By Todd Allen

If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll notice Marvel has a panel at SXSW.  SXSW is sort of like the Consumer Electronics Show for digital media and entertainment.  The show has been in a transitory state in the last couple of years, shifting from more of an indie-centric event to an even larger spectacle with corporate sponsors galore, but at it’s heart, it’s still about bringing products to the masses through digital technology.  So just what is Marvel announcing?

First we have the SXSW notice of the panel:

Comic fans rejoice! Marvel Entertainmenthas some ground-breaking news to reveal Sunday, March 11 at 1pm on the Arcade Stage presented by IGN . The event will take place at the Palmer Events Centerand is free and open to the public.

“Marvel has always been the industry leader in graphic fiction and digital media and with the announcements we’ve planned, we couldn’t have picked a more appropriate show than SXSW,” said Dan Buckley, Publisher and President of the Print, Animation & Digital Divisions, Marvel Worldwide, Inc. “We’re big believers that both print and digital can work hand-in-hand to bring more readers to comics than ever before — and if you’re at SXSW Interactive you’ll be the first to see just how we’re going to do that.”

After the Marvel: Digital House of Ideas panel concludes, fans in attendance will receive a limited edition lithograph (while supplies last) and a chance to have it signed by Marvel’s Editor in Chief Axel Alonso and EVP and Head of Marvel Television Jeph Loeb in a special Marvel signing session.

“Marvel’s fans are the best in the world — bar none — and I’m excited to meet more of them at SXSW,” said Alonso. “We have exciting new plans that you’ll see implemented with the release of Avengers VS X-Men #1 that’ll take the biggest comics event in history and make it even bigger!”

Then, over at Comic Book Resources, Marvel’s Dandy Dan Buckley reiterates:

We’ve just announced we’ll be at SXSW in Austin this March to make some major publishing announcements. That’s an important distinction for Marvel — we see print and digital as partners in the overall publishing plan, so you won’t hear us calling these “digital media announcements” or anything like that.

Does it seem like somebody is just a little too preemptively defensive?  I mean, you only go to SXSW for digital announcements.  That’s just what the festival is for.

Obviously, it’s about comics material or Buckley wouldn’t be overemphasizing the print/digital partnership.  You don’t hear nearly as many apologies for eBooks from the prose publishing community.  The question is, what could Marvel possibly be announcing that’s big enough news for its own SXSW panel?

• March/April is roughly when Marvel is supposed to have all of its books transitioned over to simultaneous print/digital release.  But Marvel’s a little late to the game there, so it isn’t huge news.
• Marvel could be launching some original for digital titles.  They did this in a minor way, a long time ago with shorter comics for their Digital Comics Unlimited program.  However, Archie’s been doing this.  DC’s been doing this (and just re-emphasized the approach with Smallville Season 11).  IDW just launched a digital-original Transformers.  The digital-first Avengers film prequel comic is already announced, too.
• March is well into the promotional run-up to the Avenger’s movie, so it would make sense for that to be somehow involved
• If Marvel were to be announcing a same-day digital tie-in with one of the following: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks; THAT would be news and also a reason for Buckley to pre-emptively be talking people down
• If Marvel were to have developed a new proprietary digital comics format/reader, that would potentially be considered SXSW-level news

What’s it really going to be?  My money’s on a combination of simultaneous print/digital release across the line and the Avengers digital-first prequel with maybe a little more digital original thrown in.

ICv2 has a wide ranging interview with Marvel’s Sr VP of Sales, David Gabriel, and it covers just about every topic you could imagine, from digital coupon conversion to page counts to pricing. Go here for all that: Part 1 and Part 2. However, since we’ve had a high degree of scrutiny on Marvel’s trade program of late, here’s what he had to say on that topic:

[Q:] Marvel tends to let its book format collections go out of print more quickly than some of its competitors, treating them as more temporary products than as long term backlist. Can you describe the rationale for that strategy?

Let’s clarify that statement. Top selling evergreen books are not allowed to go out of print. Folks continually want to dredge up the past where nothing was thought of as evergreen. Our two top selling collected editions for 2011, as noted in the market share ranks, were Civil War and Wolverine Old Man Logan. We keep those books in print because with the demand we’d be fools not to do so.

Books that we don’t see as having a shelf life of more than a year and a half, are printed with that in mind. We put out more classic material than any publisher. We’ve had a strong, continuing Masterworks program for over 7 years now… and we’re approaching our 200th edition. Essentials are no longer considered perennials in this market, and we’ve taken our measure of those from retailers and consumers who do not order them as such, and so they are not all kept in stock as evergreen titles. Over the past eight years we’ve published nearly 100 volumes of Premiere Classic books that put some of our most popular stories from the past decades into collected editions. No other publisher has supported the amount of material that we have. There have been times when a book has been allowed to go out of press, say Secret Wars, in order for us to create a special Omnibus Edition which also allows us to gather new extras, redo files that need fixing and get the best possible re-creation available for all the pages. This process in turn allows us to then put out a better version of the paperback and keep that one in stock. We’ve talked about this process before. It would be ludicrous on many books for us to go back to press on an inferior quality book, when we know if we wait a few months we’ll be able to put forth a superior edition.

We clearly stated when we first started putting our ongoing series into smaller Premiere Hardcovers about five years ago that we did not plan for those to stay in print, nor would they be reprinted; they were an edition that went to press a little closer to the timing of the last comic of a series and they were priced slightly higher than a paperback edition in order to assist those retailers who were still enjoying sales of the comics. These volumes keep the lower priced paperback editions off the shelves for a little while longer, allowing a longer selling time for the comics.

There are a lot of factors at play here, one of which is that you just can’t take into account the needs of just one retailer, but instead you need to take a look at the overall big picture. Do we need to get Infinity War back to press when we need to make sure Civil War is still stocked? We need to make the calls on those books that are going to make both us and our retailer and book buyer partners the most money. Sometimes there will be that one book that has gone out of print for a million reasons and rather than anyone find out why they just jump to the wrong conclusions; or to make matters worse, when the rationale behind a book being out of stock is explained some folks just don’t want to hear it or accept the reasons, so they’ll start a massive campaign and create false information. Whew… hope that explains things a bit without inciting riots.

[Q:] What’s your response to retailers who say there’s a lot of demand for Marvel’s archive material that they can’t satisfy because of your book strategy?
See above. I have never heard that a retailer can’t find archival material.

Somehow, we don’t think this is going to answer all the questions. For instance, here’s a fan-created list of Marvel Premiere Hardcovers that are not in print…things like the Warren Ellis/Adi Granov Iron Man which would seem like a good print intro to a very popular character, directly influenced the movies, and was even turned into a motion comic. It’s Marvel’s business plan for this not to have a shelf life, sure, and that’s their prerogative. It just seems…odd.

In just two minutes, this summer’s Amazing Spider-Man has gone from an afterthought to the Batman/Avengers slugfest to a “Hey that looks great!’ Even if it is one of those “I just saw the whole movie!” trailers, it certainly conveys all the elements of a successful superhero movie: a wise-cracking hero, a winsome love interest, a villain with a transatlantic accent, and an authority figure determined to take our hero down—in this case Denis Leary as Gwen Stacy’s policeman dad, George.

It’s nice to see that Peter Parker has recovered from that whole Facebook thing—Andrew Garfield’s Spidey is much more the loosy-goosy webslinger of the ’80s on—with a little bit of torment thrown in, of course.

Our only quibble—the word “begins” at the end. Spider-Man, the movie franchise, is already in full throttle. While many have questioned the need for a reboot this soon, the trailer makes it look like an entertaining film, even if it isn’t quite necessary from anything but a studio viewpoint.

By Todd Allen

With the Avengers movie featuring several of Jack Kirby’s co-creations starting up its media run-up to opening night, the Jack Kirby creator’s rights movement has started a petition at Change.org.  Change.org is a website for social movements/causes and online petitions.  Change.org claims credit for getting Bank of America to drop its debit card fees and getting Universal Pictures to put more of an environmental emphasis on the website for the adaptation of The Lorax by Dr. Suess.

The text of the petition reads:

Give credit and royalties to Jack Kirby and his family.

Jack Kirby is one of the most important and influential artists in the history of U.S. comic books and popular culture. Along with writers Joe Simon, Stan Lee, and Larry Lieber, Jack Kirby created the characters and stories on which Marvel Comics has built a very successful business over the past 60 years. Kirby created or co-created Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, The X-Men, The Hulk, The Fantastic Four, The Avengers, and many more. For his efforts, Kirby was paid a few dollars a page and never shared in the billions of dollars in profits his characters have made in various media, including print, film, and video games.

We strongly urge Marvel Entertainment and is owner Disney to acknowledge Jack Kirby’s authorship and primary role in the creation of these characters. As well, we urge Marvel to pay Kirby’s family royalties for the use of these characters and stories.

Until such a time as Marvel can make things right with Kirby’s legacy and Kirby’s family and heirs, we will refuse to purchase any Marvel product, including comic books, movies, toys, or games. We ask Marvel, Disney, and its shareholders to act ethically and morally in this situation, just as their characters would.

This is reminiscent of how Neal Adams shamed Warner and DC into acknowledging Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster prior to the premiere of Superman: The Movie.  That may have been a different time, though, and Marvel/Disney may be a little less inclined to make an acknowledgement in the current legal environment.

And here’s the complete getting the gang together AVENGERS trailer.

By Todd Allen

It’s Super Bowl Sunday.  How does Marvel celebrate?  How about giving away a free comic?

“MARVEL’S THE AVENGERS PRELUDE: FURY’S BIG WEEK #1″ is available for free digital download today (Sunday, 2/5).  This will be a weekly digital series, with a new $0.99 chapter dropping each Tuesday.  This series is written by Eric Pearson and Christopher Yost, with art by Luke Ross.  This is the _film_ version of the Avengers and looks to be be bridging the gap between Thor (the movie), Captain America (the movie) and the upcoming Avengers film.

So what we have here is the Samuel L. Jackson Nick Fury just after Thor has concluded and just prior to digging out Captain America, giving a little better idea of how the timelines of those two film fit together.

This is an interesting promotion, in that Marvel is releasing the material digitally first as a run-up/tie-in to the movie, rather than as a print series.  The weekly releases, in theory, could build and sustain interest in the film, though it’s odd this will be  wrapping up roughly a month before the May 4 release date for the Avengers.  Or perhaps they’ll have another set of digital comics to bridge that gap when the time comes.

Either way, digital takes another step forward.

You can down load Fury’s Big Week from the Marvel App on your various mobile devices or head over to Comixology and read it on your computer.

With a variant cover by Power Pack co-creator June Brigman! Given the outcry for more kid-friendly comics these days, perhaps we’ll see even more of the child super-team down the road.

Marvel is pleased to present your first look at FF #15, from the critically acclaimed team of Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta. Doctor Doom’s self-sacrifice has bought the Universe a second chance! Now, it is up to the Future Foundation and special guest stars, Power Pack, to battle the mad Celestials as the standoff for the future begins! Can the Future Foundation ensure the Marvel Universe’s safety? Will Doctor Doom’s sacrifice be in vain? Find out in FF #15, hitting comic shops everywhere and the Marvel Comics app, this February!  With a variant cover by seminal Power Pack artist June Brigman, no fan can miss this!
 
FF #15 (DEC110653)
FF #15 BRIGMAN VARIANT (DEC110654)
Written by JONATHAN HICKMAN
Penciled by NICK DRAGOTTA
Variant Cover by JUNE BRIGMAN
Cover by MIKE CHOI
Rated T …$2.99
FOC – 2/6/12, ON SALE – 2/29/12

Okay, just so we don’t forget the OTHER member of the Big Two on this day long to be remembered…Marvel has a new project involving…more than one man tagged Spider.

It comes out in June.

As you were.

A sequel to the well-received X-MEN: FIRST CLASS has been greenlit with Matthew Vaughn once again to direct, Deadline reports. Simon Kinberg has written a script and Bryan Singer will produce. Everyone expects Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy to reprise their roles as Magneto and Professor X, but no one has officially been signed yet. And given Fassbender’s recent roles, maybe we’ll get to see little Magneto, too.

Still, Vaughn’s coming on board is good news. Although flawed—it was more a collection of character story arcs than an overall driving narrative—and anachronistic—the miniskirt wasn’t invented until 1964, no matter how cute Jennifer Lawrence looked in one—X-MEN FIRST CLASS was easily the brainiest superhero movie of recent vintage, and Vaughn has generally elicited some of the best acting from his young talented casts in both XMFC and KICK-ASS. So more Matthew Vaughn—yay!

.

Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

George Santayana, The Life of Reason, Volume I: Reason in Common Sense

Over thirty-five years ago, a major comics company was set to release a Hollywood blockbuster based on one of their most popular characters.  The original creators had been forgotten by the public, forced into near poverty while that company made millions of dollars in profits.  It took a publicity campaign by comics professionals to persuade that publisher to acknowledge their proper credit, and to pay a stipend to those creators.

