By Paul O’Brien

The event season is upon us again, and Marvel hit the ground running with the first issue of SECRET INVASION. There aren’t too many tie-in issues in this first month, but the crossover still gets off to an impressive start. If you’ve been waiting for event fatigue to set in – well, it looks like you’re going to be waiting for a little while longer.

April also saw the debut issue of YOUNG X-MEN, the final title to be launched on the back of the X-books’ recent “Messiah Complex” crossover. Otherwise, though, Marvel had gave SECRET INVASION #1 a pretty clear run. To be quite honest, once you start heading further down the chart, it’s not a particularly eventful month.

As usual, Marvel dominated the direct market, beating DC by a whopping 44% to 30% in unit share, and 40% to 27% in dollar share. Of course, that partly reflects the fact that FINAL CRISIS hadn’t started yet – and, to be fair, the unit share would probably have been a lot closer if DC UNIVERSE #0 had been eligible for the charts.

Thanks as always to Milton Griepp and ICV2 for permission to use their figures for these calculations.

1.  SECRET INVASION
04/08  Secret Invasion #1 of 8 - 250,263

An excellent start for the latest big event book. The first month sales for CIVIL WAR #1, back in May 2006, were 260,804, so we’re very much in the same league here. Last year’s WORLD WAR HULK, in contrast, debuted with only 178,408. So from the look of it, this is a winner. And when the tie-in books really start to roll, Marvel should have another sales juggernaut on their hands.

2.  NEW AVENGERS
04/03  Avengers #66     -  58,312
04/04  Avengers #81     -  54,987
04/05  New Avengers #5  - 162,412
04/06  New Avengers #18 - 121,550
=====
04/07  New Avengers #29 - 125,378  (  +4.9%)
05/07  New Avengers #30 - 126,425  (  +0.8%)
06/07  New Avengers #31 - 172,684  ( +36.6%)
07/07  New Avengers #32 - 122,991  ( -28.8%)
08/07  New Avengers #33 - 117,906  (  -4.1%)
09/07  New Avengers #34 - 112,815  (  -4.3%)
10/07  New Avengers #35 - 111,481  (  -1.2%)
11/07  New Avengers #36 - 107,715  (  -3.4%)
12/07  New Avengers #37 - 105,545  (  -2.0%)
01/08  ---
02/08  New Avengers #38 - 104,140  (  -1.3%)
03/08  New Avengers #39 - 103,046  (  -1.1%)
04/08  New Avengers #40 - 110,470  (  +7.2%)
                           6 mnth  (  -0.9%)
                           1 year  ( -13.5%)
                           2 year  (  -9.1%)
                           3 year  ( -32.0%)
                           4 year  (
+100.9%)
                           5 year  ( +89.4%)

This is a Secret Invasion tie-in, and at first glance the climb might seem a bit low. After all, issue #31 was promoted as the first major issue of the storyline, and it sold 172K. But that was a lynchpin issue, and this is simply a tie-in. We saw something similar in 2006, when NEW AVENGERS had much smaller gains from its CIVIL WAR tie-ins than other books – presumably because it was selling so well to start with.

3.  DARK TOWER
04/07  Gunslinger Born #3 of 7 - 149,168  (-11.3%)
05/07  Gunslinger Born #4 of 7 - 139,545  ( -6.5%)
06/07  Gunslinger Born #5 of 7 - 132,090  ( -5.3%)
07/07  Gunslinger Born #6 of 7 - 128,336  ( -2.8%)
08/07  Gunslinger Born #7 of 7 - 124,609  ( -2.9%)
09/07  ---
10/07  ---
11/07  ---
12/07  ---
01/08  ---
02/08  ---
03/08  Long Road Home #1 of 5  - 123,839  ( -0.6%)
04/08  Long Road Home #2 of 5  - 103,029  (-16.8%)
                                  6 mnth  (  --- )
                                  1 year  (-30.9%)

A fairly standard second issue drop. Evidently this second miniseries isn’t going to deliver quite the sales we saw from GUNSLINGER BORN, but it’s still over the 100K mark, and the book ought to perform well in trade paperback format. Plenty to be happy about here.

4.  MIGHTY AVENGERS
04/07  Mighty Avengers #2 - 124,209  (-20.6%)
05/07  Mighty Avengers #3 - 115,440  ( -7.1%)
06/07  ---
07/07  Mighty Avengers #4 - 107,768  ( -6.6%)
08/07  ---
09/07  ---
10/07  Mighty Avengers #5 -  99,544  ( -7.6%)
11/07  ---
12/07  Mighty Avengers #6 -  90,709  ( -8.9%)
01/08  Mighty Avengers #7 -  92,739  ( +2.2%)
01/08  Mighty Avengers #8 -  84,459  ( -8.9%)
02/08  Mighty Avengers #9 -  83,466  ( -1.2%)
03/08  Mighty Avengers #10 - 82,149  ( -1.6%)
03/08  Mighty Avengers #11 - 82,253  ( +0.1%)
04/08  Mighty Avengers #12 - 97,239  (+18.2%)
                             6 mnth  ( -2.3%)
                             1 year  (-21.7%)

Another SECRET INVASION tie-in, and this one has the sort of sales jump we can expect to see from other participating titles. To be fair, this was also the book which reintroduced Nick Fury after years of absence, and that might also have contributed to the bump.

5.  UNCANNY X-MEN
04/03  Uncanny X-Men #421 -  86,503
04/04  Uncanny X-Men #442 -  86,975
04/05  Uncanny X-Men #458 -  85,299
04/06  Uncanny X-Men #472 -  79,157
=====
04/07  Uncanny X-Men #485 -  81,764  ( -0.3%)
05/07  Uncanny X-Men #486 -  81,965  ( +0.2%)
06/07  Uncanny X-Men #487 -  81,481  ( -0.6%)
07/07  Uncanny X-Men #488 -  86,747  ( +6.5%)
08/07  Uncanny X-Men #489 -  88,068  ( +1.5%)
09/07  Uncanny X-Men #490 -  87,592  ( -0.5%)
10/07  Uncanny X-Men #491 -  85,638  ( -2.2%)
11/07  Uncanny X-Men #492 - 111,160  (+29.8%)
12/07  Uncanny X-Men #493 - 109,176  ( -1.8%)
01/08  Uncanny X-Men #494 - 105,520  ( -3.3%)
02/08  Uncanny X-Men #495 -  96,183  ( -8.8%)
03/08  Uncanny X-Men #496 -  89,054  ( -7.4%)
04/08  Uncanny X-Men #497 -  93,369  ( +4.8%)
                             6 mnth  ( +9.0%)
                             1 year  (+14.2%)
                             2 year  (+18.0%)
                             3 year  ( +9.5%)
                             4 year  ( +7.4%)
                             5 year  ( +7.9%)

A “Divided We Stand” book. This is the X-books’ equivalent of the “Initiative” banner – it’s not a crossover, simply a general label for post-“Messiah Complex” stories. It’s also one of the books with an unannounced variant Skrull cover, but given the nature of that stunt, it presumably wouldn’t have much impact on sales.

6.  HULK
01/08  Hulk #1 - 139,931
02/08  Hulk #2 - 101,598  (-27.4%)
03/08  ---
04/08  Hulk #3 -  92,487  ( -9.0%)

Fairly standard for a third-issue drop after an unsustainably high launch. HULK looks on course to settle at a very high level, far above INCREDIBLE HULK’s traditional sales range in the mid-40Ks. And the number is likely to grow next month, as the second printing didn’t hit shelves until May.

7.  THOR
04/03  Thor #62 -  34,638
04/04  Thor #77 -  30,819
=====
07/07  Thor #1  - 202,798
08/07  Thor #2  - 122,951  ( -39.4%)
09/07  Thor #3  - 109,964  ( -10.6%)
10/07  ---
11/07  Thor #4  - 112,307  (  +2.1%)
12/07  Thor #5  - 101,551  (  -9.6%)
01/08  ---
02/08  Thor #6  -  98,315  (  -3.2%)
03/08  Thor #7  -  97,491  (  -0.8%)
04/08  Thor #8  -  91,981  (  -5.7%)
                   6 mnth  (   --- )
                   1 year  (   --- )
                   2 year  (   --- )
                   3 year  (   --- )
                   4 year  (+167.6%)
                   5 year  (+165.5%)

That’s a slightly steeper drop than I’d expect at this stage, but it’s a minor issue. THOR hasn’t quite settled down yet (and it’s still being boosted by variant covers), but it’s plainly going to end up way above the 30K range of its previous incarnation.

8,14,16. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
04/03  Amazing Spider-Man #52  -  96,624
04/04  Amazing Spider-Man #506 -  83,152
04/05  Amazing Spider-Man #519 -  78,535
04/06  Amazing Spider-Man #531 -  86,884
=====
04/07  ---
05/07  Amazing Spider-Man #540 - 119,662  (-23.3%)
06/07  Amazing Spider-Man #541 - 108,284  ( -9.5%)
07/07  Amazing Spider-Man #542 - 105,715  ( -2.4%)
08/07  Amazing Spider-Man #543 - 106,485  ( +0.7%)
09/07  Amazing Spider-Man #544 - 159,104  (+49.4%)
10/07  ---
11/07  ---
12/07  Amazing Spider-Man #545 - 129,085  (-18.9%)
01/08  Amazing Spider-Man #546 - 127,958  ( -0.9%)
01/08  Amazing Spider-Man #547 - 101,213  (-20.9%)
01/08  Amazing Spider-Man #548 -  97,959  ( -3.2%)
02/08  Amazing Spider-Man #549 - 101,112  ( +3.2%)
02/08  Amazing Spider-Man #550 -  90,874  (-10.1%)
02/08  Amazing Spider-Man #551 -  88,084  ( -3.1%)
03/08  Amazing Spider-Man #552 -  89,835  ( +2.0%)
03/08  Amazing Spider-Man #553 -  82,648  ( -8.0%)
03/08  Amazing Spider-Man #554 -  81,072  ( -1.9%)
04/08  Amazing Spider-Man #555 -  86,902  ( +7.2%)
04/08  Amazing Spider-Man #556 -  78,458  ( -9.7%)
04/08  Amazing Spider-Man #557 -  77,057  ( -1.8%)
                                  6 mnth  (  --- )
                                  1 year  (  --- )
                                  2 year  (-11.3%)
                                  3 year  ( -1.9%)
                                  4 year  ( -7.3%)
                                  5 year  (-20.3%)

As usual, the first issue of the month (#555) was a variant cover, so you can leave that one aside. Four months in, the relaunched AMAZING SPIDER-MAN is still shedding about 4K a month, but it’s levelling out somewhat – a trend that’s easier to see if you ignore the issues with variants.

We’ve noted in previous months that Marvel seem to be dumping old remaindered comics onto the direct market, and Diamond appear to be counting these as extra “sales” on the chart. That’s presumably the explanation for the wholly incongruous appearance on the charts of issue #544, shipping another 8,316 copies. As usual, I’ve added them to the numbers above. FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN #24 also crops up on the chart, shifting a further 7,534 units.

10. X-FORCE
02/08  X-Force #1 - 116,467
03/08  X-Force #2 -  88,650  (-23.9%)
04/08  X-Force #3 -  85,750  ( -3.3%)

Another “Divided We Stand” book. Issue #2 picks up re-orders of 6,936, which are included in the numbers above. So in terms of first month sales, the book actually went up in April. Obviously, that’s a very promising sign.

12. CAPTAIN AMERICA
04/03  Captain America #12 -  51,804
04/04  Captain America #25 -  38,584
04/05  Captain America #5  -  46,010
04/06  Captain America #17 -  45,541
=====
04/07  ---
05/07  Captain America #26 - 129,365  ( -62.4%)
06/07  Captain America #27 -  99,108  ( -23.4%)
07/07  Captain America #28 -  89,721  (  -9.5%)
08/07  Captain America #29 -  83,781  (  -6.6%)
09/07  Captain America #30 -  79,554  (  -5.0%)
10/07  Captain America #31 -  77,131  (  -3.0%)
11/07  Captain America #32 -  73,310  (  -5.0%)
12/07  Captain America #33 -  78,279  (  +6.8%)
01/08  Captain America #34 - 152,739  ( +95.1%)
02/08  Captain America #35 -  86,038  ( -43.7%)
03/08  Captain America #36 -  81,378  (  -5.4%)
04/08  Captain America #37 -  80,635  (  -0.9%)
                              6 mnth  (  +4.5%)
                              1 year  (   --- )
                              2 year  ( +77.1%)
                              3 year  ( +75.3%)
                              4 year  (+109.0%)
                              5 year  ( +55.7%)

Levelling out, which suggests that the book has seen a modest but sustained gain from introducing the new Captain America.

15. 
X-MEN: LEGACY
04/03  New X-Men #130     -  96,981
04/04  New X-Men #155     - 100,088
04/05  X-Men #169         -  82,793
04/06  X-Men #185         -  78,815
=====
04/07  X-Men #198         -  74,841  (  -0.5%)
05/07  X-Men #199         -  75,996  (  +1.5%)
06/07  X-Men #200         - 156,787  (+106.3%)
07/07  X-Men #201         -  86,278  ( -45.0%)
08/07  X-Men #202         -  86,521  (  +0.3%)
09/07  X-Men #203         -  85,652  (  -1.0%)
10/07  X-Men #204         -  83,456  (  -2.6%)
11/07  X-Men #205         - 101,401  ( +21.5%)
12/07  X-Men #206         - 104,815  (  +3.4%)
01/08  X-Men #207         - 104,793  (  -0.0%)
02/08  X-Men: Legacy #208 -  88,132  ( -16.0%)
03/08  X-Men: Legacy #209 -  82,243  (  -6.7%)
04/08  X-Men: Legacy #210 -  77,441  (  -5.8%)
                             6 mnth  (  -7.2%)
                             1 year  (  +3.5%)
                             2 year  (  -1.7%)
                             3 year  (  -6.5%)
                             4 year  ( -22.6%)
                             5 year  ( -20.1%)

One of the less successful “Divided We Stand” books, the renamed X-MEN: LEGACY is back at pre-crossover levels, and losing readers rather quickly. One possible explanation is that readers have decided that this is now a spin-off book, instead of a core X-Men title, and they’re treating it accordingly. Another possibility is that the unusually dense continuity is putting people off. Discuss.

