Take note that Bob did not answer Owen's question and it is because he knows jack shit about distribution. I worked in retail and let me tell you, the magazines we sold in store were not counted as inventory and the store got them from vendors/distributors who filled the shelves and removed old stock. If it is anything like comic books in the newsstand days, the vendors will send unsold stock back to the publisher for a refund. The reason why Marvel got away with the bullshit they have in recent years is because specialty retailers cannot return their unsold inventory under the current model and they are upset because they cannot sell shit like America or Ms. Marvel. What the insufferable Boston bumpkin fails to realize is that Target, Wal-Mart, CVS, Gamestop etc. will never, EVER agree to the terms Marvel and Diamond force on comic shops. The retailers hold the power here.
Might I add that I sold only a dozen or so magazines in a week and most of the time it was stuff like the tabloids sold at the checkout. Experience tells me that number of comics sold at stores would be negligible. If anything, stores would sell more licensed merchandise than they would the comics because it is the IPs that hold the real value.