by Jason Enright
Change is coming! As I researched and wrote this month’s article in the week before Comic Con, Marvel made several huge announcements. Mjolnir will now be wielded by a woman in a new Thor series. The Falcon will wield the shield in a new Captain America. The Avengers will see major Roster changes in Avengers Now.
Now if you’ve been following these sales articles, none of this should have surprised you. Sure the details are exciting and interesting, but we’ve known for a while now that sales on the Avengers books and the big 3 marvel heroes (Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor) have gotten stale. It was time for a change, what is exciting about these announcements is that these aren’t small changes but big changes that garnered national media attention and hopefully will mean big (and hopefully lasting) sales boosts. Let’s look at the numbers for this month.
77 books shipped this month
10 books double shipped
7 Avengers books
5 X-Men books (7 if you count X-force and X-Factor)
6 $4.99 books, 64 $3.99 books, 7 $2.99 books
Similar stats to last month, but after a lot of discussion in the last few articles about pricing, I thought I’d also list how many books Marvel puts out at each price point. Many readers said that the rising price is affecting how many books they can buy and forces them to make hard decisions about what books to support. We’ve been watching Marvel switch a lot of its 42.99 books to $3.99, but until I broke down the stats I didn’t realize just few $2.99 books were left. 4 of the $4.99 books are annuals or one-shot specials. Prices are rising and the $2.99 book seems to be on the verge of extinction at Marvel.
Sales Tiers
1 book over 100k
3 books between 75k and 100k
5 books between 50k and 75k
38 books between 25k and 50k
30 books between 0 and 25k
A few books dropped a tier this month. Last month, there were 11 books over 50k, and now there are only 9. Also there are 4 more books under 25k.
Let’s dive into the individual book numbers below and see what the trends are this month.
Thanks as always to ICV2.com and Milton Griepp for their permission to use these figures.
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2. Amazing SPIDER-MAN 06/04 Am Spi #506 – 88,293 06/09 Am Spi #590 - 63,500 06/11 Am Spi #658 - 57,040 06/12 Am Spi #688 - 59,493 --- 06/13 Superior #11 - 84,219 ( -1.3%) 06/13 Superior #12 - 82,338 ( -2.2%) 07/13 Superior #13 - 81,678 ( -0.8%) 07/13 Superior #14 - 80,839 ( -1.0%) 08/13 Superior #15 - 78,636 ( -2.7%) 08/13 Superior #16 - 78,087 ( -0.7%) 09/13 Superior #17 - 89,118 ( +14.1%) 09/13 Superior #18 - 80,178 ( -10.0%) 10/13 Superior #19 - 83,671 ( +4.4%) 10/13 Superior #20 - 85,309 ( +2.0%) 11/13 Superior #21 - 74,940 ( -12.2%) 11/13 Superior #22 - 81,250 ( +8.4%) 12/13 Superior #23 - 77,105 ( -5.1%) 12/13 Superior #24 - 76,131 ( -1.3%) 01/14 Superior #25 - 77,311 ( 1.5%) 01/14 Superior #26 - 72,591 ( -6.1%) 02/14 Supr #27.Now - 86,405 ( 19.0%) 02/14 Superior #28 - 75,477 ( -12.6%) 03/14 Superior #29 - 76,568 ( 1.4%) 03/14 Superior #30 - 75,431 ( -1.5%) 04/14 Superior #31 – 135,484 ( 79.6%)[13,234] 04/14 Amazing v3 #1- 532,586 ( 293.1%)[23,871] 05/14 Amazing v3 #2- 123,945 ( -76.7%)[ 6,824] 06/14 Amazing v3 #3- 109,029 ( -12.0%) --- 6 mnth ( 43.2%) 1 year ( 32.4%) 2 year ( 83.0%) 3 year ( 91.1%) 5 year ( 71.7%) 10 year ( 23.5%)
So the Spider-Man series sees a 12% drop this month putting it behind Batman for the #1 spot, but issue 1 and 2 are still getting re-ordered so this book still seems to be finding its level. It is very possible that Spider-Man will eventually get back down into the 75k to 80k range it was before the relaunch, but it will take a while to get there and even that is still a very healthy sales range for the wall crawler.
3,6. Original Sin #0 04/14 Original Sin #0 - 73,024 [6,166] 05/14 Original Sin #1 - 147,045 (101.4%) 05/14 Original Sin #2 - 92,643 (-37.0%) 06/14 Original Sin #3 – 93,351 ( 0.8%) 06/14 Original Sin #4 - 88,508 ( -5.2%)
Issue 3 sees a slight boost and issue 4 has a modest drop. We are almost halfway through this 9-part Marvel event and sales are still respectably high. Perhaps the double shipping is helping keep the pace tight and keep retailers and readers interested?
7. Amazing Spider-Man #1.X 05/14 Amazing Spi #1.1 - 116,555 06/14 Amazing Spi #1.2 - 86,315 (-25.9%)
Per a reader request last month, I’m pulling .X issues out and making them their own entry because they really are different books. This book is dropping quicker than the main Spider-Man but it still pulling in very good numbers. We’ll see how long it can maintain these sales.
18. ALL-NEW X-MEN --- 06/13 All-New X-Men #12 - 82,178 ( +2.0%) 06/13 All-New X-Men #13 - 77,656 ( -5.5%) 07/13 All-New X-Men #14 - 74,848 ( -3.6%) 08/13 All-New X-Men #15 - 73,035 ( -2.4%) 09/13 All-New X-Men #16 - 84,218 (+15.3%) 10/13 All-New X-Men #17 - 82,843 ( -1.6%) 11/13 All-New X-Men #18 - 82,365 ( -0.6%) 11/13 All-New X-Men #19 - 71,044 (-13.7%) 12/13 All-New X-Men #20 - 68,189 ( -4.0%) 01/14 All-New X-Men #21 - 62,876 ( -7.8%) 01/14 All-New #22.NOW - 76,565 (+21.8%) 02/14 All-New X-Men #23 - 64,625 (-15.6%) 03/14 All-New X-Men #24 - 63,739 ( -1.4%) 04/14 All-New X-Men #25 - 63,827 ( 0.1%) 04/14 All-New X-Men #26 - 58,918 ( -7.7%) 05/14 All-New X-Men #27 - 62,269 ( 5.7%) 06/14 All-New X-Men #28 - 57,135 ( -8.2%) --- 6 mnth ( -16.2%) 1 year ( -26.4%)
Issue 27 was the start of a new arc and saw a nice boost in sales, and then issue 28 drops back in line with where the book was heading. Bendis has promised that the upcoming “Last Will and Testament of Charles Xavier” will lead to big changes for the X-Men franchise, but could that mean a reshuffling of rosters and books resulting in new #1s for the X-Men titles? With the recent Avengers roster change news, I imagine the X-Men change will happen later, probably sometime in Spring 2015.
23. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY 06/09 Guardians v2 #11 - 26,798 --- 06/13 Guardians v3 #3 - 75,633 ( -14.2%) 06/13 Guardians v3 #4 - 71,575 ( -5.4%) 07/13 Guardians v3 #5 - 110,372 ( +54.2%) 08/13 --- 09/13 Guardians v3 #6 - 69,030 ( -37.5%) 10/13 Guardians v3 #7 - 68,647 ( -0.6%) 10/13 Guardians v3 #8 - 63,494 ( -7.5%) 11/13 --- 12/13 Guardians v3 #9 - 57,665 ( -9.2%) 12/13 Guardians v3 #10 - 53,527 ( -7.2%) 01/14 Guardian #11.NOW - 61,111 ( 14.7%) 02/14 Guardians v3 #12 - 55,454 ( -9.3%) 03/14 Guardians v3 #13 - 56,764 ( 2.4%) 04/14 Guardians v3 #14 - 53,976 ( -4.9%) 05/14 Guardians v3 #15 - 54,332 ( 0.7%) 06/14 Guardians v3 #16 - 54,827 ( 0.9%) --- 6 mnth ( 2.4%) 1 year ( -23.4%) 5 year ( 104.6%)
As excitement for the film builds, it seems like excitement for these comics are growing as well. Slight upticks like this are good since in the comic market it is assumed that a book will almost always lose some orders every month.
24. DEADPOOL 06/09 Deadpool v3 #10 - 52,265 06/11 Deadpool v3 #37 - 28,400 06/12 Deadpool v3 #56 - 29,513 --- 06/13 Deadpool v4 #11 - 54,110 ( +7.2%) 06/13 Deadpool v4 #12 - 48,315 ( -10.7%) 07/13 Deadpool v4 #13 - 47,006 ( -2.7%) 08/13 Deadpool v4 #14 - 45,870 ( -2.4%) 08/13 Deadpool v4 #15 - 46,169 ( +0.7%) 09/13 Deadpool v4 #16 - 45,675 ( -1.1%) 09/13 Deadpool v4 #17 - 45,348 ( -0.7%) 10/13 Deadpool v4 #18 - 47,096 ( +3.9%) 11/13 Deadpool v4 #19 - 44,184 ( -6.2%) 12/13 Deadpool v4 #20 - 43,653 ( -1.2%) 12/13 Deadpool v4 #21 - 43,066 ( -1.3%) 01/14 Deadpool v4 #22 - 41,765 ( -3.0%) 02/14 Deadpool v4 #23 - 41,204 ( -1.3%) 02/14 Deadpool v4 #24 - 41,130 ( -0.2%) 03/14 D'pool #25.NOW - 48,775 ( 18.6%) 03/14 Deadpool v4 #26 - 44,141 ( -9.5%) 04/14 Deadpool v4 #27 - 62,037 ( 40.5%)[1,992] 05/14 Deadpool v4 #28 - 45,858 ( 26.1%) 05/14 Deadpool v4 #29 - 52,403 ( 14.3%) O.S. Tie-In 06/14 Deadpool v4 #30 - 54,072 ( 14.3%) O.S. Tie-In --- 6 mnth ( 25.6%) 1 year ( 11.9%) 2 year ( 83.0%) 3 year ( 90.4%) 5 year ( 3.5%)
Original Sin Tie-In issues this month and last month help Deadpool hang onto the growth this book has been seeing since the oversized wedding issue. Still very impressed with how Marvel has been steadily growing this character into one of their biggest stars.
25. AVENGERS 06/04 Avengers v3 #83 – 57,085 06/11 Avengers v4 #14 – 64,057 06/12 Avengers v4 #27 - 68,885 --- 06/13 Avengers v5 #13 - 68,624 ( -8.5%) 06/13 Avengers v5 #14 - 74,846 ( +9.1%) 07/13 Avengers v5 #15 - 68,472 ( -8.5%) 07/13 Avengers v5 #16 - 72,842 ( +6.4%) 08/13 Avengers v5 #17 - 68,962 ( -5.3%) 08/13 Avengers v5 #18 - 74,697 ( +8.3%) 09/13 Avengers v5 #19 - 92,489 ( +23.8%) 09/13 Avengers v5 #20 - 74,388 ( -19.6%) 10/13 Avengers v5 #21 - 71,751 ( -3.5%) 10/13 Avengers v5 #22 - 70,735 ( -1.4%) 11/13 Avengers v5 #23 - 66,501 ( -6.0%) 12/13 Avengers#24.NOW - 127,466 ( +91.7%) 01/14 Avengers v5 #25 - 65,591 ( -48.5%) 02/14 Avengers v5 #26 – 59,775 ( -8.9%) 03/14 Avengers v5 #27 - 53,966 ( -9.7%) 04/14 Avengers v5 #28 - 52,808 ( -2.1%) 05/14 Avengers v5 #29 - 58,661 ( 11.1%) O.S. Tie-In 05/14 Avengers v5 #30 - 57,099 ( -2.7%) O.S. Tie-In 06/14 Avengers v5 #31 - 53,933 ( -5.5%) O.S. Tie-In --- 6 mnth ( -57.6%) 1 year ( -27.8%) 2 year ( -22.0%) 3 year ( -15.6%) 10 year ( -5.3%)
Original Sin Tie-In issues for #29 and #30 helped bring in nice 5k issue boosts for orders but it seems the novelty of the tie-ins seems to be wearing off for #31 as the title drops down just below 54k. These tie-ins continue through issue #34 in August, so it’ll be interesting to see how much it helps sales long term.
