Rocket Bomber - article - rankings - commentary

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Bringing Order to Chaos:

filed under rankings, commentary 15 January 2010, 10:09; byline — Matt Blind

“So, smart guy, what am I supposed to do with that big honkin’ list ?”

Let me show you the different ways I can sort the data.

And Also, imagine yourself a scrappy Comic Shop owner or Indy Bookseller, who would like some additional resources (past Diamond’s Previews) about just what Graphic Novels to order in to your shop.

I’ve some of that data, and I’m willing to share. My methods track online sales; if a book shows up here that means someone searched for it, laid down plastic to buy it, and is eagerly awaiting it’s release — I can’t tell you if it’s a good book or a bad one, but someone wants it.

And since I have this big honkin’ list in a spreadsheet, I can sort it.

Case 1: By Date of Release

March 2010, by rank. A listing of how the titles score according to my method, so the most popular books should be on top:

988. Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight 6 – Dark Horse, Mar 2010 [40.4] ::
1114. Dark Tower 4 The Fall of Gilead – Marvel, Mar 2010 [29.2] ::
1289. Warriors Ravenpaw’s Path 2 – HC/Tokyopop, Mar 2010 [18.3] ::
1364. Gold Digger Peebo Tales – Antarctic Press, Mar 2010 [15.2] ::
1367. Birdhouse – SLG Publishing, Mar 2010 [15.0] ::
1372. Vampire Samurai – Dimension Entertainment, Mar 2010 [14.8] ::
1386. Last Reign – Boom! Studios, Mar 2010 [14.5] ::
1406. Digger & Friends – IDW, Mar 2010 [13.6] ::
1408. Last Resort – IDW, Mar 2010 [13.4] ::
1415. Space Ace – Arcana Studio, Mar 2010 [13.2] ::
1424. Kingyo Used Books 1 – Viz, Mar 2010 [12.8] ::
1428. Pink Innocent 1 – Del Rey, Mar 2010 [12.6] ::
1432. Deka Kyoshi 2 – CMX, Mar 2010 [12.4] ::
1444. Ode to Kirihito 2 – Vertical, Mar 2010 [11.9] ::
1619. Vampire Hunter D (novel) 14 – Dark Horse, Mar 2010 [7.7] ::
1626. Ignition City 1 – Avatar Press, Mar 2010 [7.6] ::
1635. The Phantom Complete ’38-‘40 – Hermes Press, Mar 2010 [7.5] ::
1692. Samurai Harem (Asu no Yoichi) 4 – Tokyopop, Mar 2010 [6.7] ::
1759. Ninja High School Shidoshi 8 – Antarctic Press, Mar 2010 [5.8] ::
2258. Iron Man Omnibus 1 – Marvel, Mar 2010 [0.1] ::

Case 2: By Publisher & Imprint

Say you stock almost-nothing-but DC titles because 2/3 of your customer base only buys DC. Fine.

Fine. Here’s the DC stuff for 2010:

1840. The Chill – DC Vertigo, Jan 2010 [4.8] ::
860. Fables 13 The Great Fables Crossover – DC Vertigo, Feb 2010 [55.5] ::
1677. Green Lantern Tales of the Green Lantern Corps 2 – DC, Feb 2010 [6.9] ::
2165. Green Lantern Rebirth Absolute Edition – DC, Apr 2010 [0.2] ::
2310. Wednesday Comics – DC, Jun 2010 [0.1] ::
1224. Blackest Night – DC, Jul 2010 [21.3] ::
1751. Planetary Absolute Edition 2 – DC Wildstorm, Jul 2010 [5.9] ::
2069. Doom Patrol Showcase Presents Edition 2 – DC, Aug 2010 [0.8] ::

Case 3: Manga

Say you’re a manga snob and you just really want to know what the fans (w/ money, and willing to purchase) are buzzing about. Well,

601. Inuyasha 44 – Viz, Jan 2010 [97.5] ::
1220. Yu-Gi-Oh! GX 4 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jan 2010 [21.6] ::
1298. Vagabond VizBig Edition 6 – Viz Signature, Jan 2010 [17.7] ::
1312. One Piece 24 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jan 2010 [17.3] ::
1511. Natsume’s Book of Friends 1 – Viz Shojo Beat, Jan 2010 [9.7] ::
1524. Nana 20 – Viz Shojo Beat, Jan 2010 [9.5] ::
1535. Strawberry 100% 11 – Viz Shonen Jump Advanced, Jan 2010 [9.4] ::
1548. Awakened Soul – Tokyopop, Jan 2010 [9.3] ::
1581. One Piece 25 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jan 2010 [8.5] ::
1875. Shaman King 26 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jan 2010 [4.1] ::
1938. One Piece 26 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jan 2010 [3.0] ::
2274. One Piece 27 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jan 2010 [0.1] ::
1525. Vampire Knight 9 – Viz Shojo Beat, Feb 2010 [9.5] ::
1684. Waqwaq 3 – Viz Shonen Jump, Feb 2010 [6.8] ::
1289. Warriors Ravenpaw’s Path 2 – HC/Tokyopop, Mar 2010 [18.3] ::
1424. Kingyo Used Books 1 – Viz, Mar 2010 [12.8] ::
1428. Pink Innocent 1 – Del Rey, Mar 2010 [12.6] ::
1432. Deka Kyoshi 2 – CMX, Mar 2010 [12.4] ::
1444. Ode to Kirihito 2 – Vertical, Mar 2010 [11.9] ::
1619. Vampire Hunter D (novel) 14 – Dark Horse, Mar 2010 [7.7] ::
1692. Samurai Harem (Asu no Yoichi) 4 – Tokyopop, Mar 2010 [6.7] ::
1467. King of Cards 9 – CMX, Apr 2010 [11.1] ::
1858. Oh! My Brother 2 – CMX, Apr 2010 [4.4] ::
1786. My Girlfriend’s a Geek 1 – Yen Press, May 2010 [5.5] ::
1752. Wallflower vols 22-24 collection – Del Rey, Oct 2010 [5.9] ::