February was a black month for two of DC’s major imprints.
Average direct-market sales for both Vertigo and WildStorm comic books hit their lowest levels in history, with 9,256 and 5,692 units, respectively, and dollar sales to match. In Vertigo’s case, there’s a pretty good excuse, at least, because Fables and Jack of Fables, two of the label’s top-selling titles, didn’t ship — not to mention they’ve got a series co-written by Stephen King in the pipeline, as well as a few other promising projects that might improve the situation in the not too distant future.
At WildStorm, though, things look pretty dire. Even if their best performers, Ex Machina and Astro City, were both coming out monthly, their numbers haven’t been stellar lately. And from the stuff that’s solicited through June, nothing particularly looks like it might set the charts on fire, either. Is there any reason why DC needs this imprint, at this stage? What does it do for the company that Vertigo and the DC Universe branch aren’t accomplishing more successfully?
Speaking of which, the DC Universe line was in fairly solid shape in February, thanks to Blackest Night returning from its skip month, two issues of Batman and Robin and the continued strong performance of the “Blackest Night” crossover in what is now its ninth month. The question is what’s going to happen once it’s over, of course, but there have actually been some promising signs from the company lately, like no longer being embarrassed to let people know that J. Michael Straczynski is working for them and such, so let’s wait and see.
See below for the details, and please consider the small print at the end of the column. Thanks to Milton Griepp and ICv2.com for the permission to use their figures. An overview of ICv2.com’s estimates can be found here.
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1 - BLACKEST NIGHT 07/2009: Blackest Night #1 of 8 -- 177,105 [206,534] 08/2009: Blackest Night #2 of 8 -- 146,092 (-17.5%) [155,512] 09/2009: Blackest Night #3 of 8 -- 140,786 (- 3.6%) [143,949] 10/2009: Blackest Night #4 of 8 -- 137,169 (- 2.6%) 11/2009: Blackest Night #5 of 8 -- 144,935 (+ 5.7%) [151,292] 12/2009: Blackest Night #6 of 8 -- 135,985 (- 6.2%) 01/2010: -- 02/2010: Blackest Night #7 of 8 -- 130,613 (- 4.0%) ----------------- 6 months: - 26.3%
Blackest Night continues to be DC’s biggest comic-book cash cow, now in its ninth month. As usual, there were a 1-for-25 variant edition and a 1-for-100 variant edition, which are likely to have helped sales somewhat.
By the way, judging from the February number, it looks like Diamond took 20% off the sales of Marvel’s Siege #1 in January due to the book’s returnability, which would place the actual estimate for that issue at about 135,000 units. Even with that upward correction, though, Blackest Night #7 would be the first issue to fall below the sales of Siege #1.
Obviously, that’s good for DC, because it means they’ve managed to not just hold the level of 2008’s Final Crisis, but also beat it by a good few thousand copies; and not so good for Marvel, because it means there’s a massive drop in sales compared to 2008’s Secret Invasion, of more than 100K.
Of course, with DC’s “Brightest Day” and Marvel’s “Heroic Age” waves of relaunches coming up, the deck is to be reshuffled soon. But right now, it looks like DC has the edge, in terms of convincing its target audience that its major books “matter.” For more on Siege sales, see Paul’s Marvel column.
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3 - GREEN LANTERN 02/2005: GL: Rebirth #4 -- 108,077 [121,581] 02/2006: Green Lantern #8 -- 89,252 02/2006: Green Lantern #9 -- 86,554 [ 89,974] 02/2007: Green Lantern #17 -- 62,018 02/2008: -- -------------------------------------- 02/2009: Green Lantern #38 -- 68,908 (+ 5.1%) [ 77,372] 03/2009: -- 04/2009: Green Lantern #39 -- 79,792 (+15.8%) [ 84,784] 04/2009: Green Lantern #40 -- 76,665 (- 3.9%) [ 84,705] 05/2009: Green Lantern #41 -- 81,491 (+ 6.3%) 06/2009: Green Lantern #42 -- 84,131 (+ 3.2%) 07/2009: Green Lantern #43 -- 109,426 (+30.1%) [117,314] 07/2009: Green Lantern #44 -- 105,063 (- 4.0%) [109,599] 08/2009: Green Lantern #45 -- 102,431 (- 2.5%) 09/2009: Green Lantern #46 -- 103,666 (+ 1.2%) 10/2009: Green Lantern #47 -- 101,349 (- 2.2%) 11/2009: Green Lantern #48 -- 100,371 (- 1.0%) 12/2009: Green Lantern #49 -- 97,285 (- 3.1%) 01/2010: Green Lantern #50 -- 106,444 (+ 9.4%) 02/2010: Green Lantern #51 -- 95,509 (-10.3%) ----------------- 6 months: - 6.8% 1 year : + 38.6% 2 years : n.a. 5 years : - 11.6%
The obligatory spike for January’s anniversary number disappears, as usual, but thanks to “Blackest Night,” Green Lantern sales remain close to 100K. As usual, there was a 1-for-25 variant edition.
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4/5 - BATMAN AND ROBIN 06/2009: Batman and Robin #1 -- 168,604 [184,826] 07/2009: Batman and Robin #2 -- 117,986 (-30.2%) [129,086] 08/2009: Batman and Robin #3 -- 110,594 (- 6.3%) 09/2009: Batman and Robin #4 -- 106,925 (- 3.3%) 10/2009: Batman and Robin #5 -- 101,607 (- 5.0%) 11/2009: Batman and Robin #6 -- 95,690 (- 5.8%) 12/2009: -- 01/2010: Batman and Robin #7 -- 87,780 (- 8.3%) 02/2010: Batman and Robin #8 -- 87,302 (- 0.6%) 02/2010: Batman and Robin #9 -- 84,562 (- 3.1%) ----------------- 6 months: - 22.3%
There were two issues in February to compensate for the skip month in December. The Cameron Stewart arc seems to have slowed the decline considerably, but given there’s now a sell-by date on the current direction of the Batman titles, that’s moot, anyway.
Both issues came with 1-for-25 variants, as usual.
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8 - GREEN LANTERN CORPS 02/2006: -- 02/2007: Green Lantern Corps #9 -- 34,897 02/2008: Green Lantern Corps #21 -- 47,582 ------------------------------------------ 02/2009: Green Lantern Corps #33 -- 44,607 (+ 0.7%) [50,171] 03/2009: Green Lantern Corps #34 -- 54,162 (+21.4%) 04/2009: Green Lantern Corps #35 -- 58,769 (+ 8.5%) 05/2009: Green Lantern Corps #36 -- 61,591 (+ 4.8%) 06/2009: Green Lantern Corps #37 -- 63,574 (+ 3.2%) 07/2009: Green Lantern Corps #38 -- 82,415 (+29.6%) 08/2009: Green Lantern Corps #39 -- 84,241 (+ 2.2%) 09/2009: Green Lantern Corps #40 -- 83,112 (- 1.3%) 10/2009: Green Lantern Corps #41 -- 81,377 (- 2.1%) 11/2009: Green Lantern Corps #42 -- 80,391 (- 1.2%) 12/2009: Green Lantern Corps #43 -- 77,774 (- 3.3%) 01/2010: Green Lantern Corps #44 -- 76,458 (- 1.7%) 02/2010: Green Lantern Corps #45 -- 75,404 (- 1.4%) ---------------- 6 months: -10.5% 1 year : +69.0% 2 years : +58.5%
The series has managed to capitalize on various Green Lantern crossovers non-stop for almost three years now. That’s unusual for spin-off series.
As you may have guessed, there was a 1-for-25 variant edition.
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9 - THE FLASH: REBIRTH 02/2005: Flash #219 -- 44,071 [46,188] 02/2007: Flash: FMA #9 -- 47,214 02/2008: Flash #237 -- 37,719 ----------------------------------- 04/2009: Rebirth #1 of 5 -- 102,429 (+286.6%) [111,515] 05/2009: Rebirth #2 of 5 -- 86,183 (- 15.9%) 06/2009: Rebirth #3 of 5 -- 83,086 (- 3.6%) 07/2009: -- 08/2009: Rebirth #4 of 5 -- 78,107 (- 6.0%) 09/2009: -- 10/2009: -- 11/2009: Rebirth #5 of 6 -- 73,875 (- 5.4%) 12/2009: -- 01/2010: -- 02/2010: Rebirth #6 of 6 -- 70,824 (- 4.1%) ----------------- 6 months: - 9.3% 1 year : n.a. 2 years : + 87.8% 5 years : + 60.7%
12 - BLACKEST NIGHT: THE FLASH 12/2009: BN: Flash #1 of 3 -- 80,313 01/2010: BN: Flash #2 of 3 -- 69,381 (- 13.6%) 02/2010: BN: Flash #3 of 3 -- 65,348 (- 5.8%)
Both Flash minis wrapped up in February.
The Flash: Rebirth performed decently throughout its run, given the current market climate, even though its debut numbers didn’t look great compared to DC’s last two attempts to relaunch the series in 2006 and 2007. But in contrast to these relaunches, it’s actually stabilized with subsequent issues. The book was originally solicited for September, by the way.
Blackest Night: The Flash did reasonably well, although it’s not quite up there with the first two Blackest Night spin-off miniseries by the end of its run. The Wonder Woman and JSA ones fared similarly, so that’s probably a case of diminishing returns from the crossover.
There was a 1-for-25 variant for each.
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14 - BATMAN 02/2005: Batman #637 -- 58,034 [60,246] 02/2006: Batman #650 -- 66,447 02/2007: Batman #663 -- 83,167 02/2008: Batman #674 -- 68,208 ------------------------------- 02/2009: Batman #686 -- 111,353 (+53.3%) [128,780] 03/2009: BfC #1 of 3 -- 91,619 (-17.7%) [103,913] 04/2009: BfC #2 of 3 -- 89,120 (- 2.7%) 05/2009: BfC #3 of 3 -- 89,170 (+ 0.1%) 06/2009: Batman #687 -- 96,913 (+ 8.7%) 07/2009: Batman #688 -- 83,040 (-14.3%) 08/2009: Batman #689 -- 78,392 (- 5.6%) 09/2009: Batman #690 -- 77,001 (- 1.8%) 10/2009: Batman #691 -- 71,431 (- 7.2%) 10/2009: Batman #692 -- 70,322 (- 1.6%) 11/2009: Batman #693 -- 68,983 (- 1.9%) 12/2009: Batman #694 -- 65,908 (- 4.5%) 01/2010: Batman #695 -- 63,467 (- 3.7%) 02/2010: Batman #696 -- 61,290 (- 3.4%) ---------------- 6 months: -21.8% 1 year : -45.0% 2 years : -10.1% 5 years : + 5.6%
Batman keeps bottoming out very slowly. There’s another shake-up coming with issue #700, so nobody’s losing any sleep here.
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17 - BLACKEST NIGHT: WONDER WOMAN 12/2009: BN: Wonder Woman #1 of 3 -- 70,758 01/2010: BN: Wonder Woman #2 of 3 -- 61,372 (-13.3%) 02/2010: BN: Wonder Woman #3 of 3 -- 58,700 (- 4.4%)
20 - BLACKEST NIGHT: JSA 12/2009: BN: JSA #1 of 3 -- 68,721 01/2010: BN: JSA #2 of 3 -- 58,751 (-14.5%) 02/2010: BN: JSA #3 of 3 -- 54,906 (- 6.6%)
These are perfectly good numbers, though not as enthusiastic as those for Blackest Night: Batman and Blackest Night: Superman. There was a 1-for-25 variant edition.
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18 - JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA 02/2005: JLA #111 -- 64,540 02/2006: JLA #125 -- 74,341 02/2007: -- 02/2008: Justice League #18 -- 89,803 -------------------------------------- 02/2009: Justice League #30 -- 69,710 (- 3.3%) 03/2009: Justice League #31 -- 68,759 (- 1.4%) 04/2009: Justice League #32 -- 66,021 (- 4.0%) 05/2009: Justice League #33 -- 63,867 (- 3.3%) 06/2009: Justice League #34 -- 61,115 (- 4.3%) 07/2009: Justice League #35 -- 58,915 (- 3.6%) 08/2009: Justice League #36 -- 57,549 (- 2.3%) 09/2009: Justice League #37 -- 55,478 (- 3.6%) 10/2009: Justice League #38 -- 61,012 (+10.0%) 11/2009: Justice League #39 -- 89,376 (+46.5%) 12/2009: Justice League #40 -- 68,672 (-23.2%) 01/2010: Justice League #41 -- 62,262 (- 9.3%) 02/2010: Justice League #42 -- 57,522 (- 7.6%) ---------------- 6 months: - 0.1% 1 year : -17.5% 2 years : -36.0% 5 years : -10.9%
With no more gimmicks or crossovers to boost the numbers, Justice League drops right back into the lower end of Dwayne McDuffie’s sales spectrum. Of course, the next bunch of tie-in stories and crossovers is just around the corner, so sales should be all right for the time being. Based on these numbers, though, they may end up being crutches rather than jet packs.
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23 - ADVENTURE COMICS 02/2009: Adventure Comics #0 -- 32,851 03/2009: -- 04/2009: -- 05/2009: -- 06/2009: -- 07/2009: -- 08/2009: Adventure Comics #1 -- 56,706 (+72.6%) 09/2009: Adventure Comics #2 -- 47,296 (-15.9%) 10/2009: Adventure Comics #3 -- 44,431 (- 6.1%) 11/2009: Adventure Comics #4 -- 85,145 (+91.6%) 12/2009: Adventure Comics #5 -- 59,876 (-29.7%) 01/2010: Adventure Comics #6 -- 42,514 (-29.0%) 02/2010: Adventure Comics #7 -- 53,721 (+26.4%) ----------------- 6 months: - 5.3% 1 year : + 63.5%
35/100 - GREEN ARROW & BLACK CANARY 02/2005: Green Arrow #47 -- 31,553 02/2006: Green Arrow #59 -- 31,250 02/2007: Green Arrow #71 -- 31,470 02/2008: Arrow/Canary #5 -- 36,662 ----------------------------------- 02/2009: Arrow/Canary #17 -- 23,392 (- 4.2%) 03/2009: Arrow/Canary #18 -- 22,699 (- 3.0%) 04/2009: Arrow/Canary #19 -- 21,933 (- 3.4%) 05/2009: Arrow/Canary #20 -- 21,445 (- 2.2%) 06/2009: Arrow/Canary #21 -- 20,807 (- 3.0%) 07/2009: Arrow&Canary #22 -- 20,571 (- 1.1%) 08/2009: Arrow&Canary #23 -- 19,452 (- 5.4%) 09/2009: Arrow&Canary #24 -- 18,780 (- 3.5%) 10/2009: Arrow&Canary #25 -- 18,013 (- 4.1%) 11/2009: Arrow&Canary #26 -- 17,384 (- 3.5%) 12/2009: Arrow&Canary #27 -- 16,904 (- 2.8%) 01/2010: Arrow&Canary #28 -- 16,482 (- 2.5%) 02/2010: Arrow&Canary #29 -- 16,600 (+ 0.7%) 02/2010: BLG Arrow #30 -- 42,014 (+153.1%) ---------------- 6 months: +50.7% 1 year : +25.3% 2 years : -20.1% 5 years : - 7.1%
Two more Blackest Night tie-in issues, and as usual, the lower-selling one gets the larger boost. Interestingly, some retailers seem to have increased their orders for Green Arrow & Black Canary #29, too, evidently for no other reason than because it shipped in the same calendar month as the “Blackest Night” issue. It’s one of those direct-market oddities that I’ll never understand.
Also, Black Lantern Green Arrow #30 (yes, that’s what it’s called) came with a 1-for-25 variant, while Adventure Comics Starring Black Lantern Superboy #7 (yes, that’s what it’s called) was supported with a 1-for-10 variant only. That may further have contributed to the disproportion of their increases.
Green Arrow will see yet another relaunch in June, on the back of an upcoming crossover with Justice League. Given that the story leading up to the relaunch is being lambasted for shoddiness all over and that the new creative team is fairly no-name, there’s cause for being skeptical, certainly.