Today, history repeats itself once more.  This time, the company is Marvel Comics.  The creator: Gary Friedrich, who has filed a copyright lawsuit against Marvel to reclaim his creation Ghost Rider.  Daniel Best reports on the current state of the suit, which was recently decided in Marvel’s favor.

What makes it unsettling is this:

As per the courts instructions Friedrich has to account for any and all money that he has received, “…relating to the gross and net amount derived from Plaintiffs’ sale of goods bearing the Ghost Rider image, likeness, or Marvel trademark.” This means that Friedrich has to account for every cent each and every time he sold a print at a convention or any other item to anyone, that has the Ghost Rider image or name on it, and he has to account to all of the defendants in the case, and there’s quite a few of those, including, but not limited to, Marvel Defendants, Movie Defendants, Hasbro, Inc. and Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. If the defendants don’t like, or don’t agree with, the numbers that Friedrich supplies then they can, and probably will, ask for a deposition whereby they can question him, under oath. It was no secret that Friedrich commissioned artists such as Herb Trimpe, Arthur Suydam and others to draw Ghost Rider images which were then sold as prints over the years. If you bought one thinking you were helping Gary, well, that cash will most likely end up in Marvels pockets. This amount will be factored into any damages that the defendants can claim from Friedrich, all of which will be bundled up neatly into a final judgement so the case can then proceed to the appeal stage.

What makes this worse: Gary Friedrich is currently unemployed from his corporate courier job (Joe Shuster was a deliveryman with failing eyesight, Jerry Siegel a file clerk when they could no longer make a living making comics).    Friedrich also has health issues, which make it difficult for him to travel to attend any settlement conferences.  In the attorney’s letter to the judge asking for a teleconference (denied by the judge), the law firm states that they are already owed $100,000 in legal fees for this case.

This lawsuit was first filed when the original Ghost Rider movie was released in 2007.  That movie grossed $228,738,393 worldwide. With licensing of ancillary products, Marvel made quite a bit of money.  On February 17, 2012, the sequel, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance will be released.

Marvel could do the right thing and settle the case, which they won, by offering an equitable settlement, an annual stipend, perhaps even some sort of consulting role.  Would they?  It’s unlikely.  (For every Dave Cockrum, there’s a Marv Wolfman.)  Could a media campaign geared towards embarrassing Marvel, Sony, and a certain celebrity comics fan starring in the movie help convince Marvel to Do What Is Right? I don’t know… but it would be fun to find out!

To every comics creator who has Worked For Hire, and has sat behind a table in Artists Alley: you may one day be forced into an accounting not unlike the metaphorical Final Judgment, although much more painful.  Every fan sketch you draw, every print you sell, of a copyrighted and trademarked corporate character could and probably will be used to numerate damages awarded to that company.

The first result under Google image search for CON SKETCH

Yes, that’s the sleeping tiger in the room when comics creators rant and rave over swipe artists and plagiarists:  EVERYONE who draws a character they do not own is engaged in some sort of illegality.  Most companies allow this to happen, partly because actual licensing is problematic, partly because it would be bad publicity to enforce, partly because it encourages creators to show up at cons and participate in corporate-sponsored publicity (panels, booth signings, media interviews).  That “paper tiger” you think is harmless… well, paper can be quite nasty, as the courts prove every day.  Don’t think it could happen to you?  What if a giant corporation wanted to punish an artist?  A simple copyright/trademark infringement suit is all it takes.  Grab a few sketches sold on eBay, or pay a kid to purchase a sketch at a con (just like those underage buyers of cigarettes and beer) with a “father” making a video with his smartphone , and the case is quite simple.  No need to negotiate a settlement… you ruin the creator with court fees, an audit not unlike one from the IRS, and awarded damages.  AND they cannot ever draw those characters ever again.  If the company is really devious, they issue the artist’s work as legitimate merchandise, then cause more heartache when a fan asks the artist to sign the poster/print/book.

Then the company “encourages” other artists to join the official “bullpen” at conventions, an “Artists Alley” which is part of that company’s booth.  The artist gets a free table, airfare, hotel, and money from sketches; the company gets an artist who draws every hour of the con, which brings people to the booth, plus they sell con-exclusive blank-cover variants for a premium which the artist then sketches on!  (Or they sell trades!)  Convention organizers probably make more from selling corporate space than from Artists Alley tables, so they wouldn’t care.  They would probably encourage this, as the publisher would then supplement the guest list which the convention could then publicize.

Sound crazy?  Boom! Studios does this quite frequently.  Amy Mebberson sketched hundreds of Muppet covers at conventions when she was a Muppets comics artist.  Boom’s Disney comics artists did the same thing.  If I remember correctly, the special comic cost $5, the sketch $10.  It was beneficial to both artist and publisher, as the artist had greater visibility at the publisher’s booth, while the publisher was able to sell more comics and trade collections.  (Not unlike an author signing at a bookstore, except that the artist sits behind the table for hours each day.)

Creators, keep a detailed paper trail.  Keep a journal, especially when creating new characters.  At conventions, have an assistant note what is commissioned and for what amount (and report it as income… you don’t want an IRS audit as a result of not reporting income discovered from the court ruling!)  Copyright is also important, and quite simple and inexpensive to file.  Know not only what you need to know, but also what could happen.

Because history repeats itself, forcing us to do it over and over until we get it right.

[Hat tip to Stephen Bissette's Facebook page.]

by Paul O’Brien

This month, the slow build to AVENGERS VS X-MEN begins with the AVENGERS: X-SANCTION miniseries; and DEFENDERS is relaunched. Both are wisely given a pretty clear run, without other Marvel launches competing for space.

Elsewhere, the X-Men, Hulk and Fantastic Four relaunches continue to bed down. And down at the bottom end of the chart, the cancellations continue to mount up.

Normal service is resumed, kind of, as Marvel had the largest share of the north American direct market, albeit by a fairly narrow margin – 39% to 38% in units, 34.4% to 33.7% in dollars. But bear in mind, this was a five-week month where DC more or less sat out week five.

Thanks as always to ICV2.com for permission to use these figures.

5. AVENGERS: X-SANCTION
12/11  #1 of 4 - 93,380

Marvel have made it very clear that this is an Important Book which contains the build-up to a crossover that will dominate two major franchises for half of 2012. So it’s no great surprise to see it as Marvel’s top seller of the month.

As you’d expect, this high-priority book is supported by a horde of variant covers. In addition to 1:15, 1:25, 1:100 and 1:200 variants, there are also two different retailer-specific covers. That’s a gimmick that has worked well for Marvel in the past, though there surely has to be a risk of overuse if the company isn’t careful.

7. DEFENDERS
12/11  #1 - 85,969

The other big launch of the month, and again, Marvel are supporting it heavily. For one thing, this has multiple variant covers (1:10, 1:25, 1:50 and 1:200). But more to the point, it was overshipped by 50%.

Judging from the sales figures on earlier overshipping promotions, Diamond appears to count the extra copies towards the chart – a curious policy, given that outright freebies are excluded, but there it is. Stripping out the 50% uplift, we can estimate the actual orders at 57,313. That’s marginally lower than the first issue of VENOM. (It’s also marginally lower than the first issue of WOLVERINE: THE BEST THERE IS, but since that book continued to bleed readers throughout its run, it’s not a very useful comparison.)

Still, this is the Defenders, a franchise which comes round again every few years and has usually struggled. I’d say 57K initial orders is a pretty respectable debut.

As for the broader issues of overshipping, in theory it’s not a bad idea. The logic is that if you have more copies on the shelves then you have a greater chance to reach readers. Whether it works in practice is another matter. After all, if retailers really thought they could sell those extra copies, they’d have ordered them in the first place. But that involves the retailers taking a risk, and if Marvel have more confidence than they do, this sort of promotion may make sense.

12. UNCANNY X-MEN
12/06  #481 -  85,995
12/07  #493 - 102,114
12/08  #505 -  82,271
12/09  #519 -  67,043
=====
12/10  #531 -  55,770  ( -3.9%)
01/11  #532 -  54,071  ( -3.0%)
02/11  #533 -  53,834  ( -0.4%)
03/11  #534 -  55,731  ( +3.5%)
04/11  #.1  -  53,473  ( -4.1%)
04/11  #535 -  56,795  ( +6.2%)
04/11  #536 -  53,502  ( -5.8%)
05/11  #537 -  53,716  ( +0.4%)
06/11  #538 -  53,319  ( -0.7%)
06/11  #539 -  54,284  ( +1.8%)
07/11  #540 -  57,206  ( +5.4%)
07/11  #541 -  55,856  ( -2.4%)
08/11  #542 -  54,840  ( -1.8%)
09/11  #543 -  58,326  ( +6.4%)
10/11  #544 -  60,212  ( +3.2%)
11/11  #1   - 109,911  (+82.5%)
11/11  #2   -  72,485  (-34.1%)
12/11  #3   -  64,112  (-11.6%)
               6 mnth  (+18.1%)
               1 year  (+15.0%)
               2 year  ( -4.4%)
               3 year  (-22.1%)
               4 year  (-37.2%)
               5 year  (-25.4%)

No variant cover this month, so the settling-down process may be slightly exaggerated. The book is still miles ahead of pre-relaunch numbers, but it’s evidently some way from finding its level just yet.

13. AVENGING SPIDER-MAN
11/11  #1 - 112,153
12/11  #2 -  60,682  (-45.9%)

The first issue had four variants, and this had one. Still a big drop, though.

15. WOLVERINE & THE X-MEN
10/11  #1 - 99,611
11/11  #2 - 83,356  (-16.3%)
12/11  #3 - 58,438  (-29.9%)

Issue #1 picks up 3,756 re-orders to chart at number 282. Those are included in the number above.

As with UNCANNY, this is the first issue without a variant cover, which may be exaggerating the drops. But it’s a bigger drop than I’d have expected.

17. AVENGERS
11/10  #7  - 89,758  (+22.5%)
12/10  #8  - 67,056  (-25.3%)
01/11  #9  - 64,867  ( -3.3%)
02/11  #10 - 63,924  ( -1.5%)
03/11  #11 - 66,618  ( +4.2%)
04/11  #12 - 63,441  ( -4.8%)
04/11  #.1 - 60,455  ( -4.7%)
05/11  #13 - 68,086  (+12.6%)
06/11  #14 - 64,057  ( -5.9%)
07/11  #15 - 62,580  (-17.9%)
08/11  #16 - 60,295  ( -3.7%)
09/11  #17 - 61,492  ( +2.0%)
10/11  #18 - 58,897  ( -4.2%)
11/11  #19 - 56,620  ( -3.9%)
12/11  #20 - 57,145  ( +0.9%)
             6 mnth  (-10.8%)
             1 year  (-36.3%)

Variant cover, explaining the very slight increase.

18,21. UNCANNY X-FORCE
12/08  #10 - 58,801
12/09  #22 - 51,859
=====
12/10  #3  - 55,520  (-1.8%)
01/11  #4  - 51,381  (-7.5%)
02/11  #5  - 51,470  (+0.2%)
03/11  #.1 - 50,732  (-1.4%)
03/11  #6  - 51,248  (-1.0%)
04/11  #7  - 54,292  (+5.9%)
04/11  #8  - 50,908  (-6.2%)
05/11  #9  - 51,726  (+1.6%)
05/11  #10 - 50,676  (-2.0%)
06/11  #11 - 53,199  (+5.0%)
07/11  #12 - 55,413  (+4.2%)
08/11  #13 - 53,904  (-2.7%)
08/11  #14 - 50,770  (-5.8%)
09/11  #15 - 53,771  (+5.9%)
10/11  #16 - 52,398  (-2.6%)
11/11  #17 - 50,974  (-2.7%)
12/11  #18 - 54,274  (+6.5%)
12/11  #19 - 55,333  (+2.0%)
             6 mnth  (+4.0%)
             1 year  (-0.3%)
             2 year  (+6.7%)
             3 year  (-5.9%)

Issue #18 has one variant, issue #19 has two, so a degree of increase is to be expected. But given that variant covers often have a rather muted effect, it could also be that there’s real interest in the climax of the well-received “Dark Angel Saga”. More generally, X-FORCE seems to be selling steadily in the low 50K range – an impressive performance in the current market.

