In an article about the new wave of coffee-table size comic book collections in Monday's New York Times, reporter Joseph Tirella revealed that DC's Watchmen trade paperback edition would sell some 95 thousand copies by the end of this year. Sales of Watchmen have been growing for years as interest in the graphic novel medium has steadily increased (DC sold 22,000 copies in 2001), but the announcement of Zack Snyder's movie adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon's classic graphic novel sent sales of Watchmen soaring in the second half of 2007. According to ICv2's estimates (based on Diamond indexes), Diamond Comic Distributors had sold 21,105 copies of Watchmen through the end of October, which means direct market retailers will likely account for 26-27,000 of the 95,000 total. Bookstores and libraries will account for the rest.
If the past sales performance of high quality graphic novels such as Frank Miller's Sin City or Alan Moore's V for Vendetta that were made into movies is any guide, the Watchmen graphic novel is in for a major boost when Snyder's movie debuts in March of 2009. Actually sales should build through the last half of 2008 as the movie's release gets closer. The behind-the-scenes stills that have been released from the Watchmen sets provide an intriguing look at the filmmakers' attempts to recreate the seedy, alternate history 1980s
