by Paul O’Brien With FEAR ITSELF wrapping up, Marvel had several major releases in November – the POINT ONE one-shot, the relaunches of UNCANNY X-MEN and FANTASTIC FOUR, and the first issue of new ongoing title AVENGING SPIDER-MAN.
We’ve also got the epilogue of FEAR ITSELF, the start of BATTLE SCARS, and a bunch of other “Regenesis” tie-ins from the X-books.
Marvel found itself behind DC for the third straight month in November, though the gap is growing closer. DC led by 40% to 38% in unit share, and 35% to 33% in dollars. And of course, it should be remembered that DC’s extra sales don’t appear to have come at Marvel’s expense; if DC’s relaunch has brought any new or lapsed readers into the market, then in theory, that’s good for other publishers too – it brings them into everyone’s potential market.
Thanks as always to ICV2.com for permission to use these figures.
5. POINT ONE 11/11 One-shot - 113,352
Marvel’s top selling comic of the month! Or is it? This book was massively overshipped, with retailers receiving twice the number of copies they’d actually ordered, at no extra cost. Those copies are presumably included in this number – that certainly appears to be Diamond’s standard practice, given the odd sales spikes that we’ve seen when this strategy has been used before.
If that’s the case, then the actual orders of this book would be 56,676 – which would have placed the book at number 29 between AMAZING SPIDER-MAN and AVENGERS. Considering the solicitation (“You CANNOT miss this. Catch a tease of the biggest change to the Marvel Universe in over 35 years!”) that number would surely have been disappointing, even allowing for the six dollar price tag. The wisdom of pricing a teaser book that high must also be open to question.
6. AVENGING SPIDER-MAN 11/11 #1 - 112,153
This, on the other hand, IS a good number, even allowing for the four variant covers. It’s Marvel’s second biggest launch of 2011, after FF #1 (which managed 122K).
Considering that the book was sold largely on the name of artist Joe Madureira, it seems reasonable to credit a lot of these sales to him – and also to wonder what will happen with the book’s second arc, which he isn’t drawing.
7,16. UNCANNY X-MEN 11/06 #480 - 88,584 11/07 #492 - 102,511 11/08 #504 - 77,773 11/09 #517 - 69,557 ===== 11/10 #530 - 58,006 ( -6.8%) 12/10 #531 - 55,770 ( -3.9%) 01/11 #532 - 54,071 ( -3.0%) 02/11 #533 - 53,834 ( -0.4%) 03/11 #534 - 55,731 ( +3.5%) 04/11 #.1 - 53,473 ( -4.1%) 04/11 #535 - 56,795 ( +6.2%) 04/11 #536 - 53,502 ( -5.8%) 05/11 #537 - 53,716 ( +0.4%) 06/11 #538 - 53,319 ( -0.7%) 06/11 #539 - 54,284 ( +1.8%) 07/11 #540 - 57,206 ( +5.4%) 07/11 #541 - 55,856 ( -2.4%) 08/11 #542 - 54,840 ( -1.8%) 09/11 #543 - 58,326 ( +6.4%) 10/11 #544 - 60,212 ( +3.2%) 11/11 #1 - 109,911 (+82.5%) 11/11 #2 - 72,485 (-34.1%) 6 mnth (+34.9%) 1 year (+25.0%) 2 year ( +4.2%) 3 year ( -6.8%) 4 year (-29.3%) 5 year (-18.2%)
This is a pretty good number as well. It comfortably beats the first month sales of WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN in October (estimated at 96K), and like AVENGING, it’s at the top end of Marvel’s launches for the last year. Perhaps this is partly a reflection of UNCANNY’s continuing status as the flagship X-book, though my impression was that this and W&TXM were being promoted as more or less equal in the revamped line.
Issue #2 drops back to 72K, but that’s still a significant improvement from previous sales. The last time the book hit that level was during the “Second Coming” crossover in mid-2010.
10. WOLVERINE & THE X-MEN 10/11 #1 - 95,855 11/11 #2 - 83,356 (-13.0%)
Considering that the first issue had more variant covers, that’s a very modest drop. A promising sign.
11. INCREDIBLE HULK 11/06 #100 - 84,169 11/07 #111 - 101,536 11/08 #8 - 90,776 11/09 #604 - 40,652 ===== 11/10 #616 - 35,296 ( -4.0%) 11/10 #617 - 34,340 ( -2.7%) 12/10 #618 - 34,868 ( -1.5%) 12/10 #619 - 32,657 ( -6.3%) 01/11 #620 - 30,992 ( -5.1%) 01/11 #621 - 30,957 ( -0.1%) 02/11 #622 - 30,404 ( -1.8%) 02/11 #623 - 30,140 ( -0.9%) 03/11 #624 - 32,066 ( +6.4%) 03/11 #625 - 29,792 ( -7.1%) 04/11 #626 - 29,782 ( -0.0%) 04/11 #627 - 30,788 ( +3.3%) 05/11 #628 - 28,822 ( -6.4%) 05/11 #629 - 28,103 ( -2.5%) 06/11 #630 - 28,028 ( -0.3%) 06/11 #631 - 27,456 ( -2.0%) 07/11 #632 - 28,518 ( +3.9%) 07/11 #633 - 27,216 ( -4.6%) 08/11 #634 - 27,310 ( +0.3%) 08/11 #635 - 38,223 ( +40.0%) 09/11 --- 10/11 #1 - 106,472 (+178.6%) 11/11 #2 - 80,143 ( -24.7%) 6 mnth (+185.2%) 1 year (+127.1%) 2 year ( +97.1%) 3 year ( -11.7%) 4 year ( -21.1%) 5 year ( -4.8%)
That’s a bigger drop, but still perfectly acceptable when you bear in mind the reduced number of variants. Predecessor title INCREDIBLE HULKS had dropped to 28K by the end of its run, and HULK is currently around the 25K mark, so these numbers represent a massive improvement. Neither of the Hulk titles have hit this number since mid-2009.
15. FANTASTIC FOUR 11/06 --- 11/07 #551 - 58,617 11/08 #561 - 61,331 11/09 #573 - 39,433 ===== 11/10 #585 - 41,568 ( -7.8%) 12/10 #586 - 42,829 ( +3.0%) 01/11 #587 - 144,173 (+236.6%) 02/11 #588 - 68,153 ( -52.7%) 03/11 #1 - 121,172 ( +77.8%) 04/11 #2 - 72,897 ( -39.8%) 05/11 #3 - 66,885 ( -8.2%) 05/11 #4 - 60,571 ( -9.4%) 06/11 #5 - 58,925 ( -2.7%) 07/11 #6 - 55,601 ( -5.6%) 07/11 #7 - 54,022 ( -2.8%) 08/11 #8 - 51,917 ( -0.2%) 09/11 #9 - 53,091 ( +2.3%) 10/11 #10 - 49,642 ( -6.5%) 10/11 #11 - 48,433 ( -2.4%) 11/11 #600 - 73,809 ( +52.4%) 6 mnth ( +21.9%) 1 year ( +77.6%) 2 year ( +87.2%) 3 year ( +20.3%) 4 year ( +25.9%) 5 year ( --- )
FANTASTIC FOUR returns to its regular numbering with issue #600 (the eleven issues of FF being counted towards that total). This is an eight dollar book, which will have done a lot of Marvel’s dollar share showing this month – but with 96 pages of new story, that’s good value. Marvel produce trade paperbacks with less content than this. The direction of the title seems to be a success.
FF continues as a separate title with issue #12, which we’ll come to a little later.
22,25,31. FEAR ITSELF 04/11 #1 of 7 - 135,746 05/11 #2 of 7 - 105,359 (-22.4%) 06/11 #3 of 7 - 99,501 ( -5.6%) 07/11 #4 of 7 - 93,435 ( -6.1%) 08/11 #5 of 7 - 90,914 ( -2.7%) 09/11 #6 of 7 - 93,032 ( +2.3%) 10/11 #7 of 7 - 95,599 ( +2.8%) 11/11 #7.1 - 60,562 (-36.6%) 11/11 #7.2 - 58,006 ( -4.2%) 11/11 #7.3 - 54,903 ( -5.3%)
There’s a big drop between the regular series and this month’s three epilogue issues, but that was only to be expected. The real question is how these books would have done if they’d simply been promoted as spin-off one-shots in the vein of previous crossovers. And given the generally anaemic sales on FEAR ITSELF tie-ins, I suspect branding the books in this way was probably a smart move on balance.
26,63. FEAR ITSELF: THE FEARLESS 10/11 #1 of 12 - 59,464 11/11 #2 of 12 - 57,794 ( -2.8%) 11/11 #3 of 12 - 36,044 (-37.6%)
Now this is downright odd. THE FEARLESS shipped two issues in November, with issue #2 holding up surprisingly well against the first month sales, and issue #3 dropping like a stone.
