by David Carter

twd-158bGreetings, sales charts fans! It’s time once again to look at Image Comics’s sales figures.

Please refer to the July 2015 column for a preamble and explanation as to why sales standards for Image books are likely to be different than those for DC or Marvel.

Image shipped 52 comics in September, the same as in August. They shipped a whopping 73 comics in September 2015.

Of those 52 comics, 14 did not place in the Diamond Top 300, and another 20 were below the 10K sales mark.

Warning: The commentary below may contain reasoned analysis, speculation (unfounded and otherwise), opinion, and/or snark. Those looking for a more straightforward analysis are directed to John Jackson Miller’s excellent Comichron analysis, posted last month over at Comichron!

Please consider the fine print at the end of the column. 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.

(Note that the percentage comparisons are done with total orders including reorder activity, as opposed to initial orders.)


6 - THE WALKING DEAD ($2.99)
09/2006: The Walking Dead #31  --  21,368
09/2011: --
09/2012: The Walking Dead #102 --  53,337 
09/2013: The Walking Dead #114 --  70,440
09/2014: The Walking Dead #131 --  69,810  [69,868] 
-----------------------------------------
09/2015: The Walking Dead #146 --  69,006 (- 16.6%)  [69,799]
10/2015: The Walking Dead #147 --  67,056 (-  2.6%)  [68,007]
11/2015: The Walking Dead #148 --  65,526 (-  2.3%)  [66,446]
12/2015: The Walking Dead #149 --  65,406 (-  1.6%) 
01/2016: The Walking Dead #150 -- 156,166 (+138.8%) 
02/2016: The Walking Dead #151 --  67,381 (- 59.6%) 
03/2016: The Walking Dead #152 --  67,258 (-  0.2%) 
04/2016: The Walking Dead #153 --  67,358 (+  0.1%) 
05/2016: The Walking Dead #154 --  68,922 (+  2.3%) 
06/2016: The Walking Dead #155 --  71,755 (+  4.1%) 
07/2016: The Walking Dead #156 --  76,355 (+  6.4%) 
08/2016: The Walking Dead #157 --  97,689 (+ 37.0%) [104,596]
09/2016: The Walking Dead #158 --  94,316 (-  9.8%) 
-----------------
6 months: + 40.2%
1 year  : + 35.1%
2 years : + 35.0%
5 years :    n.a.
10 years: +341.4%

Walking Dead’s foray into the world of freely order able variants for the “Whisper War” storyline pays off handsomely. There’s also nearly another 7K in reorder activity for last month’s issue, which you’ll see added in to the [bracketed] numbers above.

55 - SAGA ($2.99)
09/2012: -- 
09/2013: Saga #14 -- 55,585 
09/2014: Saga #23 -- 56,162  [55,590]
---------------------------
09/2015: -- 
10/2015: -- 
11/2015: Saga #31 -- 53,980 (-  5.0%) [54,650]
12/2015: Saga #32 -- 51,850 (-  5.1%) 
01/2016: Saga #33 -- 50,415 (-  2.8%) 
02/2016: Saga #34 -- 49,363 (-  2.1%) 
03/2016: Saga #35 -- 48,845 (-  1.0%) 
04/2016: Saga #36 -- 48,957 (+  0.2%) 
05/2016: -- 
06/2016: -- 
07/2016: -- 
08/2016: Saga #37 -- 50,016 (+  2.2%) 
09/2016: Saga #38 -- 48,106 (-  3.8%) 
-----------------
6 months: -  1.5%
1 year  :    n.a.
2 years : - 13.5%

Everything is fine in Saga-land.

81 - SEVEN TO ETERNITY ($3.99)
09/2016: Seven to Eternity #1  -- 30,050

The new Dark Fantasy series from Rick Remender & Jerome Opea has a pretty good debut, sales wise. If it follows a typical sales regression for a new series, it should end up settling in the mid- to upper- teens.

