By Paul O’Brien
It’s the column you’ve been waiting for! The September sales – for Marvel!
Hello? Hello? Is this thing on?
Okay, so September was DC’s month. And understandably, most publishers got out of the way, rather than trying to launch any new titles against the New 52 onslaught. Marvel had the second month of the Ultimate relaunch, and there are a couple of new Icon books in the form of BRILLIANT and the returning CASANOVA, but that’s really about it where new launches are concerned. Of course, there’s also the continuing crossovers of “Fear Itself”, “Spider-Island” and “Schism”, and Marvel’s standard practice these days would be to launch the new books after those events, not during.
For the first time in quite a while, DC had the biggest share of the market, leading Marvel by 43% to 38% in units, and a razor-thin 36% to 35% in dollars. (Incidentally, those market share figures apparently don’t apply the retainability discount which Diamond factored into the sales of individual issues.) If that seems closer than you expected, bear in mind that with 52 superhero comics, DC were actually cutting their line back. Marvel solicited almost 80 Marvel Universe superhero books for the same month – though that may not last, given that lower selling titles are now apparently being culled.
Thanks as always to ICV2.com for permission to use these figures.
And for a change, we begin our search for Marvel titles all the way down the chart at number 8.
8. FEAR ITSELF 04/11 #1 of 7 - 135,746 05/11 #2 of 7 - 105,359 (-22.4%) 06/11 #3 of 7 - 99,501 ( -5.6%) 07/11 #4 of 7 - 93,435 ( -6.1%) 08/11 #5 of 7 - 90,914 ( -2.7%) 09/11 #6 of 7 - 93,032 ( +2.3%)
Up from last month! But this issue has twice as many variant covers as the previous one, which probably accounts for that. Still, FEAR ITSELF has held up very well.
9,35. ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN
09/06 #100 - 116,197
09/07 #114 - 66,682
09/08 #126 - 54,604
09/09 #2 - 57,477
=====
09/10 #14 - 35,776 ( -3.7%)
10/10 #15 - 34,657 ( -3.1%)
11/10 #150 - 40,553 ( +17.0%)
12/10 #151 - 33,707 ( -16.9%)
01/11 #152 - 33,481 ( -1.0%)
02/11 #153 - 43,986 ( +31.4%)
02/11 #154 - 43,209 ( -1.8%)
03/11 #155 - 44,067 ( +2.0%)
03/11 #156 - 44,920 ( +1.9%)
04/11 #157 - 50,896 ( +13.3%)
05/11 #158 - 47,941 ( -5.8%)
06/11 #159 - 51,766 ( +8.0%)
06/11 #160 - 166,944 (+222.5%)
07/11 #1 of 6 - 49,084 ( -70.6%)
07/11 #2 of 6 - 45,371 ( -7.6%)
07/11 #3 of 6 - 44,492 ( -1.9%)
08/11 #4 of 6 - 88,136 ( +98.1%)
08/11 #5 of 6 - 41,336 ( -53.1%)
08/11 #6 of 6 - 39,190 ( -5.2%)
09/11 #1 - 87,237 (+122.6%)
09/11 #2 - 52,569 ( -39.7%)
6 mnth ( +17.0%)
1 year ( +46.9%)
2 year ( -8.5%)
3 year ( -3.7%)
4 year ( -21.2%)
5 year ( -54.8%)
Two issues this month, which seems to be Marvel’s new strategy in launching ongoing titles. This was Marvel’s biggest release of the month, and they’ve picked up a fair amount of mainstream publicity for the relaunch of Ultimate Spider-Man. The first issue gets a good number, admittedly with the help of three variants. There’s a significant drop off for the second, but 53K is still way up from the 33K range of nine months ago. On the other hand, you’ll that two years ago, the last relaunch managed 57K in its second issue.
ULTIMATE FALLOUT #4 picks up a hefty 14,372 reorders, which are factored into the number above.
18,27. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
09/06 #535 - 117,056
09/07 #544 - 146,215
09/08 #572 - 75,574
09/09 #604 - 63,435
=====
09/10 #641 - 68,345 ( -7.2%)
09/10 #642 - 60,115 ( -12.0%)
09/10 #643 - 61,855 ( +2.9%)
09/10 #644 - 58,310 ( -5.7%)
10/10 #645 - 56,709 ( -2.7%)
10/10 #646 - 58,125 ( +2.5%)
11/10 #647 - 55,819 ( -4.0%)
11/10 #648 - 79,714 ( +42.8%)
11/10 #649 - 55,515 ( -30.4%)
12/10 #650 - 58,909 ( +6.1%)
01/11 #651 - 56,749 ( -3.7%)
01/11 #652 - 52,050 ( -8.3%)
02/11 #653 - 53,103 ( +2.0%)
02/11 #654 - 53,882 ( +1.5%)
02/11 #.1 - 55,283 ( +2.6%)
02/11 #655 - 53,366 ( -3.5%)
03/11 #656 - 59,626 ( +11.7%)
03/11 #657 - 58,704 ( -1.5%)
04/11 #658 - 61,687 ( +5.1%)
04/11 #659 - 58,258 ( -5.6%)
05/11 #660 - 58,249 ( -0.0%)
05/11 #661 - 59,087 ( +1.4%)
05/11 #662 - 55,883 ( -5.4%)
06/11 #663 - 57,040 ( +2.1%)
06/11 #664 - 54,808 ( -3.9%)
07/11 #665 - 56,948 ( +3.9%)
07/11 #666 - 135,568 (+138.1%)
08/11 #667 - 71,235 ( -47.5%)
08/11 #668 - 57,533 ( -19.2%)
09/11 #669 - 71,944 ( +25.0%)
09/11 #670 - 57,959 ( -19.4%)
6 mnth ( -1.3%)
1 year ( -15.2%)
2 year ( -8.6%)
3 year ( -23.3%)
4 year ( -60.4%)
5 year ( -50.5%)
The third month of the Spider-Island crossover (which runs through to issue #673). As you probably figured out, issue #669 has multiple variant covers, including 1:15, 1:26 and 1:52 incentives.
22. ULTIMATE COMICS X-MEN
09/06 #74 - 68,874
09/07 #86 - 55,346
09/08 ---
09/09 ---
=====
09/10 ---
10/10 ---
11/10 ---
12/10 ---
01/11 ---
02/11 ---
03/11 #4 - 37,631 (-15.6%)
04/11 ---
05/11 ---
06/11 #5 - 34,730 ( -7.7%)
07/11 ---
08/11 ---
09/11 #1 - 62,080 (+78.8%)
6 mnth (+65.0%)
1 year ( --- )
2 year ( --- )
3 year ( --- )
4 year (+12.2%)
5 year ( -9.9%)
I’m treating this as a continuation of the abortive ULTIMATE COMICS X, since it seems to have inherited that book’s cast. By recent standards, this is a decent launch number – it’s similar territory to DAREDEVIL, which debuted with 65K. While it’s not a particularly high number for the title by historic standards, it’s a significant improvement from the floundering previous series.
23. AVENGERS
09/10 #5 - 82,411 ( -5.6%)
10/10 #6 - 73,258 (-11.1%)
11/10 #7 - 89,758 (+22.5%)
12/10 #8 - 67,056 (-25.3%)
01/11 #9 - 64,867 ( -3.3%)
02/11 #10 - 63,924 ( -1.5%)
03/11 #11 - 66,618 ( +4.2%)
04/11 #12 - 63,441 ( -4.8%)
04/11 #.1 - 60,455 ( -4.7%)
05/11 #13 - 68,086 (+12.6%)
06/11 #14 - 64,057 ( -5.9%)
07/11 #15 - 62,580 (-17.9%)
08/11 #16 - 60,295 ( -3.7%)
09/11 #17 - 61,492 ( +2.0%)
6 mnth ( -7.7%)
1 year (-25.4%)
Another Fear Itself tie-in issue, concluding the arc with started back in issue #13.
25. UNCANNY X-MEN
09/06 #478 - 89,850
09/07 #490 - 87,592
09/08 #502 - 82,883
09/09 #515 - 73,585
=====
09/10 #528 - 62,415 ( -9.6%)
10/10 #529 - 62,256 ( -0.3%)
11/10 #530 - 58,006 ( -6.8%)
12/10 #531 - 55,770 ( -3.9%)
01/11 #532 - 54,071 ( -3.0%)
02/11 #533 - 53,834 ( -0.4%)
03/11 #534 - 55,731 ( +3.5%)
04/11 #.1 - 53,473 ( -4.1%)
04/11 #535 - 56,795 ( +6.2%)
04/11 #536 - 53,502 ( -5.8%)
05/11 #537 - 53,716 ( +0.4%)
06/11 #538 - 53,319 ( -0.7%)
06/11 #539 - 54,284 ( +1.8%)
07/11 #540 - 57,206 ( +5.4%)
07/11 #541 - 55,856 ( -2.4%)
08/11 #542 - 54,840 ( -1.8%)
09/11 #543 - 58,326 ( +6.4%)
6 mnth ( +4.7%)
1 year ( -6.6%)
2 year (-20.7%)
3 year (-29.6%)
4 year (-33.4%)
5 year (-35.1%)
Another Fear Itself tie-in, also with variant covers. A relaunch is just around the corner.