That’s particularly curious when you bear in mind that issue #1 had four variant covers, and issue #2 only had one. That alone would normally be enough to generate a bigger second issue drop than this – making this look like a de facto climb. And for that to be followed by a nigh-40% plunge is quite bizarre.
Here’s my theory, though “theory” is very much the operative word.
While issue #1 had more variant covers, they were all on 1:100 incentive ratios. Issue #2, on the other hand, had a single variant cover, but on a 1:25 variant. It’s possible that, given the weak sales on FEAR ITSELF spin-off minis, many retailers weren’t prepared to bite at the 1:100 ratios, but were willing to up their orders for a 1:25 cover.
What’s more, issues #1-2 shipped only two weeks apart. So by the time retailers knew how well issue #1 was moving, it was too late to alter their orders on issue #2 – but not on issue #3, because of its later Final Order Cut-off date. The heavy slashing of orders on issue #3, rather suggest that issue #1 has proved to be a bit of a shelf warmer.
That’s my theory, at any rate. The comments section is just below if you have a better idea.
27,29. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 11/06 #536 - 118,833 11/07 --- 11/08 #578 - 66,564 11/09 #610 - 61,170 ===== 11/10 #647 - 55,819 ( -4.0%) 11/10 #648 - 79,714 ( +42.8%) 11/10 #649 - 55,515 ( -30.4%) 12/10 #650 - 58,909 ( +6.1%) 01/11 #651 - 56,749 ( -3.7%) 01/11 #652 - 52,050 ( -8.3%) 02/11 #653 - 53,103 ( +2.0%) 02/11 #654 - 53,882 ( +1.5%) 02/11 #.1 - 55,283 ( +2.6%) 02/11 #655 - 53,366 ( -3.5%) 03/11 #656 - 59,626 ( +11.7%) 03/11 #657 - 58,704 ( -1.5%) 04/11 #658 - 61,687 ( +5.1%) 04/11 #659 - 58,258 ( -5.6%) 05/11 #660 - 58,249 ( -0.0%) 05/11 #661 - 59,087 ( +1.4%) 05/11 #662 - 55,883 ( -5.4%) 06/11 #663 - 57,040 ( +2.1%) 06/11 #664 - 54,808 ( -3.9%) 07/11 #665 - 56,948 ( +3.9%) 07/11 #666 - 135,568 (+138.1%) 08/11 #667 - 71,235 ( -47.5%) 08/11 #668 - 57,533 ( -19.2%) 09/11 #669 - 71,944 ( +25.0%) 09/11 #670 - 57,959 ( -19.4%) 10/11 #671 - 59,426 ( +2.5%) 10/11 #672 - 57,860 ( -2.6%) 11/11 #673 - 57,159 ( -1.2%) 11/11 #674 - 57,723 ( +1.0%) 6 mnth ( +3.3%) 1 year ( +3.4%) 2 year ( -5.6%) 3 year ( -13.3%) 4 year ( --- ) 5 year ( -51.4%)
Issue #673 is an epilogue to the Spider-Island crossover; issue #674 has a variant cover, which is presumably cancelling out the post-event drop. Either that, or the book has simply upped its sales a bit as a result of the Spider-Island storyline.
30. AVENGERS 11/10 #7 - 89,758 (+22.5%) 12/10 #8 - 67,056 (-25.3%) 01/11 #9 - 64,867 ( -3.3%) 02/11 #10 - 63,924 ( -1.5%) 03/11 #11 - 66,618 ( +4.2%) 04/11 #12 - 63,441 ( -4.8%) 04/11 #.1 - 60,455 ( -4.7%) 05/11 #13 - 68,086 (+12.6%) 06/11 #14 - 64,057 ( -5.9%) 07/11 #15 - 62,580 (-17.9%) 08/11 #16 - 60,295 ( -3.7%) 09/11 #17 - 61,492 ( +2.0%) 10/11 #18 - 58,897 ( -4.2%) 11/11 #19 - 56,620 ( -3.9%) 6 mnth (-16.8%) 1 year (-36.9%)
This is probably a delayed drop from the end of the FEAR ITSELF crossover. That arc ended in September, but the October issue had a 1:50 variant that should have mitigated the drop.
33. NEW AVENGERS 11/06 #25 - 136,504 11/07 #36 - 107,715 11/08 --- 11/09 #59 - 74,379 ===== 11/10 #6 - 66,724 ( -9.1%) 12/10 #7 - 67,840 ( +1.7%) 01/11 #8 - 61,169 ( -9.8%) 02/11 #9 - 60,914 ( -0.4%) 03/11 #10 - 59,929 ( -1.6%) 04/11 #11 - 61,778 ( +3.1%) 05/11 #12 - 60,328 ( -2.3%) 06/11 #13 - 57,682 ( -4.4%) 07/11 #14 - 58,306 ( +1.1%) 08/11 #15 - 56,035 ( -3.9%) 09/11 #16 - 57,959 ( +3.4%) 09/11 #.1 - 51,506 (-11.1%) 10/11 #17 - 55,732 ( +8.2%) 11/11 #18 - 54,454 ( -2.3%) 6 mnth ( -9.7%) 1 year (-18.4%) 2 year (-26.8%) 3 year ( --- ) 4 year (-49.4%) 5 year (-60.1%)
Similar deal here.
34. CAPTAIN AMERICA 11/06 #24 - 79,885 11/07 #32 - 73,310 11/08 #44 - 75,493 11/09 Re#4 - 96,571 ===== 11/10 #612 - 47,343 ( -3.0%) 12/10 #613 - 42,871 ( -9.4%) 01/11 #614 - 42,119 ( -1.8%) 02/11 #615 - 41,935 ( -0.4%) 03/11 #.1 - 43,117 ( +2.8%) 03/11 #616 - 44,394 ( +3.0%) 04/11 #617 - 45,400 ( +2.3%) 05/11 #618 - 44,748 ( -1.4%) 06/11 #619 - 44,796 ( +0.1%) 07/11 #1 - 96,926 (+116.4%) 08/11 #2 - 54,384 ( -43.9%) 09/11 #3 - 54,413 ( +0.1%) 10/11 --- 11/11 #4 - 54,157 ( -0.5%) 6 mnth ( +21.0%) 1 year ( +14.4%) 2 year ( -43.9%) 3 year ( -28.3%) 4 year ( -26.1%) 5 year ( -32.2%)
This seems to be holding pretty steady after the relaunch, albeit that variant covers slightly obscure the picture.
35. KICK-ASS 2 [Icon] 11/10 --- 12/10 --- 01/11 --- 02/11 --- 03/11 #2 of 7 - 62,235 (-19.1%) 04/11 --- 05/11 --- 06/11 --- 07/11 --- 08/11 #3 of 7 - 54,270 (-12.8%) 09/11 #4 of 7 - 51,014 ( -6.0%) 10/11 --- 11/11 #5 of 7 - 53,937 ( +5.7%)
The sales increase is likely because this one has two variant covers – the previous issue didn’t have any.
37. ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN 11/06 #102 - 77,121 11/07 #116 - 61,534 11/08 #128 - 52,187 11/09 #4 - 49,106 ===== 11/10 #150 - 40,553 ( +17.0%) 12/10 #151 - 33,707 ( -16.9%) 01/11 #152 - 33,481 ( -1.0%) 02/11 #153 - 43,986 ( +31.4%) 02/11 #154 - 43,209 ( -1.8%) 03/11 #155 - 44,067 ( +2.0%) 03/11 #156 - 44,920 ( +1.9%) 04/11 #157 - 50,896 ( +13.3%) 05/11 #158 - 47,941 ( -5.8%) 06/11 #159 - 51,766 ( +8.0%) 06/11 #160 - 166,944 (+222.5%) 07/11 #1 of 6 - 49,084 ( -70.6%) 07/11 #2 of 6 - 45,371 ( -7.6%) 07/11 #3 of 6 - 44,492 ( -1.9%) 08/11 #4 of 6 - 96,815 (+117.6%) 08/11 #5 of 6 - 41,336 ( -57.3%) 08/11 #6 of 6 - 39,190 ( -5.2%) 09/11 #1 - 95,483 (+143.6%) 09/11 #2 - 58,672 ( -38.6%) 10/11 #3 - 52,521 ( -10.5%) 11/11 #4 - 51,558 ( -1.8%) 6 mnth ( +7.5%) 1 year ( +27.1%) 2 year ( +5.0%) 3 year ( -1.2%) 4 year ( -16.2%) 5 year ( -33.1%)
This seems to be levelling out. If so, that’s a great sign, because the book was in the 33K range before the “Death of Spider-Man” arc began. If it can settle down in the high 40Ks, Marvel can count this direction as a success.
