under the direction of the newly created DC Entertainment, can find its way to newsstands and computer screens everywhere, entertaining loyalists and casual fans alike.