by Jason Enright
Hello and welcome to an All-New month of Marvel sales numbers NOW! Before we get started let’s look at a breakdown of what we have this month.
69 Marvel comics out this month
8 Titles double-shipped
8 new #1s (I did not count the Annuals)
8 Avengers Titles
6 X-Men Titles (9 if you count X-Force, X-Factor and Marvel Knights X-Men).
This month several titles get relaunches as part of All-New Marvel Now. Some of these are new teams, or characters getting a solo title for the first time in a while. Some are soft relaunches of recently ended titles.
Currently, Marvel has a few tricks up their sleeves to boost sales, variants, .Now issues, and these soft relaunches to #1. The question is do these tricks produce long-term sales improvements or just temporary boosts?
Let’s look at the numbers to find out: Thanks as always to Milton Griepp and ICv2 for permission to use these numbers.
3, 29. WOLVERINE 02/04 Wolverine v3 #11 – 69,667 ( 27.6%) 02/11 Wolverine v4 #6 - 46,269 ( 92.2%) 02/12 Wolverine #302 - 38,462 ( 131.0%) --- 03/13 Wolverine v5 #1 - 117,669 (+242.4%) 04/13 Wolverine v5 #2 - 57,165 ( -51.4%) 05/13 Wolverine v5 #3 - 49,629 ( -13.2%) 06/13 Wolverine v5 #4 - 46,784 ( -5.7%) 06/13 Wolverine v5 #5 - 43,694 ( -6.6%) 07/13 Wolverine v5 #6 - 40,593 ( -7.1%) 07/13 Wolverine v5 #7 - 38,605 ( -4.9%) 08/13 Wolverine v5 #8 - 39,830 ( -3.2%) 09/13 Wolverine v5 #9 - 35,920 ( -9.8%) 10/13 Wolverine v5 #10 - 34,651 ( -3.5%) 11/13 Wolverine v5 #11 - 35,394 ( +2.1%) 12/13 Wolverine v5 #12 - 32,274 ( -8.8%) 01/14 Wolverine v5 #13 - 31,164 ( -3.4%) 02/14 Wolverine v6 #1 - 88,923 ( 185.3%) 02/14 Wolverine v6 #2 - 47,339 ( -46.8%) --- 6 mnth (+123.3%) 1 year ( --- ) 2 year (+131.0%) 3 year ( 92.2%) 5 year ( --- ) 10 year ( 27.6%)
Wolverine gets the All-New Marvel Now treatment with a new #1 and 4 variant covers, but this year’s soft relaunch doesn’t quite pull in the sales that last year’s new #1 did. This could be due to Wolverine fatigue, as he is currently starring in 3 titles and guest starring in even more. Or with so many Marvel now relaunches as of late, perhaps a new #1 just doesn’t help as much as it used to. Either way the rumor is that Wolverine’s current killable phase won’t end well for him, but of course his death most likely won’t stay permanent. More importantly, character deaths seem to be so overdone recently, that I don’t expect that to do much for this title’s sales except a temporary sales bump.
4,6. SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN 02/04 Am Spi #504 – 84,041 02/09 Am Spi #585 - 60,275 02/11 Am Spi #654.1 - 55,283 02/12 Am Spi #679 - 52,564 --- 02/13 Superior #3 - 101,811 ( -13.8%) 02/13 Superior #4 - 95,892 ( -5.8%) 03/13 Superior #5 - 94,224 ( -1.7%) 03/13 Superior #6 - 86,614 ( -8.1%) 03/13 S. S-M #6AU - 85,807 ( -0.9%) 04/13 Superior #7 - 87,945 ( +2.5%) 04/13 Superior #8 - 85,671 ( -2.6%) 05/13 Superior #9 - 93,656 ( +9.3%) 05/13 Superior #10 - 85,346 ( -8.9%) 06/13 Superior #11 - 84,219 ( -1.3%) 06/13 Superior #12 - 82,338 ( -2.2%) 07/13 Superior #13 - 81,678 ( -0.8%) 07/13 Superior #14 - 80,839 ( -1.0%) 08/13 Superior #15 - 78,636 ( -2.7%) 08/13 Superior #16 - 78,087 ( -0.7%) 09/13 Superior #17 - 89,118 ( +14.1%) 09/13 Superior #18 - 80,178 ( -10.0%) 10/13 Superior #19 - 83,671 ( +4.4%) 10/13 Superior #20 - 85,309 ( +2.0%) 11/13 Superior #21 - 74,940 ( -12.2%) 11/13 Superior #22 - 81,250 ( +8.4%) 12/13 Superior #23 - 77,105 ( -5.1%) 12/13 Superior #24 - 76,131 ( -1.3%) 01/14 Superior #25 - 77,311 ( 1.5%) 01/14 Superior #26 - 72,591 ( -6.1%) 02/14 Supr #27.Now - 86,405 ( 19.0%) 02/14 Superior #28 - 75,477 ( -12.6%) --- 6 mnth ( 9.9%) 1 year ( -15.1%) 2 year ( 64.0%) 3 year ( 56.3%) 5 year ( 43.4%) 10 year ( 2.8%)
The 27.Now issue with its 4 variants sees a nice bump in sales. Then issue 28 drops down to a number slightly higher than where they were before the .Now. So in this case it looks like the .Now worked and gave people a nice jumping-on point before the Goblin Nation story line. Also readers are likely getting excited for the return of Peter Parker and want to see how Superior Spider-Man will end. There’s only 4 more issues in this chapter of Spider-Man, and then Amazing Spider-Man and the return of Parker should prove to be a huge sales boost for the character.
7. FANTASTIC FOUR 02/04 Fantastic Four #510 – 49,115 02/09 Fantastic Four #585 - 49,511 02/11 Fantastic Four #654.1 - 63,529 02/12 Fantastic Four #679 - 42,419 --- 02/13 Fantastic Four v5 #4 - 44,999 ( -11.0%) 03/13 Fantastic Four v5 #5 - 42,590 ( -5.4%) 03/13 Fantastic Four #5AU - 45,756 ( +7.4%) 04/13 Fantastic Four v5 #6 - 41,291 ( -4.8%) 04/13 Fantastic Four v5 #7 - 39,314 ( -4.8%) 05/13 Fantastic Four v5 #8 - 37,309 ( -5.1%) 06/13 Fantastic Four v5 #9 - 37,071 ( -0.6%) 07/13 Fantastic Four v5 #10 - 34,018 ( -8.2%) 08/13 Fantastic Four v5 #11 - 32,665 ( -4.0%) 09/13 Fantastic Four v5 #12 - 31,426 ( -3.8%) 10/13 Fantastic Four v5 #13 - 31,561 ( +0.4%) 11/13 Fantastic Four v5 #14 - 28,679 ( -9.1%) 12/13 Fantastic Four v5 #15 - 27,610 ( -3.7%) 01/14 Fantastic Four v5 #16 - 28,045 ( 1.6%) 02/14 Fantastic Four v6 #1 - 65,775 ( 134.5%) --- 6 mnth ( 101.4%) 1 year ( 46.2%) 2 year ( 55.0%) 3 year ( 3.5%) 5 year ( 32.8%) 10 year ( 33.9%)
A new Fantastic Four series, now with Red and Black costumes! 6 Variants plus a new edgy look help this new Marvel Now #1 soft relaunch double the sales of its failing predecessor. The big question is how much it will drop next month with issue 2. Can it stay above 40,000? I don’t think the “World’ Greatest Comics magazine” holds as much weight as it once did.
10. ALL-NEW X-MEN --- 02/13 All-New X-Men #7 - 85,234 ( -0.2%) 03/13 All-New X-Men #8 - 90,990 ( +6.8%) 03/13 All-New X-Men #9 - 81,692 (-10.2%) 04/13 All-New X-Men #10 - 84,760 ( +3.8%) 05/13 All-New X-Men #11 - 80,582 ( -4.9%) 06/13 All-New X-Men #12 - 82,178 ( +2.0%) 06/13 All-New X-Men #13 - 77,656 ( -5.5%) 07/13 All-New X-Men #14 - 74,848 ( -3.6%) 08/13 All-New X-Men #15 - 73,035 ( -2.4%) 09/13 All-New X-Men #16 - 84,218 (+15.3%) 10/13 All-New X-Men #17 - 82,843 ( -1.6%) 11/13 All-New X-Men #18 - 82,365 ( -0.6%) 11/13 All-New X-Men #19 - 71,044 (-13.7%) 12/13 All-New X-Men #20 - 68,189 ( -4.0%) 01/14 All-New X-Men #21 - 62,876 ( -7.8%) 01/14 All-New #22.NOW - 76,565 (+21.8%) 02/14 All-New X-Men #23 - 64,625 (-15.6%) --- 6 mnth ( -11.5%) 1 year ( -24.3%)
All-New X-Men maintain a little bit of a bump from the .Now last month and the crossover with Guardians of the Galaxy. This issue and the next also have a variant each before the big Double-sized issue 25 which should see a sales increase. For now, it looks like the young time-displaced X-Men are holding their own sales wise.
12. AVENGERS 02/04 Avengers v3 #78 – 49,115 02/11 Avengers v4 #10 - 63,529 02/12 Avengers v4 #22 - 42,419 --- 02/13 Avengers v5 #5 - 82,452 ( -0.8%) 02/13 Avengers v5 #6 - 84,868 ( +2.9%) 03/13 Avengers v5 #7 - 78,278 ( -7.8%) 03/13 Avengers v5 #8 - 82,691 ( +5.6%) 04/13 Avengers v5 #9 - 77,780 ( -5.9%) 04/13 Avengers v5 #10 - 78,905 ( +1.4%) 05/13 Avengers v5 #11 - 70,687 ( -10.4%) 05/13 Avengers v5 #12 - 74,978 ( +6.1%) 06/13 Avengers v5 #13 - 68,624 ( -8.5%) 06/13 Avengers v5 #14 - 74,846 ( +9.1%) 07/13 Avengers v5 #15 - 68,472 ( -8.5%) 07/13 Avengers v5 #16 - 72,842 ( +6.4%) 08/13 Avengers v5 #17 - 68,962 ( -5.3%) 08/13 Avengers v5 #18 - 74,697 ( +8.3%) 09/13 Avengers v5 #19 - 92,489 ( +23.8%) 09/13 Avengers v5 #20 - 74,388 ( -19.6%) 10/13 Avengers v5 #21 - 71,751 ( -3.5%) 10/13 Avengers v5 #22 - 70,735 ( -1.4%) 11/13 Avengers v5 #23 - 66,501 ( -6.0%) 12/13 Avengers#24.NOW - 127,466 ( +91.7%) 01/14 Avengers v5 #25 - 65,591 ( -48.5%) 02/14 Avengers v5 #26 – 59,775 ( -8.9%) --- 6 mnth ( -13.3%) 1 year ( -27.5%) 2 year ( 13.0%) 3 year ( -6.5%) 5 year ( --- ) 10 year ( 1.7%)
The flagship Avengers title drops below 60k. This issue did have one variant, but still saw a steeper drop than normal. Of course, this book will gain some sales momentum from tying in with the upcoming Original Sin event, but will that crossover sustain the series in the long term, or will this be getting a relaunch after the summer event? I’d put my money on there being a new Avengers #1 after Original Sin.