83 - PAPER GIRLS ($2.99)
10/2015: Paper Girls #1  -- 75,585           [80,620]
11/2015: Paper Girls #2  -- 46,274 (- 40.0%) [48,346]
12/2015: Paper Girls #3  -- 43,737 (-  9.5%) 
01/2016: Paper Girls #4  -- 38,290 (- 12.5%) 
02/2016: Paper Girls #5  -- 37,206 (-  2.8%) 
03/2016: -- 
04/2016: -- 
05/2016: -- 
06/2016: Paper Girls #6  -- 36,385 (-  2.2%) 
07/2016: Paper Girls #7  -- 35,392 (-  2.7%) 
08/2016: Paper Girls #8  -- 33,731 (-  4.7%) 
09/2016: Paper Girls #9  -- 32,320 (-  4.2%) 
-----------------
6 months:    n.a.

Good numbers for a series at this point. It should stick around as long as its creators want to keep doing it.

100 - KILL OR BE KILLED ($3.99)
08/2016: Kill or Be Killed #1  -- 30,050 
09/2016: Kill or Be Killed #2  -- 23,812 (- 20.8%)

That’s a good percentage drop for a second issue; a typical drop is around 30%, and lately we’ve been seeing a lot of Image books take a second issue hit of around 50%. But with a Brubaker & Phillips crime comic being something of a known quantity, it makes sense that retailers would be able to do a better job at gauging demand.

109 - I HATE FAIRYLAND ($3.50)
10/2015: I Hate Fairyland #1 -- 50,318           [53,492]
11/2015: I Hate Fairyland #2 -- 31,626 (- 38.2%) [33,054]
12/2015: I Hate Fairyland #3 -- 27,843 (- 15.8%) 
01/2016: I Hate Fairyland #4 -- 25,708 (-  7.7%) 
02/2016: I Hate Fairyland #5 -- 24,793 (-  3.6%) 
03/2016: -- 
04/2016: -- 
05/2016: -- 
06/2016: I Hate Fairyland #6 -- 26,095 (+  5.3%) 
07/2016: I Hate Fairyland #7 -- 23,742 (-  9.0%) 
08/2016: I Hate Fairyland #8 -- 22,562 (-  5.0%) 
09/2016: I Hate Fairyland #9 -- 21,265 (-  5.7%) 
-----------------
6 months:    n.a.

Sales at this level are perfectly fine for an Image title, though at this point we’d rather see a more typical issue-to-issue drop of 2-3%, rather than the 5-6% happening here.

110 - OUTCAST BY KIRKMAN & AZACETA ($2.99)
09/2014: Outcast #4  -- 45,401  [46,590] 
------------------------------
09/2015: Outcast #12 -- 26,115 (-  3.6%) 
10/2015: -- 
11/2015: Outcast #13 -- 24,051 (-  7.9%) 
12/2015: Outcast #14 -- 23,319 (-  3.0%) 
01/2016: Outcast #15 -- 22,195 (-  4.8%) 
02/2016: Outcast #16 -- 21,801 (-  1.8%) 
03/2016: Outcast #17 -- 21,426 (-  1.7%) 
04/2016: Outcast #18 -- 21,261 (-  0.8%) 
05/2016: -- 
06/2016: -- 
07/2016: Outcast #19 -- 22,167 (+  4.3%) 
08/2016: Outcast #20 -- 21,919 (-  1.1%) 
09/2016: Outcast #21 -- 20,886 (-  4.7%) 
-----------------
6 months: -  2.5%
1 year  : -  9.6%
2 years : - 55.2%

For any other Image title these would be fine numbers. But for a Kirkman book with a TV show they seem a bit disappointing. But then the show is where the real money is, so hey.

113 - SNOTGIRL ($2.99)
07/2016: Snotgirl #1  -- 37,765 
08/2016: Snotgirl #2  -- 23,830 (- 36.9%) 
09/2016: Snotgirl #3  -- 20,527 (- 13.9%)

Doing just fine.

117 - THE BLACK MONDAY MURDERS ($4.99)
08/2016: Kill or Be Killed #1  -- 26,696 
09/2016: Kill or Be Killed #2  -- 19,749 (- 26.0%)

Doing fine, especially for a $5 book.

