Various talk about various charts and actual figures. You know the drill. Brian Wood posts his actual sales figures for some of his graphic novels in this Standard Attrition thread:

Aug 4th: Northlanders Vol 2 is released, with direct market orders of: 4,287 copies.

Sep 30th: My royalty sheet is tallied up and the total sales for the book as of that date is: 9,073 copies.

Also:

Northlanders vol. 1: 18783
DMZ vol. 2: 34,077
DMZ vol. 1: 57,515

Those numbers don’t include the foreign editions. DMZ is published in six languages other than English, up to the fifth volume in some of them.

Those are pretty impressive sales figures, and gives you some idea why the serialization-to-trade model still works for Vertigo even when the initial sales are low. Marc-Oliver Frisch and Wood get into this a little here.

§ The Nate Silver of comics, John Jackson Miller, looks at November sales and makes all kind of extremely educated observations — including the fact that direct market sales for 2009 will be down slightly from 2008 — but only slightly. In This Economy — and with the freefall of bookstores and magazines — this is pretty good news overall.

While the direct market is close to flat for the year versus 2008, it is up 32% versus 2004. What’s the role of inflation? The Consumer Price Index has increased 14.5% since 2004, meaning that either we’re selling more units in aggregate, or the average item sold is more expensive by a rate far exceeding inflation. Top 300 Comics unit sales are, as noted above, up 1% year to date versus the same period in 2004, whereas the dollar value of those comics is up 21%. The price of the average comic book retailers sold in 2009 is $3.42, as compared with $2.86 in 2004. That’s an increase of 19.5%. So it’s true that inflation is contributing to part of that increase — but not all. Increased trade paperback sales account for the rest of the jump versus 2004.

§ This is an old link, but we kept meaning to post it and finally have time to give it a bit of context. Graphic Novel Reporter posts The Independent Bookstore Comics and Graphic Works Bestseller List for November 2009. And this is interesting WHY? Well, indie bookstores have long been seen as a new sales frontier for graphic novels (contrary to what a lot of people seem to think, they haven’t been that big on comics until very recently) and looking at what sells in these shops gives some idea of what the habitual book buyer buys when they buy graphic novels.

1. The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb
2. Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth
3. The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks
4. Watchmen
5. Naruto, Volume 46
6. Zombies: A Record of the Year of Infection
7. Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451: The Authorized Adaptation
8. A People’s History of American Empire: A Graphic Adaptation
9. What It Is
10. The Adventures of TinTin in the Land of the Soviets

This is a somewhat different product mix than one sees in either BookScan or Diamond, and shows why this is an area of further growth potential.

by Matthew Murray

Buffy is the top selling non Marvel/DC title as usual. The first issue of Image United was the best selling Image comic, while in the Archie universe there doesn’t seem to be as much interest in Archie marrying Betty.

This month I’ve listed every “indie” title in the top 200, and a selection of titles appearing lower on the charts.

Thanks to icv2.com and Milton Griepp for permission to use these numbers, which can be found here.

35.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Dark Horse) 

11/2007: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #8 - 91,595
11/2008: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #19 - 74,202

=====
01/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #21 - 69,980
02/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #22 - 67,575 (-3.4%)
03/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #23 - 64,108 (-5.1%)
04/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #24 - 60,916 (-5.0%)
05/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #25 - 58,740 (-3.6%)
06/2009: BTVS Tales of the Vampires one shot- 45,568 (-22.4)
07/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #26 - 55,393 (+21.6%)
08/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #27 - 53,403 (-3.6%)
09/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #28 - 52,303 (-2.1%)
10/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #29 - 50,236 (-4.0%)
11/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #30 - 49,155 (-2.2%)
				6 month (-16.3%)
				1 year (-33.8%)
				2 year (-46.3%)

Buffy slips below 50k for the first time since season 8 began. Next month is another one shot, this time focusing on Willow and written by Joss Whedon.

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by Marc-Oliver Frisch

Is DC’s November success made of plastic?

We’ll come back to that later. First things first: How much of a success is it, anyway? What’s clear is that, thanks to “Blackest Night,” DC Comics once again dominated the comic-book Top 10 in November. And, as it turns out, the company’s 7-of-10 win isn’t wholly cosmetic this time. At least the publisher’s average comic-book sales increased again — for the first time since July.

On the other hand, the gross dollar value of DC’s periodical output in the direct market fell to its lowest level since June. Both Blackest Night the miniseries and “Blackest Night” the crossover are a great success, but much of the rest of the DC Universe line is flagging.

Over at the Vertigo imprint, a new Fables spin-off debuted with solid numbers, bringing a slight increase to Vertigo’s average periodical sales. Average WildStorm sales saw another major crash in November, meanwhile, dropping to an estimated 7,111 — less than 300 copies ahead of WildStorm’s all-time low in January 2009.

See below for the details, and please consider the small print at the end of the column. Thanks to Milton Griepp and ICv2.com for the permission to use their figures. An overview of ICv2.com’s estimates can be found here.

—–

1 - BLACKEST NIGHT
07/2009: Blackest Night #1 of 8  — 177,105          [199,863]
08/2009: Blackest Night #2 of 8  — 146,092 (-17.5%) [155,512]
09/2009: Blackest Night #3 of 8  — 140,786 (- 3.6%)
10/2009: Blackest Night #4 of 8  — 137,169 (- 2.6%)
10/2009: Blackest Night #5 of 8  — 144,935 (+ 5.7%)

2 - GREEN LANTERN
11/2004: Rebirth #2 of 6    —  86,273 [138,252]
11/2005: Green Lantern #5   —  92,348
11/2006: Green Lantern #14  —  72,894
11/2006: Green Lantern #15  —  70,148
11/2007: –
————————————–
11/2008: –
12/2008: Green Lantern #36  —  64,755 (+ 2.2%) [ 74,005]
01/2009: Green Lantern #37  —  65,556 (+ 1.2%) [ 71,331]
02/2009: Green Lantern #38  —  68,908 (+ 5.1%) [ 77,372]
03/2009: –
04/2009: Green Lantern #39  —  79,792 (+15.8%) [ 84,784]
04/2009: Green Lantern #40  —  76,665 (- 3.9%) [ 84,705]
05/2009: Green Lantern #41  —  81,491 (+ 6.3%)
06/2009: Green Lantern #42  —  84,131 (+ 3.2%)
07/2009: Green Lantern #43  — 109,426 (+30.1%) [117,314]
07/2009: Green Lantern #44  — 105,063 (- 4.0%) [109,599]
08/2009: Green Lantern #45  — 102,431 (- 2.5%)
09/2009: Green Lantern #46  — 103,666 (+ 1.2%)
10/2009: Green Lantern #47  — 101,349 (- 2.2%)
11/2009: Green Lantern #48  — 100,371 (- 1.0%)
—————–
6 months: + 23.2%
1 year  :  n.a.
2 years :  n.a.
5 years : + 16.3%

As usual, both Blackest Night and Green Lantern were promoted with 1-for-25 variant-cover editions in November.

For those of you just joining us, this means that comic-book retailers had to order 25 copies of the regular editions of Blackest Night #5 and Green Lantern #48 for every variant-cover edition. And, as usual, Blackest Night sales were also boosted with a rarer 1-for-100 variant edition.

So far, so simple, but now it gets complicated.