26. UNCANNY X-MEN 06/04 Uncanny X-Men #444 – 98,664 06/09 Uncanny X-Men #510 – 76,254 06/11 Uncanny X-Men #537 - 54,284 06/12 Uncanny X-Men v2 #12 - 67,793 --- 06/13 Uncanny X-Men v3 #7 - 73,719 ( +0.1%) 07/13 Uncanny X-Men v3 #8 - 70,274 ( -4.7%) 07/13 Uncanny X-Men v3 #9 - 67,338 ( -4.2%) 08/13 Uncanny X-Men v3 #10 - 70,903 ( +5.3%) 08/13 Uncanny X-Men v3 #11 - 65,700 ( -7.3%) 09/13 Uncanny X-Men v3 #12 - 76,790 ( +16.9%) 10/13 Uncanny X-Men v3 #13 - 75,202 ( -2.1%) 11/13 Uncanny X-Men v3 #14 - 65,655 ( -12.7%) 12/13 Uncanny #15.INH - 62,692 ( -4.5%) 01/14 Uncanny X-Men v3 #16 - 58,676 ( -6.4%) 02/14 Uncanny X-Men v3 #17 – 56,163 ( -4.3%) 03/14 Uncanny X-Men v3 #18 - 54,902 ( -2.2%) 03/14 U X-Men #19.NOW - 64,514 ( 17.5%) 04/14 Uncanny X-Men v3 #20 - 55,359 ( -14.2%) 05/14 Uncanny X-Men v3 #21 - 54,747 ( -1.1%) 06/14 Uncanny X-Men v3 #22 - 52,731 ( -3.7%) --- 6 mnth ( -15.9%) 1 year ( -28.5%) 2 year ( -22.0%) 3 year ( -2.9%) 5 year ( -30.8%) 10 year ( -46.6%)
This book continues to drop around 2k issues a month. Looks like this “Last Will” storyline will eventually lead to a shake-up for the X books and possibly a relaunch or rebranding and a new #1 which tends to help sales at least for a little while.
27. UNCANNY AVENGERS --- 06/13 Uncanny Avengers #9 - 71,842 ( -0.9%) 07/13 Uncanny Avengers #10 - 68,768 ( -4.3%) 08/13 Uncanny Avengers #11 - 65,447 ( -4.8%) 09/13 Uncanny Avengers #12 - 73,357 (+12.1%) 10/13 Uncanny Avengers #13 - 60,597 (-17.4%) 11/13 Uncanny Avengers #14 - 60,750 ( +0.3%) 12/13 Uncanny Avengers #15 - 57,035 ( -6.1%) 01/14 Uncanny Avengers #16 - 54,670 ( -4.1%) 02/14 Uncanny Avengers #17 – 53,181 ( -2.7%) 03/14 U Avengers #18.NOW - 63,516 ( 19.4%) 04/14 Uncanny Avengers #19 – 52,381 (-17.5%) 05/14 Uncanny Avengers #20 – 51,886 ( -0.9%) 06/14 Uncanny Avengers #21 – 49,762 ( -4.1%) --- 6 mnth ( -12.8%) 1 year ( -30.7%)
This series has been building to the conclusion of a major story arc with this issue and the sales just aren’t reflecting a lot of interest in that storyline. Marvel’s next big event AXIS is spinning out of events that started in this series, so hopefully that will help the sales of this series pick back up in the next couple months. The big question will be whether or not the Uncanny Avengers survive the Avengers roster change that is coming, or does this series get rebranded as something else after AXIS?
32. DEADPOOL vs. CARNAGE #1 04/14 Dpool vs. Carn #1 – 57,275 [4,497] 04/14 Dpool vs. Carn #2 – 49,374 (-13.8%)[2,757] 05/14 Dpool vs. Carn #3 – 46,688 ( -5.4%) 06/14 Dpool vs. Carn #4 – 47,228 ( 1.2%)
This mini-series gets a boost in sales as it continues into its 4th issue. It will be interesting to see if the recently announced Deadpool Vs. Hawkeye follow-up does just as well.
36. ORIGINAL SIN #3.X --- 06/14 Original Sin #3.1 – 45,338
So this Original Sin 3.X series reveals past secrets regarding Hulk and Iron Man and while it doesn’t sell as well as Original Sin, it does sell better than the Hulk and Iron Man books. Next month will be very telling as we see how much the sales drop.
37. UNCANNY X-MEN SPECIAL #1 --- 06/14 Uncanny X-Men Special #1 – 45,292
This special issue sells only slightly under the main book which is pretty good. These one shots can be very hard for retailers to order, and I wonder what the sell-through is on these. Do they sell out or are they left with a stack at the end of the month? Does the price point drive customers to put them back? I know at the shop I used to manage, I saw lots of customers flipping through annuals and specials and putting them back if they didn’t seem to tie directly in to the main story.
40. SAVAGE HULK #1 --- 06/14 Savage Hulk #1 – 44,177
So this is another anthology series similar to Savage Wolverine, letting different creators take on the Hulk for a few issues at a time. If sales for Savage Wolverine are any indication, this series won’t maintain these sales numbers for very long.
42, 48. WOLVERINE 06/04 Wolverine v3 #15 – 67,521 06/09 Wolverine v3 #72 - 66,160 06/11 Wolverine v4 #11 - 41,813 06/12 Wolverine #308 - 35,142 --- 06/13 Wolverine v5 #4 - 46,784 ( -5.7%) 06/13 Wolverine v5 #5 - 43,694 ( -6.6%) 07/13 Wolverine v5 #6 - 40,593 ( -7.1%) 07/13 Wolverine v5 #7 - 38,605 ( -4.9%) 08/13 Wolverine v5 #8 - 39,830 ( -3.2%) 09/13 Wolverine v5 #9 - 35,920 ( -9.8%) 10/13 Wolverine v5 #10 - 34,651 ( -3.5%) 11/13 Wolverine v5 #11 - 35,394 ( +2.1%) 12/13 Wolverine v5 #12 - 32,274 ( -8.8%) 01/14 Wolverine v5 #13 - 31,164 ( -3.4%) 02/14 Wolverine v6 #1 - 88,923 ( 185.3%) 02/14 Wolverine v6 #2 - 47,339 ( -46.8%) 03/14 Wolverine v6 #3 - 40,735 ( -14.0%) 04/14 Wolverine v6 #4 - 37,732 ( -7.4%) 04/14 Wolverine v6 #5 - 37,563 ( -0.4%) 05/14 Wolverine v6 #6 - 35,571 ( -5.3%) 05/14 Wolverine v6 #7 - 35,039 ( -1.5%) 06/14 Wolverine v6 #8 - 40,491 ( 15.6%) 06/14 Wolverine v6 #9 - 42,333 ( 4.5%) --- 6 mnth ( 31.2%) 1 year ( -3.1%) 2 year ( 20.0%) 3 year ( 1.2%) 5 year ( -36.0%) 10 year ( -37.3%)
As the countdown to the death of Wolverine begins, the Wolverine series sees a boost in sales. So apparently to breathe life into a character you just have to announce you are killing them. It will be interesting to see how much this can grow in the lead-up to the big death issue. Seems like retailers are increasing their orders but at least in my circles there seems to be a lot of hesitance to jump on the Death of Wolverine boat and fans seem wary of any character deaths nowadays. This is one sales boost gimmick that feels very played out and I’ll be interested to see how much of a boost Wolverine gets out of this.
44, 45. NEW AVENGERS 06/09 New Avengers v1 #52 - 88,033 06/11 New Avengers v2 #11 - 57,682 06/12 New Avengers v2 #24 - 64,927 --- 06/13 New Avengers v3 #7 - 60,138 ( +1.3%) 07/13 New Avengers v3 #8 - 58,044 ( -3.5%) 08/13 New Avengers v3 #9 - 60,534 ( +4.3%) 09/13 New Avengers v3 #10 - 60,682 ( +0.2%) 10/13 New Avengers v3 #11 - 63,231 ( +4.2%) 11/13 New Avengers v3 #12 - 58,807 ( -7.0%) 12/13 N Avengers #13.INH - 56,624 ( -3.7%) 01/14 --- 02/14 New Avengers v3 #14 - 50,668 ( -10.5%) 03/14 New Avengers v3 #15 - 47,178 ( -6.9%) 03/14 N Avengers #16.NOW - 48,731 ( 0.0%) 04/14 New Avengers v3 #17 - 45,885 ( -5.8%) 05/14 New Avengers v3 #18 - 43,668 ( -4.8%) 06/14 New Avengers v3 #19 - 41,989 ( -3.8%) 06/14 New Avengers v3 #20 - 43,962 ( -0.1%) --- 6 mnth ( -25.9%) 1 year ( -30.2%) 2 year ( -35.0%) 3 year ( -27.3%) 5 year ( -52.3%)
As the New Avengers take on the pseudo Justice League this book sees a decent sales boost. With the recently teased changes to the Avengers books, I wonder if this book will be getting a new #1 before the end of 2014.
46. AMAZING X-MEN 06/04 Astonishing X-Men #2 - 133,789 06/09 Astonishing X-Men #30 - 64,583 06/11 Astonishing X-Men #38 - 37,127 06/12 Astonishing X-Men #50 - 82,654 --- 06/13 Astonishing X-Men #63 - 23,326 ( -3.3%) 07/13 Astonishing X-Men #64 - 22,649 ( -2.9%) 08/13 Astonishing X-Men #65 - 22,010 ( -2.8%) 08/13 Astonishing X-Men #66 - 21,757 ( -1.1%) 09/13 Astonishing X-Men #67 - 21,044 ( -3.3%) 10/13 Astonishing X-Men #68 - 21,023 ( -0.0%) 11/13 Amazing X-Men v2 #1 - 112,337 (+434.4%) 12/13 Amazing X-Men v2 #2 - 60,870 ( -45.8%) 01/14 Amazing X-Men v2 #3 - 51,431 ( -15.5%) 02/14 Amazing X-Men v2 #4 - 48,161 ( -6.4%) 03/14 Amazing X-Men v2 #5 - 46,242 ( -4.0%) 04/14 Amazing X-Men v2 #6 - 45,095 ( -2.5%) 05/14 Amazing X-Men v2 #7 - 42,512 ( -5.7%) 06/14 Amazing X-Men v2 #8 - 41,613 ( -2.1%) --- 6 mnth ( -31.6%) 1 year ( 78.4%) 2 year ( -50.0%) 3 year ( 12.1%) 5 year ( -35.6%) 10 year ( -68.9%)
Small sales drop for Amazing X-men this month. Hopefully these smallish drops signal that this book will start to level out between 35k and 40k.
49. MOON KNIGHT 06/11 Moon Knight v4 #2 - 35,333 --- 03/14 Moon Knight v5 #1 - 58,022 ( --- ) [7,266] 04/14 Moon Knight v5 #2 - 40,885 (-29.5%) [3,621] 05/14 Moon Knight v5 #3 - 42,607 ( 4.2%) 06/14 Moon Knight v5 #4 - 40,348 ( -5.3%) --- 3 year ( 14.2%)
So Moon Knight got a slight bump last month and then a small drop this month, and there have been some re-orders on issue 1 and 2. There is a lot of interest in this series, but with the creative team changing soon it will be interesting to see how much that change will affect sales. Stay tuned.
