Sales Review: October 2011

When DC announced the 'relaunch' of their universe, I was worried. In a struggling comic market, could a fanbase survive yet another reboot? Did we need another Superman origin? A 'pissed off' Supergirl? A handful of war comics?

Was this going to be a jumping on point? Or a jumping off point?

Well, if sales through the first 2 months of the DCnU are any indication, it is clearly a jumping on point. Here are the October sales, month 2 of the DCnU, as reported by ICv2:http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/21453.html

Now I know that 2 months of incredible sales don't mean much long term. And I doubt that the mainstream publicity blitz is going to last forever. But certainly, as a comic fan, I am glad to see so many books being 'sold' (whatever that means ... I understand these are books sent to stores, not necessarily bought; I know these books could be returned, and I have no idea about download numbers). If business is better, for whatever reason, I'm happy.

Supergirl #2 remained solid in sales, ranked #33 overall and selling 55,249 units. Amazingly, that is up from sales for #1 (first printing). Sales went up! I'm glad this new version seems to have captured the attention of readers.

For me, it is incredible that Supergirl is basically selling as well as New Avengers and something like X-Men Regenesis. And second printings of Supergirl #1 sold just north of 14,000.

As for my sleeper comic, Hawk and Dove #2 slipped in sales, dropping about 15% in sales. I'm not necessarily surprised by some sort of drop-off. I know I sampled a bunch of the DCnU #1's without going back for the second issue.

Three months ago, a comic selling 32K was considered a solid seller and extremely healthy. I don't think that has changed in the glaring light of increased sales. Hopefully those who stuck around for the next issue are in for the long term. I am glad this comic, a great mix of crazy action and a growing mythology, is doing well and I hope the sales hold solid.

These numbers are almost mind-boggling. I think I have to call the DCnU a huge success and say congratulations to Dan Didio, Jim Lee, and the rest of the upper echelon of the DC offices. I hope this surge in sales continues.

Difficulty Flying Homage

The DCnU has been called a relaunch of the DC universe. But for Supergirl, the appropriate term is really reboot. We are being reintroduced to this character.

The problem is that Supergirl was 'just' rebooted 7 years ago. That means that Kara's origin story is still pretty fresh in the minds of the DC's fans. Heck it was even retold in movie format just a year ago. Beyond that, the character got a 'soft' reboot by Gates and Johns only 3 years ago, her origin slightly tweaked. And we had a separate retelling just 3 years ago in Cosmic Adventures.

The bottom line is that writers Michael Green and Mike Johnson have a tough job ahead. Because as a reader, when I read their retelling of an origin story that has just been retold, one where the basic elements are the same, it is going to be hard for me not to compare it to that which has come immediately before. And when things look similar, I am going to notice.

Take this scene from Supergirl #2.

And compare it to this scene in Cosmic Adventures #1.

Now the wheres and the whys of these scenes (Superman tossing Supergirl into the sky in the SG#2, Kara wishing to escape Earth in Cosmic) are very different. But I couldn't help thinking about Cosmic when I read the scene in Supergirl #2.

Does the change in story parameters make this a new scene? Is it homage? Is Cosmic to fresh to be referenced as an homage? Are they taking the best of all the origins that have come before them then adding their twists to come up with the ultimate origin?

Again, I think it is going to be tough on the current team. Because they have to tell a story that has just been told and told well, they have to keep the major events the same, and they have to be fresh.

And I don't think that is going to be easy.

Review: Supergirl #2

Supergirl #2 came out this week and continued to unfurl the new origin of this incarnation of the character. We have heard about this Kara suffering from culture shock on Earth, not caring for the population, and not trusting Superman. And those character elements are on display here in full force. In fact, the fight with Superman simply dominates the issue with page after page of the two cousins going at it. Unfortunately, while the picture may be beautiful, that many action sequences took away from space for more story and that is my biggest complaint about this issue. Writers Michael Green and Mike Johnson seem to be taking their time here, telling the origin in a decompressed manner.

Now it is not as if more kernels of information about Supergirl's origins weren't revealed. There were a couple of nice reveals here building more of the foundation that this version of Supergirl will be built on. But that is a double edged sword. I wanted more of that story here. Knowing that the battling cousins would surely be a stalemate and a transient plot element, I found myself hoping the brawl would end leading to more plot advancement. Maybe I'm in the minority and the fight sequence was just the right length for others.

Mahmud Asrar continues to dazzle here on the art, especially with some of the subtle expression on the characters, specifically Superman.