26,37. NEW AVENGERS
09/06 ---
09/07 #34 - 112,815
09/08 #45 - 103,326
09/09 #57 - 85,598
=====
09/10 #4 - 77,479 ( -4.7%)
10/10 #5 - 73,409 ( -5.3%)
11/10 #6 - 66,724 ( -9.1%)
12/10 #7 - 67,840 ( +1.7%)
01/11 #8 - 61,169 ( -9.8%)
02/11 #9 - 60,914 ( -0.4%)
03/11 #10 - 59,929 ( -1.6%)
04/11 #11 - 61,778 ( +3.1%)
05/11 #12 - 60,328 ( -2.3%)
06/11 #13 - 57,682 ( -4.4%)
07/11 #14 - 58,306 ( +1.1%)
08/11 #15 - 56,035 ( -3.9%)
09/11 #16 - 57,959 ( +3.4%)
09/11 #.1 - 51,506 (-11.1%)
6 mnth ( -3.3%)
1 year (-25.2%)
2 year (-32.3%)
3 year (-43.9%)
4 year (-48.6%)
5 year ( --- )
Two issues this month – the first is another Fear Itself tie-in with variant covers, and the second is a Point One issue. The Point One books never seem to do as well as the regular title, but this one tails in quite some way behind.
Incidentally, I’m using the regular issue for the six-month and yearly comparisons, since the Point One issue is anomalous. Same goes for the other books with Point One issues this month.
30. CAPTAIN AMERICA
09/06 #22 - 82,230
09/07 #30 - 79,554
09/08 #42 - 75,574
09/09 Re#3 - 108,331
=====
09/10 #610 - 47,986 ( -9.2%)
10/10 #611 - 48,788 ( +1.7%)
11/10 #612 - 47,343 ( -3.0%)
12/10 #613 - 42,871 ( -9.4%)
01/11 #614 - 42,119 ( -1.8%)
02/11 #615 - 41,935 ( -0.4%)
03/11 #.1 - 43,117 ( +2.8%)
03/11 #616 - 44,394 ( +3.0%)
04/11 #617 - 45,400 ( +2.3%)
05/11 #618 - 44,748 ( -1.4%)
06/11 #619 - 44,796 ( +0.1%)
07/11 #1 - 96,926 (+116.4%)
08/11 #2 - 54,384 ( -43.9%)
09/11 #3 - 54,413 ( +0.1%)
6 mnth ( +22.6%)
1 year ( +13.4%)
2 year ( -49.8%)
3 year ( -28.0%)
4 year ( -31.6%)
5 year ( -33.8%)
Variant covers probably account for the slight increase from August.
32. UNCANNY X-FORCE
09/08 #7 - 64,911
09/09 #19 - 49,817
=====
09/10 #3 of 3 - 37,283 ( -3.1%)
10/10 #1 - 99,194 (+166.1%)
11/10 #2 - 56,518 ( -43.0%)
12/10 #3 - 55,520 ( -1.8%)
01/11 #4 - 51,381 ( -7.5%)
02/11 #5 - 51,470 ( +0.2%)
03/11 #5.1 - 50,732 ( -1.4%)
03/11 #6 - 51,248 ( -1.0%)
04/11 #7 - 54,292 ( +5.9%)
04/11 #8 - 50,908 ( -6.2%)
05/11 #9 - 51,726 ( +1.6%)
05/11 #10 - 50,676 ( -2.0%)
06/11 #11 - 53,199 ( +5.0%)
07/11 #12 - 55,413 ( +4.2%)
08/11 #13 - 53,904 ( -2.7%)
08/11 #14 - 50,770 ( -5.8%)
09/11 #15 - 53,771 ( +5.9%)
6 mnth ( +4.9%)
1 year ( +44.2%)
2 year ( +7.9%)
3 year ( -17.2%)
More variant covers, but it’s worth noting that the current run on X-FORCE has been a success, sustaining sales significantly above the previous run.
34. FF
09/06 ---
09/07 ---
09/08 #560 - 58,258
09/09 #571 - 47,468
=====
09/10 #583 - 46,267 ( +33.7%)
10/10 #584 - 45,066 ( -2.6%)
11/10 #585 - 41,568 ( -7.8%)
12/10 #586 - 42,829 ( +3.0%)
01/11 #587 - 144,173 (+236.6%)
02/11 #588 - 68,153 ( -52.7%)
03/11 #1 - 121,172 ( +77.8%)
04/11 #2 - 72,897 ( -39.8%)
05/11 #3 - 66,885 ( -8.2%)
05/11 #4 - 60,571 ( -9.4%)
06/11 #5 - 58,925 ( -2.7%)
07/11 #6 - 55,601 ( -5.6%)
07/11 #7 - 54,022 ( -2.8%)
08/11 #8 - 51,917 ( -0.2%)
09/11 #9 - 53,091 ( +2.3%)
6 mnth ( -56.2%)
1 year ( +14.7%)
2 year ( +11.8%)
3 year ( -8.9%)
4 year ( --- )
5 year ( --- )
Another variant cover, so it’s hard to tell whether the book is levelling out or not.
36. X-MEN: SCHISM 07/11 #1 of 5 - 66,118 07/11 #2 of 5 - 52,498 (-20.6%) 08/11 #3 of 5 - 54,168 ( +3.2%) 09/11 #4 of 5 - 52,509 ( -3.1%)
Odd to see this book selling a few thousand below UNCANNY X-MEN, but it does seems to be gaining momentum, with August’s issue #3 picking up reorders of 4,021. Without those re-orders, issue #4 would actually have been showing an increase, and that’s unusual for the later issues of a mini. That must be a positive sign for the X-books’ upcoming relaunch.
38. KICK-ASS 2 10/10 #1 of 6 - 76,931 11/10 --- 12/10 --- 01/11 --- 02/11 --- 03/11 #2 of 6 - 62,235 (-19.1%) 04/11 --- 05/11 --- 06/11 --- 07/11 --- 08/11 #3 of 6 - 54,270 (-12.8%) 09/11 #4 of 6 - 51,014 ( -6.0%)
Consecutive months! Just when you think Mark Millar is going to zig, he zags.
43. NEW AVENGERS ANNUAL 09/11 #1 - 49,770
About 7K behind the parent title, which is perfectly respectable.
48. MIGHTY THOR
09/06 ---
09/07 ---
09/08 ---
09/09 #603 - 65,265
=====
09/10 #614 - 53,505 ( +4.8%)
09/10 #615 - 52,896 ( -1.2%)
10/10 #616 - 51,051 ( -3.5%)
11/10 #617 - 49,165 ( -3.7%)
12/10 #618 - 45,142 ( -8.2%)
01/11 #619 - 42,899 ( -5.0%)
02/11 #620 - 42,106 ( -1.8%)
03/11 #.1 - 41,605 ( -1.2%)
03/11 #621 - 42,104 ( +1.2%)
04/11 #1 - 82,071 (+94.9%)
05/11 #2 - 50,473 (-38.5%)
06/11 #3 - 48,114 ( -4.7%)
07/11 #4 - 44,586 ( -7.3%)
08/11 #5 - 44,594 ( +0.0%)
09/11 #6 - 45,231 ( +1.4%)
6 mnth ( +7.4%)
1 year (-15.5%)
2 year (-30.7%)
3 year ( --- )
4 year ( --- )
5 year ( --- )
The modest climbs on the last two issues are probably due to variant covers, but overall sales look to be reasonably solid.
50. SECRET AVENGERS
09/10 #5 - 69,546 ( -6.8%)
10/10 #6 - 68,617 ( -1.3%)
11/10 #7 - 59,999 (-12.6%)
12/10 #8 - 54,048 ( -9.9%)
01/11 #9 - 50,748 ( -6.1%)
02/11 #10 - 49,717 ( -2.0%)
03/11 #11 - 51,353 ( +3.3%)
04/11 #12 - 50,641 (-13.9%)
04/11 #.1 - 46,161 ( -8.8%)
05/11 #13 - 51,936 (+12.5%)
06/11 #14 - 49,898 ( -3.9%)
07/11 #15 - 46,712 ( -6.4%)
08/11 #16 - 46,317 ( -0.8%)
09/11 #17 - 44,890 ( -3.1%)
6 mnth (-12.6%)
1 year (-35.5%)
Issue #16 had a 1:15 variant, and this month there are 1:26 and 1:52 variants – yet the numbers are slightly down. That suggests the underlying drop is rather steeper.
51,55. X-MEN
09/10 #3 - 66,549 ( -6.9%)
10/10 #4 - 63,772 ( -4.2%)
11/10 #5 - 56,651 (-11.2%)
12/10 #6 - 53,005 ( -6.4%)
01/11 #7 - 64,615 (+21.9%)
02/11 #8 - 49,522 (-23.4%)
03/11 #9 - 51,179 ( +3.3%)
04/11 #10 - 50,553 ( -1.2%)
05/11 #11 - 46,519 ( -8.0%)
06/11 #12 - 45,786 ( -1.6%)
06/11 #13 - 44,665 ( -2.4%)
07/11 #14 - 45,150 ( +1.1%)
07/11 #15 - 43,038 ( -4.7%)
08/11 #.1 - 38,078 (-11.5%)
08/11 #16 - 43,161 (+13.3%)
09/11 #17 - 43,200 ( +0.1%)
09/11 #18 - 42,066 ( -2.6%)
6 mnth (-17.8%)
1 year (-36.8%)
This is slightly curious. There are two issues this month, and it’s actually issue #18 that has the variant cover – but the sales don’t reflect that. Not sure what’s going on there.
53. ULTIMATE COMICS ULTIMATES
09/06 #12 - 97,259
09/07 ---
09/08 #5 of 5 - 86,851
09/09 ---
=====
09/10 ---
10/10 #4 of 5 - 42,876 (-10.4%)
11/10 ---
12/10 ---
01/11 ---
02/11 #5 of 5 - 38,663 ( -9.8%)
02/11 #1 of 6 - 49,360 (+47.5%)
03/11 #2 of 6 - 44,116 (-10.6%)
04/11 #3 of 6 - 43,822 ( -0.7%)
05/11 #4 of 6 - 43,707 ( -0.3%)
06/11 #5 of 6 - 42,803 ( -2.1%)
07/11 #6 of 6 - 42,760 ( -0.1%)
08/11 #1 - 58,522 (+36.9%)
09/11 #2 - 42,728 (-27.0%)
6 mnth ( -3.1%)
1 year ( --- )
2 year ( --- )
3 year (-50.8%)
4 year ( --- )
5 year (-56.1%)
And we’re straight back to the sales of the previous volume. Mind you, those were pretty solid, so Marvel can probably live with that. Issue #1 picks up reorders of 10,892 (included above), which is obviously a good sign.
