Average DC Comics periodical sales in the direct market dropped to their lowest point yet in March 2009, in the context of the six years worth of available data. One reason for that was that the Vertigo and WildStorm imprints remained at very low averages for their periodical lines.
Mainly, though, the decrease is down to the fact that the publisher’s DC Universe department, which traditionally has the highest periodical sales among the three imprints, only released 36 new periodicals in March, as opposed to 45 in February, 51 in January and between 48 and 63 per month in 2008. Taken on their own terms, average DC Universe periodical sales were actually slightly up against February.
While a few DC Universe series did miss their March 2009 shipping dates, however, the draught is mostly down to the simple fact that the line just didn’t publish a lot of comics in March.
See below for the analysis, and please consider the small 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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3 - BATMAN: BATTLE FOR THE COWL 03/2004: Batman #625 -- 83,371 [84,753] 03/2005: Batman #638 -- 59,797 [82,651] 03/2006: Batman #651 -- 69,805 [79,616] 03/2007: Batman #664 -- 80,497 [82,107] ------------------------------- 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%) 11/2008: Batman #681 -- 103,151 (- 0.8%) [114,657] 12/2008: Batman #682 -- 93,469 (- 9.4%) 12/2008: Batman #683 -- 90,272 (- 3.4%) [ 91,885] 12/2008: Batman #684 -- 79,953 (-11.4%) [ 82,903] 01/2009: Batman #685 -- 72,654 (- 9.1%) 02/2009: Batman #686 -- 111,353 (+53.3%) [116,486] 03/2009: BfC #1 of 3 -- 91,619 (-17.7%) ---------------- 6 months: n.a. 1 year : n.a. 2 years : +13.8% 5 years : + 9.9%
Batman: Battle for the Cowl was DC’s big new launch in March, effectively replacing the main Batman title for three months until the big revamp of the line in June, and it’s off to a respectable start.
Given the absence of brand-name creators, the publisher marketed the book solely on the strength of it being the next step in the Batman saga, and if these sales are any indication, it’s working: The numbers aren’t up at “Batman R.I.P.” or “Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?” levels, but they still handsomely beat those of the Grant Morrison run prior to “R.I.P.”
As you might expect, there was a 1-for-10 variant-cover edition which likely boosted sales. Batman #686, the first part of Neil Gaiman and Andy Kubert’s story, sold another 5,133 units in March, meanwhile.
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8 - JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA 03/2004: JLA #94 -- 76,134 [ 77,822] 03/2004: JLA #95 -- 69,898 [ 73,620] 03/2005: JLA #112 -- 64,790 03/2007: Justice League #6 -- 130,099 [131,754] -------------------------------------- 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%) 11/2008: -- 12/2008: Justice League #27 -- 75,803 (- 2.0%) 12/2008: Justice League #28 -- 72,728 (- 4.1%) 01/2009: Justice League #29 -- 72,116 (- 0.8%) 02/2009: Justice League #30 -- 69,710 (- 3.3%) 03/2009: Justice League #31 -- 68,759 (- 1.4%) ---------------- 6 months: n.a. 1 year : -21.4% 2 years : -47.2% 5 years : - 5.8%
The story was as a follow-up to Final Crisis in the solicitations, but as usual, there doesn’t seem to be any effect on sales. Justice League just keeps drifting downward, slowly but surely.
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16 - GREEN LANTERN CORPS 03/2006: GLC: Recharge #5 of 5 -- 60,123 03/2007: Green Lantern Corps #10 -- 34,227 ------------------------------------------ 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%) 11/2008: Green Lantern Corps #30 -- 43,600 (- 5.9%) 12/2008: Green Lantern Corps #31 -- 44,033 (+ 0.9%) 01/2009: Green Lantern Corps #32 -- 44,312 (+ 0.6%) 02/2009: Green Lantern Corps #33 -- 44,607 (+ 0.7%) [50,171] 03/2009: Green Lantern Corps #34 -- 54,162 (+21.4%) ---------------- 6 months: +20.5% 1 year : +15.9% 2 years : +58.2%
Contrary to previous issues, #34 came with a 1-for-25 variant-cover edition, which was probably a big factor in the big sales increase for March.
But of course, Green Lantern Corps numbers were already on the rise thanks to the build-up to the looming “Blackest Night” crossover, so I presume the numbers reflect a good deal of genuine interest, as well.
For that matter, the reorders certainly suggest as much. A second reprint of issue #33 sold another 5,564 units in March, while Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns #1 (3rd printing) and Green Lantern #38 made the chart again with 4,235 and 3,807 units, respectively. Green Lantern proper missed its March shipping date, meanwhile.
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17 - BATMAN: CACOPHONY 11/2008: Cacophony #1 of 3 -- 69,522 12/2008: Cacophony #2 of 3 -- 55,698 (-19.9%) [58,016] 01/2009: -- 02/2009: -- 03/2009: Cacophony #3 of 3 -- 52,814 (- 5.2%)
The Kevin Smith concludes, two months late, although, in fairness, the schedule wasn’t quite the disaster people had come to expect from Smith.
In terms of sales, Cacophony held up fairly well over its three issues, but of course, it’s a far cry from the kinds of numbers Smith used to draw eight years back.
There was a 1-for-25 variant-cover edition.
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22 - SUPERMAN: WORLD OF NEW KRYPTON 03/2009: WoNK #1 of 12 -- 50,050
28 - ACTION COMICS 03/2004: Action Comics #813 -- 66,038 03/2005: Action Comics #825 -- 40,877 03/2006: Action Comics #837 -- 55,816 [69,652] 03/2007: Action Comics #847 -- 64,679 ------------------------------------- 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%) 11/2008: Action Comics #871 -- 58,547 (+ 2.0%) 12/2008: Action Comics #872 -- 57,175 (- 2.3%) 01/2009: Action Comics #873 -- 51,940 (- 9.2%) 02/2009: Action Comics #874 -- 48,360 (- 6.9%) 03/2009: Action Comics #875 -- 47,079 (- 2.7%) ---------------- 6 months: - 5.1% 1 year : n.a. 2 years : -27.2% 5 years : -28.7%
32 - SUPERMAN 03/2004: Superman #203 -- 83,096 03/2005: Superman #214 -- 100,943 03/2006: Superman #650 -- 65,603 [77,783] 03/2007: Superman #660 -- 57,169 --------------------------------- 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%) [57,212] 11/2008: Superman #682 -- 55,435 (+ 1.5%) 12/2008: Superman #683 -- 55,287 (- 0.3%) 01/2009: Superman #684 -- 48,489 (-12.3%) 02/2009: Superman #685 -- 48,027 (- 1.0%) 03/2009: Superman #686 -- 44,976 (- 6.4%) ---------------- 6 months: - 3.5% 1 year : - 7.8% 2 years : -21.3% 5 years : -45.9%
The Superman line saw a makeover in March, but you wouldn’t know it from the numbers. That’s pretty bad news, obviously.
Superman: World of New Krypton was originally marketed without the attachment of any top names, until the writer dropped out at the last minute and James Robinson and Greg Rucka, who handle Superman and Action Comics, respectively, signed on to co-write. Looking at the figures, though, I don’t think it would have made a difference anyway.
As a matter of fact, both existing titles noticeably went down in sales with the new direction, and while World of New Krypton #1 at least broke the 50K barrier, it probably wouldn’t have done so without its 1-for-25 variant-cover edition.
These aren’t very encouraging numbers by any stretch.
