300px-Batman_Vol_2_27.jpg

by Dave Carter

Hi everyone! New guy, Dave Carter, here with the first DC sales charts of 2014. I have an introductory write-up down at the end of this column, but since you’re all really here for the sales numbers, commentary and snark, let’s get to it:

On the surface DC seemingly does well to start off the year, with their two premier Batman-starring titles in the #1 & #2 slots, and five of the top ten. But once you start looking a little deeper there is much to cause concern…

Three of DC’s top selling titles, Forever Evil, Superman Unchained, and Sandman Overture, did not ship this month, contributing to the overall sales decline.

It’s not complete doom and gloom; average sales are still up over 5 and 10 years ago. But things have been going slowly downhill since the New 52 introduction and DC haven’t yet found a way to stabilize things over the long term.

Please consider the fine print at the end of the column (it has changed a bit in a few places…) Thanks to Milton Griepp and ICv2.com for the permission to use their figures. An overview of ICv2.com‘s estimates can be found here.


1 – BATMAN
01/2004: Batman #623 — 89,051 [102,319]
01/2009: Batman #685 — 72,652
01/2010: Batman #695 — 63,467
01/2011: Batman #706 — 60,231
01/2012: Batman #5 — 135,145 [142,499]
——————————-
01/2013: Batman #16 — 145,923 (- 3.7%)
02/2013: Batman #17 — 150,684 (+ 3.3%)
03/2013: Batman #18 — 137,893 (- 8.5%)
04/2013: Batman #19 — 132,147 (- 4.2%)
05/2013: Batman #20 — 129,039 (- 2.4%)
06/2013: Batman #21 — 142,088 (+ 21.5%) [156,845]
07/2013: Batman #22 — 132,047 (- 15.8%)
08/2013: Batman #23 — 128,230 (- 2.9%)
09/2013: #23.1: Jkr — 151,351 (+ 18.0%)
09/2013: #23.2: Rdlr — 140,065 (- 7.5%)
09/2013: #23.3: Pngn — 120,026 (- 14.3%)
09/2013: #23.4: Bane — 124,382 (+ 7.6%) [129,156]
10/2013: Batman #24 — 124,652 (- 3.5%)
11/2013: Batman #25 — 125,602 (+ 0.8%)
12/2013: Batman #26 — 119,443 (- 4.9%)
01/2014: Batman #27 — 115,492 (- 1.7%) [117,395]
—————–
6 months: – 11.1%
1 year : – 19.6%
2 years : – 17.6%
5 years : + 61.6%
10 years: + 14.7%
Since #1: – 47.4%

Hey, those numbers look slightly different from what M-OF was giving us…!

Yes, it’s true. While I’m still using the ICv2 figures as a base, in addition I’ll be pulling info from other sources where available (e.g. to get re-order figures that fall below the top 300). Also, I’m calculating percentages based on total sales, not first month sales, as I feel that gives a better indication of the direction in which a title is going.

I’ve also introduced a new statistic: Percentage Change Since Issue #1 tracks how far sales have dropped or risen since the title was given a restart.

With over 117,000 in sales (combining regular and combo-pack editions) Batman places in the #1 position in January. However, these are the lowest numbers since the New 52 relaunch and sales continue to drift down during the “Zero Year” storyline. To speculate, readers may be starting to tire of the drawn-out flashback story and want to see more present-day Batman adventures from Snyder & Capullo.

—–

2 – DETECTIVE COMICS
01/2004: Detective Comics #790 — 35,505
01/2009: Detective Comics #852 — 56,656
01/2010: Detective Comics #861 — 45,937
01/2011: Detective Comics #873 — 38,417
01/2012: Detective Comics #5 — 99,342
—————————————–
01/2013: Detective Comics #16 — 92,300 (- 13.3%)
02/2013: Detective Comics #17 — 85,824 (- 7.0%)
03/2013: Detective Comics #18 — 76,237 (- 11.2%)
04/2013: Detective Comics #19 — 77,922 (+ 2.2%)
05/2013: Detective Comics #20 — 78,252 (+ 0.4%)
06/2013: Detective Comics #21 — 65,200 (- 16.7%)
07/2013: Detective Comics #22 — 63,949 (- 1.9%)
08/2013: Detective Comics #23 — 61,448 (- 3.9%)
09/2013: #23.1: Poison Ivy — 78,522 (+ 27.8%)
09/2013: #23.2: Harley Quinn — 89,636 (+ 14.2%)
09/2013: #23.3: Scarecrow — 73,043 (- 18.5%)
09/2013: #23.4: Man-Bat — 68,110 (- 6.8%)
10/2013: Detective Comics #24 — 59,310 (- 12.9%)
11/2013: Detective Comics #25 — 64,392 (+ 8.6%)
12/2013: Detective Comics #26 — 56,538 (- 12.2%)
01/2014: Detective Comics #27 — 88,702 (+ 59.8%) [90,335]
—————–
6 months: + 41.3%
1 year : – 2.1%
2 years : – 9.1%
5 years : + 59.4%
10 years: + 154.4%
Since #1: – 42.7%

Special anniversary issue (the original Detective Comics #27 was the 1st appearance of Batman 75 years ago), and at $7.99 per issue those are fabulous numbers. One of the stories contained within kicks off the “Gothtopia” crossover, and there may be enough people sampling the first installment to lead to an increase on the ancillary titles. But if past trends hold next month will see a decline right back to previous sales levels; we’ll just have to wait and see…

—–
4 – JUSTICE LEAGUE
01/2004: JLA #92 — 58,008
01/2009: JL of America #29 — 72,116
01/2010: JL of America #41 — 62,262
01/2011: JL of America #53 — 47,093
01/2012: Justice League #5 — 144,670 [148,117]
—————————————
01/2013: Justice League #16 — 117,719 (+ 2.3%)
02/2013: Justice League #17 — 105,304 (- 10.6%)
03/2013: Justice League #18 — 102,494 (- 2.7%)
04/2013: Justice League #19 — 100,943 (- 1.5%)
05/2013: Justice League #20 — 97,676 (- 3.2%)
06/2013: Justice League #21 — 94,054 (- 3.7%)
07/2013: Justice League #22 — 110,194 (+ 17.2%) [124,026]
08/2013: Justice League #23 — 103,936 (- 6.4%)
09/2013: #23.1: Darkseid — 111,142 (+ 6.9%)
09/2013: #23.2: Lobo — 79,244 (- 28.7%)
09/2013: #23.3: Dial E — 64,119 (- 14.4%) [67,855]
09/2013: #23.4: Secret Socty — 78,014 (+ 23.1%) [83,500]
10/2013: Justice League #24 — 98,491 (+ 18.0%)
12/2013: Justice League #25 — 94,004 (- 4.6%)
12/2013: Justice League #26 — 90,592 (- 3.6%)
01/2014: Justice League #27 — 84,674 (- 6.5%)
—————–
6 months: – 31.7%
1 year : – 28.1%
2 years : – 42.8%
5 years : + 17.4%
10 years: + 46.0%
Since #1: – 68.8%

Those are worrying drops for direct tie-ins to DC’s current “Forever Evil” event. Are readers tiring of the story (that really started back in July with the “Trinity War” crossover)? Say what you will about Marvel going twice-monthly with their latest event series, but at least they were able to move through them more quickly.

—–
8 – HARLEY QUINN
11/2013: Harley Quinn #0 — 114,212 [121,172]
12/2013: Harley Quinn #1 — 92,153 (- 21.3%) [95,318]
01/2014: Harley Quinn #2 — 66,363 (- 30.4%)
—————–
Since #0: – 45.2%

A worrying drop for what is essentially a third issue; but let’s face it, this title has been way overachieving since its New 52 relaunch. I don’t think anyone could have seen this coming based on either the character’s previous (2000-2003) series or the sales of her previous New 52 haunt (Suicide Squad), even with boosts from incentive covers and whatnot. It looks like sales may eventually settle down in the 50K range, which would be very good however you look at it.

—–
10 – JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA
01/2004: JLA #92 — 58,008
01/2009: JL of America #29 — 72,116
01/2010: JL of America #41 — 62,262
01/2011: JL of America #53 — 47,093
—————————————
02/2013: JL of America #1 — 307,734 [326,959]
03/2013: JL of America #2 — 91,734 (-71.9%)
04/2013: —
05/2013: JL of America #3 — 83,283 (- 9.2%)
05/2013: JL of America #4 — 77,856 (- 6.5%)
06/2013: JL of America #5 — 71,793 (- 7.8%)
07/2013: JL of America #6 — 86,192 (+32.2%) [94,923]
08/2013: JL of America #7 — 93,777 (- 1.2%)
09/2013: #7.1: Deadshot — 66,815 (-28.8%)
09/2013: #7.2: Killer Frost — 62,706 (- 6.2%)
09/2013: #7.3: Shadow Thief — 60,397 (- 3.7%)
09/2013: #7.4: Black Adam — 74,875 (+24.0%)
10/2013: JL of America #8 — 77,305 (+ 3.2%)
11/2013: JL of America #9 — 71,008 (- 8.1%)
12/2013: JL of America #10 — 65,678 (- 7.5%)
01/2014: JL of America #11 — 65,365 (- 0.5%)
—————–
6 months: – 30.3%
5 years : – 9.4%
10 years: + 12.7%
Since #1: – 80.0%

A tiny drop from the previous month, which is encouraging. This title has pretty much been in perpetual crossover mode since it launched, as it will be until its final issue (#14), after which it will be relaunched as the Canada-based Justice League United with Jeff Lemire at the helm. Maybe then it will get a chance to stabilize on its own merits…

(After this point in the chart, all further titles are being outsold by Image’s The Walking Dead…)

—–
16 – BATMAN/SUPERMAN
01/2004: —
01/2009: —
01/2010: Superman/Batman #68 — 33,869
01/2011: Superman/Batman #80 — 30,363
—————————————
06/2013: Batman/Superman #1 — 143,457 [151,054]
07/2013: Batman/Superman #2 — 92,558 (-33.1%) [101,104]
08/2013: Batman/Superman #3 — 87,337 (-13.6%)
09/2013: #3.1: Doomsday — 92,290 (+10.4%) [96,453]
10/2013: Batman/Superman #4 — 82,990 (-14.0%)
11/2013: Batman/Superman #5 — 77,198 (- 7.0%)
12/2013: Batman/Superman #6 — 68,857 (-10.8%)
01/2014: Batman/Superman #7 — 61,074 (-11.3%)
—————–
6 months: – 39.6%
5 years : n.a.
10 years: n.a.
Since #1: – 59.6%

Those drops are not encouraging, especially for a comic teaming up DC’s two biggest characters. At this point the decreases should be decelerating, not accelerating. The title is heading into a crossover with the much-lower-selling Worlds’ Finest, which may be a temporary boost for WF but if history is any guide will be a further drag on B/S’s sales.

(After this point in the chart, all further titles are being outsold by Image’s Saga…)

—–
26 – GREEN LANTERN
01/2004: Green Lantern #173 — 30,099
01/2009: Green Lantern #37 — 65,556 [71,331]
01/2010: Green Lantern #50 — 106,444
01/2011: —
01/2012: Green Lantern #5 — 97,878
————————————–
01/2013: Green Lantern #16 — 72,884 (- 2.0%)
02/2013: Green Lantern #17 — 71,060 (- 2.5%)
03/2013: Green Lantern #18 — 69,801 (- 1.8%)
04/2013: Green Lantern #19 — 71,018 (+ 1.7%)
05/2013: Green Lantern #20 — 67,414 (- 5.1%)
06/2013: Green Lantern #21 — 71,870 (+ 6.6%)
07/2013: Green Lantern #22 — 62,415 (-13.2%)
08/2013: Green Lantern #23 — 59,176 (- 5.2%)
09/2013: #23.1: Relic — 66,495 (+12.4%)
09/2013: #23.2: Mongul — 63,731 (- 4.2%)
09/2013: #23.3: Black Hand — 62,753 (- 1.5%)
09/2013: #23.4: Sinestro — 70,893 (+13.0%)
10/2013: Green Lantern #24 — 57,109 (-19.4%)
11/2013: Green Lantern #25 — 54,322 (- 5.2%)
12/2013: Green Lantern #26 — 51,420 (- 5.0%)
01/2013: Green Lantern #27 — 48,831 (- 5.0%)
—————–
6 months: – 21.8%
1 year : – 33.0%
2 years : – 50.1%
5 years : – 31.5%
10 years: + 62.2%
Since #1: – 71.1%

Still losing 5% per month; if this doesn’t slow down soon there are going to be problems up ahead. As this book slides back down to the mid-list, one has to question if the Green Lantern franchise can really support its current size of five titles without Geoff Johns at the helm of the main GL book.

—–
28 – SUPERMAN/WONDER WOMAN
10/2013: Superman/Wonder Woman #1 — 94,859
11/2013: Superman/Wonder Woman #2 — 60,185 (-36.6%)
12/2013: Superman/Wonder Woman #3 — 51,357 (-14.7%)
01/2014: Superman/Wonder Woman #4 — 47,350 (- 7.8%)
—————–
Since #1: – 50.1%

The declines are slowing, but it looks like this will probably land at around 40K in a few months. A solid book starring two of DC’s biggest characters probably should be doing better than that. On the other hand, that would be better than the main Superman and Wonder Woman books are doing separately at the moment.

(After this point in the chart, all further titles are outsold by the first issue of Dark Horse’s Serenity: Leaves on the wind…)

—–
31 – BATMAN AND…
01/2010: Batman and Robin #7 — 87.780
01/2011: Batman and Robin #19 — 61,785
01/2012: Batman and Robin #5 — 72,786
—————————————-
01/2013: Batman and Robin #16 — 81,494 (- 9.3%)
02/2013: Batman and Robin #17 — 60,988 (-25.2%)
03/2013: Batman and Robin #18 — 69,614 (+25.6%) [76,575]
04/2013: and Red Robin #19 — 89,182 (+16.5%)
05/2013: and Red Hood #20 — 65,222 (-26.9%)
06/2013: and Batgirl #21 — 60,601 (- 7.1%)
07/2013: and Catwoman #22 — 57,808 (- 4.6%)
08/2013: and Nightwing #23 — 55,707 (- 3.6%)
09/2013: #23.1: Two-Face — 77,073 (+38.4%)
09/2013: #23.2: Court of Owls — 75,546 (- 2.0%)
09/2013: #23.3: Ra’s al Ghul — 73,746 (- 2.4%)
09/2013: #23.4: Killer Croc — 69,428 (- 5.9%)
10/2013: and Two-Face #24 — 52,060 (-25.0%)
11/2013: and Two-Face #25 — 53,374 (+ 2.5%)
12/2013: and Two-Face #26 — 46,611 (-12.7%)
01/2014: and Two-Face #27 — 45,462 (- 2.5%)
—————-
6 months: – 21.4%
1 year : – 44.2%
2 years : – 37.5%
Since #1: – 60.8%

Sales are now below where the pre-New 52 version of this title ended (52,704). It’s not in any danger of being cancelled any time soon, but how long will it be allowed to continue as essentially a Brave and the Bold Batman team-up title?

