by Xavier Lancel
Welcome to a new analysis of the Marvel sales. Reminder: I’m French, that’s why I’m talking funny. Please address your complaints to my over-drugged cyclists country.
Reminder: those sales are estimates, sales to comics shops located in North America. American comics do get sold somewhere else in their original floppy edition. Keep also in mind that just because a copy is sold to a shop doesn’t mean it’s sold to a customer. This would be way too easy. Digital sales are not taken into account.
This month, a horde of mini-series (or ongoing, who knows, Marvel hasn’t been very clear on that) is invading the Marvel chart. Only one thing is sure: everything will be relaunched (or should I say renumbered) past Secret Wars (SW). The Last Days banner, supposed to frighten customers (“Oh, look, that’s his last adventure in the old MU! “), is working like a charm for titles who were struggling to stay alive.
As always, tons of Star Wars franchise comics are sold, reordered, repackaged. The $5 price tag is less predominant this month but the test worked: customers are ready to pay $5 for, not caviar in a nice box, but paté wrapped in journal paper: you’ll have to do your own cover, cut the ads and add the still missing 2 pages that were lost “to keep the prices low “…
I’m harsh but when you see all those others comics companies, selling way less than the leader, yet giving customers top-produced floppy comics (I’m only talking packaging), I think that perhaps we don’t deserve their efforts. I killed the mood. Please relaunch me with kindness.
MU ANT-MAN DIGEST VOL.1: 3,877 $10.
This is a standard digest edition collecting several Marvel Super-Heroes all-age adventures featuring Ant-Man. A nice move from Marvel. It should sell like pancakes in bookstores.
HOUSE OF HEM : 4,026 104p, $8, cents per page: 7.7
You probably guessed it by looking at the page count and price tag, it is not a paperback but a softcover collection of several Fred Hembeck strips. So it should be in the floppy top 300. Sales are rather poor, which is a shame, especially seeing that the price tag is very low for a Marvel product. But, if you really want to read some Fred Hembeck, I would recommend spending a little more and acquire the gigantic Fred Hembeck Archive Omnibus released by Image some years ago. It contains everything done by Fred Hembeck…except the stuff done for Marvel! That’s why Marvel is releasing part of it here. You will find Fantatisc Four Roast and Fred Hembeck destroys the Marvel Universe and some strips, but we are still missing a lot of those done for Marvel Age. Anyway, that’s the perfect companion to the Archive Omnibus if you already purchased it.
ALL NEW CAPTAIN AMERICA PREMIERE HC VOL.1: 1,885 136p, $25, cents per page: 18,4 Average +% TPB sales #1-6: +3.8%
The first collection of All-New Captain America is a HC one and is doing ok.
THOR HC VOL.1: 4,922 [+1,048] Average +% TPB SALES #1-5: +7.1%
This first collection of “female Thor ” is selling again in its second month, almost cracking the 5k roof. Marvel has perhaps just found, with Deadpool and Ms Marvel, its new TPB sales juggernaut!
HAWKEYE VS DEADPOOL TPB: 7,057 [+644]
Yep, Deadpool is selling a little of all its back catalog EVERY month. This mini just broke the 7K.
1- 212- 264-SECRET WARS LTD 05/15 Secret Wars Ltd #1 - 535,666 [+7,988] 05/15 Secret Wars Ltd #2 - 216,540 (-59.6%) [+5,733] 06/15 Secret Wars Ltd #3 - 218,136 (+0.7%)
Awesome trend for Secret Wars, the first two issues sell again in reorders, yet issue #3 is slightly going up anyway. That probably means that Secret Wars will sell over 200K during its run. That’s impressive!
1-SPIDER-MAN RENEW YOUR WOWS LTD 06/15 Spider-Man Renew your wows Ltd #1 - 203,565
God, does anybody know what spider-fans want? Peter Parker married to MJ, then not married, now married again for the sake of this mini-series. Everytime, “fans asked for it ” they said. There is only one answer: Spider-man fans are bipolar! Incredible sales, for sure.
3- 271-STAR WARS 01/15 Stars Wars #1 - 1,045,476 02/15 Stars Wars #2 - 212,089 (-79.7%) [+5,597] 03/15 Star Wars #3 - 169,648 (-20.0%) 04/15 Star Wars #4 - 203,817 (+20.1%) 05/15 Star Wars #5 - 146,850 (-27.9%) 06/15 Star Wars #6 - 152,652 (+ 4.0%) Since issue #2: -28.0%
Issue 6 is going UP! And issue #2 is once more selling in reorders. Issue #3 should follow soon if logic speaks.
6- THORS LTD 06/15 Thors Ltd #3 - 114,854
A Thor Corps, at a time where the Green Lantern franchise is at it lowest at DC. It could attract those readers lost by DC. Anyway, great numbers, obviously. I wouldn’t be surprised if it would be turned into an ongoing series.
7- 234- 262- 265-DARTH VADER 02/15 Darth Vader #1 - 289,591 02/15 Darth Vader #2 – 125,466 (-56.7%) [+5,773] 03/15 Darth Vader #3 - 126,278 (+ 0.6%) [+6,824] 04/15 Darth Vader #4 - 136,451 (+ 8.1%) [+5,678] 05/15 Darth Vader #5 - 113,025 (-17.2%) 06/15 Darth Vader #6 - 107,739 (- 4.7%) Since issue #2: -14.1%
That’s a sales juggernaut if you have never met one. 3 issues sold again more than 5K each in reorders, and, logically, should again next month. To focus their series on characters instead of factions or periods has done wonders for Marvel with Star Wars.
8- X-MEN 92 ($5) 06/15 X-Men 92 #1 - 97,617
I’m more than baffled by this. 1992 was probably one of the worst period for X-Men: Chris Claremont was out, the team was divided into gold and blue teams, there was never ending crossovers, ugly art design with pouches, jackets, guns and claws everywhere….and people are nostalgic for that?! The only thing that could make me enthusiastic about this series is the presence of Scott Koblish, at last well established as a talented penciller after his awesome performance on several Deadpool issues.
10- GROOT LTD 06/15 Groot Ltd #1 - 83,506
Why not? I can’t wait to read a Cosmo ongoing series. Expect this one to fall quickly around 40K, if not lower.
11- PRINCESS LEIA LTD 03/15 Princess Leia Ltd #1 of 5 – 264,071 03/15 Princess Leia Ltd #2 of 5- 101,727 (-61.5%) 04/15 Princess Leia Ltd #3 of 5- 102,434 (+ 0.7%) --- 06/15 Princess Leia Ltd #4 of 5- 80,170 (-21.7%) Since issue #2: -21.2%
A little late and a fall below 100K. Still doing pretty well of course.
12- AGE OF ULTRON VS MARVEL ZOMBIES LTD 06/15 AoU VS Marvel Zombies Ltd #1 - 78,646
I’m curious to see how James Robinson managed to turn this into something interesting (or not) because the pitch read like a hollow fanboy dream.
13- 199- OLD MAN LOGAN LTD 05/15 Old Man Logan Ltd #1 - 122,702 [+8,518] 06/15 Old Man Logan Ltd #2 - 78,426 (-36.1%)
Despite this fall, this mini is still doing great and is even selling reorders of its #1. It will be relaunched as an ongoing post SW.
14- YEARS OF FUTURE PAST LTD ($5) 06/15 Years of Future Past Ltd #1 - 71,450
See what I was saying about X-Men’92? How could it outsell this, a retelling of the X-Men best storyline?
