by Paul O’Brien
MARVEL SALES
JANUARY 2011
Let’s be blunt: January was a pretty terrible month for the direct market. Compared with January 2010, comic book sales were down by 23% in units and 22% in dollars. The picture for graphic novels wasn’t much better. In part, it’s because of a lack of really big titles; but to be honest, there seems to have been a lack of titles across the board. The number 300 title in January was LADY MECHANIKA #1, with estimated orders of only 1,291. That’s extraordinarily low. In December, it took more than three times that many sales to make the chart.
As usual, Marvel had the largest share of the direct market, and the margin was bigger than normal – they led DC by 39% to 26% in dollars, and 42% to 32% in units.
The big release this month, of course, is FANTASTIC FOUR #587, with the death of the Human Torch. There’s also INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #500, the AGE OF X ALPHA one-shot and a handful of new minis. But it’s a quiet month.
As always, thanks to ICV2.com for permission to use these figures.
1. FANTASTIC FOUR
01/06 ---
01/07 #542 - 84,338
01/08 #553 - 48,332
01/09 #563 - 52,747
=====
01/10 #575 - 41,284 ( +7.4%)
02/10 #576 - 37,526 ( -9.1%)
03/10 #577 - 35,791 ( -4.6%)
04/10 #578 - 37,940 ( +6.0%)
05/10 #579 - 38,415 ( +1.3%)
06/10 #580 - 36,582 ( -4.8%)
07/10 #581 - 35,505 ( -2.9%)
08/10 #582 - 34,617 ( -2.5%)
09/10 #583 - 46,267 ( +33.7%)
10/10 #584 - 45,066 ( -2.6%)
11/10 #585 - 41,568 ( -7.8%)
12/10 #586 - 42,829 ( +3.0%)
01/11 #587 - 115,448 (+169.6%)
6 mnth (+225.2%)
1 year (+179.6%)
2 year (+118.9%)
3 year (+138.9%)
4 year ( +36.9%)
5 year ( --- )
We start off with some good news for Marvel, as the heavily promoted FANTASTIC FOUR #587, with the death of a member of the team, sells in big quantities. Killing a major character still seems to be a reliable way of drawing attention to a book – and Jonathan Hickman’s run on this title has been getting good reviews, so anyone drawn in by the hype got a decent comic as well.
This is actually the fifth part of a storyline, but all four previous issues chart again with re-orders. Issue #583 sells an extra 4,010; #584 gets 3,903; #585 has 3,828; and #586 has 4,721. As usual, all of those are included in the figures above. We don’t see as many re-orders on the chart as we used to, but these numbers would have made the chart in most regular months.
5. AVENGERS
05/10 #1 - 170,682
06/10 #2 - 98,788 (-42.1%)
07/10 #3 - 87,410 (-11.5%)
08/10 #4 - 87,333 ( -0.1%)
09/10 #5 - 82,411 ( -5.6%)
10/10 #6 - 73,258 (-11.1%)
11/10 #7 - 89,758 (+22.5%)
12/10 #8 - 67,056 (-25.3%)
01/11 #9 - 64,867 ( -3.3%)
6 mnth (-25.8%)
Standard month-to-month drop.
6. X-MEN
07/10 #1 - 143,167
08/10 #2 - 71,464 (-50.1%)
09/10 #3 - 66,549 ( -6.9%)
10/10 #4 - 63,772 ( -4.2%)
11/10 #5 - 56,651 (-11.2%)
12/10 #6 - 53,005 ( -6.4%)
01/11 #7 - 64,615 (+21.9%)
6 mnth (-54.9%)
This is the start of the second story arc, and it’s got multiple variants, including 1:15, 1:25 and 1:75 incentives (compared to a mere single variant on the previous issue), plus a “Fantastic Four anniversary” cover. In a quiet month for new releases, this also made the cover of MARVEL PREVIEWS, which might go some way to explain the sales boost.
8. NEW AVENGERS
01/06 #15 - 121,758
01/07 ---
01/08 ---
01/09 #49 - 90,040
=====
01/10 #61 - 78,202 ( +7.4%)
02/10 #62 - 76,405 ( -2.3%)
03/10 #63 - 76,145 ( -0.3%)
04/10 #64 - 75,430 ( -0.9%)
04/10 ---
05/10 Finale - 82,152 ( +8.9%)
06/10 #1 - 129,084 (+67.8%)
07/10 #2 - 83,397 (-35.4%)
08/10 #3 - 81,354 ( -2.4%)
09/10 #4 - 77,479 ( -4.7%)
10/10 #5 - 73,409 ( -5.3%)
11/10 #6 - 66,724 ( -9.1%)
12/10 #7 - 67,840 ( +1.7%)
01/11 #8 - 61,169 ( -9.8%)
6 mnth (-26.7%)
1 year (-21.8%)
2 year (-32.1%)
3 year ( --- )
4 year ( --- )
5 year (-49.8%)
Dropping back after a variant cover last month. There was no variant on issue #6, though, so the book’s down about 5K in two months.
10,14. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
01/06 #528 - 95,416
01/07 #537 - 114,802
01/08 #548 - 97,959
01/09 #584 - 59,932
=====
01/10 #617 - 76,730 (+30.4%)
01/10 #618 - 61,969 (-19.2%)
01/10 #619 - 56,837 ( -8.3%)
02/10 #620 - 59,860 ( +5.3%)
02/10 #621 - 55,350 ( -7.5%)
02/10 #622 - 53,929 ( -2.6%)
03/10 #623 - 66,064 (+22.5%)
03/10 #624 - 60,213 ( -8.9%)
03/10 #625 - 54,179 (-10.0%)
03/10 #626 - 53,868 ( -0.6%)
03/10 #627 - 54,206 ( +0.6%)
04/10 #628 - 57,797 ( +6.6%)
04/10 #629 - 53,560 ( -7.3%)
05/10 #630 - 57,969 ( +8.2%)
05/10 #631 - 57,239 ( -1.3%)
05/10 #632 - 56,723 ( -0.9%)
06/10 #633 - 57,670 ( +1.7%)
06/10 #634 - 61,736 ( +7.1%)
06/10 #635 - 56,146 ( -9.1%)
07/10 #636 - 56,011 ( -0.2%)
07/10 #637 - 56,031 ( +0.0%)
07/10 #638 - 68,271 (+21.8%)
08/10 #639 - 67,086 ( -1.7%)
08/10 #640 - 73,656 ( +9.8%)
09/10 #641 - 68,345 ( -7.2%)
09/10 #642 - 60,115 (-12.0%)
09/10 #643 - 61,855 ( +2.9%)
09/10 #644 - 58,310 ( -5.7%)
10/10 #645 - 56,709 ( -2.7%)
10/10 #646 - 58,125 ( +2.5%)
11/10 #647 - 55,819 ( -4.0%)
11/10 #648 - 79,714 (+42.8%)
11/10 #649 - 55,515 (-30.4%)
12/10 #650 - 58,909 ( +6.1%)
01/11 #651 - 56,749 ( -3.7%)
01/11 #652 - 52,050 ( -8.3%)
6 mnth ( -7.1%)
1 year (-16.0%)
2 year (-13.2%)
3 year (-46.9%)
4 year (-54.7%)
5 year (-45.4%)
This is the second month of “Big Time”, and AMAZING also picks up some re-orders – admittedly at levels which might not normally have made the chart. Issue #648 adds 2,681; #649 adds 2,929; and #650 has 2,913.
Issue #651 has a 1:15 Tron variant, hence the slightly odd drops as the book returns to standard levels from the anniversary issue in December. 52K is at the low end of the book’s range, but it’s dropped to 53K a few times over the last year.
11. INVINCIBLE IRON MAN
01/06 #5 - 45,243
01/07 ---
01/08 #25 - 38,072
01/09 #9 - 49,223
=====
01/10 #22 - 49,130 ( -1.7%)
02/10 #23 - 50,027 ( +1.8%)
03/10 #24 - 49,239 ( -1.6%)
04/10 #25 - 73,694 (+49.7%)
05/10 #26 - 53,625 (-27.2%)
06/10 #27 - 52,268 ( -2.5%)
07/10 #28 - 48,690 ( -6.8%)
08/10 #29 - 49,012 ( +0.7%)
09/10 #30 - 47,238 ( -3.6%)
10/10 #31 - 45,507 ( -3.7%)
11/10 #32 - 40,978 (-10.0%)
12/10 #33 - 41,890 ( +2.2%)
01/11 #500 - 54,186 (+29.4%)
6 mnth (+11.3%)
1 year (+10.3%)
2 year (+10.1%)
3 year (+42.3%)
4 year ( --- )
5 year (+19.8%)
Marvel’s unique and innovative approach to numerals brings us another anniversary issue. Hordes of variants on this book, plus the anniversary number, so the sales jump is in line with expectations.
