Marvel Month-to-Month Sales: September 2010

[Editors note: These charts are running a bit behind due to the workload of the columnists but we are trying to get back on schedule.]

by Paul O’Brien

Marvel’s biggest release for September was the relaunch of the Wolverine titles, in an attempt to undo the damage caused when the last relaunch backfired. The “Shadowland” event continues, as does “Curse of the Mutants” in some of the X-books, and there’s a general ramping up of Thor side projects as the movie looms on the horizon. And look out for FANTASTIC FOUR, which reaches the heavily-promoted “Three” storyline, and does indeed see a sales boost.

Sales are down from last year, but it’s worth bearing in mind that September 2009 was an unusually strong month in terms of sales and an unusually busy one for high-profile releases, so the difference is slightly exaggerated. In fact, on the chart as a whole, the signals are mixed – the number 300 book, FARSCAPE #11, sold 4,702 copies, which is much higher than normal. It results in several books failing to make the top 300 at all, and probably explains why Marvel didn’t chart with any re-orders this month either.

Once again, Marvel had the largest share of the North American direct market, leading DC by 45% to 32% in unit terms, and 41% to 28% in dollars.

Thanks as always to Milton Griepp and ICV2 for permission to use their figures for these calculations.

1. WOLVERINE
09/05  #32          -  89,026
09/06  #46          - 107,865
09/07  #57          -  74,588
09/08  ---
=====
09/09  Weapon X #5  -  40,975  ( -16.9%)
10/09  Weapon X #6  -  38,446  (  -6.2%)
11/09  Weapon X #7  -  36,108  (  -6.1%)
12/09  Weapon X #8  -  33,470  (  -7.3%)
01/10  Weapon X #9  -  31,678  (  -5.4%)
02/10  Weapon X #10 -  30,132  (  -4.9%)
03/10  Weapon X #11 -  29,799  (  -1.1%)
04/10  Weapon X #12 -  30,050  (  +0.8%)
05/10  Weapon X #13 -  29,773  (  -0.9%)
06/10  Weapon X #14 -  30,035  (  +0.9%)
07/10  Weapon X #15 -  29,555  (  -1.6%)
08/10  Weapon X #16 -  29,424  (  -0.4%)
09/10  #1           - 104,414  (+254.9%)
                       6 mnth  (+250.4%)
                       1 year  (+154.8%)
                       2 year  (   --- )
                       3 year  ( +40.0%)
                       4 year  ( -32.0%)
                       5 year  ( +17.3%)

Let’s recap how we got here. Last year, Marvel decided to launch a new ongoing series starring Wolverine’s son Daken, who had been introduced as a supporting character in Daniel Way’s WOLVERINE ORIGINS series and subsequently brought into the cast of DARK AVENGERS. But rather than just launch DAKEN #1, they tried to be clever.

So, in April 2009, Marvel launched WOLVERINE: WEAPON X, a new ongoing series which was presented as a third monthly Wolverine title, to join WOLVERINE and ORIGINS. And then, in June 2009, they turned WOLVERINE into DARK WOLVERINE beginning with issue #75, without making it entirely clear that this was a permanent change. Same thing they did with INCREDIBLE HERCULES, basically.

The theory, presumably, was that WOLVERINE: WEAPON X would become the lead Wolverine title and sell as strongly as ever, while DARK WOLVERINE would inherit the lead title’s sales too. But it didn’t work. Despite generally good reviews, WEAPON X launched at 98K and then swandived down the charts, passing ORIGINS at the 42K mark, and eventually settling at an abysmal 30K. As for DARK WOLVERINE, it launched at 81K and kept dropping from there, eventually winding up at 40K. The upshot – two titles, with combined sales lower than the book they replaced. Oops.

So this month Marvel are trying to reverse the damage. The theory seems to be that they went wrong by allowing WEAPON X to be seen as the Wolverine C-title, when nobody was really interested in such a thing. So now it relaunches as WOLVERINE proper, and sales do indeed shoot up – to a higher level than WEAPON X #1 managed. That said, it’s made this level with the aid of five variant covers, and since this column is terribly late, I can tell you that issue #2 dropped to 63,210 – a hefty 39% drop, but still substantially up from WEAPON X figures.

This month also sees DARK WOLVERINE relaunching as DAKEN #1, and the launch of a new ongoing series featuring X-23, Wolverine’s sort-of daughter. Those books nestle together at 23 and 24 in the charts, but it makes sense to look at them now.

23. DAKEN: DARK WOLVERINE
09/09  #78 - 60,702  (-11.5%)
10/09  #79 - 60,076  ( -1.0%)
11/09  #80 - 52,394  (-12.8%)
12/09  #81 - 48,102  ( -8.2%)
01/10  #82 - 54,838  (+14.0%)
02/10  #83 - 53,958  ( -1.6%)
03/10  #84 - 49,469  ( -8.3%)
04/10  #85 - 47,527  ( -3.9%)
05/10  #86 - 46,315  ( -2.6%)
06/10  #87 - 43,087  ( -7.0%)
07/10  #88 - 42,522  ( -1.3%)
08/10  #89 - 41,409  ( -2.6%)
08/10  #90 - 39,815  ( -3.8%)
09/10  #1  - 48,819  (+22.6%)
             6 mnth  ( -1.3%)
             1 year  (-19.6%)

24. X-23
09/10  #1 - 48,481

We’ve seen in recent months that renumbering a book from issue #1 doesn’t generally have a lasting effect on sales. WOLVERINE may be a special case, because the promotion of its previous incarnation was botched so spectacularly. DAKEN isn’t – it’s just a renumbering on an ongoing series, and while it gets a sales boost (with the help of two variant covers), it only takes the title back to the sales levels of six months ago. October sales see the book dropping straight back to where it was before.

As for X-23, she has similar variants, and ends up with almost exactly the same sales – which might suggest that retailers are just putting down a generic “Wolverine B-title” number. X-23 did seem to be a significant sales draw when she first appeared, but that was a few years ago, and time will tell whether Marvel have missed the boat. The October sales dropped to around 35,000, a 27% drop – not bad, but not spectacular either.

The Wolverine family will be completed in December with a second ongoing, WOLVERINE: THE BEST THERE IS. In fairness, this simply replaces WOLVERINE: ORIGINS on the schedule. Given that the last year has shown readers don’t have a huge appetite for Wolverine spin-offs, I can’t help wondering whether Marvel ought to be concentrating on rebuilding the damaged brand before they try to launch new books.

Returning to the top 10, the three Avengers books are also clinging together…

6.  AVENGERS
05/10  #1 - 170,682
06/10  #2 -  98,788  (-42.1%)
07/10  #3 -  87,410  (-11.5%)
08/10  #4 -  87,333  ( -0.1%)
09/10  #5 -  82,411  ( -5.6%)


7.  NEW AVENGERS
09/05  #10    - 143,014
09/06  ---
09/07  #34    - 112,815
09/08  #45    - 103,326
=====
09/09  #57    -  85,598  ( -4.9%)
10/09  #58    -  76,656  (-10.4%)
11/09  #59    -  74,379  ( -3.0%)
12/09  #60    -  72,790  ( -2.1%)
01/10  #61    -  78,202  ( +7.4%)
02/10  #62    -  76,405  ( -2.3%)
03/10  #63    -  76,145  ( -0.3%)
04/10  #64    -  75,430  ( -0.9%)
04/10  ---
05/10  Finale -  82,152  ( +8.9%)
06/10  #1     - 129,084  (+67.8%)
07/10  #2     -  83,397  (-35.4%)
08/10  #3     -  81,354  ( -2.4%)
09/10  #4     -  77,479  ( -4.7%)
                 6 mnth  ( +1.8%)
                 1 year  ( -9.5%)
                 2 year  (-25.0%)
                 3 year  (-31.3%)
                 4 year  (  --- )
                 5 year  (-45.8%)


9.  SECRET AVENGERS
05/10  #1 - 110,681
06/10  #2 -  77,933  (-30.0%)
07/10  #3 -  72,293  ( -7.2%)
08/10  #4 -  74,655  ( +3.3%)
09/10  #5 -  69,546  ( -6.8%)

Variant covers abound, but then they always do on this book. Also, this month the theme variant is “Super Hero Squad”, and we’ve seen in the past that those variants don’t seem to have the normal impact on sales. Anyhow, the Avengers titles are still to find their level after the relaunch.

