Thursday, June 7, 2018

April 2018 Sales Review


The sales numbers for April 2018 came out a couple of weeks ago and the numbers were a little bit surprising. This was the last month for a number of the super-titles. Action Comics #1000 was released. It basically is the beginning of the Bendis era.

So what did that mean for sales. Well, as always, you can head over to ICv2 for the actual sales figures. Here is a link: https://icv2.com/articles/markets/view/40338/top-500-comics-april-2018

I had this post written before recent news in which I ranted about how sales this good shouldn't warrant cancellation. So with recent solicits, I needed to come back and edit.


So first up, Supergirl #20, the last issue of this volume of Supergirl.

This was known to be the last issue for some time. Usually sales plummet when a title is announced as canceled and readers jump ship. No one likes a lame duck.

This was the closing out of the renegade DEO storyline. And writers Steve Orlando and Jody Houser needed to sprint to the end to wrap things up (as well as introducing us to the Viking Judge).

So how did this last issue sell?


Well, despite all that was conspiring against it, the book continued to sell very well.

Luckily it wasn't a cancellation and more of a pause.

We'll see if the new direction of 'Kara in Space' by Marc Andryko and Kevin Maguire sells as well.


But the big news this month was the release of Action Comics #1000 with it's decade cover variants.

This was a big, hefty, expensive, and historic issue. It had all the variants.

So how did it sell.


I am a bit underwhelmed!

I thought for sure this would break the half million mark if not go higher. I suppose the large price point might have held back store owners. But the book sold 448K making it the top selling book of the month.

Now that doesn't include all the hidden variants on sale at specific shops (such as the Artgerm one above). So maybe it sold more.

Still, it was good that so many of these were ordered and hopefully ended up in the hands of new readers jumping on the Bendis bandwagon.

Hooray a Supergirl book will be back on the shelves!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

"I had this post written before recent news in which I ranted about how sales this good shouldn't warrant cancellation. So with recent solicits, I needed to come back and edit."

Bad DC giving us scares.

But, yes, these sales didn't deserve a cancellation. Let's hope the newest -groan- direction is well received. I fear this two-month hiatus will impact sales negatively. But maybe both creatives will be a draw and readers who didn't care for the CW setting will give it a try?

"I thought for sure this would break the half million mark if not go higher. I suppose the large price point might have held back store owners. But the book sold 448K making it the top selling book of the month."

Underwhelming for such a historical issue, but the days where Superman easily sold half million every month are long gone.