Marvel's Business

[iloveclones]

I don't know if anyone else is interested in this kind of stuff, but I thought I'd make a running thread about the business end of Marvel. Any comments, links accepted. Here's one I saw on the licensing of the characters from comics2film.com:

With a library of more than 5,000 characters, Marvel Enterprises, Inc., has emerged from bankruptcy to become one of the most profitable character-based entertainment companies in the world. With the success of the first Spider-Man movie released by Sony Pictures in 2002, which garnered more than $800 million in worldwide box office revenue, Marvel gained global recognition overnight. "It is Marvel's film properties that drive and build brand awareness in the marketplace," notes Tim Rothwell, worldwide president, consumer products, Marvel Enterprises, Inc. "Up until a few years ago we really hadn't introduced that type of blockbuster film property into the marketplace."
But don't mistake Marvel for a one-hit wonder company. The entertainment giant has a slate of titles being released in 2005 and beyond, which, due to their character-rich plots, lend themselves to licensing. First out of the gate in summer 2005 is Fantastic Four with Twentieth Century Fox. The film boasts a diverse mix of superhero characters and, as of press time, more than 60 licensees were on board including Marvel's Toy Biz division (master toy licensee, action figures), Jakks Pacific (arts and crafts, activity sets), Mega Bloks (building toys), Roseart (puzzles), Mattel (games and dolls), Upper Deck (trading cards and TCG), Hallmark (balloons, gift tags, invitations, boxed notes, Valentines, gift wrap), Rand (sporting goods), Kids Headquarters (master apparel partner, boys'/girls' separates, swimwear, outerwear), Sara Lee (adults' underwear, men's and boys' boxer shorts), E.S. Originals (footwear), Disguise (costumes, costume accessories), Activision (video games), Russ Berrie (plush), Spin Master Toys (beanbag chairs, foam furniture, inflatable beds), HarperCollins and Meredith (publishing), and Zooth/ Gillette (power/manual toothbrushes, toothpaste, rechargeable brushes).
"Fantastic Four as a property is special in the Marvel Universe as it features four diverse and appealing characters, each with their own set of unique powers. Therefore, licensees see the potential this property affords them in diversifying their retail mix with lines for each hero and, in so doing, expanding the potential consumer audience interested in their merchandise," says Rothwell. Fantastic Four also will roll out on the small screen in the form of 26 30-minute 2-D/3-D animated episodes from Antefilms Productions. The initial episodes are expected to be completed for worldwide distribution in late 2006. This comes on the heels of Marvel's agreement with Lion's Gate Entertainment to produce and distribute a series of direct-to-DVD animated features starring popular characters from the Marvel library. According to Rothwell, several other properties also are in development for animation.
From a theatrical standpoint, Marvel is covered for the next several years, says Rothwell. In addition to Fantastic Four, X-Men 3 (Twentieth Century Fox), Ghost Rider (Sony Pictures), and Iron Man (New Line Cinema) all are set to roll out in 2006, while Sub-Mariner (Universal Pictures) and Spider-Man 3 (Sony) hit theaters in 2007.
Moving beyond the silver screen, Marvel looks to gain a much greater presence in publishing, entering into strategic relationships with HarperCollins; Simon & Schuster; Meredith; and Dorian Kindersley, Inc.
More recently, Marvel entered into wireless via an agreement with MFORMA Group, Inc. The partnership calls for MFORMA to publish an extensive portfolio of mobile entertainment products based on the universe of Marvel's iconic characters (with the exception of The Punisher family of characters) as they appear in movies, TV, video games, and comic books, which will be available in all domestic and international territories except Japan. As part of the agreement, MFORMA will co-publish selected mobile games with Activision. The MFORMA/Marvel product lineup runs the gamut of mobile entertainment products including action, adventure, RPG and trading card games, images, screensavers, graphics, ring tones, voice tones, mobile greeting cards, mobile comic books, phone functions, virtual character simulations, and community and lifestyle applications. In addition to distributing Marvel content through MFORMA's global network of more than 100 wireless operators in 39 countries, MFORMA also will create and host Marvel Mobile, a branded wireless and online Website. Subscribers to the Marvel Mobile channel will have access to all Marvel Mobile products, plus unique community applications and features, special collectible items, Marvel news alerts and chat rooms, fan clubs, and mobile commerce options.
"The new Marvel is all about strategic relationships," says Rothwell. "In the past, we had as many as 15 different apparel partners in North America; we now are honing that number significantly." The same can be said of all other categories, as well. Notes Rothwell, "Our strategy of consolidating license subcategories with category leaders will help the Marvel brand secure more retail support, increase the distribution of our products, and make Marvel a key franchise for our licensees." This strategy eliminates confusion in the marketplace, says Rothwell. "You don't have people undercutting each other to get the order, so you can get more of a marketing commitment from licensees."
Continued international expansion also is on Marvel's agenda. According to Rothwell, despite the fact that Marvel's brands are global, the company traditionally has been more North American driven. In 2004 Marvel opened offices in London and Tokyo and saw double the international business. "We also are looking at several international territories such as Latin America, South Korea, Malaysia, and India that up to this point we haven't focused on to the degree that we can," says Rothwell. Marvel also looks at tailoring its brands to certain territories. "We certainly want to protect the integrity of our brands overseas," says Rothwell, "but we have allowed local companies a bit more flexibility with characters." In Japan, for example, Spider-Man manga depicts the central character as a young boy.
"It is an exciting time for us at Marvel," says Rothwell. "We are an entrepreneurial company with a lot of talent and creativity. We sit, we talk, and we pull the trigger

[Silver Sable]

That article is so true :)

[iloveclones]

DBM found this article over at http://www.brokenfrontier.com/columns/details.php?id=228 Here's the full text for part 1:

Out of the Ashes of the Newsstand - Part I: RIP
Column, posted February 28, 2005
Archive



Before I hand the reins of OTB over, a quick note, originally I was scheduled to do a single-shot opinion piece this week. Unfortunately a number of things went on this week that just made it impossible to do it right, and you guys deserve much more than just a hacked out piece! So, since Will ‘Newsstand’ Norris has been doing such a great job and is ahead of schedule on OTB’s first multi-part, in-depth feature, I figured I would just get out of his way! So, without further ado… (C.)

Out of the Ashes of the Newsstand I: RIP

I am starting this article with a disclaimer. I am not an expert on the topic I’m about to discuss. I have a great interest in the industry and have studied it closely. I may be right on the mark, or I could miss it by a mile. The point is to think outside the box. Hopefully what I say gives others something to ponder, maybe even spark better ideas. Now on with the show…

How many times have you heard someone say, “If someone would put comics on the newsstand again, they would sell like gangbusters!”? Personally, I’ve heard it dozens of times. Before I started researching this article, I’d said it myself a dozen times. I couldn’t fathom why publishers wouldn’t want to take this avenue to grow their business. It seemed like a no-brainer. “Duh, publishers: get your act together!” is what I always thought.

But knowing what I know now, I stand corrected. My apologies to all the times I thought “Duh publishers!” They apparently knew what they were doing. Let me share with you what I have learned:

• Top selling magazines have a circulation of over two million issues per month; the top 2% have a 5+ million circulation.
• There are about 140,000 newsstand outlets carrying an average of 400 titles per outlet.
• In 2000, major magazine retailers earned an estimated $300 million in profits from magazines/periodicals.

So that doesn’t sound too bad, but that was the good news. Here is the rest of what I learned:

• In 2000, wholesalers collectively lost $100 million dollars.
• In 2000, 66% of titles dropped in newsstand circulation; the top 100 dropped by 8% and the rest by 12%. This was a steeper drop than in 1999.
• In 2002, 51% of titles dropped in newsstand circulation. The average decline was 22%.
• In 2004, AdAge.com reported that over 70% of titles had declining newsstand sales.
• In 2000, only 9% of titles had a sell-through greater than 50% (meaning that if 50 copies ship to a newsstand, 25 sell and 25 are returned). 64% of titles had a sell-through of less than 40%.
• In 2002, the average sell-through was 38%.
• In 2000, 78% of publishers/marketers surveyed believed sales would continue to decline for the foreseeable future. This was up from 50% in 1999.
• The newsstand is repeatedly cited as the single biggest challenge facing the magazine industry.

I could continue at length about problems facing the current newsstand system. There are even some experts who believe that in the next 5-10 years, the newsstand system will essentially be dead, except for the few magazines that can sell over two million issues each month. So, is putting comics back on the newsstand still a good idea?

It doesn’t sound like it to me. For example, let’s say Marvel publishes a million copies of Ultimate Fantastic Four each month for the newsstand. The data shows that 62% of those copies are likely to be returned for a full refund; that’s 620,000 issues! Even if Marvel only pays $.30 per issue to print and ship them, they loose $186,000 per month. With a $2.25 cover price, Marvel would only gross about $.90 an issue. Subtract production, printing and shipping costs and Marvel might make $.50 for each extra issue sold on the newsstand. This is a profit of $190,000. The result is a net gain of $4,000 for printing an extra million copies. This is all assuming there is no additional overhead, like paying the person in charge of issuing those refunds. This example also uses one of Marvel’s top sellers and more visible titles. How would a title like District X hold up in the same analysis?

Even with everything stacked in favor of a comic publisher, it’s at best a zero sum game. Factor in declining newsstand sales and sell-through rates and it is no surprise why comics aren’t on the newsstands. There is no money to be made there: more likely, there is money to be lost!

Enough doom and gloom though. I did say I had some ideas that were outside the box. Armed with some facts, I can understand why publishers don’t pursue the existing newsstand market. I had to let that idea go before I could move on to new ideas. Does this mean we should be frustrated and quit trying? No way! If the current system of newsstand distribution is broken, then it’s time to develop a new system!

In order to get comics back into the traditional retail outlet, the industry will need to be retailer-driven. To develop this new approach, we need to establish the needs of the traditional retailer, the requirements of the publisher, and finally, the requirements of a distributor.

My next installment will get to the meat and potatoes of this discussion… The Retailer!

- Will Norris

Footnote:
We want to be clear, we’re 100% supportive of Comic Book Retailers and this is not about replacing the Comics Stores out there. We all know one of our biggest challenges is dealing with the shrinking consumer base for comics, due to a rather insulated means of distributing. Really, how many non-comics fans walk into a comic shop?

This series is intended from the angle of providing comics as a whole a wider diversity of outlets, and perhaps a higher chance of attracting new fans, or lapsed fans back into the fold by getting comics out there and visible to a broader demographic. The Comic Book store, like a magazine store, will always still attract the major fans who want to have folders or boxes to make sure they don’t miss titles, want to find the best small press stuff, back issues, etc. As a matter of fact, my philosophy is that a wider distribution of comics would help the comic stores by ‘hooking’ fans who will then, inevitably, go looking for more! (C.)

[iloveclones]

Galactus always posts these numbers here,

http://www.superherohype.com/forums/showthread.php?t=142272&page=3

so I thought I'd make a link for anyone interested.

The pnly things I find interesting are:

New Avengers- like it or hate it, this gamble paid off for Marvel (for now anyway) I think you have to wait until sales level off to find out if this were a risk worth taking. And I find it hard to believe that it could have sales this high without a good portion of the old readers on board (again, for now). That was the only thing that really concerned me about this concept, that a good chunk of "established" readers would drop the title.

Amazing Spider-man- the risk that didn't pay off. I wasn't a harsh critic of this story, but it seems as though people are voting with their dollars. I've liked JMS's run, but I think it may be time to say bye-bye and concentrate on FF.

Spider-girl- Coming to a theater near you, "The Comic That Wouldn't DIE!" I have to admit, I stopped buying this around 65 or so and will probably start picking it up again because I addicted a friend's daughter to it. And that's why I think Marvel lets this title stick around. This is the demographic that they'd love to grow.

MTU- Really disappointed because I really like this title. Its drawing Spider-girl numbers but doesn't have the good reason to keep it around.

[Themanofbat]

MTU- Really disappointed because I really like this title. Its drawing Spider-girl numbers but doesn't have the good reason to keep it around.

Yep.. this is one good book ala old Marvel.... characters, continuity, references to past stories, etc...

But nowadays, people only seem to care about nice story "arcs" that wrap things up nice & neatly after the convenient 4 to 6 issues.

:(

[rubio]

Amazing Spider-man- the risk that didn't pay off. I wasn't a harsh critic of this story, but it seems as though people are voting with their dollars. I've liked JMS's run, but I think it may be time to say bye-bye and concentrate on FF.


MTU- Really disappointed because I really like this title. Its drawing Spider-girl numbers but doesn't have the good reason to keep it around.

Okay, lets see. ASM lost readers, so did MKSM, so did USM and Spectacular and so did almost every book in the top 100. Yet you single ASM out? I think your conclusions are incorrect. Okay, whatever but if you looked outside Spidey forum at Hype you'd notice the story was well liked in many places.

Agreed about MTU, those numbers are pretty low but hopefully enough to keep the title around.

[iloveclones]

Actually, because of the atmosphere there, I hardly spend any time in the Spidey forum.

Mostly I made this thread to talk about the cold, hard numbers, whether I like them or not. I certainly know that there were people that liked that story (I'm knda one of them), but you can't argue with the drop in sales after the arc. And I singled it out because that is the main title and the flagship of the company. AND it just had a blockbuster movie to help out. I'm one of the few that LIKED the clone saga (all of it), but I would be foolish enough to deny that a significant chunk of people didn't and STOPPED BUYING. I don't think this even comes close to that, but it might be the first signs of people dropping the title.

Again, I'm not saying it was a good or bad story (artistically), just talking about the numbers.

[euroq]

http://www.newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=29001



MARVEL RELEASES Q4 2004, 2004 YEAR END NUMBERS
Marvel this morning released its numbers for the fourth quarter of 2004 and the year ended December 31st, 2004. Overall, the Q4 numbers more than doubled compared to 2003. According to the company, its net income rose to $30.1 million, or 27 cents per share, from $13.5 million, or 12 cents per share, a year ago. Sales grew to $100.5 million from $85.7 million last year. Analysts were expecting sales of $86.8 million ($0.16 a share) in Q4 2004. Publishing was up 16% compared to Q4 2003.

The highlights, from Marvel’s release on the numbers:

-- Net sales and operating income increased primarily due to contributions from Marvel's joint venture (JV) with Sony for Spider-Man movie merchandising and to improved international licensing revenues.

-- A shift towards revenues in licensing in Q4 2004 led to company-wide operating margin of 41% compared to 31% in the prior year period.

-- A previously recorded valuation allowance associated with state and local NOL carryforwards was eliminated, resulting in a non-cash, non-recurring credit to income tax of approximately $6.2 million ($0.06 per share), reducing the Q4 2004 income tax rate to 12.7%.

-- 4Q 2004 reported EPS of $0.27 as compared to $0.12 in the prior year period.

From the release as well:


Marvel's Chairman, Morton Handel, commented, "Our strong 2004 operating results continue to reflect the expanding global power of the Marvel brand and an increase in consumer and media products based on our characters. Our consumer product division made tremendous progress during the year in further enhancing our portfolio of licensing relationships. This continuation of our category consolidation strategy, which focuses on teaming with leading partners, improves retail support and long-term sales potential. Of note, Marvel's growing global consumer brand supported a 100% increase in international licensing revenue contributions, to $28 million in 2004.

"Additionally, Marvel continues to make strides in extending our development pipeline for entertainment projects. In light of our success and the increased value of our brand, Marvel has been able to improve the economic terms for new media and consumer product projects. The Company is also moving aggressively into the animated television and DVD markets to increase the support for our brands on a worldwide basis.

"In publishing, following our previously stated strategic goals, we are entering new retail channels. Marvel recently reached a distribution agreement with 7-Eleven convenience stores to introduce marvel comic books, which are specifically designed and targeted at the important children demographic. Finally, our toy division's performance was acknowledged as it was named Wal-Mart's 'Import Vendor of the Year' for 2004."Breaking things down by division:

Licensing:

Net Sales

Q4 2004: An increase from $30 million in Q4 2003 to $56.7 million in Q4 2004.
Year 2004: An increase from $124.4 million in 2003 to $214.7 million in 2004.

Operating Income

Q4 2004: An increase from $10.2 million in Q4 2003 to $34.3 million in Q4 2004.
Year 2004: An increase from $83.2 million in 2003 to $152.7 million in 2004.

Publishing:

Net Sales

Q4 2004: An increase from $19.0 million in Q4 2003 to $22.1 million in Q4 2004.
Year 2004: An increase from $73.3 million in 2003 to $85.9 million in 2004.

Operating Income

Q4 2004: An increase from $7.2 million in Q4 2003 to $11.6 million in Q4 2004.
Year 2004: An increase from $24.4 million in 2003 to $37.3 million in 2004.

Toys:

Net Sales

Q4 2004: An decrease from $36.8 million in Q4 2003 to $21.8 million in Q4 2004.
Year 2004: An increase from $212.8 million in 2003 to $150 million in 2004.

Operating Income

Q4 2004: An decrease from $14.3 million in Q4 2003 to $2.9 million in Q4 2004.
Year 2004: An decrease from $77.9 million in 2003 to $58.1 million in 2004.

Total Net Sales:

Increased in both the quarter and year, from $85.7 million in Q4 2003 to $100.5 million in Q4 2004; and an increase from $347.6 million in 2003 to $513.5 million in 2004.

Total operating income also increased in both the quarter and year, from $26.6 million in Q4 2003 to $41.4 million in Q4 2004; and an increase from $167.2 million in 2003 to $224.4 million in 2004.

As usual, Marvel’s report gives somewhat short shrift to its publishing division, and this report is no different. From the report:

“Marvel's Publishing Segment net sales rose 16% to $22.1 million due to strength in core comic and trade paperbacks as well as growth in new mass-market retail chains. Marvel experienced slight increases in both the number of comic book titles shipped and the average circulation per title in Q4 2004 compared to the prior year period. Excluding the benefit of reductions in reserves, operating income in Q4 2004 would have been $9.9 million, an operating margin of 44%, compared to an operating margin of 38% in the prior-year period.”

Of note in the above is the report that Marvel saw increases both in the number of titles shipped as well as circulation per title in Q4 2004, a change from earlier in 2004, when the publisher saw an increase in the number of titles published, but a decrease in the total circulation.

Marvel’s main revenue engine, of course (as with any company whose assets are mainly intellectual property) continues to be licensing, as shown in the 89% in Q4 2004 versus Q3 of 2003, due mainly, as the company said, to its deal with joint venture with Sony and international licensing. Marvel’s consolidation of licensees also is paying off, as the company reported that $29.2 million of the licensing gross sales of Q4 2004 was due to such pulling products together under one licensee.

Also of major importance for the company was the 168% increase in international licensing between Q4 2003 and Q4 2004. The company noted that it expects this segment to grow substantially, due to the efforts of its relatively new international offices.

Marvel’s continuing challenge though remains its toy division, as Toy Biz seems to be firmly under the pendulum swing of property popularity, that is, revenues are up (sometimes way up) when a popular movie is out, down (sometimes way down) when there’s no tie-in movie for toys to be linked. Quarter-to-quarter comparisons exhibit this effect the most, such as the decrease seen between Q4 2004 and Q4 2003 ($21.8 million versus $36.8 million), but the effect is somewhat moderated when comparing the yearly numbers, as up quarters moderate the effect of the down quarters, toy-wise. As such Marvel showed an increase in toys as a segment between 2003 – 2004, from $149.9 million in 2003 to $212.8 million in 2004, attributable mostly due to an increase in 2004’s net sales, i.e., the Spider-Man effect.

From Marvel’s release:

“Marvel's Toy Segment net sales decreased 41% to $21.8 million from the prior-year period primarily due to decreased sales of action figures and accessories based on the Lord of The Rings franchise and The Hulk movies. Spider-Man movie toy sales were $14.2 million in Q4 2004 compared with sales of $11.3 million in Q4 2003. As previously disclosed, a planned increase in advertising and promotion expense ahead of the 2004 holiday season, coupled with lower sales volumes, resulted in a year-over-year decline in the operating margins for the toy division from 39% in Q4 2003 to 13% in Q4 2004. Full year 2004 sales of Spider-Man movie toys were $175.3 million, slightly ahead of guidance of $160 million to $170 million. Marvel toy inventory was only $1.3 million at year-end.”

Also if interest in the report, by moving its offices, Marvel had to pay a $4 million charge for the early termination of its lease, but according to the company, its new lease will generate an annual savings of $1.5 million a year.

At the end of 2004, Marvel had cash and equivalents of $205 million.

As with its reports, Marvel updated investors on its upcoming movie slate. Notable feature development news: X-Men 3 is targeted for a summer, 2006 release; Iron Man is still targeted for 2006; as are Luke Cage, The Punisher 2, and Deathlok. Marvel’s movies for 2007 include: Spider-Man 3 (May 4th), Namor, The Hulk 2, and Wolverine.

Other film projects in development include Ant-Man, Black Panther, Captain America, Nick Fury, Silver Surfer, and Thor. Animated direct to video projects include: The Avengers 1, The Avengers 2, Iron Man, and a yet-unnamed project, all due in 2006 as part of Marvel’s partnership with Lion’s Gate.

The Fantastic Four animated series is due in 2006, while Blade and Brother Voodoo are live action television projects in development.

In regards to video game releases starring the company’s properties, Spider-Man and Friends is due this quarter, while Fantastic Four is due in Q2, Ultimate Spider-Man and Hulk: Ultimate Destruction in Q3 and X-Men Legends II, and Marvel vs. EA in Q4. No mention was made of the reported Marvel MMORPG that is in development.

In regards to guidance for 2005, the company said that licensing is expected to be responsible for 50% of total sales for the year. Other major factors in the company’s 2005 forecast include:

-- Ongoing contributions from the Spider-Man 2 feature film.

-- Contributions from the syndication of the first Spider-Man feature film as well as an advance for the Spider-Man movie expected to release in 2007.

-- Approximately $20 million in license revenue to be derived from the Spider-Man joint venture.

-- The Fantastic Four movie release and related licensing, as well as licensing associated with other entertainment projects slated for 2005 or thereafter, noted above.

-- An estimated $80 million of wholesale sales of Fantastic Four toys by our master toy licensee.

-- Domestic license renewals, including category consolidation efforts, which should exceed $60 million.

-- Domestic licensing overages of $35 million (compared to $37 million in 2004).

-- International licensing revenues in excess of $30 million.

-- Modest top line and bottom line growth from the publishing division.

-- The benefit of interest income versus interest expense incurred in 2004, coupled with a lower average fully diluted share count, reflecting stock repurchases in 2004.

-- Additional expense of $4 million in the second half related to the new accounting required for stock options.

Marvel held a conference call for investors at 9:00 am EST Monday to discuss the report and answer questions.

Topics covered:

The Fantastic Four trailer will be in front of Star Wars Episode III and Batman Begins.

X3 is slated for a May 22nd, 2006 release (Memorial Day), although that may change.

Marvel’s Avi Arad reiterated what he had mentioned at the Bear Stearns conference last week, saying that Elektra was rushed, and as a whole, didn’t work.

As a franchise, Fantastic Four will have the most number of toys of any Marvel toy push in recent years. This is due mainly to there being four main characters.

After seeing weak openings for Blade: Trinity and The Punisher, Marvel will be more careful about placing its films against competition in the future.

As for the Lions’ Gate DVD deal, the studio will provide all the production funding, while Marvel will have final say on the creative aspects.

[Gambit8370]

There is an error in the Toys Net Sales data.

Toys:

Net Sales

Q4 2004: An decrease from $36.8 million in Q4 2003 to $21.8 million in Q4 2004.
Year 2004: An increase from $212.8 million in 2003 to $150 million in 2004.
It says "increase" when it should say "decrease".

Go figure...:rolleyes:

[iloveclones]

Obviously, another graduate from the Arthur Anderson school of accounting.....

[Gambit8370]

It was probably just written by B...

Nah I won't go there. :D

[iloveclones]

Read you prospectus' again knowing what you know about Enron!

[DBM]

Little bit of something that's good.

http://www.comicon.com/thebeat/archives/2005/03/marvel_profits.html

[DBM]

These two articles aren't about Marvel in particular but are about the business of comics in general.

http://www.brokenfrontier.com/columns/details.php?id=228
http://www.brokenfrontier.com/columns/details.php?id=233&PHPSESSID=aa86db123889263a3e0943c6451f52ef

[euroq]

http://www.icv2.com/articles/indepth/6540.html


http://www.icv2.com/images/decor/1pixel.gif Jim Brocius of Cosmic Comics on Marvels in 7-11
'Stand-alone Stories the Key to Success'
March 08, 2005



Jim Brocius of Cosmic Comics in Las Vegas, Nevada saw the news that Marvel comics will now be available in 6,000 7-11 stores (see "Marvel Widens Distribution (http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/6519.html)"), and is concerned about whether the content will fit the channel:



In the last 40 years I have bought hundreds of comic collections from hundreds of people. When I was a kid I knocked on every door of every house in my neighborhood to see if the occupants had any comics they were interested in trading for chores. I found comics and other assorted reading materials in every single house (and I mowed a lot of lawns and pulled a lot of weeds and swept a lot of driveways). All the periodicals I obtained had a commonality about them - there were no runs of anything. Indeed, finding three issues in a row of anything was a rarity in the extreme. There would be Worlds Finest #124, #128 and #133, along with the March, July and October Reader's Digest mixed in with the January, April and September Good Housekeeping. What this means is that most people (excluding the far and few between comic addicts such as myself), although readers, were casual readers. Evidence of this was borne out again and again.



The thing is you could be a casual reader of comics then. Absent the continued never-ending stories of today, you could plunk down your 12 cents and walk away with a satisfying reading experience. While you can still be a casual reader of Readers Digest or Good Housekeeping, there is no casual satisfying reading experience possible today with Worlds Finest (read: Superman/Batman).



The 7-11 market, indeed the entire market outside direct distribution (again, with the exception of a very small percentage of addicts) has not and will not embrace the concept of the continued stories. If that were not the case then we'd be seeing continued stories in all the other periodicals. We don't see them. The publishing world has experimented with the format and found it wanting.



Now, I believe comics to be a viable medium in the mass market, just not in the serial format which dominates the direct market. The mass market demands self-contained content. If Marvel (or DC, or anyone else) wants to be successful in the mass market they need to recognize the need to abandon the continued story structure in favor of the self-contained unit which the vast majority of the market prefers. Stand-alone stories are the key to success in the mass market. I hope Marvel is aware of this but I fear they are not. I wish them luck, because if they try pushing continued stories in 7-11 they're going to need it.



The opinions expressed in this Talk Back article are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.

[Gambit8370]

He's right.

7-11 customers who are new to comics won't be fans of decompression writing where the story does not progress much from beginning to end of a single comic (see Bendis on DD, Jones on Hulk).

[iloveclones]

I was reading through the second part of the News-stand column, and was trying to think of a better type of display. This is an 'out-of-the-box' type solution, and possibly too expensive, but here it is anyway: I was thinking about Toys 'R' Us and how they have those scanners throughout the store so you could get the price on any piece of merchandise by scanning it yourself, and also how a lot of music stores allow you to listen to previews of albums using the same method. What if they kept the comics in the nice plastic cover that we all know and love, but you could scan it and read a partial preview on a monitor. Maybe even as much as half of the comic. This way, while mom is shopping at Target, little Johnny can occupy himself over in the comic section plopped in front of the monitor. Little Johnny then bugs mommy to purchase said comic(s), because life will end as we know it if he doesn't find out what happens. Hopefully, mommy won't drop dead of a heart attack at the price. Some more business savvy people could explain to me the drawbacks.

[Head>On<Collider]

Good thread, I'll come back later and contribute as soon as I've got the time!

[euroq]

From Buzzscope (http://buzzscope.com/features.php?id=914) (formerly known as Popcultureshock), a former long-time Marvel editor Jim Salicrup talks about Marvel's move to 7-Eleven.


Thank Heaven for 7-Eleven


When Marvel Editor-in-Chief, Joe Quesada, recently spoke at Danny Fingeroth's Inside the Comic Creator's Studio seminar series at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (http://www.moccany.org/), I was surprised at how many audience members asked him about the recent announcement that Marvel Comics would again be distributed through 6,000 7-Eleven stores. As someone who makes his living working in the comicbook industry, I knew it was big news, but who knew how interested comics fans would be?

Folks have been foretelling the death of comicbooks for as long as I can remember, and we have come frighteningly close in recent years, so such positive signs as this 7-Eleven/Marvel deal are very, very encouraging. Just think of it, 6,000 new outlets - that's about three times the amount of existing direct sales comicbook stores. The possibilities presented here are staggering. For example, and here's something that would have a direct impact on the comic-buying budgets of all Marvel fans, the price of new comics could conceivably go down. The major reason comics cost so much now, is lack of sales, stemming from a serious lack of distribution. Back when the big comicbook bust came in the 90s, the direct market lost every distributor but one and over 3,000 comicbook shops closed forever. In order to stay in business the comicbook publishers were forced to raise prices to survive. With the possibility of selling greater volume, it's not inconceivable that Marvel's cover price could come down to $2.00 or less.

Yet because of the still-fragile health of the industry, it's with guarded optimism that I greet the 7-Eleven news. I spent two thirds of my thirty years in comics working for Marvel, so I'd like to see them do well. Now, as both a comics fan and an editor for a small comics and graphic novel publisher (www.papercutz.com (http://buzzscope.com/link.php?link=http://www.papercutz.com)) I'm rooting for this deal to succeed. Anything that makes comics available to a wider audience is good for comics in general. In that spirit, here are few suggestions to Marvel that they may want to consider…

1) At this early point, I'm certainly not privy to Marvel's marketing plans, but word has leaked out that Marvel plans to primarily sell its line of Marvel Adventure titles through the 7-Elevens. The theory is that these books are more accessible to new readers than Marvel's other titles. I don't quite understand this. Ever since Joe Quesada took over as Marvel Editor-in-Chief, hasn't he worked to make every title more first reader-friendly? Wouldn't it make more sense to put your very best titles out there? Whether it's the Ultimate line or the original Marvel Universe titles, wouldn't that be the way to go? Why squander this opportunity on a line of books that haven't been embraced by your primary (direct sales) market?

2) If the response to my first suggestion is that the regular Marvel line, or even the Ultimate line, is considered too continuity heavy for new readers, then I think that's insane. This bit of "conventional wisdom" really bugs me. Just look at the best-selling titles of the last few years, and you'll see that the so-called continuity heavy titles and crossovers dominate the sales charts. And look how many prime time TV series have gotten on board with continuity heavy storylines. Is there a single dramatic series on HBO that isn't a continuing serial? The point is, it's not the continuity, it's the quality of the actual writing. With writers such as Joss Whedon, J. Michael Straczynski, and Brian Michael Bendis on their top titles, why limit their potential audience?

3) If on the other hand, it's a question of presenting only all-age friendly content to this audience, then I have a few more suggestions. First, I'd suggest Marvel to rethink its position regarding the Comics Code Authority. Marvel has more than enough political weight to get the Code to revise its outdated all-or-nothing approach and adopt a ratings system similar to what Marvel currently has. Marvel has the right idea, they just do a very poor job of explaining what their ratings mean. I have no idea what "PSR" means, and there's no clue anywhere inside the comics themselves. The current system of differing ratings systems for different publishers is precarious at best. The Comics Code could be a very valuable tool for the comics industry, especially for manga publishers, and Marvel has the clout to make such a positive change possible. Further, there's no reason Marvel couldn't produce, like the movie and music industries do, cleaned-up versions of their top-sellers. For people who want their Marvel Comics in their original "uncensored" states, they'll have plenty of direct sales stores or online suppliers, such as our good friends at Mid-Town Comics to go to. But just as movie studios edit films for airlines and broadcast television, and record companies re-mix CDs for K-Mart and Wal-Mart, I see no reason why Marvel couldn't edit certain titles to reach a larger audience.

4) Less pin-up style covers. If Marvel really wants to reach a larger audience, let's see more covers that actually reflect the individual comic's contents. Yes, a cover featuring a well-drawn Spider-Man on a rooftop is nice every now and then, but hey - it doesn't hurt to feature the hero in jeopardy, or even in battle with a super-villain. There certainly have been some fine examples of such covers by some of Marvel's top artists in recent years, so let's just see more!

5) Finally, bring back Bullpen Bulletins and letters pages. If a new reader does pick up a Marvel comic for the first time, these pages can help tremendously to welcome him into the fold. A Bullpen Bulletins-style page can cross-promote the other Marvel titles on sale at 7-Eleven, and the letters page can provide further reasons to come back for the next issue, with a well-written next issue blurb.

I do have another idea for Marvel and their new 7-Eleven distribution deal, but I'm going to save that one for next week. In the meantime, I'm going to dig out my collection of plastic Marvel 7-Eleven Slurpee cups and drink a toast to the success of Marvel's latest venture.

Cheers! Or should that be -- Excelsior!

[TheCorpulent1]

Wow, what a crappy name change. Pop Culture Shock was much better. :(

It'd be cool if they just did away with Marvel Adventures altogether, since it'll inevitably confuse readers who pick up on them and want to get into the "real" Marvel comics later, but the fact that they're selling anything out of 7-11s again is good.

[Dread]

Marvel Age will fail in sales for the same reason DC's lines of cartoon-based books don't sell terribly well; most kids don't think of themselves as kids and know when a book is being geared for kids. They often would find it "for babies" and want to get in on the real stuff. That's what should return to newsstands, Toy's R Us and other related stores.

In the 90's I saw Toys R Us selling packs of random Marvel/DC comics for a set price, and I wonder how well those sold.

[TheCorpulent1]

I bought a few of those. They were pretty sweet.

[euroq]

http://www.icv2.com/articles/home/6760.html


Marvel Leads Licensing Growth
In 2004 Rankings
April 22, 2005

Marvel Enterprises was the most dramatic gainer in the annual License Magazine list of the Leading Licensors in 2004, moving from #69 in 2003 to #4 last year. The worldwide retail sales of its licensed products rose from $189 million to $4 billion. In addition to building licensing streams around its movies, Marvel plans to develop sub-brands, including Spider-Man and Friends for pre-schoolers, and Marvel Babies for infants. Marvel is also targeting specific international markets for 05, including Latin America, Sourth Korea, Malaysia, and India.



Disney and Warner Bros. Consumer Products continued in the top two slots, with Warner Bros. movie and TV lines, many of them based on DC Comics characters, providing strong prospects for '05.


Nickelodeon/Viacom Consumer Products is #3, and Sanrio (Hello Kitty) is #5 in a tie with Marvel. Other notable companies with pop culture retail implications in the top 25 include 4Kids at #9 (Yu-Gi-Oh!, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, One Piece), and Pokemon USA at #24.

[iloveclones]

Marvel Enterprises was the most dramatic gainer in the annual License Magazine list of the Leading Licensors in 2004, moving from #69 in 2003 to #4 last year. The worldwide retail sales of its licensed products rose from $189 million to $4 billion.

That's a little bit of a jump, isn't it? Just to put those numbers in a little broader perspective, here's the top 20 with descriptions for the first 10:


1. Disney Consumer Products
Worldwide ◆ $15 B Andy Mooney,
Chairman (818) 567-5947
Disney Consumer Products (DCP) will further expand programs
for core brands Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh, Disney Princess,
and Power Rangers and introduce new properties That’s So
Raven, W.I.T.C.H., JoJo’s Circus, and Baby Einstein. Efforts to
broaden exposure for Mickey Mouse include appearances as the
Grand Marshall for the 2005 Tournament of Roses Parade and
the Cherry Blossom Parade in Washington, D.C., as well as a new
Disney Channel television program targeted at the preschool set
planned for 2006. Pooh’s Heffalump feature film—in theaters
February 2005—introduced a new character, Lumpy, to the 100
Acre Wood for the first time in 40 years. Additional Pooh television
specials and direct-to-video releases are planned in 2005.
Disney Princess will benefit from the platinum-DVD release of
Cinderella. A new line of Cinderella consumer products will
launch in 2005 as an incremental Disney Princess program
across all major retailers. Other initiatives: refresh and introduce
new items to the food and consumer electronics categories while
introducing a new infant electronics business. ✯

2. Warner Bros. Consumer
Products ◆ $6 B Karen McTier, EVP,
Domestic Licensing, Global Toys, Publishing, &
Themed Entertainment (818) 954-3008; Jordan
Sollitto, EVP, Worldwide Marketing and International
Licensing (818) 954-7807
Warner Bros. Consumer Products (WBCP) kicks off 2005 with
a stable of theatrical and television properties. Delivering more
Batman action than ever, WBCP will capture the essence of the
Caped Crusader in all his forms with a product line inspired by
this summer’s theatrical release, Batman Begins; Warner Bros.
Animation’s television series, The Batman; and classic Batman,
straight from the pages of DC Comics. WBCP will satisfy
consumers’ sweet tooth with the magical world of Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory. Merchandise based on Harry Potter and the
Goblet of Fire is sure to cast a spell on fans. Tim Burton’s stopmotion
animated fantasy film, Corpse Bride, will be supported by
a creative product line. Television continues to be a growing,
asset-rich part of WBCP’s portfolio with such series as Hi Hi
Puffy AmiYumi, Justice League, Krypto the Superdog, Teen
Titans, Codename: Kids Next Door, and Scooby-Doo. ✯

3. Nickelodeon & Viacom
Consumer Products ◆ $4.75 B
Leigh Anne Brodsky, President (212) 846-7066
Nickelodeon Consumer Products has a new name: Nickelodeon
& Viacom Consumer Products, and an expanded roster of
responsibilities that include merchandising for Nickelodeon,
Paramount movies and TV properties, Spike TV, Comedy Central,
and MTV International—all with a greater emphasis on global
brand management. New Nick Jr. series LazyTown gets support
from master toy licensee Fisher-Price with products due for fall
’05. Lifestyle ’tween brand everGirl gains shelf presence with dolls
and doll accessories from Playmates, activity kits from GiddyUp!,
a board game from Cardinal Industries, and exclusive apparel and
accessories at Kohl’s. As licensing agent for Holly Hobbie, the
company plans to reintroduce adult-based products for spring ’05
for specialty stores. New kid-targeted brand Holly Hobbie and
Friends launches as an entertainment and merchandising
property in 2006. New venture Nickelodeon Records expands
the line with a Kids Choice compilation and sound track for Drake
& Josh. The first-ever Nickelodeon Family Suites by Holiday Inn
opens Memorial Day in Orlando, FL. Upcoming movies:
Charlotte’s Web and Barnyard for Nickelodeon Movies; War of
the Worlds for Paramount Pictures. Also from Paramount: a new
line of licensed merchandise based on The Godfather franchise
led by a new Godfather video game from EA Games. ✯

4. Marvel Enterprises ◆ $4 B
Tim Rothwell, President, Marvel Worldwide
Consumer Products Media Group (310) 234-8171;
Bruno Maglione, President, Marvel International
+44 207 025 8401
From a theatrical standpoint, integrated licensing programs are
being built around such properties as Fantastic Four (Fox) in
summer 2005; X-Men 3 (Fox), Iron-Man (New Line), and Ghost
Rider (Sony), all scheduled for 2006; and Spider-Man 3 (Sony)
and Sub-mariner in 2007. The company also is focused on continuing
to leverage its classic character licensing business and
supporting multi-character sub-brands it has developed including
Marvel Heroes, the preschool-targeted Spider-Man and
Friends, and the infant-geared Marvel Babies. A core overall
strategy will be to continue to consolidate license subcategories
with category leaders that can help maximize awareness,
distribution, and retail support for the Marvel brand. On the
international front, Marvel will look to expand its presence in Latin
America, South Korea, Malaysia, and India. ✯

5. Sanrio ◆ $4 B (est.)
Bruce Giuliano, SVP, Licensing (310) 523-1705
A few of Hello Kitty’s friends will join her on licensed
scatter-brained Chococat (1996), cheerful fawn Deery Lou
(2002), and longtime favorite My Melody (1976). The initial offering
will consist of T-shirts, underwear, and accessories, followed
by other soft and hard goods. Hello Kitty will enter the luxe market
with co-branded partners such as Judith Leiber with signature
pieces including a minaudiere and other small accessories. The
newest partner is Kimora Lee Simmons & Simmons Jewelry Co.
The “Hello Kitty Collection by Kimora Lee Simmons” is a line of
fine jewelry due at upscale department stores for summer 2006.
The collection includes earrings, pendants, charm bracelets, and
necklaces with diamonds and precious and semi-precious
stones. Other co-branded collections include the limited-edition
Hello Kitty Nokia phone, launched in January 2005. ✯

6. Cherokee Group ◆ $3.5 B (est.)
Robert Margolis, Chairman & CEO
(818) 908-9868
The Cherokee brand continues to expand throughout Mexico,
Europe, the Eastern Block, and parts of Asia. The Sideout
brand expands in China, while Carole Little and St. Tropez
West grow in the U.S. The company will continue to expand
these brands worldwide as it seeks to further develop All That
Jazz and Chorus Line in the U.S. House Beautiful and Latina
will launch in the U.S. Brand representations include Hot Kiss,
Garanimals, Steven Cojocaru “Cojo,” Popular Mechanics, and
Essence. Cherokee Group continues to explore brand acquisitions
and representations. ✯

7. Major League Baseball ■ $3.5 B
Howard Smith, SVP, Licensing; Steve Armus,
VP, Soft Goods; Colin Hagen, VP, Hard Goods
(212) 931-7900
As part of its MLB Authentic Collection, Majestic Athletic
becomes the official uniform supplier to all 30 MLB clubs and
will introduce a new outerwear program. 2005 also will see
the introduction of Nike Pro Performance apparel. MLB will
continue to market to core fans, as well as continue to reach
casual fans through the Access to the Show marketing program,
which last year partnered with Projekt Revolution and
the Finish Line to create a national promotional platform. Other
goals: continue to focus on the women’s and kids’ apparel
businesses; remain committed to the trading card business
and baseball card collecting with a national marketing
campaign; introduce a back-to-school product assortment
and in-store merchandising while also expanding the memorabilia
category through continued growth and awareness of the
MLB Authentication program. ✯

8. National Football League ■ $3.4 B
Mark Holtzman, SVP, Consumer Products
(212) 450-2000
NFL Equipment (produced by Reebok) and women’s and children’s
product are expected to drive significant growth in 2005.
As part of the 10-year NFL-Reebok partnership, Reebok outfits
all 32 NFL clubs with on-field uniforms and sideline apparel.
Other apparel partners: G-III, Outerstuff, VF Imagewear, Riddell,
and Wilson. Electronic Arts, Microsoft, and Sony fuel video
games, while Fleer, Fotoball, MBI, The Topps Co., Playoff, and
Upper Deck score in trading cards and memorabilia. ✯

9. 4Kids Entertainment (Licensing Agent) ◆
$3 B
* (est.) Alfred R. Kahn, Chairman & CEO
(212) 758-7666
Yu-Gi-Oh! maintains a leading position in the ratings and the
marketplace with new trading cards, toys, and video games.
Since its reintroduction, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has
gained more than 75 licensees and now is among the top three
male action properties at major U.S. retailers. New TMNT products
will continue to launch this year. The relaunched Cabbage
Patch Kids were one of the must-have holiday gifts of 2004. In
2005, CPK “babies” and lifestyle merchandise begin rolling out.
Girls are a focus with support for Mew Mew Power and Winx
Club. A new trading card game is on tap for Winx Club in the
first half of ’05. Magical Do Re Mi, another action-adventure
show for girls, is expected to join the 4Kids TV lineup in 2005.
Pokémon FireRed/Pokémon LeafGreen were among the topselling
video games of 2004. New Pokémon toys and softlines
are due in spring and fall ’05. Nintendo classic characters are a
hit in softlines and accessories. One Piece merchandise is due
to launch in fall 2005/spring 2006. ✯
*Estimated worldwide sales for brands including product categories not represented by 4Kids
Entertainment.

10. National Basketball Association■ $3 B Sal LaRocca, SVP,
Global Merchandising Group (212) 407-8000
The NBA’s merchandise business remains strong despite the
decline in popularity of retro apparel. The league reached a $125
million agreement with Spalding for the largest equipment deal in
sports history and announced a comprehensive electronic
games strategy. The NBA was the first sports league to develop
mass-market programs with Wal-Mart and Target, and initial
sales indications are positive. With the growing global popularity
of the NBA and the increase of foreign-born players on current
team rosters, the percentage of business outside the U.S. has
risen to 25 percent of total sales. The NBA has seen strong sales
increases in Europe with Champion, New Era, and Unk; in Asia
with Reebok apparel; and in Latin America with new non-apparel
licensees. The NBAStore.com launched three new foreign language
online stores in two versions of Chinese, Japanese, and
Spanish. In December 2004, the NBA Store achieved records in
daily, weekly, and monthly sales; units sold; and number of visitors.
Key business drivers include the continued popularity of the game
as All-Stars such as Shaquille O’Neal, Tracy McGrady, and Vince
Carter changed teams; the emergence of young players such as
LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Amare Stoudemire; and the
play of new teams such as the Phoenix Suns, Seattle
SuperSonics, and Washington Wizards. ✯

11. General Motors ◆ $2.9 B
12. The Collegiate Licensing
Company ■ $2.8
Mattel Brands Inc. ◆ $2.4 B

13. United Media ◆ $2.4
14. HIT Entertainment ◆ $2.2 B
15. NASCAR ■ $2.1 B (est.)
16. Westinghouse ◆ $1.9 B (est.)
17. Universal Studios Consumer
18. National Hockey League ■ $1.5 B
*Due to the current labor dispute, the NHL could not provide updated sales numbers.
19. Liz Claiborne ◆ $1.4 B (est.)
20. 20th Century Fox Licensing &
Merchandising ◆ $1.4 B

[euroq]

http://www.newsarama.com/marketreport/MvlDCShowdown.htm


While online fandom is taking sides and placing bets on who will win the upcoming summer sales derby between Marvel and DC, Marvel Comics may just be making that they're actually the Secretariat of this two-horse field.