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33 - SUPERMAN/BATMAN 03/2004: Superman/Batman #7 -- 108,791 [113,097] 03/2005: -- 03/2006: Superman/Batman #24 -- 101,315 [103,757] 03/2007: Superman/Batman #32 -- 77,905 --------------------------------------- 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%) 11/2008: -- 12/2008: Superman/Batman #54 -- 45,968 (- 4.6%) 01/2009: -- 02/2009: Superman/Batman #55 -- 43,962 (- 4.4%) 03/2009: Superman/Batman #56 -- 42,464 (- 3.4%) ---------------- 6 months: -15.1% 1 year : n.a. 2 years : -45.5% 5 years : -61.0%
Superman/Batman sales are still declining much too fast for comfort.
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36 - AZRAEL: DEATH'S DARK KNIGHT 03/2009: Death's Dark Knight #1 of 3 -- 39,985
37 - BATMAN: BATTLE FOR THE COWL ONE-SHOTS 03/2009: Commissioner Gordon #1 -- 39,628
38 - GOTHAM GAZETTE 03/2009: Batman Dead? -- 39,338
Since the Batman line is effectively on hiatus until June, there’s a bunch of Battle for the Cowl spin-off books to tide people over.
While these are not bad numbers, the fact that they’re all within a thousand units of each other — except for Oracle, see below — suggests that retailers didn’t really know what to make of the event.
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42 - TITANS 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%) 11/2008: Titans #7 -- 41,507 (- 8.7%) 12/2008: Titans #8 -- 39,154 (- 5.7%) 01/2009: Titans #9 -- 37,693 (- 3.7%) 02/2009: Titans #10 -- 36,361 (- 3.5%) 03/2009: Titans #11 -- 35,240 (- 3.1%) ---------------- 6 months: -31.9%
These figures are still declining too fast.
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44/45/46/48 - 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%) 11/2008: Trinity #23 -- 44,971 (- 3.6%) 11/2008: Trinity #24 -- 44,498 (- 1.1%) 11/2008: Trinity #25 -- 43,804 (- 1.6%) 11/2008: Trinity #26 -- 43,210 (- 1.4%) 12/2008: Trinity #27 -- 41,725 (- 3.4%) 12/2008: Trinity #28 -- 41,510 (- 0.5%) 12/2008: Trinity #29 -- 40,883 (- 1.5%) 12/2008: Trinity #30 -- 40,771 (- 0.3%) 12/2008: Trinity #31 -- 40,575 (- 0.5%) 01/2009: Trinity #32 -- 38,332 (- 5.5%) 01/2009: Trinity #33 -- 38,325 (- 0.0%) 01/2009: Trinity #34 -- 37,933 (- 1.0%) 01/2009: Trinity #35 -- 37,119 (- 2.2%) 02/2009: Trinity #36 -- 36,201 (- 2.5%) 02/2009: Trinity #37 -- 35,798 (- 1.1%) 02/2009: Trinity #38 -- 35,286 (- 1.4%) 02/2009: Trinity #39 -- 35,200 (- 0.2%) 03/2009: Trinity #40 -- 34,613 (- 1.7%) 03/2009: Trinity #41 -- 34,437 (- 0.5%) 03/2009: Trinity #42 -- 34,119 (- 0.9%) 03/2009: Trinity #43 -- 33,841 (- 0.8%) ---------------- 6 months: -34.9%
Trinity sales may be stabilizing.
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47 - ORACLE 03/2009: Oracle #1 of 3 -- 34,081
This interim miniseries, unlike the three other ones above, wasn’t promoted as tying into Battle for the Cowl, so maybe that’s the reason why it shifted 5,000 units less with its first issue.
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50 - SUPERGIRL 03/2006: -- 03/2007: Supergirl #15 -- 51,083 --------------------------------- 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%) 11/2008: Supergirl #35 -- 45,518 (+34.0%) 12/2008: Supergirl #36 -- 45,491 (- 0.1%) 01/2009: Supergirl #37 -- 34,060 (-25.1%) 02/2009: Supergirl #38 -- 34,225 (+ 0.5%) 03/2009: Supergirl #39 -- 33,713 (- 1.5%) ---------------- 6 months: +22.1% 1 year : + 3.4% 2 years : -34.0%
Supergirl numbers seem to have stabilized. These aren’t stellar sales, but they’re not that far below those of the Superman line it’s now an official part of.
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51 - WONDER WOMAN 03/2004: Wonder Woman #202 -- 28,646 03/2005: Wonder Woman #214 -- 30,473 03/2007: Wonder Woman #5 -- 64,414 ------------------------------------- 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%) 11/2008: Wonder Woman #26 -- 33,277 (- 0.9%) 12/2008: Wonder Woman #27 -- 32,322 (- 2.9%) 01/2009: Wonder Woman #28 -- 32,622 (+ 0.9%) 02/2009: Wonder Woman #29 -- 33,237 (+ 1.9%) 03/2009: Wonder Woman #30 -- 33,365 (+ 0.4%) ---------------- 6 months: - 3.5% 1 year : -18.2% 2 years : -48.2% 5 years : +16.5%
Wonder Woman sales go up for the third month in a row, so let’s call this a trend. Looks like I underestimated the drawing power of a villain with green spikes for eyes.
The last three issues were promoted through variant-cover editions.
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57 - THE OUTSIDERS 03/2004: Outsiders #10 -- 43,511 [44,555] 03/2005: Outsiders #22 -- 38,886 [41,716] 03/2006: Outsiders #34 -- 47,286 [51,527] 03/2007: Outsiders #46 -- 32,577 -------------------------------- 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%) 11/2008: Batsiders #13 -- 42,939 (- 8.0%) 12/2008: Batsiders #14 -- 32,163 (-25.1%) 01/2009: -- 02/2009: Special #1 -- 35,727 (+11.1%) 02/2009: Outsiders #15 -- 30,024 (-16.0%) 03/2009: Outsiders #16 -- 27,977 (- 6.8%) ---------------- 6 months: -44.0% 1 year : -24.0% 2 years : -14.1% 5 years : -35.7%
I’m not sure what kind of sales DC had in mind for the latest retooling of the series in February, but I’m certainly not surprised by the results.
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71 - 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%) 11/2008: Secret Six #3 -- 26,053 (- 6.4%) 12/2008: Secret Six #4 -- 24,657 (- 5.4%) 01/2009: Secret Six #5 -- 24,899 (+ 1.0%) 02/2009: Secret Six #6 -- 24,758 (- 0.6%) 03/2009: Secret Six #7 -- 24,365 (- 1.6%) ---------------- 6 months: -23.1%
The numbers remain in the 24K area for the fourth consecutive month. Good news for Secret Six.
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73 - BOOSTER GOLD 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%) 11/2008: Booster Gold #14 -- 28,260 (- 5.5%) 12/2008: Booster Gold #15 -- 26,835 (- 5.0%) 01/2009: Booster Gold #16 -- 25,472 (- 5.1%) 02/2009: Booster Gold #17 -- 24,732 (- 2.9%) 03/2009: Booster Gold #18 -- 23,737 (- 4.0%) ---------------- 6 months: -25.9% 1 year : -34.3%
Over here, the sales decline still looks fairly depressing.
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76 - SOLOMON GRUNDY 01/2009: Faces of Evil: Grundy #1 -- 27,093 02/2009: -- 03/2009: Solomon Grundy #1 of 7 -- 23,175 (-14.5%)
Scott Kolins’ miniseries picks up after the Faces of Evil one-shot from January. Evidently, retailers aren’t convinced that it’s going to bring in the same kind of sales — or maybe they’re just treating it as a limited series, in which case the drop wouldn’t be so bad. We’ll see.
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79 - STRANGE ADVENTURES 02/2009: Strange Adventures #1 of 8 -- 22,820
The latest Jim Starlin vehicle with superheroes in space does about as expected. The book was supported with a 1-for-10 variant-cover edition.
