By Matthew Murray
Only two non Marvel/DC titles made the top 100 this month, as both companies put out a higher than usual number of comics. Buffy regained top spot as best selling non-big two comic, while Archie held up better than many people expected.
Further down the list I’ve included every indie comic from 100 to 150 on the charts, and a number of others lower down.
Thanks to icv2.com and Milton Griepp for permission to use these numbers, which can be found here.
31.
<strong>Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Dark Horse)</strong> 09/2007: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #6 - 96,556 09/2008: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #18 - 77,589 ===== 01/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #21 - 69,980 () 02/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #22 - 67,575 (-3.4%) 03/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #23 - 64,108 (-5.1%) 04/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #24 - 60,916 (-5.0%) 05/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #25 - 58,740 (-3.6%) 06/2009: BTVS Tales of the Vampires one shot- 45,568 (-22.4) 07/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #26 - 55,393 (+21.6%) 08/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #27 - 53,403 (-3.6%) 09/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #28 - 52,303 (-2.1%) 6 month (-18.4%) 1 year (-32.6%) 2 year (-45.8%)
Still dropping, but also still selling very well. It’s currently set to run until issue 40, before relaunching as Season 9.
56.
<strong>Archie (Archie)</strong> 09/2004: Archie #551 - 2,914 09/2005: Archie #560 - 2,725 09/2006: Archie #569 - 2,750 09/2007: Archie #578 - 2,689 09/2008: Archie #589 - 2,903 ===== 01/2009: Archie #593 – 2,318 02/2009: - 03/2009: Archie #595 - 2,484 04/2009: - 05/2009: Archie #597 - 2,563 06/2009: - 07/2009: - 08/2009: Archie #600 - 54,170 [58,408] 09/2009: Archie #601 - 37,871 (-35.2%) 6 month (+1424.6%) 1 year (+1204.5%) 2 year (+1308.4%) 3 year (+1277.1%) 4 year (+1289.8%) 5 year (+1199.6%)
While most of Archie’s sales are outside the direct market, I’m sure they’ve been pleased with these numbers. Issue 600 received 4238 reorders (included above), and sales for 601 are still very high for the title.
101.
<strong>The Walking Dead (Image)</strong> 09/2004: The Walking Dead #10 - 13,720 09/2005: - 09/2006: The Walking Dead #31 - 21,368 09/2007: The Walking Dead #42 - 23,107 09/2008: The Walking Dead #52 - 23,627 ===== 01/2009: The Walking Dead #57 - 23,402 02/2009: The Walking Dead #58 - 22,720 (-2.9%) 03/2009: The Walking Dead #59 - 23,257 (+2.4%) 04/2009: The Walking Dead #60 - 23,585 (+1.4%) 05/2009: The Walking Dead #61 - 23,902 (+1.3%) 06/2009: The Walking Dead #62 - 23,910 (0%) 07/2009: The Walking Dead #63 - 24,001 (+0.3%) 08/2009: The Walking Dead #64 - 24,393 (+1.6%) 09/2009: The Walking Dead #65 - 24,892 (+2.0%) 6 month (+7.0%) 1 year (+5.3%) 2 year (+7.7%) 3 year (+16.5%) 4 year (n.a.) 5 year (+81.4%)
While The Walking Dead passed The Boys in sales this month (it just keeps going up!), it did not become the best selling creator owned title, as a new issue of Kick-Ass came out from Marvel’s Icon line.
102.
<strong>The Boys (Dynamite) </strong> 09/2006: - 09/2007: The Boys #10 - 32,077 09/2008: The Boys #22 - 27,104 ===== 01/2009: The Boys #26 - 26,802 02/2009: The Boys #27 - 25,982 (-3.1%) 03/2009: The Boys #28 - 26,328 (-1.3%) 04/2009: The Boys #29 - 26,033 (-1.1%) 05/2009: The Boys #30 - 28,365 (+9.0%) 06/2009: The Boys #31 - 25,460 (-10.0%) 07/2009: The Boys #32 - 25,231 (-0.8%) 08/2009: The Boys #33 - 24,684 (-2.1%) 09/2009: The Boys #34 - 24,502 (-0.7%) 6 month (-6.9%) 1 year (-9.6%) 2 year (-23.6%) 3 year (n.a.)
Generally pretty stable.
106.
