The end of a run is much harder to get your hands on than the start of the run... As a series goes onwards away from the mass produced, heavily advertised #1 the readership always tends to fall off, and therefore a lower print run occurs for future and especially later issues.
I've encountered this problem before when trying to finish James Robinson's Starman run, where the last block of books I needed were the last years worth. I got very, very lucky then, as I found most of them in a charity shop in Lancaster (And while I'm ranting about this problem, I'm still waiting to get my hands on the last ten issues of Sandman Mystery Theatre, and this has been on my wishlist for what seems like forever).
And what has this to do with my Batman Quest? Well, I'm of the opinion that finishing the spin-off books like Nightwing, Catwoman and Azrael will actually be a bit of a challenge to find. Need proof?
For the March '97 issue of Azrael #29, 34090 copiers were sold by Diamond Distributors to comic shops.
By Azrael #62 (January 2000) these sales had fallen to 24235. And, if you want any hint that DC were aware of the drop-off they changed the title to Azrael: Agent of the Bat a year or so before.
By the last Azrael #100 (March 2003) it was down to 15260. I know that these aren't Miracleman #15 figures, but I'm going to assume from now that this trend will be right across the Batman line. I just know that there will be a random book, in a random spin-off line, that is going to take me years to finish the title. Therefore, when this book was waiting for me in the post, I felt totally justified snapping it up.
I've encountered this problem before when trying to finish James Robinson's Starman run, where the last block of books I needed were the last years worth. I got very, very lucky then, as I found most of them in a charity shop in Lancaster (And while I'm ranting about this problem, I'm still waiting to get my hands on the last ten issues of Sandman Mystery Theatre, and this has been on my wishlist for what seems like forever).
And what has this to do with my Batman Quest? Well, I'm of the opinion that finishing the spin-off books like Nightwing, Catwoman and Azrael will actually be a bit of a challenge to find. Need proof?
For the March '97 issue of Azrael #29, 34090 copiers were sold by Diamond Distributors to comic shops.
By Azrael #62 (January 2000) these sales had fallen to 24235. And, if you want any hint that DC were aware of the drop-off they changed the title to Azrael: Agent of the Bat a year or so before.
By the last Azrael #100 (March 2003) it was down to 15260. I know that these aren't Miracleman #15 figures, but I'm going to assume from now that this trend will be right across the Batman line. I just know that there will be a random book, in a random spin-off line, that is going to take me years to finish the title. Therefore, when this book was waiting for me in the post, I felt totally justified snapping it up.