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81 - GREEN ARROW/BLACK CANARY 03/2004: Green Arrow #36 -- 34,707 03/2005: Green Arrow #48 -- 31,668 03/2006: Green Arrow #60 -- 37,946 [43,045] 03/2007: Green Arrow #72 -- 31,144 ----------------------------------- 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%) 11/2008: Arrow/Canary #14 -- 25,599 (- 4.8%) 12/2008: Arrow/Canary #15 -- 24,526 (- 4.2%) 01/2009: Arrow/Canary #16 -- 24,419 (- 0.4%) 02/2009: Arrow/Canary #17 -- 23,392 (- 4.2%) 03/2009: Arrow/Canary #18 -- 22,699 (- 3.0%) ---------------- 6 months: -18.6% 1 year : -30.4% 2 years : -27.1% 5 years : -34.6%
Green Arrow/Black Canary continues its slow decline.
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83 - FABLES (Vertigo) 03/2004: Fables #23 -- 25,211 03/2005: Fables #35 -- 24,469 03/2006: Fables #47 -- 24,278 03/2007: Fables #58 -- 26,065 ----------------------------- 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%) 08/2008: -- 09/2008: Fables #75 -- 25,266 (+4.6%) 09/2008: Fables #76 -- 23,914 (-5.4%) 10/2008: Fables #77 -- 23,761 (-0.6%) 11/2008: Fables #78 -- 23,345 (-1.8%) 12/2008: Fables #79 -- 22,769 (-2.5%) 01/2009: Fables #80 -- 22,617 (-0.7%) 02/2009: Fables #81 -- 22,517 (-0.4%) 03/2009: Fables #82 -- 22,445 (-0.3%) ---------------- 6 months: - 8.7% 1 year : - 6.5% 2 years : -13.9% 5 years : -11.0%
Rock-solid sales, as usual.
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89 - TERROR TITANS 10/2008: Terror Titans #1 of 6 -- 33,001 11/2008: Terror Titans #2 of 6 -- 27,023 (-18.1%) 12/2008: Terror Titans #3 of 6 -- 24,059 (-11.0%) 01/2009: Terror Titans #4 of 6 -- 23,068 (- 4.1%) 02/2009: Terror Titans #5 of 6 -- 21,640 (- 6.2%) 03/2009: Terror Titans #6 of 6 -- 21,504 (- 0.6%)
Terror Titans didn’t start out with great numbers, but I suppose the drop-off could have been worse.
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91/95/103 - WATCHMEN SECIAL EDITION REPRINTS 12/2008: Watchmen #1 -- 20,974 [23,042] 03/2009: Saga of the Swamp Thing #21 -- 21,052 03/2009: Transmetropolitan #1 -- 18,604 03/2009: Planetary #21 -- 20,207
The various results of DC’s “After Watchmen … What’s Nexrt?” promotional campaign are doing good business for reprints of single issues so far. They’re only one dollar each, of course, but still.
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98 - BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL 03/2007: Batman Confidential #4 -- 38,735 ------------------------------------------ 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%) 11/2008: Batman Confidential #23 -- 22,909 (- 5.7%) 12/2008: Batman Confidential #24 -- 21,470 (- 6.3%) 01/2009: Batman Confidential #25 -- 20,517 (- 4.4%) 02/2009: Batman Confidential #26 -- 20,134 (- 1.9%) 03/2009: Batman Confidential #27 -- 19,934 (- 1.0%) ---------------- 6 months: -18.7% 1 year : -21.3% 2 years : -48.5%
Bottoming out again, it seems.
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112 - R.E.B.E.L.S. 02/2009: R.E.B.E.L.S. #1 -- 23,739 03/2009: R.E.B.E.L.S. #2 -- 16,122 (-32.1%)
Unlike the first issue, R.E.B.E.L.S. #2 doesn’t come with a variant-cover edition, so the real drop-off isn’t as steep as it looks. But at 16K, that’s damning with faint praise, of course.
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115 - 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%) 11/2008: Gotham After Midnight #7 of 12 -- 17,802 (- 6.2%) 12/2008: Gotham After Midnight #8 of 12 -- 17,236 (- 3.2%) 01/2009: Gotham After Midnight #9 of 12 -- 16,354 (- 5.1%) 02/2009: Gotham After Midnight #10 of 12 -- 15,993 (- 2.2%) 03/2009: Gotham After Midnight #11 of 12 -- 15,793 (- 1.3%) ---------------- 6 months: -20.0%
These are pretty mediocre sales, but that’s the thing you get with books that are out on the fringes of continuity.
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117 - RESIDENT EVIL (WildStorm) 03/2009: Resident Evil #1 of 6 -- 15,759
WildStorm keeps its video game adaptations coming. There was a 1-for-10 variant-cover edition for Resident Evil #1, but overall this is a comparatively decent debut figure.
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119 - EX MACHINA SPECIAL (WildStorm) 04/2006: Ex Machina Special #1 -- 21,356 06/2006: Ex Machina Special #2 -- 20,677 08/2007: Ex Machina Special #3 -- 17,009 ---------------------------------------- 03/2009: Ex Machina Special #4 -- 14,258
This one sticks closely to the numbers of Ex Machina proper — the new Special even outsold the most recent issue of the mother title by a few copies.
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121 - WORLD OF WARCRAFT (WildStorm) 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%) 11/2008: World of WarCraft #13 -- 17,017 (- 6.5%) 12/2008: World of WarCraft #14 -- 16,058 (- 5.6%) 01/2009: World of WarCraft #15 -- 14,996 (- 6.6%) 02/2009: World of WarCraft #16 -- 14,177 (- 5.5%) 03/2009: World of WarCraft #17 -- 13,614 (- 4.0%) ---------------- 6 months: -29.6% 1 year : -49.9%
Continuing a swift downward slide.
—–
122 - JACK OF FABLES (Vertigo) 03/2007: -- ------------------------------------- 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%) 11/2008: Jack of Fables #28 -- 14,528 (- 3.7%) 12/2008: Jack of Fables #29 -- 14,151 (- 2.6%) 01/2009: Jack of Fables #30 -- 13,746 (- 2.9%) 02/2009: Jack of Fables #31 -- 13,586 (- 1.2%) 03/2009: Jack of Fables #32 -- 13,595 (+ 0.1%) ---------------- 6 months: -12.1% 1 year : -18.1% 2 years : n.a.
The prelude to “The Great Fables Crossover Event” that began in April locks sales in position.
—–
125 - HOUSE OF MYSTERY (Vertigo) 05/2008: House of Mystery #1 -- 27,492 06/2008: House of Mystery #2 -- 19,485 (-29.1%) 07/2008: House of Mystery #3 -- 18,407 (- 5.5%) 08/2008: House of Mystery #4 -- 17,569 (- 4.6%) 09/2008: House of Mystery #5 -- 16,721 (- 4.8%) 10/2008: House of Mystery #6 -- 15,934 (- 4.7%) 11/2008: House of Mystery #7 -- 15,120 (- 5.1%) 12/2008: House of Mystery #8 -- 14,273 (- 5.6%) 01/2009: House of Mystery #9 -- 13,739 (- 3.7%) 02/2009: House of Mystery #10 -- 13,098 (- 4.7%) 03/2009: House of Mystery #11 -- 12,785 (- 2.4%) ---------------- 6 months: -23.5%
Levelling out? It might want to, but we’ll find out soon enough.
—–
132 - JONAH HEX 03/2006: Jonah Hex #5 -- 23,496 03/2007: Jonah Hex #17 -- 17,081 -------------------------------- 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%) 11/2008: Jonah Hex #37 -- 12,537 (- 0.7%) 12/2008: Jonah Hex #38 -- 12,132 (- 3.2%) 01/2009: Jonah Hex #39 -- 11,705 (- 3.5%) 02/2009: Jonah Hex #40 -- 11,631 (- 0.6%) 03/2009: Jonah Hex #41 -- 11,564 (- 0.6%) ---------------- 6 months: -12.6% 1 year : -14.0% 2 years : -32.3%
Jonah Hex sales have been relatively stable over the last year.