<strong>Angel (IDW)</strong> 09/2005: The Curse #4 (of 5) - 14,055 09/2006: - 09/2007: - 09/2008: Angel After the Fall #12 - 43,019 ===== 01/2009: After the Fall #16 - 34,801 02/2009: After the Fall #17 - 32,842 (-5.6%) 02/2009: Angel #18 - 32,061 (-2.4%) 03/2009: Angel #19 - 31,767 (-0.9%) 04/2009: Angel #20 - 30,308 (-4.6%) 05/2009: Angel #21 - 28,633 (-5.5%) 06/2009: Angel #22 - 27,496 (-4.0%) 07/2009: Angel: After the Fall – Epilogue #23 - 24,003 (-12.7%) 08/2009: Angel #24 - 22,795 (-5.0%) 09/2009: Angel #25 - 23,815 (+4.5%) 6 month (-25.0%) 1 year (-44.6%) 2 year (n.a.) 3 year (n.a.) 4 year (+69.4%)
Bump for the supposedly important “anniversary” issue 25. Oddly, it’s the concluding issue of a two parter. Bill Willingham (Fables) comes on as new ongoing writer with issue 28.
113.
<strong>Star Wars Legacy (Dark Horse)</strong> 09/2006: Star Wars Legacy #3 - 34,268 09/2007: Star Wars Legacy #16 - 31,240 09/2008: Star Wars Legacy #28 - 29,331 ===== 01/2009: Star Wars Legacy #32 - 25,814 02/2009: Star Wars Legacy #33 - 25,389 (-1.6%) 03/2009: Star Wars Legacy #34 - 25,304 (-0.3%) 04/2009: Star Wars Legacy #35 - 24,552 (-3.0%) 05/2009: Star Wars Legacy #36 - 24,166 (-1.6%) 06/2009: Star Wars Legacy #37 - 23,704 (-1.9%) 07/2009: Star Wars Legacy #38 - 23,162 (-2.3%) 08/2009: Star Wars Legacy #39 - 22,888 (-1.2%) 09/2009: Star Wars Legacy #40 - 22,555 (-1.5%) 6 month (-10.9%) 1 year (-23.1%) 2 year (-27.8%) 3 year (-34.2%)
The best selling Star Wars title continues a slow decline.
117.
<strong>The Boys: Herogasm (Dynamite)</strong> 05/2009: Herogasm #1 (of 6) - 27,105 06/2009: Herogasm #2 (of 6) - 23,500 (-13.3%) 07/2009: Herogasm #3 (of 6) - 22,695 (-3.4%) 08/2009: Herogasm #4 (of 6) - 22,073 (-2.7%) 09/2009: Herogasm #5 (of 6) - 21,654 (-1.9%)
Still just a few thousand behind its parent title.
122.
<strong>Hellboy (Dark Horse)</strong> 09/2008: Crooked Man #3 (of 3) - 24,419 ===== 01/2009: The Wild Hunt #2 (of 8 ) - 22,784 02/2009: The Wild Hunt #3 (of 8 ) - 21,664 (-4.9%) 03/2009: The Wild Hunt #4 (of 8 ) - 21,743 (+0.4%) 04/2009: - 05/2009: - 06/2009: - 07/2009: - 08/2009: Wild Hunt #5 (of 8 ) - 20,375 (-6.3%) 09/2009: Wild Hunt #6 (of 8 ) - 20,146 (-1.1) 6 month (-7.3%) 1 year (-17.5%)
Issue 4 had a BPRD backup feature, which may have explained the small uptick in sales. Issues 5 and 6 had a MonsterMen backup by Gary Gianni.
123.
<strong>Star Wars Invasion (Dark Horse)</strong> 07/2009: Invasion #1 (of 5) - 24,548 08/2009: Invasion #2 (of 5) - 21,004 (-14.4%) 09/2009: Invasion #3 (of 5) - 19,798 (-5.7%)
Outsells all but one of the ongoing Star Wars titles.
127.
<strong>Conan the Cimmerian (Dark Horse)</strong> 09/2004: Conan #8 - 46,339 09/2005: Conan #20 - 34,899 09/2006: Conan #32 - 29,070 09/2007: - 09/2008: The Cimmerian #3 - 25,102 ===== 01/2009: The Cimmerian #7 - 21,782 02/2009: The Cimmerian #8 - 20,983 (-3.7%) 03/2009: The Cimmerian #9 - 20,555 (-2.0%) 04/2009: The Cimmerian #10 - 20,419 (-0.7%) 05/2009: - 06/2009: The Cimmerian #11 - 20,041 (-1.9%) 07/2009: The Cimmerian #12 - 19,268 (-3.9%) 08/2009: The Cimmerian #13 - 18,881 (-2.0%) 09/2009: The Cimmerian #14 - 18,643 (-1.3%) 6 month (-9.3%) 1 year (-25.7%) 2 year (n.a.) 3 year (-35.7%) 4 year (-46.6%) 5 year (-59.8%)
The small drops add up.
133.
