Sales numbers

[Galactus]

8,10. ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN
Aug Ultimate Spider-Man #44 - 102,429 ( +1.1%)
Aug Ultimate Spider-Man #45 - 100,619 ( -1.8%)
Sep Ultimate Spider-Man #46 - 105,409 ( +4.8%)
Oct Ultimate Spider-Man #47 - 99,662 ( -5.5%)
Oct Ultimate Spider-Man #48 - 98,747 ( -0.9%)
Nov Ultimate Spider-Man #49 - 96,707 ( -2.1%)
Dec Ultimate Spider-Man #50 - 109,819 (+13.6%)
Dec Ultimate Spider-Man #51 - 98,085 (-10.7%)
Jan Ultimate Spider-Man #52 - 95,854 ( -2.3%)
Feb Ultimate Spider-Man #53 - 92,540 ( -3.5%)
Mar Ultimate Spider-Man #54 - 93,025 ( +5.2%)
Mar Ultimate Spider-Man #55 - 91,525 ( -1.6%)
Apr Ultimate Spider-Man #56 - 91,585 ( +0.1%)
Apr Ultimate Spider-Man #57 - 90,784 ( -0.9%)
May Ultimate Spider-Man #58 - 90,963 ( +0.2%)
May Ultimate Spider-Man #59 - 89,863 ( -1.2%)
Jun Ultimate Spider-Man #60 - 104,789 (+16.6%)
Jun Ultimate Spider-Man #61 - 101,159 ( -3.5%)
Jul Ultimate Spider-Man #62 - 98,963 ( -2.2%)
Aug Ultimate Spider-Man #63 - 96,279 ( -2.7%)
Aug Ultimate Spider-Man #64 - 94,682 ( -1.7%)
6 mnth ( +2.3%)
1 year ( -7.6%)

The Carnage storyline continues, and sales drift back to more normal levels.

13. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
Aug Amazing Spider-Man #56 - 92,277 ( -3.3%)
Aug Amazing Spider-Man #57 - 93,469 ( +1.3%)
Sep Amazing Spider-Man #58 - 92,294 ( -1.3%)
Oct Amazing Spider-Man #500 - 148,928 (+61.4%)
Nov Amazing Spider-Man #501 - 94,558 (-36.5%)
Dec Amazing Spider-Man #502 - 90,484 ( -4.3%)
Jan Amazing Spider-Man #503 - 87,341 ( -3.5%)
Feb Amazing Spider-Man #504 - 84,064 ( -3.7%)
Mar Amazing Spider-Man #505 - 83,613 ( -0.5%)
Apr Amazing Spider-Man #506 - 83,152 ( -0.6%)
May Amazing Spider-Man #507 - 81,944 ( -1.5%)
Jun Amazing Spider-Man #508 - 82,268 ( +0.4%)
Jun Amazing Spider-Man #509 - 101,632 (+23.5%)
Jul Amazing Spider-Man #510 - 86,181 (-15.2%)
Aug Amazing Spider-Man #511 - 88,118 ( +2.2%)
6 mnth ( +4.8%)
1 year ( -4.5%)

Here's something unusual - a book going up mid-storyline. Issue #510 gets 1,431 reorders to chart at number 283, and retailers up the orders again for issue #511. Looks like an upward correction, with the "Sins Past" storyline drawing more interest than they'd originally expected. It's enough to give the book a reasonable 6-month gain, but it's still down year on year.



14. MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN
Apr Marvel Knights Spider-Man #1 - 137,314
May Marvel Knights Spider-Man #2 - 99,320 (-27.7%)
Jun Marvel Knights Spider-Man #3 - 82,715 (-16.7%)
Jul Marvel Knights Spider-Man #4 - 75,508 ( -8.7%)
Aug Marvel Knights Spider-Man #5 - 75,562 ( +0.1%)

After three months of somewhat worrying drops, MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN suddenly levels out. In fact, it shows a very small gain. Marvel can breathe a sigh of relief - for the moment, it looks like the book has found its level.



24. SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN
Aug Spectacular Spider-Man #3 - 78,080 (-14.7%)
Sep Spectacular Spider-Man #4 - 74,527 ( -4.6%)
Oct Spectacular Spider-Man #5 - 71,665 ( -3.8%)
Nov Spectacular Spider-Man #6 - 67,633 ( -5.6%)
Nov Spectacular Spider-Man #7 - 66,065 ( -2.3%)
Dec Spectacular Spider-Man #8 - 62,721 ( -0.6%)
Jan Spectacular Spider-Man #9 - 58,711 ( -6.4%)
Feb Spectacular Spider-Man #10 - 55,746 ( -5.1%)
Mar Spectacular Spider-Man #11 - 54,066 ( -3.0%)
Mar Spectacular Spider-Man #12 - 53,549 ( -1.0%)
Apr Spectacular Spider-Man #13 - 52,835 ( -1.3%)
May Spectacular Spider-Man #14 - 51,036 ( -3.4%)
Jun Spectacular Spider-Man #15 - 50,997 ( -0.0%)
Jun Spectacular Spider-Man #16 - 50,515 ( -0.9%)
Jul Spectacular Spider-Man #17 - 51,335 ( +1.6%)
Aug Spectacular Spider-Man #18 - 52,271 ( +1.8%)
6 mnth ( -6.2%)
1 year (-33.1%)

The Avengers Disassembled crossover continues, and the book climbs for the second month running. By the way, I use the word "crossover" in the loosest imaginable sense. Despite the big "Disassembled" logo on the front cover, the actual story seems to have nothing whatsoever to do with the crossover, other than the mere fact of guest starring Captain America. Seems to be boosting sales anyway, but from what we've seen so far, readers who picked it up for the crossover tie-in could be forgiven for wondering whether they've been had.

103. SPIDER-GIRL
Aug Spider-Girl #63 - 22,584 ( -2.3%)
Sep Spider-Girl #64 - 22,442 ( -0.6%)
Oct Spider-Girl #65 - 22,561 ( +0.5%)
Nov Spider-Girl #66 - 21,864 ( +0.3%)
Dec Spider-Girl #67 - 21,403 ( -2.1%)
Jan Spider-Girl #68 - 20,544 ( -4.0%)
Jan Spider-Girl #69 - 20,384 ( -0.8%)
Feb Spider-Girl #70 - 20,541 ( +0.8%)
Mar Spider-Girl #71 - 20,709 ( +0.8%)
Apr Spider-Girl #72 - 20,533 ( -0.8%)
May Spider-Girl #73 - 20,275 ( -1.3%)
May Spider-Girl #74 - 19,959 ( -1.6%)
Jun Spider-Girl #75 - 24,674 (+23.6%)
Jul Spider-Girl #76 - 22,157 (-10.2%)
Aug Spider-Girl #77 - 21,758 ( -1.8%)
6 mnth ( +5.9%)
1 year ( -3.7%)

A Marvel Age book, so it has more leeway than some.

[TrueHorror]

ya know for everyone saying how much spectacular sucks right now(which im not loving it too much myself) It still usually beats out about 75 other comics in the top 100.

[Themanofbat]

I'm surprised that the numbers didn't go up slightly after the movie was released.

:confused:

[Galactus]

I'm surprised that the numbers didn't go up slightly after the movie was released.

:confused:

It's an unpredictable world... ;)

[euroq]

I'm surprised that the numbers didn't go up slightly after the movie was released.

:confused:

The movie probably affects tpb sales more and these numbers are just for comic shops, I think anyone new interested in buying comics will check bookstores and newsstands first.

[shinlyle]

The movie probably affects tpb sales more and these numbers are just for comic shops, I think anyone new interested in buying comics will check bookstores and newsstands first.


:up: Well said. THis is about how I'd imagine it, too.

[Symbiotica]

Jun Ultimate Spider-Man #60 - 104,789 (+16.6%)
Jun Ultimate Spider-Man #61 - 101,159 ( -3.5%)
Jul Ultimate Spider-Man #62 - 98,963 ( -2.2%)
Aug Ultimate Spider-Man #63 - 96,279 ( -2.7%)
Aug Ultimate Spider-Man #64 - 94,682 ( -1.7%)

Steadily and noticeably declining sales throughout the run of the symbiote arc.

also: compare

last Augusts' US-M, #45 - 100,619 ( -1.8%)

this August's:

Aug Ultimate Spider-Man #63 - 96,279 ( -2.7%)
Aug Ultimate Spider-Man #64 - 94,682 ( -1.7%)

A decline of between 4 and 6 thousand dollars between these issues spaced a year apart....

EXCELLENT! People voted with their wallets; one can ask no more.

[gildea]

the book actually increased in sales for the carnage arc though (the 6 month period figure) ;)

[euroq]

Jun Ultimate Spider-Man #60 - 104,789 (+16.6%)
Jun Ultimate Spider-Man #61 - 101,159 ( -3.5%)
Jul Ultimate Spider-Man #62 - 98,963 ( -2.2%)
Aug Ultimate Spider-Man #63 - 96,279 ( -2.7%)
Aug Ultimate Spider-Man #64 - 94,682 ( -1.7%)

Steadily and noticeably declining sales throughout the run of the symbiote arc.

also: compare

last Augusts' US-M, #45 - 100,619 ( -1.8%)

this August's:

Aug Ultimate Spider-Man #63 - 96,279 ( -2.7%)
Aug Ultimate Spider-Man #64 - 94,682 ( -1.7%)

A decline of between 4 and 6 thousand dollars between these issues spaced a year apart....

EXCELLENT! People voted with their wallets; one can ask no more.

Sorry to burst your bubble but that's nothing unusual, every book experiences similar ups and downs.

[Doc Destruction]

Nice to see Spider Girl staying stable.

[ragingdemon155]

Exactly Euroq.

[Symbiotica]

the book actually increased in sales for the carnage arc though (the 6 month period figure) ;)

How do you figure that? I see:

Jun Ultimate Spider-Man #61 - 101,159 ( -3.5%)
Jul Ultimate Spider-Man #62 - 98,963 ( -2.2%)
Aug Ultimate Spider-Man #63 - 96,279 ( -2.7%)
Aug Ultimate Spider-Man #64 - 94,682 ( -1.7%)

Yes, there was a surge for the first and second issues, compared to the months before. People were excited and curious. However each month decreases after that. Steady downward trend. 94 thousand is less than 101 thousand, at least at the schools I attended. :gg:

Last August the book was 102,000 copies; this August it was selling 94,000. Look at that how I might, I don't see "increase."

[ragingdemon155]

Alot of "collectors" only collect the first issue of bigtime events.

When he says "Increase" he was talking about total through the issues. If you added them up.

[iloveclones]

Galactus, where do you get these numbers from? Is there a site you can go to?

[euroq]

How do you figure that? I see:

Jun Ultimate Spider-Man #61 - 101,159 ( -3.5%)
Jul Ultimate Spider-Man #62 - 98,963 ( -2.2%)
Aug Ultimate Spider-Man #63 - 96,279 ( -2.7%)
Aug Ultimate Spider-Man #64 - 94,682 ( -1.7%)

Yes, there was a surge for the first and second issues, compared to the months before. People were excited and curious. However each month decreases after that. Steady downward trend. 94 thousand is less than 101 thousand, at least at the schools I attended. :gg:

Last August the book was 102,000 copies; this August it was selling 94,000. Look at that how I might, I don't see "increase."

But you really can't blame this drop for Ultimate Carnage or whatever errors you see in Bendis' work. Sales are drifting down everywhere.


Sep Daredevil #51 - 59,636
Aug Daredevil #63 - 52,090

Aug Fantastic Four #502 - 54,084
Aug Fantastic Four #517 - 50,247

Aug Incredible Hulk #59 - 59,336
Aug Incredible Hulk #76 - 42,298

Aug Captain America #16 - 43,123
Aug Captain America #30 - 38,464

Aug Exiles #30 - 41,269
Aug Exiles #50 - 37,958

Of course there are some exceptions, a new creative team, much hyped storyline, a big event and such are things that can push sales up.

[euroq]

Galactus, where do you get these numbers from? Is there a site you can go to?

August sales.
http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/5713.html

Analysis of Marvel sales by Paul O'Brien
http://www.comicon.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=36&t=002856

[Galactus]

August sales.
http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/5713.html

Analysis of Marvel sales by Paul O'Brien
http://www.comicon.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=36&t=002856

When did you become Galactus? :mad: ;)

[gildea]

How do you figure that? I see:

Jun Ultimate Spider-Man #61 - 101,159 ( -3.5%)
Jul Ultimate Spider-Man #62 - 98,963 ( -2.2%)
Aug Ultimate Spider-Man #63 - 96,279 ( -2.7%)
Aug Ultimate Spider-Man #64 - 94,682 ( -1.7%)

Yes, there was a surge for the first and second issues, compared to the months before. People were excited and curious. However each month decreases after that. Steady downward trend. 94 thousand is less than 101 thousand, at least at the schools I attended. :gg:

Last August the book was 102,000 copies; this August it was selling 94,000. Look at that how I might, I don't see "increase."


I was talking relative to the immediately previous arc. (i did point out that I was referring to the 6 month figure which was + 2.3%, heck you QUOTED the line it was in!!) The surge in sales from the start of the arc was sufficent (Jun Ultimate Spider-Man #60 - 104,789 (+16.6%) an impressive increase and the start of the carnage arc which you missed out in your post for some reason) that by the end of the arc Ult spidey will have been selling more over the course of the carnage arc than in the 6 issues previously, hence an increase in sales. Which means some people stuck around for the carnage arc.

Perhaps the schools you attend should focus a wee bit more on reading? ;)

89,000 odd vs 94000 odd (previous arc end vs latest issue of carnage arc).

Hence an increase.

:)

[Traveller]

It's funny to these are publish datas. In my country these datas are top secret.

[CantThinkOfAName]

It's funny to these are publish datas. In my country these datas are top secret.*struggles for Soviet Union joke, but cant seem to find the right one when considering Hungary*


:(

[Traveller]

*struggles for Soviet Union joke, but cant seem to find the right one when considering Hungary*


:(


Hehe, funny guy! :)
It's secret because the advertisments. We sell very few piece of comics and we don't want it's scare off the advertising agencys. ;)

[Galactus]

Hehe, funny guy! :)
It's secret because the advertisments. We sell very few piece of comics and we don't want it's scare off the advertising agencys. ;)

Maybe it's the same thing in Sweden.

[Traveller]

I bet it is. ;) About everywhere in Europe except Germany and Italy maybe.

[Galactus]

All Europeans should stand together in these hard times... ;) :D

[Traveller]

All Europeans should stand together in these hard times... ;) :D

As you said!

[Bapman]

I don't get them...
How do u know which one is selling more n which one not.

[masteryoda]

It's interesting that the first issue of the Carnage story and the first issue of Sins Past were both avaible online but they're both a couple of the highest selling issues.
Didn't everyone call Marvel stupid for putting those issues online? ;)

[Galactus]

September numbers:

Sep Ultimate Spider-Man #65 - 94,174 ( -0.5%)

Almost no change from last month. ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN sales tend to fluctuate all over the place; at the moment, it's at the lower end of its usual range, but it's come back before. Wolverine guest stars in October; guest appearances don't usually do much to boost sales any more, but it'll be interesting to see whether things work any differently for the Ultimate books.

Sep Amazing Spider-Man #512 - 87,236 ( -1.0%)

For all the controversy, the sales increase from "Sins Past" has been relatively modest - 4.3% on six months ago, and still down on a year ago. Once you get past the big number for issue #509 (which was boosted by a Director's Cut edition), the orders for following issues are certainly respectable, but hardly Big Event numbers of the sort that we've seen from AVENGERS or IDENTITY CRISIS.

Of course, it remains to be seen how audiences will react to the Gwen Stacy revelations in issue #512, which have received a somewhat mixed reaction. My instinct is that this is not a storyline, or a controversy, which is likely to attract substantial numbers of new readers to the book. Gwen Stacy is a character who was killed off in 1973, before most of the current audience were born. I doubt most of them could care less about melodramatic revisals to her history. I suspect they'll see the whole thing as drearily backward-looking. Besides, it's very uncommon for readers to join a story in progress, these days.

But we shall see.

Sep Marvel Knights Spider-Man #6 - 71,492 ( -5.4%)

Oh well, so much for the book levelling out. Still, these numbers aren't anywhere near as alarming as the early drops - no need to get too concerned about this. It's obviously not going to be the top performer Marvel might have originally been hoping, but it's still got plenty of potential to settle to decent sales.

Sep Spectacular Spider-Man #19 - 51,874 ( -0.8%)

Still tying in to Avengers Disassembled, at least nominally - but it's making no significant difference to sales. Nor should it, since it's now embarrassingly obvious that most of the Avengers Disassembled "tie-ins" - especially this one - have nothing whatsoever to do with it.

There were issues during CRISIS known as Red Skies crossovers - issues marketed as crossovers in order to boost sales, which turned out to have no connection other than a very passing mention of the Crisis. These are Red Skies crossovers of the worst sort. Some of them are closer to Blue Skies crossovers, to be honest. Readers who picked up these titles expecting an Avengers Disassembled tie-in could be forgiven for feeling that they've been had.

Sep Spider-Man Unlimited #5 - 24,156 ( -8.9%)

Levelling out, I suppose, but the drops are still too big, and it's down below the cancellation mark. How long are Marvel going to stick with this one?

Sep Spider-Man/Dr Octopus: Year One #3 (of 5) - 22,653 (-16.5%)

A stiff drop after a two month absence. (Bet they're wishing they hadn't shipped both of the first two issues in June now.)

Sep Spider-Girl #78 - 22,076 ( +1.5%)

Looks like SPIDER-GIRL might actually be holding on to some of its anniversary boost from issue #75, against all trends.

6 month changes
===============

+67.7% - Avengers
+39.3% - New X-Men / New Mutants
+32.0% - Powers
+21.2% - Thor
+11.0% - Iron Man
+ 8.6% - Uncanny X-Men
+ 6.7% - Spider-Girl
+ 4.3% - Amazing Spider-Man
+ 3.9% - Daredevil
+ 2.9% - Ultimate Spider-Man
+ 0.9% - Weapon X
- 2.1% - Ultimate X-Men
- 2.2% - Fantastic Four
- 3.1% - Spectacular Spider-Man
- 3.2% - Incredible Hulk
- 3.5% - Exiles
- 4.3% - Runaways
- 5.2% - Captain America
- 6.5% - Punisher
-12.3% - Venom
-14.6% - Wolverine: The End
-16.0% - Marvel Knights 4
-16.5% - Mystique
-16.9% - Pulse / Alias
-19.1% - Emma Frost
-19.2% - Ultimate Fantastic Four
-20.4% - Wolverine
-23.3% - X-Men
-25.6% - Silver Surfer
-26.7% - She-Hulk
-30.1% - Thor: Son of Asgard
-30.4% - Captain America & The Falcon
-35.7% - Cable/Deadpool
-35.7% - Spider-Man Unlimited
-45.3% - Alpha Flight
-57.5% - Marvel Age Spider-Man

1 year changes
==============

+58.1% - Avengers
+37.0% - Pulse
+25.7% - Powers
+19.0% - Punisher
+17.1% - New X-Men
+15.4% - Thor
+ 8.2% - Iron Man
- 1.6% - Spider-Girl
- 1.9% - Uncanny X-Men
- 5.2% - Daredevil
- 5.5% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 6.4% - Weapon X
- 7.1% - Runaways
- 9.2% - Fantastic Four
-10.7% - Ultimate Spider-Man
-11.3% - X-Men
-12.6% - Ultimate X-Men
-12.9% - Exiles
-14.2% - Captain America
-20.4% - Wolverine
-24.4% - Incredible Hulk
-30.4% - Spectacular Spider-Man
-34.1% - Mystique
-36.8% - Emma Frost
-47.2% - Venom
-57.6% - Silver Surfer

[Doc Destruction]

Wow, glad I dropped Alpha Flight at #1.

[Midnight Ice]

hopefully spectacular gets better after the dissassembled storyline.

[Joker]

I havent read Spectacular since Doc Ock's awesome Countdown storyline.Is Flash still like a vegetable?

[shinlyle]

I havent read Spectacular since Doc Ock's awesome Countdown storyline.Is Flash still like a vegetable?

Yup. He's still a vegetable. The entire title is becoming a vegetable since this stupid giant spider/Peter's Pregnant crap.

[CaptainStacy]

Man, those Spider-Girl figures are DISMAL. Shame, too, because that book is so good it should be doing three, four TIMES that, easily.

The Hell's wrong with you guys? You're missing out on one of the best comics on the shelf, imo.

[shinlyle]

hopefully spectacular gets better after the dissassembled storyline.

I'd hate to imagine how it could get any worse....

[Danalys]

i wonder how the sale of trade paperbacks affect these numbers. cos if sales of a series are going down but the trades collecting those issues are going up then it could just be a shift in the format people read their comics in.

[euroq]

MK Spidey is still losing readers, interesting. Not quite on Spectacular's level yet but probably disappointing numbers for Millar/Marvel.

[The Hobgoblin]

ya know for everyone saying how much spectacular sucks right now(which im not loving it too much myself) It still usually beats out about 75 other comics in the top 100.

Its a Spidey book. Unfortunately it suffers from the same condition that the X-books do. Blind loyalty from fans. The completists.

The reason why a bad book can out sell a good book. Branding and sheep.

[Donald Thomas]

It's interesting that the first issue of the Carnage story and the first issue of Sins Past were both avaible online but they're both a couple of the highest selling issues.
Didn't everyone call Marvel stupid for putting those issues online? ;)
Aloha,
Unlike the record Industry, the comics industry, Marvel in particular has discovered that with comics on line, sales actually increase.Reading the comic on line is fun, then a new or true collector MUST HAVE the hard copy. Either as a comic or trade.
Spidey rules

[Donald Thomas]

Man, those Spider-Girl figures are DISMAL. Shame, too, because that book is so good it should be doing three, four TIMES that, easily.

The Hell's wrong with you guys? You're missing out on one of the best comics on the shelf, imo.
Aloha,
No accounting for taste.They should give out free copies of Spider-Girl to the Boys and Girls Clubs, Girl Scouts, etc. You have got to prime the pump now a days when it comes to reading anything.Better yet, they should start selling comic books in Video game stores.We need a new generation of fanatics. :)
Spidey rules

[Galactus]

7 ,9. ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN
Oct Ultimate Spider-Man #47 - 99,662 ( -5.5%)
Oct Ultimate Spider-Man #48 - 98,747 ( -0.9%)
Nov Ultimate Spider-Man #49 - 96,707 ( -2.1%)
Dec Ultimate Spider-Man #50 - 109,819 (+13.6%)
Dec Ultimate Spider-Man #51 - 98,085 (-10.7%)
Jan Ultimate Spider-Man #52 - 95,854 ( -2.3%)
Feb Ultimate Spider-Man #53 - 92,540 ( -3.5%)
Mar Ultimate Spider-Man #54 - 93,025 ( +5.2%)
Mar Ultimate Spider-Man #55 - 91,525 ( -1.6%)
Apr Ultimate Spider-Man #56 - 91,585 ( +0.1%)
Apr Ultimate Spider-Man #57 - 90,784 ( -0.9%)
May Ultimate Spider-Man #58 - 90,963 ( +0.2%)
May Ultimate Spider-Man #59 - 89,863 ( -1.2%)
Jun Ultimate Spider-Man #60 - 104,789 (+16.6%)
Jun Ultimate Spider-Man #61 - 101,159 ( -3.5%)
Jul Ultimate Spider-Man #62 - 98,963 ( -2.2%)
Aug Ultimate Spider-Man #63 - 96,279 ( -2.7%)
Aug Ultimate Spider-Man #64 - 94,682 ( -1.7%)
Sep Ultimate Spider-Man #65 - 94,174 ( -0.5%)
Oct Ultimate Spider-Man #66 - 95,917 ( +1.9%)
Oct Ultimate Spider-Man #67 - 95,071 ( -0.9%)
6 mnth ( +4.7%)
1 year ( -4.6%)

Remaining very solid indeed in the 95K range.

11. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
Oct Amazing Spider-Man #500 - 148,928 (+61.4%)
Nov Amazing Spider-Man #501 - 94,558 (-36.5%)
Dec Amazing Spider-Man #502 - 90,484 ( -4.3%)
Jan Amazing Spider-Man #503 - 87,341 ( -3.5%)
Feb Amazing Spider-Man #504 - 84,064 ( -3.7%)
Mar Amazing Spider-Man #505 - 83,613 ( -0.5%)
Apr Amazing Spider-Man #506 - 83,152 ( -0.6%)
May Amazing Spider-Man #507 - 81,944 ( -1.5%)
Jun Amazing Spider-Man #508 - 82,268 ( +0.4%)
Jun Amazing Spider-Man #509 - 101,632 (+23.5%)
Jul Amazing Spider-Man #510 - 86,181 (-15.2%)
Aug Amazing Spider-Man #511 - 88,118 ( +2.2%)
Sep Amazing Spider-Man #512 - 88,628 ( +0.6%)
Oct Amazing Spider-Man #513 - 89,615 ( +1.1%)
6 mnth ( +7.8%)
1 year (-39.8%)

Issue #512 charts at number 271 with reorders of 1,392, which are included in the numbers above. That turns issue #512 into a marginal climber, and shows the title edging up over the last few months. These aren't particularly big climbs, but in fairness, any book which is consistently going up from month to month is bucking the trends, and must be doing something right.

17. MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN
Apr Marvel Knights Spider-Man #1 - 137,314
May Marvel Knights Spider-Man #2 - 99,320 (-27.7%)
Jun Marvel Knights Spider-Man #3 - 82,715 (-16.7%)
Jul Marvel Knights Spider-Man #4 - 75,508 ( -8.7%)
Aug Marvel Knights Spider-Man #5 - 75,562 ( +0.1%)
Sep Marvel Knights Spider-Man #6 - 71,492 ( -5.4%)
Oct Marvel Knights Spider-Man #7 - 69,918 ( -2.2%)
6 mnth (-49.1%)

Seems to be levelling out in the high 60K range. The six-month drop is a comparison with issue #1, so it's not as horrible as it looks - most of that drop came in the first two issues.

22. SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN
Oct Spectacular Spider-Man #5 - 71,665 ( -3.8%)
Nov Spectacular Spider-Man #6 - 67,633 ( -5.6%)
Nov Spectacular Spider-Man #7 - 66,065 ( -2.3%)
Dec Spectacular Spider-Man #8 - 62,721 ( -0.6%)
Jan Spectacular Spider-Man #9 - 58,711 ( -6.4%)
Feb Spectacular Spider-Man #10 - 55,746 ( -5.1%)
Mar Spectacular Spider-Man #11 - 54,066 ( -3.0%)
Mar Spectacular Spider-Man #12 - 53,549 ( -1.0%)
Apr Spectacular Spider-Man #13 - 52,835 ( -1.3%)
May Spectacular Spider-Man #14 - 51,036 ( -3.4%)
Jun Spectacular Spider-Man #15 - 50,997 ( -0.0%)
Jun Spectacular Spider-Man #16 - 50,515 ( -0.9%)
Jul Spectacular Spider-Man #17 - 51,335 ( +1.6%)
Aug Spectacular Spider-Man #18 - 52,271 ( +1.8%)
Sep Spectacular Spider-Man #19 - 51,874 ( -0.8%)
Oct Spectacular Spider-Man #20 - 51,159 ( -1.4%)
6 mnth ( -3.2%)
1 year (-28.6%)

Axed with issue #27, following the departure of Paul Jenkins. Most of the remaining issues are a "Sins Past" tie-in written by one of J Michael Straczynski's proteges; since AMAZING outsells this book by 38,000, the plot tie-in is bound to raise sales substantially.

83. AMAZING FANTASY
Jun Amazing Fantasy #1 - 62,056
Jul n/a
Aug Amazing Fantasy #2 - 37,047 (-40.3%)
Aug Amazing Fantasy #3 - 33,917 ( -8.4%)
Sep Amazing Fantasy #4 - 30,325 (-10.6%)
Oct Amazing Fantasy #5 - 26,349 (-13.1%)

Marvel continue to talk about this book as if it were a hit of some sort, but let's be realistic. These are awful numbers for a book which has been so heavily promoted, and it's still shedding over 10% of its audience each month. Of course, Marvel are pinning their hopes on it performing well in digest format, which is still a possibility. But the digest isn't out yet. At this stage, ARANA is a hit precisely nowhere.

Bizarrely, AMAZING FANTASY is scheduled to continue in the spring as a vehicle for unidentified creators to revamp B-list Spider-Man villains. Does this actually sound like a winning concept to anyone?

103. SPIDER-GIRL
Oct Spider-Girl #65 - 22,561 ( +0.5%)
Nov Spider-Girl #66 - 21,864 ( +0.3%)
Dec Spider-Girl #67 - 21,403 ( -2.1%)
Jan Spider-Girl #68 - 20,544 ( -4.0%)
Jan Spider-Girl #69 - 20,384 ( -0.8%)
Feb Spider-Girl #70 - 20,541 ( +0.8%)
Mar Spider-Girl #71 - 20,709 ( +0.8%)
Apr Spider-Girl #72 - 20,533 ( -0.8%)
May Spider-Girl #73 - 20,275 ( -1.3%)
May Spider-Girl #74 - 19,959 ( -1.6%)
Jun Spider-Girl #75 - 24,674 (+23.6%)
Jul Spider-Girl #76 - 22,157 (-10.2%)
Aug Spider-Girl #77 - 21,758 ( -1.8%)
Sep Spider-Girl #78 - 22,076 ( +1.5%)
Oct Spider-Girl #79 - 21,893 ( -0.8%)
6 mnth ( +6.6%)
1 year ( -3.0%)

A Marvel Age title, so it gets leeway despite being below the normal cancellation point. Solid sales, as ever.

6 month changes
===============

+60.2% - Thor
+38.3% - New X-Men / New Mutants
+29.9% - Powers
+17.9% - Wolverine
+16.2% - Iron Man
+13.4% - Uncanny X-Men
+ 7.8% - Amazing Spider-Man
+ 6.6% - Spider-Girl
+ 4.7% - Ultimate Spider-Man
- 2.3% - Daredevil
- 2.5% - Ultimate X-Men
- 3.2% - Spectacular Spider-Man
- 3.3% - Captain America
- 3.5% - NYX
- 5.9% - Secret War
- 6.7% - Exiles
- 9.4% - Fantastic Four
-10.3% - X-Men / New X-Men
-14.3% - Punisher
-17.9% - Mystique
-18.6% - Marvel Knights 4
-19.0% - She-Hulk
-19.2% - Emma Frost
-19.9% - Incredible Hulk
-22.7% - X-Men Unlimited
-24.2% - Captain America & The Falcon
-24.4% - Silver Surfer
-26.6% - Cable/Deadpool
-26.8% - Thor: Son of Asgard
-39.9% - Alpha Flight
-49.1% - Marvel Knights Spider-Man
-53.6% - Marvel Age Spider-Man
-66.3% - Marvel Age Fantastic Four

1 year changes
==============

+49.6% - Thor
+23.7% - Powers
+10.5% - New X-Men / New Mutants
+ 5.4% - Uncanny X-Men
+ 1.8% - Wolverine
- 0.1% - Punisher
- 1.9% - Iron Man
- 3.0% - Spider-Girl
- 4.6% - Ultimate Spider-Man
- 9.2% - Fantastic Four
- 9.4% - Daredevil
-11.9% - Captain America
-13.2% - Ultimate X-Men
-13.3% - Exiles
-16.1% - X-Men / New X-Men
-28.6% - Spectacular Spider-Man
-32.4% - Incredible Hulk
-34.7% - NYX
-36.8% - Emma Frost
-38.4% - Mystique
-39.8% - Amazing Spider-Man
-59.2% - Silver Surfer

[Adrian_Tepes]

Issue #512 charts at number 271 with reorders of 1,392, which are included in the numbers above. That turns issue #512 into a marginal climber, and shows the title edging up over the last few months. These aren't particularly big climbs, but in fairness, any book which is consistently going up from month to month is bucking the trends, and must be doing something right.

That just proves more people can't resist a good car crash.

[shinlyle]

I really think Sins Past is doing so well because of two groups of people:

1) The ASM fans:
These are the people who don't want to drop ASm for anythign in the world, so they keep on getting it, whether they feel it is good or not.

2) The Collectors.:
These are the people that buy books solely for the purpose of making money off of them later. They heard about the controversy, and they decided to pick it up in case it gained value down the road.

Then you have these people (most of this board, including myself):
The fans:
These are the people who hate seeing the comics and their characters ripped apart in the name of sales. They bicker, b****, and complain in the hopes that maybe people will listen, and quit rewarding people for butchering their favorite characters.


I really think it's a shame that MKSM has dropped the way that it has. I suppose the heftier price tag isn't helping it out, but it also means that it is still making the money that ASM is, even if it isn't selling the same number of copies. The book is still quite profitable.

[Dangerous]

That just proves more people can't resist a good car crash.

Yes but this as a long term sales tactic is not realistic.
The only thing that will keep sustained long term high sales,- is good old fashioned great writing. Something ASM is sorely lacking right now.
This car crash mentality of Marvels is gonna burn itself out and then Marvel will be left w/ a fan backlash the likes of which have not been seen since the mid-nineties and continuity in disarray.
Marvel’s current company policy is a time bomb waiting to implode.

[Adrian_Tepes]

Yes but this as a long term sales tactic is not realistic.
The only thing that will keep sustained long term high sales,- is good old fashioned great writing. Something ASM is sorely lacking right now.
This car crash mentality of Marvels is gonna burn itself out and then Marvel will be left w/ a fan backlash the likes of which have not been seen since the mid-nineties and continuity in disarray.
Marvel’s current company policy is a time bomb waiting to implode.
Agreed.

That's why I advocated boycotting the other items not the comics per se.

If the fans stop buying the Spiderman video games, plushies, shirts, etc...

Then the retailers stop seeing a big return on their license to use the characters. That in turn causes them to pay less for the rights to use that particular character.

As things stand now, it will take years for Marvel to notice or to even feel the effects of a fan backlash. By that time, the damage done will be considerable.

Attacking their primary source of income however, will get their attention MUCH quicker.

[Kirsten-Is-Hot!]

Amazing is the best Spidey comic right now, cannot wait for the next issue -524.

[Galactus]

Amazing is the best Spidey comic right now, cannot wait for the next issue -524.

524? Is this a message from the future? ;)

[iloveclones]

I never realized how low Spider-girl's numbers were (relatively). Fans better start convincing their friends to buy this title, because I don't think Marvel will support this title forever.

Also, the "novelty" of any Ultimate title has long since worn off, and it is consistently even with or outperforming Amazing (Is this the same with the other Ultimate titles- FF,Avengers, X-men?) I am VERY curious to see if USM will maintain those numbers through a creative team change. I would suspect that they won't. They better get Ult Peter to move on to college before that happens. I don't see much interesting happening there, other than Bendis (and honestly, I think it's his worst title. I've been waiting for almost 70 issues for something to happen.)

It's always funny to look through these lists and see the "jump" that they get for "anniversary" and 1st issues. You can complain all you want about it being bad policy, but you can't deny that there is a significant jump. And hey, if you keep giving your alcoholic brother a drink, when does it begin to be your fault?