—–
32 – DAMIAN: SON OF BATMAN
10/2013: Son of Batman #1 of 4 — 63,453
11/2013: Son of Batman #2 of 4 — 51,840 (-18.3%)
12/2013: Son of Batman #3 of 4 — 47,389 (- 8.6%)
01/2014: Son of Batman #4 of 4 — 45,247 (- 4.5%)
—————–
Since #1: – 28.7%

Mini-series in the over-extended Batman line ends with decent numbers for an out-of-continuity story.

Six of DC’s top ten series this month have ‘Batman’ in the title.

—–
34 – JUSTICE LEAGUE 3000
12/2013: Justice League 3K #1 — 57,726
01/2014: Justice League 3K #2 — 41,423 (-28.2%)
—————–
Since #1: – 28.2%

DC might have been hoping for better sales from a Justice League title, though so far sales are way far ahead of where their previous 31st Century-based comic (LoSH) ended. (They may also be wondering if it would have sold better with original artist Kevin Maguire on art duties…)

—–
35 – BATMAN AND ROBIN ANNUAL
01/2013: Batman and Robin Ann #1 — 52,244
01/2014: Batman and Robin Ann #2 — 40,805 (-21.9%)
—————–
Since #1: – 21.9%

January was a five Wednesday month, so even though DC used the first Wednesday to ship their week 4 books from December (due to the Holidays falling on Wednesdays) they also shipped a slate of annuals in the final week of January as well.

We’ve now reached the mid-list portion of DC’s sales: Those books that mostly feature their long time characters that tend to sell in the 30-40K range (barring any events, crossovers, reboots, creative team changes, etc.) In a healthier market, DC’s mid-list would be selling 10-20K better. OTOH, ten years ago their mid-list was hitting 25-35K, so things aren’t as bad as they’ve been in the past.

—–
38 – NIGHTWING
01/2004: Nightwing #89 — 28,835
01/2009: Nightwing #152 — 35,637
01/2012: Nightwing #5 — 56,040
———————————
01/2013: Nightwing #16 — 69,643 (- 6.4%)
02/2013: Nightwing #17 — 62,107 (-10.8%)
03/2013: Nightwing #18 — 48,223 (-22.4%) [53,978]
04/2013: Nightwing #19 — 46,978 (- 2.6%)
05/2013: Nightwing #20 — 45,038 (- 4.1%)
06/2013: Nightwing #21 — 43,353 (- 3.7%)
07/2013: Nightwing #22 — 42,073 (- 3.0%)
08/2013: Nightwing #23 — 40,522 (- 3.7%)
09/2013: —
10/2013: Nightwing #24 — 39,853 (- 1.7%)
11/2013: Nightwing #25 — 44,039 (+10.5%)
12/2013: Nightwing #26 — 38,452 (-12.7%)
01/2014: Nightwing #27 — 38,325 (- 0.3%)
—————–
6 months: – 8.9%
1 year : – 45.0%
2 years : – 31.6%
5 years : + 7.5%
10 years: + 32.9%
Since #1: – 56.2%

One of several Batman Family titles being cancelled in a couple of months to make room for the new Batman Eternal weekly series.

The ten year comparison is from the issue when the previous iteration of this series was at it nadir sales-wise. Through out its existence Nightwing has always been a solid mid-list title. Though its sales are currently a few thousand below those of Batman and…, perhaps Nightwing should have been spared above those of a title that is currently a bit rudderless?

—–
40 – FOREVER EVIL: ARKHAM WAR
10/2013: Arkham War #1 of 6 — 52,004
11/2013: Arkham War #2 of 6 — 44,133 (-15.1%)
12/2013: Arkham War #3 of 6 — 39,919 (- 9.5%)
01/2014: Arkham War #4 of 6 — 37,973 (- 4.9%)
—————–
Since #1: – 27.0%

It should be no surprise that the Batman-related title is the “Forever Evil” crossover event spin-off mini-series with the best sales of the bunch.

Also, the fact that I’m using the phrase ‘crossover event spin-off mini-series’ in a non-ironic, non-satiric context speaks volumes about the current state of the comics direct market…

—–
41 – BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT
01/2011: —
01/2012: Dark Knight #5 — 76,824
———————————–
01/2013: Dark Knight #16 — 58,258 (- 3.8%)
02/2013: Dark Knight #17 — 55,990 (- 3.9%)
03/2013: Dark Knight #18 — 54,269 (- 3.1%)
04/2013: Dark Knight #19 — 52,644 (- 3.0%)
05/2013: Dark Knight #20 — 50,423 (- 4.2%)
06/2013: Dark Knight #21 — 48,612 (- 3.6%)
07/2013: Dark Knight #22 — 47,096 (- 3.1%)
08/2013: Dark Knight #23 — 45,584 (- 3.2%)
09/2013: #23.1: Vtrlqust — 57,363 (+ 25.8%)
09/2013: #23.2: MrFreeze — 57,349 (- 0.0%)
09/2013: #23.3: Clayface — 55,084 (- 4.0%)
09/2013: #23.4: JkrsDgtr — 64,952 (+ 56.2%) [86,016]
10/2013: Dark Knight #24 — 43,382 (- 49.6%)
11/2013: Dark Knight #25 — 41,634 (- 4.0%)
12/2013: Dark Knight #26 — 39,980 (- 4.0%)
01/2014: Dark Knight #27 — 37,898 (- 5.2%)
—————–
6 months: – 19.5%
1 year : – 34.9%
2 years : – 50.7%
Since #1: – 70.6%

Another title being cancelled to make way for Batman Eternal. And given its status as the lowest-selling DCU-based Batman-starring title, it was probably as easy call to make.

—–
42 – BATGIRL
01/2004: Batgirl #48 — 25,718
01/2010: Batgirl #6 — 30,403
01/2011: Batgirl #17 — 25,189
01/2012: Batgirl #5 — 57,030
———————————-
01/2013: Batgirl #16 — 72,470 (- 3.8%)
02/2013: Batgirl #17 — 65,751 (- 9.6%)
03/2013: Batgirl #18 — 51,677 (- 21.4%)
04/2013: Batgirl #19 — 45,939 (- 11.1%)
05/2013: Batgirl #20 — 42,600 (- 7.3%)
06/2013: Batgirl #21 — 40,252 (- 5.5%)
07/2013: Batgirl #22 — 39,218 (- 2.6%)
08/2013: Batgirl #23 — 37,707 (- 3.9%)
09/2013: —
10/2013: Batgirl #24 — 36,666 (- 2.8%)
11/2013: Batgirl #25 — 40,752 (+ 11.1%)
12/2013: Batgirl #26 — 34,885 (- 14.4%)
01/2013: Batgirl #27 — 37,226 (+ 6.7%)
—————–
6 months: – 5.1%
1 year : – 48.6%
2 years : – 34.7%
5 years : n.a.
10 years: + 44.7%
Since #1: – 65.2%

A tie-in with “Gothtopia” sees an increase of around 2500 copies, or approx. one extra copy per store served by Diamond in North America. Not exactly the surge one hopes for in a Bat-crossover, but maybe next month will see some reorder activity?

—–
46 – AQUAMAN
01/2004: Aquaman #14 — 21,675
01/2012: Aquaman #5 — 63,450
——————————
01/2013: Aquaman #16 — 62,153 (-18.2%)
02/2013: Aquaman #17 — 58,578 (- 5.8%)
03/2013: Aquaman #18 — 53,337 (- 8.9%)
04/2013: —
05/2013: Aquaman #19 — 53,415 (+ 0.1%)
05/2013: Aquaman #20 — 49,697 (- 7.0%)
06/2013: Aquaman #21 — 46,832 (- 5.8%)
07/2013: Aquaman #22 — 45,653 (- 2.5%)
08/2013: Aquaman #23 — 44,140 (- 3.3%)
09/2013: #23.1: BMta — 58,207 (+31.9%)
09/2013: #23.2: OMtr — 53,679 (- 7.8%)
10/2013: Aquaman #24 — 42,248 (-21.3%)
11/2013: Aquaman #25 — 41,264 (- 2.3%)
12/2013: Aquaman #26 — 38,841 (- 5.9%)
01/2013: Aquaman #27 — 36,610 (- 5.7%)
—————–
6 months: – 19.8%
1 year : – 41.1%
2 years : – 42.3%
10 years: + 68.9%
Since #1: – 66.3%

Not exactly a warm welcome for the new creative team, but retailers aren’t running away in droves yet either. If the numbers settle down soon it will still be at a level that is historically good for an Aquaman comic.

A spin-off series has been announced to start in April though, which given these numbers may not be the best idea…

—–
47 – EARTH 2
01/2013: Earth 2 #8 — 50,860 (- 6.5%)
02/2013: Earth 2 #9 — 48,208 (- 5.2%)
03/2013: Earth 2 #10 — 46,213 (- 4.1%)
04/2013: Earth 2 #11 — 45,468 (- 1.6%)
05/2013: Earth 2 #12 — 43,983 (- 3.3%)
06/2013: Earth 2 #13 — 42,916 (- 2.4%)
07/2013: Earth 2 #14 — 42,022 (- 2.1%)
08/2013: Earth 2 #15 — 40,845 (- 2.8%)
09/2013: #15.1: Desd — 51,850 (+26.9%)
09/2013: #15.2: SlGr — 52,369 (+ 1.0%)
10/2013: Earth 2 #16 — 38,389 (-26.7%)
11/2013: Earth 2 #17 — 39,846 (+ 3.8%)
12/2013: Earth 2 #18 — 37,130 (- 6.8%)
01/2014: Earth 2 #19 — 36,103 (- 2.8%)
—————-
6 months: – 14.1%
1 year : – 29.0%
Since #1: – 64.8%

Still finding its level under the new writer.

—–
48 – ACTION COMICS
01/2004: Action Comics #811 — 30,920
01/2009: Action Comics #873 — 51,940
01/2010: Action Comics #885 — 30,678
01/2011: Action Comics #897 — 32,134
01/2012: Action Comics #5 — 109,350
————————————–
01/2013: Action Comics #16 — 58,645 (- 4.3%)
02/2013: Action Comics #17 — 57,189 (- 2.5%)
03/2013: Action Comics #18 — 61,879 (+ 8.2%)
04/2013: Action Comics #19 — 52,007 (- 16.0%)
05/2013: Action Comics #20 — 48,324 (- 7.1%)
06/2013: Action Comics #21 — 46,475 (- 3.8%)
07/2013: Action Comics #22 — 44,861 (- 3.5%)
08/2013: Action Comics #23 — 42,603 (- 5.0%)
09/2013: #23.1: Cyborg Smn — 69,796 (+ 63.8%)
09/2013: #23.2: Zod — 69,356 (- 0.6%)
09/2013: #23.3: Lex Luthor — 67,621 (- 2.5%)
09/2013: #23.4: Metallo — 51,807 (- 23.4%)
10/2013: Action Comics #24 — 39,620 (- 23.5%)
11/2013: Action Comics #25 — 46,550 (+ 17.5%)
12/2013: Action Comics #26 — 37,489 (- 19.5%)
01/2014: Action Comics #27 — 36,042 (- 3.9%)
—————–
6 months: – 19.7%
1 year : – 38.5%
2 years : – 67.0%
5 years : – 30.6%
10 years: + 16.6%
Since #1: – 82.1%

The new creative team of Greg Pak & Aaron Kuder are doing rather good work on this title. Alas retailers and readers have yet to figure this out.

—–
49 – SUPERMAN
01/2004: Superman #201 — 33,429
01/2009: Superman #682 — 55,435
01/2010: Superman #694 — 34,430
01/2011: Superman #705 — 46,261
01/2012: Superman #3 — 86,386
———————————
01/2013: Superman #16 — 50,621 (- 1.2%)
02/2013: —
03/2013: Superman #17 — 49,666 (- 1.9%)
03/2013: Superman #18 — 48,236 (- 2.9%)
04/2013: Superman #19 — 48,598 (+ 0.8%)
05/2013: Superman #20 — 45,458 (- 6.5%)
06/2013: Superman #21 — 44,285 (- 2.6%)
07/2013: Superman #22 — 42,961 (- 3.0%)
08/2013: Superman #23 — 42,155 (- 1.9%)
09/2013: #23.1: Bzarro — 59,589 (+ 41.4%)
09/2013: #23.2: Brniac — 58,197 (- 2.3%)
09/2013: #23.3: H’el — 55,069 (- 5.4%)
09/2013: #23.4: Prsite — 59,811 (+ 8.6%)
10/2013: Superman #24 — 39,580 (- 33.8%)
11/2013: Superman #25 — 39,295 (- 0.7%)
12/2013: Superman #26 — 36,877 (- 6.2%)
01/2014: Superman #27 — 35,266 (- 4.4%)
—————–
6 months: – 17.9%
1 year : – 30.3%
2 years : – 59.2%
5 years : – 36.4%
10 years: + 5.5%
Since #1: – 76.5%

Launching three new Superman titles to coincide with last summer’s Man of Steel movie may have seemed like a worthwhile bet, but it didn’t exactly pay off, as the new titles simply eroded interest in Superman and Action.

DC recently announced that the all-star creative team of Geoff Johns, John Romita, Jr. & Klaus Jansen will be taking over the main Superman title sometime in 2014, which will surely give a huge bump in sales. It will likely be the first time in the New 52 era that a creative team change re-energizes a title.

—–
50 – FLASH
01/2004: Flash #206 — 33,367
01/2010: —
01/2011: —
01/2012: Flash #5 — 71,611
———————————–
01/2013: Flash #16 — 44,093 (- 4.0%)
02/2013: Flash #17 — 42,936 (- 2.6%)
03/2013: Flash #18 — 41,659 (- 3.0%)
04/2013: Flash #19 — 42,079 (+ 1.0%)
05/2013: Flash #20 — 39,667 (- 5.7%)
06/2013: Flash #21 — 38,848 (- 2.1%)
07/2013: Flash #22 — 38,993 (+ 0.4%)
08/2013: Flash #23 — 38,860 (- 0.3%)
09/2013: #23.1: Grodd — 52,901 (+ 36.1%)
09/2013: #23.2: RvrsFlsh — 53,359 (+ 0.9%)
09/2013: #23.3: Rogues — 51,072 (- 4.3%)
10/2013: Flash #24 — 38,190 (- 25.2%)
11/2013: Flash #25 — 41,838 (+ 9.6%)
12/2013: Flash #26 — 36,601 (- 12.5%)
01/2014: Flash #27 — 34,902 (- 4.6%)
—————–
6 months: – 10.5%
1 year : – 20.8%
2 years : – 51.3%
10 years: + 4.6%
Since #1: – 76.4%

Marking time until the new creative team debuts in issue #30.

