New PVP Comic Book Sells Well

Over at PVP Land, Scott Kurtz posted that the new PvP #1 in the Image line is ranked #166 in sales for comics in March. Kurtz notes that in comparison the last issue PvP in the Dork Press run sold only 2,600 copies. He goes on to say:

That’s an INCREDIBLE success story, due in no small part to your support, orders, calls and demand for PvP comics. We had a lot going for us, because Image really has gotten behind the book. With a jump to a new publisher, cover by Frank Cho, placement on the cover of PREVIEWS, recent mentions in Wizard and Wizard’s Edge magazine and a tidal wave of demand from online readers…how could we not do well.

Kurtz will be at Zeus Comics on March 5th (the day PvP #1 ships) from 4-8PM for a release party for the new PvP comic book.

Xaviar Xerexes

Wandering webcomic ronin. Created Comixpedia (2002-2005) and ComixTalk (2006-2012; 2016-?). Made a lot of unfinished comics and novels.

4 Comments

  1. I read PVP for years, until Kurtz’s public persona drove me off. It’s not a bad comic, but I made a conscious decision not to contribute to the Scott Kurtz Ego Machine.

    Plus, it just wasn’t funny, compared to Sluggy, Boxjam, Soap on a Rope, Superosity, Narbonic…the list goes on.

    By contrast, the Penny Arcade guys are also sort of dicks, but I still read it because it’s often really, really funny.

    I’m a little stunned by this news. I’m guessing that most of the orders don’t come from regular comics readers. Or maybe there’s an astonishing dearth of funny comics out there.รง

    Good grief.

  2. They couldn’t possibly come from regular comics readers. Must be a fluke or some strange space anomoly because Kurtz is an ego maniac and a hack.

  3. Please disregard the above, the result of me being a pissy jackass under the influence of a very bad day. I’m not wild about PVP, but I should be celebrating a webcomic creator’s success, not raining on his parade.

    Sorry about being a jerk, Scott and everyone else. I’m now leaving to sign up for remedial growing-up school.

    Self-loathing-a-go-go.

  4. Shepherd:

    > I’m guessing that most of the orders don’t
    > come from regular comics readers.

    These orders in particular came primarily from comic book RETAILERS, not readers (though most retailers presumably are also regular comic book readers). Image’s PvP #1 saw a nearly 500% increase in Diamond pre-orders from the last issue of PvP (from Dork Storm).

    It doesn’t make sense to think that WEBCOMIC READERS (or PvP webcomic readers in particular) would be responsible for a jump in orders like that, because what do they care who the publisher is? It was primarily comic book retailers/regular comic book readers who were influenced enough by the move to Image to up their orders or try it for the first time.

    > Or maybe there’s an astonishing
    > dearth of funny comics out there.

    That is certainly true. Partly because most funny comic books are dropped from Diamond’s catalog after a few issues due to not meeting their sales benchmarks, and partly because most comic book publishers and/or creators are not interested in publishing and/or creating humor comics. It’s a superhero-dominated medium.

    The fact that PvP #1 was able to crack through that domination a little and place so highly on the charts is something to be excited about.

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