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by Paul O’Brien

For the second month running, DC dominated the top 10 in November, with only REBORN preventing another clean sweep of the top 5. However, taking a broader view, it’s something of a return to normal. In October, Marvel’s lead over DC was whittled down to only 2% in market share, and 2.5% in dollar terms. But with November, the margin is wider: Marvel led DC by 42% to 35% in unit share, and 38% to 32% in dollars.

It’s also worth bearing in mind that November was a quiet month in terms of new product. This is fairly standard for Marvel; they’re gearing up for a major crossover in January with SIEGE, and as we’ve seen before, they tend to hold back new Marvel Universe titles to launch out of the big event. Consequently, the months immediately before a crossover tend to be comparatively quiet. That’s compounded this month by a relative dearth of variant covers. DC, in contrast, are in the middle of their BLACKEST NIGHT crossover.

November did see the launch of a third ongoing Deadpool title, DEADPOOL TEAM-UP (depending on whether you count October’s DEADPOOL #900 as the first issue); a new S.W.O.R.D. series; the relaunch of PUNISHER MAX; the return of POWERS; a second WIZARD OF OZ miniseries; and the beginning of another cosmic crossover, REALM OF KINGS.

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

3.  CAPTAIN AMERICA: REBORN
11/04  Captain America #1   -  67,225
11/05  Captain America #12  -  45,038
11/06  Captain America #24  -  79,885
11/07  Captain America #32  -  73,310
=====
11/08  Captain America #44  -  75,493  (  +4.3%)
12/08  Captain America #45  -  71,186  (  -5.7%)
01/09  Captain America #46  -  73,184  (  +2.8%)
02/09  Captain America #47  -  62,850  ( -14.1%)
03/09  Captain America #48  -  62,108  (  -1.2%)
04/09  Captain America #49  -  63,874  (  +2.8%)
05/09  Captain America #50  -  72,708  ( +13.8%)
06/09  Captain America #600 - 123,152  ( +69.4%)
07/09  Captain America #601 -  87,844  ( -28.7%)
07/09  Reborn #1 of 5       - 197,565  (+124.9%)
08/09  Reborn #2 of 5       - 125,366  ( -36.5%)
09/09  Reborn #3 of 5       - 108,331  ( -13.6%)
10/09  —
11/09  Reborn #4 of 5       -  96,571  ( -10.9%)
                               6 mnth  ( +32.8%)
                               1 year  ( +27.9%)
                               2 year  ( +31.7%)
                               3 year  ( +20.9%)
                               4 year  (+114.4%)
                               5 year  ( +43.7%)

REBORN has slipped off schedule, which has led to the ending being given away in other titles. Mind you, some would say the ending was pretty clearly signalled when they called the book REBORN. Presumably Marvel couldn’t delay the other books involved, because that would have screwed up the SIEGE crossover.

This issue has three covers, which is fairly standard for REBORN - although Marvel have been scaling back the ordering incentives slightly over the course of the series. Needless to say, these remain very good numbers even by the standards of recent CAPTAIN AMERICA issues, which themselves have seen big increases over the last couple of years thanks to the “death of Captain America” storyline.
(more…)

Re what we love to talk about endlessly in the comments, Brian Hibbs shows up to rescue the endangered maiden pamphlet on his charger of charts. It’s an excellent essay that touches on the attention economy, the monthly payment option, and the fact that periodical sales are up in both units and dollars over the past decade. The last decade is a *bit* misleading since ten years ago we were in the comics equivalent of the Great Depression but the fact stands.

Where Hibbs makes a good point is that the tankoubon ($9.99 manga-sized paperback) model is one that is enabled because the material is already serialized in Japan. And as someone who had worked on P&Ls for traditional book publishers on the costs of making graphic novels, yes, paying a living wage page rate for something that will sell between 10-20K copies IF YOU’RE LUCKY is challenging.

Hibbs also flatters me by referencing my “satisfying chunk” theory and stating that 22 pages CAN be a satisfying chunk — it’s just that these days, it isn’t, but that is a creative problem more than anything.

Where the problem lies, I think — and perhaps this is some of my own doing — is the psychological effect of the “standard attrition” model. It is a fact that comics periodical sales on monthly titles go down on a continuing basis at rates that threaten their profitability. While the war may be a win, the individual battles all seem like “lose.” Or as a widely quoted Tom Spurgeon line from yesterday has it:

I hate to backseat drive companies because I’ve barely made like sixteen dimes from working in comic books, but at some point it seems that if well-regarded series after well-regarded series is broken on the rocks of a market that won’t respond to them, you should start to look at changing the game board to be more receptive to such series as opposed to picking up a game piece you think might work better.

I’m not sure the game board is the only problem. Editorial malaise, increasingly watered down and uninspiring “house styles,” and the tyranny of “branding” have all taken a toll on the spark of creativity that is what makes successful entertainment.

Take another look at Matt Price’s list of 2009’s best periodicals:

(more…)

by Matthew Murray

Image had their best month in a long time with Robert Kirkman and Todd McFarlane’s Haunt being their bestselling title in years, plus several of their other high selling titles shipped or increased their sales. Otherwise it was pretty much business as usual.

Thanks to icv2.com and Milton Griepp for permission to use these numbers, which can be found here.

28.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Dark Horse)

10/2007: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #7 - 94,144
10/2008: -

=====
01/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #21 - 69,980
02/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #22 - 67,575 (-3.4%)
03/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #23 - 64,108 (-5.1%)
04/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #24 - 60,916 (-5.0%)
05/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #25 - 58,740 (-3.6%)
06/2009: BTVS Tales of the Vampires one shot- 45,568 (-22.4)
07/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #26 - 55,393 (+21.6%)
08/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #27 - 53,403 (-3.6%)
09/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #28 - 52,303 (-2.1%)
10/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #29 - 50,236 (-4.0%)
				6 month (-17.5%)
				1 year (n.a.)
				2 year (-46.6%)

Just manages to keep its position as the top non-Marvel/DC book this month by less than 200 copies.

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by Marc-Oliver Frisch

Gotham, we have a problem.

The general consensus seems to be that DC Comics had a particularly great month in October, but that’s not quite true. Despite making a spectacle of the Top 300 chart by claiming — literally for the first time in ages — all of the Top 6 spots, sales of the average new DC comic book were actually down from September. In fact, DC’s October performance isn’t even in the Top 3 of the past twelve months, if you compare average sales or gross dollar value.

The main reason for that is easily spotted: While Blackest Night and its tie-ins keep performing well, the number of flagging franchises and tanking new projects is on the rise again. The Titans books, Outsiders, Justice League, Justice Society, Wonder Woman, Superman/Batman and the entire Superman line are all formerly strong properties that have been skidding down the charts for months and years now; missed opportunities like the failure to capitalize on high-profile creator J. Michael Straczynski don’t help matters. Alarmingly, even the Batman line, which saw a strong relaunch a few months back, is losing steam quickly.

The bleak picture continues through the publisher’s sublabels. For the first time in six months, average Vertigo figures dropped below 11K again in October. WildStorm saw a rare spike, meanwhile — thanks, largely, to the stoically consistent numbers of the Planetary epilogue issue, which brought sales of the average WildStorm periodical closer to 10,000 units than at any other point in the last ten months.

See below for the details, and please consider the small print at the end of the column. Thanks to Milton Griepp and ICv2.com for the permission to use their figures. An overview of ICv2.com’s estimates can be found here.

