By Paul O’Brien
After the chaos of the January chart, we’re back to normal in February. And it’s a pretty quiet month. For Marvel, this is a lull between crossovers. We’ve had the Spider-Man relaunch, we’ve had “Messiah Complex”, WORLD WAR HULK is way in the past, and SECRET INVASION isn’t here yet.
However, we do have a small number of new launches, two of them from Mark Millar. Firstly, he’s reunited with Bryan Hitch as the new creative team on FANTASTIC FOUR. And then there’s KICK-ASS, his creator-owned title, which is appearing under Marvel’s Icon imprint. We’ve also got the first issue of the revived X-FORCE and… well, there are some scattered minis and one-shots too. But basically, this is a month of consolidation, where we start to see how recent launches and relaunches are going to bed down.
As usual, Marvel had the biggest share of the direct market. They beat DC by 38% to 30% in dollar share, and 42% to 33% in units.
Thanks as always to Milton Griepp and ICV2 for permission to use their figures for these calculations.
And so, let us ceremonially crown Mark Millar and Byran Hitch’s FANTASTIC FOUR as the number one title for February.
1. X-FORCE 02/08 X-Force #1 - 105,149
Oh.
Didn’t see that one coming, to be honest. Aside from the fact that I was expecting FANTASTIC FOUR to top the chart, I had this book figured for the lower end of the top ten. But apparently “Messiah Complex” did a better job of promoting this new series than I gave it credit for, and the variant covers don’t hurt.
Realistically, I don’t see X-FORCE continuing to outperform the other X-Men books. I expect it to settle at a lower level fairly quickly. But this is certainly an excellent start, which suggests the book has a bright future ahead of it. This also bodes well for the upcoming CABLE series, which was also heavily trailed in “Messiah Complex.”
2. NEW AVENGERS
02/02 Avengers #51 - 54,381
02/03 Avengers #64 - 52,753
02/04 Avengers #78 - 58,798
02/05 New Avengers #3 - 148,973
02/06 New Avengers #16 - 121,492
=====
02/07 New Avengers #27 - 132,109 ( +7.7%)
03/07 New Avengers #28 - 119,514 ( -9.5%)
04/07 New Avengers #29 - 125,378 ( +4.9%)
05/07 New Avengers #30 - 126,425 ( +0.8%)
06/07 New Avengers #31 - 160,911 (+27.3%)
07/07 New Avengers #32 - 122,991 (-23.6%)
08/07 New Avengers #33 - 117,906 ( -4.1%)
09/07 New Avengers #34 - 112,815 ( -4.3%)
10/07 New Avengers #35 - 111,481 ( -1.2%)
11/07 New Avengers #36 - 107,715 ( -3.4%)
12/07 New Avengers #37 - 105,545 ( -2.0%)
01/08 ---
02/08 New Avengers #38 - 104,140 ( -1.3%)
6 mnth (-11.7%)
1 year (-21.2%)
2 year (-14.3%)
3 year (-30.1%)
4 year (+77.1%)
A fairly typical downhill drift. But the absence of higher-selling juggernauts leaves NEW AVENGERS to take the number two position in a quiet month.
3,9,13. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
02/02 Amazing Spider-Man #40 - 90,551
02/03 Amazing Spider-Man #50 - 100,439
02/04 Amazing Spider-Man #504 - 84,064
02/05 Amazing Spider-Man #517 - 78,584
02/06 Amazing Spider-Man #529 - 90,414
=====
02/07 Amazing Spider-Man #538 - 145,435 (+18.1%)
03/07 Amazing Spider-Man #539 - 155,980 ( +7.3%)
04/07 ---
05/07 Amazing Spider-Man #540 - 119,662 (-23.3%)
06/07 Amazing Spider-Man #541 - 108,284 ( -9.5%)
07/07 Amazing Spider-Man #542 - 105,715 ( -2.4%)
08/07 Amazing Spider-Man #543 - 106,485 ( +0.7%)
09/07 Amazing Spider-Man #544 - 150,788 (+41.6%)
10/07 ---
11/07 ---
12/07 Amazing Spider-Man #545 - 129,085 (-14.4%)
01/08 Amazing Spider-Man #546 - 127,958 ( -0.9%)
01/08 Amazing Spider-Man #547 - 101,213 (-20.9%)
01/08 Amazing Spider-Man #548 - 97,959 ( -3.2%)
02/08 Amazing Spider-Man #549 - 101,112 ( +3.2%)
02/08 Amazing Spider-Man #550 - 90,874 (-10.1%)
02/08 Amazing Spider-Man #551 - 88,084 ( -3.1%)
6 mnth (-17.3%)
1 year (-39.4%)
2 year ( -2.6%)
3 year (+12.1%)
4 year ( +4.8%)
Issue #549 had a variant cover by David Finch, hence the blip. Sales on the thrice-monthly AMAZING are still dropping back and have yet to find their level, but that’s only to be expected at this stage. It’s still way ahead of the sales that the three separate monthly titles used to deliver. And if you look back over the last few years, it’s doing just as well as the J Michael Straczynski run, from the period before events and crossovers took over the book. So far, this is looking okay.
4. THOR
02/02 Thor #46 - 35,198
02/03 Thor #60 - 34,414
02/04 Thor #74 - 30,538
=====
07/07 Thor #1 - 202,798
08/07 Thor #2 - 122,951 ( -39.4%)
09/07 Thor #3 - 109,964 ( -10.6%)
10/07 ---
11/07 Thor #4 - 112,307 ( +2.1%)
12/07 Thor #5 - 101,551 ( -9.6%)
01/08 ---
02/08 Thor #6 - 98,315 ( -3.2%)
6 mnth ( -20.0%)
1 year ( --- )
2 year ( --- )
3 year ( --- )
4 year (+221.9%)
The relaunched THOR seems to be finding its level at more than three times the readership of earlier years. The huge drops seem to be behind us now, and this looks like an unequivocal hit.
5. ULTIMATES
02/02 Ultimates #2 - 107,342
02/03 Ultimates #9 - 101,490
02/04 ---
02/05 Ultimates 2 #3 - 108,378
02/06 ---
=====
02/07 ---
03/07 ---
04/07 ---
05/07 Ultimates 2 #13 - 105,745 ( +6.2%)
06/07 ---
07/07 ---
08/07 ---
09/07 ---
10/07 ---
11/07 ---
12/07 Ultimates 3 #1 of 5 - 143,676 (+35.9%)
01/08 Ultimates 3 #2 of 5 - 105,070 (-26.9%)
02/08 Ultimates 3 #3 of 5 - 97,210 ( -7.5%)
6 mnth ( --- )
1 year ( --- )
2 year ( --- )
3 year (-10.3%)
4 year ( --- )
About what you’d expect. The reaction to ULTIMATES 3 has been pretty muted, and it’s clearly heading for lower sales than Millar and Hitch were delivering. But it looks like it’s going to hold up well enough for the duration of a five-issue miniseries. I suspect the negative reaction to this series will be felt, if at all, when Marvel try to drum up interest for ULTIMATES 4.
7. HULK 01/08 Hulk #1 - 137,801 02/08 Hulk #2 - 93,725 (-32.0%)
Issue #1 picks up reorders of 3,799, which are included in the number above. Obviously, this is a pretty huge second issue drop, particularly considering that issues #1 and #2 both had variant covers. This is a little bit too steep for comfort, but having said that, 94K is still extremely good for a Hulk comic. In recent years, INCREDIBLE HULK has usually been floating somewhere below the 60K mark.
8. FANTASTIC FOUR
02/02 Fantastic Four #52 - 46,355
02/03 Fantastic Four #66 - 48,512
02/04 Fantastic Four #510 - 49,129
02/05 Fantastic Four #523 - 46,276
02/06 Fantastic Four #534 - 44,573
=====
02/07 ---
03/07 Fantastic Four #543 - 78,823 ( -6.5%)
03/07 Fantastic Four #544 - 85,677 ( +8.7%)
04/07 Fantastic Four #545 - 77,576 ( -9.5%)
05/07 Fantastic Four #546 - 72,182 ( -7.0%)
06/07 Fantastic Four #547 - 69,610 ( -3.6%)
07/07 ---
08/07 Fantastic Four #548 - 65,695 ( -5.6%)
08/07 Fantastic Four #549 - 61,770 ( -6.0%)
09/07 ---
10/07 Fantastic Four #550 - 57,906 ( -6.3%)
11/07 Fantastic Four #551 - 58,617 ( +1.2%)
12/07 Fantastic Four #552 - 51,320 ( -12.4%)
01/08 Fantastic Four #553 - 48,332 ( -5.8%)
02/08 Fantastic Four #554 - 92,654 ( +91.7%)
6 mnth ( +50.0%)
1 year ( +17.5%)
2 year (+107.9%)
3 year (+100.2%)
4 year ( +88.6%)
Uh… what? Number eight?
I realise it may seem a bit churlish to say that a book has underperformed when its sales have almost doubled. But with Millar and Hitch, I kind of expected a number one placing. I certainly thought they’d break the 100K mark. Remember, February is a quiet month. If this had come out in January, then sales of 92,654 would have seen it place at number 13, just below MIGHTY AVENGERS #7. And this is the first issue with the new creative team, which means it’s probably going to drop next month.
So either there’s something odd going on here or this isn’t set to be a top ten book. And since there’s nothing else odd about the chart, I’m assuming the latter. That’s some way below my expectations when it comes to a new project by the creators of ULTIMATES.
Still… they’ve almost doubled sales, you’ve got to give them that. And perhaps they’ll win people round.
10. UNCANNY X-MEN
02/02 Uncanny X-Men #403 - 97,079
02/03 Uncanny X-Men #419 - 83,714
02/04 Uncanny X-Men #439 - 86,259
02/05 Uncanny X-Men #455 - 88,920
02/06 Uncanny X-Men #469 - 79,039
=====
02/07 Uncanny X-Men #483 - 83,009 ( -1.0%)
03/07 Uncanny X-Men #484 - 82,043 ( -1.2%)
04/07 Uncanny X-Men #485 - 81,764 ( -0.3%)
05/07 Uncanny X-Men #486 - 81,965 ( +0.2%)
06/07 Uncanny X-Men #487 - 81,481 ( -0.6%)
07/07 Uncanny X-Men #488 - 86,747 ( +6.5%)
08/07 Uncanny X-Men #489 - 88,068 ( +1.5%)
09/07 Uncanny X-Men #490 - 87,592 ( -0.5%)
10/07 Uncanny X-Men #491 - 85,638 ( -2.2%)
11/07 Uncanny X-Men #492 - 111,160 (+29.8%)
12/07 Uncanny X-Men #493 - 109,176 ( -1.8%)
01/08 Uncanny X-Men #494 - 105,520 ( -3.3%)
02/08 Uncanny X-Men #495 - 90,410 (-14.3%)
6 mnth ( +2.7%)
1 year ( +8.9%)
2 year (+14.4%)
3 year ( +1.7%)
4 year ( +4.8%)
12. X-MEN: LEGACY
02/02 New X-Men #123 - 105,642
02/03 New X-Men #137 - 92,470
02/04 New X-Men #153 - 113,879
02/05 X-Men #167 - 84,155
02/06 X-Men #182 - 78,653
=====
02/07 X-Men #196 - 75,707 ( -1.6%)
03/07 X-Men #197 - 75,184 ( -0.7%)
04/07 X-Men #198 - 74,841 ( -0.5%)
05/07 X-Men #199 - 75,996 ( +1.5%)
06/07 X-Men #200 - 156,787 (+106.3%)
07/07 X-Men #201 - 86,278 ( -45.0%)
08/07 X-Men #202 - 86,521 ( +0.3%)
09/07 X-Men #203 - 85,652 ( -1.0%)
10/07 X-Men #204 - 83,456 ( -2.6%)
11/07 X-Men #205 - 101,401 ( +21.5%)
12/07 X-Men #206 - 104,815 ( +3.4%)
01/08 X-Men #207 - 104,793 ( -0.0%)
02/08 X-Men: Legacy #208 - 88,132 ( -16.0%)
6 mnth ( +1.9%)
1 year ( +16.4%)
2 year ( +12.1%)
3 year ( +4.7%)
4 year ( -22.6%)
With “Messiah Complex” finished, the X-books return to their own storylines. Sales are back where they were before the crossover, but it’s not quite as simple as that. Before “Messiah Complex”, the X-books were already seeing a sales boost from the “Endangered Species” back-up strips. So we’re back at that level, which means the X-books are continuing to see a boost from the recent event.
