Any signs yet of the financial crisis affecting the periodical direct market in October? No, not really. Thanks to several high-profile books that weren’t published in September coming out again, DC Comics’ average periodical sales jumped back up, as expected. The publisher’s DC Universe line continued to be dominated by the blockbuster events Final Crisis and “Batman RIP” and their numerous spin-off and tie-in titles. In other news, Pa Kent died, Supergirl got another new creative team and Superman kicked off the “New Krypton” crossover, with modest results. In terms of new launches, there were Terror Titans, Vixen and, um, Superman & Batman vs. Vampires & Werewolves, none of which charted very highly, unsurprisingly. Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo’s original Joker hardcover book led the Graphic Novel chart with a very respectable 17,296 units, meanwhile.
Average periodical numbers of DC’s Vertigo and WildStorm imprints kept eclipsing the 11,000 unit mark, which, shall we say, is not very impressive compared to their past numbers. At Vertigo, the new Unknown Soldier series by Joshua Dysart and Alberto Ponticelli was off to a reasonably good start by recent standards. At WildStorm, no less than three new licensed properties got their comic-book miniseries. With the exception of Gears of War, they crashed and burned. Casey Blue, one of the few remaining creator-owned books at WildStorm, slipped off the Top 300 chart again with its final issue; for the sake of the average sales calculations, I’m assuming that it sold as many units as the previous issue – which it probably didn’t, but never mind.
See below for the details, and please mind the fine print at the end of the column. Thanks to Milton Griepp and ICv2.com for the permission to use their figures. An overview of ICv2.com‘s estimates can be found here.
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2 - FINAL CRISIS 05/2008: Final Crisis #1 of 7 -- 144,826 [166,641] 06/2008: Final Crisis #2 of 7 -- 126,082 (-12.9%) [134,116] 07/2008: -- 08/2008: Final Crisis #3 of 7 -- 123,881 (- 1.8%) 09/2008: -- 10/2008: Final Crisis #4 of 7 -- 115,666 (- 6.6%)
Approximately 40,000 units below Marvel’s Secret Invasion #7, DC’s event of the year continues to perform in a tolerably steady fashion. Quite obviously, the two blockbuster miniseries are still playing in different ballparks. The best thing Final Crisis has going for it right now, besides being comfortably ahead of every other DC periodical, is that it’s been able to hold on to an encouraging percentage of readers. As usual, Final Crisis sales were boosted with 50/50 variant-cover edition.
October’s spin-off titles were the one-shots Final Crisis: Submit and, um, Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns, as well as new issues of Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds, Final Crisis: Rogues’ Revenge and Final Crisis: Revelations – see below for those.
The release date of Final Crisis #6 has been pushed back to January 21, meanwhile, making it seem increasingly unlikely that DC will accomplish its stated goal of being done with the series by the end of January. Why choose between fill-in artists and delays when you can have it both ways?
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4 - BATMAN 10/2001: Batman #596 -- 42,955* 10/2002: Batman #608 -- 113,061* 10/2003: Batman #620 -- 107,538 [111,206] 10/2004: Batman #633 -- 69,946 10/2005: Batman #646 -- 69,975 10/2006: -- ------------------------------- 10/2007: Batman #670 -- 76,890 (+ 4.7%) [ 86,049] 11/2007: Batman #671 -- 76,764 (- 0.2%) [ 80,440] 12/2007: Batman #672 -- 71,189 (- 7.3%) 01/2008: Batman #673 -- 69,234 (- 2.8%) 02/2008: Batman #674 -- 68,208 (- 1.5%) 03/2008: -- 04/2008: Batman #675 -- 71,138 (+ 4.3%) 05/2008: Batman #676 -- 105,039 (+47.9%) [122,877] 05/2008: Batman #677 -- 96,116 (- 8.5%) [111,065] 06/2008: -- 07/2008: Batman #678 -- 103,213 (+ 7.4%) 08/2008: Batman #679 -- 103,588 (+ 0.4%) 09/2008: -- 10/2008: Batman #680 -- 103,941 (+ 0.3%) ---------------- 6 months: +46.1% 1 year : +35.2% 2 years : n.a. 5 years : - 3.5%
The main “Batman RIP” story keeps Batman numbers rock-solid above 100K. As usual, there was a 1-for-10 variant-cover edition to increase sales.
The sales boosts for the tie-in arcs in Detective Comics, Nightwing and Batman and the Outsiders – see below – are somewhat less enduring, but overall, those books keep profiting tremendously from “RIP,” as well.
Very big hit, this one, let me tell you.
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10/12 - JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA 10/2001: JLA #59 -- 67,744* 10/2002: JLA #73 -- 60,352* 10/2002: JLA #74 -- 60,148* 10/2003: JLA #88 -- 59,448 10/2003: JLA #89 -- 59,007 [59,955] 10/2004: JLA #107 -- 65,225 [68,082] 10/2005: JLA #120 -- 82,892 10/2005: JLA #121 -- 78,869 [81,316] 10/2006: -- -------------------------------------- 10/2007: Justice League #14 -- 101,763 (-14.8%) 11/2007: -- 12/2007: Justice League #15 -- 100,234 (- 1.5%) 12/2007: Justice League #16 -- 95,557 (- 4.7%) 01/2008: Justice League #17 -- 94,712 (- 0.9%) 02/2008: Justice League #18 -- 89,803 (- 5.2%) 03/2008: Justice League #19 -- 87,482 (- 2.6%) 04/2008: Justice League #20 -- 85,807 (- 1.9%) 05/2008: Justice League #21 -- 90,035 (+ 4.9%) 06/2008: Justice League #22 -- 85,013 (- 5.6%) 07/2008: Justice League #23 -- 82,953 (- 2.4%) 08/2008: Justice League #24 -- 81,451 (- 1.8%) 09/2008: -- 10/2008: Justice League #25 -- 80,731 (- 0.9%) 10/2008: Justice League #26 -- 77,353 (- 4.2%) ---------------- 6 months: - 7.9% 1 year : -22.3% 2 years : n.a. 5 years : +33.5%
Justice League had two issues out after missing its September shipping date.
Issue #26 was released in the last week of October, which means that only advance reorders are included in the number, while the figure for issue #25 includes the reorders from four subsequent weeks – hence the different percentage drops between the two, I presume. All things being equal, the book probably continued a decline of around 2% per issue.
Which, amazingly enough, means that retailers, for once, don’t seem to have taken the first multiple of 25 as a cause for upping their orders, however slightly, in this case, although it was double-sized and had a higher cover price. A sign that the book is currently being ordered on autopilot, perhaps?
It certainly seems to have been a while since anybody was really paying attention to the series. The solution DC have come up with – and I mean besides including a grammatically subversive banner saying, um, “Not an Elseworlds!” on the cover – is to use the book as a vehicle for bringing back the Milestone Media characters they were publishing for a few years in the nineties, starting with issue #27.
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13/32 - FINAL CRISIS ONE-SHOTS 07/2008: Requiem #1 -- 74,310 [80,069] 08/2008: DCU: LWaT #1 -- 67,063 10/2008: Submit #1 -- 57,490 10/2008: RotRL #1 -- 76,407
Sales of the one-shot specials keep bouncing all over the place. Final Crisis: Submit, was written by Final Crisis author Grant Morrison himself, so the fact that it’s the lowest-selling of all the Final Crisis spin-offs to date seems disappointing. Then again, the book’s billed stars are Black Lightning and, um, Tattoo Man, so perhaps it’s not so bad, after all.
Based on the overall health of the Green Lantern franchise since last year’s “Sinestro Corps War” crossover, the strong numbers for, um, Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns doesn’t come as a great surprise, on the other hand. That’s “strong” in relation to the other Final Crisis spin-off books, mind you. Overall, the book’s sales don’t seem to have profited much at all from the “Final Crisis” tag. If they had just sold it as a prelude issue to “Blackest Night,” the next big Green Lantern crossover, I don’t think it would have moved significantly fewer copies.
As usual, both specials were promoted through 50/50 variant-cover editions.
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15 - JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA 10/2001: JSA #29 -- 42,195* 10/2002: JSA #41 -- 41,844* 10/2003: JSA #53 -- 43,712 10/2004: JSA #66 -- 41,023 10/2005: JSA #78 -- 54,070 --------------------------------------- 10/2007: Justice Society #10 -- 99,424 (+ 18.2%) 11/2007: -- 12/2007: Justice Society #11 -- 89,613 (- 9.9%) 01/2008: -- 02/2008: Justice Society #12 -- 84,162 (- 6.1%) 02/2008: Justice Society #13 -- 82,702 (- 1.7%) 03/2008: -- 04/2008: Justice Society #14 -- 80,507 (- 2.7%) 05/2008: Justice Society #15 -- 78,311 (- 2.7%) 06/2008: Justice Society #16 -- 77,328 (- 1.3%) 07/2008: Justice Society #17 -- 75,532 (- 2.3%) 08/2008: Justice Society #18 -- 73,485 (- 2.7%) 09/2008: -- 10/2008: Justice Society #19 -- 72,073 (- 1.9%) ---------------- 6 months: -10.5% 1 year : -27.5% 2 years : n.a. 5 years : +64.9%
Maintaining a slow decline. There was a 1-for-10 variant-cover edition, as usual.
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20 - DETECTIVE COMICS 10/2001: Detective Comics #763 -- 40,021* 10/2002: Detective Comics #775 -- 41,471* 10/2003: Detective Comics #787 -- 37,878 10/2004: Detective Comics #799 -- 48,228 10/2005: Detective Comics #812 -- 39,270 10/2006: Detective Comics #824 -- 62,431 ---------------------------------------- 10/2007: Detective Comics #837 -- 51,363 (+ 3.8%) 11/2007: Detective Comics #838 -- 60,267 (+17.3%) [65,293] 12/2007: Detective Comics #839 -- 62,297 (+ 3.4%) [65,773] 01/2008: Detective Comics #840 -- 51,579 (-17.2%) 02/2008: Detective Comics #841 -- 50,535 (- 2.0%) 03/2008: Detective Comics #842 -- 49,425 (- 2.2%) 04/2008: Detective Comics #843 -- 48,431 (- 2.0%) 05/2008: Detective Comics #844 -- 48,394 (- 0.1%) 06/2008: Detective Comics #845 -- 48,920 (+ 1.2%) 07/2008: Detective Comics #846 -- 72,417 (+48.0%) 08/2008: Detective Comics #847 -- 71,134 (- 1.8%) 09/2008: Detective Comics #848 -- 68,306 (- 4.0%) 10/2008: Detective Comics #849 -- 65,878 (- 3.6%) ---------------- 6 months: +36.0% 1 year : +28.3% 2 years : + 5.5% 5 years : +73.9%
Thanks to “Batman RIP,” the highest-selling secondary title in the franchise is still 15,000 units ahead of its previous level.
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23 - FINAL CRISIS: LEGION OF 3 WORLDS 08/2008: Legion of 3 Worlds #1 of 5 -- 68,306 [73,914] 09/2008: -- 10/2008: Legion of 3 Worlds #2 of 5 -- 64,412 (-5.7%)
Continuing the trend established by Final Crisis and its previous offshoot miniseries, Legion of 3 Worlds follows its unspectacular debut sales with a minuscule second-issue drop. As usual, the book was promoted through a 50/50 variant-cover edition.
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26 - GREEN LANTERN 10/2001: Green Lantern #143 -- 35,713* 10/2002: Green Lantern #155 -- 39,017* 10/2003: Green Lantern #170 -- 32,679 10/2004: Rebirth #1 of 6 -- 95,092 [178,414] 10/2005: -- 10/2006: -- -------------------------------------- 10/2007: Green Lantern #24 -- 78,650 (- 0.6%) 11/2007: -- 12/2007: Green Lantern #25 -- 90,545 (+15.1%) 12/2007: Green Lantern #26 -- 69,986 (-22.7%) 01/2008: Green Lantern #27 -- 67,600 (- 3.4%) 02/2008: -- 03/2008: Green Lantern #28 -- 68,073 (+ 0.7%) 03/2008: Green Lantern #29 -- 66,536 (- 2.3%) 04/2008: Green Lantern #30 -- 65,347 (- 1.9%) 05/2008: Green Lantern #31 -- 65,874 (+ 0.8%) 06/2008: Green Lantern #32 -- 64,839 (- 1.6%) 07/2008: Green Lantern #33 -- 63,814 (- 1.6%) 08/2008: -- 09/2008: Green Lantern #34 -- 63,825 (+ 0.0%) 10/2008: Green Lantern #35 -- 63,383 (- 0.7%) ---------------- 6 months: - 3.0% 1 year : -19.4% 2 years : n.a. 5 years : +94.0%
The “Secret Origin” storyline has stabilized the book’s sales again. A follow-up arc to, um, Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns, is around the corner. Besides Batman, Green Lantern is DC’s most successful periodical franchise right now (the “periodical” distinction is important, considering, well, Watchmen) – also see Green Lantern Corps below.
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34 - ACTION COMICS 10/2001: Action Comics #784 -- 39,892* 10/2002: Action Comics #796 -- 33,783* 10/2003: Action Comics #808 -- 30,978 10/2004: Action Comics #820 -- 41,114 10/2005: Action Comics #832 -- 47,968 10/2006: Action Comics #844 -- 78,869 [88,290] ------------------------------------- 10/2007: Action Comics #856 -- 53,815 (- 3.1%) 10/2007: Action Comics #857 -- 51,401 (- 4.5%) 10/2007: Action Comics #858 -- 54,596 (+ 6.2%) [59,031] 11/2007: Action Comics #859 -- 54,572 (- 0.0%) 12/2007: Action Comics #860 -- 56,254 (+ 3.1%) 01/2008: Action Comics #861 -- 56,093 (- 0.3%) 02/2008: Action Comics #862 -- 55,658 (- 0.8%) 03/2008: -- 04/2008: Action Comics #863 -- 56,882 (+ 2.2%) 04/2008: Action Comics #864 -- 48,438 (-14.9%) 05/2008: Action Comics #865 -- 46,764 (- 3.5%) 06/2008: Action Comics #866 -- 50,158 (+ 7.3%) [53,198] 07/2008: Action Comics #867 -- 49,363 (- 1.6%) 08/2008: Action Comics #868 -- 49,556 (+ 0.4%) 09/2008: Action Comics #869 -- 49,597 (+ 0.1%) 10/2008: Action Comics #870 -- 57,407 (+15.8%) ---------------- 6 months: + 9.0% 1 year : + 9.1% 2 years : -27.2% 5 years : +85.3%
The death of Pa Kent and a 1-for-10 variant-cover edition result in a neat little sales increase. The issue came out in the second week of October, by the way, so there are three more weeks of reorders included in this figure; given that DC’s previews didn’t specify who was going to die in teh story, I reckon that’s probably significant in this case.