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38 - JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA 02/2005: JSA #70 -- 42,864 02/2006: JSA #82 -- 54,234 02/2007: Justice Society #3 -- 84,356 [ 86,014] 02/2008: Justice Society #12 -- 84,162 02/2008: Justice Society #13 -- 82,702 --------------------------------------- 02/2009: Justice Society #24 -- 65,207 (+ 6.2%) 03/2009: -- 04/2009: Justice Society #25 -- 65,713 (+ 0.8%) 04/2009: Justice Society #26 -- 81,200 (+ 23.6%) 05/2009: Justice Society #27 -- 56,102 (- 30.9%) 06/2009: Justice Society #28 -- 52,673 (- 6.1%) 07/2009: Justice Society #29 -- 51,375 (- 2.5%) 08/2009: Justice Society #30 -- 49,416 (- 3.8%) 09/2009: Justice Society #31 -- 47,436 (- 4.0%) 10/2009: Justice Society #32 -- 44,885 (- 5.4%) 11/2009: Justice Society #33 -- 43,218 (- 3.7%) 12/2009: Justice Society #34 -- 41,734 (- 3.4%) 01/2010: Justice Society #35 -- 39,934 (- 4.3%) 02/2010: Justice Society #36 -- 39,060 (- 2.2%) ---------------- 6 months: -21.0% 1 year : -40.1% 2 years : -53.2% 5 years : - 8.9%
That’s the smallest drop in ages, but it’s also the book’s lowest sales in ages. That’s still not a terrible number for a Justice Society series, mind you, but obviously, it’s a far cry from the book’s days as a top seller.
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40 - SECRET SIX 02/2009: Secret Six #6 -- 24,758 (- 0.6%) 03/2009: Secret Six #7 -- 24,365 (- 1.6%) 04/2009: Secret Six #8 -- 24,338 (- 0.1%) 05/2009: Secret Six #9 -- 27,116 (+11.4%) 06/2009: Secret Six #10 -- 24,272 (-10.5%) 07/2009: Secret Six #11 -- 24,357 (+ 0.4%) 08/2009: Secret Six #12 -- 24,161 (- 0.8%) 09/2009: Secret Six #13 -- 23,919 (- 1.0%) 10/2009: Secret Six #14 -- 23,345 (- 2.4%) 11/2009: Secret Six #15 -- 23,190 (- 0.7%) 12/2009: Secret Six #16 -- 22,638 (- 2.4%) 01/2010: Secret Six #17 -- 38,515 (+70.1%) 02/2010: Secret Six #18 -- 37,876 (- 1.7%) ---------------- 6 months: +56.8% 1 year : +53.0%
Secret Six sales remain significantly up with the second part of a tie-in with a Blackest Night tie-in.
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42 - RED ROBIN 02/2005: Robin #135 -- 32,331 02/2006: Robin #147 -- 32,120 02/2007: Robin #159 -- 28,210 02/2008: Robin #171 -- 27,781 -------------------------------- 02/2009: Robin #183 -- 31,682 (+ 10.5%) 03/2009: -- 04/2009: -- 05/2009: -- 06/2009: Red Robin #1 -- 64,261 (+102.8%) [71,925] 07/2009: Red Robin #2 -- 51,593 (- 19.7%) [54,544] 08/2009: Red Robin #3 -- 50,329 (- 2.5%) 09/2009: Red Robin #4 -- 47,945 (- 4.7%) 10/2009: Red Robin #5 -- 44,776 (- 6.6%) 11/2009: Red Robin #6 -- 42,409 (- 5.3%) 12/2009: Red Robin #7 -- 39,528 (- 6.8%) 01/2010: Red Robin #8 -- 37,869 (- 4.2%) 02/2010: Red Robin #9 -- 36,466 (- 3.7%) ----------------- 6 months: - 27.6% 1 year : + 15.1% 2 years : + 31.3% 5 years : + 12.8%
The numbers are levelling out very slowly. Red Robin still outsells its predecessor quite handsomely, though, so there’s no reason to be unhappy with these sales.
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43 - BLACKEST NIGHT ONE-SHOTS 01/2010: Catwoman #83 -- 39,239 01/2010: Starman #81 -- 38,671 01/2010: Atom and Hawkman #46 -- 37,854 [40,383] 01/2010: Suicide Squad #67 -- 37,818 01/2010: Power of SHAZAM #48 -- 36,793 01/2010: Phantom Stranger #42 -- 35,937 01/2010: Weird Western T. #71 -- 33,702 02/2010: The Question #37 -- 35,940
The Question #37 is a straggler from January.
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48 - SUPERGIRL 02/2006: Supergirl #4 -- 104,734 02/2006: Supergirl #5 -- 103,108 [104,930] 02/2007: Supergirl #14 -- 52,977 02/2008: Supergirl #26 -- 34,186 --------------------------------- 02/2009: Supergirl #38 -- 34,225 (+ 0.5%) 03/2009: Supergirl #39 -- 33,713 (- 1.5%) 04/2009: Supergirl #40 -- 34,080 (+ 1.1%) 05/2009: Supergirl #41 -- 33,441 (- 1.9%) 06/2009: Supergirl #42 -- 32,705 (- 2.2%) 07/2009: Supergirl #43 -- 32,849 (+ 0.4%) 08/2009: Supergirl #44 -- 33,819 (+ 3.0%) 09/2009: Supergirl #45 -- 32,240 (- 4.7%) 10/2009: Supergirl #46 -- 30,377 (- 5.8%) 11/2009: Supergirl #47 -- 29,159 (- 4.0%) 12/2009: Supergirl #48 -- 28,176 (- 3.4%) 01/2010: Supergirl #49 -- 27,728 (- 1.6%) 02/2010: Supergirl #50 -- 33,338 (+20.2%) ---------------- 6 months: - 1.4% 1 year : - 2.6% 2 years : - 2.5%
Thanks to the modest, desultory anniversary-issue boost, Supergirl outsells the other Superman titles this month. Obviously, the book’s sales have seen better days, as the comparisons with 2006 and 2007 show. There was a 1-for-10 variant edition.
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49 - SUPERMAN/BATMAN 02/2005: Superman/Batman #17 -- 116,637 [118,126] 02/2006: -- 02/2007: -- 02/2008: Superman/Batman #46 -- 52,009 --------------------------------------- 02/2009: Superman/Batman #55 -- 43,962 (- 4.4%) 03/2009: Superman/Batman #56 -- 42,464 (- 3.4%) 04/2009: Superman/Batman #57 -- 41,743 (- 1.7%) 04/2009: Superman/Batman #58 -- 41,000 (- 1.8%) 04/2009: Superman/Batman #59 -- 40,182 (- 2.0%) 05/2009: Superman/Batman #60 -- 39,531 (- 1.6%) 06/2009: Superman/Batman #61 -- 38,228 (- 3.3%) 07/2009: Superman/Batman #62 -- 38,412 (+ 0.5%) 08/2009: Superman/Batman #63 -- 37,467 (- 2.5%) 09/2009: Superman/Batman #64 -- 36,332 (- 3.0%) 10/2009: Superman/Batman #65 -- 34,585 (- 4.8%) 11/2009: Superman/Batman #66 -- 52,143 (+50.8%) 12/2009: Superman/Batman #67 -- 49,650 (- 4.8%) 01/2010: Superman/Batman #68 -- 33,869 (-31.8%) 02/2010: Superman/Batman #69 -- 33,224 (- 1.9%) ---------------- 6 months: -11.3% 1 year : -24.4% 2 years : -36.1% 5 years : -71.5%
The Previews text for Superman/Batman #69 is remarkably frank in referring to the current storyline as “the secret aftermath of ‘Our Worlds at War’.” Indeed, so secret was this aftermath of “Our Worlds at War” that not even the writer knew about it when he wrote the story for Superman/Batman #69.
Not surprisingly, the prospect of a follow-up to a ten-year-old, not even very fondly remembered, not even very-fondly-remembered-by-the-people-who-wrote-it crossover didn’t entice retailers to buy more copies.
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50 - SUPERMAN: WORLD OF NEW KRYPTON 03/2009: WoNK #1 of 12 -- 50,050 04/2009: WoNK #2 of 12 -- 44,880 (-10.3%) 05/2009: WoNK #3 of 12 -- 42,153 (- 6.1%) 06/2009: WoNK #4 of 12 -- 41,620 (- 1.3%) 07/2009: WoNK #5 of 12 -- 39,939 (- 4.0%) 08/2009: WoNK #6 of 12 -- 39,218 (- 1.8%) 09/2009: WoNK #7 of 12 -- 37,697 (- 3.9%) 10/2009: WoNK #8 of 12 -- 36,672 (- 2.7%) 11/2009: WoNK #9 of 12 -- 35,286 (- 3.8%) 12/2009: WoNK #10 of 12 -- 33,868 (- 4.0%) 01/2010: WoNK #11 of 12 -- 32,728 (- 3.4%) 02/2010: WoNK #12 of 12 -- 32,407 (- 1.0%) ---------------- 6 months: -17.4%
51 - SUPERMAN 02/2005: Superman #213 -- 101,258 02/2006: Superman #226 -- 63,982 02/2007: Superman #659 -- 58,258 02/2008: Superman #673 -- 41,580 --------------------------------- 02/2009: Superman #685 -- 48,027 (- 1.0%) 03/2009: Superman #686 -- 44,976 (- 6.4%) 04/2009: Superman #687 -- 43,041 (- 4.3%) 05/2009: Superman #688 -- 41,642 (- 3.3%) 06/2009: Superman #689 -- 40,366 (- 3.1%) 07/2009: Superman #690 -- 39,472 (- 2.2%) 08/2009: Superman #691 -- 39,106 (- 0.9%) 09/2009: Superman #692 -- 37,695 (- 3.6%) 10/2009: Superman #693 -- 35,395 (- 6.1%) 11/2009: Superman #694 -- 34,430 (- 2.7%) 12/2009: Superman #695 -- 32,482 (- 5.7%) 01/2010: Superman #696 -- 31,940 (- 1.7%) 02/2010: Superman #697 -- 31,504 (- 1.4%) ---------------- 6 months: -19.4% 1 year : -34.4% 2 years : -24.2% 5 years : -68.9%
59 - ACTION COMICS 02/2005: Action Comics #824 -- 37,432 02/2006: Action Comics #836 -- 51,722 [55,331] 02/2007: Action Comics #846 -- 64,554 [66,349] 02/2008: Action Comics #862 -- 55,658 ------------------------------------- 02/2009: Action Comics #874 -- 48,360 (- 6.9%) 03/2009: Action Comics #875 -- 47,079 (- 2.7%) 04/2009: Action Comics #876 -- 43,368 (- 7.9%) 05/2009: Action Comics #877 -- 41,772 (- 3.7%) 06/2009: Action Comics #878 -- 40,011 (- 4.2%) 07/2009: Action Comics #879 -- 38,324 (- 4.2%) 08/2009: Action Comics #880 -- 37,588 (- 1.9%) 09/2009: Action Comics #881 -- 36,183 (- 3.7%) 10/2009: Action Comics #882 -- 34,754 (- 4.0%) 11/2009: Action Comics #883 -- 33,386 (- 3.9%) 12/2009: Action Comics #884 -- 31,873 (- 4.5%) 01/2010: Action Comics #885 -- 30,678 (- 3.8%) 02/2010: Action Comics #886 -- 29,845 (- 2.7%) ---------------- 6 months: -20.6% 1 year : -38.3% 2 years : -46.4% 5 years : -20.3%
The Superman titles all seem to be bottoming out, now that the end is nigh for the current direction. There was a variant edition for World of New Krypton, as usual, though this time the advertisement text was coy on the ratio.
Starting in February, the next shake-up gets underway: Superman: The World of New Krypton is replaced with a three-part miniseries from March through April; in May the entire line will be on hold in favor of the weekly four-part series War of the Supermen, which will be promoted with a free “#0″ issue on Free Comic Book Day; and in June, the next creative revamp begins, headed by J. Michael Straczynski’s Superman #700 and Marc Guggenheim’s Action Comics #890.
Handing Superman to Straczynski is a commercial no-brainer, of course. This being DC, I suppose it’s still possible they’ll ask Straczynski to work under a pseudonym or replace the hero with Ambush Bug for the duration of the Straczynski run so it doesn’t interfere with upcoming events in the WildStorm Universe books, or something equally unlikely that no mentally sane person who wishes to sell comics would ever think of. But, you know, fingers crossed.
Speaking of oddities, by the way, it’s extremely odd that DC chose what now looks like the beginning of a clean-up exercise as their Free Comic Book Day selection. Wouldn’t it have made infinitely more sense to have a J. Michael Straczynski-written, accessible, fresh-start kind of comic book for that?
All of this makes the Straczynski run look like a decision that was made on rather short notice by the new editorial and executive regime. Honestly: Why else would DC waste an opportunity like that to get a free Superman comic in people’s hands that they might actually be able to understand?
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61 - JSA ALL-STARS 12/2009: JSA All-Stars #1 -- 42,493 01/2010: JSA All-Stars #2 -- 32,601 (-23.3%) 02/2010: JSA All-Stars #3 -- 29,666 (- 9.0%)
These are average drops. But the book started out with high sales, so that’s not a problem, for now.
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62 - BATGIRL 02/2005: Batgirl #61 -- 28,796 02/2006: Batgirl #73 -- 26,546 ---------------------------------- 08/2009: Batgirl #1 -- 51,724 (+149.3%) 09/2009: Batgirl #2 -- 40,626 (- 21.5%) 10/2009: Batgirl #3 -- 37,011 (- 8.9%) 11/2009: Batgirl #4 -- 34,697 (- 6.3%) 12/2009: Batgirl #5 -- 32,482 (- 6.4%) 01/2010: Batgirl #6 -- 30,403 (- 6.4%) 02/2010: Batgirl #7 -- 29,524 (- 2.9%) ---------------- 6 months: -42.9% 5 years : + 2.5%
66 - GOTHAM CITY SIRENS 02/2005: Birds of Prey #79 -- 29,510 02/2006: Birds of Prey #91 -- 29,835 02/2007: Birds of Prey #103 -- 28,327 02/2008: Birds of Prey #115 -- 23,157 ------------------------------------- 02/2009: Birds of Prey #127 -- 21,424 (+ 3.1%) 03/2009: Oracle #1 of 3 -- 34,081 (+59.1%) 04/2009: Oracle #2 of 3 -- 33,731 (- 1.0%) 05/2009: Oracle #3 of 3 -- 35,328 (+ 4.7%) 06/2009: GC Sirens #1 -- 52,439 (+48.4%) 07/2009: GC Sirens #2 -- 39,518 (-24.6%) 08/2009: GC Sirens #3 -- 36,772 (- 7.0%) 09/2009: GC Sirens #4 -- 34,405 (- 6.4%) 10/2009: GC Sirens #5 -- 33,015 (- 4.0%) 11/2009: GC Sirens #6 -- 30,990 (- 6.1%) 12/2009: GC Sirens #7 -- 29,709 (- 4.1%) 01/2010: GC Sirens #8 -- 28,254 (- 4.9%) 02/2010: GC Sirens #9 -- 27,172 (- 3.8%) ----------------- 6 months: - 26.1% 1 year : + 26.8% 2 years : + 17.3% 5 years : - 7.9%
67 - BATMAN: STREETS OF GOTHAM 06/2009: Batman: SoG #1 -- 57,650 07/2009: Batman: SoG #2 -- 44,240 (-23.3%) 08/2009: Batman: SoG #3 -- 40,353 (- 8.8%) 09/2009: Batman: SoG #4 -- 37,888 (- 6.1%) 10/2009: Batman: SoG #5 -- 34,533 (- 8.9%) 11/2009: Batman: SoG #6 -- 32,303 (- 6.5%) 12/2009: Batman: SoG #7 -- 30,290 (- 6.2%) 01/2010: Batman: SoG #8 -- 28,313 (- 6.5%) 02/2010: Batman: SoG #9 -- 27,023 (- 4.6%) ---------------- 6 months: -33.0%
These three Batman spin-off titles keep racing down the charts, although not as fast as they used to. That’s a good sign.
The bad sign is that they’re all very closely lumped together on the chart, which usually means that retailers only order the books because they happen to be part of a line that’s been over-expanded.