Most readers that follow the sales charts fully expect a summer showdown at the top part of the chart. Books like All-Star Batman & Robin and Superman, Green Lantern, and the various Countdown to Infinite Crisis titles going head-to-head with New Avengers, the Ultimate titles, the remaining issues of Astonishing X-Men’s first year, and of course, the sprawling House of M.

But a closer look at Diamond March Market Share report indicates DC appears to have a tough road ahead making up their rival's considerable lead in the overall sales race.

According to the publisher, Marvel's 48.96% market "Unit Share" (the percentage of raw books sold) and 41.6% dollar share (percentage of dollars generated for all products sold) for actual March 2005 sales (as reported by Diamond Distributors) are the highest and second highest shares recorded by Marvel or any comic book publisher in at least seven years.

If going by Diamond's publicly released monthly sales charts going back to April 1998 (the earliest chart available in Diamond's online archives) is an accurate indication, Marvel may have a compelling case.

According to the charts reviewed by Newsarama, in June 2004 Marvel scored a rather anomalous 45.49% in dollar share, its highest ever dollar share percentage, with March's 41.6% being the second highest. And apparently no publisher - including Marvel - has achieved higher than a 48.96% unit share during that 04/98 to 03/05 timeframe, a full 7-year period.

"From a combined dollar-share and unit-share standpoint, March 2005 was our best month in years," Marvel Publisher Dan Buckley told Newsarama. "Our creators, working with our superb editorial staff, are producing simply phenomenal work. We couldn't be prouder."

According to Newsarama's review, Marvel's closest month came in January 2004 when they scored a 48.20% unit share, the highest publisher percentage until last month.

The publisher also told Newsarama the percentage "spreads" between Marvel and DC in March 2005 (the difference between their market shares) of 20.64 percentage points in unit share (48.96 vs. 28.32%) and 15.91 in dollar share (41.60 vs. 25.69%) respectively are historical highs. This was also confirmed by Newsarama.

Industry followers may note that prior to December 2001 Diamond only reported sales based on retailer "Initial Orders" (which didn't account for advanced reorders or reorders, a relative DC strength), as opposed to Actual Sales. Between 12/01 and 12/02 Diamond reported sales charts based on both methods, until phasing out the Initial Order chart altogether as of January 2002.

However, prior this time and due to a variety of factors - including a post-bankruptcy weakened Marvel and the fact that publishers like Image and Dark Horse were grabbing much larger market share percentages than they are currently - Marvel and DC rarely opened up large Initial Order leads on one another in either the dollar or unit percentage category. It's very unlikely (though unconfirmed) that prior to December 2001 either publisher recorded the sort of Actual Sales market share percentages or spreads registered last month.

Either way, any publisher accounting for almost 50% of the number of comics and graphic novels sold in one month is rare and perhaps unprecedented territory in the contemporary single distributor/Diamond era.

March 2005 also drifted into uncharted waters in terms of the make-up of Diamond’s Top 25.

Though giving up the top spot to the $1.00 Countdown to Infinite Crisis and the #7 position to Superman #214 and fueled in part by the six issues of their X-Men: Age of Apocalypse event that all shipped in March, Marvel claimed 23 of the top 25 books for the month, also a high-water mark going back to at least April 1998.

Only again in January 2004 when Marvel scored 22 of the top 25 has any one publisher took as many of the top 25 chart positions as Marvel did last month.

Both Marvel and DC can only hope March 2005 will be the beginning on precedent setting spring/summer season in a number of ways. Though retailers and all publishers not named Marvel or DC can only hope the big two’s escalating market shares are achieved through increased sales and driving new customers into comic shops, as opposed to just grabbing a larger share of the same static reader base.

[euroq]

http://www.newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=32676



MARVEL: FROM COMIC PUBLISHER TO MOVIE PRODUCTION HOUSE

According to Variety, Paramount is throwing its hat in the superhero movie ring with Marvel, signing an exclusive distribution deal with the company for upcoming movies based on the publisher’s characters. 10 films are in the pipe as a result of the deal, including Captain America and Nick Fury.

What will be different with these films and this relationship is that Paramount will distribute the films to theaters – Marvel will produce, which will be a new stage for the company to enter into. The deal will put virtually full creative control back into Marvel’s hands, as theirs will be the money being put up for the projects. Likewise, the possible return for Marvel on these films will be significantly higher than on other projects which were produced by studios other than Marvel.

To do thism Marvel has already amassed a production war chest of around $500 million, which will the company to produce a slate of movies based on characters which already don’t have deals in the works (the 4,700 – 5,000 characters Marvel touts in its press releases). To fund the films, Marvel has established a $525 million revolving credit facility with Merrill Lynch Commercial Finance Corporation. The credit was secured against the movie rights to 10 Marvel characters, including Captain America.

As a result, Paramount will not have to put up any money for production, but instead, will be paid by Marvel for marketing and distributing the initial 10 films.

Reportedly, budgets for the upcoming films may range as high as $180 million. The first movie of the deal (yet unnamed) is slated to hit in two years, according to the trade, and all the films will be rated PG or PG-13 to ensure the largest audience.

Some observers are comparing Marvel's move akin to something that puts the company on smiliar footing as Pixar. While Marvel does not have it's own studio in which to shoot the films, both companies own a profitable collection of characters, produce their own films, and (now) see them distributed by larger studios.

Marvel's press release for the deal reads:

Marvel Enterprises, Inc. and Paramount Pictures, a part of the entertainment operations of Viacom, Inc. (NYSE: VIA and VIAB) announced that they have entered into an agreement under which Paramount will distribute a slate of feature films to be produced by Marvel. Marvel also announced a new, non-recourse financing facility to be provided by Merrill Lynch Commercial Finance Corp. that will allow the company to produce its own slate of feature films based on its renowned comic book characters.

"We are excited to be building our own film slate, and to be doing so using non-recourse financing," said Avi Arad, Chairman and CEO, Marvel Studios. "Paramount Pictures has the most collaborative and creative team in the business to help us market our films. Under its new leadership, we've found Paramount to be exceptional in every way and look forward to working together for a long, long time."

"Marvel has become a marquee entertainment brand," said Brad Grey, Chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures. "It speaks to Marvel's strength in the marketplace and the great popularity of its brand and characters that Marvel can obtain such innovative financing for its film slate. We are thrilled to partner with them in this new venture."

Marvel has obtained a financing commitment from Merrill Lynch Commercial Finance Corp. for a $525 million non-recourse revolving credit facility over seven years to permit Marvel to fund the production of its film slate. The facility will be secured by the theatrical and motion picture production and distribution rights for ten Marvel characters. The non-recourse element of the structure limits Marvel's cash risk to un-reimbursed development costs and general incremental overhead.

Marvel expects that producing its own slate of films will permit it to obtain greater participation in all revenue streams related to its films and the opportunity to begin building its own film library. The finance structure will also allow Marvel to receive a producer fee for each film and retain all merchandising revenues. Paramount will receive a distribution fee for each film it distributes and will retain worldwide distribution rights in sequels to the films covered under the agreement.

The distribution agreement between Paramount and Marvel specifies that Marvel may deliver up to ten films to Paramount over an eight-year period, with the first titles including "Captain America" and "Nick Fury." Marvel's budgets for each film may range from $45 million to $180 million. The first picture is expected to be released in 2007 or 2008. Paramount will not contribute to production costs, although it will provide advance funding of promotion and advertising for the films.

Marvel's financing is subject to numerous contingencies, including
the negotiation of definitive financing and distribution agreements. There is no assurance that the financing will be completed.

Relativity Management, Inc. assisted Marvel with the structuring of the financing.

So Marvel will get more creative control over their movies, bigger profits and of course, bigger risks.

[euroq]

http://www.newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=32677


MARVEL, LEE SETTLE

Press Release

Marvel and Stan Lee Settle All Outstanding Litigation

Marvel Enterprises, Inc. announced today that it has settled all pending litigation with Stan Lee. The settlement agreement covers the lawsuit filed by Mr. Lee in November 2002 in which Mr. Lee claimed entitlement, under an agreement with Marvel, to a participation in Marvel's profits from various sources, including the Spider-Man movies and other film and television productions that utilize Marvel characters. The settlement covers Mr. Lee's participation claim for both past and any potential future payments. Specific terms of the settlement agreement were not disclosed.

John Turitzin, Marvel's General Counsel, said, "Stan is one of the founders of today's comic book industry. We are pleased with the settlement and are happy to have resolved all of our disputes with him."

Eric Green of Resolutions, LLC mediated the settlement.

Lee’s suit, of course, was filed in November of 2002, and in it Lee claimed that Marvel had embarked upon a “shameful scheme” to deprive him of monies from the film versions of characters he’d had a hand in deceloping – a stipulation which was written into his contract in 1998:

“f) In addition, you shall be paid participation equal to 10% of the profits derived during your life by Marvel (including subsidiaries and affiliates) from the profits of any live action or animation television or movie (including ancillary rights) productions utilizing Marvel characters. This participation is not to be derived from the fee charged by Marvel for the licensing of the product or of the characters for merchandise or otherwise. Marvel will compute, account and pay to you your participation due, if any, on account of said profits, for the annual period ending each March 31 during your life, on an annual basis within a reasonable time after the end of each such period.”

In January of this year, the Court sided with Lee, saying in a partial summary judgement that Lee was indeed owed money from the films. At the time, Marvel claimed they would appeal the Court’s decision.

The case became fairly high profile, both within and outside of the comics market, as 60 Minutes featured Lee on two occasions, one prior to the suit, which, some claim, Lee's expressions suggested he was troubled about his relationship with Marvel in light of the very successful string of movies; and one after the suit had been filed.

Both the announcement of Lee's settlement, and that Marvel has entered into a production deal with Paramount which will see Marvel producing its own movies came hours before Marvel released it's Q1 2005 numbers.

[iloveclones]

Here's those Q4 numbers:

http://www.marvelcomics.com/company/showarticle.htm?id=65

Q4 2004 Highlights:

· Net sales and operating income increased primarily due to contributions from Marvel’s joint venture (JV) with Sony for Spider-Man movie merchandising and to improved international licensing revenues.

· A shift towards revenues in licensing in Q4 2004 led to company-wide operating margin of 41% compared to 31% in the prior year period.

· A previously recorded valuation allowance associated with state and local NOL carryforwards was eliminated, resulting in a non-cash, non-recurring credit to income tax of approximately $6.2 million ($0.06 per share), reducing the Q4 2004 income tax rate to 12.7%.

· 4Q 2004 reported EPS of $0.27 as compared to $0.12 in the prior year period.

Total licensing operating expenses remained flat at $22.4 million in Q4 2004 compared to $22.1 million in the prior-year period. Accounting for Sony’s minority interest in the Spider-Man movie merchandising joint venture as royalty expense, licensing operating income in the quarter would have been $27.6 million and operating margins for the licensing segment would have been 49% in Q4 2004 compared to 34% in Q4 2003.

· Marvel’s Publishing Segment net sales rose 16% to $22.1 million due to strength in core comic and trade paperbacks as well as growth in new mass-market retail chains. Marvel experienced slight increases in both the number of comic book titles shipped and the average circulation per title in Q4 2004 compared to the prior year period. Excluding the benefit of reductions in reserves, operating income in Q4 2004 would have been $9.9 million, an operating margin of 44%, compared to an operating margin of 38% in the prior-year period.

· Marvel’s Toy Segment net sales decreased 41% to $21.8 million from the prior-year period primarily due to decreased sales of action figures and accessories based on the Lord of The Rings franchise and The Hulk movies. Spider-Man movie toy sales were $14.2 million in Q4 2004 compared with sales of $11.3 million in Q4 2003. As previously disclosed, a planned increase in advertising and promotion expense ahead of the 2004 holiday season, coupled with lower sales volumes, resulted in a year-over-year decline in the operating margins for the toy division from 39% in Q4 2003 to 13% in Q4 2004. Full year 2004 sales of Spider-Man movie toys were $175.3 million, slightly ahead of guidance of $160 million to $170 million. Marvel toy inventory was only $1.3

[iloveclones]

Great to hear that they settled with Stan the Man. That was an ongoing embarrasment. The story about Marvel producing its own movies is exciting and scary all at the same time.

[iloveclones]

I didn't know if this subject has ever been kicked around before, but this thread seemed like a nice place for it.

I just finished reading Comic Wars, by Dan Raviv, about Marvel's jaunt through bankruptcy court. Really strange to read about what was going on behind the scenes. Also strange to find myself feeling sympathy for the "little guy" in the story (people worth $100s of millions) "Little" because the guys they're up against are worth b-b-b-billions. Have to admit that parts of it went way over my head, but written clearly enough for a non-business person to follow. Anyone else read this, and what did you think? Here's a link to some info on it if you're interested:

http://www.randomhouse.com/features/comicwars/index.html

[DBM]

I didn't know if this subject has ever been kicked around before, but this thread seemed like a nice place for it.

I just finished reading Comic Wars, by Dan Raviv, about Marvel's jaunt through bankruptcy court. Really strange to read about what was going on behind the scenes. Also strange to find myself feeling sympathy for the "little guy" in the story (people worth $100s of millions) "Little" because the guys they're up against are worth b-b-b-billions. Have to admit that parts of it went way over my head, but written clearly enough for a non-business person to follow. Anyone else read this, and what did you think? Here's a link to some info on it if you're interested:

http://www.randomhouse.com/features/comicwars/index.html

I bough this book at Barnes and Noble last weekend because it was in the discount area. I haven't read it yet. Once I do, I'll pop back in here and give my opinions.

[iloveclones]

Looking forward to it, DBM. I also saw this at Barnes and Nobles, but opted to sign it out of the library. If I can find it in a bargain bin, I may just buy it, though, just so I can reference some of the numbers. Anyone who thinks that Marvel was at it's worst creatively in the mid-90s should check it out. There's a part in there that talks about Marvel (pre-bankruptcy) "contracting" out some of the titles. I'd be curious to find out which titles/issues.

[iloveclones]

Donald Thomas pointed out this article by Mark Carlson over in the Spidey Forum, so I thought I'd give a link and copy some of the numbers. Also, does anyone know where there might be a year by year listing of sales or top sales?

Funny Business: A History of the Comics Industry (http://www.nostalgiazone.com/doc/zine/05_Q1/funnybusiness.htm)


1942
Captain Marvel 1,000,000 plus
Superman 1,000,000 plus
Walt Disney Comics and Stories 1,000,000
Batman 913,000
Captain America (peak sales, circa 1942) 900,000
All-Star Comics 440,800
Shadow (1941) 400,000
Ace Comics 279,163
King Comics 256,653
Blue Bolt Comics 200,490

1946
Walt Disney Comics and Stories circa 1,800,000
Superman 1,672,169
Batman 1,451,053
Archie Comics (1947) 1,135,324
Captain Marvel 873,820
Crime Does Not Pay 811,087
Whiz Comics 674,106
Topix 600,000
Suzie 586,780
True Comics 572,753

1952
Walt Disney Comics and Stories 2,850,000
Sweethearts (Fawcett) circa 1,000,000
Young Romance circa 800,000
Classics Illustrated 670,000
Romantic Adventures (ACG) circa 650,000
Adventures into the Unknown (ACG-1953) circa 550,000
Tales From the Crypt (EC-1953) 400,000
Treasure Chest 329.903
Mad (EC-1953) 325,000
Two-Fisted Tales (EC-1953) 225,000

1960
Mad Magazine 1,048,550
Uncle Scrooge 1,040,543
Walt Disney Comics and Stories 1,004,901
Donald Duck 930,613
Superman 810,000
Dennis the Menace 800,000
Bugs Bunny 615,552
Mickey Mouse 568,803
Woody Woodpecker 537,773
Batman 502,000
Lone Ranger 408,711
Casper the Friendly Ghost 399,985
Blackhawk 316,000
Adventures Into the Unknown (ACG) 192,500

[euroq]

A retailer writes about publishers announcing sell-outs.

http://www.newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=35590

THE SELL-OUT STORY FROM A RETAILER'S PERSPECTIVE
by Regan Clem

As we all know, it has been a craze in the comic book industry for publishers to announce sell outs. Underneath the façade of grandeur and excitement rests a dirty little secret: Almost every comic sells out at the publisher level at some point or another. True, they usually announce sell outs on those issues that sell out prior to hitting the shelves or immediately thereafter, but there are others.

Likewise, there are other points of interest that readers and collectors might not know. First, a comics that sells out prior to release only means that retailers ordered up the whole print run after the company set its print run. It doesn't mean that readers are buying, so, technically, the title could still be a dud. It might not really be as hot as the publsiher is making it out to seem. Second, publishers don’t consistently announce all sell outs, rather, a select group of sold-out books are anounced. This tells me that there is another reason for announcing the sell outs that they do and letting the others slide under the dusty old cape.

Being a retailer, I live in the Diamond Comic inventory database. Every week I’m in there doing reorders, seeing what has sold out, and weeping over lost sales because I underordered something that the publisher has sold out of. Inside this matrix, I see many sold out comics that don’t receive an announcement. This leads me to ask the question: “Why do they announce certain comics as sold out and not others?”

When I asked Bob Wayne, DC's VP – Sales, what the intention for DC announcing sold out announcements was, he replied, “We announce sold-out titles for lots of reasons. Most importantly, we're communicating to our retailers that we have no more copies available. Our retailers need that information to answer questions from their customers. We also are letting consumers know that if they've postponed making the purchase of that issue, they may want to reconsider and pick one up now while their local shop may still have copies on the shelf.”That said, the most effective marketing is that which doesn’t even appear like marketing, and sold out announcements are a good marketing tactic. Since they are a business, it is within their right to use it. They can announce a sell out and include within that announcement information about their upcoming second print or other relevant collection. While we think we are reading news we are actually being marketed to.

The scary thing about this marketing ploy is that it can be manipulated. Marvel has a print to order policy. They still verbally say they adhere to that policy as seen in Joe Fridays Week 3 (http://www.newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=33759) quote from John (Marvel's Marketing Director) Dokes: “We plan to continue our policy of printing to order.” When you say you print to order, selling out is planned from the beginning and not a big deal, so, in theory Marvel cannot use the sold out marketing tactic, although that hasn't stopped them now and again lately.

(Newsarama Note: shortly after Marvel’s announcement of a sell-out of House of M #1, it was pointed out to Marvel by Newsarama that roughly 1,300 copies of the issue were listed as being in stock according to the Diamond Comic inventory database. Marvel’s Director of Sales David Gabriel said that those were copies that had been released from a slight overage that is held as replacements for damaged copies that are received by retailers.)

What about companies that don’t print to order? All they would have to do is manipulate the system a little bit. In order to generate a little extra hype in a universe altering event or a collection of previous issues, they could print a comic closer to the initial orders placed by retailers. After a wave of the magic wand, they would receive much more entertaining free press through a sold out announcement than they would've through any other means.

You might be asking: “Why would they limit their print run and lose sales in order to hype a big crossover or a collection?” That would be a legitimate question in the era prior to the second print craze. Now they can have their cape and wear it too. Selling out and producing a second print with a variant cover will allow a company to accumulate more sales than they would have with only one print while garnering the extra hype and attention. Completists will then buy both covers; collectors will try to buy up the cover with the most limited print run; and some readers will buy into the hype and try out something that they normally wouldn’t have, resulting in a nice sales bump after the fact, or after the main publicity and solicitation for the respecitve issue is long over.

Selling out is an amazing two-edged sword. Not only can publishers announce that they have the hottest product under the dimly lit lights of the comic shops across this nation, they can also declare that they are the good guys by announcing a second print. Second prints are not just a marketing tactic, they are also a terrific PR stunt. They can kill two bats with one stone.

Back to Marvel for a minute - despite their continual statements declaring that they still print to order, Marvel is doing a better job at the current time of keeping their comic books in stock for retailers to order (http://www.newsarama.com/general/SoloutTotals.htm). Though the books available are, according to Marvel, normal overages, printed for replacement on damaged or lost copies. Regardless, they're still available for retailers to order.

I've tracked data throughout the month of May. DC only had 80% left in stock during the same period that Marvel had 84%. DC could just be facing a surge in popularity rather than a change in their printing policy, though. Bob Wayne said:“DC hasn't changed our overprinting policies on periodicals. (It's unchanged from the Newsarama coverage in 2002 and again in 2004.) To a large degree we place our overprints on the orders we receive from our retailers. It certainly looks like every retailer underordered on Countdown to Infinite Crisis and the follow-up projects. The enthusiastic response from fans has certainly exceeded my expectations.”As a retailer, I enjoy the extra sales that the announcement and subsequent second printings bring. Unfortunately, the bump is artificial and somewhat dangerous. For starters, we have to avoid the paranoid reaction to overorder on future releases because of the hype and possible sales inflation (due to factors mentioned earlier) surrounding the current release.

Even worse, it causes damage to our cycle sheets. Brian Hibbs went into the drawbacks of variant covers and cycle sheets in a recent Tilting @ Windmills (http://www.newsarama.com/Tilting2_0/Tiltingv217.htm). “Further, forced variant covers skew the retailer’s single most important tool for survival: their cycle sheets. I won’t be able to tell from how many copies I sell of Green Lantern #1 how many customers I have for Green Lantern, the monthly comic. There’s no clear way to tell how many people bought both covers. That means at least one extra month of guessing when putting together my comics order. Whatever lost profit that entails (either from my under or over-ordering subsequent issues) is good for neither the individual stores nor the publisher.”Albeit, second prints are not forced variants; they are still something most retailers feel obligated to sell. And in selling them, we are skewing our numbers so we have added an extra month to determine what the actual demand for the comic being reprinted really is. We can’t determine by looking at our numbers how many of the sales were caused by completists, collectors that are only buying the hot item, or readers.

I write this because I’m concerned for the industry and want to see an authentic growth in comics, not just a bubble that is a furthering dispersal of the already existing comic book reader’s piggy bank. In order to have a healthy industry we need to avoid the pitfalls of buying into the next collectible comic because it has sold out. Some publishers are going to try to do that to us. But for the sake of the industry, we need to just buy what we enjoy and leave all the hype for the bats.

Regan Clem is the owner of Clem's Collectibles, 518 Clinton St. Defiance, Ohio. Clem's opinion does not necessarily represent that of Newsarama.com..

[euroq]

http://www.comicon.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=36&t=004035

Joe Quesada has signed a new multi-year deal with Marvel Comics that has him not only wearing the Editor-in Chief hat, but also Chief Creative Officer, Publishing.“Over the next couple of years, my ultimate goals will remain further growing Marvel Comics’ leadership position and expanding our mainstream presence. I want comics to have the same consumer prominence as movies, TV and novels and in doing so continue to grow Marvel Comics as among America’s premiere storytellers,” said Mr. Quesada.

PRESS RELEASE
MARVEL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF JOE QUESADA SIGNS NEW MULTI-YEAR CONTRACT RENEWAL



Quesada To Also Assume The Role Of Chief Creative Officer, Publishing



New York, NY, July 19 – Marvel Enterprises, Inc. announced today that it has extended its contract agreement with Joe Quesada, Editor-In-Chief of the company’s Marvel Comics division. As part of the new deal, Mr. Quesada will also take on the added role as the Chief Creative Officer, Publishing.



Widely considered one of the comic book industry’s most recognizable and acclaimed talents, Mr. Quesada has helped spearhead a new golden age for Marvel Comics and solidified its leadership position in the comic book arena. “I’m thrilled to have Joe as a partner in this resurgence of interest in the comic book market,” says Dan Buckley, COO and Publisher of Marvel. “Joe has been invaluable in taking Marvel Comics into new and inventive creative directions, and the fans are responding to that. Thanks in part to his efforts, Marvel Comics has seen four straight years of revenue growth.”



During Mr. Quesada’s tenure, Marvel Comics has experienced a revitalization of the company’s most-renowned comic franchises, and has also attracted the best and brightest writers and illustrators from all fields including the literary, film, television and – of course- comic books.



“Over the next couple of years, my ultimate goals will remain further growing Marvel Comics’ leadership position and expanding our mainstream presence. I want comics to have the same consumer prominence as movies, TV and novels and in doing so continue to grow Marvel Comics as among America’s premiere storytellers,” said Mr. Quesada. “The success we have had is truly a team effort. The company’s senior management, including Avi Arad and Alan Fine, has provided me and our publisher Dan Buckley with the opportunity to build Marvel Comics into more than just a comic book publisher. With their continued support, and the hard working editors, creators and staff, I am confident that Marvel Comics will continue to flourish as one of the most innovative and exciting literary outlets.”

[Lackey]

woops, I posted this in it's own thread. Oh well :0

[euroq]

woops, I posted this in it's own thread. Oh well :0

Well, most people would have probably never noticed it here and we would have missed all the fun *****ing that will surely follow. :( :o

[euroq]

http://www.newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=39259


MARVEL RELEASES Q2 NUMBERS, SEES 11% SLIDE

Marvel today released its Q2 2005 numbers, seeing slides downward across the board, resulting in an overall drop of 11% in its profits from this time last year. The biggest losers for the company during the quarter, a decline in the licensing net sales (though for the year, 2005 is still outpacing 2004), a sharp decline in toy sales, largely due to decreased demand (last year at this time, Spider-Man 2 toys were still fueling the company’s toy segment), and a slight decline in publishing.

In total, Marvel earned $25.9 million in Q2 of 2005, translating to $0.24 cents per share, which is down from last year’s $29.1 million/$0.25 cents per share the year before. Analysists were predicting Marvel to come in at $0.27 cents per share.

Net sales for the company came in at $88.1 million, down compared to $155.5 million of a year ago, and the analysts'-predicted $96.2 million. In terms of per-segment net sales, licensing dropped from $47 million to $43.9 million (7%); toys dropped from $87 million to $23 million (74%); and publishing slid modestly from $21.6 million in Q2 of 2004 to $20.9 million in Q2 of 2005 (4%). The decreases are seen by some as being indicative of Marvel's volatile nature, performance wise - doing well (often very well) if a property clicks with audiences, and taking it on the chin as the heat from a hot property fades, and a replacement property isn't waiting in the wings to take the place of the first.

The company’s operating income for the period also saw a decrease, from $33.5 million to $29.2 million, though the bulk of that decrease was due to, as the company explained: “the impact of a $10 million, one-time charge related to the settlement of litigation with Stan Lee,” referring to Marvel’s settlement payment to Lee for his profit sharing in the Marvel films.

From Marvel’s release:


Marvel's Chairman, Morton Handel, commented, "Marvel's 2005 second quarter and first half operating performance is consistent with our previously announced outlook for the full year and reflects the continued high level of demand for consumer and media products based on our characters. Furthermore, we are very pleased with the success of the global consumer launch of our Fantastic Four character franchise, driven by the successful feature film and the related promotional and licensed product programs. Given the overall performance of the business, our strong cash flow generation and the Board's confidence in the Company's long-term outlook, Marvel has been active in its share repurchase activity over the past few months. We view such repurchases as the most attractive use of surplus cash within our business model." Marvel also releases per-segment analyses of performance for the quarter.

Publishing:

Marvel's Publishing Segment net sales declined 4% from the year-ago period to $20.8 million. This year-over-year decrease in comic sales is mainly attributed to a timing difference in marketing events. Marvels' main marketing event for 2004 launched in May, while the main marketing event for 2005 will take place in the second half of 2005. Divisional operating income in Q2 2005 was $7.9 million, an operating margin of 38%, compared to an operating margin of 42% in the prior-year period. Excluding a $1.0 million one-time gain from the settlement of bankruptcy claims in Q2 2004, Marvel's publishing operating margin would have been 37%.Licensing:

Licensing Segment net sales declined 7% from the year-ago period to $43.9 million in Q2 2005 primarily due to lower contributions from the joint venture (JV) with Sony for Spider-Man 2 movie merchandising, which continues to generate revenues a full year after the movie's release. Q2 2005 net licensing sales include approximately $7.1 million in gross sales recognized as a result of the consolidation of the JV, compared to $11.2 million in the year ago period. International licensing net sales, excluding JV activity, increased more than 53% year-over-year to $11.6 million in Q2 2005 as Marvel's international offices continued to leverage global marketing momentum.

Operating margins were 64% in Q2 2005 compared to 71% in the prior-year period due to a higher concentration of studio and JV revenues in the year-ago period, which do not incur an off-setting studio share expense.Toys:

The transition in Marvel's Toy Segment net sales from Marvel-produced action figures and accessories based on the Lord of The Rings franchise and Spider-Man 2 movie toys in 2004 to lines produced by our master toy licensee in 2005, led to an expected decline in segment revenue of 73% to $23.4 million. Fantastic Four toy sales by Marvel's master toy licensee performed well in the period with year-to-date sales of approximately $41 million, in line with Marvel's projection of full-year Fantastic Four sales of $80 million. Spider-Man 2 movie toy sales were $1.3 million in Q2 2005 compared with $79.8 million in Q2 2004. Operating margins in the toy division increased to 56% in Q2 2005 from 29% in Q2 2004 due to the shift in product mix toward higher margin toy royalty and service fees.Marvel also reported that is has completed its $100 million stock repurchase program, spending $159.3 million during Q2 of 2005 (there were no repurchases made during Q1 2005). As of June 30th, Marvel had $105.8 million cash and short-term investments.

As is common with Marvel’s quarterly reports, the company listed its upcoming film slate. No shockers were named in the report, though The Punisher 2 was listed as being targeted for 2006, and Namor for 2007. Other films on Marvel’s slate: X-Men 3, Spider-Man 3, Iron Man, Luke Cage, Deathlok, The Hulk 2 and Wolverine. Projects in development, as listed by Marvel: Ant-Man, Black Panther, Captain America, Killraven, Nick Fury, Silver Surfer, and Thor.

Marvel character animated direct-to-video projects in development through it’s partnership with Lions Gate to develop, produce and distribute original animated DVD features: Four projects in 2D/3D format are in development with the first release slated for 2006. Titles include: The Avengers 1, The Avengers 2, Iron Man and Dr. Strange.

Marvel character animated TV projects in development via a partnership with Antefilms Distribution to produce an original animated television series based on the Fantastic Four. Twenty-six, 30-minute 2D/3D animated episodes are planned with initial TV airings in 2006.

Marvel still lists Brother Voodoo as a live action television project in development. Unnamed (but recently reported to be moving forward for Spike TV) in the report, a live action series based on Marvel’s Blade film franchise.

For 2005, Marvel maintained that it will see somewhere between $1.07 to $1.12 per share profit (2004 saw $1.10), but pulled its net income prediction down slightly, from a range of $120 to $126 million to $117 to $126 million, due to higher than anticipated legal expenses.

[iloveclones]

Marvel character animated direct-to-video projects in development through it’s partnership with Lions Gate to develop, produce and distribute original animated DVD features: Four projects in 2D/3D format are in development with the first release slated for 2006. Titles include: The Avengers 1, The Avengers 2, Iron Man and Dr. Strange.

Me and a friend actually sent in audition tapes for the Avengers movies. The write-ups seemed more like the Ultimates. I tried out for Hank Pym, and my friend tried out for Natasha Romanoff (she's Russian......my friend I mean).

Reading through those numbers, I was curious: Does anyone around here actually own stock in Marvel?

The company’s operating income for the period also saw a decrease, from $33.5 million to $29.2 million, though the bulk of that decrease was due to, as the company explained: “the impact of a $10 million, one-time charge related to the settlement of litigation with Stan Lee,” referring to Marvel’s settlement payment to Lee for his profit sharing in the Marvel films.

33.5-10=29.2 ????? And I thought I was bad at math ;)

[DBM]

Reading through those numbers, I was curious: Does anyone around here actually own stock in Marvel?


I requested that my broker include it in my portfolio out of sheer fanboy-ness. I couldn't tell you at all how much I have though because it's mixed in with a variety of stuff.

[iloveclones]

I requested that my broker include it in my portfolio out of sheer fanboy-ness.

I would've loved to have seen this conversation.(In my mind, I'm picturing you, not in a suit and tie, but a Punisher t-shirt.)

[DBM]

From The Beat (http://www.comicon.com/thebeat/archives/2005/07/pure_speculatio.html#more)
Pure speculation: Marvel on the block?

Yesterday Marvel announced its 2Q earnings and held one of its conference calls with analysts. Yesterday's news was the most lackluster Marvel has had in some time, with earnings down 11% from 2Q last year. You can read the entire report here. Yahoo's headline, “Marvel 2nd-qtr earnings fall on lower comic sales” is entirely misleading, however. Peter Cuneo and co. had been warning about this blah quarter for quite some time. Last year had revenues from Spider-Man 2 toys and Lord of the Rings toys. This year didn't. The main culprit was licensing revenue, not publishing. Indeed, most of the call was made up of talk about licensing revenue streams and joint ventures that left The Beat glassy eyed.

Spearking of publishing, here's the relevant part of the report:

Marvel's Publishing Segment net sales declined 4% from the year-ago period to $20.8 million. This year-over-year decrease in comic sales is mainly attributed to a timing difference in marketing events. Marvels' main marketing event for 2004 launched in May, while the main marketing event for 2005 will take place in the second half of 2005. Divisional operating income in Q2 2005 was $7.9 million, an operating margin of 38%, compared to an operating margin of 42% in the prior-year period. Excluding a $1.0 million one-time gain from the settlement of bankruptcy claims in Q2 2004, Marvel's publishing operating margin would have been 37%.


However, in his remarks, finance guy Ken West had this to say (slightly paraphrased.)

“Net sales in the publishing segment declined modestly to $28 mil compared to prior period. Last year's results reflected a significant increase in comic book sales preceding the release of Spider-man 2. The decline was partially offset by a nearly 50% increase in sales of trade paperbacks into the direct market channel during Q2 2005. The operating margin of 38% declined slightly from 42% as a result of timing of sales in comics. We expect a 40% operating margin for publishing for the rest of the year.” [Emphasis mine]


In fact, with the movie pipeline dormant until X3, and toy licensing down, publishing was mentioned in this call more than we ever remember -- House of M spinoffs were even brought up. The 7-11 deal was mentioned several times, along with a newly announced deal with Walgreens. In contrast, the usually ebullient Avi Arad was nearly silent, even on the topic of FANTASTIC FOUR's surprise smash status. “The people have spoken,” was all he said.

However, for long term Marvel watchers, perhaps the most interesting part of the call was the revelation that Marvel had completed its stock buyback program. (Basically, Marvel has been reinvesting its profits into the stock to keep it healthy.) Some $215 mil of Marvel's cash on hand was spent on the stock -- but over a period of a mere two months, instead of the year that had been previously announced.

Now why was this? Yahoo's Marvel stock board had two theories.

The first -- and most likely -- is that the stock buyback had been completed in order to keep the stock price up during this slow quarter.

However, an even more intriguing theory was also advanced. Principal stock holder and CEO Ike Perlmutter -- along with other Marvel top brass -- had promised not to sell any of their stock during the buyback program. Had the buyback been hurried along so that Ike could start selling stock again? Or is it part of the long rumored plan to sell off Marvel?

One post laid out that theory in detail, and we'll quote it in full. Bear in mind, this is pure, uninformed speculation.

...I have a hunch that MVL is on the block, in a serious way now — and that others might start noticing this too.

* MVL spent its funds for the share buyback very quickly — within a month or two, rather than 12. This would seem a reckless strategy if it were just to manage earnings, since it depletes capital that could be used to stabilize the share price on any decline.

MVL management wouldn't imo spend the buyback funds so quickly unless they saw a revaluation event in the near future.

Since that “revaluation event” is unlikely to be increased organic growth, I'm speculating that it may be a buyout offer.

* Ike is still CEO, and no move to my knowledge has been made to replace him. This was always seen as a short term post for Ike. Not filling the position suggests MVL is leaving it open for an acquirer to step in.

* MVL's large shareholders — Ike, Avi, Cuneo — have an incentive or desire to realize their wealth. They were never in this for the long haul: They are not the founders, and they are not young men.

Yet Cuneo and Ike have committed themselves to “not selling at this price; and Avi to my knowledge refrained from selling, even though the extended buyback agreement explicitly gave him the right to sell.

So...if insiders WANT to realize their gains, but REFRAIN from selling in the market at this price...this suggests again that they may be seriously cosidering a buyout.

* I personally think it is important for MVL to sell while X3 and SM3 are still on the horizon. The last films in each of these series were enormously successful, and created huge value for the franchises, and by implication other MVL properties.

That success may be duplicated in the next instrallments. Still, there is a not unsubstantial risk that the next films will not achieve the success of their predecessors, which set the bar so high. That would erode the value of the franchises...and in a ”reverse layering“ effect, erode the value of other MVL properties and revenue channels.

Better to sell **now**, in ANTICIPATION of X3 and S3, rather than risk waiting for the box office to come in.

* The fact the MVL has not fallen more today on the disappointing earnings and guidance indicates to me that others might be thinking in a similar manner.


Execs selling stock is always a chancy matter, but, hey, it's their money. Cuneo was questioned about this directly, and his answer was revealing:

”My personal situation is that I am 61 years old. I have a large portion of my personal net worth tied up in Marvel, and my children and financial advisers are yelling that I'm crazy to have that much in this stock. But on the emotional side, I'm very committed to the company and I'm not prepared to sell at these levels.“


Marvel stock fell 7.2% following the 2Q results announcement.

[iloveclones]

I see these numbers other places, but it never seems to be all of them. So here's all of them:


JUNE 2005
=========


The battle of the crossovers continues. In May, DC's INFINITE CRISIS
tie-ins helped them to beat Marvel in terms of both dollar share and
unit share, for the first time in ages. But it was tight, and Marvel
hadn't yet started their HOUSE OF M event.


But June was another matter. Although the full range of crossovers
didn't reach stores until the next month, the flagship HOUSE OF M
miniseries hit shelves in June, along with some of the major tie-ins.
Result: Marvel win dollar share by 35.9% to 33.5%, and Marvel win unit
share by 41.1% to 36.6%. Told you.


Still - in dollar share, at least, it remains fairly close. And with
both events set to continue for the next few months, it remains to be
seen which publisher's event will sustain its sales more effectively.


The usual preliminaries: where applicable, I've included the numbers for
June 2001, 2002 and 2003. Bear in mind that the charts for 2001-2 were
based solely on initial orders, so they aren't directly comparable with
the figures for 2003-2005, which are based on copies actually shipped,
including re-orders. Mind you, given Marvel's print-to-order policy,
the earlier numbers probably aren't a million miles out, and if
anything, they're likely to be on the low side.


As always, thanks to Milton Griepp and ICV2 for permission to use their
figures for these calculations. See http://www.icv2.com for the full
archive.


1,2. HOUSE OF M
Jun 05 House of M #1 (of 8) - 233,763
Jun 05 House of M #2 (of 8) - 168,974 (-27.7%)


It goes without saying that the number for issue #1 is enormous. The
second issue drop off is on the high side, but still leaves HOUSE OF M
with a dominant figure of almost 170,000, and the top two places on the
chart. These are the sort of numbers Marvel will be happy with. And
with the degree of hype that HOUSE OF M received, they don't really come
as a surprise.


The next question is how well the book will hold up now that people have
actually seen it. Reaction has been a little mixed, and it'll be very
interesting to see whether HOUSE OF M can deliver the sustained success
of the INFINITE CRISIS books - both as regards the core miniseries, and
the event as a whole.


3. NEW AVENGERS
Jun 01 Avengers #43 - 64,634
Jun 02 Avengers #55 - 51,495
Jun 03 Avengers #68 - 57,587
======
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 - 165,997 ( +5.9%)
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 New Avengers #6 - 161,575 ( -2.7%)
6 mnth ( -42.4%)
1 year (+183.1%)
2 year (+180.6%)


The first arc wraps up, and NEW AVENGERS continues to deliver high
numbers. The six month comparison looks a little nasty, but that's only
because it's a comparison with the stellar sales of issue #1. In
reality, NEW AVENGERS seems to be settling down in the 160K region,
which is an impressive performance by any standards - comfortably ahead
of "Avengers Disassembled", and lightyears ahead of the book's previous
incarnation.


9,12. UNCANNY X-MEN
Jun 01 Uncanny X-Men #395 - 130,299
Jun 02 Uncanny X-Men #407 - 88,448
Jun 03 Uncanny X-Men #426 - 89,719
======
Jun 04 Uncanny X-Men #445 - 98,660 (-12.0%)
Jul 04 Uncanny X-Men #446 - 96,961 ( -1.7%)
Aug 04 Uncanny X-Men #447 - 95,838 ( -1.2%)
Sep 04 Uncanny X-Men #448 - 95,908 ( +0.1%)
Sep 04 Uncanny X-Men #449 - 93,839 ( -2.2%)
Oct 04 Uncanny X-Men #450 - 101,506 ( +8.2%)
Oct 04 Uncanny X-Men #451 - 99,411 ( -2.1%)
Nov 04 Uncanny X-Men #452 - 92,051 ( -7.4%)
Dec 04 Uncanny X-Men #453 - 89,952 ( -2.3%)
Jan 05 Uncanny X-Men #454 - 87,411 ( -2.8%)
Feb 05 Uncanny X-Men #455 - 88,920 ( +1.7%)
Feb 05 Uncanny X-Men #456 - 86,767 ( -2.4%)
Mar 05 Uncanny X-Men #457 - 86,365 ( -0.5%)
Apr 05 Uncanny X-Men #458 - 85,299 ( -1.2%)
May 05 Uncanny X-Men #459 - 83,547 ( -2.1%)
Jun 05 Uncanny X-Men #460 - 82,457 ( -1.3%)
Jun 05 Uncanny X-Men #461 - 91,221 (+10.6%)
6 mnth ( +1.4%)
1 year ( -7.5%)
2 year ( +1.7%)


Two issues this month - can you guess which is the HOUSE OF M crossover?
Yes, it's issue #461, which is duly rewarded with a 10% sales boost.
That bodes well for next month, when a number of other titles will get
their HOUSE OF M tie-in issues. As a general rule, the boosts from
crossovers tend not to last beyond the crossover itself, but it'll still
bring in a lot of extra sales while it lasts.


10. SPIDER-MAN: HOUSE OF M
Jun 05 Spider-Man: House of M #1 (of 5) - 85,126


And another HOUSE OF M tie-in, giving the event four books in the top
ten. Again, Marvel must be happy with this number. Not only is it
comfortably ahead of the other Spider-Man books, but SPIDER-MAN: HOUSE
OF M is effectively filling the gap left in the schedule by the
cancellation of SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN. SPECTACULAR was the lowest
selling Spider-Man book by some margin, so this marks an enormous step
up in sales.


13,16. X-MEN
Jun 01 New X-Men #115 - 133,056
Jun 02 New X-Men #128 - 99,018
Jun 03 New X-Men #142 - 97,897
======
Jun 04 X-Men #158 - 96,759 ( -9.7%)
Jul 04 X-Men #159 - 93,164 ( -3.7%)
Aug 04 X-Men #160 - 91,790 ( -1.5%)
Sep 04 X-Men #161 - 90,591 ( -1.3%)
Sep 04 X-Men #162 - 90,752 ( +0.2%)
Oct 04 X-Men #163 - 88,615 ( -2.4%)
Nov 04 X-Men #164 - 88,620 ( +0.0%)
Dec 04 X-Men #165 - 86,633 ( -2.2%)
Jan 05 X-Men #166 - 85,934 ( -0.8%)
Feb 05 X-Men #167 - 84,155 ( -2.1%)
Mar 05 X-Men #168 - 83,979 ( -0.2%)
Apr 05 X-Men #169 - 82,793 ( -1.4%)
May 05 X-Men #170 - 81,048 ( -2.1%)
Jun 05 X-Men #171 - 80,307 ( -0.9%)
Jun 05 X-Men #172 - 78,889 ( -1.8%)
6 mnth ( -8.9%)
1 year (-18.5%)
2 year (-19.4%)


Business as usual, continuing the title's gentle but seemingly
inexorable downward drift.


14. WOLVERINE
Jun 01 Wolverine #165 - 68,398
Jun 02 Wolverine #177 - 67,450
Jun 03 Wolverine #2 - 99,867
======
Jun 04 Wolverine #16 - 67,519 ( -1.8%)
Jul 04 Wolverine #17 - 66,589 ( -1.4%)
Aug 04 Wolverine #18 - 65,304 ( -1.9%)
Sep 04 Wolverine #19 - 65,046 ( -0.4%)
Oct 04 Wolverine #20 - 118,553 (+82.3%)
Oct 04 Wolverine #21 - 85,760 (-27.7%)
Nov 04 Wolverine #22 - 81,841 ( -4.6%)
Dec 04 Wolverine #23 - 82,525 ( +0.8%)
Jan 04 Wolverine #24 - 81,618 ( -1.1%)
Feb 05 Wolverine #25 - 83,180 ( +1.9%)
Mar 05 Wolverine #26 - 108,677 (+30.7%)
Apr 05 Wolverine #27 - 101,228 ( -6.9%)
May 05 Wolverine #28 - 80,961 (-20.0%)
Jun 05 Wolverine #29 - 79,951 ( -1.2%)
6 mnth ( -3.1%)
1 year (+18.4%)
2 year (-19.9%)


The Millar/Romita run nears its conclusion. Issues #26-27 have
artificial sales boosts from variant covers, but otherwise the book
continues to hover around the 80K mark with a very slight downward tick.
This storyline is clearly going to end with solid numbers - and after
that, there's a three-part HOUSE OF M tie-in.


15. ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN
Jun 01 Ultimate Spider-Man #10 - 80,736
Jun 02 Ultimate Spider-Man #23 - 87,521
Jun 03 Ultimate Spider-Man #42 - 100,151
======
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%)
Jun 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #78 - 79,420 ( -2.0%)
6 mnth (-10.7%)
1 year (-24.2%)
2 year (-20.7%)


This book, and ULTIMATE X-MEN below it, have both been drifting down
badly over the last few months. The individual drops are fairly small,
but the cumulative effect is substantial. Marvel's solution is Ultimate
Starts Month in July, whichis basically the start of a load of new
storylines at the same time. It hasn't been given a huge promotional
push, and it's been somewhat overshadowed by HOUSE OF M, so it'll be
interesting to see what difference it makes.


17. ULTIMATE X-MEN
Jun 01 Ultimate X-Men #7 - 100,737
Jun 02 Ultimate X-Men #19 - 92,815
Jun 03 Ultimate X-Men #34 - 110,753
======
Jun 04 Ultimate X-Men #47 - 95,254 ( -1.4%)
Jun 04 Ultimate X-Men #48 - 94,238 ( -1.1%)
Jul 04 Ultimate X-Men #49 - 93,572 ( -0.7%)
Aug 04 Ultimate X-Men #50 - 103,154 (+10.2%)
Sep 04 Ultimate X-Men #51 - 94,965 ( -7.9%)
Oct 04 Ultimate X-Men #52 - 93,833 ( -1.2%)
Nov 04 Ultimate X-Men #53 - 92,133 ( -1.8%)
Dec 04 n/a
Jan 05 Ultimate X-Men #54 - 90,619 ( -1.6%)
Jan 05 Ultimate X-Men #55 - 87,447 ( -3.5%)
Feb 05 Ultimate X-Men #56 - 86,130 ( -1.5%)
Mar 05 Ultimate X-Men #57 - 83,835 ( -2.7%)
Apr 05 Ultimate X-Men #58 - 82,606 ( -1.5%)
May 05 Ultimate X-Men #59 - 81,321 ( -1.6%)
Jun 05 Ultimate X-Men #60 - 78,613 ( -3.3%)
6 mnth (-13.2%)
1 year (-17.5%)
2 year (-29.0%)


See above, really. The drops are mounting up.


19. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
Jun 01 Amazing Spider-Man #32 - 76,976
Jun 02 Amazing Spider-Man #42 - 96,537
Jun 03 n/a
======
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%)
Jun 05 Amazing Spider-Man #521 - 74,117 ( -2.7%)
6 mnth (-11.4%)
1 year ( -9.9%)
2 year ( n/a )


Another book which has settled into a noticeable downward trend after
previously solid sales. Marvel is hoping that the upcoming "The Other"
event will reinvigorate the three core Spider-Man books.


21,22. ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR
Jun 04 Ultimate Fantastic Four #6 - 100,972 ( -3.0%)
Jun 04 Ultimate Fantastic Four #7 - 99,445 ( -1.5%)
Jun 04 Ultimate Fantastic Four #8 - 96,694 ( -2.8%)
Jul 04 Ultimate Fantastic Four #9 - 94,094 ( -2.7%)
Aug 04 Ultimate Fantastic Four #10 - 90,670 ( -3.6%)
Sep 04 Ultimate Fantastic Four #11 - 87,620 ( -3.4%)
Oct 04 n/a
Nov 04 Ultimate Fantastic Four #12 - 84,417 ( -3.7%)
Nov 04 Ultimate Fantastic Four #13 - 109,997 (+30.3%)
Dec 04 Ultimate Fantastic Four #14 - 78,717 (-28.4%)
Jan 05 Ultimate Fantastic Four #15 - 74,501 ( -5.4%)
Feb 05 n/a
Mar 05 Ultimate Fantastic Four #16 - 73,987 ( -0.7%)
Apr 05 Ultimate Fantastic Four #17 - 72,207 ( -2.4%)
May 05 Ultimate Fantastic Four #18 - 71,478 ( -1.0%)
Jun 05 Ultimate Fantastic Four #19 - 70,300 ( -1.6%)
Jun 05 Ultimate Fantastic Four #20 - 69,097 ( -1.7%)
6 mnth (-12.2%)
1 year (-31.6%)


Also dropping, but in this case the decline seems to be levelling out a
bit. Considering that issues #19 and #20 were a fill-in story by Mike
Carey, this has to be considered a pretty good sign.


23. YOUNG AVENGERS
Feb 05 Young Avengers #1 - 112,803
Mar 05 Young Avengers #2 - 79,952 (-29.1%)
Apr 05 Young Avengers #3 - 75,015 ( -6.2%)
May 05 Young Avengers #4 - 69,925 ( -6.8%)
Jun 05 Young Avengers #5 - 68,687 ( -1.8%)


A surprisingly small drop, given the established trend. YOUNG AVENGERS
seems to be levelling out in the high 60K range, which Marvel must be
delighted with. The book has far outperformed most expectations.


26. FANTASTIC FOUR
Jun 01 Fantastic Four #44 - 51,589
Jun 02 Fantastic Four #57 - 42,829
Jun 03 Fantastic Four #70 - 53,066
======
Jun 04 Fantastic Four #514 - 49,895 ( -2.0%)
Jul 04 Fantastic Four #515 - 48,449 ( -2.9%)
Jul 04 Fantastic Four #516 - 48,580 ( +0.3%)
Aug 04 Fantastic Four #517 - 50,247 ( +3.4%)
Sep 04 Fantastic Four #518 - 48,939 ( -2.6%)
Oct 04 Fantastic Four #519 - 47,969 ( -2.0%)
Nov 04 Fantastic Four #520 - 51,685 ( +7.7%)
Dec 04 Fantastic Four #521 - 47,634 ( -7.8%)
Jan 05 Fantastic Four #522 - 46,335 ( -2.7%)
Feb 05 Fantastic Four #523 - 46,276 ( -0.1%)
Mar 05 Fantastic FOur #524 - 46,660 ( +0.8%)
Apr 05 Fantastic Four #525 - 45,561 ( -2.4%)
May 05 Fantastic Four #526 - 44,935 ( -1.4%)
May 05 Fantastic Four #527 - 75,525 (+68.1%)
Jun 05 Fantastic Four #528 - 55,937 (-25.9%)
6 mnth (+17.4%)
1 year (+12.1%)
2 year ( +5.4%)


The second issue under J Michael Straczynski. Issue #527, in its
Director's Cut edition, charts at number 208, with orders of 8,092.
That's included in the numbers above, making the spike look even
sharper. Meanwhile, FANTASTIC FOUR drops back to the mid-50K range.
It's comfortably ahead of the last few months, but nothing out of the
ordinary compared with the book's track record over the past few years.
Solid numbers, though.


27. X-MEN: THE END
Aug 04 X-Men: The End, Book One #1 (of 6) - 109,587
Aug 04 X-Men: The End, Book One #2 (of 6) - 98,578 (-10.0%)
Sep 04 X-Men: The End, Book One #3 (of 6) - 84,001 (-14.8%)
Oct 04 X-Men: The End, Book One #4 (of 6) - 75,073 (-10.6%)
Nov 04 X-Men: The End, Book One #5 (of 6) - 69,642 ( -7.2%)
Dec 04 X-Men: The End, Book One #6 (of 6) - 66,220 ( -4.9%)
Jan 05 n/a
Feb 05 n/a
Mar 05 X-Men: The End, Book Two #1 (of 6) - 71,230 ( +7.6%)
Apr 05 X-Men: The End, Book Two #2 (of 6) - 63,005 (-11.5%)
May 05 X-Men: The End, Book Two #3 (of 6) - 58,870 ( -6.6%)
Jun 05 X-Men: The End, Book Two #4 (of 6) - 54,875 ( -6.8%)
6 mnth (-17.1%)


Still shedding readers. Given that this is effectively an
eighteen-issue miniseries, it really should have levelled out a bit more
by this point.


28. MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN
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%)
Jun 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #15 - 54,102 ( -5.5%)
6 mnth (-16.1%)
1 year (-34.6%)


Another book that's losing readers rather more quickly than Marvel might
hope. Two 5% drops in a row is a little disappointing. Again, Marvel
are relying on "The Other" to revitalise the Spider-Man books.


29. SUPREME POWER
Jun 04 n/a
Jul 04 Supreme Power #11 - 63,007 ( -0.5%)
Aug 04 Supreme Power #12 - 61,798 ( -1.9%)
Sep 04 n/a
Oct 04 n/a
Nov 04 Supreme Power #13 - 61,556 ( -0.4%)
Dec 04 Supreme Power #14 - 58,843 ( -4.4%)
Jan 05 n/a
Feb 05 Supreme Power #15 - 55,510 ( -5.7%)
Mar 05 n/a
Apr 05 Supreme Power #16 - 55,068 ( -0.8%)
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 Supreme Power #17 - 52,288 ( -5.0%)
6 mnth (-11.1%)
1 year (-17.0%)


Cancelled with issue #18, to be followed by a HYPERION miniseries, a
NIGHTHAWK miniseries, and then a new volume under the Marvel Knights
banner. In the meantime, the book continues to drift down.


32. GIANT-SIZE X-MEN
Jun 05 Giant-Size X-Men #3 - 48,685


The first in a curious series of books featuring a collection of
reprints along with eight pages of original material. It's a difficult
one for retailers to order - how many people will shell out five dollars
just to get an eight page story? This has to rate as a respectable
number for a curious book.


33. DAREDEVIL
Jun 01 Daredevil #19 - 58,270
Jun 02 Daredevil #34 - 47,328
Jun 03 Daredevil #48 - 59,869
======
Jun 04 Daredevil #61 - 53,770 ( -0.4%)
Jul 04 Daredevil #62 - 52,936 ( -1.6%)
Aug 04 Daredevil #63 - 52,090 ( -1.6%)
Sep 04 Daredevil #64 - 52,259 ( +0.3%)
Sep 04 Daredevil #65 - 57,841 (+10.7%)
Oct 04 Daredevil #66 - 53,138 ( -8.1%)
Nov 04 Daredevil #67 - 51,347 ( -3.4%)
Dec 04 Daredevil #68 - 50,491 ( -1.7%)
Jan 05 Daredevil #69 - 48,727 ( -3.5%)
Feb 05 Daredevil #70 - 48,702 ( -0.0%)
Mar 05 Daredevil #71 - 49,715 ( +2.1%)
Apr 05 Daredevil #72 - 48,803 ( -1.8%)
May 05 Daredevil #73 - 48,681 ( -0.2%)
Jun 05 Daredevil #74 - 48,175 ( -1.0%)
6 mnth ( -4.6%)
1 year (-10.4%)
2 year (-19.5%)


Rock solid in the 48-49K range yet again. About as steady as Marvel
Universe books get.

[iloveclones]

And the beat goes on...
35. CAPTAIN AMERICA
Jun 01 Captain America #44 - 37,052
Jun 02 Captain America #3 - 67,445
Jun 03 Captain America #14 - 45,639
======
Jun 04 Captain America #27 - 36,212 ( -3.6%)
Jun 04 Captain America #28 - 35,664 ( -1.5%)
Jul 04 Captain America #29 - 40,221 (+12.8%)
Aug 04 Captain America #30 - 38,464 ( -4.4%)
Sep 04 Captain America #31 - 37,128 ( -3.5%)
Oct 04 Captain America #32 - 37,309 ( +0.5%)
Nov 04 Captain America #1 - 67,225 (+80.2%)
Dec 04 n/a
Jan 05 Captain America #2 - 53,306 (-20.7%)
Feb 05 Captain America #3 - 48,104 ( -9.8%)
Mar 05 Captain America #4 - 46,654 ( -3.0%)
Apr 05 Captain America #5 - 46,976 ( +0.7%)
May 05 Captain America #6 - 58,660 (+24.9%)
Jun 05 Captain America #7 - 47,160 (-19.6%)
6 mnth (-11.5%)
1 year (+30.2%)
2 year ( +3.3%)


Variant covers strike again, as last month's issue #6 picks up a
whacking 12,292 further orders, and charts at number 165. All of which
serves to disguise the fact that CAPTAIN AMERICA has been another
extremely solid performer, locked firmly into the 46-47K range for four
months now, and actually nudging slightly upwards this month.


38. INCREDIBLE HULK
Jun 01 Incredible Hulk #29 - 34,591
Jun 02 Incredible Hulk #41 - 46,355
Jun 03 Incredible Hulk #56 - 68,529
======
Jun 04 Incredible Hulk #73 - 44,249 ( -2.5%)
Jul 04 Incredible Hulk #74 - 43,383 ( -2.0%)
Aug 04 Incredible Hulk #75 - 44,066 ( +1.6%)
Aug 04 Incredible Hulk #76 - 42,298 ( -4.0%)
Sep 04 Hulk & Thing: Hard Knocks #1 (of 4) - 44,302 ( +4.7%)
Oct 04 Hulk & Thing: Hard Knocks #2 (of 4) - 37,519 (-15.3%)
Nov 04 Hulk & Thing: Hard Knocks #3 (of 4) - 34,129 ( -9.0%)
Dec 04 Hulk & Thing: Hard Knocks #4 (of 4) - 31,003 ( -9.2%)
Jan 05 Incredible Hulk #77 - 47,180 (+52.2%)
Feb 05 Incredible Hulk #78 - 44,721 ( -5.2%)
Mar 05 Incredible Hulk #79 - 43,508 ( -2.7%)
Apr 05 Incredible Hulk #80 - 48,404 (+11.3%)
May 05 Incredible Hulk #81 - 43,822 (-10.5%)
Jun 05 Incredible Hulk #82 - 43,248 ( -1.3%)
6 mnth (+39.5%)
1 year ( -2.3%)
2 year (-36.9%)


Basically, we're back where we were at the tail end of the Bruce Jones
run, albeit that the price has gone up since then. Not that price rises
ever seem to have an immediate effect on orders, mind you. Anyway,
there's a HOUSE OF M crossover just around the corner, so it won't be
staying at this level for long.


42,54,58,66,69. LAST HERO STANDING
Jun 05 Last Hero Standing #1 (of 5) - 39,579
Jun 05 Last Hero Standing #2 (of 5) - 35,607 (-10.0%)
Jun 05 Last Hero Standing #3 (of 5) - 34,330 ( -3.6%)
Jun 05 Last Hero Standing #4 (of 5) - 32,737 ( -4.6%)
Jun 05 Last Hero Standing #5 (of 5) - 32,125 ( -1.9%)


A weekly miniseries spinning off from SPIDER-GIRL, and an interesting
indication of how much weight Marvel now place on digest sales. The
numbers are surprisingly good, outperforming parent book SPIDER-GIRL by
a comfortable 13K margin. A cynic might be tempted to suggest that a
factor here is the solicitation text, which never quite gets around to
making clear that the Marvel heroes who guest star in the book are
actually the versions from the MC2 timeline. Nonetheless, it's a very
good number for a SPIDER-GIRL spin-off, by any standards.


49. PUNISHER
Jun 01 Punisher #1 - 85,966
Jun 02 Punisher #13 - 45,756
Jun 03 Punisher #28 - 39,431
======
Jun 04 Punisher #7 - 48,124 ( -0.9%)
Jun 04 Punisher #8 - 47,476 ( -1.3%)
Jul 04 Punisher #9 - 46,882 ( -1.3%)
Aug 04 Punisher #10 - 45,396 ( -3.2%)
Sep 04 Punisher #11 - 44,038 ( -3.0%)
Oct 04 Punisher #12 - 42,072 ( -4.5%)
Nov 04 Punisher #13 - 42,088 ( +0.0%)
Nov 04 Punisher #14 - 41,514 ( -1.4%)
Dec 04 Punisher #15 - 40,357 ( -2.8%)
Jan 05 Punisher #16 - 39,341 ( -2.5%)
Feb 05 Punisher #17 - 38,714 ( -1.6%)
Mar 05 Punisher #18 - 38,348 ( -0.9%)
Apr 05 Punisher #19 - 38,753 ( +1.1%)
Apr 05 Punisher #20 - 38,130 ( -1.6%)
May 05 Punisher #21 - 37,998 ( -0.3%)
Jun 05 Punisher #22 - 37,811 ( -0.5%)
6 mnth ( -6.3%)
1 year (-21.4%)
2 year ( -4.1%)


Another book which has been incredibly solid over the last few issues.


50. BLACK PANTHER
Jun 01 Black Panther #33 - 20,408
Jun 02 Black Panther #46 - 19,213
Jun 03 Black Panther #60 - 16,115
======
Feb 05 Black Panther #1 - 69,930
Mar 05 Black Panther #2 - 47,533 ( -32.0%)
Apr 05 Black Panther #3 - 44,925 ( -5.5%)
May 05 Black Panther #4 - 40,804 ( -9.2%)
Jun 05 Black Panther #5 - 37,401 ( -8.1%)
6 mnth ( n/a )
1 year ( n/a )
2 year (+132.1%)


Still dropping, and it really should be levelling out better than this
by issue #5. 8% drops at this stage are not a good thing. But two
major crossovers are just around the corner, starting in issue #7 - a
difficult call for retailers, since readers are plainly drifting away
from this title.


53. STRANGE
Sep 04 Strange #1 (of 6) - 59,974
Oct 04 Strange #2 (of 6) - 48,410 (-19.3%)
Nov 04 n/a
Dec 04 Strange #3 (of 6) - 41,015 (-15.3%)
Jan 05 n/a
Feb 05 Strange #4 (of 6) - 37,449 ( -8.7%)
Mar 05 n/a
Apr 05 Strange #5 (of 6) - 36,970 ( -1.3%)
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 Strange #6 (of 6) - 35,842 ( -3.1%)
6 mnth (-12.6%)


Fairly standard miniseries numbers, although the book seems to have
drifted off the radar over the last few months. As of yet, the book's
revisions of Dr Strange's history have simply been ignored everywhere
else, and it remains to be seen whether anyone's actually going to pick
up on them.


55. SHANNA THE SHE-DEVIL
Feb 05 Shanna the She-Devil #1 (of 7) - 47,953
Mar 05 Shanna the She-Devil #2 (of 7) - 40,877 (-14.8%)
Apr 05 Shanna the She-Devil #3 (of 7) - 38,678 ( -5.4%)
May 05 Shanna the She-Devil #4 (of 7) - 37,212 ( -3.8%)
Jun 05 Shanna the She-Devil #5 (of 7) - 35,412 ( -4.8%)


Holding up fairly well for a miniseries about such a C-list character.


57. EXILES
Jun 01 Exiles #1 - 55,899
Jun 02 Exiles #14 - 38,448
Jun 03 Exiles #28 - 39,048
======
Jun 04 Exiles #48 - 38,120 ( -0.5%)
Jul 04 Exiles #49 - 37,184 ( -2.5%)
Aug 04 Exiles #50 - 37,958 ( +2.1%)
Aug 04 Exiles #51 - 36,946 ( -2.7%)
Sep 04 Exiles #52 - 36,245 ( -1.9%)
Oct 04 Exiles #53 - 35,323 ( -2.5%)
Nov 04 Exiles #54 - 34,180 ( -3.2%)
Dec 04 Exiles #55 - 33,744 ( -1.3%)
Dec 04 Exiles #56 - 33,396 ( -1.0%)
Dec 04 Exiles #57 - 33,183 ( -0.6%)
Jan 05 Exiles #58 - 32,129 ( -3.2%)
Feb 05 Exiles #59 - 32,337 ( +0.6%)
Mar 05 Exiles #60 - 42,898 (+32.7%)
Mar 05 Exiles #61 - 42,217 ( -1.6%)
Apr 05 Exiles #62 - 33,965 (-19.5%)
Apr 05 Exiles #63 - 33,728 ( -0.7%)
May 05 Exiles #64 - 34,033 ( +0.9%)
Jun 05 Exiles #65 - 34,484 ( +1.3%)
6 mnth ( +3.9%)
1 year ( -9.5%)
2 year (-11.7%)


Another very stable book, not merely holding steady but moving very
slightly upwards for two months in a row.


60. NEW X-MEN
Jun 03 New Mutants #2 - 45,568
======
Jun 04 New X-Men #2 - 58,844 (-23.0%)
Jul 04 New X-Men #3 - 55,304 ( -6.0%)
Aug 04 New X-Men #4 - 51,902 ( -6.2%)
Sep 04 New X-Men #5 - 48,526 ( -6.5%)
Oct 04 New X-Men #6 - 45,647 ( -5.9%)
Nov 04 n/a
Dec 04 New X-Men #7 - 43,024 ( -5.7%)
Jan 05 New X-Men #8 - 40,179 ( -6.6%)
Jan 05 New X-Men #9 - 38,197 ( -4.9%)
Feb 05 New X-Men #10 - 36,910 ( -3.4%)
Mar 05 New X-Men #11 - 35,549 ( -3.7%)
Apr 05 New X-Men #12 - 35,779 ( +0.6%)
May 05 New X-Men #13 - 35,033 ( -2.1%)
May 05 New X-Men #14 - 34,579 ( -1.3%)
Jun 05 New X-Men #15 - 34,007 ( -1.7%)
6 mnth (-21.0%)
1 year (-42.2%)
2 year (-25.4%)


The decline is finally levelling out over the last few issues, but it's
not enough to save the book from a change of creative team and, from the
sounds of it, a radical revision of the premise.


62. X-MEN: KITTY PRYDE - SHADOW & FLAME
Jun 05 Kitty Pryde #1 (of 5) - 33,785


Another X-Men miniseries which nobody seems all that excited about.
Kitty Pryde is one of the core cast in ASTONISHING X-MEN, one of
Marvel's top books, and when her solo books sell at this level, Marvel
really ought to be asking themselves why they're bothering.


65. PULSE
Jun 02 Alias #10 - 31,300
Jun 03 Alias #23 - 27,426
======
Jun 04 n/a
Jul 04 Pulse #4 - 39,883 ( -8.6%)
Aug 04 n/a
Sep 04 Pulse #5 - 37,812 ( -5.2%)
Oct 04 n/a
Nov 04 Pulse #6 - 40,895 ( +8.2%)
Dec 04 n/a
Jan 05 Pulse #7 - 34,779 (-15.0%)
Feb 05 n/a
Mar 05 Pulse #8 - 33,367 ( -4.1%)
Apr 05 n/a
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 Pulse #9 - 32,771 ( -1.8%)
6 mnth ( -5.8%)
1 year (-17.8%)
2 year (+19.5%)


Seems to be levelling out in the low 30K range.


68. 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%)
Jun 05 Spider-Man: Breakout #3 (of 5) - 32,596 ( -8.1%)


Again, levelling out somewhat. Not too bad for a miniseries. It has to
be said that by this stage in proceedings, it's become apparent that the
alleged NEW AVENGERS tie-in is extremely tenuous: the villains were in
the jailbreak in NEW AVENGERS #1, and that's it.


79. TOXIN
Apr 05 Toxin #1 (of 6) - 42,138
May 05 Toxin #2 (of 6) - 34,093 (-19.1%)
Jun 05 Toxin #3 (of 6) - 29,249 (-14.2%)


This, on the other hand, is a worryingly steep drop for a third issue.
Toxin was introduced in the VENOM VERSUS CARNAGE miniseries, which
didn't exactly set the world alight, and there seems to be a degree of
bafflement as to why this book exists at all. In all fairness, it's
better than people seem to assume - it's by Peter Milligan and Darick
Robertson, for heaven's sake. But other than completists, it's hard to
see who's supposed to be the target audience for this.


81. NEW X-MEN: HELLIONS
May 05 New X-Men: Hellions #1 (of 4) - 33,193
Jun 05 New X-Men: Hellions #2 (of 4) - 28,563 (-13.9%)


A fairly standard second issue drop.


82. RUNAWAYS
Jun 03 Runaways #3 - 20,778
======
Jun 04 Runaways #16 - 19,049 ( -1.3%)
Jul 04 n/a
Aug 04 Runaways #17 - 18,563 ( -2.6%)
Sep 04 Runaways #18 - 18,614 ( +0.3%)
Oct 04 n/a
Nov 04 n/a
Dec 04 n/a
Jan 05 n/a
Feb 05 Runaways #1 - 43,128 (+131.7%)
Mar 05 Runaways #2 - 31,330 ( -27.4%)
Apr 05 Runaways #3 - 30,332 ( -3.2%)
May 05 Runaways #4 - 28,968 ( -4.5%)
Jun 05 Runaways #5 - 28,409 ( -1.9%)
6 mnth ( n/a )
1 year ( +49.1%)
2 year ( +36.7%)


Levelling out around the 28K mark, which places the book miles ahead of
its previous incarnation. It's not a fantastic number by Marvel
Universe standards, but then we come back again to the all impotant
digest sales. RUNAWAYS reputedly did rather well in that format, and
overall, it's probably in fairly good health.


83. DREAM POLICE
Jun 05 Dream Police #1 - 28,308


The Icon imprint makes its first appearance, with this curious one-shot
by J Michael Straczynski and Mike Deodato. Very respectable sales for
an unusual book.


85. G.L.A.
Apr 05 G.L.A. #1 (of 4) - 35,150
May 05 G.L.A. #2 (of 4) - 29,995 (-14.7%)
Jun 05 G.L.A. #3 (of 4) - 28,248 ( -5.8%)


Holding up remarkably well, especially when you consider that it's the
GLA. Better sales than could reasonably have been expected, which
perhaps bodes well for the relaunch of Dan Slott's SHE-HULK.


86. MARVEL KNIGHTS 4
Jun 04 Marvel Knights 4 #6 - 44,076 ( -2.5%)
Jul 04 Marvel Knights 4 #7 - 43,010 ( -2.4%)
Jul 04 Marvel Knights 4 #8 - 41,312 ( -3.9%)
Aug 04 Marvel Knights 4 #9 - 39,743 ( -3.8%)
Sep 04 Marvel Knights 4 #10 - 38,318 ( -3.6%)
Oct 04 Marvel Knights 4 #11 - 36,820 ( -3.9%)
Nov 04 Marvel Knights 4 #12 - 34,525 ( -6.2%)
Dec 04 Marvel Knights 4 #13 - 32,623 ( -5.5%)
Jan 05 Marvel Knights 4 #14 - 31,291 ( -4.1%)
Feb 05 Marvel Knights 4 #15 - 30,230 ( -3.4%)
Mar 05 Marvel Knights 4 #16 - 29,600 ( -2.1%)
Apr 05 Marvel Knights 4 #17 - 29,189 ( -1.4%)
May 05 Marvel Knights 4 #18 - 28,649 ( -1.9%)
Jun 05 Marvel Knights 4 #19 - 28,153 ( -1.7%)
6 mnth (-13.7%)
1 year (-36.1%)


Finding its level, but so far behind the parent book - and now producing
material so similar to it - that you have to wonder what the point is.


88. POWERS
Jun 01 Powers #13 - 27,002
Jun 02 Powers #22 - 26,561
Jun 03 Powers #32 - 26,774
======
Jul 04 Powers #1 - 40,387 (+61.4%)
Jul 04 Powers #2 - 36,537 ( -9.5%)
Aug 04 Powers #3 - 33,628 ( -8.0%)
Sep 04 Powers #4 - 33,046 ( -1.7%)
Oct 04 Powers #5 - 32,504 ( -1.6%)
Nov 04 Powers #6 - 30,431 ( -6.4%)
Dec 04 Powers #7 - 30,687 ( +0.8%)
Jan 05 Powers #8 - 29,438 ( -4.1%)
Feb 05 Powers #9 - 28,512 ( -3.1%)
Mar 05 n/a
Apr 05 Powers #10 - 28,360 ( -0.5%)
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 Powers #11 - 27,703 ( -2.3%)
6 mnth ( -9.7%)
1 year ( n/a )
2 year ( +3.5%)


More from Icon, as POWERS drifts back down towards its established
26-27K range. Historically, this is its bedrock audience, so it ought
to be levelling out now.


91. NEW THUNDERBOLTS
Jun 01 Thunderbolts #53 - 35,388
Jun 02 Thunderbolts #65 - 28,224
Jun 03 Thunderbolts #80 - 18,766
======
Nov 04 New Thunderbolts #1 - 45,793
Nov 04 New Thunderbolts #2 - 40,104 (-12.4%)
Dec 04 New Thunderbolts #3 - 32,720 (-18.4%)
Jan 05 New Thunderbolts #4 - 31,725 ( -3.0%)
Feb 05 New Thunderbolts #5 - 29,377 ( -7.4%)
Mar 05 New Thunderbolts #6 - 29,103 ( -0.9%)
Apr 05 New Thunderbolts #7 - 28,977 ( -0.4%)
May 05 New Thunderbolts #8 - 27,769 ( -4.2%)
Jun 05 New Thunderbolts #9 - 27,300 ( -1.7%)
6 mnth (-31.9%)
1 year ( n/a )
2 year (-22.9%)


Again, fairly solid over the last few issues. Hopefully safe as long as
it can stick around this level.


96. WOLVERINE: SOULTAKER
Mar 05 Wolverine: Soultaker #1 (of 5) - 42,880
Mar 05 Wolverine: Soultaker #2 (of 5) - 38,910 ( -9.3%)
Apr 05 Wolverine: Soultaker #3 (of 5) - 33,130 (-14.9%)
May 05 Wolverine: Soultaker #4 (of 5) - 29,015 (-12.4%)
Jun 05 Wolverine: Soultaker #5 (of 5) - 26,742 ( -7.8%)


Generic orders for a Wolverine miniseries nobody's that interested in.


97. ORORO: BEFORE THE STORM
Jun 05 Ororo: Before the Storm #1 (of 4) - 26,372


Because you demanded it: a miniseries about Storm as a kid. Actually,
it's got an all ages rating, so Marvel might be eyeing this as a
possible digest story. The direct market sales certainly aren't going
to justify the exercise, anyway.


100. X-MEN UNLIMITED
Jun 01 n/a
Jun 02 n/a
Jun 03 X-Men Unlimited #48 - 34,314
======
Jun 04 X-Men Unlimited #3 - 36,737 (-13.8%)
Jul 04 n/a
Aug 04 X-Men Unlimited #4 - 33,895 ( -7.7%)
Sep 04 n/a
Oct 04 X-Men Unlimited #5 - 32,910 ( -2.9%)
Nov 04 n/a
Dec 04 X-Men Unlimited #6 - 30,138 ( -8.4%)
Jan 05 n/a
Feb 05 X-Men Unlimited #7 - 27,009 (-10.4%)
Mar 05 n/a
Apr 05 X-Men Unlimited #8 - 25,686 ( -4.9%)
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 X-Men Unlimited #9 - 25,398 ( -1.1%)
6 mnth (-15.7%)
1 year (-30.9%)


A small drop this month, but then again, it did have Wolverine in it.
X-MEN UNLIMITED sales tend to be a bit erratic, presumably depending on
the characters - although instead up going up and down, it goes down and
downer.


104. CABLE/DEADPOOL
Jun 04 Cable/Deadpool #4 - 34,966 ( -5.0%)
Jul 04 Cable/Deadpool #5 - 32,594 ( -6.8%)
Aug 04 Cable/Deadpool #6 - 31,033 ( -4.8%)
Sep 04 Cable/Deadpool #7 - 30,325 ( -2.3%)
Oct 04 Cable/Deadpool #8 - 28,986 ( -4.4%)
Nov 04 Cable/Deadpool #9 - 27,612 ( -4.7%)
Dec 04 Cable/Deadpool #10 - 26,911 ( -2.5%)
Jan 05 Cable/Deadpool #11 - 25,844 ( -4.0%)
Feb 05 Cable/Deadpool #12 - 25,349 ( -1.9%)
Mar 05 Cable/Deadpool #13 - 25,551 ( +0.8%)
Apr 05 Cable/Deadpool #14 - 24,994 ( -2.2%)
May 05 Cable/Deadpool #15 - 24,837 ( -0.6%)
Jun 05 Cable/Deadpool #16 - 24,612 ( -0.9%)
6 mnth ( -8.5%)
1 year (-29.6%)


And here's another solid book. There's a HOUSE OF M crossover just
around the corner.


108. 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%)
6 mnth (-19.1%)


The decline has slowed to reasonable amounts, although sales are still a
little too erratic to really describe this one as stable.

[iloveclones]

Last but not least (boy, I see why people pick and choose....)

109. STORMBREAKER: THE SAGA OF BETA RAY BILL
Jan 05 Stormbreaker #1 (of 6) - 31,297
Feb 05 Stormbreaker #2 (of 6) - 26,365 (-15.8%)
Mar 05 Stormbreaker #3 (of 6) - 25,671 ( -2.6%)
Apr 05 Stormbreaker #4 (of 6) - 24,264 ( -5.5%)
May 05 Stormbreaker #5 (of 6) - 23,257 ( -4.2%)
Jun 05 Stormbreaker #6 (of 6) - 22,649 ( -2.6%)


All things considered, these numbers should probably be considered a
success. After all, it's outsold four ongoing X-books, and who'd have
expected that for a BETA RAY BILL book?


110. MARVEL NEMESIS: THE IMPERFECTS
May 05 Marvel Nemesis: The Imperfects #1 (of 6) - 32,600
Jun 05 Marvel Nemesis: The Imperfects #2 (of 6) - 22,407 (-31.3%)


Slashing back the orders. Again, it's hard to work out who this book is
for, although I'm sure it went down very well with an internal committee
on cross-media marketing synergy.


111. NIGHTCRAWLER
Sep 04 Nightcrawler #1 - 46,547
Oct 04 n/a
Nov 04 Nightcrawler #2 - 36,533 (-21.5%)
Dec 04 Nightcrawler #3 - 31,436 (-14.0%)
Dec 04 Nightcrawler #4 - 29,292 ( -6.8%)
Jan 05 Nightcrawler #5 - 26,442 ( -9.7%)
Feb 05 Nightcrawler #6 - 24,641 ( -6.8%)
Mar 05 n/a
Apr 05 n/a
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 Nightcrawler #7 - 22,400 ( -9.1%)
6 mnth (-23.5%)


A strong contender for this year's most baffling promotional move: take
a book with flagging sales, pull it off the shelves for three months,
and then bring it back with no particular publicity at all. Quite what
this was supposed to achieve, I have no idea. Anyway, Marvel should
count themselves lucky that the decline simply continued at previous
levels. The book surely can't be long for this world.


113. OFFICIAL HANDBOOK OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE
Jun 04 Spider-Man 2004 - 32,013 ( -18.7%)
Jul 04 Avengers 2004 - 28,791 ( -10.1%)
Aug 04 Hulk 2004 - 22,011 ( -23.5%)
Sep 04 Daredevil/Elektra 2004 - 22,781 ( +3.5%)
Oct 04 Wolverine 2004 - 32,553 ( +42.9%)
Nov 04 Book of the Dead 2004 - 25,131 ( -22.8%)
Dec 04 Golden Age 2004 - 17,356 ( -30.9%)
Jan 05 Women of Marvel 2005 - 20,837 ( +20.1%)
Feb 05 Marvel Knights 2005 - 18,182 ( -12.7%)
Mar 05 X-Men: Age of Apocalypse 2005 - 37,056 (+103.8%)
Apr 05 Spider-Man 2005 - 25,530 ( -31.1%)
May 05 Teams 2005 - 22,564 ( -11.6%)
Jun 05 Fantastic Four 2005 - 21,970 ( -2.6%)
6 mnth ( +26.6%)
1 year ( -31.4%)


Once again, not a huge amount of interest in a Fantastic Four product. I
really do wonder how much appetite there is for the characters, at least
among the direct market audience.


118. NEW WARRIORS
Jun 05 New Warriors #1 (of 6) - 20,841


120. GRAVITY
Jun 05 Gravity #1 (of 5) - 20,304


The standard order number for miniseries which the retailers don't have
much confidence in, and which didn't get much publicity. SPELLBINDERS
and LIVEWIRES both debuted at this level as well, and what does that
tell you?


121. ROGUE
Jul 04 Rogue #1 - 50,727
Aug 04 Rogue #2 - 39,910 (-21.3%)
Sep 04 Rogue #3 - 34,934 (-12.5%)
Oct 04 Rogue #4 - 31,301 (-10.4%)
Nov 04 n/a
Dec 04 Rogue #5 - 28,835 ( -7.9%)
Dec 04 Rogue #6 - 26,905 ( -6.7%)
Jan 05 Rogue #7 - 24,865 ( -7.6%)
Feb 05 Rogue #8 - 23,312 ( -6.2%)
Mar 05 Rogue #9 - 22,328 ( -4.2%)
Apr 05 n/a
May 05 Rogue #10 - 21,845 ( -2.2%)
May 05 Rogue #11 - 21,458 ( -1.8%)
Jun 05 Rogue #12 - 20,290 ( -5.4%)
6 mnth (-24.6%)


Axed with this issue.


122. DAREDEVIL: REDEMPTION
Feb 05 Daredevil: Redemption #1 (of 6) - 33,091
Feb 05 Daredevil: Redemption #2 (of 6) - 30,137 ( -8.9%)
Mar 05 Daredevil: Redemption #3 (of 6) - 24,810 (-17.7%)
Apr 05 n/a
May 05 Daredevil: Redemption #4 (of 6) - 21,118 (-14.9%)
Jun 05 Daredevil: Redemption #5 (of 6) - 19,658 ( -6.9%)


Disappearing quietly.


123,128. GAMBIT
Sep 04 Gambit #1 - 46,994
Sep 04 Gambit #2 - 40,013 (-14.9%)
Oct 04 Gambit #3 - 34,952 (-12.6%)
Nov 04 Gambit #4 - 29,385 (-15.9%)
Dec 04 Gambit #5 - 25,413 (-13.5%)
Jan 05 Gambit #6 - 23,528 ( -7.4%)
Feb 05 Gambit #7 - 22,233 ( -5.5%)
Mar 05 Gambit #8 - 21,509 ( -3.3%)
Apr 05 Gambit #9 - 20,536 ( -4.5%)
May 05 Gambit #10 - 19,872 ( -3.2%)
Jun 05 Gambit #11 - 19,652 ( -1.1%)
Jun 05 Gambit #12 - 18,852 ( -4.1%)
6 mnth (-25.8%)


Axed with this issue.


124. SPIDER-GIRL
Jun 01 Spider-Girl #35 - 24,402
Jun 02 Spider-Girl #48 - 24,311
Jun 03 Spider-Girl #61 - 23,429
======
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%)
Jun 05 Spider-Girl #87 - 19,605 ( +0.8%)
6 mnth ( -4.0%)
1 year (-20.5%)
2 year (-16.3%)


Moving slightly up, perhaps because of LAST HERO STANDING.


129. DISTRICT X
Jun 04 District X #2 - 35,844 (-21.1%)
Jul 04 District X #3 - 33,257 ( -7.2%)
Aug 04 District X #4 - 30,816 ( -7.3%)
Sep 04 District X #5 - 28,979 ( -6.0%)
Oct 04 District X #6 - 27,097 ( -6.5%)
Nov 04 District X #7 - 25,488 ( -6.0%)
Dec 04 District X #8 - 23,683 ( -7.1%)
Jan 05 District X #9 - 22,244 ( -6.1%)
Feb 05 District X #10 - 21,252 ( -4.5%)
Mar 05 District X #11 - 20,546 ( -3.3%)
Apr 05 District X #12 - 20,218 ( -1.6%)
May 05 District X #13 - 19,459 ( -3.8%)
Jun 05 District X #14 - 18,798 ( -3.4%)
6 mnth (-20.6%)
1 year (-47.6%)


Axed with this issue, although it's immediately followed by the HOUSE OF
M tie-in miniseries MUTOPIA X.


134. X-FORCE
Aug 04 X-Force #1 (of 6) - 66,620
Sep 04 X-Force #2 (of 6) - 50,991 (-23.5%)
Oct 04 X-Force #3 (of 6) - 46,528 ( -8.8%)
Nov 04 X-Force #4 (of 6) - 41,533 (-10.7%)
Dec 04 X-Force #5 (of 6) - 38,006 ( -8.5%)
Jan 05 n/a
Feb 05 X-Force #6 (of 6) - 35,633 ( -6.2%)
Feb 05 X-Force: Shatterstar #1 (of 4) - 28,361 (-20.4%)
Mar 05 X-Force: Shatterstar #2 (of 4) - 23,237 (-18.1%)
Apr 05 X-Force: Shatterstar #3 (of 4) - 20,948 ( -9.9%)
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 X-Force: Shatterstar #4 (of 4) - 18,066 (-13.8%)
6 mnth (-52.5%)


And that's the end of that. The novelty of Rob Liefeld really does wear
off quickly these days.


136. FANTASTIC FOUR: THE MOVIE
Jun 05 Fantastic Four: The Movie #1 - 17,481


Not a bad number, as these things go. Movie tie-ins aren't primarily
aimed at the direct market.


141,149. FANTASTIC FOUR: FOES
Jan 05 Fantastic Four: Foes #1 (of 6) - 30,329
Feb 05 Fantastic Four: Foes #2 (of 6) - 24,177 (-20.3%)
Mar 05 Fantastic Four: Foes #3 (of 6) - 20,313 (-16.0%)
Apr 05 Fantastic Four: Foes #4 (of 6) - 17,737 (-12.7%)
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 Fantastic Four: Foes #5 (of 6) - 16,526 ( -6.8%)
Jun 05 Fantastic Four: Foes #6 (of 6) - 15,713 ( -4.9%)


A bit of a bomb, frankly.


142. HERCULES
Apr 05 Hercules #1 (of 5) - 26,222
May 05 Hercules #2 (of 5) - 19,499 (-25.6%)
Jun 05 Hercules #3 (of 5) - 16,459 (-15.6%)


Losing readers at an uncomfortable rate.


144. ARAÑA: HEART OF THE SPIDER
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 #1 - 29,843 (+24.8%)
Feb 05 n/a
Mar 05 Araña #2 - 22,131 (-25.8%)
Mar 05 Araña #3 - 20,002 ( -9.6%)
Apr 05 n/a
May 05 Araña #4 - 18,752 ( -6.2%)
Jun 05 Araña #5 - 16,379 (-12.7%)
6 mnth (-45.1%)
1 year (-73.6%)


Plummetting like a brick. I can only assume that ARAÑA must be
performing respectably in digest format, because if it wasn't, they'd
surely have pulled the plug by now. Nonetheless, the numbers on this
title are embarrassing. With SENTINEL set to return as a digest-only
book, how long can it be before some of these low-selling titles also
make the big jump and abandon the monthly format altogether?


150. 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%)
May 05 Amazing Fantasy #8 - 17,773 (-18.5%)
Jun 05 Amazing Fantasy #9 - 15,606 (-12.2%)
6 mnth (-34.7%)
1 year (-74.9%)


Doing no better. It's being used to launch a CAPTAIN UNIVERSE event in
the coming months, but one has to wonder whether AMAZING FANTASY is in
any position to launch anything. With issues #13-14 scheduled to
contain two-parters, are they about to pull the plug? Or do they just
want something more impressive for AMAZING FANTASY #15 II?


151. 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%)
Jun 05 Spider-Man/Human Torch #5 (of 5) - 15,512 ( -8.2%)


Not particularly great numbers, but it was levelling out somewhat.


179. SPELLBINDERS
Mar 05 Spellbinders #1 (of 6) - 20,995
Apr 05 Spellbinders #2 (of 6) - 14,632 (-30.3%)
May 05 Spellbinders #3 (of 6) - 12,069 (-17.5%)
Jun 05 Spellbinders #4 (of 6) - 10,189 (-15.6%)


Disastrous.


183. LIVEWIRES
Feb 05 Livewires #1 (of 6) - 20,944
Mar 05 Livewires #2 (of 6) - 14,688 (-29.9%)
Apr 05 Livewires #3 (of 6) - 12,581 (-14.3%)
May 05 Livewires #4 (of 6) - 11,089 (-11.9%)
Jun 05 Livewires #5 (of 6) - 9,960 (-10.2%)


Ditto.


185. MACHINE TEEN
May 05 Machine Teen #1 (of 5) - 16,527
Jun 05 Machine Teen #2 (of 5) - 9,812 (-40.6%)


Oww. The numbers on this book are doing to be truly painful to watch.


187. MARVEL ADVENTURES: FANTASTIC FOUR
May 05 Marvel Adventures: Fantastic Four #0 - 9,723
Jun 05 Marvel Adventures: Fantastic Four #1 - 9,617 (-1.1%)


198. 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%)


205. MARY JANE: HOMECOMING
Mar 05 Mary Jane: Homecoming #1 (of 4) - 12,707
Apr 05 Mary Jane: Homecoming #2 (of 4) - 10,536 (-17.1%)
May 05 Mary Jane: Homecoming #3 (of 4) - 9,016 (-14.4%)
Jun 05 Mary Jane: Homecoming #4 (of 4) - 8,307 ( -7.9%)


206. POWER PACK
Apr 05 Power Pack #1 (of 4) - 14,221
May 05 Power Pack #2 (of 4) - 11,289 (-20.6%)
May 05 Power Pack #3 (of 4) - 10,143 (-10.2%)
Jun 05 Power Pack #4 (of 4) - 8,307 (-18.1%)


All ages books, all of which are aimed primarily at the digest audience.
The direct market sales really don't matter.


227. MARVEL MILESTONES
Jun 05 Dr Doom, Sub-Mariner & Red Skull - 6,237


Another slightly random collection of reprints.