—–
136 - GEARS OF WAR (WildStorm) 10/2008: GoW #1 -- 19,718 11/2008: GoW #2 -- 12,964 (-34.3%) 12/2008: GoW #3 -- 12,095 (- 6.7%) 01/2009: -- 02/2009: GoW #4 -- 12,864 (+ 6.4%) 02/2009: GoW #5 -- 11,394 (-11.4%)
Still shifting more than 10K with issue #5 is a cause for celebration for any WildStorm series these days.
—–
141 - HELLBLAZER (Vertigo) 03/2004: Hellblazer #194 -- 14,957 03/2005: Hellblazer #206 -- 15,464 03/2006: Hellblazer #218 -- 14,129 03/2007: Hellblazer #230 -- 13,210 ---------------------------------- 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%) 11/2008: Hellblazer #249 -- 11,445 (-1.3%) 12/2008: Hellblazer #250 -- 12,478 (+9.0%) 01/2009: Hellblazer #251 -- 11,290 (-9.5%) 02/2009: Hellblazer #252 -- 11,174 (-1.0%) 03/2009: Hellblazer #253 -- 11,132 (-0.4%) ---------------- 6 months: - 6.1% 1 year : - 6.6% 2 years : -15.7% 5 years : -25.6%
These figures are bottoming out.
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142 - VIGILANTE 09/2005: Vigilante #1 of 6 -- 24,533 11/2005: Vigilante #2 of 6 -- 18,712 11/2005: Vigilante #3 of 6 -- 16,412 12/2005: Vigilante #4 of 6 -- 13,344 01/2006: Vigilante #5 of 6 -- 11,939 02/2006: Vigilante #6 of 6 -- 11,382 ------------------------------------ 12/2008: Vigilante #1 -- 18,236 01/2009: Vigilante #2 -- 13,855 (-24.0%) 02/2009: Vigilante #3 -- 11,264 (-18.7%) 03/2009: Vigilante #4 -- 11,125 (- 1.2%)
I’m sure it’s a pleasant surprise that sales seem to be finding their level quickly here, but I doubt that’ll be enough to make Vigilante survive its first year.
—–
143/145 - TOP 10 (WildStorm) 10/2008: Season Two #1 of 4 -- 15,841 11/2008: Season Two #2 of 4 -- 12,710 (-19.8%) 12/2008: Season Two #3 of 4 -- 11,487 (- 9.6%) 01/2009: -- 02/2009: -- 03/2009: Season Two #4 of 4 -- 10,900 (- 5.1%) 03/2009: Special #1 -- 10,714 (- 1.7%)
This is probably as good as you can hope for with post-Alan Moore Top 10.
—–
146 - THE MIGHTY 02/2009: The Mighty #1 -- 17,956 03/2009: The Mighty #2 -- 10,624 (-40.8%)
The second issue didn’t have a variant-cover edition to gives sales a nudge like issue #1, granted, but a 40-percent drop-off, at this low level in particular, is still a disaster.
—–
148 - AIR (Vertigo) 08/2008: Air #1 -- 13,868 09/2008: Air #2 -- 10,971 (-20.9%) 10/2008: Air #3 -- 10,061 (- 8.3%) 11/2008: Air #4 -- 8,913 (-11.4%) 12/2008: Air #5 -- 8,412 (- 5.6%) 01/2009: Air #6 -- 7,607 (- 9.6%) 02/2009: -- 03/2009: Air #7 -- 10,290 (+35.3%) ---------------- 6 months: - 6.2%
Air #7 had a cover price of $ 1.00 to encourage potential readers, resulting in a couple thousand more sales. It’ll be interesting to see if any of them stick.
—–
152 - THE AUTHORITY (WildStorm) 03/2004: The Authority v2 #10 -- 21,943 03/2005: Revolution #6 of 12 -- 20,229 03/2007: The Authority v3 #2 -- 39,886 --------------------------------------- 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%) 11/2008: The Authority v4 #4 -- 12,450 (- 7.2%) 12/2008: The Authority v4 #5 -- 11,534 (- 7.4%) 01/2009: The Authority v4 #6 -- 10,673 (- 7.5%) 02/2009: The Authority v4 #7 -- 10,553 (- 1.1%) 03/2009: The Authority v4 #8 -- 9,990 (- 5.3%) ---------------- 6 months: -30.3% 1 year : -25.3% 2 years : -75.0% 5 years : -54.5%
Business as usual.
—–
153 - 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%) 11/2008: Madame Xanadu #6 -- 12,340 (+ 8.3%) 12/2008: Madame Xanadu #7 -- 10,272 (-16.8%) 01/2009: -- 02/2009: Madame Xanadu #8 -- 9,932 (- 3.3%) 03/2009: Madame Xanadu #9 -- 9,798 (- 1.4%) ---------------- 6 months: -20.5%
155 - NORTHLANDERS (Vertigo) 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%) 11/2008: Northlanders #12 -- 10,048 (- 3.0%) 12/2008: Northlanders #13 -- 9,777 (- 2.7%) 01/2009: Northlanders #14 -- 9,467 (- 3.2%) 02/2008: -- 03/2008: Northlanders #15 -- 9,443 (- 0.2%) ---------------- 6 months: -12.1% 1 year : -26.5%
Two Vertigo series bottoming out.
—–
158 - HAUNTED TANK (Vertigo) 12/2008: Haunted Tank #1 of 5 -- 16,021 01/2009: Haunted Tank #2 of 5 -- 10,448 (-34.8%) 02/2009: Haunted Tank #3 of 5 -- 9,665 (- 7.5%) 03/2009: Haunted Tank #4 of 5 -- 9,327 (- 3.5%)
163/167 - BLACK LIGHTNING: YEAR ONE 01/2009: Year One #1 of 6 -- 13,804 01/2009: Year One #2 of 6 -- 12,286 (-11.0%) 02/2009: Year One #3 of 6 -- 10,413 (-15.3%) 02/2009: Year One #4 of 6 -- 9,713 (- 6.7%) 02/2009: Year One #5 of 6 -- 9,031 (- 7.0%) 02/2009: Year One #6 of 6 -- 8,819 (- 2.4%)
165 - THE X-FILES (WildStorm) 07/2008: Special #0 -- 23,805 08/2008: -- 09/2008: -- 10/2008: -- 11/2008: X-Files #1 of 6 -- 16,042 (-32.6%) 12/2008: X-Files #2 of 6 -- 11,562 (-27.9%) 01/2009: X-Files #3 of 6 -- 9,808 (-15.2%) 02/2009: X-Files #4 of 6 -- 9,268 (- 5.5%) 03/2009: X-Files #5 of 6 -- 8,999 (- 2.9%) ---------------- 6 months: n.a.
These three miniseries have been selling well under the radar as periodicals.
—–
168 - WILDCATS (WildStorm) 03/2004: Version 3.0 #19 -- 13,539 03/2006: Nemesis #7 of 9 -- 14,533 ---------------------------------- 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%) 11/2008: World's End #5 -- 11,280 (- 9.3%) 12/2008: World's End #6 -- 10,450 (- 7.4%) 01/2009: World's End #7 -- 9,539 (- 8.7%) 02/2009: World's End #8 -- 9,040 (- 5.2%) 03/2009: World's End #9 -- 8,758 (- 3.1%) ---------------- 6 months: -35.4% 1 year : n.a. 2 years : n.a. 5 years : -35.3%
Another WildStorm Universe title with less-than-desirable figures.
