by David Carter
Greetings, sales charts fans! It’s time once again to look at DC’s sales figures.
This is month that DC released the fiftieth issues for most of the surviving New 52 launch titles (exceptions being Batgirl, Flash, & Justice League, which are running behind…) They celebrated by releasing special Batman v Superman freely-orderable variants (f.o.v.s), some of which came in polybags so you couldn’t see which variants you were purchasing until you opened the bags, much like they did with their Harley Quinn polybagged variants back in . As you’ll see below, a couple of titles received huge boosts, while others received much more modest increases.
Yet despite all that, average and median sales dipped again this month across most metrics. The absence of Dark Knight III and Justice League helped average DCU sales to dip nearly 3K fewer than last month. And the sales woes continue at Vertigo, with average sales per title of 6,039 and median sales of just 5,149, both marks the lowest on record. All told, DC moved nearly 200K fewer comics in March as opposed to February, and March was a month with five shipping weeks.
Warning: The commentary below may contain reasoned analysis, speculation (unfounded and otherwise), opinion, and/or snark. Those looking for a more straightforward analysis are directed to John Jackson Miller’s excellent Comichron analysis, posted earlier this month over at Comichron!
Please consider the fine 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.
(Note that the percentage comparisons are done with total orders including reorder activity, as opposed to initial orders as was the practice of this column under the previous administration.)
1 - BATMAN ($5.99) 03/2006: Batman #651 -- 69,805 [79,616] 03/2011: Batman #708 -- 58,594 03/2012: Batman #7 -- 131,091 03/2013: Batman #18 -- 137,893 03/2014: Batman #29 -- 116,926 [119,745] ---------------------------------- 03/2015: -- 04/2015: Batman #40 -- 131,128 (+ 20.3%) [154,764] 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Batman #41 -- 142,155 (- 6.1%) [145,305] 07/2015: Batman #42 -- 117,441 (- 18.3%) [118,702] 08/2015: Batman #43 -- 124,697 (+ 7.8%) [127,996] 09/2015: Batman #44 -- 114,409 (- 9.9%) [115,351] 10/2015: Batman #45 -- 109,367 (- 4.6%) [110,031] 11/2015: Batman #46 -- 106,989 (- 2.1%) [107,758] 12/2015: Batman #47 -- 127,201 (+ 18.0%) 01/2016: Batman #48 -- 100,962 (- 20.6%) 02/2016: Batman #49 -- 102,689 (+ 1.7%) 03/2016: Batman #50 -- 163,406 (+ 59.1%) ----------------- 6 months: + 41.7% 1 year : n.a. 2 years : + 36.3% 5 years : +178.9% 10 years: +105.2%
No doubt we were expecting Batman to see a boost for its 50th issue, the culmination of Syder & Capullo’s New 52 run on the character. And no doubt we were also expecting to see it get a boost from the polybagged BvS freely-orderable variant. I don’t know about you, but I certainly wasn’t expecting the combined boost to be so large! It’s the third best-selling issue of Batman in the New 52 era (behind only issues #1 & 2), beating out even the 3D cover variants.
—
4 - SUPERMAN ($4.99) 03/2006: Superman #650 -- 65,603 [77,783] 03/2011: Superman #709 -- 39,846 03/2012: Superman #7 -- 66,588 03/2013: Superman #17 -- 49,666 03/2014: Superman #29 -- 33,633 [33,517] --------------------------------- 03/2015: Superman #39 -- 50,260 (- 3.9%) [51,637] 04/2015: Superman #40 -- 52,666 (+ 4.1%) [53,756] 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Superman #41 -- 53,393 (+ 3.0%) [55,368] 07/2015: Superman #42 -- 46,691 (- 12.5%) [48,442] 08/2015: Superman #43 -- 49,825 (+ 4.5%) [50,637] 09/2015: Superman #44 -- 43,921 (- 11.3%) [44,908] 10/2015: Superman #45 -- 42,693 (- 4.1%) [43,069] 11/2015: Superman #46 -- 41,657 (- 3.0%) [41,765] 12/2015: Superman #47 -- 47,377 (+ 13.4%) 01/2015: Superman #48 -- 37,690 (- 20.4%) 02/2015: Superman #49 -- 36,318 (- 3.6%) 03/2015: Superman #50 -- 91,396 (+151.7%) ----------------- 6 months: +103.5% 1 year : + 77.0% 2 years : +172.7% 5 years : +129.4% 10 years: + 17.5%
If Batman’s sales were surprising, then Superman’s are downright shocking! Yes it’s the 50th issue and the culmination of the “Truth” storyline, but I’m pretty sure no one was expecting this. And it’s not like every polybagged BvS f.o.v. saw similar gains, just Batman and Superman.
As an aside, the last time DC did these polybagged f.o.v.s, I made fun of how silly they are, and especially of how some people would buy them and never open them, never knowing what surprises lurk inside. Well, when I opened up by polybagged copy of Superman #50, I was delighted to find inside an Original Sketch Cover Variant by artist Jon Bogdanove, featuring Superman facing off against Doomsday! I’m sorry, I will never make fun of polybagged comics ever again. Okay, not true; they’re still silly. But as long as they’re going to do them, I’m glad that I was able to get something really cool out of the whole thing.
—
13 - BATMAN/TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES ($3.99) 12/2015: Batman/TMNT #1 of 6 -- 134,526 [164,941] 01/2016: Batman/TMNT #2 of 6 -- 52,337 (- 58.8%) [67,898] 02/2016: Batman/TMNT #3 of 6 -- 64,444 (+ 2.3%) [69,444] 03/2016: Batman/TMNT #4 of 6 -- 65,132 (- 6.2%)
The surprise hit crossover continues to post impressive sales; I’m sure at this point DC & IDW are already planning a sequel. The three previous issues saw reorder activity this month of 8,022, 7,588 & 5,000 copies respectively, and those numbers have been added to the bracketed figures above.
—
24 - DETECTIVE COMICS ($4.99) 03/2006: Detective Comics #816 -- 62,245 [70,241] 03/2011: Detective Comics #875 -- 40,047 03/2012: Detective Comics #7 -- 89,981 03/2013: Detective Comics #18 -- 76,237 03/2014: Detective Comics #29 -- 55,486 [55,999] ---------------------------------------- 03/2015: Detective Comics #40 -- 56,126 (+ 2.3%) [56,742] 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Detective Comics #41 -- 57,648 (+ 2.9%) [58,361] 07/2015: Detective Comics #42 -- 50,743 (- 12.5%) [51,055] 08/2015: Detective Comics #43 -- 53,576 (+ 5.4%) [53,797] 09/2015: Detective Comics #44 -- 55,871 (+ 4.4%) [56,177] 10/2015: Detective Comics #45 -- 47,972 (- 14.2%) [48,220] 11/2015: Detective Comics #46 -- 47,256 (- 1.9%) [47,280] 12/2015: Detective Comics #47 -- 45,867 (- 3.0%) 01/2016: Detective Comics #48 -- 45,111 (- 1.6%) 02/2016: Detective Comics #49 -- 45,300 (+ 0.4%) 03/2016: Detective Comics #50 -- 52,373 (+ 15.6%) ----------------- 6 months: - 6.8% 1 year : - 7.7% 2 years : - 6.5% 5 years : + 30.8% 10 years: - 25.4%
Much more in line with what one would expect for an increase from the polybagged f.o.v.
—
27 - HARLEY QUINN ($3.99) 03/2014: Harley Quinn #4 -- 63,120 [73,968] ------------------------------------ 03/2015: Harley Quinn #15 -- 66,904 (+ 0.8%) [68,445] 04/2015: Harley Quinn #16 -- 72,055 (+ 8.1%) [73,976] 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Harley Quinn #17 -- 68,243 (- 6.2%) [69,406] 07/2015: Harley Quinn #18 -- 59,566 (- 13.1%) [60,292] 08/2015: Harley Quinn #19 -- 64,223 (+ 8.1%) [65,155] 09/2015: Harley Quinn #20 -- 56,836 (- 10.0%) [58,652] 10/2015: Harley Quinn #21 -- 55,272 (- 5.7%) [55,282] 11/2015: Harley Quinn #22 -- 58,344 (+ 6.2%) [58,734] 12/2015: Harley Quinn #23 -- 69,168 (+ 17.8%) 01/2016: Harley Quinn #24 -- 44,967 (- 35.0%) 02/2016: Harley Quinn #25 -- 51,495 (+ 14.5%) 03/2016: Harley Quinn #26 -- 51,420 (- 0.1%) ----------------- 6 months: - 12.3% 1 year : - 24.9% 2 years : - 30.5%
Harley Quinn apparently had a BvS f.o.v., but it was not in a polybag; thus its sales were nearly identical to those of the previous issue.
—
34 - JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA ($3.99) 03/2006: -- 03/2011: JL of America #55 -- 50,533 03/2012: -- 03/2013: JL of America #1 -- 307,734 [326,959] 03/2014: JL of America #13 -- 54,349 [54,814] ------------------------------------- 06/2015: JL of America #1 -- 150,845 (+192.7%) [148,624] 07/2015: JL of America #2 -- 70,979 (- 51.3%) [ 72,335] 08/2015: JL of America #3 -- 67,118 (- 5.3%) [ 68,504] 09/2015: -- 10/2015: JL of America #4 -- 56,543 (- 17.0%) [ 56,854] 11/2015: JL of America #5 -- 52,604 (- 6.7%) [ 53,027] 12/2015: JL of America #6 -- 55,410 (+ 4.5%) 01/2016: JL of America #7 -- 47,835 (- 13.7%) 02/2016: -- 03/2016: JL of America #8 -- 45,500 (- 4.9%) ----------------- 6 months: n.a. 2 years : - 17.0% 5 years : - 10.0% 10 years: n.a.
Running late, so this is the Neal Adams f.o.v. issue. Taking into account the fill-in issue, JLA has missed three months over the course of seven issues. Which is likely why Hitch won’t be doing the art when he takes over writing Justice League post-Rebirth.
—
37 - BATMAN/SUPERMAN ($3.99) 03/2006: Superman/Batman #24 -- 101,315 [103,757] 03/2011: Superman/Batman #82 -- 28,913 03/2014: -- --------------------------------------- 03/2015: Batman/Superman #20 -- 43,428 (- 1.0%) [45,009] 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Batman/Superman #21 -- 49,204 (+ 11.0%) [49,946] 07/2015: Batman/Superman #22 -- 41,672 (- 15.9%) [41,985] 08/2015: Batman/Superman #23 -- 44,259 (+ 6.5%) [44,704] 09/2015: Batman/Superman #24 -- 40,132 (- 10.2%) [40,271] 10/2015: Batman/Superman #25 -- 37,566 (- 6.4%) [37,782] 11/2015: Batman/Superman #26 -- 38,056 (+ 1.3%) [38,181] 12/2015: Batman/Superman #27 -- 30,021 (- 21.1%) 01/2016: Batman/Superman #28 -- 34,507 (+ 14.9%) 02/2016: Batman/Superman #29 -- 33,662 (- 2.4%) 03/2016: Batman/Superman #30 -- 44,644 (+ 32.6%) ----------------- 6 months: + 10.9% 1 year : - 0.8% 2 year : n.a. 5 years : + 54.4% 10 years: - 57.0%
A nice 11K rise for the polybagged BvS f.o.v. Not nearly as big as those for the parent titles, though this didn’t have the benefit of being issue #50.
