Alright, to give @Chuck_Melville a boost, here are the stats for March (not nearly as detailed as his). I will let him add the lovely insight and spice if he so desires!
Bottom 10 DC: Klarion 6 - 5,091 Star Spangled War Stories Gi Zombie 8 - 5,125 Coffin Hill 16 - 5,785 Izombie 1 Spec. Ed. ($1!) - 6,077 Infinite Crisis Fight For The Multiverse 9 - 6,236 Scooby Doo Team Up 9 - 6,780 Infinity Man and the Forever People 9 - 6,944 Wolf Moon 4 - 7,124 Infinity Man and the Forever People 8 - 7,363 Smallville Season 11 Continuity 4 - 7,901
Bottom 10 Marvel: Darth Vader 2 (second month out) - 7,846 Marvel Universe Guardians of Galaxy 2 - 9,108 Deathlok 6 - 10,066 Dark Tower Drawing Three House Cards 1 - 11,107 Elektra 11 - 11,634 Silk 1 (second month out) - 11,762 Marvels Ant-Man Prelude 2 - 11,800 All New Ghost Rider 12 - 11,923 Powers 2 - 12,266 Miracleman 16 - 13,595
I think it is telling that the lowest Marvel book (Darth Vader #2 - second month on the stands) outsold 9 of the 10 lowest on DCs list. Think about that, a second month book still beats out 9 DC books. Yikes.
Okay, I feel guilty for not having kept up here. The converging secret wars have thrown things a bit off-kilter, but so has my job of late; long hours and such. But here's an attempt to catch up with a quick-and-dirty breakdown of the sales for the last couple of months. I'm keeping this pretty basic just now, just numbers and such, with a minimum of commentary.
First, the usual reminder that I'm only noting the mainstream DC and Marvel titles here -- no Digital Firsts, Vertigo, Max, Johnny DC or Ultimates since most of these fall under different rules of sales, distribution and cancellation.
And let's start with the top selling books of the past two months:
1 Orphan Black 1 497,092 copies 2 Darth Vader 1 264,449 copies 3 Spider-Gwen 1 254,074 copies 4 Star Wars 2 162,042 copies 5 Batman 39 118,106 copies 6 Amazing Spider-Man 14 106,778 copies 7 Darth Vader 2 100,000 copies 8 Amazing Spider-Man 15 99,660 copies 9 Silk 1 106,778 copies 10 Justice League 39 72,904 copies
And there you have it: Star Wars beats the living pants off of everybody! And Orphan Black and Spider-Gwen aren't taking any slack here either! (I think Star Wars #1 continued to sell on through the next month, pushing its numbers well over a million. Not bad for a nearly-40 year old SF adventure film!)
Those were the winners. Let's have a gawk at the losers. Ranking from the lowest upwards; the number in parenthesis is the book's actual ranking for the month. Following that is the number of copies sold, the percentage of sales gain or loss over a month, and the percentage of sales gain or loss over six months. Ready? Go!
DC first...
DC January 2015
1 Star-Spangled War Stories 6 (245) 5,866 copies -18.2% -61.8% 2 Infinity Man & The Forever People 7 (213) 7,797 copies -30.8% -51.0% 3 Lobo 4 (126) 16,889 copies -16.4% -56.7% 4 Justice League 3000 13 (124) 17,432 copies -6.6% -22.9% 5 Green Arrow 38 (109) 20,207 copies -3.3% -13.8% 6 Gotham By Midnight 3 (101) 21,330 copies -23.4% -44.5% 7 Catwoman 38 (94) 22,386 copies -11.0% -18.2% 8 Gotham Academy 4 (93) 22,576 copies -14.8% -38.8% 9 Earth 2: World's End 17 (86) 24,955 copies -0.9% -48.3% 10 Earth 2: World's End 16 (84) 25,331 copies -1.5% -48.3%
With so many titles ending as a result of Convergence and a likely reboot, a lot of these books are winding up on the list purely as a result of the attrition, rather than because of poor sales. The only titles to actually show bad numbers are in January and, I think, have since been cancelled. And some of these may still be cut and rebooted. It's a mad multiverse out there right now...
Most of these titles are well into the cancellation zone, but Secret Wars has everything Helter Skelter here, as much as Convergence is over at DC; who knows what will ultimately stay, vanish or become ultimately transmogrified into a new reboot. I will say, though, that I think, based on the numbers here, that the new Deathlok is... DOOMED!!
