by Paul O’Brien
The first month of a new year brings event season again, thanks to SIEGE and FALL OF THE HULKS. There’s also a new Ultimate miniseries, ULTIMATE COMICS ENEMY, and the “Nation X” branding continues in the X-books. But the big release this month is SIEGE.
As usual, Marvel were the biggest publisher in the North American direct market, leading DC by 43% to 35% in unit share, and 39% to 30% in terms of dollars.
Thanks as always to Milton Griepp and ICV2 for permission to use their figures for these calculations.
1. SIEGE 01/10 Siege #1 of 4 - 108,484
The sky is falling! The sky is falling!
The Magical Interweb has decided that SIEGE isn’t doing very well. But let’s keep some perspective. It’s the top selling comic of the month. Clearly it’s successful. Less successful than usual for Marvel’s event titles, to be sure, but it’s not like we’re talking about FANTASTIC FORCE. We’re talking about degrees of success.
That reality check duly applied… these are indisputably low numbers for the first issue of a Marvel event miniseries. By way of comparison, the first month sales for SECRET INVASION #1 in 2008 were 250K. WORLD WAR HULK #1 in 2007 sold 178K. CIVIL WAR #1, in 2006, managed 261K. HOUSE OF M #1, in 2005, got to 234K.
So yes, a launch figure of 108K is quite some way short of what we’ve come to expect of a book like this. It’s the sort of number that NEW AVENGERS was regularly getting in mid-2008.
This issue has four variant covers, with incentive ratios of 1:25, 1:75, 1:200 and 1:300. But we’ve seen in recent months that really high incentive ratios don’t seem to be terribly effective in driving sales these days, so that might be misleading. Nonetheless, it’s hard to see how this number can be viewed as anything other than disappointing.
Given the success of DC’s BLACKEST NIGHT, you can’t really blame event fatigue. Before SIEGE #1 shipped, people were saying that there didn’t seem to be as much buzz as you’d expect. So my guess is that people simply weren’t convinced that this story “mattered”.
I suspect that part of the problem is that it’s by no means obvious why the siege of Asgard is supposed to be a big deal for the rest of the Marvel Universe, other than because the solicitations say it is. The same premise could have been used for a throwaway DARK REIGN: THOR miniseries, and it wouldn’t have looked out of place.
Marvel’s marketing angle for SIEGE is to bill it as an event “seven years in the making”, implying some sort of link to all the event stories of recent years. Readers don’t seem persuaded. For one thing, “Avengers Disassembled” came out in mid-2004, which is not seven years ago. But more to the point, people don’t seem convinced that this is a pay-off for any long-running storylines beyond Dark Reign.
It might also be significant that this is only a four-issue miniseries, putting SIEGE on a much smaller scale than previous events. Now, I think that’s a good thing; for my money, eight months of SECRET INVASION was at least three too many, because there just aren’t that many different stories to tell about the Skrulls. But much as it pains me to say it, perhaps readers are so accustomed to bloated epics that a four-issue mini just doesn’t seem like a proper event to them.
Of course, in fairness to Marvel, they’ve been promoting a change of direction for the line after SIEGE. This sounds like a move away from big events and towards a more traditional Marvel Universe set-up. So if you do think the lesson here is “fewer events” – well, they were going to do that anyway, it seems.
4,11. CAPTAIN AMERICA: REBORN
01/05 Captain America #2 - 53,306
01/06 ---
01/07 ---
01/08 Captain America #34 - 127,626
=====
01/09 Captain America #46 - 73,184 ( +2.8%)
02/09 Captain America #47 - 62,850 ( -14.1%)
03/09 Captain America #48 - 62,108 ( -1.2%)
04/09 Captain America #49 - 63,874 ( +2.8%)
05/09 Captain America #50 - 72,708 ( +13.8%)
06/09 Captain America #600 - 123,152 ( +69.4%)
07/09 Captain America #601 - 87,844 ( -28.7%)
07/09 Reborn #1 of 6 - 197,565 (+124.9%)
08/09 Reborn #2 of 6 - 125,366 ( -36.5%)
09/09 Reborn #3 of 6 - 108,331 ( -13.6%)
10/09 ---
11/09 Reborn #4 of 6 - 96,571 ( -10.9%)
12/09 Reborn #5 of 6 - 91,790 ( -5.0%)
01/10 Reborn #6 of 6 - 84,844 ( -7.6%)
01/10 Captain America #602 - 63,948 ( -24.6%)
6 mnth ( -27.2%)
1 year ( -12.6%)
2 year ( -49.9%)
3 year ( --- )
4 year ( --- )
5 year ( +20.0%)
The REBORN miniseries wraps up a month late. Sales have tailed off somewhat over the course of the miniseries, but they’ve remained strong by the standards of CAPTAIN AMERICA. The regular series then picks up again with issue #602, and sales are more or less where we left them back in April with the last normal issue.
5. NEW AVENGERS
01/05 New Avengers #2 - 153,751
01/06 New Avengers #15 - 121,758
01/07 ---
01/08 ---
=====
01/09 New Avengers #49 - 94,291 ( -1.5%)
02/09 New Avengers #50 - 106,831 (+13.3%)
03/09 New Avengers #51 - 95,340 (-10.8%)
04/09 New Avengers #52 - 93,975 ( -1.4%)
05/09 New Avengers #53 - 94,367 ( +0.4%)
06/09 New Avengers #54 - 93,878 ( -0.5%)
07/09 New Avengers #55 - 84,745 ( -9.7%)
08/09 New Avengers #56 - 89,996 ( +6.2%)
09/09 New Avengers #57 - 85,598 ( -4.9%)
10/09 New Avengers #58 - 76,656 (-10.4%)
11/09 New Avengers #59 - 74,379 ( -3.0%)
12/09 New Avengers #60 - 72,790 ( -2.1%)
01/10 New Avengers #61 - 78,202 ( +7.4%)
6 mnth ( -7.7%)
1 year (-17.1%)
2 year ( --- )
3 year ( --- )
4 year (-35.8%)
5 year (-49.1%)
This is a SIEGE tie-in, hence the sales increase. A relaunch as just plain AVENGERS is imminent.
6,14,17. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
01/05 Amazing Spider-Man #516 - 79,842
01/06 Amazing Spider-Man #528 - 95,415
01/07 Amazing Spider-Man #537 - 114,802
01/08 Amazing Spider-Man #548 - 97,959
=====
01/09 Amazing Spider-Man #582 - 59,932 (-13.0%)
01/09 Amazing Spider-Man #583 - 525,050 (+776.1%)
01/09 Amazing Spider-Man #584 - 63,754 (-87.9%)
02/09 Amazing Spider-Man #585 - 60,286 ( -5.4%)
02/09 Amazing Spider-Man #586 - 59,521 ( -1.3%)
02/09 Amazing Spider-Man #587 - 60,118 ( +1.0%)
03/09 Amazing Spider-Man #588 - 61,334 ( +2.0%)
03/09 Amazing Spider-Man #589 - 58,832 ( -4.1%)
04/09 Amazing Spider-Man #590 - 66,415 (+12.9%)
04/09 Amazing Spider-Man #591 - 60,508 ( -8.9%)
04/09 Amazing Spider-Man #592 - 65,940 ( +9.0%)
05/09 Amazing Spider-Man #593 - 58,363 (-11.5%)
05/09 Amazing Spider-Man #594 - 58,464 ( +0.2%)
05/09 Amazing Spider-Man #595 - 71,837 (+22.9%)
06/09 Amazing Spider-Man #596 - 63,525 (-11.6%)
06/09 Amazing Spider-Man #597 - 61,646 ( -3.0%)
06/09 Amazing Spider-Man #598 - 61,585 ( -0.0%)
07/09 Amazing Spider-Man #599 - 72,412 (+17.6%)
07/09 Amazing Spider-Man #600 - 116,857 (+61.4%)
08/09 Amazing Spider-Man #601 - 74,279 (-36.4%)
08/09 Amazing Spider-Man #602 - 71,532 ( -3.7%)
08/09 Amazing Spider-Man #603 - 71,051 ( -0.7%)
09/09 Amazing Spider-Man #604 - 63,435 (-10.7%)
09/09 Amazing Spider-Man #605 - 62,831 ( -1.0%)
09/09 Amazing Spider-Man #606 - 70,177 (+11.7%)
09/09 Amazing Spider-Man #607 - 62,570 (-10.8%)
10/09 Amazing Spider-Man #608 - 72,035 (+15.1%)
10/09 Amazing Spider-Man #609 - 61,176 (-15.1%)
11/09 Amazing Spider-Man #610 - 61,170 ( -0.0%)
11/09 Amazing Spider-Man #611 - 64,514 ( +5.5%)
11/09 Amazing Spider-Man #612 - 68,459 ( +6.1%)
11/09 Amazing Spider-Man #613 - 64,499 ( -5.8%)
12/09 Amazing Spider-Man #614 - 59,696 ( -7.4%)
12/09 Amazing Spider-Man #615 - 63,738 ( +6.8%)
12/09 Amazing Spider-Man #616 - 58,856 ( -7.7%)
01/10 Amazing Spider-Man #617 - 76,730 (+30.4%)
01/10 Amazing Spider-Man #618 - 61,969 (-19.2%)
01/10 Amazing Spider-Man #619 - 56,837 ( -8.3%)
6 mnth (-21.5%)
1 year ( -5.2%)
2 year (-42.0%)
3 year (-50.5%)
4 year (-40.4%)
5 year (-28.8%)
Issue #617 has multiple variants, and issue #618 has one, so issue #619 is your best benchmark for this month. It’s at the lower end of the scale for Spider-Man, which (absent variant covers) seems to waver between the high 50Ks and low 60Ks.
8. DARK AVENGERS
01/09 Dark Avengers #1 - 139,239
02/09 Dark Avengers #2 - 102,277 (-26.5%)
03/09 Dark Avengers #3 - 101,978 ( -0.3%)
04/09 Dark Avengers #4 - 99,694 ( -2.2%)
05/09 ---
06/09 Dark Avengers #5 - 95,746 ( -4.0%)
06/09 Dark Avengers #6 - 93,634 ( -2.2%)
07/09 Dark Avengers #7 - 94,189 ( +0.6%)
08/09 Dark Avengers #8 - 94,191 ( +0.0%)
09/09 Dark Avengers #9 - 79,729 (-15.4%)
10/09 Dark Avengers #10 - 75,618 ( -5.2%)
11/09 Dark Avengers #11 - 72,225 ( -4.5%)
12/09 Dark Avengers #12 - 69,799 ( -3.4%)
01/10 Dark Avengers #13 - 73,712 ( +5.6%)
6 mnth (-21.7%)
1 year (-47.1%)
Another Siege tie-in, getting a modest sales boost.
