Breaking out ComicsPRO in Memphis, TN…

Announced during Valiant's ComicsPRO presentation today in Memphis, TN, Valiant announced that the new X-O Manowar series by writer Matt Kindt and artist Tomas Giorello has accrued some of the publisher's highest initial orders ever.

Subsequently, Valiant presented retailers with plans for "the biggest sell-through campaign of 2017" to get copies off of shelves and into fans' hands with a variety of measures including a "six-figure promotional and advertising spend" for the new series.

Plus, in addition to the previously announced "X-O Manowar Wednesday" monthly shipping schedule and a new Premium Format designation, the series will "move like a freight train" with fast-paced three-issue arcs that provide clearly demarcated jumping-on points every three months. Those arcs will then be collected in $9.99 trades for every volume that hit shelves the same day a new arc begins – the first time a major publisher as committed the $9.99 price point to one series' collections on an ongoing basis.

Retailers often lament that the Big Two don't support the books they leverage into stores with incentives and overships… Could Valiant be writing a new playbook for how to support a new monthly series launch?