Sales Review: August 2014

ICv2 has posted their review of August 2014 sales over on their site.

For me, I am always trying to figure out what to do with these sales numbers, especially with books that have multiple covers. Remember, these aren't readers ... these are orders. My store seemed to order more copies of some DC books to give the choice of 'regular' or 'selfie' variant. And that seems to bear out in this list of sales. Harley Quinn #9 had a selfie variant and orders broke 71K. Harley Quinn #10, without a variant, sold 58K. My guess is the second number is more indicative of the books overall popularity.

Now this month I had a lot to mull over. Perhaps the thing that shocked me the most was that Multiversity #1only sold 90K. (I know ... saying only sold 90K in today's market is silly.)

Here is ICv2's list of the top 300 books from August: http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/29603.html

Supergirl #34 was on sale last month.

This was a Superman:Doomed crossover, although in my mind, it was barely a Doomed book.

It also was the first post-Red Daughter storyline, showcasing a new direction for Kara. In this book she seemed to embrace Earth for the first time, told emergency workers she was there to help, met Michael who taught her about being positive and making the most of life, and even added a little romance!

This was a great issue!

Now, most likely because it was a Doomed crossover, sales were pretty robust for the book.

Supergirl has a very steady sales history, always hovering between 22 and 23K. Last month it sold 22802 units.

Supergirl #34 sold 26510, up 16%.

I can only hope that some of the new people reading this for the Doomed aspect might stick around. Of course, this is nearly Tony Bedard's swan song. Will people want to stick around for a 'lame duck' creative direction.

In the end, all that matters is that more people read Supergirl last month than the month before. Hurrah!!

Now I usually take the latter have of this monthly post to look at sales of another book, one whose sales are dropping near a danger zone, a book which should be doing better.

Here I highlight two books.

First off, I will freely admit I bemoaned JH Williams leaving Batwoman. I loved his art. I don't know if I 100% loved his stories which seemed a little trippy and a little clunky. But it was eye candy. And I know the controversial backstory to his leaving.

But I have very much enjoyed Marc Andreyko and Jeremy Haun's run more than the earlier issues. The stories are much tighter. There is great action and character growth. The art is very good, suited for the material. There has been an undercurrent of horror which I believe is going to surge forward.

And here it sits at just below 17K.

And there, right above it is Elektra. In many ways it reminds me of the early issues of Batwoman. Haden Blackman is writing it (as he helped Williams co-write the Batwoman book). And the art, here by Mike Del Mundo, is simply gorgeous, a painted style which flows. It too is selling around 17K. And now it seems like Elektra has been canceled.

Hope Batwoman survives a bit longer.