By Todd Allen

Now naturally, Marvel’s real sales expectations for their Marvel NOW! relaunch are “as many copies as we can sell.”  That said, Marvel has issued some ordering guidelines in the form of minimums to be able to order various variant covers.  These minimums are set in relation to how many copies an individual shop ordered of various issues of Avengers Vs. X-Men and AVX VS.  So if we were to assume every store should want to order at least one copy of all the variants and multiple out the sales estimates for the issues in question by the percentages, we ought to get a ballpark number for what Marvel’s looking for, right?Now, not every shop will go all in on the variants, but some will probably also go hog wild on them (besides the overall sales levels, there’s a mix of 1:25 – 1:150 covers that could all cause order bumps).  This is just guideline to what Marvel set as it’s target levels.  I’ve pulled the top level incentive minimums and the estimates from the targeted AVX titles from the Comics Chronicles (exact page noted after the estimate figure).   These November launches come in 4 tiers.  The X-Flagship, Solo Avengers From the Movie, Fantastic Four, Deadpool/Secondary X-Book

ALL-NEW X-MEN #1
Exceed your total orders of AVENGERS VS. X-MEN #10 (JUN120599) placed by its FOC
169,529 (http://www.comichron.com/monthlycomicssales/2012/2012-08.html)

CAPTAIN AMERICA #1 / IRON MAN #1 / INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK #1 / THOR: GOD OF THUNDER #1
Exceed 125% of your total orders of AVX VS #3 (OF 6) (APR120567) placed by its FOC
94,528 (http://www.comichron.com/monthlycomicssales/2012/2012-06.html)
118,160 at 125% levels.

FANTASTIC FOUR #1 / FF #1
Exceed your total orders of AVX VS #4 (OF 6) (MAY120635) placed by its FOC
86,526 (http://www.comichron.com/monthlycomicssales/2012/2012-07.html)

DEADPOOL #1 / X-MEN LEGACY #1
Exceed your total orders of AVX VS #5 (OF 6) (JUN120590) placed by its FOC
78,380 (http://www.comichron.com/monthlycomicssales/2012/2012-08.html)

I’m looking at that sales range and it reminds me a little bit of the New 52’s top 15 at launch.

If that’s how it plays out.

8 COMMENTS

  1. No variants for me, even though I qualify for several of them. They’re just not worth the headaches.

    On the subject of expected sales, well, while there was early interest in Uncanny Avengers, many of my customers are taking a “wait and see” approach. Marvel relaunches have been uneven in the past several years, and they want to hear reviews before even committing to the #1s.

    Indestructible Hulk has got some good buzz still building, and many are still waiting to hear what Marvel is going to replace Amazing Spider-Man with. (I’m betting it’ll be 4 titles, one with a cyborg Spidey, one with a teen Spidey clone, one with a more spider-like Spidey, and one with someone wearing the Civil War-era Spidey armor.)

  2. “I’m looking at that sales range and it reminds me a little bit of the New 52′s top 15 at launch.”

    I’d say it’s pretty likely that’s what they’re shooting for. DC showed it’s possible, Marvel wants (to top) it.

  3. Who are we kidding? They’ll just release Amazing Spiderman as a new #1 issue, then in the future when an anniversary # comes up, they’ll revert the numbering back to that…

  4. Wow, I really can’t imagine that retro X-Men title cracking 150,000, even with all of the variants. Bendis isn’t that big of a draw anymore, and the concept isn’t anywhere near as excited as a near-200,000-seller would have to be.

    Hats off to Marvel if they can pull in those kinds of numbers and maintain something relatively impressive (no more than a 50% drop) on each series for more than a couple months, I’ll be really impressed.

    If it were a NEW X-Men title (by Bendis or by whoever), instead of something aggressively mired in continuity and retro-versions of characters, then I could see it getting closer to 200,000.

  5. Of course everyone’s mileage varies but I think Marvel NOW sounds a lot more interesting that Nu52 ever was but I gotta admit I won;t be following Bendis from Avengers to X-Men. Maybe if the reviews are really really good I’ll pick up an oversized hardcover collecting the first 12 issues in a few years but that’s about it.

  6. If it were a NEW X-Men title (by Bendis or by whoever), instead of something aggressively mired in continuity and retro-versions of characters, then I could see it getting closer to 200,000.

    That’s not what ALL-NEW X-MEN is going to be, judging by the Newsarama interview with Bendis re ANXM. The title will be much closer to “What if Bendis wrote about the original X-Men?”, or the logical consequence of telling a writer for years that he doesn’t have to worry about doing plots if all his readers want are emotional truths.

    SRS

  7. Bendis has proved that he is not great at writing big team books so i am wary of All New X-Men. How long can the team from the past gimmick sustain an ongoing series? It would be interesting if it was an arc or even a mini but i just cant see it working for the long haul.

  8. After being VERY unhappy with Marvel for the last few years, I’m going to give some of their titles a try but I won’t touch anything Bendis writes.

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