Sales Review: April 2014

The sales numbers for April 2015 came out this week and I have induced a migraine by trying to wrap my head around what all these numbers mean. As always, ICv2 is the place to look at the nitty-gritty. Here is a link: http://icv2.com/articles/news/view/31604/top-300-comics-actual-april-2015

This marked the first month of DC's Convergence phemonenon. There were only a handful of 'regular' titles released in April. This is an 'event' so it might grab curious readers to check things out. And, I suppose, it worked. Sales overall for DC went up.

But do high sales means there is an interest in these characters and time periods within the comic community? Will some of these sales nudge DC into reinventing things? Or is it simply the curiosity factor around Convergence that is priming the sales pump?

For example, different Supergirls appeared in a number of these books. One of them was Convergence Justice League. This was a look back at the James Robinson JLA, the book where the legacy heroes had assumed the roles of the mentors in the League.

Almost any book with Justice League in the title is going to sell well.

And Convergence Justice League #1 did sell well. It did about 63K in sales. Now that is solid.

Does this mean that people want a Justice League with Supergirl, Donna Troy, and Jade? Or is it simply the Justice League name that brought people in?

Dan Jurgens wrote Convergence Superman, a love letter to the immediate pre-Flashpoint Superman.

He's happily married to Lois. They declare their undying love for each other. They work together as a team.

There has been plenty of talk about how shabbily Lois is being treated in the New 52 continuity. So many fans of a classic Clark/Lois dynamic embraced this.

And it sold very well. Convergence Superman #1 sold just under 52K. It sold almost as much as Superman #40, the in continuity book.

Does this mean there is as much interest in this sort of Superman?

Does this book selling this well mean DC will rethink its approach to the character? Bring back a more classic Lois? Bring back a more heroic and inspirational Superman?

Or is this, again, just the Convergence logo bringing in readers? Or does this just show that Superman fans will read Superman books since the sales are nearly identical?

Can you see where my headache is coming from?

For me, the book I was intrigued about was Convergence Adventures of Superman, a look back at the pre-Crisis Supergirl written by Marv Wolfman.

What would Wolfman do to Kara this time?

Convergence Adventures of Superman #1 sold around 40K, a jump up from the standard 26K the solo Supergirl book did. Was this interest in the pre-Crisis Supergirl? A morbid peek to see how Wolfman would write this Supergirl again? Did this well because it is basically a Superman-driven book?

For me though, the thing that stuck out was that this book outsold the in-continuity Superman/Wonder Woman #17! I have tired of the uneven stories in that title and I am pretty sure I am jumping off that book come June.

Will that be a wake-up call to DC about that book?

Now those Convergence books with Supergirl were labeled a Justice League or Superman title.

So what about Convergence Supergirl Matrix? This is a pure Supergirl driven book (even though it should've been called Convergence Ambush Bug). And this is the 'confusing' Matrix Supergirl (even though she calls herself Kara, adding to the confusion), the one that 'needed' to go away to reintroduce the Kryptonian cousin.

Convergence Supergirl Matrix #1 sold almost 35K, more than the solo title had sold.

But this was a rough issue with an uneven portrayal of Supergirl. I don't know if I would want a Supergirl like this to be *the* Supergirl. But does this show DC that a Supergirl book can sell?

Or is all of this just a representation of a 2 month mega-event?

Regardless, I was glad to see these different Supergirl incarnations in print again.