—–

1 - BLACKEST NIGHT
07/2009: Blackest Night #1 of 8  — 177,105          [199,863]
08/2009: Blackest Night #2 of 8  — 146,092 (-17.5%) [155,512]
09/2009: Blackest Night #3 of 8  — 140,786 (- 3.6%)
10/2009: Blackest Night #4 of 8  — 137,169 (- 2.6%)

DC’s big crossover storyline of the year remains the strongest performer in the comic-book direct market.

Blackest Night is promoted with some of the most aggressive variant-cover incentives we’ve seen to date: There’s a 1-for-250 variant for issue #1, a 1-for-200 variant for #2 and a 1-for-100 variant for each subsequent issue, all in addition to 1-for-25 variants.

But, while these variants no doubt distort the numbers, it’s worth pointing out that sales are also bottoming out very quickly — which is unusual for high-profile “event” titles, and especially for books with multiple gimmick covers.

Looking back at this time last year, Final Crisis #4 had just come out, and its charts looked like this:

FINAL CRISIS
05/2008: Final Crisis #1 of 7 — 144,826          [166,641]
06/2008: Final Crisis #2 of 7 — 126,082 (-12.9%) [134,116]
07/2008: –
08/2008: Final Crisis #3 of 7 — 123,881 (- 1.8%)
09/2008: –
10/2008: Final Crisis #4 of 7 — 115,666 (- 6.6%)

The raw numbers would suggest that Blackest Night is doing better than Final Crisis, but then again, those were much simpler times back then: Final Crisis was promoted with one 50/50 variant edition per issue, which seems positively restrained by today’s standards.

The big difference between the two, of course, is that Final Crisis was up against Marvel’s Secret Invasion, which outsold it by up to a 100,000 units per issue. This time around, the closest thing Marvel has to a direct rival is Reborn, whose sales aren’t quite as spectacular; Reborn #1 outperformed Blackest Night #1 by about 15,000 units, but with September’s issue #3, the book dropped to 108K, which is significantly below Blackest Night. (Reborn didn’t ship in October.)

It remains to be seen whether Marvel’s upcoming Siege series and its tie-in books will come close to the commercial achievement of Secret Invasion. For now, Blackest Night appears to be as much of a success as the direct market is able to produce at this time.
(more…)

By Paul O’Brien

Usually, Marvel are the largest publisher in the North American direct market by a comfortable margin. But October was close. Marvel still held on to first place, beating DC by 40% to 38% in unit share, and 36.5% to 34% in dollars. That’s an unusually narrow gap.

What’s more, DC took the top six places on the chart, leaving Marvel’s top book - NEW AVENGERS - to tail in at number 7. Now, normally I’d expect something like this to happen in a month when Marvel’s major titles failed to ship. But there’s really only one book in that category, namely REBORN. In fact, the explanation seems to be simply that DC’s BLACKEST NIGHT crossover is doing very well, and and Marvel’s output for October just didn’t grab the same sort of attention.

Major releases this month include the second wave of DARK REIGN: THE LIST one-shots, the beginning of the “Necrosha-X” crossover between the second-tier X-books, and the launches of WEB OF SPIDER-MAN, DR VOODOO and a third ongoing Deadpool series.

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

===============

7.  NEW AVENGERS
10/04  —
10/05  New Avengers #12 - 127,949
10/06  New Avengers #24 - 136,811
10/07  New Avengers #35 - 111,481
=====
10/08  New Avengers #46 -  99,513  ( -3.7%)
11/08  —
12/08  New Avengers #47 -  95,703  ( -3.8%)
12/08  New Avengers #48 -  95,688  ( -0.0%)
01/09  New Avengers #49 -  94,291  ( -1.5%)
02/09  New Avengers #50 - 106,831  (+13.3%)
03/09  New Avengers #51 -  95,340  (-10.8%)
04/09  New Avengers #52 -  93,975  ( -1.4%)
05/09  New Avengers #53 -  94,367  ( +0.4%)
06/09  New Avengers #54 -  93,878  ( -0.5%)
07/09  New Avengers #55 -  84,745  ( -9.7%)
08/09  New Avengers #56 -  89,996  ( +6.2%)
09/09  New Avengers #57 -  85,598  ( -4.9%)
10/09  New Avengers #58 -  76,656  (-10.4%)
                           6 mnth  (-18.4%)
                           1 year  (-23.0%)
                           2 year  (-31.2%)
                           3 year  (-44.0%)
                           4 year  (-40.1%)
                           5 year  (  — )

For a change, an issue of NEW AVENGERS without a variant cover. The last two issues both had variants, as did issues #50-54, so the drop is somewhat exaggerated. Issue #55 is a reasonable comparison, though, so there’s still an underlying decline.

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By Matthew Murray

Only two non Marvel/DC titles made the top 100 this month, as both companies put out a higher than usual number of comics. Buffy regained top spot as best selling non-big two comic, while Archie held up better than many people expected.

Further down the list I’ve included every indie comic from 100 to 150 on the charts, and a number of others lower down.

Thanks to icv2.com and Milton Griepp for permission to use these numbers, which can be found here.

31.

<strong>Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Dark Horse)</strong> 

09/2007: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #6 - 96,556
09/2008: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #18 - 77,589
=====
01/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #21 - 69,980 ()
02/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #22 - 67,575 (-3.4%)
03/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #23 - 64,108 (-5.1%)
04/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #24 - 60,916 (-5.0%)
05/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #25 - 58,740 (-3.6%)
06/2009: BTVS Tales of the Vampires one shot- 45,568 (-22.4)
07/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #26 - 55,393 (+21.6%)
08/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #27 - 53,403 (-3.6%)
09/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #28 - 52,303 (-2.1%)
				6 month (-18.4%)
				1 year (-32.6%)
				2 year (-45.8%)

Still dropping, but also still selling very well. It’s currently set to run until issue 40, before relaunching as Season 9.

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by Marc-Oliver Frisch

More “Blackest Night” and more Batman make September another good month for DC Comics’ periodical business. This year’s retelling of Superman’s origin doesn’t set the charts on fire, on the other hand, despite the big-ticket creative team of Geoff Johns and Gary Frank — maybe it’s time to retire the character. In other news, J. Michael Straczynski, who’s had some success recently writing the Hollywood film Changeling and Marvel’s Thor, was also meant to do something for DC in September, but I can’t seem to find it, so maybe … ah, hold it, there it is. My bad, I wasn’t scrolling fast enough.

Average DC sales remained relatively steady on balance, which for the publisher’s Vertigo and WildStorm imprints means that they sold around 10,000 units each of the comic books, give or take a few. (Vertigo: give a few; WildStorm: take a few.) Vertigo’s big periodical launch was Jeff Lemire’s post-ap-oddball-yptic Sweet Tooth, the latest new-series launch to retail for $ 1.00. At WildStorm’s comic-book department, the most noteworthy development is that they had four books below the 5K mark, two of which missed the Top 300 chart altogether. Reportedly, WildStorm’s made some lucrative wholesale deals with the video-game industry recently, to be fair, which would explain the continued existence of at least some of its titles.

See below for the analysis, and please consider the small print at the end of the column. Thanks to Milton Griepp and ICv2.com for the permission to use their figures. An overview of ICv2.com’s estimates can be found here.

