Sales Review: July 2009

July comics sales were robust, buoyed by major events like the beginning of Blackest Night as well as the return of Steve Rogers in Captain America:Reborn. As usual, ICv2 does a great job with the breakdown of sales. Here is the link to the top 300 comics sold in July 2009: http://www.icv2.com/articles/home/15633.html .

Now last month I was in a bit of a panic mode as sales on the Supergirl title fell into the 32K range for the first time since Sterling Gates and Jamal Igle took over. I feared that might be the beginning of a plummet in sales. A lot of you talked me down reminding me that stability in sales in the volatile comics market is success.

Supergirl #43 was the stand alone 'Guilding Day' story, a perfect place for people to jump on or jump off the title as they saw fit. It sold a respectable 32,849 issues, holding steady in sales. That is great news!

Reviewing the last year in sales, you can see that Supergirl #43 sold marginally more than the previous issue. While I would love to see this comic selling 50,000 a month, I am happy to see it succeeding as it is. More people picked it up last month. That's great.

And with 'Codename:Patriot' and the 'Hunt for Reactron' crossovers coming up, sales should get a boost. Hopefully some of those new readers will like what they see and stick around.

As usual, I will continue to applaud DC for promoting the title with sneak preview pages on The Source, Newsarama, etc.

Well, after that bit of good news about Supergirl, I figured I would peek at R.E.B.E.L.S., the title I am hoping will pull through.

Sometimes I have to wonder about the comics world where something like R.E.B.E.L.S. languishes with low sales. I can't be the only one enjoying this comic ... can I?

I remind people that the TV show Cheers was near the bottom in rankings after it's first year but then found it's audience and became a powerhouse. I can only hope DC shows the same patience with this title and doesn't pull the plug too soon.

Tony Bedard, Andy Clarke, Claude St. Aubin ... I doubt you read this blog but you should know your work is appreciated!

Review: Supergirl #43

Supergirl #43 was released last week and had the tough task of being a sort of 'rest issue' between the 'Who Is Superwoman?' story arc and next months super-title crossover 'Codename:Patriot'.

With 'Patriot' around the corner, it was not as if Sterling Gates and Jamal Igle had the luxury of opening up any major can of worms for the future. Knowing this needed to be something of a done-in-one story, I didn't know what to expect.

What I got was a pretty good story that took a long hard look at the Alura/Kara dynamic. After seeing only snippets of Alura acting like an evil stepmother from a fairy tale for the last 9 months, I was glad to get a bigger glimpse of her, to get a better sense of her motivations.

This was a character driven issue through and through and sometimes those are the hardest ones to get right. Add to that some scenes detailing Kryptonian culture and a great scene with Superman and overall I was pretty happy with the outcome.

The issue takes place just before Kara's birthday and the upcoming celebration on New Kandor. This birthday will also mark the time when Kara will need to declare a guild to join. All along I thought she would choose the Artist's guild given her own predilection to painting as well as her close relationship to her father.

The issue is told via excerpts from a letter that Kara is writing to her dead father Zor-El. Now the 'letter to a dead loved one' motif has been used many many times. It can easily veer into schmaltz and saccharine. I worried this might become an 'after school special' issue. Luckily, my fears were unfounded. The letter excerpts are there more to frame the scenes we are shown albeit with some personal reflection by Kara.

One thing that has not changed is how icy and belligerent Alura is shown to be. When Kara comments on how prominent the House of El crest is on Alura's outfit, Alura responds that it is there as a warning to anyone who would harm any other El family members. Alura has a whole planet of Kryptonians that she can command to fight.

I had begun to wonder if Alura was going to become a one-note character. At least in this title, we haven't seen any other emotions from her other than bitterness and anger. Gates has really done a wonderful job making Kara and the other characters here 3-dimensional. I mean, no one can be bitter and angry *all* the time? Can they?

Seemingly upset at Supergirl's failure to capture either Reactron or Superwoman, Alura sends Kara to work with the labor guild for a couple of days.

I enjoy any look into Kryptonian culture as it fleshes out their world and customs. Here we see a Labor Guild unit repairing some machinery. They seem proud of their work as they toil away in the grime. I like the look of understanding on Kara's face in that last panel. Suddenly members of the Labor Guild have faces and names. They are people who are treated as slave labor. Kara seems to be looking at them with sympathy.

And then there is a wonderful scene were Supergirl and Kal's Red Shard unit discover the apartment that Lucy was hiding out in as Superwoman when on New Kandor.

I am so happy that Gates wrote this scene. Just like we needed to see Lois' response to the Lucy mystery, so too did we need to see Kal's. What I love most about this scene is how Kal completely supports Kara. In the Silver Age, this would have been the time that Superman would have chastised Superman. That doesn't happen now.

In fact he apologizes to Kara for Lois' behavior. Realizing that Lucy could not have put together the suit and acted as Superwoman alone, Kal vows to find out who is behind this threat to New Krypton.

This scene alone made the issue for me. Throughout Gates and Igle's run we have seen Superman support Supergirl. It would have been easy to have him be upset about the death of his sister-in-law, to question Kara's abilities ... but he didn't.

Lastly, a new name has been added to the Superwoman mystery. This apartment belonged to someone named Kryn Kel-Ur, a Kryptonian missing since the city was enlarged. Where is she? Did Lucy kill her?

But Alura has more duties for Kara to perform on New Krypton and so the mystery needs to wait.

Next Kara meets Zal-Tel the man commissioned to carve a statue in Zor-El's honor. He also happened to be Zor-El's mentor in the artist's guild.