<strong>Vampirella Second Coming (Harris)</strong> 09/2008: Vampirella Quarterly Halloween 2008 - 4,262 ===== 07/2009: Countdown to Second Coming Prototype - 4,674 08/2009: - 09/2009: Second Coming #1 - 18,017 (+285.5%) 6 month (n.a.%) 1 year (+322.7%)
This issue was only $1.99, we’ll have to wait until the next issue to see if anyone sticks around.
138.
<strong>GI Joe (IDW)</strong> 09/2004: GI Joe #34 - 26,934 09/2005: - 09/2006: GI Joe America’s Elite #15 - 17,449 09/2007: GI Joe America’s Elite #27 (Devils Due) - 15,267 09/2008: - ===== 01/2009: GI Joe #1 - 32,840 02/2009: GI Joe #2 - 23,641 (-28.0%) 03/2009: GI Joe #3 - 22,902 (-31.2%) 04/2009: GI Joe #4 - 22,735 (-0.7%) 05/2009: GI Joe #5 - 21,968 (-3.4%) 06/2009: GI Joe #6 - 20,809 (-5.3%) 07/2009: GI Joe #7 - 20,319 (-2.4%) 08/2009: GI Joe #8 - 18,750 (-7.7%) 09/2009: GI Joe #9 - 17,436 (-7.0%) 6 month (-23.9%) 1 year (n.a.) 2 year (+14.2%) 3 year (0%) 4 year (n.a.) 5 year (-35.3%)
That’s another fairly big drop off for the main GI Joe title this month.
143.
<strong>Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic (Dark Horse)</strong> 09/2006: Knights of the Old Republic #8 - 24,374 09/2007: Knights of the Old Republic #20 - 21,836 09/2008: Knights of the Old Republic #33 - 20,786 ===== 01/2009: Knights of the Old Republic #37 - 18,767 02/2009: Knights of the Old Republic #38 - 18,540 (-1.2%) 03/2009: Knights of the Old Republic #39 - 18,169 (-2.0%) 04/2009: Knights of the Old Republic #40 - 17,889 (-1.5%) 05/2009: Knights of the Old Republic #41 - 17,650 (-1.3%) 06/2009: Knights of the Old Republic #42 - 17,590 (-0.3%) 07/2009: Knights of the Old Republic #43 - 17,368 (-1.3%) 08/2009: Knights of the Old Republic #44 - 17,033 (-1.9%) 09/2009: Knights of the Old Republic #45 - 16,562 (-2.8%) 6 month (-8.8%) 1 year (-20.8%) 2 year (-24.2%) 3 year (-32.0%)
Standard attrition.
146.
<strong>Invincible (Image)</strong> 09/2004: Invincible #15 - 8,612 09/2005: Invincible #26 - 11,574 09/2006: Invincible #35 - 13,320 09/2007: - 09/2008: Invincible #52 - 14,904 ===== 01/2009: Invincible #58 - 14,233 02/2009: Invincible #59 - 13,946 (-2.0%) 03/2009: Invincible #60 - 15,777 (+13.1%) 04/2009: Invincible #61 - 15,678 (-0.6%) 05/2009: Invincible #62 - 15,113 (-3.6%) 06/2009: Invincible #63 - 15,226 (+0.7%) 07/2009: Invincible #64 - 15,535 (+2.0%) 08/2009: Invincible #65 - 15,621 (+0.6%) 09/2009: Invincible #66 - 15,931 (+2.0%) 6 month (+1.0%) 1 year (+6.9%) 2 year (n.a.) 3 year (+19.6%) 4 year (+37.6%) 5 year (+85.0%)
Original artist Cory Walker returns for this arc.
147.
<strong>Project Superpowers (Dynamite)</strong> 09/2008: Project Superpowers #6 (of 7) - 29,153 ===== 06/2009: Chapter Two #0 - 31,828 07/2009: Chapter Two #1 - 22,282 (-30.0%) 08/2009: Chapter Two #2 - 17,377 (-22.0%) 09/2009: Chapter Two #3 - 15,717 (-9.6%) 6 month (n.a.) 1 year (-46.1%)
A smaller drop than last month, but still not too healthy.
151.
