Comic sales figures for September
Oct. 21st, 2009 02:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
angelophileICv2 have now posted the estimated sales figures for September. I've skipped a month since the figures came out while I was on holiday last month, so I'll try and cover that. Or just ignore it. We'll see!
Blackest Night and it tie-ins have been the big winner in terms of unit sales and dollar sales were up again, 12% on the previous year, although part of that can be attributed to price rises on many titles. Marvel, particularly, has been pushing price rises across the board, to the detriment of unit sales. Of those raised to $3.99, the newly relaunched Ultimate line (Avengers and Spider-Man) saw some drop substantial drops from their second issues, dropping a around 25,000 copies each from the first issues, while another title recently converted to $3.99, Hulk, is also down substantially, with #15 down about 18,700 copies from the previous issue.
Now on to the titles I've been tracking:
Uncanny X-men sees the end of a three month climb due to its crossovers, tie-ins and associations with Dark Reign. The Dark Reign, Dark Avengers, Uncanny X-men miniseries crossover thing hones in on the 75k level, but with the Uncanny parent title showing estimated sales of 73k, that's a substantial drop from July, when the crossover started and sales were 83k and August where they apparently climbed to 90k. It's still a way above the low of 69k pre-crossover, but the Dark Reign business only holding onto 4k above that record low could be considered disappointing. Next month will be the telling one to see whether the "exciting new direction for the X-men" has made the slightest difference in sales so soon after the last change in geographical location.
Just below that, there's four issues of Amazing Spider-man, varying between 62.5-70k. Still around that same level, there's obviously a core audience for the book as they always appear to be around that level, with the occasional jump for first issues of new arcs. Not a success, but not the failure that some were wishing on the post-One More Day direction. Mary Jane's appearances do appear to have tempted a few thousand readers back to the book, though.
A bit of a disappointment for X-Force which drops to 50k, actually lower than it was before the crossover with Cable, although not by much. Marvel have to be pleased by the success of the crossover, though, even if it hasn't translated into long term sales. The start of the Necrosha crossover with New Mutants and other titles might give the title another boost next month, though.
Deadpool continues it success story, with sales at 50k, 10% down on the previous issue which tied into X-Force, but still up on the earlier issues which in turn were the most successful Deadpool's been in some considerable time. Marvel do appear to be in danger of oversaturating the market with Deadpool appearances, however, but I guess they're making hay while the sun shines.
No X-men Legacy, this month, but there's an annual which manages sales of 46k. The previous issue saw a 4k boost thanks to a Dark Reign tie in and there's the new direction, focusing on Rogue and the younger X-students over Professor Xavier, which may possibly aid sales for fans of those characters, but given the way this title's dipped since it ceased being a team book and the lack of interest in the Young X-men title, I wouldn't bet on it.
After the relative success story of the first few issues, it looks like New Mutants has taken a turn for the worst. The first issue sold 60k, issues 2-3 sold around 44k. Issue 4 saw a dip down to 38k but it's the dip for the latest issue right down to 31k that's alarming. Part of that could be put down to the lack of incentive covers for that issue - the first four issues had three a piece - but that's still a big drop and takes the book from looking like a healthy seller to dropping below the sales of New X-men. Fingers crossed it's just down to the issue being a one-shot filler story and the tie in to Necrosha and the return of a long-absent character next issue enough to boost sales. However, the drop does suggest that the title wasn't as much of a success as I'd originally thought.
X-Factor - 30k now, a very slight slide, but it still doesn't seem to be going anywhere very fast. Peter David appeared to indicate it had been cancelled a few weeks ago, but it continues to be solicited into January, so presumably not.
Incredible Hercules continues the slide, now down to 26k. It's solicited into January too, with a crossover coming up, so it appears to be safe for now, but I wouldn't be betting on the long term future.
X-men Forever continues to drop, but is actually levelling out. Realisticly speaking, with 24k for #7 and 23k for #8 I can't see this lasting much beyond issue 18 (it's solicited up to #16 with a two part story starting in that issue) and it's definitely pushing the cancellation zone now, but the initial sales of around the 30k mark for issues 1-5 were boosted by variant covers. Issues 6-8 are steadyish around that 24k mark. Low still, which is a shame, as it's one X-book I continue to enjoy. I can't help but be disappointed for myself and Chris Claremont, who I think has put in some good work on the book. It may survive a little longer though - at $3.99 it's making more profit per issue than a lot of the other low selling titles. It depends on Marvel's own expectations, I suppose.
Oh, Marvel Divas sunk like a stone. Do doubt Marvel will use this as ammunition to suggest that books about female characters don't sell and ignore the reason might be that people didn't want to read a book with sexist cheesecake covers and attempts to shoehorn pre-existing characters into Sex in the City archetypes. Either way, #3 has sales of 12k and will most likely dip to around 10k for the final issue. Catastrophic and a clear indicator that controversy doesn't always translate into sales, especially when what should have been the core audience of a book has been alienated before the first issue's even out.
Runaways dipped to 15.5k and is now officially on hiatus awaiting a "retooling". It's hard to imagine what form this might take as new creative teams and renumbering hasn't helped the book since Joss Whedon's long delayed run and Terry Moore's take appears to have killed off the fanbase. It's sad to see a book like Runaways killed, especially mid-arc, but with sales like that it's hardly surprising. Short of somehow persuading Brian K. Vaughan back onto the title and hoping he brings all the old readership with him, I'm not sure what they can try, unless they have another "superstar" writer lined up. I think at this stage, the best thing that could be done for the book is to let it rest and give the opportunity for people to start missing it and come back with a vengeance rather than publishing for the sake of publishing.