—–
47 – JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK
01/2012: Justice League Dark #3 — 51,674
——————————————-
01/2013: Justice League Dark #16 — 26,902 (- 2.9%)
02/2013: Justice League Dark #17 — 25,841 (- 3.9%)
03/2013: Justice League Dark #18 — 25,664 (- 0.7%)
04/2013: Justice League Dark #19 — 25,407 (- 1.0%)
05/2013: Justice League Dark #20 — 24,693 (- 2.8%)
06/2013: Justice League Dark #21 — 24,663 (- 0.1%)
07/2013: Justice League Dark #22 — 68,294 (+225.6%) [80,302]
08/2013: Justice League Dark #23 — 71,157 (+ 4.2%) [75,782]
09/2013: #23.1: Creeper — 46,326 (- 34.9%)
09/2013: #23.2: Eclipso — 45,138 (- 2.6%)
10/2013: Justice League Dark #24 — 45,401 (+ 0.6%)
11/2013: Justice League Dark #25 — 38,760 (- 14.6%)
12/2013: Justice League Dark #26 — 36,353 (- 6.2%)
01/2014: Justice League Dark #27 — 32,576 (- 10.4%)
—————–
6 months: – 59.4%
1 year : + 21.1%
2 years : – 37.0%
Since #1: – 60.3%

Now in a crossover-within-a-crossover, and it would appear that many readers have decided to give up the book rather than follow the story into other titles that they have no interest in reading. One would assume that this is not the reaction that DC had been hoping for. But the numbers are still above pre-crossover levels.

—–
56 – EARTH 2 ANNUAL
05/2013: Earth 2 Ann #1 — 41,325
01/2014: Earth 2 Ann #2 — 32,231 (-22.0%)
—————–
Since #1: – 22.0%

About 10% lower than the main title. But considering this was the secret origin of the new Earth 2 Batman, maybe they could have been a bit higher?

—–
59 – WONDER WOMAN
01/2004: Wonder Woman #200 — 38,007
01/2009: Wonder Woman #28 — 32,622
01/2010: Wonder Woman #40 — 25,156
01/2011: Wonder Woman #606 — 33,601
01/2012: Wonder Woman #5 — 57,626
————————————-
01/2013: Wonder Woman #16 — 40,105 (- 3.7%)
02/2013: Wonder Woman #17 — 39,110 (- 2.5%)
03/2013: Wonder Woman #18 — 38,406 (- 1.8%)
04/2013: Wonder Woman #19 — 46,492 (+ 21.1%)
05/2013: Wonder Woman #20 — 37,132 (- 20.1%)
06/2013: Wonder Woman #21 — 35,999 (- 3.1%)
07/2013: Wonder Woman #22 — 35,539 (- 1.3%)
08/2013: Wonder Woman #23 — 34,747 (- 2.2%)
09/2013: #23.1: Cheetah — 49,297 (+ 41.9%)
09/2013: #23.2: First Born — 44,154 (- 10.4%)
10/2013: Wonder Woman #24 — 34,308 (- 22.3%)
11/2013: Wonder Woman #25 — 33,532 (- 2.3%)
12/2013: Wonder Woman #26 — 32,773 (- 2.3%)
01/2014: Wonder Woman #27 — 32,035 (- 2.3%)
—————–
6 months: – 9.9%
1 year : – 20.1%
2 years : – 44.4%
5 years : – 1.8%
10 years: – 15.7%
Since #1: – 66.6%

Those are oddly consistent percentage drops over the last three months! 32K is a decent figure historically for a Wonder Woman book. Azzarello and company are off doing their own thing in the corner of the DCU, but if sales start to slide below 30K someone might decide to make a change…

(After this point in the chart, all further titles are outsold by Dark Horse’s main Star Wars book…)

—–
62 – GREEN LANTERN CORPS
01/2009: Green Lantern Corps #30 — 43,600
01/2010: Green Lantern Corps #42 — 80,391
01/2011: Green Lantern Corps #54 — 57,448
01/2012: Green Lantern Corps #3 — 65,393
——————————————
01/2013: Green Lantern Corps #16 — 45,387 (- 5.1%)
02/2013: Green Lantern Corps #17 — 44,497 (- 2.0%)
03/2013: Green Lantern Corps #18 — 44,215 (- 0.6%)
04/2013: Green Lantern Corps #19 — 43,903 (- 0.8%)
05/2013: Green Lantern Corps #20 — 43,026 (- 2.0%)
06/2013: Green Lantern Corps #21 — 45,423 (+ 5.6%)
07/2013: Green Lantern Corps #22 — 42,194 (- 7.1%)
08/2013: Green Lantern Corps #23 — 36,229 (-14.1%)
09/2013: —
10/2013: Green Lantern Corps #24 — 37,312 (+ 3.0%)
11/2013: Green Lantern Corps #25 — 38,369 (+ 2.8%)
12/2013: Green Lantern Corps #26 — 32,797 (-14.5%)
01/2014: Green Lantern Corps #27 — 31,447 (- 4.1%)
—————-
6 months: – 25.5%
1 year : – 30.7%
2 years : – 51.9%
5 years : – 27.9%
Since #1: – 66.8%

Continues to slide down the chart. Remember, this is the second-best selling book in the Green Lantern franchise; why is the franchise trying to support five different titles?

Oh wait, they’re adding a sixth title to the GL family in April?!

This ends the DCU mid-list. The DCU titles beyond this point should be considered to be ‘in trouble.’ That doesn’t necessarily mean that cancellation is on the immediate horizon, but *something* is going to have to change, whether it be a change in creative teams or a crossover or a gimmick, to keep them away from the cancellation bear…

—–
73 – BATMAN BLACK & WHITE
09/2013: Batman B&W #1 of 6 — 65,018
10/2013: Batman B&W #2 of 6 — 37,523 (-42.3%)
11/2013: Batman B&W #3 of 6 — 33,370 (-11.6%)
12/2013: Batman B&W #4 of 6 — 30,577 (- 8.4%)
01/2014: Batman B&W #5 of 6 — 28,623 (- 6.4%)
—————–
Since #1: – 56.0%

The first non-DCU title on the chart this month—no surprise that it’s got Batman in the title! It’s also a $4.99 book, so the $$$ value is a bit higher than its $2.99 neighbors.

—–
74 – GREEN LANTERN: NEW GUARDIANS
01/2012: New Guardians #5 — 59,774
—————————————
01/2013: New Guardians #16 — 43,770 (- 3.0%)
02/2013: New Guardians #17 — 42,285 (- 3.4%)
03/2013: New Guardians #18 — 42,028 (- 0.6%)
04/2013: New Guardians #19 — 41,481 (- 1.3%)
05/2013: New Guardians #20 — 40,569 (- 2.2%)
06/2013: New Guardians #21 — 42,290 (+ 4.2%)
07/2013: New Guardians #22 — 40,788 (- 3.6%)
08/2013: New Guardians #23 — 34,473 (-15.5%)
09/2013: —
10/2013: New Guardians #24 — 35,417 (+ 2.7%)
11/2013: New Guardians #25 — 32,069 (- 9.5%)
12/2013: New Guardians #26 — 30,489 (- 4.9%)
01/2014: New Guardians #27 — 28,346 (- 7.0%)
—————-
6 months: – 30.5%
1 year : – 35.2%
2 years : – 46.4%
Since #1: – 52.6%

Not good numbers for a Green Lantern title. Is this still a book for showcasing Kyle Rayner? These numbers are now worse than anything that the Rayner-featuring pre-New 52 Green Lantern ever pulled.

—–
79 – TEEN TITANS
01/2004: Teen Titans #7 — 68,142 [69,428]
01/2009: Teen Titans #67 — 35,877
01/2010: Teen Titans #79 — 27,790
01/2011: Teen Titans #91 — 25,443
01/2012: Teen Titans #5 — 54,606
———————————–
01/2013: Teen Titans #16 — 63,726 (- 7.3%)
02/2013: Teen Titans #17 — 39,186 (- 38.5%)
03/2013: Teen Titans #18 — 42,055 (+ 7.3%)
04/2013: Teen Titans #19 — 39,532 (- 6.0%)
05/2013: Teen Titans #20 — 36,391 (- 8.0%)
06/2013: Teen Titans #21 — 34,710 (- 4.6%)
07/2013: Teen Titans #22 — 33,062 (- 4.8%)
08/2013: Teen Titans #23 — 31,742 (- 4.0%)
09/2013: #23.1: Trigon — 48,974 (+ 54.3%)
09/2013: #23.2: Dthstroke — 49,920 (+ 1.9%)
10/2013: Teen Titans #24 — 34,536 (- 30.8%)
11/2013: Teen Titans #25 — 32,395 (- 6.2%)
12/2013: Teen Titans #26 — 29,149 (- 10.0%)
01/2014: Teen Titans #27 — 27,558 (- 5.5%)
—————–
6 months: – 16.6%
1 year : – 56.8%
2 years : – 49.5%
5 years : – 23.2%
10 years: – 60.3%
Since #1: – 69.1%

Continuing its slide towards its cancellation with issue #30. A relaunch is likely at some point, but it might be a good idea to let the property lie fallow for a couple of years.

(After this point in the chart, all further titles are outsold by IDW’s My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic…)

—–
83 – GREEN LANTERN CORPS ANNUAL
01/2013: Green Lantern Corps Ann #1 — 41,836
01/2014: Green Lantern Corps Ann #2 — 26,880 (-35.7%)
—————–
Since #1: – 35.7%

This might has sold an additional 5K copies if they’d simply called it Green Lantern Special #1 instead of Green Lantern Corps Annual #2.

—–
85 – FOREVER EVIL: ROGUES’ REBELLION
10/2013: Rogues’ Rebellion #1 of 6 — 36,545
11/2013: Rogues’ Rebellion #2 of 6 — 30,317 (-17.0%)
12/2013: Rogues’ Rebellion #3 of 6 — 27,363 (- 9.7%)
01/2014: Rogues’ Rebellion #4 of 6 — 25,657 (- 6.2%)
—————–
Since #1: – 29.8%

The Flash-related Forever Evil crossover event spin-off mini-series, with middling numbers in line with what one would expect.

—–
87 – CATWOMAN
01/2004: Catwoman #27 — 25,023 [26,175]
01/2010: Catwoman #83 — 39,239
01/2012: Catwoman #5 — 44,034
——————————-
01/2013: Catwoman #16 — 33,915 (- 3.2%)
02/2013: Catwoman #17 — 30,194 (-11.0%)
03/2013: Catwoman #18 — 33,220 (+10.0%)
04/2013: Catwoman #19 — 28,058 (-15.5%)
05/2013: Catwoman #20 — 26,886 (- 4.2%)
06/2013: Catwoman #21 — 25,611 (- 4.7%)
07/2013: Catwoman #22 — 24,737 (- 3.4%)
08/2013: Catwoman #23 — 24,262 (- 1.9%) [38,290]
09/2013: —
10/2013: Catwoman #24 — 35,134 (+44.8%)
11/2013: Catwoman #25 — 29,471 (-16.1%)
12/2013: Catwoman #26 — 26,482 (-10.1%)
01/2014: Catwoman #27 — 24,956 (- 5.8%)
—————–
6 months: + 0.1%
1 year : – 26.4%
2 years : – 43.3%
10 years: – 4.7%
Since #1: – 67.0%

Being part of the “Gothtopia” crossover didn’t seem to help things much.

—-
89 – RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS
01/2012: Red Hood #5 — 42,560
——————————-
01/2013: Red Hood #16 — 59,621 (- 7.0%)
02/2013: Red Hood #17 — 53,076 (-11.0%)
03/2013: Red Hood #18 — 37,731 (-28.9%) [42,901]
04/2013: Red Hood #19 — 36,630 (- 2.9%)
05/2013: Red Hood #20 — 35,542 (- 3.0%)
06/2013: Red Hood #21 — 32,416 (- 8.8%)
07/2013: Red Hood #22 — 30,534 (- 5.8%)
08/2013: Red Hood #23 — 28,821 (- 5.6%)
09/2013: —
10/2013: Red Hood #24 — 27,128 (- 5.9%)
11/2013: Red Hood #25 — 30,632 (+12.9%)
12/2013: Red Hood #26 — 25,382 (-17.1%)
01/2014: Red Hood #27 — 24,813 ( -2.2%)
—————-
6 months: – 18.7%
1 year : – 58.4%
2 years : – 41.7%
Since #1: – 64.7%

Still falling a bit. Not in the cancellation zone… yet. A change of writers in coming up in issue #29…

—–
90 – INJUSTICE: YEAR TWO (Digital-First)
01/2013: Injustice #1 — 20,733 [35,438]
02/2013: Injustice #2 — 17,068 (-17.7%) [29,096]
03/2013: Injustice #3 — 18,608 (+ 9.0%) [24,469]
04/2013: Injustice #4 — 21,669 (+16.5%) [26,739]
05/2013: Injustice #5 — 25,215 (+16.4%)
06/2013: Injustice #6 — 26,011 (+ 3.2%)
07/2013: Injustice #7 — 25,731 (- 1.1%)
08/2013: Injustice #8 — 25,223 (- 2.0%)
09/2013: Injustice #9 — 24,333 (- 3.5%)
10/2013: Injustice #10 — 24,788 (+ 1.9%)
11/2013: Injustice #11 — 22,704 (- 8.4%)
12/2013: Injustice #12 — 21,871 (- 3.7%)
01/2013: Injustice Y2 #1 — 24,700 (+12.9%)
—————-
6 months: – 4.0%
1 year : – 30.3%
Since #1: – n.a.%

The relaunch adds a little less than 3000 more copies. If Year Two follows standard sales patterns there may not be a year three. This is a digital-first title though, so the economics are somewhat different, and largely opaque to us.

—–
92 – RED LANTERNS
01/2012: Red Lanterns #5 — 46,992
———————————–
01/2013: Red Lanterns #16 — 38,223 (- 2.2%)
02/2013: Red Lanterns #17 — 35,839 (- 6.2%)
03/2013: Red Lanterns #18 — 35,203 (- 1.8%)
04/2013: Red Lanterns #19 — 34,673 (- 1.5%)
05/2013: Red Lanterns #20 — 33,923 (- 2.2%)
06/2013: Red Lanterns #21 — 37,312 (+10.0%)
07/2013: Red Lanterns #22 — 35,236 (- 5.6%)
08/2013: Red Lanterns #23 — 29,623 (-15.9%)
09/2013: —
10/2013: Red Lanterns #24 — 30,771 (+ 3.9%)
11/2013: Red Lanterns #25 — 27,786 (- 9.7%)
12/2013: Red Lanterns #26 — 26,242 (- 5.6%)
01/2013: Red Lanterns #27 — 24,477 (- 6.7%)
—————-
6 months: – 30.5%
1 year : – 36.0%
2 years : – 47.9%
Since #1: – 72.6%

Crosses over with a combined issue of Green Lantern in February. At least they’re trying something novel to boost sales.