19.  YOUNG X-MEN
04/08  Young X-Men #1 - 71,593

The final “Divided We Stand” launch. This is effectively the replacement title for NEW X-MEN, cancelled in January. That book usually sold in the high 30K range (when it wasn’t participating in crossovers), so YOUNG X-MEN makes a solid start.

29. CABLE
03/08  Cable #1 - 68,073
04/08  Cable #2 - 59,877  (-12.0%)

Ah. Now, if you believe the chart, issue #1 charted for the second month running, at number 24, with re-orders of 65,568. That’s such obvious nonsense that I’m choosing to ignore it. Nothing doubles its sales in the second month – certainly not when there’s a simultaneous 12% drop in first month sales. There’s probably some genuine reorders in there somewhere, but who knows how many?

Anyhow, if you leave that anomaly aside, this is a reasonably small second issue drop.

26.  X-MEN: DIVIDED WE STAND
04/08  Divided We Stand #1 of 2 - 65,340

The first of two anthology titles about lower-tier X-Men characters. It’s a good number for that sort of thing.

27.  FANTASTIC FOUR
04/03  Fantastic Four #68  - 51,405
04/04  Fantastic Four #512 - 52,953
04/05  Fantastic Four #525 - 45,561
04/06  Fantastic Four #537 - 62,940
=====
04/07  Fantastic Four #545 - 77,576  (  -9.5%)
05/07  Fantastic Four #546 - 72,182  (  -7.0%)
06/07  Fantastic Four #547 - 69,610  (  -3.6%)
07/07  ---
08/07  Fantastic Four #548 - 65,695  (  -5.6%)
08/07  Fantastic Four #549 - 61,770  (  -6.0%)
09/07  ---
10/07  Fantastic Four #550 - 57,906  (  -6.3%)
11/07  Fantastic Four #551 - 58,617  (  +1.2%)
12/07  Fantastic Four #552 - 51,320  ( -12.4%)
01/08  Fantastic Four #553 - 48,332  (  -5.8%)
02/08  Fantastic Four #554 - 98,111  (+103.0%)
03/08  Fantastic Four #555 - 67,416  ( -31.3%)
04/08  Fantastic Four #556 - 65,013  (  -3.6%)
                             6 mnth  ( +12.3%)
                             1 year  ( -16.2%)
                             2 year  (  +3.3%)
                             3 year  ( +42.7%)
                             4 year  ( +22.8%)
                             5 year  ( +26.5%)

Levelling out pretty quickly, but the book remains mired at the level of its “Initiative” tie-ins. With an A-list creative team like Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch, it’s very surprising to see the book this far down the chart.

28. WOLVERINE
04/03  Wolverine #189 -  61,282
04/04  Wolverine #13  -  71,060
04/05  Wolverine #27  - 101,228
04/06  Wolverine #41  -  70,965
=====
04/07  Wolverine #53  -  98,441  ( +1.4%)
05/07  Wolverine #54  -  96,082  ( -2.4%)
06/07  ---
07/07  Wolverine #55  - 130,707  (+36.0%)
08/07  Wolverine #56  -  73,368  (-43.9%)
09/07  Wolverine #57  -  74,588  ( +1.7%)
10/07  Wolverine #58  -  83,810  (+12.4%)
11/07  Wolverine #59  -  65,725  (-21.6%)
12/07  Wolverine #60  -  63,194  ( -3.9%)
01/08  Wolverine #61  -  60,857  ( -3.7%)
02/08  Wolverine #62  -  69,698  (+14.5%)
03/08  Wolverine #63  -  64,475  ( -7.5%)
04/08  Wolverine #64  -  64,871  ( +0.0%)
                         6 mnth  (-22.6%)
                         1 year  (-34.1%)
                         2 year  ( -8.6%)
                         3 year  (-35.9%)
                         4 year  ( -8.7%)
                         5 year  ( +5.9%)

ALmost dead level, as the book’s “Divided We Stand” arc continues.

31. ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN
04/03  Ult. Spider-Man #39  - 103,531
04/04  Ult. Spider-Man #56  -  91,585
04/05  Ult. Spider-Man #75  -  83,940
04/06  Ult. Spider-Man #93  -  72,831
=====
04/07  Ult. Spider-Man #108 -  72,713  ( -0.1%)
05/07  Ult. Spider-Man #109 -  72,478  ( -0.3%)
06/07  Ult. Spider-Man #110 -  73,646  ( +1.6%)
07/07  Ult. Spider-Man #111 -  75,487  ( +2.5%)
08/07  Ult. Spider-Man #112 -  76,523  ( +1.4%)
09/07  Ult. Spider-Man #113 -  67,476  (-11.8%)
09/07  Ult. Spider-Man #114 -  66,682  ( -1.2%)
10/07  Ult. Spider-Man #115 -  74,310  (+11.4%)
11/07  Ult. Spider-Man #116 -  61,534  (-17.2%)
12/07  Ult. Spider-Man #117 -  60,361  ( -1.9%)
01/08  Ult. Spider-Man #118 -  58,800  ( -2.6%)
02/08  Ult. Spider-Man #119 -  58,045  ( -1.3%)
03/08  Ult. Spider-Man #120 -  57,728  ( -0.5%)
04/08  Ult. Spider-Man #121 -  56,633  ( -1.9%)
                               6 mnth  (-23.8%)
                               1 year  (-22.1%)
                               2 year  (-22.2%)
                               3 year  (-32.5%)
                               4 year  (-38.2%)
                               5 year  (-45.3%)

Still drifting slowly down. The Ultimate books are now starting the slow build towards “Ultimatum”, presumably intended to reinvigorate the line.

33. LOGAN
03/08  Logan #1 of 3 - 63,289
04/08  Logan #2 of 3 - 56,114  (-11.3%)

That’s a fairly moderate drop. Considering that this is a Wolverine miniseries of no particular storyline importance, the sales are extremely good.

35,37. AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE
04/07  Initiative #1 - 127,798
05/07  Initiative #2 - 103,189  (-19.3%)
06/07  Initiative #3 -  92,339  (-10.5%)
07/07  Initiative #4 -  94,773  ( +2.6%)
08/07  Initiative #5 -  86,536  ( -8.7%)
09/07  Initiative #6 -  74,184  (-14.3%)
10/07  ---
11/07  Initiative #7 -  66,455  (-10.4%)
12/07  Initiative #8 -  58,126  (-12.5%)
01/08  Initiative #9 -  55,270  ( -4.9%)
02/08  ---
03/08  Initiative #10 - 54,422  ( -1.5%)
04/08  Initiative #11 - 52,877  ( -2.8%)
04/08  Initiative #12 - 52,343  ( -1.0%)
                        6 mnth  (  --- )
                        1 year  (-59.0%)

This looks to have finally found its level in the low 50K range.

38. X-FACTOR
04/06  X-Factor #6  - 45,220
=====
04/07  X-Factor #18 - 37,851  ( -0.6%)
05/07  X-Factor #19 - 37,898  ( +0.1%)
06/07  X-Factor #20 - 37,105  ( -2.1%)
07/07  X-Factor #21 - 50,227  (+35.4%)
08/07  X-Factor #22 - 52,627  ( +4.8%)
09/07  X-Factor #23 - 53,311  ( +1.3%)
10/07  X-Factor #24 - 52,085  ( -2.3%)
11/07  X-Factor #25 - 79,066  (+51.8%)
12/07  X-Factor #26 - 84,219  ( +6.5%)
01/08  X-Factor #27 - 81,350  ( -3.4%)
02/08  X-Factor #28 - 61,173  (-24.8%)
03/08  X-Factor #29 - 54,832  (-10.4%)
04/08  X-Factor #30 - 51,447  ( -6.2%)
                      6 mnth  ( -1.2%)
                      1 year  (+35.9%)
                      2 year  (+13.8%)

Another “Divided We Stand” arc, although that really just means that the book has gone back to business as normal with an extra logo on the cover. Considering that X-FACTOR used to sell consistently at 37K, it’s benefitted hugely from the “Endangered Species” back-up serial in issues #21-24 and the crossover in issues #25-27.

39. WOLVERINE: ORIGINS
04/06  Origins #1  - 150,283
=====
04/07  Origins #13 -  70,963  ( -5.1%)
05/07  Origins #14 -  68,953  ( -2.8%)
06/07  Origins #15 -  65,558  ( -4.9%)
07/07  ---
08/07  Origins #16 -  69,781  ( +6.4%)
09/07  Origins #17 -  62,235  (-10.8%)
10/07  Origins #18 -  60,050  ( -3.5%)
11/07  Origins #19 -  55,999  ( -6.7%)
12/07  Origins #20 -  53,548  ( -4.4%)
01/08  Origins #21 -  51,919  ( -3.0%)
02/08  Origins #22 -  50,324  ( -3.1%)
03/08  Origins #23 -  49,633  ( -1.4%)
04/08  Origins #24 -  49,299  ( -0.7%)
                      6 mnth  (-17.9%)
                      1 year  (-30.5%)
                      2 year  (-67.2%)

Pretty much level over the last couple of months. The book’s long slide might have finally ended.

40. ULTIMATE X-MEN
04/03  Ultimate X-Men #32 - 90,484
04/04  Ultimate X-Men #44 - 96,264
04/05  Ultimate X-Men #58 - 82,606
04/06  Ultimate X-Men #69 - 73,188
=====
04/07  Ultimate X-Men #81 - 62,926  ( -0.2%)
05/07  Ultimate X-Men #82 - 62,063  ( -1.4%)
06/07  Ultimate X-Men #83 - 59,677  ( -3.8%)
07/07  Ultimate X-Men #84 - 59,929  ( +0.4%)
08/07  Ultimate X-Men #85 - 57,660  ( -3.8%)
09/07  Ultimate X-Men #86 - 55,346  ( -4.0%)
10/07  Ultimate X-Men #87 - 63,028  (+13.9%)
11/07  ---
12/07  Ultimate X-Men #88 - 51,633  (-18.1%)
12/07  Ultimate X-Men #89 - 50,516  ( -2.2%)
01/08  Ultimate X-Men #90 - 49,634  ( -1.7%)
02/08  Ultimate X-Men #91 - 49,062  ( -1.2%)
03/08  Ultimate X-Men #92 - 49,015  ( -0.0%)
04/08  Ultimate X-Men #93 - 49,107  ( +0.2%)
                            6 mnth  (-22.1%)
                            1 year  (-22.0%)
                            2 year  (-32.9%)
                            3 year  (-40.6%)
                            4 year  (-49.0%)
                            5 year  (-45.7%)

ULTIMATE X-MEN also seems to have arrested a long decline, proving remarkably steady over the last few months.

46. KICK-ASS  [Icon]
02/08  Kick-Ass #1 - 59,223
03/08  ---
04/08  Kick-Ass #2 - 45,663  (-22.9%)

Issue #1 picks up reorders of 11,382, which are included in the number above. Allowing for that, the second issue drop is actually very small.

47. INCREDIBLE HERCULES
04/03  Incredible Hulk #53  -  57,837
04/04  Incredible Hulk #71  -  46,837
04/05  Incredible Hulk #80  -  48,404
04/06  Incredible Hulk #94  -  44,907
=====
04/07  Incredible Hulk #105 -  53,256  ( +11.4%)
05/07  Incredible Hulk #106 - 119,735  (+124.8%)
06/07  Incredible Hulk #107 - 115,912  (  -3.2%)
07/07  Incredible Hulk #108 - 107,714  (  -7.1%)
08/07  Incredible Hulk #109 - 104,322  (  -3.1%)
09/07  Incredible Hulk #110 -  96,835  (  -7.2%)
10/07  ---
11/07  Incredible Hulk #111 - 101,536  (  +4.9%)
12/07  Incredible Hulk #112 -  77,119  ( -24.0%)
01/08  Hercules #113        -  73,533  (  -4.6%)
02/08  Hercules #114        -  52,200  ( -29.0%)
03/08  Hercules #115        -  49,336  (  -5.5%)
04/08  Hercules #116        -  44,575  (  -9.7%)
                               6 mnth  (   --- )
                               1 year  ( -16.3%)
                               2 year  (  -0.7%)
                               3 year  (  -7.9%)
                               4 year  (  -4.8%)
                               5 year  ( -22.9%)

Still in decline, as the penny seems to be dropping that this is genuinely a HERCULES series taking over the abandoned numbering of a more popular title, and not really a continuation of the previous series. It looks increasingly as if this stealth-launch technique didn’t quite work.

48. THOR: AGES OF THUNDER
04/08  Ages of Thunder - 43,437

Lagging some way behind the parent title, but this is a one-shot telling a flashback story. Considering the content, I’d say this was a good number. After all, the previous regular THOR title only sold in the low 30K range towards the end of its life.

49. ULTIMATE HUMAN
01/08  Ultimate Human #1 of 4 - 57,485
02/08  Ultimate Human #2 of 4 - 48,578  (-15.5%)
03/08  Ultimate Human #3 of 4 - 45,639  ( -6.1%)
04/08  Ultimate Human #4 of 4 - 43,423  ( -4.9%)

Fairly standard miniseries numbers.

50. MS MARVEL
04/06  Ms Marvel #2  - 46,204
=====
04/07  Ms Marvel #14 - 42,877  ( +5.0%)
05/07  Ms Marvel #15 - 42,849  ( -0.0%)
06/07  Ms Marvel #16 - 40,048  ( -6.5%)
07/07  Ms Marvel #17 - 38,003  ( -5.1%)
08/07  Ms Marvel #18 - 34,818  ( -8.4%)
09/07  Ms Marvel #19 - 32,371  ( -7.0%)
10/07  Ms Marvel #20 - 37,930  (+17.2%)
11/07  Ms Marvel #21 - 26,484  (-30.2%)
12/07  Ms Marvel #22 - 25,450  ( -3.9%)
01/08  Ms Marvel #23 - 24,260  ( -4.7%)
02/08  Ms Marvel #24 - 24,139  ( -0.5%)
03/08  Ms Marvel #25 - 40,993  (+69.8%)
04/08  Ms Marvel #26 - 42,277  ( +3.1%)
                       6 mnth  (+11.5%)
                       1 year  ( -1.4%)
                       2 year  ( -8.5%)

Still gaining sales in the second month of a SECRET INVASION tie-in arc.