273. MARVEL HEROES
Jun 05 Marvel Heroes #1 - 3,528


276. ULTIMATE TALES
Jun 05 Ultimate Tales #1 - 3,495


282. ULTIMATE MARVEL
Jun 05 Ultimate Marvel #1 - 3,266


283. MARVEL SELECT
Jun 05 Marvel Select #1 - 3,246


Er... yes. These are flipbooks reprinting material that was out in the
direct market months, and in some cases years, ago. So it's hardly
surprising that the orders were so low. In fact, there's got to be a
good chance that these titles will drop out of the Top 300 altogether in
early course. Once again, it really doesn't matter, because they're not
aimed at the direct market readership.


Skip months
===========


ASTONISHING X-MEN
Jun 04 Astonishing X-Men #2 - 136,158 (-48.6%)
Jul 04 Astonishing X-Men #3 - 129,362 ( -5.0%)
Aug 04 Astonishing X-Men #4 - 148,209 (+14.6%)
Sep 04 Astonishing X-Men #5 - 134,154 ( -9.5%)
Oct 04 n/a
Nov 04 Astonishing X-Men #6 - 134,840 ( +0.5%)
Dec 04 Astonishing X-Men #7 - 153,516 (+13.9%)
Jan 05 n/a
Feb 05 Astonishing X-Men #8 - 153,395 ( -0.0%)
Mar 05 Astonishing X-Men #9 - 135,325 (-11.8%)
Apr 05 n/a
May 05 Astonishing X-Men #10 - 156,298 (+15.5%)
Jun 05 n/a


Late. Meanwhile, more fun with variant covers, as issue #10 picks up
another 21,312 orders, and charts at number 116.


ULTIMATES
Jun 02 Ultimates #6 - 99,473
Jun 03 n/a
======
Dec 05 Ultimates 2 #1 - 146,271 (+42.0%)
Jan 05 Ultimates 2 #2 - 114,963 (-21.4%)
Feb 05 Ultimates 2 #3 - 108,378 ( -5.7%)
Mar 05 Ultimates 2 #4 - 105,255 ( -2.9%)
Apr 05 Ultimates 2 #5 - 104,971 ( -0.3%)
May 05 Ultimates 2 #6 - 102,026 ( -2.8%)
Jun 05 n/a


Late.


SECRET WAR
Jun 04 n/a
Jul 04 n/a
Aug 04 n/a
Sep 04 n/a
Oct 04 Secret War #3 (of 5) - 109,745 (-17.4%)
Nov 04 n/a
Dec 04 n/a
Jan 05 n/a
Feb 05 n/a
Mar 05 Secret War #4 (of 5) - 94,893 (-13.5%)
Apr 05 n/a
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 n/a


Hopelessly late.


ULTIMATE IRON MAN
Mar 05 Ultimate Iron Man #1 (of 5) - 143,697
Apr 05 n/a
May 05 Ultimate Iron Man #2 (of 5) - 90,197 (-37.2%)
Jun 05 n/a


Bimonthly, although issue #3 has actually been pushed back to the first
week of August.


ULTIMATE GALACTUS TRILOGY
Aug 04 Ultimate Nightmare #1 (of 5) - 102,655
Sep 04 Ultimate Nightmare #2 (of 5) - 88,088 (-14.2%)
Oct 04 Ultimate Nightmare #3 (of 5) - 83,208 ( -5.5%)
Nov 04 n/a
Dec 04 Ultimate Nightmare #4 (of 5) - 76,658 ( -7.9%)
Jan 05 n/a
Feb 05 Ultimate Nightmare #5 (of 5) - 73,082 ( -4.6%)
Mar 05 Ultimate Secret #1 (of 4) - 89,132 (+22.0%)
Apr 05 Ultimate Secret #2 (of 4) - 77,914 (-12.6%)
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 n/a


On hiatus until September.


IRON MAN
Jun 01 Iron Man #43 - 36,917
Jun 02 Iron Man #56 - 36,126
Jun 03 Iron Man #69 - 31,976
======
Jun 04 Iron Man #84 - 29,629 ( +5.6%)
Jun 04 Iron Man #85 - 29,615 ( -0.0%)
Jul 04 Iron Man #86 - 34,520 ( +16.6%)
Aug 04 Iron Man #87 - 33,512 ( -2.9%)
Sep 04 Iron Man #88 - 32,932 ( -1.7%)
Oct 04 Iron Man #89 - 33,483 ( +1.7%)
Nov 04 Iron Man #1 - 68,992 (+106.1%)
Dec 04 Iron Man #2 - 55,051 ( -20.2%)
Jan 05 n/a
Feb 05 n/a
Mar 05 n/a
Apr 05 Iron Man #3 - 51,390 ( -6.7%)
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 n/a


Hopelessly late.


NYX
Jun 04 n/a
Jul 04 n/a
Aug 04 n/a
Sep 04 n/a
Oct 04 NYX #5 - 35,749 ( -3.5%)
Nov 04 n/a
Dec 04 n/a
Jan 05 n/a
Feb 05 n/a
Mar 05 n/a
Apr 05 n/a
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 n/a


Divorced from time and space. Incredibly, issue #6 actually shipped in
July. Meanwhile, in June, the MARVEL MUST HAVES collection of issues
#4-5 appears at number 217 with orders of 7,084. The book is axed with
issue #7, which at this rate, should be out in April 2006.


SPIDER-MAN UNLIMITED
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%)
Jun 05 n/a


Bimonthly.


KABUKI
Jul 04 Kabuki #1 - 25,305
Aug 04 n/a
Sep 04 Kabuki #2 - 16,705 (-34.0%)
Oct 04 n/a
Nov 04 n/a
Dec 04 Kabuki #3 - 13,885 (-16.9%)
Jan 05 n/a
Feb 05 n/a
Mar 05 n/a
Apr 05 Kabuki #4 - 14,327 ( +3.2%)
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 n/a


World of its own. Ships when it's ready.


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


+39.5% - Incredible Hulk
+26.6% - Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
+17.4% - Fantastic Four
+ 3.9% - Exiles
+ 1.4% - Uncanny X-Men
- 3.1% - Wolverine
- 4.0% - Spider-Girl
- 4.6% - Daredevil
- 5.8% - Pulse
- 6.3% - Punisher
- 8.5% - Cable/Deadpool
- 8.9% - X-Men
- 9.7% - Powers
-10.7% - Ultimate Spider-Man
-11.1% - Supreme Power
-11.4% - Amazing Spider-Man
-11.5% - Captain America
-12.2% - Ultimate Fantastic Four
-12.6% - Strange
-13.2% - Ultimate X-Men
-13.7% - Marvel Knights 4
-15.7% - X-Men Unlimited
-16.1% - Marvel Knights Spider-Man
-17.1% - X-Men: The End
-19.1% - Marvel Team-Up
-20.6% - District X
-21.0% - New X-Men
-23.5% - Nightcrawler
-24.6% - Rogue
-25.8% - Gambit
-31.9% - New Thunderbolts
-34.7% - Amazing Fantasy
-42.4% - New Avengers
-45.1% - Araña: Heart of the Spider
-52.5% - X-Force


1 year comparison
=================


+183.1% - New Avengers
+ 49.1% - Runaways
+ 30.2% - Captain America
+ 18.4% - Wolverine
+ 12.1% - Fantastic Four
- 2.3% - Incredible Hulk
- 7.5% - Uncanny X-Men
- 9.5% - Exiles
- 9.9% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 10.4% - Daredevil
- 12.2% - Ultimate Fantastic Four
- 17.0% - Supreme Power
- 17.5% - Ultimate X-Men
- 17.8% - Pulse
- 18.5% - X-Men
- 20.5% - Spider-Girl
- 21.4% - Punisher
- 24.2% - Ultimate Spider-Man
- 29.6% - Cable & Deadpool
- 30.9% - X-Men Unlimited
- 31.4% - Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
- 34.6% - Marvel Knights Spider-Man
- 36.1% - Marvel Knights 4
- 42.2% - New X-Men
- 47.6% - District X
- 73.6% - Araña / Amazing Fantasy
- 74.9% - Amazing Fantasy


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


+180.6% - New Avengers / Avengers
+132.1% - Black Panther
+ 36.7% - Runaways
+ 19.5% - Pulse / Alias
+ 5.4% - Fantastic Four
+ 3.5% - Powers
+ 3.3% - Captain America
+ 1.7% - Uncanny X-Men
- 4.1% - Punisher
- 11.7% - Exiles
- 16.3% - Spider-Girl
- 19.4% - X-Men / New X-Men
- 19.5% - Daredevil
- 19.9% - Wolverine
- 20.7% - Ultimate Spider-Man
- 22.9% - New Thunderbolts
- 25.4% - New X-Men / New Mutants
- 29.0% - Ultimate X-Men
- 36.9% - Incredible Hulk


--
Paul O'Brien

[iloveclones]

For all the griping, I didn't expect numbers that big. No wonder they do these things. I wonder what the numbers would be for something people like. (That's my subtle way of asking for numbers of other crossovers)

1,2. HOUSE OF M
Jun 05 House of M #1 (of 8) - 233,763
Jun 05 House of M #2 (of 8) - 168,974 (-27.7%)

[DBM]

For all the griping, I didn't expect numbers that big. No wonder they do these things. I wonder what the numbers would be for something people like. (That's my subtle way of asking for numbers of other crossovers)

Were there variant covers on the House of M titles? Those will inflate the sales numbers to look like more people are buying it.

[iloveclones]

I'm not sure. I don't think so. I never really look for those things, so I don't know if they're there. But inflated or not, those numbers surprised me a little. What kind of numbers does DC's crossover do?

[DBM]

From ICv2 (http://www.icv2.com/articles/home/7394.html).

Interview with Marvel Publisher Dan Buckley 2005, Part 1
On the Comics and Graphic Novel Market
August 22, 2005

We recently conducted our annual interview with Marvel publisher Dan Buckley about the state of the comics business and Marvel's place in it. In Part 1, we talk about the over-all market conditions for comics and graphic novels in comic stores, bookstores, mass merchants, and newsstand outlets. In Part 2, we discuss the way Marvel approaches its mass market outlets as ways to reach new consumers, the relationship between movies and graphic novel sales, and Marvel's graphic novel share and investment in inventory. In Part 3, we talk about whether videogame licenses help or hurt comic sales and the risks and rewards of variant covers and reprints. And in Part 4, we talked whether Marvel would ever license its comics (like it does toy manufacturing), whether comic-based movies are a bubble, how Marvel is approaching the female young adult market, and the challenges and opportunities for the coming year.



What's your perspective on the state of the market, 2005 versus 2004, for comics and graphic novels over-all.

It's a little bit more competitive from a Marvel and DC standpoint. From a market dynamic in the direct market [standpoint], it's the Big Two and other publishers going on right now. From a marketing and product offering [standpoint], it's been a good year for direct market retailers. Between House of M and the Infinity Crisis there's a lot of product for them to sell. We're probably doing a little bit more of an event where things are happening in a book, and DC's doing much more of a major crossover connected story lattice. It will be interesting to see how that affects the market, but it's very good; sales are up. It's been a good year, especially for DC and Marvel.



From the standpoint of over-all growth, it's exciting what's going on with the bookstore business. We've had a very good year (not just in bookstores but in the direct market). We have a lot more offerings in our classic category, and our Ultimates line continues to do very well for us in both markets. We've also seen quite a bit of growth with our digest program in various distribution networks. Barnes and Borders are doing very well for us with the digest program, all ages, and some of our YA (Young Adult, ed.), which I would put in the Runaways vein. We're experimenting with different IP, from Arana to Machine Teen to Spellbinders. We're generating some excitement. Runaways is the lead of that stuff. Target is continuing to do well. The most exciting thing going on for us is that the all ages line with Marvel Adventures is sticking. Our initial response to the mass market relaunch into the newsstand business is going pretty well (fingers crossed, we still have two or three months to see how it's going).



This year compared to last year the direct market's experiencing some growth. That's nice to see especially considering all the years it wasn't growing. We're experiencing some opening of avenues in new distribution channels, therefore, getting new readers, and getting people excited about what we're doing between bookstores, convenience stores and drug stores. We weren't there last year. The digest programs and the all ages programs have really helped with that.



Going to bookstores, last year we talked about the growth in pockets for graphic novels and whether that was adequate to support the number of titles that publishers were asking bookstores to field. Are you feeling any more pressure on the available space there in the graphic novel departments?

We aren't really experiencing any pushback from the offering that we're giving them. We're getting the space necessary. Both of the big players have been very supportive of the category, and they're not saying, "Less! Don't offer me as much." Do they go into to everything wholeheartedly? No, but they take a little of everything we do with the exception of things we don't offer them, that being the mass merch hardcover program. We are getting pushed back that way.



We might disagree on how deep they should go on an order and where something should be merchandised, where you should rack something. But those are things that we're working through as we try to expand the category from a Marvel perspective. The best example is that we are doing digest-formatted books because that's where we think the manga reader is. I'm know I'm not making manga, I'm not professing that, but we do think we have some products that the manga reader or demographic might be comfortable with. Runaways is the flagship of that. We might go back and forth, but we're not getting pushed back and told, "Don't make the product for me."



The dynamic is slightly different for DC and us--that plethora of titles wasn't coming from us. It was coming from the manga publishers and the fact that so many publishers are jumping into that category. The dynamic has settled down a little bit. From what I've seen in the stores, I think the category's safe. I think the category's solid and it's growing and the bookstores are going to support it. Like I said last year, we've probably got a couple more years before we finally figure out what the product mix will be in graphic fiction. The movies doing well helps Marvel and DC tremendously. Having a familiar IP does take you a long way. They seem to be accepting the things we present to them. The classic stuff they don't go as deep on, but Ultimates does really well there, and we've been very happy with the digest program.



Are you getting digests into any mass merchant channels?

We haven't aggressively pushed that yet. Scholastic has taken some of the digests into their book fair programs and into various distribution paths. Not the whole line, obviously, though they're taking pretty good orders, and putting Spider-Man in front of them, Spider-Girl. Every year of trust they build with us, the better opportunity we have to put another title in. We are doing some other distribution paths, we are talking to other people to see if they would be interested in taking the digest format. But, you know, slow and steady.



You mentioned convenience stores. Obviously that's a very large number of outlets, maybe the biggest expansion in outlets for comics in a long time. Did you say that it was really too early to tell how that's going?

Our initial results look pretty good. But as you well know, with the newsstand business and its returnable nature, the final count isn't until the final count. We'll have a much better feel for what the first six books did in the fourth quarter, but the initial feedback has been very good. The retailers are happy and we're happy. It's very exciting to get this product out in twenty thousand storefronts.



What titles did you put out there?

We led with Marvel Adventures, a $1.99 launch book, Fantastic Four Zero. That was on sale first week in June. We went very aggressively across the board with it, into 7-11s, Blockbusters, Walgreens, a variety of different places. And then the core product mix is six titles that are $3.99 apiece, that have two comic book stories in each of them. They're double-sized books, sixty-four pages. They're flip-book formats so there are two covers for each book. The flagship title is Marvel Adventures; it's all ages titles--one side is Fantastic Four, the other side is Spider-Man. It has four to five pages of material that promotes to all ages and focuses on them. We feel very comfortable with that product everywhere. The other five books are Marvel Heroes, which is New Avengers and Captain America; Marvel Select, with Astonishing X-Men and New X-Men; Marvel Tales with Amazing Spider-Man and Arana; then we have Ultimate Tales, which is Ultimate Spider-Man; and Ultimate Marvel, which is Ultimate X-Men and Ultimate Fantastic Four. In those five, we made sure that we have a lot of house ads, in-house promotional stuff, because we remember picking up books where you feel like you're a member of a club. We're trying to speak more directly to consumers. Plus we have a couple of extra pages to play with because they're 64 pages, so we make sure we're communicating the broad spectrum and line that's out there.



When we first ran the story on the newsstand launch, one comment we got was that Marvel should run stand-alone stories rather than continuing stores. It sounds like in the titles you listed there's probably some that tend a little more way and some the other. Your thoughts?

Marvel Adventures is very much focused on stand-alone stories. There will be a stand-alone FF story and a stand-alone Spider-Man story. That's not to say they might not develop an over-arching arc someday down the road; I'm not discounting any storytelling. It's an all-ages read; we want people to think they got something out of it immediately. Hopefully it's like their first experience of reading a comic book. I think it's much more essential for that book.


Most of the other five titles are continuing stories which focus on what we've been doing over the last year, five to eight issue story arcs, but they're good stories and they're mass market brands. We made certain that each of the books had one of the mainstay mass market brands, with Fantastic Four now the movie, X-Men, Spider-Man. Marvel Heroes is more our world, Captain America, Iron Man; those character have their own Q factor too. We have to make sure we give them the characters they want to read about, really good stories that look good, and are not so continuity-saddled that it makes it hard to get your arms around it. All ages, it's important to have stand-alone stories. The other books, which have ratings of teen plus, you just need to make sure it's a good product.

[DBM]

From ICv2 (http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/7395.html)

Interview with Marvel Publisher Dan Buckley 2005, Part 2
Reaching New Customers; the Graphic Novel Business
August 22, 2005

We recently conducted our annual interview with Marvel publisher Dan Buckley about the state of the comics business and Marvel's place in it. In Part 2, we discuss the way Marvel approaches its mass market outlets as ways to reach new consumers, the relationship between movies and graphic novel sales, and Marvel's graphic novel share and investment in inventory. In Part 1, we talk about the over-all market conditions for comics and graphic novels in comic stores, bookstores, mass merchants, and newsstand outlets. In Part 3, we talk about whether videogame licenses help or hurt comic sales and the risks and rewards of variant covers and reprints. And in Part 4, we talk about whether Marvel would ever license its comics (like it does toy manufacturing), whether comic-based movies are a bubble, how Marvel is approaching the female young adult market, and the challenges and opportunities for the coming year.



You have several high traffic channels now that provide the opportunity to recruit new consumers into the comic space-convenience stores, bookstores, and mass merchants. How do you view those channels in terms of recruiting new consumers? Do you see them as hitting different customer groupings and tailor the product accordingly? Or is it more a matter of just throwing the broadest-based material out in each channel and hoping it finds its audience?

It's a little bit of both. The newsstand/convenience/drug is much more of a magazine kind of feel. The racking and merchandising you set up to support the comic functions, but it doesn't have a lot of shelf space. We narrow the focus. It's people going in and out to get a beverage, salty snacks, maybe pick up a prescription; they're looking to get in and out within five minutes. You have to make it something with which they're familiar. That's why we're very cognizant of what titles we're putting in. We also want to make sure we have a little bit of a demographic reach because it is such a broad-based place.



Mass merchants have their own wants and needs. You have to take into account their consumer base, where they're looking to merchandise, where they're looking to service it...



Where it is in the store, in other words?

Where it is in the store, and things like what buyer you're dealing with. That's really on a case by case basis, where the bookstores have a very unique environment. It's a great environment because people go in there and hang out. It's a bit of a destination shop. People often browse and have a cup of coffee. Our books in the digest program are much stronger in there.



We do have a pretty good comics [periodical] program in bookstores too. I feel very comfortable with our core comic book program. We don't put seventy titles of our monthlies in there, but we put in somewhere between fifteen to twenty-four of the titles in that venue. It's a different type of reader. They search this stuff out, where in the convenience and drug stores you're looking for an intercept, and hopefully you build a habit. I see convenience and drugstores as being awareness and trial. Mass merchants are also awareness and trial. In the bookstore, you're doing some awareness and trial but it's mostly the converted. They're in there to pick up certain books; they follow certain authors; they follow certain characters; they go out of their way to spend time there; or purchase gifts. We think about what the product mix is, but we're not going to make every color of the rainbow if you know what I mean.



You mentioned drugstores. How many drugstore outlets are you in?

We have all the Walgreens. I can't remember the number off the top of my head.



Not as many as the convenience stores?

Not quite as many, but it's a good intercept.



Going back to the bookstores, you talked a little bit about the movies and their impact on sales. What do you see as the variable that determines the extent of success of a comic or graphic novel product based on or tied to a movie? Just quick comparisons -- Sin City was massive in terms of its graphic novel impact. It put books on top of the graphic novel chart in bookstores, and in comic stores. Fantastic Four definitely had an impact, it moved the dial, there were more titles near the top of the list but it wasn't as powerful. Other movies, something like an Elektra, for example, it's tough to see much of an impact at all. Part of that's box office, but Fantastic Four was bigger box office than Sin City, but the visible sales impact wasn't as great. What do you see as the critical variable in determining...

That is a very odd question. Sin City's a great story and an incredible aberration. A lot of the success we have in bookstores does have to do with how people reacted to the movie, but it also has to do with the fact that because of the marketing programs being done by the studios or through our licensing department, the bookstores are much more open to getting behind it. It's very hard for me to say, 'Spider-Man's a huge character, why don't we do a waterfall, or more merchandising, or put this in front of the store?' The movies have given us the opportunity to put a little bit more behind the product and sell it in. You evaluate the existing Q score, or the existing popularity of the character. What is the rating of the movie? The movies definitely help each property because it raises the Q factor of the characters. It has impact.



Sin City is a great story, but a lot of the PR. associated with the movie is associated with Frank and the way they made that movie. It had that auteur feel to it. People wanted to see, 'Did he do it shot for shot?' It struck a certain chord. Frank has moved books before with the Dark Knight properties. He's already a saleable author that's come out of our community, very much like Neil Gaiman, which is a little bit of a rarity for us. You just had a unique combination of effects in Sin City, being both a box office and very much a critical success. FF has helped a lot. We've moved sales. I'm sure licensing is doing pretty well too. Is there a mathematical formula? Most likely not. But it gives us an opportunity to put product out there, which then in turn gives us an opportunity to move more.



I know I'm not answering your question directly, but there really isn't a variable. We look at the character, we look at the rating, we look at the release dates. Is it a summer blockbuster movie? Is it a February release? Is it a dark character versus an all-ages type of movie character? Things like that have a definite impact.



All channels combined, where do you think Marvel falls in the ranks of all graphic novel publishers in terms of dollar sales per year?

You know what? Great question--I wish I had the answer. We're in the top three. I haven't looked at the manga publishers as of late. We have an opportunity to be #1 this year. DC's done a very good job over the past twenty years supporting their graphic fiction program. We only just started five or six years ago. We've learned a lot of things along the way. We're having a great year as far as graphic fiction goes. This past May was the first time we were the #1 trade paperback publisher in the direct market, since I can remember (laughs). So we're in that area, but I haven't examined the manga numbers enough to give you an honest assessment.



We haven't analyzed the share issues specifically, but just based on where I see titles placed on the charts I'm assuming that Viz and Tokyopop are the top two. If that's the case, and you think you're in the top three, does that mean you think you're ahead of Dark Horse and DC?

I think we would be this year. The Ultimates has done a lot for us in that aspect. They have a very good trade support program.



Things have changed a lot in the last year. Do you have any idea how many backlist SKUs you've got in your graphic novel line?

I don't know the exact number but I know I've got a hell of a lot more (laughs).



Last year you said three to four hundred.

We're higher than that and we're doing a much better job supporting people being able to get the backlist. Historically we've had some problems understanding how to support that, and felt uncomfortable with how deep you go with inventory to support that function. We've spent a lot of time in the last eighteen months figuring that out. I feel very comfortable that if you called our retailers, they might initially say, 'No, Marvel didn't support that backlist item.' I would challenge you to tell them to call Diamond and find out if it's there or not. Unless it's the most esoteric title, eight out of ten times they'll be able to get that book.



We've heard in the last few months a few retailers saying, 'The Marvel in-print isn't that great.' So we asked David [Gabriel] about it, and he said, 'No it's pretty good.' Before we talked I looked, for example, at your Essentials line. I found that Essential X-Men Vol. II isn't on Diamond's list, but pretty much everything else is right there in sequence.

If it's X-Men it will be there soon. We've had to do a lot of legwork backwards. We had to evaluate and prioritize what went where and then evaluate the success of those things being sold. We needed to develop our own formula for risk and return. We're doing a pretty good job with it right now. I know we're going to be dealing with a lot of perceptions in the marketplace that we don't support our backlist, but we've made a concerted effort in the last year to do that. It may take us a lot longer to deal with the perception of our support of that, but that's a separate issue, and we just need to make sure we communicate that to people.

[DBM]

From ICv2 (http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/7396.html)

Interview with Marvel Publisher Dan Buckley 2005, Part 3
Videogames and Variants
August 22, 2005

We recently conducted our annual interview with Marvel publisher Dan Buckley about the state of the comics business and Marvel's place in it. In Part 3, we talk about whether videogame licenses help or hurt comic sales and the risks and rewards of variant covers and reprints. In Part 1, we talk about the over-all market conditions for comics and graphic novels in comic stores, bookstores, mass merchants, and newsstand outlets. In Part 2, we discuss the way Marvel approaches its mass market outlets as ways to reach new consumers, the relationship between movies and graphic novel sales, and Marvel's graphic novel share and investment in inventory. And in Part 4, we talk about whether Marvel would ever license its comics (like it does toy manufacturing), whether comic-based movies are a bubble, how Marvel is approaching the female young adult market, and the challenges and opportunities for the coming year.


After movies, videogames are among Marvel's biggest licensing sources. We're curious as the publisher whether you think videogames help or hurt the sales of the paper product?

I think it helps. We might be competing with the dollars to a certain degree, but anything to get people that feverishly in support of the characters is a good thing. Our videogame partners have been great partners for the comic book publishing division. We've done co-marketing; we've worked on co-development of characters; we've shared designs. Anything that rounds out the experience of the characters is a great thing, and they do a great job supporting the characters. So hands down it enhances our sales, our perception, and our chance to make another sale. It's up to us to execute and get the product in front of them. It's not up to the videogame companies to do that for us.



The only place we've heard it as a negative is in the online games (and Marvel's massively multi-player stuff isn't really geared up yet). In the last year there have been two new online games, World of Warcraft and City of Heroes, which are a significant level stickier than the previous generation of those games. We've heard retailers say they have customers they haven't seen for three or four months coming in looking all haggard and tired. "Where've you been?" And they answer, "Building my characters." I think there's competition for time, but I haven't heard it of the Marvel games per se.

There is going to be a competition for time. But it makes that person dedicated to the character, and makes them that much more involved. It gives us more of a connection point to communicate with that consumer and get them excited about other products they can get. It's going to be awhile before our massively multi-player game comes out. The announcement for that was made in San Diego. But if it gets people more involved with the characters it's nothing but a good thing.



Turning to the heart of the direct market, one of the things Marvel has changed over the last couple of years is being willing on occasion to reprint books that sell out in their original configuration, and a lot of times you've been doing that with a new cover of some kind. There's a perception that is probably accurate to some degree that some of those second edition books go to satisfy demand that was unfilled by the first one. But some of them are purchased by people who already have the first one who want the additional cover, just so they have that additional piece of art and the collectable. Some people see a risk in that second group in that you're pushing the envelope in terms of how much money they spend on that character or book, and ultimately you hit a limit on what they can spend. What we've seen in this industry in the past is that sometimes when you hit that limit people just throw up their hands and walk away as opposed to cutting back and limiting the number of books they buy. How do you feel about the risk of alienating consumers by giving them more opportunities to buy the same product with slightly varied covers?

Good question. There's no hard and fast rule on how we approach our reprint policy, or even our reorder policies. It really comes down to what kinds of level of support we think we're doing for the product, how big a product do we think it is, so it comes down to a couple of different variables. Most of our variant programs are not that deep in volume. We do target the collector to a certain degree. The collector is very much a big part of our industry, and it's always going to be a part of our industry. That part needs to be satiated. It's my responsibility to provide that for the consumer and also provide it for the retailer to make some money on it. Do we have a scientific formula for what is that edge? I don't have it right now.



I know a lot of people are harkening back to the mid-nineties, to what was going on then, but that was a very different dynamic than what we're seeing here. If the collector wants to get another piece of art, that's fine for the collector. But the volumes associated with that, and the things that are up-priced as far as what kind of product it is, are different. Our bailiwick back in the mid-nineties, as you know, was doing special covers and not providing any extra story, and up-charging the hell out of it. The monthly numbers were much bigger as far as what we were putting out there, and the product we were making wasn't nearly as good either, from a story-telling standpoint.



Yes, they are marketing tools. I won't deny we use it as a marketing tool to generate excitement either around our big programs or books we think deserve more attention. But, for the most part, we're not using it as a big flood for our product. The variant covers we design are very much used to enhance volume of the core group and to drive volume of that core book. If there's a collector group that wants to get hold of something else that's fine. That market is out there. Other people are going after it and using it. Could it be affecting lower tier books for everybody across the board? It could be. I don't know the answer yet and we probably won't have the answer for another six months, seven months, eight months. The demand for it's been pretty good, we've been asked to go after it and support it; but we do bite our lips sometimes and say, 'No, that doesn't fit the number for that book very well. The volume for that against that doesn't make sense, and it isn't going to move out. The more precarious question we do need to ask is making sure we don't screw around with cash-flow for the retailers, because if they get locked up with a certain amount of inventory that's where a real effect can happen.



But that occurs when it stops selling. You don't know when that's going to be until it happens.

That's where we do bite our lips on some books and say, 'No, we've got enough out there for that book.' Some books we expect more volume and we know they should be doing more volume. It's probably more intimidating with the bigger books or mid-tier books that somebody might be promoting the hell out of, but you can tell by the second or third issue if it really helped hold the book up. It's worked several times. Runaways, it worked for us; it's worked well for Astonishing..., it worked well for things like that. You have to use it judiciously, but it is a marketing tool that people pay attention to. It does generate excitement for the product from both the trade and consumer level.

[DBM]

From ICv2 (http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/7397.html).

Interview with Marvel Publisher Dan Buckley 2005, Part 4
Reaching Girls; A Comic Movie Bubble?
August 22, 2005

We recently conducted our annual interview with Marvel publisher Dan Buckley about the state of the comics business and Marvel's place in it. In Part 4, we talk about whether Marvel would ever license its comics (like it does toy manufacturing), whether comic-based movies are a bubble, how Marvel is approaching the female young adult market, and the challenges and opportunities for the coming year. In Part 1, we talk about the over-all market conditions for comics and graphic novels in comic stores, bookstores, mass merchants, and newsstand outlets. In Part 2, we discuss the way Marvel approaches its mass market outlets as ways to reach new consumers, the relationship between movies and graphic novel sales, and Marvel's graphic novel share and investment in inventory. In Part 3, we talk about whether videogame licenses help or hurt comic sales, and the risks and rewards of variant covers and reprints.



We had a discussion on our site a couple of months back prompted by speculation that since Marvel had oriented its business much more toward being a licensing company in the last few years that you might take the same approach to comics and license out your properties to be published by other publishers. What's your response to that?

From a business theorem I can understand why it's discussed, but it's just not something Marvel would explore because this is where we create the properties. This is the core area where the heartbeat is. Movies are driving them through the roof, don't get me wrong, and when we get animation up and going, TV. But this is where things are created and played with and presented and come out. It's not something I would foresee happening...at all!



So the difference between comics and movies or videogames or toys is that comics are where the IP comes from.

Yeah, it's where we manage the IP.



In other words, those are the style guides.

For the most part. It allows us to play with the style guides a little bit too.



Comics and movies have become so intertwined in all directions. In San Diego you can see that connection at so many levels, on the floor, and in panels. What do you think about that phenomenon in potential for further growth? Are we maxed out, is it a bubble, are we ever going to hit a wall where as fast as over the last few years comics have become a key source of IP for Hollywood that changes and turns back away from comics?

I don't foresee that happening (I hate giving such a simple answer to this). Once we're making good movies, and it's coming from good source material, the source material is solid for those people to make good decisions on their own with their own properties. Is it going to be explosive growth continuously? I don't think so, but I still see some growth. Do I see a bubble bursting on it real soon? No. Because we're in year five for this, and it's Sin City, Fantastic Four, Batman. They've all done relatively well, if not really well! People might put different expectations on these products at certain levels, but they're delivering from a box office standpoint and we haven't even got into the DVD part of the world. And then you're looking at sequels, at least on our side, for X-Men and Spider-Man. And then you're going to be looking at DC opening up the chest with Superman. So I don't see it falling off the charts. And then you still have these really cool things sitting on the side like a Sin City, an American Splendor, a Ghost World. It's a rich place for IP development. I don't see the bubble bursting. Some of the properties and movies haven't done that well and some have done well, and it's gone through that OK over the last couple of years; that's why I don't see it as bursting.



Otherwise after a movie like Elektra, which was quite a bit under expectations, people would have thrown up their hands and said, "This is over."

Then you go back and look at FF and Sin City, two very different movies, and Batman, and they've all done well. You're going to have hits and misses; that happens in any genre. Especially when you see what's coming down the pipe, I don't see anything exploding in the future.



We asked your Distinguished Competition this in a recent interview, and we want to ask you also: you mentioned Runaways as one way you're reaching out to what we think is the fastest growing part of the comics market, teen girls. How can Marvel attract that audience or help it grow?

The most important thing we need to do right now is to develop product that works there. Runaways is a good example, Spellbinders, and Machine Teen are products that we definitely feel if you look at it you're going to realize that's what they're designed for. I know I'm missing one...Mary Jane... We need to develop some depth, a backlist, something where we can develop some presence. A year ago we didn't have anything that we could walk into anybody to develop any kind of presence. I think we have enough product now that we can go in and start talking to people about developing a presence where it's not just one-off books off to the left or to the right. And one of the richest categories for us to date is still X-Men, how we tap into that. So we just need to keep designing the product. Then the next step is talking to the retail outlets where we think that will work and developing the marketing plan. You can develop marketing and awareness for a product to say 'Come try this,' but if we don't have the right product design for them to pick up it isn't going to go very far.



I know we can't impersonate manga. That's not going to be the answer to this question. Because manga's manga. Marvel makes Marvel books. We can play with the storytelling a little bit, but those girls that are reading manga have a very definitive understanding of what they feel manga is. I think it's something between manga and chapter books. We need to keep on playing with the product (and now I think we have enough to develop a presence), and now we just have to communicate directly with the end user and promote it and work with the distribution sources for it. We definitely need to work very closely with the bookstores to make that work.



Where do you see the key challenges and opportunities for Marvel over the next twelve months in growing the market?

Continued support firming up the newsstand business. Continually trying to develop that product that can catch some buzz with the YA female market. Runaways is a good example. I know it's not huge but it's a step in the right direction. Runaways made the Top Ten for Teen People's Buzz List. We never had anything there (laughs). So that's big news for us, and we just need to continue to build on that success. For our core business, for the direct market, we need to try to continue to put the best creators working with our best characters and get some really cool stories and deliver them on time so our biggest partners, the direct market retailers, have something to provide to their core and the new readers who come in. So [to summarize], continued support and growth in newsstand--just make sure it sticks; developing product with the book markets for YA market and market expansion (and not just for the YA market, but something that can reach out farther to the masses and expose people to graphic fiction); and for the direct market, just develop the best creators and the best characters.

[DBM]

This is part 1 of an interview with Devin Grayson from Comics Foundry (http://www.comicfoundry.com/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=150). Honestly, it doesn't have much of anything to do with Marvel, but it does give a fantastic look at what it's like being a freelancer in the comics industry and what the process/effects of upper management can be at a comic company. I thought it'd be good to put in here.

Devin Grayson has been around the industry long enough to know how it works. She’s had a strong presence in the Bat titles (Nightwing) for some time now and has her a creator-owned series, Matador, on shelves. Now, in this exclusive Comic Foundry interview, Grayson talks about what she’s learned from her time in the comic industry and gives insight to what’s it’s like to be a freelance writer.

Note: This is part one of Devin Grayson’s CF interview. Part two will run Friday, Sept. 2

How have the idiosyncrasies of the comic industry changed in the past few years?
There are a couple of noticeable shifts that seem to work cyclically. The industry goes back and forth between featuring more literate, less mainstream work that is often able to attract new readers to the medium, and more bombastic, continuity-heavy work that keeps the long-term readers invested. There’s no inherent reason that any given company couldn’t do both, and, indeed, Marvel had that going for a little while with the Ultimate line running side by side with the regular series titles, but usually the person in charge of a publishing company’s marketing objectives will have a strong preference in one direction or another.

Likewise [there’s] a constantly seesawing emphasis on either characters and story content or high profile, creator “stars.” Again, there’s no reason a high-profile writer can’t create a great story that honors and promotes the characters, but usually the emphasis ends up being more on their celebrity than on the development and marketing of the character with whom they find themselves working.

Maybe because the people who end up running the major mainstream publishing houses are usually grown-up fans themselves with obvious and reinforced preferences for stories like the ones they grew up reading, or maybe because the industry as a whole seems always to be just on the brink of financial collapse, the product often has a hard time settling into a reliable identity. Just in one year of reading a single Batman title, for example, you could find yourself starting with a reasonably universe-integrated story line created by and playing to the strengths of a seasoned comic writer for three months, then find that the book has been swept into a much larger crossover story “event” with new writers rotating through. And then four months later, the book is under the control of a really exciting movie/TV/fiction best seller “auteur” who creates tremendous buzz and kind of reinvents everything from scratch with total carte blanche from the editors, but the year finishes out under a new editor and a “stable” writer who work together to try to pull it back into the continuity of the previous year, which is the last time either of them had any idea what was going on. If someone who didn’t read comics then asked you to say what that series was like, you’d be kind of at a loss for words. And an ill-defined product is deathly in marketing. I think many of the higher-ups in the industry understand this, but financially, there often isn’t enough time to set out on a venture and stick with it until it finds its audience and begins to generate consistent sales, so instead there’s a lot of panicking, a lot of perpetual reinvention, and a lot of “No, no, wait – this is gonna be SO cool!” bravado that pans out well slightly less than half the time.

I broke into the industry in the late ’90s when college students and twenty-somethings were breathlessly discussing Vertigo comics and the average reader was happy to put down money for small, independent titles and mainstream titles alike. DC was publishing mini-series, specials and anthologies featuring new talent and experimental ideas, and the big offices (i.e., “The Bat-Office,” “The Superman Office,” “The JLA Office,”) were by-and-large run as independent fiefdoms, each producing different and usually nonassociative, but also highly identifiable character-related content.

Today, I work for the same company, but I’m getting very different directives. I wish I could freely discuss the specifics because I think they’re illuminating, but part of the change is the tremendous level of continuity tie-in and the vast amount of secrecy this generates. The team responsible for choosing direction is much smaller, yet they’re making much more broadly reaching decisions. New guidelines and old events alike are being applied to books regardless of office of origin. Will the fans enjoy a universe with tighter continuity? Almost certainly. Will they be disappointed by how much the quality of writing suffers when four people are laying down the marching orders for forty? We’ll see. There are good and bad qualities in both models, but there’s no denying that they’re really, really, really different models. It will be interesting to see whether or not most readers even notice the change. I think externally those kind of changes feel to the reader like a slow evolution that maybe has as much to do with one’s own (theoretically maturing) taste in comics as anything else, but in reality, they can usually be traced to a single person in a prominent position in one of the two major publishing houses.

What is the most important thing you've learned since joining the comics industry?
That there’s a huge difference between working in the comics medium and working in the comics industry. The medium, when you begin to explore it, quickly reveals itself to be capable of handling almost any kind of storytelling. It’s great for pulling readers into the emotional life of a story and has a powerful, interactive aspect not precisely mirrored in any other type of fiction. I really feel like it’s still evolving as an art form and is open to a tremendous amount of redefinition and growth.

The industry, on the other hand – by which, by the way, I always mean the mainstream industry, since that’s where my experience lies – is one of the most limiting and circumscribed producers of fiction going. Though richly layered with decades of creator contributions and sometimes so archetypally pure as to survive almost any embarrassing mutilation, most mainstream superhero characters work not at crime-fighting or entertainment so much as at marketing. At the end of the day, Superman has to go sell Underoos and Batman gets his head planted on the top of a Pez dispenser. It is difficult to even begin to explain the ways in which this fundamental truth necessarily dominates and regulates character and story development. No one ever mentions it, but it is the financial driving force of the industry and ultimately influences every decision ever made about a superhero comic book. The next time you catch yourself balling your fists in frustration over a story line and yelling “Why don’t they just – ” I can almost guarantee you that the answer is “toothpaste.”

Second most important fact: there’s a huge difference between knowing everything about a comic character and knowing how to tell a story about that character.



How does working for a large corporation like Marvel or DC affect your job as a writer?
Um … you mean as opposed to working independently or for a smaller company? I actually find both companies fairly pleasant entities to work for most of the time, though certainly, in all industries, the larger the company the more virulent the bureaucracy. These are comic book people, though, and it doesn’t really take that long, once you’re in the industry, to have access to and get to know the major players, which can be very rewarding. Someone like Paul Levitz, for example, is not just the publisher, he’s also an extremely talented writer and a brilliant guy. I love talking to him just to glean wisdom. When I was working on The Titans I asked him how he plotted out his Legion story arcs and he drew me this great chart and really took the time to talk to me about subplots and the importance of individual characterization in team books. It was so generous of him and so inspiring for me. And Joe Quesada, of course, is “one of us.” Most of us “knew him when” and he remains one of the nicest, realest, most approachable guys in the industry. He’s also an artist, so just as Levitz really does know what it’s like to be a freelancer, Joe was one, figuratively speaking, yesterday. He totally gets it and is a tremendous asset to the industry balancing both those roles.

No matter which company you’re working for, comic-book writing is not an office job. We’re technically independent contractors, paid by completed project and working independently from home offices or studios. The only exception to that rule that I can think of is CrossGen, where creators were asked to actually report to an office and sit there every day, and although I imagine that worked reasonably well for certain types of creators, by and large I think it’s a crummy idea as, apparently, does providence (for those of you who don’t follow industry politics, CrossGen was a vanity publishing company in Florida that tanked after three years of operation). What that means in terms of your question is that even though I’m working for a very large company, I’m sitting here in my pajamas blasting the Eels and drinking home-brewed ice tea. On a day-to-day basis, the corporate culture doesn’t affect me very much. But it does come into play in terms of both the initial conversations about and clearance checks on the work I do, and then again during the final acceptance and marketing stages of that work.

For example, doing a Batman script for DC means that:


- My initial idea has to be cleared by my editor who may, if it’s controversial enough, have to get it cleared by the Batman Group Editor (Bob Schreck) who may, in turn, have to get it cleared by the VP (Dan Didio), the legal department, and/or the publisher (Paul Levitz).
- This means that, though I’m all excited and ready to work, I cannot start that script until all those people chime in and agree. Sometimes that’s a matter of three minutes worth of e-mailing, and sometimes it takes four months (during which, if that’s the only project I’m working on, I receive no pay, even if I’m rewriting the idea – or pitch – every week to address various concerns).
- It’s even possible that, after four months of trying to get this idea to work, someone decides it just won’t. Bam! I’m out four months pay and have to start at square one (unless the company agrees to a project “kill fee,” which is a way of paying me for my time even though there will be no published project).
- Assuming everyone does finally agree and I get the green light, the project can still be torpedoed in progress (i.e., while I’m writing it) by any of the following: a) another writer initiates a continuity status quo change that affects my story line (the editors are supposed to stay on top of this and usually do, but things do fall through the cracks sometimes), b) a crossover event begins, either derailing or postponing my story arc, c) an artist either makes a mistake or decides to change something in the script (again, this isn’t supposed to happen, but sometimes does), resulting in the editor calling me apologetically to tell me that it’s faster for me to change the dialogue than for the artist to redraw the page, d) a major motion picture and/or licensing deal is announced that somehow changes the requirements of what I’m doing (for example, when Greg Rucka and I were working on the ending of No Man’s Land, we at one point received a list of characters we couldn’t kill, no matter how much sense it made for the story, because they were either marketable action figures, appearing on a cartoon regularly, or were in some way considered essential to the Batman “franchise”; e.g., anything that can be sold. That left us, as I recall, with two viable choices out of something like seventeen).
- If I finish the product and someone in the hierarchy objects to it, it can still be pulled (or “shredded” as we like to say at that point).
- If I finish the script and turn it in and voucher (request payment for it) but then the artist draws something totally different than what I asked for and/or the editor changes dialogue, etc … I have no recourse to get my name removed from the final product even if I hate it, because it was created for DC under contract and becomes their property the moment I turn it in. I have at least one book I can think of that came out with my name on it that retains maybe two of my original sentences, tops. That feels pretty awful when it happens, but it’s part of the reality of freelancing. The same thing can happen to the penciler if he doesn’t like the inker’s work – his work is compromised, very few people know the difference between what he did originally and what appears on the page, but he’s going to shoulder the blame because the book will come out with his name on it.
- Even if I have strong ideas about how the story should be marketed, chances are I won’t even be consulted about copy for Previews and/or “house ads” (advertisements for DC Comics that appear within DC Comics). The nightmare example of this is the crucial plot twist that you’ve worked so hard to keep secret ending up printed in Previews or Wizard because someone in marketing has never spoken to you and didn’t understand that it was a reveal.


Those are some of the realities of working on a contractual basis with franchise characters for a major publishing house. The flip side is that your product is usually quite well-funded (which means it will come out nicely packaged and strongly marketed with no effort on your part), you get to work with other professionals at the top of their game without having to go searching for them (the editor is usually in charge of assembling the creative team for any given project), the product is published at no financial risk to you (meaning you make your page rate even if only two copies sell), and, of course, you have the amazing honor of receiving access to some of the most dynamic, iconic fictional characters in the history of literature.

