Marvel Month-Month Sales October 2015: The Emptiness of Relaunches

by Xavier Lancel

Welcome to a new analysis of the Marvel sales. Reminder: I’m French, that’s why I’m talking funny. Please adress your complaints to my all-over-the-news country.

Reminder: these sales numbers are estimates of sales to comics shops situated in North America. American comics do get sold somewhere else in their original floppy edition. Keep also in mind that it’s not because a copy is sold to a shop that it’s sold to a customer. This would be way too easy. Digital sales are not taken into account.

Now is the start of it all! Quite a bunch of big titles made their comeback this month, often double-shipping. Meanwhile, half of the Secret Wars minis headed towards their conclusion, and some of them had a slippery last issue fall. In addition, yet another month where no Marvel title had noticeable reorders in the top 300! Marvel has announced a number of original new ongoing series that are not the 354th relaunch of Iron Man, Avengers-this, X-Men-that or Spider-Dude, nor the relaunch of new titles that started their first runs less than 6 months ago. However, these innovative titles were not released in October. The only big events are the return of Dr Strange after almost 20 years without an ongoing title — a shame for one of the best series ever published by Marvel — and the return of Karnak, the not-so-dead Inhuman, with a prestigious creative team.

Ultimately, we are left with the big flagship relaunches and we can already see that the trends are not pretty. Yes, people are still buying way more of a title when it’s numbered #1, even if it asks of them a monetary effort (at $6 or 5$ the first issue for some + the double shipping, that makes quite an amount of money to spend this month for Marvel fans). However, with the exception of Iron Man, which was heavily pushed by Marvel, the resulting sales were either disappointing or so weak that they put titles on a track to instantly end up back at their pre-relaunch sales levels. In this game, the Avengers brand seems the one most hurt by « désamour » from buyers [editor’s note: the cessation of love].

Sorry, but color me unimpressed by the tons of $ Marvel made this month! Their publishing line is in a very interesting transition phase, one which will be sustained not by selling hundreds of thousands of flagship series #1s, but rather by keeping afloat their more innovative new series over an extended period of time.  See you after the funny numbers parade!

---

 STAR WARS TPB VOL.1: 21,826
160p, $20, cents per page: 12.5

The first collection of Star Wars is out, containing issues 1-6 and it’s crushing everything with record sales, rarely seen on a first month release. You can bet that this will be the 4th Marvel series that’s gonna sell huge amount of paperbacks every month for years to come.

 

 DARTH VADER TPB VOL.1 :10,143
152p, $20, cents per page: 13.2

Same goes for the first volume of the Darth Vader series. Of course the main title will always sell more, but, seeing those numbers, we can bet that reorder activity will be as successful for those secondary series.

 

 DOCTOR STRANGE DON'T PAY FERRYMAN : 1,469 
176p, $25, cents per page: 14.2

This release of Doctor Strange episodes in collected editions is a bit messy. Luckily, we already have some collections, but in this one we seem to jump from one period to another, missing some really great portions of this volume of Doctor Strange adventures. This is …strange, seeing as absolutely every issue is a masterpiece, with incredibly talented writers matched with some of best pencilers in the business (where are all the Gene Colan episodes?). This collection starts with the arrival of Mike Badger and Peter Gillis on the title. Badger quickly abandons his place to Chris Warner (another gem!), and Gillis will stay quite a long time on the series (3 and a half years), giving to us a really creepy and unforgettable run that sees the poor Doctor on a never ending fall toward darkness. Marvel will probably follow this collection with episodes from Strange Tales vol.2 , a direct continuation of the issues presented here (Doctor Strange 75-81), which end on a cliffhanger. Those numbers are not stellar, but perfectly ok, so it’s likely that we’ll see the end of Gillis run in another volume soon. Highly recommanded!

 

 DAMAGE CONTROL TP COMPLETE COLLECTION
392p, $35, cents per page: 8,9

You guys probably didn’t notice it if you never clicked on my name in the comment section, but I’m the creator of Ernie Colon Unlimited, an online resource that collects every comic Colon ever worked on.  We have almost 90% of them — only most of his Harvey comics are still missing because of their non-credit policy at that time. It’s all in English, so feel free to take a look and comment. A deeper 50 page interview and critical piece of coverage on his whole career is available in French in issue 77 of Scarce, the comics magazine I’m the editor of. Feel free to send me a message if you are interested in a copy, our prices are the same worldwide, it will only arrive to you more slowly if you are overseas. You can bet that I’m quite happy that this collection is seeing the light of the day, not necessarily because that’s the best work done by Ernie (it’s not) or because the single issues of this run are hard to find (they’re not), but Marvel’s printing during the original run’s era was really awful. This collection will make Ernie’s pencils shine at last. In addition, the price tag on this collection is quite nice, no?