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68 - TEEN TITANS 02/2005: Teen Titans #21 -- 66,861 [68,751] 02/2006: Teen Titans #32 -- 69,131 02/2007: -- 02/2008: Teen Titans #56 -- 50,283 ---------------------------------- 02/2009: Teen Titans #68 -- 35,096 (- 2.2%) 03/2009: -- 04/2009: Teen Titans #69 -- 35,375 (+ 0.8%) 04/2009: Teen Titans #70 -- 35,412 (+ 0.1%) 05/2009: Teen Titans #71 -- 34,110 (- 3.7%) 06/2009: Teen Titans #72 -- 32,512 (- 4.7%) 07/2009: Teen Titans #73 -- 30,990 (- 4.7%) 08/2009: Teen Titans #74 -- 30,380 (- 2.0%) 09/2009: Teen Titans #75 -- 32,808 (+ 8.0%) 10/2009: Teen Titans #76 -- 29,166 (-11.1%) 11/2009: Teen Titans #77 -- 46,239 (+58.5%) 12/2009: Teen Titans #78 -- 43,400 (- 6.1%) 01/2010: Teen Titans #79 -- 27,790 (-36.0%) 02/2010: Teen Titans #80 -- 26,537 (- 4.5%) ---------------- 6 months: -12.7% 1 year : -24.4% 2 years : -47.2% 5 years : -60.3%
The numbers are back in their usual decline.
—–
71 - WONDER WOMAN 02/2005: Wonder Woman #213 -- 24,728 02/2006: Wonder Woman #226 -- 45,682 02/2007: Wonder Woman #4 -- 69,860 02/2008: Wonder Woman #17 -- 41,948 ------------------------------------- 02/2009: Wonder Woman #29 -- 33,237 (+ 1.9%) 03/2009: Wonder Woman #30 -- 33,365 (+ 0.4%) 04/2009: Wonder Woman #31 -- 31,857 (- 4.5%) 05/2009: Wonder Woman #32 -- 33,065 (+ 3.8%) 06/2009: Wonder Woman #33 -- 32,755 (- 0.9%) 07/2009: Wonder Woman #34 -- 30,131 (- 8.0%) 08/2009: Wonder Woman #35 -- 29,657 (- 1.6%) 09/2009: Wonder Woman #36 -- 28,806 (- 2.9%) 10/2009: Wonder Woman #37 -- 26,972 (- 6.4%) 11/2009: Wonder Woman #38 -- 26,265 (- 2.6%) 12/2009: Wonder Woman #39 -- 26,152 (- 0.4%) 01/2010: Wonder Woman #40 -- 25,156 (- 3.8%) 02/2010: Wonder Woman #41 -- 25,354 (+ 0.8%) ---------------- 6 months: -14.5% 1 year : -23.7% 2 years : -39.6% 5 years : + 2.5%
Sales are holding level for no readily apparent reason, which is always a good sign for the current direction.
It’s moot, at this stage, though. Starting in June, Wonder Woman will see a creative overhaul led by J. Michael Straczynski.
—–
74 - TITANS 02/2009: Titans #10 -- 36,361 (- 3.5%) 03/2009: Titans #11 -- 35,240 (- 3.1%) 04/2009: Titans #12 -- 36,014 (+ 2.2%) 05/2009: Titans #13 -- 34,343 (- 4.6%) 06/2009: Titans #14 -- 32,321 (- 5.9%) 07/2009: Titans #15 -- 46,189 (+42.9%) 08/2009: Titans #16 -- 31,408 (-32.0%) 09/2009: Titans #17 -- 30,154 (- 4.0%) 10/2009: Titans #18 -- 28,215 (- 6.4%) 11/2009: Titans #19 -- 27,099 (- 4.0%) 12/2009: Titans #20 -- 25,887 (- 4.5%) 01/2010: Titans #21 -- 24,924 (- 3.7%) 02/2010: Titans #22 -- 24,489 (- 1.8%) ---------------- 6 months: -22.0% 1 year : -32.7%
Coming up: a fill-in, a skip month, a one-shot special, and then a new direction with a no-name creative team.
Given that you’d need a third hand to count all the new and immediately aborted directions the Titans books have seen over the last two years, it’s probably a good idea to tie it in with “Brightest Day.”
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87 - THE OUTSIDERS 02/2005: Outsiders #20 -- 39,051 02/2005: Outsiders #21 -- 40,032 [42,077] 02/2006: Outsiders #33 -- 43,270 02/2007: Outsiders #45 -- 32,976 02/2008: Batsiders #4 -- 37,903 -------------------------------- 02/2009: Special #1 -- 35,727 (+ 11.1%) 02/2009: Outsiders #15 -- 30,024 (- 16.0%) 03/2009: Outsiders #16 -- 27,977 (- 6.8%) 04/2009: Outsiders #17 -- 27,171 (- 2.9%) 05/2009: Outsiders #18 -- 25,995 (- 4.3%) 06/2009: Outsiders #19 -- 27,485 (+ 5.7%) 07/2009: Outsiders #20 -- 24,323 (- 11.5%) 08/2009: Outsiders #21 -- 23,856 (- 1.9%) 09/2009: Outsiders #22 -- 22,775 (- 4.5%) 10/2009: Outsiders #23 -- 21,413 (- 6.0%) 11/2009: Outsiders #24 -- 50,918 (+137.8%) [55,704] 12/2009: Outsiders #25 -- 37,847 (- 25.7%) 01/2010: Outsiders #26 -- 22,626 (- 40.2%) 02/2010: Outsiders #27 -- 21,167 (- 6.5%) ---------------- 6 months: -11.3% 1 year : -35.6% 2 years : -44.2% 5 years : -46.5%
88 - BOOSTER GOLD 02/2008: Booster Gold #0 -- 37,808 ----------------------------------- 02/2009: Booster Gold #17 -- 24,732 (- 2.9%) 03/2009: Booster Gold #18 -- 23,737 (- 4.0%) 04/2009: Booster Gold #19 -- 23,203 (- 2.3%) 05/2009: Booster Gold #20 -- 22,549 (- 2.8%) 06/2009: Booster Gold #21 -- 23,222 (+ 3.0%) 07/2009: Booster Gold #22 -- 22,414 (- 3.5%) 08/2009: Booster Gold #23 -- 22,108 (- 1.4%) 09/2009: Booster Gold #24 -- 21,731 (- 1.7%) 10/2009: Booster Gold #25 -- 21,597 (- 0.6%) 11/2009: Booster Gold #26 -- 57,122 (+164.5%) 12/2009: Booster Gold #27 -- 40,256 (- 29.5%) 01/2010: Booster Gold #28 -- 21,967 (- 45.4%) 02/2010: Booster Gold #29 -- 21,020 (- 4.3%) ----------------- 6 months: - 4.9% 1 year : - 15.0% 2 years : - 44.4%
The Outsiders and Booster Gold sales are back where they were before the “Blackest Night” issues.
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89 - POWER GIRL 05/2009: Power Girl #1 -- 47,322 06/2009: Power Girl #2 -- 36,756 (-22.3%) 07/2009: Power Girl #3 -- 35,163 (- 4.3%) 08/2009: Power Girl #4 -- 32,140 (- 8.6%) 09/2009: Power Girl #5 -- 29,497 (- 8.2%) 10/2009: Power Girl #6 -- 27,060 (- 8.3%) 11/2009: -- 12/2009: Power Girl #7 -- 22,533 (-16.7%) 01/2010: Power Girl #8 -- 21,760 (- 3.4%) 02/2010: Power Girl #9 -- 20,900 (- 4.0%) ---------------- 6 months: -35.0%
Still declining. A new creative team is around the corner, but Power Girl seems like one of those titles that only work because of the specific creative team that happens to be doing them, so again, there’s reason to be skeptical whether the move will have a positive effect on the numbers.
—–
97 - JOE THE BARBARIAN (Vertigo) 01/2010: Joe the Barbarian #1 of 8 -- 25,543 [29,712] 02/2010: Joe the Barbarian #2 of 8 -- 17,512 (-31.4%)
Under normal circumstances, this would be a very stiff second-issue drop for a mini. In this case, though, 30% are a great sign, because the first issue was one of Vertigo’s $ 1.00 loss leaders.
Also, because Fables was absent in February, Joe the Barbarian was Vertigo’s best-selling comic book.
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99 - BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL 02/2007: Batman Confidential #3 -- 41,109 02/2008: Batman Confidential #12 -- 27,208 02/2008: Batman Confidential #13 -- 25,735 ------------------------------------------ 02/2009: Batman Confidential #26 -- 20,134 (- 1.9%) 03/2009: Batman Confidential #27 -- 19,934 (- 1.0%) 04/2009: Batman Confidential #28 -- 19,540 (- 2.0%) 05/2009: Batman Confidential #29 -- 18,867 (- 3.4%) 06/2009: Batman Confidential #30 -- 18,443 (- 2.3%) 07/2009: Batman Confidential #31 -- 19,225 (+ 4.2%) 08/2009: Batman Confidential #32 -- 18,545 (- 3.5%) 09/2009: Batman Confidential #33 -- 18,140 (- 2.2%) 10/2009: Batman Confidential #34 -- 17,097 (- 5.8%) 10/2009: Batman Confidential #35 -- 16,724 (- 2.2%) 11/2009: Batman Confidential #36 -- 16,664 (- 0.4%) 11/2009: Batman Confidential #37 -- 16,355 (- 1.9%) 12/2009: Batman Confidential #38 -- 16,132 (- 1.4%) 12/2009: Batman Confidential #39 -- 15,906 (- 1.4%) 01/2010: Batman Confidential #40 -- 17,241 (+ 8.4%) 02/2010: Batman Confidential #41 -- 16,856 (- 2.2%) ---------------- 6 months: - 9.1% 1 year : -16.3% 2 years : -36.3%
The Sam Kieth arc still enjoys a modest increase compared to previous issues.
——
103 - DOOM PATROL 02/2005: Doom Patrol #9 -- 17,544 ---------------------------------- 08/2009: Doom Patrol #1 -- 28,267 09/2009: Doom Patrol #2 -- 22,001 (- 22.2%) 10/2009: Doom Patrol #3 -- 20,036 (- 8.9%) 11/2009: Doom Patrol #4 -- 53,748 (+168.3%) 12/2009: Doom Patrol #5 -- 35,348 (- 34.2%) 01/2010: Doom Patrol #6 -- 17,117 (- 51.6%) 02/2010: Doom Patrol #7 -- 15,689 (- 8.3%) ----------------- 6 months: - 44.5% 5 years : - 10.6%
Doom Patrol keeps rushing down the charts. Which is what the two previous Doom Patrol series did, so no great surprise there.
—–
107 - CINDERELLA: FROM FABLETOWN WITH LOVE (Vertigo) 11/2009: Cinderella #1 of 6 -- 20,337 12/2009: Cinderella #2 of 6 -- 16,598 (-18.4%) 01/2010: Cinderella #3 of 6 -- 15,827 (- 4.7%) 02/2010: Cinderella #4 of 6 -- 15,421 (- 2.6%)
The Fables spin-off keeps performing very well, even without Bill Willingham’s name in the credits.
Meanwhile, Fables, Vol. 13: The Great Fables Crossover, the latest collection, shipped in February, with estimated direct-market sales of 11,892 in its first calendar month. This is broadly in line with previous volumes but also suggests that there hasn’t been any growth to make up for the recent decline of sales of the Fables comic books.
(The usual disclaimer applies: These are first-month sales in the direct market. For all we know, people may be simply postponing their purchase or — since Fables is one of the few recent Vertigo books that seem to be doing very well in the book market at large — getting the books through Amazon.)
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116 - HUMAN TARGET 02/2005: Human Target #19 -- 7,678 --------------------------------------- 02/2010: Human Target #1 of 6 -- 13,690 ---------------- 5 years : +78.3%
A new miniseries to tie in with the television series, this time under the DC Universe umbrella rather than from Vertigo. Sales are deeply unimpressive, at any rate, particularly considering that there was a 1-for-10 variant edition.
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117 - THE UNWRITTEN (Vertigo) 05/2009: The Unwritten #1 -- 26,915 [31,081] 06/2009: The Unwritten #2 -- 16,290 (-39.5%) 07/2009: The Unwritten #3 -- 17,028 (+ 4.5%) 08/2009: The Unwritten #4 -- 16,336 (- 4.1%) 09/2009: The Unwritten #5 -- 16,011 (- 2.0%) 10/2009: The Unwritten #6 -- 15,314 (- 4.4%) 11/2009: The Unwritten #7 -- 14,763 (- 3.6%) 12/2009: The Unwritten #8 -- 14,257 (- 3.4%) 01/2010: The Unwritten #9 -- 13,792 (- 3.3%) 02/2010: The Unwritten #10 -- 13,644 (- 1.1%) ---------------- 6 months: -16.5%
The numbers are bottoming out, which means The Unwritten is set to be Vertigo’s second-best-selling ongoing title after Fables — and their most successful new launch in ages.
Also, the first collection sold another estimated 1,059 copies in the direct market in its second calendar month, in addition to January’s 5,836 units, making The Unwritten one of Vertigo’s most successful titles in that respect, as well.
There’s every indication that the loss-leader $ 1.00 debut issue from last May is paying off in spades, in this case.
—–
123 - AZRAEL 03/2009: Death's Dark Knight #1 of 3 -- 39,985 04/2009: Death's Dark Knight #2 of 3 -- 36,432 (- 8.9%) 05/2009: Death's Dark Knight #3 of 3 -- 35,916 (- 1.4%) 06/2009: -- 07/2009: -- 08/2009: -- 09/2009: -- 10/2009: Azrael #1 -- 35,311 (- 1.7%) 11/2009: Azrael #2 -- 21,392 (-39.4%) 12/2009: Azrael #3 -- 17,757 (-17.0%) 01/2010: Azrael #4 -- 14,703 (-17.2%) 02/2010: Azrael #5 -- 12,856 (-12.6%)
Azrael sales keep crashing like there’s no tomorrow.
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131 - R.E.B.E.L.S. 02/2009: R.E.B.E.L.S. #1 -- 23,739 03/2009: R.E.B.E.L.S. #2 -- 16,122 (- 32.1%) 04/2009: R.E.B.E.L.S. #3 -- 14,442 (- 10.4%) 05/2009: R.E.B.E.L.S. #4 -- 13,468 (- 6.7%) 06/2009: R.E.B.E.L.S. #5 -- 12,909 (- 4.2%) 07/2009: R.E.B.E.L.S. #6 -- 12,349 (- 4.3%) 08/2009: R.E.B.E.L.S. #7 -- 11,682 (- 5.4%) 09/2009: R.E.B.E.L.S. #8 -- 11,347 (- 2.9%) 10/2009: R.E.B.E.L.S. #9 -- 11,284 (- 0.6%) 11/2009: R.E.B.E.L.S. #10 -- 51,100 (+352.9%) 12/2009: R.E.B.E.L.S. #11 -- 31,489 (- 38.4%) 01/2010: R.E.B.E.L.S. #12 -- 12,428 (- 60.5%) 02/2010: R.E.B.E.L.S. #13 -- 11,836 (- 4.8%) ----------------- 6 months: + 1.3% 1 year : - 50.1%
Sales are still above the pre-”Blackest Night” number, but again, that’s not a ringing endorsement. Obviously, though, R.E.B.E.L.S. isn’t the worst-selling ongoing DC Universe series by a long stretch, so maybe there’s still some rope.
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135 - JONAH HEX 02/2006: Jonah Hex #4 -- 23,569 02/2007: Jonah Hex #16 -- 17,490 02/2008: Jonah Hex #28 -- 13,614 -------------------------------- 02/2009: Jonah Hex #40 -- 11,631 (- 0.6%) 03/2009: Jonah Hex #41 -- 11,564 (- 0.6%) 04/2009: Jonah Hex #42 -- 11,551 (- 0.1%) 05/2009: Jonah Hex #43 -- 11,606 (+ 0.5%) 06/2009: Jonah Hex #44 -- 11,592 (- 0.1%) 07/2009: Jonah Hex #45 -- 12,588 (+ 8.6%) 08/2009: Jonah Hex #46 -- 12,466 (- 1.0%) 09/2009: Jonah Hex #47 -- 12,231 (- 1.9%) 10/2009: Jonah Hex #48 -- 11,281 (- 7.8%) 11/2009: Jonah Hex #49 -- 11,146 (- 1.2%) 12/2009: Jonah Hex #50 -- 15,131 (+35.8%) 01/2010: Jonah Hex #51 -- 11,184 (-26.1%) 02/2010: Jonah Hex #52 -- 11,213 (+ 0.3%) ---------------- 6 months: -10.1% 1 year : - 3.6% 2 years : -17.6%
The numbers are holding level again, for no obvious reason — always a good sign.