After CIVIL WAR, Marvel labelled any book with a vague connection as an “Initiative” title, and managed to boost sales that way. They’ve repeated the trick here, by labelling the X-books as “Divided We Stand” titles. It’s more apparent from the solicitations than the covers, where the logo is so small as to be practically invisible. Anyhow, that device might well be working for the X-books. Or readers could just be interested in the new direction.
UNCANNY is now effectively the lead X-Men title, since ASTONISHING never comes out. X-MEN has now been rebranded as X-MEN: LEGACY, a series which has yet to make clear quite what it’s about. Apparently it isn’t a team book, and it’ll be interesting to see whether retailers continue to treat it as an equal to UNCANNY as opposed to a spin-off title.
15. CAPTAIN AMERICA
02/02 ---
02/03 Captain America #9 - 52,627
02/04 Captain America #23 - 39,695
02/05 Captain America #3 - 48,104
02/06 Captain America #14 - 44,041
=====
02/07 ---
03/07 Captain America #25 - 344,270 (+318.1%)
04/07 ---
05/07 Captain America #26 - 129,365 ( -62.4%)
06/07 Captain America #27 - 99,108 ( -23.4%)
07/07 Captain America #28 - 89,721 ( -9.5%)
08/07 Captain America #29 - 83,781 ( -6.6%)
09/07 Captain America #30 - 79,554 ( -5.0%)
10/07 Captain America #31 - 77,131 ( -3.0%)
11/07 Captain America #32 - 73,310 ( -5.0%)
12/07 Captain America #33 - 78,279 ( +6.8%)
01/08 Captain America #34 - 139,310 ( +78.0%)
02/08 Captain America #35 - 86,038 ( -38.2%)
6 mnth ( +2.7%)
1 year ( --- )
2 year ( +95.4%)
3 year ( +78.9%)
4 year (+116.7%)
Issue #34 picks up re-orders of 11,684. After the insanity of Bucky putting on a Captain America uniform last month, sales drop back towards more sensible levels. But there’s still a big increase from a few months ago. Ed Brubaker’s Death of Captain America storyline is clearly working.
17. MIGHTY AVENGERS 03/07 Mighty Avengers #1 - 156,400 04/07 Mighty Avengers #2 - 124,209 (-20.6%) 05/07 Mighty Avengers #3 - 115,440 ( -7.1%) 06/07 --- 07/07 Mighty Avengers #4 - 107,768 ( -6.6%) 08/07 --- 09/07 --- 10/07 Mighty Avengers #5 - 99,544 ( -7.6%) 11/07 --- 12/07 Mighty Avengers #6 - 90,709 ( -8.9%) 01/08 Mighty Avengers #7 - 92,739 ( +2.2%) 01/08 Mighty Avengers #8 - 84,459 ( -8.9%) 02/08 Mighty Avengers #9 - 83,466 ( -1.2%)
This book seems to be levelling out at last. But given its erratic behaviour over the last few issues, I wouldn’t take it for granted just yet.
24. WOLVERINE
02/02 Wolverine #173 - 69,684
02/03 Wolverine #186 - 63,911
02/04 Wolverine #11 - 69,686
02/05 Wolverine #25 - 83,180
02/06 Wolverine #39 - 72,248
=====
02/07 Wolverine #51 - 99,636 (-15.0%)
03/07 Wolverine #52 - 97,111 ( -2.5%)
04/07 Wolverine #53 - 98,441 ( +1.4%)
05/07 Wolverine #54 - 96,082 ( -2.4%)
06/07 ---
07/07 Wolverine #55 - 130,707 (+36.0%)
08/07 Wolverine #56 - 73,368 (-43.9%)
09/07 Wolverine #57 - 74,588 ( +1.7%)
10/07 Wolverine #58 - 83,810 (+12.4%)
11/07 Wolverine #59 - 65,725 (-21.6%)
12/07 Wolverine #60 - 63,194 ( -3.9%)
01/08 Wolverine #61 - 60,857 ( -3.7%)
02/08 Wolverine #62 - 64,197 ( +5.5%)
6 mnth (-12.5%)
1 year (-35.6%)
2 year (-11.1%)
3 year (-22.8%)
4 year ( -7.9%)
A small gain for the arrival of Jason Aaron and Ron Garney and, perhaps more importantly, the beginning of a “Divided We Stand” storyline.
25. ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN
02/02 Ult. Spider-Man #19 - 77,513
02/03 Ult. Spider-Man #36 - 98,475
02/04 Ult. Spider-Man #53 - 92,540
02/05 Ult. Spider-Man #72 - 86,685
02/06 Ult. Spider-Man #90 - 71,470
=====
02/07 Ult. Spider-Man #105 - 74,376 (-31.2%)
03/07 Ult. Spider-Man #106 - 73,832 ( -1.3%)
03/07 Ult. Spider-Man #107 - 72,818 ( -1.4%)
04/07 Ult. Spider-Man #108 - 72,713 ( -0.1%)
05/07 Ult. Spider-Man #109 - 72,478 ( -0.3%)
06/07 Ult. Spider-Man #110 - 73,646 ( +1.6%)
07/07 Ult. Spider-Man #111 - 75,487 ( +2.5%)
08/07 Ult. Spider-Man #112 - 76,523 ( +1.4%)
09/07 Ult. Spider-Man #113 - 67,476 (-11.8%)
09/07 Ult. Spider-Man #114 - 66,682 ( -1.2%)
10/07 Ult. Spider-Man #115 - 74,310 (+11.4%)
11/07 Ult. Spider-Man #116 - 61,534 (-17.2%)
12/07 Ult. Spider-Man #117 - 60,361 ( -1.9%)
01/08 Ult. Spider-Man #118 - 58,800
( -2.6%)
02/08 Ult. Spider-Man #119 - 58,045 ( -1.3%)
6 mnth (-24.1%)
1 year (-22.0%)
2 year (-18.8%)
3 year (-33.0%)
4 year (-37.3%)
After an alarming downward lurch a few months ago when Mark Bagley left, ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN seems to be sorting itself out, and settling to a lower level.
26. MARVEL ZOMBIES 2 10/07 Marvel Zombies 2 #1 of 5 - 92,587 11/07 Marvel Zombies 2 #2 of 5 - 76,157 (-17.7%) 12/07 Marvel Zombies 2 #3 of 5 - 63,216 (-17.0%) 01/08 Marvel Zombies 2 #4 of 5 - 60,677 ( -4.0%) 02/08 Marvel Zombies 2 #5 of 5 - 57,036 ( -6.0%)
While the first series continued to pile on re-orders for month after month, we haven’t seen that with MARVEL ZOMBIES 2. In fairness, that’s because it got most of its high sales in the first month. But I think it’s probably time to give the joke a rest, at least for a couple of years.
27. X-FACTOR
02/06 X-Factor #3 - 48,307
=====
02/07 X-Factor #16 - 38,240 ( -1.2%)
03/07 X-Factor #17 - 38,067 ( -0.4%)
04/07 X-Factor #18 - 37,851 ( -0.6%)
05/07 X-Factor #19 - 37,898 ( +0.1%)
06/07 X-Factor #20 - 37,105 ( -2.1%)
07/07 X-Factor #21 - 50,227 (+35.4%)
08/07 X-Factor #22 - 52,627 ( +4.8%)
09/07 X-Factor #23 - 53,311 ( +1.3%)
10/07 X-Factor #24 - 52,085 ( -2.3%)
11/07 X-Factor #25 - 79,066 (+51.8%)
12/07 X-Factor #26 - 84,219 ( +6.5%)
01/08 X-Factor #27 - 81,350 ( -3.4%)
02/08 X-Factor #28 - 56,572 (-30.5%)
6 mnth ( +7.5%)
1 year (+47.9%)
2 year (+17.1%)
Another “Divided We Stand” title. Again, X-FACTOR returns to its “Endangered Species” sales level, not its regular sales of 37K. This promotion has done wonders for X-FACTOR over the six months or so.
30. INCREDIBLE HERCULES
02/02 Incredible Hulk #37 - 38,844
02/03 Incredible Hulk #50 - 58,682
02/04 Incredible Hulk #67 - 47,632
02/05 Incredible Hulk #78 - 44,721
02/06 Incredible Hulk #92 - 39,224
=====
02/07 Incredible Hulk #103 - 46,690 ( -0.6%)
03/07 Incredible Hulk #104 - 47,823 ( +2.4%)
04/07 Incredible Hulk #105 - 53,256 ( +11.4%)
05/07 Incredible Hulk #106 - 119,735 (+124.8%)
06/07 Incredible Hulk #107 - 115,912 ( -3.2%)
07/07 Incredible Hulk #108 - 107,714 ( -7.1%)
08/07 Incredible Hulk #109 - 104,322 ( -3.1%)
09/07 Incredible Hulk #110 - 96,835 ( -7.2%)
10/07 ---
11/07 Incredible Hulk #111 - 101,536 ( +4.9%)
12/07 Incredible Hulk #112 - 77,119 ( -24.0%)
01/08 Hercules #113 - 73,533 ( -4.6%)
02/08 Hercules #114 - 52,200 ( -29.0%)
6 mnth ( -50.0%)
1 year ( +11.8%)
2 year ( +33.1%)
3 year ( +16.7%)
4 year ( +9.6%)
Oh well, I thought that was an awfully high number for Hercules. Mind you, despite the huge second issue drop, 52K is still incredibly good for a Hercules book. This has been a weird promotional strategy, but it may have worked; the retailers have clearly assumed that HERCULES will inherit a lot of the readership of INCREDIBLE HULK, even though it’s a completely different series. On the other hand, it’s entirely possible that they won’t be able to sell those comics, and that sales will collapse over the next few months.
This is going to be a very interesting one to watch.
33. WOLVERINE: ORIGINS
01/07 Origins #10 - 97,881 (+15.5%)
02/07 Origins #11 - 78,901 (-19.4%)
03/07 Origins #12 - 74,750 ( -5.3%)
04/07 Origins #13 - 70,963 ( -5.1%)
05/07 Origins #14 - 68,953 ( -2.8%)
06/07 Origins #15 - 65,558 ( -4.9%)
07/07 ---
08/07 Origins #16 - 69,781 ( +6.4%)
09/07 Origins #17 - 62,235 (-10.8%)
10/07 Origins #18 - 60,050 ( -3.5%)
11/07 Origins #19 - 55,999 ( -6.7%)
12/07 Origins #20 - 53,548 ( -4.4%)
01/08 Origins #21 - 51,919 ( -3.0%)
02/08 Origins #22 - 50,324 ( -3.1%)
6 mnth (-27.9%)
1 year (-48.6%)
Still dropping. ORIGINS is one of those books where the drops aren’t too bad from issue to issue, but they really mount up over the course of a year. In fairness, though, both the six month and one year comparisons are with blip months, so they make the slide look worse than it is.