What role does an editor play? How much influence does an editor have on the work? In the end, who wins the argument?
The editor is extremely important in mainstream superhero comics. He or she is responsible for assembling the team (pairing writers and artists who will work well together, finding an inker that will complement the penciler, getting the right colorist, and figuring out how to get all of those people on the same schedule), “traffic copping” (which sounds menial but is actually the terrifically important job of making sure that the assembly line work flow keeps moving … if I’m late with a script, for example, the artist can’t start, and the inker can’t do anything until the artist turns in his or her pencils, and of course the colorist is waiting on the inker, etc.), troubleshooting (which can include anything from getting art references for a penciler to talking a writer off a ledge to fixing something that has already gone horrifically awry), continuity-proofing (which entails knowing what’s going on in every other book that’s being produced and being able and willing to communicate with other offices to, for example, make sure Ra’s Al Ghul isn’t dead in one book and paddling down the Suwannee River in another, or to make arrangements for a Bat-writer to use Superman or the Flash in a story, etc.). He or she is also the creative team’s advocate (“What!? Why can’t I show condoms on Dick’s bedside table!? We’re not supposed to advocate safe sex!? Dammit, go talk to Paul!”) and, most importantly, the corporate guardian of the characters (“Okay, here’s the deal. I spoke with Paul, and he talked to Burbank, and you can show crumpled foil near the bed, but that’s it. The Warner Bros. office is concerned about explicit sexual content in a Bat-related book that could conceivably be picked up by a 10-year-old in Utah … etc”).

Cont'd in next post.

[DBM]

Continuation.

Generally, a good editor’s work is invisible. He or she has put together a strong creative team, helped clear the way for them to get where they wanted to go corporately, assisted them in getting there creatively if necessary, delivered the product to the company on time and helped to make everyone feel relaxed and happy (and/or excited and pumped up) about what they were doing. There are, of course, bad editors who put together ill-suited teams (which usually results in said editor then having to field a lot of calls from unhappy freelancers), won’t go to bat for their freelancers (“Let’s just not make any waves, OK?”), and/or, most egregiously of all in my opinion, feel the need to “put their mark” on everything that comes out of their office, either over-steering projects or indulging in heavy-handed editing (personally, I think an editor should never change a writer’s dialogue without first asking the writer if he or she would like a crack at it, but it happens). There are also great editors who occasionally fall into one of these holes.

The cream of the crop operate like muses for their freelancers, laboring with creative talent to get the very best work out of them and inspiring the creators to strive for and achieve greater goals than they could or would have without the encouragement. Creating can be lonely work, and sometimes the editor’s job is really to function as a cheerleader, touching in by phone or e-mail just to stroke a little ego or make sure the creator feels like they’re part of a team instead of an isolated workhorse. Though this may feel undignified or banal to the editor, it’s actually hugely important. I once had an editor show me the list of artists he called every single day just to say “hi,” because that’s what they needed to keep going. And damn if he didn’t get great work out of them.

The final say is always the editor’s (or, truthfully, the editor’s boss’), except on a creator-owned projects where the writer does have the option of pulling the project to shop it elsewhere. If a Batman editor and I are arguing about a Batman story, though, I’m allowed and even encouraged to present my case, but we both know that at the end of the day, what editorial says, goes. This is a basic function of ownership. Who owns the character? They have the final say.

What about the publishers and upper management? How do their roles affect you as a writer?
They set the general tone, both in terms of workplace culture and creative direction. And, of course, they vary tremendously in terms of how hands-on they are – Mike Carlin was the head of editorial at DC for years when I was first working for the company, and although big, new projects had to get his OK before they could be pitched to the publisher, in general my sense was that he encouraged the group editors (i.e. Batman group, Superman group, JLA group) to follow their own hearts and set their own tones, the result being diverse, and to some extent separatist, material. In comparison, current VP Dan Didio is extremely involved on the creative level, working with a (very) small group of writers to create binding continuity events for the entire DCU, the result being tight continuity, but much less autonomy for individual creators and far less product diversity.

Upper management (VPs or editors in chief) also has a lot of influence on hiring practices, so when you see, for instance, a lot of fresh, new talent, that’s a new editor or an edict from upper management. Similarly, when you see a trend towards, to put it bluntly, “star ****ing,” when every book is suddenly being assigned to someone outside the industry who has some kind of major pop culture cred, that’s usually the result of upper management wanting to attract a certain kind of publicity and cache.

Can you take us through the life of a script? What happens after you write it and turn it in? What are the steps?
An editor would be even clearer on this than I am, but here’s my understanding of what happens. I send my script in to the book editor as a Word file attached to an e-mail. For a regular series, like Nightwing, often no one else needs to look at it, but for a larger project, like the Ra’s Al Ghul “Year One” thing (or during a crossover event), the script itself may also have to be approved by the other editors in the editorial group, and possibly even by upper management and/or the company publisher. During crossovers, they also get sent to other writers working on the same event. If any of those people have a problem with it, a good editor calls or e-mails the writer and talks him or her through the changes they want. The writer then has a day or two to make those changes and turn the script back in. A bad editor just changes stuff without calling the freelancer. The only thing I hate more than being asked to change things is not being asked to change things.

Once the company has a script they’re happy with, the editor sends a copy to the penciler. Very new pencilers will be asked to send in a breakdown, or “spring board,” of what they intend to do; a regular series artist may do that for him or herself but will otherwise pretty much just dive in. If reference material is needed, the artists may call the scriptwriter or the editor (whichever he or she tends to get faster responses from), ditto questions (it frequently happens that you’re working on the sixth script for a series and the artists calls with questions about the second or third issue, which can be a little disorienting for a second).

As the penciler finishes batches of pages (the standard comic book is 22 pages of art), he sends them in to the editor, who indicates where the balloon placements for the dialogue are going to be if the penciler hasn’t already done this, and then forwards the pages on to the inker. The inker goes over the penciler’s work, refining it and adding weight and texture to the lines.

From the inker, I believe the art pages go back to the editor and then out to the letterer, who also receives a copy of the script from the editor and gets the proper text into the captions and balloons, sometimes by hand but with increasing frequency by computer. When all the pages have been penciled, inked, and lettered, the editor sends a copy back to the writer, called the issue “black-and-white.” This is usually the first time the writer has seen the art work, and it’s usually a month or two after having finished the script – the good news is that the writer now has time to correct any mistakes in the text – either typos or dialogue corrections that help the text work better with the art. The bad news is that it’s usually way too late at this point to change any of the art, so if something has gone wrong – say the penciler has strayed way off the original script and the editor didn’t check the art pages against the script, so now there’s a major missing element in the story or and unexpected, extra beat – it’s up to the writer to fix it. That, as you can imagine, has been known to cause some tension between writers and artists – there’s nothing like turning in a really tight script that achieves everything you want it to only to get back art two months letter that bears no resemblance to what was requested and then be asked by your editor to change the dialogue to match the artwork instead of the other way around. So much for auteurism! But as much of a pain in the neck as this is, the reasoning for it is obvious – it takes the penciler and inker easily twice as much time to patch a finished art page as it takes the writer and letterer to change some dialogue, and any business that puts out monthly products isn’t about perfection, it’s about getting something – sometimes anything! – out onto those shelves.

The writer sends in any text and very minor art corrections back to the editor, who forwards those changes to the letterer and inker, and then the black and white gets sent to the colorist.

As the writer, I don’t see or hear anything about the book again until it shows up in my comp box, but after it gets colored, it gets resized, printed, shipped, and distributed.

How does the relationship work between the writer/penciler/colorist? Does anyone have veto power over anyone else's work?
Technically, the editor has veto power over everyone’s work, but beyond refusing to work with each other, freelancers don’t have much say once a project’s rolling. There’s just no time. Vetoing something would mean it would have to get done over again, and that practically never happens – the book would miss the ship date, which would lose the publisher money, and no one cares about anyone’s ego enough to let that happen. Now, I’m talking about mainstream DC and Marvel comics – it’s a little different if the project is creator-owned and potentially quite different if the project is self-published. But if you’re working for The Man, you learn real quickly how you fit into the assembly line. That the quality of most comic books is as high as they are is actually something of a miracle, and part of what I love about the business. Knowing what everyone goes through and how frustrated everyone sometimes gets, it’s amazing how well things work out so much of the time.

And think about this too for a minute in terms of artistic ego: The writer puts their all into a script, which then can be literally rewritten by an editor or figuratively reinterpreted by an artist, and as freelancers, we don’t have the legal right to get our name off of the book even if we loathe the final project. The penciler puts a whole month or more into these 22 pages … and then literally has someone draw over his or her work. God help you if you don’t like your inker, you’re totally screwed. By the same token, the inker usually never even sees the script and has no say in the penciled pages that arrive, but he or she has to make them work. And all three of these people have to ask how high if the editor, at any point in the project, says jump. And the editor, to be fair, is answering to God knows how many higher-ups, trying to keep both the company and the freelancers happy. It utterly astounds me when people talk about wanting to break into comics to be recognized or to “finally have control over the characters.” I think this is part of the reason why comic creators get as defensive as they sometimes do about virulent criticism – I certainly don’t feel, and I know that few of my colleagues do, that most readers truly understand what goes into the creation of these products and how much compromising we’ve already had to do before anyone even opens the book. That’s just the price for working with such high-level characters and, as far as that’s concerned, it is, ultimately, worth it. It’s an incredibly cool job, but it is a job, complete with bosses, co-workers, company policies and all kind of other things that can be either blessings or curses on any given day.

How does your job work with a letterer? Can you ask to go back in and change a line break?
I don’t tend to speak directly to the letterer (though I’m always happy to), but after I see the black-and-white, I can contact the editor and ask for changes, and they’ll get made if they’re reasonable and not too time-consuming. Generally, a line break is not something you’d make a letterer go back in and fix, but a misspelled word (even if it’s my fault from the original script) or a serious punctuation error is, assuming that we catch it in time. Every now and then a line that worked great in the script reads off on the page, and again, if there’s time, we’ll change it. But by the time the writer receives the issue black-and-white, express shipped from the editor, there’s usually less than eight hours to indicate those changes.

—Interview by Tim Leong

Make sure you check back on Friday, Sept. 2 for the conclusion of CF’s exclusive interview with Devin Grayson.

[iloveclones]

Great article, DBM. Probably makes you like the independents even more! I wonder who she was talking about with this:

Similarly, when you see a trend towards, to put it bluntly, “star ****ing,” when every book is suddenly being assigned to someone outside the industry who has some kind of major pop culture cred, that’s usually the result of upper management wanting to attract a certain kind of publicity and cache.

[rubio]

Nice article, too bad Grayson herself is one of the crappiest writers in the biz. :o :down

[DBM]

Here's (http://www.comicfoundry.com/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=151) the second half of the Grayson interview. Again, no so much about Marvel, but gives more of a look into the industry.

This is part of Devin Grayson’s exclusive interview with Comic Foundry. For part one, please click here.

How are politics prevalent in the comic industry? What are the slips a new artist or writer should avoid doing/saying?
The more money that’s involved, the thinner the political tightrope you can expect to be walking. I think there are three very important things to remember.

The first is: BE WILLING TO LEARN. As much as you may know about your own skill and the characters and what you do or do not like in a comic, the people you start working for will invariably know more about the business of making comics than you will. You must be willing to listen to them and treat them with respect. They are responsible for answering to business higher-ups and putting out X amount of comics every single month and believe me, they don’t care nearly as much about “fixing” that one continuity mistake that’s been driving you crazy since 1987 as you do. You are there, ultimately, to make someone else money. That sounds harsh, but it’s just a bottom line of business that you have to keep in mind. It doesn’t mean that you can’t do work that you find meaningful or that no one cares about your passion – they do. It just means that unless you’re willing to dig into your own wallet to produce your own vision, you’re going to have to cooperate with the people who are. And by “cooperate” I mean “do what they say.” You can always argue, you can make your case, you can quit, you can refuse to work with certain editors or freelancers … but at some point if you’re doing a lot of this you need to recognize that you may be in the wrong line of work. Being an independent contractor means using your skill to deliver your client something made to his or her specifications.

The second is: BE FLEXIBLE. Comics are a serialized medium that demand fresh product every month. You may have the best idea in the history of fiction, but if you can't immediately change 14 things about it on request (such and such character is unavailable, so-and-so can't do that because we have him selling toothpaste in a major national campaign next month, this-or-that was destroyed in the last big event and can't be used now, or – I swear to god, the worst one I ever heard about – “This doesn't seem very visual, but what if they were all cats?”) and develop it into 12 other ongoing story arcs, your one story is, quite frankly, not going to be worth an editor's time. They're not going to develop you as a writer because of one great idea when they could instead put their effort into someone who consistently coughs up 20 OK ideas. Comics are about flexibility and quantity, not continuity and quality. To be successful, you have to be someone who loves the process of writing — the thinking and the starting over and being all alone in front of a keyboard and sweating it out part — not just someone who loves comics. I'm sure you guys already know not to get into comics for fame (if you need a reminder of how nice readers are to comic writers, type my name into any comics-related BBS search engine and enjoy the love), and I can tell you right now that there hasn't been money involved in it since that last X-Men boom in the ’80s. And I wish I could tell you that it's worthwhile to go into it for love of the characters, which is what I tried to do, but the truth is, even that ends up pretty badly: the characters are corporate-owned entities designed for marketing deals, and chances are good that there's a reason no one has ever yet tried your One Great Idea. Chances are, we're not allowed to. The only reason to work in comics as a writer is because you love writing. Any other motivation will bring you grief.

Last but not least: BE NICE. As outlined above, a lot of people are involved in constructing a comic. It’s a team effort. You’re not going to like everyone, and you don’t have to. But you really do have to be professional and polite. There are a few heavyweight, well-established talents who get pretty vocal when they’re unhappy and I guess it works for them, but I really don’t recommend it for those just starting out. This doesn’t mean you have to be obsequious, just that you need to recognize that everyone is there because someone believes they have something to offer. And actually, there are an unusually high number of extremely talented people in this industry and there’s probably something you can learn from almost every single one of them.

So that new writers don't get shortchanged — What can a new writer expect as a salary range?
With DC and Marvel, you receive a starting page rate (receivable in full when the project is completed and accepted), which is increased slowly over time (unless you’re doing a prose project – the novels are generally 75K words for a set price). Beginning page rates, last time I checked (which was quite a while ago) are around $70 per. It tops out around $120, unless you have a special deal (like an exclusive contract with a special page rate or bonus). The big companies are not going to shortchange you, it’s not in their best interest. The smaller companies often pay less because they have less capital to play with, but sometimes you can get more autonomy on a project or have more say in picking your team.

And remember, too, that it’s not salary. It’s contractual pay. Even if you are working on an exclusive contract with a guarantee of X amount of work over the course of a year, you do not get paid until that work is completed, and you cannot complete that work until those projects are cleared. There is never a guarantee that the next check is coming. Your series can be canceled. You can be replaced. You can removed from a book for a few months while something else happens. You can be stuck in clearance limbo for months at a time. Freelancing, by definition, is not a secure line of work.

The other tricky thing to remember is that this is untaxed income. The companies keep track of what they pay you in any given year, but they do not withhold tax money. Full-time freelancers (in the U.S.) pay quarterly taxes, including self-employment tax. The minute you get paid, put 40 percent of it away for the government and try not to cry.

Terry Moore said it's harder to stay in the business than it is to break in. What should writers do after they finish their first gigs?
BEFORE you finish your first assignment, you need to be networking with the editors and drumming up new work. Unfortunately, self-marketing and artistic skills don’t often go hand and hand, but you have to learn both to survive. A common mistake is to wait until something’s finished to start looking for your next project – if at all possible, you want it lined up well before you voucher (turn in and request payment for) your previous project. Lulls can be perceived as a “loss of heat” (“You were so hot last month but now I’m not hearing anything about you …” – “Uh, well, you would if you’d let me do this next project.” – “Well, I’d let you do that project if you were generating heat.” – the old Catch-22). As I think I said earlier, the editor is the only one who can assign work to you (though if you only know one editor, you do want to turn in the work you owe him or her before asking for more – the hope is that you’ve managed to meet more than one).


You also need to build up a reputation … for almost anything. Just something that distinguishes you from the pack. I’m known among the editors, for instance, as being good with characterization, so I tend to be one of the first freelancers they think of when they have a very character-driven story they want to assign. Other writers are known for being great with action or crime drama or team dynamics or even just for being reliable and fast. Usually, the guy known for action can also do characterization and the chick known for characterization can also do action, but that doesn’t matter (you’ll get a chance to prove that once you’re actually working), what matters is that you’re associated with something. Same goes for artists.

There’s an old adage in the business: “A perfect freelancer is talented, fast, and easy to work with. But two out of three will do.” Early on, you really need to hit all three.

And Terry Moore, by the way, is one of the genuinely nicest and smartest guys you’ll ever get a chance to talk to.

cont'd in next post.

[DBM]

cont'd from previous post




On Writing:

What is a theme and why is it important to a comic story? Is it necessary?
Theme is one of several key elements involved in story structure. I’m happy to discuss it here, but be aware that we’re doing so out of context. To really explore theme, you need to look at where it fits in the complete structure of a story. For that I recommend formal story-structure training, either via a fiction class, a seminar (Robert McKee’s “Story Structure” is a famous and high-quality workshop you can often find offered in L.A. and New York), or some good, old-fashioned reading (there are tons of books available on story structure these days, but a few I can personally recommend are: Vogler’s The Writer’s Journey, Bonnet’s Stealing Fire from the Gods, and McKee’s Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting).

The theme is the value the story is exploring on an emotional level. This is different from what’s actually happening in the story (the action), who or what is being operated upon in the story (the protagonist, closely tied into the story point of view), and also different from the world the story covers (the subject). Though obviously Batman stories cover many different themes, in general I’d say by way of example that the over-arching legend of Batman is a story about a tragic hero (Bruce, our protagonist) struggling to become and remain a hero (the action) dark and powerful enough to defend virtue (the dominant plot) in a threatening, violent urbanscape (Gotham, our subject). The theme of the Batman legend is vengeance (and by extension, its opposite, forgiveness).

Theme is important in any story – comic book or otherwise – because it is the essence of what the story is communicating. It is the why of the story, the essential truth behind the allegory. To make up a spur-of-the-moment allegory to explain this, imagine that we’re sailing. The plot is our boat. Without that, we’re going nowhere. The subject is our ocean – everything we might include or refer to during our journey, the world in which our travels take place. Theme is our destination. Without it, we might have a really cool boat and a beautiful (or turbulent) sea to ride, but we’ll never get anywhere. We’d have nowhere to go.

Now, it is possible to write a story without intentionally having a theme, but usually one will suggest itself to you along the way, or be evident to your reader even if it’s eluded you. And usually the parts of the story not directly commenting in some way on the theme will feel superfluous and out of synch with the rest of the story. You can see this sometimes in a monthly comic that’s been interrupted by a crossover event – the writer’s exploring a theme in the series, and then there will be two to four pages introducing or commenting on a new action that just seem incredibly out of place. That’s ’cause they are. They’re part of another, larger story, with, more often not, a completely different theme.

Where do I get themes? Do I just make them up or is there a list I should choose from?
There’s no list. You get it from your head (or, if you’ll allow some sentimentality, your heart). The theme is what you’re talking about, what you’re sharing. If you don’t have anything you want to talk about, it’s going to be difficult to convince other people to care about your story.

Superhero comics are interesting in this regard because there’s already a default theme in place, like vengeance for Batman or altruism for Superman. But to really make your mark – to get readers excited about your story – you’d probably better find something new to talk about. My main theme for the Batman stories in Gotham Knights, for example, was sacrifice – the stories were about Batman and his family and they were exploring the nature of sacrifice – what you have to give up (and, by extension, what you can keep) to be effective in that particular mission. Vengeance is still present as an undercurrent, but those stories aren’t exploring that particular theme in any depth. Though there are lots of different characters and story lines, thematically what tied my run on that book together was an exploration of personal sacrifice.

Can I have more than one? How many is too many?
You can explore different themes in a story, but then you’re splitting your focus. I guess the answer to how many is too many is: one more than how many you can keep track of and articulately comment on or authentically explore. But I think unless the themes are wedded somehow – jealously and revenge, for example, or altruism and self-sacrifice, you’re making the story unnecessarily complicated for your readers and yourself. That’s a tricky questions though, I’d have to think of a few more examples. My hunch is that looking at too many themes means that none of them get explored very deeply, and it’s more powerful to stick with one and really delve into the true nature of it. If you have a story thematically exploring love and jealousy and sacrifice and ambition and grief and betrayal and passion and pride, for example, I think nine times out of 10, you’ll end up with histrionic mud. In fiction, too, you don’t state the nature of a theme – if you want to tell me what love is, then write an essay. In fiction we explore what things can and might mean. And to do that with any honesty, I think you need to commit yourself story by story to specific explorations. Otherwise, every time you got close to a thematic value that surprised or confused you, you could just shift thematic focus, and nobody would learn anything.

How do thematic development and character development work together?
Well, there’s two separate levels of character development. The initial character development happens independent of theme, it’s the deepening and fleshing out of character creation. At least the way I write, the characters come first, and they get to be pretty whole and three-dimensional well before I even start thinking about what I want to explore with them and then what that means will have to happen.

But then yes, there is character development that happens during the course of the story, and there will be a thematic parallel. To oversimplify (and still be completely incomprehensible), you are attempting, in a story, to have your protagonist integrate the lessons of the nature of the theme into his being. Going back to our Batman example, then, if our theme is vengeance, Batman’s character begins developing as someone in pursuit of this rather nebulous concept. His defeats and victories continually teach him more about the true nature of vengeance – that, for example, it will not heal the pain of his grief, but that the continuing desire for vengeance will be a quality from which he can continue to draw strength. As he integrates these lessons, he develops as a character. Eventually, depending on which version of the story you like, he either finds the man who murdered his parents, or realizes that he probably never will find him – and in both stories, he nonetheless goes out again the very next night, and all the nights thereafter. He has at this point integrated vengeance into his character and, essentially, transcended it. And here we explore another important quality of vengeance – it is fiery and taxing and not endlessly sustainable. Batman, our hero, continues on.

Character development, by the way, is one of the trickiest things to tackle in serialized drama, because if a book is running for 60-odd years, there’s a status quo that the character will have to be returned to. With an ongoing project like Nightwing, the story has no clear beginning or end, so it’s not just a matter of getting Dick from Point A to Point Z and then ending the story. In ongoing comics we have to work with story arcs and the “illusion of change.” To actually have a character grow is very tricky, and must be approached with great subtlety and patience.

What if the reader doesn't pickup on the theme?
Then they probably will say something like “I didn’t get the story” – it won’t connect for them or mean anything to them. That may be a matter of individual taste, or it may be that you as the writer weren’t clear or focused enough (or, as we’ve explored earlier, that you were knocked off course by an element beyond your control). Theme is a difficult thing to work with clearly and it takes continual practice. When it does work, it’s very rewarding and when it doesn’t, well, you have an opportunity then to play with that theme again and see if you can go deeper.


It’s also possible that your reader will respond to the story and think it’s powerful even if they can’t consciously identify or summarize the theme. That’s OK. That means that thematic value was present for them in some way, and that’s good enough. Not everyone knows how to deconstruct a story, and that’s fine, that’s not a requirement. What’s more problematic is when people don’t know how to read a basic story structure, and that happens in comics quite a bit. The clearest example of this I can personally relate concerns Relative Heroes. The theme of that story is grief (and, by extension, denial). That’s what’s being explored. But one of the most common criticisms I heard about the story, in the words, even, of one professional reviewer who should have known better was that, to paraphrase, he didn’t like the story because the kids weren’t dealing with their grief. Well … that’s what the story was about; the journey from denial to expression. The reason the reader expected the characters to be grieving was because I had put that on stage and identified it as the problem. Now, it’s certainly possible that I didn’t resolve the issue satisfyingly or well, but this was a six-part story, and if you read to the end, you would see the issue addressed. These complaints and this review were based on the second or third issue. It’s completely legitimate to criticize a writer for not handling a theme well, but to read half of a story and criticize them, essentially, for presenting a conflict that hasn’t yet been resolved is a little odd and shows ignorance of basic story structure (of course it’s not resolved in Act II, it’s not supposed to be!).

I actually ended up contacting that reviewer and asking him if DC had mentioned, when they sent him those issues to review, that it was only a six-part story (with, then presumably, a beginning, middle and end) and he admitted that he hadn’t even realized that. He had reviewed it as if it were a continuing serial. He might still have not liked the story, which is fine, but in no other kind of writing that I’ve been involved with do readers point out story conflict – the key component of drama and rising action – as the element they want removed from the story. Conflict is set up and put on stage in stories to be resolved. A reader who panics the minute they see conflict in a story and assumes that it will never be addressed simply does not have experience with reading structured fiction (which may be a criticism of the comics industry as much as any individual reader). You may not like the way a writer solves a problem, but you have to understand that when they put a problem on the page, they are doing so in order to address it. To assume they’re unaware of the conflict (that they themselves have set up) is a kind of dramatic structure illiteracy that I find both very interesting and very frustrating. I’ve really started to wonder if this points to a larger structural failure in serialized fiction, but so far, I haven’t seen that.

Is there any practice you can suggest for working on thematic development?
As mentioned above, it’s critical to study story structure in its entirety. There’s no point in mastering theme if you don’t understand rising action and archetypes and dramatic conflict and story wheels. If it sounds intimidating, don’t worry. The cool thing is, once you absorb all of it, you kind of get to put it aside – it’s the technique you fall back on, not the unbreakable law. And, of course, there are probably plenty of great writers who never studied formally, but why not avail yourself of the knowledge of those who did? Better to know and choose to disregard (or use) than not to know.

Also, read! Not just comics – read novels and poetry and short stories and movie scripts and song lyrics and essays, both to develop vocabulary and awareness of structure. Find out what moves you, what you’re interested in – not just in terms of subjects, but in terms of themes. What are the themes currently dominating your own life? Can you identify them? Are there themes you find yourself drawn to over and over again in songs or movies or TV shows? What do you most want to talk to the world about? What do you really wish you understood? What are you most afraid of? What are your own core values and have you explored them? Talk to everyone. Try to resist judging people, or when you do judge them, try to imagine what series of events might have created them, try to find something about them you can respect, even love. Invite questions and uncertainty and exploration. Learn to live with flux.

And write! Every day. About anything. Just keep doing it. It is, at the end of the day, the one thing that absolutely all successful writers do.

And last but not least, live! You won’t be able to explore themes very deeply if you don’t have authentic experiences to draw from. The best thing about being a writer is that absolutely everything is relevant – every friend you speak to, every place you visit, every bit of technical jargon you memorize, every skill you master, every event you attend, every food you taste, every mistake you make, every emotion you feel – all of it is usable. And don’t make up your mind about anything. Fiction is about truth, not reality. To explore truth we need to be open-minded and experimental and fearless. We need to understand how many different ways there are to live one’s life, how many choices we make every day, how we come to be who we believe we are. Everything is germane, from the smallest detail to the broadest generality. When you put writing out into the world, you’re asking for people to listen to you.

Have something to say.

—Interview by Tim Leong

[iloveclones]

Nice article, too bad Grayson herself is one of the crappiest writers in the biz. :o :down

I'm sure you guys already know not to get into comics for fame (if you need a reminder of how nice readers are to comic writers, type my name into any comics-related BBS search engine and enjoy the love),

That was kind of funny to me.

A lot of insightful things in here that fans should keep in mind when they go off on rants and boycotts about Pet Peeve #2634.

I like what she said about the problems of character development in serialized fiction. Because what fans say they want is growth, but they also want the status quo. So writers sort of have to give the illusion of growth.

[DBM]

From The Motley Fool (http://www.fool.com/news/commentary/2005/commentary05091901.htm).

Will Licensing Doom Marvel?

By Nathan Alderman (TMF Nato)
September 19, 2005

Steve is 7 years old, and he's a fan of Marvel Entertainment's (NYSE: MVL) Spider-Man, right down to his Spidey sneakers. He watches the movies and the cartoons, and he plays the video game -- but he has no interest whatsoever in the wondrous web-slinger's comic books.

That can't have come as good news to writer Peter David, who met Steve the other week while taking his young daughter to the playground. (David happens to be the writer of the Motley Fool Stock Advisor pick's new Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man comic, which makes its debut in October.) In the long run, it's probably not good news for Marvel, either.

Don't get me wrong -- Marvel's doing well now, and it will probably continue to do so for years to come. With the popular characters it can export to Hollywood, TV, and toy store aisles, it hasn't even exhausted its A-list. But we Fools are taught to buy and hold investments for the really long run -- and in my opinion, Marvel will make a poor prospect in the future unless it revitalizes its publishing efforts today.

The comic books that gave birth to Marvel's current prosperity are increasingly overshadowed by the company's licensing efforts. Marvel is currently gorging on the fruits of 40 years' worth of writers' and artists' creativity. But it's not adding epic new stories and top-notch characters to accompany those properties as quickly as it's wearing out the old ones. What happens when the fabled House of Ideas runs out?

Golden oldies
Nearly all of the famous characters that define Marvel today were created between 1963 and 1965. The majority of them -- including the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, the Hulk, and the X-Men -- sprang from the pen of the late Jack Kirby. (Neither Kirby nor Steve Ditko, who co-created Spider-Man with Stan Lee, ever saw significant royalties from their creations.)

Marvel hasn't created an enduring hit character since 1974, when the improbably coiffed mutant Wolverine turned up in an issue of The Incredible Hulk. Even among the 10 big screen-bound properties Marvel recently announced as part of its production deal with Paramount, only two -- C-list teams Cloak & Dagger and Power Pack -- date past that period, and they launched back in 1983 and 1984, respectively.

A secret vulnerability
In its most recent quarter, Marvel's publishing arm tallied $20.9 million in net sales, comparing respectably with its licensing ($43.9 million) and toy ($23.4 million) ventures. But remove that mask and look at the operating income: While licensing brought in $28.2 million and toys commanded $13.2 million, publishing brought in only $7.89 million -- down more than 12% year over year.

Though the comic book industry moves in boom and bust cycles, the average circulation for even the most popular comic books has gone nowhere but down over the past four decades. Comic book readers -- at least the ones in which superhero comics like Marvel's are concerned -- are a dying breed.

Pandering to the fanboys
Superhero comics are largely a boys' club. That's why the latest incarnation of Supergirl -- from DC Comics, Marvel's Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) competitor -- dresses like Britney Spears, and it's also why the recently revived Spider-Woman leaves little to the imagination. The obvious attitude toward women, along with superhero comics' frequent focus on conflict over character, can limit the appeal of Marvel and DC's comics for girls, and that cuts the companies' potential audience in half. In all fairness, though -- and to its credit -- Marvel has recently launched a slate of titles featuring strong, smart, realistically dressed and anatomically feasible young heroines. However, all but one of those titles is written by men, and none is selling particularly well in comic book stores.

In addition, both companies' continuity -- the ever-expanding record of who did what in their fictional universes -- has grown increasingly convoluted and dark. DC's ongoing "Infinite Crisis" storyline kicked off with a second-tier hero getting his brains graphically blown out by a former friend; it's so complicated that DC has to publish guides to all the various tie-ins. Marvel's own big event, "House of M," has served largely to resurrect a secondary character who was killed off in last year's big event.

No wonder young Steve would rather stick with video games.

Here comes Godzilla
None of this means that kids have abandoned comic books -- in fact, they're reading more of them than ever. But most of those comics aren't coming from Marvel or DC -- or even the from U.S. at all. The flourishing popularity of Japanese manga digests has turned the American comics market upside-down.

In direct-market comic shops, Marvel and DC are nearly neck-and-neck as the top dogs of market share. Marvel commanded more than 41% in June 2005, with DC right behind at just over 36%. But in big chain bookstores like Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS), manga is eating the mainstream publishers' lunch. According to the Nielsen BookScan ratings of bookstore sales, in early August 45 of the top 50 sellers in the graphic-novel category were manga. In the first half of 2005, DC's graphic-novel sales grew by 13%, and Marvel's increased by 9%, while manga publisher Tokyopop notched 40% sales growth, including 81% growth in the first quarter.

Marvel has made some halfhearted, occasionally disastrous efforts to adapt to the new medium, mostly by aping manga's look and digest-sized format. Its few successes thus far tend to feature Japanese-influenced art, high school romance, rebellious teens, and giant robots.

The real reason Marvel should fear manga is that it's becoming the primary influence on a rising generation of young male and female creators. Manga comes with an entirely new visual vocabulary and its own way of telling stories. It's as different from traditional American comics today as Marvel's flawed heroes and snappy dialogue were from DC's stodgy offerings back in the '60s.

Don't believe me? Check out this blog post from Rivkah Greulich, the 24-year-old writer/artist of Tokyopop's new American manga, Steady Beat.

The work-for-hire problem
When Marvel and DC were the biggest (and nearly the only) game in town for comics publishing, they naturally snared all the brightest and most ambitious young writers and artists. It's probably not a coincidence that popular new Marvel and DC characters largely stopped showing up around the same time that comic book writers and artists grew more aware of how much more money their employers made from their creations.

The comic book industry has long thrived on exploiting creators' ideas for maximum profit. Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster, the teens who created Superman back in 1938, infamously sold the Man of Steel to DC for $135, and they eventually died in near-poverty. Any work done for DC or Marvel is work for hire -- the company owns all rights to it, lock, stock, and barrel.

Today's most talented and popular comics pros do work for Marvel or DC, often for the security of a steady paycheck and benefits or a nostalgic fondness for the characters of their youth. (Both companies now offer creators extremely limited royalties for book reprints, merchandising, and media licensing.) But those creators often publish the projects they're most passionate about through smaller companies that let them retain ownership. Mike Mignola's Hellboy and Frank Miller's Sin City are two recent examples of independently owned comics that have enjoyed significant successes in Hollywood.

Work for hire may be lucrative for Marvel in the short term, but in the long term, it's stifling the development of new characters that could earn big bucks for decades to come. Why should a writer or artist pour his heart into a fantastic new creation if someone else is going to own it and dictate its storyline?

If this be doomsday ...
The kids who were reading comic books decades ago have grown up to become the same writers and directors who've made the best Marvel movies such rousing successes. And those movies have drawn inspiration from the great Marvel storylines of the '60s, '70s, and '80s: Frank Miller's groundbreaking run on Daredevil, Chris Claremont and John Byrne's "Dark Phoenix Saga" in X-Men, or Spider-Man's duel with the Green Goblin atop the Brooklyn Bridge in Amazing Spider-Man, among others.

With a few notable exceptions, Marvel isn't publishing those kinds of stories anymore. The '90s was a wasteland of big guns, tight spandex, and the notoriously convoluted "Clone Saga," in which Spider-Man confronted his long-lost clone. Most of Marvel's recent storylines have been little better, mucking with the events of previous tales or focusing on big, cataclysmic, confusing "events."

Lo, there shall come a reckoning!
If Marvel wants to stay relevant to readers young and old, and ensure that there will still be an audience for its licensed products in the decades to come, it can't afford to let its publishing efforts wither. It needs to create comics that are just as risky and genre-busting today as Amazing Spider-Man and Fantastic Four were back in the '60s. And it needs to encourage its writers' and artists' best efforts by sacrificing at least a trickle of its current revenue streams to give them a bigger financial stake in their creations.

Marvel has begun to show the faintest glimmers of working toward those goals, testing the waters of crime, romance, sci-fi, and Western comics, in addition to its staple superheroes. Its Marvel Adventures comics offer entertaining, kid-friendly tales of Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four. Marvel has also launched a new version of Amazing Fantasy, the comic that originally introduced Spidey, to try out new characters and concepts. And the creators of its Icon line, a showcase for its most prized writers and artists, fully own their work. That's a good start -- but it's not enough.

Face front, Mighty Marvel: The young Steves of the world may seem like your trusted allies today, but if you're not careful, one day they'll become your arch-nemeses.

[iloveclones]

DBM, why is it do you think that Marvel or DC can't seem to make any kind of dent in the manga market? I know a pre-teen girl who was big-time into them, and I've managed to turn her to traditional comics. My big problem is that she wants to start at the beginning. She specifically looks for #1's (she even talked me into buying Green Lantern #1 for her. I knew she wouldn't like it, but I hate to quash her enthusiam.)

I feel like Marvel misunderstood why manga was popular with kids. For one, I feel like they thought that if they duplicated the look of manga, that's all they would have to do. And I seriously doubt that if given a wide choice, kids would naturally gravitate torwards that. Secondly, they're affordable. I cringe at the extra titles I've added to my pull list for my "leetle friend." Thirdly, the manga that I've paged through has one thing that "our" comics don't: nudity. (It's a big problem according to my librarian. A story starts out in the pre-teen section, and six volumes later is almost in the adult section :eek: ) Now, I'm not advocating having spidey turn x-rated to draw in the kiddies (says the dirty old man), but kids see through attempts like Marvel Age or Spidey Super Stories.

Personally, I think they should take a publishing chance on all of these minis, even the ones that aren't selling all that well- Gravity, Machine Teen, Arana, Livewires, Spellbinders- and continue with the digests. i would even have a tight continuity between them while making passing references to the rest of the MU, with the intention of integrating them in the future. I don't think you have to "dumb down" the existing characters then, just put a little down payment on some new characters. Even if they don't pay off right away, you'll have potential customers down the line, not just for those lines, but the existing ones as well.

[Lackey]

How's DC doing with CMX? Anyone know?

[Kevin D. Comicboy]

It's Not Possible For Comics To Be Any Type Of Risky Because, With All Do Respect, Most Fans ***** And Moan When Something New Comes Along.

[Lackey]

I don't know... Identity Crisis was pretty risky and that's been a major success.


but yeah, fans complained about that too... still it was successful

[iloveclones]

Haven't seen any numbers in a while, so I thought I'd post these.

AUGUST 2005
===========


No big new launches from Marvel in August, but HOUSE OF M goes into its
third month, and continues to raise sales on all the titles involved.
Meanwhile, the Ultimate books get their first annuals.


Before getting into specifics, though, a brief word about prices. Marvel
took only four slots in the top ten in August. And by their standards,
that's not a particularly good performance, particularly considering
that there's a big event on. But on the other hand, Marvel's top
sellers tend to be more expensive than DCs, with a $2.99 price point
compared to DC's $2.50. The Ultimate Annuals were priced at $3.99. The
upshot of all this is that Marvel still took six slots in the top ten on
the dollar charts - one of them with ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #1, a
book that didn't even make the top twenty on the unit chart.


Overall, Marvel marginally beat DC again in both dollar and unit share,
with 36.4% dollar share (to DC's 34.69%), and 41.16% unit share (to DC's
38.63%).


As always, thanks to Milton Griepp and ICV2 for permission to use their
figures for these calculations.


On with the charts. DC take the number one position with JUSTICE #1,
but the next two slots go to Marvel.


2,3. NEW AVENGERS
Aug 01 Avengers #45 - 61,572
Aug 02 Avengers #57 - 55,931
Aug 03 Avengers #69 - 57,850
======
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 - 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 - 145,673 ( -6.6%)
6 mnth ( -2.2%)
1 year ( +60.0%)
2 year (+151.8%)


Two issues in August, but that's just the book getting back on schedule
after skipping May. The drop for issue #9 is rather sharper than you
might expect, especially considering that it's part three of a four-part
Sentry storyline. But these things are relative, and NEW AVENGERS
remains a consistent top performer, miles ahead of the book's previous
incarnation.


4. HOUSE OF M
Jun 05 House of M #1 (of 8) - 269,702
Jun 05 House of M #2 (of 8) - 178,030 (-34.0%)
Jul 05 House of M #3 (of 8) - 154,938 (-13.0%)
Jul 05 House of M #4 (of 8) - 150,495 ( -2.9%)
Aug 05 House of M #5 (of 8) - 140,680 ( -6.5%)


Despite a rather mixed reaction, HOUSE OF M holds up fairly well. The
decline isn't actually as steep as the numbers make it look, because the
earlier issues continue to rack up extra sales through re-orders and
variant covers. Issue #4 only shipped 146,259 in its first month, and
if you take that as your base figure, the month-to-month drop is only
4%.


In any event, the numbers remain pleasingly high, and thanks to its
$2.99 price tag, HOUSE OF M is actually number two on the dollar charts
this month. NEW AVENGERS is one of the Marvel books still priced at
$2.50.


The numbers above include re-orders, and boy, there are a lot of them
this month. Issue #1 ships yet another variant cover, this time the Joe
Madureira convention edition, featuring a seemingly random piece of
Madureira art with no discernible relationship to the story. Anyone who
went to the convention and thought they had a rarity will be thrilled to
learn that Marvel shipped 15,039 of the things in August, to chart at
number 138, outperforming several Marvel Universe titles.


Terry Dodson's variant cover of issue #2 is at number 277, with orders
of 2,656, and John Cassaday's variant cover for issue #3 charts at
number 253, with orders of 3,194. And issue #4 just gets 4,236
straightforward re-orders, placing at number 231.


5. ASTONISHING X-MEN
Aug 04 Astonishing X-Men #4 - 148,209 (+14.6%)
Sep 04 Astonishing X-Men #5 - 134,154 ( -9.5%)
Oct 04 n/a
Nov 04 Astonishing X-Men #6 - 134,840 ( +0.5%)
Dec 04 Astonishing X-Men #7 - 153,516 (+13.9%)
Jan 05 n/a
Feb 05 Astonishing X-Men #8 - 153,395 ( -0.0%)
Mar 05 Astonishing X-Men #9 - 135,325 (-11.8%)
Apr 05 n/a
May 05 Astonishing X-Men #10 - 156,298 (+15.5%)
Jun 05 n/a
Jul 05 Astonishing X-Men #11 - 127,768 (-18.3%)
Aug 05 Astonishing X-Men #12 - 125,834 ( -1.5%)
6 mnth (-18.0%)
1 year (-15.1%)


Back in more conventional territory, ASTONISHING X-MEN continues to
slide. The drop is a little smoother when you ignore all the issues
whose sales were artificially boosted by variant covers - they're easy
to spot. After this, ASTONISHING goes on hiatus until next year.


11. UNCANNY X-MEN
Aug 01 Uncanny X-Men #397 - 116,247
Aug 02 Uncanny X-Men #411 - 86,875
Aug 03 Uncanny X-Men #429 - 93,866
======
Aug 04 Uncanny X-Men #447 - 95,838 ( -1.2%)
Sep 04 Uncanny X-Men #448 - 95,908 ( +0.1%)
Sep 04 Uncanny X-Men #449 - 93,839 ( -2.2%)
Oct 04 Uncanny X-Men #450 - 101,506 ( +8.2%)
Oct 04 Uncanny X-Men #451 - 99,411 ( -2.1%)
Nov 04 Uncanny X-Men #452 - 92,051 ( -7.4%)
Dec 04 Uncanny X-Men #453 - 89,952 ( -2.3%)
Jan 05 Uncanny X-Men #454 - 87,411 ( -2.8%)
Feb 05 Uncanny X-Men #455 - 88,920 ( +1.7%)
Feb 05 Uncanny X-Men #456 - 86,767 ( -2.4%)
Mar 05 Uncanny X-Men #457 - 86,365 ( -0.5%)
Apr 05 Uncanny X-Men #458 - 85,299 ( -1.2%)
May 05 Uncanny X-Men #459 - 83,547 ( -2.1%)
Jun 05 Uncanny X-Men #460 - 82,457 ( -1.3%)
Jun 05 Uncanny X-Men #461 - 91,221 (+10.6%)
Jul 05 Uncanny X-Men #462 - 91,125 ( -0.1%)
Aug 05 Uncanny X-Men #463 - 87,610 ( -3.9%)
6 mnth ( +1.0%)
1 year ( -8.6%)
2 year ( -6.7%)


Continuing a HOUSE OF M crossover arc which began back in issue #461.
While most HOUSE OF M books have seen significant sales increases,
UNCANNY has only gone up by a few thousand. On the other hand, it was
also the highest selling crossover book to start with, so there's less
scope to increase. Nonetheless, it's hard to avoid noticing that even
with the crossover behind it, UNCANNY is still below where it was a year
ago.


This is as good a place as any to mention MARVEL MILESTONES, which
charts at number 217 with reprinted stories starring Captain Britain and
Psylocke (both of whom are in this issue) and the Golden Age Sub-Mariner
(who isn't). It had orders of 5,232.


13,24,25. ULTIMATE ANNUALS
Aug 05 Ultimates Annual #1 - 82,690
Aug 05 Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #1 - 70,811
Aug 05 Ultimate X-Men Annual #1 - 67,910


Marvel stopped publishing annuals during the Bill Jemas era, on the
basis that they didn't sell very well, and it would make more sense just
to publish an extra issue of the regular title. The counter-argument is
that the problem wasn't with the concept of annuals, but with the
material that was appearing in them - generally glorified fill-in
stories, in the last few years. The Ultimate Annuals have the same
writers as the regular titles and have been presented as more
significant. And they're duly rewarded with very respectable sales.
Thanks to their high price point, these three books are at numbers 7, 10
and 11 on the dollar chart.


14. ULTIMATE IRON MAN
Mar 05 Ultimate Iron Man #1 (of 5) - 150,869
Apr 05 n/a
May 05 Ultimate Iron Man #2 (of 5) - 90,197 (-40.2%)
Jun 05 n/a
Jul 05 n/a
Aug 05 Ultimate Iron Man #3 (of 5) - 77,378 (-14.2%)


Hmm. I hesitate to say that a book with sales over 75,000 is doing
badly, but after a very strong start, this is shedding readers awfully
quickly. I suspect this isn't really the sort of story that a lot of
readers were looking for from an ULTIMATE IRON MAN miniseries.


