TINY TITANS vs. TEEN TITANS GO!

UPDATE: I'm more puzzled than ever by recent comments at New York ComicCon concerning the distribution of TINY TITANS. Here's the quote from CBR:

"How come "Tiny Titans" can't get into the newsstand market?

Bob Wayne: The entire print magazine category -- from "Time" and "Newsweek" and all the way down to comics -- is incredibly difficult right now. It's going to be a very, very tough period for almost anything to survive in that environment, and it's very difficult to get any number of new comics into that environment. When we do put things in that environment, since it's a returnable environment, we get so many copies back.

The reality is the distribution is there isn't that much distribution out there; it's not that wide. There aren't that many places where [periodicals] are on sale anymore. Comics, in your lifetimes, have gone from something you can find anywhere to something you have to seek out on your own. All the forces of how the marketplace works are working against [reversing the direct market system]."

How is it again that TINY TITANS could possibly sell "twice as many copies" as TEEN TITANS GO! if it doesn't have newsstand distribution?

ORIGINAL POST:

I was puzzled by Dan Didio's comment in his 20 Answers, concerning the appeal of comics aimed at a tween market: "Well, we did do a number of series aimed there, with books built off the animated interpretations of our characters, and we always found sales wanting. Quite honestly, going to numbers for a second, a book like Tiny Titans sells twice as well as a Teen Titans Go!. It’s as simple as that. I think what we need from the kids books is a clear delineation of what they say and what they stand for, and need to address the market that we’re pointing them at."

Let me preface my comments by saying this: I enjoy both TINY TITANS and TEEN TITANS GO! I think TINY TITANS (by Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani) is adorable and cute beyond words. And I think the creative team behind TEEN TITANS GO! (J. Torres and Todd Nauck) did a fantastic and faithful job of bringing the animated series to the printed page.

But, is TINY TITANS really selling twice as much as TEEN TITANS GO!, a series based on a successful cartoon with millions of viewers? Seemed dubious to me. Let's look at some sales figures....

02/2008: Tiny Titans #1 — 15,238
03/2008: Tiny Titans #2 — 11,432 (-25.0%)
04/2008: Tiny Titans #3 — 11,197 (- 2.1%)
05/2008: Tiny Titans #4 — 10,369 (- 7.4%)
06/2008: Tiny Titans #5 — 10,909 (+ 5.2%)
07/2008: Tiny Titans #6 — 10,636 (- 2.5%)
08/2008: Tiny Titans #7 — 10,234 (- 3.8%)
09/2008: Tiny Titans #8 — 9,795 (- 4.3%)
10/2008: Tiny Titans #9 — 9,521 (- 2.8%)
11/2008: Tiny Titans #10 — 9,239 (- 3.0%)

compared to:

11/2003: Teen Titans Go #1 — 29,055
11/2004: Teen Titans Go #13 — 15,279

11/2005: Teen Titans Go #25 — 12,598 (- 3.1%)
12/2005: Teen Titans Go #26 — 11,790 (- 6.4%)
01/2006: Teen Titans Go #27 — 11,609 (- 1.5%)
02/2006: Teen Titans Go #28 — 11,568 (- 0.4%)
03/2006: Teen Titans Go #29 — 11,260 (- 2.7%)
04/2006: Teen Titans Go #30 — 11,225 (- 0.3%)
05/2006: Teen Titans Go #31 — 11,140 (- 0.8%)
06/2006: Teen Titans Go #32 — 10,736 (- 3.6%)
07/2006: Teen Titans Go #33 — 10,516 (- 2.1%)
08/2006: Teen Titans Go #34 — 10,328 (- 1.8%)
09/2006: Teen Titans Go #35 — 9,940 (- 3.8%)
10/2006: Teen Titans Go #36 — 10,214 (+ 2.8%)
11/2006: Teen Titans Go #37 — 9,642 (- 5.6%)
12/2006: Teen Titans Go #38 — 9,529 (- 1.2%)
01/2007: Teen Titans Go #39 — 9,425 (- 1.1%)
02/2007: Teen Titans Go #40 — 9,132 (- 3.1%)
03/2007: Teen Titans Go #41 — 8,895 (- 2.6%)
04/2007: Teen Titans Go #42 — 9,050 (+ 1.7%)
05/2007: Teen Titans Go #43 — 8,918 (- 1.5%)
06/2007: Teen Titans Go #44 — 8,738 (- 2.0%)
07/2007: Teen Titans Go #45 — 8,554 (- 2.1%)
08/2007: Teen Titans Go #46 — 8,427 (- 1.5%)
09/2007: Teen Titans Go #47 — 8,229 (- 2.4%)
10/2007: Teen Titans Go #48 — 7,927 (- 3.7%)
11/2007: Teen Titans Go #49 — 7,699 (- 2.9%)
12/2007: Teen Titans Go #50 — 7,966 (+ 3.5%)
01/2008: Teen Titans Go #51 — 7,602 (- 4.6%)
02/2008: Teen Titans Go #52 — 7,496 (- 1.4%)

source: http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com

So, it took TEEN TITANS GO! 40 issues to reach the sales level TINY TITANS is at after 10 issues. This is double the sales?

OK, these sales don't include newstand, bookstore and mass merch sales. But I would guess that would only BOLSTER the sales of TEEN TITANS GO! if you compare. TEEN TITANS GO! had a show on constant rotation on Cartoon Network with millions of viewers. I'd guess managers at Borders and WalMart would order more copies of TEEN TITANS GO! (something they recognize) vs. TINY TITANS (something they don't).

So, somebody needs to show me how TINY TITANS is selling double the numbers of TEEN TITANS GO!

Also, TEEN TITANS GO! isn't an accurate measure of a book created for tweens. Because it wasnt a book created for tweens. It was a book created to capitalize on the success of a cartoon, which was aimed at 6-10 year olds. And even after that cartoon ended and was taken off rotation, it's a credit to the creative team that it continued to sell as well as it did.

My point (and I do have one) is that Didio's conclusions are not logical.

Honestly, he sounds like he doesn't even understand the issue.