—–
143 - HELLBLAZER (Vertigo) 02/2005: Hellblazer #205 -- 15,158 02/2006: Hellblazer #217 -- 14,306 02/2007: Hellblazer #229 -- 13,032 02/2008: Hellblazer #241 -- 11,998 ---------------------------------- 02/2009: Hellblazer #252 -- 11,174 (-1.0%) 03/2009: Hellblazer #253 -- 11,132 (-0.4%) 04/2009: Hellblazer #254 -- 11,053 (-0.7%) 05/2009: Hellblazer #255 -- 10,937 (-1.1%) 06/2009: Hellblazer #256 -- 10,898 (-0.4%) 07/2009: Hellblazer #257 -- 10,762 (-1.3%) 08/2009: Hellblazer #258 -- 10,665 (-0.9%) 09/2009: Hellblazer #259 -- 10,813 (+1.4%) 10/2009: Hellblazer #260 -- 10,767 (-0.4%) 11/2009: Hellblazer #261 -- 10,553 (-2.0%) 12/2009: Hellblazer #262 -- 10,334 (-2.1%) 01/2010: Hellblazer #263 -- 10,179 (-1.5%) 02/2010: Hellblazer #264 -- 10,025 (-1.5%) ---------------- 6 months: - 6.0% 1 year : -10.3% 2 years : -16.4% 5 years : -33.9%
Standard attrition.
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145 - MILESTONE FOREVER 02/2010: Milestone Forever #1 of 2 -- 9,792
This swan song to the Milestone comics published by DC in the 1990s comes with a $ 5.99 price tag, so this number was to be expected.
Bizarrely, DC’s been pulling various quotations from the series that were evidently essential to the story, under nebulous circumstances.
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146 - SWEET TOOTH (Vertigo) 09/2009: Sweet Tooth #1 -- 18,657 10/2009: Sweet Tooth #2 -- 11,315 (-39.4%) 11/2009: Sweet Tooth #3 -- 10,363 (- 8.4%) 12/2009: Sweet Tooth #4 -- 9,817 (- 5.3%) 01/2010: Sweet Tooth #5 -- 9,787 (- 0.3%) 02/2010: Sweet Tooth #6 -- 9,740 (- 0.5%)
Sales are holding level, for the second month in a row.
Another win for the $ 1.00-debut promotion? We’ll find out in a few months, when the first collection ships. For now, Sweet Tooth sales are looking good.
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150 - RED TORNADO 09/2009: Red Tornado #1 of 6 -- 20,551 10/2009: Red Tornado #2 of 6 -- 14,383 (-30.0%) 11/2009: Red Tornado #3 of 6 -- 12,331 (-14.3%) 12/2009: Red Tornado #4 of 6 -- 11,009 (-10.7%) 01/2010: Red Tornado #5 of 6 -- 10,044 (- 8.8%) 02/2010: Red Tornado #6 of 6 -- 9,581 (- 4.6%)
Well, kind of expected for a Red Tornado series that’s just been pushed out the door to fend for itself. The numbers could have been worse, even.
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151 - DAYTRIPPER (Vertigo) 12/2009: Daytripper #1 of 10 -- 12,010 01/2009: Daytripper #2 of 10 -- 9,846 (-18.0%) 02/2009: Daytripper #3 of 10 -- 9,577 (- 2.7%)
Another Vertigo series that appears to be finding its level quickly.
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152 - HOUSE OF MYSTERY (Vertigo) 02/2009: House of Mystery #10 -- 13,098 (- 4.7%) 03/2009: House of Mystery #11 -- 12,785 (- 2.4%) 04/2009: House of Mystery #12 -- 12,636 (- 1.2%) 05/2009: House of Mystery #13 -- 14,358 (+13.6%) 06/2009: House of Mystery #14 -- 12,039 (-16.2%) 07/2009: House of Mystery #15 -- 11,809 (- 1.9%) 08/2009: House of Mystery #16 -- 11,572 (- 2.0%) 09/2009: House of Mystery #17 -- 11,142 (- 3.7%) 10/2009: House of Mystery #18 -- 10,922 (- 2.0%) 11/2009: House of Mystery #19 -- 10,478 (- 4.1%) 12/2009: House of Mystery #20 -- 10,175 (- 2.9%) 01/2010: House of Mystery #21 -- 9,888 (- 2.8%) 02/2010: House of Mystery #22 -- 9,401 (- 4.9%) ---------------- 6 months: -18.8% 1 year : -28.2%
No such luck for House of Mystery, meanwhile. But the book is still one of the imprint’s better performers, of course.
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158 - TINY TITANS (Johnny DC) 02/2008: Tiny Titans #1 -- 15,238 ---------------------------------- 02/2009: Tiny Titans #13 -- 8,710 (- 0.3%) 03/2009: Tiny Titans #14 -- 8,736 (+ 0.3%) 04/2009: Tiny Titans #15 -- 9,207 (+ 5.4%) 05/2009: Tiny Titans #16 -- 8,844 (- 3.9%) 06/2009: Tiny Titans #17 -- 8,640 (- 2.3%) 07/2009: Tiny Titans #18 -- 8,576 (- 0.7%) 08/2009: Tiny Titans #19 -- 8,432 (- 1.7%) 09/2009: Tiny Titans #20 -- 8,435 (+ 0.0%) 10/2009: Tiny Titans #21 -- 8,259 (- 2.1%) 11/2009: Tiny Titans #22 -- 8,100 (- 1.9%) 12/2009: Tiny Titans #23 -- 8,017 (- 1.0%) 01/2010: Tiny Titans #24 -- 7,844 (- 2.2%) 02/2010: Tiny Titans #25 -- 8,566 (+ 9.2%) ---------------- 6 months: + 1.6% 1 year : - 1.7% 2 years : -43.8%
A Johnny DC title, see fine print.
—–
159 - MAGOG 09/2009: Magog #1 -- 26,352 10/2009: Magog #2 -- 16,193 (-38.6%) 11/2009: Magog #3 -- 12,915 (-20.2%) 12/2009: Magog #4 -- 10,700 (-17.2%) 01/2010: Magog #5 -- 9,215 (-13.9%) 02/2010: Magog #6 -- 8,548 (- 7.2%)
161 - WARLORD 04/2009: Warlord #1 -- 17,540 05/2009: Warlord #2 -- 13,390 (-23.7%) 06/2009: Warlord #3 -- 12,283 (- 8.3%) 07/2009: Warlord #4 -- 11,445 (- 6.8%) 08/2009: Warlord #5 -- 10,790 (- 5.7%) 09/2009: Warlord #6 -- 10,331 (- 4.3%) 10/2009: Warlord #7 -- 9,892 (- 4.3%) 11/2009: Warlord #8 -- 9,547 (- 3.5%) 12/2009: Warlord #9 -- 9,102 (- 4.7%) 01/2010: Warlord #10 -- 8,807 (- 3.2%) 02/2010: Warlord #11 -- 8,532 (- 3.1%) ---------------- 6 months: -20.9%
These are the two lowest-selling ongoing DC Universe series that haven’t been canceled yet. The future looks bleak for Magog, certainly.
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162 - DEMO (Vertigo) 11/2003: Demo #1 of 12 -- 4,529 12/2003: Demo #2 of 12 -- 3,115 (-31.2%) 01/2004: Demo #3 of 12 -- 3,170 (+ 1.8%) 02/2004: Demo #4 of 12 -- 3,220 (+ 1.6%) 03/2004: Demo #5 of 12 -- 3,301 (+ 2.5%) 05/2004: Demo #6 of 12 -- 3,514 (+ 6.5%) 06/2004: Demo #7 of 12 -- 3,882 (+10.5%) 07/2004: Demo #8 of 12 -- 3,803 (- 2.0%) 08/2004: Demo #9 of 12 -- 3,976 (+ 4.6%) 10/2004: Demo #10 of 12 -- 4,260 (+ 7.1%) 10/2004: Demo #11 of 12 -- 4,344 (+ 2.0%) 12/2004: Demo #12 of 12 -- 4,628 (+ 6.5%) ------------------------------------- 02/2010: Demo Vol. 2 #1 of 6 -- 8,317
Granted: One, a lot of people are going to wait for the collection on this one. And two, the book almost doubled its sales compared to Vol. 1, which was released by indie publisher AiT/Planet Lar back in 2003 and 2004.
That said: This is a disappointing start for the new Demo series, surely — not just by Vertigo’s standards, but also by Brian Wood’s.
Wood’s Northlanders #1 debuted with estimated first-month sales of 19,805 back in December 2007 (partly thanks to a variant edition, to be fair). And DMZ #1 sold an estimated 18,705 units in November 2005. Demo isn’t even in the same ballpark. The number makes me wonder if half the book’s print run fell off a truck and didn’t arrive in stores until March, to be honest; but given that Demo #1 came out in the first week of February, that’s an unlikely scenario.
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165 - MADAME XANADU (Vertigo) 02/2009: Madame Xanadu #8 -- 9,932 (- 3.3%) 03/2009: Madame Xanadu #9 -- 9,798 (- 1.4%) 04/2009: Madame Xanadu #10 -- 9,664 (- 1.4%) 05/2009: Madame Xanadu #11 -- 10,179 (+ 5.3%) 06/2009: Madame Xanadu #12 -- 9,949 (- 2.3%) 07/2009: Madame Xanadu #13 -- 10,009 (+ 0.6%) 08/2009: Madame Xanadu #14 -- 9,873 (- 1.4%) 09/2009: Madame Xanadu #15 -- 9,733 (- 1.4%) 10/2009: Madame Xanadu #16 -- 9,283 (- 4.6%) 11/2009: Madame Xanadu #17 -- 8,856 (- 4.6%) 12/2009: Madame Xanadu #18 -- 8,686 (- 1.9%) 01/2010: Madame Xanadu #19 -- 8,439 (- 2.8%) 02/2010: Madame Xanadu #20 -- 8,285 (- 1.8%) ---------------- 6 months: -16.1% 1 year : -16.6%
That’s standard attrition.
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170 - THE AUTHORITY (WildStorm) 02/2005: Revolution #5 of 12 -- 20,683 02/2007: -- 02/2008: Prime #5 of 6 -- 14,099 --------------------------------------- 02/2009: The Authority v4 #7 -- 10,553 (- 1.1%) 03/2009: The Authority v4 #8 -- 9,990 (- 5.3%) 04/2009: The Authority v4 #9 -- 9,748 (- 2.4%) 05/2009: The Authority v4 #10 -- 9,531 (- 2.2%) 06/2009: The Authority v4 #11 -- 9,204 (- 3.4%) 07/2009: The Authority v4 #12 -- 8,918 (- 3.1%) 08/2009: The Authority v4 #13 -- 8,648 (- 3.0%) 09/2009: The Authority v4 #14 -- 8,394 (- 2.9%) 10/2009: The Authority v4 #15 -- 8,174 (- 2.6%) 11/2009: The Authority v4 #16 -- 8,066 (- 1.3%) 12/2009: The Authority v4 #17 -- 7,829 (- 2.9%) 01/2010: The Authority v4 #18 -- 7,952 (+ 1.6%) 02/2010: The Authority v4 #19 -- 7,943 (- 0.1%) ---------------- 6 months: - 8.2% 1 year : -24.7% 2 years : -43.7% 5 years : -61.6%
Sales are holding level, at least. That’s probably not much of a saving grace, though, at this stage.
—–
173 - NORTHLANDERS (Vertigo) 02/2008: Northlanders #3 -- 14,699 ----------------------------------- 02/2009: -- 03/2009: Northlanders #15 -- 9,443 (- 0.2%) 04/2009: Northlanders #16 -- 9,323 (- 1.3%) 05/2009: Northlanders #17 -- 9,239 (- 0.9%) 06/2009: Northlanders #18 -- 8,877 (- 3.9%) 07/2009: Northlanders #19 -- 8,722 (- 1.8%) 08/2009: -- 09/2009: Northlanders #20 -- 8,786 (+ 0.7%) 10/2009: Northlanders #21 -- 8,360 (- 4.9%) 11/2009: Northlanders #22 -- 8,136 (- 2.7%) 12/2009: Northlanders #23 -- 8,069 (- 0.8%) 01/2010: Northlanders #24 -- 7,935 (- 1.7%) 02/2010: Northlanders #25 -- 7,807 (- 1.6%) ---------------- 6 months: n.a. 1 year : n.a. 2 years : -46.9%
Standard attrition.
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177 - BATMAN: LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT SPECIAL 02/2010: Batman: LotDK Special #1 -- 7,323
Another reprint special.
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180 - DMZ (Vertigo) 02/2006: DMZ #4 -- 14,778 02/2007: DMZ #16 -- 13,199 02/2008: DMZ #28 -- 10,463 -------------------------- 02/2009: DMZ #39 -- 8,353 (-1.2%) 03/2009: DMZ #40 -- 8,167 (-2.2%) 04/2009: DMZ #41 -- 8,061 (-1.3%) 05/2009: -- 06/2009: DMZ #42 -- 7,927 (-1.7%) 07/2009: DMZ #43 -- 7,806 (-1.5%) 08/2009: DMZ #44 -- 7,654 (-2.0%) 09/2009: DMZ #45 -- 7,589 (-0.9%) 10/2009: DMZ #46 -- 7,399 (-2.5%) 11/2009: DMZ #47 -- 7,187 (-2.9%) 12/2009: DMZ #48 -- 6,977 (-2.9%) 01/2010: DMZ #49 -- 6,872 (-1.5%) 02/2010: DMZ #50 -- 7,262 (+5.7%) ---------------- 6 months: - 5.1% 1 year : -13.1% 2 years : -30.6%
The book sees a modest increase for the anniversary number, as usual.
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182 - THE AUTHORITY: THE LOST YEAR (WildStorm) 10/2006: The Authority v3 #1 -- 58,136 03/2007: The Authority v3 #2 -- 39,886 ------------------------------------------ 11/2009: The Lost Year #3 of 12 -- 8,988 (-77.5%) 12/2009: The Lost Year #4 of 12 -- 7,999 (-11.0%) 01/2010: The Lost Year #5 of 12 -- 7,541 (- 5.7%) 02/2010: The Lost Year #6 of 12 -- 7,184 (- 4.7%)
The undead corpse of an aborted Grant Morrison revamp keeps creeping on across the land in trucks and shops and boxes. Bah.
—–
187 - SUPERNATURAL: BEGINNING'S END (WildStorm) 05/2007: Origins #1 -- 21,128 06/2007: Origins #2 -- 15,955 (-24.5%) 07/2007: Origins #3 -- 14,812 (- 7.2%) 08/2007: Origins #4 -- 13,915 (- 6.1%) 09/2007: Origins #5 -- 13,034 (- 6.3%) 10/2007: Origins #6 -- 12,350 (- 5.5%) ------------------------------------- 04/2008: Rising Son #1 of 6 -- 16,013 (+29.7%) 05/2008: Rising Son #2 of 6 -- 11,846 (-26.0%) 06/2008: Rising Son #3 of 6 -- 11,276 (- 4.8%) 07/2008: Rising Son #4 of 6 -- 10,676 (- 5.3%) 08/2008: Rising Son #5 of 6 -- 10,110 (- 5.3%) 09/2008: Rising Son #6 of 6 -- 9,590 (- 5.1%) ------------------------------------- 01/2010: Beginning's End #1 -- 9,251 (- 3.5%) 02/2010: Beginning's End #2 -- 6,922 (-25.2%)
Obviously, the sheen is off. That’s another licensed property dropping off the grid for WildStorm.
