By Paul O’Brien
Overall, direct market sales for August were substantially down, prompting a bit of handwringing online. And it’s true that no title even came close to reaching the 100,000 mark (for only the third time since Diamond achieved their monopoly of the direct market).
It’s not so much that sales on individual titles suddenly lurched down in August. They’ve been dropping for a while, and the comparisons with one or two years ago make fairly grim reading at the moment (though bear in mind they don’t show books being cancelled and replaced by higher-selling new launches).
Rather, it’s a month without any really big releases from either company. Marvel’s major launch was a new NAMOR series, which lands just outside the top 40, while the biggest story events were the X-Men/vampires affair and the Daredevil-centred SHADOWLAND.
As usual, Marvel had the largest share of the direct market, leading DC by 45% to 32% in terms of units, and 41% to 28% in dollars.
Thanks as always to ICV2.com for permission to use these figures.
3. AVENGERS 05/10 Avengers #1 - 170,682 06/10 Avengers #2 - 98,788 (-42.1%) 07/10 Avengers #3 - 87,410 (-11.5%) 08/10 Avengers #4 - 87,333 ( -0.1%)
The good news is, it’s levelling out. Granted, issue #4 had a 1:15 “Women of Marvel frame” cover in addition to the regular 1:75 Romita variant. Since that additional variant should have made a difference to sales, presumably there’s an underlying drop which the variant cancelled out. Even so, the book does seem to be levelling out. If you regard this as a successor to NEW AVENGERS, then it’s about 10,000 up on pre-relaunch sales – although admittedly, that’s with the benefit of 1:75 variants, which won’t stick around forever.
4. NEW AVENGERS 08/05 New Avengers #9 - 145,673 08/06 New Avengers #23 - 154,262 08/07 New Avengers #33 - 117,906 08/08 New Avengers #44 - 106,385 ===== 08/09 New Avengers #56 - 89,996 ( +6.2%) 09/09 New Avengers #57 - 85,598 ( -4.9%) 10/09 New Avengers #58 - 76,656 (-10.4%) 11/09 New Avengers #59 - 74,379 ( -3.0%) 12/09 New Avengers #60 - 72,790 ( -2.1%) 01/10 New Avengers #61 - 78,202 ( +7.4%) 02/10 New Avengers #62 - 76,405 ( -2.3%) 03/10 New Avengers #63 - 76,145 ( -0.3%) 04/10 New Avengers #64 - 75,430 ( -0.9%) 04/10 --- 05/10 Finale - 82,152 ( +8.9%) 06/10 New Avengers #1 - 129,084 (+67.8%) 07/10 New Avengers #2 - 83,397 (-35.4%) 08/10 New Avengers #3 - 81,354 ( -2.4%) 6 mnth ( +6.5%) 1 year ( -9.6%) 2 year (-23.5%) 3 year (-31.0%) 4 year (-47.3%) 5 year (-44.2%)
Same deal here – issue #3 has an extra 1:15 variant compared with issue #2, and so in theory the underlying drop ought to be a bit bigger than we see here. Even so, it’s levelling out. Sales are obviously up from before the relaunch (and you’ve got to bear in mind that the last few issues of the previous volume were SIEGE tie-ins), but I do have to wonder how much difference we’d see if it wasn’t for the 1:75 character variants attached to every issue. I’ve commented before that renumbering no longer seems to be particularly effective as a sales-boosting strategy, and while this appears to be a counter-example, the effect of those variants means it’s not quite so simple.
5. SECRET AVENGERS 05/10 Secret Avengers #1 - 110,681 06/10 Secret Avengers #2 - 77,933 (-30.0%) 07/10 Secret Avengers #3 - 72,293 ( -7.2%) 08/10 Secret Avengers #4 - 74,655 ( +3.3%)
And the same applies here – issue #4 has an additional variant, which accounts for the slight increase. The fact that SECRET AVENGERS sales actually went up would seem to suggest that its underlying sales are more stable than the others’.
6,12. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 08/05 Amazing Spider-Man #523 - 72,046 08/06 --- 08/07 Amazing Spider-Man #543 - 106,485 08/08 Amazing Spider-Man #569 - 77,950 ===== 08/09 Amazing Spider-Man #601 - 74,279 (-36.4%) 08/09 Amazing Spider-Man #602 - 71,532 ( -3.7%) 08/09 Amazing Spider-Man #603 - 71,051 ( -0.7%) 09/09 Amazing Spider-Man #604 - 63,435 (-10.7%) 09/09 Amazing Spider-Man #605 - 62,831 ( -1.0%) 09/09 Amazing Spider-Man #606 - 70,177 (+11.7%) 09/09 Amazing Spider-Man #607 - 62,570 (-10.8%) 10/09 Amazing Spider-Man #608 - 72,035 (+15.1%) 10/09 Amazing Spider-Man #609 - 61,176 (-15.1%) 11/09 Amazing Spider-Man #610 - 61,170 ( -0.0%) 11/09 Amazing Spider-Man #611 - 64,514 ( +5.5%) 11/09 Amazing Spider-Man #612 - 68,459 ( +6.1%) 11/09 Amazing Spider-Man #613 - 64,499 ( -5.8%) 12/09 Amazing Spider-Man #614 - 59,696 ( -7.4%) 12/09 Amazing Spider-Man #615 - 63,738 ( +6.8%) 12/09 Amazing Spider-Man #616 - 58,856 ( -7.7%) 01/10 Amazing Spider-Man #617 - 76,730 (+30.4%) 01/10 Amazing Spider-Man #618 - 61,969 (-19.2%) 01/10 Amazing Spider-Man #619 - 56,837 ( -8.3%) 02/10 Amazing Spider-Man #620 - 59,860 ( +5.3%) 02/10 Amazing Spider-Man #621 - 55,350 ( -7.5%) 02/10 Amazing Spider-Man #622 - 53,929 ( -2.6%) 03/10 Amazing Spider-Man #623 - 66,064 (+22.5%) 03/10 Amazing Spider-Man #624 - 60,213 ( -8.9%) 03/10 Amazing Spider-Man #625 - 54,179 (-10.0%) 03/10 Amazing Spider-Man #626 - 53,868 ( -0.6%) 03/10 Amazing Spider-Man #627 - 54,206 ( +0.6%) 04/10 Amazing Spider-Man #628 - 57,797 ( +6.6%) 04/10 Amazing Spider-Man #629 - 53,560 ( -7.3%) 05/10 Amazing Spider-Man #630 - 57,969 ( +8.2%) 05/10 Amazing Spider-Man #631 - 57,239 ( -1.3%) 05/10 Amazing Spider-Man #632 - 56,723 ( -0.9%) 06/10 Amazing Spider-Man #633 - 57,670 ( +1.7%) 06/10 Amazing Spider-Man #634 - 61,736 ( +7.1%) 06/10 Amazing Spider-Man #635 - 56,146 ( -9.1%) 07/10 Amazing Spider-Man #636 - 56,011 ( -0.2%) 07/10 Amazing Spider-Man #637 - 56,031 ( +0.0%) 07/10 Amazing Spider-Man #638 - 68,271 (+21.8%) 08/10 Amazing Spider-Man #639 - 67,086 ( -1.7%) 08/10 Amazing Spider-Man #640 - 73,656 ( +9.8%) 6 mnth (+36.6%) 1 year ( -0.8%) 2 year ( -5.5%) 3 year (-30.8%) 4 year ( --- ) 5 year ( +2.2%)
Continuing the “One Moment in Time” storyline, which began in last month’s issue #637, and explains what happened instead in the book’s revised continuity in place of Peter and Mary Jane getting married. Since that’s a major point for the character, the sales boost is only to be expected; Joe Quesada’s personal involvement as a creator, increasingly rare these days, should also be a draw. Issue #640 has two additional variant covers, hence the further increase.
8. X-MEN 07/10 X-Men #1 - 143,167 08/10 X-Men #2 - 71,464 (-50.1%)
Well, now. Some very mixed signals here. Let’s be clear, though: there was always going to be a huge drop for the second issue of X-MEN. The first issue had eight covers, including 1:25, 1:50 and 1:75 incentive variants. The second issue has only a single 1:25 cover. Hyped books often have a bigger second issue drop than normal. And with UNCANNY still unambiguously positioned as the flagship of the line, it would be surprising if X-MEN had settled down to a higher level.
Issue #1 also picks up reorders of 2,835 (included in the total above), so at least some retailers thought they hadn’t ordered enough. Either that or they ordered the reprint in order to get hold of the Paco Medina cover, which had originally been a 1:75 incentive. The DEATH OF DRACULA prologue one-shot from June also picks up 4,523 reorders thanks to a second printing, which brings its total to 20,987 – admittedly still modest, considering that it’s essential to the plot.
All that being said, this second issue does have a very steep drop, and the “Curse of the Mutants” tie-in issues aren’t doing spectacularly. Marvel don’t appear to have fully convinced people that this is such a big deal.
9. UNCANNY X-MEN 08/05 Uncanny X-Men #463 - 87,610 08/06 Uncanny X-Men #477 - 89,225 08/07 Uncanny X-Men #489 - 88,068 08/08 Uncanny X-Men #501 - 85,398 ===== 08/09 Uncanny X-Men #514 - 90,316 ( +3.1%) 09/09 Uncanny X-Men #515 - 73,585 (-18.5%) 10/09 Uncanny X-Men #516 - 73,916 ( +0.4%) 11/09 Uncanny X-Men #517 - 69,557 ( -5.9%) 12/09 Uncanny X-Men #518 - 68,572 ( -1.4%) 12/09 Uncanny X-Men #519 - 67,043 ( -2.2%) 01/10 Uncanny X-Men #520 - 65,758 ( -1.9%) 02/10 Uncanny X-Men #521 - 67,049 ( +2.0%) 03/10 Uncanny X-Men #522 - 67,996 ( +1.4%) 04/10 Uncanny X-Men #523 - 78,999 (+16.2%) 05/10 Uncanny X-Men #524 - 77,056 ( -2.5%) 06/10 Uncanny X-Men #525 - 76,068 ( -1.3%) 07/10 Uncanny X-Men #526 - 66,723 (-12.3%) 08/10 Uncanny X-Men #527 - 69,052 ( +3.5%) 6 mnth ( +3.0%) 1 year (-23.5%) 2 year (-21.6%) 3 year (-21.6%) 4 year (-22.6%) 5 year (-23.5%)
Another “Women of Marvel” frame variant, which explains the small increase from last month.
14. AVENGERS PRIME 06/10 #1 of 5 - 69,433 07/10 --- 08/10 #2 of 5 - 55,518 (-20.0%)
Issue #1 had a variant cover, so the second issue drop is actually fairly modest. At least by the standards of the current marketplace, the Avengers family is performing strongly.
This seems as good a place as any to mention that July’s AVENGERS: THE CHILDREN’S CRUSADE #1 also picks up reorders of 3,126, bringing its total to 44,934. The book is on a bimonthly schedule, so it wasn’t solicited for August. Brian Bendis’ creator-owned Icon book SCARLET #1 also picks up 2,923 in reorders, bringing the total to 34,938.