16. UNCANNY X-MEN 02/04 Uncanny X-Men #439 – 49,115 02/09 Uncanny X-Men #506 – 49,115 02/11 Uncanny X-Men #533 - 63,529 02/12 Uncanny X-Men v2 #6 - 42,419 --- 02/13 Uncanny X-Men v3 #1 - 177,463 (+169.0%) 02/13 Uncanny X-Men v3 #2 - 94,615 ( -46.7%) 03/13 Uncanny X-Men v3 #3 - 85,775 ( -9.3%) 04/13 Uncanny X-Men v3 #4 - 80,047 ( -6.7%) 04/13 Uncanny X-Men v3 #5 - 78,919 ( -1.4%) 05/13 Uncanny X-Men v3 #6 - 73,621 ( -6.7%) 06/13 Uncanny X-Men v3 #7 - 73,719 ( +0.1%) 07/13 Uncanny X-Men v3 #8 - 70,274 ( -4.7%) 07/13 Uncanny X-Men v3 #9 - 67,338 ( -4.2%) 08/13 Uncanny X-Men v3 #10 - 70,903 ( +5.3%) 08/13 Uncanny X-Men v3 #11 - 65,700 ( -7.3%) 09/13 Uncanny X-Men v3 #12 - 76,790 ( +16.9%) 10/13 Uncanny X-Men v3 #13 - 75,202 ( -2.1%) 11/13 Uncanny X-Men v3 #14 - 65,655 ( -12.7%) 12/13 Uncanny #15.INH - 62,692 ( -4.5%) 01/14 Uncanny X-Men v3 #16 - 58,676 ( -6.4%) 02/14 Uncanny X-Men v3 #17 – 56,163 ( -4.3%) --- 6 mnth ( -20.8%) 1 year ( -68.4%) 2 year ( -6.0%) 3 year ( 4.3%) 5 year ( -21.6%) 10 year ( -34.9%)
This series has been losing sales pretty quickly since the last crossover event ended. Next month the title gets a .Now issue with 3 variants that should help boost sales a bit, but if the .Now trend we’ve seen in other books continues, then the success will likely be short lived.
17. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY 02/09 Guardians v2 #10 - 27,643 --- 02/13 Guardians #0.1 - 80,344 03/13 Guardians v3 #1 - 217,993 (+171.3%) 04/13 Guardians v3 #2 - 88,184 ( -59.5%) 05/13 --- 06/13 Guardians v3 #3 - 75,633 ( -14.2%) 06/13 Guardians v3 #4 - 71,575 ( -5.4%) 07/13 Guardians v3 #5 - 110,372 ( +54.2%) 08/13 --- 09/13 Guardians v3 #6 - 69,030 ( -37.5%) 10/13 Guardians v3 #7 - 68,647 ( -0.6%) 10/13 Guardians v3 #8 - 63,494 ( -7.5%) 11/13 --- 12/13 Guardians v3 #9 - 57,665 ( -9.2%) 12/13 Guardians v3 #10 - 53,527 ( -7.2%) 01/14 Guardian #11.NOW - 61,111 ( 14.7%) [63,496] 02/14 Guardians v3 #12 - 55,454 ( -9.3%) --- 6 mnth ( --- ) 1 year ( -31.0%) 2 year ( --- ) 3 year ( --- ) 5 year ( 100.6%) 10 year ( --- )
Issue 12 has one variant and continue the crossover with All-New X-men that began in last month’s .Now issue. Even with a variant and the crossover, Guardians still sees a sizable sales drop. Following the crossover, there will be a double-sized 100th issue that should help boost sales a bit.
18. PUNISHER 02/04 Punisher v7 #3 – 46,383 02/09 Punisher v8 #2 – 36,519 02/12 Punisher v9 #8 - 22,488 --- 09/13 Trial #1 of 2 - 22,626 10/13 Trial #2 of 2 - 20,143 (-11.0%) 11/13 --- 12/13 --- 01/14 --- 02/14 Punisher v10 #1 – 54,558 ( --- ) 02/14 Punisher v10 #2 – 31,709 ( -41.9%) --- 6 mnth ( --- ) 1 year ( --- ) 2 year ( 143.0%) 3 year ( --- ) 5 year ( 49.4%) 10 year ( 17.6%)
Punisher returns with a new #1 and 4 variant covers, but that drop from issue 1 to issue 2 does not look very healthy. What is interesting about these numbers is that clearly the lower 31k number is what retailers expected this book to really sell. The issue 1 sales represent overstocking because you always carry more of #1 for people to try out. Reviews of this series have been good, so maybe it will see some growth as new readers hear the positive buzz and try it out. Otherwise, look for it to slowly drift into the low 20k range over the next few months.
#1 – 4 variant
#2-3 – variant
19. ORIGIN II 09/01 Origin #1 of 6 - 135,561 10/01 Origin #2 of 6 - 131,582 10/01 Origin #3 of 6 - 128,978 12/01 Origin #4 of 6 - 168,460 01/02 Origin #5 of 6 - 178,231 02/02 Origin #6 of 6 - 179,251 --- 12/13 Origin II #1 of 5 - 131,724 01/14 Origin II #2 of 5 - 64,631 (-50.9%) 02/14 Origin II #3 of 5 - 53,640 (-17.0%)
This revisit to Wolverine’s early days is still losing sales and the mini-series will probably end somewhere in low 40k range when all is said and done.
20. UNCANNY AVENGERS --- 02/13 Uncanny Avengers #4 - 87,539 ( -5.0%) 03/13 Uncanny Avengers #5 - 84,382 ( -3.6%) 04/13 Uncanny Avengers #6 - 80,863 ( -4.2%) 04/13 Uncanny Avengers #7 - 77,027 ( -4.7%) 05/13 Uncanny Avengers #8 - 75,655 ( -1.8%) 05/13 Uncanny Av. #8AU - 72,514 ( -4.2%) 06/13 Uncanny Avengers #9 - 71,842 ( -0.9%) 07/13 Uncanny Avengers #10 - 68,768 ( -4.3%) 08/13 Uncanny Avengers #11 - 65,447 ( -4.8%) 09/13 Uncanny Avengers #12 - 73,357 (+12.1%) 10/13 Uncanny Avengers #13 - 60,597 (-17.4%) 11/13 Uncanny Avengers #14 - 60,750 ( +0.3%) 12/13 Uncanny Avengers #15 - 57,035 ( -6.1%) 01/14 Uncanny Avengers #16 - 54,670 ( -4.1%) 02/14 Uncanny Avengers #17 – 53,181 ( -2.7%) --- 6 mnth ( -18.7%) 1 year ( -39.2%)
This series continues to lose some steam, but next month the Planet X storyline starts and there will be a .Now issue with 4 variants. Retailers will definitely be upping orders for that issue but as seems to be the trend following a .Now issues that sales bump won’t last.
21, 27. X-MEN --- 02/13 X-Men v3 #41 - 32,488 ( +13.9%) 03/13 --- 04/13 --- 05/13 X-Men v4 #1 - 183,297 (+464.2%) 06/13 X-Men v4 #2 - 73,542 ( -59.9%) 07/13 X-Men v4 #3 - 65,270 ( -11.2%) 08/13 X-Men v4 #4 - 64,010 ( -1.9%) 09/13 X-Men v4 #5 - 73,357 ( +14.6%) 10/13 X-Men v4 #6 - 71,990 ( -1.9%) 11/13 X-Men v4 #7 - 56,968 ( -20.9%) 12/13 X-Men v4 #8 - 53,201 ( -6.6%) 01/14 X-Men v4 #9 - 49,412 ( -7.1%) 02/14 X-M #10.Now - 52,486 ( 6.2%) 02/14 X-Men v4 #11 - 47,498 ( -9.5%) --- 6 mnth ( -18.0%) 1 year ( 61.6%)
Issue 10.Now had 3 variants and boosted sales a bit, but then they drop right back down with the next issue after the .Now issue. The whole point of .Now issues is to be a good jumping on point and get new readers interested. But so far none of these seem to have bolstered sales for more than that particular issue.
23. NEW AVENGERS 02/09 New Avengers v1 #50 - 106,812 02/11 New Avengers v2 #9 - 60,914 02/12 New Avengers v2 #21 - 54,105 --- 02/13 New Avengers v3 #3 - 72,110 ( -9.2%) 03/13 New Avengers v3 #4 - 65,150 ( -9.7%) 04/13 New Avengers v3 #5 - 63,423 ( -2.7%) 05/13 New Avengers v3 #6 - 59,362 ( -6.4%) 06/13 New Avengers v3 #7 - 60,138 ( +1.3%) 07/13 New Avengers v3 #8 - 58,044 ( -3.5%) 08/13 New Avengers v3 #9 - 60,534 ( +4.3%) 09/13 New Avengers v3 #10 - 60,682 ( +0.2%) 10/13 New Avengers v3 #11 - 63,231 ( +4.2%) 11/13 New Avengers v3 #12 - 58,807 ( -7.0%) 12/13 N Avengers #13.INH - 56,624 ( -3.7%) 01/14 --- 02/14 New Avengers v3 #14 - 50,668 ( -10.5%) --- 6 mnth ( -16.3%) 1 year ( -29.7%) 2 year ( -6.0) 3 year ( -16.8%) 5 year ( -52.6%)
Still losing sales since Infinity. But we’ll see next month if the .Now issue can help it gain some momentum for the next story arc.
24. Ms. Marvel 02/14 Ms. Marvel #1 - 50,286 ( --- )
The new Ms. Marvel debuts with 50k in sales, plus all indicators suggest it did great digitally too. It’ll be interesting to see if it maintains decent numbers for issue 2. Keep in mind as well that this issue sold out and went to a second print so these numbers will get adjusted and be higher.