10. UNCANNY X-MEN
01/05 Uncanny X-Men #454 - 87,447
01/06 Uncanny X-Men #468 - 79,808
01/07 Uncanny X-Men #482 - 83,860
01/08 Uncanny X-Men #494 - 105,520
=====
01/09 ---
02/09 Uncanny X-Men #506 - 71,684 (-12.9%)
03/09 Uncanny X-Men #507 - 77,957 ( +8.8%)
04/09 Uncanny X-Men #508 - 76,442 ( -1.9%)
04/09 Uncanny X-Men #509 - 69,185 ( -9.5%)
05/09 Uncanny X-Men #510 - 75,139 ( +8.6%)
06/09 Uncanny X-Men #511 - 71,148 ( -5.3%)
06/09 Uncanny X-Men #512 - 76,283 ( +7.2%)
07/09 Uncanny X-Men #513 - 87,582 (+14.8%)
08/09 Uncanny X-Men #514 - 90,316 ( +3.1%)
09/09 Uncanny X-Men #515 - 73,585 (-18.5%)
10/09 Uncanny X-Men #516 - 73,916 ( +0.4%)
11/09 Uncanny X-Men #517 - 69,557 ( -5.9%)
12/09 Uncanny X-Men #518 - 68,572 ( -1.4%)
12/09 Uncanny X-Men #519 - 67,043 ( -2.2%)
01/10 Uncanny X-Men #520 - 65,758 ( -1.9%)
6 mnth (-24.9%)
1 year ( --- )
2 year (-37.7%)
3 year (-21.6%)
4 year (-17.6%)
5 year (-24.8%)
Drifting down, but there’s a major crossover round the corner.
18. THOR
01/05 ---
01/06 ---
01/07 ---
01/08 ---
=====
01/09 ---
02/09 Thor #600 - 96,718 ( +31.1%)
03/09 ---
04/09 Thor #601 - 82,742 ( -14.5%)
05/09 ---
06/09 Thor #602 - 69,568 ( -15.3%)
07/09 ---
08/09 ---
09/09 Thor #603 - 65,265 ( -6.2%)
10/09 ---
11/09 Finale - 53,566 ( -17.9%)
12/09 Thor #604 - 61,608 ( +15.0%)
12/09 Thor #605 - 55,242 ( -10.3%)
01/10 Thor #606 - 55,353 ( +0.2%)
6 mnth ( --- )
1 year ( --- )
2 year ( --- )
3 year ( --- )
4 year ( --- )
5 year ( --- )
Not a SIEGE tie-in, but the final issue of the late-running previous storyline. The slight sales increase might reflect some spill-over interest from SIEGE, though.
19. HULK
01/08 Hulk #1 - 134,002
=====
01/09 ---
02/09 Hulk #10 - 77,217 (-12.0%)
03/09 ---
04/09 Hulk #11 - 82,726 ( +7.1%)
05/09 Hulk #12 - 73,105 (-11.6%)
06/09 ---
07/09 ---
08/09 Hulk #13 - 71,369 ( -2.4%)
08/09 Hulk #14 - 77,455 ( +8.5%)
09/09 Hulk #15 - 58,667 (-24.3%)
10/09 Hulk #16 - 56,811 ( -3.2%)
11/09 Hulk #17 - 52,653 ( -7.3%)
12/09 Hulk #18 - 53,222 ( +1.1%)
01/10 Hulk #19 - 54,266 ( +2.0%)
6 mnth ( --- )
1 year ( --- )
2 year (-59.5%)
This is officially the start of the “Fall of the Hulks” crossover, although last month’s issue was a prologue. The crossover is delivering a slight increase in sales but nothing huge. That said, you’d expect HULK to be the least affected title, since most people interested in the crossover are presumably reading it already.
20. SIEGE: EMBEDDED 01/10 Siege: Embedded #1 of 4 - 53,170
EMBEDDED is basically a rebranding of the FRONT LINE minis which Marvel have run to tie in with most of their recent events. Diminishing returns set in a while back, with CIVIL WAR: FRONT LINE selling over 100K, while 2008’s SECRET INVASION: FRONT LINE launched at 56K. There doesn’t seem to have been much further erosion since then, which is a positive.
21. DARK WOLVERINE
01/05 Wolverine #24 - 79,831
01/06 Wolverine #38 - 70,944
01/07 Wolverine #50 - 115,621
01/08 Wolverine #61 - 60,857
=====
01/09 ---
02/09 ---
03/09 Wolverine #71 - 91,229 ( -7.8%)
04/09 ---
05/09 Wolverine #72 - 91,333 ( +0.1%)
05/09 Wolverine #73 - 83,324 ( -8.8%)
06/09 Wolverine #74 - 66,186 (-20.6%)
06/09 Dark Wolverine #75 - 80,780 (+22.0%)
07/09 Dark Wolverine #76 - 74,017 ( -8.4%)
08/09 Dark Wolverine #77 - 68,593 ( -7.3%)
09/09 Dark Wolverine #78 - 60,702 (-11.5%)
10/09 Dark Wolverine #79 - 60,076 ( -1.0%)
11/09 Dark Wolverine #80 - 52,394 (-12.8%)
12/09 Dark Wolverine #81 - 48,102 ( -8.2%)
01/10 Dark Wolverine #82 - 52,015 ( +8.1%)
6 mnth (-29.7%)
1 year ( --- )
2 year (-14.5%)
3 year (-55.0%)
4 year (-26.7%)
5 year (-34.8%)
Another SIEGE tie-in, with a typically sized sales boost.
22. X-FORCE
01/09 X-Force #11 - 51,817 (-11.9%)
02/09 X-Force #12 - 51,449 ( -0.7%)
03/09 X-Force #13 - 51,797 ( +0.7%)
04/09 X-Force #14 - 62,674 (+21.0%)
05/09 X-Force #15 - 58,340 ( -6.9%)
06/09 X-Force #16 - 58,818 ( +0.8%)
07/09 X-Force #17 - 61,104 ( +3.9%)
08/09 X-Force #18 - 56,421 ( -7.7%)
09/09 X-Force #19 - 49,817 (-11.7%)
10/09 X-Force #20 - 48,921 ( -1.8%)
11/09 X-Force #21 - 53,967 (+10.3%)
12/09 X-Force #22 - 51,859 ( -3.9%)
01/10 X-Force #23 - 50,848 ( -1.9%)
6 mnth (-16.8%)
1 year ( -1.9%)
23. X-MEN LEGACY
01/05 X-Men #166 - 85,934
01/06 X-Men #181 - 74,094
01/07 X-Men #195 - 76,900
01/08 X-Men #207 - 104,793
=====
01/09 X-Men Legacy #220 - 59,286 ( -2.1%)
02/09 X-Men Legacy #221 - 56,517 ( -4.7%)
03/09 X-Men Legacy #222 - 55,606 ( -1.6%)
04/09 X-Men Legacy #223 - 71,935 (+29.4%)
05/09 X-Men Legacy #224 - 54,008 (-24.9%)
06/09 X-Men Legacy #225 - 58,374 ( +8.1%)
07/09 X-Men Legacy #226 - 59,298 ( +1.6%)
08/09 X-Men Legacy #227 - 63,316 ( +6.8%)
09/09 ---
10/09 X-Men Legacy #228 - 52,855 (-16.5%)
11/09 X-Men Legacy #229 - 50,789 ( -3.9%)
12/09 X-Men Legacy #230 - 49,776 ( -2.0%)
12/09 X-Men Legacy #231 - 50,929 ( +2.3%)
01/10 X-Men Legacy #232 - 49,200 ( -3.4%)
6 mnth (-17.0%)
1 year (-17.0%)
2 year (-53.1%)
3 year (-36.0%)
4 year (-33.6%)
5 year (-42.1%)
Two X-books both currently engaged in the Necrosha-X crossover (which doesn’t seem to be lifting their sales much beyond normal), and both about to enter the higher-profile “Second Coming” crossover.
26. MIGHTY AVENGERS
01/08 Mighty Avengers #8 - 84,459
=====
01/09 ---
02/09 Mighty Avengers #21 - 76,247 (-11.4%)
02/09 Mighty Avengers #22 - 72,865 ( -4.4%)
03/09 Mighty Avengers #23 - 71,333 ( -2.1%)
04/09 Mighty Avengers #24 - 68,231 ( -4.3%)
05/09 ---
06/09 Mighty Avengers #25 - 65,010 ( -4.7%)
06/09 Mighty Avengers #26 - 63,178 ( -2.8%)
07/09 Mighty Avengers #27 - 64,680 ( +2.4%)
08/09 Mighty Avengers #28 - 61,323 ( -5.2%)
09/09 Mighty Avengers #29 - 54,476 (-11.2%)
10/09 Mighty Avengers #30 - 52,708 ( -3.2%)
11/09 Mighty Avengers #31 - 49,480 ( -6.1%)
12/09 Mighty Avengers #32 - 48,662 ( -1.7%)
01/10 Mighty Avengers #33 - 46,899 ( -3.6%)
6 mnth ( -3.6%)
1 year ( --- )
2 year (-44.5%)
This book hasn’t reached its SIEGE tie-ins yet, so the existing trends continue. The title ends after SIEGE as part of the general relaunch of the Avengers books.
27. INVINCIBLE IRON MAN
01/05 ---
01/06 Iron Man #5 - 45,243
01/07 ---
01/08 Iron Man #25 - 38,072
=====
01/09 Invincible Iron Man #9 - 52,364 ( -7.7%)
02/09 Invincible Iron Man #10 - 56,381 ( +7.7%)
03/09 Invincible Iron Man #11 - 52,165 ( -7.5%)
04/09 Invincible Iron Man #12 - 51,774 ( -0.7%)
05/09 Invincible Iron Man #13 - 51,311 ( -0.9%)
06/09 Invincible Iron Man #14 - 53,229 ( +3.7%)
07/09 Invincible Iron Man #15 - 50,554 ( -5.0%)
08/09 Invincible Iron Man #16 - 53,782 ( +6.4%)
09/09 Invincible Iron Man #17 - 47,182 (-12.3%)
09/09 Invincible Iron Man #18 - 48,039 ( +1.8%)
10/09 Invincible Iron Man #19 - 47,178 ( -1.8%)
11/09 Invincible Iron Man #20 - 61,667 (+30.7%)
12/09 Invincible Iron Man #21 - 47,330 (-23.2%)
01/10 Invincible Iron Man #22 - 46,763 ( -1.2%)
6 mnth ( -7.5%)
1 year (-10.7%)
2 year (+22.8%)
3 year ( --- )
4 year ( +3.4%)
5 year ( --- )
Holding fairly steady in the 46-47K area, once you factor out issue #20’s blip.