15,26. ULTIMATE COMICS AVENGERS 08/09 U.C. Avengers #1 - 99,701 09/09 U.C. Avengers #2 - 68,597 (-31.2%) 10/09 U.C. Avengers #3 - 62,716 ( -8.6%) 11/09 U.C. Avengers #4 - 59,023 ( -5.9%) 12/09 --- 01/10 --- 02/10 --- 03/10 U.C. Avengers #5 - 58,098 ( -1.6%) 04/10 U.C. Avengers #6 - 53,438 ( -8.0%) 04/10 U.C. Avengers 2 #1 of 6 - 64,811 (+21.3%) 05/10 U.C. Avengers 2 #2 of 6 - 52,939 (-18.3%) 06/10 U.C. Avengers 2 #3 of 6 - 50,797 ( -4.0%) 06/10 U.C. Avengers 2 #4 of 6 - 49,606 ( -2.3%) 07/10 U.C. Avengers 2 #5 of 6 - 46,886 ( -5.5%) 08/10 U.C. Avengers 2 #6 of 6 - 46,358 (-11.3%) 08/10 U.C. Avengers 3 #1 of 6 - 53,870 (+16.2%) 6 mnth ( --- ) 1 year (-46.0%)
ULTIMATE COMICS AVENGERS completes its second arc and begins a third. The fresh #1 (and a foilogram variant cover) do boost sales, but it’s plain that there’s an element of diminishing returns here. The last time they did this, it only took a month for sales to return to previous levels, and I’d expect the same to happen on this occasion.
16. X-MEN LEGACY 08/05 X-Men #174 - 76,342 08/06 X-Men #190 - 82,084 08/07 X-Men #202 - 86,521 08/08 X-Men Legacy #215 - 68,047 ===== 08/09 X-Men Legacy #227 - 63,316 ( +6.8%) 09/09 --- 10/09 X-Men Legacy #228 - 52,855 (-16.5%) 11/09 X-Men Legacy #229 - 50,789 ( -3.9%) 12/09 X-Men Legacy #230 - 49,776 ( -2.0%) 12/09 X-Men Legacy #231 - 50,929 ( +2.3%) 01/10 X-Men Legacy #232 - 49,200 ( -3.4%) 02/10 X-Men Legacy #233 - 51,344 ( +4.4%) 03/10 X-Men Legacy #234 - 48,217 ( -6.1%) 04/10 X-Men Legacy #235 - 65,302 (+35.4%) 05/10 X-Men Legacy #236 - 69,731 ( +6.8%) 06/10 X-Men Legacy #237 - 65,578 ( -6.0%) 07/10 X-Men Legacy #238 - 53,313 (-18.7%) 08/10 X-Men Legacy #239 - 53,236 ( -0.1%) 6 mnth ( +3.7%) 1 year (-15.9%) 2 year (-21.8%) 3 year (-38.5%) 4 year (-35.1%) 5 year (-30.3%)
This is another book with a “Women of Marvel” frame cover (and no variant last month), so presumably the variant is disguising a greater downward trend.
17,18. CAPTAIN AMERICA 08/05 Captain America #8 - 51,842 08/06 --- 08/07 Captain America #29 - 83,781 08/08 Captain America #41 - 85,035 ===== 08/09 Reborn #2 of 6 - 125,366 (-36.5%) 09/09 Reborn #3 of 6 - 108,331 (-13.6%) 10/09 --- 11/09 Reborn #4 of 6 - 96,571 (-10.9%) 12/09 Reborn #5 of 6 - 91,790 ( -5.0%) 01/10 Reborn #6 of 6 - 84,844 ( -7.6%) 01/10 Captain America #602 - 63,948 (-24.6%) 02/10 Captain America #603 - 63,568 ( -0.6%) 03/10 Captain America #604 - 56,962 (-10.4%) 04/10 Captain America #605 - 59,051 ( +3.7%) 05/10 --- 06/10 Captain America #606 - 57,443 ( -2.7%) 06/10 Captain America #607 - 52,989 ( -7.8%) 07/10 --- 08/10 Captain America #608 - 51,362 ( -3.1%) 08/10 Captain America #609 - 52,834 ( +2.9%) 6 mnth (-16.9%) 1 year (-57.9%) 2 year (-37.9%) 3 year (-36.9%) 4 year ( --- ) 5 year ( +1.9%)
Two issues this month, as the book catches up from missing shipping in July. And you’ll have figured out the deal by now: the slight increase is due to a “Women of Marvel” variant. (Showing the Black Widow, in case you’re wondering.)
19. THOR 08/07 Thor #2 - 108,609 08/08 --- ===== 08/09 --- 09/09 Thor #603 - 65,265 ( -6.2%) 10/09 --- 11/09 Finale - 53,566 (-17.9%) 12/09 Thor #604 - 61,608 (+15.0%) 12/09 Thor #605 - 55,242 (-10.3%) 01/10 Thor #606 - 55,353 ( +0.2%) 02/10 Thor #607 - 66,973 (+21.0%) 03/10 Thor #608 - 62,012 ( -7.4%) 04/10 Thor #609 - 64,522 ( +4.0%) 05/10 Thor #610 - 61,779 ( -4.3%) 06/10 Thor #611 - 56,443 ( -8.6%) 07/10 Thor #612 - 53,373 ( -5.4%) 08/10 Thor #613 - 51,076 ( -4.3%) 6 mnth (-23.7%) 1 year ( --- ) 2 year ( --- ) 3 year (-53.0%)
Drifting down, but then the book is currently in a filler arc before Matt Fraction’s run starts with issue #615. (No variant on this one, by the way. That’s coming next month.)
20. ASTONISHING X-MEN 08/05 Astonishing X-Men #12 - 125,834 08/06 Astonishing X-Men #16 - 120,371 08/07 Astonishing X-Men #22 - 117,321 08/08 Astonishing X-Men #26 - 94,244 ===== 08/09 --- 09/09 --- 10/09 Astonishing X-Men #31 - 67,064 ( +3.8%) 11/09 Astonishing X-Men #32 - 62,154 ( -7.3%) 12/09 Astonishing X-Men #33 - 57,592 ( -7.3%) 01/10 --- 02/10 --- 03/10 --- 04/10 --- 05/10 --- 06/10 Astonishing X-Men #34 - 57,363 ( -0.4%) 07/10 --- 08/10 Astonishing X-Men #35 - 50,441 (-12.1%) 6 mnth ( --- ) 1 year ( --- ) 2 year (-46.5%) 3 year (-57.0%) 4 year (-58.1%) 5 year (-59.9%)
Unusually sharp drop for the final issue of a storyline, even allowing for all the delays. Marvel haven’t solicited any further issues, although it wouldn’t be surprising to see them go to a series-of-miniseries format, beginning with the current ASTONISHING X-MEN: EXOGENESIS (which, in the proud tradition of the series, is hopelessly late).
22. INVINCIBLE IRON MAN 08/05 Iron Man #4 - 48,403 08/06 Iron Man #11 - 37,279 08/07 Iron Man #21 - 49,548 08/08 Invincible Iron Man #4 - 58,154 ===== 08/09 Invincible Iron Man #16 - 53,782 ( +6.4%) 09/09 Invincible Iron Man #17 - 47,182 (-12.3%) 09/09 Invincible Iron Man #18 - 48,039 ( +1.8%) 10/09 Invincible Iron Man #19 - 47,178 ( -1.8%) 11/09 Invincible Iron Man #20 - 61,667 (+30.7%) 12/09 Invincible Iron Man #21 - 49,986 (-18.9%) 01/10 Invincible Iron Man #22 - 49,130 ( -1.7%) 02/10 Invincible Iron Man #23 - 50,027 ( +1.8%) 03/10 Invincible Iron Man #24 - 49,239 ( -1.6%) 04/10 Invincible Iron Man #25 - 73,694 (+49.7%) 05/10 Invincible Iron Man #26 - 53,625 (-27.2%) 06/10 Invincible Iron Man #27 - 52,268 ( -2.5%) 07/10 Invincible Iron Man #28 - 48,690 ( -6.8%) 08/10 Invincible Iron Man #29 - 49,012 ( +0.7%) 6 mnth ( -2.0%) 1 year ( -8.9%) 2 year (-15.7%) 3 year ( -1.1%) 4 year (+31.5%) 5 year ( +1.3%)
Another variant cover, more or less cancelling out the underlying decline.
23. HULK 08/08 Hulk #5 - 96,347 ===== 08/09 Hulk #13 - 71,369 ( -2.4%) 08/09 Hulk #14 - 77,455 ( +8.5%) 09/09 Hulk #15 - 58,667 (-24.3%) 10/09 Hulk #16 - 56,811 ( -3.2%) 11/09 Hulk #17 - 52,653 ( -7.3%) 12/09 Hulk #18 - 53,222 ( +1.1%) 01/10 Hulk #19 - 56,738 ( +6.6%) 02/10 Hulk #20 - 51,962 ( -8.4%) 03/10 Hulk #21 - 50,785 ( -2.3%) 04/10 --- 05/10 Hulk #22 - 49,618 ( -2.3%) 06/10 Hulk #23 - 50,724 ( +2.2%) 07/10 --- 08/10 Hulk #24 - 48,903 ( -3.6%) 6 mnth ( -5.9%) 1 year (-31.5%) 2 year (-49.2%) 29. INCREDIBLE HULK 08/05 Incredible Hulk #85 - 53,177 08/06 Incredible Hulk #97 - 48,893 08/07 Incredible Hulk #109 - 104,322 08/08 Hulk #5 - 102,105 ===== 08/09 Incredible Hulk #601 - 64,120 (-30.6%) 09/09 Incredible Hulk #602 - 51,582 (-19.6%) 10/09 Incredible Hulk #603 - 49,126 ( -4.8%) 11/09 Incredible Hulk #604 - 40,652 (-17.2%) 12/09 Incredible Hulk #605 - 43,964 ( +8.1%) 01/10 Incredible Hulk #606 - 48,197 ( +9.6%) 02/10 Incredible Hulk #607 - 45,870 ( -4.8%) 03/10 Incredible Hulk #608 - 47,148 ( +2.8%) 04/10 --- 05/10 Incredible Hulk #609 - 46,670 ( -1.0%) 06/10 Incredible Hulk #610 - 46,461 ( -0.4%) 07/10 --- 08/10 Incredible Hulk #611 - 44,982 ( -3.2%) 6 mnth (-19.4%) 1 year (-29.8%) 2 year (-55.9%) 3 year (-56.9%) 4 year ( -8.0%) 5 year (-15.4%)
The tail end of the “World War Hulks” crossover. Both titles get new creative teams and directions next month.