12. UNCANNY X-MEN
01/06 #468 - 79,808
01/07 #482 - 83,860
01/08 #494 - 105,520
01/09 ---
=====
01/10 #520 - 65,758 ( -1.9%)
02/10 #521 - 67,049 ( +2.0%)
03/10 #522 - 67,996 ( +1.4%)
04/10 #523 - 78,999 (+16.2%)
05/10 #524 - 77,056 ( -2.5%)
06/10 #525 - 76,068 ( -1.3%)
07/10 #526 - 66,723 (-12.3%)
08/10 #527 - 69,052 ( +3.5%)
09/10 #528 - 62,415 ( -9.6%)
10/10 #529 - 62,256 ( -0.3%)
11/10 #530 - 58,006 ( -6.8%)
12/10 #531 - 55,770 ( -3.9%)
01/11 #532 - 54,071 ( -3.0%)
6 mnth (-19.0%)
1 year (-17.8%)
2 year ( --- )
3 year (-48.8%)
4 year (-35.5%)
5 year (-32.2%)
Third consecutive month without a variant; sales are sliding gently, but that’s not unusual.
15. UNCANNY X-FORCE
01/09 #11 - 51,817
=====
01/10 #23 - 50,848 ( -1.9%)
02/10 #24 - 49,790 ( -2.1%)
03/10 #25 - 49,910 ( +0.2%)
04/10 #26 - 67,512 ( +35.3%)
05/10 #27 - 62,509 ( -7.4%)
06/10 ---
07/10 #28 - 61,680 ( -1.3%)
07/10 Sex #1 - 41,426 ( -32.8%)
08/10 #2 of 3 - 38,480 ( -7.1%)
09/10 #3 of 3 - 37,283 ( -3.1%)
10/10 #1 - 99,194 (+166.1%)
11/10 #2 - 56,518 ( -43.0%)
12/10 #3 - 55,520 ( -1.8%)
01/11 #4 - 51,381 ( -7.5%)
6 mnth ( -16.7%)
1 year ( +1.0%)
2 year ( -0.8%)
Still finding its level – and you’ll note we’re now in much the same range as a year ago, before the book swung into the “Second Coming” crossover. There was a variant cover in December, hence the uneven month-to-month sales.
16. SECRET AVENGERS
05/10 #1 - 110,681
06/10 #2 - 77,933 (-30.0%)
07/10 #3 - 72,293 ( -7.2%)
08/10 #4 - 74,655 ( +3.3%)
09/10 #5 - 69,546 ( -6.8%)
10/10 #6 - 68,617 ( -1.3%)
11/10 #7 - 59,999 (-12.6%)
12/10 #8 - 54,048 ( -9.9%)
01/11 #9 - 50,748 ( -6.1%)
6 mnth (-29.8%)
Second month without a variant, and the underlying drops are on the steep side nine issues in.
18. AGE OF X ALPHA 01/11 One-shot - 47,050
This is the lead-in issue for “Age of X”, an alternate reality crossover story running between X-MEN: LEGACY and NEW MUTANTS. It won’t reach those books until the February chart, but since LEGACY usually does about 40K and NEW MUTANTS 23K, this is a promising start.
19. WOLVERINE
01/06 #38 - 70,944
01/07 #50 - 115,621
01/08 #61 - 60,857
01/09 ---
=====
01/10 WX#9 - 31,678 ( -5.4%)
02/10 #10 - 30,132 ( -4.9%)
03/10 #11 - 29,799 ( -1.1%)
04/10 #12 - 30,050 ( +0.8%)
05/10 #13 - 29,773 ( -0.9%)
06/10 #14 - 30,035 ( +0.9%)
07/10 #15 - 29,555 ( -1.6%)
08/10 #16 - 29,424 ( -0.4%)
09/10 #1 - 104,414 (+254.9%)
10/10 #2 - 63,210 ( -39.5%)
11/10 #3 - 51,600 ( -18.4%)
12/10 #4 - 52,812 ( +2.3%)
01/11 #5 - 46,920 ( -11.2%)
6 mnth ( +58.8%)
1 year ( +48.1%)
2 year ( --- )
3 year ( -22.9%)
4 year ( -59.4%)
5 year ( -33.9%)
Variant cover last month, so again, the drop this month is exaggerated.
21. THOR
01/06 ---
01/07 ---
01/08 ---
01/09 ---
=====
01/10 #606 - 55,353 ( +0.2%)
02/10 #607 - 66,973 (+21.0%)
03/10 #608 - 62,012 ( -7.4%)
04/10 #609 - 64,522 ( +4.0%)
05/10 #610 - 61,779 ( -4.3%)
06/10 #611 - 56,443 ( -8.6%)
07/10 #612 - 53,373 ( -5.4%)
08/10 #613 - 51,076 ( -4.3%)
09/10 #614 - 53,505 ( +4.8%)
09/10 #615 - 52,896 ( -1.2%)
10/10 #616 - 51,051 ( -3.5%)
11/10 #617 - 49,165 ( -3.7%)
12/10 #618 - 45,142 ( -8.2%)
01/11 #619 - 42,899 ( -5.0%)
6 mnth (-19.6%)
1 year (-22.5%)
2 year ( --- )
3 year ( --- )
4 year ( --- )
5 year ( --- )
Another book which has gone two consecutive months without a variant, and the 5% drop is a little higher than you might hope for.
22. CAPTAIN AMERICA
01/06 ---
01/07 ---
01/08 #34 - 127,626
01/09 #46 - 73,184
=====
01/10 Reborn #6 - 84,844 ( -7.6%)
01/10 #602 - 63,948 (-24.6%)
02/10 #603 - 63,568 ( -0.6%)
03/10 #604 - 56,962 (-10.4%)
04/10 #605 - 59,051 ( +3.7%)
05/10 ---
06/10 #606 - 57,443 ( -2.7%)
06/10 #607 - 52,989 ( -7.8%)
07/10 ---
08/10 #608 - 51,362 ( -3.1%)
08/10 #609 - 52,834 ( +2.9%)
09/10 #610 - 47,986 ( -9.2%)
10/10 #611 - 48,788 ( +1.7%)
11/10 #612 - 47,343 ( -3.0%)
12/10 #613 - 42,871 ( -9.4%)
01/11 #614 - 42,119 ( -1.8%)
6 mnth ( --- )
1 year (-50.4%)
2 year (-42.4%)
3 year (-67.0%)
4 year ( --- )
5 year ( --- )
Another book which has gone two months without a variant, and this one’s holding up relatively well.
24. X-MEN LEGACY
01/06 #181 - 74,094
01/07 #195 - 76,900
01/08 #207 - 104,793
01/09 #220 - 59,286
=====
01/10 #232 - 49,200 ( -3.4%)
02/10 #233 - 51,344 ( +4.4%)
03/10 #234 - 48,217 ( -6.1%)
04/10 #235 - 65,302 (+35.4%)
05/10 #236 - 69,731 ( +6.8%)
06/10 #237 - 65,578 ( -6.0%)
07/10 #238 - 53,313 (-18.7%)
08/10 #239 - 53,236 ( -0.1%)
09/10 #240 - 50,984 ( -4.2%)
10/10 #241 - 48,133 ( -5.6%)
11/10 #242 - 43,750 ( -9.1%)
12/10 #243 - 41,797 ( -4.5%)
01/11 #244 - 40,193 ( -3.8%)
6 mnth (-24.6%)
1 year (-18.3%)
2 year (-32.2%)
3 year (-61.6%)
4 year (-47.7%)
5 year (-45.8%)
Sliding, but as already noted, things look promising for the “Age of X” storyline that starts in February.
26. AVENGERS PRIME 06/10 #1 of 5 - 69,433 07/10 --- 08/10 #2 of 5 - 55,518 (-20.0%) 09/10 #3 of 5 - 48,173 (-13.2%) 10/10 --- 11/10 #4 of 5 - 41,932 (-13.0%) 12/10 --- 01/11 #5 of 5 - 38,624 ( -7.9%)
Fairly normal behaviour for a miniseries.
29. ULTIMATE COMICS CAPTAIN AMERICA 01/11 #1 of 4 - 35,741
The biggest selling Ultimate book of the month, though not by a huge margin. There’s a variant cover.
31. DAREDEVIL: REBORN
01/06 #81 - 44,252
01/07 #93 - 47,124
01/08 #104 - 42,773
01/09 #115 - 40,214
=====
12/09 #503 - 38,680 ( -4.1%)
01/10 #504 - 37,135 ( -4.0%)
02/10 #505 - 38,693 ( +4.2%)
03/10 ---
04/10 #506 - 37,467 ( -3.2%)
05/10 ---
06/10 #507 - 34,744 ( -7.3%)
07/10 #508 - 41,943 (+20.7%)
08/10 #509 - 41,577 ( -0.9%)
09/10 #510 - 44,728 ( +7.6%)
10/10 #511 - 43,167 ( -3.5%)
11/10 ---
12/10 #512 - 40,317 ( -7.1%)
01/11 #1 of 4 - 34,310 (-14.9%)
6 mnth (-18.2%)
1 year (-11.3%)
2 year (-14.7%)
3 year (-19.8%)
4 year (-27.2%)
5 year (-22.5%)
Now that we know there’s a DAREDEVIL #1 coming in the summer, I’m going to treat this book as the continuation of the DAREDEVIL title, and deal with BLACK PANTHER separately. Sales drop back to pre-Shadowland levels, but bear in mind this is an issue #1, and there’s likely to be a drop for the second issue. That said, the following relaunch is clearly going to be heavily promoted.
33. ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN
01/06 #89 - 71,935
01/07 #104 - 108,082
01/08 #118 - 58,800
01/09 #130 - 49,637
=====
01/10 #6 - 43,622 ( -4.9%)
02/10 #7 - 42,176 ( -3.3%)
03/10 #8 - 40,967 ( -2.9%)
04/10 #9 - 39,955 ( -2.5%)
05/10 #10 - 39,690 ( -0.7%)
06/10 #11 - 39,149 ( -1.4%)
07/10 #12 - 37,879 ( -3.2%)
08/10 #13 - 36,946 ( -2.5%)
09/10 #14 - 35,776 ( -3.7%)
10/10 #15 - 34,657 ( -3.1%)
11/10 #150 - 40,553 (+17.0%)
12/10 #151 - 33,707 (-16.9%)
01/11 #152 - 33,481 ( -1.0%)
6 mnth (-11.6%)
1 year (-23.2%)
2 year (-32.5%)
3 year (-43.1%)
4 year (-69.0%)
5 year (-53.5%)
Holding relatively steady over the last few months, if you disregard the blip for issue #150. The “Death of Spider-Man” storyline starts in #155.
34. WOLVERINE: THE BEST THERE IS 12/10 #1 - 57,348 01/11 #2 - 33,469 (-41.6%)
That’s on the steep side, even allowing for the fact that the first issue had several more variants.
35. ULTIMATE COMICS AVENGERS
01/10 ---
02/10 ---
03/10 Vol 1 #5 - 58,098 ( -1.6%)
04/10 Vol 1 #6 - 53,438 ( -8.0%)
04/10 Vol 2 #1 - 64,811 (+21.3%)
05/10 Vol 2 #2 - 52,939 (-18.3%)
06/10 Vol 2 #3 - 50,797 ( -4.0%)
06/10 Vol 2 #4 - 49,606 ( -2.3%)
07/10 Vol 2 #5 - 46,886 ( -5.5%)
08/10 Vol 2 #6 - 46,358 (-11.3%)
08/10 Vol 3 #1 - 53,870 (+16.2%)
09/10 Vol 3 #2 - 43,119 (-20.0%)
10/10 Vol 3 #3 - 38,529 (-10.6%)
11/10 Vol 3 #4 - 36,777 ( -4.5%)
12/10 Vol 3 #5 - 34,483 ( -6.2%)
01/11 Vol 3 #6 - 33,454 ( -3.0%)
6 mnth (-28.6%)
1 year ( --- )
Drifting down. The next mini is part of the “Death of Spider-Man” crossover.
37. SUPERIOR [Icon] 10/10 #1 of 6 - 40,842 11/10 #2 of 6 - 34,688 (-15.1%) 12/10 #3 of 6 - 31,952 ( -7.9%) 01/11 #4 of 6 - 32,031 ( +0.2%)
There’s a 1:10 variant on this issue, hence the slight sales increase.
38. AVENGERS: THE CHILDREN'S CRUSADE 07/10 #1 of 9 - 44,934 08/10 --- 09/10 #2 of 9 - 35,497 (-21.0%) 10/10 --- 11/10 #3 of 9 - 35,410 ( -0.2%) 12/10 --- 01/11 #4 of 9 - 31,977 ( -9.7%)
No variant this month, which exaggerates the drop.
40,41. INCREDIBLE HULKS
01/06 #77 - 47,180
01/07 #91 - 35,980
01/08 #102 - 46,965
01/09 #1 - 134,002
=====
01/10 #606 - 48,197 ( +9.6%)
02/10 #607 - 45,870 ( -4.8%)
03/10 #608 - 47,148 ( +2.8%)
04/10 ---
05/10 #609 - 46,670 ( -1.0%)
06/10 #610 - 46,461 ( -0.4%)
07/10 ---
08/10 #611 - 44,982 ( -3.2%)
09/10 #612 - 42,956 ( -4.5%)
09/10 #613 - 40,063 ( -6.7%)
10/10 #614 - 39,572 ( -1.2%)
10/10 #615 - 36,750 ( -7.1%)
11/10 #616 - 35,296 ( -4.0%)
11/10 #617 - 34,340 ( -2.7%)
12/10 #618 - 34,868 ( -1.5%)
12/10 #619 - 32,657 ( -6.3%)
01/11 #620 - 30,992 ( -5.1%)
01/11 #621 - 30,957 ( -0.1%)
6 mnth ( --- )
1 year (-35.8%)
2 year (-76.9%)
3 year (-34.1%)
4 year (-14.0%)
5 year (-34.4%)
The December issues were part of a “Chaos War” tie-in arc (and issue #618 had a Tron variant), so on the whole this looks to be fairly steady.
49,50. DEADPOOL
01/09 #6 - 46,549
=====
01/10 ---
02/10 #19 - 44,580 ( -2.9%)
02/10 #20 - 43,347 ( -2.8%)
03/10 #21 - 42,062 ( -3.0%)
04/10 #22 - 43,061 ( +2.4%)
05/10 #23 - 42,761 ( -0.7%)
06/10 #24 - 38,663 ( -9.6%)
07/10 #25 - 36,828 ( -4.7%)
08/10 #26 - 35,595 ( -3.3%)
09/10 #27 - 36,404 ( +2.3%)
10/10 #28 - 34,828 ( -4.3%)
11/10 #29 - 31,350 (-10.0%)
12/10 #30 - 30,488 ( -2.7%)
01/11 #31 - 29,167 ( -4.3%)
01/11 #32 - 29,144 ( -0.1%)
6 mnth (-20.9%)
1 year ( --- )
2 year (-37.4%)
Two issues this month, and it’s looking pretty steady.
51. X-23 09/10 #1 - 48,481 10/10 #2 - 35,280 (-27.2%) 11/10 #3 - 31,224 (-11.5%) 12/10 #4 - 29,703 ( -4.9%) 01/11 #5 - 27,855 ( -6.2%)
There was a variant cover last month, so the underlying sales may well be holding steady.
52. BLACK PANTHER: THE MAN WITHOUT FEAR
01/06 #12 - 27,933
01/07 #24 - 57,709
01/08 ---
01/09 ---
=====
01/10 #12 - 17,881 ( -1.0%)
02/10 Doomwar #1 - 43,241 (+141.8%)
03/10 #2 of 6 - 30,555 ( -29.3%)
04/10 #3 of 6 - 27,859 ( -8.9%)
05/10 #4 of 6 - 28,307 ( +1.6%)
06/10 #5 of 6 - 26,041 ( -8.0%)
07/10 ---
08/10 #6 of 6 - 24,797 ( -4.8%)
09/10 ---
10/10 Klaws #1 - 16,973 ( -31.6%)
10/10 #2 of 4 - 12,960 ( -23.6%)
11/10 #3 of 4 - 10,356 ( -20.1%)
12/10 #4 of 4 - 9,145 ( -11.7%)
12/10 #513 - 33,124 (+262.2%)
01/11 #514 - 27,474 ( -17.1%)
6 mnth ( --- )
1 year ( +53.6%)
2 year ( --- )
3 year ( --- )
4 year ( -52.4%)
5 year ( -1.6%)
BLACK PANTHER has taken over DAREDEVIL’s numbering, but it’s now clear that that series is going to continue elsewhere. So I’m going to treat this series as a continuation of the previous BLACK PANTHER minis. Isn’t life complicated?
The last ongoing BLACK PANTHER title was doing around 18K by the end of its run, and so far the book’s new incarnation is way ahead of that. On the other hand, the DOOMWAR mini (promoted as a self-contained event with tons of guest stars) achieved similar sales – and in the past, we’ve seen that books which take over another title’s numbering in this way tend to struggle to retain the inherited sales.
78. CAPTAIN AMERICA: HAIL HYDRA 01/11 #1 of 5 - 26,841
This is one of three titles which somehow shipped a significant number copies in the tail end of 2010, splitting their sales between the December and January charts. HAIL HYDRA had 8,124 copies on the December chart and adds 18,717 in January, for the total shown above. It’s number 73 on the January chart but its cumulative sales would have put it between the number 52 and 53 books, a decent number for a Captain America mini in a market that’s arguably saturated with them.
53. THANOS IMPERATIVE 05/10 Ignition - 29,716 06/10 #1 of 6 - 34,285 (+13.4%) 07/10 #2 of 6 - 31,888 ( -7.0%) 08/10 #3 of 6 - 30,493 ( -4.4%) 09/10 #4 of 6 - 29,704 ( -2.6%) 10/10 #5 of 6 - 29,614 ( -0.3%) 11/10 #6 of 6 - 29,188 ( -1.4%) 12/10 --- 01/11 Devastation - 26,531 ( -9.1%)
The epilogue issue tails in a couple of thousand behind the main series.
54. THUNDERBOLTS
01/06 #17 - 23,417
01/07 #110 - 64,996
01/08 #118 - 43,645
01/09 #128 - 39,219
=====
01/10 #140 - 28,644 ( -4.4%)
02/10 #141 - 33,948 (+18.5%)
03/10 #142 - 34,132 ( +0.5%)
04/10 #143 - 35,656 ( +4.5%)
05/10 #144 - 33,276 ( -6.7%)
06/10 #145 - 31,999 ( -3.8%)
07/10 #146 - 31,501 ( -1.6%)
08/10 #147 - 31,252 ( -0.8%)
09/10 #148 - 32,190 ( +3.0%)
10/10 #149 - 30,580 ( -5.0%)
11/10 #150 - 31,704 ( +3.7%)
12/10 #151 - 27,943 (-11.9%)
01/11 #152 - 26,515 ( -5.1%)
6 mnth (-15.8%)
1 year ( -7.4%)
2 year (-32.4%)
3 year (-39.2%)
4 year (-59.2%)
5 year (+13.2%)
Once again, this is the second issue in a row without a variant cover, and the month-to-month drop is a little higher than you might want to see. That said, it’s really just back in pre-SIEGE sales territory.
56,58. X-FACTOR
01/06 ---
01/07 #15 - 38,693
01/08 #27 - 81,350
01/09 #39 - 32,796
=====
01/10 #201 - 29,732 (-18.7%)
02/10 #202 - 30,981 ( +4.2%)
03/10 #203 - 28,924 ( -6.6%)
04/10 #204 - 40,534 (+40.1%)
05/10 #205 - 41,745 ( +3.0%)
06/10 #206 - 40,981 ( -1.8%)
07/10 #207 - 32,082 (-21.7%)
08/10 #208 - 30,095 ( -6.2%)
09/10 #209 - 29,626 ( -1.6%)
10/10 #210 - 27,548 ( -7.0%)
11/10 #211 - 26,632 ( -3.3%)
12/10 #212 - 26,443 ( -0.7%)
01/11 #213 - 25,403 ( -3.9%)
01/11 #214 - 25,117 ( -1.1%)
6 mnth (-21.7%)
1 year (-15.5%)
2 year (-23.4%)
3 year (-69.1%)
4 year (-35.1%)
5 year ( --- )
Two issues this month, and X-FACTOR is looking very steady indeed. We haven’t had a variant cover since issue #206, so this is one series where the sales trends are fairly transparent.
59. CHAOS WAR
01/08 Herc #113 - 73,533
01/09 #125 - 31,888
=====
01/10 #140 - 23,244 ( -1.5%)
02/10 #141 - 24,539 ( +5.6%)
03/10 Fall #1 - 23,036 ( -6.1%)
04/10 #2 of 2 - 20,215 ( -12.2%)
05/10 Prince #1 - 20,373 ( +0.8%)
06/10 #2 of 4 - 17,068 ( -16.2%)
07/10 #3 of 4 - 15,667 ( -8.2%)
08/10 #4 of 4 - 17,137 ( +9.4%)
09/10 ---
10/10 Chaos #1 - 34,509 (+101.4%)
10/10 #2 of 5 - 29,375 ( -14.9%)
11/10 #3 of 5 - 28,630 ( -2.5%)
12/10 #4 of 5 - 26,313 ( -8.1%)
01/11 #5 of 5 - 24,694 ( -6.2%)
6 mnth ( +57.6%)
1 year ( +6.2%)
2 year ( -22.6%)
3 year ( -66.4%)
Heading for another relaunch in the spring.
92. GENERATION HOPE 11/10 #1 - 37,398 12/10 #2 - 38,984 ( +4.2%) 01/11 #3 - 24,094 (-38.2%)
The second book to see its sales split between months. It had 7,395 copies on the December chart, and adds another 16,699 now for a more sensible number. The drop is still pretty enormous, but issue #2 appears to have benefitted heavily from promotion, and so the delayed second issue drop ends up being factored in here.
The combined sales would have placed the book at around 60 on the chart.
61. AVENGERS ACADEMY
06/10 #1 - 45,890 (+20.3%)
07/10 #2 - 38,061 (-17.1%)
08/10 #3 - 35,629 ( -6.4%)
09/10 #4 - 31,212 (-12.4%)
10/10 #5 - 31,272 ( +0.2%)
11/10 #6 - 25,977 (-16.9%)
12/10 #7 - 27,774 ( +6.9%)
01/11 #8 - 24,014 (-13.5%)
6 mnth (-36.9%)
Variant cover last month. The basic sales actually look pretty steady.
62. NEW MUTANTS
01/10 #9 - 30,572 ( -5.2%)
02/10 #10 - 30,807 ( +0.8%)
03/10 #11 - 36,629 (+18.9%)
04/10 #12 - 49,591 (+35.4%)
05/10 #13 - 54,169 ( +9.2%)
06/10 #14 - 53,926 ( -0.4%)
07/10 #15 - 35,426 (-34.3%)
08/10 #16 - 31,989 ( -9.7%)
09/10 #17 - 31,684 ( -1.0%)
10/10 #18 - 27,027 (-14.7%)
11/10 #19 - 25,440 ( -5.9%)
12/10 #20 - 24,416 ( -4.0%)
01/11 #21 - 23,773 ( -2.6%)
6 mnth (-32.9%)
1 year (-22.2%)
The final issue of Zeb Wells’ run. Next issue begins an AGE OF X crossover arc which seems sure to boost sales.
63. HEROES FOR HIRE 12/10 #1 - 32,936 01/11 #2 - 23,013 (-30.1%)
Issue #1 picks up reorders of 2,561, included in the number above. Allowing for that, the second issue drop is fairly typical.
66. ULTIMATE COMICS DOOM 12/10 #1 of 4 - 27,469 01/11 #2 of 4 - 22,047 (-19.7%)
Tailing quite some way behind the other Ultimate books. The imprint doesn’t really seem to be strong enough to support these spin-off minis right now.
67. SCARLET [Icon]
07/10 #1 - 34,938
08/10 ---
09/10 #2 - 27,312 (-21.8%)
10/10 ---
11/10 #3 - 24,986 ( -8.5%)
12/10 ---
01/11 #4 - 22,011 (-11.9%)
6 mnth (-37.0%)
Dropping a little faster I’d have expected four issues in, but still doing well for a creator-owned book.
70. WOLVERINE & JUBILEE 01/11 #1 of 4 - 21,354
This is a follow-up to the first X-MEN story arc, in which Jubilee was turned into a vampire. (Marvel helpfully got around to stressing that point by putting a “CURSE OF THE MUTANTS AFTERMATH” banner – on issue #2.) It’s actually a good book, and the connection to a top ten storyline should have helped it, but the order levels suggest that retailers have treated it as one for X-completists.
72. ASTONISHING THOR 11/10 #1 of 5 - 29,202 12/10 --- 01/11 #2 of 5 - 19,642 (-32.7%)
Uh, really? This really doesn’t say much for the drawing power of Marvel’s “Astonishing” brand.
73. X-MEN: FIRST CLASS ONESHOTS 01/11 Magneto - 19,365
We’ll be seeing several of these one-shots over the next few months, as Marvel start generating material to tie in with another movie. Actually, it’s not a bad number for an out-of-continuity X-title.
75. DEADPOOLMAX [Max] 10/10 #1 - 29,176 11/10 #2 - 23,382 (-19.9%) 12/10 #3 - 20,990 (-10.2%) 01/11 #4 - 19,238 ( -8.3%)
It’s levelling out, but not very fast.
80. DARK TOWER: GUNSLINGER LITTLE SISTERS ELURIA
01/08 ---
01/09 Treachery #5 - 50,683
=====
01/10 ---
02/10 Jericho Hill #3 - 27,215 ( -4.0%)
02/10 Jericho Hill #4 - 26,336 ( -3.2%)
03/10 ---
04/10 Jericho Hill #5 - 25,896 ( -1.7%)
05/10 Gunslinger #1 - 26,275 ( +1.5%)
06/10 Gunslinger #2 - 24,024 ( -8.6%)
07/10 Gunslinger #3 - 22,744 ( -5.3%)
08/10 Gunslinger #4 - 21,820 ( -4.1%)
09/10 Gunslinger #5 - 21,323 ( -2.3%)
10/10 ---
11/10 ---
12/10 Little Sisters #1 - 19,807 ( -7.1%)
01/11 #2 of 5 - 18,589 ( -6.1%)
6 mnth (-18.3%)
1 year ( --- )
2 year (-63.3%)
3 year ( --- )
Continuing the DARK TOWER minis’ gentle downhill slide.
86. CHAOS WAR: X-MEN 12/10 #1 of 2 - 20,156 01/11 #2 of 2 - 17,783 (-11.8%) 93. CHAOS WAR: DEAD AVENGERS 11/10 #1 of 3 - 20,312 12/10 #2 of 3 - 17,111 (-15.8%) 01/11 #3 of 3 - 16,425 ( -4.0%)
About 7K behind the parent title, which probably didn’t really need all these spin-off books.
95. DEADPOOL CORPS
03/10 Prelude #1 - 37,011
03/10 #2 of 5 - 32,024 (-13.5%)
03/10 #3 of 5 - 31,065 ( -3.0%)
03/10 #4 of 5 - 30,254 ( -2.6%)
03/10 #5 of 5 - 29,037 ( -4.0%)
04/10 Corps #1 - 39,466 (+35.9%)
05/10 #2 - 28,236 (-28.5%)
06/10 #3 - 26,251 ( -7.0%)
07/10 #4 - 24,476 ( -6.8%)
08/10 #5 - 22,887 ( -6.5%)
09/10 #6 - 21,888 ( -4.4%)
10/10 #7 - 19,644 (-10.3%)
11/10 #8 - 18,267 ( -7.0%)
12/10 #9 - 16,735 ( -8.4%)
01/11 #10 - 16,120 ( -3.7%)
6 mnth (-34.1%)
Cancelled with issue #12.
97. PUNISHER: IN THE BLOOD
01/07 #3 - 70,143
01/08 #15 - 35,815
01/09 #1 - 43,876
=====
01/10 #13 - 23,734 ( -5.0%)
02/10 #14 - 23,455 ( -1.8%)
03/10 #15 - 22,285 ( -5.0%)
04/10 #16 - 23,047 ( +3.4%)
05/10 ---
06/10 #17 - 22,378 ( -2.9%)
06/10 #18 - 19,605 (-12.4%)
07/10 #19 - 24,947 (+27.2%)
08/10 #20 - 24,304 ( -2.6%)
09/10 #21 - 20,036 (-17.6%)
10/10 ---
11/10 #1 of 5 - 20,028 ( -0.0%)
12/10 #2 of 5 - 16,608 (-17.1%)
01/11 #3 of 5 - 15,298 ( -7.9%)
6 mnth (-38.7%)
1 year (-35.5%)
2 year (-65.1%)
3 year (-57.3%)
4 year (-78.2%)
Heading for another relaunch later in the summer. Say what you like about Marvel, they’re bloody persistent.
98. NAMOR: THE FIRST MUTANT 08/10 #1 - 37,399 09/10 #2 - 23,880 (-36.1%) 10/10 --- 11/10 #3 - 20,541 (-14.0%) 11/10 #4 - 19,469 ( -5.2%) 12/10 #5 - 17,730 ( -8.9%) 01/11 #6 - 15,181 (-14.4%)
Last month I somehow failed to notice that issue #4 had actually shipped in November, but I’ve sorted it all out here. (Hopefully.)
Obviously these numbers aren’t looking desperately healthy. The book hasn’t had a variant cover since issue #2 and the drops are getting faster.
100. X-MEN: TO SERVE AND PROTECT 09/10 Vampires #1 - 25,654 10/10 #2 of 2 - 23,362 ( -8.9%) 11/10 Serve #1 of 4 - 19,273 (-17.5%) 12/10 #2 of 4 - 15,976 (-17.1%) 01/11 #3 of 4 - 14,530 ( -9.1%)
Not much demand in evidence for these X-Men anthology books.
131. IRON MAN/THOR 11/10 #1 of 4 - 21,416 12/10 #2 of 4 - 15,977 (-25.4%) 01/11 #3 of 4 - 14,139 (-11.5%)
The third book which saw its sales split between months. IRON MAN/THOR #3 picked up 4,342 sales last month and adds 9,797 in January.
106. WIDOW MAKER
06/10 H&M #1 - 27,552
07/10 #2 - 20,531 (-25.5%)
08/10 #3 - 17,870 (-13.0%)
09/10 #4 - 16,405 ( -8.2%)
10/10 #5 - 15,337 ( -6.5%)
11/10 #6 - 14,217 ( -7.3%)
12/10 WM #1 - 18,245 (+28.3%)
12/10 #2 of 4 - 16,050 (-12.0%)
01/11 #3 of 4 - 13,368 (-16.7%)
6 mnth (-34.9%)
Not exactly great numbers, but there’s another Hawkeye mini to come.
109. CAPTAIN AMERICA: MAN OUT OF TIME 11/10 #1 of 5 - 23,566 12/10 #2 of 5 - 14,582 (-38.1%) 01/11 #3 of 5 - 13,060 (-10.4%)
Movie fodder.
110. SHE-HULKS 11/10 #1 - 18,616 12/10 #2 - 14,673 (-21.2%) 01/11 #3 - 12,926 (-11.9%)
Cancelled with issue #4.
113. IRON MAN LEGACY
04/10 #1 - 48,956
05/10 #2 - 29,175 (-40.4%)
06/10 #3 - 23,340 (-20.0%)
07/10 #4 - 20,142 (-13.7%)
08/10 #5 - 17,773 (-11.8%)
09/10 #6 - 15,949 (-10.3%)
10/10 #7 - 14,882 ( -6.7%)
11/10 #8 - 13,686 ( -8.0%)
12/10 #9 - 12,483 ( -8.8%)
01/11 #10 - 12,349 ( -1.1%)
6 mnth (-38.7%)
Cancelled with issue #11.
114. THOR: FIRST THUNDER 09/10 #1 of 5 - 21,228 10/10 #2 of 5 - 16,126 (-24.0%) 11/10 #3 of 5 - 14,038 (-12.9%) 12/10 #4 of 5 - 12,620 (-10.1%) 01/11 #5 of 5 - 11,799 ( -6.5%)
More movie fodder.
118,120. X-MEN FOREVER
01/10 #15 - 17,665 ( -3.9%)
01/10 #16 - 17,290 ( -2.1%)
02/10 #17 - 17,873 ( +3.4%)
02/10 #18 - 16,464 ( -7.9%)
03/10 #19 - 16,183 ( -1.7%)
03/10 #20 - 15,990 ( -1.2%)
04/10 #21 - 15,530 ( -2.9%)
04/10 #22 - 15,305 ( -1.4%)
05/10 #23 - 15,045 ( -1.7%)
05/10 #24 - 14,940 ( -0.7%)
06/10 GS#1 - 15,039 ( +0.7%)
06/10 #1 - 16,094 ( +7.0%)
06/10 #2 - 14,933 ( -7.2%)
07/10 #3 - 14,151 ( -5.2%)
07/10 #4 - 13,835 ( -2.2%)
08/10 #5 - 13,632 ( -1.5%)
08/10 #6 - 13,351 ( -2.1%)
09/10 #7 - 12,869 ( -3.6%)
09/10 #8 - 12,753 ( -0.9%)
10/10 #9 - 12,260 ( -3.9%)
10/10 #10 - 12,064 (-16.0%)
11/10 #11 - 12,018 ( -0.4%)
11/10 #12 - 11,756 ( -2.2%)
12/10 #13 - 11,419 ( -2.9%)
12/10 #14 - 11,192 ( -2.0%)
01/11 #15 - 11,101 ( -0.8%)
01/11 #16 - 10,937 ( -1.5%)
6 mnth (-20.9%)
1 year (-38.1%)
Cancelled.
124. I AM AN AVENGER 09/10 #1 of 5 - 20,922 10/10 #2 of 5 - 14,882 (-28.9%) 11/10 #3 of 5 - 12,277 (-17.5%) 12/10 #4 of 5 - 11,242 ( -8.4%) 01/11 #5 of 5 - 10,520 ( -6.4%)
Another low-selling anthology book.
136. OZMA OF OZ
01/09 #2 of 8 - 17,608
=====
01/10 #3 of 8 - 14,216 (-10.0%)
02/10 #4 of 8 - 13,364 ( -6.0%)
03/10 ---
04/10 #5 of 8 - 12,922 ( -3.3%)
05/10 #6 of 8 - 12,366 ( -4.3%)
06/10 #7 of 8 - 12,200 ( -1.3%)
07/10 #8 of 8 - 12,152 ( -0.4%)
08/10 ---
09/10 ---
10/10 ---
11/10 #1 of 8 - 13,222 ( +8.8%)
12/10 #2 of 8 - 10,419 (-21.2%)
01/11 #3 of 8 - 9,386 ( -9.9%)
6 mnth (-22.8%)
1 year (-34.0%)
2 year (-46.7%)
Still drifting down, but the Oz books theoretically ought to have a market outside Diamond.
144. CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE KORVAC SAGA 12/10 #1 of 4 - 11,576 01/11 #2 of 4 - 8,724 (-24.6%)
This is an all-ages re-telling of an old Avengers story, and by the standards of Marvel’s all ages titles, it’s doing fine.
146. ANT-MAN & WASP 11/10 #1 of 3 - 14,975 12/10 #2 of 3 - 10,044 (-32.9%) 01/11 #3 of 3 - 8,517 (-15.2%)
This, on the other hand, is a Marvel Universe mini and the sales are pretty dire. Shame, it wasn’t a bad book at all.
151. THOR: THE MIGHTY AVENGER
07/10 #1 - 20,076
07/10 #2 - 14,315 (-28.7%)
08/10 #3 - 12,112 (-15.4%)
09/10 #4 - 10,887 (-10.1%)
10/10 #5 - 9,673 (-11.2%)
11/10 #6 - 8,420 (-13.0%)
12/10 #7 - 8,244 ( -2.1%)
01/11 #8 - 8,323 ( +1.0%)
6 mnth (-41.9%)
Cancelled.
160. ANITA BLAKE, VAMPIRE HUNTER
01/07 Guilty Pls. #4 - 32,363
01/08 #7 - 27,874
01/09 L. Corpse #5 - 14,422
=====
01/10 Executioner #3 - 9,958 ( -4.7%)
02/10 #4 of 5 - 9,626 ( -3.3%)
03/10 #5 of 5 - 9,454 ( -1.8%)
04/10 ---
05/10 Circus #1 - 9,484 ( +0.3%)
06/10 #2 of 5 - 9,060 ( -4.5%)
07/10 #3 of 5 - 8,557 ( -5.6%)
08/10 ---
09/10 #4 of 5 - 8,427 ( -1.5%)
10/10 #5 of 5 - 8,146 ( -3.3%)
11/10 ---
12/10 ---
01/11 Ingenue #1 of 5 - 7,763 ( -4.7%)
6 mnth ( -9.3%)
1 year (-22.0%)
2 year (-46.2%)
3 year (-72.1%)
4 year (-76.0%)
More novel adaptations, presumably making their money somewhere else.
162. CASANOVA: GULA [Icon]
07/10 Vol 1 #1 of 4 - 10,452
08/10 Vol 1 #2 of 4 - 8,349 (-20.1%)
09/10 Vol 1 #3 of 4 - 7,621 ( -8.7%)
10/10 Vol 1 #4 of 4 - 7,366 ( -3.3%)
11/10 ---
12/10 ---
01/11 Vol 2 #1 of 4 - 7,658 ( +4.0%)
6 mnth (-26.7%)
Bearing in mind that this is a creator-owned reprint book, it’s doing perfectly well.
And from here on, it’s reference books, all ages titles and licensed adaptations…
196. OFFICIAL HANDBOOK
01/10 ---
02/10 A to Z Update #1 of 5 - 5,406
03/10 Deadpool Corps - 21,900 (+305.1%)
04/10 Iron Manual Mark 3 - 9,456 ( -56.8%)
05/10 Avengers Assemble #1 - 15,113 ( +59.8%)
06/10 A to Z Update #2 of 5 - 5,312 ( -64.9%)
07/10 X-Men: Phoenix Force - 9,566 ( +80.1%)
08/10 A to Z Update #3 of 5 - 4,962 ( -48.1%)
09/10 Heroic Age: Heroes - 11,224 (+126.2%)
10/10 A to Z Update #4 of 5 - 4,990 ( -55.5%)
11/10 Heroic Age: Villains - 9,294 ( +86.3%)
12/10 A to Z Update #5 of 5 - 4,808 ( -48.3%)
12/10 Heroic Age: X-Men - 13,789 (+186.8%)
01/11 Blockbusters - 5,354 ( -61.2%)
6 mnth ( -44.0%)
202. AVENGERS VS PET AVENGERS
02/10 Tails - 8,214 (-27.6%)
03/10 Unleashed #1 - 8,554 ( +4.1%)
04/10 #2 of 4 - 6,767 (-20.9%)
05/10 #3 of 4 - 6,339 ( -6.3%)
06/10 #4 of 4 - 6,166 ( -2.7%)
07/10 Dogs/Summer - 5,142 (-16.6%)
08/10 ---
09/10 ---
10/10 #1 of 4 - 7,097 (+38.0%)
11/10 #2 of 4 - 5,871 (-17.3%)
12/10 #3 of 4 - 5,372 ( -8.5%)
01/11 #4 of 4 - 5,002 ( -6.9%)
6 mnth ( -2.7%)
207. SPIDER-MAN [Marvel Adventures]
01/07 #11 - 6,107
01/08 #23 - 6,271
01/09 #35 - 6,065
=====
01/10 #59 - 4,315 ( -0.9%)
02/10 #60 - 4,212 ( -2.4%)
03/10 #61 - 4,200 ( -2.8%)
04/10 #1 - 9,770 (+132.6%)
05/10 #2 - 7,709 ( -21.1%)
06/10 #3 - 7,200 ( -6.6%)
07/10 #4 - 6,347 ( -11.8%)
08/10 #5 - 6,202 ( -2.3%)
09/10 #6 - 5,779 ( -6.8%)
10/10 ---
11/10 #7 - 5,603 ( -3.0%)
11/10 #8 - 5,269 ( -6.0%)
12/10 #9 - 5,116 ( -2.9%)
01/11 #10 - 4,816 ( -5.9%)
6 mnth ( -24.1%)
1 year ( +11.6%)
2 year ( -20.6%)
3 year ( -23.2%)
4 year ( -21.1%)
210. ORSON SCOTT CARD'S SPEAKER FOR THE DEAD
06/10 Ender in Exile #1 - 6,568
07/10 #2 of 5 - 5,673 (-13.6%)
08/10 #3 of 5 - 5,342 ( -5.8%)
09/10 #4 of 5 - ?,??? ( ??? )
10/10 #5 of 5 - 4,812 ( ??? )
11/10 ---
12/10 ---
01/11 Speaker #1 of 7 - 4,703 ( -2.3%)
6 mnth (-17.1%)
225. AVENGERS: EARTH'S MIGHTIEST HEROES
11/10 #1 of 4 - 7,934
12/10 #2 of 4 - 6,540 (-17.6%)
01/11 #3 of 4 - 4,008 (-38.7%)
236. SUPER HEROES [Marvel Adventures]
01/09 #7 - 4,141
=====
01/10 #19 - 3,103 ( ??? )
02/10 #20 - 3,008 ( -3.1%)
03/10 #21 - ?,??? ( ??? )
04/10 #1 - 8,107 ( ??? )
05/10 #2 - 6,360 (-21.5%)
06/10 #3 - 5,678 (-10.7%)
07/10 #4 - 4,564 (-19.6%)
08/10 #5 - 4,418 ( -3.2%)
09/10 #6 - ?,??? ( ??? )
10/10 #7 - 3,800 ( ??? )
11/10 #8 - 3,541 ( -6.8%)
12/10 #9 - ?,??? ( ??? )
01/11 #10 - 3,386 ( ??? )
6 mnth (-25.8%)
1 year ( +9.1%)
2 year (-18.2%)
260. OFFICIAL INDEX TO THE MARVEL UNIVERSE
01/10 #13 - 3,248 (-12.0%)
02/10 #14 - 3,161 ( -2.7%)
03/10 ---
04/10 ---
05/10 #1 - 4,997 (+58.1%)
06/10 #2 - ?,??? ( ??? )
07/10 #3 - 3,776 ( ??? )
08/10 #4 - 3,448 ( -8.7%)
09/10 #5 - ?,??? ( ??? )
10/10 #6 - ?,??? ( ??? )
11/10 #7 - 2,947 ( ??? )
12/10 #8 - ?,??? ( ??? )
01/11 #9 - 2,599 ( ??? )
6 mnth (-31.2%)
1 year (-20.0%)
6 month comparisons
===================
+225.2% - Fantastic Four
+ 58.8% - Wolverine
+ 57.6% - Chaos War/Hercules
+ 11.3% - Invincible Iron Man
- 2.7% - Pet Avengers
- 7.1% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 9.3% - Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter
- 11.6% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man
- 15.8% - Thunderbolts
- 16.7% - Uncanny X-Force
- 17.1% - Orson Scott Card's Ender
- 18.2% - Daredevil
- 18.3% - Dark Tower
- 19.0% - Uncanny X-Men
- 19.6% - Thor
- 20.9% - Deadpool
- 20.9% - X-Men Forever
- 21.7% - X-Factor
- 22.8% - Oz
- 24.1% - Spider-Man [Marvel Adventures]
- 24.6% - X-Men Legacy
- 25.8% - Avengers
- 25.8% - Super Heroes [Marvel Adventures]
- 26.7% - New Avengers
- 26.7% - Casanova
- 28.6% - Ultimate Comics Avengers
- 29.8% - Secret Avengers
- 31.2% - Official Index
- 32.9% - New Mutants
- 34.1% - Deadpool Corps
- 34.9% - Hawkeye/Widowmaker
- 36.9% - Avengers Academy
- 37.0% - Scarlet
- 38.7% - Punisher
- 38.7% - Iron Man Legacy
- 41.9% - Thor: The Mighty Avenger
- 44.0% - Official Handbook
- 54.9% - X-Men
1 year comparisons
==================
+179.6% - Fantastic Four
+ 53.6% - Black Panther
+ 48.1% - Wolverine
+ 11.6% - Spider-Man [Marvel Adventures]
+ 10.3% - Invincible Iron Man
+ 9.1% - Super Heroes [Marvel Adventures]
+ 6.2% - Chaos War/Hercules
+ 1.0% - Uncanny X-Force
- 7.4% - Thunderbolts
- 11.3% - Daredevil
- 15.5% - X-Factor
- 16.0% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 17.8% - Uncanny X-Men
- 18.3% - X-Men Legacy
- 20.0% - Official Index
- 21.8% - New Avengers
- 22.0% - Anita Blake
- 22.2% - New Mutants
- 22.5% - Thor
- 23.2% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man
- 29.8% - Secret Avengers
- 34.0% - Oz
- 35.5% - Punisher
- 35.8% - Incredible Hulks
- 38.1% - X-Men Forever
- 50.4% - Captain America
2 year comparisons
==================
+118.9% - Fantastic Four
+ 10.1% - Invincible Iron Man
- 0.8% - Uncanny X-Force
- 13.2% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 14.7% - Daredevil
- 18.2% - Super Heroes [Marvel Adventures]
- 20.6% - Spider-Man [Marvel Adventures]
- 22.6% - Chaos War/Hercules
- 23.4% - X-Factor
- 32.1% - New Avengers
- 32.2% - X-Men Legacy
- 32.4% - Thunderbolts
- 32.5% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man
- 37.4% - Deadpool
- 42.4% - Captain America
- 46.2% - Anita Blake
- 46.7% - Oz
- 63.3% - Dark Tower
- 65.1% - Punisher
- 76.9% - Incredible Hulks
3 year comparisons
==================
+138.9% - Fantastic Four
+ 42.3% - Invincible Iron Man
- 19.8% - Daredevil
- 22.9% - Wolverine
- 23.2% - Spider-Man [Marvel Adventures]
- 34.1% - Incredible Hulks
- 39.2% - Thunderbolts
- 43.1% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man
- 46.9% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 48.8% - Uncanny X-Men
- 57.3% - Punisher
- 61.6% - X-Men Legacy
- 66.4% - Chaos War/Hercules
- 67.0% - Captain America
- 69.1% - X-Factor
- 72.1% - Anita Blake
4 year comparisons
==================
+ 36.9% - Fantastic Four
- 14.0% - Incredible Hulks
- 21.1% - Spider-Man [Marvel Adventures]
- 27.2% - Daredevil
- 35.1% - X-Factor
- 35.5% - Uncanny X-Men
- 47.7% - X-Men Legacy
- 52.4% - Black Panther
- 54.7% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 59.2% - Thunderbolts
- 59.4% - Wolverine
- 69.0% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man
- 76.0% - Anita Blake
- 78.2% - Punisher
5 year comparisons
==================
+ 19.8% - Invincible Iron Man
+ 13.2% - Thunderbolts
- 1.6% - Black Panther
- 22.5% - Daredevil
- 32.2% - Uncanny X-Men
- 33.9% - Wolverine
- 34.4% - Incredible Hulks
- 45.4% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 45.8% - X-Men Legacy
- 49.8% - New Avengers
- 53.5% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man
From a retailer’s viewpoint I think that these low sale numbers are due in a large part to the lack of anything really significant happening. After Secret Invasion we had pretty much nothing going on in the Marvel U (and this has lasted for over two years now). Seriously, what has really happened? I’m not saying that big events are the answer but they certainly help. Also, most titles just don’t go anywhere. I think the onus lies on comic creators becoming stagnant. We need some fresh blood and innovative storytelling, not Bendis writing every fourth book. Comic fans are hungry for good books and they’ll always stay loyal to the industry in one form or another.
In defense of Lady Mechanika, that was a REPRINT of issue 1. The first printing of issue 1 sold over 20,000 in December…
RE: Astonishing Thor, as much as I liked Codename: Knockout, Rodi is neither a big A-list name (Whedon) nor a ‘hot’ relative newcomer (Aaron) – he’s a solid creator who has written a lot of stuff already, some of which was pretty good.
If Marvel are going to create these ‘prestige’ brands and over-apply them to any old project, this is going to be the result.
There were indeed many fewer new comics and trades to buy in January; that’s easy to see from how many slots ongoing titles lower on the list jumped, regardless of their sales,
The month we’re comparing against, January 2010, followed a week when Diamond was closed, so it included additional material — and many January 2011 books missed their shipping windows in the first two weeks because of the Tuesday transition. So for a lot of reasons, January is atypical.
I like Namor a lot and would have picked up his book, but I wasn’t interested in reading Curse of the Mutants tie-ins to start the series. How much of the first trade paperback will be vampire-related?
The Wolverine numbers are ridiculous. It is the exact same series as it was before, but now shipping 15k more units. I’d say the relaunch was a huge success.
Thor and Thunderbolts numbers do not look good. I feel bad for Jeff Parker, who’s writing his ass off. Fraction’s Thor is most likely hurting from the $4 price point.
Generation Hope went from interesting to standard to boring very rapidly. Wouldn’t be surprised if it became retroactively a 12-issue maxi-series.
Punisher In Blood relaunched as the same creative team on the previous series, but this time with a $4 price tag. Goodbye 7000 readers.
The #72 book didn’t break 20k. This is bad folks. Thanks for the numbers Paul. As always I love this column.
Highest selling issue of Fantastic Four since the $.09 issue in 2002?
They are over saturating the Thor market at the moment. There is absolutely no need for 3-5 Thor miniseries. Also I believe there was a small period where the main series came out within two weeks of each other.
“33. ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN
09/10 #14 – 35,776 ( -3.7%)
10/10 #15 – 34,657 ( -3.1%)
11/10 #150 – 40,553 (+17.0%)
12/10 #151 – 33,707 (-16.9%)
01/11 #152 – 33,481 ( -1.0%)”
Wow, that renumbering trick worked for a whole issue there. I really doubt that the one-time boost of a few thousand copies was worth the confusion it likely caused for more casual readers.
Am I the only one that is surprised that Invincible Iron Man #500 didn’t do much better? I can’t recall the numbers but I’m sure that Hulk, Thor and Captain America’s recent anniversary issues did much, much better. I guess the market really is in a bad place right now.
Micah, you mentioned Thor and it’s four dollar cover price, that was enough to make me drop the book and I’ve also dropped Iron Man for the same reason. I wasn’t enjoying both books but the completist mentality probably would have kicked in if they were priced at $2.99, at $3.99 there was no way I could justify buying them with Fraction’s decompressed style.
Thanks for running the numbers, Paul. As always, they are a very interesting read. While you’re totally right that Captain America: Man Out of Time was done to have TPB-able material out in time for the movie, it’s a frigging excellent read. I defy anyone to read issue 3 and not be a little bit moved.
here’s a tip for completists whi don’t want to spend $4: wait a year or so and you can find those issues in dollar bins
“here’s a tip for completists who don’t want to spend $4: wait a year or so and you can find those issues in dollar bins”
Or wait less then that and get them on eBay almost as cheap…
I’m with Mario – I’ve cut back on my monthly comics drastically but I’ve been able to find so many great series and minis for a dollar or less. So I get great comics to read – but at about 75% off!! haha…
I’ll be curious to see what the next issue of Fantastic Four drops down to after the ‘fake out’. ;)
Paul – Are you able to put in how many variants each issue has? I’m interested to know what they are for 1st issues, new storylines, and the made up ‘anniversary issues’. I’m guessing it’s up to about 10 or more covers for each?
Captain America: Hail Hydra #1, like Generation Hope the other month, was double-shipped to stores. Actual ordered copies would be half of that number.
Black Panthern in Daredevils title sucks. Just wait until this summer when Daredevil Volume 4 (5 or 6?) relaunches for a 3 month sales gain and along the way, wham! the renumbering schmes occurs. Marvel has screwed up every single main character with useless relaunches, numbering gimmicks, over pricing and in many cases horrible stories – events. Just look at the Wolverine line and see how bad it is. No wonder they are doing so poorly. FF #1 an the death of Human Torch will be another failed attempted in their list of missed opportunities.
Naveed, Iron Man has been renumbered/retitled a couple times, and that book is probably the best one on the stands. the numbers and the relaunches don’t really count towards making a book good or bad, it’s about content.
Then its too bad most of the content these days SUCKS.
LobsterDragon, I agree, Iron Man is really good. I was just trying to state that these gimmicks and bad decisions turn off fans from trying new material out. IT is confusing and just plain old sucks. Why couldnt they simply leave it and all the other titles (like Hulk, Spiderman, etc) in there current and latest series numbering. Anyways, it sure turns me off….
I’m nostalgic for a time that wasn’t too long ago, when Alan Moore was giving us full meals with each issue of Tom Strong and Top Ten, and when Brian K. Vaughan was writing three different monthly comics. Each individual issue felt like a substantial portion. I’m dropping series left and right now because it doesn’t feel like the creators are earning my money.
The sole exception that comes to mind is Dan Slott’s Amazing Spider-Man, which always feels like a satisfying chunk of story… Granted, it has more pages than the average monthly comic book, but I don’t feel empty after reading it, so that’s nice.
Great work as always, Paul. I always look forward to your chart analysis. It is great having hard numbers to work with. Jan. 2011 was a bad month for Marvel overall. You can see how their renumbering stunts often only have short term gains; if the gains last beyond a month, they rarely last more than four anymore. At time point, strategies that are beyond band-aids may be needed.
It stinks to see so many decent titles struggle in sales. Of course, even the top 3 Avengers titles have lost a lot of readers lately and need stunts too – they just sell more to begin with.
As a big fan of AVENGERS ACADEMY, I can’t say sales are “stable.” Even discounting the TRON cover of issue seven, the drop from issue six to eight is still nearly 9% or so, which is unhealthy for a title that has lasted long enough to sell a trade. I mean, it is a healthier title than, say, SPIDER-GIRL is or YOUNG ALLIES was, titles that may not last past issue six, but the title will still have to get stable very quickly to last past the last issues solicited, which were 13 and 14. It is a shame because it is a lovely book with old and new characters written well.
Honestly, the $3.99 price tag has done more harm than good. It isn’t just killing bigger books – it discourages readers from trying anything new. Maybe you can draw a crowd for a four dollar debut issue if you are Bendis or Millar or Brubaker on a red hot franchise, but you probably can’t if you are Paul Tobin on SPIDER-GIRL, Sean McKeever on YOUNG ALLIES or Christos Gage on AVENGERS ACADEMY. Maybe another few thousand readers might have had a chance to try AA #1 if it debuted at $2.99 (or, heaven forbid, at $2.75 or something to really make it an impulse buy), and that would help down the line.
Marvel has encouraged people to only buy “important” books since about 2004 when they were pushing DISASSEMBLED, and now they are reaping what they have sown. The “non-important” books sink, and overall sales sink without a line wide crossover. But even the line wide crossovers don’t sell like they did in 2008, even. I certainly wouldn’t want to be EIC right now, forced to come up with a bold new answer or just continue the short term angles that see diminishing returns until the iceberg hits. It stinks that so many good titles and creators are caught in the middle.
Marvel’s doing a pretty terrible job promoting their best work – it wouldn’t be hard for them to get on the various sites and say, “Look! Here’s SCARLET! Here’s DEADPOOL MAX! Here’s OZ! You NEED to buy these books because they are AWESOME!” It probably doesn’t help that Marvel expects their editors to do their marketing department’s job for them.
Marvel’s so busy trying to fool readers into buying into pointless franchises that they’re ignoring their need to push quality – which you’d think would be the easiest thing to sell. Perhaps Marvel doesn’t want all of the readers they’ve trained to care about events and continuity instead of quality to figure out that there are better books they could be reading instead? (I certainly get more enjoyment out of one issue of DEADPOOL MAX than any ten current issues of Avengers- or X-Men-related titles.)
I just feel bad for all of the potential readers missing out on the best of Marvel’s output just because Marvel’s incapable of promoting the books whose sales would benefit the most from more exposure.
Marvel’s marketing department isn’t as completely useless as DC’s, but they sure seem to be working on that.
@Dread – Marvel’s ‘impulse buy’ IS 2.99. The point one issues. Yeah, I know, they have no idea. haha…
Marvel’s Marketing Dept – “Come buy this great .1 easy access jump on issue for only 2.99!!! Thats right, 2.99!! And then every month after that, we’ll charge you an extra $1 for the same amount of content just because we can. Come on readers, come get suckered in! What are you waiting for?”
Another problem is even after a spate of cancellations, Marvel publishes too many comics and launches too many at once to have them be properly pitched. AVENGERS ACADEMY and YOUNG ALLIES, two books featuring newer or new characters in teen teams, launched in the same week. One will survive a year, and one didn’t survive six months.
The irony is that Bill Jemas had a LOT of genuinely BAD ideas; but the few GOOD ideas he had, Marvel has abandoned. One was keeping certain books, especially the Ultimate ones, as cheap as possible as long as possible. The second was perhaps only launching one or two new titles a month but heavily promoting them. In contrast, one of his bad ideas was making cover images look like stock poster images to sell as posters. By 2011, Marvel has enough generic cover images of Iron Man and Thor to circle Jupiter 17 times, yet they STILL insist on those sorts of lame covers.
AVENGERS ACADEMY #7 had a TRON cover, but it was also the first issue since #1 that was actually promoted in any way beyond a solicit and a 6 page Newsarama preview. Maybe THAT was why it sold an extra few thousand copies that month?
Dread said: “Honestly, the $3.99 price tag has done more harm than good. It isn’t just killing bigger books – it discourages readers from trying anything new. Maybe you can draw a crowd for a four dollar debut issue if you are Bendis or Millar or Brubaker on a red hot franchise, but you probably can’t if you are Paul Tobin on SPIDER-GIRL, Sean McKeever on YOUNG ALLIES or Christos Gage on AVENGERS ACADEMY. Maybe another few thousand readers might have had a chance to try AA #1 if it debuted at $2.99 (or, heaven forbid, at $2.75 or something to really make it an impulse buy), and that would help down the line.”
Yes, I agree with you completely. Worst of all many of those $3.99 number one issues only feature a 22 page story with some reprints or other fluff to pad it out. I have stopped buying most number one issues because I am tired of feeling like I am being ripped off. If anything Marvel should be pricing number one issues at $1.99 to give readers an incentive to try them. Frankly, I am shocked by the stupidity of Marvel regarding their pricing. Sure, they are getting a temporary monetary boost but they are making it much harder for a new series to survive past issue 6. Is the tradeoff worth it?
The trade off may have been worth it in 2009, but 2010 ended poorly and 2011 hasn’t kicked off very well, either.
I agree, I hate paying $3.99 for no additional material. While I suppose a reprint or a “saga” or a Handbook Bio (which I enjoy) are better than nothing, such as in a typical Bendis or Brubaker Avengers issue, the increase in price is a barrier for some. It also increases the wholesale price and that discourages retailers from investing on new launches unless it is some proven commodity. I will be curious how VENOM #1 is ordered. Venom WAS a hot draw – back in 1994. Ever since 2004 or so, ASM spin offs have struggled, whether they were mini’s or ongoings.
Paul O’Brien actually summarized the situation very well in one of his podcasts. Rather than price a debut issue as cheaply as possible so it reaches as many hands as possible, Marvel often makes it THE most expensive issue, because they cynically know it will be the peak of sales for that series and thus they want to “gouge them” while they can. The problem is that is a cynical short term strategy that may have run its course. Fans are not as foolish as many who sell to them believe they are.
David Gabriel did a lot of hemming and hawing about Marvel’s price strategy in 2011 to try to compete with DC’s “Holding The Line At $2.99” strategy. To be honest, I have yet to read one 20 page DC comic that felt too short for my money; I have not missed the extra 2 pages unless I went back and counted them. Then again, I also read Image’s DYNAMO 5, and issues of that are typically 20 pages, too. But one of his later statements was claiming 2011 would see an end to Marvel selling a #1 issue of an ongoing series at $3.99 for no good reason. VENOM #1 proves that was, at best, another misquote.
Industry insiders claim that lowering the quality of the paper would not effect the price much, by “at best a nickel”. But y’know what? I’d take that dare. Go on, sell a comic for $2.95 (4 cents cheaper, not even a whole nickel) and see if anyone complains.
Dread wrote: “Go on, sell a comic for $2.95 (4 cents cheaper, not even a whole nickel) and see if anyone complains.”
Careful–this is comics. Somebody complains about everything.
Is Invincible Iron Man now regularly a $3.99 book? That sucks. I’ve been picking it up from my comicshop since numero uno but I guess I’ll just start buying it for cheaper online. That’s what I’ve been doing for Ultimate Spider-Man.
“Rich says:
03/03/2011 at 5:11 pm
I like Namor a lot and would have picked up his book, but I wasn’t interested in reading Curse of the Mutants tie-ins to start the series. How much of the first trade paperback will be vampire-related?”
Agreed! And since the vampire junk wrapped up I’ve been eying the title but haven’t seen anything that really grabs me. I assume Marvel figured people would buy Namor, a B-lister, because it was a Curse of the Mutants tie-in and then hopefully like what they read and stick around. But for me, it did the opposite because I already liked Namor.
I’m reading the Fantastic Four regularly for the first time since, well, ever. And I pick up Thunderbolts sometimes for Kev Walker’s art but Jeff Parker’s writing is a too ho-hum for my taste. Nothing much seems to happen either storyline or character-wise.
I bought Jubilee and Wolverine. It was $2.99 and their dynamic together is usually pretty fun. Actually, I’ve been buying a few miniseries these last couple of months because the price is $2.99 instead of $3.99. To me it makes a big difference when trying a title I’m not sure about.
Venom #1 is a “40” page book. That’s why it’s 3.99.
Maybe. But most comics claim 22 pages of story and 10 of ads is a “32 page comic”, so I usually don’t take anyone’s word for page length anymore. Especially with reprints/sagas/Handbook Bio’s usually used to fill up pages.
While we’re on the topic of price – did anyone notice that Annihilators #1 was $4.99? It was a fat issue – 22 pages of main story and a bunch of backup/filler/padding. I can’t wait to see how it was ordered, and how rapidly it drops off – I’ve been feeling like a rube paying $3.99 routinely for awhile (though I still do it, because I’m an idiot) but $4.99 is just not happening.