28. KICK-ASS [Icon]
01/09 ---
02/09 ---
03/09 ---
04/09 Kick-Ass #6 - 50,037 ( -4.0%)
05/09 ---
06/09 ---
07/09 ---
08/09 ---
09/09 Kick-Ass #7 - 49,937 ( -0.2%)
10/09 ---
11/09 ---
12/09 ---
01/10 Kick-Ass #8 - 46,414 ( -7.1%)
6 mnth ( --- )
1 year ( --- )
The delays may have done a bit of damage. But it’s done very well for an Icon book, and it’s bound to shift a ton of graphic novels when the movie comes out.
30. INCREDIBLE HULK
01/05 Incredible Hulk #77 - 47,180
01/06 Incredible Hulk #91 - 35,980
01/07 Incredible Hulk #102 - 46,965
01/08 Hulk #1 - 134,002
01/09 ---
=====
07/09 Incredible Hulk #600 - 92,343
08/09 Incredible Hulk #601 - 64,120 (-30.6%)
09/09 Incredible Hulk #602 - 51,582 (-19.6%)
10/09 Incredible Hulk #603 - 49,126 ( -4.8%)
11/09 Incredible Hulk #604 - 40,652 (-17.2%)
12/09 Incredible Hulk #605 - 43,964 ( +8.1%)
01/10 Incredible Hulk #606 - 44,855 ( +2.0%)
6 mnth (-51.4%)
1 year ( --- )
2 year (-66.5%)
3 year ( -4.5%)
4 year (+24.7%)
5 year ( -4.9%)
Another “Fall of the Hulks” tie-in. It’s not a huge gain, but at least it’s turned around the sales drop from the last few months.
32. ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN
01/05 Ult. Spider-Man #71 - 83,987
01/06 Ult. Spider-Man #89 - 71,935
01/07 Ult. Spider-Man #104 - 108,082
01/08 Ult. Spider-Man #118 - 58,800
=====
01/09 Ult. Spider-Man #130 - 49,637 ( -2.8%)
02/09 Ult. Spider-Man #131 - 49,565 ( -0.1%)
03/09 ---
04/09 ---
05/09 Ult. Spider-Man #132 - 50,144 ( +1.2%)
06/09 Ult. Spider-Man #133 - 57,364 ( +14.4%)06/09 USM: Requiem #1 of 2 - 44,988 ( -21.6%)
07/09 USM: Requiem #2 of 2 - 41,374 ( -8.0%)
08/09 U.C. Spider-Man #1 - 86,008 (+107.9%)
09/09 U.C. Spider-Man #2 - 57,477 ( -33.2%)
10/09 U.C. Spider-Man #3 - 52,813 ( -8.1%)
11/09 U.C. Spider-Man #4 - 49,106 ( -7.0%)
12/09 U.C. Spider-Man #5 - 45,849 ( -6.6%)
01/10 U.C. Spider-Man #6 - 43,622 ( -4.9%)
6 mnth ( +5.4%)
1 year ( -12.1%)
2 year ( -25.8%)
3 year ( -59.6%)
4 year ( -39.4%)
5 year ( -48.1%)
No ULTIMATE COMICS AVENGERS this month, in case you’re wondering. Meanwhile, despite the recent relaunch, ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN continues to drop.
34. FALL OF THE HULKS: RED HULK 01/10 Red Hulk #1 of 4 - 42,482
Another “Fall of the Hulks” tie-in. It’s selling in roughly the same territory as the franchise’s B-title INCREDIBLE HULK, which isn’t bad.
35. FANTASTIC FOUR
01/05 Fantastic Four #522 - 46,335
01/06 ---
01/07 Fantastic Four #542 - 84,338
01/08 Fantastic Four #553 - 48,332
=====
01/09 Fantastic Four #563 - 52,747 ( -2.4%)
02/09 Fantastic Four #564 - 49,520 ( -6.1%)
03/09 Fantastic Four #565 - 48,378 ( -2.3%)
04/09 ---
05/09 Fantastic Four #566 - 46,653 ( -3.6%)
06/09 Fantastic Four #567 - 46,225 ( -0.9%)
07/09 Fantastic Four #568 - 45,828 ( -0.9%)
07/09 Fantastic Four #569 - 44,710 ( -2.4%)
08/09 Fantastic Four #570 - 62,401 (+39.6%)
09/09 Fantastic Four #571 - 47,468 (-23.4%)
10/09 Fantastic Four #572 - 41,939 (-11.6%)
11/09 Fantastic Four #573 - 39,433 ( -6.0%)
12/09 Fantastic Four #574 - 38,431 ( -2.5%)
01/10 Fantastic Four #575 - 41,284 ( +7.4%)
6 mnth ( -7.7%)
1 year (-21.7%)
2 year (-14.6%)
3 year (-51.0%)
4 year ( --- )
5 year (-10.9%)
This has one of the “Marvel Women” variant covers which will be popping up on various books over the course of the year. That presumably accounts for the sales boost.
36. DEADPOOL: MERC WITH A MOUTH
07/09 Merc With A Mouth #1 - 59,628
08/09 Merc With A Mouth #2 - 51,147 (-14.2%)
09/09 Merc With A Mouth #3 - 43,855 (-14.3%)
10/09 Merc With A Mouth #4 - 40,154 ( -8.4%)
11/09 Merc With A Mouth #5 - 37,781 ( -5.9%)
12/09 Merc With A Mouth #6 - 37,051 ( -1.9%)
01/10 Merc With a Mouth #7 - 40,568 ( +9.5%)
6 mnth (-32.0%)
A double-sized issue with guest artists including Rob Liefeld and Kyle Baker. It seems to be a set-up for the upcoming DEADPOOL CORPS, which feels like it has to be stretching the franchise too thin.
39. ULTIMATE COMICS ENEMY 01/10 Ultimate Comics Enemy #1 of 4 - 38,880
This has two variant covers, including a 1:25 foilgram incentive. The last Ultimate mini, ARMOR WARS, also had two variants, and it managed 51K. So this isn’t too great, particularly not with Brian Bendis’ name attached. The Ultimate line still looks a bit troubled.
42. DARK X-MEN 11/09 Dark X-Men #1 of 5 - 50,167 12/09 Dark X-Men #2 of 5 - 42,207 (-15.9%) 01/10 Dark X-Men #3 of 5 - 37,873 (-10.3%)
Tailing off, but still doing quite decently for a villain comic.
46. DAREDEVIL
01/05 Daredevil #69 - 48,727
01/06 Daredevil #81 - 44,252
01/07 Daredevil #93 - 47,124
01/08 Daredevil #104 - 42,773
=====
01/09 Daredevil #115 - 40,214 ( -9.3%)
02/09 ---
03/09 Daredevil #116 - 41,261 ( +2.6%)
03/09 Daredevil #117 - 41,046 ( -0.5%)
04/09 Daredevil #118 - 44,982 ( +9.6%)
05/09 ---
06/09 Daredevil #119 - 41,403 ( -8.0%)
07/09 ---
08/09 Daredevil #500 - 73,486 (+77.5%)
09/09 ---
10/09 Daredevil #501 - 45,181 (-38.5%)
11/09 Daredevil #502 - 40,354 (-10.7%)
12/09 Daredevil #503 - 38,680 ( -4.1%)
01/10 Daredevil #504 - 37,135 ( -4.0%)
6 mnth ( --- )
1 year ( -7.7%)
2 year (-13.2%)
3 year (-21.2%)
4 year (-16.1%)
5 year (-23.8%)
Sales still appear to be tailing off following the recent change of creative team.
49. AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE
01/08 Initiative #9 - 55,270
=====
01/09 Initiative #21 - 47,734 ( -6.8%)
02/09 Initiative #22 - 46,932 ( -1.7%)
03/09 ---
04/09 Initiative #23 - 45,146 ( -3.8%)
05/09 Initiative #24 - 42,510 ( -5.8%)
06/09 Initiative #25 - 40,101 ( -5.7%)
07/09 Initiative #26 - 38,215 ( -4.7%)
08/09 Initiative #27 - 39,014 ( +2.1%)
09/09 Initiative #28 - 33,855 (-13.2%)
10/09 Initiative #29 - 31,412 ( -7.2%)
11/09 Initiative #30 - 28,688 ( -8.7%)
12/09 Initiative #31 - 32,291 (+12.6%)
01/10 Initiative #32 - 36,127 (+11.9%)
6 mnth ( -5.5%)
1 year (-24.3%)
2 year (-34.6%)
Another Siege tie-in. Like the other Avengers titles, INITIATIVE is being cancelled after SIEGE as part of a general revamp of the line.
52. WOLVERINE: ORIGINS
01/07 Origins #10 - 97,881
01/08 Origins #21 - 51,919
=====
01/09 Origins #32 - 44,697 ( -0.8%)
02/09 Origins #33 - 44,935 ( +0.5%)
03/09 Origins #34 - 45,579 ( +1.4%)
04/09 Origins #35 - 44,976 ( -1.3%)
05/09 Origins #36 - 45,451 ( +1.1%)
06/09 Origins #37 - 44,930 ( -1.1%)
07/09 Origins #38 - 47,211 ( +5.1%)
08/09 Origins #39 - 44,968 ( -4.8%)
09/09 Origins #40 - 42,724 ( -5.0%)
10/09 Origins #41 - 39,453 ( -7.7%)
11/09 Origins #42 - 37,903 ( -3.9%)
12/09 Origins #43 - 36,528 ( -3.6%)
01/10 Origins #44 - 35,154 ( -3.8%)
6 mnth (-25.5%)
1 year (-21.4%)
2 year (-32.3%)
3 year ( -6.4%)
Drifting down, but it’s due to wrap up relatively soon on completing its multi-year storyline.
55. NATION X 12/09 Nation X #1 of 4 - 41,796 01/10 Nation X #2 of 4 - 33,596 (-19.6%)
The X-books’ previous anthology title, MANIFEST DESTINY, opened with 49K and droped to 40K the next issue, so this is a little way behind.
57. DEADPOOL TEAM-UP 10/09 Deadpool #900 - 51,337 11/09 Deadpool Team-Up #899 - 39,584 (-22.9%) 12/09 Deadpool Team-Up #898 - 36,308 ( -8.3%) 01/10 Deadpool Team-Up #897 - 32,671 (-10.0%)
A 10% drop is a little steeper than you’d prefer at this stage, but then Marvel are stretching the Deadpool franchise as far as they can.