---

1- 28- INVINCIBLE IRON MAN

10/15 Invincible Iron Man #1 -  279,514  
10/15 Invincible Iron Man #2 -    66,664 (-76.2%)             

Of course, numerous variant covers were present for the party, but otherwise Invincible Iron Man is a standard $4 Marvel comic. Great #1 numbers, but they are completely out of touch with the series’ actual readership size, which as you can see with issue#2, is way way lower than 300k. If a company can sell 4 times more (and thus make at least 4 times more money) in one issue by numbering it #1 and selling it to non-readers than it can expect to sell across the proceeding 4 issues to real readers, that company could be tempted to deviate from producing good ongoing comics to producing as much appealing #1 issues as they can.

Nobody would be foolish enough to do that, right?

—

2- 10-AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ($6)

10/15 Amazing Spider-Man #1 -  245,873 
10/15 Amazing Spider-Man #2 -  111,322   (-54.7%)           

Well, look who’s there? Point to Marvel: only a year and a half after their previous relaunch of the Amazing Spider-Man, there are still swaths of people ready to pay $6 for a new #1 featuring the most famous Marvel superhero. However, for the #1 to be just under Iron-Man #1 numbers and less than 20% over the debut numbers of the last Spider-Man Secret Wars mini is disappointing. You’ll tell me that the reason fewer people bought this book is because it cost $6 (only for its #1 issue)! Well, the previous relaunch also was $6 and it sold 532,586 copies (well, at least to shops).
So, to recapitulate: less than half the sales of the recent previous relaunch, barely more than the last Spider-Man mini, less than Iron Man? We’re talking Amazing Spider-Man here. Call me a turd, but that’s disapointing with a big D. In the long term, the only way Marvel could call this relaunch a success is if the series sales consistently stay over 100K, which would be a slight improvement over an already successful ongoing title.

—

3- SPIDER-GWEN

02/15 Spider-Gwen #1 -  278,575 
03/15 Spider-Gwen #2 -  107,070 (-61.6%)
04/15 spider-Gwen #3 -  102,234 (- 4.5%)
05/15 Spider-Gwen #4 -    86,586 (-15.3%)
06/15 Spider-Gwen #5 -    67,697 (-21.8%)
07/15 ---
08/15 ---
09/15 ---
10/15 Spider-Gwen #1 -  197,103      

A standard $4 price tag. Spider-Gwen is still popular for sure. However, it looks like people needed to be reminded of her, given the series’ worrying sales trajectory, which has not yet stabilized! We’ll see once the investors and the variant buyers have had their fill if relaunching the title really helped it catch late-starting readers.

—

4- SECRET WARS LTD 

05/15 Secret Wars Ltd #1 -  544,342                  
05/15 Secret Wars Ltd #2 -  231,560   (-57.5%)         
06/15 Secret Wars Ltd #3 -  224,067   (-  3.2%)
07/15 Secret Wars Ltd #4 -  221,041   (-  1.4%)
08/15 Secret Wars Ltd #5 – 204,416   (-  7.5%)
09/15 ---
10/15 Secret Wars Ltd #6 -  192,244

Falling under the 200K barreer in total sales for the first time, Still selling like hotcakes! American friends on a trip to UK explained to me that pancakes don’t sell, at least not using this expression- but were quite embarrassed when I asked them to explain to me what a hotcake really is! :p

—

5- DOCTOR STRANGE ($5)

10/15 Doctor Strange #1 – 145,456                

At last! We have been waiting 19 years for the good old Doctor to have his title back! Marvel didn’t even try during the intervening years, feeding us an atrocious leather-fetish origin story for the character and god-in-the-machine appearances in other series every time a writer was cornered. Thank god we also had some really good mini-series by Mark Waid and Brian K. Vaughan. Marvel claims to have been « waiting for the right aproach », so this better be good, given how long we’ve waited! Great numbers — especially since it’s a $5 book. For once, the shock factor of seeing a new #1 for an old character worked out. Let’s cross fingers for the rest of the road, as we do not know yet how many people are ready to actually READ the new adventures of the Doctor.