131 - THE WICKED + THE DIVINE ($3.99)
09/2014: Wicked + Divine #4  -- 25,668  
--------------------------------------
09/2015: Wicked + Divine #14 -- 20,706 (+  2.7%) 
10/2015: Wicked + Divine #15 -- 20,154 (-  2.7%) 
11/2015: Wicked + Divine #16 -- 19,360 (-  3.9%) 
12/2015: Wicked + Divine #17 -- 18,479 (-  4.6%) 
01/2016: --
02/2016: --
03/2016: --
04/2016: Wicked + Divine #18 -- 17,722 (-  4.1%) 
05/2016: Wicked + Divine #19 -- 16,929 (-  4.4%) 
06/2016: Wicked + Divine #20 -- 17,831 (+  5.3%) 
07/2016: Wicked + Divine #21 -- 16,283 (-  8.7%) 
08/2016: Wicked + Divine #22 -- 15,969 (-  1.9%) 
08/2016: W + D 1831 one-shot -- 16,408 (+  2.7%) 
-----------------
6 months:    n.a.
1 year  : - 20.8%
2 years : - 36.1%

A bit of a bump up for this month’s flashback one-shot.

132 - DESCENDER ($2.99)
09/2015: -- 
10/2015: -- 
11/2015: Descender #7  -- 23,684 (-  3.8%) 
12/2015: Descender #8  -- 20,999 (- 11.3%) 
01/2016: Descender #9  -- 20,017 (-  4.7%) 
02/2016: Descender #10 -- 19,642 (-  3.4%) 
03/2016: Descender #11 -- 18,842 (-  2.6%) 
04/2016: -- 
05/2016: -- 
06/2016: Descender #12 -- 19,782 (+  5.0%) 
07/2016: Descender #13 -- 17,783 (- 10.1%) 
08/2016: Descender #14 -- 17,296 (-  2.7%) 
09/2016: Descender #15 -- 16,386 (-  5.3%) 
-----------------
6 months: - 13.0%
1 year  :    n.a.

143 - SURGEON X ($3.99)
09/2016: Surgeon X #1  -- 14,866

New series from Sara Kenney & John Watkins. Ex-Vertigo head Karen Berger is editing, and this is one of the few times we’ve ever seen a editor get credited on a cover. Sales are in line with recent Vertigo debuts, though at Image those sorts of sales levels are much more palatable.

148 - GLITTERBOMB ($3.99)
09/2016: Glitterbomb #1  -- 14,105

New horror-in-Hollywood series from Jim Zub & Djibril Morissette-Phan.

162 - ECLIPSE ($3.99)
09/2016: Eclipse #1  -- 12,375

New scifi horror series from Zack Kaplan & Giovanni Timpano.

165 - BLACK SCIENCE ($3.99)
09/2014: Black Science #8  -- 22,429  
------------------------------------
09/2015: -- 
10/2015: -- 
11/2015: Black Science #17 -- 15,094 (- 17.5%) 
12/2015: Black Science #18 -- 14,465 (-  4.2%) 
01/2016: Black Science #19 -- 13,966 (-  3.4%) 
02/2016: Black Science #20 -- 13,251 (-  5.1%) 
03/2016: Black Science #21 -- 13,092 (-  1.2%) 
04/2016: -- 
05/2016: -- 
06/2016: -- 
07/2016: Black Science #22 -- 12,829 (-  2.0%) 
08/2016: Black Science #23 -- 12,466 (-  2.8%) 
09/2016: Black Science #24 -- 11,810 (-  5.3%) 
-----------------
6 months: -  9.8%
1 year  :    n.a.
2 years : - 47.3%

Quite a number of Image titles are seeing month-to-month declines in the 5% range this month. Not exactly sure why, but if I had to hazard a guess it would be that DC’s Rebirth is sucking a bit of the extra money out of the ecosystem, causing retailers to cut back a bit more on other titles than they ordinarily would.

176 - THE FIX ($3.99)
04/2016: The Fix #1  -- 14,959 
05/2016: The Fix #2  -- 10,433 (- 30.3%) 
06/2016: The Fix #3  -- 11,128 (+  6.7%) 
07/2016: The Fix #4  -- 11,115 (-  0.1%) 
08/2016: -- 
09/2016: The Fix #5  -- 10,463 (-  5.9%)

Despite there being multiple prints of the first four issue, sales this month also dropped the 5-6% that many of the other Image books seem to be experiencing.

178 - HADRIAN'S WALL ($3.99)
09/2016: Hadrian's Wall #1  -- 10,038

New scifi mystery series from Kyle Higgins, Alec Siegel & Rod Reis.