35. ULTIMATE X-MEN
02/02 Ultimate X-Men #15 - 94,713
02/03 Ultimate X-Men #29 - 84,789
02/04 Ultimate X-Men #42 - 97,299
02/05 Ultimate X-Men #56 - 83,720
02/06 Ultimate X-Men #67 - 72,700
=====
02/07 Ultimate X-Men #79 - 64,363 ( -3.1%)
03/07 Ultimate X-Men #80 - 63,037 ( -2.1%)
04/07 Ultimate X-Men #81 - 62,926 ( -0.2%)
05/07 Ultimate X-Men #82 - 62,063 ( -1.4%)
06/07 Ultimate X-Men #83 - 59,677 ( -3.8%)
07/07 Ultimate X-Men #84 - 59,929 ( +0.4%)
08/07 Ultimate X-Men #85 - 57,660 ( -3.8%)
09/07 Ultimate X-Men #86 - 55,346 ( -4.0%)
10/07 Ultimate X-Men #87 - 63,028 (+13.9%)
11/07 ---
12/07 Ultimate X-Men #88 - 51,633 (-18.1%)
12/07 Ultimate X-Men #89 - 50,516 ( -2.2%)
01/08 Ultimate X-Men #90 - 49,634 ( -1.7%)
02/08 Ultimate X-Men #91 - 49,062 ( -1.2%)
6 mnth (-14.9%)
1 year (-23.8%)
2 year (-32.5%)
3 year (-41.4%)
4 year (-49.6%)
This book might be levelling out after an extended slide.
36. ULTIMATE HUMAN 01/08 Ultimate Human #1 of 4 - 57,485 02/08 Ultimate Human #2 of 4 - 48,578 (-15.5%)
Not bad for a second issue drop.
38. KICK-ASS [Icon] 02/08 Kick-Ass #1 - 47,841
Mark Millar says this is the highest selling Icon title to date, and he’s right. The previous record was 40,387, set by POWERS #1 in July 2004. That said, KICK-ASS has the benefit of two variant covers. It’s still a good number for a creator-owned title without any connection to the Marvel Universe, and Millar ought to be happy enough with this.
40. ULTIMATE IRON MAN II 12/07 Iron Man II #1 of 4 - 61,087 01/08 Iron Man II #2 of 4 - 46,248 (-24.3%) 02/08 Iron Man II #3 of 4 - 43,496 ( -6.0%)
Standard miniseries numbers.
41. DAREDEVIL
02/02 Daredevil #30 - 47,333
02/03 Daredevil #44 - 58,494
02/04 Daredevil #57 - 54,644
02/05 Daredevil #70 - 48,702
02/06 Daredevil #82 - 53,058
=====
02/07 Daredevil #94 - 46,773 ( -0.7%)
03/07 Daredevil #95 - 46,455 ( -0.7%)
04/07 Daredevil #96 - 46,198 ( -0.6%)
05/07 Daredevil #97 - 47,200 ( +2.2%)
06/07 Daredevil #98 - 46,816 ( -0.8%)
07/07 ---
08/07 Daredevil #99 - 47,386 ( +1.2%)
09/07 Daredevil #100 - 78,143 (+64.9%)
10/07 Daredevil #101 - 47,189 (-39.6%)
11/07 Daredevil #102 - 45,030 ( -4.6%)
12/07 Daredevil #103 - 43,874 ( -2.6%)
01/08 Daredevil #104 - 42,773 ( -2.5%)
02/08 Daredevil #105 - 42,098 ( -1.6%)
6 mnth (-11.2%)
1 year (-10.0%)
2 year (-20.7%)
3 year (-13.6%)
4 year (-23.0%)
Another book that might be levelling out after sliding over the last few months.
45. ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR
02/04 Ult. Fantastic Four #3 - 109,801
02/05 ---
02/06 Ult. Fantastic Four #27 - 67,922
=====
02/07 Ult. Fantastic Four #39 - 52,104 ( -1.4%)
03/07 Ult. Fantastic Four #40 - 50,488 ( -3.1%)
04/07 ---
05/07 Ult. Fantastic Four #41 - 49,916 ( -1.1%)
05/07 Ult. Fantastic Four #42 - 52,840 ( +5.9%)
06/07 Ult. Fantastic Four #43 - 51,453 ( -2.6%)
07/07 Ult. Fantastic Four #44 - 50,796 ( -1.3%)
08/07 Ult. Fantastic Four #45 - 48,779 ( -4.0%)
09/07 Ult. Fantastic Four #46 - 46,647 ( -4.4%)
10/07 Ult. Fantastic Four #47 - 45,015 ( -3.5%)
11/07 Ult. Fantastic Four #48 - 43,080 ( -4.3%)
12/07 Ult. Fantastic Four #49 - 40,656 ( -5.6%)
01/08 Ult. Fantastic Four #50 - 44,144 ( +8.6%)
02/08 Ult. Fantastic Four #51 - 38,804 (-12.1%)
6 mnth (-20.4%)
1 year (-25.5%)
2 year (-42.9%)
3 year ( --- )
4 year (-64.7%)
Returning to its ongoing decline, after last month’s anniversary spike.
50. IRON MAN
02/02 Iron Man #51 - 37,526
02/03 Iron Man #65 - 32,600
02/04 Iron Man #77 - 29,748
02/05 ---
02/06 ---
=====
02/07 Iron Man #15 - 72,394 ( -1.4%)
03/07 ---
04/07 Iron Man #16 - 59,470 (-17.9%)
05/07 Iron Man #17 - 63,328 ( +6.5%)
06/07 Iron Man #18 - 56,474 (-10.8%)
06/07 Iron Man #19 - 83,801 (+48.4%)
07/07 Iron Man #20 - 72,831 (-13.1%)
08/07 Iron Man #21 - 49,548 (-32.0%)
09/07 Iron Man #22 - 46,691 ( -5.8%)
10/07 Iron Man #23 - 42,608 ( -8.7%)
11/07 ---
12/07 Iron Man #24 - 38,834 ( -8.9%)
01/08 Iron Man #25 - 38,072 ( -2.0%)
02/08 Iron Man #26 - 36,607 ( -3.8%)
6 mnth (-26.1%)
1 year (-49.4%)
2 year ( --- )
3 year ( --- )
4 year (+23.1%)
Losing readers, but slowly. The decision to launch a second monthly IRON MAN title mystifies me; I have some difficulty seeing how the market it supposed to sustain it.
52. YOUNG AVENGERS PRESENTS 01/08 Y.A. Presents #1 of 6 - 43,714 02/08 Y.A. Presents #2 of 6 - 34,766 (-20.5%)
Fairly standard for a second issue drop, but it really does illustrate how much momentum YOUNG AVENGERS has lost.
54. CAPTAIN MARVEL 11/07 Captain Marvel #1 of 5 - 50,578 12/07 Captain Marvel #2 of 5 - 36,620 (-27.6%) 01/08 --- 02/08 Captain Marvel #3 of 5 - 33,742 ( -7.9%)
Typical miniseries numbers. This is supposed to be a lead-in for SECRET INVASION, but to be fair, that wasn’t heavily publicised in advance.
55. RUNAWAYS
02/04 Runaways #11 - 19,978
02/05 Runaways #1 - 30,410
02/06 Runaways #13 - 24,313
=====
02/07 Runaways #24 - 25,216 ( -0.5%)
03/07 ---
04/07 Runaways #25 - 56,250 (+123.1%)
05/07 Runaways #26 - 46,134 ( -18.0%)
06/07 ---
07/07 Runaways #27 - 41,254 ( -10.6%)
08/07 ---
09/07 ---
10/07 Runaways #28 - 47,760 ( +15.8%)
11/07 ---
12/07 ---
01/08 ---
02/08 Runaways #29 - 33,210 ( -30.5%)
6 mnth ( --- )
1 year ( +31.7%)
2 year ( +36.6%)
3 year ( +9.2%)
4 year ( +66.2%)
Issue #28 had a zombie variant cover, hence the spike. Nonetheless, this is a very steep drop, and bad news. Either RUNAWAYS is suffering badly from the delays, or the audience for Joss Whedon writing some lesser-known Marvel characters is much less than you might have thought.
56. PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL
02/07 War Journal #4 - 52,961 (-24.5%)
03/07 War Journal #5 - 50,190 ( -5.2%)
04/07 War Journal #6 - 53,498 ( +6.6%)
05/07 War Journal #7 - 75,360 (+40.9%)
06/07 War Journal #8 - 61,376 (-18.6%)
07/07 War Journal #9 - 56,854 ( -7.4%)
08/07 War Journal #10 - 51,303 ( -9.8%)
09/07 War Journal #11 - 47,220 ( -8.0%)
10/07 War Journal #12 - 66,548 (+40.9%)
11/07 War Journal #13 - 41,783 (-37.2%)
12/07 War Journal #14 - 38,471 ( -7.9%)
01/08 War Journal #15 - 35,815 ( -6.9%)
02/08 War Journal #16 - 32,508 ( -9.2%)
6 mnth (-36.6%)
1 year (-38.6%)
57. MOON KNIGHT
02/07 --
03/07 Moon Knight #8 - 77,390 ( +0.6%)
04/07 Moon Knight #9 - 69,196 (-10.6%)
05/07 Moon Knight #10 - 56,734 (-18.0%)
06/07 Moon Knight #11 - 58,313 ( +2.8%)
07/07 ---
08/07 ---
09/07 Moon Knight #12 - 47,521 (-18.5%)
10/07 Moon Knight #13 - 44,082 ( -7.2%)
11/07 ---
12/07 ---
01/08 Moon Knight #14 - 34,569 (-21.6%)
02/08 Moon Knight #15 - 31,553 ( -8.7%)
Two books that are surely in trouble. PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL is consistently shedding 3,000 readers a month, and that can’t be sustained much longer. MOON KNIGHT levels out somewhat after its catastophic plunge in January, but it’s also lost another 3,000 readers this month.
Before people start blaming the recession, note that both titles, despite a strong start, have been losing readers hand over fist for the better part of a year. And that suggests that the problem lies with the titles, not with the readers’ bank balances.
58. NEW EXILES
02/02 Exiles #9 - 37,563
02/03 Exiles #22 - 35,239
02/04 Exiles #42 - 37,147
02/05 Exiles #59 - 32,337
02/06 Exiles #77 - 32,998
=====
02/07 Exiles #91 - 31,712 ( +0.4%)
03/07 Exiles #92 - 30,296 ( -4.5%)
04/07 Exiles #93 - 30,697 ( +1.3%)
05/07 Exiles #94 - 30,735 ( +0.1%)
06/07 Exiles #95 - 30,612 ( -0.4%)
07/07 Exiles #96 - 30,245 ( -1.2%)
08/07 Exiles #97 - 29,092 ( -3.8%)
09/07 Exiles #98 - 28,308 ( -2.7%)
10/07 Exiles #99 - 27,776 ( -1.9%)
11/07 ---
12/07 Exiles #100 - 33,416 (+20.3%)
01/08 New Exiles #1 - 47,618 (+42.5%)
02/08 New Exiles #2 - 31,355 (-34.2%)
6 mnth ( -7.8%)
1 year ( -1.1%)
2 year ( -5.0%)
3 year ( -3.1%)
4 year (-15.6%)
Issue #1 picks up re-orders of 3,765. There’s also a thing called NEW EXILES #0 lurking at number 231 on the chart, with sales of 4,611. It’s a reprint book containing extracts from EXILES #100 and EXILES: DAYS OF THEN AND NOW.
