Marvel Month-to-Month Sales: December 2013http://ift.tt/1gBlXhi
By Paul O’Brien
[Editor’s Note: As noted this is Paul’s last column for now. He’s been an incredible collaborator and commentator, and I think we all owe him a big round of applause! And yes I know these are late — we’ll have the new guys in place VERY shortly! Thanks again, Paul.]
And so the end of an era is upon us. No, I do not speak of the latest cancellation of DEFENDERS, nor even of the final OZ miniseries. As Heidi explained a little while back, this will be my final sales column, after over a decade of writing these things. Good luck to whoever takes over for this; I’ll be reading with interest, and with a sense of relief that I didn’t have to do the number crunching.
So. One last time!
December sees a barrage of Inhumanity tie-ins, all building to the launch of the new series that’s since been delayed. We also have the start of ORIGIN II, and the first of the Marvel Now Wave 2 titles.
As per usual, Marvel had the largest share of the North American direct market, leading DC by 37% to 31% in unit terms, and 35% to 28% in dollars.
Thanks as always to ICV2.com for permission to use these figures.
1. ORIGIN II 12/13 Origin II #1 of 5 - 131,724
Books set in the past and with no direct impact on present day continuity generally seem to be a tough sell. But ORIGIN II is the top seller of the month, presumably because Marvel have successfully portrayed it as an event – in the sense of a book fans will be talking about.
It helps, of course, that the book has seven covers, one of which is a “Collector’s Edition Acetate Cover”, no doubt a tremendous boost to the title’s popularity with plastic fetishists. But 131K is similar territory to the launch of FEAR ITSELF – very good for an origin sequel.
2. AVENGERS 12/03 Avengers v3 #75 - 57,814 12/10 Avengers v4 #8 - 67,056 12/11 Avengers v4 #20 - 57,145 ===== 12/12 Avengers v5 #1 - 192,952 (+236.7%) 12/12 Avengers v5 #2 - 99,028 ( -48.7%) 01/13 Avengers v5 #3 - 92,165 ( -6.9%) 01/13 Avengers v5 #4 - 83,088 ( -9.8%) 02/13 Avengers v5 #5 - 82,452 ( -0.8%) 02/13 Avengers v5 #6 - 84,868 ( +2.9%) 03/13 Avengers v5 #7 - 78,278 ( -7.8%) 03/13 Avengers v5 #8 - 82,691 ( +5.6%) 04/13 Avengers v5 #9 - 77,780 ( -5.9%) 04/13 Avengers v5 #10 - 78,905 ( +1.4%) 05/13 Avengers v5 #11 - 70,687 ( -10.4%) 05/13 Avengers v5 #12 - 74,978 ( +6.1%) 06/13 Avengers v5 #13 - 68,624 ( -8.5%) 06/13 Avengers v5 #14 - 74,846 ( +9.1%) 07/13 Avengers v5 #15 - 68,472 ( -8.5%) 07/13 Avengers v5 #16 - 72,842 ( +6.4%) 08/13 Avengers v5 #17 - 68,962 ( -5.3%) 08/13 Avengers v5 #18 - 74,697 ( +8.3%) 09/13 Avengers v5 #19 - 92,489 ( +23.8%) 09/13 Avengers v5 #20 - 74,388 ( -19.6%) 10/13 Avengers v5 #21 - 71,751 ( -3.5%) 10/13 Avengers v5 #22 - 70,735 ( -1.4%) 11/13 Avengers v5 #23 - 66,501 ( -6.0%) 12/13 Avngrs. #24.NOW - 127,466 ( +91.7%) 6 mnth ( +70.3%) 1 year ( +28.7%) 2 year (+123.1%) 3 year ( +95.9%) 10 year (+120.5%)
The first book of Marvel NOW wave 2, or whatever we’re calling it. It’s a mixture of new launches and existing titles whose jumping on points are being promoted as “.NOW issues”.
Back in the 90s, Marvel employed teams of sinister printing technologists to devise new and demented forms of novelty cover. Today, in 2014, Marvel employes teams of sinister numerologists to uncover strange and mysterious numbers previously unknown to science, such as 24.NOW, 35.INH, 62.CRIKEY, and 109.STOAT. Few dare venture into these maniacs’ lair, though the dark sounds of muffled screams lead many to speculate on horrific experiments where innocent number lines are cynically mutilated in an attempt to prove that the number after anything can be 1.
Some of these terrifying unnumbers have now been released into the community. Beware. Do not arrange them in mystically provocative patterns. Do not attempt to count them without the guidance of a qualified alchemist. Do not think directly at them. If you do, you too could go the way of Marvel’s solicitation writers, who produce copy like “AVENGERS #24.NOW = AVENGERS #1 IN ALL-NEW MARVEL NOW!”, presumably following that up by curling up in a ball and whimpering at the death of syntax.
On the bright side, they’ll certainly make it a lot easier for my successor to tell at a glance which issues were crossovers, so thanks for that.
But let no one say that I was not even-handed to the last…
AVENGERS #24.NOW is essentially would, until recently, have been called a Point One issue. I always thought the Point One issues made a degree of sense as heavily promoted jumping on points, but the reality was that they never seemed to sell – if anything, all available evidence was that they actually tended to lose readers. Perhaps the error was to present them as self-contained stories, rather than first chapters – certainly many of the early Point One books were basically fill-ins.
So maybe these .NOW issues will turn out to be the same idea done right. It’s certainly worked here on AVENGERS. Time will tell how it does on other titles.
9. INHUMANITY 12/13 One-shot - 77,519
The start of a collection of one-shots and tie-in issues leading in to what was at this point intended to be Matt Fraction’s INHUMAN. As the book has now been retooled and delayed, there’s an obvious risk of it losing whatever momentum this storyline would otherwise have produced for it.
10,11. SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN 12/03 Amazing #502 - 90,484 12/08 Amazing #581 - 68,905 12/09 Amazing #616 - 58,856 12/10 Amazing #650 - 55,996 12/11 Amazing #675 - 54,652 ===== 12/12 Amazing #699 - 80,048 ( -8.6%) 12/12 Amazing #.1 - 71,344 ( -10.9%) 12/12 Amazing #700 - 273,305 (+283.1%) 01/13 Superior #1 - 209,944 ( -23.2%) 01/13 Superior #2 - 118,104 ( -43.7%) 02/13 Superior #3 - 101,811 ( -13.8%) 02/13 Superior #4 - 95,892 ( -5.8%) 03/13 Superior #5 - 94,224 ( -1.7%) 03/13 Superior #6 - 86,614 ( -8.1%) 03/13 S. S-M #6AU - 85,807 ( -0.9%) 04/13 Superior #7 - 87,945 ( +2.5%) 04/13 Superior #8 - 85,671 ( -2.6%) 05/13 Superior #9 - 93,656 ( +9.3%) 05/13 Superior #10 - 85,346 ( -8.9%) 06/13 Superior #11 - 84,219 ( -1.3%) 06/13 Superior #12 - 82,338 ( -2.2%) 07/13 Superior #13 - 81,678 ( -0.8%) 07/13 Superior #14 - 80,839 ( -1.0%) 08/13 Superior #15 - 78,636 ( -2.7%) 08/13 Superior #16 - 78,087 ( -0.7%) 09/13 Superior #17 - 89,118 ( +14.1%) 09/13 Superior #18 - 80,178 ( -10.0%) 10/13 Superior #19 - 83,671 ( +4.4%) 10/13 Superior #20 - 85,309 ( +2.0%) 11/13 Superior #21 - 74,940 ( -12.2%) 11/13 Superior #22 - 81,250 ( +8.4%) 12/13 Superior #23 - 77,105 ( -5.1%) 12/13 Superior #24 - 76,131 ( -1.3%) 6 mnth ( -7.5%) 1 year ( -4.9%) 2 year ( +39.3%) 3 year ( +36.0%) 4 year ( +29.4%) 5 year ( +10.5%) 10 year ( -15.9%)
There are variants on all of issues #22-24, so here we have our first case of standard attrition for the month! The book reverts to its original AMAZING SPIDER-MAN title in April, after what has to be judged a pretty successful year with Otto as the lead character.
13. ALL-NEW X-MEN 12/12 All-New X-Men #3 - 90,161 (-10.7%) 12/12 All-New X-Men #4 - 90,946 ( +0.9%) 01/13 All-New X-Men #5 - 86,301 ( -5.1%) 01/13 All-New X-Men #6 - 85,403 ( -1.0%) 02/13 All-New X-Men #7 - 85,234 ( -0.2%) 03/13 All-New X-Men #8 - 90,990 ( +6.8%) 03/13 All-New X-Men #9 - 81,692 (-10.2%) 04/13 All-New X-Men #10 - 84,760 ( +3.8%) 05/13 All-New X-Men #11 - 80,582 ( -4.9%) 06/13 All-New X-Men #12 - 82,178 ( +2.0%) 06/13 All-New X-Men #13 - 77,656 ( -5.5%) 07/13 All-New X-Men #14 - 74,848 ( -3.6%) 08/13 All-New X-Men #15 - 73,035 ( -2.4%) 09/13 All-New X-Men #16 - 84,218 (+15.3%) 10/13 All-New X-Men #17 - 82,843 ( -1.6%) 11/13 All-New X-Men #18 - 82,365 ( -0.6%) 11/13 All-New X-Men #19 - 71,044 (-13.7%) 12/13 All-New X-Men #20 - 68,189 ( -4.0%) 6 mnth (-12.2%) 1 year (-24.4%)
Issues #16-17 were the “Battle of the Atom” crossover, and issue #18 had multiple variants, so when you screen those out, it’s really a case of the standard gentle decline. There’s a .NOW issue in January, leading into a crossover with GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY.
