Usagi Yojimbo DojoBoard

Some interesting info from PW's The Beat (The News Blog of Comic Culture by Heidi MacDonald)

http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog ... mber-2009/

Indie Month-to-Month Sales: September 2009
By Matthew Murray


279.

Usagi Yojimbo (Dark Horse)

09/2006: Usagi Yojimbo #97 - 5,874
09/2007: Usagi Yojimbo #106 - 5,958
09/2008: Usagi Yojimbo #114 - 5,471

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01/2009: Usagi Yojimbo #117 - 5,100
02/2009: Usagi Yojimbo #118 - 5,116 (+0.3%)
03/2009: Usagi Yojimbo #119 - 5,142 (+0.5%)
04/2009: -
05/2009: Usagi Yojimbo #120 - 5,160 (+0.4%)
06/2009: Usagi Yojimbo #121 - 5,171 (+0.2%)
07/2009:
08/2009: Usagi Yojimbo #122 - 5,077 (-1.8%)
09/2009: Usagi Yojimbo #123 - 5,051 (-0.5%)

6 month (-1.8%)
1 year (-7.7%)
2 year (15.2%)
3 year (-14.0%)Remarkable

solid this year.

Pfff...crazy kids these days...everyone should be buying this book instead of....sheesh I don't know, Radiation Man, or whatever is 'hot' these days.

I've been tracking this decline for a while now. It really bothered me when Usagi dipped below the 6,000 mark.

Whenever there's a really good Usagi stand alone story (like in #123), I try my best to talk it up at my local comic shop, and it sometimes earns a new reader or two. I think Dark Horse would be wise to coordinate their promotions with these kinds of issues. I still think there was a tremendous lost opportunity when they did the dealer incentive on issue #100. If there was ever an issue for new fans NOT to start with, that was it.

Maybe we'll eventually see a softcover Yokai that could be coordinated with such a promotion or, better yet, an entire free comic book day Usagi issue.