By Paul O’Brien
After a quiet couple of months, March saw Marvel starting to gear up again. In fact, there’s only one really big new title this month – DARK TOWER, which returns for a second miniseries. But there’s also the launch of two new monthly series, CABLE and WOLVERINE: FIRST CLASS. And although SECRET INVASION itself won’t show up until the April chart, the first tie-ins are starting to to crop up.
Once again, Marvel dominated the direct market, leading DC by 44% to 32% in units and 39% to 30% in dollars. And this is before the big crossover season even gets under way, remember.
Thanks as always to Milton Griepp and ICV2 for permission to use their figures for these calculations.
1. DARK TOWER
03/07 Gunslinger Born #2 of 7 - 168,258 (-22.4%)
04/07 Gunslinger Born #3 of 7 - 149,168 (-11.3%)
05/07 Gunslinger Born #4 of 7 - 139,545 ( -6.5%)
06/07 Gunslinger Born #5 of 7 - 132,090 ( -5.3%)
07/07 Gunslinger Born #6 of 7 - 128,336 ( -2.8%)
08/07 Gunslinger Born #7 of 7 - 124,609 ( -2.9%)
09/07 ---
10/07 ---
11/07 ---
12/07 ---
01/08 ---
02/08 ---
03/08 Long Road Home #1 of 5 - 123,839 ( -0.6%)
6 mnth ( --- )
1 year (-26.4%)
The first DARK TOWER miniseries was a huge hit for Marvel in 2007, a rare example of a book with obvious mass market appeal which also sold in huge quantities in the direct market. While the first series was mostly an adaptation of Stephen King’s novel WIZARD AND GLASS, the new series is original material. The first issue comes in below the final issue of GUNSLINGER BORN, but only just. Diminishing returns are to be expected with sequels, and besides, 124K for a debut issue is a good performance by any standards. Marvel should be very satisfied with this number.
2. NEW AVENGERS
03/03 Avengers #65 - 59,155
03/04 Avengers #80 - 55,533
03/05 New Avengers #4 - 155,113
03/06 New Avengers #17 - 121,098
=====
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 - 172,684 (+36.6%)
07/07 New Avengers #32 - 122,991 (-28.8%)
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%)
03/08 New Avengers #39 - 103,046 ( -1.1%)
6 mnth ( -8.7%)
1 year (-13.8%)
2 year (-14.9%)
3 year (-33.6%)
4 year (+85.6%)
NEW AVENGERS holds more or less steady, with the big crossover just around the corner. Bizarrely, issue #31 suddenly picks up re-orders of 11,773 to chart at number 147, despite having come out last June. It’s the issue where Elektra turned out to be a Skrull. As usual, those numbers are added into the figures above.
For that matter, number 231 is another 5,437 copies of NEW AVENGERS: ILLUMINATI – SECRET HISTORY, which was a reprint of NEW AVENGERS: ILLUMINATI #1-2. Both books are SECRET INVASION tie-ins, so it’s possible that on the eve of the crossover, retailers have suddenly decided to re-order them.
But this isn’t the first time we’ve seen old comics suddenly show up on the charts out of nowhere. FALLEN SON: DEATH OF CAPTAIN AMERICA – IRON MAN still won’t go away, shipping a further 6,549 units in March, and bringing its total to 173,941. In the case of that book, the explanation is apparently that Marvel have been sending out surplus copies to retailers, evidently reasoning that it beats pulping them. The old NEW AVENGERS books may be in the same category.
3. THOR
03/03 Thor #61 - 36,299
03/04 Thor #76 - 30,806
=====
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%)
03/08 Thor #7 - 97,491 ( -0.8%)
6 mnth ( -11.3%)
1 year ( --- )
2 year ( --- )
3 year ( --- )
4 year (+216.5%)
Holding up very well. THOR is levelling out at triple the sales of the previous volume, and it’s hard to imagine a clearer example of a successful relaunch.
4. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
03/03 Amazing Spider-Man #51 - 96,428
03/04 Amazing Spider-Man #505 - 83,613
03/05 Amazing Spider-Man #518 - 77,025
03/06 Amazing Spider-Man #530 - 89,874
=====
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%)
03/08 Amazing Spider-Man #552 - 89,835 ( +2.0%)
03/08 Amazing Spider-Man #553 - 82,648 ( -8.0%)
03/08 Amazing Spider-Man #554 - 81,072 ( -1.9%)
6 mnth (-46.2%)
1 year (-48.0%)
2 year ( -9.8%)
3 year ( +5.3%)
4 year ( -3.0%)
Still way above the level where the relaunch makes sense – remember, the new AMAZING is the successor to FRIENDLY and SPECTACULAR too, and they didn’t sell especially well. Issue #552 gets a slight boost thanks to a variant cover, which distorts a fairly smooth underlying trend.
Now, that said… this is the third month of “Brand New Day”, and AMAZING is still shedding around 7,000 a month. It’s levelling out a little, but I’d have preferred to see it a bit more stable by this point. Regular readers will recall that the magic number is roughly 63,400 – as long as they’re above that, they’re selling more Spider-Man comics per year than they were managing in the previous format.
5. UNCANNY X-MEN
03/03 Uncanny X-Men #420 - 85,473
03/04 Uncanny X-Men #441 - 86,431
03/05 Uncanny X-Men #457 - 86,365
03/06 Uncanny X-Men #471 - 78,286
=====
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 - 96,183 ( -8.8%)
03/08 Uncanny X-Men #496 - 89,054 ( -7.4%)
6 mnth ( +1.7%)
1 year ( +8.5%)
2 year (+13.8%)
3 year ( +3.1%)
4 year ( +3.0%)
Issue #495 picks up re-orders of 5,773, so evidently the “Divided We Stand” direction is getting some interest. That also means that the first month sales are pretty steady from last month. You’ll remember that issues #488-491 were boosted by the “Endangered Species” back-up strips, while #492-494 were “Messiah Complex” proper. Two months after that crossover, UNCANNY is still up from “Endangered Species”, and way up from the pre-crossover sales of mid-2007.
9,11. 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%)
03/08 Mighty Avengers #10 - 82,149 ( -1.6%)
03/08 Mighty Avengers #11 - 82,253 ( +0.1%)
6 mnth ( --- )
1 year (-47.4%)
Finally arresting its decline, MIGHTY AVENGERS holds steady, and actually nudges up for issue #11 – perhaps because the solicitation mentioned SECRET INVASION in passing.
10. X-MEN: LEGACY
03/03 New X-Men #138 - 95,278
03/04 New X-Men #154 - 117,253
03/05 X-Men #168 - 83,979
03/06 X-Men #184 - 78,000
=====
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%)
03/08 X-Men: Legacy #209 - 82,243 ( -6.7%)
6 mnth ( -4.0%)
1 year ( +9.4%)
2 year ( +5.4%)
3 year ( -2.1%)
4 year ( -29.9%)
Bit of a second-issue drop for the new direction, but the book is still comfortably up on pre-“Endangered Species” sales.
12. X-FORCE 02/08 X-Force #1 - 116,467 03/08 X-Force #2 - 81,714 (-29.8%)
Last month’s number one title drops to a rather more realistic number twelve – still a very good number for a book based on the likes of Warpath and X-23. Issue #1 picks up another 11,318 with a second printing.
13. CAPTAIN AMERICA
03/03 Captain America #10 - 51,270
03/04 Captain America #24 - 39,168
03/05 Captain America #4 - 46,654
03/06 Captain America #16 - 44,717
=====
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 - 152,739 ( +95.1%)
02/08 Captain America #35 - 86,038 ( -43.7%)
03/08 Captain America #36 - 81,378 ( -5.4%)
6 mnth ( +2.3%)
1 year ( -76.4%)
2 year ( +82.0%)
3 year ( +74.4%)
4 year (+107.8%)
Once again, CAPTAIN AMERICA starts drifting back to more normal sales after a death-related spike. Look past the initial spikes, and the book has done very well with this storyline – sales are consistently in the 70K range or above, which is miles above the book’s traditional range.