20,22. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
12/06  ---
12/07  #545 - 124,481
12/08  #581 -  68,905
12/09  #616 -  58,856
=====
12/10  #650 -  58,909  (  +6.1%)
01/11  #651 -  56,749  (  -3.7%)
01/11  #652 -  52,050  (  -8.3%)
02/11  #653 -  53,103  (  +2.0%)
02/11  #654 -  53,882  (  +1.5%)
02/11  #.1  -  55,283  (  +2.6%)
02/11  #655 -  53,366  (  -3.5%)
03/11  #656 -  59,626  ( +11.7%)
03/11  #657 -  58,704  (  -1.5%)
04/11  #658 -  61,687  (  +5.1%)
04/11  #659 -  58,258  (  -5.6%)
05/11  #660 -  58,249  (  -0.0%)
05/11  #661 -  59,087  (  +1.4%)
05/11  #662 -  55,883  (  -5.4%)
06/11  #663 -  57,040  (  +2.1%)
06/11  #664 -  54,808  (  -3.9%)
07/11  #665 -  56,948  (  +3.9%)
07/11  #666 - 135,568  (+138.1%)
08/11  #667 -  71,235  ( -47.5%)
08/11  #668 -  57,533  ( -19.2%)
09/11  #669 -  71,944  ( +25.0%)
09/11  #670 -  57,959  ( -19.4%)
10/11  #671 -  59,426  (  +2.5%)
10/11  #672 -  57,860  (  -2.6%)
11/11  #673 -  57,159  (  -1.2%)
11/11  #674 -  57,723  (  +1.0%)
12/11  #675 -  54,652  (  -5.3%)
12/11  #676 -  54,001  (  -1.2%)
               6 mnth  (  -1.5%)
               1 year  (  -8.3%)
               2 year  (  -8.2%)
               3 year  ( -21.6%)
               4 year  ( -56.6%)
               5 year  (   --- )

No variants this month, so we’re back to gentle drifting down. But the book was lower than this at the start of the year. Overall, it still looks pretty stable.

25. NEW AVENGERS
12/06  #26 - 122,670
12/07  #37 - 105,545
12/08  #48 -  93,908
12/09  #60 -  72,790
=====
12/10  #7  -  67,840  ( +1.7%)
01/11  #8  -  61,169  ( -9.8%)
02/11  #9  -  60,914  ( -0.4%)
03/11  #10 -  59,929  ( -1.6%)
04/11  #11 -  61,778  ( +3.1%)
05/11  #12 -  60,328  ( -2.3%)
06/11  #13 -  57,682  ( -4.4%)
07/11  #14 -  58,306  ( +1.1%)
08/11  #15 -  56,035  ( -3.9%)
09/11  #16 -  57,959  ( +3.4%)
09/11  #.1 -  51,506  (-11.1%)
10/11  #17 -  55,732  ( +8.2%)
11/11  #18 -  54,454  ( -2.3%)
12/11  #19 -  52,915  ( -2.8%)
              6 mnth  ( -8.3%)
              1 year  (-22.0%)
              2 year  (-27.3%)
              3 year  (-43.7%)
              4 year  (-49.9%)
              5 year  (-56.9%)

Second straight month without a variant. The downward trend on this book is pretty evident.

29. FANTASTIC FOUR
12/06  #541 -  84,895
12/07  #552 -  51,320
12/08  #562 -  54,062
12/09  #574 -  38,431
=====
12/10  #586 -  42,829  (  +3.0%)
01/11  #587 - 144,173  (+236.6%)
02/11  #588 -  68,153  ( -52.7%)
03/11  #1   - 121,172  ( +77.8%)
04/11  #2   -  72,897  ( -39.8%)
05/11  #3   -  66,885  (  -8.2%)
05/11  #4   -  60,571  (  -9.4%)
06/11  #5   -  58,925  (  -2.7%)
07/11  #6   -  55,601  (  -5.6%)
07/11  #7   -  54,022  (  -2.8%)
08/11  #8   -  51,917  (  -0.2%)
09/11  #9   -  53,091  (  +2.3%)
10/11  #10  -  49,642  (  -6.5%)
10/11  #11  -  48,433  (  -2.4%)
11/11  #600 -  73,809  ( +52.4%)
12/11  #601 -  51,080  ( -30.8%)
               6 mnth  ( -13.3%)
               1 year  ( +19.3%)
               2 year  ( +32.9%)
               3 year  (  -5.5%)
               4 year  (  -0.5%)
               5 year  ( -39.8%)

Pretty much straight back to previous sales levels after the renumbering last month. Of course, the book is still holding on to the sales it gained from the March relaunch.

30. ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN
12/06  #103    -  76,251
12/07  #117    -  60,361
12/08  #129    -  51,071
12/09  #5      -  45,849
=====
12/10  #151    -  33,707  ( -16.9%)
01/11  #152    -  33,481  (  -1.0%)
02/11  #153    -  43,986  ( +31.4%)
02/11  #154    -  43,209  (  -1.8%)
03/11  #155    -  44,067  (  +2.0%)
03/11  #156    -  44,920  (  +1.9%)
04/11  #157    -  50,896  ( +13.3%)
05/11  #158    -  47,941  (  -5.8%)
06/11  #159    -  51,766  (  +8.0%)
06/11  #160    - 166,944  (+222.5%)
07/11  #1 of 6 -  49,084  ( -70.6%)
07/11  #2 of 6 -  45,371  (  -7.6%)
07/11  #3 of 6 -  44,492  (  -1.9%)
08/11  #4 of 6 -  96,815  (+117.6%)
08/11  #5 of 6 -  41,336  ( -57.3%)
08/11  #6 of 6 -  39,190  (  -5.2%)
09/11  #1      -  95,483  (+143.6%)
09/11  #2      -  58,672  ( -38.6%)
10/11  #3      -  52,521  ( -10.5%)
11/11  #4      -  51,558  (  -1.8%)
12/11  #5      -  48,308  (  -6.3%)
                  6 mnth  (  -6.7%)
                  1 year  ( +43.3%)
                  2 year  (  +5.4%)
                  3 year  (  -5.4%)
                  4 year  ( -20.0%)
                  5 year  ( -36.6%)

Back on a downward slide, but the book is still a good 15K up as a result of the Death of Spider-Man arc and the relaunch.

31,32. CAPTAIN AMERICA
12/06  ---
12/07  #33  - 78,279
12/08  #45  - 71,186
12/09  R#5  - 91,790
=====
12/10  #613 - 42,871  (  -9.4%)
01/11  #614 - 42,119  (  -1.8%)
02/11  #615 - 41,935  (  -0.4%)
03/11  #.1  - 43,117  (  +2.8%)
03/11  #616 - 44,394  (  +3.0%)
04/11  #617 - 45,400  (  +2.3%)
05/11  #618 - 44,748  (  -1.4%)
06/11  #619 - 44,796  (  +0.1%)
07/11  #1   - 96,926  (+116.4%)
08/11  #2   - 54,384  ( -43.9%)
09/11  #3   - 54,413  (  +0.1%)
10/11  ---
11/11  #4   - 54,157  (  -0.5%)
12/11  #5   - 47,333  ( -12.6%)
12/11  #6   - 47,753  (  +0.9%)
              6 mnth  (  +6.6%)
              1 year  ( +11.4%)
              2 year  ( -48.0%)
              3 year  ( -32.9%)
              4 year  ( -39.0%)
              5 year  (   --- )

Issue #6 has a variant cover, hence the slight increase. Rather odd, jerky sales here, but there seems to be a general trend back towards the pre-relaunch sales levels.

33. INCREDIBLE HULK
12/06  #101 -  47,927
12/07  #112 -  77,119
12/08  #9   -  87,786
12/09  #605 -  43,964
=====
12/10  #618 -  34,868  (  -1.5%)
12/10  #619 -  32,657  (  -6.3%)
01/11  #620 -  30,992  (  -5.1%)
01/11  #621 -  30,957  (  -0.1%)
02/11  #622 -  30,404  (  -1.8%)
02/11  #623 -  30,140  (  -0.9%)
03/11  #624 -  32,066  (  +6.4%)
03/11  #625 -  29,792  (  -7.1%)
04/11  #626 -  29,782  (  -0.0%)
04/11  #627 -  30,788  (  +3.3%)
05/11  #628 -  28,822  (  -6.4%)
05/11  #629 -  28,103  (  -2.5%)
06/11  #630 -  28,028  (  -0.3%)
06/11  #631 -  27,456  (  -2.0%)
07/11  #632 -  28,518  (  +3.9%)
07/11  #633 -  27,216  (  -4.6%)
08/11  #634 -  27,310  (  +0.3%)
08/11  #635 -  38,223  ( +40.0%)
09/11  ---
10/11  #1   - 106,472  (+178.6%)
11/11  #2   -  80,143  ( -24.7%)
12/11  #3   -  46,446  ( -42.0%)
               6 mnth  ( +69.2%)
               1 year  ( +33.2%)
               2 year  (  +5.6%)
               3 year  ( -47.1%)
               4 year  ( -39.8%)
               5 year  (  -3.1%)

Issue #2 was also overshipped by 50%, so the actual orders would have been closer to 53,429, bringing out a much more reasonable 13% drop – especially when you bear in mind that there’s no variant cover this month. Considering that the HULK titles were both selling below 30K before this relaunch, the numbers aren’t bad.

But it does beg the question of how much benefit Marvel are getting from these overshipping promotions. It certainly doesn’t seem to have inspired retailers to up their orders here.

34. KICK-ASS 2  [Icon]
12/10  ---
01/11  ---
02/11  ---
03/11  #2 of 7 - 62,235  (-19.1%)
04/11  ---
05/11  ---
06/11  ---
07/11  ---
08/11  #3 of 7 - 54,270  (-12.8%)
09/11  #4 of 7 - 51,014  ( -6.0%)
10/11  ---
11/11  #5 of 7 - 53,937  ( +5.7%)
12/11  #6 of 7 - 45,390  (-15.8%)

Issue #5 had two variant covers; this has one. That suggests the underlying drop may be speeding up, but sales remain very healthy, especially by Icon standards.

36. FF
03/11  #1  - 121,172  (+77.8%)
04/11  #2  -  72,897  (-39.8%)
05/11  #3  -  66,885  ( -8.2%)
05/11  #4  -  60,571  ( -9.4%)
06/11  #5  -  58,925  ( -2.7%)
07/11  #6  -  55,601  ( -5.6%)
07/11  #7  -  54,022  ( -2.8%)
08/11  #8  -  51,917  ( -0.2%)
09/11  #9  -  53,091  ( +2.3%)
10/11  #10 -  49,642  ( -6.5%)
10/11  #11 -  48,433  ( -2.4%)
11/11  #12 -  49,449  ( +2.1%)
12/11  #13 -  44,970  ( -9.1%)
              6 mnth  (-23.7%)

Bearing in mind that this is essentially a new title attempting to inherit an audience from FANTASTIC FOUR, it’s not done too badly.

44. X-MEN
12/10  #6  - 53,005  ( -6.4%)
01/11  #7  - 64,615  (+21.9%)
02/11  #8  - 49,522  (-23.4%)
03/11  #9  - 51,179  ( +3.3%)
04/11  #10 - 50,553  ( -1.2%)
05/11  #11 - 46,519  ( -8.0%)
06/11  #12 - 45,786  ( -1.6%)
06/11  #13 - 44,665  ( -2.4%)
07/11  #14 - 45,150  ( +1.1%)
07/11  #15 - 43,038  ( -4.7%)
08/11  #.1 - 38,078  (-11.5%)
08/11  #16 - 43,161  (+13.3%)
09/11  #17 - 43,200  ( +0.1%)
09/11  #18 - 42,066  ( -2.6%)
10/11  #19 - 40,906  ( -2.8%)
11/11  #20 - 43,515  ( +6.4%)
11/11  #21 - 39,919  ( -8.3%)
12/11  #22 - 39,121  ( -2.0%)
             6 mnth  (-12.4%)
             1 year  (-26.2%)

Ignore the variant on issue #20, and this seems to be on a slow but steady decline.

45. DAREDEVIL
12/06  #92     - 48,035
12/07  #103    - 43,874
12/08  #114    - 44,351
12/09  #502    - 38,680
=====
12/10  #512    - 40,317  (  -7.1%)
01/11  #1 of 4 - 34,310  ( -14.9%)
02/11  #2 of 4 - 29,108  ( -15.2%)
03/11  #3 of 4 - 27,231  (  -6.4%)
04/11  ---
05/11  #4 of 4 - 26,179  (  -3.9%)
06/11  ---
07/11  #1      - 64,866  (+147.8%)
08/11  #2      - 40,990  ( -36.8%)
09/11  #3      - 39,477  (  -3.7%)
09/11  #4      - 40,311  (  +2.1%)
10/11  #5      - 39,413  (  -2.2%)
11/11  #6      - 38,302  (  -2.8%)
12/11  #7      - 38,824  (  +1.4%)
                 6 mnth  (   --- )
                 1 year  (  -3.7%)
                 2 year  (  +0.4%)
                 3 year  ( -12.5%)
                 4 year  ( -11.5%)
                 5 year  ( -19.2%)

This has a 1:50 variant, but it doesn’t appear to have had much of an impact. Sales on DAREDEVIL have been weirdly consistent since issue #3 regardless of variant covers.