50, 57. Original Sins #1 --- 06/14 Original Sins #1 – 39,660 06/14 Original Sins #2 – 36,099 (-9.0%)
Another Original Sin Tie-In series that is selling about half of what the main series sells. Many fans will complain about event books and the numerous tie-ins but these series do make Marvel quite a bit of money so it is understandable why they keep publishing them.
51. X-MEN 06/04 X-Men v2 #158 - 96,762 06/11 X-Men v3 #13 - 44,665 06/12 X-Men v3 #31 - 35,789 --- 06/13 X-Men v4 #2 - 73,542 ( -59.9%) 07/13 X-Men v4 #3 - 65,270 ( -11.2%) 08/13 X-Men v4 #4 - 64,010 ( -1.9%) 09/13 X-Men v4 #5 - 73,357 ( +14.6%) 10/13 X-Men v4 #6 - 71,990 ( -1.9%) 11/13 X-Men v4 #7 - 56,968 ( -20.9%) 12/13 X-Men v4 #8 - 53,201 ( -6.6%) 01/14 X-Men v4 #9 - 49,412 ( -7.1%) 02/14 X-M #10.Now - 52,486 ( 6.2%) 02/14 X-Men v4 #11 - 47,498 ( -9.5%) 03/14 X-Men v4 #12 - 44,135 ( -7.1%) 04/14 X-Men v4 #13 - 42,065 ( -4.7%) 05/14 X-Men v4 #14 - 39,499 ( -6.1%) 06/14 X-Men v4 #15 - 38,271 ( -3.1%) --- 6 mnth ( -28.1%) 1 year ( -48.0%) 2 year ( 7.0%) 3 year ( -14.3%) 10 year ( -60.4%)
Slight drop for the X-Men series this month, I’ll be interested to see how events happening in the two main X—Men series spill over and affect this series. Will this book also be seeing a roster change and possible new #1 when the other series change over?
52. MILES MORALES ULT SPIDER-MAN 06/04 Ult. Spider-Man v1 #61 – 101,160 06/09 Ult. Spider-Man v1 #133– 57,342 06/11 Ult. Spider-Man v2 #160- 159,355 06/12 Ult. Spider-Man v3 #11 - 42,356 --- 06/13 Ult. Spider-Man v3 #24 - 34,011 ( -4.4%) 07/13 Ult. Spider-Man v3 #25 - 33,271 ( -2.2%) 08/13 Ult. Spider-Man v3 #26 - 32,932 ( -1.0%) 09/13 Ult. Spider-Man v3 #27 - 32,200 ( -2.2%) 10/13 Ult. Spider-Man v3 #28 - 31,462 ( -2.3%) 11/13 Cataclysm USM #1 of 3 - 36,541 (+16.1%) 12/13 Cataclysm USM #2 of 3 - 30,293 (-17.1%) 01/14 Cataclysm USM #3 of 3 - 27,650 ( -8.7%) 02/14 --- 03/14 --- 04/14 Ult. Spider-Man #200 - 41,608 ( 50.5%) 05/14 M.M. Ult Spider-Man #1 - 45,864 ( 10.2%) 06/14 M.M. Ult Spider-Man #2 - 38,231 (-16.6%) --- 6 mnth ( 26.2%) 1 year ( 12.4%) 2 year ( -10.0%) 3 year ( -76.0%) 5 year ( -33.3%) 10 year ( -62.2%)
That is actually a very healthy drop for the Miles Morales book. The Ultimate Universe is in trouble in general, but this anchor book is doing better than I expected so far. I hope it can keep these numbers up.
54. DAREDEVIL 06/04 Daredevil v2 #61 – 53,772 06/09 Daredevil v2 #119 – 41,387 06/12 Daredevil v3 #14 - 43,865 --- 06/13 Daredevil v3 #27 - 35,834 ( -9.9%) 07/13 Daredevil v3 #28 - 35,364 ( -1.3%) 07/13 Daredevil v3 #29 - 34,915 ( -1.3%) 08/13 Daredevil v3 #30 - 35,240 ( +0.9%) 09/13 Daredevil v3 #31 - 36,666 ( +4.0%) 10/13 Daredevil v3 #32 - 34,957 ( -4.7%) 11/13 Daredevil v3 #33 - 32,966 ( -5.7%) 12/13 Daredevil v3 #34 - 32,331 ( -1.9%) 01/14 Daredevil v3 #35 - 32,067 ( -0.8%) 02/14 Daredevil v3 #36 – 31,494 ( -1.8%) 03/14 Daredevil v4 #1 - 76,006 (141.3%)[1,948] 04/14 Daredevil #1.50 - 48,462 (-36.2%) 04/14 Daredevil v4 #2 - 42,811 (-11.7%) 05/14 Daredevil v4 #3 - 39,316 (-8.2%) 06/14 Daredevil v4 #4 - 37,902 (-3.6%) --- 6 Mnth ( 17.2%) 1 Year ( 5.8%) 2 Year ( -14.0%) 5 Year ( -8.4%) 10 Year ( -29.5%)
The sales drops are getting smaller and looks like Daredevil will be leveling out in the 30k to 35k range right around where it was before the soft relaunch. How long it can stay in that range will be the real question.
55. THOR: GOD OF THUNDER 06/04 Thor v2 #77 - 32,569 06/04 Thor #602 - 69,541 06/11 Thor v4 #3 - 48,114 06/12 Thor v4 #15 - 33,674 --- 06/13 Thor v5 #9 - 49,125 ( +1.0%) 07/13 Thor v5 #10 - 46,204 ( -5.9%) 08/13 Thor v5 #11 - 45,397 ( -1.7%) 08/13 Thor v5 #12 - 44,865 ( -1.2%) 09/13 Thor v5 #13 - 48,007 ( +7.0%) 10/13 Thor v5 #14 - 46,008 ( -4.2%) 11/13 Thor v5 #15 - 41,259 (-10.3%) 12/13 Thor v5 #16 - 39,597 ( -4.0%) 01/14 Thor v5 #17 - 38,913 ( -1.7%) 01/14 Thor v5 #18 - 38,190 ( -1.9%) 02/14 Thor #19.Now– 42,034 ( 10.1%) 03/14 Thor v5 #20 – 37,895 ( -9.8%) 04/14 Thor v5 #21 – 38,055 ( 0.4%) 05/14 Thor v5 #22 – 36,945 ( -2.9%) 06/14 Thor v5 #23 – 36,540 ( -1.1%) --- 6 mnth ( -7.7%) 1 year ( -25.6%) 2 year ( 9.0%) 3 year ( -24.1%) 5 year ( -47.5%) 10 year ( 12.2%)
So while I’ve been writing this article, Marvel has announced a ton of new Avengers news. One of those announcements is that a new Thor series will be starting up soon (my guess is in November, but that hasn’t been confirmed yet). The new series will keep writer Jason Aaron, but get a new #1 issue and see a new wielder pick up the hammer. The sales numbers on all the Avengers titles have been rather low, but steady lately, so this new “Avengers Now” initiative will be just the sales boost these books deserve. How long will that sales boost last though? Marvel’s first round of Marvel Now launches were very effective, but the more recent round of #1s have only seen temporary increases which very quickly returned to their previous sales levels. However, the second set of relaunches were smaller changes to the books and stories, Marvel seems to be going big this time and promoting the changes heavily, which makes me think they’ll have a much larger sales impact.
56. NEW AVENGERS ANNUAL #1 --- 06/14 New Avengers Annual #1 – 36,518
The annual comes in a few thousand orders below the main book, which is how annuals normally perform.
58. SILVER SURFER 06/04 Silver Surfer v5 #8 - 23,134 06/11 Silver Surfer v6 #3 - 20,686 --- 03/14 Silver Surfer v7 #1 - 64,919 (---)[2,757] 04/14 Silver Surfer v7 #2 - 39,132 (-39.7%) 06/14 Silver Surfer v7 #3 - 36,075 ( -7.8%) --- 3 year ( 74.4%) 10 year ( 55.9%)
Not a bad issue #3 drop plus there’s been some re-order activity on issue 1. If this continues to steady out, this could be a nice addition to Marvel’s healthy middle tier of books.
59. AMAZING X-MEN ANNUAL #1 --- 06/14 Amazing X-Men Annual #1 – 35,777
Another annual pulls in respectable sales a few thousand below the main line.
60. HULK 06/04 Incred Hulk v3 #73 - 44,251 06/11 Incred Hulks #630 – 28,028 06/12 Incred Hulk v4 #10 - 38,122 --- 06/13 Indestructible #9 - 49,427 ( +1.1%) 07/13 Indestructible #10 - 45,531 ( -7.9%) 07/13 Indestructible #11 - 45,241 ( -0.6%) 08/13 Indestructible #12 - 43,673 ( -3.5%) 09/13 Indestructible #13 - 41,805 ( -4.3%) 10/13 Indestructible #14 - 40,963 ( -2.0%) 11/13 Indestructible #15 - 37,025 ( -9.6%) 11/13 Indestructible #16 - 35,871 ( -3.1%) 12/13 Hulk #17.INH - 35,679 ( -0.5%) 01/14 Hulk #18.INH - 33,056 ( -7.4%) 02/14 Indestructible #19 - 31,192 ( -5.6%) 03/14 Indestructible #20 - 30,042 ( -3.7%) 04/14 Hulk v3 #1 - 73,551 ( 144.8%) 04/14 Hulk v3 #2 - 40,590 ( -44.8%) 05/14 Hulk v3 #3 - 37,639 ( -7.3%) 06/14 Hulk v3 #4 - 35,377 ( -6.0%) --- 6 Mnth ( -0.8%) 1 Year ( -28.4%) 2 Year ( -7.0%) 3 Year ( 26.2%) 10 Year ( -20.1%)
The drops are getting smaller but like other recent soft relaunches, it is not doing that much better than before the new #1. Also they just announced that the creative team is changing in a few months, which makes me wonder why they couldn’t have just waited and relaunched it then and given it a bigger PR push. The question will be how low do they let it go before relaunching it yet again.
61. Ms. Marvel 02/14 Ms. Marvel #1 - 50,286 ( --- ) [15,155] 03/14 Ms. Marvel #2 - 38,357 (-23.7%) [3,440] 04/14 Ms. Marvel #3 - 37,140 ( -3.2%) 05/14 Ms. Marvel #4 - 34,839 ( -6.2%) 06/14 Ms. Marvel #5 - 33,795 ( -3.0%)
This book is staying very consistent with small drops, strong reorders and a newly announced 6th printing of issue 1. Plus it now seems like it is just the start of a wave of more diverse characters at Marvel including a new Thor and Captain America. I expect this book to do very well in trade paperback sales as well, which could bring even more readers to the monthly comic series.