15. X-MEN
Aug 01 New X-Men #117 - 120,414
Aug 02 New X-Men #131 - 98,805
Aug 03 New X-Men #144 - 99,737
======
Aug 04 X-Men #160 - 91,790 ( -1.5%)
Sep 04 X-Men #161 - 90,591 ( -1.3%)
Sep 04 X-Men #162 - 90,752 ( +0.2%)
Oct 04 X-Men #163 - 88,615 ( -2.4%)
Nov 04 X-Men #164 - 88,620 ( +0.0%)
Dec 04 X-Men #165 - 86,633 ( -2.2%)
Jan 05 X-Men #166 - 85,934 ( -0.8%)
Feb 05 X-Men #167 - 84,155 ( -2.1%)
Mar 05 X-Men #168 - 83,979 ( -0.2%)
Apr 05 X-Men #169 - 82,793 ( -1.4%)
May 05 X-Men #170 - 81,048 ( -2.1%)
Jun 05 X-Men #171 - 80,307 ( -0.9%)
Jun 05 X-Men #172 - 78,889 ( -1.8%)
Jul 05 X-Men #173 - 77,154 ( -2.2%)
Aug 05 X-Men #174 - 76,342 ( -1.1%)
6 mnth ( -9.3%)
1 year (-16.8%)
2 year (-23.5%)


Still drifting downwards. I rather doubt that next month's crossover
with BLACK PANTHER is going to make any difference - well, not to X-MEN
sales, anyway.


16. ULTIMATE X-MEN
Aug 01 Ultimate X-Men #9 - 100,109
Aug 02 Ultimate X-Men #21 - 93,216
Aug 03 Ultimate X-Men #36 - 110,492
======
Aug 04 Ultimate X-Men #50 - 103,154 (+10.2%)
Sep 04 Ultimate X-Men #51 - 94,965 ( -7.9%)
Oct 04 Ultimate X-Men #52 - 93,833 ( -1.2%)
Nov 04 Ultimate X-Men #53 - 92,133 ( -1.8%)
Dec 04 n/a
Jan 05 Ultimate X-Men #54 - 90,619 ( -1.6%)
Jan 05 Ultimate X-Men #55 - 87,447 ( -3.5%)
Feb 05 Ultimate X-Men #56 - 86,130 ( -1.5%)
Mar 05 Ultimate X-Men #57 - 83,835 ( -2.7%)
Apr 05 Ultimate X-Men #58 - 82,606 ( -1.5%)
May 05 Ultimate X-Men #59 - 81,321 ( -1.6%)
Jun 05 Ultimate X-Men #60 - 78,613 ( -3.3%)
Jul 05 Ultimate X-Men #61 - 87,094 (+10.8%)
Aug 05 Ultimate X-Men #62 - 76,229 (-12.5%)
6 mnth (-11.5%)
1 year (-26.1%)
2 year (-31.0%)


Returning to normal sales after a variant cover blip last month. And,
of course, the general trend remains downhill. Like ULTIMATE
SPIDER-MAN, this book has shed an awful lot of readers since its glory
days. The Bryan Singer run is, in theory, just around the corner -
although the book is missing from December's solicitations, suggesting
that matters may not be so straightforward.


17. WOLVERINE
Aug 01 Wolverine #167 - 70,238
Aug 02 Wolverine #180 - 67,892
Aug 03 Wolverine #4 - 68,472
======
Aug 04 Wolverine #18 - 65,304 ( -1.9%)
Sep 04 Wolverine #19 - 65,046 ( -0.4%)
Oct 04 Wolverine #20 - 118,553 (+82.3%)
Oct 04 Wolverine #21 - 85,760 (-27.7%)
Nov 04 Wolverine #22 - 81,841 ( -4.6%)
Dec 04 Wolverine #23 - 82,525 ( +0.8%)
Jan 04 Wolverine #24 - 81,618 ( -1.1%)
Feb 05 Wolverine #25 - 83,180 ( +1.9%)
Mar 05 Wolverine #26 - 108,677 (+30.7%)
Apr 05 Wolverine #27 - 101,228 ( -6.9%)
May 05 Wolverine #28 - 80,961 (-20.0%)
Jun 05 Wolverine #29 - 79,951 ( -1.2%)
Jul 05 Wolverine #30 - 76,651 ( -4.1%)
Aug 05 Wolverine #31 - 75,618 ( -1.3%)
6 mnth ( -9.1%)
1 year (+15.8%)
2 year (+10.4%)


The final issue of Mark Millar and John Romita Jr's storyline, which
wraps up at a very satisfactory level of sales. Next issue is a one-off
story by Millar, after which there's a three-issue HOUSE OF M crossover.


18. ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN
Aug 01 Ultimate Spider-Man #12 - 78,407
Aug 02 Ultimate Spider-Man #25 - 96,382
Aug 03 Ultimate Spider-Man #45 - 100,619
======
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%)


Like ULTIMATE X-MEN, the drops are really starting to mount up here.
From month to month they're not so bad, but the book's lost 20,000
readers in the last year. That's surely a little worrying.


21. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
Aug 01 Amazing Spider-Man #34 - 79,588
Aug 02 Amazing Spider-Man #44 - 100,070
Aug 03 Amazing Spider-Man #57 - 93,469
======
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%)
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%)
6 mnth ( -8.3%)
1 year (-18.2%)
2 year (-22.9%)


Continuing the gentle decline.

[iloveclones]

And the fun continues...

23. ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR
Aug 04 Ultimate Fantastic Four #10 - 90,670 ( -3.6%)
Sep 04 Ultimate Fantastic Four #11 - 87,620 ( -3.4%)
Oct 04 n/a
Nov 04 Ultimate Fantastic Four #12 - 84,417 ( -3.7%)
Nov 04 Ultimate Fantastic Four #13 - 109,997 (+30.3%)
Dec 04 Ultimate Fantastic Four #14 - 78,717 (-28.4%)
Jan 05 Ultimate Fantastic Four #15 - 74,501 ( -5.4%)
Feb 05 n/a
Mar 05 Ultimate Fantastic Four #16 - 73,987 ( -0.7%)
Apr 05 Ultimate Fantastic Four #17 - 72,207 ( -2.4%)
May 05 Ultimate Fantastic Four #18 - 71,478 ( -1.0%)
Jun 05 Ultimate Fantastic Four #19 - 70,300 ( -1.6%)
Jun 05 Ultimate Fantastic Four #20 - 69,097 ( -1.7%)
Jul 05 Ultimate Fantastic Four #21 - 91,321 (+32.2%)
Aug 05 Ultimate Fantastic Four #22 - 71,767 (-21.4%)
6 mnth ( -3.0%)
1 year (-20.8%)


Straight back to regular sales levels after last month's variant cover
(which was also the debut of the new creative team).


26. YOUNG AVENGERS
Feb 05 Young Avengers #1 - 112,803
Mar 05 Young Avengers #2 - 79,952 (-29.1%)
Apr 05 Young Avengers #3 - 75,015 ( -6.2%)
May 05 Young Avengers #4 - 69,925 ( -6.8%)
Jun 05 Young Avengers #5 - 69,956 ( +0.0%)
Jul 05 n/a
Aug 05 Young Avengers #6 - 67,545 ( -3.4%)
6 mnth (-40.1%)


Holding up well.


27. 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) - 71,586 (-23.3%)
Aug 05 Spider-Man: House of M #3 (of 5) - 67,199 ( -6.1%)


30. FANTASTIC FOUR: HOUSE OF M
Jul 05 Fantastic Four: House of M #1 (of 3) - 79,120
Aug 05 Fantastic Four: House of M #2 (of 3) - 61,542 (-22.2%)


33. IRON MAN: HOUSE OF M
Jul 05 Iron Man: House of M #1 (of 3) - 77,228
Aug 05 Iron Man: House of M #2 (of 3) - 57,804 (-25.2%)


The three HOUSE OF M tie-in miniseries all cluster together, which
shouldn't come as a surprise. Meanwhile, variant covers about, as a
sketch version of SPIDER-MAN: HOUSE OF M #1 picks up 4,249 copies at
number 230. FANTASTIC FOUR: HOUSE OF M #1's variant cover contributes
to re-orders of 8,293, charting at number 188; and IRON MAN: HOUSE OF M
#1 picks up 5,969 re-orders through the same route, charting at number
209.


The second issue drop-offs are a bit steep, but basically these are
solid numbers for short tie-in minis.


34. INCREDIBLE HULK
Aug 01 Incredible Hulk #31 - 33,683
Aug 02 Incredible Hulk #44 - 49,184
Aug 03 Incredible Hulk #59 - 59,336
======
Aug 04 Incredible Hulk #75 - 44,066 ( +1.6%)
Aug 04 Incredible Hulk #76 - 42,298 ( -4.0%)
Sep 04 Hulk & Thing: Hard Knocks #1 (of 4) - 44,302 ( +4.7%)
Oct 04 Hulk & Thing: Hard Knocks #2 (of 4) - 37,519 (-15.3%)
Nov 04 Hulk & Thing: Hard Knocks #3 (of 4) - 34,129 ( -9.0%)
Dec 04 Hulk & Thing: Hard Knocks #4 (of 4) - 31,003 ( -9.2%)
Jan 05 Incredible Hulk #77 - 47,180 (+52.2%)
Feb 05 Incredible Hulk #78 - 44,721 ( -5.2%)
Mar 05 Incredible Hulk #79 - 43,508 ( -2.7%)
Apr 05 Incredible Hulk #80 - 48,404 (+11.3%)
May 05 Incredible Hulk #81 - 43,822 (-10.5%)
Jun 05 Incredible Hulk #82 - 43,248 ( -1.3%)
Jul 05 Incredible Hulk #83 - 63,881 (+47.7%)
Jul 05 Incredible Hulk #84 - 53,905 (-15.6%)
Aug 05 Incredible Hulk #85 - 53,177 ( -1.4%)
6 mnth (+18.9%)
1 year (+20.7%)
2 year (-10.4%)


And here's another HOUSE OF M tie-in, running from issues #83-86.
Comfortably ahead of the book's normal level these days, which is the
general pattern for these things. Issue #83 - the first part of the
tie-in - gets 7,941 re-orders and charts at number 191. A variant cover
contributes to that.


36,51. CAPTAIN AMERICA
Aug 01 Captain America #46 - 36,080
Aug 02 Captain America #5 - 64,695
Aug 03 Captain America #16 - 43,123
======
Aug 04 Captain America #30 - 38,464 ( -4.4%)
Sep 04 Captain America #31 - 37,128 ( -3.5%)
Oct 04 Captain America #32 - 37,309 ( +0.5%)
Nov 04 Captain America #1 - 67,225 (+80.2%)
Dec 04 n/a
Jan 05 Captain America #2 - 53,306 (-20.7%)
Feb 05 Captain America #3 - 48,104 ( -9.8%)
Mar 05 Captain America #4 - 46,654 ( -3.0%)
Apr 05 Captain America #5 - 46,976 ( +0.7%)
May 05 Captain America #6 - 58,660 (+24.9%)
Jun 05 Captain America #7 - 47,160 (-19.6%)
Jul 05 n/a
Aug 05 Captain America #8 - 51,842 ( +9.9%)
Aug 05 Captain America #9 - 44,638 (-13.9%)
6 mnth ( -7.2%)
1 year (+16.1%)
2 year ( +3.5%)


Two issues, and again, that's simply because July's issue shipped late.
You won't be shocked to learn that issue #8, with its upward blip, had a
variant cover. Otherwise, the book is hovering around the mid-40K
range.


37. FANTASTIC FOUR
Aug 01 Fantastic Four #46 - 50,773
Aug 02 Fantastic Four #60 - 705,109
Aug 03 Fantastic Four #503 - 53,789
======
Aug 04 Fantastic Four #517 - 50,247 ( +3.4%)
Sep 04 Fantastic Four #518 - 48,939 ( -2.6%)
Oct 04 Fantastic Four #519 - 47,969 ( -2.0%)
Nov 04 Fantastic Four #520 - 51,685 ( +7.7%)
Dec 04 Fantastic Four #521 - 47,634 ( -7.8%)
Jan 05 Fantastic Four #522 - 46,335 ( -2.7%)
Feb 05 Fantastic Four #523 - 46,276 ( -0.1%)
Mar 05 Fantastic FOur #524 - 46,660 ( +0.8%)
Apr 05 Fantastic Four #525 - 45,561 ( -2.4%)
May 05 Fantastic Four #526 - 44,935 ( -1.4%)
May 05 Fantastic Four #527 - 75,525 (+68.1%)
Jun 05 Fantastic Four #528 - 55,937 (-25.9%)
Jul 05 Fantastic Four #529 - 52,963 ( -5.3%)
Aug 05 Fantastic FOur #530 - 51,782 ( -2.2%)
6 mnth (+11.9%)
1 year ( +3.1%)
2 year ( -3.7%)


Ignore the ludicrous number for issue #60 back in August 2002 - it was
priced at nine cents, and appeared during the brief window when Diamond
included these de facto giveaways in the charts. Mind you, it's
interesting to note that in the long run, giving away almost three
quarters of a million copies seems to have done absolutely nothing to
dislodge FANTASTIC FOUR from its habitual 50K range.


38. SUPREME POWER
Aug 03 Supreme Power #1 - 69,914
======
Aug 04 Supreme Power #12 - 61,798 ( -1.9%)
Sep 04 n/a
Oct 04 n/a
Nov 04 Supreme Power #13 - 61,556 ( -0.4%)
Dec 04 Supreme Power #14 - 58,843 ( -4.4%)
Jan 05 n/a
Feb 05 Supreme Power #15 - 55,510 ( -5.7%)
Mar 05 n/a
Apr 05 Supreme Power #16 - 55,068 ( -0.8%)
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 Supreme Power #17 - 52,288 ( -5.0%)
Jul 05 n/a
Aug 05 Supreme Power #18 - 50,594 ( -3.2%)
6 mnth ( -8.9%)
1 year (-18.1%)
2 year (-27.6%)


Cancelled, to be followed by HYPERION and NIGHTHAWK miniseries, and then
a new volume under the Marvel Knights banner in 2006.


40. X-MEN: THE END
Aug 04 X-Men: The End, Book One #1 (of 6) - 109,587
Aug 04 X-Men: The End, Book One #2 (of 6) - 98,578 (-10.0%)
Sep 04 X-Men: The End, Book One #3 (of 6) - 84,001 (-14.8%)
Oct 04 X-Men: The End, Book One #4 (of 6) - 75,073 (-10.6%)
Nov 04 X-Men: The End, Book One #5 (of 6) - 69,642 ( -7.2%)
Dec 04 X-Men: The End, Book One #6 (of 6) - 66,220 ( -4.9%)
Jan 05 n/a
Feb 05 n/a
Mar 05 X-Men: The End, Book Two #1 (of 6) - 71,230 ( +7.6%)
Apr 05 X-Men: The End, Book Two #2 (of 6) - 63,005 (-11.5%)
May 05 X-Men: The End, Book Two #3 (of 6) - 58,870 ( -6.6%)
Jun 05 X-Men: The End, Book Two #4 (of 6) - 54,875 ( -6.8%)
Jul 05 X-Men: The End, Book Two #5 (of 6) - 51,949 ( -5.3%)
Aug 05 X-Men: The End, Book Two #6 (of 6) - 49,565 ( -4.6%)
6 mnth ( n/a )
1 year (-54.8%)


Continuing its gentle slide. There's another six issue miniseries still
to come.


42. MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN
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%)
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%)
6 mnth (-19.7%)
1 year (-35.7%)


Dropping a little too quickly for comfort. Of course, the big
Spider-Man crossover, "The Other", is just around the corner.


44. IRON MAN
Aug 01 Iron Man #45 - 36,754
Aug 02 Iron Man #58 - 36,051
Aug 03 Iron Man #71 - 30,823
======
Aug 04 Iron Man #87 - 33,512 ( -2.9%)
Sep 04 Iron Man #88 - 32,932 ( -1.7%)
Oct 04 Iron Man #89 - 33,483 ( +1.7%)
Nov 04 Iron Man #1 - 68,992 (+106.1%)
Dec 04 Iron Man #2 - 55,051 ( -20.2%)
Jan 05 n/a
Feb 05 n/a
Mar 05 n/a
Apr 05 Iron Man #3 - 51,390 ( -6.7%)
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 n/a
Jul 05 n/a
Aug 05 Iron Man #4 - 48,403 ( -5.8%)
6 mnth ( n/a )
1 year ( +44.4%)
2 year ( +57.0%)


Despite the excruciating delays, these are pretty much the sort of sales
you'd expect to have seen on a monthly schedule.


46,58. MARVEL 1602
Aug 03 Marvel 1602 #1 (of 8) - 150,569
======
Aug 05 Marvel 1602: New World #1 (of 5) - 48,190
Aug 05 Marvel 1602: New World #2 (of 5) - 40,488 (-16.0%)
6 mnth ( n/a )
1 year ( n/a )
2 year (-73.1%)


Okay, perhaps it's a little unfair to compare NEW WORLD to the original
MARVEL 1602 book from 2003, which was sold largely on the name value of
Neil Gaiman. On the other hand, why bother doing a MARVEL 1602
miniseries if you look at things that way...? Compared with the huge
sales of the original book, these aren't good numbers, and a 16% drop is
especially bad considering that both issues shipped in the same month -
something that normally seems to moderate the second-issue drop.


49. DAREDEVIL
Aug 01 Daredevil #23 - 52,642
Aug 02 Daredevil #36 - 50,210
Aug 03 Daredevil #50 - 65,398
======
Aug 04 Daredevil #63 - 52,090 ( -1.6%)
Sep 04 Daredevil #64 - 52,259 ( +0.3%)
Sep 04 Daredevil #65 - 57,841 (+10.7%)
Oct 04 Daredevil #66 - 53,138 ( -8.1%)
Nov 04 Daredevil #67 - 51,347 ( -3.4%)
Dec 04 Daredevil #68 - 50,491 ( -1.7%)
Jan 05 Daredevil #69 - 48,727 ( -3.5%)
Feb 05 Daredevil #70 - 48,702 ( -0.0%)
Mar 05 Daredevil #71 - 49,715 ( +2.1%)
Apr 05 Daredevil #72 - 48,803 ( -1.8%)
May 05 Daredevil #73 - 48,681 ( -0.2%)
Jun 05 Daredevil #74 - 48,175 ( -1.0%)
Jul 05 Daredevil #75 - 47,800 ( -0.8%)
Aug 05 Daredevil #76 - 46,424 ( -2.9%)
6 mnth ( -4.7%)
1 year (-10.9%)
2 year (-29.0%)


Sliding very slowly down. A change of creative team is imminent.


54. NEW X-MEN
Aug 03 New Mutants #4 - 41,448
======
Aug 04 New X-Men #4 - 51,902 ( -6.2%)
Sep 04 New X-Men #5 - 48,526 ( -6.5%)
Oct 04 New X-Men #6 - 45,647 ( -5.9%)
Nov 04 n/a
Dec 04 New X-Men #7 - 43,024 ( -5.7%)
Jan 05 New X-Men #8 - 40,179 ( -6.6%)
Jan 05 New X-Men #9 - 38,197 ( -4.9%)
Feb 05 New X-Men #10 - 36,910 ( -3.4%)
Mar 05 New X-Men #11 - 35,549 ( -3.7%)
Apr 05 New X-Men #12 - 35,779 ( +0.6%)
May 05 New X-Men #13 - 35,033 ( -2.1%)
May 05 New X-Men #14 - 34,579 ( -1.3%)
Jun 05 New X-Men #15 - 34,007 ( -1.7%)
Jul 05 New X-Men #16 - 44,836 (+31.8%)
Aug 05 New X-Men #17 - 43,908 ( -2.1%)
6 mnth (+19.0%)
1 year (-15.4%)
2 year ( +5.9%)


Another HOUSE OF M crossover storyline, and once again, it's way above
normal levels for this title. On the other hand, it still doesn't bring
the book back up to its levels from a year ago. A new creative team is
just around the corner, along with what sounds like an overhaul of the
concept.


56. BLACK PANTHER
Aug 01 Black Panther #35 - 19,465
Aug 02 Black Panther #48 - 19,496
======
Feb 05 Black Panther #1 - 69,930
Mar 05 Black Panther #2 - 47,533 ( -32.0%)
Apr 05 Black Panther #3 - 44,925 ( -5.5%)
May 05 Black Panther #4 - 40,804 ( -9.2%)
Jun 05 Black Panther #5 - 37,401 ( -8.1%)
Jul 05 Black Panther #6 - 35,256 ( -5.7%)
Aug 05 Black Panther #7 - 42,905 ( +21.7%)
6 mnth ( -38.6%)


HOUSE OF M, and another big jump. Next month, a crossover with X-MEN -
which should be interesting, since it sells much better than BLACK
PANTHER, but it also has the weakest sales of the four monthly X-Men
titles.


57. MUTOPIA X
Aug 04 District X #4 - 30,816 ( -7.3%)
Sep 04 District X #5 - 28,979 ( -6.0%)
Oct 04 District X #6 - 27,097 ( -6.5%)
Nov 04 District X #7 - 25,488 ( -6.0%)
Dec 04 District X #8 - 23,683 ( -7.1%)
Jan 05 District X #9 - 22,244 ( -6.1%)
Feb 05 District X #10 - 21,252 ( -4.5%)
Mar 05 District X #11 - 20,546 ( -3.3%)
Apr 05 District X #12 - 20,218 ( -1.6%)
May 05 District X #13 - 19,459 ( -3.8%)
Jun 05 District X #14 - 18,798 ( -3.4%)
Jul 05 Mutopia X #1 (of 5) - 53,379 (+184.0%)
Aug 05 Mutopia X #2 (of 5) - 40,893 ( -23.4%)
6 mnth ( +92.4%)
1 year ( +32.7%)


HOUSE OF M yet again. Issue #1 racks up 7,038 re-orders to chart at
number 199, and yes, there's a variant cover. Obviously, the book is
now selling in a completely different league.


59. DAREDEVIL: FATHER
Apr 04 Daredevil: Father #1 (of 5) - 69,487
May 04 n/a
Jun 04 n/a
Jul 04 n/a
Aug 04 n/a
Sep 04 n/a
Nov 04 n/a
Dec 04 n/a
Jan 05 n/a
Feb 05 n/a
Mar 05 n/a
Apr 05 n/a
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 n/a
Jul 05 n/a
Aug 05 Daredevil: Father #2 (of 5) - 39,745 (-42.8%)


Generally, big delays haven't had much of an impact on books like
ULTIMATES or even NYX. But apparently there are limits, as DAREDEVIL:
FATHER posts a precipitous 42.8% drop from its first issue, sixteen
months previously.


There's also a director's cut of issue #1 at number 143, which picked up
sales of 14,607. I haven't added them into the numbers above, because
it's not really a re-order - it's a reprint, 16 months down the line. If
you do want to add in those sales, though, it would give issue #1 a
total of 84,094, and a second issue drop of 52.7%.


It is reassuring to see that issue #3 shipped in September. If
DAREDEVIL: FATHER had maintained the remarkable schedule shown above, it
wouldn't have finished until 2009.

[iloveclones]

MTU's at the bottom (literally and figuratively) :(

64. NEW THUNDERBOLTS
Aug 01 Thunderbolts #55 - 33,747
Aug 02 Thunderbolts #70 - 28,092
======
Nov 04 New Thunderbolts #1 - 45,793
Nov 04 New Thunderbolts #2 - 40,104 (-12.4%)
Dec 04 New Thunderbolts #3 - 32,720 (-18.4%)
Jan 05 New Thunderbolts #4 - 31,725 ( -3.0%)
Feb 05 New Thunderbolts #5 - 29,377 ( -7.4%)
Mar 05 New Thunderbolts #6 - 29,103 ( -0.9%)
Apr 05 New Thunderbolts #7 - 28,977 ( -0.4%)
May 05 New Thunderbolts #8 - 27,769 ( -4.2%)
Jun 05 New Thunderbolts #9 - 27,300 ( -1.7%)
Jul 05 New Thunderbolts #10 - 25,978 ( -4.8%)
Aug 05 New Thunderbolts #11 - 37,036 (+42.6%)
6 mnth (-19.1%)
1 year ( n/a )


Yet another HOUSE OF M crossover - this time a single issue. Rather
boldly, it's also part two of a three-part story, although more in name
than in substance. Anyhow, the crossover delivers a healthy boost to
sales.


65. PUNISHER
Aug 01 Punisher #3 - 70,017
Aug 02 Punisher #16 - 44,501
Aug 03 Punisher #30 - 37,870
======
Aug 04 Punisher #10 - 45,396 ( -3.2%)
Sep 04 Punisher #11 - 44,038 ( -3.0%)
Oct 04 Punisher #12 - 42,072 ( -4.5%)
Nov 04 Punisher #13 - 42,088 ( +0.0%)
Nov 04 Punisher #14 - 41,514 ( -1.4%)
Dec 04 Punisher #15 - 40,357 ( -2.8%)
Jan 05 Punisher #16 - 39,341 ( -2.5%)
Feb 05 Punisher #17 - 38,714 ( -1.6%)
Mar 05 Punisher #18 - 38,348 ( -0.9%)
Apr 05 Punisher #19 - 38,753 ( +1.1%)
Apr 05 Punisher #20 - 38,130 ( -1.6%)
May 05 Punisher #21 - 37,998 ( -0.3%)
Jun 05 Punisher #22 - 37,811 ( -0.5%)
Jul 05 Punisher #23 - 37,376 ( -1.2%)
Aug 05 Punisher #24 - 37,022 ( -0.9%)
6 mnth ( -4.4%)
1 year (-18.4%)
2 year ( -2.2%)


Rock solid.


66. WEAPON X
Aug 02 Weapon X: Wild Child - 38,797
Aug 03 Weapon X #12 - 26,908
======
Aug 04 Weapon X #27 - 25,604 ( -0.8%)
Sep 04 Weapon X #28 - 25,196 ( -1.6%)
Oct 04 n/a
Nov 04 n/a
Dec 04 n/a
Jan 05 n/a
Feb 05 n/a
Mar 05 n/a
Apr 05 n/a
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 n/a
Jul 05 Weapon X: Days of Future Now #1 (of 5) - 43,881
Aug 05 Weapon X: Days of Future Now #2 (of 5) - 36,272 (-17.3%)
1 year (+41.7%)
2 year (+34.8%)


Actually, there were a ton of WEAPON X one-shots in August 2002, of
which WILD CHILD was the highest selling. But you get the idea. The
DAYS OF FUTURE NOW miniseries has a fairly standard drop for its second
issue, and continues to sell far better than the ongoing title did -
despite being a resolution to that book's storylines, largely set in an
alternate timeline. I'd have thought that it wouldn't have much appeal
ouside the 26,000-odd people who were buying WEAPON X, but evidently the
retailers disagree with me.


71. EXILES
Aug 01 Exiles #3 - 48,259
Aug 02 Exiles #16 - 39,133
Aug 03 Exiles #32 - 40,548
======
Aug 04 Exiles #50 - 37,958 ( +2.1%)
Aug 04 Exiles #51 - 36,946 ( -2.7%)
Sep 04 Exiles #52 - 36,245 ( -1.9%)
Oct 04 Exiles #53 - 35,323 ( -2.5%)
Nov 04 Exiles #54 - 34,180 ( -3.2%)
Dec 04 Exiles #55 - 33,744 ( -1.3%)
Dec 04 Exiles #56 - 33,396 ( -1.0%)
Dec 04 Exiles #57 - 33,183 ( -0.6%)
Jan 05 Exiles #58 - 32,129 ( -3.2%)
Feb 05 Exiles #59 - 32,337 ( +0.6%)
Mar 05 Exiles #60 - 42,898 (+32.7%)
Mar 05 Exiles #61 - 42,217 ( -1.6%)
Apr 05 Exiles #62 - 33,965 (-19.5%)
Apr 05 Exiles #63 - 33,728 ( -0.7%)
May 05 Exiles #64 - 34,033 ( +0.9%)
Jun 05 Exiles #65 - 34,484 ( +1.3%)
Jul 05 Exiles #66 - 34,092 ( -1.1%)
Jul 05 Exiles #67 - 33,751 ( -1.0%)
Aug 05 Exiles #68 - 33,815 ( +0.2%)
6 mnth ( +4.6%)
1 year (-10.9%)
2 year (-16.6%)


Still hovering around its usual area. A HOUSE OF M crossover begins
next issue.


72. SHANNA THE SHE-DEVIL
Feb 05 Shanna the She-Devil #1 (of 7) - 47,953
Mar 05 Shanna the She-Devil #2 (of 7) - 40,877 (-14.8%)
Apr 05 Shanna the She-Devil #3 (of 7) - 38,678 ( -5.4%)
May 05 Shanna the She-Devil #4 (of 7) - 37,212 ( -3.8%)
Jun 05 Shanna the She-Devil #5 (of 7) - 35,412 ( -4.8%)
Jul 05 Shanna the She-Devil #6 (of 7) - 34,445 ( -2.7%)
Aug 05 Shanna the She-Devil #7 (of 7) - 32,932 ( -4.7%)
6 mnth (-31.3%)


Wrapping up the miniseries with very comfortable sales.


73. DEFENDERS
Jul 05 Defenders #1 (of 5) - 39,510
Aug 05 Defenders #2 (of 5) - 32,853 (-16.8%)


About normal for a second issue drop. DEFENDERS is being lost in the
crowd, with all the attention on the big events.


79. POWERS
Aug 01 Powers #½ - 22,507
Aug 02 Powers #24 - 26,544
Aug 03 Powers #33 - 26,174
======
Aug 04 Powers #3 - 33,628 ( -8.0%)
Sep 04 Powers #4 - 33,046 ( -1.7%)
Oct 04 Powers #5 - 32,504 ( -1.6%)
Nov 04 Powers #6 - 30,431 ( -6.4%)
Dec 04 Powers #7 - 30,687 ( +0.8%)
Jan 05 Powers #8 - 29,438 ( -4.1%)
Feb 05 Powers #9 - 28,512 ( -3.1%)
Mar 05 n/a
Apr 05 Powers #10 - 28,360 ( -0.5%)
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 Powers #11 - 27,703 ( -2.3%)
Jul 05 n/a
Aug 05 Powers #12 - 30,290 ( +9.3%)
6 mnth ( +6.2%)
1 year ( -9.9%)
2 year (+15.7%)


An anniversary issue, with a $3.95 price tag. Consequently, it does
much better on the dollar chart, where it makes number 56.


81. DAREDEVIL VS PUNISHER
Jul 05 Daredevil vs Punisher #1 (of 6) - 38,306
Jul 05 Daredevil vs Punisher #2 (of 6) - 35,073 ( -8.4%)
Aug 05 Daredevil vs Punisher #3 (of 6) - 29,772 (-15.1%)


An example of the first two issues being solicited in the same month,
and the second-issue drop being deferred to issue #3 as a result.
Nothing to worry about yet.


83. 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%)
Jun 05 Spider-Man: Breakout #3 (of 5) - 32,596 ( -8.1%)
Jul 05 Spider-Man: Breakout #4 (of 5) - 29,243 (-10.3%)
Aug 05 Spider-Man: Breakout #5 (of 5) - 28,411 ( -2.8%)


A token drop for the final issue of the miniseries.


88. RUNAWAYS
Aug 03 Runaways #5 - 19,332
======
Aug 04 Runaways #17 - 18,563 ( -2.6%)
Sep 04 Runaways #18 - 18,614 ( +0.3%)
Oct 04 n/a
Nov 04 n/a
Dec 04 n/a
Jan 05 n/a
Feb 05 Runaways #1 - 43,128 (+131.7%)
Mar 05 Runaways #2 - 31,330 ( -27.4%)
Apr 05 Runaways #3 - 30,332 ( -3.2%)
May 05 Runaways #4 - 28,968 ( -4.5%)
Jun 05 Runaways #5 - 28,409 ( -1.9%)
Jul 05 Runaways #6 - 27,365 ( -3.7%)
Aug 05 Runaways #7 - 27,063 ( -1.1%)
6 mnth ( -37.2%)
1 year ( +45.8%)
2 year ( +40.0%)


Virtually no change, and still way ahead of sales on the previous run.
The relaunch has to be considered a success, on that basis.


89. MARVEL KNIGHTS 4
Aug 04 Marvel Knights 4 #9 - 39,743 ( -3.8%)
Sep 04 Marvel Knights 4 #10 - 38,318 ( -3.6%)
Oct 04 Marvel Knights 4 #11 - 36,820 ( -3.9%)
Nov 04 Marvel Knights 4 #12 - 34,525 ( -6.2%)
Dec 04 Marvel Knights 4 #13 - 32,623 ( -5.5%)
Jan 05 Marvel Knights 4 #14 - 31,291 ( -4.1%)
Feb 05 Marvel Knights 4 #15 - 30,230 ( -3.4%)
Mar 05 Marvel Knights 4 #16 - 29,600 ( -2.1%)
Apr 05 Marvel Knights 4 #17 - 29,189 ( -1.4%)
May 05 Marvel Knights 4 #18 - 28,649 ( -1.9%)
Jun 05 Marvel Knights 4 #19 - 28,153 ( -1.7%)
Jul 05 Marvel Knights 4 #20 - 27,548 ( -2.1%)
Aug 05 Marvel Knights 4 #21 - 27,023 ( -1.9%)
6 mnth (-10.6%)
1 year (-32.0%)


Again, virtually no change from the previous issue. The book is still
sliding very slowly, but seems to have more or less found its range now.


91. NEW X-MEN: HELLIONS
May 05 New X-Men: Hellions #1 (of 4) - 33,193
Jun 05 New X-Men: Hellions #2 (of 4) - 28,563 (-13.9%)
Jul 05 New X-Men: Hellions #3 (of 4) - 26,501 ( -7.2%)
Aug 05 New X-Men: Hellions #4 (of 4) - 25,974 ( -2.0%)


Another token drop for a final issue.


92. WHAT IF...?
Dec 04 Magneto Had Formed The X-Men With Professor X - 37,879
Dec 04 Karen Page Had Lived - 32,312
Dec 04 Aunt May Had Died Instead Of Uncle Ben - 31,783
Dec 04 Dr Doom Had Become The Thing - 30,930
Dec 04 Jessica Jones Had Joined The Avengers - 30,839
Dec 04 General Ross had Become The Hulk - 29,785
Jan 05 n/a
Feb 05 n/a
Mar 05 n/a
Apr 05 n/a
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 n/a
Jul 05 n/a
Aug 05 Wha...Huh? - 25,755


The final book from last December's WHAT IF? event belatedly reaches the
shelves. Obviously we'll never know for certain, but going by the
orders for the other books, I'd say it would probably have done about
the same number even if it had come out on schedule.


93. OFFICIAL HANDBOOK OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE
Aug 04 Hulk 2004 - 22,011 ( -23.5%)
Sep 04 Daredevil/Elektra 2004 - 22,781 ( +3.5%)
Oct 04 Wolverine 2004 - 32,553 ( +42.9%)
Nov 04 Book of the Dead 2004 - 25,131 ( -22.8%)
Dec 04 Golden Age 2004 - 17,356 ( -30.9%)
Jan 05 Women of Marvel 2005 - 20,837 ( +20.1%)
Feb 05 Marvel Knights 2005 - 18,182 ( -12.7%)
Mar 05 X-Men: Age of Apocalypse 2005 - 37,056 (+103.8%)
Apr 05 Spider-Man 2005 - 25,530 ( -31.1%)
May 05 Teams 2005 - 22,564 ( -11.6%)
Jun 05 Fantastic Four 2005 - 21,970 ( -2.6%)
Jul 05 Avengers 2005 - 23,668 ( +7.7%)
Aug 05 Ultimate Universe 2005 - 25,436 ( +7.5%)
6 mnth ( +39.9%)
1 year ( +15.6%)


As usual, a big-name theme means a sales jump.


94. CABLE & DEADPOOL
Aug 04 Cable & Deadpool #6 - 31,033 ( -4.8%)
Sep 04 Cable & Deadpool #7 - 30,325 ( -2.3%)
Oct 04 Cable & Deadpool #8 - 28,986 ( -4.4%)
Nov 04 Cable & Deadpool #9 - 27,612 ( -4.7%)
Dec 04 Cable & Deadpool #10 - 26,911 ( -2.5%)
Jan 05 Cable & Deadpool #11 - 25,844 ( -4.0%)
Feb 05 Cable & Deadpool #12 - 25,349 ( -1.9%)
Mar 05 Cable & Deadpool #13 - 25,551 ( +0.8%)
Apr 05 Cable & Deadpool #14 - 24,994 ( -2.2%)
May 05 Cable & Deadpool #15 - 24,837 ( -0.6%)
Jun 05 Cable & Deadpool #16 - 24,612 ( -0.9%)
Jul 05 Cable & Deadpool #17 - 34,393 (+39.7%)
Aug 05 Cable & Deadpool #18 - 25,304 (-26.4%)
6 mnth ( -0.2%)
1 year (-18.5%)


Straight back to the usual range after the HOUSE OF M tie-in last month,
albeit with a slight increase.


97. HULK: DESTRUCTION
Jul 05 Hulk: Destruction #1 (of 4) - 29,459
Aug 05 Hulk: Destruction #2 (of 4) - 24,075 (-18.3%)


Fairly standard drop for the second issue of a miniseries.


98. TOXIN
Apr 05 Toxin #1 (of 6) - 42,138
May 05 Toxin #2 (of 6) - 34,093 (-19.1%)
Jun 05 Toxin #3 (of 6) - 29,249 (-14.2%)
Jul 05 Toxin #4 (of 6) - 25,585 (-12.5%)
Aug 05 Toxin #5 (of 6) - 23,982 ( -6.3%)


As usual, the drops slow down as the miniseries goes on.


99. X-MEN UNLIMITED
Aug 04 X-Men Unlimited #4 - 33,895 ( -7.7%)
Sep 04 n/a
Oct 04 X-Men Unlimited #5 - 32,910 ( -2.9%)
Nov 04 n/a
Dec 04 X-Men Unlimited #6 - 30,138 ( -8.4%)
Jan 05 n/a
Feb 05 X-Men Unlimited #7 - 27,009 (-10.4%)
Mar 05 n/a
Apr 05 X-Men Unlimited #8 - 25,686 ( -4.9%)
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 X-Men Unlimited #9 - 25,398 ( -1.1%)
Jul 05 n/a
Aug 05 X-Men Unlimited #10 - 23,717 ( -6.6%)
6 mnth (-12.2%)
1 year (-30.0%)


Continuing its inexorable decline, but despite their poor sales, the
UNLIMITED titles seem to be bulletproof. Marvel seem to value them as
try-out books.


103. 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%)
6 mnth (-21.3%)


Well, at least it's stabilising. The problem is that it's stabilising
at a low level.

[iloveclones]

And rounding it all out:

105. X-MEN: KITTY PRYDE - SHADOW & FLAME
Jun 05 Kitty Pryde #1 (of 5) - 33,785
Jul 05 Kitty Pryde #2 (of 5) - 25,814 (-23.6%)
Aug 05 Kitty Pryde #3 (of 5) - 22,143 (-14.2%)


Dropping rather quickly for a third issue. As I've noted in the past,
the X-books no longer have the power to automatically sell decent
numbers of their satellite books.


116. NIGHTCRAWLER
Sep 04 Nightcrawler #1 - 46,547
Oct 04 n/a
Nov 04 Nightcrawler #2 - 36,533 (-21.5%)
Dec 04 Nightcrawler #3 - 31,436 (-14.0%)
Dec 04 Nightcrawler #4 - 29,292 ( -6.8%)
Jan 05 Nightcrawler #5 - 26,442 ( -9.7%)
Feb 05 Nightcrawler #6 - 24,641 ( -6.8%)
Mar 05 n/a
Apr 05 n/a
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 Nightcrawler #7 - 22,400 ( -9.1%)
Jul 05 Nightcrawler #8 - 21,011 ( -6.2%)
Aug 05 Nightcrawler #9 - 20,052 ( -4.6%)
6 mnth (-18.6%)


Missing from the December solicitations, so presumably cancelled with
November's issue #12.


120. DAREDEVIL: REDEMPTION
Feb 05 Daredevil: Redemption #1 (of 6) - 33,091
Feb 05 Daredevil: Redemption #2 (of 6) - 30,137 ( -8.9%)
Mar 05 Daredevil: Redemption #3 (of 6) - 24,810 (-17.7%)
Apr 05 n/a
May 05 Daredevil: Redemption #4 (of 6) - 21,118 (-14.9%)
Jun 05 Daredevil: Redemption #5 (of 6) - 19,658 ( -6.9%)
Jul 05 n/a
Aug 05 Daredevil: Redemption #6 (of 6) - 18,790 ( -4.4%)


Well, this disappeared off the radar in a hurry, didn't it?


121. SPIDER-GIRL
Aug 01 Spider-Girl #37 - 24,177
Aug 02 Spider-Girl #50 - 26,420
Aug 03 Spider-Girl #63 - 22,584
======
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%)
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%)
6 mnth ( -9.0%)
1 year (-14.8%)
2 year (-17.9%)


Sliding slowly, but sales on the digests are reputedly excellent, in
which case SPIDER-GIRL has nothing to worry about.


126. MARVEL NEMESIS: THE IMPERFECTS
May 05 Marvel Nemesis #1 (of 6) - 32,600
Jun 05 Marvel Nemesis #2 (of 6) - 22,407 (-31.3%)
Jul 05 Marvel Nemesis #3 (of 6) - 18,433 (-17.7%)
Aug 05 Marvel Nemesis #4 (of 6) - 17,329 ( -6.0%)


Complete lack of interest.


131. ORORO: BEFORE THE STORM
Jun 05 Ororo #1 (of 4) - 26,372
Jul 05 Ororo #2 (of 4) - 18,898 (-28.3%)
Aug 05 Ororo #3 (of 4) - 15,995 (-15.4%)


Again, virtually no interest in the direct market, but Marvel have it
earmarked for a digest, which means that the DM sales are only part of
the equation.


136,142. ARAÑA: HEART OF THE SPIDER
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 #1 - 29,843 (+24.8%)
Feb 05 n/a
Mar 05 Araña #2 - 22,131 (-25.8%)
Mar 05 Araña #3 - 20,002 ( -9.6%)
Apr 05 n/a
May 05 Araña #4 - 18,752 ( -6.2%)
Jun 05 Araña #5 - 16,379 (-12.7%)
Jul 05 n/a
Aug 05 Araña #6 - 15,258 ( -6.8%)
Aug 05 Araña #7 - 14,627 ( -4.1%)
6 mnth (-33.9%)
1 year (-60.5%)


Persistently horrible sales in the direct market, but presumably the
digests are doing better.


139,150. MEGA MORPHS
Aug 05 Mega Morphs #1 (of 4) - 14,952
Aug 05 Mega Morphs #2 (of 4) - 12,974 (-13.2%)


Absolutely horrid numbers, but presumably the real target audience is
the kids who buy the toys, and they'll be getting the digest version.
Let's take a moment to acclaim the cynicism of shipping a first issue
that reveals that, in order to find out why everyone's running around in
a giant robot, you need to read the MEGA MORPHS minicomics, which are
only available by... buying the toys.


147. NEW WARRIORS
Jun 05 New Warriors #1 (of 6) - 20,841
Jul 05 New Warriors #2 (of 6) - 15,449 (-25.9%)
Aug 05 New Warriors #3 (of 6) - 13,485 (-12.7%)


Dreadful numbers, and this one surely can't be aimed at the digest
audience. A shame, because it's really quite good.


152. AMAZING FANTASY
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%)
May 05 Amazing Fantasy #8 - 17,773 (-18.5%)
Jun 05 Amazing Fantasy #9 - 15,606 (-12.2%)
Jul 05 Amazing Fantasy #10 - 14,729 ( -5.6%)
Aug 05 Amazing Fantasy #11 - 12,788 (-13.2%)
6 mnth ( n/a )
1 year (-65.5%)


Crashing ever downwards. Marvel apparently want to keep this book
around as a venue for trying out new characters, which is laudable, but
they really need to do something to attract readers to it.


169. GRAVITY
Jun 05 Gravity #1 (of 5) - 20,304
Jul 05 Gravity #2 (of 5) - 13,342 (-34.3%)
Aug 05 Gravity #3 (of 5) - 10,311 (-22.7%)


Dire sales, despite generally positive reviews. Well, there's always
the digest.


177. LIVEWIRES
Feb 05 Livewires #1 (of 6) - 20,944
Mar 05 Livewires #2 (of 6) - 14,688 (-29.9%)
Apr 05 Livewires #3 (of 6) - 12,581 (-14.3%)
May 05 Livewires #4 (of 6) - 11,089 (-11.9%)
Jun 05 Livewires #5 (of 6) - 9,960 (-10.2%)
Jul 05 n/a
Aug 05 Livewires #6 (of 6) - 9,123 ( -8.4%)
6 mnth (-56.4%)


184. SPELLBINDERS
Mar 05 Spellbinders #1 (of 6) - 20,995
Apr 05 Spellbinders #2 (of 6) - 14,632 (-30.3%)
May 05 Spellbinders #3 (of 6) - 12,069 (-17.5%)
Jun 05 Spellbinders #4 (of 6) - 10,189 (-15.6%)
Jul 05 Spellbinders #5 (of 6) - 9,050 (-11.2%)
Aug 05 Spellbinders #6 (of 6) - 8,578 ( -5.2%)


Two miniseries which completely tanked in the direct market - hardly
surprising considering that they were barely publicised. But, repeat
after me, "there's always the digest."