Also, you're aiming your boycott message at the wrong people. People on forums like these (long-time Spidey/comics fans) are not the ones buying all the Spidey merchandise right now (not in numbers that matter anyway). It's all the people who took their kiddies to the movies and have to decorate their rooms now. And those people wouldn't know the difference between a gate-fold foil covered 1st issue revamp from ASM #121. Convince THOSE people to stop buying Spider-man trashcans and then you'll make a difference. Good Luck.

[Rodrigo Shin]

Also, you're aiming your boycott message at the wrong people. People on forums like these (long-time Spidey/comics fans) are not the ones buying all the Spidey merchandise right now (not in numbers that matter anyway). It's all the people who took their kiddies to the movies and have to decorate their rooms now. And those people wouldn't know the difference between a gate-fold foil covered 1st issue revamp from ASM #121. Convince THOSE people to stop buying Spider-man trashcans and then you'll make a difference. Good Luck.

Tell these dads and moms there's cheating going around the current storyarc and that the writer claims that cheating in your partner makes you a stronger person with his own declarations to make the story make sense.

NEXT!

[CaptainStacy]

I encourage everyone to boycott Amazing Fantasy. Unless you advocate the classic Spider-Man rogues gallery created by Lee and Ditko getting "re-vamped" by a bunch of no name wannabes.

I mean, the utter NERVE of some people! It's like Charles ****ing Manson escaped from the nut house, and is currently the CEO at Marvel Comics or something.

[Adrian_Tepes]

Also, you're aiming your boycott message at the wrong people. People on forums like these (long-time Spidey/comics fans) are not the ones buying all the Spidey merchandise right now (not in numbers that matter anyway). It's all the people who took their kiddies to the movies and have to decorate their rooms now. And those people wouldn't know the difference between a gate-fold foil covered 1st issue revamp from ASM #121. Convince THOSE people to stop buying Spider-man trashcans and then you'll make a difference. Good Luck.
Those people are not a factor, long term wise in the market. They're fad buyers, they buy whatever the fad is. A few years ago, they were buying Pokemon and DBZ for their kids.

It's the long term fans that hold Marvel's fate in their wallets.

[Donald Thomas]

I encourage everyone to boycott Amazing Fantasy. Unless you advocate the classic Spider-Man rogues gallery created by Lee and Ditko getting "re-vamped" by a bunch of no name wannabes.

I mean, the utter NERVE of some people! It's like Charles ****ing Manson escaped from the nut house, and is currently the CEO at Marvel Comics or something.
Aloha,
Desperate times. Has Marvel EVER done a focus group with REAL comic book readers and collectors?Have they ever polled their readership to see what we might be interested in reading and of course buying?We fans will do what we can regarding keeping the comic book industry afloat, but ultimately leadership starts at the top.
Spidey rules

[Galactus]

1. NEW AVENGERS / AVENGERS
Jan Avengers #77 - ??,??? ( ??? )
Feb Avengers #78 - 58,798 ( +2.3%)
Feb Avengers #79 - 55,014 ( -6.4%)
Mar Avengers #80 - 55,533 ( +0.9%)
Apr Avengers #81 - 54,987 ( -1.0%)
May Avengers #82 - 55,711 ( +1.3%)
May Avengers #83 - 55,280 ( -0.8%)
Jun Avengers #84 - 57,083 ( +3.3%)
Jul Avengers #500 - 140,033 (+145.3%)
Aug n/a
Sep Avengers #501 - 91,054 ( -35.0%)
Sep Avengers #502 - 93,105 ( +2.3%)
Oct n/a
Nov Avengers #503 - 105,761 ( +13.6%)
Nov Avengers Finale - 101,431 ( -4.1%)
Dec New Avengers #1 - 280,286 (+176.3%)
Jan New Avengers #2 - 153,751 ( -45.1%)
6 mnth ( +9.8%)
1 year (+116.1%)

NEW AVENGERS falls back drastically with its second issue, but 153,751 still allows it to claim the top spot with 40,000 sales to spare. Besides, the numbers for issue #1 are artifically inflated by the Director's Cut edition. The regular version only did 240,724, which makes that drop-off look slightly better. It's still comfortably ahead of the sales for AVENGERS #500, and in a completely different league from pre-relaunch numbers. Plenty to be happy about here.

If you're wondering about the blank number for issue #77, that was a low-priced gimmick issue. Comics with a token cover price don't appear on the chart, because they're regarded as closer to promotional freebies than proper products. Consequently, we don't know how many copies it sold. The one-year comparison is drawn with the first issue from February 2004 instead.

In a generally quiet month on the charts, a lot of re-orders creep into the bottom end of the top 300. NEW AVENGERS #1 shows up at number 283 on the charts, with reorders of 797. The Director's Cut edition turns up at number 299, with reorders of 692. All of which makes virtually no difference to numbers of this scale, but I've included them anyway in the figures above.


8. ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN
Jan Ultimate Spider-Man #52 - 95,854 ( -2.3%)
Feb Ultimate Spider-Man #53 - 92,540 ( -3.5%)
Mar Ultimate Spider-Man #54 - 93,025 ( +5.2%)
Mar Ultimate Spider-Man #55 - 91,525 ( -1.6%)
Apr Ultimate Spider-Man #56 - 91,585 ( +0.1%)
Apr Ultimate Spider-Man #57 - 90,784 ( -0.9%)
May Ultimate Spider-Man #58 - 90,963 ( +0.2%)
May Ultimate Spider-Man #59 - 89,863 ( -1.2%)
Jun Ultimate Spider-Man #60 - 104,789 (+16.6%)
Jun Ultimate Spider-Man #61 - 101,159 ( -3.5%)
Jul Ultimate Spider-Man #62 - 98,963 ( -2.2%)
Aug Ultimate Spider-Man #63 - 96,279 ( -2.7%)
Aug Ultimate Spider-Man #64 - 94,682 ( -1.7%)
Sep Ultimate Spider-Man #65 - 94,174 ( -0.5%)
Oct Ultimate Spider-Man #66 - 95,917 ( +1.9%)
Oct Ultimate Spider-Man #67 - 95,071 ( -0.9%)
Nov Ultimate Spider-Man #68 - 91,075 ( -4.2%)
Nov Ultimate Spider-Man #69 - 90,010 ( -1.2%)
Dec Ultimate Spider-Man #70 - 88,960 ( -1.2%)
Jan Ultimate Spider-Man #71 - 83,987 ( -5.6%)
6 mnth (-15.1%)
1 year (-12.4%)

A surprisingly steep drop, and easily the lowest sales that the book's had in the last year. This was the second half of a two-parter guest starring Ultimate Doctor Strange, for what it's worth.

9. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
Jan Amazing Spider-Man #503 - 87,341 ( -3.5%)
Feb Amazing Spider-Man #504 - 84,064 ( -3.7%)
Mar Amazing Spider-Man #505 - 83,613 ( -0.5%)
Apr Amazing Spider-Man #506 - 83,152 ( -0.6%)
May Amazing Spider-Man #507 - 81,944 ( -1.5%)
Jun Amazing Spider-Man #508 - 82,268 ( +0.4%)
Jun Amazing Spider-Man #509 - 101,632 (+23.5%)
Jul Amazing Spider-Man #510 - 86,181 (-15.2%)
Aug Amazing Spider-Man #511 - 88,118 ( +2.2%)
Sep Amazing Spider-Man #512 - 88,628 ( +0.6%)
Oct Amazing Spider-Man #513 - 89,615 ( +1.1%)
Nov Amazing Spider-Man #514 - 87,121 ( -2.8%)
Dec Amazing Spider-Man #515 - 83,637 ( -4.0%)
Jan Amazing Spider-Man #516 - 79,842 ( -4.5%)
6 mnth ( -7.4%)
1 year ( -8.6%)

Issue #515 charts at number 284 with reorders of 797 copies. Meanwhile, with "Sins Past" over and done with, AMAZING goes straight back to the important business of shedding readers. This is really just the trend that was in place before "Sins Past" anyway, and I wouldn't take this as necessarily validating the claims that people would drop the book at the end of that controversial storyline. But it's equally clear that the storyline failed utterly to bring in new readers and keep them - only two months after the story finished, AMAZING finds itself with its lowest sales in quite some time.

16. MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN
Apr Marvel Knights Spider-Man #1 - 137,314
May Marvel Knights Spider-Man #2 - 99,320 (-27.7%)
Jun Marvel Knights Spider-Man #3 - 82,715 (-16.7%)
Jul Marvel Knights Spider-Man #4 - 75,508 ( -8.7%)
Aug Marvel Knights Spider-Man #5 - 75,562 ( +0.1%)
Sep Marvel Knights Spider-Man #6 - 71,492 ( -5.4%)
Oct Marvel Knights Spider-Man #7 - 69,918 ( -2.2%)
Nov Marvel Knights Spider-Man #8 - 68,290 ( -2.3%)
Dec Marvel Knights Spider-Man #9 - 64,461 ( -5.6%)
Jan Marvel Knights Spider-Man #10 - 61,831 ( -4.1%)
6 mnth (-18.1%)

Falling, but there's only two issues of Millar's run to go, so it's going to sustain a decent level of sales throughout.

23,25. SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN
Jan Spectacular Spider-Man #9 - 58,711 ( -6.4%)
Feb Spectacular Spider-Man #10 - 55,746 ( -5.1%)
Mar Spectacular Spider-Man #11 - 54,066 ( -3.0%)
Mar Spectacular Spider-Man #12 - 53,549 ( -1.0%)
Apr Spectacular Spider-Man #13 - 52,835 ( -1.3%)
May Spectacular Spider-Man #14 - 51,036 ( -3.4%)
Jun Spectacular Spider-Man #15 - 50,997 ( -0.0%)
Jun Spectacular Spider-Man #16 - 50,515 ( -0.9%)
Jul Spectacular Spider-Man #17 - 51,335 ( +1.6%)
Aug Spectacular Spider-Man #18 - 52,271 ( +1.8%)
Sep Spectacular Spider-Man #19 - 51,874 ( -0.8%)
Oct Spectacular Spider-Man #20 - 51,159 ( -1.4%)
Nov Spectacular Spider-Man #21 - 50,633 ( -1.0%)
Dec Spectacular Spider-Man #22 - 47,513 ( -6.2%)
Jan Spectacular Spider-Man #23 - 48,727 ( +2.6%)
Jan Spectacular Spider-Man #24 - 47,824 ( -1.9%)
6 mnth ( -6.8%)
1 year (-18.5%)

Cancelled with issue #27 following Paul Jenkins' departure, although he's nowhere to be seen here anyway. Issues #23 and #24 are the first half of "Sins Remembered", a sequel to "Sins Past" written by one of J Michael Straczynski's protegees. Every issue of "Sins Past" sold over 80,000, so you'd think this might be good for a sales boost. In fact, issue #23 gets a boost which is somewhere between desultory and derisory, and that's about it. I think this says a lot about the reaction to "Sins Past", actually. People bought it because it was an event - but boy, the retailers don't seem to think that they want any more of it.

59. SPIDER-MAN/HUMAN TORCH
Jan Spider-Man/Human Torch #1 (of 5) - 30,617

Not bad numbers, considering that it's a historical continuity series. Those tend not to do very well.

66. MARVEL TEAM-UP
Nov Marvel Team-Up #1 - 44,530
Nov Marvel Team-Up #2 - 37,515 (-15.7%)
Dec Marvel Team-Up #3 - 29,085 (-22.5%)
Jan Marvel Team-Up #4 - 27,216 ( -6.4%)

As with NEW THUNDERBOLTS, the title levels out a bit with its fourth issue. But these numbers are worryingly low.

92. SPIDER-GIRL
Jan Spider-Girl #68 - 20,544 ( -4.0%)
Jan Spider-Girl #69 - 20,384 ( -0.8%)
Feb Spider-Girl #70 - 20,541 ( +0.8%)
Mar Spider-Girl #71 - 20,709 ( +0.8%)
Apr Spider-Girl #72 - 20,533 ( -0.8%)
May Spider-Girl #73 - 20,275 ( -1.3%)
May Spider-Girl #74 - 19,959 ( -1.6%)
Jun Spider-Girl #75 - 24,674 (+23.6%)
Jul Spider-Girl #76 - 22,157 (-10.2%)
Aug Spider-Girl #77 - 21,758 ( -1.8%)
Sep Spider-Girl #78 - 22,076 ( +1.5%)
Oct Spider-Girl #79 - 21,893 ( -0.8%)
Nov Spider-Girl #80 - 21,146 ( -3.4%)
Dec Spider-Girl #81 - 20,419 ( -3.4%)
Jan Spider-Girl #82 - 20,005 ( -2.0%)
6 mnth ( -9.7%)
1 year ( -1.9%)

Well, it's SPIDER-GIRL. It hovers in its own area of 19-21K, and it's happy in its little sales bubble. And why shouldn't it be?

95. SPIDER-MAN INDIA
Nov Spider-Man India #1 (of 4) - 37,783
Dec Spider-Man India #2 (of 4) - 24,779 (-34.4%)
Jan Spider-Man India #3 (of 4) - 18,474 (-25.4%)

Boy, the novelty value sure wore off quickly with this one, didn't it?

96. SPIDER-MAN UNLIMITED
Jan Spider-Man Unlimited #1 - 53,413
Feb n/a
Mar Spider-Man Unlimited #2 - 37,550 (-29.7%)
Apr n/a
May Spider-Man Unlimited #3 - 31,661 (-15.7%)
Jun n/a
Jul Spider-Man Unlimited #4 - 26,506 (-16.3%)
Aug n/a
Sep Spider-Man Unlimited #5 - 24,156 ( -8.9%)
Oct n/a
Nov Spider-Man Unlimited #6 - 20,974 (-13.2%)
Dec n/a
Jan Spider-Man Unlimited #7 - 18,316 (-12.7%)
6 mnth (-30.9%)
1 year (-65.7%)

Now the lowest-selling Marvel title which hasn't been cancelled yet. In fact, it's been solicited up through to issue #9. You'd think that the book couldn't possibly be worth Marvel's effort at this level of sales, and it's not like it has a particularly vocal fanbase... but somehow, it's hanging in there

6 month comparisons
===================

+32.5% - Captain America
+19.9% - Wolverine
+ 9.8% - New Avengers / Avengers
+ 8.8% - Incredible Hulk
- 4.6% - Fantastic Four
- 6.5% - Ultimate X-Men
- 6.8% - Spectacular Spider-Man
- 7.4% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 7.8% - X-Men
- 8.0% - Daredevil
- 9.7% - Spider-Girl
- 9.8% - Uncanny X-Men
- 9.9% - She-Hulk
-11.0% - Wolverine: The End
-12.8% - Pulse
-13.6% - Exiles
-15.1% - Ultimate Spider-Man
-16.1% - Punisher
-16.7% - Thor: Son of Asgard
-18.1% - Marvel Knights Spider-Man
-18.6% - Mystique
-19.4% - Araña
-19.4% - Powers
-20.7% - Cable & Deadpool
-20.8% - Ultimate Fantastic Four
-24.3% - Marvel Knights 4
-27.6% - Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
-30.7% - Captain America & The Falcon
-30.9% - New X-Men
-30.9% - Spider-Man Unlimited
-31.9% - Alpha Flight
-33.1% - District X
-41.0% - Marvel Age Spider-Man
-46.7% - Marvel Age Fantastic Four
-51.0% - Rogue
-57.5% - New Invaders


1 year comparisons
==================

+116.1% - New Avengers / Avengers
+ 29.2% - Captain America
+ 11.8% - Wolverine
+ 1.6% - New X-Men / New Mutants
- 1.9% - Spider-Girl
- 2.8% - Uncanny X-Men
- 3.8% - Incredible Hulk
- 7.8% - Fantastic Four
- 8.6% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 12.1% - Ultimate X-Men
- 12.4% - Ultimate Spider-Man
- 13.5% - Daredevil
- 13.8% - Exiles
- 18.5% - Spectacular Spider-Man
- 25.4% - Wolverine: The End
- 30.2% - Punisher
- 30.7% - X-Men
- 37.2% - Mystique
- 41.2% - Ultimate Fantastic Four

[Cullen]

Most interesting. Thanks for the update.

[Larry "Bud" Mellman]

great thread. :up:

[BLAQUE-SPIDERMAN]

103. SPIDER-GIRL:
Aug Spider-Girl #63 - 22,584 ( -2.3%)
Sep Spider-Girl #64 - 22,442 ( -0.6%)
Oct Spider-Girl #65 - 22,561 ( +0.5%)
Nov Spider-Girl #66 - 21,864 ( +0.3%)
Dec Spider-Girl #67 - 21,403 ( -2.1%)
Jan Spider-Girl #68 - 20,544 ( -4.0%)
Jan Spider-Girl #69 - 20,384 ( -0.8%)
Feb Spider-Girl #70 - 20,541 ( +0.8%)
Mar Spider-Girl #71 - 20,709 ( +0.8%)
Apr Spider-Girl #72 - 20,533 ( -0.8%)
May Spider-Girl #73 - 20,275 ( -1.3%)
May Spider-Girl #74 - 19,959 ( -1.6%)
Jun Spider-Girl #75 - 24,674 (+23.6%)
Jul Spider-Girl #76 - 22,157 (-10.2%)
Aug Spider-Girl #77 - 21,758 ( -1.8%)
6 mnth ( +5.9%)
1 year ( -3.7%)

A Marvel Age book, so it has more leeway than some.Spider-Girl isn't a Marvel Age book, but DAMN- such a great title, with great fans, and such low sales numbers. It's all good though, slow and steady wins the race!

[LarryLegend]

Interesting that ASM has dropped so much. Under 80,000 is kind of sad.

[Auntie May]

Interesting that ASM has dropped so much. Under 80,000 is kind of sad.


Chances are it would be around 83,000 without Sins Past. I don't want Sins Past defenders jumping on me saying I blame Sins Past (though I have personally not bought an issue since 512)....maybe this would have happened without it. Sins Past probably didn't reel in any new readers that were willing to stay after the arc was over and maybe caused a small percentage of people (including me) to drop...but who knows for sure? I think I actually predicted the comic would fall below 80,000 within a couple of months of Sins Past being over..but I really didn't want to be right.

Maybe the Avengers tie-in will help sales if the story doesn't drag out or disinterest people right away.


Interesting that another comic I gave up on recently (USM) has fallen so dramaticly. I really feel both ASM and USM would benefit from shorter story arcs and speeding things up a bit.

[Adrian_Tepes]

Sins Past was a car crash storyarc done without any real thought or planning behind it so it's not really a surprise to see the end result:

Old readers are pissed and leave the book.
New Readers aren't interested in the actual source material just the car crash and leave the book.

Quesada won't act and will be looking for excuses so I wonder what the magic number will be for Avi to act and save his company.

[Captivated]

Sins Past was a car crash storyarc... Old readers are pissed and leave the book. New Readers aren't interested in the actual source material just the car crash and leave the book.
Well put. :up:

Think they realize that? Or are they plotting more "pile-ups" as we speak? *shudder*

[Auntie May]

Well put. :up:

Think they realize that? Or are they plotting more "pile-ups" as we speak? *shudder*

Doesn't it drive you crazy when people slow down traffic for 30 minutes (through an area that usually takes 5 or 10 minutes to get through) looking at car crashes? I guess they are hoping they will see a dead body of something :mad:

I don't look at car crashes myself, which is why I dropped after ASM 512 and am avoiding SSM right now.

[dan1]

Doesn't it drive you crazy when people slow down traffic for 30 minutes (through an area that usually takes 5 or 10 minutes to get through) looking at car crashes? I guess they are hoping they will see a dead body of something :mad:

I don't look at car crashes myself, which is why I dropped after ASM 512 and am avoiding SSM right now.

The numbers don't lie, and I think it's funny that they want us to think so much of Sins Past and Sins Remembered. They want us to truly treat it like some of the most important events of Spider-Man's life, but no one gives a crap. :D

The story was/is a car wreck. It has no redeeming value and just makes the old readers take another road and the new readers say, "ok, now what?"

[Adrian_Tepes]

Well put. :up:

Think they realize that? Or are they plotting more "pile-ups" as we speak? *shudder*

Just going by past experience, they're probably looking for an even BIGGER rock to throw.

My guess is we'll get another 'revelation' of sorts tying Norman to Uncle Ben somehow.

[Galactus]

1. NEW AVENGERS / AVENGERS
Feb 04 Avengers #78 - 58,798 ( +2.3%)
Feb 04 Avengers #79 - 55,014 ( -6.4%)
Mar 04 Avengers #80 - 55,533 ( +0.9%)
Apr 04 Avengers #81 - 54,987 ( -1.0%)
May 04 Avengers #82 - 55,711 ( +1.3%)
May 04 Avengers #83 - 55,280 ( -0.8%)
Jun 04 Avengers #84 - 57,083 ( +3.3%)
Jul 04 Avengers #500 - 140,033 (+145.3%)
Aug 04 n/a
Sep 04 Avengers #501 - 91,054 ( -35.0%)
Sep 04 Avengers #502 - 93,105 ( +2.3%)
Oct 04 n/a
Nov 04 Avengers #503 - 105,761 ( +13.6%)
Nov 04 Avengers Finale - 101,431 ( -4.1%)
Dec 05 New Avengers #1 - 280,286 (+176.3%)
Jan 05 New Avengers #2 - 155,742 ( -44.3%)
Feb 05 New Avengers #3 - 148,973 ( -4.3%)
6 mnth ( +63.6%)
1 year (+153.4%)

Considering the huge numbers that NEW AVENGERS has delivered so far, that's a remarkably modest drop. Marvel have got to be delighted with these figures. Three issues in, NEW AVENGERS remains in a completely different league from the book's previous incarnations. Even AVENGERS #500 didn't do this well.

Issue #1 gets a further 1,991 re-orders to chart at number 260. As always, the re-orders are included in the numbers above

11. ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN
Feb 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #53 - 92,540 ( -3.5%)
Mar 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #54 - 93,025 ( +5.2%)
Mar 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #55 - 91,525 ( -1.6%)
Apr 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #56 - 91,585 ( +0.1%)
Apr 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #57 - 90,784 ( -0.9%)
May 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #58 - 90,963 ( +0.2%)
May 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #59 - 89,863 ( -1.2%)
Jun 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #60 - 104,789 (+16.6%)
Jun 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #61 - 101,159 ( -3.5%)
Jul 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #62 - 98,963 ( -2.2%)
Aug 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #63 - 96,279 ( -2.7%)
Aug 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #64 - 94,682 ( -1.7%)
Sep 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #65 - 94,174 ( -0.5%)
Oct 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #66 - 95,917 ( +1.9%)
Oct 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #67 - 95,071 ( -0.9%)
Nov 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #68 - 91,075 ( -4.2%)
Nov 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #69 - 90,010 ( -1.2%)
Dec 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #70 - 88,960 ( -1.2%)
Jan 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #71 - 83,987 ( -5.6%)
Feb 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #72 - 86,685 ( +3.2%)
6 mnth ( -8.4%)
1 year ( -6.3%)

Bouncing back from last month's curiously low sales, although the general trend is still downhill.

15. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
Feb 04 Amazing Spider-Man #504 - 84,064 ( -3.7%)
Mar 04 Amazing Spider-Man #505 - 83,613 ( -0.5%)
Apr 04 Amazing Spider-Man #506 - 83,152 ( -0.6%)
May 04 Amazing Spider-Man #507 - 81,944 ( -1.5%)
Jun 04 Amazing Spider-Man #508 - 82,268 ( +0.4%)
Jun 04 Amazing Spider-Man #509 - 101,632 (+23.5%)
Jul 04 Amazing Spider-Man #510 - 86,181 (-15.2%)
Aug 04 Amazing Spider-Man #511 - 88,118 ( +2.2%)
Sep 04 Amazing Spider-Man #512 - 88,628 ( +0.6%)
Oct 04 Amazing Spider-Man #513 - 89,615 ( +1.1%)
Nov 04 Amazing Spider-Man #514 - 87,121 ( -2.8%)
Dec 04 Amazing Spider-Man #515 - 83,637 ( -4.0%)
Jan 05 Amazing Spider-Man #516 - 79,842 ( -4.5%)
Feb 05 Amazing Spider-Man #517 - 78,584 ( -1.6%)
6 mnth (-10.8%)
1 year ( -6.5%)

Drifting down.

20. MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN
Apr 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #1 - 137,314
May 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #2 - 99,320 (-27.7%)
Jun 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #3 - 82,715 (-16.7%)
Jul 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #4 - 75,508 ( -8.7%)
Aug 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #5 - 75,562 ( +0.1%)
Sep 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #6 - 71,492 ( -5.4%)
Oct 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #7 - 69,918 ( -2.2%)
Nov 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #8 - 68,290 ( -2.3%)
Dec 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #9 - 64,461 ( -5.6%)
Jan 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #10 - 61,831 ( -4.1%)
Feb 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #11 - 60,460 ( -2.2%)
6 mnth (-20.0%)

Drifting down, but Millar and Dodson's run is still going to finish with healthy numbers.

31. SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN
Feb 04 Spectacular Spider-Man #10 - 55,746 ( -5.1%)
Mar 04 Spectacular Spider-Man #11 - 54,066 ( -3.0%)
Mar 04 Spectacular Spider-Man #12 - 53,549 ( -1.0%)
Apr 04 Spectacular Spider-Man #13 - 52,835 ( -1.3%)
May 04 Spectacular Spider-Man #14 - 51,036 ( -3.4%)
Jun 04 Spectacular Spider-Man #15 - 50,997 ( -0.0%)
Jun 04 Spectacular Spider-Man #16 - 50,515 ( -0.9%)
Jul 04 Spectacular Spider-Man #17 - 51,335 ( +1.6%)
Aug 04 Spectacular Spider-Man #18 - 52,271 ( +1.8%)
Sep 04 Spectacular Spider-Man #19 - 51,874 ( -0.8%)
Oct 04 Spectacular Spider-Man #20 - 51,159 ( -1.4%)
Nov 04 Spectacular Spider-Man #21 - 50,633 ( -1.0%)
Dec 04 Spectacular Spider-Man #22 - 47,513 ( -6.2%)
Jan 05 Spectacular Spider-Man #23 - 48,727 ( +2.6%)
Jan 05 Spectacular Spider-Man #24 - 47,824 ( -1.9%)
Feb 05 Spectacular Spider-Man #25 - 47,727 ( -0.2%)
6 mnth ( -8.7%)
1 year (-14.4%)

Axed with issue #27. Although when I say axed, what I really mean is that it's going to be replaced by the SPIDER-MAN: HOUSE OF M miniseries for a few months, after which there's going to be a new ongoing title taking its place. The official line is that it's being cancelled because of writer Paul Jenkins' departure, of course.

Meanwhile, the Jenkins-free "Sins Remembered" continues, to overwhelming indifference. Of course, you'd never expect it to reach the sales of the parent storyline, but you'd have thought that a spin-off from a much-hyped story, written by one of Straczynski's hand-picked protegees, would do better than this.

71. MARVEL TEAM-UP
Nov 04 Marvel Team-Up #1 - 44,530
Nov 04 Marvel Team-Up #2 - 37,515 (-15.7%)
Dec 04 Marvel Team-Up #3 - 29,085 (-22.5%)
Jan 05 Marvel Team-Up #4 - 27,216 ( -6.4%)
Feb 05 Marvel Team-Up #5 - 28,141 ( +3.4%)

This month, Spider-Man and X-23. Apparently she really does sell comics.

89. SPIDER-MAN/HUMAN TORCH
Jan 05 Spider-Man/Human Torch #1 (of 5) - 30,617
Feb 05 Spider-Man/Human Torch #2 (of 5) - 22,448 (-26.7%)

More truly horrible sales from the FF spin-off machine, although to be fair, miniseries set in past continuity never tend to do that well. Still, these are not good numbers. By issue #5, sales could be awfully low

101. SPIDER-GIRL
Feb 04 Spider-Girl #70 - 20,541 ( +0.8%)
Mar 04 Spider-Girl #71 - 20,709 ( +0.8%)
Apr 04 Spider-Girl #72 - 20,533 ( -0.8%)
May 04 Spider-Girl #73 - 20,275 ( -1.3%)
May 04 Spider-Girl #74 - 19,959 ( -1.6%)
Jun 04 Spider-Girl #75 - 24,674 (+23.6%)
Jul 04 Spider-Girl #76 - 22,157 (-10.2%)
Aug 04 Spider-Girl #77 - 21,758 ( -1.8%)
Sep 04 Spider-Girl #78 - 22,076 ( +1.5%)
Oct 04 Spider-Girl #79 - 21,893 ( -0.8%)
Nov 04 Spider-Girl #80 - 21,146 ( -3.4%)
Dec 04 Spider-Girl #81 - 20,419 ( -3.4%)
Jan 05 Spider-Girl #82 - 20,005 ( -2.0%)
Feb 05 Spider-Girl #83 - 20,382 ( +1.9%)
6 mnth ( -6.3%)
1 year ( -0.8%)

Rock solid, as ever. SPIDER-GIRL isn't going anywhere; the digests seem to be doing well, and while its direct market audience may be relatively small, they're clearly unusually loyal.

122. SPIDER-MAN INDIA
Nov 04 Spider-Man India #1 (of 4) - 37,783
Dec 04 Spider-Man India #2 (of 4) - 24,779 (-34.4%)
Jan 05 Spider-Man India #3 (of 4) - 18,474 (-25.4%)
Feb 05 Spider-Man India #4 (of 4) - 15,669 (-15.2%)

Dropped off very badly after the initial interest.

151. MARVEL AGE SPIDER-MAN
Mar 04 Marvel Age Spider-Man #1 - 36,700
Apr 04 Marvel Age Spider-Man #2 - 30,363 (-16.5%)
May 04 Marvel Age Spider-Man #3 - 24,180 (-20.4%)
May 04 Marvel Age Spider-Man #4 - 23,442 ( -3.1%)
Jun 04 Marvel Age Spider-Man #5 - 21,556 ( -8.0%)
Jun 04 Marvel Age Spider-Man #6 - 21,116 ( -2.0%)
Jul 04 Marvel Age Spider-Man #7 - 17,650 (-16.4%)
Jul 04 Marvel Age Spider-Man #8 - 17,243 ( -2.3%)
Aug 04 Marvel Age Spider-Man #9 - 16,077 ( -6.7%)
Aug 04 Marvel Age Spider-Man #10 - 16,134 ( +0.4%)
Sep 04 Marvel Age Spider-Man #11 - 16,007 ( -0.8%)
Sep 04 Marvel Age Spider-Man #12 - 15,601 ( -2.5%)
Oct 04 Marvel Age Spider-Man #13 - 14,437 ( -7.5%)
Oct 04 Marvel Age Spider-Man #14 - 14,080 ( -2.5%)
Nov 04 Marvel Age Spider-Man #15 - 13,079 ( -7.1%)
Nov 04 Marvel Age Spider-Man #16 - 12,862 ( -1.7%)
Dec 04 Marvel Age Spider-Man #17 - 11,644 ( -9.5%)
Dec 04 Marvel Age Spider-Man #18 - 11,412 ( -2.0%)
Jan 05 Marvel Age Spider-Man #19 - 10,178 (-10.8%)
Feb 05 Marvel Age Spider-Man #20 - 10,127 ( -0.5%)
6 mnth (-37.2%)

Axed, with MARVEL ADVENTURES in the wings waiting to replace it.

162. MARVEL AGE SPIDER-MAN TEAM-UP
Sep 04 Marvel Age Spider-Man Team-Up #1 - 20,801
Oct 04 Marvel Age Spider-Man Team-Up #2 - 14,892 (-28.4%)
Nov 04 Marvel Age Spider-Man Team-Up #3 - 12,174 (-18.3%)
Dec 04 Marvel Age Spider-Man Team-Up #4 - 10,340 (-15.1%)
Jan 05 n/a
Feb 05 Marvel Age Spider-Man Team-Up #5 - 8,844 (-14.5%)

Ditto.

6 month comparisons
===================

+63.8% - Runaways
+63.6% - New Avengers / Avengers
+27.4% - Wolverine
+25.1% - Captain America
+ 5.7% - Incredible Hulk
- 6.3% - She-Hulk
- 6.3% - Spider-Girl
- 6.5% - Daredevil
- 7.9% - Fantastic Four
- 8.3% - X-Men
- 8.4% - Ultimate Spider-Man
- 8.7% - Spectacular Spider-Man
- 9.5% - Astonishing X-Men
- 9.5% - Uncanny X-Men
-10.2% - Supreme Power
-10.8% - Amazing Spider-Man
-12.9% - Exiles
-14.7% - Punisher
-15.2% - Powers
-17.4% - Mystique
-17.4% - Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
-18.3% - Cable/Deadpool
-18.8% - Ultimate X-Men
-20.0% - Marvel Knights Spider-Man
-20.3% - X-Men Unlimited
-23.9% - Marvel Knights 4
-28.7% - Alpha Flight
-28.8% - Ultimate Nightmare
-28.9% - New X-Men
-31.0% - District X
-31.6% - Captain America & The Falcon
-33.1% - Excalibur
-37.2% - Marvel Age Spider-Man
-41.6% - Rogue
-57.4% - X-Force / X-Force: Shatterstar
-57.6% - New Invaders


1 year comparisons
==================

+153.4% - New Avengers / Avengers
+ 52.2% - Runaways
+ 21.2% - Captain America
+ 19.4% - Wolverine
+ 13.9% - Powers
+ 5.2% - Ultimates
+ 0.6% - Uncanny X-Men
- 0.8% - Spider-Girl
- 1.9% - New X-Men / New Mutants
- 5.8% - Fantastic Four
- 6.1% - Incredible Hulk
- 6.3% - Ultimate Spider-Man
- 6.5% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 10.9% - Daredevil
- 12.9% - Exiles
- 14.0% - Ultimate X-Men
- 14.4% - Spectacular Spider-Man
- 15.2% - Supreme Power
- 16.6% - Punisher
- 27.7% - X-Men / New X-Men
- 31.7% - Mystique
- 48.9% - X-Men Unlimited
- 50.8% - Marvel Knights 4

[Adrian_Tepes]

15. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
Feb 04 Amazing Spider-Man #504 - 84,064 ( -3.7%)
Mar 04 Amazing Spider-Man #505 - 83,613 ( -0.5%)
Apr 04 Amazing Spider-Man #506 - 83,152 ( -0.6%)
May 04 Amazing Spider-Man #507 - 81,944 ( -1.5%)
Jun 04 Amazing Spider-Man #508 - 82,268 ( +0.4%)
Jun 04 Amazing Spider-Man #509 - 101,632 (+23.5%)
Jul 04 Amazing Spider-Man #510 - 86,181 (-15.2%)
Aug 04 Amazing Spider-Man #511 - 88,118 ( +2.2%)
Sep 04 Amazing Spider-Man #512 - 88,628 ( +0.6%)
Oct 04 Amazing Spider-Man #513 - 89,615 ( +1.1%)
Nov 04 Amazing Spider-Man #514 - 87,121 ( -2.8%)
Dec 04 Amazing Spider-Man #515 - 83,637 ( -4.0%)
Jan 05 Amazing Spider-Man #516 - 79,842 ( -4.5%)
Feb 05 Amazing Spider-Man #517 - 78,584 ( -1.6%)
6 mnth (-10.8%)
1 year ( -6.5%)

Drifting down.

