original stacker 2 with ephedra…

ephedra side effect…

oh - and Wraith - I’m seconding your predictions - they all seem like common sense to me !

Well, it’s got between seven and ten covers, remember…

> Not that that matters either, since they can easily pick up the slack by involving Spidey in Secret Invasion. Any title that gets the SI logo slapped on it will easily sell 10k, 20k, 30k more. That’s just how it works and how it probably will always work.

Thing is though, they CAN’T DO THAT for ASM as it stands - the lead-time the current format needs is so horrendous that they can’t react to what’s going on elsewhere (witness the recent botched New Avengers tie-in, which doesn’t make sense in the context of recent events in that title…). The Secret Invasion tie-in - as with F4, another title whose current issues were done months earlier than is typical - is shunted off into a miniseries.

> I presume what Tom’s referring to is the fact that the chart only covers sales outside the direct market, and therefore doesn’t cover newsstand sales or sales to the UK.

Well, *inside* the North American DM, but yeah.

I presume what Tom’s referring to is the fact that the chart only covers sales outside the direct market, and therefore doesn’t cover newsstand sales or sales to the UK.

139085
137958 -1127 -0,8%
111213 -26745 -19,4%
107959 -3254 -2,9%
111112 +3153 +2,9%
100874 -10238 -9,2%
98084 -2790 -2,8%
99835 +1751 +1,8%
92648 -7187 -7,2%
91072 -1576 -1,7%

And when they’re 10k less than reported above:

119085
117958 -1127 -0,9%
91213 -26745 -22,7%
87959 -3254 -3,6%
91112 +3153 +3,6%
80874 -10238 -11,2%
78084 -2790 -3,4%
79835 +1751 +2,2%
72648 -7187 -9,0%
71072 -1576 -2,2%

As long as the numbers are consistently off, then the trends remain consistent as well, although obviously there is a bit of a difference when the books are in the lower regions like Spider-Girl is, for instance. But even if the numbers are 10k off, then ASM still lost 50k in between the first issue of BND and its 9th issue. That’s not 7k a month, that’s 7k a week. If that keeps up, we’re below that average 63k very soon indeed. The danger of putting all your eggs in one basket is that, if you misread the audience (which I am certain they did), your eggs might well get ruined.

Not that that matters either, since they can easily pick up the slack by involving Spidey in Secret Invasion. Any title that gets the SI logo slapped on it will easily sell 10k, 20k, 30k more. That’s just how it works and how it probably will always work. But right now, Spidey is lukewarm at best, and I don’t think it’ll be very long before it reaches Countdownesque numbers, despite Bachalo’s excellent art, for one thing.

Also interesting that wraith’s prediction about Thunderbolts indeed came true. Once the Initiative banner disappeared, it sank like a stone (same as for a lot of the other books that had the same banner), no doubt helped by Warren Ellis’s writing style being such that it’s highly unsatisfying to read in chapters and people figuring they’re better off waiting for the trade. I’m curious to see whether retailers/fans will fall for the same tricks again.

Hold on- THOR has been fueled by a long absence of the character and a prominent creative team, and it’s been selling spectacularly well even by those expectations.

Film adaptations, by contrast, rarely have much of an effect on comics sales, unless they point to one readily available book or finite series, as in the case of 300, HELLBOY or SIN CITY.

Given that the creative team of INVINCIBLE IRON MAN isn’t in the same league commercially as that of THOR, and that there’s an existing IRON MAN book selling well below 40,000 units, I’d say Marvel can consider themselves lucky if they manage to shift between 50 and 60k of the debut issue, including the variant cover editions.

I pretty much agree with Paul. I think it would have made more sense to give the character some rest after CIVIL WAR and then relaunch the book in time for the movie. I’m not sure who’s supposed to buy a second series, either. (Well, I will, but that’s just because it’s by Fraction, so it doesn’t count- I’d also buy WOODGOD if it said “Fraction” on the cover.)

And please, guys, buy Nova and Ghost Rider, two of the best books on the superhero market.

My guess is that they wanted a #1 Iron Man for movie fans (and retailers) to jump on. Plus it’s supposed to be much more straightforward heroics.

Really, anything less than 100K for the launch should be viewed as a miserable failure — Thor managed 200K as a relaunch, if IM can’t manage 100K with a giant movie push behind it, it’s pathetic.

Whether it’ll *keep* those readers, I have my doubts; historically, movie fan bubbles have not stuck around long.

As for sales on their FF run going up with issue 558, I HIGHLY doubt that will happen UNLEES that issue has a variant cover.

Millar responds with:

“Sales on our first ish were about 100K and about 15-20 of these were the alternate covers. Orders on the issue itself were about 83K and second ish (no alternates) were around 77K. So it’s a pretty tiny drop. That said, I want us in the top ten and tho I suspect we’ll drop another couple of thousand first I think we’ll spike with 558 and the beginning of the Death of Sue arc/ Old Man Logan crossover.”

A sister title to X-MEN: FIRST CLASS, featuring Wolverine and Kitty Pryde in early eighties continuity. And no, the pun in the title doesn’t work here, does it? Anyhow, retailers seem to like the sound of this one - X-MEN: FIRST CLASS only did 26K for its first issue.

—-
Hmm, that’s interesting. POWER PACK actually do better without the guest stars.
—-

Actually no. Marvel shipped free promotional copies to retailers on both series. That should explain that.

A question: Tom Breevort recently said that these numbers can be off by as much as 10,000 either way, is there much truth in this or is it just Marvel spin?

Both February and March have been fairly undemanding months from a consumer wallet perspective. Nothing particularly big has been going on. So it’s understandable that there’s less pressure to drop books to make room for big crossovers or weeklies. I’m pretty sure that once both DC and Marvel open their salvos with FC and SI, peoples’ wallets will tighten again and they’ll have to be more discerning again regarding what they can continue to keep reading.

Come now, Paul. I think we all know *who* the book is “based on”. Warpath and X-23 are just interchangeable window dressing so he’ll have someone to talk to in the book. They could be the Prowler, Joystick and Carmella Unuscione for all the difference it’d make. The book would still do the same numbers, because of *him*, and we all know it.

Quesada has every reason in the world to NEED for BND to be a success, and I don’t doubt that he’d resort to such stunts in order to make it look successful.