<strong>Witchblade (Image)</strong> 09/2004: Witchblade #79 - 17,104 09/2005: Witchblade #89 - 15,519 09/2006: Witchblade #101 - 14,727 09/2007: - 09/2008: Witchblade #120 - 15,068 ===== 01/2009: Witchblade #123 - 12,635 02/2009: Witchblade #124 - 12,576 (-0.5%) 03/2009: Witchblade #125 - 17,206 (+36.8%) 04/2009: Witchblade #126 - 14,039 (-18.4%) 05/2009: Witchblade #127 - 15,065 (+7.3%) 05/2009: Annual 2009 - 12,154 (-19.3%) 06/2009: Witchblade Darkness Angelus Blood on the Sands - 10,106 (-16.9%) 07/2009: Witchblade #128 - 13,427 (+32.9%) 08/2009: Witchblade #129 - 13,324 (-0.8%) 09/2009: Witchblade #130 - 15,387 (+15.5%) 6 month (-10.6%) 1 year (+2.1%) 2 year (n.a.) 3 year (+4.5%) 4 year (-0.9%) 5 year (-10.0%)
I’m honestly not sure why there was such a big increase this month. Issue 130 was the final part of the War of the Witchblades story that’s been running since #125. This month’s issue did have three covers, instead of the two released for issue 129, but I’m not sure if that explains all the increase.
152.
<strong>BPRD (Dark Horse)</strong> 09/2005: Black Flame #2 (of 6) - 16,041 09/2006: - 09/2007: Killing Ground #2 (of 5) - 16,142 09/2008: Warning #3 (of 5) - 16,332 ===== 01/2009: Black Goddess #1 (of 5) - 15,984 02/2009: Black Goddess #2 (of 5) - 15,120 (-5.4%) 03/2009: Black Goddess #3 (of 5) - 15,045 (-0.5%) 04/2009: Black Goddess #4 (of 5) - 14,543 (-3.3%) 05/2009: Black Goddess #5 (of 5) - 14,357 (-1.3%) 06/2009: War on Frogs #3 (of 4) - 13,828 (-3.7%) 07/2009: 1947 #1 (of 5) - 15,845 (+14.6%) 08/2009: 1947 #2 (of 5) - 14,893 (-6.0%) 09/2009: 1947 #3 (of 5) - 14,810 (-0.6%) 6 month (-1.6%) 1 year (-9.3%) 2 year (-8.3%) 3 year (n.a.) 4 year (-7.7%)
A very small drop this month.
159.
<strong>Irredeemable (Boom)</strong> 04/2009: Irredeemable #1 - 13,218 05/2009: Irredeemable #2 - 9,962 (-24.6%) 06/2009: Irredeemable #3 - 12,838 (+28.9%) 07/2009: Irredeemable #4 - 13,623 (+6.1%) 08/2009: Irredeemable #5 - ??? (???) 09/2009: Irredeemable #6 - 14,128 (+3.7%)
Issue 5 didn’t chart last month, because at 99 cents it was considered a promo item by Diamond (anything under one dollar is classified as such). It’s not apparently had much of an affect it had on sales, as they were going up anyway.
160.
<strong>Darkness (Image)</strong> 09/2004: Darkness vol. 2 #15 - 16,363 09/2005: Darkness #23 - 13,626 09/2006: - 09/2007: - 09/2008: Darkness #5 - 14,228 ===== 01/2009: Darkness #74 - 11,000 02/2009: Darkness #75 - 14,513 (+31.9%) 03/2009: Darkness #76 - 11,257 (-22.4%) 04/2009: - 05/2009: Darkness #77 - 10,114 (-10.2%) 06/2009: Witchblade Darkness Angelus Blood on the Sands - 10,106 (0%) 07/2009: Darkness #78 - 10,417 (+3.1%) 08/2009: Darkness #79 - 13,260 (+27.3%) 09/2009: Darkness #80 - 14,045 (+5.9%) 6 month (+24.8%) 1 year (-1.3%) 2 year (n.a.) 3 year (n.a.) 4 year (+3.1%) 5 year (-14.2%)
The second Top Cow book with a, to me, inexplicable increase this month. Issue 79 had two covers, one by Whilce Portacio, which explains at least some of the increase last month. While issue 80 only had the one cover, but began a two part story written and drawn by Phil Hester.
163.
<strong>Aliens (Dark Horse)</strong> 05/2009: Aliens #1 (of 4) - 19,598 06/2009: - 07/2009: Aliens #2 (of 4) - 14,818 (-24.4%) 08/2009: - 09/2009: Aliens #3 (of 4) - 13,363 (-9.8%)
Alternates months with a Predator miniseries, which sells a few thousand copies less.
167.
<strong>Darkness/Pitt (Image)</strong> 08/2009: Darkness/Pitt #1 – 15,091 09/2009: Darkness/Pitt #2 (of 3) - 12,478 (-17.3%)
Selling better than the Darkness’s usual level.
169.
<strong>Chew (Image)</strong> 06/2009: Chew #1 - 5,248 [13,517] 07/2009: Chew #2 - 6,735 (-24.6%) 08/2009: Chew #3 13,762 (+104.3%) 09/2009: Chew #4 - 12,294 (-10.7%)
There have been a lot of reorders and second printings of this book, not all of which have made the chart. I think it’s going to take a few months before we know what kind of sales this book is going to end up with. Issue 1 received another 4,580 reorders this month, which are included above.