10,15,16,17. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
09/05  #524 -  71,065
09/06  #535 - 117,056
09/07  #544 - 146,215
09/08  #572 -  75,574
=====
09/09  #604 -  63,435  (-10.7%)
09/09  #605 -  62,831  ( -1.0%)
09/09  #606 -  70,177  (+11.7%)
09/09  #607 -  62,570  (-10.8%)
10/09  #608 -  72,035  (+15.1%)
10/09  #609 -  61,176  (-15.1%)
11/09  #610 -  61,170  ( -0.0%)
11/09  #611 -  64,514  ( +5.5%)
11/09  #612 -  68,459  ( +6.1%)
11/09  #613 -  64,499  ( -5.8%)
12/09  #614 -  59,696  ( -7.4%)
12/09  #615 -  63,738  ( +6.8%)
12/09  #616 -  58,856  ( -7.7%)
01/10  #617 -  76,730  (+30.4%)
01/10  #618 -  61,969  (-19.2%)
01/10  #619 -  56,837  ( -8.3%)
02/10  #620 -  59,860  ( +5.3%)
02/10  #621 -  55,350  ( -7.5%)
02/10  #622 -  53,929  ( -2.6%)
03/10  #623 -  66,064  (+22.5%)
03/10  #624 -  60,213  ( -8.9%)
03/10  #625 -  54,179  (-10.0%)
03/10  #626 -  53,868  ( -0.6%)
03/10  #627 -  54,206  ( +0.6%)
04/10  #628 -  57,797  ( +6.6%)
04/10  #629 -  53,560  ( -7.3%)
05/10  #630 -  57,969  ( +8.2%)
05/10  #631 -  57,239  ( -1.3%)
05/10  #632 -  56,723  ( -0.9%)
06/10  #633 -  57,670  ( +1.7%)
06/10  #634 -  61,736  ( +7.1%)
06/10  #635 -  56,146  ( -9.1%)
07/10  #636 -  56,011  ( -0.2%)
07/10  #637 -  56,031  ( +0.0%)
07/10  #638 -  68,271  (+21.8%)
08/10  #639 -  67,086  ( -1.7%)
08/10  #640 -  73,656  ( +9.8%)
09/10  #641 -  68,345  ( -7.2%)
09/10  #642 -  60,115  (-12.0%)
09/10  #643 -  61,855  ( +2.9%)
09/10  #644 -  58,310  ( -5.7%)
               6 mnth  ( +7.6%)
               1 year  ( -8.1%)
               2 year  (-22.8%)
               3 year  (-60.1%)
               4 year  (-50.2%)
               5 year  (-17.9%)

Four issues this month, with issue #641 being the final chapter of “One Moment in Time”, and the others carrying the first three chapters of “Origin of the Species”. Issue #641 has three variants, #643 has two, and the others have one apiece – as you could probably guess from the covers. The book is heading for a de facto relaunch in November, with a change to a fortnightly schedule.

11.  X-MEN
07/10  #1 - 143,167
08/10  #2 -  71,464  (-50.1%)
09/10  #3 -  66,549  ( -6.9%)

13.  UNCANNY X-MEN
09/05  #464 -  85,885
09/06  #478 -  89,850
09/07  #490 -  87,592
09/08  #502 -  82,883
=====
09/09  #515 -  73,585  (-18.5%)
10/09  #516 -  73,916  ( +0.4%)
11/09  #517 -  69,557  ( -5.9%)
12/09  #518 -  68,572  ( -1.4%)
12/09  #519 -  67,043  ( -2.2%)
01/10  #520 -  65,758  ( -1.9%)
02/10  #521 -  67,049  ( +2.0%)
03/10  #522 -  67,996  ( +1.4%)
04/10  #523 -  78,999  (+16.2%)
05/10  #524 -  77,056  ( -2.5%)
06/10  #525 -  76,068  ( -1.3%)
07/10  #526 -  66,723  (-12.3%)
08/10  #527 -  69,052  ( +3.5%)
09/10  #528 -  62,415  ( -9.6%)
               6 mnth  ( -8.2%)
               1 year  (-15.2%)
               2 year  (-24.7%)
               3 year  (-28.7%)
               4 year  (-30.5%)
               5 year  (-27.3%)

X-MEN #3 has two variants, UNCANNY has none this month. X-MEN sales are levelling out more quickly than I’d have feared on the strength of last month’s second issue drop, so it may be on course to settle quickly at the level of UNCANNY and LEGACY.

20,21. THOR
09/08  ---
=====
09/09  #603   - 65,265  ( -6.2%)
10/09  ---
11/09  Finale - 53,566  (-17.9%)
12/09  #604   - 61,608  (+15.0%)
12/09  #605   - 55,242  (-10.3%)
01/10  #606   - 55,353  ( +0.2%)
02/10  #607   - 66,973  (+21.0%)
03/10  #608   - 62,012  ( -7.4%)
04/10  #609   - 64,522  ( +4.0%)
05/10  #610   - 61,779  ( -4.3%)
06/10  #611   - 56,443  ( -8.6%)
07/10  #612   - 53,373  ( -5.4%)
08/10  #613   - 51,076  ( -4.3%)
09/10  #614   - 53,505  ( +4.8%)
09/10  #615   - 52,896  ( -1.2%)
                6 mnth  (-14.7%)
                1 year  (-19.0%)
                2 year  (  --- )

Interesting. Two issues this month – THOR #614 is the final part of Kieron Gillen’s fill-in run, and had a “Women of Marvel” frame variant. THOR #615 has no variants, but it’s the first issue by the new creative team, Matt Fraction and Pascual Ferry. I’d have bet on a more visible increase in sales with the new creators (the solicitations tried to push it as a jumping on point), but it actually doesn’t seem to have made much difference.

22. X-MEN LEGACY
09/05  #175 -  76,555
09/06  #191 -  82,048
09/07  #203 -  85,652
09/08  #216 -  66,434
=====
09/09  ---
10/09  #228 -  52,855  (-16.5%)
11/09  #229 -  50,789  ( -3.9%)
12/09  #230 -  49,776  ( -2.0%)
12/09  #231 -  50,929  ( +2.3%)
01/10  #232 -  49,200  ( -3.4%)
02/10  #233 -  51,344  ( +4.4%)
03/10  #234 -  48,217  ( -6.1%)
04/10  #235 -  65,302  (+35.4%)
05/10  #236 -  69,731  ( +6.8%)
06/10  #237 -  65,578  ( -6.0%)
07/10  #238 -  53,313  (-18.7%)
08/10  #239 -  53,236  ( -0.1%)
09/10  #240 -  50,984  ( -4.2%)
               6 mnth  ( +5.7%)
               1 year  (  --- )
               2 year  (-23.3%)
               3 year  (-40.5%)
               4 year  (-37.9%)
               5 year  (-33.4%)

This issue has a Super Hero Squad variant, but as I say, those don’t seem to make a huge difference to sales. LEGACY has finally drifted back to its pre-crossover sales levels from the start of the year, after hanging on some extra readers for a couple of months.

25. AVENGERS PRIME
06/10  #1 of 5 - 69,433
07/10  ---
08/10  #2 of 5 - 55,518  (-20.0%)
09/10  #3 of 5 - 48,173  (-13.2%)

Seems to be dropping off the radar, compared to the other Avengers titles.

26. CAPTAIN AMERICA
09/05  #10       -  52,609
09/06  #22       -  82,230
09/07  #30       -  79,554
09/08  #42       -  75,574
=====
09/09  Reborn #3 - 108,331  (-13.6%)
10/09  ---
11/09  Reborn #4 -  96,571  (-10.9%)
12/09  Reborn #5 -  91,790  ( -5.0%)
01/10  Reborn #6 -  84,844  ( -7.6%)
01/10  #602      -  63,948  (-24.6%)
02/10  #603      -  63,568  ( -0.6%)
03/10  #604      -  56,962  (-10.4%)
04/10  #605      -  59,051  ( +3.7%)
05/10  ---
06/10  #606      -  57,443  ( -2.7%)
06/10  #607      -  52,989  ( -7.8%)
07/10  ---
08/10  #608      -  51,362  ( -3.1%)
08/10  #609      -  52,834  ( +2.9%)
09/10  #610      -  47,986  ( -9.2%)
                    6 mnth  (-15.8%)
                    1 year  (-55.7%)
                    2 year  (-36.5%)
                    3 year  (-41.8%)
                    4 year  (-41.6%)
                    5 year  ( -8.8%)

No variant cover this month. There does seem to be a drop in sales, but that’s perhaps to be expected given that the series has wrapped up the REBORN material by now.