26. AMAZING X-MEN 02/11 Astonishing X-Men #36 - 44,326 02/12 Astonishing X-Men #47 - 30,490 --- 02/13 Astonishing X-Men #59 - 24,195 ( -3.8%) 03/13 Astonishing X-Men #60 - 27,683 ( +14.4%) 04/13 Astonishing X-Men #61 - 27,090 ( -2.1%) 05/13 Astonishing X-Men #62 - 24,121 ( -11.0%) 06/13 Astonishing X-Men #63 - 23,326 ( -3.3%) 07/13 Astonishing X-Men #64 - 22,649 ( -2.9%) 08/13 Astonishing X-Men #65 - 22,010 ( -2.8%) 08/13 Astonishing X-Men #66 - 21,757 ( -1.1%) 09/13 Astonishing X-Men #67 - 21,044 ( -3.3%) 10/13 Astonishing X-Men #68 - 21,023 ( -0.0%) 11/13 Amazing X-Men v2 #1 - 112,337 (+434.4%) 12/13 Amazing X-Men v2 #2 - 60,870 ( -45.8%) 01/14 Amazing X-Men v2 #3 - 51,431 ( -15.5%) 02/14 Amazing X-Men v2 #4 - 48,161 ( -6.4%) --- 6 mnth ( 118.8%) 1 year ( 99.1%) 2 year ( 58.0%) 3 year ( 8.7%)
Only a drop of 6% this month, so not terrible. Maybe this book will level out around 40k
02/12 X-Force v5 #2 – 56,713
—
02/13 X-Force v5 #2 – 56,713 (-34.2%)
03/13 X-Force v5 #3 – 51,721 ( -8.8%)
04/13 —
05/13 X-Force v5 #4 – 47,727 ( -7.7%)
05/13 X-Force v5 #5 – 45,674 ( -4.3%)
06/13 X-Force v5 #6 – 42,496 ( -7.0%)
06/13 X-Force v5 #7 – 40,380 ( -5.0%)
07/13 X-Force v5 #8 – 37,781 ( -6.4%)
07/13 X-Force v5 #9 – 36,978 ( -2.1%)
08/13 X-Force v5 #10 – 35,329 ( -4.5%)
09/13 X-Force v5 #11 – 36,186 ( +2.4%)
10/13 X-Force v5 #12 – 32,559 (-10.0%)
10/13 X-Force v5 #13 – 30,567 ( -6.1%)
11/13 X-Force v5 #14 – 28,885 ( -5.5%)
12/13 X-Force v5 #15 – 27,567 ( -4.6%)
01/14 X-Force v5 #16 – 27,701 ( 0.5%)
01/14 X-Force v5 #17 – 27,319 ( -1.4%)
02/14 X-Force v6 #1 – 47,427 ( 73.6%)
—
6 mnth ( 34.2%)
1 year ( -16.4%)
2 year ( -6.0%)
3 year ( -7.9%)
5 year ( -7.8%)
X-Force debuts with a new team, 4 variant covers, and a new #1 with sales below 50k. if it follows the trend of losing 30 to 40% for its second issue, it will drop right back down to the low 30k range where it was before the new #1. Perhaps there isn’t room for Cable’s team amongst the crowded x-books.
30. New Warriors 02/09 New Warriors #20 - 15,081 --- 02/14 New Warriors #1 - 45,765 ( --- ) --- 5 year ( -7.8%)
There’s a new New Warriors and they are all-new now! But orders aren’t very high at around 45k. Marvel recently announced a second printing, so maybe there was more demand than was expected for the New Warriors. It will be very interesting to see how the sales trend for this title over the next few months.
34. THOR: GOD OF THUNDER 02/04 Thor v2 #74 - 30,530 02/09 Thor #600 - 96,700 02/11 Thor #620 - 42,106 02/12 Thor v4 #11 - 36,066 --- 02/13 Thor v5 #5 - 51,861 ( +2.7%) 03/13 Thor v5 #6 - 50,481 ( -2.7%) 04/13 Thor v5 #7 - 51,526 ( +2.1%) 05/13 Thor v5 #8 - 48,622 ( -5.6%) 06/13 Thor v5 #9 - 49,125 ( +1.0%) 07/13 Thor v5 #10 - 46,204 ( -5.9%) 08/13 Thor v5 #11 - 45,397 ( -1.7%) 08/13 Thor v5 #12 - 44,865 ( -1.2%) 09/13 Thor v5 #13 - 48,007 ( +7.0%) 10/13 Thor v5 #14 - 46,008 ( -4.2%) 11/13 Thor v5 #15 - 41,259 (-10.3%) 12/13 Thor v5 #16 - 39,597 ( -4.0%) 01/14 Thor v5 #17 - 38,913 ( -1.7%) 01/14 Thor v5 #18 - 38,190 ( -1.9%) 02/14 Thor #19.Now – 42,034 ( 10.1%) --- 6 mnth ( -7.4%) 1 year ( -18.9%) 2 year ( 20.0%) 3 year ( -0.2%) 5 year ( -56.5%) 10 year ( 37.7%)
Thor gets the .Now treatment and 2 variants this month and sees a 10% growth putting it over 40k for the first time in a few months. It will most likely drop 4-5k orders next month.
35. Loki 02/11 Loki #1 - 13,039 --- 02/14 Loki #1 - 41,921 ( --- ) --- 3 year (221.5%)
Loki debuts just under his brother Thor and just over 40k. Compared to his last series a few years ago, he is doing much better already.
36. She-Hulk 02/09 She-Hulk v2 #38 - 18,083 02/11 She-Hulks #4 - 12,226 02/13 Red She-Hulk#62 - 17,766 --- 02/14 She-Hulk #1 - 41,921 ( --- ) --- 1 Year (135.8%) 3 Year (242.7%) 5 Year (131.7%)
She-Hulk debuts with 41k and apparently sold out of issue 1 and had to go back to print. It is telling that this new wave of All-New Marvel Now had so many books sell out. Did Marvel fail to get word out to stores that these books would be hot? Or are these books just getting rave reviews and defying everyone’s expectations? I’ll be watching the trends on these New Marvel now series to see if they seem some growth in the coming months after retailers have a chance to restock.
37, 38. DEADPOOL 02/09 Deadpool v3 #7 - 44,074 02/11 Deadpool v3 #33 - 28,649 02/12 Deadpool v3 #50 - 36,392 --- 02/13 Deadpool v4 #5 - 57,312 ( +0.4%) 03/13 Deadpool v4 #6 - 57,095 ( -0.4%) 04/13 Deadpool v4 #7 - 57,016 ( -0.1%) 04/13 Deadpool v4 #8 - 52,851 ( -7.3%) 05/13 Deadpool v4 #9 - 51,296 ( -2.9%) 05/13 Deadpool v4 #10 - 50,461 ( -1.6%) 06/13 Deadpool v4 #11 - 54,110 ( +7.2%) 06/13 Deadpool v4 #12 - 48,315 ( -10.7%) 07/13 Deadpool v4 #13 - 47,006 ( -2.7%) 08/13 Deadpool v4 #14 - 45,870 ( -2.4%) 08/13 Deadpool v4 #15 - 46,169 ( +0.7%) 09/13 Deadpool v4 #16 - 45,675 ( -1.1%) 09/13 Deadpool v4 #17 - 45,348 ( -0.7%) 10/13 Deadpool v4 #18 - 47,096 ( +3.9%) 11/13 Deadpool v4 #19 - 44,184 ( -6.2%) 12/13 Deadpool v4 #20 - 43,653 ( -1.2%) 12/13 Deadpool v4 #21 - 43,066 ( -1.3%) 01/14 Deadpool v4 #22 - 41,765 ( -3.0%) 02/14 Deadpool v4 #23 - 41,204 ( -1.3%) 02/14 Deadpool v4 #24 - 41,130 ( -0.2%) --- 6 mnth ( -10.2%) 1 year ( -28.1%) 2 year ( 13.0%) 3 year ( 43.8%) 5 year ( -6.5%)
Deadpool sales are very solid at 40k. Look at how steady they are, only losing around 1% a month even with no variants, and with the 25.Now issue next month it will get a decent sales boost.
39. AVENGERS WORLD 01/14 Avengers World #1 - 86,727 [88,281] 01/14 Avengers World #2 - 53,693 (-38.1%) 02/14 Avengers World #3 – 39,999 (-25.5%)
So Marvel’s top book last month has now lost more than half its sales and is under 40k. Remember, last month when I said that there may be too many Avengers books crowding the market? This is the book that I really feel is indicative of that overcrowding. If I was still in retailing I would have a hard time telling customers how this book differs from Avengers.
40. HAWKEYE 02/13 Hawkeye v4 #8 - 36,898 ( -0.3%) 03/13 --- 04/13 Hawkeye v4 #9 - 39,678 ( +7.5%) 05/13 Hawkeye v4 #10 - 42,090 ( +6.1%) 06/13 Hawkeye v4 #11 - 40,510 ( -3.8%) 06/13 Hawkeye v4 #12 - 40,837 ( +0.8%) 07/13 --- 08/13 --- 09/13 --- 10/13 Hawkeye v4 #13 - 40,476 ( -0.9%) 11/13 Hawkeye v4 #14 - 39,863 ( -1.5%) 11/13 --- 12/13 --- 01/14 Hawkeye v4 #16 - 37,074 ( -6.9%) 02/14 Hawkeye v4 #15 – 39,546 ( +6.7%)
So this is a little weird. Hawkeye did chart this month at rank 40, but it was for the missing issue 15 which came out a month after #16. Yeah… anyway it saw an increase in sales so that is good and issue 17 and 18 seem to be on track to come out on time and in the right order.
41. KICK-ASS 3 [Icon] 06/13 Kick-Ass 3 #1 of 8 - 78,035 07/13 --- 08/13 Kick-Ass 3 #2 of 8 - 50,102 (-35.8%) 09/13 Kick-Ass 3 #3 of 8 - 44,540 (-11.1%) 10/13 Kick-Ass 3 #4 of 8 - 40,412 ( -9.3%) 11/13 Kick-Ass 3 #5 of 8 - 38,639 ( -4.4%) 12/13 --- 01/14 --- 02/14 Kick-Ass 3 #6 of 8 – 39,534 ( 2.3%) --- 6 Mnth ( -21.1%)
After a few months off, there’s a new Kick-Ass 3 issue and sales are slightly up. This series will probably end around 35k mark.
43. NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEADPOOL 01/14 Night #1 of 4 - 47,596 [50,746] 01/14 Night #2 of 4 - 40,241 ( -15.5%) 02/14 Night #3 of 4 – 37,974 ( -5.6%)
Pretty decent numbers for a spin-off mini-series of the main series.
45. CAPTAIN AMERICA 02/04 Captain America v4 #23 - 39,684 02/09 Captain America v5 #47 – 62,838 02/11 Captain America #615- 41,935 02/12 Captain America v6 #8 - 43,487 --- 02/13 Captain America v7 #4 - 53,112 ( -11.2%) 03/13 Captain America v7 #5 - 49,186 ( -7.4%) 04/13 Captain America v7 #6 - 47,802 ( -2.8%) 05/13 Captain America v7 #7 - 44,024 ( -7.9%) 06/13 Captain America v7 #8 - 43,791 ( -0.5%) 07/13 Captain America v7 #9 - 40,796 ( -6.8%) 08/13 Captain America v7 #10 - 39,356 ( -3.5%) 09/13 Captain America v7 #11 - 38,521 ( -2.1%) 10/13 Captain America v7 #12 - 38,684 ( +0.4%) 11/13 Captain America v7 #13 - 36,147 ( -6.6%) 12/13 Captain America v7 #14 - 34,532 ( -4.5%) 01/14 Captain America v7 #15 - 33,433 ( -3.2%) 02/14 Capt AmericaV7 #16.Now – 36,534 ( 9.3%) 02/14 Captain America v7 #17 – 33,312 ( -8.8%) --- 6 Mnth ( -7.2%) 1 Year ( -31.2%) 2 Year ( -16.0%) 3 Year ( -12.9%) 5 Year ( -41.9%) 10 Year ( -7.9%)
Captain America drops right down to where it was before last month’s .NOW issue. With a major movie coming out next month, there might be some extra interest in this book, but probably not a lot. Seems like Marvel should be finding a way to capitalize on the success of their comic book films with the comic books they are based off, but if you look at Cap, Thor, and Iron man, that doesn’t seem to be the case.
