201008051533.jpgby Paul O’Brien

It’s a month of relaunches and new titles, as the “Heroic Age” branding continues. June saw the relaunch of NEW AVENGERS, and debut issues of AVENGERS PRIME, AVENGERS ACADEMY, HAWKEYE & MOCKINGBIRD and YOUNG ALLIES. Elsewhere, the X-books continue the “Second Coming” crossover, Spider-Man begins the long-trailed “Grim Hunt” story, and the Hulk titles are caught up in “World War Hulks”.

As usual, Marvel had the largest share of the direct market, beating DC by 43% to 35% in units, and 38% to 31% in dollars.

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

1.  NEW AVENGERS
06/05  New Avengers #6  - 161,575
06/06  New Avengers #20 - 134,278
06/07  New Avengers #31 - 160,911
06/08  New Avengers #42 - 108,495
=====
06/09  New Avengers #54 -  93,878  ( -0.5%)
07/09  New Avengers #55 -  84,745  ( -9.7%)
08/09  New Avengers #56 -  89,996  ( +6.2%)
09/09  New Avengers #57 -  85,598  ( -4.9%)
10/09  New Avengers #58 -  76,656  (-10.4%)
11/09  New Avengers #59 -  74,379  ( -3.0%)
12/09  New Avengers #60 -  72,790  ( -2.1%)
01/10  New Avengers #61 -  78,202  ( +7.4%)
02/10  New Avengers #62 -  76,405  ( -2.3%)
03/10  New Avengers #63 -  76,145  ( -0.3%)
04/10  New Avengers #64 -  75,430  ( -0.9%)
04/10  ---
05/10  Finale           -  82,152  ( +8.9%)
06/10  New Avengers #1  - 129,084  (+67.8%)
                           6 mnth  (+57.1%)
                           1 year  (+37.5%)
                           2 year  (+19.0%)
                           3 year  (-19.8%)
                           4 year  ( -3.9%)
                           5 year  (-20.1%)

It’s a good month for the Avengers titles, with four of them in the top 10. Over the last few months, I’ve observed several times that the device of relaunching a title from issue #1 doesn’t seem to be all that effective any more – and we’ll see some examples of that later on. But NEW AVENGERS looks to be an exception – perhaps because its relaunch actually did coincide with the end of a multi-year storyline and the beginning of a fresh start for the book. It’s also got three variant covers.

To put this in perspective, the original NEW AVENGERS #1 in December 2004 had estimated orders of 278,797 in its first month. But a straight renumbering in a weaker market was never going to match that, and these are the highest sales for NEW AVENGERS since the first half of 2007.

May’s FINALE one-shot picks up re-orders of 5,234, which are included above. Incidentally, it’s an unusually high-selling month at the bottom end of the chart. In May, it only took 3,069 orders to make the top 300. In June, it was 4,528. Presumably that means that fewer re-orders will have sold well enough to make the chart.

3. AVENGERS
05/10  Avengers #1 - 163,867
06/10  Avengers #2 -  98,788  (-39.7%)

The second-issue drop will be magnified by the fact that this issue has far fewer covers – three compared to eight, in fact. Allowing for that, things are looking pretty healthy here.

8. SECRET AVENGERS
05/10  Secret Avengers #1 - 106,750
06/10  Secret Avengers #2 -  77,933  (-27.0%)

Down from four covers to three, with slightly scaled back incentives, and so the second issue drop is pretty modest. When even the Avengers’ C-title is making the top ten, the franchise is doing well.

9.  UNCANNY X-MEN
06/05  Uncanny X-Men #461 - 91,221
06/06  Uncanny X-Men #474 - 78,140
06/07  Uncanny X-Men #487 - 81,481
06/08  Uncanny X-Men #499 - 81,100
=====
06/09  Uncanny X-Men #511 - 71,148  ( -5.3%)
06/09  Uncanny X-Men #512 - 76,283  ( +7.2%)
07/09  Uncanny X-Men #513 - 87,582  (+14.8%)
08/09  Uncanny X-Men #514 - 90,316  ( +3.1%)
09/09  Uncanny X-Men #515 - 73,585  (-18.5%)
10/09  Uncanny X-Men #516 - 73,916  ( +0.4%)
11/09  Uncanny X-Men #517 - 69,557  ( -5.9%)
12/09  Uncanny X-Men #518 - 68,572  ( -1.4%)
12/09  Uncanny X-Men #519 - 67,043  ( -2.2%)
01/10  Uncanny X-Men #520 - 65,758  ( -1.9%)
02/10  Uncanny X-Men #521 - 67,049  ( +2.0%)
03/10  Uncanny X-Men #522 - 67,996  ( +1.4%)
04/10  Uncanny X-Men #523 - 78,999  (+16.2%)
05/10  Uncanny X-Men #524 - 77,056  ( -2.5%)
06/10  Uncanny X-Men #525 - 76,068  ( -1.3%)
                            6 mnth  (+13.5%)
                            1 year  ( +6.9%)
                            2 year  ( -6.2%)
                            3 year  ( -6.6%)
                            4 year  ( -2.7%)
                            5 year  (-16.6%)

Month three of the “Second Coming” crossover, running through UNCANNY X-MEN, X-MEN LEGACY, X-FORCE and NEW MUTANTS. The sales boost remains solid.

10. AVENGERS PRIME
06/10  Avengers Prime #1 of 5 - 69,433

A miniseries focussing on Captain America, Iron Man and Thor, and the fourth Avengers title in this month’s top ten. This issue has a 1:25 variant, but that’s pretty modest compared to the other Avengers titles, which makes this a strong showing.

14. X-MEN LEGACY
06/05  X-Men #171        -  80,307
06/06  X-Men #187        -  95,487
06/07  X-Men #200        - 136,672
06/08  X-Men Legacy #213 -  71,893
=====
06/09  X-Men Legacy #225 -  58,374  ( +8.1%)
07/09  X-Men Legacy #226 -  59,298  ( +1.6%)
08/09  X-Men Legacy #227 -  63,316  ( +6.8%)
09/09  ---
10/09  X-Men Legacy #228 -  52,855  (-16.5%)
11/09  X-Men Legacy #229 -  50,789  ( -3.9%)
12/09  X-Men Legacy #230 -  49,776  ( -2.0%)
12/09  X-Men Legacy #231 -  50,929  ( +2.3%)
01/10  X-Men Legacy #232 -  49,200  ( -3.4%)
02/10  X-Men Legacy #233 -  51,344  ( +4.4%)
03/10  X-Men Legacy #234 -  48,217  ( -6.1%)
04/10  X-Men Legacy #235 -  65,302  (+35.4%)
05/10  X-Men Legacy #236 -  69,731  ( +6.8%)
06/10  X-Men Legacy #237 -  65,578  ( -6.0%)
                            6 mnth  (+28.8%)
                            1 year  (+12.3%)
                            2 year  ( -8.8%)
                            3 year  (-52.0%)
                            4 year  (-31.3%)
                            5 year  (-18.3%)

Another “Second Coming” tie-in. Issue #236 picks up re-orders of 4,881.

16,17,21. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
06/05  Amazing Spider-Man #521 -  74,117
06/06  Amazing Spider-Man #533 - 112,982
06/07  Amazing Spider-Man #541 - 108,284
06/08  Amazing Spider-Man #563 -  70,792 
=====
06/09  Amazing Spider-Man #596 -  63,525  (-11.6%)
06/09  Amazing Spider-Man #597 -  61,646  ( -3.0%)
06/09  Amazing Spider-Man #598 -  61,585  ( -0.0%)
07/09  Amazing Spider-Man #599 -  72,412  (+17.6%)
07/09  Amazing Spider-Man #600 - 116,857  (+61.4%)
08/09  Amazing Spider-Man #601 -  74,279  (-36.4%)
08/09  Amazing Spider-Man #602 -  71,532  ( -3.7%)
08/09  Amazing Spider-Man #603 -  71,051  ( -0.7%)
09/09  Amazing Spider-Man #604 -  63,435  (-10.7%)
09/09  Amazing Spider-Man #605 -  62,831  ( -1.0%)
09/09  Amazing Spider-Man #606 -  70,177  (+11.7%)
09/09  Amazing Spider-Man #607 -  62,570  (-10.8%)
10/09  Amazing Spider-Man #608 -  72,035  (+15.1%)
10/09  Amazing Spider-Man #609 -  61,176  (-15.1%)
11/09  Amazing Spider-Man #610 -  61,170  ( -0.0%)
11/09  Amazing Spider-Man #611 -  64,514  ( +5.5%)
11/09  Amazing Spider-Man #612 -  68,459  ( +6.1%)
11/09  Amazing Spider-Man #613 -  64,499  ( -5.8%)
12/09  Amazing Spider-Man #614 -  59,696  ( -7.4%)
12/09  Amazing Spider-Man #615 -  63,738  ( +6.8%)
12/09  Amazing Spider-Man #616 -  58,856  ( -7.7%)
01/10  Amazing Spider-Man #617 -  76,730  (+30.4%)
01/10  Amazing Spider-Man #618 -  61,969  (-19.2%)
01/10  Amazing Spider-Man #619 -  56,837  ( -8.3%)
02/10  Amazing Spider-Man #620 -  59,860  ( +5.3%)
02/10  Amazing Spider-Man #621 -  55,350  ( -7.5%)
02/10  Amazing Spider-Man #622 -  53,929  ( -2.6%)
03/10  Amazing Spider-Man #623 -  66,064  (+22.5%)
03/10  Amazing Spider-Man #624 -  60,213  ( -8.9%)
03/10  Amazing Spider-Man #625 -  54,179  (-10.0%)
03/10  Amazing Spider-Man #626 -  53,868  ( -0.6%)
03/10  Amazing Spider-Man #627 -  54,206  ( +0.6%)
04/10  Amazing Spider-Man #628 -  57,797  ( +6.6%)
04/10  Amazing Spider-Man #629 -  53,560  ( -7.3%)
05/10  Amazing Spider-Man #630 -  57,969  ( +8.2%)
05/10  Amazing Spider-Man #631 -  57,239  ( -1.3%)
05/10  Amazing Spider-Man #632 -  56,723  ( -0.9%)
06/10  Amazing Spider-Man #633 -  57,670  ( +1.7%)
06/10  Amazing Spider-Man #634 -  61,736  ( +7.1%)
06/10  Amazing Spider-Man #635 -  56,146  ( -9.1%)
                                  6 mnth  ( -4.6%)
                                  1 year  ( -8.8%)
                                  2 year  (-20.7%)
                                  3 year  (-48.1%)
                                  4 year  (-50.3%)
                                  5 year  (-24.2%)

Issue #633 is a Heroic Age variant. Issue #634 is the first part of “Grim Hunt”, a storyline which the book has been building to for months. All the “Grim Hunt” issues have a 50-50 variant cover, and issue #634 also has a third cover by Joe Quinones.