59. INVINCIBLE IRON MAN
09/06 #12 - 36,278
09/07 #22 - 46,691
09/08 #5 - 60,444
09/09 #17 - 47,182
=====
09/10 #30 - 47,238 ( -3.6%)
10/10 #31 - 45,507 ( -3.7%)
11/10 #32 - 40,978 (-10.0%)
12/10 #33 - 41,890 ( +2.2%)
01/11 #500 - 54,186 (+29.4%)
02/11 #.1 - 42,191 (-22.1%)
02/11 #501 - 41,517 ( -1.6%)
03/11 #502 - 43,899 ( +5.7%)
04/11 #503 - 45,314 ( +3.2%)
05/11 #504 - 44,791 ( -1.2%)
06/11 #505 - 42,327 ( -5.5%)
07/11 #506 - 41,052 ( -3.0%)
08/11 #507 - 40,082 ( -2.4%)
09/11 #508 - 41,295 ( +3.0%)
6 mnth ( -5.9%)
1 year (-12.6%)
2 year (-12.5%)
3 year (-31.7%)
4 year (-11.6%)
5 year (+13.8%)
Another Fear Itself tie-in with variant covers.
61,64. DAREDEVIL
09/06 #89 - 55,481
09/07 #100 - 78,143
09/08 #111 - 46,305
09/09 ---
=====
09/10 #510 - 44,728 ( +7.6%)
10/10 #511 - 43,167 ( -3.5%)
11/10 ---
12/10 #512 - 40,317 ( -7.1%)
01/11 #1 of 4 - 34,310 (-14.9%)
02/11 #2 of 4 - 29,108 (-15.2%)
03/11 #3 of 4 - 27,231 ( -6.4%)
04/11 ---
05/11 #4 of 4 - 26,179 ( -3.9%)
06/11 ---
07/11 #1 - 64,866 (+147.8%)
08/11 #2 - 40,990 ( -36.8%)
09/11 #3 - 39,477 ( -3.7%)
09/11 #4 - 40,311 ( +2.1%)
6 mnth ( +48.0%)
1 year ( -9.9%)
2 year ( --- )
3 year ( -12.9%)
4 year ( -48.4%)
5 year ( -27.3%)
Seems to have levelled out very quickly, which is a good sign. Issue #4 has a 1:15 variant.
66,67. X-MEN LEGACY
09/06 #191 - 82,048
09/07 #203 - 85,652
09/08 #216 - 66,434
09/09 ---
=====
09/10 #240 - 50,984 ( -4.2%)
10/10 #241 - 48,133 ( -5.6%)
11/10 #242 - 43,750 ( -9.1%)
12/10 #243 - 41,797 ( -4.5%)
01/11 #244 - 40,193 ( -3.8%)
02/11 #245 - 57,203 (+42.3%)
03/11 #246 - 47,893 (-16.3%)
04/11 #247 - 51,970 ( +8.5%)
05/11 #248 - 46,083 (-11.3%)
05/11 #249 - 45,063 ( -2.2%)
06/11 #250 - 45,070 ( +0.0%)
06/11 #251 - 43,479 ( -3.5%)
07/11 #252 - 41,365 ( -4.9%)
08/11 #253 - 40,466 ( -2.2%)
08/11 #254 - 39,896 ( -1.4%)
09/11 #255 - 39,284 ( -1.5%)
09/11 #256 - 38,680 ( -1.5%)
6 mnth (-19.2%)
1 year (-24.1%)
2 year ( --- )
3 year (-41.8%)
4 year (-54.8%)
5 year (-52.9%)
Drifting very slowly down, but the whole line is about to be relaunched anyway.
69,70. WOLVERINE
09/06 #46 - 107,865
09/07 #57 - 74,588
09/08 ---
09/09 WX#5 - 40,975
=====
09/10 #1 - 104,414 (+254.9%)
10/10 #2 - 63,210 ( -39.5%)
11/10 #3 - 51,600 ( -18.4%)
12/10 #4 - 52,812 ( +2.3%)
01/11 #5 - 46,920 ( -11.2%)
02/11 #.1 - 44,332 ( -5.5%)
02/11 #6 - 45,932 ( +3.6%)
03/11 #7 - 47,337 ( +3.1%)
04/11 #8 - 47,010 ( -0.7%)
05/11 #9 - 44,635 ( -5.1%)
06/11 #10 - 42,677 ( -4.4%)
06/11 #11 - 41,813 ( -2.0%)
07/11 #12 - 42,110 ( +0.7%)
08/11 #13 - 39,296 ( -0.7%)
08/11 #14 - 38,869 ( -0.1%)
09/11 #15 - 37,951 ( -2.4%)
09/11 #16 - 37,796 ( -0.4%)
6 mnth ( -20.2%)
1 year ( -63.8%)
2 year ( -7.8%)
3 year ( --- )
4 year ( -49.3%)
5 year ( -65.0%)
Another very gentle decline. For comparison, by the way, the previous volume – WOLVERINE: WEAPON X – settled to sales around to 30K mark, so we’re significantly up from there. On the other hand, the volume before that was routinely selling in the mid-60K range, so it’s hard to avoid concluding that the botched promotion of the WEAPON X relaunch did long-term damage to the Wolverine brand, from which it has yet to recover.
79. CAPTAIN AMERICA AND BUCKY 07/11 #620 - 51,187 08/11 #621 - 36,069 (-29.5%) 09/11 #622 - 34,096 ( -5.5%)
Levelling out pretty quickly, and selling in very respectable numbers for a comic set in the past.
83. VENOM
03/11 #1 - 58,936
04/11 #2 - 41,006 (-30.4%)
05/11 #3 - 40,634 ( -0.9%)
06/11 #4 - 38,946 ( -4.2%)
07/11 #5 - 35,102 ( -9.9%)
08/11 #6 - 35,033 ( -0.2%)
09/11 #7 - 33,130 ( -5.4%)
6 mnth (-43.8%)
The second part of a Spider-Island tie-in arc.
84. ASTONISHING X-MEN
09/06 #5 - 131,552
09/07 ---
09/08 ---
09/09 ---
=====
09/10 ---
10/10 ---
11/10 ---
12/10 ---
01/11 ---
02/11 #36 - 44,326 (-12.2%)
03/11 ---
04/11 ---
05/11 #37 - 38,513 (-13.1%)
05/11 #38 - 37,580 ( -2.4%)
06/11 #39 - 37,127 ( -1.2%)
07/11 #40 - 35,593 ( -4.1%)
08/11 #41 - 33,470 ( -6.0%)
09/11 #42 - 32,700 ( -2.3%)
6 mnth ( --- )
1 year ( --- )
2 year ( --- )
3 year ( --- )
4 year ( --- )
5 year (-75.1%)
Drifting down, but perhaps the X-books’ upcoming relaunch will help.
85. FEAR ITSELF: UNCANNY X-FORCE 07/11 #1 of 3 - 39,605 08/11 #2 of 3 - 34,640 (-12.5%) 09/11 #3 of 3 - 32,459 ( -6.3%)
About 20K behind the parent title, but doing pretty well for a FEAR ITSELF mini.
86. AVENGERS: THE CHILDREN'S CRUSADE 09/10 #2 of 9 - 35,497 (-21.0%) 10/10 --- 11/10 #3 of 9 - 35,410 ( -0.2%) 12/10 --- 01/11 #4 of 9 - 31,977 ( -9.7%) 02/11 --- 03/11 --- 04/11 #5 of 9 - 31,945 ( -0.1%) 05/11 --- 06/11 #6 of 9 - 30,467 ( -4.6%) 07/11 --- 08/11 --- 09/11 #7 of 9 - 30,247 ( -0.7%)
This has been extremely solid all year. There’s evidently still a loyal audience for the Young Avengers.
87,89. JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY 04/11 #622 - 43,925 05/11 #623 - 39,003 (-11.2%) 06/11 #624 - 35,834 ( -8.1%) 07/11 #625 - 33,781 ( -5.7%) 08/11 #626 - 31,549 ( -6.6%) 08/11 #.1 - 27,877 (-11.6%) 09/11 #627 - 29,678 ( +6.5%) 09/11 #628 - 28,843 ( -2.8%)
Continuing the Fear Itself tie-in arc which has been running from day one.
88. BRILLIANT [Icon] 09/11 #1 - 28,951
A creator owned series from Brian Bendis and Mark Bagley. By the standards of the Icon imprint, this is a good start.
90. MOON KNIGHT
09/06 #5 - 64,736
09/07 #12 - 47,521
09/08 #22 - 26,380
09/09 #1 - 35,706
=====
09/10 #2 of 3 - 20,307 ( -28.0%)
10/10 #3 of 3 - 18,318 ( -9.8%)
11/10 ---
12/10 ---
01/11 ---
02/11 ---
03/11 ---
04/11 ---
05/11 #1 - 49,018 (+167.6%)
06/11 #2 - 35,333 ( -27.9%)
07/11 #3 - 33,781 ( -4.4%)
08/11 #4 - 30,237 ( -10.5%)
09/11 #5 - 28,423 ( -6.0%)
6 mnth ( --- )
1 year ( +40.0%)
2 year ( -20.4%)
3 year ( +7.7%)
4 year ( -40.2%)
5 year ( -56.1%)
Issues #1 and #3 of this book had variant covers, which makes the drops look rather more erratic than they probably are. It’s still shedding readers, even so.