27. INVINCIBLE IRON MAN
09/05  ---
09/06  #12 - 36,278
09/07  #22 - 46,691
09/08  #5  - 60,444
=====
09/09  #17 - 47,182  (-12.3%)
09/09  #18 - 48,039  ( +1.8%)
10/09  #19 - 47,178  ( -1.8%)
11/09  #20 - 61,667  (+30.7%)
12/09  #21 - 49,986  (-18.9%)
01/10  #22 - 49,130  ( -1.7%)
02/10  #23 - 50,027  ( +1.8%)
03/10  #24 - 49,239  ( -1.6%)
04/10  #25 - 73,694  (+49.7%)
05/10  #26 - 53,625  (-27.2%)
06/10  #27 - 52,268  ( -2.5%)
07/10  #28 - 48,690  ( -6.8%)
08/10  #29 - 49,012  ( +0.7%)
09/10  #30 - 47,238  ( -3.6%)
             6 mnth  ( -4.1%)
             1 year  ( +0.1%)
             2 year  (-21.8%)
             3 year  ( +1.2%)
             4 year  (+30.2%)
             5 year  (  --- )

There’s a Super Hero Squad variant cover on this issue, but that’s unlikely to have made much difference. The previous issue had a Women of Marvel Frame variant, which was probably more effective, so overall sales appear to be holding pretty steady.

28. SHADOWLAND
07/10  #1 of 5 - 59,529
08/10  #2 of 5 - 44,573  (-25.1%)
09/10  #3 of 5 - 47,223  ( +6.0%)

An increase for the third issue suggests that this is doing better than retailers first expected. There’s a Billy Tan variant cover, but I’d be surprised if it was more of a draw than last month’s Cassaday variant, so the increase is likely to be due to genuine interest.

29. HULK
09/08  #6  - 117,807
=====
09/09  #15 -  58,667  (-24.3%)
10/09  #16 -  56,811  ( -3.2%)
11/09  #17 -  52,653  ( -7.3%)
12/09  #18 -  53,222  ( +1.1%)
01/10  #19 -  56,738  ( +6.6%)
02/10  #20 -  51,962  ( -8.4%)
03/10  #21 -  50,785  ( -2.3%)
04/10  ---
05/10  #22 -  49,618  ( -2.3%)
06/10  #23 -  50,724  ( +2.2%)
07/10  ---
08/10  #24 -  48,903  ( -3.6%)
09/10  #25 -  46,784  ( -4.3%)
              6 mnth  ( -7.9%)
              1 year  (-20.3%)
              2 year  (-60.3%)

The first issue by new creative team Jeff Parker and Gabriel Hardman. Sales seem largely unaffected by the change. There’s a variant cover, but that’s standard for this book.

30. NEMESIS [Icon]
03/10  #1 of 4 - 62,031
04/10  ---
05/10  ---
06/10  #2 of 4 - 51,586  (-16.8%)
07/10  ---
08/10  ---
09/10  #3 of 4 - 46,234  (-10.4%)

Still doing very well by the standards of the Icon imprint.

32. DAREDEVIL
09/05  #77  - 45,945
09/06  #89  - 55,481
09/07  #100 - 78,143
09/08  #111 - 46,305
=====
09/09  ---
10/09  #501 - 45,181  (-38.5%)
11/09  #502 - 40,354  (-10.7%)
12/09  #503 - 38,680  ( -4.1%)
01/10  #504 - 37,135  ( -4.0%)
02/10  #505 - 38,693  ( +4.2%)
03/10  ---
04/10  #506 - 37,467  ( -3.2%)
05/10  ---
06/10  #507 - 34,744  ( -7.3%)
07/10  #508 - 41,943  (+20.7%)
08/10  #509 - 41,577  ( -0.9%)
09/10  #510 - 44,728  ( +7.6%)
              6 mnth  (  --- )
              1 year  (  --- )
              2 year  ( -3.4%)
              3 year  (-42.8%)
              4 year  (-19.4%)
              5 year  ( -2.6%)

A Shadowland tie-in issue, as were the last two. There’s a Super Hero Squad variant, but I wonder if the sales increase here is more a reflection of the same gains we’re seeing on the SHADOWLAND mini. In any event, the book is about to be relaunched as a Black Panther series.

34. ULTIMATE COMICS AVENGERS
09/09  v1 #2 - 68,597  (-31.2%)
10/09  v1 #3 - 62,716  ( -8.6%)
11/09  v1 #4 - 59,023  ( -5.9%)
12/09  ---
01/10  ---
02/10  ---
03/10  v1 #5 - 58,098  ( -1.6%)
04/10  v1 #6 - 53,438  ( -8.0%)
04/10  v2 #1 - 64,811  (+21.3%)
05/10  v2 #2 - 52,939  (-18.3%)
06/10  v2 #3 - 50,797  ( -4.0%)
06/10  v2 #4 - 49,606  ( -2.3%)
07/10  v2 #5 - 46,886  ( -5.5%)
08/10  v2 #6 - 46,358  (-11.3%)
08/10  v3 #1 - 53,870  (+16.2%)
09/10  v3 #2 - 43,119  (-20.0%)
               6 mnth  (-25.8%)
               1 year  (-37.1%)

As we’ve come to expect, the boost caused by last issue’s renumbering and variant cover evaporates immediately, and ULTIMATE COMICS AVENGERS is straight back on the previous path.

This raises an interesting question. Renumbering (or adding variant covers) does draw in a substantial number of extra readers for the first issue of the new arc. In theory this should be a good thing. At least some of them ought to like what they see and stick around. Yet they don’t appear to do so. Why not?

One possibility is the book isn’t good enough. But that seems unlikely. It’s selling in the top 40, so a fair number of people must like it. And the pattern repeats across plenty of comics – they can’t all be bad.

Which leaves the other possibility, that the only people now attracted by variant covers and fresh issue #1s are collectors who aren’t really interested in the contents and never had any intention of picking up the rest of the run. It comes as no surprise that this should be the attitude to variant covers. But when that’s the response to renumbering, it really does demonstrate how overuse of the renumbering gimmick has killed its drawing power.

35,38. INCREDIBLE HULKS
09/05  #86  -  52,992
09/06  #98  -  52,987
09/07  #110 -  96,835
09/08  #5   - 102,105
=====
09/09  #602 -  51,582  (-19.6%)
10/09  #603 -  49,126  ( -4.8%)
11/09  #604 -  40,652  (-17.2%)
12/09  #605 -  43,964  ( +8.1%)
01/10  #606 -  48,197  ( +9.6%)
02/10  #607 -  45,870  ( -4.8%)
03/10  #608 -  47,148  ( +2.8%)
04/10  ---
05/10  #609 -  46,670  ( -1.0%)
06/10  #610 -  46,461  ( -0.4%)
07/10  ---
08/10  #611 -  44,982  ( -3.2%)
09/10  #612 -  42,956  ( -4.5%)
09/10  #613 -  40,063  ( -6.7%)
               6 mnth  (-15.0%)
               1 year  (-22.3%)
               2 year  (-60.8%)
               3 year  (-58.6%)
               4 year  (-24.4%)
               5 year  (-24.4%)

A new creative team (Greg Pak and Tom Raney) and a new format, with the title changing to INCREDIBLE HULKS plural, and the book shipping twice a month. Issue #612 has a Super Hero Squad variant too. There’s little sign of any gain from this, but bearing in mind that the book is coming off the “World War Hulks” crossover, it may in fact just be returning to its baseline sales – compare issue #604 almost a year ago.

36. FANTASTIC FOUR
09/05  #531 - 49,745
09/06  ---
09/07  ---
09/08  #560 - 58,258
=====
09/09  #571 - 47,468  (-23.4%)
10/09  #572 - 41,939  (-11.6%)
11/09  #573 - 39,433  ( -6.0%)
12/09  #574 - 38,431  ( -2.5%)
01/10  #575 - 41,284  ( +7.4%)
02/10  #576 - 37,526  ( -9.1%)
03/10  #577 - 35,791  ( -4.6%)
04/10  #578 - 37,940  ( +6.0%)
05/10  #579 - 38,415  ( +1.3%)
06/10  #580 - 36,582  ( -4.8%)
07/10  #581 - 35,505  ( -2.9%)
08/10  #582 - 34,617  ( -2.5%)
09/10  #583 - 42,257  (+22.1%)
              6 mnth  (+18.1%)
              1 year  (-11.0%)
              2 year  (-27.5%)
              3 year  (  --- )
              4 year  (  --- )
              5 year  (-15.1%)

This is the first part of “Three”, a storyline that they’ve been building up for some time. It’s got a couple of variant covers, but nonetheless the sales increase is high enough to suggest some genuine interest here. (It stays up in October, too.)