5- 290-DEADPOOLS SECRET SECRET WARS LTD 05/15 Deadpool SSW Ltd #1 - 136,987 [+5,148] 06/15 Deadpool SSW Ltd #2 - 70,256 (-48.7%)
If you needed another proof of the popularity of Deadpool…issue #1 is the onlySecW mini with Old Man Logan to sell in reorders.
16- 68- ARMOR WARS LTD 06/15 Armor wars Ltd #1 - 69,808 06/15 Armor wars Ltd #2 - 37,798 (-45.9%)
It’s nice to see Marcio Takara (from several Boom! Series) here. The fall is ugly but could be a repetitive pattern for all thoseSecW minis. We’ll see next month!
20- SPIDER-GWEN 02/15 Spider-Gwen #1 - 278,575 03/15 Spider-Gwen #2 - 107,070 (-61.6%) 04/15 spider-Gwen #3 - 102,234 (- 4.5%) 05/15 Spider-Gwen #4 - 86,586 (-15.3%) 06/15 Spider-Gwen #5 - 67,697 (-21.8%) Since issue #2: -36.8%
Ouch! Made sacred in one day, Spider-Gwen could fall as quickly as she rose. She’s still doing very well but the trend now looks bad. But no worry, a relaunch is scheduled postSecW.
21- AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 04/14 Amazing v3 #1 - 532,586 ( 293.1%)[23,871] 05/14 Amazing v3 #2 - 123,945 ( -76.7%) 06/14 Amazing v3 #3 - 109,029 ( -12.0%) 07/14 Amazing v3 #4 - 117,917 ( 8.2%)O.Sin 08/14 Amazing v3 #5 - 101,655 ( -13.8%)O.Sin 09/14 Amazing v3 #6 - 93,564 ( -8.0%) 10/14 Amazing v3 #7 - 116,051 ( 24.0%) 10/14 Amazing v3 #8 - 99,549 ( -14.2%) 11/14 Amazing v3 #9 - 135,280 11/14 Amazing v3 #10 – 100,899 12/14 Amazing v3 #11 – 104,739 ( +3.8%) 01/15 Amazing v3 #12 – 105,458 ( +0.6%) 01/15 Amazing v3 #13 – 103,093 ( -2.2%) 02/15 Amazing v3 #14 – 106,778 ( +3.6%) 02/15 Amazing v3 #15 - 99,660 ( -6.7%) 03/15 Amazing v3 #16 - 92,289 ( -7.4%) 04/15 Amazing v3 #17 - 99,964 ( +8.3%) 05/15 Amazing v3 #18 - 88,338 (-11.6%) --- 03/15 Amazing v3 #16.1- 73,170 (-20.7%) 04/15 Amazing v3 #17.1- 68,907 (- 5.8%) --- 06/15 Amazing v3 #18.1- 66,600 (-3.3%) Since issue #2: -19.3%
Only a .1 issue out this month. This Gerry Conway mini is holding pretty well. Meanwhile, Amazing is scheduled for a relaunch postSecW.
22- GIANT SIZE LITTLE MARVEL AVX LTD 06/15 GS Little Marvel AVX Ltd #1 - 66,401
Impressive numbers for a funny take of the MU that never took the charts on fire before.
16- FUTURE IMPERFECT LTD 06/15 Future Imperfect Ltd #1 - 62,110
I expected this one to do a little better.
26- INFINITY GAUNTLET LTD 05/15 Infinity Gauntlet Ltd #1 - 95,131 06/15 Infinity Gauntlet Ltd #2 - 59,667 (-37.3%)
It was to be expected. It’s still above 50k and should stay there during the remaining issue. Expect an Infitiny Crusade remix soon…
27- SPIDER-VERSE 05/15 Spider-Verse #1 – 76,536 06/15 Spider-Verse #2 – 59,466 (-22.3%)
Impressive numbers for a Spider-characters anthology. Marvel is not stupid and put Spider-Gwen on the cover, obviously. It will be relaunched as Web Warriors post SecW.
29-KANAN THE LAST PADAWAN LTD 04/15 Kanan TLP #1 - 113.158 05/15 Kanan TLP #2 - 64,960 (-42.6%) 06/15 Kanan TLP #3 - 56,370 (-13.2%) Since issue #2: -13.2%
If you’re not a character from the original SW trilogy, be prepared to not be as successful as them.
33- SQUADRON SINISTER 06/15 Squadron Sinister #1 - 53,187
A nice surprise, we hadn’t seen those characters for a while now. Carlos Pacheco seems like a perfect fit for it. It will be relaunched post SecW.
35- MARVEL ZOMBIES 06/15 Marvel Zombies #1 - 51,917
A new Marvel Zombies series, but nothing really new under the sun, as the previous series already took place on alternate versions of the MU. Marvel just took the opportunity to release it among all those “other worlds ” series.
38- ULTIMATE END LTD 05/15 Ultimate End Ltd #1 – 75,525 06/15 Ultimate End Ltd #2 – 49,157 (-34.9%)
Grey Hulk VS Green Hulk on the cover, screaming “you already read that several times “….Zzzz
39- ALL-NEW X-MEN 11/12 All-New X-Men #2 - 100,983 ... 01/14 All-New #22.NOW - 76,565 (+21.8%) ... 08/14 All-New X-Men #30 - 54,882 ( -6.7%) 08/14 All-New X-Men #31 - 58,535 ( 6.7%) 09/14 All-New X-Men #32 - 54,654 ( -6.6%) 10/14 All-New X-Men #33 - 60,032 ( 9.8%) 11/14 --- 12/14 All-New X-Men #34 - 57,569 ( -4.1%) 01/15 All-New X-Men #35 - 51,823 (-10.0%) 02/15 All-New X-Men #36 - 49,464 ( -4.6%) 02/15 All-New X-Men #38 - 58,037 (+17.3%) B. Vortex 03/15 All-New X-Men #37 - 48,140 (-17.1%) 03/15 All-New X-Men #39 - 58,490 (+ 0.8%) B. vortex 04/15 All-New X-Men #40 - 57,797 (- 1.2%) --- 06/15 All-New X-Men #41 - 48,937 (-15.3%) Since issue #2: -49.7% Average +% TPB sales #31-36: +3.2% ALL NEW X-MEN VOL.6 HC: 1,901
Back to the previous sales level after the Black Vortex and Black Closet issues. Will be relaunched post SecW.
40- E IS FOR EXTINCTION LTD ($5) 06/15 E is for Extinction Ltd #1 - 48,888
E is for Extinction of the money in our wallet, Marvel! $5!
41- WEIRDWORLD 06/15 Weirdworld #1 - 48,688
Characters from Crystar the Crystal Warrior appear in this mini. That’s another reason to buy it. Sales are probably 3 times more then what they would have been if not sold as a SecW companion series.
42- MS DEADPOOL AND HOWLING COMMANDOS 06/15 Ms Deadpool and HC #1 - 48,514
This kind of new Legion of Monsters is leaded by Ms Deadpool. I’m surprised it didn’t crack the roof of sales or at least the 70k barrier.
43- PLANET HULK ($5) 05/15 Planet Hulk #1 – 72,868 06/15 Planet Hulk #2 – 47,944 (-34.2%)
Nothing surprising here, except that Marvel dared to propose a retelling of a relatively recent event.
