July sales are out and there is what seems to be a slow orbital decay for all the ancillary Superman titles that I can only hope is slowed or stops. Otherwise, all these books will stop being printed and they all have been wonderful in recent months. If you are interested in looking at the sales for comics in total, I'll refer you (as I always do) to ICv2. Here is the link:
https://icv2.com/articles/markets/view/38210/top-300-comics-actual-july-2017
Supergirl #11 wrapped up the Phantom Zone adventure and Batgirl crossover. For all of those hoping the Batgirl appearance would prop up titles, it didn't happen. And for those (like me) thinking that Aethyr and Psi mentions should make people flock to the book, we were wrong too.
I know, I am not the average DC reader.
So how did it sell?
Supergirl #11 was ranked #104 is sales, surrounded by a number of female led books: Spider-Gwen, Jessica Jones, and Bettie Page! The book sold/was ordered at 21,319 units. This was down about 800 in orders from the month before.
There is room for hope though. The new art team on the book is great. But more importantly, my store sold out of the ArtGerm variant and that book was already selling for $10 at the convention I went to last weekend. Perhaps ArtGerm variants will lead to increased sales??
Superwoman #12 continued K. Perkins reclamation of the title. It finished up the so-so story of Steel's family members and Skyhook. To be honest, the super-action of that story really took a back seat to the growth in Lana. And that trend really skyrocketed in this month's issue.
The book sold 15,209 which seems to be holding its own spot. There hasn't been a dramatic bottoming out of sales. I really hope Perkins has the time to tell her story and keep readers around. This book is on the upswing for me.
New Super-Man #13 continued the excellent story forming the Justice League of China as they fought Emperor Superman.
This book has been a brilliant mix of humor, action, and character growth. I have loved it since its inception.
But this is the book with the weakest sales. It only sold 12,951units.
I get the sense that the pace in New Super-Man has picked up. Maybe Gene Luen Yang has been told he only has so much more time and want to sprint to the finish?
Anyways, we should support the books we love and talk them up when we can!
3 comments:
Real bad sales. The silver lining is Supergirl's drop is less steep than it was the prior month.
I know I can be biased, but I truly think they're good books, so why aren't they selling more? They are actually bad and I'm in denial or there're other factors in play? All books come out the same week, the two Superman core books are bimonthly, the Super-Family barely appears in the core books which makes them seem irrelevant... and there're barely word-of-mouth between online fans.
Nonetheless, Supergirl #12 has gotten excellent word-of-mouth and reviews. Let's hope the new artist attracts readers.
Also, I don't ''want'' Superwoman, New Super-Man or Super Sons being cancelled, but and I think sales would go up or settle should DC publish only Action Comics, Superman and Supergirl; all of them monthly.
The two Batgirl titles sell around the same as Supergirl. Possibly there is already a crossover readership between those books. This may explain why Batgirl's appearance didn't "prop up" Supergirl's sales.
I wouldn't mind seeing the entire DC line go back to monthly publication. What with several books coming out twice a month, and each issue having two covers (comic collectors being completists, I'm sure many of them are buying both covers), it's all too much.
Things DO look encouraging with Supergirl 12. If all goes well, those buying the book for ArtGerm's covers will read it and like it enough to keep buying, even if and when ArtGerm moves on.
Which hopefully won't be for a long while. ArtGerm seems to enjoy drawing Kara (on his facebook page he referred to her as his "favorite DC girl") and if his covers are bringing higher sales, DC should have him continue 'til the cows come home.
I think crossover between heroes is not enough to boost sales, unless it's part of a huge event, many people also avoided the comic because of the art, with the change in Supergirl#12 who knows the sales Increase or at least stabilize.
Post a Comment