91. PUNISHER
09/07 #11 - 47,220
09/08 #23 - 27,384
09/09 #9 - 28,424
=====
09/10 #21 - 20,036 ( -17.6%)
10/10 ---
11/10 #1 of 5 - 20,028 ( -0.0%)
12/10 #2 of 5 - 16,608 ( -17.1%)
01/11 #3 of 5 - 15,298 ( -7.9%)
02/11 #4 of 5 - 14,861 ( -2.9%)
03/11 #5 of 5 - 14,468 ( -2.6%)
04/11 ---
05/11 ---
06/11 ---
07/11 ---
08/11 #1 - 44,725 (+209.1%)
08/11 #2 - 42,459 ( -5.1%)
09/11 #3 - 26,802 ( -36.9%)
6 mnth ( +85.3%)
1 year ( +33.8%)
2 year ( -5.7%)
3 year ( -2.1%)
4 year ( -43.2%)
The gain from last month’s relaunch has largely evaporated, but 27K is still the book’s highest sale in almost two years.
92. DEADPOOL
09/08 #2 - 59,850
09/09 #15 - 50,479
=====
09/10 #27 - 36,404 ( +2.3%)
10/10 #28 - 34,828 ( -4.3%)
11/10 #29 - 31,350 (-10.0%)
12/10 #30 - 30,488 ( -2.7%)
01/11 #31 - 29,167 ( -4.3%)
01/11 #32 - 29,144 ( -0.1%)
02/11 #33 - 28,649 ( -1.7%)
03/11 #.1 - 28,979 ( +1.2%)
03/11 #34 - 30,299 ( +4.6%)
04/11 #35 - 28,517 ( -5.9%)
04/11 #36 - 28,173 ( -1.2%)
05/11 #37 - 28,002 ( -0.6%)
06/11 #38 - 27,809 ( -0.7%)
06/11 #39 - 28,400 ( +2.1%)
07/11 #40 - 27,303 ( -3.9%)
08/11 #41 - 26,766 ( -2.0%)
08/11 #42 - 26,794 ( +0.1%)
09/11 #43 - 26,643 ( -0.6%)
6 mnth (-12.1%)
1 year (-26.8%)
2 year (-47.2%)
3 year (-55.5%)
Perfectly solid.
93,94. HULK
09/08 #6 - 117,807
09/09 #15 - 58,667
=====
09/10 #25 - 46,784 ( -4.3%)
10/10 #26 - 42,934 ( -8.2%)
11/10 #27 - 38,691 ( -9.9%)
12/10 #28 - 34,755 (-10.2%)
01/11 ---
02/11 #29 - 33,375 ( -4.0%)
02/11 #30 - 32,907 ( -1.4%)
03/11 #.1 - 32,163 ( -2.3%)
03/11 #31 - 31,368 ( -2.5%)
04/11 #32 - 30,652 ( -2.3%)
05/11 #33 - 32,273 ( +5.3%)
06/11 #34 - 29,391 ( -8.9%)
06/11 #35 - 28,539 ( -2.9%)
07/11 #36 - 28,651 ( +0.4%)
07/11 #37 - 30,318 ( +5.8%)
08/11 #38 - 29,059 ( -4.2%)
08/11 #39 - 26,895 ( -7.4%)
09/11 #40 - 26,591 ( -1.1%)
09/11 #41 - 26,084 ( -1.9%)
6 mnth (-16.8%)
1 year (-44.2%)
2 year (-55.5%)
3 year (-77.9%)
Two issues this month, and the sales look fairly consistent.
95. NEW MUTANTS
09/09 #5 - 31,502
=====
09/10 #17 - 31,684 ( -1.0%)
10/10 #18 - 27,027 (-14.7%)
11/10 #19 - 25,440 ( -5.9%)
12/10 #20 - 24,416 ( -4.0%)
01/11 #21 - 23,773 ( -2.6%)
02/11 #22 - 41,236 (+73.5%)
03/11 #23 - 37,659 ( -8.7%)
04/11 #24 - 38,701 ( +2.8%)
05/11 #25 - 34,724 (-10.3%)
06/11 #26 - 27,848 (-19.7%)
07/11 #27 - 27,963 ( +0.4%)
07/11 #28 - 26,130 ( -6.6%)
08/11 #29 - 27,205 ( -4.1%)
08/11 #30 - 26,678 ( -1.9%)
09/11 #31 - 25,672 ( -3.8%)
6 mnth (-31.8%)
1 year (-19.0%)
2 year (-18.5%)
A Fear Itself tie-in arc, not that the impact on sales has been anything special.
96. ULTIMATE COMICS HAWKEYE 08/11 #1 of 4 - 37,451 09/11 #2 of 4 - 25,551 (-31.8%)
Issue #1 picks up reorders of 6,982, which is another good sign for the Ultimate relaunch – and also, of course, means that the second issue drop is much less severe than the figures above suggest.
97,104. THUNDERBOLTS
09/06 #106 - 31,526
09/07 ---
09/08 #124 - 43,429
09/09 #135 - 39,961
=====
09/10 #148 - 32,190 ( +3.0%)
10/10 #149 - 30,580 ( -5.0%)
11/10 #150 - 31,704 ( +3.7%)
12/10 #151 - 27,943 (-11.9%)
01/11 #152 - 26,515 ( -5.1%)
02/11 #153 - 26,098 ( -1.6%)
03/11 #154 - 25,455 ( -2.5%)
03/11 #155 - 26,710 ( +4.9%)
04/11 #156 - 25,117 ( -6.0%)
05/11 #157 - 25,063 ( -0.2%)
06/11 #158 - 28,422 (+13.4%)
06/11 #159 - 27,463 ( -3.4%)
07/11 #160 - 27,810 ( +1.3%)
08/11 #161 - 26,439 ( -4.9%)
08/11 #162 - 25,990 ( -1.7%)
09/11 #163 - 24,199 ( -6.9%)
09/11 #.1 - 22,596 ( -6.6%)
6 mnth ( -9.4%)
1 year (-24.8%)
2 year (-39.4%)
3 year (-44.3%)
4 year ( --- )
5 year (-23.2%)
The Fear Itself tie-in arc ended in August, which probably accounts for the this month’s drop. The Point One issue, naturally, tails in behind.
98. AVENGERS ACADEMY
09/10 #4 - 31,212 (-12.4%)
10/10 #5 - 31,272 ( +0.2%)
11/10 #6 - 25,977 (-16.9%)
12/10 #7 - 27,774 ( +6.9%)
01/11 #8 - 24,014 (-13.5%)
02/11 #9 - 23,709 ( -1.3%)
03/11 #10 - 23,708 ( -0.0%)
03/11 #11 - 23,636 ( -0.3%)
04/11 #12 - 23,578 ( -0.2%)
05/11 #13 - 24,840 ( +5.4%)
05/11 #14 - 23,537 ( -5.2%)
06/11 #.1 - 23,499 ( -0.2%)
06/11 #15 - 26,378 (+12.3%)
07/11 #16 - 25,379 ( -3.8%)
08/11 #17 - 24,898 ( -1.9%)
08/11 #18 - 24,538 ( -1.4%)
09/11 #19 - 23,928 ( -2.5%)
6 mnth ( +1.2%)
1 year (-23.3%)
Continuing the Fear Itself tie-in which started in issue #15.
99. X-23
09/10 #1 - 48,481
10/10 #2 - 35,280 (-27.2%)
11/10 #3 - 31,224 (-11.5%)
12/10 #4 - 29,703 ( -4.9%)
01/11 #5 - 27,855 ( -6.2%)
02/11 #6 - 27,156 ( -2.5%)
03/11 #7 - 27,510 ( +1.3%)
03/11 #8 - 27,745 ( +0.9%)
04/11 #9 - 28,562 ( +2.9%)
05/11 #10 - 26,157 ( -8.4%)
06/11 #11 - 25,985 ( -0.7%)
07/11 #12 - 24,605 ( -5.3%)
08/11 #13 - 23,976 ( -2.6%)
09/11 #14 - 23,727 ( -1.0%)
6 mnth (-14.5%)
1 year (-51.1%)
Still drifting down, but only very slowly.
100,102. X-FACTOR
09/06 #11 - 43,431
09/07 #23 - 53,311
09/08 #35 - 44,481
09/09 #48 - 30,305
=====
09/10 #209 - 29,626 ( -1.6%)
10/10 #210 - 27,548 ( -7.0%)
11/10 #211 - 26,632 ( -3.3%)
12/10 #212 - 26,443 ( -0.7%)
01/11 #213 - 25,403 ( -3.9%)
01/11 #214 - 25,117 ( -1.1%)
02/11 #215 - 25,298 ( +0.7%)
03/11 #216 - 25,256 ( -0.2%)
03/11 #217 - 25,125 ( -0.5%)
04/11 #218 - 24,826 ( -1.2%)
05/11 #219 - 24,766 ( -0.2%)
06/11 #220 - 24,926 ( +0.6%)
06/11 #221 - 24,502 ( -1.7%)
07/11 #222 - 24,794 ( +1.2%)
08/11 #223 - 23,854 ( -3.8%)
08/11 #224 - 23,681 ( -0.7%)
09/11 #.1 - 23,220 ( -1.9%)
09/11 #225 - 23,507 ( +1.2%)
6 mnth ( -6.4%)
1 year (-20.7%)
2 year (-22.4%)
3 year (-47.2%)
4 year (-55.9%)
5 year (-45.9%)
One of Marvel’s most consistent sellers. Even the Point One issue doesn’t deviate too far from the pattern.
101. ALPHA FLIGHT 05/11 #.1 - 25,775 06/11 #1 of 8 - 46,851 (+81.8%) 07/11 #2 of 8 - 26,862 (-42.7%) 08/11 #3 of 8 - 24,872 ( -7.4%) 09/11 #4 of 8 - 23,242 ( -6.6%)
The first draft of this column noted that ALPHA FLIGHT had been upgraded to an ongoing series, so that Marvel were evidently happy with these numbers.
