Why are Dark Horse Volumes Out of Stock? Where Can I Buy Berserk?

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
It's come to my attention that several standard volumes of the Dark Horse editions are currently out of stock at major online retailers.

I cross-referenced Amazon and RightStuf's current stock, concluding that about 1/3 of the series' standard volumes are out of stock: 1, 21, 23, 24, 25, 27, 29, 30, 32, 33, 34, 35. Also out of stock is Berserk Deluxe Vol 1 (an edition that's only 2 years old). Although you can find it being sold for +$60-100 in aftermarkets.

Based on Dark Horse's history, it will likely be months before reprints hit store shelves. The Deluxe Edition is confirmed to be getting a reprint later this month, but it will be a few more weeks before they appear at retailers. The best advice I can offer is to check the stock at major retailers (ex: Amazon, RightStuf) every few weeks, and call your regional comic shops to see if they have what you're looking for. They might even be able to help you track down the volumes you're missing.

This has become a recurring issue for Dark Horse over the years, so I wanted to provide a brief history about this puzzling, frustrating problem, because we do have some answers—they're just not very satisfying.

Back in 2013, more than half the series was out of stock, making it virtually impossible for new fans to start down the path of collecting the series. It had already dragged on for months before someone on our forum brought it to our attention in a detailed way. And at the time Dark Horse had its own forum, so using the name BigRock, I asked them directly what the situation was, and was surprised that I got a very informed response about the business realities of publishing comics:

http://boards.darkhorse.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=19979 said:
While we at Dark Horse appreciate the concern over volumes being out of print, we have to look at both sales history and sales velocity in making our decisions about what to reprint. Though the numbers that BigRock posted are not entirely accurate, they are indicative of the low numbers of available stock for some volumes. But it's not just a matter of Dark Horse reprinting books. It only makes sense for us to reprint books for which we anticipate enough demand to make reprinting a worthwhile endeavor.

I took a look at our in-house sales history which tracks stock on hand (both in our warehouse and in Diamond Books Distributors' warehouse), number of copies sold per month, and unsold copies returned by the bookstore market. Even last year, when there was stock on hand for ALL of the volumes of Berserk, the sales velocity (copies sold per month) for many of the middle volumes was anywhere from single digits to low double digits (in the low teens). That means the consumer demand for many of those middle volumes is between 80 and 170 copies per year. Even going back to press for just 1000 copies (the bare minimum print quantity, for which you pay a higher than average printing price) would leave us with a six- to twelve-year supply. And, sadly, If at the end of those six to twelve years, we have managed to sell all one thousand of those copies, between storage, inventory taxes, and licensing fees, Dark Horse will end up in the red. Not really a recipe for staying in business.

Well, you say, why not raise the price of the books to cover the costs? Great. Except history has shown that raising prices on those volumes to the extent necessary to cover the costs would further erode sales -- and increase inventory taxes. So, that's a non-starter.

I'm just trying to layout the realities of the publishing business for you. Believe me, we'd love to be able to make everything available forever, but that's not realistic or possible.

I'm just the messenger here, but if somebody can figure out a way for us to provide Berserk readers with copies and allow us to stay in business at the same time, I'd love to hear it.

Two big takeaways from this:

1) Reprinting is a substantial long-term investment for their company, resulting in a decade's worth of stock they have to maintain and sell.

2) Even when stock wasn't a concern, volume sales were only between 1-20 each month, and 80-170 for a year.

What’s indirectly addressed in this accounting is that sales and stock are disproportionately weighted towards the first few volumes. That’s not unique to Berserk. It’s a common trend in every series that buying habits drop off as a series progresses. Why? People lose interest. Just like for every book you started but never finished, not every customer will buy all the volumes. Most will buy the first few and then drop it. DH has likely spun up reprints several times to meet demand for the first few volumes, making stock fluid relative to the middle volumes, where demand is lower, and they can coast on far fewer reprints (let’s say, 10 years worth!). I’m guessing, but it’s likely what we’re seeing right now is the 2013 reprints being extinguished a few years ahead of schedule. It might even be a result of Deluxe Edition fans jumping over to standard volumes.

Anyway, back to the history lesson. About 6 months after the forum reply above, Dark Horse announced they were issuing a reprint, which would take a few months before they hit store shelves. In the same announcement, they also said that sales for the series had hit a milestone (750,000 sold). That represents 10 years of sales, since the series started selling in the US in 2003.

