By Paul O’Brien
After a quiet May, things pick up a bit this month. The big event of the month, of course, was CAPTAIN AMERICA #600. Meanwhile, Dark Reign continued to sprawl over the rest of the Marvel Universe. The more notable tie-ins include WOLVERINE’s relaunch as DARK WOLVERINE, and the start of a crossover between UNCANNY X-MEN and DARK AVENGERS.
It’s a quiet month for new titles, though, with only one new book – the fortnightly X-MEN FOREVER.
Once again, Marvel had the largest share of the North American direct market by a comfortable margin. They beat DC by 51% to 29% in units, and 45% to 27% in dollars.
Thanks as always to ICV2.com for permission to use these figures.
2. CAPTAIN AMERICA
06/04 Captain America #27 - 36,212
06/05 Captain America #7 - 47,160
06/06 Captain America #19 - 47,315
06/07 Captain America #27 - 99,108
=====
06/08 Captain America #39 - 79,387 ( +0.0%)
07/08 Captain America #40 - 79,317 ( -0.0%)
08/08 Captain America #41 - 85,035 ( +7.2%)
09/08 Captain America #42 - 75,574 ( -11.1%)
10/08 Captain America #43 - 72,405 ( -4.2%)
11/08 Captain America #44 - 75,493 ( +4.3%)
12/08 Captain America #45 - 71,186 ( -5.7%)
01/09 Captain America #46 - 73,184 ( +2.8%)
02/09 Captain America #47 - 62,850 ( -14.1%)
03/09 Captain America #48 - 62,108 ( -1.2%)
04/09 Captain America #49 - 63,874 ( +2.8%)
05/09 Captain America #50 - 72,708 ( +13.8%)
06/09 Captain America #600 - 112,287 ( +54.4%)
6 mnth ( +57.7%)
1 year ( +41.4%)
2 year ( +13.3%)
3 year (+137.3%)
4 year (+138.1%)
5 year (+210.1%)
Ah, comics. Where else would you find consecutive issues numbered #50 and #600? (When Marvel use a number, it means just what they choose it to mean, neither more nor less.)
Anyway, this was plainly Marvel’s biggest release of the month, promoted heavily (if elliptically) as a book that retailers really might want to consider ordering in very large quantities indeed. Marvel even offered to ship the book early, to tie in with expected media coverage.
Evidently, a lot of retailers took the bait. However, the media coverage turned out to be more concerned with the upcoming REBORN series. Now, it’s worth bearing in mind that the Diamond chart only deals with sales to retailers – it doesn’t tell us how many copies were sold on to customers. With an established title, the retailers should be able to make a fairly educated guess; with a book like this, the room for error is a lot higher.
A second printing of issue #50 adds another 5,780 to its sales; as usual, they’re added to the number above.
3. DARK AVENGERS/UNCANNY X-MEN: UTOPIA 06/09 Utopia - 97,680
The first part of a six-part crossover between DARK AVENGERS and UNCANNY X-MEN. This came out in the last week of June, so the crossover won’t reach the regular titles until the July chart.
This book had art by Marc Silvestri, and 1:20 variant covers by Jae Lee and Simone Bianchi. It does slightly better than DARK AVENGERS, which tends to suggest that the X-Men will see most of the gain from this crossover. Then again, we’ve seen before that the Avengers books tend not to benefit as much as you might expect from crossovers – presumably because the Avengers titles are already positioned as lynchpins of the Marvel Universe, and potential crossover readers are buying them already.
5,6. DARK AVENGERS 01/09 Dark Avengers #1 - 139,239 02/09 Dark Avengers #2 - 102,277 (-26.5%) 03/09 Dark Avengers #3 - 101,978 ( -0.3%) 04/09 Dark Avengers #4 - 99,694 ( -2.2%) 05/09 --- 06/09 Dark Avengers #5 - 95,746 ( -4.0%) 06/09 Dark Avengers #6 - 93,634 ( -2.2%)
Two issues this month, as the book gets back on schedule. There’s also a second printing for issue #4, which shifts 3,840 copies to make the chart at number 281. Allowing for that, DARK AVENGERS seems to be stabilising fairly quickly.
7. NEW AVENGERS
06/04 Avengers #84 - 57,073
06/05 New Avengers #6 - 161,575
06/06 New Avengers #21 - 134,278
06/07 New Avengers #31 - 160,911
=====
06/08 New Avengers #42 - 108,495 ( -0.6%)
07/08 New Avengers #43 - 108,751 ( +0.2%)
08/08 New Avengers #44 - 106,385 ( -2.2%)
09/08 New Avengers #45 - 103,326 ( -2.9%)
10/08 New Avengers #46 - 99,513 ( -3.7%)
11/08 ---
12/08 New Avengers #47 - 95,703 ( -3.8%)
12/08 New Avengers #48 - 95,688 ( -0.0%)
01/09 New Avengers #49 - 94,291 ( -1.5%)
02/09 New Avengers #50 - 106,831 (+13.3%)
03/09 New Avengers #51 - 95,340 (-10.8%)
04/09 New Avengers #52 - 93,975 ( -1.4%)
05/09 New Avengers #53 - 94,367 ( +0.4%)
06/09 New Avengers #54 - 88,067 ( -6.7%)
6 mnth ( -8.0%)
1 year (-18.8%)
2 year (-45.3%)
3 year (-34.4%)
4 year (-45.5%)
5 year (+54.3%)
Curious. This issue did have a 1:15 variant cover, as usual. As near as I can make out, the drop is because the variant shipped a week late, and fell into the first week of July. If that’s right, then the missing copies will probably show up next month.
8. ULTIMATUM
11/08 Ultimatum #1 of 5 - 117,803
12/08 Ultimatum #2 of 5 - 97,138 (-17.5%)
01/09 ---
02/09 ---
03/09 Ultimatum #3 of 5 - 83,266 (-14.3%)
04/09 ---
05/09 ---
06/09 Ultimatum #4 of 5 - 87,339 ( +4.9%)
6 mnth (-10.1%)
Belatedly, ULTIMATUM seems to be gathering momentum. The first three issues all reappear on the July chart, adding 3,564 copies of issue #1, 4,165 to issue #2, and 3,827 to issue #3. Unusually for a miniseries, sales actually went up in June. There are several variant covers, but the same could have been said for the previous issue – so it looks like the book really is picking up steam. That’s a promising sign for the relaunch of the Ultimate imprint, which ULTIMATUM leads into.
11,16. WOLVERINE / DARK WOLVERINE
06/04 Wolverine #16 - 67,519
06/05 Wolverine #29 - 79,951
06/06 Wolverine #43 - 97,807
06/07 ---
=====
06/08 Wolverine #66 - 117,456 (+88.1%)
07/08 Wolverine #67 - 101,889 (-13.3%)
08/08 Wolverine #68 - 97,325 ( -4.5%)
09/08 ---
10/08 ---
11/08 Wolverine #69 - 93,914 ( -3.5%)
12/08 Wolverine #70 - 98,915 ( +5.3%)
01/09 ---
02/09 ---
03/09 Wolverine #71 - 91,229 ( -7.8%)
04/09 ---
05/09 Wolverine #72 - 87,075 ( -4.6%)
05/09 Wolverine #73 - 83,324 ( -4.3%)
06/09 Wolverine #74 - 66,186 (-20.6%)
06/09 Dark Wolverine #75 - 80,780 (+22.0%)
6 mnth (-18.3%)
1 year (-31.2%)
2 year ( --- )
3 year (-17.4%)
4 year ( +1.0%)
5 year (+19.6%)
Two issues this month. Issue #74 is the second half of a two-part fill-in story, which gets the sales you’d expect from such a thing – even allowing for Adam Kubert’s invovement. To be honest, it’s more of a surprise that issue #73 held up so well.
With issue #75, the book is re-titled as DARK WOLVERINE. It’s actually a solo series for Wolverine’s son Daken, a supporting character from WOLVERINE: ORIGINS and a member of the Dark Avengers. Given Marvel’s recent history, this could be a short-lived name-change. But bearing in mind that the new WOLVERINE: WEAPON X series was launched at roughly the same time, it could equally well be a genuine soft launch of a new ongoing title, similar to Iron Man and Hercules.
Sales return to something approaching the territory of Mark Millar and Steve McNiven’s run. Allowing for the fact that this isn’t really a Wolverine series any more, and that Daken’s personal drawing power remains untested, it’s a respectable start.
12,14. UNCANNY X-MEN
06/04 Uncanny X-Men #445 - 98,660
06/05 Uncanny X-Men #461 - 91,221
06/06 Uncanny X-Men #474 - 78,140
06/07 Uncanny X-Men #487 - 81,481
=====
06/08 Uncanny X-Men #499 - 81,100 ( -1.2%)
07/08 Uncanny X-Men #500 - 160,876 (+98.4%)
08/08 Uncanny X-Men #501 - 85,398 (-46.9%)
09/08 Uncanny X-Men #502 - 82,883 ( -2.9%)
10/08 Uncanny X-Men #503 - 87,196 ( +5.2%)
11/08 Uncanny X-Men #504 - 77,773 (-10.8%)
12/08 Uncanny X-Men #505 - 82,271 ( +5.8%)
01/09 ---
02/09 Uncanny X-Men #506 - 71,684 (-12.9%)
03/09 Uncanny X-Men #507 - 77,957 ( +8.8%)
04/09 Uncanny X-Men #508 - 76,442 ( -1.9%)
04/09 Uncanny X-Men #509 - 69,185 ( -9.5%)
05/09 Uncanny X-Men #510 - 75,139 ( +8.6%)
06/09 Uncanny X-Men #511 - 71,148 ( -5.3%)
06/09 Uncanny X-Men #512 - 76,283 ( +7.2%)
6 mnth ( -7.3%)
1 year ( -5.9%)
2 year ( -6.4%)
3 year ( -2.4%)
4 year (-16.4%)
5 year (-22.7%)
Two issues this month, and UNCANNY might have turned the corner. Unusually for this book, issue #511 has only one cover. The last mono-covered issue was #509 in April, and sales are up.
Issue #512 has a 1:10 variant, which makes it harder to decipher. For what it’s worth, it’s slightly up from issue #510, which had a 1:15 variant. But perhaps people just like the “decades” covers more.
Next month, the “Utopia” crossover gets underway, which is sure to boost sales further.
15. THOR
06/04 Thor #81 - 32,517
06/05 ---
06/06 ---
06/07 ---
=====
06/08 ---
07/08 Thor #10 - 83,784 ( -3.8%)
08/08 ---
09/08 ---
10/08 Thor #11 - 78,673 ( -6.1%)
11/08 ---
12/08 Thor #12 - 73,784 ( -6.2%)
01/09 ---
02/09 Thor #600 - 96,718 ( +31.1%)
03/09 ---
04/09 Thor #601 - 82,742 ( -14.5%)
05/09 ---
06/09 Thor #602 - 69,568 ( -15.3%)
6 mnth ( -5.7%)
1 year ( --- )
2 year ( --- )
3 year ( --- )
4 year ( --- )
5 year (+113.9%)
Much healthier than it might first appear. Sales shot up in February for issue #600, which also had a horde of variants. The book was never going to hold on to all of those extra sales. As for issue #601, that still had a variant cover. Issue #602 doesn’t, so the fairest comparison is to look back to issue #12 in December. And by that standard, it’s holding up pretty well.