175.
<strong>No Hero (Avatar)</strong> 01/2009: No Hero #3 (of 7) - 12,148 02/2009: - 03/2009: No Hero #4 (of 7) - 8,956 (-26.3%) 04/2009: No Hero #5 (of 7) - 11,024 (+23.1) 05/2009: - 06/2009: - 07/2009: No Hero #6 (of 7) -12,293 (+11.5%) 08/2009: - 09/2009: No Hero #7 (of 7) - 12,044 (-2.0%) 6 month (+34.5%)
Avatar’s highest selling title, and the only one to make the top 300 this month.
179.
<strong>Red Sonja (Dynamite) </strong> 09/2005: Red Sonja #2 - 55,149 09/2006: Red Sonja #14 - 25,891 09/2007: - 09/2008: Red Sonja #37 - 14,652 ===== 01/2009: - 02/2009: Red Sonja #41 - 13,232 02/2009: Red Sonja She Devil with a Sword Annual #2 - 9,658 (-27.0%) 03/2009: Red Sonja #42 - 12,508 (+29.5%) 04/2009: Red Sonja #43 - 12,318 (-1.5%) 05/2009: Red Sonja #44 - 12,099 (-1.8%) 06/2009: Red Sonja #45 - 12,030 (-0.6%) 07/2009: Red Sonja #46 - 11,993 (-0.3%) 08/2009: Red Sonja #47 - 11,709 (-2.4%) 09/2009: Red Sonja #48 - 11,815 (+0.9%) 6 month (-5.5%%) 1 year (-19.4%) 2 year (n.a.) 3 year (-54.4%) 4 year (-78.6%)
Being relaunched as Queen Sonja after issue 50.
182.
<strong>Transformers: All Hail Megatron (IDW)</strong> 09/2008: All Hail Megatron #3 - 13,238 ===== 01/2009: - 02/2009: All Hail Megatron #7 - 11,832 03/2009: All Hail Megatron #8 - 11,731 (-0.8%) 03/2009: All Hail Megatron #9 - 11,479 (-2.1%) 04/2009: All Hail Megatron #10 - 12,183 (+6.1%) 05/2009: All Hail Megatron #11 - 12,292 (+0.9%) 06/2009: All Hail Megatron #12 - 12,124 (-1.4%) 07/2009: All Hail Megatron #13 - 11,892 (-1.9%) 08/2009: All Hail Megatron #14 - 11,736 (-1.3%) 09/2009: All Hail Megatron #15 - 11,634 (-0.9%) 6 month (+1.4%) 1 year (-12.1%)
Remarkably solid since February.
183.
<strong>Witchfinder in the A Service of Angels (Dark Horse)</strong> 07/2009: Witchfinder #1 (of 5) - 13,724 08/2009: Witchfinder #2 (of 5) - 11,652 (-15.1%) 09/2009: Witchfinder #3 (of 5) - 11,623 (-0.2%)
As with BPRD, a very small drop this month.
196.
<strong>Terry Moore’s Echo (Abstract)</strong> 09/2008: Echo #6 - 13,033 ===== 01/2009: Echo #9 - 6,132 [12,056] 02/2009: Echo #10 - 3,325 [11,253] (-6.7%) 03/2009: - 04/2009: Echo #11 - 11,293 (+0.4%) 05/2009: Echo #12 - 11,093 (-1.8%) 06/2009: - 07/2009: Echo #13 - 10,783 (-2.8%) 08/2009: Echo #14 - 10,663 (-1.1%) 09/2009: Echo #15 - 10,529 (-1.3%) 6 month (n.a.) 1 year (-19.2%)
Continues a slow decline.
198.
<strong>Fall Out Toy Works (Image)</strong> 09/2009: Fall Out Toy Works #1 (of 5) - 10,159
The comic written by a music person of the month. Except it’s actually written by Brett Lewis (The Wintermen), and just created by a member of Fall Out Boy.
208.
<strong>Robert E Howard Thulsa Doom (Dynamite)</strong> 09/2009: Thulsa Doom #1 - 9,687 09/2009: Thulsa Doom #2 - 7,433 (-23.3%)
Not a very good second issue drop, but it’s doing alright for a Red Sonja spin off.
218.
<strong>Doctor Who Ongoing (IDW)</strong> 07/2009: Doctor Who #1 - 10,949 08/2009: Doctor Who #2 - 8,908 (-18.6%) 09/2009: Doctor Who #3 - 8,711 (-2.2%)
Presumably a fair chunk of sales on this will be to the UK, which aren’t included in these numbers.
219.
<strong>Beasts of Burden (Dark Horse)</strong> 09/2009: Beasts of Burden #1 (of 4) - 8,628
New series from Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson.