64. FANTASTIC FOUR 06/04 Fantastic Four #514 – 49,897 06/09 Fantastic Four #567 – 46,207 06/12 Fantastic Four #607 - 40,453 --- 06/13 Fantastic Four v5 #9 - 37,071 ( -0.6%) 07/13 Fantastic Four v5 #10 - 34,018 ( -8.2%) 08/13 Fantastic Four v5 #11 - 32,665 ( -4.0%) 09/13 Fantastic Four v5 #12 - 31,426 ( -3.8%) 10/13 Fantastic Four v5 #13 - 31,561 ( +0.4%) 11/13 Fantastic Four v5 #14 - 28,679 ( -9.1%) 12/13 Fantastic Four v5 #15 - 27,610 ( -3.7%) 01/14 Fantastic Four v5 #16 - 28,045 ( 1.6%) 02/14 Fantastic Four v6 #1 - 65,775 ( 134.5%) 03/14 Fantastic Four v6 #2 - 37,569 ( -42.9%) 04/14 Fantastic Four v6 #3 - 34,930 ( -7.0%) 05/14 Fantastic Four v6 #4 - 33,263 ( -4.8%) 05/14 Fantastic Four v6 #5 - 33,336 ( 0.2%) 06/14 Fantastic Four v6 #6 - 33,177 ( -0.5%) O.S. Tie-In --- 6 mnth ( 20.2%) 1 year ( -10.5%) 2 year ( -18.0%) 5 year ( -28.2%) 10 year ( -33.5%)
Surprisingly, this Original Sin Tie-In issue drops a bit in sales. There have been a lot of rumors lately about the Fantastic Four series being cancelled. Honestly, looking at these sales numbers, this book could benefit from going away for a few months and then returning with a new #1 and a strong new storyline. A stunt like that could renew interest in this series and bolster its faltering sales.
67. Magneto --- 03/14 Magneto #1 – 55,337 04/14 Magneto #2 – 35,772 (-35.4%)[2,297] 05/14 Magneto #3 – 35,504 ( -0.7%) 05/14 Magneto #4 – 33,070 ( -6.9%) 06/14 Magneto #5 – 32,837 ( -0.7%)
Another one of Marvel’s new solo character books that is seeing good re-orders and small sales drops. These books are forming a strong 25k to 40k tier in the middle of Marvel’s sales. It will be very interesting to see if they stay stable around 30k or start to slip into the 25k and lower zone where books start getting relaunched or cancelled.
68. WOLVERINE & THE X-MEN 06/12 Wolverine/X-Men #12 - 64,838 --- 06/13 Wolverine/X-Men #31 - 41,661 ( +4.1%) 06/13 Wolverine/X-Men #32 - 39,790 ( -4.5%) 07/13 Wolverine/X-Men #33 - 42,269 ( +6.2%) 08/13 Wolverine/X-Men #34 - 38,473 ( -9.0%) 08/13 Wolverine/X-Men #35 - 38,046 ( -1.1%) 09/13 Wolverine/X-Men #36 - 59,684 (+56.9%) 10/13 Wolverine/X-Men #37 - 57,434 ( -3.8%) 11/13 Wolverine/X-Men #38 - 39,098 (-31.9%) 12/13 Wolverine/X-Men #39 - 39,063 ( -0.1%) 01/14 Wolverine/X-Men #40 - 36,855 ( -5.7%) 02/14 Wolverine/X-Men #41 – 35,800 ( -2.9%) 02/14 Wolverine/X-Men #42 – 35,392 ( -1.1%) 03/14 Wolver/X-Men v2 #1 - 54,675 ( 54.5%) 03/14 Wolver/X-Men v2 #2 - 40,386 (-26.1%) 04/14 Wolver/X-Men v2 #3 - 36,407 ( -9.9%) 05/14 Wolver/X-Men v2 #4 - 33,521 ( -7.9%) 06/14 Wolver/X-Men v2 #5 - 32,511 ( -3.0%) --- 6 Mnth ( -16.8%) 1 Year ( -22.0%) 2 Year ( -50.0%)
The drops on this series are getting smaller which is promising. It will be interesting to see how Death of Wolverine affects this book’s sales. Will it help, or will losing Wolverine hurt this book?
69. Nightcrawler 04/14 Nightcrawler #1 – 49,426 05/14 Nightcrawler #2 – 35,356 (-28.5%) 06/14 Nightcrawler #3 – 31,743 (-10.2%)
The issue 3 drop isn’t bad but it is not great either, hopefully this book can steady out before it drops below 25k.
70. CYCLOPS #1 --- 05/14 Cyclops #1 – 47,468 06/14 Cyclops #2 – 31,132 ( -34.4%)
Not doing quite as well as Magneto or Nightcrawler, hopefully this book levels out soon.
71. CAPTAIN AMERICA 06/04 Captain America v4 #28 - 35,666 06/09 Captain America #600–112,244 06/11 Captain America #619- 44,796 06/12 Captain America v6 #13 - 39,456 --- 06/13 Captain America v7 #8 - 43,791 ( -0.5%) 07/13 Captain America v7 #9 - 40,796 ( -6.8%) 08/13 Captain America v7 #10 - 39,356 ( -3.5%) 09/13 Captain America v7 #11 - 38,521 ( -2.1%) 10/13 Captain America v7 #12 - 38,684 ( +0.4%) 11/13 Captain America v7 #13 - 36,147 ( -6.6%) 12/13 Captain America v7 #14 - 34,532 ( -4.5%) 01/14 Captain America v7 #15 - 33,433 ( -3.2%) 02/14 Capt AmericaV7 #16.Now – 36,534 ( 9.3%) 02/14 Captain America v7 #17 – 33,312 ( -8.8%) 03/14 Captain America v7 #18 – 33,642 ( 1.0%) 04/14 Captain America v7 #19 – 34,420 ( 2.3%) 05/14 Captain America v7 #20 – 30,341 ( -9.3%) 06/14 Captain America v7 #21 – 30,427 ( 0.3%) --- 6 Mnth ( -9.8%) 1 Year ( -28.9%) 2 Year ( -21.0%) 3 Year ( -30.5%) 5 Year ( -72.3%) 10 Year ( -12.7%)
We now know that like Thor, Captain America will be getting a new #1 and a very different story direction in a few months as Falcon take on the mantle. With all the press and online chatter this is getting, these changes will likely mean a big boost to sales for this book which has had low but steady sales numbers lately.
73. Iron Fist: Living Weapon 06/04 Iron Fist #3 - 21,715 06/09 Iron Fist #27 - 27,365 --- 04/14 Iron Fist LW #1 - 53,613 ( --- )[2,350] 05/14 Iron Fist LW #2 - 33,643 ( -37.2%) 06/14 Iron Fist LW #3 - 29,816 ( -11.4%) --- 5 year ( 9.0%) 10 year (37.3%)
Not doing quite as well as some of Marvel’s other recent solo titles, but still not in any trouble yet.
75, 76. IRON MAN 06/04 Iron Man v3 #81 - 29,616 06/09 Inv Iron Man #14 - 53,208 06/11 Inv Iron Man #505 - 42,327 06/12 Inv Iron Man #519 - 32,518 --- 06/13 Iron Man v6 #11 - 44,409 ( -2.2%) 07/13 Iron Man v6 #12 - 40,405 ( -9.0%) 07/13 Iron Man v6 #13 - 39,534 ( -2.2%) 08/13 Iron Man v6 #14 - 38,137 ( -3.5%) 09/13 Iron Man v6 #15 - 36,346 ( -4.7%) 10/13 Iron Man v6 #16 - 35,924 ( -1.2%) 10/13 Iron Man v6 #17 - 39,047 ( +8.7%) 11/13 Iron Man v6 #18 - 36,135 ( -7.5%) 12/13 Iron Man v6 #19 - 32,537 ( -10.0%) 01/14 Iron Man v6 #20 - 30,533 ( -6.2%) 01/14 Iron #20.INH - 30,512 ( -0.1%) 02/14 Iron Man v6 #21 – 29,546 ( -3.2%) 03/14 Iron Man v6 #22 - 29,017 ( -1.8%) 03/14 Ir. Man #23.NOW - 43,912 ( 51.3%) 04/14 Iron Man v6 #24 - 31,257 ( -28.8%) 05/14 Iron Man v6 #25 - 29,558 ( -5.4%) 05/14 Iron Man v6 #26 - 28,654 ( -3.1%) 06/14 Iron Man v6 #27 - 28,290 ( -1.3%) 06/14 Iron Man v6 #28 - 28,027 ( -0.9%) --- 6 Mnth ( -13.9%) 1 Year ( -36.9%) 2 Year ( -14.0%) 3 Year ( -33.8%) 5 Year ( -47.3%) 10 Year ( -5.4%)
Like Cap and Thor, Iron Man will also be relaunching in a few months, this time as Superior Iron Man. This is currently the lowest selling of the three, but its relaunch announcement has received the least fanfare. Hopefully, it will still get a big sales boost.
78, 79. AVENGERS WORLD 01/14 Avengers World #1 - 86,727 01/14 Avengers World #2 - 53,693 (-38.1%) 02/14 Avengers World #3 – 39,999 (-25.5%) 03/14 Avengers World #4 – 34,397 (-14.0%) 04/14 Avengers World #5 – 31,110 ( -9.6%) 05/14 Avengers World #6 – 28,969 ( -6.9%) 06/14 Avengers World #7 – 27,854 ( -3.8%) 06/14 Avengers World #8 – 26,912 ( -3.4%)
No word on whether or not the “Avengers Now” initiative will affect all the Avengers books, but looking at the falling sales for this series it definitely is a candidate for some kind of change.
80, 84. PUNISHER 06/04 Punisher v7 #8 – 48,126 06/09 Punisher v8 #6 – 32,969 06/12 Punisher v9 #12 - 23,329 --- 09/13 Trial #1 of 2 - 22,626 10/13 Trial #2 of 2 - 20,143 (-11.0%) 11/13 --- 12/13 --- 01/14 --- 02/14 Punisher v10 #1 – 54,558 ( --- ) 02/14 Punisher v10 #2 – 31,709 ( -41.9%) 03/14 Punisher v10 #3 – 29,636 ( -5.6%) 04/14 Punisher v10 #4 – 28,435 ( -5.0%) 05/14 Punisher v10 #5 – 27,471 ( -3.4%) 06/14 Punisher v10 #6 – 26,606 ( -3.1%) 06/14 Punisher v10 #7 – 26,192 ( -1.6%) --- 2 year ( 12.0%) 5 year ( -20.6%) 10 year ( -45.6%)
This book is starting to level out as the sales drops get smaller. Settling around 25k is pretty good, but if it falls much lower it could be in trouble.
83. MIGHTY AVENGERS 06/09 Mighty Avengers #25 - 64,985 --- 09/13 Mighty Avengers v2 #1 - 101,921 10/13 Mighty Avengers v2 #2 - 54,862 (-46.2%) 11/13 Mighty Avengers v2 #3 - 42,210 (-23.1%) 12/13 Mighty Avengers v2 #4 - 35,740 (-15.3%) 01/14 Mighty Avengers#5.INH - 30,251 (-15.4%) 02/14 Mighty Avengers v2 #6 - 27,195 (-10.1%) 02/14 Mighty Avengers v2 #7 - 26,512 ( -2.5%) 03/14 Mighty Avengers v2 #8 - 24,933 ( -6.0%) 04/14 Mighty Avengers v2 #9 - 23,903 ( -4.1%) 05/14 Mighty Avengers v2 #10 - 28,711 ( 20.1%) O.S. Tie-In 06/14 Mighty Avengers v2 #11 - 26,221 ( -8.7%) O.S. Tie-In --- 6 Mnth ( -26.6%) 5 Year ( -59.7%)
This series is getting a little boost from some Original Sin Tie-In issues but sales are still very low. I’ll be waiting to see what the “Avenger’s Now” announcement means for all the Avengers books but this and Secret Avengers are probably the most in need of a relaunch.