15,18,20,21,22. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 12/13 Amazing Spider-Man #700.1 - 65,775 12/13 Amazing Spider-Man #700.2 - 61,233 12/13 Amazing Spider-Man #700.3 - 60,513 12/13 Amazing Spider-Man #700.4 - 59,142 12/13 Amazing Spider-Man #700.5 - 59,083
A seemingly random “special celebration” of Peter Parker, featuring such things as a fill-in story by David Morrell. All a bit odd, and I suspect some retailers may have bought into this as being a bigger deal than it actually was, perhaps because the issue #700.1 solicitation could be read as suggesting the character’s actual return.
17. UNCANNY X-MEN 12/03 Uncanny X-Men #434 - 90,318 12/08 Uncanny X-Men #505 - 82,271 12/09 Uncanny X-Men #519 - 67,043 12/10 Uncanny X-Men #531 - 55,770 12/11 Uncanny X-Men v2 #3 - 64,112 ===== 02/13 Uncanny X-Men v3 #1 - 177,463 (+169.0%) 02/13 Uncanny X-Men v3 #2 - 94,615 ( -46.7%) 03/13 Uncanny X-Men v3 #3 - 85,775 ( -9.3%) 04/13 Uncanny X-Men v3 #4 - 80,047 ( -6.7%) 04/13 Uncanny X-Men v3 #5 - 78,919 ( -1.4%) 05/13 Uncanny X-Men v3 #6 - 73,621 ( -6.7%) 06/13 Uncanny X-Men v3 #7 - 73,719 ( +0.1%) 07/13 Uncanny X-Men v3 #8 - 70,274 ( -4.7%) 07/13 Uncanny X-Men v3 #9 - 67,338 ( -4.2%) 08/13 Uncanny X-Men v3 #10 - 70,903 ( +5.3%) 08/13 Uncanny X-Men v3 #11 - 65,700 ( -7.3%) 09/13 Uncanny X-Men v3 #12 - 76,790 ( +16.9%) 10/13 Uncanny X-Men v3 #13 - 75,202 ( -2.1%) 11/13 Uncanny X-Men v3 #14 - 65,655 ( -12.7%) 12/13 Uncanny #15.INH - 62,692 ( -4.5%) 6 mnth ( -15.0%) 1 year ( --- ) 2 year ( -2.2%) 3 year ( -12.4%) 4 year ( -6.5%) 5 year ( -23.8%) 10 year ( -30.6%)
An Inhumanity tie-in (obviously), with seemingly no effect on sales. That said, the previous issue had a variant cover, and the two before that were “Battle of the Atom” tie-ins, so it’s not entirely easy to guess where the sales would otherwise have been.
19. AMAZING X-MEN 12/08 --- 12/09 Astonishing X-Men #33 - 57,592 12/10 --- 12/11 Astonishing X-Men #45 - 31,392 ===== 12/12 Astonishing X-Men #57 - 26,263 ( -4.8%) 01/13 Astonishing X-Men #58 - 25,159 ( -4.2%) 02/13 Astonishing X-Men #59 - 24,195 ( -3.8%) 03/13 Astonishing X-Men #60 - 27,683 ( +14.4%) 04/13 Astonishing X-Men #61 - 27,090 ( -2.1%) 05/13 Astonishing X-Men #62 - 24,121 ( -11.0%) 06/13 Astonishing X-Men #63 - 23,326 ( -3.3%) 07/13 Astonishing X-Men #64 - 22,649 ( -2.9%) 08/13 Astonishing X-Men #65 - 22,010 ( -2.8%) 08/13 Astonishing X-Men #66 - 21,757 ( -1.1%) 09/13 Astonishing X-Men #67 - 21,044 ( -3.3%) 10/13 Astonishing X-Men #68 - 21,023 ( -0.0%) 11/13 Amazing X-Men v2 #1 - 112,337 (+434.4%) 12/13 Amazing X-Men v2 #2 - 60,870 ( -45.8%) 6 mnth (+161.0%) 1 year (+131.8%) 2 year ( +93.9%) 3 year ( --- ) 4 year ( +5.7%) 5 year ( --- )
A swift second issue drop, but that was always to be expected given that ALL-NEW and UNCANNY are the flagship X-Men titles right now, so AMAZING was hardly likely to outsell them. The sales are still a vast improvement on ASTONISHING.
24,28. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY 12/08 Guardians v2 #8 - 31,564 12/09 Guardians v2 #21 - 22,271 ===== 02/13 Guardians #0.1 - 80,344 03/13 Guardians v3 #1 - 217,993 (+171.3%) 04/13 Guardians v3 #2 - 88,184 ( -59.5%) 05/13 --- 06/13 Guardians v3 #3 - 75,633 ( -14.2%) 06/13 Guardians v3 #4 - 71,575 ( -5.4%) 07/13 Guardians v3 #5 - 110,372 ( +54.2%) 08/13 --- 09/13 Guardians v3 #6 - 69,030 ( -37.5%) 10/13 Guardians v3 #7 - 68,647 ( -0.6%) 10/13 Guardians v3 #8 - 63,494 ( -7.5%) 11/13 --- 12/13 Guardians v3 #9 - 57,665 ( -9.2%) 12/13 Guardians v3 #10 - 53,527 ( -7.2%) 6 mnth ( -25.2%) 1 year ( --- ) 2 year ( --- ) 3 year ( --- ) 4 year (+140.3%) 5 year ( +69.6%)
Hmm. Issue #9, which slipped from November, is an INFINITY tie-in. That might lead you to expect a drop for issue #10 – but it’s not like the tie-in did much for sales to start with. Honestly, this seems to be bleeding a bit. But it’s about to do a crossover with the higher-selling ALL-NEW X-MEN, which has to help.
25. UNCANNY AVENGERS 12/12 --- 01/13 Uncanny Avengers #3 - 92,165 (-19.3%) 02/13 Uncanny Avengers #4 - 87,539 ( -5.0%) 03/13 Uncanny Avengers #5 - 84,382 ( -3.6%) 04/13 Uncanny Avengers #6 - 80,863 ( -4.2%) 04/13 Uncanny Avengers #7 - 77,027 ( -4.7%) 05/13 Uncanny Avengers #8 - 75,655 ( -1.8%) 05/13 Uncanny Av. #8AU - 72,514 ( -4.2%) 06/13 Uncanny Avengers #9 - 71,842 ( -0.9%) 07/13 Uncanny Avengers #10 - 68,768 ( -4.3%) 08/13 Uncanny Avengers #11 - 65,447 ( -4.8%) 09/13 Uncanny Avengers #12 - 73,357 (+12.1%) 10/13 Uncanny Avengers #13 - 60,597 (-17.4%) 11/13 Uncanny Avengers #14 - 60,750 ( +0.3%) 12/13 Uncanny Avengers #15 - 57,035 ( -6.1%) 6 mnth (-20.6%) 1 year ( --- )
Standard erosion.
26. NEW AVENGERS 12/08 New Avengers #48 - 93,908 12/09 New Avengers #60 - 72,790 12/10 New Avengers v2 #7 - 67,840 12/11 New Avengers v2 #19 - 52,915 ===== 12/12 --- 01/13 New Avengers v3 #1 - 116,280 (+115.9%) 01/13 New Avengers v3 #2 - 79,433 ( -31.7%) 02/13 New Avengers v3 #3 - 72,110 ( -9.2%) 03/13 New Avengers v3 #4 - 65,150 ( -9.7%) 04/13 New Avengers v3 #5 - 63,423 ( -2.7%) 05/13 New Avengers v3 #6 - 59,362 ( -6.4%) 06/13 New Avengers v3 #7 - 60,138 ( +1.3%) 07/13 New Avengers v3 #8 - 58,044 ( -3.5%) 08/13 New Avengers v3 #9 - 60,534 ( +4.3%) 09/13 New Avengers v3 #10 - 60,682 ( +0.2%) 10/13 New Avengers v3 #11 - 63,231 ( +4.2%) 11/13 New Avengers v3 #12 - 58,807 ( -7.0%) 12/13 N Avengers #13.INH - 56,624 ( -3.7%) 6 mnth ( -5.8%) 1 year ( --- ) 2 year ( +7.0%) 3 year ( -16.5%) 4 year ( -22.2%) 5 year ( -39.7%)
This is another INHUMANITY tie-in, but as it comes straight after four INFINITY tie-ins, you wouldn’t really expect sales to climb.