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35 - FINAL CRISIS: ROGUES' REVENGE 07/2008: Rogues' Revenge #1 of 3 -- 62,482 [67,371] 08/2008: Rogues' Revenge #2 of 3 -- 54,404 (-12.9%) [57,594] 09/2008: -- 10/2008: Rogues' Revenge #3 of 3 -- 55,058 (+ 1.2%)
NEWS SHOCKER: Comics Customers Respond Positively to Final Crisis and Spin-Off Comics!
The book started out with lower sales than they might have hoped for, but its subsequent performance speaks for itself. It’s pretty rare for a series to get a sales increase with its third issue. So there’s a silver lining for the upcoming re-re-re-relaunch of The Flash, at least.
As usual, there was a 50/50 variant-cover edition.
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37 - SUPERMAN 10/2001: Superman #175 -- 46,035* 10/2002: Superman #187 -- 35,552* 10/2003: Superman #198 -- 33,680 10/2004: Superman #210 -- 113,480 [114,272] 10/2005: Superman #222 -- 67,638 10/2006: -- --------------------------------- 10/2007: Superman #668 -- 47,948 (- 1.4%) 10/2007: Superman #669 -- 47,271 (- 1.4%) 11/2007: Superman #670 -- 48,407 (+ 2.4%) 12/2007: Superman #671 -- 45,290 (- 6.4%) 01/2008: Superman #672 -- 44,656 (- 1.4%) 02/2008: Superman #673 -- 41,580 (- 6.9%) 03/2008: Superman #674 -- 41,715 (+ 0.3%) 04/2008: Superman #675 -- 54,855 (+31.5%) 05/2008: Superman #676 -- 45,644 (-16.8%) 06/2008: Superman #677 -- 54,634 (+19.7%) 07/2008: Superman #678 -- 47,670 (-12.8%) 08/2008: Superman #679 -- 46,615 (- 2.2%) 09/2008: Superman #680 -- 46,585 (- 0.1%) 10/2008: Superman #681 -- 54,611 (+17.2%) ---------------- 6 months: - 0.5% 1 year : +14.7% 2 years : n.a. 5 years : +62.2%
39/78 - SUPERMAN: NEW KRYPTON ONE-SHOTS 10/2008: Jimmy Olsen Special #1 -- 31,993 10/2008: New Krypton Special #1 -- 53,582
Superman #681 and the two specials got the “New Krypton” crossover about 100,000 Kryptonians descending on Earth underway, with sobering results so far. The estimated first-month sales of last year’s Sinestro Corps Special didn’t exceed 57,000 either, granted, but that book went on to shift around 100K, including all the reorders. Additionally, in the case of “New Krypton,” part of the sales we see are due to the 1-for-10 variant-cover editions released for each chapter. So, in conclusion, I don’t really see a lot of excitement here yet – but who knows, maybe “New Krypton” is another sleeper hit.
On the positive side, this means that every Superman reader gets to keep about two Kryptonians, of course. That’s not such a bad deal, actually – you could do a lot way worse than two Kryptonians. Marvel will probably be handing out leftover Skrulls for years to come, for instance.
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41 - FINAL CRISIS: REVELATIONS 08/2008: Revelations #1 of 5 -- 58,434 09/2008: Revelations #2 of 5 -- 54,706 (-6.4%) 10/2008: Revelations #3 of 5 -- 52,864 (-3.4%)
The lowest-selling of the Final Crisis spin-off titles also displays a remarkably tiny drop-off. There was another 50/50 variant-cover edition, he dutifully reports.
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44 - NIGHTWING 10/2001: Nightwing #62 -- 36,658* 10/2002: Nightwing #74 -- 31,058* 10/2003: Nightwing #86 -- 29,579 10/2004: Nightwing #98 -- 43,618 10/2005: Nightwing #113 -- 39,837 10/2006: Nightwing #125 -- 38,470 --------------------------------- 10/2007: Nightwing #137 -- 28,363 (- 3.1%) 11/2007: Nightwing #138 -- 46,757 (+64.9%) [52,282] 12/2007: Nightwing #139 -- 49,291 (+ 5.4%) [52,607] 01/2008: Nightwing #140 -- 32,305 (-34.5%) 02/2008: Nightwing #141 -- 30,980 (- 4.1%) 03/2008: Nightwing #142 -- 30,253 (- 2.4%) 04/2008: Nightwing #143 -- 29,914 (- 1.1%) 05/2008: Nightwing #144 -- 29,367 (- 1.8%) 06/2008: Nightwing #145 -- 29,435 (+ 0.2%) 07/2008: Nightwing #146 -- 29,494 (+ 0.2%) 08/2008: Nightwing #147 -- 56,300 (+90.9%) 09/2008: Nightwing #148 -- 53,210 (- 5.5%) 10/2008: Nightwing #149 -- 50,588 (- 4.9%) ---------------- 6 months: +69.1% 1 year : +78.4% 2 years : +31.5% 5 years : +71.0%
Another “Batman RIP” tie-in; declining, but still 30,000 units ahead of its usual level.
As you may have heard, DC recently announced the cancellation of the three long-running Batman spin-offs Nightwing, Robin and Birds of Prey in February 2009. In the case of Birds of Prey, that doesn’t come as a great surprise – while the book had been a solid mid-level performer around 30K during writer Gail Simone’s tenure, it’s slipped into the low 20,000s in the year since she left. Both Nightwing and Robin were still shifting between 25 and 30K every month, however, so what we’re seeing is probably an attempt at restructuring the line rather than a simple culling.
Which begs the question how much of a point there is to the whole exercise. Neither of these books can, by definition, ever really affect the status quo of their world. What they are meant to do, conceptually, is to tell stories about Batman’s supporting cast that are too inconsequential for the main Batman book. They’re for a subset of hardcore Batman fans who are into the concept enough to be interested in what happens off at the fringes somewhere. As such, I’m skeptical whether there’s much to be gained here. At best, I see them ending up with some new mid-level books solidly shifting around 30K per month.
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46/47/49/51/53 - TRINITY 06/2008: Trinity #1 -- 88,044 06/2008: Trinity #2 -- 79,495 (- 9.7%) 06/2008: Trinity #3 -- 76,224 (- 4.1%) 06/2008: Trinity #4 -- 73,448 (- 3.6%) 07/2008: Trinity #5 -- 68,351 (- 6.9%) 07/2008: Trinity #6 -- 66,624 (- 2.5%) 07/2008: Trinity #7 -- 65,509 (- 1.7%) 07/2008: Trinity #8 -- 64,220 (- 2.0%) 07/2008: Trinity #9 -- 62,252 (- 3.1%) 08/2008: Trinity #10 -- 60,249 (- 3.2%) 08/2008: Trinity #11 -- 59,356 (- 1.5%) 08/2008: Trinity #12 -- 58,151 (- 2.0%) 08/2008: Trinity #13 -- 57,284 (- 1.5%) 09/2008: Trinity #14 -- 53,736 (- 6.2%) 09/2008: Trinity #15 -- 53,101 (- 1.2%) 09/2008: Trinity #16 -- 52,316 (- 1.5%) 09/2008: Trinity #17 -- 51,318 (- 1.9%) 10/2008: Trinity #18 -- 49,174 (- 4.2%) 10/2008: Trinity #19 -- 48,551 (- 1.3%) 10/2008: Trinity #20 -- 47,927 (- 1.3%) 10/2008: Trinity #21 -- 47,252 (- 1.4%) 10/2008: Trinity #22 -- 46,638 (- 1.3%)
Five months in, Trinity is dropping quite a bit faster than 52 and Countdown. For 52, the drop-off from the first issue, at this stage, was 36.5% (from 176,214 to 111,830); for Countdown, it was 27.5% (from 113,854 to 82,537); for Trinity, now, it’s a whopping 47.0%.
So DC’s latest weekly book isn’t just significantly lagging behind its predecessors in absolute numbers, but also in its capability of holding on to the audience. In a way, that’s not surprising. 52 got bonus points by virtue of being a novelty act and having superstar names like Grant Morrison and Geoff Johns attached; and Countdown, while poorly received, had the advantage of being at the center of the DC Universe line. Trinity, by contrast, is “the next one,” and it’s out there somewhere doing its own thing while the big, world-altering stuff is happening elsewhere.
This is what the Big Two have been training their audience to do, basically: Follow the big blockbuster stories that matter, ignore the self-contained books that are a little off to the side. And this is a book starring Superman and Batman, mind you, so it can’t really be that far off to the side – but it’s far enough, evidently.
Time to re-evaluate some publishing strategies, maybe.
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48 - SUPERMAN/BATMAN 10/2003: Superman/Batman #3 -- 103,569 [115,814] 10/2004: -- 10/2005: -- 10/2006: -- --------------------------------------- 10/2007: Superman/Batman #41 -- 54,928 (- 4.3%) 11/2007: Superman/Batman #42 -- 54,341 (- 1.1%) 11/2007: Superman/Batman #43 -- 53,489 (- 1.6%) 12/2007: Superman/Batman #44 -- 53,057 (- 0.8%) 01/2008: Superman/Batman #45 -- 52,119 (- 1.8%) 02/2008: Superman/Batman #46 -- 52,009 (- 0.2%) 03/2008: -- 04/2008: Superman/Batman #47 -- 52,557 (+ 1.1%) 05/2008: Superman/Batman #48 -- 52,845 (+ 0.6%) 06/2008: Superman/Batman #49 -- 52,579 (- 0.5%) 07/2008: Superman/Batman #50 -- 61,321 (+16.6%) 08/2008: Superman/Batman #51 -- 51,701 (-15.7%) 09/2008: Superman/Batman #52 -- 50,000 (- 3.3%) 10/2008: Superman/Batman #53 -- 48,187 (- 3.6%) ---------------- 6 months: - 8.3% 1 year : -12.3% 2 years : n.a. 5 years : -53.5%
Speaking of books that are slightly off to the side, Superman/Batman is back in an unhealthy decline – it’s another book which stopped being a big deal at some point, and whose sales now seem to be driven by inertia more than because anybody thinks they particularly need to read it.
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52 - BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS 10/2003: Outsiders #5 -- 48,900 10/2004: Outsiders #17 -- 41,814 10/2005: Outsiders #29 -- 47,611 10/2006: Outsiders #41 -- 36,672 -------------------------------- 10/2007: -- 11/2007: Batsiders #1 -- 60,690 (+58.8%) 11/2007: Batsiders #2 -- 42,827 (-29.4%) 12/2007: Batsiders #3 -- 40,371 (- 5.7%) 01/2008: -- 02/2008: Batsiders #4 -- 37,903 (- 6.1%) 03/2008: Batsiders #5 -- 36,797 (- 2.9%) 04/2008: Batsiders #6 -- 36,551 (- 0.7%) 05/2008: Batsiders #7 -- 35,071 (- 4.1%) 06/2008: Batsiders #8 -- 34,640 (- 1.2%) 07/2008: Batsiders #9 -- 34,401 (- 0.7%) 08/2008: Batsiders #10 -- 33,645 (- 2.2%) 09/2008: Batsiders #11 -- 49,945 (+48.5%) 10/2008: Batsiders #12 -- 46,649 (- 6.6%) ---------------- 6 months: +28.5% 1 year : n.a. 2 years : +27.2% 5 years : - 4.6%
“Batman RIP” keeps Batman and the Outsiders sales about 13,000 units ahead of their previous level. After issue #14, the book is retooled once again: Instead of a regular issue, there’s a one-shot special in January, and after that the title changes back to plain old The Outsiders with issue #15, apparently.
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54 - GREEN LANTERN CORPS 10/2005: GLC: Recharge #2 of 5 -- 68,925 [71,414] 10/2006: Green Lantern Corps #5 -- 43,546 ------------------------------------------ 10/2007: Green Lantern Corps #16 -- 60,862 (+18.0%) 10/2007: Green Lantern Corps #17 -- 59,223 (- 2.7%) 11/2007: Green Lantern Corps #18 -- 55,838 (- 5.7%) [59,049] 12/2007: Green Lantern Corps #19 -- 50,516 (- 9.5%) 01/2008: Green Lantern Corps #20 -- 44,607 (-11.7%) [48,577] 02/2008: Green Lantern Corps #21 -- 47,582 (+ 6.7%) 03/2008: Green Lantern Corps #22 -- 46,736 (- 1.8%) 04/2008: Green Lantern Corps #23 -- 46,780 (+ 0.1%) 05/2008: Green Lantern Corps #24 -- 46,948 (+ 0.4%) 06/2008: Green Lantern Corps #25 -- 47,399 (+ 1.0%) 07/2008: Green Lantern Corps #26 -- 46,098 (- 2.8%) 08/2008: Green Lantern Corps #27 -- 46,045 (- 0.1%) 09/2008: Green Lantern Corps #28 -- 44,939 (- 2.4%) 10/2008: Green Lantern Corps #29 -- 46,316 (+ 3.1%) ---------------- 6 months: - 1.0% 1 year : -22.9% 2 years : + 6.4%
The October issue began the title’s build-up to the “Blackest Night” storyline, which prompted a nice little sales increase. Again, this looks like a very healthy franchise.
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56 - TITANS 10/2001: Titans #34 -- 28,075* 10/2002: Titans #46 -- 21,662* --------------------------------- 11/2007: TTE Special #1 -- 49,735 12/2007: -- 01/2008: -- 02/2008: -- 03/2008: -- 04/2008: Titans #1 -- 75,584 (+52.0%) 05/2008: Titans #2 -- 57,358 (-24.1%) 06/2008: Titans #3 -- 54,512 (- 5.0%) 07/2008: -- 08/2008: -- 09/2008: Titans #4 -- 51,755 (- 5.1%) 09/2008: Titans #5 -- 49,959 (- 3.5%) 10/2008: Titans #6 -- 45,453 (- 9.0%) ---------------- 6 months: -39.9%
68 - TEEN TITANS 10/2003: Teen Titans #4 -- 69,082 [71,828] 10/2004: Teen Titans #17 -- 63,154 [67,926] 10/2005: Teen Titans #28 -- 66,581 10/2006: -- ---------------------------------- 10/2007: Teen Titans #52 -- 55,176 (- 4.6%) 11/2007: Teen Titans #53 -- 54,387 (- 1.4%) 12/2007: Teen Titans #54 -- 53,790 (- 1.1%) 01/2008: Teen Titans #55 -- 52,376 (- 2.6%) 02/2008: Teen Titans #56 -- 50,283 (- 4.0%) 03/2008: Teen Titans #57 -- 49,109 (- 2.3%) 04/2008: Teen Titans #58 -- 47,357 (- 3.6%) 05/2008: Teen Titans #59 -- 46,306 (- 2.2%) 06/2008: Teen Titans #60 -- 45,036 (- 2.7%) 07/2008: Teen Titans #61 -- 44,666 (- 0.8%) 08/2008: Teen Titans #62 -- 43,258 (- 3.2%) 09/2008: Teen Titans #63 -- 41,790 (- 3.4%) 10/2008: Teen Titans #64 -- 39,695 (- 5.0%) ---------------- 6 months: -16.2% 1 year : -28.1% 2 years : n.a. 5 years : -42.5%
The numbers on this franchise, on the other hand, make you wonder why it’s a franchise in the first place.