53. CAPTAIN MARVEL
11/07  Captain Marvel #1 of 5 - 50,578
12/07  Captain Marvel #2 of 5 - 36,620  (-27.6%)
01/08  ---
02/08  Captain Marvel #3 of 5 - 38,497  ( +5.1%)
03/08  Captain Marvel #4 of 5 - 40,622  ( +5.5%)
04/08  Captain Marvel #5 of 5 - 38,671  ( -4.8%)

This is another SECRET INVASION tie-in, but it was only announced as such halfway through, hence the erratic sales. Bearing in mind the muted reaction when Captain Marvel was reintroduced in CIVIL WAR: THE RETURN, this series has performed quite respectably.

55. ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR
04/04  Ult. Fantastic Four #5  - 102,648
04/05  Ult. Fantastic Four #17 -  72,207
04/06  Ult. Fantastic Four #29 -  67,554
=====
04/07  ---
05/07  Ult. Fantastic Four #41 -  49,916  ( -1.1%)
05/07  Ult. Fantastic Four #42 -  52,840  ( +5.9%)
06/07  Ult. Fantastic Four #43 -  51,453  ( -2.6%)
07/07  Ult. Fantastic Four #44 -  50,796  ( -1.3%)
08/07  Ult. Fantastic Four #45 -  48,779  ( -4.0%)
09/07  Ult. Fantastic Four #46 -  46,647  ( -4.4%)
10/07  Ult. Fantastic Four #47 -  45,015  ( -3.5%)
11/07  Ult. Fantastic Four #48 -  43,080  ( -4.3%)
12/07  Ult. Fantastic Four #49 -  40,656  ( -5.6%)
01/08  Ult. Fantastic Four #50 -  44,144  ( +8.6%)
02/08  Ult. Fantastic Four #51 -  38,804  (-12.1%)
03/08  Ult. Fantastic Four #52 -  38,146  ( -1.7%)
04/08  Ult. Fantastic Four #53 -  37,461  ( -1.8%)
                                  6 mnth  (-16.8%)
                                  1 year  (  --- )
                                  2 year  (-44.5%)
                                  3 year  (-48.1%)
                                  4 year  (-63.5%)

Another book which seems to be levelling out after a period of steep decline.

58. IRON MAN
04/03  Iron Man #67 - 32,479
04/04  Iron Man #79 - 29,138
04/05  Iron Man #3  - 51,390
04/06  Iron Man #7  - 49,404
=====
04/07  Iron Man #16 - 59,470  (-17.9%)
05/07  Iron Man #17 - 63,328  ( +6.5%)
06/07  Iron Man #18 - 56,474  (-10.8%)
06/07  Iron Man #19 - 83,801  (+48.4%)
07/07  Iron Man #20 - 72,831  (-13.1%)
08/07  Iron Man #21 - 49,548  (-32.0%)
09/07  Iron Man #22 - 46,691  ( -5.8%)
10/07  Iron Man #23 - 42,608  ( -8.7%)
11/07  ---
12/07  Iron Man #24 - 38,834  ( -8.9%)
01/08  Iron Man #25 - 38,072  ( -2.0%)
02/08  Iron Man #26 - 36,607  ( -3.8%)
03/08  Iron Man #27 - 36,011  ( -1.6%)
04/08  Iron Man #28 - 35,754  ( -0.7%)
                      6 mnth  (-16.1%)
                      1 year  (-39.9%)
                      2 year  (-27.6%)
                      3 year  (-30.4%)
                      4 year  (+22.7%)
                      5 year  (+10.1%)

Pretty solid over the last few months. The May chart should show what difference the movie makes.

62,67. YOUNG AVENGERS PRESENTS
01/08  Y.A. Presents #1 of 6 - 43,714
02/08  Y.A. Presents #2 of 6 - 34,766  (-20.5%)
03/08  ---
04/08  Y.A. Presents #3 of 6 - 31,984  ( -8.0%)
04/08  Y.A. Presents #4 of 6 - 30,483  ( -4.7%)

Typical miniseries numbers.

64. IMMORTAL IRON FIST
04/07  Immortal Iron Fist #4  - 37,159  ( +4.2%)
05/07  Immortal Iron Fist #5  - 36,856  ( -0.8%)
06/07  Immortal Iron Fist #6  - 36,731  ( -0.3%)
07/07  Immortal Iron Fist #7  - 35,842  ( -2.4%)
08/07  Immortal Iron Fist #8  - 35,449  ( -1.1%)
09/07  Immortal Iron Fist #9  - 34,282  ( -3.3%)
10/07  ---
11/07  Immortal Iron Fist #10 - 41,368  (+20.7%)
12/07  Immortal Iron Fist #11 - 32,975  (-20.3%)
01/08  Immortal Iron Fist #12 - 32,623  ( -1.1%)
02/08  ---
03/08  Immortal Iron Fist #13 - 32,047  ( -1.8%)
04/08  Immortal Iron Fist #14 - 30,881  ( -3.6%)
                                6 mnth  (  --- )
                                1 year  (-16.9%)

Drifting down. I’ll be interested to see how this book performs once the creative team changes; my sense is that the audience is more interested in the creators than in the character as such, but we shall see.

65. PUNISHER  [Max]
04/03  Punisher #24 - 40,503
04/04  Punisher #5  - 34,234
04/05  Punisher #19 - 38,753
04/06  Punisher #32 - 34,076
=====
04/07  Punisher #46 - 33,427  ( +0.5%)
05/07  Punisher #47 - 33,892  ( +1.4%)
06/07  Punisher #48 - 33,804  ( -0.3%)
07/07  Punisher #49 - 34,317  ( +1.5%)
08/07  Punisher #50 - 36,457  ( +6.2%)
09/07  ---
10/07  Punisher #51 - 33,771  ( -7.4%)
11/07  Punisher #52 - 32,909  ( -2.6%)
12/07  Punisher #53 - 31,772  ( -3.5%)
01/08  Punisher #54 - 31,654  ( -0.4%)
02/08  ---
03/08  Punisher #55 - 31,276  ( -1.2%)
04/08  Punisher #56 - 30,796  ( -1.5%)
                      6 mnth  ( -8.8%)
                      1 year  ( -7.9%)
                      2 year  ( -9.6%)
                      3 year  (-20.5%)
                      4 year  (-10.0%)
                      5 year  (-24.0%)

Steady as ever.

68. DAREDEVIL: BLOOD OF THE TARANTULA
04/08  Blood of the Tarantula - 30,305

The regular title is on a skip month. This one-shot comes in around 10K behind typical sales for the parent title, which is normal.

72. ANNIHILATION: CONQUEST
11/07  Conquest #1 of 6 - 35,826
12/07  Conquest #2 of 6 - 31,743  (-11.4%)
01/08  Conquest #3 of 6 - 30,089  ( -5.2%)
02/08  Conquest #4 of 6 - 29,391  ( -2.3%)
03/08  Conquest #5 of 6 - 29,447  ( -0.0%)
04/08  Conquest #6 of 6 - 29,878  ( +1.5%)

After the second-issue drop, CONQUEST has had a remarkably stable audience. The audience for Marvel’s cosmic stories may not be massive, but it could be very loyal.

73. TWELVE
12/07  Twelve #0 of 12 - 20,218
01/08  Twelve #1 of 12 - 40,199  (+98.8%)
02/08  Twelve #2 of 12 - 32,403  (-19.4%)
03/08  Twelve #3 of 12 - 32,729  ( +1.0%)
04/08  Twelve #4 of 12 - 29,729  ( -9.2%)

Issue #3 picks up re-orders of 3,464. That means the first issue sales of issue #4 are actually slightly up, which is very unusual for a miniseries. Generally, readers seem even less inclined to jump aboard a miniseries in mid-story than a regular title. Apparently something’s going right here.

74. PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL
04/07  War Journal #6  - 53,498  ( +6.6%)
05/07  War Journal #7  - 75,360  (+40.9%)
06/07  War Journal #8  - 61,376  (-18.6%)
07/07  War Journal #9  - 56,854  ( -7.4%)
08/07  War Journal #10 - 51,303  ( -9.8%)
09/07  War Journal #11 - 47,220  ( -8.0%)
10/07  War Journal #12 - 66,548  (+40.9%)
11/07  War Journal #13 - 41,783  (-37.2%)
12/07  War Journal #14 - 38,471  ( -7.9%)
01/08  War Journal #15 - 35,815  ( -6.9%)
02/08  War Journal #16 - 32,508  ( -9.2%)
03/08  War Journal #17 - 31,227  ( -3.9%)
04/08  War Journal #18 - 29,565  ( -5.3%)
                         6 mnth  (-55.6%)
                         1 year  (-44.7%)

Still losing sales at an uncomfortable speed.

75,77. NEW EXILES
04/03  Exiles #25    - 36,414
04/04  Exiles #45    - 37,878
04/05  Exiles #62    - 33,965
04/06  Exiles #79    - 34,119
=====
04/07  Exiles #93    - 30,697  ( +1.3%)
05/07  Exiles #94    - 30,735  ( +0.1%)
06/07  Exiles #95    - 30,612  ( -0.4%)
07/07  Exiles #96    - 30,245  ( -1.2%)
08/07  Exiles #97    - 29,092  ( -3.8%)
09/07  Exiles #98    - 28,308  ( -2.7%)
10/07  Exiles #99    - 27,776  ( -1.9%)
11/07  ---
12/07  Exiles #100   - 33,416  (+20.3%)
01/08  New Exiles #1 - 47,618  (+42.5%)
02/08  New Exiles #2 - 34,454  (-27.6%)
03/08  New Exiles #3 - 30,480  (-11.5%)
04/08  New Exiles #4 - 29,231  ( -4.1%)
04/08  New Exiles #5 - 28,505  ( -2.5%)
                       6 mnth  ( +2.6%)
                       1 year  ( -7.1%)
                       2 year  (-16.5%)
                       3 year  (-16.1%)
                       4 year  (-24.7%)
                       5 year  (-21.7%)

The recent relaunch doesn’t seem to have made much difference to sales one way or the other.

78. HULK VS HERCULES
04/08  When Titans Collide - 28,413

Not spectacular, but it’s a part-reprint one-shot priced at four dollars, so you can’t expect wonders.

79. NOVA
04/07  Nova #1 -  42,917  (+21.9%)
05/07  Nova #2 -  44,532  ( +3.8%)
06/07  Nova #3 -  45,004  ( +1.1%)
07/07  Nova #4 -  40,173  (-10.7%)
08/07  Nova #5 -  39,543  ( -1.6%)
09/07  Nova #6 -  36,978  ( -6.5%)
10/07  Nova #7 -  34,876  ( -5.7%)
11/07  Nova #8 -  32,110  ( -7.9%)
12/07  Nova #9 -  30,469  ( -5.1%)
01/08  Nova #10 - 29,397  ( -3.5%)
02/08  ---
03/08  Nova #11 - 28,162  ( -4.2%)
04/08  Nova #12 - 28,185  ( +0.1%)
                  6 mnth  (-19.2%)
                  1 year  (-34.3%)

Reassuringly steady over the last few months.

81. MOON KNIGHT
04/07  Moon Knight #9  - 69,196  (-10.6%)
05/07  Moon Knight #10 - 56,734  (-18.0%)
06/07  Moon Knight #11 - 58,313  ( +2.8%)
07/07  ---
08/07  ---
09/07  Moon Knight #12 - 47,521  (-18.5%)
10/07  Moon Knight #13 - 44,082  ( -7.2%)
11/07  ---
12/07  ---
01/08  Moon Knight #14 - 34,569  (-21.6%)
02/08  Moon Knight #15 - 31,553  ( -8.7%)
03/08  Moon Knight #16 - 29,546  ( -6.4%)
04/08  Moon Knight #17 - 27,808  ( -5.9%)
                         6 mnth  (-36.9%)
                         1 year  (-59.8%)

But this isn’t. MOON KNIGHT is bleeding readers at an unsustainable rate.

82. IRON MAN: LEGACY OF DOOM
04/08  Legacy of Doom #1 of 4 - 27,303

One of several Iron Man comics released to tie in with the movie. Written by David Michelinie, and referring back to old Iron Man/Dr Doom stories of yore, this is presumably a bone for the more traditional Iron Man fan.

86. GHOST RIDER
04/07  Ghost Rider #10 - 43,986  ( -8.4%)
05/07  Ghost Rider #11 - 43,626  ( -0.8%)
06/07  Ghost Rider #12 - 71,348  (+63.5%)
07/07  Ghost Rider #13 - 64,092  (-10.2%)
08/07  Ghost Rider #14 - 41,121  (-35.8%)
09/07  Ghost Rider #15 - 38,220  ( -7.1%)
10/07  Ghost Rider #16 - 34,335  (-10.2%)
11/07  Ghost Rider #17 - 31,581  ( -8.0%)
12/07  Ghost Rider #18 - 30,540  ( -3.3%)
01/08  Ghost Rider #19 - 28,566  ( -6.5%)
02/08  Ghost Rider #20 - 27,958  ( -2.1%)
03/08  Ghost Rider #21 - 26,526  ( -5.1%)
04/08  Ghost Rider #22 - 25,866  ( -2.5%)
                         6 mnth  (-24.7%)
                         1 year  (-41.2%)

Slightly healthier than MOON KNIGHT, but not by much. GHOST RIDER seems to have fallen into a strange stop-start decline, which speeds up every couple of months.

87. THE LAST DEFENDERS
03/08  Last Defenders #1 of 6 - 33,065
04/08  Last Defenders #2 of 6 - 25,731  (-22.2%)

Not wonderful, but the book was never likely to be a big seller.

89. WOLVERINE: FIRST CLASS
03/08  Wolverine: First Class #1 - 35,695
04/08  Wolverine: First Class #2 - 25,610 (-28.3%)

That’s a very big second issue drop. But of course, the FIRST CLASS books exist in an odd limbo between the Marvel Universe titles and the all-ages books, and they seem to pick up a significant part of their audience outside the direct market. And the sales for issue #1 were anomalously high compared to X-MEN: FIRST CLASS, which makes this an understandable correction. Nothing to worry about here.

91. WORLD WAR HULK AFTERSMASH: WARBOUND
12/07  Warbound #1 of 5 - 49,142
01/08  Warbound #2 of 5 - 39,789  (-19.0%)
02/08  Warbound #3 of 5 - 30,707  (-22.8%)
03/08  Warbound #4 of 5 - 26,744  (-12.9%)
04/08  Warbound #5 of 5 - 24,535  ( -8.3%)

Rather disappointing numbers. The continual drops over the whole length of the miniseries are unusual.