Overall, sales continue to hover in the familiar territory. Marvel have announced another format shift for October, moving to a twice-monthly schedule.

18,25. CAPTAIN AMERICA
06/05  Captain America #7   -  47,160
06/06  Captain America #19  -  47,315
06/07  Captain America #27  -  99,108
06/08  Captain America #39 -   79,387 
=====
06/09  Captain America #600 - 123,152  ( +69.4%)
07/09  Captain America #601 -  87,844  ( -28.7%)
07/09  Reborn #1 of 6       - 197,565  (+124.9%)
08/09  Reborn #2 of 6       - 125,366  ( -36.5%)
09/09  Reborn #3 of 6       - 108,331  ( -13.6%)
10/09  ---
11/09  Reborn #4 of 6       -  96,571  ( -10.9%)
12/09  Reborn #5 of 6       -  91,790  (  -5.0%)
01/10  Reborn #6 of 6       -  84,844  (  -7.6%)
01/10  Captain America #602 -  63,948  ( -24.6%)
02/10  Captain America #603 -  63,568  (  -0.6%)
03/10  Captain America #604 -  56,962  ( -10.4%)
04/10  Captain America #605 -  59,051  (  +3.7%)
05/10  ---
06/10  Captain America #606 -  57,443  (  -2.7%)
06/10  Captain America #607 -  52,989  (  -7.8%)
                               6 mnth  ( -42.3%)
                               1 year  ( -57.0%)
                               2 year  ( +33.3%)
                               3 year  ( -46.5%)
                               4 year  ( +12.0%)
                               5 year  ( +12.4%)

No variant cover this month, hence the steeper than normal drop. It’s taken the better part of four years, but the book seems to be heading back to the sort of sales levels it was experiencing before the death of Steve Rogers.

19. ASTONISHING X-MEN
06/05  ---
06/06  Astonishing X-Men #15 - 119,991
06/07  ---
06/08  ---
=====
06/09  Astonishing X-Men #30 -  64,608  ( -4.7%)
07/09  ---
08/09  ---
09/09  ---
10/09  Astonishing X-Men #31 -  67,064  ( +3.8%)
11/09  Astonishing X-Men #32 -  62,154  ( -7.3%)
12/09  Astonishing X-Men #33 -  57,592  ( -7.3%)
01/10  ---
02/10  ---
03/10  ---
04/10  ---
05/10  ---
06/10  Astonishing X-Men #34 -  57,363  ( -0.4%)
                                6 mnth  ( -0.4%)
                                1 year  (-11.2%)
                                2 year  (  --- )
                                3 year  (  --- )
                                4 year  (-52.2%)
                                5 year  (  --- )

More evidence that lengthy delays don’t seem to have an immediate impact on sales.

20. THOR
06/05  ---
06/06  ---
06/07  ---
06/08  ---
=====
06/09  Thor #602 - 69,568  ( -15.3%)
07/09  ---
08/09  ---
09/09  Thor #603 - 65,265  (  -6.2%)
10/09  ---
11/09  Finale    - 53,566  ( -17.9%)
12/09  Thor #604 - 61,608  ( +15.0%)
12/09  Thor #605 - 55,242  ( -10.3%)
01/10  Thor #606 - 55,353  (  +0.2%)
02/10  Thor #607 - 66,973  ( +21.0%)
03/10  Thor #608 - 62,012  (  -7.4%)
04/10  Thor #609 - 64,522  (  +4.0%)
05/10  Thor #610 - 61,779  (  -4.3%)
06/10  Thor #611 - 56,443  (  -8.6%)
                   6 mnth  (  +2.2%)
                   1 year  (  -1.9%)
                   2 year  (   --- )
                   3 year  (   --- )
                   4 year  (   --- )
                   5 year  (   --- )

Better than it looks. Issue #610 had a variant cover, and issues #607-609 were SIEGE tie-ins, so effectively THOR is just returning to previous levels. Also, this issue was originally supposed to be the first issue for the new creative team of Matt Fraction and Pascual Ferry, before their debut was pushed back to issue #615. You might think that ran the risk of painting these as filler issues, but there’s no sign of that.

23. NEW MUTANTS
06/09  New Mutants #2  - 43,230  (-29.1%)
07/09  New Mutants #3  - 42,961  ( -0.6%)
08/09  New Mutants #4  - 38,558  (-10.2%)
09/09  New Mutants #5  - 31,502  (-18.3%)
10/09  New Mutants #6  - 34,967  (+11.0%)
11/09  New Mutants #7  - 33,328  ( -4.7%)
12/09  New Mutants #8  - 32,240  ( -3.3%)
01/10  New Mutants #9  - 30,572  ( -5.2%)
02/10  New Mutants #10 - 30,807  ( +0.8%)
03/10  New Mutants #11 - 36,629  (+18.9%)
04/10  New Mutants #12 - 49,591  (+35.4%)
05/10  New Mutants #13 - 54,169  ( +9.2%)
06/10  New Mutants #14 - 53,926  ( -0.4%)
                         6 mnth  (+67.3%)
                         1 year  (+24.7%)

Another “Second Coming” tie-in. As the lowest-selling of the four core titles, NEW MUTANTS is seeing the biggest gains. Issue #13 picks up re-orders of 4,586.

26. INVINCIBLE IRON MAN
06/05  ---
06/06  Iron Man #9             - 37,650
06/07  Iron Man #19            - 75,096 
06/08  Invincible Iron Man #2  - 69,021 
=====
06/09  Invincible Iron Man #14 - 53,229  ( +3.7%)
07/09  Invincible Iron Man #15 - 50,554  ( -5.0%)
08/09  Invincible Iron Man #16 - 53,782  ( +6.4%)
09/09  Invincible Iron Man #17 - 47,182  (-12.3%)
09/09  Invincible Iron Man #18 - 48,039  ( +1.8%)
10/09  Invincible Iron Man #19 - 47,178  ( -1.8%)
11/09  Invincible Iron Man #20 - 61,667  (+30.7%)
12/09  Invincible Iron Man #21 - 49,986  (-18.9%)
01/10  Invincible Iron Man #22 - 49,130  ( -1.7%)
02/10  Invincible Iron Man #23 - 50,027  ( +1.8%)
03/10  Invincible Iron Man #24 - 49,239  ( -1.6%)
04/10  Invincible Iron Man #25 - 73,694  (+49.7%)
05/10  Invincible Iron Man #26 - 53,625  (-27.2%)
06/10  Invincible Iron Man #27 - 52,268  ( -2.5%)
                                 6 mnth  ( +4.6%)
                                 1 year  ( -1.8%)
                                 2 year  (-24.3%)
                                 3 year  (-30.4%)
                                 4 year  (+38.8%)
                                 5 year  (  --- )

Settling back to its usual level – the sales surge in April does indeed seem to have been a blip coinciding with the movie release. As usual, there’s a variant cover on this one.

27. NEMESIS [Icon]
03/10  Nemesis #1 of 4 - 62,031
04/10  ---
05/10  ---
06/10  Nemesis #2 of 4 - 51,586  (-16.8%)

A reassuringly modest second-issue drop.

28,30. ULTIMATE COMICS AVENGERS
08/09  U.C. Avengers #1        - 99,701
09/09  U.C. Avengers #2        - 68,597  (-31.2%)
10/09  U.C. Avengers #3        - 62,716  ( -8.6%)
11/09  U.C. Avengers #4        - 59,023  ( -5.9%)
12/09  ---
01/10  ---
02/10  ---
03/10  U.C. Avengers #5        - 58,098  ( -1.6%)
04/10  U.C. Avengers #6        - 53,438  ( -8.0%)
04/10  U.C. Avengers 2 #1 of 6 - 64,811  (+21.3%)
05/10  U.C. Avengers 2 #2 of 6 - 52,939  (-18.3%)
06/10  U.C. Avengers 2 #3 of 6 - 50,797  ( -4.0%)
06/10  U.C. Avengers 2 #4 of 6 - 49,606  ( -2.3%)
                                 6 mnth  (  --- )

Five issues in three months is at least getting the book back on schedule. Taking a fresh issue #1 for the second story arc hasn’t really helped sales, but it’s done no harm either – it looks like the number will level out in the upper 40K range.

29. HULK
06/08  Hulk #4  - 90,600
=====
06/09  ---
07/09  ---
08/09  Hulk #13 - 71,369  ( -2.4%)
08/09  Hulk #14 - 77,455  ( +8.5%)
09/09  Hulk #15 - 58,667  (-24.3%)
10/09  Hulk #16 - 56,811  ( -3.2%)
11/09  Hulk #17 - 52,653  ( -7.3%)
12/09  Hulk #18 - 53,222  ( +1.1%)
01/10  Hulk #19 - 56,738  ( +6.6%)
02/10  Hulk #20 - 51,962  ( -8.4%)
03/10  Hulk #21 - 50,785  ( -2.3%)
04/10  ---
05/10  Hulk #22 - 49,618  ( -2.3%)
06/10  Hulk #23 - 50,724  ( +2.2%)
                  6 mnth  ( -4.7%)
                  1 year  (  --- )
                  2 year  (-44.0%)


31. INCREDIBLE HULK
06/05  Incredible Hulk #82  -  43,248
06/06  ---
06/07  Incredible Hulk #107 - 106,931 
06/08  Hulk #4              -  90,600
=====
06/09  ---
07/09  Incredible Hulk #600 -  92,343
08/09  Incredible Hulk #601 -  64,120  (-30.6%)
09/09  Incredible Hulk #602 -  51,582  (-19.6%)
10/09  Incredible Hulk #603 -  49,126  ( -4.8%)
11/09  Incredible Hulk #604 -  40,652  (-17.2%)
12/09  Incredible Hulk #605 -  43,964  ( +8.1%)
01/10  Incredible Hulk #606 -  48,197  ( +9.6%)
02/10  Incredible Hulk #607 -  45,870  ( -4.8%)
03/10  Incredible Hulk #608 -  47,148  ( +2.8%)
04/10  ---
05/10  Incredible Hulk #609 -  46,670  ( -1.0%)
06/10  Incredible Hulk #610 -  46,461  ( -0.4%)
                               6 mnth  ( +5.7%)
                               1 year  (  --- )
                               2 year  (-48.7%)
                               3 year  (-56.6%)
                               4 year  (  --- )
                               5 year  ( +7.4%)

The two Hulk titles are both tied up in the “World War Hulks” crossover at the moment. Sales remain steady for both of them.