Titans really shouldn’t be losing 9% at this point. Considering that it was doing pretty well until it went on hiatus to be retooled on the fly (the first issue, unlike the rest of them, had a variant-cover edition, so the second-issue drop looks steeper than it was), it looks like one more case of DC shooting themselves in the foot.
Over on Teen Titans, meanwhile, another 2,000 readers disappear into the ether. The book has yet to find a solid foothold in the market after writer Geoff Johns’ departure more than a year ago. Which makes it particularly puzzling why they thought it was a good idea to launch multiple spin-off miniseries in 2008 – see the figures for Terror Titans and DC Special: Cyborg below.
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75 - SUPERGIRL 10/2001: Supergirl #63 -- 24,566* 10/2002: Supergirl #75 -- 21,470* 10/2005: -- 10/2006: -- --------------------------------- 10/2007: Supergirl #22 -- 41,758 (- 6.5%) 11/2007: Supergirl #23 -- 45,460 (+ 8.9%) 12/2007: Supergirl #24 -- 37,922 (-16.6%) 01/2008: Supergirl #25 -- 36,459 (- 3.9%) 02/2008: Supergirl #26 -- 34,186 (- 6.2%) 03/2008: Supergirl #27 -- 32,596 (- 4.7%) 04/2008: Supergirl #28 -- 31,379 (- 3.7%) 05/2008: Supergirl #29 -- 30,192 (- 3.8%) 06/2008: Supergirl #30 -- 29,553 (- 2.1%) 07/2008: Supergirl #31 -- 28,813 (- 2.5%) 08/2008: Supergirl #32 -- 28,114 (- 2.4%) 09/2008: Supergirl #33 -- 27,609 (- 1.8%) 10/2008: Supergirl #34 -- 33,958 (+23.0%) ---------------- 6 months: + 8.2% 1 year : -18.7% 2 years : n.a.
Sterling Gates and Jamal Igle, the sixth Supergirl creative team in three years, are off to a decent start. There was a 1-for-10 variant-cover edition, so the sales increase isn’t just due to the makeover, but still: It’s not dropping.
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76 - WONDER WOMAN 10/2001: Wonder Woman #175 -- 33,359* 10/2002: Wonder Woman #186 -- 23,358* 10/2003: Wonder Woman #197 -- 28,944 [29,854] 10/2004: Wonder Woman #209 -- 25,964 10/2005: Wonder Woman #221 -- 52,894 10/2005: Wonder Woman #222 -- 47,065 [49,101] 10/2006: -- ------------------------------------- 10/2007: Wonder Woman #13 -- 48,385 (- 4.9%) 11/2007: Wonder Woman #14 -- 53,090 (+ 9.7%) 12/2007: Wonder Woman #15 -- 44,628 (-15.9%) 01/2008: Wonder Woman #16 -- 42,897 (- 3.9%) 02/2008: Wonder Woman #17 -- 41,948 (- 2.2%) 03/2008: Wonder Woman #18 -- 40,771 (- 2.8%) 04/2008: Wonder Woman #19 -- 39,489 (- 3.1%) 05/2008: Wonder Woman #20 -- 38,116 (- 3.5%) 06/2008: Wonder Woman #21 -- 37,086 (- 2.7%) 07/2008: Wonder Woman #22 -- 36,514 (- 1.5%) 08/2008: Wonder Woman #23 -- 35,562 (- 2.6%) 09/2008: Wonder Woman #24 -- 34,583 (- 2.8%) 10/2008: Wonder Woman #25 -- 33,583 (- 2.9%) ---------------- 6 months: -15.0% 1 year : -30.6% 2 years : n.a. 5 years : +16.0%
The second potential “anniversary issue” retailers skipped over in October. But, to be fair, so did DC, in this case.
More significantly, the book is still losing a thousand units from one month to the next, and the supposed major storyline that’s meant to get the book on solid commercial ground again next year has had the bad fortune of being publicly run over by DC editor-in-chief Dan DiDio.
DiDio hasn’t just been talking about the story for what feels like forever, he also, bafflingly, thought it was a good idea to give it a silly nickname. Because nothing generates marketing buzz like ridiculing a concept and making people really, really tired of hearing of it before it’s even solicited, apparently.
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77 - TERROR TITANS 10/2008: Terror Titans #1 of 6 -- 33,001
On the one hand, these sales don’t suggest that a lot of people were screaming for a Terror Titans book, but then again, it’s still doing better than DC Universe: Decisions and Secret Six, evidently.
If Teen Titans numbers hadn’t been in a free-fall for the past year or so, you could say that 6,000 units below the mother title weren’t bad. Under the circumstances, though, that wouldn’t be a very meaningful assessment. I’d really recommend trying to get Teen Titans back on its feet again before branching out.
——
84 - ROBIN 10/2001: Robin #95 -- 29,480* 10/2002: Robin #107 -- 24,546* 10/2003: Robin #119 -- 22,130 10/2004: Robin #131 -- 44,570 10/2005: Robin #143 -- 34,141 10/2006: Robin #155 -- 32,951 ----------------------------- 10/2007: Robin #167 -- 24,625 (- 1.0%) 11/2007: Robin #168 -- 50,672 (+105.8%) [57,442] 12/2007: Robin #169 -- 48,665 (- 4.0%) [51,441] 01/2008: Robin #170 -- 30,048 (- 38.3%) 02/2008: Robin #171 -- 27,781 (- 7.6%) 03/2008: Robin #172 -- 26,912 (- 3.1%) 04/2008: Robin #173 -- 26,357 (- 2.1%) 05/2008: Robin #174 -- 26,209 (- 0.6%) 06/2008: -- 07/2008: Robin #175 -- 53,880 (+105.6%) 08/2008: Robin #176 -- 54,912 (+ 1.9%) 08/2008: Robin #177 -- 31,346 (- 42.9%) 09/2008: Robin #178 -- 32,234 (+ 2.8%) 10/2008: Robin #179 -- 30,081 (- 6.7%) ----------------- 6 months: + 14.1% 1 year : + 22.2% 2 years : - 8.7% 5 years : + 35.9%
Cancelled with issue #183, presumably to make room for something that gets better sales out of the character.
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85 - BOOSTER GOLD 10/2007: Booster Gold #3 -- 39,374 (-16.4%) 11/2007: Booster Gold #4 -- 37,683 (- 4.3%) 12/2007: Booster Gold #5 -- 38,228 (+ 1.5%) 01/2008: Booster Gold #6 -- 36,292 (- 5.1%) 02/2008: Booster Gold #0 -- 37,808 (+ 4.2%) 03/2008: Booster Gold #7 -- 36,140 (- 4.4%) 04/2008: Booster Gold #8 -- 35,982 (- 0.4%) 05/2008: Booster Gold #9 -- 35,030 (- 2.7%) 06/2008: Booster Gold #10 -- 34,435 (- 1.7%) 07/2008: BGold #1,000,000 -- 34,431 (- 0.0%) 08/2008: Booster Gold #11 -- 32,900 (- 4.5%) 09/2008: Booster Gold #12 -- 32,049 (- 2.6%) 10/2008: Booster Gold #13 -- 29,914 (- 6.7%) ---------------- 6 months: -16.9% 1 year : -24.0%
It’s the third filler issue in a row, so the nose-dive is entirely expected. The new regular writer would have had to face an uphill struggle on the book even if it hadn’t spent four months treading water. This won’t be making his job any easier.
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91/121/129 - DC UNIVERSE: DECISIONS 09/2008: Decisions #1 of 4 -- 29,713 10/2008: Decisions #2 of 4 -- 28,521 (- 4.0%) 10/2008: Decisions #3 of 4 -- 23,044 (-19.2%) 10/2008: Decisions #4 of 4 -- 21,401 (- 7.1%)
I’m sure the idea for DC Universe: Decisions sounded magnificent at the pub. Neither Bill Willingham nor Judd Winick seem to be under a very good star lately, as far as their DC Universe projects are concerned.
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93 - THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD 10/2007: The Brave and the Bold #7 -- 48,693 (- 6.4%) 11/2007: The Brave and the Bold #8 -- 45,629 (- 6.3%) 12/2007: The Brave and the Bold #9 -- 43,475 (- 4.7%) 01/2008: -- 02/2008: The Brave and the Bold #10 -- 39,124 (-10.0%) 03/2008: The Brave and the Bold #11 -- 37,751 (- 3.5%) 04/2008: The Brave and the Bold #12 -- 37,739 (- 0.0%) 05/2008: The Brave and the Bold #13 -- 35,814 (- 5.1%) 06/2008: The Brave and the Bold #14 -- 34,361 (- 4.1%) 07/2008: The Brave and the Bold #15 -- 32,688 (- 4.9%) 08/2008: The Brave and the Bold #16 -- 31,522 (- 3.6%) 09/2008: The Brave and the Bold #17 -- 29,857 (- 5.3%) 10/2008: The Brave and the Bold #18 -- 28,199 (- 5.5%) ---------------- 6 months: -25.3% 1 year : -42.1%
Superstar writer J. Michael Straczynski’s next big project. It was a tough call between The Brave and the Bold and Blue Beetle, I imagine.
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94 - THE FLASH 10/2001: Flash #179 -- 29,231* 10/2002: Flash #191 -- 29,305* 10/2003: Flash #203 -- 35,467 10/2004: Flash #215 -- 44,024 [51,882] 10/2005: Flash #227 -- 46,666 10/2006: Flash: FMA #5 -- 61,576 ---------------------------------- 10/2007: Flash #233 -- 51,152 (- 10.2%) 11/2007: Flash #234 -- 46,435 (- 9.2%) 12/2007: Flash #235 -- 43,788 (- 5.7%) 01/2008: Flash #236 -- 41,464 (- 5.3%) 02/2008: Flash #237 -- 37,719 (- 9.0%) 03/2008: Flash #238 -- 35,606 (- 5.6%) 04/2008: Flash #239 -- 33,741 (- 5.2%) 05/2008: Flash #240 -- 31,944 (- 5.3%) 06/2008: Flash #241 -- 30,810 (- 3.6%) 07/2008: Flash #242 -- 30,325 (- 1.6%) 08/2008: Flash #243 -- 29,647 (- 2.2%) 09/2008: Flash #244 -- 29,180 (- 1.6%) 10/2008: Flash #245 -- 28,085 (- 3.8%) ---------------- 6 months: -16.8% 1 year : -45.1% 2 years : -54.4% 5 years : -20.8%
Cancelled with issue #247, and heading for another relaunch in 2009.
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98 - SECRET SIX 05/2006: Secret Six #1 of 6 -- 54,961 [57,425] 07/2006: Secret Six #2 of 6 -- 47,346 08/2006: Secret Six #3 of 6 -- 44,507 09/2006: Secret Six #4 of 6 -- 40,782 10/2006: Secret Six #5 of 6 -- 36,628 12/2006: Secret Six #6 of 6 -- 35,513 ------------------------------------- 09/2008: Secret Six #1 -- 31,673 (-10.8%) 10/2008: Secret Six #2 -- 27,846 (-12.1%) ---------------- 2 years : -24.0%
The good news is that Secret Six saw a relatively small second-issue drop in October. The bad news is that no reorders for issue #1 made the chart. Which is odd, given that series writer Gail Simone chimed in last month to say that the reported numbers were significantly lower than the book’s real sales.
I’m not sure what to make of this. If anything had gone wrong at Diamond’s number-crunching department, we should have seen an indication of that on the chart by now – either in the shape of a massive amount of reorders for issue #1 or, at the very least, through wildly odd numbers for the second issue. But neither happened.
On the other hand, I see no reason to doubt Simone’s word. She’s obviously seen the real numbers, and if they’re considerably higher than what’s listed here, then that’s what it is. There are are several more or less likely factors that might explain a discrepancy, such as unusually strong UK sales or some special ordering scheme for retailers (see comments on Air below), but at this point I’m just guessing.
If anyone has any more insight what’s going on here, please let me know.
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99 - SUPERMAN & BATMAN VS. VAMPIRES & WEREWOLVES 10/2008: SM vs. VW #1 of 6 -- 27,825 10/2008: SM vs. VW #2 of 6 -- 24,977 (-10.2%)
Right where you’d expect this sort of thing.
Personally, I’m just disappointed that they didn’t go all the way and do Superman, Batman & Wonder Woman vs. Vampires, Werewolves & Mummies, or Superman, Batman & Green Arrow vs. Vampires, Werewolves & Republicans.
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103 - GREEN ARROW/BLACK CANARY 10/2001: Green Arrow #9 -- 78,414* 10/2002: Green Arrow #18 -- 53,919* 10/2003: Green Arrow #31 -- 39,525 10/2004: Green Arrow #43 -- 32,133 10/2005: Green Arrow #55 -- 32,804 10/2006: Green Arrow #67 -- 32,583 ----------------------------------- 10/2007: Year One #6 of 6 -- 30,943 (- 1.8%) 10/2007: Arrow/Canary #1 -- 52,183 (+68.6%) 11/2007: Arrow/Canary #2 -- 42,827 (-17.9%) 12/2007: Arrow/Canary #3 -- 40,321 (- 5.9%) 01/2008: Arrow/Canary #4 -- 35,039 (-13.1%) 02/2008: Arrow/Canary #5 -- 36,662 (+ 4.6%) 03/2008: Arrow/Canary #6 -- 32,621 (-11.0%) 04/2008: Arrow/Canary #7 -- 32,033 (- 1.8%) 05/2008: Arrow/Canary #8 -- 30,864 (- 3.7%) 06/2008: Arrow/Canary #9 -- 30,330 (- 1.7%) 07/2008: Arrow/Canary #10 -- 29,604 (- 2.4%) 08/2008: Arrow/Canary #11 -- 28,694 (- 3.1%) 09/2008: Arrow/Canary #12 -- 27,896 (- 2.8%) 10/2008: Arrow/Canary #13 -- 26,890 (- 3.6%) ---------------- 6 months: -16.1% 1 year : -35.3% 2 years : -17.5% 5 years : -32.0%
Still rapidly losing readers. New writer Andrew Kreisberg is waiting around the corner:
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115 - BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL 10/2007: Batman Confidential #10 -- 28,724 (- 0.5%) 11/2007: Batman Confidential #11 -- 27,397 (- 4.6%) 12/2007: -- 01/2008: -- 02/2008: Batman Confidential #12 -- 27,208 (- 0.7%) 02/2008: Batman Confidential #13 -- 25,735 (- 5.4%) 03/2008: Batman Confidential #14 -- 25,330 (- 1.6%) 03/2008: Batman Confidential #15 -- 24,283 (- 4.1%) 04/2008: Batman Confidential #16 -- 24,038 (- 1.0%) 05/2008: Batman Confidential #17 -- 25,017 (+ 4.1%) 06/2008: Batman Confidential #18 -- 24,881 (- 0.5%) 07/2008: Batman Confidential #19 -- 25,037 (+ 0.6%) 08/2008: Batman Confidential #20 -- 24,654 (- 1.5%) 09/2008: Batman Confidential #21 -- 24,515 (- 0.6%) 10/2008: Batman Confidential #22 -- 24,281 (- 1.0%) ---------------- 6 months: + 1.0% 1 year : -15.5%
Right here, in fact. So he probably won’t get much of a sales increase on, um, Green Arrow/Black Canary through his name alone.
