April is a transitional month in pop culture stores as product flow increases in anticipation of the summer season. Although the Spider-Man movie did not debut until May 3, its influence was already apparent in sell-through figures collected by ICv2 from retailers. The Top Ten Cool lists document what actually sold through at stores that participate in ICv2's monthly survey. For all the lists, click here.
Spider-Man grabbed the top spot in the TV/Movie category thanks to the Topps Spider-Man movie cards, which shipped to retailers three weeks before the film opened and sold quickly. Ultimate Spider-Man #21 was the #4 item in the comics category and the Complete Frank Miller Spider-Man hardcover occupied the #7 spot. Diamond Select's Ultimate Spider-Man Mini-Bust took the eighth position in the 'Toys' category, but ToyBiz's Spider-Man toys, whether because of supply issues or fear of mass market competition, are conspicuous by their absence. Let's take a closer look at each of our categories.
Toys
Once again the top performers are all specialty products created especially for the collector market. Pop culture retailers are eschewing major toy lines from the big companies in part because there are now so many specialized resin statues created especially for the collector market. For the Top 10 Cool Toys, click here.
Anime
This category has been all DVD for months. Boxed sets make a big splash on this list because of their high price points -- Evangelion is simply the major science fiction series of the past decade, while Ranma 1/2 and Trigun have devoted followings. The action-packed Spriggan movie did very well and the newly released Metropolis movie, with its Tezuka/Otomo pedigree had a very strong debut. Click here for the Top 10 Cool Anime.
Games
The Dragonball Z Cell Games Booster Pack just nosed out the LOTR CCG Booster Pack for the top spot. Magic: The Gathering demonstrated the continuing power of the original CCG franchise by placing two releases in the top ten. Yu-Gi-Oh also had two out of the top ten spots, but the question is how much higher they would rank if more product were available? WOTC's Star Wars: Clones Booster Pack made its first appearance on the list. Will this Richard Garfield-created CCG take off? It should be something to watch over the next few months. Click here for the Top 10 Cool Games.
Comics
Marvel's re-launch of Captain America narrowly edged out Dreamwave's revival of the Transformers, showing the importance of cover price in generating retail dollars. . Image's G.I. Joe, which came in at #8, also demonstrated the power of the 'retro 80s' trend, while the Sgt. Rock Archives hardcover proves once again how successful the DC Archives series has been. For the Top 10 Cool Comics, click here.
TV/Movie Merchandise
Topps Spider-Man cards took the top spot and the Witchblade Season I trading cards took number seven. Everything other spot was taken by a variety of genre-oriented DVDs. Put a fork in VHS, the format is dead in most collector-oriented stores. Note that seven of the eight DVDs feature animated shows (including stop motion animation). For the Top 10 Cool Toys, click here.
