Sales Review: September 2016

In something which feels unprecedented in this last decade, DC continued to dominate comic sales in September. Whether it is the optimism of Rebirth or the doldrums of Civil War 2 or the quirky nature of comic fans, the tables have turned. Fascinating.

Here is the link to ICv2's coverage of the month:
http://icv2.com/articles/markets/view/35801/top-300-comics-actual-september-2016

For me, there has just been a different feel to the DCU (or at least the titles I am collecting) since Rebirth. I actually like what is happening! The Superman books feel like Superman books. No dude with bloody fists. No aloof floating guy. Just someone there to help. Supergirl reads like Supergirl, a bright young girl trying to fit in, trying to do what's right, and learning. Wonder Woman is acting like Wonder Woman (and remember I liked the Azzarello/Chiang book for the Elseworlds it was).

So here we are, with DC on top of the world.

But let's look at the specifics.

Supergirl #1 came out last month, the beginning of the new title with the creative team of Steve Orlando and Brian Ching. The book did a good job of establishing the new environment of the book. We saw Supergirl in action. We met Cat Grant. We saw Kara feeling awkward in school. We saw her eye-rolling at her well-intentioned foster parents.

This felt like a true rebirth of the character, semi-ignoring much of what happened late in the last title (much to my chagrin, the Bedard/Perkins/Johnson Kara was spot on).

But I still feel like I root for this Supergirl and that is the most important thing. So how did it sell?

The book landed at number 8 in sales for the month, an unbelievable number.

And it sold 90,247, another unbelievable number.

Now the month before, the Supergirl Rebirth special sold a whopping 112,807. So this is a decline of about 18%. But it rose a couple of notches in rank.

I suppose we'll have to see how this all plays out over months.

The reason I say that is because we are now several months worth of issues with Action Comics. With the twice a month shipping, we have many issues of Action to track.

This is the Jurgens-led book and has the most mysteries to solve. Between Mr. Oz and Clark, there is a lot to mull over in this book. The art has been solid. I have liked this book a lot.

The book is now selling just under 60K.

I am pretty sure that is still nearly twice what it was selling pre-Rebirth. But I was hoping it might be selling more.

Still, I can't complain. Regardless of sales, I love the books I am reading of these days. I am glad that others, at least if sales are an indication, are enjoying them as well.