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117 - FABLES (Vertigo) 10/2002: Fables #6 -- 19,831* 10/2003: Fables #18 -- 26,350 10/2004: Fables #30 -- 25,390 10/2005: Fables #42 -- 24,953 10/2006: Fables #54 -- 25,534 ----------------------------- 10/2007: Fables #66 -- 25,016 (-1.2%) 11/2007: Fables #67 -- 24,841 (-0.7%) 12/2007: Fables #68 -- 24,574 (-1.1%) 01/2008: -- 02/2008: Fables #69 -- 24,337 (-1.0%) 02/2008: Fables #70 -- 23,975 (-1.5%) 03/2008: Fables #71 -- 24,006 (+0.1%) 04/2008: Fables #72 -- 23,853 (-0.6%) 05/2008: Fables #73 -- 23,785 (-0.3%) 06/2008: -- 07/2008: Fables #74 -- 24,166 (+1.6%) 06/2008: -- 09/2008: Fables #75 -- 25,266 (+4.6%) 09/2008: Fables #76 -- 23,914 (-5.4%) 10/2008: Fables #77 -- 23,761 (-0.6%) ---------------- 6 months: - 0.4% 1 year : - 5.0% 2 years : - 6.9% 5 years : - 9.8%
Following the boost for issue #75, Fables stabilizes again in its usual area.
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118 - THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES 10/2001: Legion #1 -- 28,350* 10/2002: Legion #13 -- 24,218* 10/2003: Legion #25 -- 27,954 [29,657] 10/2004: -- 10/2005: Legion of SH #11 -- 34,113 10/2006: Supergirl & LoSH #23 -- 41,554 --------------------------------------- 10/2007: Supergirl & LoSH #35 -- 27,370 (- 3.3%) 11/2007: Supergirl & LoSH #36 -- 26,814 (- 2.0%) 12/2007: Legion of SH #37 -- 45,803 (+70.8%) 01/2008: Legion of SH #38 -- 33,045 (-27.9%) 02/2008: Legion of SH #39 -- 31,123 (- 5.8%) 03/2008: Legion of SH #40 -- 30,377 (- 2.4%) 04/2008: Legion of SH #41 -- 28,939 (- 4.7%) 05/2008: Legion of SH #42 -- 27,940 (- 3.5%) 06/2008: -- 07/2008: Legion of SH #43 -- 27,531 (- 1.5%) 07/2008: Legion of SH #44 -- 29,954 (+ 8.8%) 08/2008: Legion of SH #45 -- 25,783 (-13.9%) 09/2008: Legion of SH #46 -- 24,959 (- 3.2%) 10/2008: Legion of SH #47 -- 23,751 (- 4.8%) ---------------- 6 months: -17.9% 1 year : -13.2% 2 years : -42.8% 5 years : -15.0%
Cancelled with issue #50, probably to clear the air for a new, more viable take on the property – see Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds.
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119 - BATGIRL 10/2001: Batgirl #21 -- 35,906* 10/2002: Batgirl #33 -- 32,697* 10/2003: Batgirl #45 -- 28,029 10/2004: Batgirl #57 -- 39,631 [41,136] 10/2005: Batgirl #69 -- 26,870 ---------------------------------- 07/2008: Batgirl #1 of 6 -- 34,411 08/2008: Batgirl #2 of 6 -- 27,710 (-19.5%) 09/2008: Batgirl #3 of 6 -- 24,932 (-10.0%) 10/2008: Batgirl #4 of 6 -- 23,501 (- 5.7%) ---------------- 5 years : -16.1%
Disappearing off the radar.
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130 - BIRDS OF PREY 10/2001: Birds of Prey #36 -- 25,279* 10/2002: Birds of Prey #48 -- 26,976* 10/2003: Birds of Prey #60 -- 30,515 10/2004: Birds of Prey #75 -- 32,091 10/2005: Birds of Prey #87 -- 32,084 10/2006: Birds of Prey #99 -- 30,385 ------------------------------------- 10/2007: Birds of Prey #111 -- 26,400 (- 2.8%) 11/2007: Birds of Prey #112 -- 25,117 (- 4.9%) 12/2007: Birds of Prey #113 -- 24,717 (- 1.6%) 01/2008: Birds of Prey #114 -- 24,211 (- 2.1%) 02/2008: Birds of Prey #115 -- 23,157 (- 4.4%) 03/2008: Birds of Prey #116 -- 22,627 (- 2.3%) 04/2008: Birds of Prey #117 -- 22,181 (- 2.0%) 05/2008: Birds of Prey #118 -- 21,941 (- 1.1%) 06/2008: Birds of Prey #119 -- 21,593 (- 1.6%) 07/2008: Birds of Prey #120 -- 21,572 (- 0.1%) 08/2008: Birds of Prey #121 -- 22,406 (+ 3.9%) 09/2008: Birds of Prey #122 -- 21,318 (- 4.9%) 10/2008: Birds of Prey #123 -- 21,110 (- 1.0%) ---------------- 6 months: - 4.8% 1 year : -20.0% 2 years : -30.5% 5 years : -30.8%
Cancelled with issue #127.
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134 - GEARS OF WAR (WildStorm) 10/2008: GoW #1 -- 19,718
According to Rich Johnston over at “Lying in the Gutters,” Gears of War #1 shifted “over 450,000” units, “only 10% of which went through the direct market.” Unfortunately, Johnston doesn’t say what channels those copies were sold through, and 20,000 is not 10% of 450,000. So, once more, if anybody has additional insight, please let me know.
From over here, the figure does look like Gears of War is one of WildStorm’s better-received comics based on licensed properties – a videogame, in this case – of late.
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135 - BATMAN: GOTHAM AFTER MIDNIGHT 05/2008: Gotham After Midnight #1 of 12 -- 29,570 06/2008: Gotham After Midnight #2 of 12 -- 24,259 (-18.0%) 07/2008: Gotham After Midnight #3 of 12 -- 22,663 (- 6.6%) 08/2008: Gotham After Midnight #4 of 12 -- 20,863 (- 7.9%) 09/2008: Gotham After Midnight #5 of 12 -- 19,747 (- 5.4%) 10/2008: Gotham After Midnight #6 of 12 -- 18,980 (- 3.9%)
138 - TANGENT: SUPERMAN'S REIGN 03/2008: Tangent #1 of 12 -- 32,378 04/2008: Tangent #2 of 12 -- 25,652 (-20.8%) 05/2008: Tangent #3 of 12 -- 22,858 (-14.2%) 06/2008: Tangent #4 of 12 -- 21,701 (- 5.1%) 07/2008: Tangent #5 of 12 -- 21,061 (- 3.0%) 08/2008: Tangent #6 of 12 -- 20,314 (- 3.6%) 09/2008: Tangent #7 of 12 -- 19,269 (- 5.1%) 10/2008: Tangent #8 of 12 -- 18,273 (- 5.2%) ---------------- 6 months: -43.6%
139 - RANN/THANAGAR: HOLY WAR 05/2008: Holy War #1 of 8 -- 37,179 06/2008: Holy War #2 of 8 -- 26,446 (-28.9%) 07/2008: Holy War #3 of 8 -- 23,955 (- 9.4%) 08/2008: Holy War #4 of 8 -- 21,836 (- 8.9%) 09/2008: Holy War #5 of 8 -- 20,294 (- 7.1%) 10/2008: Holy War #6 of 8 -- 18,273 (-10.0%)
Evidently, the air is getting increasingly thinner for books set on the fringes of the DC Universe with no effect on anything.
Also see comments on Trinity.
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140 - WORLD OF WARCRAFT (WildStorm) 11/2007: World of WarCraft #1 -- 44,508 [49,271] 12/2007: World of WarCraft #2 -- 32,740 (-34.9%) [36,340] 01/2008: World of WarCraft #3 -- 31,183 (- 4.8%) 02/2008: World of WarCraft #4 -- 28,982 (- 7.1%) 03/2008: World of WarCraft #5 -- 27,159 (- 9.4%) 04/2008: World of WarCraft #6 -- 26,271 (- 3.3%) 05/2008: World of WarCraft #7 -- 24,589 (- 6.4%) 06/2008: World of WarCraft #8 -- 23,310 (- 5.2%) 07/2008: World of WarCraft #9 -- 22,203 (- 4.8%) 08/2008: World of WarCraft #10 -- 20,883 (- 6.0%) 09/2008: World of WarCraft #11 -- 19,331 (- 7.4%) 10/2008: World of WarCraft #12 -- 18,200 (- 5.9%) ---------------- 6 months: -30.7%
142 - WORLD OF WARCRAFT: ASHBRINGER (WildStorm) 09/2008: Ashbringer #1 of 4 -- 21,086 10/2008: Ashbringer #2 of 4 -- 16,579 (-21.4%)
World of WarCraft sales keep plummeting rapidly, but the two books remain in an entirely different league most of the rest of WildStorm’s licensed titles. And, again, it’s worth pointing out that paperback sales probably play a significant role for this one.
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145 - VIXEN: RETURN OF THE LION 10/2008: Vixen #1 of 5 -- 16,246
The latest random DC Universe miniseries thrown out there to fend for itself without any promotion worth mentioning. Sales are as expected, I’d say.
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147 - UNKNOWN SOLDIER (Vertigo) 10/2008: Unknown Soldier #1 -- 16,038
By Vertigo’s recent standards, the new Unknown Soldier series by Joshua Dysart and Alberto Ponticelli debuts with reasonably good numbers.
Caveat: The issue was promoted with a 1-for-10 variant-cover edition, so expect a steep second-issue drop-off.
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148 - HOUSE OF MYSTERY (Vertigo) 05/2008: House of Mystery #1 -- 27,492 06/2008: House of Mystery #2 -- 19,485 (-29.1%) 06/2008: House of Mystery #3 -- 18,407 (- 5.5%) 07/2008: House of Mystery #4 -- 17,569 (- 4.6%) 08/2008: House of Mystery #5 -- 16,721 (- 4.8%) 09/2008: House of Mystery #6 -- 15,934 (- 4.7%)
Sales aren’t levelling out yet. Which isn’t good news, since the first issue without established Vertigo writer Bill Willingham is yet to come. Unless the book takes a really bad nose-dive, though, House of Mystery should have nothing to worry about in the immediate future, at least.
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149 - DC UNIVERSE HALLOWEEN SPECIAL 10/2008: Halloween Special 2008 -- 15,872
For 80 pages of throwaway stories with a cover price of $ 5.99, that’s a great number, I’d say.
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150 - TOP TEN: SEASON TWO (WildStorm) 10/2008: Season Two #1 of 4 -- 15,841
For an Alan Moore book without Alan Moore, these are good sales.
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151 - TWO-FACE: YEAR ONE 07/2008: Two-Face: Year One #1 of 2 -- 19,719 08/2008: -- 09/2008: -- 10/2008: Two-Face: Year One #2 of 2 -- 15,456 (-21.6%)
153 - REIGN IN HELL 07/2008: Reign in Hell #1 of 8 -- 29,003 08/2008: Reign in Hell #2 of 8 -- 20,459 (-29.5%) 09/2008: Reign in Hell #3 of 8 -- 17,964 (-12.2%) 10/2008: Reign in Hell #4 of 8 -- 15,123 (-15.8%)
Two more DC Universe miniseries with no bearing on the proceedings. This issue of Reign in Hell even came with one of those “Sightings” banners supposed to mark books of greater importance, but obviously retailers didn’t have any of it. DC will have to work on their signals a little bit, but cutting back on random clutter nobody was asking for would probably be a good first step.
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155 - JACK OF FABLES (Vertigo) 10/2006: Jack of Fables #4 -- 21,614 ------------------------------------- 10/2007: Jack of Fables #15 -- 18,329 (- 2.1%) 10/2007: Jack of Fables #16 -- 17,743 (- 3.2%) 11/2007: Jack of Fables #17 -- 17,456 (- 1.6%) 12/2007: Jack of Fables #18 -- 17,242 (- 1.2%) 01/2008: Jack of Fables #19 -- 16,886 (- 2.1%) 02/2008: Jack of Fables #20 -- 16,650 (- 1.4%) 03/2008: Jack of Fables #21 -- 16,597 (- 0.3%) 04/2008: Jack of Fables #22 -- 16,305 (- 1.8%) 05/2008: -- 06/2008: Jack of Fables #23 -- 16,144 (- 1.0%) 07/2008: -- 08/2008: Jack of Fables #24 -- 15,953 (- 1.2%) 08/2008: Jack of Fables #25 -- 15,642 (- 2.0%) 09/2008: Jack of Fables #26 -- 15,471 (- 1.1%) 10/2008: Jack of Fables #27 -- 15,092 (- 2.5%) ---------------- 6 months: - 7.4% 1 year : -17.7% 2 years : -30.2%
Slowly declining.
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164 - THE AUTHORITY (WildStorm) 10/2001: The Authority v1 #27 -- 41,353* 10/2003: The Authority v2 #6 -- 27,415 10/2004: Revolution #1 of 12 -- 26,572 10/2005: Revolution #12 of 12 -- 18,256 10/2006: The Authority v3 #1 -- 58,136 --------------------------------------- 10/2007: Prime #1 of 6 -- 21,992 (-44.9%) 11/2007: Prime #2 of 6 -- 17,717 (-19.4%) 12/2007: Prime #3 of 6 -- 16,623 (- 6.2%) 01/2008: Prime #4 of 6 -- 15,058 (- 9.4%) 02/2008: Prime #5 of 6 -- 14,099 (- 6.4%) 03/2008: Prime #6 of 6 -- 13,369 (- 5.2%) 04/2008: -- 05/2008: -- 06/2008: -- 07/2008: -- 08/2008: The Authority v4 #1 -- 15,735 (+17.7%) 09/2008: The Authority v4 #2 -- 14,324 (- 9.0%) 10/2008: The Authority v4 #3 -- 13,408 (- 6.4%) ---------------- 1 year : -39.0% 2 years : -76.9% 5 years : -51.1%
In fairness, the book has seen an unusually mild drop-off so far. Overall, though, it’s hard not to conclude from these numbers that the WildStorm Universe line is on its last leg.