(After this point in the chart, all further titles are outsold by Archie Comic’s Afterlife with Archie…)

—–
95 – SUICIDE SQUAD
01/2010: Suicide Squad #67 — 37,818
01/2012: Suicide Squad #5 — 32,726
—————————————–
01/2013: Suicide Squad #16 — 27,061 (- 52.6%)
02/2013: Suicide Squad #17 — 26,370 (- 2.6%)
03/2013: Suicide Squad #18 — 25,232 (- 4.3%)
04/2013: Suicide Squad #19 — 24,300 (- 3.7%)
05/2013: Suicide Squad #20 — 23,537 (- 3.1%)
06/2013: Suicide Squad #21 — 22,907 (- 2.7%)
07/2013: Suicide Squad #22 — 22,447 (- 2.0%)
08/2013: Suicide Squad #23 — 22,166 (- 1.3%)
09/2013: —
10/2013: Suicide Squad #24 — 27,762 (+ 25.3%)
11/2013: Suicide Squad #25 — 27,067 (- 2.5%)
12/2013: Suicide Squad #26 — 25,346 (- 6.4%)
01/2014: Suicide Squad #27 — 24,175 (- 4.6%)
—————–
6 months: + 7.7%
1 year : – 10.7%
2 years : – 26.1%
Since #1: – 60.9%

Falling, despite still crossing-over with Forever Evil. Cancelled with #30.

—–
96 – GREEN ARROW
01/2004: Green Arrow #34 — 35,986
01/2009: Arrow/Canary #16 — 24,419
01/2010: Arrow&Canary #28 — 16,482
01/2011: Green Arrow #8 — 35,307
01/2012: Green Arrow #5 — 33,593
———————————–
01/2013: Green Arrow #16 — 19,888 (- 3.8%)
02/2013: Green Arrow #17 — 36,043 (+ 81.2%)
03/2013: Green Arrow #18 — 28,080 (- 22.1%)
04/2013: Green Arrow #19 — 29,922 (+ 6.6%)
05/2013: Green Arrow #20 — 27,541 (- 8.0%)
06/2013: Green Arrow #21 — 26,924 (- 2.2%)
07/2013: Green Arrow #22 — 26,172 (- 2.8%)
08/2013: Green Arrow #23 — 25,449 (- 2.8%)
09/2013: #23.1: CtVertigo — 43,234 (+ 69.9%)
10/2013: Green Arrow #24 — 24,620 (- 43.1%)
11/2013: Green Arrow #25 — 29,591 (+ 20.2%)
12/2013: Green Arrow #26 — 24,687 (- 16.6%)
01/2014: Green Arrow #27 — 23,785 (- 3.7%)
—————–
6 months: – 9.1%
1 year : + 19.6%
2 years : – 29.2%
5 years : – 2.6%
10 years: – 33.9%
Since #1: – 67.1%

Creatively this is one of the strongest comics in the DCU stable right now, but that is just not translating into sales (though it’s still a shade less than 4K units over the previous creative iteration). 2.86 million people watched the most recent (as of this writing) new episode of the CW television show Arrow.

—–
101 – BATWOMAN
01/2012: Batwoman #5 — 51,924
——————————–
01/2013: Batwoman #16 — 34,103 (- 2.5%)
02/2013: Batwoman #17 — 32,041 (- 6.1%)
03/2013: Batwoman #18 — 31,381 (- 2.1%)
04/2013: Batwoman #19 — 31,538 (+ 0.5%)
05/2013: Batwoman #20 — 29,698 (- 5.8%)
06/2013: Batwoman #21 — 28,173 (- 5.1%)
07/2013: Batwoman #22 — 27,400 (- 2.7%)
08/2013: Batwoman #23 — 26,223 (- 4.3%)
09/2013: —
10/2013: Batwoman #24 — 25,609 (- 2.3%)
11/2013: Batwoman #25 — 25,987 (+ 1.5%)
12/2013: Batwoman #26 — 23,311 (-10.3%)
01/2013: Batwoman #27 — 22,461 (- 3.6%)
—————-
6 months: – 18.0%
1 year : – 34.1%
2 years : – 56.7%
Since #1: – 74.5%

DC stopped the previous creative team’s plan for the first lesbian wedding in a mainstream super-hero comic, which would have run the risk of attracting massive outside media interest and a potentially huge sales spike. Someone at DC must have thought that continuing fading sales was a much better approach to take.

—–
104 – SUPERGIRL
01/2009: Supergirl #37 — 34,060
01/2010: Supergirl #49 — 27,728
01/2011: Supergirl #60 — 22,568
01/2012: Supergirl #5 — 41,446
———————————
01/2013: Supergirl #16 — 30,350 (- 1.5%)
02/2013: Supergirl #17 — 30,146 (- 0.7%)
03/2013: Supergirl #18 — 28,051 (- 7.0%)
04/2013: Supergirl #19 — 29,558 (+ 5.4%)
05/2013: Supergirl #20 — 27,509 (- 6.9%)
06/2013: Supergirl #21 — 25,856 (- 6.0%)
07/2013: Supergirl #22 — 25,514 (- 1.3%)
08/2013: Supergirl #23 — 24,747 (- 3.0%)
09/2013: —
10/2013: Supergirl #24 — 23,321 (- 5.8%)
11/2013: Supergirl #25 — 25,377 (+ 8.8%)
12/2013: Supergirl #26 — 22,646 (- 10.8%)
01/2014: Supergirl #27 — 21,954 (- 3.1%)
—————–
6 months: – 14.0%
1 year : – 27.7%
2 years : – 47.0%
5 years : – 35.5%
Since #1: – 70.4%

Set to cross-over the next few months with Red Lanterns.

—–
106 – BATMAN ’66 (Digital-First)
07/2013: Batman ’66 #1 — 50,430
08/2013: Batman ’66 #2 — 37,113 (-26.4%)
09/2013: Batman ’66 #3 — 32,954 (-11.2%)
10/2013: Batman ’66 #4 — 30,099 (- 8.7%)
11/2013: Batman ’66 #5 — 26,785 (-11.0%)
12/2013: Batman ’66 #6 — 24,374 (- 9.0%)
01/2014: Batman ’66 #7 — 21,802 (-10.6%)
—————–
6 months: – 56.8%
Since #1: – 56.8%

Still not leveling off. The central conceit of this series is a kitchy gimmick and while fun, it was never going to last. I’d expect this to close up shop after twelve issues.

—–
111 – WORLDS’ FINEST
01/2013: Worlds’ Finest #8 — 30,399 (- 5.0%)
02/2013: Worlds’ Finest #9 — 28,332 (- 6.8%)
03/2013: Worlds’ Finest #10 — 28,469 (+ 0.5%)
04/2013: Worlds’ Finest #11 — 27,453 (- 3.6%)
05/2013: Worlds’ Finest #12 — 27,073 (- 1.4%)
06/2013: Worlds’ Finest #13 — 25,815 (- 4.7%)
07/2013: Worlds’ Finest #14 — 25,143 (- 2.6%)
08/2013: Worlds’ Finest #15 — 24,159 (- 3.9%)
09/2013: —
10/2013: Worlds’ Finest #16 — 22,987 (- 4.9%)
11/2013: Worlds’ Finest #17 — 21,920 (- 4.6%)
12/2013: Worlds’ Finest #18 — 21,039 (- 4.0%)
01/2014: Worlds’ Finest #19 — 20,998 (- 0.2%)
—————–
6 months: – 16.5%
1 year : – 30.9%
Since #1: – 69.8%

Set to crossover next month with Batman/Superman.

—–
112 – CONSTANTINE
01/2003: Hellblazer #192 — 15,094
01/2008: Hellblazer #251 — 11,290
01/2009: Hellblazer #263 — 10,179
01/2010: Hellblazer #275 — 9,507
01/2011: Hellblazer #287 — 9,368
———————————-
01/2013: Hellblazer #299 — 9,329 (+ 2.2%)
02/2013: Hellblazer #300 — 12,522 (+ 34.2%)
03/2013: Constantine #1 — 37,564 (+200.0%)
04/2013: Constantine #2 — 30,789 (- 18.0%)
05/2013: Constantine #3 — 29,106 (- 5.5%)
06/2013: Constantine #4 — 26,417 (- 9.2%)
07/2013: Constantine #5 — 30,664 (+ 32.6%) [35,027]
08/2013: Constantine #6 — 25,174 (- 28.1%)
09/2013: —
10/2013: Constantine #7 — 22,954 (- 8.8%)
11/2013: Constantine #8 — 20,981 (- 8.6%)
12/2013: Constantine #9 — 22,403 (+ 6.8%)
01/2014: Constantine #10 — 20,729 (- 7.5%)
—————–
6 months: – 40.8%
1 year : +122.2%
2 years : +121.3%
5 years : + 83.6%
10 years: + 37.3%
Since #1: – 44.8%

Crossing over with Forever Evil, but that doesn’t stop sales from returning to a decline.

—–
114 – FOREVER EVIL: A.R.G.U.S.
10/2013: A.R.G.U.S. #1 of 6 — 32,146
11/2013: A.R.G.U.S. #2 of 6 — 25,071 (-22.0%)
12/2013: A.R.G.U.S. #3 of 6 — 22,758 (- 9.2%)
01/2014: A.R.G.U.S. #4 of 6 — 20,294 (-10.8%)
—————–
Since #1: – 36.9%

The poorest selling of the three Forever Evil crossover event spin-off mini-series. Did anyone expect otherwise?

—–
116 – SWAMP THING
01/2012: Swamp Thing #5 — 43,806
———————————-
01/2013: Swamp Thing #16 — 32,262 (- 4.9%)
02/2013: Swamp Thing #17 — 31,497 (- 2.4%)
03/2013: Swamp Thing #18 — 30,716 (- 2.5%)
04/2013: Swamp Thing #19 — 29,254 (- 4.8%)
05/2013: Swamp Thing #20 — 27,338 (- 6.6%)
06/2013: Swamp Thing #21 — 25,186 (- 7.9%)
07/2013: Swamp Thing #22 — 23,885 (- 5.2%)
08/2013: Swamp Thing #23 — 22,695 (- 5.0%)
09/2013: #23.1: Arcane — 40,390 (+78.0%)
10/2013: Swamp Thing #24 — 21,724 (-46.2%)
11/2013: Swamp Thing #25 — 21,141 (- 2.7%)
11/2013: Swamp Thing #26 — 20,247 (- 4.2%)
11/2013: Swamp Thing #27 — 19,755 (- 2.4%)
—————-
6 months: – 17.3%
1 year : – 38.8%
2 years : – 54.9%
Since #1: – 73.2%

Slips below 20K for the first time since the New 52 revival. The new creative team is doing a rather good job IMHO, but that has yet to translate to a sales increase.

—–
118 – BIRDS OF PREY
01/2004: Birds of Prey #63 — 29,725
01/2009: Birds of Prey #126 — 20,772
01/2011: Birds of Prey #8 — 31,616
01/2012: Birds of Prey #5 — 31,700
————————————-
01/2013: Birds of Prey #16 — 23,182 (- 3.5%)
02/2013: Birds of Prey #17 — 22,112 (- 4.6%)
03/2013: Birds of Prey #18 — 21,957 (- 0.7%)
04/2013: Birds of Prey #19 — 21,707 (- 1.1%)
05/2013: Birds of Prey #20 — 21,126 (- 2.7%)
06/2013: Birds of Prey #21 — 20,767 (- 1.7%)
07/2013: Birds of Prey #22 — 20,209 (- 2.7%)
08/2013: Birds of Prey #23 — 19,364 (- 4.2%)
09/2013: —
10/2013: Birds of Prey #24 — 18,382 (- 5.1%)
11/2013: Birds of Prey #25 — 22,751 (+ 23.8%)
12/2013: Birds of Prey #26 — 17,497 (- 23.1%)
01/2014: Birds of Prey #27 — 19,387 (+ 10.8%)
—————–
6 months: – 4.1%
1 year : – 16.4%
2 years : – 38.8%
5 years : – 6.7%
10 years: – 34.8%
Since #1: – 70.8%

The “Gothtopia” crossover adds a bit fewer than 2K copies. Which beats a decrease but they had to be hoping for more. The December issue sold the fewest copies of any issue of a Birds of Prey series ever. If this title is to survive it will need some major retooling…

—–
120 – WORLDS’ FINEST ANNUAL
01/2014: Worlds’ Finest Ann #1 — 19,314
—————–
Since #1: n.a.

About as good as could be expected, I guess.

—–
121 – DC UNIVERSE VS. MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE
09/2013: DCU vs. MotU #1 of 6 — 35,269
10/2013: DCU vs. MotU #2 of 6 — 23,037 (-34.7%)
11/2013: —
12/2013: DCU vs. MotU #3 of 6 — 21,325 (- 7.4%)
01/2013: DCU vs. MotU #4 of 6 — 19,289 (- 9.5%)
—————–
Since #1: – 45.3%

Still dropping fairly rapidly for this point. Retailers likely overestimated the demand for the first issue of an out-of-continuity mini-series tying in with a toy line from the 1980s, and we’re just seeing market corrections.

—–
122 – TRINITY OF SIN: PANDORA
07/2013: Pandora #1 — 35,106 [41,678]
07/2013: Pandora #2 — 32,170 (-15.1%) [35,385]
08/2013: Pandora #3 — 34,563 (- 2.3%)
09/2013: —
10/2013: Pandora #4 — 25,708 (-25.6%)
11/2013: Pandora #5 — 21,267 (-17.3%)
12/2013: Pandora #6 — 20,563 (- 3.3%)
01/2014: Pandora #7 — 18,984 (- 7.7%)
—————-
6 months: – 54.5%
Since #1: – 54.5%

Part of the Forever Evil crossover-within-a-crossover, but that only seems to be accelerating the decline. I’ll be surprised if this lasts past issue #12 before DC decides to put Pandora back in her box.

—–
123 – ANIMAL MAN
01/2012: Animal Man #3 — 49,184
————————————
01/2013: Animal Man #16 — 30,322 (- 5.3%)
02/2013: Animal Man #17 — 29,425 (- 3.0%)
03/2013: Animal Man #18 — 28,711 (- 2.4%)
04/2013: Animal Man #19 — 27,562 (- 4.0%)
05/2013: Animal Man #20 — 25,807 (- 6.4%)
06/2013: Animal Man #21 — 23,862 (- 7.5%)
07/2013: Animal Man #22 — 22,974 (- 3.7%)
08/2013: Animal Man #23 — 21,634 (- 5.8%)
09/2013: —
10/2013: Animal Man #24 — 20,554 (- 5.0%)
11/2013: Animal Man #25 — 19,710 (- 4.1%)
12/2013: Animal Man #26 — 18,823 (- 4.5%)
01/2014: Animal Man #27 — 18,401 (- 2.2%)
—————-
6 months: -19.9%
1 year : -39.3%
2 years : -62.6%
Since #1: -71.8%

Ending with #29, but Lemire will be taking the character along with him to Justice League United.