17,22. MIGHTY AVENGERS
06/07 ---
=====
06/08 Mighty Avengers #15 - 94,014 ( -1.3%)
07/08 Mighty Avengers #16 - 96,252 ( +2.4%)
08/08 Mighty Avengers #17 - 92,950 ( -3.4%)
09/08 Mighty Avengers #18 - 90,799 ( -2.3%)
10/08 Mighty Avengers #19 - 87,258 ( -3.9%)
11/08 ---
12/08 Mighty Avengers #20 - 86,085 ( -1.3%)
01/09 ---
02/09 Mighty Avengers #21 - 76,247 (-11.4%)
02/09 Mighty Avengers #22 - 72,865 ( -4.4%)
03/09 Mighty Avengers #23 - 71,333 ( -2.1%)
04/09 Mighty Avengers #24 - 68,231 ( -4.3%)
05/09 ---
06/09 Mighty Avengers #25 - 65,010 ( -4.7%)
06/09 Mighty Avengers #26 - 63,178 ( -2.8%)
6 mnth (-26.6%)
1 year (-32.8%)
2 year ( --- )
Two issues this month, thanks to the May issue coming out late. No great surprises here – sales are still drifting down.
18. ASTONISHING X-MEN
06/04 Astonishing X-Men #2 - 133,784
06/05 ---
06/06 Astonishing X-Men #15 - 119,991
06/07 ---
=====
06/08 ---
07/08 Astonishing X-Men #25 - 121,974 (+15.6%)
08/08 Astonishing X-Men #26 - 94,244 (-22.7%)
09/08 ---
10/08 Astonishing X-Men #27 - 86,770 ( -7.9%)
11/08 ---
12/08 ---
01/09 Astonishing X-Men #28 - 72,610 (-16.3%)
02/09 ---
03/09 ---
04/09 Astonishing X-Men #29 - 67,774 ( -6.7%)
05/09 ---
06/09 Astonishing X-Men #30 - 64,608 ( -4.7%)
6 mnth ( --- )
1 year ( --- )
2 year ( --- )
3 year (-46.2%)
4 year ( --- )
5 year (-51.7%)
Still dropping. Plainly, ASTONISHING is no longer the flagship X-book, as it was under Joss Whedon. Nor is it particularly significant to wider continuity. It seems to have ended up as a creator-driven book on the fringes of continuity; I wouldn’t be shocked to see it doing X-MEN: LEGACY numbers before too long.
21,23,24. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
06/04 Amazing Spider-Man #509 - 88,289
06/05 Amazing Spider-Man #521 - 74,117
06/06 Amazing Spider-Man #533 - 112,982
06/07 Amazing Spider-Man #541 - 108,284
=====
06/08 Amazing Spider-Man #561 - 72,372 ( -2.2%)
06/08 Amazing Spider-Man #562 - 71,409 ( -1.3%)
06/08 Amazing Spider-Man #563 - 70,792 ( -0.9%)
07/08 Amazing Spider-Man #564 - 68,882 ( -2.7%)
07/08 Amazing Spider-Man #565 - 69,182 ( +0.4%)
07/08 Amazing Spider-Man #566 - 68,912 ( -0.4%)
08/08 Amazing Spider-Man #567 - 68,130 ( -1.1%)
08/08 Amazing Spider-Man #568 - 105,324 (+54.6%)
08/08 Amazing Spider-Man #569 - 86,432 (-17.9%)
09/08 Amazing Spider-Man #570 - 89,516 ( +3.6%)
09/08 Amazing Spider-Man #571 - 80,178 (-10.4%)
09/08 Amazing Spider-Man #572 - 80,220 ( +0.1%)
10/08 Amazing Spider-Man #573 - 82,550 ( +2.9%)
10/08 Amazing Spider-Man #574 - 69,069 (-16.3%)
10/08 Amazing Spider-Man #575 - 68,913 ( -0.2%)
11/08 Amazing Spider-Man #576 - 68,956 ( +0.1%)
11/08 Amazing Spider-Man #577 - 76,625 (+11.1%)
11/08 Amazing Spider-Man #578 - 66,564 (-13.1%)
12/08 Amazing Spider-Man #579 - 69,784 ( +4.8%)
12/08 Amazing Spider-Man #580 - 62,979 ( -9.8%)
12/08 Amazing Spider-Man #581 - 68,905 ( +9.4%)
01/09 Amazing Spider-Man #582 - 59,932 (-13.0%)
01/09 Amazing Spider-Man #583 - 525,050 (+776.1%)
01/09 Amazing Spider-Man #584 - 63,754 (-87.9%)
02/09 Amazing Spider-Man #585 - 60,286 ( -5.4%)
02/09 Amazing Spider-Man #586 - 59,521 ( -1.3%)
02/09 Amazing Spider-Man #587 - 60,118 ( +1.0%)
03/09 Amazing Spider-Man #588 - 61,334 ( +2.0%)
03/09 Amazing Spider-Man #589 - 58,832 ( -4.1%)
04/09 Amazing Spider-Man #590 - 66,415 (+12.9%)
04/09 Amazing Spider-Man #591 - 60,508 ( -8.9%)
04/09 Amazing Spider-Man #592 - 65,940 ( +9.0%)
05/09 Amazing Spider-Man #593 - 58,363 (-11.5%)
05/09 Amazing Spider-Man #594 - 58,464 ( +0.2%)
05/09 Amazing Spider-Man #595 - 71,837 (+22.9%)
06/09 Amazing Spider-Man #596 - 63,525 (-11.6%)
06/09 Amazing Spider-Man #597 - 61,646 ( -3.0%)
06/09 Amazing Spider-Man #598 - 61,585 ( -0.0%)
6 mnth ( -2.2%)
1 year (-14.9%)
2 year (-43.1%)
3 year (-45.5%)
4 year (-17.0%)
5 year (-30.2%)
No variant covers this month, but all three issues continue a Dark Reign tie-in arc. For what it’s worth, sales are up by a few thousand from the non-variant issues over the last few months.
26. X-FORCE
06/08 ---
07/08 X-Force #5 - 76,978 ( -9.2%)
08/08 X-Force #6 - 69,010 (-10.4%)
09/08 X-Force #7 - 64,911 ( -5.9%)
10/08 X-Force #8 - 59,745 ( -8.0%)
11/08 X-Force #9 - 57,241 ( -4.2%)
12/08 X-Force #10 - 58,801 ( +2.7%)
01/09 X-Force #11 - 51,817 (-11.9%)
02/09 X-Force #12 - 51,449 ( -0.7%)
03/09 X-Force #13 - 51,797 ( +0.7%)
04/09 X-Force #14 - 62,674 (+21.0%)
05/09 X-Force #15 - 58,340 ( -6.9%)
06/09 X-Force #16 - 58,818 ( +0.8%)
6 mnth ( +0.0%)
1 year ( --- )
This is the final part of the three-month “Messiah War” crossover with CABLE, which has done pretty well.
27. X-MEN: LEGACY
06/04 New X-Men #142 - 97,897
06/05 X-Men #158 - 96,759
06/06 X-Men #187 - 77,918
06/07 X-Men #200 - 136,672
=====
06/08 X-Men: Legacy #213 - 71,893 ( -2.9%)
07/08 X-Men: Legacy #214 - 69,863 ( -2.8%)
08/08 X-Men: Legacy #215 - 68,047 ( -2.6%)
09/08 X-Men: Legacy #216 - 66,434 ( -2.4%)
10/08 X-Men: Legacy #217 - 65,888 ( -0.8%)
11/08 X-Men: Legacy #218 - 63,512 ( -3.6%)
12/08 X-Men: Legacy #219 - 60,587 ( -4.6%)
01/09 X-Men: Legacy #220 - 59,286 ( -2.1%)
02/09 X-Men: Legacy #221 - 56,517 ( -4.7%)
03/09 X-Men: Legacy #222 - 55,606 ( -1.6%)
04/09 X-Men: Legacy #223 - 71,935 (+29.4%)
05/09 X-Men: Legacy #224 - 54,008 (-24.9%)
06/09 X-Men: Legacy #225 - 58,374 ( +8.1%)
6 mnth ( -3.7%)
1 year (-18.8%)
2 year (-57.3%)
3 year (-25.1%)
4 year (-39.7%)
5 year (-40.4%)
There’s a 1:10 variant cover on this issue, which presumably explains the bump.
29. ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN
06/04 Ult. Spider-Man #61 - 101,159
06/05 Ult. Spider-Man #78 - 79,420
06/06 Ult. Spider-Man #96 - 73,472
06/07 Ult. Spider-Man #110 - 73,646
=====
06/08 Ult. Spider-Man #123 - 57,187 ( +2.6%)
07/08 Ult. Spider-Man #124 - 55,262 ( -3.4%)
08/08 Ult. Spider-Man #125 - 54,746 ( -0.9%)
09/08 Ult. Spider-Man #126 - 54,604 ( -0.3%)
10/08 Ult. Spider-Man #127 - 52,584 ( -3.7%)
11/08 Ult. Spider-Man #128 - 52,187 ( -0.8%)
12/08 Ult. Spider-Man #129 - 51,071 ( -2.1%)
01/09 Ult. Spider-Man #130 - 49,637 ( -2.8%)
02/09 Ult. Spider-Man #131 - 49,565 ( -0.1%)
03/09 ---
04/09 ---
05/09 Ult. Spider-Man #132 - 50,144 ( +1.2%)
06/09 Ult. Spider-Man #133 - 57,364 (+14.4%)
6 mnth (+12.3%)
1 year ( +0.3%)
2 year (-22.1%)
3 year (-21.9%)
4 year (-27.8%)
5 year (-43.2%)
It’s the final issue, although the book is being relaunched as ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN, and there’s also the two-issue REQUIEM miniseries bridging the gap. You might think the sales rise is due to a belated surge of interest in the “Ultimatum” crossover – but a lot of it’s probably due to the 1:75 variant cover.
30. INVINCIBLE IRON MAN
06/04 Iron Man #85 - 29,615
06/05 ---
06/06 Iron Man #9 - 37,650
06/07 Iron Man #19 - 75,096
=====
06/08 Invincible Iron Man #2 - 76,001 (-37.0%)
07/08 Invincible Iron Man #3 - 66,430 (-12.6%)
08/08 Invincible Iron Man #4 - 58,154 (-12.5%)
09/08 Invincible Iron Man #5 - 60,444 ( +3.9%)
10/08 Invincible Iron Man #6 - 53,332 (-11.8%)
11/08 Invincible Iron Man #7 - 49,356 ( -7.5%)
12/08 Invincible Iron Man #8 - 56,708 (+14.9%)
01/09 Invincible Iron Man #9 - 52,364 ( -7.7%)
02/09 Invincible Iron Man #10 - 56,381 ( +7.7%)
03/09 Invincible Iron Man #11 - 52,165 ( -7.5%)
04/09 Invincible Iron Man #12 - 51,774 ( -0.7%)
05/09 Invincible Iron Man #13 - 51,311 ( -0.9%)
06/09 Invincible Iron Man #14 - 53,229 ( +3.7%)
6 mnth ( -6.1%)
1 year (-30.0%)
2 year (-29.1%)
3 year (+41.4%)
4 year ( --- )
5 year (+79.7%)
This issue continues a Dark Reign tie-in storyline, but it also has a 1:15 variant by Marc Silvestri, which would explain the jump.