96. NEW WARRIORS
06/07  New Warriors #1  - 56,809
07/07  New Warriors #2  - 45,820  (-19.3%)
08/07  New Warriors #3  - 42,660  ( -6.9%)
09/07  New Warriors #4  - 39,998  ( -6.2%)
10/07  New Warriors #5  - 36,937  ( -7.7%)
11/07  ---
12/07  New Warriors #6  - 32,982  (-10.7%)
12/07  New Warriors #7  - 30,177  ( -8.5%)
01/08  New Warriors #8  - 28,926  ( -4.1%)
02/08  New Warriors #9  - 25,694  (-11.2%)
03/08  New Warriors #10 - 23,887  ( -7.0%)
04/08  New Warriors #11 - 22,636  ( -5.2%)
                          6 mnth  (-38.7%)

Surely on its last legs. NEW WARRIORS has lost 10K in only five issues, and it’s still shedding over a thousand readers a month. I can’t imagine this book lasting much longer unless there’s a dramatic change very quickly.

100. ANITA BLAKE, VAMPIRE HUNTER
04/07  Guilty Pls. #6 of 12  - 30,759  ( -1.2%)
05/07  ---
06/07  ---
07/07  First Death #1 of 2   - 38,631  (+25.6%)
08/07  ---
09/07  ---
10/07  First Death #2 of 2   - 36,035  ( -6.7%)
11/07  ---
12/07  ---
01/08  Guilty Pls. #7 of 12  - 27,874  (-22.6%)
02/08  Guilty Pls. #8 of 12  - 27,358  ( -1.9%)
03/08  Guilty Pls. #9 of 12  - 26,324  ( -3.8%)
04/08  Guilty Pls. #10 of 12 - 21,462  (-18.5%)
                               6 mnth  (-40.4%)
                               1 year  (-30.2%)

A huge drop. The preceding issues had variant covers, but I find it hard to believe that variants were making quite such a contribution to the sales of a book on the fringes of the Top 100. On the other hand, I don’t see any other obvious explanation.

101. SHE-HULK
04/04  She-Hulk #2  - 30,779
04/05  ---
04/06  ---
=====
04/07  She-Hulk #17 - 27,669  ( -1.0%)
05/07  She-Hulk #18 - 41,800  (+51.4%)
06/07  She-Hulk #19 - 26,127  (-37.5%)
07/07  ---
08/07  She-Hulk #20 - 25,582  ( -2.1%)
09/07  She-Hulk #21 - 27,221  ( +6.4%)
10/07  She-Hulk #22 - 35,568  (+30.7%)
11/07  She-Hulk #23 - 24,956  (-29.8%)
12/07  She-Hulk #24 - 23,585  ( -5.5%)
01/08  She-Hulk #25 - 23,283  ( -1.3%)
02/08  She-Hulk #26 - 22,181  ( -4.7%)
03/08  She-Hulk #27 - 21,421  ( -3.4%)
04/08  She-Hulk #28 - 20,843  ( -2.7%)
                      6 mnth  (-41.4%)
                      1 year  (-24.7%)
                      2 year  (  --- )
                      3 year  (  --- )
                      4 year  (-32.3%)

Not looking too healthy. However, there’s a SECRET INVASION crossover around the corner.

108. POWERS ANNUAL [Icon]
04/08  Powers Annual 2008 - 17,841

Only a couple of thousand behind the sales of the regular title. That’s a good number for a spin-off.

109. THE ORDER
07/07  The Order #1  - 57,264
08/07  The Order #2  - 40,274  (-30.0%)
09/07  The Order #3  - 33,936  (-15.7%)
10/07  ---
11/07  The Order #4  - 29,746  (-12.3%)
12/07  The Order #5  - 26,311  (-11.5%)
12/07  The Order #6  - 24,446  ( -7.1%)
01/08  The Order #7  - 21,539  (-11.9%)
02/08  The Order #8  - 19,194  (-10.9%)
03/08  The Order #9  - 18,317  ( -4.6%)
04/08  The Order #10 - 17,301  ( -5.5%)

Axed.

118. AMAZING SPIDER-GIRL
04/03  Spider-Girl #59         - 23,199
04/04  Spider-Girl #72         - 21,742
04/05  Spider-Girl #85         - 19,682
04/06  Spider-Girl #97         - 17,508
=====
04/07  Amazing Spider-Girl #7  - 20,093  ( -1.9%)
05/07  Amazing Spider-Girl #8  - 19,574  ( -2.6%)
06/07  Amazing Spider-Girl #9  - 19,142  ( -2.2%)
07/07  Amazing Spider-Girl #10 - 19,094  ( -0.3%)
08/07  Amazing Spider-Girl #11 - 18,725  ( -1.9%)
09/07  Amazing Spider-Girl #12 - 18,676  ( -0.3%)
10/07  Amazing Spider-Girl #13 - 26,558  (+42.2%)
11/07  Amazing Spider-Girl #14 - 17,410  (-34.4%)
12/07  Amazing Spider-Girl #15 - 17,164  ( -1.4%)
01/08  Amazing Spider-Girl #16 - 16,422  ( -4.3%)
02/08  Amazing Spider-Girl #17 - 16,193  ( -1.4%)
03/08  Amazing Spider-Girl #18 - 15,910  ( -1.7%)
04/08  Amazing Spider-Girl #19 - 15,970  ( +0.4%)
                                 6 mnth  (-39.9%)
                                 1 year  (-20.5%)
                                 2 year  ( -8.8%)
                                 3 year  (-18.9%)
                                 4 year  (-26.5%)
                                 5 year  (-31.2%)

A very slight upward tick for SPIDER-GIRL – another book which seems to have bottomed out after a recent decline.

119. CRIMINAL  [Icon]
04/07  ---
05/07  Criminal #6  - 15,720  ( -4.1%)
06/07  Criminal #7  - 15,214  ( -3.2%)
07/07  ---
08/07  Criminal #8  - 15,169  ( -0.3%)
09/07  Criminal #9  - 14,768  ( -2.6%)
10/07  ---
11/07  Criminal #10 - 14,539  ( -1.6%)
12/07  ---
01/08  ---
02/08  Criminal #1  - 18,655  (+28.3%)
03/08  ---
04/08  Criminal #2  - 15,885  (-14.8%)

Looks like CRIMINAL is already back to the sales of volume 1. But it had a steady audience before, so that may be good enough.

128. X-MEN: FIRST CLASS
04/07  First Class #8 of 8 - 23,420  ( -2.5%)
05/07  First Class Special - 23,556  ( +0.6%)
06/07  First Class #1      - 26,370  (+11.9%)
07/07  First Class #2      - 22,269  (-15.6%)
08/07  First Class #3      - 20,495  ( -8.0%)
09/07  First Class #4      - 19,088  ( -6.9%)
10/07  First Class #5      - 18,134  ( -5.0%)
11/07  First Class #6      - 17,050  ( -6.0%)
12/07  First Class #7      - 16,195  ( -5.0%)
01/08  First Class #8      - 15,986  ( -1.3%)
02/08  First Class #9      - 15,320  ( -4.2%)
03/08  First Class #10     - 14,907  ( -2.7%)
04/08  First Class #11     - 14,896  ( -0.0%)
                             6 mnth  (-17.9%)
                             1 year  (-36.4%)

Very steady over the last couple of months; the book may have found its level.

134.  WAR IS HELL [Max]
03/08  Phantom Eagle #1 of 5 - 20,373
04/08  Phantom Eagle #2 of 5 - 13,993  (-31.3%)

An unusually nasty second issue drop for Garth Ennis’s latest war comic.

140. MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS
09/07  Marvel Comics Presents #1 - 38,337
10/07  Marvel Comics Presents #2 - 26,573 (-30.7%)
11/07  Marvel Comics Presents #3 - 23,444 (-11.8%)
12/07  Marvel Comics Presents #4 - 19,890 (-15.2%)
01/08  Marvel Comics Presents #5 - 17,426 (-12.4%)
02/08  Marvel Comics Presents #6 - 16,188 ( -7.1%)
03/08  Marvel Comics Presents #7 - 15,015 ( -7.2%)
04/08  Marvel Comics Presents #8 - 13,630 ( -9.2%)
                                   6 mnth (-48.7%)

Oh dear. This is a bit of a disaster, and surely unlikely to continue once the current serials conclude in issue #12.

141. CLANDESTINE
02/08  ClanDestine #1 of 5 - 20,633
03/08  ClanDestine #2 of 5 - 15,366  (-25.5%)
04/08  ClanDestine #3 of 5 - 13,516  (-12.0%)

Disappointing numbers, but the book wasn’t particularly well promoted, and the original series was years ago.

144. GIANT-SIZE AVENGERS/INVADERS
04/08  Giant-Size Avengers/Invaders #1 - 12,855

This is a reprint issue promoting the upcoming AVENGERS/INVADERS maxiseries, so the number is very good.

172. FAIRY TALES
05/07  Spider-Man #1 of 4 - 17,362
06/07  Spider-Man #2 of 4 - 13,845  (-20.3%)
07/07  Spider-Man #3 of 4 - 12,173  (-12.1%)
08/07  ---
09/07  Spider-Man #4 of 4 - 10,925  (-10.3%)
10/07  ---
11/07  ---
12/07  ---
01/08  ---
02/08  ---
03/08  Avengers #1 of 4   - 12,762  (-16.8%)
04/08  Avengers #2 of 4   -  9,668  (-24.2%)

I’m at something of a loss about this project. Somebody at Marvel clearly likes it, but where on earth is it selling?

178. DEAD OF NIGHT FEATURING MAN-THING  [Max]
02/08  Dead of Night #1 of 4 - 12,721
03/08  Dead of Night #2 of 4 - 10,043  (-21.1%)
04/08  Dead of Night #3 of 4 -  9,205  ( -8.3%)

Not great, but Marvel seem to be very indulgent with Max books. Either they’re hopeful of trade paperback sales, or they’re prepared to throw some money at the imprint in order to establish it.

179. AVENGERS CLASSIC
06/07  Avengers Classic #1  - 29,319
07/07  Avengers Classic #2  - 20,954  (-28.5%)
08/07  Avengers Classic #3  - 18,817  (-10.2%)
09/07  Avengers Classic #4  - 15,392  (-18.2%)
10/07  Avengers Classic #5  - 13,599  (-11.6%)
11/07  Avengers Classic #6  - 12,213  (-10.2%)
12/07  Avengers Classic #7  - 11,162  ( -8.6%)
01/08  Avengers Classic #8  - 10,517  ( -5.8%)
02/08  Avengers Classic #9  -  9,590  ( -8.8%)
03/08  Avengers Classic #10 -  9,173  ( -4.3%)
04/08  Avengers Classic #11 -  9,106  ( -0.7%) 
                              6 mnth  (-33.0%)

Axed with issue #12.

190. OMEGA THE UNKNOWN
10/07  Omega t/Unknown #1 of 10 - 19,322
11/07  Omega t/Unknown #2 of 10 - 13,986  (-27.6%)
12/07  Omega t/Unknown #3 of 10 - 11,518  (-17.6%)
01/08  Omega t/Unknown #4 of 10 - 10,164  (-11.8%)
02/08  Omega t/Unknown #5 of 10 -  9,147  (-10.0%)
03/08  Omega t/Unknown #6 of 10 -  8,595  ( -6.0%)
04/08  Omega t/Unknown #7 of 10 -  8,302  ( -3.4%)

Not great, but the series is presumably aimed at the bookstore market.

193. MARVEL SPOTLIGHT
04/06  D Way / O Coipel     -  3,309
=====
04/07  Spider-Man           - 13,210  ( -57.5%)
05/07  Fantastic Four       -  8,261  ( -37.5%)
06/07  Captain America      - 31,483  (+281.1%)
07/07  ---
08/07  World War Hulk       - 22,534  ( -28.4%)
08/07  Halo                 -  9,782  ( -56.6%)
09/07  Thor                 - 11,300  ( +15.5%)
10/07  Marvel Zombies       - 16,697  ( +47.8%)
11/07  ---
12/07  One More Day         - 12,807  ( -23.3%)
12/07  Messiah Complex      - 13,462  (  +5.1%)
01/08  Ultimates 3          -  9,354  ( -30.5%)
02/08  ---
03/08  L Hamilton/G Martin
  -  4,656  ( -50.2%)
04/08  Iron Man Movie       -  8,124  ( +74.5%)
                              6 mnth  ( -51.3%)
                              1 year  ( -38.5%)
                              2 year  (+145.5%)

The climb is misleading. In fact, this is one of the lower selling issues of MARVEL SPOTLIGHT, at least in the direct market – it’s just that the March issue was even lower. However, this series apparently does better through other channels.

195. SPIDER-MAN FAMILY
02/07  Spider-Man Family #1 - 30,516
03/07  ---
04/07  Spider-Man Family #2 - 20,679  (-32.2%)
05/07  ---
06/07  Spider-Man Family #3 - 16,853  (-18.5%)
07/07  ---
08/07  Spider-Man Family #4 - 14,253  (-15.4%)
09/07  ---
10/07  Spider-Man Family #5 - 11,771  (-17.4%)
11/07  ---
12/07  Spider-Man Family #6 -  9,860  (-16.2%)
01/08  ---
02/08  Spider-Man Family #7 -  8,587  (-12.9%)
03/08  ---
04/08  Spider-Man Family #8 -  7,889  ( -8.1%)
                              6 mnth  (-33.0%)
                              1 year  (-74.1%)

Axed with issue #9, to be replaced by AMAZING SPIDER-MAN FAMILY.

Number 198 is the IRON MAN/HULK SAMPLER, sold in bundles of 25 (which is why it qualifies for the chart despite the tiny price tag). Retailers picked up 7,619 bundles, making a total of 190,475 copies.

Along similar lines, number 207 is the AVENGERS/INVADERS SKETCHBOOK, also sold in bundles of 25. 7,114 units make the chart, for a total of 177,850 copies.

From here on, it’s mostly all ages books and licensed titles – and, as you know by now, they sell mostly through other channels. MARVEL ADVENTURES: IRON MAN climbs for the second month in a row, presumably because of the film, and an IRON MAN POSTER BOOK also scrapes onto the chart at number 299 (with estimated sales of 2,966).