There's an understatement.

With ASM nosediving and New Avengers increasing in sales, I think we can safely say we're looking at the begining of the end for a lot of things Marvel related.

Now's just limbo time...

How low can they go...

[Donald Thomas]

Aloha,
This means that Amazing will be tied into New Avengers closely.
Spidey rules

[iloveclones]

Hard to believe with all the Slott-love I've seen around here that Spidey/Torchie isn't doing better.

What really disturbs me, though, are the numbers for MTU. Great title that fans who complain about continuity, etc., should be supporting. And telling your friends to get. And buying for your nieces and nephews.

[Adrian_Tepes]

Hard to believe with all the Slott-love I've seen around here that Spidey/Torchie isn't doing better.

What really disturbs me, though, are the numbers for MTU. Great title that fans who complain about continuity, etc., should be supporting. And telling your friends to get. And buying for your nieces and nephews.

Eh.

Marvel has been writing to a certain kind of audience for awhile at the expense of their own old fanbase.

[Auntie May]

I am surprised that Spider-Man/Human Torch didn't sell more...though #2 is not as good as #1 and #3 (IMO).


Marvel better hope that the Avengers tie-in helps Spider-Man sales (especially ASM).

[Adrian_Tepes]

I am surprised that Spider-Man/Human Torch didn't sell more...though #2 is not as good as #1 and #3 (IMO).


Marvel better hope that the Avengers tie-in helps Spider-Man sales (especially ASM).

Marvel better hope but the fans shouldn't.

A sales BOOST will encourage them to continue their current way of writing.

But if sales continue to sink, MAYBE, JUST maybe, Avi will get the hint about what's going on.

[LarryLegend]

You never know, it is interesting how ASM #'s are dropping so much. Looks like Sins Past has cost atleast 10,000 issues a month and 78,000 for a flagship like ASM is sad.

[Galactus]

2. NEW AVENGERS / AVENGERS
Mar 01 Avengers #40 - 60,378
Mar 02 Avengers #52 - 53,249
Mar 03 Avengers #65 - 59,155
======
Mar 04 Avengers #80 - 55,533 ( +0.9%)
Apr 04 Avengers #81 - 54,987 ( -1.0%)
May 04 Avengers #82 - 55,711 ( +1.3%)
May 04 Avengers #83 - 55,280 ( -0.8%)
Jun 04 Avengers #84 - 57,083 ( +3.3%)
Jul 04 Avengers #500 - 140,033 (+145.3%)
Aug 04 n/a
Sep 04 Avengers #501 - 91,054 ( -35.0%)
Sep 04 Avengers #502 - 93,105 ( +2.3%)
Oct 04 n/a
Nov 04 Avengers #503 - 105,761 ( +13.6%)
Nov 04 Avengers Finale - 101,431 ( -4.1%)
Dec 05 New Avengers #1 - 280,286 (+176.3%)
Jan 05 New Avengers #2 - 155,742 ( -44.3%)
Feb 05 New Avengers #3 - 148,973 ( -4.3%)
Mar 05 New Avengers #4 - 155,113 ( +4.1%)
6 mnth ( +23.6%)
1 year (+179.3%)
2 year (+162.2%)

Number one on the March charts was DC's COUNTDOWN TO INFINITE CRISIS #1, with orders of 199,704. But of course, COUNTDOWN was priced at $1 for 80 pages, which is effectively a larger version of those 25c giveaway books that usually get excluded from the chart. The cut-off for exclusion apparently depends simply on the price tag, so COUNTDOWN made the chart anyway. I mention all this because it's worth recognising that NEW AVENGERS was only kept off number one by an oddball book with some very odd economics - and, of course, NEW AVENGERS brought in an awful lot more money.

NEW AVENGERS goes back up this month, and seems to be finding its level in the 150K range. Obviously, these are excellent numbers. There's also a "Must Haves" edition of issues #1-3 this month, with 5,501 orders

15,17. ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN
Mar 01 Ultimate Spider-Man #7 - 70,846
Mar 02 Ultimate Spider-Man #20 - 80,515
Mar 03 Ultimate Spider-Man #38 - 112,562
======
Mar 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #54 - 93,025 ( +5.2%)
Mar 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #55 - 91,525 ( -1.6%)
Apr 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #56 - 91,585 ( +0.1%)
Apr 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #57 - 90,784 ( -0.9%)
May 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #58 - 90,963 ( +0.2%)
May 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #59 - 89,863 ( -1.2%)
Jun 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #60 - 104,789 (+16.6%)
Jun 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #61 - 101,159 ( -3.5%)
Jul 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #62 - 98,963 ( -2.2%)
Aug 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #63 - 96,279 ( -2.7%)
Aug 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #64 - 94,682 ( -1.7%)
Sep 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #65 - 94,174 ( -0.5%)
Oct 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #66 - 95,917 ( +1.9%)
Oct 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #67 - 95,071 ( -0.9%)
Nov 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #68 - 91,075 ( -4.2%)
Nov 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #69 - 90,010 ( -1.2%)
Dec 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #70 - 88,960 ( -1.2%)
Jan 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #71 - 83,987 ( -5.6%)
Feb 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #72 - 86,685 ( +3.2%)
Mar 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #73 - 83,943 ( -3.2%)
Mar 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #74 - 83,817 ( -0.2%)
6 mnth (-11.0%)
1 year ( -9.9%)
2 year (-25.5%)

Hovering in the low 80K range. Relatively stable, and ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN has an unusual track record of wandering up and down in sales from story to story. That said, this is still lower than we're used to seeing from the book.

22. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
Mar 01 Amazing Spider-Man #29 - 45,436
Mar 02 Amazing Spider-Man #41 - 92,896
Mar 03 Amazing Spider-Man #51 - 96,428
======
Mar 04 Amazing Spider-Man #505 - 83,613 ( -0.5%)
Apr 04 Amazing Spider-Man #506 - 83,152 ( -0.6%)
May 04 Amazing Spider-Man #507 - 81,944 ( -1.5%)
Jun 04 Amazing Spider-Man #508 - 82,268 ( +0.4%)
Jun 04 Amazing Spider-Man #509 - 101,632 (+23.5%)
Jul 04 Amazing Spider-Man #510 - 86,181 (-15.2%)
Aug 04 Amazing Spider-Man #511 - 88,118 ( +2.2%)
Sep 04 Amazing Spider-Man #512 - 88,628 ( +0.6%)
Oct 04 Amazing Spider-Man #513 - 89,615 ( +1.1%)
Nov 04 Amazing Spider-Man #514 - 87,121 ( -2.8%)
Dec 04 Amazing Spider-Man #515 - 83,637 ( -4.0%)
Jan 05 Amazing Spider-Man #516 - 79,842 ( -4.5%)
Feb 05 Amazing Spider-Man #517 - 78,584 ( -1.6%)
Mar 05 Amazing Spider-Man #518 - 77,025 ( -2.0%)
6 mnth (-13.1%)
1 year ( -7.9%)
2 year (-20.1%)

Continuing the book's gentle decline. It's perhaps interesting to note that with the exception of issue #509, which was bolstered by variant editions, all of "Sins Past" was outsold by the issue from two years ago. J Michael Straczynski's run on this book seems to have passed its commercial peak.

28. MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN
Apr 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #1 - 137,314
May 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #2 - 99,320 (-27.7%)
Jun 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #3 - 82,715 (-16.7%)
Jul 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #4 - 75,508 ( -8.7%)
Aug 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #5 - 75,562 ( +0.1%)
Sep 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #6 - 71,492 ( -5.4%)
Oct 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #7 - 69,918 ( -2.2%)
Nov 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #8 - 68,290 ( -2.3%)
Dec 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #9 - 64,461 ( -5.6%)
Jan 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #10 - 61,831 ( -4.1%)
Feb 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #11 - 60,460 ( -2.2%)
Mar 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #12 - 59,983 ( -0.8%)
6 mnth (-16.1%)

Mark Millar and Terry Dodson round off their run with sales levelling off at around the 60K mark.

36. SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN
Mar 01 Peter Parker, Spider-Man #29 - 42,865
Mar 02 Peter Parker, Spider-Man #41 - 47,727
Mar 03 Peter Parker, Spider-Man #54 - 48,998
======
Mar 04 Spectacular Spider-Man #11 - 54,066 ( -3.0%)
Mar 04 Spectacular Spider-Man #12 - 53,549 ( -1.0%)
Apr 04 Spectacular Spider-Man #13 - 52,835 ( -1.3%)
May 04 Spectacular Spider-Man #14 - 51,036 ( -3.4%)
Jun 04 Spectacular Spider-Man #15 - 50,997 ( -0.0%)
Jun 04 Spectacular Spider-Man #16 - 50,515 ( -0.9%)
Jul 04 Spectacular Spider-Man #17 - 51,335 ( +1.6%)
Aug 04 Spectacular Spider-Man #18 - 52,271 ( +1.8%)
Sep 04 Spectacular Spider-Man #19 - 51,874 ( -0.8%)
Oct 04 Spectacular Spider-Man #20 - 51,159 ( -1.4%)
Nov 04 Spectacular Spider-Man #21 - 50,633 ( -1.0%)
Dec 04 Spectacular Spider-Man #22 - 47,513 ( -6.2%)
Jan 05 Spectacular Spider-Man #23 - 48,727 ( +2.6%)
Jan 05 Spectacular Spider-Man #24 - 47,824 ( -1.9%)
Feb 05 Spectacular Spider-Man #25 - 47,727 ( -0.2%)
Mar 05 Spectacular Spider-Man #26 - 47,006 ( -1.5%)
6 mnth ( -9.4%)
1 year (-13.1%)
2 year ( -4.1%)

Axed with issue #27. However, it's immediately replaced by SPIDER-MAN: HOUSE OF M, and when that's over, we're getting a new Spider-Man title. So for purposes of this column, I'm going to treat those books as continuations of this title. In the same way, I'm taking PETER PARKER, SPIDER-MAN as the basis for the two-year comparison, because it's essentially the same book to all intents and purposes.

85. MARVEL TEAM-UP
Nov 04 Marvel Team-Up #1 - 44,530
Nov 04 Marvel Team-Up #2 - 37,515 (-15.7%)
Dec 04 Marvel Team-Up #3 - 29,085 (-22.5%)
Jan 05 Marvel Team-Up #4 - 27,216 ( -6.4%)
Feb 05 Marvel Team-Up #5 - 28,141 ( +3.4%)
Mar 05 Marvel Team-Up #6 - 24,762 (-12.0%)

See, here's what I mean - a book which seemed like it might have turned the corner, only to crash to new lows the next month. Bad numbers, and you really have to wonder whether there's a market for a MARVEL TEAM-UP book these days.

93,105. ARAÑA
Jun 04 Amazing Fantasy #1 - 62,056
Jul 04 n/a
Aug 04 Amazing Fantasy #2 - 37,047 (-40.3%)
Aug 04 Amazing Fantasy #3 - 33,917 ( -8.4%)
Sep 04 Amazing Fantasy #4 - 30,325 (-10.6%)
Oct 04 Amazing Fantasy #5 - 26,349 (-13.1%)
Nov 04 Amazing Fantasy #6 - 23,913 ( -9.2%)
Dec 04 n/a
Jan 05 Araña: Heart of the Spider #1 - 29,843 (+24.8%)
Feb 05 n/a
Mar 05 Araña: Heart of the Spider #2 - 22,131 (-25.8%)
Mar 05 Araña: Heart of the Spider #3 - 20,002 ( -9.6%)
6 mnth (-34.0%)

Going straight back to its usual levels - which, of course, are dreadful. Marvel have been remarkably persistent with this book, but unless it's doing incredible business somewhere outside the direct market, surely the axe has got to fall sooner rather than later.

104. SPIDER-GIRL
Mar 01 Spider-Girl #32 - 23,735
Mar 02 Spider-Girl #45 - 23,065
Mar 03 Spider-Girl #58 - 23,776
======
Mar 04 Spider-Girl #71 - 20,709 ( +0.8%)
Apr 04 Spider-Girl #72 - 20,533 ( -0.8%)
May 04 Spider-Girl #73 - 20,275 ( -1.3%)
May 04 Spider-Girl #74 - 19,959 ( -1.6%)
Jun 04 Spider-Girl #75 - 24,674 (+23.6%)
Jul 04 Spider-Girl #76 - 22,157 (-10.2%)
Aug 04 Spider-Girl #77 - 21,758 ( -1.8%)
Sep 04 Spider-Girl #78 - 22,076 ( +1.5%)
Oct 04 Spider-Girl #79 - 21,893 ( -0.8%)
Nov 04 Spider-Girl #80 - 21,146 ( -3.4%)
Dec 04 Spider-Girl #81 - 20,419 ( -3.4%)
Jan 05 Spider-Girl #82 - 20,005 ( -2.0%)
Feb 05 Spider-Girl #83 - 20,382 ( +1.9%)
Mar 05 Spider-Girl #84 - 20,050 ( -1.6%)
6 mnth ( -9.2%)
1 year ( -3.2%)
2 year (-15.7%)

It just won't be budged from the 20K region, will it?

116. SPIDER-MAN/HUMAN TORCH
Jan 05 Spider-Man/Human Torch #1 (of 5) - 30,617
Feb 05 Spider-Man/Human Torch #2 (of 5) - 22,448 (-26.7%)
Mar 05 Spider-Man/Human Torch #3 (of 5) - 18,286 (-18.5%)

Once again, horrid numbers. "Yet another Fantastic Four book" plus "yet another Spider-Man book" plus "set in the past" equals apathy, apparently. (Even though it's really quite good.)

121. SPIDER-MAN UNLIMITED
Mar 04 Spider-Man Unlimited #2 - 37,550 (-29.7%)
Apr 04 n/a
May 04 Spider-Man Unlimited #3 - 31,661 (-15.7%)
Jun 04 n/a
Jul 04 Spider-Man Unlimited #4 - 26,506 (-16.3%)
Aug 04 n/a
Sep 04 Spider-Man Unlimited #5 - 24,156 ( -8.9%)
Oct 04 n/a
Nov 04 Spider-Man Unlimited #6 - 20,974 (-13.2%)
Dec 04 n/a
Jan 05 Spider-Man Unlimited #7 - 18,316 (-12.7%)
Feb 05 n/a
Mar 05 Spider-Man Unlimited #8 - 17,640 ( -3.7%)
6 mnth (-27.0%)
1 year (-53.0%)

Well, it's levelling out a bit, but nobody could describe these as healthy numbers.

123. SPIDER-MAN TEAM-UP SPECIAL
Mar 05 Spider-Man Team-Up Special - 17,311

A mysterious and pointless team-up book that seems to have been dumped on the market for no apparent reason. Those who've read it have observed that it reads awfully like something originally commissioned as an Earth Day giveaway. Anyhow, it showed up in the solicitaitons with little fanfare, and this is the result.

137. MARVEL ADVENTURES SPIDER-MAN
Mar 05 Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #1 - 14,351

The all ages line gets another revamp, which has little effect on sales. It doesn't really matter, of course, because these books don't exist to target the direct market audience. If they're doing their job, it'll be happening elsewhere.

6 month comparisons
===================

+62.9% - Wolverine
+62.7% - The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
+61.7% - Runaways
+25.7% - Captain America
+23.6% - New Avengers / Avengers
+16.5% - Exiles
- 0.0% - Uncanny X-Men
- 1.4% - Astonishing X-Men
- 1.5% - Ultimate Galactus Trilogy
- 1.8% - Incredible Hulk
- 4.7% - Fantastic Four
- 7.5% - X-Men
- 9.2% - Spider-Girl
- 9.4% - Spectacular Spider-Man
- 9.9% - Ultimate Spider-Man
-11.7% - Ultimate X-Men
-11.8% - Pulse
-12.9% - Punisher
-13.1% - Amazing Spider-Man
-14.0% - Daredevil
-15.2% - X-Men: The End
-15.6% - Ultimate Fantastic Four
-15.7% - Cable & Deadpool
-16.1% - Marvel Knights Spider-Man
-22.8% - Marvel Knights 4
-23.4% - Doctor Spectrum
-26.7% - New X-Men
-27.0% - Spider-Man Unlimited
-29.1% - District X
-30.4% - Captain America & The Falcon
-30.6% - Excalibur
-34.0% - Araña
-36.1% - Rogue
-46.2% - Gambit
-47.9% - New Invaders
-54.4% - X-Force


1 year comparisons
==================

+179.3% - New Avengers / Avengers
+ 54.7% - Runaways
+ 51.8% - Wolverine
+ 19.1% - Captain America
+ 12.4% - Exiles
+ 2.2% - Ultimates
+ 2.0% - New X-Men / New Mutants
- 0.0% - Uncanny X-Men
- 3.2% - Spider-Girl
- 5.7% - Incredible Hulk
- 6.8% - Fantastic Four
- 7.9% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 8.6% - Daredevil
- 9.9% - Ultimate Spider-Man
- 13.1% - Spectacular Spider-Man
- 13.6% - Ultimate X-Men
- 18.6% - Punisher
- 19.9% - Doctor Spectrum
- 26.6% - Pulse
- 28.4% - X-Men
- 31.7% - Ultimate Fantastic Four
- 35.1% - Marvel Knights 4
- 45.8% - Cable & Deadpool
- 51.6% - Captain America & The Falcon
- 53.0% - Spider-Man Unlimited


2 year comparisons
==================

+177.2% - Black Panther
+162.2% - New Avengers / Avengers
+ 70.8% - Wolverine
+ 20.8% - Pulse / Alias
+ 17.5% - Exiles
+ 1.0% - Uncanny X-Men
- 0.2% - Ultimates
- 4.1% - Spectacular Spider-Man / Peter Parker, Spider-Man
- 6.4% - Ultimate X-Men
- 8.1% - Captain America
- 8.7% - Punisher
- 11.9% - X-Men / New X-Men
- 12.3% - Fantastic Four
- 15.7% - Spider-Girl
- 20.1% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 22.6% - Incredible Hulk
- 25.5% - Ultimate Spider-Man

[Cullen]

For some reason, I find looking at all of these numbers depressing, but facsinating.

[Adrian_Tepes]

22. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
Mar 01 Amazing Spider-Man #29 - 45,436
Mar 02 Amazing Spider-Man #41 - 92,896
Mar 03 Amazing Spider-Man #51 - 96,428
======
Mar 04 Amazing Spider-Man #505 - 83,613 ( -0.5%)
Apr 04 Amazing Spider-Man #506 - 83,152 ( -0.6%)
May 04 Amazing Spider-Man #507 - 81,944 ( -1.5%)
Jun 04 Amazing Spider-Man #508 - 82,268 ( +0.4%)
Jun 04 Amazing Spider-Man #509 - 101,632 (+23.5%)
Jul 04 Amazing Spider-Man #510 - 86,181 (-15.2%)
Aug 04 Amazing Spider-Man #511 - 88,118 ( +2.2%)
Sep 04 Amazing Spider-Man #512 - 88,628 ( +0.6%)
Oct 04 Amazing Spider-Man #513 - 89,615 ( +1.1%)
Nov 04 Amazing Spider-Man #514 - 87,121 ( -2.8%)
Dec 04 Amazing Spider-Man #515 - 83,637 ( -4.0%)
Jan 05 Amazing Spider-Man #516 - 79,842 ( -4.5%)
Feb 05 Amazing Spider-Man #517 - 78,584 ( -1.6%)
Mar 05 Amazing Spider-Man #518 - 77,025 ( -2.0%)
6 mnth (-13.1%)
1 year ( -7.9%)
2 year (-20.1%)

Continuing the book's gentle decline. It's perhaps interesting to note that with the exception of issue #509, which was bolstered by variant editions, all of "Sins Past" was outsold by the issue from two years ago. J Michael Straczynski's run on this book seems to have passed its commercial peak.


Not to mention its creative peak.

At this rate ASM will dip below 70,000 before fall.

[LarryLegend]

Yeah Joey the wholoe shock thing is really working out for you

[Galactus]

1. NEW AVENGERS / AVENGERS
Apr 01 Avengers #41 - 62,532
Apr 02 Avengers #53 - 53,828
Apr 03 Avengers #66 - 58,312
======
Apr 04 Avengers #81 - 54,987 ( -1.0%)
May 04 Avengers #82 - 55,711 ( +1.3%)
May 04 Avengers #83 - 55,280 ( -0.8%)
Jun 04 Avengers #84 - 57,083 ( +3.3%)
Jul 04 Avengers #500 - 140,033 (+145.3%)
Aug 04 n/a
Sep 04 Avengers #501 - 91,054 ( -35.0%)
Sep 04 Avengers #502 - 93,105 ( +2.3%)
Oct 04 n/a
Nov 04 Avengers #503 - 105,761 ( +13.6%)
Nov 04 Avengers Finale - 101,431 ( -4.1%)
Dec 05 New Avengers #1 - 280,286 (+176.3%)
Jan 05 New Avengers #2 - 155,742 ( -44.3%)
Feb 05 New Avengers #3 - 148,973 ( -4.3%)
Mar 05 New Avengers #4 - 156,746 ( +5.2%)
Apr 05 New Avengers #5 - 162,412 ( +3.6%)
6 mnth ( +53.6%)
1 year (+195.4%)
2 year (+178.5%)

Another pleasingly large number for NEW AVENGERS, which has actually seen its sales climb over the last couple of issues. Issue #4 also picks up 1,633 reorders to chart at number 272 - as always, those orders are included above.

Of course, all the early issues of NEW AVENGERS have variant covers, which is arguably distorting the numbers horribly. We'll know for sure when the variant covers finally end and the book has to survive without gimmickry. The charitable way of looking at it, on the other hand, is that the variants are a way of getting more books onto the shelves, in the hope of picking up more readers.

Besides, somebody's reordering issue #4. And the MARVEL MUST HAVE collection of issues #1-3, which already shifted 5,501 copies last month, sold another 1,160 in April. So they can't all be gathering dust on the shelves

9,12. ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN
Apr 01 Ultimate Spider-Man #8 - 78,028
Apr 02 Ultimate Spider-Man #21 - 84,485
Apr 03 Ultimate Spider-Man #39 - 103,531
======
Apr 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #56 - 91,585 ( +0.1%)
Apr 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #57 - 90,784 ( -0.9%)
May 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #58 - 90,963 ( +0.2%)
May 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #59 - 89,863 ( -1.2%)
Jun 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #60 - 104,789 (+16.6%)
Jun 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #61 - 101,159 ( -3.5%)
Jul 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #62 - 98,963 ( -2.2%)
Aug 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #63 - 96,279 ( -2.7%)
Aug 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #64 - 94,682 ( -1.7%)
Sep 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #65 - 94,174 ( -0.5%)
Oct 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #66 - 95,917 ( +1.9%)
Oct 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #67 - 95,071 ( -0.9%)
Nov 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #68 - 91,075 ( -4.2%)
Nov 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #69 - 90,010 ( -1.2%)
Dec 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #70 - 88,960 ( -1.2%)
Jan 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #71 - 83,987 ( -5.6%)
Feb 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #72 - 86,685 ( +3.2%)
Mar 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #73 - 83,943 ( -3.2%)
Mar 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #74 - 83,817 ( -0.2%)
Apr 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #75 - 83,940 ( +0.1%)
Apr 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #76 - 82,244 ( -2.0%)
6 mnth (-13.5%)
1 year (-10.2%)
2 year (-20.6%)


This title has been shedding readers rather quickly over the last eight months or so - and in fact, you could say the same about ULTIMATE X-MEN and ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR as well. Perhaps the line is in need of a pick-me-up. Of course, let's keep things in proportion. The whole line is also still doing very well compared to the market

14. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
Apr 01 Amazing Spider-Man #30 - 71,392
Apr 02 Amazing Spider-Man #40 - 99,273
Apr 03 Amazing Spider-Man #52 - 96,624
======
Apr 04 Amazing Spider-Man #506 - 83,152 ( -0.6%)
May 04 Amazing Spider-Man #507 - 81,944 ( -1.5%)
Jun 04 Amazing Spider-Man #508 - 82,268 ( +0.4%)
Jun 04 Amazing Spider-Man #509 - 101,632 (+23.5%)
Jul 04 Amazing Spider-Man #510 - 86,181 (-15.2%)
Aug 04 Amazing Spider-Man #511 - 88,118 ( +2.2%)
Sep 04 Amazing Spider-Man #512 - 88,628 ( +0.6%)
Oct 04 Amazing Spider-Man #513 - 89,615 ( +1.1%)
Nov 04 Amazing Spider-Man #514 - 87,121 ( -2.8%)
Dec 04 Amazing Spider-Man #515 - 83,637 ( -4.0%)
Jan 05 Amazing Spider-Man #516 - 79,842 ( -4.5%)
Feb 05 Amazing Spider-Man #517 - 78,584 ( -1.6%)
Mar 05 Amazing Spider-Man #518 - 77,025 ( -2.0%)
Apr 05 Amazing Spider-Man #519 - 78,535 ( +2.0%)
6 mnth (-12.4%)
1 year ( -5.6%)
2 year (-18.7%)

Edging slightly up. The most obvious reason is that it's the first part of the "New Avengers" storyline, tying in with Marvel's top selling book.

25. MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN
Apr 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #1 - 137,314
May 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #2 - 99,320 (-27.7%)
Jun 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #3 - 82,715 (-16.7%)
Jul 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #4 - 75,508 ( -8.7%)
Aug 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #5 - 75,562 ( +0.1%)
Sep 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #6 - 71,492 ( -5.4%)
Oct 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #7 - 69,918 ( -2.2%)
Nov 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #8 - 68,290 ( -2.3%)
Dec 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #9 - 64,461 ( -5.6%)
Jan 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #10 - 61,831 ( -4.1%)
Feb 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #11 - 60,460 ( -2.2%)
Mar 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #12 - 59,983 ( -0.8%)
Apr 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #13 - 60,542 ( +0.9%)
6 mnth (-13.4%)
1 year (-55.9%)

Reginald Hudlin comes aboard, for a story guest starring Wolverine. And nobody much seems to care, giving the book a desultory 0.9% increase. Really, this shouldn't greatly surprise anyone. Wolverine is so over-exposed to start with that readers just aren't that interested in buying his miniseries and his guest appearances - he's in six books a month, and that's just the regular monthly titles. As for Hudlin, he's not as big a name as Millar. BLACK PANTHER is 15,000 copies further down the chart.

MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN also celebrates its first anniversary, and posts a nasty-looking 55.9% drop for its first year-on-year comparison. Not surprisingly, that's the biggest year-on-year drop by a very wide margin. In fairness, most of that stems from the big drops over the first few of issues - the title has been much more level in recent months.

37. SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN
Apr 01 Peter Parker, Spider-Man #30 - 47,658
Apr 02 Peter Parker, Spider-Man #43 - 48,473
Apr 03 Peter Parker, Spider-Man #55 - 47,531
======
Apr 04 Spectacular Spider-Man #13 - 52,835 ( -1.3%)
May 04 Spectacular Spider-Man #14 - 51,036 ( -3.4%)
Jun 04 Spectacular Spider-Man #15 - 50,997 ( -0.0%)
Jun 04 Spectacular Spider-Man #16 - 50,515 ( -0.9%)
Jul 04 Spectacular Spider-Man #17 - 51,335 ( +1.6%)
Aug 04 Spectacular Spider-Man #18 - 52,271 ( +1.8%)
Sep 04 Spectacular Spider-Man #19 - 51,874 ( -0.8%)
Oct 04 Spectacular Spider-Man #20 - 51,159 ( -1.4%)
Nov 04 Spectacular Spider-Man #21 - 50,633 ( -1.0%)
Dec 04 Spectacular Spider-Man #22 - 47,513 ( -6.2%)
Jan 05 Spectacular Spider-Man #23 - 48,727 ( +2.6%)
Jan 05 Spectacular Spider-Man #24 - 47,824 ( -1.9%)
Feb 05 Spectacular Spider-Man #25 - 47,727 ( -0.2%)
Mar 05 Spectacular Spider-Man #26 - 47,006 ( -1.5%)
Apr 05 Spectacular Spider-Man #27 - 45,810 ( -2.5%)
6 mnth (-10.5%)
1 year (-13.3%)
2 year ( -3.6%)

Axed. Well, not really. It's being relaunched in the autumn with Peter David, Mike Weiringo, and a title to be announced. Obviously, that's bound to send it up the charts.

42. SPIDER-MAN: BREAKOUT
Apr 05 Spider-Man: Breakout #1 (of 5) - 42,974

87. MARVEL TEAM-UP
Nov 04 Marvel Team-Up #1 - 44,530
Nov 04 Marvel Team-Up #2 - 37,515 (-15.7%)
Dec 04 Marvel Team-Up #3 - 29,085 (-22.5%)
Jan 05 Marvel Team-Up #4 - 27,216 ( -6.4%)
Feb 05 Marvel Team-Up #5 - 28,141 ( +3.4%)
Mar 05 Marvel Team-Up #6 - 24,762 (-12.0%)
Apr 05 Marvel Team-Up #7 - 24,800 ( +0.2%)

Edging slightly up - but then it did that with issue #5, and crashed again next month. The erratic numbers presumably have something to do with the characters mentioned in the solicitations.

92. AMAZING FANTASY
Jun 04 Amazing Fantasy #1 - 62,056
Jul 04 n/a
Aug 04 Amazing Fantasy #2 - 37,047 (-40.3%)
Aug 04 Amazing Fantasy #3 - 33,917 ( -8.4%)
Sep 04 Amazing Fantasy #4 - 30,325 (-10.6%)
Oct 04 Amazing Fantasy #5 - 26,349 (-13.1%)
Nov 04 Amazing Fantasy #6 - 23,913 ( -9.2%)
Dec 04 n/a
Jan 05 n/a
Feb 05 n/a
Mar 05 n/a
Apr 05 Amazing Fantasy #7 - 21,802 ( -8.9%)
6 mnth (-17.3%)

Not a good number, but it's hard to see how Marvel could realistically have expected anything better. It's only marginally above the cancellation mark as it is.

101. SPIDER-GIRL
Apr 01 Spider-Girl #33 - 23,995
Apr 02 Spider-Girl #46 - 23,781
Apr 03 Spider-Girl #59 - 23,199
======
Apr 04 Spider-Girl #72 - 20,533 ( -0.8%)
May 04 Spider-Girl #73 - 20,275 ( -1.3%)
May 04 Spider-Girl #74 - 19,959 ( -1.6%)
Jun 04 Spider-Girl #75 - 24,674 (+23.6%)
Jul 04 Spider-Girl #76 - 22,157 (-10.2%)
Aug 04 Spider-Girl #77 - 21,758 ( -1.8%)
Sep 04 Spider-Girl #78 - 22,076 ( +1.5%)
Oct 04 Spider-Girl #79 - 21,893 ( -0.8%)
Nov 04 Spider-Girl #80 - 21,146 ( -3.4%)
Dec 04 Spider-Girl #81 - 20,419 ( -3.4%)
Jan 05 Spider-Girl #82 - 20,005 ( -2.0%)
Feb 05 Spider-Girl #83 - 20,382 ( +1.9%)
Mar 05 Spider-Girl #84 - 20,050 ( -1.6%)
Apr 05 Spider-Girl #85 - 19,682 ( -1.8%)
6 mnth (-10.1%)
1 year ( -4.1%)
2 year (-15.2%)

At the lower end of its range, but still pretty solid.

154. MARVEL ADVENTURES SPIDER-MAN
Mar 05 Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #1 - 14,351
Apr 05 Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #2 - 10,305 (-28.2%)

6 month comparisons
===================

+53.6%
- New Avengers / Avengers
+53.5% - Iron Man
+29.0% - Incredible Hulk
+23.3% - Captain America
+18.0% - Wolverine
- 4.5% - Exiles
- 5.1% - Fantastic Four
- 6.6% - X-Men
- 8.2% - Daredevil
- 8.3% - Ultimate Galactus Trilogy
- 9.4% - Punisher
-10.1% - Spider-Girl
-10.5% - Supreme Power
-10.5% - Spectacular Spider-Man
-12.0% - Ultimate X-Men
-12.4% - Amazing Spider-Man
-12.7% - Powers
-13.4% - Marvel Knights Spider-Man
-13.5% - Ultimate Spider-Man
-13.8% - Cable/Deadpool
-14.2% - Uncanny X-Men
-14.5% - Ultimate Fantastic Four
-16.1% - X-Men: The End
-17.3% - Amazing Fantasy
-20.7% - Marvel Knights 4
-21.6% - New X-Men
-21.6% - Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
-22.0% - X-Men Unlimited
-23.6% - Strange
-25.4% - District X
-41.0% - New Invaders
-41.2% - Gambit
-55.0% - X-Force / X-Force: Shatterstar

1 year comparisons
==================

+195.4% - New Avengers / Avengers
+ 78.1% - Iron Man
+ 51.1% - Runaways
+ 42.5% - Wolverine
+ 19.2% - Captain America
+ 4.9% - Incredible Hulk
+ 4.8% - New X-Men / New Mutants
- 1.9% - Uncanny X-Men
- 4.1% - Spider-Girl
- 5.6% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 10.2% - Ultimate Spider-Man
- 10.3% - Daredevil
- 11.0% - Exiles
- 13.3% - Spectacular Spider-Man
- 14.0% - Fantastic Four
- 14.2% - Ultimate X-Men
- 14.3% - Supreme Power
- 17.3% - X-Men / New X-Men
- 22.3% - Punisher
- 30.6% - Ultimate Fantastic Four
- 36.4% - Marvel Knights 4
- 36.7% - Cable/Deadpool
- 39.7% - X-Men Unlimited
- 55.9% - Marvel Knights Spider-Man

2 year comparisons
==================

+178.5% - New Avengers / Avengers
+173.4% - Black Panther
+ 65.2% - Wolverine
+ 58.2% - Iron Man
+ 32.9% - New Thunderbolts / Thunderbolts
+ 13.3% - Runaways
+ 6.2% - Powers
- 0.7% - Uncanny X-Men
- 3.6% - Spectacular Spider-Man / Peter Parker, Spider-Man
- 5.4% - Punisher
- 7.4% - Exiles
- 8.7% - Ultimate X-Men
- 11.2% - Captain America
- 11.4% - Fantastic Four
- 12.8% - X-Men
- 15.2% - Spider-Girl
- 16.3% - Incredible Hulk
- 18.7% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 19.4% - Daredevil
- 20.6% - Ultimate Spider-Man

- 26.6% - X-Men Unlimited

[CaptainStacy]

Thanks for the updates, man. Glad to see New Avengers still doing well.

[VICTORVONDOOMX]

Cap, Nude Avengers doing well is the death-knell for intelligent plotting and meaningful dialog in this industry.

[CaptainStacy]

Vic, i respectfully disagree. One of the things that attracts me to DD, Pulse, and NA is the dialogue.

The plotting was initially shakey though, i agree with you on that. But i feel it's improved with each subsequent issue.

[VICTORVONDOOMX]

I wish that I could get past my Bendis hate... it makes me feel dirty to hate someone I don't even know. As an old-school Marvelite, though, the thing I loved was Marvel continuity. But now with Joey hiring people whose egos are more important than that single world feel we had through the 70's, 80's and 90's... well, I don't see my hatred abating any time soon. Sorry 'bout dat.

