by Xavier Lancel
Welcome to a new analysis of the Marvel sales. Reminder: I’m French, that’s why I’m talking funny. Please address your complaints to my we-love-Ms-Marvel country.
This month, we can almost say for sure who’s gonna stay for the party and who’s gonna be shown the exit door very quickly. There are some surprises along the way, but overall, things are rather grim. The axe is poised to fall on a number of characters who Marvel took a risk on by giving them series. One way of looking at it is to say that Marvel is so focused on selling Star Wars and Deadpool products that they haven’t made any particular effort to promote some of those low-key daring launches. This way, they’ll be able to say that « the customers don’t want anything new », which isn’t entirely wrong. But in those days and age, you would think Marvel would have found a way to communicate with its readership in a different, more adult, way than it did before. Without any proper guidance to help those readers choose between all those new launches, readers fall into old habits and history repeats itself.
Reminder: those sales are estimates of sales to comics shops situated in North America. American comics get sold elsewhere in their original floppy edition, but are not counted here. Also, keep in mind that just because a copy is sold to a shop doesn’t mean it ends up in the hands of a customer. This would be way too easy. Digital sales are not taken into account.
Thanks to Milton Griepp and ICv2.com for the permission to use their figures.
2- SECRET WARS LTD ($5) 05/15 Secret Wars Ltd #1 - 544,342 05/15 Secret Wars Ltd #2 - 231,560 (-57.5%) 06/15 Secret Wars Ltd #3 - 224,067 (- 3.2%) 07/15 Secret Wars Ltd #4 - 221,041 (- 1.4%) 08/15 Secret Wars Ltd #5 – 204,416 (- 7.5%) 09/15 --- 10/15 Secret Wars Ltd #6 - 192,244 (- 6.0%) 11/15 Secret Wars Ltd #7 - 177,019 (- 7.9%) 12/15 Secret Wars Ltd #8 - 169,667 (- 4.2%) 01/16 Secret Wars Ltd #9 - 149,028 (- 12.2%)
It’s quite unusual for this kind of event to finish on a down note, as people are eager to know who perished in the final issue. Perhaps we’ll see reorder activity next month, as this final 9th issue was not planned for when the series started. A bi-weekly schedule was impossible to apply, but all in all, Secret Wars missed only one month. Very good numbers in the end of course.
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3- SPIDER-MAN DEADPOOL 01/16- Spider-Man Deadpool #1 - 133,813
Two of Marvel’s current best-selling characters, doomed to be featured together in a comic. It’s an ongoing, no less!
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4- 5- STAR WARS 01/15 Star Wars #1 - 1,070,137 02/15 Star Wars #2 - 212,089 (-80.0%) 03/15 Star Wars #3 - 175,579 (-17.2%) 04/15 Star Wars #4 - 203,817 (+16.1%) 05/15 Star Wars #5 - 146,850 (-27.9%) 06/15 Star Wars #6 - 152,652 (+ 4.0%) 07/15 Star Wars #7 - 160,000 (+ 1.0%) 08/15 Star Wars #8 - 145,066 (- 9.3%) 09/15 Star Wars #9 - 135,817 (- 6.4%) 10/15 Star Wars#10 - 134,613 (- 0.9%) 11/15 Star Wars#11 - 126,780 (- 5.8%) 11/15 Star Wars#12 - 123,133 (- 2.9%) 12/15 Star Wars#13 - 139,918 (+13.6%) (Vader Down) 01/16 Star Wars#14 - 118,471 (- 15.3%) 01/16 Star Wars#15 - 107,858 (- 9.0%) Since issue #2: -49.1% TPB VOL.1: 30,245 [+3,050] Average +%TPB sales issues 1-6: +17.2%
Could the honeymoon be over ? We are still in excellent sales territory, but there was clearly no movie effect on floppy sales, quite the opposite in fact! For the first time, Star Wars could fall under the 6 digit sales threshold next month.
STAR WARS TP VOL.2: 7.656 144p, $20, cents per page: 13.9 Average +% TPB Sales issues #7-12: +5.6%But absolutly nothing to worry about, as TPB sales are a juggernaut. The new volume is out, piercing the roof, and vol.1 keeps saling in huge quantities month after month with more than 30K TPB units already sold in comics shops alone!
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6- OLD MAN LOGAN ($5) 05/15 Old Man Logan Ltd #1 - 122,702 06/15 Old Man Logan Ltd #2 - 78,426 (-36.1%) 07/15 Old Man Logan Ltd #3 - 67,482 (-14.0%) 08/15 Old Man Logan Ltd #4 - 69,122 (+ 2.4%) 09/15 --- 10/15 Old Man Logan Ltd #5 - 62,716 (- 9.3%) 11/15 --- 12/15 --- 01/16 Old Man Logan #1 - 104, 362
Well, Wolverine is more popular than the X-Men, it seems (see down there).
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7- OBI-WAN AND ANAKIN 01/16- Obi-Wan and Anakin #1 - 102, 861
Barely made it past 100K. Clearly, something changed and we are just entering a more reasonable level of floppy sales for the Star Wars franchise at Marvel.
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9- DARTH VADER 02/15 Darth Vader #1 - 304,373 02/15 Darth Vader #2 - 125,466 (-58.8%) 03/15 Darth Vader #3 - 126,278 (+ 0.6%) 04/15 Darth Vader #4 - 136,451 (+ 8.1%) 05/15 Darth Vader #5 - 113,025 (-17.2%) 06/15 Darth Vader #6 - 107,739 (- 4.7%) 07/15 Darth Vader #7 - 114,349 (+ 6.1%) 08/15 Darth Vader #8 - 98,994 (-13.4%) 09/15 Darth Vader #9 - 100,235 (+ 1.3%) 10/15 Darth Vader#10- 94,372 (- 5.8%) 10/15 Darth Vader#11- 92,866 (- 1.6%) 11/15 Darth Vader#12- 90,077 (- 3.0%) 11/15 Darth Vader#13- 113,448 (+25.9%) (Vader Down) 12/15 Darth Vader#14- 97,457 (-14,1%) (Vader Down) 01/16 Darth Vader#15- 98,405 (+ 1.0%) (Vader Down) Since issue #2: -21.6% DARTH VADER TP VOL.1: 20,209 [+3,585] Average +% TPB Sales issues #1-6: +16.0%
DARTH VADER TP VOL.2: 7.850 136p, $20, cents per page: 14.7 Average +% TPB Sales issues #7-12: +8.1%While the floppy series is still doing wonders, the paperback version has become a huge charts leader for Marvel. The new paperback is leading the charts while the first volume is in the Top 10 for the fourth month in a row!
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10- 21- UNCANNY X-MEN 01/16- Uncanny X-Men #1 - 93,252 01/16 Uncanny X-Men #2 - 55.804 (-40.2%)
If everybody is uncanny those days (Avengers, Inhumans and X-Men), those debut sales are not.
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11- 20-AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 04/14 Amazing v3 #1 - 532,586 ( 293.1%)[23,871] 05/14 Amazing v3 #2 - 123,945 ( -76.7%) ... 04/15 Amazing v3 #17 - 99,964 ( +8.3%) 05/15 Amazing v3 #18 - 88,338 (-11.6%) ... 10/15 Amazing Spider-Man #1 - 245,873 10/15 Amazing Spider-Man #2 - 111,322 (-54.7%) 11/15 Amazing Spider-Man #3 - 93,848 (-15.7%) 12/15 Amazing Spider-Man #4 - 82,066 (-22.6%) 12/15 Amazing Spider-Man #5 - 79,122 (- 3.6%) 01/16 Amazing Spider-Man #6 - 76,517 (- 3.3%) 12/15 Amazing Spider-Man #1.1 - 66,092 12/15 Amazing Spider-Man #1.2 - 56,674 (-14.2%) Since #2: -31.3%
The relaunch had an horrible effect on sales.
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12- A-FORCE 05/15 A-Force #1 - 114,528 --- 07/15 A-Force #2 - 60,330 (-47.3%) 08/15 A-Force #3 - 49,074 (-18.7%) 09/15 A-Force #4 - 46,636 (- 5.0%) 10/15 A-Force #5 - 41,337 (-11.4%) 11/15 --- 12/15 --- 01/16 A-Force #1 - 65,661
A debut closer to its previous issue #2 sales than #1. Not a good sign.
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13- MIGHTY THOR 12/12 Thor v5 #1 - 110,443 ... 02/14 Thor #19.Now– 42.034 ( 10.1%) ... 09/14 Thor v5 #25 – 53,047 ( 38.4%) 10/14 Thor v6 #1 – 150,862 ( 184.4%) 11/14 Thor v6 #2 – 89,131 ( -40.9%) 12/14 Thor v6 #3 – 72,563 ( -18.6%) 01/15 Thor v6 #4 - 69,497 ( -4.2%) 02/15 Thor v6 #5 - 69,513 ( +0.0%) 03/15 Thor v6 #6 - 70,569 ( +1.5%) 04/15 Thor v6 #7 - 71,372 ( +1.1%) 05/15 Thor v6 #8 - 86,222 (+20.1%) ... 11/15 Mighty Thor #1 - 112,053 12/15 Mighty Thor #2 - 70,331 (-37.2%) 01/16 Mighty Thor #3 - 60,345 (-14.2%)
Here again, we can’t help but wonder if the relaunch has caused readers to drop the title. Unfortunately, these kinds of sales patterns are the only way Marvel might come to understand that these relaunches are useless.