—–

1 - BLACKEST NIGHT
07/2009: Blackest Night #1 of 8  — 177,105          [196,066]
08/2009: Blackest Night #2 of 8  — 146,092 (-17.5%) [155,512]
09/2009: Blackest Night #3 of 8  — 140,786 (- 3.6%)

Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis’ Blackest Night remains the best-selling comic in the North American direct market by about 30,000 units; the number-two book, Marvel’s Reborn #3, sold an estimated 108,331 units.

Blackest Night is levelling off very quickly for a high-profile miniseries, while reorders for previous issues also remain strong: Blackest Night #1 sold another 10,996 units in September, issue #2 another 9,420 and July’s Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps #2 also made the chart again, with an additional 4,098 copies — and there were more, see below.

As usual, I should point out that the book’s numbers — and especially the smooth drop-off — probably have a lot to do with the available variant-cover editions. For Blackest Night #1, there was a 1-for-250 edition, which means retailers needed to order 250 copies of the regular edition for every copy of the variant edition; for issue #2, there was a 1-for-200 edition; starting with #3, there are 1-for-100 editions for all remaining issues — also, all issues of Blackest Night are promoted with additional 1-for-25 variant-cover editions.

Still, even taking into account that there’s likely some distortion going on at the retail level thanks to the gimmick incentives, Blackest Night keeps performing very, very well.
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By Paul O’Brien

It’s an unusually hectic month on Marvel’s release schedule. Aside from the usual raft of Dark Reign tie-ins, major releases include the OLD MAN LOGAN one-shot, the second month of the relaunched Ultimate imprint, the DARK AVENGERS/UNCANNY X-MEN crossover “Utopia”, the LIST one-shots, and relaunches of SPIDER-WOMAN and MOON KNIGHT.

As usual, Marvel had the biggest share of the North American direct market. They beat DC by 41% to 30% in dollar terms, and 48% to 33% in units.

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

2.  CAPTAIN AMERICA: REBORN
09/04  Captain America #31  -  37,128
09/05  Captain America #10  -  52,609
09/06  Captain America #22  -  82,230
09/07  Captain America #30  -  79,554
=====
09/08  Captain America #42  -  75,574  ( -11.1%)
10/08  Captain America #43  -  72,405  (  -4.2%)
11/08  Captain America #44  -  75,493  (  +4.3%)
12/08  Captain America #45  -  71,186  (  -5.7%)
01/09  Captain America #46  -  73,184  (  +2.8%)
02/09  Captain America #47  -  62,850  ( -14.1%)
03/09  Captain America #48  -  62,108  (  -1.2%)
04/09  Captain America #49  -  63,874  (  +2.8%)
05/09  Captain America #50  -  72,708  ( +13.8%)
06/09  Captain America #600 - 123,152  ( +69.4%)
07/09  Captain America #601 -  87,844  ( -28.7%)
07/09  Reborn #1 of 5       - 197,565  (+124.9%)
08/09  Reborn #2 of 5       - 125,366  ( -36.5%)
09/09  Reborn #3 of 5       - 108,331  ( -13.6%)
                               6 mnth  ( +74.4%)
                               1 year  ( +43.3%)
                               2 year  ( +36.2%)
                               3 year  ( +31.7%)
                               4 year  (+105.9%)
                               5 year  (+191.8%)

This one comes with two variant covers, with 1:10 and 1:25 incentives. Since issue #2 had three 1:25 variants, the drop’s actually quite modest. Meanwhile, issue #1 picks up estimate reorders of 4,423, which is enough to scrape the bottom of the chart at number 289.

When you bear in mind that REBORN is effectively a CAPTAIN AMERICA story arc, these are great numbers. The “death of Steve Rogers” storyline has been boosting sales for years now already, but this has sent them even further skyward. If you judge this as CAPTAIN AMERICA #604 - which it could easily have been - the numbers are clearly stellar.
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Diamond has released their Top Ten list, covering direct market sales for October, and Blackest Night spells Biggest Sales for DC, as they have the top six comics for the month. Marvel remains the top publisher, and OLD MAN WOLVERINE was the top graphic novel. Perhaps the biggest surprise for us — the strong showing for Dark Horse’s NOIR, coming in at #5 on the GN list, with very little fanfare. Complete charts below the cut:

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By Matthew Murray

[EDITOR’S NOTE: We’re giving an indie sales chart a whirl once again. Please let us know what you think!]

August was the best month for Archie for a long, long time in the direct market, with the first issue of the “Archie gets married” story line being the best selling non-Marvel/DC title in the direct market.

For other comics, Chew’s sales continue climbing very rapidly, while there seems to be an oddity relating to Tyrone Gibson’s Mayhem.

I’m listing all the non Marvel/DC titles in the top 100 (all seven of them) and a number of other titles, which are well known or “important”. Let me know if there’re any titles you’d like to see included next month.

Thanks to icv2.com and Milton Griepp for permission to use these numbers, which can be found at here.

 35 Archie (Archie)

08/2005: Archie #559 - 2,888
08/2006: Archie #568 - 2,697
08/2007: -
08/2008: Archie #588 - 2,818
=====
01/2009: Archie #593 – 2,318
02/2009: -
03/2009: Archie #595 - 2,484
04/2009: -
05/2009: Archie #597 - 2,563
06/2009: -
07/2009: -
08/2009: Archie #600 - 54,170
				6 month (n.a.)
				1 year (+1822.2%)
				2 year (n.a.)
				3 year (+1908.5%)
				4 year (+1775.7%)

The “Archie gets married” story begins. Percentagewise this must be one of the biggest increases any comic has ever received. As you can see, Archie (the best selling of the Archie universe* comics through the direct market) usually sells somewhere in the mid 2000s, and is generally pretty stable. The blanks are for months when its sales do not reach the minimum needed for the top 300.

I know the Archie digests are primarily sold through supermarkets and the like, but I’m not sure if/how well the full size comics do through those markets. Or if this particular issue would have been ordered more heavily there. It’ll be interesting to see how well these orders hold up for the rest of the storyline, and if any of the readership will stick around after that.

*By comparison, Archie’s best selling comic in the direct market is usually Sonic the Hedgehog, with this month’s issue (#203) selling 8,166 copies.
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by Marc-Oliver Frisch

August was another fairly strong month for DC Comics’ periodical output, mainly thanks to the continued success of the Green Lantern and Batman franchises. With Blackest Night #2, Batman and Robin #3, Green Lantern #45 and Blackest Night: Batman #1, the publisher again managed to place four of its DC Universe titles in the Top 10. DC’s mainstream superhero line also saw superstar writer J. Michael Straczynski’s arrival with the four-part event Red Circle, the start of Geoff Johns’ Superboy/Legion of Super-Heroes revamp in Adventure Comics #1 and the company’s latest attempt at a Doom Patrol series.

Vertigo’s average periodical sales remained down in their usual orbit around 11,000 units in August, which isn’t surprising, given the lack of new launches or other special events. Instead, the imprint’s focus was on the debut of the Vertigo Crime line of comics novels. The two inaugural releases were off to a decent start and both made the Top 10 of Diamond’s Graphic Novels chart: Brian Azzarello and Victor Santos’ Filthy Rich claimed the No. 5 spot, selling an estimated 5,371. Ian Rankin and Werther Dell’Edera’s Dark Entries charted at No. 8, with 4,330 units.

For WildStorm, August was another nail in the coffin. The imprint’s average periodical sales crashed to 7,977 units, the second-lowest level in the imprint’s history. Red Herring, a new creator-owned limited series by David Tischman and Philip Bond, debuted with estimated sales below 6,000 units.