—

 

6- STAR WARS

01/15 Star Wars  #1 -  1,055,494         
02/15 Star Wars  #2 -	   212,089  (-79.9%)
03/15 Star Wars  #3 -	   175,579  (-17.2%)
04/15 Star Wars  #4 -	   203,817  (+16.1%)
05/15 Star Wars  #5 -	   146,850  (-27.9%)
06/15 Star Wars  #6 -	   152,652  (+ 4.0%)
07/15 Star Wars  #7 -	   160,000  (+ 1.0%)
08/15 Star Wars #8  -	   145,066  (-  9.3%)
09/15 Star Wars #9  -	   135,817  (-  6.4%)
10/15 Star Wars#10 -     134,613 (-   0.9%)

Since issue #2: -36.5%

Well, the search for its sales level didn’t take much time. Awesome sales level, obviously.

—

7- 24-CHEWBACCA LTD

10/15 Chewbacca #1 -  122,952
10/15 Chewbacca #2 -    74,311  (-39.5%)                 

Well, you know what? That’s almost a little weak for a new Star Wars mini. It’s not really worrying, as Chewbacca is assured to still sell more than 50K at the end of its run. It will be interesting to see if Star Wars: the Force Awakens will affect this title, despite Chewbacca being in the middle of its run when the movie releases.

—

8- 12- 13-JOURNEY STAR WARS FORCE AWAKENS SHATTERED EMPIRE LTD

09/15 J SW Force Awakens... Ltd #1 -  208,884      
10/15 J SW Force Awakens... Ltd #2 -  119,508  (-42.8%) 
10/15 J SW Force Awakens... Ltd #3 -  105,496  (-11.7%)
10/15 J SW Force Awakens... Ltd #4 -  105,284  (-  0.2%)        

Turn out that Marvel advertised the wrong total number of issues in their September Preview catalog. 3 issues are out this month and it leveled at a very satisfying level, over the 100K barreer.

—

 

9- GUARDIANS OF GALAXY

03/13 Guardians of Galaxy #1-   211,312
…
04/15  Guardians v3 #26 -  54,124  (-12.4%)
05/15  Guardians v3 #27 -  49,308  (- 8.9%)

07/15 Guardians of Knowhere Ltd #1  -  81,902
08/15 Guardians of Knowhere Ltd #2  -  50,913  (-37.8%)
08/15 Guardians of Knowhere Ltd #3  -  47,414  (-  6.9%)
09/15 Guardians of Knowhere Ltd #4  -  39,523  (-22.4%)

10/15 Guardians of Galaxy #1-      118,342

Average +% TPB SALES #18-23: +3.6% 
GUARDIANS OTG VOL.4 HC: 2,241

It will have to severely cushion its issue#2 fall to have a chance to sell better than before.

—

 

14- UNCANNY AVENGERS ($5)

03/14  U Avengers #18.NOW   -  63,516  ( 19.4%)
...
10/14  Uncanny Avengers #25 –  53,263  (  7.7%)
10/14  Aven & X-Men Axis #1 – 138,966  (180.9%)
...
12/14  Aven & X-Men Axis #9 –  69,518  (  0.1%)
01/15  Uncanny Avengers v2 #1 – 74,849 
02/15  Uncanny Avengers v2 #2 – 51,339 (-31.4%)
---
04/15  Uncanny Avengers v2 #3 – 50,595 (-1.4%)
05/15  Uncanny Avengers v2 #4 – 46,682 (-7.7%)
06/15  Uncanny Avengers v2 #5 – 43,417 (-7.0%)

10/15 Uncanny Avengers #1-      105,234

It’s rather weak, but still way better than the last relaunch. If it deviates a little from the usual decline sales pattern with issues #2 at Marvel, this one has a chance to actually do better than its previous incarnation.

—

 

15- 16- DARTH VADER

02/15 Darth Vader #1 -  296,929                
02/15 Darth Vader #2 -  125,466  (-57.7%)
03/15 Darth Vader #3 -  126,278  (+ 0.6%)    
04/15 Darth Vader #4 -  136,451  (+ 8.1%)    
05/15 Darth Vader #5 -  113,025  (-17.2%)
06/15 Darth Vader #6 -  107,739  (- 4.7%)
07/15 Darth Vader #7 -  114,349  (+ 6.1%)
08/15 Darth Vader #8 -    98,994  (-13.4%)
09/15 Darth Vader #9 -  100,235  (+ 1.3%)
10/15 Darth Vader#10-    94,372  (-  5.8%)
10/15 Darth Vader#11-    92,866  (-  1.6%)

Since issue #2: -26.0%

Some of the craziness over the title is fading out, but it will probably be back as soon as the movie will be out.

—

 

17- UNCANNY INHUMANS ($5)

10/15 Uncanny Inhumans #1 -  90,528

Who is not uncanny yet in the Marvel Universe? It’s sad to see that a word which used to solely evoke X-Men is now completely diluted. Another small stone in the process of molding the Inhumans into a larger successful brand.