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14- 16-DEADPOOL 11/12 Deadpool #2 - 76,445 ... 03/14 Deadpool #25 - 48,775 (+ 18.6%)(Now) ... 10/14 Deadpool #36 - 46,600 (+ 7.0%)(Axis) ... 03/15 Deadpool #44 - 39,716 (- 11.5%) 04/15 Deadpool #45 - 96.897 (+144.0%) 11/15 Deadpool #1 - 261,805 [+81,240] 11/15 Deadpool #2 - 92,008 (-64.9%) 12/15 Deadpool #3 - 72,357 (-21.4%) 12/15 Deadpool #4 - 63,149 (-22.7%) 01/16 Deadpool #5 - 59,645 (- 5.5%) 01/16 Deadpool #6 - 59.006 (- 1.1%) Since issue#2 : - 35.9%
Still one of the few winners from the All New relaunches. It seems to want to settle down 50 % higher than before.
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17- SILVER SURFER 03/14 Silver Surfer #1 - 64,919 ( --- ) 04/14 Silver Surfer #2 - 39,132 (-39.7%) 06/14 Silver Surfer #3 - 36,075 ( -7.8%) 07/14 Silver Surfer #4 - 32,747 ( -9.2%) 08/14 Silver Surfer #5 - 31,125 ( -5.0%) 10/14 Silver Surfer #6 - 28,052 ( -9.9%) 11/14 Silver Surfer #7 - 25,759 ( -8.2%) 12/14 --- 01/15 Silver Surfer #8 - 23,420 (- 9.1%) 02/15 Silver Surfer #9 - 21,716 (- 7.3%) 03/15 Silver Surfer #10 - 21,100 (- 2.8%) 04/15 Silver Surfer #11 - 20,776 (- 1.5%) 05/15 --- 06/15 Silver Surfer #12 - 20,704 (- 0.3%) 07/15 Silver Surfer #13 - 24,321 (+17.5%) 08/15 --- 09/15 Silver Surfer #14 - 23,008 (- 5.4%) 10/15 --- 11/15 Silver Surfer #15 - 21,343 (- 7.2%) 12/15 --- 01/16- Silver Surfer #1 - 57,633
Now that the word of mouth has had the time to reach everybody, will more buyers stay and become readers? It’s starting back only a little below what it did before so all hope is permitted.
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18- 19- ALL NEW ALL DIFFERENT AVENGERS 11/15 ANAD Avengers #1 - 128,570 12/15 ANAD Avengers #2 - 67,154 (-47.8%) 01/16 ANAD Avengers #3 - 57,584 (-14.3%) 01/16 ANAD Avengers #4 - 57,114 (- 0.8%) Since issue #2 : - 15.0 %
This roster of Avengers is really different, not that you will know it from the adjectives of the title, which lost all meaning. This kind of Young Next Generation Avengers could have tanked horribly. It seems that this bet was won by Marvel, judging from those first sales numbers.
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22- CAPTAIN MARVEL 11/13 Captain Marvel v6 #17 - 18,173 (-20.5%) ... 03/14 Captain Marvel v7 #1 - 44,248 04/14 Captain Marvel v7 #2 - 28,008 (-36.7%) ... 05/15 Captain Marvel v7 #15 – 19,740 (-35.4%) ... 06/15 Cap Marvel & Carol Corps Ltd #1 - 47,302 ... 08/15 Cap Marvel & Carol Corps Ltd #4 - 22,106 (- 9.0%) ... 01/16- Captain Marvel #1 - 52,972
That’s a stronger debut than that of both the previous volume and the Secret Wars miniseries. A good sign, but everything could change with #2 numbers.
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23- DOCTOR STRANGE 10/15 Doctor Strange #1 – 145,456 11/15 Doctor Strange #2 - 65,091 (-55.3%) 12/15 Doctor Strange #3 - 57,135 (-12.2%) 01/16 Doctor Strange #4 - 52,388 (- 8.3%) Since issue #2 : -19.5%
Slowly settling down.
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25- ALL NEW X-MEN 11/12 All-New X-Men #2 - 100,983 ... 01/14 All-New #22.NOW - 76,565 (+21.8%) ... 08/14 All-New X-Men #30 - 54,882 ( -6.7%) 08/14 All-New X-Men #31 - 58,535 ( 6.7%) 09/14 All-New X-Men #32 - 54,654 ( -6.6%) 10/14 All-New X-Men #33 - 60,032 ( 9.8%) 11/14 --- 12/14 All-New X-Men #34 - 57,569 ( -4.1%) 01/15 All-New X-Men #35 - 51,823 (-10.0%) 02/15 All-New X-Men #36 - 49,464 ( -4.6%) 02/15 All-New X-Men #38 - 58,037 (+17.3%) B. Vortex 03/15 All-New X-Men #37 - 48,140 (-17.1%) 03/15 All-New X-Men #39 - 58,490 (+ 0.8%) B. vortex 04/15 All-New X-Men #40 - 57,797 (- 1.2%) 05/15 -- 06/15 All-New X-Men #41 - 48,937 (-15.3%) 12/15 All New X-Men #1 - 81,342 12/15 All New X-Men #2 - 56,168 (-30.9%) 01/16 All New X-Men #3 - 50,557 (-10.0%) Since issue #2 : - 10.0 %
Already almost the lowest sales ever for this title.
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27- ALL NEW WOLVERINE 01/14 Wolverine v5 #13 - 31,164 ( -3.4%) 02/14 Wolverine v6 #1 - 88,923 (185.3%) 02/14 Wolverine v6 #2 - 47,339 (-46.8%) ... 08/14 Wolverine v6 #12 - 50,570 ( 2.8%) 09/14 Death of Wolv #1 – 261,975 09/14 Death of Wolv #2 - 129,999 (-50.4%) 10/14 Death of Wolv #3 – 141,567 ( 8.9%) 10/14 Death of Wolv #4 - 165,582 ( 17.0%) 11/15 AN Wolverine #1 - 119,786 11/15 AN Wolverine #2 - 55,634 (-53.6%) 12/15 AN Wolverine #3 - 50,990 (- 8.3%) 01/16 AN Wolverine #4 - 49,978 (- 2.0%) Since issue #2 : - 10.2%
Confirming last month’s good impression: the title is stabilizing very quickly at a high sales level. Captain America, prepare to be womanized soon!
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28- INVINCIBLE IRON MAN 03/14 Ir. Man #23.NOW - 43,912 ( 51.3%) ... 06/14 Iron Man v6 #28 - 28,027 ( -0.9%) 11/14 Sup. Iron Man #1 - 83,994 ( 199.7%) 11/14 Sup. Iron Man #2 - 42,621 ( -49.3%) 12/14 Sup. Iron Man #3 - 38,806 ( -9.0%) 01/15 Sup. Iron Man #4 – 38,515 ( -0,7%) 02/15 Sup. Iron Man #5 – 35,094 ( -8.9%) 03/15 Sup. Iron Man #6 – 37,113 ( +5.8%) 04/15 Sup. Iron Man #7 – 34,440 ( -7.2%) 05/15 Sup. Iron Man #8 – 32,006 ( -7.3%) 06/15 Sup. Iron Man #9 – 33,989 ( +6.2%) ... 10/15 Invincible Iron Man #1 - 279,514 10/15 Invincible Iron Man #2 - 66,664 (-76.2%) 11/15 Invincible Iron Man #3 - 59,069 (-11.4%) 12/15 Invincible Iron Man #4 - 57,639 (- 2.4%) 01/16 Invincible Iron Man #5 - 49,225 (-14.6%) Since issue #2: -26.2%
That’s quite an ugly fall, but the title is still miles up from its previous sales level.
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29- 270- SPIDER-GWEN 02/15 Spider-Gwen #1 - 278,575 03/15 Spider-Gwen #2 - 107,070 (-61.6%) 04/15 spider-Gwen #3 - 102,234 (- 4.5%) 05/15 Spider-Gwen #4 - 86,586 (-15.3%) 06/15 Spider-Gwen #5 - 67,697 (-21.8%) 07/15 --- 08/15 --- 09/15 --- 10/15 Spider-Gwen #1 - 197,103 11/15 Spider-Gwen #2 - 62,209 (-68.4%) 12/15 Spider-Gwen #3 - 54,844 (-11.8%) 01/16 Spider-Gwen #4 - 48,664 (-11.3%) Since issue #2 : - 21.8 % SPIDER-GWEN VOL.0: 6,339 [+530] Average +% TPB sales issues 1-5: +6.2%
Falling like Gwen Stacy from a bridge. Meanwhile, issue #0 has some reorder activity: +4,816. Plus, the first collection keeps appearing in the Top 300, now for the third month in a row. A rarity!
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31- 32- EXTRAORDINARY X-MEN 11/15 Extraordinary X-Men #1 - 133,716 11/15 Extraordinary X-Men #2 - 64,595 (-51.7%) 12/15 Extraordinary X-Men #3 - 56,100 (-13.2%) 12/15 Extraordinary X-Men #4 - 49,079 (-12.5%) 01/16 Extraordinary X-Men #5 - 47,404 (- 3.4%) 01/16 Extraordinary X-Men #6 - 47,572 (+ 0.4%) Since issue #2 : -26.4%
6 issues in 3 months!! It seems to have stabilized quickly and at a way higher level than expected. Uncanny could fall quickly behind him.
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33- UNCANNY AVENGERS 03/14 U Avengers #18.NOW - 63,516 ( 19.4%) ... 10/14 Uncanny Avengers #25 – 53,263 ( 7.7%) 10/14 Aven & X-Men Axis #1 – 138,966 (180.9%) ... 12/14 Aven & X-Men Axis #9 – 69,518 ( 0.1%) 01/15 Uncanny Avengers v2 #1 – 74,849 02/15 Uncanny Avengers v2 #2 – 51,339 (-31.4%) --- 04/15 Uncanny Avengers v2 #3 – 50,595 (-1.4%) 05/15 Uncanny Avengers v2 #4 – 46,682 (-7.7%) 06/15 Uncanny Avengers v2 #5 – 43,417 (-7.0%) 10/15 Uncanny Avengers #1 - 105,234 11/15 Uncanny Avengers #2 - 55,008 (-47.3%) 12/15 Uncanny Avengers #3 - 53,216 (- 3.3%) 01/16 Uncanny Avengers #4 - 47,172 (-11.4%) Since issue #2 : - 14.2%
Four months in and I’m still unable to make my mind about whether this one is a win or not. Let’s give Marvel a break and say this one is a Win…that will be my move of contrition for living in a country that makes bad jokes at awards ceremonies.
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34- 111- 126- 129- 130- 133- 135- 138- 140- 142-TRUE BELIEVERS ($1) 01/16 Deadpool #1 – 46,636 01/16 Deadpool Origins #1 - 20,662 01/16 Uncanny Deadpool #1 – 18,094 01/16 Wedding of Deadpool #1 – 17,670 01/16 Detective Deadpool #1 – 17,607 01/16 Deadpool Variants #1 – 16,861 01/16 Deadpool Musical #1 – 16,565 01/16 Evil Deadpool #1 – 16,426 01/16 Meaty Deadpool #1 – 16,291 01/16 Groovy Deadpool #1 – 16,281 Since issue #2 : -26.4%
Tons of very cheap ($1) reprints of various Deadpool adventures made to motivate movie people to read comics. Except Deadpool #1, which actually reprints Rob Liefeld’s New Mutants #98, these books were all ordered at a higher-than-usual-number-for-this-kind-of-product, even when they featured no story at all (Deadpool Variants).
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35- GUARDIANS OF GALAXY 03/13 Guardians of Galaxy #1- 211,312 … 04/15 Guardians v3 #26 - 54,124 (-12.4%) 05/15 Guardians v3 #27 - 49,308 (- 8.9%) 07/15 Guardians of Knowhere Ltd #1 - 81,902 ... 09/15 Guardians of Knowhere Ltd #4 - 39,523 (-22.4%) 10/15 Guardians of Galaxy #1 - 118,342 11/15 Guardians of Galaxy #2 - 51,690 (-56.3%) 12/15 Guardians of Galaxy #3 - 53,627 (+3.7%) 01/16 Guardians of Galaxy #4 - 46,215 (-13.8%) Since issue #2 : -10.6 % GUARDIANS OTG VOL.4 HC: 2,241
The galaxy seems to go further and further away.
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36-DAREDEVIL 02/14 Daredevil v3 #36 – 31,494 ( -1.8%) 03/14 Daredevil v4 #1 - 76,006 (141.3%) 04/14 Daredevil v4 #2 - 42,811 (-11.7%) ... 09/15 Daredevil v4 #18 - 29,945 (+ 0.1%) --- --- 12/15 Daredevil #1 - 84,500 12/15 Daredevil #2 - 49,758 (-41.1%) 01/16 Daredevil #3 - 45,885 (- 7.8%) Since issue #2 : - 7.8 %
So far, this relaunch is a win, Daredevil is one of the few characters that have a real reason behind their relaunch, featuring a completely new take and creative team.
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40- TOTALLY AWESOME HULK 12/15 Totally Awesome Hulk #1 - 74,471 01/16 Totally Awesome Hulk #2 - 39,469 (-47.0%)
Stabilizing over 30K would be nice enough for this one.
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43- DEADPOOL AND CABLE SPLIT SECOND ($5)
12/15 Deadpool & Cable Split Second #1 - 57,198
01/16 Deadpool & Cable Split Second #2 - 38,843 (-32.1%)
This one is actually $5 for each issue.
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46-KANAN THE LAST PADAWAN 04/15 Kanan TLP #1 - 113,158 05/15 Kanan TLP #2 - 64,960 (-42.6%) 06/15 Kanan TLP #3 - 56,370 (-13.2%) 07/15 Kanan TLP #4 - 52,260 (- 7.3%) 08/15 Kanan TLP #5 - 46,351 (-11.3%) 09/15 Kanan TLP #6 - 45,402 (- 2.0%) 10/15 Kanan TLP #7 - 44,127 (- 2.8%) 11/15 Kanan TLP #8 - 42,824 (- 3.0%) 12/15 Kanan TLP #9 - 40,938 (- 4.4%) 01/16 Kanan TLP #10- 38,106 (- 6.9%) Since issue #2: -41.3%
The black sheep of the Star Wars line will soon only be a memory.
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50- AGENTS OF SHIELD
12/14 SHIELD #1 - 94,503
01/15 SHIELD #2 - 33,965 (- 64.1%)
...
09/15 SHIELD#10- 18,693 (- 17.3%)
09/15 Agent Carter SHIELD - 26,438
09/15 Fury SHIELD – 26,313
09/15 Mockingbird SHIELD ($5) – 25,593
09/15 Quake SHIELD – 25,193
09/15 Cavalry SHIELD – 23,831
10/15 SHIELD#11 - 20,121 (+ 7.6%)
11/15 SHIELD#12 - 17,470 (-13.2%)
12/15 ---
01/16 Agents of SHIELD #1 - 35,382
A very weak debut. This one will be in trouble again very quickly. Logic would say that there should be a comics related to a current TV show but if nobody is reading it, is it worth it ?
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51- UNCANNY INHUMANS 04/14 Inhuman #1 - 58,309 05/14 Inhuman #2 - 41,810 ( -28.3%) ... 04/15 Inhuman #14- 26,194 (+ 2.7%) 04/15 Uncanny Inhumans #0 - 67.017 ... 10/15 Uncanny Inhumans #1 - 90,528 11/15 Uncanny Inhumans #2 - 41,321 (-54.4%) 12/15 Uncanny Inhumans #3 - 43,036 (+ 4.2%) 01/16 Uncanny Inhumans #4 - 35,308 (-18.0%) Since issue #2 : - 14.5%
If it can manage to stick above 30K, this would be a nice improvement for the Inhumans franchise at Marvel.
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53- VISION 11/15 Vision # 1 - 42,119 12/15 Vision # 2 - 36,107 (-14.3%) 01/16 Vision # 3 - 34,807 (- 3.6%) Since issue #2 : - 3.6 %
Defying all laws of modern launches at Marvel. So far, one of the more successful launches, which nobody saw coming.
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55- SPIDEY
12/15 Spidey #1 - 65,503
01/16 Spidey #2 - 33,585 (-48.8%)
Let’s hope the illusion will work and that it will stay well above the usual range for this kind of out-of-continuity all-ages title. In France, Spidey is a famous title for people around my age (forty-ish) as it was one of the famous monthly anthologies of Marvel material published by Editions LUG. Published from 1979 to 1989, it originally featured young ages comics (Spidey Super Stories), then quickly started reprinting the first X-Men series (followed by X-Factor) before becoming the host of unusual series like What If?, Saga of Crystar, Power Pack and Squadron Supreme.
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56- SILK 02/15 Silk #1 - 86,263 03/15 Silk #2 - 69,369 (-19.6%) 04/15 Silk #3 - 58.755 (-15.3%) 05/15 Silk #4 - 44,316 (-24.6%) 06/15 Silk #5 - 38,798 (-12.5%) 07/15 --- 08/15 Silk #6 - 34,368 (-10.7%) 09/15 Silk #7 - 36,477 (+ 6.1%) 10/15 --- 11/15 Silk #1 - 57,140 12/15 Silk #2 – 38,356 (-32.9%) 01/16 Silk #3 - 33,102 (-13.7%) Since issue #2 : - 13.7 %
So far, there are still 3 (three!) ongoing female-spider titles. It can of reminds me of the time when we had 3 different Captain Marvel titles. At that time, three entered the arena…only one survived.
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57- NEW AVENGERS 01/13 New Avengers v3 # 1 - 116,280 ... 03/14 N Avengers #16.NOW - 48,731 ( 0.0%) ... 12/14 New Avengers v3 #28 - 39,855 ( -1.4%) 01/15 New Avengers v3 #29 - 41,116 (+3.1%) (SW prelude) 02/15 New Avengers v3 #30 - 42,827 (+4.2%) (SW prelude) 03/15 New Avengers v3 #31 - 44,444 (+3.8%) (SW prelude) 03/15 New Avengers v3 #32 - 40,583 (-8.7%) (SW prelude) 04/15 New Avengers v3 #33 - 55.437 (+36.6%) (Sw prelude) END 10/15 New Avengers #1 - 71,243 10/15 New Avengers #2 - 50,455 (-29.8%) 11/15 New Avengers #3 - 41,630 (-17.5%) 12/15 New Avengers #4 - 36,669 (-11.9%) 01/16 New Avengers #5 - 33,010 (-10.0%) Since issue #2 : - 34.6%
The only thing new about this title are the depths it’s sinking to.
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59- MS MARVEL 02/14 Ms. Marvel #1 - 50,286 ( --- ) 03/14 Ms. Marvel #2 - 38,357 (-23.7%) ... 02/15 Ms. Marvel #12 – 29,054 ( -2.7%) 03/15 Ms. Marvel #13 – 32,425 (+11.6%) 04/15 Ms. Marvel #14 – 32,058 (- 1.1%) 05/15 Ms. Marvel #15 – 32,185 (+ 0.4%) 06/15 Ms. Marvel #16 – 32,855 (+ 2.1%) 07/15 --- 08/15 Ms. Marvel #17 – 31,567 (- 3.9%) 09/15 Ms. Marvel #18 - 33,761 (+7.0%) 11/15 Ms Marvel #1 - 79,222 12/15 Ms Marvel #2 - 46,610 (-41.2%) 01/16 Ms Marvel #3 – 32,364 (-30.6%) Since issue #2 : -30.6 %
OMG! That’s a shock! If even the Ms. Marvel relaunch is not a winner, what hope is there for all the other series? I’m taking back my Win from last month and declaring this one a Fail!
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61 CARNAGE 11/15 Carnage #1 - 69,773 11/15 Carnage #2 - 41,576 (-40.4%) 12/15 Carnage #3 - 34,852 (-16.2%) 01/16 Carnage #4 - 31,687 (- 9.1%) Since issue #2 : -23.8%
Aren’t there way too many Spider-verse titles out there? Amazing, the .1 mini, three spider-women titles, Spidey, 2099, Web Warriors, Carnage…that’s nine ! (10 if you count Venom, but let’s be fair!)
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65 ULTIMATES 11/15 Ultimates #1 - 61,406 12/15 Ultimates #2 - 37,055 (-39.7%) 01/16 Ultimates #3 - 30,068 (-18.9%) Since issue #2 : - 18.9 %
Still double what it would have to sell to be considered a failure.
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67- CAPTAIN AMERICA SAM WILSON 02/14 Capt AmericaV7 #16.Now – 36,534 ( 9.3%) ... 09/14 Captain America v7 #24 – 33,517 ( 8.4%) 10/14 Captain America v7 #25 – 74,183 ( 121.3%) 11/14 Captain America v8 #1 –120,500 ( 62.4%) 12/14 Captain America v8 #2 – 50,077 ( -58.4%) 01/15 Captain America v8 #3 - 50,045 ( -0.1%) 02/15 Captain America v8 #4 - 41,222 (-17.6%) 03/15 Captain America v8 #5 - 38,871 (- 5.7%) 04/15 Captain America v8 #6 - 38,199 (- 1.7%) ... 10/15 Cap America S. Wilson #1 - 62,535 10/15 Cap America S. Wilson #2 - 40,224 (-35.7%) 11/15 Cap America S. Wilson #3 - 33,984 (-15.5%) 12/15 Cap America S. Wilson #4 - 29,512 (-13.2%) 01/16 Cap America S. Wilson #5 - 29,081 (- 1.5%) Since issue #2 : - 27.7 %
Leveling out abruptly ?
—
76- 243-HOWARD THE DUCK 03/15 Howard the Duck #1 – 85,929 04/15 Howard the Duck #2 – 43,572 (-49.3%) 05/15 Howard the Duck #3 – 35,391 (-18.2%) 06/15 Howard the Duck #4 – 34,043 (- 3.8%) 07/15 --- 08/15 Howard the Duck #5 – 26,891 (-21.0%) 09/15 --- 10/15 --- 11/15 Howard The Duck #1 - 69,177 12/15 Howard The Duck #2 - 33,578 (-51.5%) 01/16 Howard The Duck #3 - 28,971 (-13.7%) since issue #2 : -13.7 %
This needs to stabilize soon to stay above cancellation levels, even though it has more rope than a standard super-hero title thanks to its potential to reach a wider audience as a general parody humor series.
—
71- SPIDER-MAN 2099 07/14 Spider-Man 2099 #1 - 90,690 ( --- ) 08/14 Spider-Man 2099 #2 - 47,512 (-47.6%) 09/14 Spider-Man 2099 #3 - 43,418 ( -8.6%) 10/14 Spider-Man 2099 #4 - 40,755 ( -6.1%) 10/14 Spider-Man 2099 #5 - 40,880 ( 0.3%) 11/14 Spider-Man 2099 #6 - 38,634 ( -5.5%) --- 01/15 Spider-Man 2099 #7 - 38,455 (-0.5%) 01/15 Spider-Man 2099 #8 - 37,484 (-2.5%) 02/15 Spider-Man 2099 #9 - 34,374 (-8.3%) 03/15 Spider-Man 2099 #10 - 33,528 (-2.5%) 04/15 Spider-Man 2099 #11 - 31,665 (-5.6%) 05/15 Spider-Man 2099 #12 - 28,916 (-8.7%) ... 10/15 Spider-Man 2099 #1 - 57,719 10/15 Spider-Man 2099 #2 - 40,701 (-29.5%) 11/15 Spider-Man 2099 #3 - 34,969 (-14.1%) 12/15 Spider-Man 2099 #4 - 32,464 (- 7.2%) 01/16 Spider-Man 2099 #5 - 28,489 (-12.2%) Since issue #2: -30.0%
Lowest sales for the title so far.
—
73- GUARDIANS OF INFINITY($5) 12/15 Guardians of Infinity #1 - 121,407 01/16 Guardians of Infinity #2 - 27,112 (-77.7%)
Given the drop here, those issue #1 sales only seem understandable if Guardians of Infinity was part of something like Loot Crate in December. However, those kinds of sales now directly go through the publishers instead of Diamond, so they are not reflected in these numbers… One thing is for sure: Marvel needs to shrink down its Guardians of Galaxy line pretty quickly if it wants to keep it. The series kept its $5 cover price, which probably didn’t help things.
—
74- CONTEST OF CHAMPIONS 10/15 Contest of Champions #1 - 79,873 11/15 Contest of Champions #2 - 34,942 (-56.3%) 12/15 Contest of Champions #3 - 29,165 (-16.5%) 01/16 Contest of Champions #4 - 27,028 (- 7.3%) Since issue #2 : - 22.6 %
Two story arcs and this one will be done, mark my words!
—
75- ALL NEW HAWKEYE 03/15 All New Hawkeye #1 - 66,608 04/15 All New Hawkeye #2 - 42,730 (-35.8%) 05/15 All New Hawkeye #3 - 38,087 (-10.9%) 06/15 --- 07/15 All New Hawkeye #4 - 31,661 (-16.9%) 08/15 --- 09/15 All New Hawkeye #5 - 31,141 (- 1.6%) 10/15 --- 11/15 All New Hawkeye #1 - 68,933 12/15 All New Hawkeye #2 - 35,363 (-48.7%) 01/16 All New Hawkeye #3 - 26,913 (-23.9%) Since issue #2 : - 23.9 % HAWKEYE TPB VOL.5: 4,109 Average +%TPB sales issues 1-5: +13.0%
Despite all the talent of its new creative team, this volume of Hawkeye won’t repeat the sales success of the Fraction & Aja team.
—
78- RED WOLF 12/15 Red Wolf #1 - 39,288 01/16 Red Wolf #2 - 26,662 (-32.2%)
Still doing perfectly ok given the quasi-anonymity of its hero.
—
79- VENOM SPACEKNIGHT 11/15 Venom Spaceknight #1 - 59,151 12/15 Venom Spaceknight #2 - 32,210 (-45.5%) 01/16 Venom Spaceknight #3 - 25,770 (-20.0%) Since issue #2 : - 20.0 %
Too close to limbo for comfort. (did anybody laugh at that one?)
—
80- ASTONISHING ANT-MAN 01/15 Ant-Man #1 – 73,370 02/15 Ant-Man #2 – 40,192 (-45.2%) 03/15 Ant-Man #3 – 37,139 (- 7.6%) 04/15 Ant-Man #4 – 31,637 (-14.8%) 05/15 Ant-Man #5 – 83,095 (+162.7%) 06/15 Ant-Man Larger than Life #1- 28,797 07/15 Ant-Man Annual #1 – 24,223 08/15 Ant-Man Last Days - 35,594 (-57.2%) 09/15 --- 10/15 Astonishing Ant-Man #1 - 75,598 11/15 Astonishing Ant-Man #2 - 31,358 (-58.5%) 12/15 Astonishing Ant-Man #3 - 27,913 (-11.0%) 01/16 Astonishing Ant-Man #4 - 25,768 (- 7.7%) Since issue#2 : - 17.8% Average +% TPB sales #1-5 : +11.0% ANT-MAN TPB VOL.1: 4,406
Has not yet beaten Kirkman’s version in longevity. Its first TPB stopped appearing in the TOP 300 after three months, so it seems like this one is doomed in both formats.
—
81- ALL NEW INHUMANS 12/15 All New Inhumans #1 - 58,123 12/15 All New Inhumans #2 - 34,471 (-40.7%) 01/16 All New Inhumans #3 - 25,746 (-25.3%) Since issue #2 : -25.3 %
For people who used to live on the dark side of the Moon, what awaits shouldn’t scare them.
—
82- SCARLET WITCH
12/15 Scarlet Witch #1 - 57,835
01/16 Scarlet Witch #2 - 25,728 (-55.5%)
Unlike her ex-husband’s series, Wanda’s is heading for disaster.
—
84- WEB WARRIORS 11/15 Web Warriors #1 - 62,096 12/15 Web Warriors #2 - 31,614 (-49.1%) 01/16 Web Warriors #3 - 25,407 (-19.6%) Since issue #2 : - 19.6 %
This one won’t have the time to let spiders make a web around it.
—
89- SPIDER-WOMAN 11/14 Spider-Woman #1 - 93,723 (Spider-Verse) 12/14 Spider-Woman #2 - 44,618 ( -52.4%)(Spider-Verse) 01/15 Spider-Woman #3 - 38,484 (-13.8%) (spider-Verse) 02/15 Spider-Woman #4 - 36,058 (- 6.3%) 03/15 Spider-Woman #5 - 40,068 (+11.1%) 04/15 Spider-Woman #6 - 32,041 (-20.0%) 05/15 Spider-Woman #7 - 29,567 (- 7.3%) 06/15 Spider-Woman #8 - 26,568 (-10.1%) 07/15 Spider-Woman #9 - 24,354 (- 8.3%) 08/15 Spider-Woman #10- 23,005 (- 5.5%) 09/15 --- 10/15 --- 11/15 Spider-Woman #1 - 53,885 12/15 Spider-Woman #2 - 27,801 (-48.4%) 01/16 Spider-Woman #3 - 24,054 (-13.5%) Since issue #2 : - 13.5 %
Let’s just hope Marvel won’t kill Jessica in the end.
—
93- SQUADRON SUPREME 12/15 Squadron Supreme #1 - 48,247 12/15 Squadron Supreme #2 - 27,643 (-42.7%) 01/16 Squadron Supreme #3 - 23,551 (-14.8%) Since issue #2 : - 14.8 %
This will probably be the shortest published Squadron Supreme series ever.
—
94- NOVA 02/14 Nova#13.Now – 26,147 ( 4.4%) 03/14 Nova v5 #14 – 23,459 ( -10.3%) ... 05/15 Nova v5 #31 – 18,129 ( -2.7%) 11/15 Nova #1 - 45,536 12/15 Nova #2 - 27,120 (-40.4%) 01/16 Nova #3 - 23,464 (-13.5%) Since issue #2 : - 13.5 %
Still capable of sticking like before to the 18-20K zone.
—
98- STAR-LORD 07/14 Star Lord #1 – 78,501 08/14 Star Lord #2 – 37,109 (-52.7%) 09/14 Star Lord #3 – 32,918 (-11.3%) 10/14 Star Lord #4 – 37,123 ( 12.8%) 11/14 Star Lord #5 – 36,905 ( -0.6%) 12/14 Star Lord #6 – 32,863 (-11.0%) 01/15 Star Lord #7 – 28,174 (-14.3%) 01/15 Star Lord #8 – 25,227 (-10.5%) 02/15 Star Lord #9 – 38,655 (+53.2%) B. Vortex 03/15 Star Lord#10 – 40,836 (+ 4.5%) B. Vortex 04/15 Star Lord#11 – 41,325 (+ 1.2%) B. Vortex 05/15 Star Lord#12 – 25,580 (-38.1%) --- 07/15 Star-Lord & Kitty Pride Ltd #1 - 44,760 08/15 Star-Lord & Kitty Pride Ltd #2 - 32,578 (-27.2%) 09/15 Star-Lord & Kitty Pride Ltd #3 - 31,012 (- 4.8%) 11/15 Star-Lord #1 - 47,104 12/15 Star-Lord #2 - 26,348 (-44.1%) 01/16 Star-Lord #3 - 22,698 (-13.9%) Since issue #2 : - 13.9 %
A collapsing star.
—
108- PATSY WALKER HELLCAT 12/15 Patsy Walker Hellcat #1 - 46,198 01/16 Patsy Walker Hellcat #2 - 20,836 (-54.9%)
Will Marvel even wait for its first trade sales to make a decision ?
—
115- UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL 01/15 Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #1 - 41,693 02/15 Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #2 – 24,621 (-40.9%) 03/15 Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #3 – 26,586 ( +8.0%) 04/15 Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #4 – 20,987 (-21.1%) 05/15 Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #5 – 20,088 (- 4.3%) 06/15 Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #6 – 19,341 (- 3.7%) 07/15 Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #7 – 19,801 (+ 2.4%) 08/15 Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #8 - 19,134 (- 3.4%) 09/15 --- 10/15 Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #1 - 43,155 11/15 Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #2 - 23,064 (-46.6%) 12/15 Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #3 - 25,350 (+ 9.9%) 01/16 Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #4 - 19,923 (-21.4%) Since issue #2 : -13.6 % TPB VOL.1: 7,352 [+514] Average +%TPB sales issues 1-4: +29.9% TPB VOL.2 : 2,928 Average +%TPB sales issues 5-8: +6.6%
The only reason why I’m not taking back my Win from last month is because I fear Squirrel Girl huge flat tail. Even though Vol.1 keeps appearing in the top 300 every month, Vol.2 hasn’t made a come back yet, which is disturbing. Squirrel Girl sold +30% of its floppy sales thanks to its paperback format, and that’s only counting comics shop sales. No wonder she has a lot more rope than others.
—
118- ILLUMINATI 11/15 Illuminati #1 - 44,163 12/15 Illuminati #2 - 23,090 (-47.7%) 01/16 Illuminati #3 - 19,025 (-17.6%)
So many cancellation announcements to make… This will look like an All New Marvel implosion…
—
120- ANGELA QUEEN OF HELL 12/14 Angela #1 - 61,398 01/15 Angela #2 - 36,992 (-39.8%) 02/15 Angela #3 - 31,096 (-15.9%) 03/15 Angela #4 - 25,529 (-17.9%) 04/15 Angela #5 - 23,551 (- 7.7%) 05/15 Angela #6 - 22,272 (- 5.4%) 06/15 1602 Witch Hunter Angela Ltd #1 – 37,996 07/15 1602 Witch Hunter Angela Ltd #2 – 26,481 (-30.3%) 08/15 --- 09/15 1602 Witch Hunter Angela Ltd #3 – 23,058 (-12.9%) 10/15 1602 Witch Hunter Angela Ltd #4 - 19,545 10/15 Angela Queen of Hel #1- 39,271 11/15 Angela Queen of Hel #2- 23,264 (-40.8%) 12/15 Angela Queen of Hel #3 - 20,958 (- 9.9%) 01/16 Angela Queen of Hel #4 - 18,917 (-9.7%) Since issue #2 : - 18.7 %
Who in their right mind thought Angela would ever be able to sustain an ongoing title ?
—
121- DRAX 11/15 Drax #1 - 49,601 12/15 Drax #2 - 23,054 (-53.5%) 01/16 Drax #3 - 18,837 (-18.3%) Since issue #2 : - 18.3 %
Proof that there are way too many Guardians of Galaxy products out there.
—
125- MOON GIRL AND DEVIL DINOSAUR 11/15 Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur #1 - 38,133 12/15 Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur #2 - 21,715 (-43.1%) 01/16 Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur #3 - 18,424 (-15.2%) Since issue #2 : -15.2 %
Trade sales will decide its fate.
—
128- WEIRDWORLD 06/15 Weirdworld #1 - 48,688 07/15 Weirdworld #2 - 26,307 (-46.0%) 08/15 Weirdworld #3 - 23,784 (- 9.6%) 09/15 Weirdworld #4 - 22,206 (- 6.6%) 10/15 Weirdworld #5 - 18,996 (-14.5%) 11/15 --- 12/15 Weirdworld #1 - 30,288 01/16 Weirdworld #2 - 17,759 (-41.4%)
The relaunch didn’t serve any purpose.
—
131 BLACK KNIGHT 11/15 Black Knight #1 - 39,381 12/15 Black Knight #2 - 22,081 (-43.9%) 01/16 Black Knight #3 - 17,118 (-22.5%) Since issue #2 : - 22.5 %
Finally knitted into 5 issues.
—
139- HERCULES 11/15 Hercules #1 - 44,512 12/15 Hercules #2 – 20,719 (-53.5%) 01/16 Hercules #3 - 16,310 (-21.3%) Since issue #2 : -21.3 %
It’s outsold by Black Knight, who isn’t even as well known as Hercules! Herc has been the star of numerous mini-series and ongoing series! Either Marvel’s marketing team killed it with the the « no-way-he’s-bi » pre-publication gaff, or releasing it among so many others new launches was a bad idea. It shouldn’t have tanked like that from the start.
—
161- MIRACLEMAN ($5) 09/15 Miracleman #1 - 27,269 09/15 Miracleman #2 - 22,143 (-18.8%) 10/15 Miracleman #3 - 19,375 (-12.5%) 11/15 Miracleman #4 - 16,825 (-13.2%) 12/15 Miracleman #5 - 15,427 (- 8.3%) 01/16 Miracleman #6 – 14.200 (- 8.0%) Since issue #2 : - 35.9 %
I searched for the TPB numbers of those new Marvel editions. I am nothingtosayman on the subject.
—
154- HOWLING COMMANDOS OF SHIELD 10/15 Howling Commandos of SHIELD #1 - 44,532 11/15 Howling Commandos of SHIELD #2 - 20,498 (-54.0%) 12/15 Howling Commandos of SHIELD #3 - 18,002 (- 8.3%) 01/16 Howling Commandos of SHIELD #4 - 14,091 (-21.7%) Since issue #2 : -31.3 %
Seemed like the most attractive SHIELD related product. Sadly, it’s a pit for sales.
—
162- 173-CAPTAIN AMERICA CIVIL WAR PRELUDE ($3) 12/15 Cap America Civil War Prelude #1 – 15,396 12/15 Cap America Civil War Prelude #2 - 13,634 (-11.4%) 01/16 Cap America Civil War Prelude #3 – 12,828 (- 5.9%)
An inexpensive product probably aimed at Marvel movie addicts. Usually, when the foreplay is this long, you can only be disappointed in the end.
—
196- DARK TOWER DRAWING LADY OF SHADOWS LTD 03/15 Dark Tower D3HC Ltd #1 of 5 – 11,107 ... 07/15 Dark Tower D3HC Ltd #5 of 5 – 9,027 (- 2.4%) 08/15 --- 09/15 Dark Tower Lady of Shadows Ltd #1 of 5 – 9,918 10/15 Dark Tower Lady of Shadows Ltd #2 of 5 - 8,946 (- 9.8%) 11/15 Dark Tower Lady of Shadows Ltd #3 of 5 - 8,118 (- 9.3%) 12/15 Dark Tower Lady of Shadows Ltd #4 of 5 - 7,935 (- 2.3%) 01/16 Dark Tower Lady of Shadows Ltd #5 of 5 - 7,676 (- 3.3%)
The roof is so low for the Top 300 that month that Dark Tower gained 50 ranks from its December ranking !
202- FIGMENT 2 LTD 09/15 Figment Ltd #1 - 20,551 10/15 Figment Ltd #2 - 13,517 (-34.2%) 11/15 Figment Ltd #3 - 11,103 (-17.9%) 12/15 Figment Ltd #4 - 6,937 (-37.5%) 01/16 Figment Ltd #5 - 7,291 (+5.1%)
A spooky mystery.
—
235- GUIDE TO CINEMATIC SOMETHING AVENGER THAT 01/16 Guide To… - 5,896
Just wanted to check that you were reading all of this column’s series titles!
—
244- MARVEL UNIVERSE GUARDIANS OF GALAXY 02/15 MU guardians of Galaxy #1 – 12,047 03/15 MU guardians of Galaxy #2 – 9,108 (-24.4%) 04/15 MU guardians of galaxy #3 of 4 - 8,406 (- 7.7%) 05/15 MU guardians of Galaxy #4 of 4 - 7,468 (-18.0%) 10/15 MU Guardians of Galaxy #1 - 11,751 11/15 MU Guardians of Galaxy #2 - 7,364 (-37.3%) 12/15 MU Guardians of Galaxy #3 - 6,159 (-16.4%) 01/16 MU Guardians of Galaxy #4 - 5,662 (- 8.1%)
Heading towards the sales level of its MU companions.
—
227- MU ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN SPIDERVERSE ($3) 11/15 MU Ult. Spider-Man Spidervse #1 - 7,144 ? 01/16 MU Ult. Spider-Man Spidervse #13- 4,844
Another alien in the Marvel Universe : a $3 product!
—
300- MU AVENGERS ASSEMBLE SEASON TWO ($3) 01/15 MU Avengers Assemble Season Two #3 - 4,503 ? ? ? 05/15 MU Avengers Assemble Season Two #7 – 4,665 ? ? 08/15 MU Avengers Assemble Season Two #10- 4,806 ? 10/15 MU Avengers Assemble Season Two #12- 4,639 11/15 MU Avengers Assemble Season Two #13- 4,500 (- 3.0%) ? 01/16 MU Avengers Assemble Season Two #15- 4,028
Thanks for reading until the end! I hope to see you next time. Meanwhile, feel free to comment, express your rage or your love for French sarcasm! I’ll hug everyone, no matter what.
WHAT THE HELL, PEOPLE. Sigh.
12/15 Weirdworld #1 – 30,288
01/16 Weirdworld #2 – 17,759 (-41.4%)
This book is so excellent. It’s honestly better than a zillion tons of the other crap Marvel is putting out right now, but alas, that never seems to matter. It isn’t an event title (wait, aren’t fans tired of those?! Until there isn’t one, then they whine they need one!) and no one dies (only to return six months later) so I guess there are no reason to buy it. Great art, wow story? Eh, I’ll wait for Civil War 3, please.
Fans are a fickle lot. They complain about event books, but hate when they don’t have one to complain about. They hate cheesy death announcements, and then help sell the book into the six figures! And do we need to at least give Marvel some props for attempting to put out niche books and see what would stick? Apparently, nothing. For that, again, I blame the fanboys (and girls.) I mean, how many times does everyone also complain about all the Spider/Bat/Super/Wonder books out there in comics land? But whenever the big two attempt something new, no one buys them. I’ve heard this complaint so many times it makes my ears bleed. It’s like we all literally ignore the complaining we aim towards comics on a daily basis. It’s maddening! I want something diverse, unique, cool! But when I’m given it, I’m gonna whine and want the same tried and true I’ve gotten the last umpteen years! No one wins, no one wins…
Spidey/Deadpool is ongoing? Okay. Looking forward to seeing what the sales drop to when Kelly and McGuiness leave the book within six issues.
@Nathan Aaron – one thing to bear in mind is that the people who say they want things probably really do want them and buy them – it’s just that there are a whole lot more people who aren’t saying anything at all but they are buying the opposite of what the first group wants.
Nathan Aaron, what did you think of G0dland, and Bitch Planet? Have you read Shark-Man? What about Bendis/Gaydos’s Alias? Have heard of Joe Sacco? Or that run by Lutes, Unstable Molecules? What do you think SLAM!-c’mere, do you want to see me make this pencil disappear….? Just only spend on the stuff that counts; stop buying the repetitive crap, unless you are at a used book store, or a flea market, or at a serious discount.
‘Comic Books’ are too small, and flimsy, and look like they are strictly for kids any way -it would be cool if there were more ‘Rollingstone’ sized magazine like sequential anthologies. People would spend on that as much as they wait in lines for a cheap Tshirt from China that has a trendy brand name on it. Americans love to be pretentious, spending, bigots that would love to show off their Punisher *magbook* if it was done right, if it looked cool, and functioned sequentially in a way that was bad ass… for example.
Hey Nathan Aaron, FYI:
It Will Never Love You Back: Marvel Entertainment, Ike Perlmutter, and Why the Corporation Cannot Be Your Friend
by Charlotte Finn February 1, 2016 12:00 PM
http://comicsalliance.com/ike-perlmutter-marvel-entertainment-consumers-and-corporations/
Read More: Marvel, Perlmutter, And Why Corporations Aren’t Your Friend | http://comicsalliance.com/ike-perlmutter-marvel-entertainment-consumers-and-corporations/?trackback=tsmclip
Why I’m Boycotting Marvel Comics
by J.A. Micheline August 4, 2015 2:00 PM
http://comicsalliance.com/marvel-boycott-axel-alonso/
Read More: “Why I’m Boycotting Marvel Comics” | http://comicsalliance.com/marvel-boycott-axel-alonso/?trackback=tsmclip
Nathan, perhaps start a petition to boycott -what do you want to boycott today, NAy? NAy?
Marvel makes comics starring Marvel characters. People who read Marvel Comics usually want to read about Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Avengers, etc… A lot of what they are publishing nowadays is chasing away the loyal fan who just wants to read about their favorite characters. Yeah there’s room for Weirdworld but if fan’s aren’t buying the A-List books (excluding Star Wars) you can’t expect sales for B and C level titles to be great. Marvel, for the last decade, have invested more on the names under the title than the title itself. That makes for creator loyalty, not brand loyalty. Why read a Marvel book trying to be an Image book when you can just read an Image book?
FWIW, with DC and Marvel both putting out so many new series all the time (including renumbered ones), I’m not sure it’s possible for any series to “stabilize” for long.
About Star Wars sales, maybe we should also consider that the book started with John Cassaday on art and covers, and now it’s Deoadato or Leinil Yu. All of them are A list artists sure, but well, some are more A than others. I personally stopped after Immonen’s arc, maybe some other readers did. Looking forward to know who will be the next artist. Maybe they’ll be back on major ones, or slightly slipping on the B list ones.
Also, the fact the comics didn’t gain any new buyers (and worse, lost buyers) since the movie is out is not a good sign. Maybe the star wars mania is a already a bit passé, Marvel was definitely wise to launch the book nearly two years before the movie, but they’ve got to find another big hit now. It won’t be Star Wars for a while, at least not before the next movie – so a long while – and even then, it will never come back to those first issues sales.
@Nathan
The way I see it, Events and big names are creating a lot of static through which even very good titles have a hard time emerging. Maybe Marvel ought to create a Vertigo-like imprint for all the odd ones out to find a nest.
@David:
I think the decline is Star Wars sales probably has much more ordinary reasons than you suggest. I don’t think that we’re seeing anything other than “standard attrition” that most comics titles experience. Also, Marvel supports most Star Wars titles with variants, but there are now fewer variants per issue for the longer running titles. These are still good numbers for comics in today’s market.
“Also, the fact the comics didn’t gain any new buyers (and worse, lost buyers) since the movie is out is not a good sign.” We already know that super-hero movies don’t drive up the sales of super-hero comics. Why wouldn’t Star Wars movies and comics have the same non-relationship? I also don’t know that it is clear that the comics market has lost buyers since January 2015. There is reason to believe that the comics shipped by Diamond to retailers has been approximately stable year-to-year for January 2015 & 2016:
https://www.comicsbeat.com/comics-sales-increase-by-2-1-million-units-in-five-years/
http://blog.comichron.com/2016/02/january-2016-comics-sales-estimates.html
“Marvel was definitely wise to launch the book nearly two years before the movie,” Marvel’s Star Wars #1 shipped January 2015, the movie came out December 2015.
“…but they’ve got to find another big hit now. It won’t be Star Wars for a while, at least not before the next movie – so a long while – and even then, it will never come back to those first issues sales.” We all know how the comics market behaves, I don’t know of anybody who is expecting Star Wars titles to return to the crazy high January 2015 numbers. And of course Marvel is looking for the next big hit. That’s their job. (And the job of DC, and Image, and IDW, and Dark Horse, etc…)
On a broader note, I think that the general tone of this column’s analysis and interpretation of the numbers. I think the overall picture is much more mixed overall.
When it comes to market share, Marvel has to be very happy with this month’s numbers (see my comment over in the Jan ’16 DC sales post: https://www.comicsbeat.com/dc-comics-month-to-month-sales-january-2016-the-adjustment-bureau/ ).
In terms of individual title performance, I think that some of them are doing fine, and some not so much. I think that Marvel and and DC are both learning something important here. Suspending the majority of your shared-universe titles for an event isn’t going to give your readership numbers a big bounce when you do a line-wide relaunch post-event. DC was hit harder by that problem post-Convergence than Marvel is post-Secret War, but both companies have to be noticing that this isn’t the kind of broad-based sales surge that happened with the New52 back in 2011.
Maybe I’m wrong, but I’m thinking that relaunches in the current market might do better as a “one at a time” thing. Don’t do a large bunch of them squeezed into three or four months (Marvel’s ANAD), and don’t do a big stack of them at the same time (DCyou). Pick a title that you want to relaunch, publicize it properly, and don’t put it into the position of competing with other relaunches from the same company for oxygen/attention. As Heidi herself pointed out in an earlier post, this isn’t 2011 any more. I think we may have reached a point where throwing a whole lotta new titles at the wall and hoping many of stick is actually creating a drag on most of them because it is impossible to publicize each of them and get customers excited enough to buy. The test for this theory is coming very soon (yes, DC Rebirth, I’m looking at you).
I’m also wondering if part of the underlying issue is that maybe the super-hero genre — massively and monolithically popular for so long — is softening. To be clear, the genre still rules the roost for sales in the North American comics industry and will do so for some time to come, but maybe the market is shifting to where there are more people looking for other genres in greater numbers than before. I have little evidence to support this except to point to the performance of titles such as Walking Dead, Saga, and (yes) Star Wars.
@comicsatemybrain – I rather agree with spacing out the relaunches. I’ve thought before that each company should have one book being cancelled and one new book coming out every month. The excitement behind a new launch, even if it’s a relaunch, can’t be denied. A month where every series is just the next issue from the previous month just doesn’t have that kind of interest. It shouldn’t be that way, but I think it is.
More puns! More jokes! Makes this the best read Beat sales number analysis by far!
Very curious on the Miracleman TPB numbers?! Really hoping we don’t get a cancellation on that title before all the new stories come out!
Also, my favorite Marvel titels, Weirdworld, Ms. Marvel and Hellcat are all doing poorly-ish sales wise. Boo. But expected, Marvel isn’t known to be a place for different kind of books to do well.
Relaunching all titles at #1 undermined the new titles right from the start. When you’re restarting Iron Man or Thor at #1 you’re overshadowing your Vision, Scarlet Witch, Karnak, etc, right from the get-go.
Maybe a Shounen format should be tried by Marvel, that way more niche characters get a place to shine under the safety of shared fandom.
It would be interesting if we could know how sales are across the board. Sure we are looking at many books having lower or similar sales than before the relaunch. But this relaunch seems to differ from the previous two both in the number of books and the type of books. An higher number of books could lead to more fragmentation among the readers. People have to choose which books to follow due do budget reason, and presented with some loved lesser known character rarely published, they could renounce to some bigger title knowing it will always be there. The type of books it’s what is really different though. There are less Avenger and X-Men books, less book about the best selling franchises and a lot of risky books both for the character they feature than for the style / concept. This could lead to more books then before selling in the < 30.000 range. But what's the total number of sales for Marvel universe books now and in the same periodo of the previous relaunches? With many book about secondary character by lesser know artists, it's the average cost of production of these books lower than before? Is this slowing of the sale of the major books a problem for Marvel, the readers or just for the retailers that lives on Avengers, Spider Man and whose clientele is mostly made by people that don't like the new Cap, Thor, Hulk and the more indie-like comics Marvel is putting out now?
It would be interesting if we could know how sales are across the board. Sure we are looking at many books having lower or similar sales than before the relaunch. But this relaunch seems to differ from the previous two both in the number of books and the type of books. An higher number of books could lead to more fragmentation among the readers. People have to choose which books to follow due do budget reason, and presented with some loved lesser known character rarely published, they could renounce to some bigger title knowing it will always be there. The type of books it’s what is really different though. There are less Avenger and X-Men books, less book about the best selling franchises and a lot of risky books both for the character they feature than for the style / concept. This could lead to more books then before selling in the < 30.000 range. But what's the total number of sales for Marvel universe books now and in the same periodo of the previous relaunches? With many book about secondary character by lesser know artists, it's the average cost of production of these books lower than before? Is this slowing of the sale of the major books a problem for Marvel, the readers or just for the retailers that lives on Avengers, Spider Man and whose clientele is mostly made by people that don't like the new Cap, Thor, Hulk and the more indie-like comics Marvel is putting out now?
I derailed but what I wanted to say is, it would be cool to have each month something like:
Total comics sold for Marvel NOW
Total dollars for Marvel NOW
Total comics sold for All New Marvel NOW
Total dollars for All New Marvel NOW
Total comics sold for ANAD
Total dollars for the month for ANAD
Marvel shipped retailers free copies of VISION and RED WOLF; these free copies appear to be included in the circulation numbers above. Both of these series are sales disasters.
Steve
“Falling like Gwen Stacy from a bridge.”
SLOW CLAP
“But whenever the big two attempt something new, no one buys them.”
Because if I want something new, I don’t read Marvel or DC.
Also, Weirdworld is pretty pictures and not much else.
For me, the big relaunch was a good jumping-off point for quite a few titles, although I do still buy a lot of Marvel stuff. (Old habits die hard – after 35 years, what else am I going to do?) Between the Legion of Politically Correct Substitute Heroes, the number of indie/D-list creators on the books, and a general sense that no title or creative team is going to stick around long enough to build anything (or sometimes even tell a complete story), it’s just really hard to be a Marvel fan right now.
“Between the Legion of Politically Correct Substitute Heroes . . .it’s just really hard to be a Marvel fan right now.”
Bigots find it hard to be fans of Marvel in 2016. Such a sad day.
As a longtime Marvel Reader there were several times when I decided to skip all books, but I never did. There were always at least 2 or 3 titles that I was hooked on. Continuing on reading those titles I was drawn into other titles again and at the end of the year my monthly list still was comprising of ten books or more.
But Battleworld ended it all. It presented the perfect “stop reading now”-Point. I left Marvel and now focus more on Independent Comic books. Those are still able to surprise me and most of them don’t change their status quo dramatically every 2nd year only to return to how things originally were a few months later.
Marvel has but two chances to get me back as regular Reader: “Ben Reilly” and/or “Baby May Parker” faithfully restored back to live and staying for good.
Love it:
235- GUIDE TO CINEMATIC SOMETHING AVENGER THAT
01/16 Guide To… – 5,896
Just wanted to check that you were reading all of this column’s series titles!
Hey Skottie, why is Jerry a bigot? He’s been buying Marvel books for 35 years: I’m sure he enjoys reading books with Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Thor Odinson etc. You know, the characters he’s been reading about for years? He’s not the only person I’ve seen call out Marvel for shoehorning in alternate versions of the core characters in an attempt to diversify the reader base. But, it sure is easy to use that blanket term of “bigot” in the world at large today, not just in the comics realm. I’m not buying the Avengers title he’s referencing either. I like the majority of Mark Waid’s work, but I’ve never liked the kid version of Nova and I’m pretty indifferent to Jane Foster Thor. I read Sam Wilson Captain America, but really don’t see what the big deal is about Ms. Marvel who seems to be a critical darling, if not a sales darling. I guess I’m a bigot too, for preferring the Richard Riders or the world, since those are the versions of the characters that helped hook me on comics in the first place almost thirty years ago.
LOL, yep, I’m a bigot – good talk.
No, actually, I just prefer the versions of characters that I’ve enjoyed for most of my life to the rainbow coalition that Marvel have shoehorned into those roles of late. Female characters, minority characters, LGBT characters – no problem with any of them. (OK, from a statistical perspective, it seems like they’ve overcompensated with the number of LGBT characters now…) But the fact that in the last year or two they’ve taken a bunch of their headlining characters and converted them to different characters using the same names just isn’t, for the most part, my cup of tea.
Yes, sounds like you are an obvious bigot.
Anyway, I like Marvel’s offering. Apparently I’m the only one that reads the Beat that thinks this way.
“the rainbow coalition that Marvel have shoehorned into those roles of late”
Because non-bigots totally talk this way. Of course.
It’s strange that some people fail to realize that words lose their power and meaning when you use them interchangeably with “somebody with a different opinion from me.” Where is there to go when you eventually encounter an actual bigot?
The fact is, I like Sam Wilson and Jane Foster and Miles Morales and Amadeus Cho and Laura Kinney just fine, but they’re not my preferences as Captain America, Thor, Spider-Man, the Hulk, or Wolverine. I could also do without old Wolverine or the teenage X-Men. I suppose that makes me bigoted against fictional characters of basically every race, gender, and age…or maybe I just prefer the characters that got me hooked on comics in the first place, and not a bunch of substitutes reusing the names. I didn’t like that approach any more when it was James Rhodes, Eric Masterson, Teen Tony, John Walker, or Ben Reilly playing the roles (and whaddaya know, several of those are white dudes…).
But I realize it’s just Marvel’s latest marketing push, not really any different from chromium covers or appending “New” to every book’s title. It’ll pass, as these things always do, and in the meantime I’m saving a few bucks on books I’m not all that interested in. Of course, my crusading friend Skottie conveniently omitted two of the three reasons I mentioned for curtailing my Marvel intake – subpar writers and (especially) artists on a lot of their books, and relaunches and crossovers and quick cancellations making it nearly impossible for creators to put together any sort of coherent, extended run on a title.
But there I go, feeding the troll. Anybody want to talk about comics? :-)
Once again, thanks to everyone stopping by and taking the time to comment.
Nathan and Glenn: completly true, everyone knows this. Secret Wars has at least made possible for something like Weirdworld to be published for more than 3 issues. You can’t expect it to sell in huge numbers, and certainly not in the quantitites of the other A-list Marvel titles. So far it’s doing ok. Other super-heroic titles, who seemed way easier to sell, tanked really badly compared to it (remeber Deathlok?)
Zach: that’s what it says in the Marvel sollicitations text I looked at. But its not a very trusting source, but whith numbers like that, I bet it will be an ongoing, no matter what!
Shawn Kane: I think there is a long long road beetween an Image book and a current Marvel title, despite their overall good quality, it’s just not the same kind of product at all. People reading Marvel don’t want to read about good old Marvel characters, just to read good super-heroes comics, with a sense of common universe if possible. C and D-list characters don’t put the A-list character sin danger, who themselves were C-lidt and D-list at one point.
David: overall, sale sof the Star Wars titles went up since the movie release, when you take into account the huge TPB sales. People who just saw the movie are more tempted by the TPB version than a floppy, especially if they never used to read comics. The fall of the floppy Star Wars is not strong enought so that the total number of its readers is going down. It’s in fact going up with all those TPB readers coming in.
Jean-Claude: everytime Marvel tired to create an imprint label, it was a failure. Icon is pratically dead, Max had no identity and get me start on their Crossgen or Malibu “rebirths” :p
Paul: oups, forgot to include those miraclement tpbs numbers. No, they will go until the end, those are very good numbers for a long-running reprinbt floppy and Marvel has to make as much money as they can with the Miracleman deal, they only strarted!
Brian: frankly, you surprised me. You’re able to tell the difference beetween a Marvel Now, All new Marvel Now and ANAD title? It’s all the same, only a different marketing sticker. I know I have NO idea which title is in which category. and I suppose most people feel the same.
Steve: free copies, but of #1 only, right? That makes issues #2 numbers of Vision even more impressive!
skottie and Robert: thanbks for noticing the hard-working jokes :)
Free copies: Does Diamond track those in the numbers that they release? I thought that the Diamond numbers were actually based on paid copies that were shipped to retailers. FCBD comics and Marvel’s preview samplers (not the Preview catalog, the Preview comic samplers) don’t appear in the Top 300. I think that once in a while Marvel will overship a specific issue to retailers. but I don’t recall Diamond including the free copies in these reported numbers.
@ Xavier: The Icon imprint was never intended to be a major imprint. It was primarily intended to be a “boutique imprint” where creators with exclusive contracts to Marvel could put out some creator-owned work, So a comparison of Icon to the Max imprint or the Crossgen relaunch would be an “apples and oranges” kind of thing.
What Malibu relaunch? There hasn’t been one and (as Tom Mason explains in the comments in another Beat posting https://www.comicsbeat.com/quote-of-the-day-get-in-the-time-machine/ ) there probably never will be a Malibu revival.
“It’s strange that some people fail to realize that words lose their power and meaning when you use them interchangeably with “somebody with a different opinion from me.””
It’s not your opinion I’m calling out, it’s your coded (bigoted) language. But that was a nice essay of defensive horsecrap you wrote anyway.
Hey there. I can provide some clarity on the Vision and Red Wolf numbers: Marvel provided retailers with free copies of issue #2 and #3 of Vision matching their orders for REGULAR covers of issue #1. They did the same with Red Wolf #2, matching retailer’s order for regular covers of issue #1 of that title.
So there MIGHT be a drop in sales for both of those books. Well, Red Wolf almost assuredly, but Vision should probably sustain pretty well once 2nd prints of #4 are accounted for, as that sold through FAST. (IMO it’s the best book in Marvel’s line right now, and I’m a fan of quite a bit of it. Scratching an itch very few superhero books tend to get at.)
@ Xavier
I may be wrong, but it seems to me that especially Marvel NOW! and in part All New Marvel NOW! had a different mix of titles. Way more “a-list” (for lack of a better word) characters books. Also, I may be wrong again, but I remember Marvel NOW! to be comprised of quite less books than ANAD (ALMN was a mini relaunch so it doesn’t count in this regard). Obviously there is no difference in a MN, ANMN, ANAD Spider Man, X-Men, IM or Avengers book, I was thinking of books like Weird World, Squadron Supreme, the coming Hyperion and Nightwing, Red Wolf, Vision, Silk, Hellcat, Squirrel Girl, Starbrand and Nightmask, Moon Girl & DD, Hercules, Drax, Karnak etc. It’s a lot of “minor” books. My curiosity was what are Marvel total dollar and total issue numbers, excluding Star Wars, for the same month of the three relaunches (or maybe just NOW! and ANAD would be a better comparison).
Nathan Aaron, don’t waste your breath re: Weirdworld.
Comic fans aren’t fickle, most of them are 40-50 years olds who only want male superhero fights like the kind they read as kids.
I’m guessing Marvel keep WW, Squirrel Girl and Moon Girl going, because in trade form, that’s where they can reach non-hardcore readers who read graphic novels. It’s a shame they have to rely on hardcore fans to even allow these TPBs to happen. Their whole business model is screwed up.
Guardians of Infinity #1 was in the December Marvel Collector Corps box. http://geekcrates.blogspot.com/2015/12/marvel-collector-corps-december.html
That’s the only way it charted where it did and why the drop is so great.
An easy way to manipulate the sales charts. Include a book in your own giveaway box and suddenly you have a top 10 book.
The “free” Marvel copies are also included in the sales charts. This was shown way back when the first Marvel NOW Point 1 book was suddenly a top 5 book the month it shipped, yet its dollar amount was not included. They count the copies, but not the dollars of the free shipped stuff.
I believe Marvel shipped retailers free copies of VISION issues 2 and 3. Issue 4 sold 19,070 copies according to icv2.com. This puts it firmly in cancellation territory although the writer has claimed it’s safe through issue 12.
Steve
“It’s strange that some people fail to realize that words lose their power and meaning when you use them interchangeably with “somebody with a different opinion from me.” Where is there to go when you eventually encounter an actual bigot?”
Yep, welcome to the new definition of tolerance. You have two choices: applaud or SHUT UP BIGOT.
Jerry, you’re wasting your time trying to convince Skottie you have a right to like the older versions of the Marvel characters better than the current ones. Everyone has the right to their own opinion, whether he likes it or not and preferring a different version of the characters hardly makes you a bigot. Of course, he’s going to continue to point to the way you phrased your response for proof.
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