The numbers for January sales are out and posted over on ICv2. Here is a link:
https://icv2.com/articles/markets/view/39601/top-300-comics-january-2018
It is the usual combination of gloom and doom and interesting tidbits. DC and Marvel seemed to be in dead heat, splitting most sales and most dollars. DC took 6 of the top ten but that was Doomsday Clock or all-Batman.
But we are here to talk about Supergirl sales.
And Supergirl panic ...
Supergirl #17, by Orlando, Houser, Rocha, and Henriques, came out last week.
It continued the new approach of Supergirl, hiding from the DEO and struggling with high school issues, all while trying to be a hero.
Since the ending of the Fatal Five story arc, which in retrospect felt a little rushed, things have been clicking for the book. Add to that the Stanley 'Art Germ' Lau variant covers and it feels like the book was on an upturn.
This issue sold 26,466 units. It put her at #78. It is nestled between Suicide Squad and Justice League of America. I can't imagine either of those books being on watch for cancellation.
And with these sales, Supergirl shouldn't be either. Now these numbers are down from last issue, which sold 28,540. And this is down from the first Artgerm cover book which sold north of 31K.
But these numbers should be healthy.
And yet ...
We know that Brian Michael Bendis is taking over the Superman books in a couple of months. And there is an almost John Byrne feel to this takeover. The main Superman books are going on hiatus. A weekly mini-series called Man of Steel is being out out. So there is a big shake-up.
And then we heard from Artgerm that the cover for Supergirl #20 is his last cover.
And thennnn last week, Steve Orlando put out a long-ish tweet thread talking about how much he loves writing Supergirl, how proud he is of the title, and how much he loves Kara and her character. He ends it with 'we're still going strong' but it seems all like a 'I'm leaving soon'.
Is the book being cancelled? Is there a new creative team coming on board? Is Bendis going to diminish Supergirl's role?
Long term Supergirl fans have plenty of baked-in anxiety. So suddenly it all seems worrisome.
Fire up a flare DC. Give us some info!!!
"Long term Supergirl fans have plenty of baked-in anxiety. So suddenly it all seems worrisome."
ReplyDeleteWe feast on paranoia!
But yes, it's concerning.
Supergirl's sales are down again. Then again, the sales of all are down and plummeting.
"We know that Brian Michael Bendis is taking over the Superman books in a couple of months. And there is an almost John Byrne feel to this takeover."
Very worried about it. Bendis is... well, divisive. He doesn't care for continuity, makes the characters fit the story when it should be the other way around, is bad at cosmic-level characters, is obsessed with shake-ups and leaving his mark, and it sounds like he's aiming for a 80's Superman style.
Oh, and he's promised huge changes.
"Is Bendis going to diminish Supergirl's role?"
I don't see how is that possible. Supergirl's role is non-existent right now. She's a non-entity. Forty issues of "Superman" focused on his family and she merited nothing more than a mention after Krypto. Fifty issues of Action Comics and she barely showed up in one story arc. Ninety-nine percent of time Jurgens pretends she doesn't exist and Superman is the sole survivor of Krypton (Exhibit A: the current storyline). She barely interacts with other super-heroes and she is affiliated to no team.
New 52 Supergirl had a bigger exposure and bigger presence in her cousin's books. Think about it.
I don't think Bendis kills her off or erases from History, but I'd not be shocked if he writes Superman like he was the Only Child of Krypton.
I think DC are walking a dangerous path if they mess with Supergirl, despite current sales numbers. The future of comics is not in a growing male fanbase.
ReplyDeleteWhat we saw with Wonder Woman is just a taste of the incoming tide. DCs most successful series for the next generation is DC Superhero Girls. There are more women working in the industry, there are more women reading and there are more women watching comics on TV.
Supergirl is carrying more viewers than heavy hitter old time Justice League member Green Arrow.
The growing demographic belongs to the next generation of girls. As they grow up, they will learn about comics dark past, about fridging girls, messed up work environments and the lack of their heroines on the store shelves.