44- CAPTAIN MARVEL AND CAROL CORPS LTD 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%) ... 03/15 Captain Marvel v7 #13 – 21,915 (+14.1%) 04/15 Captain Marvel v7 #14 – 30,560 (+39.5%) B. Vortex 05/15 Captain Marvel v7 #15 – 19,740 (-35.4%) 06/15 Cap Marvel & Carol Corps Ltd #1 - 47,302 Average +%TPB sales #7-12: +14.0% CAPTAIN MARVEL TPB VOL.2 : 2,942
This seems like a funny Blackhawk-like short-term take on Captain Marvel, before another relaunch post SecW. Marvel won’t give up on her!
45- X-TINCTION AGENDA LTD 06/15 X-Tinction Agenda Ltd #1 - 46,694
The popularity of this X-men event seems to have been a little over-expected.
49- SECRET WARS 2099 LTD 05/15 Secret Wars 2099 Ltd #1 – 46,228 06/15 Secret Wars 2099 Ltd #2 – 44,931 (-2.8%)
Those are excellent numbers for a #2 issue, especially when you see that a more than 30% fall seems like the standard for those SecW mini-series.
51- UNCANNY AVENGERS 03/14 U Avengers #18.NOW - 63,516 ( 19.4%) ... 10/14 Uncanny Avengers #25 – 53,263 ( 7.7%) 10/14 Aven & X-Men Axis #1 – 138,966 (180.9%) ... 12/14 Aven & X-Men Axis #9 – 69,518 ( 0.1%) 01/15 Uncanny Avengers v2 #1 – 74,849 02/15 Uncanny Avengers v2 #2 – 51,339 (-31.4%) --- 04/15 Uncanny Avengers v2 #3 – 50,595 (-1.4%) 05/15 Uncanny Avengers v2 #4 – 46,682 (-7.7%) 06/15 Uncanny Avengers v2 #5 – 43,417 (-7.0%) Since issue #2: -15.4%
Scheduled to be relaunched once again after SecW (really?!, it’s not hope, it’s blindness!)
53- SECRET WARS BATTLEWORLD LTD 05/15 SW Battleworld Ltd #1 – 67,485 06/15 SW Battleworld Ltd #2 – 42,566 (-36.9%)
It was to be expected. Not bad at all for an anthology of short stories.
56- RUNAWAYS 06/15 Runaways #1 - 41,063
OMG, I’m so sad to see this return of Runaways selling so poorly. Come on people, there is Sanford Greene on art! I wouldn’t have think of a better choice for this series. Let’s hope it will not fall too low with issue #2 because the cancellation zone will then not be very far.
59- INHUMAN ATTILAN RISING LTD 05/15 Inhuman Attilan Rising Ltd #1 – 56,963 06/15 Inhuman Attilan Rising Ltd #2 – 40,722 (-28.5%)
Doing perfectly OK, seeing how much lower Inhumans was selling before it.
63- INFERNO LTD 05/15 Inferno Ltd #1 – 46,801 06/15 Inferno Ltd #2 – 39,137 (-16.4%)
This one is redeeming itself with a very moderate fall from issue #1 numbers.
65- SILK 02/15 Silk #1 - 86,263 03/15 Silk #2 - 69,369 (-19.6%) 04/15 Silk #3 - 58.755 (-15.3%) 05/15 Silk #4 - 44,316 (-24.6%) 06/15 Silk #5 - 38,798 (-12.5%) Since issue #2: -44.1%
The downfall of a trend is…that it can disappear as quickly as it appeared! This seems to be the case here. Scheduled for a relaunch post SecW of course!
67- 1602 WITCH HUNTER ANGELA LTD 12/14 Angela #1 - 61,398 01/15 Angela #2 - 36,992 (-39.8%) 02/15 Angela #3 - 31,096 (-15.9%) 03/15 Angela #4 - 25,529 (-17.9%) 04/15 Angela #5 - 23,551 (- 7.7%) 05/15 Angela #6 - 22,272 (- 5.4%) 06/15 1602 Witch Hunter Angela Ltd #1 – 37,996
The rebrand as a 1602 spin-off made the title rebound a little. Angela is scheduled for a relaunch post SecW (but then who isn’t?).
73- KORVAC SAGA LTD 10/14 Guardians 3000 #1 - 58,574 (---) 11/14 Guardians 3000 #2 - 34,467 (-41.2%) 12/14 Guardians 3000 #3 - 25,509 (-26.0%) 01/15 Guardians 3000 #4 - 20,318 (-20.3%) 02/15 Guardians 3000 #5 - 18,155 (-10.6%) 03/15 Guardians 3000 #6 - 17,494 (- 3.6%) 04/15 Guardians 3000 #7 - 16,532 (- 5.5%) 05/15 Guardians 3000 #8 - 15,660 (- 5.3%) 06/15 Korvac Saga Ltd #1 - 34,137 Average +% TPB Sales #1-6: +4.2% GUARDIANS 3000 TPB VOL.1: 1,446
Rebranded as a retelling of the Korvac Saga, it rose back to its issue #2 sales level. It will not come back post SecW.
74- HOWARD THE DUCK 03/15 Howard the Duck #1 – 85,929 04/15 Howard the Duck #2 – 43,572 (-49.3%) 05/15 Howard the Duck #3 – 35,391 (-18.2%) 06/15 Howard the Duck #4 – 34,043 (- 3.8%) Since issue#2: -21.9%
Even if it doesn’t seem to need it, it will be relaunched post SecW.
78-SUPERIOR IRON MAN 03/14 Ir. Man #23.NOW - 43,912 ( 51.3%) --- 06/14 Iron Man v6 #28 - 28,027 ( -0.9%) 11/14 Sup. Iron Man #1 - 83,994 ( 199.7%) 11/14 Sup. Iron Man #2 - 42,621 ( -49.3%) 12/14 Sup. Iron Man #3 - 38,806 ( -9.0%) 01/15 Sup. Iron Man #4 – 38,515 ( -0,7%) 02/15 Sup. Iron Man #5 – 35,094 ( -8.9%) 03/15 Sup. Iron Man #6 – 37,113 ( +5.8%) 04/15 Sup. Iron Man #7 – 34,440 ( -7.2%) 05/15 Sup. Iron Man #8 – 32,006 ( -7.3%) 06/15 Sup. Iron Man #9 – 33,989 ( +6.2%) Since issue #2: -20.3% Average +% TPB sales #1-5: +4.3% SUPERIOR IRON MAN VOL.1 HC: 1,816
Nice rebound. It will be relaunched as good old Iron Man post SecW. The Superior brand did not work on shellhead.
78- DAREDEVIL 02/14 Daredevil v3 #36 – 31,494 ( -1.8%) 03/14 Daredevil v4 #1 - 76,006 (141.3%) 04/14 Daredevil #1.50 - 48,462 (-36.2%) 04/14 Daredevil v4 #2 - 42,811 (-11.7%) ... 09/14 Daredevil v4 #8 - 37,739 ( 2.6%) 10/14 Daredevil v4 #9 - 33,996 (-9.9%) 11/14 Daredevil v4 #10 - 32,438 (-4.6%) 12/14 Daredevil v4 #11 - 31,382 (-3.3%) 01/15 Daredevil v4 #12 – 31,989 (+1.9%) 02/15 Daredevil v4 #13 – 31,483 (-1.6%) 03/15 Daredevil v4 #14 – 29,575 (-6.1%) 04/15 Daredevil v4 #15 – 32,541 (+10.0%) 05/15 Daredevil v4#15.1- 28,919 (-11,1%) 06/15 Daredevil v4 #16 – 33,309 (+15.2%) Since issue #2: -22.2% Average +% TPB Sales #6-10: +5.5% DAREDEVIL VOL.2 TPB: 2,098
As the end of Mark Waid’s run is nearer, sales climb a little. The relaunch with a completely new approach is scheduled post SecW.