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169 - JONAH HEX 10/2006: Jonah Hex #12 -- 18,299 -------------------------------- 10/2007: Jonah Hex #24 -- 14,749 (- 2.7%) 11/2007: Jonah Hex #25 -- 14,577 (- 1.2%) 12/2007: Jonah Hex #26 -- 14,088 (- 3.5%) 01/2008: Jonah Hex #27 -- 13,881 (- 1.5%) 02/2008: Jonah Hex #28 -- 13,614 (- 1.9%) 03/2008: Jonah Hex #29 -- 13,439 (- 1.3%) 04/2008: Jonah Hex #30 -- 13,253 (- 1.4%) 05/2008: Jonah Hex #31 -- 13,140 (- 0.9%) 06/2008: Jonah Hex #32 -- 12,969 (- 1.3%) 07/2008: Jonah Hex #33 -- 14,281 (+10.1%) 08/2008: Jonah Hex #34 -- 12,969 (- 9.2%) 09/2008: Jonah Hex #35 -- 13,231 (+ 2.0%) 10/2008: Jonah Hex #36 -- 12,629 (- 4.6%) ---------------- 6 months: - 4.7% 1 year : -14.4% 2 years : -31.0%
Back in its usual sphere after a visit by guest artist J.H. Williams III.
—–
- WILDCATS: WORLD'S END (WildStorm) 10/2001: Vol. 2 #28 -- 15,859* 10/2002: Version 3.0 #3 -- 17,660* 10/2003: Version 3.0 #15 -- 14,445 10/2005: Nemesis #2 of 9 -- 16,829 10/2006: Wildcats #1 -- 82,528 ---------------------------------- 07/2008: World's End #1 -- 16,895 (-79.5%) 08/2008: World's End #2 -- 13,311 (-21.2%) 09/2008: World's End #3 -- 13,559 (+ 1.9%) 10/2008: World's End #4 -- 12,431 (- 8.3%) ---------------- 6 months: n.a. 1 year : n.a. 2 years : -84.9% 5 years : -13.9%
Looks like the September increase was a blip.
—–
175 - BLUE BEETLE 10/2006: -- ---------------------------------- 10/2007: Blue Beetle #20 -- 27,611 (+75.5%) 11/2007: Blue Beetle #21 -- 15,645 (-43.3%) 12/2007: Blue Beetle #22 -- 15,256 (- 2.5%) 01/2008: Blue Beetle #23 -- 14,961 (- 1.9%) 02/2008: Blue Beetle #24 -- 14,378 (- 3.9%) 03/2008: Blue Beetle #25 -- 14,304 (- 0.5%) 04/2008: Blue Beetle #26 -- 14,285 (- 0.1%) 05/2008: Blue Beetle #27 -- 13,802 (- 3.4%) 06/2008: -- 07/2008: Blue Beetle #28 -- 13,620 (- 1.3%) 07/2008: Blue Beetle #29 -- 13,310 (- 2.3%) 08/2008: Blue Beetle #30 -- 12,669 (- 4.8%) 09/2008: Blue Beetle #31 -- 12,302 (- 2.9%) 10/2008: Blue Beetle #32 -- 11,828 (- 3.9%) ---------------- 6 months: -17.2% 1 year : -57.2% 2 years : n.a.
177 - MANHUNTER 10/2004: Manhunter #3 -- 19,186 10/2005: Manhunter #15 -- 14,345 -------------------------------- 12/2006: Manhunter #26 -- 23,767 (+56.6%) 01/2007: Manhunter #27 -- 17,842 (-24.9%) 02/2007: Manhunter #28 -- 17,182 (- 3.4%) 03/2007: Manhunter #29 -- 17,234 (+ 0.3%) 04/2007: Manhunter #30 -- 16,373 (- 5.0%) -------------------------------- 06/2008: Manhunter #31 -- 15,694 (- 4.2%) 07/2008: Manhunter #32 -- 13,740 (-12.5%) 08/2008: Manhunter #33 -- 12,700 (- 7.6%) 09/2008: Manhunter #34 -- 12,234 (- 3.7%) 10/2008: Manhunter #35 -- 11,652 (- 4.8%) ---------------- 6 months: n.a. 1 year : n.a. 2 years : n.a.
Two DC Universe books that were recently cancelled. Blue Beetle ends with issue #36, Manhunter with issue #38.
—–
178 - HELLBLAZER (Vertigo) 10/2001: Hellblazer #167 -- 18,067* 10/2002: Hellblazer #177 -- 18,067* 10/2003: Hellblazer #189 -- 15,898 10/2004: Hellblazer #201 -- 15,262 10/2005: Hellblazer #213 -- 14,688 10/2006: Hellblazer #225 -- 13,629 ---------------------------------- 10/2007: Hellblazer #237 -- 12,703 (-1.8%) 11/2007: Hellblazer #238 -- 12,536 (-1.3%) 12/2007: Hellblazer #239 -- 12,344 (-1.5%) 01/2008: Hellblazer #240 -- 12,213 (-1.1%) 02/2008: Hellblazer #241 -- 11,998 (-1.8%) 03/2008: Hellblazer #242 -- 11,916 (-0.7%) 04/2008: Hellblazer #243 -- 11,958 (+0.4%) 05/2008: Hellblazer #244 -- 11,826 (-1.1%) 06/2008: Hellblazer #245 -- 11,897 (+0.6%) 07/2008: Hellblazer #246 -- 12,088 (+1.6%) 08/2008: -- 09/2008: Hellblazer #247 -- 11,851 (-2.0%) 10/2008: Hellblazer #248 -- 11,600 (-2.1%) ---------------- 6 months: - 3.0% 1 year : - 8.7% 2 years : -12.6% 5 years : -27.0%
Standard attrition.
—–
179 - CHECKMATE 10/2006: Checkmate #7 -- 26,302 -------------------------------- 10/2007: Checkmate #19 -- 18,096 (- 3.5%) 11/2007: Checkmate #20 -- 17,663 (- 2.4%) 12/2007: Checkmate #21 -- 17,363 (- 1.7%) 01/2008: Checkmate #22 -- 17,087 (- 1.6%) 02/2008: Checkmate #23 -- 16,595 (- 2.9%) 03/2008: Checkmate #24 -- 16,147 (- 2.7%) 04/2008: Checkmate #25 -- 15,857 (- 1.8%) 05/2008: Checkmate #26 -- 15,167 (- 4.4%) 06/2008: Checkmate #27 -- 14,642 (- 3.5%) 07/2008: Checkmate #28 -- 13,921 (- 4.9%) 08/2008: Checkmate #29 -- 13,000 (- 6.6%) 09/2008: Checkmate #30 -- 12,295 (- 5.4%) 10/2008: Checkmate #31 -- 11,475 (- 6.7%) ---------------- 6 months: -27.6% 1 year : -36.6% 2 years : -56.4%
Cancelled. Checkmate wasn’t doing too well to begin with, so when original writer Greg Rucka left with issue #25, the subsequent nose-dive didn’t come as a great surprise.
—–
180 - MADAME XANADU (Vertigo) 06/2008: Madame Xanadu #1 -- 22,073 07/2008: Madame Xanadu #2 -- 16,655 (-24.6%) 08/2008: Madame Xanadu #3 -- 13,052 (- 3.3%) 09/2008: Madame Xanadu #4 -- 12,329 (- 5.5%) 10/2008: Madame Xanadu #5 -- 11,392 (- 7.6%)
This one’s not quite bottoming out yet.
—–
181 - DC SPECIAL: CYBORG 05/2008: Cyborg #1 of 5 -- 18,783 06/2008: Cyborg #2 of 5 -- 14,960 (-20.4%) 07/2008: Cyborg #3 of 5 -- 13,490 (- 9.8%) 08/2008: Cyborg #4 of 5 -- 13,011 (- 3.6%) 09/2008: Cyborg #5 of 6 -- 12,227 (- 6.0%) 10/2008: Cyborg #6 of 6 -- 11,298 (- 7.6%)
Because you demanded it.
—–
185 - THE SPIRIT 10/2007: -- 11/2007: The Spirit #11 -- 18,892 (- 5.4%) 12/2007: -- 01/2008: The Spirit #12 -- 18,894 (+ 0.0%) 01/2008: The Spirit #13 -- 17,475 (- 7.5%) 02/2008: The Spirit #14 -- 17,277 (- 1.1%) 03/2008: The Spirit #15 -- 16,038 (- 7.2%) 04/2008: The Spirit #16 -- 14,697 (- 8.4%) 05/2008: The Spirit #17 -- 14,057 (- 4.4%) 06/2008: The Spirit #18 -- 13,257 (- 5.7%) 07/2008: The Spirit #19 -- 12,709 (- 4.1%) 08/2008: The Spirit #20 -- 12,358 (- 2.8%) 09/2008: The Spirit #21 -- 11,551 (- 6.5%) 10/2008: The Spirit #22 -- 10,997 (- 4.8%) ---------------- 6 months: -25.2% 1 year : n.a.
Although it’s officially part of the DC Universe line, The Spirit is a WildStorm production, so it probably has some rope left before the axe falls.
—–
188 - 100 BULLETS (Vertigo) 10/2001: 100 Bullets #29 -- 16,898* 10/2002: -- 10/2003: 100 Bullets #47 -- 17,308 10/2004: 100 Bullets #54 -- 16,276 10/2005: 100 Bullets #65 -- 14,744 10/2006: 100 Bullets #77 -- 13,054 ---------------------------------- 10/2007: -- 11/2007: 100 Bullets #86 -- 11,599 (- 2.4%) 12/2007: -- 01/2008: 100 Bullets #87 -- 11,244 (- 3.1%) 02/2008: 100 Bullets #88 -- 11,077 (- 1.5%) 03/2008: 100 Bullets #89 -- 10,878 (- 1.8%) 04/2008: 100 Bullets #90 -- 10,856 (- 0.2%) 05/2008: 100 Bullets #91 -- 10,736 (- 1.1%) 06/2008: 100 Bullets #92 -- 10,797 (+ 0.6%) 07/2008: 100 Bullets #93 -- 10,796 (- 0.0%) 08/2008: 100 Bullets #94 -- 10,721 (- 0.7%) 09/2008: 100 Bullets #95 -- 10,669 (- 0.5%) 10/2008: 100 Bullets #96 -- 10,654 (- 0.1%) ---------------- 6 months: - 1.9% 1 year : n.a. 2 years : -18.4% 5 years : -38.5%
Rock-solid sales over the last six months. The book concludes with issue #100. With a little luck, it’s going to complete its run without dropping below 10K.
—–
191 - SIMON DARK 10/2007: Simon Dark #1 -- 24,256 11/2007: Simon Dark #2 -- 18,492 (-23.8%) 12/2007: Simon Dark #3 -- 17,391 (- 6.0%) 01/2008: Simon Dark #4 -- 16,242 (- 6.6%) 02/2008: Simon Dark #5 -- 15,360 (- 5.4%) 03/2008: Simon Dark #6 -- 14,684 (- 4.4%) 04/2008: Simon Dark #7 -- 13,936 (- 5.1%) 05/2008: Simon Dark #8 -- 13,222 (- 5.1%) 06/2008: Simon Dark #9 -- 12,514 (- 5.4%) 07/2008: Simon Dark #10 -- 12,038 (- 3.8%) 08/2008: Simon Dark #11 -- 11,529 (- 4.2%) 09/2008: Simon Dark #12 -- 10,895 (- 5.5%) 10/2008: Simon Dark #13 -- 10,404 (- 4.5%) ---------------- 6 months: -25.3% 1 year : -57.1%
This one’s running out of time, surely.
—–
192 - NORTHLANDERS (Vertigo) 12/2007: Northlanders #1 -- 19,805 01/2008: Northlanders #2 -- 15,945 (-19.5%) 02/2008: Northlanders #3 -- 14,699 (- 7.8%) 03/2008: Northlanders #4 -- 12,851 (-12.6%) 04/2008: Northlanders #5 -- 12,278 (- 4.5%) 05/2008: Northlanders #6 -- 12,009 (- 2.2%) 06/2008: -- 07/2008: Northlanders #7 -- 11,918 (- 0.8%) 07/2008: Northlanders #8 -- 11,477 (- 3.7%) 08/2008: Northlanders #9 -- 11,063 (- 3.6%) 09/2008: Northlanders #10 -- 10,738 (- 2.9%) 10/2008: Northlanders #11 -- 10,353 (- 3.6%) ---------------- 6 months: -15.7%
Declining, slowly but steadily.
The first Northlanders collection shipped in October with first-month sales of 4,355 in the North American direct market. That’s not very impressive yet – among Vertigo’s ongoing books, Fables is currently leading the field with first-month collection numbers of around 13,000; next up are 100 Bullets, DMZ and Jack of Fables, selling between 5,000 and 7,000 each. As another point of comparison, the first DMZ paperback charted with estimated first-month numbers of 5,387.
Still, it’s Brian Wood, of course, and first-month direct-market sales of the aforementioned collection series started lower than they are right now, so the book probably needs a year or two to get traction in the market.
—–
194 - GEN13 (WildStorm) 10/2001: Gen13 #70 -- 18,209* 10/2002: Gen13 #2 -- 23,347* 10/2006: Gen13 #1 -- 47,535 ---------------------------- 10/2007: Gen13 #13 -- 15,539 (- 3.6%) 11/2007: Gen13 #14 -- 14,831 (- 4.6%) 12/2007: Gen13 #15 -- 14,330 (- 3.4%) 01/2008: Gen13 #16 -- 13,618 (- 5.0%) 02/2008: Gen13 #17 -- 12,844 (- 5.7%) 03/2008: Gen13 #18 -- 12,396 (- 3.5%) 04/2008: Gen13 #19 -- 11,887 (- 4.1%) 05/2008: Gen13 #20 -- 11,429 (- 3.9%) 06/2008: -- 07/2008: -- 08/2008: Gen13 #21 -- 11,074 (- 3.1%) 09/2008: Gen13 #22 -- 10,533 (- 4.9%) 10/2008: Gen13 #23 -- 10,061 (- 4.5%) ---------------- 6 months: -15.4% 1 year : -35.3% 2 years : -78.8%
Dropping out of sight.
—–
195 - AIR (Vertigo) 08/2008: Air #1 -- 13,868 09/2008: Air #2 -- 10,971 (-20.9%) 10/2008: Air #3 -- 10,061 (- 8.3%)
According to DC’s retailer newsletter, the ordering incentive for Air continues past issue #2, but Diamond still stopped knocking off 20% of the book’s sales to compensate for returnability in October, for some reason. I’ve gone back and adjusted the previously reported numbers accordingly – et voilà, the numbers make sense again.
With the worst drops hopefully behind it now, Air should be fine for a while. Its sales aren’t great by any stretch, but they’re nowhere near the cancellation level yet, either.