—

 

18- AVENGERS ($6)

10/15 Avengers #0 -  80,722

This one serves as a kind of sampler of things to come in the numerous Avengers titles relaunches with original short stories instead of issue previews. Will the actual #1 do better? It should, especially since this #0 has a $6 price tag.

—

 

19- CONTEST OF CHAMPIONS ($5)

10/15 Contest of champions #1 -  79,873

This is a new ongoing inspired by the mobile phone game of the same name and one of the first ever Marvel events. That’s a very satisfying sales debut, which, if everything goes fine, should place the title confortably in the 30-40K zone.

—

 

22- ASTONISHING ANT-MAN

01/15 Ant-Man #1 – 	73,370
02/15 Ant-Man #2 – 	40,192  (-45.2%)
03/15 Ant-Man #3 – 	37,139  (- 7.6%)
04/15 Ant-Man #4 – 	31,637  (-14.8%)
05/15 Ant-Man #5 – 	83,095 (+162.7%)
06/15 Ant-Man Larger than Life #1- 28,797 
07/15 Ant-Man Annual #1 – 		24,223
08/15 Ant-Man Last Days -  		35,594  (-57.2%)
09/15 ---
10/15 Astonishing Ant-Man #1 -  75,598

Average +% TPB sales #1-5 : +9.6%
ANT-MAN TPB VOL.1: 3,870 

starting at the same level than before, which is actually good, given the unenthusiastic road the title was taking. See you in 8 months to analyze the positioning of the next relaunch! :p

—

 

25-  41- NEW AVENGERS 

01/13  New Avengers v3 # 1 -  116,280 
...
03/14  N Avengers #16.NOW  -  48,731  (  0.0%)
...
12/14  New Avengers v3 #28 -  39,855  ( -1.4%)
01/15  New Avengers v3 #29 -  41,116  (+3.1%) (SW prelude)
02/15  New Avengers v3 #30 -  42,827  (+4.2%) (SW prelude)
03/15  New Avengers v3 #31 -  44,444  (+3.8%) (SW prelude)
03/15  New Avengers v3 #32 -  40,583  (-8.7%) (SW prelude)
04/15  New Avengers v3 #33 -  55.437 (+36.6%) (Sw prelude) END

10/15 New Avengers #1 -  71,243
10/15 New Avengers #2 -  50,455  (-29.8%)

This whole renumbering pattern does seem to slowly but surely tire people. Those Avengers #0 numbers were actually quite good compared to this one. Next month, we should be where we were one year before.

—

 

29- KARNAK 

10/15 Karnak #1 -  63,672

This could be the new Hawkeye. Will thunder strike twice for David Aja, teamed up this time with Warren Ellis?

—

 

30- OLD MAN LOGAN LTD 

05/15 Old Man Logan Ltd #1 -	122,702          
06/15 Old Man Logan Ltd #2 -	 78,426  (-36.1%)
07/15 Old Man Logan Ltd #3 -	 67,482  (-14.0%)
08/15 Old Man Logan Ltd #4 -	 69,122  (+ 2.4%)
09/15 ---
10/15 Old Man Logan Ltd #5 -	 62,716  (-  9.3%)

Since issue #2: -20.0%

This could look like an ugly fall but it’s not, taking into account that issue#4 numbers were boosted.

—

 

31- CAPTAIN AMERICA SAM WILSON 

02/14  Capt AmericaV7 #16.Now – 36,534  (   9.3%)
...
09/14  Captain America v7 #24 – 33,517  (   8.4%)
10/14  Captain America v7 #25 – 74,183  ( 121.3%)
11/14  Captain America v8 #1  –120,500  (  62.4%)
12/14  Captain America v8 #2  – 50,077  ( -58.4%)
01/15  Captain America v8 #3  - 50,045  ( -0.1%)
02/15  Captain America v8 #4  - 41,222  (-17.6%)
03/15  Captain America v8 #5  - 38,871  (- 5.7%)
04/15  Captain America v8 #6  - 38,199  (- 1.7%)
...
10/15 Cap America S. Wilson #1 -  62,535
10/15 Cap America S. Wilson #2 -  40,224  (-35.7%)

Moderate fall, but the fact is that we are already back to where the title was before it was put on hiatus during Secret Wars.