60. WOLVERINE: WEAPON X
04/09 Weapon X #1 - 97,896
05/09 Weapon X #2 - 59,192 (-39.5%)
06/09 Weapon X #3 - 51,076 (-13.7%)
07/09 ---
08/09 Weapon X #4 - 49,284 ( -3.5%)
09/09 Weapon X #5 - 40,975 (-16.9%)
10/09 Weapon X #6 - 38,446 ( -6.2%)
11/09 Weapon X #7 - 36,108 ( -6.1%)
12/09 Weapon X #8 - 33,470 ( -7.3%)
01/10 Weapon X #9 - 31,678 ( -5.4%)
6 mnth ( --- )
Still losing sales. Despite decent reviews, this launch appears to have misfired, with the title being misinterpreted as an unwanted extra Wolverine title when in fact, thanks to Daken taking over DARK WOLVERINE and ORIGINS nearing the end of its run, it logically ought to be his flagship solo title. Something will surely have to be done about this once the “Heroic Age” launches are out of the way.
61. MARVELS PROJECT 08/09 Marvels Project #1 of 8 - 89,062 09/09 Marvels Project #2 of 8 - 47,744 (-46.4%) 10/09 Marvels Project #3 of 8 - 39,313 (-17.7%) 11/09 --- 12/09 Marvels Project #4 of 8 - 34,775 (-11.5%) 01/10 Marvels Project #5 of 8 - 31,644 ( -9.0%)
Tailing off significantly as it goes on, but then Golden Age stories have a limited audience.
63. NEW MUTANTS
05/09 New Mutants #1 - 60,972
06/09 New Mutants #2 - 43,230 (-29.1%)
07/09 New Mutants #3 - 42,961 ( -0.6%)
08/09 New Mutants #4 - 38,558 (-10.2%)
09/09 New Mutants #5 - 31,502 (-18.3%)
10/09 New Mutants #6 - 34,967 (+11.0%)
11/09 New Mutants #7 - 33,328 ( -4.7%)
12/09 New Mutants #8 - 32,240 ( -3.3%)
01/10 New Mutants #9 - 30,572 ( -5.2%)
6 mnth (-28.8%)
Issues #6-8 were a Necrosha-X tie-in. There’s actually remarkably little drop since isuse #5.
65. SECRET WARRIORS
02/09 Secret Warriors #1 - 62,764
03/09 Secret Warriors #2 - 48,086 (-23.4%)
04/09 Secret Warriors #3 - 50,126 ( +4.2%)
05/09 Secret Warriors #4 - 42,781 (-14.7%)
06/09 Secret Warriors #5 - 40,849 ( -4.5%)
07/09 Secret Warriors #6 - 41,749 ( +2.2%)
08/09 Secret Warriors #7 - 38,990 ( -6.6%)
09/09 Secret Warriors #8 - 33,893 (-13.1%)
10/09 Secret Warriors #9 - 36,385 ( +7.4%)
11/09 Secret Warriors #10 - 31,567 (-13.2%)
12/09 Secret Warriors #11 - 30,748 ( -2.6%)
01/10 Secret Warriors #12 - 29,894 ( -2.8%)
6 mnth (-28.4%)
Still drifting down.
66. X-FACTOR
01/07 X-Factor #15 - 38,693
01/08 X-Factor #27 - 81,350
=====
01/09 X-Factor #39 - 32,796 ( -4.7%)
02/09 X-Factor #40 - 31,943 ( -2.6%)
03/09 X-Factor #41 - 31,888 ( -0.2%)
04/09 X-Factor #42 - 32,000 ( +0.4%)
05/09 X-Factor #43 - 31,543 ( -1.4%)
06/09 X-Factor #44 - 31,552 ( +0.0%)
06/09 X-Factor #45 - 31,109 ( -1.4%)
07/09 X-Factor #46 - 31,213 ( +0.3%)
08/09 X-Factor #47 - 33,052 ( +5.9%)
09/09 X-Factor #48 - 30,305 ( -8.3%)
09/09 X-Factor #49 - 29,934 ( -1.2%)
10/09 X-Factor #50 - 30,138 ( +0.7%)
11/09 ---
12/09 X-Factor #200 - 36,577 (+21.4%)
01/10 X-Factor #201 - 29,732 (-18.7%)
6 mnth ( -4.7%)
1 year ( -9.3%)
2 year (-63.5%)
3 year (-23.2%)
67. NATION X: X-FACTOR
01/10 X-Factor - 29,617
Huh. Well, that renumbering had literally no effect beyond the first month. NATION X: X-FACTOR is effectively an extra issue by the regular writer, and retailers seem to have ordered it accordingly. Normally these spin-offs sell below the regular title, so the number is actually better than you’d expect.
68. THUNDERBOLTS
01/05 New Thunderbolts #4 - 31,725
01/06 New Thunderbolts #17 - 23,417
01/07 Thunderbolts #110 - 64,996
01/08 Thunderbolts #118 - 43,645
=====
01/09 Thunderbolts #128 - 45,745 (+25.7%)
02/09 Thunderbolts #129 - 45,401 ( -0.7%)
03/09 Thunderbolts #130 - 52,264 (+15.1%)
04/09 Thunderbolts #131 - 49,155 ( -5.9%)
05/09 Thunderbolts #132 - 43,911 (-10.7%)
06/09 Thunderbolts #133 - 39,479 (-10.1%)
07/09 Thunderbolts #134 - 40,885 ( +3.6%)
08/09 ---
09/09 Thunderbolts #135 - 39,961 ( -2.3%)
09/09 Thunderbolts #136 - 34,031 (-14.8%)
10/09 Thunderbolts #137 - 32,409 ( -4.8%)
11/09 Thunderbolts #138 - 31,238 ( -3.6%)
12/09 Thunderbolts #139 - 29,957 ( -4.1%)
01/10 Thunderbolts #140 - 28,644 ( -4.4%)
6 mnth (-30.0%)
1 year (-37.4%)
2 year (-34.4%)
3 year (-55.9%)
4 year (+22.3%)
5 year ( -9.7%)
Losing sales, but a revamp is round the corner.
69. CABLE
01/09 Cable #10 - 33,319 ( -3.5%)
02/09 Cable #11 - 31,817 ( -4.5%)
03/09 Cable #12 - 32,407 ( +1.9%)
04/09 Cable #13 - 47,638 (+47.0%)
05/09 Cable #14 - 52,245 ( +9.7%)
06/09 Cable #15 - 49,912 ( -4.5%)
07/09 Cable #16 - 39,646 (-20.6%)
08/09 Cable #17 - 39,424 ( -0.6%)
09/09 Cable #18 - 33,958 (-13.9%)
10/09 Cable #19 - 31,009 ( -8.7%)
11/09 Cable #20 - 29,245 ( -5.7%)
12/09 Cable #21 - 29,094 ( -0.5%)
01/10 Cable #22 - 28,414 ( -2.3%)
6 mnth (-28.3%)
1 year (-14.7%)
Cancelled with issue #25.
74. SPIDER-WOMAN 09/09 Spider-Woman #1 - 50,344 10/09 Spider-Woman #2 - 37,255 (-26.0%) 11/09 Spider-Woman #3 - 32,437 (-12.9%) 12/09 Spider-Woman #4 - 29,755 ( -8.3%) 01/10 Spider-Woman #5 - 27,716 ( -6.9%)
Losing readers at quite a rate. This isn’t very healthy. It hasn’t been solicited for April, but the solicitation for issue #7 referred to the end of the first story arc, so presumably it’s holding on there.
76. SIEGE: STORMING ASGARD 01/10 Storming Asgard - 26,084
A collection of character bios and creator commentaries tying into the SIEGE crossover.
81. WEB OF SPIDER-MAN 10/09 Web of Spider-Man #1 - 58,412 11/09 Web of Spider-Man #2 - 32,093 (-45.1%) 12/09 Web of Spider-Man #3 - 29,368 ( -8.5%) 01/10 Web of Spider-Man #4 - 24,424 (-16.8%)
Increasing drops are never a good sign.
82. DARK REIGN: HAWKEYE
04/09 Hawkeye #1 of 5 - 41,056
05/09 Hawkeye #2 of 5 - 30,581 (-25.5%)
06/09 Hawkeye #3 of 5 - 28,902 ( -5.5%)
07/09 Hawkeye #4 of 5 - 27,215 ( -5.8%)
08/09 ---
09/09 ---
10/09 ---
11/09 ---
12/09 ---
01/10 Hawkeye #5 of 5 - 24,050 (-11.6%)
6 mnth (-11.6%)
I’d forgotten about this one. The delays seem to have done some damage, although a general burnout on Dark Reign might also have played a part.
83. PUNISHER
01/07 War Journal #3 - 70,143
01/08 War Journal #15 - 35,815
=====
01/09 Punisher #1 - 49,222 (+119.5%)
02/09 Punisher #2 - 40,928 ( -16.9%)
03/09 Punisher #3 - 37,570 ( -8.2%)
04/09 Punisher #4 - 36,995 ( -1.5%)
05/09 Punisher #5 - 35,621 ( -3.7%)
06/09 Punisher #6 - 32,982 ( -7.4%)
07/09 Punisher #7 - 31,227 ( -5.3%)
08/09 Punisher #8 - 33,057 ( +5.9%)
09/09 Punisher #9 - 28,424 ( -14.1%)
10/09 Punisher #10 - 27,167 ( -4.4%)
11/09 Punisher #11 - 24,900 ( -8.3%)
12/09 Punisher #12 - 24,985 ( +0.3%)
01/10 Punisher #13 - 23,734 ( -5.0%)
6 mnth ( -24.0%)
1 year ( -51.8%)
2 year ( -33.7%)
3 year ( -66.2%)
Resuming its downward slide after last month’s blip.
85. INCREDIBLE HERCULES
01/09 Hercules #125 - 31,888 (-13.5%)
02/09 Hercules #126 - 31,000 ( -2.8%)
03/09 Hercules #127 - 31,890 ( +2.9%)
04/09 Hercules #128 - 33,739 ( +5.8%)
05/09 Hercules #129 - 28,995 (-14.1%)
06/09 Hercules #130 - 27,872 ( -3.9%)
07/09 Hercules #131 - 29,188 ( +4.7%)
08/09 Hercules #132 - 32,680 (+12.0%)
08/09 Hercules #133 - 27,491 (-15.9%)
09/09 Hercules #134 - 25,380 ( -7.7%)
09/09 Hercules #135 - 26,344 ( +3.8%)
10/09 Hercules #136 - 26,447 ( -0.4%)
10/09 Hercules #137 - 23,463 (-11.3%)
11/09 Hercules #138 - 25,116 ( +7.0%)
12/09 Hercules #139 - 23,591 ( -6.1%)
01/10 Hercules #140 - 23,244 ( -1.5%)
6 mnth (-20.4%)
1 year (-27.1%)
This ends with issue #141, but a relaunch seems lkely to follow.
86. PSYLOCKE 11/09 Psylocke #1 of 4 - 26,144 12/09 Psylocke #2 of 4 - 23,018 (-12.0%) 01/10 Psylocke #3 of 4 - 22,978 ( -0.1%)
More or less holding level from last month, which is pretty good.