—
57 - ACTION COMICS ($3.99) 03/2006: Action Comics #837 -- 55,816 [69,652] 03/2011: Action Comics #899 -- 31,808 03/2012: Action Comics #7 -- 91,822 03/2013: Action Comics #18 -- 61,879 03/2014: Action Comics #29 -- 34,231 [34,532] -------------------------------------- 03/2015: Action Comics #40 -- 38,216 (+ 2.4%) [39,451] 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Action Comics #41 -- 44,083 (+ 12.7%) [44,456] 07/2015: Action Comics #42 -- 37,956 (- 13.5%) [38,434] 08/2015: Action Comics #43 -- 41,883 (+ 9.7%) [42,149] 09/2015: Action Comics #44 -- 37,927 (- 9.5%) [38,130] 10/2015: Action Comics #45 -- 36,560 (- 3.8%) [36,694] 11/2015: Action Comics #46 -- 35,569 (- 2.2%) [35,898] 12/2015: Action Comics #47 -- 29,021 (- 19.2%) 01/2016: Action Comics #48 -- 31,958 (+ 10.1%) 02/2016: Action Comics #49 -- 31,496 (- 1.4%) 03/2016: Action Comics #50 -- 40,025 (+ 27.1%) ----------------- 6 months: + 5.0% 1 year : + 1.5% 2 years : + 15.9% 5 years : + 25.8% 10 years: - 42.5%
OTOH, Action did have the benefit of both a polybagged BvS f.o.v. variant and the number 50, but moved fewer than half the copies that Superman #50 did. Comics ordering is strange.
—
46 - WONDER WOMAN ($4.99) 03/2006: -- 03/2011: Wonder Woman #608 -- 32,540 03/2011: Wonder Woman #609 -- 31,421 03/2012: Wonder Woman #7 -- 51,314 03/2013: Wonder Woman #18 -- 38,406 03/2014: Wonder Woman #29 -- 30,989 [31,852] ------------------------------------ 03/2015: -- 04/2015: Wonder Woman #40 -- 45,172 (+ 2.5%) [45,457] 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Wonder Woman #41 -- 45,284 (+ 0.6%) [45,740] 07/2015: Wonder Woman #42 -- 36,668 (- 18.7%) [37,183] 08/2015: Wonder Woman #43 -- 39,646 (+ 7.9%) [40,128] 09/2015: Wonder Woman #44 -- 36,151 (- 9.1%) [36,478] 10/2015: Wonder Woman #45 -- 33,885 (- 6.1%) [34,251] 11/2015: Wonder Woman #46 -- 34,042 (+ 0.6%) [34,454] 12/2015: Wonder Woman #47 -- 40,123 (+ 16.5%) 01/2016: Wonder Woman #48 -- 32,687 (- 18.5%) 02/2016: Wonder Woman #49 -- 35,398 (+ 8.3%) 03/2016: Wonder Woman #50 -- 36,328 (+ 2.6%) ----------------- 6 months: - 0.4% 1 year : n.a. 2 years : + 14.1% 5 years : + 13.6% 10 years: n.a.
And then there’s Wonder Woman, which only saw a slight uptick in sales with its polybagged BvS f.o.v. variant and nice round number 50. (This despite the fact that, for the few minutes of time she was on the screen, Wonder Woman was the best part of Batman v Superman.)
—
47 - GREEN LANTERN ($4.99) 03/2006: Green Lantern #10 -- 79,745 [87,143] 03/2011: Green Lantern #63 -- 75,632 03/2011: Green Lantern #64 -- 76,898 03/2012: Green Lantern #7 -- 90,232 03/2014: Green Lantern #29 -- 45,797 [45,970] -------------------------------------- 03/2015: Green Lantern #40 -- 42,334 (+ 1.8%) [43,232] 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Green Lantern #41 -- 45,704 (+ 6.7%) [46,109] 07/2015: Green Lantern #42 -- 39,290 (- 13.9%) [39,708] 08/2015: Green Lantern #43 -- 42,482 (+ 7.7%) [42,750] 09/2015: Green Lantern #44 -- 39,371 (- 7.6%) [39,501] 10/2015: Green Lantern #45 -- 38,406 (- 2.5%) [38,519] 11/2015: Green Lantern #46 -- 38,976 (+ 1.4%) [39,053] 12/2015: Green Lantern #47 -- 45,706 (+ 17.0%) 01/2015: Green Lantern #48 -- 36,068 (- 21.1%) 02/2015: Green Lantern #49 -- 35,237 (- 2.3%) 03/2015: Green Lantern #50 -- 36,242 (+ 2.9%) ----------------- 6 months: - 8.3% 1 year : - 16.2% 2 years : - 21.2% 5 years : - 52.1% 10 years: - 58.4%
GL #50 had a non-polybagged BvS f.o.v.
—
48, 49, 50, 52, 51 - BATMAN AND ROBIN ETERNAL ($2.99/$3.99) 03/2015: Batman Eternal #48 -- 44,505 (- 1.4%) [44,764] 03/2015: Batman Eternal #49 -- 44,277 (- 0.3%) [44,649] 03/2015: Batman Eternal #50 -- 43,982 (+ 0.8%) [45,011] 03/2015: Batman Eternal #51 -- 44,065 (- 0.1%) [44,949] 04/2015: Batman Eternal #52 -- 47,359 (+ 4.0%) [46,741] 05/2015: -- 06/2015: -- 07/2015: -- 08/2015: -- 09/2015: -- 10/2015: Batman & Robin #1 -- 76,882 (+ 68.8%) [78,912] 10/2015: Batman & Robin #2 -- 54,267 (- 28.9%) [56,079] 10/2015: Batman & Robin #3 -- 53,626 (- 4.1%) [53,770] 10/2015: Batman & Robin #4 -- 49,985 (- 4.1%) [51,566] 11/2015: Batman & Robin #5 -- 46,545 (- 10.0%) [46,431] 11/2015: Batman & Robin #6 -- 45,081 (- 1.4%) [45,766] 11/2015: Batman & Robin #7 -- 43,825 (- 2.4%) [44,652] 11/2015: Batman & Robin #8 -- 42,763 (- 2.4%) [43,589] 12/2015: Batman & Robin #9 -- 41,943 (- 3.8%) 12/2015: Batman & Robin #10 -- 41,505 (- 1.0%) 12/2015: Batman & Robin #11 -- 40,557 (- 2.3%) 12/2015: Batman & Robin #12 -- 40,297 (- 0.6%) 12/2015: Batman & Robin #13 -- 39,613 (- 1.7%) 01/2016: Batman & Robin #14 -- 39,044 (- 1.4%) 01/2016: Batman & Robin #15 -- 38,858 (- 0.5%) 01/2016: Batman & Robin #16 -- 38,321 (- 1.4%) 01/2016: Batman & Robin #17 -- 37,675 (- 1.7%) 02/2016: Batman & Robin #18 -- 36,819 (- 2.3%) 02/2016: Batman & Robin #19 -- 36,415 (- 1.1%) 02/2016: Batman & Robin #20 -- 36,127 (- 0.8%) 02/2016: Batman & Robin #21 -- 35,770 (- 1.0%) 03/2016: Batman & Robin #22 -- 35,472 (- 0.8%) 03/2016: Batman & Robin #23 -- 35,229 (- 0.7%) 03/2016: Batman & Robin #24 -- 34,775 (- 1.3%) 03/2016: Batman & Robin #25 -- 34,521 (- 0.7%) 03/2016: Batman & Robin #26 -- 34,647 (+ 0.4%) ----------------- 6 months: n.a. 1 year : - 22.1%
Final issues of the weekly series.
—
55 - GRAYSON ($3.99) 03/2006: Nightwing #118 -- 42,525 [51,775] 03/2012: Nightwing #7 -- 50,489 03/2013: Nightwing #18 -- 48,223 [53,978] 03/2014: Nightwing #29 -- 36,814 [37,679] --------------------------------- 03/2015: Grayson #8 -- 40,859 (+ 1.4%) [41,911] 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Grayson #9 -- 39,610 (- 3.4%) [40,478] 07/2015: Grayson #10 -- 33,990 (- 13.8%) [34,882] 08/2015: Grayson #11 -- 36,538 (+ 7.2%) [37,402] 09/2015: Grayson #12 -- 32,284 (- 11.0%) [33,281] 10/2015: Grayson #13 -- 32,260 (- 1.5%) [32,786] 11/2015: Grayson #14 -- 31,831 (- 1.8%) [32,201] 12/2015: Grayson #15 -- 35,765 (+ 11.1%) 01/2016: Grayson #16 -- 30,420 (- 14.9%) 02/2016: Grayson #17 -- 30,257 (- 0.5%) 03/2016: Grayson #18 -- 33,550 (+ 10.9%) ----------------- 6 months: + 0.8% 1 year : - 19.9% 2 years : - 11.0% 10 years: - 35.2%
56 - ROBIN, SON OF BATMAN ($3.99) 03/2006: Robin #147 -- 36,717 -------------------------------- 06/2015: Robin SoB #1 -- 70,505 (+ 36.2%) [63,858] 07/2015: Robin SoB #2 -- 44,232 (- 28.5%) [45,674] 08/2015: Robin SoB #3 -- 38,413 (- 13.5%) [39,523] 09/2015: Robin SoB #4 -- 38,162 (- 1.9%) [38,777] 10/2015: Robin SoB #5 -- 35,619 (- 7.2%) [35,981] 11/2015: Robin SoB #6 -- 35,633 (- 0.2%) [35,904] 12/2015: Robin SoB #7 -- 34,815 (- 3.0%) 01/2016: Robin SoB #8 -- 31,220 (- 10.3%) 02/2016: Robin SoB #9 -- 30,125 (- 3.5%) 03/2016: Robin SoB #10 -- 32,962 (+ 9.4%) ----------------- 6 months: - 15.0% 10 years: - 10.2%
57 - SUPERMAN/WONDER WOMAN ($3.99) 03/2014: Superman/Wonder Woman #6 -- 43,308 [45,668] -------------------------------------------- 03/2015: -- 04/2015: Superman/Wonder Woman #17 -- 39,868 (+ 4.3%) [40,167] 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Superman/Wonder Woman #18 -- 39,787 (+ 2.3%) [41,077] 07/2015: Superman/Wonder Woman #19 -- 36,666 (- 8.3%) [37,676] 08/2015: Superman/Wonder Woman #20 -- 38,834 (+ 4.5%) [39,381] 09/2015: Superman/Wonder Woman #21 -- 34,349 (- 12.0%) [34,636] 10/2015: Superman/Wonder Woman #22 -- 32,044 (- 6.8%) [32,262] 11/2015: Superman/Wonder Woman #23 -- 31,315 (- 1.9%) [31,641] 12/2015: Superman/Wonder Woman #24 -- 25,000 (- 21.0%) 01/2016: Superman/Wonder Woman #25 -- 29,087 (+ 16.3%) 02/2016: Superman/Wonder Woman #26 -- 32,108 (+ 10.4%) 03/2016: Superman/Wonder Woman #27 -- 32,707 (+ 1.9%) ----------------- 6 months: - 5.6% 1 year : n.a. 2 years : - 28.4%
Three more titles with polybagged BvS f.o.v.s, having varying degrees of impact on their respective sales.