38. UNCANNY X-FORCE 11/08 #9 - 57,241 11/09 #21 - 53,967 ===== 11/10 #2 - 56,518 ( -43.0%) 12/10 #3 - 55,520 ( -1.8%) 01/11 #4 - 51,381 ( -7.5%) 02/11 #5 - 51,470 ( +0.2%) 03/11 #.1 - 50,732 ( -1.4%) 03/11 #6 - 51,248 ( -1.0%) 04/11 #7 - 54,292 ( +5.9%) 04/11 #8 - 50,908 ( -6.2%) 05/11 #9 - 51,726 ( +1.6%) 05/11 #10 - 50,676 ( -2.0%) 06/11 #11 - 53,199 ( +5.0%) 07/11 #12 - 55,413 ( +4.2%) 08/11 #13 - 53,904 ( -2.7%) 08/11 #14 - 50,770 ( -5.8%) 09/11 #15 - 53,771 ( +5.9%) 10/11 #16 - 52,398 ( -2.6%) 11/11 #17 - 50,974 ( -2.7%) 6 mnth ( +0.6%) 1 year ( -9.8%) 2 year ( -5.5%) 3 year ( -10.9%)
This is a much better number than it might first appear. Issues #15 and #16 had variant covers to boost their sales. A straight comparison with issue #14 – the last issue without a variant cover – shows that sales are actually very slightly up, bucking the trend of an industry where most books experience steady erosion. And that is presumably a sign of satisfied customers.
39. FF 03/11 #1 - 121,172 ( +77.8%) 04/11 #2 - 72,897 ( -39.8%) 05/11 #3 - 66,885 ( -8.2%) 05/11 #4 - 60,571 ( -9.4%) 06/11 #5 - 58,925 ( -2.7%) 07/11 #6 - 55,601 ( -5.6%) 07/11 #7 - 54,022 ( -2.8%) 08/11 #8 - 51,917 ( -0.2%) 09/11 #9 - 53,091 ( +2.3%) 10/11 #10 - 49,642 ( -6.5%) 10/11 #11 - 48,433 ( -2.4%) 11/11 #12 - 49,449 ( +2.1%) 6 mnth ( -18.4%)
While this is effectively the first issue of a new series, Marvel seem to be counting the last eleven issues as part of both titles, so I’ll follow suit. FF does indeed inherit the sales of the previous title (slightly boosted by a variant cover).
What usually happens with this launch technique is that the “continuing” title ultimately fails to hold on to its inherited readership – and the Fantastic Four have a poor track record for sustaining spin-off books even in healthy markets. But having Jonathan Hickman write both books may well make a difference.
46,53. X-MEN 11/10 #5 - 56,651 (-11.2%) 12/10 #6 - 53,005 ( -6.4%) 01/11 #7 - 64,615 (+21.9%) 02/11 #8 - 49,522 (-23.4%) 03/11 #9 - 51,179 ( +3.3%) 04/11 #10 - 50,553 ( -1.2%) 05/11 #11 - 46,519 ( -8.0%) 06/11 #12 - 45,786 ( -1.6%) 06/11 #13 - 44,665 ( -2.4%) 07/11 #14 - 45,150 ( +1.1%) 07/11 #15 - 43,038 ( -4.7%) 08/11 #.1 - 38,078 (-11.5%) 08/11 #16 - 43,161 (+13.3%) 09/11 #17 - 43,200 ( +0.1%) 09/11 #18 - 42,066 ( -2.6%) 10/11 #19 - 40,906 ( -2.8%) 11/11 #20 - 43,515 ( +6.4%) 11/11 #21 - 39,919 ( -8.3%) 6 mnth (-14.2%) 1 year (-29.5%)
Two issues this month. Issue #20 is the “Regenesis” variant cover, but issue #21 sees sales going straight back to normal. Since X-MEN isn’t really affected by Regenesis (it’s still doing the same team-up stories as before), that’s perhaps not surprising.
49,57. X-MEN LEGACY 11/06 #193 - 80,102 11/07 #205 - 101,401 11/08 #218 - 63,512 11/09 #229 - 50,789 ===== 11/10 #242 - 43,750 ( -9.1%) 12/10 #243 - 41,797 ( -4.5%) 01/11 #244 - 40,193 ( -3.8%) 02/11 #245 - 57,203 (+42.3%) 03/11 #246 - 47,893 (-16.3%) 04/11 #247 - 51,970 ( +8.5%) 05/11 #248 - 46,083 (-11.3%) 05/11 #249 - 45,063 ( -2.2%) 06/11 #250 - 45,070 ( +0.0%) 06/11 #251 - 43,479 ( -3.5%) 07/11 #252 - 41,365 ( -4.9%) 08/11 #253 - 40,466 ( -2.2%) 08/11 #254 - 39,896 ( -1.4%) 09/11 #255 - 39,284 ( -1.5%) 09/11 #256 - 38,680 ( -1.5%) 10/11 #257 - 38,070 ( -1.6%) 11/11 #258 - 38,334 ( +0.7%) 11/11 #259 - 41,967 ( +9.5%) 6 mnth ( -6.9%) 1 year ( -4.1%) 2 year (-17.4%) 3 year (-33.9%) 4 year (-58.6%) 5 year (-47.6%)
Issue #258 is the final chapter of “Five Miles South of the Universe”, though it seems to have seen a slight uptick for no apparent reason. Issue #259 is a belated tie-in to Schism and has two variant covers. However, issues #259-260 are primarily the wrap-up of Mike Carey’s run, and this book is getting its real Regenesis push with issue #260.1, so it remains to be seen how much benefit it’ll get.
50. SECRET AVENGERS 11/10 #7 - 59,999 (-12.6%) 12/10 #8 - 54,048 ( -9.9%) 01/11 #9 - 50,748 ( -6.1%) 02/11 #10 - 49,717 ( -2.0%) 03/11 #11 - 51,353 ( +3.3%) 04/11 #12 - 50,641 (-13.9%) 04/11 #.1 - 46,161 ( -8.8%) 05/11 #13 - 51,936 (+12.5%) 06/11 #14 - 49,898 ( -3.9%) 07/11 #15 - 46,712 ( -6.4%) 08/11 #16 - 46,317 ( -0.8%) 09/11 #17 - 44,890 ( -3.1%) 10/11 #18 - 43,280 ( -3.6%) 11/11 #19 - 41,191 ( -4.8%) 6 mnth (-20.7%) 1 year (-31.3%)
Continuing the book’s downward drift.
51. MIGHTY THOR 11/06 --- 11/07 #4 - 106,541 11/08 --- 11/09 Fin. - 53,566 ===== 11/10 #617 - 49,165 ( -3.7%) 12/10 #618 - 45,142 ( -8.2%) 01/11 #619 - 42,899 ( -5.0%) 02/11 #620 - 42,106 ( -1.8%) 03/11 #.1 - 41,605 ( -1.2%) 03/11 #621 - 42,104 ( +1.2%) 04/11 #1 - 82,071 (+94.9%) 05/11 #2 - 50,473 (-38.5%) 06/11 #3 - 48,114 ( -4.7%) 07/11 #4 - 44,586 ( -7.3%) 08/11 #5 - 44,594 ( +0.0%) 09/11 #6 - 45,231 ( +1.4%) 10/11 #7 - 44,017 ( -2.7%) 11/11 #8 - 40,703 ( -7.5%) 6 mnth (-19.4%) 1 year (-17.2%) 2 year (-24.0%) 3 year ( --- ) 4 year (-61.8%) 5 year ( --- )
The last three issues have had variant covers, hence the slightly exaggerated drop on this issue. Nonetheless, given the change since issue #4, there does seem to be an underlying slide.
52,60. WOLVERINE 11/06 #48 - 99,991 11/07 #59 - 65,725 11/08 #69 - 93,914 11/09 #7 - 36,108 ===== 11/10 #3 - 51,600 (-18.4%) 12/10 #4 - 52,812 ( +2.3%) 01/11 #5 - 46,920 (-11.2%) 02/11 #.1 - 44,332 ( -5.5%) 02/11 #6 - 45,932 ( +3.6%) 03/11 #7 - 47,337 ( +3.1%) 04/11 #8 - 47,010 ( -0.7%) 05/11 #9 - 44,635 ( -5.1%) 06/11 #10 - 42,677 ( -4.4%) 06/11 #11 - 41,813 ( -2.0%) 07/11 #12 - 42,110 ( +0.7%) 08/11 #13 - 39,296 ( -0.7%) 08/11 #14 - 38,869 ( -0.1%) 09/11 #15 - 37,951 ( -2.4%) 09/11 #16 - 37,796 ( -0.4%) 10/11 #17 - 39,405 ( +4.3%) 11/11 #18 - 40,170 ( +1.9%) 11/11 #19 - 37,997 ( -5.4%) 6 mnth (-14.9%) 1 year (-26.4%) 2 year ( +5.2%) 3 year (-59.5%) 4 year (-42.2%) 5 year (-62.0%)
Issue #18 has a variant cover. A renumbering to issue #300 is imminent, followed by what is evidently going to be a heavily promoted storyline by Jeph Loeb and Simone Bianchi.