221.
<strong>Athena (Dynamite)</strong> 09/2009: Athena #1 (W/ Obama flip cover) - 8,510
227.
<strong>Army of Darkness: Ash Saves Obama (Dynamite)</strong> 08/2009: Ash Saves Obama #1 (of 4) - 11,467 09/2009: Ash Saves Obama #2 (of 4) - 8,078 (-30.0%)
234.
<strong>Political Power (Bluewater)</strong> 08/2009: Political Power #1 Colin Powell - 4,755 09/2009: Political Power #2 Barack Obama - 7,779 (+63.6%)
238.
<strong>Barack the Barbarian (Devil’s Due)</strong> 06/2009: Barack the Barbarian #1 - 21,692 07/2009: - 08/2009: - 09/2009: Barack the Barbarian #2 (of 4) -7,550 (-65.2%)
And here we have a cluster of books with “Barack” or “Obama” in the title. The most interesting thing is seeing that Barack the Barbarian has been shortened from an ongoing to a four issue miniseries.
226.
<strong>The Sword (Image)</strong> 09/2008: The Sword #11 - 8,887 ===== 01/2009: The Sword #14 - 8,479 02/2009: The Sword #15 - 8,051 (-5.0) 03/2009: - 04/2009: The Sword #16 - 8,231 (+2.2%) 05/2009: The Sword #17 - 8,081 (-1.8%) 06/2009: - 07/2009: The Sword #18 - 8,165 (+1.0%) 08/2009: - 09/2009: The Sword #19 - 8,116 (-0.6%) 6 month (n.a.) 1 year (-8.7%)
The sales go up and down a bit, presumably for advance reorders, but it looks like it’ll stay relatively stable until it concludes.
260.
<strong>Savage Dragon (Image)</strong> 09/2004: Savage Dragon #117 - 9,040 09/2005: - 09/2006: Savage Dragon #128 - 10,150 09/2007: Savage Dragon #132 - 6,701 09/2008: Savage Dragon #137 - 7,937 [11,921] ===== 01/2009: Savage Dragon #144 - 5,645 02/2009: Savage Dragon #145 - 22,147 [25,029] (+343.4%) 03/2009: - 04/2009: Savage Dragon #146 - 6,149 (-75.4%) 04/2009: Savage Dragon #147 - 6,058 (-1.5%) 05/2009: Savage Dragon #148 - 6,051 (-0.1%) 06/2009: Savage Dragon #149 - 6,060 (+0.2%) 07/2009: Savage Dragon #150 - 6,619 (+9.2%) 08/2009: Savage Dragon #151 - 6,034 (-8.8%) 09/2009: Savage Dragon #152 - 5,993 (-0.7%) 6 month (n.a.) 1 year (-49.7%) 2 year (-10.6%) 3 year (-41.0%) 4 year (n.a.) 5 year (-33.7%)
The bumps from the Obama issues (137 and 145) haven’t had a lasting affect on Savage Dragon sales.
276.
<strong>Bomb Queen (Image)</strong> 01/2009: Bomb Queen V #5 (of 6) - 4,396 02/2009: - 03/2009: Bomb Queen V #6 (of 6) - 4,473 (+1.8%) 04/2009: - 05/2009: - 06/2009: Bomb Queen Presents All Girl Comics - 4,783 (+6.9%) 07/2009: - 08/2009: - 09/2009: Bomb Queen VI #1 (of 4) - 5,375 (+12.4%) 6 month (+20.2%)
The new limited series doesn’t seem to have benefitted from the use of Obama. Maybe if they’d put his name in the title.
277.
<strong>Madman Atomic Comics (Image)</strong> 09/2007: Madman Atomic Comics #4 - 11,300 09/2008: - ===== 01/2009: - 02/2009: Madman Atomic Comics #13 - 6,705 03/2009: Madman Atomic Comics #14 - 6,615 (-1.3%) 04/2009: Madman Atomic Comics #15 - 5,736 (-13.3%) 05/2009: - 06/2009: Madman Atomic Comics #16 - 5,678 (-1.0%) 07/2009: - 08/2009: - 09/2009: Madman Atomic Comics #17 - 5,370 (-5.4%) 6 month (-18.8%) 1 year (n.a.) 2 year (-52.5%)
Final issue of the series.
279.