47. SECRET AVENGERS
12/10  #8  -  54,048  ( -9.9%)
01/11  #9  -  50,748  ( -6.1%)
02/11  #10 -  49,717  ( -2.0%)
03/11  #11 -  51,353  ( +3.3%)
04/11  #12 -  50,641  (-13.9%)
04/11  #.1 -  46,161  ( -8.8%)
05/11  #13 -  51,936  (+12.5%)
06/11  #14 -  49,898  ( -3.9%)
07/11  #15 -  46,712  ( -6.4%)
08/11  #16 -  46,317  ( -0.8%)
09/11  #17 -  44,890  ( -3.1%)
10/11  #18 -  43,280  ( -3.6%)
11/11  #19 -  41,191  ( -4.8%)
12/11  #20 -  38,202  ( -7.3%)
              6 mnth  (-23.4%)
              1 year  (-29.3%)

First issue in a while to lack a variant cover.

48. MIGHTY THOR
12/06  ---
12/07  #5   - 101,551
12/08  #12  -  73,784
12/09  #605 -  55,242
=====
12/10  #618 -  45,142  ( -8.2%)
01/11  #619 -  42,899  ( -5.0%)
02/11  #620 -  42,106  ( -1.8%)
03/11  #.1  -  41,605  ( -1.2%)
03/11  #621 -  42,104  ( +1.2%)
04/11  #1   -  82,071  (+94.9%)
05/11  #2   -  50,473  (-38.5%)
06/11  #3   -  48,114  ( -4.7%)
07/11  #4   -  44,586  ( -7.3%)
08/11  #5   -  44,594  ( +0.0%)
09/11  #6   -  45,231  ( +1.4%)
10/11  #7   -  44,017  ( -2.7%)
11/11  #8   -  40,703  ( -7.5%)
12/11  #9   -  38,000  ( -6.6%)
               6 mnth  (-21.0%)
               1 year  (-15.8%)
               2 year  (-31.2%)
               3 year  (-48.5%)
               4 year  (-62.6%)
               5 year  (  --- )

Settling back into a steady decline, from the look of it.

49. X-MEN LEGACY
12/06  #194 - 78,114
12/07  #206 - 97,871
12/08  #219 - 60,587
12/09  #230 - 49,776
=====
12/10  #243 - 41,797  ( -4.5%)
01/11  #244 - 40,193  ( -3.8%)
02/11  #245 - 57,203  (+42.3%)
03/11  #246 - 47,893  (-16.3%)
04/11  #247 - 51,970  ( +8.5%)
05/11  #248 - 46,083  (-11.3%)
05/11  #249 - 45,063  ( -2.2%)
06/11  #250 - 45,070  ( +0.0%)
06/11  #251 - 43,479  ( -3.5%)
07/11  #252 - 41,365  ( -4.9%)
08/11  #253 - 40,466  ( -2.2%)
08/11  #254 - 39,896  ( -1.4%)
09/11  #255 - 39,284  ( -1.5%)
09/11  #256 - 38,680  ( -1.5%)
10/11  #257 - 38,070  ( -1.6%)
11/11  #258 - 38,334  ( +0.7%)
11/11  #259 - 41,967  ( +9.5%)
12/11  #260 - 37,946  ( -9.6%)
              6 mnth  (-12.7%)
              1 year  ( -9.2%)
              2 year  (-23.8%)
              3 year  (-37.4%)
              4 year  (-61.2%)
              5 year  (-51.4%)

The final issue of Mike Carey’s run. Christos Gage and David Baldeon take over in January.

50. CARNAGE, U.S.A.
12/11  #1 of 5 - 37,620

The last CARNAGE mini opened at 47K, so there’s a degree of diminishing returns here.

51. WOLVERINE
12/06  #49 - 78,807
12/07  #60 - 63,194
12/08  #70 - 98,915
12/09  #8  - 33,470
=====
12/10  #4  - 52,812  ( +2.3%)
01/11  #5  - 46,920  (-11.2%)
02/11  #.1 - 44,332  ( -5.5%)
02/11  #6  - 45,932  ( +3.6%)
03/11  #7  - 47,337  ( +3.1%)
04/11  #8  - 47,010  ( -0.7%)
05/11  #9  - 44,635  ( -5.1%)
06/11  #10 - 42,677  ( -4.4%)
06/11  #11 - 41,813  ( -2.0%)
07/11  #12 - 42,110  ( +0.7%)
08/11  #13 - 39,296  ( -0.7%)
08/11  #14 - 38,869  ( -0.1%)
09/11  #15 - 37,951  ( -2.4%)
09/11  #16 - 37,796  ( -0.4%)
10/11  #17 - 39,405  ( +4.3%)
11/11  #18 - 40,170  ( +1.9%)
11/11  #19 - 37,997  ( -5.4%)
12/11  #20 - 37,360  ( -1.7%)
             6 mnth  (-10.6%)
             1 year  (-29.3%)
             2 year  (+11.6%)
             3 year  (-62.2%)
             4 year  (-40.9%)
             5 year  (-52.6%)

Seems to be fairly steady when variants are left aside. The book renumbers to #300 in January.

52,56. ULTIMATE COMICS X-MEN
12/06  #77 - 67,338
12/07  #88 - 51,633
12/08  #99 - 44,360
12/09  ---
=====
12/10  ---
01/11  ---
02/11  ---
03/11  #4  - 37,631  (-15.6%)
04/11  ---
05/11  ---
06/11  #5  - 34,730  ( -7.7%)
07/11  ---
08/11  ---
09/11  #1  - 67,625  (+94.7%)
10/11  #2  - 44,399  (-34.3%)
11/11  #3  - 39,657  (-10.7%)
12/11  #4  - 37,115  ( -6.4%)
12/11  #5  - 35,153  ( -5.3%)
             6 mnth  ( +1.2%)
             1 year  (  --- )
             2 year  (  --- )
             3 year  (-20.8%)
             4 year  (-31.9%)
             5 year  (-47.8%)

56. ULTIMATE COMICS ULTIMATES
12/06  ---
12/07  #1 of 5 - 131,401
12/08  ---
12/09  ---
=====
12/10  ---
01/11  ---
02/11  #5 of 5 -  38,663  ( -9.8%)
02/11  #1 of 6 -  49,360  (+47.5%)
03/11  #2 of 6 -  44,116  (-10.6%)
04/11  #3 of 6 -  43,822  ( -0.7%)
05/11  #4 of 6 -  43,707  ( -0.3%)
06/11  #5 of 6 -  42,803  ( -2.1%)
07/11  #6 of 6 -  42,760  ( -0.1%)
08/11  #1      -  58,522  (+36.9%)
09/11  #2      -  42,728  (-27.0%)
10/11  #3      -  40,792  ( -4.5%)
11/11  #4      -  39,342  ( -3.6%)
12/11  #5      -  36,396  ( -7.5%)
                  6 mnth  (-15.0%)
                  1 year  (  --- )
                  2 year  (  --- )
                  3 year  (  --- )
                  4 year  (-72.3%)
                  5 year  (  --- )

While ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN has done alright from the relaunch, its sister titles both have yet to find their level.

55. INVINCIBLE IRON MAN
12/06  #14  - 73,388
12/07  #24  - 38,834
12/08  #8   - 56,708
12/09  #21  - 49,986
=====
12/10  #33  - 41,890  ( +2.2%)
01/11  #500 - 54,186  (+29.4%)
02/11  #.1  - 42,191  (-22.1%)
02/11  #501 - 41,517  ( -1.6%)
03/11  #502 - 43,899  ( +5.7%)
04/11  #503 - 45,314  ( +3.2%)
05/11  #504 - 44,791  ( -1.2%)
06/11  #505 - 42,327  ( -5.5%)
07/11  #506 - 41,052  ( -3.0%)
08/11  #507 - 40,082  ( -2.4%)
09/11  #508 - 41,295  ( +3.0%)
10/11  #509 - 38,721  ( -6.2%)
11/11  #510 - 38,118  ( -1.6%)
12/11  #511 - 35,402  ( -7.1%)
              6 mnth  (-16.4%)
              1 year  (-15.5%)
              2 year  (-29.2%)
              3 year  (-37.6%)
              4 year  ( -8.8%)
              5 year  (-51.8%)

No variant this month, but there’s clearly an underlying decline in place as well.

59,67. FEAR ITSELF: THE FEARLESS
10/11  #1 of 12 - 59,464
11/11  #2 of 12 - 57,794  ( -2.8%)
11/11  #3 of 12 - 36,044  (-37.6%)
12/11  #4 of 12 - 31,491  (-12.6%)
12/11  #5 of 12 - 29,343  ( -6.8%)

It’s levelling out slowly, but with seven issues to go, this could drop to awkward levels by the end of its run.

60. ASTONISHING X-MEN
12/06  #19 - 124,033
12/07  ---
12/08  ---
12/09  #33 -  57,592
=====
12/10  ---
01/11  ---
02/11  #36 -  44,326  (-12.2%)
03/11  ---
04/11  ---
05/11  #37 -  38,513  (-13.1%)
05/11  #38 -  37,580  ( -2.4%)
06/11  #39 -  37,127  ( -1.2%)
07/11  #40 -  35,593  ( -4.1%)
08/11  #41 -  33,470  ( -6.0%)
09/11  #42 -  32,700  ( -2.3%)
10/11  #43 -  32,620  ( -0.2%)
11/11  #44 -  32,729  ( +0.3%)
12/11  #45 -  31,392  ( -4.1%)
              6 mnth  (-15.4%)
              1 year  (  --- )
              2 year  (-45.5%)
              3 year  (  --- )
              4 year  (  --- )
              5 year  (-74.7%)

Very slow decline, but nothing too alarming over the last few months.

65. AVENGERS: THE CHILDREN'S CRUSADE
11/10  #3 of 9 - 35,410  ( -0.2%)
12/10  ---
01/11  #4 of 9 - 31,977  ( -9.7%)
02/11  ---
03/11  ---
04/11  #5 of 9 - 31,945  ( -0.1%)
05/11  ---
06/11  #6 of 9 - 30,467  ( -4.6%)
07/11  ---
08/11  ---
09/11  #7 of 9 - 30,247  ( -0.7%)
10/11  ---
11/11  ---
12/11  #8 of 9 - 29,601  ( -2.1%)

Considering the slow schedule, this has been reasonably steady over the course of the year.

66,68. VENOM
03/11  #1  - 58,936
04/11  #2  - 41,006  (-30.4%)
05/11  #3  - 40,634  ( -0.9%)
06/11  #4  - 38,946  ( -4.2%)
07/11  #5  - 35,102  ( -9.9%)
08/11  #6  - 35,033  ( -0.2%)
09/11  #7  - 33,130  ( -5.4%)
10/11  #8  - 32,266  ( -2.6%)
11/11  #9  - 32,506  ( +0.7%)
12/11  #10 - 29,465  ( -9.4%)
12/11  #11 - 28,658  ( -2.7%)
             6 mnth  (-26.4%)

Dropping slowly, but consistently.

69. CAPTAIN AMERICA AND BUCKY
07/11  #620 - 51,187
08/11  #621 - 36,069  (-29.5%)
09/11  #622 - 34,096  ( -5.5%)
10/11  #623 - 32,041  ( -6.0%)
11/11  #624 - 30,472  ( -4.9%)
12/11  #625 - 28,652  ( -6.0%)

Still to find its level. The book is being converted into a Captain America team-up title with rotating story arcs.

71,73. DEADPOOL
12/08  #5  - 46,856
12/09  #18 - 45,914
=====
12/10  #30 - 30,488  ( -2.7%)
01/11  #31 - 29,167  ( -4.3%)
01/11  #32 - 29,144  ( -0.1%)
02/11  #33 - 28,649  ( -1.7%)
03/11  #.1 - 28,979  ( +1.2%)
03/11  #34 - 30,299  ( +4.6%)
04/11  #35 - 28,517  ( -5.9%)
04/11  #36 - 28,173  ( -1.2%)
05/11  #37 - 28,002  ( -0.6%)
06/11  #38 - 27,809  ( -0.7%)
06/11  #39 - 28,400  ( +2.1%)
07/11  #40 - 27,303  ( -3.9%)
08/11  #41 - 26,766  ( -2.0%)
08/11  #42 - 26,794  ( +0.1%)
09/11  #43 - 26,643  ( -0.6%)
10/11  #44 - 26,678  ( +0.1%)
10/11  #45 - 27,552  ( +3.3%)
11/11  #46 - 26,260  ( -4.7%)
12/11  #47 - 25,910  ( -1.3%)
12/11  #48 - 25,458  ( -1.7%)
             6 mnth  (-10.4%)
             1 year  (-16.5%)
             2 year  (-44.6%)
             3 year  (-45.7%)

Extremely slow decline. Marvel are giving issue #50 a big push with house ads.