54. ULTIMATE COMICS X-MEN 11/06 #76 - 69,054 11/07 --- 11/08 #98 - 46,446 11/09 --- ===== 11/10 --- 12/10 --- 01/11 --- 02/11 --- 03/11 #4 - 37,631 (-15.6%) 04/11 --- 05/11 --- 06/11 #5 - 34,730 ( -7.7%) 07/11 --- 08/11 --- 09/11 #1 - 67,625 (+94.7%) 10/11 #2 - 44,399 (-34.3%) 11/11 #3 - 39,657 (-10.7%) 6 mnth ( --- ) 1 year ( --- ) 2 year ( --- ) 3 year (-14.6%) 4 year ( --- ) 5 year (-42.6%)
Issue #1 had several variant covers, so the second issue drop was naturally high. The drop on issue #3, on the other hand, is a bit higher than you might have hoped for.
55. ULTIMATE COMICS ULTIMATES 11/06 --- 11/07 --- 11/08 --- 11/09 --- ===== 11/10 --- 12/10 --- 01/11 --- 02/11 #5 of 5 - 38,663 ( -9.8%) 02/11 #1 of 6 - 49,360 (+47.5%) 03/11 #2 of 6 - 44,116 (-10.6%) 04/11 #3 of 6 - 43,822 ( -0.7%) 05/11 #4 of 6 - 43,707 ( -0.3%) 06/11 #5 of 6 - 42,803 ( -2.1%) 07/11 #6 of 6 - 42,760 ( -0.1%) 08/11 #1 - 58,522 (+36.9%) 09/11 #2 - 42,728 (-27.0%) 10/11 #3 - 40,792 ( -4.5%) 11/11 #4 - 39,342 ( -3.6%) 6 mnth (-10.0%) 1 year ( --- ) 2 year ( --- ) 3 year ( --- ) 4 year ( --- ) 5 year ( --- )
ULTIMATES ships an issue in November for the first time since 2002.
58. DAREDEVIL 11/06 #91 - 49,335 11/07 #102 - 45,030 11/08 #113 - 41,200 11/09 #502 - 40,354 ===== 11/10 --- 12/10 #512 - 40,317 ( -7.1%) 01/11 #1 of 4 - 34,310 ( -14.9%) 02/11 #2 of 4 - 29,108 ( -15.2%) 03/11 #3 of 4 - 27,231 ( -6.4%) 04/11 --- 05/11 #4 of 4 - 26,179 ( -3.9%) 06/11 --- 07/11 #1 - 64,866 (+147.8%) 08/11 #2 - 40,990 ( -36.8%) 09/11 #3 - 39,477 ( -3.7%) 09/11 #4 - 40,311 ( +2.1%) 10/11 #5 - 39,413 ( -2.2%) 11/11 #6 - 38,302 ( -2.8%) 6 mnth ( +46.3%) 1 year ( --- ) 2 year ( -5.1%) 3 year ( -7.0%) 4 year ( -14.9%) 5 year ( -22.4%)
Issues #4-5 have variant covers, so this actually looks to be extremely solid.
59. INVINCIBLE IRON MAN 11/06 #13 - 76,800 11/07 --- 11/08 #7 - 49,356 11/09 #20 - 55,160 ===== 11/10 #32 - 40,978 (-10.0%) 12/10 #33 - 41,890 ( +2.2%) 01/11 #500 - 54,186 (+29.4%) 02/11 #.1 - 42,191 (-22.1%) 02/11 #501 - 41,517 ( -1.6%) 03/11 #502 - 43,899 ( +5.7%) 04/11 #503 - 45,314 ( +3.2%) 05/11 #504 - 44,791 ( -1.2%) 06/11 #505 - 42,327 ( -5.5%) 07/11 #506 - 41,052 ( -3.0%) 08/11 #507 - 40,082 ( -2.4%) 09/11 #508 - 41,295 ( +3.0%) 10/11 #509 - 38,721 ( -6.2%) 11/11 #510 - 38,118 ( -1.6%) 6 mnth (-14.9%) 1 year ( -7.0%) 2 year (-30.9%) 3 year (-22.8%) 4 year ( --- ) 5 year (-50.4%)
Variant cover, but it’s also coming off the FEAR ITSELF crossover arc, which seems to more or less cancel out.
65. ASTONISHING X-MEN 11/06 #18 - 118,285 11/07 #23 - 112,920 11/08 --- 11/09 #32 - 62,154 ===== 11/10 --- 12/10 --- 01/11 --- 02/11 #36 - 44,326 (-12.2%) 03/11 --- 04/11 --- 05/11 #37 - 38,513 (-13.1%) 05/11 #38 - 37,580 ( -2.4%) 06/11 #39 - 37,127 ( -1.2%) 07/11 #40 - 35,593 ( -4.1%) 08/11 #41 - 33,470 ( -6.0%) 09/11 #42 - 32,700 ( -2.3%) 10/11 #43 - 32,620 ( -0.2%) 11/11 #44 - 32,729 ( +0.3%) 6 mnth (-12.9%) 1 year ( --- ) 2 year (-47.3%) 3 year ( --- ) 4 year (-71.0%) 5 year (-72.3%)
First part of an arc by Greg Pak and Mike McKone, which is the book’s Regenesis tie-in (well, in the sense that it’s the storyline being promoted in the Regenesis advertising – as with X-MEN, the actual story is more or less self-contained).
66. VENOM 03/11 #1 - 58,936 04/11 #2 - 41,006 (-30.4%) 05/11 #3 - 40,634 ( -0.9%) 06/11 #4 - 38,946 ( -4.2%) 07/11 #5 - 35,102 ( -9.9%) 08/11 #6 - 35,033 ( -0.2%) 09/11 #7 - 33,130 ( -5.4%) 10/11 #8 - 32,266 ( -2.6%) 11/11 #9 - 32,506 ( +0.7%) 6 mnth (-20.0%)
Fourth part of a Spider-Island tie-in arc, and it’s also got a variant cover.
67. BATTLE SCARS 11/11 #1 of 6 - 32,222
The solicitation hints at this book being important, without quite explaining why. (“The post-Fear Itself Marvel Universe begins here! Who is Army Ranger Marcus Jones, and how could he tear the Marvel Universe apart?”) Retailers seem to have erred on the side of caution.
73. CAPTAIN AMERICA AND BUCKY 07/11 #620 - 51,187 08/11 #621 - 36,069 (-29.5%) 09/11 #622 - 34,096 ( -5.5%) 10/11 #623 - 32,041 ( -6.0%) 11/11 #624 - 30,472 ( -4.9%)
Drifting down.
77,87. NEW MUTANTS 11/09 #7 - 33,328 ===== 11/10 #19 - 25,440 ( -5.9%) 12/10 #20 - 24,416 ( -4.0%) 01/11 #21 - 23,773 ( -2.6%) 02/11 #22 - 41,236 (+73.5%) 03/11 #23 - 37,659 ( -8.7%) 04/11 #24 - 38,701 ( +2.8%) 05/11 #25 - 34,724 (-10.3%) 06/11 #26 - 27,848 (-19.7%) 07/11 #27 - 27,963 ( +0.4%) 07/11 #28 - 26,130 ( -6.6%) 08/11 #29 - 27,205 ( -4.1%) 08/11 #30 - 26,678 ( -1.9%) 09/11 #31 - 25,672 ( -3.8%) 10/11 #32 - 25,364 ( -1.2%) 11/11 #33 - 28,665 (+13.0%) 11/11 #34 - 25,847 ( -9.8%) 6 mnth (-25.6%) 1 year ( +1.6%) 2 year (-22.4%)
Issue #33 is the Regenesis variant, but again, the orders on issue #34 suggest that the event is having little impact on the sales of the X-books that aren’t directly affected by the story.
82. JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY 04/11 #622 - 43,925 05/11 #623 - 39,003 (-11.2%) 06/11 #624 - 35,834 ( -8.1%) 07/11 #625 - 33,781 ( -5.7%) 08/11 #626 - 31,549 ( -6.6%) 08/11 #.1 - 27,877 (-11.6%) 09/11 #627 - 29,678 ( +6.5%) 09/11 #628 - 28,843 ( -2.8%) 10/11 #629 - 28,054 ( -2.7%) 10/11 #630 - 27,701 ( -1.3%) 11/11 #631 - 27,161 ( -1.9%) 6 mnth (-30.4%)
This is the first issue not to be a FEAR ITSELF tie-in, but it has a variant cover, which may be cancelling that out. Of course, given that FEAR ITSELF hasn’t been much of a draw on tie-in books, it’s quite possible that JOURNEY’s sales haven’t been greatly inflated by the crossover to start with.