33. AVENGERS ACADEMY
06/07  Initiative #3       - 92,339
06/08  Initiative #14      - 62,236
=====
06/09  Initiative #25      - 40,101  ( -5.7%)
07/09  Initiative #26      - 38,215  ( -4.7%)
08/09  Initiative #27      - 39,014  ( +2.1%)
09/09  Initiative #28      - 33,855  (-13.2%)
10/09  Initiative #29      - 31,412  ( -7.2%)
11/09  Initiative #30      - 28,688  ( -8.7%)
12/09  Initiative #31      - 32,291  (+12.6%)
01/10  Initiative #32      - 36,127  (+11.9%)
02/10  Initiative #33      - 39,968  (+10.6%)
03/10  Initiative #34      - 38,616  ( -3.4%)
04/10  ---
05/10  Initiative #35      - 38,158  ( -1.2%)
06/10  Avengers Academy #1 - 45,890  (+20.3%)
                             6 mnth  (+42.1%)
                             1 year  (+14.4%)
                             2 year  (-26.3%)
                             3 year  (-50.3%)

AVENGERS ACADEMY isn’t a direct relaunch of AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE. But it occupies much the same place in the line, and I’m treating here as a continuation. This issue has two variant covers (plus the “Heroic Age” branding, for whatever that’s worth), so at first glance you might expect to see a bigger increase.

However, INITIATIVE closed with a SIEGE tie-in arc, and picked up sales in a big way in the months leading up to that. It bottomed out at 29K in November 2009. If we take that as a measure of INITIATIVE’s baseline sales, then a 46K debut for the replacement title is quite promising.

34. ASTONISHING X-MEN: XENOGENESIS
05/10  Xenogenesis #1 of 5 - 55,428
06/10  Xenogenesis #2 of 5 - 44,953  (-18.9%)

A fairly small drop, bearing in mind that issue #1 had the benefit of a variant cover.

35. ULTIMATE COMICS X
02/10  Ultimate Comics X #1 - 64,113
03/10  ---
04/10  Ultimate Comics X #2 - 47,996  (-25.2%)
05/10  ---
06/10  Ultimate Comics X #3 - 44,568  ( -7.1%)

Levelling out, but hardly spectacular numbers.

38. DARK WOLVERINE
06/09  Dark Wolverine #75 - 80,780  (+22.0%)
07/09  Dark Wolverine #76 - 74,017  ( -8.4%)
08/09  Dark Wolverine #77 - 68,593  ( -7.3%)
09/09  Dark Wolverine #78 - 60,702  (-11.5%)
10/09  Dark Wolverine #79 - 60,076  ( -1.0%)
11/09  Dark Wolverine #80 - 52,394  (-12.8%)
12/09  Dark Wolverine #81 - 48,102  ( -8.2%)
01/10  Dark Wolverine #82 - 54,838  (+14.0%)
02/10  Dark Wolverine #83 - 53,958  ( -1.6%)
03/10  Dark Wolverine #84 - 49,469  ( -8.3%)
04/10  Dark Wolverine #85 - 47,527  ( -3.9%)
05/10  Dark Wolverine #86 - 46,315  ( -2.6%)
06/10  Dark Wolverine #87 - 43,087  ( -7.0%)
                            6 mnth  (-10.4%)
                            1 year  (-46.7%)

No variant cover this month, so the drop isn’t too bad. The series relaunches in September as DAKEN: DARK WOLVERINE; in the interests of common sense, I’m treating it as a new series that started with DARK WOLVERINE #75, and I’ve moved the sales history from earlier years over to WOLVERINE: WEAPON X.

40. X-FACTOR
06/06  X-Factor #8   - 59,131
06/07  X-Factor #20  - 37,105
06/08  X-Factor #32  - 45,104
=====
06/09  X-Factor #44  - 31,552  ( +0.0%)
06/09  X-Factor #45  - 31,109  ( -1.4%)
07/09  X-Factor #46  - 31,213  ( +0.3%)
08/09  X-Factor #47  - 33,052  ( +5.9%)
09/09  X-Factor #48  - 30,305  ( -8.3%)
09/09  X-Factor #49  - 29,934  ( -1.2%)
10/09  X-Factor #50  - 30,138  ( +0.7%)
11/09  ---
12/09  X-Factor #200 - 36,577  (+21.4%)
01/10  X-Factor #201 - 29,732  (-18.7%)
02/10  X-Factor #202 - 30,981  ( +4.2%)
03/10  X-Factor #203 - 28,924  ( -6.6%)
04/10  X-Factor #204 - 40,534  (+40.1%)
05/10  X-Factor #205 - 41,745  ( +3.0%)
06/10  X-Factor #206 - 40,981  ( -1.8%)
                       6 mnth  (+12.0%)
                       1 year  (+29.9%)
                       2 year  ( -9.1%)
                       3 year  (+10.4%)
                       4 year  (-30.7%)

The third month of a “Second Coming” tie-in arc, selling far above the title’s normal level.

41. INVINCIBLE IRON MAN ANNUAL
06/10  Invincible Iron Man Annual #1 - 39,877

The first Marvel comic to be released digitally on the same day that it appeared in stores – but it’s difficult to draw any meaningful conclusions from an annual, since it’s pure guesswork what it would have sold normally. It’s 12,000 below the parent title, which isn’t particularly surprising one way or the other.

42. ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN
06/05  Ult. Spider-Man #78  -  79,420
06/06  Ult. Spider-Man #96  -  73,472
06/07  Ult. Spider-Man #110 -  73,646
06/08  Ult. Spider-Man #123 -  57,187 
=====
06/09  Ult. Spider-Man #133 -  57,364  ( +14.4%)
06/09  USM: Requiem #1 of 2 -  44,988  ( -21.6%)
07/09  USM: Requiem #2 of 2 -  41,374  (  -8.0%)
08/09  U.C. Spider-Man #1   -  86,008  (+107.9%)
09/09  U.C. Spider-Man #2   -  57,477  ( -33.2%)
10/09  U.C. Spider-Man #3   -  52,813  (  -8.1%)
11/09  U.C. Spider-Man #4   -  49,106  (  -7.0%)
12/09  U.C. Spider-Man #5   -  45,849  (  -6.6%)
01/10  U.C. Spider-Man #6   -  43,622  (  -4.9%)
02/10  U.C. Spider-Man #7   -  42,176  (  -3.3%)
03/10  U.C. Spider-Man #8   -  40,967  (  -2.9%)
04/10  U.C. Spider-Man #9   -  39,955  (  -2.5%)
05/10  U.C. Spider-Man #10  -  39,690  (  -0.7%)
06/10  U.C. Spider-Man #11  -  39,149  (  -1.4%)
                               6 mnth  ( -14.6%)
                               1 year  ( -31.8%)
                               2 year  ( -31.5%)
                               3 year  ( -46.8%)
                               4 year  ( -46.7%)
                               5 year  ( -50.7%)

The series seems to have found its level again following last year’s not-desperately-successful relaunch.

44. DEADPOOL
06/09  Deadpool #11 - 55,343  ( -1.4%)
07/09  Deadpool #12 - 58,807  ( +6.3%)
08/09  Deadpool #13 - 55,442  ( -5.7%)
08/09  Deadpool #14 - 50,263  ( -9.3%)
09/09  Deadpool #15 - 50,479  ( +0.4%)
10/09  Deadpool #16 - 46,288  ( -8.3%)
11/09  Deadpool #17 - 46,765  ( +1.0%)
12/09  Deadpool #18 - 45,914  ( -1.8%)
01/10  ---
02/10  Deadpool #19 - 44,580  ( -2.9%)
02/10  Deadpool #20 - 43,347  ( -2.8%)
03/10  Deadpool #21 - 42,062  ( -3.0%)
04/10  Deadpool #22 - 43,061  ( +2.4%)
05/10  Deadpool #23 - 42,761  ( -0.7%)
06/10  Deadpool #24 - 38,663  ( -9.6%)
                      6 mnth  (-15.8%)
                      1 year  (-30.1%)

No variant cover this month, so the drop is exaggerated.

45. S.H.I.E.L.D.
04/10  S.H.I.E.L.D. #1 - 44,543
05/10  ---
06/10  S.H.I.E.L.D. #2 - 37,595  (-15.6%)

Considering that issue #1 had two variants, and issue #2 only had one, that’s a pretty modest drop. S.H.I.E.L.D. isn’t an obviously commercial title, but thus far it’s doing well.

47. FANTASTIC FOUR
06/05  Fantastic Four #528 - 55,937
06/06  Fantastic Four #538 - 78,147
06/07  Fantastic Four #547 - 69,610
06/08  Fantastic Four #558 - 61,003 
=====
06/09  Fantastic Four #567 - 46,225  ( -0.9%)
07/09  Fantastic Four #568 - 45,828  ( -0.9%)
07/09  Fantastic Four #569 - 44,710  ( -2.4%)
08/09  Fantastic Four #570 - 62,401  (+39.6%)
09/09  Fantastic Four #571 - 47,468  (-23.4%)
10/09  Fantastic Four #572 - 41,939  (-11.6%)
11/09  Fantastic Four #573 - 39,433  ( -6.0%)
12/09  Fantastic Four #574 - 38,431  ( -2.5%)
01/10  Fantastic Four #575 - 41,284  ( +7.4%)
02/10  Fantastic Four #576 - 37,526  ( -9.1%)
03/10  Fantastic Four #577 - 35,791  ( -4.6%)
04/10  Fantastic Four #578 - 37,940  ( +6.0%)
05/10  Fantastic Four #579 - 38,415  ( +1.3%)
06/10  Fantastic Four #580 - 36,582  ( -4.8%)
                             6 mnth  ( -4.8%)
                             1 year  (-20.9%)
                             2 year  (-40.0%)
                             3 year  (-47.4%)
                             4 year  (-53.2%)
                             5 year  (-34.6%)

No variant this month. The closest comparison is issue #577, which actually sold slightly lower, so the base sales seem to be fairly solid.

53. DAREDEVIL
06/05  Daredevil #74  - 48,175
06/06  Daredevil #86  - 48,280
06/07  Daredevil #98  - 46,816
06/08  Daredevil #108 - 39,557
=====
06/09  Daredevil #119 - 41,403  ( -8.0%)
07/09  ---
08/09  Daredevil #500 - 73,486  (+77.5%)
09/09  ---
10/09  Daredevil #501 - 45,181  (-38.5%)
11/09  Daredevil #502 - 40,354  (-10.7%)
12/09  Daredevil #503 - 38,680  ( -4.1%)
01/10  Daredevil #504 - 37,135  ( -4.0%)
02/10  Daredevil #505 - 38,693  ( +4.2%)
03/10  ---
04/10  Daredevil #506 - 37,467  ( -3.2%)
05/10  ---
06/10  Daredevil #507 - 34,744  ( -7.3%)
                        6 mnth  (-10.2%)
                        1 year  (-16.1%)
                        2 year  (-12.2%)
                        3 year  (-25.8%)
                        4 year  (-28.0%)
                        5 year  (-27.9%)

No variant this month. The SHADOWLAND crossover – which is basically an expanded DAREDEVIL plotline – begins in July.