33. DEADPOOL
09/08 Deadpool #1 - 75,058
09/08 Deadpool #2 - 65,400 (-12.9%)
10/08 Deadpool #3 - 61,833 ( -5.5%)
11/08 Deadpool #4 - 49,577 (-19.8%)
12/08 Deadpool #5 - 46,856 ( -5.5%)
01/09 Deadpool #6 - 46,549 ( -0.7%)
02/09 Deadpool #7 - 44,082 ( -5.3%)
03/09 Deadpool #8 - 53,109 (+20.5%)
04/09 Deadpool #9 - 54,556 ( +2.7%)
05/09 Deadpool #10 - 56,123 ( +2.9%)
06/09 Deadpool #11 - 52,285 ( -6.8%)
6 mnth (+11.6%)
The second printing of issue #10 charts at number 253, adding a respectable 5,010 to sales. That means first month sales have actually gone up slightly for issue #11. Impressive. It’s a Dark Reign tie-in, admittedly, but so were the last few issues.
34. WOLVERINE: WEAPON X 04/09 Wolverine: Weapon X #1 - 97,896 05/09 Wolverine: Weapon X #2 - 59,192 (-39.5%) 06/09 Wolverine: Weapon X #3 - 51,076 (-13.7%)
This isn’t quite as bad as it looks – issue #1 had five variant covers, so the second issue drop is easily explained. However, issues #2 and #3 each had two covers, so they’re more directly comparable – and a 14% drop on the third issue of a new title is on the steep side.
The problem here may be that nobody really believes that WOLVERINE has been turned permanently into DARK WOLVERINE, and so instead of viewing this book as the main Wolverine title, they see it as yet another Wolverine title. Of course, for all I know, perhaps it is yet another Wolverine title. If, however, they were going for a soft launch of Daken’s solo series, it might have backfired here.
35. CABLE
06/08 Cable #4 - 49,996 ( -8.7%)
07/08 Cable #5 - 46,429 ( -7.1%)
08/08 Cable #6 - 45,050 ( -3.0%)
09/08 ---
10/08 Cable #7 - 43,358 ( -3.8%)
11/08 Cable #8 - 37,315 (-13.9%)
12/08 Cable #9 - 34,527 ( -7.5%)
01/09 Cable #10 - 33,319 ( -3.5%)
02/09 Cable #11 - 31,817 ( -4.5%)
03/09 Cable #12 - 32,407 ( +1.9%)
04/09 Cable #13 - 47,638 (+47.0%)
05/09 Cable #14 - 52,245 ( +9.7%)
06/09 Cable #15 - 49,912 ( -4.5%)
6 mnth (+44.6%)
1 year ( -0.2%)
The “Messiah War” crossover with X-FORCE reaches its third and final month. The second printing of issue #14 charts at number 252, adding 5,049 to its total – so first month sales are up. The crossover has clearly been a success; the question now is whether CABLE manages to hang on to any of the extra readers.
36. FANTASTIC FOUR
06/04 Fantastic Four #70 - 53,066
06/05 Fantastic Four #528 - 55,937
06/06 Fantastic Four #538 - 78,147
06/07 Fantastic Four #547 - 69,610
=====
06/08 Fantastic Four #558 - 61,003 ( -2.8%)
07/08 ---
08/08 Fantastic Four #559 - 59,791 ( -2.0%)
09/08 Fantastic Four #560 - 58,258 ( -2.6%)
10/08 ---
11/08 Fantastic Four #561 - 61,331 ( +5.3%)
12/08 Fantastic Four #562 - 54,062 (-11.9%)
01/09 Fantastic Four #563 - 52,747 ( -2.4%)
02/09 Fantastic Four #564 - 49,520 ( -6.1%)
03/09 Fantastic Four #565 - 48,378 ( -2.3%)
04/09 ---
05/09 Fantastic Four #566 - 46,653 ( -3.6%)
06/09 Fantastic Four #567 - 46,225 ( -0.9%)
6 mnth (-14.5%)
1 year (-24.2%)
2 year (-33.6%)
3 year (-40.8%)
4 year (-17.4%)
5 year (-12.9%)
Might have levelled out, might just be the usual month-to-month variations. Millar and Hitch’s run is nearing its conclusion, anyway.
38. ULTIMATUM: SPIDER-MAN - REQUIEM 06/09 Requiem #1 of 2 - 44,988
This is an epilogue series for ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN – which is another way of saying, it’s ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #134-135, only selling 5,000 fewer copies, and costing one dollar more. At this point, what really matters is how well the relaunch does.
39. WOLVERINE: ORIGINS
06/06 Origins #3 - 116,058
06/07 Origins #15 - 65,558
=====
06/08 Origins #26 - 48,059 ( -9.2%)
07/08 Origins #27 - 47,540 ( -1.1%)
08/08 ---
09/08 Origins #28 - 49,950 ( +5.1%)
10/08 Origins #29 - 58,841 (+17.8%)
11/08 Origins #30 - 50,359 (-14.4%)
12/08 Origins #31 - 45,043 (-10.6%)
01/09 Origins #32 - 44,697 ( -0.8%)
02/09 Origins #33 - 44,935 ( +0.5%)
03/09 Origins #34 - 45,579 ( +1.4%)
04/09 Origins #35 - 44,976 ( -1.3%)
05/09 Origins #36 - 45,451 ( +1.1%)
06/09 Origins #37 - 44,930 ( -1.1%)
6 mnth ( -0.3%)
1 year ( -6.5%)
2 year (-31.5%)
3 year (-61.3%)
This book has become incredibly stable over the last six months.
40. WAR OF KINGS 03/09 War of Kings #1 of 6 - 58,709 04/09 War of Kings #2 of 6 - 50,631 (-13.8%) 05/09 War of Kings #3 of 6 - 45,560 (-10.0%) 06/09 War of Kings #4 of 6 - 43,376 ( -4.8%)
This is the core miniseries for a crossover among Marvel’s cosmic titles. Considering the sales levels of the participating titles, it’s doing very well.
41. AVENGERS/INVADERS
06/08 Avngrs/Invaders #2 of 12 - 83,012 (-23.2%)
07/08 Avngrs/Invaders #3 of 12 - 75,161 ( -9.5%)
08/08 Avngrs/Invaders #4 of 12 - 69,010 ( -8.2%)
09/08 ---
10/08 Avngrs/Invaders #5 of 12 - 63,757 ( -7.6%)
11/08 Avngrs/Invaders #6 of 12 - 56,224 (-11.8%)
12/08 Avngrs/Invaders #7 of 12 - 52,193 ( -7.2%)
01/09 ---
02/09 Avngrs/Invaders #8 of 12 - 48,319 ( -7.4%)
03/09 ---
04/09 Avngrs/Invaders #9 of 12 - 48,032 ( -0.6%)
04/09 Avngrs/Invaders #10 o/12 - 43,997 ( -8.4%)
05/09 Avngrs/Invaders #11 o/12 - 44,037 ( +0.1%)
06/09 Avngrs/Invaders #12 o/12 - 43,253 ( -1.8%)
6 mnth (-17.1%)
1 year (-47.9%)
It’s pretty common for miniseries to stabilise towards the end of their run.
42. NEW MUTANTS 05/09 New Mutants #1 - 60,972 06/09 New Mutants #2 - 43,230 (-29.1%)
The second printing of issue #1 charts at number 247, adding 5,238 in sales. That makes a total of five covers for issue #1, compared to two for issue #2. Allowing for all that, the second issue drop isn’t so bad.
44. DAREDEVIL
06/04 Daredevil #61 - 53,770
06/05 Daredevil #74 - 48,175
06/06 Daredevil #86 - 48,280
06/07 Daredevil #98 - 46,816
=====
06/08 Daredevil #108 - 39,557 ( -2.1%)
07/08 Daredevil #109 - 39,258 ( -0.8%)
08/08 Daredevil #110 - 43,362 (+10.5%)
09/08 Daredevil #111 - 46,305 ( +6.8%)
10/08 Daredevil #112 - 46,202 ( -0.2%)
11/08 Daredevil #113 - 41,200 (-10.8%)
12/08 Daredevil #114 - 44,351 ( +7.6%)
01/09 Daredevil #115 - 40,214 ( -9.3%)
02/09 ---
03/09 Daredevil #116 - 41,261 ( +2.6%)
03/09 Daredevil #117 - 41,046 ( -0.5%)
04/09 Daredevil #118 - 44,982 ( +9.6%)
05/09 ---
06/09 Daredevil #119 - 41,403 ( -8.0%)
6 mnth ( -6.6%)
1 year ( +4.7%)
2 year (-11.6%)
3 year (-14.2%)
4 year (-14.1%)
5 year (-23.0%)
Back to the usual levels after April’s variant cover blip.
45. DARK REIGN: SINISTER SPIDER-MAN 06/09 Sinister Spider-Man #1 of 4 - 40,887
Yet another Dark Reign spin-off mini. This one’s about Venom from the Dark Avengers, so it’s at the upper end of the range.
46. SECRET WARRIORS 02/09 Secret Warriors #1 - 62,764 03/09 Secret Warriors #2 - 48,086 (-23.4%) 04/09 Secret Warriors #3 - 50,126 ( +4.2%) 05/09 Secret Warriors #4 - 42,781 (-14.7%) 06/09 Secret Warriors #5 - 40,849 ( -4.5%)
Seems to be levelling out decently, once the variant blip on issue #3 is set aside.
48. AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE
06/07 Initiative #3 - 92,339
=====
06/08 Initiative #14 - 62,236 ( +9.5%)
07/08 Initiative #15 - 63,634 ( +2.2%)
08/08 Initiative #16 - 60,381 ( -5.1%)
09/08 Initiative #17 - 59,037 ( -2.2%)
10/08 Initiative #18 - 61,159 ( +3.6%)
11/08 ---
12/08 Initiative #19 - 52,558 (-14.1%)
12/08 Initiative #20 - 51,230 ( -2.5%)
01/09 Initiative #21 - 47,734 ( -6.8%)
02/09 Initiative #22 - 46,932 ( -1.7%)
03/09 ---
04/09 Initiative #23 - 45,146 ( -3.8%)
05/09 Initiative #24 - 42,510 ( -5.8%)
06/09 Initiative #25 - 40,101 ( -5.7%)
6 mnth (-21.7%)
1 year (-35.6%)
2 year (-56.6%)
The ongoing decline continues.
50. DARK TOWER
06/07 Gunslinger Born #5 of 7 - 132,090
=====
06/08 Long Road Home #4 of 5 - 79,270 ( -9.5%)
07/08 Long Road Home #5 of 5 - 74,981 ( -5.4%)
08/08 ---
09/08 Treachery #1 of 6 - 82,541 (+10.1%)
10/08 Treachery #2 of 6 - 65,732 (-20.4%)
11/08 Treachery #3 of 6 - 58,279 (-11.3%)
12/08 Treachery #4 of 6 - 53,735 ( -7.8%)
01/09 Treachery #5 of 6 - 50,683 ( -5.7%)
02/09 Treachery #6 of 6 - 48,127 ( -5.0%)
03/09 ---
04/09 Sorcerer #1 - 39,210 (-18.5%)
05/09 Fall of Gilead #1 of 6 - 43,580 (+11.1%)
06/09 Fall of Gilead #2 of 6 - 39,978 ( -8.3%)
6 mnth (-25.6%)
1 year (-49.6%)
2 year (-69.7%)
DARK TOWER continues to drift down the sales charts, though it remains the sort of project that’s more likely to find its natural audience in collected form.
51. THUNDERBOLTS
06/04 Avngrs/T'Bolts #4 - 38,298
06/05 New Thunderbolts #9 - 27,300
06/06 Thunderbolts #103 - 48,058
06/07 Thunderbolts #115 - 64,876
=====
06/08 Thunderbolts #121 - 37,693 ( -1.7%)
07/08 Thunderbolts #122 - 47,170 (+25.1%)
08/08 Thunderbolts #123 - 45,403 ( -3.7%)
09/08 Thunderbolts #124 - 43,429 ( -4.3%)
10/08 Thunderbolts #125 - 41,358 ( -4.8%)
11/08 Thunderbolts #126 - 34,640 (-16.2%)
12/08 Thunderbolts #127 - 36,378 ( +5.0%)
01/09 Thunderbolts #128 - 45,745 (+25.7%)
02/09 Thunderbolts #129 - 45,401 ( -0.7%)
03/09 Thunderbolts #130 - 52,264 (+15.1%)
04/09 Thunderbolts #131 - 49,155 ( -5.9%)
05/09 Thunderbolts #132 - 43,911 (-10.7%)
06/09 Thunderbolts #133 - 39,479 (-10.1%)
6 mnth ( +8.5%)
1 year ( +4.7%)
2 year (-39.1%)
3 year (-17.9%)
4 year (+44.6%)
5 year ( +3.1%)
This is still a Dark Reign tie-in arc, but the book seems to be falling back towards normal numbers after its recent crossover with DEADPOOL. Issue #131 picks up another 3,587 in sales thanks to a second printing.
54,68. X-MEN FOREVER 06/09 X-Men Forever #1 - 36,213 06/09 X-Men Forever #2 - 31,767 (-12.3%)
A new bimonthly title in which Chris Claremont picks up the X-Men from where he left off in 1991. This sounds a bit niche to me. The sales level is roughly what you’d expect for an out-of-continuity series by Claremont. By comparison, NEW EXILES #1 sold around 44K in January 2008 – though having said that, X-MEN FOREVER does open with higher sales than the latest EXILES relaunch.
55. DEADPOOL: SUICIDE KINGS 04/09 Suicide Kings #1 of 5 - 38,420 05/09 Suicide Kings #2 of 5 - 35,478 (-7.7%) 06/09 Suicide Kings #3 of 5 - 36,086 (+1.7%)
There’s no obvious explanation for this sales increase, so we’ll have to chalk it up to genuine interest. I’m starting to see why Marvel think this character might support a second title – these are actually very good sales for a random spin-off.
56. MARVEL ZOMBIES
10/08 Marvel Zombies 3 #1 of 4 - 67,999
11/08 Marvel Zombies 3 #2 of 4 - 47,253 (-30.5%)
12/08 Marvel Zombies 3 #3 of 4 - 41,837 (-11.5%)
01/09 Marvel Zombies 3 #4 of 4 - 38,805 ( -7.2%)
02/09 ---
03/09 ---
04/09 Marvel Zombies 4 #1 of 4 - 42,891 (+10.5%)
05/09 Marvel Zombies 4 #2 of 4 - 35,926 (-16.2%)
06/09 Marvel Zombies 4 #3 of 4 - 36,010 ( +0.2%)
6 mnth (-13.9%)
Another book going slightly up, but this one does have a ready explanation: it’s got a 1:10 variant cover.
57,74. SKAAR, SON OF HULK
06/08 Skaar, Son of Hulk #1 - 91,279
07/08 Skaar, Son of Hulk #2 - 56,984 (-37.6%)
08/08 Skaar, Son of Hulk #3 - 50,841 (-10.8%)
09/08 ---
10/08 Skaar, Son of Hulk #4 - 44,310 (-12.8%)
11/08 Skaar, Son of Hulk #5 - 34,779 (-21.5%)
12/08 Skaar, Son of Hulk #6 - 34,593 ( -0.5%)
01/09 Skaar, Son of Hulk #7 - 31,096 (-10.1%)
02/09 Skaar, Son of Hulk #8 - 28,771 ( -7.5%)
03/09 Skaar, Son of Hulk #9 - 27,137 ( -5.7%)
04/09 Skaar, Son of Hulk #10 - 27,317 ( +0.7%)
05/09 ---
06/09 Skaar, Son of Hulk #11 - 28,633 ( +4.8%)
06/09 Skaar, Son of Hulk #12 - 35,920 (+25.4%)
6 mnth ( +3.8%)
1 year (-60.6%)
These are the first two parts of “Planet Skaar”, the storyline which finally brings this book into contact with the rest of the Marvel Universe. Issue #12 benefits from having four Ed McGuinness covers, including 1:25 and 1:50 variants. But the more modest increases on issues #10-11 suggest some genuine underlying interest in the storyline.
59. PUNISHER
06/07 War Journal #8 - 61,376
=====
06/08 War Journal #20 - 27,288 ( -8.8%)
07/08 War Journal #21 - 26,299 ( -3.6%)
08/08 War Journal #22 - 25,555 ( -2.8%)
09/08 War Journal #23 - 27,384 ( +7.2%)
10/08 War Journal #24 - 31,785 ( +16.1%)
11/08 War Journal #25 - 29,982 ( -5.7%)
12/08 War Journal #26 - 22,423 ( -25.2%)
01/09 Punisher #1 - 49,222 (+119.5%)
02/09 Punisher #2 - 40,928 ( -16.9%)
03/09 Punisher #3 - 37,570 ( -8.2%)
04/09 Punisher #4 - 36,995 ( -1.5%)
05/09 Punisher #5 - 35,621 ( -3.7%)
06/09 Punisher #6 - 32,982 ( -7.4%)
6 mnth ( +47.1%)
1 year ( +20.9%)
2 year ( -46.3%)
Still hasn’t found its level following the relaunch in January, but sales are up from the previous volume nonetheless.
60. THOR: TRIAL OF THOR 06/09 Trial of Thor - 32,925
A one-shot by Peter Milligan and Cary Nord. It doesn’t look as though retailers expect many THOR readers to pick up this sort of project.
67. NEW AVENGERS: REUNION 03/09 Reunion #1 of 4 - 46,847 04/09 Reunion #2 of 4 - 38,935 (-16.9%) 05/09 Reunion #3 of 4 - 34,438 (-11.6%) 06/09 Reunion #4 of 4 - 31,808 ( -7.6%)
Not bad numbers for a Hawkeye/Mockingbird miniseries, really.
69,70. X-FACTOR
06/06 X-Factor #8 - 59,131
06/07 X-Factor #20 - 37,105
=====
06/08 X-Factor #32 - 45,104 ( -6.5%)
07/08 X-Factor #33 - 53,088 (+17.7%)
08/08 X-Factor #34 - 50,416 ( -5.0%)
09/08 X-Factor #35 - 44,481 (-11.8%)
10/08 X-Factor #36 - 38,552 (-13.3%)
11/08 X-Factor #37 - 35,754 ( -7.3%)
12/08 X-Factor #38 - 34,425 ( -3.7%)
01/09 X-Factor #39 - 32,796 ( -4.7%)
02/09 X-Factor #40 - 31,943 ( -2.6%)
03/09 X-Factor #41 - 31,888 ( -0.2%)
04/09 X-Factor #42 - 32,000 ( +0.4%)
05/09 X-Factor #43 - 31,543 ( -1.4%)
06/09 X-Factor #44 - 31,552 ( +0.0%)
06/09 X-Factor #45 - 31,109 ( -1.4%)
6 mnth ( -9.6%)
1 year (-31.0%)
2 year (-16.2%)
3 year (-47.4%)
Very solid sales over the last few months, fluctuating by only a few hundred.
71. BLACK PANTHER
06/05 Black Panther #5 - 37,401
06/06 Black Panther #17 - 27,993
06/07 Black Panther #28 - 61,808
=====
06/08 Black Panther #37 - 19,989 ( -4.1%)
07/08 Black Panther #38 - 19,459 ( -2.7%)
07/08 Black Panther #39 - 37,546 (+92.9%)
08/08 Black Panther #40 - 33,583 (-10.6%)
09/08 Black Panther #41 - 33,620 ( +0.1%)
10/08 ---
11/08 ---
12/08 ---
01/09 ---
02/09 Black Panther #1 - 52,991 (+57.6%)
03/09 Black Panther #2 - 33,755 (-36.3%)
04/09 Black Panther #3 - 33,356 ( -1.2%)
05/09 Black Panther #4 - 30,984 ( -7.1%)
06/09 Black Panther #5 - 29,762 ( -3.9%)
6 mnth ( --- )
1 year (+48.9%)
2 year (-51.8%)
3 year ( -6.3%)
4 year (-20.4%)
Levelling out? It’s probably too early to say for sure, but BLACK PANTHER does seem to have long-term gains from its recent relaunch. Ignore the final three issues of the previous run, which were a SECRET INVASION tie-in; the better comparison is with issues #37-38.
72. DARK REIGN: HAWKEYE 04/09 Hawkeye #1 of 5 - 41,056 05/09 Hawkeye #2 of 5 - 30,581 (-25.5%) 06/09 Hawkeye #3 of 5 - 28,902 ( -5.5%)
Another DARK AVENGERS spin-off mini, levelling out quickly.
73. WAR MACHINE
12/08 War Machine #1 - 54,396
01/09 War Machine #2 - 39,835 (-26.8%)
02/09 War Machine #3 - 33,818 (-15.1%)
03/09 War Machine #4 - 32,693 ( -3.3%)
04/09 War Machine #5 - 34,254 ( +4.8%)
05/09 War Machine #6 - 27,703 (-19.1%)
06/09 War Machine #7 - 28,757 ( +3.8%)
6 mnth (-47.1%)
The gain is probably due to the 1:10 variant cover.
75. NOVA
06/07 Nova #3 - 45,004
=====
06/08 Nova #14 - 28,892 ( +2.7%)
07/08 Nova #15 - 28,592 ( -1.0%)
08/08 Nova #16 - 38,338 (+34.1%)
09/08 Nova #17 - 37,015 ( -3.5%)
10/08 Nova #18 - 38,417 ( +3.8%)
11/08 Nova #19 - 28,306 (-26.3%)
12/08 Nova #20 - 29,405 ( +3.9%)
01/09 Nova #21 - 25,647 (-12.8%)
02/09 Nova #22 - 25,065 ( -2.3%)
03/09 Nova #23 - 26,413 ( +5.4%)
04/09 Nova #24 - 26,240 ( -0.7%)
05/09 Nova #25 - 26,172 ( -0.3%)
06/09 Nova #26 - 28,107 ( +7.4%)
6 mnth ( -4.4%)
1 year ( -2.7%)
2 year (-37.5%)
It’s a WAR OF KINGS tie-in, but it’s also got a 1:10 variant cover.
76. X-MEN ORIGINS: GAMBIT 06/09 Gambit - 28,023
About what we’ve come to expect from the ORIGINS one-shots.
77. INCREDIBLE HERCULES
06/08 Hercules #118 - 52,975 ( -7.5%)
07/08 Hercules #119 - 52,598 ( -0.7%)
08/08 Hercules #120 - 51,100 ( -2.8%)
09/08 Hercules #121 - 47,363 ( -7.3%)
10/08 Hercules #122 - 42,876 ( -9.5%)
11/08 Hercules #123 - 35,780 (-16.6%)
12/08 Hercules #124 - 36,855 ( +3.0%)
01/09 Hercules #125 - 31,888 (-13.5%)
02/09 Hercules #126 - 31,000 ( -2.8%)
03/09 Hercules #127 - 31,890 ( +2.9%)
04/09 Hercules #128 - 33,739 ( +5.8%)
05/09 Hercules #129 - 28,995 (-14.1%)
06/09 Hercules #130 - 27,872 ( -3.9%)
6 mnth (-24.4%)
1 year (-47.4%)
Slipping back – but bear in mind that issue #128 was a variant cover, and also the final part of a “Dark Reign” tie-in. It’s steadier than it first appears.
80. IMMORTAL IRON FIST
06/07 Immortal Iron Fist #6 - 36,731
=====
06/08 Immortal Iron Fist #16 - 29,822 ( -1.7%)
07/08 Immortal Iron Fist #17 - 32,839 (+10.1%)
08/08 Immortal Iron Fist #18 - 27,430 (-16.5%)
09/08 ---
10/08 Immortal Iron Fist #19 - 25,861 ( -5.7%)
11/08 ---
12/08 Immortal Iron Fist #20 - 24,966 ( -3.5%)
12/08 Immortal Iron Fist #21 - 24,134 ( -3.3%)
01/09 ---
02/09 Immortal Iron Fist #22 - 23,259 ( -3.6%)
03/09 Immortal Iron Fist #23 - 22,691 ( -2.4%)
03/09 Immortal Iron Fist #24 - 22,326 ( -1.6%)
04/09 Immortal Iron Fist #25 - 22,309 ( -0.0%)
05/09 Immortal Iron Fist #26 - 21,864 ( -2.0%)
06/09 Immortal Iron Fist #27 - 27,376 (+25.2%)
6 mnth (+13.4%)
1 year ( -8.2%)
2 year (-25.5%)
The final issue, for the moment. After this, the book goes on hiatus, and we get a miniseries about some of the supporting characters. Something tells me it’ll probably be a relaunch after that, rather than issue #28.
The sales increase is interesting. There’s a variant cover, but that wouldn’t normally account for quite such a big jump.
81. DARK REIGN: YOUNG AVENGERS 05/09 Young Avengers #1 of 5 - 32,266 06/09 Young Avengers #2 of 5 - 26,974 (-16.4%)
Fairly standard second-issue drop.
82. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
06/08 Guardians o/Galaxy #2 - 32,967 ( -9.2%)
07/08 Guardians o/Galaxy #3 - 33,986 ( +3.1%)
08/08 Guardians o/Galaxy #4 - 40,285 (+18.5%)
09/08 Guardians o/Galaxy #5 - 42,104 ( +4.5%)
10/08 Guardians o/Galaxy #6 - 36,546 (-13.2%)
11/08 Guardians o/Galaxy #7 - 30,516 (-16.5%)
12/08 Guardians o/Galaxy #8 - 31,564 ( +3.4%)
01/09 Guardians o/Galaxy #9 - 28,502 ( -9.7%)
02/09 Guardians o/Galaxy #10 - 27,648 ( -3.0%)
03/09 Guardians o/Galaxy #11 - 27,415 ( -0.8%)
03/09 Guardians o/Galaxy #12 - 26,764 ( -2.4%)
04/09 Guardians o/Galaxy #13 - 27,107 ( +1.3%)
05/09 Guardians o/Galaxy #14 - 27,130 ( +0.1%)
06/09 Guardians o/Galaxy #15 - 26,808 ( -1.2%)
6 mnth (-15.1%)
1 year (-18.7%)
Another book which has been very solid over the last few months.
83. DARK REIGN: MISTER NEGATIVE 06/09 Mr Negative #1 of 3 - 25,760
Yet another Dark Reign tie-in, this one featuring a Spider-Man villain.
85. MS MARVEL
06/06 Ms Marvel #4 - 40,627
06/07 Ms Marvel #16 - 40,048
=====
06/08 Ms Marvel #28 - 42,194 ( +2.6%)
07/08 Ms Marvel #29 - 41,231 ( -2.3%)
08/08 ---
09/08 Ms Marvel #30 - 40,041 ( -2.9%)
09/08 Ms Marvel #31 - 32,145 (-19.7%)
10/08 Ms Marvel #32 - 25,892 (-19.5%)
11/08 Ms Marvel #33 - 23,980 ( -7.4%)
12/08 Ms Marvel #34 - 29,770 (+24.1%)
01/09 Ms Marvel #35 - 26,824 (-10.0%)
02/09 Ms Marvel #36 - 25,864 ( -3.6%)
03/09 Ms Marvel #37 - 25,053 ( -3.1%)
04/09 Ms Marvel #38 - 27,535 (+10.0%)
05/09 Ms Marvel #39 - 24,757 (-10.1%)
06/09 Ms Marvel #40 - 25,216 ( +1.9%)
6 mnth (-15.3%)
1 year (-40.2%)
2 year (-37.0%)
3 year (-37.9%)
Ignore the variant cover blip on issue #38, and this is looking very solid indeed.
86. DARK REIGN: ELEKTRA 03/09 Elektra #1 of 5 - 36,385 04/09 Elektra #2 of 5 - 29,892 (-17.8%) 05/09 Elektra #3 of 5 - 27,118 ( -9.3%) 06/09 Elektra #4 of 5 - 25,145 ( -7.3%) 87. DARK REIGN: FANTASTIC FOUR 03/09 Fantastic Four #1 of 5 - 48,061 04/09 Fantastic Four #2 of 5 - 31,497 (-34.5%) 05/09 Fantastic Four #3 of 5 - 26,536 (-15.8%) 06/09 Fantastic Four #4 of 5 - 24,598 ( -7.3%)
More lower-end Dark Reign spin-offs. It’s somewhat surprising to see the Fantastic Four down here with the likes of Elektra and Mr Negative, but they really don’t seem to have the drawing power to carry spin-offs these days.
89. WAR OF KINGS: SAVAGE WORLD OF SKAAR 06/09 Savage World of Skaar - 24,154
This is a SKAAR, SON OF HULK one-shot, serving as the book’s WAR OF KINGS tie-in. SKAAR usually sells in the 27K range, so this isn’t bad at all.
90. DARK REIGN: HOOD 05/09 Hood #1 of 5 - 29,857 06/09 Hood #2 of 5 - 24,076 (-19.4%)
More Dark Reign. The Hood actually has a fairly prominent role in “Dark Reign”, as a member of Norman Osborn’s Cabal, so I would have thought his solo book might do a little better than this.
93. WAR OF KINGS: ASCENSION 04/09 Ascension #1 of 4 - 34,540 05/09 Ascension #2 of 4 - 25,993 (-24.7%) 06/09 Ascension #3 of 4 - 23,680 ( -8.9%)
It’s a Darkhawk miniseries, doing as well as could be expected.
94. INCOGNITO [Icon]
12/08 Incognito #1 - 27,958
01/09 ---
02/09 Incognito #2 - 22,962 (-17.9%)
03/09 ---
04/09 Incognito #3 - 24,280 ( +5.7%)
05/09 ---
06/09 Incognito #4 - 23,584 ( -2.9%)
6 mnth (-15.6%)
Very steady indeed.
97. DARK REIGN: LETHAL LEGION 06/09 Lethal Legion #1 of 3 - 23,430
Another fringe Dark Reign tie-in miniseries, with an assortment of C-list villains forming a team. Without star characters, this was always going to be a tougher one to sell.
99. AGENTS OF ATLAS 02/09 Agents of Atlas #1 - 34,449 03/09 Agents of Atlas #2 - 26,783 (-22.3%) 04/09 Agents of Atlas #3 - 29,748 (+11.1%) 05/09 Agents of Atlas #4 - 25,377 (-14.7%) 05/09 Agents of Atlas #5 - 25,207 ( -0.7%) 06/09 Agents of Atlas #6 - 22,579 (-10.4%)
More Dark Reign. There’s a slight downturn, after two issues of unusual stability. Marvel are evidently still rooting for the book, as they’re getting a miniseries co-starring with the X-Men.
100. WOLVERINE NOIR 04/09 Wolverine Noir #1 of 4 - 32,112 05/09 Wolverine Noir #2 of 4 - 25,792 (-19.7%) 06/09 Wolverine Noir #3 of 4 - 22,547 (-12.6%)
I’m tempted to say it’s a book for Wolverine completists, but to be fair, it’s outselling WOLVERINE: FIRST CLASS comfortably. There’s evidently some audience out there for these noir books.
101. DARK REIGN: ZODIAC 06/09 Zodiac #1 of 3 - 22,076
And still they come… Zodiac seems to be a new character, being launched cold, so it’s hardly surprising that he brings up the rear.
103. EXILES
06/04 Exiles #48 - 38,120
06/05 Exiles #65 - 34,484
06/06 Exiles #83 - 33,143
06/07 Exiles #95 - 30,612
=====
06/08 New Exiles #7 - 25,742 ( -6.5%)
07/08 New Exiles #8 - 24,436 ( -5.1%)
08/08 New Exiles #9 - 22,986 ( -5.9%)
08/08 New Exiles #10 - 23,048 ( +0.3%)
09/08 New Exiles #11 - 22,630 ( -1.8%)
10/08 New Exiles #12 - 21,682 ( -4.2%)
10/08 New Exiles #13 - 21,058 ( -2.9%)
11/08 New Exiles #14 - 20,493 ( -2.7%)
12/08 New Exiles #15 - 19,498 ( -4.9%)
12/08 New Exiles #16 - 19,227 ( -1.4%)
01/09 New Exiles #17 - 18,381 ( -4.4%)
02/09 New Exiles #18 - 17,925 ( -2.5%)
03/09 ---
04/09 Exiles #1 - 31,136 (+73.7%)
05/09 Exiles #2 - 22,148 (-28.9%)
06/09 Exiles #3 - 21,654 ( -2.2%)
6 mnth (+12.6%)
1 year (-15.9%)
2 year (-29.3%)
3 year (-34.7%)
4 year (-37.2%)
5 year (-43.2%)
Cancelled with issue #6, according to writer Jeff Parker. In fairness, if you add up its various incarnations, it’s actually issue #124, a very respectable number in this day and age. With two unsuccessful relaunches in quick succession, I’m inclined to think that this concept needs to be rested for a while.
105. WOLVERINE: REVOLVER 06/09 Revolver - 21,425
This month’s obligatory Wolverine one-shot.
107. PUNISHER: FRANK CASTLE [Max]
06/04 Punisher #7 - 48,124
06/05 Punisher #22 - 37,811
06/06 Punisher #34 - 34,161
06/07 Punisher #48 - 33,804
=====
06/08 Punisher #58 - 29,802 ( -2.4%)
07/08 Punisher #59 - 30,064 ( +0.9%)
08/08 Punisher #60 - 30,683 ( +2.1%)
08/08 Punisher #61 - 28,373 ( -7.5%)
09/08 Punisher #62 - 26,906 ( -5.2%)
10/08 Punisher #63 - 25,933 ( -3.6%)
11/08 Punisher #64 - 24,660 ( -4.9%)
12/08 Punisher #65 - 23,881 ( -3.2%)
01/09 Frank Castle #66 - 22,806 ( -4.5%)
02/09 Frank Castle #67 - 22,267 ( -2.4%)
03/09 Frank Castle #68 - 22,255 ( -0.0%)
04/09 Frank Castle #69 - 21,843 ( -1.9%)
05/09 Frank Castle #70 - 21,864 ( +0.1%)
06/09 Frank Castle #71 - 21,319 ( -2.5%)
6 mnth (-10.7%)
1 year (-28.5%)
2 year (-36.9%)
3 year (-37.6%)
4 year (-43.6%)
5 year (-55.7%)
Sales are extremely steady, but the book is nonetheless being relaunched in November with Jason Aaron and Steve Dillon.
108. BETA RAY BILL: GODHUNTER 06/09 Godhunter #1 of 3 - 21,273
Much as you’d expect for a miniseries about a lower-tier character.
113. ALL-NEW SAVAGE SHE-HULK 04/09 She-Hulk #1 of 4 - 23,220 05/09 She-Hulk #2 of 4 - 20,194 (-13.0%) 06/09 She-Hulk #3 of 4 - 20,520 ( +1.6%)
There’s a variant cover on this issue, which presumably accounts for the slight increase.
117. PUNISHER: NAKED KILL [Max] 06/09 Naked Kill - 19,551
Another random one-shot.
120. DAREDEVIL NOIR 04/09 Daredevil Noir #1 of 4 - 24,673 05/09 Daredevil Noir #2 of 4 - 20,555 (-16.7%) 06/09 Daredevil Noir #3 of 4 - 18,458 (-10.2%)
And another noir series. Marvel are evidently happy enough with these sales, as they keep announcing further noir minis.
124. CAPTAIN BRITAIN & MI-13
05/08 Cpt. Britain & MI-13 #1 - 43,281
06/08 Cpt. Britain & MI-13 #2 - 37,986 (-12.2%)
07/08 Cpt. Britain & MI-13 #3 - 39,100 ( +2.9%)
08/08 Cpt. Britain & MI-13 #4 - 36,826 ( -5.8%)
09/08 Cpt. Britain & MI-13 #5 - 32,999 (-10.4%)
10/08 Cpt. Britain & MI-13 #6 - 28,033 (-15.0%)
11/08 Cpt. Britain & MI-13 #7 - 22,189 (-20.8%)
12/08 Cpt. Britain & MI-13 #8 - 21,236 ( -4.3%)
01/09 Cpt. Britain & MI-13 #9 - 18,483 (-13.0%)
02/09 Cpt. Britain & MI-13 #10 - 20,627 (+11.6%)
03/09 Cpt. Britain & MI-13 #11 - 17,757 (-13.9%)
04/09 Cpt. Britain & MI-13 #12 - 19,992 (+12.6%)
05/09 Cpt. Britain & MI-13 #13 - 17,947 (-10.2%)
06/09 Cpt. Britain & MI-13 #14 - 17,761 ( -1.0%)
6 mnth (-16.4%)
1 year (-59.0%)
Cancelled with issue #15.
129. RUNAWAYS
06/04 Runaways #16 - 19,045
06/05 Runaways #5 - 28,409
06/06 Runaways #17 - 23,654
06/07 ---
=====
06/08 Runaways #30 - 31,353 ( -5.6%)
07/08 ---
08/08 Runaways #1 - 33,252 ( +6.1%)
09/08 Runaways #2 - 27,958 (-15.9%)
10/08 Runaways #3 - 25,757 ( -7.9%)
11/08 Runaways #4 - 23,496 ( -8.8%)
12/08 Runaways #5 - 21,918 ( -6.7%)
01/09 Runaways #6 - 20,459 ( -6.7%)
02/09 Runaways #7 - 19,684 ( -3.8%)
03/09 Runaways #8 - 19,000 ( -3.5%)
04/09 Runaways #9 - 19,851 ( +4.5%)
05/09 Runaways #10 - 17,523 (-11.7%)
06/09 Runaways #11 - 16,988 ( -3.1%)
6 mnth (-22.5%)
1 year (-45.8%)
2 year ( --- )
3 year (-28.2%)
4 year (-40.2%)
5 year (-10.8%)
Drifting slowly down.
130,132. TIMESTORM 2009/2099 04/09 Timestorm #1 of 4 - 19,973 05/09 Timestorm #2 of 4 - 16,190 (-18.9%) 06/09 Spider-Man - 16,874 ( +4.2%) 06/09 X-Men - 16,646 ( -1.4%)
Two one-shots in the middle of the miniseries. Not a great deal of interest in this.
135. CAPTAIN BRITAIN & MI-13 ANNUAL 06/09 Annual #1 - 16,096
Effectively an extra issue of the ongoing title, and selling much the same quantity.
136. MISS AMERICA COMICS 06/09 70th Anniversary Special - 15,474
Continuing Marvel’s programme of one-shots commemorating books they put out in 1939. They don’t sell very well, but it’s nice that Marvel care.
137. WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ
12/08 Wizard of Oz #1 of 8 - 25,116
01/09 Wizard of Oz #2 of 8 - 17,608 (-29.9%)
02/09 Wizard of Oz #3 of 8 - 15,668 (-11.0%)
03/09 Wizard of Oz #4 of 8 - 16,159 ( +3.1%)
04/09
Wizard of Oz #5 of 8 - 16,110 ( -0.3%)
05/09 Wizard of Oz #6 of 8 - 15,774 ( -2.1%)
06/09 Wizard of Oz #7 of 8 - 15,473 ( -1.9%)
6 mnth (-38.4%)
Still doing extremely well for a novel adaptation.
139. YOUNG ALLIES COMICS 06/09 70th Anniversary Special - 15,213
Another commemoration book.
143. SQUADRON SUPREME
07/08 Squadron Supreme #1 - 35,583
08/08 Squadron Supreme #2 - 28,052 (-21.2%)
09/08 Squadron Supreme #3 - 27,131 ( -3.3%)
10/08 Squadron Supreme #4 - 22,430 (-17.3%)
11/08 Squadron Supreme #5 - 19,822 (-11.6%)
12/08 Squadron Supreme #6 - 18,948 ( -4.5%)
01/09 Squadron Supreme #7 - 17,691 ( -6.6%)
02/09 Squadron Supreme #8 - 16,566 ( -6.4%)
03/09 Squadron Supreme #9 - 16,080 ( -2.9%)
04/09 Squadron Supreme #10 - 15,569 ( -3.2%)
05/09 Squadron Supreme #11 - 15,164 ( -2.6%)
06/09 Squadron Supreme #12 - 14,523 ( -4.2%)
6 mnth (-23.4%)
Axed.
146. FANTASTIC FORCE 04/09 Fantastic Force #1 of 4 - 21,865 05/09 Fantastic Force #2 of 4 - 16,541 (-24.3%) 06/09 Fantastic Force #3 of 4 - 14,359 (-13.2%)
These numbers are awful even for a miniseries; it’s probably a mercy that they abandoned plans to make this an ongoing series.
147. GENEXT UNITED 05/09 GeNext United #1 of 5 - 17,766 06/09 GeNext United #2 of 5 - 14,091 (-20.7%)
Chris Claremont again, this time in an alternate future. Not a massive audience for this – but the first GENEXT series didn’t do big numbers either, and Marvel have stuck with it.
153. ANITA BLAKE, VAMPIRE HUNTER
06/07 ---
=====
06/08 Guilty Pls. #12 of 12 - 19,866 ( -3.7%)
07/08 ---
08/08 ---
09/08 ---
10/08 Laughing Corpse #1 of 5 - 22,493 (+13.2%)
11/08 Laughing Corpse #2 of 5 - 17,187 (-23.6%)
12/08 Laughing Corpse #3 of 5 - 15,665 ( -8.9%)
01/09 Laughing Corpse #4 of 5 - 14,422 ( -7.9%)
02/09 Laughing Corpse #5 of 5 - 14,095 ( -2.3%)
03/09 ---
04/09 Necromancer #1 of 5 - 15,308 ( +8.6%)
05/09 ---
06/09 Necromancer #2 of 5 - 12,907 (-15.7%)
6 mnth (-17.6%)
1 year (-35.0%)
2 year ( --- )
This is all fairly standard for a series-of-miniseries book. Jump for the new issue #1, drop back afterwards.
156. DESTROYER [Max] 04/09 Destroyer #1 of 5 - 19,395 05/09 Destroyer #2 of 5 - 14,087 (-27.4%) 06/09 Destroyer #3 of 5 - 12,633 (-10.3%)
Another low-selling Max miniseries; however, Marvel seem to have realistic expectations of the imprint.
157. X-MEN: FIRST CLASS
06/07 First Class #1 - 26,370
=====
06/08 First Class #13 - 14,157 ( -2.8%)
07/08 First Class #14 - 13,870 ( -2.0%)
08/08 First Class #15 - 13,249 ( -4.5%)
09/08 First Class #16 - 12,842 ( -3.1%)
10/08 Giant-Size Special - 13,263 ( +3.3%)
11/08 ---
12/08 ---
01/09 ---
02/09 Finals #1 of 4 - 15,736 (+18.6%)
03/09 Finals #2 of 4 - 11,533 (-26.7%)
04/09 Finals #3 of 4 - 10,870 ( -5.7%)
05/09 Finals #4 of 4 - 10,579 ( -2.7%)
06/09 Giant-Size Special - 12,614 (+19.2%)
6 mnth ( --- )
1 year (-10.9%)
2 year (-52.2%)
This is a lead-in to UNCANNY X-MEN: FIRST CLASS, a miniseries about the X-Men roster from the 1975 relaunch. There’s a slight increase, but that’s all.
158. LOCKJAW AND THE PET AVENGERS 05/09 Pet Avengers #1 of 4 - 17,638 06/09 Pet Avengers #2 of 4 - 12,317 (-30.2%)
That’s a hefty drop. Both issues had 1:10 variant covers, so it looks as though retailers are just cutting back their estimates.
Of course, it’s a gimmick miniseries, and I doubt anyone really expected it to do big numbers – but then, Marvel did give the series a HANDBOOK issue, so they might have been aiming a touch higher than this. That HANDBOOK is still to come, by the way.
164. ASTONISHING TALES 02/09 Astonishing Tales #1 - 27,030 03/09 Astonishing Tales #2 - 17,758 (-34.3%) 04/09 Astonishing Tales #3 - 15,862 (-10.7%) 05/09 Astonishing Tales #4 - 13,268 (-16.4%) 06/09 Astonishing Tales #5 - 11,859 (-10.6%)
More website reprints. The series ends with issue #6.
165. WOLVERINE: FIRST CLASS
06/08 First Class #4 - 20,199 ( -9.9%)
07/08 First Class #5 - 18,788 ( -7.0%)
08/08 First Class #6 - 19,443 ( +3.5%)
09/08 First Class #7 - 16,168 (-16.8%)
10/08 First Class #8 - 14,936 ( -7.6%)
11/08 First Class #9 - 13,857 ( -7.2%)
12/08 First Class #10 - 13,441 ( -3.0%)
01/09 First Class #11 - 12,845 ( -4.4%)
02/09 First Class #12 - 12,403 ( -3.4%)
03/09 First Class #13 - 12,430 ( -0.0%)
04/09 First Class #14 - 13,695 (+10.2%)
05/09 First Class #15 - 12,221 (-10.8%)
06/09 First Class #16 - 11,623 ( -4.9%)
6 mnth (-13.5%)
1 year (-42.5%)
On the slide, I’m afraid.
169. THOR: TALES OF ASGARD BY LEE AND KIRBY 05/09 Tales of Asgard #1 of 6 - 13,488 06/09 Tales of Asgard #2 of 6 - 11,022 (-18.3%)
Not bad at all, for a Silver Age reprint book.
174. ENDERS GAME: RECRUITING VALENTINE 06/09 Recruiting Valentine - 10,145
About normal for the ENDERS GAME/SHADOW adaptations.
195. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN FAMILY
08/08 Spider-Man Family #1 - 13,549
09/08 ---
10/08 Spider-Man Family #2 - 10,560 (-22.1%)
11/08 ---
12/08 Spider-Man Family #3 - 7,711 (-27.0%)
01/09 ---
02/09 Spider-Man Family #4 - 7,289 ( -5.5%)
03/09 ---
04/09 Spider-Man Family #5 - 8,051 (+10.5%)
05/09 Spider-Man Family #6 - 8,061 ( +0.1%)
06/09 Spider-Man Family #7 - 8,130 ( +0.9%)
6 mnth ( +5.4%)
Axed with issue #8, to be relaunched as WEB OF SPIDER-MAN. Presumably the theory is that the problem is the SPIDER-MAN FAMILY name, which has been attached to some very low-selling and peripheral books. I’m not sure that’s right; I’m not convinced there’s a market for a second Spider-Man title. But it can’t hurt to try.
209. TERROR INC.: APOCALYPSE SOON [Max] 05/09 Apocalypse Soon #1 of 4 - 10,252 05/09 Apocalypse Soon #2 of 4 - 9,301 ( -9.3%) 06/09 Apocalypse Soon #3 of 4 - 7,501 (-19.4%)
Back to the Max imprint, and another low-selling book.
215. RIFTWAR 06/09 Riftwar #1 of 5 - 7,051
This is one of the books that Marvel held on to when they split with the Dabel Brothers. It’s a Raymond E Feist adaptation, and a continuation of 2007’s MAGICIAN: APPRENTICE series. That book was below 5,000 by the end of its run, so RIFTWAR is off to a reasonable start.
Number 220 is the 1939 DAILY BUGLE, a promotional item sold to retailers in $10 bundles. The retailers bought an estimated 6,740 of those bundles.
221. MARVEL SPOTLIGHT
06/06 N Gaiman/S Larroca - 5,449
06/07 Captain America - 31,483
=====
06/08 Secret Invasion - 14,206 (+85.0%)
07/08 Uncanny X-Men #500 - 8,763 (-38.3%)
08/08 Brand New Day - 6,257 (-28.6%)
09/08 Marvel Knights - 5,936 ( -5.1%)
10/08 Ultimatum - 6,819 (+14.9%)
11/08 Punisher Movie - 4,342 (-36.3%)
12/08 S.I. Aftermath - 8,085 (+86.2%)
01/09 Dark Reign - 7,527 ( -6.9%)
02/09 War of Kings - 6,075 (-19.3%)
03/09 Wolverine - 6,670 ( +9.8%)
04/09 ---
05/09 New Mutants - 4,661 (-30.1%)
06/09 Captain America - 6,733 (+44.5%)
6 mnth (-16.7%)
1 year (-52.6%)
2 year (-78.6%)
3 year (+23.6%)
Pretty standard for MARVEL SPOTLIGHT.
235. UNIVERSAL WAR ONE: REVELATIONS [Soleil] 04/09 Revelations #1 of 3 - 8,252 05/09 Revelations #2 of 3 - 6,158 (-25.4%) 06/09 Revelations #3 of 3 - 5,747 ( -6.7%)
Bear in mind, the Soleil books are $6 reprint volumes, so they’re probably a lot more profitable for Marvel than their chart position would suggest.
244. MARVEL PETS HANDBOOK 06/09 Marvel Pets Handbook - 5,287
Well, it’s a subject for completists, let’s be honest. Nonetheless, this is unusually low for a HANDBOOK issue.
257. OFFICIAL INDEX TO THE MARVEL UNIVERSE 01/09 Index #1 - 9,852 02/09 Index #2 - 7,278 (-26.1%) 03/09 Index #3 - 6,331 (-13.0%) 04/09 Index #4 - 5,517 (-12.9%) 05/09 Index #5 - 4,913 (-10.9%) 06/09 Index #6 - 4,743 ( -3.5%)
The decline appears to be levelling out, but it’s still a very niche audience.
And from here on, it’s mostly the all-ages books and the occasional Soleil reprint…
261. PRIDE & PREJUDICE
04/09 Pride & Prejudice #1 of 5 - 7,530
05/09 Pride & Prejudice #2 of 5 - 4,686 (-37.8%)
06/09 Pride & Prejudice #3 of 5 - 4,659 ( -0.6%)
262. MARVEL ADVENTURES SPIDER-MAN [All ages]
06/05 M.A. Spider-Man #4 - 8,878
06/06 M.A. Spider-Man #16 - 6,114
06/07 M.A. Spider-Man #28 - 7,006
=====
06/08 M.A. Spider-Man #40 - 5,954 ( +2.4%)
07/08 M.A. Spider-Man #41 - 5,859 ( -1.6%)
08/08 M.A. Spider-Man #42 - 5,718 ( -2.4%)
09/08 M.A. Spider-Man #43 - 5,505 ( -3.7%)
10/08 M.A. Spider-Man #44 - 5,155 ( -6.4%)
11/08 M.A. Spider-Man #45 - 5,003 ( -2.9%)
12/08 M.A. Spider-Man #46 - 4,851 ( -3.0%)
01/09 M.A. Spider-Man #47 - 4,592 ( -5.3%)
02/09 M.A. Spider-Man #48 - 4,622 ( +0.7%)
03/09 M.A. Spider-Man #49 - 4,640 ( +0.4%)
04/09 M.A. Spider-Man #50 - 4,780 ( +3.0%)
05/09 M.A. Spider-Man #51 - 4,557 ( -4.7%)
06/09 M.A. Spider-Man #52 - 4,612 ( +1.2%)
6 mnth ( -4.9%)
1 year (-22.5%)
2 year (-34.2%)
3 year (-24.6%)
4 year (-48.1%)
267. MARVEL ADVENTURES AVENGERS [All ages]
06/06 M.A. Avengers #2 - 9,359
06/07 M.A. Avengers #14 - 7,293
=====
06/08 M.A. Avengers #25 - 5,327 ( -0.6%)
07/08 M.A. Avengers #26 - 5,418 ( +1.7%)
08/08 M.A. Avengers #27 - 5,200 ( -4.0%)
09/08 M.A. Avengers #28 - 4,966 ( -4.5%)
10/08 M.A. Avengers #29 - 4,844 ( -2.5%)
11/08 M.A. Avengers #30 - 4,679 ( -3.4%)
12/08 M.A. Avengers #31 - ?,??? ( ??? )
01/09 M.A. Avengers #32 - 4,323 ( ??? )
02/09 M.A. Avengers #33 - 4,325 ( +0.0%)
03/09 M.A. Avengers #34 - 4,379 ( +1.2%)
04/09 M.A. Avengers #35 - 3,914 (-10.6%)
05/09 M.A. Avengers #36 - 4,238 ( +8.3%)
06/09 M.A. Avengers #37 - 4,612 ( +8.8%)
6 mnth ( ??? )
1 year (-13.4%)
2 year (-36.8%)
3 year (-50.7%)
271. TROJAN WAR
05/09 Trojan War #1 of 5 - 5,452
06/09 Trojan War #2 of 5 - 4,254 (-22.0%)
280. FANTASTIC FOUR: GIANT-SIZE ADVENTURES
06/09 Giant-Size Adventures #1 - 3,843
288. MARVEL ADVENTURES SUPER HEROES
07/08 M.A. Super Heroes #1 - 11,968
08/08 M.A. Super Heroes #2 - 5,956 (-50.2%)
09/08 M.A. Super Heroes #3 - 4,857 (-18.5%)
10/08 M.A. Super Heroes #4 - 4,542 ( -6.5%)
11/08 M.A. Super Heroes #5 - 4,233 ( -6.8%)
12/08 M.A. Super Heroes #6 - ?,??? ( ??? )
01/09 M.A. Super Heroes #7 - 4,141 ( ??? )
02/09 M.A. Super Heroes #8 - 3,993 ( -3.6%)
03/09 M.A. Super Heroes #9 - 3,716 ( -6.9%)
04/09 M.A. Super Heroes #10 - 3,699 ( -0.5%)
05/09 M.A. Super Heroes #11 - 3,474 ( -6.1%)
06/09 M.A. Super Heroes #12 - 3,508 ( +1.0%)
6 mnth ( ??? )
292. YTHAQ: NO ESCAPE [Soleil]
04/09 No Escape #1 of 3 - 4,415
05/09 No Escape #2 of 3 - 3,335 (-24.5%)
06/09 No Escape #3 of 3 - 3,201 ( -4.0%)
Number 299 is ULTIMATE WOLVERINE VS HULK #5, adding another 2,945 to its total, for a total of 62,348.
And if you’re wondering what happened to MARVEL ADVENTURES FANTASTIC FOUR, it was axed with last month’s issue #48.