83. MOON KNIGHT 11/06 #6 - 74,017 11/07 --- 11/08 #24 - 23,947 11/09 #3 - 23,359 ===== 11/10 --- 12/10 --- 01/11 --- 02/11 --- 03/11 --- 04/11 --- 05/11 #1 - 49,018 (+167.6%) 06/11 #2 - 35,333 ( -27.9%) 07/11 #3 - 33,781 ( -4.4%) 08/11 #4 - 30,237 ( -10.5%) 09/11 #5 - 28,423 ( -6.0%) 10/11 #6 - 27,493 ( -3.3%) 11/11 #7 - 27,062 ( -1.6%) 6 mnth ( -44.8%) 1 year ( --- ) 2 year ( +15.9%) 3 year ( +13.0%) 4 year ( --- ) 5 year ( -63.4%)
This has a variant cover, so there’s probably a steeper underlying drop.
86. DEADPOOL 11/08 #4 - 49,577 11/09 #17 - 46,765 ===== 11/10 #29 - 31,350 (-10.0%) 12/10 #30 - 30,488 ( -2.7%) 01/11 #31 - 29,167 ( -4.3%) 01/11 #32 - 29,144 ( -0.1%) 02/11 #33 - 28,649 ( -1.7%) 03/11 #.1 - 28,979 ( +1.2%) 03/11 #34 - 30,299 ( +4.6%) 04/11 #35 - 28,517 ( -5.9%) 04/11 #36 - 28,173 ( -1.2%) 05/11 #37 - 28,002 ( -0.6%) 06/11 #38 - 27,809 ( -0.7%) 06/11 #39 - 28,400 ( +2.1%) 07/11 #40 - 27,303 ( -3.9%) 08/11 #41 - 26,766 ( -2.0%) 08/11 #42 - 26,794 ( +0.1%) 09/11 #43 - 26,643 ( -0.6%) 10/11 #44 - 26,678 ( +0.1%) 10/11 #45 - 27,552 ( +3.3%) 11/11 #46 - 26,260 ( -4.7%) 6 mnth ( -6.2%) 1 year (-16.2%) 2 year (-43.8%) 3 year (-47.0%)
Issue #45 has a variant cover. Otherwise, it’s all looking very consistent.
88. PUNISHER 11/06 #1 - 102,727 11/07 #13 - 41,783 11/08 #25 - 29,982 11/09 #11 - 24,900 ===== 11/10 #1 of 5 - 20,028 ( -0.0%) 12/10 #2 of 5 - 16,608 ( -17.1%) 01/11 #3 of 5 - 15,298 ( -7.9%) 02/11 #4 of 5 - 14,861 ( -2.9%) 03/11 #5 of 5 - 14,468 ( -2.6%) 04/11 --- 05/11 --- 06/11 --- 07/11 --- 08/11 #1 - 44,725 (+209.1%) 08/11 #2 - 42,459 ( -5.1%) 09/11 #3 - 26,802 ( -36.9%) 10/11 #4 - 25,847 ( -3.6%) 11/11 #5 - 25,399 ( -1.7%) 6 mnth ( --- ) 1 year ( +26.8%) 2 year ( +2.0%) 3 year ( -15.3%) 4 year ( -39.2%) 5 year ( -75.3%)
This issue has a variant cover, so it may not be levelling out quite as well as it appears.
91. HULK 11/08 #8 - 90,776 11/09 #17 - 52,653 ===== 11/10 #27 - 38,691 ( -9.9%) 12/10 #28 - 34,755 (-10.2%) 01/11 --- 02/11 #29 - 33,375 ( -4.0%) 02/11 #30 - 32,907 ( -1.4%) 03/11 #.1 - 32,163 ( -2.3%) 03/11 #31 - 31,368 ( -2.5%) 04/11 #32 - 30,652 ( -2.3%) 05/11 #33 - 32,273 ( +5.3%) 06/11 #34 - 29,391 ( -8.9%) 06/11 #35 - 28,539 ( -2.9%) 07/11 #36 - 28,651 ( +0.4%) 07/11 #37 - 30,318 ( +5.8%) 08/11 #38 - 29,059 ( -4.2%) 08/11 #39 - 26,895 ( -7.4%) 09/11 #40 - 26,591 ( -1.1%) 09/11 #41 - 26,084 ( -1.9%) 10/11 #42 - 27,025 ( +3.6%) 10/11 #43 - 25,514 ( -5.6%) 11/11 #44 - 24,596 ( -3.6%) 6 mnth (-23.8%) 1 year (-36.4%) 2 year (-53.3%) 3 year (-72.9%)
Gentle decline.
94. X-FACTOR 11/06 #13 - 42,844 11/07 #25 - 79,066 11/08 #37 - 35,754 11/09 --- ===== 11/10 #211 - 26,632 ( -3.3%) 12/10 #212 - 26,443 ( -0.7%) 01/11 #213 - 25,403 ( -3.9%) 01/11 #214 - 25,117 ( -1.1%) 02/11 #215 - 25,298 ( +0.7%) 03/11 #216 - 25,256 ( -0.2%) 03/11 #217 - 25,125 ( -0.5%) 04/11 #218 - 24,826 ( -1.2%) 05/11 #219 - 24,766 ( -0.2%) 06/11 #220 - 24,926 ( +0.6%) 06/11 #221 - 24,502 ( -1.7%) 07/11 #222 - 24,794 ( +1.2%) 08/11 #223 - 23,854 ( -3.8%) 08/11 #224 - 23,681 ( -0.7%) 09/11 #.1 - 23,220 ( -1.9%) 09/11 #225 - 23,507 ( +1.2%) 10/11 #226 - 23,569 ( +0.3%) 11/11 #227 - 23,742 ( +0.7%) 6 mnth ( -4.1%) 1 year (-10.9%) 2 year ( --- ) 3 year (-33.6%) 4 year (-70.0%) 5 year (-44.6%)
The general trend on this book is an extremely slow drift down, but it’s now risen for two straight issues. Not by much, but it’s up.
95. ULTIMATE COMICS HAWKEYE 08/11 #1 of 4 - 37,451 09/11 #2 of 4 - 25,551 (-31.8%) 10/11 #3 of 4 - 24,762 ( -3.1%) 11/11 #4 of 4 - 23,562 ( -4.8%)
Fairly standard miniseries performance.
98.100. X-23 11/10 #3 - 31,224 (-11.5%) 12/10 #4 - 29,703 ( -4.9%) 01/11 #5 - 27,855 ( -6.2%) 02/11 #6 - 27,156 ( -2.5%) 03/11 #7 - 27,510 ( +1.3%) 03/11 #8 - 27,745 ( +0.9%) 04/11 #9 - 28,562 ( +2.9%) 05/11 #10 - 26,157 ( -8.4%) 06/11 #11 - 25,985 ( -0.7%) 07/11 #12 - 24,605 ( -5.3%) 08/11 #13 - 23,976 ( -2.6%) 09/11 #14 - 23,727 ( -1.0%) 10/11 #15 - 24,043 ( +1.3%) 11/11 #16 - 22,737 ( -5.4%) 11/11 #17 - 22,780 ( +0.2%) 6 mnth (-12.9%) 1 year (-27.0%)
Cancelled with issue #20. This book is some way above the other canceled titles, and with the storm of cancellations apparently over for now, it appears to be an outlier. It’s worth noting that Marvel have axed the entire Wolverine line except for WOLVERINE itself, so perhaps this one was part of a more strategic rethink.
101,107. AVENGERS ACADEMY 11/10 #6 - 25,977 (-16.9%) 12/10 #7 - 27,774 ( +6.9%) 01/11 #8 - 24,014 (-13.5%) 02/11 #9 - 23,709 ( -1.3%) 03/11 #10 - 23,708 ( -0.0%) 03/11 #11 - 23,636 ( -0.3%) 04/11 #12 - 23,578 ( -0.2%) 05/11 #13 - 24,840 ( +5.4%) 05/11 #14 - 23,537 ( -5.2%) 06/11 #.1 - 23,499 ( -0.2%) 06/11 #15 - 26,378 (+12.3%) 07/11 #16 - 25,379 ( -3.8%) 08/11 #17 - 24,898 ( -1.9%) 08/11 #18 - 24,538 ( -1.4%) 09/11 #19 - 23,928 ( -2.5%) 10/11 #20 - 23,412 ( -2.2%) 11/11 #21 - 22,713 ( -3.0%) 11/11 #22 - 22,531 ( -0.8%) 6 mnth ( -4.3%) 1 year (-13.3%)
Very slight decline, but not too bad on the whole.