30. X-MEN 12/10 X-Men v3 #6 - 53,005 12/11 X-Men v3 #22 - 39,121 ===== 12/12 X-Men v3 #39 - 29,326 ( -3.2%) 01/13 X-Men v3 #40 - 28,515 ( -2.8%) 02/13 X-Men v3 #41 - 32,488 ( +13.9%) 03/13 --- 04/13 --- 05/13 X-Men v4 #1 - 183,297 (+464.2%) 06/13 X-Men v4 #2 - 73,542 ( -59.9%) 07/13 X-Men v4 #3 - 65,270 ( -11.2%) 08/13 X-Men v4 #4 - 64,010 ( -1.9%) 09/13 X-Men v4 #5 - 73,357 ( +14.6%) 10/13 X-Men v4 #6 - 71,990 ( -1.9%) 11/13 X-Men v4 #7 - 56,968 ( -20.9%) 12/13 X-Men v4 #8 - 53,201 ( -6.6%) 6 mnth ( -27.7%) 1 year ( +81.4%) 2 year ( +36.0%) 3 year ( +0.4%)
Back on a fairly steady slide after the two month interruption of “Battle of the Atom”. But again, way ahead of the sales that it was getting before the relaunch last May.
34. AVENGERS ANNUAL 12/13 Annual #1 - 47,349
A Christmas story by a guest creative team, so not a bad number in that light.
37,38. DEADPOOL 12/08 Deadpool v3 #5 - 46,856 12/09 Deadpool v3 #18 - 45,914 12/10 Deadpool v3 #30 - 30,488 12/11 Deadpool v3 #47 - 25,910 ===== 12/12 Deadpool v4 #3 - 64,591 ( -15.5%) 01/13 Deadpool v4 #4 - 57,061 ( -11.7%) 02/13 Deadpool v4 #5 - 57,312 ( +0.4%) 03/13 Deadpool v4 #6 - 57,095 ( -0.4%) 04/13 Deadpool v4 #7 - 57,016 ( -0.1%) 04/13 Deadpool v4 #8 - 52,851 ( -7.3%) 05/13 Deadpool v4 #9 - 51,296 ( -2.9%) 05/13 Deadpool v4 #10 - 50,461 ( -1.6%) 06/13 Deadpool v4 #11 - 54,110 ( +7.2%) 06/13 Deadpool v4 #12 - 48,315 ( -10.7%) 07/13 Deadpool v4 #13 - 47,006 ( -2.7%) 08/13 Deadpool v4 #14 - 45,870 ( -2.4%) 08/13 Deadpool v4 #15 - 46,169 ( +0.7%) 09/13 Deadpool v4 #16 - 45,675 ( -1.1%) 09/13 Deadpool v4 #17 - 45,348 ( -0.7%) 10/13 Deadpool v4 #18 - 47,096 ( +3.9%) 11/13 Deadpool v4 #19 - 44,184 ( -6.2%) 12/13 Deadpool v4 #20 - 43,653 ( -1.2%) 12/13 Deadpool v4 #21 - 43,066 ( -1.3%) 6 mnth ( -10.9%) 1 year ( -33.3%) 2 year ( +66.2%) 3 year ( +41.3%) 4 year ( -6.2%) 5 year ( -8.1%)
More standard erosion.
42. THOR: GOD OF THUNDER 12/03 Thor v2 #72 - 31,953 12/08 Thor v3 #12 - 73,784 12/09 Thor #605 - 55,242 12/10 Thor #618 - 45,142 12/11 Thor v4 #9 - 38,000 ===== 12/12 Thor v5 #3 - 55,547 (-15.2%) 01/13 Thor v5 #4 - 50,478 ( -9.1%) 02/13 Thor v5 #5 - 51,861 ( +2.7%) 03/13 Thor v5 #6 - 50,481 ( -2.7%) 04/13 Thor v5 #7 - 51,526 ( +2.1%) 05/13 Thor v5 #8 - 48,622 ( -5.6%) 06/13 Thor v5 #9 - 49,125 ( +1.0%) 07/13 Thor v5 #10 - 46,204 ( -5.9%) 08/13 Thor v5 #11 - 45,397 ( -1.7%) 08/13 Thor v5 #12 - 44,865 ( -1.2%) 09/13 Thor v5 #13 - 48,007 ( +7.0%) 10/13 Thor v5 #14 - 46,008 ( -4.2%) 11/13 Thor v5 #15 - 41,259 (-10.3%) 12/13 Thor v5 #16 - 39,597 ( -4.0%) 6 mnth (-19.4%) 1 year (-28.7%) 2 year ( +4.2%) 3 year (-12.3%) 4 year (-28.3%) 5 year (-46.3%) 10 year (+23.9%)
Issues #13 and #14 both had variant covers; screen those out and you’ve got a fairly steady drift down.
43. WOLVERINE & THE X-MEN 12/11 Wolverine/X-Men #3 - 58,438 ===== 12/12 Wolverine/X-Men #22 - 45,658 ( -5.4%) 01/13 Wolverine/X-Men #23 - 43,963 ( -3.7%) 01/13 Wolverine/X-Men #24 - 44,716 ( +1.7%) 02/13 Wolverine/X-Men #25 - 45,057 ( +0.8%) 03/13 Wolverine/X-Men #26 - 42,019 ( -6.7%) 03/13 Wolverine/X-Men #27 - 41,960 ( -0.1%) 04/13 Wolv & X-Men #27AU - 47,055 (+12.1%) 04/13 Wolverine/X-Men #28 - 42,718 ( -9.2%) 05/13 Wolverine/X-Men #29 - 40,451 ( -5.3%) 05/13 Wolverine/X-Men #30 - 40,019 ( -1.1%) 06/13 Wolverine/X-Men #31 - 41,661 ( +4.1%) 06/13 Wolverine/X-Men #32 - 39,790 ( -4.5%) 07/13 Wolverine/X-Men #33 - 42,269 ( +6.2%) 08/13 Wolverine/X-Men #34 - 38,473 ( -9.0%) 08/13 Wolverine/X-Men #35 - 38,046 ( -1.1%) 09/13 Wolverine/X-Men #36 - 59,684 (+56.9%) 10/13 Wolverine/X-Men #37 - 57,434 ( -3.8%) 11/13 Wolverine/X-Men #38 - 39,098 (-31.9%) 12/13 Wolverine/X-Men #39 - 39,063 ( -0.1%) 6 mnth ( -1.9%) 1 year (-14.4%) 2 year (-33.2%)
Relaunching after issue #42.
51. MIGHTY AVENGERS 09/13 Mighty Avengers v2 #1 - 101,921 10/13 Mighty Avengers v2 #2 - 54,862 (-46.2%) 11/13 Mighty Avengers v2 #3 - 42,210 (-23.1%) 12/13 Mighty Avengers v2 #4 - 35,740 (-15.3%)
An INHUMANITY tie-in, coming straight after three INFINITY tie-ins. That makes it hard to tell whether this is a steep decline or just a correction moving to weaker crossover. A lot of the decline here is really due to the artificial inflation of sales on issue #1, but it certainly hasn’t been holding on to those sales brilliantly.
52. INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK 12/03 Incredible v3 #64 - 51,960 12/08 Hulk v2 #9 - 87,786 12/09 Incredible Hulk #605 - 43,964 12/10 Incredible Hulks #618 - 34,868 12/11 Incredible v4 #3 - 46,446 ===== 12/12 Indestructible #2 - 63,653 ( -46.1%) 01/13 Indestructible #3 - 59,431 ( -6.6%) 02/13 Indestructible #4 - 56,214 ( -5.4%) 03/13 Indestructible #5 - 54,967 ( -2.2%) 04/13 Indestructible #6 - 55,470 ( +0.9%) 05/13 Indestructible #7 - 49,956 ( -9.9%) 05/13 Indestructible #8 - 48,866 ( -2.2%) 06/13 Indestructible #9 - 49,427 ( +1.1%) 07/13 Indestructible #10 - 45,531 ( -7.9%) 07/13 Indestructible #11 - 45,241 ( -0.6%) 08/13 Indestructible #12 - 43,673 ( -3.5%) 09/13 Indestructible #13 - 41,805 ( -4.3%) 10/13 Indestructible #14 - 40,963 ( -2.0%) 11/13 Indestructible #15 - 37,025 ( -9.6%) 11/13 Indestructible #16 - 35,871 ( -3.1%) 12/13 Hulk #17.INH - 35,679 ( -0.5%) 6 mnth ( -27.8%) 1 year ( -43.9%) 2 year ( -23.2%) 3 year ( +2.3%) 4 year ( -18.8%) 5 year ( -59.4%) 10 year ( -31.3%)
Another INHUMANITY tie-in – and again, no discernible impact. The book relaunches after issue #20.