[Symbiotica]

Dec 05 New Avengers #1 - 280,286 (+176.3%)
Jan 05 New Avengers #2 - 155,742 ( -44.3%)
Feb 05 New Avengers #3 - 148,973 ( -4.3%)
Mar 05 New Avengers #4 - 156,746 ( +5.2%)
Apr 05 New Avengers #5 - 162,412 ( +3.6%)

...honestly, I think this is the "car-crash effect" [for want of a better way of putting it.] It's not that this book is that great, it's that people are like: "Spidey's arm got broken...? The Avengers are NAKED?!... wtf?.... oh, wait, SPIDER-WOMAN kills WOLVERINE with his own claws, I mean, she gets the jump on WOLVERINE!!!! and then Luke Cage tosses him around.... tosses WOLVERINE around like he was a rag-doll...What the HELL?.... the bad-guy gets wasted mid-sentence, so nobody knows what's really going on after all...? Booty jokes....?! THIS, I GOTTA SEE! I don't BELIEVE this ****!"

The novelty WILL wear off, once the shock-factor gets a little old and the variant covers die down a bit.

The choppy dialog is just excruciatingly painful. Well, #5 was the last of my preorders, so I'll be spared further pain.

[Galactus]

12. ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN
May 01 Ultimate Spider-Man #9 - 79,201
May 02 Ultimate Spider-Man #22 - 90,905
May 03 Ultimate Spider-Man #41 - 102,794
======
May 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #58 - 90,963 ( +0.2%)
May 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #59 - 89,863 ( -1.2%)
Jun 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #60 - 104,789 (+16.6%)
Jun 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #61 - 101,159 ( -3.5%)
Jul 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #62 - 98,963 ( -2.2%)
Aug 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #63 - 96,279 ( -2.7%)
Aug 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #64 - 94,682 ( -1.7%)
Sep 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #65 - 94,174 ( -0.5%)
Oct 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #66 - 95,917 ( +1.9%)
Oct 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #67 - 95,071 ( -0.9%)
Nov 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #68 - 91,075 ( -4.2%)
Nov 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #69 - 90,010 ( -1.2%)
Dec 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #70 - 88,960 ( -1.2%)
Jan 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #71 - 83,987 ( -5.6%)
Feb 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #72 - 86,685 ( +3.2%)
Mar 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #73 - 83,943 ( -3.2%)
Mar 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #74 - 83,817 ( -0.2%)
Apr 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #75 - 83,940 ( +0.1%)
Apr 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #76 - 82,244 ( -2.0%)
May 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #77 - 81,034 ( -1.5%)
6 mnth (-10.0%)
1 year (-10.9%)
2 year (-21.2%)

And pretty much the same here, really. ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN is back where it was four years ago. Frankly, there's not much to be said about these books - they're in long-term decline, they have been for months, they'll most likely carry on like that until something happens to shake them up and remind readers that they exist

14. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
May 01 Amazing Spider-Man #31 - 68,937
May 02 Amazing Spider-Man #41 - 97,947
May 03 Amazing Spider-Man #53 - 95,777
======
May 04 Amazing Spider-Man #507 - 81,944 ( -1.5%)
Jun 04 Amazing Spider-Man #508 - 82,268 ( +0.4%)
Jun 04 Amazing Spider-Man #509 - 101,632 (+23.5%)
Jul 04 Amazing Spider-Man #510 - 86,181 (-15.2%)
Aug 04 Amazing Spider-Man #511 - 88,118 ( +2.2%)
Sep 04 Amazing Spider-Man #512 - 88,628 ( +0.6%)
Oct 04 Amazing Spider-Man #513 - 89,615 ( +1.1%)
Nov 04 Amazing Spider-Man #514 - 87,121 ( -2.8%)
Dec 04 Amazing Spider-Man #515 - 83,637 ( -4.0%)
Jan 05 Amazing Spider-Man #516 - 79,842 ( -4.5%)
Feb 05 Amazing Spider-Man #517 - 78,584 ( -1.6%)
Mar 05 Amazing Spider-Man #518 - 77,025 ( -2.0%)
Apr 05 Amazing Spider-Man #519 - 79,668 ( +3.4%)
May 05 Amazing Spider-Man #520 - 76,143 ( -4.4%)
6 mnth (-12.6%)
1 year ( -7.1%)
2 year (-20.5%)

After last month's slight bump for the start of the New Avengers storyline, it's back to the normal trend. As the figures from earlier years show, we're now quite some way down from Straczynski's sales peak of a few years back. Not that sales in the mid-70K range are anything to be worried about, of course. Issue #519 picks up 1,133 reorders and charts at number 288.

26. MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN
May 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #2 - 99,320 (-27.7%)
Jun 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #3 - 82,715 (-16.7%)
Jul 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #4 - 75,508 ( -8.7%)
Aug 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #5 - 75,562 ( +0.1%)
Sep 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #6 - 71,492 ( -5.4%)
Oct 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #7 - 69,918 ( -2.2%)
Nov 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #8 - 68,290 ( -2.3%)
Dec 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #9 - 64,461 ( -5.6%)
Jan 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #10 - 61,831 ( -4.1%)
Feb 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #11 - 60,460 ( -2.2%)
Mar 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #12 - 59,983 ( -0.8%)
Apr 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #13 - 60,542 ( +0.9%)
May 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #14 - 57,270 ( -5.4%)
6 mnth (-16.1%)
1 year (-42.3%)

And again, back to established trends after the very, very slight bump for the new creative team on the previous issue.

55. SPIDER-MAN: BREAKOUT
Apr 05 Spider-Man: Breakout #1 (of 5) - 44,353
May 05 Spider-Man: Breakout #2 (of 5) - 35,476 (-20.0%)

Surprisingly, issue #1 picks up 1,379 re-orders. And yet the retailers still cut back drastically for the second issue. Odd.

84. MARVEL TEAM-UP
Nov 04 Marvel Team-Up #1 - 44,530
Nov 04 Marvel Team-Up #2 - 37,515 (-15.7%)
Dec 04 Marvel Team-Up #3 - 29,085 (-22.5%)
Jan 05 Marvel Team-Up #4 - 27,216 ( -6.4%)
Feb 05 Marvel Team-Up #5 - 28,141 ( +3.4%)
Mar 05 Marvel Team-Up #6 - 24,762 (-12.0%)
Apr 05 Marvel Team-Up #7 - 24,800 ( +0.2%)
May 05 Marvel Team-Up #8 - 24,270 ( -2.1%)
6 mnth (-35.3%)

Apparently levelling out in the 24K region, which is interesting considering the early drops. Upcoming solicitations refer to the book having a second year, which comes as something of a surprise in light of its early performance.

103. SPIDER-GIRL
May 01 Spider-Girl #34 - 23,928
May 02 Spider-Girl #47 - 24,060
May 03 Spider-Girl #60 - 23,112
======
May 04 Spider-Girl #73 - 20,275 ( -1.3%)
May 04 Spider-Girl #74 - 19,959 ( -1.6%)
Jun 04 Spider-Girl #75 - 24,674 (+23.6%)
Jul 04 Spider-Girl #76 - 22,157 (-10.2%)
Aug 04 Spider-Girl #77 - 21,758 ( -1.8%)
Sep 04 Spider-Girl #78 - 22,076 ( +1.5%)
Oct 04 Spider-Girl #79 - 21,893 ( -0.8%)
Nov 04 Spider-Girl #80 - 21,146 ( -3.4%)
Dec 04 Spider-Girl #81 - 20,419 ( -3.4%)
Jan 05 Spider-Girl #82 - 20,005 ( -2.0%)
Feb 05 Spider-Girl #83 - 20,382 ( +1.9%)
Mar 05 Spider-Girl #84 - 20,050 ( -1.6%)
Apr 05 Spider-Girl #85 - 19,682 ( -1.8%)
May 05 Spider-Girl #86 - 19,452 ( -1.2%)
6 mnth ( -8.0%)
1 year ( -4.1%)
2 year (-15.8%)

Hovering around the 19-21K mark.

114. SPIDER-MAN UNLIMITED
May 04 Spider-Man Unlimited #3 - 31,661 (-15.7%)
Jun 04 n/a
Jul 04 Spider-Man Unlimited #4 - 26,506 (-16.3%)
Aug 04 n/a
Sep 04 Spider-Man Unlimited #5 - 24,156 ( -8.9%)
Oct 04 n/a
Nov 04 Spider-Man Unlimited #6 - 20,974 (-13.2%)
Dec 04 n/a
Jan 05 Spider-Man Unlimited #7 - 18,316 (-12.7%)
Feb 05 n/a
Mar 05 Spider-Man Unlimited #8 - 17,640 ( -3.7%)
Apr 05 n/a
May 05 Spider-Man Unlimited #9 - 16,953 ( -3.9%)
6 mnth (-19.2%)
1 year (-46.5%)

A book that just won't die, no matter how awful its sales get. Again, you really do have to wonder why Marvel are still bothering, with sales like this.

116. SPIDER-MAN/HUMAN TORCH
Jan 05 Spider-Man/Human Torch #1 (of 5) - 30,617
Feb 05 Spider-Man/Human Torch #2 (of 5) - 22,448 (-26.7%)
Mar 05 Spider-Man/Human Torch #3 (of 5) - 18,286 (-18.5%)
Apr 05 n/a
May 05 Spider-Man/Human Torch #4 (of 5) - 16,893 ( -7.6%)

Minimal interest.

156. MARVEL ADVENTURES SPIDER-MAN
Mar 05 Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #1 - 14,351
Apr 05 Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #2 - 10,305 (-28.2%)
May 05 Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #3 - 9,110 (-11.6%)

6 month comparisons
===================

+30.5% - Fantastic Four
+28.4% - Incredible Hulk
+14.8% - Excalibur
+ 0.1% - Astonishing X-Men
- 0.4% - Exiles
- 1.2% - Wolverine
- 5.2% - Daredevil
- 8.0% - Spider-Girl
- 8.5% - X-Men
- 8.5% - Punisher
- 9.2% - Uncanny X-Men
-10.0% - Cable & Deadpool
-10.0% - Ultimate Spider-Man
-10.2% - Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
-11.7% - Ultimate X-Men
-12.6% - Amazing Spider-Man
-15.3% - Ultimate Fantastic Four
-15.5% - X-Men: The End
-16.1% - Marvel Knights Spider-Man
-17.0% - Marvel Knights 4
-19.2% - Spider-Man Unlimited
-19.6% - New X-Men
-21.6% - Araña: Heart of the Spider / Amazing Fantasy
-22.6% - Captain America & The Falcon
-23.7% - District X
-25.6% - Rogue
-25.7% - Amazing Fantasy
-30.8% - New Thunderbolts
-31.0% - Captain America
-35.3% - Marvel Team-Up
-41.2% - Gambit


1 year comparisons
==================

+50.0% - Runaways
+32.4% - Fantastic Four
+23.5% - Captain America
+17.8% - Wolverine
- 3.4% - Incredible Hulk
- 4.1% - Spider-Girl
- 7.1% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 9.9% - Daredevil
-12.3% - Exiles
-10.9% - Ultimate Spider-Man
-15.9% - Ultimate X-Men
-21.8% - Punisher
-24.4% - X-Men
-25.5% - Uncanny X-Men
-29.2% - Ultimate Fantastic Four
-31.8% - Excalibur
-32.5% - Cable & Deadpool
-35.0% - Marvel Knights 4
-42.2% - Captain America & The Falcon
-42.3% - Marvel Knights Spider-Man
-42.7% - Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
-46.5% - Spider-Man Unlimited
-49.1% - Astonishing X-Men
-54.7% - New X-Men
-57.2% - District X


2 year comparisons
==================

+149.1% - Black Panther
+ 40.6% - New Thunderbolts / Thunderbolts
+ 29.4% - Fantastic Four
+ 24.2% - Runaways
- 3.3% - Ultimates 2
- 5.9% - Captain America
- 11.7% - Uncanny X-Men
- 12.7% - Ultimate X-Men
- 15.4% - X-Men
- 20.5% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 20.7% - Daredevil
- 21.2% - Ultimate Spider-Man
- 28.7% - Incredible Hulk
- 49.0% - Wolverine

[spiderbob]

My God! Don't these people see these numbers!?! I mean really, they have to know this. They have to see this steady decline. My uncle right now would be furious if this was his company. I don't understand why they continue to turn a blind eye to this. Just...ARGH!! I need a drink.

[Galactus]

My God! Don't these people see these numbers!?! I mean really, they have to know this. They have to see this steady decline. My uncle right now would be furious if this was his company. I don't understand why they continue to turn a blind eye to this. Just...ARGH!! I need a drink.

Yes, they know about these numbers. And it's probably why they decided for another "big event", in hope to make people curious and buy it. You can't learn an old dog new tricks... ;)

[Captivated]

I see the numbers for AMS and want to say "See, bad story = declining sales" :p

But then I look at the sales for MKSM (#1-12) and the Spidey/Human Torch series, which were awesome, and it doesn't make sense.

I want to know WHO these... odd... people were, who could read MKSM #11 and NOT pick up #12. :confused:

[TalesMN]

I agree. I hate that we don't have the whole picture regarding comic book sales, only having those through Diamond's to analyze. It seems odd to me that in a country like the US with 250 million people, the majority of which with buying power, only about 70 to 100 thousand buy spider-man ongoing comics. That seem too low a number for a character as iconic as him.

[masteryoda]

I agree. I hate that we don't have the whole picture regarding comic book sales, only having those through Diamond's to analyze. It seems odd to me that in a country like the US with 250 million people, the majority of which with buying power, only about 70 to 100 thousand buy spider-man ongoing comics. That seem too low a number for a character as iconic as him.
That has more to do with the state of comic sales overall then the character.

[Adrian_Tepes]

That has more to do with the state of comic sales overall then the character.

Nope.

That has more to do with the people working in the industry (for example JMS) than the state of sales. The people working in the industry are only writing to those 70 thousand or so.

[masteryoda]

Nope, you're wrong. :)

[CaptainStacy]

Hate to say it, but i don't see Spider-Girl lasting much longer at the rate it's going. Hope it makes it to #100.

[moffball]

I see the numbers for AMS and want to say "See, bad story = declining sales" :p

But then I look at the sales for MKSM (#1-12) and the Spidey/Human Torch series, which were awesome, and it doesn't make sense.

I want to know WHO these... odd... people were, who could read MKSM #11 and NOT pick up #12. :confused:

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think it quite works exactly that way, Cap :) The sales numbers are based on comic book shops ordering a certain issue, not how many are actually sold. So, it stand to reason that if interest in MKSM waned a bit in the middle of the series, less people buy it, and so by 8 or 9 or so, comic shops start ordering less and less. Owners are forced to speculate how many are going to sell so, even if it's the last issue of a fairly good book, if they're not selling what they were at number 1, they don't want to be stuck with heaps of back issues so they start cooling their orders. Hope that makes sense :)

[Auntie May]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think it quite works exactly that way, Cap :) The sales numbers are based on comic book shops ordering a certain issue, not how many are actually sold. So, it stand to reason that if interest in MKSM waned a bit in the middle of the series, less people buy it, and so by 8 or 9 or so, comic shops start ordering less and less. Owners are forced to speculate how many are going to sell so, even if it's the last issue of a fairly good book, if they're not selling what they were at number 1, they don't want to be stuck with heaps of back issues so they start cooling their orders. Hope that makes sense :)

Yeah, they end up with tons of back issues if they don't plan right (though it's hard to predict if comic sales will drop off or if hype really will sell more comics). I saw a bunch of Sins Remembered and Sins Past back issues in the dollar bin of a comic store I don't usually go to a few months ago. There was a whole bunch of ASM 509 issues (the one that was reprinted right away). That owner obviously overestimated demand.

[Auntie May]

Hate to say it, but i don't see Spider-Girl lasting much longer at the rate it's going. Hope it makes it to #100.

I am pretty sure it's guarenteed until 100 (but who knows after that). I heard LHS did pretty well considering so maybe that will help sales a little

[Galactus]

Top 300 for August:
http://www.newsarama.com/marketreport/Aug05top300.html

[MattXG]

Wow USM is still doing pretty good 5 years later...


And do they happen to keep track of graphic novel sales? I know USM seems to sell strong there. In fact, I know alot of people only get the comic in TPB.:eek:

[BLAQUE-SPIDERMAN]

Go Spider-Girl, Go!

[iloveclones]

Wow USM is still doing pretty good 5 years later...


And do they happen to keep track of graphic novel sales? I know USM seems to sell strong there. In fact, I know alot of people only get the comic in TPB.:eek:


Actually, you have to look at those numbers over time(And believe me, I wish MTU could generate even half that number). That's still a really good number, but Marvel's got to be concerned about the steady bleeding of readers. That's 20,000 readers who have dumped the title (although, as you pointed out, they may just be buying the trades now)


Aug 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #63 - 96,279 ( -2.7%)
Aug 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #64 - 94,682 ( -1.7%)
Sep 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #65 - 94,174 ( -0.5%)
Oct 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #66 - 95,917 ( +1.9%)
Oct 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #67 - 95,071 ( -0.9%)
Nov 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #68 - 91,075 ( -4.2%)
Nov 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #69 - 90,010 ( -1.2%)
Dec 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #70 - 88,960 ( -1.2%)
Jan 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #71 - 83,987 ( -5.6%)
Feb 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #72 - 86,685 ( +3.2%)
Mar 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #73 - 83,943 ( -3.2%)
Mar 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #74 - 83,817 ( -0.2%)
Apr 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #75 - 83,940 ( +0.1%)
Apr 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #76 - 82,244 ( -2.0%)
May 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #77 - 81,034 ( -1.5%)
Jun 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #78 - 79,420 ( -2.0%)
Jul 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #79 - 78,404 ( -1.3%)
Jul 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #80 - 76,906 ( -1.9%)
Aug 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #81 - 75,572 ( -1.7%)
6 mnth (-12.8%)
1 year (-21.5%)
2 year (-24.9%)

[Citizen_Kaine]

Go Spider-Girl, Go!

:up: :up: :D

I'm glad to see all my books sold well in August, I have no idea how Marvel Knights sold so well, Without Millar,Dodson or a number 1 on the cover:confused:

[Traveller]

:eek: 191 Incredible Hulk 83 $2.99 Marvel 7,900
294 Pulse 10 $2.99 Marvel 2,200

Could it be true?

[LarryLegend]

ASM numbers are sad for such a flagship book.

[Galactus]

2,4. NEW AVENGERS
Sep 01 Avengers #46 - 60,722
Sep 02 Avengers #58 - 54,765
Sep 03 Avengers #70 - 58,878
======
Sep 04 Avengers #501 - 91,054 ( -35.0%)
Sep 04 Avengers #502 - 93,105 ( +2.3%)
Oct 04 n/a
Nov 04 Avengers #503 - 105,761 ( +13.6%)
Nov 04 Avengers Finale - 101,431 ( -4.1%)
Dec 05 New Avengers #1 - 280,286 (+176.3%)
Jan 05 New Avengers #2 - 155,742 ( -44.3%)
Feb 05 New Avengers #3 - 148,973 ( -4.3%)
Mar 05 New Avengers #4 - 158,303 ( +6.3%)
Apr 05 New Avengers #5 - 168,556 ( +6.5%)
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 New Avengers #6 - 164,592 ( -2.4%)
Jul 05 New Avengers #7 - 158,693 ( -3.6%)
Aug 05 New Avengers #8 - 156,037 ( -1.7%)
Aug 05 New Avengers #9 - 147,501 ( -5.5%)
Sep 05 New Avengers #10 - 143,014 ( -3.0%)
Sep 05 New Avengers #11 - 131,361 ( -8.1%)
6 mnth ( -17.0%)
1 year ( +44.3%)
2 year (+123.1%)

Issue #11 sees artist David Finch return to the title as the "Ronin" storyline begins. It also sees an 8% drop, which is initially surprising until you remember that this is the first issue of NEW AVENGERS not to feature a variant cover. In that context, the drop isn't too bad at all. And of course, all NEW AVENGERS figures have to be seen in the wider context - the book is still selling more than twice as much as it did in its previous incarnation, and it's 45% up even on Bendis' own early issues.

Issue #9 picks up 1,828 in re-orders and charts at number 259. As always, those extra sales are included in the figures above.

19,21. ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN
Sep 01 Ultimate Spider-Man #13 - 79,891
Sep 02 Ultimate Spider-Man #27 - 94,056
Sep 03 Ultimate Spider-Man #46 - 105,409
======
Sep 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #65 - 94,174 ( -0.5%)
Oct 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #66 - 95,917 ( +1.9%)
Oct 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #67 - 95,071 ( -0.9%)
Nov 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #68 - 91,075 ( -4.2%)
Nov 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #69 - 90,010 ( -1.2%)
Dec 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #70 - 88,960 ( -1.2%)
Jan 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #71 - 83,987 ( -5.6%)
Feb 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #72 - 86,685 ( +3.2%)
Mar 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #73 - 83,943 ( -3.2%)
Mar 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #74 - 83,817 ( -0.2%)
Apr 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #75 - 83,940 ( +0.1%)
Apr 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #76 - 82,244 ( -2.0%)
May 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #77 - 81,034 ( -1.5%)
Jun 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #78 - 79,420 ( -2.0%)
Jul 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #79 - 78,404 ( -1.3%)
Jul 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #80 - 76,906 ( -1.9%)
Aug 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #81 - 75,572 ( -1.7%)
Sep 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #82 - 75,756 ( +0.2%)
Sep 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #83 - 73,797 ( -2.6%)
6 mnth (-12.0%)
1 year (-21.6%)
2 year (-30.0%)

The "Gang War" storyline continues, and sales are still drifting downwards. The Ultimate line really needs a shot in the arm, and nebulous announcements about gold standards aren't going to do the job.

25. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
Sep 01 Amazing Spider-Man #35 - 83,559
Sep 02 Amazing Spider-Man #45 - 98,817
Sep 03 Amazing Spider-Man #58 - 92,294
======
Sep 04 Amazing Spider-Man #512 - 88,628 ( +0.6%)
Oct 04 Amazing Spider-Man #513 - 89,615 ( +1.1%)
Nov 04 Amazing Spider-Man #514 - 87,121 ( -2.8%)
Dec 04 Amazing Spider-Man #515 - 83,637 ( -4.0%)
Jan 05 Amazing Spider-Man #516 - 79,842 ( -4.5%)
Feb 05 Amazing Spider-Man #517 - 78,584 ( -1.6%)
Mar 05 Amazing Spider-Man #518 - 77,025 ( -2.0%)
Apr 05 Amazing Spider-Man #519 - 79,668 ( +3.4%)
May 05 Amazing Spider-Man #520 - 76,143 ( -4.4%)
Jun 05 Amazing Spider-Man #521 - 74,117 ( -2.7%)
Jul 05 Amazing Spider-Man #522 - 73,130 ( -1.3%)
Aug 05 Amazing Spider-Man #523 - 72,046 ( -1.5%)
Sep 05 Amazing Spider-Man #524 - 71,065 ( -1.4%)
6 mnth ( -7.7%)
1 year (-19.8%)
2 year (-23.0%)

Drifting gently down. Next month we find out how much interest the "Other" crossover can generate.

33. SPIDER-MAN: HOUSE OF M
Jun 05 Spider-Man: House of M #1 (of 5) - 93,301
Jul 05 Spider-Man: House of M #2 (of 5) - 76,792 (-17.7%)
Aug 05 Spider-Man: House of M #3 (of 5) - 67,199 (-12.5%)
Sep 05 Spider-Man: House of M #4 (of 5) - 64,809 ( -3.6%)

A variant edition of issue #2 sells a further 5,206 copies to chart at number 201. Meanwhile, the miniseries levels out with its penultimate issue, which is fairly standard practice.

45. MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN
Sep 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #6 - 71,492 ( -5.4%)
Oct 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #7 - 69,918 ( -2.2%)
Nov 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #8 - 68,290 ( -2.3%)
Dec 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #9 - 64,461 ( -5.6%)
Jan 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #10 - 61,831 ( -4.1%)
Feb 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #11 - 60,460 ( -2.2%)
Mar 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #12 - 59,983 ( -0.8%)
Apr 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #13 - 60,542 ( +0.9%)
May 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #14 - 57,270 ( -5.4%)
Jun 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #15 - 54,102 ( -5.5%)
Jul 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #16 - 50,876 ( -6.0%)
Aug 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #17 - 48,555 ( -4.6%)
Sep 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #18 - 47,654 ( -1.9%)
6 mnth (-20.6%)
1 year (-33.3%)

The final part of Reginald Hudlin's first storyline, and it's plainly apparent that sales on this book are in steep decline. To be honest, with MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN down 20% in the last six months, and AMAZING down 23% in the same time, one could be forgiven for wondering why Marvel think there's an audience for a third monthly Spider-Man book at the moment. But we'll find out next month when FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN launches, and the "Other" crossover tries to breathe life back into the line.

105. MARVEL TEAM-UP
Nov 04 Marvel Team-Up #1 - 44,530
Nov 04 Marvel Team-Up #2 - 37,515 (-15.7%)
Dec 04 Marvel Team-Up #3 - 29,085 (-22.5%)
Jan 05 Marvel Team-Up #4 - 27,216 ( -6.4%)
Feb 05 Marvel Team-Up #5 - 28,141 ( +3.4%)
Mar 05 Marvel Team-Up #6 - 24,762 (-12.0%)
Apr 05 Marvel Team-Up #7 - 24,800 ( +0.2%)
May 05 Marvel Team-Up #8 - 24,270 ( -2.1%)
Jun 05 Marvel Team-Up #9 - 23,530 ( -3.0%)
Jul 05 Marvel Team-Up #10 - 22,549 ( -4.2%)
Aug 05 Marvel Team-Up #11 - 22,150 ( -1.8%)
Sep 05 Marvel Team-Up #12 - 21,240 ( -4.1%)
6 mnth ( -1.4%)

Every so often Marvel becomes fiercely loyal to a comic despite indifferent sales and muted reviews. This is one such comic. The numbers above are nothing to smile about, but it's still getting a second year.

117. SPIDER-GIRL
Sep 01 Spider-Girl #38 - 24,010
Sep 02 Spider-Girl #51 - 24,932
Sep 03 Spider-Girl #64 - 22,442
======
Sep 04 Spider-Girl #78 - 22,076 ( +1.5%)
Oct 04 Spider-Girl #79 - 21,893 ( -0.8%)
Nov 04 Spider-Girl #80 - 21,146 ( -3.4%)
Dec 04 Spider-Girl #81 - 20,419 ( -3.4%)
Jan 05 Spider-Girl #82 - 20,005 ( -2.0%)
Feb 05 Spider-Girl #83 - 20,382 ( +1.9%)
Mar 05 Spider-Girl #84 - 20,050 ( -1.6%)
Apr 05 Spider-Girl #85 - 19,682 ( -1.8%)
May 05 Spider-Girl #86 - 19,452 ( -1.2%)
Jun 05 Spider-Girl #87 - 19,605 ( +0.8%)
Jul 05 Spider-Girl #88 - 18,983 ( -3.2%)
Aug 05 Spider-Girl #89 - 18,538 ( -2.3%)
Sep 05 Spider-Girl #90 - 18,344 ( -1.0%)
6 mnth ( -8.5%)
1 year (-16.9%)
2 year (-18.3%)

Continuing the gentle downward slide.

126. SPIDER-MAN UNLIMITED
Sep 04 Spider-Man Unlimited #5 - 24,156 ( -8.9%)
Oct 04 n/a
Nov 04 Spider-Man Unlimited #6 - 20,974 (-13.2%)
Dec 04 n/a
Jan 05 Spider-Man Unlimited #7 - 18,316 (-12.7%)
Feb 05 n/a
Mar 05 Spider-Man Unlimited #8 - 17,640 ( -3.7%)
Apr 05 n/a
May 05 Spider-Man Unlimited #9 - 16,953 ( -3.9%)
Jun 05 n/a
Jul 05 Spider-Man Unlimited #10 - 16,104 ( -5.0%)
Aug 05 n/a
Sep 05 Spider-Man Unlimited #11 - 15,684 ( -2.6%)
6 mnth (-11.1%)
1 year (-35.1%)

Still hanging in there despite the fact that Marvel surely can't be making much money on sales like these.

6 month comparisons
===================

+85.3% - Mutopia X / District X [House of M crossover]
+21.8% - Incredible Hulk [House of M crossover]
+21.8% - New X-Men [House of M crossover]
+12.8% - Captain America [House of M crossover]
+ 6.0% - Fantastic Four [new creative team]
+ 4.7% - Pulse
+ 0.5% - Exiles [House of M crossover]
- 0.6% - Uncanny X-Men
- 1.4% - Marvel Team-Up
- 2.2% - Cable & Deadpool
- 3.1% - Punisher
- 3.4% - Ultimate Fantastic Four
- 7.6% - Daredevil
- 7.7% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 8.5% - Spider-Girl
- 8.8% - Ultimates
- 8.8% - X-Men
-10.7% - Marvel Knights 4
-10.8% - Ultimate X-Men
-11.0% - New Thunderbolts
-11.1% - Spider-Man Unlimited
-12.0% - Ultimate Spider-Man
-14.0% - Runaways
-14.8% - Black Panther
-17.0% - New Avengers
-18.5% - Young Avengers
-20.6% - Marvel Knights Spider-Man
-24.8% - Ultimate Secret
-27.8% - Wolverine
-35.4% - Araña: Heart of the Spider
-48.8% - Ultimate Iron Man
-49.6% - Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
-49.8% - Marvel Adventures Spider-Man


1 year comparisons
==================

+44.8% - Runaways
+44.3% - New Avengers / Avengers [relaunch]
+41.7% - Captain America
+31.4% - Mutopia X / District X
+29.7% - Weapon X
+20.7% - Wolverine
+19.6% - Incredible Hulk
+17.1% - Exiles
+ 1.6% - Fantastic Four
- 7.7% - Pulse
- 8.5% - Thor
-10.5% - Uncanny X-Men
-10.8% - New X-Men
-12.1% - Daredevil
-15.5% - X-Men
-15.6% - Punisher
-16.9% - Spider-Girl
-17.6% - Cable & Deadpool
-18.0% - Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
-18.4% - Ultimate Fantastic Four
-19.8% - Amazing Spider-Man
-20.6% - Marvel Knights Spider-Man
-21.3% - Ultimate X-Men
-21.6% - Ultimate Spider-Man
-29.1% - Black Widow
-31.0% - Marvel Knights 4
-35.1% - Spider-Man Unlimited
-57.4% - Araña / Amazing Fantasy
-59.1% - Nightcrawler
-60.5% - Amazing Fantasy


2 year comparisons
==================

+123.1% - New Avengers / Avengers
+ 34.5% - Runaways
+ 26.5% - Pulse / Alias
+ 21.5% - Captain America
+ 21.4% - Weapon X
+ 5.6% - Thor
+ 4.4% - New X-Men / New Mutants
+ 1.9% - Exiles
- 0.2% - Punisher
- 3.9% - Wolverine
- 7.0% - Uncanny X-Men
- 7.7% - Fantastic Four
- 9.5% - Incredible Hulk
- 18.3% - Spider-Girl
- 23.0% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 23.0% - Daredevil
- 27.5% - X-Men / New X-Men
- 30.0% - Ultimate Spider-Man
- 31.2% - Ultimate X-Men
- 72.3% - Marvel 1602

[Galactus]

Top 300 for October:
http://www.newsarama.com/marketreport/Oct05charts.html

[Galactus]

3. NEW AVENGERS
Oct 01 Avengers #47 - 58,771
Oct 02 Avengers #59 - 53,772
Oct 03 Avengers #70 - 58,878
======
Oct 04 n/a
Nov 04 Avengers #503 - 105,761 ( +13.6%)
Nov 04 Avengers Finale - 101,431 ( -4.1%)
Dec 05 New Avengers #1 - 280,286 (+176.3%)
Jan 05 New Avengers #2 - 155,742 ( -44.3%)
Feb 05 New Avengers #3 - 148,973 ( -4.3%)
Mar 05 New Avengers #4 - 158,303 ( +6.3%)
Apr 05 New Avengers #5 - 168,556 ( +6.5%)
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 New Avengers #6 - 164,592 ( -2.4%)
Jul 05 New Avengers #7 - 158,693 ( -3.6%)
Aug 05 New Avengers #8 - 156,037 ( -1.7%)
Aug 05 New Avengers #9 - 147,501 ( -5.5%)
Sep 05 New Avengers #10 - 143,014 ( -3.0%)
Sep 05 New Avengers #11 - 134,125 ( -6.2%)
Oct 05 New Avengers #12 - 127,949 ( -4.6%)
6 mnth ( -24.1%)
1 year ( +21.0%)
2 year (+117.3%)

The second part of the Ronin storyline, and sales are noticeably dropping off now that the variant covers programme has finished. Of course, these things are relative. 128,000 is still an excellent number, especially when you compare it with the book's previous incarnation.

Strangely, despite the drops, issue #11 picks up re-orders of 2,764 to chart at number 258.

5. FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN
Oct 05 Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #1 - 85,761

With HOUSE OF M almost out of the way, normal service resumes with a new title launch. FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN is the latest title to occupy the third monthly Spider-Man slot, following on from PETER PARKER, SPIDER-MAN and SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN. This time it's by Peter David and Mike Wieringo, and the debut issue charts very respectably in the top five.

For reasons best known to themselves, Marvel chose to launch this book with a very strange promotional gimmick. Issue #1 is also the first part of "The Other: Evolve or Die", a twelve-part crossover running through this title, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN and MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN over four months. On top of that, Peter David writes all of this month's books, Reginald Hudlin writes all of the November books, and J Michael Straczynski writes all of the December books. This odd arrangement was not met with much enthusiasm online, but it certainly hasn't hurt sales, with the new title debuting in the top five in a very tough month.

You might think that the other Spider-Man titles would be close behind, what with the story running through all three of them. And you'd be wrong. But we'll come back to that.

This is as good a place as any to mention the awkwardly-titled SPIDER-MAN: THE OTHER SKETCHBOOK, which charts at number 110 with orders of 16,416 - rather impressive for a book of design sketches.

9. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
Oct 01 Amazing Spider-Man #36 - 86,456
Oct 02 Amazing Spider-Man #46 - 98,001
Oct 03 Amazing Spider-Man #500 - 148,928
======
Oct 04 Amazing Spider-Man #513 - 89,615 ( +1.1%)
Nov 04 Amazing Spider-Man #514 - 87,121 ( -2.8%)
Dec 04 Amazing Spider-Man #515 - 83,637 ( -4.0%)
Jan 05 Amazing Spider-Man #516 - 79,842 ( -4.5%)
Feb 05 Amazing Spider-Man #517 - 78,584 ( -1.6%)
Mar 05 Amazing Spider-Man #518 - 77,025 ( -2.0%)
Apr 05 Amazing Spider-Man #519 - 79,668 ( +3.4%)
May 05 Amazing Spider-Man #520 - 76,143 ( -4.4%)
Jun 05 Amazing Spider-Man #521 - 74,117 ( -2.7%)
Jul 05 Amazing Spider-Man #522 - 73,130 ( -1.3%)
Aug 05 Amazing Spider-Man #523 - 72,046 ( -1.5%)
Sep 05 Amazing Spider-Man #524 - 71,065 ( -1.4%)
Oct 05 Amazing Spider-Man #525 - 79,520 (+11.9%)
6 mnth ( -0.2%)
1 year (-11.3%)
2 year (-46.6%)

Part 2 of the Other, and AMAZING gets a healthy jump to put it back in the top ten, and up there with FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN. It's around 6,000 copies behind, which seems fair enough. Oddly, this still leaves the book marginally behind its sales from six months ago, but there's no doubt the crossover has had a noticeable increaes.