85. NOVA 03/09 Nova v4 #25 - 28,096 --- 06/13 Nova v5 #5 - 36,545 ( -4.2%) 07/13 Nova v5 #6 - 34,234 ( -6.3%) 08/13 Nova v5 #7 - 31,937 ( -6.7%) 09/13 Nova v5 #8 - 37,767 (+18.3%) 10/13 Nova v5 #9 - 32,323 (-14.4%) 11/13 Nova v5 #10 - 32,716 ( +1.2%) 12/13 Nova v5 #11 - 27,982 (-14.5%) 01/14 Nova v5 #12 - 25,043 ( -10.5%) 02/14 Nova#13.Now – 26,147 ( 4.4%) 03/14 Nova v5 #14 – 23,459 ( -10.3%) 03/14 Nova v5 #15 – 22,996 ( -2.0%) 04/14 Nova v5 #16 – 22,020 ( -4.2%) 05/14 Nova v5 #17 – 21,652 ( -1.7%) 06/14 Nova v5 #18 – 25,875 ( 19.5%) O.S. Tie-In --- 6 Mnth ( -7.5%) 1 Year ( -29.2%) 5 Year ( -7.9%)
An original Sin Tie-In which means this book gets a nice boost and stays alive for a few more months.
87. BLACK WIDOW 01/14 Black Widow #1 - 53,879 01/14 Black Widow #2 - 31,260 ( -42.0%) 02/14 Black Widow #3 – 28,127 ( -10.0%) 03/14 Black Widow #4 – 27,378 ( -2.7%) 04/14 Black Widow #5 – 27,055 ( -1.2%) 05/14 Black Widow #6 – 26,136 ( -3.4%) 06/14 Black Widow #7 – 25,423 ( -2.7%)
The drops are shrinking a bit, and maybe these new solo books are just going to all be 25k books, but if they get too much further below that, they may be in trouble.
89. Loki, Agent of Asgard --- 02/14 Loki #1 - 41,921 ( --- ) 03/14 Loki #2 - 27,968 ( -33.3%) 04/14 Loki #3 - 27,472 ( -1.8%)[2,269] 05/14 Loki #4 - 26,012 ( -7.0%) 06/14 Loki #5 - 24,794 ( -4.7%)
The numbers on this book are fluctuating quite a bit, hopefully it will settle down above 20k or it could be in trouble.
90. SHE-HULK 06/04 She-Hulk v1 #4 - 27,649 06/09 Sav She-Hulk #3 - 20,512 06/13 Red She-Hulk #66 – 13,403 --- 02/14 She-Hulk #1 - 41,921 ( --- )[3,270] 03/14 She-Hulk #2 - 26,675 (-36.3%) 04/14 She-Hulk #3 - 27,398 ( 2.7%) 05/14 She-Hulk #4 - 25,543 ( -6.8%) 06/14 She-Hulk #5 - 24,736 ( -3.2%) --- 1 Year ( 84.6%) 5 Year ( 20.6%) 10 Year (-10.5%)
She-Hulk sales continue to drop. If it stabilizes here it could be alright but the number to watch is 20k. When books fall below that number, Marvel either looks to a relaunch or to cancel the series.
91. ALL NEW GHOST RIDER 06/11 Ghost Rider #0.1 - 24,830 --- 03/14 All New Ghost Rider #1 - 50,072 ( --- )[2,567] 04/14 All New Ghost Rider #2 - 29,429 (-41.2%) 05/14 All New Ghost Rider #3 - 27,756 ( -5.7%) 06/14 All New Ghost Rider #4 - 24,627 (-11.3%) --- 3 year ( 2.9%)
Looks like issue 5 will be Tradd Moore’s last issue, and with sales already slumping, I worry this book won’t last long without its star artist.
92. X-FORCE 06/09 X-Force v3 #14 - 58,795 06/11 X-Force v4 #11 - 53,199 06/12 X-Force v4 #26 - 47,522 --- 06/13 X-Force v5 #6 - 42,496 ( -7.0%) 06/13 X-Force v5 #7 - 40,380 ( -5.0%) 07/13 X-Force v5 #8 - 37,781 ( -6.4%) 07/13 X-Force v5 #9 - 36,978 ( -2.1%) 08/13 X-Force v5 #10 - 35,329 ( -4.5%) 09/13 X-Force v5 #11 - 36,186 ( +2.4%) 10/13 X-Force v5 #12 - 32,559 (-10.0%) 10/13 X-Force v5 #13 - 30,567 ( -6.1%) 11/13 X-Force v5 #14 - 28,885 ( -5.5%) 12/13 X-Force v5 #15 - 27,567 ( -4.6%) 01/14 X-Force v5 #16 - 27,701 ( 0.5%) 01/14 X-Force v5 #17 - 27,319 ( -1.4%) 02/14 X-Force v6 #1 - 47,427 ( 73.6%) 03/14 X-Force v6 #2 - 33,079 (-30.3%) 04/14 X-Force v6 #3 - 29,541 (-10.7%) 04/14 X-Force v6 #4 - 28,067 ( -5.0%) 05/14 X-Force v6 #5 - 26,215 ( -6.6%) 06/14 X-Force v6 #6 - 24,358 ( -7.1%) --- 6 mnth ( -11.6%) 1 year ( -42.7%) 2 year ( -49.0%) 3 year ( -54.2%) 5 year ( -58.6%)
X-Force is 6 issues in and selling 3k below where it was pre-relaunch 5 months ago. Still, this series is solicited through issue 11 in October so it is still alive.
95. CAPTAIN MARVEL 06/09 Ms. Marvel #40 - 25,206 --- 06/13 Captain Marvel v6 #13 - 19,673 (-42.5%) 07/13 Captain Marvel v6 #14 - 19,320 ( -1.8%) 08/13 Captain Marvel v6 #15 - 23,511 (+21.7%) 09/13 Captain Marvel v6 #16 - 22,845 ( -2.8%) 10/13 --- 11/13 Captain Marvel v6 #17 - 18,173 (-20.5%) 12/13 --- 01/14 --- 02/14 --- 03/14 Captain Marvel v7 #1 - 44,248 04/14 Captain Marvel v7 #2 - 28,008 (-36.7%) 05/14 Captain Marvel v7 #3 - 26,057 ( -7.0%) 06/14 Captain Marvel v7 #4 - 24,062 ( -7.7%) --- 1 year ( 22.3%) 5 year ( -4.5%)
Captain Marvel continues to drop. This series has a very vocal fanbase in the Carol Corps, but the sales numbers for the direct market aren’t looking good. It makes me wonder how the fans read this book. Series like this make me wish we saw more data from digital and trade paperback sales, because clearly Marvel sees something in this series that are not reflected in the incomplete data we are seeing above. Still like many of the books that fall in this range, if it falls below 20k, it will probably get a relaunch.
97. ALL-NEW X-FACTOR 06/09 X-Factor #40 - 31,097 06/11 X-Factor #218 - 24,502 06/12 X-Factor #234 - 23,607 --- 06/13 X-Factor #257 - 20,264 ( -1.6%) 06/13 X-Factor #258 - 20,154 ( -0.5%) 07/13 X-Factor #259 - 20,065 ( -0.4%) 08/13 X-Factor #260 - 19,982 ( -0.4%) 08/13 X-Factor #261 - 19,781 ( -1.0%) 09/13 X-Factor #262 - 20,382 ( +3.0%) 10/13 --- 11/13 --- 12/13 --- 01/14 X-Factor v4 #1 - 45,727 ( 01/14 X-Factor v4 #2 - 32,228 ( -29.5%) 02/14 X-Factor v4 #3 - 29,915 ( -3.2%) 03/14 X-Factor v4 #4 - 27,337 ( -8.6%) 03/14 X-Factor v4 #5 - 26,656 ( -2.5%) 04/14 X-Factor v4 #6 - 26,029 ( -2.4%) 05/14 X-Factor v4 #7 - 24,873 ( -4.4%) 05/14 X-Factor v4 #8 - 24,283 ( -2.4%) 06/14 X-Factor v4 #9 - 23,720 ( -2.3%) --- 1 Year ( 17.7%) 2 Year ( 0.0%) 3 Year ( -3.2%) 5 Year ( -23.7%)
Getting very close to where it was before its relaunch but at least the drops are shrinking. Hopefully, it will level out before it hits 20k.
99. ALL-NEW INVADERS --- 01/14 All-New Invaders #1 - 55,167 02/14 All-New Invaders #2 – 32,293 (-41.5%) 03/14 All-New Invaders #3 – 27,329 (-15.4%) 04/14 All-New Invaders #4 – 22,927 (-16.1%) 05/14 All-New Invaders #5 – 21,843 ( -4.7%) 06/14 All-New Invaders #6 – 23,470 ( 7.4%) O.S. Tie-In
An Original Sin Tie-in issue brings in a small sales boost and keeps this book out of the danger zone for now.
103. Elektra 06/09 Dark Reign: Elektra #4 - 25,135 --- 04/14 Elektra #1 - 47,676 ( --- ) 05/14 Elektra #2 - 26,612 (-44.2%) 06/14 Elektra #3 - 22,773 (-14.4%) --- 5 year ( -9.4%)
Of all the recent new solo books, this one is doing the worst. Still issue 7 was solicited for October, so it is still alive for a few more months.
106, 113. All NEW ULTIMATES 06/11 Ult Av vs. New Ult #4 - 42,803 06/12 Ult comics Ultimates #12 - 30,945 - 06/13 Ultimates v5 #25 - 21,636 ( +1.0%) 06/13 Ultimates v5 #26 - 20,785 ( -3.9%) 07/13 Ultimates v5 #27 - 20,024 ( -3.7%) 07/13 Ultimates v5 #28 - 19,859 ( -0.8%) 08/13 Ultimates v5 #29 - 19,657 ( -1.0%) 09/13 Ultimates v5 #30 - 19,420 ( -1.2%) 10/13 --- 11/13 Cataclysm #1 of 3 - 28,422 (+46.4%) 12/13 Cataclysm #2 of 3 - 24,819 (-12.7%) 01/14 Cataclysm #3 of 3 - 21,705 (-12.5%) 02/14 --- 03/14 --- 04/14 All-New Ult #1 - 30,308 ( 39.6%) 05/14 All-New Ult #2 - 24,165 (-20.3%) 06/14 All-New Ult #3 - 21,898 ( -9.4%) 06/14 All-New Ult #4 - 20,561 ( -6.1%) --- 6 Mnth ( -38.3%) 1 Year ( -1.1%) 2 Year ( -33.0%) 3 Year ( -52.0%)
Getting right up to the edge of the danger zone, but issue 9 was solicited for October, so we’ll see how low Marvel lets this one get.
107. THUNDERBOLTS 06/09 Thunderbolts #133 - 39,464 06/11 Thunderbolts #159 - 27,463 --- 06/13 Thunderbolts v2 #10 - 32,682 ( -0.5%) 06/13 Thunderbolts v2 #11 - 30,618 ( -6.3%) 07/13 Thunderbolts v2 #12 - 29,081 ( -5.0%) 07/13 Thunderbolts v2 #13 - 28,528 ( -1.9%) 08/13 Thunderbolts v2 #14 - 30,620 ( +7.3%) 09/13 Thunderbolts v2 #15 - 29,703 ( -3.0%) 10/13 Thunderbolts v2 #16 - 29,334 ( -1.2%) 10/13 Thunderbolts v2 #17 - 28,324 ( -3.4%) 11/13 Thunderbolts v2 #18 - 26,502 ( -6.4%) 12/13 Thunderbolts v2 #19 - 24,959 ( -5.8%) 01/14 Thunderblts #20.NOW - 28,994 ( 16.2%) 01/14 Thunderbolts v2 #21 - 24,293 (-16.2%) 02/14 Thunderbolts v2 #22 – 23,629 ( -2.7%) 03/14 Thunderbolts v2 #23 – 22,701 ( -3.9%) 04/14 Thunderbolts v2 #24 – 22,619 ( -0.4%) 04/14 Thunderbolts v2 #25 – 22,092 ( -2.3%) 05/14 Thunderbolts v2 #26 – 21,771 ( -1.5%) 06/14 Thunderbolts v2 #27 – 21,778 ( 0.0%) --- 6 Mnth ( -12.7%) 1 Year ( -33.4%) 3 Year ( -20.7%) 5 Year ( -44.8%)
This month’s sales are nearly even with last month but it looks like October’s issue 32 is being solicited as the final issue. The big question is will the Tbolts get relaunched or are they just getting cancelled?
