Tag Archives: Velocity

Flash #3 Ranks 11 for June

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I usually wait for ICv2 to post their sales figures so that I can be sure the month-to-month numbers are comparable, but I don’t see them yet, and I believe these CBR estimates for June are based on the same numbers.

So: The Flash #3 climbed from #12 to #11 in sales rank, while the number of comics sold dropped 10.1% to 68,799 copies.

Let’s compare that to the other recent Flash relaunches again:

Issue Rank Month Units Sold % Change
Flash:TFMA #1 7 June 2006 120,404
Flash:TFMA #2 25 July 2006 77,487 (-35.6%)
Flash:TFMA #3 30 August 2006 70,633 (- 8.9%)
All-Flash #1 22 July 2007 78,955
Flash v.2 #231 26 August 2007 72,898
Flash v.2 #232 32 Sep 2007 56,969 (-21.9%)
Flash v.2 #233 41 Oct 2007 51,152 (- 10.2%)
Flash: Rebirth #1 2 April 2009 102,429
Flash: Rebirth #2 4 May 2009 86,183 (-15.9%)
Flash: Rebirth #3 10 June 2009 83,086 (-3.6%)
Flash v.3 #1 2 April 2010 100,903
Flash v.3 #2 12 May 2010 76,560 (-24.1%)
Flash v.3 #3 11 June 2010 68,799 (-10.1%)

It’s still selling less than Flash: The Fastest Man Alive and dropping as quickly as “The Wild Wests.” That’s kind of disappointing. Though the real test is still going to be looking at orders for #4, because that’s where retailers will have had a chance to react to the way #1 actually sold, and how their customers actually liked it.

On the plus side, it did a lot better than Velocity, which clocked in at 8,171 copies sold. But then, Velocity was Top Cow’s #2 title, just behind The Magdalena at 8,326.

The size difference between the Marvel/DC superhero audience and the indie superhero audience is just astonishing. Numbers that would signal immediate cancellation (like, say, cutting off Magog in the middle of a storyline before part 1 goes on sale) from DC can be respectable successes for smaller publishers. If you want an eye opener, check out The Beat’s indie sales analysis series sometime.

San Diego Velocity Variant

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Velocity SDCC Variant CoverTop Cow has released its list of Comic-Con Exclusives, including a variant edition of Velocity #1.

I’m not sure, but I think this might be the first cover for the series that features her new costume (which I have to assume is glued on). The standard covers for #1 and #2 were originally going to be pin-up variants for the series that was scrapped, and had her previous costume. The ChrisCross variant was originally going to be a standard cover for that series, and featured a new costume that ChrisCross designed.

I like the detail of her holding up the Comic-Con badge, but…sometimes I wonder whether there are two Kenneth Rocaforts: the one who draws the incredible interior art, and the one who draws the covers that belong on something like Maxim. Yeah, I know it’s Top Cow, but I always feel like I need to explain that no, really, I read it for the articles.

As for the issue itself, I thought it was quite good.

Speed Reading

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Some links from the past week:

Update:

Review: Velocity #1 – “Decoys”

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The first issue of Ron Marz and Kenneth Rocafort’s Velocity miniseries delivers an effective blend of action and exposition. Appropriately for a book about a speedster, it hits the ground running, and while the main conflict doesn’t really begin until the end of the issue, there’s plenty going on in the opening chapter.

The setup for “Decoys” is simple: A mad scientist infects Velocity and her teammates with a virus that will kill them within an hour, and she’s the only one who might be able to stop it.

Wait, Who?

A bit of background for those not familiar with Top Cow’s resident speedster: Carin Taylor is a member of Cyberforce, a team made up of former (unwilling) test subjects of Cyberdata. Cybernetic implants give her super-speed, and a layer of Kevlar under her skin gives her some degree of invulnerability.

The comic is actually quite new-reader friendly. You get a good sense of Velocity’s personality (snarky, tends to get ahead of herself), powers (runs fast, jumps fast, dismantles killer cyborgs fast…but vibrating through walls and into other dimensions is right out), and the basics of her origin. The villain’s motives are established clearly. There’s even a page in the back with short profiles of Velocity and her teammates.

Continue reading →

Flash #3 and Velocity #1 Ship June 30

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What is it with speedsters and delays?

Top Cow has sent out a press release announcing the June 30 launch of Velocity #1. On a whim, I re-checked DC’s website, and found that Flash #3, previously scheduled for June 23, had been quietly rescheduled for the same day.

The delays on the second half of Flash: Rebirth are the stuff of legend. I know I’m not the only one who hoped that the new series might be able to stay on top of the schedule a bit better, and the first two issues did arrive right on time, but this is the second delay for issue #3. On the plus side, DC hasn’t rescheduled issues #4 and #5…at least not yet.

More on Velocity

Velocity has had a long, slow road to release, so a couple of extra weeks won’t make much difference. The short version: The 2007 Pilot Season issue won the fan vote for which comic should get picked up for an ongoing series, but delays and creative differences eventually scuttled the book.

The book is finally seeing print as a 4-issue miniseries by Ron Marz and Kenneth Rocafort. Carin Taylor, the fastest woman alive in the Top Cow universe, must beat the clock to save her own life and the lives of her Cyberforce teammates from a deadly techno-virus.

Quick News: Velocity, DC History, Green Lantern, World’s Fastest Man

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A few brief news items:

Top Cow’s delayed Velocity #1 is shipping June 16. I’ve been looking forward to this since reading the Pilot Season book, though of course this is an entirely new creative team. On the plus side, it’s a miniseries, so there’s not a huge commitment to picking it up.

Cartoon Network will be producing a Green Lantern animated series. Green Lantern: First Flight was pretty good, but of course there’s no guarantee that any of the same people will be working on this.

DC will be teaming up with TASCHEN Books to produce 75 Years of DC Comics: The Art of Modern Mythmaking. Basically it’s a history of DC Comics. How soon can I pre-order this?

Hypergeek notes that the UK graphic novel Whatever Happened to the World’s Fastest Man? has been nominated for the 2009 Eagle Awards. From his review, it looks like it’s not about a speester so much as it’s about a man who can stop time, and reluctantly becomes a hero. I’m going to have to look for this one as well. [Edit: I should note that I stopped reading the review once I decided the book looked interesting, just in case there were spoilers.]