54. CAPTAIN AMERICA 12/03 Captain America v3 #21 - 43,018 12/08 Captain America v6 #45 - 71,186 12/09 Reborn #5 - 91,790 12/10 Captain America #613 - 42,871 12/11 Captain America v7 #5 - 47,333 ===== 12/12 Captain America v8 #2 - 64,377 ( -47.9%) 01/13 Captain America v8 #3 - 59,836 ( -7.1%) 02/13 Captain America v8 #4 - 53,112 ( -11.2%) 03/13 Captain America v8 #5 - 49,186 ( -7.4%) 04/13 Captain America v8 #6 - 47,802 ( -2.8%) 05/13 Captain America v8 #7 - 44,024 ( -7.9%) 06/13 Captain America v8 #8 - 43,791 ( -0.5%) 07/13 Captain America v8 #9 - 40,796 ( -6.8%) 08/13 Captain America v8 #10 - 39,356 ( -3.5%) 09/13 Captain America v8 #11 - 38,521 ( -2.1%) 10/13 Captain America v8 #12 - 38,684 ( +0.4%) 11/13 Captain America v8 #13 - 36,147 ( -6.6%) 12/13 Captain America v8 #14 - 34,532 ( -4.5%) 6 mnth ( -21.1%) 1 year ( -46.4%) 2 year ( -27.0%) 3 year ( -19.5%) 4 year ( -62.4%) 5 year ( -51.5%) 10 year ( -19.7%)
More standard drift. There’s a .NOW jumping on point with issue #16.
55. CATACLYSM 07/13 Hunger #1 of 4 - 70,835 08/13 Hunger #2 of 4 - 44,929 (-36.6%) 09/13 --- 10/13 Hunger #3 of 4 - 39,915 (-11.2%) 10/13 Hunger #4 of 4 - 36,775 ( -7.9%) 10/13 Cataclysm #0.1 - 37,589 ( +2.2%) 11/13 Cataclysm #1 of 5 - 42,109 (+12.0%) 12/13 Cataclysm #2 of 5 - 33,348 (-20.8%)
The latest attempt to relaunch the Ultimate imprint is not exactly selling in event quantities – which hardly bodes well for the ongoing titles that are to follow. The Ultimate imprint is well on its way to becoming Marvel’s Wildstorm – something that keeps getting rebooted with diminishing returns until the publisher finally concedes defeat.
59. IRON MAN 12/03 Iron Man v3 #75 - 31,889 12/08 Iron Man v5 #8 - 56,708 12/09 Iron Man v5 #21 - 49,986 12/10 Iron Man v5 #33 - 41,890 12/11 Iron Man #511 - 35,402 ===== 12/12 Iron Man v6 #3 - 59,041 ( -19.0%) 12/12 Iron Man v6 #4 - 56,708 ( -4.0%) 01/13 Iron Man v6 #5 - 50,899 ( -10.2%) 02/13 Iron Man v6 #6 - 46,206 ( -9.2%) 03/13 Iron Man v6 #7 - 44,040 ( -4.7%) 04/13 Iron Man v6 #8 - 43,974 ( -0.1%) 05/13 Iron Man v6 #9 - 78,006 ( +77.4%) 05/13 Iron Man v6 #10 - 45,424 ( -41.8%) 06/13 Iron Man v6 #11 - 44,409 ( -2.2%) 07/13 Iron Man v6 #12 - 40,405 ( -9.0%) 07/13 Iron Man v6 #13 - 39,534 ( -2.2%) 08/13 Iron Man v6 #14 - 38,137 ( -3.5%) 09/13 Iron Man v6 #15 - 36,346 ( -4.7%) 10/13 Iron Man v6 #16 - 35,924 ( -1.2%) 10/13 Iron Man v6 #17 - 39,047 ( +8.7%) 11/13 Iron Man v6 #18 - 36,135 ( -7.5%) 12/13 Iron Man v6 #19 - 32,537 ( -10.0%) 6 mnth ( -26.7%) 1 year ( -44.9%) 2 year ( -8.1%) 3 year ( -22.3%) 4 year ( -34.9%) 5 year ( -42.6%) 10 year ( +2.0%)
There’s a .NOW issue with #23. In the meantime, we seem to be back on the usual pattern, after two issues with variant covers.
60. DAREDEVIL 12/03 Daredevil v2 #55 - 53,660 12/08 Daredevil v2 #114 - 44,351 12/09 Daredevil #502 - 38,680 12/10 Daredevil #512 - 40,317 12/11 Daredevil v3 #7 - 38,824 ===== 12/12 Daredevil v3 #21 - 35,848 ( -1.8%) 01/13 Daredevil v3 #22 - 36,102 ( +0.7%) 02/13 Daredevil v3 #23 - 37,170 ( +3.0%) 03/13 Daredevil v3 #24 - 37,231 ( +0.2%) 04/13 Daredevil v3 #25 - 39,678 ( +6.6%) 05/13 Daredevil v3 #26 - 39,788 ( +0.3%) 06/13 Daredevil v3 #27 - 35,834 ( -9.9%) 07/13 Daredevil v3 #28 - 35,364 ( -1.3%) 07/13 Daredevil v3 #29 - 34,915 ( -1.3%) 08/13 Daredevil v3 #30 - 35,240 ( +0.9%) 09/13 Daredevil v3 #31 - 36,666 ( +4.0%) 10/13 Daredevil v3 #32 - 34,957 ( -4.7%) 11/13 Daredevil v3 #33 - 32,966 ( -5.7%) 12/13 Daredevil v3 #34 - 32,331 ( -1.9%) 6 mnth ( -9.8%) 1 year ( -9.8%) 2 year (-16.7%) 3 year (-19.8%) 4 year (-16.4%) 5 year (-27.1%) 10 year (-39.7%)
Heading for a relaunch after issue #36.
61. WOLVERINE 12/03 Wolverine v3 #9 - 74,659 12/08 Wolverine v3 #70 - 98,915 12/09 W: Weapon X #8 - 33,470 12/10 Wolverine v4 #4 - 52,812 12/11 Wolverine v4 #20 - 37,360 ===== 12/12 Wolverine #317 - 34,367 ( +6.7%) 01/13 --- 02/13 --- 03/13 Wolverine v5 #1 - 117,669 (+242.4%) 04/13 Wolverine v5 #2 - 57,165 ( -51.4%) 05/13 Wolverine v5 #3 - 49,629 ( -13.2%) 06/13 Wolverine v5 #4 - 46,784 ( -5.7%) 06/13 Wolverine v5 #5 - 43,694 ( -6.6%) 07/13 Wolverine v5 #6 - 40,593 ( -7.1%) 07/13 Wolverine v5 #7 - 38,605 ( -4.9%) 08/13 Wolverine v5 #8 - 39,830 ( -3.2%) 09/13 Wolverine v5 #9 - 35,920 ( -9.8%) 10/13 Wolverine v5 #10 - 34,651 ( -3.5%) 11/13 Wolverine v5 #11 - 35,394 ( +2.1%) 12/13 Wolverine v5 #12 - 32,274 ( -8.8%) 6 mnth ( -26.1%) 1 year ( -6.1%) 2 year ( -13.6%) 3 year ( -38.9%) 4 year ( -3.6%) 5 year ( -67.4%) 10 year ( -56.8%)
Relaunching after issue #13, which seems odder than most, since while most of Marvel’s #1s do at least represent a fresh start, this one is really coming at a turning point in a long-term storyline. Sales haven’t held up desperately well here, which might have something to do with it.
63. INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK ANNUAL 12/13 Annual #1 - 30,846
Only a few thousand behind the parent title, which isn’t bad.
66. CATACLYSM: ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN 12/03 Spider-Man #50 - 109,819 12/08 Spider-Man #129 - 51,071 12/09 Spider-Man v2 #5 - 45,849 12/10 Spider-Man #151 - 33,707 12/11 Spider-Man v3 #5 - 48,303 ===== 12/12 Spider-Man v3 #18 - 36,944 ( -4.0%) 01/13 Spider-Man v3 #19 - 36,017 ( -2.5%) 02/13 Spider-Man v3 #20 - 35,461 ( -1.5%) 03/13 Spider-Man v3 #21 - 35,284 ( -0.5%) 04/13 Spider-Man v3 #22 - 34,918 ( -1.0%) 05/13 Spider-Man v3 #23 - 35,581 ( +1.9%) 06/13 Spider-Man v3 #24 - 34,011 ( -4.4%) 07/13 Spider-Man v3 #25 - 33,271 ( -2.2%) 08/13 Spider-Man v3 #26 - 32,932 ( -1.0%) 09/13 Spider-Man v3 #27 - 32,200 ( -2.2%) 10/13 Spider-Man v3 #28 - 31,462 ( -2.3%) 11/13 Cataclysm #1 of 3 - 36,541 (+16.1%) 12/13 Cataclysm #2 of 3 - 30,293 (-17.1%) 6 mnth (-10.9%) 1 year (-18.0%) 2 year (-37.3%) 3 year (-10.1%) 4 year (-33.9%) 5 year (-40.7%) 10 year (-72.4%)
Yet another relaunch beckons.
68. NOVA 12/08 Nova v4 #20 - 29,405 12/09 Nova v4 #32 - 22,202 ===== 02/13 Nova v5 #1 - 80,857 03/13 Nova v5 #2 - 46,725 (-42.2%) 04/13 Nova v5 #3 - 40,548 (-13.2%) 05/13 Nova v5 #4 - 38,151 ( -5.9%) 06/13 Nova v5 #5 - 36,545 ( -4.2%) 07/13 Nova v5 #6 - 34,234 ( -6.3%) 08/13 Nova v5 #7 - 31,937 ( -6.7%) 09/13 Nova v5 #8 - 37,767 (+18.3%) 10/13 Nova v5 #9 - 32,323 (-14.4%) 11/13 Nova v5 #10 - 32,716 ( +1.2%) 12/13 Nova v5 #11 - 27,982 (-14.5%) 6 mnth (-23.4%) 4 year (+26.0%) 5 year ( -4.8%)
Coming off two INFINITY tie-ins and a “100th issue anniversary” special, a drop was to be expected this month.