So, by this logic, MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN can only be a few thousand behind, right...?

13. ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN
Oct 01 Ultimate Spider-Man #14 - 78,346
Oct 02 Ultimate Spider-Man #28 - 92,099
Oct 03 Ultimate Spider-Man #48 - 98,747
======
Oct 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #66 - 95,917 ( +1.9%)
Oct 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #67 - 95,071 ( -0.9%)
Nov 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #68 - 91,075 ( -4.2%)
Nov 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #69 - 90,010 ( -1.2%)
Dec 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #70 - 88,960 ( -1.2%)
Jan 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #71 - 83,987 ( -5.6%)
Feb 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #72 - 86,685 ( +3.2%)
Mar 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #73 - 83,943 ( -3.2%)
Mar 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #74 - 83,817 ( -0.2%)
Apr 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #75 - 83,940 ( +0.1%)
Apr 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #76 - 82,244 ( -2.0%)
May 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #77 - 81,034 ( -1.5%)
Jun 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #78 - 79,420 ( -2.0%)
Jul 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #79 - 78,404 ( -1.3%)
Jul 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #80 - 76,906 ( -1.9%)
Aug 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #81 - 75,572 ( -1.7%)
Sep 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #82 - 75,756 ( +0.2%)
Sep 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #83 - 75,539 ( -0.3%)
Oct 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #84 - 74,670 ( -1.2%)
6 mnth ( -9.2%)
1 year (-22.2%)
2 year (-24.4%)

The "Warriors" storyline continues, and the gentle downward slide continues - although to be fair, it's been fairly stable over the last few months. Issue #83 picks up 1,742 reorders and charts at number 294.

23. MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN
Oct 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #7 - 69,918 ( -2.2%)
Nov 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #8 - 68,290 ( -2.3%)
Dec 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #9 - 64,461 ( -5.6%)
Jan 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #10 - 61,831 ( -4.1%)
Feb 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #11 - 60,460 ( -2.2%)
Mar 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #12 - 59,983 ( -0.8%)
Apr 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #13 - 60,542 ( +0.9%)
May 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #14 - 57,270 ( -5.4%)
Jun 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #15 - 54,102 ( -5.5%)
Jul 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #16 - 50,876 ( -6.0%)
Aug 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #17 - 48,555 ( -4.6%)
Sep 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #18 - 47,654 ( -1.9%)
Oct 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #19 - 66,140 (+38.8%)
6 mnth ( +9.2%)
1 year ( -5.4%)

Well, there's good news and bad news. The good news is that there's a big jump up from last month, no doubt thanks to the "Other" crossover with FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN and AMAZING SPIDER-MAN. The bad news is that the book is still down on a year ago, and more to the point, it's over 13,000 copies below AMAZING, and almost 20,000 below FRIENDLY. And, you know, logically these three crossover books all ought to be selling close together. Watch to see whether they grow any closer over the next few months of the crossover, now that retailers and readers know they really do have to buy them all.

93. MARVEL TEAM-UP
Nov 04 Marvel Team-Up #1 - 44,530
Nov 04 Marvel Team-Up #2 - 37,515 (-15.7%)
Dec 04 Marvel Team-Up #3 - 29,085 (-22.5%)
Jan 05 Marvel Team-Up #4 - 27,216 ( -6.4%)
Feb 05 Marvel Team-Up #5 - 28,141 ( +3.4%)
Mar 05 Marvel Team-Up #6 - 24,762 (-12.0%)
Apr 05 Marvel Team-Up #7 - 24,800 ( +0.2%)
May 05 Marvel Team-Up #8 - 24,270 ( -2.1%)
Jun 05 Marvel Team-Up #9 - 23,530 ( -3.0%)
Jul 05 Marvel Team-Up #10 - 22,549 ( -4.2%)
Aug 05 Marvel Team-Up #11 - 22,150 ( -1.8%)
Sep 05 Marvel Team-Up #12 - 21,240 ( -4.1%)
Oct 05 Marvel Team-Up #13 - 21,048 ( -0.9%)
6 mnth (-15.1%)

Well, at least it's levelling out, I suppose. Despite the poor sales, MARVEL TEAM-UP seems to be safe for the time being.

102. SPIDER-GIRL
Oct 01 Spider-Girl #39 - 23,514
Oct 02 Spider-Girl #52 - 24,907
Oct 03 Spider-Girl #65 - 22,561
======
Oct 04 Spider-Girl #79 - 21,893 ( -0.8%)
Nov 04 Spider-Girl #80 - 21,146 ( -3.4%)
Dec 04 Spider-Girl #81 - 20,419 ( -3.4%)
Jan 05 Spider-Girl #82 - 20,005 ( -2.0%)
Feb 05 Spider-Girl #83 - 20,382 ( +1.9%)
Mar 05 Spider-Girl #84 - 20,050 ( -1.6%)
Apr 05 Spider-Girl #85 - 19,682 ( -1.8%)
May 05 Spider-Girl #86 - 19,452 ( -1.2%)
Jun 05 Spider-Girl #87 - 19,605 ( +0.8%)
Jul 05 Spider-Girl #88 - 18,983 ( -3.2%)
Aug 05 Spider-Girl #89 - 18,538 ( -2.3%)
Sep 05 Spider-Girl #90 - 18,344 ( -1.0%)
Oct 05 Spider-Girl #91 - 18,159 ( -1.0%)
6 mnth ( -7.7%)
1 year (-17.1%)
2 year (-19.5%)

Fairly steady over the last few months.

135. SPIDER-MAN FAMILY
Oct 05 Spider-Man Family #1 - 13,666

Another of the Giant-Size format books, this time with assorted oddball Spider-Man spin-offs. Considering that the book offers eight pages of Spider-Girl and reprints of such oddities as MARVEL TAILS FEATURING PETER PORKER, THE SPECTACTULAR SPIDER-HAM #1, it's actually a surprisingly good number. Marvel seem to be tinkering with this format, with longer original stories included in November's Fantastic Four wedding book, and February's GIANT-SIZE MS MARVEL #1

191. MARVEL ADVENTURES SPIDER-MAN
Mar 05 Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #1 - 14,351
Apr 05 Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #2 - 10,305 (-28.2%)
May 05 Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #3 - 9,110 (-11.6%)
Jun 05 Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #4 - 8,878 ( -2.5%)
Jul 05 Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #5 - 8,075 ( -9.0%)
Aug 05 Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #6 - 7,636 ( -5.4%)
Sep 05 Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #7 - 7,199 ( -5.7%)
Oct 05 Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #8 - 7,088 ( -1.5%)
6 mnth (-31.2%)

6 month comparisons
===================

+68.0% - Mutopia X / District X
+21.9% - Exiles
+16.5% - New X-Men
+ 9.2% - Marvel Knights Spider-Man
+ 0.1% - Cable & Deadpool
- 0.2% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 1.2% - Uncanny X-Men
- 2.3% - Ultimate Fantastic Four
- 3.8% - New Thunderbolts
- 3.9% - Captain America
- 4.4% - Punisher
- 6.4% - Powers
- 7.6% - Daredevil
- 7.7% - Spider-Girl
- 9.1% - Ultimate X-Men
- 9.1% - X-Men Unlimited
- 9.2% - Ultimate Spider-Man
- 9.9% - X-Men
-10.6% - Black Panther
-11.6% - Runaways
-12.3% - Incredible Hulk
-14.0% - Marvel Knights 4
-14.9% - Young Avengers
-15.1% - Marvel Team-Up
-16.7% - Ultimate Secret
-24.1% - New Avengers
-27.2% - Wolverine
-31.2% - Marvel Adventures Spider-Man
-36.4% - AraÒa
-37.9% - Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
-46.7% - Amazing Fantasy

1 year comparisons
==================

+49.3% - She-Hulk
+25.3% - Mutopia X / District X
+21.0% - New Avengers / Avengers
+21.0% - Captain America
+16.4% - Exiles
+13.2% - Incredible Hulk
- 2.9% - X-Men Unlimited
- 5.4% - Marvel Knights Spider-Man
- 8.7% - New X-Men
-11.3% - Amazing Spider-Man
-13.4% - Punisher
-13.6% - Cable & Deadpool
-15.2% - Daredevil
-15.8% - X-Men
-16.4% - Ultimate Fantastic Four
-17.0% - Uncanny X-Men
-17.1% - Spider-Girl
-18.4% - Powers
-19.9% - Ultimate X-Men
-22.0% - Ultimate Galactus Trilogy
-22.2% - Ultimate Spider-Man
-31.6% - Black Widow
-31.8% - Marvel Knights 4
-37.8% - Wolverine
-46.3% - Thor
-51.3% - Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
-54.7% - Araña / Amazing Fantasy
-55.9% - Amazing Fantasy


2 year comparisons
==================

+117.3% - New Avengers / Avengers
+ 23.4% - Runaways
+ 9.9% - Weapon X
+ 6.6% - Captain America
+ 1.0% - Exiles
+ 1.0% - Powers
+ 0.9% - New X-Men / New Mutants
- 8.9% - Uncanny X-Men
- 10.2% - Wolverine
- 13.5% - Punisher
- 19.5% - Spider-Girl
- 19.6% - Thor
- 23.1% - Daredevil
- 23.5% - Incredible Hulk
- 24.4% - Ultimate Spider-Man
- 29.4% - X-Men / New X-Men
- 30.5% - Ultimate X-Men
- 46.6% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 75.4% - Marvel 1602

[Arkady Rossovich]

I hope that the Ultimate Line is eventually droped.

[Galactus]

Top 300 for November:

http://www.newsarama.com/marketreport/Nov05charts.html

[Dragon]

"The Other" is selling worse than "Sins Past".............:D

[Themanofbat]

"The Other" is selling worse than "Sins Past".............:D

But "The Other"'s numbers have increased compared to what was before.

And I'm kind of surprised that ASM is selling better than USM, which is good in my opinion. :up:

:)

[Dragon]

But "The Other"'s numbers have increased compared to what was before.

And I'm kind of surprised that ASM is selling better than USM, which is good in my opinion. :up:

:)

The Other is selling better than the previous issues, but Sins Past, which was considered a sales flop, sold higher than The Other. I'm sure they were expecting sales of this to at least match SP.

[Venom_uk]

"The Other" is selling worse than "Sins Past".............:D
This makes me happy. :D

[Zenien]

Wow, it's nice to see that comic books are still on the downward spiral.... How many years do you think we have left until we start reaching critical lows?

[Dragon]

Wow, it's nice to see that comic books are still on the downward spiral.... How many years do you think we have left until we start reaching critical lows?

The real question is, will the morons running Marvel realize the error of their ways before its too late?

[Venom_uk]

The real question is, will the morons running Marvel realize the error of their ways before its too late?
The answer is, probably not. :(

[Zenien]

If you compare averages for the majority of titles in the comics industry, I'm pretty sure they've been going down for a while. I wouldn't say that this is necessarilly a Marvel thing.

[Dragon]

If you compare averages for the majority of titles in the comics industry, I'm pretty sure they've been going down for a while. I wouldn't say that this is necessarilly a Marvel thing.

At least, it's easy to trace the problems in Marvel's comics to their editorial decisions.

[Zenien]

That doesn't really address the issue at all.

[ragingdemon155]

The real question is, will the morons running Marvel realize the error of their ways before its too late?

You know, I'm not disagreeing with you in the fact that Marvel has made a bunch of mistakes and that is of coarse one reason for the decline in sales....but at the same time, comics in general just aren't selling as well as they use to. Even the "well written" comics aren't. Year after year comics have continued to decline in sales. They aren't as popular as they use to be and that goes for both DC and Marvel.

[LarryLegend]

Yeah it is interesting that The Other is selling worse than Sins Past. Its also interesting that 13,000 less people bought MKSM, which had part 3 of The Other. Wonder what this months will be like?

[Symbiotica]

"Sales are plummeting? We're seeing double-digit decreases? Everyone gather 'round, I know exactly how we'll fix this ... WE'LL GIVE THEM MORE OF THE SAME!"

Absolutely brilliant marketing strategy. :D

[Dragon]

You know, I'm not disagreeing with you in the fact that Marvel has made a bunch of mistakes and that is of coarse one reason for the decline in sales....but at the same time, comics in general just aren't selling as well as they use to. Even the "well written" comics aren't. Year after year comics have continued to decline in sales. They aren't as popular as they use to be and that goes for both DC and Marvel.

Right. But there's a reasons that they're becoming less popular. If you're constantly given stories that run for 6 months with only story enough for 2 months, you're not going to buy them. If the month following the last issue of an arc a TPB is released with all of the issues of the arc, you're not going to buy them.

If Marvel continuously sucker punches their readers with nonsense like SP and The Other, they're not going to buy them.

You can see from the sales charts that the comics have dramatic changes from issue to issue, and often due to some "Big Event". There's a clear indicator that fans are jumping ship because the omcics aren't well produced.

As for the overall decline, it's because many of the readers who drop these books don't come back, and no new readers are being brought in. I meantioned on The Other thread how the comics are so repugnant in terms of graphc violence that kids simply can't read them. And few teens are going to start picking up the comics.

[Dragon]

That doesn't really address the issue at all.

Oct 04 Amazing Spider-Man #513 - 89,615 ( +1.1%)
Nov 04 Amazing Spider-Man #514 - 87,121 ( -2.8%)
Dec 04 Amazing Spider-Man #515 - 83,637 ( -4.0%)
Jan 05 Amazing Spider-Man #516 - 79,842 ( -4.5%)
Feb 05 Amazing Spider-Man #517 - 78,584 ( -1.6%)
Mar 05 Amazing Spider-Man #518 - 77,025 ( -2.0%)
Apr 05 Amazing Spider-Man #519 - 79,668 ( +3.4%)
May 05 Amazing Spider-Man #520 - 76,143 ( -4.4%)
Jun 05 Amazing Spider-Man #521 - 74,117 ( -2.7%)
Jul 05 Amazing Spider-Man #522 - 73,130 ( -1.3%)
Aug 05 Amazing Spider-Man #523 - 72,046 ( -1.5%)
Sep 05 Amazing Spider-Man #524 - 71,065 ( -1.4%)
Oct 05 Amazing Spider-Man #525 - 79,520 (+11.9%
Nov 05 Amazing Spider-Man #526 - 79,700

You can see from this that the sales rise and fall due to the start of new arcs, followed by displeasure with the arcs leading to fall off.

[stillanerd]

Right. But there's a reasons that they're becoming less popular. If you're constantly given stories that run for 6 months with only story enough for 2 months, you're not going to buy them. If the month following the last issue of an arc a TPB is released with all of the issues of the arc, you're not going to buy them.

If Marvel continuously sucker punches their readers with nonsense like SP and The Other, they're not going to buy them.

You can see from the sales charts that the comics have dramatic changes from issue to issue, and often due to some "Big Event". There's a clear indicator that fans are jumping ship because the omcics aren't well produced.

As for the overall decline, it's because many of the readers who drop these books don't come back, and no new readers are being brought in. I meantioned on The Other thread how the comics are so repugnant in terms of graphc violence that kids simply can't read them. And few teens are going to start picking up the comics.

That last comment is also why, in part, movies have also done poorly this year. Initially, more mature PG-13 and R rated films start of high at the box office but then fall after opening weekend while more family oriented or films geared for all ages are by and large far more successful.

Comics have been having the same problem and have since the last decade. Ever since Alan Moore and Frank Miller got popular, many comic creators assumed that part of their success had to do with their "dark and gritty" themes, so they adopted it for their own books, whether it was appropriate or not. After the initial appeal wore off, sales started to decline. Sure part of it had to do with attempting to catter to investment speculators, but I think that many readers just got turned off by what they were reading.

I think one of the reasons DC is kicking Marvels butt right now is because they're implying that the past 20 years or so have been TOO DARK and they want to LIGHTEN UP a bit. It is possible to tell stories that deal with dark themes and yet still make them appealing for readers of all ages. Its also possible to tell more upbeat stories without making them seem juvenile.

[Galactus]

Top 300 for December:

http://www.newsarama.com/marketreport/Dec05charts.html

[Norman Osborn]

Is Punisher selling that bad it's not even in the top 300?...or did I just miss it?....Nice to see New Avengers doing well....ASM appears to have dropped another 400 readers.....

[stillanerd]

Is Punisher selling that bad it's not even in the top 300?...or did I just miss it?....Nice to see New Avengers doing well....ASM appears to have dropped another 400 readers.....

Nor is ASM quite at the same levels that it was during Sins Past. :)

[Citizen_Kaine]

Punisher's number 58, What If

Good to see T-Bolts and Deadpool are still doing " well "

[Norman Osborn]

edit because (Never mind, now I see it)

[Dragon]

The best selling issues of "The Other" are still selling well below the worst selling issues of "Sins Past".

Getting the hint Joe & Joe?

[The Joker™]

What?

Isn't it clear yet that Joe is Green Goblin.

Norman obviously knew the only way to effect Spidey is to become the editor in cheif of marvel.

Its kind of like nightmare on elm streets new nightmares

[The Joker™]

..ssecond

[Dragon]

What?

Isn't it clear yet that Joe is Green Goblin.

Norman obviously knew the only way to effect Spidey is to become the editor in cheif of marvel.

Its kind of like nightmare on elm streets new nightmares

So, first Norman screws Gwen, then he screws Spidey..

Clever plan... ;)

[The Joker™]

He gets around.

[CaptainStacy]

That last comment is also why, in part, movies have also done poorly this year. Initially, more mature PG-13 and R rated films start of high at the box office but then fall after opening weekend while more family oriented or films geared for all ages are by and large far more successful.

Comics have been having the same problem and have since the last decade. Ever since Alan Moore and Frank Miller got popular, many comic creators assumed that part of their success had to do with their "dark and gritty" themes, so they adopted it for their own books, whether it was appropriate or not. After the initial appeal wore off, sales started to decline. Sure part of it had to do with attempting to catter to investment speculators, but I think that many readers just got turned off by what they were reading.

I think one of the reasons DC is kicking Marvels butt right now is because they're implying that the past 20 years or so have been TOO DARK and they want to LIGHTEN UP a bit. It is possible to tell stories that deal with dark themes and yet still make them appealing for readers of all ages. Its also possible to tell more upbeat stories without making them seem juvenile.

HUH? Did you read Identity Crisis, Countdown To Infinite Crisis, or Infinite Crisis? I don't think Peter's eye gouging comes CLOSE to what happened to Sue Dibny.

Blue Beetle getting his brains blown out, and The Freedom Fighters getting beaten to death by an army of super villains didn't strike me as "appealing to all ages" either. Nor the brutal, bone-breaking battle between Superman and Wonder Woman.

No. I'd have to disagree with that, and say that DC is no less violent than Marvel, and is in fact, doing the complete opposite of "Lightening Up"...the difference, i think, is that right now DC's "go to guys", are far more versed in their respective univere's continuity than Marvel's "go to guys", and are more interested in guiding the characters along than "leaving their mark" (Straz, Bendis, et. al.)...


I'm not sure what the ramifications will be for the Industry's future, but right now, both Industry leaders are definitely writing for adults, for the most part. I'm not seeing any less violence or darkness from the DC comics of today, compared to 20 odd years ago (Watchmen, Killing Joke, etc.,) in the least.

[Galactus]

3. NEW AVENGERS
Dec 01 Avengers #49 - 57,715
Dec 02 Avengers #61 - 55,506
Dec 03 Avengers #75 - 57,814
======
Dec 05 New Avengers #1 - 280,286 (+176.3%)
Jan 05 New Avengers #2 - 155,742 ( -44.3%)
Feb 05 New Avengers #3 - 148,973 ( -4.3%)
Mar 05 New Avengers #4 - 158,303 ( +6.3%)
Apr 05 New Avengers #5 - 168,556 ( +6.5%)
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 New Avengers #6 - 164,592 ( -2.4%)
Jul 05 New Avengers #7 - 158,693 ( -3.6%)
Aug 05 New Avengers #8 - 156,037 ( -1.7%)
Aug 05 New Avengers #9 - 147,501 ( -5.5%)
Sep 05 New Avengers #10 - 143,014 ( -3.0%)
Sep 05 New Avengers #11 - 134,125 ( -6.2%)
Oct 05 New Avengers #12 - 130,110 ( -3.0%)
Nov 05 New Avengers #13 - 126,148 ( -3.0%)
Dec 05 New Avengers #14 - 124,300 ( -1.5%)
6 mnth ( -24.5%)
1 year ( -55.7%)
2 year (+115.0%)

Commemorating the first anniversary of the new title, and it's still light years ahead of the book's previous incarnation. True, it's down by over 55% from issue #1, but that's only to be expected - not only were the early issues heavily hyped, but they were also artificially inflated by variant covers. The last few issues, after that programme stopped, have fallen back to more realistic levels that are still undeniably impressive.

Issue #14 is the first half of a Spider-Woman two-parter. Her origin miniseries also starts this month, and we'll come to that later on.

10. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
Dec 01 Amazing Spider-Man #38 - 88,666
Dec 02 Amazing Spider-Man #48 - 93,867
Dec 03 Amazing Spider-Man #502 - 90,484
======
Dec 04 Amazing Spider-Man #515 - 83,637 ( -4.0%)
Jan 05 Amazing Spider-Man #516 - 79,842 ( -4.5%)
Feb 05 Amazing Spider-Man #517 - 78,584 ( -1.6%)
Mar 05 Amazing Spider-Man #518 - 77,025 ( -2.0%)
Apr 05 Amazing Spider-Man #519 - 79,668 ( +3.4%)
May 05 Amazing Spider-Man #520 - 76,143 ( -4.4%)
Jun 05 Amazing Spider-Man #521 - 74,117 ( -2.7%)
Jul 05 Amazing Spider-Man #522 - 73,130 ( -1.3%)
Aug 05 Amazing Spider-Man #523 - 72,046 ( -1.5%)
Sep 05 Amazing Spider-Man #524 - 71,065 ( -1.4%)
Oct 05 Amazing Spider-Man #525 - 91,707 (+29.0%)
Nov 05 Amazing Spider-Man #526 - 81,348 (-11.3%)
Dec 05 Amazing Spider-Man #527 - 79,261 ( -2.6%)
6 mnth ( +6.9%)
1 year ( -5.2%)
2 year (-12.4%)

The highest Spider-Man title, and part of the "Other" crossover. Once again, the ordering is a little erratic on this storyline. The story is running through AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN and MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN. They're effectively just one series for the duration of the storyline. Yet, once again, AMAZING comfortably outsells the other two books. FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN is 7,000 behind, and MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN is over 10,000 behind.

Which is... odd. It means that a decent-sized chunk of AMAZING's readers are sticking with this book and ignoring the rest of the crossover. This isn't even creator loyalty, since the creators are swapping books. They bought AMAZING in the last two months, even though it wasn't by regular writer J M Straczynski. And they didn't buy the other two books this month, even though Straczynski was writing them. I honestly don't fathom the logic of that. Who are these people who are so completist that they buy one third of the crossover simply because it's appearing in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, yet aren't completist enough to buy the other two Spider-Man comics for the rest of the plot?

There's a few re-orders topping up earlier issues. Issue #526 has re-orders of 1,674 and scrapes into the chart at number 300. Issue #525 picks up another 2,210 re-orders and charts at number 281. Those numbers are incorporated into the figures above. There's no separate listing for a variant cover (unlike the other two Spider-Man titles), so presumably AMAZING's variant didn't ship in time for the December charts.

15,17. ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN
Dec 01 Ultimate Spider-Man #16 - 80,875
Dec 02 Ultimate Spider-Man #33 - 99,404
Dec 03 Ultimate Spider-Man #50 - 109,819
======
Dec 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #70 - 88,960 ( -1.2%)
Jan 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #71 - 83,987 ( -5.6%)
Feb 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #72 - 86,685 ( +3.2%)
Mar 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #73 - 83,943 ( -3.2%)
Mar 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #74 - 83,817 ( -0.2%)
Apr 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #75 - 83,940 ( +0.1%)
Apr 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #76 - 82,244 ( -2.0%)
May 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #77 - 81,034 ( -1.5%)
Jun 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #78 - 79,420 ( -2.0%)
Jul 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #79 - 78,404 ( -1.3%)
Jul 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #80 - 76,906 ( -1.9%)
Aug 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #81 - 75,572 ( -1.7%)
Sep 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #82 - 75,756 ( +0.2%)
Sep 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #83 - 75,539 ( -0.3%)
Oct 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #84 - 74,670 ( -1.2%)
Nov 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #85 - 74,264 ( -0.5%)
Nov 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #86 - 76,864 ( +3.5%)
Dec 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #87 - 74,537 ( -3.0%)
Dec 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #88 - 72,984 ( -2.1%)
6 mnth ( -8.1%)
1 year (-18.0%)
2 year (-33.5%)

Returning to normal levels. Presumably the jump for issue #86 was to do with the Ultimate Vision back-up strip, but there's also one in issues #87 and #88, so it can't have made an enormous difference in the long run.

18. FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN
Oct 05 Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #1 - 100,430
Nov 05 Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #2 - 82,988 (-17.4%)
Dec 05 Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #3 - 72,314 (-12.9%)

More of "The Other", and since this isn't even the regular creative team, it's a bit pointless trying to read much into these figures. Issue #2 picks up 8,222 orders for its variant cover, and charts at number 189.

21. MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN
Dec 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #9 - 64,461 ( -5.6%)
Jan 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #10 - 61,831 ( -4.1%)
Feb 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #11 - 60,460 ( -2.2%)
Mar 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #12 - 59,983 ( -0.8%)
Apr 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #13 - 60,542 ( +0.9%)
May 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #14 - 57,270 ( -5.4%)
Jun 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #15 - 54,102 ( -5.5%)
Jul 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #16 - 50,876 ( -6.0%)
Aug 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #17 - 48,555 ( -4.6%)
Sep 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #18 - 47,654 ( -1.9%)
Oct 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #19 - 75,461 (+58.4%)
Nov 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #20 - 71,940 ( -4.7%)
Dec 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #21 - 68,323 ( -5.0%)
6 mnth (+26.3%)
1 year ( +6.0%)

Another "Other" crossover, and while it doesn't get the book up to the levels of AMAZING, it's undeniably boosting sales. Issue #20's variant cover picks up 7,193 copies to chart at number 196.

24. SPIDER-WOMAN: ORIGIN
Dec 05 Origin #1 (of 5) - 63,953

A surprisingly high debut considering that Spider-Woman is hardly an A-list character, and that this miniseries is simply a retelling of her established origin story. Exposure through NEW AVENGERS has obviously helped her a lot, and this bodes well for her upcoming solo series

31,33. SPIDER-MAN/BLACK CAT: EVIL THAT MEN DO
Jun 02 Spider-Man/Black Cat #1 (of 4) - 118,204
Jul 02 Spider-Man/Black Cat #2 (of 4) - 101,607 (-14.0%)
Aug 02 Spider-Man/Black Cat #3 (of 4) - 99,110 ( -2.5%)
Sep 02 Spider-Man/Black Cat #4 (of 4) - 94,749 ( -4.4%)
Oct 02 Spider-Man/Black Cat #5 (of 5) - 88,956 ( -6.1%)
======
Dec 05 Spider-Man/Black Cat #4 (of 6) - 57,089 (-35.8%)
Dec 05 Spider-Man/Black Cat #5 (of 6) - 53,849 ( -5.7%)

Ah, this. Yes, after a mere three years, Kevin Smith has finally found time to complete a professional commitment he gave in 2002.

Readers may wonder what's going on with some of the earlier numbers, and how issues #4 and #5 have managed to chart twice. Well, back when this miniseries started, the charts worked on a different basis. They showed the initial orders for a comic, not the number that shipped. This means that comics appeared on the charts for the month in which they'd been solicited, whether or not they actually came out. That's why issues #1 to #3 are listed as if they'd come out on time, and issues #4 and #5 managed to chart in autumn 2002 despite not existing at all.

Obviously, there's a limit to the level of delay readers will put up with. If issue #4 had come out on time, almost 40,000 more copies would have been in circulation.

And no, those aren't misprints - Marvel have changed the length of the miniseries twice as it went along.

113. MARVEL TEAM-UP
Dec 04 Marvel Team-Up #3 - 29,085 (-22.5%)
Jan 05 Marvel Team-Up #4 - 27,216 ( -6.4%)
Feb 05 Marvel Team-Up #5 - 28,141 ( +3.4%)
Mar 05 Marvel Team-Up #6 - 24,762 (-12.0%)
Apr 05 Marvel Team-Up #7 - 24,800 ( +0.2%)
May 05 Marvel Team-Up #8 - 24,270 ( -2.1%)
Jun 05 Marvel Team-Up #9 - 23,530 ( -3.0%)
Jul 05 Marvel Team-Up #10 - 22,549 ( -4.2%)
Aug 05 Marvel Team-Up #11 - 22,150 ( -1.8%)
Sep 05 Marvel Team-Up #12 - 21,240 ( -4.1%)
Oct 05 Marvel Team-Up #13 - 21,048 ( -0.9%)
Nov 05 Marvel Team-Up #14 - 26,200 (+24.5%)
Dec 05 Marvel Team-Up #15 - 20,000 (-23.7%)
6 mnth (-15.0%)
1 year (-31.2%)

Apparently last month's spike really was for the INVINCIBLE crossover, because MARVEL TEAM-UP goes straight back to normal levels with its new arc. We're now at the 20K mark, and surely we must be starting to test the limits of Marvel's tolerance.

125. SPIDER-GIRL
Dec 01 Spider-Girl #41 - 23,573
Dec 02 Spider-Girl #54 - 24,389
Dec 03 Spider-Girl #67 - 21,403
======
Dec 04 Spider-Girl #81 - 20,419 ( -3.4%)
Jan 05 Spider-Girl #82 - 20,005 ( -2.0%)
Feb 05 Spider-Girl #83 - 20,382 ( +1.9%)
Mar 05 Spider-Girl #84 - 20,050 ( -1.6%)
Apr 05 Spider-Girl #85 - 19,682 ( -1.8%)
May 05 Spider-Girl #86 - 19,452 ( -1.2%)
Jun 05 Spider-Girl #87 - 19,605 ( +0.8%)
Jul 05 Spider-Girl #88 - 18,983 ( -3.2%)
Aug 05 Spider-Girl #89 - 18,538 ( -2.3%)
Sep 05 Spider-Girl #90 - 18,344 ( -1.0%)
Oct 05 Spider-Girl #91 - 18,159 ( -1.0%)
Nov 05 Spider-Girl #92 - 17,597 ( -3.1%)
Dec 05 Spider-Girl #93 - 17,057 ( -3.1%)
6 mnth (-13.0%)
1 year (-16.5%)
2 year (-20.3%)

Cancelled with issue #100, although we've all heard that before. That said, after years of relatively solidity, SPIDER-GIRL has started to shed readers over the last year or so. This time, things may be different.

163. SPIDER-MAN LOVES MARY JANE
Dec 05 Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane #1 - 11,171

Ongoing series following on from the MARY JANE and MARY JANE: HOMECOMING miniseries. Neither of those books did particularly good business in the direct market, so the driving force here must be digest sales - which was always the aim. It's not a great debut by direct market standards, but it really doesn't matter.

6 month comparisons
===================

+27.8% - New X-Men
+26.3% - Marvel Knights Spider-Man
+ 6.9% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 1.7% - Exiles
- 2.8% - Ultimate Fantastic Four
- 4.7% - Ultimates 2
- 4.7% - Captain America
- 5.3% - Cable & Deadpool
- 5.3% - Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
- 5.7% - X-Men
- 6.0% - Punisher
- 7.4% - Powers
- 8.1% - Ultimate Spider-Man
- 8.1% - New Thunderbolts
-10.1% - Daredevil
-10.9% - Uncanny X-Men
-11.1% - Runaways
-11.6% - Wolverine
-12.9% - X-Men Unlimited
-13.0% - Spider-Girl
-14.6% - Incredible Hulk
-15.0% - Marvel Team-Up
-16.4% - Fantastic Four
-19.2% - Marvel Knights 4
-21.6% - Black Panther
-24.3% - Amazing Fantasy
-24.5% - New Avengers
-28.0% - Marvel Adventures Spider-Man
-36.5% - Araña: Heart of the Spider
-47.4% - Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four
-47.8% - New Warriors
-58.1% - Ultimate Iron Man


1 year comparisons
==================

+23.4% - She-Hulk
+19.8% - Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
+19.1% - Incredible Hulk / Hulk & Thing
+ 6.0% - Marvel Knights Spider-Man
+ 1.0% - New X-Men
+ 0.4% - Exiles
- 1.9% - Fantastic Four
- 5.2% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 9.6% - Uncanny X-Men
-11.9% - Punisher
-13.2% - Ultimate Fantastic Four
-13.4% - Cable & Deadpool
-14.1% - X-Men
-14.2% - Daredevil
-14.3% - Wolverine
-15.7% - Captain America
-16.5% - Powers
-16.5% - Spider-Girl
-18.0% - Ultimate Spider-Man
-23.3% - New Thunderbolts
-26.6% - X-Men Unlimited
-30.3% - Marvel Knights 4
-31.2% - Marvel Team-Up
-31.7% - Black Widow
-35.4% - Ultimates 2
-55.7% - New Avengers


2 year comparison
=================

+115.0% - New Avengers / Avengers
+ 23.6% - Runaways
+ 4.5% - Captain America
- 7.1% - Fantastic Four
- 7.8% - Punisher
- 5.3% - Wolverine
- 9.6% - Ultimates
- 10.0% - Uncanny X-Men
- 12.1% - Exiles
- 12.4% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 19.3% - Daredevil
- 20.3% - Spider-Girl
- 28.9% - Incredible Hulk
- 32.7% - X-Men / New X-Men
- 33.1% - Thor: Blood Oath / Thor
- 33.5% - Ultimate Spider-Man
- 60.6% - Ultimate Fantastic Four

[Mara Jane]

I wonder if the reason so many people are buying Amazing and not the other parts of "the Other" crossover is that some collectors buy more than one issue of a title, especially now with the grading system that requires sealing them for eternity. Amazing Spider-Man will hold it's value over the long run better than any other title. So they buy one to read, and one to seal. It's a pretty big discrepancy of numbers, so I'm sure there are other reasons for it, but I'm not sure what. Maybe casual readers at newsstands or bookstores?

[iloveclones]

Mommy-to-be, due July 5, 2006. :*)

Just noticed that. Congratulations (to both of you)!

[Mara Jane]

Thanks! :)

[Chasm]

Could you give me please a link or something, where i can see more details regarding the sales numbers? I take great interest in DC comics sales numbers but I don't know where can I found them.

[Galactus]

Could you give me please a link or something, where i can see more details regarding the sales numbers? I take great interest in DC comics sales numbers but I don't know where can I found them.

I usually find the numbers here: http://www.comicon.com/pulse/

Just scroll down and you'll find the DC numbers for December

[Chasm]

Thanks for your help!

