The sales breakdown for April 2012 have been released and as usual ICv2 does a great job of breaking things down. Here is a link to that site and the review of last month's sales: http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/22842.html
Supergirl #8 had a lot going for it. It was the first issue of a new arc. And it also had George Perez as a guest artist. Any time Perez does Supergirl, it should garner some buzz. Did this bring in some new readers or slow down the sales attrition?
Supergirl slipped 5 slots down to #60 in rank. IVc2 says the issue had 32438 units sold, down only 2.5% from last issues 33,337 sold. That is a bit of a leveling off after a couple of months of around 7% drops in sale. But it also is approaching about half of what Supergirl #1 sold.
In some ways, I have to wonder if the slow immersion of Supergirl into the universe around her is part of the reason that the book has slipped a bit. We are 2/3 of the way through our first year here and Supergirl still can't communicate with people, still has barely interacted with anyone in a meaningful way. I hope readers don't abandon the book during the slow boil of these earliest steps of the hero's journey.
Still, Supergirl is a pretty healthy compared to the Legion books.
The main title has been a bit of an omelet the last several issues with a couple of issues dedicated to catching up on everyone and a 2 issue side story focused on Dragonwind.
Legion of Super-Heroes #9 slipped below 20K in sales, an ominous line drawn in sales sand. Legion Lost is hanging out in 16K range. Will the complete upheaval of that book's themes as well as inclusion in The Culling bring anyone in?
And I was sad to see Demon Knights down in this range as well. I have really enjoyed that book and was hoping to see it thrive. How soon before we hear about the next set of cancellations and a third wave of titles.
Let's hope that Supergirl keeps it's sales block and remains around 30K.
7 comments:
Supergirl is way too decompressed for my tastes. Up to 8 issues now and Kara is only up to 4 or 5 days in the nu52 universe and we hardly know much about her. When did she find the time to appear in Superboy and Superman's series? Their series are several months into their own stories will they (J&G) allow her to "catch up" with the rest of the nu52 universe?
Too little and at the rate it's going it could be too late when, if they decide to pick up the pacing of her series.
ANJ, I hope you're right, the lack of interaction with anyone has made things seem less than they could be and might be part of the reason for the slippage. The book has been great at introducing new villains and dangerous situations, but has been sadly short of supporting cast and anything that doesn't involve violent confrontations. Issue #8 has finally introduced someone Kara can actually have a dialogue with, and because of that it felt so much more complete than what's gone before. Maybe things will pick up in that direction now that we have what (I hope) is the first member of a supporting cast.
On a different note, I hope you've seen the interesting analysis of Silver Age Supergirl over on Colin Smith's blog. If not, here's the link:
http://toobusythinkingboutcomics.blogspot.com/2012/05/original-supergirl-1962-1986-198-12.html
So as I can tell the current Silver Banshee/Black Banshee storyline is going to last at least 3 issues. Hopefully Kara's series will pick up speed by the time it finishes.
Though I have the feeling this is a storyline that could be easily told in two issues but decompressed yet again.
When will J&G realize we want to learn how this Kara think and feels. Plus I hope the "new" power they plan to reveal isn't something too hokey like her solar power. If they stick with it they should rename her Super Solar Girl not Supergirl.
The book has been great at introducing new villains and dangerous situations, but has been sadly short of supporting cast and anything that doesn't involve violent confrontations.
I think if anything that's the problem - all we've had is over the top confrontation scenes, and due to that it's all ended up being far too forced and unnatural.
This comes across as a bit of a depressing and cynical book perhaps?
Still, the sales have to be measured in the proper perspective as most of the DC books have slid to one degree or other and Suprgirl's 32'000 is actually very healthy. My barometer for measuring the books relative successs though is by remembering that by #60 in the previous series it was still averaging a respectable 22'000... for such a book as this and at that advanced numbering that's impressive. New Supergirl is eight issues old and has slipped by around half its sales since #1... I think that's to be expected perhaps but it can only be deemed truly successful if sales settle at this 32k level for awhile at least.
To be frank It's never all that wise to obsess over sales anyway, those sales charts never make a lot of sense to me and success can be measured in other ways. If the team just steer her into a more settled phase without the rampant xenaphobia and temper tantrums I'll be more than happy to stay longterm.
Thanks for all the comments.
I think everyone wants the character to sort of step up and take the lead in the book. Act rather than react. And I think that a big part of that will be settling into her environment a bit more than this.
I also agree that think too long about the loss of readers and dwelling on sales ranks can be maddening. Who knows about digital sales on the book, for example?
Anyways, the new 52 has sort of calmed down a bit with more books selling lower than I would expect while a handful of books remain at the top.
Out of interest is anyone aware of how many the intial Loeb/Turner series sold?
09/2005: Supergirl #2 -- 101,681
09/2006: Supergirl #10 -- 67,358
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