72. NEW MUTANTS
12/09  #8  - 32,240
=====
12/10  #20 - 24,416  ( -4.0%)
01/11  #21 - 23,773  ( -2.6%)
02/11  #22 - 41,236  (+73.5%)
03/11  #23 - 37,659  ( -8.7%)
04/11  #24 - 38,701  ( +2.8%)
05/11  #25 - 34,724  (-10.3%)
06/11  #26 - 27,848  (-19.7%)
07/11  #27 - 27,963  ( +0.4%)
07/11  #28 - 26,130  ( -6.6%)
08/11  #29 - 27,205  ( -4.1%)
08/11  #30 - 26,678  ( -1.9%)
09/11  #31 - 25,672  ( -3.8%)
10/11  #32 - 25,364  ( -1.2%)
11/11  #33 - 28,665  (+13.0%)
11/11  #34 - 25,847  ( -9.8%)
12/11  #35 - 25,564  ( -1.1%)
             6 mnth  ( -8.2%)
             1 year  ( +4.7%)
             2 year  (-20.7%)

Another book which has been very solid if you set the variant covers aside – consistently in the 25K area since September.

78. MOON KNIGHT
12/06  ---
12/07  ---
12/08  #25 - 23,283
12/09  #4  - 21,483
=====
12/10  ---
01/11  ---
02/11  ---
03/11  ---
04/11  ---
05/11  #1  - 49,018  (+167.6%)
06/11  #2  - 35,333  ( -27.9%)
07/11  #3  - 33,781  (  -4.4%)
08/11  #4  - 30,237  ( -10.5%)
09/11  #5  - 28,423  (  -6.0%)
10/11  #6  - 27,493  (  -3.3%)
11/11  #7  - 27,062  (  -1.6%)
12/11  #8  - 24,626  (  -9.0%)
             6 mnth  ( -30.3%)
             1 year  (   --- )
             2 year  ( +14.6%)
             3 year  (  +5.8%)
             4 year  (   --- )
             5 year  (   --- )

79. JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY
04/11  #622 - 43,925
05/11  #623 - 39,003  (-11.2%)
06/11  #624 - 35,834  ( -8.1%)
07/11  #625 - 33,781  ( -5.7%)
08/11  #626 - 31,549  ( -6.6%)
08/11  #.1  - 27,877  (-11.6%)
09/11  #627 - 29,678  ( +6.5%)
09/11  #628 - 28,843  ( -2.8%)
10/11  #629 - 28,054  ( -2.7%)
10/11  #630 - 27,701  ( -1.3%)
11/11  #631 - 27,161  ( -1.9%)
12/11  #632 - 24,159  (-11.0%)
              6 mnth  (-32.6%)

81. PUNISHER
12/06  ---
12/07  #14     - 38,471
12/08  #26     - 22,243
12/09  #12     - 24,985
=====
12/10  #2 of 5 - 16,608  ( -17.1%)
01/11  #3 of 5 - 15,298  (  -7.9%)
02/11  #4 of 5 - 14,861  (  -2.9%)
03/11  #5 of 5 - 14,468  (  -2.6%)
04/11  ---
05/11  ---
06/11  ---
07/11  ---
08/11  #1      - 44,725  (+209.1%)
08/11  #2      - 42,459  (  -5.1%)
09/11  #3      - 26,802  ( -36.9%)
10/11  #4      - 25,847  (  -3.6%)
11/11  #5      - 25,399  (  -1.7%)
12/11  #6      - 23,971  (  -5.6%)
                 6 mnth  (   --- )
                 1 year  ( +44.3%)
                 2 year  (  -4.1%)
                 3 year  (  +7.8%)
                 4 year  ( -37.7%)
                 5 year  (   --- )

All three had variant covers last month, presumably distorting the decline.

83,84. X-FACTOR
12/06  #14  - 40,208
12/07  #26  - 74,699
12/08  #38  - 34,425
12/09  #200 - 36,577
=====
12/10  #212 - 26,443  ( -0.7%)
01/11  #213 - 25,403  ( -3.9%)
01/11  #214 - 25,117  ( -1.1%)
02/11  #215 - 25,298  ( +0.7%)
03/11  #216 - 25,256  ( -0.2%)
03/11  #217 - 25,125  ( -0.5%)
04/11  #218 - 24,826  ( -1.2%)
05/11  #219 - 24,766  ( -0.2%)
06/11  #220 - 24,926  ( +0.6%)
06/11  #221 - 24,502  ( -1.7%)
07/11  #222 - 24,794  ( +1.2%)
08/11  #223 - 23,854  ( -3.8%)
08/11  #224 - 23,681  ( -0.7%)
09/11  #.1  - 23,220  ( -1.9%)
09/11  #225 - 23,507  ( +1.2%)
10/11  #226 - 23,569  ( +0.3%)
11/11  #227 - 23,742  ( +0.7%)
12/11  #228 - 23,461  ( -1.2%)
12/11  #229 - 23,667  ( +0.9%)
              6 mnth  ( -3.4%)
              1 year  (-10.5%)
              2 year  (-35.3%)
              3 year  (-31.3%)
              4 year  (-68.3%)
              5 year  (-41.1%)

Another book that has found its level; this is about as consistent as Marvel titles get.

85,88. HULK
12/08  #9  - 87,786
12/09  #18 - 53,222
=====
12/10  #28 - 34,755  (-10.2%)
01/11  ---
02/11  #29 - 33,375  ( -4.0%)
02/11  #30 - 32,907  ( -1.4%)
03/11  #.1 - 32,163  ( -2.3%)
03/11  #31 - 31,368  ( -2.5%)
04/11  #32 - 30,652  ( -2.3%)
05/11  #33 - 32,273  ( +5.3%)
06/11  #34 - 29,391  ( -8.9%)
06/11  #35 - 28,539  ( -2.9%)
07/11  #36 - 28,651  ( +0.4%)
07/11  #37 - 30,318  ( +5.8%)
08/11  #38 - 29,059  ( -4.2%)
08/11  #39 - 26,895  ( -7.4%)
09/11  #40 - 26,591  ( -1.1%)
09/11  #41 - 26,084  ( -1.9%)
10/11  #42 - 27,025  ( +3.6%)
10/11  #43 - 25,514  ( -5.6%)
11/11  #44 - 24,596  ( -3.6%)
12/11  #45 - 23,273  ( -5.4%)
12/11  #46 - 22,974  ( -1.3%)
             6 mnth  (-19.5%)
             1 year  (-33.9%)
             2 year  (-56.8%)
             3 year  (-73.8%)

Still on a gentle decline.

89. AVENGERS ACADEMY
12/10  #7  - 27,774  ( +6.9%)
01/11  #8  - 24,014  (-13.5%)
02/11  #9  - 23,709  ( -1.3%)
03/11  #10 - 23,708  ( -0.0%)
03/11  #11 - 23,636  ( -0.3%)
04/11  #12 - 23,578  ( -0.2%)
05/11  #13 - 24,840  ( +5.4%)
05/11  #14 - 23,537  ( -5.2%)
06/11  #.1 - 23,499  ( -0.2%)
06/11  #15 - 26,378  (+12.3%)
07/11  #16 - 25,379  ( -3.8%)
08/11  #17 - 24,898  ( -1.9%)
08/11  #18 - 24,538  ( -1.4%)
09/11  #19 - 23,928  ( -2.5%)
10/11  #20 - 23,412  ( -2.2%)
11/11  #21 - 22,713  ( -3.0%)
11/11  #22 - 22,531  ( -0.8%)
12/11  #23 - 22,422  ( -0.5%)
             6 mnth  (-15.0%)
             1 year  (-19.3%)

Very small drops over the last couple of months, but the book has been holding steady in the 23K range for most of the year.

91,96. X-23
12/10  #4  - 29,703  ( -4.9%)
01/11  #5  - 27,855  ( -6.2%)
02/11  #6  - 27,156  ( -2.5%)
03/11  #7  - 27,510  ( +1.3%)
03/11  #8  - 27,745  ( +0.9%)
04/11  #9  - 28,562  ( +2.9%)
05/11  #10 - 26,157  ( -8.4%)
06/11  #11 - 25,985  ( -0.7%)
07/11  #12 - 24,605  ( -5.3%)
08/11  #13 - 23,976  ( -2.6%)
09/11  #14 - 23,727  ( -1.0%)
10/11  #15 - 24,043  ( +1.3%)
11/11  #16 - 22,737  ( -5.4%)
11/11  #17 - 22,780  ( +0.2%)
12/11  #18 - 21,999  ( -3.4%)
12/11  #19 - 21,348  ( -3.0%)
             6 mnth  (-17.8%)
             1 year  (-28.1%)

Cancelled with issue #21.

93. BATTLE SCARS
11/11  #1 of 6 - 32,222
12/11  #2 of 6 - 21,702  (-32.6%)

Pretty much disappearing off the radar, despite Marvel’s attempts to launch it off the back of FEAR ITSELF.

97. THUNDERBOLTS
12/06  #109 - 27,300
12/07  ---
12/08  #127 - 36,378
12/09  #139 - 29,957
=====
12/10  #151 - 27,943  (-11.9%)
01/11  #152 - 26,515  ( -5.1%)
02/11  #153 - 26,098  ( -1.6%)
03/11  #154 - 25,455  ( -2.5%)
03/11  #155 - 26,710  ( +4.9%)
04/11  #156 - 25,117  ( -6.0%)
05/11  #157 - 25,063  ( -0.2%)
06/11  #158 - 28,422  (+13.4%)
06/11  #159 - 27,463  ( -3.4%)
07/11  #160 - 27,810  ( +1.3%)
08/11  #161 - 26,439  ( -4.9%)
08/11  #162 - 25,990  ( -1.7%)
09/11  #163 - 24,199  ( -6.9%)
09/11  #.1  - 22,596  ( -6.6%)
10/11  #164 - 23,712  ( +4.9%)
11/11  #165 - 22,536  ( -5.0%)
11/11  #166 - 22,680  ( +0.6%)
12/11  #167 - 21,167  ( -6.7%)
              6 mnth  (-22.9%)
              1 year  (-24.2%)
              2 year  (-29.3%)
              3 year  (-41.8%)
              4 year  (  --- )
              5 year  (-22.5%)

Very gradual erosion.

For some reason, number 98 is ULTIMATE COMICS FALLOUT #4, with 20,877 – presumably a case of Marvel offloading stock. Issue #1 of the same mini appears at 182, with 9,392.

105. MAGNETO: NOT A HERO
11/11  #1 of 4 - 21,543
12/11  #2 of 4 - 19,262  (-10.6%)

You can see why Marvel are moving away from minis when they aren’t tied to big events; the audience just doesn’t seem interested in supporting them.

106. GENERATION HOPE
12/10  #2  - 38,984  ( +4.2%)
01/11  #3  - 24,094  (-38.2%)
02/11  #4  - 22,170  ( -8.0%)
03/11  #5  - 21,290  ( -4.0%)
04/11  #6  - 20,376  ( -4.3%)
05/11  #7  - 20,375  ( -0.0%)
06/11  #8  - 18,883  ( -7.3%)
07/11  #9  - 18,135  ( -4.0%)
08/11  #10 - 29,245  (+61.3%)
09/11  #11 - 20,243  (-30.8%)
10/11  #12 - 18,424  ( -9.0%)
11/11  #13 - 21,317  (+15.7%)
12/11  #14 - 19,234  ( -9.8%)
             6 mnth  ( +1.9%)
             1 year  (-50.7%)

So, no huge increase from the Regenesis relaunch. It goes without saying that a question mark has to hang over the book’s long term future – because we’re about to descend into the cancelled titles. Abandon publication, all ye who enter here.

111. S.H.I.E.L.D.
12/10  #5 - 27,133  (-16.5%)
01/11  ---
02/11  #6 - 26,190  ( -3.5%)
03/11  ---
04/11  #∞ - 22,260  (-15.0%)
05/11  ---
06/11  #1 - 28,718  (+29.0%)
07/11  ---
08/11  #2 - 22,877  (-20.3%)
09/11  ---
10/11  #3 - 21,060  ( -7.9%)
11/11  ---
12/11  #4 - 18,475  (-12.3%)
            6 mnth  (-35.7%)
            1 year  (-31.9%)

Final issue.

112. ALPHA FLIGHT
05/11  #.1 - 25,775
06/11  #1  - 46,851  (+81.8%)
07/11  #2  - 26,862  (-42.7%)
08/11  #3  - 24,872  ( -7.4%)
09/11  #4  - 23,242  ( -6.6%)
10/11  #5  - 20,731  (-10.8%)
11/11  #6  - 19,316  ( -6.8%)
12/11  #7  - 18,416  ( -4.7%)
             6 mnth  (-60.7%)

Cancelled with issue #8.

