Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Sales Review: November 2012


The sales numbers for November 2012 were released last week and, as usual, ICv2 covers the story. Here is a link to their list of the top 300 titles in sales for last month: http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/24568.html
As always, I'd recommend heading there for total coverage.

Supergirl #14 came out last month, the first issue on the title as part of the H'El on Earth crossover event. I loved the issue as it really showed a Kara that was growing, becoming closer with Kal, respecting life, and not easily wooed by promises of the past. (Of course all of that was undone by Scott Lobdell.)



Sales on the book went up 6%! The book 'sold' 31,270 units, up from 29,450 from the prior. Much of that is probably expected from the boost of the crossover. Any boost in sales is welcomed. Of course, for visitors to the character, they are probably even more flummoxed by her uneven portrayal in the story than I was.

Now to put in some historical perspective, Supergirl #35 (last volume) was a New Krypton crossover with a variant cover and sold 45K.

Personally, I would be thrilled if the title settled out at around 30K of sales. Hopefully some of the H'El readers will stick around.


And what about the other title I like to follow sales on?

Legion of Super-Heroes continues to bleed readers. The last issue, probably the most forgettable of the title was down even more.


Legion of Super-Heroes #14 sold only 17,767 issues.

Will the return of Keith Giffen on the book give this title any boost?

4 comments:

Dave Mullen said...

I don't know what they're going to do about LSH. It's clear it is just a matter of time before the axe falls, I can't see Keith Giffens arrival providing the necessary pull & attraction to add on a few thousand readers to lift it out of the hole it's in here.
The books problems stem from a number of issues and one of the most pressing is the lack of vitality to the line-up for the team. How many of the legionairres are active currently? Not that many. Despite the stories not being canon anymore the Legion is still struggling to pull itself together after the Geoff Johns reintroduction with Earth-Man and Legion of 3 Worlds.
It's a team and a book that looks anachronistic and small out on todays marketplace besides the vast X-Men and Avengers franchises.

Reinvention is needed. I think despite the serious problems with the concept DC aren't going to leave it on the shelf. I can only suggest a rethink with a brand new creative team, another relaunch (not a reboot I stress) with a brand new polishing of the team line-up and a mandate for expanding the 31st century universe.
Another important consideration is tieing the team back into the Superman mythos IMHO. It's a book that needs all the aid it can get to attract readers, and the best way of making the team relevant again, as Geoff Johns realised, is to link them back to Superman's legacy.

Please DC. Pretty Please...?

Anonymous said...

Chris Roberson wrote a pretty good Legion story with the LOSH/Star Trek crossover. Too bad that he quit DC (or got kicked out of there, depending on your viewpoint); he would've brought in a fresh voice for the series. I dropped LOSH before the zero issue; it just didn't go anywhere and had no focus.

tony said...

Imo the LOSH book(which is gonna be the only one soon) will.be tied to the superboy book,because imo Harvest is from that time era,and there is a slight chance kons third dna donor is from the future.also jocelyn lure has kon on her computer with others from the future,and someone in legion lost said there isnt any records of him ,and he shouldnt be in this time era.

Anj said...

Thanks for the comments.

Dave, I agree that Legion has been churning rather than running as a title. Giffen said in a recent article that it will be a 'revamp on the run' with some deaths and action. Hope it shakes things up enough to remain viable.

I do like the idea of a Roberson written Legion.

And adding a Super to the Legion would be nice as well.