Thursday, February 18, 2010

Sales Review: January 2010


While comics sales as a whole creeped up a bit in January 2010, it looks as though some monthly titles seems to be slipping in sales with dollars aimed more towards crossover event issues. As usual, ICv2 does a great job of breaking down the sales. Here is the link:
http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/16810.html

But it is intriguing to look over the sales ranks. I find it amazing that Blackest Night Wonder Woman sold three times what Wonder Woman did. I was as amazed that Blackest Night Superman outsold the Superman titles as it did. So is there interest for the characters?

There is that subset of fans, of which I include myself, that complains of 'event fatigue'. And yet the books sell like hotcakes. How can the companies turn away?

So how did sales go last month?


Supergirl seems to be treading water on sales.

Despite the eye-catching cover, despite the advertised death of Lana Lang, despite good reviews across the internet, sales slipped a tiny bit to 27,728 units sold, down about 2% from Supergirl #48. In fact, sales for Supergirl #49 are, in essence, equal to the sales of Supergirl #33, the last Kelley Puckett issue.

But the title itself remains stable in terms of sales ranking. In fact, this issue was higher that last issue which ranked #78. I think I have to be happy with stability here.

It just seems consumer dollars are being shunted elsewhere.



In fact, it is interesting to look at Superman sales as a whole. The best selling Superman title last month was Secret Origin, which sold 43K. The other titles are languishing in the low 30K as New Krypton sputters to the finish line.

Will Last Stand of New Krypton and War of the Supermen bring a new sales interest in the title? Will Supergirl #50 with all the extras thrown in bring a bump in sales? I can only hope so.

Again, I always feel that I need to say that I have enjoyed Action Comics and World of New Krypton. The stories have been great. But I look forward to seeing Superman in the red and blue in his title.

The crossover sales are dramatically evident when we look at R.E.B.E.L.S. sales. The ring-issue sold 60K. The following issue, still with the Blackest Night trade dress, still sold 31K.



Issue #12, continuing the same story from those two prior issues, was back down to R.E.B.E.L.S. typical sales, selling 12,428. I hope DC continues to support R.E.B.E.L.S., putting it in the Jonah Hex category of continued publication regardless of sales.

Looking forward seeing what happens with Supergirl #50.

4 comments:

TalOs said...

Supergirl's title has actually dropped in sales come Jan to that of Kelly/Pucket's run? 0_0 I don't like the sounds of that one bit. Here's another who's hoping that this months #50 special changes this for the better though.

Raye Thorsen said...

It's really sad cause I think Supergirl finally found it's niche with the start of the New Krypton stuff last year... I've been following it consitently... but I'm a bit behind on my comics at the moment, they are languishing in my reserve file at the comic store, as I got pneumonia earlier this month.


Here's hoping 50 is a blast.

Anj said...

Supergirl's title has actually dropped in sales come Jan to that of Kelly/Pucket's run? 0_0 I don't like the sounds of that one bit. Here's another who's hoping that this months #50 special changes this for the better though.

It really looks like sales on a number of monthlies have gone down while event comics (like BN mini-series) are very healthy.

Supergirl is selling just about as well as most Superman titles, so I'm not super nervous yet.

Yet ...

Anj said...

It's really sad cause I think Supergirl finally found it's niche with the start of the New Krypton stuff last year... I've been following it consitently... but I'm a bit behind on my comics at the moment, they are languishing in my reserve file at the comic store, as I got pneumonia earlier this month.

Thanks for the post and sorry about the pneumonia!

I think that given all the events of New Krypton, Supergirl has a foundation for her place in the DCU. I really expect great things in the book over the coming year.