54. WOLVERINE: ORIGINS
06/06  Origins #3  - 116,058
06/07  Origins #15 -  65,558
06/08  Origins #26 -  48,059
=====
06/09  Origins #37 -  44,930  ( -1.1%)
07/09  Origins #38 -  47,211  ( +5.1%)
08/09  Origins #39 -  44,968  ( -4.8%)
09/09  Origins #40 -  42,724  ( -5.0%)
10/09  Origins #41 -  39,453  ( -7.7%)
11/09  Origins #42 -  37,903  ( -3.9%)
12/09  Origins #43 -  36,528  ( -3.6%)
01/10  Origins #44 -  35,154  ( -3.8%)
02/10  ---
03/10  Origins #45 -  37,055  ( +5.4%)
03/10  Origins #46 -  34,004  ( -8.2%)
04/10  Origins #47 -  36,075  ( +6.1%)
05/10  Origins #48 -  35,999  ( -0.2%)
06/10  Origins #49 -  34,695  ( -3.6%)
                      6 mnth  ( -5.0%)
                      1 year  (-22.8%)
                      2 year  (-27.8%)
                      3 year  (-47.1%)
                      4 year  (-70.1%)

Cancelled next issue, with a new Wolverine B-title set to replace it in the autumn.

56. THANOS IMPERATIVE
05/10  Ignition                  - 29,716
06/10  Thanos Imperative #1 of 6 - 34,285 (+13.4%)

A reassuring increase from the prologue issue.

58. X-MEN: HELLBOUND
05/10  Hellbound #1 of 3 - 33,345
06/10  Hellbound #2 of 3 - 33,691  (+1.0%)

Well, that’s unusual. This is a “Second Coming” tie-in miniseries (albeit a fairly peripheral one) – I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that issue #1 picked up reorders that just missed the top 300.

61. THUNDERBOLTS
06/05  New Thunderbolts #9 - 27,300
06/06  Thunderbolts #103   - 48,058
06/07  Thunderbolts #115   - 64,876 
06/08  Thunderbolts #121   - 37,693
=====
06/09  Thunderbolts #133   - 39,479  (-10.1%)
07/09  Thunderbolts #134   - 40,885  ( +3.6%)
08/09  ---
09/09  Thunderbolts #135   - 39,961  ( -2.3%)
09/09  Thunderbolts #136   - 34,031  (-14.8%)
10/09  Thunderbolts #137   - 32,409  ( -4.8%)
11/09  Thunderbolts #138   - 31,238  ( -3.6%)
12/09  Thunderbolts #139   - 29,957  ( -4.1%)
01/10  Thunderbolts #140   - 28,644  ( -4.4%)
02/10  Thunderbolts #141   - 33,948  (+18.5%)
03/10  Thunderbolts #142   - 34,132  ( +0.5%)
04/10  Thunderbolts #143   - 35,656  ( +4.5%)
05/10  Thunderbolts #144   - 33,276  ( -6.7%)
06/10  Thunderbolts #145   - 31,999  ( -3.8%)
                             6 mnth  ( +6.8%)
                             1 year  (-18.9%)
                             2 year  (-15.1%)
                             3 year  (-50.7%)
                             4 year  (-33.4%)
                             5 year  (+17.2%)

Hmm. The new direction, which began with issue #144, doesn’t seem to have had much impact on sales, one way or the other. There’s a slight increase from six months ago (i.e., just before the SIEGE tie-in issues started), but nothing enormous.

64. DEADPOOL: MERC WITH A MOUTH
07/09  Merc With A Mouth #1  - 59,628
08/09  Merc With A Mouth #2  - 51,147  (-14.2%)
09/09  Merc With A Mouth #3  - 43,855  (-14.3%)
10/09  Merc With A Mouth #4  - 40,154  ( -8.4%)
11/09  Merc With A Mouth #5  - 37,781  ( -5.9%)
12/09  Merc With A Mouth #6  - 37,051  ( -1.9%)
01/10  Merc With A Mouth #7  - 40,568  ( +9.5%)
02/10  Merc With A Mouth #8  - 34,281  (-15.5%)
03/10  Merc With A Mouth #9  - 33,405  ( -2.6%)
04/10  Merc With A Mouth #10 - 33,803  ( +1.2%)
05/10  Merc With A Mouth #11 - 30,677  ( -9.2%)
06/10  Merc With A Mouth #12 - 30,572  ( -0.3%)
                               6 mnth  (-17.5%)

Cancelled with issue #13. Which is starting to look like a rather odd decision, since the book is outselling DEADPOOL CORPS by about 4,000, and DEADPOOL TEAM-UP by 7,000.

65. WOLVERINE: WEAPON X
06/05  Wolverine #29 - 79,951
06/06  Wolverine #43 - 97,807
06/07  ---
06/08  Wolverine #66 - 98,026 
=====
06/09  Weapon X #3   - 51,076  (-13.7%)
07/09  ---
08/09  Weapon X #4   - 49,284  ( -3.5%)
09/09  Weapon X #5   - 40,975  (-16.9%)
10/09  Weapon X #6   - 38,446  ( -6.2%)
11/09  Weapon X #7   - 36,108  ( -6.1%)
12/09  Weapon X #8   - 33,470  ( -7.3%)
01/10  Weapon X #9   - 31,678  ( -5.4%)
02/10  Weapon X #10  - 30,132  ( -4.9%)
03/10  Weapon X #11  - 29,799  ( -1.1%)
04/10  Weapon X #12  - 30,050  ( +0.8%)
05/10  Weapon X #13  - 29,773  ( -0.9%)
06/10  Weapon X #14  - 30,035  ( +0.9%)
                       6 mnth  (-10.3%)
                       1 year  (-41.2%)
                       2 year  (-69.4%)
                       3 year  (  --- )
                       4 year  (-69.3%)
                       5 year  (-62.4%)

Seems to have bottomed out over the last few months, but Marvel will be hoping for much better when the series relaunches as WOLVERINE in September. It seems to be tacitly conceded that this launch has backfired badly.

67,74. DEADPOOL: WADE WILSON'S WAR
06/10  Wade Wilson's War #1 of 4 - 29,406 
06/10  Wade Wilson's War #2 of 4 - 26,466 (-10.0%)

More Deadpool! And, well, this mini is outselling two of his monthly titles, so that’s not bad.

72. SECRET WARRIORS
06/09  Secret Warriors #5  - 40,849  ( -4.5%)
07/09  Secret Warriors #6  - 41,749  ( +2.2%)
08/09  Secret Warriors #7  - 38,990  ( -6.6%)
09/09  Secret Warriors #8  - 33,893  (-13.1%)
10/09  Secret Warriors #9  - 36,385  ( +7.4%)
11/09  Secret Warriors #10 - 31,567  (-13.2%)
12/09  Secret Warriors #11 - 30,748  ( -2.6%)
01/10  Secret Warriors #12 - 29,894  ( -2.8%)
02/10  Secret Warriors #13 - 30,843  ( +3.2%)
03/10  Secret Warriors #14 - 28,580  ( -7.3%)
04/10  Secret Warriors #15 - 29,669  ( +3.8%)
05/10  Secret Warriors #16 - 29,340  ( -1.1%)
06/10  Secret Warriors #17 - 28,017  ( -4.5%)
                             6 mnth  ( -8.9%)
                             1 year  (-31.4%)

Extremely solid over the last few months, when you bear in mind that issues #15-16 had variant covers.

73. HAWKEYE AND MOCKINGBIRD
06/10  Hawkeye & Mockingbird #1 - 27,552 

Two variant covers on this. Not a brilliant start for a new Marvel Universe title, but there’s a bit of leeway here, if it levels out quickly.

75. DEADPOOL CORPS
03/10  Prelude #1 of 5   - 37,011
03/10  Prelude #2 of 5   - 32,024  (-13.5%)
03/10  Prelude #3 of 5   - 31,065  ( -3.0%)
03/10  Prelude #4 of 5   - 30,254  ( -2.6%)
03/10  Prelude #5 of 5   - 29,037  ( -4.0%)
04/10  Deadpool Corps #1 - 39,466  (+35.9%)
05/10  Deadpool Corps #2 - 28,236  (-28.5%)
06/10  Deadpool Corps #3 - 26,251  ( -7.0%)

I’d have hoped for a slightly smaller drop by the third issue. More to the point, though, this series is effectively the replacement for DEADPOOL: MERC WITH A MOUTH – which sells 4,000 higher, and is fairly steady. This is looking like it might have been a mistake.

76. DOOMWAR
06/05  Black Panther #5  - 37,401
06/06  Black Panther #17 - 27,993
06/07  Black Panther #28 - 61,808
06/08  Black Panther #37 - 19,989 
=====
06/09  Black Panther #5  - 29,762  (  -3.9%)
07/09  Black Panther #6  - 29,727  (  -0.1%)
08/09  Black Panther #7  - 27,619  (  -7.1%)
09/09  Black Panther #8  - 23,020  ( -16.7%)
10/09  Black Panther #9  - 20,346  ( -11.6%)
11/09  Black Panther #10 - 19,147  (  -5.9%)
12/09  Black Panther #11 - 17,989  (  -6.0%)
01/10  Black Panther #12 - 17,881  (  -1.0%)
02/10  Doomwar #1 of 6   - 43,241  (+141.8%)
03/10  Doomwar #2 of 6   - 30,555  ( -29.3%)
04/10  Doomwar #3 of 6   - 27,859  (  -8.9%)
05/10  Doomwar #4 of 6   - 28,307  (  +1.6%)
06/10  Doomwar #5 of 6   - 26,041  (  -8.0%)
                           6 mnth  ( +44.8%)
                           1 year  ( -12.5%)
                           2 year  ( +30.3%)
                           3 year  ( -57.9%)
                           4 year  (  -7.0%)
                           5 year  ( -30.4%)

Fairly standard miniseries behaviour. BLACK PANTHER is one of those properties that Marvel just won’t give up on – a new mini, KLAWS OF THE PANTHER, begins in October.

81. AGE OF HEROES
05/10  Age of Heroes #1 of 4 - 33,573
06/10  Age of Heroes #2 of 4 - 25,354  (-24.5%)

Issue #1 had a variant cover, so the drop is exaggerated. Not a bad number for a Marvel Universe anthology title.

83. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN PRESENTS BLACK CAT
06/10  Black Cat #1 of 4 - 24,951

The Spider-Man minis are heading in the right direction. JACKPOT launched with 18K, AMERICAN SON with 20K, and now BLACK CAT starts at 25K. Okay, yes, this issue has a J Scott Campbell variant cover, but the Black Cat is also a higher profile character, which is bound to play a part.