116. DAKEN: DARK WOLVERINE
12/09  #81 - 48,102
=====
12/10  #4  - 30,726  ( -6.0%)
01/11  ---
02/11  #5  - 28,833  ( -6.2%)
03/11  #6  - 27,486  ( -4.7%)
03/11  #7  - 27,224  ( -1.0%)
04/11  #8  - 26,925  ( -1.1%)
05/11  #9  - 26,294  ( -2.3%)
05/11  #.1 - 24,599  ( -6.4%)
06/11  #10 - 24,724  ( +0.5%)
07/11  #11 - 23,207  ( -6.1%)
08/11  #12 - 21,734  ( -6.3%)
08/11  #13 - 21,302  ( -2.0%)
09/11  #14 - 20,460  ( -4.0%)
10/11  #15 - 19,759  ( -3.4%)
10/11  #16 - 19,472  ( -1.5%)
11/11  #17 - 18,794  ( -3.5%)
12/11  #18 - 17,806  ( -5.3%)
             6 mnth  (-28.0%)
             1 year  (-42.0%)
             2 year  (-63.0%)

Cancelled with issue #23.

118. WOLVERINE: THE BEST THERE IS
12/10  #1  - 57,348
01/11  #2  - 33,469  (-41.6%)
02/11  #3  - 27,790  (-17.0%)
03/11  #4  - 25,226  ( -9.2%)
04/11  #5  - 24,771  ( -1.8%)
05/11  #6  - 22,695  ( -8.4%)
06/11  #7  - 22,001  ( -3.1%)
07/11  #8  - 20,393  ( -7.3%)
08/11  #9  - 19,476  ( -4.5%)
09/11  #10 - 18,781  ( -3.6%)
10/11  ---
11/11  #11 - 18,094  ( -3.7%)
12/11  #12 - 17,772  ( -1.8%)
             6 mnth  (-19.2%)
             1 year  (-69.0%)

Final issue.

119. ANNIHILATORS: EARTHFALL
03/11  #1 of 4 - 26,543
04/11  #2 of 4 - 24,117  ( -9.1%)
05/11  #3 of 4 - 23,145  ( -4.0%)
06/11  #4 of 4 - 21,604  ( -6.7%)
07/11  ---
08/11  ---
09/11  #1 of 4 - 22,259  ( +3.0%)
10/11  #2 of 4 - 19,068  (-14.3%)
11/11  #3 of 4 - 18,379  ( -3.6%)
12/11  #4 of 4 - 17,612  ( -4.2%)

121. X-CLUB
12/11  #1 of 5 - 17,552

This is an X-Men mini. The solicitations have quietly cut it back from five issues to four in mid-run.

123. PUNISHERMAX  [Max]
12/06  #42 - 33,003
12/07  #53 - 31,772
12/08  #65 - 23,881
12/09  #2  - 23,110
=====
12/10  ---
01/11  ---
02/11  #10 - 19,236  (-10.3%)
03/11  #11 - 19,243  ( +0.0%)
04/11  #12 - 18,740  ( -2.6%)
05/11  #13 - 18,448  ( -1.6%)
06/11  #14 - 17,965  ( -2.6%)
07/11  #15 - 17,706  ( -1.4%)
08/11  #16 - 17,625  ( -0.5%)
09/11  #17 - 17,540  ( -0.5%)
10/11  #18 - 17,541  ( +0.0%)
11/11  #19 - 17,473  ( -0.4%)
12/11  #20 - 17,191  ( -1.6%)
             6 mnth  ( -4.3%)
             1 year  (  --- )
             2 year  (-25.6%)
             3 year  (-28.0%)
             4 year  (-45.9%)
             5 year  (-47.9%)

Cancelled with issue #22, though Jason Aaron says the story was ending anyway, and the content of the book makes that appear very plausible.

125. GHOST RIDER
06/11  #.1 - 24,830
07/11  #1  - 41,308  (+66.4%)
08/11  #2  - 24,440  (-40.8%)
09/11  #3  - 22,180  ( -9.2%)
10/11  #4  - 21,012  ( -5.3%)
11/11  #5  - 18,664  (-11.2%)
11/11  #6  - 18,297  ( -2.0%)
12/11  #7  - 16,846  ( -7.9%)
             6 mnth  (-32.2%)

Cancelled with issue #9.

133. VILLAINS FOR HIRE
12/10  #1      - 32,936
01/11  #2      - 23,013  (-30.1%)
02/11  #3      - 22,401  ( -2.7%)
03/11  #4      - 21,827  ( -2.6%)
04/11  #5      - 21,815  ( -0.0%)
05/11  #6      - 20,057  ( -8.1%)
05/11  #7      - 18,671  ( -6.9%)
06/11  #8      - 18,029  ( -3.4%)
07/11  #9      - 19,676  ( +9.1%)
08/11  #10     - 18,374  ( -6.6%)
09/11  #11     - 17,550  ( -4.5%)
09/11  #12     - 15,698  (-10.6%)
10/11  S-I     - 15,079  ( -3.9%)
11/11  #.1     - 15,281  ( +1.3%)
12/11  #1 of 4 - 15,519  ( +1.6%)
                 6 mnth  (-13.9%)
                 1 year  (-52.9%)

The miniseries replacing HEROES FOR HIRE. It’s been cut back from five issues to four.

134. DARK TOWER: WAY STATION
12/07  ---
12/08  Treachery #4      - 53,735
12/09  Jericho Hill #1   - 30,756
=====
12/10  Little Sisters #1 - 19,807  ( -7.1%)
01/11  #2 of 5           - 18,589  ( -6.1%)
02/11  #3 of 5           - 17,748  ( -4.5%)
03/11  #4 of 5           - 17,490  ( -1.5%)
04/11  #5 of 5           - 17,283  ( -1.2%)
05/11  ---
06/11  Tull #1 of 5      - 17,667  ( +2.2%)
07/11  #2 of 5           - 16,888  ( -4.4%)
08/11  #3 of 5           - 16,337  ( -3.3%)
09/11  #4 of 5           - 15,788  ( -3.4%)
10/11  #5 of 5           - 15,613  ( -1.1%)
11/11  ---
12/11  Way Station #1    - 15,367  ( -1.6%)
                           6 mnth  (-13.0%)
                           1 year  (-22.4%)
                           2 year  (-50.0%)
                           3 year  (-71.4%)
                           4 year  (  --- )

Novel adaptation. Not necessarily aimed at the direct market audience to the same extent as the other books around it.

137,141. BLACK PANTHER
12/06  #23     - 54,762
12/07  #33     - 25,906
12/08  ---
12/09  #11     - 17,989
=====
12/10  #4 of 4 -  9,145  ( -11.7%)
12/10  #513    - 33,124  (+262.2%)
01/11  #514    - 27,474  ( -17.1%)
02/11  #515    - 24,556  ( -10.6%)
03/11  #516    - 23,987  (  -2.3%)
04/11  #517    - 23,120  (  -3.6%)
05/11  #518    - 20,906  (  -9.6%)
06/11  #519    - 19,883  (  -4.9%)
06/11  #520    - 19,400  (  -2.4%)
07/11  #521    - 22,163  ( +14.2%)
08/11  #522    - 20,342  (  -8.2%)
09/11  #523    - 18,798  (  -7.6%)
09/11  #.1     - 16,592  ( -11.7%)
10/11  #524    - 18,248  ( +10.0%)
11/11  #525    - 16,295  ( -10.7%)
12/11  #526    - 15,015  (  -7.9%)
12/11  #527    - 14,677  (  -2.3%)
                 6 mnth  ( -24.3%)
                 1 year  ( +60.5%)
                 2 year  ( -18.4%)
                 3 year  (   --- )
                 4 year  ( -43.3%)
                 5 year  ( -73.2%)

Cancelled with issue #529.

146. AVENGERS 1959
10/11  #1 of 5 - 32,418
10/11  #2 of 5 - 18,989  (-41.4%)
11/11  #3 of 5 - 16,629  (-12.4%)
12/11  #4 of 5 - 13,935  (-16.2%)

Pretty dreadful numbers, but Marvel must have known it was a niche project when they commissioned it.

151,159. IRON MAN 2.0
02/11  #1  - 31,380
02/11  #2  - 24,600  (-21.6%)
03/11  #3  - 20,905  (-15.0%)
04/11  #4  - 20,342  ( -2.7%)
05/11  #5  - 20,320  ( -0.1%)
06/11  #6  - 19,798  ( -2.6%)
07/11  #7  - 20,390  ( +3.0%)
08/11  #.1 - 16,984  (-16.7%)
08/11  #8  - 16,455  ( -3.1%)
09/11  #9  - 15,600  ( -5.2%)
10/11  ---
11/11  #10 - 13,910  (-10.8%)
12/11  #11 - 13,255  ( -4.7%)
12/11  #12 - 12,513  ( -5.6%)
             6 mnth  (-36.8%)

Final issue.

153. DEADPOOL MAX X-MAS SPECIAL
12/11  One-shot - 13,176

154. DEADPOOL MAX  [Max]
12/10  #3  - 20,990  (-10.2%)
01/11  #4  - 19,238  ( -8.3%)
02/11  #5  - 18,221  ( -5.3%)
03/11  #6  - 17,528  ( -3.8%)
04/11  #7  - 17,005  ( -3.0%)
05/11  #8  - 16,428  ( -3.4%)
06/11  #9  - 15,802  ( -3.8%)
07/11  #10 - 15,067  ( -4.7%)
08/11  #11 - 14,626  ( -2.9%)
09/11  #12 - 14,507  ( -0.8%)
10/11  #1  - 15,865  ( +9.4%)
11/11  #2  - 14,171  (-10.7%)
12/11  #3  - 13,070  ( -7.8%)
             6 mnth  (-17.3%)
             1 year  (-37.7%)

Cancelled with issue #6.

158. THE STAND: NIGHT HAS COME
12/08  Captain Trips #4  - 49,211
12/09  Soul Survivors #3 - 24,308
=====
12/10  ---
01/11  ---
02/11  No Man's Land #1  - 16,094  ( -3.9%)
03/11  #2 of 5           - 15,332  ( -4.7%)
03/11  #3 of 5           - 14,768  ( -3.7%)
04/11  ---
05/11  #4 of 5           - 14,696  ( -0.5%)
06/11  #5 of 5           - 14,480  ( -1.5%)
07/11  ---
08/11  Night #1 of 6     - 14,510  ( -0.2%)
09/11  #2 of 6           - 13,723  ( -5.4%)
10/11  #3 of 6           - 13,423  ( -2.2%)
11/11  #4 of 6           - 12,803  ( -4.6%)
12/11  #5 of 6           - 12,583  ( -1.7%)
                           6 mnth  (-13.1%)
                           1 year  (  --- )
                           2 year  (-48.2%)
                           3 year  (-74.4%)

Ends in January (having completed the adaptation).

163. AVENGERS: SOLO
10/11  #1 of 5 - 18,427
11/11  #2 of 5 - 13,747  (-25.4%)
12/11  #3 of 5 - 11,530  (-16.1%)

166. THOR: DEVIANTS SAGA
11/11  #1 of 5 - 13,660
12/11  #2 of 5 - 11,273  (-17.5%)

172. VENGEANCE
07/11  #1 of 6 - 25,873
08/11  #2 of 6 - 16,895  (-34.7%)
09/11  #3 of 6 - 13,446  (-20.4%)
10/11  #4 of 6 - 11,948  (-11.1%)
11/11  #5 of 6 - 10,931  ( -8.5%)
12/11  #6 of 6 - 10,422  ( -4.7%)

Hangovers from a previous commissioning policy, one suspects.

207. OZ
12/08  #1 of 8 - 25,116
12/09  #2 of 8 - 15,783
=====
12/10  #2 of 8 - 10,419  (-21.2%)
01/11  #3 of 8 -  9,386  ( -9.9%)
02/11  #4 of 8 -  9,159  ( -2.4%)
03/11  ---
04/11  #5 of 8 -  8,797  ( -4.0%)
05/11  #6 of 8 -  8,753  ( -0.5%)
06/11  #7 of 8 -  8,672  ( -0.9%)
07/11  #8 of 8 -  8,216  ( -5.3%)
08/11  ---
09/11  #1 of 8 - 10,648  (+29.6%)
10/11  #2 of 8 -  8,504  (-20.1%)
11/11  #3 of 8 -  8,381  ( -1.4%)
12/11  #4 of 8 -  7,694  ( -8.2%)
                 6 mnth  (-11.3%)
                 1 year  (-26.2%)
                 2 year  (-51.3%)
                 3 year  (-69.4%)

Presumably not aimed at the direct market to the same extent as the other titles here.

211. LEGION OF MONSTERS
10/11  #1 of 4 - 16,785
11/11  #2 of 4 -  8,601  (-48.8%)
12/11  #3 of 4 -  7,502  (-12.8%)

Truly horrid sales, unfortunately.

232. MARVEL HOLIDAY SPECIAL 2011
12/11  One-shot - 6,787

This is a reprint of material that was available for free in digital form, presumably for those who desperately want a physical copy for their collection, or just shun electricity as the work of the devil. Given that, the sales are reasonable enough.