Zal-Tel asks Kara about her own painting and wonders if she would like to be his next apprentice. Kara's expression sort of says it all. I assumed she would jump at the chance and be beaming. Instead this semi-confused look let me know that Kara was conflicted about this decision.

And that feeling was probably greater after some jumbled meetings with members of the Religious Guild and Science Guild.

As I said before, Alura's constant vitriol had started to feel a little stale with me.

But Gates does a good job of letting us know that Alura isn't all steel. Throughout the book we see Kara lying in bed at night listening to her mother cry. Alura always cries at the same time and always nears hysterical sobbing. Kara even worries if her mother might take her own life.

This suddenly humanizes Alura. She is still reeling with grief from Zor-El's death. Maybe that rigid exterior is a mask to hide the crumbling interior.

Finally, Kara confronts her mother who has flown to Zor-El's grave.

There is one new plot point here ... why is Alura always crying at the same time of night?

Once again though, this scene shows just how much Kara has matured over the last several months. There was a time when Kara wouldn't have confronted her mother like this.

It turns out that Alura has had Kara running all over New Krypton to expose Kara to all the different guilds. On Kara's birthday she'll need to choose a guild to join and Alura used her pull to give Supergirl some insider information.

Alura regards these trips as a gift ... a statement that flummoxes Kara.

I love the confused look on Kara's face, the slightly furroed brow, as she admits that she simply doesn't understand her mother.

There was no anger here, no angst. Supergirl is outright perplexed by her mother and her actions.

Which makes Supergirl's choice of the Science Guild intriguing.

I had really thought it was a foregone conclusion that Kara would pick the Artist Guild. It made sense.

Instead she joins the Science Guild in hopes of learning why Alura acts the way she does. I also thought this choice showed some maturity. Supergirl didn't choose the Science Guild to try to make Alura love her more or to try to 'buy' Alura's respect. She did it in hopes of coming to some understanding.

This was another very good issue by the Gates/Igle team. I have yet to be disappointed by any of their issues and there is always something noteworthy. In this issue, Kara's scene with Kal and their mutual respect for each other really stands out as the high point.

Overall grade: B+/B

The Source: Matt Idelson Talks About The Super-Books

The DC Blog gave us another inside look at a typical day in Super-title editor Matt Idelson's life last week. Here is the link: http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2009/06/26/a-day-in-the-life-of-superman-group-editor-matt-idelson-2/

The post is full of lots of small tidbits of information including some teasers. I have to admit it sounds like editting the books is a lot of detail work, a lot of reviewing. As always, I like the 'behind the scenes' looks into the industry.

Some things did stick out though, especially the page above from next month's Supergirl #43. I love the overbearing nature of Alura on the page, especially given the angle of the lower left panel. Shot from below the the edges of Alura spilling into other panels, it really gives her a domineering 'larger than life' quality. I also like Supergirl's frustrated look in the last panel.

From the post itself:

Also on the lettering front, Jared Fletcher, the man of many nicknames, has delivered the first round of lettering for SUPERGIRL #43, and man, he’s done a great job. We asked him to do something slightly different here for Kara’s narrative, and he’s knocked it out of the park. The whole issue is somewhat of a departure, and definitely a pallet cleanser after a few months of asking, “Who is Superwoman?” I swear, Sterling and Jamal are getting exponentially better by the issue! One guy who’s not getting better is Jon Sibal, and that’s only ‘cause he couldn’t possibly get any better. The fact that he’s crazy in a good way just adds to the joy of working with him.

I think everyone is a bit ragged from the 'Who is Superwoman' story so a change of pace will be good. By I also like that things that usually go unnoticed by fans, like the lettering, is still part of the creative process.

And I agree, I really like Jon Sibal's inks on Jamal Igle's pencils.

We also get another look at a page from the Supergirl Annual with Lucy in combat mode.

And lastly this ...

Spend a few minutes chatting with Wil about a new costume we’re having designed for… well, don’t want to give that away here, in case anyone is actually reading this thing. The main design is coming along nicely, and we’re at the stage of small tweaks in order to put a wrap on the thing. This is going to be very, very cool.

I have heard rumblings of a new costume for Supergirl here and there, even mentioned in passing in Igle's bike shorts interview on Newsarama. Could we be getting a new look for Kara?

Supergirl News On DC:The Source

Some previews of Supergirl are now being showcased on the new DC Blog, The Source. Here is the link: http://dcublog.dccomics.com/2009/04/15/some-supergirl-art-to-close-out-the-day/

The first preview is a couple of pages from Supergirl #41. Remember, this is the last issue of the 'Who is Superwoman?' story arc and supposedly takes place after Superwoman has revealed herself to Kara.

The first sneak page shows that a battle is ongoing with Supergirl fighting Reactron and Superwoman.

Nice semi-splash here of Supergirl face-planting Superwoman into a wall.

The next sneak page shows Kara on the losing end of the battle. Reactron gloats over her, Gold K spilling from his chest.

I pity the police officers who are trying to stop Reactron. I don't think they are long for this world.

Unfortunately, nothing on these pages to add to the 'Who is Superwoman?' mystery. In fact, I find it interesting that Superwoman is still wearing the cowl.

Also shown is the cover of Supergirl #43, a stunning picture of Kara flying happily in the sky.

We have seen this picture before. Joshua Middleton actually had it posted on his blog waayyyyy back in February 2008! Here is the link including a nice breakdown from rough sketch to finished piece: http://joshuamiddleton.blogspot.com/2008/02/supergirl.html

This doesn't take away from how great this cover is. Unfortunately, it doesn't clue us in to anything happening in the issue either.

No matter what, it was good to see Supergirl promoted on DC's blog.