—–
169 - TINY TITANS (Johnny DC) 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%) 11/2008: Tiny Titans #10 -- 9,239 (- 3.0%) 12/2008: Tiny Titans #11 -- 9,085 (- 1.7%) 01/2009: Tiny Titans #12 -- 8,733 (- 3.9%) 02/2009: Tiny Titans #13 -- 8,710 (- 0.3%) 03/2009: Tiny Titans #14 -- 8,736 (+ 0.3%) ---------------- 6 months: -10.8% 1 year : -23.6%
174 - BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD (Johnny DC) 03/2004: Batman Adventures #12 -- 12,189 03/2005: Batman Strikes! #7 -- 10,775 03/2006: Batman Strikes! #19 -- 8,244 03/2007: Batman Strikes! #31 -- 7,100 ---------------------------------------- 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%) 11/2008: -- 12/2008: -- 01/2009: Brave & Bold #1 -- 13,935 (+117.3%) 02/2009: Brave & Bold #2 -- 8,678 (- 37.7%) 03/2009: Brave & Bold #3 -- 8,184 (- 5.7%) ---------------- 6 months: +28.1% 1 year : +25.1% 2 years : +15.3% 5 years : -32.9%
Two Johnny DC books, see disclaimers.
—–
175 - UNKNOWN SOLDIER (Vertigo) 10/2008: Unknown Soldier #1 -- 16,038 11/2008: Unknown Soldier #2 -- 10,553 (-34.2%) 12/2008: Unknown Soldier #3 -- 9,926 (- 5.9%) 01/2009: Unknown Soldier #4 -- 8,711 (-12.2%) 02/2009: Unknown Soldier #5 -- 8,348 (- 4.2%) 03/2009: Unknown Soldier #6 -- 8,177 (- 2.1%)
176 - DMZ (Vertigo) 03/2006: DMZ #5 -- 14,952 03/2007: DMZ #17 -- 13,081 -------------------------- 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%) 11/2008: DMZ #36 -- 8,851 (-4.2%) 12/2008: DMZ #37 -- 8,823 (-0.3%) 01/2009: DMZ #38 -- 8,457 (-4.2%) 02/2009: DMZ #39 -- 8,353 (-1.2%) 03/2009: DMZ #40 -- 8,167 (-2.2%) ---------------- 6 months: n.a. 1 year : -20.5% 2 years : -37.6%
Another couple Vertigo series that are evidently bottoming out.
—–
185 - SIMON DARK 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%) 11/2008: Simon Dark #14 -- 9,582 (- 7.9%) 12/2008: Simon Dark #15 -- 9,076 (- 5.3%) 01/2009: Simon Dark #16 -- 8,421 (- 7.2%) 02/2009: Simon Dark #17 -- 7,958 (- 5.5%) 03/2009: Simon Dark #18 -- 7,708 (- 3.1%) ---------------- 6 months: -29.3% 1 year : -47.5%
Axed.
—–
188 - GEN13 (WildStorm) 03/2007: Gen13 #6 -- 21,356 ---------------------------- 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%) 11/2008: Gen13 #24 -- 9,460 (- 6.0%) 12/2008: Gen13 #25 -- 8,954 (- 5.4%) 01/2009: Gen13 #26 -- 8,341 (- 6.9%) 02/2009: Gen13 #27 -- 7,929 (- 4.9%) 03/2009: Gen13 #28 -- 7,593 (- 4.2%) ---------------- 6 months: -27.9% 1 year : -38.8% 2 years : -64.5%
A WildStorm Universe series in terminal decline.
—–
191 - FRINGE (WildStorm) 09/2008: Fringe #1 of 6 -- 15,929 10/2008: -- 11/2008: -- 12/2008: -- 01/2009: Fringe #2 of 6 -- 8,239 (-48.3%) 02/2009: -- 03/2009: Fringe #3 of 6 -- 7,426 (- 9.9%) ---------------- 6 months: -53.4%
These sales are just terrible.
—–
201 - SCALPED (Vertigo) 03/2007: Scalped #3 -- 9,531 ------------------------------ 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%) 11/2008: Scalped #23 -- 6,910 (- 0.8%) 12/2008: Scalped #24 -- 6,777 (- 1.9%) 01/2009: -- 02/2009: Scalped #25 -- 6,887 (+ 1.6%) 03/2009: Scalped #26 -- 6,866 (- 0.3%) ---------------- 6 months: - 2.3% 1 year : - 2.0% 2 years : -28.0%
Scalped keeps defying the usual trends, as usual.
—–
205 - 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%) 11/2008: The War That Time Forgot #7 of 12 -- 7,700 (- 6.6%) 12/2008: The War That Time Forgot #8 of 12 -- 7,403 (- 3.9%) 01/2009: The War That Time Forgot #9 of 12 -- 6,960 (- 6.0%) 02/2009: The War That Time Forgot #10 of 12 -- 6,690 (- 3.9%) 03/2009: The War That Time Forgot #11 of 12 -- 6,598 (- 1.4%) ---------------- 6 months: -27.9%
Stumbling towards the finish line.
—–
212 - SUPERGIRL: COSMIC ADVENTURES IN THE 8TH GRADE (Johnny DC) 12/2008: Supergirl: CAit8G #1 -- 9,281 01/2009: Supergirl: CAit8G #2 -- 6,488 (-30.1%) 02/2009: Supergirl: CAit8G #3 -- 6,222 (- 4.1%) 03/2009: Supergirl: CAit8G #4 -- 6,200 (- 0.4%)
Johnny DC.
—–
219 - 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%) 11/2008: Young Liars #9 -- 6,775 (- 6.8%) 12/2008: Young Liars #10 -- 6,646 (- 1.9%) 01/2009: Young Liars #11 -- 6,081 (- 8.5%) 02/2009: Young Liars #12 -- 5,820 (- 4.3%) 03/2009: Young Liars #13 -- 5,735 (- 1.5%) ---------------- 6 months: -23.7% 1 year : -56.5%
Cancelled with issue #18.
—–
222 - STORMWATCH: PHD (WildStorm) 03/2004: StormWatch: TA #20 -- 10,488 03/2007: StormWatch: PHD #5 -- 13,475 -------------------------------------- 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%) 11/2008: StormWatch: PHD #16 -- 6,824 (- 7.9%) 12/2008: StormWatch: PHD #17 -- 6,468 (- 5.2%) 01/2009: StormWatch: PHD #18 -- 6,030 (- 6.8%) 02/2009: StormWatch: PHD #19 -- 5,708 (- 5.3%) 03/2009: StormWatch: PHD #20 -- 5,555 (- 2.7%) ---------------- 6 months: -29.5% 1 year : n.a. 2 years : -58.8% 5 years : -47.0%
I’d be surprised if there was much rope left for StormWatch.
—–
225 - 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%) 11/2008: Super Friends #9 -- 5,739 (- 6.7%) 12/2008: Super Friends #10 -- 5,543 (- 3.4%) 01/2009: Super Friends #11 -- 5,500 (- 0.8%) 02/2009: Super Friends #12 -- 5,394 (- 1.9%) 03/2009: Super Friends #13 -- 5,387 (- 0.1%) ---------------- 6 months: -16.2% 1 year : -57.1%
Johnny DC.
—–
237 - BANG! TANGO (Vertigo) 02/2009: Bang! Tango #1 of 6 -- 6,743 03/2009: Bang! Tango #2 of 6 -- 4,539 (-32.7%)
A terrible second-issue drop for a miniseries.