Also buried in the mix, at number 227, is the SOLEIL sampler, promoting Marvel’s upcoming line of European reprints. Also sold in bundles of 25, the chart shows an estimated 5,641 units, making a total of 141,025. Marvel have been pushing this line quite hard, and I’ll be interested to see whether it pays off.

But back to the low end of the chart…

220. LORDS OF AVALON: SWORD OF DARKNESS
02/08  Sword of Darkness #1 of 6 - 14,284
03/08  Sword of Darkness #2 of 6 -  6,994 (-51.0%)
04/08  Sword of Darkness #3 of 6 -  6,161 (-11.9%)


221. HEDGE KNIGHT 2: SWORN SWORD
06/07  Sworn Sword #1 of 6 - 12,011
07/07  Sworn Sword #2 of 6 -  8,763  (-27.0%)
08/07  Sworn Sword #3 of 6 -  7,658  (-12.6%)
09/07  ---
10/07  ---
11/07  ---
12/07  ---
01/08  Sworn Sword #4 of 6 -  6,813  (-11.0%)
02/08  ---
03/08  Sworn Sword #5 of 6 -  6,292  ( -7.6%)
04/08  Sworn Sword #6 of 6 -  6,104  ( -3.0%)


225. MARVEL ADVENTURES SPIDER-MAN  [All ages]
04/05  M.A. Spider-Man #2  - 10,305
04/06  M.A. Spider-Man #14 -  5,970
=====
04/07  M.A. Spider-Man #26 -  6,478  ( +1.1%)
05/07  M.A. Spider-Man #27 -  6,818  ( +5.2%)
06/07  M.A. Spider-Man #28 -  7,006  ( +2.8%)
07/07  M.A. Spider-Man #29 -  7,071  ( +0.9%)
08/07  M.A. Spider-Man #30 -  6,573  ( -7.0%)
09/07  M.A. Spider-Man #31 -  6,723  ( +2.3%)
10/07  M.A. Spider-Man #32 -  6,355  ( -5.5%)
11/07  M.A. Spider-Man #33 -  6,126  ( -3.6%)
12/07  M.A. Spider-Man #34 -  6,115  ( -0.2%)
01/08  M.A. Spider-Man #35 -  6,065  ( -0.8%)
02/08  M.A. Spider-Man #36 -  5,893  ( -2.8%)
03/08  M.A. Spider-Man #37 -  5,877  ( -0.3%)
04/08  M.A. Spider-Man #38 -  5,833  ( -0.7%)
                             6 mnth  ( -8.2%)
                             1 year  (-10.0%)
                             2 year  ( -2.3%)
                             3 year  (-43.4%)


229. MARVEL ADVENTURES AVENGERS  [All ages]
04/07  M.A. Avengers #12 - 7,092  ( +0.3%)
05/07  M.A. Avengers #13 - 7,251  ( +2.2%)
06/07  M.A. Avengers #14 - 7,293  ( +0.6%)
07/07  ---
08/07  M.A. Avengers #15 - 6,950  ( -4.7%)
09/07  M.A. Avengers #16 - 6,870  ( -1.2%)
10/07  M.A. Avengers #17 - 6,423  ( -6.5%)
11/07  M.A. Avengers #18 - 6,141  ( -4.4%)
12/07  M.A. Avengers #19 - 6,115  ( -0.4%)
01/08  M.A. Avengers #20 - 5,670  ( -7.3%)
02/08  M.A. Avengers #21 - 5,607  ( -1.1%)
03/08  M.A. Avengers #22 - 5,575  ( -0.6%)
04/08  M.A. Avengers #23 - 5,556  ( -0.3%)
                          6 mnth  (-13.5%)
                          1 year  (-21.7%)



234. CIVIL WAR CHRONICLES
07/07  Civil War Chronicles #1  - 18,449
08/07  Civil War Chronicles #2  - 12,953  (-29.8%)
09/07  Civil War Chronicles #3  - 11,094  (-14.4%)
10/07  Civil War Chronicles #4  -  9,108  (-17.9%)
11/07  Civil War Chronicles #5  -  7,500  (-17.7%)
12/07  Civil War Chronicles #6  -  6,841  ( -8.8%)
01/08  Civil War Chronicles #7  -  6,127  (-10.4%)
02/08  Civil War Chronicles #8  -  5,811  ( -5.2%)
03/08  Civil War Chronicles #9  -  5,536  ( -4.7%)
04/08  Civil War Chronicles #10 -  5,350  ( -3.4%)
                                  6 mnth  (-41.3%)


237. THE ILIAD [Marvel Illustrated]
12/07  Iliad #1 of 8 - 8,393
01/08  Iliad #2 of 8 - 5,248  (-37.5%)
02/08  Iliad #3 of 8 - 5,150  ( -1.9%)
03/08  Iliad #4 of 8 - 5,200  ( +1.0%)
04/08  Iliad #5 of 8 - 5,257  ( +1.1%)


246. MARVEL ADVENTURES IRON MAN  [All ages]
05/07  M.A. Iron Man #1  - 11,922
06/07  M.A. Iron Man #2  -  7,050  (-40.9%)
07/07  M.A. Iron Man #3  -  6,543  ( -7.2%)
08/07  M.A. Iron Man #4  -  5,911  ( -9.7%)
09/07  M.A. Iron Man #5  -  5,562  ( -5.9%)
10/07  M.A. Iron Man #6  -  5,130  ( -7.8%)
11/07  M.A. Iron Man #7  -  4,844  ( -5.6%)
12/07  M.A. Iron Man #8  -  4,656  ( -3.9%)
01/08  M.A. Iron Man #9  -  4,452  ( -4.4%)
02/08  M.A. Iron Man #10 -  4,318  ( -3.0%)
03/08  M.A. Iron Man #11 -  4,572  ( +5.9%)
04/08  M.A. Iron Man #12 -  4,866  ( +6.4%)
                           6 mnth  ( -5.1%)


248. POWER PACK  [All ages]
04/06  Power Pack #1 of 4     - 14,221
=====
04/07  Hulk #2 of 4           -  5,944  (-11.2%)
05/07  Hulk #3 of 4           -  5,593  ( -5.9%)
06/07  Hulk #4 of 4           -  5,443  ( -2.7%)
07/07  Fantastic Four #1 of 4 -  6,577  (+20.8%)
08/07  Fantastic Four #2 of 4 -  5,749  (-12.6%)
09/07  Fantastic Four #3 of 4 -  5,400  ( -6.1%)
10/07  Fantastic Four #4 of 4 -  5,152  ( -4.6%)
11/07  Iron Man #1 of 4       -  5,527  ( +7.3%)
12/07  Iron Man #2 of 4       -  4,855  (-12.2%)
01/08  Iron Man #3 of 4       -  4,445  ( -8.4%)
02/08  Iron Man #4 of 4       -  4,256  ( -4.3%)
03/08  Day One #1 of 4        -  8,298  (+95.0%)
04/08  Day One #2 of 4        -  4,830  (-41.8%)
                                6 mnth  ( -6.3%)
                                1 year  (-18.7%)
                                2 year  (-66.0%)


253. MARVEL ADVENTURES HULK [All ages]
07/07  M.A. Hulk #1  - 11,394
08/07  M.A. Hulk #2  -  7,142  (-37.3%)
09/07  M.A. Hulk #3  -  5,790  (-18.9%)
10/07  M.A. Hulk #4  -  5,588  ( -3.5%)
11/07  M.A. Hulk #5  -  4,990  (-10.7%)
12/07  M.A. Hulk #6  -  4,862  ( -2.6%)
01/08  M.A. Hulk #7  -  4,653  ( -4.3%)
02/08  M.A. Hulk #8  -  4,533  ( -2.6%)
03/08  M.A. Hulk #9  -  4,394  ( -3.1%)
04/08  M.A. Hulk #10 -  4,645  ( +5.7%)
                       6 mnth  (-16.9%)


276. MARVEL ADVENTURES FANTASTIC FOUR  [All ages]
04/06  M.A. Fantastic Four #11 - 4,526
=====
04/07  M.A. Fantastic Four #23 - 4,604  ( +0.3%)
05/07  M.A. Fantastic Four #24 - 4,807  ( +4.4%)
06/07  M.A. Fantastic Four #25 - 4,972  ( +3.4%)
07/07  M.A. Fantastic Four #26 - 5,370  ( +8.0%)
08/07  M.A. Fantastic Four #27 - 4,641  (-13.6%)
09/07  M.A. Fantastic Four #28 - 5,194  (+11.9%)
10/07  M.A. Fantastic Four #29 - 4,851  ( -6.6%)
11/07  M.A. Fantastic Four #30 - 4,460  ( -8.1%)
12/07  M.A. Fantastic Four #31 - 4,392  ( -1.5%)
01/08  M.A. Fantastic Four #32 - 4,293  ( -2.3%)
02/08  M.A. Fantastic Four #33 - 4,222  ( -1.7%)
03/08  M.A. Fantastic Four #34 - 4,176  ( -1.1%)
04/08  M.A. Fantastic Four #35 - 4,154  ( -0.5%)
                                6 mnth  (-14.4%)
                                1 year  ( -9.8%)
                                2 year  ( -8.2%)


282. PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY [Marvel Illustrated]
12/07  Dorian Gray #1 of 6 - 6,279
01/08  Dorian Gray #2 of 6 - 4,286  (-31.7%)
02/08  Dorian Gray #3 of 6 - 3,690  (-13.9%)
03/08  Dorian Gray #4 of 6 - 3,875  ( +5.0%)
04/08  Dorian Gray #5 of 6 - 3,870  ( -0.1%)


284. MOBY DICK [Marvel Illustrated]
02/08  Moby Dick #1 of 6 - 7,251
03/08  Moby Dick #2 of 6 - 3,954  (-45.5%)
04/08  Moby Dick #3 of 6 - 3,713  ( -6.1%)


Skip months and re-orders
=========================

ASTONISHING X-MEN
04/06  Astonishing X-Men #14 - 119,545
=====
04/07  ---
05/07  Astonishing X-Men #21 - 120,495  ( +0.6%)
06/07  ---
07/07  ---
08/07  Astonishing X-Men #22 - 117,321  ( -2.6%)
09/07  ---
10/07  ---
11/07  Astonishing X-Men #23 - 112,920  ( -3.8%)
12/07  ---
01/08  Astonishing X-Men #24 - 107,631  ( -4.7%)
02/08  ---
03/08  ---
04/08  ---

Late. The final issue came out in May.

ULTIMATES
04/03  ---
04/04  ---
04/05  Ultimates 2 #5      - 104,971
04/06  ---
=====
04/07  ---
05/07  Ultimates 2 #13     - 105,745  ( +6.2%)
06/07  ---
07/07  ---
08/07  ---
09/07  ---
10/07  ---
11/07  ---
12/07  Ultimates 3 #1 of 5 - 154,722  (+46.3%)
01/08  Ultimates 3 #2 of 5 - 112,044  (-27.6%)
02/08  Ultimates 3 #3 of 5 - 103,570  ( -7.6%)
03/08  ---
04/08  ---

Late. Issue #3 picks up further re-orders of 6,360, though.

HALO: UPRISING
08/07  Uprising #1 of 4 - 71,812
09/07  ---
10/07  ---
11/07  Uprising #2 of 4 - 50,165  (-30.1%)
12/07  ---
01/08  ---
02/08  ---
03/08  ---
04/08  ---

Still being pushed back.

DAREDEVIL
04/03  Daredevil #46  - 60,517
04/04  Daredevil #59  - 54,398
04/05  Daredevil #72  - 48,803
04/06  Daredevil #84  - 47,123
=====
04/07  Daredevil #96  - 46,198  ( -0.6%)
05/07  Daredevil #97  - 47,200  ( +2.2%)
06/07  Daredevil #98  - 46,816  ( -0.8%)
07/07  ---
08/07  Daredevil #99  - 47,386  ( +1.2%)
09/07  Daredevil #100 - 78,143  (+64.9%)
10/07  Daredevil #101 - 47,189  (-39.6%)
11/07  Daredevil #102 - 45,030  ( -4.6%)
12/07  Daredevil #103 - 43,874  ( -2.6%)
01/08  Daredevil #104 - 42,773  ( -2.5%)
02/08  Daredevil #105 - 42,098  ( -1.6%)
03/08  Daredevil #106 - 41,537  ( -1.3%)
04/08  ---

Skip month.

ULTIMATE IRON MAN II
12/07  Iron Man II #1 of 5 - 61,087
01/08  Iron Man II #2 of 5 - 46,248  (-24.3%)
02/08  Iron Man II #3 of 5 - 43,496  ( -6.0%)
03/08  Iron Man II #4 of 5 - 41,354  ( -4.9%)
04/08  ---
05/08  ---

Late.

THUNDERBOLTS
04/03  Thunderbolts #63    - 29,042
04/04  Thunderbolts #78    - 21,806
04/05  New Thunderbolts #7 - 28,722
04/06  Thunderbolts #101   - 24,170
=====
04/07  Thunderbolts #113   - 65,092  ( +6.0%)
05/07  Thunderbolts #114   - 66,309  ( +1.9%)
06/07  Thunderbolts #115   - 64,876  ( -2.2%)
07/07  ---
08/07  Thunderbolts #116   - 52,503  (-19.1%)
09/07  ---
10/07  Thunderbolts #117   - 47,151  (-10.2%)
11/07  ---
12/07  ---
01/08  Thunderbolts #118   - 43,645  ( -7.4%)
02/08  ---
03/08  Thunderbolts #119   - 40,173  ( -8.0%)
04/08  ---

Late.

RUNAWAYS
04/03  Runaways #1  - 25,833
04/04  Runaways #14 - 19,363
04/05  Runaways #3  - 29,264
04/06  Runaways #15 - 24,046
=====
04/07  Runaways #25 - 56,250  (+123.1%)
05/07  Runaways #26 - 46,134  ( -18.0%)
06/07  ---
07/07  Runaways #27 - 41,254  ( -10.6%)
08/07  ---
09/07  ---
10/07  Runaways #28 - 47,760  ( +15.8%)
11/07  ---
12/07  ---
01/08  ---
02/08  Runaways #29 - 33,210  ( -30.5%)
03/08  ---
04/08  ---

Ridiculously late.