<strong>Usagi Yojimbo (Dark Horse)</strong> 09/2006: Usagi Yojimbo #97 - 5,874 09/2007: Usagi Yojimbo #106 - 5,958 09/2008: Usagi Yojimbo #114 - 5,471 ===== 01/2009: Usagi Yojimbo #117 - 5,100 02/2009: Usagi Yojimbo #118 - 5,116 (+0.3%) 03/2009: Usagi Yojimbo #119 - 5,142 (+0.5%) 04/2009: - 05/2009: Usagi Yojimbo #120 - 5,160 (+0.4%) 06/2009: Usagi Yojimbo #121 - 5,171 (+0.2%) 07/2009: 08/2009: Usagi Yojimbo #122 - 5,077 (-1.8%) 09/2009: Usagi Yojimbo #123 - 5,051 (-0.5%) 6 month (-1.8%) 1 year (-7.7%) 2 year (15.2%) 3 year (-14.0%)
Remarkable solid this year.
288.
<strong>Underground (Image)</strong> 09/2009: Underground #1 (of 4) - 4,578
I’m sure with the Whiteout movie finally coming out, Jeff Parker and Steve Lieber (who drew the original Whiteout comic) probably hoped for slightly higher sales.
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Matthew Murray really likes (vegetarian) cooking and comic books. Now if only he could somehow combine them…
I hear that Bluewater Barack Obama book is actually pretty good *wink wink wink wink wink* I hear that Ward kids got real chops. Even though I hear there’s no Ash or Conan in it. I hear…ok, that’s all I hear.
sigh.
Every issue of the new Vampirella mini will be $1.99.
“218.
Doctor Who Ongoing (IDW)
07/2009: Doctor Who #1 – 10,949
08/2009: Doctor Who #2 – 8,908 (-18.6%)
09/2009: Doctor Who #3 – 8,711 (-2.2%)
Presumably a fair chunk of sales on this will be to the UK, which aren’t included in these numbers.”
Nope– because of licensing issues, the IDW Dr Who series isn’t allowed to be officially sold in the UK. The same applies to Boom’s Disney and Muppet titles.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that you can’t buy them, but they are very rare over here in blighty.
Glad to make the list. And thanks for your hard work, as usual.
As for Obama in the Bomb Queen title? Nah, he’s a pivotal character in the story, but it’s not his book. That still belongs to the Queen.
Also, I don’t mind the numbers. They are +20% over 6 months from the last story arc, which means the reader base is there and that’s what matters most.
Thanks for this work that I find pretty interesting.
Where are my Deposit Man numbers??
Must I fire every assistant?
~
Coat
The numbers on issue #2 of Irredeemable is mind boggling. It sells nearly 3000 units less than the first issue but has been gaining ever since. That’s a lot of people missing that issue.
This is a very intriguing chart! Thanks for your work!!
I gotta wonder about Barack the Barbarian’s shortened lease on life – are they pulling the plug because of the book’s sales, or maybe something political?
(that is: the people who supported him are starting to get tired of, and even turn on, him – not that the White House is cracking down on comics or something)
PS: Thanks again for doing this list. It’s nice to see the indy/misc publisher books getting their own reports here too. :)
“[Hellboy] Issue 4 had a BPRD backup feature, which may have explained the small uptick in sales.”
Are you honestly suggesting that the measuring device used here is sensitive enough to accurately detect a sales increase of 79 units out of well over 21,000?
I enjoy these charts as much as anybody else, and I truly appreciate the hard work that goes into these reports, but sometimes I wonder if these numbers are taken way too literally just because they’re, well, numbers.
Stuff like this is exactly why I love following your blog
“Are you honestly suggesting that the measuring device used here is sensitive enough to accurately detect a sales increase of 79 units out of well over 21,000?”
Well, first up, there’s not just a marginal increase, but also the fact that there’s no DROP in sales. It took more than 79 units for that.
And second, it’s been my experience that — as long as you’re aware of all the conditions and limitations involved — these numbers are indeed sensitive enough to detect the drop of a needle in the direct market.
I am depressed by the numbers for Usagi Yojimbo. It’s one of the finest books on the market, and has been for decades, yet it is only selling 5000 copies a month.
Just my own take is that it gets dicey trying to ascribe anything to changes under 100 copies. It’s why, until a few years ago, I always rounded off all figures I posted to the nearest hundred. I stopped doing so only as a means of showing my work; it doesn’t mean that there isn’t still a standard error to this month’s estimates, and that the last digit might as well be random. It is, as regards its relationship with the actual figure. And that error is different from the one from the previous month, so the error in comparing months stacks.
I agree with Marc-Oliver that the measure is now exact enough to land pretty close to what Diamond’s actual orders were in a given month, but I suspect a multivariate regression would find a whole lot of noise in the datasets when compared from month to month. We’d want to know which ship week every single issue shipped in, and how many additional sales days there were in each month the book came out; that’s guaranteed to make a difference of a few percentage points.