80- GHOST RACERS LTD 03/14 All New Ghost Rider#1 - 50,072 ( --- )[2,567] 04/14 All New Ghost Rider#2 - 29,429 (-41.2%) ... 03/15 All New Ghost Rider #12 – 11,923 (-4.5%) --- --- 06/15 Ghost Racers Ltd #1 - 33,143
This Mad Max take on Ghost Rider is successful enough to triple sales,…. before playing with the cancellation zone as soon as next month?
64- MS. MARVEL 02/14 Ms. Marvel #1 - 50,286 ( --- ) 03/14 Ms. Marvel #2 - 38,357 (-23.7%) ... 02/15 Ms. Marvel #12 – 29,054 ( -2.7%) 03/15 Ms. Marvel #13 – 32,425 (+11.6%) 04/15 Ms. Marvel #14 – 32,058 (- 1.1%) 05/15 Ms. Marvel #15 – 32,185 (+ 0.4%) 06/15 Ms. Marvel #16 – 32,855 (+ 2.1%) Since issue #2: -14.3% Average +% TPB sales #6-11: +29.8% MS MARVEL VOL.2 TPB: 10,719 [+1,469]
There is a Last Days banner on this one, but with no effect. It will be relaunched post SW, identical as before (but don’t expect the last $2.99 price tag to stick around for the party).
MS MARVEL TPB VOL. 3: 5,506 112p, $16, cents per page: 14.3 Average +% TPB sales #12-15: +17.0%
The new paperback is selling like crazy of course. The first tpb volume is well placed in the charts almost every month. It’s a cash machine! Meanwhile,the second TPB collection breaks the 10K barrier this month!
88- MAGNETO 03/14 Magneto #1 – 55,337 04/14 Magneto #2 – 35,772 (-35.4%) ... 12/14 Magneto #13– 27,418 ( -8.9%) 01/15 Magneto #14- 26,306 (- 4.1%) 02/15 Magneto #15- 24,052 (- 8.6%) 03/15 Magneto #16- 22,888 (- 4.8%) 04/15 Magneto #17- 22,072 (- 3.6%) 05/15 Magneto #18- 27,788 (+25.9%) 06/15 Magneto #19- 29,249 (+ 5.3%) Since issue #2: -18.2%
On the other hand, this 2nd month of the Last Days banner on Magneto is doing wonders.
90- SECRET WARS JOURNAL LTD 05/15 Secret Wars Journal Ltd #1 – 44,606 06/15 Secret Wars Journal Ltd #2 – 29,161 (-34.6%)
Nobody seems to care about this SecW companion series. Perhaps fans just don’t have any money left?
92- ANT-MAN 01/15 Ant-Man #1 – 73,370 02/15 Ant-Man #2 – 40,192 (-45.2%) 03/15 Ant-Man #3 – 37,139 (- 7.6%) 04/15 Ant-Man #4 – 31,637 (-14.8%) 05/15 Ant-Man #5 – 83,095 (+162.7%) 06/15 Ant-Man Larger than Life #1- 28,797 (-65.3%) Since issue #2: -28.4%
It’s a one shot story with some old reprints. The trend is not pretty but the title is scheduled for a relaunch post SW.
ANT-MAN TPB VOL.1: 3,327 120p, $16, cents per page: 13.3 Average +% TPB sales #1-5 : +8.3%
Obviously, those are very good sales, even if a HC was not released first. Sales of Vol. 2, way after the movie releases, will be more meaningful.
95- 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%) 07/14 Black Widow #8 – 24,555 ( -3.4%) 08/14 Black Widow #9 – 24,885 ( 1.3%) 09/14 Black Widow #10 – 23,687 ( -4.8%) 10/14 Black Widow #11 – 23,922 ( 1.0%) 11/14 Black Widow #12 – 22,971 ( -4.0%) 12/14 Black Widow #13 – 21,444 ( -6.6%) 01/15 Black Widow #14 – 20,292 ( - 5,4%) 02/15 Black Widow #15 – 20,581 ( + 1.4%) 03/15 Black Widow #16 – 21,607 ( + 5.0%) 04/15 Black Widow #17 – 18,851 ( -12.8%) 05/15 Black Widow #18 – 21,532 ( +14.2%) 06/15 Black Widow #19 – 27,387 ( +27.2%) Since issue #2: -12.4%
The Last Days banner is also working like a charm on Black Widow. Perhaps there is hope for her, as images of the character have shown up at conventions.
97- SPIDER-WOMAN 11/14 Spider-Woman #1 - 93,723 (Spider-Verse) 12/14 Spider-Woman #2 - 44,618 ( -52.4%)(Spider-Verse) 01/15 Spider-Woman #3 - 38,484 (-13.8%) (spider-Verse) 02/15 Spider-Woman #4 - 36,058 (- 6.3%) 03/15 Spider-Woman #5 - 40,068 (+11.1%) 04/15 Spider-Woman #6 - 32,041 (-20.0%) 05/15 Spider-Woman #7 - 29,567 (- 7.3%) 06/15 Spider-Woman #8 - 26,568 (-10.1%) Since issue #2: -40.4%
As with the other female spider characters, those numbers are worrying. Well, you know what: let’s relaunch!
SPIDER-WOMAN TPB VOL.1: 2,528 112p, $16, cents per page: 14.3 Average +% TPB sales #1-4 : +5.7%
Those episodes being part of the Spider-verse storyline, they sell quite OK (remember there was no HC edition before this one). The sales of the next volume will probably be less flamboyant.
100- CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE MIGHTY AVENGERS 09/14 Mighty Avengers v2 #14 - 21,516 ( -4.3%) 10/14 --- 11/14 Cap & M. Avengers #1 - 60,206 (179.8%) 11/14 Cap & M. Avengers #2 - 34,428 (-42.8%) 12/14 Cap & M. Avengers #3 - 28,744 (-16.5%) 01/15 Cap & M. Avengers #4 - 25,352 (-11.8%) 02/15 Cap & M. Avengers #5 - 22,246 (-12.3%) 03/15 Cap & M. Avengers #6 - 20,235 (- 9.0%) 04/15 Cap Amer & M. Avengers #7 - 18,362 (- 9.3%) 05/15 Cap Amer & M. Avengers #8 - 23,996 (+30.7%) 06/15 Cap Amer & M. Avengers #9 - 26,389 (+10.0%) Since issue #2: -23.4%
Even with numbers going up thanks to the magic Last Days banner, this one is not coming back.
102- SHIELD 12/14 SHIELD #1 - 94,503 01/15 SHIELD #2 - 33,965 (-64.1%) 02/15 SHIELD #3 – 29,790 (-12.3%) --- 04/15 SHIELD #4 - 26,930 (-9.6%) 04/15 SHIELD #5 - 26,614 (-1.2%) 05/15 SHILED #6 - 23,152 (-13.0%) 06/15 SHIELD #7 - 25,786 (+11.4%) Since issue #2: -24.1%
I see not particular reason for this rebound. Scheduled to be relaunched post SW as Agents of SHIELD.