Meanwhile, with its second issue, NEW EXILES is right back in the book’s old range. So far, this relaunch doesn’t seem to have added a great deal.
62. WORLD WAR HULK AFTERSMASH: WARBOUND 12/07 Warbound #1 of 5 - 49,142 01/08 Warbound #2 of 5 - 39,789 (-19.0%) 02/08 Warbound #3 of 5 - 30,707 (-22.8%)
It’s unusual for the drops to get steeper as a miniseries goes on. Retailers may have overestimated the level of interest in a Warbound miniseries, now that “World War Hulk” is over.
65. ANNIHILATION: CONQUEST 11/07 Conquest #1 of 6 - 35,826 12/07 Conquest #2 of 6 - 31,743 (-11.4%) 01/08 Conquest #3 of 6 - 30,089 ( -5.2%) 02/08 Conquest #4 of 6 - 29,391 ( -2.3%)
Levelling out, in typical miniseries fashion.
68. THUNDERBOLTS 02/08 International Incident - 28,511
Another fill-in issue masquerading as a one-shot. The device doesn’t seem to provide good sales.
70. GHOST RIDER
02/07 Ghost Rider #8 - 48,736 (+11.9%)
03/07 Ghost Rider #9 - 48,041 ( -1.4%)
04/07 Ghost Rider #10 - 43,986 ( -8.4%)
05/07 Ghost Rider #11 - 43,626 ( -0.8%)
06/07 Ghost Rider #12 - 71,348 (+63.5%)
07/07 Ghost Rider #13 - 64,092 (-10.2%)
08/07 Ghost Rider #14 - 41,121 (-35.8%)
09/07 Ghost Rider #15 - 38,220 ( -7.1%)
10/07 Ghost Rider #16 - 34,335 (-10.2%)
11/07 Ghost Rider #17 - 31,581 ( -8.0%)
12/07 Ghost Rider #18 - 30,540 ( -3.3%)
01/08 Ghost Rider #19 - 28,566 ( -6.5%)
02/08 Ghost Rider #20 - 27,958 ( -2.1%)
6 mnth (-32.0%)
1 year (-42.6%)
Another title whose sales have crashed over the last six months or so. GHOST RIDER levels out a bit in February, but at an unhealthy number.
71. IMMORTAL IRON FIST 02/08 Green Mist of Death - 27,924
A tie-in to IRON FIST, which is on a skip month this week. GREEN MIST is by the regular creators and clocks in at 5,000 below the parent title, which makes you wonder whether they wouldn’t have done better by making it an issue of the ongoing series.
73. TWELVE 12/07 Twelve #0 of 12 - 20,218 01/08 Twelve #1 of 12 - 40,199 (+98.8%) 02/08 Twelve #2 of 12 - 27,549 (-31.5%)
Last month, artist Chris Weston took exception to my suggestion that these sales were a little disappointing, and stressed that the book had gone to a second printing. Indeed it has, and issue #1 picks up another 4,543 copies. I’d still say 40K is on the light side for a reasonably well promoted in-continuity book by J Michael Straczynski. With issue #2, the book seems to be settling into the upper 20K range, which is at best cult hit territory. I would have predicted better sales.
74. ANITA BLAKE, VAMPIRE HUNTER [Licensed] 02/07 --- 03/07 Guilty Pls. #5 of 12 - 31,136 ( -3.8%) 04/07 Guilty Pls. #6 of 12 - 30,759 ( -1.2%) 05/07 --- 06/07 --- 07/07 First Death #1 of 2 - 38,631 (+25.6%) 08/07 --- 09/07 --- 10/07 First Death #2 of 2 - 36,035 ( -6.7%) 11/07 --- 12/07 --- 01/08 Guilty Pls. #7 of 12 - 27,874 (-22.6%) 02/08 Guilty Pls. #8 of 12 - 27,358 ( -1.9%)
At first glance, last month’s massive drop seems to have been arrested. But issue #8 has a variant cover by Brett Booth, so the underlying trend is probably still down.
Incidentally, Marvel are no longer using the DBPro name, but they can’t seem to agree on what they’re actually calling this line. The catalogue web pages no longer list the books as a “family” at all. You have to hunt for them individually – a chore in itself, because the search engine is hopeless. When you finally find one, they claim to be part of the “Licensed Publishing” imprint. Click on “What’s this?” and you get a blurb about the Marvel Universe (which, by the way, hasn’t been updated since Captain America was shot).
Check another part of the site and you’ll find the books listed under “Best Selling Authors.” Curiously, they’re only applying this label to the books they inherited from DBPro, and so it doesn’t apply to Steven King, even though he’s the Best Selling Author of All.
For the moment, I’m just going to mark these things as Licensed until such time as Marvel figure out what they’re going to do with them. (Work through the stuff in the pipeline and shut down the operation, I suspect.)
75. NOVA ANNUAL 02/08 Nova Annual #1 - 26,274
Only about 3,000 below the parent title. That’s as good as could be expected.
77. WORLD WAR HULK AFTERSMASH: DAMAGE CONTROL 01/08 Damage Control #1 of 3 - 33,585 02/08 Damage Control #2 of 3 - 25,987 (-22.6%)
Bit of a steep drop. Again, I suspect that the WORLD WAR HULK bandwagon is over, and that these epilogue miniseries aren’t getting that much heat from it. But on the other hand, 26K for a Damage Control miniseries isn’t too bad.
80. NEW WARRIORS
06/07 New Warriors #1 - 56,809
07/07 New Warriors #2 - 45,820 (-19.3%)
08/07 New Warriors #3 - 42,660 ( -6.9%)
09/07 New Warriors #4 - 39,998 ( -6.2%)
10/07 New Warriors #5 - 36,937 ( -7.7%)
11/07 ---
12/07 New Warriors #6 - 32,982 (-10.7%)
12/07 New Warriors #7 - 30,177 ( -8.5%)
01/08 New Warriors #8 - 28,926 ( -4.1%)
02/08 New Warriors #9 - 25,694 (-11.2%)
6 mnth (-39.8%)
Surely it can only be a matter of time before Marvel pull the plug on this.
81. HOUSE OF M: AVENGERS 11/07 Avengers #1 of 5 - 47,525 12/07 Avengers #2 of 5 - 37,545 (-21.0%) 12/07 Avengers #3 of 5 - 32,412 (-13.7%) 01/08 Avengers #4 of 5 - 27,825 (-14.2%) 02/08 Avengers #5 of 5 - 25,346 ( -8.9%)
These are very steep drops for a miniseries, at least when sustained for the whole series. Again, the HOUSE OF M bandwagon long since left town, and it’s just too late to be cashing in now. Supposedly this miniseries came about because of good trade paperback sales of the HOUSE OF M stories, and it’s always possible that the story will get a better reception there – but I suspect the six-month-plus lag time to get it on the shelves means it’ll miss the boat in that format too.
82. SPIDER-MAN: WITH GREAT POWER 01/08 With Great Power #1 of 5 - 32,201 02/08 With Great Power #2 of 5 - 24,800 (-23.0%)
Bit steep for a second issue drop, but acceptable if it levels out quickly.
83. SILVER SURFER: IN THY NAME 11/07 In Thy Name #1 of 4 - 39,917 12/07 In Thy Name #2 of 4 - 31,159 (-21.9%) 01/08 In Thy Name #3 of 4 - 27,631 (-11.3%) 02/08 In Thy Name #4 of 4 - 24,712 (-10.6%)
Not much interest in this. IN THY NAME seems to have been motivated by the desire to have a Silver Surfer story on the shelves when the Fantastic Four DVD was released, but that’s all in the past.
85. MS MARVEL
02/07 Ms Marvel #12 - 30,763 ( -4.8%)
03/07 Ms Marvel #13 - 40,836 (+32.7%)
04/07 Ms Marvel #14 - 42,877 ( +5.0%)
05/07 Ms Marvel #15 - 42,849 ( -0.0%)
06/07 Ms Marvel #16 - 40,048 ( -6.5%)
07/07 Ms Marvel #17 - 38,003 ( -5.1%)
08/07 Ms Marvel #18 - 34,818 ( -8.4%)
09/07 Ms Marvel #19 - 32,371 ( -7.0%)
10/07 Ms Marvel #20 - 37,930 (+17.2%)
11/07 Ms Marvel #21 - 26,484 (-30.2%)
12/07 Ms Marvel #22 - 25,450 ( -3.9%)
01/08 Ms Marvel #23 - 24,260 ( -4.7%)
02/08 Ms Marvel #24 - 24,139 ( -0.5%)
6 mnth (-30.7%)
1 year (-21.5%)
Seems to be levelling out over the last couple of months, but at a very low level for a Marvel Universe title. Marvel seem to be hoping that a Secret Invasion tie-in will help.
88. CABLE & DEADPOOL
02/05 Cable & Deadpool #12 - 25,349
02/06 Cable & Deadpool #25 - 22,918
=====
02/07 Cable & Deadpool #37 - 26,588 ( -0.8%)
03/07 Cable & Deadpool #38 - 26,258 ( -1.2%)
04/07 Cable & Deadpool #39 - 26,110 ( -0.6%)
05/07 Cable & Deadpool #40 - 26,120 ( +0.0%)
06/07 Cable & Deadpool #41 - 27,431 ( +5.0%)
06/07 Cable & Deadpool #42 - 27,203 ( -0.8%)
07/07 Cable & Deadpool #43 - 26,341 ( -3.2%)
08/07 Cable & Deadpool #44 - 25,944 ( -1.5%)
09/07 Cable & Deadpool #45 - 26,009 ( +0.3%)
10/07 Cable & Deadpool #46 - 32,108 (+23.4%)
11/07 Cable & Deadpool #47 - 24,388 (-24.0%)
12/07 Cable & Deadpool #48 - 23,884 ( -2.1%)
01/08 Cable & Deadpool #49 - 23,422 (-19.4%)
02/08 Cable & Deadpool #50 - 23,927 ( +2.2%)
6 mnth ( -7.8%)
1 year (-10.0%)
2 year ( +4.4%)
3 year ( -5.6%)
Axed with issue #50, to make way for new CABLE and DEADPOOL solo titles.
89. BLACK PANTHER
02/05 Black Panther #1 - 50,490
02/06 Black Panther #13 - 26,054
=====
02/07 Black Panther #25 - 56,479 ( -5.8%)
03/07 Black Panther #26 - 51,385 ( -9.0%)
04/07 ---
05/07 Black Panther #27 - 52,552 ( +2.3%)
06/07 Black Panther #28 - 61,808 (+17.6%)
07/07 Black Panther #29 - 55,027 (-11.0%)
08/07 Black Panther #30 - 48,478 (-11.9%)
09/07 ---
10/07 Black Panther #31 - 33,673 (-30.5%)
11/07 Black Panther #32 - 28,426 (-15.6%)
12/07 Black Panther #33 - 25,906 ( -8.9%)
01/08 ---
02/08 Black Panther #34 - 23,395 ( -9.7%)
6 mnth (-51.7%)
1 year (-58.6%)
2 year (-10.2%)
3 year (-53.7%)
At this rate, BLACK PANTHER will drop below the 20,000 mark in two months. This can’t go on. In fact, if the drops of the last few months continue, then BLACK PANTHER will literally run out of readers within a year.
With this and the other crashing titles, one feels there has to be a wave of cancellations just around the corner.
