It's that time of the month again. Diamond has released their sales numbers and, as usual, ICv2 does a great job of breaking things down. Here is the link: http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/16618.html
I always find these sales reviews interesting. The swings at the top of the heap, the power of the mega-event, the overall dominance of Marvel, the comparison of trade sales and floppy sales of the same title ... it's all fascinating.
But I always scrutinize the Supergirl sales as well as all the Super-titles. Supergirl #48 was a very good issue, the first issue in some time that had some distance from the New Krypton arc, and felt like a breath of fresh air.
Unfortunately, sales continued to slowly drop as monthly comics seem to be finding their own level. Supergirl #48 sold 28,178 down 3% from last month's 29,159. Of note, the main Superman titles are only selling a bit more with their sales in the low 30Ks.
I think a lot of things are involved in this. For one, I wonder if the 'Year Without Superman' is starting to feel a little stale. I know I am looking forward to the super-universe being reset without the 100,000 other Kryptonians being around. I also know that won't happen until next summer after War of the Supermen.
But I also think Blackest Night crossovers might be moving dollars from monthly titles to mini-series. And I also think that the increase of some titles to a $3.99 is forcing buyers into tough choices. Remember $12 only buys 3 titles now instead of 4. Supergirl is not the only title effected by these other issues.
I think the title continues to get significant publicity and praise. I hope that things like the upcoming Supergirl #50 and next summer's Super-heavy mega-event will bring readers to the title and keep them here.
That effect of the mega-event and crossover power was apparent in the sales of R.E.B.E.L.S. #11. The comic has the Blackest Night trade dress. It is the continuation of the powerful R.E.B.E.L.S. #10, the issue linked to an indigo ring toy last month. Remember, R.E.B.E.L.S. sales were around 12K before this crossover.
R.E.B.E.L.S. #11 sold well, coming in with 31,489 units sold. While sales were down 40% from the ring promotion issue, this is still significant retention of new readers. How much of that is due to the Blackest Night banner? I guess we'll find out next month.
ICv2 also looks at trade sales. Here is that link: http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/16619.html
I don't have as much of a handle on trade sales in terms of what are 'good sales.'
The trade treatment of Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the Eighth Grade sold 1747 trades. Sure it ranked 35 but there is a whole morass of trades selling around 2000 and it is right in the mix. It also is the highest ranked 'all ages' trade by a wide margin.
Is it enough to give the go-ahead for a sequel?
These sales posts sometimes depress me.
3 comments:
I don't think there is much to be depressed about. Every monthly is trending downwards and we are still ahead of wonder woman. (my rationale is that we can't be cancelled if we outsell their flagship female!) As for Cosmic adventures, I can't rememeber anything but Tiny titans selling that much. Its one of the top Superhero trades of December and is on a par with a trade where superman is a co-lead in the mainstream DCU!
Anj said...
I think a lot of things are involved in this. For one, I wonder if the 'Year Without Superman' is starting to feel a little stale. I know I am looking forward to the super-universe being reset without the 100,000 other Kryptonians being around. I also know that won't happen until next summer after War of the Supermen.
I think you might be right. The New Krypton mega event has just about been dragged out for 3 years straight now and it might be starting to be really peeing a lot of longtime loyal Superman Family fans off who just want to read Superman solely in both Action Comics and his own main title (as well as Superman/Batman and JLA) along with Supergirl being read in her own title (with occasional cameos from cuz Kal as well as with the LSH in Adventure Comics) being the norm all over again in 2010.
Again, I personally hope that at the end of the day New Krypton is 1) boom tubed to the previous location of Old Krypton where their red sun Rao still is (as Infinite Crisis proved to be the case upon Kal-L, Kal-El having to face off against Superboy-Prime) or 2) to insure that Brainiac can never locate the planet again that Superman and Supergirl along with the LSH relocate them to the Legion's own 31st Century era time instead.
Well I’m pretty much on my own. Looking that over, SG, Powergirl, the Black Widow origins mini, were among my favorites… and none ranked high.
Also, I know I’m in the great minorit,y but Blackest Night is not blowing me away. It’s okay, but it’s not taking my breath away. And I mention this because Marvel has siege coming up and after BN, I’m burnt out on events. Especially events that don’t knock me out. I invested all this money and time for… merely decent?
But everyone else seems to clamor and love these things. Me, I’d rather have the stand-alone or arcs within a series. And it’s Supergirl that makes me the happiest each month.
So I guess I’ll never get the mindset of other readers, as represented in these sales reports. Guess I’m a Dinosaur and not really the target reader for comics these days.
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