—–
203 - TINY TITANS (Johnny DC) 02/2008: Tiny Titans #1 -- 15,238 03/2008: Tiny Titans #2 -- 11,432 (-25.0%) 04/2008: Tiny Titans #3 -- 11,197 (- 2.1%) 05/2008: Tiny Titans #4 -- 10,369 (- 7.4%) 06/2008: Tiny Titans #5 -- 10,909 (+ 5.2%) 07/2008: Tiny Titans #6 -- 10,636 (- 2.5%) 08/2008: Tiny Titans #7 -- 10,234 (- 3.8%) 09/2008: Tiny Titans #8 -- 9,795 (- 4.3%) 10/2008: Tiny Titans #9 -- 9,521 (- 2.8%) ---------------- 6 months: -15.0%
A Johnny DC book. See disclaimers.
—–
205 - DMZ (Vertigo) 10/2006: DMZ #12 -- 14,640 -------------------------- 10/2007: DMZ #24 -- 11,583 (-2.3%) 11/2007: DMZ #25 -- 11,277 (-2.6%) 12/2007: DMZ #26 -- 11,027 (-2.2%) 01/2008: DMZ #27 -- 10,662 (-3.3%) 02/2008: DMZ #28 -- 10,463 (-1.9%) 03/2008: DMZ #29 -- 10,266 (-1.9%) 04/2008: DMZ #30 -- 10,038 (-2.2%) 05/2008: DMZ #31 -- 9,911 (-1.3%) 06/2008: DMZ #32 -- 9,760 (-1.5%) 07/2008: DMZ #33 -- 9,684 (-0.8%) 08/2008: DMZ #34 -- 9,561 (-1.3%) 09/2008: -- 10/2008: DMZ #35 -- 9,240 (-3.4%) ---------------- 6 months: - 8.0% 1 year : -20.2% 2 years : -36.9%
The book continues a slow decline.
Correction: In the July and August columns, I used the wrong number for DMZ #33. Thanks to Brian Wood for pointing it out.
—–
220 - THE WAR THAT TIME FORGOT 05/2008: The War That Time Forgot #1 of 8 -- 18,243 06/2008: The War That Time Forgot #2 of 8 -- 13,296 (-27.1%) 07/2008: The War That Time Forgot #3 of 8 -- 11,407 (-14.2%) 08/2008: The War That Time Forgot #4 of 8 -- 9,965 (-12.6%) 09/2008: The War That Time Forgot #5 of 12 -- 9,153 (- 8.2%) 10/2008: The War That Time Forgot #6 of 12 -- 8,243 (- 9.9%)
Ugly numbers, obviously.
—–
221 - GREATEST HITS (Vertigo) 09/2008: Greatest Hits #1 of 6 -- 13,142 10/2008: Greatest Hits #2 of 6 -- 8,222 (-37.4%)
Issue #1 was promoted with a 1-for-10 variant-cover edition, granted, but this is still a scary second-issue drop.
—–
228 - TOR 05/2008: Tor #1 of 6 -- 15,147 06/2008: Tor #2 of 6 -- 11,100 (-26.7%) 07/2008: Tor #3 of 6 -- 9,504 (-14.3%) 08/2008: Tor #4 of 6 -- 8,598 (- 9.5%) 09/2008: Tor #5 of 6 -- 7,992 (- 7.1%) 10/2008: Tor #6 of 6 -- 7,598 (- 4.9%)
This is one for the bookshelf rather than the long box, I would guess.
—–
232 - STORMWATCH: PHD (WildStorm) 10/2002: StormWatch: TA #4 -- 17,751* 10/2003: StormWatch: TA #16 -- 11,776 -------------------------------------- 10/2007: StormWatch: PHD #12 -- 10,011 (- 4.1%) 11/2007: -- 12/2007: -- 01/2008: -- 02/2008: -- 03/2008: -- 04/2008: -- 05/2008: -- 06/2008: -- 07/2008: -- 08/2008: StormWatch: PHD #13 -- 8,650 (-13.6%) 09/2008: StormWatch: PHD #14 -- 7,883 (- 8.9%) 10/2008: StormWatch: PHD #15 -- 7,411 (- 6.0%) ---------------- 6 months: n.a. 1 year : -26.0% 5 years : -37.1%
I think the options for revamping this one have just about run out, unless Grant Morrison and Jim Lee want to do it together and get sales up to 30,000 units.
—–
233 - HELLBLAZER PRESENTS CHAS: THE KNOWLEDGE (Vertigo) 07/2008: Chas #1 of 5 -- 10,465 08/2008: Chas #2 of 5 -- 8,608 (-17.5%) 09/2008: Chas #3 of 5 -- 7,862 (- 8.7%) 10/2008: Chas #4 of 5 -- 7,380 (- 6.1%)
Another one for the book market, presumably.
—–
234 - EL DIABLO 09/2008: El Diablo #1 of 6 -- 11,510 10/2008: El Diablo #2 of 6 -- 7,349 (-36.2%)
An abysmal second-issue drop.
—–
236 - YOUNG LIARS (Vertigo) 03/2008: Young Liars #1 -- 13,177 04/2008: Young Liars #2 -- 9,917 (-24.7%) 05/2008: Young Liars #3 -- 8,954 (- 9.7%) 06/2008: Young Liars #4 -- 8,590 (- 4.1%) 07/2008: Young Liars #5 -- 8,172 (- 4.9%) 08/2008: Young Liars #6 -- 7,862 (- 3.8%) 09/2008: Young Liars #7 -- 7,520 (- 4.4%) 10/2008: Young Liars #8 -- 7,265 (- 3.4%) ---------------- 6 months: -26.7%
Slowly declining.
—–
241 - SCALPED (Vertigo) 10/2007: Scalped #10 -- 7,536 (- 1.9%) 11/2007: Scalped #11 -- 7,323 (- 2.8%) 12/2007: Scalped #12 -- 7,048 (- 3.8%) 01/2008: Scalped #13 -- 6,993 (- 0.8%) 02/2008: Scalped #14 -- 6,903 (- 1.3%) 03/2008: Scalped #15 -- 7,004 (+ 1.5%) 04/2008: Scalped #16 -- 7,071 (+ 1.0%) 05/2008: Scalped #17 -- 6,927 (- 2.0%) 06/2008: Scalped #18 -- 7,020 (+ 1.3%) 07/2008: Scalped #19 -- 7,221 (+ 2.9%) 08/2008: Scalped #20 -- 7,034 (- 2.6%) 09/2008: Scalped #21 -- 7,029 (- 0.1%) 10/2008: Scalped #22 -- 6,964 (- 0.9%) ---------------- 6 months: - 1.5% 1 year : - 7.6%
Scalped is back in a slow decline.
The good news is that the third collection shipped in October with estimated first-month direct-market sales of 3,524 – an increase of 502 units versus Vol. 2 and 22 copies more than Vol. 1.
Overall, the available numbers aren’t quite suggesting that the book is out of the woods, but they don’t look completely dire, either.
—–
248 - BATMAN STRIKES! (Johnny DC) 10/2001: Gotham Adventures #43 -- 12,096* 10/2002: Gotham Adventures #55 -- 11,826* 10/2003: Batman Adventures #7 -- 13,788 10/2004: Batman Strikes! #2 -- 16,941 10/2005: Batman Strikes! #14 -- 8,950 10/2006: Batman Strikes! #26 -- 7,560 ---------------------------------------- 10/2007: Batman Strikes! #38 -- 6,664 (- 2.5%) 11/2007: Batman Strikes! #39 -- 6,464 (- 3.0%) 12/2007: Batman Strikes! #40 -- 6,492 (+ 0.4%) 01/2008: Batman Strikes! #41 -- 6,723 (+ 3.6%) 02/2008: Batman Strikes! #42 -- 6,623 (- 1.5%) 03/2008: Batman Strikes! #43 -- 6,544 (- 1.2%) 04/2008: Batman Strikes! #44 -- 7,541 (+15.2%) 05/2008: Batman Strikes! #45 -- 6,611 (-12.3%) 06/2008: Batman Strikes! #46 -- 7,118 (+ 7.7%) 07/2008: Batman Strikes! #47 -- 7,711 (+ 8.3%) 08/2008: Batman Strikes! #48 -- 6,702 (-13.1%) 09/2008: Batman Strikes! #49 -- 6,387 (- 4.7%) 10/2008: Batman Strikes! #50 -- 6,413 (+ 0.4%) ---------------- 6 months: -15.0% 1 year : - 3.8% 2 years : -15.2% 5 years : -53.5%
A Johnny DC title. See disclaimers.
—–
250/277 - FERRYMAN (WildStorm) 10/2008: Ferryman #1 of 5 -- 6,392 10/2008: Ferryman #2 of 5 -- 5,093 (-20.3%)
A new licensed book based on a film pitch by Joel Silver. And it’s crashing and burning.
—–
254 - SUPER FRIENDS (Johnny DC) 03/2008: Super Friends #1 -- 12,554 04/2008: Super Friends #2 -- 8,935 (-28.8%) 05/2008: Super Friends #3 -- 8,037 (-10.1%) 06/2008: Super Friends #4 -- 8,038 (+ 0.0%) 07/2008: Super Friends #5 -- 7,141 (-11.2%) 08/2008: Super Friends #6 -- 6,671 (- 6.6%) 09/2008: Super Friends #7 -- 6,428 (- 3.6%) 10/2008: Super Friends #8 -- 6,153 (- 4.3%) ---------------- 6 months: -31.1%
Two Johnny DC titles. See disclaimers.
—–
263 - MIRROR'S EDGE (WildStorm) 10/2008: Mirror's Edge #1 of 6 -- 5,800
Another licensed title, based on a videogame. Add your vintage apocalyptic commentary.
—–
266 - THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES IN THE 31ST CENTURY (Johnny DC) 10/2007: The LoSH in the 31st Century #7 -- 7,010 (- 4.8%) 11/2007: The LoSH in the 31st Century #8 -- 6,886 (- 1.8%) 12/2007: The LoSH in the 31st Century #9 -- 6,777 (- 1.6%) 01/2008: The LoSH in the 31st Century #10 -- 6,674 (- 1.5%) 02/2008: The LoSH in the 31st Century #11 -- 6,568 (- 1.6%) 03/2008: The LoSH in the 31st Century #12 -- 6,331 (- 3.6%) 04/2008: The LoSH in the 31st Century #13 -- 6,331 ( 0.0%) 05/2008: The LoSH in the 31st Century #14 -- 6,203 (- 2.0%) 06/2008: The LoSH in the 31st Century #15 -- 6,565 (+ 5.8%) 07/2008: The LoSH in the 31st Century #16 -- 6,289 (- 4.2%) 08/2008: The LoSH in the 31st Century #17 -- 5,925 (- 5.8%) 09/2008: The LoSH in the 31st Century #18 -- 5,765 (- 2.7%) 10/2008: The LoSH in the 31st Century #19 -- 5,613 (- 2.6%) ---------------- 6 months: -11.3% 1 year : -19.9%
A Johnny DC title. See disclaimers.
—–
270 - ARMY@LOVE: THE ART OF WAR (Vertigo) 10/2007: Army@Love #8 -- 7,010 (- 4.1%) 11/2007: Army@Love #9 -- 6,617 (- 5.6%) 12/2007: Army@Love #10 -- 6,364 (- 3.8%) 01/2008: Army@Love #11 -- 6,023 (- 5.4%) 02/2008: Army@Love #12 -- 5,777 (- 4.1%) 03/2008: -- 04/2008: -- 05/2008: -- 06/2008: -- 07/2008: -- 08/2008: AoW #1 of 6 -- 6,692 (+15.8%) 09/2008: AoW #2 of 6 -- 5,669 (-15.3%) 10/2008: AoW #3 of 6 -- 5,311 (- 6.3%) ---------------- 6 months: n.a. 1 year : -24.2%
272 - CHUCK (WildStorm) 06/2008: Chuck #1 of 6 -- 10,513 07/2008: Chuck #2 of 6 -- 7,411 (-29.5%) 08/2008: Chuck #3 of 6 -- 6,267 (-15.4%) 09/2008: Chuck #4 of 6 -- 5,710 (- 8.9%) 10/2008: Chuck #5 of 6 -- 5,291 (- 7.3%)
Two more miniseries with pretty hopeless numbers.
—–
281 - KILL YOUR BOYFRIEND (Vertigo) 10/2008: Kill Your Boyfriend -- 4,927
Shouldn’t this one have been in the Graphic Novel section? It’s a new printing of an old Grant Morrison book, at any rate.