46, 50. WOLVERINE & THE X-MEN 02/12 Wolverine/X-Men #5 - 55,788 --- 02/13 Wolverine/X-Men #25 - 45,057 ( +0.8%) 03/13 Wolverine/X-Men #26 - 42,019 ( -6.7%) 03/13 Wolverine/X-Men #27 - 41,960 ( -0.1%) 04/13 Wolv & X-Men #27AU - 47,055 (+12.1%) 04/13 Wolverine/X-Men #28 - 42,718 ( -9.2%) 05/13 Wolverine/X-Men #29 - 40,451 ( -5.3%) 05/13 Wolverine/X-Men #30 - 40,019 ( -1.1%) 06/13 Wolverine/X-Men #31 - 41,661 ( +4.1%) 06/13 Wolverine/X-Men #32 - 39,790 ( -4.5%) 07/13 Wolverine/X-Men #33 - 42,269 ( +6.2%) 08/13 Wolverine/X-Men #34 - 38,473 ( -9.0%) 08/13 Wolverine/X-Men #35 - 38,046 ( -1.1%) 09/13 Wolverine/X-Men #36 - 59,684 (+56.9%) 10/13 Wolverine/X-Men #37 - 57,434 ( -3.8%) 11/13 Wolverine/X-Men #38 - 39,098 (-31.9%) 12/13 Wolverine/X-Men #39 - 39,063 ( -0.1%) 01/14 Wolverine/X-Men #40 - 36,855 ( -5.7%) 02/14 Wolverine/X-Men #41 – 35,800 ( -2.9%) 02/14 Wolverine/X-Men #42 – 35,392 ( -1.1%) --- 6 Mnth ( -6.9%) 1 Year ( -20.5%) 2 Year ( -36.0%)
Final issue of this run levels out a bit. We’ll have to see how the new #1 and #2 do next month when they double-ship.
58. ALL-NEW INVADERS 02/12 Avengers Invaders #8 – 48,311 02/13 Invaders Now #5 – 14,897 --- 01/14 All-New Invaders #1 - 55,167 02/14 All-New Invaders #2 – 32,293 (-41.5%) 6 Mnth ( --- ) 1 Year ( 116.8%) 2 Year ( -33.0%)
All-New Invaders takes a big 40% drop for issue 2. It could level out over the next few months and stabilize around 25k but there’s not a lot of buzz around it so that doesn’t look likely.
60. DAREDEVIL 02/04 Daredevil v2 #57 - 54,629 02/11 DD Reborn #2 - 29,108 02/12 Daredevil v3 #9 - 37,891 --- 02/13 Daredevil v3 #23 - 37,170 ( +3.0%) 03/13 Daredevil v3 #24 - 37,231 ( +0.2%) 04/13 Daredevil v3 #25 - 39,678 ( +6.6%) 05/13 Daredevil v3 #26 - 39,788 ( +0.3%) 06/13 Daredevil v3 #27 - 35,834 ( -9.9%) 07/13 Daredevil v3 #28 - 35,364 ( -1.3%) 07/13 Daredevil v3 #29 - 34,915 ( -1.3%) 08/13 Daredevil v3 #30 - 35,240 ( +0.9%) 09/13 Daredevil v3 #31 - 36,666 ( +4.0%) 10/13 Daredevil v3 #32 - 34,957 ( -4.7%) 11/13 Daredevil v3 #33 - 32,966 ( -5.7%) 12/13 Daredevil v3 #34 - 32,331 ( -1.9%) 01/14 Daredevil v3 #35 - 32,067 ( -0.8%) 02/14 Daredevil v3 #36 – 31,494 ( -1.8%) --- 6 Mnth ( -10.6%) 1 Year ( -15.3%) 2 Year ( 8.2%) 3 Year ( -33.0%) 5 Year ( --- ) 10 Year ( 42.3%)
Final issue before the relaunch and it ends on very stable footing. This book consistently gets rave reviews, so hopefully the #1 next month will give stores a good reason to put this book in the hands of new readers.
62. INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK 02/04 Incred Hulk v3 #67 - 47,619 02/11 Incred Hulks #622 - 30,404 02/12 Incred Hulk v4 #5 - 42,760 --- 02/13 Indestructible #4 - 56,214 ( -5.4%) 03/13 Indestructible #5 - 54,967 ( -2.2%) 04/13 Indestructible #6 - 55,470 ( +0.9%) 05/13 Indestructible #7 - 49,956 ( -9.9%) 05/13 Indestructible #8 - 48,866 ( -2.2%) 06/13 Indestructible #9 - 49,427 ( +1.1%) 07/13 Indestructible #10 - 45,531 ( -7.9%) 07/13 Indestructible #11 - 45,241 ( -0.6%) 08/13 Indestructible #12 - 43,673 ( -3.5%) 09/13 Indestructible #13 - 41,805 ( -4.3%) 10/13 Indestructible #14 - 40,963 ( -2.0%) 11/13 Indestructible #15 - 37,025 ( -9.6%) 11/13 Indestructible #16 - 35,871 ( -3.1%) 12/13 Hulk #17.INH - 35,679 ( -0.5%) 01/14 Hulk #18.INH - 33,056 ( -7.4%) 02/14 Indestructible #19 - 31,192 ( -5.6%) --- 6 Mnth ( -28.6%) 1 Year ( -44.5%) 2 Year ( -27.0%) 3 Year ( 2.6%) 10 Year ( -34.5%)
One more issue before this gets the all-new #1 treatment which should help boost this book’s falling sales.
63. Winter Soldier Bitter March 02/12 Winter Soldier #1 - 50,932 02/13 Winter Soldier #15 – 22,199 --- 02/14 W. Soldier BM #1 - 31,137 ( --- ) --- 1 Year ( 40.3%) 2 Year ( -39.0%)
Hey, look, a new Winter Soldier mini-series just in time for the new Winter Soldier movie. Seems like a sure-fire hit right? I guess not. Wonder why retailers didn’t bite on this one. Is it the fact that this is set in the past? Or maybe the fact that it doesn’t actually star the Winter Soldier in the lead role? It seems silly that Marvel would release this to match up with the movie and not have it star Winter Soldier or Captain America.
67. ALL-NEW X-FACTOR 02/09 X-Factor #40 - 31,938 02/11 X-Factor #215 - 25,298 02/12 X-Factor #231 - 24,362 --- 02/13 X-Factor #251 - 21,096 ( -6.3%) 02/13 X-Factor #252 - 20,929 ( -0.8%) 03/13 X-Factor #253 - 20,835 ( -0.4%) 04/13 X-Factor #254 - 20,579 ( -1.2%) 05/13 X-Factor #255 - 20,442 ( -0.7%) 05/13 X-Factor #256 - 20,602 ( +0.8%) 06/13 X-Factor #257 - 20,264 ( -1.6%) 06/13 X-Factor #258 - 20,154 ( -0.5%) 07/13 X-Factor #259 - 20,065 ( -0.4%) 08/13 X-Factor #260 - 19,982 ( -0.4%) 08/13 X-Factor #261 - 19,781 ( -1.0%) 09/13 X-Factor #262 - 20,382 ( +3.0%) 10/13 --- 11/13 --- 12/13 --- 01/14 X-Factor v4 #1 - 45,727 ( 01/14 X-Factor v4 #2 - 32,228 ( -29.5%)[34,144] 02/14 X-Factor v4 #3 - 29,915 ( -3.2%) --- 6 Mnth ( 49.7%) 1 Year ( 41.8%) 2 Year ( 23.0%) 3 Year ( 18.3%) 5 Year ( -6.3%)
So this book is already on a spiral towards its pre-relaunch numbers. It’ll probably settle down around 20k in a few months.
68. IRON MAN 02/04 Iron Man v3 #76 - 29,740 02/09 Inv Iron Man #10 - 51,640 02/11 Inv Iron Man #501 - 42,191 02/12 Inv Iron Man #513 - 32,748 --- 02/13 Iron Man v6 #6 - 46,206 ( -9.2%) 03/13 Iron Man v6 #7 - 44,040 ( -4.7%) 04/13 Iron Man v6 #8 - 43,974 ( -0.1%) 05/13 Iron Man v6 #9 - 78,006 ( +77.4%) 05/13 Iron Man v6 #10 - 45,424 ( -41.8%) 06/13 Iron Man v6 #11 - 44,409 ( -2.2%) 07/13 Iron Man v6 #12 - 40,405 ( -9.0%) 07/13 Iron Man v6 #13 - 39,534 ( -2.2%) 08/13 Iron Man v6 #14 - 38,137 ( -3.5%) 09/13 Iron Man v6 #15 - 36,346 ( -4.7%) 10/13 Iron Man v6 #16 - 35,924 ( -1.2%) 10/13 Iron Man v6 #17 - 39,047 ( +8.7%) 11/13 Iron Man v6 #18 - 36,135 ( -7.5%) 12/13 Iron Man v6 #19 - 32,537 ( -10.0%) 01/14 Iron Man v6 #20 - 30,533 ( -6.2%) 01/14 Iron #20.INH - 30,512 ( -0.1%) 02/14 Iron Man v6 #21 – 29,546 ( -3.2%) --- 6 Mnth ( -22.5%) 1 Year ( -36.1%) 2 Year ( -10.0%) 3 Year ( -30.0%) 5 Year ( -42.8%) 10 Year ( -0.7%)
So the bad news is that Iron Man continues to lose readers each month. The Good news is that next month it gets a .NOW and some variants and will probably gain some sales before starting to lose them again.
70. BLACK WIDOW 01/14 Black Widow #1 - 53,879 [56,553] 01/14 Black Widow #2 - 31,260 ( -42.0%) 02/14 Black Widow #3 – 28,127 ( -10.0%)
I’m interested to see if sales start to grow on this book. The reviews have been very positive and both issue 1 and 2 went to second print. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a slight uptick in orders for March or April.
72,78. MIGHTY AVENGERS 02/09 Mighty Avengers #21 - 27,195 --- 09/13 Mighty Avengers v2 #1 - 101,921 10/13 Mighty Avengers v2 #2 - 54,862 (-46.2%) 11/13 Mighty Avengers v2 #3 - 42,210 (-23.1%) 12/13 Mighty Avengers v2 #4 - 35,740 (-15.3%) 01/14 Mighty Avengers#5.INH - 30,251 (-15.4%) 02/14 Mighty Avengers v2 #6 - 27,195 (-10.1%) 02/14 Mighty Avengers v2 #7 - 26,512 ( -2.5%) --- 5 Year ( -64.3%)
Oh Mighty Avengers. You are the only Avengers book I read and you are quite good, yet you just cannot seem to hold onto sales. I firmly believe that if there were only 3 or 4 Avengers books instead of 8 and this was one of them, it would sell better. I think it is just an overcrowded market.