—–
251 - SCOOBY DOO (Johnny DC) 03/2004: Scooby Doo #82 -- 5,377 03/2005: Scooby Doo #94 -- 4,772 03/2006: Scooby Doo #106 -- 4,419 03/2007: Scooby Doo #118 -- 4,395 --------------------------------- 03/2008: Scooby Doo #130 -- 4,463 (+ 7.3%) 04/2008: Scooby Doo #131 -- 4,403 (- 1.3%) 05/2008: Scooby Doo #132 -- 4,309 (- 2.1%) 06/2008: Scooby Doo #133 -- 4,501 (+ 4.5%) 07/2008: Scooby Doo #134 -- 4,286 (- 4.8%) 08/2008: Scooby Doo #135 -- 4,226 (- 1.4%) 09/2008: Scooby Doo #136 -- 4,283 (+ 1.4%) 10/2008: Scooby Doo #137 -- ? 11/2008: Scooby Doo #138 -- 4,068 12/2008: Scooby Doo #139 -- ? 01/2009: Scooby Doo #140 -- 3,800 02/2009: Scooby Doo #141 -- 3,861 (+ 1.6%) 03/2009: Scooby Doo #142 -- 3,863 (+ 0.1%) ---------------- 6 months: - 9.8% 1 year : -13.4% 2 years : -12.1% 5 years : -28.2%
Johnny DC.
—–
265 - MYSTERIUS (WildStorm) 01/2009: Mysterius #1 of 6 -- 5,667 02/2009: Mysterius #2 of 6 -- 3,873 (-31.7%) 03/2009: Mysterius #3 of 6 -- 3,342 (-13.7%)
267 - RESISTANCE (WildStorm) 01/2009: Resistance #1 of 6 -- 6,001 01/2009: Resistance #2 of 6 -- 5,166 (-13.9%) 02/2009: Resistance #3 of 6 -- 3,590 (-30.5%) 03/2009: Resistance #4 of 6 -- 3,318 (- 7.6%)
283 - MIRROR'S EDGE (WildStorm) 10/2008: Mirror's Edge #1 of 6 -- 5,800 11/2008: -- 12/2008: Mirror's Edge #2 of 6 -- ? 01/2009: Mirror's Edge #3 of 6 -- 3,211 02/2009: Mirror's Edge #4 of 6 -- 2,763 (-14.0%) 03/2009: Mirror's Edge #5 of 6 -- 2,685 (- 2.8%)
This Is WildStorm.
—–
289 - LOONEY TUNES (Johnny DC) 03/2004: Looney Tunes #112 -- 3,218 03/2005: Looney Tunes #124 -- 2,846 03/2006: Looney Tunes #136 -- 2,792 03/2007: Looney Tunes #148 -- 2,705 ----------------------------------- 03/2008: Looney Tunes #160 -- 2,807 (+ 7.7%) 04/2008: Looney Tunes #161 -- ? 05/2008: Looney Tunes #162 -- ? 06/2008: Looney Tunes #163 -- 2,793 07/2008: Looney Tunes #164 -- ? 08/2008: Looney Tunes #165 -- 2,662 09/2008: Looney Tunes #166 -- ? 10/2008: Looney Tunes #167 -- ? 11/2008: Looney Tunes #168 -- 2,610 12/2008: Looney Tunes #169 -- ? 01/2009: Looney Tunes #170 -- 2,354 02/2009: Looney Tunes #171 -- ? 03/2009: Looney Tunes #172 -- 2,387 ---------------- 6 months: n.a. 1 year : -15.0% 2 years : -11.8% 5 years : -25.8%
Johnny DC.
—–
REORDERS: 221: 5,564 -- Green Lantern Corps #33 (2nd) 228: 5,133 -- Batman #686 245: 4,235 -- Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns #1 (3rd) 252: 3,807 -- Green Lantern #38 297: 2,068 -- Watchmen #1 (new printing) 300: 1,962 -- Final Crisis #7
6-MONTH COMPARISONS + 28.1%: Batman: Brave & Bold + 22.1%: Supergirl + 20.5%: GL Corps - 2.3%: Scalped - 3.5%: Superman - 3.5%: Wonder Woman - 5.1%: Action Comics - 6.1%: Hellblazer - 6.2%: Air - 8.7%: Fables - 9.8%: Scooby-Doo - 10.8%: Tiny Titans - 12.1%: Jack of Fables - 12.1%: Northlanders - 12.6%: Jonah Hex - 15.1%: Superman/Batman - 16.2%: Super Friends - 18.6%: Green Arrow - 18.7%: Batman Confidential - 20.0%: Gotham After Midnight - 20.5%: Madame Xanadu - 23.1%: Secret Six - 23.5%: House of Mystery - 23.7%: Young Liars - 25.9%: Booster Gold - 27.9%: Gen13 - 27.9%: War That Time Forgot - 29.3%: Simon Dark - 29.5%: StormWatch - 29.6%: WoW - 30.3%: Authority - 31.9%: Titans - 34.9%: Trinity - 35.4%: Wildcats - 44.0%: Outsiders - 53.4%: Fringe
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1-YEAR COMPARISONS + 25.1%: Batman: Brave & Bold + 15.9%: GL Corps + 3.4%: Supergirl - 2.0%: Scalped - 6.5%: Fables - 6.6%: Hellblazer - 7.8%: Superman - 13.4%: Scooby-Doo - 14.0%: Jonah Hex - 15.0%: Looney Tunes - 18.1%: Jack of Fables - 18.2%: Wonder Woman - 20.5%: DMZ - 21.3%: Batman Confidential - 21.4%: JLA - 23.6%: Tiny Titans - 24.0%: Outsiders - 25.3%: Authority - 26.5%: Northlanders - 30.4%: Green Arrow - 34.3%: Booster Gold - 38.8%: Gen13 - 47.5%: Simon Dark - 49.9%: WoW - 56.5%: Young Liars - 57.1%: Super Friends
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2-YEAR COMPARISONS + 58.2%: GL Corps + 15.3%: Batman: Brave & Bold + 13.8%: Batman - 11.8%: Looney Tunes - 12.1%: Scooby-Doo - 13.9%: Fables - 14.1%: Outsiders - 15.7%: Hellblazer - 21.3%: Superman - 27.1%: Green Arrow - 27.2%: Action Comics - 28.0%: Scalped - 32.3%: Jonah Hex - 34.0%: Supergirl - 37.6%: DMZ - 45.5%: Superman/Batman - 47.2%: JLA - 48.2%: Wonder Woman - 48.5%: Batman Confidential - 58.8%: StormWatch - 64.5%: Gen13 - 75.0%: Authority
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5-YEAR COMPARISONS + 16.5%: Wonder Woman + 9.9%: Batman - 5.8%: JLA - 11.0%: Fables - 25.6%: Hellblazer - 25.8%: Looney Tunes - 28.2%: Scooby-Doo - 28.7%: Action Comics - 32.9%: Batman: Brave & Bold - 34.6%: Green Arrow - 35.3%: Wildcats - 35.7%: Outsiders - 45.9%: Superman - 47.0%: StormWatch - 54.5%: Authority - 61.0%: Superman/Batman
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Average Periodical Sales
(not counting reprints, reorders shipping after the initial month of release, Johnny DC titles and magazines)
DC COMICS 03/2004: 32,148 03/2005: 27,349 03/2006: 36,077 03/2007: 32,398 --------------- 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%)** 11/2008: 25,340 (-13.0%) 12/2008: 26,793 (+ 5.7%)** 01/2009: 24,273 (- 9.4%) 02/2009: 23,080 (- 4.9%) 03/2009: 21,792 (- 5.6%) ---------------- 6 months: -14.8% 1 year : -17.5% 2 years : -32.7% 5 years : -32.2%
DC UNIVERSE 03/2004: 39,727 03/2005: 34,864 03/2006: 44,854 03/2007: 42,634 --------------- 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%) 11/2008: 33,096 (-11.2%) 12/2008: 35,050 (+ 5.9%) 01/2009: 32,705 (- 6.7%) 02/2009: 30,224 (- 7.6%) 03/2009: 31,336 (+ 3.7%) ---------------- 6 months: - 6.7% 1 year : - 5.5% 2 years : -26.5% 5 years : -21.1%
VERTIGO 03/2004: 16,445 03/2005: 13,094 03/2006: 15,812 03/2007: 13,748 --------------- 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%) 11/2008: 11,936 (+ 5.8%) 12/2008: 11,603 (- 2.8%) 01/2009: 10,980 (- 5.4%) 02/2009: 11,353 (+ 3.4%) 03/2009: 10,177 (-10.4%) ---------------- 6 months: -13.4% 1 year : - 2.9% 2 years : -26.0% 5 years : -38.1%
WILDSTORM 03/2004: 16,833 03/2005: 12,798 03/2006: 14,210 03/2007: 15,224 --------------- 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%)** 11/2008: 10,220 (- 4.8%) 12/2008: 9,415 (- 7.9%)** 01/2009: 6,851 (-27.2%) 02/2009: 8,019 (+17.1%) 03/2009: 8,954 (+11.7%) ---------------- 6 months: -24.5% 1 year : -30.3% 2 years : -41.2% 5 years : -46.8%
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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.