87. PUNISHERMAX [Max]
01/05 Punisher #16 - 39,341
01/06 Punisher #29 - 34,709
01/07 Punisher #43 - 33,023
01/08 Punisher #54 - 31,654
=====
01/09 Frank Castle #66 - 22,806 ( -4.5%)
02/09 Frank Castle #67 - 22,267 ( -2.4%)
03/09 Frank Castle #68 - 22,255 ( -0.0%)
04/09 Frank Castle #69 - 21,843 ( -1.9%)
05/09 Frank Castle #70 - 21,864 ( +0.1%)
06/09 Frank Castle #71 - 21,319 ( -2.5%)
07/09 Frank Castle #72 - 21,049 ( -1.3%)
08/09 Frank Castle #73 - 20,375 ( -3.2%)
09/09 Frank Castle #74 - 20,259 ( -0.6%)
10/09 Frank Castle #75 - 22,210 ( +9.6%)
11/09 PunisherMax #1 - 29,119 (+31.1%)
12/09 PunisherMax #2 - 23,110 (-20.4%)
01/10 PunisherMax #3 - 22,887 ( -1.0%)
6 mnth ( +8.7%)
1 year ( +0.4%)
2 year (-27.7%)
3 year (-30.7%)
4 year (-34.1%)
5 year (-41.8%)
Still slightly up, but only very slightly. The renumbering hasn’t made a significant difference beyond the first couple of months. Renumbering from issue #1 used to have a medium term effect on sales, but the gimmick appears to have been killed through overuse.
91. NOVA
01/08 Nova #10 - 29,397
=====
01/09 Nova #21 - 25,647 (-12.8%)
02/09 Nova #22 - 25,065 ( -2.3%)
03/09 Nova #23 - 26,413 ( +5.4%)
04/09 Nova #24 - 26,240 ( -0.7%)
05/09 Nova #25 - 26,172 ( -0.3%)
06/09 Nova #26 - 28,107 ( +7.4%)
07/09 Nova #27 - 25,677 ( -8.6%)
08/09 Nova #28 - 27,038 ( +5.3%)
09/09 Nova #29 - 23,924 (-11.5%)
10/09 Nova #30 - 22,845 ( -4.5%)
11/09 Nova #31 - 22,928 ( +0.4%)
12/09 Nova #32 - 22,202 ( -3.2%)
01/10 Nova #33 - 21,841 ( -1.6%)
6 mnth (-14.9%)
1 year (-14.8%)
2 year (-25.7%)
Steady as usual.
92. AGENTS OF ATLAS
02/09 Agents of Atlas #1 - 34,449
03/09 Agents of Atlas #2 - 26,783 (-22.3%)
04/09 Agents of Atlas #3 - 29,748 (+11.1%)
05/09 Agents of Atlas #4 - 25,377 (-14.7%)
05/09 Agents of Atlas #5 - 25,207 ( -0.7%)
06/09 Agents of Atlas #6 - 22,579 (-10.4%)
07/09 Agents of Atlas #7 - 23,217 ( +2.8%)
07/09 Agents of Atlas #8 - 20,540 (-11.5%)
08/09 Agents of Atlas #9 - 20,828 ( +1.4%)
09/09 Agents of Atlas #10 - 17,877 (-14.2%)
09/09 Agents of Atlas #11 - 17,529 ( -1.9%)
10/09 X-Men vs #1 of 2 - 32,743 (+86.8%)
11/09 X-Men vs #2 of 2 - 25,222 (-23.0%)
12/09 ---
01/10 Avengers vs #1 of 4 - 21,777 (-13.7%)
6 mnth ( +6.0%)
Interesting. The two-issue X-Men miniseries sold much better than the regular AGENTS OF ATLAS title. But even though the Avengers are usually a bigger draw right now, sales seem to be back to the normal ATLAS territory. Regardless, Marvel remain committed to the series, which is getting a relaunch in the spring.
94. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
01/09 Guardians o/Galaxy #9 - 28,502 ( -9.7%)
02/09 Guardians o/Galaxy #10 - 27,648 ( -3.0%)
03/09 Guardians o/Galaxy #11 - 27,415 ( -0.8%)
03/09 Guardians o/Galaxy #12 - 26,764 ( -2.4%)
04/09 Guardians o/Galaxy #13 - 27,107 ( +1.3%)
05/09 Guardians o/Galaxy #14 - 27,130 ( +0.1%)
06/09 Guardians o/Galaxy #15 - 26,808 ( -1.2%)
07/09 Guardians o/Galaxy #16 - 26,605 ( -0.8%)
08/09 Guardians o/Galaxy #17 - 27,893 ( +4.8%)
09/09 Guardians o/Galaxy #18 - 24,896 (-10.7%)
10/09 Guardians o/Galaxy #19 - 23,597 ( -5.2%)
11/09 Guardians o/Galaxy #20 - 22,965 ( -2.7%)
12/09 Guardians o/Galaxy #21 - 22,271 ( -3.0%)
01/10 Guardians o/Galaxy #22 - 21,623 ( -3.0%)
6 mnth (-18.7%)
1 year (-24.1%)
Drifting down on its established course.
96. MS MARVEL
01/07 Ms Marvel #11 - 32,298
01/08 Ms Marvel #23 - 24,260
=====
01/09 Ms Marvel #35 - 26,824 (-10.0%)
02/09 Ms Marvel #36 - 25,864 ( -3.6%)
03/09 Ms Marvel #37 - 25,053 ( -3.1%)
04/09 Ms Marvel #38 - 27,535 (+10.0%)
05/09 Ms Marvel #39 - 24,757 (-10.1%)
06/09 Ms Marvel #40 - 25,216 ( +1.9%)
07/09 Ms Marvel #41 - 27,187 ( +7.8%)
07/09 Ms Marvel #42 - 25,103 ( -7.7%)
08/09 Ms Marvel #43 - 28,261 (+12.6%)
08/09 Ms Marvel #44 - 25,550 ( -9.6%)
09/09 Ms Marvel #45 - 30,528 (+19.5%)
10/09 Ms Marvel #46 - 25,717 (-15.8%)
11/09 Ms Marvel #47 - 22,937 (-10.8%)
12/09 Ms Marvel #48 - 22,527 ( -1.8%)
01/10 Ms Marvel #49 - 21,177 ( -6.0%)
6 mnth (-15.6%)
1 year (-21.1%)
2 year (-12.7%)
3 year (-34.4%)
Cancelled with issue #50.
101. REALM OF KINGS: INHUMANS 11/09 Inhumans #1 of 5 - 24,213 12/09 Inhumans #2 of 5 - 21,242 (-12.3%) 01/10 Inhumans #3 of 5 - 19,872 ( -6.4%) 102. X-MEN ORIGINS 01/09 --- 02/09 Sabretooth - 23,002 03/09 --- 04/09 Wolverine - 34,359 (+49.4%) 05/09 --- 06/09 Gambit - 28,023 (-18.4%) 07/09 --- 08/09 --- 09/09 --- 10/09 --- 11/09 Iceman - 19,004 (-32.2%) 12/09 -- 01/10 Cyclops - 19,049 ( +0.2%) 103. REALM OF KINGS: IMPERIAL GUARD 11/09 Imperial Guard #1 of 5 - 23,450 12/09 Imperial Guard #2 of 5 - 20,647 (-12.0%) 01/10 Imperial Guard #3 of 5 - 18,949 ( -8.2%)
Standard miniseries behaviour for the two REALM OF KINGS tie-in minis. Sandwiched between them, we have the latest X-MEN ORIGINS one-shot – as you can see, Iceman and Cyclops come in some way behind the previous batch.
104. PUNISHERMAX: GET CASTLE [Max] 01/10 Get Castle - 18,195
A one-shot. It’s only about 4K behind the parent title, which isn’t bad.
105. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN PRESENTS 09/09 Anti-Venom #1 of 3 - 32,128 10/09 Anti-Venom #2 of 3 - 23,870 (-25.7%) 11/09 --- 12/09 Anti-Venom #3 of 3 - 20,364 (-14.7%) 01/10 Jackpot #1 of 3 - 18,014 (-11.5%)
This seems to be turning into a third monthly Spider-Man title – but not a particularly successful one. The fact that the JACKPOT mini launches below the final issue of ANTI-VENOM is disappointing, although of course it could simply reflect lower levels of interest in the character.
106. BLACK PANTHER
01/06 Black Panther #12 - 27,933
01/07 Black Panther #24 - 57,709
01/08 ---
=====
01/09 ---
02/09 Black Panther #1 - 52,991 (+57.6%)
03/09 Black Panther #2 - 33,755 (-36.3%)
04/09 Black Panther #3 - 33,356 ( -1.2%)
05/09 Black Panther #4 - 30,984 ( -7.1%)
06/09 Black Panther #5 - 29,762 ( -3.9%)
07/09 Black Panther #6 - 29,727 ( -0.1%)
08/09 Black Panther #7 - 27,619 ( -7.1%)
09/09 Black Panther #8 - 23,020 (-16.7%)
10/09 Black Panther #9 - 20,346 (-11.6%)
11/09 Black Panther #10 - 19,147 ( -5.9%)
12/09 Black Panther #11 - 17,989 ( -6.0%)
01/10 Black Panther #12 - 17,881 ( -1.0%)
6 mnth (-39.8%)
1 year ( --- )
2 year ( --- )
3 year (-69.0%)
4 year (-36.0%)
The final issue, at least for the moment. The story continues in the DOOMWAR miniseries next month. We’ll have to wait and see what happens to the title after that. In fairness, it did take the better part of a year for this particular relaunch to fall back to previous sales levels.
107,113. X-MEN FOREVER
06/09 X-Men Forever #1 - 36,213
06/09 X-Men Forever #2 - 31,767 (-12.3%)
07/09 X-Men Forever #3 - 28,651 ( -9.8%)
07/09 X-Men Forever #4 - 28,645 ( -0.0%)
08/09 X-Men Forever #5 - 27,825 ( -2.9%)
08/09 X-Men Forever #6 - 24,875 (-10.6%)
09/09 X-Men Forever #7 - 24,115 ( -3.1%)
09/09 X-Men Forever #8 - 23,174 ( -3.9%)
10/09 X-Men Forever #9 - 21,926 ( -5.4%)
10/09 X-Men Forever #10 - 22,287 ( +1.6%)
11/09 X-Men Forever #11 - 20,130 ( -9.7%)
11/09 X-Men Forever #12 - 19,541 ( -2.9%)
12/09 X-Men Forever #13 - 18,870 ( -3.4%)
12/09 X-Men Forever #14 - 18,376 ( -2.6%)
01/10 X-Men Forever #15 - 17,665 ( -3.9%)
01/10 X-Men Forever #16 - 17,290 ( -2.1%)
6 mnth (-39.6%)
Drifting down. This “season” apparently ends with issue #24, with the implication of a relaunch to follow. Marvel must be happy enough with the sales given the launches of X-FACTOR FOREVER and NEW MUTANTS FOREVER.