244. ANITA BLAKE, VAMPIRE HUNTER
12/06  G. Pleasures #3   - 36,091
12/07  ---
12/08  L. Corpse #3      - 15,665
12/09  Executioner #2    - 10,454
=====
12/10  ---
01/11  Ingenue #1 of 5   -  7,763  ( -4.7%)
02/11  #2 of 5           -  7,352  ( -5.3%)
03/11  ---
04/11  #3 of 5           -  7,018  ( -4.5%)
04/11  ---
05/11  ---
06/11  #4 of 5           -  6,893  ( -1.8%)
07/11  ---
08/11  #5 of 5           -  6,712  ( -2.6%)
09/11  Scoundrel #1 of 5 -  6,650  ( -0.9%)
10/11  ---
11/11  #2 of 5           -  6,302  ( -5.2%)
12/11  #3 of 5           -  5,914  ( -6.2%)
                           6 mnth  (-14.2%)
                           1 year  (  --- )
                           2 year  (-43.4%)
                           3 year  (-62.2%)
                           4 year  (  --- )
                           5 year  (-83.6%)

Novel adaptation.

246. SIX GUNS
11/11  #1 of 5 - 9,262
11/11  #2 of 5 - 8,031  (-13.3%)
12/11  #3 of 5 - 5,727  (-28.7%)

The modern-day western mini. Sales are frankly dreadful, but again, it’s hard to see what else Marvel could sensibly have expected from a project of this sort, with no real promotion behind it.

251. JOHN CARTER OF MARS: WORLD OF MARS
10/11  #1 of 4 - 15,550
11/11  #2 of 4 -  6,288  (-59.6%)
12/11  #3 of 4 -  5,294  (-15.8%)

252. JOHN CARTER: A PRINCESS OF MARS
09/11  #1 of 5 - 19,173
10/11  #2 of 5 -  6,742  (-64.8%)
11/11  #3 of 5 -  5,845  (-13.3%)
12/11  #4 of 5 -  5,281  ( -9.6%)

Both presumably intended mainly to capitalise on the film when it comes out in March.

258. OFFICIAL HANDBOOK
11/10  Heroic Age: Villains  -  9,294  ( +86.3%)
12/10  A to Z Update #5 of 5 -  4,808  ( -48.3%)
12/10  Heroic Age: X-Men     - 13,789  (+186.8%)
01/11  Blockbusters          -  5,354  ( -61.2%)
02/11  ---
03/11  ---
04/11  Thor                  -  9,251  ( +72.8%)
05/11  X-Men                 -  8,228  ( -11.1%)
06/11  Captain America       -  6,311  ( -23.3%)
07/11  ---
08/11  Fellowship of Fear    - 10,448  ( +65.6%)
09/11  FF                    -  6,761  ( -35.3%)
10/11  Vampires              -  5,220  ( -22.8%)
11/11  History o/t MU        -  7,284  ( +39.5%)
12/11  Defenders             -  4,736  ( -35.0%)
                               6 mnth  ( -25.0%)
                               1 year  ( -49.0%)

No further issues of the HANDBOOK have been solicited, but the creators say one is in the pipeline, and they’re also producing update pages for the trade paperback version of the collections.

262. DEFENDERS: COMING OF THE DEFENDERS
12/11  One-shot - 4,627

Reprint of MARVEL FEATURE #1-3, the first Defenders story – so about what you’d expect.

264. SPIDER-MAN  [Marvel Adventures]
12/06  #22 - 6,396
12/07  #34 - 6,115
12/08  #46 - 4,851
12/09  #58 - 4,352
=====
12/10  #9  - 5,116  (  -2.9%)
01/11  #10 - 4,816  (  -5.9%)
02/11  #11 - 4,923  (  +2.2%)
03/11  #12 - 4,965  (  +0.9%)
04/11  #13 - 5,083  (  +2.4%)
05/11  #14 - 5,220  (  +2.7%)
06/11  #15 - 5,052  (  -3.2%)
07/11  #16 - 4,708  (  -6.8%)
08/11  #17 - 4,675  (  -0.7%)
09/11  #18 - 4,673  (  -0.0%)
10/11  #19 - ?,???  (   ??? )
11/11  #20 - 5,363  (   ??? )
12/11  #21 - 4,549  ( -15.2%)
            6 mnth  ( -10.0%)
            1 year  ( -11.1%)
            2 year  (  +4.3%)
            3 year  (  -6.2%)
            4 year  ( -25.6%)
            5 year  ( -28.9%)

Cancelled with issue #23.

278. FORMIC WARS: SILENT STRIKE
12/11  #1 of 5 - 3,888

Presumably these novel adaptations are selling somewhere or other, but it isn’t the direct market.

292. SUPER HEROES  [Marvel Adventures]
12/10  #9  - ?,???  (  ??? )
01/11  #10 - 3,386  (  ??? )
02/11  #11 - 3,134  ( -7.4%)
03/11  #12 - ?,???  (  ??? )
04/11  #13 - 3,355  (  ??? )
05/11  #14 - 3,610  ( +7.6%)
06/11  #15 - ?,???  (  ??? )
07/11  #16 - ?,???  (  ??? )
08/11  #17 - ?,???  (  ??? )
09/11  #18 - ?,???  (  ??? )
10/11  #19 - ?,???  (  ??? )
11/11  #20 - ?,???  (  ??? )
12/11  #21 - 3,329  (  ??? )
            6 mnth  (  ??? )
            1 year  (  ??? )

Cancelled with issue #23, but making a rare appearance at the bottom end of the top 300 before it goes.

Missing the top 300, with estimated orders below 3,105: OFFICIAL INDEX TO THE MARVEL UNIVERSE, NORTHANGER ABBEY, and MUPPETS PRESENTS: TREASURE OF PEG-LEG WILSON.

6 month comparisons
===================

+69.2% - Incredible Hulk
+18.1% - Uncanny X-Men
+ 6.6% - Captain America
+ 4.0% - X-Force
+ 1.9% - Generation Hope
+ 1.2% - Ultimate Comics X-Men
- 1.5% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 3.4% - X-Factor
- 4.3% - PunisherMax
- 6.7% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man
- 8.2% - New Mutants
- 8.3% - New Avengers
-10.0% - Spider-Man [Marvel Adventures]
-10.4% - Deadpool
-10.6% - Wolverine
-10.8% - Avengers
-11.3% - Oz
-12.4% - X-Men
-12.7% - X-Men Legacy
-13.0% - Dark Tower
-13.1% - The Stand
-13.3% - Fantastic Four
-13.9% - Heroes for Hire
-14.2% - Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter
-15.0% - Ultimates
-15.0% - Avengers Academy
-15.4% - Astonishing X-Men
-16.4% - Iron Man
-17.3% - Deadpool Max
-17.8% - X-23
-19.2% - Wolverine: The Best There Is
-19.5% - Hulk
-21.0% - Thor
-22.9% - Thunderbolts
-23.4% - Secret Avengers
-23.7% - FF
-24.3% - Black Panther
-25.0% - Official Handbook
-26.4% - Venom
-28.0% - Daken
-30.3% - Moon Knight
-32.2% - Ghost Rider
-32.6% - Journey into Mystery
-35.7% - S.H.I.E.L.D.
-36.8% - Iron Man 2.0
-60.7% - Alpha Flight

1 year comparisons
==================

+60.5% - Black Panther
+44.3% - Punisher
+43.3% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man
+33.2% - Incredible Hulk
+19.3% - Fantastic Four
+15.0% - Uncanny X-Men
+11.4% - Captain America
+ 4.7% - New Mutants
- 0.3% - X-Force
- 3.7% - Daredevil
- 8.3% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 9.2% - X-Men Legacy
-10.5% - X-Factor
-11.1% - Spider-Man [Marvel Adventures]
-15.5% - Iron Man
-15.8% - Thor
-16.5% - Deadpool
-19.3% - Avengers Academy
-22.0% - New Avengers
-22.4% - Dark Tower
-24.2% - Thunderbolts
-26.2% - X-Men
-26.2% - Oz
-28.1% - X-23
-29.3% - Secret Avengers
-29.3% - Wolverine
-31.9% - S.H.I.E.L.D.
-33.9% - Hulk
-36.3% - Avengers
-37.7% - Deadpool Max
-42.0% - Daken
-49.0% - Official Handbook
-50.7% - Generation Hope
-52.9% - Heroes for Hire
-69.0% - Wolverine: The Best There Is

2 year comparisons
==================

+32.9% - Fantastic Four
+14.6% - Moon Knight
+11.6% - Wolverine
+ 6.7% - X-Force
+ 5.6% - Incredible Hulk
+ 5.4% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man
+ 4.3% - Spider-Man [Marvel Adventures]
+ 0.4% - Daredevil
- 4.1% - Punisher
- 4.4% - Uncanny X-Men
- 8.2% - Amazing Spider-Man
-18.4% - Black Panther
-20.7% - New Mutants
-23.8% - X-Men Legacy
-25.6% - PunisherMax
-27.3% - New Avengers
-29.2% - Iron Man
-29.3% - Thunderbolts
-31.2% - Thor
-35.3% - X-Factor
-43.4% - Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter
-44.6% - Deadpool
-45.5% - Astonishing X-Men
-48.0% - Captain America
-48.2% - The Stand
-50.0% - Dark Tower
-51.3% - Oz
-56.8% - Hulk
-63.0% - Daken

3 year comparisons
==================

+ 7.8% - Punisher
+ 5.8% - Moon Knight
- 5.4% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man
- 5.5% - Fantastic Four
- 5.9% - X-Force
- 6.2% - Spider-Man [Marvel Adventures]
-12.5% - Daredevil
-20.8% - Ultimate Comics X-Men
-21.6% - Amazing Spider-Man
-22.1% - Uncanny X-Men
-28.0% - PunisherMax
-31.3% - X-Factor
-32.9% - Captain America
-37.4% - X-Men Legacy
-37.6% - Iron Man
-41.8% - Thunderbolts
-43.7% - New Avengers
-45.7% - Deadpool
-47.1% - Captain America
-48.5% - Thor
-62.2% - Wolverine
-62.2% - Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter
-69.4% - Oz
-71.4% - Dark Tower
-73.8% - Hulk
-74.4% - The Stand

4 year comparisons
==================

- 0.5% - Fantastic Four
- 8.8% - Iron Man
-11.5% - Daredevil
-20.0% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man
-25.6% - Spider-Man [Marvel Adventures]
-31.9% - Ultimate Comics X-Men
-37.2% - Uncanny X-Men
-37.7% - Punisher
-39.0% - Captain America
-39.8% - Incredible Hulk
-40.9% - Wolverine
-43.3% - Black Panther
-45.9% - PunisherMax
-49.9% - New Avengers
-56.6% - Amazing Spider-Man
-61.2% - X-Men Legacy
-62.6% - Thor
-68.3% - X-Factor
-72.3% - Ultimates

5 year comparisons
==================

- 3.1% - Incredible Hulk
-19.2% - Daredevil
-22.5% - Thunderbolts
-25.4% - Uncanny X-Men
-28.9% - Spider-Man [Marvel Adventures]
-36.6% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man
-39.8% - Fantastic Four
-41.1% - X-Factor
-47.8% - Ultimate Comics X-Men
-47.9% - PunisherMax
-51.4% - X-Men Legacy
-51.8% - Iron Man
-52.6% - Wolverine
-56.9% - New Avengers
-73.2% - Black Panther
-74.7% - Astonishing X-Men
-83.6% - Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter

By Todd Allen

With Marvel’s April solicitations up, we can now declare crossover season upon us.

AVX (Avengers vs. X-Men, if you prefer) has been announced.  Axel and Tom have talked about keeping it in the core books.  Let’s see how many titles that entails in April.

1. Avengers Vs. X-Men #1 (Of 12)
2. Avengers Vs. X-Men #2 (Of 12)
3. Avx: Vs #1 (Of 6)
4. New Avengers #24
5. New Avengers #25
6. Avengers #25
7. Secret Avengers #26
8. Uncanny X-Men #11
9. Wolverine & The X-Men #9

Actually, 9 isn’t a small number of books, but it’s smaller than I was expecting.  Also only one extraneous mini-series, the previously announced, fight club-esque “AVX: Vs.”

How many non-AVX Avengers books?

1. Avengers: Roll Call
2. Avengers: The Coming Of The Avengers! #1
3. Avengers Academy #28
4. Marvel’s The Avengers Prelude #3
5. Marvel’s The Avengers Prelude #4
6. Avengers Assemble #2
7. Secret Avengers #25

OK, it’s almost cheating to have Secret Avengers on this list, as the NEXT issue starts with the cross-over, but there’s more Avengers issues outside AVX than in… at least for April.  Mind you, three issues are movie tie-ins.

How many non-AVX X-Books?

