More immediately, the number of copies per month sold (23,657) of D&D issue #0, is now cut in half (11,623) by the time D&D issue #2 is released.

No idea how large the monthly WotC licensing fee is.

Let's examine how much IDW is actually making each month from the D&D comic.

Allegedly publishers sell new issues to Diamond, for around an average of 40% of the cover price.

http://www.icaruscomics.com/wp_web/?p=2354


For D&D issue #0, the cover price was $1.  So IDW sells it to Diamond for $0.40 per copy.  If the 23,657 copies sold figure for D&D issue #0 is reliable, then IDW made a total revenue of $0.40*(23,657) =  $9462.80

For D&D issue #1, the cover price was $3.99.  So IDW sells it to Diamond for $1.596 per copy.  If the 15,462 copies sold figure for D&D issue #1 is reliable, then IDW made a total revenue of $1.596*(15,462) =  $24,677.35

For D&D issue #2, the cover price was $3.99.  So IDW sells it to Diamond for $1.596 per copy.  If the 11,623 copies sold figure for D&D issue #2 is reliable, then IDW made a total revenue of $1.596*(11,623) =  $18,550.31


What proportion of these figures WotC sees as a licensing fee, is hard to say without some more inside information.  (ie. Is is a flat fee, or a percentage of revenue?)

Quote from: ggroy;437435Let's examine how much IDW is actually making each month from the D&D comic.

Allegedly publishers sell new issues to Diamond, for around an average of 40% of the cover price.

http://www.icaruscomics.com/wp_web/?p=2354


For D&D issue #0, the cover price was $1.  So IDW sells it to Diamond for $0.40 per copy.  If the 23,657 copies sold figure for D&D issue #0 is reliable, then IDW made a total revenue of $0.40*(23,657) =  $9462.80

For D&D issue #1, the cover price was $3.99.  So IDW sells it to Diamond for $1.596 per copy.  If the 15,462 copies sold figure for D&D issue #1 is reliable, then IDW made a total revenue of $1.596*(15,462) =  $24,677.35

For D&D issue #2, the cover price was $3.99.  So IDW sells it to Diamond for $1.596 per copy.  If the 11,623 copies sold figure for D&D issue #2 is reliable, then IDW made a total revenue of $1.596*(11,623) =  $18,550.31


What proportion of these figures WotC sees as a licensing fee, is hard to say without some more inside information.  (ie. Is is a flat fee, or a percentage of revenue?)

There is a *real* good chance that no decision will be made on cancelling the book until the first trade paperback collection is released and sales numbers come back on those.

Quote from: Tommy Brownell;437436There is a *real* good chance that no decision will be made on cancelling the book until the first trade paperback collection is released and sales numbers come back on those.

It's already scheduled for release on July 5, 2011.

http://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-1-Shadowplague-HC/dp/1600109225

Allegedly it will cover the first story arc "Shadowplague", which is in the first five issues.

The next story arc will start in issue #6.

(Scroll down to Dungeons & Dragons section).;
http://www.comiclist.com/index.php/lists/idw-publishing-april-2011-solicitations

Is it standard practice to release an omnibus compilation as soon as 4 months later, after the last issue included in the omnibus?

Coincidentally, the July 2011 release date of this first IDW D&D omnibus comic compilation, is also when D&D issue #9 will be released.  (The second story arc, could possibly also be five issues).  If this first D&D omnibus compilation doesn't sell very well, in principle they can decide to axe this D&D series with issue #10 as the last issue in August 2011 (and concluding the second arc of issues #6 to #10).

Also in July 2011, that's when the first issue of IDW's "FORGOTTEN REALMS: THE LEGEND OF DRIZZT: NEVERWINTER TALES" comic series, will be released.  (This is assuming this Drizzt comic series is not abruptly canceled, before the first issue).

http://www.idwpublishing.com/catalog/series/1451

Unless in that comic Indel falls in a pit, Grimslade gets a new sword to replace the one the green slime ate and they all teleport miles away I AIN'T READIN' IT.

Quote from: thedungeondelver;437442Unless in that comic Indel falls in a pit, Grimslade gets a new sword to replace the one the green slime ate and they all teleport miles away I AIN'T READIN' IT.

You're not missing much.

So far this IDW D&D comic series reads like something straight out of many generic D&D games.  Very generic with almost every possible cliched D&D trope.

Quote from: ggroy;437439Is it standard practice to release an omnibus compilation as soon as 4 months later, after the last issue included in the omnibus?