** Two asterisks after a given month in the average charts mean that one or more periodical release did not make the Top 300 chart in that month. In those cases, it’s assumed that said releases sold as many units as the No. 300 comic on the chart for that month for the purposes of the chart, although its actual sales may be less than that.
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Germany-based Marc-Oliver Frisch has a weblog and regularly contributes to Comicgate.
I’d argue that the Superman drops aren’t terrible, considering that the new direction is to have Superman books without Superman, which will obviously turn a lot of people away, whether Rucka and Robinson are writing them or not. They’re then supplemented with two new books (one of which, Secret Origin, is sure to sell pretty well). In Action, DC’s all but pushing forward a new/revamped IP in Nightwing and Flamebird, which, if successful and marketable would be far more valuable to them than a few thousand lost comic sales.
Of course, I suppose this is only the case if the comics level out relatively quickly..
If the 3 Superman books reach or stay around 45,000 for an extended period of time (past August) I would consider it a success.
The Green Lantern Corps sales over the last 12 monts is nothing short of remarkable.
The sales on Battle for the Cowl have me filled with confidence that with the re-launch of the Bat title next month (especially Batman & Robin) will do wonders for the numbers.
Green Lantern and JSA not shipping for March should help April’s numbers as I think two issues of each were sent.
If the 3 Superman books reach or stay around 45,000 for an extended period of time (past August) I would consider it a success.
The Green Lantern Corps sales over the last 12 monts is nothing short of remarkable.
The sales on Battle for the Cowl have me filled with confidence that with the re-launch of the Bat title next month (especially Batman & Robin) will do wonders for the numbers.
Green Lantern and JSA not shipping for March should help April’s numbers as I think two issues of each were sent.
Wildstorm should just be scrapped and the only half-way decent selling titles (Ex Machina and the video game tie ins) be moved to either DC or Vertigo imprints. What a travesty.
These numbers are horrible, why am I bothering with The Mighty as much as I enjoy it…it’s clearly doomed…and Madame Xanadu…such a good book and such horrible numbers…it’s sad.
Biff
Hopefully all the award nominations for Madame Xanadu give it a bit more rope. It would be a shame to see such a great series go under.
I remember back in the down times of the mid-to-late 90s, when sales were ‘awful’, you’d have to go outside of the top 100 to find a book selling below 30k. That bar is now at the top 60. Not sure what that means, but I find it interesting.
Bifford Michael:
“These numbers are horrible, why am I bothering with The Mighty as much as I enjoy it…”
I would hope you’d read a comic because you enjoy reading it, not because of how many other people are buying it.
I think DC is going to see a huge surge in sales over the next couple of months. With projects like Flash: Rebirth, Blackest Night + Tie ins, Batman and Robin + all the other Bat Books, Superman: Secret Origin, and the new JLA mini, it’s inevitable. I’d also like to say that sales of a book never affect my enjoyment of a title. Thanks Marc for your work!
I’m a Vertigo trade waiter, and I question the decision to collect 10 issues in the first Madame Xanadu trade. Much as I look forward to the trade, that’s a long time to find out if I like the title.
Following up on MushroomJones’ comment, Astro City (assuming it’s still a Wildstorm book, I forget) would be another Wildstorm refugee that would need a home if they scrapped the imprint. I’m not sure how well it would fit as a DC or Vertigo book.
MOF:
“Wonder Woman sales go up for the third month in a row, so let’s call this a trend. Looks like I underestimated the drawing power of a villain with green spikes for eyes.
“The last three issues were promoted through variant-cover editions.”
Um….wouldn’t that “trend” be the variant covers?
Forgot about Astro City! Not sure where that could go, but no different than the Mighty as a DC name book completely disconnected from the DCU, Astro City could have the DC stamp without batting an eye.
Face it, Wildstorm is a dead imprint.
Scalped is rock-solid over the WHOLE YEAR! No cross-overs and no creative team changes, just a solid, gripping story.
Those numbers for R.E.B.E.L.S. are terrible. I guess this title falls into the same category that Agents of Atlas is in. Great story, great art, but no recognizable characters.
R.E.B.E.L.S. was just thrown out there berift of what made the comic successful the last time (mainly Lobo, who might have been used subversively by Giffen but still appealed to huge swarths of fans who didn’t see that), with no chance in hell other than having the promise of, you know, being good, having a hot, upcoming artist, and having the potential of a relaunch at issue 12 or whatever. Oh and Didio was really behind the premise.
The launch frustrated me to no end because I KNEW it was going to be a massive, brutal, hopeless failure and I’ve wanted to see Bedard on this one, single property since I read Negation. Ah well.
“,,,I question the decision to collect 10 issues in the first Madame Xanadu trade.”
Would you suggest they split the initial story into 2 trades?
With Vertigo’s trade policy, I’ve stopped buying the new books from the line waiting for the $10 trade. I supported Northlanders but felt burned when I dropped $24 and then the cheapie trade came out. Lesson learned. So I’m looking forward to Unknown Soldier.
Ok, I have a question.
Just how much does DC make off say 10,000 units selling? Do they make money on sales oda WIldstorm totle even at say 7,000 units? Hell, I know major publishers who make a fat profit on hardcover sales of genre fiction when their epecting sales of less than 1,000 units! So what does DC need to make a title viable? And do they factor in anticipated trade paper sales?
I rarely buy single issues but follow a number of titles by buying the trades.
I didn’t like the way you phrase this, Marc-Oliver:
“Air #7 had a cover price of $ 1.00 to encourage potential readers, resulting in a couple thousand more sales. It’ll be interesting to see if any of them stick.”
It implies the increase in reorders were then sold through to people who may or may not purchase more issues when in actuality it was just retailers ordering more. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love Air, but I’m not getting my hopes up anyone else bought it! lol
@Cat Eldridge
Rough estimates I’ve read is that Marvel and DC probably make about $.80-$1.00 per $2.99 book sold. After printing, shipping, advertising, and paying creators and editors, who knows, maybe $.10 per book goes into the bank? Less?
“Wildstorm should just be scrapped and the only half-way decent selling titles (Ex Machina and the video game tie ins) be moved to either DC or Vertigo imprints. What a travesty.”
“Face it, Wildstorm is a dead imprint.”
With sales so low it’s hard to argue… but what about rebranding as “DC West” and realigning the company in a different direction? I could see that working…
Forget rebranding. The name/characters are doing nothing for them, sales wise. The back catalog (Planetary, original Authority, et al) is worth something. Scrap all the current WS universe books, keep stuff in print under the DC title as trades and make the best of it.