[Galactus]

Top 300 in January
http://www.newsarama.com/marketreport/January06charts.htm

Funny that despite all complains about crappy stories all three major Spidey-titles are in top ten

[stillanerd]

Top 300 in January
http://www.newsarama.com/marketreport/January06charts.htm

Funny that despite all complains about crappy stories all three major Spidey-titles are in top ten

Perhaps it's because it was those were the last three parts of the Other and people wanted to see how it ended. Also, I wonder if those sales for Amazing, Friendly Neighborhood, and Marvel Knights all during the Other are somewhat skewed because they're also counting issues with the varient covers which would mean the same person buys more than one copy. Guess it wouldn't matter either way since a sale is a sale. Also, it's interesting to note that part one of Sins Past still outsold part 12 of "The Other: Evolve or Die":

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
Jan Amazing Spider-Man #503 - 87,341
Feb Amazing Spider-Man #504 - 84,064
Mar Amazing Spider-Man #505 - 83,613
Apr Amazing Spider-Man #506 - 83,152
May Amazing Spider-Man #507 - 81,944
Jun Amazing Spider-Man #508 - 82,268
Jun Amazing Spider-Man #509 - 101,632 (Sins Past, part 1)
Jul Amazing Spider-Man #510 - 86,181 (Sins Past, part 2)
Aug Amazing Spider-Man #511 - 88,118 (Sins Past, part 3
Sep Amazing Spider-Man #512 - 88,628 (Sins Past, part 4)
Oct Amazing Spider-Man #513 - 89,615 (Sins Past, part 5)
Nov Amazing Spider-Man #514 - 87,121 (Sins Past, part 6)
Dec Amazing Spider-Man #515 - 83,637
Jan 05 Amazing Spider-Man #516 - 79,842
Feb 05 Amazing Spider-Man #517 - 78,584
Mar 05 Amazing Spider-Man #518 - 77,025
Apr 05 Amazing Spider-Man #519 - 79,668
May 05 Amazing Spider-Man #520 - 76,143
Jun 05 Amazing Spider-Man #521 - 74,117
Jul 05 Amazing Spider-Man #522 - 73,130
Aug 05 Amazing Spider-Man #523 - 72,046
Sep 05 Amazing Spider-Man #524 - 71,065
Oct 05 Amazing Spider-Man #525 - 91,707 (The Other, part 3)
Nov 05 Amazing Spider-Man #526 - 81,348 (The Other, part 6
Dec 05 Amazing Spider-Man #527 - 79,261 (The Other, part 9)
Jan 06 Amazing Spider-Man #528 - 95,415 (The Other, part 12)

[Niobe]

Oct 05 Amazing Spider-Man #525 - 91,707 (The Other, part 3)
Nov 05 Amazing Spider-Man #526 - 81,348 (The Other, part 6
Dec 05 Amazing Spider-Man #527 - 79,261 (The Other, part 9)
Jan 06 Amazing Spider-Man #528 - 95,415 (The Other, part 12)

Hmm...looks like everybody buys the Other even though everybody hates it. And I was wondering why JMS doesnt give a damn to all the complaints

[Dragon]

Hmm...looks like everybody buys the Other even though everybody hates it. And I was wondering why JMS doesnt give a damn to all the complaints

But based on the numbers, no one cared about the story, since there was such a wide variation in the numbers. People read certain issues and skipped others. People buying the last 3 issues only reflects curiosity about Spidey's new powers. I'm sure sales on #529 will be through the roof. But maintaining good, consistent sales is the problem.

[CaptainStacy]

What do i have to do to get more of you people to buy Marvel Team-Up?

[Captivated]

What do i have to do to get more of you people to buy Marvel Team-Up?
I bought a few when I noticed Spider-man was in the story... but then he wasn't... for several issues... and I lost interest.

[Citizen_Kaine]

What do i have to do to get more of you people to buy Marvel Team-Up?

I started reading when Kirkman took over. Basically never read it prior due to my disdain for team up comics, but this Legion of Loser's stuff is good :up:

[Captivated]

With the Other, I planned on getting all the various covers, as well as the first issues... but I started finding the direction of the story so depressing (stingers and spider-gods... it was like Spidey had really died...), that not even my obsessive need to have a complete set could overcome it.

I did get two of ASM #528 though... only because Deodato's cover art rocked my world, and I wanted to do something with it.

[Galactus]

3. NEW AVENGERS
Jan 02 Avengers #50 - 56,009
Jan 03 Avengers #63 - 55,447
Jan 04 n/a
======
Jan 05 New Avengers #2 - 155,742 (-44.3%)
Feb 05 New Avengers #3 - 148,973 ( -4.3%)
Mar 05 New Avengers #4 - 158,303 ( +6.3%)
Apr 05 New Avengers #5 - 168,556 ( +6.5%)
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 New Avengers #6 - 164,592 ( -2.4%)
Jul 05 New Avengers #7 - 158,693 ( -3.6%)
Aug 05 New Avengers #8 - 156,037 ( -1.7%)
Aug 05 New Avengers #9 - 147,501 ( -5.5%)
Sep 05 New Avengers #10 - 143,014 ( -3.0%)
Sep 05 New Avengers #11 - 134,125 ( -6.2%)
Oct 05 New Avengers #12 - 130,110 ( -3.0%)
Nov 05 New Avengers #13 - 126,148 ( -3.0%)
Dec 05 New Avengers #14 - 126,583 ( +0.3%)
Jan 06 New Avengers #15 - 121,758 ( -3.8%)
6 mnth (-23.3%)
1 year (-21.8%)

Issue #14 picks up 2,283 re-orders, which are included in the numbers above. Strangely enough, this means the book has now gone slightly up from the previous month. It doesn't affect the overall trend, though, as the book continues to slip back from its initial high sales. Of course, a lot of the drop-off is due to the variant covers programme ending, and the book is still selling more than twice as many copies as it used to in its previous incarnation, so there's plenty to be happy about here.

4. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
Jan 02 Amazing Spider-Man #39 - 90,788
Jan 03 Amazing Spider-Man #49 - 90,032
Jan 04 Amazing Spider-Man #503 - 87,341
======
Jan 05 Amazing Spider-Man #516 - 79,842 ( -4.5%)
Feb 05 Amazing Spider-Man #517 - 78,584 ( -1.6%)
Mar 05 Amazing Spider-Man #518 - 77,025 ( -2.0%)
Apr 05 Amazing Spider-Man #519 - 79,668 ( +3.4%)
May 05 Amazing Spider-Man #520 - 76,143 ( -4.4%)
Jun 05 Amazing Spider-Man #521 - 74,117 ( -2.7%)
Jul 05 Amazing Spider-Man #522 - 73,130 ( -1.3%)
Aug 05 Amazing Spider-Man #523 - 72,046 ( -1.5%)
Sep 05 Amazing Spider-Man #524 - 71,065 ( -1.4%)
Oct 05 Amazing Spider-Man #525 - 91,707 (+29.0%)
Nov 05 Amazing Spider-Man #526 - 90,343 ( -1.5%)
Dec 05 Amazing Spider-Man #527 - 89,922 ( -0.5%)
Jan 06 Amazing Spider-Man #528 - 95,415 ( +6.1%)
6 mnth (+30.5%)
1 year (+19.5%)
2 year ( +9.2%)

The final month of "The Other" sees a healthy climb. AMAZING is always the highest selling Spider-Man book, and also had the advantage in January of being promoted as a key issue in the storyline. Meanwhile, variant covers continue to top up the sales of earlier issues: issue #526 picks up another 8,995 copies to chart at number 158, and issue #527 sells a further 10,661 to chart at number 146.

With the earlier chapters, the variant covers were released on a delayed schedule so that they didn't show up until the next month's chart. This time round, the variants seem to have made it out during January. But nonetheless, it's still a significant increase over earlier months of the same story - unequivocally a success.

8. FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN
Oct 05 Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #1 - 100,430
Nov 05 Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #2 - 82,988 (-17.4%)
Dec 05 Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #3 - 81,309 ( -2.0%)
Jan 06 Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #4 - 78,672 ( -3.2%)

More of "The Other." December's issue #3 ships another 8,995 in variant covers, to place at number 159. Issue #4, on the other hand, gets its variants onto this month's chart.

These are very healthy numbers for the opening of a new title, obviously, and now the question is what happens when it turns into an ordinary book. February's issue #5 will be the first issue without the benefit of a crossover tie-in.

9. MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN
Jan 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #10 - 61,831 ( -4.1%)
Feb 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #11 - 60,460 ( -2.2%)
Mar 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #12 - 59,983 ( -0.8%)
Apr 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #13 - 60,542 ( +0.9%)
May 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #14 - 57,270 ( -5.4%)
Jun 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #15 - 54,102 ( -5.5%)
Jul 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #16 - 50,876 ( -6.0%)
Aug 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #17 - 48,555 ( -4.6%)
Sep 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #18 - 47,654 ( -1.9%)
Oct 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #19 - 75,461 (+58.4%)
Nov 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #20 - 73,262 ( -2.9%)
Dec 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #21 - 76,763 ( +4.8%)
Jan 06 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #22 - 74,923 ( -2.4%)
6 mnth (+47.3%)
1 year (+21.2%)

The last issue under this title, before it changes its name to SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN in February. It's also bringing up the rear in the "Other" crossover for the fourth month in a row. As with the other Spider-Man books, the variant cover for this month's issue came out in time to be included in the number above, but delayed variants continue to top up sales from earlier months: issue #21 charts at number 164 with 8,440 more sales.

A second printing of issue #20 picks up 1,322 re-orders to chart at number 274. Those are probably more conventional re-orders, given that MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN was significantly under-ordered compared to other parts of the crossover.

Re-orders at that level often go unnoticed, because they don't make it into the top 300. In December, for example, the number 300 book sold 1,674 copies. But January was a very quiet month - the number 300 book, TWILIGHT WAR X #2, sold only 929. This means there are quite a few low-level re-orders clogging up the listings, which normally would have disappeared beneath the radar.

These are the lowest numbers we've seen on the charts since May 2005 (when DRAWN & QUARTERLY #8 scraped into the number 300 position on the strength of 860 copies). Every chart since then has stayed above the 1,000 mark.

Anyway. Back to superheroes!

14. ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN
Jan 02 Ultimate Spider-Man #17 - 79,203
Jan 03 Ultimate Spider-Man #34 - 93,789
Jan 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #52 - 95,854
======
Jan 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #71 - 83,987 ( -5.6%)
Feb 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #72 - 86,685 ( +3.2%)
Mar 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #73 - 83,943 ( -3.2%)
Mar 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #74 - 83,817 ( -0.2%)
Apr 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #75 - 83,940 ( +0.1%)
Apr 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #76 - 82,244 ( -2.0%)
May 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #77 - 81,034 ( -1.5%)
Jun 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #78 - 79,420 ( -2.0%)
Jul 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #79 - 78,404 ( -1.3%)
Jul 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #80 - 76,906 ( -1.9%)
Aug 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #81 - 75,572 ( -1.7%)
Sep 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #82 - 75,756 ( +0.2%)
Sep 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #83 - 75,539 ( -0.3%)
Oct 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #84 - 74,670 ( -1.2%)
Nov 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #85 - 74,264 ( -0.5%)
Nov 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #86 - 76,864 ( +3.5%)
Dec 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #87 - 74,537 ( -3.0%)
Dec 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #88 - 74,213 ( -0.4%)
Jan 06 Ultimate Spider-Man #89 - 71,935 ( -3.1%)
6 mnth ( -6.5%)
1 year (-14.3%)
2 year (-25.0%)

Continuing the downward drift. Issue #88 picks up 1,229 re-orders to chart at number 280

26. SPIDER-MAN/BLACK CAT: EVIL THAT MEN DO
Jun 02 Spider-Man/Black Cat #1 (of 4) - 118,204
Jul 02 Spider-Man/Black Cat #2 (of 4) - 101,607 (-14.0%)
Aug 02 Spider-Man/Black Cat #3 (of 4) - 99,110 ( -2.5%)
Sep 02 Spider-Man/Black Cat #4 (of 4) - 94,749 ( -4.4%)
Oct 02 Spider-Man/Black Cat #5 (of 5) - 88,956 ( -6.1%)
======
Dec 05 Spider-Man/Black Cat #4 (of 6) - 57,089 (-35.8%)
Dec 05 Spider-Man/Black Cat #5 (of 6) - 54,909 ( -3.8%)
Jan 06 Spider-Man/Black Cat #6 (of 6) - 51,538 ( -6.1%)

End of series, hell freezes over. When Marvel launched this book, they can't have imagined that their four-issue miniseries would finish up with issue #6, almost four years later, placing below the second issue of a Quicksilver miniseries.

Issue #5 picks up 1,090 re-orders to chart at number 294.

99. MARVEL TEAM-UP
Jan 05 Marvel Team-Up #4 - 27,216 ( -6.4%)
Feb 05 Marvel Team-Up #5 - 28,141 ( +3.4%)
Mar 05 Marvel Team-Up #6 - 24,762 (-12.0%)
Apr 05 Marvel Team-Up #7 - 24,800 ( +0.2%)
May 05 Marvel Team-Up #8 - 24,270 ( -2.1%)
Jun 05 Marvel Team-Up #9 - 23,530 ( -3.0%)
Jul 05 Marvel Team-Up #10 - 22,549 ( -4.2%)
Aug 05 Marvel Team-Up #11 - 22,150 ( -1.8%)
Sep 05 Marvel Team-Up #12 - 21,240 ( -4.1%)
Oct 05 Marvel Team-Up #13 - 21,048 ( -0.9%)
Nov 05 Marvel Team-Up #14 - 26,200 (+24.5%)
Dec 05 Marvel Team-Up #15 - 20,000 (-23.7%)
Jan 06 Marvel Team-Up #16 - 19,955 ( -0.2%)
6 mnth (-11.5%)
1 year (-26.7%)

Down by forty-five copies from last month, MARVEL TEAM-UP may finally have found its level at around the 20K mark.

112. SPIDER-GIRL
Jan 02 Spider-Girl #43 - 23,076
Jan 03 Spider-Girl #55 - 23,564
Jan 04 Spider-Girl #68 - 20,544
======
Jan 05 Spider-Girl #82 - 20,005 ( -2.0%)
Feb 05 Spider-Girl #83 - 20,382 ( +1.9%)
Mar 05 Spider-Girl #84 - 20,050 ( -1.6%)
Apr 05 Spider-Girl #85 - 19,682 ( -1.8%)
May 05 Spider-Girl #86 - 19,452 ( -1.2%)
Jun 05 Spider-Girl #87 - 19,605 ( +0.8%)
Jul 05 Spider-Girl #88 - 18,983 ( -3.2%)
Aug 05 Spider-Girl #89 - 18,538 ( -2.3%)
Sep 05 Spider-Girl #90 - 18,344 ( -1.0%)
Oct 05 Spider-Girl #91 - 18,159 ( -1.0%)
Nov 05 Spider-Girl #92 - 17,597 ( -3.1%)
Dec 05 Spider-Girl #93 - 17,057 ( -3.1%)
Jan 06 Spider-Girl #94 - 17,148 ( +0.5%)
6 mnth ( -9.7%)
1 year (-14.3%)
2 year (-16.5%)

Cancelled with issue #100, so naturally it chooses this month to go up in sales. Mind you, it's only by 91 copies, so I wouldn't read too much into it.

126. SPIDER-MAN UNLIMITED
Jan 04 Spider-Man Unlimited #1 - 53,413
======
Jan 05 Spider-Man Unlimited #7 - 18,316 (-12.7%)
Feb 05 n/a
Mar 05 Spider-Man Unlimited #8 - 17,640 ( -3.7%)
Apr 05 n/a
May 05 Spider-Man Unlimited #9 - 16,953 ( -3.9%)
Jun 05 n/a
Jul 05 Spider-Man Unlimited #10 - 16,104 ( -5.0%)
Aug 05 n/a
Sep 05 Spider-Man Unlimited #11 - 15,684 ( -2.6%)
Oct 05 n/a
Nov 05 Spider-Man Unlimited #12 - 15,150 ( -3.4%)
Dec 05 n/a
Jan 06 Spider-Man Unlimited #13 - 13,780 ( -9.0%)
6 mnth (-14.4%)
1 year (-24.8%)
2 year (-74.2%)

This is starting to get silly. Most of the books down at this end of the chart have at least a reasonable hope of making their money back in digest or trade paperback format. SPIDER-MAN UNLIMITED doesn't get reprinted anywhere, and I'm honestly amazed that it's still going. Issue #14 has a David Finch story, so it'll be interesting to see if he makes any difference.

162. SPIDER-MAN LOVES MARY JANE
Dec 05 Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane #1 - 11,171
Jan 06 Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane #2 - 8,590 (-23.1%)

A nasty drop, but this is a title aimed at the digest audience, and the direct market sales aren't critical.

6 month comparisons
===================

+47.3% - Marvel Knights Spider-Man
+30.5% - Amazing Spider-Man
+ 1.8% - X-Men: The End
- 1.0% - Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
- 2.7% - Exiles
- 4.0% - X-Men
- 6.5% - Ultimate Spider-Man
- 7.1% - Punisher
- 7.4% - Wolverine
- 7.4% - Daredevil
- 8.7% - Runaways
- 9.7% - Spider-Girl
- 9.9% - New Thunderbolts
-11.5% - Marvel Team-Up
-12.4% - Uncanny X-Men
-12.8% - New X-Men
-14.4% - Spider-Man Unlimited
-15.4% - Ultimate X-Men
-21.5% - Black Panther
-22.4% - Marvel Knights 4
-23.3% - New Avengers
-24.4% - Marvel Adventures Spider-Man
-28.6% - Amazing Fantasy
-29.6% - Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four
-30.2% - Defenders
-31.6% - Cable & Deadpool
-38.6% - Hulk
-51.1% - Pulse


1 year comparisons
==================

+21.4% - She-Hulk
+21.2% - Marvel Knights Spider-Man
+19.5% - Amazing Spider-Man
+13.2% - Ultimate Galactus Trilogy
+12.4% - Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
+ 6.8% - New X-Men
+ 2.2% - Exiles
- 8.7% - Uncanny X-Men
- 8.9% - Cable & Deadpool
- 9.2% - Daredevil
-11.8% - Punisher
-13.1% - Wolverine
-14.3% - Spider-Girl
-20.4% - Pulse
-21.5% - Black Panther
-21.8% - New Avengers
-23.7% - Hulk
-24.8% - Spider-Man Unlimited
-25.0% - Ultimate Spider-Man
-25.9% - Ultimate X-Men
-26.2% - New Thunderbolts
-26.7% - Marvel Team-Up
-31.7% - Marvel Knights 4
-40.3% - X-Men


2 year comparisons
==================

+49.8% - Iron Man
+24.3% - Runaways
+ 9.2% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 0.6% - Wolverine
- 9.8% - Uncanny X-Men
-11.9% - Exiles
-16.5% - Spider-Girl
-18.1% - X-Statix
-21.5% - Daredevil
-25.0% - Ultimate Spider-Man
-25.9% - Ultimate X-Men
-26.6% - Hulk
-38.4% - Punisher
-40.3% - X-Men / New X-Men
-74.2% - Spider-Man Unlimited

[moffball]

Do you do this professionally or something? Month after month you have amazing insights. Thanks for this!

[Galactus]

Do you do this professionally or something? Month after month you have amazing insights. Thanks for this!

No, I just find the numbers on the net. Sadly, it's nothing more remarkable than that... :( ;)

[moffball]

Oh, well, I respectfully withdraw my admiration ;)

[iloveclones]

I started reading when Kirkman took over. Basically never read it prior due to my disdain for team up comics, but this Legion of Loser's stuff is good :up:

I know this is an old post, but I wanted to point out that Kirkman has been doing it since issue #1. If you liked LoL, you might want to check out the first two trades. You might like it.

[dan1]

9. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
Oct 01 Amazing Spider-Man #36 - 86,456
Oct 02 Amazing Spider-Man #46 - 98,001
Oct 03 Amazing Spider-Man #500 - 148,928
======
Oct 04 Amazing Spider-Man #513 - 89,615 ( +1.1%)
Nov 04 Amazing Spider-Man #514 - 87,121 ( -2.8%)
Dec 04 Amazing Spider-Man #515 - 83,637 ( -4.0%)
Jan 05 Amazing Spider-Man #516 - 79,842 ( -4.5%)
Feb 05 Amazing Spider-Man #517 - 78,584 ( -1.6%)
Mar 05 Amazing Spider-Man #518 - 77,025 ( -2.0%)
Apr 05 Amazing Spider-Man #519 - 79,668 ( +3.4%)
May 05 Amazing Spider-Man #520 - 76,143 ( -4.4%)
Jun 05 Amazing Spider-Man #521 - 74,117 ( -2.7%)
Jul 05 Amazing Spider-Man #522 - 73,130 ( -1.3%)
Aug 05 Amazing Spider-Man #523 - 72,046 ( -1.5%)
Sep 05 Amazing Spider-Man #524 - 71,065 ( -1.4%)
Oct 05 Amazing Spider-Man #525 - 79,520 (+11.9%)
6 mnth ( -0.2%)
1 year (-11.3%)
2 year (-46.6%)


Galactus, can you please get us the numbers for Mackie's ASM run so we can do a compare with JMS' run. I'd like to see how much JMS "saved" Spider-Man by getting so many new readers per month :rolleyes: ;)

[SouLeSS]

Oct Amazing Spider-Man #500 - 148,928 (+61.4%)
Nov Amazing Spider-Man #501 - 94,558 (-36.5%)

Haha, looks like some people just wanted to get that elusive X00 issue.

[Galactus]

Galactus, can you please get us the numbers for Mackie's ASM run so we can do a compare with JMS' run. I'd like to see how much JMS "saved" Spider-Man by getting so many new readers per month :rolleyes: ;)

Sorry, I haven't been able to find any numbers for Mackie's run (perhaps Marvel is hiding them deep, deep beneath the earth... ;) )

Top 300 for February:
http://www.newsarama.com/marketreport/Feb06charts.html

[iloveclones]

Rank
Mackie's Last Issue:
16 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #29 $2.25 45,436

JMS's Run:
5 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #30 $2.25 71,392
8 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #31 $2.25 68,937
8 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #32 $2.25 76,976
7 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #33 $2.25 79,564
6 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #34 $2.25 79,588
6 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #35 $2.25 83,559
7 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #36 $2.25 86,456
5 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #37 $2.25 87,112
6 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #38 $2.25 88,666
9 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #39 $2.25 90,788
6 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #40 $2.25 90,551
5 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #41 $2.25 92,896
4 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #40 $2.25 99,273
4 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #41 $2.25 97,947
6 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #42 $2.25 96,537
7 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #43 $2.25 98,980
6 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #44 $2.25 100,070
4 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #45 $2.25 98,817
5 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #46 $2.25 98,001
5 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #47 $2.25 95,883
7 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #48 $2.25 93,867
6 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #49 $2.25 90,032
4 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #50 $2.25 100,439
4 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #51 $2.25 93,269
4 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #52 $2.25 96,624
7 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #53 $2.25 95,777
9 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #54 $2.25 95,173
8 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #55 $2.25 95,467
9 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #57 $2.25 93,469
10 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #56 $2.25 92,277
12 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #58 $2.25 92,294
2 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #500 $3.50 148,928
9 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #501 $2.25 94,558
12 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #502 $2.25 90,484
12 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #503 $2.25 87,341
11 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #504 $2.25 84,06
11 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #505 $2.25 83,613
15 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #506 $2.25 83,152
12 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #507 $2.25 81,944
16 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #508 $2.25 82,268
13 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #509 $2.25 88,289
11 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #510 $2.25 84,750
13 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #511 $2.25 88,118
14 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #512 $2.25 87,236
11 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #513 $2.25 89,615
15 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #514 $2.25 87,121
12 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #515 $2.25 82,840
9 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #516 $2.25 79,842
15 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #517 $2.25 78,584
22 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #518 $2.25 77,025
14 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #519 $2.25 78,535
14 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #520 $2.25 76,143
19 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #521 $2.50 74,117
21 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #522 $2.50 73,130
21 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #523 $2.50 72,046
25 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #524 $2.50 71,065
9 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #525 $2.50 79,520
12 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #526 $2.50 79,674
10 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #527 $2.50 79,261
4 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #528*$2.50 95,415
6 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #529 $2.50 90,414

Average
Rank
9.655

Average
Sales(JMS run)
88,095

[iloveclones]

Galactus, can you please get us the numbers for Mackie's ASM run so we can do a compare with JMS' run. I'd like to see how much JMS "saved" Spider-Man by getting so many new readers per month :rolleyes: ;)

I was only able to get Mackie's last issue. Seeing that it was the return of MJ(an event), I'm willing to bet it sold higher than previous issues. So I don't know if I'd call what JMS did as "saving" the title, but I sure as heck wouldn't call it a bump in sales. Even the lowest it's reached since Sins Past (when it really started bleeding readers), is almost twice as high as the end of Mackie's run. And he's sustained it over 5+ years. That's nothing to sneeze at.

[dan1]

Iloveclones, you've got to get me more than Mackie's last issue to judge that.

Let's see volume 2# 1-24

Everyone knew in anticipation that JMS was coming next iss, and nobody, I knew, bought that Mackie issue, including me.

Everyone knew it would not be an actualy 'event' issue, because JMS was the actual event.

Plus if we're going to judge on 5 years, then I want to see Mackie #s for volume 1, PP:SM.

[dan1]

Iloveclones, you've got to get me more than Mackie's last issue to judge that.

Let's see volume 2# 1-24

Everyone knew in anticipation that JMS was coming next iss, and nobody, I knew, bought that Mackie issue, including me.

Everyone knew it would not be an actualy 'event' issue, because JMS was the actual event.

Plus if we're going to judge on 5 years, then I want to see Mackie #s for volume 1, PP:SM.

http://www.newsarama.com/Tilting2_0/StoOwner.jpg

From a Newsarama article about sales #s^ ..............""These are "Statement of Ownership" figures that Marvel must file to comply with 2nd-class mailing requirements""

"X-Men sales have dropped about 20% since the implementation of "No Overprint". Wolverine has a 3% drop, despite being rebooted with a new #1 in 2003! Even Amazing Spider-Man's 8% gain looks pretty darn anemic given that J. Michael Straczynski is the writer, and the sad state of Spidey before he came on board."

AND>>>>>>>>>>
even more proof that JMS hasn't saved ASM, Don't forget about the Movies people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Forgot about those, didn't you. So, True believers, you have an 8% gain during JMS' reign, but taking into account the Movie generating readership and the Reboot, previous to JMS being the corporate flop that it surely was, I'd say JMS hasn't done diddly!

And that is based on the reboot. I'd still like to see Mackie numbers, pre reboot.

When you take EVERYTHING into account I really think JMS is getting way to much credit for doing very little.

[iloveclones]

Iloveclones, you've got to get me more than Mackie's last issue to judge that.

Let's see volume 2# 1-24

Everyone knew in anticipation that JMS was coming next iss, and nobody, I knew, bought that Mackie issue, including me.

Everyone knew it would not be an actualy 'event' issue, because JMS was the actual event.

Plus if we're going to judge on 5 years, then I want to see Mackie #s for volume 1, PP:SM.


Hey, you wanted the numbers. I got what I was able to find. You want to see them, you want to argue them, then you go find them! That's all I was able to find.

You can complain all you want, but JMS' run has averaged being in the top 10, with an average 88K sold. Every single month. There was only 1 instance where I could find that a month didn't have a sales figure, and the next month had two! You want to say that he didn't "save" the title, fine. I said myself that I'm dubious of that distinction. But at least give him some credit for steady, and high, sales.

And USM was the title designed for the movie-going public. If you look at its sales, you'll see no appreciable bump after either of the movies.

[dan1]

no need to get snippy. Nobody bought that last Mackie issue.

Thanks for looking though. Seriously.

Now I've heard the Ultimate/Movie argument before. I'm NOT TALKING about newbies buying Spider-man for the first time.

I'm talking about old timers getting back into it after the movie came out or the fever was there that it was coming out, and yes, they went back to buying the famous comic "The Amazing Spider-Man" not Ultimate.

Also those newbies from the movie surely heard the famous original comic to get is ASM and some surely did start off with JMS' run.

BTW, see the chart I posted. 8% increase under JMS, whoopity do :rolleyes:

And that's post reboot Mackie.

Now again, I am by no means a Mackie fan, I am just aware that JMS hasn't done as much as everyone gives him credit for.

There were a hel* of alot more HYPE factors in mid 2000 than Spider-Man ever had before!

That's the truth. The only comparison we can do that would be somewhat fair is ASM #'s before the reboot (before people got pissed and bored of it) and then JMS' numbers. Taking into account the movie boosting sales a little, give the pre-reboot ASM some handicap too.

I think the numbers will be very close then. If I can find the numbers, even if they prove me wrong, I'll be happy to post them.

[iloveclones]

Sorry if I seemed snippy. It took a long time to correlate that data, and it seemed like you were just dismissing it out of hand. My bad.

Honestly, I'm not sure what you're trying to prove. That JMS didn't propel spidey into the top selling comic every month? Okay, I freely admit that. Do you think JMS gets too much credit? OK.

You're completely discounting the fact that the comics industry as a whole has fallen. Of course, Amazing's numbers are going to drop along with them. That's why I posted where it has ranked. Top 10 consistently isn't bad. I wouldn't give him the key to the city for it, but I would certainly give him a raise. You could argue that ASM should be Marvel's top seller always, and there's something to that. 5th place in the NHL scoring title would make most guys career, but if you're Jaromir Jagr, 2nd place is a disappointment.

And you can't discount the fact that the numbers were in the toilet at the end of Mackie's run. They may have been great a year or two previous to that, and for 10 or 15 years previous to that. But JMS didn't get to start there, at 113,000. He got to start at 45,000. (Maybe it was more than that, neither of us know. And I should say that the two sets of numbers we’re comparing are very different, so we should really stick to one or the other. But MJ returning was an event, and I'm willing to bet that when you find one set of consistent numbers, there was a bump for that issue. Look through sales numbers of other titles. An event, whether it be an anniversary, or major happening almost always causes a bump, no matter where the total sales happen to be. Unless the title is already rising or falling at a quick rate.) It would be like me saying that New Avengers sales stink because they were selling half a million comics in 1980. Well, the industry has changed.

Discounting "events", his top seller was 100,070. That means he got 55,000 people to pick up the title, whether they were old, disgruntled fans or new, movie fans. And that didn't happen immediately, which means they weren't people just checking out the new guy. And, until Sins Past, they stuck around. I'm not saying that you should prepare an altar for JMS, but geez, give credit due.

None of Marvel's movies have affected comics sales. If you can find me an example (X-Men, DD, Punisher, FF) that contradicts that, I'd be very surprised. I don't follow the numbers, but I would be surprised to find out that Batman Begins affected Bats sales either. Watch the sales for Superman this summer. Neither company is doing a very good job of getting people from the movie theater to the comic shop.

Boy,talk about rambling...

[dan1]

That's a very good post. Thanks.


I will find those numbers though, and I can't give the credit to JMS for anything in comparison to the reboot, because the stigma and stupidity of it makes it unworthy of comparing it to anyone. Any new blood would have been an improvement and his intro was hyped in all the mags, people were really anticipating someone who was successful outside of the comics world, writing Spidey.

Again, my take is, anyone fitting that mold, that Marvel hyped up, etc. would have garnered the same spike in sales from the s**tty reboot.

now, I will find those numbers for last few iss' before reboot (The also terrible Gathering of five) and a few before that. I beleive the numbers will be close. Maybe I'm wrong. I'll post here when I find them.

[Galactus]

2. NEW AVENGERS
Feb 02 Avengers #51 - 54,381
Feb 03 Avengers #64 - 52,753
Feb 04 Avengers #78 - 58,798
======
Feb 05 New Avengers #3 - 148,973 ( -4.3%)
Mar 05 New Avengers #4 - 158,303 ( +6.3%)
Apr 05 New Avengers #5 - 168,556 ( +6.5%)
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 New Avengers #6 - 164,592 ( -2.4%)
Jul 05 New Avengers #7 - 158,693 ( -3.6%)
Aug 05 New Avengers #8 - 156,037 ( -1.7%)
Aug 05 New Avengers #9 - 147,501 ( -5.5%)
Sep 05 New Avengers #10 - 143,014 ( -3.0%)
Sep 05 New Avengers #11 - 134,125 ( -6.2%)
Oct 05 New Avengers #12 - 130,110 ( -3.0%)
Nov 05 New Avengers #13 - 126,148 ( -3.0%)
Dec 05 New Avengers #14 - 126,583 ( +0.3%)
Jan 06 New Avengers #15 - 124,143 ( -1.9%)
Feb 06 New Avengers #16 - 121,492 ( -2.1%)
6 mnth ( -17.6%)
1 year ( -18.4%)
2 year (+106.6%)

Continuing the slow downward drift which we've seen ever since the variant covers promotion ended. But these are still excellent numbers compared to the book's previous incarnation, and a major role in the CIVIL WAR crossover is just around the corner. Issue #15 picks up 2,385 reorders to chart at number 263 - as always, those sales are included in the number above.

6. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
Feb 02 Amazing Spider-Man #40 - 90,551
Feb 03 Amazing Spider-Man #50 - 100,439
Feb 04 Amazing Spider-Man #504 - 84,064
======
Feb 05 Amazing Spider-Man #517 - 78,584 ( -1.6%)
Mar 05 Amazing Spider-Man #518 - 77,025 ( -2.0%)
Apr 05 Amazing Spider-Man #519 - 79,668 ( +3.4%)
May 05 Amazing Spider-Man #520 - 76,143 ( -4.4%)
Jun 05 Amazing Spider-Man #521 - 74,117 ( -2.7%)
Jul 05 Amazing Spider-Man #522 - 73,130 ( -1.3%)
Aug 05 Amazing Spider-Man #523 - 72,046 ( -1.5%)
Sep 05 Amazing Spider-Man #524 - 71,065 ( -1.4%)
Oct 05 Amazing Spider-Man #525 - 91,707 (+29.0%)
Nov 05 Amazing Spider-Man #526 - 90,343 ( -1.5%)
Dec 05 Amazing Spider-Man #527 - 89,922 ( -0.5%)
Jan 06 Amazing Spider-Man #528 - 97,807 ( -8.8%)
Feb 06 Amazing Spider-Man #529 - 90,414 ( -7.6%)
6 mnth (+25.5%)
1 year (+15.1%)
2 year ( +7.6%)

The "Other" crossover is finished, but AMAZING remains way up on its previous level. At this point, it's hard to say how much of this is attributable to the crossover. This issue has another big selling point, namely the debut of Spider-Man's much-hyped new costume. Ideally we could look to the other Spider-Man titles for guidance, but FRIENDLY didn't ship in February, and SENSATIONAL has a new creative team, which distorts its figures as well. But SENSATIONAL is significantly up on its pre-crossover sales, so this may be a rare crossover which has brought in new readers who are here to stay. We'll have a better idea next month. For the moment, this has to rank as a success.

Issue #528 picks up a further 2,392 in reorders, charting at number 262.

18. ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN
Feb 02 Ultimate Spider-Man #19 - 77,513
Feb 03 Ultimate Spider-Man #36 - 98,475
Feb 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #53 - 92,540
======
Feb 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #72 - 86,685 ( +3.2%)
Mar 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #73 - 83,943 ( -3.2%)
Mar 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #74 - 83,817 ( -0.2%)
Apr 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #75 - 83,940 ( +0.1%)
Apr 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #76 - 82,244 ( -2.0%)
May 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #77 - 81,034 ( -1.5%)
Jun 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #78 - 79,420 ( -2.0%)
Jul 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #79 - 78,404 ( -1.3%)
Jul 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #80 - 76,906 ( -1.9%)
Aug 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #81 - 75,572 ( -1.7%)
Sep 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #82 - 75,756 ( +0.2%)
Sep 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #83 - 75,539 ( -0.3%)
Oct 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #84 - 74,670 ( -1.2%)
Nov 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #85 - 74,264 ( -0.5%)
Nov 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #86 - 76,864 ( +3.5%)
Dec 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #87 - 74,537 ( -3.0%)
Dec 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #88 - 74,213 ( -0.4%)
Jan 06 Ultimate Spider-Man #89 - 71,935 ( -3.1%)
Feb 06 Ultimate Spider-Man #90 - 71,470 ( -0.6%)
6 mnth ( -5.4%)
1 year (-17.6%)
2 year (-22.8%)

Final part of the Silver Sable story arc. Still drifting slowly downwards - nothing alarming on a month-by-month basis, but the yearly drop is really quite large.

24. SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN
Feb 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #11 - 60,460 ( -2.2%)
Mar 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #12 - 59,983 ( -0.8%)
Apr 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #13 - 60,542 ( +0.9%)
May 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #14 - 57,270 ( -5.4%)
Jun 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #15 - 54,102 ( -5.5%)
Jul 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #16 - 50,876 ( -6.0%)
Aug 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #17 - 48,555 ( -4.6%)
Sep 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #18 - 47,654 ( -1.9%)
Oct 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #19 - 75,461 (+58.4%)
Nov 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #20 - 73,262 ( -2.9%)
Dec 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #21 - 76,763 ( +4.8%)
Jan 06 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #22 - 74,923 ( -2.4%)
Feb 06 Sensational Spider-Man #23 - 59,051 (-21.2%)
6 mnth (+21.6%)
1 year ( -2.3%)

The Marvel Knights imprint jettisons its ongoing titles, forcing MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN to rename itself SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN. This is a long overdue move, since there was really no difference of tone between this title and the other Spider-Man books. Anyhow, it's a promising start for the retitled book - down from last month, when it was part of the "Other" crossover, but over 10,000 up on the regular sales of Reginald Hudlin's run. The new creators are Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Angel Medina, who wouldn't normally be expected to generate such a big sales increase. It looks very much as though the crossover has genuinely helped this title.

105. MARVEL TEAM-UP
Feb 05 Marvel Team-Up #5 - 28,141 ( +3.4%)
Mar 05 Marvel Team-Up #6 - 24,762 (-12.0%)
Apr 05 Marvel Team-Up #7 - 24,800 ( +0.2%)
May 05 Marvel Team-Up #8 - 24,270 ( -2.1%)
Jun 05 Marvel Team-Up #9 - 23,530 ( -3.0%)
Jul 05 Marvel Team-Up #10 - 22,549 ( -4.2%)
Aug 05 Marvel Team-Up #11 - 22,150 ( -1.8%)
Sep 05 Marvel Team-Up #12 - 21,240 ( -4.1%)
Oct 05 Marvel Team-Up #13 - 21,048 ( -0.9%)
Nov 05 Marvel Team-Up #14 - 26,200 (+24.5%)
Dec 05 Marvel Team-Up #15 - 20,000 (-23.7%)
Jan 06 Marvel Team-Up #16 - 19,955 ( -0.2%)
Feb 06 Marvel Team-Up #17 - 19,422 ( -2.7%)
6 mnth (-12.3%)
1 year (-30.9%)

Not good numbers at all. The solicitations show a six-part storyline starting in issue #20, though, so it's with us for a good while yet.

118. SPIDER-GIRL
Feb 02 Spider-Girl #44 - 23,478
Feb 03 Spider-Girl #57 - 23,330
Feb 04 Spider-Girl #70 - 20,541
======
Feb 05 Spider-Girl #83 - 20,382 ( +1.9%)
Mar 05 Spider-Girl #84 - 20,050 ( -1.6%)
Apr 05 Spider-Girl #85 - 19,682 ( -1.8%)
May 05 Spider-Girl #86 - 19,452 ( -1.2%)
Jun 05 Spider-Girl #87 - 19,605 ( +0.8%)
Jul 05 Spider-Girl #88 - 18,983 ( -3.2%)
Aug 05 Spider-Girl #89 - 18,538 ( -2.3%)
Sep 05 Spider-Girl #90 - 18,344 ( -1.0%)
Oct 05 Spider-Girl #91 - 18,159 ( -1.0%)
Nov 05 Spider-Girl #92 - 17,597 ( -3.1%)
Dec 05 Spider-Girl #93 - 17,057 ( -3.1%)
Jan 06 Spider-Girl #94 - 17,148 ( +0.5%)
Feb 06 Spider-Girl #95 - 16,778 ( -2.2%)
6 mnth ( -9.5%)
1 year (-17.7%)
2 year (-18.3%)

Cancelled with issue #100.

6 month comparisons
===================

+25.5% - Amazing Spider-Man
+21.6% - Sensational Spider-Man / Marvel Knights Spider-Man
+14.3% - Daredevil
+ 6.5% - X-Men Unlimited
+ 4.4% - Astonishing X-Men
+ 0.1% - X-Men
- 2.4% - Exiles
- 2.9% - Captain America
- 4.2% - New X-Men
- 4.4% - X-Men: The End
- 4.5% - Wolverine
- 4.6% - Ultimate X-Men
- 5.4% - Ultimate Spider-Man
- 5.4% - Ultimate Fantastic Four
- 7.4% - Punisher
- 9.4% - Cable & Deadpool
- 9.5% - Spider-Girl
- 9.8% - Uncanny X-Men
-10.2% - Runaways
-12.3% - Marvel Team-Up
-14.2% - Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
-16.7% - Fantastic Four
-17.6% - New Avengers
-17.7% - Powers
-18.0% - Young Avengers
-20.3% - Marvel Adventures Spider-Man
-22.4% - Marvel Knights 4
-26.2% - Incredible Hulk
-26.9% - Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four
-35.9% - New Thunderbolts
-39.3% - Black Panther


1 year comparisons
==================

+20.1% - Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
+17.2% - She-Hulk
+15.1% - Amazing Spider-Man
+12.3% - New X-Men
+ 3.8% - Ultimate Galactus Trilogy
+ 2.0% - Exiles
- 2.3% - Sensational Spider-Man / Marvel Knights Spider-Man
- 2.9% - Daredevil
- 6.5% - X-Men Unlimited
- 6.8% - Fantastic Four
- 8.2% - Astonishing X-Men
- 8.2% - Ultimate Fantastic Four
- 9.2% - X-Men
- 9.6% - Cable & Deadpool
- 9.9% - Captain America
-11.1% - Uncanny X-Men
-11.4% - Punisher
-12.3% - Incredible Hulk
-12.6% - Powers
-13.1% - Wolverine
-15.6% - Ultimate X-Men
-17.6% - Ultimate Spider-Man
-17.7% - Spider-Girl
-18.4% - New Avengers
-19.2% - New Thunderbolts
-29.5% - Black Widow
-30.6% - Marvel Knights 4
-30.9% - Marvel Team-Up
-43.6% - Runaways
-50.0% - Young Avengers
-62.7% - Black Panther


2 year comparisons
==================

+106.6% - New Avengers / Avengers
+ 21.7% - Runaways
+ 15.1% - New X-Men
+ 9.2% - Captain America
+ 7.6% - Amazing Spider-Man
+ 3.7% - Wolverine
- 2.9% - Daredevil
- 8.4% - Uncanny X-Men
- 11.2% - Exiles
- 12.2% - Fantastic Four
- 17.7% - Incredible Hulk
- 18.3% - Spider-Girl
- 22.8% - Ultimate Spider-Man
- 25.3% - Ultimate X-Men
- 26.1% - Punisher
- 32.9% - X-Men
- 38.1% - Ultimate Fantastic Four
- 52.1% - X-Men Unlimited
- 65.8% - Marvel Knights 4

[Galactus]

Top 300 for March:
http://www.newsarama.com/marketreport/mar06charts.html

[CaptainStacy]

Man, Kudos to DC's Dan Didio! Since he's taken over, DC is finally able to go toe to toe and slug it out with Marvel month after month. They took half of the top ten for March.

That just means more good comics for the fans to read.

Anyway; glad to see Marvel's New Avengers: Illuminatti did so well. It was excellent, imo.

[ragingdemon155]

Man, Kudos to DC's Dan Didio! Since he's taken over, DC is finally able to go toe to toe and slug it out with Marvel month after month. They took half of the top ten for March.

That just means more good comics for the fans to read.

Anyway; glad to see Marvel's New Avengers: Illuminatti did so well. It was excellent, imo.

Yea I just read New Avengers : Illuminatti the other day. One of the best written comics I've read in a long time. Simply amazing.

[iloveclones]

Man, Kudos to DC's Dan Didio! Since he's taken over, DC is finally able to go toe to toe and slug it out with Marvel month after month. They took half of the top ten for March.

That just means more good comics for the fans to read.

Anyway; glad to see Marvel's New Avengers: Illuminatti did so well. It was excellent, imo.

Seriously. If you look at the sales from even a few years ago, Marvel almost always took up 8-9 of the top 10 spots, and sometimes all 10. It says a lot that the difference is split today.

[Galactus]

Top 300 for April
http://www.newsarama.com/marketreport/apr06charts.html

[imdaly]

6 of Top 10
49 of Top 100


Next month will be real interesting with IC being finished and CW starting.

[Galactus]

3. NEW AVENGERS
Apr 01 Avengers #41 - 62,532
Apr 02 Avengers #53 - 53,828
Apr 03 Avengers #66 - 58,312
Apr 04 Avengers #81 - 54,987
======
Apr 05 New Avengers #5 - 168,556 ( +6.5%)
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 New Avengers #6 - 164,592 ( -2.4%)
Jul 05 New Avengers #7 - 158,693 ( -3.6%)
Aug 05 New Avengers #8 - 156,037 ( -1.7%)
Aug 05 New Avengers #9 - 147,501 ( -5.5%)
Sep 05 New Avengers #10 - 143,014 ( -3.0%)
Sep 05 New Avengers #11 - 134,125 ( -6.2%)
Oct 05 New Avengers #12 - 130,110 ( -3.0%)
Nov 05 New Avengers #13 - 126,148 ( -3.0%)
Dec 05 New Avengers #14 - 126,583 ( +0.3%)
Jan 06 New Avengers #15 - 124,143 ( -1.9%)
Feb 06 New Avengers #16 - 124,256 ( +0.1%)
Mar 06 New Avengers #17 - 122,847 ( -1.1%)
Apr 06 New Avengers #18 - 121,550 ( -1.1%)
6 mnth ( -6.6%)
1 year ( -27.9%)
2 year (+121.1%)
3 year (+108.4%)

Despite the post-variants drop-off, NEW AVENGERS continues to sell in very healthy quantities. Issue #17 ships 1,749 reorders to chart at number 285. As always, those are included in the number above. Frequently 1,749 wouldn't be enough to make the charts - April, however, was pretty quiet overall, with the number 300 comic selling only 1,421. In March it was almost double that.

7. NEW AVENGERS ANNUAL
Apr 06 New Avengers Annual #1 - 101,877

Not too far behind the parent book, which is about what you'd expect. The main point of interest here is the wedding of Luke Cage and Jessica Jones, although that's actually an epilogue to a big fight with the new Super-Adaptoid. (And in fairness, the solicitation text reflects that.)

8. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
Apr 01 Amazing Spider-Man #30 - 71,392
Apr 02 Amazing Spider-Man #40 - 99,273
Apr 03 Amazing Spider-Man #52 - 96,624
Apr 04 Amazing Spider-Man #506 - 83,152
======
Apr 05 Amazing Spider-Man #519 - 79,668 ( +3.4%)
May 05 Amazing Spider-Man #520 - 76,143 ( -4.4%)
Jun 05 Amazing Spider-Man #521 - 74,117 ( -2.7%)
Jul 05 Amazing Spider-Man #522 - 73,130 ( -1.3%)
Aug 05 Amazing Spider-Man #523 - 72,046 ( -1.5%)
Sep 05 Amazing Spider-Man #524 - 71,065 ( -1.4%)
Oct 05 Amazing Spider-Man #525 - 91,707 (+29.0%)
Nov 05 Amazing Spider-Man #526 - 90,343 ( -1.5%)
Dec 05 Amazing Spider-Man #527 - 89,922 ( -0.5%)
Jan 06 Amazing Spider-Man #528 - 97,807 ( -8.8%)
Feb 06 Amazing Spider-Man #529 - 126,951 (+29.8%)
Mar 06 Amazing Spider-Man #530 - 96,376 (-24.1%)
Apr 06 Amazing Spider-Man #531 - 86,884 ( -9.8%)
6 mnth ( -5.3%)
1 year ( +9.1%)
2 year ( +4.5%)
3 year (-10.1%)

Issue #529, featuring the debut of the Iron Spider costume, goes into a third printing with - altogether now - a variant cover, and shifts a further 14,053 copies. Issue #530 also picks up a respectable quantity of re-orders to chart at number 194 with 6,502 extra sales. And issues #529-531 are all Civil War tie-ins - as are the next several months - so not surprisingly, the book continues to perform above its normal, pre-Other levels. Despite the constant re-orders on issue #529, my inclination is to credit the recent high sales to the Civil War crossover rather than the new crossover, since that would be consistent with the sales boost on FANTASTIC FOUR.

18. ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN
Apr 01 Ultimate Spider-Man #8 - 78,028
Apr 02 Ultimate Spider-Man #21 - 84,485
Apr 03 Ultimate Spider-Man #39 - 103,531
Apr 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #56 - 91,585
======
Apr 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #75 - 83,940 ( +0.1%)
Apr 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #76 - 82,244 ( -2.0%)
May 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #77 - 81,034 ( -1.5%)
Jun 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #78 - 79,420 ( -2.0%)
Jul 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #79 - 78,404 ( -1.3%)
Jul 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #80 - 76,906 ( -1.9%)
Aug 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #81 - 75,572 ( -1.7%)
Sep 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #82 - 75,756 ( +0.2%)
Sep 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #83 - 75,539 ( -0.3%)
Oct 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #84 - 74,670 ( -1.2%)
Nov 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #85 - 74,264 ( -0.5%)
Nov 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #86 - 76,864 ( +3.5%)
Dec 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #87 - 74,537 ( -3.0%)
Dec 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #88 - 74,213 ( -0.4%)
Jan 06 Ultimate Spider-Man #89 - 71,935 ( -3.1%)
Feb 06 Ultimate Spider-Man #90 - 71,470 ( -0.6%)
Mar 06 Ultimate Spider-Man #91 - 74,028 ( +3.6%)
Mar 06 Ultimate Spider-Man #92 - 72,269 ( -2.4%)
Apr 06 Ultimate Spider-Man #93 - 72,831 ( +0.8%)
6 mnth ( -2.5%)
1 year (-13.2%)
2 year (-20.5%)
3 year (-29.7%)

Nudging slightly up, presumably on the strength of an appearance by the X-Men.

26. FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN
Oct 05 Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #1 - 100,430
Nov 05 Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #2 - 82,988 (-17.4%)
Dec 05 Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #3 - 81,309 ( -2.0%)
Jan 06 Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #4 - 78,672 ( -3.2%)
Feb 06 n/a
Mar 06 Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #5 - 59,900 (-23.9%)
Mar 06 Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #6 - 58,853 ( -1.7%)
Apr 06 Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #7 - 55,381 ( -5.9%)
6 mnth (-44.9%)

Business as usual, from the looks of it.

30. SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN
Apr 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #1 - 137,314
======
Apr 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #13 - 60,542 ( +0.9%)
May 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #14 - 57,270 ( -5.4%)
Jun 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #15 - 54,102 ( -5.5%)
Jul 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #16 - 50,876 ( -6.0%)
Aug 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #17 - 48,555 ( -4.6%)
Sep 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #18 - 47,654 ( -1.9%)
Oct 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #19 - 75,461 (+58.4%)
Nov 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #20 - 73,262 ( -2.9%)
Dec 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #21 - 76,763 ( +4.8%)
Jan 06 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #22 - 74,923 ( -2.4%)
Feb 06 Sensational Spider-Man #23 - 59,051 (-21.2%)
Mar 06 Sensational Spider-Man #24 - 53,910 ( -8.7%)
Apr 06 Sensational Spider-Man #25 - 51,992 ( -3.6%)
6 mnth (-31.1%)
1 year (-14.1%)
2 year (-62.1%)

Still dropping back towards its normal levels after the "Other" crossover.

108. MARVEL TEAM-UP
Apr 05 Marvel Team-Up #7 - 24,800 ( +0.2%)
May 05 Marvel Team-Up #8 - 24,270 ( -2.1%)
Jun 05 Marvel Team-Up #9 - 23,530 ( -3.0%)
Jul 05 Marvel Team-Up #10 - 22,549 ( -4.2%)
Aug 05 Marvel Team-Up #11 - 22,150 ( -1.8%)
Sep 05 Marvel Team-Up #12 - 21,240 ( -4.1%)
Oct 05 Marvel Team-Up #13 - 21,048 ( -0.9%)
Nov 05 Marvel Team-Up #14 - 26,200 (+24.5%)
Dec 05 Marvel Team-Up #15 - 20,000 (-23.7%)
Jan 06 Marvel Team-Up #16 - 19,955 ( -0.2%)
Feb 06 Marvel Team-Up #17 - 19,422 ( -2.7%)
Mar 06 Marvel Team-Up #18 - 18,944 ( -2.5%)
Apr 06 Marvel Team-Up #19 - 19,891 ( +5.0%)
6 mnth ( -5.5%)
1 year (-19.8%)

The lowest selling Marvel Universe title that hasn't been cancelled yet.

115. SPIDER-GIRL
Apr 01 Spider-Girl #33 - 23,995
Apr 02 Spider-Girl #46 - 23,781
Apr 03 Spider-Girl #59 - 23,199
Apr 04 Spider-Girl #72 - 20,533
======
Apr 05 Spider-Girl #85 - 19,682 ( -1.8%)
May 05 Spider-Girl #86 - 19,452 ( -1.2%)
Jun 05 Spider-Girl #87 - 19,605 ( +0.8%)
Jul 05 Spider-Girl #88 - 18,983 ( -3.2%)
Aug 05 Spider-Girl #89 - 18,538 ( -2.3%)
Sep 05 Spider-Girl #90 - 18,344 ( -1.0%)
Oct 05 Spider-Girl #91 - 18,159 ( -1.0%)
Nov 05 Spider-Girl #92 - 17,597 ( -3.1%)
Dec 05 Spider-Girl #93 - 17,057 ( -3.1%)
Jan 06 Spider-Girl #94 - 17,148 ( +0.5%)
Feb 06 Spider-Girl #95 - 16,778 ( -2.2%)
Mar 06 Spider-Girl #96 - 16,739 ( -0.2%)
Apr 06 Spider-Girl #97 - 17,508 ( +4.6%)
6 mnth ( -3.6%)
1 year (-11.0%)
2 year (-14.7%)
3 year (-24.5%)

Cancelled with issue #100. Again, this month's increase really isn't that significant in the bigger picture, when you compare the sort of sales that SPIDER-GIRL was regularly generating between 2001 and 2003. It just isn't the solid (albeit modest) performer that it used to be.

186. SPIDER-MAN LOVES MARY JANE
Dec 05 Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane #1 - 11,171
Jan 06 Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane #2 - 8,590 (-23.1%)
Feb 06 Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane #3 - 7,648 (-11.0%)
Mar 06 Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane #4 - 7,672 ( +0.3%)
Apr 06 Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane #5 - 7,165 ( -6.6%)

Solid, if nothing else

6 month comparisons
===================

+35.9% - Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
+31.8% - Fantastic Four
+12.7% - Ultimate Galactus Trilogy
+ 5.8% - Incredible Hulk
+ 5.6% - X-Men
+ 4.6% - Daredevil
+ 4.5% - Cable & Deadpool
+ 0.8% - Captain America
- 2.5% - Ultimate Spider-Man
- 2.5% - X-Men Unlimited
- 2.6% - Ultimate X-Men
- 3.6% - New X-Men
- 3.6% - Spider-Girl
- 3.7% - Wolverine
- 4.2% - Ultimate Fantastic Four
- 5.3% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 5.5% - Marvel Team-Up
- 6.1% - Uncanny X-Men
- 6.5% - Punisher
- 6.6% - New Avengers
-10.3% - Runaways
-11.4% - Young Avengers
-13.3% - Thunderbolts
-15.4% - Four
-15.8% - Marvel Adventures Spider-Man
-17.0% - Exiles
-23.2% - Amazing Fantasy
-24.2% - Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four
-29.4% - Black Panther
-31.1% - Sensational Spider-Man
-36.0% - Sentry
-44.9% - Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man
-56.4% - Book of Lost Souls


1 year comparisons
==================

+38.1% - Fantastic Four
+12.3% - New X-Men
+ 9.1% - Amazing Spider-Man
+ 4.6% - Cable & Deadpool
+ 0.5% - Exiles
- 3.1% - Captain America
- 3.4% - Daredevil
- 3.9% - Iron Man
- 4.8% - X-Men
- 6.1% - Ultimate Galactus
- 6.4% - Ultimate Fantastic Four
- 7.0% - Squadron Supreme
- 7.2% - Uncanny X-Men
- 7.2% - Incredible Hulk
-11.0% - Spider-Girl
-11.4% - Ultimate X-Men
-11.4% - X-Men Unlimited
-12.1% - Punisher
-13.2% - Ultimate Spider-Man
-14.1% - Sensational Spider-Man
-15.7% - Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
-16.6% - Thunderbolts
-19.8% - Marvel Team-Up
-20.7% - Runaways
-23.5% - Astonishing X-Men
-24.5% - Young Avengers
-27.3% - Four
-27.9% - New Avengers
-29.2% - X-Men: The End
-29.9% - Wolverine
-36.9% - Black Panther
-42.1% - Marvel Adventures Spider-Man
-59.0% - Amazing Fantasy


2 years comparison
==================

+121.1% - New Avengers
+ 92.3% - Silver Surfer
+ 69.9% - Iron Man
+ 24.2% - Runaways
+ 18.9% - Fantastic Four
+ 18.0% - Captain America
+ 17.7% - New X-Men
+ 4.5% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 0.1% - Wolverine
- 0.5% - Punisher
- 4.1% - Incredible Hulk
- 9.0% - Uncanny X-Men
- 9.9% - Exiles
- 13.4% - Daredevil
- 14.7% - Spider-Girl
- 20.4% - Squadron Supreme
- 20.5% - Ultimate Spider-Man
- 21.3% - X-Men
- 24.0% - Ultimate X-Men
- 33.7% - Cable & Deadpool
- 34.2% - Ultimate Fantastic Four
- 39.8% - X-Statix
- 46.6% - X-Men Unlimited
- 53.8% - Four
- 62.1% - Sensational Spider-Man


3 years comparison
==================

+108.4% - New Avengers
+ 72.6% - Black Panther
+ 52.1% - Iron Man
+ 22.4% - Fantastic Four
+ 15.8% - Wolverine
+ 10.8% - Thunderbolts
- 6.3% - Exiles
- 6.9% - Runaways
- 8.5% - Uncanny X-Men
- 10.1% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 12.1% - Captain America
- 15.9% - Punisher
- 17.9% - X-Men
- 19.1% - Ultimate X-Men
- 22.1% - Daredevil
- 22.4% - Incredible Hulk
- 24.5% - Spider-Girl
- 29.7% - Ultimate Spider-Man
- 36.4% - X-Men Unlimited
- 49.7% - X-Statix

[Eye Doc]

It looks like the bloom is off the Ultimate Spiderman rose. That book has lost nearly 30% of it's sales over the last 3 years. For Marvel's sake, I hope it's selling well in the TPB market.

[iloveclones]

It looks like the bloom is off the Ultimate Spiderman rose. That book has lost nearly 30% of it's sales over the last 3 years. For Marvel's sake, I hope it's selling well in the TPB market.

But it only lost 6.6% over five years. Depends on what timepoint you look at. It still sells 20K more copies than two of it's MU counterpart. If people are looking at those numbers thinking it's close to cancellation, well, don't hold your breath. Probably soon after 100, it will get a new creative team. That will be the time to make some predictions as to its future.

On another note, it's nice to see an increase in MTU, however small. Keep buying.

[Eye Doc]

But it only lost 6.6% over five years. Depends on what timepoint you look at. It still sells 20K more copies than two of it's MU counterpart. If people are looking at those numbers thinking it's close to cancellation, well, don't hold your breath. Probably soon after 100, it will get a new creative team. That will be the time to make some predictions as to its future.

On another note, it's nice to see an increase in MTU, however small. Keep buying.

I'm not looking for it to get cancelled. I think it can still serve it's intended purpose of maintaining a teenage Peter free of a lot of the baggage affecting the 616 Peter.

My comment was about something else. A couple of years back Wizard asked Quesada about the two Marvel universes. They wondered if:

1) Marvel would keep two separate universe
2) Have the universes merge?
3) Eventually faze out one of the other.

I recall Quesada saying that if both universes sold well, Marvel should keep two lines. However, he also seemed to hint that he thought the ultimate verse would prove more popular and sale more books in the long run, thus leading to the end of 616 (at least that's how I interpreted it) and the establishment of the ultiverse as mainstream continuity.

Based on the sales of the ultimate line, it appears that that Spidey, X-Men, and FF have already peaked in popularity. Even the Ultimates has seen a drop off in sales. Barring a major shake up in creative personnel on each book, it doesn't look like the ultimate line will ever be any bigger than it is now.

[iloveclones]

I'll tell you my own personal theory of the Ultimate U: I think one of it's functions is to give them more latitude in the MU. I'm not sure if some of the more controversial stories in the MU, Sins Past, the Other/totem stuff, bringing back Bucky, Disassembled, would have taken place if they didn't think that disgruntled fans would have somewhere else to go.

Ultimates wouldn't experience half of their drop-off if they were even a little on-time. But you're right, the others have peaked.

[MyPokerShirt]

14. MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN
Apr Marvel Knights Spider-Man #1 - 137,314
May Marvel Knights Spider-Man #2 - 99,320 (-27.7%)
Jun Marvel Knights Spider-Man #3 - 82,715 (-16.7%)
Jul Marvel Knights Spider-Man #4 - 75,508 ( -8.7%)
Aug Marvel Knights Spider-Man #5 - 75,562 ( +0.1%)

After three months of somewhat worrying drops, MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN suddenly levels out. In fact, it shows a very small gain. Marvel can breathe a sigh of relief - for the moment, it looks like the book has found its level.




nonono. new books do this. big first issue, then constant drops til it levels out, then back up if the books actually any good and more falling if its not. im guessing this one stayed level at around 75-90,000? maybe peaking higher with the other? im gona read ahead and see if u posted some more sales. i might be right :)

[MyPokerShirt]

^yikes! totally wrong! 40- odd thousand mark? no wonder it was retitled. what a shame, i loved that series.

[Spiderluke]

I'm not looking for it to get cancelled. I think it can still serve it's intended purpose of maintaining a teenage Peter free of a lot of the baggage affecting the 616 Peter.

My comment was about something else. A couple of years back Wizard asked Quesada about the two Marvel universes. They wondered if:

1) Marvel would keep two separate universe
2) Have the universes merge?
3) Eventually faze out one of the other.

I recall Quesada saying that if both universes sold well, Marvel should keep two lines. However, he also seemed to hint that he thought the ultimate verse would prove more popular and sale more books in the long run, thus leading to the end of 616 (at least that's how I interpreted it) and the establishment of the ultiverse as mainstream continuity.

Based on the sales of the ultimate line, it appears that that Spidey, X-Men, and FF have already peaked in popularity. Even the Ultimates has seen a drop off in sales. Barring a major shake up in creative personnel on each book, it doesn't look like the ultimate line will ever be any bigger than it is now.

I agree with the popularity of the Ultmate line. It will always have it's regular fanbase but I don't forsee it ever getting huge. I do hope they will keep coming out with the books though. It's a break from all the 616 stuff going on.

[Galactus]

Top 300 of May:
http://www.newsarama.com/marketreport/may06charts.html

[iloveclones]

That's one of those sales list where there's good news for everybody. Marvel must be extremely pleased at what Civil War is doing, and DC's 52 is making money hand over fist every week.

[Doc Destruction]

It also shows that fans are more than willing to buy a CHEAPER book every week.

[CaptainStacy]

That's one of those sales list where there's good news for everybody. Marvel must be extremely pleased at what Civil War is doing, and DC's 52 is making money hand over fist every week.

Lol, how much do you want to bet that Joe Q is looking at DC's success with 52 pulling in big numbers four times a month, and is ALREADY planning a weekly Marvel "Event" for next year?

Anyway; am i mistaken, or are sales up all around? I dont recall all of the top ten books passing 100,000 units in a long while....In fact, May 2006 has 13 books all up past 100,000, with #14 just slightly under.

Not bad.

[WOLVERINE25TH]

Excuse me, did I see wrong or is Spider-Girl at #125? A good many, many, MANY places above Incredible Hulk which didn't even break 5 figures? And yet THAT'S the book bein' cancelled.

129 Spider-Man Unltd 15 $2.99 Marvel 16,300
130 Ares 4 $2.99 Marvel 16,200
137 X-Statix Presents Dead Girl 5 $2.99 Marvel 15,400
139 Fantastic Four 537 $2.99 Marvel 15,200
142 Haunt O/Horror Edgar Allan Poe 1 $3.99 Marvel 14,500
144 Marvel Zombies 1 $2.99 Marvel 14,200
146 Marvel Legacy 1970s Handbook $4.99 Marvel 14,200
149 Marvel Advs Avengers 1 $2.99 Marvel 13,900
163 Marvel Zombies 5 $2.99 Marvel 11,200
164 Daughters of the Dragon 5 $2.99 Marvel 11,200
181 New Mangaverse 5 $2.99 Marvel 9,500
200 Wolverine Origins 1 $2.99 Marvel 8,000
206 Amazing Spider-Man 531 $2.99 Marvel 7,300
210 Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane 6 $2.99 Marvel 7,100
213 Avengers & Power Pack Assemble 2 $2.99 Marvel 6,600
222 Marvel Advs Spider-Man 15 $2.99 Marvel 6,200
230 Moon Knight 1 $2.99 Marvel 5,300
241 New Avengers Annual 1 $3.99 Marvel 5,000
245 Marvel Advs Fantastic Four 12 $2.99 Marvel 4,800
252 Marvel Romance Redux I Should Have Been Blonde $2.99 Marvel 4,500
257 Marvel Milestones Black Panther Storm & Ka-Zar $3.99 Marvel 4,200
265 Amazing Spider-Man 529 $2.50 Marvel 3,900
281 New Avengers Illuminati Sp $3.99 Marvel 3,200
287 Incredible Hulk 94 $2.99 Marvel 3,100
290 Amazing Spider-Man 530 $2.50 Marvel 3,000

All the books it's outsold, includin' some heavy hitters and some very popular ones. Not too shabby if I do say so.

[Themanofbat]

Excuse me, did I see wrong or is Spider-Girl at #125? A good many, many, MANY places above Incredible Hulk which didn't even break 5 figures? And yet THAT'S the book bein' cancelled.

129 Spider-Man Unltd 15 $2.99 Marvel 16,300
130 Ares 4 $2.99 Marvel 16,200
137 X-Statix Presents Dead Girl 5 $2.99 Marvel 15,400
139 Fantastic Four 537 $2.99 Marvel 15,200
142 Haunt O/Horror Edgar Allan Poe 1 $3.99 Marvel 14,500
144 Marvel Zombies 1 $2.99 Marvel 14,200
146 Marvel Legacy 1970s Handbook $4.99 Marvel 14,200
149 Marvel Advs Avengers 1 $2.99 Marvel 13,900
163 Marvel Zombies 5 $2.99 Marvel 11,200
164 Daughters of the Dragon 5 $2.99 Marvel 11,200
181 New Mangaverse 5 $2.99 Marvel 9,500
200 Wolverine Origins 1 $2.99 Marvel 8,000
206 Amazing Spider-Man 531 $2.99 Marvel 7,300
210 Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane 6 $2.99 Marvel 7,100
213 Avengers & Power Pack Assemble 2 $2.99 Marvel 6,600
222 Marvel Advs Spider-Man 15 $2.99 Marvel 6,200
230 Moon Knight 1 $2.99 Marvel 5,300
241 New Avengers Annual 1 $3.99 Marvel 5,000
245 Marvel Advs Fantastic Four 12 $2.99 Marvel 4,800
252 Marvel Romance Redux I Should Have Been Blonde $2.99 Marvel 4,500
257 Marvel Milestones Black Panther Storm & Ka-Zar $3.99 Marvel 4,200
265 Amazing Spider-Man 529 $2.50 Marvel 3,900
281 New Avengers Illuminati Sp $3.99 Marvel 3,200
287 Incredible Hulk 94 $2.99 Marvel 3,100
290 Amazing Spider-Man 530 $2.50 Marvel 3,000

All the books it's outsold, includin' some heavy hitters and some very popular ones. Not too shabby if I do say so.

Those numbers are probably re-order numbers...

Because we both know that Moon Knight sold more than 5300 copies, as well as ASM 529 & 530, which show figures between 3 to 4 thousand.

[Norman Osborn]

Excuse me, did I see wrong or is Spider-Girl at #125? A good many, many, MANY places above Incredible Hulk which didn't even break 5 figures? And yet THAT'S the book bein' cancelled.

129 Spider-Man Unltd 15 $2.99 Marvel 16,300
130 Ares 4 $2.99 Marvel 16,200
137 X-Statix Presents Dead Girl 5 $2.99 Marvel 15,400
139 Fantastic Four 537 $2.99 Marvel 15,200
142 Haunt O/Horror Edgar Allan Poe 1 $3.99 Marvel 14,500
144 Marvel Zombies 1 $2.99 Marvel 14,200
146 Marvel Legacy 1970s Handbook $4.99 Marvel 14,200
149 Marvel Advs Avengers 1 $2.99 Marvel 13,900
163 Marvel Zombies 5 $2.99 Marvel 11,200
164 Daughters of the Dragon 5 $2.99 Marvel 11,200
181 New Mangaverse 5 $2.99 Marvel 9,500
200 Wolverine Origins 1 $2.99 Marvel 8,000
206 Amazing Spider-Man 531 $2.99 Marvel 7,300
210 Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane 6 $2.99 Marvel 7,100
213 Avengers & Power Pack Assemble 2 $2.99 Marvel 6,600
222 Marvel Advs Spider-Man 15 $2.99 Marvel 6,200
230 Moon Knight 1 $2.99 Marvel 5,300
241 New Avengers Annual 1 $3.99 Marvel 5,000
245 Marvel Advs Fantastic Four 12 $2.99 Marvel 4,800
252 Marvel Romance Redux I Should Have Been Blonde $2.99 Marvel 4,500
257 Marvel Milestones Black Panther Storm & Ka-Zar $3.99 Marvel 4,200
265 Amazing Spider-Man 529 $2.50 Marvel 3,900
281 New Avengers Illuminati Sp $3.99 Marvel 3,200
287 Incredible Hulk 94 $2.99 Marvel 3,100
290 Amazing Spider-Man 530 $2.50 Marvel 3,000

All the books it's outsold, includin' some heavy hitters and some very popular ones. Not too shabby if I do say so.

aren't these books "Spidergirl" beat in their second month of being on the shelves?