See below for the analysis, and please consider the small print at the end of the column. Thanks to Milton Griepp and ICv2.com for the permission to use their figures. An overview of ICv2.com’s estimates can be found here.

—–

1 - BLACKEST NIGHT
07/2009: Blackest Night #1 of 8  — 177,105          [185,070]
08/2009: Blackest Night #2 of 8  — 146,092 (-17.5%)

DC’s big-event series of the year grabs the top spot on the August chart, with a solid distance of 20,000 units to Marvel’s Captain America: Reborn #2. Not bad for what’s essentially a Green Lantern spin-off.

This is a smooth second-issue drop-off for a book selling above 150K, certainly, but once again, the observation comes with a disclaimer. As you recall, sales of Blackest Night #1 were boosted through a 1-for-250 variant-cover edition, which required retailers to order 250 copies of the regular comic for every variant edition.

Unlike Batman and Robin #2, however, Blackest Night #2 was promoted through a 1-for-200 variant edition, and there will be 1-for-100 editions for subsequent issues (all in addition to the usual 1-for-25 variants, of course). So, while the real drop-off is probably somewhat less pronounced than it was for Batman and Robin, bear in mind that sales of Blackest Night #2 are still more distorted by gimmicks than those of Batman and Robin #2 were, back in July.

None of which is to say that Blackest Night is not a great success, of course. The first issue sold another 7,965 units in August, and there are reorders for various crossover books, as well. All three issues of July’s biweekly miniseries Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps appeared on the chart again in August, selling between 4,000 and 5,000 units; Green Lantern #43 and #44 posted reorders of 3,577 and 4,536, respectively.

That’s a fairly reliable sign that Blackest Night and its tie-ins aren’t just clogging up store shelves.
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by Paul O’Brien

Marvel’s big project for August was the relaunch of the Ultimate imprint, with the first issues of the unwieldily titled ULTIMATE COMICS AVENGERS and ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN both reaching stores. There’s also the first issue of the MARVELS PROJECT miniseries, and the “Utopia” crossover between UNCANNY X-MEN and DARK AVENGERS. Plus, the familiar army of Dark Reign titles.

As usual, Marvel had the largest share of the North American direct market, beating DC by 44% to 36% in unit share, and a rather closer 40% to 33% in dollars.

Thanks as always to ICv2.com and Milton Griepp for allowing us to use these figures.

2.  CAPTAIN AMERICA: REBORN
08/04  Captain America #30  -  38,464
08/05  Captain America #8   -  51,842
08/06  —
08/07  Captain America #29  -  83,781
=====
08/08  Captain America #41  -  85,035  (  +7.2%)
09/08  Captain America #42  -  75,574  ( -11.1%)
10/08  Captain America #43  -  72,405  (  -4.2%)
11/08  Captain America #44  -  75,493  (  +4.3%)
12/08  Captain America #45  -  71,186  (  -5.7%)
01/09  Captain America #46  -  73,184  (  +2.8%)
02/09  Captain America #47  -  62,850  ( -14.1%)
03/09  Captain America #48  -  62,108  (  -1.2%)
04/09  Captain America #49  -  63,874  (  +2.8%)
05/09  Captain America #50  -  72,708  ( +13.8%)
06/09  Captain America #600 - 123,152  ( +69.4%)
07/09  Captain America #601 -  87,844  ( -28.7%)
07/09  Reborn #1 of 5       - 193,142  (+119.9%)
08/09  Reborn #2 of 5       - 125,366  ( -35.1%)
                               6 mnth  ( +99.5%)
                               1 year  ( +47.4%)
                               2 year  ( +49.6%)
                               3 year  (   — )
                               4 year  (+141.8%)
                               5 year  (+225.9%)

That’s pretty good. REBORN was always going to see a big second issue drop after the huge sales of its first issue. But even after that drop, it still outsells CAPTAIN AMERICA #600, and it’s miles ahead of the book’s usual sales. When you bear in mind that this issue is effectively CAPTAIN AMERICA #603, these are really excellent numbers. There are four covers on this issue, including three 1:25 variants, but that doesn’t really detract from the numbers.
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by Marc-Oliver Frisch

July brought the expected boost for DC Comics’ periodical business. Largely thanks to Geoff Johns’ Blackest Night series and its various spin-off and tie-in books, the average DC Comics and DC Universe periodical sales increased significantly, to their highest levels in almost two years. The weekly Wednesday Comics, DC’s other big launch in July, debuted with much more modest figures: Wednesday Comics #1 charted at No. 36, with estimated sales well below 50,000 units.

Average periodical sales of the Vertigo and WildStorm imprints remained at their usual levels, with just above 11,000 and 8,000 units, respectively, and no trend reversals in sight. Notably, Vertigo published another $ 1.00 loss-leader with Greek Street #1, but failed to match the sales of its predecessor, The Unwritten #1. At WildStorm, Free Realms debuted, but the first issue of a twelve-part series based on a role-playing game missed the chart altogether, evidently.

See below for the analysis, and please consider the small print at the end of the column. Thanks to Milton Griepp and ICv2.com for the permission to use their figures. An overview of ICv2.com’s estimates can be found here.

—–

2 - BLACKEST NIGHT
07/2009: Blackest Night #1 of 8  — 177,105

At this stage, given the encouraging sales of both Green Lantern series over the last year, it doesn’t come as a great surprise that Blackest Night is a sales juggernaut. The book beats June’s Batman and Robin #1 by about 8,500 units and is only 16,000 units behind July’s top book, Marvel’s Reborn #1, which was massively hyped.

Like Batman and Robin #1, Blackest Night #1 was promoted not just with the usual 1-for-25 variant-cover edition, but also with a more limited 1-for-250 cover edition. (For the uninitiated, this means that retailers had to order 250 copies of the regular comic to be able to order one limited edition.) This could mean that the figure we see is massively inflated, which would result in a large second-issue drop, but it doesn’t seem like this happened with Batman and Robin #2 — see below.

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by Paul O’Brien

There’s a lot to talk about this month, as Marvel’s publishing schedule steps up a gear. July saw the launch of the much-hyped REBORN miniseries, the 600th issues of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN and INCREDIBLE HULK, the climax of ULTIMATUM, a crossover between DARK AVENGERS and UNCANNY X-MEN, and a second ongoing DEADPOOL title… plus the ongoing Dark Reign event and a bunch of other minis.

You won’t be surprised to hear that, once again, Marvel had the largest share of the North American direct market. This month, they beat DC by 43% to 34% in unit share, and 37% to 30% in dollars.

Thanks as always to ICV2.com for permission to use these figures.