179 - RED ONE ($2.99)
03/2015: Red One #1  -- 22,486 
04/2015: Red One #2  -- 15,987 (- 28.9%) 
05/2015: -- 
06/2015: -- 
07/2015: -- 
08/2015: -- 
09/2015: -- 
10/2015: -- 
11/2015: -- 
12/2015: -- 
01/2016: -- 
02/2016: -- 
03/2016: -- 
04/2016: -- 
05/2016: -- 
06/2016: -- 
07/2016: -- 
08/2016: -- 
09/2016: Red One #3  -- 10,030 (- 37.3%) 
-----------------
6 months:    n.a.
1 year  :    n.a.

Another case of out-of-sight, out-of-mind. Maybe they should have started over with a new #1?

181 - DEADLY CLASS ($3.99)
09/2014: Deadly Class #7  -- 14,834  
-----------------------------------
09/2015: Deadly Class #16 -- 11,394 (-  3.3%) 
10/2015: --
11/2015: --
12/2015: Deadly Class #17 -- 11,035 (-  3.2%) 
01/2016: Deadly Class #18 -- 10,485 (-  5.0%) 
02/2016: --
03/2016: Deadly Class #19 -- 10,440 (-  0.4%) 
04/2016: Deadly Class #20 -- 10,366 (-  0.7%) 
05/2016: -- 
06/2016: Deadly Class #21 -- 10,892 (+  5.1%) 
07/2016: -- 
08/2016: -- 
09/2016: Deadly Class #22 --  9,865 (-  9.4%) 
-----------------
6 months: -  5.5%
1 year  : - 13.4%
2 years : - 33.5%

The previous issue was part of June’s Image bump, so no surprise to see Deadly Class return three months later with an over 1,000 copy drop.

202 - MANIFEST DESTINY ($2.99)
09/2014: Manifest Destiny #10 -- 14,312  
---------------------------------------
09/2015: Manifest Destiny #17 -- 10,748 (-  2.2%) 
10/2015: Manifest Destiny #18 -- 10,503 (-  2.3%) 
11/2015: -- 
12/2015: -- 
01/2016: -- 
02/2016: -- 
03/2016: -- 
04/2016: -- 
05/2016: Manifest Destiny #19 --  9,900 (-  5.7%) 
06/2016: Manifest Destiny #20 --  9,399 (-  5.1%) 
07/2016: Manifest Destiny #21 --  8,763 (-  6.8%) 
08/2016: Manifest Destiny #22 --  8,526 (-  2.7%) 
09/2016: Manifest Destiny #23 --  8,039 (-  5.7%) 
-----------------
6 months:    n.a.
1 year  : - 25.2%
2 years : - 43.8%

Yup, another 5-6% drop. Something must be going on here…

203 - THE BEAUTY ($3.99)
09/2015: The Beauty #2  -- 17,337 (- 31.3%)
10/2015: The Beauty #3  -- 14,935 (- 13.9%)
11/2015: The Beauty #4  -- 13,369 (- 10.5%)
12/2015: The Beauty #5  -- 11,514 (- 13.9%)
01/2016: The Beauty #6  -- 10,595 (-  8.0%)
02/2016: -- 
03/2016: -- 
04/2016: -- 
05/2016: The Beauty #7  --  9,178 (- 13.4%)
06/2016: The Beauty #8  --  9,577 (+  4.3%)
07/2016: The Beauty #9  --  8,340 (- 12.9%)
08/2016: -- 
09/2016: The Beauty #10 --  7,986 (-  4.2%)
-----------------
6 months:    n.a.
1 year  : - 53.9%

203 - CHEW ($3.99)
09/2011: --
09/2012: Chew #28      -- 12,531 
09/2013: Chew #36      -- 12,402
09/2014: Chew #43      -- 10,777 
--------------------------------
09/2015: -- 
10/2015: Chew #51      --  9,652 (-  9.6%) 
11/2015: Chew #52      --  9,056 (-  6.2%) 
12/2015: Chew #53      --  8,829 (-  2.5%) 
01/2016: Chew #54      --  8,556 (-  3.1%) 
02/2016: Chew #55      --  8,430 (-  1.5%) 
03/2016: --
04/2016: Demon Chicken -- 10,447 (+ 23.9%)
05/2016: -- 
06/2016: --
07/2016: Chew #56      --  8,469 (- 18.9%) 
08/2016: Chew #57      --  8,280 (-  2.2%) 
09/2016: Chew #58      --  7,986 (-  3.6%) 
-----------------
6 months:    n.a.
1 year  :    n.a.
2 years : - 25.9%
5 years :    n.a.