79. NOVA 02/09 Nova v4 #22 - 25,060 --- 02/13 Nova v5 #1 - 80,857 03/13 Nova v5 #2 - 46,725 (-42.2%) 04/13 Nova v5 #3 - 40,548 (-13.2%) 05/13 Nova v5 #4 - 38,151 ( -5.9%) 06/13 Nova v5 #5 - 36,545 ( -4.2%) 07/13 Nova v5 #6 - 34,234 ( -6.3%) 08/13 Nova v5 #7 - 31,937 ( -6.7%) 09/13 Nova v5 #8 - 37,767 (+18.3%) 10/13 Nova v5 #9 - 32,323 (-14.4%) 11/13 Nova v5 #10 - 32,716 ( +1.2%) 12/13 Nova v5 #11 - 27,982 (-14.5%) 01/14 Nova v5 #12 - 25,043 ( -10.5%) 02/14 Nova#13.Now – 26,147 ( 4.4%) --- 6 Mnth ( -18.1%) 1 Year ( -67.7%) 5 Year ( 4.3%)
That is not a very big increase for the .NOW issue, even with 3 variants. Most likely sales will continue to drop for Nova.
80. IRON MAN ANNUAL 02/14 Iron Man Annual #1 – 26,047
81. MIRACLEMAN 01/14 Miracleman #1 - 52,313 01/14 Miracleman #2 - 36,927 ( -29.4%)[38,559] 02/14 Miracleman #3 – 25,970 ( -32.6%)
Sales on Miracleman continue to drop. How low can he go?
82. SUPERIOR CARNAGE ANNUAL 02/11 Carnage #3 – 28,434 02/12 Carnage USA #1 – 28,272 08/13 Sup Carnage #2 – 40,864 --- 02/14 Sup. Carnage Annual #1 – 25,806 --- 6 Mnth ( -36.8%)2 Year ( -9.0%) 3 Year ( -9.2%)
83. CATACLYSM 07/13 Hunger #1 of 4 - 70,835 08/13 Hunger #2 of 4 - 44,929 (-36.6%) 09/13 --- 10/13 Hunger #3 of 4 - 39,915 (-11.2%) 10/13 Hunger #4 of 4 - 36,775 ( -7.9%) 10/13 Cataclysm #0.1 - 37,589 ( +2.2%) 11/13 Cataclysm #1 of 5 - 42,109 (+12.0%) 12/13 Cataclysm #2 of 5 - 33,348 (-20.8%) 01/14 Cataclysm #3 of 5 - 29,566 (-11.3% 01/14 Cataclysm #4 of 5 - 26,363 (-10.8%) 02/14 Cataclysm #5 of 5 – 25,752 ( -2.3%) --- 6 Mnth (-42.7%)
The Cataclym has ended with less than stellar sales numbers. Many people thought this would be the end of the Ultimate Universe. But there will be new Ultimate books in April.
86. SAVAGE WOLVERINE 02/13 Savage Wolverine #2 - 58,254 (-43.2%) 03/13 Savage Wolverine #3 - 50,310 (-13.6%) 04/13 Savage Wolverine #4 - 45,933 ( -8.7%) 05/13 Savage Wolverine #5 - 42,328 ( -7.8%) 06/13 Savage Wolverine #6 - 59,410 (+40.4%) 07/13 Savage Wolverine #7 - 40,946 (-31.1%) 08/13 --- 09/13 Savage Wolverine #8 - 38,208 ( -6.7%) 10/13 Savage Wolverine #9 - 36,451 ( -4.6%) 10/13 Savage Wolverine #10 - 33,627 ( -7.7%) 11/13 Savage Wolverine #11 - 30,338 ( -9.8%) 11/13 Savage Wolverine #12 - 29,739 ( -2.0%) 12/13 Savage Wolverine #13 - 27,490 ( -7.6%) 01/14 Savage #14.NOW - 30,370 ( 10.5%) 02/14 Savage Wolverine #15 - 25,190 (-17.1%) --- 6 Mnth ( -34.1%) 1 Year ( -56.8%)
After last month’s .NOW, Savage Wolverine takes a big hit this month. This book does not seem to be finding its level anytime soon. This series offers different creative teams a chance to give their take on Wolverine. However, that ever-changing creative line-up and new direction every couple months, might be making it hard for readers to find something solid to latch onto.
89. THUNDERBOLTS 02/09 Thunderbolts #129 - 45,392 02/11 Thunderbolts #153 - 26,098 02/12 Thunderbolts #170 - 19,505 --- 02/13 Thunderbolts v2 #4 - 43,287 ( -2.2%) 02/13 Thunderbolts v2 #5 - 41,663 ( -3.8%) 03/13 Thunderbolts v2 #6 - 39,293 ( -5.7%) 03/13 Thunderbolts v2 #7 - 38,553 ( -1.9%) 04/13 Thunderbolts v2 #8 - 36,979 ( -4.1%) 05/13 Thunderbolts v2 #9 - 32,855 (-11.2%) 06/13 Thunderbolts v2 #10 - 32,682 ( -0.5%) 06/13 Thunderbolts v2 #11 - 30,618 ( -6.3%) 07/13 Thunderbolts v2 #12 - 29,081 ( -5.0%) 07/13 Thunderbolts v2 #13 - 28,528 ( -1.9%) 08/13 Thunderbolts v2 #14 - 30,620 ( +7.3%) 09/13 Thunderbolts v2 #15 - 29,703 ( -3.0%) 10/13 Thunderbolts v2 #16 - 29,334 ( -1.2%) 10/13 Thunderbolts v2 #17 - 28,324 ( -3.4%) 11/13 Thunderbolts v2 #18 - 26,502 ( -6.4%) 12/13 Thunderbolts v2 #19 - 24,959 ( -5.8%) 01/14 Thunderblts #20.NOW - 28,994 ( 16.2%) 01/14 Thunderbolts v2 #21 - 24,293 (-16.2%) 02/14 Thunderbolts v2 #22 – 23,629 ( -2.7%) --- 6 Mnth ( -22.8%) 1 Year ( -45.4%) 2 Year ( 21.0%) 3 Year ( -9.5%) 5 Year ( -47.9%)
This is another book having trouble leveling out. Perhaps the new creative team starting with issue 27 will spur some new interest?
94. SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN TEAM-UP 02/13 Avenging #14 - 45,622 --- 02/13 Avenging #17 - 30,783 ( +6.0%) 03/13 Avenging #18 - 31,657 ( +2.8%) 04/13 Avenging #19 - 28,740 ( -9.2%) 05/13 Avenging #20 - 27,609 ( -3.9%) 05/13 Avenging #21 - 27,251 ( -1.3%) 06/13 Avenging #22 - 26,799 ( -1.7%) 07/13 Superior Team-Up #1 - 76,959 (+187.2%) 08/13 Superior Team-Up #2 - 41,155 ( -46.5%) 09/13 Superior Team-Up #3 - 37,363 ( -9.2%) 10/13 Superior Team-Up #4 - 36,296 ( -3.6%) 10/13 Superior Team-Up #5 - 30,424 ( -16.2%) 11/13 Superior Team-Up #6 - 27,189 ( -10.6%) 12/13 Sup. Team-up #7.NOW - 25,514 ( -6.2%) 12/13 Superior Team-Up #8 - 24,296 ( -4.8%) 01/14 Superior Team-Up #9 - 23,071 ( -5.0%) 02/14 Superior Team-Up #10- 22,124 ( -4.1%) --- 6 Mnth ( -46.2%) 1 Year ( -28.1%) 2 Year ( -52.0%)
All signs point to issue 12 in April being the last issue for this team-up book.
102. AVENGERS ASSEMBLE 02/13 Avengers Assemble #12 - 29,475 ( -5.0%) 03/13 Avengers Assemble #13 - 28,432 ( -3.6%) 04/13 Av. Assemble #14AU - 35,985 (+26.6%) 05/13 Av. Assemble #15AU - 33,183 ( -7.8%) 06/13 Avengers Assemble #16 - 27,497 (-17.1%) 07/13 Avengers Assemble #17 - 26,640 ( -3.1%) 08/13 Avengers Assemble #18 - 30,597 (+14.9%) 09/13 Avengers Assemble #19 - 29,564 ( -3.4%) 10/13 Avengers Assemble #20 - 28,886 ( -2.3%) 11/13 Avengers Assemble #21 - 24,831 (-14.0%) 12/13 Av. Assemble #22.INH - 24,168 ( -2.7%) 01/14 Av. Assemble #23.INH - 21,943 ( -9.2%) 02/14 Avengers Assemble #24 – 20,059 ( -8.6%) --- 6 Mnth ( -34.4%) 1 Year ( -31.9%)
One more issue to go for Avengers Assemble.
103, 104. SECRET AVENGERS 02/11 Secret Avengers #10 - 49,717 02/12 Secret Avengers #22 - 39,337 --- 02/13 Secret Avengers v2 #1 - 85,267 (+196.4%) 03/13 Secret Avengers v2 #2 - 46,419 ( -45.6%) 04/13 Secret Avengers v2 #3 - 38,676 ( -16.7%) 05/13 Secret Avengers v2 #4 - 33,428 ( -13.6%) 06/13 Secret Avengers v2 #5 - 31,437 ( -6.0%) 07/13 Secret Avengers v2 #6 - 28,908 ( -8.0%) 08/13 Secret Avengers v2 #7 - 27,222 ( -5.8%) 08/13 Secret Avengers v2 #8 - 26,150 ( -3.9%) 09/13 Secret Avengers v2 #9 - 24,870 ( -4.9%) 10/13 Secret Avengers v2 #10 - 29,134 ( +17.1%) 11/13 Secret Avengers v2 #11 - 25,326 ( -13.1%) 12/13 Secret Avengers v2 #12 - 23,863 ( -5.8%) 12/13 Secret Avengers v2 #13 - 23,172 ( -2.9%) 01/14 Secret Avengers v2 #14 - 21,372 ( -7.8%) 02/14 Secret Avengers v2 #15 – 20,059 ( -6.1%) 02/14 Secret Avengers v2 #16 – 20,022 ( -0.2%) --- 6 Mnth ( -26.3%) 1 Year ( -76.5%) 2 Year ( -49.0%) 3 Year ( -59.7%)
Last issue before it relaunches. Hopefully, the new direction will give this book the boost it needs.
106. SUPERIOR FOES OF SPIDER-MAN 07/13 Superior Foes #1 - 61,413 08/13 Superior Foes #2 - 34,300 (-44.1%) 09/13 Superior Foes #3 - 30,081 (-12.3%) 10/13 Superior Foes #4 - 26,884 (-10.6%) 11/13 Superior Foes #5 - 23,694 (-11.9%) 11/13 Superior Foes #6 - 21,367 ( -9.8%) 12/13 Superior Foes #7 - 20,858 ( -2.4%) 01/14 --- 02/14 Superior Foes #8 – 19,193 ( -8.0%) --- 6 Mnth ( -44.0%)
This book does not sell very well, but consistently gets rave reviews and apparently it will survive the return of Peter Parker and the Amazing brand name. At least through June solicitations.