102,106. THUNDERBOLTS 11/06 #108 - 27,890 11/07 --- 11/08 #126 - 34,640 11/09 #138 - 31,238 ===== 11/10 #150 - 31,704 ( +3.7%) 12/10 #151 - 27,943 (-11.9%) 01/11 #152 - 26,515 ( -5.1%) 02/11 #153 - 26,098 ( -1.6%) 03/11 #154 - 25,455 ( -2.5%) 03/11 #155 - 26,710 ( +4.9%) 04/11 #156 - 25,117 ( -6.0%) 05/11 #157 - 25,063 ( -0.2%) 06/11 #158 - 28,422 (+13.4%) 06/11 #159 - 27,463 ( -3.4%) 07/11 #160 - 27,810 ( +1.3%) 08/11 #161 - 26,439 ( -4.9%) 08/11 #162 - 25,990 ( -1.7%) 09/11 #163 - 24,199 ( -6.9%) 09/11 #.1 - 22,596 ( -6.6%) 10/11 #164 - 23,712 ( +4.9%) 11/11 #165 - 22,536 ( -5.0%) 11/11 #166 - 22,680 ( +0.6%) 6 mnth ( -9.5%) 1 year (-28.5%) 2 year (-27.4%) 3 year (-34.5%) 4 year ( --- ) 5 year (-18.7%)
Issue #166 has a variant cover, which probably accounts for the slight increase.
110. MAGNETO: NOT A HERO 11/11 #1 of 4 - 21,543
Not a great number, considering the promotion being given to the X-Men books at the moment – this is slightly below the first issue of the current ANNIHILATOR mini.
Marvel seem to be moving away from this sort of miniseries, in favour of increasing the publishing schedule of the core title. We’ll see how that works out for them; the theory seems to be that readers see these books as “inessential”, but I suspect a more accurate analysis is that readers simply don’t want to read that many X-Men comics, and naturally they skip the ones that appear skippable. If that’s correct, then Marvel are essentially trying to sell readers comics that they don’t especially want to buy, and that doesn’t seem like a very sustainable model.
113. GENERATION HOPE 11/10 #1 - 37,398 12/10 #2 - 38,984 ( +4.2%) 01/11 #3 - 24,094 (-38.2%) 02/11 #4 - 22,170 ( -8.0%) 03/11 #5 - 21,290 ( -4.0%) 04/11 #6 - 20,376 ( -4.3%) 05/11 #7 - 20,375 ( -0.0%) 06/11 #8 - 18,883 ( -7.3%) 07/11 #9 - 18,135 ( -4.0%) 08/11 #10 - 29,245 (+61.3%) 09/11 #11 - 20,243 (-30.8%) 10/11 #12 - 18,424 ( -9.0%) 11/11 #13 - 21,317 (+15.7%) 6 mnth ( +4.6%) 1 year (-43.0%)
This issue has a Regenesis variant cover, but we’ve already seen from X-MEN and ASTONISHING that this is unlikely in itself to carry over to the next issue. The series is, of course, safe through to the end of the storyline that begins with this issue; beyond that, it’s plainly in some danger unless it can turn things around.
This is also the first issue by new creative team James Asmus and Ibraim Roberson; the original solicitation rather boldly tried to hype up the arrival of a new creative team without actually naming them, which might have been an attempt to build mystery. Look, it’s the season of goodwill.
And now, brace yourself, as we enter the killing fields.
116. ALPHA FLIGHT 05/11 #.1 - 25,775 06/11 #1 - 46,851 (+81.8%) 07/11 #2 - 26,862 (-42.7%) 08/11 #3 - 24,872 ( -7.4%) 09/11 #4 - 23,242 ( -6.6%) 10/11 #5 - 20,731 (-10.8%) 11/11 #6 - 19,316 ( -6.8%) 6 mnth (-25.1%)
Cancelled with issue #8.
118. DAKEN: DARK WOLVERINE 11/09 #80 - 52,394 ===== 11/10 #3 - 32,679 (-15.5%) 12/10 #4 - 30,726 ( -6.0%) 01/11 --- 02/11 #5 - 28,833 ( -6.2%) 03/11 #6 - 27,486 ( -4.7%) 03/11 #7 - 27,224 ( -1.0%) 04/11 #8 - 26,925 ( -1.1%) 05/11 #9 - 26,294 ( -2.3%) 05/11 #.1 - 24,599 ( -6.4%) 06/11 #10 - 24,724 ( +0.5%) 07/11 #11 - 23,207 ( -6.1%) 08/11 #12 - 21,734 ( -6.3%) 08/11 #13 - 21,302 ( -2.0%) 09/11 #14 - 20,460 ( -4.0%) 10/11 #15 - 19,759 ( -3.4%) 10/11 #16 - 19,472 ( -1.5%) 11/11 #17 - 18,794 ( -3.5%) 6 mnth (-28.5%) 1 year (-42.5%) 2 year (-64.1%)
Cancelled at some point in the near future, once it completes its current storyline.
119,121. GHOST RIDER 06/11 #.1 - 24,830 07/11 #1 - 41,308 (+66.4%) 08/11 #2 - 24,440 (-40.8%) 09/11 #3 - 22,180 ( -9.2%) 10/11 #4 - 21,012 ( -5.3%) 11/11 #5 - 18,664 (-11.2%) 11/11 #6 - 18,297 ( -2.0%)
Cancelled with issue #8.
120. ANNIHILATORS: EARTHFALL 03/11 #1 of 4 - 26,543 04/11 #2 of 4 - 24,117 ( -9.1%) 05/11 #3 of 4 - 23,145 ( -4.0%) 06/11 #4 of 4 - 21,604 ( -6.7%) 07/11 --- 08/11 --- 09/11 #1 of 4 - 22,259 ( +3.0%) 10/11 #2 of 4 - 19,068 (-14.3%) 11/11 #3 of 4 - 18,379 ( -3.6%)
Drifting down, as is usual for sequel minis.
123. WOLVERINE: THE BEST THERE IS 12/10 #1 - 57,348 01/11 #2 - 33,469 (-41.6%) 02/11 #3 - 27,790 (-17.0%) 03/11 #4 - 25,226 ( -9.2%) 04/11 #5 - 24,771 ( -1.8%) 05/11 #6 - 22,695 ( -8.4%) 06/11 #7 - 22,001 ( -3.1%) 07/11 #8 - 20,393 ( -7.3%) 08/11 #9 - 19,476 ( -4.5%) 09/11 #10 - 18,781 ( -3.6%) 10/11 --- 11/11 #11 - 18,094 ( -3.7%) 6 mnth (-20.3%)
Cancelled with issue #12.
126. PUNISHERMAX [Max] 11/06 #41 - 33,164 11/07 #52 - 32,909 11/08 #64 - 24,660 11/09 #1 - 29,119 ===== 11/10 --- 12/10 --- 01/11 --- 02/11 #10 - 19,236 (-10.3%) 03/11 #11 - 19,243 ( +0.0%) 04/11 #12 - 18,740 ( -2.6%) 05/11 #13 - 18,448 ( -1.6%) 06/11 #14 - 17,965 ( -2.6%) 07/11 #15 - 17,706 ( -1.4%) 08/11 #16 - 17,625 ( -0.5%) 09/11 #17 - 17,540 ( -0.5%) 10/11 #18 - 17,541 ( +0.0%) 11/11 #19 - 17,473 ( -0.4%) 6 mnth ( -5.3%) 1 year ( --- ) 2 year (-40.0%) 3 year (-24.7%) 4 year (-46.9%) 5 year (-47.3%)
Cancelled with issue #22.
129. AVENGERS 1959 10/11 #1 of 5 - 32,418 10/11 #2 of 5 - 18,989 (-41.4%) 11/11 #3 of 5 - 16,629 (-12.4%)
Well, it’s a bit of a niche product. I suspect this is the sort of miniseries Marvel won’t be doing so much of next year, the way their publishing strategy seems to be going.
130. BLACK PANTHER 11/06 #22 - 41,268 11/07 #32 - 28,426 11/08 --- 11/09 #10 - 19,147 ===== 11/10 #3 of 4 - 10,356 ( -20.1%) 12/10 #4 of 4 - 9,145 ( -11.7%) 12/10 #513 - 33,124 (+262.2%) 01/11 #514 - 27,474 ( -17.1%) 02/11 #515 - 24,556 ( -10.6%) 03/11 #516 - 23,987 ( -2.3%) 04/11 #517 - 23,120 ( -3.6%) 05/11 #518 - 20,906 ( -9.6%) 06/11 #519 - 19,883 ( -4.9%) 06/11 #520 - 19,400 ( -2.4%) 07/11 #521 - 22,163 ( +14.2%) 08/11 #522 - 20,342 ( -8.2%) 09/11 #523 - 18,798 ( -7.6%) 09/11 #.1 - 16,592 ( -11.7%) 10/11 #524 - 18,248 ( +10.0%) 11/11 #525 - 16,295 ( -10.7%) 6 mnth ( -22.1%) 1 year ( +57.3%) 2 year ( -14.9%) 3 year ( --- ) 4 year ( -42.7%) 5 year ( -60.5%)
Cancelled with issue #529.