40. ASTONISHING X-MEN: XENOGENESIS
05/10  #1 of 5 - 55,428
06/10  #2 of 5 - 44,953  (-18.9%)
07/10  ---
08/10  ---
09/10  #3 of 5 - 38,951  (-13.4%)

Could be holding up better, but it’s doing well enough to justify its existence. If you consider this an X-Men spin-off book (rather than just an ASTONISHING X-MEN arc shipping out of sequence), it’s doing much better than most.

43. X-FORCE: SEX AND VIOLENCE
09/08  #7      - 64,911
=====
09/09  #19     - 49,817  (-11.7%)
10/09  #20     - 48,921  ( -1.8%)
11/09  #21     - 53,967  (+10.3%)
12/09  #22     - 51,859  ( -3.9%)
01/10  #23     - 50,848  ( -1.9%)
02/10  #24     - 49,790  ( -2.1%)
03/10  #25     - 49,910  ( +0.2%)
04/10  #26     - 67,512  (+35.3%)
05/10  #27     - 62,509  ( -7.4%)
06/10  ---
07/10  #28     - 61,680  ( -1.3%)
07/10  S&V #1  - 41,426  (-32.8%)
08/10  #2 of 3 - 38,480  ( -7.1%)
09/10  #3 of 3 - 37,283  ( -3.1%)
                 6 mnth  (-25.3%)
                 1 year  (-25.2%)
                 2 year  (-42.6%)

Final part of the transitional, schedule-filling miniseries. The book relaunches in October with a fresh #1.

47. DEADPOOL
09/08  #2  - 59,850
=====
09/09  #15 - 50,479  ( +0.4%)
10/09  #16 - 46,288  ( -8.3%)
11/09  #17 - 46,765  ( +1.0%)
12/09  #18 - 45,914  ( -1.8%)
01/10  ---
02/10  #19 - 44,580  ( -2.9%)
02/10  #20 - 43,347  ( -2.8%)
03/10  #21 - 42,062  ( -3.0%)
04/10  #22 - 43,061  ( +2.4%)
05/10  #23 - 42,761  ( -0.7%)
06/10  #24 - 38,663  ( -9.6%)
07/10  #25 - 36,828  ( -4.7%)
08/10  #26 - 35,595  ( -3.3%)
09/10  #27 - 36,404  ( +2.3%)
             6 mnth  (-13.5%)
             1 year  (-27.9%)
             2 year  (-39.2%)

Super Hero Squad variant cover. Sales seem to be pretty steady in the mid-30K range over the last few months.

48. STEVE ROGERS: SUPER-SOLDIER
07/10  #1 of 4 - 57,222
08/10  #2 of 4 - 40,278  (-29.6%)
09/10  #3 of 4 - 35,817  (-11.1%)

About 12K below the parent title, but still doing better than average for Marvel’s spin-off minis these days.

49. ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN
09/05  #82  -  75,756
09/06  #100 - 116,197
09/07  #114 -  66,682
09/08  #126 -  54,604
=====
09/09  #2   -  57,477  (-33.2%)
10/09  #3   -  52,813  ( -8.1%)
11/09  #4   -  49,106  ( -7.0%)
12/09  #5   -  45,849  ( -6.6%)
01/10  #6   -  43,622  ( -4.9%)
02/10  #7   -  42,176  ( -3.3%)
03/10  #8   -  40,967  ( -2.9%)
04/10  #9   -  39,955  ( -2.5%)
05/10  #10  -  39,690  ( -0.7%)
06/10  #11  -  39,149  ( -1.4%)
07/10  #12  -  37,879  ( -3.2%)
08/10  #13  -  36,946  ( -2.5%)
09/10  #14  -  35,776  ( -3.7%)
               6 mnth  (-12.7%)
               1 year  (-37.8%)
               2 year  (-34.5%)
               3 year  (-46.3%)
               4 year  (-69.2%)
               5 year  (-52.8%)

Business as usual. It’ll be interesting to see whether reverting to the original numbering with issue #150 makes any difference. I’m inclined to say no, since it didn’t with X-FACTOR. But ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN is a case where last year’s relaunch backfired and lost sales, so distancing the book from it might be a smart promotional move.

50. AVENGERS: THE CHILDREN'S CRUSADE
07/10  #1 of 9 - 44,934
08/10  ---
09/10  #2 of 9 - 35,497  (-21.0%)

Variant cover, but the first issue had one too. I’m a little surprised that this de facto YOUNG AVENGERS continuation is quite so far behind the other Avengers titles. (Well, it’s ahead of AVENGERS ACADEMY, but you know what I mean.)

53. INVADERS NOW!
09/10  #1 of 5 - 33,696

Three variant covers. There’s a limited market for comics about Marvel’s Golden Age heroes (whenever they’re set), so I’d say this is pretty good.

54. WOLVERINE: ROAD TO HELL
09/10  One-shot - 33,696

An anthology with trailer stories promoting the first issues of WOLVERINE, DAKEN, X-23 and, er, X-FORCE. Well, Wolverine’s in that one too. Incidentally, the Daken/X-23 story ends on a cliffhanger that doesn’t seem to be continued anywhere in particular. Strange, that.

56,65. THOR: FOR ASGARD
09/10  #1 of 6 - 32,236
09/10  #2 of 6 - 28,563  (-11.4%)

One of numerous Thor projects generating material to be collected in time for the movie. This one’s by Rob Rodi and Simone Bianchi, an artist with enough profile that I’d have expected it to do slightly better – but on the other hand, it appears to be out of (present day) continuity, and Marvel are flooding the market with Thor books at the moment. Of course, they may well be more concerned with how the collections do when the movie comes out.

57. THUNDERBOLTS
09/05  #12  - 25,912
09/06  #106 - 31,526
09/07  ---
09/08  #124 - 43,429
=====
09/09  #135 - 39,961  ( -2.3%)
09/09  #136 - 34,031  (-14.8%)
10/09  #137 - 32,409  ( -4.8%)
11/09  #138 - 31,238  ( -3.6%)
12/09  #139 - 29,957  ( -4.1%)
01/10  #140 - 28,644  ( -4.4%)
02/10  #141 - 33,948  (+18.5%)
03/10  #142 - 34,132  ( +0.5%)
04/10  #143 - 35,656  ( +4.5%)
05/10  #144 - 33,276  ( -6.7%)
06/10  #145 - 31,999  ( -3.8%)
07/10  #146 - 31,501  ( -1.6%)
08/10  #147 - 31,252  ( -0.8%)
09/10  #148 - 32,190  ( +3.0%)
              6 mnth  ( -5.7%)
              1 year  (-19.4%)
              2 year  (-25.9%)
              3 year  (  --- )
              4 year  ( +2.1%)
              5 year  (+24.2%)

This is a SHADOWLAND crossover, which explains the slight increase.

59. NEW MUTANTS
09/09  #5  - 31,502  (-18.3%)
10/09  #6  - 34,967  (+11.0%)
11/09  #7  - 33,328  ( -4.7%)
12/09  #8  - 32,240  ( -3.3%)
01/10  #9  - 30,572  ( -5.2%)
02/10  #10 - 30,807  ( +0.8%)
03/10  #11 - 36,629  (+18.9%)
04/10  #12 - 49,591  (+35.4%)
05/10  #13 - 54,169  ( +9.2%)
06/10  #14 - 53,926  ( -0.4%)
07/10  #15 - 35,426  (-34.3%)
08/10  #16 - 31,989  ( -9.7%)
09/10  #17 - 31,684  ( -1.0%)
             6 mnth  (-13.5%)
             1 year  ( +0.6%)

Actually up from a year ago, albeit marginally, and with the aid of a Super Hero Squad variant (for whatever that’s worth). Screen out the “Second Coming” crossover issues and the sales on this book have been incredibly steady.