Information here is based on numbers presented in monthly columns by Dave Carter and Xavier Lancel for The Beat.
So is Guardians 3000. :( But on the bright side... Ant Man was in the Top 10! ...and Spider-Gwen!?! Good thing I'm not in charge of ordering books for my LCS. I've been giving them my sympathy trying to anticipate ordering numbers for both Convergence and Secret Wars.
I wonder if Guardians 3000 would have performed better if they changed the name to "Uncanny Guardians of the Galaxy," or better yet "Guardians of Futures Past?" Because to me the Guardians of the past were the Guardians of the future. I think the only thing holding back this book once you read it is possibly the art being kind of a 90's throwback. It reminds me of X-Man. The story is great.
Now, the speculator in me is asking how cool it would be if DC had introduced a new character in Star-Spangled War Stories #6 that in the future wound up getting really popular... just how valuable would a book that sold less than 6K copies be worth? Those are abysmal numbers...
So is Guardians 3000. :( But on the bright side... Ant Man was in the Top 10! ...and Spider-Gwen!?! Good thing I'm not in charge of ordering books for my LCS. I've been giving them my sympathy trying to anticipate ordering numbers for both Convergence and Secret Wars.
Yeah Guardians 3000 is kicking ass. People rip the art but I think it's awesome.
Yeah, that's a better comparison. I mean Charlie-27 is one thing, but Yondu, Martiniex and Vance all look like roided up WWE types.
AND the characters keep referring to Nikki's hair being "on fire", which it is so clearly NOT (even though it should be).
sorry, off topic, I know.
I agree about the hair thing. I noticed them talking about her hair being on fire too. When she first popped up I thought there would be an in story explanation for her "flameless" hair. Nope.
That bit aside I still enjoy the art. I can see Joe Mad but to me it's reminiscent of Humberto Ramos.
This is a boring subject for some, but it still curiously interests me, so in the absence of @Chuck_Melville's take on the recent sales numbers, I will carry the baton this month.
There's a lot to unpack here, and this thread hasn't seen much action in a while, so hang on. First, we’ll take a quick peek at the winners for the month of February 2017, the genuine top ten sellers of the month:
1 Star Wars: Darth Maul #1 - 105,177 copies 2 Batman #16 - 102,096 copies 3 Batman #17 - 99,637 copies 4 Justice League of America #1 - 93,494 copies 5 Super Sons #1 - 90,345 copies 6 Walking Dead #164 - 83,999 copies 7 All-Star Batman #7 - 77,096 copies 8 Star Wars #28 - 74,002 copies 9 Justice League of America Rebirth #1 - 73,397 copies 10 Justice League #14 - 65,458 11 Justice League #15 - 64,230*
(* I added the #11 sales slot so we could compare Marvel & DC, but I didn't want to ignore Walking Dead #164's achievement)
February 2017 was a month where a lot of comic books were shipped to the Direct Market at relatively little cost to retailers, although for a different reason than last month's high numbers. In January 2017, Marvel’s 10% minimum over-ship resulted in the largest number of comic books sent to market in any January since 1997. Now, in February 2017, it was the beginning of celebrating Image’s 25th anniversary — and its promotion priced comic books which caused the largest number of new comic books to be shipped than in any February since 1997.
More than 7.85 million comic books were shipped to retailers in the U.S., and more than 750,000 of them were copies of Walking Dead #163, which retailers ordered at its 25-cent cost. Special no-cover-price variants were also offered for retailers who ordered 250 copies or more, and again for 500 copies or more. Since Diamond does not include comics cover-priced under a dollar in its Top Sellers lists, (a move made after Batman: The Ten-Cent Adventure, a nine-cent issue of Fantastic Four, and a 13-cent Gen13 topped the charts in 2002, along with all the original Free Comic Book Day issues. So while Walking Dead issue #163 sold a massive 750,000, Marvel's Star Wars: Darth Maul #1 is ranked as the top-seller for February.
Even without Walking Dead #163 or #164 in the rankings, Marvel has no books in the Top Ten rankings for February - other than the Star Wars license. Without it, DC still owns the Top Ten books with the #12 rank being Detective Comics #950. For the purposes of the theme being "cancellations" I am avoiding Vertigo, New Animal, and kids titles, as well as anything that was announced as a limited series for the bottom six pending cancellation. So even though Scooby-Doo, Super Powers, and Justice League / Power Rangers are performing rather poorly, they are not included in this list.
On to the Carousel Of Doom...!
1 Gotham Academy Second Semester #6 (198) is bombing quickly and not-so-quietly, falling down to a precarious 8,624 units, falling 8.8% from the previous regular issue. Not bad, but no longer a star student. 2 Deadman: Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love #3 (197) I can't see where this was announced as an ongoing, but with these numbers (and a $5.99 per issue price tag) you can guarantee it won't be. At 8,669 units, this title is dead on arrival. It dropped 15.3% since it's last regular monthly issue. 3 Midnighter and Apollo #5 (191) dropped 9,366 units this month, and probably is about to be cancelled since Warren Ellis has put these characters in his new take on the Wildstorm universe (which I can't tell if the book is set in the DC universe yet. There's a Daily Planet but no Superman...). It's dropped 54.3% since it's first issue back in October 2016. 4 Flintstones #8 (190) moved 9,551 units, moving down by 5.4% since last month; but the eight-month drop is 88.3%. This critically acclaimed book may be headed toward extinction 5 Death of Hawkman #5 (170) slides to 11,879 units. Wasn't sure whether or not to include this, since it can't really be an ongoing, but I included it anyway. It's down 62% since its first issue. 6 Fall & Rise of Captain Atom #2 (164) 12,671 copies, dropping 1.0%, and 6.0% for six months. The fall is slowing to a gentle flutter.
I don't think any of these titles will be around in six months. We’ll see how things stand next month. Interesting to note that the bottom selling DC titles are still out-selling Marvel's bottom six titles.
Speaking of Marvel:
1 Solo #5 (278) is fighting all by itself for the worst selling Marvel slot at 4,903 copies. Don't know if the $3.99 cover price is hurting it, but it isn't helping. It dropped 40% off it's sales numbers for January. It barely hit 30K issues when it debuted last October. That's an 84% drop. 2 Slapstick #3 (245) tumbles further down to 6,214 copies. Another in the Mercs for Hire terrible publishing decision by Marvel. That’s a 43.2% drop for the month. These titles aren't helped by the quarterly Deadpool $10 cover price for sure. 3 Foolkiller #4 (237) continues to hurtle out of control, shedding another thousand readers to fall to 6,573 copies. A big monthly skid of 36% and a six-month swerve of 77%. Again, Deadpool's popularity is little no help with these three titles. 4 Mosaic #5 (219) sold 7,313 units, This title has lost 84% of its readers since issue #1 (which sold 44,354 copies) and is down 34% since last month (11,003). This title is essentially done. Kind of a shame for a brand-new character. Makes sense why Marvel likes to recast classic/legacy titles instead of creating new characters. Maybe next time create the character and let them appear throughout the Marvel Universe a while and see if they're well-received before launching a new title with them? 5 Patsy Walker Aka Hellcat #15 (215), I think I've read that this series is cancelling after this issue, which sold 7,532 copies, falling 24.4 % for the month. 6 Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur #16 (201) trails close behind with 8,440 units. That's 23.1% monthly drop and a 87.9% loss since the first issue. This book is critically acclaimed, and another brand new character, but I don't see how it's holding on unless sales is no longer the mitigating factor at Marvel.
All six of the Marvel bottom six are so far below the presumed 20,000 cancellation point, that I'm not sure what Marvel is up to anymore. Great Lakes Avengers and Prowler are only barely not making this list, along with several of their one-shots and True Believers titles. Marvel has really slipped over the last year and they need to rethink their model if they want to dominate the top sales charts. Even titles like Hawkeye and Champions are hovering just above the 20,000 mark while US Avengers, Doctor Strange Sorcerer Supreme, Nova, Black Widow, and Ms Marvel are all just below it. It's almost as if Marvel's strategy is just to overwhelm readers with 100+ titles every month just to convince them to subscribe to Marvel Unlimited.
Information here is based on numbers presented in a monthly column John Mayo at CBR and the monthly sales numbers from ComChron.com.
2 Deadman: Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love #3 (197) I can't see where this was announced as an ongoing, but with these numbers (and a $5.99 per issue price tag) you can guarantee it won't be. At 8,669 units, this title is dead on arrival. It dropped 15.3% since it's last regular monthly issue.
...
5 Death of Hawkman #5 (170) slides to 11,879 units. Wasn't sure whether or not to include this, since it can't really be an ongoing, but I included it anyway. It's down 62% since its first issue. 6 Fall & Rise of Captain Atom #2 (164) 12,671 copies, dropping 1.0%, and 6.0% for six months. The fall is slowing to a gentle flutter.
...
FWIW: Chuck always did a far better job than this
Pretty sure that all three of these were originally solicited as limited series. The only one I've been reading, Fall & Rise of Captain Atom is labeled as such on the cover.
A quick check of ComicbookDB covers shows the same on Death of Hawkman. No such clarity on Deadman, but I thought it was three issues.
With regard to you vs. Chuck... you did great! If anything, I'd rate you a bit stronger in everything other than celebratory dance.
Pretty sure that all three of these were originally solicited as limited series. The only one I've been reading, Fall & Rise of Captain Atom is labeled as such on the cover.
A quick check of ComicbookDB covers shows the same on Death of Hawkman. No such clarity on Deadman, but I thought it was three issues.
With regard to you vs. Chuck... you did great! If anything, I'd rate you a bit stronger in everything other than celebratory dance.
Ha! Thanks @hauberk - and I believe you're right about those three titles. So, that would mean that the DC titles that are ongoing and at the bottom (according to the selected criteria) should be listed as:
1. Gotham Academy Second Semester 2. Midnighter & Apollo 3. Flintstones 4. DC Comics Bombshells #22 (162) - 13,204 copies 5. Earth 2 Society #21 (161) - 13,761 copies 6. Supergirl Being Super #2 (153) - 14,662 ($5.99 cover) And since I suspect Supergirl Being Super is also a limited, I've added this: 7. Blue Beetle #6 (139) 15,906
6 Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur #16 (201) trails close behind with 8,440 units. That's 23.1% monthly drop and a 87.9% loss since the first issue. This book is critically acclaimed, and another brand new character, but I don't see how it's holding on unless sales is no longer the mitigating factor at Marvel.
The first trade spent a few weeks on the New York Times Bestsellers List, and it sells very well through the Scholastic catalog.
Pretty sure that all three of these were originally solicited as limited series. The only one I've been reading, Fall & Rise of Captain Atom is labeled as such on the cover.
A quick check of ComicbookDB covers shows the same on Death of Hawkman. No such clarity on Deadman, but I thought it was three issues.
With regard to you vs. Chuck... you did great! If anything, I'd rate you a bit stronger in everything other than celebratory dance.
Ha! Thanks @hauberk - and I believe you're right about those three titles. So, that would mean that the DC titles that are ongoing and at the bottom (according to the selected criteria) should be listed as:
1. Gotham Academy Second Semester 2. Midnighter & Apollo 3. Flintstones 4. DC Comics Bombshells #22 (162) - 13,204 copies 5. Earth 2 Society #21 (161) - 13,761 copies 6. Supergirl Being Super #2 (153) - 14,662 ($5.99 cover) And since I suspect Supergirl Being Super is also a limited, I've added this: 7. Blue Beetle #6 (139) 15,906
Only think that I can add here is that Earth 2: Society is solicited to end with #22 and that Blue Beetle probable is seeing some attrition related to the announcement that the price was going up and a digital code was going to be included starting soon. I know I was looking for a reason to drop it - even Dr Fate couldn't keep me interested. Well, maybe if it had been about Ted Kord or Dan Garrett. Jaime is OK, but I hate, hate, hate the armor.
6 Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur #16 (201) trails close behind with 8,440 units. That's 23.1% monthly drop and a 87.9% loss since the first issue. This book is critically acclaimed, and another brand new character, but I don't see how it's holding on unless sales is no longer the mitigating factor at Marvel.
The first trade spent a few weeks on the New York Times Bestsellers List, and it sells very well through the Scholastic catalog.
That's a good outlet for that title. Probably what will eventually save Champions as well. Which is now ranked 73 with 31k sales, falling from its perch of 328k copies from issue #1, although I understand that book got a big push through Scholastic as well.
Only think that I can add here is that Earth 2: Society is solicited to end with #22 and that Blue Beetle probable is seeing some attrition related to the announcement that the price was going up and a digital code was going to be included starting soon. I know I was looking for a reason to drop it - even Dr Fate couldn't keep me interested. Well, maybe if it had been about Ted Kord or Dan Garrett. Jaime is OK, but I hate, hate, hate the armor.
I've heard that about the Blue Beetle title. I never jumped on that book after peeking at the first issue.
Price jumps, for whatever reason, always create great jumping-off points for current readers - whether it's from being underwhelmed with the title or tightening budgets. Reading through the numbers, I'm really shocked at how many titles out now just simply don't seem to me to be appropriate ongoing titles. Slapstick? Really? And so few big 2 titles seems to be able to make it past 25 (and if they do, Marvel slaps a $10 price tag on them). It's a strange new paradigm to me.
6 Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur #16 (201) trails close behind with 8,440 units. That's 23.1% monthly drop and a 87.9% loss since the first issue. This book is critically acclaimed, and another brand new character, but I don't see how it's holding on unless sales is no longer the mitigating factor at Marvel.
The first trade spent a few weeks on the New York Times Bestsellers List, and it sells very well through the Scholastic catalog.
That's a good outlet for that title. Probably what will eventually save Champions as well. Which is now ranked 73 with 31k sales, falling from its perch of 328k copies from issue #1, although I understand that book got a big push through Scholastic as well.
Marvel has developed a good working relationship with Scholastic. DC is practically non-existent at the student book fairs, while Marvel seems to be creating books specifically for that market.
Comments
Top 10 sellers:
1 Princess Leia 1 - 253,655 copies
2 Star Wars 3 - 161,226 copies
3 Guardians Team-Up 1 - 155,388 copies
4 Spider-Gwen 2 - 107,070 copies
5 Princess Leia 2 - 96,262 copies
6 Amazing Spider-Man 16 - 92,289 copies
7 Howard The Duck 1 - 85,929 copies
8 Darth Vader 3 - 85,156 copies
9 Batman Arkham Knight 1 - 73,266 copies
10 Amazing Spider-Man 16.1 - 73,170 copies
Bottom 10 DC:
Klarion 6 - 5,091
Star Spangled War Stories Gi Zombie 8 - 5,125
Coffin Hill 16 - 5,785
Izombie 1 Spec. Ed. ($1!) - 6,077
Infinite Crisis Fight For The Multiverse 9 - 6,236
Scooby Doo Team Up 9 - 6,780
Infinity Man and the Forever People 9 - 6,944
Wolf Moon 4 - 7,124
Infinity Man and the Forever People 8 - 7,363
Smallville Season 11 Continuity 4 - 7,901
Bottom 10 Marvel:
Darth Vader 2 (second month out) - 7,846
Marvel Universe Guardians of Galaxy 2 - 9,108
Deathlok 6 - 10,066
Dark Tower Drawing Three House Cards 1 - 11,107
Elektra 11 - 11,634
Silk 1 (second month out) - 11,762
Marvels Ant-Man Prelude 2 - 11,800
All New Ghost Rider 12 - 11,923
Powers 2 - 12,266
Miracleman 16 - 13,595
whoa... FOUR Star Wars Titles in the top 10!?!? I had no idea the Star Wars titles were that popular. No wonder Marvel is giving them a good push.
AND Howard the Duck!?!? I expect that one is going to drop like a rock (I know I dropped it like a rock). #1 was promising, #2 was terrible.
No surprises in the bottom 10 for either of the Big Two.
First, the usual reminder that I'm only noting the mainstream DC and Marvel titles here -- no Digital Firsts, Vertigo, Max, Johnny DC or Ultimates since most of these fall under different rules of sales, distribution and cancellation.
And let's start with the top selling books of the past two months:
January, 2014:
1 Star Wars 1 985,976 copies
2 Batman 38 110,232 copies
3 Amazing Spider-Man 12 105,458 copies
4 Amazing Spider-Man 13 103,093 copies
5 Uncanny Avengers 1 74,849 copies
6 Wolverines 1 73,650 copies
7 Ant-Man 1 73,370 copies
8Thor 4 69,497 copies
9 Justice League 38 68,989 copies
10 The Walking Dead 136 66,097 copies
February, 2014:
1 Orphan Black 1 497,092 copies
2 Darth Vader 1 264,449 copies
3 Spider-Gwen 1 254,074 copies
4 Star Wars 2 162,042 copies
5 Batman 39 118,106 copies
6 Amazing Spider-Man 14 106,778 copies
7 Darth Vader 2 100,000 copies
8 Amazing Spider-Man 15 99,660 copies
9 Silk 1 106,778 copies
10 Justice League 39 72,904 copies
And there you have it: Star Wars beats the living pants off of everybody! And Orphan Black and Spider-Gwen aren't taking any slack here either! (I think Star Wars #1 continued to sell on through the next month, pushing its numbers well over a million. Not bad for a nearly-40 year old SF adventure film!)
Those were the winners. Let's have a gawk at the losers. Ranking from the lowest upwards; the number in parenthesis is the book's actual ranking for the month. Following that is the number of copies sold, the percentage of sales gain or loss over a month, and the percentage of sales gain or loss over six months. Ready? Go!
DC first...
DC January 2015
1 Star-Spangled War Stories 6 (245) 5,866 copies -18.2% -61.8%
2 Infinity Man & The Forever People 7 (213) 7,797 copies -30.8% -51.0%
3 Lobo 4 (126) 16,889 copies -16.4% -56.7%
4 Justice League 3000 13 (124) 17,432 copies -6.6% -22.9%
5 Green Arrow 38 (109) 20,207 copies -3.3% -13.8%
6 Gotham By Midnight 3 (101) 21,330 copies -23.4% -44.5%
7 Catwoman 38 (94) 22,386 copies -11.0% -18.2%
8 Gotham Academy 4 (93) 22,576 copies -14.8% -38.8%
9 Earth 2: World's End 17 (86) 24,955 copies -0.9% -48.3%
10 Earth 2: World's End 16 (84) 25,331 copies -1.5% -48.3%
DC February 2015
1 Lobo 5 (146) 14,770 copies -12.5% -62.2%
2 Justice League 3000 14 (130) 16,778 copies -3.8% -20.0%
3 Gotham By Midnight 4 (116) 18,643 copies -12.6% -51.5%
4 Green Arrow 39 (110) 19,651 copies -2.8% -14.3%
5 Gotham Academy 5 (100) 20,844 copies -7.7% -51.9%
6 Earth 2: World's End 20 (92) 24,182 copies -0.8% -50.2%
7 Earth 2: World's End 19 (90) 24,376 copies -0.2% -50.2%
8 Earth 2: World's End 18 (89) 24,435 copies -2.1% -50.2%
9 Catwoman 39 (83) 26,450 copies -18.2% -12.6%
10 Secret Six 2 (82) 26,579 copies -39.7% -39.7%
With so many titles ending as a result of Convergence and a likely reboot, a lot of these books are winding up on the list purely as a result of the attrition, rather than because of poor sales. The only titles to actually show bad numbers are in January and, I think, have since been cancelled. And some of these may still be cut and rebooted. It's a mad multiverse out there right now...
And then there's Marvel...
Marvel January 2015
1 Miracle Man 14 (149) 14,024 copies -0.9% -62.0%
2 Deathlok 4 (147) 14,498 copies -20.0% -30.6%
3 Storm 7 (137) 15,784 copies -7.3% -37.5%
4 Cyclops 9 (133) 16,287 copies -5.0% -47.7%
5 Secret Avengers 12 (129) 16,525 copies -3.4% -33.2%
6 Captain Marvel 11 (113) 19,527 copies -2.2% -30.3%
7 Nova 26 (112) 19,639 copies -9.9% -19.4%
8 Loki, Agent Of Asgard 10 (111) 19,856 copies -8.5% -39.0%
9 Black Widow 14 (107) 20,292 copies -5.4% -35.1%
10 Guardians 3000 4 (106) 20,318 copies -20.3% -40.1%
Marvel February 2015
1 Deathlok 5 (174) 12,053 copies -16.9% -42.3%
2 Storm 8 (152) 14,155 copies -10.3% -37.5%
3 Miracle Man 15 (150) 14,548 copies +3.7% -17.6%
4 Cyclops 10 (143) 15,091 copies -7.3% -51.5%
5 Guardians 3000 5 (119) 18,155 copies -10.6% -47.3%
6 Nova 27 (113) 19,168 copies -2.4% -14.2%
7 Captain Marvel 12 (112) 19,199 copies -1.7% -31.5%
8 Avengers World 17 (106) 20,228 copies -3.0% -62.3%
9 Captain America & Mighty Avengers 5 (98) 22,246 copies -12.3% -35.4%
10 Moon Knight 12 (94) 23,486 copies -4.0% -42.6%
Most of these titles are well into the cancellation zone, but Secret Wars has everything Helter Skelter here, as much as Convergence is over at DC; who knows what will ultimately stay, vanish or become ultimately transmogrified into a new reboot. I will say, though, that I think, based on the numbers here, that the new Deathlok is... DOOMED!!
Information here is based on numbers presented in monthly columns by Dave Carter and Xavier Lancel for The Beat.
But on the bright side... Ant Man was in the Top 10!
...and Spider-Gwen!?! Good thing I'm not in charge of ordering books for my LCS. I've been giving them my sympathy trying to anticipate ordering numbers for both Convergence and Secret Wars.
I wonder if Guardians 3000 would have performed better if they changed the name to "Uncanny Guardians of the Galaxy," or better yet "Guardians of Futures Past?" Because to me the Guardians of the past were the Guardians of the future. I think the only thing holding back this book once you read it is possibly the art being kind of a 90's throwback. It reminds me of X-Man. The story is great.
Now, the speculator in me is asking how cool it would be if DC had introduced a new character in Star-Spangled War Stories #6 that in the future wound up getting really popular... just how valuable would a book that sold less than 6K copies be worth?
Those are abysmal numbers...
AND the characters keep referring to Nikki's hair being "on fire", which it is so clearly NOT (even though it should be).
sorry, off topic, I know.
That bit aside I still enjoy the art. I can see Joe Mad but to me it's reminiscent of Humberto Ramos.
:-)
#NotThatTheresAnythingWrongWithThat
This in-depth look at how over-shipping is Distorting Marvel Comics’ sales numbers is stunning. It's getting a bit hard to simply look at a numbers chart and get a sense of how well a book is actually being received: https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/01/13/indepth-look-overships-distorted-marvel-comics-numbers-december-2016/
There's a lot to unpack here, and this thread hasn't seen much action in a while, so hang on. First, we’ll take a quick peek at the winners for the month of February 2017, the genuine top ten sellers of the month:
1 Star Wars: Darth Maul #1 - 105,177 copies
2 Batman #16 - 102,096 copies
3 Batman #17 - 99,637 copies
4 Justice League of America #1 - 93,494 copies
5 Super Sons #1 - 90,345 copies
6 Walking Dead #164 - 83,999 copies
7 All-Star Batman #7 - 77,096 copies
8 Star Wars #28 - 74,002 copies
9 Justice League of America Rebirth #1 - 73,397 copies
10 Justice League #14 - 65,458
11 Justice League #15 - 64,230*
(* I added the #11 sales slot so we could compare Marvel & DC, but I didn't want to ignore Walking Dead #164's achievement)
February 2017 was a month where a lot of comic books were shipped to the Direct Market at relatively little cost to retailers, although for a different reason than last month's high numbers. In January 2017, Marvel’s 10% minimum over-ship resulted in the largest number of comic books sent to market in any January since 1997. Now, in February 2017, it was the beginning of celebrating Image’s 25th anniversary — and its promotion priced comic books which caused the largest number of new comic books to be shipped than in any February since 1997.
More than 7.85 million comic books were shipped to retailers in the U.S., and more than 750,000 of them were copies of Walking Dead #163, which retailers ordered at its 25-cent cost. Special no-cover-price variants were also offered for retailers who ordered 250 copies or more, and again for 500 copies or more. Since Diamond does not include comics cover-priced under a dollar in its Top Sellers lists, (a move made after Batman: The Ten-Cent Adventure, a nine-cent issue of Fantastic Four, and a 13-cent Gen13 topped the charts in 2002, along with all the original Free Comic Book Day issues. So while Walking Dead issue #163 sold a massive 750,000, Marvel's Star Wars: Darth Maul #1 is ranked as the top-seller for February.
Even without Walking Dead #163 or #164 in the rankings, Marvel has no books in the Top Ten rankings for February - other than the Star Wars license. Without it, DC still owns the Top Ten books with the #12 rank being Detective Comics #950. For the purposes of the theme being "cancellations" I am avoiding Vertigo, New Animal, and kids titles, as well as anything that was announced as a limited series for the bottom six pending cancellation. So even though Scooby-Doo, Super Powers, and Justice League / Power Rangers are performing rather poorly, they are not included in this list.
On to the Carousel Of Doom...!
1 Gotham Academy Second Semester #6 (198) is bombing quickly and not-so-quietly, falling down to a precarious 8,624 units, falling 8.8% from the previous regular issue. Not bad, but no longer a star student.
2 Deadman: Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love #3 (197) I can't see where this was announced as an ongoing, but with these numbers (and a $5.99 per issue price tag) you can guarantee it won't be. At 8,669 units, this title is dead on arrival. It dropped 15.3% since it's last regular monthly issue.
3 Midnighter and Apollo #5 (191) dropped 9,366 units this month, and probably is about to be cancelled since Warren Ellis has put these characters in his new take on the Wildstorm universe (which I can't tell if the book is set in the DC universe yet. There's a Daily Planet but no Superman...). It's dropped 54.3% since it's first issue back in October 2016.
4 Flintstones #8 (190) moved 9,551 units, moving down by 5.4% since last month; but the eight-month drop is 88.3%. This critically acclaimed book may be headed toward extinction
5 Death of Hawkman #5 (170) slides to 11,879 units. Wasn't sure whether or not to include this, since it can't really be an ongoing, but I included it anyway. It's down 62% since its first issue.
6 Fall & Rise of Captain Atom #2 (164) 12,671 copies, dropping 1.0%, and 6.0% for six months. The fall is slowing to a gentle flutter.
I don't think any of these titles will be around in six months. We’ll see how things stand next month. Interesting to note that the bottom selling DC titles are still out-selling Marvel's bottom six titles.
Speaking of Marvel:
1 Solo #5 (278) is fighting all by itself for the worst selling Marvel slot at 4,903 copies. Don't know if the $3.99 cover price is hurting it, but it isn't helping. It dropped 40% off it's sales numbers for January. It barely hit 30K issues when it debuted last October. That's an 84% drop.
2 Slapstick #3 (245) tumbles further down to 6,214 copies. Another in the Mercs for Hire terrible publishing decision by Marvel. That’s a 43.2% drop for the month. These titles aren't helped by the quarterly Deadpool $10 cover price for sure.
3 Foolkiller #4 (237) continues to hurtle out of control, shedding another thousand readers to fall to 6,573 copies. A big monthly skid of 36% and a six-month swerve of 77%. Again, Deadpool's popularity is little no help with these three titles.
4 Mosaic #5 (219) sold 7,313 units, This title has lost 84% of its readers since issue #1 (which sold 44,354 copies) and is down 34% since last month (11,003). This title is essentially done. Kind of a shame for a brand-new character. Makes sense why Marvel likes to recast classic/legacy titles instead of creating new characters. Maybe next time create the character and let them appear throughout the Marvel Universe a while and see if they're well-received before launching a new title with them?
5 Patsy Walker Aka Hellcat #15 (215), I think I've read that this series is cancelling after this issue, which sold 7,532 copies, falling 24.4 % for the month.
6 Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur #16 (201) trails close behind with 8,440 units. That's 23.1% monthly drop and a 87.9% loss since the first issue. This book is critically acclaimed, and another brand new character, but I don't see how it's holding on unless sales is no longer the mitigating factor at Marvel.
All six of the Marvel bottom six are so far below the presumed 20,000 cancellation point, that I'm not sure what Marvel is up to anymore. Great Lakes Avengers and Prowler are only barely not making this list, along with several of their one-shots and True Believers titles. Marvel has really slipped over the last year and they need to rethink their model if they want to dominate the top sales charts. Even titles like Hawkeye and Champions are hovering just above the 20,000 mark while US Avengers, Doctor Strange Sorcerer Supreme, Nova, Black Widow, and Ms Marvel are all just below it. It's almost as if Marvel's strategy is just to overwhelm readers with 100+ titles every month just to convince them to subscribe to Marvel Unlimited.
Information here is based on numbers presented in a monthly column John Mayo at CBR and the monthly sales numbers from ComChron.com.
FWIW: Chuck always did a far better job than this
A quick check of ComicbookDB covers shows the same on Death of Hawkman. No such clarity on Deadman, but I thought it was three issues.
With regard to you vs. Chuck... you did great! If anything, I'd rate you a bit stronger in everything other than celebratory dance.
1. Gotham Academy Second Semester
2. Midnighter & Apollo
3. Flintstones
4. DC Comics Bombshells #22 (162) - 13,204 copies
5. Earth 2 Society #21 (161) - 13,761 copies
6. Supergirl Being Super #2 (153) - 14,662 ($5.99 cover)
And since I suspect Supergirl Being Super is also a limited, I've added this:
7. Blue Beetle #6 (139) 15,906
Price jumps, for whatever reason, always create great jumping-off points for current readers - whether it's from being underwhelmed with the title or tightening budgets. Reading through the numbers, I'm really shocked at how many titles out now just simply don't seem to me to be appropriate ongoing titles. Slapstick? Really? And so few big 2 titles seems to be able to make it past 25 (and if they do, Marvel slaps a $10 price tag on them). It's a strange new paradigm to me.