1. Uncanny X-Men #10
2. Astonishing X-Men #49
3. Wolverine & The X-Men: Alpha & Omega #4 (Of 5)
4. X-Men Legacy #265
5. Wolverine & The X-Men #8
6. X-Men #27
7. Uncanny X-Force #24
8. Wolverine #304
9. Wolverine #305
10. AGE OF APOCALYPSE #2
11. New Mutants #40
12. New Mutants #41
13. X-Factor #234
14. X-Club #5 (Of 5)

My first thought is “good lord, they publish a lot of X-books in a month.”  My second thought is “how many of these are going to start crossing over in May.”  I’m legitimately surprised Wolverine isn’t.  Uncanny X-Men and Wolverine & The X-Men both start their cross-over with the next issue.

It’s just possible Marvel is showing some restraint in this Event.  It’s probably best to give it another month and see if more books tie-in, but this is a lot smaller than I would have expected.

Comings and Goings

• Looks like Cullen Bunn replaces Jason Aaron on Wolverine, as of issue #305.
• Moon Knight ends with issue #12.  That’s even more change for Bendis.  He’s busy with his last year on the various Avengers titles and with AVX, but we could be looking at a very different set of output for Bendis in 2013.
• Is Pepe Larraz the new penciller for Mighty Thor, or am I not remembering the announcement?
• The final issue of The Twelve is solicited.  Beware of angry Mayans blocking your way to buy it.
• Defenders #5 drawn by Mitch Breitweiser.  Michael Lark was on #4.  Is Terry Dodson still on Defenders?

Speaking of Events

Carnage U.S.A. #5 (Of 5)
Zeb Wells (W) Clayton Crain (A/C)
• It’s “America The Brutal” As The Massive Hit Mini-Series Concludes… Paving The Way For This Summer’s Secret Symbiote Event!
• Spidey, Venom And The Avengers Take On Carnage With A City At Stake And The Souls Of Hundreds On Their Shoulders.

Well… I guess the Secret Symbiote Event isn’t so secret anymore.  I also guess AVX has some event competition. Let me go out on a limb and guess:

1. A new Wells/Crain Carnage mini-series
2. Amazing Spider-Man
3. Amazing Spider-Man (bi-weekly and all)
4. Venom

Maybe a fifth title, too?  Avenging Spider-Man, perhaps?  I pulled a Wells/Crain Carnage collection from the library last week and Iron Man and Spidey are both in it, so I gather this has been bouncing around Avengers territory for a while.

Every once in a while Marvel likes to get cultural by commissioing a bunch of variant covers in the style of great paintings. they’ve just done this with April’s Avengers Art Appreciation Variants, which will whet your appetite for both the Avengers movie AND a trip to the local museum. Alex Maleev, Michael Kaluta, Gabriele Dell’Otto, Greg Horn, Gerald Parel and more channel Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Monet, Pollock, and Egon Schiele (one ‘l’). Which one do you like best?

Among our favorites, Charles Paul Wilson III’s Ernest Thompson take off for the Hulk and Joe Quinones doing Lautrec on Secret Avengers.

 
AGE OF APOCALPSE #2
Variant Cover by CHRISTIAN NAUCK


AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #683
Variant Cover by MIKE DEL MUNDO
 

AVENGERS #25 
Variant Cover by GABRIELE DELL’OTTO
 

AVENGERS ASSEMBLE #2
Variant Cover by STEPHANIE HANS
 

DAREDEVIL #11
Variant Cover by STEFFI SCHUTZEE
 

FANTASTIC FOUR #605
Variant Cover by MICHAEL KALUTA
 

INCREDIBLE HULK #7
Variant Cover by CHARLES PAUL WILSON III
 

INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #515
Variant Cover by GREG HORN
 

SECRET AVENGERS #26
Variant Cover by JOE QUINONES
 

UNCANNY X-FORCE #24 
Variant Cover by JULIAN TOTINO
 

UNCANNY X-MEN #11
Variant Cover by GREG HORN
 

WINTER SOLDIER #4
Variant Cover by JOHN TYLER CHRISTOPHER
 

WOLVERINE #304
Variant Cover by Gurihiru
 

WOLVERINE & THE X-MEN #9
Variant Cover by ALEX MALEEV
 

X-MEN #27
Variant Cover by KHOI PHAM
 

Not your usual Holmes and Watson

The past year has seen an unusually large number of Sherlock Holmes adaptations, both in comics and on the screen, but not all Holmeses are created equal. Last night, British viewers got to see the last episode of Season 2 of the BBC’s wildly popular series Sherlock, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman (we Americans will get it this spring), and Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadowsstarring Robert Downey Junior and Jude Law is still doing well in theaters a month after it opened. So if you’re in a Holmesian mood and wondering what to read next, here’s run down on the Holmes adaptations which have come out or had new installments in the past year. Varying from inspiredly odd to unreadably awful, don’t go to the comic store without reading this first!

First, for the sake of context, let’s start with the live action adaptations.

Not Jam Watson, despite appearances.

Sherlock(BBC television series), created by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat

Variation on the theme: The characters are transplanted to modern Britain. Holmes is still in his early 30’s and a bit emotionally immature, as well as possibly Aspergers. Watson is highly capable and dangerous, but obfuscates cuddly harmlessness. Sherlock and Mycroft have Mommy issues.

Holmes/Watson relationship: Very, very close and more equal than usual. Not only do they work cases together, they sit around their apartment joking and watching ridiculous television during down time. And apparently in the second season, John is officially Sherlock’s partner in the detecting business, providing publicity through his blog.

Typical case: What do these mysterious symbols terrorizing a young woman mean? Could it be an international crime ring?

Bad CSI villain to Napoleon of Crime Moriarty villain scale: 1 for performance, 7 for setup. In person, Moriarty is a brilliant but murderous lunatic who can’t keep his accent straight and just really, really wants to destroy Sherlock Holmes.

Human robot to wacky bohemian scale of Holmes emoting: 6. Sherlock rarely expresses emotions beyond anger, boredom or excitement over a case – these, however, are done with an eccentric dramatic flair. He does let down his guard around John when they’re goofing around together.

Christmas goose to exploding parliament scale of outrageous: 5, About on par with Doyle’s work, except for a certain crime lord going to ridiculous lengths to destroy Sherlock.

Verdict: If you’re okay with a slightly gorier modern sensibility and you’re not looking for costume drama, watch this!

Sherlock Holmes with copious explosions

Sherlock Holmes (2009) and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, directed by Guy Ritchie.

Variation on the theme: Sherlock Holmes is an enormous ham, a complete brat, usually on drugs and an emotional mess, practically chewing on the scenery with his histrionic emoting. He’s also extremely charming and genuinely socially capable when he feels like it. This is the kind of Sherlock Holmes who gets into bareknuckle boxing matches and bad drag pretty much for the hell of it. Watson is rakish, capable and dangerous and he makes absolutely no secret of it.

Holmes/Watson relationship: Holmes and Watson are friends, but are having relationship problems. Holmes is wildly emotionally dependant on Watson and is coping very badly with Watson’s new marriage. Watson is getting a bit tired of Holmes’s brattiness and is happy to move out and marry Mary, though he still cares about Holmes and enjoys their cases together. The word partner does not come up – they are Holmes’s cases, Watson is just an extremely useful and beloved friend who helps out.

Typical case: Someone evil wants to Take Over Britain! Scooby doo plot ensues.

Bad CSI villain to Napoleon of Crime Moriarty villain scale: 9, Moriarty and Lord Blackwood are both genuinely terrifying and capable of outsmarting Sherlock on several occasions.

Human robot to wacky bohemian scale of Holmes emoting: 10, Wacky Bohemian. Prone to extravagant (if deeply weird) displays of emotion.

Christmas goose to exploding parliament scale of outrageous: 10, a villain wants to blow up Parliament and declare himself the Witch King of Britain. Wait what?

Verdict: A humorous take on Holmes, heavy on explosions and Holmes/Watson banter. The least heartbreaking Reichenbach Falls story ever. If you want Wacky Bohemian Holmes with bonus cross-dressing, this is the Holmes for you.

And now for the comics:

Do not tell me this man is not Sherlock Holmes

Ruse: The Victorian Guide to Murder by Mark Waid and Mirco Pierfederici, published by Marvel

Variation on the theme: “Holmes” is named Simon Archard, and is more rich and famous for his successes than in Conan Doyle, but otherwise he’s Holmes. “Watson” is a woman named Emma Bishop.

Holmes/Watson relationship: Emma Bishop considers herself Archard’s partner, although she does recieve a paycheck, and she’s not shy about giving him a piece of her mind when he gets a little too outrageous, or keeps her out of the loop. Archard frequently reminds her that he could hire someone else for her job. But he also trusts Emma implicitly to drive a runaway carriage, win in a fist fight he drops her into and keep up with his spur of the moment schemes and improvisations, and eventually he refers to her as his partner.

Typical case: Lightbourne (apparently a combo of Moriarty and Charles Augustus Milverton) has set out to blackmail pretty much the entire upper class, including the heir to the throne, in order to secretly control the WORLD! Or possibly just win India in a bet.

Human robot to wacky bohemian scale of Holmes emoting: 4. Cranky banter and shouting at villains.

Christmas goose to exploding parliament scale of outrageous: 9. Betting India

Verdict: Good solid fun and worth a read. The original incarnation of this comic, which came out from Crossgen, is even better, if slightly weirder. Emma has secret magical powers in it. The most truly Holmesian of all the Holmes comics listed, even if Holmes is called Simon Archard.

The one with the eyepatch is Watson and the puppy is Holmes, yes.

Sherlock Holmes (manga)by Toya Ataka, available onJmanga.com

Variation on theme: Holmes is has magical powers that assist his detection. Also, he’s naive, adorable and about 14. Watson is an adult with an eyepatch and is slyly world weary.

Holmes/Watson relationship: Watson is Holmes’s amused but caring mentor figure, young Sherlock looks up to him.

Typical case: Someone murdered an operatic soprano using magic while she was onstage in the middle of an opera.

Human robot to wacky bohemian scale of Holmes emoting: 8. Cheerful but eerie child.

Christmas goose to exploding parliament scale of outrageous: 7. Small scale murder, but using magic.

Verdict: An amusing but deeply odd read. 

Let me guess, you like jam?

Victorian Undead: Sherlock Holmes vs. Draculaby Ian Edginton and Davide Fabbri, published by DC Comics

Variation on the theme: Sherlock Holmes fights the undead, as well as solving crimes. Watson appears to be a fat old buffer, twenty to thirty years older than Holmes, and not terribly bright.

Holmes/Watson relationship: Holmes and Watson seem fond of each other, but Watson’s contribution to casework consists of occasionally saying things like ”By Jove!” Aside from minor medical skill, he resembles Kate Beaton’s Jam Watson.

Typical case: Dracula will give Britain bubonic plague if he is not allowed to take over the nation.

Bad CSI villain to Napoleon of Crime Moriarty villain scale: N/A

Human robot to wacky bohemian scale of Holmes emoting: 3, Very restrained, but recognizably human Holmes.

Christmas goose to exploding parliament scale of outrageous: 9, Dracula wants to take over Britain!

Verdict: Not awful, but not worth buying.

I was not making the stalker thing up.

Sherlock Holmes: Year Oneby Scott Beatty and Daniel Indro, published by Dynamite Entertainment

Variation on theme: Sherlock Holmes and Watson are younger and meet in an entirely different way. Holmes has all the personality of a rock. Watson apparently was a cavalry soldier in Afghanistan, instead of a military doctor, and does anachronistic CSI work for the police. No actual detecting gets done, but there are fights. Many, many fights.

Holmes/Watson relationship: Watson meets Holmes by chance, is impressed by his detective skills and… decides to stalk him. Holmes is uninterested in Watson

Typical case: A serial killer is basing his crimes on the Emperors of Rome.

Bad CSI villain to Napoleon of Crime Moriarty villain scale: 2, Math professor with a stupid, nonsensical plan to take over England.

Human robot to wacky bohemian scale of Holmes emoting: 7, Shouty Holmes hits people he gets in arguments with.

Christmas goose to exploding parliament scale of outrageous: 8, a mansion is staffed entirely by criminals.

Verdict: Run, do not walk, in the opposite direction.  Almost as awful as the Syfy original movie in which Sherlock’s real name is inexplicably Robert.

The dangers of media adaptation.

The actual Jim Cheung cover to AVENGERS vs. X-MEN #1, this April’s big cross-fight event has just been revealed.

This April, prepare for the biggest super hero war in comics history as Marvel is pleased to present your first look at the jaw-dropping cover to Avengers Vs. X-Men #1 by superstar artist Jim Cheung! From the powerhouse creative team of Brian Michael Bendis, Jason Aaron, Matt Fraction, Jonathan Hickman, Ed Brubaker, John Romita Jr., Adam Kubert and Olivier Copiel comes a groundbreaking event pitting Earth’s Mightiest against the X-Men with the entire Marvel Universe at stake. Cyclops and his team believe the arrival of the Phoenix Force will save mutantkind, but Captain America is convinced it will destroy the world! But who is right? Don’t miss out on all the action in Avengers Vs. X-Men #1 in comic shops worldwide and on the Marvel Comics app this April!

 
Register your feelings on Twitter with hashtag #AvX.