109. IRON MAN: I AM IRON MAN 01/10 I Am Iron Man #1 of 2 - 17,544
A belated adaptation of the first Iron Man movie, presumably with a view to having it on the bookshelves when the new one comes out.
111. WOLVERINE ONE-SHOTS 01/09 Switchback - 20,982 02/09 --- 03/09 --- 04/09 Anniversary - 23,276 (+10.9%) 05/09 --- 06/09 Revolver - 21,425 ( -8.0%) 07/09 --- 08/09 --- 09/09 --- 10/09 --- 11/09 --- 12/09 Under the Boardwalk - 19,271 (-10.4%) 01/10 Wendigo - 17,476 ( -9.3%)
Since somebody asked how the Wolverine one-shots do relative to one another, here you go. As you might have expected, it’s a case of diminishing returns.
116. BLACK WIDOW: DEADLY ORIGIN 11/09 Deadly Origin #1 of 4 - 29,352 12/09 Deadly Origin #2 of 4 - 20,925 (-28.7%) 01/10 Deadly Origin #3 of 4 - 16,644 (-20.5%)
Tailing off steeply. Nonetheless, the Black Widow is due for an ongoing series in the spring, no doubt to coincide with the Iron Man movie.
118. SPIDER-MAN CLONE SAGA 09/09 Clone Saga #1 of 6 - 27,697 10/09 Clone Saga #2 of 6 - 21,473 (-22.5%) 11/09 Clone Saga #3 of 6 - 19,478 ( -9.3%) 12/09 Clone Saga #4 of 6 - 18,324 ( -5.9%) 01/10 Clone Saga #5 of 6 - 16,213 (-11.5%)
Still doing better than I would have predicted.
120. STRANGE 11/09 Strange #1 of 4 - 23,362 12/09 Strange #2 of 4 - 18,005 (-22.9%) 01/10 Strange #3 of 4 - 15,729 (-12.6%) 122. SPIDER-MAN AND THE SECRET WARS 12/09 Secret Wars #1 of 4 - 22,397 01/10 Secret Wars #2 of 4 - 15,353 (-31.5%) 125. MARVEL BOY: THE URANIAN 01/10 Uranian #1 of 3 - 14,258
We’re now entering the territory of low-selling superhero minis. SECRET WARS is an all-ages book, so it’s actually doing quite well by direct market standards.
126. MARVELOUS LAND OF OZ
01/09 Wizard of Oz #2 of 8 - 17,608 (-29.9%)
02/09 Wizard of Oz #3 of 8 - 15,668 (-11.0%)
03/09 Wizard of Oz #4 of 8 - 16,159 ( +3.1%)
04/09
Wizard of Oz #5 of 8 - 16,110 ( -0.3%)
05/09 Wizard of Oz #6 of 8 - 15,774 ( -2.1%)
06/09 Wizard of Oz #7 of 8 - 15,473 ( -1.9%)
07/09 Wizard of Oz #8 of 8 - 15,487 ( +0.1%)
08/09 ---
09/09 ---
10/09 ---
11/09 Marvelous Land #1 of 8 - 25,338 (+63.6%)
12/09 Marvelous Land #2 of 8 - 15,783 (-37.7%)
01/10 Marvelous Land #3 of 8 - 14,216 (-10.0%)
6 mnth ( -8.2%)
1 year (-19.3%)
Tailing off, and it doesn’t look as though this run is going to maintain the rock solid sales of the original miniseries. Still, it’s doing very well for a book adaptation from Marvel.
131. DOCTOR VOODOO, AVENGER OF THE SUPERNATURAL 10/09 Dr Voodoo #1 - 23,328 11/09 Dr Voodoo #2 - 16,681 (-28.5%) 12/09 Dr Voodoo #3 - 14,769 (-11.5%) 01/10 Dr Voodoo #4 - 13,427 ( -9.1%)133. S.W.O.R.D. 11/09 S.W.O.R.D. #1 - 21,988 12/09 S.W.O.R.D. #2 - 15,113 (-31.3%) 01/10 S.W.O.R.D. #3 - 13,271 (-12.2%)Both cancelled with issue #5.
132. X-MEN NOIR: MARK OF CAIN 01/09 X-Men Noir #2 of 4 - 28,604 (-21.6%) 02/09 X-Men Noir #3 of 4 - 27,054 ( -5.4%) 03/09 X-Men Noir #4 of 4 - 25,861 ( -4.4%) ===== 12/09 Mark of Cain #1 of 4 - 16,043 (-38.0%) 01/10 Mark of Cain #2 of 4 - 13,399 (-16.5%) 134. SPIDER-MAN NOIR: EYES WITHOUT A FACE 01/09 Spider-Man Noir #2 of 4 - 26,228 (-18.0%) 02/09 Spider-Man Noir #3 of 4 - 25,601 ( -2.4%) 03/09 Spider-Man Noir #4 of 4 - 24,720 ( -3.4%) ===== 12/09 Eyes w/o Face #1 of 4 - 16,447 (-33.5%) 01/10 Eyes w/o Face #2 of 4 - 13,239 (-19.5%)Somebody asked last month how the NOIR sequels compare with the original minis, so there you go: not desperately well.
136. IRON MAN VS WHIPLASH 12/09 Whiplash #1 of 4 - 20,126 12/09 Whiplash #2 of 4 - 15,494 (-23.0%) 01/10 Whiplash #3 of 4 - 12,886 (-16.8%)Spinning off into the ether. However, although it's supposed to be in continuity, this miniseries is also presumably intended to generate material for a Whiplash trade paperback to tie in with the new Iron Man movie. So its direct market sales aren't really the point.
147. DEATHLOK 11/09 Deathlok #1 of 7 - 20,855 12/09 Deathlok #2 of 7 - 14,059 (-32.6%) 01/10 Deathlok #3 of 7 - 11,670 (-17.0%) 150. BLACK WIDOW & THE MARVEL GIRLS 12/09 Marvel Girls #1 of 4 - 13,873 12/09 Marvel Girls #2 of 4 - 12,087 (-12.9%) 01/10 Marvel Girls #3 of 4 - 10,326 (-14.6%)Another couple of low-selling minis. BLACK WIDOW is an all-ages title, and again, it's not doing badly by those standards. DEATHLOK is a Marvel Knights book, and if we're at this point by issue #3, sales could get pretty ropey by the end of the seven-issue run.
156. ANITA BLAKE, VAMPIRE HUNTER 01/07 Guilty Pls. #4 of 12 - 32,363 01/08 Guilty Pls. #7 of 12 - 27,874 ===== 01/09 Laughing Corpse #4 of 5 - 14,422 ( -7.9%) 02/09 Laughing Corpse #5 of 5 - 14,095 ( -2.3%) 03/09 --- 04/09 Necromancer #1 of 5 - 15,308 ( +8.6%) 05/09 --- 06/09 Necromancer #2 of 5 - 12,907 (-15.7%) 07/09 Necromancer #3 of 5 - 12,143 ( -5.9%) 08/09 Necromancer #4 of 5 - 11,597 ( -4.5%) 09/09 Necromancer #5 of 5 - 11,142 ( -3.9%) 10/09 Executioner #1 of 5 - 11,205 ( +0.6%) 11/09 --- 12/09 Executioner #2 of 5 - 10,454 ( -6.7%) 01/10 Executioner #3 of 5 - 9,958 ( -4.7%) 6 mnth (-18.0%) 1 year (-31.0%) 2 year (-64.3%) 3 year (-69.2%)Continuing its drift down towards the sales figures of Marvel's other novel adaptations. A new miniseries begins in May.
160. SUPER HERO SQUAD 09/09 Super Hero Squad #1 of 4 - 6,760 10/09 Super Hero Squad #2 of 4 - 4,496 ( -33.5%) 11/09 Super Hero Squad #3 of 4 - 4,384 ( -2.5%) 12/09 Super Hero Squad #4 of 4 - 4,132 ( -5.7%) 01/10 Super Hero Squad #1 - 9,709 (+135.0%)The ongoing series does better than the miniseries. Of course, it's an all ages book, and these things aren't really aimed at the direct market anyway.
162. UNCANNY X-MEN: FIRST CLASS 01/07 First Class #5 of 8 - 26,607 01/08 First Class #8 - 15,986 ===== 01/09 --- 02/09 Finals #1 of 4 - 15,736 (+18.6%) 03/09 Finals #2 of 4 - 11,533 (-26.7%) 04/09 Finals #3 of 4 - 10,870 ( -5.7%) 05/09 Finals #4 of 4 - 10,579 ( -2.7%) 06/09 Giant-Size Special - 12,614 (+19.2%) 07/09 Uncanny #1 of 8 - 18,363 (+45.6%) 08/09 Uncanny #2 of 8 - 12,978 (-29.3%) 09/09 Uncanny #3 of 8 - 11,954 ( -7.9%) 10/09 Uncanny #4 of 8 - 11,260 ( -5.8%) 11/09 Uncanny #5 of 8 - 10,589 ( -6.0%) 12/09 Uncanny #6 of 8 - 10,021 ( -5.4%) 01/10 Uncanny #7 of 8 - 9,396 ( -6.2%) 6 mnth (-48.8%) 1 year ( --- ) 2 year (-41.2%) 3 year (-64.7%)Marvel haven't solicited any further FIRST CLASS titles beyond February, so this seems to be the end of the road for now.
163. X-BABIES 10/09 X-Babies #1 of 4 - 18,383 11/09 X-Babies #2 of 4 - 12,429 (-32.4%) 12/09 X-Babies #3 of 4 - 11,184 (-10.0%) 01/10 X-Babies #4 of 4 - 9,347 (-16.4%)Well, it's a revamp of the characters from Marvel's 1980s Star imprint - you don't get much more niche than that.
166. HALO: BLOOD LINE 12/09 Blood Line #1 of 5 - 10,551 01/10 Blood Line #2 of 5 - 9,172 (-13.1%)Video game adaptations reportedly sell extremely well through other channels.
168. SPIDER-MAN 1602 10/09 Spider-Man 1602 #1 of 5 - 18,273 11/09 Spider-Man 1602 #2 of 5 - 12,802 (-29.9%) 12/09 Spider-Man 1602 #3 of 5 - 10,392 (-18.8%) 01/10 Spider-Man 1602 #4 of 5 - 9,052 (-12.9%)There doesn't seem to be much remaining interest in this franchise.
