Disney’s Gargoyles #1 Racks Up 179,093 Orders For Dynamite

Last month, Bleeding Cool mentioned that Dynamite Entertainment had told comic book retailers this weekend at the Baltimore Diamond Retailer Summit, that they had received initial orders of over 100,000 on Gargoyles #1. Recent Dynamite launches have seen them use Final Order Cut-Off to increase their final orders from two to three times, so we wondered how high this would go when it came to its Final Order Cut Off date on Monday, the 14th of November, before publication on the 7th of December. Now we know. 179,093 copies ordered by retailers in advance. This will easily make book the highest-selling Dynamite comic book of the year. As Darkwing Duck #1 only comes out in January 2023. Just for context, that makes it outsell Batman, X-Men, Spider-Man, pretty much everything in the direct market of comic book shops. And that’s before they do a second printing.

When they were at 100,000 units, that was 70,000 units direct market and 30,000 units in exclusive cover variants commissioned especially for individual retailers. Of the 179,000 units, both the direct market and exclusives went up.  So the exclusives broke 38,000 units, and the other 141,000 units are the direct market. So effectively, the direct market number doubled at FOC.

Dynamite Entertainment is to begin publishing comic books licensed from Disney, including those based on the cartoon TV series Gargoyles, about city statues that come to life, starting later this year. Gargoyles‘ creator Greg Weisman has officially signed on to write and “shepherd” the new stories to be published as periodical comics and graphic novels. These comic book stories will serve as “Season 4” of the TV show for fans to enjoy. Previous Gargoyles comic books by Marvel and Slave Labor Graphics will be republished by Dynamite Entertainment at a later date.

The first issue is out in December from Greg Weisman and George Kambadais and we have a longer look at an unlettered preview than you might have found elsewhere to get a good idea of the kind of comic book you’ll be getting into.

GARGOYLES #1 CVR A NAKAYAMA
DYNAMITE
OCT220542
(W) Greg Weisman (A) George Kambadais (CA) David Nakayama
All-new ongoing series, in continuity with the epic GARGOYLES television classic!
One thousand years ago, superstition and the sword ruled. It was a time of darkness. It was a world of fear. It was THE AGE OF GARGOYLES. Stone by day, Warriors by night, they were betrayed by the humans they had sworn to protect…frozen in stone by a magic spell for a thousand years. Now, here in Manhattan, the spell is broken, and they live again! They are Defenders of the Night! THEY ARE GARGOYLES! Series creator GREG WEISMAN and illustrator GEORGE KAMBADAIS reintroduce the Manhattan Clan, a family of Gargoyles at full strength, though modern New York City is full of attractions and distractions, and each member of the clan has begun to go their own way. But their bonds will be tested, when nefarious factions from all across the world attempt to steal that rarest, most precious of possessions…an unhatched Gargoyle egg! In Shops: Dec 07, 2022 SRP: 3.99