106- WOLVERINES 01/15 Wolverines #1 – 73,650 01/15 Wolverines #2 – 43,573 (-41.8%) 01/15 Wolverines #3 – 42,051 (- 3.5%) 01/15 Wolverines #4 – 39,790 (- 5.4%) 02/15 Wolverines #5 – 32,953 (-17.2%) 02/15 Wolverines #6 – 31,710 (-3.8%) 02/15 Wolverines #7 – 30,617 (-3.4%) 02/15 Wolverines #8 – 29,923 (-2.3%) 03/15 Wolverines #9 – 28,004 (-6.4%) 03/15 Wolverines #10– 27,590 (-1.5%) 03/15 Wolverines #11– 27,148 (-1.6%) 03/15 Wolverines #12– 26,755 (-1.4%) 04/15 Wolverines #13- 25,790 (-3.6%) 04/15 Wolverines #14- 25,434 (-1.4%) 04/15 Wolverines #15- 25,173 (-1.0%) 04/15 Wolverines #16- 25,239 (+0.3%) 05/15 Wolverines #17- 24,333 (-3.6%) 05/15 Wolverines #18- 24,037 (-1.2%) 05/15 Wolverines #19- 23,999 (-0.2%) 06/15 Wolverines #20- 23,765 (-1.0%) END Since issue #2: -45.5% Average +% TPB sales #1-5 : +5.0% Average +% TPB sales #6-10: +5.0% WOLVERINES TPB VOL. 1: 2,175 WOLVERINES TPB VOL. 2: 1,570
Perfect behavior at the end.
108- GUARDIANS TEAM-UP 03/15 Guardians Team-up #1 - 155,388 03/15 Guardians Team-up #2 - 38,390 (-75.3%) 03/15 Guardians Team-up #3 - 40,637 (+ 5.9%) B. Vortex 04/15 Guardians Team-up #4 - 28,877 (-28.9%) 05/15 Guardians Team-Up #5 - 25,093 (-13.1%) 06/15 Guardians Team-Up #6 - 23,004 (- 8.3%) Since issue #2: -40.1%
Not coming back for obvious reasons.
109- PUNISHER 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%) 07/14 Punisher v10 #8 – 25,957 ( -0.9%) 08/14 Punisher v10 #9 – 25,876 ( -0.3%) 09/14 Punisher v10 #10 – 23,680 ( -8.5%) 10/14 Punisher v10 #11 – 28,710 ( 21.2%) 11/14 Punisher v10 #12 – 21,785 ( -24.1%) 12/14 Punisher v10 #13 – 21,248 ( -2.5%) 01/15 Punisher v10 #14 – 21,382 (+ 0.4%) 02/15 Punisher v10 #15 – 19,825 (- 7.3%) 03/15 Punisher v10 #16 – 21,607 (+ 9.0%) 04/15 Punisher v10 #17 – 19,762 (- 8.5%) 05/15 Punisher v10 #18 – 19,563 (- 1.0%) 06/15 Punisher v10 #19 – 22,860 (+16.9%) Since issue #2: -27.9
The effect of the Last Days banner is a little less powerful here.
111- MOON KNIGHT 12/11 Moon Knight v4 #8 - 24,626 --- 03/14 Moon Knight v5 #1 - 58,022 ( --- ) 04/14 Moon Knight v5 #2 - 40,885 (-29.5%) 05/14 Moon Knight v5 #3 - 42,607 ( 4.2%) 06/14 Moon Knight v5 #4 - 40,348 ( -5.3%) 07/14 Moon Knight v5 #5 - 38,630 ( -4.3%) 08/14 Moon Knight v5 #6 - 37,646 ( -2.5%) 09/14 Moon Knight v5 #7 - 35,630 ( -5.4%) 10/14 Moon Knight v5 #8 - 32,434 ( -9.0%) 11/14 Moon Knight v5 #9 - 28,739 (-11.4%) 12/14 Moon Knight v5 #10 - 26,633 ( -7.3%) 01/15 Moon Knight v5 #11 - 24,464 ( -8.1%) 02/15 Moon Knight v5 #12 - 23,486 ( -4.0%) 03/15 Moon Knight v5 #13 - 22,871 ( -2.6%) 04/15 Moon Knight v5 #14 - 22,303 ( -2.5%) 05/15 Moon Knight v5 #15 - 21,794 ( -2.3%) 06/15 Moon Knight v5 #16 - 21,497 ( -1.4%) Since issue #2: -47.4% Average +% TPB sales: +7.3% MOON KNIGHT TPB VOL. 02: 2,593
This volume for sure gave headaches to a huge number of writers…for a very short run.
116- SILVER SURFER 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%) 07/14 Silver Surfer v7 #4 - 32,747 ( -9.2%) 08/14 Silver Surfer v7 #5 - 31,125 ( -5.0%) 10/14 Silver Surfer v7 #6 - 28,052 ( -9.9%) 11/14 Silver Surfer v7 #7 - 25,759 ( -8.2%) --- 01/15 Silver Surfer #8 - 23,420 (-9.1%) 02/15 Silver Surfer #9 - 21,716 (-7.3%) 03/15 Silver Surfer #10- 21,100 (-2.8%) 04/15 Silver Surfer #11- 20,776 (-1.5%) --- 06/15 Silver Surfer #12- 20,704 (-0.3%) Since issue #2: -47.1%
Helas, this one is soon over. Products with a better margin are waiting to take its slot.
SILVER SURFER TPB VOL. 2: 2,131 120p, $16, cents per page: 13.3 Average +% TPB sales #6-10: +8.3%
A new volume is out and is selling quite OK. Silver Surfer is more popular in TPB form than in its floppy edition.-78
120- WHERE MONSTERS DWELL LTD 05/15 Where Monsters Dwell Ltd #1 – 26,574 06/15 Where Monsters Dwell Ltd #2 – 20,078 (-24.4%)
Doing quite well, as it stays above the 20K. Silver Age monsters will come back post SW with Howling Commandos of SHIELD, a new series with some characters from Ms Deadpool and the Howling Commandos.
121- 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%) 05/14 Loki #4 - 26,012 ( -7.0%) 06/14 Loki #5 - 24,794 ( -4.7%) 09/14 Loki #6 - 25,131 ( 1.4%)(Axis) 10/14 Loki #7 - 25,430 ( 1.2%)(Axis) 11/14 Loki #8 - 23,333 ( -8.2%)(Axis) 12/14 Loki #9 - 21,697 ( -7.0%)(Axis) 01/15 Loki #10- 19,856 ( - 8.5%) 02/15 Loki #11- 18,623 ( - 6.2%) 03/15 Loki #12- 17,940 ( -3.7%) 04/15 Loki #13- 17,212 ( -4.0%) 05/15 Loki #14- 21,904 ( +27.3%) 06/15 Loki #15- 19,956 ( -8.9%) --- Since issue #2: -21.7% Average +% TPB sales #6-11: +8.3% LOKI TPB VOL. 02: 2,092
Oddly enough, the Last Days banner didn’t work out two months in a row like for the others titles.
122- MASTER OF KUNG-FU LTD 05/15 Master of Kung-Fu Ltd #1 – 23,407 06/15 Master of Kung-Fu Ltd #2 – 19,763 (-15.6%)
The fall is moderate but the result is here: there is not enough demand for a Shang Chi ongoing title.
123- MODOK ASSASSIN LTD 05/15 Modok Assassin Ltd #1 – 26,574 06/15 Modok Assassin Ltd #2 – 19,618 (-26.2%)
For this kind of product, those are numbers not to be ashamed of.