113. MARVEL KNIGHTS: SPIDER-MAN 10/13 MK Spider-Man v2 #1 of 5 - 38,379 11/13 MK Spider-Man v2 #2 of 5 - 26,581 (-30.7%) 12/13 MK Spider-Man v2 #3 of 5 - 22,878 (-13.9%) 01/14 MK Spider-Man v2 #4 of 5 - 19,328 (-15.5%) 02/14 MK Spider-Man v2 #5 of 5 – 18,073 ( -6.5%)
So the sales on these Marvel Knights books haven’t been very good. Looking at the future solicits, it doesn’t look like this most recent Marvel Knights experiment will be continuing.
115. GEORGE ROMERO EMPIRE OF THE DEAD: ACT ONE 01/14 Act One #1 of 5 - 24,515 02/14 Act One #2 of 5 – 17,624 ( -28.1%)
For a Marvel book these aren’t that great but for an indie horror book, these could be considered decent sales.
118. X-MEN LEGACY 02/09 X-Men Legacy #221 - 56,507 02/11 X-Men Legacy #245 - 53,888 02/12 X-Men Legacy #262 - 34,461 --- 02/13 X-Men Legacy v2 #6 - 31,074 (-10.8%) 03/13 X-Men Legacy v2 #7 - 29,231 ( -5.9%) 03/13 X-Men Legacy v2 #8 - 28,174 ( -3.6%) 04/13 X-Men Legacy v2 #9 - 28,405 ( +0.8%) 05/13 X-Men Legacy v2 #10 - 25,911 ( -8.8%) 05/13 X-Men Legacy v2 #11 - 25,048 ( -3.3%) 06/13 X-Men Legacy v2 #12 - 23,996 ( -4.2%) 07/13 X-Men Legacy v2 #13 - 23,146 ( -3.5%) 07/13 X-Men Legacy v2 #14 - 22,119 ( -4.4%) 08/13 X-Men Legacy v2 #15 - 21,599 ( -2.4%) 09/13 X-Men Legacy v2 #16 - 20,995 ( -2.8%) 09/13 X-Men Legacy v2 #17 - 20,382 ( -2.9%) 10/13 X-Men Legacy v2 #18 - 19,767 ( -3.0%) 11/13 X-Men Legacy v2 #19 - 19,149 ( -3.1%) 11/13 X-Men Legacy v2 #20 - 18,754 ( -2.1%) 12/13 X-Men Legacy v2 #21 - 18,754 ( n/c ) 01/14 X-Men Legacy v2 #22 - 17,868 ( -4.7%) 01/14 X-Men Legacy v2 #23 - 17,636 ( -1.3%) 02/14 X-Men Legacy v2 #24 – 17,307 ( -1.9%) --- 6 Mnth ( -19.9%) 1 Year ( -44.3%) 2 Year ( -53.0%) 3 Year ( -67.9%) 5 Year ( -69.4%)
Comes to an end with issue 300 next month.
119. A+X 02/13 --- 03/13 A+X #5 - 37,250 (-22.5%) 03/13 A+X #6 - 34,434 ( -7.6%) 04/13 A+X #7 - 31,183 ( -9.4%) 05/13 A+X #8 - 26,967 (-13.5%) 06/13 A+X #9 - 25,803 ( -4.3%) 07/13 A+X #10 - 24,371 ( -5.5%) 08/13 A+X #11 - 23,222 ( -4.7%) 09/13 A+X #12 - 21,282 ( -8.4%) 10/13 A+X #13 - 20,908 ( -1.8%) 11/13 A+X #14 - 19,318 ( -7.6%) 12/13 A+X #15 - 18,648 ( -3.5%) 01/14 A+X #16 - 17,913 ( -3.9%) 02/14 A+X #17 – 17,075 ( -4.7%) --- 6 Mnth ( -26.5%)
Canceled after issue 18 next month.
121. AVENGERS A.I. 07/13 Avengers A.I. #1 - 68,130 08/13 Avengers A.I. #2 - 37,079 (-45.6%) 09/13 Avengers A.I. #3 - 29,776 (-19.7%) 10/13 Avengers A.I. #4 - 25,770 (-13.5%) 10/13 Avengers A.I. #5 - 23,146 (-10.2%) 11/13 Avengers A.I. #6 - 20,037 (-13.4%) 12/13 Avengers A.I. #7 - 19,879 ( -0.8%) 01/14 A.I. #8.NOW - 20,084 ( 1.0%) 02/14 Avengers A.I. #9 – 16,906 (-15.8%) --- 6 Mnth ( -75.2%)
Ends with issue 12 in April.
126. MARVEL KNIGHTS: X-MEN 11/13 X-Men #1 of 5 - 30,214 12/13 X-Men #2 of 5 - 22,549 (-25.4%) 01/14 X-Men #3 of 5 - 16,581 (-26.5%) 02/14 X-Men #4 of 5 – 15,014 ( -9.5%)
140. DEXTER 07/13 Dexter #1 of 5 - 20,540 08/13 Dexter #2 of 5 - 17,304 (-15.8%) 09/13 Dexter #3 of 5 - 17,586 ( +1.6%) 10/13 Dexter #4 of 5 - 14,920 (-15.2%) 11/13 Dexter #5 of 5 - 13,439 (-10.0%) 12/13 --- 01/14 --- 02/14 Down Under #1 of 5 – 13,203 ( -1.8%) --- 6 Mnth (-23.7%)
This new Dexter story debuts lower than the last one ended.
152. MARVEL KNIGHTS: HULK 12/13 Hulk #1 of 4 - 22,169 01/14 Hulk #2 of 4 - 14,568 (-34.3%) 02/14 Hulk #3 of 4 – 12,305 (-15.5%)
159, 173. REVOLUTIONARY WAR 01/14 Alpha - 16,788 01/14 Dark Angel - 14,083 01/14 Knights of Pendragon - 13,440 02/14 Death's Head II - 11,310 02/14 Supersoldiers - 10,310
Not a whole lot of love for the Marvel UK titles.
189. DISNEY KINGDOMS: SEEKERS OF THE WEIRD 01/14 Seekers #1 of 5 - 24,910 02/14 Seekers #2 of 5 – 9,182 ( -63.1%)
Sales aren’t great for this Marvel/Disney mini-series.
227. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN: MOVIE ADAPTATION 01/14 #1 of 2 - 7,563 02/14 #2 of 2 – 6,721 ( -11.1%)
284. PAINKILLER JANE [Icon] 11/13 Painkiller Jane #1 of 4 - 8,967 12/13 Painkiller Jane #2 of 4 - 6,196 (-30.9%) 01/14 Painkiller Jane #3 of 4 - 5,248 (-15.3%) 02/14 Painkiller Jane #4 of 4 – 4,764 ( -9.2%)
286. MARVEL UNIVERSE AVENGERS ASSEMBLE 02/13 MU Avengers #11 - 4,940 ( -0.2%) 03/13 MU Avengers #12 - 4,960 ( +0.4%) 04/13 MU Avengers #13 - 4,911 ( -1.0%) 05/13 MU Avengers #14 - ?,??? ( ??? ) 06/13 MU Avengers #15 - 4,744 ( ??? ) 07/13 MU Avengers #16 - ?,??? ( ??? ) 08/13 MU Avengers #17 - ?,??? ( ??? ) 09/13 MU Avengers #18 - ?,??? ( ??? ) 10/13 MUA Assemble #1 - 14,713 ( ??? ) 11/13 MUA Assemble #2 - 6,530 (-55.6%) 12/13 MUA Assemble #3 - 5,548 (-15.0%) 01/14 MUA Assemble #4 - 5,082 ( -8.4%) 02/14 MUA Assemble #5 - 4,686 ( -7.8%) --- 6 Mnth ( 1.1%) 1 Year ( -5.1%)
288. MARVEL UNIVERSE ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN 02/13 MUU Spider-Man #11 - 5,086 ( +0.1%) 03/13 MUU Spider-Man #12 - 4,978 ( -2.1%) 04/13 MUU Spider-Man #13 - 5,004 ( +0.5%) 05/13 MUU Spider-Man #14 - 5,127 ( +2.5%) 06/13 MUU Spider-Man #15 - 5,054 ( -1.4%) 07/13 MUU Spider-Man #16 - ?,??? ( ??? ) 08/13 MUU Spider-Man #17 - 4,999 ( ??? ) 09/13 MUU Spider-Man #18 - ?,??? ( ??? ) 10/13 MUU Spider-Man #19 - ?,??? ( ??? ) 11/13 MUU Spider-Man #20 - 5,163 ( ??? ) 12/13 MUU Spider-Man #21 - ?,??? ( ??? ) 01/14 MUU Spider-Man #22 - ?,??? ( ??? ) 02/14 MUU Spider-Man #23 – 4,761 ( -3.7%) --- 6 Mnth ( -8.3%) 1 Year ( -9.9%)
—
6-Month Comparisons --- 123.3% WOLVERINE #1 118.8% AMAZING X-MEN #4 101.4% FANTASTIC FOUR #1 49.7% ALL NEW X-FACTOR #3 34.2% X-FORCE #1 18.9% WOLVERINE #2 9.9% SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #27.NOW 1.1% MARVEL UN. AVENGERS ASSEMBLE #5 SYU -4.0% SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #28 -6.9% WOLVERINE AND X-MEN #41 -7.2% CAPTAIN AMERICA #16.NOW -7.4% THOR GOD OF THUNDER #19.NOW -8.3% MARVEL UN. ULT SPIDER-MAN #23 SYU -9.2% HAWKEYE #15 -10.2% DEADPOOL #23 -10.3% DEADPOOL #24 -10.6% DAREDEVIL #36 -11.5% ALL NEW X-MEN #23 -13.3% AVENGERS #26 -15.4% CAPTAIN AMERICA #17 -16.3% WOLVERINE AND X-MEN #42 -16.3% NEW AVENGERS #14 -18.0% X-MEN #10.NOW -18.1% NOVA #13.NOW -18.7% UNCANNY AVENGERS #17 -19.9% X-MEN LEGACY #24 -20.8% UNCANNY X-MEN #17 -21.1% KICK-ASS 3 #6 (MR) -22.5% IRON MAN #21 -22.8% THUNDERBOLTS #22 -23.7% DEXTER DOWN UNDER #1 -25.8% X-MEN #11 -26.3% SECRET AVENGERS #15 -26.5% A PLUS X #17 -28.6% INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK #19 -30.7% SECRET AVENGERS #16 -34.1% SAVAGE WOLVERINE #15 -34.4% AVENGERS ASSEMBLE #24 -36.8% SUPERIOR CARNAGE ANNUAL #1 -42.7% CATACLYSM ULTIMATES LAST STAND #5 -44.0% SUPERIOR FOES OF SPIDER-MAN #8 -46.2% SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN TEAM UP #10 -75.2% AVENGERS AI #9
1-year Comparisons --- 135.8% SHE-HULK #1 116.8% ALL NEW INVADERS #2 99.1% AMAZING X-MEN #4 61.6% X-MEN #10.NOW 46.2% X-MEN #11 46.2% FANTASTIC FOUR #1 41.8% ALL NEW X-FACTOR #3 40.3% WINTER SOLDIER BITTER MARCH #1 0.2% HAWKEYE #15 -5.1% MARVEL UN. AVENGERS ASSEMBLE #5 SYU -9.9% MARVEL UN. ULT. SPIDER-MAN #23 SYU -15.1% SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #27.NOW -15.3% DAREDEVIL #36 -16.4% X-FORCE #1 -18.9% THOR GOD OF THUNDER #19.NOW -20.5% WOLVERINE AND X-MEN #41 -21.5% WOLVERINE AND X-MEN #42 -24.3% ALL NEW X-MEN #23 -25.9% SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #28 -27.5% AVENGERS #26 -28.1% DEADPOOL #23 -28.1% SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN TEAM UP #10 -28.2% DEADPOOL #24 -29.7% NEW AVENGERS #14 -31.0% GUARDIANS OF GALAXY #12 -31.2% CAPTAIN AMERICA #16.NOW -31.7% SECRET AVENGERS #16 -31.9% AVENGERS ASSEMBLE #24 -36.1% IRON MAN #21 -37.3% CAPTAIN AMERICA #17 -39.2% UNCANNY AVENGERS #17 -44.3% X-MEN LEGACY #24 -44.5% INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK #19 -45.4% THUNDERBOLTS #22 -56.8% SAVAGE WOLVERINE #15 -67.7% NOVA #13.NOW -68.4% UNCANNY X-MEN #17 -76.5% SECRET AVENGERS #15
2-Year Comparisons --- 143% PUNISHER #1 131% WOLVERINE #1 64% SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #27.NOW 58% AMAZING X-MEN #4 55% FANTASTIC FOUR #1 44% SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #28 42% X-MEN #10.NOW 41% PUNISHER #2 29% X-MEN #11 23% WOLVERINE #2 23% ALL NEW X-FACTOR #3 21% THUNDERBOLTS #22 20% THOR GOD OF THUNDER #19.NOW 13% AVENGERS #26 13% DEADPOOL #23 13% DEADPOOL #24 -6% UNCANNY X-MEN #17 -6% NEW AVENGERS #14 -6% X-FORCE #1 -9% SUPERIOR CARNAGE ANNUAL #1 -10% IRON MAN #21 -16% CAPTAIN AMERICA #16.NOW -17% DAREDEVIL #36 -23% CAPTAIN AMERICA #17 -27% INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK #19 -33% ALL NEW INVADERS #2 -36% WOLVERINE AND X-MEN #41 -37% WOLVERINE AND X-MEN #42 -39% WINTER SOLDIER BITTER MARCH #1 -49% SECRET AVENGERS #15 -49% SECRET AVENGERS #16 -52% SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN TEAM UP #10 -53% X-MEN LEGACY #24