—
70 - NEW SUICIDE SQUAD ($2.99) 03/2012: Suicide Squad #7 -- 32,908 03/2013: Suicide Squad #18 -- 25,232 03/2014: Suicide Squad #29 -- 22,162 (- 3.1%) ---------------------------------------- 03/2015: New Suicide Squad #8 -- 30,443 (- 0.0%) [31,882] 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: New Suicide Squad #9 -- 42,225 (+ 35.6%) [43,224] 07/2015: New Suicide Squad #10 -- 35,365 (- 17.1%) [35,842] 08/2015: New Suicide Squad #11 -- 37,915 (+ 7.2%) [38,434] 09/2015: New Suicide Squad #12 -- 34,622 (- 8.9%) [35,013] 10/2015: New Suicide Squad #13 -- 33,260 (- 4.1%) [33,584] 11/2015: New Suicide Squad #14 -- 32,925 (- 1.1%) [33,219] 12/2015: New Suicide Squad #15 -- 26,449 (- 20.4%) 01/2016: New Suicide Squad #16 -- 24,870 (- 6.0%) 02/2016: New Suicide Squad #17 -- 23,687 (- 4.8%) 03/2016: New Suicide Squad #18 -- 28,243 (+ 19.2%) ----------------- 6 months: - 19.3% 1 year : - 11.4% 2 years : + 27.4%
Non-polybagged BvS f.o.v.
—
74 - SUPERMAN: THE COMING OF THE SUPERMEN ($3.99) 02/2016: Supermen #1 of 6 -- 37,033 03/2016: Supermen #2 of 6 -- 27,470 (- 25.8%)
75 - SUPERMAN: AMERICAN ALIEN ($3.99) 11/2015: American Alien #1 of 7 -- 41,441 [42,842] 12/2015: American Alien #2 of 7 -- 31,025 (- 27.6%) 01/2016: American Alien #3 of 7 -- 28,828 (- 7.1%) 02/2016: American Alien #4 of 7 -- 27,313 (- 5.3%) 03/2016: American Alien #5 of 7 -- 26,339 (- 3.6%)
I’m sure that these two series are very different in terms of tone, story and execution, but in the minds of retailers (and likely potential customers) they boil down to “generic non-continuity Superman mini-series” and are ordered accordingly.
—
77 - DEATHSTROKE ($2.99) 03/2012: Deathstroke #7 -- 19,744 03/2013: Deathstroke #18 -- 12,306 ---------------------------------- 03/2015: Deathstroke #6 -- 31,666 (- 3.6%) [33,923] 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Deathstroke #7 -- 38,807 (+ 22.6%) [39,993] 07/2015: Deathstroke #8 -- 33,648 (- 13.3%) [34,754] 08/2015: Deathstroke #9 -- 36,583 (+ 8.7%) [37,419] 09/2015: Deathstroke #10 -- 31,241 (- 14.6%) [31,832] 10/2015: Deathstroke #11 -- 31,121 (- 0.4%) [31,649] 11/2015: Deathstroke #12 -- 31,939 (+ 2.6%) [32,568] 12/2015: Deathstroke #13 -- 25,344 (- 20.6%) 01/2016: Deathstroke #14 -- 27,648 (+ 9.1%) 02/2016: Deathstroke #15 -- 26,534 (- 4.0%) 03/2016: Deathstroke #16 -- 25,390 (- 4.3%) ----------------- 6 months: - 20.2% 1 year : - 25.2%
—
81 - BATGIRL ($2.99) 03/2011: Batgirl #19 -- 24,043 03/2012: Batgirl #7 -- 50,791 03/2013: Batgirl #18 -- 51,677 03/2014: Batgirl #29 -- 33,223 [33,648] --------------------------------- 03/2015: Batgirl #40 -- 41,729 (+ 1.7%) [43,772] 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Batgirl #41 -- 33,220 (- 16.5%) [36,553] 07/2015: Batgirl #42 -- 33,168 (- 6.5%) [34,194] 08/2015: Batgirl #43 -- 32,079 (- 5.0%) [32,478] 09/2015: Batgirl #44 -- 30,654 (- 4.9%) [30,882] 10/2015: Batgirl #45 -- 29,276 (- 3.8%) [29,715] 11/2015: -- 12/2015: Batgirl #46 -- 27,591 (- 7.1%) 01/2016: Batgirl #47 -- 26,905 (- 2.5%) 02/2016: Batgirl #48 -- 25,625 (- 4.8%) 03/2016: Batgirl #49 -- 24,730 (- 3.5%) ----------------- 6 months: - 19.9% 1 year : - 43.5% 2 years : - 26.5% 5 years : + 2.9%
—
82 - AQUAMAN ($4.99) 03/2006: Aquaman SoA #40 -- 37,611 [46,401] 03/2012: Aquaman #6 -- 63,450 03/2013: Aquaman #18 -- 53,337 03/2014: Aquaman #29 -- 33,907 [34,331] ---------------------------------- 03/2015: Aquaman #40 -- 32,404 (+ 2.0%) [33,941] 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Aquaman #41 -- 33,629 (+ 0.6%) [34,131] 07/2015: Aquaman #42 -- 28,158 (- 16.6%) [28,479] 08/2015: Aquaman #43 -- 30,480 (+ 8.3%) [30,835] 09/2015: Aquaman #44 -- 26,396 (- 14.4%) 10/2015: Aquaman #45 -- 25,495 (- 3.4%) 11/2015: Aquaman #46 -- 25,962 (+ 1.8%) 12/2015: Aquaman #47 -- 20,251 (- 22.0%) 01/2016: Aquaman #48 -- 23,373 (+ 15.4%) 02/2016: Aquaman #49 -- 23,546 (+ 0.7%) 03/2016: Aquaman #50 -- 24,487 (+ 4.0%) ----------------- 6 months: - 7.2% 1 year : - 27.9% 2 years : - 28.7% 10 years: - 47.2%
Aquaman had a non-polybagged BvS f.o.v. for its 50th.
—
83 - TEEN TITANS ($2.99) 03/2006: Teen Titans #33 -- 67,208 03/2011: Teen Titans #93 -- 24,957 03/2012: Teen Titans #7 -- 51,402 03/2013: Teen Titans #18 -- 42,055 03/2014: Teen Titans #29 -- 25,969 ---------------------------------- 03/2015: Teen Titans #8 -- 38,363 (+ 13.3%) [39,993] 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Teen Titans #9 -- 33,412 (- 15.5%) [33,804] 07/2015: Teen Titans #10 -- 28,547 (- 14.3%) [28,963] 08/2015: Teen Titans #11 -- 32,112 (+ 12.6%) [32,621] 09/2015: -- 10/2015: Teen Titans #12 -- 26,796 (- 17.9%) 11/2015: Teen Titans #13 -- 26,511 (- 1.1%) 12/2015: Teen Titans #14 -- 26,239 (- 1.0%) 12/2015: Teen Titans #15 -- 27,201 (+ 3.7%) 01/2015: Teen Titans #16 -- 24,201 (- 11.0%) 02/2015: Teen Titans #17 -- 23,566 (- 2.6%) 03/2015: Teen Titans #18 -- 23,056 (- 2.2%) ----------------- 6 months: n.a. 1 year : - 42.3% 2 years : - 11.2% 5 years : - 7.6% 10 years: - 65.7%
Also a non-polybagged BvS f.o.v. (though with Wonder Woman and without Batman or Superman…)
—
84 - GREEN ARROW ($4.99) 03/2006: Green Arrow #60 -- 37,946 03/2011: Green Arrow #10 -- 33,085 03/2012: Green Arrow #7 -- 29,004 03/2013: Green Arrow #18 -- 28,080 03/2014: Green Arrow #29 -- 23,698 ----------------------------------- 03/2015: Green Arrow #40 -- 19,792 (+ 0.7%) 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Green Arrow #41 -- 29,545 (+ 52.1%) [30,098] 07/2015: Green Arrow #42 -- 24,921 (- 17.2%) 08/2015: Green Arrow #43 -- 29,998 (+ 21.6%) [30,298] 09/2015: Green Arrow #44 -- 25,620 (- 15.4%) 10/2015: Green Arrow #45 -- 23,614 (- 7.8%) 11/2015: Green Arrow #46 -- 24,393 (+ 3.3%) 12/2015: Green Arrow #47 -- 30,834 (+ 26.4%) 01/2016: Green Arrow #48 -- 22,117 (- 28.3%) 02/2016: Green Arrow #49 -- 22,096 (- 0.1%) 03/2016: Green Arrow #50 -- 22,977 (+ 4.0%) ----------------- 6 months: - 10.3% 1 year : + 16.1% 2 years : - 3.0% 5 years : - 30.6% 10 years: - 39.4%
Another non-polybagged BvS f.o.v. for a 50th issue.
—
85 - POISON IVY: CYCLE OF LIFE AND DEATH ($2.99) 01/2016: Poison Ivy Cycle #1 of 6 -- 31,351 02/2016: Poison Ivy Cycle #2 of 6 -- 23,452 (- 25.2%) 03/2016: Poison Ivy Cycle #3 of 6 -- 22,812 (- 2.7%)
Settling in.
—
89 - BATMAN BEYOND ($2.99) 03/2012: Unlimited #2 -- 23,570 03/2013: Unlimited #14 -- 16,456 03/2014: Universe #8 -- 14,097 ------------------------------------ 03/2015: -- 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Batman Beyond #1 -- 59,151 (+303.9%) [53,362] 07/2015: Batman Beyond #2 -- 35,000 (- 34.4%) [35,238] 08/2015: Batman Beyond #3 -- 30,806 (- 12.0%) [31,276] 09/2015: Batman Beyond #4 -- 31,202 (+ 1.3%) [31,518] 10/2015: Batman Beyond #5 -- 29,409 (- 5.7%) [29,626] 11/2015: Batman Beyond #6 -- 27,778 (- 5.5%) 12/2015: Batman Beyond #7 -- 21,946 (- 21.0%) 01/2016: Batman Beyond #8 -- 20,342 (- 7.3%) 02/2016: Batman Beyond #9 -- 19,449 (- 4.4%) 03/2016: Batman Beyond #10 -- 21,578 (+ 10.9%) ----------------- 6 months: - 31.5% 1 year : n.a. 2 years : + 53.1%
A non-polybagged BvS f.o.v. by Dustin Nguyen.