125- UNBEATTABLE SQUIRREL GIRL 01/15 Unbeatteable Squirrel Girl #1 - 41,693 02/15 Unbeatteable Squirrel Girl #2 – 24,621 (-40.9%) 03/15 Unbeatteable Squirrel Girl #3 – 26,586 ( +8.0%) 04/15 unbeatteable Squirrel Girl #4 – 20,987 (-21.1%) 05/15 Unbeatteable Squirrel Girl #5 – 20,088 (- 4.3%) 06/15 Unbeatteable Squirrel Girl #6 – 19,341 (- 3.7%) Since issue #2: -21.4%
Don’t worry, she’ll come back some months after SecW.
152- BUCKY BARNES WINTER SOLDIER 05/14 Winter Soldier Bitter March #4 - 19,930 --- 10/14 Bucky Barnes: Winter Solder #1 - 47,471 11/14 Bucky Barnes: Winter Solder #2 - 32,409 (-31.7%) --- 01/15 Bucky Barnes Winter Soldier #3 - 22,125 (-31,7%) 01/15 Bucky Barnes Winter Soldier #4 - 19,280 (-12,9%) 02/15 Bucky Barnes Winter Soldier #5 - 17,647 (- 8.5%) 03/15 Bucky Barnes Winter Soldier #6 - 15,150 (-14.1%) 04/15 Bucky Barnes Winter Soldier #7 - 14,779 (– 2.4%) 05/15 Bucky Barnes Winter Soldier #8 - 13,646 (- 7.7%) 06/15 Bucky Barnes Winter Soldier #9 - 12,850 (- 5.8%) Since issue #2: -60.4% Average +% TPB Sales #1-5: +5.2% B.B. WINTER SOLDIER TOP VOL.1: 1,682
This one just fell over its -60% loss of readers since issue #2. It’s gonna crawl in a corner and hide forever.
162- DIRECTORS CUT ($6) 06/15 Star Wars Directors Cut – 11,323 06/15 Darth Vader Directors Cut – 10,273
Money, money, money…
192- DEATHLOK 12/09 Deathlok #2 – 14,059 --- 10/14 Deathlok #1 – 43,991 11/14 Deathlok #2 – 20,883 (-52.5%) 12/14 Deathlok #3 – 18,112 (-13.3%) 01/15 Deathlok #4 – 14,498 (-20.0%) 02/15 Deathlok #5 – 12,053 (-16.9%) 03/15 Deathlok #6 – 10,066 (-16.5%) 04/15 Deathlok #7 – 9,871 (- 1.9%) 05/15 Deathlok #8 – 8,931 (- 9.5%) 06/15 Deathlok #9 - 8,757 (- 1.9%) Since issue #2: -58.1% Average +% TPB Sales #1-5: +4.7% DEATHLOK TPV VOL.1 : 980
Vision will have his own series post SW so Marvel is not giving up on its “Marvel Tech ” characters.
214- BIG THUNDER MOUTAIN ROAD LTD 03/15 Big Thunder Moutain Road Ltd #1 of 5– 17,567 04/15 Big Thunder Moutain Road Ltd #2 of 5– 11,231 (-36.1%) 05/15 Big Thunder Moutain Road Ltd #3 of 5- 8,407 (-25.1%) 06/15 Big Thunder Moutain Road Ltd #4 of 5- 7,855 (- 6.6%)
When you have nothing to say about something….
222- MU ULT SPIDER-MAN WEB WARRIORS 06/14 MUU Spider-Man #27 – 4,713 ( -1.0%) 10/14 --- 11/14 MUU Spider-Man WW #1 – 6,343 ( -1.0%) 12/14 MUU Spider-Man WW #2 – 5,063 ( -20.2%) 01/15 MUU Spider-Man WW #3 - 4,873 (-3,8%) ? ? ? 05/15 MUU Spider-Man WW #7 - 4,843 06/15 MUU Spider-Man WW #8 - 7,383 (+52.4%) Since issue #2: +45.8%
What do you think provided this series with sales better than its launch? Deadpool again! Making an all-ages book of Deadpool would seem like the next step, but it’s probably not easy to write one while keeping the essence of the character. MUU Spider-man will be relaunched post SW as Spidey. For the first time, Marvel made the effort to promote its all-age title with a media announcement…. and quite a bunch of people were surprised: “Oh, one shot stories, with a young Peter Parker and iconic classic villains, what a revolution!”. This has been the definition of the previous volumes of the all-ages Spider-Man title of the last 12 years. So nothing new under the sun here, except that at last, Marvel is making efforts to promote an all-age title to the wider audience. That’s good, because Spider-Man Adventures had been an outstanding title for many years…. and nobody was talking about it or buying it.
232- GEORGE ROMERO EMPIRE OF THE DEAD: ACT THREE LTD 01/14 Act One #1 of 5 - 24,515 ... 06/14 Act One #5 of 5 – 13,924 ( -6.3%) ... 09/14 Act Two #1 of 5 – 13,163 ( -5.5%) ... 01/15 Act Two #5 of 5 - 7,780 (-6,6%) … 04/15 Act 3 #1 of 5 - 8,623 05/15 Act 3 #2 of 5 - 7,191 (-16.6%) 06/15 Act 3 #3 of 5 - 6,827 (- 5.1%)
I used all my saliva on the previous comment.
248-MAX RIDE FIRST FLIGHT LTD 04/15 Max Ride First Flight Ltd #1 of 5– 16,317 04/15 Max Ride First Flight Ltd #2 of 5– 8,638 (-47.1%) --- 06/15 Max Ride First Flight Ltd #3 of 5– 6,246 (-27.7%)
At this rate, finding the last two floppy issues of this one in a US shop will be a real challenge!
Thanks for reading until the end! Hope to see you next time. Feel free to comment!
Xavier Lancel, born 1973 in France, living in the beautiful city of Lyon, has been working since 1999 for Scarce, one of the longest running fanzine on US comics (32 years old!). He is the new editor of the magazine since 2008. He also runs two blogs, one devoted to Ernie Colon and the other devoteded to barechested men in comics. He sometimes appear as a comics character (because French people are funny-weird) in strips by Tim Fish.
“It should sell like pancakes in bookstores.”
You mean, “It should sell like hotcakes in bookstores.”
Wait a minute… hotcakes don’t sell in bookstores…
This was great! It appears to me that your commentary has somewhat muted but nonetheless thank you for this list. I think it is very smart to compare the numbers to issue #2s because of the overinflation of orders for #1s. Great job!
One day or another, I will translate a french expression word by word in english and everybody will wander what I’m talking about :p
Oh, and I suppose that the House of M floppy collection is in the Graphic Novel top 300 instead of the floppy one for the same reason than the one you mentionnend about Night Nurse in the last analysis, aka the presence of a code specific to bookstores.
Il est comme un Juif parlant chinois! N’est-ce pas? [hmm… the spellchecker only stumbles over “parlant”…]
Or as the Turks say, “Konuya Fransız kaldım!”
HOUSE OF HEM had an EAN…
Maybe Marvel is doing this so it stays in stock at the Diamond warehouse longer?
Justin: seeing that this analysis was written weeks before the bad feedback on the May analysis, I can assure you that it didn’t change the way I wrote this specific column.
Thanks for the #2 comment, that’s something I really wanted to change once taking over.