Ending with issue #60.

208 - BIRTHRIGHT ($2.99)
09/2015: --
10/2015: --
11/2015: Birthright #11 -- 10,989 (-  0.7%) 
12/2015: Birthright #12 -- 10,633 (-  3.2%) 
01/2016: Birthright #13 --  9,931 (-  6.6%) 
02/2016: Birthright #14 --  9,519 (-  4.1%) 
03/2016: Birthright #15 --  9,344 (-  1.8%) 
04/2016: -- 
05/2016: -- 
06/2016: Birthright #16 --  9,015 (-  3.5%) 
07/2016: Birthright #17 --  8,264 (-  8.3%) 
08/2016: Birthright #18 --  8,146 (-  1.4%) 
09/2016: Birthright #19 --  7,832 (-  3.9%) 
-----------------
6 months: - 16.2%
1 year  :    n.a.

213 - NAILBITER ($2.99)
09/2014: Nailbiter #5  -- 14,947 
--------------------------------
09/2015: --
10/2015: Nailbiter #16 --  9,719 (-  2.2%) 
11/2015: Nailbiter #17 --  9,333 (-  4.0%) 
12/2015: Nailbiter #18 --  8,853 (-  5.1%) 
01/2016: Nailbiter #19 --  8,464 (-  4.4%) 
02/2016: Nailbiter #20 --  8,368 (-  1.1%) 
03/2016: -- 
04/2016: -- 
05/2016: Nailbiter #21 --  8,196 (-  2.1%) 
06/2016: Nailbiter #22 --  8,477 (+  3.4%) 
07/2016: Nailbiter #23 --  7,938 (-  6.4%) 
08/2016: Nailbiter #24 --  7,780 (-  2.0%) 
09/2016: Nailbiter #25 --  7,474 (-  3.9%) 
-----------------
6 months:    n.a.
1 year  :    n.a.
2 years : - 50.0%

225 - DEMONIC ($2.99)
08/2016: Demonic #1  -- 14,442 
09/2016: Demonic #2  --  6,912 (- 52.1%)

Not a good second issue drop.

229 - LAKE OF FIRE ($2.99)
08/2016: Lake of Fire #1 of 5 -- 9,142 
09/2016: Lake of Fire #2 of 5 -- 6,637 (- 27.4%)

A typical second issue drop, but at this level that’s not too encouraging.

236 - WAYWARD ($3.50)
09/2014: Wayward #2  -- 15,053
------------------------------
09/2015: -- 
10/2015: -- 
11/2015: Wayward #11 --  8,024 (+  4.4%) 
12/2015: Wayward #12 --  7,015 (- 14.5%) 
01/2016: Wayward #13 --  6,589 (-  6.1%) 
02/2016: Wayward #14 --  6,397 (-  2.9%) 
03/2016: Wayward #15 --  6,089 (-  4.8%) 
04/2016: -- 
05/2016: -- 
06/2016: -- 
07/2016: -- 
08/2016: -- 
09/2016: Wayward #16 --  6,165 (+  1.2%) 
-----------------
6 months: +  1.2%
1 year  :    n.a.
2 years : - 59.0%

Sees a small rise after a long layoff, which is kind of encouraging.

252 - HORIZON ($2.99)
07/2016: Horizon #1 -- 15,175  
08/2016: Horizon #2 --  7,860 (- 48.2%)  
09/2016: Horizon #3 --  5,787 (- 26.4%)

259 - ODY-C ($3.99)
09/2015: ODY-C #7  --  8,882 (-  8.2%) 
10/2015: ODY-C #8  --  7,959 (- 10.4%) 
11/2015: -- 
12/2015: -- 
01/2016: ODY-C #9  --  7,165 (- 10.0%)
02/2016: --
03/2016: ODY-C #10 --  6,665 (-  7.0%)
04/2016: -- 
05/2016: -- 
06/2016: -- 
07/2016: -- 
08/2016: -- 
09/2016: ODY-C #11 --  5,546 (- 16.8%)
-----------------
6 months: - 16.8%
1 year  : - 37.6%

ODY-C, on the other hand, came off it’s long layoff with a large drop.