I agree, I don’t read books because they are popular but as a child of the 70’s I’ve been burned by way too many books dying and leaving me hanging…with The Mighty and it’s lack of any sort of promotion by DC I feel like I’m gonna be right back there, loving a book that’s doomed to never be finished! :(
As for Madame Xanadu I am hoping that the trades can keep it going…
Biff
I agree, I don’t read books because they are popular but as a child of the 70’s I’ve been burned by way too many books dying and leaving me hanging…with The Mighty and it’s lack of any sort of promotion by DC I feel like I’m gonna be right back there, loving a book that’s doomed to never be finished! :(
As for Madame Xanadu I am hoping that the trades can keep it going…
Biff
I expected to see great new titles like REBELS and The Mighty selling poorly due to DC’s non-existent promotional push, but it still hurts to actually see the numbers. :(
Just hand me over wildstorm as is…
then give me 8 months. you know its the only thing they can do at this point.
its not that the books arent good, its just the focus, branding, design and grouping need help.
but what do i know…i wish well for everyone. really.
So where are the Independant sales figures now?
“I agree, I don’t read books because they are popular but as a child of the 70’s I’ve been burned by way too many books dying and leaving me hanging…with The Mighty and it’s lack of any sort of promotion by DC I feel like I’m gonna be right back there, loving a book that’s doomed to never be finished!”
Mighty is 12 issues limited series.
“only released 36 new periodicals”
I’ve been feeling for a while now that they haven’t been launching books at the same pace as they’ve been cancelling them. It’s interesting to know my gut feeling was right.
I never thought I’d see the day when GREEN LANTERN CORPS is DC’s top third selling title in a month, outselling Kevin Smith Batman. Brings a happy tear to my eye. With the increasing revenue, can we finally get a better artist than Gleason? I’ve been waiting for so long. :(
@Cat – there’s no constant $profit that DC makes per 10k issues. It all depends on whether it’s a 10k title or a 100k title (bigger titles have cheaper printing costs per page), how much they’re paying the talent doing the book (which varies widely book to book) and so on. Every single comic book’s economics are different and there’s no universal answer.
“Wonder Woman sales go up for the third month in a row. Looks like I underestimated the drawing power of a villain with green spikes for eyes. The last three issues were promoted through variant-cover editions.”
As Jason said, I should be inclined to think that the sales have gone up due to the variant-cover editions.
Re: REBELS — it was doomed from the start. No matter how much I might enjoy Bedard’s work, his name simply isn’t a selling brand yet and, much as I might have wished otherwise, Dox doesn’t appear to be a selling brand either. So the book’s got nothing. Lobo might have helped, but now it would be too little, too late. I’ll be surprised if the book makes it to #12. The smart money might be to cancel the book asap and let Bedard finish the story with a four-issue LOBO LS, which might at least sell a little better.
Re: Superman – I agree with Matt in that DC’s clearly thinking long-term here in pushing new IPs. If they can use the ACTION run to later spin-off Nightwing and Flamebird into their own series when Superman returns to ACTION, there’s much to be said for building new IPs. And preboot Mon-El starring in SUPERMAN may be bringing a boost to the new Legion book when it launches. So it’s overly simplistic to consider the numbers in a vacuum when DC’s clearly thinking more along marketing/promotional lines.
Re: Wildstorm – the only thing I’m interested in over there is seeing what Threshold, Bliss and the DV8 have been up to in the last 10 years or so since I looked in.
“Just hand me over wildstorm as is…”
That’s about the only way to save it. Give it over to a big name, like you and Justin Gage or Abnett and Lanning and give them time to completely rebuild the line.
I recently reread the early Authority books. Recapture that vibe and it would be hugely successful. At his point they have little to lose. They are on life support anyway.
The sales contest with Marvel nonsense aside, this sliude has to stop. DC needs to start publishing quality books that are accessable to a wider audience than the hard core post Crisis continuity niche and they need to make sure these books are on time.
They need to hire editors who aren’t afraid to shut down stories that are little more than continuity exposition.
They need to stop having a new creative vision every three months and they need to stop having one or two minds responsible for the creative vision of every book.
They need to make sure that the primary Batman and Superman books are in the top 20, as well as the Justice League and SupermanBatman. If your flagship titles are not your best sellers, you are not doing things right.
They need to give interesting, but offbeat characters to interesting but offbeat creators. The Creeper, Metamorpho, Plastic Man, the Demon, Ragman (the way Kanigher envisioned him) need to offered up to folks like Ellis, Ennis, Niles, Milligan, Allred etc
They need to get Darwyn Cooke back to DC.
They need to leave Grant Morrison alone and stop trying to market him. Grant’s output markets itself. Sales numbers do not lie.
They need a new E-I-C.
andy said: “Mighty is 12 issues limited series.”
You should tell DC they seem to think it’s an on-going:
http://www.dccomics.com/dcu/comics/?cm=11139
As for Wildstorm it’s done – the Mad Max direction was a mistake as was running back-up stories across titles. If you only pick up (for example) The Authority, you get a confusing mish-mash of the start or end of some story but nothing complete – which is as much use as a chocolate teapot.
So where are the Independant sales figures now? ”
Independence, Ohio?
It’s really a sad state of affairs Wildstorm’s in. I think the “soft reboot” in Captain Atom: Armageddon was a mistake and unnecessary, and sent the imprint into a tailspin that it’s yet to recover from. It’s baffling: tons of great creators are doing these books, but the stories are moribund and inspire little beyond apathy. Doing the post-apocalyptic thing didn’t save Marvel’s 2099 line and it’s not working here. I think they’re hoping they’re going to hit on some nascent Warren Ellis who will rejuvenate the line (as Ellis did with Authority/Planetary those years ago) but for whatever reason, talented people just can’t seem to do anything compelling with these characters.
I wish so very much that Grant Morrison had finished his Authority run.
The real problem with Wildstorm at this point isn’t so much that it’s *bad* as it’s “More of the same” It’s not altogether distinguishable from some random mid-range DCU title. And when DC is putting out stuff like Final Crisis, which feels more Wildstorm than Wildstorm while also working within the DCU and being incredibly well written…well, Wildstorm just starts to feel superfluous.
Basically, Wildstorm used to be about cutting edge superhero books. Now it’s just about superhero books. No wonder people stopped caring, really.
Mark Sullivan said: “I’m a Vertigo trade waiter, and I question the decision to collect 10 issues in the first Madame Xanadu trade.”
Question instead the decision to make the *set up* story arc run 10 issues.
Honestly, it feels like the book was expected to last less than a year, and was plotted accordingly. Rather than bothering to invest in a second and continuing storyline that might be cut short, it spent that first year as one long episodic character set up that could be ended with a month’s notice.
Are we expecting another installment of the Indie comics breakdown by Steve Horton (thanks again) or not? Did all the indie creators/publishers complain too much about the incompleteness of the data?
Thanks Marc-Oliver for getting this out even though you were out and about.
I hope there will be another indie sales chart breakdown.
For the “Superman” sales (position #32), the 1 year sales should be +7.8%, not -7.8%.
I think these are just the “recession” numbers post-Crisis and crossovers. People with less money are going to be more choosy about what they are buying…..so Batman, JLA, and Green Lantern/GL Corps are selling…..and all the others will just keep the die-hard fans but not add much more.
As a side-note, DC should just close Wildstorm and move any title which is selling (are there any?) to Vertigo. Having just one which ISN’T a crappy version of the DC Universe will probably save money in the long run.
I am somewhat surprised Batman Confidential (the only Batman title with Bruce Wayne still in it) & Superman/Batman aren’t doing better. I love them both! I also love Superman…..but I want to read Superman stories, NOT 2nd-rate characters with His name on the cover!
Green Arrow and Black Canary need to divorce! The title is horrible since the “re-tooling”…….Outsiders & Booster Gold need cancelled, it will save ink and show DC is trying to go “green”…..
Kevin Smith is such a Great Writer, and I’m elated that he was on time (for him) with Batman Cacophony!!! They should have him take over Green Arrow and make it great like he did before!