SPIDER-MAN: WITH GREAT POWER
01/08  With Great Power #1 of 5 - 32,201
02/08  With Great Power #2 of 5 - 24,800  (-23.0%)
03/08  With Great Power #3 of 5 - 22,029  (-11.2%)
04/08  ---

Late, and currently due in June.

BLACK PANTHER
04/05  Black Panther #3  - 44,925
04/06  Black Panther #15 - 28,361
=====
04/07  ---
05/07  Black Panther #27 - 52,552  ( +2.3%)
06/07  Black Panther #28 - 61,808  (+17.6%)
07/07  Black Panther #29 - 55,027  (-11.0%)
08/07  Black Panther #30 - 48,478  (-11.9%)
09/07  ---
10/07  Black Panther #31 - 33,673  (-30.5%)
11/07  Black Panther #32 - 28,426  (-15.6%)
12/07  Black Panther #33 - 25,906  ( -8.9%)
01/08  ---
02/08  Black Panther #34 - 23,395  ( -9.7%)
03/08  Black Panther #35 - 21,332  ( -8.9%)
04/08  ---

Slipped to May.

POWERS  [Icon]
04/03  Powers #30 - 26,690
04/04  ---
04/05  Powers #10 - 28,360
04/06  ---
=====
04/07  Powers #24 - 20,960  ( -4.5%)
05/07  ---
06/07  ---
07/07  ---
08/07  Powers #25 - 21,349  ( +1.9%)
09/07  ---
10/07  Powers #26 - 20,541  ( -3.8%)
11/07  Powers #27 - 19,843  ( -3.4%)
12/07  ---
01/08  ---
02/08  ---
03/08  Powers #28 - 19,256  ( -3.0%)
04/08  ---

Late, although the Annual did come out. Issue #29 is currently due in June.

FOOLKILLER  [Max]
10/07  Foolkiller #1 of 5 - 19,706
11/07  Foolkiller #2 of 5 - 13,779  (-30.1%)
12/07  Foolkiller #3 of 5 - 12,892  ( -6.4%)
01/08  ---
02/08  ---
03/08  Foolkiller #4 of 5 - 11,353  (-11.9%)
04/08  ---

Slipping to May.

OFFICIAL HANDBOOK OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE
04/05  Spider-Man #2005  - 25,530
04/06  A to Z #4 of 12   - 21,531
=====
04/07  Spider-Man: BIB   - 23,510  ( +36.8%)
05/07  Update #2 of 4    - 16,633  ( -29.3%)
05/07  Anita Blake       - 20,936  ( +25.9%)
06/07  Mystic Arcana     - 15,669  ( -25.2%)
06/07  Mighty Avengers   - 22,312  ( +42.4%)
07/07  Update #3 of 4    - 15,600  ( -30.1%)
08/07  World War Hulk    - 41,583  (+166.6%)
09/07  Marvel Zombies    - 47,090  ( +13.2%)
10/07  Update #4 of 4    - 14,328  ( -69.6%)
11/07  Atlas #1 of 2     - 16,857  ( +17.7%)
12/07  Messiah Complex   - 24,795  ( +47.1%)
01/08  Ultimate Secrets  - 22,556  (  -9.0%)
02/08  ---
03/08  Atlas #2 of 2     - 10,893  ( -51.7%)
04/08  ---

Skip month.

6 month comparisons
===================

+ 12.3% - Fantastic Four
+ 11.5% - Ms Marvel
+  9.0% - Uncanny X-Men
+  4.5% - Captain America
+  2.6% - New Exiles
-  0.9% - New Avengers
-  1.2% - X-Factor
-  2.3% - Mighty Avengers
-  5.1% - Marvel Adventures Iron Man
-  6.3% - Power Pack
-  7.2% - X-Men: Legacy
-  8.2% - Marvel Adventures Spider-Man
-  8.8% - Punisher
- 13.5% - Marvel Adventures Avengers
- 14.4% - Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four
- 16.1% - Iron Man
- 16.8% - Ultimate Fantastic Four
- 16.9% - Marvel Adventures Hulk
- 17.9% - Wolverine: Origins
- 17.9% - X-Men: First Class
- 19.2% - Nova
- 22.1% - Ultimate X-Men
- 22.6% - Wolverine
- 23.8% - Ultimate Spider-Man
- 24.7% - Ghost Rider
- 33.0% - Avengers Classic
- 33.0% - Spider-Man Family
- 36.9% - Moon Knight
- 38.7% - New Warriors
- 39.9% - Amazing Spider-Girl
- 40.4% - Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter
- 41.3% - Civil War Chronicles
- 41.4% - She-Hulk
- 48.7% - Marvel Comics Presents
- 51.3% - Marvel Spotlight
- 55.6% - Punisher War Journal


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

+ 35.9% - X-Factor
+ 14.2% - Uncanny X-Men
+  3.5% - X-Men: Legacy
-  1.4% - Ms Marvel
-  7.1% - New Exiles
-  7.9% - Punisher
-  9.8% - Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four
- 10.0% - Marvel Adventures Spider-Man
- 13.5% - New Avengers
- 16.2% - Fantastic Four
- 16.3% - Incredible Hercules
- 16.9% - Immortal Iron Fist
- 18.7% - Power Pack
- 20.5% - Amazing Spider-Girl
- 21.7% - Mighty Avengers
- 21.7% - Marvel Adventures Avengers
- 22.0% - Ultimate X-Men
- 22.1% - Ultimate Spider-Man
- 24.7% - She-Hulk
- 30.2% - Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter
- 30.5% - Wolverine: Origins
- 30.9% - Dark Tower
- 34.1% - Wolverine
- 34.3% - Nova
- 36.4% - X-Men: First Class
- 38.5% - Marvel Spotlight
- 39.9% - Iron Man
- 41.2% - Ghost Rider
- 44.7% - Punisher War Journal
- 59.0% - Avengers: The Initiative
- 59.8% - Moon Knight
- 74.1% - Spider-Man Family


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

+145.5% - Marvel Spotlight
+ 77.1% - Captain America
+ 18.0% - Uncanny X-Men
+ 13.8% - X-Factor
+  3.3% - Fantastic Four
-  0.7% - Incredible Hercules
-  1.7% - X-Men: Legacy
-  2.3% - Marvel Adventures Spider-Man
-  8.2% - Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four
-  8.5% - Ms Marvel
-  8.6% - Wolverine
-  8.8% - Amazing Spider-Girl
-  9.1% - New Avengers
-  9.6% - Punisher
- 11.3% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 16.5% - New Exiles
- 22.2% - Ultimate Spider-Man
- 27.6% - Iron Man
- 32.9% - Ultimate X-Men
- 44.5% - Ultimate Fantastic Four
- 66.0% - Power Pack
- 67.2% - Wolverine: Origins


3 year comparisons
==================

+ 75.3% - Captain America
+ 42.7% - Fantastic Four
+  9.5% - Uncanny X-Men
-  1.9% - Amazing Spider-Man
-  6.5% - X-Men: Legacy
-  7.9% - Incredible Hercules
- 16.1% - New Exiles
- 18.9% - Amazing Spider-Girl
- 20.5% - Punisher
- 30.4% - Iron Man
- 32.0% - New Avengers
- 32.5% - Ultimate Spider-Man
- 35.9% - Wolverine
- 40.6% - Ultimate X-Men
- 43.4% - Marvel Adventures Spider-Man
- 48.1% - Ultimate Fantastic Four


4 year comparisons
==================

+167.6% - Thor
+109.0% - Captain America
+100.9% - New Avengers
+ 22.8% - Fantastic Four
+ 22.7% - Iron Man
+  7.4% - Uncanny X-Men
-  4.8% - Incredible Hercules
-  7.3% - Amazing Spider-Man
-  8.7% - Wolverine
- 10.0% - Punisher
- 22.6% - X-Men: Legacy
- 24.7% - New Exiles
- 26.5% - Amazing Spider-Girl
- 32.3% - She-Hulk
- 38.2% - Ultimate Spider-Man
- 49.0% - Ultimate X-Men
- 63.5% - Ultimate Fantastic Four


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

+165.5% - Thor
+ 89.4% - New Avengers
+ 55.7% - Captain America
+ 26.5% - Fantastic Four
+ 10.1% - Iron Man
+  7.9% - Uncanny X-Men
+  5.9% - Wolverine
- 20.1% - X-Men: Legacy
- 20.3% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 21.7% - New Exiles
- 22.9% - Incredible Hercules
- 24.0% - Punisher
- 31.2% - Amazing Spider-Girl
- 45.3% - Ultimate Spider-Man
- 45.7% - Ultimate X-Men

1 COMMENT

  1. “One of the less successful “Divided We Stand” books, the renamed X-MEN: LEGACY is back at pre-crossover levels, and losing readers rather quickly. One possible explanation is that readers have decided that this is now a spin-off book, instead of a core X-Men title, and they’re treating it accordingly. Another possibility is that the unusually dense continuity is putting people off. Discuss.”

    I don’t know much of the old continuity, but I’m managing fine.

    I think the problem is that it looks like a continuation of X-Men, so people didn’t give it a try when they might have had they relaunched with a #1.

  2. 29. CABLE
    “03/08 Cable #1 – 68,073
    04/08 Cable #2 – 59,877 (-12.0%)Ah. Now, if you believe the chart, issue #1 charted for the second month running, at number 24, with re-orders of 65,568. That’s such obvious nonsense that I’m choosing to ignore it. Nothing doubles its sales in the second month – certainly not when there’s a simultaneous 12% drop in first month sales. There’s probably some genuine reorders in there somewhere, but who knows how many?”

    Cable #1 was reprinted and reshipped to all retailers due to a printing error, explaining why it charted twice. So if your local store ordered 50 copies, they received another 50 a few weeks later at no charge. What this “printing error” was, I have no idea, I couldn’t tell the difference. There are plenty of copies of Cable #1 floating out there.

  3. “Levelling out pretty quickly, but the book remains mired at the level of its “Initiative” tie-ins. With an A-list creative team like Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch, it’s very surprising to see the book this far down the chart.”

    I argue your expectations are way too high for this creative team. They show positive growth in five of your six comparisons. They didn’t relaunch like Thor or Hulk. They didn’t kill off a character like Captain America. With the exception of Civil War and JMS’s and Millar’s debut issues, the F.F. does not sell above the high mid-range.

  4. “We’ve noted in previous months that Marvel seem to be dumping old remaindered comics onto the direct market, and Diamond appear to be counting these as extra “sales” on the chart.”

    !!!! !!!! !!!!

    Does not anyone remember Valiant?

  5. 04/03 Amazing Spider-Man #52 – 96,624
    04/04 Amazing Spider-Man #506 – 83,152
    04/05 Amazing Spider-Man #519 – 78,535
    04/06 Amazing Spider-Man #531 – 86,884

    04/08 Amazing Spider-Man #556 – 78,458
    04/08 Amazing Spider-Man #557 – 77,057

    Amazing now selling at its lowest level in 5 years. It’s magic!

  6. 134. WAR IS HELL [Max]
    03/08 Phantom Eagle #1 of 5 – 20,373
    04/08 Phantom Eagle #2 of 5 – 13,993 (-31.3%)

    An unusually nasty second issue drop for Garth Ennis’s latest war comic.

    But we all know by now what we are going to get from Ennis. The trade will be out within 3 or 4 months, so why get the individual issues?

  7. “Amazing now selling at its lowest level in 5 years. It’s magic!”

    No it’s not.

    Jun 05 Amazing Spider-Man #521 – 74,117 ( -2.7%)
    Jul 05 Amazing Spider-Man #522 – 73,130 ( -1.3%)
    Aug 05 Amazing Spider-Man #523 – 72,046 ( -1.5%)
    Sep 05 Amazing Spider-Man #524 – 71,065 ( -1.4%)

    And at the same time:

    Jun 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #15 – 54,102 ( -5.5%)
    Jul 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #16 – 50,876 ( -6.0%)
    Aug 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #17 – 48,555 ( -4.6%)
    Sep 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #18 – 47,654 ( -1.9%)

    No third Spidey book at the time (FNSM started a month or two later), but the last Spectacular sales were:

    Jan 05 Spectacular Spider-Man #24 – 47,824 ( -1.9%)
    Feb 05 Spectacular Spider-Man #25 – 47,727 ( -0.2%)
    Mar 05 Spectacular Spider-Man #26 – 47,006 ( -1.5%)
    Apr 05 Spectacular Spider-Man #27 – 45,810 ( -2.5%)

    This was before The Other, Civil War, BND and the like, back when the books were standing alone like now. The book has further to drop before it reaches the lowest ASM sales, and even then it will be ahead of the average sales for the three issues a month.

  8. As mentioned in the article, X-Men:FC seems to be grouped (mentally, if not officially) in with the Adventures books (probably since Parker is part of both) and maybe it also gets “outside market” sales.

    I also get the feeling, with no proof, that The Order was one big prequel to Fraction’s Iron Man book.

  9. > I also get the feeling, with no proof, that The Order was one big prequel to Fraction’s Iron Man book.

    More likely, I think, that Fraction’s just cannibalising what he can of plans he had for The Order to use in Invincible Iron Man. It’s hardly unheard of.

  10. Re: Cable #1, all the copies I saw on the initial release date had the middle page falling out because of a staple problem. Mine was like it too. I assume that explains the second batch.

  11. “68. DAREDEVIL: BLOOD OF THE TARANTULA
    04/08 Blood of the Tarantula – 30,305
    The regular title is on a skip month. This one-shot comes in around 10K behind typical sales for the parent title, which is normal.

    108. POWERS ANNUAL [Icon]
    04/08 Powers Annual 2008 – 17,841
    Only a couple of thousand behind the sales of the regular title. That’s a good number for a spin-off.”

    If these one-shots/annuals sell significantly less than the main series, wouldn’t it make more sense to just stick them in the middle of the series?

  12. “119. CRIMINAL [Icon]
    05/07 Criminal #6 – 15,720 ( -4.1%)
    06/07 Criminal #7 – 15,214 ( -3.2%)
    08/07 Criminal #8 – 15,169 ( -0.3%)
    09/07 Criminal #9 – 14,768 ( -2.6%)
    11/07 Criminal #10 – 14,539 ( -1.6%)
    02/08 Criminal #1 – 18,655 (+28.3%)
    04/08 Criminal #2 – 15,885 (-14.8%)
    Looks like CRIMINAL is already back to the sales of volume 1. But it had a steady audience before, so that may be good enough.”

