MIKEYSTMNT.COM

–>> Tales 54 ..

” Be sure to pick it up! This issue is written by Andrew Bonia, who I had the pleasure of meeting at NYCC last year. If I’m hearing right, Andrew J. will be present and accounted for at NYCC again this year, so be sure to get yourself a copy and get it signed by the dude himself! ” – T. Jones

** Here’s a sneak peak! { via  Comics Continuum }

An Alert from Rose !! :: ” It has been made widely known that the Tales of the TMNT comic book title exists on the whim of Peter Laird, who has continued to publish the book, for the most part out of his own pocket, even though it doesn’t sell enough copies to support itself. As such, TMNT fans head toward each new year wondering if Tales will still be around. As of right now, there is no confirmation for Tales‘ existence–or non-existence–in 2010; however, it seems that Diamond Comic Distributors may have made that decision for Mirage already.

Newsarama is reporting today that Diamond has raised its purchase order minimum from $1,500 to $2,500. This means that in order for Diamond to list and distribute a title, it would need to generate $2,500 of revenue for Diamond (not total). The break down of this is basically that “a typical $3.00 comic would have to sell over 2,100 copies to meet the benchmark.” Tales currently sells for $3.25/book.

The most recent sales data available, for November 2008, lists estimated sales of 2,381 for Tales. In comparison, the January 2008 estimated sales were 2,684. In the months in between, at least the ones where Tales was ranked in the top 300, a steady decline in sales can be seen. Thus, it can be concluded that Tales hangs dangerously close to being below Diamond’s newly required threshold.

There are about three possibilities for titles that do not currently meet the new threshold:

1. Raise the cover price.
2. Find different means of distribution.
3. Cancel the title

Some titles are likely to move to Web-only, but as we’ve seen with TMNT Vol. 4, TMNT fans want their Turtles on paper, making that an unlikely option for Mirage. It appears that this new change is immediate, although a grace period to allow publishers to achieve the newly required numbers is likely. This will make it extremely difficult for Tales to even get to the end of 2009, and, given Mirage’s publishing history, makes cancelation come 2010 nearly certain.

That said, nothing is set in stone. And if you don’t pick it up already, now is the time to go to your comic book shop and let them know that you want Tales of the TMNT!”

..in regards to this issue .. Stephen wrote ::

” I asked Dan Berger @ Mirage Publishing to comment on the Diamond price hike. Simply put, he said “:

Howdy Stephan,

At the moment Mirage’s comics are not in danger of being dropped, but
this is certainly alarming for the future of B&W comics as a whole.

Thanks for writing!

Dan B.’s official site stats n’ statistics for the week ::

- Posted the preview for “Tales of the TMNT” #54 – the book should be available at your local comic shop tomorrow!

- For those of you who may not have seen it before, Neil has re-upped his clip of Rutgers students breaking the world record for the most people wearing Ninja Turtles costumes – now in glorious HD – check it out here!

- Posted a big bunch o’ new toy pix from Playmates Toys – the links are on the Toys page.

- Stephan sent in the following link with info about a screening of the original TMNT flick: The Turtle Van blog

- In case you’re not on our mailing list and didn’t get the news, www.TMNT25.com is kicking the new year into high gear with a sweepstakes where you can win a limited edition bronze TMNT statue (valued at $1,500.00) and a trip to the Gang Green’s home turf, New York City! Head over to TMNT25.com’s Sweepstakes page for info on how to enter! Cowabountiful!

..>v<