69. CABLE & X-FORCE 12/12 Cable & X-Force #1 - 90,334 12/12 Cable & X-Force #2 - 57,719 (-36.1%) 01/13 Cable & X-Force #3 - 51,761 (-10.3%) 02/13 Cable & X-Force #4 - 46,104 (-10.9%) 03/13 Cable & X-Force #5 - 44,680 ( -3.1%) 03/13 Cable & X-Force #6 - 42,896 ( -4.0%) 04/13 Cable & X-Force #7 - 41,500 ( -3.3%) 05/13 Cable & X-Force #8 - 39,041 ( -5.9%) 06/13 Cable & X-Force #9 - 38,414 ( -1.6%) 06/13 Cable & X-Force #10 - 36,104 ( -6.0%) 07/13 Cable & X-Force #11 - 34,240 ( -5.2%) 08/13 Cable & X-Force #12 - 33,127 ( -3.3%) 08/13 Cable & X-Force #13 - 32,104 ( -3.1%) 09/13 Cable & X-Force #14 - 31,053 ( -3.3%) 10/13 Cable & X-Force #15 - 30,658 ( -1.3%) 11/13 Cable & X-Force #16 - 28,564 ( -6.8%) 12/13 Cable & X-Force #17 - 27,712 ( -3.0%) 6 mnth (-23.2%) 1 year (-52.0%)
Cancelled with issue #19, after which the two (unrelated) X-Force titles appear to be merging for a single relaunch.
70. FANTASTIC FOUR 12/03 Fantastic Four #508 - 50,333 12/08 Fantastic Four #562 - 54,062 12/09 Fantastic Four #574 - 38,431 12/10 Fantastic Four #586 - 42,829 12/11 Fantastic Four #601 - 51,080 ===== 12/12 Fantastic Four v5 #2 - 58,421 ( -49.0%) 01/13 Fantastic Four v5 #3 - 50,555 ( -13.5%) 02/13 Fantastic Four v5 #4 - 44,999 ( -11.0%) 03/13 Fantastic Four v5 #5 - 42,590 ( -5.4%) 03/13 Fantastic Four #5AU - 45,756 ( +7.4%) 04/13 Fantastic Four v5 #6 - 41,291 ( -4.8%) 04/13 Fantastic Four v5 #7 - 39,314 ( -4.8%) 05/13 Fantastic Four v5 #8 - 37,309 ( -5.1%) 06/13 Fantastic Four v5 #9 - 37,071 ( -0.6%) 07/13 Fantastic Four v5 #10 - 34,018 ( -8.2%) 08/13 Fantastic Four v5 #11 - 32,665 ( -4.0%) 09/13 Fantastic Four v5 #12 - 31,426 ( -3.8%) 10/13 Fantastic Four v5 #13 - 31,561 ( +0.4%) 11/13 Fantastic Four v5 #14 - 28,679 ( -9.1%) 12/13 Fantastic Four v5 #15 - 27,610 ( -3.7%) 6 mnth ( -25.5%) 1 year ( -52.7%) 2 year ( -45.9%) 3 year ( -35.5%) 4 year ( -28.2%) 5 year ( -48.9%) 10 year ( -45.1%)
Relaunching after issue #16.
71. UNCANNY X-FORCE 12/08 X-Force v3 #10 - 58,801 12/09 X-Force v3 #22 - 51,859 12/10 X-Force v4 #3 - 55,520 12/11 X-Force v4 #18 - 54,274 ===== 12/12 X-Force v4 #35 - 47,736 ( +9.2%) 01/13 X-Force v5 #1 - 86,187 (+80.5%) 02/13 X-Force v5 #2 - 56,713 (-34.2%) 03/13 X-Force v5 #3 - 51,721 ( -8.8%) 04/13 --- 05/13 X-Force v5 #4 - 47,727 ( -7.7%) 05/13 X-Force v5 #5 - 45,674 ( -4.3%) 06/13 X-Force v5 #6 - 42,496 ( -7.0%) 06/13 X-Force v5 #7 - 40,380 ( -5.0%) 07/13 X-Force v5 #8 - 37,781 ( -6.4%) 07/13 X-Force v5 #9 - 36,978 ( -2.1%) 08/13 X-Force v5 #10 - 35,329 ( -4.5%) 09/13 X-Force v5 #11 - 36,186 ( +2.4%) 10/13 X-Force v5 #12 - 32,559 (-10.0%) 10/13 X-Force v5 #13 - 30,567 ( -6.1%) 11/13 X-Force v5 #14 - 28,885 ( -5.5%) 12/13 X-Force v5 #15 - 27,567 ( -4.6%) 6 mnth (-35.1%) 1 year (-42.3%) 2 year (-49.2%) 3 year (-50.3%) 4 year (-46.8%) 5 year (-53.1%)
Cancelled after issue #17; see CABLE AND X-FORCE above.
72. SAVAGE WOLVERINE 01/13 Savage Wolverine #1 - 102,530 02/13 Savage Wolverine #2 - 58,254 (-43.2%) 03/13 Savage Wolverine #3 - 50,310 (-13.6%) 04/13 Savage Wolverine #4 - 45,933 ( -8.7%) 05/13 Savage Wolverine #5 - 42,328 ( -7.8%) 06/13 Savage Wolverine #6 - 59,410 (+40.4%) 07/13 Savage Wolverine #7 - 40,946 (-31.1%) 08/13 --- 09/13 Savage Wolverine #8 - 38,208 ( -6.7%) 10/13 Savage Wolverine #9 - 36,451 ( -4.6%) 10/13 Savage Wolverine #10 - 33,627 ( -7.7%) 11/13 Savage Wolverine #11 - 30,338 ( -9.8%) 11/13 Savage Wolverine #12 - 29,739 ( -2.0%) 12/13 Savage Wolverine #13 - 27,490 ( -7.6%) 6 mnth (-53.7%)
Losing readers at quite a rate. I remain unconvinced that the market is up for supporting two Wolverine titles at the moment.
77. INHUMANITY: THE AWAKENING 12/13 Awakening #1 of 2 - 25,582
This is a tie-in featuring characters from Avengers Academy and the Jean Grey School, so it was never exactly being promoted as a core INHUMANITY title. Nonetheless, the likes of INFINITY HEIST #1 got 32K, so it’s hard to see this as a massive vote of confidence in INHUMANITY.
79,86. SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN TEAM-UP 12/11 Avenging #2 - 60,682 ===== 12/12 Avenging #15 - 28,240 ( -6.2%) 12/12 Avenging #.1 - 41,504 ( +47.0%) 01/13 Avenging #16 - 29,032 ( -30.1%) 02/13 Avenging #17 - 30,783 ( +6.0%) 03/13 Avenging #18 - 31,657 ( +2.8%) 04/13 Avenging #19 - 28,740 ( -9.2%) 05/13 Avenging #20 - 27,609 ( -3.9%) 05/13 Avenging #21 - 27,251 ( -1.3%) 06/13 Avenging #22 - 26,799 ( -1.7%) 07/13 Superior Team-Up #1 - 76,959 (+187.2%) 08/13 Superior Team-Up #2 - 41,155 ( -46.5%) 09/13 Superior Team-Up #3 - 37,363 ( -9.2%) 10/13 Superior Team-Up #4 - 36,296 ( -3.6%) 10/13 Superior Team-Up #5 - 30,424 ( -16.2%) 11/13 Superior Team-Up #6 - 27,189 ( -10.6%) 12/13 Sup. Team-up #7.NOW - 25,514 ( -6.2%) 12/13 Superior Team-Up #8 - 24,296 ( -4.8%) 6 mnth ( -9.3%) 1 year ( -14.0%) 2 year ( -60.0%)
The second .NOW book, which – unlike AVENGERS – seems to have had zero impact on sales. Of course, that issue could be sensibly promoted as a fresh start after INFINITY; on a team-up book like this, the whole notion of a jumping on point is only very marginally applicable.
