The sales numbers for November are out and up on ICv2 and they are fascinating. One of the things I have noticed over time has been how the market share of the big two has been slowly eroding as independents and other publishers pump out better stories and lure away great creators.
The actual ranking of the November sales are available on ICv2 here: http://www.icv2.com/articles/
Supergirl #25 was one of the middle chapters of Krypton Returns, the big super-crossover event and sequel to H'El on Earth.
I talked about the quality of the story during the reviews and to put it succinctly, I wasn't impressed.
And yet ...
Sales went up last month!
The book was up 8% to 25,377. And I can only assume that is due to the crossover and not something else. The only thing noteworthy in the month was the further discussion of her change to a Red Lantern. I don't think people would jump on this early.
I always like to look at another comic's sales.
Jeff Lemire recently announced that Animal Man is being canceled because he had told all the stories he had in him about Buddy and his family.
I was surprised because after slogging through the overly-long Rot storyline, the book was hitting its stride again.
That said, in looking at the sales, the book has dipped below the 20K mark. I thought it was one of the 'surprise books' of the new 52. I haven't been following this book's sales closely. Was this a slow erosion? Or was there a point it dropped off precipitously. I will admit, I almost dropped it during the Rot arc.
Surprisingly Marvel's Captain Marvel is down there too. We know this book is also 'canceled' ... more like on hiatus. It is coming back with writer Kelly Sue DeConnick back on as writer. This is a book with a strong vocal audience who have formed a CarolCorps. Looks like Marvel was listening in assuring it is coming back.
Maybe we need to form a KaraKorps.
10 comments:
It's telling what an event or tie-in can do for a book, regardless of quality. BIRDS OF PREY's sales jumped over 4,000 in November because of the connection to Batman's "Zero Year", despite the increase in price.
YES! I APPROVE OF THE KARAKORPS!!!!
According to the excellent Comicsbeat Supergirl's sales show a consistent erosion, and as I've noted before not a flattering one given the previous series was still managing an average of 25'000 in its final year, and at the ripe old age of five years - 67 issues.
The drop-off is not at all unique to Supergirl though, as you say Anj the dominance DC and Marvel have enjoyed is being seriously challenged by the rise of the independent publishers and a wide selection of impressive and genuinely innovative books, done by the sort of creators DC once harvested to power their own output...
10/2008: Supergirl #34 - 33,958
10/2009: Supergirl #46 - 30,377
10/2010: Supergirl #57 - 23,842
10/2011: Supergirl #2 - 61,388
10/2012: Supergirl #13 - 29,450
11/2012: Supergirl #14 - 31,270
12/2012: Supergirl #15 - 30,814
01/2013: Supergirl #16 - 30,350
02/2013: Supergirl #17 - 30,146
03/2013: Supergirl #18 - 28,051
04/2013: Supergirl #19 - 29,558
05/2013: Supergirl #20 - 27,509
06/2013: Supergirl #21 - 25,856
07/2013: Supergirl #22 - 25,514
08/2013: Supergirl #23 - 24,747
10/2013: Supergirl #24 - 23,321
Thanks for all the comments!
I can't marshall a KaraKorps. But would enlist if someone did.
I did! ;)
The low Animal Man sales are surely the reason the book is ending, not Jeff Lemire having told the stories he wanted to tell; if it were doing better DC would be bringing on Kindt or Soule or Bennett or some other up and comer. I also stuck with the book through the Rot storyline, all 18 months of it or something. I'm thinking 18 A-Man issues, 18 Swamp Things and a pair of annuals, with each one getting more tedious as the storyline refused to wrap. If not for the extra, interestingly tweaked heroes helping out I'd likely have dropped off. As it is, I finally packed in a month or two back, I got sick of the book being a downer, month after month. And Shepherd. I hate Shepherd, with his cutesy pastoral speech patterns, even more than I hate Waller.
I'd join the Kara Korps too, but first we need a good run of engaging stories to encourage the cosplay crowd.
The low Animal Man sales are surely the reason the book is ending, not Jeff Lemire having told the stories he wanted to tell; if it were doing better DC would be bringing on Kindt or Soule or Bennett or some other up and comer.
True. Given the book goes out on a relative high and with a lot of good will from both audience and publisher I would fully expect to hear of a relaunch in due course, DC isn't one to throw good characters away like this who are still viable.
But on a broader view the drop-off on sales across the whole publishing line is surely a cause for concern. 26 issues in and the shine has significantly dulled on the New 52... what is DC going to do to get the buzz back?
I agree that maybe the bloom came off the rose on Animal Man with the never ending Rot. I have enjoyed these last months so much but too little too late.
I can't imagine DC changing anything big this soon into the New 52 so I suppose the next thing will just be another wild massive crossover.
Put me down for the Kara Korp..I'll carry a spear in that outfit any day!
JF
Yes, I looked at the analysis of the New52 sales and it seems that with a few exceptions, sales are dropping consistently across the line. Supergirl's actually quite typical, the only ones bucking the trend are things like Flash which seems to have held its audience fairly well and books involved in crossovers or events, which only seem to have short-term gains. Zero Year boosted a lot of books, as has Forever Evil. Krypton Returns boosted Superboy and Supergirl, but I'm guessing that must have been mostly Superman and Action readers because Superman itself stayed pretty static. And the drop in readers for Superman/Wonder Woman was enormous! I know it's a second-issue drop but nevertheless, it was a huge loss, I wonder where that book is going to end up. Surely someone up top has got to realise they can't go on like this!
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