1,9. CAPTAIN AMERICA
07/04  Captain America #29  -  40,221
07/05  —
07/06  Captain America #20  -  47,357
07/07  Captain America #28  -  89,721
=====
07/08  Captain America #40  -  79,317  (  -0.0%)
08/08  Captain America #41  -  85,035  (  +7.2%)
09/08  Captain America #42  -  75,574  ( -11.1%)
10/08  Captain America #43  -  72,405  (  -4.2%)
11/08  Captain America #44  -  75,493  (  +4.3%)
12/08  Captain America #45  -  71,186  (  -5.7%)
01/09  Captain America #46  -  73,184  (  +2.8%)
02/09  Captain America #47  -  62,850  ( -14.1%)
03/09  Captain America #48  -  62,108  (  -1.2%)
04/09  Captain America #49  -  63,874  (  +2.8%)
05/09  Captain America #50  -  72,708  ( +13.8%)
06/09  Captain America #600 - 123,152  ( +69.4%)
07/09  Captain America #601 -  87,844  ( -28.7%)
07/09  Reborn #1 of 5       - 193,142  (+119.9%)
                               6 mnth  (+163.9%)
                               1 year  (+143.5%)
                               2 year  (+115.3%)
                               3 year  (+307.8%)
                               4 year  (   — )
                               5 year  (+380.2%)

Two issues this month. CAPTAIN AMERICA #601 is something of a red herring - it’s essentially a fill-in story with art by Gene Colan, set during World War II. Of course, it also meant that there was an issue of CAPTAIN AMERICA in the July solicitations, which initially tried to create some mystery about what REBORN was.

As it turns out, REBORN is indeed the long-expected return of Steve Rogers, and the regular CAPTAIN AMERICA title will go on hiatus for the duration of the five-issue miniseries before returning with issue #602 later in the year. That effectively makes REBORN issues #601A-601E, and so I’m counting them as part of the regular title.

REBORN was always going to be a big seller, particularly given Marvel’s promise of mainstream media coverage. It wasn’t guaranteed to top the charts, though, because July also saw the release of BLACKEST NIGHT #1, DC’s latest crossover. As it turns out, they’re fairly close. REBORN was about 16,000 ahead. Intriguingly, though, Diamond’s chart lists BLACKEST NIGHT at number 1 in the dollar rankings - despite both books costing the same. I can only assume that this is because the extra sales generated by incentive variants (order ten, get one free) count for the unit sales, but not the dollar chart. Anyhow, it suggests that the two projects were closer together than the sales figures might first suggest.

Issue #601 has three covers; REBORN #1 has five (six, if you count a Dynamic Forces version), including 1:25 and 1:75 variants. Oh, and issue #600 also picks up a further 10,865 in sales. As usual, they’re added in above.

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Comics sales bounced back behind a five-week month, behind dark/black nights, reigns and, possibly, coffee, ICv2 reports:

Shades of black predominated in the top comic titles in July 2009, as three story arcs with noirish titles accounted for 14 of the top 25 comics, according to the rankings release today by Diamond Comic Distributors. DC’s Blackest Night was the strongest, with seven of the top 25 titles, but Marvel’s Dark Reign (3) and Dark Avengers/X-Men Utopia (4) storylines together accounted for another seven of the top 25.

MORE: July dollar trends
Top 300 Comics Actual–July 2009
Top 300 Graphic Novels Actual–July 2009

ALSO: John Jackson Miller stands at the ready, as ever.

by Marc-Oliver Frisch

Thanks to strong debut numbers of the revamped Batman line and the perpetually solid Green Lantern franchise, June brought the expected recovery for DC Comics’ periodical sales. Led by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s Batman and Robin, which claimed the top spot in the Top 300 chart, the publisher managed to place four titles in the top ten, while average periodical sales remained well within the usual spectrum of the last few years. June also saw the debut of back-up strips and a higher cover price for several DC Universe series, but without any significant impact on sales.

Over at Vertigo and WildStorm, June was business as usual. Despite “The Great Fables Crossover,” average Vertigo sales remained just above 11K. At WildStorm, the six-part horror-property crossover Freddy Vs. Jason Vs. Ash: Nightmare Warriors debuted with surprisingly good numbers, but the imprint’s average figures were still stuck below the 9,000 mark.

See below for the analysis, and please consider the small print at the end of the column. Thanks to Milton Griepp and ICv2.com for the permission to use their figures. An overview of ICv2.com’s estimates can be found here.

—–

1 - BATMAN AND ROBIN
06/2009: Batman and Robin #1  — 168,604

As expected, Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s new Batman flagship is the best-selling DC series in June, also outselling everything else on the chart by a wide margin. Marvel’s highly promoted Captain America #600, which came in second, sold an estimated 112,287 units, for instance.

On the surface, 170K looks like a great number, certainly. There have been comics that shifted more units in recent years, but those were all Marvel books and part of special events (such as the “Obama issue” of The Amazing Spider-Man, or Civil War). Looking for either a new ongoing-series launch or a DC book that sold in equal or better numbers, one has to go back almost three years, to the release of Justice League of America #1, which moved an estimated 212,581 copies in August 2006.

In this context, Batman and Robin #1 looks like one of the greatest successes in the periodical comics market in quite some time.

On the other hand, there’s a wildcard involved in its numbers, because the book was promoted with two variant-cover schemes. The first involves a 1-for-25 edition, which, though it’s probably boosted sales quite a bit, has been relatively common for a while. The second, though, is a 1-for-250 edition; this means, in other words, that retailers who wanted to get one of those editions had to buy 250 non-returnable copies of Batman and Robin #1. The prospect was received controversially among retailers, not surprisingly.

Right now, we don’t know how many retailers swallowed the pill and upped their orders to get those particular variant editions. But considering that the scheme only applies to issue #1, I suspect we might get a reasonably good idea of that next month, when the figures for issue #2 are released. If sales are insanely inflated due to the variant, it will show on the chart.

So, for now: a great-looking number, but take it with a pinch of salt.
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By Paul O’Brien

After a quiet May, things pick up a bit this month. The big event of the month, of course, was CAPTAIN AMERICA #600. Meanwhile, Dark Reign continued to sprawl over the rest of the Marvel Universe. The more notable tie-ins include WOLVERINE’s relaunch as DARK WOLVERINE, and the start of a crossover between UNCANNY X-MEN and DARK AVENGERS.

It’s a quiet month for new titles, though, with only one new book - the fortnightly X-MEN FOREVER.

Once again, Marvel had the largest share of the North American direct market by a comfortable margin. They beat DC by 51% to 29% in units, and 45% to 27% in dollars.

Thanks as always to ICV2.com for permission to use these figures.

2.  CAPTAIN AMERICA
06/04  Captain America #27  -  36,212
06/05  Captain America #7   -  47,160
06/06  Captain America #19  -  47,315
06/07  Captain America #27  -  99,108
=====
06/08  Captain America #39  -  79,387  (  +0.0%)
07/08  Captain America #40  -  79,317  (  -0.0%)
08/08  Captain America #41  -  85,035  (  +7.2%)
09/08  Captain America #42  -  75,574  ( -11.1%)
10/08  Captain America #43  -  72,405  (  -4.2%)
11/08  Captain America #44  -  75,493  (  +4.3%)
12/08  Captain America #45  -  71,186  (  -5.7%)
01/09  Captain America #46  -  73,184  (  +2.8%)
02/09  Captain America #47  -  62,850  ( -14.1%)
03/09  Captain America #48  -  62,108  (  -1.2%)
04/09  Captain America #49  -  63,874  (  +2.8%)
05/09  Captain America #50  -  72,708  ( +13.8%)
06/09  Captain America #600 - 112,287  ( +54.4%)
                               6 mnth  ( +57.7%)
                               1 year  ( +41.4%)
                               2 year  ( +13.3%)
                               3 year  (+137.3%)
                               4 year  (+138.1%)
                               5 year  (+210.1%)

Ah, comics. Where else would you find consecutive issues numbered #50 and #600? (When Marvel use a number, it means just what they choose it to mean, neither more nor less.)