133. VILLAINS FOR HIRE 12/10 #1 - 32,936 01/11 #2 - 23,013 (-30.1%) 02/11 #3 - 22,401 ( -2.7%) 03/11 #4 - 21,827 ( -2.6%) 04/11 #5 - 21,815 ( -0.0%) 05/11 #6 - 20,057 ( -8.1%) 05/11 #7 - 18,671 ( -6.9%) 06/11 #8 - 18,029 ( -3.4%) 07/11 #9 - 19,676 ( +9.1%) 08/11 #10 - 18,374 ( -6.6%) 09/11 #11 - 17,550 ( -4.5%) 09/11 #12 - 15,698 (-10.6%) 10/11 S-I - 15,079 ( -3.9%) 11/11 #.1 - 15,281 ( +1.3%) 6 mnth (-18.2%)
The lead-in issue to a mini, which replaces HEROES FOR HIRE on the schedule. Since that mini has had its run cut back, it seems a safe bet that HFH is cancelled.
134,139,143,147,148. AVENGERS ORIGINS 11/11 Thor - 15,180 11/11 Vision - 14,633 11/11 Ant-Man/Wasp - 14,004 11/11 Luke Cage - 13,831 11/11 Quicksilver/Scarlet Witch - 13,778
More of those inessential spin-offs that readers have figured out they don’t need to read. (Who says Marvel readers are completists?)
142. DEADPOOL MAX [Max] 11/10 #2 - 23,382 (-19.9%) 12/10 #3 - 20,990 (-10.2%) 01/11 #4 - 19,238 ( -8.3%) 02/11 #5 - 18,221 ( -5.3%) 03/11 #6 - 17,528 ( -3.8%) 04/11 #7 - 17,005 ( -3.0%) 05/11 #8 - 16,428 ( -3.4%) 06/11 #9 - 15,802 ( -3.8%) 07/11 #10 - 15,067 ( -4.7%) 08/11 #11 - 14,626 ( -2.9%) 09/11 #12 - 14,507 ( -0.8%) 10/11 #1 - 15,865 ( +9.4%) 11/11 #2 - 14,171 (-10.7%) 6 mnth (-13.7%) 1 year (-39.4%)
Presumably safe through to the end of its current storyline, but plainly it must be in danger beyond that point.
145. IRON MAN 2.0 02/11 #1 - 31,380 02/11 #2 - 24,600 (-21.6%) 03/11 #3 - 20,905 (-15.0%) 04/11 #4 - 20,342 ( -2.7%) 05/11 #5 - 20,320 ( -0.1%) 06/11 #6 - 19,798 ( -2.6%) 07/11 #7 - 20,390 ( +3.0%) 08/11 #.1 - 16,984 (-16.7%) 08/11 #8 - 16,455 ( -3.1%) 09/11 #9 - 15,600 ( -5.2%) 10/11 --- 11/11 #10 - 13,910 (-10.8%) 6 mnth (-31.5%)
Cancelled with issue #12.
149. AVENGERS: SOLO 10/11 #1 of 5 - 18,427 11/11 #2 of 5 - 13,747 (-25.4%) 151. THOR: DEVIANTS SAGA 11/11 #1 of 5 - 13,660 156. RED SKULL 07/11 #1 of 5 - 19,973 08/11 #2 of 5 - 16,166 (-19.1%) 09/11 #3 of 5 - 14,650 ( -9.4%) 10/11 #4 of 5 - 13,919 ( -5.0%) 11/11 #5 of 5 - 13,288 ( -4.5%)
More low-selling minis. Again, Marvel’s upcoming solicitations seem relatively light on this sort of thing.
158. THE STAND: NIGHT HAS COME 11/10 #5 of 5 - 16,751 ( -2.5%) 12/10 --- 01/11 --- 02/11 No Man's Land #1 - 16,094 ( -3.9%) 03/11 #2 of 5 - 15,332 ( -4.7%) 03/11 #3 of 5 - 14,768 ( -3.7%) 04/11 --- 05/11 #4 of 5 - 14,696 ( -0.5%) 06/11 #5 of 5 - 14,480 ( -1.5%) 07/11 --- 08/11 Night #1 of 6 - 14,510 ( -0.2%) 09/11 #2 of 6 - 13,723 ( -5.4%) 10/11 #3 of 6 - 13,423 ( -2.2%) 11/11 #4 of 6 - 12,803 ( -4.6%) 6 mnth (-12.9%) 1 year (-23.6%)
Also nearing the end of its run – this arc is the final part of the adaptation.
160. HERC 11/08 #123 - 35,780 11/09 #138 - 25,116 ===== 11/10 Chaos #3 - 28,630 ( -2.5%) 12/10 #4 of 5 - 26,313 ( -8.1%) 01/11 #5 of 5 - 24,694 ( -6.2%) 02/11 --- 03/11 --- 04/11 #1 - 38,774 ( +57.0%) 05/11 #2 - 17,385 ( -55.2%) 05/11 #3 - 18,755 ( +7.9%) 06/11 #4 - 18,106 ( -3.5%) 07/11 #5 - 17,113 ( -5.5%) 08/11 #6 - 16,730 ( -2.2%) 08/11 #.1 - 13,990 ( -16.4%) 09/11 #7 - 15,152 ( +8.3%) 09/11 #8 - 14,813 ( -2.2%) 10/11 #9 - 13,190 ( -11.0%) 11/11 #10 - 12,372 ( -6.2%) 6 mnth ( -34.0%) 1 year ( -56.8%) 2 year ( -50.7%) 3 year ( -65.4%)
Cancelled.
168. VENGEANCE 07/11 #1 of 6 - 25,873 08/11 #2 of 6 - 16,895 (-34.7%) 09/11 #3 of 6 - 13,446 (-20.4%) 10/11 #4 of 6 - 11,948 (-11.1%) 11/11 #5 of 6 - 10,931 ( -8.5%)
Another low-selling mini, though one that was fairly clearly going for a cult audience.
192,210. SIX GUNS 11/11 #1 of 5 - 9,262 11/11 #2 of 5 - 8,031 (-13.3%)
Modern day western. Not much sign of interest here, unfortunately.
195. SHAME ITSELF 11/11 One-shot - 8,983
A parody issue loosely linked to FEAR ITSELF.
202. LEGION OF MONSTERS 10/11 #1 of 4 - 16,785 11/11 #2 of 4 - 8,601 (-48.8%)
This one’s going to look pretty ugly by the end of four issues, I fear.
206. OZ 11/09 #1 of 8 - 25,338 ===== 11/10 #1 of 8 - 13,222 ( +8.8%) 12/10 #2 of 8 - 10,419 (-21.2%) 01/11 #3 of 8 - 9,386 ( -9.9%) 02/11 #4 of 8 - 9,159 ( -2.4%) 03/11 --- 04/11 #5 of 8 - 8,797 ( -4.0%) 05/11 #6 of 8 - 8,753 ( -0.5%) 06/11 #7 of 8 - 8,672 ( -0.9%) 07/11 #8 of 8 - 8,216 ( -5.3%) 08/11 --- 09/11 #1 of 8 - 10,648 (+29.6%) 10/11 #2 of 8 - 8,504 (-20.1%) 11/11 #3 of 8 - 8,381 ( -1.4%) 6 mnth ( -4.2%) 1 year (-36.6%) 2 year (-66.9%)
Holding pretty steady from last series, on the whole.
208. KAPOW! GUINNESS WORLD RECORD SPECIAL [Icon] 11/11 #1 - 8,252
This is a Superior one-shot produced in twelve hours as a jam book at Mark Millar’s Kapow convention, and released as a charity fundraiser for the Yorkhill Sick Children’s Hospital. The print run is limited to 10,000, the remaining copies doubtless going to UK retailers (whose orders don’t count for this chart).
227. OFFICIAL HANDBOOK 11/10 Heroic Age: Villains - 9,294 ( +86.3%) 12/10 A to Z Update #5 of 5 - 4,808 ( -48.3%) 12/10 Heroic Age: X-Men - 13,789 (+186.8%) 01/11 Blockbusters - 5,354 ( -61.2%) 02/11 --- 03/11 --- 04/11 Thor - 9,251 ( +72.8%) 05/11 X-Men - 8,228 ( -11.1%) 06/11 Captain America - 6,311 ( -23.3%) 07/11 --- 08/11 Fellowship of Fear - 10,448 ( +65.6%) 09/11 FF - 6,761 ( -35.3%) 10/11 Vampires - 5,220 ( -22.8%) 11/11 History o/t MU - 7,284 ( +39.5%) 6 mnth ( -11.5%) 1 year ( -21.6%)
This doesn’t really belong in the HANDBOOK listing – it’s more of a Marvel Saga type thing – but it’s the mostly text based continuity project for this month, so I’m including it.