30. SHADOWLAND 07/10 Shadowland #1 of 5 - 59,529 08/10 Shadowland #2 of 5 - 44,573 (-25.1%) 31. DAREDEVIL 08/05 Daredevil #76 - 46,424 08/06 Daredevil #88 - 50,554 08/07 Daredevil #99 - 47,386 08/08 Daredevil #110 - 43,362 ===== 08/09 Daredevil #500 - 73,486 (+77.5%) 09/09 --- 10/09 Daredevil #501 - 45,181 (-38.5%) 11/09 Daredevil #502 - 40,354 (-10.7%) 12/09 Daredevil #503 - 38,680 ( -4.1%) 01/10 Daredevil #504 - 37,135 ( -4.0%) 02/10 Daredevil #505 - 38,693 ( +4.2%) 03/10 --- 04/10 Daredevil #506 - 37,467 ( -3.2%) 05/10 --- 06/10 Daredevil #507 - 34,744 ( -7.3%) 07/10 Daredevil #508 - 41,943 (+20.7%) 08/10 Daredevil #509 - 41,577 ( -0.9%) 6 mnth ( +7.5%) 1 year (-43.4%) 2 year ( -4.1%) 3 year (-12.3%) 4 year (-17.8%) 5 year (-10.4%)
DAREDEVIL is benefitting noticeably from the SHADOWLAND crossover, which is basically an outgrowth of the book’s main ongoing storyline. Issue #508 picks up reorders of 3,505, while SHADOWLAND #1 gets 4,618, so there’s some interest in this one. How far that extends to the tie-in books is less clear; since most of them are specially-commissioned miniseries, it’s hard to judge how effective the event has been. However, MOON KNIGHT joins the crossover this month with a big sales increase, so it seems to be working to some extent.
32,36. DARK WOLVERINE 08/09 Dark Wolverine #77 - 68,593 ( -7.3%) 09/09 Dark Wolverine #78 - 60,702 (-11.5%) 10/09 Dark Wolverine #79 - 60,076 ( -1.0%) 11/09 Dark Wolverine #80 - 52,394 (-12.8%) 12/09 Dark Wolverine #81 - 48,102 ( -8.2%) 01/10 Dark Wolverine #82 - 54,838 (+14.0%) 02/10 Dark Wolverine #83 - 53,958 ( -1.6%) 03/10 Dark Wolverine #84 - 49,469 ( -8.3%) 04/10 Dark Wolverine #85 - 47,527 ( -3.9%) 05/10 Dark Wolverine #86 - 46,315 ( -2.6%) 06/10 Dark Wolverine #87 - 43,087 ( -7.0%) 07/10 Dark Wolverine #88 - 42,522 ( -1.3%) 08/10 Dark Wolverine #89 - 41,409 ( -2.6%) 08/10 Dark Wolverine #90 - 39,815 ( -3.8%) 6 mnth (-26.2%) 1 year (-42.0%)
The final two issues before the relaunch as DAKEN: DARK WOLVERINE in September. Issue #88 and #89 were part of a crossover with FRANKEN-CASTLE but, as you can see, it doesn’t seem to have had much effect on sales on this book.
34. STEVE ROGERS: SUPER-SOLDIER 07/10 #1 of 4 - 57,222 08/10 #2 of 4 - 40,278 (-29.6%)
Issue #1 picks up solid reorders of 4,495, so the second issue drop is exaggerated. Very good numbers for a CAPTAIN AMERICA spin-off mini, no doubt reflecting interest in the character’s repositioning as a lynchpin of the Avengers franchise – compare the other Captain America spin-off mini this month, FOREVER ALLIES, which misses the top 100.
39. X-FORCE: SEX AND VIOLENCE 08/08 X-Force #6 - 69,010 ===== 08/09 X-Force #18 - 56,421 ( -7.7%) 09/09 X-Force #19 - 49,817 (-11.7%) 10/09 X-Force #20 - 48,921 ( -1.8%) 11/09 X-Force #21 - 53,967 (+10.3%) 12/09 X-Force #22 - 51,859 ( -3.9%) 01/10 X-Force #23 - 50,848 ( -1.9%) 02/10 X-Force #24 - 49,790 ( -2.1%) 03/10 X-Force #25 - 49,910 ( +0.2%) 04/10 X-Force #26 - 67,512 (+35.3%) 05/10 X-Force #27 - 62,509 ( -7.4%) 06/10 --- 07/10 X-Force #28 - 61,680 ( -1.3%) 07/10 Sex and Violence #1 of 3 - 41,426 (-32.8%) 08/10 Sex and Violence #2 of 3 - 38,480 ( -7.1%) 6 mnth (-22.7%) 1 year (-31.8%) 2 year (-44.2%)
A transitional miniseries filling the schedule before the book’s upcoming relaunch as UNCANNY X-FORCE.
42. NAMOR: THE FIRST MUTANT 08/10 Namor: The First Mutant #1 - 37,399
This is a “Curse of the Mutants” tie-in, and there’s a 1:25 variant by Joe Quesada. Not a great start for Marvel’s major launch of the month – DEADPOOL CORPS #1 did slightly better than this, and that title has already dropped to the low 20Ks. Namor is one of those characters who gets wheeled out for another title every few years, usually without conspicuous success, but every so often he does manage to stick around for a while.
43. ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN 08/05 Ult. Spider-Man #81 - 75,572 08/06 Ult. Spider-Man #99 - 76,075 08/07 Ult. Spider-Man #112 - 76,523 08/08 Ult. Spider-Man #125 - 54,746 ===== 08/09 U.C. Spider-Man #1 - 86,008 (+107.9%) 09/09 U.C. Spider-Man #2 - 57,477 ( -33.2%) 10/09 U.C. Spider-Man #3 - 52,813 ( -8.1%) 11/09 U.C. Spider-Man #4 - 49,106 ( -7.0%) 12/09 U.C. Spider-Man #5 - 45,849 ( -6.6%) 01/10 U.C. Spider-Man #6 - 43,622 ( -4.9%) 02/10 U.C. Spider-Man #7 - 42,176 ( -3.3%) 03/10 U.C. Spider-Man #8 - 40,967 ( -2.9%) 04/10 U.C. Spider-Man #9 - 39,955 ( -2.5%) 05/10 U.C. Spider-Man #10 - 39,690 ( -0.7%) 06/10 U.C. Spider-Man #11 - 39,149 ( -1.4%) 07/10 U.C. Spider-Man #12 - 37,879 ( -3.2%) 08/10 U.C. Spider-Man #13 - 36,946 ( -2.5%) 6 mnth ( -12.4%) 1 year ( -57.0%) 2 year ( -32.5%) 3 year ( -51.7%) 4 year ( -51.4%) 5 year ( -51.1%)
This seemed to level out at around 39K, but the slide looks to have resumed in the last couple of months. The book is reverting to its original numbering with issue #150 in November, with Marvel no doubt recognising that the recent relaunch of the Ultimate imprint did not live up to their expectations.
45. AVENGERS ACADEMY 08/07 Initiative #5 - 86,536 08/08 Initiative #16 - 60,381 ===== 08/09 Initiative #27 - 39,014 ( +2.1%) 09/09 Initiative #28 - 33,855 (-13.2%) 10/09 Initiative #29 - 31,412 ( -7.2%) 11/09 Initiative #30 - 28,688 ( -8.7%) 12/09 Initiative #31 - 32,291 (+12.6%) 01/10 Initiative #32 - 36,127 (+11.9%) 02/10 Initiative #33 - 39,968 (+10.6%) 03/10 Initiative #34 - 38,616 ( -3.4%) 04/10 --- 05/10 Initiative #35 - 38,158 ( -1.2%) 06/10 Avengers Academy #1 - 45,890 (+20.3%) 07/10 Avengers Academy #2 - 38,061 (-17.1%) 08/10 Avengers Academy #3 - 35,629 ( -6.4%) 6 mnth (-10.9%) 1 year ( -8.7%) 2 year (-41.0%) 3 year (-58.8%)
The drops are getting smaller, and it’s still comfortably ahead of the sales of predecessor title AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE, at least if you go back past the closing SIEGE tie-ins. Admittedly, this issue has a “Women of Marvel” variant, so the underlying drop ought to be bigger.
46. DEADPOOL 08/09 Deadpool #13 - 55,442 ( -5.7%) 08/09 Deadpool #14 - 50,263 ( -9.3%) 09/09 Deadpool #15 - 50,479 ( +0.4%) 10/09 Deadpool #16 - 46,288 ( -8.3%) 11/09 Deadpool #17 - 46,765 ( +1.0%) 12/09 Deadpool #18 - 45,914 ( -1.8%) 01/10 --- 02/10 Deadpool #19 - 44,580 ( -2.9%) 02/10 Deadpool #20 - 43,347 ( -2.8%) 03/10 Deadpool #21 - 42,062 ( -3.0%) 04/10 Deadpool #22 - 43,061 ( +2.4%) 05/10 Deadpool #23 - 42,761 ( -0.7%) 06/10 Deadpool #24 - 38,663 ( -9.6%) 07/10 Deadpool #25 - 36,828 ( -4.7%) 08/10 Deadpool #26 - 35,595 ( -3.3%) 6 mnth (-17.9%) 1 year (-35.8%) 48. FANTASTIC FOUR 08/05 Fantastic Four #530 - 51,782 08/06 Fantastic Four #539 - 89,676 08/07 Fantastic Four #549 - 61,770 08/08 Fantastic Four #559 - 59,791 ===== 08/09 Fantastic Four #570 - 62,401 (+39.6%) 09/09 Fantastic Four #571 - 47,468 (-23.4%) 10/09 Fantastic Four #572 - 41,939 (-11.6%) 11/09 Fantastic Four #573 - 39,433 ( -6.0%) 12/09 Fantastic Four #574 - 38,431 ( -2.5%) 01/10 Fantastic Four #575 - 41,284 ( +7.4%) 02/10 Fantastic Four #576 - 37,526 ( -9.1%) 03/10 Fantastic Four #577 - 35,791 ( -4.6%) 04/10 Fantastic Four #578 - 37,940 ( +6.0%) 05/10 Fantastic Four #579 - 38,415 ( +1.3%) 06/10 Fantastic Four #580 - 36,582 ( -4.8%) 07/10 Fantastic Four #581 - 35,505 ( -2.9%) 08/10 Fantastic Four #582 - 34,617 ( -2.5%) 6 mnth ( -7.8%) 1 year (-44.5%) 2 year (-42.1%) 3 year (-44.0%) 4 year (-61.4%) 5 year (-33.1%)
A couple of books that seem to have settled into a gentle decline.
49. DEADPOOL #1000 08/10 One-shot - 34,482
Another anthology of Deadpool stories, along the lines of DEADPOOL #900. That issue sold 51,337, so interest is significantly down this time around.
52. S.H.I.E.L.D. 04/10 S.H.I.E.L.D. #1 - 44,543 05/10 --- 06/10 S.H.I.E.L.D. #2 - 37,595 (-15.6%) 07/10 --- 08/10 S.H.I.E.L.D. #3 - 33,335 (-11.3%)
On the steep side for a third-issue drop, but I’d say overall the book is doing very well for a relatively uncommercial concept.
54. NEW MUTANTS 08/09 New Mutants #4 - 38,558 (-10.2%) 09/09 New Mutants #5 - 31,502 (-18.3%) 10/09 New Mutants #6 - 34,967 (+11.0%) 11/09 New Mutants #7 - 33,328 ( -4.7%) 12/09 New Mutants #8 - 32,240 ( -3.3%) 01/10 New Mutants #9 - 30,572 ( -5.2%) 02/10 New Mutants #10 - 30,807 ( +0.8%) 03/10 New Mutants #11 - 36,629 (+18.9%) 04/10 New Mutants #12 - 49,591 (+35.4%) 05/10 New Mutants #13 - 54,169 ( +9.2%) 06/10 New Mutants #14 - 53,926 ( -0.4%) 07/10 New Mutants #15 - 35,426 (-34.3%) 08/10 New Mutants #16 - 31,989 ( -9.7%) 6 mnth ( +3.8%) 1 year (-17.0%)
Still returning to pre-crossover sales levels.
55,62. X-MEN: CURSE OF THE MUTANTS ONE-SHOTS 08/10 Storm & Gambit - 31,751 08/10 Blade - 28,318
Not too bad as X-Men one-shots go, but both of these issues fall some way short of parent title X-MEN. The Storm/Gambit one is actually essential to the plot, but Marvel don’t seem to have got that point across very clearly.
57. THUNDERBOLTS 08/05 New Thunderbolts #11 - 37,036 08/06 Thunderbolts #105 - 61,467 08/07 Thunderbolts #116 - 52,503 08/08 Thunderbolts #123 - 45,403 ===== 08/09 --- 09/09 Thunderbolts #135 - 39,961 ( -2.3%) 09/09 Thunderbolts #136 - 34,031 (-14.8%) 10/09 Thunderbolts #137 - 32,409 ( -4.8%) 11/09 Thunderbolts #138 - 31,238 ( -3.6%) 12/09 Thunderbolts #139 - 29,957 ( -4.1%) 01/10 Thunderbolts #140 - 28,644 ( -4.4%) 02/10 Thunderbolts #141 - 33,948 (+18.5%) 03/10 Thunderbolts #142 - 34,132 ( +0.5%) 04/10 Thunderbolts #143 - 35,656 ( +4.5%) 05/10 Thunderbolts #144 - 33,276 ( -6.7%) 06/10 Thunderbolts #145 - 31,999 ( -3.8%) 07/10 Thunderbolts #146 - 31,501 ( -1.6%) 08/10 Thunderbolts #147 - 31,252 ( -0.8%) 6 mnth ( -7.9%) 1 year ( --- ) 2 year (-31.2%) 3 year (-40.5%) 4 year (-49.2%) 5 year (-15.6%)
Looks to be fairly steady in the 31K range – which slightly up from the book’s previous direction.
58. THANOS IMPERATIVE 05/10 Ignition - 29,716 06/10 #1 of 6 - 34,285 (+13.4%) 07/10 #2 of 6 - 31,888 ( -7.0%) 08/10 #3 of 6 - 30,493 ( -4.4%)
All fairly normal for a mini. This seems to be the end of Marvel’s cosmic line in its current format.
59. X-FACTOR 08/06 X-Factor #10 - 44,603 08/07 X-Factor #22 - 52,627 08/08 X-Factor #34 - 50,416 ===== 08/09 X-Factor #47 - 33,052 ( +5.9%) 09/09 X-Factor #48 - 30,305 ( -8.3%) 09/09 X-Factor #49 - 29,934 ( -1.2%) 10/09 X-Factor #50 - 30,138 ( +0.7%) 11/09 --- 12/09 X-Factor #200 - 36,577 (+21.4%) 01/10 X-Factor #201 - 29,732 (-18.7%) 02/10 X-Factor #202 - 30,981 ( +4.2%) 03/10 X-Factor #203 - 28,924 ( -6.6%) 04/10 X-Factor #204 - 40,534 (+40.1%) 05/10 X-Factor #205 - 41,745 ( +3.0%) 06/10 X-Factor #206 - 40,981 ( -1.8%) 07/10 X-Factor #207 - 32,082 (-21.7%) 08/10 X-Factor #208 - 30,095 ( -6.2%) 6 mnth ( -2.9%) 1 year ( -8.9%) 2 year (-40.3%) 3 year (-42.8%) 4 year (-32.5%)
Another X-book returning to its previous sales level following the “Second Coming” crossover.
60. WOLVERINE: WEAPON X 08/05 Wolverine #31 - 75,618 08/06 Wolverine #45 - 108,680 08/07 Wolverine #56 - 73,368 08/08 Wolverine #68 - 97,325 ===== 08/09 Weapon X #4 - 49,284 ( -3.5%) 09/09 Weapon X #5 - 40,975 (-16.9%) 10/09 Weapon X #6 - 38,446 ( -6.2%) 11/09 Weapon X #7 - 36,108 ( -6.1%) 12/09 Weapon X #8 - 33,470 ( -7.3%) 01/10 Weapon X #9 - 31,678 ( -5.4%) 02/10 Weapon X #10 - 30,132 ( -4.9%) 03/10 Weapon X #11 - 29,799 ( -1.1%) 04/10 Weapon X #12 - 30,050 ( +0.8%) 05/10 Weapon X #13 - 29,773 ( -0.9%) 06/10 Weapon X #14 - 30,035 ( +0.9%) 07/10 Weapon X #15 - 29,555 ( -1.6%) 08/10 Weapon X #16 - 29,424 ( -0.4%) 6 mnth ( -2.3%) 1 year (-40.3%) 2 year (-69.8%) 3 year (-59.9%) 4 year (-72.9%) 5 year (-61.1%)
Final issue before the relaunch next month as just plain WOLVERINE. Plainly, moving Wolverine over to WOLVERINE: WEAPON X and giving the existing title to Daken is a promotional move that backfired spectacularly, slashing Wolverine’s sales despite generally favourable reviews for this book – so there’s a lot of work to be done next month in repairing the damage.
63. SHADOWLAND: MOON KNIGHT 08/06 Moon Knight #4 - 67,802 08/07 --- 08/08 Moon Knight #21 - 30,900 ===== 08/09 --- 09/09 Moon Knight #1 - 35,706 (+81.3%) 10/09 Moon Knight #2 - 26,493 (-25.8%) 11/09 Moon Knight #3 - 23,359 (-11.8%) 12/09 Moon Knight #4 - 21,482 ( -8.0%) 01/10 --- 02/10 Moon Knight #5 - 19,733 ( -8.1%) 03/10 Moon Knight #6 - 19,094 ( -3.2%) 04/10 Moon Knight #7 - 20,718 ( +8.5%) 05/10 Moon Knight #8 - 20,597 ( -0.6%) 06/10 Moon Knight #9 - 18,695 ( -9.2%) 07/10 Moon Knight #10 - 19,143 ( +2.4%) 08/10 Shadowland #1 of 3 - 28,196 (+47.3%) 6 mnth (+42.9%) 1 year ( --- ) 2 year ( -8.8%) 3 year ( --- ) 4 year (-58.4%)
Nice big jump for the start of this Shadowland tie-in mini. The series appears to be effectively cancelled after the crossover, though, with Moon Knight being folded into a new HEROES FOR HIRE series along with various other characters appearing in the Shadowland satellite minis.
64,70. SECRET WARRIORS 08/09 Secret Warriors #7 - 38,990 ( -6.6%) 09/09 Secret Warriors #8 - 33,893 (-13.1%) 10/09 Secret Warriors #9 - 36,385 ( +7.4%) 11/09 Secret Warriors #10 - 31,567 (-13.2%) 12/09 Secret Warriors #11 - 30,748 ( -2.6%) 01/10 Secret Warriors #12 - 29,894 ( -2.8%) 02/10 Secret Warriors #13 - 30,843 ( +3.2%) 03/10 Secret Warriors #14 - 28,580 ( -7.3%) 04/10 Secret Warriors #15 - 29,669 ( +3.8%) 05/10 Secret Warriors #16 - 29,340 ( -1.1%) 06/10 Secret Warriors #17 - 28,017 ( -4.5%) 07/10 --- 08/10 Secret Warriors #18 - 27,415 ( -2.1%) 08/10 Secret Warriors #19 - 26,902 ( -1.9%) 6 mnth (-12.8%) 1 year (-31.0%)
Perfectly normal decline for an ongoing title.
68. SHADOWLAND: BULLSEYE 08/10 Bullseye - 26,949
A Shadowland tie-in one-shot, obviously. Only slightly behind the MOON KNIGHT mini, which isn’t bad at all.
71,84. MARVEL UNIVERSE VS THE PUNISHER 08/10 #1 of 4 - 26,665 08/10 #2 of 4 - 24,233 (-9.1%)
Alternate reality Punisher mini. Neither of the ongoing Punisher books shipped in August, but FRANKEN-CASTLE was managing 25K with the assistance of a DARK WOLVERINE crossover, and PUNISHERMAX does around 22K, so this is really a very good number.
73. ULTIMATE COMICS MYSTERY 07/10 Mystery #1 of 4 - 33,676 08/10 Mystery #2 of 4 - 26,507 (-21.3%)
The first issue had a variant cover, which ought to magnify the second issue drop.
77. THOR: THE RAGE OF THOR 08/10 The Rage of Thor - 25,257
Coming soon to a movie tie-in trade paperback near you. About what you’d expect from something shoved out there without much publicity.
80. DOOMWAR 08/05 Black Panther #6 - 42,905 08/06 Black Panther #19 - 28,372 08/07 Black Panther #30 - 48,478 08/08 Black Panther #40 - 33,583 ===== 07/09 Black Panther #6 - 29,727 ( -0.1%) 08/09 Black Panther #7 - 27,619 ( -7.1%) 09/09 Black Panther #8 - 23,020 ( -16.7%) 10/09 Black Panther #9 - 20,346 ( -11.6%) 11/09 Black Panther #10 - 19,147 ( -5.9%) 12/09 Black Panther #11 - 17,989 ( -6.0%) 01/10 Black Panther #12 - 17,881 ( -1.0%) 02/10 Doomwar #1 of 6 - 43,241 (+141.8%) 03/10 Doomwar #2 of 6 - 30,555 ( -29.3%) 04/10 Doomwar #3 of 6 - 27,859 ( -8.9%) 05/10 Doomwar #4 of 6 - 28,307 ( +1.6%) 06/10 Doomwar #5 of 6 - 26,041 ( -8.0%) 07/10 --- 08/10 Doomwar #6 of 6 - 24,797 ( -4.8%) 6 mnth ( -42.7%) 1 year ( -16.6%) 2 year ( -26.2%) 3 year ( -48.8%) 4 year ( -12.6%) 5 year ( -42.2%)
Well, it sold better than the regular BLACK PANTHER series. After this, we’re getting another Black Panther mini, while the original Black Panther is being relaunched as Daredevil. Credit where it’s due, Marvel don’t give up easily on this one.
83. AVENGERS & THE INFINITY GAUNTLET 08/10 #1 of 4 - 24,438
This is an all-ages remake of the Infinity Gauntlet storyline. Judged by the standards of Marvel’s all-ages titles, the sales are excellent.
87. DEADPOOL: WADE WILSON'S WAR 06/10 #1 of 4 - 29,406 06/10 #2 of 4 - 26,466 (-10.0%) 07/10 --- 08/10 #3 of 4 - 23,580 (-10.9%) 88. DEADPOOL CORPS 03/10 Prelude #1 of 5 - 37,011 03/10 Prelude #2 of 5 - 32,024 (-13.5%) 03/10 Prelude #3 of 5 - 31,065 ( -3.0%) 03/10 Prelude #4 of 5 - 30,254 ( -2.6%) 03/10 Prelude #5 of 5 - 29,037 ( -4.0%) 04/10 Deadpool Corps #1 - 39,466 (+35.9%) 05/10 Deadpool Corps #2 - 28,236 (-28.5%) 06/10 Deadpool Corps #3 - 26,251 ( -7.0%) 07/10 Deadpool Corps #4 - 24,476 ( -6.8%) 08/10 Deadpool Corps #5 - 22,887 ( -6.5%)
More Deadpool books. The WADE WILSON’S WAR miniseries is holding up respectably, but sales on DEADPOOL CORPS are not looking healthy at all. Marvel must be kicking themselves that they cancelled the better-selling MERC WITH A MOUTH to make way for this title.
90. SHADOWLAND: BLOOD ON THE STREETS 08/10 #1 of 4 - 22,110
Miniseries with miscellaneous characters who’ll be in the cast of the upcoming HEROES FOR HIRE book. Not a bad number considering the relatively obscure cast list.
91. DARK TOWER: GUNSLINGER - JOURNEY BEGINS 08/07 Gunslinger Born #7 of 7 - 124,609 08/08 --- ===== 08/09 Fall of Gilead #4 of 6 - 35,607 ( -3.7%) 09/09 Fall of Gilead #5 of 6 - 34,522 ( -3.0%) 10/09 --- 11/09 Fall of Gilead #6 of 6 - 32,531 ( -5.8%) 12/09 Jericho Hill #1 of 5 - 30,756 ( -5.5%) 12/09 Jericho Hill #2 of 5 - 28,350 ( -7.8%) 01/10 --- 02/10 Jericho Hill #3 of 5 - 27,215 ( -4.0%) 02/10 Jericho Hill #4 of 5 - 26,336 ( -3.2%) 03/10 --- 04/10 Jericho Hill #5 of 5 - 25,896 ( -1.7%) 05/10 Gunslinger #1 of 5 - 26,275 ( +1.5%) 06/10 Gunslinger #2 of 5 - 24,024 ( -8.6%) 07/10 Gunslinger #3 of 5 - 22,744 ( -5.3%) 08/10 Gunslinger #4 of 5 - 21,820 ( -4.1%) 6 mnth (-17.1%) 1 year (-38.7%) 2 year ( --- ) 3 year (-82.5%)
DARK TOWER continues to bleed readers in its monthly format, but presumably the collected editions are holding up better.
92. DEADPOOL TEAM-UP 10/09 Deadpool #900 - 51,337 11/09 Deadpool Team-Up #899 - 39,584 (-22.9%) 12/09 Deadpool Team-Up #898 - 36,308 ( -8.3%) 01/10 Deadpool Team-Up #897 - 32,671 (-10.0%) 02/10 Deadpool Team-Up #896 - 30,119 ( -7.8%) 03/10 Deadpool Team-Up #895 - 28,573 ( -5.1%) 04/10 Deadpool Team-Up #894 - 28,835 ( +0.9%) 05/10 Deadpool Team-Up #893 - 26,578 ( -7.8%) 06/10 Deadpool Team-Up #892 - 23,697 (-10.8%) 07/10 Deadpool Team-Up #891 - 22,439 ( -5.3%) 08/10 Deadpool Team-Up #890 - 21,279 ( -5.2%) 6 mnth (-29.4%)
Not looking healthy at all.
93. SHADOWLAND: POWER MAN 08/10 #1 of 4 - 21,206 97. PUNISHER: HAPPY ENDING [Max] 08/10 Happy Ending - 20,074 99. SHADOWLAND: DAUGHTERS OF THE SHADOW 08/10 #1 of 3 - 19,513
Two more SHADOWLAND tie-ins, one of which has the tricky task of launching an entirely new character. It’s always difficult to judge how well a crossover helps the sales of a specially commissioned miniseries, but I doubt they’d have got 21K for POWER MAN #1 without the promotional tie-in. Nestling between them, another of those PUNISHER MAX one-shots that comes out from time to time.
100. AGE OF HEROES 05/10 #1 of 4 - 33,573 06/10 #2 of 4 - 25,354 (-24.5%) 07/10 #3 of 4 - 21,307 (-16.0%) 08/10 #4 of 4 - 19,206 ( -9.9%)
Pretty reasonable sales for a very loosely themed Marvel Universe anthology.
105. THE STAND 08/09 Nightmares #5 of 5 - 31,506 ( -8.1%) 10/09 Soul Survivors #1 of 5 - 27,725 (-12.0%) 11/09 Soul Survivors #2 of 5 - 25,600 ( -7.7%) 12/09 Soul Survivors #3 of 5 - 24,308 ( -5.0%) 01/10 --- 02/10 Soul Survivors #4 of 5 - 22,804 ( -6.2%) 03/10 Soul Survivors #5 of 5 - 22,294 ( -2.2%) 04/10 --- 05/10 --- 06/10 Hardcases #1 of 5 - 20,802 ( -6.7%) 07/10 Hardcases #2 of 5 - 19,194 ( -7.7%) 08/10 Hardcases #3 of 5 - 18,352 ( -4.4%) 6 mnth (-19.5%) 1 year (-41.8%)
See above re DARK TOWER, basically.
106. HAWKEYE AND MOCKINGBIRD 06/10 Hawkeye & Mockingbird #1 - 27,552 07/10 Hawkeye & Mockingbird #2 - 20,531 (-25.5%) 08/10 Hawkeye & Mockingbird #3 - 17,870 (-13.0%)
Not encouraging. The book hasn’t been solicited for December; instead, there’s a four-issue miniseries called WIDOWMAKER which, to judge by the creative team, looks to be the storyline originally slated to run as a crossover between this book and the equally absent BLACK WIDOW. According to Joe Quesada, the book isn’t cancelled yet (although similar things were said when IRON FIST went on hiatus, and we’re still waiting for the next issue). On any view, though, it’s clearly in danger.
107. IRON MAN LEGACY 04/10 Iron Man Legacy #1 - 48,956 05/10 Iron Man Legacy #2 - 29,175 (-40.4%) 06/10 Iron Man Legacy #3 - 23,340 (-20.0%) 07/10 Iron Man Legacy #4 - 20,142 (-13.7%) 08/10 Iron Man Legacy #5 - 17,773 (-11.8%)
Not looking great either, but this one is still being solicited.
109. BLACK WIDOW 04/10 Black Widow #1 - 32,807 05/10 Black Widow #2 - 23,384 (-28.7%) 06/10 Black Widow #3 - 19,892 (-14.9%) 07/10 Black Widow #4 - 18,665 ( -6.2%) 08/10 Black Widow #5 - 17,568 ( -5.9%)
See above re HAWKEYE & MOCKINGBIRD.
110. CAPTAIN AMERICA: FOREVER ALLIES 08/10 #1 of 4 - 17,418
Way behind CAPTAIN AMERICA and its other spin-off STEVE ROGERS SUPER-SOLDIER – but then, this one is a tougher sell. It’s about Bucky and his largely forgotten Golden Age team the Young Allies. More of a niche product, and selling as well as one could expect.
112. PRINCE OF POWER 08/08 Hercules #120 - 51,100 ===== 08/09 Hercules #132 - 32,680 (+12.0%) 08/09 Hercules #133 - 27,491 (-15.9%) 09/09 Hercules #134 - 25,380 ( -7.7%) 09/09 Hercules #135 - 26,344 ( +3.8%) 10/09 Hercules #136 - 26,447 ( -0.4%) 10/09 Hercules #137 - 23,463 (-11.3%) 11/09 Hercules #138 - 25,116 ( +7.0%) 12/09 Hercules #139 - 23,591 ( -6.1%) 01/10 Hercules #140 - 23,244 ( -1.5%) 02/10 Hercules #141 - 24,539 ( +5.6%) 03/10 Fall/Avenger #1 of 2 - 23,036 ( -6.1%) 04/10 Fall/Avenger #2 of 2 - 20,215 (-12.2%) 05/10 Prince of Power #1 of 4 - 20,373 ( +0.8%) 06/10 Prince of Power #2 of 4 - 17,068 (-16.2%) 07/10 Prince of Power #3 of 4 - 15,667 ( -8.2%) 08/10 Prince of Power #4 of 4 - 17,137 ( +9.4%) 6 mnth (-30.2%) 1 year (-47.6%) 2 year (-66.5%)
With hindsight, they’d probably have been better off just calling these issues HERCULES #142-147. After this, the storyline appears to continue in the CHAOS WAR miniseries.
113. NEW MUTANTS FOREVER 08/10 #1 of 5 - 16,784
Similar territory to sister title X-MEN FOREVER (albeit with the help of a variant cover), so Marvel should be happy.
115,142. SPIDER-GIRL 05/10 Spider-Girl #1 of 4 - 17,025 06/10 Spider-Girl #2 of 4 - 13,775 (-19.1%) 07/10 Spider-Girl #3 of 4 - 12,542 ( -9.0%) 08/10 Spider-Girl #4 of 4 - 11,810 ( -5.8%) 08/10 The End #1 - 15,888 (+34.5%)
After all the times she was cancelled and came back from the brink, this really does seem to be the end for Spider-Girl, as her name is reassigned to the former Arana for a new and unrelated title in November.
116. AVENGERS: THE ORIGIN 04/10 Origin #1 of 5 - 24,457 05/10 Origin #2 of 5 - 22,108 ( -9.6%) 06/10 Origin #3 of 5 - 18,463 (-16.5%) 07/10 Origin #4 of 5 - 17,141 ( -7.2%) 08/10 Origin #5 of 5 - 15,793 ( -7.9%)
Much as you’d expect for a miniseries revisiting Silver Age continuity.
120. WEB OF SPIDER-MAN 10/09 Web of Spider-Man #1 - 58,412 11/09 Web of Spider-Man #2 - 32,093 (-45.1%) 12/09 Web of Spider-Man #3 - 29,368 ( -8.5%) 01/10 Web of Spider-Man #4 - 24,424 (-16.8%) 02/10 Web of Spider-Man #5 - 24,296 ( -0.5%) 03/10 Web of Spider-Man #6 - 21,574 (-11.2%) 04/10 Web of Spider-Man #7 - 19,533 ( -9.5%) 05/10 Web of Spider-Man #8 - 19,623 ( +4.6%) 06/10 Web of Spider-Man #9 - 17,581 (-10.4%) 07/10 Web of Spider-Man #10 - 16,469 ( -6.3%) 08/10 Web of Spider-Man #11 - 15,562 ( -5.5%) 6 mnth (-36.0%)
Cancelled with issue #12.
125. YOUNG ALLIES 06/10 Young Allies #1 - 20,858 07/10 Young Allies #2 - 16,209 (-22.3%) 08/10 Young Allies #3 - 14,016 (-13.5%)
It goes without saying that these are pretty awful sales for a Marvel Universe ongoing title. Barring a major turnaround, it’s hard to imagine YOUNG ALLIES sticking around for much longer, though Marvel have occasionally shown persistence with concepts like Agents of Atlas (even when it doesn’t necessarily pay off).
126,128. X-MEN FOREVER 08/09 X-Men Forever #5 - 27,825 ( -2.9%) 08/09 X-Men Forever #6 - 24,875 (-10.6%) 09/09 X-Men Forever #7 - 24,115 ( -3.1%) 09/09 X-Men Forever #8 - 23,174 ( -3.9%) 10/09 X-Men Forever #9 - 21,926 ( -5.4%) 10/09 X-Men Forever #10 - 22,287 ( +1.6%) 11/09 X-Men Forever #11 - 20,130 ( -9.7%) 11/09 X-Men Forever #12 - 19,541 ( -2.9%) 12/09 X-Men Forever #13 - 18,870 ( -3.4%) 12/09 X-Men Forever #14 - 18,376 ( -2.6%) 01/10 X-Men Forever #15 - 17,665 ( -3.9%) 01/10 X-Men Forever #16 - 17,290 ( -2.1%) 02/10 X-Men Forever #17 - 17,873 ( +3.4%) 02/10 X-Men Forever #18 - 16,464 ( -7.9%) 03/10 X-Men Forever #19 - 16,183 ( -1.7%) 03/10 X-Men Forever #20 - 15,990 ( -1.2%) 04/10 X-Men Forever #21 - 15,530 ( -2.9%) 04/10 X-Men Forever #22 - 15,305 ( -1.4%) 05/10 X-Men Forever #23 - 15,045 ( -1.7%) 05/10 X-Men Forever #24 - 14,940 ( -0.7%) 06/10 Giant-Size #1 - 15,039 ( +0.7%) 06/10 X-Men Forever 2 #1 - 16,094 ( +7.0%) 06/10 X-Men Forever 2 #2 - 14,933 ( -7.2%) 07/10 X-Men Forever 2 #3 - 14,151 ( -5.2%) 07/10 X-Men Forever 2 #4 - 13,835 ( -2.2%) 08/10 X-Men Forever 2 #5 - 13,632 ( -1.5%) 08/10 X-Men Forever 2 #6 - 13,351 ( -2.1%) 6 mnth (-18.9%) 1 year (-52.0%)
Pretty steady.
129. SPIDER-MAN/FANTASTIC FOUR 07/10 #1 of 4 - 17,324 08/10 #2 of 4 - 13,329 (-23.1%)
Not a huge amount of interest in this one.
130. ATLAS 08/09 Agents of Atlas #9 - 20,828 ( +1.4%) 09/09 Agents of Atlas #10 - 17,877 (-14.2%) 09/09 Agents of Atlas #11 - 17,529 ( -1.9%) 10/09 X-Men vs #1 of 2 - 32,743 (+86.8%) 11/09 X-Men vs #2 of 2 - 25,222 (-23.0%) 12/09 --- 01/10 Avengers vs #1 of 4 - 21,777 (-13.7%) 02/10 Avengers vs #2 of 4 - 17,998 (-17.4%) 03/10 Avengers vs #3 of 4 - 16,482 ( -8.4%) 04/10 Avengers vs #4 of 4 - 14,900 ( -9.6%) 05/10 Atlas #1 - 22,756 (+52.7%) 06/10 Atlas #2 - 16,130 (-29.1%) 07/10 Atlas #3 - 14,365 (-10.9%) 08/10 Atlas #4 - 13,205 ( -8.1%) 6 mnth (-26.6%) 1 year (-36.6%)
Cancelled with issue #5.
131. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN PRESENTS AMERICAN SON 05/10 #1 of 4 - 20,375 06/10 #2 of 4 - 15,450 (-24.2%) 07/10 #3 of 4 - 14,458 ( -6.4%) 08/10 #4 of 4 - 14,263 ( -1.3%)
These strike me as disappointingly low sales for a miniseries picking up on a fairly major plotline from AMAZING SPIDER-MAN.
133. DAREDEVIL: BLACK AND WHITE 08/10 One-shot - 13,111
Another of Marvel’s occasional black and white 70s-style anthologies.
138. THOR: THE MIGHTY AVENGER 07/10 Mighty Avenger #1 - 20,076 07/10 Mighty Avenger #2 - 14,315 (-28.7%) 08/10 Mighty Avenger #3 - 12,112 (-15.4%)
Decent sales by the standards of Marvel’s all-ages books.
146. HERCULES: TWILIGHT OF A GOD 06/10 #1 of 4 - 16,302 07/10 #2 of 4 - 12,788 (-21.6%) 08/10 #3 of 4 - 11,029 (-13.8%)
Out-of-continuity sequel to a 1980s miniseries; perfectly good numbers for that sort of book.
154. WOMEN OF MARVEL ONE-SHOTS 03/10 X-23 - 27,328 03/10 She-Hulk - 15,583 03/10 Sif - 18,092 04/10 Firestar - 13,462 05/10 Dazzler - 16,320 05/10 Rescue - 15,711 06/10 Namora - 14,079 07/10 Lady Deadpool - 24,910 08/10 Spitfire - 9,926
A story about a member of a team whose book got cancelled due to low sales was always going to be at the lower end of the range of these one-shots.
155. HIT-MONKEY 02/10 One-shot - 12,975 03/10 --- 04/10 --- 05/10 --- 06/10 --- 07/10 #1 of 3 - 14,154 ( +9.1%) 08/10 #2 of 3 - 9,916 (-29.9%)
Somebody at Marvel really likes this idea. Not many people outside the office appear to have been convinced.
160. MARVELMAN FAMILY'S FINEST 07/10 #1 of 6 - 17,739 08/10 #2 of 6 - 9,324 (-47.4%)
A very niche reprint product, particularly given that many of the people who might be interested in this material are surely likely to hang on for the collected edition.
165. X-CAMPUS 06/10 #1 of 4 - 14,867 07/10 #2 of 4 - 9,913 (-33.3%) 08/10 #3 of 4 - 8,855 (-10.7%)
European reprint of a vaguely X-Men-inspired story.
169. CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE 1940S NEWSPAPER STRIP 06/10 #1 of 3 - 10,913 07/10 #2 of 3 - 8,282 (-24.1%) 08/10 #3 of 3 - 8,461 ( +2.2%)
Digital reprint. The increase in sales for the final issue is surprising.
171. CASANOVA [Icon] 07/10 Casanova #1 - 10,452 08/10 Casanova #2 - 8,349 (-20.1%)
Still reprinting the original series, so the numbers are fine.
181. GORILLA MAN 07/10 #1 of 3 - 9,871 08/10 #2 of 3 - 7,744 (-21.5%) 197. DARKSTAR AND THE WINTER GUARD 06/10 #1 of 3 - 10,101 07/10 #2 of 3 - 7,743 (-23.3%) 08/10 #3 of 3 - 6,716 (-13.3%) 199. RAWHIDE KID [Max] 06/10 #1 of 4 - 9,993 07/10 #2 of 4 - 7,541 (-24.5%) 08/10 #3 of 4 - 6,623 (-12.2%)
We’re firmly into completist territory by this point, from the looks of it. And from this point down, it’s the usual assortment of Soleil reprints, all-ages titles, novel adaptations and reference sources…
214. SPIDER-MAN [Marvel Adventures] 08/05 M.A. Spider-Man #6 - 7,636 08/06 M.A. Spider-Man #18 - 6,220 08/07 M.A. Spider-Man #30 - 6,573 08/08 M.A. Spider-Man #42 - 5,718 ===== 08/09 M.A. Spider-Man #54 - 5,684 ( -0.5%) 09/09 M.A. Spider-Man #55 - 5,668 ( -0.3%) 10/09 M.A. Spider-Man #56 - 4,579 ( -19.2%) 11/09 M.A. Spider-Man #57 - 4,501 ( -1.7%) 12/09 M.A. Spider-Man #58 - 4,352 ( -3.3%) 01/10 M.A. Spider-Man #59 - 4,315 ( -0.9%) 02/10 M.A. Spider-Man #60 - 4,212 ( -2.4%) 03/10 M.A. Spider-Man #61 - 4,200 ( -2.8%) 04/10 Spider-Man #1 - 9,770 (+132.6%) 05/10 Spider-Man #2 - 7,709 ( -21.1%) 06/10 Spider-Man #3 - 7,200 ( -6.6%) 07/10 Spider-Man #4 - 6,347 ( -11.8%) 08/10 Spider-Man #5 - 6,202 ( -2.3%) 6 mnth ( +47.2%) 1 year ( +9.1%) 2 year ( +8.5%) 3 year ( -5.6%) 4 year ( -0.3%) 5 year ( -18.8%) 217. SKY DOLL [Soleil] 08/10 Lacrima Christi #1 of 2 - 6,097 233. SUPER HERO SQUAD 09/09 Super Hero Squad #1 of 4 - 6,760 10/09 Super Hero Squad #2 of 4 - 4,496 ( -33.5%) 11/09 Super Hero Squad #3 of 4 - 4,384 ( -2.5%) 12/09 Super Hero Squad #4 of 4 - 4,132 ( -5.7%) 01/10 Super Hero Squad #1 - 9,709 (+135.0%) 02/10 Super Hero Squad #2 - 5,691 ( -41.4%) 03/10 Super Hero Squad #3 - 5,399 ( -5.1%) 04/10 Super Hero Squad #4 - 5,822 ( +7.8%) 05/10 Super Hero Squad #5 - 5,639 ( -3.1%) 06/10 Super Hero Squad #6 - 6,029 ( +6.9%) 07/10 Super Hero Squad #7 - 5,328 ( -11.6%) 08/10 Super Hero Squad #8 - 5,358 ( +0.6%) 6 mnth ( -5.9%) 234. ORSON SCOTT CARD'S ENDER IN EXILE 06/10 Ender in Exile #1 of 5 - 6,568 07/10 Ender in Exile #2 of 5 - 5,673 (-13.6%) 08/10 Ender in Exile #3 of 5 - 5,342 ( -5.8%) 238. OFFICIAL HANDBOOK 02/10 A to Z Update #1 of 5 - 5,406 03/10 Deadpool Corps - 21,900 (+305.1%) 04/10 Iron Manual Mark 3 #1 - 9,456 ( -56.8%) 05/10 Avengers Assemble #1 - 15,113 ( +59.8%) 06/10 A to Z Update #2 of 5 - 5,312 ( -64.9%) 07/10 X-Men: Phoenix Force - 9,566 ( +80.1%) 08/10 A to Z Update #3 of 5 - 4,962 ( -48.1%) 6 mnth ( -8.2%) 254. PHILP K DICK'S ELECTRIC ANT 04/10 #1 of 5 - 8,869 05/10 #2 of 5 - 6,181 (-30.3%) 06/10 #3 of 5 - 5,238 (-15.3%) 07/10 #4 of 5 - 4,622 (-11.8%) 08/10 #5 of 5 - 4,428 ( -4.2%) 255. SUPER HEROES [Marvel Adventures] 08/08 M.A. Super Heroes #2 - 5,956 ===== 08/09 M.A. Super Heroes #14 - 4,355 ( -1.9%) 09/09 M.A. Super Heroes #15 - 4,268 ( -2.0%) 10/09 M.A. Super Heroes #16 - 3,250 (-23.9%) 11/09 M.A. Super Heroes #17 - 3,308 ( +1.8%) 12/09 M.A. Super Heroes #18 - ?,??? ( ??? ) 01/10 M.A. Super Heroes #19 - 3,103 ( ??? ) 02/10 M.A. Super Heroes #20 - 3,008 ( -3.1%) 03/10 M.A. Super Heroes #21 - ?,??? ( ??? ) 04/10 Super Heroes #1 - 8,107 ( ??? ) 05/10 Super Heroes #2 - 6,360 (-21.5%) 06/10 Super Heroes #3 - 5,678 (-10.7%) 07/10 Super Heroes #4 - 4,564 (-19.6%) 08/10 Super Heroes #5 - 4,418 ( -3.2%) 6 mnth (+46.9%) 1 year ( +1.4%) 2 year (-25.8%) 278. OFFICIAL INDEX TO THE MARVEL UNIVERSE 08/09 Index #8 - 4,263 ( -5.6%) 09/09 Index #9 - 4,144 ( -2.8%) 10/09 Index #10 - 3,980 ( -4.0%) 11/09 Index #11 - 3,739 ( -6.1%) 12/09 Index #12 - 3,689 ( -1.3%) 01/10 Index #13 - 3,248 (-12.0%) 02/10 Index #14 - 3,161 ( -2.7%) 03/10 --- 04/10 --- 05/10 Avengers #1 - 4,997 (+58.1%) 06/10 Avengers #2 - ?,??? ( -?.?%) 07/10 Avengers #3 - 3,776 ( ?.?%) 08/10 Avengers #4 - 3,448 ( -8.7%) 6 mnth ( +9.1%) 1 year (-19.1%) 283. DREAM LOGIC [Icon] 06/10 Dream Logic #1 - ?,??? 07/10 --- 08/10 Dream Logic #2 - 3,202
This is a David Mack sketch book. The first issue missed the top 300 in June, when the cut-off point was 4,528.
291. SENSE AND SENSIBILITY 05/10 #1 of 5 - 4,809 06/10 #2 of 5 - ?,??? (-???) 07/10 #3 of 5 - ?,??? ( ???) 08/10 #4 of 5 - 2,972 ( ???)
With fewer releases in August, the top 300 cut-off is lower than normal. It’s not that SENSE AND SENSIBILITY has increased in sales, it’s simply that the cut-off point for the charts has moved down.
6 month comparisons =================== +47.2% - Spider-Man (Marvel Adventures) +46.9% - Super Heroes (Marvel Adventures) +42.9% - Moon Knight +36.6% - Amazing Spider-Man + 9.1% - Official Index + 7.5% - Daredevil + 6.5% - New Avengers + 3.8% - New Mutants + 3.7% - X-Men Legacy + 3.0% - Uncanny X-Men - 2.0% - Invincible Iron Man - 2.3% - Wolverine: Weapon X - 2.9% - X-Factor - 5.9% - Hulk - 5.9% - Super Hero Squad - 7.8% - Fantastic Four - 7.9% - Thunderbolts - 8.2% - Official Handbook -10.9% - Avengers Academy/Initiative -12.4% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man -12.8% - Secret Warriors -16.9% - Captain America -17.1% - Dark Tower -17.9% - Deadpool -18.9% - X-Men Forever -19.4% - Incredible Hulk -19.5% - Stand -22.7% - X-Force/Sex & Violence -23.7% - Thor -26.2% - Dark Wolverine -26.6% - Atlas -29.4% - Deadpool Team-Up -30.2% - Hercules/Prince of Power -36.0% - Web of Spider-Man -42.7% - Black Panther/Doomwar 1 year comparisons ================== + 9.1% - Spider-Man (Marvel Adventures) + 1.4% - Super Heroes (Marvel Adventures) - 0.8% - Amazing Spider-Man - 8.7% - Avengers Academy/Initiative - 8.9% - Invincible Iron Man - 8.9% - X-Factor - 9.6% - New Avengers -15.9% - X-Men Legacy -16.6% - Black Panther/Doomwar -17.0% - New Mutants -19.1% - Official Index -23.5% - Uncanny X-Men -29.8% - Incredible Hulk -31.0% - Secret Warriors -31.5% - Hulk -31.8% - X-Force -35.8% - Deadpool -36.6% - Atlas -38.7% - Dark Tower -40.3% - Wolverine: Weapon X -41.8% - Stand -42.0% - Dark Wolverine -43.4% - Daredevil -44.5% - Fantastic Four -46.0% - Ultimate Comics Avengers -47.6% - Hercules/Prince of Power -52.0% - X-Men Forever -57.0% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man -57.9% - Captain America 2 year comparisons ================== + 8.5% - Spider-Man (Marvel Adventures) - 4.1% - Daredevil - 5.5% - Amazing Spider-Man - 8.8% - Moon Knight -15.7% - Invincible Iron Man -21.6% - Uncanny X-Men -21.8% - X-Men Legacy -23.5% - New Avengers -25.8% - Super Heroes (Marvel Adventures) -26.2% - Black Panther/Doomwar -31.2% - Thunderbolts -32.5% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man -37.9% - Captain America -40.3% - X-Factor -41.0% - Avengers Academy/Initiative -42.1% - Fantastic Four -44.2% - X-Force -46.5% - Astonishing X-Men -49.2% - Hulk -55.9% - Incredible Hulk -66.5% - Hercules/Prince Power -69.3% - Wolverine/Weapon X 3 year comparisons ================== - 1.1% - Invincible Iron Man - 5.6% - Spider-Man (Marvel Adventures) - 12.3% - Daredevil - 21.6% - Uncanny X-Men - 30.8% - Amazing Spider-Man - 31.0% - New Avengers - 36.9% - Captain America - 38.5% - X-Men Legacy - 40.5% - Thunderbolts - 42.8% - X-Factor - 44.0% - Fantastic Four - 48.8% - Black Panther/Doomwar - 51.7% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man - 53.0% - Thor - 56.9% - Incredible Hulk - 57.0% - Astonishing X-Men - 58.8% - Avengers Academy/Initiative - 59.9% - Wolverine/Weapon X - 82.5% - Dark Tower 4 year comparisons ================== + 31.5% - Invincible Iron Man - 0.3% - Spider-Man (Marvel Adventures) - 8.0% - Incredible Hulk - 12.6% - Black Panther/Doomwar - 17.8% - Daredevil - 22.6% - Uncanny X-Men - 32.5% - X-Factor - 35.1% - X-Men Legacy - 47.3% - New Avengers - 49.2% - Thunderbolts - 51.4% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man - 58.1% - Astonishing X-Men - 58.4% - Moon Knight - 61.4% - Fantastic Four - 72.9% - Wolverine/Weapon X 5 year comparisons ================== + 2.2% - Amazing Spider-Man + 1.9% - Captain America + 1.3% - Invincible Iron Man - 10.4% - Daredevil - 15.4% - Incredible Hulk - 15.6% - Thunderbolts - 18.8% - Spider-Man (Marvel Adventures) - 23.5% - Uncanny X-Men - 30.3% - X-Men Legacy - 33.1% - Fantastic Four - 42.2% - Black Panther/Doomwar - 44.2% - New Avengers - 51.1% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man - 59.9% - Astonishing X-Men - 61.1% - Weapon X
For what it’s worth, Marvel announced a new Moon Knight series for next year by Bendis and (iirc) Maleev. So that one’s got a BIG chance to pick up next year.
Glad to see these back, they’re my favorite feature on this site.
Looks like the reboot of the Marvel Adventures comics worked! (Unfortunately, looking at the chronological comparisons, it’s the only thing working…)
Marvel announced that X-Men Forever #16 will be the series finale.
And the Marvel Cosmic line will continue with “The Thanos Imperative: Devastation” in January.
Marvel’s best book comes in at #138 on the charts. That’s a failing on the part of the comics-buying populace, then.
When they try giving us quality every once in a while, we’ve got to actually buy it, people!
Prince of Power probably suffered by being $3.99 an issue. Too bad — it was really good.
I would expect Chaos War to probably be the same.
The number for Ultimate Spider-Man seem to bear out what I hypothesized months ago — people dropped it at $3.99. I’d be surprised if it rebounded with the renumbering.
Oh, and Young Allies is cancelled with #6.
Wow, so many new titles come out and don’t even make it to issue #12! What happened to the good old days when titles would have a decent run? I am now not picking up new titles unless big names are associated with the new book because I know the title won’t make it very far, take Black Widow for example or Power Girl (DC).
Adam, I was prepared to disagree with you, but I looked at what #138 was, and you’re right — Thor, the Mighty Avenger is the best book Marvel is publishing right now.
“…1:25, 1:50 and 1:75 incentive variants…”
Ok, I just need to get this off my chest: who the F*** is buying these variants? I mean, really? I thought in the dark days of the 90s when the speculator bubble burst, all the a-holes who were gobbling up “rare” #1 issues with million print runs and variant covers realized that they were worth less than nothing as an “investment,” and left comics. Presumably, the 300K figure we keep seeing that refers to what’s left of the hardcore direct-market comic buying audience is what’s left after the speculators bailed.
So WTF? Why is there still a market for variants? Does anyone really think that in a year’s time, anyone is going to give a rat’s a** that your have a 1:75 sketch virgin variant cover for Deadpool Corps for sale on ebay for $200?
UGH. I’m sorry for the rant, but you have no idea how much I HATE the whole variant covers gimmick. It does absolutely no good for anyone, other than artificially inflate short term sales for publishers at the expense of losing long term stability and readership.
Who buys the variants? The same people who buy every single comic on this report: THE RETAILERS. They buy the cornflakes just to get the prize at the bottom of the box, then throw the cornflakes away. They buy 75 or 100 or whatever to get the variant, sell the amount they expect to sell, then mark up the variant. The remaining unsold copies? Quarter bin or (hopefully) recycling.
