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
I can’t believe they are rebooting this column – the new creative team and bold new direction are sure to suck!
Joking aside – Cheers to Paul for his long service!
Thank you for writing this highly informative and entertaining column for all these years, Mr. O’Brien!
perhaps the column can be written by someone who pays attention to the various discounts and incentives Marvel uses besides variant covers. it’s impossible to understand the .Now number on Avengers without understanding how highly discounted the book was.
Guardians of the Galaxy feels like it’s been treading water since issue 1. See the DnA run for how great this title could be.
Is Marvel doing the right thing bringing Peter back? Look at those sales! They’re crushing the previous numbers!
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%)
12/13 Superior #23 – 77,105 ( -5.1%)
12/13 Superior #24 – 76,131 ( -1.3%)
Maybe Marvel should leave Otto in the drivers seat for now.
Didn’t Avengers 24 have a metric ton of variants?
Not seeing many good reasons to buy a Marvel comic again. Especially when they are all priced $3.99 and up. Same for DC. Dark Horse and IDW since they are all going for this insane pricing. Think its goodbye to half these land stores. I doubt Comixology will be dominating as people learn how to sell and buy themselves. its too saturated in Big Two stuff. I feel like its being at the Disney store (hmm, just thought about that) I hope the comics that come out from the other side at the end of the big Two age is something more healthy, exciting, and genuinely profitable to readers and creators alike.
Uhm, I could be wrong (didn’t read it, not a Wolverine fan) but doesn’t most of fandom look back on Origin as a dreadful mess of a mini? I could have sworn that was the case… and yet we get this:
1. ORIGIN II – 12/13 Origin II #1 of 5 – 131,724
Why? Oh, why? And apparently throwing a random not really but anyway let’s call it #1 on an issue #24 DOES result in huge sales. Oh fanboys, you continue to disappoint me so…
Thanks, Paul.
Yeah, I did a triple-take on those Avengers numbers (“It outsold Batman this month? … HOW?”) and assumed that it must be the work of some variant/discount scheme. Many pundit paragraphs were written beneath the Avengers numbers there, but variants and discounts were not addressed. :-(
And it continues to flummox me that, for instance, Amazing X-Men is being compared to Astonishing X-Men rather than Wolverine & The X-Men. I know that Amazing replaced Astonishing “in the publishing schedule”, and I know that W&XM is still being published and will get its own relaunch soon. But Amazing X-Men is the new Jason Aaron X-title that picks up right where his faculty at the Jean Grey School left off in W&XM. If you want to compare Amazing to Astonishing by the numbers, then okay, but at the very least it should be casually compared to W&XM in the pundit text. “How is this new Jason Aaron X-Men title comparing to the last one — the one that’s ending and had most of the same characters?” That’s just the obvious question to ask.
…Either way, Paul has done a great job with this column and I’ll miss ‘im.
PS. Just comparing the numbers from years ago, it does seem like the Marvel Now! initiative has resulted in marginally better sales. Every month that goes by, however, the margin of victory looks slimmer. And every month it feels like there are more and more gimmicks than ever before to try and keep those numbers from slipping. “This title just got done with a crossover, and now it’s got a gimmick number this month.” Feels very desperate. I feel like we’re at the same place now with Marvel that we were at about a year ago with DC, when people were arguing that the New 52, after the shine wore off, was still a marginal sales victory. Looking at the horizon, all Marvel has got in the wings is an event revolving around the Watcher. Doesn’t seem like the sort of thing that will “raise all ships”. Nor does it seem like new #1 issues from properties like Ghost Rider and X-Factor are going to set the sales charts on fire. And it’s way too soon for wave 3 of All-New. Maybe in 2015 they’ll relaunch all the big properties again, but for now it seems like 2014 is going to be a rough year of downward drift for Marvel. Still, it isn’t like DC seems poised to take advantage.
Best of luck to Paul in future plans, I’ll miss his monthly round up of sales figures.
I agree with Dan, comparing Amazing to Astonishing makes zero sense. Not only is Amazing utilizing the same writer, cast and setting as Wolverine & The X-Men, it’s picking up on plot points that began there. It’s clearly just the next volume in the Aaron X-Men run, much like Morrison’s Batman run spanned several different series but was still basically one story.
It’s mental to me that Cataclysm isn’t the end of the Ultimate U. They could’ve easily used it as an opportunity to end the line and the universe, but move Miles Morales over to the Marvel U proper.
I’ll miss your commentary on monthly sales, Paul. Thanks for the entertaining insight over the past few years. I look forward to more episodes of the podcast!
I lived through and, unfortunately, got caught up in the whole variant cover craze/rip-off of the early nineties. Guess it’s time for a new generation to feel the same soon to be market crash pain. Thank the gods I no longer care much for Marvel. And what’s with the four bucks per standard comic??? Seems like a huge 21st century rip-off.
Serously Marvel just relaunches /1s over and over this is why I dropped my Avengers titles off cant take it anymore that and the 28 books with Avengers on it. I mean come on Marvel at least give it a few months before relaunching a book, you relaunch it the month after! Its also the case with Daredevil…..same creative team to boot! This is why im mostly done with you aside 3-4 titles. People can say what they want about some of the DC Flops but at lest when a book is cancelled it is no replaced by the same thing the following month. Also DC took some risk launching some titles we knew would not last, some were decent other terrible, but as least we got an attempt of variaty.
Lets see if Marvel now.now will do better with Punisher, Ghost Rider, Moon Knight, etc…..and of course useless reboots of Daredevil, Hulk (V21? nly behind Aquaman now!) probably tied with Wolverine.
Enough bitching – farewell Paul, your work here was very much appreciated! Cheers
“I mean come on Marvel at least give it a few months before relaunching a book, you relaunch it the month after!”