109. SECRET AVENGERS 06/11 Secret Avengers #13 - 51,766 06/12 Secret Avengers #28 - 51,572 --- 06/13 Secret Avengers v2 #5 - 31,437 ( -6.0%) 07/13 Secret Avengers v2 #6 - 28,908 ( -8.0%) 08/13 Secret Avengers v2 #7 - 27,222 ( -5.8%) 08/13 Secret Avengers v2 #8 - 26,150 ( -3.9%) 09/13 Secret Avengers v2 #9 - 24,870 ( -4.9%) 10/13 Secret Avengers v2 #10 - 29,134 ( +17.1%) 11/13 Secret Avengers v2 #11 - 25,326 ( -13.1%) 12/13 Secret Avengers v2 #12 - 23,863 ( -5.8%) 12/13 Secret Avengers v2 #13 - 23,172 ( -2.9%) 01/14 Secret Avengers v2 #14 - 21,372 ( -7.8%) 02/14 Secret Avengers v2 #15 – 20,059 ( -6.1%) 02/14 Secret Avengers v2 #16 – 20,022 ( -0.2%) 03/14 Secret Avengers v3 #1 - 34,036 ( 70.0%) 04/14 Secret Avengers v3 #2 - 24,724 ( -27.4%) 05/14 Secret Avengers v3 #3 - 22,860 ( -7.5%) 06/14 Secret Avengers v3 #4 - 21,335 ( -6.7%) --- 6 Mnth ( -7.9%) 1 Year ( -32.1%) 2 Year ( -59.0%) 3 Year ( -58.8%)
Still solicited in October but I definitely think this series will get a relaunch of some kind when the Avengers line gets reshuffled later this year. It needs something to reinvigorate it.
111. SAVAGE WOLVERINE 06/13 Savage Wolverine #6 - 59,410 (+40.4%) 07/13 Savage Wolverine #7 - 40,946 (-31.1%) 08/13 --- 09/13 Savage Wolverine #8 - 38,208 ( -6.7%) 10/13 Savage Wolverine #9 - 36,451 ( -4.6%) 10/13 Savage Wolverine #10 - 33,627 ( -7.7%) 11/13 Savage Wolverine #11 - 30,338 ( -9.8%) 11/13 Savage Wolverine #12 - 29,739 ( -2.0%) 12/13 Savage Wolverine #13 - 27,490 ( -7.6%) 01/14 Savage #14.NOW - 30,370 ( 10.5%) 02/14 Savage Wolverine #15 - 25,190 (-17.1%) 03/14 Savage Wolverine #16 - 24,008 ( -4.7%) 04/14 Savage Wolverine #17 - 22,350 ( -6.9%) 05/14 Savage Wolverine #18 - 21,599 ( -3.4%) 05/14 Savage Wolverine #19 - 21,144 ( -2.1%) 06/14 Savage Wolverine #20 - 20,725 ( -2.0%) --- 6 Mnth ( -24.6%) 1 Year ( -65.1%)
Savage Wolverine continues to drop. I actually really like the idea of Anthology series where different creators offer their take on iconic characters like Wolverine, but it never seems like they sell very well. I wonder if it is because readers think they don’t count because they aren’t directly tied to the continuity. This was not solicited in October, so #23 may be the final issue.
118. MIRACLEMAN 01/14 Miracleman #1 - 52,313 01/14 Miracleman #2 - 36,927 ( -29.4%) 02/14 Miracleman #3 – 25,970 ( -32.6%) 03/14 Miracleman #4 – 23,557 ( -9.3%) 04/14 --- 05/14 Miracleman #5 – 22,399 ( -4.9%) 05/14 Miracleman #6 – 20,598 ( -8.0%) 06/14 Miracleman #7 – 19,123 ( -7.2%)
Miracleman continues to drop, but Marvel fought for a long time to get the rights to this series, so I doubt it is going anywhere anytime soon.
119. NEW WARRIORS --- 02/14 New Warriors #1 - 45,765 ( --- ) 03/14 New Warriors #2 - 26,006 (-43.2%) 04/14 New Warriors #3 - 23,105 (-11.2%) 05/14 New Warriors #4 - 19,900 (-13.9%) 06/14 New Warriors #5 - 18,576 ( -6.7%) 06/14 New Warriors #6 - 18,156 ( -2.3%)
New Warriors is still solicited in October despite these low sales. I wonder if issue 12 in November will be its last issue?
123, 126. AVENGERS UNDERCOVER 06/11 Avengers Academy #14 - 26,378 06/12 Avengers Academy #30 - 32,243 --- 06/13 Avengers Arena #10 - 25,277 ( -5.9%) 06/13 Avengers Arena #11 - 24,487 ( -3.1%) 07/13 Avengers Arena #12 - 23,969 ( -2.1%) 08/13 Avengers Arean #13 - 22,955 ( -4.2%) 08/13 Avengers Arena #14 - 23,204 ( +1.1%) 09/13 Avengers Arena #15 - 22,180 ( -4.4%) 10/13 Avengers Arena #16 - 22,179 ( -0.0%) 11/13 Avengers Arena #17 - 20,744 ( -6.5%) 11/13 Avengers Arena #18 - 20,712 ( -0.2%) 12/13 --- 01/14 --- 02/14 --- 03/14 Avengers Undrcvr #1- 31,936 04/14 Avengers Undrcvr #2- 23,746 (-25.65) 04/14 Avengers Undrcvr #3- 21,830 ( -8.1%) 05/14 Avengers Undrcvr #4- 19,696 ( -9.8%) 06/14 Avengers Undrcvr #5- 18,115 ( -8.0%) 06/14 Avengers Undrcvr #6- 17,771 ( -9.8%) --- 1 year ( -27.4%) 2 year ( -45.0%) 3 year ( -32.6%)
Issue 10 in September will be the final issue for Avengers Undercover, which never quite found its footing in terms of sales.
124. SPIDER-MAN SPECTACULAR #1 06/14 Spider-Man Spectacular #1 - 17,919
This was a special with 4 new all-ages Spider-man stories and actually did pretty well for an all-ages book.
125. SUPERIOR FOES OF SPIDER-MAN 07/13 Superior Foes #1 - 61,413 08/13 Superior Foes #2 - 34,300 (-44.1%) 09/13 Superior Foes #3 - 30,081 (-12.3%) 10/13 Superior Foes #4 - 26,884 (-10.6%) 11/13 Superior Foes #5 - 23,694 (-11.9%) 11/13 Superior Foes #6 - 21,367 ( -9.8%) 12/13 Superior Foes #7 - 20,858 ( -2.4%) 01/14 --- 02/14 Superior Foes #8 – 19,193 ( -8.0%) 03/14 Superior Foes #9 – 18,620 ( -3.0%) 03/14 Superior Foes #10- 18,437 ( -1.0%) 04/14 Superior Foes #11- 18,143 ( -1.6%) 05/14 --- 06/14 Superior Foes #12- 17,826 ( -1.7%) --- 6 Mnth ( -16.6%)
Superior Foes is solicited for October as “STILL NOT still not cancelled” and proves to be the exception to the under 20k rule.
139. Ultimate FF 06/04 Ultimate FF #8 – 96,698 --- 04/14 Ultimate FF v2 #1 - 23,316 ( --- ) 05/14 Ultimate FF v2 #2 - 17,059 (-26.8%) 06/14 Ultimate FF v2 #3 - 14,413 (-15.5%) --- 10 Year ( -85.1%)
Cancelled with issue #6.
144. GEORGE ROMERO EMPIRE OF THE DEAD: ACT ONE 01/14 Act One #1 of 5 - 24,515 02/14 Act One #2 of 5 – 17,624 ( -28.1%) 03/14 Act One #3 of 5 – 15,720 ( -10.8%) 04/14 Act One #4 of 5 – 14,855 ( -5.5%) 06/14 Act One #5 of 5 – 13,924 ( -6.3%)
#1-2 – 2 variants #3-4 – variant
There are not bad sales numbers for a horror mini-series and act two has been announced for September.
148. UNITED STATES OF MURDER INC --- 05/14 Murder Inc #1 - 18,474 ( --- ) 06/14 Murder Inc #2 - 13,561 (-26.6%)
Looks like this new Bendis series will end up selling around the same as his Powers series currently sells. Not bad for most indie series, but nowhere near as good as some of his fellow Marvel writers are doing with their indie series over at Image.
152. DEADLY HANDS OF KUNG FU --- 05/14 DH of Kung Fu #1 - 19,315 ( --- ) 06/14 DH of Kung Fu #2 - 13,093 (-32.2%)
4 issue miniseries that isn’t doing too great.
155. FIGMENT --- 06/14 Figment #1 - 12,735 ( --- )
Another Disney-inspired miniseries sees decent sales for an all-ages title but nothing to write home about.
157. All New Doop --- 04/14 All New Doop #1 - 22,614 ( --- ) 05/14 All New Doop #2 - 15,022 (-33.6%) 06/14 All New Doop #3 - 12,625 (-16.0%)
158. Iron Patriot 06/09 War Machine #7 - 28,746 06/11 Iron Man 2.0 #6 - 19,798 --- 03/14 Iron Patriot #1 - 31,773 ( --- ) 04/14 Iron Patriot #2 - 18,495 (-41.8%) 05/14 Iron Patriot #3 - 14,840 (-19.8%) 06/14 Iron Patriot #4 - 12,597 (-15.1%) --- 3 year ( -29.7%) 5 year ( -51.6%)
Not originally solicited as a miniseries but ending when the current arc completes after issue 5.
199. DEXTER 07/13 Dexter #1 of 5 - 20,540 08/13 Dexter #2 of 5 - 17,304 (-15.8%) 09/13 Dexter #3 of 5 - 17,586 ( +1.6%) 10/13 Dexter #4 of 5 - 14,920 (-15.2%) 11/13 Dexter #5 of 5 - 13,439 (-10.0%) 12/13 --- 01/14 --- 02/14 Down Under #1 of 5 – 13,203 ( -1.8%) 03/14 Down Under #2 of 5 – 10,664 (-19.2%) 04/14 Down Under #3 of 5 – 9,875 ( -7.4%) 05/14 Down Under #4 of 5 – 9,329 ( -5.5%) 06/14 Down Under #5 of 5 – 8,693 ( -6.8%) --- 6 Mnth ( -2.6%)
With the TV series now being over this will likely be Marvel’s last Dexter comics.
260. PAINKILLER JANE [Icon] 11/13 Painkiller Jane #1 of 4 - 8,967 12/13 Painkiller Jane #2 of 4 - 6,196 (-30.9%) 01/14 Painkiller Jane #3 of 4 - 5,248 (-15.3%) 02/14 Painkiller Jane #4 of 4 – 4,764 ( -9.2%) --- 06/14 Painkiller Jane 22 Brides #1 of 4 – 6,100 --- 6 Mnth ( -1.5%)
So the last Painkiller Jane series launched at almost 9k and ended just below 5k, this series launches at 6k, which doesn’t bode well for it in the long term.