But according to the January solicitations, Marvel have changed their minds, and the book is ending with issue #8 after all. Since nothing particularly dramatic has happened to the sales since issue #2, it seems a reasonable inference that this is an outright U-turn and not simply a change of circumstances. A lesser company might find this sort of thing embarrassing.
That said, the decision to upgrade to an ongoing title always seemed surprising. Even if Marvel thought they had a well-reviewed hit on their hands here, the standard practice in this situation is to follow up the miniseries with an ongoing, thus having a (legitimate) fresh launch issue to take advantage of the buzz. Perhaps that’s what Marvel have decided to do – but if that was the case, you’d expect them to make it explicit.
As we’ll see, there are quite a few ongoing Marvel Universe titles below this point, and obviously the cancellation of ALPHA FLIGHT leaves a question mark hanging over them. Different considerations naturally apply to non-MU books, which can be assumed to have a larger proportion of sales in different channels and/or formats.
103. FEAR ITSELF: WOLVERINE 07/11 #1 of 3 - 30,584 08/11 #2 of 3 - 25,268 (-17.4%) 09/11 #3 of 3 - 22,997 ( -9.0%)
The regular title does about 38K, but this is still a respectable number for a Fear Itself mini.
105. ANNIHILATORS: EARTHFALL
03/11 #1 of 4 - 26,543
04/11 #2 of 4 - 24,117 ( -9.1%)
05/11 #3 of 4 - 23,145 ( -4.0%)
06/11 #4 of 4 - 21,604 ( -6.7%)
07/11 ---
08/11 ---
09/11 #1 of 4 - 22,259 ( +3.0%)
6 mnth (-16.1%)
Slight bump for the start of a new arc.
106. GHOST RIDER 06/11 #.1 - 24,830 07/11 #1 - 41,308 (+66.4%) 08/11 #2 - 24,440 (-40.8%) 09/11 #3 - 22,180 ( -9.2%)
Continuing a Fear Itself tie-in arc. It’s levelling out, but it’s too early to tell where it’ll wind up. “Below ALPHA FLIGHT” seems a pretty safe bet, though. Issue #8 has been solicited for January, but that’s not altogether surprising since it’s continuing a storyline in progress.
108. SPIDER-ISLAND: AVENGERS 09/11 One-shot - 20,884
The Spider-Island tie-in books are quite some way behind core title AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, but I’m sure Marvel will be happy enough with this number for a one-shot.
110. DAKEN: DARK WOLVERINE
09/09 #78 - 60,702
=====
09/10 #1 - 48,819 (+22.6%)
10/10 #2 - 38,660 (-22.9%)
11/10 #3 - 32,679 (-15.5%)
12/10 #4 - 30,726 ( -6.0%)
01/11 ---
02/11 #5 - 28,833 ( -6.2%)
03/11 #6 - 27,486 ( -4.7%)
03/11 #7 - 27,224 ( -1.0%)
04/11 #8 - 26,925 ( -1.1%)
05/11 #9 - 26,294 ( -2.3%)
05/11 #.1 - 24,599 ( -6.4%)
06/11 #10 - 24,724 ( +0.5%)
07/11 #11 - 23,207 ( -6.1%)
08/11 #12 - 21,734 ( -6.3%)
08/11 #13 - 21,302 ( -2.0%)
09/11 #14 - 20,460 ( -4.0%)
6 mnth (-24.8%)
1 year (-58.1%)
2 year (-66.3%)
Still in gentle decline. And below ALPHA FLIGHT. (Which, incidentally, I think is a shame, because under the current creative team, it’s actually been a rather good book that’s flown somewhat under everyone’s radar.)
111. GENERATION HOPE
11/10 #1 - 37,398
12/10 #2 - 38,984 ( +4.2%)
01/11 #3 - 24,094 (-38.2%)
02/11 #4 - 22,170 ( -8.0%)
03/11 #5 - 21,290 ( -4.0%)
04/11 #6 - 20,376 ( -4.3%)
05/11 #7 - 20,375 ( -0.0%)
06/11 #8 - 18,883 ( -7.3%)
07/11 #9 - 18,135 ( -4.0%)
08/11 #10 - 29,245 (+61.3%)
09/11 #11 - 20,243 (-30.8%)
6 mnth ( -4.9%)
The second Schism tie-in, which seems to be helping. After that, there’s a new creative team and a link to the general relaunch of the X-books, which pretty much guarantees it another few months.
112,119. FEAR ITSELF: HULK VS DRACULA 09/11 #1 of 3 - 19,373 09/11 #2 of 3 - 17,681 (-8.7%)
This is part of Victor Gischler’s vampire storyline, which was used to launch X-MEN. There’s a modest amount of interest here.
114. JOHN CARTER: A PRINCESS OF MARS 09/11 #1 of 5 - 19,173
This is an adaptation of the first John Carter novel, A PRINCESS OF MARS. Just in case the title had you wondering.
115,126. BLACK PANTHER
09/06 #20 - 26,585
09/07 ---
09/08 #41 - 33,620
09/09 #8 - 23,020
=====
09/10 ---
10/10 #1 of 4 - 16,973 ( -31.6%)
10/10 #2 of 4 - 12,960 ( -23.6%)
11/10 #3 of 4 - 10,356 ( -20.1%)
12/10 #4 of 4 - 9,145 ( -11.7%)
12/10 #513 - 33,124 (+262.2%)
01/11 #514 - 27,474 ( -17.1%)
02/11 #515 - 24,556 ( -10.6%)
03/11 #516 - 23,987 ( -2.3%)
04/11 #517 - 23,120 ( -3.6%)
05/11 #518 - 20,906 ( -9.6%)
06/11 #519 - 19,883 ( -4.9%)
06/11 #520 - 19,400 ( -2.4%)
07/11 #521 - 22,163 ( +14.2%)
08/11 #522 - 20,342 ( -8.2%)
09/11 #523 - 18,798 ( -7.6%)
09/11 #.1 - 16,592 ( -11.7%)
6 mnth ( -21.6%)
1 year ( --- )
2 year ( -18.3%)
3 year ( -44.1%)
4 year ( --- )
5 year ( -29.3%)
The regular issue continues a Fear Itself tie-in arc. The Point One, naturally, comes in behind. Again, this is an ongoing title with sales several thousand below ALPHA FLIGHT, and only just above another seemingly cancelled book, so there’s some cause for concern about its future. This appears to be the lowest selling ongoing Marvel Universe title that hasn’t been axed.
116. WOLVERINE: THE BEST THERE IS
12/10 #1 - 57,348
01/11 #2 - 33,469 (-41.6%)
02/11 #3 - 27,790 (-17.0%)
03/11 #4 - 25,226 ( -9.2%)
04/11 #5 - 24,771 ( -1.8%)
05/11 #6 - 22,695 ( -8.4%)
06/11 #7 - 22,001 ( -3.1%)
07/11 #8 - 20,393 ( -7.3%)
08/11 #9 - 19,476 ( -4.5%)
09/11 #10 - 18,781 ( -3.6%)
6 mnth (-25.5%)
Missing from the January solicitations, so it’s presumably been cancelled with the conclusion of the current storyline in December’s issue #12.
117. FEAR ITSELF: THE HOME FRONT 04/11 #1 of 7 - 32,601 05/11 #2 of 7 - 28,605 (-12.3%) 06/11 #3 of 7 - 25,738 (-10.0%) 07/11 #4 of 7 - 22,058 (-14.3%) 08/11 #5 of 7 - 19,956 ( -9.5%) 09/11 #6 of 7 - 18,123 ( -9.2%)
Fairly standard performance for a mini.
121,131. HEROES FOR HIRE
12/10 #1 - 32,936
01/11 #2 - 23,013 (-30.1%)
02/11 #3 - 22,401 ( -2.7%)
03/11 #4 - 21,827 ( -2.6%)
04/11 #5 - 21,815 ( -0.0%)
05/11 #6 - 20,057 ( -8.1%)
05/11 #7 - 18,671 ( -6.9%)
06/11 #8 - 18,029 ( -3.4%)
07/11 #9 - 19,676 ( +9.1%)
08/11 #10 - 18,374 ( -6.6%)
09/11 #11 - 17,550 ( -4.5%)
09/11 #12 - 15,698 (-10.6%)
6 mnth (-28.1%)
Cancelled, though it leads into the VILLAINS FOR HIRE miniseries.
122. PUNISHERMAX [Max]
09/06 #38 - 33,389
09/07 ---
09/08 #62 - 26,906
09/09 #74 - 20,259
=====
09/10 ---
10/10 ---
11/10 ---
12/10 ---
01/11 ---
02/11 #10 - 19,236 (-10.3%)
03/11 #11 - 19,243 ( +0.0%)
04/11 #12 - 18,740 ( -2.6%)
05/11 #13 - 18,448 ( -1.6%)
06/11 #14 - 17,965 ( -2.6%)
07/11 #15 - 17,706 ( -1.4%)
08/11 #16 - 17,625 ( -0.5%)
09/11 #17 - 17,540 ( -0.5%)
6 mnth ( -8.8%)
1 year ( --- )
2 year (-13.4%)
3 year (-34.8%)
4 year ( --- )
5 year (-47.5%)
Eroding, but extremely slowly.
123. SPIDER-ISLAND: SPIDER-WOMAN 09/11 One-shot - 17,030
124. WOLVERINE: DEBT OF DEATH 09/11 One-shot - 16,814
127. SPIDER-ISLAND: CLOAK & DAGGER 08/11 #1 of 3 - 20,348 09/11 #2 of 3 - 16,129 (-20.7%)
Two more Spider-Island tie-ins, doing decently enough. DEBT OF DEATH is by David Lapham and David Aja, an unusually strong creative team for a Wolverine one-shot.