    That trick doesn’t usually work for more than a quick spike. Nice try though.

    You’d think at least some of the 75-80K readers who just love Brubaker on his Marvel books would want to check out his other work. Nope.

    “134. WAR IS HELL [Max]
    03/08 Phantom Eagle #1 of 5 – 20,373
    04/08 Phantom Eagle #2 of 5 – 13,993 (-31.3%)
    An unusually nasty second issue drop for Garth Ennis’s latest war comic.”

    High $4 price tag probably doesn’t help either. Perhaps people are tradewaitng this one.

  13. “You’d think at least some of the 75-80K readers who just love Brubaker on his Marvel books would want to check out his other work. Nope.”

    Well, some of us do — once it’s collected in TPB, just like the other two ‘Criminal’ trades on my bookshelf. I never buy any Vertigo material in single issues either.

  14. > If these one-shots/annuals sell significantly less than the main series, wouldn’t it make more sense to just stick them in the middle of the series?

    Well, basically if they do that, people moan – AND, unusually, that tends to be reflected in significantly lower sales for future issues.

    There has been the odd bizarre situation where it’s by the regular writer, and they could just hold it a month or two (e.g. the X-Factor one-shot last month, by the regular writer & the outgoing regular artist, which should really have been published as XF #32), but mostly it’s genuine inventory stories/fill-ins that get pushed out like that, with Gage’s Thunderbolts stories being prime examples.

  15. Generally you’re right, especially with fill-in/inventory stories. Here, it’s not quite that way. Daredevil has Brubaker as the co-writer and Powers is by the exact same creative team (with Oeming co-writing). No problem with it – it just seems odd to do when the creative teams are roughly the same, and it means likely lower sales.

  16. “Amazing now selling at its lowest level in 5 years. It’s magic!”

    No it’s not.
    ——-
    Yes, it is. It’s right there in the numbers.

    04/03 Amazing Spider-Man #52 – 96,624
    04/04 Amazing Spider-Man #506 – 83,152
    04/05 Amazing Spider-Man #519 – 78,535
    04/06 Amazing Spider-Man #531 – 86,884

    04/08 Amazing Spider-Man #556 – 78,458
    04/08 Amazing Spider-Man #557 – 77,057

    It’s magic, I tell you!
    .
    .
    .
    .

  17. On X-Men Legacy: A Professor X centered book will never be an exceptionally great seller. All the flashbacks and references to X-History don’t help either I would assume. I expect this book to drop to a low 60k level, then we will see some sale stunts (the crossover with Origins has been announced already) and finally Marvel will put the blame on Mike Carey and the best current X-writer will get the boot.

  18. Katherine,

    Regarding The Order, I read an interview with Fraction where he claimed to request the book to end. He said he always envisioned it as a 10 issue series. (I miss it, too!)

  19. Whether that’s true or not, it’s hard to imagine Marvel letting the series continues with those numbers anyway.

  20. “Yes, it is. It’s right there in the numbers.”

    Erm, no. What the numbers show is that AMAZING SPIDER-MAN is down on its numbers from April 2006, April 2005, April 2004 and April 2003.

    Your claim that it’s got the lowest numbers in five years, however, is demonstrably false, since the numbers from 2005 quoted here are lower.

  21. “Regarding The Order, I read an interview with Fraction where he claimed to request the book to end. He said he always envisioned it as a 10 issue series.”

    As I recall, Fraction expected THE ORDER to be around for “about a year.” He then requested to end the book with issue #10 because otherwise, it couldn’t have continued the way he wanted it to, whatever that means.

    If I had to guess based on the numbers, the book was very likely on its last legs, anyway, and Marvel couldn’t justify paying Barry Kitson to draw it past issue #10.

    That was the stated reason why NEXTWAVE was cancelled, at any rate.

  22. Oh, it’s obvious that The Order wasn’t sustainable at that sales level (much less with an ongoing decline). I was just wondering why First Class kept going. I must have skimmed over the comment on Wolverine: First Class (which is selling higher than The Order, so its numbers didn’t catch my eye).

  23. Sometimes a book is continued after it approaches the cancelletion point because someone in editorial likes that book for some reason. Office politics.

  24. “Yes, it is. It’s right there in the numbers.”

    “Your claim that it’s got the lowest numbers in five years, however, is demonstrably false, since the numbers from 2005 quoted here are lower.”

    ______________________________

    The numbers are what they are.

    Amazing is at its lowest sales level FOR APRIL in 5 years. And looking at the numbers dragged in to try to diffuse my statement, it looks like Amazing is due to lose a bunch of sales in the next couple months.

  25. There’s no doubt in my mind that OMD, like SINS PAST did a few years ago, caused a number of readers to drop ASM. That being said, ASM would MOST LIKELY be selling around the current number even if OMD never happened and the marriage was still in tack. The sad and honest truth of the matter is that without some kind of gimmick, ASM and MOST Marvel (and DC) comics will continue to shed readers.

  26. “Amazing is at its lowest sales level FOR APRIL in 5 years. And looking at the numbers dragged in to try to diffuse my statement, it looks like Amazing is due to lose a bunch of sales in the next couple months.”

    You appreciate that when you made your statement initially you just said lowest in five years and didnt bother to specify you meant lowest for april in five years right?

    So you were wrong! Deal with it man.

  27. Alan, it’s been explained multiple times in this column how when you factor in the sales of the two secondary titles Marvel used to publish, overall Spider-Man sales are clearly UP. So… are you simply that bad at math, or are you being willfully ignorant?

  28. “it’s obvious that The Order wasn’t sustainable at that sales level. I was just wondering why First Class kept going.”

    It could be as simple as Parker and Cruz asking for a smaller paycheck than Fraction/Kitson.

    If Parker/Cruz work for peanuts and Fraction/Kitson want to be paid in gold pressed latinum, then it’ll be much easier to make First Class numbers palatable for the bean counters.

  29. Hey Alan Coil:

    ASM shipped 3 different issues in April, sales of which total:

    242,417

    I think that beats handily all monthly sales of ASM PLUS the two companion titles over the last few years.

    Just get over it already.

  30. Marc,

    Thank you for the assist and clarification.

    To everyone taking issue with Alan & Spider-man sales,

    I find Alan is generally correct about most things he comments on. I’m willing to give him a pass on saying “lowest in 5 years” and forgetting to initially say he meant “lowest in 5 years for April.”

    Also, Wraith’s right – barring a phenomenal gimmick, Marvel and DC are going to continue shedding sales. While I’m sure the OMD fall out caused some readers to leave, I think Amazing would be selling less as well. The Big 2 haven’t effectively courted new readers in years. They’ve more or less depended on the current readership to not give up their buying habits. But the world changes. Whether it’s due to high gas prices, a poor economy, or changes in personal lives, there’s a significant attrition in the current readership. When you consider how easy it is to pirate comics on-line, and how the Big 2 are more or less turning a blind eye to it, it’s almost amazing the sales are as high as they are.

    I buy comics now because when times were hard for me a few years ago, I got back into reading comics through pirating them. Also, I mostly buy comics now that are independent or Image published and I know those books need each sale to stay alive. If times get hard for me again, I’ll probably go back to pirating without much care. When times are hard, financially, it’s silly to keep paying for something that’s easily available for essentially free.

  31. “When times are hard, financially, it’s silly to keep paying for something that’s easily available for essentially free.”

    It makes me sick every time I see this kind of lame rationalization for stealing. Candy at the grocery store is “easily available” and “essentially free” if you slip it in your pocket and walk out with it. The stuff in your neighbor’s house is “easily available” and “essentially free” if you wait for them to leave and break open a window. The only difference is that you feel relatively secure you won’t get caught stealing comic books online.

    But who knows with thieves like you? People are only as honest as their opportunity, I guess.

  32. You know how the BND-backers keep saying, “Yes, the per-issue sales on Amazing Spider-Man have gone down, but the combined thrice-monthly sales of Amazing Spider-Man are still higher than the combined monthly sales of Amazing, Sensational and Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man before BND!”?

    It turns out that’s not actually true.

    No, it turns out, when I compared the combined thrice-monthly sales of Amazing Spider-Man from this year’s months to date …

    Amazing 1st issue
    Amazing 2nd issue
    Amazing 3rd issue
    All 3 Amazing issues

    January 2008
    127,958
    101,213
    97,959
    327,130

    February 2008
    101,112
    90,874
    88,084
    280,070

    March 2008
    89,835
    82,648
    81,072
    253,555

    April 2008
    86,902
    78,458
    77,057
    242,417

    May 2008
    n/a
    n/a
    n/a
    n/a

    … With the combined monthly sales of Amazing, Sensational and Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man from last year’s same months …

    Amazing
    Sensational
    Friendly Neighborhood
    All 3 Spider-Man titles

    January 2007
    123,160
    47,008
    41,832
    212,000

    February 2007
    145,435
    69,543
    62,278
    277,256

    March 2007
    155,980
    58,559
    50,665
    265,204

    April 2007
    n/a
    57,528
    50,307
    107,835*

    May 2007
    119,662
    n/a
    49,908
    169,570*

    *(Missing that month’s issue of one of its three monthly titles.)

    … That it just didn’t add up.

    All 3 Amazing issues in 2008
    All 3 Spider-Man titles in 2007

    January
    327,130
    212,000

    February
    280,070
    277,256

    March
    253,555
    265,204

    April
    242,417
    107,835*

    May
    n/a
    169,570*

    *(Missing that month’s issue of one of its three monthly titles.)

    Because of skip-months for one Spider-Man title each in the months of April and May last year, it’s probably impossible to draw any credible comparisons between those months’ sales last year versus this year, but the fact remains that the BND issues already lost their supposed sales “advantage” over the pre-BND issues as early as March.

    Yes, last year’s issues were part of the “Back in Black” crossover between the three monthly Spider-Man titles, which was a heavily promoted and extended “event,” but anyone who thinks that “Brand New Day” hasn’t been an even more heavily promoted and extended “event” is a total fucking idiot, and the only reason that it doesn’t qualify as a “crossover” is because last year’s other two Spider-Man titles were essentially absorbed into the Amazing Spider-Man title this year.

  33. I wonder if the drop in Iron Fist sales was due to the announcement that Fraction and Aja are leaving the book. Otherwise you see a significant drop for the last issue of the story arc that shipped on time. I weep.

  34. VG said: “You appreciate that when you made your statement initially you just said lowest in five years and didnt bother to specify you meant lowest for april in five years right?”

    Yes, that’s why I put it in ALL CAPS. I was trying to appease the deniers.

    And I still think sales will go down by several thousand in the next few months.

  35. Conor E said: “Alan, it’s been explained multiple times in this column how when you factor in the sales of the two secondary titles Marvel used to publish, overall Spider-Man sales are clearly UP. So… are you simply that bad at math, or are you being willfully ignorant?”

    Now I’m ignorant, am I?

    I never once mentioned the other Spider-Man titles Marvel used to publish because I never made that comparison. I merely compared the sales level of today’s Amazing with the sales from past years. My point stands—Amazing is selling at its lowest level in 5 years IN APRIL. 77 thousand is less than 78 thousand.

  36. I’d guess that Sami is right about the Order vs. X-Men First Class- it has a lot to do with creative costs of each book which is one reason why I wonder how long Marvel can afford to pay Hitch and Millar to both work on a high mid-level book. I think one reason the MA books continue to exist, besides sales in other forms (I have a subscription through a school book club for my son for MA: SM) is that they generally have less “known” talent working on these books and it’s become a nice little farm system for Marvel to try out people (though often leading to issues of questionable quality on some titles or issues).

    I’m at something of a loss about this project (Fairy Tales). Somebody at Marvel clearly likes it, but where on earth is it selling?

    I buy it in quarter bins ; )

    It’s also stated that Marvel Spotlight sells in other areas- WHERE? This is surely a book made exclusively for the direct market. If you have evidence that it sells in other markets please state what the evidence is and where those sales are occurring since I just can’t believe that book sells to anyone outside of Marvel fan boys.

  37. As we’ve covered before, my baseline figure for total Spider-Man sales going up also took account of the fact that pre-relaunch AMAZING SPIDER-MAN only actually shipped nine times a year.

    Now, that said: given the continuing decline, I *do* think it’s now virtually inevitable that they’re going to end up with a lower number, by any standard. Of course, as has been pointed out in this thread, there are a variety of factors potentially contributing to that – they’ve gone from an A-list creative team to a less prominent one, for example. And sales on AMAZING were inflated over the last couple of years by participation in major events and crossovers. So the decline won’t be due solely to the unpopularity of “One More Day.”

  38. It really doesn’t matter what people think about Spidey sales going up or down. Joe Q, with his a rather disturbing, unhealthy 20 yr obsession with a comic book character’s marriage, will do what he wants irregardless of sales or public opinion.

    Life according to Joe Q is that everyone loves BND and they get tons of praise about Spidey’s b(old) direction.

    Then again, as wise old Ben Kenobi once said, “Many of the truths we cling to are dependent on one’s own point of view.”

    Some see sales as going up, others see them as going down. Some see Joe Q as the hero who restored Peter Parker to his pathetic loser glory. Others see him as a metaphor for Mephisto, who, like Joey Q, wanted that marriage undone, no matter how stupid a story he had to tell to get it.

  39. BTW, I think many people missed the point, both about OMD and BND.

    The whole purpose behind OMD and BND was not only to give Joe Q the therapy he so desperately needed (and he does look much healthier today than he has in the past 20 years — I’d say single life has done wonders for Joe, I mean, Peter.) but also, as Joe said, to make Peter more accessable for the next generation of readers, you know, all those new kids lining up at the comic shops who can now read Spider Man because he is single.

    So to gage Amazing’s success, one shouldn’t look at the sales figures. Because if Spiderman lost 10 old time readers but gained even 2 or 3 new, next generation kid readers as Joe claimed he was doing this for, theny, it’s all worth it.

    Really, anything to get a new generation to start buying comics.

    So, to find out if this has really been successful, people need to ask how many shop owners are now selling Accessible Spiderman 3x a month to that new generation of readers?