296. MARVEL UNIVERSE ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN 04/13 MUU Spider-Man #13 - 5,004 ( +0.5%) 05/13 MUU Spider-Man #14 - 5,127 ( +2.5%) 06/13 MUU Spider-Man #15 - 5,054 ( -1.4%) 07/13 MUU Spider-Man #16 - ?,??? ( ??? ) 08/13 MUU Spider-Man #17 - 4,999 ( ??? ) 09/13 MUU Spider-Man #18 - ?,??? ( ??? ) 10/13 MUU Spider-Man #19 - ?,??? ( ??? ) 11/13 MUU Spider-Man #20 - 5,163 ( ??? ) 12/13 MUU Spider-Man #21 – 5,015 ( -2.9%) 01/14 MUU Spider-Man #22 - ?,??? ( ??? ) 02/14 MUU Spider-Man #23 – 4,761 ( -3.7%) 03/14 MUU Spider-Man #24 – 4,544 ( -4.6%) 04/14 MUU Spider-Man #25 – 4,529 ( -0.3%) 05/14 MUU Spider-Man #26 – 4,759 ( 5.1%) 06/14 MUU Spider-Man #27 – 4,713 ( -1.0%) --- 6 Mnth ( -6.0%) 1 Year ( -6.7%)
The all-ages Spider-Man series barely makes the chart this month, but it is still hanging in there and staying pretty steady.
—
6-Month Comparisons
---
-9.8%
CAPTAIN AMERICA #21
-6.1%
DEXTER DOWN UNDER #5
43.2%
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #3
31.2%
WOLVERINE #9
26.2%
MILES MORALES ULT SPIDER-MAN #2
25.6%
DEADPOOL #30 (O.S. Tie-In)
25.5%
WOLVERINE #8
20.2%
FANTASTIC FOUR #6 (O.S. Tie-In)
17.2%
DAREDEVIL #4
12.3%
ORIGINAL SIN #2
2.4%
GUARDIANS OF GALAXY #16
-0.8%
HULK #4
-1.5%
PAINKILLER JANE 22 BRIDES #1 (MR)
-6.0%
MARVEL U ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #27
-7.5%
NOVA #18 (O.S. Tie-In)
-7.7%
THOR GOD OF THUNDER #23
-7.9%
SECRET AVENGERS #4
-11.6%
X-FORCE #6
-12.7%
THUNDERBOLTS #27
-12.8%
UNCANNY AVENGERS #21
-13.1%
IRON MAN #27
-13.9%
IRON MAN #28
-15.9%
UNCANNY X-MEN #22
-16.2%
ALL NEW X-MEN #28
-16.6%
SUPERIOR FOES OF SPIDER-MAN #12
-16.8%
WOLVERINE AND X-MEN #5
-24.6%
SAVAGE WOLVERINE #20
-25.8%
NEW AVENGERS #19
-25.9%
NEW AVENGERS #20
-26.6%
MIGHTY AVENGERS #11 (O.S. Tie-In)
-28.1%
X-MEN #15
-31.6%
AMAZING X-MEN #8
-34.3%
ALL NEW ULTIMATES #3
-38.3%
ALL NEW ULTIMATES #4
-83.9%
AVENGERS #31 (O.S. Tie-In)
—
1 Year Comparisons
---
84.6%
SHE-HULK #5
78.4%
AMAZING X-MEN #8
32.4%
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #3
22.3%
CAPTAIN MARVEL #4
17.7%
ALL NEW X-FACTOR #9
12.4%
MILES MORALES ULT SPIDER-MAN #2
11.9%
DEADPOOL #30 (O.S. Tie-In)
5.8%
DAREDEVIL #4
5.4%
ALL NEW ULTIMATES #3
-1.1%
ALL NEW ULTIMATES #4
-3.1%
WOLVERINE #9
-6.7%
MARVEL U ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #27
-7.3%
WOLVERINE #8
-10.5%
FANTASTIC FOUR #6 (O.S. Tie-In)
-22.0%
WOLVERINE AND X-MEN #5
-23.4%
GUARDIANS OF GALAXY #16
-25.6%
THOR GOD OF THUNDER #23
-26.0%
AVENGERS UNDERCOVER #5
-26.4%
ALL NEW X-MEN #28
-27.4%
AVENGERS UNDERCOVER #6
-28.4%
HULK #4
-28.5%
UNCANNY X-MEN #22
20.4%
CAPTAIN AMERICA #21
-29.2%
NOVA #18 (O.S. Tie-In)
-30.2%
NEW AVENGERS #19
-30.2%
NEW AVENGERS #20
-30.7%
UNCANNY AVENGERS #21
-32.1%
SECRET AVENGERS #4
-33.4%
THUNDERBOLTS #27
-36.3%
IRON MAN #27
-36.9%
IRON MAN #28
-42.7%
X-FORCE #6
-48.0%
X-MEN #15
-65.1%
SAVAGE WOLVERINE #20
-72.3%
AVENGERS #31 (O.S. Tie-In)
—
2 Year Comparisons
---
83%
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #3
83%
DEADPOOL #30 (O.S. Tie-In)
20%
WOLVERINE #9
15%
WOLVERINE #8
14%
PUNISHER #6
12%
PUNISHER #7
9%
THOR GOD OF THUNDER #23
7%
X-MEN #15
0%
ALL NEW X-FACTOR #9
-7%
HULK #4
-10%
MILES MORALES ULT SPIDER-MAN #2
-13%
IRON MAN #27
-14%
DAREDEVIL #4
-14%
IRON MAN #28
-18%
FANTASTIC FOUR #6 (O.S. Tie-In)
-22%
AVENGERS #31 (O.S. Tie-In)
-22%
UNCANNY X-MEN #22
-23%
CAPTAIN AMERICA #21
-29%
ALL NEW ULTIMATES #3
-30%
MARVEL U ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #27
-33%
ALL NEW ULTIMATES #4
-35%
NEW AVENGERS #19
-35%
NEW AVENGERS #20
-44%
AVENGERS UNDERCOVER #5
-45%
AVENGERS UNDERCOVER #6
-49%
X-FORCE #6
-50%
AMAZING X-MEN #8
-50%
WOLVERINE AND X-MEN #5
-59%
SECRET AVENGERS #4
—
3 Year Comparisons
---
91.1%
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #3
90.4%
DEADPOOL #30 (O.S. Tie-In)
74.4%
SILVER SURFER #3
26.2%
HULK #4
14.2%
MOON KNIGHT #4
12.1%
AMAZING X-MEN #8
1.2%
WOLVERINE #9
-0.8%
ALL NEW GHOST RIDER #4
-2.9%
UNCANNY X-MEN #22
-3.2%
WOLVERINE #8
-3.2%
ALL NEW X-FACTOR #9
-14.3%
X-MEN #15
-15.8%
AVENGERS #31 (O.S. Tie-In)
-20.7%
THUNDERBOLTS #27
-24.1%
THOR GOD OF THUNDER #23
-27.2%
NEW AVENGERS #19
-27.3%
NEW AVENGERS #20
-31.3%
AVENGERS UNDERCOVER #5
-32.1%
CAPTAIN AMERICA #21
-32.6%
AVENGERS UNDERCOVER #6
-33.2%
IRON MAN #27
-33.8%
IRON MAN #28
-36.4%
IRON PATRIOT #4
-48.8%
ALL NEW ULTIMATES #3
-52.0%
ALL NEW ULTIMATES #4
-54.2%
X-FORCE #6
-58.8%
SECRET AVENGERS #4
-76.0%
MILES M ULT SPIDER-MAN #2
—
5 Year Comparisons
---
104.6%
GUARDIANS OF GALAXY #16
71.7%
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #3
20.6%
SHE-HULK #5
9.0%
IRON FIST LIVING WEAPON #3
3.5%
DEADPOOL #30 (O.S. Tie-In)
-4.5%
CAPTAIN MARVEL #4
-7.9%
NOVA #18 (O.S. Tie-In)
-8.4%
DAREDEVIL #4
-9.4%
ELEKTRA #3
-19.3%
PUNISHER #6
-20.6%
PUNISHER #7
-23.7%
ALL NEW X-FACTOR #9
-28.2%
FANTASTIC FOUR #6 (O.S. Tie-In)
-30.8%
UNCANNY X-MEN #22
-33.3%
MILES MORALES ULT SPIDER-MAN #2
-35.6%
AMAZING X-MEN #8
-36.0%
WOLVERINE #9
-38.8%
WOLVERINE #8
-44.8%
THUNDERBOLTS #27
-46.8%
IRON MAN #27
-47.3%
IRON MAN #28
-47.5%
THOR GOD OF THUNDER #23
-52.3%
NEW AVENGERS #19
-52.3%
NEW AVENGERS #20
-56.2%
IRON PATRIOT #4
-58.6%
X-FORCE #6
-59.7%
MIGHTY AVENGERS #11 (O.S. Tie-In)
-72.9%
CAPTAIN AMERICA #21
—
10 Year Comparisons
---
55.9%
SILVER SURFER #3
37.3%
IRON FIST LIVING WEAPON #3
23.5%
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #3
12.2%
THOR GOD OF THUNDER #23
-4.5%
IRON MAN #27
-5.4%
IRON MAN #28
-5.5%
AVENGERS #31 (O.S. Tie-In)
-10.5%
SHE-HULK #5
-14.7%
CAPTAIN AMERICA #21
-20.1%
HULK #4
-29.5%
DAREDEVIL #4
-33.5%
FANTASTIC FOUR #6 (O.S. Tie-In)
-37.3%
WOLVERINE #9
-40.0%
WOLVERINE #8
-44.7%
PUNISHER #6
-45.6%
PUNISHER #7
-46.6%
UNCANNY X-MEN #22
-60.4%
X-MEN #15
-62.2%
MILES MORALES ULT SPIDER-MAN #2
-68.9%
AMAZING X-MEN #8
-85.1%
ULTIMATE FF #3
—
So there you have it. Lots of changes seem to be coming to the Marvel universe, and particularly to the Avengers line. The sales numbers above show us why these changes are necessary. Many of the Avengers book have been dropping heavily or are low and stagnant, without even getting big boosts from crossovers or events anymore.
These numbers show us why Marvel is making the changes they are, but the questions over the next few months will be whether or not the retailers and the fans are going to buy these new books, and how long will these new books hold our interest.
So what do you think? Sound off in the comments below.
“This series has a very vocal fanbase in the Carol Corps, but the sales numbers for the direct market aren’t looking good. It makes me wonder how the fans read this book.”
Maybe they don’t – I often think it’s a mistake thinking that social media noise relates to sales – It’s like Mad Men, you’d think that was the most watched show on the telly.
I agree with Charles: often the most vocal fan bases don’t even seem to buy the issues. If you look at social media, you’ll see tens of thousands of posts, retweets, reblogs, etc. relating to Captain Marvel, but if every person who did that even bought one issue that sales would be at least twice* what they are currently.
*Completely arbitrary value, but you get my meaning.
Still, the lack of 2.99 titles really is an issue. I’ve shied away from buying most Marvel books month to month because it’s just too expensive. The exceptions are series I want to support (such as Superior Foes of Spider-Man and Magneto). With a constrained budget, I can read three titles from DC or Image for the same cost as two titles from Marvel. I’d honestly rather they ditched the “free” digital code and just knocked the prices down a dollar.
Actually, Ms Marvel’s #s are very stable with a VERY LOW attrition rate. A lot of books would kill for a 3% drop every month.
Sad to see amazing books like ELEKTRA, SECRET AVENGERS and SUPERIOR FOES OF SPIDER-MAN selling so few copies.
The rumor at SDCC was that Miss Marvel was a sales outlier, doing better in digital than it was in print. If that’s true, those are some very impressive numbers — putting it in the ANXM/GofG tier.
My guess with the random Hulk and Cyclops changes is the bigger titles got opened up for them. Waid gets to write Star Wars and work with some amazing artists on SHIELD, while Dauterman (sp.?) goes to Thor and Greg Rucka is getting another X-book after he finishes up his prose novel.