—–
121 – TRINITY OF SIN: PHANTOM STRANGER
01/2010: Phantom Stranger #42 — 35,937
—————————————
01/2013: Phantom Stranger #4 — 19,903 (-14.9%)
02/2013: Phantom Stranger #5 — 18,032 (- 9.4%)
03/2013: Phantom Stranger #6 — 17,375 (- 3.6%)
04/2013: Phantom Stranger #7 — 17,326 (- 0.3%)
05/2013: Phantom Stranger #8 — 16,269 (- 6.1%)
06/2013: ToS: PS #9 — 17,241 (+ 6.0%)
07/2013: ToS: PS #10 — 20,636 (+19.7%)
08/2013: ToS: PS #11 — 26,986 (+30.8%)
09/2013: —
10/2013: ToS: PS #12 — 19,732 (-26.9%)
11/2013: ToS: PS #13 — 17,779 (- 9.9%)
12/2013: ToS: PS #14 — 18,649 (+ 4.9%)
01/2013: ToS: PS #15 — 17,435 (- 6.5%)
—————-
6 months: – 15.5%
1 year : – 12.4%
Since #1: – 56.5%

Part of the Forever Evil crossover-within-a-crossover, but that’s not going to save this title either.

—–
128 – SUPERBOY
01/2011: Superboy #3 — 29,550
01/2012: Superboy #5 — 37,419
——————————–
01/2013: Superboy #16 — 27,110 (- 1.8%)
02/2013: Superboy #17 — 26,762 (- 1.3%)
03/2013: Superboy #18 — 24,455 (- 8.6%)
04/2013: Superboy #19 — 24,211 (- 1.0%)
05/2013: Superboy #20 — 22,508 (- 7.0%)
06/2013: Superboy #21 — 20,952 (- 6.9%)
07/2013: Superboy #22 — 19,984 (- 4.6%)
08/2013: Superboy #23 — 20,235 (+ 1.3%)
09/2013: —
10/2013: Superboy #24 — 18,341 (- 9.4%)
11/2013: Superboy #25 — 21,449 (+ 16.9%)
12/2013: Superboy #26 — 17,690 (- 17.5%)
01/2014: Superboy #27 — 17,392 (- 1.7%)
—————–
6 months: – 13.0%
1 year : – 35.8%
2 years : – 53.5%
Since #1: – 74.9%

So in between issues #25 & 26 of Superboy, the main character was killed off in an issue of Superman, and then a new version of Superboy (from the future) was introduced in an issue of Teen Titans. This new evil Superboy became the star of the book with #26. Given this sort of contempt for readers, this book deserves its low sales.

—–
134 – TALON
01/2013: Talon #4 — 30,909 (-11.8%)
02/2013: Talon #5 — 28,003 (- 9.4%)
03/2013: Talon #6 — 25,440 (- 9.2%)
04/2013: Talon #7 — 24,045 (- 5.5%)
05/2013: Talon #8 — 22,710 (- 5.6%)
06/2013: Talon #9 — 21,755 (- 4.2%)
07/2013: Talon #10 — 20,296 (- 6.7%)
08/2013: Talon #11 — 19,449 (- 4.2%)
09/2013: —
10/2013: Talon #12 — 18,218 (- 6.3%)
11/2013: Talon #13 — 17,218 (- 5.5%)
12/2013: Talon #14 — 16,373 (- 4.9%)
01/2014: Talon #15 — 15,455 (- 5.6%)
—————-
6 months: – 23.9%
1 year : – 50.0%
Since #1: – 74.1%

Cancelled as of #17. Ostensibly as part of the deck cleaning for Batman Eternal, but with these sales it wasn’t going to last much longer anyway.

—–
135 – BATMAN BEYOND UNIVERSE (Digital-First)
01/2013: Unlimited #12 — 17,446 (- 3.6%)
02/2013: Unlimited #13 — 17,025 (- 2.4%)
03/2013: Unlimited #14 — 16,456 (- 3.3%)
04/2013: Unlimited #15 — 16,283 (- 1.1%)
05/2013: Unlimited #16 — 15,822 (- 2.8%)
06/2013: Unlimited #17 — 15,464 (- 2.3%)
07/2013: Unlimited #18 — 15,275 (- 1.2%)
08/2013: Universe #1 — 23,358 (+52.9%)
09/2013: Universe #2 — 18,332 (-21.5%)
10/2013: Universe #3 — 17,658 (- 3.7%)
11/2013: Universe #4 — 16,889 (- 4.4%)
12/2013: Universe #5 — 15,857 (- 6.1%)
01/2014: Universe #6 — 15,070 (- 5.0%)
—————-
6 months: – 1.3%
1 year : – 13.6%
Since #1: – 35.5%

Sales have now slipped below where the previous iteration ended.

—–
138 – ASTRO CITY (Vertigo)
01/2004: —
01/2009: —
01/2010: Dark Age 4 #1 — 13,664
01/2011: —
01/2012: —
—————————————
06/2013: Astro City #1 — 27,700
07/2013: Astro City #2 — 20,193 (-27.1%)
08/2013: Astro City #3 — 18,802 (- 6.9%)
09/2013: Astro City #4 — 17,641 (- 6.2%)
10/2013: Astro City #5 — 16,927 (- 4.1%)
11/2013: Astro City #6 — 16,031 (- 5.3%)
12/2013: Astro City #7 — 15,360 (- 4.2%)
01/2014: Astro City #8 — 14,831 (- 3.4%)
—————–
6 months: – 26.6%
5 years : n.a.
10 years: n.a.
Since #1: – 46.5%

With both Sandman Overture and The Wake awol this month, Astro City is the top-selling Vertigo title in January.

(After this point in the chart, all further titles are outsold by Boom Studio’s Adventure Time…)

—–
149 – FABLES (Vertigo)
01/2004: Fables #21 — 25,326
01/2009: Fables #80 — 22,617
01/2010: Fables #92 — 20,180
01/2011: Fables #101 — 19,183
01/2012: Fables #113 — 17,588
——————————
01/2013: Fables #125 — 15,983 (- 0.2%)
02/2013: Fables #126 — 15,480 (- 3.2%)
03/2013: Fables #127 — 15,529 (+ 0.3%)
04/2013: Fables #128 — 15,606 (+ 0.5%)
05/2013: Fables #129 — 15,380 (- 1.5%)
06/2013: Fables #130 — 15,129 (- 1.6%)
07/2013: Fables #131 — 15,109 (- 0.1%)
08/2013: Fables #132 — 14,893 (- 1.4%)
09/2013: Fables #133 — 14,639 (- 1.7%)
10/2013: Fables #134 — 14,575 (- 0.4%)
11/2013: Fables #135 — 14,383 (- 1.3%)
12/2013: Fables #136 — 14,220 (- 1.1%)
01/2014: Fables #137 — 14,172 (- 0.3%)
—————-
6 months: – 6.2%
1 year : – 11.3%
2 years : – 19.4%
5 years : – 37.3%
10 years: – 44.0%
Since #1: – 35.7%

Announced as ending with issue #150.

—–
144 – LARFLEEZE
06/2013: Larfleeze #1 — 36,638
07/2013: Larfleeze #2 — 30,221 (-17.5%)
08/2013: Larfleeze #3 — 21,955 (-27.4%)
09/2013: —
10/2013: Larfleeze #4 — 18,061 (-17.7%)
11/2013: Larfleeze #5 — 16,157 (-10.5%)
12/2013: Larfleeze #6 — 15,081 (- 6.7%)
01/2014: Larfleeze #7 — 13,950 (- 7.5%)
—————–
6 months: – 61.9%
Since #1: – 61.9%

As of the writing of this column new issues of Larfleeze are still being solicited. Your guess is as good as mine as to why this is so.

—–
152 – ALL STAR WESTERN
01/2009: Jonah Hex #39 — 12,132
01/2010: Jonah Hex #51 — 11,184
01/2011: Jonah Hex #63 — 10,752
01/2012: ASW #5 — 27,206
——————————–
01/2013: ASW #16 — 18,254 (- 4.9%)
02/2013: ASW #17 — 17,398 (- 4.7%)
03/2013: ASW #18 — 16,897 (- 2.9%)
04/2013: ASW #19 — 16,838 (- 0.4%)
05/2013: ASW #20 — 16,184 (- 3.9%)
06/2013: ASW #21 — 15,788 (- 2.5%)
07/2013: ASW #22 — 15,376 (- 2.6%)
08/2013: ASW #23 — 15,276 (- 0.7%)
09/2013: —
10/2013: ASW #24 — 14,378 (- 5.9%)
11/2013: ASW #25 — 13,937 (- 3.1%)
12/2013: ASW #26 — 13,440 (- 3.6%)
01/2013: ASW #27 — 13,238 (- 1.5%)
—————–
6 months: – 13.9%
1 year : – 27.5%
2 years : – 51.3%
5 years : + 9.1%
Since #1: – 75.9%

Bringing Hex into the present day and having him meet Batman, John Constantine, Swamp Thing and Superman probably seemed like a good way to boost sales. But it hasn’t turned out that way. Set to return to the old west (and its former longer page count) in April.

When the previous Jonah Hex series reached these sales numbers (Jonah Hex #30), the title lasted another forty issues before being rebooted into the New 52. So somebody with clout at the company really likes Jonah Hex.

—–
155 – BATWING
01/2012: Batwing #5 — 24,036
——————————
01/2013: Batwing #16 — 13,427 (- 8.5%)
02/2013: Batwing #17 — 12,595 (- 6.2%)
03/2013: Batwing #18 — 12,084 (- 4.1%)
04/2013: Batwing #19 — 13,570 (+12.3%)
05/2013: Batwing #20 — 13,302 (- 2.0%)
06/2013: Batwing #21 — 12,437 (- 6.5%)
07/2013: Batwing #22 — 12,062 (- 3.0%)
08/2013: Batwing #23 — 11,584 (- 4.0%)
09/2013: —
10/2013: Batwing #24 — 11,114 (- 4.1%)
11/2013: Batwing #25 — 16,207 (+45.8%)
12/2013: Batwing #26 — 10,753 (-33.7%)
01/2014: Batwing #27 — 12,461 (+15.9%)
—————-
6 months: + 3.3%
1 year : – 7.2%
2 years : – 48.2%
Since #1: – 76.8%

Part of “Gothtopia.”

—–
156 – FAIREST (Vertigo)
01/2013: Fairest #11 — 16,498 (- 2.5%)
02/2013: Fairest #12 — 16,141 (- 2.2%)
03/2013: Fairest #13 — 15,693 (- 2.8%)
04/2013: Fairest #14 — 15,269 (- 2.7%)
05/2013: Fairest #15 — 14,959 (- 2.0%)
06/2013: Fairest #16 — 14,289 (- 4.5%)
07/2013: Fairest #17 — 13,915 (- 2.6%)
08/2013: Fairest #18 — 13,511 (- 2.9%)
09/2013: Fairest #19 — 13,278 (- 1.7%)
10/2013: Fairest #20 — 13,008 (- 2.0%)
11/2013: —
12/2013: Fairest #21 — 12,718 (- 2.2%)
01/2014: Fairest #22 — 12,434 (- 2.2%)
—————-
6 months: – 14.8%
1 year : – 29.2%
Since #1: – 60.9%

Scheduled to end around the same time as the mother title in about a year or so.

(After this point in the chart, all further titles are outsold by Avatar’s God is Dead…)

—–
161 – SMALLVILLE SEASON 11 ALIEN (Digital-First)
01/2004: Smallville #6 — 15,281
——————————
01/2013: Smallville S11 #9 — 17,845 (- 4.2%)
02/2013: Smallville S11 #10 — 17,024 (- 4.6%)
03/2013: Smallville S11 #11 — 16,502 (- 3.1%)
04/2013: Smallville S11 #12 — 15,930 (- 3.5%)
05/2013: Smallville S11 #13 — 15,442 (- 3.1%)
06/2013: Smallville S11 #14 — 15,097 (- 2.2%)
07/2013: Smallville S11 #15 — 14,930 (- 1.1%)
08/2013: Smallville S11 #16 — 14,640 (- 1.9%)
09/2013: Smallville S11 #17 — 14,153 (- 3.3%)
10/2013: Smallville S11 #18 — 13,794 (- 2.5%)
11/2013: Smallville S11 #19 — 13,286 (- 3.7%)
12/2013: Smallville Alien #1 — 13,019 (- 2.0%)
01/2014: Smallville Alien #2 — 11,768 (- 9.6%)
—————-
6 months: – 21.2%
1 year : – 34.1%
10 years: – 23.0%
Since #1: – 9.6%

It would appear that retailers ordered Alien #1 as though it were simply issue #20 of the previous series, but then ordered issue #2 of Alien as though it were the second issue of a mini-series. So the worst of both worlds then.

—–
164 – SCRIBBLENAUTS UNMASKED – CRISIS OF IMAGINATION (Digital-First)
01/2014: Scribblenauts Crisis #1 — 11,572

Based on a video game, so maybe the digital sales are stronger than usual? Otherwise this won’t be around very long.

—–
167 – ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN (Digital-First)
05/2013: Adventures of Superman #1 — 30,992
06/2013: Adventures of Superman #2 — 22,407 (-27.7%)
07/2013: Adventures of Superman #3 — 19,453 (-13.2%)
08/2013: Adventures of Superman #4 — 17,370 (-10.7%)
09/2013: Adventures of Superman #5 — 16,011 (- 7.8%)
10/2013: Adventures of Superman #6 — 14,484 (- 9.5%)
11/2013: Adventures of Superman #7 — 13,140 (- 9.3%)
12/2013: Adventures of Superman #8 — 12,142 (- 7.6%)
01/2014: Adventures of Superman #9 — 11,425 (- 5.9%)
—————-
6 months: – 41.3%
Since #1: – 63.1%

As a long-time fan of Superman, these done-in-one, continuity-light tales of the Man of Steel are exactly what I’m looking for in a monthly Superman comic. If only there were more people who felt the same way.

—–
171 – DEAD BOY DETECTIVES (Vertigo)
12/2013: Dead Boy Detectives #1 — 21,478
01/2014: Dead Boy Detectives #2 — 12,276 (-42.8%)
—————–
Since #1: – 42.8%

Returnable, but even with the upward adjustment these are awful numbers for the second issue of a Sandman-related ongoing series. A failure of marketing, or something else?

—–
176 – THE UNWRITTEN V2 APOCALYPSE (Vertigo)
01/2010: The Unwritten #8 — 15,314
01/2011: The Unwritten #20 — 12,273
01/2012: The Unwritten #32 — 10,481
————————————
01/2013: The Unwritten #45 — 8,465 (- 0.8%)
02/2013: The Unwritten #46 — 8,352 (- 1.3%)
03/2013: The Unwritten #47 — 8,267 (- 1.0%)
04/2013: The Unwritten #48 — 8,226 (- 0.5%)
05/2013: The Unwritten #49 — 8,234 (+ 0.1%)
06/2013: The Unwritten #50 — 10,124 (+23.0%)
07/2013: The Unwritten #51 — 9,143 (- 9.7%)
08/2013: The Unwritten #52 — 9,033 (- 1.2%)
09/2013: The Unwritten #53 — 8,982 (- 0.6%)
10/2013: The Unwritten #54 — 8,871 (- 1.2%)
11/2013: —
10/2013: —
10/2013: Unwritten vol2 #1 — 11,975 (+35.0%)
—————-
6 months: + 31.0%
1 year : + 41.5%
2 years : + 14.3%
Since #1: n.a.

