The comic world continues to flourish a bit as sales in June were up once again. Buoyed by Before Watchmen and the continuing Avengers vs. XMen mini-series, there was another month of properity. As always, ICv2 is the place to get the best breakdown. Well worth perusing. Here is the link:
http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/23331.html
As for Supergirl, the title remains healthy, selling solidly and stable in its position.
Supergirl #10, the conclusion of the three part Silver Banshee story arc sold 33,309 and the title slotted in as the 67th best selling title. This is just around where the book has settled into (although this was down from last month's 35129 units sold). Again, the company it keeps (JLDark, Fraction's Iron Man) is solid as well.
Will 'Zero Month' lure in new readers? Will DC promote the 'Who shot Zor-El?' angle.
I usually comment here about a low-selling underdog who I want to promote.
This month I thought I would talk about the Superman title.
Now I understand that the bloom is off the rose a bit with the DCnU. Even darling title Aquaman has plummeted a bit.
But I can't help but notice that the Superman title has bled off about 30K in sales. And I think it is all about the uncertainty and constraints on this book. Three creative teams in a year. Unable to freely tell stories because the past (by Morrison in Action) isn't written yet. How can this book be marketed as worth reading when it is a revolving door for creators who are handcuffed to Action's continuity.
Superman deserves better ... and better sales.
8 comments:
Do the sales figures include digital versions or are they just traditional printed copies? It doesn't look like they do so presumably actual sales figures are actually higher... but by how much?
I know Comixology are pretty cagey about actual numbers but always seem to be saying that digital sales are booming (well, they would say that, wouldn't they?!). It'd just be interesting to see if digital comics have increased overall readership or just eaten into the traditional printed sector instead... or had no effect at all! :)
Yeah I'd love to know what the numbers are on digital downloads as well....
JF
I do wonder about Digital as well, looking at the top 10 books those figures seem way over the top compared to the steady slide of the titles outside that top 10!
Something looks very odd.
I think you're way too critical on 'Superman' figures Anj, being at #29 while Action is up at #13 is not at all a bad result IMHO. Though I do feel come the Autumn things will get really tough for DC when Marvel's ralaunch hits the charts. DC have now had their crack and a lot of their titles have been found wanting, I'm thinking the next six to twelve months will see a serious hit for them in general.
I'm surprised you didn't discuss Superboy - down at #75 with a 31k average. It's definitly a mixed bag as a book but I'd still rate it above Teen Titans in terms of quality, given Superboy and Titans go hand in hand and share storylines it's telling us something when that book is way up at #36 and Superboy so substantially down the pole... I can forsee some major retooling of this book coming up at this rate.
Happy Belated Birthday! Jamal Igle! :)
Thanks for the comments everyone.
I didn't want to talk about Superboy because it would feel like piling on after my last review.
I do worry about how quickly Superman has fallen but I agree his sales are still healthy.
And are digital sales recorded anywhere? Does anyone know?
I thought I'd do a little digging using your previous sales stats discussions and look at the previous volumes of Supergirl and Superboy. Here's a breakdown, bear in mind the figures for the current issues -
Supergirl
#49 - 27,729
#50 - 33,338
#51 - 29,845
#52 - 29,490
#53 - 28,317
#54 - 26,940?
#55 - 25,257
#57 - 23,420?
#58 - 25,412
#59 - 22,606 (final Gates/Ingle issue)
#61 - 22,048
#62 - 21,780
#63 - 21,594?
#64 - 21,410?
#66 - 20,000
#67 - 19,764? (final issue)
Superboy
#1 - 39,701
#2 - 31,761
#4 - 27,448
#5 - 27,215
#6 - 30,490 (Doomsday tie-in)
#7 - 24,622
#8 - 24,622
#9 - 22,102
#10 - 20,563
Interesting No? The final issues of the Gates/Ingle team on Supergirl managed a very respectable average of 25k, despite this being a book with advancing age and numbering and coming out of the mied blessings of the New Krypton storyline. After that we got some behind the scenes chaos with James Peatty's arrival and swift departure followed by Kelly DeConnicks turn.
Poor Superboy though never quite got off the ground saleswise. I'm not sure why that would be but neither was it disasterous. Not initially anyway...
Thanks for the run down. I have a spreadsheet somewhere with the sales of the last Supergirl but it was good to see those numbers again!
Does make the current 33K an achievement!
I really think Superman deserves better. Lets hope Scott and Ken can bring people in to the book.
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