82. THUNDERBOLTS 12/08 Thunderbolts #127 - 36,378 12/09 Thunderbolts #139 - 29,957 12/10 Thunderbolts #151 - 27,943 12/11 Thunderbolts #167 - 21,167 ===== 01/13 Thunderbolts v2 #3 - 44,272 (-13.0%) 02/13 Thunderbolts v2 #4 - 43,287 ( -2.2%) 02/13 Thunderbolts v2 #5 - 41,663 ( -3.8%) 03/13 Thunderbolts v2 #6 - 39,293 ( -5.7%) 03/13 Thunderbolts v2 #7 - 38,553 ( -1.9%) 04/13 Thunderbolts v2 #8 - 36,979 ( -4.1%) 05/13 Thunderbolts v2 #9 - 32,855 (-11.2%) 06/13 Thunderbolts v2 #10 - 32,682 ( -0.5%) 06/13 Thunderbolts v2 #11 - 30,618 ( -6.3%) 07/13 Thunderbolts v2 #12 - 29,081 ( -5.0%) 07/13 Thunderbolts v2 #13 - 28,528 ( -1.9%) 08/13 Thunderbolts v2 #14 - 30,620 ( +7.3%) 09/13 Thunderbolts v2 #15 - 29,703 ( -3.0%) 10/13 Thunderbolts v2 #16 - 29,334 ( -1.2%) 10/13 Thunderbolts v2 #17 - 28,324 ( -3.4%) 11/13 Thunderbolts v2 #18 - 26,502 ( -6.4%) 12/13 Thunderbolts v2 #19 - 24,959 ( -5.8%) 6 mnth (-18.5%) 1 year (-43.6%) 2 year (+17.9%) 3 year (-10.7%) 4 year (-16.7%) 5 year (-31.4%)
Issues #14-18 were INFINITY tie-ins, but there’s little discernible change as the book returns to normal this month. January will have a .NOW issue.
83. CATACLYSM: ULTIMATES 12/08 --- 12/09 --- 12/10 --- 12/11 Ultimates v5 #5 - 36,396 ===== 12/12 Ultimates v5 #.1 - 27,659 ( -4.9%) 12/12 Ultimates v5 #19 - 26,971 ( -2.5%) 01/13 Ultimates v5 #20 - 25,613 ( -5.0%) 02/13 Ultimates v5 #21 - 23,811 ( -7.0%) 03/13 Ultimates v5 #22 - 23,442 ( -1.5%) 04/13 Ultimates v5 #23 - 22,778 ( -2.8%) 05/13 Ultimates v5 #24 - 21,429 ( -5.9%) 06/13 Ultimates v5 #25 - 21,636 ( +1.0%) 06/13 Ultimates v5 #26 - 20,785 ( -3.9%) 07/13 Ultimates v5 #27 - 20,024 ( -3.7%) 07/13 Ultimates v5 #28 - 19,859 ( -0.8%) 08/13 Ultimates v5 #29 - 19,657 ( -1.0%) 09/13 Ultimates v5 #30 - 19,420 ( -1.2%) 10/13 --- 11/13 Cataclysm #1 of 3 - 28,422 (+46.4%) 12/13 Cataclysm #2 of 3 - 24,819 (-12.7%) 6 mnth (+19.4%) 1 year (-10.3%) 2 year (-31.8%) 3 year ( --- ) 4 year ( --- ) 5 year ( --- )
Relaunching again in the new year. This thing should be on a bungee rope.
87. AVENGERS ASSEMBLE 11/12 Avengers Assemble #9 - 42,088 (+15.5%) 12/12 Avengers Assemble #10 - 34,035 (-19.1%) 01/13 Avengers Assemble #11 - 31,027 ( -8.8%) 02/13 Avengers Assemble #12 - 29,475 ( -5.0%) 03/13 Avengers Assemble #13 - 28,432 ( -3.6%) 04/13 Av. Assemble #14AU - 35,985 (+26.6%) 05/13 Av. Assemble #15AU - 33,183 ( -7.8%) 06/13 Avengers Assemble #16 - 27,497 (-17.1%) 07/13 Avengers Assemble #17 - 26,640 ( -3.1%) 08/13 Avengers Assemble #18 - 30,597 (+14.9%) 09/13 Avengers Assemble #19 - 29,564 ( -3.4%) 10/13 Avengers Assemble #20 - 28,886 ( -2.3%) 11/13 Avengers Assemble #21 - 24,831 (-14.0%) 12/13 Av. Assemble #22.INH - 24,168 ( -2.7%) 6 mnth (-12.1%) 1 year (-42.6%)
Cancelled with issue #25. With the exception of issue #21, this book has been in permanent tie-in mode since issue #14.
88,90. SECRET AVENGERS 12/10 Secret Avengers #8 - 54,048 12/11 Secret Avengers #20 - 38,202 ===== 12/12 Secret Avengers #35 - 30,755 ( -4.3%) 01/13 Secret Avengers #36 - 29,330 ( -4.6%) 01/13 Secret Avengers #37 - 32,139 ( +9.6%) 02/13 Secret Avengers v2 #1 - 85,267 (+196.4%) 03/13 Secret Avengers v2 #2 - 46,419 ( -45.6%) 04/13 Secret Avengers v2 #3 - 38,676 ( -16.7%) 05/13 Secret Avengers v2 #4 - 33,428 ( -13.6%) 06/13 Secret Avengers v2 #5 - 31,437 ( -6.0%) 07/13 Secret Avengers v2 #6 - 28,908 ( -8.0%) 08/13 Secret Avengers v2 #7 - 27,222 ( -5.8%) 08/13 Secret Avengers v2 #8 - 26,150 ( -3.9%) 09/13 Secret Avengers v2 #9 - 24,870 ( -4.9%) 10/13 Secret Avengers v2 #10 - 29,134 ( +17.1%) 11/13 Secret Avengers v2 #11 - 25,326 ( -13.1%) 12/13 Secret Avengers v2 #12 - 23,863 ( -5.8%) 12/13 Secret Avengers v2 #13 - 23,172 ( -2.9%) 6 mnth ( -26.3%) 1 year ( -24.7%) 2 year ( -39.3%) 3 year ( -57.1%)
Relaunching after issue #16.
91,96. YOUNG AVENGERS 01/13 Young Avengers v2 #1 - 76,144 02/13 Young Avengers v2 #2 - 43,559 (-42.8%) 03/13 Young Avengers v2 #3 - 38,469 (-11.7%) 04/13 Young Avengers v2 #4 - 34,378 (-10.6%) 05/13 Young Avengers v2 #5 - 32,159 ( -6.5%) 06/13 Young Avengers v2 #6 - 30,822 ( -4.2%) 07/13 Young Avengers v2 #7 - 28,596 ( -7.2%) 07/13 Young Avengers v2 #8 - 27,844 ( -2.6%) 08/13 Young Avengers v2 #9 - 26,720 ( -4.0%) 09/13 Young Avengers v2 #10 - 25,874 ( -3.2%) 10/13 Young Avengers v2 #11 - 25,754 ( -0.5%) 11/13 Young Avengers v2 #12 - 23,790 ( -7.6%) 12/13 Young Avengers v2 #13 - 23,019 ( -3.2%) 12/13 Young Avengers v2 #14 - 22,692 ( -1.4%) 6 mnth (-26.4%)
Cancelled with issue #15, with the conclusion of the current storyline. Obviously, you can never rule out a relaunch.
93. MARVEL KNIGHTS: SPIDER-MAN 10/13 MK Spider-Man v2 #1 of 5 - 38,379 11/13 MK Spider-Man v2 #2 of 5 - 26,581 (-30.7%) 12/13 MK Spider-Man v2 #3 of 5 - 22,878 (-13.9%) 98. MARVEL KNIGHTS: X-MEN 11/13 X-Men #1 of 5 - 30,214 12/13 X-Men #2 of 5 - 22,549 (-25.4%)
Neither is selling brilliantly, but these are books intended primarily as showcases for indie creators. That said, there’s an obvious drop off between the first issues of SPIDER-MAN in October and X-MEN in November, and this month’s HULK does lower still, so the revival of this imprint doesn’t seem to be setting the world alight.
99. CATACLYSM: ULTIMATE X-MEN 12/03 X-Men #40 - 104,443 12/08 X-Men #99 - 44,360 12/09 --- 12/10 --- 12/11 X-Men v2 #4 - 37,115 ===== 12/12 X-Men v2 #20 - 24,789 ( -2.5%) 01/13 X-Men v2 #21 - 23,479 ( -5.3%) 02/13 X-Men v2 #22 - 22,456 ( -4.4%) 02/13 X-Men v2 #23 - 22,197 ( -1.2%) 03/13 X-Men v2 #24 - 21,862 ( -1.5%) 04/13 X-Men v2 #25 - 21,139 ( -3.3%) 05/13 X-Men v2 #26 - 20,330 ( -3.8%) 06/13 X-Men v2 #27 - 19,298 ( -5.1%) 06/13 X-Men v2 #28 - 19,421 ( +0.6%) 07/13 X-Men v2 #29 - 19,381 ( -0.2%) 08/13 X-Men v2 #30 - 18,634 ( -3.9%) 09/13 X-Men v2 #31 - 18,220 ( -2.2%) 10/13 X-Men v2 #32 - 17,921 ( -1.6%) 10/13 X-Men v2 #33 - 17,719 ( -1.1%) 11/13 Cataclysm #1 of 3 - 26,328 (+48.6%) 12/13 Cataclysm #2 of 3 - 22,508 (-14.5%) 6 mnth (+15.9%) 1 year ( -9.2%) 2 year (-39.4%) 3 year ( --- ) 4 year ( --- ) 5 year (-49.3%) 10 year (-78.4%)
Cancelled after the end of this mini – the third book of the relaunched line will be an FF series.
101. MARVEL KNIGHTS: HULK 12/13 Hulk #1 of 4 - 22,169
See above re the other Marvel Knights minis.