I know that’s among the conditions and limitations he’s mentioning; there’s enough things like that, though, that I’d personally tune out anything after the hundreds place when it comes to making comparisons. I don’t always remember to, but in my blog I tend to round off when making cross-time comparisons. (And in the aggregate market-wide stats, I tend to chop the last FOUR digits. Same reasons, plus some others.)
Barack the Barbarian was always planned as a 4 issue mini.
FWIW, IRREDEEMABLE had second prints for the first, second and sixth issues.
C.
I agree with Alan Coil.
Good work!!! Keep doing this.
Any ideas on the Top Cow books increase?
I am always horrified that Usagi Yojimbo, the best comic being published today, sells such a small number of copies every month.
John Jackson Miller said:
“It’s why, until a few years ago, I always rounded off all figures I posted to the nearest hundred. I stopped doing so only as a means of showing my work; it doesn’t mean that there isn’t still a standard error to this month’s estimates, and that the last digit might as well be random.”
Ah, yes. Fond memories of Mathematics class. Significant numbers. {{sigh}}
Interesting numbers for the Hellboy titles. I just finished reading Sir Edward Grey Witchfinder and it had a significant tie-in to the regular BPRD universe. So not only a great read, but uses the historic past of the parent series to its advantage. If you’re a reader of BPRD, I’d definitely go back and pick up Witchfinder.
I dropped G.I. Joe when I realized that IDW was going to spit out the trade as soon as the final issue of the run went to print. Then they priced the trade at a significantly cheaper price than the combined price of the individual books. Just as with Vertigo, I now feel stupid for purchasing the books as they came out. All trades for IDW from here on out. That’s if I can remember when they DO come out.
I haven’t much to comment on except that this list keeps improving every month and I really enjoy it and hope it becomes as much a fixture of The Beat as the Marvel and DC lists!
Know what would be great (although EPICALLY more complicated due to irregular publicatin schedules)? A TPB list.
Best,
Hunter (Pedro Bouça)
Phil/Lee: Thanks for the info(s)!
Mushroom: Presumably Irredeemable #2 had reorders that were too low to make the top 300 chart. Also, Boom’s comics are available through at least one other distributor.
Comicsatemybrains: As Marc-Oliver said, it’s more the fact that there is no drop then the slight increase.
Alan: The crazy thing is that the last Usagi trade (vol 23 in July) sold 2,259 copies in the first month. Hopefully this month’s OGN did well.
John: Yeah, these numbers aren’t exact. But it’s still interesting to look at them. Taking into account what week of a month a book shipped, and if a month had five weeks is something that would probably make the numbers more accurate, but harder to do.
Evan: The press release I saw when Barack the Barbarian was originally released said it was going to be an ongoing.
Pedro: Another problem with doing a TPB list (and there are numerous) is that many of the books are available from other distributors. Feel free to work on a list based on the ICV2 numbers though : )
I sell one copy of Usagi Yojimbo each month. I had it on the rack for 18 months without a single rack sale, so I no longer order it for the shelf.
I do however sell a minimum of 3 copies of every Usagi TPB (or OGN HC!) that comes out immediately, with occasional later sales.
It’s a sad fact that quality often does not equal good sales.
“Are you honestly suggesting that the measuring device used here is sensitive enough to accurately detect a sales increase of 79 units out of well over 21,000?”
It probably is, but that’s not really the point. I’d regard a 79-copy increase as effectively no change. But most books fall month on month, so the very fact that a book ISN’T falling is at least somewhat noteworthy.
I’m not disagreeing that the lack of a drop is noteworthy. I’m simply disagreeing with the original statement that called the number “a small uptick in sales.” All I’m saying is that the calculated numbers for the issue in question did not represent a statistically significant change from the prior month. (For exactly the same reasons that JJM outlines in his post.)
I do agree that the fact that there was not a significant drop in sales between the two months is noteworthy… but that wasn’t the point of my original comment. Apologies if I was unclear about that!
With Witchblade #130, the increase is most likely story related due to the fact that the issue announced who out of Dannielle and Sarah would be the sole bearer of the Witchblade as well as the debut of the new Angelus host. Both were the conclusions of long running plots in Marz run, so that may have brought readers back in.
I think it’s interesting seeing Terry Moore’s Echo’s sales that rose to a peak a few issues ago are now are steadily falling. It looks like people started giving it a chance once they were aware of it and then lost interest.
>Mushroom: Presumably Irredeemable #2 had reorders that were too low to make the top 300 chart. Also, Boom’s comics are available through at least one other distributor.
Also, the Irredeemable trade collecting #1-4 was turned out in short order so it’s not as though #2 is lost to the mists of time.
Re: Barack the Barbarian, those numbers could have been better if they’d shipped the book monthly. Way to kill the buzz!
..]another interesting source of information on this issueis ,pwbeat.publishersweekly.com,..]