61. AVENGERS ACADEMY
06/10  #1 - 45,890
07/10  #2 - 38,061  (-17.1%)
08/10  #3 - 35,629  ( -6.4%)
09/10  #4 - 31,212  (-12.4%)

I’ve decided that this book is so far removed from AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE that it doesn’t really make sense to treat it as a continuation of the same title. (Different concept, almost entirely difference cast, different artist.) Every issue so far has had at least one variant cover, but issue #3 had an extra one, which is why the trend is a bit wonky. Nonetheless, we have to assume that the underlying sales are lower and that the trend is indeed downhill. Fortunately the October number shows a very slight increase, so it’s not over just yet.

62. THANOS IMPERATIVE
05/10  Ignition - 29,716
06/10  #1 of 6  - 34,285  (+13.4%)
07/10  #2 of 6  - 31,888  ( -7.0%)
08/10  #3 of 6  - 30,493  ( -4.4%)
09/10  #4 of 6  - 29,704  ( -2.6%)

The “cosmic” books continue their blow-out storyline with the usual stable sales.

63. X-FACTOR
09/06  #11  - 43,431
09/07  #23  - 53,311
09/08  #35  - 44,481
=====
09/09  #48  - 30,305  ( -8.3%)
09/09  #49  - 29,934  ( -1.2%)
10/09  #50  - 30,138  ( +0.7%)
11/09  ---
12/09  #200 - 36,577  (+21.4%)
01/10  #201 - 29,732  (-18.7%)
02/10  #202 - 30,981  ( +4.2%)
03/10  #203 - 28,924  ( -6.6%)
04/10  #204 - 40,534  (+40.1%)
05/10  #205 - 41,745  ( +3.0%)
06/10  #206 - 40,981  ( -1.8%)
07/10  #207 - 32,082  (-21.7%)
08/10  #208 - 30,095  ( -6.2%)
09/10  #209 - 29,626  ( -1.6%)
              6 mnth  ( +2.4%)
              1 year  ( -2.2%)
              2 year  (-33.4%)
              3 year  (-44.4%)
              4 year  (-31.8%)

Another book where, if you screen out those Second Coming tie-ins from April to June, sales have been very steady over 2010.

64. ASTONISHING SPIDER-MAN/WOLVERINE
05/10  #1 of 5 - 56,518
06/10  ---
07/10  #2 of 5 - 34,704  (-38.6%)
08/10  ---
09/10  #3 of 5 - 29,455  (-15.1%)

Not bad for a Spider-Man/Wolverine miniseries in general, but given the hype that Marvel put behind their “Astonishing” imprint, and the presence of a big name artist in Adam Kubert, I’m surprised this isn’t doing better.

68. X-MEN: CURSE OF THE MUTANTS ONE-SHOTS
08/10  Storm & Gambit - 31,751
08/10  Blade          - 28,318
09/10  Smoke & Blood  - 27,649

The CURSE one-shots have sold in fairly similar numbers, but for what it’s worth, the X-Men’s Science Club come in slightly behind the others.

70. SCARLET  [Icon]
07/10  #1 - 34,938
08/10  ---
09/10  #2 - 27,312  (-21.8%)

Decent numbers for Icon. Bear in mind that Bendis’ other creator-owned title, POWERS, is down at the 15K mark these days, so this is getting a lot more attention.

73. SECRET WARRIORS
09/09  #8  - 33,893  (-13.1%)
10/09  #9  - 36,385  ( +7.4%)
11/09  #10 - 31,567  (-13.2%)
12/09  #11 - 30,748  ( -2.6%)
01/10  #12 - 29,894  ( -2.8%)
02/10  #13 - 30,843  ( +3.2%)
03/10  #14 - 28,580  ( -7.3%)
04/10  #15 - 29,669  ( +3.8%)
05/10  #16 - 29,340  ( -1.1%)
06/10  #17 - 28,017  ( -4.5%)
07/10  ---
08/10  #18 - 27,415  ( -2.1%)
08/10  #19 - 26,902  ( -1.9%)
09/10  #20 - 25,947  ( -3.5%)
             6 mnth  ( -9.2%)
             1 year  (-23.4%)

Slight decline, but with the book scheduled to wrap up in early 2011 when it finishes its story, that shouldn’t be worrying anyone.

75. X-MEN VS VAMPIRES
09/10  #1 of 2 - 25,654

Another X-Men anthology, tied in to the crossover of the season.

77. ULTIMATE COMICS MYSTERY
07/10  #1 of 4 - 33,676
08/10  #2 of 4 - 26,507  (-21.3%)
09/10  #3 of 4 - 25,293  ( -4.6%)

The Ultimate minis aren’t selling as well these days, but at least they’re levelling out quickly, so there’s still a core audience there.

79. SHADOWLAND: ELEKTRA
09/10  One-shot - 24,545

Some way ahead of the other SHADOWLAND books, which shows that the character still has some credibility attached.

80,105. FRANKEN-CASTLE
09/07  #11 - 47,220
09/08  #23 - 27,384
=====
09/09  #9  - 28,424  (-14.1%)
10/09  #10 - 27,167  ( -4.4%)
11/09  #11 - 24,900  ( -8.3%)
12/09  #12 - 24,985  ( +0.3%)
01/10  #13 - 23,734  ( -5.0%)
02/10  #14 - 23,455  ( -1.8%)
03/10  #15 - 22,285  ( -5.0%)
04/10  #16 - 23,047  ( +3.4%)
05/10  ---
06/10  #17 - 22,378  ( -2.9%)
06/10  #18 - 19,605  (-12.4%)
07/10  #19 - 24,947  (+27.2%)
08/10  #20 - 24,304  ( -2.6%)
09/10  #21 - 20,036  (-17.6%)
             6 mnth  (-10.1%)
             1 year  (-29.5%)
             2 year  (-26.8%)
             3 year  (-57.6%)

Cancelled, though there’s a miniseries starting in November. Issues #19-20 were a crossover with DARK WOLVERINE, hence the surge.

84. NAMOR: THE FIRST MUTANT
08/10  #1 - 37,399
09/10  #2 - 23,880  (-36.1%)

This is a “Curse of the Mutants” tie-in, and there’s a Super Hero Squad variant – which, admittedly, should be less of a draw than last month’s Joe Quesada variant. Still, this isn’t hugely encouraging for the book’s long-term future.

90. DEADPOOL: WADE WILSON'S WAR
06/10  #1 of 4 - 29,406
06/10  #2 of 4 - 26,466  (-10.0%)
07/10  ---
08/10  #3 of 4 - 23,580  (-10.9%)
09/10  #4 of 4 - 22,927  ( -2.8%)

91. SHADOWLAND: GHOST RIDER
09/10  One-shot - 22,645

92. DEADPOOL CORPS
03/10  Prelude #1 - 37,011
03/10  Prelude #2 - 32,024  (-13.5%)
03/10  Prelude #3 - 31,065  ( -3.0%)
03/10  Prelude #4 - 30,254  ( -2.6%)
03/10  Prelude #5 - 29,037  ( -4.0%)
04/10  #1         - 39,466  (+35.9%)
05/10  #2         - 28,236  (-28.5%)
06/10  #3         - 26,251  ( -7.0%)
07/10  #4         - 24,476  ( -6.8%)
08/10  #5         - 22,887  ( -6.5%)
09/10  #6         - 21,888  ( -4.4%)
                    6 mnth  (-24.6%)

In the interests of fairness, I’m taking that six-month comparison from PRELUDE #5. There’s talk about cutting back the Deadpool line – and DEADPOOLMAX seems to have been relegated to a miniseries already. Since CORPS doesn’t seem to be levelling out, you have to wonder whether it might be in similar danger. Then again, there’s another Deadpool book, DEADPOOL TEAM-UP, even lower down…

94. DARK TOWER: GUNSLINGER - JOURNEY BEGINS
09/07  ---
09/08  Treachery #1      -  82,541
=====
09/09  Fall of Gilead #5 -  34,522  ( -3.0%)
10/09  ---
11/09  Fall of Gilead #6 -  32,531  ( -5.8%)
12/09  Jericho Hill #1   -  30,756  ( -5.5%)
12/09  Jericho Hill #2   -  28,350  ( -7.8%)
01/10  ---
02/10  Jericho Hill #3   -  27,215  ( -4.0%)
02/10  Jericho Hill #4   -  26,336  ( -3.2%)
03/10  ---
04/10  Jericho Hill #5   -  25,896  ( -1.7%)
05/10  Gunslinger #1     -  26,275  ( +1.5%)
06/10  Gunslinger #2     -  24,024  ( -8.6%)
07/10  Gunslinger #3     -  22,744  ( -5.3%)
08/10  Gunslinger #4     -  21,820  ( -4.1%)
09/10  Gunslinger #5     -  21,323  ( -2.3%)
                            6 mnth  (  --- )
                            1 year  (-38.2%)
                            2 year  (-74.2%)

Seems fairly steady over the last couple of months, and of course DARK TOWER is one of those series that ought to do well in other formats.