To answer my own question, I checked out the data for another cheesy licensed game property made into a comic book:  "World of Warcraft".

The first omnibus compilation of the WoW comic series by DC Comics, covers issues #1 to #7.  This first omnibus was released on August 12, 2008.

http://www.amazon.com/World-Warcraft-Walter-Simonson/dp/1401218369

Issue #7 of WoW, had a release date of May 21, 2008.

http://www.wowwiki.com/Revelations


So basically the turnaround time of the first Wow comic omnibus compilation, was a quick 3 months.

Quote from: ggroy;437439Is it standard practice to release an omnibus compilation as soon as 4 months later, after the last issue included in the omnibus?

That's actually kinda late for a collection. They usually wanna get the collection out as soon as possible, so people can get that and the new issue and be all caught up.

Hm.

Maybe the collections have just been rushed a times to take advantage of a series having a strong buzz.

Let's examine the (estimated) number of copies sold for the DC Comics "World of Warcraft" comic over its entire run (25 issues over 2007 -> 2009).

The data is from:

http://www.comichron.com/monthlycomicssales.html

Format of data will be:  issue# - number of copies sold (position in top 300 list of number of copies sold during month sold)

1 - 44,492 (48 in November 2007)
2 - 32,720 (73 in December 2007)
3 - 31,158 (69 in January 2007)
4 - 28,963 (66 in February 2008)
5 - 27,151 (72 in March 2008)
6 - 26,266 (85 in April 2008)
7 - 24,582 (95 in May 2008)
8 - 23,302 (94 in June 2008)
9 - 22,198 (105 in July 2008)
10 - 20,872 (111 in August 2008)
11 - 19,325 (120 in September 2008)
12 - 18,198 (140 in October 2008)
13 - 17,013 (117 in November 2008)
14 - 16,056 (161 in December 2008)
15 - 14,991 (116 in January 2009)
16 - 14,175 (124 in February 2009)
17 - 13,612 (121 in March 2009)
18 - 13,109 (158 in April 2009)
19 - 12,536 (140 in May 2009)
20 - 12,269 (160 in June 2009)
21 - 12,648 (158 in July 2009)
22 - 12,118 (159 in August 2009)
23 - 11,949 (176 in September 2009)
24 - 10,436 (173 in October 2009)
25 - 10,062 (173 in November 2009)
special 1 - 10,323 (180 in December 2009)

(There were second printings of issues #1 and #2, which would increase each by around another 4000 copies).


Not surprisingly, the number of copies sold per issue went down as the series went on.  This DC WoW comic also shows a similar pattern as the IDW D&D comic, where the number of copies sold per issue was cut in half by the time it was a few issues into the series.

Most likely DC saw the sudden drop after issues #1-#3 and steady erosion over issues #4-#6, and knew all along that WoW would be a short-lived fad.  So they probably made a decision to release a first omnibus as soon as possible.  (It turned out the first storyline arc ended nicely in issue #7).

IIRC, this DC WoW comic series was originally planned to be 12 issues with two story arcs covering six issues each.

http://comics.ign.com/articles/835/835086p1.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_of_Warcraft_%28comics%29

It was later extended to more issues.  I suppose the number of copies sold per issue, was enough for DC to extend and keep around.

Quote from: Tommy Brownell;437448Hm.

Maybe the collections have just been rushed a times to take advantage of a series having a strong buzz.

This would definitely be the case for a trendy/faddish type property, especially if it is also a licensed property.  They need to rely on the initial buzz to sell enough copies to pay off any initial large upfront licensing costs.

An omnibus covering the first story arc, would be the easiest to rush out while the buzz is still relatively strong.

(Looking through more past sales figures estimes).

http://www.comichron.com/monthlycomicssales.html

It appears the lowest print run numbers the big companies (Marvel, DC) and smaller ones (IDW, etc ...) will tolerate for their comic series, is around 3000 copies sold per issue.  Stuff which ends up around there, appears to be some limited series comics by even the big companies.

On the other hand for regular comic series, the numbers appear to be slightly higher.  For example, some "Scooby Doo" comic series by DC seems to hover around 4000 copies sold per issue every month.

I suspect if the IDW D&D comic series falls in circulation numbers to the DC "Scooby Doo" numbers or less, then it would probably be very much the death knell of the IDW D&D comic series.

Starting with 11,623 copies sold for issue #2 of the IDW D&D, if the number of copies sold per issue falls by 1000 copies each successive month, then it would be lower than the "Scooby Doo" numbers by the time it reaches issue #10.