3-year Comparison --- 242.7% SHE-HULK #1 221.5% LOKI AGENT OF ASGARD #1 92.2% WOLVERINE #1 56.3% SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #27.NOW 43.8% DEADPOOL #23 43.6% DEADPOOL #24 36.5% SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #28 18.3% ALL NEW X-FACTOR #3 8.7% AMAZING X-MEN #4 8.2% DAREDEVIL #36 6.0% X-MEN #10.NOW 4.3% UNCANNY X-MEN #17 3.5% FANTASTIC FOUR #1 2.6% INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK #19 2.3% WOLVERINE #2 -0.2% THOR GOD OF THUNDER #19.NOW -4.1% X-MEN #11 -6.5% AVENGERS #26 -7.9% X-FORCE #1 -9.2% SUPERIOR CARNAGE ANNUAL #1 -9.5% THUNDERBOLTS #22 -12.9% CAPTAIN AMERICA #16.NOW -16.8% NEW AVENGERS #14 -23.4% CAPTAIN AMERICA #17 -30.0% IRON MAN #21 -59.7% SECRET AVENGERS #15 -59.7% SECRET AVENGERS #16 -67.9% X-MEN LEGACY #24
5-year Comparisons ---203.5% NEW WARRIORS #1 131.7% SHE-HULK #1 100.6% GUARDIANS OF GALAXY #12 49.4% PUNISHER #1 43.4% SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #27.NOW 32.8% FANTASTIC FOUR #1 25.2% SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #28 4.3% NOVA #13.NOW -6.3% ALL NEW X-FACTOR #3 -6.5% DEADPOOL #23 -6.7% DEADPOOL #24 -7.8% X-FORCE #1 -13.2% PUNISHER #2 -21.6% UNCANNY X-MEN #17 -23.4% CAPTAIN AMERICA #17 -41.9% CAPTAIN AMERICA #16.NOW -42.8% IRON MAN #21 -47.9% THUNDERBOLTS #22 -52.6% NEW AVENGERS #14 -56.5% THOR GOD OF THUNDER #19.NOW -64.3% MIGHTY AVENGERS #6 -65.2% MIGHTY AVENGERS #7 -69.4% X-MEN LEGACY #24
10-Year Comparisons ---
37.7% THOR GOD OF THUNDER #19.NOW
33.9% FANTASTIC FOUR #1
27.6% WOLVERINE #1
17.6% PUNISHER #1
2.8% SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #27.NOW
1.7% AVENGERS #26
-0.7% IRON MAN #21
-7.9% CAPTAIN AMERICA #16.NOW
-10.2% SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #28
-23.4% CAPTAIN AMERICA #17
-31.6% PUNISHER #2
-32.0% WOLVERINE #2
-34.5% INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK #19
-34.9% UNCANNY X-MEN #17
-42.3% DAREDEVIL #36
I apologize, that at the bottom in the comparisons, the formatting got a little wonky. I’m still figuring all that out. Hope you enjoy the article regardless.
Without all of the new #1’s and gimmicks every six months/year, I wonder where Marvel’s sales would actually be? DC should do the same tactics just to see how they’d compare. Every new creative change, every new “big” storyline, every uniform change…every year…a new #1 issue. Seems like Marvel should change their name to Speculators R Us. That’s what it’s coming down to. Buy big on the #1 issue, drop. Go back to a #1 issue, drop. Repeat. Marvel skews their numbers every year and that’s all they do. Sad.
Agreed. Considering that the .NOW issues did almost nothing to increase readership in some books (Nova, Cap), I’m wondering if we are (finally) starting to see some push-back on pricing — and especially over-saturation.
Once Superior Spider-Man and the first arc of Silver Surfer are completed I’m done with monthly Marvel titles. They have some good titles but $3.99 books shipped twice in some months is killing my wallet.
All-New Invaders and Mighty Avengers are now going to be the new Fearless Defenders, in that they are fun super-hero books that nobody seems to care about.
” It is telling that this new wave of All-New Marvel Now had so many books sell out. Did Marvel fail to get word out to stores that these books would be hot? Or are these books just getting rave reviews and defying everyone’s expectations? ”
It’s likely that these books are defying some people’s expectations, however Marvel sells out of most books, most of the time. The publisher is always the one figure in the best position to be able to know if their output is commercially viable or not, AND they have the lowest unit cost and highest ROI of the rest of the chain — they could be printing more, but choose not to.
“So this is a little weird. Hawkeye did chart this month at rank 40, but it was for the missing issue 15 which came out a month after #16. Yeah… anyway it saw an increase in sales so that is good and issue 17 and 18 seem to be on track to come out on time and in the right order.”
I think that this is actually the clearest piece of evidence that we’ve seen to date to suggest that the majority of retailers don’t actually USE Final Order Cutoff, and, instead, just place initials and never look again.
-B
Aren’t these the February numbers? We already did January, yeah?
It is a bit disheartening to see some of the sales figures here, considering that the high quality of the majority of Marvel’s line.
The most surprising number seems to be that of the X-Force relaunch. Not long ago this was one of the brands with most buzz around it in comics, and now the new series can’t even break the 50.000 threshold…
Perhaps Marvel should rethink their approach to relaunches and let at least a few months go by before relaunching a title. The practice of relaunching titles mere weeks after the previous run ended seem to drain a lot of the hype that should surround the publishing of a new #1.
“Sales on Miracleman continue to drop. How low can he go?”
They need to get Chuck Austen/Beckum to do a “Miracleman doing the limbo” variant cover for one of the issues that reprints his stuff on the series (or the first issue ordered after people see the Beckum work). Because of these are the numbers you put up with Garry Leach and Alan Davis art, I don’t want to know what classic Beckum sells.
The monthly comic book turd continues to swirl around the bowl. Will it ever go down… who knows.
“[Marvel] could be printing more, but choose not to.”
And miss a chance to announce a sell-out and chastise retailers for not ordering enough? Heaven forfend!
I want to buy more Marvels. I want to follow the “Big Events” because they “matter”. I want to follow more characters that I like.
But at $3.99 a pop, sometimes twice a month… I. Just. Can’t. Afford. It. Seriously… Who can afford to buy a lot of comics anymore? I buy a few that I have followed for years but nothing new.
Oh well…
A lot of people seem to be upset about Marvel’s current price point, and I agree with them. Daredevil was the only Marvel title I’ve read in the last several months, but I won’t be around for the, ahem, “relaunch”. Excuse me, Marvel, but exactly WHAT relaunch? Slapping a #1 on the cover and increasing the price to $3.99? No thank you. That being said, I fully realize that Marvel won’t miss me one iota. And don’t think I’m a staunch defender of DC, either. Same thing there. I’ll admit, right now, DC’s are the bulk of my comics buying right now (tho with their mass cancellations, my DC stack is whittling away to almost nothing, and most of their new titles fail to interest me), but I harbor no illusions—like Marvel, once my DC titles pare down to zero, they won’t miss me. The wheel keeps moving. But therein lies the problem—a few DC and Marvel titles have good sales by today’s standards. But most of their output simply doesn’t. I figure DC will adapt a $3.99 price point sometime this year. Both companies will continue to produce subpar material and/or flood the market with multiple titles featuring the same character or group. And of course, there’s the never-ending line-wide crossovers that for the most part seem to be made up as they go along.
My comic book plan for 2014 is to basically wash my hands of DC and Marvel. Closely scan Previews each month and see what fellow fans recommend. I don’t mind paying $3.99 a month for an interesting, quality book that you don’t have to buy 24 other titles just to keep up with the story. I just refuse to pay $3.99 each month for titles that seem to be thrown together with minimal effort at best. Sorry so negative, but I felt I had to express my feelings on this. Thanks for reading.
I buy a ton of Marvel comics. I spend about $200 a month on comics. But that’s just how my life has worked out…your mileage may vary.
$4 for all their books can suck my big fat donkey dong. No creative teams stay together anymore for more than an arc. The ties in. Forget you Marvel
“Did Marvel fail to get word out to stores that these books would be hot? Or are these books just getting rave reviews and defying everyone’s expectations?”
My guess would be that Marvel deliberately low-balled their print run so they could announce a sell-out and crow about having to go to a second printing to meet demand. It’s about the only ploy left to them now that sales of all their relaunches drop like a stone.