[Citizen_Kaine]

Those are just reprints and reorders, like second printing of FF 536 (Aka what is blatantly on the cover actually doesn't happen. Ever.). I believe this is the second (Maybe third, not too sure about 96) month that Spider Girl has actually gone up sales wise :up:

[CaptainStacy]

Excuse me, did I see wrong or is Spider-Girl at #125? A good many, many, MANY places above Incredible Hulk which didn't even break 5 figures? And yet THAT'S the book bein' cancelled.

129 Spider-Man Unltd 15 $2.99 Marvel 16,300
130 Ares 4 $2.99 Marvel 16,200
137 X-Statix Presents Dead Girl 5 $2.99 Marvel 15,400
139 Fantastic Four 537 $2.99 Marvel 15,200
142 Haunt O/Horror Edgar Allan Poe 1 $3.99 Marvel 14,500
144 Marvel Zombies 1 $2.99 Marvel 14,200
146 Marvel Legacy 1970s Handbook $4.99 Marvel 14,200
149 Marvel Advs Avengers 1 $2.99 Marvel 13,900
163 Marvel Zombies 5 $2.99 Marvel 11,200
164 Daughters of the Dragon 5 $2.99 Marvel 11,200
181 New Mangaverse 5 $2.99 Marvel 9,500
200 Wolverine Origins 1 $2.99 Marvel 8,000
206 Amazing Spider-Man 531 $2.99 Marvel 7,300
210 Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane 6 $2.99 Marvel 7,100
213 Avengers & Power Pack Assemble 2 $2.99 Marvel 6,600
222 Marvel Advs Spider-Man 15 $2.99 Marvel 6,200
230 Moon Knight 1 $2.99 Marvel 5,300
241 New Avengers Annual 1 $3.99 Marvel 5,000
245 Marvel Advs Fantastic Four 12 $2.99 Marvel 4,800
252 Marvel Romance Redux I Should Have Been Blonde $2.99 Marvel 4,500
257 Marvel Milestones Black Panther Storm & Ka-Zar $3.99 Marvel 4,200
265 Amazing Spider-Man 529 $2.50 Marvel 3,900
281 New Avengers Illuminati Sp $3.99 Marvel 3,200
287 Incredible Hulk 94 $2.99 Marvel 3,100
290 Amazing Spider-Man 530 $2.50 Marvel 3,000

All the books it's outsold, includin' some heavy hitters and some very popular ones. Not too shabby if I do say so.


I think those are re-orders...Hulk actually sold 46, 600 copies in May...nearly 30,000 more units than Spider-Girl.

[MyPokerShirt]

Those are just reprints and reorders, like second printing of FF 536 (Aka what is blatantly on the cover actually doesn't happen. Ever.). I believe this is the second (Maybe third, not too sure about 96) month that Spider Girl has actually gone up sales wise :up:


536: thor hammer held by doom right?? the thor hammer figured in the stroy tho right?


i bought "a death in the family" and thats just the same. the woman that dies isnt 616 invisible woman -- its bloody pathetic! and their best story was the reprint of when franklin aged himself and absorbed all the other teams minds...


i even liked the adventures of franklin comedy/kids story more..

[Citizen_Kaine]

536: thor hammer held by doom right?? the thor hammer figured in the stroy tho right?

Right... but considering that the covers selling point was that Doom was worthy enough to lift the hammer (Something very, very few people can do) it was bull**** when it didn't happen. Even more so thanks to the following issues cover which showed him laying the smackdown on the F4 with it :o

[MyPokerShirt]

so he cudnt pick it up?? urgh i hate FF covers and storylines now. is there book in decline? is that why they go for cheap stunts?

[WOLVERINE25TH]

It was a COVER. Covers are designed to get you to BUY the issue. How many covers has there been in th' past of Spidey bein' killed? Were you disappointed when he didn't die in those?

Seriously, give it a rest. Covers aren't meant to be 100% literal.

[Themanofbat]

Remember when covers actually had word balloons and the cover itself was somewhat representative of the contents of the issue in question?

:(

[MyPokerShirt]

It was a COVER. Covers are designed to get you to BUY the issue. How many covers has there been in th' past of Spidey bein' killed? Were you disappointed when he didn't die in those?

Seriously, give it a rest. Covers aren't meant to be 100% literal.


yeah but when the titles "a death in the family" and they trick you by havin a slightly changed timeline story, thats not good. and yeah covers used to be representative, just read the previous post to this.

[WOLVERINE25TH]

http://image.milehighcomics.com/istore/images/fullsize/52168032340.66.GIF

Dr. Doom is NOT a giant in this issue. Guess that's bull**** too, huh?

[WOLVERINE25TH]

Okay, a Death in the Family WAS a cheap stunt, but c'mon...did anyone REALLY think they'd kill off an FF member? I mean really? NOBODY ever has th' stones fer that. And technically they DID die so th' solicits weren't misleading. It's all about common sense.

[MyPokerShirt]

they kept saying "this is real. lasting effects. u wont believe it." REDICULOUS. and the cover u used is clearly representative, cmon..

[WOLVERINE25TH]

Just provin' a point. Covers ain't meant to be literal. Sometimes they are, sure, but majority, nope.

[MyPokerShirt]

Just provin' a point. Covers ain't meant to be literal. Sometimes they are, sure, but majority, nope.


k, but they at least shuldnt leave you feelin cheated. another thing i love about powers -- concept covers, good covers, CLEAR covers and no...cheating. if only i had a scanner...

[MyPokerShirt]

k, but they at least shuldnt leave you feelin cheated. another thing i love about powers -- concept covers, good covers, CLEAR covers and no...cheating. if only i had a scanner...

ok, here's a great cover

a concept cover that harks back to the good ol' days. no false promises, no false expectations. no disappointments, only a cover that adds to the greatness of the comic (sorry to rant off ona tangent)

http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/5640/p345gt.jpg

[MattXG]

Whoa what is going on in Ultimate FF that it sold that well? :eek:

[Kraven]

The return of Doom and the FF Zombies are what's going on in UFF right now, I think.

Can anyone sum up what happened in A Death in the Family? I remember hearing how one of the FF would die and stuff, but I guess it never happened?

[Citizen_Kaine]

The return of Doom and the FF Zombies are what's going on in UFF right now, I think.

Can anyone sum up what happened in A Death in the Family? I remember hearing how one of the FF would die and stuff, but I guess it never happened?

5 dollars and 99 cents spent on some cliche time travel story (Sue gets killed by some Squidlike creature, Johnny goes back stops it, but leaves before Reed can tell him that he just created an alternate timeline), and a reprint of an already classic and reprinted many a time story.

Just more Marvel hype and bull**** :(

[MyPokerShirt]

nice some-up :) totally agree

[Galactus]

Top 300 for June:
http://www.newsarama.com/marketreport/june06charts.html

[Donald Thomas]

Remember when covers actually had word balloons and the cover itself was somewhat representative of the contents of the issue in question?

:(

Aloha,
Now you're talking.Wonder who decided to end that.
Spidey rules

[Galactus]

If anyone's interested you can find a sales charts archive (going back to September 1996) here: http://www.cbgxtra.com/Default.aspx?tabid=695

[CaptainStacy]

Top 300 for June:
http://www.newsarama.com/marketreport/june06charts.html

Man, that's GREAT news! Now the top 18 selling books are all moving over 100k units each!

Definitely an upswing for the industry, although the numbers STILL need to increase.

Do you guys think all the comic movies are responsible, or what?

[Kraven]

I think that the movies are definately a major cause for the increase, but everything happening in Civil War might be causing people to pick up some new books too. I know people that have never picked up a comic before in there life that after hearing about the unmasking, decided to go and pick up a few recent issues.

[Citizen_Kaine]

Yeah, but that sort of thing is dangerous. Tons of looky loo fans grab a particular issue because of outside media hype, be it the movies, New York Times or Joey Q mouthing off on MTV. Bringing a ridiculous amount of sales to the table for a short period, causing x number of books to be over printed and produced, than just collapsing, as said fans peace out. Leaving us with another Death of Superman on our hands

[CaptainStacy]

Yeah, but that sort of thing is dangerous. Tons of looky loo fans grab a particular issue because of outside media hype, be it the movies, New York Times or Joey Q mouthing off on MTV. Bringing a ridiculous amount of sales to the table for a short period, causing x number of books to be over printed and produced, than just collapsing, as said fans peace out. Leaving us with another Death of Superman on our hands

But that's the thing; I've noticed a very gradual increase in sales for both Marvel and DC comics over the past several months or so...not one big explosion in sales to indicate any one particular event is bringing in "spectators"...

And Trade Paper Backs are also supposedly moving very well, and actually began THEIR upswing about two years ago.

The encouraging thing is that the upswing seems to be fairly consistent as well.

Anyway, i view it as a positive sign, but we still need to get more fans, young and old, interested.

[iloveclones]

I listed these over in the Marvel's Business thread linked below, if anyone wants to see them. If you're interested, the Marvel sales numbers/analysis are there stretching back to June 2005 (HoM):

Rank Title Est.Qty
1 CIVIL WAR #2 (Of 7)* 253,856
2 DCU BRAVE NEW WORLD #1 140,844
3 NEW AVENGERS #21 CW 134,278
4 WONDER WOMAN #1* 132,580
5 NEW AVENGERS #20 125,600
6 CIVIL WAR FRONT LINE #1 122,057
7 FLASH FASTEST MAN ALIVE #1 120,404
8 ASTONISHING X-MEN #15 119,991
9 WOLVERINE ORIGINS #3 116,058
10 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #533 112,982
11 52 WEEK #5** 111,895
12 ALL STAR SUPERMAN #4 111,420
13 52 WEEK #7** 110,188
14 JUSTICE #6 (Of 12) 110,188
15 52 WEEK #6** 110,028
16 52 WEEK #8** 105,107
17 ETERNALS #1 (Of 6) 103,217
18 CIVIL WAR FRONT LINE #2 102,742
19 WOLVERINE #43 CW 97,807
20 ULTIMATES 2 #11 96,751

http://www.superherohype.com/forums/showthread.php?t=162957&page=5

I also doubt this increase has much to do with a particular movie/media event. I doubt people who went to see X-Men or Superman are buying Civil War or New Avengers. Those movies don't even seem to help their parent title all that much. I always watch when a Marvel movie comes out to see if there's a spike in sales. There really isn't. I think this is more (I hope) a case of Marvel and DC getting some "brand/product recognition" and growing their customer base as opposed to what was going on in the 90s: exploiting them.

As much as I don't like how stories are being told to fit TPBs,I can't deny that they are helping comics, by putting them in Barnes and Nobles, and in libraries, something they couldn't really do before. I feel that this, more than anything else, will eventually help grow the industry.

[iloveclones]

If anyone's interested you can find a sales charts archive (going back to September 1996) here: http://www.cbgxtra.com/Default.aspx?tabid=695

Great link, Galactus. I'm gonna go post that over in the aforementioned thread!

[Galactus]

Top 300 for August:
http://www.newsarama.com/marketreport/aug06charts.html

[Donald Thomas]

Remember when covers actually had word balloons and the cover itself was somewhat representative of the contents of the issue in question?

:(

Aloha,
You're dating yourself. Most of these guys weren't around when that happened.
Spidey rules

[shinlyle]

Aloha,
You're dating yourself. Most of these guys weren't around when that happened.
Spidey rules

I remember those days....

I remember seeing all guest stars named on the cover, or a silhouette saying "Guess who", and all sorts of fun, comic-style stuff. Funny....comic books are the only thing trying NOT to be comic books anymore. Movies mimic them....TV shows copy them....even print ads and commercials borrow comic-style themes and such. Weird, huh?

[SpideyInATree]

Man, it's such a shame to see such quality books ranking so low on the sales chart.

Like 100 Bullets...that is probably one of the best comic books being put on the shelves and it sold like 13,000 copies. That's just ridiculous.

But it's good to see Moon Knight is selling pretty strong still.

[imdaly]

Top 300 for August:
http://www.newsarama.com/marketreport/aug06charts.html

Wow. I have to say, I'm quite impressed and surprised that Marvel still outsold DC in August, even though there were no no issues of "Civil War" released that month. :wow:

Very nice job, Marvel :up:

[Dragon]

Wow. I have to say, I'm quite impressed and surprised that Marvel still outsold DC in August, even though there were no no issues of "Civil War" released that month. :wow:

Very nice job, Marvel :up:

Um.. Are you being sarcastic? Because Most of the books in the top ten are DC titles (That 52 thing is selling pretty damn high numbers), and there are like 10 CW connected titles on the list.

What I don't get is why ASM isn't listed.

[Galactus]

What I don't get is why ASM isn't listed.

Wasn't the August-issue delayed until September?

[imdaly]

Um.. Are you being sarcastic? Because Most of the books in the top ten are DC titles (That 52 thing is selling pretty damn high numbers), and there are like 10 CW connected titles on the list.

What I don't get is why ASM isn't listed.
http://www.newsarama.com/marketreport/aug06sales.html

Looking closer at Market Share, Marvel led 41.02% Unit Sales to DC's 38.98%, and 38.98% to DC's 36.30% in Dollar Share.

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f132/imdaly/saleschart.jpg

Sure DC had 6 of the Top 10 books. But even still, Marvel as a company had more marketshare overall. And by "no Civil War book out this month" I mean not the actual "Civil War" comic, not the tie-ins. So even with DC having 4 of their BIG EVENT books out this month and Marvel not having it's out, Marvel STILL edged by the competiton. So yes, I have to say I'm very impressed and surprised.

And there's no sarcasm there :up:

[Doc Destruction]

Still, DC is all up in Marvel's grill. I'd be doing a tapdance if I were DC right now.

[Dragon]

http://www.newsarama.com/marketreport/aug06sales.html



Sure DC had 6 of the Top 10 books. But even still, Marvel as a company had more marketshare overall. And by "no Civil War book out this month" I mean not the actual "Civil War" comic, not the tie-ins. So even with DC having 4 of their BIG EVENT books out this month and Marvel not having it's out, Marvel STILL edged by the competiton. So yes, I have to say I'm very impressed and surprised.

And there's no sarcasm there :up:




Actually DC even beat Marvel in the top twenty 11 to 9. And the few percentage points by which Marvel sold in the overall isn't much.

And many of the books for Marvel were still big in sales because of CW, Such as FF. 5 out of the 9 titles in the top twenty were CW related.

[Dangerous]

Man, it's such a shame to see such quality books ranking so low on the sales chart.

Like 100 Bullets...that is probably one of the best comic books being put on the shelves and it sold like 13,000 copies. That's just ridiculous.

But it's good to see Moon Knight is selling pretty strong still.

Definatley, 100 Bullets is better than any Marvel book right now.

[Galactus]

Top 300 for September:
http://www.newsarama.com/marketreport/sept06charts.html

[Galactus]

Top 300 for November:
http://www.newsarama.com/marketreport/nov06sales.html

[Galactus]

Nostalgic corner:

1966 (first year Amazing Spider-Man was tracked)

1) Batman DC 898,470
2) Superman DC 719,976
3) Superboy DC 608,386
4) Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane DC 530,808
5) Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen
DC 523,455
6) World's Finest Comics DC 513,201
7) Archie Archie 491,691
8) Action Comics DC 491,135
9) Adventure Comics DC 481,234
10) Justice League of America DC 408,219

11) Detective Comics DC 404,339
12) Metal Men DC 396,506
13) Treasure Chest Catholic Guild 348,305
14) Walt Disney's Comics & Stories Gold Key 346,250
15) Betty and Veronica Archie 342,295
16) Amazing Spider-Man Marvel 340,155
17) Tarzan Gold Key 338,052
18) Flintstones Gold Key 332,362
19) Fantastic Four Marvel 329,379
20) Flash DC 325,404

Whatever else you may think about the Batman TV show on ABC, there's no doubt that it made a huge difference to the comics, nearly doubling sales for the Caped Crusader's main title. Looking at the drops in the Superman titles, however, it appears that Adam West's coattails in comics seem to have been limited to the character he played.

Also significant about 1966 is that Marvel finally ran its first figures for Fantastic Four and Amazing Spider-Man, in issues #61 and #47 respectively. By this time, both titles were well established, many classic stories having already appeared — and we find Spidey selling over a third of a million copies. We don't know what sales were for these titles between 1962-1965, but it's interesting to note that while they grow throughout the rest of the 1960s, that growth is not dramatic. This year also finds Marvel changing Journey into Mystery's title to Thor.

[CaptainStacy]

Nostalgic corner:

1966 (first year Amazing Spider-Man was tracked)

1) Batman DC 898,470
2) Superman DC 719,976
3) Superboy DC 608,386
4) Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane DC 530,808
5) Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen
DC 523,455
6) World's Finest Comics DC 513,201
7) Archie Archie 491,691
8) Action Comics DC 491,135
9) Adventure Comics DC 481,234
10) Justice League of America DC 408,219

11) Detective Comics DC 404,339
12) Metal Men DC 396,506
13) Treasure Chest Catholic Guild 348,305
14) Walt Disney's Comics & Stories Gold Key 346,250
15) Betty and Veronica Archie 342,295
16) Amazing Spider-Man Marvel 340,155
17) Tarzan Gold Key 338,052
18) Flintstones Gold Key 332,362
19) Fantastic Four Marvel 329,379
20) Flash DC 325,404

Whatever else you may think about the Batman TV show on ABC, there's no doubt that it made a huge difference to the comics, nearly doubling sales for the Caped Crusader's main title. Looking at the drops in the Superman titles, however, it appears that Adam West's coattails in comics seem to have been limited to the character he played.

Also significant about 1966 is that Marvel finally ran its first figures for Fantastic Four and Amazing Spider-Man, in issues #61 and #47 respectively. By this time, both titles were well established, many classic stories having already appeared — and we find Spidey selling over a third of a million copies. We don't know what sales were for these titles between 1962-1965, but it's interesting to note that while they grow throughout the rest of the 1960s, that growth is not dramatic. This year also finds Marvel changing Journey into Mystery's title to Thor.


If only we still had these numbers today...:csad:

[Galactus]

The Amazing Spider-Man Comic Book Sales Figures
Average Total Paid Circulation as Reported in Postal Records
Paid Circulation
1963 no data published
1964 no data published
1965 no data published
1966 340,155
1967 361,663
1968 373,303
1969 372,352

1970 322,195
1971 307,550
1972 288,379
1973 273,204
1974 288,232
1975 273,773
1976 282,159
1977 281,860
1978 258,156
1979 no data published

1980 296,712
1981 242,781
1982 240,683
1983 241,762
1984 261,254
1985 326,695
1986 276,064
1987 284,692
1988 271,100
1989 266,100

1990 334,893
1991 340,977
1992 544,900
1993 592,442
1994 353,025
1995 234,290
1996 216,779
1997 159,950
1998 119,547
1999 127,915

2000 113,685
2001 113,557
2002 122,572
2003 122,173
2004 123,540
2005 112,564
2006 no data published

First issue: March 1963

Publishing history:
Marvel (1963-present)

Status: Ongoing


Possible Years for Statements: 44
Statements confirmed: 39
Years confirmed skipped: 5

Total number of copies sold (est.):
145-150 million

Continuing the adventures of the character first appearing in the 15th and final issue of the cancelled Amazing Fantasy, The Amazing Spider-Man would become the flagship title of Marvel's line. By 1969, it had vaulted into the Top 10 titles overall for the year, Marvel's first title to do so.

The cool-off following the Silver Age is clearly evident, apart from the outsized bump from 1980, which included the 200th issue.) We see growth again in the comics-shop era of the 1980s, with a peak in 1985, the year following the new-costume appeaance in #252. Reported sales begin to build again in the run-up to the Todd MacFarlane era, but the really big numbers were to come at the peak of the 1993 boom, when the sales nearly doubled their historic average. Sales followed the market downward in the recession of the mid- and late-1990s before rebounding a bit under J. Michael Straczynski in the early 2000s.

This series provides one of the better examples of trends in the overall market, as its sales were seemingly less affected by short-term external influences (such as the Batman TV show, which had a major effect on that title). It should be remembered in comparing across decades that the purchases of Spider-Man fans were divided multiple ways across multiple titles, whereas the purchaser up until 1972 only had one Spider-title with new content to consider.

Statement history: Marvel did not begin publishing Statements of Ownership in the title until 1966. The 1979 form has been confirmed not to have been published, and the 2006 form has not been found in any of the issues where it might have been expected to appear.

Subscriptions in 1995 included issues of Amazing Scarlet Spider, which the title had "become" for a while before resuming with its original name and numbering. And in 1998, after #441, Marvel restarted the title's numbering as Volume 2 — before having second thoughts in 2003 and resuming the original volume number with #500, counting those other issues as part of the same series. As far as the Statement record is concerned, they were, since the subscriptions went along with the volume change.

[Finlandman]

What happened in '93? Well, I was born, but I can't see that as a reason for 592 442 copies sold.:huh:

[iloveclones]

Don't sell yourself short.

Although, in truth, comic speculation probably had more to do with it. People were buying multiple copies of everything because they thought it would be worth something someday.

[Themanofbat]

What happened in '93? Well, I was born, but I can't see that as a reason for 592 442 copies sold.:huh:

Don't sell yourself short.

Although, in truth, comic speculation probably had more to do with it. People were buying multiple copies of everything because they thought it would be worth something someday.

I think that Spider-Man TAS began around that time...

Nevermind... that started in 1994.

:yay:

[Galactus]

Top 20 for April:

1 Secret Invasion 1 $3.99 Marvel 250,213
2 New Avengers 40 $2.99 Marvel 110,448
3 Dark Tower Long Road Home 2 $3.99 Marvel 103,008
4 Mighty Avengers 12 $2.99 Marvel 97,219
5 Uncanny X-Men 497 $2.99 Marvel 93,350
6 Hulk 3 $2.99 Marvel 92,468
7 Thor 8 $2.99 Marvel 91,963
8 Amazing Spider-Man 555 $2.99 Marvel 86,885
9 Justice League of America 20 $2.99 DC 85,789
10 X-Force 3 $2.99 Marvel 85,732
11 Buffy Vampire Slayer 13 $2.99 Dark Horse 83,563
12 Captain America 37 $2.99 Marvel 80,619
13 Justice Society of America 14 $2.99 DC 80,491
14 Amazing Spider-Man 556 $2.99 Marvel 78,442
15 X-Men Legacy 210 $2.99 Marvel 77,425
16 Amazing Spider-Man 557 $2.99 Marvel 77,041
17 Titans 1 $3.50 DC 75,569
18 Countdown to Final Crisis 1 $2.99 DC 72,688
19 Young X-Men 1 $2.99 Marvel 71,579
20 Batman 675 $2.99 DC 71,124

[Brand]

The Wolverine guest shot issue showed a bit of a jump over the other issues, as most people expected. Numbers continued to dip and seem to be settling in the mid- to high-70ks, as many predicted. Overall, not a lot of surprises. I don't think there'll be much to get excited about unless we suddenly see a jump in sales (without tie-ins/guest shots) or another sharp decrease in sales from this point on.

[CaptainStacy]

Top 20 for April:

1 Secret Invasion 1 $3.99 Marvel 250,213
2 New Avengers 40 $2.99 Marvel 110,448
3 Dark Tower Long Road Home 2 $3.99 Marvel 103,008
4 Mighty Avengers 12 $2.99 Marvel 97,219
5 Uncanny X-Men 497 $2.99 Marvel 93,350
6 Hulk 3 $2.99 Marvel 92,468
7 Thor 8 $2.99 Marvel 91,963
8 Amazing Spider-Man 555 $2.99 Marvel 86,885
9 Justice League of America 20 $2.99 DC 85,789
10 X-Force 3 $2.99 Marvel 85,732
11 Buffy Vampire Slayer 13 $2.99 Dark Horse 83,563
12 Captain America 37 $2.99 Marvel 80,619
13 Justice Society of America 14 $2.99 DC 80,491
14 Amazing Spider-Man 556 $2.99 Marvel 78,442
15 X-Men Legacy 210 $2.99 Marvel 77,425
16 Amazing Spider-Man 557 $2.99 Marvel 77,041
17 Titans 1 $3.50 DC 75,569
18 Countdown to Final Crisis 1 $2.99 DC 72,688
19 Young X-Men 1 $2.99 Marvel 71,579
20 Batman 675 $2.99 DC 71,124


Sales still not as strong as they were a year or so ago. This economy stinks!

Glad Secret Invasion, NA, and Stephen King are still kicking ass. :up:

[Spec Spider-Man]

It's an unpredictable world... ;)

You Said it.

[Blader5489]

What happened in '93? Well, I was born, but I can't see that as a reason for 592 442 copies sold.:huh:

The Death of Superman

[Styleshift]

I'm stunned at how bad the hulk is kicking A Spidey's butt in sales...
maybe because the story telling isn't forced.
Which is why I will be picking the hulk, x-men, batman and ultimate spider-man for my new reads. ;)

[Styleshift]

I'm stunned at how bad the hulk is kicking A Spidey's butt in sales...
maybe because the story telling isn't forced.
Which is why I will be picking the hulk, x-men, batman and ultimate spider-man for my new reads. ;)

[ragingdemon155]

Well, I've predicted that BND sales would see a steady decline week after week. Styleshift though, I wouldn't get too excited though since sales are done for titles all over the board. Comics don't sell like they use to. It's a dying art.

[Galactus]

Top 25 for May

1 Secret Invasion 2 $3.99 Marvel 182,390
2 Final Crisis 1 $3.99 DC 144,784
3 New Avengers 41 $2.99 Marvel 109,153
4 Avengers Invaders 1 $2.99 Marvel 108,104
5 Invincible Iron Man 1 $2.99 Marvel 105,833
6 Giant Size Astonishing X-Men 1 $4.99 Marvel 105,477
7 Batman 676 $2.99 DC 105,008
8 Mighty Avengers 13 $2.99 Marvel 96,862
9 Batman 677 $2.99 DC 96,088
10 Mighty Avengers 14 $2.99 Marvel 95,253
11 Justice League of America 21 $2.99 DC 90,009
12 Dark Tower Long Road Home 3 $3.99 Marvel 87,605
13 Thor 9 $2.99 Marvel 87,076
14 Uncanny X-Men 498 $2.99 Marvel 82,066
15 Buffy Vampire Slayer 14 $2.99 Dark Horse 82,045
16 X-Force 4 $2.99 Marvel 80,151
17 X-Men Legacy 211 $2.99 Marvel 79,795
18 Captain America 38 $2.99 Marvel 79,327
19 Justice Society of America 15 $2.99 DC 78,288
20 Amazing Spider-Man 558 $2.99 Marvel 76,944
21 Amazing Spider-Man 559 $2.99 Marvel 74,184
22 X-Men Legacy 212 $2.99 Marvel 74,011
23 Amazing Spider-Man 560 $2.99 Marvel 73,991
24 All Star Superman 11 $2.99 DC 70,335
25 Green Lantern 31 $2.99 DC 65,854

[farmernudie]

Still a steady decline.

I know all comics are hurting, and the economy is bad also.

So, if it were me, I'd go with something less controversial and something that isn't as devisive. Something that is more a sure thing so that the split fan base can come back and enjoy spidey again.

There are lots of long time loyal fans not buying anymore. I've bought from the beginning and have only not during Clone Saga and now. And it is safe to say they've not attracted tons of young single kids by this move, only alienated and divided their current customers.

The customer should be "right" and not wrong, which is what Marvel and Joe with Spidey comics, anyway, kinda comes across with the slogan that spidey fans are wrong and he is right, like he is the one that knows "The way".

[Themanofbat]

Still a steady decline.

I wouldn't say it's a steady decline... if anything, it appears to be stabalizing...

The last 5 issues averaged 76 120 copies sold, and last month's average was 75 040 copies... with the last 2 issues only being 193 copies difference.

Even if it settles around 72 000 copies per issue, that's still 21 000 more copies of monthly Spider-Man comics sold than pre-OMD

The customer should be "right" and not wrong, which is what Marvel and Joe with Spidey comics, anyway, kinda comes across with the slogan that spidey fans are wrong and he is right, like he is the one that knows "The way".

But if the "fans" are always "right", then Peter would still be dating/married/having kids with Gwen Stacy... and YOU, of all people, know it.

It's unfortunate that certain things happen in comics, but that's the nature of the industry... things always change... the best comics are the ones where things happen that we didn't see coming (not that we didn't see the train wreck that was OMD)... but as I stated, these are comics, and the Spidey ones are now really entertaining FOR ME... that doesn't mean they should be for YOU, and I respect and understand your decisions... but the "fans" can't always be "right" in comics... otherwise, we'd get the same bland sugar pablum every week.

:csad:

[moraldeficiency]

Suprised Final Crisis came in at #2. Damn spidey could be out of the top 20 next time entirely.

[Themanofbat]

Here are CBR's "estimated" sales numbers for the top 25 for May...

You can see the rest here...

http://comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=16836

They differ by quite a bit when compared to Galactus' list... so while I don't know where he got his, I guess we'll only know when the numbers are made available...

But if you look at this list, the ASM average is over 82k per issue... that's a 7000 issue difference between lists...

:wow: :wow: :wow:

I can't believe that CBR would be THAT much "off", but the guy writing the article does make the claim that these are "estimates"...

1 Secret Invasion #2 - 200,344
2 Final Crisis #1 - 159,036
3 New Avengers #41 - 119,898
4 Avengers Invaders #1 - 118,746
5 Invincible Iron Man #1 - 116,251
6 Giant Size Astonishing X Men #1 - 115,860
7 Batman #676 - 115,345
8 Mighty Avengers #13 - 106,397
9 Batman #677 - 105,547
10 Mighty Avengers #14 - 104,630
11 Justice League of America #21 - 98,869
12 Dark Tower Long Road Home #3 - 96,229
13 Thor #9 - 95,648
14 Uncanny X Men #498 - 90,144
15 Buffy the Vampire Slayer #14 - 90,122
16 X Force #4 - 88,041
17 X Men Legacy #211 - 87,650
18 Captain America #38 - 87,135
19 Justice Society of America #15 - 85,994
20 Amazing Spider Man #558 - 84,518
21 Amazing Spider Man #559 - 81,487
22 X Men Legacy 212 - 81,297
23 Amazing Spider Man #560 - 81,274
24 All Star Superman #11 - 77,259
25 Green Lantern #31 - 72,337

[CaptainStacy]

Top 25 for May

1 Secret Invasion 2 $3.99 Marvel 182,390
2 Final Crisis 1 $3.99 DC 144,784
3 New Avengers 41 $2.99 Marvel 109,153
4 Avengers Invaders 1 $2.99 Marvel 108,104
5 Invincible Iron Man 1 $2.99 Marvel 105,833
6 Giant Size Astonishing X-Men 1 $4.99 Marvel 105,477
7 Batman 676 $2.99 DC 105,008
8 Mighty Avengers 13 $2.99 Marvel 96,862
9 Batman 677 $2.99 DC 96,088
10 Mighty Avengers 14 $2.99 Marvel 95,253
11 Justice League of America 21 $2.99 DC 90,009
12 Dark Tower Long Road Home 3 $3.99 Marvel 87,605
13 Thor 9 $2.99 Marvel 87,076
14 Uncanny X-Men 498 $2.99 Marvel 82,066
15 Buffy Vampire Slayer 14 $2.99 Dark Horse 82,045
16 X-Force 4 $2.99 Marvel 80,151
17 X-Men Legacy 211 $2.99 Marvel 79,795
18 Captain America 38 $2.99 Marvel 79,327
19 Justice Society of America 15 $2.99 DC 78,288
20 Amazing Spider-Man 558 $2.99 Marvel 76,944
21 Amazing Spider-Man 559 $2.99 Marvel 74,184
22 X-Men Legacy 212 $2.99 Marvel 74,011
23 Amazing Spider-Man 560 $2.99 Marvel 73,991
24 All Star Superman 11 $2.99 DC 70,335
25 Green Lantern 31 $2.99 DC 65,854


Wow, when was the last time an Iron Man solo book was in the top five? :im: :up:

[CaptainStacy]

Here are CBR's "estimated" sales numbers for the top 25 for May...

You can see the rest here...

http://comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=16836

They differ by quite a bit when compared to Galactus' list... so while I don't know where he got his, I guess we'll only know when the numbers are made available...

But if you look at this list, the ASM average is over 82k per issue... that's a 7000 issue difference between lists...

:wow: :wow: :wow:

I can't believe that CBR would be THAT much "off", but the guy writing the article does make the claim that these are "estimates"...

1 Secret Invasion #2 - 200,344
2 Final Crisis #1 - 159,036
3 New Avengers #41 - 119,898
4 Avengers Invaders #1 - 118,746
5 Invincible Iron Man #1 - 116,251
6 Giant Size Astonishing X Men #1 - 115,860
7 Batman #676 - 115,345
8 Mighty Avengers #13 - 106,397
9 Batman #677 - 105,547
10 Mighty Avengers #14 - 104,630
11 Justice League of America #21 - 98,869
12 Dark Tower Long Road Home #3 - 96,229
13 Thor #9 - 95,648
14 Uncanny X Men #498 - 90,144
15 Buffy the Vampire Slayer #14 - 90,122
16 X Force #4 - 88,041
17 X Men Legacy #211 - 87,650
18 Captain America #38 - 87,135
19 Justice Society of America #15 - 85,994
20 Amazing Spider Man #558 - 84,518
21 Amazing Spider Man #559 - 81,487
22 X Men Legacy 212 - 81,297
23 Amazing Spider Man #560 - 81,274
24 All Star Superman #11 - 77,259
25 Green Lantern #31 - 72,337

I like THIS list better! All of the top ten are selling over 100k. :word:

[iloveclones]

I think this might be the first time I saw a Marvel comic go up so much after one of their movies came out. Marvel definately made the right moves (and movies) this summer!

[CaptainStacy]

I think this might be the first time I saw a Marvel comic go up so much after one of their movies came out. Marvel definately made the right moves (and movies) this summer!

I was just thinking the same thing. In fact, I've NEVER noticed an increase in sales for any Marvel book when one of their movies comes out until now.

The trick is; keep any and all new fans interested. The current storyline in the new Iron Man book is pretty cool, so hopefully sales will remain somewhat consistent. (no mean feat in this current economy)...

[Themanofbat]

Invincible Iron Man was the FIRST comic I ever signed up for AFTER watching the movie...

Though I did get a bunch of Sin City Trades after watching that movie...

:yay:

[CaptainStacy]

Invincible Iron Man was the FIRST comic I ever signed up for AFTER watching the movie...

Though I did get a bunch of Sin City Trades after watching that movie...

:yay:

Same here.

[Galactus]

I think this might be the first time I saw a Marvel comic go up so much after one of their movies came out. Marvel definately made the right moves (and movies) this summer!

The question is though if it sold good because of the movie or because it was the first issue...