Well, the news about the cancellation will make my covering Supergirl sales a bit of tradition rather than noting fluctations. I suppose it will be interesting to see how precipitously sales drop now that the stories 'won't matter' any more.
January sales have been reported. Here is the link to ICv2 coverage:
https://icv2.com/articles/markets/view/45180/top-500-comics-january-2020
January's top selling comic was Wonder Woman #750. Glad to see Diana top the charts!
As for Supergirl?
She's battling Diana albeit as the infected lunatic.
I can't talk about this story any more.
Not surprising, this non-Supergirl Supergirl book sold a total of 19775 units, falling below the 'Mendoza line' of sales for comics.
Who is this book for?
Not us it seems.
I actually feel bad for Jody Houser and Rachael Stott. We'll never see what they could do on a Kara book.
Because this ain't Kara.
There's more than a dozen monthlies selling fewer copies than Supergirl, and around 18 mini/maxi-series. And, unlike most of the others, Supergirl has a card stock variant which is more profitable than a regular cover.
ReplyDeleteSo - cancellation based on sales doesn't make sense. DC would have to dump half of what it is currently publishing!
There's speculation that the cancellation was to line up the story with Dark Metal. While it's odd that she appears to be cured by #41 or even by the conclusion of #40, solicitations can be very wrong sometimes, and often have nothing to do with the story that gets published.
The ongoings with lower sales in January:
Nightwing
Batman Beyond
Teen Titans
Aquaman
Justice League Odyssey
Batman and the Outsiders
John Constantine Hellblazer
Batgirl
Red Hood Outlaw
He Man and the Masters of the Universe
Hawkman
Terrifics
Looney Tunes
The mini/maxi-series with lower sales:
Lois Lane
Far Sector
Dollhouse Family
Low Low Woods
RWBY
Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen
Martian Manhunter
Last God
Metal Men
Freedom Fighters
Dreaming
Gotham City Monsters
Books of Magic
Lucifer
Wonder Twins
House of Whispers
Dial H for Hero
Gen Lock
I didn't bother to include the Giants, though they also sell very few copies.
T.N.
A major crossover with a Batman storyline, an obvious big event tie-in, Wonder Woman as the foreground hero on the cover, and the book sells 19k when it was regularly in the low 20k range under Andreyko and high 20k with Orlando?
ReplyDeleteEither there’s little sales bump from those things or there’s been a lot of regular buyers who have suddenly dropped away. Probably some of both.
It’s strange to watch DC intentionally kill a book.
Rich Johnston's Bleeding Cool rumour mill is suggesting that Supergirl's cancellation wasn't due to low sales but not wanting to spoil what happens after Snyder's Death Metal event. I don't know if that's true but that could mean a new Supergirl comic could be part of the 5G relaunch. Though it's not a relaunch I'm interested in at all.
ReplyDeleteLouis
I suspected that the readers attracted from the Batman books to Snyders event would be met by Supergirl readers running away from this dark arc.
ReplyDeleteBut I thought this would mostly be a danger long term when the Snyder fans disappeared after the event.
Even I didn't imagine that the dropoff would be so large as to lead to a reduction in readership WHILE the event was ongoing.
I hope DC learned their lesson about misusing Kara this time. People who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
My list of low-selling comics above isn't completely accurate, as these Sandman Universe titles are also monthlies and not minis:
ReplyDeleteLast God
Dreaming
Books of Magic
Lucifer
House of Whispers
But DC's sales expectations for Sandman Universe, Wonder Comics, Young Animal, Jinxworld, 100-page Giants, Dollar Comics, and print editions of digital first seem to be TINY. They seem to be satisfied with indie-level sales, and in general they sell below 10K and often around 7K. I don't know what kind of cost structure allows them to do this for some comics but not others.
Our Monstergirl appears unconscious on the cover, and has some minor role on the inside pages, of today's Hell Arisen #3, a book that is apparently hard to get if you hadn't preordered or subscribed to it - because of speculation on the book due to the first full appearance of the Tynion-created Punchline character.
Supermonster's role is no more important than her fellow monsters (Shazam and Blue Beetle to name two), and I can tell you this: there is no fight between Lobo and Supergirl in this book, despite the full-page ads that were advertising that.
Lobo takes out Blue Beetle, and an unknown giant fist wallops Supergirl. I think it belongs to a character revealed only on the final splash page.
So far it looks like Lex is winning, which suggests a reversal in the final issue will mean Lex loses, unless Tynion knows we will expect that reversal and give us a double-reverse and let Lex win - for now. Whatever happens, what are the chances it will be final and definitive? I expect a draw.
T.N.
Hopefully now that Didio is gone we can actually get a Supergirl that is Supergirl. I feel like I've been wasting my money on the books lately in hopes that it would go where it should and that was honestly a big mistake. Maybe the geniuses at ATT and Warner can get the character back on track. If not at least I have the movie, the show, and back issues and I no longer have to waste my money on angry Supergirl garbage.
ReplyDeleteI dunno I think "Supergirl" the character is somehow the personification of DC's Self Hatred & Chronic "Marvel Envy"....Thats the reason they can't seem to publish a Supergirl comic in good faith, they are too busy jobbing her out to their toxic neuroses.
ReplyDeleteJF