—

 

32- STAR WARS LANDO LTD 

07/15 Lando Ltd #1 of 5  -   192,949
08/15 Lando Ltd #2 of 5  -	71,043  (-63.2%)
08/15 Lando Ltd #3 of 5 -	68,787  (-  3.2%)
09/15 Lando Ltd #4 of 5 -      61,542  (-10.7%)
10/15 Lando Ltd #5 of 5 -      59,760  (-  2.9%)

This should encourage Marvel to turn other original trilogy characters into mini-series.

—

 

33- CIVIL WAR LTD 

07/15 Civil War Ltd #1  -     170,546
08/15 Civil War Ltd #2  -	77,219  (-54.7%)
08/15 Civil War Ltd #3  -	68,035  (-11.9%)
09/15 Civil War Ltd #4  -       59,101  (-13.1%)
10/15 Civil War Ltd #5  -       58,224  (-  1.5%)

This book’s precipitous fall has finally stopped, and its overall numbers look pretty good…

—

 

34- 51-SPIDER-MAN 2099 

07/14 Spider-Man 2099  #1  -  90,690  ( --- )
08/14 Spider-Man 2099  #2  -  47,512  (-47.6%)
09/14 Spider-Man 2099  #3  -  43,418  ( -8.6%)
10/14 Spider-Man 2099  #4  -  40,755  ( -6.1%)
10/14 Spider-Man 2099  #5  -  40,880  (  0.3%)
11/14 Spider-Man 2099  #6  -  38,634  ( -5.5%)
---
01/15 Spider-Man 2099  #7 -  38,455 (-0.5%)
01/15 Spider-Man 2099  #8 -  37,484 (-2.5%)
02/15 Spider-Man 2099  #9 -  34,374 (-8.3%)
03/15 Spider-Man 2099 #10 -  33,528 (-2.5%)
04/15 Spider-Man 2099 #11 -  31,665 (-5.6%)
05/15 Spider-Man 2099 #12 -  28,916 (-8.7%)
...
10/15 Spider-Man 2099  #1 -  57,719
10/15 Spider-Man 2099  #2 -  40,701

Since issue #2: -39.1%
Average +% TPB Sales #1-5: +5.4%
SPIDER-MAN 2099 VOL.1 TPB: 2,556

That’s a moderate fall, no doubt helped by the double shipping policy. Its all-new, all-different first issue sold way less than the last #1, but the series has retained some new readers with its issue#2. This title has a chance to try to make the history not repeat itself and to hang on to its readers better than before.

—

 

38- 40- DEADPOOL VS THANOS LTD

09/15 Deadpool VS Thanos Ltd #1 of 4-   108,610
09/15 Deadpool VS Thanos Ltd #2 of 4-      67,901  (-37.5%)
10/15 Deadpool VS Thanos Ltd #3 of 4-      53,626  (-21.0%)
10/15 Deadpool VS Thanos Ltd #4 of 4-      51,324  (-  4.3%)

Nice results. Another Deadpool TPB that’s gonna sell like crazy every month.

—

 

45- ALL NEW DIFFERENT POINT ONE ($6)

10/15 All New different Point One #1 -  45,759

A $6 sampler if you want to have a taste of All New All Different Marvel Universe. Taking that into account, these sales aren’t bad at all, especially since there was a lot of expensive major main titles to buy this month at Marvel.

—

 

46- HOWLING COMMANDOS OF SHIELD 

10/15 Howling Commandos of SHIELD #1 -  44,532

It would be quite a nice start if all these debuting Marvel titles weren’t demonstrating a growing tendency to suffer enormous loses with their second issues. If this one manage to not fall below 25K next month, it has a chance to stabilize in the safe 25-20K area.

—

 

47-KANAN THE LAST PADAWAN

04/15 Kanan TLP #1 -  113,158                 
05/15 Kanan TLP #2 -   64,960  (-42.6%)
06/15 Kanan TLP #3 -   56,370  (-13.2%)
07/15 Kanan TLP #4 -   52,260  (-  7.3%)
08/15 Kanan TLP #5 -   46,351  (-11.3%)
09/15 Kanan TLP #6 -   45,402  (- 2.0%)
10/15 Kanan TLP #7 -   44,127  (- 2.8%)

Since issue #2:  -32.1%

Seems to have found its level, and it’s a quite nice one.