95. THOR: FIRST THUNDER
09/10  #1 of 5 - 21,228

More movie tie-in fodder. It’s a Year One story, but that’s not usually a big draw for Marvel.

96,103. MARVEL UNIVERSE VS THE PUNISHER 
08/10  #1 of 4 - 26,665
08/10  #2 of 4 - 24,233  ( -9.1%)
09/10  #3 of 4 - 21,075  (-13.0%)
09/10  #4 of 4 - 20,395  ( -3.2%)

This is a very good performance for an out-of-continuity mini, to be honest.

97. DEADPOOL: PULP
09/10  #1 of 4 - 20,965

Well, it’s above DEADPOOL TEAM-UP, which is something…

98. I AM AN AVENGER
09/10  #1 of 5 - 20,922

Marvel anthologies rarely set the world alight, but I’m a little surprised that this one didn’t do better considering the strength of the Avengers brand at the moment. After all, the X-Men managed 26K in the same month.

104. SHADOWLAND: MOON KNIGHT
09/06  #5        - 64,736
09/07  #12       - 47,521
09/08  #22       - 26,380
=====
09/09  #1        - 35,706  (+81.3%)
10/09  #2        - 26,493  (-25.8%)
11/09  #3        - 23,359  (-11.8%)
12/09  #4        - 21,482  ( -8.0%)
01/10  ---
02/10  #5        - 19,733  ( -8.1%)
03/10  #6        - 19,094  ( -3.2%)
04/10  #7        - 20,718  ( +8.5%)
05/10  #8        - 20,597  ( -0.6%)
06/10  #9        - 18,695  ( -9.2%)
07/10  #10       - 19,143  ( +2.4%)
08/10  S'land #1 - 28,196  (+47.3%)
09/10  #2 of 3   - 20,307  (-28.0%)
                   6 mnth  ( +6.4%)
                   1 year  (-43.1%)
                   2 year  (-23.0%)
                   3 year  (-57.3%)
                   4 year  (-68.6%)

So no lasting gain from the SHADOWLAND tie-in, then. Yet another relaunch is supposedly round the corner, although the Bendis/Maleev creative team might spark some interest given how well received their DAREDEVIL run was.

106. DEADPOOL TEAM-UP
10/09  #900 - 51,337
11/09  #899 - 39,584  (-22.9%)
12/09  #898 - 36,308  ( -8.3%)
01/10  #897 - 32,671  (-10.0%)
02/10  #896 - 30,119  ( -7.8%)
03/10  #895 - 28,573  ( -5.1%)
04/10  #894 - 28,835  ( +0.9%)
05/10  #893 - 26,578  ( -7.8%)
06/10  #892 - 23,697  (-10.8%)
07/10  #891 - 22,439  ( -5.3%)
08/10  #890 - 21,279  ( -5.2%)
09/10  #889 - 19,917  ( -6.4%)
              6 mnth  (-30.3%)

This surely can’t go on much longer.

109. SHADOWLAND: BLOOD ON THE STREETS
08/10  #1 of 4 - 22,110
09/10  #2 of 4 - 19,199  (-13.2%)

Not a huge amount of interest in the SHADOWLAND spin-off minis, to be honest – which is slightly worrying given that the HEROES FOR HIRE ongoing series is being launched on the back of them.

111. TASKMASTER
09/10  #1 of 4 - 18,550

Better than you’d expect for a villain mini which didn’t get a great deal of promotion.

113. BLACK WIDOW
04/10  #1 - 32,807
05/10  #2 - 23,384  (-28.7%)
06/10  #3 - 19,892  (-14.9%)
07/10  #4 - 18,665  ( -6.2%)
08/10  #5 - 17,568  ( -5.9%)
09/10  #6 - 18,499  ( +5.3%)

This hasn’t been solicited past issue #8, after which it’s replaced by WIDOWMAKER, a four-issue miniseries which was originally due to run as a crossover between this book and the cancelled HAWKEYE AND MOCKINGBIRD. We wait with interest to see whether issue #9 is solicited for February.

116,128. CAPTAIN AMERICA: PATRIOT
09/10  #1 of 4 - 18,017
09/10  #2 of 4 - 15,950  (-11.5%)

Miniseries about Jeff Mace, one of the stand-in Captain Americas retconned into post-war continuity. It was never going to do much more than this.

119. AVENGERS & THE INFINITY GAUNTLET
08/10  #1 of 4 - 24,438
09/10  #2 of 4 - 17,733  (-27.4%)

Pretty good, considering this is an all-ages retelling of the INFINITY GAUNTLET miniseries.

120. SHADOWLAND: POWER MAN
08/10  #1 of 4 - 21,206
09/10  #2 of 4 - 17,647  (-17.0%)

Another low-selling SHADOWLAND tie-in – but not the lowest. It’s quite good, by the way.

123. HAWKEYE AND MOCKINGBIRD
06/10  #1 - 27,552
07/10  #2 - 20,531  (-25.5%)
08/10  #3 - 17,870  (-13.0%)
09/10  #4 - 16,405  ( -8.2%)

Axed with issue #6 – Marvel have confirmed that this one isn’t coming back after WIDOWMAKER.

124. SHADOWLAND: DAUGHTERS OF THE SHADOW
08/10  #1 of 3 - 19,513
09/10  #2 of 3 - 16,265  (-16.6%)

Bringing up the rear for the SHADOWLAND tie-ins.

125. INCREDIBLE HULKS: ENIGMA FORCE
09/10  #1 of 3 - 16,206

That would be a Micronauts miniseries, in other words. Not much sign of interest.

126. WOMEN OF MARVEL ONE-SHOTS
03/10  X-23          - 27,328
03/10  She-Hulk      - 15,583
03/10  Sif           - 18,092
04/10  Firestar      - 13,462
05/10  Dazzler       - 16,320
05/10  Rescue        - 15,711
06/10  Namora        - 14,079
07/10  Lady Deadpool - 24,910
08/10  Spitfire      -  9,926
09/10  Valkyrie      - 16,172

Back to the normal range for Valkyrie, who is at least in the Secret Avengers.

127. PUNISHERMAX  [Max]
09/10  Hot Rods of Death - 16,113

Fill-in one-shot. The regular PUNISHERMAX series seems to have gone horribly off the scheduling rails, although it’s not altogether clear why.

129. IRON MAN LEGACY
04/10  #1 - 48,956
05/10  #2 - 29,175  (-40.4%)
06/10  #3 - 23,340  (-20.0%)
07/10  #4 - 20,142  (-13.7%)
08/10  #5 - 17,773  (-11.8%)
09/10  #6 - 15,949  (-10.3%)

Another series that doesn’t look at all healthy.

134. WEB OF SPIDER-MAN
10/09  #1  - 58,412
11/09  #2  - 32,093  (-45.1%)
12/09  #3  - 29,368  ( -8.5%)
01/10  #4  - 24,424  (-16.8%)
02/10  #5  - 24,296  ( -0.5%)
03/10  #6  - 21,574  (-11.2%)
04/10  #7  - 19,533  ( -9.5%)
05/10  #8  - 19,623  ( +4.6%)
06/10  #9  - 17,581  (-10.4%)
07/10  #10 - 16,469  ( -6.3%)
08/10  #11 - 15,562  ( -5.5%)
09/10  #12 - 15,155  ( -2.6%)
             6 mnth  (-29.8%)

Cancelled.

135. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN PRESENTS BLACK CAT
06/10  #1 of 4 - 24,951
07/10  #2 of 4 - 18,154  (-27.2%)
08/10  #3 of 4 - 15,124  (-16.7%)

Looks like we’ve seen the last of these Spider-Man tie-in minis, as well. Probably for the best, with the sales they’ve been getting.