227. SKY DOLL: DOLL FACTORY [Soleil] 11/09 Doll Factory #1 of 2 - 8,077 12/09 --- 01/10 Doll Factory #2 of 2 - 5,454 (-32.5%)Soleil books are high-price reprints, so the economics are completely different from other Marvel titles.
Number 235 is SIEGE: CABAL, with re-orders of 4,961. That brings the total to 73,816.
243. ED HANNIGAN: COVERED 01/10 Covered - 4,566A fundraising collection of late 70s and early 80s cover art by Ed Hannigan, now suffering from multiple sclerosis. It's a co-production with the Hero Initiative.
252. MARVEL ADVENTURES SPIDER-MAN [All ages] 01/06 M.A. Spider-Man #11 - 6,107 01/07 M.A. Spider-Man #23 - 6,271 01/08 M.A. Spider-Man #35 - 6,065 ===== 01/09 M.A. Spider-Man #47 - 4,592 ( -5.3%) 02/09 M.A. Spider-Man #48 - 4,622 ( +0.7%) 03/09 M.A. Spider-Man #49 - 4,640 ( +0.4%) 04/09 M.A. Spider-Man #50 - 4,780 ( +3.0%) 05/09 M.A. Spider-Man #51 - 4,557 ( -4.7%) 06/09 M.A. Spider-Man #52 - 4,612 ( +1.2%) 07/09 M.A. Spider-Man #53 - 5,710 (+23.8%) 08/09 M.A. Spider-Man #54 - 5,684 ( -0.5%) 09/09 M.A. Spider-Man #55 - 5,668 ( -0.3%) 10/09 M.A. Spider-Man #56 - 4,579 (-19.2%) 11/09 M.A. Spider-Man #57 - 4,501 ( -1.7%) 12/09 M.A. Spider-Man #58 - 4,352 ( -3.3%) 01/10 M.A. Spider-Man #59 - 4,315 ( -0.9%) 6 mnth (-24.4%) 1 year ( -6.0%) 2 year (-28.9%) 3 year (-31.2%) 4 year (-29.3%)Relaunching in April.
260. DAFFODIL [Soleil] 01/10 Daffodil #1 of 3 - 3,860See the comments above on Soleil books.
Number 272 is ORIGINS OF SIEGE, a promotional item sold in bundles of 25. Marvel sold 3,357 bundles, making a total of 83,925 copies.
Number 274 is reorders of FALL OF HULKS GAMMA, adding 3,284 to the total, which now stands at 50,167. That's still a good 12K short of sister book FALL OF HULKS ALPHA.
276. OFFICIAL INDEX TO THE MARVEL UNIVERSE 01/09 Index #1 - 9,852 02/09 Index #2 - 7,278 (-26.1%) 03/09 Index #3 - 6,331 (-13.0%) 04/09 Index #4 - 5,517 (-12.9%) 05/09 Index #5 - 4,913 (-10.9%) 06/09 Index #6 - 4,743 ( -3.5%) 07/09 Index #7 - 4,518 ( -4.7%) 08/09 Index #8 - 4,263 ( -5.6%) 09/09 Index #9 - 4,144 ( -2.8%) 10/09 Index #10 - 3,980 ( -4.0%) 11/09 Index #11 - 3,739 ( -6.1%) 12/09 Index #12 - 3,689 ( -1.3%) 01/10 Index #13 - 3,248 (-12.0%) 6 mnth (-28.1%) 1 year (-67.0%)Ends with issue #14 (when it'll run out of issues of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN), but relaunches in May to cover the Avengers titles.
281. MARVEL ADVENTURES SUPER HEROES 01/09 M.A. Super Heroes #7 - 4,141 ( ??? ) 02/09 M.A. Super Heroes #8 - 3,993 ( -3.6%) 03/09 M.A. Super Heroes #9 - 3,716 ( -6.9%) 04/09 M.A. Super Heroes #10 - 3,699 ( -0.5%) 05/09 M.A. Super Heroes #11 - 3,474 ( -6.1%) 06/09 M.A. Super Heroes #12 - 3,508 ( +1.0%) 07/09 M.A. Super Heroes #13 - 4,439 (+26.5%) 08/09 M.A. Super Heroes #14 - 4,355 ( -1.9%) 09/09 M.A. Super Heroes #15 - 4,268 ( -2.0%) 10/09 M.A. Super Heroes #16 - 3,250 (-23.9%) 11/09 M.A. Super Heroes #17 - 3,308 ( +1.8%) 12/09 M.A. Super Heroes #18 - ?,??? ( ??? ) 01/10 M.A. Super Heroes #19 - 3,103 ( ??? ) 6 mnth ( ??? ) 1 year ( ??? )This missed the top 300 last month. Like MARVEL ADVENTURES SPIDER-MAN, it relaunches in April.
And finally number 300 is re-orders of WHO WILL WIELD THE SHIELD. It sells a further 2,357, bringing the total to 83,128.
6 month comparisons =================== + 8.7% - PunisherMax + 6.0% - Agents of Atlas + 5.4% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man - 3.6% - Mighty Avengers - 4.7% - X-Factor - 5.5% - Avengers: The Initiative - 7.5% - Invincible Iron Man - 7.7% - New Avengers - 7.7% - Fantastic Four - 8.2% - Marvelous Land of Oz - 11.6% - Dark Reign: Hawkeye - 14.9% - Nova - 15.6% - Ms Marvel - 16.8% - X-Force - 17.0% - X-Men Legacy - 18.0% - Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter - 18.7% - Guardians of the Galaxy - 20.4% - Incredible Hercules - 21.5% - Amazing Spider-Man - 21.7% - Dark Avengers - 24.0% - Punisher - 24.4% - Marvel Adventures Spider-Man - 24.9% - Uncanny X-Men - 25.5% - Wolverine: Origins - 27.2% - Captain America - 28.1% - Official Index to the Marvel Universe - 28.3% - Cable - 28.4% - Secret Warriors - 28.8% - New Mutants - 29.7% - Dark Wolverine - 30.0% - Thunderbolts - 32.0% - Deadpool: Merc With a Mouth - 39.6% - X-Men Forever - 39.8% - Black Panther - 48.8% - X-Men: First Class - 51.4% - Incredible Hulk 1 year comparisons ================== + 0.4% - PunisherMax - 1.9% - X-Force - 5.2% - Amazing Spider-Man - 6.0% - Marvel Adventures Spider-Man - 7.7% - Daredevil - 9.3% - X-Factor - 10.7% - Invincible Iron Man - 12.1% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man - 12.6% - Captain America - 14.7% - Cable - 14.8% - Nova - 17.0% - X-Men Legacy - 17.1% - New Avengers - 19.3% - Marvelous Land of Oz - 21.1% - Ms Marvel - 21.4% - Wolverine: Origins - 21.7% - Fantastic Four - 24.1% - Guardians of the Galaxy - 24.3% - Avengers: The Initiative - 27.1% - Incredible Hercules - 31.0% - Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter - 37.4% - Thunderbolts - 47.1% - Dark Avengers - 51.8% - Punisher - 67.0% - Official Index to the Marvel Universe 2 year comparisons ================== + 22.8% - Invincible Iron Man - 12.7% - Ms Marvel - 13.2% - Daredevil - 14.5% - Dark Wolverine - 14.6% - Fantastic Four - 25.7% - Nova - 25.8% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man - 27.7% - PunisherMax - 28.9% - Marvel Adventures Spider-Man - 32.3% - Wolverine: Origins - 33.7% - Punisher - 34.4% - Thunderbolts - 34.6% - Avengers: The Initiative - 37.7% - Uncanny X-Men - 41.2% - X-Men: First Class - 42.0% - Amazing Spider-Man - 44.5% - Mighty Avengers - 49.9% - Captain America - 53.1% - X-Men Legacy - 59.5% - Hulk - 63.5% - X-Factor - 64.3% - Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter - 66.5% - Incredible Hulk 3 year comparisons ================== - 4.5% - Incredible Hulk - 6.4% - Wolverine Origins - 21.2% - Daredevil - 21.6% - Uncanny X-Men - 23.2% - X-Factor - 30.7% - PunisherMax - 31.2% - Marvel Adventures Spider-Man - 34.4% - Ms Marvel - 36.0% - X-Men Legacy - 50.5% - Amazing Spider-Man - 51.0% - Fantastic Four - 55.0% - Dark Wolverine - 55.9% - Thunderbolts - 59.6% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man - 64.7% - X-Men: First Class - 66.2% - Punisher - 69.0% - Black Panther - 69.2% - Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter 4 year comparisons ================== + 24.7% - Incredible Hulk + 22.3% - Thunderbolts + 3.4% - Invincible Iron Man - 16.1% - Daredevil - 17.6% - Uncanny X-Men - 26.7% - Dark Wolverine - 29.3% - Marvel Adventures Spider-Man - 33.6% - X-Men Legacy - 34.1% - PunisherMax - 35.8% - New Avengers - 36.0% - Black Panther - 39.4% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man - 40.4% - Amazing Spider-Man 5 year comparisons ================== + 20.0% - Captain America - 4.9% - Incredible Hulk - 9.7% - Thunderbolts - 10.9% - Fantastic Four - 23.8% - Daredevil - 24.8% - Uncanny X-Men - 28.8% - Amazing Spider-Man - 34.8% - Dark Wolverine - 41.8% - PunisherMax - 42.1% - X-Men Legacy - 48.1% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man - 49.1% - New Avengers
Re: Hulk.
I’d say that there are a chunk of people who are reading Jeff Parker’s contributions or reading Greg Pak’s really fun Incredible Hulk book and not Loeb’s Hulk but I suppose that the world does not make sense like that.
In case you didn’t know yet, your Nic Cage post(s) ended up back at the old website.
Technically Cap: Reborn ended two months late, as the series was extended an extra issue.
It may not have been announced yet when you wrote this, but NEW AVENGERS is not relaunching as AVENGERS; it’s relaunching as NEW AVENGERS. Don’t look at me… wasn’t my decision…. :-)
So I’m quite confused by your analysis of SIEGE, Paul. First you poke at the “magical interwebs” (of which you are a part, no?) and then you, um, grudgingly confirm everything that has been said about SIEGE. So what is your point here?
Then again, this is an analysis that apparently omits the significant fact that Marvel offered an unprecedented (for them) level of returnability for this book. Does that perhaps add something to a cogent analysis of the numbers?
“We’re talking about degrees of success.” Well, you are right about that, but you seem extraordinarily blind to the lack of success here.
i think he’s saying that while Siege may not be a great success, it’s also not the raging failure that some are claiming?
also, was siege #1 returnable? doesn’t diamond normally deduct 15-20% because of that? (i seem to remember something of the sort with 52 and Trinity, those early issues were returnable)
As SIEGE was partially returnable (a first for Marvel in a couple years; Marvel doesn’t do returns very often), it is possible that Diamond under reported the sales. If they have followed the previous method that they used for 52 and Countdown, the number reported may be about 80% of actual sales. Diamond may report a different number for this book in the future.