Fast forward 4 years to 2017, and Berserk hits 1.2 million sold. Around that time, Dark Horse's Director of International Publishing and Licensing, Michael Gombos, did an interview with Crunchyroll where he said:

[Berserk] "has recently dethroned Lone Wolf & Cub as DH’s best-selling title (not just among manga, but across all titles and volumes), and in terms of units sold commercially—that is, via “normal” channels, not a special bulk pack-in ordered by a specific client—it is our historical bestseller."

This incredible claim means Berserk has outsold their other big series like Umbrella Academy, Aliens, even Star Wars. It's honestly hard to believe, but he's quite specific. Gombos goes on to say that Berserk has experienced an uptick in sales ever since the game announcement (Berserk and the Band of the Hawk) and the new anime (the 2016-17 travesty). That's great. But ... if that's truly the case, then shouldn't that mean they care enough about the series' success that they're willing to bite the bullet and keep reprints running?

This whole circumstance is pretty infuriating to me, because the natural inclination is to think, hey it's sold out, that means demand is high. Awesome! But in reality, it reveals the precarious balance Dark Horse keeps Berserk’s stock in. And when that balance tips too far, it ends up hitting the series in a particularly vulnerable spot: the avenue for fans to legitimately support it. Not keeping Berserk in stock gives those on the fence just one more excuse not to support it. Why invest in physical editions when there's a gaping hole in the middle? Why buy them at all?

There is of course one fortunate difference for this moment versus what has happened in the past: In 2018, Dark Horse finally adopted a digital model for Berserk's volumes. From now on, there will always be a digital solution to the problem of physical stock issues. I know that's not ideal for everyone, particularly for collectors. But it's a huge improvement to the overall predicament of being a new fan of the series. These digital editions also go on sale, often half price, fairly regularly. I try to update the threads when I see these sales happen. And even without a sale, you can get 4 volumes at a time for $30, which isn't bad!
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Thanks for this great recap of the situation! I'll say, I was unsatisfied with the answer you got back then (although I applaud that guy for his straightforwardness), and I still am now. For all their excuses, the truth is that Dark Horse's handling of Berserk has never been great. Not on day one, not eight years ago, and still not today. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if they only reprinted it in the past because Hakusensha contractually required them to in order to keep licensing the manga.

Now, it's true that managing reprints of long-running series is expensive on the logistics side, but dare I say that if they can't handle it, maybe they shouldn't have taken up the license to begin with. 40,000 volumes might sound like a lot, but it doesn't actually take that much warehouse space. I could store them in my basement. And as far as I know Oregon (where Dark Horse is headquartered) doesn't have an inventory tax. Where there's a will, there's a way. Anyhow, the deluxe edition is a way to alleviate that, so it's good that they're at least reprinting those volumes. It's just too bad they're not actually "deluxe".

I don't just want to blame Dark Horse though, because this is also not a good look for the US market. With such a large population, not to mention English speakers from other countries, how come so few copies get sold? Where are all the fans we see online when it comes to supporting the series? I think I know the answer. :azan:
 
And as far as I know Oregon (where Dark Horse is headquartered) doesn't have an inventory tax. Where there's a will, there's a way.
(voice of the anime opening) In this world, is there anything Aaz does not know about?! Remarkable stuff, and cool insight on the situation, Walter.

I recently lent my Berserk volumes 1 - 37 to a friend who has watched the original anime series and is diving into the manga. This person might be one of the few to take the plunge and purchase the physical volumes. Fingers crossed DH gets its act together in time with the re-press.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Well someone rattled the cage at Dark Horse, because a massive reorder was issued. The stock at Amazon has been updated, and nearly everything that was out of stock is scheduled to get replenished by the end of this month. That's great!

Here's how it looks right now, based on what was out of stock earlier this week:
  • Vol 21 - In stock on February 20, 2021
  • Vol 23 - out of stock
  • Vol 24 - In stock now
  • Vol 25 - In stock on February 19, 2021
  • Vol 26 - In stock on February 24, 2021
  • Vol 27 - In stock on February 24, 2021
  • Vol 29 - In stock on February 19, 2021
  • Vol 30 - In stock on February 17, 2021
  • Vol 32 - In stock on February 20, 2021
  • Vol 33 - In stock on February 27, 2021
  • Vol 34 - In stock on February 20, 2021
  • Vol 35 - In stock on February 24, 2021
Given how quickly the above volumes were replenished, these were probably reorders to Amazon from DH's main warehouse, just slow to be ordered. If a reprint was needed, it'd be months. This is very encouraging, because it means the stock situation isn't as dire as it seemed earlier this week. Maybe they really are past the hurdle with reprinting.