6 month comparisons =================== + 57.7% - Captain America + 47.1% - Punisher + 44.6% - Cable + 13.4% - Immortal Iron Fist + 12.6% - Exiles + 12.3% - Ultimate Spider-Man + 11.6% - Deadpool + 8.5% - Thunderbolts + 5.4% - Amazing Spider-Man Family + 3.8% - Skaar, Son of Hulk + 0.0% - X-Force - 0.3% - Wolverine: Origins - 2.2% - Amazing Spider-Man - 3.7% - X-Men: Legacy - 4.4% - Nova - 4.9% - Marvel Adventures Spider-Man - 5.7% - Thor - 6.1% - Invincible Iron Man - 6.6% - Daredevil - 7.3% - Uncanny X-Men - 8.0% - New Avengers - 9.6% - X-Factor - 10.1% - Ultimatum - 10.7% - Punisher: Frank Castle - 13.5% - Wolverine: First Class - 13.9% - Marvel Zombies - 14.5% - Fantastic Four - 15.1% - Guardians of the Galaxy - 15.3% - Ms Marvel - 15.6% - Incognito - 16.4% - Captain Britain & MI-13 - 16.7% - Marvel Spotlight - 17.1% - Avengers/Invaders - 17.6% - Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter - 18.3% - Dark Wolverine - 21.7% - Avengers: The Initiative - 22.5% - Runaways - 23.4% - Squadron Supreme - 24.4% - Incredible Hercules - 25.6% - Dark Tower - 26.6% - Mighty Avengers - 38.4% - Wonderful Wizard of Oz - 47.1% - War Machine 1 year comparisons ================== + 48.9% - Black Panther + 41.3% - Captain America + 20.9% - Punisher + 4.7% - Daredevil + 4.7% - Thunderbolts + 0.3% - Ultimate Spider-Man - 0.2% - Cable - 2.7% - Nova - 5.9% - Uncanny X-Men - 6.5% - Wolverine: Origins - 8.2% - Immortal Iron Fist - 10.9% - X-Men: First Class - 13.4% - Marvel Adventures Avengers - 14.9% - Amazing Spider-Man - 15.9% - Exiles - 18.7% - Guardians of the Galaxy - 18.8% - X-Men: Legacy - 22.5% - Marvel Adventures Spider-Man - 24.2% - Fantastic Four - 28.5% - Punisher: Frank Castle - 30.0% - Invincible Iron Man - 31.0% - X-Factor - 31.2% - Dark Wolverine - 32.8% - Mighty Avengers - 35.0% - Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter - 35.6% - Avengers: The Initiative - 40.2% - Ms Marvel - 42.5% - Wolverine: First Class - 45.8% - Runaways - 47.4% - Incredible Hercules - 47.9% - Avengers/Invaders - 49.6% - Dark Tower - 52.6% - Marvel Spotlight - 59.0% - Captain Britain & MI-13 - 60.6% - Skaar, Son of Hulk 2 year comparisons ================== + 13.3% - Captain America - 6.4% - Uncanny X-Men - 11.6% - Daredevil - 16.2% - X-Factor - 22.1% - Ultimate Spider-Man - 25.5% - Immortal Iron Fist - 29.1% - Invincible Iron Man - 29.3% - Exiles - 31.5% - Wolverine: Origins - 33.6% - Fantastic Four - 34.2% - Marvel Adventures Spider-Man - 36.8% - Marvel Adventures Avengers - 36.9% - Punisher: Frank Castle - 37.0% - Ms Marvel - 37.5% - Nova - 39.1% - Thunderbolts - 43.1% - Amazing Spider-Man - 45.3% - New Avengers - 46.3% - Punisher - 51.8% - Black Panther - 52.2% - Uncanny X-Men: First Class - 56.6% - Avengers: The Initiative - 57.3% - X-Men: Legacy - 69.7% - Dark Tower - 78.6% - Marvel Spotlight 3 year comparisons ================== +137.3% - Captain America + 41.4% - Invincible Iron Man + 23.6% - Marvel Spotlight - 2.4% - Uncanny X-Men - 6.3% - Black Panther - 14.2% - Daredevil - 17.4% - Dark Wolverine - 17.9% - Thunderbolts - 21.9% - Ultimate Spider-Man - 24.6% - Marvel Adventures Spider-Man - 25.1% - X-Men: Legacy - 28.2% - Runaways - 34.4% - New Avengers - 34.7% - Exiles - 37.6% - Punisher - 37.9% - Ms Marvel - 40.8% - Fantastic Four - 45.5% - Amazing Spider-Man - 46.2% - Astonishing X-Men - 47.4% - X-Factor - 50.7% - Marvel Adventures Avengers - 61.3% - Wolverine: Origins 4 year comparisons ================== +138.1% - Captain America + 44.6% - Thunderbolts + 1.0% - Dark Wolverine - 14.1% - Daredevil - 16.4% - Uncanny X-Men - 17.0% - Amazing Spider-Man - 17.4% - Fantastic Four - 20.4% - Black Panther - 27.8% - Ultimate Spider-Man - 37.2% - Exiles - 39.7% - X-Men: Legacy - 40.2% - Runaways - 43.6% - Punisher: Frank Castle - 45.5% - New Avengers - 48.1% - Marvel Adventures Spider-Man 5 year comparisons ================== +210.1% - Captain America +113.9% - Thor + 79.7% - Invincible Iron Man + 54.3% - New Avengers + 19.6% - Dark Wolverine + 3.1% - Thunderbolts - 10.8% - Runaways - 12.9% - Fantastic Four - 22.7% - Uncanny X-Men - 23.0% - Daredevil - 30.2% - Amazing Spider-Man - 40.4% - X-Men: Legacy - 43.2% - Ultimate Spider-Man - 43.2% - Exiles - 51.7% - Astonishing X-Men - 55.7% - Punisher: Frank Castle
For a 30 year old like me, this “5 years comparisons” table looks more surreal than a melting watch. Punisher, Daredevil, X-Men and Spider Man losing sales? Iron Man and Avengers, popular? Captain America and Thor on top of the world? Very strange… but cool in a way.
I guess it only proves that characters alone aren’t “sellable” or not, it just depends on a lot of different things (good scripts, good art, good timing for releases, etc).
wow those cap numbers are not good. they need to stop the over-hyping
One note on the LOCKJAW book — Marvel had an incentive if you ordered more copies of [I don’t recall what] you would be DOUBLE shipped on issue #1 — that probably accounts for much/most of that drop.
-B
> Two issues this month. Issue #74 is the second half of a two-part fill-in story, which gets the sales you’d expect from such a thing – even allowing for Adam Kubert’s invovement. To be honest, it’s more of a surprise that issue #73 held up so well.
I would wonder if the #72/#73 scheduling imbroligo helped #73, and hurt #74 as it all sunk in…
> These are the first two parts of “Planet Skaar”, the storyline which finally brings this book into contact with the rest of the Marvel Universe.
FINAL two parts (the first part being the “Planet Skaar Prologue” one-shot that accounts for the blank beside 05/09 (the 09/08 blank was also a one-shot, FTR)
> More lower-end Dark Reign spin-offs. It’s somewhat surprising to see the Fantastic Four down here with the likes of Elektra and Mr Negative, but they really don’t seem to have the drawing power to carry spin-offs these days.
Probably a bad sign, since it’s effectively the first arc of the post-Millar run on the book
Even though it has been shown that Fantastic Four don’t generally support spin-off/secondary books, I wonder if it is cause for concern that the Dark Reign mini is selling lower than others given it is a dollar less. More importantly as it could be viewed as a lead-in/prologue by Jonathan Hickman with the him starting properly on the main title.
And Amazing Spider-Man losing 10,000 readers in a month on a heavily hyped story while still under Dark Reign banner. Ouch. I wonder if that would have anything to do with Phil Jimenez’s complete failure to stick to deadlines by only being able to complete the first issue of ‘American Son’ which appeared the previous month.
Am I the only one amazed that Guardians of the Galaxy has reached issue 15 and is a Top 100 book? Not commenting on the quality of the book itself and/or creative team (I haven’t read it), but based on the characters. Marvel appears to have done quite an impressive job revitalizing their “cosmic” line.
I’m disappointed and surprised Exiles was cancelled so quickly after the latest relaunch. I was looking forward to checking out the first trade.
Excellent column, once again. Thanks for cruchin’ numbers.
I weep as Agents of Atlas drifts further towards the Mendoza Line. At least Secret Warriors is holding up. They should have called it Nick Fury and the Secret Warriors, cause it’s definitely his book.
The Hickman DR:FF mini does not bode well for his upcoming run. Those overall FF numbers are really bad.
Mendoza Line? What’s that in reference to as a cancellation-point synonym?
It still surprises me that there are a lot of people getting $3.99 books from Marvel, when there is only 22 pages of material.
The jerks.
Mendoza Line is a baseball term for hitting in the neighborhood of .200. Most baseball players who hit near .200 don’t last very long in the big leagues.
*pretends he knows baseball terminology and what .200 actually translates to, beyond the obvious “very bad”*
Okay.
In case anybody actually cares…
That .200 number is a stat called “batting average,” one of the fundamental stats in baseball. There are some details not worth getting into pertaining to walks and sacrifices and fielders choice plays and such, but it’s basically the percentage of time that the batter succeeds in getting on base (“gets a hit”).
Most major league players (not counting pitchers, who aren’t really expected to hit for average) bat between (just pulling a number off the top of my head) .230 and .350 over the long term (season, career). Much below that and you’re likely to get demoted or released. People do hit above that range, but it’s noteworthy when they do.
Heidi, we need more baseball threads!
Oh yeah, remember the last time there was a baseball thread? that would be the end of Heidi’s “the commenters have been great” thread.
For those who are curious:
Ray Schalk, catcher for the White Sox and Giants between 1912-1929, has the lowest batting average of any non pitcher in the Hall of Fame at .253.
Ty Cobb, with .36636, has the highest career batting average.
Last year, the best season average was Chipper Jones at .364 (.36446).
Among current players this year with more than 100 appearances at bat, Alexi Casilla has the worst average, at .166.
Mario “I Walk The Line” Mendoza’s lifetime average was .215. There is also the phrase “failing to hit his weight”.
Theaters have a similar threshold of $2,000 per screen.
For periodical comics, I’d say 15,000 on this list would be cause for concern.
(“Those damn jocks are ruining Comic-Con!”)
when I was a youthful smart ass, I used to mock the idea of Bob Costas carrying a Mickey Mantle baseball card in his wallet by carrying one of Mendoza in my wallet.
I’m suprised that Guardians is holding up well, but pleasantly so. Marvel’s cosmic line is about the best thing they have going right now, IMO.
“One note on the LOCKJAW book — Marvel had an incentive if you ordered more copies of [I don’t recall what] you would be DOUBLE shipped on issue #1 — that probably accounts for much/most of that drop.”
Pretty sure Wolverine #73 and Dark Reign: Fantastic Four #1 were the same deal.
I wouldn’t call Web of Spider-Man a second Spider-Man book, but a fourth… And there used to be a market for five Spider-Man books, so something certainly shifted.
As for the Spider-Man/X-Men/Punisher stuff being down and the Avengers franchise being up compared to 5 years ago, it’s clear to me that it has very little to do with the scripts/art/what have you and everything with what Marvel pushes, which would explain why Marvel never really are able to have a strong-selling line as a whole. When X goes up, MU goes down, when Avengers goes up, Spider goes down, and the like.
On the other hand, they are able to get very solid sales in the lower-ranking series. It’s a pity they had to cancel Captain Britain as it was pretty darn rock-steady for the last half-year. The cosmic series in particular are impressive in the way they’ve caught and managed to actually capture a sizable audience (well, sizable depends on your POV, these numbers are fairly low compared to, say, the Dutch Donald Duck weekly. Marvel really needs more low-level entry books so that current kiddies can grow up into adults who want to spend a part of their disposable income on comics, or in the longterm they’ll be screwed–incessant relaunches and fake anniversary issues with high numbers won’t cut it, even though they’re a help for now)
I well remember the days when Tom Brevoort claimed they couldn’t go back to the old numbering of the Heroes Reborn series because of volume problems and fines and the like, then later on it was that they could renumber ASM because it at least had the actual 500 issues and they could never do that with Cap, Thor and Hulk because their issue numbers were based on series that didn’t have those characters in them, and look where we are now, it’s a year full of artificial anniversaries :) I wouldn’t be surprised if DD got relaunched with a new number 1 next year after the inevitable sales clunk post-500/post-Brubaker.
1 year (-14.9%)
2 year (-43.1%)
3 year (-45.5%)
4 year (-17.0%)
5 year (-30.2%)
Amazing Spider-Man sales must be the worst in history.
“Amazing Spider-Man sales must be the worst in history.”
Not quite, but the last time they were this low, Byrne and Mackie were writing them.
That’s right – ASM is now selling HARRAS-ERA numbers.
@Joseph:
I’m not sure what to think of Guardians of the Galaxy. I like the book (and was a fan of the old series as well,) so it is nice to think of it as doing well. I can only think that it got a boost out of its new roster, particularly coming out of a popular space storyline. And now it is loosely tying in to the War of Kings storyline, which seems surprisingly popular as well. (And before that, it pretended to have a tie-in to Secret Invasion. All things considered, its success might be partly due to all the crossover influence.)
Although I must say that I found the art in GotG #16 to be terrible. With how I’m looking for excuses to cut more titles, if the art change is permanent, then GotG may very well see my personal chopping block regardless of the story quality.
Per issue Amazing Spider-man is down, but per month it’s up a lot (about 180,000 copies sold, as its about 60k per issue.) In the Harras era while Amazing sold more, the three main Spidey books combined probably didn’t sell 180,000 copies a month. Which would make it a current success, no?
I don’t think the Harras era has any relevance, really. The market was entirely different at the time and comparing 10+ year old numbers to current numbers is apples and oranges.
Well hell, comparing numbers from 2 years ago before the thrice-monthly thing and the economic downturn is pointless too considering that there’s not much selling “like it used to” but you see people going on and on about it, month in, month out.