Angel

Similar to Dark Horse Comics’ Buffy the Vampire Slayer, IDW’s Buffy spin-off Angel: After the Fall is being promoted as the official continuation of the TV show. While series creator Whedon just “presents” this book, though, his name is featured prominantly on the cover, and - as with the last few Buffy issues - that seems to be enough.

The sales increase compared to previous Angel comics isn’t as massive as in the case of Buffy, but it’s still huge, obviously. The book is one of IDW’s biggest hits to date, in terms of direct market periodicals. (There were, as you may have expected, variant cover editions.)

If there’s a general lesson in these two projects, it’s that it’s not impossible to entice enough fans of a TV show into buying a spin-off comic to make the book a hit. Of course, the game is a bit rigged in this case, given the presumably considerable overlap between the fans of mainstream comics and fantasy shows in North America, as well as the fact that Whedon is a well-established name in both media. It still seems worth noting that fans are willing to buy the comics if you can convince them that the stories matter.

41 - ANGEL: AFTER THE FALL (IDW)
11/2001: Angel #3 of 4 — 15,130*
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11/2006: Auld Lang Syne #1 of 5 — 8,057
12/2006: Auld Lang Syne #2 of 5 — 7,358 (- 8.7%)
01/2007: Auld Lang Syne #3 of 5 — 6,699 (- 9.0%)
02/2007: Auld Lang Syne #4 of 5 — 6,371 (- 4.9%)
03/2007: Auld Lang Syne #5 of 5 — 6,351 (- 0.3%)
11/2007: After the Fall #1 — 47,563 (+648.9%)
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6 months: n.a.
1 year : +490.3%