No change in Deluxe Vol 1 though, which makes me think it might require a reprint.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Nice, glad to see it worked out! Hopefully it's because they're selling so many of these volumes nowadays that they always keep them stocked in. (hey, a man can dream)
 
It's great to see how positively dramatic the shift is from their 2013 situation. The 2016 and 2017 versions and the movies being on Netflix (at least in the US I think? Not in Germany, though) raised people's awareness a lot I think. Especially the badly animated scenes were spread a lot. Plus, with the manga and anime market growing in the west, people will eventually hear of Berserk which ends up in more sales, too.
I hope they fix the issues they had with the deluxe vol. 1 but I wouldn't be surprised if they aren't aware of them yet and they'll stay as they are.
 

Oburi

All praise Grail
It's interesting. I don't recall much of anyone saying they became a Berserk fan after the new trilogy. Compare that to the amount of people who had discovered Berserk through the 97 series which seemed to be quite a bit (myself included). Then again, this forum is my only interaction with the Berserk community and, large though it is, I'm not sure if the forum format is where all the kids went running to. They probably gravitated towards Reddit and facebook groups.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
It's interesting. I don't recall much of anyone saying they became a Berserk fan after the new trilogy. ... Then again, this forum is my only interaction with the Berserk community and, large though it is, I'm not sure if the forum format is where all the kids went running to. They probably gravitated towards Reddit and facebook groups.
Yep, I think your exposure is simply limited. I've been browsing the Berserk subreddit for 6 years now, and I can tell you that the population there exploded both from the movies and even the shitty 2016 series.

Growth rate over time: https://frontpagemetrics.com/r/Berserk
 
I don't recall much of anyone saying they became a Berserk fan after the new trilogy.
I think it comes down to bad publicity is better than no publicity. People will point out how bad the adaptation (or how superior the manga is) is which peaks interest for the manga. Also, people (in the west) are more likely to check out an anime rather than a manga in the first place, despite how good the ratings are and only afterwards they start reading the manga if at all.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
It's great to see how positively dramatic the shift is from their 2013 situation. The 2016 and 2017 versions and the movies being on Netflix (at least in the US I think? Not in Germany, though) raised people's awareness a lot I think.

This is true to some extent, but maybe not as much as you think. Currently over 40 million Berserk volumes have been sold throughout the world. In June 2010, that number was at 31 million. In 2013, it had reached 33.5 million. And in July 2015, it stood at 35 million. Five more million units were moved between 2015 and 2017. The number hasn't been updated since. But more importantly, is that growth purely a result of the animations? Probably not. The trend was already there before they came out. For example between 2008 and 2010, Berserk sold 4 million volumes globally, including 3 million internationally. I think it's possible the release of the series in more languages and/or countries played a hidden role in boosting those numbers.

If you're interested, I track Berserk volumes sales numbers in this thread.
 

jackson_hurley

even the horses are cut in half!
Yep, I think your exposure is simply limited. I've been browsing the Berserk subreddit for 6 years now, and I can tell you that the population there exploded both from the movies and even the shitty 2016 series.
Same thing on facebook. I moderate one of the group there and a bunch seem to jave been expose to Berserk through the movies.

Of course there is also a bunch that comes from the 97 anime.
 

Oburi

All praise Grail
Yep, I think your exposure is simply limited. I've been browsing the Berserk subreddit for 6 years now, and I can tell you that the population there exploded both from the movies and even the shitty 2016 series.
That’s good to know then. As long as it channels people to the manga. That’s what happened with me. I didn’t know what manga was but after the 97 series ended I immediately got on the internet (after watching Miura’s interview included as a bonus on the final disc) and started researching. Ahh the memory of being a new Berserk fan.
 
My first post here. I am very grateful that this thread exist. I thought I was losing my mind. And what bothers me is there are more volumes that are currently out of print. 19 and 20 I know for sure, but there might be more.
 
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