“See what I was saying about X-Men’92? How could it outsell this, a retelling of the X-Men best storyline?”
Doesn’t seem that surprising. The whole “X-Men in a future dystopia” bit been revisited a couple dozen times or so since the original in various What-Ifs, AU’s, and knock-offs of the original story. Can’t imagine anyone was just dying for yet another one. Meanwhile, a lot of folks have a lot of fondness for the old 90’s X-Men cartoon. Seems like every 3rd Marvel fan I talk to got into comics thanks to that show, even all these years down the line.
“The $5 price tag is less predominant this month but the test worked: customers are ready to pay $5 for, not caviar in a nice box, but paté wrapped in journal paper: you’ll have to do your own cover, cut the ads and add the still missing 2 pages that were lost “to keep the prices low “…”
So what comics with 20 pages have actually sold for $5? It’s not like I love any raised prices, but the $5 comics I’m aware of, Marvel has all made oversized. Years of Future past #1, for instance, had 30 story pages. That’s one and a half comic for one and a quarter of the price–considering your interest in price per page, that’s an odd omission.
“I’m more than baffled by this. 1992 was probably one of the worst period for X-Men: Chris Claremont was out, the team was divided into gold and blue teams, there was never ending crossovers, ugly art design with pouches, jackets, guns and claws everywhere….and people are nostalgic for that?!”
People are nostalgic for the ’92 animated series, which this book emulates and which recruited an uncanny amount of new X-fans.
Oh, it was that popular on your side of the ocean? I haven’t seen any full episode of that show, so I couldn’t tell if X-en 92 was closer to in tone to the comics or to the show (itself close to the comics).
Niels: Oh, of course the $5 have more story. I don’t have access to all those $5 marvel issues so I don’t know if they all have , as you said, 30pages of story so couldn’t say for sure how many pages of art there was for this price. But even with 30pages of story, that’s still a price per page higher than 20pages/2.99$ comics at other companies, so no real wonders here.
The real test was to still sell in huge quantity with a higher than usual cover price, no matter how many pages of art you have. The test worked.
Spider-ladies seam to be in free fall, will be interesting to see how things change (or stay the same) after relaunch.
You didn’t realize the X-Men Animated Series was popular?
Yes, all the $5 comics are bigger.
There’s only two companies left that sell things for $3 and one of them is slowly going away from it. $4 is the new norm, by far.
SHIELD #7 had a Mr Hyde/Daisy Johnson issue, thus why a few more people bought it.
X-Men cartoon… you mean the one where Wolverine, the Canadian, had an Australian accent? }]
Okay, Marvel, if that’s such a big success, then I want to see similar comics based on your other animated series. Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, for example, which featured the FIRST appearances of the X-Men in a cartoon, if I remember correctly.
Also, Teen Thing. Have him meet Teen Hulk, from Crazy.
Hey… why not an event with the Crazy universe?
Oh, the X-Men were selling like gangbusters in 1992. FAR more than during the much better Claremont/Byrne run! And the animated series made it sell even more.
I didn’t like the series nor the book at the time, but I’m sure the children all over the world were loving it. Quite a lot of X-Men fans I know (including most of the women!) started buying then.
No, the 1992 one
01/15 Ant-Man #1 – 73,370
02/15 Ant-Man #2 – 40,192 (-45.2%)
03/15 Ant-Man #3 – 37,139 (- 7.6%)
04/15 Ant-Man #4 – 31,637 (-14.8%)
05/15 Ant-Man #5 – 83,095 (+162.7%)
– Uhm, what’s up with #5? Is that right? You sort gloss over such a huge gain, if it’s real???
Check the previous month analysis comments,. I did notice it but had no explanation for it then. Seems that this #5 was art of a special deal, not sure if it explains it.
I love that you include a price per printed page and that you raise the issue of price for the comic books we buy: please keep doing this; I am big on getting value for my hard earned money!
Days of future past is one of the best X-Men comics, but this spin off is so bad, it makes any X-Men comic published in the 90s look good.
A few quick points.
1. It certainly looks like the “make a female version of a male Marvel superhero” trend MIGHT indeed be over.
2. When will Marvel (and DC) learn that by making their characters less unique by creating redundant versions of their characters that they end up (a) hurting sales of comics featuring the characters that they are knockoffs of and (b) taking up shelf space with books featuring redundant knockoff characters that most readers feel less inclined to buy. There is no logical reason why Marvel should put out several featuring heroes with spider powers.
3. I’ll probally catch a lot of hell for this, but frankly I don’t give a damn. I think that one of the (but not the only) reasons for the declining sales of ALL NEW X-MEN is SOME FAN backlash towards the decision to retcon Iceman into being gay. I think that a lot of fans are against these kinds of retcons.
4. An all ages Deadpool comic can, and has been made, without changing or watering down the character. People tend to forget that up until the Jemas/Quesada regime solo books featuring Punisher,Wolverine, and Deadpool were all CCA approved all ages comics. In fact, most Marvel comics (with the exception of graphic novels,some prestige format mini series,the Marvel Magazine line,the Epic Comics mini series featuring Marvel characters,the short lived relaunched STRANGE TALES anthology series,the TYPHOID MARY Marvel Select mini series,the CARNAGE one shot by Warren Ellis,and Garth Ennis first Marvel Knights PUNISHER maxi series) were suitable for and aimed at all ages. “All ages” doesn’t mean “only for little kids”, it means layered stories for people of all ages.
Thanks for commenting Blad,e interesting points. Let me react on some:
1- I’m not sure the female leading trend might be over or weakening yet. We still have female Thor in a very good health, Ms Marvel the blockbuster and perhaps, who knows, A-Force who’s gonna stand up. The female spider trend might wear out a little but, 3 (three!!) different books on spider-like characters, that was perhaps a bit tooo much! But it’s too soon to talk about a real wearing of the trend: customers have been sollicitated by Marvel to spend their money on a lot of other comics, so perhaps those books have been hurted by that.
2- The fact is that you can’t really blame them for doing it a little, seeing how anything new is sure at 90% to bite the dust. The thing is to find the limit and not overwhelm the audience. They made it right with Deadpool. It’s very successfull , but they are not overdoing it. For other things, they completly went crazy (the whole Avengers teams thing) and you’re right, probably hurt in the long term the original franchise by doing it.
The fact is those “knock-offs” usually sell quite well if they take the place of the original for some time. This way, they have a chance to be successfull, and to emigrate some time later in their own title once the original character is back. Otherwise, launched directly into their title, they might have tanked. After that, it’s all in the hand of the writers and editors, to make those characters really stand out and be their own.
3- Uh? Where have you seen that sales of All new x-men are going down? I think there has been only one issue released since the out-of-the-closet, and it did not tanked. Sales were actually up with reorders for the coming out issue. So of course, they went back to what they were after. And please, that’s not a retcon. One of my last boyfriend has been living with a wife for years, had a kid, before he decided he would prefer to spend his love life with men from now on. He did not catch any disease that turned him mad or hadn’t be retconned. That’s life.
4- I wasn’t talking about the age ratification of the marvel titles but more about a “real” all-age titles like Marvel Adventures, or the MU spider-man and avengers titles that you can see at the bottom of the top300. Those comics are packaged after their floppy release in small traveler editions that you can find everywhere, especially in public libraries. You’re right, all ages doesn’t mean only for litttle kids and, as I said last month, this line of All-ages titles has been, for the most part, an incredible joy to read for me as an adult. There was enought meat in them for both kids and adults.