There’s hyperbole, and then there’s gibbering nonsense.
And there’s snark, and then there’s uninformed blustering.
Unless, by hyperbole, Skottie means that a month is giving them too much credit. Because Naveed is correct. Some are being released the month after, some are being released just weeks after the initial volume was cancelled. Case in point:
*Wolverine ends January 8th. Wolverine begins February 5th.
* Cable & X-Force and Uncanny X-Force put out two issues each to end in January. X-Force begins February 12th.
*Fantastic Four ends on January 15th. Fantastic Four begins on February 26th
* X-Men Legacy ends February 12th with an additional special 300th issue on March 12th. X-Men Legacy begins March 9th.
* Wolverine and the X-Men ends on February 12th. Wolverine and the X-Men begins on March 5th.
*Daredevil ends on February 19th. Daredevil begins on March 19th.
*Secret Avengers ends on February 26th. Secret Avengers begins on March 12th.
*Indestructible Hulk ends on March 26th. Hulk begins on April 16th.
*Superior Spider-Man ends on April 16. Amazing Spider-Man begins on April 30
Paul, this was probably the funniest of your columns. A great way to go out! Poor little Superior Foes. He’s like that little kitten hanging desperately on the clothesline. Thank you very much, Paul.
I thought Marvel was going to have Peter Parker come back but also continue a version of Superior Spider-Man. But I might’ve just made that up I guess. It does seem that Otto’s sales have been a lot more consistent at a much higher number so I’m surprised if they’re discarding the idea completely regardless of the movie “forcing” a return to status quo.
“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.”
This bit is a worthy conclusion to a decade of numbers. You’ll be missen, Paul!
Interesting to see how little Inhumanity is moving the dial. It was certainly far and away the weakest part of an otherwise terrific issue of Uncanny X-Men.
Paul,
Thanks for all the number crunching over the years. it’s been appreciated.
And agreed that a final funny rant at the numerical powers that be was a fine ending and as always very entertaining.
I’ll see you over at the House To Astonish.
Best,
Rich Larson
I believe there’s some semantics at work here.
A “relaunch” would be, by definition, where you end it one month and start it backup very quickly.
DC doesn’t really do “relaunches” at all (new52 relaunch aside). They end a series that isn’t working. If, a ways down the road, they decide a new approach might work or a writer has a great idea for a new series for the character(s) they might bring it back. Or if it’s like Batman where you’ve always got something going on, they might bring back an old title used previously. But DC doesn’t do much in the way of just relaunching just to get the bump in sales from the #1 issues (again, other than when they did it with all of their line at the same time).
Paul, I’ve been here since Usenet, and your column was always a pillar of factual clarity amidst an Onslaught of usually non-merry Mutants! Best of luck, your Karma is golden!
@ Glenn – can you explain why a relaunch has to involve a quick restart? I’d say the JMS Thor is a perfect example of a relaunch and it was several years after the last Thor series ended, just as an example.
Thanks Paul for your columns. I found them insightful, funny and always positive (unlike the German guy who did the DC ones (don’t know if he still does).
Sad to see Marvel so desperate to get a sales bump. The relaunches, crazy numbering, variants… Nothing here makes me care about them. Makes me wonder why all this time I ever bought Marvel at all.
Thank you for everything you’ve done over the years, Paul. Ever since the days of racmx and X-Axis I’ve had enormous respect for your thoughtful analyses. It’s been a pleasure to read these for as long as you’ve been doing them, but certainly doing these things must feel repetitive after years and years. All my best a thousand times over.
I suppose to me a “relaunch” requires that the publisher cancels the old series specifically because they intend to do a new #1 issue to drive sales. Otherwise, why would the cancel it? Again, these terms are not in Websters, just going by what makes sense to me.
I suppose technically it could be said that any new series about a character after the first one could be called a “relaunch” (we launched it before, now we’re doing it again, so it’s a “relaunch”) in one sense, but I think if you’re talking marketing tactics, then a “relaunch” is only a PERTINENT term if it is immediate and intentional for the #1 sales bump.
>> “relaunch” (we launched it before, now we’re doing it again, so it’s a “relaunch”) >>
Dictionary
re·launch
verb
reintroduce or restart (something, esp. a product).
“he relaunched the paper as a tabloid”
——
Marvel
re·launch
verb
reintroduce or restart as a new #1 and raise the price because they just keep falling for it. Lack of ideas.
“we relaunched Daredevil as Daredevil #1 NOW with the same team and higher price”
Paul, thank you for all your work over the years. I have been reading since the Usenet days and I’ll keep reading x-axis/house to astonish, even though I’ve stopped caring about the x-books long ago.
Glenn, you’re right that DC doesn’t do these kinds of relaunches in general, but there was the Unwritten relaunch at Vertigo recently.
Over a decade? Where does the time go? I think I’ve been reading these things for almost as long as you’ve been writing them. I’m another one of those old farts who, first, discovered you back when The X-Axis was in it’s formative years. Thanks, Paul, for a job well done. I’ll see you over at House to Astonish.
I’ll look forward to seeing what the new guy can do. However, if the new guy relaunches the column as “All-New Marvel Month-to-Month Sales #1.NOW”, I quit.
Paul,
Been reading you since back in the ‘X-Axis’ days, then finding your monthly sales reports on rec.arts.comics(?), and ending up here. Thanks for the hard work and entertainment. Good luck with whatever comes next!
Snark
Thanks for the memories, Paul, from X-Axis and beyond. Your style is the reason I enjoy these sales reports. :)
Thank you for the hard work Paul. I’ve been reading your columns since 2005 or so and it has been a major part of my enjoyment of comics. Best of luck, from year and a half later :-)
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