260 - RUMBLE ($3.50)
09/2015: Rumble #7  --  7,613 (- 13.6%) 
10/2015: Rumble #8  --  7,084 (-  6.9%) 
11/2015: Rumble #9  --  6,774 (-  4.4%) 
12/2015: Rumble #10 --  6,324 (-  6.6%) 
01/2016: --
02/2016: --
03/2016: --
04/2016: -- 
05/2016: -- 
06/2016: Rumble #11 --  8,139 (+ 28.7%) 
07/2016: Rumble #12 --  5,857 (- 28.0%) 
08/2016: Rumble #13 --  5,904 (+  0.8%) 
09/2016: Rumble #14 --  5,509 (-  6.7%) 
-----------------
6 months:    n.a.
1 year  : - 27.6%

262 - REVIVAL ($3.99)
09/2012: Revival #3  -- 13,943 
09/2013: Revival #14 -- 12,254 
09/2014: -- 
------------------------------
09/2015: Revival #33 --  6,824 (-  2.8%) 
10/2015: Revival #34 --  6,921 (+  1.4%) 
11/2015: --
12/2015: Revival #35 --  6,510 (-  5.9%) 
01/2016: Revival #36 --  6,182 (-  5.0%) 
02/2016: --
03/2016: Revival #37 --  5,987 (-  3.2%) 
03/2016: Revival #38 --  5,826 (-  2.7%) 
04/2016: -- 
05/2016: Revival #39 --  5,826 (-  1.1%) 
06/2016: Revival #40 --  6,004 (+  4.2%) 
07/2016: Revival #41 --  5,527 (-  7.9%) 
08/2016: -- 
09/2016: Revival #42 --  5,434 (-  1.7%) 
-----------------
6 months: -  6.7%
1 year  : - 20.4%
2 years :    n.a.

267 - NOWHERE MEN ($2.99)
09/2013: -- 
09/2014: --
----------------------------------
09/2015: -- 
10/2015: -- 
11/2015: -- 
12/2015: -- 
01/2016: Nowhere Men #7  --  7,498 (- 41.0%) 
02/2016: Nowhere Men #8  --  6,317 (- 15.8%) 
03/2016: Nowhere Men #9  --  5,731 (-  9.3%) 
04/2016: -- 
05/2016: -- 
06/2016: Nowhere Men #10 --  6,307 (+ 10.1%) 
07/2016: -- 
08/2016: -- 
09/2016: Nowhere Men #11 --  5,317 (- 15.7%) 
-----------------
6 months: -  7.2%
1 year  :    n.a.
2 years :    n.a.

273 - SPREAD ($3.50)
09/2014: Spread #3  -- 15,691 
-----------------------------
09/2015: Spread #10 --  7,372 (-  6.3%) 
10/2015: Spread #11 --  6,965 (-  5.5%) 
11/2015: -- 
12/2015: -- 
01/2016: Spread #12 --  7,190 (+  3.2%) 
02/2016: Spread #13 --  6,401 (- 11.0%) 
03/2016: --
04/2016: -- 
05/2016: -- 
06/2016: --
07/2016: Spread #14 --  5,783 (-  9.7%) 
08/2016: Spread #15 --  5,559 (-  3.9%) 
09/2016: Spread #16 --  5,162 (-  7.1%) 
-----------------
6 months:    n.a.
1 year  : - 30.0%
2 years : - 67.1%

279 - THIEF OF THIEVES ($2.99)
09/2012: Thief of Thieves #8  -- 17,070 
09/2013: -- 
09/2014: -- 
---------------------------------------
09/2015: Thief of Thieves #31 --  6,499 (-  2.2%) 
10/2015: --
11/2015: --
12/2015: --
01/2016: --
02/2016: --
03/2016: --
04/2016: -- 
05/2016: -- 
06/2016: Thief of Thieves #32 --  6,934 (+  6.7%) 
07/2016: Thief of Thieves #33 --  5,543 (- 20.1%) 
08/2016: Thief of Thieves #34 --  ????? (< 5,497)
09/2016: Thief of Thieves #35 --  5,009 
-----------------
6 months:    n.a.
1 year  :    n.a.
2 years : - 22.9%

The lower floor this month means we get a couple of titles popping back up into the top 300 that had previously been below the line.