Xavier, great column, esp. your commentary. It’s refreshing to read someone question Marvel’s motives, because most websites (even Comicsbeat) think Marvel can do no wrong.
I’m not surprised Runaways sold so low, since it’s not the REAL Runaways (Nico, Chase, Molly etc.) It’s a shame Marvel still won’t publish a series with the original team, esp. when their female majority would suit their post-SW slate of female-led books.
SCARCE- Xavier Lancel says:
08/16/2015 at 4:20 am
Thanks for commenting Blad,e interesting points. Let me react on some:
1- I’m not sure the female leading trend might be over or weakening yet. We still have female Thor in a very good health, Ms Marvel the blockbuster and perhaps, who knows, A-Force who’s gonna stand up. The female spider trend might wear out a little but, 3 (three!!) different books on spider-like characters, that was perhaps a bit tooo much! But it’s too soon to talk about a real wearing of the trend: customers have been sollicitated by Marvel to spend their money on a lot of other comics, so perhaps those books have been hurted by that.
2- The fact is that you can’t really blame them for doing it a little, seeing how anything new is sure at 90% to bite the dust. The thing is to find the limit and not overwhelm the audience. They made it right with Deadpool. It’s very successfull , but they are not overdoing it. For other things, they completly went crazy (the whole Avengers teams thing) and you’re right, probably hurt in the long term the original franchise by doing it.
The fact is those “knock-offs” usually sell quite well if they take the place of the original for some time. This way, they have a chance to be successfull, and to emigrate some time later in their own title once the original character is back. Otherwise, launched directly into their title, they might have tanked. After that, it’s all in the hand of the writers and editors, to make those characters really stand out and be their own.
3- Uh? Where have you seen that sales of All new x-men are going down? I think there has been only one issue released since the out-of-the-closet, and it did not tanked. Sales were actually up with reorders for the coming out issue. So of course, they went back to what they were after. And please, that’s not a retcon. One of my last boyfriend has been living with a wife for years, had a kid, before he decided he would prefer to spend his love life with men from now on. He did not catch any disease that turned him mad or hadn’t be retconned. That’s life.
4- I wasn’t talking about the age ratification of the marvel titles but more about a “real” all-age titles like Marvel Adventures, or the MU spider-man and avengers titles that you can see at the bottom of the top300. Those comics are packaged after their floppy release in small traveler editions that you can find everywhere, especially in public libraries. You’re right, all ages doesn’t mean only for litttle kids and, as I said last month, this line of All-ages titles has been, for the most part, an incredible joy to read for me as an adult. There was enought meat in them for both kids and adults.
__________________________________________
1. Female Thor worked because (a) it was the first out the gate (even though the idea itself is unoriginal) (b) the mainstream news media helped bring in the droves of idiot speculators and (c) A lot of fans seem to like the book.
2. I agree. That being said, I use to work at a comic shop for several years, so I know how these things often (but not always) play out. The over exposure of popular characters and making popular characters less unique by creating a bunch of redundant knockoffs will eventually (be it in the short term or the long term) will kill the popularity and selling power of those characters.
3. You are right, it’s too soon for me to say that the retconning of Iceman from straight to gay, has hurt sales on the series. As for sales being up on the coming out issue, that was to be suspected because the news of Iceman coming out hit the mainstream news media and drew out the idiot speculators. Sales often rise on “controversial” or “historical” issues of a comic that get covered by the mainstream news media. And the reason why Iceman being gay is a retcon is because the character was never intended to be or was shown being gay. The whole thing about Iceman being gay originated from idiot fans who thought that he was gay because he had “problems keeping a girlfriend”. Those idiots stereotyped gay people by painting them with a broad brush. They were too dumb to realize that the reason why Iceman kept breaking up with his girlfriends was NOT because he was gay, but because the books he was in were canceled or because the writers of the books he was in left the book and were replaced by new writers who decided to either go in another direction or write Iceman out of the book. Despite what some fans and creators might believe, these characters DO NOT write themselves. Also, since we have sen his thoughts and feelings in past comics, we all know that Iceman is not (and was never meant to be gay). Anyone who says otherwise, is reading way too much into things.
4. OK, I understand now.
“the news of Iceman coming out hit the mainstream news media and drew out the idiot speculators.”
You do realize people might just be genuinely interested in the comic, yes?
“These characters DO NOT write themselves. Also, since we have sen his thoughts and feelings in past comics”
Self-contradiction much?
Skottie says:
08/19/2015 at 1:21 am
“the news of Iceman coming out hit the mainstream news media and drew out the idiot speculators.”
You do realize people might just be genuinely interested in the comic, yes?
_______________________
For some of the people who brought that issue, that is most likely true. However, I’m willing to bet that most of the people who brought that issue were idiot speculators who were buying that issue because they think it will be “worth something” in 10 to 20 years. I used to work at a comic shop and I have seen this kind of idiocy numerous times.
Skottie says:
08/19/2015 at 1:22 am
“These characters DO NOT write themselves. Also, since we have sen his thoughts and feelings in past comics”
Self-contradiction much?
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Nope. We saw in the original comics written by Lee, that Iceman liked and dated girls. The people who wrote the character after Lee understood that he was straight which is why they showed in his feelings and thoughts that he liked women. Funny how some fans (and fans turned pro) like to create some fabricated reason to prove that he is gay based on his relationships with his past girlfriends ending due to either creative changes or the cancellation of the books that he is in, but they seem to ignore what was actually shown and written in the actual comics. That, IMO, is insanity.
Blade, in his first mini, Iceman had a fall down with his dad that resonated probably for a lot of people with how gay sons have sometimes to deal with their parents.
And you seem to completly forget how Iceman was attracted to Cloud in New Defenders, Cloud who would turn sometimes into a naked man.
And I seem to remember something with Northstar falling in love with Iceman during Chuck Austen’s run.
You can like women and be troubled by men, there is nothing antinomic about that.
SCARCE- Xavier Lancel says:
08/19/2015 at 3:30 pm
Blade, in his first mini, Iceman had a fall down with his dad that resonated probably for a lot of people with how gay sons have sometimes to deal with their parents.
And you seem to completly forget how Iceman was attracted to Cloud in New Defenders, Cloud who would turn sometimes into a naked man.
And I seem to remember something with Northstar falling in love with Iceman during Chuck Austen’s run.
You can like women and be troubled by men, there is nothing antinomic about that.
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1. That fallout Iceman had with his dad in that mini series had nothing to do with him being gay. You are seeing things in a comic that aren’t there i order to prove that Iceman was always gay. Sometimes an apple is just an apple.
2. And I haven’t “completely forgotten” the whole Iceman being attracted to Cloud when he thought that she was only a FEMALE. However, you seem to have forgotten that Iceman was freaked out when he learned that she also had a male form. Again, you are seeing things in a story that isn’t there in order to prove that Iceman was always gay.
3. Just because Northstar was attracted to Iceman (I don’t think that he fell in love with him), doesn’t mean that Iceman was gay. In fact, what you are saying comes off as incorrectly labeling anyone as gay (or bi or lesbian) just because someone of the same sex finds them attractive.
So many relaunches. Uncanny Avengers about to hit volume 3! Can you believe it?
Secret Wars has been a giant ‘What If’ schamozzle really. I’m not reading the parent title, and I’m only reading three of the tie-ins. I look forward to the days of stability and no crossover events, but that isn’t going to happen with Marvel.
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