Apparently there’s an article out there about how comic book movies never sell comics, which is so obviously wrong as to make me too lazy to find the link again. Some comic book movies sell comics. Here’s my formula for figuring out which ones will do so:
1) It must be a property civilians were not already aware of in its comic book form prior to the release of the film
2) The number of books available to be sold must be limited in number–one movie/one book is best, but a number in the single digits will do
3) The movie and the book must have a clear relationship in terms of tone and content that’s easy for civilians to detect
4) The book must be well-regarded enough in comics circles for civilians’ comics-savvy friends and comics-interested journalists to be likely to recommend it
Hence the movie-spurred sales of Ghost World, Watchmen, Hellboy, Sin City, 300. I expect the rebranded American Splendor collection and Persepolis got a healthy bounce too.
Of course this is pretty much a roundabout way of saying “Big Two shared-universe superhero movies don’t sell comics.” There are too many books to choose from, the companies very rarely get behind one or two as the book to get if you liked the movie (Marvel always churns out some miniseries featuring the villain, but that doesn’t count), and most people have long made up their minds as to whether or not they’re interested in buying (say) Spider-Man or Superman or Hulk comics.
The big exception is Batman. That’s because it fulfills 2 1/2 to 3 of my criteria: It flops on point 1, but 2) there actually are a relatively small number of Batman books that DC seems to push when those movies come out (and which moreover have a track record as perennial sellers in comic shops and bookstores), and 3) they actually do jibe the content of the films, and 4) comics people really like them–The Killing Joke, The Dark Knight Returns, Year One, and now Joker.
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