195. 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%)


Aimed at the digest audience, so the direct market sales are pretty much
irrelevant.


201. KABUKI
Aug 04 n/a
Sep 04 Kabuki #2 - 16,705 (-34.0%)
Oct 04 n/a
Nov 04 n/a
Dec 04 Kabuki #3 - 13,885 (-16.9%)
Jan 05 n/a
Feb 05 n/a
Mar 05 n/a
Apr 05 Kabuki #4 - 14,327 ( +3.2%)
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 n/a
Aug 05 Kabuki #5 - 6,460 (-54.9%)


KABUKI changes format to a 48-page squarebound book with a $4.99 price
tag. Sales duly crash through the floor.


202. MARVEL ADVENTURES: FANTASTIC FOUR
May 05 Marvel Adventures: Fantastic Four #0 - 9,723
Jun 05 Marvel Adventures: Fantastic Four #1 - 9,617 ( -1.1%)
Jul 05 Marvel Adventures: Fantastic Four #2 - 6,864 (-28.6%)
Aug 05 Marvel Adventures: Fantastic Four #3 - 6,447 ( -6.1%)


Another book aimed at the digest market.


208. MACHINE TEEN
May 05 Machine Teen #1 (of 5) - 16,527
Jun 05 Machine Teen #2 (of 5) - 9,812 (-40.6%)
Jul 05 Machine Teen #3 (of 5) - 7,499 (-23.6%)
Aug 05 Machine Teen #4 (of 5) - 6,042 (-19.4%)


Oww. This is another one aimed at the digest audience, but even by
those standards, it's selling appallingly in the direct market. At this
rate, there's a serious risk of the final issue selling fewer than 5,000
copies.


273. GIANT-SIZE SPIDER-WOMAN
Jul 05 Giant-Size Spider-Woman #1 - 17,327


Picks up 2,676 reorders and charts at number 273. The number still
doesn't look great.


And that's it for the Marvel books that made the charts. None of the
numerous flipbooks charted in August. That's hardly surprising, because
the number 300 book - ZORRO #3 - had orders of 2,098, and most of them
didn't even reach that level last month. It's possible that these
titles will waver in and out of the charts from month to month,
depending on how the rest of the market's doing, but whatever happens,
it's clear that their direct market sales are going to be insignificant
compared to their sales in other venues. For that reason, I'm not going
to bother tracking them further even if they do manage to make it onto
the charts again.


Skip months
===========


ULTIMATES
Aug 02 Ultimates #8 - 112,570
Aug 03 n/a
======
Dec 05 Ultimates 2 #1 - 146,271 (+42.0%)
Jan 05 Ultimates 2 #2 - 114,963 (-21.4%)
Feb 05 Ultimates 2 #3 - 108,378 ( -5.7%)
Mar 05 Ultimates 2 #4 - 105,255 ( -2.9%)
Apr 05 Ultimates 2 #5 - 104,971 ( -0.3%)
May 05 Ultimates 2 #6 - 102,026 ( -2.8%)
Jun 05 n/a
Jul 05 Ultimates 2 #7 - 99,134 ( -2.8%)
Aug 05 n/a


Late, although at least they managed to get the annual out.


SECRET WAR
Aug 04 n/a
Sep 04 n/a
Oct 04 Secret War #3 (of 5) - 109,745 (-17.4%)
Nov 04 n/a
Dec 04 n/a
Jan 05 n/a
Feb 05 n/a
Mar 05 Secret War #4 (of 5) - 94,893 (-13.5%)
Apr 05 n/a
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 n/a
Jul 05 n/a
Aug 05 n/a


Late.


ULTIMATE GALACTUS TRILOGY
Sep 04 Ultimate Nightmare #2 (of 5) - 88,088 (-14.2%)
Oct 04 Ultimate Nightmare #3 (of 5) - 83,208 ( -5.5%)
Nov 04 n/a
Dec 04 Ultimate Nightmare #4 (of 5) - 76,658 ( -7.9%)
Jan 05 n/a
Feb 05 Ultimate Nightmare #5 (of 5) - 73,082 ( -4.6%)
Mar 05 Ultimate Secret #1 (of 4) - 89,132 (+22.0%)
Apr 05 Ultimate Secret #2 (of 4) - 77,914 (-12.6%)
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 n/a
Jul 05 n/a
Aug 05 n/a


On hiatus while artist Steve McNiven draws a NEW AVENGERS arc. Due to
resume in September.


PULSE
Aug 02 Alias #13 - 29,546
Aug 03 Alias #25 - 27,674
======
Aug 04 n/a
Sep 04 Pulse #5 - 37,812 ( -5.2%)
Oct 04 n/a
Nov 04 Pulse #6 - 40,895 ( +8.2%)
Dec 04 n/a
Jan 05 Pulse #7 - 34,779 (-15.0%)
Feb 05 n/a
Mar 05 Pulse #8 - 33,367 ( -4.1%)
Apr 05 n/a
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 Pulse #9 - 32,771 ( -1.8%)
Jul 05 Pulse #10 - 52,438 (+60.0%)
Aug 05 n/a


Bimonthly. Issue #10, the HOUSE OF M crossover, picks up re-orders of
2,204.


NYX
Aug 04 n/a
Sep 04 n/a
Oct 04 NYX #5 - 35,749 ( -3.5%)
Nov 04 n/a
Dec 04 n/a
Jan 05 n/a
Feb 05 n/a
Mar 05 n/a
Apr 05 n/a
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 n/a
Jul 05 NYX #6 - 36,892 ( +3.2%)
Aug 05 n/a


Axed with issue #7.


SPIDER-MAN UNLIMITED
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%)
Jun 05 n/a
Jul 05 Spider-Man Unlimited #10 - 16,104 ( -5.0%)
Aug 05 n/a


Bimonthly.


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


+92.4% - Mutopia X / District X
+39.9% - Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
+19.0% - New X-Men
+18.9% - Incredible Hulk
+11.9% - Fantastic Four
+ 6.2% - Powers
+ 4.6% - Exiles
+ 1.0% - Uncanny X-Men
- 0.2% - Cable & Deadpool
- 2.2% - New Avengers
- 3.0% - Ultimate Fantastic Four
- 4.4% - Punisher
- 4.7% - Daredevil
- 7.2% - Captain America
- 8.3% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 8.9% - Supreme Power
- 9.0% - Spider-Girl
- 9.1% - Wolverine
- 9.3% - X-Men
-10.6% - Marvel Knights 4
-11.5% - Ultimate X-Men
-12.2% - X-Men Unlimited
-12.8% - Ultimate Spider-Man
-18.0% - Astonishing X-Men
-18.6% - Nightcrawler
-19.1% - New Thunderbolts
-19.7% - Marvel Knights Spider-Man
-21.3% - Marvel Team-Up
-31.3% - Shanna the She-Devil
-33.9% - Araña: Heart of the Spider
-37.2% - Runaways
-38.6% - Black Panther
-40.1% - Young Avengers
-56.4% - Livewires


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


+60.0% - New Avengers / Avengers
+45.8% - Runaways
+44.4% - Iron Man
+41.7% - Weapon X
+32.7% - Mutopia X / District X
+20.7% - Incredible Hulk
+16.1% - Captain America
+15.8% - Wolverine
+15.6% - Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
+ 3.1% - Fantastic Four
- 8.6% - Uncanny X-Men
- 9.9% - Powers
-10.9% - Daredevil
-10.9% - Exiles
-14.8% - Spider-Girl
-15.1% - Astonishing X-Men
-15.4% - New X-men
-16.8% - X-Men
-18.1% - Supreme Power
-18.2% - Amazing Spider-Man
-18.4% - Punisher
-18.5% - Cable & Deadpool
-20.8% - Ultimate Fantastic Four
-21.5% - Ultimate Spider-Man
-26.1% - Ultimate X-Men
-30.0% - X-Men Unlimited
-32.0% - Marvel Knights 4
-35.7% - Marvel Knights Spider-Man
-54.8% - X-Men: The End
-60.5% - Araña / Amazing Fantasy
-65.5% - Amazing Fantasy


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


+151.8% - New Avengers / Avengers
+ 57.0% - Iron Man
+ 40.0% - Runaways
+ 34.8% - Weapon X
+ 15.7% - Powers
+ 10.4% - Wolverine
+ 5.9% - New X-Men / New Mutants
+ 3.5% - Captain America
- 2.2% - Punisher
- 3.7% - Fantastic Four
- 6.7% - Uncanny X-Men
- 10.4% - Incredible Hulk
- 16.6% - Exiles
- 17.9% - Spider-Girl
- 22.9% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 23.5% - X-Men
- 24.9% - Ultimate Spider-Man
- 27.6% - Supreme Power
- 29.0% - Daredevil
- 31.0% - Ultimate X-Men
- 73.1% - Marvel 1602


--
Paul O'Brien

[iloveclones]

I'll be back in a little while to ***** and moan about MTU.

[iloveclones]

Don't get me wrong. I collect a lot of these titles, and like some of them, but do these mediocre titles......

Aug 05 New Avengers #9 - 145,673
Aug 05 House of M #5 (of 8) - 140,680


...and these excruciatingly late titles.....
Aug 04 n/a
Sep 04 n/a
Oct 04 Secret War #3 (of 5) - 109,745 (-17.4%)
Nov 04 n/a
Dec 04 n/a
Jan 05 n/a
Feb 05 n/a
Mar 05 Secret War #4 (of 5) - 94,893 (-13.5%)
Apr 05 n/a
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 n/a
Jul 05 n/a
Aug 05 n/a

Mar 05 Ultimate Iron Man #1 (of 5) - 150,869
Apr 05 n/a
May 05 Ultimate Iron Man #2 (of 5) - 90,197 (-40.2%)
Jun 05 n/a
Jul 05 n/a
Aug 05 Ultimate Iron Man #3 (of 5) - 77,378 (-14.2%)

Nov 04 Iron Man #1 - 68,992 (+106.1%)
Dec 04 Iron Man #2 - 55,051 ( -20.2%)
Jan 05 n/a
Feb 05 n/a
Mar 05 n/a
Apr 05 Iron Man #3 - 51,390 ( -6.7%)
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 n/a
Jul 05 n/a
Aug 05 Iron Man #4 - 48,403 ( -5.8%)

...deserve more of a fan following than these? :

Aug 05 Exiles #68 - 33,815
Aug 05 Runaways #7 - 27,063
Aug 05 Marvel Team-Up #11 - 22,150
Aug 05 Spider-Girl #89 - 18,538

[DBM]

Wow. I've never really looked at the numbers for the consistently late titles. Doesn't Marvel pay attention to this stuff?

They've dropped by 73,491 on Ultimate Iron Man, 14,852 on Secret War and 20,589 on Iron Man. That's a decrease total of 108,932 issues.

Considering SW cost $3.99 each and the other two are $2.99 that means a potential lost revenue of $340,000. 340 ****ing thousand dollars.

That doesn't even include any of the losses in potential revenues that may have happened because of the tie-ins to other titles (like Secret War and the Pulse).

That's just ****ty business sense right there. I'm not one for a lot of name calling but whoever's in charge of scheduling and deadlines (whether that be Joey Q or someone on the business side) must be a complete ****tard.

If I had someone in my staff who, due to their inability to keep other people working and on deadlines, cost our company $340,000 in potential revenue, I'd fire him immediately. Someone at Marvel needs to take a hardline on this **** and get in under control.

[Dread]

I agree completely. Consistantly, unapologetically late books are not what a professional company should be projecting, and I actually think it's good that it's costing them money. Maybe they'll learn.

On the other hand, in the last issue of WIZARD, Kevin Smith, whose BLACK CAT mini is now running on THREE YEARS behind schedule, claimed that even as he was turning in late scripts, editors at Marvel were STILL asking him to write more books. His response was a humorous "what are you thinking!? You know I'm late as hell on just this one!" or words to that effect, but isn't that mind-boggling? Because it was to me.

[Themanofbat]

Wow. I've never really looked at the numbers for the consistently late titles. Doesn't Marvel pay attention to this stuff?

They've dropped by 73,491 on Ultimate Iron Man, 14,852 on Secret War and 20,589 on Iron Man. That's a decrease total of 108,932 issues.

Considering SW cost $3.99 each and the other two are $2.99 that means a potential lost revenue of $340,000. 340 ****ing thousand dollars.

That doesn't even include any of the losses in potential revenues that may have happened because of the tie-ins to other titles (like Secret War and the Pulse).

That's just ****ty business sense right there. I'm not one for a lot of name calling but whoever's in charge of scheduling and deadlines (whether that be Joey Q or someone on the business side) must be a complete ****tard.

If I had someone in my staff who, due to their inability to keep other people working and on deadlines, cost our company $340,000 in potential revenue, I'd fire him immediately. Someone at Marvel needs to take a hardline on this **** and get in under control.

While I don't disagree with your numbers, let's not forget that Marvel doesn't get 100% of that price tag on the cover. But even if they only get 2/3's (and I think I'm being generous here), that's still a loss of a quarter of a million dollars, which would still warrant your "hanging somebody's nuts by piano wire" theme.

:)

:(

[DBM]

While I don't disagree with your numbers, let's not forget that Marvel doesn't get 100% of that price tag on the cover. But even if they only get 2/3's (and I think I'm being generous here), that's still a loss of a quarter of a million dollars, which would still warrant your "hanging somebody's nuts by piano wire" theme.

:)

:(

Excellent point. One I didn't take into account as I quick-figured this in my head.

Marvel actually gets about 60% of cover price with the other 40% split more or less evenly between Diamond and the retailers. Which honestly should make it even worse. Why aren't Diamond and the retailors pitching a fit too? They're losing tens of thousands of dollars in potential revenues too.

Now that I think about it I'm pretty sure a class action lawsuit (with Brian Hibbs in the lead) was just won against Marvel because of lost revenues due to late books from several years ago.

[iloveclones]

I was looking through those numbers just to see if anything else interesting stuck out and I saw this-


147. NEW WARRIORS
Jun 05 New Warriors #1 (of 6) - 20,841
Jul 05 New Warriors #2 (of 6) - 15,449 (-25.9%)
Aug 05 New Warriors #3 (of 6) - 13,485 (-12.7%)


Dreadful numbers, and this one surely can't be aimed at the digest
audience. A shame, because it's really quite good.

-which may be the ONLY place to put forth that opinion.

[euroq]

http://www.newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=48875

MARVEL RELEASES Q3 2005 NUMBERS

Marvel today released it’s third quarter financial statement for 2005, and overall reported a 29% drop in profits from last year at this time (albeit Spider-Man 2 was still showing strong effects through the third quarter of 2004). In total, Marvel’s third quarter profit dropped from $34.4 million in Q3 2004 to $23.4 million in Q3 2005. Overall revenue for the quarter fell from $135.1 million in Q3 2004 to $81.4 million in Q3 2005.

As if that news didn’t have stockholders happy, Marvel’s projection for 2006 had them seriously depressed – the company is now scaling back its profit projections for 2006. How much? For 2005, Marvel is projecting full-year earnings to hit somewhere between $1.02 and $1.07 a share. For 2006 Marvel is projecting earnings of $0.37 to $0.52 a share. Chief among the reasons for the small projections, Marvel Chairman Morton Handel is quoted in Marvel’s report as saying 2006 will be “a difficult year for both toys and licensing."

And that’s with the third X-Men feature film opening in May.


Traditionally, like many companies, Marvel is very conservative in regards to projected earnings, and most analysts are still estimating Marvel’s 2006 earnings to be $1.13 a share.

Despite the report and outlook, Marvel has authorized a $250 million stock buyback program. Half of the money for the buyback will come from a new credit line from HSBC Bank USA.

By division of the company:

Licensing:

Still the powerhouse (60% of 2005’s revenue) in regards of revenue, Marvel saw third quarter total licensing revenues drop from $64.2 million in Q3 2004 to $33.2 million in Q3 2005. Of the divisions within the licensing division, only domestic consumer products saw an increase between quarters (from $17.5 million in 2004 to $20.5 million in 2005), while all other divisions (international consumer products, Spider-Man LP (Marvel’s profit sharing agreement with Sony), and the studios) all saw decreased revenue. Among the divisions, the Spider-Man LP saw the most precipitous drop, from $28.4 million in Q3 2004 to $2.9 million in Q3 2005, again, reflecting the performance of Spider-Man 2 in 2004.

Publishing:

The only division of Marvel able to hold its head high in Q3 2005, publishing saw a 14% increase in revenue compared to Q3 2004, increasing to $25.8 million. Marvel credits the increase in higher trade paperback sales (which it claims is responsible for $3.2 million of the increase).

Toys:

Seeing a similar decline to licensing, Toy Biz saw a decline of 54% between Q3 2004 and Q3 2005, due largely to declined revenue from the Spider-Man and Lord of the Rings lines (which were still performing well in Q3 2004). Toy Biz’s Q3 2004 revenue was $48.4 million, while in Q3 2005, it was $22.1 million. Obviously, the decline in revenues also reflects the modest performance of toys based on the Fantastic Four movie.

Marvel also credits some of the low performance to lower than anticipated contributions from the TNA Wrestling and Curious George lines – most of the products from which have been pushed back to 2006 “due to the weak retail environment.” Marvel reported that it had planned to see $20 million from toy sales in the two lines, but now only expects to see $3 million in 2005.

Again, the wild swings of both licensing and toys reflects the pendulum like performance of Marvel, that is, when it has popular products out in the mass market, such as the Spider-Man films or previously, the X-Men films, toys and licensing perform anywhere from very well to spectacularly. When Marvel is in the lull between popular films (which 2005 now appears to have been), licensing and toys suffer. Of course, of note in all of this is Marvel’s publishing segment, which continues to post gains in its quarterly reports. While the segment is the smallest in terms of revenue generated, its recent performance shows it to be Marvel’s most stable.

2006

The bulk of Marvel’s Q3 2005 report was devoted to its 2006 outlook, and its rationale for explaining its rather dim outlook for the future.

From the report:

Nominal contributions from feature films: X-Men 3, Ghost Rider, and The Punisher 2.

Modest expected initial contributions from animated projects: Avengers 1 direct-to-DVD in Q2 2006 and the Fantastic Four animated television series in Europe.

Modest contributions from wholesale sales of Ghost Rider and X-Men 3 toys by our Master Toy Licensee plus sales from Curious George and Marvel Legends.

No contribution expected from the Spider-Man L.P. (compared to over $20 million in 2005).

Studio revenues of $10 - $12 million (compared to over $20 million in 2005).

Continued, modest top-line and bottom-line growth from the publishing division.

Approximately $16 million in interest expense and non-cash amortization expenses related to Marvel's $525 million credit facility for feature film production. [Marvel’s 2006 guidance reflects a $16 million payment of interest and non-cash amortization expenses related to the credit facility]

Roughly $5 million of incremental non-cash expenses related to the expensing of stock options.

Up to $5 million in incremental expenses related to the expansion of activities and infrastructure within the Marvel Studios division.

Marvel's guidance does not reflect the impact of any share repurchase activity under the $250 million authorization announced today.

And – as we noted earlier, Marvel’s own report indicates that investors can expect swings in Marvel’s revenue and returns on their respective investments:

Marvel cautions investors that inherent variability in the timing of license opportunities and entertainment events, the timing of their revenue recognition, and their level of success may contribute to sequential and year-over-year variability in its interim financial results and could have a material impact on quarterly results as well as Marvel's ability to achieve the financial performance included in its financial guidance.

Upcoming Releases:

As is customary for Marvel, it also utilized the Q3 report as a chance to list it’s upcoming film and videogame slate. Among the titles named:

X-men 3 - May 26, 2006
Ghost Rider - July 14th, 2006
The Punisher 2 - targeted for fall 2006

Spider-Man 3 - May 4, 2007
Fantastic Four 2 - July 4, 2007

Films with no release dates listed by Marvel include: Silver Surfer, Wolverine, Deathlok, Hulk 2, and Thor. Namor, Black Widow, and Iron Man were also listed, and it was noted that the three were in the Marvel Film-Backed Credit Facility, that is, films that will be produced by Marvel and distributed by Paramount under its agreement. Other projects in the facility include: Ant-Man, The Avengers, Black Panther, Captain America, Cloak & Dagger,
Doctor Strange, Hawkeye, Nick Fury, Power Pack and Shang-Chi. Of note among the properties is Marvel’s inclusion of Iron Man among the properties is plans to develop, as it was recently reported that the company had regained the film rights to the character. Whether the inclusion is an official notice that Marvel plans to produce an Iron Man film itself, or it merely wanted to list the project among its upcoming films is unknown.

Marvel’s direct to DVD animated projects with Lions Gate will kick off with the Ultimate Avengers on February 21, 2006. Other titles forthcoming include: Ultimate Avengers 2, Iron Man and Doctor Strange.

Marvel animated TV projects in development include: Partnership with Moonscoop SAS (formerly Antefilms Productions) to produce an original animated television series based on the Fantastic Four. Twenty-six, 30-minute 2D/3D animated episodes are planned with initial TV airings in 2006.

Live action television projects in development include: Blade, Alter Ego, and Skrull Kill Krew.

Upcoming videogame releases listed by Marvel showed nothing new, with Ghost Rider the only videogame property announced for a 2006 release.

[DBM]

This is really interesting

Live action television projects in development include: Blade, Alter Ego, and Skrull Kill Krew.

We knew about the Blade one obviously, and Alter Ego is what they're planning on calling the adaptation of the Alias comic. But Skrull Kill Krew is a new one to me. It was a really interesting book, and one of my favorite obscure miniseries, but I can't believe they're thinking about turning it into a TV series.

[iloveclones]

This is really interesting



We knew about the Blade one obviously, and Alter Ego is what they're planning on calling the adaptation of the Alias comic. But Skrull Kill Krew is a new one to me. It was a really interesting book, and one of my favorite obscure miniseries, but I can't believe they're thinking about turning it into a TV series.

Can you give a synopsis of the mini? I'm not familiar with it.

[iloveclones]

Aw, screw it. No reason you should do my work for me when google is close by...

SKRULL KILL KREW

Mark Millar and Grant Morrison. Illustrated by Steve Yeowell
5 issues
(Marvel Edge)

Reviewed by Adam Ford

You get super-powers if you eat hamburgers made out of green-skinned pointy-eared aliens called Skrulls. Well, if a radioactive spider doesn't give you cancer and cosmic rays don't cook you like a microwave pot roast, it's not that odd an assertion...

The premise of this short-lived series was kind of basic: five people acquire the ability to change their shape after eating hamburgers made from contaminated beef; more specifically, beef made from cows that weren't really cows, but were instead shape-changing aliens called Skrulls who had been hypnotised into changing into cows and thinking that they really were cows. The shape-changers band together in order to expose the world-wide conspiracy that involves the aforementioned Skrulls (but not the ones that became cows, obviously) infiltrating human society. It's a plot that bears a strong resemblance to the sci-fi B-movie They Live, in which a man discovers a box of magic sunglasses that reveal every second person on the planet to be a member of an alien race that has covertly enslaved our planet.

The five-person team of Skrull killers is comprised of members of five distinct subcultures: Ryder, the leader, is a dreadlocked black-power dude; Moonstomp is a straight-edge skinhead; Dice is a goatee-wearing surfer; Riot is a spiky pink-haired punk; and Catwalk is a supermodel. Presumably the separate cultural identities of the team members was intended to illustrate the oddness of such a group.

The premise of Skrull Kill Krew is a perfect example of the kind of idea-mining that Grant Morrison gets up to when he turns his attention to the comics produced by Marvel and the "history" of the "universe" that the stories produced by Marvel Comics take place in. The skrulls/cows that the four Skrull Killers ate to acquire their powers are actually the villains from one of the very first Fantastic Four comics. The solution to leave the aliens transformed into cows in a sunny meadow was always one that left me unsatisfied as a child, and it seems to have been the same for Morrison and Millar. Their dissatisfaction prompted them to pen this ridiculous romp of a hack-and-slash shoot-'em-up road trip story which lasted a whole five issues before being cancelled.

In the five issues that they managed to get out before cancellation, the SKK go head-to-head with Captain America, an evil army of pseudo-Nazis, a fake Fantastic Four and an entire small town populated by Skrulls. By the end of issue five the bodycount is well over five-hundred, with the Skrulls coming out on the losing side. I dare say that cancellation barely even registered with Millar and Morrison - the whole thing reads like something they threw together over a couple of pints one night. Five issues is most likely five more than they figured they¹d get out of it, so by that criteria this comic could be seen as some kind of success. Overall, though, it's pretty much a no-brainer of a scenario: find some Skrulls, massacre them, find some more Skrulls, massacre them and repeat until fade. If anything this series does point out that the Skrulls are one of the dumbest alien menaces ever to appear in comics, with their stupid little purple skull-caps lodged between their pointy ears, their corrugated chins and the fact that this huge conspiratorial invasion force can be so utterly devastated by five ********s with a tendency to make Schwarzenegger-esque puns as they blow their victims away.

An interesting side-note is that at one stage Morrison claimed that SKK was part of a trilogy of his works that all held together thematically, the other two works being Kill Your Boyfriend and the Invisibles series (see respective reviews in this ProFile). Hard to tell if the man was joking or not - outside some superficial resemblences, there's little similarity between this series and Morrison's more creatively successful, more well-thought-out work.

[DBM]

Can you give a synopsis of the mini? I'm not familiar with it.

I actually started a thread about this in Misc Television.

http://www.superherohype.com/forums/showthread.php?t=207235

[DBM]

The Beat's (http://209.198.111.165/thebeat/archives/2005/11/marvel_vs_the_s.html#more) analysis and report on the 3Q 2005 numbers.

Marvel vs the Street

“Dismal.” “Gloomy.” “Ugly.”

These are not words that anyone wants to hear about themselves. These are not words that Marvel Entertainment, the Wall Street wunderkind, ever expected to hear. But yesterday's poor third quarter results and “dismal” forecast for '06 had Marvel stock falling and analysts downgrading lickety split.

In layman's terms – and The Beat is nothing is not a layman where anything financial is concerned – what happened is Marvel announced that 2006 was going to be a pretty crappy year for them. Wall Street analysts had expected Marvel's '06 earnings on stock would be around $1.13 Instead Marvel announced expected earnings of 37¢ to 52¢ a share. That's a pretty big difference. And its not good. In addition, 3Q profits were a more $23.4 million, or 24 cents a share, down from $34.4 million, or 32 cents, a year earlier. Licensing revenue alone tumbled 60%.

The result: stock dropped to a 52-week low of $14.06 in trading ten times higher than normal.

Even vice chairman Peter Cuneo admitted that 2005 was the first year where Marvel had seen “surprises,” during yesterday conference call with investors.

About that call: as a publicly traded company, Marvel releases quarterly financial reports and follows them up with a webcast in which the top brass – usually Cuneo, finance guy Ken West and studio head Avi Arad -- get to make statements, and analysts get to question them. We've been listening to these for a couple of years now, and although we don't know these gentlemen personally, we do know when they sound happy or sad, and yesterday's call was nothing if not glum. Every time Ken West opened his mouth he went off on a number crunching orgy that made our eyes cross. Cuneo admitted that it was a disappointing day for Marvel. Arad, usually a fountain of enthusiasm, sounded tired and cranky, and had to be prompted to talk by Cuneo.

While Marvel is not in “trouble” by any means, the bad report has reignited the old parlor game: “Will Marvel be sold?” It was even brought up in one of the questions during the conference call, drawing an answer of complete dissembling by Peter Cuneo.

More from the conference call:

• Marvel's biggest losses were in toys and licensing, due to lower than expected sales on their Curious George and TNA wrestling toys. The problems were due to both a supply problem which caused retailers to cancel orders, and what Cuneo termed the uncertain retail environment. “We know the total sales of Marvel products have been affected by the retailer environment – the price of gas, hurricanes, etc. It is impossible to quantify -- it's just a feeling.” Cuneo said that orders for '06 were good, but one assumed that missing the Christmas season is a big negative.

• The Fantastic Four toys did not sell as expected. Simple as that. The movie was a moneymaker, especially internationally, but toy sales did not come anywhere near expectations. Again, this could have been part of the “general retail environment.”


• The publishing division, as always, was a small but steady earner. Marvel never expects anything spectacular from this group, but it keeps showing that modest growth. That's a good thing. In fact, in '06, toys, licensing and publishing are all expected to contribute equally to the bottom line, which shows how low Marvel expects licensing and toys to go.

• Cuneo was asked about the 7-11 deal that rolled out last summer and put comics back in 7-11s. He said it looks promising, but they are waiting for 6 months of results. Marvel has also recently expanded into Walgreen's, but the chain drug channel is one they don't know much about so they have no result there yet. “We don't want to overreact and in fact in our forecast for 06 the gains from 7-11 are extremely modest in the guidance. Walgreen's is in its infancy and we really don't know how that will go. ”

•A $50 million, 12 year deal with a video game company – probably Activision – boosted the bottom line somewhat, but – and here's where the eyes cross – the cash in hand now means no money from that in future quarters.

• The big problem with '06 is that Ghost Rider and even X-men 3 are just not expected to drive toy sales. Cuneo: “We have frankly and candidly extremely small forecasts for those films for toys. While we are very pleased about what we see happening with the films we're just being, we think, very defensive in looking at this.”

• A couple of questioners brought up the “myth” that Spider-man is really Marvel's only cash cow. Cuneo did his best to pooh-pooh this, but didn't sound all that convincing given the FF toy flop.

• Arad was tight-lipped about any announcements, saying that bringing Iron Man back to Marvel was good, but making no announcement before its time. The Blade TV show on Spike was mentioned, and Hulk 2 sounds a lot more concrete than it had before.

• Overall, Cuneo sounded a little sad. “I'll give you an analogy for what it's worth. If you have climbed mountains or have been a tourist and climbed pyramids, you can't go straight to the top directly. At some point you have to pause and take a rest on some flat surface and take a look at whether you're taking the best direction to the top and regain your strength. For me that's a broad description of 2006. We're not pleased, believe me, about this forecast. We are being probably pretty defensive. Only time will tell if we're being overly defensive. Our fundamental nature is to be conservative. I think this is out best shot at guidance. The future will tell how we're doing at that.”

He also admitted that the company is hard to forecast because Marvels business model is fairly unique. “We recognize it is a problem and obviously for 2005 in some areas it was a problem for the company, despite the fact we've had a lot of success we've had in generally been very successful in past years at looking at our trends and numbers 2005 and was frankly the first year where we had some surprises. While it's very difficult for outside people it's not always easy for us either.”

• Asked about being on the block, he said, “We have no plans for the company per se to be anything but a public company at this point. One of the things we haven't emphasized today this is still very much a cash-generating machine.”

Overall Marvel has been a spectacularly successful company over the last few years. The stock surging to $30 at one points shows that. However, a lot of the business has simply already been mined. Cuneo said that the only licensing growth they foresee is internationally, as domestically they have all their partners lined up. The movie slate, even with Marvel financing its own films, is not going to be all X-men and Spider-man – that's just a fact, and movies like the Punisher and Elektra aren't going to sell a lot of lunchboxes. While Marvel has many opportunities in video games and home video upcoming, the boom time seems ot be over. Like Cuneo said, it's time for a rest.

Over on the Marvel stock board, shareholders -- some of whom had been predicting $30 by '06-- were freaking out. Some random quotes:

“had many chances to sell this stock for a 10 ~ 20K profit... now I leave with about $1000 profit.. profit is a profit, but it still pains me greatly to see a company that i fell in love with lead to this...”

“Like most I always thought MVL would be a good long term investment given all the characters they had in their asset bank. Unfortunately, whilst they did a stellar job with X-Men/2 and I guess Spiderman/2, every other release has been pretty mediocre and not that well reveived by the public. Sure they can bring out 2nd and 3rd movies, but once the chance to establish rapport with the audience with the first movie is gone, they're more likely to lose customers for the second. Also, X-Men was such a success I'm surprised they weren't able to make more of those characters. Licensing is the longterm lifeblood of this company, and because of their inability to build on early successes, I think they've squandered some of their assets with the subsequent weak movies. Its quality not quantity Marvel needs, and if they don't build an attractive charcter franchise, no one is going to be interested in using any particular superhero beyond the original movie. This is a recipe for disaster. I hope they can address it - maybe take a step back and rethink things - but the future forecast is nothing short of disastrous - worse, without other character success, what happens once the Spiderman and X-Men 3 movies have come and gone ... things could go downhill really fast.”

And this:
“why do you think mvl blew so much $ last q, buying back at $20+ and now borrowing money to buyback at $12ish?

that is incredibly troubling to me

they know less about the market and their share price than i do and that ain't saying much considering today”

However some analysts defended the stumbling titan as in this from Jeffries & Co.

“We view today's stock action as a huge buying opportunity for long-term investors, especially considering the balance sheet and value of its intellectual property,” says Robert Routh, an analyst at Jefferies & Co. “This is a huge overreaction. The guidance Marvel gave doesn't include many events that could unfold in 2006. The market didn't take into account the share buyback, which is shrinking the equity capitalization by 20% and, in addition, will rebalance the company's capital structure. Going into 2007, we see the stock in the mid-20s.”

If you've gotten this far, you are obviously a numbers junkie. If anyone out there wants to share their thoughts with us -- or explain why our analysis is full of crap -- please write in . We are also confused by this stock buyback business. Why is borrowing $250 million a good idea to buy back their own stock?

[DBM]

From Here (http://sev.prnewswire.com/computer-software/20051122/NYM20923112005-1.html)

Marvel Entertainment Selects Fadel Partners to Implement a Rights and Royalties Management Solution

NEW YORK, Nov. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Fadel Partners, Inc., a Certified Partner in the Oracle PartnerNetwork, signed a services agreement with Marvel Entertainment, Inc., a prominent global entertainment and licensing company, to implement a rights and royalties management software solution (RRM) utilizing the Oracle E-Business Suite 11i. The RRM software will help Marvel improve revenue projection and cash management and increase financial return on intellectual property rights.

In addition to implementing Oracle CRM Sales, Configurator, Contracts and Accounts Receivable, Fadel Partners will build royalty management software to help calculate and track earned royalties and overages. Fadel Partners designed this solution to meet the global licensing needs of publishing, media and entertainment companies and has licensed the right from Marvel to re-sell the RRM software to other prospects and clients.

"Fadel Partners used a structured implementation methodology to help identify and document our business requirements," said Kenneth West, Executive Vice President and CFO at Marvel. "As a result, we chose Fadel Partners to implement an innovative rights and royalties management solution that will help us link and analyze our intellectual property rights information and more efficiently manage our royalty processing."

By automating existing manual processes with the RRM software and the Oracle Applications, Marvel will have structured rights configurations and tracking, efficient royalty processing and an integrated contract management and financials solution. The implementation will provide Marvel with more precise tracking of licensee information and rights utilization, faster posting of incoming royalties and better business insight thru the use of business intelligence and reporting.

"Fadel Partners' RRM software will help Marvel drive future revenue growth through exploiting its intellectual property rights and exploring new trends in the underlying business segments," said Tarek E. Fadel, Founder and CEO of Fadel Partners. "Our RRM software is the first rights and royalties management solution fully integrated with the Oracle platform, allowing Marvel to leverage the power of the Oracle Applications and streamline the creation, configuration and management of intellectual property rights."

About Fadel Partners, Inc.

Fadel Partners, Inc. is a technology firm focused on implementing the Oracle Applications and building custom software solutions. Fadel Partners combines the use of techno-functional resources for on-time and on-budget project delivery. Fadel Partners is headquartered in New York City. For more information, visit http://www.fadelpartners.com/.

About Marvel Entertainment, Inc.

With a library of over 5,000 characters, Marvel Entertainment, Inc. -- formerly known as Marvel Enterprises, Inc. -- is one of the world's most prominent character-based entertainment companies. Marvel's operations are focused on utilizing its character franchises in licensing, entertainment, publishing and toys. Areas of emphasis include feature films, DVD/home video, consumer products, video games, action figures and role-playing toys, television and promotions. Rooted in the creative success of over sixty years of comic book publishing, Marvel's strategy is to leverage its character franchises in a growing array of opportunities around the world. More information about Marvel can be found on the company's World Wide Web site, which is located at http://www.marvel.com/.

Oracle, JD Edwards, and PeopleSoft are registered trademarks of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates.
Website: http://www.fadelpartners.com/
Website: http://www.marvel.com/

[Themanofbat]

Well, if a person thought it will rebound to the $30 range, now would be a good time to buy Marvel Stock.

[DBM]

From Newsarama (http://www.newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=54932)

MARVEL AND HASBRO JOIN FORCES, TOY BIZ WORLDWIDE LICENSE ENDS

Marvel and Hasbro today jointly announced that they would join forces, with Marvel granting Hasbro the license to produce toys (including action figures) and games based on the Marvel super hero universe. Characters and properties named in the announcement: Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, X-Men, Captain America, and Ghost Rider. Additionally, Hasbro will produce toys based on Spider-Man 3 and Spider-Man 4. Also announced – Toy Biz Worldwide will no longer produce Marvel toys. The move was apparently made, in part, to stabilize Marvel, financially, and de-link the company's earnings from the volatile toy market.

The deal, which will see its first products ship in January of 2007, is for five years, and guarantees Marvel $205 million in royalty and service fee payments over its term. The royalty Marvel will see from Hasbro, according to Marvel, will be lower than what it saw from Toy Biz Worldwide, though it plans to make up the difference by the increased sales of Hasbro’s Marvel product.

In a separate release, Marvel announced that it has terminated its license with Toy Biz Worldwide, planning to transition all toy business, apparently to Hasbro. The termination went into effect on December 31st, 2005, one year earlier than the scheduled termination date. According to Marvel: “As a result of the termination, in 2006 Marvel-branded action figures and other toys formerly produced by Toy Biz Worldwide will be produced by Marvel. Now, with full control over Marvel-branded toys produced for sale in 2006, Marvel will be in a better position to effect a smooth transition to Hasbro in areas such as toy development, manufacturing, shipping, and retail space. As a result of this early termination, Marvel will record a one-time cash charge of $13 million - $16 million in the fourth quarter of 2005 related to the early termination and reimbursed research and development expenses. The charge is not reflected in Marvel's financial guidance for 2005, last provided on November 9, 2005.”

Marvel's Chairman, Morton Handel, said in the release: "While Marvel will own any inventory produced for 2006, our policy of predominantly manufacturing to order should help mitigate our inventory risk. Commencing in 2007, a wide range of toy and game categories - including action figures, role play and preschool toys, board games and puzzles - will be produced by our new licensee, Hasbro. We are very excited by the business prospects we see in teaming with an industry leader."

The deal, and transition make sense for Marvel as, for years, Toy Biz has shown substantial volatility in terms of Marvel’s divisions, i.e., when a property is hot, the toys (and Toy Biz) do well, but when there is no hot property to base toys upon, the division does poorly, lowering the entire company's quarterly earnings. From the earnings statements, it seemed that Toy Biz had been unable to maintain a stable baseline in regards to toy sales. This move, which apparently seeks to move some of the toy production and distribution (and associated risks) to Hasbro, which, admittedly, ha a much larger machine in place to move toys into the market, given the manufacturer’s continued success with its Star Wars, GI Joe, and Transformers lines, and placement in the larger toy market.

That’s not, of course, to suggest that Hasbro is the loser here, as Marvel licenses are still popular, and can still justify relatively large shelf displays in retailer outlets. What the agreement between the two means for Toy Biz’s future, is still unknown. Marvel and Toy Biz Worldwide struck their deal in mid-2005 for a term of five and a half years, during which, Marvel received a 15% royalty on wholesale sales of toys and an additional "service fee" of 24.5% of wholesale sales in the U.S., and 10% for international sales, according to The Wall Street Journal. The Journal credited the Marvel/Toy Biz deal (which was seen as being highly favorable to Marvel, and that Toy Biz WW would clearly renegotiate at the end of its term) as one of main causes the company saw its licensing revenue skyrocket in the early part of the decade.

Though Toy Biz is owned by Marvel, the announcement made it clear that Marvel was ending the licensing agreement with Toy Biz Worldwide, which (though confusing) is not owned by Marvel, but rather, is a Hong Kong based licensee owned by Jeff Hsieh. TBWW would produce the figures, while they have been designed and marketed by Marvel.

Or, to further clarify the division, from the Toy Biz FAQ:

"Toy Biz is the in-house toy division of Marvel Enterprises, Inc.

"Marvel character-related toy product lines are manufactured and sold by Toy Biz Worldwide Ltd, under license from Marvel Characters Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Marvel Enterprises Inc. Toy Biz, a division of Marvel Enterprises Inc., is the sales representative for Toy Biz Worldwide. "

Thereby, while the announcement doesn't directly spell doom for Toy Biz itself, the Marvel division's future is unclear, given the lack of Toy Biz's invovlement in the Marvel/Hasbro deal.

Also unknown, but undoubtedly soon to be revealed, Hasbro's plans for its Marvel line, which could easily rival the company's Star Wars line in terms of depth and diversity of product.

The press releases read:

Hasbro Awarded Five-Year Strategic License to Marvel's Library of Over 5,000 Characters; Product Inspired by Spider-Man 3 Movie to be Among the First to Market

Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE:HAS) and Marvel Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:MVL), announced today a license under which Marvel has granted Hasbro toy and game rights to its renowned Super Hero universe that includes franchises such as Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, X-Men and Captain America. Through the agreement, Hasbro has obtained the rights to develop products based on Marvel's globally-known universe of over 5,000 characters in a wide range of toy and game categories -- including action figures, role play and preschool toys, board games and puzzles. The agreement covers both the "classic" comic book look of the characters as well as product lines inspired by Marvel-themed movies.

The five-year license gives Hasbro the rights to bring Marvel Entertainment-based toy products to retail beginning January 1, 2007. Hasbro's first full line of products based on Marvel properties is expected to center on Ghost Rider and the highly-anticipated movie event, Spider-Man 3, scheduled for release on May 4, 2007. Marvel has also agreed to provide services to Hasbro in connection with the licensed toys. The license guarantees Marvel $205 million in royalty and service fee payments, of which $70 million would be payable on the theatrical release of Spider-Man 3 and $35 million upon the theatrical release of Spider-Man 4. In addition, the license can be extended past the five year term, dependent on the number of other entertainment properties released during that timeframe.

"We are particularly pleased with this arrangement as it fits strategically into our plan to continually develop our home-grown core brands while aligning ourselves selectively with the best licenses in the business," Alfred J. Verrecchia, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hasbro, Inc. said.

"Hasbro's multi-year agreement with Marvel provides Hasbro with proven properties in categories where we have been long-time industry leaders," said Brian Goldner, Hasbro's President, U.S. Toy Segment. "Marvel's properties are a `who's-who' in children's and family entertainment and provide Hasbro with many exciting opportunities in the years ahead."

Tim Rothwell, Worldwide President, Consumer Media Group, Marvel Entertainment, added, "Hasbro is renowned in the toy arena. It supports its key brands with heavy promotional and advertising campaigns and their innovation provides consumers with an unmatched retail experience. We believe aligning with Hasbro as our master toy and game partner sets the stage for us to further extend the global and domestic reach and image of the overall Marvel brand."

Bruno Maglione, President, Marvel International, commented, "As we continue the process of developing our brands through a heightened mix of coordinated multi-media and product activity it was important to engage with a partner who understands how to leverage and optimize that sort of evergreen franchise approach. Hasbro brings that experience to the table, and with it, the ability and reach to execute globally. It's a perfect match."

David Hargreaves, Chief Financial Officer of Hasbro, Inc, said, "We are very pleased with this deal as it provides Hasbro with incremental revenues in high margin categories and allows us to maintain an appropriate balance in our portfolio of core brands and strategic licenses."

Juli Boylan, Sr Vice President, Sony Pictures Consumer Products, the limited partner in Spider-Man Merchandising LP, stated, "We are thrilled to have Hasbro develop toys and games for Spider-Man 3. We are very proud of the Spider-Man film franchise and feel Hasbro will play a pivotal role in its continued success."

The license is conditioned on its clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976.

Marvel Terminates Toy Biz License

Marvel Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:MVL), announced today that is has terminated its licensing agreement with Toy Biz Worldwide Ltd., effective as of December 31, 2005, one year earlier than the license's scheduled termination date. As a result of the termination, in 2006 Marvel-branded action figures and other toys formerly produced by Toy Biz Worldwide will be produced by Marvel. Now, with full control over Marvel-branded toys produced for sale in 2006, Marvel will be in a better position to effect a smooth transition to Hasbro in areas such as toy development, manufacturing, shipping, and retail space. As a result of this early termination, Marvel will record a one-time cash charge of $13 million - $16 million in the fourth quarter of 2005 related to the early termination and reimbursed research and development expenses. The charge is not reflected in Marvel's financial guidance for 2005, last provided on November 9, 2005.

Marvel's Chairman, Morton Handel, commented, "While Marvel will own any inventory produced for 2006, our policy of predominantly
manufacturing to order should help mitigate our inventory risk Commencing in 2007, a wide range of toy and game categories - including action figures, role play and preschool toys, board games and puzzles - will be produced by our new licensee, Hasbro. We are very excited by the business prospects we see in teaming with an industry leader."

Additional Background on Hasbro License Agreement

The combined percentage royalty and fees to be received by Marvel from Hasbro will be generally lower than those paid by Toy Biz Worldwide, but Marvel believes that Hasbro's worldwide marketing, promotion and distribution strength should enhance the Marvel brand and Marvel-branded toy sales. In conjunction with the signing of the Hasbro license agreement, Marvel will receive a non-refundable advance of $100 million. There will be no immediate revenue recognition related to the advance payment.