90. FANTASTIC FOUR: THE LOST ADVENTURE 02/08 The Lost Adventure - 23,286
This is a missing Lee/Kirby Fantastic Four story, never previously published. No doubt some people will be appalled to see this so far down the charts, but the reality is that it’s a project of interest largely to Silver Age fans and those of a historical bent. I would say 23K is pretty good.
95. SHE-HULK
02/05 She-Hulk #12 - 23,202
02/06 She-Hulk #5 - 27,183
=====
02/07 She-Hulk #16 - 27,961 ( +1.3%)
03/07 ---
04/07 She-Hulk #17 - 27,669 ( -1.0%)
05/07 She-Hulk #18 - 41,800 (+51.4%)
06/07 She-Hulk #19 - 26,127 (-37.5%)
07/07 ---
08/07 She-Hulk #20 - 25,582 ( -2.1%)
09/07 She-Hulk #21 - 27,221 ( +6.4%)
10/07 She-Hulk #22 - 35,568 (+30.7%)
11/07 She-Hulk #23 - 24,956 (-29.8%)
12/07 She-Hulk #24 - 23,585 ( -5.5%)
01/08 She-Hulk #25 - 23,283 ( -1.3%)
02/08 She-Hulk #26 - 22,181 ( -4.7%)
6 mnth (-13.3%)
1 year (-20.7%)
2 year (-18.4%)
3 year ( -4.4%)
Low sales, but a little bit steadier than some of the other titles around it. SHE-HULK is doing a crossover with X-FACTOR during SECRET INVASION, which Marvel are presumably hoping will bring some much-needed attention to the book.
97. PUNISHER ONE-SHOTS [Max] 02/08 Punisher: Force of Nature - 21,438
This is a one-shot by Duane Swierczynski, trailing in a good ten thousand copies behind the regular PUNISHER title. That isn’t a great sign for the book’s future once Garth Ennis leaves.
98. BLACK PANTHER ANNUAL #1 02/08 Black Panther Annual #1 - 21,431
The good news, if you can call it that, is that the annual lags only a couple of thousand sales behind the parent title.
100. CLANDESTINE 02/08 ClanDestine #1 of 5 - 20,633
A pet project of Alan Davis, reviving a series that most readers probably haven’t heard of. Unfortunately, this seems to be the measure of Alan Davis’s drawing power when he isn’t attached to a popular character. A shame, really.
103. THE ORDER
07/07 The Order #1 - 57,264
08/07 The Order #2 - 40,274 (-30.0%)
09/07 The Order #3 - 33,936 (-15.7%)
10/07 ---
11/07 The Order #4 - 29,746 (-12.3%)
12/07 The Order #5 - 26,311 (-11.5%)
12/07 The Order #6 - 24,446 ( -7.1%)
01/08 The Order #7 - 21,539 (-11.9%)
02/08 The Order #8 - 19,194 (-10.9%)
6 mnth (-52.3%)
Axed with issue #10.
107. CRIMINAL [Icon]
02/07 ---
03/07 Criminal #5 - 16,389 ( -2.6%)
04/07 ---
05/07 Criminal #6 - 15,720 ( -4.1%)
06/07 Criminal #7 - 15,214 ( -3.2%)
07/07 ---
08/07 Criminal #8 - 15,169 ( -0.3%)
09/07 Criminal #9 - 14,768 ( -2.6%)
10/07 ---
11/07 Criminal #10 - 14,539 ( -1.6%)
12/07 ---
01/08 ---
02/08 Criminal #1 - 18,655 (+28.3%)
6 mnth (+23.0%)
1 year ( --- )
A modest sales boost for the second season of Ed Brubaker’s crime title. The economics of Icon books are completely different – they’re basically creator-owned titles published under Marvel’s auspices so that exclusive creators don’t have to go elsewhere. In fact, 18K for a crime comic is fine.
121. AMAZING SPIDER-GIRL
02/02 Spider-Girl #44 - 23,478
02/03 Spider-Girl #57 - 23,330
02/04 Spider-Girl #70 - 20,541
02/05 Spider-Girl #83 - 20,382
02/06 Spider-Girl #95 - 16,778
=====
02/07 Amazing Spider-Girl #5 - 21,391 ( -7.5%)
03/07 Amazing Spider-Girl #6 - 20,478 ( -4.3%)
04/07 Amazing Spider-Girl #7 - 20,093 ( -1.9%)
05/07 Amazing Spider-Girl #8 - 19,574 ( -2.6%)
06/07 Amazing Spider-Girl #9 - 19,142 ( -2.2%)
07/07 Amazing Spider-Girl #10 - 19,094 ( -0.3%)
08/07 Amazing Spider-Girl #11 - 18,725 ( -1.9%)
09/07 Amazing Spider-Girl #12 - 18,676 ( -0.3%)
10/07 Amazing Spider-Girl #13 - 26,558 (+42.2%)
11/07 Amazing Spider-Girl #14 - 17,410 (-34.4%)
12/07 Amazing Spider-Girl #15 - 17,164 ( -1.4%)
01/08 Amazing Spider-Girl #16 - 16,422 ( -4.3%)
02/08 Amazing Spider-Girl #17 - 16,193 ( -1.4%)
6 mnth (-13.5%)
1 year (-24.3%)
2 year ( -3.5%)
3 year (-20.6%)
4 year (-21.2%)
Still on a downward slide.
123. MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS 09/07 Marvel Comics Presents #1 - 38,337 10/07 Marvel Comics Presents #2 - 26,573 (-30.7%) 11/07 Marvel Comics Presents #3 - 23,444 (-11.8%) 12/07 Marvel Comics Presents #4 - 19,890 (-15.2%) 01/08 Marvel Comics Presents #5 - 17,426 (-12.4%) 02/08 Marvel Comics Presents #6 - 16,188 ( -7.1%)
Catastrophic, but they’re stuck with it until at least issue #12. At this rate, there’s a fair chance the book could drop below 10,000 by then.
130. X-MEN: FIRST CLASS
02/07 First Class #6 of 8 - 25,125 ( -5.6%)
03/07 First Class #7 of 8 - 24,028 ( -4.4%)
04/07 First Class #8 of 8 - 23,420 ( -2.5%)
05/07 First Class Special - 23,556 ( +0.6%)
06/07 First Class #1 - 26,370 (+11.9%)
07/07 First Class #2 - 22,269 (-15.6%)
08/07 First Class #3 - 20,495 ( -8.0%)
09/07 First Class #4 - 19,088 ( -6.9%)
10/07 First Class #5 - 18,134 ( -5.0%)
11/07 First Class #6 - 17,050 ( -6.0%)
12/07 First Class #7 - 16,195 ( -5.0%)
01/08 First Class #8 - 15,986 ( -1.3%)
02/08 First Class #9 - 15,320 ( -4.2%)
6 mnth (-25.3%)
1 year (-29.0%)
Still losing sales, but still doing very well by the standards of Marvel’s all-ages line.
138. LORDS OF AVALON [Licensed] 02/08 Sword of Darkness #1 of 6 - 14,284
SWORD OF DARKNESS is an adaptation of a novel by Kinley MacGregor, which is a pseudonym for Sherrilyn Kenyon. As with a lot of these things, one has to wonder whether MacGregor/Kenyon’s fans are so devoted that they’re crying out for a graphic novel adaptation of a story they’ve already read. The DBPro books haven’t done well in the direct market, and frankly, there’s minimal evidence of them doing any better in the bookstores. But they keep coming, regardless.
This issue has two variant covers, which makes the 14K a bit underwhelming.
140. IRON MAN: ENTER THE MANDARIN 09/07 Enter t/Mandarin #1 of 6 - 26,912 10/07 Enter t/Mandarin #2 of 6 - 20,781 (-22.8%) 11/07 Enter t/Mandarin #3 of 6 - 17,686 (-14.9%) 12/07 Enter t/Mandarin #4 of 6 - 15,306 (-13.5%) 01/08 --- 02/08 Enter t/Mandarin #5 of 6 - 14,126 ( -7.7%)
Vanishing from the radar.
148. DEAD OF NIGHT FEATURING MAN-THING [Max] 02/08 Dead of Night #1 of 4 - 12,721
Dead on arrival, more like. But the Max imprint in general seems to have real problems. PUNISHER is a special case, as it has a well known character and a big name writer. The rest of the line seems to churn out an endless stream of miniseries that sell in tiny quantities.
155. TERROR, INC. [Max]
08/07 Terror Inc. #1 of 5 - 18,025
09/07 Terror Inc. #2 of 5 - 14,496 (-19.6%)
10/07 Terror Inc. #3 of 5 - 13,365 ( -7.8%)
11/07 ---
12/07 Terror Inc. #4 of 5 - 12,045 ( -9.9%)
01/08 ---
02/08 Terror Inc. #5 of 5 - 11,473 ( -4.7%)
6 mnth (-36.3%)
Such as this. And with an 18K start, TERROR INC. was actually relatively successful by Max standards.
165. AVENGERS CLASSIC
06/07 Avengers Classic #1 - 29,319
07/07 Avengers Classic #2 - 20,954 (-28.5%)
08/07 Avengers Classic #3 - 18,817 (-10.2%)
09/07 Avengers Classic #4 - 15,392 (-18.2%)
10/07 Avengers Classic #5 - 13,599 (-11.6%)
11/07 Avengers Classic #6 - 12,213 (-10.2%)
12/07 Avengers Classic #7 - 11,162 ( -8.6%)
01/08 Avengers Classic #8 - 10,517 ( -5.8%)
02/08 Avengers Classic #9 - 9,590 ( -8.8%)
6 mnth (-49.0%)
Axed with issue #12.
174. OMEGA THE UNKNOWN 10/07 Omega t/Unknown #1 of 10 - 19,322 11/07 Omega t/Unknown #2 of 10 - 13,986 (-27.6%) 12/07 Omega t/Unknown #3 of 10 - 11,518 (-17.6%) 01/08 Omega t/Unknown #4 of 10 - 10,164 (-11.8%) 02/08 Omega t/Unknown #5 of 10 - 9,147 (-10.0%)
This is dying in serial form. But OMEGA THE UNKNOWN is a title that really should do much better in trade paperback, being an original (well, semi-original) story by an established novelist. And it’s also a prestige project for Marvel – this is as close as the publisher gets to “literary” comics. It’s probably not under pressure to make a great deal of money.
176. ZOMBIE: SIMON GARTH [Max] 11/07 Simon Garth #1 of 4 - 15,430 12/07 Simon Garth #2 of 4 - 11,675 (-24.3%) 01/08 Simon Garth #3 of 4 - 10,011 (-14.3%) 02/08 Simon Garth #4 of 4 - 9,072 ( -9.4%)
Another low-selling Max book.
181. SPIDER-MAN FAMILY
02/07 Spider-Man Family #1 - 30,516
03/07 ---
04/07 Spider-Man Family #2 - 20,679 (-32.2%)
05/07 ---
06/07 Spider-Man Family #3 - 16,853 (-18.5%)
07/07 ---
08/07 Spider-Man Family #4 - 14,253 (-15.4%)
09/07 ---
10/07 Spider-Man Family #5 - 11,771 (-17.4%)
11/07 ---
12/07 Spider-Man Family #6 - 9,860 (-16.2%)
01/08 ---
02/08 Spider-Man Family #7 - 8,587 (-12.9%)
6 mnth (-39.8%)
1 year (-71.9%)
Astoundingly, still going. I have no idea where this bimonthly series is making any money.
From here on, it’s all-ages books, adaptations, and the occasional reprint. You know the routine by now: if these books are making money anywhere, they’re not doing it in the direct market. The numbers are largely academic.
192. MOBY DICK [Marvel Illustrated]
02/08 Moby Dick #1 of 6 - 7,251
210. MARVEL ADVENTURES SPIDER-MAN [All ages]
02/06 M.A. Spider-Man #12 - 6,087
=====
02/07 M.A. Spider-Man #24 - 6,678 ( +6.5%)
03/07 M.A. Spider-Man #25 - 6,408 ( -4.0%)
04/07 M.A. Spider-Man #26 - 6,478 ( +1.1%)
05/07 M.A. Spider-Man #27 - 6,818 ( +5.2%)
06/07 M.A. Spider-Man #28 - 7,006 ( +2.8%)
07/07 M.A. Spider-Man #29 - 7,071 ( +0.9%)
08/07 M.A. Spider-Man #30 - 6,573 ( -7.0%)
09/07 M.A. Spider-Man #31 - 6,723 ( +2.3%)
10/07 M.A. Spider-Man #32 - 6,355 ( -5.5%)
11/07 M.A. Spider-Man #33 - 6,126 ( -3.6%)
12/07 M.A. Spider-Man #34 - 6,115 ( -0.2%)
01/08 M.A. Spider-Man #35 - 6,065 ( -0.8%)
02/08 M.A. Spider-Man #36 - 5,893 ( -2.8%)
6 mnth (-10.3%)
1 year (-11.8%)
2 year ( -3.4%)
212. CIVIL WAR CHRONICLES
07/07 Civil War Chronicles #1 - 18,449
08/07 Civil War Chronicles #2 - 12,953 (-29.8%)
09/07 Civil War Chronicles #3 - 11,094 (-14.4%)
10/07 Civil War Chronicles #4 - 9,108 (-17.9%)
11/07 Civil War Chronicles #5 - 7,500 (-17.7%)
12/07 Civil War Chronicles #6 - 6,841 ( -8.8%)
01/08 Civil War Chronicles #7 - 6,127 (-10.4%)
02/08 Civil War Chronicles #8 - 5,811 ( -5.2%)
6 mnth (-68.5%)
218. MARVEL ADVENTURES AVENGERS [All ages]
02/07 M.A. Avengers #10 - 7,053 ( -3.6%)
03/07 M.A. Avengers #11 - 7,068 ( +0.2%)
04/07 M.A. Avengers #12 - 7,092 ( +0.3%)
05/07 M.A. Avengers #13 - 7,251 ( +2.2%)
06/07 M.A. Avengers #14 - 7,293 ( +0.6%)
07/07 ---
08/07 M.A. Avengers #15 - 6,950 ( -4.7%)
09/07 M.A. Avengers #16 - 6,870 ( -1.2%)
10/07 M.A. Avengers #17 - 6,423 ( -6.5%)
11/07 M.A. Avengers #18 - 6,141 ( -4.4%)
12/07 M.A. Avengers #19 - 6,115 ( -0.4%)
01/08 M.A. Avengers #20 - 5,670 ( -7.3%)
02/08 M.A. Avengers #21 - 5,607 ( -1.1%)
6 mnth (-19.3%)
1 year (-20.5%)
225. THE ILIAD [Marvel Illustrated]
12/07 Iliad #1 of 8 - 8,393
01/08 Iliad #2 of 8 - 5,248 (-37.5%)
02/08 Iliad #3 of 8 - 5,150 ( -1.9%)
233. MARVEL ADVENTURES HULK [All ages]
07/07 M.A. Hulk #1 - 11,394
08/07 M.A. Hulk #2 - 7,142 (-37.3%)
09/07 M.A. Hulk #3 - 5,790 (-18.9%)
10/07 M.A. Hulk #4 - 5,588 ( -3.5%)
11/07 M.A. Hulk #5 - 4,990 (-10.7%)
12/07 M.A. Hulk #6 - 4,862 ( -2.6%)
01/08 M.A. Hulk #7 - 4,653 ( -4.3%)
02/08 M.A. Hulk #8 - 4,533 ( -2.6%)
6 mnth (-36.5%)
237. MARVEL ADVENTURES IRON MAN [All ages]
05/07 M.A. Iron Man #1 - 11,922
06/07 M.A. Iron Man #2 - 7,050 (-40.9%)
07/07 M.A. Iron Man #3 - 6,543 ( -7.2%)
08/07 M.A. Iron Man #4 - 5,911 ( -9.7%)
09/07 M.A. Iron Man #5 - 5,562 ( -5.9%)
10/07 M.A. Iron Man #6 - 5,130 ( -7.8%)
11/07 M.A. Iron Man #7 - 4,844 ( -5.6%)
12/07 M.A. Iron Man #8 - 4,656 ( -3.9%)
01/08 M.A. Iron Man #9 - 4,452 ( -4.4%)
02/08 M.A. Iron Man #10 - 4,318 ( -3.0%)
6 mnth (-26.9%)
238. POWER PACK [All ages]
02/06 ---
=====
02/07 Spider-Man #4 of 4 - 5,605 ( -4.7%)
03/07 Hulk #1 of 4 - 6,697 (+19.5%)
04/07 Hulk #2 of 4 - 5,944 (-11.2%)
05/07 Hulk #3 of 4 - 5,593 ( -5.9%)
06/07 Hulk #4 of 4 - 5,443 ( -2.7%)
07/07 Fantastic Four #1 of 4 - 6,577 (+20.8%)
08/07 Fantastic Four #2 of 4 - 5,749 (-12.6%)
09/07 Fantastic Four #3 of 4 - 5,400 ( -6.1%)
10/07 Fantastic Four #4 of 4 - 5,152 ( -4.6%)
11/07 Iron Man #1 of 4 - 5,527 ( +7.3%)
12/07 Iron Man #2 of 4 - 4,855 (-12.2%)
01/08 Iron Man #3 of 4 - 4,445 ( -8.4%)
02/08 Iron Man #4 of 4 - 4,256 ( -4.3%)
6 mnth (-26.0%)
1 year (-24.1%)
2 year ( --- )
239. MARVEL ADVENTURES FANTASTIC FOUR [All ages]
02/06 M.A. Fantastic Four #9 - 4,711
=====
02/07 M.A. Fantastic Four #21 - 4,508 ( +1.1%)
03/07 M.A. Fantastic Four #22 - 4,588 ( +1.8%)
04/07 M.A. Fantastic Four #23 - 4,604 ( +0.3%)
05/07 M.A. Fantastic Four #24 - 4,807 ( +4.4%)
06/07 M.A. Fantastic Four #25 - 4,972 ( +3.4%)
07/07 M.A. Fantastic Four #26 - 5,370 ( +8.0%)
08/07 M.A. Fantastic Four #27 - 4,641 (-13.6%)
09/07 M.A. Fantastic Four #28 - 5,194 (+11.9%)
10/07 M.A. Fantastic Four #29 - 4,851 ( -6.6%)
11/07 M.A. Fantastic Four #30 - 4,460 ( -8.1%)
12/07 M.A. Fantastic Four #31 - 4,392 ( -1.5%)
01/08 M.A. Fantastic Four #32 - 4,293 ( -2.3%)
02/08 M.A. Fantastic Four #33 - 4,222 ( -1.7%)
6 mnth ( -9.0%)
1 year ( -6.3%)
2 year (-10.4%)
252. PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY [Marvel Illustrated]
12/07 Dorian Gray #1 of 6 - 6,279
01/08 Dorian Gray #2 of 6 - 4,286 (-31.7%)
02/08 Dorian Gray #3 of 6 - 3,690 (-13.9%)
Finally, rounding us off, the NEW AVENGERS POSTER BOOK scrapes onto the chart at number 264 with sales of 3,206, and FALLEN SON: DEATH OF CAPTAIN AMERICA – IRON MAN ships a further 2,176 units to appear at number 292. Apparently, Marvel have been shipping surplus copies to retailers, perhaps because it’s cheaper than pulping them. Total copies shipped (at least on the chart) now stand at 167,392.
Skip months and re-orders ========================= ASTONISHING X-MEN 02/05 Astonishing X-Men #8 - 134,134 02/06 Astonishing X-Men #13 - 140,655 ===== 02/07 Astonishing X-Men #20 - 119,736 ( -3.5%) 03/07 --- 04/07 --- 05/07 Astonishing X-Men #21 - 120,495 ( +0.6%) 06/07 --- 07/07 --- 08/07 Astonishing X-Men #22 - 117,321 ( -2.6%) 09/07 --- 10/07 --- 11/07 Astonishing X-Men #23 - 112,920 ( -3.8%) 12/07 --- 01/08 Astonishing X-Men #24 - 107,631 ( -4.7%) 02/08 ---
Skip month. The story concludes in GIANT-SIZE ASTONISHING X-MEN #1, which has just been rescheduled to late May.
AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE 04/07 Initiative #1 - 127,798 05/07 Initiative #2 - 103,189 (-19.3%) 06/07 Initiative #3 - 92,339 (-10.5%) 07/07 Initiative #4 - 94,773 ( +2.6%) 08/07 Initiative #5 - 86,536 ( -8.7%) 09/07 Initiative #6 - 74,184 (-14.3%) 10/07 --- 11/07 Initiative #7 - 66,455 (-10.4%) 12/07 Initiative #8 - 58,126 (-12.5%) 01/08 Initiative #9 - 55,270 ( -4.9%) 02/08 ---
Late. The issue shipped in March.
HALO: UPRISING 08/07 Uprising #1 of 4 - 71,812 09/07 --- 10/07 --- 11/07 Uprising #2 of 4 - 50,165 (-30.1%) 12/07 --- 01/08 --- 02/08 ---
Late, and currently expected in April.
THUNDERBOLTS 02/02 Thunderbolts #61 - 29,197 02/03 Thunderbolts #76 - 25,432 02/04 --- 02/05 New Thunderbolts #5 - 29,377 02/06 New Thunderbolts #18 - 23,735 ===== 02/07 Thunderbolts #111 - 62,791 ( -14.6%) 03/07 Thunderbolts #112 - 61,395 ( -2.2%) 04/07 Thunderbolts #113 - 65,092 ( +6.0%) 05/07 Thunderbolts #114 - 66,309 ( +1.9%) 06/07 Thunderbolts #115 - 64,876 ( -2.2%) 07/07 --- 08/07 Thunderbolts #116 - 52,503 ( -19.1%) 09/07 --- 10/07 Thunderbolts #117 - 47,151 ( -10.2%) 11/07 --- 12/07 --- 01/08 Thunderbolts #118 - 43,645 ( -7.4%) 02/08 --- IMMORTAL IRON FIST 02/07 Immortal Iron Fist #3 - 35,654 (-12.2%) 03/07 --- 04/07 Immortal Iron Fist #4 - 37,159 ( +4.2%) 05/07 Immortal Iron Fist #5 - 36,856 ( -0.8%) 06/07 Immortal Iron Fist #6 - 36,731 ( -0.3%) 07/07 Immortal Iron Fist #7 - 35,842 ( -2.4%) 08/07 Immortal Iron Fist #8 - 35,449 ( -1.1%) 09/07 Immortal Iron Fist #9 - 34,282 ( -3.3%) 10/07 --- 11/07 Immortal Iron Fist #10 - 41,368 (+20.7%) 12/07 Immortal Iron Fist #11 - 32,975 (-20.3%) 01/08 Immortal Iron Fist #12 - 32,623 ( -1.1%) 02/08 --- PUNISHER [Max] 02/02 Punisher #9 - 51,330 02/03 Punisher #22 - 41,356 02/04 Punisher #3 - 46,396 02/05 Punisher #17 - 38,714 02/06 Punisher #30 - 34,293 ===== 02/07 Punisher #44 - 32,951 ( -0.2%) 03/07 Punisher #45 - 33,245 ( +0.9%) 04/07 Punisher #46 - 33,427 ( +0.5%) 05/07 Punisher #47 - 33,892 ( +1.4%) 06/07 Punisher #48 - 33,804 ( -0.3%) 07/07 Punisher #49 - 34,317 ( +1.5%) 08/07 Punisher #50 - 36,457 ( +6.2%) 09/07 --- 10/07 Punisher #51 - 33,771 ( -7.4%) 11/07 Punisher #52 - 32,909 ( -2.6%) 12/07 Punisher #53 - 31,772 ( -3.5%) 01/08 Punisher #54 - 31,654 ( -0.4%) 02/08 ---
All three books are on skip months, with fill-in one-shots taking their place.
NOVA 04/07 Nova #1 - 42,917 (+21.9%) 05/07 Nova #2 - 44,532 ( +3.8%) 06/07 Nova #3 - 45,004 ( +1.1%) 07/07 Nova #4 - 40,173 (-10.7%) 08/07 Nova #5 - 39,543 ( -1.6%) 09/07 Nova #6 - 36,978 ( -6.5%) 10/07 Nova #7 - 34,876 ( -5.7%) 11/07 Nova #8 - 32,110 ( -7.9%) 12/07 Nova #9 - 30,469 ( -5.1%) 01/08 Nova #10 - 29,397 ( -3.5%) 02/08 ---
Skip month, with the annual shipping instead.
OFFICIAL HANDBOOK OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE 02/05 Marvel Knights - 18,182 02/06 A to Z #2 - 21,828 ===== 02/07 --- 03/07 --- 04/07 Spider-Man: BIB - 23,510 ( +36.8%) 05/07 Update #2 of 4 - 16,633 ( -29.3%) 05/07 Anita Blake - 20,936 ( +25.9%) 06/07 Mystic Arcana - 15,669 ( -25.2%) 06/07 Mighty Avengers - 22,312 ( +42.4%) 07/07 Update #3 of 4 - 15,600 ( -30.1%) 08/07 World War Hulk - 41,583 (+166.6%) 09/07 Marvel Zombies - 47,090 ( +13.2%) 10/07 Update #4 of 4 - 14,328 ( -69.6%) 11/07 Atlas #1 of 2 - 16,857 ( +17.7%) 12/07 Messiah Complex - 24,795 ( +47.1%) 01/08 Ultimate Secrets - 22,556 ( -9.0%) 02/08 ---
Skip month. The HANDBOOK is going onto a more relaxed schedule, presumably because the contributors are also working on the updates and expansions for the hardback collection that’s now underway.
PENANCE: RELENTLESS 09/07 Relentless #1 of 5 - 30,454 10/07 Relentless #2 of 5 - 24,346 (-20.1%) 11/07 Relentless #3 of 5 - 22,461 ( -7.7%) 12/07 --- 01/08 Relentless #4 of 5 - 21,144 ( -5.9%) 02/08 ---
Late.
POWERS [Icon] 02/02 --- 02/03 Powers #29 - 25,982 02/04 --- 02/05 Powers #9 - 28,512 02/06 Powers #16 - 24,924 ===== 02/07 Powers #23 - 21,939 ( -0.4%) 03/07 --- 04/07 Powers #24 - 20,960 ( -4.5%) 05/07 --- 06/07 --- 07/07 --- 08/07 Powers #25 - 21,349 ( +1.9%) 09/07 --- 10/07 Powers #26 - 20,541 ( -3.8%) 11/07 Powers #27 - 19,843 ( -3.4%) 12/07 --- 01/08 --- 02/08 ---
Late. It shipped in March.
FOOLKILLER [Max] 10/07 Foolkiller #1 of 5 - 19,706 11/07 Foolkiller #2 of 5 - 13,779 (-30.1%) 12/07 Foolkiller #3 of 5 - 12,892 ( -6.4%) 01/08 --- 02/08 ---
Late. Again, it shipped in March.
MARVEL SPOTLIGHT 02/06 Whedon & Lark - 5,974 ===== 02/07 --- 03/07 Civil War Aftermath - 31,072 ( +64.2%) 04/07 Spider-Man - 13,210 ( -57.5%) 05/07 Fantastic Four - 8,261 ( -37.5%) 06/07 Captain America - 31,483 (+281.1%) 07/07 --- 08/07 World War Hulk - 22,534 ( -28.4%) 08/07 Halo - 9,782 ( -56.6%) 09/07 Thor - 11,300 ( +15.5%) 10/07 Marvel Zombies - 16,697 ( +47.8%) 11/07 --- 12/07 One More Day - 12,807 ( -23.3%) 12/07 Messiah Complex - 13,462 ( +5.1%) 01/08 Ultimates 3 - 9,354 ( -30.5%) 02/08 ---
Skip month.
HEDGE KNIGHT 2: SWORN SWORD [Licensed] 06/07 Sworn Sword #1 of 6 - 12,011 07/07 Sworn Sword #2 of 6 - 8,763 (-27.0%) 08/07 Sworn Sword #3 of 6 - 7,658 (-12.6%) 09/07 --- 10/07 --- 11/07 --- 12/07 --- 01/08 Sworn Sword #4 of 6 - 6,813 (-11.0%) 02/08 ---
Late. Issue #5 shipped in March.
6 month comparisons
===================+ 50.0% - Fantastic Four
+ 23.0% - Criminal
+ 7.5% - X-Factor
+ 2.7% - Uncanny X-Men
+ 2.7% - Captain America
+ 1.9% - X-Men: Legacy
- 7.8% - New Exiles
- 7.8% - Cable & Deadpool
- 9.0% - Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four
- 10.3% - Marvel Adventures Spider-Man
- 11.2% - Daredevil
- 11.7% - New Avengers
- 12.5% - Wolverine
- 13.3% - She-Hulk
- 13.5% - Amazing Spider-Girl
- 14.9% - Ultimate X-Men
- 17.3% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 19.3% - Marvel Adventures Avengers
- 20.0% - Thor
- 20.4% - Ultimate Fantastic Four
- 24.1% - Ultimate Spider-Man
- 25.3% - X-Men: First Class
- 26.0% - Power Pack
- 26.1% - Iron Man
- 26.9% - Marvel Adventures Iron Man
- 27.9% - Wolverine: Origins
- 30.7% - Ms Marvel
- 32.0% - Ghost Rider
- 36.3% - Terror, Inc.
- 36.5% - Marvel Adventures Hulk
- 36.6% - Punisher War Journal
- 39.8% - New Warriors
- 39.8% - Spider-Man Family
- 49.0% - Avengers Classic
- 50.0% - Incredible Hercules
- 51.7% - Black Panther
- 52.3% - The Order
- 68.5% - Civil War Chronicles1 year comparisons
==================+ 47.9% - X-Factor
+ 31.7% - Runaways
+ 17.5% - Fantastic Four
+ 16.4% - X-Men: Legacy
+ 11.8% - Incredible Hercules
+ 8.9% - Uncanny X-Men
- 1.1% - New Exiles
- 6.3% - Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four
- 10.0% - Daredevil
- 10.0% - Cable & Deadpool
- 11.8% - Marvel Adventures Spider-Man
- 20.5% - Marvel Adventures Avengers
- 20.7% - She-Hulk
- 21.2% - New Avengers
- 21.5% - Ms Marvel
- 22.0% - Ultimate Spider-Man
- 23.8% - Ultimate X-Men
- 24.1% - Power Pack
- 24.3% - Amazing Spider-Girl
- 25.5% - Ultimate Fantastic Four
- 29.0% - X-Men: First Class
- 35.6% - Wolverine
- 38.6% - Punisher War Journal
- 39.4% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 42.6% - Ghost Rider
- 48.6% - Wolverine: Origins
- 49.4% - Iron Man
- 58.6% - Black Panther
- 71.9% - Spider-Man Family2 year comparisons
==================+107.9% - Fantastic Four
+ 95.4% - Captain America
+ 36.6% - Runaways
+ 33.1% - Incredible Hercules
+ 17.1% - X-Factor
+ 14.4% - Uncanny X-Men
+ 12.1% - X-Men: Legacy
+ 4.4% - Cable & Deadpool
- 2.6% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 3.4% - Marvel Adventures Spider-Man
- 3.5% - Amazing Spider-Girl
- 5.0% - New Exiles
- 10.2% - Black Panther
- 10.4% - Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four
- 11.1% - Wolverine
- 14.3% - New Avengers
- 18.4% - She-Hulk
- 18.8% - Ultimate Spider-Man
- 20.7% - Daredevil
- 32.5% - Ultimate X-Men
- 42.9% - Ultimate Fantastic Four3 year comparisons
==================+100.2% - Fantastic Four
+ 78.9% - Captain America
+ 16.7% - Incredible Hercules
+ 12.1% - Amazing Spider-Man
+ 9.2% - Runaways
+ 4.7% - X-Men: Legacy
+ 1.7% - Uncanny X-Men
- 3.1% - New Exiles
- 4.4% - She-Hulk
- 5.6% - Cable & Deadpool
- 10.3% - Ultimates
- 13.6% - Daredevil
- 20.6% - Amazing Spider-Girl
- 22.8% - Wolverine
- 30.1% - New Avengers
- 33.0% - Ultimate Spider-Man
- 41.4% - Ultimate X-Men
- 53.7% - Black Panther4 year comparisons
==================+221.9% - Thor
+116.7% - Captain America
+ 88.6% - Fantastic Four
+ 77.1% - New Avengers
+ 66.2% - Runaways
+ 23.1% - Iron Man
+ 9.6% - Incredible Hercules
+ 4.8% - Amazing Spider-Man
+ 4.8% - Uncanny X-Men
- 7.9% - Wolverine
- 15.6% - New Exiles
- 21.2% - Amazing Spider-Girl
- 22.6% - X-Men: Legacy
- 23.0% - Daredevil
- 37.3% - Ultimate Spider-Man
- 49.6% - Ultimate X-Men
- 64.7% - Ultimate Fantastic Four
Completely agree with the note re: advance marketing of Captain Marvel. If I had known it would be so connected to Secret Invasion, I would have started buying at #1. As it is, I’ll wait and get it in TPB.
I’ll be curious to see if/when some cancellations are announced. I added Ms. Marvel to my pull for at least the duration of SI, so there’s one more tally for Carol.
Just a theory on why Fantastic Four isn’t rocking socks. Notice that all the “winning” heroes from Civil War are doing worse than the ones who “lost”. Former nice guys like Reed Richards and his eventually supportive wife may be permanently tarnished.
Well, maybe. Mighty Avengers and The Initiative still do pretty well, and they’re pretty much the flagship titles of the pro-SHRA side. New Avengers sells better, but it also includes both Spider-Man and Wolverine.
“I added Ms. Marvel to my pull for at least the duration of SI, so there’s one more tally for Carol.”
Ditto here. I always liked Brian Reed’s writing on Ms. Marvel, but never felt such an affinity for the character that I felt like I *needed* to follow her both in her solo book and in Mighty Avengers. I did pick up and enjoy issue #25, though, and plan to stick with it for at least the next few months.
I’m one of the people waiting on the trade for OMEGA. You could tell when flipping though issue one that it will be a much more enjoyable experience reading the whole thing at once.
I also come to feel that way about the TWELVE. I got the first couple issues and then realized it will be better in a trade than getting the issues.