@BobH, re: Miracleman. The Chuck Beckhum/Austin issues will probably be Miracleman #s 7 and 8. After those, it’s Veitch and then Totleben to finish up Moore’s run. And I know many people who are waiting for the collections. I don’t think Marvel is sweating the numbers on Miracleman single issues. And I don’t think people who are buying the issues are doing it purely based on the artistic lineups by issue.
I enjoy a lot of their output, and am happy with the current trajectory of a new series every year or two. It makes logistical sense for the reader, Marvel and the retailer, far more than attempting to sell #540something of a random comic.
Outside of a few major comics, most comics fall off ‘like a rock’ after #1, INCLUDING indies. I’m not sure why Marvel is held to a higher standard.
Why would anyone pay $3.99 for a Marvel comic when the biggest online mail order site offers them for 40-75% off?
I think Hickman has a little more clout at Marvel than Paul Cornell, so I doubt we’ll see his Avengers get a relaunch midway through his overall storyline. After Hickman’s done, though? Definitely.
And the difference between that and Avengers World is that Avengers deals with Hickman’s overplot, while Avengers World tells smaller, more character-focused stories with the same cast.
Too many long drawn-out story lines at too high of a cost are slowly eroding sales of some flagship titles. That, and Bendisitis that slowly sets in after he’s written several issues of X-Men and Guardians of the Galaxy. Seriously, most stories last six months and at $4.00 each, you have to spend $24.00 to complete one story in most titles. One story that will be quickly forgotten by a new incoming writer and never referenced again. This isn’t even counting some stories that are written for omnibus volumes. I kind of like Hickman’s Avengers, what I understand of it, but it’s nearly impossible for an outsider or a new reader to crack. Many stories are so insular that superficial jumping on points have to be created to draw in new readers but the sales figures are showing that these bumps are temporary.
The solution, in my mind, is pretty obvious. start telling shorter stories. Comics ain’t Shakespeare and Bendis isn’t writing movies. Comics ought to be written for more general audiences and I’m betting several years of these kinds of stories would help to boost sales. At least readers would feel like they are getting more for their money.
Saw the new X-Men movie trailer today and it made me remember that the entire Days of Future Past movie setting, plus all of the times this has been referred to in the comics, came from a two issue story. It was short, to the point, and infinitely more memorable than most of what we’re reading today.
I would expect that sales will continue to fall because there isn’t enough bang for the buck. As popular as the super-hero movies are, it’s hard to believe that there’s been no noticeable increase over the past 10-20 years in comics sales.
@James T – while I do use such a service, a great many people only buy like $20-$30 in comics per month such that the shipping would eat up a big part of the discount.
I’ve been a die-hard Marvel supporter for over 25 years but I can no longer justify purchasing their titles. This latest Daredevil relaunch really did me in. DD #1 was really just DD #37 at a dollar more a pop and nothing to really justify the price increase or the relaunch. The only Marvel title left on my pull in Punisher as I dig the fresh take on the character; but, it double-shipped last month, which rocked my wallet. I’m thinking of dropping it too and sticking with Image, Dark Horse, and Valiant. They all give much better value.
I’m thinking of capping all my books at $3.99. I’m looking at you Adventure Time.
For those Marvel books shipping 14 time a year at $3.99 a pop that comes out to $4.66 a month. That doesn’t include annuals or cross-overs. Don’t get me started on Superior Spider-Man.
The monthly boosts seem mostly temporary as the numbers speak for themselves over the years as opposed to making budget numbers for the year. Marvel (and DC) seem comfortable with the temp boosts, regrouping, and launching a new stunt. They both seem to be doing these stunts based on whether they deliver to the budgetary numbers, not seeing the longterm effects bc they are always right back to launching a new stunt to fight the downward slope of sales on both comics and trades. Not sure there is an answer or a trend to pick up on here because company is determined to run the business in favor of shortterm gains and not longterm value.
All that effort for Miracleman and they’re getting sales like these? Bit of a disappointment in my mind. I’m sure the collections will sell well and having the character in perpetuity will be good if he ever gets hot again for some reason.
Maybe sales will pick up when Gaiman and Buckingham start telling original stories again?
I was waiting for the new Miracleman stuff… But not at $5 an issue.
I guess I could get it in book form, but those are even more expensive per issue than the comics themselves. My SOP nowadays is to get overpriced comics at sales or at the local Half Price Books if I ever see them. It’s a little scattershot, but a lot cheaper.
Or I could just steal them I guess.
The Marvel Now issues seem to be trying to take care of a symptom of the illness but not the illness itself, which is unfortunate. And maybe the two companies are fine with the temporary burst in sales that these gimmicks generate if they are just looking at something like annual sales.
But, the comics should be more accessible and people shouldn’t have to wait for 6 months to complete one story. Forever Evil is more “Forever” than “Evil” at this point. Batman Year Zero seems like Batman Years Zero, One and Two. These long story arcs do drive fans away – instead of skipping an issue until the next story starts, people can skip five issues or more. And it’s definitely not friendly to new readers. Marvel does have a one page summary for each comic, which is nice, but they must have concluded that they don’t work to make the book understandable for new readers or they wouldn’t also be using Marvel Now and ongoing series relaunches to try to bring in new readers.
I’m with you on Mighty Avengers. Best written Avengers title right now by a mile. Shame about the oversaturation of the Avengers name, shame about launching with Greg Land art, shame about the $3.99 price tag. It’s well-written and very, very fun, and it’s unfortunate so many people are staying away.
The art of the monthly serial comic is dead, and the reading audience allowed it to happen. I take no pride in seeing (and worthlessly arguing against) this all coming.
I know this is going to sound nitpicky and I am thankful that someone picked up this column, but all of the formatting inconsistencies and mistakes make it difficult to appreciate the numbers. There are plenty of places where capitalization, spacing, and paragraph separation need to be added or fixed, and I’ve noticed at least one place where the numbers from previous years are totally wrong. With as much time as it takes to make this column, a little more time to make everything look clean probably won’t hurt.
It is a shame a Seekers of the Weird appears to have crashed and burned already.
Hopefully it will perform well in bookstores with the collected edition (not that it would matter given how Perlmutter mis-manages their trade division).
one thing that may pass from some people is that, all marvel comics come with the digital copy inside, and the big #1 that people complain forget that marvel is offering the first arc for every comic that has the #1.
i don’t get why people complain about a company that is selling all kinds of books with many diffrent approachs, i hope that the sales go up, cause i think they’re doing a great work, and giving chances to books like superior foes, makes me see that they are trying to reach people who like indie stories. if you like teams, they are giving a team book with crossovers and stuff if you like solo heroes, they have the books for the heroes.
the avengers team and x-men books are using lots os diffrents line ups, not much the same guys in every book, just wolverine maybe but migthy avengers we have heroes that were left in the past, they are trying to put all the heroes back in action giving them avengers books and i thinks that is pretty cool, not much characters can be lauched as a solo book, and they are giving us a chance to known them.
about the price… if you guys lived in another contry like me, you would be buying all comics!
“Outside of a few major comics, most comics fall off ‘like a rock’ after #1, INCLUDING indies. I’m not sure why Marvel is held to a higher standard.”
Because 1. their titles have been selling better over the past decade and not dropping off as steeply, and 2. the industry relies on the big companies selling big. If retailers can’t move Marvel or DC books, they are less likely to stay in business.
I don’t get your comment about X-Factor. Issue 2 seems to have gotten quite a few re-orders (we can’t see if the same is true for issue 1 because of shoddy formatting), the drops for #3 are VASTLY smaller and look almost leveled out, yet you claim: “So this book is already on a spiral towards its pre-relaunch numbers. It’ll probably settle down around 20k in a few months.”
I don’t like the book much, either, but this looks like you go by your own taste more than the factual numbers.
I’ve been buying, and enjoying, Miracleman and I want to support the reprints, but it’s getting hard to justify paying the $4.99 cover price when roughly half of each issue is stuff I’m not interested in and don’t read (interviews, black-and-white reprints, etc). I’m definitely giving serious consideration to just waiting for the collections and/or pirating it.
the4thpip: I think it’s a miscalculation or a typo. The actual drop from #2 to #3 is -7.2% rather than -3.2%.
Sometimes I wonder if the monthly serial is a format on its last legs. Why pay $3.99 a month when you can just wait and pay $9.99 for a 6 issue-trade (that was the cost of Saga)? That’s real value. Pissing away $3.99 on a 10-minute read (like most of Marvel is)… Why? And then you can’t store them properly. What an inconvenient format.
Marvel don’t care about offering value for money or their readers. So I’m an ex-Marvel reader now. It’s a really nice feeling.
@Kard
Exactly. Exactly times 1000, except that the Saga trade was specially priced to attract readers, and you’ll never see a $9.99 Marvel trade. Image does this all the time, however, just look at the upcoming trades for Rat Queens, Black Science, and Manifest Destiny. Still, trades are priced better than individual issues and everything is collected together in one binding,
I’ve always felt they’re writing for the trade so why not just read the trade. Also collecting comics for several years means white boxes taking over your apartment, and believe me they’re not a pretty site. Way better to stick a trade in your bookcase than having to deal with boxes of floppies.
I spend about $100 a month; my LCS offers a 20% subscriber discount, and I share the pull list with a friend. Still an expensive hobby, and all those deals have probably led to buying more rather than fewer titles.
and as for Miracleman, they’re coloring or recoloring some of the more recent stuff, the extras aren’t all black and white, and have been pretty cool for the last two issues if you’re into the Warpsmiths and not British. Yes, I’d love for it to $4 or less though.
I’m one buying the Marvelman single issues. I recall reading these the first time as my brother collected it back then. I’ve never been able to get the collected editions published to date. I’ve supported this project, and the end result is beautiful.
I support it with hope that all of the original creators who wanted reprints are getting their due. I support it to support Gaiman. I support it to shine on McFarlane’s shenanigans. I’ve dropped two books to pick up the title, and in my opinion, it’s been well worth it.
Silly but True
I’m very happy to see others share my views of the $3.99 books. A lot of people I’ve talked with just seem to accept it, but I can’t help feel like Marvel’s trying to screw me over with lower pages counts and paper qualities for 33% price increases. I’ve heard good things about the Mighty Avengers title but it’s $4 just to check a book out. Who’s the new creative team for Thunderbolts?
A big problem cannibalizing the books are too many books from the same families in the same week – and too many launches in the same week, so people miss out on some otherwise good reads.
Last week alone we had Avengers, Avengers Assemble, A+X, and Uncanny Avengers… all on the same day. I’ve gotten to the point where the cover logos and issue numbers for Superior Spider-Man Team-Up and Superior Foes confuse me to the point where I don’t remember which one I’ve read yet.
Shame, because some launches last week like All-New Ghost Rider and Silver Surfer were great reads.
As for Miracleman sales, at $5 an issue – especially when the first 2 issues were halfway taken up by unreadable B&W reprint material – what do they expect? Like Sandman Overture, that might be a better one to wait for a trade for.
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