—

 

46- UNBEATTABLE SQUIRREL GIRL 

01/15 Unbeatteable Squirrel Girl #1 - 41,693
02/15 Unbeatteable Squirrel Girl #2 – 24,621  (-40.9%)
03/15 Unbeatteable Squirrel Girl #3 – 26,586  ( +8.0%)
04/15 unbeatteable Squirrel Girl #4 –  20,987  (-21.1%)
05/15 Unbeatteable Squirrel Girl #5 – 20,088  (- 4.3%)
06/15 Unbeatteable Squirrel Girl #6 – 19,341  (- 3.7%)
07/15 Unbeatteable Squirrel Girl #7 – 19,801  (+ 2.4%)
08/15 Unbeatteable Squirrel Girl #8 -  19,134  (- 3.4%)
09/15 ---
10/15 Unbeattable Squirrel Girl #1 -  43,155

 TPB VOL.1: 4,382

That’s slightly better than when it first launched. This one as also a good chance to stabilize as quickly as before, but perhaps at a higher level, seeing that it does wonders in sales.

—

 

50- A-FORCE

05/15 A-Force #1  -	114,528
---
07/15 A-Force #2  -	 60,330  (-47.3%)
08/15 A-Force #3  -     49,074  (-18.7%)
09/15 A-Force #4  -     46,636  (- 5.0%)
10/15 A-Force #5  -	 41,337  (-11.4%)

Since issue #2:  -31.5%

The title still has a lot of rope (and a relaunch under its wing) but that’s a worrying falling trend.

—

 

54- 117- ANGELA QUEEN OF HELL 

12/14  Angela #1 -  61,398  
01/15  Angela #2 -  36,992  (-39.8%)
02/15  Angela #3 -  31,096  (-15.9%)
03/15  Angela #4 -  25,529  (-17.9%)
04/15  Angela #5 -  23,551  (- 7.7%)
05/15  Angela #6 -  22,272  (- 5.4%)

06/15 1602 Witch Hunter Angela Ltd #1 – 37,996
07/15 1602 Witch Hunter Angela Ltd #2 – 26,481  (-30.3%)
08/15 ---
09/15 1602 Witch Hunter Angela Ltd #3 – 23,058  (-12.9%)
10/15 1602 Witch Hunter Angela Ltd #4 - 19,545

10/15 Angela Queen of Hell -	39,271

Last issue of her mini, with an atrocious final fall. The relaunch is following the same pattern than the mini. It should be right where her monthly was before switching to its SW variation with its issue #2. The exit door will then not be very far…

—

 

56-CAPTAIN AMERICA WHITE LTD

09/15 Captain America White Ltd#1 of 5 – 59,510
09/15 Captain America White Ltd#2 of 5 -  40,422  (-32.1%)
09/15 Captain America White Ltd#3 of 5 -  38,867  (-  3.8%)

It’s nice to see there is still an audience for this style of project.

—

 

57- AGE OF APOCALYPSE LTD  

07/15 Age of Apocalypse Ltd #1  -  88,346
08/15 Age of Apocalypse Ltd #2  -  52,058  (-41.1%)
09/15 Age of Apocalypse Ltd #3  -  44,390  (-14.7%)
09/15 Age of Apocalypse Ltd #4  -  40,016  (-  9.9%)
09/15 Age of Apocalypse Ltd #5  -  37,858  (-  5.4%)

This title’s sales are not a very typical pattern for a standard mini, but this and other similar titles were pushed in sales by the Secret Wars brand, so it’s not surprising to see them behave differently than usual.

—

 

65-SPIDER-ISLAND LTD  

07/15 Spider-Island Ltd #1 of 5 -  64,481
08/15 Spider-Island Ltd #2 of 5 -  47,960  (-25.6%)
09/15 Spider-Island Ltd #3 of 5 -  41,989  (-12.4%)
09/15 Spider-Island Ltd #4 of 5 -  36,404  (-13.3%)
10/15 Spider-Island Ltd #5 of 5 -  34,275  (-  5.8%)

This one managed to have more than 50% of its first buyers as final readers, and that’s not bad.

—

 

73- MS. MARVEL ($3)

02/14  Ms. Marvel #1 -  50,286  (  --- ) 
03/14  Ms. Marvel #2 -  38,357  (-23.7%)
...
02/15  Ms. Marvel #12 – 29,054  ( -2.7%)
03/15  Ms. Marvel #13 – 32,425  (+11.6%)
04/15  Ms. Marvel #14 – 32,058  (- 1.1%)
05/15  Ms. Marvel #15 – 32,185  (+ 0.4%)
06/15  Ms. Marvel #16 – 32,855  (+ 2.1%)
07/15 ---
08/15  Ms. Marvel #17 – 31,567  (- 3.9%)
09/15  Ms. Marvel #18 -  33,761  (+7.0%)

Since issue #2: -12.0%

Here is the star of the show, impervious to the usual monthly sales decline plaguing floppy comics. Expect a sales analysis of its TPBs soon.