102. FF 12/11 FF #13 - 44,970 ===== 12/12 FF v2 #2 - 46,096 (-42.9%) 01/13 FF v2 #3 - 41,108 (-10.8%) 02/13 FF v2 #4 - 35,815 (-12.9%) 03/13 FF v2 #5 - 34,601 ( -3.4%) 04/13 FF v2 #6 - 32,937 ( -4.8%) 05/13 FF v2 #7 - 30,960 ( -6.0%) 05/13 FF v2 #8 - 30,061 ( -2.9%) 06/13 --- 07/13 FF v2 #9 - 29,180 ( -2.9%) 07/13 FF v2 #10 - 27,304 ( -6.4%) 08/13 FF v2 #11 - 26,243 ( -3.9%) 09/13 FF v2 #12 - 25,443 ( -3.0%) 10/13 FF v2 #13 - 23,997 ( -5.7%) 11/13 FF v2 #14 - 22,726 ( -5.3%) 12/13 FF v2 #15 - 22,034 ( -3.0%) 6 mnth ( --- ) 1 year (-52.2%) 2 year (-51.0%)
Cancelled with issue #16.
105. SCARLET SPIDER 12/12 Scarlet Spider #12 - 26,652 (-17.5%) 12/12 Scarlet Spider #.1 - 25,771 ( -3.3%) 01/13 Scarlet Spider #13 - 25,919 ( +0.6%) 02/13 Scarlet Spider #14 - 24,388 ( -5.9%) 03/13 Scarlet Spider #15 - 23,682 ( -2.9%) 04/13 Scarlet Spider #16 - 24,207 ( +2.2%) 05/13 Scarlet Spider #17 - 24,288 ( +0.3%) 06/13 Scarlet Spider #18 - 22,766 ( -6.3%) 07/13 Scarlet Spider #19 - 22,499 ( -1.2%) 08/13 Scarlet Spider #20 - 25,133 (+11.7%) 08/13 Scarlet Spider #21 - 23,830 ( -5.2%) 09/13 Scarlet Spider #22 - 22,631 ( -5.0%) 10/13 Scarlet Spider #23 - 22,246 ( -1.7%) 11/13 Scarlet Spider #24 - 21,562 ( -3.1%) 12/13 Scarlet Spider #25 - 21,627 ( +0.3%) 6 mnth ( -5.0%) 1 year (-18.9%)
Final issue.
106,112. SUPERIOR FOES OF SPIDER-MAN 07/13 Superior Foes #1 - 61,413 08/13 Superior Foes #2 - 34,300 (-44.1%) 09/13 Superior Foes #3 - 30,081 (-12.3%) 10/13 Superior Foes #4 - 26,884 (-10.6%) 11/13 Superior Foes #5 - 23,694 (-11.9%) 11/13 Superior Foes #6 - 21,367 ( -9.8%) 12/13 Superior Foes #7 - 20,858 ( -2.4%)
Still being solicited. Hang in there, little buddy!
111. CAPTAIN AMERICA: LIVING LEGEND 10/13 Living Legend #1 of 4 - 32,495 10/13 Living Legend #2 of 4 - 25,546 (-21.4%) 11/13 Living Legend #3 of 4 - 23,537 ( -7.9%) 12/13 Living Legend #4 of 4 - 20,938 (-11.0%) 113. THUNDERBOLTS ANNUAL 12/13 Annual #1 - 20,840 119. AVENGERS A.I. 07/13 Avengers A.I. #1 - 68,130 08/13 Avengers A.I. #2 - 37,079 (-45.6%) 09/13 Avengers A.I. #3 - 29,776 (-19.7%) 10/13 Avengers A.I. #4 - 25,770 (-13.5%) 10/13 Avengers A.I. #5 - 23,146 (-10.2%) 11/13 Avengers A.I. #6 - 20,037 (-13.4%) 12/13 Avengers A.I. #7 - 19,879 ( -0.8%)
Plainly not looking at all healthy, but it’s still being solicited.
124. A+X 12/12 A+X #3 - 56,700 (-12.2%) 01/13 A+X #4 - 48,091 (-15.2%) 02/13 --- 03/13 A+X #5 - 37,250 (-22.5%) 03/13 A+X #6 - 34,434 ( -7.6%) 04/13 A+X #7 - 31,183 ( -9.4%) 05/13 A+X #8 - 26,967 (-13.5%) 06/13 A+X #9 - 25,803 ( -4.3%) 07/13 A+X #10 - 24,371 ( -5.5%) 08/13 A+X #11 - 23,222 ( -4.7%) 09/13 A+X #12 - 21,282 ( -8.4%) 10/13 A+X #13 - 20,908 ( -1.8%) 11/13 A+X #14 - 19,318 ( -7.6%) 12/13 A+X #15 - 18,648 ( -3.5%) 6 mnth (-27.7%) 1 year (-67.1%)
Cancelled with issue #18.
125. X-MEN LEGACY 12/03 New X-Men #150 - 110,591 12/08 X-Men Legacy #219 - 60,587 12/09 X-Men Legacy #230 - 49,776 12/10 X-Men Legacy #243 - 41,797 12/11 X-Men Legacy #260 - 37,946 ===== 12/12 X-Men Legacy v2 #3 - 45,407 (-21.8%) 01/13 X-Men Legacy v2 #4 - 37,673 (-17.0%) 01/13 X-Men Legacy v2 #5 - 34,823 ( -7.6%) 02/13 X-Men Legacy v2 #6 - 31,074 (-10.8%) 03/13 X-Men Legacy v2 #7 - 29,231 ( -5.9%) 03/13 X-Men Legacy v2 #8 - 28,174 ( -3.6%) 04/13 X-Men Legacy v2 #9 - 28,405 ( +0.8%) 05/13 X-Men Legacy v2 #10 - 25,911 ( -8.8%) 05/13 X-Men Legacy v2 #11 - 25,048 ( -3.3%) 06/13 X-Men Legacy v2 #12 - 23,996 ( -4.2%) 07/13 X-Men Legacy v2 #13 - 23,146 ( -3.5%) 07/13 X-Men Legacy v2 #14 - 22,119 ( -4.4%) 08/13 X-Men Legacy v2 #15 - 21,599 ( -2.4%) 09/13 X-Men Legacy v2 #16 - 20,995 ( -2.8%) 09/13 X-Men Legacy v2 #17 - 20,382 ( -2.9%) 10/13 X-Men Legacy v2 #18 - 19,767 ( -3.0%) 11/13 X-Men Legacy v2 #19 - 19,149 ( -3.1%) 11/13 X-Men Legacy v2 #20 - 18,754 ( -2.1%) 12/13 X-Men Legacy v2 #21 - 18,754 ( n/c ) 6 mnth (-21.8%) 1 year (-58.7%) 2 year (-50.6%) 3 year (-55.1%) 4 year (-62.3%) 5 year (-69.0%) 10 year (-83.0%)
Cancelled in March, when the current storyline wraps up.
132. DAREDEVIL: DARK NIGHTS 06/13 Dark Nights #1 of 8 - 40,911 07/13 Dark Nights #2 of 8 - 22,322 (-13.3%) 08/13 Dark Nights #3 of 8 - 20,659 ( -7.5%) 09/13 Dark Nights #4 of 8 - 19,364 ( -6.3%) 10/13 Dark Nights #5 of 8 - 18,163 ( -6.2%) 11/13 Dark Nights #6 of 8 - 17,032 ( -6.2%) 12/13 Dark Nights #7 of 8 - 15,996 ( -6.1%)
Drifting off the radar.
144. FEARLESS DEFENDERS 02/13 Defenders v5 #1 - 53,688 (+188.8%) 03/13 Defenders v5 #2 - 28,244 ( -47.4%) 04/13 Defenders v5 #3 - 23,514 ( -16.7%) 05/13 Defenders v5 #4 - 20,657 ( -12.2%) 05/13 Defenders #4AU - 24,984 ( +20.9%) 06/13 Defenders v5 #5 - 20,168 ( -19.3%) 07/13 Defenders v5 #6 - 17,752 ( -12.0%) 07/13 Defenders v5 #7 - 17,411 ( -1.9%) 08/13 Defenders v5 #8 - 16,653 ( -4.4%) 09/13 Defenders v5 #9 - 15,841 ( -4.9%) 10/13 Defenders v5 #10 - 18,543 ( +17.1%) 11/13 Defenders v5 #11 - 16,030 ( -13.6%) 12/13 Defenders v5 #12 - 14,252 ( -11.1%) 6 mnth ( -29.3%)
Final issue.
146. WOLVERINE MAX 12/12 --- 01/13 Wolverine: Max #3 - 24,058 (-11.6%) 02/13 Wolverine: Max #4 - 22,072 ( -8.3%) 03/13 Wolverine: Max #5 - 20,479 ( -7.2%) 04/13 Wolverine: Max #6 - 19,316 ( -5.7%) 05/13 Wolverine: Max #7 - 18,239 ( -5.6%) 06/13 Wolverine: Max #8 - 17,247 ( -5.4%) 07/13 Wolverine: Max #9 - 16,931 ( -1.8%) 08/13 Wolverine: Max #10 - 16,057 ( -5.2%) 09/13 Wolverine: Max #11 - 15,707 ( -2.2%) 10/13 Wolverine: Max #12 - 15,106 ( -3.8%) 11/13 Wolverine: Max #13 - 14,341 ( -5.1%) 12/13 Wolverine: Max #14 - 14,118 ( -1.6%) 6 mnth (-18.1%)
Cancelled with issue #15.