—
91, 193 - DC COMICS ESSENTIALS ($1.00) 10/2015: Supergirl #1 -- 8,703 01/2016: The New Frontier #1 -- 6,051 02/2016: Batman and Robin #1 -- 12,592 03/2016: Dark Knight Returns #1 -- 21,323 03/2016: Superman Unchained #1 -- 8,274
DC previously released a DC Essentials edition of Dark Knight Returns #1 back in August 2014, where it sold 17,518 copies to retailers.
(DC Essentials, being basically promo items, are not included in the sales statistics at the end of the column.)
—
96 - SWAMP THING ($2.99) 03/2006: Swamp Thing #25 -- 8,076 03/2012: Swamp Thing #7 -- 40,268 03/2013: Swamp Thing #18 -- 30,716 03/2014: Swamp Thing #29 -- 18,837 -------------------------------------- 03/2015: Swamp Thing #40 -- 15,966 (+ 3.9%) 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: -- 07/2015: -- 08/2015: -- 09/2015: -- 10/2015: -- 11/2015: -- 12/2015: -- 01/2016: Swamp Thing #1 of 6 -- 29,048 (+ 81.9%) 02/2016: Swamp Thing #2 of 6 -- 21,453 (- 26.1%) 03/2016: Swamp Thing #3 of 6 -- 20,309 (- 5.3%) ---------------- 6 months: n.a. 1 year : + 27.2% 2 years : + 7.8% 10 years: +151.5%
98 - GREEN LANTERN CORPS: EDGE OF OBLIVION ($2.99) 03/2006: GLC Recharge #5 -- 60,123 03/2011: Green Lantern Corps #58 -- 60,100 03/2012: Green Lantern Corps #7 -- 48,692 03/2013: Green Lantern Corps #18 -- 44,215 03/2014: Green Lantern Corps #29 -- 27,754 ------------------------------------------- 03/2015: Green Lantern Corps #40 -- 29,412 (- 0.4%) [30,029] 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: -- 07/2015: -- 08/2015: -- 09/2015: -- 10/2015: -- 11/2015: -- 12/2015: -- 01/2016: Edge of Oblivion #1 of 6 -- 26,819 (- 10.7%) 02/2016: Edge of Oblivion #2 of 6 -- 21,265 (- 20.7%) 03/2016: Edge of Oblivion #3 of 6 -- 20,096 (- 5.5%) ---------------- 6 months: n.a. 1 year : - 33.1% 2 years : - 27.6% 5 years : - 66.6% 10 years: - 66.6%
These two former ongoings turned mini-series are essentially following the same tracks, sales-wise. In Swamp Thing’s case it is an improvement, thought not so much for GLC.
—
101 - DC COMICS BOMBSHELLS (Digital First) ($3.99) 08/2015: Bombshells #1 -- 59,253 [61,985] 09/2015: Bombshells #2 -- 37,136 (- 39.8%) [37,306] 10/2015: Bombshells #3 -- 32,147 (- 11.7%) [32,939] 11/2015: Bombshells #4 -- 27,239 (- 17.3%) 11/2015: Bombshells #5 -- 25,335 (- 7.0%) 12/2015: Bombshells #6 -- 23,679 (- 6.5%) 12/2015: Bombshells #7 -- 23,014 (- 2.8%) 01/2016: Bombshells #8 -- 21,904 (- 4.8%) 02/2016: Bombshells #9 -- 20,349 (- 7.1%) 03/2016: Bombshells #10 -- 19,820 (- 2.6%) ----------------- 6 months: - 39.8%
DC’s best-selling digital first series in print (though based on what scant evidence we have, Injustice still outsells it in digital…)
—
102 - DARK KNIGHT III: THE MASTER RACE COLLECTORS' EDITION ($12.99) 12/2015: Dark Knight III Coll #1 of 8 -- 24,005 01/2016: Dark Knight III Coll #2 of 8 -- 19,367 (- 19.3%) 02/2016: -- 03/2016: Dark Knight III Coll #3 of 8 -- 19,445 (+ 0.4%)
Tracking these separately from the main title, since they’re such a different beast.
The regular edition of DK3 also charted again this month with re-orders of 4,621.
—
105 - LEGENDS OF TOMORROW ($7.99) 03/2016: Legends of Tomorrow #1 -- 18,753
DC’s sole debut tittle this month is an anthology title, taking four previously-commissioned series (Firestorm, Metamorpho, Sugar & Spike, and The Metal Men—only one of whom is in the TV show that the anthology is named after…) and combining them into one title. It’s the comic book equivalent of a television network dumping a season into the summer.
—
110 - TITANS HUNT ($3.99) 10/2015: Titans Hunt #1 of 12 -- 31,037 [32,768] 11/2015: Titans Hunt #2 of 12 -- 22,466 (- 31.4%) 12/2015: Titans Hunt #3 of 12 -- 20,918 (- 6.9%) 01/2016: Titans Hunt #4 of 8 -- 23,578 (+ 12.7%) 02/2016: Titans Hunt #5 of 8 -- 22,678 (- 3.8%) 03/2016: Titans Hunt #6 of 8 -- 18,493 (- 18.5%)
No variant (f.o.v. or otherwise) this month, which leads to a sizable drop.
—
111 - EARTH 2: SOCIETY ($2.99) 03/2013: Earth 2 #10 -- 46,213 03/2014: Earth 2 #21 -- 35,295 [35,836] --------------------------------- 03/2015: Earth 2 #32 -- 27,361 (- 0.6%) 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: E2 Society #1 -- 45,102 (+ 52.6%) [41,763] 07/2015: E2 Society #2 -- 31,663 (- 23.2%) [32,074] 08/2015: E2 Society #3 -- 28,381 (- 10.6%) [28,671] 09/2015: E2 Society #4 -- 25,443 (- 11.3%) 10/2015: E2 Society #5 -- 23,459 (- 7.8%) 11/2015: E2 Society #6 -- 21,948 (- 6.4%) 12/2015: E2 Society #7 -- 21,059 (- 4.1%) 01/2015: E2 Society #8 -- 19,682 (- 6.5%) 02/2015: E2 Society #9 -- 18,868 (- 4.1%) 03/2015: E2 Society #10 -- 18,391 (- 2.5%) ---------------- 6 months: - 27.8% 1 year : - 32.9% 2 years : - 48.8%
E2:S is not ending in May…
—
113 - STARFIRE ($2.99) 06/2015: Starfire #1 -- 50,928 [52,638] 07/2015: Starfire #2 -- 33,659 (- 34.7%) [34,389] 08/2015: Starfire #3 -- 30,207 (- 9.7%) [31,052] 09/2015: Starfire #4 -- 30,485 (- 0.4%) [30,930] 10/2015: Starfire #5 -- 28,714 (- 6.2%) [29,021] 11/2015: Starfire #6 -- 27,941 (- 3.7%) 12/2015: Starfire #7 -- 21,230 (- 23.9%) 01/2016: Starfire #8 -- 24,378 (+ 14.7%) 02/2016: Starfire #9 -- 22,918 (- 6.0%) 03/2016: Starfire #10 -- 18,044 (- 21.3%) ----------------- 6 months: - 29.1%
No variant (f.o.v. or otherwise) this month, which leads to a sizable drop.
—
115 - SUPERMAN: LOIS AND CLARK ($3.99) 10/2015: Lois & Clark #1 -- 35,009 [35,991] 11/2015: Lois & Clark #2 -- 22,898 (- 36.4%) 12/2015: Lois & Clark #3 -- 21,630 (- 5.5%) 01/2016: Lois & Clark #4 -- 23,766 (+ 9.9%) 02/2016: Lois & Clark #5 -- 22,775 (- 4.2%) 03/2016: Lois & Clark #6 -- 17,846 (- 21.6%)
No variant (f.o.v. or otherwise) this month, which leads to a sizable drop.
Apparently whatever is happening in both Titans Hunt and Lois & Clark is forming part of the background for Rebirth? I’m not sure that I see the wisdom in that…
—
116 - RED HOOD/ARSENAL ($2.99) 03/2012: Red Hood & Outlaws #7 -- 38,630 03/2013: Red Hood & Outlaws #18 -- 37,731 [42,901] 03/2014: Red Hood & Outlaws #29 -- 22,316 ----------------------------------------- 03/2015: Red Hood & Outlaws #40 -- 17,110 (- 0.9%) 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Red Hood/Arsenal #1 -- 44,078 (+137.3%) [40,597] 07/2015: Red Hood/Arsenal #2 -- 26,829 (- 33.9%) 08/2015: Red Hood/Arsenal #3 -- 23,841 (- 11.1%) 09/2015: Red Hood/Arsenal #4 -- 22,113 (- 7.2%) 10/2015: Red Hood/Arsenal #5 -- 21,025 (- 4.9%) 11/2015: Red Hood/Arsenal #6 -- 19,857 (- 5.6%) 12/2015: Red Hood/Arsenal #7 -- 25,789 (+ 29.9%) 01/2015: Red Hood/Arsenal #8 -- 22,900 (- 11.2%) 02/2015: Red Hood/Arsenal #9 -- 22,341 (- 2.4%) 03/2015: Red Hood/Arsenal #10 -- 17,707 (- 20.7%) ----------------- 6 months: - 19.9% 1 year : + 3.5% 2 years : - 20.7%
No variant (f.o.v. or otherwise) this month, which leads to a sizable drop.
Of all of the Rebirth series announcements, the one that led to the most head-scratching is the return of Red Hood and the Outlaws. Which will star Red Hood, Artemis, and Bizarro. What exactly in the sales history of anything makes DC think that’s going to fly?