I have only purchased one ratio-ed variant, the “Issac Newton” cover of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Marvel still hasn’t corrected the mistake…
http://marvel.com/searchresults?client=pub-8939399227234062&channel=8923961910&cof=GALT:ABABAB;DIV:545454;VLC:266CB3;ALC:266CB3;LC:266CB3;BGC:ffffff;T:545454;GFNT:ababab;GIMP:266CB3;S:http://marvel.com;FORID:9;&sitesearch=marvel.com&q=issac )
Mark me down as another fan of Thor:The Mighty Avenger. Wonderful writing and great artwork. Recommended!
@Adam:
I was ready to call you out on that, too, but you’re right. Roger Langridge is awesome. Fred the Clown is one of my favorite comics ever.
I would like to add the Oz comics Marvel is doing to the short list, too.
Poor Hawkeye & Mockingbird. If THAT comic couldn’t hit good sales, what chance does any other “b-list” character/team book have? That book had it all, excellent writing, art and characters! Sigh…
“Ok, I just need to get this off my chest: who the F*** is buying these variants?”
This may be a shocking concept, but: People who want to have them.
Buying comics doesn’t have to be about selling them on eBay. Some people simply enjoy collecting, and don’t care whether or not they can make a profit (although they might well be able to–unlike those nineties books, these variants are actually rare).
Torsten, don’t blame the retailer for the variant ridiculousness.
Blame that one guy in their stores who they know will buy that variant at their crazy price they justify to make up for all the copies they ordered that won’t sell because HE can’t stand to not have it in his collection.
Retailers don’t have a reason to order them if they know no one wants to buy it. But when it comes to those variants, they know who their customer is.
Bendis and Maleev are doing a Moon Knight series next year but they could not keep working together on Spider Woman? Ugh.
@Torsten: “…THE RETAILERS…buy 75 or 100 or whatever to get the variant, sell the amount they expect to sell, then mark up the variant.”
Right, but my point is someone is still buying that “marked up” variant from the retailer. Who are these people and how can there be so many of them to make this whole scheme profitable?
@Niels: “Some people simply enjoy collecting, and don’t care whether or not they can make a profit.”
I can understand that too, but I seriously doubt that there are that many folks who just want them as “collectibles” (without an eye towards speculation) to support the inordinate number of variants being churned out by Marvel, DC, IDW, Avatar, etc., most of which are being sold at ridiculously large markups by retailers.
I’ve been getting the series, out of curiosity about how good or bad McCann’s writing would be and how his soap opera training would affect the writing. He handled the Mockingbird-Hawkeye interaction competently, I thought, but the premise for the series was as flimsy as any soap opera’s premise. The World Counterterrorism Agency was a company without any possible clients, nothing more than a plot device for bringing other people into the storyline. The WCA should have been an important part of the storyline; instead, McCann chose two villains, Crossfire and the Phantom Rider spirit, who had nothing to do with the WCA and were better suited for superhero stories.
McCann comes across as someone who badly wants to write action-adventure fiction and screenplays, and tried to do that in HAWKEYE & MOCKINGBIRD because that was the only outlet he could find. If he wasn’t going to write superheroes as superheroes, why use them in stories?
SRS
My LCS has people that don’t actually read the comics but has the store get them variant covers. My friend loves them and enjoys collecting them. Not my bag though.
It looks like Hawkeye and Mockingbird didn’t even sell enough to warrant a HC collection. The January solicit is straight to TPB.
It’s amazing the number of variants and “special offers” which appear on the Retailer Order Form. One page for Marvel, one for DC, and two or three for the other publishers. Some publishers offer free copies, others charge.
I prefer the 1:1 variants, like the Disney covers from Boom! which don’t cost extra.
Its amazing, but there are people who have to have every book. A buddy of mine works with a guy who owns every Marvel book that has been printed since 1976 or some such nonsense. He previously tried to keep them all in one room in his house until the flooring started to sag and threatened to collapse and now apparently he has them spread throughout the house in order to keep the weight distributed.
The only reason he doesn’t bother with DC is he says he just doesn’t have time to read them on top of the Marvel stuff, but he might start once he retires.
Synsidar, I rather disagree with your Hawkeye & Mockingbird comments, and if you’re as big a fan of WCA as you say you are, you should know how well this current storyline fits into the WCA continuity. In fact, I ended up going to my comic shop and buying the entire WCA Mockingbird/Phantom Rider storyline issues (as well as the follow up appearances of PR in later issues.) AND Crossfire appeared in WCA #100 as the very first villain Hawkeye & Mockingbird fought as they were literally purchasing the WCA mansion, so there happens to be a lot of connectivity going on.
Also, I don’t see The World Counterterrorism Agency as that much of a problem. It’s really nothing more than a means of getting a great cast together, to fight crime, without having to actually create a new superhero team. I mean, it’s a crime/spy thriller book, when you come down to it. It sounds like you just wanted a West Coast Avengers reboot. I’m rather happy they took it in a different direction, no matter how short a time.
As for the WCA reboot, you might still get your wish. SOMETHING is up for the characters (including Black Widow, possibly?) after this Widowmaker storyline, and I have a feeling it will involve a new WCA title in some manner. But I sure will miss what we had with H&M while it was around.
And Young Allies is canned with issue #6. Insult to injury: looks like the writer’s been tagged to revive Onslaught.
“Marvel’s best book comes in at #138 on the charts. That’s a failing on the part of the comics-buying populace, then.”
No, there just isn’t demand for multiple Thor titles.
Yes, I was a WCA reader and fan of Englehart’s issues, at least. Thomas’s issues were uninspired. The one memorable thing Thomas did during his run was to kill Mockingbird in AWC #100. Whatever his motivations were for that — I’ve never looked for an interview in which he talked about that issue — the death was a convincing tragedy. Mockingbird’s return via retcon in SECRET INVASION was unbelievable; the artificiality of it soured me on McCann’s use of her. If he wanted to use her, he should have done the work necessary to get her out of Mephisto’s Hell, even if that required finding a replacement body. So what if that work would have been inconvenient? Creative writing is mental work, nothing but mental work, and avoiding that work because of its difficulty is a confession of weakness. That’s why retcons are practically always terrible devices. They’re always artificial changes in published stories’ plots, and demanding that a reader accept a change for the sake of the story’s premise is comparable to opening a book and finding a license agreement inside that states, “You must suspend your disbelief in order to accept the events in this story.” Suspension of disbelief has a place in video programming but should never be required for published stories.
And, in the case of the original WCA Mockingbird/Phantom rider storyline, I’ve seen a detailed description of Englehart’s original plan for ending it. What he had planned was much better than the published ending, and left no basis for a sequel.
SRS
“Suspension of disbelief has a place in video programming but should never be required for published stories.”
This is honestly one of the most bizarre things I’ve read. Although if read literally, it puts a lot of your earlier comments/complaints in context.
Guys can’t fly. Guys can’t come back from the dead. Guys can’t fly around outerspace on magical surfboards. Superhero comics REQUIRE a suspension of disbelief to work.
What are you on about?
Do you know what story logic and structure mean?
SRS
“Do you know what story logic and structure mean?”
I do know that you are using those terms selectively.
I haven’t been reading Hawkeye & Mockingbird, so I’m just basing this on what I’ve read here. But it seems the fact that the series retconned something that Steve Engelhart wrote twenty-five years ago means it throws out story logic and structure.
I’m sure if we were to go through the vast history of Steve Engelhart’s comics work we’ll be able to find place where he retconned certain events from early Marvel comics or whatever (or even from events that took place between his two periods of activity at Marvel)
And I know what you would argue: those retcons made sense and were well-constructed and well-thought out and had narration boxes and exposition spouting androids who called every character by their name and all the other things that make great comics.
But what I would say is this: why can’t you just say “I don’t like what Bendis did in SI with Mockingbird. I don’t care for the new Hawkeye & Mockingbird series” instead of trying to insist that your personal and subjective tastes are somehow emperically correct? I’m not saying you can’t or shouldn’t complain about them. But literally every thread here is filled with you talking about how it’s scientifically proven that Steve Engelhart wrote the greatest comics of all time and if only everyone would emulate those comics he wrote when you were a kid then the industry will thrive.
?!!
SRS
You didn’t read anything past that, did you, Stahl?
He wasn’t talking about H&M, he was talking about your unadulterated hatred of Bendis and insistence that your opinion is well researched fact.
Let me clarify: I’m not commenting on the quality of Hawkeye & Mockingbird because I haven’t read it. I AM commenting on your basis of criticism: Your insistence that the entire existence of the book is suspect because it retcons a Roy Thomas-written issue of West Coast Avengers that I’ve never heard hide nor hair of. And that you don’t want to read superhero comics that require a suspension of disbelief, which means either you want to just read Kick-Ass over and over again, or that you believe men can be frozen in ice for sixty years and giant bald men live on the moon and watch everything we do.
I just want to go on the record as saying Thor: Mighty Avenger, Marvel Advs. Spider-Man and Marvel Advs. Super Heroes are the best Thor, Spider-Man and Avengers books right now (I do still like Ult. Spidey though).
Re: U.C. Avengers 2 #5 to #6… that’s not really an 11.3% drop.
Decimal points matter. ;)
As much as I love these columns, I have to wonder how relevant they are this late after the actual month they critique.
Well, they don’t critique, they report, and aren’t meant to affect sales themselves. They’re a record, why would timeliness matter?
I guess I’m naive but I’m surprised that variants accounted for over a 9% increase in ASM. As for the new Namor series, I like Namor when he’s written right. I just don’t like Namor and underwater vampires much.
What does “the original Black Panther is being relaunched as Daredevil” mean? Is he filling in the shoes for Matt Murdock after Shadowland or something?
RJT says:
10/23/2010 at 8:39 am
“Synsidar: Suspension of disbelief has a place in video programming but should never be required for published stories.”
This is honestly one of the most bizarre things I’ve read. Although if read literally, it puts a lot of your earlier comments/complaints in context.
——————————————————————
Agreed. Most retcons do suck and I’m not a big fan of bringing characters back from the dead for the most part, especially ones very few care about. But I have no idea what that sentence Synsidar typed means. It’s seemingly unrelated to the paragraph that preceded it and makes it sound like he doesn’t believe in suspending believe for guys dressed as bats firing grappling guns with 2,000 feet of wire in them as he swings along skyscrapers searching for muggings and men made out of toxic clay. A truly unique perspective to be sure.
Any idea when the DC August sales chart will be out?
Thanks.
I for one and am not surprised by the losing of sales across the board here. People know quality when they see it.
I find the majority of Marvel’s current output to be nothing but GARBAGE, most of which I wouldn’t read for free…and I can if I so choose (between working at my LCS and torrent sites).
DC is slightly better in this regard, but not by much…
The year-on-year comparisons are really telling. The $3.99 price point is killing these new titles right off the start. Marvel is making the same amount of money off of less readers. Actively reducing your customer base is bad business.
It’s true. Now that so many books cost $3.99, I’m forced to buy less books, and am rarely able to give a new book a chance. That extra $1 really makes the difference, especially when it’s multiplied by the number or of other books I buy, I’m already out a ton of extra $$ before even considering a new book.