—–
188 - GREEK STREET (Vertigo) 07/2009: Greek Street #1 -- 20,422 08/2009: Greek Street #2 -- 11,996 (-41.3%) 09/2009: Greek Street #3 -- 10,628 (-11.4%) 10/2009: Greek Street #4 -- 9,246 (-13.0%) 11/2009: Greek Street #5 -- 8,610 (- 6.9%) 12/2009: Greek Street #6 -- 7,802 (- 9.4%) 01/2010: Greek Street #7 -- 7,335 (- 6.0%) 02/2010: Greek Street #8 -- 6,872 (- 6.3%) ---------------- 6 months: -42.7%
Greek Street keeps shedding readers.
—–
190 - THE GREAT TEN 11/2009: The Great Ten #1 of 10 -- 13,159 12/2009: The Great Ten #2 of 10 -- 8,760 (-33.4%) 01/2010: The Great Ten #3 of 10 -- 7,458 (-14.9%) 02/2010: The Great Ten #4 of 10 -- 6,812 (- 8.7%)
This DC Universe mini will probably see some ugly numbers before it’s done, but without any promotion, that was to be expected.
—–
192/199 - SCALPED (Vertigo) 02/2007: Scalped #2 -- 10,005 02/2008: Scalped #14 -- 6,903 ------------------------------ 02/2009: Scalped #25 -- 6,887 (+ 1.6%) 03/2009: Scalped #26 -- 6,866 (- 0.3%) 04/2009: Scalped #27 -- 6,950 (+ 1.2%) 04/2009: Scalped #28 -- 6,860 (- 1.3%) 05/2009: -- 06/2009: Scalped #29 -- 7,078 (+ 3.2%) 07/2009: Scalped #30 -- 7,059 (- 0.3%) 08/2009: Scalped #31 -- 6,916 (- 2.0%) 09/2009: -- 10/2009: Scalped #32 -- 6,905 (- 0.2%) 11/2009: -- 12/2009: Scalped #33 -- 6,752 (- 2.2%) 01/2010: -- 02/2010: Scalped #34 -- 6,731 (- 0.3%) 02/2010: Scalped #35 -- 6,443 (- 4.3%) ---------------- 6 months: - 4.8% 1 year : - 4.4% 2 years : - 4.6%
Those 300 copies between the two February issues are the difference between shipping in the first week of the month and shipping in the last week of the month. Overall, this means that Scalped is sticking to its usual level.
—–
194 - WILDCATS (WildStorm) 02/2006: Nemesis #6 of 9 -- 14,572 02/2007: -- ---------------------------------- 02/2009: World's End #8 -- 9,040 (- 5.2%) 03/2009: World's End #9 -- 8,758 (- 3.1%) 04/2009: World's End #10 -- 8,460 (- 3.4%) 05/2009: World's End #11 -- 8,165 (- 3.5%) 06/2009: World's End #12 -- 7,863 (- 3.7%) 07/2009: World's End #13 -- 7,609 (- 3.2%) 08/2009: World's End #14 -- 7,417 (- 2.5%) 09/2009: World's End #15 -- 7,178 (- 3.2%) 10/2009: World's End #16 -- 6,883 (- 4.1%) 11/2009: World's End #17 -- 6,691 (- 2.8%) 12/2009: World's End #18 -- 6,487 (- 3.2%) 01/2010: World's End #19 -- 6,791 (+ 4.7%) 02/2010: World's End #20 -- 6,669 (- 1.8%) ---------------- 6 months: -10.1% 1 year : -26.2% 2 years : n.a.
Standard attrition.
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202 - VICTORIAN UNDEAD (WildStorm) 11/2009: Victorian Undead #1 of 6 -- 11,422 12/2009: Victorian Undead #2 of 6 -- 7,430 (-35.0%) 01/2010: Victorian Undead #3 of 6 -- 6,663 (-10.3%) 02/2010: Victorian Undead #4 of 6 -- 6,365 (- 4.5%)
Believe it or not, Victorian Undead is one of WildStorm’s best-selling creator-owned releases in recent memory.
—–
204 - BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD (Johnny DC) 02/2005: Batman Strikes! #6 -- 11,102 02/2006: Batman Strikes! #18 -- 8,626 02/2007: Batman Strikes! #30 -- 7,335 02/2008: Batman Strikes! #42 -- 6,623 ---------------------------------------- 02/2009: Brave & Bold #2 -- 8,678 (- 37.7%) 03/2009: Brave & Bold #3 -- 8,184 (- 5.7%) 04/2009: Brave & Bold #4 -- 8,381 (+ 2.4%) 05/2009: Brave & Bold #5 -- 7,994 (- 4.6%) 06/2009: Brave & Bold #6 -- 7,614 (- 4.8%) 07/2009: Brave & Bold #7 -- 7,441 (- 2.3%) 08/2009: Brave & Bold #8 -- 7,153 (- 3.9%) 09/2009: Brave & Bold #9 -- 7,064 (- 1.2%) 10/2009: Brave & Bold #10 -- 6,646 (- 5.9%) 11/2009: Brave & Bold #11 -- 6,438 (- 3.1%) 12/2009: Brave & Bold #12 -- 6,342 (- 1.5%) 01/2010: Brave & Bold #13 -- 6,129 (- 3.4%) 02/2010: Brave & Bold #14 -- 6,084 (- 0.7%) ---------------- 6 months: -15.0% 1 year : -29.9% 2 years : - 8.1% 5 years : -45.2%
Another Johnny DC book.
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205 - THE SHIELD 08/2009: RC: Shield #1 -- 19,088 09/2009: The Shield #1 -- 16,997 (-11.0%) 10/2009: The Shield #2 -- 10,401 (-38.8%) 11/2009: The Shield #3 -- 8,546 (-17.8%) 12/2009: The Shield #4 -- 7,316 (-14.4%) 01/2010: The Shield #5 -- 6,444 (-11.9%) 02/2010: The Shield #6 -- 6,010 (- 6.7%) ---------------- 6 months: -68.5%
Canceled with issue #10.
—–
226 - UNKNOWN SOLDIER (Vertigo) 02/2009: Unknown Soldier #5 -- 8,348 (- 4.2%) 03/2009: Unknown Soldier #6 -- 8,177 (- 2.1%) 04/2009: Unknown Soldier #7 -- 8,631 (+ 5.6%) 05/2009: Unknown Soldier #8 -- 7,705 (-10.7%) 06/2009: Unknown Soldier #9 -- 7,586 (- 1.6%) 07/2009: Unknown Soldier #10 -- 7,256 (- 4.4%) 08/2009: Unknown Soldier #11 -- 7,070 (- 2.6%) 09/2009: Unknown Soldier #12 -- 6,865 (- 2.9%) 10/2009: Unknown Soldier #13 -- 6,636 (- 3.3%) 11/2009: Unknown Soldier #14 -- 6,359 (- 4.2%) 12/2009: Unknown Soldier #15 -- 6,134 (- 3.5%) 01/2010: Unknown Soldier #16 -- 5,848 (- 4.7%) 02/2010: Unknown Soldier #17 -- 5,701 (- 2.5%) ---------------- 6 months: -19.4% 1 year : -31.7%
Standard attrition.
—–
224 - GEN13 (WildStorm) 02/2007: Gen13 #5 -- 22,422 02/2008: Gen13 #17 -- 12,844 ---------------------------- 02/2009: Gen13 #27 -- 7,929 (- 4.9%) 03/2009: Gen13 #28 -- 7,593 (- 4.2%) 04/2009: Gen13 #29 -- 7,313 (- 3.7%) 05/2009: -- 06/2009: Gen13 #30 -- 6,880 (- 5.9%) 07/2009: -- 08/2009: Gen13 #31 -- 6,544 (- 4.9%) 09/2009: -- 10/2009: Gen13 #32 -- 6,044 (- 7.6%) 11/2009: -- 12/2009: Gen13 #33 -- 5,718 (- 5.4%) 01/2010: -- 12/2010: Gen13 #34 -- 5,412 (- 5.4%) ---------------- 6 months: -17.3% 1 year : -31.7% 2 years : -57.9%
Another WildStorm Universe book.
—–
229 - AIR (Vertigo) 02/2009: -- 03/2009: Air #7 -- 10,290 (+35.3%) 04/2009: Air #8 -- 7,216 (-29.9%) 05/2009: Air #9 -- 7,115 (- 1.4%) 06/2009: Air #10 -- 6,954 (- 2.3%) 07/2009: Air #11 -- 6,793 (- 2.3%) 08/2009: Air #12 -- 6,589 (- 3.0%) 09/2009: Air #13 -- 6,476 (- 1.7%) 10/2009: Air #14 -- 6,156 (- 4.9%) 11/2009: Air #15 -- 5,921 (- 3.8%) 12/2009: Air #16 -- 5,733 (- 3.2%) 01/2010: Air #17 -- 5,573 (- 2.8%) 02/2010: Air #18 -- 5,352 (- 4.0%) ---------------- 6 months: -18.8% 1 year : n.a.
Still no end in sight for the sales decline.
—–
230 - THE WEB 08/2009: RC: Web #1 -- 19,535 09/2009: The Web #1 -- 15,507 (-20.6%) 10/2009: The Web #2 -- 9,421 (-39.3%) 11/2009: The Web #3 -- 7,631 (-19.0%) 12/2009: The Web #4 -- 6,653 (-12.8%) 01/2010: The Web #5 -- 5,809 (-12.7%) 02/2010: The Web #6 -- 5,276 (- 9.2%) ---------------- 6 months: -73.0%
Canceled with issue #10.
—–
235 - CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE 2: GHOST (WildStorm) 11/2009: CoD:MW2: Ghost #1 of 6 -- 11,936 12/2009: CoD:MW2: Ghost #2 of 6 -- 5,214 (-56.3%) 01/2010: -- 02/2010: CoD:MW2: Ghost #3 of 6 -- 4,938 (- 5.3%)
Another one of WildStorm’s licensed titles.
—–
242 - SUPER FRIENDS (Johnny DC) 02/2009: Super Friends #12 -- 5,394 (- 1.9%) 03/2009: Super Friends #13 -- 5,387 (- 0.1%) 04/2009: Super Friends #14 -- 5,792 (+ 7.5%) 05/2009: Super Friends #15 -- 5,513 (- 4.8%) 06/2009: Super Friends #16 -- 5,548 (+ 0.6%) 07/2009: Super Friends #17 -- 5,368 (- 3.2%) 08/2009: Super Friends #18 -- 5,291 (- 1.4%) 09/2009: Super Friends #19 -- 5,045 (- 4.7%) 10/2009: Super Friends #20 -- 5,026 (- 0.4%) 11/2009: Super Friends #21 -- 4,879 (- 2.9%) 12/2009: Super Friends #22 -- 4,837 (- 0.9%) 01/2010: Super Friends #23 -- 4,538 (- 6.2%) 02/2010: Super Friends #24 -- 4,644 (+ 2.3%) ---------------- 6 months: -12.2% 1 year : -13.9%
251 - BILLY BATSON & THE MAGIC OF SHAZAM (Johnny DC) 02/2009: -- 03/2009: -- 04/2009: Billy Batson #4 -- 8,470 (-14.0%) 05/2009: -- 06/2009: Billy Batson #5 -- 7,869 (- 7.1%) 07/2009: Billy Batson #6 -- 6,771 (-14.0%) 08/2009: Billy Batson #7 -- 6,382 (- 5.8%) 09/2009: Billy Batson #8 -- 5,858 (- 8.2%) 10/2009: Billy Batson #9 -- 5,388 (- 8.0%) 11/2009: Billy Batson #10 -- 4,993 (- 7.3%) 12/2009: Billy Batson #11 -- 4,795 (- 4.0%) 01/2010: Billy Batson #12 -- 4,371 (- 8.8%) 02/2010: Billy Batson #13 -- 4,316 (- 1.3%) ---------------- 6 months: -32.4% 1 year : n.a.
260 - SCOOBY DOO (Johnny DC) 02/2005: Scooby Doo #93 -- 4,747 02/2006: Scooby Doo #105 -- 4,326 02/2007: Scooby Doo #117 -- 4,275 02/2008: Scooby Doo #129 -- 4,161 --------------------------------- 02/2009: Scooby Doo #141 -- 3,861 (+ 1.6%) 03/2009: Scooby Doo #142 -- 3,863 (+ 0.1%) 04/2009: Scooby Doo #143 -- 4,610 (+19.3%) 05/2009: Scooby Doo #144 -- 4,062 (-11.9%) 06/2009: Scooby Doo #145 -- 4,093 (+ 0.8%) 07/2009: Scooby Doo #146 -- 4,110 (+ 0.4%) 08/2009: Scooby Doo #147 -- 4,111 (+ 0.0%) 09/2009: Scooby Doo #148 -- 4,103 (- 0.2%) 10/2009: Scooby Doo #149 -- 4,005 (- 2.4%) 11/2009: Scooby Doo #150 -- 4,044 (+ 1.0%) 12/2009: Scooby Doo #151 -- 3,906 (- 3.4%) 01/2010: Scooby Doo #152 -- 3,724 (- 4.7%) 02/2010: Scooby Doo #153 -- 3,780 (+ 1.5%) ---------------- 6 months: - 8.1% 1 year : - 2.1% 2 years : - 9.2% 5 years : -20.4%
A bunch of Johnny DC books.
—–
267 - DANTE'S INFERNO (WildStorm) 12/2009: Dante's Inferno #1 of 6 -- 5,431 01/2010: Dante's Inferno #2 of 6 -- 3,808 (-29.9%) 02/2010: Dante's Inferno #3 of 6 -- 3,557 (- 6.6%)
Another game adaptation from WildStorm. So’s Free Realms #6, which — like all previous issues of the series — missed the Top 300 in February. The final book on the chart sold an estimated 2,237 units, so, for the purposes of the average sales charts, I’m presuming that’s the estimate for Free Realms #6, although the actual number is probably lower than that.