How will the coming generation of female readers feel about the grownup catalog only carrying 50 shades of Batman, and a couple of Superman magazines and Justice Leagues with a token female?
Children are picking their favorite heroines now. Will these children be able to find Supergirl, Bumblebee, Katana, Ivy, Pink Lanterns and such on the shelves in a few years and spread the love of the comics? For the industry's sake I hope so.
Whatever the future holds I think it should have the most powerful girl in the universe flying somewhere at the front, not reshelved in a fridge that felt completely iffy already in the 80s.
My money is on Supergirl running strong after issue 20.
I wonder if the plan is (assuming there is a plan) to quietly cancel Supergirl's prime book and then simply ignore the character's existence as part of a "Bendis Soft Reboot". Maybe they can't kill her off again (this time for rock solid licensing reasons) but they can set her aside with all the usual contempt from twitchy comic book creatives.
ReplyDeleteIf I had to guess I'd say thats the direction they are going in....but I could be wrong. The only "big name creative" who ever parachuted in on Superman and shook things up successfully, was Jack Kirby and the Fourth World was incidental and complimentary to the early Bronze Age Kryptonian Mythos....ever other attempt to graft a Big Name to Superman's creative team has ended in tears.
JF
"Whatever the future holds I think it should have the most powerful girl in the universe flying somewhere at the front, not reshelved in a fridge that felt completely iffy already in the 80s."
ReplyDeleteIt should. But DC is incredibly competent when it comes to damage its own characters' viability and success.
"I wonder if the plan is (assuming there is a plan) to quietly cancel Supergirl's prime book and then simply ignore the character's existence as part of a "Bendis Soft Reboot". Maybe they can't kill her off again (this time for rock solid licensing reasons) but they can set her aside with all the usual contempt from twitchy comic book creatives."
If you want to get rid of a character successfully, don't give it an heroic death. Just put it on a bus and stop bringing it up to make it truly irrelevant. Matrix/Linda are sadly proof of this.
"If I had to guess I'd say thats the direction they are going in... but I could be wrong."
Let's hope so. Bendis' reference material includes "Brainiac" and other Geoff Johns' stories.
"ever other attempt to graft a Big Name to Superman's creative team has ended in tears."
Some would argue that John Byrne's reboot was both a creative and sales success.
I didn't like it, and I discuss the reboot was a gimmick which increased sales in the short term but in hindsight only provided a temporal boost (as marketing stunts are prone to do) and damaged the mythos in the long term, as proven by the fact that DC decided to kill bring the character back to life six years later.
But I get because fans who were tired of the Bronze Age Superman or started to read post-MoS could think otherwise.
This comment section gave me more paranoia that there already was. I think it's more of a creative shake up or maybe Steve Orlando was just feeling sappy over a book which he pitched to DC and has put so much of his effort in. Bendis coming on doesn't automatically mean that supergirl will be effected since DC has done an already splendid job of keeping her away from major events. So in all, her solo book should function smoothly.
ReplyDeleteThis is where I also grumble because I am tired of her being excluded from metal. But maybe, just maybe, the exclusion can work in her favor
"Bendis coming on doesn't automatically mean that Supergirl will be effected since DC has done an already splendid job of keeping her away from major events. So in all, her solo book should function smoothly."
ReplyDeletePretty much concur with this view. Bendis is coming aboard to revamp SuperMAN books (among other, overly ambitious things), whereas in contrast, Supergirl's IP has been going along quite smoothly overall. Seems pretty doubtful that Orlando is leaving the comics series anytime soon. Besides, there's a new Supergirl statue designed by Joelle Jones (of the Being Super graphic novel) coming out in July, which features her current comics costume. Perhaps DC is also considering bringing her in as the new SG variant cover artist once Artgerm leaves.
KET
I would love to see a run of Joelle Jones Supergirl covers. Who else does everyone think would be a good replacement for Artgerm. Chris Samnee would draw a terrific Supergirl. His clean, tight style would be great for any DC character.
ReplyDelete