Anyway, this was plainly Marvel’s biggest release of the month, promoted heavily (if elliptically) as a book that retailers really might want to consider ordering in very large quantities indeed. Marvel even offered to ship the book early, to tie in with expected media coverage.

Evidently, a lot of retailers took the bait. However, the media coverage turned out to be more concerned with the upcoming REBORN series. Now, it’s worth bearing in mind that the Diamond chart only deals with sales to retailers - it doesn’t tell us how many copies were sold on to customers. With an established title, the retailers should be able to make a fairly educated guess; with a book like this, the room for error is a lot higher.

A second printing of issue #50 adds another 5,780 to its sales; as usual, they’re added to the number above.
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by Marc-Oliver Frisch

Overall direct-market sales crashed in May, and DC Comics contributed its share. Like Marvel, though, DC has a pretty good excuse. While Batman: Battle for the Cowl and The Flash: Rebirth continued apace, May was basically an in-between month for the publisher. There were no big launches, and everybody kept waiting for June’s revamp of the Batman line and July’s debuts of both Blackest Night and Wednesday Comics, which can all be expected to be sales juggernauts. So, with all that in mind, there’s no reason to panic just yet. If anything, there are some signs that things might actually be looking up for DC in the second half of the year.

At Vertigo, average periodical sales received a much-needed shot in the arm in May and rose to their highest level in more than two years. The two main reasons for the boost were “The Great Fables Crossover” and the debut of Mike Carey and Peter Gross’ new series The Unwritten. At a cover price of one dollar, of course, The Unwritten #1 was two thirds a promotional item and is unlikely to have made Vertigo any money as a single issue. Still, it sounds like a perfectly reasonable idea to market a new comic. It should be interesting to watch the effects.

Diamond’s “Graphic Novel” chart, meanwhile, was topped by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen — Century: 1910, the latest chapter of another best-selling property that DC’s WildStorm imprint no longer publishes. May should have been a good month for WildStorm: With a new StarCraft series, one of their more promising licensed properties debuted; and both of the imprint’s long-running creator-owned titles, Astro City and Ex Machina, came out. In practice, though, WildStorm’s average periodical sales once again failed to escape their limbo significantly below the 10,000-unit mark.

See below for the analysis, and please consider the small print at the end of the column. Thanks to Milton Griepp and ICv2.com for the permission to use their figures. An overview of ICv2.com’s estimates can be found here.

—–

2 - BATMAN: BATTLE FOR THE COWL
05/2004: Batman #627 —  76,885
05/2004: Batman #628 —  74,348 [75,832]
05/2005: Batman #640 —  66,640 [71,120]
05/2006: Batman #653 —  77,257 [78,435]
05/2007: Batman #665 —  80,122
——————————-
05/2008: Batman #676 — 105,039 (+47.9%) [122,877]
05/2008: Batman #677 —  96,116 (- 8.5%) [111,065]
06/2008: –
07/2008: Batman #678 — 103,213 (+ 7.4%)
08/2008: Batman #679 — 103,588 (+ 0.4%)
09/2008: –
10/2008: Batman #680 — 103,941 (+ 0.3%)
11/2008: Batman #681 — 103,151 (- 0.8%) [114,657]
12/2008: Batman #682 —  93,469 (- 9.4%)
12/2008: Batman #683 —  90,272 (- 3.4%) [ 91,885]
12/2008: Batman #684 —  79,953 (-11.4%) [ 82,903]
01/2009: Batman #685 —  72,654 (- 9.1%)
02/2009: Batman #686 — 111,353 (+53.3%) [124,542]
03/2009: BfC #1 of 3 —  91,619 (-17.7%) [103,913]
04/2009: BfC #2 of 3 —  89,120 (- 2.7%)
05/2009: BfC #3 of 3 —  89,170 (+ 0.1%)
—————-
6 months: -13.6%
1 year  : -11.3%
2 years : +11.3%
5 years : +17.9%

The book has done very well for DC, obviously, especially so if you consider that Tony Daniel didn’t really have any track record of critical or commercial success as a writer. Evidently, the market didn’t care, and there’s barely been any drop-off at all for The Battle for the Cowl.

Perhaps more significantly, these figures suggest that there’s a great deal of interest in the Batman franchise right now, so maybe “Batman R.I.P.” was on to something, after all. These figures — and those of the various spin-off books — are nothing but good news for June’s relaunch of the Batman line.

There was a 1-for-10 variant-cover edition, as always, while a second printing of issue #1 sold another 8,133 units in May.

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by Paul O’Brien

It’s an uneventful month, in every sense of the word. By ICV2’s estimates, sales were down a massive 19% compared with the previous year. But then, that’s hardly surprising. May 2008 saw the release of FINAL CRISIS #1, SECRET INVASION #2, INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #1, GIANT-SIZE ASTONISHING X-MEN #1 and two issues of the “Batman R.I.P.” storyline. There was a lot out.

By comparison, there wasn’t much going on in May 2009, either at Marvel or DC. Yes, there are the Dark Reign tie-ins, and yes, there’s a crossover going on in the third-tier X-books. But the biggest new launch of the month was NEW MUTANTS, at the bottom end of the top 20.

So it’s not really a case of would-be events failing to deliver; it’s more that the would-be events don’t exist in the first place. Well, there’s ULTIMATUM, but that didn’t come out in May. And there’s “Dark Reign”, but that’s more comparable to the “Initiative” books that came out after CIVIL WAR - though admittedly, they had a more visible effect on sales.

As usual, Marvel had the biggest share of the North American direct market. In dollar share, they had 45% to DC’s 30%; in units, it’s 39% to 26%.

Thanks as always to ICV2.com for permission to use these figures.

1.  NEW AVENGERS
05/04  New Avengers #82 -  55,711
05/05  —
05/06  New Avengers #19 - 123,318
05/07  New Avengers #30 - 126,425
=====
05/08  New Avengers #41 - 109,185  ( -6.8%)
06/08  New Avengers #42 - 108,495  ( -0.6%)
07/08  New Avengers #43 - 108,751  ( +0.2%)
08/08  New Avengers #44 - 106,385  ( -2.2%)
09/08  New Avengers #45 - 103,326  ( -2.9%)
10/08  New Avengers #46 -  99,513  ( -3.7%)
11/08  —
12/08  New Avengers #47 -  95,703  ( -3.8%)
12/08  New Avengers #48 -  95,688  ( -0.0%)
01/09  New Avengers #49 -  94,291  ( -1.5%)
02/09  New Avengers #50 - 106,831  (+13.3%)
03/09  New Avengers #51 -  95,340  (-10.8%)
04/09  New Avengers #52 -  93,975  ( -1.4%)
05/09  New Avengers #53 -  94,367  ( +0.4%)
6 mnth  (  — )
1 year  (-13.6%)
2 year  (-25.4%)
3 year  (-23.5%)
4 year  (  — )
5 year  (+69.4%)

NEW AVENGERS was number 5 in April, behind DETECTIVE COMICS #853, FLASH: REBIRTH #1, WOLVERINE: WEAPON X #1 and DARK AVENGERS #4. This month, without significantly increasing its sales, it’s back at number one - more due to the absence of big releases than anything else. As you’d expect, WEAPON X drops off with the second issue; DARK AVENGERS didn’t come out at all (though chances are it would have sold in similar quantities).