—–
RE-ORDERS: 257: 4,169 -- Joe the Barbarian #1 284: 2,529 -- Atom and Hawkman #46
—–
6-MONTH COMPARISONS + 56.8%: Secret Six + 50.7%: Green Arrow + 1.6%: Tiny Titans + 1.3%: REBELS - 0.1%: JLA - 1.4%: Supergirl - 4.8%: Scalped - 4.9%: Booster Gold - 5.1%: DMZ - 5.3%: Adventure Comics - 6.0%: Hellblazer - 6.8%: Green Lantern - 8.1%: Scooby-Doo - 8.2%: Authority - 9.1%: Batman Confidential - 9.3%: Flash - 10.1%: Jonah Hex - 10.1%: Wildcats - 10.5%: GL Corps - 11.3%: Outsiders - 11.3%: Superman/Batman - 12.2%: Super Friends - 12.7%: Teen Titans - 14.5%: Wonder Woman - 15.0%: Batman: B&B - 16.1%: Madame Xanadu - 16.5%: The Unwritten - 17.3%: Gen13 - 17.4%: Superman: WoNK - 18.8%: Air - 18.8%: House of Mystery - 19.4%: Superman - 19.4%: Unknown Soldier - 20.6%: Action Comics - 20.9%: Warlord - 21.0%: JSA - 21.8%: Batman - 22.0%: Titans - 22.3%: Batman and Robin - 26.1%: GC Sirens - 26.3%: Blackest Night - 27.6%: Red Robin - 32.4%: Billy Batson - 33.0%: Batman: SoG - 35.0%: Power Girl - 42.7%: Greek Street - 42.9%: Batgirl - 44.5%: Doom Patrol - 68.5%: Shield - 73.0%: Web
—–
1-YEAR COMPARISONS + 69.0%: GL Corps + 63.5%: Adventure Comics + 53.0%: Secret Six + 38.6%: Green Lantern + 26.8%: GC Sirens + 25.3%: Green Arrow + 15.1%: Red Robin - 1.7%: Tiny Titans - 2.1%: Scooby-Doo - 2.6%: Supergirl - 3.6%: Jonah Hex - 4.4%: Scalped - 10.3%: Hellblazer - 13.1%: DMZ - 13.9%: Super Friends - 15.0%: Booster Gold - 16.3%: Batman Confidential - 16.6%: Madame Xanadu - 17.5%: JLA - 23.7%: Wonder Woman - 24.4%: Superman/Batman - 24.4%: Teen Titans - 24.7%: Authority - 26.2%: Wildcats - 28.2%: House of Mystery - 29.9%: Batman: B&B - 31.7%: Gen13 - 31.7%: Unknown Soldier - 32.7%: Titans - 34.4%: Superman - 35.6%: Outsiders - 38.3%: Action Comics - 40.1%: JSA - 45.0%: Batman - 50.1%: REBELS
—–
2-YEAR COMPARISONS + 87.8%: Flash + 58.5%: GL Corps + 31.3%: Red Robin + 17.3%: GC Sirens - 2.5%: Supergirl - 4.6%: Scalped - 8.1%: Batman: B&B - 9.2%: Scooby-Doo - 10.1%: Batman - 16.4%: Hellblazer - 17.6%: Jonah Hex - 20.1%: Green Arrow - 24.2%: Superman - 30.6%: DMZ - 36.0%: JLA - 36.1%: Superman/Batman - 36.3%: Batman Confidential - 39.6%: Wonder Woman - 43.7%: Authority - 43.8%: Tiny Titans - 44.2%: Outsiders - 44.4%: Booster Gold - 46.4%: Action Comics - 46.9%: Northlanders - 47.2%: Teen Titans - 53.2%: JSA - 57.9%: Gen13
—–
5-YEAR COMPARISONS + 60.7%: Flash + 12.8%: Red Robin + 5.6%: Batman + 2.5%: Batgirl + 2.5%: Wonder Woman - 7.1%: Green Arrow - 7.9%: GC Sirens - 8.9%: JSA - 10.9%: JLA - 11.6%: Green Lantern - 20.3%: Action Comics - 20.4%: Scooby-Doo - 33.9%: Hellblazer - 45.2%: Batman: B&B - 46.5%: Outsiders - 60.3%: Teen Titans - 61.6%: Authority - 68.9%: Superman - 71.5%: Superman/Batman
—–
Average Periodical Sales
(not counting reprints, reorders shipping after the initial month of release, Johnny DC titles and magazines)
DC COMICS 02/2005: 27,525 02/2006: 32,292 02/2007: 31,051 02/2008: 27,652 --------------- 02/2009: 23,080 (- 4.9%) 03/2009: 21,792 (- 5.6%) 04/2009: 27,373 (+25.6%)** 05/2009: 24,386 (-10.9%) 06/2009: 25,880 (+ 6.1%)** 07/2009: 30,905 (+19.4%)** 08/2009: 29,977 (- 3.0%) 09/2009: 28,493 (- 5.0%)** 10/2009: 27,525 (- 4.4%)** 11/2009: 28,913 (+ 5.1%)** 12/2009: 25,904 (-10.4%)** 01/2010: 25,657 (- 1.0%)** 02/2010: 26,199 (+ 2.1%)** ---------------- 6 months: -12.6% 1 year : +13.5% 2 years : - 5.3% 5 years : - 4.8%
DC UNIVERSE 02/2005: 34,956 02/2006: 40,823 02/2007: 39,976 02/2008: 35,994 --------------- 02/2009: 30,224 (- 7.6%) 03/2009: 31,336 (+ 3.7%) 04/2009: 38,150 (+21.8%) 05/2009: 33,163 (-13.1%) 06/2009: 36,329 (+ 9.6%) 07/2009: 41,218 (+13.9%) 08/2009: 37,300 (- 9.5%) 09/2009: 36,725 (- 1.5%)** 10/2009: 34,795 (- 5.3%) 11/2009: 38,488 (+10.6%) 12/2009: 35,473 (- 7.8%)** 01/2010: 33,698 (- 5.0%) 02/2010: 35,895 (+ 6.5%) ---------------- 6 months: - 3.8% 1 year : +18.8% 2 years : - 0.3% 5 years : + 2.7%
VERTIGO 02/2005: 13,451 02/2006: 15,026 02/2007: 11,855 02/2008: 10,885 --------------- 02/2009: 11,353 (+ 3.4%) 03/2009: 10,177 (-10.4%) 04/2009: 10,767 (+ 5.8%) 05/2009: 12,918 (+20.0%) 06/2009: 11,166 (-13.6%) 07/2009: 11,055 (- 1.0%)** 08/2009: 11,369 (+ 2.8%) 09/2009: 11,345 (- 0.2%) 10/2009: 10,551 (- 7.0%) 11/2009: 11,036 (+ 4.6%) 12/2009: 10,583 (- 4.1%) 01/2010: 11,267 (+ 6.5%) 02/2010: 9,256 (-17.9%) ---------------- 6 months: -18.6% 1 year : -18.5% 2 years : -15.0% 5 years : -31.2%
WILDSTORM 02/2005: 14,362 02/2006: 13,610 02/2007: 14,105 02/2008: 13,155 --------------- 02/2009: 8,019 (+17.1%) 03/2009: 8,954 (+11.7%) 04/2009: 8,277 (- 7.6%)** 05/2009: 8,579 (+ 3.7%) 06/2009: 8,805 (+ 2.6%)** 07/2009: 8,519 (- 3.3%)** 08/2009: 7,977 (- 6.4%) 09/2009: 8,280 (+ 3.8%)** 10/2009: 9,769 (+18.0%)** 11/2009: 7,111 (-27.2%)** 12/2009: 7,260 (+ 2.1%)** 01/2010: 6,532 (-10.0%)** 02/2010: 5,692 (-12.9%)** ---------------- 6 months: -28.7% 1 year : -29.0% 2 years : -56.7% 5 years : -60.4%
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Disclaimers, et cetera
The numbers above are estimates for comic-book sales in the North American direct market, as calculated by ICv2.com according to the chart and index information provided by Diamond Comic Distributors.
ICv2.com’s estimates are somewhat lower than the actual numbers, but they are consistent from month to month, so the trends they show are fairly accurate. Since it’s a “month-to-month” column, the comments, unless otherwise noted, are on the most recent month.
Bear in mind that the figures measure sales to retailers, not customers. Also, these numbers do not include sales to bookstores, newsstands, other mass-market retail chains or the United Kingdom. Re-orders are included, so long as they either reached stores in a book’s initial calendar month of release or were strong enough to make the chart again in a subsequent month.
If additional copies of an issue did appear on the chart after a book’s initial calendar month of release, you can see the total number of copies sold in parenthesis behind those issues (e.g. “[36,599]“). Should more than one issue have shipped in a month which is relevant for one of the long-term comparisons, the average between them will be used.
Titles released under the Johnny DC imprint and magazines, such as Mad, mostly sell through channels other than the direct market, so direct-market sales don’t tell us much about their performance. For most Vertigo and some WildStorm titles, collection sales tend to be a significant factor, so the numbers for those books should be taken with a grain of salt as well. To learn (a little) more about Vertigo’s collection sales, go right here.
** Two asterisks after a given month in the average charts mean that one or more periodical release did not make the Top 300 chart in that month. In those cases, it’s assumed that said releases sold as many units as the No. 300 comic on the chart for that month for the purposes of the chart, although its actual sales are likely to be less than that.
For a more lyrical approach to discussing sales figures that covers all the essentials in a more condensed, less tedious fashion, finally, go right here.
—–
Marc-Oliver Frisch writes about comics at his weblog and at Comicgate. You can also follow him on Twitter.
“Wonder Woman #41 — 25,354 (+ 0.8%)
Sales are holding level for no readily apparent reason, which is always a good sign for the current direction.”
#41 had Power Girl vs. Wonder Woman. I know I bought an issue based on seeing Gail Simone write Power Girl (having given up on the actual PG series).
Wildstorm exists for three reasons:
1) grandfathered titles from when Wildstorm migrated from Image to DC (most notably, ABC)
2) a place for DCE to market licensed properties which they do not wish to brand with the DC logo
3) a place for DCE to publish titles which DC does not wish to have directly related to DC Comics. (The Authority, for example.)
There’s also Wildstorm’s editorial director, but since he’s been promoted…
“Speaking of oddities, by the way, it’s extremely odd that DC chose what now looks like the beginning of a clean-up exercise as their Free Comic Book Day selection. Wouldn’t it have made infinitely more sense to have a J. Michael Straczynski-written, accessible, fresh-start kind of comic book for that?”
Now *THAT* is a really good point. I’m far from a JMS fan and am reserving judgment until I’ve read his first arc on both books, but that would have been a very strong way to start his tenure on Superman.
I was actually enjoying Magog much more than I thought I would, but had to prune what I was purchasing (Power Girl, Doom Patrol, R.E.B.E.L.S, and Outsiders were other casualties), to begin to prepare for potential financial difficulties ahead, and just like most other sheep kept the “books that matter.” baaaaa.
That said: This is a disappointing start for the new Demo series, surely — not just by Vertigo’s standards, but also by Brian Wood’s.
Wood’s Northlanders #1 debuted with estimated first-month sales of 19,805 back in December 2007 (partly thanks to a variant edition, to be fair). And DMZ #1 sold an estimated 18,705 units in November 2005. Demo isn’t even in the same ballpark.
It’s not, sure, but you’re comparing a short b/w miniseries – and a sequel to boot – with two new full-color ongoing series, and that’s no comparison. I could also make a point about the niche appeal of Demo vs. the broader appeal of those other two books, but I’m already giving your comments more consideration than is warranted.
These Demo Vol. 2 numbers are about what was expected. It’ll reach the majority of it’s readers in collected form, as everyone well knows (including retailers). The Vol. 1 collection is creeping up on 20k sold – that’s the Vertigo reissue alone.
b
Brian and Marc,
It’s almost enjoyable to see the two of you snipe at each other on a near-monthly basis. Perhaps it’s love?
Brian J.
The comparison seems fair, given the critical success of DEMO Vol. 1 and the online promotion for Vol. 2, #1. Aren’t Vertigo readers supposed to have more developed tastes and be more discriminating than the average superhero fan?
SRS
It’s clear that the $3.99 price is killing some series—-all of the “Archie” heroes and Doom Patrol, along with impacting Adventure & Action.
I steer clear of those overpriced books, as I also need to manage my money better….
Strangely enough, money management is what’s pushing me *toward* certain $3.99 books; Detective Comics & American Vampire, to name two. If the stories are right, those extra pages really are extra value. But yeah — those prices kept me from sampling The Shield, even though I’d heard some good things.
All Wildstorm’s continuing existence does is help keep Jim Lee happy. Maybe that function will no longer be necessary soon.
Why was this posted in the “culture” category rather than “sales charts”?
Good analysis as always, especially regarding the Superbooks. I’m traditionally a big Superman fan, but the line’s current direction had me dropping all of the Super-titles months ago and War of the Supermen is NOT going to bring me back. JMS is, though, and I can’t help but agree that launching his run with the FCBD issue would have been a far more prudent move on DC’s part.
The Great Ten “This DC Universe mini will probably see some ugly numbers before it’s done, but without any promotion, that was to be expected.”
Thanks to some ugly, horrible, and horribly ugly art. What a disaster.
why do you write about DC if you hate it so much? Yet another month of bile from you
Perhaps it’s love?
Perhaps!!! Marc has always been much more gracious and even-handed when we’ve emailed directly. Maybe in another lifetime?
The comparison seems fair, given the critical success of DEMO Vol. 1 and the online promotion for Vol. 2, #1. Aren’t Vertigo readers supposed to have more developed tastes and be more discriminating than the average superhero fan?
I can’t comment on your perception of Vertigo readers or superhero fans.
And the comparison would be fair, if critical success was what was being compared here. But it’s not. It’s straight-up issue #1 preorders. It’s not hard to imagine a retailer taking a different pre-ordering strategy on a black/white miniseries than he or she would on a color ongoing monthly. But Marc makes the comparison as if all things were equal, format-wise, and doesn’t even mention the difference in format (he does make a point, though, to mention variant covers on Northlanders as probably making my orders higher than what would otherwise be expected).
A little context helps, sometimes.
b
“Why was this posted in the “culture” category rather than “sales charts”?”
I suspect Heidi posted it in her rush to get everything done before going to Wondercon.
“Culture” is the default tag chosen if you don’t pick anything more specific.
/inside baseball
Great commentary on the Super-books.
Love that the $1 Vertigo issues are working well, hopefully we will continue to see it. Great trial issues.
Would love to see sales chart info on the trades. The below is a great example about The Unwritten:
‘Also, the first collection sold another estimated 1,059 copies in the direct market in its second calendar month, in addition to January’s 5,836 units, making The Unwritten one of Vertigo’s most successful titles in that respect, as well.’
Vertigo sales come from their trades. Knowing total sales for them would be great to know. I’m sure series like Y: Last man, 100 bullets, Fables, Transmetropolitan, DMZ, Scalped, Hellblazer, and Sandman (plus many more!) would have huge sales numbers.
Plus some non Vertigo great trade sellers, like Ex machina and Walking Dead would be great to see too.
Thanks!:)
I don’t know – looking at the WildStorm numbers I have to wonder about Jim Lee’s new place in DC. His strength seems to be in his drawing and storytelling and not so much at all in his editorial abilities. Reminds me of the 1970’s when DC made Jack Kirby an editor even though that was probably the weakest of his skills. I think Lee, like Kirby, would be better utilized creating books rather than overseeing them.
Brian raises good points–particularly about the book being B/W. The Walking Dead aside, B/W books traditionally get lower orders than color books, which I’ve never understood. (Demo also lost one pre-order because I was going to wait for the trade and only changed my mind when #1 came out.)
-James-, I’d be interested to see that too, but I think it’d be impossible to put together a useful chart, as so much of the sales of trades will be reorders that might not chart or sales to bookstores that are not included at all.
Brian W.:
“[Y]ou’re comparing a short b/w miniseries – and a sequel to boot – with two new full-color ongoing series, and that’s no comparison.”
I’m comparing three titles by one of the most established independent creators in the market, all released by the same, very established publishing imprint.
The fact that DEMO is a black-&-white comic is a good point — you’re right I should have mentioned it, for the sake of providing context.
It doesn’t affect my assessment of the fact that there’s a 55% drop-off in first-month direct-market sales between those books, however — which, as it stands, happens to be reflective of the massive decline in sales both DMZ (a 61.2% loss between issue #1 and issue #50) and NORTHLANDERS (a 60.6% loss between issue #1 and issue #25) have seen since their first issues came out, with no change in format.
“It’ll reach the majority of it’s readers in collected form, as everyone well knows (including retailers).”
I made a very similar point, in the part of my commentary you chose not to quote.
“[...] I’m already giving your comments more consideration than is warranted.”
As always, thanks for keeping it classy.
James:
“Vertigo sales come from their trades. Knowing total sales for them would be great to know.”
Total collection sales in the direct market are hard to track, because, even though Diamond recently expanded their chart to cover the Top 300 books rather than just the Top 100, a lot of numbers may still potentially be under the radar.
And once you get outside the direct market, i.e. bookstores, libraries or mass retail chains, it gets even trickier to extract meaningful information from the available figures, in terms of total sales.
The latest Top 300 GN list is here:
http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/17021.html
I’d post an analysis, but my employer, a big box bookseller, fears that it might reflect/refract/ricochet onto their reputation.
Just about every volume of Walking Dead charts every month. Same with Fables and Y the Last Man. January, Dead was #1; February, Unwritten (in number sold. Dollar share went to Kick-Ass.) Walking Dead TP backlist sells about 500 copies a month per volume to comics shops.
Manga sales in comics shops seem to reflect manga sales in bookstores. Naruto is #4 in February. Lots of manga on the list.
If you follow Tilting at Windmills, Brian Hibbs posts an annual analysis of Bookscan numbers, which are sales to about 70% of retail stores.
In retail, a book generally has 90 days to sell. The same is true of comic book stores. So you’ll see a big initial order, and then maybe a few reorders later. Therefore, it’s madness to follow titles like one follows comics periodicals… the majority appear once on the Top 300.
As a mass-market retailer, the Vertigo series sell nicely. I was surprised to see Morrison’s Doom Patrol sell with almost no encouragement from me. Sandman, Preacher, Y, Ex Machina, DMZ (an easy handsell in Manhattan!), Fables, Swamp Thing… And, unlike most Marvel and DC superhero GNs, they are all INDIVIDUALLY NUMBERED.
As always, thanks for keeping it classy.