137. POWERS [Icon]
11/09  #1 - 20,146
12/09  #2 - 17,181  (-14.7%)
01/10  ---
02/10  ---
03/10  #3 - 16,768  ( -2.4%)
04/10  #4 - 16,463  ( -1.8%)
05/10  ---
06/10  #5 - 16,019  ( -2.7%)
07/10  ---
08/10  ---
09/10  #6 - 14,991  ( -6.4%)
            6 mnth  (-10.6%)

Out of sight, out of mind. Delays don’t always hurt a series, but POWERS looks like it might be one of the books that does suffer from the loss of momentum.

138,146,150,161,174.
HEROIC AGE: ONE MONTH TO LIVE
09/10  #1 of 5 - 14,882
09/10  #2 of 5 - 13,494  (-9.3%)
09/10  #3 of 5 - 13,029  (-3.4%)
09/10  #4 of 5 - 12,127  (-6.9%)
09/10  #5 of 5 - 11,126  (-8.3%)

Weekly miniseries which, let’s be honest, has pretty much failed to make an impact.

143. NEW MUTANTS FOREVER
08/10  #1 of 5 - 16,784
09/10  #2 of 5 - 13,778  (-17.9%)

Still ahead of X-MEN FOREVER, which is surprising.

145. ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS
05/10  Marvel Comics - 13,274
06/10  ---
07/10  ---
08/10  ---
09/10  X-Men #1      - 13,518

I assume these “origins” one-shots are intended to generate material for other formats, so the sales shouldn’t be a major concern.

149. CAPTAIN AMERICA: FOREVER ALLIES
08/10  #1 of 4 - 17,418
09/10  #2 of 4 - 13,131  (-24.6%)

It’s a miniseries about the Golden Age original Young Allies – it was never going to sell much better than this.

152,155. X-MEN FOREVER
09/09  #7   - 24,115  ( -3.1%)
09/09  #8   - 23,174  ( -3.9%)
10/09  #9   - 21,926  ( -5.4%)
10/09  #10  - 22,287  ( +1.6%)
11/09  #11  - 20,130  ( -9.7%)
11/09  #12  - 19,541  ( -2.9%)
12/09  #13  - 18,870  ( -3.4%)
12/09  #14  - 18,376  ( -2.6%)
01/10  #15  - 17,665  ( -3.9%)
01/10  #16  - 17,290  ( -2.1%)
02/10  #17  - 17,873  ( +3.4%)
02/10  #18  - 16,464  ( -7.9%)
03/10  #19  - 16,183  ( -1.7%)
03/10  #20  - 15,990  ( -1.2%)
04/10  #21  - 15,530  ( -2.9%)
04/10  #22  - 15,305  ( -1.4%)
05/10  #23  - 15,045  ( -1.7%)
05/10  #24  - 14,940  ( -0.7%)
06/10  GS#1 - 15,039  ( +0.7%)
06/10  #1   - 16,094  ( +7.0%)
06/10  #2   - 14,933  ( -7.2%)
07/10  #3   - 14,151  ( -5.2%)
07/10  #4   - 13,835  ( -2.2%)
08/10  #5   - 13,632  ( -1.5%)
08/10  #6   - 13,351  ( -2.1%)
09/10  #7   - 12,869  ( -3.6%)
09/10  #8   - 12,753  ( -0.9%)
              6 mnth  (-20.2%)
              1 year  (-47.1%)

Cancelled with issue #16.

157. YOUNG ALLIES
06/10  #1 - 20,858
07/10  #2 - 16,209  (-22.3%)
08/10  #3 - 14,016  (-13.5%)
09/10  #4 - 12,620  (-10.0%)

Cancelled with issue #6. Bearing in mind that Marvel solicited issue #7, this is one of the more obvious signs of a change of policy starting to take effect. It’s been a while since Marvel axed a series without even shipping all the solicited issues.

159. ATLAS
09/09  #10         - 17,877  (-14.2%)
09/09  #11         - 17,529  ( -1.9%)
10/09  X-Men #1    - 32,743  (+86.8%)
11/09  X-Men #2    - 25,222  (-23.0%)
12/09  ---
01/10  Avengers #1 - 21,777  (-13.7%)
02/10  Avengers #2 - 17,998  (-17.4%)
03/10  Avengers #3 - 16,482  ( -8.4%)
04/10  Avengers #4 - 14,900  ( -9.6%)
05/10  Atlas #1    - 22,756  (+52.7%)
06/10  Atlas #2    - 16,130  (-29.1%)
07/10  Atlas #3    - 14,365  (-10.9%)
08/10  Atlas #4    - 13,205  ( -8.1%)
09/10  Atlas #5    - 12,275  ( -7.0%)
                     6 mnth  (-25.5%)
                     1 year  (-31.3%)

Cancelled.

167. SPIDER-MAN/FANTASTIC FOUR
07/10  #1 of 4 - 17,324
08/10  #2 of 4 - 13,329  (-23.1%)
09/10  #3 of 4 - 11,791  (-11.5%)

Off the radar.

171. OFFICIAL HANDBOOK
02/10  A to Z Update #1 of 5 -  5,406
03/10  Deadpool Corps        - 21,900  (+305.1%)
04/10  Iron Manual Mark 3    -  9,456  ( -56.8%)
05/10  Avengers Assemble #1  - 15,113  ( +59.8%)
06/10  A to Z Update #2 of 5 -  5,312  ( -64.9%)
07/10  X-Men: Phoenix Force  -  9,566  ( +80.1%)
08/10  A to Z Update #3 of 5 -  4,962  ( -48.1%)
09/10  Heroic Age: Heroes    - 11,224  (+126.2%)
                               6 mnth  ( -48.7%)

Slightly dubious to class this as a HANDBOOK issue – it’s short profiles of Marvel heroes ostensibly written by Steve Rogers – but these one-shots seem to be slotting in with the HANDBOOK proper on the schedule.

177. THOR: THE MIGHTY AVENGER
07/10  #1 - 20,076
07/10  #2 - 14,315  (-28.7%)
08/10  #3 - 12,112  (-15.4%)
09/10  #4 - 10,887  (-10.1%)

Better than usual for an all ages book.

181. HALO
12/09  Blood Line #1 - 10,551
01/10  Blood Line #2 -  9,172  (-13.1%)
02/10  Blood Line #3 -  8,793  ( -4.1%)
03/10  Blood Line #4 -  8,683  ( -1.3%)
04/10  ---
05/10  Blood Line #5 -  8,510  ( -2.0%)
06/10  ---
07/10  ---
08/10  ---
09/10  Boot Camp #1  - 10,715  (+26.0%)
                       6 mnth  (+23.4%)

Video game adaptations reportedly sell very well through other channels, so its direct market numbers aren’t very important.

185. IRON MAN 2: AGENTS OF SHIELD
04/10  Public Identity #1 - 16,921
05/10  Public Identity #2 - 14,030  (-17.1%)
05/10  Public Identity #3 - 13,645  ( -2.7%)
06/10  ---
07/10  ---
08/10  ---
09/10  Agents of SHIELD   - 10,578  (-22.5%)

Movie tie-in, presumably bulking out a trade paperback somewhere.

187. HERCULES: TWILIGHT OF A GOD
06/10  #1 of 4 - 16,302
07/10  #2 of 4 - 12,788  (-21.6%)
08/10  #3 of 4 - 11,029  (-13.8%)
09/10  #4 of 4 - 10,129  ( -8.2%)

Out of continuity sequel miniseries, aimed at a niche market to start with.

213. ANITA BLAKE, VAMPIRE HUNTER
09/08  ---
=====
09/09  Necromancer #5 - 11,142  ( -3.9%)
10/09  Executioner #1 - 11,205  ( +0.6%)
11/09  ---
12/09  Executioner #2 - 10,454  ( -6.7%)
01/10  Executioner #3 -  9,958  ( -4.7%)
02/10  Executioner #4 -  9,626  ( -3.3%)
03/10  Executioner #5 -  9,454  ( -1.8%)
04/10  ---
05/10  Circus #1      -  9,484  ( +0.3%)
06/10  Circus #2      -  9,060  ( -4.5%)
07/10  Circus #3      -  8,557  ( -5.6%)
08/10  ---
09/10  Circus #4      -  8,427  ( -1.5%)
                        6 mnth  (-10.9%)
                        1 year  (-24.4%)

Presumably doing well enough in collections to justify keeping it around.

214. HIT-MONKEY
02/10  One-shot - 12,975
03/10  ---
04/10  ---
05/10  ---
06/10  ---
07/10  #1 of 3  - 14,154  ( +9.1%)
08/10  #2 of 3  -  9,916  (-29.9%)
09/10  #3 of 3  -  8,396  (-15.3%)

Well, they did promote it, I’ll give them that. To no discernible reward, but they did promote it.