Returnable. Gets a boost of about 3000 copies with the relaunch, which may be just enough to keep it going through its planned (though AFAIK still unannounced) ending.

—–
169 – COFFIN HILL (Vertigo)
10/2013: Coffin Hill #1 — 24,129
11/2013: Coffin Hill #2 — 14,472 (-40.0%)
12/2013: Coffin Hill #3 — 12,337 (-14.8%)
01/2014: Coffin Hill #4 — 11,306 (- 8.4%)
—————–
Since #1: – 53.1%

The first issue of this title that was not returnable. At this rate it is highly unlikely that it will see its first birthday, which is a shame because I’ve been rather enjoying it so far.

—–
175 – SMALLVILLE SEASON 11 SPECIAL (Digital-First)
05/2013: Smallville S11 Special #1 — 13,988
06/2013: —
07/2013: Smallville S11 Special #2 — 12,858 (- 8.1%)
08/2013: —
09/2013: —
10/2013: Smallville S11 Special #3 — 12,115 (- 5.8%)
11/2013: —
12/2013: —
01/2014: Smallville S11 Special #4 — 10,917 (- 9.9%)
—————–
6 months: – 15.1%
Since #1: – 22.0%

Probably would have sold slightly better if released as issue #20 of the regular Smallville Season 11 series.

—–
177 – THE VAMPIRE DIARIES (Digital-First)
01/2014: The Vampire Diaries #1 — 10,855

2.14 million people watched the most recent (as of this writing) new episode of the CW television show of which this is a spin-off.

—–
179 – BATMAN: LI’L GOTHAM (Digital-First)
04/2013: Li’l Gotham #1 — 27,591
05/2013: Li’l Gotham #2 — 18,573 (-32.7%)
06/2013: Li’l Gotham #3 — 18,578 (+ 0.0%)
07/2013: Li’l Gotham #4 — 21,646 (+16.5%)
08/2013: Li’l Gotham #5 — 14,696 (-32.1%)
09/2013: Li’l Gotham #6 — 13,654 (- 7.1%)
10/2013: Li’l Gotham #7 — 12,919 (- 5.4%)
11/2013: Li’l Gotham #8 — 12,054 (- 6.7%)
12/2013: Li’l Gotham #9 — 11,078 (- 8.1%)
01/2014: Li’l Gotham #10 — 10,639 (- 4.0%)
—————-
6 months: – 35.1%
Since #1: – 61.4%

My personal favorite current Batman comic, though apparently not enough people agree. Ends (I think) with #12, as the digital-first series that feeds this has already ended. If everyone on Tumblr who says that they want Damian as Robin, Stephanie as Batgirl, and Barbara as Oracle actually bought this series that features all of those things it would doubtlessly still be going.

(NOTE: Lil Gotham was mot cancelled due to low sales, but has in fact ended by the choice of the creative team. Thanks to Andy Khouri for the update)

—–
191 – HINTERKIND (Vertigo)
10/2013: Hinterkind #1 — 23,516
11/2013: Hinterkind #2 — 13,994 (-40.5%)
12/2013: Hinterkind #3 — 11,659 (-16.7%)
01/2014: Hinterkind #4 — 9,693 (-16.9%)
—————–
Since #1: – 58.8%

The previous three issues were returnable, but this one wasn’t. Starting to distinguish itself sales-wise from Coffin Hill, but not in a good way. Taking a break in April but back for a new story arc in May…

—–
201 – SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP (All-Ages)
11/2013: Scooby-Doo Team-Up #1 — 13,036
12/2013: —
01/2014: Scooby-Doo Team-Up #2 — 9,882 (-31.1%)
—————–
Since #1: – 31.1%

Returnable. This is a ‘digital-second’ book, produced in the same style as DC’s digital-first books but released first in print before going online in installments.

Do you know what kids like? Batman. Do you know what kids also like? Scooby-Doo. So the fact that a comic geared towards kids that teams up Batman and Scooby-Doo isn’t moving at least 20K copies means that there is something fundamentally wrong with the direct sales comics market. Partly this is DC’s fault: if Batman is co-starring in your team-up book, YOU PUT BATMAN’S NAME IN THE TITLE OF THE FLIPPIN’ BOOK! That’s just comic marketing 101. Calling this Batman & Scooby-Doo Team-Up would be worth at least an additional 5K in sales, I should think.

—–
202 – FBP: FEDERAL BUREAU OF PHYSICS (Vertigo)
07/2013: Collider #1 — 17,336 [20,361]
08/2013: FBP #2 — 14,068 (-30.9%)
09/2013: FBP #3 — 13,977 (- 0.6%)
10/2013: FBP #4 — 11,600 (-17.0%)
11/2013: FBP #5 — 10,391 (-10.4%)
12/2013: FBP #6 — 9,543 (- 8.2%)
01/2014: FBP #7 — 8,971 (- 6.0%)
—————–
6 months: – 55.9%
Since #1: – 55.9%

This reads more like an Image book than a Vertigo book, and one has to wonder if Image would have been a better fit as a publisher. It certainly isn’t going to last much longer at DC with these numbers.

—–
203 – STORMWATCH
01/2004: Stormwatch: TA #19 — 10,579
01/2009: StormWatch: PHD #18 — 6,030
01/2012: Stormwatch #5 — 39,262
—————————————
01/2013: Stormwatch #16 — 14,411 (- 6.7%)
02/2013: Stormwatch #17 — 13,657 (- 5.2%)
03/2013: Stormwatch #18 — 13,255 (- 2.9%)
04/2013: Stormwatch #19 — 13,626 (+ 2.8%)
05/2013: Stormwatch #20 — 13,049 (- 4.2%)
06/2013: Stormwatch #21 — 12,277 (- 5.9%)
07/2013: Stormwatch #22 — 11,792 (- 4.0%)
08/2013: Stormwatch #23 — 10,969 (- 7.0%)
09/2013: —
10/2013: Stormwatch #24 — 10,067 (- 8.2%)
11/2013: Stormwatch #25 — 9,881 (- 1.9%)
12/2013: Stormwatch #26 — 9,052 (- 8.4%)
01/2014: Stormwatch #27 — 8,612 (- 4.9%)
—————–
6 months: – 27.0%
1 year : – 40.2%
2 years : – 78.1%
5 years : + 42.8%
10 years: – 18.6%
Since #1: – 85.0%

The lowest-selling New 52 debut book will finally be put out of its misery with issue #30. You may be wondering why it was allowed to go on for so long? I have a theory:

You may recall that at the end of the Flashpoint event the DCU, Wildstorm, and Vertigo universes were merged together and the New 52 was born. This was touted as a feature of the new DCU. Besides Stormwatch, there were New 52 books for Grifter and Voodoo (and later Team 7), and characters and concepts from the old Wildstorm universe were inserted into other books like Superman and Superboy. But it turns out that this was less of a merging and more of a grafting, and like a host body rejecting an incompatible skin graft, the host DCU rejected the Wildstorm implants. The ending of Stormwatch, the last remaining of the New 52 titles that was based on a former Wildstorm property, would signal the failure of the attempted integration, and thus DC editorial gave this title much more slack before finally having to admit defeat.

—–
222 – 100 BULLETS: BROTHER LONO (Vertigo)
01/2004: —
01/2009: 100 Bullets #99 — 10,408
—————————————
06/2013: Brother Lono #1 of 8 — 17,489
07/2013: Brother Lono #2 of 8 — 11,984 (-31.5%)
08/2013: Brother Lono #3 of 8 — 10,051 (-16.1%)
09/2013: Brother Lono #4 of 8 — 8,891 (-11.5%)
10/2013: Brother Lono #5 of 8 — 8,591 (- 3.4%)
11/2013: Brother Lono #6 of 8 — 7,954 (- 7.4%)
12/2013: —
01/2014: Brother Lono #7 of 8 — 7,597 (- 4.5%)
—————-
5 years : – 27.0%
10 years: n.a.
Since #1: – 56.6%

Apparently the comics market wasn’t clamoring for a 100 Bullets sequel after all. Maybe it’ll do better when collected and sold into the book market?

—–
244 – THE MOVEMENT
05/2013: The Movement #1 — 29,246
06/2013: The Movement #2 — 18,001 (-38.5%)
07/2013: The Movement #3 — 14,524 (-19.3%)
08/2013: The Movement #4 — 11,095 (-23.6%)
09/2013: —
10/2013: The Movement #5 — 9,110 (-17.9%)
11/2013: The Movement #6 — 7,957 (-12.7%)
12/2013: The Movement #7 — 7,252 (- 8.9%)
01/2014: The Movement #8 — 6,629 (- 8.6%)
—————-
6 months: – 54.4%
Since #1: – 77.3%

Ending with issue #12 in May. These sales say something about how hard it can be for even talented writers with a large social media presence (Ms. Simone has over 46K Twitter followers) to launch a super-hero book that isn’t a reboot or retread of an already existing property.

Comics market to super-hero publishers: “Don’t try anything new.”

—–
245 – BEWARE THE BATMAN (All-Ages)
01/2004: Batman Adventures #10 — 12,877
01/2009: Brave & Bold #1 — 13,935
01/2010: Brave & Bold #13 — 6,129
01/2011: All-New BBB #3 — 6,557
01/2012: All-New BBB #15 — 6,827
—————————————-
10/2013: Beware the Batman #1 — 19,830
11/2013: Beware the Batman #2 — 10,368 (-47.7%)
12/2013: Beware the Batman #3 — 8,627 (-16.8%)
01/2014: Beware the Batman #4 — 7,226 (-16.2%)
—————–
2 years : + 5.8%
5 years : – 48.1%
10 years: – 43.9%
Since #1: – 63.6%

Still returnable (and adjusted accordingly), still dropping.

The existence of an all-ages Batman title is contingent on the existence of a Batman animated cartoon aimed at kids. Said cartoon’s existence is contingent not as much on ratings as you might expect, but on toy sales. So if you like this current iteration of the all-ages Batman, your best bet to see it continue is not to buy more copies of the comic, but go out and buy some bits of plastic. This sadly is the world in which we live.

—–
??? – SCOOBY-DOO, WHERE ARE YOU? (All-Ages)
01/2004: Scooby-Doo #80 — 5,307
01/2009: Scooby-Doo #140 — 3,800
01/2010: Scooby-Doo #152 — 3,724
01/2011: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #5 — 4,543
01/2012: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #17 — 4,533
—————————————-
01/2013: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #29 — 4,729
02/2013: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #30 — 4,752 (+0.5%)
03/2013: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #31 — 4,770 (+0.4%)
04/2013: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #32 — 4,688 (-1.7%)
05/2013: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #33 — ?????
06/2013: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #34 — 4,881
07/2013: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #35 — ?????
08/2013: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #36 — 4,903
09/2013: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #37 — 4,840 (-1.3%)
10/2013: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #38 — 4,983 (+3.0%)
11/2013: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #39 — ?????
12/2013: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #40 — 4,754
01/2014: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #41 — 4,649 (-2.2%)
—————–
6 months: ????%
1 year : – 1.7%
2 years : + 2.6%
5 years : + 22.3%
10 years: – 12.4%
Since #1: – 24.8%

Returnable. Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? quite often doesn’t chart in the Diamond Top 300 numbers as provided to us by ICv2, so I’ve had to use my mystic powers of dark comics statistical arts to divine many of the numbers above. In short, take these numbers with an even larger grain of salt than you do any of the other figures in this column.

—–
??? – THE GREEN TEAM
05/2013: Green Team #1 — 27,775
06/2013: Green Team #2 — 14,328 (-48.4%)
07/2013: Green Team #3 — 11,220 (-21.7%)
08/2013: Green Team #4 — 8,493 (-24.3%)
09/2013: —
10/2013: Green Team #5 — 6,318 (-25.6%)
11/2013: Green Team #6 — 5,286 (-16.3%)
11/2013: Green Team #7 — 4,753 (-10.1%)
11/2013: Green Team #8 — 4,313 (- 9.3%)
—————-
6 months: – 61.6%
Since #1: – 84.5%

Mercifully the final issue. As with Scooby-Doo above, some figures had to be divined from other sources.

In the years ahead, The Green Team will be used as an example of how not to publish a super-hero comic book: Art Baltazar and Franco, best known for their humorous, all-ages books like Tiny Titans and Superman Family Adventures, were recruited to write a New 52 reboot of a Joe Simon concept that appeared in an issue of First Issue Special back in the 1970s. It was an odd choice to be sure, but to oddball comic geeks like myself it seemed ripe for fun, wacky comics with maybe a bit of social commentary. What we got was anything but that—they played it straight. I’m all for creators stretching their boundaries and trying something new, but this was not a good property for Art & Franco to try to do that. Fans of theirs expecting something in the vein of their other work would be quickly turned off, and readers looking for this sort of thing wouldn’t give it a look either. And with a zero-level fan base to draw on for the property itself, this was a comic that was destined to fail. And it did so. Spectacularly.