87. DARK TOWER: GUNSLINGER - JOURNEY BEGINS
06/07  Gunslinger Born #5 of 7 - 132,090 
06/08  Long Road Home #4 of 5  -  79,270
=====
06/09  Fall of Gilead #2 of 6  -  39,978  ( -8.3%)
07/09  Fall of Gilead #3 of 6  -  36,982  ( -7.5%)
08/09  Fall of Gilead #4 of 6  -  35,607  ( -3.7%)
09/09  Fall of Gilead #5 of 6  -  34,522  ( -3.0%)
10/09  ---
11/09  Fall of Gilead #6 of 6  -  32,531  ( -5.8%)
12/09  Jericho Hill #1 of 5    -  30,756  ( -5.5%)
12/09  Jericho Hill #2 of 5    -  28,350  ( -7.8%)
01/10  ---
02/10  Jericho Hill #3 of 5    -  27,215  ( -4.0%)
03/10  Jericho Hill #4 of 5    
04/10  Jericho Hill #5 of 5    -  25,896  ( -4.8%)
05/10  Gunslinger #1 of 5      -  26,275  ( +1.5%)
06/10  Gunslinger #2 of 5      -  24,024  ( -8.6%)
                                  6 mnth  (-15.3%)
                                  1 year  (-39.9%)
                                  2 year  (-69.7%)
                                  3 year  (-81.8%)

Monthly sales just keep dropping, but presumably the collected editions are doing better.

89. DEADPOOL TEAM-UP
10/09  Deadpool #900         - 51,337
11/09  Deadpool Team-Up #899 - 39,584  (-22.9%)
12/09  Deadpool Team-Up #898 - 36,308  ( -8.3%)
01/10  Deadpool Team-Up #897 - 32,671  (-10.0%)
02/10  Deadpool Team-Up #896 - 30,119  ( -7.8%)
03/10  Deadpool Team-Up #895 - 28,573  ( -5.1%)
04/10  Deadpool Team-Up #894 - 28,835  ( +0.9%)
05/10  Deadpool Team-Up #893 - 26,578  ( -7.8%)
06/10  Deadpool Team-Up #892 - 23,697  (-10.8%)
                               6 mnth  (-34.7%)

The lowest-selling Deadpool title, by a fair margin.

90. IRON MAN LEGACY
04/10  Iron Man Legacy #1 - 48,956
05/10  Iron Man Legacy #2 - 29,175  (-40.4%)
06/10  Iron Man Legacy #3 - 23,340  (-20.0%)

Yikes. This doesn’t look too healthy. But then again, LEGACY is a story set in past continuity, which probably had its first issues sales massively inflated by the movie release; it’s possible that we’re seeing a huge initial downward correction and that the book will settle down after that. You never know.

92,105. FRANKEN-CASTLE
06/07  War Journal #8     - 61,376
06/08  War Journal #20    - 27,288
=====
06/09  Punisher #6        - 32,982  ( -7.4%)
07/09  Punisher #7        - 31,227  ( -5.3%)
08/09  Punisher #8        - 33,057  ( +5.9%)
09/09  Punisher #9        - 28,424  (-14.1%)
10/09  Punisher #10       - 27,167  ( -4.4%)
11/09  Punisher #11       - 24,900  ( -8.3%)
12/09  Punisher #12       - 24,985  ( +0.3%)
01/10  Punisher #13       - 23,734  ( -5.0%)
02/10  Punisher #14       - 23,455  ( -1.8%)
03/10  Punisher #15       - 22,285  ( -5.0%)
04/10  Punisher #16       - 23,047  ( +3.4%)
05/10  ---
06/10  Franken-Castle #17 - 22,378  ( -2.9%)
06/10  Franken-Castle #18 - 19,605  (-12.4%)
                            6 mnth  (-21.5%)
                            1 year  (-40.6%)
                            2 year  (-28.2%)
                            3 year  (-68.1%)

Yes, PUNISHER is renamed to reflect the fact that he’s now Frankenstein. The storyline actually ends with issue #21, and there’s no solicitation for issue #22 in October. But in the circumstances, I wouldn’t rule out yet another relaunch.

The reprint book FRANKEN-CASTLE: BIRTH OF THE MONSTER had estimated orders of 4,796, charting at number 294.

93. PUNISHERMAX  [Max]
06/05  Punisher #22     - 37,811
06/06  Punisher #34     - 34,161
06/07  Punisher #48     - 33,804
06/08  Punisher #58     - 29,802
=====
06/09  Frank Castle #71 - 21,319  ( -2.5%)
07/09  Frank Castle #72 - 21,049  ( -1.3%)
08/09  Frank Castle #73 - 20,375  ( -3.2%)
09/09  Frank Castle #74 - 20,259  ( -0.6%)
10/09  Frank Castle #75 - 22,210  ( +9.6%)
11/09  PunisherMax #1   - 29,119  (+31.1%)
12/09  PunisherMax #2   - 23,110  (-20.4%)
01/10  PunisherMax #3   - 22,887  ( -1.0%)
02/10  PunisherMax #4   - 22,472  ( -1.8%)
03/10  PunisherMax #5   - 22,435  ( -0.2%)
04/10  PunisherMax #6   - 22,246  ( -0.8%)
05/10  PunisherMax #7   - 22,198  ( -0.2%)
06/10  PunisherMax #8   - 22,053  ( -0.7%)
                          6 mnth  ( -4.6%)
                          1 year  ( +3.4%)
                          2 year  (-26.0%)
                          3 year  (-34.8%)
                          4 year  (-35.4%)
                          5 year  (-41.7%)

Still slightly up from the book’s previous incarnation, and selling as solidly as ever.

97. YOUNG ALLIES
06/10  Young Allies #1 - 20,858

That’s lower than last month’s ATLAS #1. And ATLAS is being cancelled with issue #5. So, it’s not looking too promising.

98. THE STAND
06/09  ---
07/09  Nightmares #4 of 5     - 34,292  ( -5.7%)
08/09  Nightmares #5 of 5     - 31,506  ( -8.1%)10/09  Soul Survivors #1 of 5 - 27,725  (-12.0%)
11/09  Soul Survivors #2 of 5 - 25,600  ( -7.7%)
12/09  Soul Survivors #3 of 5 - 24,308  ( -5.0%)
01/10  ---
02/10  Soul Survivors #4 of 5 - 22,804  ( -6.2%)
03/10  Soul Survivors #5 of 5 - 22,294  ( -2.2%)
04/10  ---
05/10  ---
06/10  Hardcases #1 of 5      - 20,802  ( -6.7%)
                                6 mnth  (-14.4%)
                                1 year  (  --- )

The first issue of the new arc doesn’t even get a token increase. Of course, as with DARK TOWER, this series ought to be doing a lot of its business in collections.

100. MARVEL ZOMBIES 5
04/10  Marvel Zombies 5 #1 of 5 - 26,318
04/10  Marvel Zombies 5 #2 of 5 - 26,319  ( -1.8%)
05/10  Marvel Zombies 5 #3 of 5 - 22,894  (-13.0%)
06/10  Marvel Zombies 5 #4 of 5 - 20,141  (-12.0%)

This looks to be a case where the usual initial drop has been spread over the course of the series thanks to variant covers.

103. BLACK WIDOW
04/10  Black Widow #1 - 32,807
05/10  Black Widow #2 - 23,384  (-28.7%)
06/10  Black Widow #3 - 19,892  (-14.9%)

Well… both the previous issues had variant covers, so the drop is exaggerated. Nonetheless, 20K by issue #3 isn’t too promising.

106. VENGEANCE OF THE MOON KNIGHT
06/06  Moon Knight #3  - 69,446
06/07  Moon Knight #11 - 58,313
06/08  Moon Knight #19 - 25,820 
=====
06/09  ---
07/09  ---
08/09  ---
09/09  Moon Knight #1  - 35,706  (+81.3%)
10/09  Moon Knight #2  - 26,493  (-25.8%)
11/09  Moon Knight #3  - 23,359  (-11.8%)
12/09  Moon Knight #4  - 21,482  ( -8.0%)
01/10  ---
02/10  Moon Knight #5  - 19,733  ( -8.1%)
03/10  Moon Knight #6  - 19,094  ( -3.2%)
04/10  Moon Knight #7  - 20,718  ( +8.5%)
05/10  Moon Knight #8  - 20,597  ( -0.6%)
06/10  Moon Knight #9  - 18,695  ( -9.2%)
                         6 mnth  (-13.0%)
                         1 year  (  --- )
                         2 year  (-27.6%)
                         3 year  (-67.9%)
                         4 year  (-73.1%)

Another book with no variant cover this month, so the drop isn’t quite as bad as it looks – and it’s only a couple of hundred below the last variant-free issue in March. The series is going on hiatus to be replaced by a SHADOWLAND tie-in miniseries.

108. AVENGERS: THE ORIGIN
04/10  Origin #1 of 5 - 24,457
05/10  Origin #2 of 5 - 22,108  ( -9.6%)
06/10  Origin #3 of 5 - 18,463  (-16.5%)

Not doing too badly for a miniseries set during the Silver Age.

110. WEB OF SPIDER-MAN
10/09  Web of Spider-Man #1 - 58,412
11/09  Web of Spider-Man #2 - 32,093  (-45.1%)
12/09  Web of Spider-Man #3 - 29,368  ( -8.5%)
01/10  Web of Spider-Man #4 - 24,424  (-16.8%)
02/10  Web of Spider-Man #5 - 24,296  ( -0.5%)
03/10  Web of Spider-Man #6 - 21,574  (-11.2%)
04/10  Web of Spider-Man #7 - 19,533  ( -9.5%)
05/10  Web of Spider-Man #8 - 19,623  ( +4.6%)
06/10  Web of Spider-Man #9 - 17,581  (-10.4%)

Cancelled with issue #12.

112. PRINCE OF POWER
06/08  Hercules #118           - 52,975
=====
06/09  Hercules #130           - 27,872  ( -3.9%)
07/09  Hercules #131           - 29,188  ( +4.7%)
08/09  Hercules #132           - 32,680  (+12.0%)
08/09  Hercules #133           - 27,491  (-15.9%)
09/09  Hercules #134           - 25,380  ( -7.7%)
09/09  Hercules #135           - 26,344  ( +3.8%)
10/09  Hercules #136           - 26,447  ( -0.4%)
10/09  Hercules #137           - 23,463  (-11.3%)
11/09  Hercules #138           - 25,116  ( +7.0%)
12/09  Hercules #139           - 23,591  ( -6.1%)
01/10  Hercules #140           - 23,244  ( -1.5%)
02/10  Hercules #141           - 24,539  ( +5.6%)
03/10  Fall/Avenger #1 of 2    - 23,036  ( -6.1%)
04/10  Fall/Avenger #2 of 2    - 20,215  (-12.2%)
05/10  Prince of Power #1 of 4 - 20,373  ( +0.8%)
06/10  Prince of Power #2 of 4 - 17,068  (-16.2%)
                                 6 mnth  (-27.7%)
                                 1 year  (-38.8%)
                                 2 year  (-67.8%)

Not too bad for the second issue of a miniseries. Following this mini, the next step for Hercules appears to be another mini, CHAOS WAR.

113,145,150,154,168. HERALDS
06/10  Heralds #1 of 5 - 16,476
06/10  Heralds #2 of 5 - 12,832  (-22.1%)
06/10  Heralds #3 of 5 - 12,132  ( -5.5%)
06/10  Heralds #4 of 5 - 11,694  ( -3.6%)
06/10  Heralds #5 of 5 - 10,394  (-11.1%)

A weekly miniseries which seems to have gone largely unnoticed.

114. DEATH OF DRACULA
06/10  Death of Dracula - 16,464

This is the prologue to “Curse of the Mutants”, the storyline which launches the new X-MEN series in July. X-MEN is being hyped to the hills. Now, you’d expect the prologue to come in some way behind the main title. And the solicitations could perhaps have hammered the book’s significant a bit harder. But even allowing for those factors, this is hardly a ringing endorsement from the retailers.

117. HERCULES: TWILIGHT OF A GOD
06/10  Twilight of a God #1 of 4 - 16,302

A sequel to Bob Layton’s 1980s stories about Hercules in the future. Sales are about what I’d expect from that sort of mini.

120. AGENTS OF ATLAS
06/09  Agents of Atlas #6  - 22,579  (-10.4%)
07/09  Agents of Atlas #7  - 23,217  ( +2.8%)
07/09  Agents of Atlas #8  - 20,540  (-11.5%)
08/09  Agents of Atlas #9  - 20,828  ( +1.4%)
09/09  Agents of Atlas #10 - 17,877  (-14.2%)
09/09  Agents of Atlas #11 - 17,529  ( -1.9%)
10/09  X-Men vs #1 of 2    - 32,743  (+86.8%)
11/09  X-Men vs #2 of 2    - 25,222  (-23.0%)
12/09  ---
01/10  Avengers vs #1 of 4 - 21,777  (-13.7%)
02/10  Avengers vs #2 of 4 - 17,998  (-17.4%)
03/10  Avengers vs #3 of 4 - 16,482  ( -8.4%)
04/10  Avengers vs #4 of 4 - 14,900  ( -9.6%)
05/10  Atlas #1            - 22,756  (+52.7%)
06/10  Atlas #2            - 16,130  (-29.1%)
                             6 mnth  (  --- )
                             1 year  (-28.6%)

Cancelled with issue #5.

122,129,130. X-MEN FOREVER
06/09  X-Men Forever #1   - 36,213
06/09  X-Men Forever #2   - 31,767  (-12.3%)
07/09  X-Men Forever #3   - 28,651  ( -9.8%)
07/09  X-Men Forever #4   - 28,645  ( -0.0%)
08/09  X-Men Forever #5   - 27,825  ( -2.9%)
08/09  X-Men Forever #6   - 24,875  (-10.6%)
09/09  X-Men Forever #7   - 24,115  ( -3.1%)
09/09  X-Men Forever #8   - 23,174  ( -3.9%)
10/09  X-Men Forever #9   - 21,926  ( -5.4%)
10/09  X-Men Forever #10  - 22,287  ( +1.6%)
11/09  X-Men Forever #11  - 20,130  ( -9.7%)
11/09  X-Men Forever #12  - 19,541  ( -2.9%)
12/09  X-Men Forever #13  - 18,870  ( -3.4%)
12/09  X-Men Forever #14  - 18,376  ( -2.6%)
01/10  X-Men Forever #15  - 17,665  ( -3.9%)
01/10  X-Men Forever #16  - 17,290  ( -2.1%)
02/10  X-Men Forever #17  - 17,873  ( +3.4%)
02/10  X-Men Forever #18  - 16,464  ( -7.9%)
03/10  X-Men Forever #19  - 16,183  ( -1.7%)
03/10  X-Men Forever #20  - 15,990  ( -1.2%)
04/10  X-Men Forever #21  - 15,530  ( -2.9%)
04/10  X-Men Forever #22  - 15,305  ( -1.4%)
05/10  X-Men Forever #23  - 15,045  ( -1.7%)
05/10  X-Men Forever #24  - 14,940  ( -0.7%)
06/10  Giant-Size #1      - 15,039  ( +0.7%)
06/10  X-Men Forever 2 #1 - 16,094  ( +7.0%)
06/10  X-Men Forever 2 #2 - 14,933  ( -7.2%)
                            6 mnth  (-18.7%)
                            1 year  (-58.8%)

Chris Claremont’s alternate-reality X-Men series enters its second year with a renumbering – one which has little discernible effect on sales. Still, it’s undeniably consistent.

124. POWERS [Icon]
11/09  Powers #1 - 20,146
12/09  Powers #2 - 17,181  (-14.7%)
01/10  ---
02/10  ---
03/10  Powers #3 - 16,768  ( -2.4%)
04/10  Powers #4 - 16,463  ( -1.8%)
05/10  ---
06/10  Powers #5 - 16,019  ( -2.7%)
                   6 mnth  ( -6.8%)

Looking fairly solid.

126. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN PRESENTS AMERICAN SON
05/10  American Son #1 of 4 - 20,375
06/10  American Son #2 of 4 - 15,450  (-24.2%)

Issue #1 had a variant cover, so the drop is exaggerated. It’s still not a great number for a Spider-Man miniseries picking up on a fairly major plot thread.

131. STEPHEN KING'S N. THE COMIC SERIES
03/10  N #1 of 4 - 21,092
04/10  N #2 of 4 - 17,299  (-18.0%)
05/10  N #3 of 4 - 15,470  (-10.6%)
06/10  N #4 of 4 - 14,927  ( -3.5%)

These are reprints from Marvel’s digital service, and the series should also do better than average in collected editions. Allowing for all that, these are pretty good numbers.

132. X-CAMPUS
06/10  X-Campus #1 of 4 - 14,867

A translated reprint of an Italian series that came out a few years ago, loosely based on the X-Men. Actually, this isn’t a bad number at all, where Euro reprints are concerned.

133. CAPTAIN AMERICA/BLACK PANTHER: FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS
04/10  Flags #1 of 4 - 20,274
05/10  Flags #2 of 4 - 15,480  (-23.6%)
06/10  Flags #3 of 4 - 14,264  ( -7.9%)

Standard miniseries behaviour.

134. WOMEN OF MARVEL ONE-SHOTS
03/10  X-23     - 27,328
03/10  She-Hulk - 15,583
03/10  Sif      - 18,092
04/10  Firestar - 13,462
05/10  Dazzler  - 16,320
05/10  Rescue   - 15,711
06/10  Namora   - 14,079

With a couple of exceptions, there’s little variation in the sales of these one-shots – even though the characters come from titles ranging from UNCANNY X-MEN down to ATLAS, with a similarly wide range of sales.

135. SPIDER-GIRL
05/10  Spider-Girl #1 of 4 - 17,025
06/10  Spider-Girl #2 of 4 - 13,775  (-19.1%)

With the Spider-Girl name being reassigned to Arana, it looks like this miniseries really is the end for the MC-2 version of the character.

136. IRON MAN: KISS AND KILL
06/10  Kiss and Kill - 13,528

Random one-shot, selling in the expected quantities.

140. NEW AVENGERS: LUKE CAGE
04/10  Luke Cage #1 of 3 - 16,836
05/10  Luke Cage #2 of 3 - 14,878  (-11.6%)
06/10  Luke Cage #3 of 3 - 13,187  (-11.4%)

Considering the strength of the Avengers franchise at the moment, I really am surprised this didn’t do a bit better.

149. MARVELOUS LAND OF OZ
06/09  Wizard of Oz #7 of 8   - 15,473  ( -1.9%)
07/09  Wizard of Oz #8 of 8   - 15,487  ( +0.1%)
08/09  ---
09/09  ---
10/09  ---
11/09  Marvelous Land #1 of 8 - 25,338  (+63.6%)
12/09  Marvelous Land #2 of 8 - 15,783  (-37.7%)
01/10  Marvelous Land #3 of 8 - 14,216  (-10.0%)
02/10  Marvelous Land #4 of 8 - 13,364  ( -6.0%)
03/10  ---
04/10  Marvelous Land #5 of 8 - 12,922  ( -3.3%)
05/10  Marvelous Land #6 of 8 - 12,366  ( -4.3%)
06/10  Marvelous Land #7 of 8 - 12,200  ( -1.3%)
                                6 mnth  (-22.7%)
                                1 year  (-21.2%)

Levelling out nicely as the series goes on.

152. X-FACTOR FOREVER
03/10  X-Factor Forever #1 of 5 - 18,550
04/10  X-Factor Forever #2 of 5 - 14,608  (-21.3%)
05/10  X-Factor Forever #3 of 5 - 12,794  (-12.4%)
06/10  X-Factor Forever #4 of 5 - 11,937  ( -6.7%)

Perfectly normal behaviour for a miniseries.

155. TORCH
09/09  Torch #1 of 8 - 26,921
10/09  Torch #2 of 8 - 18,115  (-32.7%)
11/09  Torch #3 of 8 - 15,209  (-16.0%)
12/09  Torch #4 of 8 - 13,782  ( -9.4%)
01/10  ---
02/10  Torch #5 of 8 - 12,211  (-11.4%)
03/10  Torch #6 of 8 - 11,896  ( -2.6%)
04/10  Torch #7 of 8 - 11,477  ( -3.5%)
05/10  ---
06/10  Torch #8 of 8 - 11,513  ( +0.3%)

There’s no apparent reason for the slight uptick on the final issue; conceivably a few people became more interested when they realised the series was leading into an Invaders reunion.

156,220,222,255. MARVEL'S GREATEST COMICS
06/10  Deadpool #1             - 11,379
06/10  Amazing Spider-Man #546 -  6,936
06/10  New X-Men #114          -  6,757
06/10  Daredevil #26           -  5,782

This month’s one-dollar reprints.

157. PETER PARKER
03/10  Peter Parker #1 - 18,963
04/10  Peter Parker #2 - 14,647  (-22.8%)
05/10  Peter Parker #3 - 12,514  (-14.6%)
06/10  Peter Parker #4 - 11,335  ( -9.4%)

162. CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE 1940S NEWSPAPER STRIP
06/10  1940s Newspaper Strip #1 of 3 - 10,913

Reprints from the digital comics service, so the total audience (and revenue stream) ought to be bigger.

170. SPIDER-MAN: FEVER
04/10  Fever #1 of 3 - 15,111
05/10  Fever #2 of 3 - 11,665  (-22.8%)
06/10  Fever #3 of 3 - 10,329  (-11.5%)

Basically a Brendan McCarthy vehicle, and that’s something of a niche market.

175. DARKSTAR AND THE WINTER GUARD
06/10  Darkstar/Winter Guard #1 of 3 - 10,101

177. RAWHIDE KID
06/10  Rawhide Kid #1 of 4 - 9,993

181. SPIDER-HAM 25TH ANNIVERSAY SPECIAL
06/10  Spider-Ham - 9,760

We’re well into completist territory here.

189. ANITA BLAKE, VAMPIRE HUNTER
06/08  Guilty Pls. #12 of 12   - 19,866
=====
06/09  Necromancer #2 of 5     - 12,907  (-15.7%)
07/09  Necromancer #3 of 5     - 12,143  ( -5.9%)
08/09  Necromancer #4 of 5     - 11,597  ( -4.5%)
09/09  Necromancer #5 of 5     - 11,142  ( -3.9%)
10/09  Executioner #1 of 5     - 11,205  ( +0.6%)
11/09  ---
12/09  Executioner #2 of 5     - 10,454  ( -6.7%)
01/10  Executioner #3 of 5     -  9,958  ( -4.7%)
02/10  Executioner #4 of 5     -  9,626  ( -3.3%)
03/10  Executioner #5 of 5     -  9,454  ( -1.8%)
04/10  ---
05/10  Circus o/Damned #1 of 5 -  9,484  ( +0.3%)
06/10  Circus o/Damned #2 of 5 -  9,060  ( -4.5%)
                                 6 mnth  (-13.3%)
                                 1 year  (-29.8%)
                                 2 year  (-54.4%)

Still slowly dropping – but then, ANITA BLAKE was always something of anomaly among Marvel’s novel adaptations, by virtue of selling significant quantities in the direct market. It may simply have come into line with other similar titles.

192. IRON MAN NOIR
04/10  Iron Man Noir #1 of 4 - 10,904
05/10  Iron Man Noir #2 of 4 -  9,268  (-15.0%)
06/10  Iron Man Noir #3 of 4 -  8,913  ( -3.8%)

This looks like it might be the end for the “Noir” books, although DEADPOOL PULP sounds like something of a spiritual successor.

195. AVENGERS SPOTLIGHT
06/10  Avengers Spotlight   -  8,595 

A promotional magazine; this is at the higher end of the range for SPOTLIGHT books.

204,219. DRACULA
06/10  Dracula #1 of 4 - 7,960
06/10  Dracula #2 of 4 - 7,139  (-10.3%)

Reprints, so the sales are basically fine.

217. SPIDER-MAN  [Marvel Adventures]
06/05  M.A. Spider-Man #4  - 8,878
06/06  M.A. Spider-Man #16 - 6,114
06/07  M.A. Spider-Man #28 - 7,006
06/08  M.A. Spider-Man #40 - 5,954
=====
06/09  M.A. Spider-Man #52 - 4,612  (  +1.2%)
07/09  M.A. Spider-Man #53 - 5,710  ( +23.8%)
08/09  M.A. Spider-Man #54 - 5,684  (  -0.5%)
09/09  M.A. Spider-Man #55 - 5,668  (  -0.3%)
10/09  M.A. Spider-Man #56 - 4,579  ( -19.2%)
11/09  M.A. Spider-Man #57 - 4,501  (  -1.7%)
12/09  M.A. Spider-Man #58 - 4,352  (  -3.3%)
01/10  M.A. Spider-Man #59 - 4,315  (  -0.9%)
02/10  M.A. Spider-Man #60 - 4,212  (  -2.4%)
03/10  M.A. Spider-Man #61 - 4,200  (  -2.8%)
04/10  Spider-Man #1       - 9,770  (+132.6%)
05/10  Spider-Man #2       - 7,709  ( -21.1%)
06/10  Spider-Man #3       - 7,200  (  -6.6%)
                            6 mnth  ( +65.4%)
                            1 year  ( +56.1%)
                            2 year  ( +20.9%)
                            3 year  (  +2.8%)
                            4 year  ( +17.8%)
                            5 year  ( -18.9%)

This relaunch looks to have been a success – sales are settling down to a level several thousand ahead of the book’s established range.

233. ORSON SCOTT CARD'S ENDER IN EXILE
06/10  Ender in Exile #1 of 5 - 6,568

236,280. SKY DOLL: SPACE SHIP [Soleil]
06/10  Space Ship #1 of 2 - 6,528
06/10  Space Ship #2 of 2 - 5,133  (-21.4%)

243. PET AVENGERS UNLEASHED
06/09  Pet Avengers #2 of 4 - 12,317  (-30.2%)
07/09  Pet Avengers #3 of 4 - 11,739  ( -4.7%)
08/09  Pet Avengers #4 of 4 - 11,340  ( -3.4%)
09/09  ---
10/09  ---
11/09  ---
12/09  ---
01/10  ---
02/10  Tails o/Pet Avengers -  8,214  (-27.6%)
03/10  Unleashed #1 of 4    -  8,554  ( +4.1%)
04/10  Unleashed #2 of 4    -  6,767  (-20.9%)
05/10  Unleashed #3 of 4    -  6,339  ( -6.3%)
06/10  Unleashed #4 of 4    -  6,166  ( -2.7%)
                              6 mnth  (  --- )
                              1 year  (-49.9%)

247. SUPER HERO SQUAD
09/09  Super Hero Squad #1 of 4 - 6,760
10/09  Super Hero Squad #2 of 4 - 4,496  ( -33.5%)
11/09  Super Hero Squad #3 of 4 - 4,384  (  -2.5%)
12/09  Super Hero Squad #4 of 4 - 4,132  (  -5.7%) 
01/10  Super Hero Squad #1      - 9,709  (+135.0%)
02/10  Super Hero Squad #2      - 5,691  ( -41.4%)
03/10  Super Hero Squad #3      - 5,399  (  -5.1%)
04/10  Super Hero Squad #4      - 5,822  (  +7.8%)
05/10  Super Hero Squad #5      - 5,639  (  -3.1%)
06/10  Super Hero Squad #6      - 6,029  (  +6.9%)
                                 6 mnth  ( +45.9%)


261. SUPER HEROES  [Marvel Adventures]
06/09  M.A. Super Heroes #12 - 3,508  ( +1.0%)
07/09  M.A. Super Heroes #13 - 4,439  (+26.5%)
08/09  M.A. Super Heroes #14 - 4,355  ( -1.9%)
09/09  M.A. Super Heroes #15 - 4,268  ( -2.0%)
10/09  M.A. Super Heroes #16 - 3,250  (-23.9%)
11/09  M.A. Super Heroes #17 - 3,308  ( +1.8%)
12/09  M.A. Super Heroes #18 - ?,???  (  ??? )
01/10  M.A. Super Heroes #19 - 3,103  (  ??? )
02/10  M.A. Super Heroes #20 - 3,008  ( -3.1%)
03/10  M.A. Super Heroes #21 - ?,???  (  ??? )
04/10  Super Heroes #1       - 8,107  (  ??? )
05/10  Super Heroes #2       - 6,360  (-21.5%)
06/10  Super Heroes #3       - 5,678  (-10.7%)
                              6 mnth  (  ??? )
                              1 year  (+61.9%)

And another successful relaunch. The missing numbers, if you’re wondering, are months when the book didn’t make the top 300.

267. OFFICIAL HANDBOOK
02/10  A to Z Update #1 of 5 -  5,406
03/10  Deadpool Corps        - 21,900  (+305.1%)
04/10  Iron Manual Mark 3 #1 -  9,456  ( -56.8%)
05/10  Avengers Assemble #1  - 15,113  ( +59.8%)
06/10  A to Z Update #2 of 5 -  5,312  ( -64.9%)

There’s a massive gulf between the themed and non-themed issues.

271. PHILP K DICK'S ELECTRIC ANT
04/10  Electric Ant #1 of 5 - 8,869
05/10  Electric Ant #2 of 5 - 6,181  (-30.3%)
06/10  Electric Ant #3 of 5 - 5,238  (-15.3%)

Another online reprint.

277. THOR AND THE WARRIORS FOUR
04/10  Thor/Warriors Four #1 of 4 - 6,861
05/10  Thor/Warriors Four #2 of 4 - 5,651 (-17.6%)
06/10  Thor/Warriors Four #3 of 4 - 5,190 ( -8.2%)

284. HER-OES
04/10  Her-Oes #1 - 7,464
05/10  Her-Oes #2 - 5,871  (-21.3%)
06/10  Her-Oes #3 - 5,021  (-14.5%)

Both doing fine, by the standards of Marvel’s all ages books. These titles presumably don’t depend on the direct market anyway.

Several titles missed the chart – OFFICIAL INDEX: AVENGERS #2, SENSE AND SENSIBILITY #2, IRON MAN: EXTREMIS DIRECTOR’S CUT #2-4, and the Icon book DREAM LOGIC #1. Bear in mind, this really was an exceptional month, with 4,528 needed to make the charts – the INDEX hasn’t been beating that number since July 2009, but this is the first time it’s failed to chart.

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

+67.3% - New Mutants
+65.4% - Spider-Man [Marvel Adventures]
+57.1% - New Avengers
+45.9% - Super Hero Squad
+44.8% - Doomwar [Black Panther]
+42.1% - Avengers Academy [Initiative]
+28.8% - X-Men Legacy
+13.5% - Uncanny X-Men
+12.0% - X-Factor
+ 6.8% - Thunderbolts
+ 5.7% - Incredible Hulk
+ 4.6% - Invincible Iron Man
+ 2.2% - Thor
- 0.4% - Astonishing X-Men
- 4.6% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 4.6% - PunisherMax
- 4.7% - Hulk
- 4.8% - Fantastic Four
- 5.0% - Wolverine Origins
- 6.8% - Powers
- 8.9% - Secret Warriors
-10.2% - Daredevil
-10.3% - Wolverine: Weapon X
-10.4% - Dark Wolverine
-13.0% - Moon Knight
-13.3% - Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter
-14.4% - Stand
-14.6% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man
-15.3% - Dark Tower
-15.8% - Deadpool
-17.5% - Deadpool: Merc With A Mouth
-18.7% - X-Men Forever
-21.5% - Franken-Castle [Punisher]
-22.7% - Marvelous Land of Oz
-27.7% - Prince of Power [Hercules]
-34.7% - Deadpool Team-Up
-42.3% - Captain America

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

+61.9% - Super Heroes [Marvel Adventures]
+56.1% - Spider-Man [Marvel Adventures]
+37.5% - New Avengers
+29.9% - X-Factor
+24.7% - New Mutants
+14.4% - Avengers Academy [Initiative]
+12.3% - X-Men Legacy
+ 6.9% - Uncanny X-Men
+ 3.4% - PunisherMax
- 1.8% - Invincible Iron Man
- 1.9% - Thor
- 8.8% - Amazing Spider-Man
-11.2% - Astonishing X-Men
-12.5% - Doomwar [Black Panther]
-16.1% - Daredevil
-18.9% - Thunderbolts
-20.9% - Fantastic Four
-21.2% - Marvelous Land of Oz
-22.8% - Wolverine Origins
-28.6% - Atlas
-29.8% - Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter
-30.1% - Deadpool
-31.4% - Secret Warriors
-31.8% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man
-38.8% - Prince of Power [Hercules]
-39.9% - Dark Tower
-40.6% - Franken-Castle [Punisher]
-41.2% - Wolverine: Weapon X
-46.7% - Dark Wolverine
-49.9% - Pet Avengers
-57.0% - Captain America
-58.8% - X-Men Forever


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

+33.3% - Captain America
+30.3% - Doomwar [Black Panther]
+20.9% - Spider-Man [Marvel Adventures]
+19.0% - New Avengers
- 6.2% - Uncanny X-Men
- 8.8% - X-Men Legacy
- 9.1% - X-Factor
-12.2% - Daredevil
-15.1% - Thunderbolts
-20.7% - Amazing Spider-Man
-24.3% - Invincible Iron Man
-26.0% - PunisherMax
-26.3% - Avengers Academy [Initiative]
-27.6% - Moon Knight
-27.8% - Wolverine Origins
-28.2% - Franken-Castle [Punisher]
-31.5% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man
-40.0% - Fantastic Four
-44.0% - Hulk
-48.7% - Incredible Hulk
-54.4% - Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter
-67.8% - Prince of Power [Hercules]
-69.4% - Wolverine: Weapon X [Wolverine]
-69.7% - Dark Tower

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

+10.4% - X-Factor
+ 2.8% - Spider-Man [Marvel Adventures]
- 6.6% - Uncanny X-Men
-19.8% - New Avengers
-25.8% - Daredevil
-30.4% - Invincible Iron Man
-34.8% - PunisherMax
-46.5% - Captain America
-46.8% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man
-47.1% - Wolverine Origins
-47.4% - Fantastic Four
-48.1% - Amazing Spider-Man
-50.3% - Avengers Academy [Initiative]
-50.7% - Thunderbolts
-52.0% - X-Men Legacy
-56.6% - Incredible Hulk
-57.9% - Doomwar [Black Panther]
-68.1% - Franken-Castle [Punisher]
-67.9% - Moon Knight
-81.8% - Dark Tower

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

+38.8% - Iron Man
+17.8% - Spider-Man [Marvel Adventures]
+12.0% - Captain America
- 2.7% - Uncanny X-Men
- 3.9% - New Avengers
- 7.0% - Doomwar [Black Panther]
-28.0% - Daredevil
-30.7% - X-Factor
-31.3% - X-Men Legacy
-33.4% - Thunderbolts
-35.4% - PunisherMax
-46.7% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man
-50.3% - Amazing Spider-Man
-52.2% - Astonishing X-Men
-53.2% - Fantastic Four
-69.3% - Wolverine: Weapon X [Wolverine]
-70.1% - Wolverine Origins
-73.1% - Moon Knight

5 year comparisons
==================

+17.2% - Thunderbolts
+12.4% - Captain America
+ 7.4% - Incredible Hulk
-16.6% - Uncanny X-Men
-18.3% - X-Men Legacy
-18.9% - Spider-Man [Marvel Adventures]
-20.1% - New Avengers
-24.2% - Amazing Spider-Man
-27.9% - Daredevil
-30.4% - Doomwar [Black Panther]
-34.6% - Fantastic Four
-41.7% - PunisherMax
-50.7% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man
-62.4% - Wolverine: Weapon X [Wolverine]

1 COMMENT

  1. “More evidence that lengthy delays don’t seem to have an immediate impact on sales.”

    If I could make one single change in the way you report these things, sir, it would probably to change every time the word “sales” appears, to globally replace it with “orders”.

    As a very general rule, the orders for an issue reflect only the sales of TWO ISSUES BACK (sometimes three)

    “Sales trend” is probably OK usage, but in virtually every other case what you actually mean to be saying is “orders”, or, perhaps if you prefer, “sales to retailers” — when you talk about that line in ASTONISHING X-MEN that’s not even good speculation about consumer reaction… it will be #35 that will tell you how #33 sold to consumers…

    -B

  2. You know what I wish Marvel would print more of? Comics featuring Deadpool!

    If I may suggest:

    Deadpool League International
    The Brave and The Deadpool
    Astro City: The Deadpool Age
    Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Deadpoolian
    Journey Into Deadpool
    Kevin Smith’s Green Deadpool
    All-star Batman and Deadpool the Sales Wonder
    Deadpool Society of America
    BPRD: Bureau for Paranormal Research and Deadpool
    Hack/Slash/Deadpool
    D.E.A.D.P.O.O.L.
    Sam & Twitch & Deadpool
    Tiny Deadpools
    Dead-Franken-Pool-Castle
    Cowboy Ninja Viking Deadpool
    Usagi Yojimbo Deadpooli
    Deadpool: The Widening Gyre
    Billy Batson & The Magic of Deadpool
    Deadpool Doo, Where Are You?
    The Amazing Deadpool-man
    Wade: Dark Deadpool
    Anita Blake: Deadpool Hunter

    …and of course:

    The Walking Dead(pool)

  3. That Heralds miniseries was pretty dire, so it deserved less attention than it got. I’ve read a couple of Immonen books lately (Heralds and Pixie Strikes Back), and neither of them was particularly coherent or any good.

  4. Speaking as a retailer, I don’t recall Astonishing X-Men #34 being resolicited to account for the lateness. As a result, it’s entirely possible that Diamond just used the initial orders placed eight months ago. In which case, there wouldn’t be a larger than usual drop for the obvious reasons.

    I may be wrong about that though, so if anyone remembers a resolicit, feel free to correct me.

  5. I received the first three issues of Black Widow from Marvel to fill my Spider-Woman subscription (despite my telling them to switch the remaining issues to my Captain America subscription, but that’s beside the point). I liked what I read but with the sales as bad as they are I’ll probably wait for the trade rather than start buying monthly. Who knows how long it will last.

  6. Part of the deal with Thunderbolts may be that, while it’s a new direction, it’s not a new creative team.

  7. Since the SHADOWLAND: MOON KNIGHT miniseries was solicited in its place and runs through to October (which was the most recent set of solicitations), I don’t see how you can conclude that it’s been “silently cancelled” until we see the November solicitations and find out whether Marvel have solicited NEW MOON KNIGHT #1 or some such thing. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it has been axed, but I don’t see how we can conclude that at this stage.

  8. Paul O’Brien, but how many books have returned after “short hiatus” and being replaced for few months by a mini?

  9. Great to see Marvel giving Thor plenty of exposure in the lead up to the movie.

    As an Aussie science fiction writer I’ve been a Marvel Thor fan since the original Journey into Mystery of August 1962.

    If you get a chance check out some of my Marvel (mainly Thor) fan fiction. Just scroll down below my author profile and you will see over 40 fan fiction stories here:

    http://www.fanfiction.net/u/1276881/David_Scholes

    Maybe also check out my new novella. Only just released as an e-book on Xlibris and also now available in Kindle edition on Amazon: http://www.booksonboard.com/index.php?BODY=viewbook&BOOK=721437

    Cheers

  10. See, I thought the Heralds mini was great, and Immonen is my favourite writer currently working for Marvel by a looong way (I’m still really annoyed the Hellcat mini hasn’t been collected). Granted, I never expected it to set the sales charts alight, (or to be to everyone’s tastes, I suppose) but for giddy “oh my, now this is awesome” moments while reading, it certainly did it for me.

  11. I read that Hellcat mini and thought it went off the rails pretty badly, too. Immonen just doesn’t do it for me, it seems. Maybe I’m just not the target audience for these “girl power” comics that she seems to want to produce.

  12. didn’t read Heralds – but Hellcat was delightful. I think it was collected, but DM only…so not easy to find a copy (I haven’t found one).

  13. didn’t read Heralds – but Hellcat was delightful.

    I read both HERALDS and HELLCAT. I was impressed by Immonen’s talent, her sense of humor, and her handling of characters, but not by her plotting ability. HELLCAT could have been at least two issues shorter; the basic situation was that simple, that easily resolved. The plot in HERALDS was only slightly better. Until she gets serious, so to speak, about writing and does a tight story, I won’t know whether she can do one.

    SRS

  14. Hellcat was fabulous. Just laugh-out-loud kind of stuff.

    Heralds was let down by the change in artist. It was billed to have Tonci Zonjic all the way through the run, but then come issue 2 – nope. The replacement artists weren’t so great. And the only promotion it got I think was one interview on CBR.

  15. Just like Young Allies, come to think of, a la promotion. It sucks that Marvel can never give their new books a proper boost, unless it’s a franchise.

  16. 06/10 Black Widow #3 – 19,892 (-14.9%)
    Well… both the previous issues had variant covers, so the drop is exaggerated. Nonetheless, 20K by issue #3 isn’t too promising.

    That shouldn’t be all that surprising however. Given that the creative team is changing after the first five issue arc (a bait-and-switch tactic that annoys me to no end), that essentially tells fans that Marvel either didn’t have faith in the original team (and as such, why should fans have faith in the title) or Marvel didn’t have much of a plan going into the title in the first place (hence the sudden shift in creative team — and again, if there doesn’t seem to be a good plan in place, why should fans believe in the book).

  17. For me Heralds was hurt by having two fill-in artists, neither of whom worked in the same style or complimented Zonjic’s art. Which was a shame, as I was prepared to buy the trade on the strength of Zonjic alone. As it was, the end result looked like a mess just from the shifts in art styles alone.

    Immonen may have some plotting weaknesses, but hell, so does Brian Bendis. She is strong with characterization; I thought the dialogue between Emma Frost and Scott Summers in issue #1 was particularly well done.

  18. Since the SHADOWLAND: MOON KNIGHT miniseries was solicited in its place and runs through to October (which was the most recent set of solicitations), I don’t see how you can conclude that it’s been “silently cancelled” until we see the November solicitations and find out whether Marvel have solicited NEW MOON KNIGHT #1 or some such thing. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it has been axed, but I don’t see how we can conclude that at this stage.

    _________________________________

    I can conclude the book has been silently canceled because a friend of mine, who has a mail subscription to the book, told me that Marvel has switched his subscription from MOON KNIGHT to a different Marvel series. That screams “silently canceled” to me.

  19. Yeah the Hellcat mini did go off the rails pretty badly. It became obtuse and boring. But it had great art!

    Michael P says:
    08/05/2010 at 8:19 pm

    “Part of the deal with Thunderbolts may be that, while it’s a new direction, it’s not a new creative team.”

    Not true (by half), it has a new artist. I definitely thought this series would see a slight uptick.

    My local comicshop didn’t even carry Death of Dracula. I’m really surprised at the minimal effect Grim Hunt had on Amazing Spider-Man sales.

  20. Death of Dracula was underordered in a bad way. Once people jibed to the fact that it tied in to the new X-Men title, it flew off the shelves. One LCS owner told me it’s going to second printing.

  21. I think the second printing of Death of Dracula came out last week, actually.

    Around Atlanta, a lot of the shops were shorted by Diamond, so it was very hard to come by around here. I had to order my copy online.