Blackest Night and it tie-ins have been the big winner in terms of unit sales and dollar sales were up again, 12% on the previous year, although part of that can be attributed to price rises on many titles. Marvel, particularly, has been pushing price rises across the board, to the detriment of unit sales. Of those raised to $3.99, the newly relaunched Ultimate line (Avengers and Spider-Man) saw some drop substantial drops from their second issues, dropping a around 25,000 copies each from the first issues, while another title recently converted to $3.99, Hulk, is also down substantially, with #15 down about 18,700 copies from the previous issue.
Now on to the titles I've been tracking:
Uncanny X-men sees the end of a three month climb due to its crossovers, tie-ins and associations with Dark Reign. The Dark Reign, Dark Avengers, Uncanny X-men miniseries crossover thing hones in on the 75k level, but with the Uncanny parent title showing estimated sales of 73k, that's a substantial drop from July, when the crossover started and sales were 83k and August where they apparently climbed to 90k. It's still a way above the low of 69k pre-crossover, but the Dark Reign business only holding onto 4k above that record low could be considered disappointing. Next month will be the telling one to see whether the "exciting new direction for the X-men" has made the slightest difference in sales so soon after the last change in geographical location.
Just below that, there's four issues of Amazing Spider-man, varying between 62.5-70k. Still around that same level, there's obviously a core audience for the book as they always appear to be around that level, with the occasional jump for first issues of new arcs. Not a success, but not the failure that some were wishing on the post-One More Day direction. Mary Jane's appearances do appear to have tempted a few thousand readers back to the book, though.
A bit of a disappointment for X-Force which drops to 50k, actually lower than it was before the crossover with Cable, although not by much. Marvel have to be pleased by the success of the crossover, though, even if it hasn't translated into long term sales. The start of the Necrosha crossover with New Mutants and other titles might give the title another boost next month, though.
Deadpool continues it success story, with sales at 50k, 10% down on the previous issue which tied into X-Force, but still up on the earlier issues which in turn were the most successful Deadpool's been in some considerable time. Marvel do appear to be in danger of oversaturating the market with Deadpool appearances, however, but I guess they're making hay while the sun shines.
No X-men Legacy, this month, but there's an annual which manages sales of 46k. The previous issue saw a 4k boost thanks to a Dark Reign tie in and there's the new direction, focusing on Rogue and the younger X-students over Professor Xavier, which may possibly aid sales for fans of those characters, but given the way this title's dipped since it ceased being a team book and the lack of interest in the Young X-men title, I wouldn't bet on it.
After the relative success story of the first few issues, it looks like New Mutants has taken a turn for the worst. The first issue sold 60k, issues 2-3 sold around 44k. Issue 4 saw a dip down to 38k but it's the dip for the latest issue right down to 31k that's alarming. Part of that could be put down to the lack of incentive covers for that issue - the first four issues had three a piece - but that's still a big drop and takes the book from looking like a healthy seller to dropping below the sales of New X-men. Fingers crossed it's just down to the issue being a one-shot filler story and the tie in to Necrosha and the return of a long-absent character next issue enough to boost sales. However, the drop does suggest that the title wasn't as much of a success as I'd originally thought.
X-Factor - 30k now, a very slight slide, but it still doesn't seem to be going anywhere very fast. Peter David appeared to indicate it had been cancelled a few weeks ago, but it continues to be solicited into January, so presumably not.
Incredible Hercules continues the slide, now down to 26k. It's solicited into January too, with a crossover coming up, so it appears to be safe for now, but I wouldn't be betting on the long term future.
X-men Forever continues to drop, but is actually levelling out. Realisticly speaking, with 24k for #7 and 23k for #8 I can't see this lasting much beyond issue 18 (it's solicited up to #16 with a two part story starting in that issue) and it's definitely pushing the cancellation zone now, but the initial sales of around the 30k mark for issues 1-5 were boosted by variant covers. Issues 6-8 are steadyish around that 24k mark. Low still, which is a shame, as it's one X-book I continue to enjoy. I can't help but be disappointed for myself and Chris Claremont, who I think has put in some good work on the book. It may survive a little longer though - at $3.99 it's making more profit per issue than a lot of the other low selling titles. It depends on Marvel's own expectations, I suppose.
Oh, Marvel Divas sunk like a stone. Do doubt Marvel will use this as ammunition to suggest that books about female characters don't sell and ignore the reason might be that people didn't want to read a book with sexist cheesecake covers and attempts to shoehorn pre-existing characters into Sex in the City archetypes. Either way, #3 has sales of 12k and will most likely dip to around 10k for the final issue. Catastrophic and a clear indicator that controversy doesn't always translate into sales, especially when what should have been the core audience of a book has been alienated before the first issue's even out.
Runaways dipped to 15.5k and is now officially on hiatus awaiting a "retooling". It's hard to imagine what form this might take as new creative teams and renumbering hasn't helped the book since Joss Whedon's long delayed run and Terry Moore's take appears to have killed off the fanbase. It's sad to see a book like Runaways killed, especially mid-arc, but with sales like that it's hardly surprising. Short of somehow persuading Brian K. Vaughan back onto the title and hoping he brings all the old readership with him, I'm not sure what they can try, unless they have another "superstar" writer lined up. I think at this stage, the best thing that could be done for the book is to let it rest and give the opportunity for people to start missing it and come back with a vengeance rather than publishing for the sake of publishing.
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Date: 2009-10-22 07:04 pm (UTC)