The sales numbers for June 2017 were release a bit ago over in ICv2 and as usual I wonder what is happening in the comic market. Here is the link to the list:
https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/37977/top-300-comics-actual-june-2017
This report comes out in a time period where someone from DC while at San Diego Comic Con (originally linked to Jim Lee who later denied it) stated frankly that the comic market is dying and companies need to figure out how to keep it viable.
Now I have heard for about a decade that the comic market is dying and it is still kicking. But when I look at the sales numbers, I do wonder if we are approaching the end of days. On to some specific sales.
Supergirl #10 continued the team-up with Batgirl into the Phantom Zone. The story was a lot of fun, throwing Xa-Du and Psi into the mix. There were homages to the Phantom Zone mini-series from the 1980s.
But the big thing was the Babs/Kara team-up. Did Batgirl being in the book give it a little boost?
The book landed at #122 in sales rankings, being ordered just over 22,000 times.
I keep waiting for some stabilization of the book. I was honestly hoping that this book would be a 25K a month seller. But we keep creeping downward. And it is a shame because I think Steve Orlando is finally running on the title.
This was solid stuff from Patrick Gleason, Peter Tomasi, and Doug Mahnke.
The book was a solid seller, coming in over 50K for both issues that month.
I was hoping that the Superman titles, with the quality of the stories since Rebirth, would be more like 70K sellers, but maybe there isn't that sort of market anymore.
Action Comics #982 continued the Revenge arc with the Superman Family coming together to battle the Cyborg Superman led Revenge Squad. This arc was absolute giddy fun, making me feel like a kid again
This one had it all. Plus, it is Action that is running the 'Mr. Oz' storyline, perhaps more tightly linked to the Doomsday Clock and big creative moves by DC.
Surprisingly, the book sold just over 42K. I wonder why there is such disparity between the 2 Superman titles but there it is.
All these books are high quality and highly entertaining.
Don't you think they should be selling more?
We don't really know how much digital they are selling. The brunt of my purchases goes through Comixology. For much of the world digital is also the only reasonable option due to lack of comic shops and prohibitively expensive postage.
ReplyDeleteI am guessing that the big cost is making the art and story, so if enough buyers get it (digital included), the actual printing can proceed even with lower sales of physical copies. I hope so. I am importing Supergirl to do my part to support her.
I like Orlando's run, but to be fair, I think it is one of the weaker runs. Brian Ching's art is not for everyone and has gotten a lot of critique. As for the writing, it too has been critized and some of that critique is warranted as well.
The best main continuity issue of Rebirth Supergirl so far is in my mind the one we saw in Batgirl Annual. If we had seen that quality art and relationship building in her own title, I think we would have seen more people holding on to the title.
I really hope that some people will pick it up again with a new artist on board but looking at it from my own behavior (I have not returned to any comics that had a disappointing start of the run), things might look grim.
I wish they would plug the Supergirl comic with the show. If even a fraction of the viewers would be interested, it would make a world of difference.
Anonymous makes a number of good points here. In addition to digital, it would be interesting to know how the trade paperbacks are selling. Are more fans skipping the monthlies in favor of the collected trades?
ReplyDeleteThe new artist and storyline debut next week, so it won't be long until we find out if sales improve as a result. The covers by Artgerm should definitely help. Do these changes mean that DC is committed to making this comic work? I'd like to think so.
The closing credits of the George Reeves "Adventures of Superman" included the voiceover "Superman is based on the original character appearing in Superman magazine". Superman comics were seen briefly in at least two episodes, "The Birthday Letter" and "A Ghost for Scotland Yard". I don't think this type of promotion has been done since on DC shows, but it should be. Every little thing helps.
Finally, this is off topic, but Supergirl fans should check out a series of YouTube videos called "Adam Hughes-Anatomy of a Sketch". This is a series of 5 videos, taken back when Hughes was still doing commissions at conventions. He was given the choice to draw any female comic character he wanted, and he picked......Well, it wasn't Little Lulu!
That was fun to watch! Thanks, professor F! :)
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