Average Periodical Sales (not counting reprints, reorders shipping after the initial month of release, All-Ages titles and magazines)
DC COMICS
01/2004: 24,889
01/2009: 24,273
01/2010: 25,657
01/2011: 21,922
01/2012: 33,887
—————
01/2013: 31,759 (- 7.3%)
02/2013: 34,711 (+ 9.1%)
03/2013: 30,819 (- 11.2%)**
04/2013: 29,914 (- 2.9%)
05/2013: 31,412 (+ 5.0%)
06/2013: 34,517 (+ 9.9%)
07/2013: 34,402 (- 0.3%)
08/2013: 30,843 (- 10.4%)
09/2013: 54,892 (+ 78.0%)
10/2013: 31,928 (- 41.8%)**
11/2013: 32,664 (+ 2.3%)
12/2013: ??????
01/2014: 27,881
—————–
6 months: – 19.0%
1 year : – 12.2%
2 years : – 17.7%
5 years : + 14.9%
10 years: + 12.0%

DC UNIVERSE
01/2004: 29,783
01/2009: 24,273
01/2010: 33,698
01/2011: 24,321
01/2012: 37,145
—————
01/2013: 33,485 (- 9.2%)
02/2013: 36,838 (+ 10.0%)
03/2013: 32,294 (- 12.3%)**
04/2013: 31,426 (- 2.7%)
05/2013: 32,015 (+ 1.9%)
06/2013: 37,133 (+ 16.0%)
07/2013: 36,524 (- 1.6%)
08/2013: 33,583 (- 8.1%)
09/2013: 61,036 (+ 81.8%)
10/2013: 33,568 (- 45.0%)**
11/2013: 35,282 (+ 5.1%)
12/2013: ??????
01/2014: 33,120
—————–
6 months: – 9.4%
1 year : – 1.1%
2 years : – 10.8%
5 years : + 36.4%
10 years: + 11.2%

VERTIGO
01/2004: 15,069
01/2009: 10,980
01/2010: 11,267
01/2011: 10,145
01/2012: 9,995
—————
01/2013: 10,764 (- 8.6%)
02/2013: 12,019 (+11.7%)
03/2013: 11,055 (- 8.0%)
04/2013: 11,467 (+ 3.7%)
05/2013: 20,860 (+81.9%)
06/2013: 17,368 (-16.7%)
07/2013: 16,099 (- 7.3%)
08/2013: 14,130 (-12.2%)
09/2013: 14,951 (+ 5.8%)
10/2013: 22,228 (+48.7%)**
11/2013: 13,958 (-37.2%)
12/2013: ??????
01/2014: 11,473
—————–
6 months: – 28.7%
1 year : + 6.6%
2 years : + 14.8%
5 years : + 4.5%
10 years: – 23.9%

—–
6 month comparisons
===================

+ 41.3% – Detective Comics
+ 31.0% – The Unwritten
+ 7.7% – Suicide Squad
+ 3.3% – Batwing
+ 0.1% – Catwoman
– 1.3% – Batman Beyond Universe
– 4.0% – Injustice
– 4.1% – Birds of Prey
– 5.1% – Batgirl
– 6.2% – Fables
– 8.9% – Nightwing
– 9.1% – Green Arrow
– 9.9% – Wonder Woman
– 10.5% – Flash
– 10.6% – Batman ’66
– 11.1% – Batman
– 13.0% – Superboy
– 13.9% – All Star Western
– 14.0% – Supergirl
– 14.1% – Earth 2
– 14.8% – Fairest
– 15.1% – Smallville Season 11 Special
– 15.5% – Trinity of Sin: Phantom Stranger
– 16.5% – Worlds’ Finest
– 16.6% – Teen Titans
– 17.3% – Swamp Thing
– 17.9% – Superman
– 18.0% – Batwoman
– 18.7% – Red Hood and the Outlaws
– 19.5% – Batman: The Dark Knight
– 19.7% – Action Comics
– 19.8% – Aquaman
– 19.9% – Animal Man
– 21.2% – Smallville Season 11
– 21.4% – Batman and…
– 21.8% – Green Lantern
– 23.9% – Talon
– 25.5% – Green Lantern Corps
– 26.6% – Astro City
– 27.0% – Stormwatch
– 30.3% – Justice League of America
– 30.5% – Green Lantern: New Guardians
– 30.5% – Red Lanterns
– 31.7% – Justice League
– 35.1% – Batman: Li’l Gotham
– 39.6% – Batman/Superman
– 40.8% – Constantine
– 41.3% – Adventures of Superman
– 54.4% – The Movement
– 54.5% – Trinity of Sin: Pandora
– 55.9% – FBP
– 59.4% – Justice League Dark
– 61.6% – The Green Team
– 61.9% – Larfleeze

1 year comparisons
===================

+122.2% – Constantine (Hellblazer)
+ 41.5% – The Unwritten
+ 21.1% – Justice League Dark
+ 19.6% – Green Arrow
– 2.1% – Detective Comics
– 7.2% – Batwing
– 10.7% – Suicide Squad
– 11.3% – Fables
– 12.4% – Trinity of Sin: Phantom Stranger
– 13.6% – Batman Beyond
– 16.4% – Birds of Prey
– 19.6% – Batman
– 20.1% – Wonder Woman
– 20.8% – Flash
– 21.9% – Batman and Robin Annual
– 26.4% – Catwoman
– 27,5% – All Star Western
– 27.7% – Supergirl
– 28.1% – Justice League
– 29.0% – Earth 2
– 29.2% – Fairest
– 30.3% – Injustice
– 30.3% – Superman
– 30.7% – Green Lantern Corps
– 30.9% – Worlds’ Finest
– 33.0% – Green Lantern
– 34.1% – Batwoman
– 34.1% – Smallville Season 11
– 34.9% – Batman: The Dark Knight
– 35.2% – Green Lantern: New Guardians
– 35.7% – Green Lantern Corps Annual
– 35.8% – Superboy
– 36.0% – Red Lanterns
– 38.5% – Action Comics
– 38.8% – Swamp Thing
– 39.3% – Animal Man
– 40.2% – Stormwatch
– 41.1% – Aquaman
– 44.2% – Batman and…
– 45.0% – Nightwing
– 48.6% – Batgirl
– 50.0% – Talon
– 56.8% – Teen Titans
– 58.4% – Red Hood and the Outlaws

2 year comparisons
===================

+121.3% – Constantine (Hellblazer)
+ 14.3% – The Unwritten
– 9.1% – Detective Comics
– 17.6% – Batman
– 19.4% – Fables
– 26.1% – Suicide Squad
– 29.2% – Green Arrow
– 31.6% – Nightwing
– 34.7% – Batgirl
– 37.0% – Justice League Dark
– 37.5% – Batman and…
– 38.8% – Birds of Prey
– 41.7% – Red Hood and the Outlaws
– 42.3% – Aquaman
– 42.8% – Justice League
– 43.3% – Catwoman
– 44.4% – Wonder Woman
– 46.4% – Green Lantern: New Guardians
– 47.0% – Supergirl
– 47.9% – Red Lanterns
– 48.2% – Batwing
– 49.5% – Teen Titans
– 50.1% – Green Lantern
– 50.7% – Batman: The Dark Knight
– 51.3% – Flash
– 51.3% – All Star Western
– 51.9% – Green Lantern Corps
– 53.5% – Superboy
– 54.9% – Swamp Thing
– 56.7% – Batwoman
– 59.2% – Superman
– 62.6% – Animal Man
– 67.0% – Action Comics
– 78.1% – Stormwatch

5 year comparisons
===================

+ 83.6% – Constantine (Hellblazer)
+ 61.6% – Batman
+ 59.4% – Detective
+ 42.8% – Stormwatch
+ 17.4% – Justice League (JLA)
+ 9.1% – All Star Western (Jonah Hex)
+ 7.5% – Nightwing
– 1.8% – Wonder Woman
– 2.6% – Green Arrow
– 6.7% – Birds of Prey
– 9.4% – Justice League of America
– 23.2% – Teen Titans
– 27.9% – Green Lantern Corps
– 30.6% – Action Comics
– 31.5% – Green Lantern
– 35.5% – Supergirl
– 36.4% – Superman
– 37.3% – Fables

10 year comparisons
===================

+154.4% – Detective Comics
+ 68.9% – Aquaman
+ 62.2% – Green Lantern
+ 46.0% – Justice League (JLA)
+ 44.7% – Batgirl
+ 37.3% – Constantine (Hellblazer)
+ 32.9% – Nightwing
+ 16.6% – Action Comics
+ 14.7% – Batman
+ 12.7% – Justice League of America
+ 5.5% – Superman
+ 4.6% – Flash
– 4.7% – Catwoman
– 15.7% – Wonder Woman
– 18.6% – Stormwatch
– 23.0% – Smallville
– 33.9% – Green Arrow
– 34.8% – Birds of Prey
– 44.0% – Fables
– 60.3% – Teen Titans

Sales Indices
=============

DCU: Average: 33,120. Median: 27,558

3.5 – Batman
2.7 – Detective Comics
2.6 – Justice League
2.0 – Harley Quinn
2.0 – Justice League of America
1.8 – Batman/Superman
1.5 – Green Lantern
1.4 – Superman/Wonder Woman
1.4 – Batman and…
1.4 – Damian: Son of Batman
1.3 – Justice League 3000
1.2 – Batman and… Annual
1.2 – Nightwing
1.1 – Forever Evil: Arkham War
1.1 – Batman: The Dark Knight
1.1 – Batgirl
1.1 – Aquaman
1.1 – Earth 2
1.1 – Action Comics
1.1 – Superman
1.1 – Flash
1.0 – Justice League Dark
1.0 – Earth 2 Annual
1.0 – Wonder Woman
0.9 – Green Lantern Corps
0.9 – Green Lantern: New Guardians
0.8 – Teen Titans
0.8 – Green Lantern Corps Annual
0.8 – Forever Evil: Rogues’ Rebellion
0.8 – Catwoman
0.7 – Red Hood and the Outlaws
0.7 – Red Lanterns
0.7 – Suicide Squad
0.7 – Green Arrow
0.7 – Batwoman
0.7 – Supergirl
0.6 – Worlds’ Finest
0.6 – Constantine
0.6 – Forever Evil: A.R.G.U.S.
0.6 – Swamp Thing
0.6 – Birds of Prey
0.6 – Worlds’ Finest Annual
0.6 – Trinity of Sin: Pandora
0.6 – Animal Man
0.5 – Forever Evil: Phantom Stranger
0.5 – Superboy
0.5 – Talon
0.4 – Larfleeze
0.4 – All Star Western
0.4 – Batwing
0.3 – Stormwatch
0.2 – The Movement
0.1 – The Green Team

Vertigo: Average: 11,473. Median: 11,975.

1.3 – Astro City
1.2 – Fables
1.1 – Fairest
1.1 – Dead Boy Detectives
1.0 – The Unwritten V2
1.0 – Coffin Hill
0.8 – Hinterkind
0.8 – FBP
0.7 – 100 Bullets: Brother Lono

Other (non-all-ages): Average: 16,060. Median: 11,768.

1.8 – Batman Black & White
1.5 – Injustice Year 2
1.4 – Batman ’66
1.2 – DC Universe vs. Masters of the Universe
0.9 – Batman Beyond Universe
0.7 – Smallville Season 11: Alien
0.7 – Scribblenauts Unleashed
0.7 – Adventures of Superman
0.7 – The Vampire Diaries
0.7 – Batman: Li’l Gotham

The sales index number is a ratio of the title’s current month sales to the average sales figure of the line to which is belongs for that month. So a sales index number of 1.0 means that a title sold very close to the sales average for that line.

—–
The Fine Print (Disclaimers, et cetera)
The numbers above are estimates for comic-book sales in the North American direct market, as calculated by ICv2.com according to the chart and index information provided by Diamond Comic Distributors.

ICv2.com‘s estimates are somewhat lower than the actual numbers, but they are consistent from month to month, so the trends they show are fairly accurate. Since it’s a “month-to-month” column, the comments, unless otherwise noted, are on the most recent month.

Bear in mind that the figures measure sales of physical comics to retailers, not customers. Also, these numbers do not include sales to bookstores, newsstands, other mass-market retail chains or the United Kingdom. Re-orders are included, so long as they either reached stores in a book’s initial calendar month of release or were strong enough to make the chart again in a subsequent month. Keep in mind that sales for some titles may include incentives to acquire variants and not every unit sold is necessarily even intended to be sold to a customer.

If additional copies of an issue did appear on the chart after a book’s initial calendar month of release, you can see the total number of copies sold in brackets behind those issues (e.g. “[36,599]“). Should more than one issue have shipped in a month which is relevant for one of the long-term comparisons, the average between them will be used.

Titles which are returnable have their numbers artificially adjusted down by Diamond. To make up for that this column increases the reported numbers for those titles by 10%. Which is likely also wrong, but it’s a different and likely less wrong kind of wrong, and experience has shown that this leads to sales figures which are more consistent.

Titles released under the All-Ages line and magazines, such as Mad, mostly sell through channels other than the direct market, so direct-market sales don’t tell us much about their performance. For most Vertigo titles, collection sales tend to be a significant factor, so the numbers for those books should be taken with a grain of salt as well. To learn (a little) more about Vertigo’s collection sales, go right here.

Please keep in mind that raw sales numbers do not tell us about how profitable a book is for a publisher or for the creators.
Above all, do not allow sales numbers to dictate your purchasing and enjoyment of a particular comic. If you enjoy reading a comic series then go right on buying and reading that comic, no matter what the sales figures say.

** Two asterisks after a given month in the average charts mean that one or more periodical release did not make the Top 300 chart in that month. In those cases, it’s assumed that said releases sold as many units as the No. 300 comic on the chart for that month for the purposes of the chart, although its actual sales are likely to be less than that.
—–
About the New Guy
I’m Dave Carter. In my day job I’m a librarian at the University of Michigan where I serve as the Video Game Archivist and also select comics and graphic novels for the library’s collection and organize comics-related events for the library. I occasionally blog about comics at Yet Another Comics Blog, where I compile a weekly (on Fridays) snapshot of comics and graphic novels sales on Amazon. I tweet about comics at @davereadscomics.

How did I end up with this gig? Heidi McDonald asked me, apparently at the recommendation of the former author of this column, Marc-Oliver Frisch. Mad props to Marc-Oliver for keeping this up for the past many years! (And thanks to interim columnist Frans van der Strack for doing the December column while I got my stuff together to start up in 2014.)

As this is my inaugural column, I’m interested in your feedback. Do you find the changes I’ve made to be useful? Do you agree or disagree with my commentary? Is there anything new or different that you’d like to see in future columns? Use the comments below and let me (and the world) know. (But be gentle—this is my first time!)

It’s highly likely that in the course of my transcription from the old columns into my new internal system that I mis-typed something or left something out. If you have any corrections, kindly note them in the comments below and I’ll investigate and fix things for future columns if necessary.

It should go without saying but I’ll state it anyway: All of the opinions expressed in this column are my own and do not reflect those of my employers, Heidi McDonald or anyone at The Beat, the World Curling Federation, or my neighbors’ dog Miles.

57 COMMENTS

  1. Sorry about the formatting; there was a bit of miscommunication between Heidi and myself on that front. Chalk it up to first month growing pains, and I’ll try to get things straightened out for February.

  2. Wow, great first time out! Really nice analysis throughout! I’m looking forward to this column every month!

    Notes:

    -It’s really a shame that Swamp Thing’s sales haven’t turned around yet (though at least they seem to be stabilizing). Charles Soule is doing a wonderful job and I hope his run lasts a long time. The rotating artists have all been solid and the ongoing storylines feel natural (exciting without being driven by editorial).

    -Yes, I’ve also noticed that those recent “Batman” issues haven’t had “Zero Year” on the top. I don’t know what to make of this. Almost every pundit on the internet (except for the CBR reviewers with their rubber-stamps of “4.5 stars!”) believes that “Zero Year” has gone on too long and fans have gotten quite sick of it. If DC suspects this also, maybe they’re pulling the banner so as to trick unsuspecting buyers who might think “Okay, I’ll pick up Batman again now that ‘Zero Year’ is over”. But who knows. It might just be an oversight. Or maybe they think that ‘Zero Year’ has gone on so long now that it feels silly to still put it on the cover? Oh wait, this is from the same company who still writes “NEW 52” on their books, two and a half years into the experiment…

  3. “If everyone on Tumblr who says that they want Damian as Robin, Stephanie as Batgirl, and Barbara as Oracle actually bought this series that features all of those things it would doubtlessly still be going.”

    Well, that’s the basic problem with Tumblr, isn’t it? It’s a community that’s based around reposting snippets of content, like a panel or page from a comic that somebody else has scanned, and adding a line or two of irrelevant commentary. Actually financially supporting the content they claim they want to see never factors into it.

  4. Welcome to the site! I enjoyed the commentary, and I agree with you about Adventures of Superman. I hate to see those sales numbers drop so quickly. I love that back… my one “real” Superman fix still available on a monthly basis. I’ll be buying it as long as it’s on the shelf every month.