—
120 - CONSTANTINE: THE HELLBLAZER ($2.99) 03/2006: Hellblazer #217 -- 14,129 03/2011: Hellblazer #277 -- 9,525 03/2012: Hellblazer #289 -- 9,363 03/2013: Constantine #1 -- 37,564 03/2014: Constantine #12 -- 20,051 ------------------------------------- 03/2015: Constantine #23 -- 14,530 (- 1.3%) 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: The Hellblazer #1 -- 41,888 (+177.6%) [40,335] 07/2015: The Hellblazer #2 -- 27,512 (- 34.3%) 08/2015: The Hellblazer #3 -- 24,040 (- 12.6%) 09/2015: The Hellblazer #4 -- 21,974 (- 8.6%) 10/2015: The Hellblazer #5 -- 20,431 (- 7.0%) 11/2015: The Hellblazer #6 -- 19,328 (- 5.4%) 12/2015: The Hellblazer #7 -- 18,601 (- 3.8%) 01/2016: The Hellblazer #8 -- 17,853 (- 4.0%) 02/2016: The Hellblazer #9 -- 17,178 (- 3.8%) 03/2016: The Hellblazer #10 -- 16,755 (- 2.5%) ----------------- 6 months: - 23.8% 1 year : + 15.3% 2 years : - 16.4% 5 years : + 75.9% 10 years: + 18.6%
—
121 - THE LEGEND OF WONDER WOMAN (Digital-First) ($3.99) 01/2016: Legend of WW #1 of 9 -- 25,047 02/2016: Legend of WW #2 of 9 -- 16,816 (- 32.9%) 03/2016: Legend of WW #3 of 9 -- 16,497 (- 1.9%)
—
122 - WE ARE ROBIN ($3.99) 06/2015: We Are Robin #1 -- 57,137 [49,597] 07/2015: We Are Robin #2 -- 31,209 (- 34.1%) [32,668] 08/2015: We Are Robin #3 -- 26,830 (- 17.9%) 09/2015: We Are Robin #4 -- 22,893 (- 14.7%) 10/2015: We Are Robin #5 -- 21,243 (- 7.2%) 11/2015: We Are Robin #6 -- 19,210 (- 9.6%) 12/2015: We Are Robin #7 -- 28,181 (+ 46.7%) 01/2015: We Are Robin #8 -- 12,086 (- 19.8%) [22,593] 02/2015: We Are Robin #9 -- 21,323 (- 5.6%) 03/2015: We Are Robin #10 -- 16,412 (- 23.0%) ----------------- 6 months: - 28.6%
No variant (f.o.v. or otherwise) this month, which leads to a sizable drop as the roller coaster rise that is WAR’s sales figures continues…
—
125 - SINESTRO ($2.99) 03/2015: Sinestro #11 -- 28,384 (- 0.4%) [29,158] 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Sinestro #12 -- 28,848 (- 0.0%) [29,156] 07/2015: Sinestro #13 -- 23,044 (- 20.1%) 08/2015: Sinestro #14 -- 25,505 (+ 10.7%) 09/2015: Sinestro #15 -- 22,090 (- 13.4%) 10/2015: Sinestro #16 -- 23,179 (+ 4.9%) 11/2015: Sinestro #17 -- 22,331 (- 3.7%) 12/2015: Sinestro #18 -- 17,189 (- 23.0%) 01/2016: Sinestro #19 -- 20,535 (+ 19.5%) 02/2016: Sinestro #20 -- 20,199 (- 1.6%) 03/2016: Sinestro #21 -- 15,928 (- 21.1%) ----------------- 6 months: - 27.9% 1 year : - 45.4%
No variant (f.o.v. or otherwise) this month, which leads to a sizable drop.
—
131 - SUICIDE SQUAD MOST WANTED: DEADSHOT/KATANA ($4.99) 01/2016: Deadshot/Katana #1 of 6 -- 21,642 02/2016: Deadshot/Katana #2 of 6 -- 16,529 (- 23.6%) 03/2016: Deadshot/Katana #3 of 6 -- 14,585 (- 11.8%)
Are we sure that there’s a Suicide Squad movie coming out soon?
—
134 - CATWOMAN ($2.99) 03/2006: Catwoman #53 -- 28,473 [34,428] 03/2012: Catwoman #7 -- 41,447 03/2013: Catwoman #18 -- 33,220 03/2014: Catwoman #29 -- 22,236 --------------------------------- 03/2015: Catwoman #40 -- 26,534 (+ 0.3%) 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Catwoman #41 -- 27,034 (+ 1.9%) 07/2015: Catwoman #42 -- 21,983 (- 18.7%) 08/2015: Catwoman #43 -- 26,451 (+ 20.3%) 09/2015: Catwoman #44 -- 21,507 (- 18.7%) 10/2015: Catwoman #45 -- 20,229 (- 18.7%) 11/2015: Catwoman #46 -- 21,661 (+ 7.1%) 12/2015: Catwoman #47 -- 15,038 (- 30.6%) 01/2016: Catwoman #48 -- 14,408 (- 4.2%) 02/2016: Catwoman #49 -- 13,659 (- 5.2%) 03/2016: Catwoman #50 -- 14,260 (+ 4.4%) ----------------- 6 months: - 33.7% 1 year : - 46.3% 2 years : - 35.9% 10 years: - 58.6%
The only 50th issue that didn’t get a variant cover.
—
136, 140 - INJUSTICE: YEAR FIVE (Digital-First) ($2.99) 03/2013: Injustice #3 -- 18,608 [24,469] 03/2014: Injustice Y2 #3 -- 20,693 ----------------------------------- 03/2015: Injustice Y3 #11 -- 15,526 (+ 0.7%) 03/2015: Injustice Y3 #12 -- 15,322 (- 1.3%) 04/2015: -- 05/2015: Injustice Y4 #1 -- 17,958 (+ 17.2%) 05/2015: Injustice Y4 #2 -- 15,653 (- 12.8%) 06/2015: Injustice Y4 #3 -- 15,982 (+ 2.1%) 06/2015: Injustice Y4 #4 -- 15,493 (- 3.1%) 07/2015: Injustice Y4 #5 -- 15,905 (+ 2.7%) 07/2015: Injustice Y4 #6 -- 15,556 (- 2.2%) 08/2015: Injustice Y4 #7 -- 15,559 (+ 0.0%) 08/2015: Injustice Y4 #8 -- 15,269 (- 1.9%) 09/2015: Injustice Y4 #9 -- 15,414 (+ 0.9%) 09/2015: Injustice Y4 #10 -- 16,243 (+ 5.4%) 10/2015: Injustice Y4 #11 -- 14,992 (- 7.7%) 10/2015: Injustice Y4 #12 -- 14,848 (- 1.0%) 11/2015: -- 12/2015: -- 01/2016: Injustice Y5 #1 -- 17,049 (+ 14.8%) 01/2016: Injustice Y5 #2 -- 14,787 (- 13.3%) 02/2016: Injustice Y5 #3 -- 14,263 (- 3.5%) 02/2016: Injustice Y5 #4 -- 13,918 (- 2.4%) 03/2016: Injustice Y5 #5 -- 14,094 (+ 1.3%) 03/2016: Injustice Y5 #6 -- 13,599 (- 3.5%) ---------------- 6 months: - 12.5% 1 year : - 10.2% 2 years : - 33.1%
—
138 - MARTIAN MANHUNTER ($2.99) 06/2015: Martian Manhunter #1 -- 40,239 (+ 66.8%) [37,003] 07/2015: Martian Manhunter #2 -- 24,957 (- 32.6%) 08/2015: Martian Manhunter #3 -- 22,540 (- 9.7%) 09/2015: Martian Manhunter #4 -- 19,738 (- 12.4%) 10/2015: Martian Manhunter #5 -- 18,416 (- 6.7%) 11/2015: Martian Manhunter #6 -- 17,038 (- 7.5%) 12/2015: Martian Manhunter #7 -- 15,962 (- 6.3%) 01/2016: Martian Manhunter #8 -- 18,655 (+ 16.9%) 02/2016: Martian Manhunter #9 -- 17,938 (- 3.8%) 03/2016: Martian Manhunter #10 -- 13,761 (- 23.3%) ----------------- 6 months: - 30.3%
No variant (f.o.v. or otherwise) this month, which leads to a sizable drop.
—
141 - CYBORG ($2.99) 07/2015: Cyborg #1 -- 45,187 [47,357] 08/2015: Cyborg #2 -- 29,167 (- 35.5%) [30,229] 09/2015: -- 10/2015: Cyborg #3 -- 27,550 (- 5.5%) 10/2015: Cyborg #4 -- 25,926 (- 5.9%) 11/2015: -- 12/2015: Cyborg #5 -- 23,618 (- 8.9%) 12/2015: Cyborg #6 -- 17,864 (- 24.4%) 01/2016: Cyborg #7 -- 18,975 (+ 6.2%) 02/2016: Cyborg #8 -- 18,092 (- 4.7%) 03/2016: Cyborg #9 -- 13,578 (- 25.0%) ----------------- 6 months: n.a.
No variant (f.o.v. or otherwise) this month, which leads to a sizable drop.
—
142 - BLACK CANARY ($2.99) 06/2015: Black Canary #1 -- 44,865 (+ 39.5%) [41,006] 07/2015: Black Canary #2 -- 27,512 (- 32.9%) 08/2015: Black Canary #3 -- 23,253 (- 15.5%) 09/2015: Black Canary #4 -- 23,678 (+ 1.8%) 10/2015: Black Canary #5 -- 22,215 (- 6.2%) 11/2015: -- 12/2015: Black Canary #6 -- 21,666 (- 2.5%) 01/2015: Black Canary #7 -- 15,758 (- 27.3%) 02/2015: Black Canary #8 -- 14,461 (- 8.2%) 03/2015: Black Canary #9 -- 13,566 (- 6.2%) ----------------- 6 months: - 42.7%
—
145 - GOTHAM ACADEMY ($2.99) 03/2015: Gotham Academy #6 -- 20,361 (- 2.3%) 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Gotham Academy #7 -- 26,594 (+ 30.6%) 07/2015: Gotham Academy #8 -- 22,359 (- 15.9%) 08/2015: Gotham Academy #9 -- 18,048 (- 19.3%) 09/2015: Gotham Academy #10 -- 17,292 (- 4.2%) 10/2015: Gotham Academy #11 -- 16,560 (- 4.2%) 11/2015: -- 12/2015: Gotham Academy #12 -- 15,865 (- 4.2%) 12/2015: Gotham Academy #13 -- 22,947 (+ 44.6%) 01/2016: Gotham Academy #14 -- 15,023 (- 34.5%) 02/2016: Gotham Academy #15 -- 14,334 (- 4.6%) 03/2016: Gotham Academy #16 -- 13,363 (- 6.8%) ---------------- 6 months: - 22.7% 1 year : - 34.4%
—
150 - SECRET SIX ($2.99) 03/2011: Secret Six #31 -- 19,822 --------------------------------- 03/2015: -- 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Secret Six #3 -- 28,458 (+ 7.1%) [28,999] 07/2015: Secret Six #4 -- 22,813 (- 19.8%) 08/2015: Secret Six #5 -- 30,418 (+ 33.3%) [30,884] 09/2015: Secret Six #6 -- 17,376 (- 42.9%) 10/2015: Secret Six #7 -- 16,343 (- 5.9%) 11/2015: Secret Six #8 -- 15,375 (- 5.9%) 12/2015: Secret Six #9 -- 14,663 (- 4.6%) 01/2016: Secret Six #10 -- 13,888 (- 5.3%) 02/2016: Secret Six #11 -- 13,160 (- 5.2%) 03/2016: Secret Six #12 -- 12,772 (- 2.9%) ----------------- 6 months: - 26.5% 1 year : n.a. 5 years : - 35.6%
—
155 - JUSTICE LEAGUE 3001 ($2.99) 03/2014: Justice League 3K #4 -- 30,127 [30,796] ----------------------------------------- 03/2015: Justice League 3K #15 -- 16,604 (- 1.0%) 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Justice League 3K1 #1 -- 35,391 (+ 76.7%) [29,332] 07/2015: Justice League 3K1 #2 -- 21,301 (- 27.4%) 08/2015: Justice League 3K1 #3 -- 18,931 (- 11.1%) 09/2015: Justice League 3K1 #4 -- 16,704 (- 11.8%) 10/2015: Justice League 3K1 #5 -- 15,512 (- 7.1%) 11/2015: Justice League 3K1 #6 -- 14,659 (- 5.5%) 12/2015: Justice League 3K1 #7 -- 13,979 (- 4.6%) 01/2016: Justice League 3K1 #8 -- 13,283 (- 5.0%) 02/2016: Justice League 3K1 #9 -- 12,919 (- 2.7%) 03/2016: Justice League 3K1 #10 -- 12,455 (- 3.6%) ----------------- 6 months: - 25.4% 1 year : - 25.0% 2 years : - 59.6%
—
164 - BATMAN '66 MEETS THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. (Digital-First) ($2.99) 12/2015: Batman 66/UNCLE #1 of 6 -- 17,363 (- 15.4%) 01/2016: Batman 66/UNCLE #2 of 6 -- 13,940 (- 19.7%) 02/2016: Batman 66/UNCLE #3 of 6 -- 12,824 (- 8.0%) 03/2016: Batman 66/UNCLE #4 of 6 -- 11,945 (- 6.9%)
—
167 - LUCIFER (Vertigo) ($3.99) 03/2006: Lucifer #72 -- 10,435 ------------------------------ 12/2015: Lucifer #1 -- 17,306 (+ 57.2%) 01/2016: Lucifer #2 -- 12,497 (- 27.8%) 02/2016: Lucifer #3 -- 11,614 (- 7.1%) 03/2016: Lucifer #4 -- 11,450 (- 1.4%) ----------------- 10 years: + 9.7%
Settling in. The top-selling Vertigo title of March.