The issue starts with the first big reveal as we see Kara on Krypton with the time caption 'three days ago' and a very young Kal-El in the foreground. Kara is babysitting for Kal rather than studying for her 'final trials', the intiation rite which will earn her the right to wear the family crest.

So already, I have an answer but even more questions. The answer is that the new-ish plot twist of Kara being 'older' than Kal has survived the DCnU. I just don't know if it adds that much to her mythos to be the older cousin. It never really seemed to matter much in the post-Loeb world. I wonder if Green/Johnson have ideas to better use that fact.

But the questions are with the timing here. Kara thinks that three days ago she was on Krypton but we know that 25-odd years have passed. More importantly, it isn't like she recalls walking around on Argo City. So what exactly happened. It doesn't sound like the city escaped the fate of the planet under a force field, unless Kara was kept in suspended animation while everyone else walked around. Could Zor-El have put everyone in the city (except him) in a deep freeze? And how did she end up being rocketed here? Did someone push the launch button? Or was it automatic? I like open-ended mysteries like this.

I also like Supergirl's initial internal monologue as she deals with the environment of Earth, the destroyed mecha, and now Superman. Lost, confused, alone, scared ... all those responses make sense.

What isn't there is angry and I'm glad for that.

After stammering a bit, and asking some questions, Superman puts it all together and realizes that Kara is his cousin. He looks as befuddled as she does but seems to take it in stride a bit better than she does. Of course, he is probably excited at the prospect of some part of his Kryptonian heritage surviving.

Unfortunately, Supergirl thinks that 3 days ago Kal was a baby. She doesn't trust him, wonders if he is some agent of Zod, and attacks. So I have to say that that part is a little weird. That her first response, five minutes into being on a weird planet, unsure of everything is to attack. Three days ago, on Krypton, if faced with the same stranger, would she have attacked?

Much different than this response where both cousins are happy to see family.

The brawl is on with Supergirl, surprisingly fully powered lashes out again and again at Superman. Is this the difference between male and female Kryptonians and the yellow sun? Do they process the power at a faster rate?

I will say this, Superman is portrayed perfectly here. Despite being tossed around, he doesn't full out attack Kara, instead trying to talk her through controlling her xray vision, asking her how she got to Earth, wondering who she is, but giving her chance after chance to explain herself. He really was a high point of the issue.

I don't feel compelled to show panel after panel of the fight as it got somewhat repetitive with Supergirl punching and running and Superman catching up.

I did want to show this part though. Sick of being smacked around, Superman tosses Supergirl into the sky where we learn that her power of flight hasn't 100% kicked in. More on this scene on a later day but it reminded me of another scene.

Here is the best moment of the book. The battle between the cousins ranges from Siberia to China. Finally, Supergirl realizes that there are people on the planet, people she is endangering with this nonsensical fighting. And it is that fear of hurting them that makes her finally stand down.

So that seems like Supergirl. So she has an affection for life at least, even if she doesn't quite have it for humanity yet. And after this important pause, she actually decides to listen to Superman.

He tells her how the yellow sun of Earth, a nice place to live, gives them the power of World Killers. So that is another mystery. Are these Kryptonian weapons? Or something to do with the hinted at Zod soldiers? (Remember, the original Zod made an army of Bizarro-Zods to try to take over Krypton. Are they the worldkillers?)

More importantly, he tells her that Krypton is gone. Great work by Asrar here. You can see how difficult it is for Superman to tell her the tough news. And you can feel her surprise.

But really, what about Argo City? If only there was more story and less brawling here.

The book ends with a decent cliffhanger. We learned earlier that Supergirl's rocket was the primary target of the mecha-soldiers, not Supergirl herself. And here the mystery man (and I'll be kind of disappointed if it turns out to simply be Lex Luthor) who sent the attack, gets the first perk from that rocket. Is it a red crystal (loaded with information that Zor-El left for his daughter)? Or is it red Kryptonite? I am going info-crystal, something which will allow for some exposition in the near future.

So where are we?

There are some nice minor reveals in this issue. If I can use a puzzle analogy, part of the frame is built, but we don't have any of the big picture. I am intrigued by some of these reveals; I want to see this backstory. But the pacing of these first two issues make me concerned that it will take a loooooong time to get there. I don't need it all in one issue. I understand the slow reveals of mystery. But I also felt that there could have been less action in these first two books and more story.

Much like last issue, I still don't know if I have met this Supergirl, if I know who she is. Outside of the attack first response, there wasn't anything about her characterization that I felt was completely off. Her stopping her attack when she saw the people around the wreckage again gave me hope that this creative team has an understanding of who she is.

Overall grade: B/B+