128. FEAR ITSELF: THE DEEP 06/11 #1 of 4 - 23,467 07/11 #2 of 4 - 18,433 (-21.5%) 08/11 #3 of 4 - 16,918 ( -8.2%) 09/11 #4 of 4 - 16,041 ( -5.2%)
Respectable enough for a crossover spin-off mini, though it’s worth noting that this is essentially a Defenders mini, and that’s the team who are going to be Marvel’s major launch for December.
130. DARK TOWER: BATTLE OF TULL
09/07 ---
09/08 Treachery #1 - 82,541
09/09 Fall of Gilead #5 - 34,522
=====
09/10 Gunslinger #5 - 21,323 ( -2.3%)
10/10 ---
11/10 ---
12/10 Little Sisters #1 - 19,807 ( -7.1%)
01/11 #2 of 5 - 18,589 ( -6.1%)
02/11 #3 of 5 - 17,748 ( -4.5%)
03/11 #4 of 5 - 17,490 ( -1.5%)
04/11 #5 of 5 - 17,283 ( -1.2%)
05/11 ---
06/11 Tull #1 of 5 - 17,667 ( +2.2%)
07/11 #2 of 5 - 16,888 ( -4.4%)
08/11 #3 of 5 - 16,337 ( -3.3%)
09/11 #4 of 5 - 15,788 ( -3.4%)
6 mnth ( -9.7%)
1 year (-26.0%)
2 year (-54.3%)
3 year (-80.9%)
4 year ( --- )
The usual drift continues.
132. IRON MAN 2.0
02/11 #1 - 31,380
02/11 #2 - 24,600 (-21.6%)
03/11 #3 - 20,905 (-15.0%)
04/11 #4 - 20,342 ( -2.7%)
05/11 #5 - 20,320 ( -0.1%)
06/11 #6 - 19,798 ( -2.6%)
07/11 #7 - 20,390 ( +3.0%)
08/11 #.1 - 16,984 (-16.7%)
08/11 #8 - 16,455 ( -3.1%)
09/11 #9 - 15,600 ( -5.2%)
6 mnth (-25.4%)
Missing from the January solicitations, so presumably cancelled with issue #12.
134. FEAR ITSELF: YOUTH IN REVOLT 05/11 #1 of 6 - 24,709 06/11 #2 of 6 - 20,376 (-17.5%) 07/11 #3 of 6 - 18,735 ( -8.1%) 08/11 #4 of 6 - 16,478 (-12.0%) 09/11 #5 of 6 - 15,347 ( -6.9%)
Standard miniseries behaviour.
135. SPIDER-ISLAND: THE AMAZING SPIDER-GIRL
11/10 #1 - 23,926
12/10 #2 - 21,606 ( -9.7%)
01/11 ---
02/11 #3 - 15,302 (-29.2%)
02/11 #4 - 14,804 ( -3.3%)
03/11 #5 - 13,757 ( -7.1%)
04/11 #6 - 13,235 ( -3.8%)
05/11 #7 - 12,563 ( -5.1%)
06/11 ---
07/11 #8 - 11,996 ( -4.5%)
08/11 #1 of 3 - 18,394 (+53.3%)
09/11 #2 of 3 - 15,311 (-16.8%)
6 mnth (+11.3%)
The Spider-Island mini has done much better than the regular series, but not enough to justify a revival.
136. SPIDER-ISLAND: I LOVE NEW YORK CITY 09/11 One-shot - 15,310
A collection of digital shorts.
138,140. HERC
09/08 #121 - 47,363
09/09 #135 - 26,344
=====
09/10 ---
10/10 Chaos #1 - 34,509 (+101.4%)
10/10 #2 of 5 - 29,375 ( -14.9%)
11/10 #3 of 5 - 28,630 ( -2.5%)
12/10 #4 of 5 - 26,313 ( -8.1%)
01/11 #5 of 5 - 24,694 ( -6.2%)
02/11 ---
03/11 ---
04/11 #1 - 38,774 ( +57.0%)
05/11 #2 - 17,385 ( -55.2%)
05/11 #3 - 18,755 ( +7.9%)
06/11 #4 - 18,106 ( -3.5%)
07/11 #5 - 17,113 ( -5.5%)
08/11 #6 - 16,730 ( -2.2%)
08/11 #.1 - 13,990 ( -16.4%)
09/11 #7 - 15,152 ( +8.3%)
09/11 #8 - 14,813 ( -2.2%)
6 mnth ( --- )
1 year ( --- )
2 year ( -43.8%)
3 year ( -68.7%)
Cancelled with issue #10.
141. RED SKULL 07/11 #1 of 5 - 19,973 08/11 #2 of 5 - 16,166 (-19.1%) 09/11 #3 of 5 - 14,650 ( -9.4%)
144. DEADPOOL MAX [Max]
10/10 #1 - 29,176
11/10 #2 - 23,382 (-19.9%)
12/10 #3 - 20,990 (-10.2%)
01/11 #4 - 19,238 ( -8.3%)
02/11 #5 - 18,221 ( -5.3%)
03/11 #6 - 17,528 ( -3.8%)
04/11 #7 - 17,005 ( -3.0%)
05/11 #8 - 16,428 ( -3.4%)
06/11 #9 - 15,802 ( -3.8%)
07/11 #10 - 15,067 ( -4.7%)
08/11 #11 - 14,626 ( -2.9%)
09/11 #12 - 14,507 ( -0.8%)
6 mnth (-17.2%)
End of the first volume, but a second begins straight away in October.
147. FEAR ITSELF: FEARSOME FOUR
06/11 #1 of 4 - 22,418
07/11 #2 of 4 - 17,765 (-20.8%)
08/11 #3 of 4 - 16,099 ( -9.4%)
09/11 #4 of 4 - 14,195 (-11.8%)
149. MARVEL UNIVERSE VS WOLVERINE
06/11 #1 of 4 - 21,155
07/11 #2 of 4 - 18,209 (-13.9%)
08/11 #3 of 4 - 15,583 (-14.4%)
09/11 #4 of 4 - 14,026 (-10.0%)
151. THE STAND: NIGHT HAS COME
09/10 ---
10/10 #4 of 5 - 17,186 ( -6.4%)
11/10 #5 of 5 - 16,751 ( -2.5%)
12/10 ---
01/11 ---
02/11 No Man's Land #1 - 16,094 ( -3.9%)
03/11 #2 of 5 - 15,332 ( -4.7%)
03/11 #3 of 5 - 14,768 ( -3.7%)
04/11 ---
05/11 #4 of 5 - 14,696 ( -0.5%)
06/11 #5 of 5 - 14,480 ( -1.5%)
07/11 ---
08/11 Night #1 of 6 - 14,510 ( -0.2%)
09/11 #2 of 6 - 13,723 ( -5.4%)
6 mnth ( -7.1%)
1 year ( --- )
155. SPIDER-ISLAND: DEADLY HANDS OF KUNG FU
08/11 #1 of 3 - 15,907
09/11 #2 of 3 - 13,446 (-15.5%)
156. VENGEANCE
07/11 #1 of 6 - 25,873
08/11 #2 of 6 - 16,895 (-34.7%)
09/11 #3 of 6 - 13,446 (-20.4%)
That’s an unusually steep drop for the third issue of a mini. But VENGEANCE – essentially a Teen Brigade mini with a quirky approach to genre elements – is a tough sell.
157. CRIMINAL: LAST OF THE INNOCENT [Icon] 06/11 #1 of 4 - 14,849 07/11 #2 of 4 - 13,453 (-9.4%) 08/11 #3 of 4 - 13,265 (-1.4%) 09/11 #4 of 4 - 13,068 (-1.5%)
158. FEAR ITSELF: THE MONKEY KING 09/11 One-shot - 13,035
A spin-out from IRON MAN 2.0, of all things – but to be fair, it’s only a couple of thousand behind the core title.
From here, we’re into low-selling minis and so forth, but I’ll chip in where there’s something to say.
169. WOLVERINE & BLACK CAT: CLAWS 2
07/11 #1 of 3 - 16,571
08/11 #2 of 3 - 12,668 (-23.6%)
09/11 #3 of 3 - 11,174 (-11.8%)
174. OZ
09/09 ---
=====
09/10 ---
10/10 ---
11/10 #1 of 8 - 13,222 ( +8.8%)
12/10 #2 of 8 - 10,419 (-21.2%)
01/11 #3 of 8 - 9,386 ( -9.9%)
02/11 #4 of 8 - 9,159 ( -2.4%)
03/11 ---
04/11 #5 of 8 - 8,797 ( -4.0%)
05/11 #6 of 8 - 8,753 ( -0.5%)
06/11 #7 of 8 - 8,672 ( -0.9%)
07/11 #8 of 8 - 8,216 ( -5.3%)
08/11 ---
09/11 #1 of 8 - 10,648 (+29.6%)
6 mnth ( --- )
1 year ( --- )
2 year ( --- )
178. CAPTAIN AMERICA CORPS
06/11 #1 of 5 - 22,050
07/11 #2 of 5 - 12,305 (-44.2%)
08/11 #3 of 5 - 11,394 ( -7.4%)
09/11 #4 of 5 - 10,424 ( -8.5%)
179. THOR: HEAVEN AND EARTH
07/11 #1 of 4 - 14,774
08/11 #2 of 4 - 12,696 (-14.1%)
08/11 #3 of 4 - 10,948 (-13.8%)
09/11 #4 of 4 - 10,377 ( -5.2%)
190. SUPREME POWER
06/11 #1 of 4 - 15,251
07/11 #2 of 4 - 11,450 (-24.9%)
08/11 #3 of 4 - 10,040 (-12.3%)
09/11 #4 of 4 - 9,237 ( -8.0%)
195. MYSTERY MEN
06/11 #1 of 5 - 16,657
06/11 #2 of 5 - 12,993 (-22.0%)
07/11 #3 of 5 - 10,433 (-19.7%)
08/11 #4 of 5 - 9,300 (-10.9%)
09/11 #5 of 5 - 9,046 ( -2.7%)
211. ALL WINNERS SQUAD: BAND OF HEROES
06/11 #1 of 8 - 11,836
07/11 #2 of 8 - 10,121 (-14.5%)
08/11 #3 of 8 - 8,766 (-13.4%)
09/11 #4 of 8 - 7,914 ( -9.7%)
The status of this miniseries seems to be a bit confused. Rumour has it that it’s been axed with issue #5, but Marvel’s website continues to list an issue #6, and Diamond’s product update for 18 October gives that issue a revised shipping date of 16 November. On the other hand, issue #7 (solicited for December) seems to have vanished from Marvel’s website, and issue #8 wasn’t solicited for January at all. So it seems a fairly safe bet that BAND OF HEROES has been axed with issue #6.
It’s unusual for Marvel to axe minis in mid-story (though in fairness, DC did something similar with THE GREAT TEN not so long ago), and suggests a rather sudden change of policy in relation to its low-selling books. Whoever commissioned an eight-issue ALL-WINNERS SQUAD mini surely can’t have been expecting it to do significantly better than this.
220. HALO: FALL OF REACH - COVENANT
09/10 Boot Camp #1 - 10,715 (+26.0%)
10/10 #2 of 4 - 9,056 (-15.5%)
11/10 ---
12/10 #3 of 4 - 8,567 ( -5.4%)
01/11 ---
02/11 #4 of 4 - 8,437 ( -1.5%)
03/11 ---
04/11 Cov't #1 of 4 - 8,313 ( -1.5%)
05/11 ---
06/11 ---
07/11 #2 of 4 - 7,825 ( -5.9%)
08/11 ---
09/11 #3 of 4 - 7,321 ( -6.4%)
6 mnth ( --- )
1 year (-31.7%)
221. MYSTIC [CrossGen]
08/11 #1 of 4 - 18,783
09/11 #2 of 4 - 7,105 (-62.2%)
That’s a depressingly low number for an extremely good comic.
222. CASANOVA: AVARITIA [Icon]
09/10 Vol 1 #3 of 4 - 7,621 ( -8.7%)
10/10 Vol 1 #4 of 4 - 7,366 ( -3.3%)
11/10 ---
12/10 ---
01/11 Vol 2 #1 of 4 - 7,658 ( +4.0%)
02/11 Vol 2 #2 of 4 - 6,579 (-14.1%)
03/11 Vol 2 #3 of 4 - 6,152 ( -6.5%)
04/11 Vol 2 #4 of 4 - 5,808 ( -5.6%)
05/11 ---
06/11 ---
07/11 ---
08/11 ---
09/11 Vol 3 #1 of 4 - 7,059 (+21.5%)
6 mnth (+14.7%)
1 year ( -7.4%)
This is the first wholly original CASANOVA material to be published under the Icon imprint – the first two volumes were updated reprints – so a slight increase in sales is to be expected, as some readers jump back aboard.
232. OFFICIAL HANDBOOK
09/06 A to Z #9 of 12 - 18,966
09/07 Marvel Zombies - 30,895
09/08 ---
09/09 Marvel Mystery - 6,565
=====
09/10 Heroic Age: Heroes - 11,224 (+126.2%)
10/10 A to Z Update #4 of 5 - 4,990 ( -55.5%)
11/10 Heroic Age: Villains - 9,294 ( +86.3%)
12/10 A to Z Update #5 of 5 - 4,808 ( -48.3%)
12/10 Heroic Age: X-Men - 13,789 (+186.8%)
01/11 Blockbusters - 5,354 ( -61.2%)
02/11 ---
03/11 ---
04/11 Thor - 9,251 ( +72.8%)
05/11 X-Men - 8,228 ( -11.1%)
06/11 Captain America - 6,311 ( -23.3%)
07/11 ---
08/11 Fellowship of Fear - 10,448 ( +65.6%)
09/11 FF - 6,761 ( -35.3%)
6 mnth ( --- )
1 year ( -39.8%)
2 year ( +3.0%)
3 year ( --- )
4 year ( -78.1%)
5 year ( -6.4%)
235. ANITA BLAKE, VAMPIRE HUNTER
09/08 ---
09/09 Necromancer #5 - 11,142
=====
09/10 Circus #4 - 8,427 ( -1.5%)
10/10 #5 of 5 - 8,146 ( -3.3%)
11/10 ---
12/10 ---
01/11 Ingenue #1 of 5 - 7,763 ( -4.7%)
02/11 #2 of 5 - 7,352 ( -5.3%)
03/11 ---
04/11 #3 of 5 - 7,018 ( -4.5%)
04/11 ---
05/11 ---
06/11 #4 of 5 - 6,893 ( -1.8%)
07/11 ---
08/11 #5 of 5 - 6,712 ( -2.6%)
09/11 Scoundrel #1 of 5 - 6,650 ( -0.9%)
6 mnth ( --- )
1 year (-21.1%)
2 year (-40.3%)
3 year ( --- )
252. KA-ZAR
06/11 #1 of 5 - 12,805
07/11 #2 of 5 - 7,873 (-38.5%)
08/11 #3 of 5 - 6,475 (-17.8%)
09/11 #4 of 5 - 5,731 (-11.5%)
273. SPIDER-MAN [Marvel Adventures]
09/06 #19 - 6,057
09/07 #31 - 6,723
09/08 #43 - 5,505
09/09 #55 - 5,668
=====
09/10 #6 - 5,779 ( -6.8%)
10/10 ---
11/10 #7 - 5,603 ( -3.0%)
11/10 #8 - 5,269 ( -6.0%)
12/10 #9 - 5,116 ( -2.9%)
01/11 #10 - 4,816 ( -5.9%)
02/11 #11 - 4,923 ( +2.2%)
03/11 #12 - 4,965 ( +0.9%)
04/11 #13 - 5,083 ( +2.4%)
05/11 #14 - 5,220 ( +2.7%)
06/11 #15 - 5,052 ( -3.2%)
07/11 #16 - 4,708 ( -6.8%)
08/11 #17 - 4,675 ( -0.7%)
09/11 #18 - 4,673 ( -0.0%)
6 mnth ( -5.9%)
1 year ( -19.1%)
2 year ( -17.6%)
3 year ( -15.1%)
4 year ( -30.5%)
5 year ( -22.8%)
And the books that missed the top 300, with estimated sales below 3,341 – SPIDER-MAN: WITH GREAT POWER COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY #6, SUPER HEROES #18, OFFICIAL INDEX TO THE MARVEL UNIVERSE #2, DREAM LOGIC #4, MUPPETS PRESENTS: FAMILY REUNION, and THOR GOES HOLLYWOOD.
6 month comparisons =================== +85.3% - Punisher +65.0% - Ultimate Comics X-Men +48.0% - Daredevil +22.6% - Captain America +17.0% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man +14.7% - Casanova +11.3% - Spider-Girl + 7.4% - Thor + 4.9% - X-Force + 4.7% - Uncanny X-Men + 1.2% - Avengers Academy - 1.3% - Amazing Spider-Man - 3.1% - Ultimate Comics Ultimates - 3.3% - New Avengers - 4.9% - Generation Hope - 5.9% - Iron Man - 5.9% - Spider-Man [Marvel Adventures] - 6.4% - X-Factor - 7.1% - Stand - 7.7% - Avengers - 8.8% - PunisherMax - 9.4% - Thunderbolts - 9.7% - Dark Tower -12.1% - Deadpool -12.6% - Secret Avengers -14.5% - X-23 -16.1% - Annihilators -16.8% - Hulk -17.2% - Deadpool Max -17.8% - X-Men -19.2% - X-Men Legacy -20.2% - Wolverine -21.6% - Black Panther -24.8% - Daken -25.4% - Iron Man 2.0 -25.5% - Wolverine: The Best There Is -28.1% - Heroes for Hire -31.8% - New Mutants -43.8% - Venom -56.2% - FF 1 year comparisons ================== +46.9% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man +44.2% - X-Force +40.0% - Moon Knight +33.8% - Punisher +14.7% - FF +13.4% - Captain America - 6.6% - Uncanny X-Men - 7.4% - Casanova - 9.9% - Daredevil -12.6% - Iron Man -15.2% - Amazing Spider-Man -15.5% - Thor -19.0% - New Mutants -19.1% - Spider-Man [Marvel Adventures] -20.7% - X-Factor -21.1% - Anita Blake -23.3% - Avengers Academy -24.1% - X-Men Legacy -24.8% - Thunderbolts -25.2% - New Avengers -25.4% - Avengers -26.0% - Dark Tower -26.8% - Deadpool -31.7% - Halo -35.5% - Secret Avengers -36.8% - X-Men -39.8% - Official Handbook -44.2% - Hulk -51.1% - X-23 -58.1% - Daken -63.8% - Wolverine 2 year comparisons ================== +11.8% - FF + 7.9% - X-Force + 3.0% - Official Handbook - 5.7% - Punisher - 7.8% - Wolverine - 8.5% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man - 8.6% - Amazing Spider-Man -12.5% - Iron Man -13.4% - PunisherMax -17.6% - Spider-Man [Marvel Adventures] -18.3% - Black Panther -18.5% - New Mutants -20.4% - Moon Knight -20.7% - Uncanny X-Men -22.4% - X-Factor -30.7% - Thor -32.3% - New Avengers -39.4% - Thunderbolts -40.3% - Anita Blake -43.8% - Herc -47.2% - Deadpool -49.8% - Captain America -54.3% - Dark Tower -55.5% - Hulk -66.3% - Daken 3 year comparisons ================== + 7.7% - Moon Knight - 2.1% - Punisher - 3.7% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man - 8.9% - FF -12.9% - Daredevil -15.1% - Spider-Man [Marvel Adventures] -17.2% - X-Force -23.3% - Amazing Spider-Man -28.0% - Captain America -29.6% - Uncanny X-Men -31.7% - Iron Man -34.8% - PunisherMax -41.8% - X-Men Legacy -43.9% - New Avengers -44.1% - Black Panther -44.3% - Thunderbolts -47.2% - X-Factor -50.8% - Ultimate Comics Ultimates -55.5% - Deadpool -68.7% - Herc -77.9% - Hulk -80.9% - Dark Tower 4 year comparisons ================== +12.2% - Ultimate Comics X-Men -11.6% - Iron Man -21.2% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man -30.5% - Spider-Man [Marvel Adventures] -31.6% - Captain America -33.4% - Uncanny X-Men -40.2% - Moon Knight -43.2% - Punisher -48.4% - Daredevil -48.6% - New Avengers -49.3% - Wolverine -54.8% - X-Men Legacy -55.9% - X-Factor -60.4% - Amazing Spider-Man -78.1% - Official Handbook 5 year comparisons ================== +13.8% - Iron Man - 6.4% - Official Handbook - 9.9% - Ultimate Comics X-Men -22.8% - Spider-Man [Marvel Adventures] -23.2% - Thunderbolts -27.3% - Daredevil -29.3% - Black Panther -33.8% - Captain America -35.1% - Uncanny X-Men -45.9% - X-Factor -47.5% - PunisherMax -50.5% - Amazing Spider-Man -52.9% - X-Men Legacy -54.8% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man -56.1% - Ultimate Comics Ultimates -56.1% - Moon Knight -65.0% - Wolverine -75.1% - Astonishing X-Men
Very interesting! There seem to be a decent number of titles (although it seems to be irregularly distributed) that climbed 1-3% this month over last, barring recent relaunches or other big disruptions to ‘normal’ sales levels. Paul generally points out the variant covers or tie-ins involved, but isn’t this level of activity unusual? I am basically looking for the ‘lifting all boats’ hypothesis of the DC relaunch carrying over to Marvel titles. Thoughts?