—

 

77- HOUSE OF M  LTD  

08/15  House of M  Ltd #1  -  61,512
09/15  House of M  Ltd #2  -  40,635  (-33.9%)
09/15  House of M  Ltd #3  -  34,209  (-15.8%)
10/15  House of M  Ltd #4  -  30,161  (-11.8%)

This could be the House of Miscooked Muffins, seeing how people flee it by the thousands.

—

 

81- MARVEL ZOMBIES 

06/15 Marvel Zombies #1  -  51,917
07/15 Marvel Zombies #2  -  39,148  (-24.6%)
08/15 Marvel Zombies #3  -  34,629  (-11.5%)
09/15 ---
10/15 Marvel Zombies #4  -  28,933  (-16.4%)

Did people forget they had to buy this one because of its absence during one month?

—

 

85- GROOT LTD

06/15 Groot Ltd #1  -  97,193          
07/15 Groot Ltd #2  -  39,198  (-59.7%)
08/15 Groot Ltd #3  -  34,663  (-11.6%)
09/15 Groot Ltd #4  -  28,170  (-18.7%)
10/15 Groot Ltd #5  -  27,389  (-  2.8%)

Seemed to have found its level, at last. Too late, as it’s already relaunched with some help from Rocket Raccoon.

—

 

87- 91- 94- 101- 105- WHAT IF... 

10/15 What If Infinity Thanos - 	26,293
10/15 What If Infinity Guardians -	23,706
10/15 What If Infinity X-Men -	23,440
10/15 What If Infinity Inhumans -	22,694
10/15 What If Infinity Dark Reign -	22,079

Just in case you still had some money left this month. As you can see, there is indeed a small Thanos effect going on.

—

 

100- SECRET WARS GUIDE OF MULTIVERSE ($5) 

10/15 SW Guide of Multiverse - 	22,724

In the All New All Different Marvel Universe, nothing is free, neither the menu nor the helping notice. Great sales.

—

 

 103- 1872 LTD 

07/15 1872 Ltd#1  -  42,805
08/15 1872 Ltd#2  -  27,791  (-35.1%)
09/15 1872 Ltd #3  - 24,493  (-11.9%)
10/15 1872 Ltd #4 -  22,467  (-  8.3%)

I bet this one would never have reach better than half of this nice sales level without the help of the Secret Wars brand.

—

 

106- SIEGE LTD 

07/15 Siege Ltd #1  -  49,195
08/15 Siege Ltd #2  -  34,002  (-30.8%)
09/15 Siege Ltd #3  -  26,379  (-22.4%)
10/15 Siege Ltd #4  -	 21,867 (-17.1%)

That’s not very nice, but still in the usual fall range for the SW minis.

—

 

109- SECRET WARS AGENTS OF ATLAS ($5) 

10/15 SW Agents of Atlas -	21,187

If Marvel needed a proof that nobody is crying out loud for a new Agents of Atlas, that’s it.

—

 

116- SHIELD 50TH ANNIVERSARY

12/14  SHIELD #1 -  94,503  
01/15  SHIELD #2 -  33,965  (- 64.1%)
02/15  SHIELD #3 –  29,790  (- 12.3%)
03/15  ---
04/15  SHIELD #4 -  26,930  (-  9.6%)
04/15  SHIELD #5 -  26,614  (-  1.2%)
05/15  SHIELD #6 -  23,152  (- 13.0%)
06/15  SHIELD #7 -  25,786  (+11.4%)
07/15  SHIELD #8 -  19,469  (- 24.5%)
08/15  SHIELD #9 -  22,613  (+16.1%)
09/15  SHIELD#10-  18,693  (- 17.3%)

09/15 Agent Carter SHIELD -  26,438
09/15 Fury SHIELD – 26,313
09/15 Mockingbird SHIELD ($5) – 25,593
09/15 Quake SHIELD – 25,193
09/15 Cavalry SHIELD – 23,831

10/15  SHIELD#11 -	20,121  (+7.6%)

Since issue #2: -40.8%
SHIELD TPB Vol.1 -  2,460
Average +% TPB sales #1-6: +7.2%

Retailers seem confident that at least some people who bought the specials last month will give the monthly a try.

—

 

69- 98- MIRACLEMAN ($5) 

09/15 Miracleman #1 -  27,269
09/15 Miracleman #2 -  22,143  (-18.8%)
10/15 Miracleman #3 -  19,375  (-12.5%)

People are so volatile. Despite being a reprint of well-known material, they managed to lose interest very quickly.

