DC Comics used a full complement of variants to drive sales for Dark Nights: Metal #1 up to 261,997.

These are estimates of the sales on comic books by Diamond U.S. to comic specialty stores during August 2017.

These are estimates of the sales on graphic novels by Diamond U.S. to comic specialty stores during August 2017.

August was another tough month in a tough year for comics and graphic novel sales in comic stores.

Funko debuted its first branded retail location, a 17,000 square foot store, last month, and Rob Salkowitz shares his impressions and photos.

This week’s home entertainment releases include Bruce Timm’s stylish animated Batman and Harley Quinn , the jiggly box office disappointment Baywatch , plus a bunch of interesting TV offerings including the latest seasons of Gotham, Star Wars Rebels, Black Sails, Elementary, The Originals , and more Peanuts by Schulz .

There’s only one theatrical release this week, but it’s a big one, James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 , and there are plenty of key TV-related offerings including recent seasons of The Walking Dead, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Supergirl, Lucifer , Ash vs. the Evil Dead , plus for music buffs, an insane punk rock TV talk show co-hosted by Blondie’s Chris Stein.

These are estimates of the sales on comic books by Diamond U.S. to comic specialty stores during July 2017.

These are estimates of the sales on graphic novels by Diamond U.S. to comic specialty stores during July 2017.

In Part 1 of our interview with comiXology CEO David Steinberger, we talk about the market for digital comics and personalization.