281 - THE HUNT ($3.99)
07/2016: The Hunt #1 -- 12,166  
08/2016: The Hunt #2 --  6,453 (- 47.0%)  
09/2016: The Hunt #2 --  4,896 (- 24.1%)

286 - SOUTHERN CROSS ($3.99)
09/2015: Southern Cross #5  --  7,288 (- 14.1%)
10/2015: -- 
11/2015: -- 
12/2015: Southern Cross #6  --  6,496 (- 10.9%)
01/2016: -- 
02/2016: -- 
03/2016: -- 
04/2016: -- 
05/2016: -- 
06/2016: -- 
07/2016: -- 
08/2016: -- 
09/2016: Southern Cross #7  --  4,743 (- 27.0%) 
-----------------
6 months:    n.a.
1 year  : - 34.9%

Surprise, it came back! (With a $1 price hike…)

288 - EDEN'S FALL ($3.99)
08/2016: Eden's Fall #1 of 3 -- 7,613 
09/2016: Eden's Fall #2 of 3 -- 4,597 (- 39.6%)

300 - ISLAND ($7.99)
09/2015: Island #3  -- 10,083 (-  9.1%)  
10/2015: Island #4  --  7,553 (- 25.1%)  
11/2015: -- 
12/2015: Island #5  --  6,422 (- 15.0%)  
01/2016: Island #6  --  5,764 (- 10.2%)  
02/2016: -- 
03/2016: -- 
04/2016: -- 
05/2016: Island #7  --  5,503 (-  4.5%)  
06/2016: Island #8  --  5,849 (+  6.3%)  
07/2016: Island #9  --  ????? (< 5,069)  
08/2016: Island #10 --  ????? (< 5,497)  
09/2016: Island #11 --  4,239   
-----------------
6 months:    n.a.
1 year  : - 58.0%

Image titles shipping but not making the Top 300 in September include: Dream Police, Drifter, The Fuse, Invisible Republic, Mechanism, Midnight of the Soul, Postal, Ringside, Savage Dragon, Sex, She Wolf, Stray Bullets, Symmetry, Throwaways.

Note that this doesn’t necessarily mean that any of them are in danger of being cancelled; there are many reasons that the creators of these books may desire to keep them going.

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.

Image is not a normal comics publisher, and the typical metrics for sales success may not apply. For many 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.

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.

Opinions expressed in this column are mine alone, and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer, Heidi MacDonald or anyone at The Comics Beat, the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, or my former neighbor’s dog Miles.

The author of this column does weekly snapshots of Amazon comic sales charts at http://yetanothercomicsblog.blogspot.com/ and tweets about comics and related subjects on Twitter at @davereadscomics (PM me there if you need to contact me).

As always, we welcome your comments and corrections below. Please try to keep things civilized.

3 COMMENTS

  1. On the Wicked + the Divine one-shot, a probably reason for the increase in purchase is that it’s been announced that the flashback one-shots won’t be included in TPBs in publication order, but collected in their own TPB once the series completely finishes. So probably it was purchased by people who otherwise wait for the trade.

  2. I would say that the titles that keep a consistent publishing schedule experience the smallest drops in issue to issue sales. ODYC shows what happens when gaps between issues get longer. While retailers certainly want to support self owned titles, the amount of material thrown at them month after month pushes out the books that dont have new issues to rack. Its simple math, but simple math is what keeps retailers doors open every month.

  3. What’s up with Lake of Fire? The art is excellent, and it’s a complete “Summer Movie Flick” comic! It’s honestly a great book!

    “Another case of out-of-sight, out-of-mind. Maybe they should have started over with a new #1?” – Please, don’t give them any ideas. Wait, I’ve got it! What if from here on out EVERY book was a #1! And all companies would do is add a tiny .1 or .A, .2 or .B next to the #1! Marvel is already halfway there with this idea, why not go all the way! First issues with every issue! Ugh. ;)

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