Sales Review: March 2016

#Rebirth is right around the corner so DC has been trying their best to wrap things up on some titles and tee things up on others. So March, April, and May will be interesting months to watch form a sales point of view. Will people jump off the 'lame duck' months? Will people jump on when the stories will 'matter'?

Well the first month of this trifecta is in the books and ICv2 covered sales in their usual excellent way. Here is a link to last month's top 300 books:
http://icv2.com/articles/markets/view/34194/top-300-comics-actual-march-2016

Amazingly, DC improved in sales this month after what has to be considered a horrible couple of years for them overall. And, surprisingly, a Superman book did well.

Superman #50 was the end of the over-bloated, 'oh so serious', 'this isn't your father's Superman ... heck it isn't your Superman' arc called The Truth. Gene Luen Tang had come on board with a Superman story that was supposed to forever change the dynamic of the Man of Steel, a dynamic that his longtime fans actually liked. And, given that #Rebirth is happening, it looks like it didn't change things forever, or for even a little bit.

I was glad to see this direction fade away.

So I was flabberghasted to see that Superman #50 was the 4th best selling title last month, selling 91K.

I don't recall their being any super-exclusive variant covers that may have driven up store purchases. So could stores have ordered that many thinking the end of the story might draw twice as many readers? Or that the impending #Rebirth might get people intrigued?

Anyways, we are moving on. And that is the truth.

As for the Supergirl books that were out, sales held steady.

DC Bombshells continues to delight me as a reader. I wish I could know the sales digitally for this book. That might add some information.

It seems like this book will finish when #Rebirth comes around. And that is a shame. I'd love to read more about these characters.

It is relatively healthy in sales, coming in just under 20K. That has to be considered a success for a digital first book based on a merchandise line and not in the main continuity.

Thanks to Marguerite Bennett and all the artists for this book.

Justice League 3001 is definitely living on borrowed time. It isn't on the #Rebirth slate. It is struggling in sales. But it stars a great supergirl and is a great melange of all sorts of DC continuities. This book has been another delight for me. I would have missed it if Supergirl hadn't come on board. So glad I got it.

The book has hovered around the 12K mark on sales for a while. This book reminds me of the REBELS book from a few years ago. The people who like it tend to love it. It is a loyal audience. But it just isn't large enough for a DC book.

We have a couple more issues. Everyone should be reading this.

I can't wait to see the sales figures with #Rebirth.