I know that sounded bitchy. It’s not that I don’t think good commentary is pointless, but more that I was spending too much time talking about a deeply flawed comparison, and THAT, I feel, IS pointless.
I didn’t comment on your comment re: trade sales because it wasn’t part of that flawed comparison. But that comment, on its own, is perfectly sound.
You raise a couple points: one that Vertigo and I somehow failed with this launch, and that Demo #1 was pre-ordered less than my other two books. I guess the latter supporting the former. In a vacuum, yeah, there is a 55% drop in orders between three titles. But context matters here and you are comparing two formats that are clearly going to be different cases to most retailers, and ordered accordingly.
After an absence from these comments, I stand ready, Marc, to call you out on your misuse of info on my own books to support negative conclusions. J’accuse! What’s next? $10 says you compare my DV8 pre-orders with my Vertigo books as if those are also equal. We’ll see!
b
someone always comes off as sounding incredibly whiny in the comments. it doesn’t make me want to rush to read that person’s work.
I admit, I do find this obsession with numbers a little creepy and always have. Even when the numbers are great, I have no idea how that adds to anyone’s enjoyment, and since the books I most tend to enjoy are most definitely not in the Top Ten, even as a creator, it seems sort of…well, pointless and anal.
What difference does it really make? A great book went up .3%? Who cares? Is it even worth commenting about? I get why retailers care, but why a reader would care in particular, I have no idea.
As for Brian’s books, I agree with his previous point that it’s weird that our royalty statements are always higher than the estimates provided here–which does make me question the process some. And others have noted even Marc doesn’t seem to be enjoying this anymore.
But Brian, may I just say that you are completely kicking ass on DMZ and especially on Northlanders. I hadn’t read it til just recently and I think it may be your best work ever. Definitely one of the top few books DC publishes. If you went up or down a percentage point, I don’t really see how that affects my enjoyment of this amazing title.
It’s weird though, my Tazo tea tastes much worse now that Starbucks stock is down .48% for the day. Now it’s almost undrinkable!
“someone always comes off as sounding incredibly whiny in the comments. it doesn’t make me want to rush to read that person’s work.”
Jason, in Brian’s defense, which he doesn’t really need, it is truly a little nasty to see your best creative efforts dismissed like over-ripe produce, and Marc often adds insult to a process that already has no consideration for quality or intrinsic value.
I’m not trying to pick on Marc, but people work hard on these books, some of them don’t sell as well as they deserve, and the gleeful snark over that fact can be grating.
I don’t find Brian’s comments to be ‘whiny’ at all. He doesn’t like this process and he has attempted to correct what he sees as a misperception about work he has devoted his career to doing. It’s weird to be summed up like this, and weirder still when you aren’t summed up completely accurately.
“As always, thanks for keeping it classy.”
Do you think your comments are always polite and classy, Marc?
Because I beg to differ.
Gail: Being a fan of comic book content and being curious about how they get made/marketed/sold are not mutually exclusive. I just watched a documentary on the beer industry called “Beer Wars”, that detailed how beer gets advertised/distributed/etc and it was plenty fascinating. This is really no different.
As for it being “a little nasty to see your best creative efforts dismissed like over-ripe produce”, I disagree. I don’t think these charts say anything about the quality of the work. The “best” books can appear anywhere on the chart. Let’s face it, while it’s nice when quality reaches the top, we know that it’s not mandatory. I think The Wire is the best TV show ever made, but most people have never even heard of it. Meanwhile, Two and A Half Men is watched by like, ten million people a week and it’s a big piece of crap.
I haveta admit, that I agree with Gail Simone.
I have never understood why fans get so wrapped up in the sales charts and why this book sold better than that book.
Yeah, I check ‘em out every month but that’s just because I like seein’ if the books I like are above cancellation level. I’m gonna read the books I like no matter where they are on the charts.
And, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that the snarky commentary isn’t entertaining to read too.
If anything these charts help highlight how when books are literally throw out to fend for itself it tends to have awful results regardless of content.
I find the commentary to be more about the failed marketing and the head scratching business practices more than about content.
I frequent a shop every week and some of these books I’ve never seen on the rack and literally only even remember exist because I read these charts.
This whole article carries the theme that DC missed the first rule of business: get your product into your customer’s hands.
I will never buy a Brian Wood written book based solely on the way he comments on these sales charts.
Anyway, Gail, I don’t understand your point at all regarding interest in the sales of comics. I’m fascinated by the industry side of everything – I read *way* more on how the business side of anything I purchase works compared to how much time I spend with the product itself. I’m also big into stocks, and seeing how Warner is a publicly traded company, I think Marc’s column is invaluable since this sort of analysis isn’t done by anyone else.
“[I]t is truly a little nasty to see your best creative efforts dismissed like over-ripe produce, and Marc often adds insult to a process that already has no consideration for quality or intrinsic value.”
Why would Marc’s analysis have any consideration for quality? When reading this column, I don’t care about the quality of the book, I just care about the sales and I like the analysis of why x underperformed versus y.
“I’m not trying to pick on Marc, but people work hard on these books, some of them don’t sell as well as they deserve, and the gleeful snark over that fact can be grating.”
This is just my opinion, but it seems like creators who work for DC and Marvel often think they deserve better sales than they get. That’s not how the free market works – you aren’t owed money just because you work hard. I work hard at my job and I don’t get paid what I feel I deserve, but that’s life. The economy sucks and I’m not having luck finding a new job just like you and Brian aren’t having luck finding more sales. Your options are the same as mine, we can either continue to try finding a more favorable position in the market or we can live with what we get. Complaining about it because a guy is discussing public sales numbers of the company you work for won’t help.
“The undead corpse of an aborted Grant Morrison revamp keeps creeping on across the land in trucks and shops and boxes. Bah.”
“Why would Marc’s analysis have any consideration for quality?”
Well, perhaps it shouldn’t, but it very often does. And if it is a true analysis, then Marc would welcome input from creators like Brian who often have a vastly fuller picture of the facts than one might when one gets all the facts from one admittedly estimated source.
“I don’t think these charts say anything about the quality of the work. ”
The charts may not, but Marc often does. I refer you to the first comment quoted in this post and also, every one of these monthly columns he’s done for the past several years.
I don’t really object to this stuff, but it gives at best a shallow understanding of sales trends per title and vs. other titles. It doesn’t truly reflect a book’s P&L or creative success, both of which seem vastly more important to me.
I don’t have a problem with Marc either, but his sarcasm towards Brian’s comment here seems a massive act of hypocrisy in light of years of his own increasingly cranky snark.
Let he who is without snark cast the first sarcasm, I think.
“I will never buy a Brian Wood written book based solely on the way he comments on these sales charts. ”
Really?
That makes me a little sad, to be honest. Brian’s just defending work that is important to him and he’s doing it truthfully, and it’s easy to get a little cranky in service of that. And he admitted it.
But the worst part of it is, you are missing some wonderful comics you might really enjoy.
If you read Marc’s blog, you will see that he is an intelligent and sensitive critic who is very interested in evaluating comics based on aesthetic criteria. It is filled with insightful and provocative posts which really dig into the formal and ideological reasons comics do and don’t work.
He also posts these sales charts, which comment on the business side of comics in a way that gives readers information they wouldn’t have otherwise, and often gives insight into otherwise inexplicable actions by the big comics companies. I have been reading him since he was posting on usenet, and I really don’t think his work is particularly snarky or mean-spirited. In contrast to much of the comics press, he acts like a real journalist who’s more interested in giving information to his readers than pandering to creators. Marc is clearly capable of talking about comics in a sophisticated, non-financial way, but in these sales charts he’s doing something different. Why is that so hard to accept?
I understand why the “emperor has no clothes” quality of these sales charts must be frustrating to people who really believe in the work that they’re doing, but these sales charts aren’t for them. They’re there to give readers insight into a part of the business that creators and companies might rather keep secret. Face it, Gail and Brian — in this context, you guys are the man, and in protesting the publication charts you’re acting like the man.
“This is just my opinion, but it seems like creators who work for DC and Marvel often think they deserve better sales than they get. ”
Well, hmm. That may be true, but I don’t think either of us was trying to make that point. There are a lot of great books by other people I wish would get better sales but it’s just because I think they’re great stuff and want them to succeed. It’s not a personal sense of entitlement.
Let me ask you–if you felt your success at work was being misrepresented unfairly and with incomplete information, and you felt it could reflect badly on your continued success, wouldn’t you feel that error should be corrected?
I want to stress, of all the stuff creators have to deal with, Marc’s column is not even in the worst 100 such things. I know Marc doesn’t mean ill towards anyone and is only trying to inform. It is simply not a huge deal. I just feel Brian has every right to make some corrections for the record, and Marc has every right to respond.
“Face it, Gail and Brian — in this context, you guys are the man, and in protesting the publication charts you’re acting like the man.”
HA!
Thomas, this is my favorite post of the day.
I’ve always wanted to be the man to SOMEBODY!
I don’t see what’s so wrong or offensive about a creator adding truthful information to Marc’s analysis, OR to another creator defending the first’s right to do so. That really doesn’t feel like the iron grip of Stalin to me, somehow.
Nevertheless, I am happy to withdraw and let the conversation get back to Grant Morrison’s corpse or whatever. No harm done, I hope.
Best,
Gail
“Thomas, this is my favorite post of the day.
I’ve always wanted to be the man to SOMEBODY!”
OK, so what do you call hectoring journalists because of insufficiently favorable coverage?
Brian:
“But context matters here and you are comparing two formats that are clearly going to be different cases to most retailers, and ordered accordingly.”
I don’t disagree, in principle.
In this particular case, though, I think the numbers of your other titles, which have declined in a similar fashion, may be a more relevant factor.
“After an absence from these comments, I stand ready, Marc, to call you out on your misuse of info on my own books to support negative conclusions. J’accuse! What’s next? $10 says you compare my DV8 pre-orders with my Vertigo books as if those are also equal.”
With your run on GENERATION X, actually.
Kidding aside, I tend to think that it’s fair game to compare everything with everything, as long as you don’t lose track of the goal and, perhaps more importantly, the goal posts of the comparison.
Also, I’m actually fairly curious about those numbers, because DV8 is a substantial change of pace both for you and for WildStorm.
It’s your first substantial company-owned work in more than a decade, I believe, and it’s also been years since we’ve seen a WildStorm Universe title by someone with an established voice and following of their own. In other words, I suspect DV8 will very much be a Brian Wood comic that happens to be set in the WildStorm Universe, rather than the other way around, and I’m curious how that’s going to play out. The only thing I’m expecting with respect to DV8, at this stage, is that retailers will be tweaking their orders either up or down after one, two, three months, because there isn’t really a precedent for them to rely on.
That said, you’re certainly welcome to challenge anything I’m saying. A big part of interpreting why a book sold a given number in a given month comes down to reading tea leaves, and it’s not like I don’t make mistakes, either. It’s not like I pull many punches in my comments, for that matter. So feel free to rip anything I wrote apart, if you think it’s warranted.
I guess I would call that an odd interpretation of the events.
But we’ll have to agree to disagree, cool?
Gone for the day, best wishes to all.
Nate: “I will never buy a Brian Wood written book based solely on the way he comments on these sales charts.”
That is the dumbest thing anyone has said in this thread. Brian is one of the best writers to emerge in the past decade regardless of how anything he writes sells — why cut off your nose to spite your face.
As I’ve mentioned here many times — and Paul and MO do make clear in the caveats — these ARE NOT FINAL SALES NUMBERS. Anyone who sees the number 4999 and says “OHMIGOD Final Siege fell below 5000 copies!!!!” is an idiot, because the numbers here represent initial orders ONLY (but they are pretty accurate on that score) and represent TRENDS.
And Gail and Brian, if you have more relevant information, please share it.
I’ll know these charts are highly unpopular with creators – oh believe me I know. And they’ve cost me at least one friend (and probably a lot more.) But this kind of information is available for other mediums everywhere, and I don’t think comics should be any different. It’s as simple as that.
Part of the reason why the sales figures are interesting is the gap between the recognizability of the heroes, DC’s, in particular, and the sales of the stories about them. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman — one would think that their recognizability alone would translate into sales figures in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, for stories. The reality is far different. Over the past several decades, Superman and Batman have had the most success as movie heroes; Wonder Woman’s greatest success came as a short-lived ’70s TV series.
There’s the hope that digital comics will be more accessible and more widely read. If that happens, great, but knowing how well digital comics do could be difficult.
SRS
The only conclusion I’ve gotten out of this thread is that I can’t wait to read Brian’s DV8 book. This is the most I’ve looked forward to a Wildstorm book since Lee and Morrison’s aborted WildCATs relaunch.
Gail:
“And others have noted even Marc doesn’t seem to be enjoying this anymore.”
Well, you’ve noted it, certainly.
I’m not sure it matters, but I can assure you that it’s not true. I’m quite fascinated by the direct market with all its ticks and quirks and the way it reacts to all kinds of stunts and they way publishers keep coming up with new ones, and I also enjoy the challenge of trying to make my comments about something as dry as sales figures enjoyable to read.
Nate: “I will never buy a Brian Wood written book based solely on the way he comments on these sales charts.”
That’s fair. What are your other factors that decide whether or not to buy a Brian Wood comic?
“I don’t see what’s so wrong or offensive about a creator adding truthful information to Marc’s analysis…”
This problem wouldn’t even exist if the companies would simply release their sales info. DC knows *exactly* how much of each comic they sold and where, but they (and other publishers) refuse to release it.
All we have to go on are these numbers right here. If they’re incomplete or incorrect, it’s DC’s fault for not giving us their info.
Oh, and also:
“And if it is a true analysis, then Marc would welcome input from creators like Brian who often have a vastly fuller picture of the facts than one might when one gets all the facts from one admittedly estimated source.”
This has me fairly baffled, since I’ve said time and again — to Brian Wood and others — that I absolutely welcome input.
That doesn’t mean I automatically agree with every bit of commentary I get, though. For instance, my impression is that many creators who criticize the Diamond figures don’t seem sure what it is that the Diamond figures actually report. No, the Diamond figures are not reflecting your royalty statements — they’re not meant to, because they report on a very specific subset of sales in a very specific time frame. There’s no reason why the two sources should be expected to be a perfect match.
Finally, Gail, let me stress that I’m NOT commenting on the quality of any of the material, unless I explicitly say so — which has maybe happened ONCE or TWICE in the six years I’m writing the column. And even then, it was with a view to interpreting sales figures, as it should be.
The simple fact is that I think my idea of the quality of whatever is on these charts is completely irrelevant to the way these books sell. So what I’m commenting on is marketing and reception, and the appeal of characters and concepts.
In the case of the AUTHORITY project you mention, it’s no different. I regard it as a Grant Morrison comic without Grant Morrison, and I think that’s relevant to its numbers.
I couldn’t comment if the book is any good, because I don’t know. I don’t think it matters much to its sales, frankly.
This is one of my favorite features on the Beat and was the reason it was bookmarked in the first place.
I learned a long time ago that what I like and most people like are two different things. I’m a business major though and it is interesting to see how some of my personal experiences match up against this chart. For example I sampled the first issue of Gotham Sirens looking for a Birds of Prey substitute but it didn’t meet my needs. Apparently other people thought the same thing. On the other hand it pains me when stuff like SWORD (one of the best series I’ve read) is cancelled due to low sales.
Nate: “I will never buy a Brian Wood written book based solely on the way he comments on these sales charts.”
I take it I’m the only one who read this as sarcasm and thought it was funny.
As one lonely fan, I suppose the main reason we follow the sales charts is to see if a book we read is in danger of cancellation. However, now that DC seems willing to carry books that sell below 8,000 copies, maybe we should stop worrying.
Then two, there’s a certain pleasure to be taken when you see the book you claimed wouldn’t sell, does indeed fail. But since the same writers get hired over and over and the characters take the rap, there’s not much point in that either.
Bizarre. I will never fully understand why creators get so defensive about this column. If I were to read the comments and not read the actual article, I would think Marc was an angry, bitter internet troll out to bash comic creators due to – what – jealousy? I have been reading these forever and I can’t recall one time when Marc has insulted a creator or even commented on the quality of a specific title (or lack thereof) in relation to the sales it is or is not generating.