Issue #34 adds another 13,429 copies thanks to a director’s cut edition.
16. CABLE 03/08 Cable #1 - 68,073
Hmm. Interesting. After X-FORCE debuted at number one last month – which admittedly came as a surprise to me – I was expecting this to do a little better. After all, this book is more directly related to the core story of “Messiah Complex.” Still, considering that CABLE & DEADPOOL has been down in the 20K range for years, you can’t deny that they’ve done an effective job of drawing interest in the character.
22. FANTASTIC FOUR
03/03 Fantastic Four #67 - 53,218
03/04 Fantastic Four #511 - 50,089
03/05 Fantastic Four #524 - 46,660
03/06 Fantastic Four #536 - 57,945
=====
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 - 98,111 (+103.0%)
03/08 Fantastic Four #555 - 67,416 ( -31.3%)
6 mnth ( --- )
1 year ( -14.5%)
2 year ( +16.3%)
3 year ( +44.5%)
4 year ( +34.6%)
Well, I don’t understand this at all. I had Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch’s FANTASTIC FOUR pegged as a much bigger deal, but here we are down at 67K. For comparison, that’s slightly down from last June, which was an Initiative issue by Dwayne McDuffie and Paul Pelletier.
Issue #554 picks up re-orders of 5,457, but overall, this seems a very disappointing performance for such a high-profile creative team.
24. WOLVERINE
03/03 Wolverine #187 - 62,144
03/04 Wolverine #12 - 69,815
03/05 Wolverine #26 - 105,984
03/06 Wolverine #40 - 75,557
=====
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 - 69,698 (+14.5%)
03/08 Wolverine #63 - 64,475 ( -7.5%)
6 mnth (-13.6%)
1 year (-33.6%)
2 year (-39.2%)
3 year ( -7.6%)
4 year ( +3.8%)
Issue #62 picks up an extra 5,501 copies with a second printing, so the first month sales are actually marginally up.
25. LOGAN 03/08 Logan #1 of 3 - 63,289
Only marginally behind the parent title, which is pretty good. Wolverine miniseries haven’t been a big deal in years, so this strong performance can only be credited to the drawing power of creators Brian Vaughan and Eduardo Risso.
27. ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN
03/03 Ult. Spider-Man #38 - 112,562
03/04 Ult. Spider-Man #54 - 93,025
03/05 Ult. Spider-Man #73 - 84,943
03/06 Ult. Spider-Man #92 - 72,269
=====
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%)
03/08 Ult. Spider-Man #120 - 57,728 ( -0.5%)
6 mnth (-13.4%)
1 year (-21.8%)
2 year (-20.1%)
3 year (-32.0%)
4 year (-37.9%)
Levelling out a bit in the last couple of months.
28. X-FACTOR
03/06 X-Factor #5 - 46,490
=====
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 - 61,173 (-24.8%)
03/08 X-Factor #29 - 54,832 (-10.4%)
6 mnth ( +2.9%)
1 year (+44.0%)
2 year (+17.9%)
Drifting back to normal levels after “Messiah Complex.” Issue #28 picks up an extra 4,601 copies with a second printing, so the drop isn’t as steep as it looks. Like UNCANNY, X-FACTOR is still up on “Endangered Species” sales, and miles above its pre-crossover levels.
29. 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 ---
03/08 Initiative #10 - 54,422 ( -1.5%)
6 mnth (-26.6%)
30. WOLVERINE: ORIGINS
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%)
03/08 Origins #23 - 49,633 ( -1.4%)
6 mnth (-20.2%)
1 year (-33.6%)
Two books which seem to be levelling out at last, after long slides.
33. INCREDIBLE HERCULES
03/03 Incredible Hulk #51 - 56,220
03/04 Incredible Hulk #68 - 46,138
03/05 Incredible Hulk #79 - 43,508
03/06 Incredible Hulk #93 - 43,691
=====
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%)
03/08 Hercules #115 - 49,336 ( -5.5%)
6 mnth ( -49.1%)
1 year ( +3.2%)
2 year ( +12.9%)
3 year ( +13.4%)
4 year ( +6.9%)
Still finding its level. Realistically, I’d say 49K for a Hercules solo title is actually a big success, but the question remains of whether it’ll sustain those levels once the smoke-and-mirrors nature of the launch wears off.
35. ULTIMATE X-MEN
03/03 Ultimate X-Men #30 - 89,544
03/04 Ultimate X-Men #43 - 97,002
03/05 Ultimate X-Men #57 - 83,835
03/06 Ultimate X-Men #68 - 72,765
=====
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%)
03/08 Ultimate X-Men #92 - 49,015 ( -0.0%)
6 mnth (-11.4%)
1 year (-22.2%)
2 year (-32.6%)
3 year (-41.5%)
4 year (-49.5%)
Another book which has levelled out in the last few months after a long slide. Is this becoming a trend?
38. ULTIMATE HUMAN 01/08 Ultimate Human #1 of 4 - 57,485 02/08 Ultimate Human #2 of 4 - 48,578 (-15.5%) 03/08 Ultimate Human #3 of 4 - 45,639 ( -6.1%)
Fairly standard miniseries drops.
41. DAREDEVIL
03/03 ---
03/04 Daredevil #58 - 54,400
03/05 Daredevil #71 - 49,715
03/06 Daredevil #83 - 46,804
=====
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%)
03/08 Daredevil #106 - 41,537 ( -1.3%)
6 mnth (-46.8%)
1 year (-10.6%)
2 year (-11.3%)
3 year (-16.4%)
4 year (-23.6%)
Gently sliding.
42. ULTIMATE IRON MAN II 12/07 Iron Man II #1 of 5 - 61,087 01/08 Iron Man II #2 of 5 - 46,248 (-24.3%) 02/08 Iron Man II #3 of 5 - 43,496 ( -6.0%) 03/08 Iron Man II #4 of 5 - 41,354 ( -4.9%)
Perfectly acceptable numbers for a miniseries – and comfortably above the main IRON MAN title, something which few Ultimate books can say these days.
43. MS MARVEL
03/06 Ms Marvel #1 - 73,407
=====
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%)
03/08 Ms Marvel #25 - 40,993 (+69.8%)
6 mnth (+26.6%)
1 year ( +0.4%)
2 year (-44.2%)
SECRET INVASION tie-in, and that’s a phrase you’ll be hearing a lot over the next few months. The crossover delivers a huge spike, which ought to carry on for the rest of the storyline. Obviously, this bodes well for the SECRET INVASION tie-ins across the board.
45. 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 - 38,497 ( +5.1%) 03/08 Captain Marvel #4 of 5 - 40,622 ( +5.5%)
Turning around in sales as everyone belatedly figures out that it’s a SECRET INVASION tie-in. Issue #3 picks up a further 4,755 copies with a second printing.
46. THUNDERBOLTS
03/03 Thunderbolts #77 - 24,857
03/04 ---
03/05 New Thunderbolts #6 - 29,103
03/06 Thunderbolts #100 - 26,798
=====
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 ---
03/08 Thunderbolts #119 - 40,173 ( -8.0%)
6 mnth ( --- )
1 year (-34.6%)
2 year (+50.0%)
3 year (+38.0%)
4 year ( --- )
Continuing a rather ugly downhill slide.
47. ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR
03/04 Ult. Fantastic Four #4 - 106,873
03/05 Ult. Fantastic Four #16 - 73,987
03/06 Ult. Fantastic Four #28 - 67,480
=====
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%)
03/08 Ult. Fantastic Four #52 - 38,146 ( -1.7%)
6 mnth (-18.2%)
1 year (-24.4%)
2 year (-43.5%)
3 year (-48.4%)
4 year (-64.3%)
Once again, a title which might have more or less levelled out after going through a sleep slide.
51. IRON MAN
03/03 Iron Man #66 - 33,445
03/04 Iron Man #78 - 29,680
03/05 ---
03/06 Iron Man #6 - 40,264
=====
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%)
03/08 Iron Man #27 - 36,011 ( -1.6%)
6 mnth (-22.9%)
1 year (-39.4%)
2 year (-10.6%)
3 year ( --- )
4 year (+21.3%)
Static. Of course, the barrage of product for the movie is just around the corner.
52. WOLVERINE: FIRST CLASS 03/08 Wolverine: First Class #1 - 35,695
A sister title to X-MEN: FIRST CLASS, featuring Wolverine and Kitty Pryde in early eighties continuity. And no, the pun in the title doesn’t work here, does it? Anyhow, retailers seem to like the sound of this one – X-MEN: FIRST CLASS only did 26K for its first issue.
55. THE LAST DEFENDERS 03/08 Last Defenders #1 of 6 - 33,065
The latest attempt to relaunch the Defenders, rather confusingly reinvented as an Initiative-backed team consisting of Nighthawk and a few randoms. There’s method to its madness, but it’s a tough sell, and I’d say this is about as good as they could have realistically hoped for.
59. IMMORTAL IRON FIST
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 ---
03/08 Immortal Iron Fist #13 - 32,047 ( -1.8%)
6 mnth ( -6.5%)
1 year ( --- )
Holding level.
60. PUNISHER [Max]
03/03 Punisher #23 - 42,006
03/04 Punisher #4 - 47,096
03/05 Punisher #18 - 38,348
03/06 Punisher #31 - 34,505
=====
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 ---
03/08 Punisher #55 - 31,276 ( -1.2%)
6 mnth ( --- )
1 year ( -5.9%)
2 year ( -9.4%)
3 year (-18.4%)
4 year (-33.6%)
61. PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL
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%)
03/08 War Journal #17 - 31,227 ( -3.9%)
6 mnth (-33.9%)
1 year (-37.8%)
PUNISHER remains sold as ever, while PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL now drops below it for the first time. The slide is a little slower this month, but I’m not getting my hopes up.
62. NEW EXILES
03/03 Exiles #23 - 36,380
03/04 Exiles #44 - 37,575
03/05 Exiles #60 - 42,898
03/06 Exiles #78 - 33,506
=====
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 - 34,454 (-27.6%)
03/08 New Exiles #3 - 30,480 (-11.5%)
6 mnth ( +7.7%)
1 year ( +0.6%)
2 year ( -9.0%)
3 year (-28.9%)
4 year (-18.9%)
Issue #2 picks up re-orders of 3,099, but NEW EXILES is already back to typical EXILES sales level.
67. MOON KNIGHT
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%)
03/08 Moon Knight #16 - 29,546 ( -6.4%)
6 mnth (-37.8%)
1 year (-61.8%)
Looking very unhealthy.
68. 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%) 03/08 Conquest #5 of 6 - 29,447 ( -0.0%)
Solid miniseries sales.
69. 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 - 32,403 (-19.4%) 03/08 Twelve #3 of 12 - 29,265 ( -9.7%)
Issue #2 picks up re-orders of 4,854. Artist Chris Weston says that Marvel view these sales as exceeding expectations. I’m surprised they weren’t aiming higher, given the creators and the level of promotion. But hey, he’d know. Maybe they’ve got a more realistic assessment of the book’s appeal than I have.
70. 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 ---
03/08 Nova #11 - 28,162 ( -4.2%)
6 mnth (-23.8%)
Still sliding. This is looking a bit worrying.
74. 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%) 03/08 Warbound #4 of 5 - 26,744 (-12.9%)
Bit disappointing. The continued drops are higher than I’d expect for a miniseries, and suggest that retailers initially overestimated the interest in a WORLD WAR HULK spin-off. In turn, that makes me wonder what they’re going to do with the upcoming SON OF HULK series.
75. GHOST RIDER
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%)
03/08 Ghost Rider #21 - 26,526 ( -5.1%)
6 mnth (-30.6%)
1 year (-44.8%)
Crashing. This sort of decline can’t go on much longer.
76. ANITA BLAKE, VAMPIRE HUNTER
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%)
03/08 Guilty Pls. #9 of 12 - 26,324 ( -3.8%)
6 mnth ( --- )
1 year (-15.5%)
After the drop with issue #7, GUILTY PLEASURES has been remarkably steady.
83. 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%)
03/08 New Warriors #10 - 23,887 ( -7.0%)
6 mnth (-40.3%)
Barring a major turnaround, this is going to drop below the 20K mark in a couple of months. Surely it can’t be long for this world.
89. 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%) 03/08 With Great Power #3 of 5 - 22,029 (-11.2%)
Bit steep for a third-issue drop.
90. 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%) 03/08 Damage Control #3 of 3 - 21,836 (-16.0%)
Another AFTERSMASH miniseires with rather steep drops.
92. SHE-HULK
03/04 She-Hulk #1 - 34,499
03/05 ---
03/06 She-Hulk #6 - 26,631
=====
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%)
03/08 She-Hulk #27 - 21,421 ( -3.4%)
6 mnth (-21.3%)
1 year ( --- )
2 year (-19.6%)
3 year ( --- )
Still dropping. There’s a crossover with X-FACTOR coming up, which also doubles as a SECRET INVASION tie-in.
93. BLACK PANTHER
03/05 Black Panther #2 - 47,533
03/06 Black Panther #14 - 28,809
=====
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%)
03/08 Black Panther #35 - 21,332 ( -8.9%)
6 mnth ( --- )
1 year (-58.5%)
2 year (-26.0%)
3 year (-55.1%)
Well, this is just catastrophic. The recently announced animated series might help to keep it around, but this book is crashing through the floor. Shedding a steady 2,000 readers or more per month, BLACK PANTHER is on course to literally run out of readers entirely within a year.
96. 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 ---
03/08 Relentless #5 of 5 - 20,645 ( -2.4%)
6 mnth (-32.2%)
Standard miniseries numbers.
98. WAR IS HELL [Max] 03/08 Phantom Eagle #1 of 5 - 20,373
Garth Ennis and Howard Chaykin with a revisionist take on the World War I aerial hero Phantom Eagle. About what I’d expect from a Max series about an obscure character.
99. POWERS [Icon]
03/03 Powers #29 - 27,062
03/04 Powers #37 - 25,028
03/05 ---
03/06 Powers #17 - 24,139
=====
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 ---
03/08 Powers #28 - 19,256 ( -3.0%)
6 mnth ( --- )
1 year ( --- )
2 year (-20.2%)
3 year ( --- )
4 year (-23.1%)
Sliding steadily.
104. 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%)
03/08 The Order #9 - 18,317 ( -4.6%)
6 mnth (-46.0%)
Axed with issue #10.
114. AMAZING SPIDER-GIRL
03/03 Spider-Girl #58 - 23,776
03/04 Spider-Girl #71 - 20,709
03/05 Spider-Girl #84 - 20,050
03/06 Spider-Girl #96 - 16,739
=====
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%)
03/08 Amazing Spider-Girl #18 - 15,910 ( -1.7%)
6 mnth (-14.8%)
1 year (-22.3%)
2 year ( -5.0%)
3 year (-20.6%)
4 year (-23.2%)
Steady decline.
119. CLANDESTINE 02/08 ClanDestine #1 of 5 - 20,633 03/08 ClanDestine #2 of 5 - 15,366 (-25.5%)
Disappointingly low sales, but then the characters aren’t well known, and the promotion hasn’t been huge.
120. 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%)
03/08 Marvel Comics Presents #7 - 15,015 ( -7.2%)
6 mnth ( -6.1%)
Disastrous, but it’s guaranteed twelve issues in order to complete its lead serial. If they solicit an issue #13, I’ll be amazed.
122. X-MEN: FIRST CLASS
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%)
03/08 First Class #10 - 14,907 ( -2.7%)
6 mnth (-21.9%)
1 year (-38.0%)
Drifting down.
130. 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%)
03/08 Enter t/Mandarin #6 of 6 - 13,547 ( -4.1%)
6 mnth (-49.7%)
Slightly disappointing drops, I’d say.
139. FAIRY TALES 05/07 Spider-Man #1 of 4 - 17,362 06/07 Spider-Man #2 of 4 - 13,845 (-20.3%) 07/07 Spider-Man #3 of 4 - 12,173 (-12.1%) 08/07 --- 09/07 Spider-Man #4 of 4 - 10,925 (-10.3%) 10/07 --- 11/07 --- 12/07 --- 01/08 --- 02/08 --- 03/08 Avengers #1 of 4 - 12,762 (-16.8%)
The inexplicable “fairy tales with superheroes” series returns with the Avengers. I’ve no idea who this is aimed at, but presumably it’s selling somewhere.
150. 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 --- 03/08 Foolkiller #4 of 5 - 11,353 (-11.9%)
Hugely late. By direct market standards, these are pretty bad sales, but Marvel evidently think there’s a market for this stuff out there somewhere.
158. OFFICIAL HANDBOOK OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE
03/05 Age of Apocalypse - 37,056
03/06 A to Z #3 of 12 - 21,681
=====
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 ---
03/08 Atlas #2 of 2 - 10,893 ( -51.7%)
6 mnth ( -76.9%)
1 year ( -53.7%)
2 year ( -49.8%)
3 year ( -70.6%)
The lowest-selling issue to date, as MARVEL ATLAS perhaps stretches the patience of even the most obsessive fans. Mind you, it’s worth seeing just for the map of Africa, which solemnly tries to cram in every fictional micro-nation which has ever been said to border Wakanda.
165. DEAD OF NIGHT FEATURING MAN-THING [Max] 02/08 Dead of Night #1 of 4 - 12,721 03/08 Dead of Night #2 of 4 - 10,043 (-21.1%)
Another Max book. I’m not sure what say about this line, other than to shrug my shoulders and assume that they’re selling somewhere outside the direct market.
174. 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%)
03/08 Avengers Classic #10 - 9,173 ( -4.3%)
6 mnth (-40.4%)
Axed with issue #12
182. 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%) 03/08 Omega t/Unknown #6 of 10 - 8,595 ( -6.0%)
A prestige project aiming mainly at the bookstores.
186. POWER PACK [All ages]
03/06 ---
=====
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%)
03/08 Day One #1 of 4 - 8,298 (+95.0%)
6 mnth (+53.7%)
1 year (+23.9%)
2 year ( --- )
Hmm, that’s interesting. POWER PACK actually do better without the guest stars.
192. SECRET INVASION SAGA 03/08 Secret Invasion Saga - 7,394
The number’s a bit misleading. This is a 25c recap book, but it comes in bundles of 25. So the actual sales are 184,850. But with books as cheap as this, the numbers are a bit meaningless.
And now, bring on the the licensed titles and the all-ages books. You know the drill – these books sell mainly in other channels, and their direct market sales are evidently not crucial.
197. LORDS OF AVALON: SWORD OF DARKNESS
02/08 Sword of Darkness #1 of 6 - 14,284
03/08 Sword of Darkness #2 of 6 - 6,994 (-51.0%)
211. HEDGE KNIGHT 2: SWORN SWORD
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 ---
03/08 Sworn Sword #5 of 6 - 6,292 ( -7.6%)
217. MARVEL ADVENTURES SPIDER-MAN [All ages]
03/05 M.A. Spider-Man #1 - 14,351
03/06 M.A. Spider-Man #13 - 5,899
=====
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%)
03/08 M.A. Spider-Man #37 - 5,877 ( -0.3%)
6 mnth (-12.6%)
1 year ( -8.3%)
2 year (-59.0%)
222. FRANKLIN RICHARDS [All ages]
03/07 March Madness - 6,416 (-20.5%)
04/07 ---
05/07 ---
06/07 World Be Warned - 7,293 (+13.7%)
07/07 ---
08/07 ---
09/07 Monster Mash - 6,480 (-11.1%)
10/07 ---
11/07 Fall Football Fiasco - 5,727 (-11.6%)
12/07 ---
01/08 ---
02/08 ---
03/08 Spring Break! - 5,684 ( -0.8%)
6 mnth (-12.3%)
1 year (-11.4%)
225. MARVEL ADVENTURES AVENGERS [All ages]
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%)
03/08 M.A. Avengers #22 - 5,575 ( -0.6%)
6 mnth (-18.9%)
1 year (-21.1%)
226. 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%)
03/08 Civil War Chronicles #9 - 5,536 ( -4.7%)
6 mnth (-50.1%)
234. 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%)
03/08 Iliad #4 of 8 - 5,200 ( +1.0%)
244. MARVEL SPOTLIGHT
03/06 Finch/Aguirre-Sacasa - 4,146
=====
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 ---
03/08 L Hamilton/G Martin
- 4,656 ( -50.2%)
6 mnth ( -58.8%)
1 year ( -85.0%)
2 year ( +12.3%)
248. 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%)
03/08 M.A. Iron Man #11 - 4,572 ( +5.9%)
6 mnth (-17.8%)
253. 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%)
03/08 M.A. Hulk #9 - 4,394 ( -3.1%)
6 mnth (-24.1%)
255. MARVEL ADVENTURES FANTASTIC FOUR [All ages]
03/06 M.A. Fantastic Four #10 - 4,663
=====
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%)
03/08 M.A. Fantastic Four #34 - 4,176 ( -1.1%)
6 mnth (-19.6%)
1 year ( -9.0%)
2 year (-10.4%)
258. MOBY DICK [Marvel Illustrated]
02/08 Moby Dick #1 of 6 - 7,251
03/08 Moby Dick #2 of 6 - 3,954 (-45.5%)
260. 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%)
03/08 Dorian Gray #4 of 6 - 3,875 ( +5.0%)
Skip months and re-orders
=========================
ASTONISHING X-MEN
03/05 Astonishing X-Men #9 - 132,295
03/06 ---
=====
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 ---
03/08 ---
Late.
ULTIMATES 03/03 Ultimates #9 - 105,448 03/04 Ultimates #13 - 101,329 03/05 Ultimates 2 #4 - 105,255 03/06 Ultimates 2 #10 - 94,900 ===== 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 - 154,722 (+46.3%) 01/08 Ultimates 3 #2 of 5 - 112,044 (-27.6%) 02/08 Ultimates 3 #3 of 5 - 97,210 (-13.2%) 03/08 ---
Late. Issue #1 picks up re-orders of 11,046, and issue #2 adds another 6,974, so despite the poor reviews, there’s apparently some continuing interest in this series.
HULK 01/08 Hulk #1 - 139,931 02/08 Hulk #2 - 101,598 (-27.4%) 03/08 ---
Late. Issue #1 picks up another 2,130 copies, and issue #2 adds 7,873.
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 --- 03/08 ---
Outrageously late.
KICK-ASS [Icon] 02/08 Kick-Ass #1 - 47,841 03/08 ---
Slipped into April.
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%) 03/08 ---
Slipped to early April.
RUNAWAYS 03/04 Runaways #13 - 19,459 03/05 Runaways #2 - 30,096 03/06 Runaways #14 - 24,536 ===== 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%) 03/08 ---
Late.
CRIMINAL [Icon] 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%) 03/08 ---
Slipped to early April.
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%) 03/08 ---
Bimonthly.
6 month comparisons =================== + 53.7% - Power Pack + 26.6% - Ms Marvel + 7.7% - New Exiles + 2.9% - X-Factor + 2.3% - Captain America + 1.7% - Uncanny X-Men - 4.0% - X-Men: Legacy - 6.1% - Marvel Comics Presents - 6.5% - Immortal Iron Fist - 8.7% - New Avengers - 11.3% - Thor - 11.4% - Ultimate X-Men - 12.3% - Franklin Richards - 12.6% - Marvel Adventures Spider-Man - 13.4% - Ultimate Spider-Man - 13.6% - Wolverine - 14.8% - Amazing Spider-Girl - 17.8% - Marvel Adventures Iron Man - 18.2% - Ultimate Fantastic Four - 18.9% - Marvel Adventures Avengers - 19.6% - Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four - 20.2% - Wolverine: Origins - 21.3% - She-Hulk - 21.9% - X-Men: First Class - 22.9% - Iron Man - 23.8% - Nova - 24.1% - Marvel Adventures Hulk - 26.6% - Avengers: The Initiative - 30.6% - Ghost Rider - 32.2% - Penance: Relentless - 33.9% - Punisher War Journal - 37.8% - Moon Knight - 40.3% - New Warriors - 40.4% - Avengers Classic - 46.0% - The Order - 46.2% - Amazing Spider-Man - 46.8% - Daredevil - 49.1% - Incredible Hercules - 49.7% - Iron Man: Enter the Mandarin - 50.1% - Civil War Chronicles - 58.8% - Marvel Spotlight - 76.9% - Official Handbook 1 year comparison ================= + 44.0% - X-Factor + 23.9% - Power Pack + 9.4% - X-Men: Legacy + 8.5% - Uncanny X-Men + 3.2% - Incredible Hercules + 0.6% - New Exiles + 0.4% - Ms Marvel - 5.9% - Punisher - 8.3% - Marvel Adventures Spider-Man - 9.0% - Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four - 10.6% - Daredevil - 11.4% - Franklin Richards - 13.8% - New Avengers - 14.5% - Fantastic Four - 15.5% - Anita Blake - 21.1% - Marvel Adventures Avengers - 21.8% - Ultimate Spider-Man - 22.2% - Ultimate X-Men - 22.3% - Amazing Spider-Girl - 24.4% - Ultimate Fantastic Four - 26.4% - Dark Tower - 33.6% - Wolverine - 33.6% - Wolverine: Origins - 34.6% - Thunderbolts - 37.8% - Punisher War Journal - 38.0% - X-Men: First Class - 39.4% - Iron Man - 44.8% - Ghost Rider - 47.4% - Mighty Avengers - 48.0% - Amazing Spider-Man - 53.7% - Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe - 58.5% - Black Panther - 61.8% - Moon Knight - 76.4% - Captain America - 85.0% - Marvel Spotlight 2 year comparison ================= + 82.0% - Captain America + 50.0% - Thunderbolts + 17.9% - X-Factor + 16.3% - Fantastic Four + 13.8% - Uncanny X-Men + 12.9% - Incredible Hercules + 12.3% - Marvel Spotlight + 5.4% - X-Men: Legacy - 5.0% - Amazing Spider-Girl - 9.0% - New Exiles - 9.4% - Punisher - 9.8% - Amazing Spider-Man - 10.4% - Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four - 10.6% - Iron Man - 11.3% - Daredevil - 14.9% - New Avengers - 19.6% - She-Hulk - 20.1% - Ultimate Spider-Man - 20.2% - Powers - 26.0% - Black Panther - 32.6% - Ultimate X-Men - 39.2% - Wolverine - 43.5% - Ultimate Fantastic Four - 44.2% - Ms Marvel - 49.8% - Official Handbook - 59.0% - Marvel Adventures Spider-Man 3 year comparison ================= + 74.4% - Captain America + 44.5% - Fantastic Four + 38.0% - Thunderbolts + 13.4% - Incredible Hercules + 5.3% - Amazing Spider-Man + 3.1% - Uncanny X-Men - 2.1% - X-Men: Legacy - 7.6% - Wolverine - 16.4% - Daredevil - 18.4% - Punisher - 20.6% - Amazing Spider-Girl - 28.9% - New Exiles - 32.0% - Ultimate Spider-Man - 33.6% - New Avengers - 41.5% - Ultimate X-Men - 48.4% - Ultimate Fantastic Four - 55.1% - Black Panther - 70.6% - Official Handbook 4 year comparison ================= +216.5% - Thor +107.8% - Captain America + 85.6% - New Avengers + 34.6% - Fantastic Four + 21.3% - Iron Man + 6.9% - Incredible Hercules + 3.8% - Wolverine + 3.0% - Uncanny X-Men - 3.0% - Amazing Spider-Man - 18.9% - New Exiles - 23.1% - Powers - 23.2% - Amazing Spider-Girl - 23.6% - Daredevil - 29.9% - X-Men: Legacy - 33.6% - Punisher - 37.9% - Ultimate Spider-Man - 49.5% - Ultimate X-Men - 64.3% - Ultimate Fantastic Four
Regular readers will recall that the magic number is roughly 63,400 – as long as they’re above that, they’re selling more Spider-Man comics per year than they were managing in the previous format.
Not sure how you get to 63,400 – last year, Sensational sold 497,555 copies over eight issues, Amazing sold 1,021,434 copies over eight issues, and Friendly sold 504,436 copies over nine issues. That’s a total of 2,023,425 copies over 25 issues, for a per issue average of 80,937. At this rate, Amazing is probably already below that mark.
Already below that mark, assuming a sales decline for April as well.
“Well, I don’t understand this at all. I had Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch’s FANTASTIC FOUR pegged as a much bigger deal, but here we are down at 67K. For comparison, that’s slightly down from last June, which was an Initiative issue by Dwayne McDuffie and Paul Pelletier.
Issue #554 picks up re-orders of 5,457, but overall, this seems a very disappointing performance for such a high-profile creative team.”
I think the Millar-N-Hitch team’s bankability has eroded since their Ultimates heyday. Hitch’s unreliable work ethic seems to have overtaken Millar’s almost superhuman ability to sustain 100K+ levels of interest with his hype and braggadocio.
I recall when their Fantastic Four gig was announced, the reaction of (non Millarworld) comicdom seemed wary and cynical that they’d be able to sustain a monthly schedule. Add to that Millar’s increasingly familiar bag of tricks and Hitch’s bizarrely similar faces (and his inability to draw a convincing Thing), and the soft numbers make perfect sense to me. In fact, I’ll predict they’ll take another sharp nosedive in the coming months, as either the inevitable delays or Millar’s tiresome boy-genius schtick drive even more readers away.
“The lowest-selling issue to date, as MARVEL ATLAS perhaps stretches the patience of even the most obsessive fans.”
Although it came from the same office as the handbooks it’s not really a handbook – in fact it was originally intended that each issue would ship the same month as the regular handbook feature, but the handbook schedule shifted. The 4-month gap between issues probably hurt the Atlas more than any other factor.
If you compare it to other titles from our office, it’s sadly not the lowest-selling – Marvel Monsters: From the Files of Ulysses Bloodstone pushed 9,642 and Marvel Westerns: Outlaw Files did 7,285.
You mention the ULTIMATE titles seem to be leveling out a bit…
Well, last week’s UFF and this week’s UXM are my final issues for both of those titles, even though I have been loyal since the beginning and stuck around a lot longer than I should have as they consistently were at the bottom of my read pile. I could rant forever about the Ultimate Universe, but I blame it mainly on the fact that we are reading carbon copies of the 616 versions rendering them pointless. (Remember when the FF acted like teens at the beginning? Remember when UXM had some attitude?)
Anyway, I wonder if everyone is left is the absolute DIE HARDS that will collect it no matter what. Because I have to be one of the last people to drop them…
JR
I think a large part of the less-than-stellar numbers for Fantastic Four can be attributed to the story being, or appearing to be, outside the regular series run. Fantastic Four has been heavily involved in the past years major events. This Millar/Hitch version simply looks like a repackaged Ultimate story that is planned for eventual release as a stand-alone book release.
Add in a bizarre sense of secrecy in the marketing of this team and I wouldn’t be surprised if this new direction lost a lot of regular FF readers. All we have heard is that this is “taking it back to the greatness of the Lee/Kirby days!” That is fairly vague and has been used a number of times before.
He’s not talking about per-issue average, but the number of Spider-Man books Marvel sold total per year. The 63,400 figure takes into account that ASM should ship 36 issues this year instead of last year’s 25 for the three books total.
Prior to the switch, I think alot of people were enjoying McDuffie’s run..his giddy cosmic storylines were the perfect antidote to the dreary post-Civil War landscape. I realize the numbers for McDuffie’s run weren’t spectacular, but the abrupt takeover by the Mark & Bryan Show seemed like an interruption of something that was going somewhere.
> NEW AVENGERS holds more or less steady, with the big crossover just around the corner. Bizarrely, issue #31 suddenly picks up re-orders of 11,773 to chart at number 147, despite having come out last June. It’s the issue where Elektra turned out to be a Skrull. As usual, those numbers are added into the figures above.
> For that matter, number 231 is another 5,437 copies of NEW AVENGERS: ILLUMINATI – SECRET HISTORY, which was a reprint of NEW AVENGERS: ILLUMINATI #1-2. Both books are SECRET INVASION tie-ins, so it’s possible that on the eve of the crossover, retailers have suddenly decided to re-order them.
> But this isn’t the first time we’ve seen old comics suddenly show up on the charts out of nowhere. FALLEN SON: DEATH OF CAPTAIN AMERICA – IRON MAN still won’t go away, shipping a further 6,549 units in March, and bringing its total to 173,941. In the case of that book, the explanation is apparently that Marvel have been sending out surplus copies to retailers, evidently reasoning that it beats pulping them. The old NEW AVENGERS books may be in the same category.
Take a look at this: http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=214938
Apparently Marvel have been shipping ASM 546 (first print!) copies to retailers too…
> 70. NOVA
> 03/08 Nova #11 – 28,162 ( -4.2%)
> 6 mnth (-23.8%)
> Still sliding. This is looking a bit worrying.
Damn… buy this book, people.
Also, SI tie-in coming up in #16-18
> Well, this is just catastrophic. The recently announced animated series might help to keep it around, but this book is crashing through the floor. Shedding a steady 2,000 readers or more per month, BLACK PANTHER is on course to literally run out of readers entirely within a year.
Well, as I posted in previous months, this is just a resumption of the original trend for Hudlin’s BP before the wedding arc, six months of Civil War tie-ins and a year of Fantastic Four tie-ins.
There’s a SI tie-in arc coming up, but it’s not by Hudlin, so there won’t be a “long tail” this time…
> 150. FOOLKILLER [Max]
> Hugely late. By direct market standards, these are pretty bad sales, but Marvel evidently think there’s a market for this stuff out there somewhere.
Well, MAX titles (except Punisher) are $4, not $3. Aren’t MAX titles also DM-only though?
> He’s not talking about per-issue average, but the number of Spider-Man books Marvel sold total per year. The 63,400 figure takes into account that ASM should ship 36 issues this year instead of last year’s 25 for the three books total.
Of course, that’s not really the case – costs go up as well as intake, and not necessarily linear wrt the number of issues, so the “profit line” is more fluid than that. But even if the costs stayed the same (And surely co-ordinating four (now five or six) writers and about as many artists as arcs takes more editorial time than three writers and fairly regular artistic teams).
I already knew Runaways was suffering delays, but seeing the gaps in type like that…ouch. Has Joss Whedon ever written a comic that didn’t suffer huge delays?
“Has Joss Whedon ever written a comic that didn’t suffer huge delays?”
His BUFFY issues at Dark Horse have all been on time.
Yeah, but didn’t Whedon only write a few of those and then hand off the reigns?
I totally agree about Hitch’s rendering of the FF. The art used in the promo poster I picked up at my LCS was just plain ugly and would not have convinced me to buy it. I also agree that the marketing was vague- like maybe the scripts weren’t even done when the creative change was announced or something, or maybe Marvel just thought the names Hitch and Millar were enough to sell it and were proven wrong.
Were those original Dark Tower sales figures the initial numbers or post-reorders? I wonder if retailers are under-ordering the sequel and we’ll see big reorder numbers.
“# Mark Engblom Says:
05/1/08 at 3:37 pm
Prior to the switch, I think alot of people were enjoying McDuffie’s run..his giddy cosmic storylines were the perfect antidote to the dreary post-Civil War landscape. I realize the numbers for McDuffie’s run weren’t spectacular, but the abrupt takeover by the Mark & Bryan Show seemed like an interruption of something that was going somewhere.”
Millar and Hitch had started working on F4 becore McDuffie did.
http://dwaynemcduffienews.blogspot.com/2007/08/mcduffie-welcomes-millar-hitch-to.html
“[They] were kind enough to let me see the scripts, many of which were done before I even started, so I kind of knew where [Millar] was going. It’s going to be cool. Oh, yeah, I will be reading it,” said McDuffie, who told CBR News that he knew his run on Marvel’s first family would be limited from the outset.”
As for the low sales, I think it’s simply down to the fact that like Superman, the Fantastic Four are major icons that don’t neccesarily get major sales.
The Ultimate titles…are they heading in the same direction as other Marvel non-616 universe lines? I’m thinking MC2 and 2099 here. There really isn’t much force behind the line anymore, it seems.
In regards to the Millar/Hitch FF run, I TOLD YOU GUYS SO. In a nutshell, FF (like Superman) is a tough sell in the current market no matter who is writing or drawing the book (possible exceptions being Wheedon and Jim Lee). I should also point out that despite what many fans might believe (including Millar himself), Millar’s name on a book is NOT enough to guarantee a book will sell well. Hell, even with a popular artist like Hitch, it’s no guarantee that a book written by him will sell well. The sad truth of the matter is that the high sells on many (NOT ALL) of Millar’s books has more to do with him being on the right book with the right gimmicks (variant covers,controversy,major event crossovers,and no over print policy).
For those people contributing the falling sales of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN to OMD (a crappy story) and BND (a great story), it should be noted that sales on ASM were much lower 3 years ago around this time. It should also be noted that the reason why ASM sales were up so “high” over the last 2 years was because those sales were artificially inflated/up due to gimmicks.
I predict that after the DWS “crossover” (I know it’s not a crossover) event is over and after the big double sized 500th issue with the inevitable variant cover, sales on UXM will start to fall back down around pre-crossover numbers (and continue to fall).
When you factor in the fact that X-FORCE #2 had a variant cover and is still being touted as a DWS tie in book, the sales drop is even worse then it appears to be. I predict that this book will continue to loose sales at an alarming rate.
The reason sales on CABLE #1 were so high is because the book is a DWS tie in and has a variant cover. There is little or no interest in the CABLE and the continuation of the “Messiah Complex” storyline. I predict that CABLE will be canceled by issue 12.
I predict that IRON MAN:DIRECTOR OF SHIELD will be canceled within a year. The same goes for GHOST RIDER,MOON KNIGHT, SHE-HULK,MS. MARVEL (after the crossover),and NEW WARRIORS.
Ellis’s T-bolts run, as I predicted, is still shedding readers.
Marvel will most likely keep BLACK PANTHER around until after the animated series airs on BET because (a) they want to keep Hudlin happy (because he’s the one responsible for getting BP on BET) and (b) to see if the cartoon boost sales on the comic (which it WILL NOT do). Once they see that the cartoon did not boost sales on the cartoon, they will kick Hudlin to the curb and cancel BP.
The reason THE TWELVE mini series is a sales disappointment is because the book isn’t selling as high as Marvel and SOME fans would expect it to since the book is being written by a “popular” critically acclaimed Hollywood writer and drawn by a critically acclaimed artist. This is why I say that comic company’s SHOULD NOT depend solely on the NAME or CELEBRITY STATUS of creators in order to sell books.
I said it before, and I’ll say it again. NEW EXILES will be selling around the current amount of copies (and sells would continue to fall) NO MATTER who is/was writing the book. EXILES/NEW EXILES is a cult book with a small and shrinking following that is NOT important to the mainstream MU.
I kind of disagree with the sentiment that BND is a success as long as the total number of copies is above the sum of the previous 3 titles… After all, 20,000 or so less copies sold of Amazing Spider-Man means 20,000 less living, breathing readers – readers who look at the ads, readers who might pick up a special or mini series.
Well, I’m happy to see FF sales down. I thought the McDuffie/Pelletier run was the best the book had in a LONG time (I didn’t care for Claremont, Waid or JMS) and seeing them be replaced by my least favorite writer (yeah, I know it was a temporary assignment anyway, but I didn’t know it at the time) was SERIOUSLY depressing.
Hopefully Marvel will soon replace Millar by a better writer. I wouldn’t mind seeing McDuffie back! Or maybe they could even let Karl Kesel fulfill his longtime dream of writing the series. All his FF fill-ins, annuals and one-shots are great!
But before I get too optimistic, let me ask something: Isn’t it possible that part of the book’s distribution has been delayed and those numbers will appear on next month’s charts? I has happened before…
Best,
Hunter (Pedro Bouça)
Just curious…
What are the Company totals in comparison to last year? Is the economy having an effect?
Spider-Man is the flagship title of Marvel (remember the Spidey head on the UPC boxes/), even though people perceive X-Men to be the #1 title at Marvel. How high did Byrne’s FF chart? And aren’t all of the Stan Lee titles (Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Daredevil, Avengers…) iconic? Each has had fluctuations over the years, and almost always the popularity is due to a an author staying on the book for a long period. (Yes, that sounds kinda stupid, as a mediocre writer will be given the heave-ho.) What I mean is that gimmicks and “hot” creators will not drive a book’s sales for long. (Heroes Reborn, anyone?)
Looking at Iron Man and Captain America, which were never superstars, they had a consistent team which sold the book, and told good stories. (That top ten Iron Man GN list has a lot of Bob Layton. Mark Gruenwald took what could have been a boring character and created some interesting story arcs.) The same thing is currently seen on Spider-Girl, where Tom De Falco defies cancellation with each issue.
As for the above list, the only title I purchased was Clan Destine. It is practically a creator owned title, set in the Marvel Universe, with a diverse cast of interesting characters, all beautifully rendered by Alan Davis. Oh, and I bought the FF title too, to see what they had planned. I’ll wait for the trade.
Somebody said:
“Apparently Marvel have been shipping ASM 546 (first print!) copies to retailers too…”
Right. “First prints”. Marvel, the company that almost never has product available for re-order through Diamond a week after it comes out, due to Marvel’s own strict print-to-order policy, amazingly has thousands (1000’s) of “first print” copies of a book to give away for free. I don’t believe it.
Just as I didn’t believe it that they suddenly had tens of thousand’s (10,000’s) of copies of Captain America #25 “first prints” available weeks after the book came out. Just. Don’t. Believe. It.
139. FAIRY TALES
05/07 Spider-Man #1 of 4 – 17,362
06/07 Spider-Man #2 of 4 – 13,845 (-20.3%)
07/07 Spider-Man #3 of 4 – 12,173 (-12.1%)
03/08 Avengers #1 of 4 – 12,762 (-16.8%)
The inexplicable “fairy tales with superheroes” series returns with the Avengers. I’ve no idea who this is aimed at, but presumably it’s selling somewhere.
-+-+-+-+-
Latest issue sales breakdown—12,762.
10,000…Fairies
2,000…Gnomes
762…Sex Fetishists
“Yeah, but didn’t Whedon only write a few of those and then hand off the reigns?”
Yes, but I was referring to the ones he wrote himself – the first four or so, plus a recent two-parter. They all came out monthly.
“83. 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%)
03/08 New Warriors #10 – 23,887 ( -7.0%)
6 mnth (-40.3%)Barring a major turnaround, this is going to drop below the 20K mark in a couple of months. Surely it can’t be long for this world.”
God, that’s awful. Here’s hoping the upcoming Secret Invasion tie-ins and the Counter Force arc will bring sales up. I’d hate to see this book go. It might be the dead last time the New Warriors get a shot at an ongoing series.
Torsten asked…
“What are the Company totals in comparison to last year? Is the economy having an effect?”
I got into this a little in my column this week (http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=155380). Diamond’s sales of comics, trade paperbacks, and magazines (including backlist items, not just the Top 300 & 100) were off 1%, or about $1 million in the first quarter. I don’t have company breakdowns online for the quarter, but they can be figured out by looking at all three months.
It is the first quarterly drop in some time, but for the moment most I’ve talked with have attributed it to seasonality and the size of publishers’ slates. At least some of Q1 2007’s comparative strength came from projects that were supposed to ship Q4 2006, but which slipped into the next quarter, so that figures in, as well. If Civil War shipped entirely as originally planned, Q1 2008 would look a little stronger by comparison.
It bears watching, certainly. I think the picture will be clearer one way or the other by summer.
“God, that’s awful. Here’s hoping the upcoming Secret Invasion tie-ins and the Counter Force arc will bring sales up. I’d hate to see this book go. It might be the dead last time the New Warriors get a shot at an ongoing series.”
Most certainly not, but it’ll probably suffer the Alpha Flight Effect, where a relaunched team book always comes back with a new cast, very different from the one that made the original so popular (well, for a time at least).
And then quickly cancelled.
Best,
Hunter (Pedro Bouça)
It’d be nice if Marvel actually built characters up before throwing them into series’ that seem doomed from the beginning. I’ll never understand the marketing ideas they and DC both have sometimes. I hope they don’t actually wonder why it’s so hard for them to launch new series.
I think people are jumping the gun a bit by declaring Millar has lost his selling power. Looking at only the sales for one book isn’t good analysis. Compare the situation Millar and Hitch are in to other analogous situations.
One such analogous book on this chart is Runaways with Joss Whedon writing. The sales of Whedon’s Runaways are much lower than a common Whedon book. Whedon, like Millar, took over the book during the course of it’s regular serial numbering.
So, if anything, we can draw the conclusion that no matter how popular a creator is, when a book is taken over by a new creator, but the regular serial numbering stays in place, then the creator’s name is not going to do much against the inertia of the title’s normal sales pattern.
139. FAIRY TALES
09/07 Spider-Man #4 of 4 — aimed at Mike Allred fans mayhaps?
05/08 Avengers #3 of 4 — aimed at Takeshi Miyazawa fans mayhaps?
Chris, fan of Mike Allred and Takeshi Miyazawa
Alan – if you bothered to read the thread, you’d see that the allegations of Marvel shipping extra copies to retailers were made BY a retailer, who gave his name, store and address, posted pictures of the extra copies that he received without ordering, and posted the receipt from Diamond showing how many extra copies of the issue he’d received, without ordering them.
Quesada has every reason in the world to NEED for BND to be a success, and I don’t doubt that he’d resort to such stunts in order to make it look successful.
“still a very good number for a book based on the likes of Warpath and X-23.”
Come now, Paul. I think we all know *who* the book is “based on”. Warpath and X-23 are just interchangeable window dressing so he’ll have someone to talk to in the book. They could be the Prowler, Joystick and Carmella Unuscione for all the difference it’d make. The book would still do the same numbers, because of *him*, and we all know it.
“Another book which has levelled out in the last few months after a long slide. Is this becoming a trend?”
Both February and March have been fairly undemanding months from a consumer wallet perspective. Nothing particularly big has been going on. So it’s understandable that there’s less pressure to drop books to make room for big crossovers or weeklies. I’m pretty sure that once both DC and Marvel open their salvos with FC and SI, peoples’ wallets will tighten again and they’ll have to be more discerning again regarding what they can continue to keep reading.
Fantastic Four has to go down as a disappointment if those numbers continue. And Millar said he wanted to make it a top 10 book. Also it amazes me that Marvel think there is a market for a second Iron Man ongoing whenever the other book can’t even make the top 50.
A question: Tom Breevort recently said that these numbers can be off by as much as 10,000 either way, is there much truth in this or is it just Marvel spin?
52. WOLVERINE: FIRST CLASS
03/08 Wolverine: First Class #1 – 35,695
A sister title to X-MEN: FIRST CLASS, featuring Wolverine and Kitty Pryde in early eighties continuity. And no, the pun in the title doesn’t work here, does it? Anyhow, retailers seem to like the sound of this one – X-MEN: FIRST CLASS only did 26K for its first issue.
—-
Hmm, that’s interesting. POWER PACK actually do better without the guest stars.
—-
Actually no. Marvel shipped free promotional copies to retailers on both series. That should explain that.
http://forums.millarworld.tv/index.php?showtopic=80735&st=20
Millar responds with:
“Sales on our first ish were about 100K and about 15-20 of these were the alternate covers. Orders on the issue itself were about 83K and second ish (no alternates) were around 77K. So it’s a pretty tiny drop. That said, I want us in the top ten and tho I suspect we’ll drop another couple of thousand first I think we’ll spike with 558 and the beginning of the Death of Sue arc/ Old Man Logan crossover.”
Despite what Marvel and some fans believe, putting Wolverine in a book as either one of the main characters or as a guest star, DOES NOT guarantee that said book will sell well. The last MARVEL TEAM UP series and all of those low selling WOLVERINE mini series from a few years ago, are proof of that.
despite the spin, I’m glad to see that Millar is at least honest enough to admit that his and Hitch’s FF run isn’t doing as well as he hoped it would and that the high sales for their first issue were partly due to the variant cover.
As for sales on their FF run going up with issue 558, I HIGHLY doubt that will happen UNLEES that issue has a variant cover.
For many retailers who paid for “Free Comic Book Day” books to sell at their stores, Marvel shipped tons of Cable #1 and whichever recent issue of Ultimate Spider-Man had Spidey & the X-Men posed on it to comic book stores to give out.
“Also it amazes me that Marvel think there is a market for a second Iron Man ongoing whenever the other book can’t even make the top 50.”
My guess is that they wanted a #1 Iron Man for movie fans (and retailers) to jump on. Plus it’s supposed to be much more straightforward heroics.
Really, anything less than 100K for the launch should be viewed as a miserable failure — Thor managed 200K as a relaunch, if IM can’t manage 100K with a giant movie push behind it, it’s pathetic.
Whether it’ll *keep* those readers, I have my doubts; historically, movie fan bubbles have not stuck around long.
I wonder why Thor of all books is holding up so well. Is it JMS’ writing, Coipel’s art, the figure of Thor, or a combination of these factors? It will be interesting to see how Fraction’s Thor is doing.
And please, guys, buy Nova and Ghost Rider, two of the best books on the superhero market.
“Really, anything less than 100K for the launch should be viewed as a miserable failure — Thor managed 200K as a relaunch, if IM can’t manage 100K with a giant movie push behind it, it’s pathetic.”
Hold on- THOR has been fueled by a long absence of the character and a prominent creative team, and it’s been selling spectacularly well even by those expectations.
Film adaptations, by contrast, rarely have much of an effect on comics sales, unless they point to one readily available book or finite series, as in the case of 300, HELLBOY or SIN CITY.
Given that the creative team of INVINCIBLE IRON MAN isn’t in the same league commercially as that of THOR, and that there’s an existing IRON MAN book selling well below 40,000 units, I’d say Marvel can consider themselves lucky if they manage to shift between 50 and 60k of the debut issue, including the variant cover editions.
I pretty much agree with Paul. I think it would have made more sense to give the character some rest after CIVIL WAR and then relaunch the book in time for the movie. I’m not sure who’s supposed to buy a second series, either. (Well, I will, but that’s just because it’s by Fraction, so it doesn’t count- I’d also buy WOODGOD if it said “Fraction” on the cover.)
As for Tom Brevoort’s claim that the numbers are off 10k, it obviously barely matters. I took ASM’s numbers, and added 10k:
139085
137958 -1127 -0,8%
111213 -26745 -19,4%
107959 -3254 -2,9%
111112 +3153 +2,9%
100874 -10238 -9,2%
98084 -2790 -2,8%
99835 +1751 +1,8%
92648 -7187 -7,2%
91072 -1576 -1,7%
And when they’re 10k less than reported above:
119085
117958 -1127 -0,9%
91213 -26745 -22,7%
87959 -3254 -3,6%
91112 +3153 +3,6%
80874 -10238 -11,2%
78084 -2790 -3,4%
79835 +1751 +2,2%
72648 -7187 -9,0%
71072 -1576 -2,2%
As long as the numbers are consistently off, then the trends remain consistent as well, although obviously there is a bit of a difference when the books are in the lower regions like Spider-Girl is, for instance. But even if the numbers are 10k off, then ASM still lost 50k in between the first issue of BND and its 9th issue. That’s not 7k a month, that’s 7k a week. If that keeps up, we’re below that average 63k very soon indeed. The danger of putting all your eggs in one basket is that, if you misread the audience (which I am certain they did), your eggs might well get ruined.
Not that that matters either, since they can easily pick up the slack by involving Spidey in Secret Invasion. Any title that gets the SI logo slapped on it will easily sell 10k, 20k, 30k more. That’s just how it works and how it probably will always work. But right now, Spidey is lukewarm at best, and I don’t think it’ll be very long before it reaches Countdownesque numbers, despite Bachalo’s excellent art, for one thing.
Also interesting that wraith’s prediction about Thunderbolts indeed came true. Once the Initiative banner disappeared, it sank like a stone (same as for a lot of the other books that had the same banner), no doubt helped by Warren Ellis’s writing style being such that it’s highly unsatisfying to read in chapters and people figuring they’re better off waiting for the trade. I’m curious to see whether retailers/fans will fall for the same tricks again.
I’m pretty confident that the numbers are a largely accurate reflection of the sales that Diamond count on the chart. Everyone who does the exercise comes up with much the same numbers, which is hardly surprising since it only requires one publisher’s data and the ability to do basic maths.
I presume what Tom’s referring to is the fact that the chart only covers sales outside the direct market, and therefore doesn’t cover newsstand sales or sales to the UK.
> Given that the creative team of INVINCIBLE IRON MAN isn’t in the same league commercially as that of THOR, and that there’s an existing IRON MAN book selling well below 40,000 units, I’d say Marvel can consider themselves lucky if they manage to shift between 50 and 60k of the debut issue, including the variant cover editions.
Well, it’s got between seven and ten covers, remember…
> Not that that matters either, since they can easily pick up the slack by involving Spidey in Secret Invasion. Any title that gets the SI logo slapped on it will easily sell 10k, 20k, 30k more. That’s just how it works and how it probably will always work.
Thing is though, they CAN’T DO THAT for ASM as it stands – the lead-time the current format needs is so horrendous that they can’t react to what’s going on elsewhere (witness the recent botched New Avengers tie-in, which doesn’t make sense in the context of recent events in that title…). The Secret Invasion tie-in – as with F4, another title whose current issues were done months earlier than is typical – is shunted off into a miniseries.
> I presume what Tom’s referring to is the fact that the chart only covers sales outside the direct market, and therefore doesn’t cover newsstand sales or sales to the UK.
Well, *inside* the North American DM, but yeah.
Realistically at what sales number does a mainstream title become at risk of cancelation – I thought anything under 25,000 was in the danger zone but there are now loads of titles falling below that continuously – there must be a point where they aren’t commercially viable …
oh – and Wraith – I’m seconding your predictions – they all seem like common sense to me !