—–
6-MONTH COMPARISONS + 69.1%: Nightwing + 46.1%: Batman + 36.0%: Detective Comics + 28.5%: Outsiders + 14.1%: Robin + 9.0%: Action Comics + 8.2%: Supergirl + 1.0%: Batman Confidential - 0.4%: Fables - 0.5%: Superman - 1.0%: GL Corps - 1.5%: Scalped - 1.9%: 100 Bullets - 3.0%: Green Lantern - 3.0%: Hellblazer - 4.7%: Jonah Hex - 4.8%: Birds of Prey - 7.4%: Jack of Fables - 7.9%: JLA - 8.0%: DMZ - 8.3%: Superman/Batman - 10.5%: JSA - 11.3%: LoSH31 - 15.0%: Batman Strikes - 15.0%: Tiny Titans - 15.0%: Wonder Woman - 15.4%: Gen13 - 15.7%: Northlanders - 16.1%: Green Arrow - 16.2%: Teen Titans - 16.8%: Flash - 16.9%: Booster Gold - 17.2%: Blue Beetle - 17.9%: Legion - 25.2%: Spirit - 25.3%: Brave & Bold - 25.3%: Simon Dark - 26.7%: Young Liars - 27.6%: Checkmate - 30.7%: WoW - 31.1%: Super Friends - 39.9%: Titans - 43.6%: Tangent
—–
1-YEAR COMPARISONS + 78.4%: Nightwing + 35.2%: Batman + 28.3%: Detective Comics + 22.2%: Robin + 14.7%: Superman + 9.1%: Action Comics - 3.8%: Batman Strikes - 5.0%: Fables - 7.6%: Scalped - 8.7%: Hellblazer - 12.3%: Superman/Batman - 13.2%: Legion - 14.4%: Jonah Hex - 15.5%: Batman Confidential - 17.7%: Jack of Fables - 18.7%: Supergirl - 19.4%: Green Lantern - 19.9%: LoSH31 - 20.0%: Birds of Prey - 20.2%: DMZ - 22.3%: JLA - 22.9%: GL Corps - 24.0%: Booster Gold - 24.2%: Army@Love - 26.0%: StormWatch - 27.5%: JSA - 28.1%: Teen Titans - 30.6%: Wonder Woman - 35.3%: Gen13 - 35.3%: Green Arrow - 36.6%: Checkmate - 39.0%: Authority - 42.1%: Brave & Bold - 45.1%: Flash - 57.1%: Simon Dark - 57.2%: Blue Beetle
—–
2-YEAR COMPARISONS + 31.5%: Nightwing + 27.2%: Outsiders + 14.7%: Superman + 6.4%: GL Corps + 5.5%: Detective Comics - 6.7%: Robin - 6.9%: Fables - 12.6%: Hellblazer - 15.2%: Batman Strikes - 17.5%: Green Arrow - 18.4%: 100 Bullets - 24.0%: Secret Six - 27.2%: Action Comics - 30.2%: Jack of Fables - 30.5%: Birds of Prey - 31.0%: Jonah Hex - 36.9%: DMZ - 42.8%: Legion - 54.4%: Flash - 56.4%: Checkmate - 76.9%: Authority - 78.8%: Gen13 - 84.9%: Wildcats
—–
5-YEAR COMPARISONS + 94.0%: Green Lantern + 85.3%: Action Comics + 73.9%: Detective Comics + 71.0%: Nightwing + 64.9%: JSA + 62.2%: Superman + 35.9%: Robin + 33.5%: JLA + 16.0%: Wonder Woman - 3.5%: Batman - 4.6%: Outsiders - 9.8%: Fables - 13.9%: Wildcats - 15.0%: Legion - 16.1%: Batgirl - 20.8%: Flash - 27.0%: Hellblazer - 30.8%: Birds of Prey - 32.0%: Green Arrow - 37.1%: StormWatch - 38.5%: 100 Bullets - 42.5%: Teen Titans - 51.1%: Authority - 53.5%: Batman Strikes - 53.5%: Superman/Batman
—–
Average Sales per Title
(not counting reprints, reorders shipping after the initial month of release, Johnny DC titles and magazines)
DC COMICS 10/2003: 28,677 10/2004: 30,125 10/2005: 36,627 10/2006: 33,406 --------------- 10/2007: 31,489 (- 2.6%) 11/2007: 29,427 (- 6.6%) 12/2007: 33,138 (+12.6%) 01/2008: 27,033 (-18.4%) 02/2008: 27,652 (+ 2.3%) 03/2008: 26,423 (- 4.5%) 04/2008: 28,051 (+ 6.1%) 05/2008: 27,075 (- 3.5%) 06/2008: 27,367 (+ 1.1%) 07/2008: 27,436 (+ 0.3%) 08/2008: 29,678 (+ 8.2%) 09/2008: 25,562 (-13.9%) 10/2008: 29,109 (+13.9%) ---------------- 6 months: + 3.8% 1 year : - 7.6% 2 years : -12.9% 3 years : -20.5% 4 years : - 3.4% 5 years : + 1.5%
DC UNIVERSE 10/2003: 34,572 10/2004: 35,481 10/2005: 47,021 10/2006: 42,581 --------------- 10/2007: 39,409 (- 8.1%) 11/2007: 37,257 (- 5.5%) 12/2007: 40,074 (+ 7.6%) 01/2008: 33,654 (-16.0%) 02/2008: 35,994 (+ 7.0%) 03/2008: 33,151 (- 7.9%) 04/2008: 35,452 (+ 6.9%) 05/2008: 35,230 (- 0.6%) 06/2008: 35,800 (+ 1.6%) 07/2008: 35,553 (- 0.7%) 08/2008: 38,502 (+ 8.3%) 09/2008: 33,591 (-13.0%) 10/2008: 37,273 (+11.0%) ---------------- 6 months: + 5.1% 1 year : - 5.4% 2 years : -12.5% 3 years : -20.7% 4 years : + 5.1% 5 years : + 7.8%
VERTIGO 10/2003: 18,326 10/2004: 17,102 10/2005: 16,009 10/2006: 15,189 --------------- 10/2007: 10,678 (- 9.6%) 11/2007: 10,946 (+ 2.5%) 12/2007: 11,035 (+ 0.8%) 01/2008: 10,115 (- 8.3%) 02/2008: 10,885 (+ 7.6%) 03/2008: 10,484 (- 3.7%) 04/2008: 10,550 (+ 0.6%) 05/2008: 10,418 (- 1.3%) 06/2008: 10,491 (+ 0.7%) 07/2008: 10,821 (+ 3.2%) 08/2008: 10,979 (+ 1.5%) 09/2008: 11,748 (+ 7.0%) 10/2008: 11,284 (- 4.0%) ---------------- 6 months: + 7.0% 1 year : + 5.7% 2 years : -25.7% 3 years : -29.5% 4 years : -34.0% 5 years : -38.4%
WILDSTORM 10/2003: 17,857 10/2004: 20,052 10/2005: 17,215 10/2006: 25,747 --------------- 10/2007: 11,960 (+ 5.1%) 11/2007: 15,109 (+26.3%) 12/2007: 15,601 (+ 3.3%) 01/2008: 14,033 (-10.1%) 02/2008: 13,155 (- 6.3%) 03/2008: 12,842 (- 2.4%) 04/2008: 12,156 (- 5.3%) 05/2008: 9,812 (-19.3%) 06/2008: 9,806 (- 0.1%) 07/2008: 9,875 (+ 0.7%) 08/2008: 10,064 (+ 1.9%) 09/2008: 11,864 (+17.9%) 10/2008: 10,736 (- 9.5%) ---------------- 6 months: -11.7% 1 year : -10.2% 2 years : -58.3% 3 years : -37.6% 4 years : -46.5% 5 years : -39.9%
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OTHER PUBLISHERS
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65 - G.I. JOE: A NEW BEGINNING (IDW) 10/2002: G.I. Joe #11 -- 59,425* 10/2003: G.I. Joe #22 -- 36,662 10/2004: G.I. Joe #35 -- 28,387 10/2005: America's Elite #4 -- 21,398 10/2006: America's Elite #16 -- 17,325 -------------------------------------- 10/2007: America's Elite #28 -- 15,358 11/2007: America's Elite #29 -- 15,092 (- 1.7%) 12/2007: America's Elite #30 -- 14,587 (- 3.4%) 01/2008: America's Elite #31 -- 14,560 (- 0.2%) 02/2008: America's Elite #32 -- 14,651 (+ 0.6%) 03/2008: America's Elite #33 -- 14,402 (- 1.7%) 04/2008: America's Elite #34 -- 16,049 (+ 11.4%) 05/2008: America's Elite #35 -- 16,298 (+ 1.6%) 06/2008: -- 07/2008: America's Elite #36 -- 19,689 (+ 20.8%) 08/2008: -- 09/2008: -- 10/2008: A New Beginning #0 -- 40,932 (+107.9%) ----------------- 6 months: +155.0% 1 year : +166.5% 2 years : +136.3% 5 years : + 11.7%
IDW launch their new G.I. Joe series with a $ 1.00 primer. As such, sales don’t look too impressive, but I guess we won’t find out until the proper comic gets underway.
The last series was published by Devil’s Due, for the record, and the one before that by Image Comics.
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66 - ANGEL: AFTER THE FALL (IDW) 10/2001: Angel #2 of 4 -- 15,434* 10/2005: The Curse #5 of 5 -- 14,660 ----------------------------------------- 11/2007: After the Fall #1 -- 47,563 (+648.9%) [74,342] 12/2007: After the Fall #2 -- 44,792 (- 5.8%) [56,396] 01/2008: After the Fall #3 -- 46,013 (+ 2.7%) [50,175] 02/2008: After the Fall #4 -- 48,407 (+ 5.2%) [57,555] 03/2008: After the Fall #5 -- 49,558 (+ 2.4%) 04/2008: After the Fall #6 -- 46,645 (- 5.9%) [51,044] 05/2008: After the Fall #7 -- 45,430 (- 2.6%) 06/2008: After the Fall #8 -- 47,888 (+ 5.4%) 06/2008: After the Fall #9 -- 47,081 (- 1.7%) 07/2008: After the Fall #10 -- 43,024 (- 8.6%) [45,510] 08/2008: After the Fall #11 -- 44,905 (+ 4.4%) 09/2008: After the Fall #12 -- 43,019 (- 4.2%) 10/2008: After the Fall #13 -- 40,838 (- 5.1%) ----------------- 6 months: - 12.5%
Declining, but still holding up well, overall. As usual, the book was supported through variant-cover editions.
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83/101 - PROJECT: SUPERPOWERS 02/2008: Project: Superpowers #1 of 6 -- 53,755 03/2008: -- 04/2008: Project: Superpowers #2 of 7 -- 41,623 (-22.6%) 05/2008: Project: Superpowers #3 of 7 -- 36,884 (-11.4%) 06/2008: Project: Superpowers #4 of 7 -- 33,124 (-10.2%) 07/2008: Project: Superpowers #5 of 7 -- 30,555 (- 7.8%) 08/2008: -- 09/2008: Project: Superpowers #6 of 7 -- 29,153 (- 4.6%) 10/2008: Project: Superpowers #7 of 7 -- 27,326 (- 6.3%) 10/2008: Supremacy #0 -- 30,704 (+12.4%) ---------------- 6 months: -30.3%
Another $ 1.00 primer with unimpressive numbers. Both October issues of Project: Superpowers were supported through variant-cover editions, as usual.
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86 - HELLBOY: IN THE CHAPEL OF MOLOCH (Dark Horse Comics) 10/2003: Weird Tales #5 -- 19,321 ----------------------------------------- 07/2008: Crooked Man #1 of 3 -- 29,083 (+19.7%) 08/2008: Crooked Man #2 of 3 -- 25,555 (-12.1%) 09/2008: Crooked Man #3 of 3 -- 24,419 (- 4.5%) 10/2008: Chapel of Moloch #1 -- 29,783 (+20.6%) ---------------- 5 years : +54.2%
A one-shot story written and drawn by Mike Mignola is still a draw.
—–
88 - SPIKE: AFTER THE FALL (IDW) 07/2008: Spike: After the Fall #1 of 4 -- 36,874 08/2008: Spike: After the Fall #2 of 4 -- 33,635 (-8.8%) 09/2008: Spike: After the Fall #3 of 4 -- 31,059 (-7.7%) 10/2008: Spike: After the Fall #4 of 4 -- 29,446 (-5.2%)
Solid numbers all around. The book was promoted through various variant-cover editions.
—–
89 - THE BOYS (Dynamite Entertainment) 10/2006: The Boys #3 -- 26,415 10/2006: The Boys #4 -- 24,848 [28,452] ------------------------------- 10/2007: The Boys #11 -- 30,852 (- 3.8%) 11/2007: The Boys #12 -- 29,754 (- 3.6%) 12/2007: The Boys #13 -- 29,195 (- 1.9%) 01/2008: The Boys #14 -- 28,559 (- 2.2%) 02/2008: The Boys #15 -- 28,347 (- 0.7%) 03/2008: The Boys #16 -- 27,886 (- 1.6%) 04/2008: The Boys #17 -- 28,057 (+ 0.6%) 05/2008: The Boys #18 -- 27,951 (- 0.4%) 06/2008: The Boys #19 -- 27,576 (- 1.3%) 07/2008: The Boys #20 -- 27,571 (- 0.0%) 08/2008: The Boys #21 -- 27,523 (- 0.2%) 09/2008: The Boys #22 -- 27,104 (- 1.5%) 10/2008: The Boys #23 -- 28,864 (+ 6.5%) 10/2008: The Boys #24 -- 27,825 (- 3.6%) ---------------- 6 months: + 1.0% 1 year : - 8.1% 2 years : +10.6%
The best-selling periodical WildStorm are no longer publishing continues to perform excellently. Variant-cover editions are now a permanent fixture, though, apparently.
—–
92 - STAR WARS: LEGACY (Dark Horse Comics) 10/2006: Star Wars: Legacy #4 -- 34,362 ---------------------------------------- 10/2007: -- 11/2007: Star Wars: Legacy #17 -- 31,197 (-0.1%) 12/2007: -- 01/2008: Star Wars: Legacy #18 -- 31,038 (-0.5%) 02/2008: Star Wars: Legacy #19 -- 30,953 (-0.3%) 02/2008: Star Wars: Legacy #20 -- 29,896 (-3.4%) 03/2008: Star Wars: Legacy #21 -- 30,228 (+1.1%) 04/2008: Star Wars: Legacy #22 -- 30,205 (-0.1%) 05/2008: Star Wars: Legacy #23 -- 30,355 (+0.5%) 05/2008: Star Wars: Legacy #24 -- 29,601 (-2.5%) 06/2008: Star Wars: Legacy #25 -- 29,548 (-0.2%) 07/2008: Star Wars: Legacy #26 -- 29,123 (-1.4%) 08/2008: Star Wars: Legacy #27 -- 28,549 (-2.0%) 09/2008: Star Wars: Legacy #28 -- 29,331 (+2.7%) 10/2008: Star Wars: Legacy #29 -- 28,469 (-2.9%) ---------------- 6 months: - 5.8% 1 year : n.a. 2 years : -17.2%
The “Vector” crossover is still going, but with no visible benefits to the title, at this stage. Still, the book remains a rock-solid performer.
—–
116 - THE WALKING DEAD (Image Comics) 10/2003: Walking Dead #1 -- 7,266 10/2004: -- 10/2005: Walking Dead #22 -- 17,634 10/2006: -- ----------------------------------- 10/2007: Walking Dead #43 -- 22,737 (- 1.6%) 11/2007: Walking Dead #43 -- 22,569 (- 0.7%) 12/2007: Walking Dead #45 -- 22,674 (+ 0.5%) 01/2008: -- 02/2008: Walking Dead #46 -- 22,870 (+ 0.9%) 03/2008: Walking Dead #47 -- 22,612 (- 1.1%) 04/2008: Walking Dead #48 -- 22,465 (- 0.7%) 05/2008: Walking Dead #49 -- 23,102 (+ 2.8%) 06/2008: -- 07/2008: Walking Dead #50 -- 27,691 (+19.9%) 08/2008: Walking Dead #51 -- 23,121 (-16.5%) 09/2008: Walking Dead #52 -- 23,627 (+ 2.2%) 10/2008: Walking Dead #53 -- 24,094 (+ 2.0%) ----------------- 6 months: + 7.3% 1 year : + 6.0% 2 years : n.a. 5 years : +231.6%
The Walking Dead celebrates its five-year anniversary by climbing to its highest first-month sales yet, apart from issue #50.
—–
Disclaimers, et cetera
The numbers above are estimates for comic-book sales in the North American direct market, as calculated by ICv2.com according to the chart and index information provided by Diamond Comic Distributors. ICv2.com‘s estimates are traditionally known to be somewhat lower than the actual numbers, but they are consistent from month to month, so the trends they show are fairly accurate. Since it’s a “month-to-month” column, the comments, unless otherwise noted, are on the most recent month. The estimates from March 2001 to February 2003 (marked with an asterisk) were for initial orders rather than actual sales, so they’re only roughly compatible with the subsequent figures.
Bear in mind that the figures measure sales to retailers, not customers. Also, these numbers do not include sales to bookstores, newsstands, other mass market retail chains or the United Kingdom. Reorders are included, so long as they either reached stores in a book’s initial month of release or were strong enough to make the chart again in a subsequent month.
If additional copies of an issue did appear on the chart after the book’s initial month of release, you can see the total number of copies sold in parenthesis behind those issues (e.g. “[36,599]”). Should more than one issue have shipped in a month which is relevant for one of the long-term comparisons, the average will be used.
Titles released under the Johnny DC imprint and magazines, such as Mad, mostly sell through channels other than the direct market, so direct-market sales don’t tell us much about their performance. For most Vertigo and some WildStorm titles, collection sales tend to be a significant factor, so the numbers for those books should be taken with a grain of salt as well. To learn (a little) more about Vertigo’s collection sales, go right here.
—–
Germany-based Marc-Oliver Frisch has a weblog and regularly contributes to Comicgate.
For some reason, this month’s list generated a lot of thoughts for me. Or maybe I’m just bored…
“Because you demanded it” – heh. Lots of humor in this month’s comments.
Regarding books with 50/50 covers – I do think it should be kept clear that something like Final Crisis has two covers EVERY month, so the fact that the latest issue has a 50/50 cover has no bearing when comparing against previous issues. Although I guess it could have a bearing when comparing the series against other series.
I don’t know why, but at some point during the reading of this, the notion of how interesting a Legion of Super-Heroes/Star Trek crossover might be came to mind.
Maybe Marc-Oliver has explained this before, but how are the non-DC titles to be discussed selected?
Now to the meat of my thoughts:
Marc-Oliver’s comments on the Batman ancillary titles reminds me of other comments circulating around lately about how books only seem to sell well when they “matter” these days. I think it was Keith Giffen who said something like “Doesn’t Batman ever just catch bank robbers anymore?”. It truly does seem like nobody just wants to read a good story for its own sake any more. I’m not excluding myself from this, either.
Is it because so many comics fans are older, and we’ve pretty much read every “Batman catches bank robbers” story already? That in order for the story to give us something new, the stakes have to be higher?
Marvel has obviously tried to address this issue with the thrice-monthly Amazing Spider-Man book, at the expense of other Spider-Man titles. Could Batman and Superman go the same way?
I find the notion that DC and Marvel have “trained” us to think this way interesting. Do we consider this to be the case because they haven’t done major PR to say “Batman catches a bank robber in upcoming storyline”? Is there really any way to do major, exciting PR about a series or storyline that is just a good series or storyline but that is going to end with the same status quo it started, without even the illusion of change?
If all of this is true, the changes that DC and Marvel would have to make in their publishing strategies would be interesting to see. Get rid of books like Batman Confidential that take place in the past, since we all know the character’s not going to die or anything. No anthologies, because everybody knows nothing important is going to happen in an anthology.
Get rid of ancillary titles too. If the story isn’t important enough for the main book, it doesn’t need to be out there.
Question: would stuff like the Cyborg mini had better sales if they had run it within the regular book, but maybe had two issues a month for the duration? I know I’m personally more likely to avoid a mini than I am to break a run.
OK, enough from me. If you’re still with me, thanks for your time.
Average Sales per Title
(not counting reprints, reorders shipping after the initial month of release, Johnny DC titles and magazines)
VERTIGO
10/2003: 18,326
10/2004: 17,102
10/2005: 16,009
10/2006: 15,189
10/2008: 11,284
Ouch! Is ANYONE buying Vertigo pamphlets anymore? How low can those numbers go?
“Maybe Marc-Oliver has explained this before, but how are the non-DC titles to be discussed selected?”
I think it’s usually just whatever books make the top 100, though he occasionally dips down just a bit further if he finds something interesting (like the Walking Dead making this month’s column).
“to, um, Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns…”
Is there an in-joke there somewhere I’m supposed to be picking up on? That’s the third or forth “um, Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns” in the piece.
this is damn funny:
“On the positive side, this means that every Superman reader gets to keep about two Kryptonians, of course. That’s not such a bad deal, actually – you could do a lot way worse than two Kryptonians. Marvel will probably be handing out leftover Skrulls for years to come, for instance.”
‘DC SPECIAL: CYBORG
Because you demanded it.’
I second Glenn in stating that I enjoyed all the sarcasm this month. I still buy some Vertigo titles regularly (I always pick up Scalped and month to month Hellblazer) and check out the others. But apparently I’m one of a very few.
I would like to see Terry Moore’s Echo mentioned once in a while if only to see how it’s compared to Strangers in Paradise.
Marc, thanks for writing this column every month! I always look forward to it.
I realize you’re going off the sales numbers here, but I really have a hard time believing that it’s the retooling that’s the real cause of the problems of the Titans book. I think the lack of a major drop off between issues 2 and issues 3 are mainly due to the sheer loyalty of the fanbase. You put together the Wolfman/Perez characters and a lot of people are going to stubbornly hang on to the title regardless of the quality.
The thing is, the mass of them are not getting what they want at all out of the book, so I think it’s going to keep shedding numbers, and it would have consistantly shed numbers whether the retool happened or not.
The art problems on the book didn’t help, sure, but the only comic more set up to fail than a Winnick/Churchill Titans was the Beechan Batgirl mini which turned the hardcore fanbase for the character off the moment it was announced. Judd been traditionally unable to cater to what the hardcore fanbase would want, and the only way for these fans to get more hardcore than they are would be if they were Legion fans.
DC seems to be making some curious decisions about putting out miniseries, especially in terms of the length of them. What possible reason is there for thinking there’s enough demand for “Tangent:Superman’s Reign” or “The War That Time Forgot” to run for a whole year?
Or for Trinity, for that reason.
I like weekly series, but I don’t think there are many concepts that stand up to dragging a beginning, middle, and ending over 52 issues. I think Dideo said the next weekly wasn’t necessarily going to be a full year, which is a good thing.
“I think it’s usually just whatever books make the top 100, though he occasionally dips down just a bit further if he finds something interesting (like the Walking Dead making this month’s column).”
Right. I included THE WALKING DEAD because the first issue came out in October 2003, basically.
“That’s the third or forth “um, Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns” in the piece. ”
I just feel awkward typing the title like it’s not funny.
Glenn:
“Is it because so many comics fans are older, and we’ve pretty much read every “Batman catches bank robbers” story already? That in order for the story to give us something new, the stakes have to be higher?”
I don’t think it’s a matter of PR only, but more of how you build a line in the first place – Marvel have been doing a pretty good job of that. Even with things like CIVIL WAR, they’ve never lost sight of selling each title on the merits of individual characters, clear central conflicts and strong creative voices. (Although, unfortunately, they seem to be stopping doing that with “Dark Reign.”)
Matt:
“The thing is, the mass of them are not getting what they want at all out of the book, so I think it’s going to keep shedding numbers, and it would have consistantly shed numbers whether the retool happened or not.”
I don’t think that’s supported by the numbers. People knew what to expect from the book from last year’s TEEN TITANS EAST SPECIAL by the same creative team, and judging from the numbers, they wanted more of it.
Nor, for that matter, does it look like retailers were in a particular rush to slash their orders for subsequent issues before the “final order cut-off” date when issue #1 came out. On the contrary: If you account for the fact that TITANS #1 had a 1-for-10 variant-cover edition and subsequent issues didn’t, it was one of DC’s most promising new launches in ages, commercially.
“[T]he only comic more set up to fail than a Winnick/Churchill Titans was the Beechan Batgirl mini which turned the hardcore fanbase for the character off the moment it was announced.”
Yeah, well, but BATGIRL did pretty much fail and take a nose-dive right from the start. TITANS did very well for three issues spread over eight months, if you count the Special, and only started to drop faster than usual after being retooled.
The most recent Manhunter was printed on amazingly flimsy paper, I’m sure to cut costs. Are any other DC books printed on thinner paper?
Correction on the above-
“TITANS did very well for three issues spread over eight months,”
That’s meant to say “FOUR issues spread over eight months,” of course.
Huh, it seems Walking Dead is now selling better than every Vertigo title.
Has anything come from Kirkman becoming a partner at Image?
The thing about TITANS, as Matt mentioned above, is the wonderful dichotomy of super-loyal fanboys to the characters who buy the book, yet whine and moan about it (especially Judd) every month.
These people seem to be ones who populate threads on Comicbloc like “What character would you follow no matter what?” or “What book will you read no matter how bad it gets?”
Just a small correction:
You say Nightwing is “still 30,000 units ahead of its usual level.”
but you actually mean 20,000
“You say Nightwing is “still 30,000 units ahead of its usual level.”
but you actually mean 20,000”
You’re entirely correct. My apologies.
The thing about TITANS is that it sucks really really bad.
It recently occurred to me that both the Teen Titans and to a lesser extent the Legion of Super Heroes concepts are overdue to be taken out behind the chemical sheds and shot, or at least the DCU versions. I mean, once upon a time the Titans were the backbone of the DC publishing schedule, and that’s great, but what even made them successful? The coming of age of a bunch of B-list superheroes. Well, OK, but now it’s been done and it’s time to move on. You can’t revamp a completely burnt out concept into relevancy.
Legion of Superheroes is just an Ultimate version of itself, insomuch as it’s so incredibly beholden to its own publishing history that it can never have it’s own momentum. So maybe don’t kill it entirely, maybe just let it rest for a decade or so. But do something to remove the albatross.
Oh whatever. DC has a publishing schedule to fill, and fill it it will; I suppose Teen Titans is as good as most any other title coming out of the DCU.
Matthew:
“Huh, it seems Walking Dead is now selling better than every Vertigo title.
Has anything come from Kirkman becoming a partner at Image?”
Not really. The book has been more or less steadily going up in sales since 2004 – it seems to be completely unaffected by anything else Kirkman has been doing at any point.
Kirkman selling that many copies of the Walking Dead isn’t a result of him becoming an Image partner, but I suspect it’s the main reason they took him on. His Image books have consistently grown over the years, and he’s very productive.
Kirkman selling that many copies of the Walking Dead isn’t a result of him becoming an Image partner, but I suspect it’s the main reason they took him on. His Image books have consistently grown over the years, and he’s very productive.
I meant had any other image comics launched as a result of Kirkman. I mean, he had that big rant about how creators should work on book sthey own, did it actually lead to anything?
10/2008: The Boys #24 — 27,825 (- 3.6%)
6 months: + 1.0%
1 year : – 8.1%
2 years : +10.6%
The best-selling periodical WildStorm are no longer publishing continues to perform excellently. Variant-cover editions are now a permanent fixture, though, apparently.
Not a problem for me, just adds to the fun. The story is staying dead-on focused.
Re: Kirkman, where do Invincible and Astounding Wolf-man chart, if at all?
I doubt it would have lead to anything, yet, even if it was going to (when you allow time for pitching, soliciting, etc).
Not that I think it’ll lead to much anyway, but still…
Matthew said:
“I mean, he had that big rant about how creators should work on book sthey own, did it actually lead to anything? ”
No, because there hasn’t been time for anything to come of it. Ask again in about or eight months.
“I meant had any other image comics launched as a result of Kirkman. I mean, he had that big rant about how creators should work on book sthey own, did it actually lead to anything? ”
I’m not sure if they’re related, but since Kirkman joined, the Man of Action crew (Joe Kelly, Joe Casey, Steve Seagle) have launched a ton of new titles from the company. Really good titles, too.
Mark-Oliver,
Thought you might like to know that although Trinity is about the DC headliners Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, all three characters have disappeared from the book for quite a few issues. Perhaps people are disappointed…
“DC seems to be making some curious decisions about putting out miniseries, especially in terms of the length of them. What possible reason is there for thinking there’s enough demand for “Tangent:Superman’s Reign” or “The War That Time Forgot” to run for a whole year?”
I’ll take ‘The War that Time Forget’ the numbers are clearly terrible in the North American direct market. Now I think this is a shame as its a great fun book. That said, and this is just off the top of my head this could mean two things.
1. Its a disaster and they hoped from minimal pulbicity this book would sell big numbers, or at least high enough numbers to justify its existance. This seems unlikely or it’d have been pushed more or wouldn’t have been risked at 12 issues.
2. DC has a broader publishing strategy for different titles than the limited view these figures can give us.
Superman may not be doing great guns at the moment in the US, doing ok but not great BUT when I was visiting Spain recently I saw a few Spainish Superman editions, likewise Legion. These big name titles might not have to sell a single issue in the US if licencing them to foreign markets provides the funds (thats pure speculation of course).
Likewise a book like ‘War that time forgot’ might have a market as a graphic novel in Europe, or some other terrioritory. It might be demned to have a future in bookstores in Fiji for all I know. The main point I’m trying to make is taking these figures as gospel for the success or otheriwse of a title is short sighted.
It may be indicative, after all many titles that rank up poor sales here get cancelled. So there certainly seems to be some correlation. Certainly with the mainstream hero titles, or the more obsure ones at least. If ‘Checkmate’ ain’t sells good numbers in the North American direct market it aren’t going to sell good numbers anywhere.
With these more ‘specialist’ titles like say ‘War that time Forgot’ it might well be that its a disaster BUT at 12 issues I’d guess (and I openly admit I’m only guessing) DC had some other strategy in mind? Jonah Hex seems to be a great example of this broader vision that clearly the publishers will have. There seems to be an assumption that say ‘Tor’ will find its market elsewhere, this may well extend to other titles?
On Final Crisis: “Why choose between fill-in artists and delays when you can have it both ways?”
Sad, but true. Either you have a fill in artist to stay on schedule or you wait for your artist to have a cohesive final product. DC has neither. What a cock up.
Isn’t “Vampires and Republicans” redundant?
“Re: Kirkman, where do Invincible and Astounding Wolf-man chart, if at all?”
They do chart somewhere. I believe in the 150ish range with about 13,000 and 10,000 respectively.
Here we got:
158 Invincible 53 $2.99 Image 14,176
159 Invincible 54 $2.99 Image 14,165
218 Astounding Wolf-Man 9 $2.99 Image 8,325
I guess I was a little over on one and under on the other.
Can anyone explain to me what the strategy on Simon Dark is? Other than setting the book in Gotham City, I can’t tell that there’s been any effort to integrate the character into the DC Universe. I never see anyone talking about the book on messageboards or blogs. I never see ads for the book anywhere else. I’ve never seen the creators interviewed about the book on Newsarama or whatever (like they’re doing with Gail Simone in Secret Six to try and prop that book’s sales up). And sales are awful… way below other books that have already been cancelled.
And not for nothing, but my local shop has TONS of unsold copies of that Vixen miniseries. I’d be surprised if they’ve sold any.
Thanks for the stats above, Joe!
“I just feel awkward typing the title like it’s not funny.”
Funny stupid, not funny ha-ha.
Simon Dark should never have been said to be set in Gotham. It is more a Vertigo book than a DC Universe book.
Michael says:
“Isn’t “Vampires and Republicans” redundant? ”
Kinda like “Zombies and Democrats” being redundant? ;)
What has DiDio said about the upcoming Wonder Woman story? What “nickname” has he given it?
Didio called it the “Manazons” arc- because of the “male Amazons” that are turning up.