FALLEN SON: DEATH OF CAPTAIN AMERICA – IRON MAN ships a further 2,176 units to appear at number 292
Marvel gave away one copy for every copy a retailer bought of a special sale list of Marvel comics.
They also duplicated the gimmick with New Avengers #31. So for every comic you buy from a sale list, you can get a New Avengers #31 for free. You may see that show up on next month’s list.
As to FF, I’m in for the trade.
It seems like the right call especially since it’s sitting out Secret Invasion. Not that I’m completely sold on SI. But the urgency isn’t there on that front and this team have sort’ve trained me with their Ultimates work and all the delays there to hang on for trades. I think something has been made that the delays aren’t going to be an issue with this project but if it ain’t broke, blah blah blah.
So for now, it’s off the radar until the first TPB is solicited.
Just wanted to point out that the drop from Anita Blake The First Death #2 to Guilty Pleasures #7 is somewhat misleading. The First Death was a 2 issue story of all-new material, where Guilty Pleasures is an adaptation. I think, really, it’s a better comparison from the 30 of Guilty Pleasures issue 6 to the 27 of issue 7. Not too bad for a 9 month gap in the miniseries.
The reason why the first issue of Millar and Hitch’s FF underperformed (which is something I have been telling you guys was going to happen for months now) is because (a) the FF is not as popular as it used to be and (b) Millar is NOT as big as a sales draw as Marvel,Millar’s fans,and Millar himself think he is. If it wasn’t for Hitch’s art and the variant cover, this book would NOT have placed as high as it did on the chart.
The last time the FF sold consistently well without the aid of gimmicks,hype,and a big name popular/celebrity/critically acclaimed creative team was during the Claremont/Laroca run and the beginning of Carlos Pacheco’s run on the book. IIRC, the Claremont and Laroca FF run consistently placed in the top 15. Of course, people seem to have either forgotten that little fact or refuse to acknowledge that a non X-book written by the critically panned Claremont actually sold pretty decently.
Regarding the lower-than-expected sales of Millar & Hitch’s “Fantastic Four,” I’m curious as to just how many people are waiting for the trades on this. Because honestly, despite Marvel’s near-constant hoarse bellowing that this title will ship on time every month, there is absolutely no way in hell that these guys are going to deliver 12 issues in a year. A nearly 2 1/2 year span of time for 13 issues of “Ultimates 2” is closer to what we’re probably going to get from their run on FF.
Forgot to add that we’re also probably in for lots and lots and lots of excuses from Marvel over the delays and the same tired “We wanted to give the fans the bestest story possible even if it took an extra year! This story was so big it just had to be done right!” song and dance we always get while waiting 8 months for a comic book.
Marvel puts out trades in such a timely manner that I think a lot of people dont even bother with single issues. I mean for the FF, ill just wait for an oversized HC.
Part of me wonders whether Marvel’s constant crowing that FF WILL come out monthly hurt the single issue sales. I bought Ultimates 2 in single issue form simply because I knew it would be a long, long tiome before I got the hard-cover. However, since people may actually think that FF will come out in a timely manner, they assume they’ll get their trade in the same.
Those numbers are all way off. I sold more than 9500 copies of Omega the Unknown in my store alone last month! Letham is HOT here!!!
April Fool!
“So for every comic you buy from a sale list, you can get a New Avengers #31 for free.”
They were giving them away free at my LCS. They were also having their going out of business sale, but still, everyone was given one from a big stack of them.
I wish that Iron Fist and The Twelve were selling better. Both are fine books.
It amazes me how important the Top 10 is to Marvel and their market share. 300 books from all the publishers and it is 8 or 9 big sellers that consistently give Marvel the edge. Marvel just kills DC here.
I notice that Marvel only had 2 books that sold over 100,000 copies in February. The drops for Ultimates and Hulk has to be a worry for Marvel as both books had the Merry Marvel Hype machine behind them.
The sales of ASM will be one to keep an eye on as well. Marvel are starting to commit extra resources to keep the books thrice monthly and if they keep dropping sales, even at a slow pace, it will not be long before ASM is selling less than the total of the previous 3 monthlies while using a lot more people to produce it. My feeling is that the creative teams will become so diverse and the story lines so fractured that people will start to cherry pick and buy issues with writers and artists that they like and drop it again when they finish an arc. Probably not what Marvel has in mind for the book.
I picked up FF #554 but I could actually hear crickets chirping in the background as I read it. I may actually have nodded off during Sue Richards brunch. I will wait for the TPB on this one. Trying to make the FF interesting always reminds me of that comment by Tom Petty about the song “Running Down a Dream”. He finally came up with a guitar riff that Jimmy Page had not done. The challenge with the FF is trying to do something that Lee and Kirby had not already covered.
The thing about the Fantastic Four relaunch is that it comes too close to the McDuffie relaunch, which came too close to the JMS relaunch….
I think a lot of people have also realized that Millar’s work reads much better in book form then in single issues. Still, I agree that this number is a big letdown, especially after the numbers posted by Thor and Hulk. Could not having a #1 on the cover made that big a difference? Still???
X-Force will not last long before major changes. It’s all Claws and Knives. I get that it’s supposed to be grittier and darker and yadda, yadda, we’ve all read that summery before. Since Wolverine’s surge in popularity over the past decade marvel puts him in everything they can (Including and animated series called “Wolverine and the X-Men… he get’s billing over the whole team, really?). Well, now they have a whole team of little Wolverines and it’s going to be edgy and daring and get old really quick.
Look for a line up change at the very least in the short term, and an eventual abandonment of the “Crossing a line and dealing with some threats permanently” story line in the long run.
“The challenge with the FF is trying to do something that Lee and Kirby had not already covered.”
To be fair, isn’t that what Millar is trying to do? At least he’s not reusing the old rogue’s gallery.
“They also duplicated the gimmick with New Avengers #31. So for every comic you buy from a sale list, you can get a New Avengers #31 for free. You may see that show up on next month’s list.”
Wasn’t that the issue with the Elektra twist? It seems Marvel printed more copies of the book than they managed to sell.
“Before people start blaming the recession,…”
I stopped by the LCS this afternoon. I’ve not seen that many issues of New Comics This Week sitting on the shelf in years. Comics manager can’t cut the orders fast enough.
Why doesn’t Marvel just bring back the Epic name for the former DBPro books? They need a brand and “Best Selling Authors” frankly sucks.
All the Joe Q. haters should note those X-factor sales since the knock against him was that he was neglecting the X-line and those Spider-Man sales aren’t as bad as all the “boycotters” would have led us to believe.
For the life of me, I don’t get how The Twelve sales are considered disappointing when it’s selling as well as Iron Man.
Er, TWELVE is nearly 10K below IRON MAN. Yes, the first issue sold better, but they always do.
“IIRC, the Claremont and Laroca FF run consistently placed in the top 15. Of course, people seem to have either forgotten that little fact or refuse to acknowledge that a non X-book written by the critically panned Claremont actually sold pretty decently.”
If that’s true- and I highly doubt it- it’s probably due to the fact that the run happened just after the relaunch of the book post-Heroes Reborn. It’s a dreadful run, practically unreadable. I’ve read nearly every FF comic ever made, and these are right up there with the DeFalco/Ryan run as the worst FF comics ever.
Pacheco was a big name when he took over the book, by the way.
Thank you for explaining the NA #31 giveaway. I thought perhaps it was a cross-promo for Secret Invasion.
A quick skim of the archives suggests that FANTASTIC FOUR was indeed regularly placing in the top 15 during Claremont’s run, for whatever that’s worth.
Ray Cornwall, the CC/SL run on FF lasted for 2 years. so there was PLENTY of time for the sales boost do to the relaunch of the book by the previous creative team to wear off. If their run on FF was as terrible as you say it was, then sales on the book would have fallen a lot faster and a lot lower then they did.
And yes, I know Pacheco was a big name when he took over the book. However, Pacheco is not as big of a name then some of the creators that followed his run on the book.
Paul. Thanks for the name-check! I always appreciate the publicity.
I just want to know: exactly WHO deems the sales of The Twelve “disappointing”? Certainly not Marvel; we exceeded their expectations, so why should they be disappointed?
Quite the reverse in fact; they give every impression of being delighted and, dare I say it, surprised at this book’s progress.
“The reason why the first issue of Millar and Hitch’s FF underperformed (which is something I have been telling you guys was going to happen for months now) is because (a) the FF is not as popular as it used to be…”
Stop right there. He hit the nail on the head with that one. Their spot for February doesn’t surprise me at all and I fully expect FF to go back to just “being there”.
I never understood the hype anyway. “It’s Millar & Hitch!” So? It’s still FF.
Does anyone know how the current Black Panther numbers compare to the book’s numbers during Priest’s run?
Chris Weston, the reason that we (fans,SOME retailers,and the writers of this column) are saying that the sales of THE TWELVE are disappointing is because MANY (NOT ALL) of us expect a book that is (a) written by a big name popular and critically acclaimed celebrity Hollywood writer (b) drawn by a critically acclaimed artist and (c) has a good amount of hype and promotion behind it to sell a heck of a lot better then 40,000 copies for the first issue and 27,000 copies for the 2nd issue.
Joseph, Hudlin’s BP series sales better then Priest’s run whenever the book is part of a crossover,has a variant cover,or is being drawn by a “hot” artist. When it’s not employing any of these gimmicks, the book is selling around where Priest’s run was selling about (I THINK) a year or two or three before the book was canceled. Hudlin’s BP run is another example of Marvel employing stunts and gimmicks to give the impression that a book is selling well because of the creative team that the editorial regime favors.
re: Omega. I’m reading it monthly, and it really is a phenomenal book that reads like nothing else Marvel publish. It just doesn’t feel like a Marvel book and I fully expect the graphic novel sales to be solid and long-lasting. Reading this in a single sitting is going to be very satisfying.
I was under the impression that the Anita Blake collections were selling like hotcakes in reg’lar bookstores?
Re: FF
I’m waiting for the hardcover, simply because I prefer that format to singles, and I am 90% certain that Marvel will treat us to a one big oversized hardcover of the entire Millar/Hitch run after they’re done. It’ll be nice next to my Waid/Ringo hardcovers. It’s not so much that I’m concerned about delays, as it is me being a format snob.
Same thing with Clandestine. I’m hoping for a nice hardcover to sit beside the recently released one of the original series.
Your trying to tell me ed brubaker is doing a good job and captain america. The new cap is a bust and your spin control is not going to change that. This new cap idea was doomed from the start. Just like batman when they tried to replace bruce wayne with azrael. New Cap ain’t gonna work
Much as I hate the idea of Bucky as Cap, it’s pretty undeniable that saleswise, it is a success. I can’t imagine it’s a “bust” by any meter other than a few individuals’ subjective opinions.
“To be fair, isn’t that what Millar is trying to do? At least he’s not reusing the old rogue’s gallery. ”
It was this going back to basics and re-using the wealth of past characters, the old “rogues gallery”, that got me back into Marvel – better to use an antagonist with a rich history than a generic throw-away mutant you won’t hear of again
Borsa, Forum, Para, imkb, ?MKB, IMKB, hisse, senet, ekonomi, senet, finans, menkul, piyasa, sermaye, teknik, temel, analiz, araci, kurum, holding, Al?nanlar, Sat?lanlar, para giri?, para ??k??, borker, dealer, emir, emirler, tahta, spek?lasyon, spek?lat?r, SPK, ?MKB, bedava, HisseEndeks, banka http://www.hisseendeks.com
hi payla??m i?in te?ekk?r ederim.thank you.merci http://www.seslichatodasi.com/
Comments are closed.