149,158. LONGSHOT SAVES THE MARVEL UNIVERSE 11/13 Longshot #1 of 4 - 21,851 11/13 Longshot #2 of 4 - 16,113 (-26.3%) 12/13 Longshot #3 of 4 - 13,614 (-15.5%) 12/13 Longshot #4 of 4 - 12,854 ( -5.6%) 168. FANTOMEX MAX 10/13 Fantomex Max #1 of 4 - 19,259 11/13 Fantomex Max #2 of 4 - 14,171 (-26.4%) 12/13 Fantomex Max #3 of 4 - 12,064 (-14.9%)
Not good numbers for either of these, though the Max book will get more leeway given Marvel’s seemingly lower expectations of the line.
252. EMERALD CITY OF OZ 12/09 #2 of 8 - 15,783 12/10 #2 of 8 - 10,419 12/11 #4 of 8 - 7,694 ===== 12/12 --- 01/13 #4 of 6 - 7,314 ( -4.0%) 02/13 #5 of 6 - 6,944 ( -5.1%) 03/13 #6 of 6 - 7,006 ( +0.9%) 04/13 --- 05/13 --- 06/13 --- 07/13 #1 of 5 - 13,701 (+95.6%) 08/13 #2 of 5 - 8,487 (-38.1%) 09/13 #3 of 5 - 7,847 ( -7.5%) 10/13 --- 11/13 #4 of 5 - 7,387 ( -5.9%) 12/13 #5 of 5 - 7,018 ( -5.0%) 6 mnth ( --- ) 1 year ( --- ) 2 year ( -8.8%) 3 year (-32.6%) 4 year (-55.5%)
The final mini.
267. PAINKILLER JANE [Icon] 11/13 Painkiller Jane #1 of 4 - 8,967 12/13 Painkiller Jane #2 of 4 - 6,196 (-30.9%)
Underwhelming sales, to put it politely.
277. CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER ADAPTATION 11/13 Adaptation #1 of 2 - 6,740 12/13 Adaptation #2 of 2 - 5,827 (-13.5%)
These adaptations aren’t aimed principally at the direct market. And nor are the all ages titles…
285. MARVEL UNIVERSE AVENGERS ASSEMBLE 12/12 MU Avengers #9 - 5,207 ( -3.4%) 01/13 MU Avengers #10 - 4,951 ( -4.9%) 02/13 MU Avengers #11 - 4,940 ( -0.2%) 03/13 MU Avengers #12 - 4,960 ( +0.4%) 04/13 MU Avengers #13 - 4,911 ( -1.0%) 05/13 MU Avengers #14 - ?,??? ( ??? ) 06/13 MU Avengers #15 - 4,744 ( ??? ) 07/13 MU Avengers #16 - ?,??? ( ??? ) 08/13 MU Avengers #17 - ?,??? ( ??? ) 09/13 MU Avengers #18 - ?,??? ( ??? ) 10/13 MUA Assemble #1 - 14,713 ( ??? ) 11/13 MUA Assemble #2 - 6,530 (-55.6%) 12/13 MUA Assemble #3 - 5,548 (-15.0%) 6 mnth (+16.9%) 1 year ( +6.5%)
Finally, two books missed the top 300 entirely – MARVEL UNIVERSE ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #21, and HULK: AGENTS OF S.M.A.S.H. #3.
And with that, I leave you with the usual rundown of comparisons. See you around.
6 month comparisons =================== +161.0% - Amazing X-Men/Astonishing X-Men + 70.3% - Avengers + 19.4% - Ultimates + 16.9% - MU Avengers + 15.9% - Ultimate X-Men - 1.9% - Wolverine and the X-Men - 5.0% - Scarlet Spider - 5.8% - New Avengers - 7.5% - Superior Spider-Man - 9.3% - Superior Spider-Man Team-Up - 9.8% - Daredevil - 10.9% - Deadpool - 10.9% - Ultimate Spider-Man - 12.1% - Avengers Assemble - 12.2% - All-New X-Men - 15.0% - Uncanny X-Men - 18.1% - Wolverine Max - 18.5% - Thunderbolts - 19.4% - Thor - 20.6% - Uncanny Avengers - 21.1% - Captain America - 21.8% - X-Men Legacy - 23.2% - Cable & X-Force - 23.4% - Nova - 25.2% - Guardians of the Galaxy - 25.5% - Fantastic Four - 26.1% - Wolverine - 26.3% - Secret Avengers - 26.4% - Young Avengers - 26.7% - Iron Man - 27.7% - X-Men - 27.7% - A+X - 27.8% - Hulk - 29.3% - Defenders - 35.1% - Uncanny X-Force - 53.7% - Savage Wolverine 1 year comparisons ================== +131.8% - Amazing X-Men/Astonishing X-Men + 81.4% - X-Men + 28.7% - Avengers + 6.5% - MU Avengers - 4.9% - Superior Spider-Man - 6.1% - Wolverine - 9.2% - Ultimate X-Men - 9.8% - Daredevil - 10.3% - Ultimates - 14.0% - Superior Spider-Man Team-Up - 14.4% - Wolverine and the X-Men - 18.0% - Ultimate Spider-Man - 18.9% - Scarlet Spider - 24.4% - All-New X-Men - 24.7% - Secret Avengers - 28.7% - Thor - 33.3% - Deadpool - 42.3% - Uncanny X-Force - 42.6% - Avengers Assemble - 43.6% - Thunderbolts - 43.9% - Hulk - 44.9% - Iron Man - 46.4% - Captain America - 52.0% - Cable & X-Force - 52.2% - FF - 52.7% - Fantastic Four - 58.7% - X-Men Legacy - 67.1% - A+X 2 year comparisons ================== +123.1% - Avengers + 93.9% - Amazing X-Men/Astonishing X-Men + 66.2% - Deadpool + 39.3% - Superior Spider-Man + 36.0% - X-Men + 17.9% - Thunderbolts + 7.0% - New Avengers + 4.2% - Thor - 2.2% - Uncanny X-Men - 8.1% - Iron Man - 8.8% - Oz - 13.6% - Wolverine - 16.7% - Daredevil - 23.2% - Hulk - 27.0% - Captain America - 31.8% - Ultimates - 33.2% - Wolverine and the X-Men - 37.3% - Ultimate Spider-Man - 39.3% - Secret Avengers - 39.4% - Ultimate X-Men - 45.9% - Fantastic Four - 49.2% - Uncanny X-Force - 50.6% - X-Men Legacy - 51.0% - FF - 60.0% - Superior Spider-Man Team-Up 3 year comparisons ================== + 95.9% - Avengers + 41.3% - Deadpool + 36.0% - Superior Spider-Man + 5.7% - Amazing X-Men/Astonishing X-Men + 2.3% - Hulk + 0.4% - X-Men - 10.1% - Ultimate Spider-Man - 10.7% - Thunderbolts - 12.3% - Thor - 12.4% - Uncanny X-Men - 16.5% - New Avengers - 19.5% - Captain America - 19.8% - Daredevil - 22.3% - Iron Man - 32.6% - Oz - 35.5% - Fantastic Four - 38.9% - Wolverine - 50.3% - Uncanny X-Force - 55.1% - X-Men Legacy - 57.1% - Secret Avengers 4 year comparisons ================== +140.3% - Guardians of the Galaxy + 29.4% - Superior Spider-Man + 26.0% - Nova - 3.6% - Wolverine - 6.2% - Deadpool - 6.5% - Uncanny X-Men - 16.4% - Daredevil - 16.7% - Thunderbolts - 18.8% - Hulk - 22.2% - New Avengers - 28.2% - Fantastic Four - 28.3% - Thor - 33.9% - Ultimate Spider-Man - 34.9% - Iron Man - 46.8% - Uncanny X-Force - 55.5% - Oz - 62.3% - X-Men Legacy - 62.4% - Captain America 5 year comparisons ================== + 69.6% - Guardians of the Galaxy + 10.5% - Superior Spider-Man - 4.8% - Nova - 8.1% - Deadpool - 23.8% - Uncanny X-Men - 27.1% - Daredevil - 31.4% - Thunderbolts - 39.7% - New Avengers - 40.7% - Ultimate Spider-Man - 42.6% - Iron Man - 46.3% - Thor - 48.9% - Fantastic Four - 49.3% - Ultimate X-Men - 51.5% - Captain America - 53.1% - Uncanny X-Force - 59.4% - Hulk - 67.4% - Wolverine - 69.0% - X-Men Legacy 10 year comparisons =================== +120.5% - Avengers + 23.9% - Thor + 2.0% - Iron Man - 15.9% - Superior Spider-Man - 19.7% - Captain America - 30.6% - Uncanny X-Men - 31.3% - Hulk - 39.7% - Daredevil - 45.1% - Fantastic Four - 56.8% - Wolverine - 72.4% - Ultimate Spider-Man - 78.4% - Ultimate X-Men - 83.0% - X-Men Legacy
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