  40. Well, from a revenue standpoint, I’m sure Marvel would rather take 3 issues of Amazing Spider Man level sales every 3 weeks (even IF they dip a bit from the old ASM levels) than the slightly higher sales of the old ASM + the weaker-selling titles that got folded into the thrice-monthly ASM. Until the new combined sales number slips below the old combined sales number this project will be considered a success within Marvel’s corporate offices which is all that matters (except on blogs and message boards). The only way you can compare sales is to take that into account, which is surely how Joe Q and Marvel are looking at it. Otherwise, you’re comparing moldy oranges to ripe apples. Whether one issue ASM is selling better than the old ASM in the same month is a worthless metric- the question is: is it selling better than the same month of Friendly Neighborhood? Marvel simply DOES NOT CARE what fans think about the supposed “quality” of the title as long as the move is bringing in more REVENUE. The move worked in that, even if ASM’s sales are lower, the sales on the other 2 issues per month are still higher than the old titles, thus more money for Marvel and another success for Joe Q (fans may hate him but he really is a genius at this stuff). It isn’t about what fans think or about younger readers, it’s about REVENUE and meeting quarterly profit expectations.

  41. K-BOX, I believe your numbers are off. The only time you show 2008 ASM being outsold by the 2007 Spider-Man titles is by the March numbers. But according to icv2.com, your March numbers are wrong:

    http://www.icv2.com/articles/home/10404.html
    March 2007
    137,730 ASM
    56,139 SSM
    50,665 FNSM
    For a total of 24,453

    So, going by your calculations…
    March ASM 2008: 265,204 > March Spider-Man titles of 2007: 24,453
    And 2008 ASM has outsold the 2007 Spider-Man titles each and every time.

    You also make this argument:
    “Because of skip-months for one Spider-Man title each in the months of April and May last year, it’s probably impossible to draw any credible comparisons between those months’ sales last year versus this year…”

    Personally, I don’t agree with that. Those skip months were caused by the previous ASM team not being able to get out 12 issues a year. The current team(s) are working towards getting out 36 issues a year, and so far they have kept to that schedule. If someone doesn’t show up for a match, that’s usually called a forfeit. If the other team is bringing it every time, shouldn’t they be rewarded for that? Or rather, why should the other team get a free pass?

    You also say:
    “…but anyone who thinks that “Brand New Day” hasn’t been an even more heavily promoted and extended “event” is a total fucking idiot…”

    And I disagree. The way I see it, “Brand New Day” is less an event than it is a form of line branding (like “Decimation” banner was for the X-titles after House of M, or “The Initiative” banner was for books like Fantastic Four after Civil War). There’s been no big specific story event in the Brand New Day books, other than being the stories that have followed heavily promoted storyline “One More Day”. Both “Civil War” and “Back in Black” were story specific event books.

    And if you believe that the “Brand New Day” line branding was more heavily promoted than the “Civil War” event, then you, IMO, have a very skewed take on things. (See? No need to curse.)

  42. A lot of you are spending way too much time with the numbers in an attempt to prove your points — that the Spidey numbers are going either up or down.

    And you’re doing this to people, who are going to go the same lengths to prove you wrong the other way.

    In the end, your efforts will only accomplish one thing — that you’re all very creative at mathematics.

    Like Marvel, people will try and spin the numbers to support their own points of view and it doesn’t make an ounce of difference because as said before…

    Joe Q doesn’t care what any of you think… he sees the world the way he wants and he’s going to do what he wants with Spider Man regardless of how anybody spins the numbers.

  43. What spin?

    According to icv2.com the combined numbers for 2008 ASM perform better than the combined numbers for 2007 Spider-Man titles.

    That’s a pretty simple statement that points towards Marvel having made a fiscally sound choice.

  44. Remember, ASM was delayed as a knock-on from Civil War, and because of Quesada. Not because of the regular writer/artist.

  45. Brett makes a fair point. Part of the justification for “One More Day” was to retool the character for the future. So if sales DO clearly and unequivocally drop below previous levels, Joe Quesada will probably say that they’re thinking in the long term, and that it’s worth weathering this storm for the future. Or something like that. And it’s an arguable position.

  46. Thanks… some may say Joe Q is in an enviable position.

    Here was a guy tortured for 20 years over an imaginary character getting married — kind of like being haunted by the invisible March Hare, taunting his every waking moment.

    But I’m not ‘outing’ anyone — his troubling little obsession is no secret to anyone — he’s used any open forum available to advertise his disdain of the imaginary character’s marriage since he got into the industry, lo all those many years ago.

    Even if none of those next generation readers (you know, the one’s Joe say he did this for) decide to buy Accessible Spiderman, I’d say reversing the marriage was a success — for Joe — better than 2 decades of therapy.

    Compare Joe Q pictures before and after OMD: Not quite the picture of perfect health for 20 yrs before but now, Joe Q is like the all smiles, like the happy divorcee – the weight (of marriage) is gone and he’s happy as a clam, all courtesy of those MARVELous Mental Health benefits.

    That’s some health plan!

  47. “It’s also stated that Marvel Spotlight sells in other areas- WHERE? This is surely a book made exclusively for the direct market. If you have evidence that it sells in other markets please state what the evidence is and where those sales are occurring since I just can’t believe that book sells to anyone outside of Marvel fan boys.”

    The only new comics I bought since returning to comics in early 2006 (after stopping in 1991) were “Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane” and Brubaker’s DD run from his first issue up to DD 100. Otherwise, I solely buy back issues from the 1980s a few times a year to fill gaps in my collection. That in mind, I wouldn’t consider myself a fanboy by any stretch, but I did pick up the “Captain America” and “Fantastic Four” Marvel Spotlight issues at the magazine/snack shop* in the building I worked at last year (at $5.00+ to boot because they weren’t the direct market printings), just because I wanted something to read at lunchtime, and interviews with older creators interests me. It works as an impulse buy.

    * The only other comics that they ever seemed to carry were other books that don’t burn up these charts, such as “Spider-Girl”, “She Hulk” and the “Civil War” reprint comics.

  48. “I buy comics now because when times were hard for me a few years ago, I got back into reading comics through pirating them. Also, I mostly buy comics now that are independent or Image published and I know those books need each sale to stay alive. If times get hard for me again, I’ll probably go back to pirating without much care. When times are hard, financially, it’s silly to keep paying for something that’s easily available for essentially free. ”
    Yeah, it would be silly if it wasn’t stealing. Oh well, at least you get what you want so it’s all cool.

    I’d also like to comment about Joe’s “obsession” with Spider-Man being married. It’s not really an “obsession” its him, you know, doing his job and doing what he thinks is best for the character. I hardly think he is obsessed or has worried about it all that much over the past 20 years. Unlike us (yes me included) this stuff isn’t his life, this stuff is his job)

  49. Comment not posting properly

    No, it’s definately an obsession.

    And yes, it is his job… today. It wasn’t his job before he became EIC.

    What defines it as an obsession is that for 10 years before it became his official job, he was so put off by the character getting married that he made it his life mission, his current life work — to correct what he perceived to be a terrible wrong about an imaginary character, something he’s been trying to do in his position as EIC since day one.

    There’s a saying — the answer’s been right there all along and I never saw it. Well it is, all there in full glorious HALLELUJAH Marvel color:

    The story of creation goes something like this, ‘God created the heavens and the angels and all was well. But when God wanted to create Man different, with free will, Lucifer got angry and told the creator it was a big mistake. Lucifer said Man would turn on him, betray the beloved creator.

    He thought he knew better than the Creator about a decision he made, then made it his life’s work to prove the Creator wrong. Of course, he was doing this in the Creator’s best interests because he loved him and wanted only to protect him. Standing beside him, many others believed like Lucifer, making it their full time job to prove the creator wrong.

    The road to hell was paved with good intentions.

    Fast forward to 1987 when Spider Man’s creator decided, for better or worse (no pun intended) that he wanted to marry the character. I don’t know, the character flourished after the marriage, reaching sales that touched the heavens so a married PP didn’t appear to turn off many…

    But the issue of whether or not it was a good long term decision could be debated until the end of time, kind of like the Creator’s decision to give Man free will.

    There was of course, one person so outraged by the creator’s decision to marry this character, openly debating the issue at any available platform, that he made it his life work to prove the creator wrong, to undo what he perceived to be grave and harmful mistake. Of course, he meant the creator no harm for he truly loved the creator. He was only acting in the best interests of.

    Mephisto told Peter a dumb, unbelievable story (a lie) to undo the marriage, kind of the way Joey Q told the audience a dumb, unbelievable story to undo the marriage. Because, for better or worse, he believed the creator was wrong in his decision all those years ago.

    So yes, now its Joe Q’s full day time job.

    Thankfully though, unlike Man, Peter Parker isn’t a real person. He’s imaginary.

    And now we conclude with a quote from The Great Creator…

    ‘Nuff said.

  50. Wow, Brett, you might want to think about getting some therapy yourself. Obsessed much?

    And all you cats whining and moaning about OMD/BND…get over it already, sheesh.

  51. MARVEL SPOTLIGHT: I am given to understand that it does rather well through venues such as Borders. It appears to have more appeal to casual readers, which is admittedly counterintuitive, but perhaps reflects them being less aware of the free online competition.

  52. No Peter, I’m not obsessed.

    I haven’t made it my life’s work to get a job in comics to correct anything I perceived as wrong about the direction of these imaginary characters.

    I’m just a reader and as a reader, we’re entitled to make observations, then comment about it and this one’s as clear as day.

    Many of us have been listening to Joe Q rant and rave in public about the marriage for a very, very long time, long before he got the job as EIC. It only got worse when he became EIC.

    And yes, Stan Lee is also cool with the reversal. It doesn’t change the fact that Joe Q was so obsessed that he made it a full time day job to undo that decision, because in his arrogance, he thought he knew better than Spidey’s own creator.

    Being able to see the irony and point out how art imitates life doesn’t make one obsessed, it makes them observent.

    And just because you can’t see the sky as blue doesn’t make the sky any less blue either.

    I’m just pointing out, to all the many people obsessed with watching the numbers to prove whether or not Joe made a good decision is that you’re all wasting your time because Joe Q doesn’t care what anyone thinks. He does what he wants so all of YOU, get over it and stop harping on the numbers.

  53. “Joe Q doesn’t care what anyone thinks.”

    Agreed. He has attained the ultimate level of corporate-dom.
    .
    .
    Parker only seems to be here to attack anybody who says anything bad about Marvel.

    Hey, Parker, Marvel smells of old man. ;-)

  54. BTW ‘Peter’s Parker’, you’ve come here quite often to harp on the numbers and state how people should just get over it already.

    Maybe you should stop preaching to others and start listening to your voice and…

    ‘Get over it already.’

  55. I have never been the biggest fan of Joe Quesada, to be certain, but arguing that his single career goal was to become an artist in order to start a relatively successful studio, which Marvel would then hire out to revitalize a few of their b-list characters, leading him to ascend to be editor-in-chief just so he could undo the Spiderman-MJ marriage is a seriously warped theory of human behavior. I understand people don’t like the decision to undo the marriage, and I’m not even telling you to get over it…but you’re never going to be taken seriously if you espouse such crazy conspiracy theories, and that makes it easier for people like JQ to simple ignore your grievances.

  56. To those people who go “wow, being able to get something free, you think that’s cool, eh? but that’s stealing, shame on you, woo, where is your morals” over Kenny’s comment need to realize that yeah, stealing is really cool! i mean, what are you some warped religious puritans who believe laws of capitalist ownership are in fact god’s will and people who steal will get punished in the afterlife? of course it is cool if you can get away with it, and yeah i mean stealing candy and picking up your neighbor’s stuff too (though i doubt you can get away with that easily if they visit your place. maybe you can, if you don’t socialize with them much.. i know i did..)

    Anyways, the argument against obtaining stuff without paying its “price” in dollars should be based within context and considered together with its consequences. I should mention that i am extremely against comics pirating and i have never done it. [well, i did download the formerly know as justice league, but i bought the following volume and i am going to buy that in a trade too whenever i find it; just that i have been putting it off for years, choosing something other instead and i know its a disgrace. Man, i should really buy that :( ]. So does this contradict what i just say and how can i argue against such a practice if i am heavily pro-stealing?

    I think that the strongest argument against comics pirating is the fragile economics of comic book publishing. Sure the big two ought to make a hell of a profit but the companies still need to be sound economically so that they can continue to publish these adventures i so enjoy. I mean even its the top sellers like civil war or crisis du jour, i need to pay them so they can be around to publish blue beetle or spider-girl, do you know what i mean? Besides, i need to support my local comics shop so that it does not go down and stop providing a new opportunity for a chance new blood coming in through door.

    I don’t know, if i just download latest madonna album, or indy movie or the lost episode, do we really think they will suffer? the pop stars and celebrities make hell of a money in concerts, commercials, film offers, etc. And people still go to movies for the big screen experience and pop corn and just for a day out.. lost, well, i don’t know, i still watch it on tv too, so i do get the ratings up, if that counts for anything.. they should just broadcast it on the net with lots of compulsory advertisement, rather than pushing dvds, in my opinion.

    Anyways, when the economy is hard for me, i just pick up groceries and what not from the chain store and steal a couple of book from the book chain, and keep on paying comics instead. do you really thing these conglomerates will hurt over couple of lost material? and even if they do, should i really care? do you know how great share of the profit the chains eat up? (like the coffee producers get like a couple of cents of every 10 dollar pack, and the workers in the processing, transportation and retail get around a dollar in total with another dollar at most for the expenses like energy, packaging material etc. the retail gets 80% of the price you pay..)

    Anyways, sorry for the rant. I just wanna say yay for stealing, support your comics, pay nasty Marvel and DC every cent of your pocket money and lets crush this dumb system of profit maximizing conglomerates so that everybody can develop their free comics with their favorite heroes and distribute over the net :) how about that, than?

    oh and brett, just get over it, geez.. it’s only a fictional character, leave quesada alone, man.. he deserves to be happy like any of us. :) you can stick with spider-girl if your “not life’s mission” but “observation” non-obsession with the marriage ret-con annoys you this much.

  57. Re: Anita Blake #10 A huge drop. The preceding issues had variant covers, but I find it hard to believe that variants were making quite such a contribution to the sales of a book on the fringes of the Top 100. On the other hand, I don’t see any other obvious explanation.

    Maybe Ron Lim isn’t as popular as Brett Booth?

  58. Jesus Christ…Those JQ theories are one of the most moronic things I’ve ever read.

    You dont live vicariously through Spider-man, you dont NEED Spider-man. Its a book…read something else and get on with your life already. Get a god damn grip people.