BND is, most definitely, an epic fail, having put at least 40% of ASM readers’ base off. Insisting in adding up monthly sales in order to overshadow this simple fact is absurd. I know little of this industry, but in the one I work this would be more than enough to sack JoeQ, or, at least, to appoint someone else as stand-alone editor for ASM.

““A lot of their focus seems to be on what comes next, the new era *after* Siege wraps up the event cycle. ”

But same could be said about Secret Invasion and Dark Reign.”

Not really true at all. In fact I remember the whole “embrace change” campaign that was in full swing as Secret Invasion was wrapping-up and it had everyone convinced that post-event staus-quo involved a Skrull takeover. Actually it was promoting the storyline itself and the whole Osborn-in-charge Dark Reign set-up was vague up until the Cabal one-shot was actually published.

The conclusion of Siege is clearly being telegraphed far in advance. You have to wonder if that has contributed to its relative sales weakness.

“…the thrice-monthly Amazing Spidey is collectively averaging upwards of 200,000 copies per month…”

A problem with citing statistics occurs when the sample size is too small.

For the last 7 months, sales have averaged 204,975 per month. For the last 6 months, sales have averaged 235,926 per month. For the last 4 months, sales have averaged 192,420 per month. This appears to show wildly varying sales.

For the last 7 months, individual issue sales have averaged 68,325 per issue. For the last 6 months, individual issue sales have averaged 65,555 per issue. For the last 4 months, individual issue sales have averaged 64,140 per issue. This appears to show a slow decline.

For the 1st 6 months of 2009, sales averaged 252,852 per month, and 89,2423 per issue. Comparing those raw numbers to the recent numbers shows that Quesada should obviously be fired because of the decrease.

But if we leave out the Obama issue, for the 1st 6 months of 2009, sales averaged 165,353 per month, and 62,004 per issue. Comparing those raw numbers to the recent numbers shows that Quesada should obviously get a raise because of the increase.

None of this is offered as argument against Mitchum’s 200,000 number, just an exercise in numbers.

"To qualify, your order for Siege #1 must be placed by its December 10 FOC and exceed your order for Captain America: Reborn #4 (AUG09 0418D) placed by its FOC date of October 15 by 175%.
**This percentage has been reduced from 200%, as originally announced, to 175%. Please note this change.**
Any order quantity of Siege #1 beyond the 175% threshold will be eligible for stripped cover returns from March 17-April 9, 2010."

Having only 60,000 people actually reading AMAZING SPIDER-MAN is actually quite shabby, as it’s the second smallest sustained readership in the book’s history.

And thanks for correcting me on the nature of WEB. It’s nice to know things aren’t quite that bad for Ol’ Web Head.

Mike

That’s the problem with these sales posts – their relentless positivity.

I’m still quite enjoying the way they’re running the Spider-Man books, with the thrice-monthly book usually pretty snappily paced, and other stuff (those Extra books, Web, the occasional limited series) fleshing things out, but not essential to the ongoing series.

I would be very interested to know the exact terms of the returnability of Siege #1. How many copies needed to order to qualify and what percentage of those could be returned? From what Brian Jacoby said it sounds like retailers needed to order an insanely high number of the books to get the extra discount and an even more insane number to qualify for very limited returns. I’m guessing that most, if not all, of the retailers who took advantage of Marvel’s “generosity” have a ton of Siege books that they are unable to sell.

When they changed the title, it became invisible to me. My eyes have skipped over it. Perhaps it is too much like BND S-M and I filter it out. Oh well… Still reading the Marvel Adventures version.