Comics continue to be in something of a boom period with February sales up in comparison to the same time last year. And DC continues to dominate the ranks of best selling titles, sweeping the top ten again last month. As usual, ICv2 does a great job of breaking things down. Here is a link to their Top 300 titles rankings as well as links to other sales news: http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/22381.html
I do wonder about the lower level title of the DCnU. We already have the news of the second wave. And some titles I am enjoying have slipped in sales quite a bit.
As for Supergirl, sales slipped a bit again. Supergirl #6 ranked 53rd overall (down from 49 last month). And sales were down 7% with 34,847 units sold.
That is still a healthy number for a comic title. And it is amongst some of the more lauded new titles so I like the company it is keeping. It will be interesting to look at sales in a couple of months after the opening origin arc ends and more typical adventures begin. Will things stabilize?
I also think the last 2 issues of the book have been the strongest from a story point of view so it is a bit disheartening that they have sold the least.
As for the Legion, the new books haven't maintained any sort of bump from the relaunch. The main Legion title sold only 21,085 last month. I might have to do some research to see where that is in comparison to the pre-relaunch sales numbers. As Legion wasn't rebooted, we are probably looking at the same audience.
And Legion Lost? Well, it is a title I have really come to love as characterization and art have been really strong. Unfortunately, Legion Lost #6 sold a R.E.B.E.L.S.-like 17,502. That's pretty low in this era of comics. I worry that Lost might be nearing the guillotine.
Will the creative shake-up at writer, with Fabian Nicieza leaving and Tom DeFalco coming on board have an impact? I'll miss Nicieza's in-depth look at the individual Legionnaires while keeping the main story moving.
I think LoSH is in trouble, three Legion books and none of them above 22'000. A shame as as you say Legion Lost really bounced back after aa first couple of poor issues, I think the chart does show that readers are very canny and while curious on the new 52 will not tolerate poor work. Now that the books have been sampled we're seeing readers settling down and/or drifting away.
ReplyDeleteI must say I'm surprised to see Firestorm so low given it has Ethan Van Sciver onboard, but it does explain to me why the book (and Blue Beetle/Frankenstein etc) are crossing over with other books in the coming two months. Books that are at the 20'000 level and lower are unlikely to recover an audience or stabilise. It really does look like sales are steadily drifting back towards pre-september levels on the whole.
Supergirl is safe for now but given even Red Hood and Red Lanterns is above it I'm not sure how much of a success the book can be deemed, yes it's high up in the charts but the difference between the sales numbers in the top 20 alone is remarkable, move it to the top 50 and it gets hard to measure what is really successful.
Doesn't seem like anyone newer or younger has come on board at DC in appreciable numbers. granted we are only seven or so months into the DCNU.
ReplyDeleteLet me ask a blunt and simple question, IF the DCNU does NOT work saleswise, what then?
Close down the floppies?
Go to an all digital format?
Sell the division?
You tell me.
JF
Thanks for the comments. It shocks me that 20K separate #15 from #53. It either shows that there are a lot of good books out there with unique audiences, or smaller dollars for the audience that is there.
ReplyDeleteI am bummed about the Legion because the characters are so great and the concept is so winning. Maybe they are too bright for these times? That said, 5YL was darker and I liked that reboot too.