—
173 - ASTRO CITY (Vertigo) ($3.99) 03/2006: -- 03/2011: -- 03/2012: -- 03/2013: -- 03/2014: Astro City #10 -- 14,094 ---------------------------------- 03/2015: Astro City #21 -- 11,492 (- 1.0%) 04/2015: Astro City #22 -- 11,359 (- 1.2%) 05/2015: Astro City #23 -- 11,215 (- 1.3%) 06/2015: Astro City #24 -- 11,226 (+ 0.1%) 07/2015: Astro City #25 -- 11,242 (+ 0.1%) 08/2015: Astro City #26 -- 11,118 (- 1.1%) 09/2015: Astro City #27 -- 11,019 (- 0.9%) 10/2015: Astro City #28 -- 10,808 (- 1.9%) 11/2015: Astro City #29 -- 10,748 (- 0.6%) 12/2015: Astro City #30 -- 10,476 (- 2.5%) 01/2016: Astro City #31 -- 10,351 (- 1.2%) 02/2016: Astro City #32 -- 10,187 (- 1.6%) 03/2016: Astro City #33 -- 10,125 (- 0.6%) ----------------- 6 months: - 8.1% 1 year : - 11.9% 2 years : - 28.2% 5 years : n.a. 10 years: n.a.
The only other Vertigo title above the 10K mark.
—
176 - MIDNIGHTER ($2.99) 06/2015: Midnighter #1 -- 35,420 (+221.8%) [31,915] 07/2015: Midnighter #2 -- 19,812 (- 37.9%) 08/2015: Midnighter #3 -- 16,563 (- 16.4%) 09/2015: Midnighter #4 -- 14,431 (- 12.9%) 10/2015: Midnighter #5 -- 13,235 (- 8.3%) 11/2015: Midnighter #6 -- 12,186 (- 7.9%) 12/2015: Midnighter #7 -- 11,267 (- 7.5%) 01/2016: Midnighter #8 -- 10,408 (- 7.6%) 02/2016: Midnighter #9 -- 10,428 (+ 0.2%) 03/2016: Midnighter #10 -- 9,803 (- 6.0%) ----------------- 6 months: - 32.1%
—
177 - DOCTOR FATE ($2.99) 06/2015: Doctor Fate #1 -- 39,558 [34,514] 07/2015: Doctor Fate #2 -- 22,967 (- 41.9%) 08/2015: Doctor Fate #3 -- 18,951 (- 17.5%) 09/2015: Doctor Fate #4 -- 16,258 (- 14.2%) 10/2015: Doctor Fate #5 -- 14,560 (- 10.4%) 11/2015: Doctor Fate #6 -- 13,090 (- 10.1%) 12/2015: Doctor Fate #7 -- 11,954 (- 8.7%) 01/2016: Doctor Fate #8 -- 11,109 (- 7.1%) 02/2016: Doctor Fate #9 -- 10,437 (- 6.0%) 03/2016: Doctor Fate #10 -- 9,780 (- 6.0%) ----------------- 6 months: - 39.8%
Surprisingly, Dr. Fate is also continuing on past Rebirth.
—
184, 190 - THE OMEGA MEN ($2.99) 06/2015: Omega Men #1 -- 33,174 [28,446] * 07/2015: Omega Men #2 -- 17,093 (- 39.9%) 08/2015: Omega Men #3 -- 13,246 (- 22.5%) 09/2015: Omega Men #4 -- 11,302 (- 14.7%) 10/2015: Omega Men #5 -- 10,532 (- 6.8%) 11/2015: Omega Men #6 -- 9,709 (- 7.8%) 12/2015: Omega Men #7 -- 9,251 (- 4.7%) 01/2016: Omega Men #8 -- 8,864 (- 4.2%) 02/2016: -- 03/2016: Omega Men #9 -- 8,727 (- 1.5%) 03/2016: Omega Men #10 -- 8,366 (- 4.1%) ----------------- 6 months: - 24.4%
The series that was continued by supposed overwhelming popular demand continues to beg the question: really?
—
186 - SUICIDERS: KINGS OF HELL.A. (Vertigo) ($3.99) 03/2015: Suiciders #2 -- 10,585 (- 42.1%) 04/2015: Suiciders #3 -- 9,891 (- 6.6%) 05/2015: Suiciders #4 -- 9,316 (- 5.8%) 06/2015: Suiciders #5 -- 8,731 (- 6.3%) 07/2015: -- 08/2015: -- 09/2015: Suiciders #6 -- 8,546 (- 2.1%) 10/2015: -- 11/2015: -- 12/2015: -- 01/2016: -- 02/2016: -- 03/2016: Kings of HelLA #1 of 6 -- 8,563 (+ 0.2%) ----------------- 6 months: + 0.2% 1 year : - 19.1%
I said earlier that Legends of Tomorrow was the only DC debut title this month, but I had forgotten about the new Suiciders mini-series. Apparently, so did many retailers.
—
197 - SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP (All-Ages) ($2.99) 03/2014: Scooby-Doo Team-Up #3 -- 8,452 ----------------------------------------- 03/2015: Scooby-Doo Team-Up #9 -- 6,780 (+ 1.5%) 04/2015: -- 05/2015: Scooby-Doo Team-Up #10 -- 6,566 (- 3.2%) 06/2015: -- 07/2015: Scooby-Doo Team-Up #11 -- 6,809 (+ 3.7%) 08/2015: -- 09/2015: Scooby-Doo Team-Up #12 -- 15,426 (+126.7%) 10/2015: -- 11/2015: Scooby-Doo Team-Up #13 -- 8,008 (- 48.1%) 12/2015: -- 01/2016: Scooby-Doo Team-Up #14 -- 7,214 (- 9.9%) 02/2016: -- 03/2016: Scooby-Doo Team-Up #15 -- 8,092 (+ 12.2%) ----------------- 6 months: - 47.5% 1 Year : + 19.4% 2 Years : - 4.3%
Teaming up with The Flash!
—
Those with weak constitutions may want to avert their eyes for this next part…
—
222 - CLEAN ROOM (Vertigo) ($3.99) 10/2015: Clean Room #1 -- 14,304 11/2015: Clean Room #2 -- 9,351 (- 35.6%) 12/2015: Clean Room #3 -- 8,073 (- 13.7%) 01/2015: Clean Room #4 -- 7,572 (- 6.2%) 02/2016: Clean Room #5 -- 7,020 (- 7.3%) 03/2016: Clean Room #6 -- 6,832 (- 2.7%)
—
231 - TELOS ($2.99) 10/2015: Telos #1 -- 20,126 11/2015: Telos #2 -- 11,202 (- 44.3%) 12/2015: Telos #3 -- 9,619 (- 14.1%) 01/2016: Telos #4 -- 7,735 (- 19.6%) 02/2016: Telos #5 -- 9,877 (+ 27.7%) 03/2016: Telos #6 -- 6,326 (- 36.0%)
Final issue.
—
240 - THE SHERIFF OF BABYLON (Vertigo) ($3.99) 12/2015: Sheriff of Babylon #1 of 8 -- 10,234 01/2015: Sheriff of Babylon #2 of 8 -- 7,063 (- 31.0%) 02/2015: Sheriff of Babylon #3 of 8 -- 6,385 (- 9.6%) 03/2015: Sheriff of Babylon #4 of 8 -- 6,007 (- 5.9%)
—
245 - FABLES: THE WOLF AMONG US (Vertigo) (Digital-First) ($3.99) 03/2015: Fables: TWAU #3 -- 9,352 (- 8.5%) 04/2015: Fables: TWAU #4 -- 8,793 (- 6.0%) 05/2015: Fables: TWAU #5 -- 8,378 (- 4.7%) 06/2015: Fables: TWAU #6 -- 8,019 (- 4.3%) 07/2015: Fables: TWAU #7 -- 7,683 (- 4.2%) 08/2015: Fables: TWAU #8 -- 7,398 (- 3.7%) 09/2015: Fables: TWAU #9 -- 7,123 (- 3.7%) 10/2015: Fables: TWAU #10 -- 6,965 (- 2.2%) 11/2015: Fables: TWAU #11 -- 6,788 (- 2.5%) 12/2015: Fables: TWAU #12 -- 6,470 (- 4.7%) 01/2016: Fables: TWAU #13 -- 6,254 (- 3.3%) 02/2016: Fables: TWAU #14 -- 5,991 (- 4.2%) 03/2016: Fables: TWAU #15 -- 5,873 (- 2.0%) ----------------- 6 months: - 17.5% 1 Year : - 37.2%
Penultimate issue.