This is a Dark Reign crossover issue, and as usual, there’s a variant cover. Leave aside the spike for issue #50, and sales have been extreme steady.

(more…)

OUCH. After staying ahead of the pace in the floundering retail economy, the comics “fantasy economy” crashed hard in May, ICv2 reports. It isn’t pretty.

After rebounding in April, comic sales dropped a staggering 19% in May versus May 2008, while graphic novel sales declined by 13%, leading to an overall drop-off for the month of 18%. A lack of potent #1 issues as well as the absence of Dark Avengers certainly didn’t help comic sales this May, a month in which no single title even came close to breaking the 100K barrier. In contrast in May of 2008, which boasted seven titles over 100,000, comic sales were boosted by Final Crisis #1, Avengers/Invaders #1, Invincible Iron Man #1, and Giant Size Astonishing X-Men #1, all of which made the top ten along with 4 Secret Invasion titles and two issues of Batman RIP. The paucity of big event titles and strong #1s, the continuing deep recession, and the financial drag of higher cover prices all worked together to help produce the steep decline in comic numbers in May.

More:
Periodical and GN sales analysis
Top 300 Comics Actual–May 2009
Top 300 Graphic Novels Actual–May 2009

John Jackson Miller has his own analysis at Comichron:

The top of the chart, again, was the main factor. Diamond’s Top 50 were off 28%, or 1 million copies, from last May, and that’s the lion’s share of the shortfall. Last May had Secret Invasion #2, Final Crisis #1, and three other #1s in the Top 6. Meanwhile, the highest ranking premiere this May was in 20th place, New Mutants #1. This month’s top-seller at Diamond, New Avengers #53, only sold around half the issues of last year’s top-seller.

Too many stunts? Not enough stunts? Not enough regular periodical sales? Too many webcomics? Everyone will trot out their favorite theory, no doubt.

There are more #1s in June, so hopefully, the market will rebound. This kind of drop makes the “Doomsday Scenario” look not quite so farfetched.

John Jackson Miller, author and master number collater, alerts us to the fact that  Diamond’s May 2009 comics sales charts have been released, and contain a new “Top 50 Small Press” chart.

The new element this time out is that Diamond, which began releasing a Top 50 Independents list at the end of last year, added a Top 50 Small Publishers list this time out. (Or “Small Press” — I’m not sure what they’re calling it.) The Top 50 Indies list, in practice, just wound up reiterating items in the existing Top 300, since once you remove Marvel, DC, Image, and Dark Horse, you almost always still have 50 books left. Only one time did the 301st place item materialize in the Top 50 Indies list.

The Top 50 Small Publishers list has a few of the same items on that Top 50 Indies list — MOUSE GUARD from Archaia, SONIC from Archie — but it extends downward to capture 15 more items not in the Top 300 list, finishing with CASTLE WAITING Vol. 2, #15 from Fantagraphics at 334th place. It’s not clear what qualifies a publisher for the Small Publishers list (especially as some also make the Indies list); my guess is that they’re all publishers with dollar market shares below one percent, or something similar. I have a query in with the distributor.

Jackson has more in the link, including the main charts and some analysis, so you number junkies might want to check it out to get your weekend discussion group primed and ready to go.

This is as good a place as any to bring up the “Indie Sales Chart” that a lot of people have been asking about. Steve Horton, author of several books, comics and games, did the chart once as a test, and of course, it would be a very popular feature here, but I was concerned that indie publishers would be upset by it. It’s no secret that a pretty strong faction of folks associated with the Big Two think that the Marvel and DC Sales Charts are gradually killing periodical sales, and although I’ve never heard anyone on the retail end back up this theory, I do take it seriously enough that I wanted to make sure that running an Indie Sales Chart wasn’t going to strangle a bunch of titles in their crib.

In the end, publishers I spoke with were ambivalent about a potential chart. None of them jumped for joy at the idea, but no one thought it was the sure hoof beat of the Apocalypse, either. I felt the charts would be useful — transparency is generally a good thing, and I thought it might point out some interesting trends.

However, for now, this chart is on hold. Steve is just too busy with his freelance career for this to work out for him right now. So, we imagine a lot of creators are breathing a sigh of relief right now. As for ongoing indie sales analysis, The Mayo Report over at CBR does look at the entire top 300, and is a great addition to what Paul and Marc-Oliver do here.

So, that’s the latest on charts and what not. Back to our nap. Have a great weekend!

[This really got delayed due to MoCCA madness. Many apologies to Marc-Oliver and faithful readers.]

by Marc-Oliver Frisch

After a terrifying March performance, DC Comics’ periodical sales in the direct market rebounded in April. The second part of Neil Gaiman’s “Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?” and the debut of Geoff Johns’ The Flash: Rebirth claimed the two top spots for DC, for starters, which is something that hasn’t happened in a while. Also, with The Battle for the Cowl, the soaring Green Lantern franchise and “The Great Fables Crossover,” there were a number of other strong projects from the company, all contributing to an improved overall performance.

Mainly, though, DC’s recovering average sales were due to more new comic-book releases from its main DC Universe line, which accounts for the bulk of the publisher’s periodical sales. After producing only 36 new comics in March, Executive Editor Dan DiDio’s office ramped up its output to a more conventional 49 releases in April.

Whereas the average periodical sales of DC Comics overall and the DC Universe line in particular showed signs of recovery, however, the Vertigo and WildStorm imprints remained largely unaffected by the upturn. At Vertigo, the second act of Grant Morrison’s Seaguy saga proved to be a commercial non-starter, while three of WildStorm’s series, once again, failed to make the chart.

See below for the analysis, and please consider the small print at the end of the column. Thanks to Milton Griepp and ICv2.com for the permission to use their figures. An overview of ICv2.com’s estimates can be found here.

—–

<strong>1 - DETECTIVE COMICS</strong>
04/2004: Detective Comics #793 --  34,800
04/2005: Detective Comics #805 --  39,077
04/2006: Detective Comics #818 --  60,440 [68,189]
04/2007: Detective Comics #831 --  56,284
-----------------------------------------
04/2008: Detective Comics #843 --  48,431 (- 2.0%)
05/2008: Detective Comics #844 --  48,394 (- 0.1%)
06/2008: Detective Comics #845 --  48,920 (+ 1.2%)
07/2008: Detective Comics #846 --  72,417 (+48.0%)
08/2008: Detective Comics #847 --  71,134 (- 1.8%)
09/2008: Detective Comics #848 --  68,306 (- 4.0%)
10/2008: Detective Comics #849 --  65,878 (- 3.6%)
11/2008: Detective Comics #850 --  64,196 (- 2.6%)
12/2008: Detective Comics #851 --  64,961 (+ 1.2%)
01/2009: Detective Comics #852 --  56,656 (-12.8%)
02/2009: --
03/2009: --
04/2009: Detective Comics #853 -- 104,107 (+83.8%)
-----------------
6 months: + 58.0%
1 year  : +115.0%
2 years : + 85.0%
5 years : +199.2%

There was a 1-for-50 variant-cover edition of Detective Comics #853 that likely boosted sales to no small degree.

That said, Neil Gaiman and Andy Kubert’s two-parter “Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?” probably wouldn’t have needed the help to be called a big whopping success.

The first chapter of the story, published in Batman #686 in February (see below), sold another respectable 8,056 units in April, bringing the total to 124,542.

Evidently, retailers’ faith in the material was justified.

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