But it is a Marvel mega-crossover, and should be selling 200,000 copies, especially with all those variants.
Wow, actualy mood here is not so “OMFG-comics-are-doomed” as I’d expected. If Marc-Oliver Frisch did write analysis for this month he would probably to depressed few people to suicide.
Rightly or wrongly I’m getting the impression that quite a few of the hard core Thor fans are not happy with how Thor has been portrayed in Seige. A sense that it continues a long term trend in the relative de-powering of Thor and the pantheon gods in general.
I’ve been reading Marvel Thor since it was first created in 1962 and was interested in norse mythology before then so I like to think I know just a little about the character.
As an Australian science fiction writer I’ve even written quite a lot of (predominantly) Thor fan fiction on places like the fan fiction net site.
Here’s the link:
http://www.fanfiction.net/u/1276881/David_Scholes
While I’m at it, here’s the link to some of my sci-fi:
http://www.StrategicBookPublishing.com/ScienceFictionandAlternateHistory.html
http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Reading-Science-Fiction-Scholes/dp/1449581889/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1261366245&sr=1-1
Cheers
Siege has to be selling less than what Marvel would *like*, but I’m getting a feeling that they were expecting something like this and are all right with it.
A lot of their focus seems to be on what comes next, the new era *after* Siege wraps up the event cycle. (Both Marvel’s focus and the fans’ focus–who’s steering whom is anyone’s guess.) I give Avengers #1 good odds on beating Siege #1 in a few months time.
Eh. Personally, I’m more focused on hoping that New Mutants levels out now and gets a nice sustained boost from Second Coming.
“also, was siege #1 returnable? doesn’t diamond normally deduct 15-20% because of that? (i seem to remember something of the sort with 52 and Trinity, those early issues were returnable)”
It’s been suggested. Usually, if a book’s been “downgraded” (by 20%, in the case of the first 12 issues of 52 and COUNTDOWN and a few others), Diamond marks those books with two asterisks in their charts.
SIEGE #1 wasn’t marked. This may mean that they didn’t take 20% off, or it may mean that they simply forgot to put those two asterisks on there, which they’ve also been known to.
“A lot of their focus seems to be on what comes next, the new era *after* Siege wraps up the event cycle. ”
But same could be said about Secret Invasion and Dark Reign.
But same could be said about Secret Invasion and Dark Reign.
Well, of course that can be said about Dark Reign. It was the whole line’s status quo for about a year between SECRET INVASION and SIEGE, not an “event” per se.
I dunno, I may be all wet here, because I haven’t read the entire article, but this doesn’t seem to me like comics are doomed. To me, it seems more like the recession has finally caught some ground on comic shop owners. If a shop has less sales and is making less money, it can’t afford to order heavy on books and hope for walk-in sales to pick up a portion of those sales. While you wouldn’t see a big drop-off in a book that consistently sells to the same audience like, I dunno, Daredevil, you would see a drop in a book marketed to pick up more casual sales.
The returnability option for Siege #1 was ridiculous. Retailers had to order more than 200% of an issue of Captain America: Reborn (I forget which issue) to qualify. What could be returned? Only the quantity ordered that was above the 200% mark. I doubt many, if any, retailers will be taking advantage of it.
I’m glad I didn’t even try. Sales on Siege are only at about 15% higher than Reborn, and still lower than Dark Avengers #1-4 sold here.
On the topic of Cap. America Reborn being down so much from the previous month… at our store we only got half of what we ordered. The series has been produced with 50/50 cover, and Diamond totally missed filling half our orders with one of the covers. We of course reordered, told they’d be shipped in two weeks. Now over a month later, Diamond has outright cancelled the order one us… leaving a good dozen customers in the lurch.
Forget about SIEGE. The fact that WEB OF SPIDER-MAN may become, I believe, is clearly on pace to be the only incontinuity Spider-monthly starring Peter Parker to ever be cancelled for low sales is what stands out to me.
Mike
“But same could be said about Secret Invasion and Dark Reign.”
To a much lesser degree (or at least so it feels to me). Perhaps it’s partly the result of Siege being much shorter, but with Secret Invasion Marvel spent a lot of time and effort hyping “Who can you trust?”, and the Dark Reign promotion didn’t come into it until later.
With Siege, they’re putting emphasis on the fact that it’s the conclusion of a “seven-year” arc, and look, when we’re done with this you’re getting your classic Avengers trinity back won’t that be awesome?
Wait, wait, wait…WEB OF SPIDER-MAN is an in-continuity book? I don’t have a horse in the race for Brand New Day, so I’m not advocating anything here, but wasn’t the point of going almost weekly with AMAZING to not have a monthly in-continuity Spider-man book? Marvel confuses me….
Web of Spider-Man has been doing Villain Origins by FVL, a supporting character story by someone like Dematteis, and then a Spider-girl story (which may be a reprint from the Marvel Digital stuff).
It’s more of a Spider-Man Universe book than a Spider-Man book.
Looks to me that the thrice-monthly Amazing Spidey is collectively averaging upwards of 200,000 copies per month…not too shabby. I guess people are digging BND after all…I know I am. Spidey has been more fun to read then it has in years.
Web was formerly Spider-Man Family. Although pricier, SMF had a satisfying chunk of storytelling, much like the old $1.00 DC giants. It was the only Spider-Man title I bought. (And I’ve been a Spidey guy since 1974, when I saw him on the Electric Company. Issue #254 was the first issue I bought as a collector.)
When they changed the title, it became invisible to me. My eyes have skipped over it. Perhaps it is too much like BND S-M and I filter it out. Oh well… Still reading the Marvel Adventures version.
Paging Brian Hibbs
I would be very interested to know the exact terms of the returnability of Siege #1. How many copies needed to order to qualify and what percentage of those could be returned? From what Brian Jacoby said it sounds like retailers needed to order an insanely high number of the books to get the extra discount and an even more insane number to qualify for very limited returns. I’m guessing that most, if not all, of the retailers who took advantage of Marvel’s “generosity” have a ton of Siege books that they are unable to sell.
Like somebody else said, _Web of Spider-Man_ was basically a slimmed-down replacement for _Spider-Man Family_, filling in cracks around the main title and giving stuff like Spider-Girl a home. It’s not really a “second Spider-Man title” in the sense that Amazing/Web/Spectacular used to be. It’s usually pretty good, especially after they ditched that diabolically bad Spider-Man J manga nonsense.
I’m still quite enjoying the way they’re running the Spider-Man books, with the thrice-monthly book usually pretty snappily paced, and other stuff (those Extra books, Web, the occasional limited series) fleshing things out, but not essential to the ongoing series.
“Well, you are right about that, but you seem extraordinarily blind to the lack of success here.”
That’s the problem with these sales posts – their relentless positivity.
“Looks to me that the thrice-monthly Amazing Spidey is collectively averaging upwards of 200,000 copies per month…not too shabby.”
Having only 60,000 people actually reading AMAZING SPIDER-MAN is actually quite shabby, as it’s the second smallest sustained readership in the book’s history.
And thanks for correcting me on the nature of WEB. It’s nice to know things aren’t quite that bad for Ol’ Web Head.
Mike
I forgot the percentage changed slightly for Siege returnability. Here’s the deal:
Bob Mitchum said:
“…the thrice-monthly Amazing Spidey is collectively averaging upwards of 200,000 copies per month…”
A problem with citing statistics occurs when the sample size is too small.
For the last 7 months, sales have averaged 204,975 per month. For the last 6 months, sales have averaged 235,926 per month. For the last 4 months, sales have averaged 192,420 per month. This appears to show wildly varying sales.
For the last 7 months, individual issue sales have averaged 68,325 per issue. For the last 6 months, individual issue sales have averaged 65,555 per issue. For the last 4 months, individual issue sales have averaged 64,140 per issue. This appears to show a slow decline.
For the 1st 6 months of 2009, sales averaged 252,852 per month, and 89,2423 per issue. Comparing those raw numbers to the recent numbers shows that Quesada should obviously be fired because of the decrease.
But if we leave out the Obama issue, for the 1st 6 months of 2009, sales averaged 165,353 per month, and 62,004 per issue. Comparing those raw numbers to the recent numbers shows that Quesada should obviously get a raise because of the increase.
None of this is offered as argument against Mitchum’s 200,000 number, just an exercise in numbers.
Marvel have adopted a slightly unusual strategy with Siege #1, which I notice nobody has mentioned.
They didn’t overprint at all, and they haven’t produced a second print (although they have for Embedded & Siege #2). A lot of retailers have sold out of it and not been able to get any more. I’m now very interested to see what happens with the sales on Siege Directors Cut #1, which is out in a week or two.
Thanks for the info. So, in a perfect world, if Reborn #4 sold (roughly) 96, 571 copies Marvel were hoping that Siege #1 would sell in the neighborhood of 170,000 copies and anything above that number would be gravy. If you look at the numbers of Marvel’s previous event books that number is not so high but it seems that retailers balked at the numbers needed to qualify for the discounts and/or returnability. So I guess the question is did retailers order too many copies of Marvels previous event books (Civil War, World War Hulk, Secret Invasion) or are readers just not as interested in buying event books as they were over the last four years?
Lowest number for Uncanny in its 40-year history.
If that is true about Uncanny X-Men is it a bad sign for comics overall that it is (barely) a top ten book? It’s just one month but there does seem to be a fairly steep drop in the mid tier Marvel books.
Volde said:
““A lot of their focus seems to be on what comes next, the new era *after* Siege wraps up the event cycle. ”
But same could be said about Secret Invasion and Dark Reign.”
Not really true at all. In fact I remember the whole “embrace change” campaign that was in full swing as Secret Invasion was wrapping-up and it had everyone convinced that post-event staus-quo involved a Skrull takeover. Actually it was promoting the storyline itself and the whole Osborn-in-charge Dark Reign set-up was vague up until the Cabal one-shot was actually published.
The conclusion of Siege is clearly being telegraphed far in advance. You have to wonder if that has contributed to its relative sales weakness.
Re: Amazing SM
It appears to me (trend statistics won’t fit in a comment, so let’s make this a generic statement) that ASM has been steadily losing ground, and could level around or below 180k sales per month, well below 200k in any case.
BND is, most definitely, an epic fail, having put at least 40% of ASM readers’ base off. Insisting in adding up monthly sales in order to overshadow this simple fact is absurd. I know little of this industry, but in the one I work this would be more than enough to sack JoeQ, or, at least, to appoint someone else as stand-alone editor for ASM.
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