I wonder why Marvel didn’t release “Hulk vs Dracula” as the next 3 consecutive issues of “Incredible Hulks”. I’m sure sales would have been much higher. Plus, this series replaced “Hulks” on the schedule anyway. I would count it as the direct continuation of the older series, but YMMV.
I’ve seen the “Great Ten” used as an example several times in a sort of “DC-does-it-too” defense of Marvel’s cancellation of All-Winners Squad. One key difference is the creative team on the Great Ten were able to complete their story–perhaps in a more truncated form than they intended, but completed nonetheless. All-Winners Squad ended on a cliffhanger.
Could the reason for Alpha Flight’s cancellation be the need to free up Marvel exclusive artist Dale Eaglesham for a better selling book to justify his higher exclusive page rate ? (The Nextwave Effect)
Marvel seems on a drive to seriously contain cost and eliminate books that will not contribute significantly to the bottom line. Expect more cancellations over the next few weeks.
It could just be a matter of looking ahead wrt Alpha Flight. It’s been losing a little over 1500 sales a month since #2; if that kept steady, #8 would have been at about the level Herc was when its cancellation was announced. The book also loses about 2500 sales between #4 and #5 (presumably the increase comes from lack of variants and shedding the Fear Itself logo), so between the additional slump and Marvel’s latest round of frugality, the numbers might not have looked as promising as they did when the ongoing was announced.
I think it’d be hard to see “lifting all boats” effects in September from DC, because logically the higher orders on DC’s books would push down the orders on the other books. It’s after all the customers coming in for DC’s books in September also pick up Marvel books and want to continue buying them, you’d see increased activity for Marvel’s orders in future months.
October looks like it’s continuing the positive trend but I think the breaking point will be January, when most of the series go into their second arc: how many people will continue past arc 1 (and will have decided this right now?) That’s the even bigger question, all the newer fans aren’t going to be thinking that far ahead, are they? So the retailers might be in for sudden surprises, too, thinking they have sustained hits going on while it might suddenly sink quickly if the first arc doesn’t feel satisfying enough. Inertia only works for the die-hards and the people coming in for the new 52 aren’t die-hards, probably, right?
But I’ll be very surprised if Marvel doesn’t do the same thing by, say, next May? (when the Avengers movie comes out, movie-verse reboot maybe? :)
@Suzene: Alpha Flight sales didn’t do anything that shouldn’t have been predictable. In his CBR interview last week, Axel Alonso said outright that “new budgetary mandates forced us to rethink the strategy”.
The Crossgen figures are really shocking. But what do Marvel expect when they change everything that made the originals so good. Its Mystic in name only. Ruse has been the only one to stay true to the original series.
I want to see a Scion and Sojourn series, but if they fuck around with the premise they can count me out.
I hate seeing sales numbers like this. I’m a hardcore Marvel guy and the direction of most of their comics has forced me to bascially collect Captain America, Daredevil and the Thunderbolts. From the Avengers to the Fantastic Four to the X-Men. I enjoyed Spider-Man but not at $3.99 a couple times a month. So the combination of content that I no longer enjoy, death stunts to increase sales, and an average $3.99 price, Marvel has pushed me away.
@Peter Adriaenssens nailed everything I was going to say in his comment. Well done, sir.
Glad to see Avengers Academy (one of my favorite books) holding steady. Not to happy to see it near Alpha Flight numbers.
But if it stays above X-Factor, maybe it’ll stick around a while (as that book seems rock solid, too…) AA is probably my favorite Marvel book these days.
Thanks for all the hard work, Paul!
This caught my eye, I thought it was pretty funny:
98. AVENGERS ACADEMY
02/11 #9 – 23,709 ( -1.3%)
03/11 #10 – 23,708 ( -0.0%)
the book went down ONE COPY!!! I’ve never seen that before, in all the years of reading these month-to-month columns.
I also love Avengers Academy and hope it sticks around for longer then its predecessor did, Avengers the Initiative!
Now you know why Ike has been on a cost-cutting binge. Marvel has enormous overhead and these numbers are not making Disney happy, I guarantee you.
Sadly with the loss of Justice and Speedball to the cast my desire to follow Avenges Academy is done as of issue 20. I read issue 21 and it just lost it’s feel I enjoyed under the old direction. I hope that it continues to hang tough though since I think it still beats most of the Marvel line-up for the price of admission.
With all the $3.99 books that ship multiple times a month with many having stroies that don’t appeal to me it was my last Marvel book so it was sad to see it go.
“With all the $3.99 books that ship multiple times a month with many having stories that don’t appeal to me it was my last Marvel book so it was sad to see it go.”
I find myself willing to pay $3.99 for a comic from a smaller publisher as long as I enjoy it. But even if I like the book, it’s very hard for me to fork over 4 bucks a pop for anything from DC or Marvel. The fact that they’re not even pretending to give the $3.50 price point a try like Dark Horse just makes me feel like I’m being gouged.
Mike
We ARE being gouged. Marvel completely admitted they were trying to see how far they could push the price point before it wouldn’t bounce back. Now they try to use every excuse under the sun to keep that price point.
Don’t worry, O’Brien, those “razor-thin” and “closer than expected” margins for September really blew out in October.
To a large part due to September #1 re-prints falling into October, I would guess.
I bet November will be pretty close again.
Wow, those are pretty dismal numbers for Ka-Zar. Sure, the character is always a tough sell but isn’t that book set in the core Marvel Universe?
>Ka-Zar…isn’t that book set in the core Marvel Universe?
Yeah, those are incredibly dismal numbers (even for Ka-Zar). Marvel should have spun this mini-series off of an X-Men Savage Land storyline.
LL
Well,…look who got its butt kicked this month.
Am I the only one that thinks, if Marvel 1) cuts each character/team down to just one book each and 2) releases only one issue of each title per month, then the market will be much less crowded, and sales on the remaining books will rise due to readers having more money to spend?
For what it’s worth, the Ultimate line had a promotion at Diamond shortly after launch. Which is to say, retailers could order Ultimate Hawkeye #1 or Ultimates #1 at $1 each and they’d get a free copy of Ultimate Fallout #4 as well.
So that might be where those reorder sales boosts are coming from.
Maybe referring to “modest interest” in the Hulk vs. Dracula mini isn’t meant as snarky, but if it is, I find it funny.
I think one reason the current Marvel vampire stuff has played out so quickly is because of the way Gischler has tried to overhaul the whole vampire franchise. Dracula pops back up after his appearance in the excellent Captain Britain and MI-13, looking like…..some weird warped version of the film version of Dracula? Vampires are all of a sudden an organized society with clans? A lot of the appeal of Marvel’s vamp-verse was the old school feel of it; I think this Kindred take-off stuff is leaving some fans cold.
Also, when will Marvel give up on Black Panther? The guy simply cannot carry his own book in the current market, same goes for Moon Knight. Shift them both into team books(or keep them there in Moon Knight’s case) and be done with it.
>if Marvel 1) cuts each character/team down to just one book each…sales on the remaining books will rise
In the short term this would severly depress Marvel’s sales and many of their editors would get fired. They’re trapped.
LL
The numbers for the Fear Itself tie-ins are terrible! And with Marvel’s current publishing decisions, there are 3 series (Daken, Black Panther, and Avengers Academy) that I would consider purchasing based on good word of mouth. Marvel’s fickle attitude towards series with these numbers is giving me reason to take a pass.
Relaunch, character “death”, 20 pages for $3.99, Marvel is doing everything wrong right now. And I’m loving it.
>Marvel is doing everything wrong
Marvel’s self-immolation is painful to watch. After the success of DC’s relaunch, the best we can hope for is for Marvel to copy DC and relaunch a smaller, more focused line at $2.99.
LL
It looks like Marvel would be smart to start including the Young Avengers in more shared universe and “important” books. Their numbers are really impressive. Makes me wonder what I’ve been missing..