220. X-CAMPUS
06/10  #1 of 4 - 14,867
07/10  #2 of 4 -  9,913  (-33.3%)
08/10  #3 of 4 -  8,855  (-10.7%)
09/10  #4 of 4 -  8,139  ( -8.1%)

European reprint of a book vaguely inspired by the X-Men. More than I’d have expected it to sell.

231. CASANOVA  [Icon]
07/10  #1 - 10,452
08/10  #2 -  8,349  (-20.1%)
09/10  #3 -  7,621  ( -8.7%)

Reprint, so not a bad number.

243. GORILLA MAN
07/10  #1 of 3 - 9,871
08/10  #2 of 3 - 7,744  (-21.5%)
09/10  #3 of 3 - 6,677  (-13.8%)

A code to the ATLAS publishing schedule.

254. RAWHIDE KID
06/10  #1 of 4 - 9,993
07/10  #2 of 4 - 7,541  (-24.5%)
08/10  #3 of 4 - 6,623  (-12.2%)
09/10  #4 of 4 - 6,290  ( -5.0%)

Little sign of interest here.

260. MARVELMAN FAMILY'S FINEST
07/10  #1 of 6 - 17,739
08/10  #2 of 6 -  9,324  (-47.4%)
09/10  #3 of 6 -  6,151  (-34.0%)

These British reprints were always going to be a tough sell; these aren’t the stories that have made people interested in Marvelman.

266. SPIDER-MAN  [Marvel Adventures]
09/05  #7  - 7,199
09/06  #19 - 6,057
09/07  #31 - 6,723
09/08  #43 - 5,505
=====
09/09  #55 - 5,668  (  -0.3%)
10/09  #56 - 4,579  ( -19.2%)
11/09  #57 - 4,501  (  -1.7%)
12/09  #58 - 4,352  (  -3.3%)
01/10  #59 - 4,315  (  -0.9%)
02/10  #60 - 4,212  (  -2.4%)
03/10  #61 - 4,200  (  -2.8%)
04/10  #1  - 9,770  (+132.6%)
05/10  #2  - 7,709  ( -21.1%)
06/10  #3  - 7,200  (  -6.6%)
07/10  #4  - 6,347  ( -11.8%)
08/10  #5  - 6,202  (  -2.3%)
09/10  #6  - 5,779  (  -6.8%)
            6 mnth  ( +37.6%)
            1 year  (  +2.0%)
            2 year  (  +5.0%)
            3 year  ( -14.0%)
            4 year  (  -4.6%)
            5 year  ( -19.7%)


282. SUPER HERO SQUAD
09/09  #1 - 6,760
10/09  #2 - 4,496  ( -33.5%)
11/09  #3 - 4,384  (  -2.5%)
12/09  #4 - 4,132  (  -5.7%)
01/10  #1 - 9,709  (+135.0%)
02/10  #2 - 5,691  ( -41.4%)
03/10  #3 - 5,399  (  -5.1%)
04/10  #4 - 5,822  (  +7.8%)
05/10  #5 - 5,639  (  -3.1%)
06/10  #6 - 6,029  (  +6.9%)
07/10  #7 - 5,328  ( -11.6%)
08/10  #8 - 5,358  (  +0.6%)
09/10  #9 - 5,304  (  -1.0%)
           6 mnth  (  -1.8%)
           1 year  ( -21.5%)

All-ages books, selling in their usual range.

292. SKY DOLL: LACRIMA CHRISTI  [Soleil]
08/10  #1 of 2 - 6,097
09/10  #2 of 2 - 5,029  (-17.5%)

Typical territory for the Soleil imprint.

And the following books failed to make the top 300, selling fewer than 4,702 copies: ENDER IN EXILE #4, the Marvel Adventures book SUPER HEROES #6, OFFICIAL INDEX #5, SENSE AND SENSIBILITY #5, and the Soleil book TALES OF THE DRAGON GUARD: INTO THE VEIL #1.

6 month comparisons
===================

+250.4% - Wolverine
+ 37.6% - Spider-Man (Marvel Adventures)
+ 23.4% - Halo
+ 18.1% - Fantastic Four
+  7.6% - Amazing Spider-Man
+  6.4% - Moon Knight
+  5.7% - X-Men Legacy
+  2.4% - X-Factor
+  1.8% - New Avengers
-  1.3% - Daken
-  1.8% - Super Hero Squad
-  4.1% - Invincible Iron Man
-  5.7% - Thunderbolts
-  7.9% - Hulk
-  8.2% - Uncanny X-Men
- 10.1% - Franken-Castle
- 10.6% - Powers
- 10.9% - Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter
- 12.7% - Ultimate Spider-Man
- 13.5% - Deadpool
- 13.5% - New Mutants
- 14.7% - Thor
- 15.0% - Incredible Hulks
- 15.8% - Captain America
- 20.2% - X-Men Forever
- 23.4% - Secret Warriors
- 24.6% - Deadpool Corps
- 25.3% - X-Force
- 25.5% - Atlas
- 25.8% - Ultimate Comics Avengers
- 29.8% - Web of Spider-Man
- 30.3% - Deadpool Team-Up
- 48.7% - Official Handbook


1 year comparisons
==================

+154.8% - Wolverine
+  2.0% - Spider-Man (Marvel Adventures)
+  0.6% - New Mutants
+  0.1% - Invincible Iron Man
-  2.2% - X-Factor
-  8.1% - Amazing Spider-Man
-  9.5% - New Avengers
- 11.0% - Fantastic Four
- 15.2% - Uncanny X-Men
- 19.0% - Thor
- 19.4% - Thunderbolts
- 19.6% - Daken
- 20.3% - Hulk
- 21.5% - Super Hero Squad
- 22.3% - Incredible Hulks
- 23.4% - Secret Warriors
- 24.4% - Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter
- 25.2% - X-Force
- 27.9% - Deadpool
- 29.5% - Franken-Castle
- 31.3% - Atlas
- 37.1% - Ultimate Comics Avengers
- 37.8% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man
- 38.2% - Dark Tower
- 43.1% - Moon Knight
- 47.1% - X-Men Forever
- 55.7% - Captain America


2 year comparisons
==================

+  5.0% - Spider-Man (Marvel Adventures)
-  3.4% - Daredevil
- 21.8% - Invincible Iron Man
- 22.8% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 23.0% - Moon Knight
- 23.3% - X-Men Legacy
- 24.7% - Uncanny X-Men
- 25.0% - New Avengers
- 25.9% - Thunderbolts
- 26.8% - Franken-Castle
- 27.5% - Fantastic Four
- 33.4% - X-Factor
- 34.5% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man
- 36.5% - Captain America
- 39.2% - Deadpool
- 42.6% - X-Force
- 60.3% - Hulk
- 60.8% - Incredible Hulks
- 74.2% - Dark Tower


3 year comparisons
==================

+ 40.0% - Wolverine
+  1.2% - Invincible Iron Man
- 14.0% - Spider-Man (Marvel Adventures)
- 28.7% - Uncanny X-Men
- 31.3% - New Avengers
- 40.5% - X-Men Legacy
- 41.8% - Captain America
- 42.8% - Daredevil
- 44.4% - X-Factor
- 46.3% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man
- 57.3% - Moon Knight
- 57.6% - Franken-Castle
- 58.6% - Incredible Hulks
- 60.1% - Amazing Spider-Man


4 year comparisons
==================

+ 30.2% - Invincible Iron Man
+  2.1% - Thunderbolts
-  4.6% - Spider-Man (Marvel Adventures)
- 19.4% - Daredevil
- 24.4% - Incredible Hulks
- 30.5% - Uncanny X-Men
- 31.8% - X-Factor
- 32.0% - Wolverine
- 37.9% - X-Men Legacy
- 41.6% - Captain America
- 50.2% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 68.6% - Moon Knight
- 69.2% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man


5 year comparisons
==================

+ 24.2% - Thunderbolts
+ 17.3% - Wolverine
-  2.6% - Daredevil
-  8.8% - Captain America
- 15.1% - Fantastic Four
- 17.9% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 24.4% - Incredible Hulks
- 27.3% - Uncanny X-Men
- 33.4% - X-Men Legacy
- 45.8% - New Avengers
- 52.8% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man