  5. Loved the comments on Batwoman.

    Wow, Larfleeze’s dropping like an anvil in the ocean. Like I said last month, the GL franchise is in too much trouble to bail it weak(est) sibling out.

    Wildstorm R.I.P You won’t be missed. So quit shoving it down our thtroats, DC.

    Glad about All-Star Western raising its page count. Anything to try to get new readers. Tho the “Hex in the present” storyline was an idea best left at the bar.

    Turmoil all across the DCnU books, yet Batwing survives another month. Exactly who’s in possession of the pics of the DC exec with a donkey?

  6. Welcome!

    So we know now changes are in store for WW and All Star Western is cancelled.

    I like the new additions (especially the “After this point”s), but I also cast my vote for giving the sales of the #1s.

  7. Thanks everyone for your kind words. I’ll take your suggestions for improvements under consideration (and please keep them coming!)

    @Rob E: Unfortunately, DC announced today that All Star Western is ending. I’m disappointed, but OTOH we’ll have had just over 100 issues of Palmiotti & Gray’s Jonah Hex when it is all done, which these days is quite the accomplishment.

  8. This is a very big improvement over the last installment of this column. Thank you. Your commentary is clear and your assumptions seem sensible.

    What do you make of the possible future for “Astro City,” an acclaimed, honored series that seems to be losing readers? Does it have enough honors and recognition to be analyzed under a different set of criteria than a lot of the other books? Or are things so bad that it is in just as much trouble as the others near it on your list?

  9. Saipaman, It is not cancelled yet. We are still going till we are told different. 31 will not be the last issue, that I know for sure. Its a monthly battle with the book with such low numbers. That is the reality of comics.

  10. “If everyone on Tumblr who says that they want Damian as Robin, Stephanie as Batgirl, and Barbara as Oracle actually bought this series that features all of those things it would doubtlessly still be going.”

    Jeez Dave If you knew anything about Li’l Gotham you’d know that Stephanie Brown most definitely isn’t in the book. And Oracle has appeared but isn’t a regular character.
    But I do have to ask given this is a “digital first” comic and you have no insight at all into the digital sales of this book you really don’t know how many people you took a swipe at bought it, do you? I mean you could easily say if it wasn’t for the Tumblr audience there really wouldn’t have been any market for a book like this that sticks out like a sore thumb from the rest of DC’s offerings.
    @Nick Jones – “Actually financially supporting the content they claim to want to see never factors into it” Really? I kinda tired that Tumblr gets called out for this when there is no evidence of this. If my Amazon Affiliate sales are any evidence of willingness to financially support the content they claim to want I’d say there’s definitely some cash going out the door ….

  11. @Steve R: I dunno about Astro City. If it stabilizes where it is at around 13-14K that will probably be enough to keep it going as long as the creators want to keep doing it. For so long though it was published sporadically and that may have hurt the brand. But strange and mysterious are the ways of Vertigo…

    @Jimmy P: Reports are that DC announced ASW as cancelled at ComicsPRO today; is that incorrect? (I certainly hope so!)

    @Sue: No we don’t know the digital sales numbers; but one has to assume that if they were significant DC would have found a way to keep the book going. Frankly I adored the book, but my adoration and 99¢ spent per digital issue weren’t enough to keep it going.

  12. When I read this I am somewhat relieved that I stopped buying DC books during the No Man’s Land and Electric Superman crossovers wankfest, which was only foreshadowing what is happening today. I am now an avid re-re-re-reader of my silver & bronze DCs and I probably could say the same for Marvel. Sic transit gloria mundi.
    Great column, it would be nice someday to see all sales accounted, digital and TPB altogether.
    Ironic to compare this to the latest Asterix, which sold what, seven million copies…

  13. @dave I don’t know why you keep implying the book wasn’t “kept going”. The book was not cancelled and DC, from what I understand, wanted more. So perhaps those $.99 downloads were enough to keep it going.

  14. “Actually financially supporting the content they claim they want to see never factors into it.”
    Not exactly true. Some fans just outright hate DC and abstain from books because of management etc. in the last few years they have just gone too far. I watched Dial H and several other books I would have absolutely bought go bye. I would read All Star Western in a heartbeat if Before Watchmen and whole lot of shit never happen. I regularly pass up DC titles out of absolute revulsion for the manage team. But who cares there is little difference between 12,000 and 12,001.

  15. @Sue: There are no more new issues, so it was not kept going. It’s not like it was a creator-owned book; DC could have hired someone else to do more issues if they wanted more.

  16. @Dave Uh no. The creators of Li’l Gotham chose not to continue the book. While you are right in this was not a creator owned book the look and feel of the characters was a creation of Dustin and Derek (who had been working on it and pitching it for years). Really without them there was no Li’l Gotham. While DC could have continued the series as I’ve just outlined without those creators there really was no book. Certainly it wouldn’t have been to me and most likely the folks who were buying it.

  17. I really like the new and updated stats and found the summaries helpful, interesting, funny, and, especially in the case of Batwoman, with just the right amount of snark.

    An Aquaman spin-off and another GL one says to me that DC has given up a bit on their other characters who don’t already have a book. Those two franchises clearly can’t support those new books so does anybody know what the reason is for throwing them to the wolves? A brief sales spike before cancellation?
    I really like the art of Swamp Thing and it’s pretty well-written but I think the plotting was faulty for a new creative team with the Swamp Thing being usurped and backstabbed by the Parliament right after he got the role of Avatar. It’s kind of like having a clone of the title character running around by issue #4. It’s not necessarily a bad story (especially since this one got ride of the Parliament) but it’s placement was too soon. Those are my thoughts anyway. But, man, the art really is wonderful.

    “A tie-in with “Gothtopia” sees an increase of around 2500 copies, or approx. one extra copy per store served by Diamond in North America. ”

    That’s an interesting perspective I hadn’t considered before.

    “So in between issues #25 & 26 of Superboy, the main character was killed off in an issue of Superman, and then a new version of Superboy (from the future) was introduced in an issue of Teen Titans. This new evil Superboy became the star of the book with #26. Given this sort of contempt for readers, this book deserves its low sales.”

    The hell?!

  18. Considering it was based on the Occupy group known for dropping duces on cop cars the Movement was poorly named. Also, that much politics in a comic came off preachy. That came accross in the prepress stuff so I did not even look at it. I was turned off by that, so the message was not “don’t try some thing new” but “don’t shove your politics down my throat”. More to a general point the message should be “look up what a real hero is and stop giving us bad guys as heroes”.

    I liked “the sold worse than this” part of this chart as well.

  19. “If my Amazon Affiliate sales are any evidence of willingness to financially support the content they claim to want I’d say there’s definitely some cash going out the door ….”

    Had to check your Tumblr to see exactly what sort of content you deal with, which seems to be reviews, essays, and direct promotion of comic books. So yes, your specific Tumblr seems like the kind of thing that would indeed be more likely to get people to buy stuff, but I doubt you’d seriously suggest that your page is typical of the vast majority of content that appears on Tumblr. In fact, experimentally clicking on the names of people who “liked” and “reblogged” one of your posts didn’t lead to any pages similar to yours, it lead to precisely the sort of snippets I described before.

    Well, that and pages and pages and unending bloody pages of animated .gifs from television shows.

    “Some fans just outright hate DC and abstain from books because of management etc.”

    Sure, but why would those same people then complain that the book they would never purchase under any circumstances based on moral grounds isn’t catering to their story and character preferences?

  20. Dave,

    I totally agree with you on The Green Team. I expected if not a totally humourous title, at least something lighter from Art & Franco.

    As for The Movement, you write “Comics market to super-hero publishers: “Don’t try anything new.” Well, I would guess that it wasn’t new enough. I’m pretty sure that DC, Marvel or any other publishers should make a #1 issue that the readers won’t forget. A new character won’t make the deal, a new title needs a totally different point-of-view. But The Movement was as depressing as any other title. So maybe DC should try “really really new” when trying to publish a new title.

    Good luck for the column, you really did a great job.

  21. If you hate company so much that you are not even going to buy titles that you would like then I gotta question why are you even writing comments on this blog post or reading it in the first place? Feels kinda counterproductive.

  22. Great job on the column. Couple of thoughts:

    Noting that Johns is coming on to Superman, I don’t think you can say that that will be the first creative change revitalizing a title, as we did see growth when Lemire came on Green Arrow.

    While the drops-since-first-issue numbers are interesting to some degree, knowing that there is always a significant drop from #1 to #2, maybe the percentage drop since #2 would be better? Or in addition?

  23. It’s an old story, but lack of quality is a serious problem for DC. I’m seeing a massive amount of event fatigue for Forever Evil from the comic fans I know. Most have dropped it, and the primary complaint seems to be that it’s FAR too long. I’d also add that it’s a pointless, meandering mess, but maybe that’s just me. Gothtopia is also incredibly confusing, with this month’s Catwoman being completely incoherent. Finally, Zero Year comes across as slightly ridiculous, considering they JUST REBOOTED the universe.

    I too wish Adventures of Superman could survive. In general, DC’s digital titles are an island of quality slowly sinking into the general nu52 mediocrity (I say in general because exceptions exist on both sides).

  24. Swamp Thing, Green Arrow, The Phantom Stranger… all excellent books with great creative teams! Why is this not turning into sales? I was thinking, do comic books advertise their titles within their books anymore, just to do so. Like “Hey, Swamp Thing rocks! Great creative team! Give it a try!” like they did back in the day. Today if it’s not a huge shakeup or a creative team change it seems a title’s promotion is just ignored.

    As for Dead Boy Detectives, is it bad to say a book is too “British written?” LOL A) They have yet to explain who the characters are, very well. For those that didn’t read Sandman, this book doesn’t make a lot of sense. And B) it’s SO British, I don’t get half the chatter.

  25. @Glenn: Yes there have been a couple of bumps from creative team changes so far; most notably as you note on Green Arrow, so I take your point. But I predict that the Superman bump from Johns & JR jr will send it from the low-30Ks to over 100K, which is a whole different level. (I’ll also expect something similar on Wonder Woman when the Finches take over.)

    @Nathan: I remember back in the 80s when Alan Moore & co. took over Swamp Thing. The book was selling for crap at the time (which is why they gave it to a bunch of unknowns from Great Britain in the first place) but as acclaim grew DC underwent a fairly extensive in house ad campaign to draw attention to the title. (I’ll probably have more to write about the current state of DC’s marketing as it relates to sales in a future column.) As for DBD, as I’ve thought about it since submitting this column, I think there are other factors at work as well. Look for that next month too as my thoughts crystalize…

  26. Actually, Sue is right. Tumblr being held responsible for the poor sales of a book is a flawed argument. The Tumblr demographic probably couldn’t noticeably affect the numbers of a bowl of candy on Halloween.

  27. Yes — I’m not surprised “Forever Evil” feels like a drag. I think it was a *huge* mistake to have a 28 (!!!) issue cross-over between the “dark” comics. It’s a story that just feels endless and this would have been a good example of something that would have benefitted from Marvel’s bi-weekly shipping (which is what made “Infinity” feel like it went really quick…)

    Pandora was announced (IIRC) to be ending at 12. I’ll be curious to see how much longer Phantom Stranger survives. Constantine will probably survive because of the announced TV show, but beyond that…

  28. “If you hate company so much that you are not even going to buy titles that you would like then I gotta question why are you even writing comments on this blog post or reading it in the first place? Feels kinda counterproductive.”

    Well next you are going to tell me not to look at car accidents or that people falling down isn’t funny. I enjoy the carnage and inexorable trend towards 52 Batbooks.

  29. “Alan Moore & co. took over Swamp Thing. The book was selling for crap at the time (which is why they gave it to a bunch of unknowns from Great Britain in the first place)”

    Where in Great Britain exactly are Vermont (Stephen Bissette) and Pennsylvania (John Totleben)? I don’t think we have another Briton working on the book until Dave McKean did a few covers over four years later.

    Good job on the column. I kind of enjoyed M-OF’s take sometimes, but it was pretty obvious his knowledge of current DC comics was almost entirely second hand from press reports and solicitations, so it’s good to get a perspective from someone who actually reads some of them.

  30. Welcome! (Next time you’re in the New York area, we’ll take a boat to Stately Beat Manor, so the capuchins can acclimatize to you.)

    What I would like to see in these columns would be estimated dollar amounts.

    How do the $2.99 books sell in relation to $3.99 or $7.99 or $1.00? How does a pricer annual sell in comparison with the monthly title?

  31. Thanks for the very enjoyable read Dave. The new since #1 drop percentage stat was very depressing across all listings.

    I’d say DC needs to plant some anchor titles that are rooted in quality talent and stability in order to stop the readership bloodshed that’s happening. With the bloom well off the New 52 their line seems stale. I’m not very optimistic about the new weekly titles coming soon, seems like the kind of stunt that will start strong with rapidly eroding sales by month two.

    Looking at the The Beat’s columns for Month-to-Month Marvel and the Independents is seems the consistent drop in readers on titles is not unique to DC. Are we seeing a ‘real’ sustained trend across the direct market and if so why?

  32. “While the drops-since-first-issue numbers are interesting to some degree, knowing that there is always a significant drop from #1 to #2, maybe the percentage drop since #2 would be better? Or in addition?”

    Good point. Something to consider.

  33. “How do the $2.99 books sell in relation to $3.99 or $7.99 or $1.00? How does a pricer annual sell in comparison with the monthly title?”

    Yeah, I’d like to see that too. Like some sort of alternate rankings where cover price is multiplied times units to see how the ranking numbers change around.

  34. Heck, it’s not till about the 4th month (which would generally be issue #4 at DC and issue #8 at Marvel – ha) that people are placing orders based on having actually read the first issue and liked it. The first issue would include all of the people who just buy #1 of everything and the people who were on the fence but bought an issue to give it a try.

  35. Dave – Nice first column. I liked the comparison points with the overall chart.

    One thing it might be interesting to see would be when a title changed creative teams. You brought it up a number of times, but it might be kind of cool to see it near the numbers.

  36. The comparisons to other publishers’ titles, including Saga and especially My Little Pony, were fantastic. That’s at least some evidence that if DC made a focused effort, a broader market is available to them.

    Just as an aside, I’d love to see some data on how well Marvel’s movies boosted related sales for related comics and TPBs. Same for DC if the data is there. We can read in these charts what happened with the comics number when Man of Steel came out, but it doesn’t show the overall (positive) impact to the publishers.

  37. “Zero Year comes across as slightly ridiculous, considering they JUST REBOOTED the universe.”

    How is this ridiculous? Are you even reading it? (I know the answer.)

    It’s a story that has never been told before, and could not have been told before the reboot, as it would’ve conflicted with small details from the previous that fanboys like yourself would’ve gotten bent out of shape over.

  38. “DC recently announced that the all-star creative team of Geoff Johns, John Romita, Jr. & Klaus Jansen will be taking over the main Superman title sometime in 2014, which will surely give a huge bump in sales. It will likely be the first time in the New 52 era that a creative team change re-energizes a title.”

    I’ve wanted to see JRJR draw a DC book for years, and when it finally happens, it’s the freaking New 52. : (

Comments are closed.