The HANDBOOK hasn’t been solicited beyond December, but further issue are apparently in the works (and the writers are also producing update pages for the trade paperback collections).
249. ANITA BLAKE, VAMPIRE HUNTER 11/06 Guilty #3 of 12 - 28,031 11/07 --- 11/08 Laughing #2 of 5 - 17,187 11/09 --- ===== 11/10 --- 12/10 --- 01/11 Ingenue #1 of 5 - 7,763 ( -4.7%) 02/11 #2 of 5 - 7,352 ( -5.3%) 03/11 --- 04/11 #3 of 5 - 7,018 ( -4.5%) 04/11 --- 05/11 --- 06/11 #4 of 5 - 6,893 ( -1.8%) 07/11 --- 08/11 #5 of 5 - 6,712 ( -2.6%) 09/11 Scoundrel #1 of 5 - 6,650 ( -0.9%) 10/11 --- 11/11 #2 of 5 - 6,302 ( -5.2%) 6 mnth ( --- ) 1 year ( --- ) 2 year ( --- ) 3 year (-63.3%) 4 year ( --- ) 5 year (-77.5%)
Gentle decline.
251. JOHN CARTER OF MARS: WORLD OF MARS 10/11 #1 of 4 - 15,550 11/11 #2 of 4 - 6,288 (-59.6%)
Another drastic second-issue plunge for a JOHN CARTER mini, following in the footsteps of last month’s PRINCESS OF MARS.
258. MYSTIC [CrossGen] 08/11 #1 of 4 - 18,783 09/11 #2 of 4 - 7,105 (-62.2%) 10/11 #3 of 4 - 6,471 ( -8.9%) 11/11 #4 of 4 - 6,002 ( -7.2%)
Depressingly low sales for a beautiful comic.
260. JOHN CARTER: A PRINCESS OF MARS 09/11 #1 of 5 - 19,173 10/11 #2 of 5 - 6,742 (-64.8%) 11/11 #3 of 5 - 5,845 (-13.3%)
See above.
270. SPIDER-MAN [Marvel Adventures] 11/06 #9 - 6,637 11/07 #21 - 6,529 11/08 #33 - 6,126 11/09 #57 - 4,501 ===== 11/10 #7 - 5,603 ( -3.0%) 11/10 #8 - 5,269 ( -6.0%) 12/10 #9 - 5,116 ( -2.9%) 01/11 #10 - 4,816 ( -5.9%) 02/11 #11 - 4,923 ( +2.2%) 03/11 #12 - 4,965 ( +0.9%) 04/11 #13 - 5,083 ( +2.4%) 05/11 #14 - 5,220 ( +2.7%) 06/11 #15 - 5,052 ( -3.2%) 07/11 #16 - 4,708 ( -6.8%) 08/11 #17 - 4,675 ( -0.7%) 09/11 #18 - 4,673 ( -0.0%) 10/11 #19 - ?,??? ( ??? ) 11/11 #20 - 5,363 ( ??? ) 6 mnth ( +2.7%) 1 year ( -4.3%) 2 year (+19.2%) 3 year (-12.5%) 4 year (-17.9%) 5 year (-19.2%)
Cancelled with issue #23.
299. I AM CAPTAIN AMERICA 11/11 One-shot - 4,334
A collection of variant covers.
Missing the top 300 in November: SUPER HEROES, which is cancelled with issue #23; OFFICIAL INDEX TO THE MARVEL UNIVERSE, which is cancelled after the end of its current run; the NORTHANGER ABBEY miniseries; and the Pixar CITY OF INCREDIBLES one-shot.
6 month comparisons =================== +185.2% - Incredible Hulk + 46.3% - Daredevil + 34.9% - Uncanny X-Men + 21.9% - Fantastic Four + 21.0% - Captain America + 7.5% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man + 4.6% - Generation Hope + 3.3% - Amazing Spider-Man + 2.7% - Spider-Man [Marvel Adventures] + 0.6% - X-Force - 4.1% - X-Factor - 4.2% - Oz - 4.3% - Avengers Academy - 5.3% - PunisherMax - 6.2% - Deadpool - 6.9% - X-Men Legacy - 9.5% - Thunderbolts - 9.7% - New Avengers - 10.0% - Ultimate Comics Ultimates - 11.5% - Official Handbook - 12.9% - Astonishing X-Men - 12.9% - X-23 - 12.9% - The Stand - 13.7% - Deadpool Max - 14.2% - X-Men - 14.9% - Wolverine - 14.9% - Iron Man - 16.8% - Avengers - 18.2% - Heroes For Hire - 18.4% - FF - 19.4% - Thor - 20.0% - Venom - 20.3% - Wolverine: The Best There Is - 20.7% - Secret Avengers - 22.1% - Black Panther - 23.8% - Hulk - 25.1% - Alpha Flight - 25.6% - New Mutants - 28.5% - Daken: Dark Wolverine - 30.4% - Journey into Mystery - 31.5% - Iron Man 2.0 - 34.0% - Herc - 44.8% - Moon Knight 1 year comparisons ================== +127.1% - Incredible Hulk + 77.6% - Fantastic Four + 57.3% - Black Panther + 27.1% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man + 26.8% - Punisher + 25.0% - Uncanny X-Men + 14.4% - Captain America + 3.4% - Amazing Spider-Man + 1.6% - New Mutants - 4.1% - X-Men Legacy - 4.3% - Spider-Man [Marvel Adventures] - 7.0% - Iron Man - 9.8% - X-Force - 10.9% - X-Factor - 13.3% - Avengers Academy - 16.2% - Deadpool - 17.2% - Thor - 18.4% - New Avengers - 21.6% - Official Handbook - 23.6% - The Stand - 26.4% - Wolverine - 27.0% - X-23 - 28.5% - Thunderbolts - 29.5% - X-Men - 31.3% - Secret Avengers - 36.4% - Hulk - 36.6% - Oz - 36.9% - Avengers - 39.4% - Deadpool Max - 42.5% - Daken: Dark Wolverine - 43.0% - Generation Hope - 56.8% - Herc 2 year comparisons ================== + 97.1% - Incredible Hulk + 87.2% - Fantastic Four + 19.2% - Spider-Man [Marvel Adventures] + 15.9% - Moon Knight + 5.2% - Wolverine + 5.0% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man + 4.2% - Uncanny X-Men + 2.0% - Punisher - 5.1% - Daredevil - 5.5% - X-Force - 5.6% - Amazing Spider-Man - 14.9% - Black Panther - 17.4% - X-Men Legacy - 22.4% - New Mutants - 24.0% - Thor - 26.8% - New Avengers - 27.4% - Thunderbolts - 30.9% - Iron Man - 40.0% - PunisherMax - 43.8% - Deadpool - 43.9% - Captain America - 47.3% - Astonishing X-Men - 50.7% - Herc - 53.3% - Hulk - 64.1% - Daken: Dark Wolverine - 66.9% - Oz 3 year comparisons ================== + 20.3% - Fantastic Four + 13.0% - Moon Knight - 1.2% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man - 6.8% - Uncanny X-Men - 7.0% - Daredevil - 10.9% - X-Force - 11.7% - Incredible Hulk - 12.5% - Spider-Man [Marvel Adventures] - 13.3% - Amazing Spider-Man - 14.6% - Ultimate Comics X-Men - 15.3% - Punisher - 22.8% - Iron Man - 24.7% - PunisherMax - 28.3% - Captain America - 33.6% - X-Factor - 33.9% - X-Men Legacy - 34.5% - Thunderbolts - 47.0% - Deadpool - 59.5% - Wolverine - 63.3% - Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter - 65.4% - Herc - 72.9% - Hulk 4 year comparisons ================== + 25.9% - Fantastic Four - 14.9% - Daredevil - 16.2% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man - 17.9% - Spider-Man [Marvel Adventures] - 21.1% - Incredible Hulk - 26.1% - Captain America - 29.3% - Uncanny X-Men - 39.2% - Punisher - 42.2% - Wolverine - 42.7% - Black Panther - 46.9% - PunisherMax - 49.4% - New Avengers - 58.6% - X-Men Legacy - 61.8% - Thor - 70.0% - X-Factor - 71.0% - Astonishing X-Men 5 year comparisons ================== - 4.8% - Incredible Hulk - 18.2% - Uncanny X-Men - 18.7% - Thunderbolts - 19.2% - Spider-Man [Marvel Adventures] - 22.4% - Daredevil - 32.2% - Captain America - 33.1% - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man - 42.6% - Ultimate Comics X-Men - 44.6% - X-Factor - 47.3% - PunisherMax - 47.6% - X-Men Legacy - 50.4% - Iron Man - 51.4% - Amazing Spider-Man - 60.1% - New Avengers - 60.5% - Black Panther - 62.0% - Wolverine - 63.4% - Moon Knight - 72.3% - Astonishing X-Men - 75.3% - Punisher - 77.5% - Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter