by Paul O’Brien

The era of big events continues apace, as Marvel’s WORLD WAR HULK squares off against DC’s COUNTDOWN. And while WWH isn’t a sales juggernaut on quite the same scale as CIVIL WAR, it’s comfortably enough for Marvel to once again flatten DC in the North American direct market. The gap is narrower than last month, but Marvel still take the lead by 42% to 30% in dollar share, and 48% to 32% in unit share.

Marvel’s biggest new launch of the month was J Michael Straczynski and Olivier Coipel’s THOR, which returns from a period in limbo with vastly increased sales. Other major events include the X-books’ “Endangered Species” crossover; the debut of Matt Fraction and Barry Kitson’s ORDER; the start of the three ANNIHILATION: CONQUEST tie-in miniseries; and the interbrand promotional exercise you’ve all been waiting for, NEW AVENGERS/TRANSFORMERS.

Thanks as always to Milton Griepp and ICV2 for permission to use their figures for these calculations.

1.  THOR
07/01  Thor #39 -  39,454
07/02  Thor #51 -  37,087
07/03  Thor #66 -  33,557
07/04  Thor #82 -  36,094
=====
07/07  Thor #1  - 165,325
                   3 year  (+358.0%)
                   4 year  (+392.7%)

This may be a crossover-driven year, but July’s number one title has nothing to do with any of that. THOR has been in limbo since October 2004, when the previous series ended on sales of 49,000. However, that was due to a last-minute surge of interest, and the book had previously been selling in the 30K range. The lengthy delay in relaunching the title seems to have been caused as much by difficulties in lining up a creative team as by deliberate planning, but it’s certainly paid dividends in building up anticipation for a character who had previously been languishing somewhat.

There’s a variant cover on this issue, of course, but that’s largely beside the point. I had this down as a surefire top ten book, and a probable top five, but I’m surprised to see it doing quite as well as this. A very promising start.

2.  FALLEN SON: DEATH OF CAPTAIN AMERICA
04/07        Wolverine - 164,804
04/07         Avengers - 146,655  (-11.0%)
05/07  Captain America - 171,894  (+17.2%)
06/07       Spider-Man - 137,265  (-20.1%)
07/07         Iron Man - 156,880  (+14.3%)

The concluding part of the five-issue miniseries sees a surge in sales, perhaps because people were anticipating a more dramatic plot development. However, the series as a whole continues to accrue modest re-orders – SPIDER-MAN gets another 3,309 this month, and WOLVERINE gets 2,698. As usual, those numbers are included in the totals above.

Overall, FALLEN SON sustained its sales very well – which is interesting when you compare it with CAPTAIN AMERICA itself.

3.  WORLD WAR HULK
05/07  Prologue - 111,153
06/07  #1 of 5  - 188,604  (+69.7%)
07/07  #2 of 5  - 155,322  (-17.6%)

Issue #1 picks up re-orders of 10,196, and taking that into account, the second issue drop is just fine. It’s not CIVIL WAR, but then Marvel never expected it to be. Sales of 155K from the Hulk, whose title usually sells below 50K, can only be seen as a big success.

4.  WOLVERINE
07/01  Wolverine #166 -  70,933
07/02  Wolverine #179 -  68,083
07/03  Wolverine #3   -  90,717
07/04  Wolverine #17  -  66,589
07/05  Wolverine #30  -  76,651
=====
07/06  Wolverine #44  - 111,478  ( -4.3%)
08/06  Wolverine #45  - 110,662  ( -0.7%)
09/06  Wolverine #46  - 107,865  ( -2.5%)
10/06  Wolverine #47  - 106,201  ( -1.5%)
11/06  Wolverine #48  -  99,991  ( -5.8%)
12/06  Wolverine #49  -  78,807  (-21.2%)
01/07  Wolverine #50  - 117,160  (+48.7%)
02/07  Wolverine #51  -  99,636  (-15.0%)
03/07  Wolverine #52  -  97,111  ( -2.5%)
04/07  Wolverine #53  -  98,441  ( +1.4%)
05/07  Wolverine #54  -  96,082  ( -2.4%)
06/07  ---
07/07  Wolverine #55  - 130,707  (+36.0%)
                         6 mnth  (+11.6%)
                         1 year  (+17.2%)
                         2 year  (+70.5%)
                         3 year  (+96.3%)
                         4 year  (+44.1%)

A huge sales boost for the final issue of Jeph Loeb and Simone Bianchi’s storyline. Presumably this was on the strength of the variant covers and the promise of a final battle between Wolverine and Sabretooth – which, it must be said, the issue duly delivers. The arc hasn’t been particularly well received by critics or message boards (myself included), but Marvel would doubtless argue that the sales tell a different story.

The next issue is a fill-in, after which Marc Guggenheim returns.

5.  DARK TOWER: THE GUNSLINGER BORN
02/07  Gunslinger Born #1 of 7 - 208,594
03/07  Gunslinger Born #2 of 7 - 160,139  (-23.2%)
04/07  Gunslinger Born #3 of 7 - 140,433  (-12.3%)
05/07  Gunslinger Born #4 of 7 - 139,545  ( -0.6%)
06/07  Gunslinger Born #5 of 7 - 132,090  ( -5.3%)
07/07  Gunslinger Born #6 of 7 - 128,336  ( -2.8%)

A second printing of issue #4, with another variant cover, picks up re-orders of 7,792. DARK TOWER continues to sell in huge numbers, with remarkably little drop-off.

6.  NEW AVENGERS
07/01  Avengers #44     -  62,604
07/02  Avengers #56     -  51,798
07/03  ---
07/04  Avengers #500    - 105,617
07/05  New Avengers #7  - 158,693
=====
07/06  New Avengers #22 - 143,391  (  -7.4%)
08/06  New Avengers #23 - 155,550  (  +8.5%)
09/06  ---
10/06  New Avengers #24 - 136,811  ( -12.0%)
11/06  New Avengers #25 - 136,504  (  -0.2%)
12/06  New Avengers #26 - 122,670  ( -10.1%)
01/06  ---
02/07  New Avengers #27 - 132,109  (  +7.7%)
03/07  New Avengers #28 - 119,514  (  -9.5%)
04/07  New Avengers #29 - 125,378  (  +4.9%)
05/07  New Avengers #30 - 126,425  (  +0.8%)
06/07  New Avengers #31 - 160,911  ( +27.3%)
07/07  New Avengers #32 - 122,991  ( -23.6%)
                           6 mnth  (   --- )
                           1 year  ( -14.2%)
                           2 year  ( -22.5%)
                           3 year  ( +16.5%)
                           4 year  (   --- )

After last month’s heavily promoted cliffhanger, which was billed as earthshaking stuff, sales promptly drop back to normal. Of course, “normal” for NEW AVENGES is still very good by any other standards.

8.  MIGHTY AVENGERS
03/07  Mighty Avengers #1 - 156,400
04/07  Mighty Avengers #2 - 124,209  (-20.6%)
05/07  Mighty Avengers #3 - 115,440  ( -7.1%)
06/07  ---
07/07  Mighty Avengers #4 - 107,768  ( -6.6%)

They may be close together on the charts, but a notable gulf is emerging between NEW AVENGERS and its younger sibling, which it outsells by 14%. MIGHTY AVENGERS has yet to find its level, and the fact that it’s still dropping at 6% a month suggests that it has a way to go yet.

Delays may not help matters – issue #5 has been rescheduled to the last week of September.

10. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
07/01  Amazing Spider-Man #33  -  79,564
07/02  Amazing Spider-Man #43  -  98,980
07/03  Amazing Spider-Man #55  -  95,467
07/04  Amazing Spider-Man #510 -  84,750
07/05  Amazing Spider-Man #522 -  73,130
=====
07/06  Amazing Spider-Man #534 - 125,553  ( -9.0%)
08/06  ----
09/06  Amazing Spider-Man #535 - 122,968  ( -2.1%)
10/06  ----
11/06  Amazing Spider-Man #536 - 121,003  ( -1.6%)
12/06  ---
01/07  Amazing Spider-Man #537 - 123,160  ( +1.8%)
02/07  Amazing Spider-Man #538 - 145,435  (+18.1%)
03/07  Amazing Spider-Man #539 - 155,980  ( +7.3%)
04/07  ---
05/07  Amazing Spider-Man #540 - 119,662  (-23.3%)
06/07  Amazing Spider-Man #541 - 108,284  ( -9.5%)
07/07  Amazing Spider-Man #542 - 105,715  ( -2.4%)
                                  6 mnth  (-14.2%)
                                  1 year  (-15.8%)
                                  2 year  (+44.6%)
                                  3 year  (+24.7%)

Still running a month late, this is the issue solicited for June. It’s the penultimate part of “Back in Black”, and sales seem to be levelling out after the long stretch of event storylines. Of course, with the “One More Day” crossover around the corner, followed by a relaunch, AMAZING has plenty of promotional tricks still up its sleeve.

11. INCREDIBLE HULK
07/01  Incredible Hulk #30  -  34,408
07/02  Incredible Hulk #43  -  48,077
07/03  Incredible Hulk #57  -  64,959
07/04  Incredible Hulk #74  -  43,383
07/05  Incredible Hulk #83  -  55,940
=====
07/06  Incredible Hulk #96  -  49,209  (  +0.2%)
08/06  Incredible Hulk #97  -  48,893  (  -0.6%)
09/06  Incredible Hulk #98  -  52,987  (  +8.4%)
10/06  Incredible Hulk #99  -  47,878  (  -9.6%)
11/06  Incredible Hulk #100 -  84,169  ( +75.8%)
12/06  Incredible Hulk #101 -  47,927  ( -43.1%)
01/07  Incredible Hulk #102 -  46,965  (  -2.0%)
02/07  Incredible Hulk #103 -  46,690  (  -0.6%)
03/07  Incredible Hulk #104 -  47,823  (  +2.4%)
04/07  Incredible Hulk #105 -  53,256  ( +11.4%)
05/07  Incredible Hulk #106 - 119,735  (+124.8%)
06/07  Incredible Hulk #107 - 115,912  (  -3.2%)
07/07  Incredible Hulk #108 - 105,036  (  -9.4%)
                               6 mnth  (+123.6%)
                               1 year  (+113.4%)
                               2 year  ( +87.8%)
                               3 year  (+142.1%)
                               4 year  ( +61.7%)

Not surprisingly, INCREDIBLE HULK continues to see huge sales boosts from the WORLD WAR HULK crossover. The drops this month are largely illusory – issue #106 picks up another 9,543 sales with a third printing, and issue #107 sells 8,981. The first month sales are actually down by around 2,000, which is fairly trivial.

13. AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE
04/07  Initiative #1 - 127,798
05/07  Initiative #2 - 103,189  (-19.3%)
06/07  Initiative #3 -  92,339  (-10.5%)
07/07  Initiative #4 -  94,773  ( +2.6%)

This is the first half of a WORLD WAR HULK crossover issue, with an unusually modest sales boost – particularly compared to its effects on other participating titles. Top-selling books tend not to benefit as much from crossovers because they’re doing so well to start with, but in this case, the book was shedding 10K a month and hadn’t found its level yet. Those two factors may both be at play here; we’ll have to wait a few months more in order to find out where AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE ends up.

14. CAPTAIN AMERICA
07/01  Captain America #45 -  36,551
07/02  Captain America #4  -  65,631
07/03  Captain America #15 -  45,520
07/04  Captain America #29 -  40,221
07/05  ---
=====
07/06  Captain America #20 -  47,357  (  +0.1%)
08/06  ---
09/06  Captain America #21 -  49,050  (  +3.6%)
09/06  Captain America #22 -  88,276  ( +80.0%)
10/06  Captain America #23 -  81,323  (  -7.9%)
11/06  Captain America #24 -  82,348  (  +1.3%)
12/06  ---
01/07  ---
02/07  ---
03/07  Captain America #25 - 344,270  (+318.1%)
04/07  ---
05/07  Captain America #26 - 129,365  ( -62.4%)
06/07  Captain America #27 -  99,108  ( -23.4%)
07/07  Captain America #28 -  89,721  (  -9.5%)
                              6 mnth  (   --- )
                              1 year  ( +89.5%)
                              2 year  (   --- )
                              3 year  (+123.1%)
                              4 year  ( +97.1%)

A director’s cut edition of issue #25 hits the charts at number 91, adding a further 26,517 copies. That brings the direct market total to just under 345K.

Curiously, though, CAPTAIN AMERICA seems to be rapidly dropping back to its normal level. It’s already down to the level of its CIVIL WAR tie-in issues, and it remains to be seen quite where it’ll end up. Obviously it was never going to sustain the one-off sales of issue #25, but it’s still a little odd that this book hasn’t managed to sustain the same interest as FALLEN SON. It is, after all, CAPTAIN AMERICA – the parent title of the storyline.

16. UNCANNY X-MEN
07/01  Uncanny X-Men #396 - 117,560
07/02  Uncanny X-Men #408 -  87,074
07/03  Uncanny X-Men #428 -  93,546
07/04  Uncanny X-Men #446 -  96,961
07/05  Uncanny X-Men #462 -  91,125
=====
07/06  Uncanny X-Men #475 - 106,037  (+35.7%)
07/06  Uncanny X-Men #476 -  92,154  (-13.1%)
08/06  Uncanny X-Men #477 -  89,225  ( -3.2%)
09/06  Uncanny X-Men #478 -  89,850  ( +0.7%)
10/06  Uncanny X-Men #479 -  89,052  ( -0.9%)
11/06  Uncanny X-Men #480 -  88,584  ( -0.5%)
12/06  Uncanny X-Men #481 -  85,995  ( -2.9%)
01/07  Uncanny X-Men #482 -  83,860  ( -2.5%)
02/07  Uncanny X-Men #483 -  83,009  ( -1.0%)
03/07  Uncanny X-Men #484 -  82,043  ( -1.2%)
04/07  Uncanny X-Men #485 -  81,764  ( -0.3%)
05/07  Uncanny X-Men #486 -  81,965  ( +0.2%)
06/07  Uncanny X-Men #487 -  81,481  ( -0.6%)
07/07  Uncanny X-Men #488 -  86,747  ( +6.5%)
                             6 mnth  ( +3.4%)
                             1 year  (-18.2%)
                             2 year  ( -4.8%)
                             3 year  (-10.5%)
                             4 year  ( -7.3%)

17. X-MEN
07/01  New X-Men #116 - 120,703
07/02  New X-Men #129 -  98,817
07/03  New X-Men #143 -  99,850
07/04  X-Men #159     -  93,164
07/05  X-Men #173     -  77,154
=====
07/06  X-Men #188     -  95,487  (+22.5%)
07/06  X-Men #189     -  85,157  (-10.8%)
08/06  X-Men #190     -  83,436  ( -2.0%)
09/06  X-Men #191     -  82,048  ( -1.7%)
10/06  X-Men #192     -  81,816  ( -0.3%)
11/06  X-Men #193     -  80,102  ( -2.1%)
12/06  X-Men #194     -  78,114  ( -2.5%)
01/07  X-Men #195     -  76,900  ( -1.6%)
02/07  X-Men #196     -  75,707  ( -1.6%)
03/07  X-Men #197     -  75,184  ( -0.7%)
04/07  X-Men #198     -  74,841  ( -0.5%)
05/07  X-Men #199     -  75,996  ( +1.5%)
06/07  X-Men #200     - 142,503  (+87.5%)
07/07  X-Men #201     -  86,278  (-39.5%)
                         6 mnth  (+12.2%)
                         1 year  ( -9.6%)
                         2 year  (+11.8%)
                         3 year  ( -7.4%)
                         4 year  (-13.6%)

This is the first full month of “Endangered Species”, a seventeen-part crossover running as a back-up strip in X-MEN, UNCANNY X-MEN, NEW X-MEN and X-FACTOR. It’s perhaps worth noting that the back-up strips are essentially freebies – they’re not cutting into the page count of the main feature, and the price hasn’t been raised. Effectively, it’s an extended trailer for the upcoming “Messiah Complex” crossover, which really will take over all the books.

Both of the core monthly titles receive a boost from the event, although it’s more noticeable in the case of X-MEN, which was selling lower to start with. The resulting 86K figure still isn’t that spectacular by X-Men standards compared with sales in recent years, but then we haven’t reached the main event yet.

X-MEN #200 picks up re-orders of 5,831.

21. WORLD WAR HULK: X-MEN
06/07  X-Men #1 of 3 - 87,427
07/07  X-Men #2 of 3 - 79,944  (-8.6%)

Strange but true: this is outselling COUNTDOWN. In fact, so is WORLD WAR HULK: FRONT LINE, but that one doesn’t surprise me so much. It’s a strange world we live in.

Issue #1 picks up re-orders of 2,354.

23. FRONT LINE
07/06  Civil War #3  of 11    - 128,164  ( -3.5%)
07/06  Civil War #4  of 11    - 111,868  (-12.7%)
08/06  Civil War #5  of 11    - 111,435  ( -0.4%)
09/06  Civil War #6  of 11    - 108,436  ( -2.7%)
10/06  Civil War #7  of 11    - 106,588  ( -1.7%)
11/06  Civil War #8  of 11    - 100,869  ( -5.4%)
12/06  Civil War #9  of 11    -  97,948  ( -2.9%)
01/07  Civil War #10 of 11    -  99,795  ( +1.9%)
02/07  Civil War #11 of 11    -  89,163  (-10.7%)
03/07  ---
04/07  ---
05/07  ---
06/07  World War Hulk #1 of 6 -  84,386  ( -5.4%)
07/07  World War Hulk #2 of 6 -  76,140  ( -9.8%)
                                 6 mnth  (-23.7%)
                                 1 year  (-40.6%)

Hmm. There’s a big drop from CIVIL WAR: FRONT LINE, but then it’s a smaller crossover across the board. It’s a little strange to see this book tailing in below WORLD WAR HULK: X-MEN, which is a peripheral part of the crossover. However, relative to the parent title’s sales, it’s actually doing better than CIVIL WAR: FRONT LINE. That book achieved around a third of the parent title’s sales; WORLD WAR HULK: FRONT LINE is closer to 70%.

24. ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN
07/01  Ult. Spider-Man #11  -  79,267
07/02  Ult. Spider-Man #24  -  92,459
07/03  Ult. Spider-Man #43  - 101,316
07/04  Ult. Spider-Man #62  -  98,963
07/05  Ult. Spider-Man #80  -  76,906
=====
07/06  Ult. Spider-Man #97  -  76,612  ( +4.3%)
08/06  Ult. Spider-Man #98  -  77,304  ( +0.9%)
08/06  Ult. Spider-Man #99  -  76,075  ( -1.6%)
09/06  Ult. Spider-Man #100 - 119,194  (+56.7%)
10/06  Ult. Spider-Man #101 -  78,963  (-33.8%)
11/06  Ult. Spider-Man #102 -  77,121  ( -2.3%)
12/06  Ult. Spider-Man #103 -  76,251  ( -1.1%)
01/07  Ult. Spider-Man #104 - 108,082  (+41.7%)
02/07  Ult. Spider-Man #105 -  74,376  (-31.2%)
03/07  Ult. Spider-Man #106 -  73,832  ( -1.3%)
03/07  Ult. Spider-Man #107 -  72,818  ( -1.4%)
04/07  Ult. Spider-Man #108 -  72,713  ( -0.1%)
05/07  Ult. Spider-Man #109 -  72,478  ( -0.3%)
06/07  Ult. Spider-Man #110 -  73,646  ( +1.6%)
07/07  Ult. Spider-Man #111 -  75,487  ( +2.5%)
                               6 mnth  (-30.2%)
                               1 year  ( -1.5%)
                               2 year  ( -1.8%)
                               3 year  (-23.7%)
                               4 year  (-25.5%)

The final Mark Bagley issue, complete with a variant cover that doesn’t make much of a dent. With ULTIMATES in limbo, this is now the Ultimate imprint’s flagship title, and at least it’s a steady performer.

27. IRON MAN
07/01  Iron Man #44 - 40,498
07/02  Iron Man #57 - 35,992
07/03  Iron Man #70 - 32,208
07/04  Iron Man #86 - 34,520
07/05  ---
=====
07/06  Iron Man #10 - 38,102  (  +1.2%)
08/06  Iron Man #11 - 37,279  (  -2.2%)
09/06  Iron Man #12 - 36,278  (  -2.7%)
10/06  ---
11/06  Iron Man #13 - 76,800  (+111.7%)
12/06  Iron Man #14 - 73,388  (  -4.4%)
01/07  ---
02/07  Iron Man #15 - 72,394  (  -1.4%)
03/07  --- 
04/07  Iron Man #16 - 59,470  ( -17.9%)
05/07  Iron Man #17 - 63,328  (  +6.5%)
06/07  Iron Man #18 - 56,474  ( -10.8%)
06/07  Iron Man #19 - 83,801  ( +48.4%)
07/07  Iron Man #20 - 72,831  ( -13.1%)
                      6 mnth  (   --- )
                      1 year  ( +91.1%)
                      2 year  (   --- )
                      3 year  (+111.0%)
                      4 year  (+126.1%)

Another WORLD WAR HULK crossover. Issue #19 picks up re-orders of 8,705, and allowing for that, the drop-off is fairly small.

31. MARVEL ZOMBIES/ARMY OF DARKNESS
03/07  Army of Darkness #1 of 5 - 94,894
04/07  Army of Darkness #2 of 5 - 69,432  (-26.8%)
05/07  Army of Darkness #3 of 5 - 67,062  ( -3.4%)
06/07  Army of Darkness #4 of 5 - 68,279  ( +1.8%)
07/07  Army of Darkness #5 of 5 - 67,293  ( -1.4%)

Very stable after the initial drop. The Marvel Zombies franchise rumbles on with another miniseries later in the year.

32. WORLD WAR HULK: GAMMA CORPS
07/07  Gamma Corps #1 of 4 - 65,718

A peripheral WORLD WAR HULK crossover title, featuring some largely obscure characters, and without any big name creators. All things considered, this is a perfectly decent start.

33. GHOST RIDER
07/06  Ghost Rider #1  - 98,826
08/06  Ghost Rider #2  - 61,793  (-37.5%)
09/06  Ghost Rider #3  - 54,029  (-12.6%)
10/06  Ghost Rider #4  - 50,925  ( -5.7%)
11/06  Ghost Rider #5  - 47,929  ( -5.9%)
12/06  Ghost Rider #6  - 46,673  ( -2.6%)
01/07  Ghost Rider #7  - 43,557  ( -6.7%)
02/07  Ghost Rider #8  - 48,736  (+11.9%)
03/07  Ghost Rider #9  - 48,041  ( -1.4%)
04/07  Ghost Rider #10 - 43,986  ( -8.4%)
05/07  Ghost Rider #11 - 43,626  ( -0.8%)
06/07  Ghost Rider #12 - 71,348  (+63.5%)
07/07  Ghost Rider #13 - 64,092  (-10.2%)
                         6 mnth  (+47.1%)
                         1 year  (-35.1%)

The second half of a WORLD WAR HULK crossover story. Issue #12 picks up re-orders of 7,473, and without those, this months sales would actually have gone slightly up.

34. ULTIMATE POWER
10/06  Ultimate Power #1 of 9 - 113,823
11/06  Ultimate Power #2 of 9 -  76,654  (-32.7%)
12/06  Ultimate Power #3 of 9 -  70,148  ( -8.5%)
01/07  ---
02/07  ---
03/07  Ultimate Power #4 of 9 -  63,818  ( -9.0%)
04/07  ---
05/07  Ultimate Power #5 of 9 -  62,784  ( -1.6%)
06/07  ---
07/07  Ultimate Power #6 of 9 -  61,361  ( -2.3%)

At least it’s levelling out, but it’s still not delivering anything like the sales that Marvel must have hoped for from an Ultimate miniseries. These things used to be consistent top ten books.

35. NEW AVENGERS / TRANSFORMERS
07/07  New Avengers/TFormers #1 of 4 - 60,565

A shameless promotional stunt to tie in with the release of the TRANSFORMERS movie. Not a bad number for this sort of thing.

36. ULTIMATE X-MEN
07/01  Ultimate X-Men #8  -  99,527
07/02  Ultimate X-Men #20 -  92,927
07/03  Ultimate X-Men #35 - 109,687
07/04  Ultimate X-Men #49 -  93,572
07/05  Ultimate X-Men #61 -  87,094
=====
07/06  Ultimate X-Men #72 -  70,593  ( -1.0%)
08/06  Ultimate X-Men #73 -  70,153  ( -0.6%)
09/06  Ultimate X-Men #74 -  68,874  ( -1.8%)
10/06  Ultimate X-Men #75 -  73,837  ( +7.2%)
11/06  Ultimate X-Men #76 -  69,054  ( -6.5%)
12/06  Ultimate X-Men #77 -  67,338  ( -2.5%)
01/07  Ultimate X-Men #78 -  66,409  ( -1.4%)
02/07  Ultimate X-Men #79 -  64,363  ( -3.1%)
03/07  Ultimate X-Men #80 -  63,037  ( -2.1%)
04/07  Ultimate X-Men #81 -  62,926  ( -0.2%)
05/07  Ultimate X-Men #82 -  62,063  ( -1.4%)
06/07  Ultimate X-Men #83 -  59,677  ( -3.8%)
07/07  Ultimate X-Men #84 -  59,929  ( +0.4%)
                             6 mnth  ( -9.8%)
                             1 year  (-15.1%)
                             2 year  (-31.2%)
                             3 year  (-36.0%)
                             4 year  (-45.4%)

The book seems to have levelled out after an extended period of decline, but it’s had blips before.

38. WOLVERINE ORIGINS ANNUAL
07/07  Annual #1 - 57,775

Hmm. This is a strange publishing strategy. Marvel stopped doing annuals when Bill Jemas was in charge, on the grounds that they always sold fewer copies than the parent title. Therefore, Jemas argued, it made more sense just to dump the annuals and publish an extra issue of the regular title. Sales seemed to bear this out.

Now we have the exact opposite – a WOLVERINE: ORIGINS annual which appears on the schedule in the place of the regular title. In fact, it might as well be an issue of the regular series, since it’s written by Daniel Way and it continues the ongoing storyline. But by publishing it in this form, Marvel have achieved sales of around 58K, compared with WOLVERINE: ORIGINS itself which sells around 66K. (Admittedly, that’s 66K and falling, but it’s not falling as fast as that.)

What was the point? This just seems to vindicate Bill Jemas’ original logic: if they’d published it as an issue of the regular series, it would have sold several thousand more copies.

39. THE ORDER
07/07  The Order #1 - 57,264

This is the book formerly known as THE CHAMPIONS, until somebody pointed out that Marvel no longer held the trademark. It’s a team book featuring entirely new characters, which is normally a tough sell, but it does have a legitimate Initiative tie-in on its side. The debut sales are about the same level as NEW WARRIORS last month – marginally higher, in fact – and they give the series plenty of opportunity to find an audience.

40. PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL
11/06  Punisher War Journal #1 - 102,727
12/06  --
01/07  Punisher War Journal #2 -  96,112  ( -6.4%)
01/07  Punisher War Journal #3 -  70,143  (-27.0%)
02/07  Punisher War Journal #4 -  52,961  (-24.5%)
03/07  Punisher War Journal #5 -  50,190  ( -5.2%)
04/07  Punisher War Journal #6 -  53,498  ( +6.6%)
05/07  Punisher War Journal #7 -  75,360  (+40.9%)
06/07  Punisher War Journal #8 -  61,376  (-18.6%)
07/07  Punisher War Journal #9 -  56,854  ( -7.4%)
                                  6 mnth  (-18.9%)

Sales are dropping off on this storyline, perhaps because readers have figured out that it doesn’t have all that much to do with the death of Captain America after all. But the series is still holding up well after nine issues, and it’s outselling its Max counterpart by around 20K. So far, so good.

41. SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN
07/04  Marvel Knights S-M #4  - 75,508
07/05  Marvel Knights S-M #16 - 50,876
=====
07/06  Sensational S-M #28    - 58,532  (+15.4%)
08/06  Sensational S-M #29    - 55,420  ( -5.3%)
09/06  Sensational S-M #30    - 54,467  ( -1.7%)
10/06  Sensational S-M #31    - 51,587  ( -5.3%)
11/06  Sensational S-M #32    - 50,222  ( -2.6%)
12/06  Sensational S-M #33    - 48,443  ( -3.5%)
01/07  Sensational S-M #34    - 47,008  ( -3.0%)
02/07  Sensational S-M #35    - 69,543  (+47.9%)
03/07  Sensational S-M #36    - 58,559  (-15.8%)
04/07  Sensational S-M #37    - 57,528  ( -1.8%)
05/07  ---
06/07  Sensational S-M #38    - 57,091  ( -0.8%)
07/07  Sensational S-M #39    - 55,346  ( -3.1%)
                                6 mnth  (+17.7%)
                                1 year  ( -5.4%)
                                2 year  ( +8.8%)
                                3 year  (-26.7%)

Cancelled with issue #41 as part of the consolidation of the Spider-Man books into a single title.

42. BLACK PANTHER
07/05  Black Panther #6  - 35,256
=====
07/06  Black Panther #18 - 69,912  (+149.7%)
08/06  Black Panther #19 - 28,372  ( -59.4%)
09/06  Black Panther #20 - 26,585  (  -6.3%)
10/06  Black Panther #21 - 34,257  ( +28.9%)
11/06  Black Panther #22 - 47,556  ( +38.8%)
12/06  Black Panther #23 - 54,762  ( +15.2%)
01/07  Black Panther #24 - 59,971  (  +9.5%)
02/07  Black Panther #25 - 56,479  (  -5.8%)
03/07  Black Panther #26 - 51,385  (  -9.0%)
04/07  ---
05/07  Black Panther #27 - 52,552  (  +2.3%)
06/07  Black Panther #28 - 61,808  ( +17.6%)
07/07  Black Panther #29 - 55,027  ( -11.0%)
                           6 mnth  (  -8.2%)
                           1 year  ( -21.3%)
                           2 year  ( +56.1%)

The second part of a Marvel Zombies storyline, dropping back somewhat from last month. BLACK PANTHER has been caught up in so many crossovers over the last few years that it’s difficult to figure out quite where its baseline would be without them. Has it really succeeded in building its audience to the mid-50K range, or is it waiting to collapse back to 28K again when the crossovers and stunts move on? My instinct is that sales have been up for long enough now that the book probably has succeeded in achieving a legitimate audience growth, but the litmus test may come when the book finally severs its ties with the Fantastic Four.

47. OMEGA FLIGHT
04/07  Omega Flight #1 of 5 - 71,205
05/07  Omega Flight #2 of 5 - 57,239  (-19.6%)
06/07  Omega Flight #3 of 5 - 55,695  ( -2.7%)
07/07  Omega Flight #4 of 5 - 52,271  ( -6.1%)

Dropping, but these are still good enough numbers for a miniseries. Marvel would have been perfectly satisfied to get these sales on a regular monthly title.

49. ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR
07/04  Ult. Fantastic Four #9  - 92,923
07/05  Ult. Fantastic Four #21 - 91,321
=====
07/06  Ult. Fantastic Four #31 - 84,460  (-18.7%)
08/06  Ult. Fantastic Four #32 - 80,730  ( -4.4%)
08/06  Ult. Fantastic Four #33 - 65,191  (-19.2%)
09/06  Ult. Fantastic Four #34 - 63,447  ( -2.7%)
10/06  Ult. Fantastic Four #35 - 61,270  ( -3.4%)
11/06  Ult. Fantastic Four #36 - 57,779  ( -5.7%)
12/06  Ult. Fantastic Four #37 - 55,047  ( -4.7%)
01/07  Ult. Fantastic Four #38 - 52,859  ( -4.0%)
02/07  Ult. Fantastic Four #39 - 52,104  ( -1.4%)
03/07  Ult. Fantastic Four #40 - 50,488  ( -3.1%)
04/07  ---
05/07  Ult. Fantastic Four #41 - 49,916  ( -1.1%)
05/07  Ult. Fantastic Four #42 - 52,840  ( +5.9%)
06/07  Ult. Fantastic Four #43 - 51,453  ( -2.6%)
07/07  Ult. Fantastic Four #44 - 50,796  ( -1.3%)
                                 6 mnth  ( -3.9%)
                                 1 year  (-39.9%)
                                 2 year  (-44.4%)
                                 3 year  (-45.3%)

Seems to have levelled out over the last few months, but there’s still an aching gulf between the current sales and what the book was selling only a year ago.

51. X-FACTOR
07/06  X-Factor #9  - 68,799  ( -9.7%)
08/06  X-Factor #10 - 44,603  (-35.2%)
09/06  X-Factor #11 - 43,431  ( -2.6%)
10/06  X-Factor #12 - 42,909  ( -1.2%)
11/06  X-Factor #13 - 42,844  ( -0.2%)
12/06  X-Factor #14 - 40,208  ( -6.2%)
01/07  X-Factor #15 - 38,693  ( -3.8%)
02/07  X-Factor #16 - 38,240  ( -1.2%)
03/07  X-Factor #17 - 38,067  ( -0.4%)
04/07  X-Factor #18 - 37,851  ( -0.6%)
05/07  X-Factor #19 - 37,898  ( +0.1%)
06/07  X-Factor #20 - 37,105  ( -2.1%)
07/07  X-Factor #21 - 50,227  (+35.4%)
                      6 mnth  (+29.8%)
                      1 year  (-27.0%)

52. NEW X-MEN
07/03  New Mutants #3 - 43,614
07/04  New X-Men #3   - 55,304
07/05  New X-Men #16  - 44,836
=====
07/06  New X-Men #28  - 39,771  ( -0.0%)
08/06  New X-Men #29  - 40,303  ( +1.3%)
09/06  New X-Men #30  - 39,658  ( -1.6%)
10/06  New X-Men #31  - 39,175  ( -1.2%)
11/06  New X-Men #32  - 37,919  ( -3.2%)
12/06  New X-Men #33  - 38,076  ( +0.4%)
01/07  New X-Men #34  - 37,272  ( -2.1%)
02/07  New X-Men #35  - 37,142  ( -0.3%)
03/07  New X-Men #36  - 37,004  ( -0.4%)
04/07  New X-Men #37  - 37,935  ( +2.5%)
05/07  New X-Men #38  - 38,915  ( +2.6%)
06/07  New X-Men #39  - 39,258  ( +0.9%)
07/07  New X-Men #40  - 49,515  (+26.1%)
                        6 mnth  (+32.8%)
                        1 year  (+24.5%)
                        2 year  (+10.4%)
                        3 year  (-10.5%)
                        4 year  (+13.5%)

The other two X-books to participate in “Endangered Species” both see big gains, which suggests that retailers imagine around 12K extra readers picking up the books for the back-up strips. Since the lead stories are unaffected, this also gives them a fair chance to try and win over the new readers.

55. FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN
07/06  F.N. Spider-Man #10 - 48,902  ( -2.5%)
08/06  F.N. Spider-Man #11 - 50,995  ( +4.3%)
09/06  F.N. Spider-Man #12 - 48,063  ( -5.7%)
10/06  F.N. Spider-Man #13 - 46,293  ( -3.7%)
11/06  F.N. Spider-Man #14 - 43,476  ( -6.1%)
12/06  F.N. Spider-Man #15 - 42,147  ( -3.1%)
01/07  F.N. Spider-Man #16 - 41,832  ( -0.7%)
02/07  F.N. Spider-Man #17 - 62,278  (+48.9%)
03/07  F.N. Spider-Man #18 - 50,665  (-18.6%)
04/07  F.N. Spider-Man #19 - 50,307  ( -0.7%)
05/07  F.N. Spider-Man #20 - 49,908  ( -0.8%)
06/07  F.N. Spider-Man #21 - 47,915  ( -4.0%)
07/07  F.N. Spider-Man #22 - 46,465  ( -3.0%)
                             6 mnth  (+11.1%)
                             1 year  ( -5.0%)

Cancelled with issue #24.

56. ONSLAUGHT REBORN
11/06  Onslaught Reborn #1 of 5 - 82,642
12/06  Onslaught Reborn #2 of 5 - 55,111  (-33.3%)
01/07  ---
02/07  ---
03/07  Onslaught Reborn #3 of 5 - 52,420  ( -4.9%)
04/07  ---
05/07  ---
06/07  ---
07/07  Onslaught Reborn #4 of 5 - 45,946  (-12.4%)

Dropping quite badly for a miniseries at this stage, and it’s clearly lost all touch with its original schedule.

57. NEW WARRIORS
06/07  New Warriors #1 - 56,809
07/07  New Warriors #2 - 45,820  (-19.3%)

A relatively steep second issue drop, but still within normal bounds. The book has plenty of leeway to find a level.

58. SUB-MARINER
06/07  Sub-Mariner #1 of 6 - 57,902
07/07  Sub-Mariner #2 of 6 - 45,728  (-21.0%)

Again, a fairly steep drop, but nothing that Marvel can’t live with in the context of a miniseries.

59. SILVER SURFER: REQUIEM
05/07  Requiem #1 of 4  - 63,634
06/07  Requiem #2 of 4  - 46,470  (-27.0%)
07/07  Requiem #3 of 4  - 45,652  ( -1.8%)

Issue #1 picks up re-orders of 7,968, and the series is levelling out nicely after it’s initial drop. All well and good.

62. THUNDERBOLTS: DESPERATE MEASURES
07/07  Desperate Measures - 41,555

Another example of the WOLVERINE: ORIGINS phenomenon. THUNDERBOLTS itself is on a skip month, so this is effectively the July issue in all but name. It’s a fill-in by Paul Jenkins and Steve Lieber, but as they’re the creators responsible for turning Speedball into Penance in the first place, it’s not like they’re complete randoms. It’s a standard 32-page comic which Marvel could quite easily have shipped as THUNDERBOLTS #116. But while THUNDERBOLTS sells around 64K, this choice of format has delivered 42K. It’s hard to see what Marvel gain from this approach.

63. RUNAWAYS
07/03  Runaways #4  - 20,246
07/04  ---
07/05  Runaways #6  - 27,365
=====
07/06  Runaways #18 - 24,678  (  +4.3%)
08/06  Runaways #19 - 25,042  (  +1.5%)
09/06  Runaways #20 - 23,561  (  -5.9%)
10/06  Runaways #21 - 25,553  (  +8.5%)
11/06  Runaways #22 - 25,908  (  +1.4%)
12/06  ---
01/07  Runaways #23 - 25,346  (  -2.2%)
02/07  Runaways #24 - 25,216  (  -0.5%)
03/07  ---
04/07  Runaways #25 - 56,250  (+123.1%)
05/07  Runaways #26 - 46,134  ( -18.0%)
06/07  ---
07/07  Runaways #27 - 41,254  ( -10.6%)
                      6 mnth  ( +62.8%)
                      1 year  ( +67.2%)
                      2 year  ( +50.8%)
                      3 year  (   --- )
                      4 year  (+103.8%)

Still experiencing significant drops as it tries to find its level with Joss Whedon at the helm. A 10% drop at this stage is a little worrying, but the book is still selling far better than it ever has before.

64. HEROES FOR HIRE
08/06  Heroes for Hire #1  - 84,006
09/06  Heroes for Hire #2  - 66,949  ( -20.3%)
10/06  Heroes for Hire #3  - 60,770  (  -9.2%)
11/06  Heroes for Hire #4  - 38,070  ( -37.4%)
12/06  Heroes for Hire #5  - 31,318  ( -17.7%)
01/07  Heroes for Hire #6  - 27,513  ( -12.1%)
02/07  Heroes for Hire #7  - 24,476  ( -11.0%)
03/07  Heroes for Hire #8  - 22,563  (  -7.8%)
04/07  Heroes for Hire #9  - 21,444  (  -5.0%)
05/07  Heroes for Hire #10 - 20,503  (  -4.4%)
06/07  Heroes for Hire #11 - 47,808  (+133.2%)
07/07  Heroes for Hire #12 - 41,229  ( -13.8%)
                             6 mnth  ( +49.9%)

Another WORLD WAR HULK crossover storyline. Issue #11 sees re-orders of 6,510.

65. NOVA
07/06  Ann: Nova #4 of 4 - 35,194  ( -4.0%)
08/06  ---
09/06  ---
10/06  ---
11/06  ---
12/06  ---
01/07  ---
02/07  ---
03/07  ---
04/07  Nova #1           - 42,917  (+21.9%)
05/07  Nova #2           - 44,532  ( +3.8%)
06/07  Nova #3           - 45,004  ( +1.1%)
07/07  Nova #4           - 40,173  (-10.7%)
                           6 mnth  (  --- )
                           1 year  (+14.1%)

The first part of a four-issue ANNIHILATION: CONQUEST tie-in, and the 11% drop is less than encouraging. Then again, issues #2-3 were Initiative tie-ins, and that’s evidently a bigger deal. Sales are still entirely acceptable.

66. MS MARVEL
07/06  Ms Marvel #5  - 38,874  ( -4.3%)
08/06  Ms Marvel #6  - 68,330  (+75.8%)
09/06  Ms Marvel #7  - 64,973  ( -4.9%)
10/06  Ms Marvel #8  - 62,893  ( -3.2%)
11/06  Ms Marvel #9  - 37,881  (-39.8%)
12/06  Ms Marvel #10 - 34,350  ( -9.3%)
01/07  Ms Marvel #11 - 32,298  ( -6.0%)
02/07  Ms Marvel #12 - 30,763  ( -4.8%)
03/07  Ms Marvel #13 - 40,836  (+32.7%)
04/07  Ms Marvel #14 - 42,877  ( +5.0%)
05/07  Ms Marvel #15 - 42,849  ( -0.0%)
06/07  Ms Marvel #16 - 40,048  ( -6.5%)
07/07  Ms Marvel #17 - 38,003  ( -5.1%)
                       6 mnth  (+17.7%)
                       1 year  ( -2.2%)

Shedding over 5% of its readers for the second month in a row. That’s not great, but the book is still drifting back down from its rather artificial “Initiative” boost. It’s been a low lower than this in the past.

67. ANNIHILATION: CONQUEST - WRAITH
07/07  Wraith #1 of 4 - 37,241

69. ANNIHILATION: CONQUEST - QUASAR
07/07  Quasar #1 of 4 - 37,048

Two more CONQUEST books, both selling at about the same level. It’s almost certainly the ANNIHILATION: CONQUEST brand that’s selling these issues, rather than the individual characters.

70. IMMORTAL IRON FIST
11/06  Immortal Iron Fist #1 - 60,079
12/06  Immortal Iron Fist #2 - 40,617  (-32.4%)
01/07  ---
02/07  Immortal Iron Fist #3 - 35,654  (-12.2%)
03/07  ---
04/07  Immortal Iron Fist #4 - 37,159  ( +4.2%)
05/07  Immortal Iron Fist #5 - 36,856  ( -0.8%)
06/07  Immortal Iron Fist #6 - 36,731  ( -0.3%)
07/07  Immortal Iron Fist #7 - 35,842  ( -2.4%)
                               6 mnth  ( +0.5%)

After the initial drop, this book has levelled out surprisingly quickly to become a consistent seller in the mid-30K range. A modest but unexpected success.

71. ANNIHILATION: CONQUEST - STAR LORD
07/07  Star Lord #1 of 4 - 35,833

Bringing up the rear for ANNIHILATION: CONQUEST, but not by much.

73. PUNISHER  [Max]
07/01  Punisher #2  - 79,276
07/02  Punisher #14 - 45,156
07/03  Punisher #29 - 38,849
07/04  Punisher #9  - 46,882
07/05  Punisher #23 - 37,376
=====
07/06  Punisher #35 - 34,116  ( -0.1%)
08/06  Punisher #36 - 34,227  ( +0.3%)
09/06  Punisher #37 - 34,250  ( +0.1%)
09/06  Punisher #38 - 33,839  ( -1.2%)
10/06  Punisher #39 - 33,962  ( +0.4%)
11/06  Punisher #40 - 33,579  ( -1.1%)
11/06  Punisher #41 - 33,164  ( -1.2%)
12/06  Punisher #42 - 33,003  ( -0.5%)
01/07  Punisher #43 - 33,023  ( +0.0%)
02/07  Punisher #44 - 32,951  ( -0.2%)
03/07  Punisher #45 - 33,245  ( +0.9%)
04/07  Punisher #46 - 33,427  ( +0.5%)
05/07  Punisher #47 - 33,892  ( +1.4%)
06/07  Punisher #48 - 33,804  ( -0.3%)
07/07  Punisher #49 - 34,317  ( +1.5%)
                      6 mnth  ( +3.9%)
                      1 year  ( +0.6%)
                      2 year  ( -8.2%)
                      3 year  (-26.8%)
                      4 year  (-11.7%)

Rock steady, as always.

74. ANITA BLAKE, VAMPIRE HUNTER  [DBPro]
10/06  Guilty Pls. #1 of 12 - 53,277
11/06  Guilty Pls. #2 of 12 - 39,450  (-26.0%)
12/06  Guilty Pls. #3 of 12 - 36,091  ( -8.5%)
01/07  Guilty Pls. #4 of 12 - 32,363  (-10.3%)
02/07  ---
03/07  Guilty Pls. #5 of 12 - 31,136  ( -3.8%)
04/07  Guilty Pls. #6 of 12 - 30,759  ( -1.2%)
05/07  ---
06/07  ---
07/07  First Death #1 of 2  - 33,982  (+10.5%)
                              6 mnth  ( +5.0%)

With GUILTY PLEASURES on hiatus until September, Marvel move on to FIRST DEATH. Or, to give it its full name, LAURELL K HAMILTON’S ANITA BLAKE – VAMPIRE HUNTER: THE FIRST DEATH. While the original miniseries was an adaptation, this is a two-part story co-written by Hamilton herself. Given that fact, I’m surprised that it hasn’t seen a larger increase. Still, it’s far and away the crown jewel of the Dabel Bros properties.

Or rather, it’s the crown jewel of the properties that used to belong to Dabel Bros, as their relationship with Marvel has come to an end, with Marvel keeping all the good licences. I’m not going to speculate on the details, but it does seem reasonable to assume that there’s more to this story than the parties have revealed. There must have been some reason why the Dabels chose to surrender a licence as useful as this one.

It’ll be interesting to see what Marvel make of the licences that they’ve inherited. Most Dabel Brothers properties sell in modest quantities in the direct market. From Marvel’s point of view, they may have been prepared to put out a few stragglers in order to get hold of the good licences. They no longer need to do that.

75. IRREDEEMABLE ANT-MAN
10/06  Ant-Man #1  - 29,499
11/06  Ant-Man #2  - 23,191  ( -21.4%)
12/06  Ant-Man #3  - 19,580  ( -15.6%)
01/07  Ant-Man #4  - 17,864  (  -8.8%)
02/07  Ant-Man #5  - 16,900  (  -5.4%)
03/07  Ant-Man #6  - 16,220  (  -4.0%)
04/07  Ant-Man #7  - 15,737  (  -3.0%)
05/07  Ant-Man #8  - 15,592  (  -0.9%)
06/07  Ant-Man #9  - 15,506  (  -0.6%)
07/07  Ant-Man #10 - 33,529  (+116.2%)
                     6 mnth  ( +87.7%)

Don’t get excited, it’s a WORLD WAR HULK crossover. Still cancelled with issue #12.

78. GHOST RIDER: TRAIL OF TEARS
02/07  Trail of Tears #1 of 6 - 49,260
03/07  Trail of Tears #2 of 6 - 40,200  (-18.4%)
04/07  Trail of Tears #3 of 6 - 37,271  ( -7.3%)
05/07  Trail of Tears #4 of 6 - 35,414  ( -5.0%)
06/07  Trail of Tears #5 of 6 - 34,075  ( -3.8%)
07/07  Trail of Tears #6 of 6 - 32,381  ( -5.0%)

Normal miniseries numbers.

82. EXILES
07/01  Exiles #2  - 52,389
07/02  Exiles #15 - 38,955
07/03  Exiles #29 - 40,696
07/04  Exiles #49 - 37,184
07/05  Exiles #66 - 34,092
=====
07/06  Exiles #84 - 32,866  ( -0.8%)
08/06  Exiles #85 - 33,978  ( +3.4%)
09/06  Exiles #86 - 33,080  ( -2.6%)
10/06  Exiles #87 - 31,946  ( -3.4%)
11/06  Exiles #88 - 30,928  ( -3.2%)
12/06  Exiles #89 - 36,880  (+19.2%)
01/07  Exiles #90 - 31,595  (-14.3%)
02/07  Exiles #91 - 31,712  ( +0.4%)
03/07  Exiles #92 - 30,296  ( -4.5%)
04/07  Exiles #93 - 30,697  ( +1.3%)
05/07  Exiles #94 - 30,735  ( +0.1%)
06/07  Exiles #95 - 30,612  ( -0.4%)
07/07  Exiles #96 - 30,245  ( -1.2%)
                    6 mnth  ( -4.3%)
                    1 year  ( -8.0%)
                    2 year  (-11.3%)
                    3 year  (-18.7%)
                    4 year  (-25.7%)

86. NEW EXCALIBUR
07/06  New Excalibur #9  - 36,466  ( -2.6%)
08/06  New Excalibur #10 - 36,108  ( -1.0%)
09/06  New Excalibur #11 - 34,104  ( -5.6%)
10/06  New Excalibur #12 - 33,082  ( -3.0%)
11/06  New Excalibur #13 - 32,173  ( -2.7%)
12/06  New Excalibur #14 - 31,318  ( -2.7%)
01/07  New Excalibur #15 - 30,827  ( -1.6%)
02/07  New Excalibur #16 - 30,356  ( -1.5%)
02/07  New Excalibur #17 - 30,073  ( -0.9%)
03/07  ---
04/07  New Excalibur #18 - 29,617  ( -1.5%)
04/07  New Excalibur #19 - 29,014  ( -2.0%)
05/07  New Excalibur #20 - 28,796  ( -0.8%)
06/07  ---
07/07  New Excalibur #21 - 28,930  ( +0.5%)
                           6 mnth  ( -6.2%)
                           1 year  (-20.7%)

The two Chris Claremont titles are still holding tightly together. There’s a crossover miniseries coming out later this year, somewhat misleadingly entitled X-MEN: DIE BY THE SWORD despite the fact that the X-Men don’t seem to be in it.

92. CABLE & DEADPOOL
07/04  Cable & Deadpool #5  - 32,594
07/05  Cable & Deadpool #17 - 34,393
=====
07/06  Cable & Deadpool #30 - 59,333  (+133.9%)
08/06  Cable & Deadpool #31 - 59,804  (  +0.8%)
09/06  Cable & Deadpool #32 - 60,177  (  +0.6%)
10/06  Cable & Deadpool #33 - 30,741  ( -48.9%)
11/06  Cable & Deadpool #34 - 29,144  (  -5.2%)
12/06  Cable & Deadpool #35 - 27,785  (  -4.7%)
01/07  Cable & Deadpool #36 - 26,803  (  -3.5%)
02/07  Cable & Deadpool #37 - 26,588  (  -0.8%)
03/07  Cable & Deadpool #38 - 26,258  (  -1.2%)
04/07  Cable & Deadpool #39 - 26,110  (  -0.6%)
05/07  Cable & Deadpool #40 - 26,120  (  +0.0%)
06/07  Cable & Deadpool #41 - 27,431  (  +5.0%)
06/07  Cable & Deadpool #42 - 27,203  (  -0.8%)
07/07  Cable & Deadpool #43 - 26,341  (  -3.2%)
                              6 mnth  (  -1.7%)
                              1 year  ( -55.6%)
                              2 year  ( -23.4%)
                              3 year  ( -19.2%)

Still selling steadily in the mid-20K range.

100. DEADPOOL/GLI
07/07  Summer Fun Spectacular - 22,864

About what you’d expect for a comedy one-shot where Deadpool is the main draw. It’s also priced at $3.99, so it’s bringing in more money than the three-dollar books around it.

102. SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP
07/07  MODOK's 11 #1 of 5 - 22,612

The standard first issue sales for a minor Marvel Universe miniseries.

104. X-MEN: FIRST CLASS
09/06  First Class #1 of 8 - 39,859
10/06  First Class #2 of 8 - 33,688  (-15.5%)
11/06  First Class #3 of 8 - 30,805  ( -8.6%)
12/06  First Class #4 of 8 - 28,455  ( -7.6%)
01/07  First Class #5 of 8 - 26,607  ( -6.5%)
02/07  First Class #6 of 8 - 25,125  ( -5.6%)
03/07  First Class #7 of 8 - 24,028  ( -4.4%)
04/07  First Class #8 of 8 - 23,420  ( -2.5%)
05/07  First Class Special - 23,556  ( +0.6%)
06/07  First Class #1      - 26,370  (+11.9%)
07/07  First Class #2      - 22,269  (-15.6%)
                             6 mnth  (-16.3%)

Dropping back to the book’s normal range. FIRST CLASS is an odd case, as it straddles the line between the Marvel Universe and the all-ages MARVEL ADVENTURES titles. It’s fair to assume, however, that like the other all-ages books, it isn’t dependent on direct market sales.

109,121. FANTASTIC FIVE
07/07  Fantastic Five #1 of 5 - 21,264
07/07  Fantastic Five #2 of 5 - 18,775  (-11.7%)

A SPIDER-GIRL spin-off miniseries, with two issues in its first month. SPIDER-GIRL itself falls neatly between the two. Fans of that series can presumably take reassurance from the fact that, despite its relatively low direct market sales, it’s apparently selling well enough elsewhere to justify spin-offs.

110. AVENGERS CLASSIC
06/07  Avengers Classic #1 - 29,319
07/07  Avengers Classic #2 - 20,954  (-28.5%)

That’s a nasty second issue drop. AVENGERS CLASSIC is already the lowest-selling Marvel Universe title that hasn’t been cancelled yet. Of course, it’s part reprint, so the economics are rather different from other titles. Nonetheless, this isn’t a good number.

111. MYSTIC ARCANA
06/07  Magik        - 26,976
07/07  Black Knight - 20,928  (-22.4%)

This is what you call a complete lack of interest, I’m afraid.

116. LEGION OF MONSTERS
02/07  Werewolf by Night - 21,773
03/07  ---
04/07  Man-Thing         - 17,915  (-17.7%)
05/07  ---
06/07  Satana            - 17,995  ( +0.4%)
07/07  Morbius           - 19,647  ( +9.2%)

Steadier than I would have expected for the later issues, but the sales are still bad.

118. AMAZING SPIDER-GIRL
07/01  Spider-Girl #36         - 24,215
07/02  Spider-Girl #49         - 24,849
07/03  Spider-Girl #62         - 23,104
07/04  Spider-Girl #76         - 22,157
07/05  Spider-Girl #88         - 18,983
=====
07/06  Spider-Girl #100        - 22,691  ( +26.7%)
08/06  ----
09/06  ----
10/06  Amazing Spider-Girl #1  - 47,304  (+108.5%)
11/06  Amazing Spider-Girl #2  - 28,135  ( -40.5%)
12/06  Amazing Spider-Girl #3  - 25,645  (  -8.9%)
01/07  Amazing Spider-Girl #4  - 23,113  (  -9.9%)
02/07  Amazing Spider-Girl #5  - 21,391  (  -7.5%)
03/07  Amazing Spider-Girl #6  - 20,478  (  -4.3%)
04/07  Amazing Spider-Girl #7  - 20,093  (  -1.9%)
05/07  Amazing Spider-Girl #8  - 19,574  (  -2.6%)
06/07  Amazing Spider-Girl #9  - 19,142  (  -2.2%)
07/07  Amazing Spider-Girl #10 - 19,094  (  -0.3%)
                                 6 mnth  ( -17.4%)
                                 1 year  ( -15.9%)
                                 2 year  (  +0.6%)
                                 3 year  ( -13.8%)
                                 4 year  ( -17.4%)

We’re now back where we started before the relaunch took place, and SPIDER-GIRL finally seems to be levelling out again. Oh well.

119. PUNISHER PRESENTS BARRACUDA MAX [Max]
02/07  Barracuda #1 of 5 - 23,886
03/07  Barracuda #2 of 5 - 20,969  (-12.2%)
04/07  Barracuda #3 of 5 - 20,150  ( -3.9%)
05/07  Barracuda #4 of 5 - 19,422  ( -3.6%)
06/07  ---
07/07  Barracuda #5 of 5 - 19,060  ( -1.9%)

Fairly steady after the initial drop-off. Not bad for a miniseries about a Punisher villain.

123. CIVIL WAR CHRONICLES
07/07  Civil War Chronicles #1 - 18,449

Remarkably good numbers. This is the series that reprints the whole CIVIL WAR crossover, and the first issue features CIVIL WAR #1 and CIVIL WAR: FRONT LINE #1. In other words, we’re dealing with stories that already sold 100,000 copies (minimum) last year. This makes more sense as a newsstand product; I’m amazed that it’s doing this well in the direct market; are there really 18,500 people out there who want to read CIVIL WAR and don’t already own it?

126. DAREDEVIL: BATTLIN' JACK MURDOCK
06/07  Battlin' Jack #1 of 4 - 22,139
07/07  Battlin' Jack #2 of 4 - 17,359  (-21.6%)

133. LONERS
04/07  Loners #1 of 6 - 24,377
05/07  Loners #2 of 6 - 18,901  (-22.5%)
06/07  Loners #3 of 6 - 17,351  ( -8.2%)
07/07  Loners #4 of 6 - 15,650  ( -9.8%)

Two more minis disappearing beneath the radar.

134. OFFICIAL HANDBOOK OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE
07/04  Avengers 2004    - 28,791
07/05  Avengers 2005    - 23,668
=====
07/06  A to Z #7  of 12 - 20,124  ( -2.9%)
08/06  A to Z #8  of 12 - 19,926  ( -1.0%)
09/06  A to Z #9  of 12 - 18,966  ( -4.8%)
10/06  A to Z #10 of 12 - 18,767  ( -1.0%)
11/06  A to Z #11 of 12 - 18,285  ( -2.6%)
12/06  A to Z #12 of 12 - 21,183  (+15.8%)
01/07  Update #1 of 4   - 17,182  (-18.9%)
02/07  ---
03/07  ---
04/07  Spider-Man: BIB  - 23,510  (+36.8%)
05/07  Update #2 of 4   - 16,633  (-29.3%)
05/07  Anita Blake      - 20,936  (+25.9%)
06/07  Mystic Arcana    - 15,669  (-25.2%)
06/07  Mighty Avengers  - 22,312  (+42.4%)
07/07  Update #3 of 4   - 15,600  (-30.1%)
                          6 mnth  ( -9.2%)
                          1 year  (-22.5%)
                          2 year  (-34.1%)
                          3 year  (-45.8%)

As usual, the generic books sell lower than the big themes.

136. BLADE
09/06  Blade #1  - 37,394
10/06  Blade #2  - 27,170  ( -27.3%)
11/06  Blade #3  - 23,144  ( -14.8%)
12/06  Blade #4  - 21,043  (  -9.1%)
01/07  Blade #5  - 42,513  (+102.0%)
02/07  Blade #6  - 19,087  ( -55.1%)
03/07  Blade #7  - 18,426  (  -3.5%)
04/07  Blade #8  - 17,656  (  -4.2%)
05/07  Blade #9  - 16,946  (  -4.0%)
06/07  Blade #10 - 16,675  (  -1.6%)
07/07  Blade #11 - 15,374  (  -7.8%)
                   6 mnth  ( -63.8%)

Cancelled with issue #12.

153. SPIDER-MAN FAIRY TALES
05/07  Fairy Tales #1 of 4 - 17,362
06/07  Fairy Tales #2 of 4 - 13,845  (-20.3%)
07/07  Fairy Tales #3 of 4 - 12,173  (-12.1%)

A sequel miniseries means that somebody must be buying it, but they’re not in the direct market.

162. MARVEL ADVENTURES HULK [All ages]
07/07  Marvel Adventures Hulk #1 - 11,394

The MARVEL ADVENTURES imprint continues to expand, with the Hulk getting the newest title. The usual disclaimers apply – these books aren’t aimed primarily at the direct market, and their sales on this chart are somewhat beside the point. Still, it’s a fine start, roughly equivalent to the debut of MARVEL ADVENTURES IRON MAN a couple of months ago.

168. GIANT-SIZE MARVEL ADVS AVENGERS [All ages]
07/07  Giant-Size Marvel Advs Avengers #1 - 10,531

Another example of a one-shot replacing the regular title, although this time it actually goes up – the regular title sells around 7,000. But it’s not very meaningful at this level. The story guest stars the Agents of Atlas, and it’s by the creators of their recent miniseries, so there coudl well be a boost from that.

183. HEDGE KNIGHT 2: SWORN SWORD  [DBPro]
06/07  Sworn Sword #1 of 6 - 12,011
07/07  Sworn Sword #2 of 6 -  8,763  (-27.0%)

Relatively good sales for a DBPro book, but obviously it needs to sell elsewhere to justify its existence.

203. MAN IN THE IRON MASK  [Marvel Illustrated]
07/07  Man In The Iron Mask #1 of 6 - 7,188

Another adaptation of an out-of-copyright novel, and it’s clear that the imprint is settling down to standard all-ages levels.

205. MARVEL ADVENTURES SPIDER-MAN  [All ages]
07/05  M.A. Spider-Man #5  - 8,075
=====
07/06  M.A. Spider-Man #17 - 6,133  ( +0.3%)
08/06  M.A. Spider-Man #18 - 6,220  ( +1.4%)
09/06  M.A. Spider-Man #19 - 6,057  ( -2.6%)
10/06  M.A. Spider-Man #20 - 6,131  ( +1.2%)
11/06  M.A. Spider-Man #21 - 6,529  ( +6.5%)
12/06  M.A. Spider-Man #22 - 6,396  ( -2.0%)
01/07  M.A. Spider-Man #23 - 6,271  ( -2.0%)
02/07  M.A. Spider-Man #24 - 6,678  ( +6.5%)
03/07  M.A. Spider-Man #25 - 6,408  ( -4.0%)
04/07  M.A. Spider-Man #26 - 6,478  ( +1.1%)
05/07  M.A. Spider-Man #27 - 6,818  ( +5.2%)
06/07  M.A. Spider-Man #28 - 7,006  ( +2.8%)
07/07  M.A. Spider-Man #29 - 7,071  ( +0.9%)
                            6 mnth  (+12.8%)
                            1 year  (+15.3%)
                            2 year  (-12.4%)

Continuing its slow upward trend.

211. POWER PACK
07/06  Avengers #4 of 4       - 5,849  ( -4.7%)
08/06  ---
09/06  ---
10/06  ---
11/06  Spider-Man #1 of 4     - 7,897  (+35.0%)
12/06  Spider-Man #2 of 4     - 6,350  (-19.6%)
01/07  Spider-Man #3 of 4     - 5,880  ( -7.4%)
02/07  Spider-Man #4 of 4     - 5,605  ( -4.7%)
03/07  Hulk #1 of 4           - 6,697  (+19.5%)
04/07  Hulk #2 of 4           - 5,944  (-11.2%)
05/07  Hulk #3 of 4           - 5,593  ( -5.9%)
06/07  Hulk #4 of 4           - 5,443  ( -2.7%)
07/07  Fantastic Four #1 of 4 - 6,577  (+20.8%)
                               6 mnth  (+11.9%)
                               1 year  (+12.4%)

As usual, POWER PACK sees a big boost from the start of a new arc.

212. MARVEL ADVENTURES IRON MAN  [All ages]
05/07  M.A. Iron Man #1 - 11,922
06/07  M.A. Iron Man #2 -  7,050  (-40.9%)
07/07  M.A. Iron Man #3 -  6,543  ( -7.2%)

Still finding its level.

214. SPIDER-MAN LOVES MARY JANE  [All ages]
07/06  S-M Loves Mary Jane #8  - 6,769  (-1.0%)
08/06  S-M Loves Mary Jane #9  - 6,719  (-0.7%)
09/06  S-M Loves Mary Jane #10 - 6,623  (-1.4%)
10/06  S-M Loves Mary Jane #11 - 6,586  (-0.6%)
11/06  S-M Loves Mary Jane #12 - 6,520  (-1.0%)
12/06  S-M Loves Mary Jane #13 - 6,311  (-3.2%)
01/07  S-M Loves Mary Jane #14 - 6,329  (+0.3%)
02/07  S-M Loves Mary Jane #15 - 6,121  (-3.3%)
03/07  S-M Loves Mary Jane #16 - 6,279  (+2.6%)
04/07  S-M Loves Mary Jane #17 - 6,332  (+0.8%)
05/07  S-M Loves Mary Jane #18 - 6,490  (+2.5%)
06/07  S-M Loves Mary Jane #19 - 6,444  (-0.7%)
07/07  S-M Loves Mary Jane #20 - 6,485  (+0.6%)
                                6 mnth  (+2.5%)
                                1 year  (-4.2%)

Solid sales.

220. TREASURE ISLAND [Marvel Illustrated]
06/07  Treasure Island #1 of 6 - 8,224
07/07  Treasure Island #2 of 6 - 6,351  (-22.8%)


237. MAGICIAN: APPRENTICE  [DBPro]
10/06  Apprentice #1-2 of 12 - 1,892
11/06  Apprentice #3   of 12 - 4,595  (+142.9%)
12/06  Apprentice #4   of 12 - 7,266  ( +58.1%)
01/07  Apprentice #5   of 12 - 7,206  (  -0.8%)
02/07  ---
03/07  Apprentice #6   of 12 - 6,818  (  -5.4%)
04/07  ---
05/07  Apprentice #7   of 12 - 6,193  (  -9.2%)
06/07  Apprentice #8   of 12 - 5,941  (  -4.1%)
07/07  Apprentice #9   of 12 - 5,454  (  -8.2%)
                              6 mnth  ( -24.3%)

Two more books relying on their sales in other arenas.

238. MARVEL ADVENTURES FANTASTIC FOUR  [All ages]
07/05  M.A. Fantastic Four #2  - 6,864
=====
07/06  M.A. Fantastic Four #14 - 4,668  ( -1.8%)
08/06  M.A. Fantastic Four #15 - 4,569  ( -2.1%)
09/06  M.A. Fantastic Four #16 - 4,687  ( +2.6%)
10/06  M.A. Fantastic Four #17 - 4,557  ( -2.8%)
11/06  M.A. Fantastic Four #18 - 4,614  ( +1.3%)
12/06  M.A. Fantastic Four #19 - 4,533  ( -1.8%)
01/07  M.A. Fantastic Four #20 - 4,459  ( -1.6%)
02/07  M.A. Fantastic Four #21 - 4,508  ( +1.1%)
03/07  M.A. Fantastic Four #22 - 4,588  ( +1.8%)
04/07  M.A. Fantastic Four #23 - 4,604  ( +0.3%)
05/07  M.A. Fantastic Four #24 - 4,807  ( +4.4%)
06/07  M.A. Fantastic Four #25 - 4,972  ( +3.4%)
07/07  M.A. Fantastic Four #26 - 5,370  ( +8.0%)
                                6 mnth  (+20.4%)
                                1 year  (+15.0%)
                                2 year  (-21.8%)

Once again, a MARVEL ADVENTURES title experiencing consistent gains.

272. RED PROPHET: TALES OF ALVIN MAKER  [DBPro]
10/06  Alvin Maker #1-2 of 12 -   1,617
11/06  Alvin Maker #3   of 12 - < 3,170  (+<96.0%)
12/06  Alvin Maker #4   of 12 -   5,034  (+>58.8%)
01/07  Alvin Maker #5   of 12 -   4,480  ( -11.0%)
02/07  ---
03/07  Alvin Maker #6   of 12 -   4,009  ( -10.5%)
04/07  ---
05/07  Alvin Maker #7   of 12 -   3,678  (  -8.3%)
06/07  Alvin Maker #8   of 12 -   3,441  (  -6.4%)
07/07  Alvin Maker #9   of 12 -   3,184  (  -7.5%)
                                 6 mnth  ( -28.9%)

The usual Dabel Brothers sales. This is the sort of book that Marvel will surely be looking at carefully – even if it’s doing well enough in trade paperback, is there really a point to the monthly serial at this level?

Skip months and re-orders
=========================


ASTONISHING X-MEN
07/04  Astonishing X-Men #3  - 129,362
07/05  Astonishing X-Men #11 - 127,768
=====
07/06  ---
08/06  Astonishing X-Men #16 - 121,897  ( +1.6%)
09/06  Astonishing X-Men #17 - 124,026  ( +1.7%)
10/06  ---
11/06  Astonishing X-Men #18 - 118,285  ( -4.6%)
12/06  Astonishing X-Men #19 - 124,033  ( +4.9%)
01/07  ---
02/07  Astonishing X-Men #20 - 119,736  ( -3.5%)
03/07  ---
04/07  ---
05/07  Astonishing X-Men #21 - 120,495  ( +0.6%)
06/07  ---
07/07  ---

Late.

NEW AVENGERS: ILLUMINATI
12/06  Illuminati #1 of 5 - 106,381
01/07  ---
02/07  Illuminati #2 of 5 -  92,881  (-12.7%)
03/07  ---
04/07  ---
05/07  Illuminati #3 of 5 -  92,821  ( -0.0%)
06/07  ---
07/07  ---

Late.

FANTASTIC FOUR
07/01  Fantastic Four #45  - 51,686
07/02  Fantastic Four #58  - 42,661
07/03  Fantastic Four #501 - 56,002
07/04  Fantastic Four #516 - 48,580
07/05  Fantastic Four #529 - 52,963
=====
07/06  ---
08/06  Fantastic Four #539 - 89,676  ( -3.2%)
09/06  ----
10/06  Fantastic Four #540 - 88,933  ( -0.8%)
11/06  ----
12/06  Fantastic Four #541 - 84,895  ( -4.5%)
01/07  Fantastic Four #542 - 84,338  ( -0.7%)
02/07  ---
03/07  Fantastic Four #543 - 78,823  ( -6.5%)
03/07  Fantastic Four #544 - 85,677  ( +8.7%)
04/07  Fantastic Four #545 - 77,576  ( -9.5%)
05/07  Fantastic Four #546 - 72,182  ( -7.0%)
06/07  Fantastic Four #547 - 69,610  ( -3.6%)
07/07  ---

Late.

WOLVERINE: ORIGINS
07/06  Origins #4  - 110,830  ( -4.5%)
08/06  Origins #5  - 120,448  ( +8.7%)
09/06  Origins #6  - 101,013  (-16.1%)
10/06  Origins #7  - 103,273  ( +2.2%)
11/06  Origins #8  -  91,585  (-11.3%)
12/06  Origins #9  -  84,733  ( -7.5%)
01/07  Origins #10 -  97,881  (+15.5%)
02/07  Origins #11 -  78,901  (-19.4%)
03/07  Origins #12 -  74,750  ( -5.3%)
04/07  Origins #13 -  70,963  ( -5.1%)
05/07  Origins #14 -  68,953  ( -2.8%)
06/07  Origins #15 -  65,558  ( -4.9%)
07/07  ---

Skip month, to make way for the Annual.

THUNDERBOLTS
07/01  Thunderbolts #54     - 34,338
07/02  Thunderbolts #67     - 28,133
07/03  Thunderbolts #81     - 17,211
07/04  ---
07/05  New Thunderbolts #10 - 25,978
=====
07/06  Thunderbolts #104    - 63,850  (  +5.0%)
08/06  Thunderbolts #105    - 61,467  (  -3.7%)
09/06  Thunderbolts #106    - 31,527  ( -48.7%)
10/06  Thunderbolts #107    - 29,624  (  -6.0%)
11/06  Thunderbolts #108    - 27,890  (  -5.9%)
12/06  Thunderbolts #109    - 27,300  (  -2.1%)
01/07  Thunderbolts #110    - 73,557  (+169.4%)
02/07  Thunderbolts #111    - 62,791  ( -14.6%)
03/07  Thunderbolts #112    - 61,395  (  -2.2%)
04/07  Thunderbolts #113    - 65,092  (  +6.0%)
05/07  Thunderbolts #114    - 66,309  (  +1.9%)
06/07  Thunderbolts #115    - 64,876  (  -2.2%)
07/07  ---

Skip month, to make way for the DESPERATE MEASURES one-shot.

MOON KNIGHT
07/06  --
08/06  Moon Knight #4  -  67,802  ( -6.1%)
09/06  Moon Knight #5  -  64,736  ( -4.5%)
10/06  --
11/06  Moon Knight #6  -  74,017  (+14.3%)
12/06  --
01/07  Moon Knight #7  -  76,921  ( +3.9%)
02/07  --
03/07  Moon Knight #8  -  77,390  ( +0.6%)
04/07  Moon Knight #9  -  69,196  (-10.6%)
05/07  Moon Knight #10 -  56,734  (-18.0%)
06/07  Moon Knight #11 -  58,313  ( +2.8%)
07/07  ---

Late. Issue #12 is now due out in September.

DAREDEVIL
07/01  Daredevil #20 - 54,860
07/02  Daredevil #35 - 50,045
07/03  Daredevil #49 - 60,165
07/04  Daredevil #62 - 52,936
07/05  Daredevil #75 - 47,800
=====
07/06  Daredevil #87 - 51,989  ( +7.7%)
08/06  Daredevil #88 - 50,554  ( -2.8%)
09/06  Daredevil #89 - 55,481  ( +9.7%)
10/06  Daredevil #90 - 50,500  ( -9.0%)
11/06  Daredevil #91 - 49,335  ( -2.3%)
12/06  Daredevil #92 - 48,035  ( -2.6%)
01/07  Daredevil #93 - 47,124  ( -1.9%)
02/07  Daredevil #94 - 46,773  ( -0.7%)
03/07  Daredevil #95 - 46,455  ( -0.7%)
04/07  Daredevil #96 - 46,198  ( -0.6%)
05/07  Daredevil #97 - 47,200  ( +2.2%)
06/07  Daredevil #98 - 46,816  ( -0.8%)
07/07  ---

Late.

MARVEL SPOTLIGHT
07/06  Kirkman/Land        -  3,963  ( -27.3%)
08/06  Brubaker/Tan        -  3,580  (  -9.7%)
09/06  Lee/Kirby           -  6,313  ( +76.3%)
10/06  Onslaught Reborn    -  4,557  ( -27.8%)
11/06  Bendis/Bagley       -  5,869  ( +28.8%)
12/06  ---
01/07  Ghost Rider         -  7,902  ( +34.6%)
01/07  Dark Tower          - 18,922  (+139.5%)
02/07  ---
03/07  Civil War Aftermath - 31,072  ( +64.2%)
04/07  Spider-Man          - 13,210  ( -57.5%)
05/07  Fantastic Four      -  8,261  ( -37.5%)
06/07  Captain America     - 31,483  (+281.1%)
07/07  ---

Late. This would have been the WORLD WAR HULK edition.

ULTIMATE VISION
11/06  Ultimate Vision #0 of 5 - 40,004
12/06  Ultimate Vision #1 of 5 - 53,069  (+32.7%)
01/07  Ultimate Vision #2 of 5 - 40,288  (-24.1%)
02/07  ---
03/07  Ultimate Vision #3 of 5 - 33,455  (-17.0%)
04/07  ---
05/07  ---
06/07  Ultimate Vision #4 of 5 - 29,844  (-10.8%)
07/07  ---

Delayed to September, which is really becoming a joke.

SHE-HULK
07/04  She-Hulk #5  - 25,788
07/05  ---
=====
07/06  She-Hulk #9  - 29,902  (-48.5%)
08/06  She-Hulk #10 - 28,555  ( -4.5%)
08/06  She-Hulk #11 - 27,393  ( -4.1%)
09/06  She-Hulk #12 - 26,448  ( -3.4%)
10/06  ---
11/06  She-Hulk #13 - 26,267  ( -0.7%)
12/06  She-Hulk #14 - 24,552  ( -6.5%)
01/07  She-Hulk #15 - 27,600  (+12.4%)
02/07  She-Hulk #16 - 27,961  ( +1.3%)
03/07  ---
04/07  She-Hulk #17 - 27,669  ( -1.0%)
05/07  She-Hulk #18 - 41,800  (+51.4%)
06/07  She-Hulk #19 - 26,127  (-37.5%)
07/07  ---

Late.

SPIDER-MAN & FANTASTIC FOUR
04/07  Spider-Man/FF #1 of 4 - 32,909
05/07  Spider-Man/FF #2 of 4 - 27,025  (-17.9%)
06/07  Spider-Man/FF #3 of 4 - 22,210  (-17.8%)
07/07  ---

Slipped to August.

POWERS  [Icon]
07/01  Powers #14 - 26,712
07/02  Powers #23 - 26,875
07/03  ---
07/04  Powers #1  - 40,387
07/05  ---
=====
07/06  Powers #19 - 23,156  ( -1.9%)
08/06  ---
09/06  ---
10/06  Powers #20 - 22,943  ( -0.9%)
11/06  Powers #21 - 22,134  ( -3.5%)
12/06  ---
01/07  Powers #22 - 22,018  ( -0.5%)
02/07  Powers #23 - 21,939  ( -0.4%)
03/07  ---
04/07  Powers #24 - 20,960  ( -4.5%)
05/07  ---
06/07  ---
07/07  ---

Late.

SPIDER-MAN FAMILY
02/07  Spider-Man Family #1 - 30,516
03/07  ---
04/07  Spider-Man Family #2 - 20,679  (-32.2%)
05/07  ---
06/07  Spider-Man Family #3 - 16,853  (-18.5%)
07/07  ---

Bimonthly.

CRIMINAL  [Icon]
10/06  Criminal #1 - 25,978
11/06  Criminal #2 - 21,115  (-18.7%)
12/06  Criminal #3 - 17,702  (-16.2%)
01/07  Criminal #4 - 16,827  ( -4.9%)
02/07  ---
03/07  Criminal #5 - 16,389  ( -2.6%)
04/07  ---
05/07  Criminal #6 - 15,720  ( -4.1%)
06/07  Criminal #7 - 15,214  ( -3.2%)
07/07  ---

Late.

WHITE TIGER
11/06  White Tiger #1 of 6 - 24,663
12/06  White Tiger #2 of 6 - 19,042  (-22.3%)
01/07  White Tiger #3 of 6 - 15,986  (-16.0%)
02/07  White Tiger #4 of 6 - 14,554  ( -9.0%)
03/07  ---
04/07  White Tiger #5 of 6 - 13,621  ( -6.4%)
05/07  ---
06/07  ---
07/07  ---

Presently scheduled for September. Heaven only knows what’s going on with this book, but it’s clearly gone off the rails in a big way.

KABUKI  [Icon]
07/06  ---
08/06  Kabuki #7 - 10,798  ( -4.9%)
09/06  ---
10/06  ---
11/06  ---
12/06  ---
01/07  Kabuki #8 -  9,961  ( -7.8%)
02/07  ---
03/07  ---
04/07  ---
05/07  ---
06/07  ---
07/07  ---

Late, and presently scheduled for September.

LAST OF THE MOHICANS  [Marvel Illustrated]
05/07  Last o/Mohicans #1 of 6 - 11,498
06/07  Last o/Mohicans #2 of 6 -  7,786  (-32.3%)
07/07  ---

Seriously? A late MARVEL ILLUSTRATED title? Oh well… In fairness, it was due for the last week of the month, so any delay at all was going to shunt it to August.

MARVEL ADVENTURES AVENGERS  [All ages]
07/06  M.A. Avengers #3  - 9,006  ( -3.8%)
08/06  M.A. Avengers #4  - 8,610  ( -4.4%)
09/06  M.A. Avengers #5  - 7,994  ( -7.2%)
10/06  M.A. Avengers #6  - 7,879  ( -1.4%)
11/06  M.A. Avengers #7  - 7,642  ( -3.0%)
12/06  M.A. Avengers #8  - 7,512  ( -1.7%)
01/07  M.A. Avengers #9  - 7,315  ( -2.6%)
02/07  M.A. Avengers #10 - 7,053  ( -3.6%)
03/07  M.A. Avengers #11 - 7,068  ( +0.2%)
04/07  M.A. Avengers #12 - 7,092  ( +0.3%)
05/07  M.A. Avengers #13 - 7,251  ( +2.2%)
06/07  M.A. Avengers #14 - 7,293  ( +0.6%)
07/07  ---

Skip month, making way for the GIANT-SIZE one-shot.

JACK KIRBY'S GALACTIC BOUNTY HUNTERS  [Icon]
07/06  Bounty Hunters #1 - 13,514
08/06  Bounty Hunters #2 -  9,301  (-31.2%)
09/06  ---
10/06  Bounty Hunters #3 -  7,716  (-17.0%)
11/06  ---
12/06  ---
01/07  Bounty Hunters #4 -  6,010  (-22.1%)
02/07  ---
03/07  Bounty Hunters #5 -  5,047  (-16.0%)
04/07  ---
05/07  ---
06/07  ---
07/07  ---

Late. Issue #6 is currently due in September.

ORSON SCOTT CARD'S WYRMS  [DBPro]
02/07  Wyrms #1 of 6 - 6,246
03/07  Wyrms #2 of 6 - 5,401  (-13.5%)
04/07  Wyrms #3 of 6 - 4,902  ( -9.2%)
05/07  Wyrms #4 of 6 - 4,567  ( -6.8%)
06/07  Wyrms #5 of 6 - 4,209  ( -7.8%)
07/07  ---

Late, and pushed back to September. Again, something has clearly gone wrong here.

6 month comparisons
===================

+123.6% - Incredible Hulk
+ 87.7% - Irredeemable Ant-Man
+ 62.8% - Runaways
+ 49.9% - Heroes For Hire
+ 47.1% - Ghost Rider
+ 32.8% - New X-Men
+ 29.8% - X-Factor
+ 20.4% - Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four
+ 17.7% - Sensational Spider-Man
+ 17.7% - Ms Marvel
+ 12.8% - Marvel Adventures Spider-Man
+ 12.2% - X-Men
+ 11.9% - Power Pack
+ 11.6% - Wolverine
+ 11.1% - Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man
+  5.0% - Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter
+  3.9% - Punisher
+  3.4% - Uncanny X-Men
+  2.5% - Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane
+  0.5% - Immortal Iron Fist
-  1.7% - Cable & Deadpool
-  3.9% - Ultimate Fantastic Four
-  4.3% - Exiles
-  6.2% - New Excalibur
-  8.2% - Black Panther
-  9.2% - Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
-  9.8% - Ultimate X-Men
- 14.2% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 16.3% - X-Men: First Class
- 17.4% - Amazing Spider-Girl
- 18.9% - Punisher War Journal
- 23.7% - Front Line
- 24.3% - Magician: Apprentice
- 28.9% - Red Prophet: Tales of Alvin Maker
- 30.2% - Ultimate Spider-Man
- 63.8% - Blade


1 year comparisons
==================

+113.4% - Incredible Hulk
+ 91.1% - Iron Man
+ 89.5% - Captain America
+ 67.2% - Runaways
+ 24.5% - New X-Men
+ 17.2% - Wolverine
+ 15.3% - Marvel Adventures Spider-Man
+ 15.0% - Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four
+ 14.1% - Nova
+ 12.4% - Power Pack
+  0.6% - Punisher
-  1.5% - Ultimate Spider-Man
-  2.2% - Ms Marvel
-  4.2% - Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane
-  5.0% - Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man
-  5.4% - Sensational Spider-Man
-  8.0% - Exiles
-  9.6% - X-Men
- 14.2% - New Avengers
- 15.1% - Ultimate X-Men
- 15.9% - Spider-Girl
- 15.8% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 18.2% - Uncanny X-Men
- 20.7% - New Excalibur
- 21.3% - Black Panther
- 22.5% - Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
- 27.0% - X-Factor
- 35.1% - Ghost Rider
- 39.9% - Ultimate Fantastic Four
- 40.6% - Front Line
- 55.6% - Cable & Deadpool


2 year comparisons
==================

+ 87.8% - Incredible Hulk
+ 70.5% - Wolverine
+ 56.1% - Black Panther
+ 50.8% - Runaways
+ 44.6% - Amazing Spider-Man
+ 11.8% - X-Men
+ 10.4% - New X-Men
+  8.8% - Sensational Spider-Man
+  0.6% - Spider-Girl
-  1.8% - Ultimate Spider-Man
-  4.8% - Uncanny X-Men
-  8.2% - Punisher
- 11.3% - Exiles
- 12.4% - Marvel Adventures Spider-Man
- 21.8% - Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four
- 22.5% - New Avengers
- 23.4% - Cable & Deadpool
- 31.2% - Ultimate X-Men
- 34.1% - Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
- 44.4% - Ultimate Fantastic Four


3 year comparisons
==================

+358.0% - Thor
+142.1% - Incredible Hulk
+123.1% - Captain America
+111.0% - Iron Man
+ 96.3% - Wolverine
+ 24.7% - Amazing Spider-Man
+ 16.5% - New Avengers
-  7.4% - X-Men
- 10.5% - New X-Men
- 10.5% - Uncanny X-Men
- 13.8% - Spider-Girl
- 18.7% - Exiles
- 19.2% - Cable & Deadpool
- 23.7% - Ultimate Spider-Man
- 26.7% - Sensational Spider-Man
- 26.8% - Punisher
- 36.0% - Ultimate X-Men
- 45.3% - Ultimate Fantastic Four
- 45.8% - Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe


4 year comparisons
==================

+392.7% - Thor
+126.1% - Iron Man
+103.8% - Runaways
+ 97.1% - Captain America
+ 61.7% - Incredible Hulk
+ 44.1% - Wolverine
+ 13.5% - New X-Men
-  7.3% - Uncanny X-Men
- 11.7% - Punisher
- 13.6% - X-Men
- 17.4% - Spider-Girl
- 25.5% - Ultimate Spider-Man
- 25.7% - Exiles
- 45.5% - Ultimate X-Men

42 COMMENTS

  1. Re: Annual/one-shot syndrome
    In cases like Origins, who knows; but Thunderbolts has a less-than-monthly creative team, and I think their thoughts there are that better to take the hit on a fill-in issue, but hope that the main series doesn’t have that permanent loss of a couple of thousand readers over and above the usual that inventory issues often bring.

  2. Wow, that’s a lot of late books. 16 by my count. Still, those numbers are phenomenal so I guess they’re not too worried about it.

  3. Regarding the logic of Marvel Annuals… I bought the FN Spiderman annual but don’t read the monthly. It was a complete story and a rather good one at that, showcasing the romance between Peter and Mary Jane.
    If Marvel wishes to rediscover the annuals, they need to be complete, tell a great story, and have a few extras in the back. In other words, use the 1960s annuals as a model. Marvel could help sales by making the series a monthly, with a new annual every month. Since the issues are solitary, editors could solicit Big Name creators to play with certain characters.
    Marvel could also resell the stories twice: once in the trade of the series title, and once as a collection of annuals (“Marvel Yearbook 2007”). The Yearbook could even be issued as a limited edition hardcover with slipcase.

  4. Oh, and Thor had four covers. There were the initial two covers, 50:50, by Coipel & Turner, then two more by Suydam (9:1 zombie:non-zombie, not linked to the initial 50:50 covers) a couple of weeks later.

    Plus the August-shipping second printing due on next month’s chart.

  5. I tend to agree with “Somebody.” I can see Paul’s (and Jemas’) logic regarding annuals and one-shots, but I think it might be a bit short-sighted. I dropped Morrison’s Batman mid fill-in, with the notion I might pick up the trade eventually. With this Thunderbolts one-shot, I just skipped it, and was back for the next issue by the regular creative team I signed on for to begin with. Perhaps it’s better in the long run for Marvel to just sell the one-shot to the 42k readers who’re up for it than to risk alienating reader’s who feel compelled (irrationally so, I admit) to by a regular issue.

  6. I don’t think either company would ever do it, but I think Torsten is really onto something with the idea of an “Annuals” monthly series. The question is, could they consistently get big names and good stories, or would it be two or three great stories and a ton of inventory stories, and become just another failed anthology without a starring character?

  7. I liked the “theme annuals” gimmick that DC tried a few years ago. Some of the ideas were not great, but I enjoyed almost all of the “pulp annuals” that year.

  8. 1. I would buy Torsten’s idea for a monthly annual.

    2. Thank you so much for doing these sales analyses….it really is a fascinating read. As a Marvel fan, I look forward to seeing how DC’s numbers pale in comparison to these….heh.

  9. Late books are a worry thought. These are the books on my pull list which are, in theory, monthly, that didn’t come out in August :

    Marvel
    Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk
    Squadron Supreme
    Ultimate Vision
    Ultimate Power
    Runaways
    Mighty Avengers

    DC / Wildstorm / Vertigo
    Ex Machina
    All-Star Superman
    All-Star Batman and Robin
    100 Bullets

    Dynamite
    Lone Ranger

  10. The reason the T-bolts special sold less then the ongoing series is because of (a) it didn’t have a huge INITIATIVE banner on the cover and (b) it didn’t have a variant cover. I said it before, and I’ll say it again. The main reason why the Ellis/Deodato T-bolts run is selling better then the previous creative teams run on the book is because it’s part of the INITIATIVE crossover and had variant covers (which dealers had to order EXTRA copies of the normal cover in order to get copies of the variant cover) for the first 6 issues of their run.

  11. Nick, don’t bring logic into this. If Wraith doesn’t personally like it, then clearly the book is shit and the people buying it are sub-human idiots. Duh. Get with the program, buddy.

  12. Wraith,

    So why does this non-Initiative, non-variant cover one-shot still sell 15k more than it did when Nicieza was still writing it?

  13. Onslaught Reborn: is this late because of Loeb, or Liefeld? My vote would be for the latter. Why does someone who has not proven to be successful or dependable get new projects like this?

  14. Oh, and one other point, just for clarification: AVENGERS CLASSIC is the lowest selling MU title on the *July* chart. SPIDER-MAN FAMILY is actually doing worse by several thousand, but it’s a bimonthly and it didn’t ship in July.

  15. Probably shouldn’t bother but…

    Wraith, a half-dozen guys at the store I use dropped Thunderbolts for that month (including me) because it wasn’t by Ellis and Deodato. None of us picked up the book before that creative team came on (well okay, 1 guy did during CW). And I imagine we’ll be outta there once they leave. Because we follow those creators (Ellis, mainly) around to see what they’re doing in much the same way some people went over to that Baron Zemo miniseries with Nicieza. Only there’s more of us and we’re all out of our faces on whisky.

  16. > Onslaught Reborn: is this late because of Loeb, or Liefeld? My vote would be for the latter. Why does someone who has not proven to be successful or dependable get new projects like this?

    I’m pretty sure it was officially confirmed to be Loeb’s problem…

  17. Charles LePage Says:

    08/29/07 at 6:00 am
    “Onslaught Reborn: is this late because of Loeb, or Liefeld? My vote would be for the latter. Why does someone who has not proven to be successful or dependable get new projects like this?”

    It’s late because of Loeb. As was announced at Wizard World Chicago, Liefeld’s drawn almost an entire Killraven miniseries waiting for Loeb to find time to finish his Onslaught Reborn scripts. J. Scott Campbell also mentioned that he is doing Wildsiderz pages as he waits for more pages from Loeb on their super-secret Spider-Man miniseries. Apparently Loeb way overcommitted himself because he wasn’t expecting the TV show “Heroes” to take off the way it has, and now that it’s this huge success it’s taking far more of his time than he ever planned.

  18. No, GALACTIC BOUNTY HUNTERS is an original series based on unpublished Kirby characters. (Interviews have described it as a six-issue miniseries, but there’s no clear mention of that in the solicitations.)

  19. Aussiesmurf, for what it’s worth, at least two titles you list as monthly (All Star Superman and Batman) are technically bimonthly. They’re massively off schedule, of course, Batman much more so than Superman, but originallly, they were supposed to come out alternate months.

  20. I have to wonder where all of the Ellis fans were when NEXTWAVE was being published.

    The MOST LIKELY reason why the T-bolts special sold 15k more then then Fabian’s run is because dealers thought and/or hoped that the book MIGHT have picked up new readers with it’s much hyped new direction.

    And for what it’s worth, MANY of our customers picked up Ellis and Deodato’s T-bolts ONLY because the book was tying into the INITIATIVE storyline.

  21. I’ve done some independent research and conducted an extensive phone poll looking into why the Thunderbolts one-shot fill-in sold twenty-four thousand fewer copies than the ongoing series, and the most likely reason is that according to my records, last year at Comic-con I was a big jerk to exactly that many people.

  22. The Thunderbolts special sold only one copy less than the “regular” monthly issue that came out before it here.

    Thor, in only 2 issues, has become the top-susbscribed regular super-hero title in my store, beaten only by World War Hulk (a miniseries) and Buffy Season 8.

  23. How come the Initiative T-bolts issues vastly outsold the Ms. Marvel Initiative issues, despite both books being at around the same level immediately post-Civil War? Ms. Marvel was even a little ahead. I don’t see how a varient cover alone could account for T-bolts getting nearly 4 times the boost MM did.

    As for sales compared to Nextwave… do I need to draw a diagram explaining how Venom is a bigger draw than Machine Man?

  24. When dealers have to order a certain number of copies of a particular issue in order to get variant covers, the orders for those issues will in MOST cases be greater then another comic that DOES NOT have a variant cover.

    If Venom was such a big draw, then (a) his last solo series from a few years ago would still be around and (b) the BEYOND mini series from last year would have sold a hell of a lot better then it did (IIRC, the book sold between 25k and 30k a month).

  25. I heard that Marvels best selling trade paperback in the bookstore market is and has been for a while is the Spider Girl series. I’ve always wondered why they let the Spider Girl monthly series hover around 20,000 units, yet cancel other titles that hover there also. Is this true, or false? Just wondering.

  26. He didn’t say Venom was a big enough draw to support his own comic, he said Venom was a more popular character than Machine Man.

    In all likelihood, the vast majority of Nextwave’s audience would have been composed of fans who were drawn by Warren Ellis, because that was the big selling point for the title. Thunderbolts is a completely different book, with more popular characters and a more significant role in the Marvel universe.

    Mind you, I suppose it’s always possible that Thunderbolts will plummet by 37K next month, with the Initiative banner and variant covers gone.

  27. “How come the Initiative T-bolts issues vastly outsold the Ms. Marvel Initiative issues, despite both books being at around the same level immediately post-Civil War?”

    Thunderbolts may have a more core reader base, and has been around as a title (even with all the ups and downs) for a longer time. Ms. Marvel was a backbencher at Marvel for the 80’s and 90’s. I also don’t know how many readers were going to stay around for some of the issues that had Initiative on them…I think that whole Modok/AIM story may have dragged a little bit or been too overdetailed.

    Ms. Marvel is my favorite Marvel character (and the only Marvel book I buy every month). I really hope that won’t get canceled. I wish they would make some changes, namely, dumping her agent and tightening the focus. I do like the comic a lot, but between the focus on her love life, her career, and the sometime appearances of little sister figure Arana, Ms. Marvel’s comic often comes across as Katy Keene with superpowers.

Comments are closed.