—
251 - THE DARK AND BLOODY (Vertigo) ($3.99) 02/2016: Dark & Bloody #1 of 6 -- 8,622 03/2016: Dark & Bloody #2 of 6 -- 5,679 (- 34.1%)
—
265 - UNFOLLOW (Vertigo) ($3.99) 11/2015: Unfollow #1 -- 10,740 12/2015: Unfollow #2 -- 7,082 (- 34.1%) 01/2016: Unfollow #3 -- 6,510 (- 8.1%) 02/2016: Unfollow #4 -- 5,667 (- 12.9%) 03/2016: Unfollow #5 -- 5,149 (- 9.1%)
—
266 - JACKED (Vertigo) ($3.99) 11/2015: Jacked #1 of 6 -- 11,056 12/2015: Jacked #2 of 6 -- 7,078 (- 36.0%) 01/2016: Jacked #3 of 6 -- 5,787 (- 18.2%) 02/2016: Jacked #4 of 6 -- 5,449 (- 5.8%) 03/2016: Jacked #5 of 6 -- 5,112 (- 6.0%)
—
271 - SCOOBY-DOO, WHERE ARE YOU? (All-Ages) ($2.99) 03/2006: Scooby-Doo #106 -- 4,419 03/2011: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #7 -- 4,522 03/2012: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #19 -- 4,677 03/2013: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #31 -- 4,770 03/2014: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #43 -- 4,623 ----------------------------------------------- 03/2015: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #55 -- ????? (< 4,917) 04/2015: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #56 -- ????? (< 6,352) 05/2015: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #57 -- 4,794 06/2015: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #58 -- 5,033 (+ 5.0%) 07/2015: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #59 -- ????? (< 5,446) 08/2015: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #60 -- 5,091 09/2015: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #61 -- 5,220 (+ 2.5%) 10/2015: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #62 -- 5,143 (- 1.5%) 11/2015: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #63 -- 5,215 (+ 1.4%) 12/2015: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #64 -- ????? (< 5,848) 01/2016: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #65 -- 4,906 02/2016: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #66 -- 4,867 (- 0.8%) 03/2016: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #67 -- 4,940 (+ 1.5%) ----------------- 6 months: - 5.4% 1 year : ???% 2 years : + 6.9% 5 years : + 9.2% 10 years: + 11.8%
—
275 - ART OPS (Vertigo) ($3.99) 10/2015: Art Ops #1 -- 12,211 11/2015: Art Ops #2 -- 7,982 (- 34.6%) 12/2015: Art Ops #3 -- 6,771 (- 15.2%) 01/2016: Art Ops #4 -- 5,772 (- 14.8%) 02/2016: Art Ops #5 -- 5,297 (- 8.2%) 03/2016: Art Ops #6 -- 4,908 (- 7.3%)
—
279 - SURVIVORS' CLUB (Vertigo) ($3.99) 10/2015: Survivors' Club #1 -- 13,194 11/2015: Survivors' Club #2 -- 7,846 (- 40.5%) 12/2015: Survivors' Club #3 -- 6,668 (- 15.0%) 01/2016: Survivors' Club #4 -- 5,731 (- 14.1%) 02/2016: Survivors' Club #5 -- 5,221 (- 8.9%) 03/2016: Survivors' Club #6 -- 4,862 (- 6.9%)
—
293 - RED THORN (Vertigo) ($3.99) 11/2015: Red Thorn #1 -- 11,335 12/2015: Red Thorn #2 -- 6,799 (- 40.0%) 01/2016: Red Thorn #3 -- 5,802 (- 14.7%) 02/2016: Red Thorn #4 -- 4,867 (- 16.1%) 03/2016: Red Thorn #5 -- 4,482 (- 7.9%)
—
+300 - NEW ROMANCER (Vertigo) ($3.99) 12/2015: New Romancer #1 of 6 -- 8,639 01/2016: New Romancer #2 of 6 -- 5,655 (- 34.5%) 02/2016: New Romancer #3 of 6 -- 3,999 (- 29.3%) 03/2016: New Romancer #4 of 6 -- ????? (< 4,269)
+300 - LAST GANG IN TOWN (Vertigo) ($3.99) 12/2015: Last Gang in Town #1 of 6 -- 8,396 01/2016: Last Gang in Town #2 of 6 -- 4,750 (- 43.4%) 02/2016: Last Gang in Town #3 of 6 -- 3,772 (- 20.6%) 03/2016: Last Gang in Town #4 of 6 -- ????? (< 4,269)
+300 - SLASH & BURN (Vertigo) ($3.99) 11/2015: Slash & Burn #1 -- 9,623 12/2015: Slash & Burn #2 -- ????? (< 5,848) 01/2016: Slash & Burn #3 -- 4,403 02/2016: Slash & Burn #4 -- ????? (< 3,744) 03/2016: Slash & Burn #5 -- ????? (< 4,269)
The Top 300 floor this month is about 500 higher than in February, and swallows up a couple more Vertigo titles.
—
Average Periodical Sales (not counting reprints, reorders shipping after the initial month of release, and magazines; based on first-month sales only.)
DC COMICS 03/2006: 36,077 03/2011: 23,976 03/2012: 29,697 03/2013: 30,819 ** 03/2014: 26,776 --------------- 03/2015: 23,466 (- 4.4%)** 04/2015: 38,318 (+ 63.3%)** 05/2015: 31,237 (- 18.5%)** 06/2015: 35,318 (+ 13.1%)** 07/2015: 27,005 (- 23.5%)** 08/2015: 27,301 (+ 1.1%)** 09/2015: 26,092 (- 4.4%)** 10/2015: 25,681 (- 0.5%)** 11/2015: 30,743 (+ 19.7%) 12/2015: 28,091 (- 8.6%)** 01/2016: 21,845 (- 22.2%)** 02/2016: 24,611 (+ 12.7%)** 03/2016: 22,620 (- 9.6%)** ----------------- 6 months: - 14.7% 1 year : - 5.1% 2 years : - 16.9% 5 years : - 7.2% 10 years: - 38.3% DC UNIVERSE 03/2006: 44,854 03/2011: 26,720 03/2012: 33,229 03/2013: 32,294 ** 03/2014: 32,007 --------------- 03/2015: 28,559 (- 11.9%) 04/2015: 49,845 (+ 74.5%) 05/2015: 42,635 (- 14.5%) 06/2015: 46,980 (+ 10.2%) 07/2015: 32,688 (- 30.4%) 08/2015: 33,079 (+ 1.2%) 09/2015: 30,645 (- 7.4%) 10/2015: 30,402 (- 0.8%) 11/2015: 38,396 (+ 26.3%) 12/2015: 34,981 (- 8.9%) 01/2016: 27,664 (- 20.1%) 02/2016: 31,503 (+ 13.9%) 03/2016: 28,621 (- 9.1%) ----------------- 6 months: - 6.6% 1 year : + 0.2% 2 years : - 10.6% 5 years : + 7.1% 10 years: - 36.2% VERTIGO 03/2006: 15,812 03/2011: 10,450 03/2012: 12,688 03/2013: 11,055 03/2014: 19,179 --------------- 03/2015: 7,055 (- 15.6%)** 04/2015: 7,257 (+ 2.9%)** 05/2015: 10,616 (+ 46.3%)** 06/2015: 8,011 (- 24.5%)** 07/2015: 15,251 (+ 90.4%)** 08/2015: 10,216 (- 33.0%)** 09/2015: 15,814 (+ 54.8%)** 10/2015: 10,771 (- 31.9%)** 11/2015: 9,780 (- 9.2%) 12/2015: 8,630 (- 11.8%)** 01/2016: 6,832 (- 20.5%)** 02/2016: 6,274 (- 8.2%)** 03/2016: 6,039 (- 3.7%)** ----------------- 6 months: - 61.8% 1 year : - 14.4% 2 years : - 68.5% 5 years : - 42.2% 10 years: - 61.8%
—
6 month comparisons =================== +103.5% - Superman + 41.7% - Batman + 10.9% - Batman/Superman + 5.0% - Action Comics + 0.2% - Suiciders - 0.4% - Wonder Woman - 5.4% - Scooby-Doo Where Are You? - 5.6% - Superman/Wonder Woman - 6.8% - Detective Comics - 7.2% - Aquaman - 8.1% - Astro City - 8.3% - Green Lantern - 10.3% - Green Arrow - 12.3% - Harley Quinn - 12.5% - Injustice - 15.0% - Robin, Son of Batman - 17.5% - Fables Wolf Among Us - 19.3% - New Suicide Squad - 19.9% - Batgirl - 19.9% - Red Hood-Arsenal - 20.2% - Deathstroke - 22.7% - Gotham Academy - 23.8% - Constantine - 24.4% - Omega Men - 25.4% - Justice League 3001 - 26.5% - Secret Six - 27.8% - Earth 2 Society - 27.9% - Sinestro - 28.6% - We Are Robin - 29.1% - Starfire - 30.3% - Martian Manhunter - 31.5% - Batman Beyond - 32.1% - Midnighter - 33.7% - Catwoman - 39.8% - DC Comics Bombshells - 39.8% - Doctor Fate - 42.7% - Black Canary - 47.5% - Scooby-Doo Team-Up 1 year comparisons =================== + 77.0% - Superman + 27.2% - Swamp Thing + 19.4% - Scooby-Doo Team-Up + 16.1% - Green Arrow + 15.3% - Constantine + 3.5% - Red Hood/Arsenal (Red Hood & the Outlaws) + 1.5% - Action Comics - 0.8% - Batman/Superman - 7.7% - Detective Comics - 10.2% - Injustice - 11.4% - New Suicide Squad - 11.9% - Astro City - 16.2% - Green Lantern - 19.1% - Suiciders - 22.1% - Batman & Robin Eternal (Batman Eternal) - 24.9% - Harley Quinn - 25.0% - Justice League 3001 (JL3K) - 25.2% - Deathstroke - 27.9% - Aquaman - 32.9% - Earth 2 Society (Earth 2) - 33.1% - Green Lantern Corps - 34.4% - Gotham Academy - 37.2% - Fables Wolf Among Us - 42.3% - Teen Titans - 43.5% - Batgirl - 45.4% - Sinestro - 46.2% - Catwoman 2 year comparisons =================== +172.7% - Superman + 53.1% - Batman Beyond + 36.3% - Batman + 27.4% - New Suicide Squad (Suicide Squad) + 15.9% - Action Comics + 14.1% - Wonder Woman + 7.8% - Swamp Thing + 6.9% - Scooby-Doo Where Are You? - 3.0% - Green Arrow - 4.3% - Scooby-Doo Team-Up - 6.5% - Detective Comics - 11.2% - Teen Titans - 16.4% - Constantine - 17.0% - Justice League of America - 20.7% - Red Hood/Arsenal (Red Hood & the Outlaws) - 21.2% - Green Lantern - 26.5% - Batgirl - 27.6% - Green Lantern Corps - 28.2% - Astro City - 28.4% - Superman/Wonder Woman - 28.7% - Aquaman - 30.5% - Harley Quinn - 33.1% - Injustice - 35.6% - Secret Six - 35.9% - Catwoman - 48.8% - Earth 2 Society (Earth 2) - 59.6% - Justice League 3001 (JL3K) 5 year comparisons =================== +178.9% - Batman +129.4% - Superman + 75.9% - Constantine (Hellblazer) + 54.4% - Batman/Superman (Superman/Batman) + 30.8% - Detective Comics + 25.8% - Action Comics + 13.6% - Wonder Woman + 9.2% - Scooby-Doo Where Are You? + 2.9% - Batgirl - 7.6% - Teen Titans - 10.0% - Justice League of America - 30.6% - Green Arrow - 52.1% - Green Lantern - 66.6% - Green Lantern Corps 10 year comparisons =================== +151.5% - Swamp Thing +105.2% - Batman + 18.6% - Constantine (Hellblazer) + 17.5% - Superman + 11.8% - Scooby-Doo Where Are You? + 9.7% - Lucifer - 10.2% - Robin - 25.4% - Detective Comics - 39.4% - Green Arrow - 42.5% - Action Comics - 47.2% - Aquaman - 57.0% - Batman/Superman (Superman/Batman) - 58.4% - Green Lantern - 58.6% - Catwoman - 65.7% - Teen Titans - 66.6% - Green Lantern Corps
—