He can certainly be openly critical of DC’s policies (as Paul can be with Marvel) as a company, but I think that is fair game given the type of analysis he is performing.
As a reader, these sales charts are interesting because it has to do with comic books, which is a subject I am interested in. I also like movies, and look forward to the Monday LA Times’ analysis of how the box office performs every weekend. Sales charts do not influence my decisions as far as how I spend my entertainment dollars but it is interesting nonetheless.
Anyway, (and I am not just saying this because Gail popped up here), I am glad Secret Six got a nice bump with Blackest Night and I hope it results in additional monthly readers – it’s the best DC title out there right now and the only one I’m buying.
On another contentious subject, I note that BIRDS OF PREY is still being used as the basis for comparison with GOTHAM CITY SIRENS. When BoP returns next month (two months from now on the chart), can we expect to see it compared with CATWOMAN? GREEN ARROW/BLACK CANARY? AMBUSH BUG: YEAR NONE?
I mostly just read these charts to find out how the books I like are doing. It is a good thing to get the unpleasant reminder now and then that a comic isn’t necessarily going to survive just because it’s good. If I go over to the Indy chart and see that Book I Adore has anemic numbers even for the DM, I’m going to be a bit louder about it being quality, or maybe pick up an extra copy of the next issue/first trade to gift to someone I think is likely to latch on to it, but needs more persuading than just word of mouth.
Why buy a D.C. comic when you can read original works from their writers right here!
I find sales charts interesting because of their discrepancy with my personal tastes. I like the books I like regardless of how they sell. But I like to know what everybody else is reading and figure out why that is, especially if it’s a series that really doesn’t appeal to me.
And because I’m always paranoid that Scalped is going to get axed!
“Jason Church says:
why do you write about DC if you hate it so much? Yet another month of bile from you”
What’s so hateful about this month’s column?
I agree with Peter in that I just don’t see this month’s column as hateful. The Green Lantern Corp comment was positive. The Blackest Night versus Siege was positive for DC. While the House of Mystery comment talked about its continuing decline, it also points out that HoM is still a good seller for its line. Praise still for The Unwritten and the success of the $1 promo issue.
Sure, there are negatives. There are simply things to be negative about. DC’s free Superman choice is the kind of decision that doesn’t make sense to people outside DC’s management. Titans status is a mess. DC does repeatedly make some choices that appear downright stupid.
If it’s not really fair to compare all the Brian Wood Vertigo debut sales (seeing that Demo is a mini-series instead of an ongoing + it’s kind of a sequel to something that was published somewhere else + it’s in black and white), I think it’s pretty fair to compare the actual monthly sales of the Northlanders and DMZ floppies to Demo’s debut at Vertigo.
Why? Because it seems kind of logical that, if DC has made its announcements right, the people who have a huge commitment to Brian Wood’s Vertigo work (that means buying a monthly floppy because you don’t want to wait for the trade), would want to try DEMO, at least.
And Marc, I think what it’s really not fair is to say “this book has loose 60% since its first issue”. We all know that firts issue numbers are too different from the real level of sales, this comparaison should start from issue 2 or 3: that’s after that you can see if readers are really staying and enjoying or leving the ship. First issues reflects often mostly retailer faith in a title.
Oh, and I’m enjoying a lot your columns, Marc, it’s a joy to read, and please keep the personnal humor comments on, if it was 100% factual, it could be a little boring.
And may I state that it’s really frustating to not know how much Diamond UK is selling here in Europe? We (by we I mean french readers who buy US floppies) are few, but we are a small community, trying to advice people on what to buy here. I would die to see what sells here.
At SCARCE magazine, we tried to offer coverage to things that are really hard to find or do not sell in huge numbers (the Beckett family of titles were awesome for exemple!). It amazed me that some of this stuff seems not covered at all in the US (was there ever a print article on the Beckett launches? We offered them a 5p article, which makes me awfully proud, even if it probably did not help at all( we are not a news mag).
I remember seing some titles wayyy down your US 300 chart, with les than 4.000 unit, and I knew at least 10 people here in France who bought it. When I see numbers like this, it makes les than 1 copy per Us shop, no? I’m always surprised by how US sells are really small, giving your huge population stats.
Wow! Glad I came back to see if I got a response to my comment! Juicy stuff! haha…
Thanks for the reply Marc-Oliver (and Torsten!). I figure its pretty hard to get full figures for trades, but I thought with the top 300 trade listing showing as low as 500 units (or maybe less?) it might still be pretty good to get ’round about figures’. All I know is that every time I look at it its got plenty of Vertigo books ( and the other I mentioned) So I figure they must be doing REAL WELL!
Re: Gail Simone’s comments on why we as readers would want to know figures? Why wouldn’t we? This is something we enjoy. Why wouldn’t we want to know the ins and outs of it? Are the books I like selling well? Is it near cancellation? Has DC got the number one book again? Is Marvel still winning in percentage? whats made it to the top 10? whats everyone reading this month? Is there a sleeper hit? whats this title I’ve never heard of? The list of reasons is endless.
And its the same for novels, movies, music, etc. whats the highest grossing movie this week? how much did it make? how many copies did this single sell? why the hell is this stupid song number one? haha…
Your response as to why we would want to know figures is so foreign to me that I simply can’t fathom why you would ask it? But thats just me!
I’m rambling now, but is that even the REAL Gail Simone? If so I CAN’T WAIT for Birds of Prey (esp now with Hawk (hot!) and Dove! Yay!). Tell us something only you would know about issue 1? haha….
Come on! Prove it!
I wrote a lot there didn’t I? Sorry bout that!
Sure… DC is going to publicly release sales figures… so that Marvel and Image and everyone else can use that knowledge to better compete with DC.
It’s like playing poker, where everyone else can see your hand, but you can’t see anyone else’s.
And before anyone suggests that all the publishers release their sales figures, let me just quash that right now. Just because a fan buys (or downloads) a comicbook, they are not entitled to anything from the publisher. Because first it will be sales, then royalties, then page rates, then P&Ls…
All sales charts are suspect, some less than others. Any hype associated with sales charts (“The #1 Comedy Movie in America!”) is even more suspect.
It’s tea leaves, it’s scattering bones, it’s stepping back twenty feet crossing your eyes and trying to focus on the dolphin that’s suppposed to be hidden in the picture.
Actually, it’s Astrology. First we connect the thousand or so dots (without numbers), then we chart those dots over time (noting planets and asteroids and comets), then we divinate results. Why did the Sun disappear for an hour? Why is the Moon red, and what does that mean? What is that strange glow in the northern sky?
Some of us make polygonal models to explain how everything works. Some draw elipticals. Some build telescopes. A few are considered heretics, publicly castigated, and locked away. The models aren’t exact, but they help explain things.
Yes, it’s interesting. But I know the caveats. Keep posting the analysis.
I very much enjoy these sales charts as they help me determine which comics to buy and enjoy based on sales figures and which creators dare contest them.
About fans reading sales numbers; I think it helps us get vague sense of how our favourite books are doing, and how loud we need to yell at our friends to read them to make sure they won’t get canceled.
For example, I happened to mention that Secret Six doesn’t sell a much deserved 300k a month on a web forum. This led the nerds to assemble and they began flooding the streets with a campaign to get people reading Secret Six. The results were clear, next month the sales reported on here only went down by 0.3%! I would like to take personal credit for that one, because everyone knows how crucial these grassroots efforts are.
But you know, I’m not a vain man searching for glory. Just an individual who strongly believes that Ragdoll deserves enough money to live a life where he’s knee deep in elderly hermaphroditic prostitutes. He is getting the money from all this, right? I don’t want to look like an idiot here.
I can’t believe I have to keep repeating this, but: I don’t have a problem with the sales charts. How could I? They are just numbers and as such can offend no one.
What I DO have a problem with, clearly, is Marc’s analysis of the numbers, particularly on my own books.
b
p.s. thanks, Gail, re: Northlanders. I’m having a better time on that title than anything else I’ve ever written.
Marc: “A big part of interpreting why a book sold a given number in a given month comes down to reading tea leaves”
I think a big reason why you say this, why you are forced to ‘read tea leaves’ and otherwise make partially-educated guesses is because the numbers that are publicly available are incomplete (as we all know). Months and months later, as I get my royalty statements in the mail, the picture becomes much clearer, which is why your at-the-moment assumptions chafe so much. Because I know exactly how wrong you are.
I don’t mind supplying this correct info when it seems sensible to, but you know that most of the time I do that you just try and find a reason to discount it.
brian w
As others have pointed out, there’s any number of reasons to follow the sales charts that are, IMO, non-”creepy”:
* you want to know which poorly selling books you should hype the most
* you want to know which well selling books you can relax with
* the charts serve as a reasonably good unbiased roundup on pretty much all the books currently being published by Marvel/DC, so that you can become interested in books that don’t have big hype
* movie box offices are also being followed by people without it being “creepy”
I’d like to second ykw’s note that BIRDS OF PREY is still being stubbornly lumped in with SIRENS when they’re two separate series, and I’m going to be very curious how M-O handles this when BOP returns to charts. Will he keep BOP in with both SIRENS and BOPv2 on both their charts, insisting that he did no wrong in lumping it together with SIRENS? Or will he admit his mistake like a man and remove it from SIRENS and put BOPv1 where it belongs, with BOPv2.
Brian:
“I don’t mind supplying this correct info when it seems sensible to, but you know that most of the time I do that you just try and find a reason to discount it.”
I disagree with that, for what it’s worth.
Also, I’d like to point out that the information you’ve been providing mostly SUPPORTS and CORROBORATES the Diamond figures, actually, to the extent the two sets are comparable at all.
As I’m sure I’ve said before, your royalty statements don’t report the same things as the Diamond figures do, so I’m not sure what you’d like me to do with your information that I’m not already doing.
Samy:
“I’d like to second ykw’s note that BIRDS OF PREY is still being stubbornly lumped in with SIRENS when they’re two separate series, and I’m going to be very curious how M-O handles this when BOP returns to charts.”
Well, I’ll probably just switch the long-term comparisons over, or keep the old BoP series as a point of reference for both books.
It’s not like those comparisons are any definitive statement; they’re context, and they can change at any given month, depending on what seems to be the most significant context for a given number in a given month.
“Finally, Gail, let me stress that I’m NOT commenting on the quality of any of the material, unless I explicitly say so — which has maybe happened ONCE or TWICE in the six years I’m writing the column. And even then, it was with a view to interpreting sales figures, as it should be.”
Well, Marc, I really think Gail has a point here; it seems that you in fact quite frequently make editorial comments on the quality, assumed or otherwise, of the books on the list. Of course, you have every right to do so, but I feel that the way you go about it is intellectually dishonest. For one thing, you refuse to acknowledge that this is what you’re doing, but for another, you frequently make comments which at the least imply that a book’s decreased sales is due to its low or decreasing quality, or relevance, or some other quantity. This on top of the fact that you often find qualifiers for the success of books you clearly feel to be of low quality (Blackest Night comes to mind, not that I blame you at all). What really strikes me is that I’ve never seen you make a positive comment about the quality of a book which is selling poorly, or less than it was previously. It seems like you live in a world where low sales is a judgment against a book’s quality, but high sales is not a positive indicator of its quality. This combination of attitudes results in the “pervasive negativity” that some decry.
Personally, I agree with the idea that quality and sales have almost no relationship with each other, and I’m always suspicious when any analyst tries to start blurring the lines between the two… which is, sadly, almost all of the time.
Even though I’ve only bought the odd trade paperback over the past four years or so, I really enjoy these analyses for the economic picture they provide of Marvel and DC’s monthly sales. Better than press releases from the Big Two, they help me keep abreast of what’s going in their respective universes. Thanks a lot for both your’s and Brian’s hard work, Marc.
Carl:
“you frequently make comments which at the least imply that a book’s decreased sales is due to its low or decreasing quality, or relevance, or some other quantity.”
That’s a very general description, and there’s a gaping chasm between “quality, or relevance, or some other quantity.”
Making comments that imply a book’s decreased sales are due to its “decreasing relevance or some other quantity” is what the column is for.
“This on top of the fact that you often find qualifiers for the success of books you clearly feel to be of low quality (Blackest Night comes to mind, not that I blame you at all).”
Can you point me to one such qualifier from something I wrote, just so I get a better idea of what you’re objecting to?
“What really strikes me is that I’ve never seen you make a positive comment about the quality of a book which is selling poorly, or less than it was previously.”
A positive comment based a book’s critical merits? Again, that’s not what the column is for. I’ve got a blog where I review comics, including low-selling ones.
A positive comment based on the fact that a book doesn’t sell as well as I expected it to? That shouldn’t be a positive comment in a column focusing on sales, from where I’m standing.
I don’t know if the iPad is going to kill comics, but it’s certainly going to screw up this column.
I guess I don’t blame the creators who show up here and complain about the analysis. It seems like Gail Simone and Brian Wood are deeply uncomfortable about the way the numbers are used here, and feel like they have better information that shows a better picture of how successful their creative work is. Fair enough.
But I gotta say, it reeks of desperation. You just get the feeling reading their comments that all their books are about to be canceled and they’re worried they’re not going to have any more work.
I say this with love; I love comic books and want there to be so many more of them written. I want Gail Simone to write like five books a month, because she is an awesome writer. I want Brian Wood to be free to pursue his creative vision because it’s obvious to me, even though I don’t read his stuff, that he’s got a unique voice and loads of interesting ideas.
But that’s not the world we’ve got. In this world, there’s only so many comics fans. Even those of us who are saying dumb things, we’re not your problem, Brian and Gail. We’re buying comic books, including yours sometimes. The problem is the millions of people who like action/adventure/superhero stories but who’d never go near a comic book.
Sorry if we make you mad with our attempts to understand how much longer we can expect to enjoy this slumping industry. We’re just trying to see how much longer the party’s going to last.
Here’s to a post-recession comic book renaissance, and 100+ more issues of Secret Six!
Not to stop the always-amusing argument between Brian and Marc, and the discussion it creates, but I do have to ask… Brian, what is it you actually want Marc to do?
Diamond posts the pre-order sales numbers, which you know to be incorrect, and Marc analyzes them. Is it his comments you take issue with? Because it always seems like you’re taking issues with the numbers themselves, and the fact that they are incorrect. Wouldn’t any analysis of these numbers be misleading and make your books appear to sell poorer than they actually do?
If your problem is with the method in which these numbers are circulated, I don’t think your issue is with Marc. If it’s with Marc’s comments, then you’ve obviously come to the right place. I’m having an awful time telling which is the actual problem because your comments have always bundled the two together so tightly.
And Gail, I personally enjoy these columns because I like statistics, comics, and Marc’s writing style. I don’t see the need to come here and ask why people like reading these. I’ve seen many books by you (and Brian) that I’ve purchased rank lower on the charts than I would have hoped, and my reaction was to support your careers by continuing to purchase your books and ask friends to do the same. Isn’t that ideally the result you would want from charts like these?
Sam:
“You just get the feeling reading their comments that all their books are about to be canceled and they’re worried they’re not going to have any more work.”
Not that Gail or Brian need any help from me articulating their view points, but for the record, I think it’s perfectly plausible — and fair game — to dismiss or criticize the column on the grounds that the numbers are “not correct” or that my interpretation of the numbers is unsound or unfair or otherwise inappropriate.
I don’t particularly agree with those concerns, obviously, but I can see why they exist.
Sam and others,
I wouldn’t read too much into Gail’s commentary, and I definitely wouldn’t call her or Brian “desperate” either. Both of them are hard-working individuals who are more than happy to engage in discussion about their works and share their opinions on a variety of topics, but sales figures seem to be something that bothers them both, and I can’t say that I really blame them, as the numbers here (accurate or not) tend to paint a pretty gloomy picture.
To be honest, I think that the entire scene has changed considerably over the past ten years when you consider the much larger presence of the internet. Online media allows for legal and illegal downloads (many of which will be impossible to track once the iPad really starts to take off) and then there’s the online bookstores like amazon, barnes and nobles, and chapters, etc, which provide for discounted rates on collections that are likely providing a much, much larger share of the market than they ever have before.
I read these stats because, to be honest, I like seeing where things fall into place, even if I feel that the numbers may be off by as much as, say, 10 or 20 thousand copies each month.