Also, MS MARVEL MS MARVEL MS MARVEL! I wonder what those trade numbers will be. I expect big numbers compared to most Marvel TPBs.
“Maybe they don’t – I often think it’s a mistake thinking that social media noise relates to sales – It’s like Mad Men, you’d think that was the most watched show on the telly.” – Charles Knight
Charles, it actually is much more likely that the readers of this book just don’t read physical comic books from direct market retailers. Rumors out of SDCC are that Ms. Marvel actually sells better digitally than it does in the direct market. I’ve heard rumblings that this is true for a number of books aimed at non-traditional comic store shoppers. I think we all need to remember that we only see one part of a much larger picture when we look at the sales above. Digital Sales and trade collection sales also play a large role in whether or not a book is considered healthy. Digital sales are the new newsstand of the modern day. It is how people discover new books and how new readers enter the medium. You say it is a mistake to think that social media noise relates to sales, I think it is a bigger mistake to assume that direct market sales are truly indicative of the overall health of a book or truly indicative of its readership. Yes I realize this means that collecting and analyzing these numbers every month is kind of tilting at windmills when I then say that these numbers are most likely inaccurate of the overall sales picture, but this is the only evidence they give us at this point. If they ever give us digital sales, then we’ll know for sure. Still I think we need to all realize that the marketplace is changing, new readers are not necessarily seeking out retail stores and retail store sales numbers might be more indicative of the old guard of comics readership rather than indicative of what is actually popular with the new audience of comic readers.
We do also get some indication of digital popularity. In direct market sales Captain Marvel and Ms. Marvel rank in the 60s and 90s for the month, but whenever a new issue comes out it is often ranked incredibly high on Comixology and ITunes comic sales ranking for much of its first week, often times even being the #1 seller of the day against books that are generally considered direct market best sellers like Batman, Walking Dead, and Spider-man. So people are buying and reading these books, they just aren’t buying and reading these books in a traditional way.
Leandro – I agree it’s sad to see the low #s, but I know Superior Foes is selling well in trade. That’s probably why they are keeping a long leash on that one. We’ll have to see how Elektra sells in trade with an artist like del Mundo attached to it to see if it lasts 3 arcs.
While I agree there could be a lot of digital, I think it’s also possible that the “Carol Corps” is really only a a few thousand (less than 10,000) people. That would seem to be enough to generate the kind of Twitter traffic and cosplay we see, but that’s still just a small percentage of the sales.
All the sales drops mean is that Marvel will cancel the book and start it over with yet another #1. I’m sure the next round of books will all be called Guardian of the Galaxy Avengers and Guardian of the Galaxy X-men
“Rumors out of SDCC are that Ms. Marvel actually sells better digitally than it does in the direct market.”
I don’t trust rumors. Show me the sales numbers.
Sad that the numbers are so low, especially for comics like Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America, given that millions of people have gone to see the movies. Part of the problem is that the single issue has been completely devalued given how stories are written these days. It’s almost impossible to buy one comic and get one story; it’s pretty hard to read three issues and get one story. You basically have to ready 6 issues at least, and sometimes 20+ issues, to get a complete story and many times, the story doesn’t even have a definitive ending. Really hard to attract new fans who can spend $10 and see a complete movie, that has millions time the production value of the equivalent three comics that could be bought for the same prince. I appreciate that Ellis is trying to tell done in one stories in Moon Knight. I think we need more of this, with on-going subplots that can last multiple issues, if there’s any hope of sales growth in the long run. the multiple issue restarts aren’t doing it – they artificially inflate the numbers for a couple of months and then the numbers drop again. If there’s any real desire among the comics companies to boost readership, they need to look at restructuring the way that stories are being told in the comics that they sell. The industry is way too insular to attract lots of new fans.
Also – thanks for compiling this info as it’s very interesting data…
Haha @swampy — if you actually trust the veracity of direct market numbers that Diamond releases as an accurate picture of monthly sales then I have a bridge to sell blah blah bitty blah. The point is, nothing public is accurate as far as comic sales go. These numbers exist for buzz purposes only. And for comment sections such as these.
We are suckers.
@Jason Enright , going by your argument about how digital sales target non-traditional buyers, why exactly would this result in high Captain Marvel sales? For all intents and purposes its standard Marvel title with, no offence to creative team, at best average writing and art.
@Jonny R, it might not be accurate but for years they were rather consistent in showing trends – whats selling and whats soon to be cancelled/relaunched.
Who cares about a books numbers when it’s obviously striking a nerve with a whole group of readers that would have never discovered the series otherwise. I wish we could see how many kids these days pirate their comics vs. buying them online/comic shops.
I don’t know about anyone else, but I often buy annuals of series I’m otherwise not reading. It’s a way of testing out the main title, usually has a self-contained story, and has extra pages to justify the higher price.
I know this gets repeated ad nauseum, but I don’t want to pay $4 for a comic that is retreading a story I read in a back issue from 10-20 years ago. I would rather spend less money and buy the back issue.
I’ve been buying only Hawkeye and Ms. Marvel due to the price gouging. Too bad Marvel comics are so overpriced these days.
At least, Image comics can deliver good stuff for $3…
I think it’s so adorable that you guys believe that Ms. Marvel sells better digitally than in print.
It’s just–
You know what–
Just–
Never change. Really. Keep believing it. There are all sorts of “non-traditional” readers jumping on board. Like 50,000+ plus of them. They are invisible and we have no record of them, but they exist. Honest.
Dan, I’d tell you what I know about the Ms. Marvel sales, but you’re obviously having too much fun on your own.
I think it’s a bit more noteworthy, on the print side of things, that nothing other than Spidey and the Event of the Month have cracked the 60K mark. That’s not good.
“this new “Avengers Now” initiative will be just the sales boost these books deserve.”
What does this mean? Do some books deserve better sales than what they receive? Do some books deserve worse sales? Why? Who gets to decide what they DESERVE?
“I actually really like the idea of Anthology series where different creators offer their take on iconic characters like Wolverine, but it never seems like they sell very well.”
Because the quality changes issue to issue, which is logical.
“Who cares about a books numbers when it’s obviously striking a nerve with a whole group of readers that would have never discovered the series otherwise.”
You’re right, who cares? It’s not like Marvel is a business or anything!
Since Miracleman is a $5 book that is essentially reprints, it can probably survive at a lower level than its $4 brethren. Add in the prospect of having collections that will likely be perennials, and eventually the new Neil Gaiman stories, and I don’t see it being cancelled.
@Chris: yeah, lets see. Hopefully you are right.
About the supposedly low sales of Captain Marvel, I would add that each issue of the series so far has received a high number of reviews on Comixology, which indicates that there might be a huge number of digital purchases, a phenomenom similar to what has been happening to Ms. Marvel’s sales. Probably Captain Marvel’s numbers numbers aren’t anywhere close to Ms. Marvel’s, but I believe that the book is selling in healthy numbers right now.
A little addition to the Captain Marvel discussion – for whatever reason, the first two issues were mis-solicited as a mini-series in the retailer order book. You think this wouldn’t effect things too much, but you’d be surprised just how different the mindset is for ordering minis and ongoings. Even if a chunk of retailers knew what was up, I know for a fact that many retailers (including some that I talk to quite frequently) are pretty lazy about wool gathering, and just assumed it was a mini, and ordered as such. I think the book could be several thousand healthier at this point, but unfortunately, Things Happened.
To address the author’s question about why they didn’t wait to relaunch Hulk – they probably thought Waid was going to stick around much longer than he did. Gerry Dugan’s also not the level of writer (in terms of fame, not talent) that you would want to try and hitch to a #1 issue.
It’s not a rumor.
MS. MARVEL is the rare book whose digital sales top its print sales.
And its print sales are rock solid.
And its #1 issue is going back for a 6th printing. (That’s crazy! In the best possible way.)
Most importantly: It’s a brilliant book with its own voice and feel. It’s really not hard to see why so many people love it.
FIGMENT got some extra printings, as the 1st has basically vanished from shelves. I believe #2 got a 2nd printing too. So there’s something there, I think…
…very well could be an outsider/Disney crowd attracted to the book (Figment, and Dreamfinder too apparently, have always had something of a cult following).
Thanks for the confirmation on that Dan.
@Sean – I know Figment has a following where they buy everything about him.
Personally, I think the low sales for Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man show that the creative teams aren’t really exciting fans. I’ve stayed with Cap because he’s my all-time favorite character but I’m not a fan of this run and am actually looking forward to Falcon taking over for a while because I can’t get into Remender’s version of Steve Rogers. I liked Thor as a comic but not as a Thor comic, Jason Aaron makes current day Thor the least interesting of all the characters in the book IMO. And Iron Man, I actually liked it at first and then they brought in Arno and I was finished with it. Alot of times, especially online, people laud major changes like the ones that these books have coming up and are glad that the books have changed their status (and in the recent past Dick Grayson Batman and Bucky Cap come to mind) but they tend to go back to the status quo for a reason (usually with Marvel it’s so they can publish a new #1).
I agree with Shawn – why change the characters (Capt A etc) but not the creative teams? Doesn’t make sense. Surely it’s the creative direction running those books into the ground. I sometimes get the impression Marvel’s writers are more interested in their Image books anyway.
July numbers show Ms Marvel went UP to 36K
This is the essential truth….we (us the readers/fan boys) love a good story and good art. The problem with Marvel is they sold there souls to a corporation who wants profit. Marvel and history of Marvel has always…always….always… had trouble staying afloot finacially. (1st rule give the people what they want and 2nd rule dont remove your cash cows)
We want a good story you want good art period!!!…..Then hire people who are passionate about there story. Dont higher some douchbag who cowtows to an editor. “Yes men” suck and they produce crap just to make money. Marvel has highered “yes men” people who dont push the envolope. People who dont care about the characters or back history. Point is….I care about Ice Man because hes cool, hes orginal, there is 50yrs of background building this character. But, in spirit of building a money making empire editors are pushing simplicity and being careful to not exclude anyone. Instead of creating they are trying to rename. Thats not creative. I’m just waiting for Ice-Man to become gay and woman. Marvel will be sooooo orginal and name him/ her Ice- Girl.
Marvel is on the road for disaster. I understand the need for diversity. I get that, what normal person doesnt. Yet, when you take a great character and slap a new coat of paint on it and call it someone else thats not creative….thats flipping a house. Plus, the lack luster of holding the chooker of the writers for fear of upseating or causing some type of enquality isnt writing….its corparate control. Editors at Marvel suck. They need to be removed. No good story writer can water down, or adhear to the demands of Disney. Essential Disney is going to market these characters like Micky Mouse…what the hell has Micky Mouse been in Steam Boat Willy, a hand full of crap dvds on nursery rythmes. Yet, thats what Disney does produce an image…not content. So Marvel is screwed.
Marvel is dead. No more good storys are going to come out of Marvel until they re-higher as senior editors the writers from the 1970’s to mentor new writers who …in my opinion are not famous. Christ just because you are famous doesnt mean you understand the comic world. I rather give the job to a new kid out of college than the majority of celebrity writers….at least I know he cares and is passionate and wants to make a mark.
End of the day predictions:
New storys Marvel has in store for us in 2015 will fail horribly. Almost every one. Hope Peter Parker can survive the mouse cause he’s about to get branded.
P.S. Long Live Richard Rider the one and only true Nova!!!! Screw you Bendis you killed Rider!!! Screw you Marvel Editors you killed Rider!!! Only hope is Deadpool. (Insane character anti-hero created by Rob Leifield!!)
If you dont belive me why arent all the great artists and writers wanting to write for Marvel ….where are they ….There in D.C.
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