Sales Indices ============= DCU: Average: 28,621. Median: 22,812. No.: 53. Total: 1,516,932 5.7 - Batman 3.2 - Superman 2.3 - Batman/TMNT 1.8 - Detective Comics 1.8 - Harley Quinn 1.6 - Justice League of America 1.6 - Batman/Superman 1.4 - Action Comics 1.3 - Wonder Woman 1.3 - Green Lantern 1.2 - Batman & Robin Eternal (22) 1.2 - Batman & Robin Eternal (23) 1.2 - Batman & Robin Eternal (24) 1.2 - Batman & Robin Eternal (26) 1.2 - Batman & Robin Eternal (25) 1.2 - Grayson 1.2 - Robin, Son of Batman 1.1 - Superman/Wonder Woman 1.0 - New Suicide Squad 1.0 - Superman: The Coming of the Supermen 0.9 - Superman American Alien 0.9 - Deathstroke 0.9 - Batgirl 0.9 - Aquaman 0.8 - Teen Titans 0.8 - Green Arrow 0.8 - Poison Ivy Circle of Life 0.8 - Batman Beyond 0.7 - Swamp Thing 0.7 - Green Lantern Corps: Edge of Oblivion 0.7 - Dark Knight III Collectors' Edition 0.7 - Legends of Tomorrow 0.6 - Titans Hunt 0.6 - Earth 2 Society 0.6 - Starfire 0.6 - Superman Lois & Clark 0.6 - Red Hood/Arsenal 0.6 - Constantine the Hellblazer 0.6 - We Are Robin 0.6 - Sinestro 0.5 - Suicide Squad Most Wanted 0.5 - Catwoman 0.5 - Martian Manhunter 0.5 - Cyborg 0.5 - Black Canary 0.5 - Gotham Academy 0.4 - Secret Six 0.4 - Justice League 3001 0.3 - Midnighter 0.3 - Doctor Fate 0.3 - Omega Men (9) 0.3 - Omega Men (10) 0.2 - Telos Vertigo: Average: 6,039**. Median: 5,149**. No.: 15. Total: 90,587** 1.9 - Lucifer 1.7 - Astro City 1.4 - Suiciders: HelL.A. 1.1 - Clean Room 1.0 - Sheriff of Babylon 1.0 - Fables the Wolf Among Us 0.9 - Dark & Bloody 0.9 - Unfollow 0.8 - Jacked 0.8 - Art Ops 0.8 - Survivors' Club 0.7 - Red Thorn 0.7 - New Romancer ** 0.6 - Last Gang in Town ** 0.6 - Slash & Burn ** Digital First & Other: Average: 12,712. Median: 13,599. No.: 7. Total: 88,987 1.6 - DC Comics Bombshells 1.3 - Legend of Wonder Woman 1.1 - Injustice Year Five (5) 1.1 - Injustice Year Five (6) 0.9 - Batman '66 Meets The Man from U.N.C.L.E. 0.6 - Scooby-Doo Team-Up 0.4 - Scooby-Doo Where Are You?
The Fine Print (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 of physical comics 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. Keep in mind that sales for some titles may include incentives to acquire variants and not every unit sold is necessarily even intended to be sold to a customer.
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 brackets behind those issues (e.g. “[36,599]”). Likewise, any lower numbers due to returns or other factors returns will also be reflected in the brackets. 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 which are returnable have their numbers artificially adjusted down by Diamond. To make up for that this column increases the reported numbers for those titles by 10%. Which is likely also wrong, but it’s a different and likely less wrong kind of wrong, and experience has shown that this leads to sales figures which are more consistent.
Titles released under the All-Ages line 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 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.
Please keep in mind that raw sales numbers do not tell us about how profitable a book is for a publisher or for the creators.
Above all, do not allow sales numbers to dictate your purchasing and enjoyment of a particular comic. If you enjoy reading a comic series then go right on buying and reading that comic, no matter what the sales figures say.
** 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 either as many units as the No. 300 comic on the chart for that month or what the sales of the previous issue of the series were—whichever is lower—for the purposes of the chart, although its actual sales are likely to be less than that.
Opinions expressed in this column are mine alone, and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer, Heidi MacDonald or anyone at The Comics Beat, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, or my former neighbor’s dog Miles.
The author of this column does weekly snapshots of Amazon comic sales charts at http://yetanothercomicsblog.blogspot.com/ and tweets about comics and related subjects on Twitter at @davereadscomics (PM me there is you need to contact me).
As always, we welcome your comments and corrections below. Please try to keep things civilized.
Jesus. With a few exceptions, maybe DC would’ve been better off just not publishing anything until Rebirth.
Also, why keep Hitch as writer but not artist on JLA post rebirth? I’m not a giant fan of his art anymore, but one has to figure that the majority of his appeal as a creator is his visuals, not his scripts. When a Hitch drawn JLA book sells 45K or whatever, is there any chance a Hitch written one drawn by Tony Daniel is going to be a success?
David: BATMAN #50 and SUPERMAN #50 had 1:100 connecting variants that were added after the fact, and were not listed in PREVIEWS. It looks like multiple companies also got exclusive connecting variants for those as well, which would account for a decent chunk of that spike right there.
Zach: I’m kind of majorly shocked that DC is still publishing as many “Not-‘Rebirth'” titles as they are in month #2 (and beyond?) for “Rebirth”. Did they learn *nothing* from Marvel’s ANAD roll-out overlapping with SECRET WARS?
Also, the Hitch/Daniels book won’t be the *secondary title* — it will be the parent book, and that makes a big difference in sales (cf DETECTIVE or ACTION)
-B
David:
You might want to add the date into this sentence —
“…much like they did with their Harley Quinn polybagged variants back in ?”
@Brian: Yeah, that would likely explain why those two titles saw such a big boost. Thanks!
@Terry: December 2015. I left that as a placeholder to check the month and fill it in later, then obviously forgot to do so… Maybe Alex will see this and fix it for me?
Man, Rebirth just can’t come soon enough for DC. Looking at some of these books hitting 15 K or less, and I wonder how can they afford to put them out. The titles themselves don’t seem to be viable great sellers as trades, either. That 20% drop without a variant cover doesn’t bode well for longevity either. C’mon DC, figure it out! We need our DC comics!
Heh, if anything, the Didio reign has shown me that I don’t need DC Comics. I want to love them, but my life is fine without ’em.
I agree with Zach. Rebirth is continuing my drop off of DCU books. Only ones so far based on reading the catalog that will be left for me are Batman, Nightwing, and Batman Beyond. Titans is a maybe at best.
“C’mon DC, figure it out! We need our DC comics!”
No we don’t. There have been more than enough comics published with these characters. It’s time for readers to grow up and try new things.
I think Superman 50 had such a large jump in sales because the original solicitation said that the New 52 and the Pre-New 52 Superman would meet for the first time in that issue. That’s why I ordered a copy, and it was too late to change it when DC announced the updated solicitation.
@Matt, looking at Clark/Lois sales I don’t think that lots of people are interested in old Superman.
Brian: ” I’m kind of majorly shocked that DC is still publishing as many “Not-‘Rebirth’” titles as they are in month #2 (and beyond?) for “Rebirth”. Did they learn *nothing* from Marvel’s ANAD roll-out overlapping with SECRET WARS?”
I’m surprised about that as well, but I don’t understand your Marvel comparison. Surely the problem at Marvel was that they rolled out books set in the post-SW universe while SW wasn’t finished. The “Not-‘Rebirth’” books can easily be ignored by people interested in Rebirth, so they can’t do any harm, can they?
I guess these books are being published to a) finish a storyline or b) to fill out another TPB or c) to bolster the publishing schedule or d) to keep Paul Levitz happy.
@Zach – JL is going twice-a-month publishing with Rebirth. Hitch on art can’t even handle once-a-month.
Somebody should do a story on Dr. Fate. While I love Paul Levitz (even his nu-52 Legion had it’s moments), there must be a behind-the-behind-the-scenes reason why Dr. Fate continues to be solicited at those numbers…
“There have been more than enough comics published with these characters. It’s time for readers to grow up and try new things.”
Harshly phrased by essentially true.
Yeah, and like, there’s been enough football games. People who like football should move on to other sports now.
@glenn -I know why hitch isn’t drawing the new jla book, what I don’t get is why the publisher wants to publish a book where he writes but doesn’t draw.
Because they like his story ideas?
Seems unlikely
Well then I guess we’ll never know.
Couple things…
#1- I’m really looking forward to the Rebirth. I’ve added a couple books and am pretty happy to be getting twice as many issues of the books I already enjoy. The $2.99 price point has made it pretty easy for me to add the new issues to my pull-list. It was a pretty good excuse to finally drop a couple of Marvel books that I’ve been buying out of inertia.
#2- I’m also glad that they aren’t just hastily canceling or ending stories so everything can Rebirth all at once. I appreciate that plus, rolling out the books over a couple months is so much better than dropping them all at once. That way I can try a few things out that I normally wouldn’t have if it all happened at once.
#3- Why do people that don’t like comics anymore feel the need to tell everyone all the time? Nobody gives a crap why you don’t like Superman or Batman (or whatever titles\character) and aren’t reading or buying them anymore. Get over yourself.
Buy yourself a pair of red underwear and get on with your life.
I think when Levitz left his executive position he was promised a monthly title to write for as long as he felt like writing one. They’re not going to put him on a big title, or any new title they think could be a big seller, so why not leave the title he’s currently working on going?
“Yeah, and like, there’s been enough football games. People who like football should move on to other sports now.”
Not surprising to find such a horrible analogy from someone so desperate to keep reading superhero garbage.
“Nobody gives a crap why you don’t like Superman or Batman (or whatever titles\character) and aren’t reading or buying them anymore. Get over yourself.”
It’s funny that although your love of comics for angsty inbred teens makes me laugh, my disdain for them makes you butthurt.
What’s funny to me is how sad the butthurt losers whining about comics they don’t buy or read are and don’t even see it.
I guess that’s not true. It’s really not funny.
Comments are closed.