—

 

120- WEIRDWORLD  

06/15 Weirdworld #1  -  48,688
07/15 Weirdworld #2  -  26,307  (-46.0%)
08/15 Weirdworld #3  -  23,784  (-  9.6%)
09/15 Weirdworld #4  -  22,206  (-  6.6%)
10/15 Weirdworld #5  -  18,996  (-14.5%)

Boo, what an ugly last issue fall. Don’t worry, it’s back with a relaunch post-Secret Wars.

—

 

133- WHERE MONSTERS DWELL LTD 

05/15 Where Monsters Dwell Ltd #1 of 5 – 26,574
06/15 Where Monsters Dwell Ltd #2 of 5 – 20,078  (-24.4%)
07/15 Where Monsters Dwell Ltd #3 of 5 – 19,223  (- 4.3%)
08/15 Where Monsters Dwell Ltd #4 of 5 -  17,555  (- 8.7%)
09/15 ---
10/15 Where Monsters Dwell Ltd #5 of 5 -  16,301  (- 7.1%)

That’s a shy result, but one of the best Secret Wars minis in terms of reader retention.

—

 

150- FIGMENT 2 LTD 

09/15 Figment Ltd #1   - 20,551
10/15 Figment Ltd #2	  - 13,517

There is no figment left in my brain to comment on this one.

—

 

157- GUIDEBOOK CINEMATIC UNIVERSE 

10/15 Guidebook Cinematic U Iron Man – 12,593

Just save your money and go see a nice GOOD movie.

—

 

165- MARVEL SUPER HERO SPECTACULAR 

10/15 Super-Hero Spectacular  - 11,908

This all-age anthology of adventures of « cinematically popular » Marvel characters seems like a lot of fun, scripted by the talented Karl Kesel.

—

 

166- MARVEL UNIVERSE GUARDIANS OF GALAXY 

02/15 MU guardians of Galaxy #1       – 12,047 
03/15 MU guardians of Galaxy #2       –  9,108 (-24.4%)
04/15 MU guardians of galaxy #3 of  4 -  8,406 (- 7.7%)
05/15 MU guardians of Galaxy #4 of  4 -  7,468 (-18.0%)

10/15 MU Guardians of Galaxy  - 11,751

Cutting the last volume into a mini-series seemed like a mystery…until this day. Relaunching the title has done little for the book, but must at least make someone happy somewhere. I see only one reason behind this relaunch, and it’s not a pretty one. I’ll let you try to guess, and I’ll come back to it at the end of the column.

—

 

198- DARK TOWER DRAWING LADY OF SHADOWS LTD

03/15 Dark Tower D3HC Ltd #1 of 5 – 11,107
...
07/15 Dark Tower D3HC Ltd #5 of 5 –  9,027  (- 2.4%)
08/15 ---
09/15 Dark Tower Lady of Shadows Ltd #1 of 5 –  9,918
09/15 Dark Tower Lady of Shadows Ltd #2 of 5 -   8,946  (-  9.8%)

I’m speechless.

—

272- MU ULT SPIDER-MAN WEB WARRIORS ($3)

06/14  MUU Spider-Man #27 – 4,713  ( -1.0%)

10/14  ---
11/14  MUU Spider-Man WW #1  – 6,343  (  -1.0%)
12/14  MUU Spider-Man WW #2  – 5,063  ( -20.2%)
01/15  MUU spider-Man WW #3  -  4,873  (-3,8%)
?
?
?
05/15  MUU spider-man WW #7  - 4,843
06/15  MUU spider-man WW #8  - 7,383 (+52.4%)
?
08/15  MUU spider-man WW #10 – 5,160
09/15  MUU spider-man WW #11 -  5,149  (- 0.2%)
10/15  MUU spider-man WW #12 -  5,081  (- 1.3%)

Eh, I was wrong, Ms Marvel is not the only $3 title at Marvel, the MUU titles are still tagged at that price. That’s a clue.

—

286- MU AVENGERS ASSEMBLE SEASON TWO ($3)

01/15 MU Avengers Assemble Season Two #3 - 4,503
?
?
?
05/15 MU Avengers Assemble Season Two #7 – 4,665
?
?
08/15 MU Avengers Assemble Season Two #10- 4,806
?
10/15 MU Avengers Assemble Season Two #12-  4,639

One of the other $3 surviving titles. So, did you figure out the answer to why MU Guardians of the Galaxy relaunched? It was a victim of what can now only be called the « Daredevil effect »: it relaunched to make a covert price switch from $3 to $4. Such a beautiful world we live in!

---

Thanks for reading until the end! I hope to see you next time. Meanwhile, feel free to comment, express your rage or your love for french sarcasm! I’ll hug everyone, no matter what.