Reports have suggested that Marvel’s upcoming Star Wars series could be a huge seller when it hits stores in January.
Update: Marvel has confirmed that the first issue of Star Wars will sell more than a million copies. Speaking about the book, Senior Vice President of Sales David Gabriel attributed the book’s high numbers partly to it’s large number of “exclusive covers.”
“There are a number of new outlets that we’re working with here in terms of the folks purchasing and selling a large number of exclusive covers, which in the end means that this very large number of comics will be sold in places where we haven’t necessarily had comic sales,” Gabriel said in a statement. “We’re confident we’ll have lots of new fans reading issue #1. And the great thing about this for all our comic retailer friends is that they’ll be able to sell those new fans the second, third, fourth issues and on and on.”
Original Story: So in case you hadn’t heard, Marvel will be launching a new Star Wars comic this January and it’s kind of a big deal. Not only will the new book mark the end of Dark Horse Comics’ long-lived stewardship of the Star Wars franchise, it will also be the first canon comic since the Expanded Universe was declared null and void in the wake of Disney’s 2012 LucasFilm acquisition. As you can probably imagine, these points add up to a comic that people want to have. A lot of people, in fact.
According to recent reports, the first issue of Marvel and Jason Aaron’s Star Wars could wind up selling more than a million copies. To put that in context, in July 2014, the best sales month for comics in recorded history, Marvel’s Rocket Raccoon was considered a big success for selling 300,000 copies. That’s less than a third of the projected sales for Star Wars issue one.
It should be said that Marvel has declined to comment on these reports. With issue one boasting a smorgasbord of variant covers, it’s also likely that many Star Wars fans and comic collectors are ordering multiple copies. Even with those people inflating sales however, you’d be hard-pressed to call these sorts of numbers anything short of a feat. We’ll have to wait and see, of course, if the comic actually reaches these heights when it launches next month. Speaking personally though, my gut says that if any book can sell a million in January, it’s going to be Marvel’s Star Wars.
Source: Comic Book
