Just thought I’d mention that, according to Chris Ryall, “Spike: Old Times” has sold out both from Diamond and the publisher (their initial order plus everything they’d overprinted for reorders.)
The guys at Fourth World Comics in Smithtown, NY, where I buy my books (best comic shop in Long Island, folks) have likewise sold out. The canny retailers put copies of the book in the pull file of everyone who had ordered the “Angel” comic as an FYI, and every single person bought it without hesitation.
So that’s nice.
I’ve no idea if there’s plans to go back to press.
PAD
• 
I was impressed my comic shop still had four copies (two days ago); then I see someone had, at some point, twelve – ! I don’t see too many comics with that many copies these days, let alone a $7.49 one … What? A store had ONE HUNDRED COPIES?! Wow! That’s a pretty big endorsement right there ….
Anyway, congratulations on the – very quick – sell-out, PAD!
(And btw, Fred wasn’t the only one who found Karen’s letter to be belittlingly dismissive of PAD. While Spike’s popularity was clearly a major factor in this sell-out, I also took issue with the assertion of her post, as I read it, that [because she had never heard of him] PAD was some unknown hack whose nobody name clearly could not have had anything to do with the sales of this book.)
There’s the difference, Luke. I didn’t see her letter suggesting that she thought PAD was a hack — he was an unknown to her, and she assumed more people came because of the Spike draw than because of his name. Keep in mind, she said that she’d never bought a single comic before.
At absolute worst, it’s just her assuming more people are in her “category” than in the category of those who only bought it because Peter wrote it.
And with no disrespect to Peter intended, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if she were right, for reasons I’ve outlined earlier.
Don’t get me wrong — plenty of people bought it primarily or exclusively because of Peter’s presence as well. I’m one of them — I enjoy Spike as a character, but I’d never have given the book a look without PAD’s name as writer. But given the relative numbers of TV vs. comics, and PAD’s own statements many times here that most readers buy based on character first and writer somewhere lower down the list, I suspect Spike’s name in this case carried more weight than Peter’s did.
TWL
I stopped by Warp 9 after work today. They were all out.
Nice to know there will be a second printing, but that doesn’t change the fact that either my store forgot to order it, or IDW short changed the store. Either way, I’m not very happy- especially since I put it on my list months ago.
I guess now the question becomes whether my store will get the copy intended for me in the near future, or will I have to wait six weeks?
Rick
Tim –
I do agree that Spike probably has more fame than Peter David (NY Times best-seller Peter David …) – although it’s not, very, very sadly, as though it was ever a top 50 show, ratings-wise, let alone top 10 – and don’t even dispute the idea that the character, not the author, was probably the top reason the majority of people bought the book. I was just seconding the impression that Karen felt PAD was due NO credit for the sell-out. She did write “I believe the reason this comic was such a huge success was because the fans of James Marsters/Spike are always hungry for merchandise that spotlights him and eager to purchase it.” The problem might be in her next sentence: “Now if Mr David’s other work becomes more popular I would say that it was a reflection of being well received by so many new readers.” On first blush, I at least read this as “If someone actually starts reading his OTHER stuff, then THAT might be due to his own name.” Re-reading it now, I see that she was actually saying that the new readers, such as herself, which PAD may have gained through working on the Spike project could carry over and increase his general readership in the future. Although I do still think that her first sentence which I quoted does say, intentionally or not, that PAD is due no credit for the success of “Spike: Old Times”, I do now see that the thrust of her post as a whole was not dismissive. So, thanks for getting me to re-read it!
Luke —
My pleasure!.
I was just seconding the impression that Karen felt PAD was due NO credit for the sell-out.
The only thing I think I’m going to belabor here is that she wrote, along with the sentences you quoted, “I believe the success of the Spike comic had more to do with the subject of the comic than the author.” That came before the stuff you cited, and implies pretty strongly (at least to me) that she’s giving Peter’s name some credit for the sales, just not the majority of it.
I can see where the first sentence you quoted might give you the impression you got, but I think the one before it sets a different tone that’s the one I wound up following.
Whatever. We’re all on the same basic page here — happy the book sold well, happy Peter picked up a bunch of new readers, and hopeful that they’ll follow him to other books (particularly Fallen Angel).
TWL
my store had 10 on order and got none. i asked if it was allocated and she seems to think that it has to do with the change in distributer locations. hmm. at first she didnt believe me that it came out but i referenced her to this site as PAD wouldnt lie about his own book.
Ummm . . . am I missing something?
IDW’s web site doesn’t make a single mention of this book. And, while PAD is listed on the pull-down menu of creators, when you select his name, it comes up with “No titles available.” If I didn’t know this book existed, there’s no way I’d find out about it, from IDW’s site.
According to the website for Midtown Comics (the best comic book store in Manhattan), the hasn’t come out yet, and isn’t scheduled for this week either
Homina? Has the book released, or not? Help!
MJ
Amendment: There is a small picture of “Spike” on IDW’s front page, appearing about every third time you hit the site. It’s alternating with “Shaun of the Dead.”
Clicking on the picture links you to a page in IDW’s store, with the message, “Product not found!”
Sill perplexed . . .
MJ
Midtown Comics in Times Square sold out too.
I am SO annoyed. I’ve been waiting for this book for months, and the comics shop I normally go to (they don’t do pull-lists) kept telling me it hadn’t been published yet. Now, after hearing that the book had actually shipped, I’ve called 20 (literally) comics shops all over the Los Angeles area, and they’re ALL sold out! 🙁
My shop hadn’t pulled one for me (I do read a fair amount of PAD’s comix, but don’t tend to read TV-tie-ins), but there were still copies available.
Great story, lives nicely in the Buffyverse, terrific art too.
Thanks,
JF
The reason IDW’s store says “Product Not Found” is because all available copies of the comic that IDW had available for sale via their website have been sold. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen anything from them about doing a second printing.
I’m still surprized by the fact that there’s almost nothing on the IDW site to promote the book. Even if it’s not for sale through them, it’s still a product they produced. That it’s doing really well seems like even more reason to brag about it. And wasn’t there anything on the site promoting the book, back before it released?
Also, I’d’ve thought they’d assume that people would go to their site looking for info on possible reprinting, etc., once it started selling out. That’s a pretty good reason to have something on the site.
Oh well, different strokes, I guess.
MJ
They still have some with the photo cover at http://www.zaldiva.com if anyone is looking.
MJ – there is something on IDW’s site promoting the book.
Jennifer,
What does IDW have? I just looked again; still nothing?
What did you see there?
MJ