The license is conditioned on its clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976.

[RightBauer56]

WTF mate?

[Arkady Rossovich]

I KNOW Marvel is not in the right place at the moment,i have heard for the past few years a slow,yet steady decline with Marvel.The Ultimate line was originally ment to help Marvel get out of this stump,but really hasnt done that much in the long run.

Its common sence that Marvel`s despirate ploy to do "fantastic" events with long term problems,to try and get money.[HoM still has alot of plot holes not addressed.] and letting writers like Bendis do whatever they want.

I can imagine the end would come within 10-20 years if Marvel doesnt get it in gear and put their faith back into their fans.Or like me,fans will go with full support to DC.

[DBM]

From BoingBoing.net (http://www.boingboing.net/2006/03/18/marvel_comics_steali.html)

Saturday, March 18, 2006
Marvel Comics: stealing our language
Marvel Comics is continuing in its bid to steal the word "super-hero" from the public domain and put it in a lock-box to which it will control the key. Marvel and DC comics jointly filed a trademark (http://www.boingboing.net/2004/02/01/marvel_and_dc_claim_.html) on the word "super-hero." They use this mark to legally harass indie comic companies that make competing comic books.

A trademark's enforceability hinges on whether the public is likely to associate a word or mark with a given company -- in other words, when you hear the word "super-hero," if you think "Marvel and DC," then Marvel will be able to go on censoring and eliminating its competition.

One way of accomplishing this dirty bit of mind-control is by adding a ™ symbol after the word "Super-Hero." That TM lets the world know that you claim ownership over the word it accompanies. If you can get other people to do it, too, eventually you may in fact get the world to believe that the word is your property -- and then, it becomes your property.

"Super-hero" isn't Marvel's property. They didn't invent the term. They aren't the only users of the term. It's a public-domain word that belongs to all of us. Adding a ™ to super-hero is a naked bid to steal "super-hero" from us and claim it for their own.

The latest trick in its move to steal the word is using the ™ symbol in the bumpf for its California science centre show -- they've recruited a science museum to help them steal "super-hero."

Here's a proposal: from now on, let's never use the term "super-hero" to describe a Marvel character. Let's call them "underwear perverts" -- as Warren Ellis is wont to -- or vigilantes, or mutants. Let's reserve the term "super-hero" exclusively to describe the heros of comics published by companies that aren't crooked word-thieves.

[iloveclones]

Yeah, I don't dig that kind of hubris. That's a fight I'll be rooting against the big Two.

Whoever wrote that article clearly wants to vent against Marvel, but seems to let DC slide, even though his own article states that it was filed jointly.

[masteryoda]

It was filed jointly and it really has nothing to do with Marvel or DC the way fans think of the company. That's nothing more then the work of lawyers. They've ruined the world and they're not done yet. :(

[iloveclones]

I knew it was coming when someone wanted to Copyright the word "Three-peat" You'd think winning three championships in a row would be reward enough!

[Furthermore]

Yup, it's not about the books. It's about the movies.

[masteryoda]

I knew it was coming when someone wanted to Copyright the word "Three-peat" You'd think winning three championships in a row would be reward enough!
Are you serious? That's insane!:D
Molsen Canadian actually tried to copyright the word Canadian up here once so that no one else could use it. :rolleyes:

[Lackey]

quick! let's copyright "rape clock" :eek:

[iloveclones]

iloveclones©

I don't think anyone else wants it, but I'll be laughing when my lab, under the tutelage of that crazy guy that mumbles to himself, Dr. Warren, perfects human cloning.

[iloveclones]

I was going to post this in one of the Avengers threads, but it's really about marketing. I'm getting that 40 years of Avengers DVD, and I realized, looking at the cover, that it features the current team. Now it also has "floating heads" of a lot of the past Avengers (Perez, I think). But I thought it was interesting since what's in the box only goes up to Disassembled. The team featured on the cover won't really be in any of the issues (except for Spidey here and there.)

The other thing I recently saw is one of those index card-sized ads for Marvel Adventures Avengers (the line they make for the kiddies) in my LCBS. And if you go by the picture, it looks like the team would include: Cap, Iron Man, Hulk, Spidey, Wolverine, Storm, and someone who looks like Cassie over in YA. Since these titles are designed, sort of, for a new Marvel generation, it looks like they want new readers to think NA when they think Avengers. Plus, it ties into X-men more strongly now and Young Avengers.

[DBM]

The other thing I recently saw is one of those index card-sized ads for Marvel Adventures Avengers (the line they make for the kiddies) in my LCBS. And if you go by the picture, it looks like the team would include: Cap, Iron Man, Hulk, Spidey, Wolverine, Storm, and someone who looks like Cassie over in YA. Since these titles are designed, sort of, for a new Marvel generation, it looks like they want new readers to think NA when they think Avengers. Plus, it ties into X-men more strongly now and Young Avengers.

That's actually not Cassie. It's Janet Van Dyne as Giant Girl. In the Marvel Adventures Universe, they've meshed Hank Pym and Janet's character a bit so Janet isn't the Wasp. They needed a girl on the team and a Giant Girl made a better visual than Wasp.

It's pretty obvious though that Cassie's character/costume had an influence on this.

[iloveclones]

Is Storm actually on this team? I was a little surprised by that.

[DBM]

Is Storm actually on this team? I was a little surprised by that.

Yep. They needed another female and they wanted someone that would be recognizable. With a very active role in the various X-Men cartoons as well as the movies, store fit the bill.

[iloveclones]

Haven't posted these in a while. Galactus does it over in the Spidey forum, but this includes all the Marvel titles:

As always, thanks to Milton Griepp and ICV2 for permission to use their figures for these calculations.


1. ASTONISHING X-MEN
Feb 05 Astonishing X-Men #8 - 153,395 ( -0.0%)
Mar 05 Astonishing X-Men #9 - 135,325 (-11.8%)
Apr 05 n/a
May 05 Astonishing X-Men #10 - 156,298 (+15.5%)
Jun 05 n/a
Jul 05 Astonishing X-Men #11 - 127,768 (-18.3%)
Aug 05 Astonishing X-Men #12 - 134,693 ( +5.4%)
Sep 05 n/a
Oct 05 n/a
Nov 05 n/a
Dec 05 n/a
Jan 06 n/a
Feb 06 Astonishing X-Men #13 - 140,655 ( +4.4%)
6 mnth ( +4.4%)
1 year ( -8.2%)

Returning to the schedules after a five month absence, ASTONISHING gets a boost. It's done better than this in the past year, but only with the help of variant covers. Whedon and Cassaday are still proving a big draw as the book enters its second season.


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.


5. ULTIMATE WOLVERINE VS HULK
Dec 05 Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk #1 (of 6) - 115,492
Jan 06 n/a
Feb 06 Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk #2 (of 6) - 97,358 (-15.7%)

An unequivocal hit. At first glance the 15% drop for issue #2 looks about normal. But it's more complicated than that, because the sales for issue #1 are significantly boosted by re-orders. In fact, in its first month, it only sold 100,947. And if you take that as your comparison, it's a tiny drop for issue #2.

Incidentally, issue #1 is still picking up substantial reorders, two months after it came out. This month, it charts at number 205 with 4,957 copies. Even if ULTIMATES had shipped in February, this would still have been the top selling Ultimate title for the month.


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.


10. UNCANNY X-MEN
Feb 02 Uncanny X-Men #403 - 97,079
Feb 03 Uncanny X-Men #419 - 83,714
Feb 04 Uncanny X-Men #439 - 86,259
======
Feb 05 Uncanny X-Men #455 - 88,920 ( +1.7%)
Feb 05 Uncanny X-Men #456 - 86,767 ( -2.4%)
Mar 05 Uncanny X-Men #457 - 86,365 ( -0.5%)
Apr 05 Uncanny X-Men #458 - 85,299 ( -1.2%)
May 05 Uncanny X-Men #459 - 83,547 ( -2.1%)
Jun 05 Uncanny X-Men #460 - 82,457 ( -1.3%)
Jun 05 Uncanny X-Men #461 - 91,221 (+10.6%)
Jul 05 Uncanny X-Men #462 - 91,125 ( -0.1%)
Aug 05 Uncanny X-Men #463 - 87,610 ( -3.9%)
Sep 05 Uncanny X-Men #464 - 85,885 ( -2.0%)
Oct 05 Uncanny X-Men #465 - 84,271 ( -1.9%)
Nov 05 Uncanny X-Men #466 - 82,825 ( -1.7%)
Dec 05 Uncanny X-Men #467 - 81,282 ( -1.9%)
Jan 06 Uncanny X-Men #468 - 79,808 ( -1.8%)
Feb 06 Uncanny X-Men #469 - 79,039 ( -1.0%)
6 mnth ( -9.8%)
1 year (-11.1%)
2 year ( -8.4%)

Continuing its usual gentle decline. The new creative team takes over in the summer.


11,12. X-MEN
Feb 02 New X-Men #123 - 105,642
Feb 03 New X-Men #137 - 92,470
Feb 04 New X-Men #153 - 113,879
======
Feb 05 X-Men #167 - 84,155 ( -2.1%)
Mar 05 X-Men #168 - 83,979 ( -0.2%)
Apr 05 X-Men #169 - 82,793 ( -1.4%)
May 05 X-Men #170 - 81,048 ( -2.1%)
Jun 05 X-Men #171 - 80,307 ( -0.9%)
Jun 05 X-Men #172 - 78,889 ( -1.8%)
Jul 05 X-Men #173 - 77,154 ( -2.2%)
Aug 05 X-Men #174 - 76,342 ( -1.1%)
Sep 05 X-Men #175 - 76,555 ( +0.3%)
Oct 05 X-Men #176 - 74,635 ( -2.5%)
Nov 05 X-Men #177 - 78,405 ( +5.1%)
Nov 05 X-Men #178 - 76,195 ( -2.8%)
Dec 05 X-Men #179 - 77,189 ( +1.3%)
Dec 05 X-Men #180 - 75,559 ( -2.1%)
Jan 06 X-Men #181 - 74,094 ( -1.9%)
Feb 06 X-Men #182 - 78,653 ( +6.2%)
Feb 06 X-Men #183 - 76,454 ( -2.8%)
6 mnth ( +0.1%)
1 year ( -9.2%)
2 year (-32.9%)

Two issues this month, starting the five-part "Blood of Apocalypse" storyline. And it seems Apocalypse is still a sales draw, because sales jump 6% on the prospect. Considering that it's the regular creative team and there's no crossover or variant cover involved, this is actually quite surprising.


13. ULTIMATE GALACTUS TRILOGY
Feb 05 Ultimate Nightmare #5 (of 5) - 73,082 ( -4.6%)
Mar 05 Ultimate Secret #1 (of 4) - 89,132 (+22.0%)
Apr 05 Ultimate Secret #2 (of 4) - 77,914 (-12.6%)
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 n/a
Jul 05 n/a
Aug 05 n/a
Sep 05 Ultimate Secret #3 (of 4) - 67,046 (-13.9%)
Oct 05 Ultimate Secret #4 (of 4) - 64,909 ( -3.2%)
Nov 05 n/a
Dec 05 n/a
Jan 06 Ultimate Extinction #1 (of 5) - 85,439 (+31.6%)
Feb 06 Ultimate Extinction #2 (of 5) - 75,869 (-11.2%)
6 mnth ( n/a )
1 year ( +3.8%)

Holding up well by comparison with the previous miniseries ULTIMATE SECRET. Issue #1 picks up 2,718 in reorders, charting at number 248.


14. X-MEN: DEADLY GENESIS
Nov 05 Deadly Genesis #1 (of 6) - 117,042
Dec 05 Deadly Genesis #2 (of 6) - 83,159 (-28.9%)
Jan 06 Deadly Genesis #3 (of 6) - 78,238 ( -5.9%)
Feb 06 Deadly Genesis #4 (of 6) - 74,666 ( -4.6%)

After an initially sluggish start, re-orders are really picking up for DEADLY GENESIS. Presumably these are the people who didn't believe the hype about this being an important X-Men story, but have changed their minds now that we know what's in it.

Issue #1 ships a further 2,611 copies, four months after it originally shipped. Issue #2 has reorders of 3,076. And issue #3 sells 4,837 extra copies. This is remarkably high reorder activity by Marvel standards. And what's more, if it wasn't for those reorders being taken into account, issue #4 would actually have gone slightly up from February - very unusual for a miniseries.

This bodes well for writer Ed Brubaker's upcoming run on UNCANNY, which spins off from this miniseries.


16. ULTIMATE X-MEN
Feb 02 Ultimate X-Men #15 - 94,713
Feb 03 Ultimate X-Men #29 - 84,789
Feb 04 Ultimate X-Men #42 - 97,299
======
Feb 05 Ultimate X-Men #56 - 86,130 ( -1.5%)
Mar 05 Ultimate X-Men #57 - 83,835 ( -2.7%)
Apr 05 Ultimate X-Men #58 - 82,606 ( -1.5%)
May 05 Ultimate X-Men #59 - 81,321 ( -1.6%)
Jun 05 Ultimate X-Men #60 - 78,613 ( -3.3%)
Jul 05 Ultimate X-Men #61 - 87,094 (+10.8%)
Aug 05 Ultimate X-Men #62 - 76,229 (-12.5%)
Sep 05 Ultimate X-Men #63 - 74,760 ( -1.9%)
Oct 05 Ultimate X-Men #64 - 75,118 ( +0.5%)
Nov 05 Ultimate X-Men #65 - 74,264 ( -1.1%)
Dec 05 n/a
Jan 06 Ultimate X-Men #66 - 73,720 ( -0.7%)
Feb 06 Ultimate X-Men #67 - 72,700 ( -1.4%)
6 mnth ( -4.6%)
1 year (-15.6%)
2 year (-25.3%)

Second issue of the Robert Kirkman run, but it's really just business as usual.


17. WOLVERINE
Feb 02 Wolverine #173 - 69,684
Feb 03 Wolverine #186 - 63,911
Feb 04 Wolverine #11 - 69,686
======
Feb 05 Wolverine #25 - 83,180 ( +1.9%)
Mar 05 Wolverine #26 - 108,677 (+30.7%)
Apr 05 Wolverine #27 - 101,228 ( -6.9%)
May 05 Wolverine #28 - 80,961 (-20.0%)
Jun 05 Wolverine #29 - 79,951 ( -1.2%)
Jul 05 Wolverine #30 - 76,651 ( -4.1%)
Aug 05 Wolverine #31 - 75,618 ( -1.3%)
Sep 05 Wolverine #32 - 89,026 (+17.7%)
Sep 05 Wolverine #33 - 78,508 (-11.8%)
Oct 05 Wolverine #34 - 75,664 ( -3.6%)
Oct 05 Wolverine #35 - 73,684 ( -2.6%)
Nov 05 Wolverine #36 - 94,355 (+28.1%)
Dec 05 Wolverine #37 - 73,866 (-21.7%)
Jan 06 Wolverine #38 - 73,815 ( -0.0%)
Feb 06 Wolverine #39 - 72,248 ( -2.1%)
6 mnth ( -4.5%)
1 year (-13.1%)
2 year ( +3.7%)

Continuing the "Origins and Endings" storyline, which leads into the new WOLVERINE: ORIGINS ongoing. While these aren't enormous sales by the book's usual standards, it may be turning a corner - issue #38 picks up reorders of 2,871. Without those sales being taken into account, issue #39 would be a small climber.


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.


20. ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR
Feb 04 Ultimate Fantastic Four #3 - 109,801
======
Feb 05 n/a
Mar 05 Ultimate Fantastic Four #16 - 73,987 ( -0.7%)
Apr 05 Ultimate Fantastic Four #17 - 72,207 ( -2.4%)
May 05 Ultimate Fantastic Four #18 - 71,478 ( -1.0%)
Jun 05 Ultimate Fantastic Four #19 - 70,300 ( -1.6%)
Jun 05 Ultimate Fantastic Four #20 - 69,097 ( -1.7%)
Jul 05 Ultimate Fantastic Four #21 - 91,321 (+32.2%)
Aug 05 Ultimate Fantastic Four #22 - 71,767 (-21.4%)
Sep 05 Ultimate Fantastic Four #23 - 71,494 ( -0.4%)
Oct 05 Ultimate Fantastic Four #24 - 70,549 ( -1.3%)
Nov 05 Ultimate Fantastic Four #25 - 70,032 ( -0.7%)
Dec 05 Ultimate Fantastic Four #26 - 69,689 ( -0.5%)
Jan 06 n/a
Feb 06 Ultimate Fantastic Four #27 - 67,922 ( -2.5%)
6 mnth ( -5.4%)
1 year ( -8.2%)
2 year (-38.1%)

Another book in gentle decline, although it's been fairly consistent over the last year.


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.


25. X-MEN: THE 198
Jan 06 The 198 #1 (of 5) - 68,698
Feb 06 The 198 #2 (of 5) - 58,540 (-14.8%)

Standard second issue drop for a miniseries.


26. YOUNG AVENGERS
Feb 05 Young Avengers #1 - 112,803
Mar 05 Young Avengers #2 - 79,952 (-29.1%)
Apr 05 Young Avengers #3 - 75,015 ( -6.2%)
May 05 Young Avengers #4 - 69,925 ( -6.8%)
Jun 05 Young Avengers #5 - 69,956 ( +0.0%)
Jul 05 n/a
Aug 05 Young Avengers #6 - 68,733 ( -1.7%)
Sep 05 Young Avengers #7 - 67,036 ( -2.5%)
Oct 05 Young Avengers #8 - 63,873 ( -4.7%)
Nov 05 Young Avengers #9 - 63,213 ( -1.0%)
Dec 05 n/a
Jan 06 n/a
Feb 06 Young Avengers #10 - 56,347 (-10.9%)
6 mnth (-18.0%)
1 year (-50.0%)

Hmm. All is not well.

For one thing, that's a surprisingly big drop from the last issue. Perhaps the delays are starting to take their toll on the book. Also, the title is now scheduled to go on hiatus after issue #12 - an interesting creative decision, given that issue #10 was solicited as part 2 of 6, meaning that the storyline was supposed to run to issue #14. It's now been cut back to a four-parter, but we've clearly deviated from the original plan.

According to Joe Quesada, the delay is due to writer Allan Heinberg's "other commitments." One of those "other commitments", of course, is Heinberg's upcoming monthly run on DC's WONDER WOMAN. No doubt there's an excellent reason why WONDER WOMAN should take priority over completing this book on the advertised schedule, although I have no earthly idea what it might be.


27. GHOST RIDER
Sep 05 Ghost Rider #1 (of 6) - 119,575
Oct 05 Ghost Rider #2 (of 6) - 71,473 (-40.2%)
Nov 05 Ghost Rider #3 (of 6) - 62,914 (-12.0%)
Dec 05 Ghost Rider #4 (of 6) - 59,678 ( -5.1%)
Jan 06 Ghost Rider #5 (of 6) - 56,958 ( -4.6%)
Feb 06 Ghost Rider #6 (of 6) - 55,802 ( -2.0%)

Levelling out nicely for the end of the miniseries. An ongoing title is scheduled for later in the year - hardly surprising on the back of sales like this.


29. DAREDEVIL
Feb 02 Daredevil #30 - 47,333
Feb 03 Daredevil #43 - 58,782
Feb 04 Daredevil #57 - 54,644
======
Feb 05 Daredevil #70 - 48,702 ( -0.0%)
Mar 05 Daredevil #71 - 49,715 ( +2.1%)
Apr 05 Daredevil #72 - 48,803 ( -1.8%)
May 05 Daredevil #73 - 48,681 ( -0.2%)
Jun 05 Daredevil #74 - 48,175 ( -1.0%)
Jul 05 Daredevil #75 - 47,800 ( -0.8%)
Aug 05 Daredevil #76 - 46,424 ( -2.9%)
Sep 05 Daredevil #77 - 45,945 ( -1.0%)
Oct 05 Daredevil #78 - 45,071 ( -1.9%)
Nov 05 Daredevil #79 - 44,250 ( -1.8%)
Dec 05 Daredevil #80 - 43,309 ( -2.1%)
Jan 06 Daredevil #81 - 44,252 ( +2.2%)
Feb 06 Daredevil #82 - 53,058 (+19.9%)
6 mnth (+14.3%)
1 year ( +8.9%)
2 year ( -2.9%)

Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark take over the book and sales duly bounce upwards. A good start to the run.


30. SON OF M
Dec 05 Son of M #1 (of 6) - 62,254
Jan 06 Son of M #2 (of 6) - 52,704 (-15.3%)
Feb 06 Son of M #3 (of 6) - 52,227 ( -0.9%)

Suddenly levelling out after a standard drop last month. This is a surprisingly good number for the third issue.


32. X-FACTOR
Dec 05 X-Factor #1 - 64,861
Dec 05 X-Factor #2 - 52,705 (-18.7%)
Jan 06 n/a
Feb 06 X-Factor #3 - 48,307 ( -8.3%)

Hmm. Dropping a little faster than I'd be comfortable with, but nothing to really worry about at this stage. Issue #2 picks up 7,754 re-orders, which isn't actually as great as it sounds. Since these reorders still leave us with an 18.7% second issue drop, the most likely explanation is that Diamond simply botched the shipping of issue #2, with several thousand copies failing to reach the shelves until the first week of March. (X-FACTOR ships in the last week of the month.)


33. X-MEN: THE END
Feb 05 n/a
Mar 05 Book Two #1 (of 6) - 71,230 ( +7.6%)
Apr 05 Book Two #2 (of 6) - 63,005 (-11.5%)
May 05 Book Two #3 (of 6) - 58,870 ( -6.6%)
Jun 05 Book Two #4 (of 6) - 54,875 ( -6.8%)
Jul 05 Book Two #5 (of 6) - 51,949 ( -5.3%)
Aug 05 Book Two #6 (of 6) - 49,565 ( -4.6%)
Sep 05 n/a
Oct 05 n/a
Nov 05 n/a
Dec 05 n/a
Jan 06 Book Three #1 (of 6) - 52,891 ( +6.7%)
Feb 06 Book Three #2 (of 6) - 47,370 (-10.4%)
6 mnth ( -4.4%)

The established pattern - a boost for the start of the new volume, and then back to the decline in progress.


35. NEW EXCALIBUR
Nov 05 New Excalibur #1 - 58,333
Dec 05 New Excalibur #2 - 48,816 (-16.3%)
Jan 06 New Excalibur #3 - 47,196 ( -3.3%)
Feb 06 New Excalibur #4 - 45,071 ( -4.5%)

Fairly normal decline for the early issues.


36,40. FANTASTIC FOUR
Feb 02 Fantastic Four #52 - 46,355
Feb 03 Fantastic Four #66 - 48,512
Feb 04 Fantastic Four #510 - 49,129
======
Feb 05 Fantastic Four #523 - 46,276 ( -0.1%)
Mar 05 Fantastic Four #524 - 46,660 ( +0.8%)
Apr 05 Fantastic Four #525 - 45,561 ( -2.4%)
May 05 Fantastic Four #526 - 44,935 ( -1.4%)
May 05 Fantastic Four #527 - 75,525 (+68.1%)
Jun 05 Fantastic Four #528 - 55,937 (-25.9%)
Jul 05 Fantastic Four #529 - 52,963 ( -5.3%)
Aug 05 Fantastic Four #530 - 51,782 ( -2.2%)
Sep 05 Fantastic Four #531 - 49,745 ( -3.9%)
Oct 05 n/a
Nov 05 Fantastic Four #532 - 47,771 ( -4.0%)
Dec 05 Fantastic Four #533 - 46,751 ( -2.1%)
Jan 05 n/a
Feb 06 Fantastic Four #534 - 44,573 ( -4.7%)
Feb 06 Fantastic Four #535 - 43,124 ( -3.3%)
6 mnth (-16.7%)
1 year ( -6.8%)
2 year (-12.2%)

Back to the title's standard range. J Michael Straczynski's arrival doesn't seem to have made much difference beyond the initial months.


37,38. CAPTAIN AMERICA
Feb 03 Captain America #9 - 52,627
Feb 04 Captain America #23 - 39,695
======
Feb 05 Captain America #3 - 48,104 ( -9.8%)
Mar 05 Captain America #4 - 46,654 ( -3.0%)
Apr 05 Captain America #5 - 46,976 ( +0.7%)
May 05 Captain America #6 - 58,660 (+24.9%)
Jun 05 Captain America #7 - 47,160 (-19.6%)
Jul 05 n/a
Aug 05 Captain America #8 - 51,842 ( +9.9%)
Aug 05 Captain America #9 - 44,638 (-13.9%)
Sep 05 Captain America #10 - 52,609 (+17.9%)
Oct 05 Captain America #11 - 45,162 (-14.2%)
Nov 05 Captain America #12 - 45,038 ( -0.3%)
Dec 05 Captain America #13 - 44,954 ( -0.2%)
Jan 05 n/a
Feb 06 Captain America #14 - 44,041 ( -0.2%)
Feb 06 Captain America #15 - 43,350 ( -1.6%)
6 mnth ( -2.9%)
1 year ( -9.9%)
2 year ( +9.2%)

Continuing a slow decline.

[iloveclones]

Continuing....



41. NEW X-MEN
Feb 04 New Mutants #9 - 36,037
======
Feb 05 New X-Men #10 - 36,910 ( -3.4%)
Mar 05 New X-Men #11 - 35,549 ( -3.7%)
Apr 05 New X-Men #12 - 35,779 ( +0.6%)
May 05 New X-Men #13 - 35,033 ( -2.1%)
May 05 New X-Men #14 - 34,579 ( -1.3%)
Jun 05 New X-Men #15 - 34,007 ( -1.7%)
Jul 05 New X-Men #16 - 49,217 (+44.7%)
Aug 05 New X-Men #17 - 43,908 (-10.8%)
Sep 05 New X-Men #18 - 43,286 ( -1.4%)
Oct 05 New X-Men #19 - 41,691 ( -3.7%)
Nov 05 New X-Men #20 - 59,466 (+42.6%)
Dec 05 New X-Men #21 - 43,473 (-26.9%)
Jan 06 New X-Men #22 - 42,923 ( -1.3%)
Feb 06 New X-Men #23 - 41,463 ( -3.4%)
6 mnth ( -4.2%)
1 year (+12.3%)
2 year (+15.1%)

Again, drifting slowly down but still miles ahead of the book's earlier incarnation as a teen drama.


42. MARVEL ZOMBIES
Dec 05 Marvel Zombies #1 (of 5) - 52,282
Jan 06 Marvel Zombies #2 (of 5) - 43,517 (-16.8%)
Feb 06 Marvel Zombies #3 (of 5) - 41,164 ( -5.4%)

A remarkable surprise hit. The sales now look like a fairly standard miniseries decline, but that's the result of taking the re-orders into account. In fact, the book is still climbing month on month. Issue #2 picks up 5,023 re-orders to chart at number 203 - meanwhile, the variant cover of issue #1 sells a massive 16,785 copies. It's been a long time since we saw a mid-table miniseries do business like this. Marvel's faith in Robert Kirkman is finally being rewarded.


43. SPIDER-WOMAN: ORIGIN
Dec 05 Origin #1 (of 5) - 66,791
Jan 06 Origin #2 (of 5) - 43,684 (-34.6%)
Feb 06 Origin #3 (of 5) - 40,553 ( -7.2%)

Standard drops. Issue #2 has re-orders of 1,641.


45. GENERATION M
Nov 05 Generation M #1 (of 5) - 54,617
Dec 05 Generation M #2 (of 5) - 44,747 (-18.1%)
Jan 06 Generation M #3 (of 5) - 41,551 ( -7.1%)
Feb 06 Generation M #4 (of 5) - 39,450 ( -5.1%)

Again, standard miniseries drops.


46,51. SENTRY
Sep 05 Sentry #1 (of 8) - 93,021
Oct 05 Sentry #2 (of 8) - 53,384 (-42.6%)
Nov 05 Sentry #3 (of 8) - 47,903 (-10.3%)
Dec 05 Sentry #4 (of 8) - 41,901 (-12.5%)
Jan 06 n/a
Feb 06 Sentry #5 (of 8) - 39,257 ( -6.3%)
Feb 06 Sentry #6 (of 8) - 37,230 ( -5.2%)

Two issues this month as the book gets back on schedule. And once again, it's just the standard miniseries decline.


47. INCREDIBLE HULK
Feb 02 Hulk #37 - 38,844
Feb 03 Hulk #50 - 58,682
Feb 04 Hulk #67 - 47,632
======
Feb 05 Hulk #78 - 44,721 ( -5.2%)
Mar 05 Hulk #79 - 43,508 ( -2.7%)
Apr 05 Hulk #80 - 48,404 (+11.3%)
May 05 Hulk #81 - 43,822 (-10.5%)
Jun 05 Hulk #82 - 43,248 ( -1.3%)
Jul 05 Hulk #83 - 63,881 (+47.7%)
Jul 05 Hulk #84 - 58,583 ( -8.3%)
Aug 05 Hulk #85 - 53,177 ( -9.2%)
Sep 05 Hulk #86 - 52,992 ( -0.3%)
Oct 05 Hulk #87 - 42,454 (-19.9%)
Nov 05 Hulk #88 - 41,141 ( -3.1%)
Nov 05 Hulk #89 - 39,635 ( -3.7%)
Dec 05 Hulk #90 - 36,924 ( -6.8%)
Jan 06 Hulk #91 - 35,980 ( -2.6%)
Feb 06 Hulk #92 - 39,224 ( +9.0%)
6 mnth (-26.2%)
1 year (-12.3%)
2 year (-17.7%)

The beginning of "Planet Hulk". Marvel are promoting this as a massive runaway success, which is a bit of an exaggeration. It's up substantially on last month, but not a particularly great number in the context of the last year. In fact, it only really looks good when you judge it against the sales of Daniel Way's prequel arc - the whole Peter David run outsold this issue comfortably. Don't get me wrong, it's a good start to build on. But let's not get carried away here.


52. X-MEN: APOCALYPSE VS DRACULA
Feb 06 Apocalypse vs Dracula #1 (of 4) - 37,057

Perfectly respectable debut for an X-Men miniseries.


57. PUNISHER
Feb 02 Punisher #9 - 51,330
Feb 03 Punisher #22 - 41,356
Feb 04 Punisher #3 - 46,396
======
Feb 05 Punisher #17 - 38,714 ( -1.6%)
Mar 05 Punisher #18 - 38,348 ( -0.9%)
Apr 05 Punisher #19 - 38,753 ( +1.1%)
Apr 05 Punisher #20 - 38,130 ( -1.6%)
May 05 Punisher #21 - 37,998 ( -0.3%)
Jun 05 Punisher #22 - 37,811 ( -0.5%)
Jul 05 Punisher #23 - 37,376 ( -1.2%)
Aug 05 Punisher #24 - 37,022 ( -0.9%)
Sep 05 Punisher #25 - 37,149 ( +0.3%)
Oct 05 Punisher #26 - 36,450 ( -1.9%)
Nov 05 Punisher #27 - 36,072 ( -1.0%)
Dec 05 Punisher #28 - 35,535 ( -1.5%)
Jan 05 Punisher #29 - 34,708 ( -2.3%)
Feb 06 Punisher #30 - 34,293 ( -1.2%)
6 mnth ( -7.4%)
1 year (-11.4%)
2 year (-26.1%)

Still moving glacially downhill.


59. SUPREME POWER: HYPERION
Sep 05 Hyperion #1 (of 5) - 42,546
Oct 05 Hyperion #2 (of 5) - 37,423 (-12.0%)
Nov 05 n/a
Dec 05 Hyperion #3 (of 5) - 34,825 ( -6.9%)
Jan 06 n/a
Feb 06 Hyperion #4 (of 5) - 33,868 ( -2.7%)

Levelling out nicely.


60. EXILES
Feb 02 Exiles #9 - 37,563
Feb 03 Exiles #22 - 35,239
Feb 04 Exiles #42 - 37,147
======
Feb 05 Exiles #59 - 32,337 ( +0.6%)
Mar 05 Exiles #60 - 42,898 (+32.7%)
Mar 05 Exiles #61 - 42,217 ( -1.6%)
Apr 05 Exiles #62 - 33,965 (-19.5%)
Apr 05 Exiles #63 - 33,728 ( -0.7%)
May 05 Exiles #64 - 34,033 ( +0.9%)
Jun 05 Exiles #65 - 34,484 ( +1.3%)
Jul 05 Exiles #66 - 34,092 ( -1.1%)
Jul 05 Exiles #67 - 33,751 ( -1.0%)
Aug 05 Exiles #68 - 33,815 ( +0.2%)
Sep 05 Exiles #69 - 43,794 (+29.5%)
Sep 05 Exiles #70 - 42,434 ( -3.1%)
Oct 05 Exiles #71 - 41,131 ( -3.1%)
Nov 05 Exiles #72 - 34,329 (-16.5%)
Nov 05 Exiles #73 - 34,008 ( -0.9%)
Dec 05 Exiles #74 - 33,881 ( -0.4%)
Jan 06 Exiles #75 - 33,485 ( -1.2%)
Jan 06 Exiles #76 - 32,843 ( -1.9%)
Feb 06 Exiles #77 - 32,998 ( +0.5%)
6 mnth ( -2.4%)
1 year ( +2.0%)
2 year (-11.2%)

Hovering reliably in the 32-34K range.


61. STORM
Feb 06 Storm #1 (of 6) - 32,831

An origin miniseries attempting to retrofit Storm and the Black Panther with a proper reason to get married. You wouldn't generally expect great numbers for a book like this - not only is it set in the past, which is usually bad for sales, but it's a romance comic from the woman's point of view, and we all know how the direct market loves those.

That said... this is a tie-in to the Storm/Panther wedding, which is being promoted as a very big deal. But it's actually debuted below APOCALYPSE VS DRACULA #1 - which is also set in the past, features no big name heroes, and was kind of shoved out there without much promotion. And it still beat the wedding tie-in? That's not a good sign.


67. SUPREME POWER: NIGHTHAWK
Sep 05 Nighthawk #1 (of 6) - 39,505
Oct 05 Nighthawk #2 (of 6) - 35,183 (-10.9%)
Nov 05 Nighthawk #3 (of 6) - 33,228 ( -5.6%)
Dec 05 Nighthawk #4 (of 6) - 32,207 ( -3.1%)
Jan 06 Nighthawk #5 (of 6) - 30,828 ( -4.3%)
Feb 06 Nighthawk #6 (of 6) - 30,280 ( -1.8%)

Levelling out as the series comes to an end.


74. FURY: PEACEMAKER
Feb 02 Fury #6 (of 6) - 35,825
======
Feb 06 Peacemaker #1 (of 6) - 27,423

Another Garth Ennis miniseries, but this time set in World War II and taking the character more seriously. Interestingly, it's exactly four years since the controversial FURY series under the Max imprint finished. It sold rather better than this one, as you can see.


75. SHE-HULK
Feb 05 She-Hulk #12 - 23,202 ( -0.1%)
Mar 05 n/a
Apr 05 n/a
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 n/a
Jul 05 n/a
Aug 05 n/a
Sep 05 n/a
Oct 05 She-Hulk #1 - 37,220 (+60.4%)
Nov 05 She-Hulk #2 - 31,610 (-15.1%)
Dec 05 She-Hulk #3 - 29,428 ( -6.9%)
Jan 06 She-Hulk #4 - 28,214 ( -4.1%)
Feb 06 She-Hulk #5 - 27,183 ( -3.7%)
6 mnth ( n/a )
1 year (+17.2%)

Standard decline.


76. SENTINEL SQUAD O*N*E
Jan 06 Sentinel Squad O*N*E #1 (of 5) - 34,988
Feb 06 Sentinel Squad O*N*E #2 (of 5) - 26,971 (-22.9%)

A steep second issue drop, even for a miniseries.


80. BLACK PANTHER
Feb 02 Black Panther #41 - 19,523
Feb 03 Black Panther #54 - 17,401
======
Feb 05 Black Panther #1 - 69,930
Mar 05 Black Panther #2 - 47,533 (-32.0%)
Apr 05 Black Panther #3 - 44,925 ( -5.5%)
May 05 Black Panther #4 - 40,804 ( -9.2%)
Jun 05 Black Panther #5 - 37,401 ( -8.1%)
Jul 05 Black Panther #6 - 35,256 ( -5.7%)
Aug 05 Black Panther #7 - 42,905 (+21.7%)
Sep 05 Black Panther #8 - 46,239 ( +7.8%)
Oct 05 Black Panther #9 - 40,173 (-13.1%)
Nov 05 Black Panther #10 - 31,987 (-20.4%)
Dec 05 Black Panther #11 - 29,327 ( -8.3%)
Jan 06 Black Panther #12 - 27,933 ( -4.7%)
Feb 06 Black Panther #13 - 26,054 ( -6.7%)
6 mnth (-39.3%)
1 year (-62.7%)

The other half of the big wedding, and it continues to drop like a stone. At these levels it really can't afford to keep shedding almost 2,000 readers an issue, but that's what it's doing. Marvel evidently have tremendous faith in the book, but the direct market doesn't agree with them, on the strength of these numbers.


82. X-MEN UNLIMITED
Feb 03 X-Men Unlimited #42 - 34,489
Feb 04 X-Men Unlimited #1 - 52,685
======
Feb 05 X-Men Unlimited #7 - 27,009 (-10.4%)
Mar 05 n/a
Apr 05 X-Men Unlimited #8 - 25,686 ( -4.9%)
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 X-Men Unlimited #9 - 25,398 ( -1.1%)
Jul 05 n/a
Aug 05 X-Men Unlimited #10 - 23,717 ( -6.6%)
Sep 05 n/a
Oct 05 X-Men Unlimited #11 - 23,344 ( -1.6%)
Nov 05 n/a
Dec 05 X-Men Unlimited #12 - 22,134 ( -5.2%)
Jan 06 n/a
Feb 06 X-Men Unlimited #13 - 25,257 (+14.1%)
6 mnth ( +6.5%)
1 year ( -6.5%)
2 year (-52.1%)

A belated Decimation crossover - so at least that's one title which was definitely helped by the event. Still not great numbers, though.


84. POWERS
Feb 02 n/a
Feb 03 Powers #29 - 25,982
Feb 04 n/a
======
Feb 05 Powers #9 - 28,512 ( -3.1%)
Mar 05 n/a
Apr 05 Powers #10 - 28,360 ( -0.5%)
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 Powers #11 - 27,703 ( -2.3%)
Jul 05 n/a
Aug 05 Powers #12 - 30,290 ( +9.3%)
Sep 05 n/a
Oct 05 Powers #13 - 26,535 (-12.4%)
Nov 05 Powers #14 - 26,109 ( -1.6%)
Dec 05 Powers #15 - 25,633 ( -1.8%)
Jan 06 n/a
Feb 06 Powers #16 - 24,924 ( -2.8%)
6 mnth (-17.7%)
1 year (-12.6%)

Standard decline.


87. RUNAWAYS
Feb 04 Runaways #11 - 19,978
======
Feb 05 Runaways #1 - 43,128 (+131.7%)
Mar 05 Runaways #2 - 31,330 ( -27.4%)
Apr 05 Runaways #3 - 30,332 ( -3.2%)
May 05 Runaways #4 - 28,968 ( -4.5%)
Jun 05 Runaways #5 - 28,409 ( -1.9%)
Jul 05 Runaways #6 - 27,365 ( -3.7%)
Aug 05 Runaways #7 - 27,063 ( -1.1%)
Sep 05 Runaways #8 - 26,954 ( -0.4%)
Oct 05 Runaways #9 - 26,800 ( -0.6%)
Nov 05 Runaways #10 - 25,761 ( -3.9%)
Dec 05 Runaways #11 - 25,260 ( -1.9%)
Jan 06 Runaways #12 - 24,989 ( -1.1%)
Feb 06 Runaways #13 - 24,313 ( -2.7%)
6 mnth ( -10.2%)
1 year ( -43.6%)
2 year ( +21.7%)

And much the same here, although RUNAWAYS is still way ahead of pre-relaunch numbers.


88. PUNISHER: BLOODY VALENTINE
Feb 06 Bloody Valentine - 24,200

Respectable numbers for a random Punisher one-shot.


90. NEW THUNDERBOLTS
Feb 02 Thunderbolts #61 - 29,197
Feb 03 Thunderbolts #76 - 25,432
======
Feb 05 New Thunderbolts #5 - 29,377 ( -7.4%)
Mar 05 New Thunderbolts #6 - 29,103 ( -0.9%)
Apr 05 New Thunderbolts #7 - 28,977 ( -0.4%)
May 05 New Thunderbolts #8 - 27,769 ( -4.2%)
Jun 05 New Thunderbolts #9 - 27,300 ( -1.7%)
Jul 05 New Thunderbolts #10 - 25,978 ( -4.8%)
Aug 05 New Thunderbolts #11 - 37,036 (+42.6%)
Sep 05 New Thunderbolts #12 - 25,912 (-30.0%)
Oct 05 New Thunderbolts #13 - 29,250 (+12.9%)
Oct 05 New Thunderbolts #14 - 27,864 ( -4.7%)
Nov 05 New Thunderbolts #15 - 25,245 ( -9.4%)
Dec 05 New Thunderbolts #16 - 25,084 ( -0.6%)
Jan 06 New Thunderbolts #17 - 23,417 ( -6.7%)
Feb 06 New Thunderbolts #18 - 23,735 ( +1.4%)
6 mnth (-35.9%)
1 year (-19.2%)

Nudging very slightly up from last issue, which is a tentatively good sign.


93. PUNISHER VS BULLSEYE
Nov 05 Punisher vs Bullseye #1 (of 5) - 30,048
Dec 05 Punisher vs Bullseye #2 (of 5) - 25,121 (-16.4%)
Jan 06 Punisher vs Bullseye #3 (of 5) - 23,872 ( -5.0%)
Feb 06 Punisher vs Bullseye #4 (of 5) - 23,050 ( -3.4%)

Levelling out as normal.


94. IRON MAN: INEVITABLE
Dec 05 Inevitable #1 (of 6) - 31,032
Jan 06 Inevitable #2 (of 6) - 25,382 (-18.2%)
Feb 06 Inevitable #3 (of 6) - 22,997 ( -9.4%)

And ditto.


95. CABLE & DEADPOOL
Feb 05 Cable & Deadpool #12 - 25,349 ( -1.9%)
Mar 05 Cable & Deadpool #13 - 25,551 ( +0.8%)
Apr 05 Cable & Deadpool #14 - 24,994 ( -2.2%)
May 05 Cable & Deadpool #15 - 24,837 ( -0.6%)
Jun 05 Cable & Deadpool #16 - 24,612 ( -0.9%)
Jul 05 Cable & Deadpool #17 - 34,393 (+39.7%)
Aug 05 Cable & Deadpool #18 - 25,304 (-26.4%)
Sep 05 Cable & Deadpool #19 - 25,298 ( -0.0%)
Sep 05 Cable & Deadpool #20 - 24,982 ( -1.2%)
Oct 05 Cable & Deadpool #21 - 25,030 ( +0.2%)
Nov 05 Cable & Deadpool #22 - 23,746 ( -5.1%)
Dec 05 Cable & Deadpool #23 - 23,296 ( -1.9%)
Jan 06 Cable & Deadpool #24 - 23,542 ( +1.1%)
Feb 06 Cable & Deadpool #25 - 22,918 ( -2.7%)
6 mnth ( -9.4%)
1 year ( -9.6%)

Another remarkably solid performer, albeit at the lower end of the chart.


97. OFFICIAL HANDBOOK OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE
Feb 05 Marvel Knights 2005 - 18,182 ( -12.7%)
Mar 05 X-Men: Age of Apocalypse 2005 - 37,056 (+103.8%)
Apr 05 Spider-Man 2005 - 25,530 ( -31.1%)
May 05 Teams 2005 - 22,564 ( -11.6%)
Jun 05 Fantastic Four 2005 - 21,970 ( -2.6%)
Jul 05 Avengers 2005 - 23,668 ( +7.7%)
Aug 05 Ultimate Universe 2005 - 25,436 ( +7.5%)
Sep 05 Alternate Universes 2005 - 18,680 ( -26.6%)
Oct 05 Horror 2005 - 15,849 ( -15.2%)
Nov 05 X-Men 2005 - 22,986 ( +45.0%)
Dec 05 Ultimates/Ultimate X-Men 2005 - 20,795 ( -9.5%)
Jan 06 A to Z #1 (of 12) - 23,423 ( +12.6%)
Feb 06 A to Z #2 (of 12) - 21,828 ( -6.8%)
6 mnth ( -14.2%)
1 year ( +20.1%)

Holding up quite well for the second issue of the new format - many of the themed issues sold below this.


99. THING
Nov 05 Thing #1 - 30,188
Dec 05 Thing #2 - 23,606 (-21.8%)
Jan 06 Thing #3 - 21,839 ( -7.5%)
Feb 06 Thing #4 - 21,190 ( -3.0%)

Levelling out, but writer Dan Slott has made it public that the book is in troubled waters with sales at this level.


101. MARVEL KNIGHTS 4
Feb 04 Marvel Knights 4 #1 - 61,388
======
Feb 05 Marvel Knights 4 #15 - 30,230 ( -3.4%)
Mar 05 Marvel Knights 4 #16 - 29,600 ( -2.1%)
Apr 05 Marvel Knights 4 #17 - 29,189 ( -1.4%)
May 05 Marvel Knights 4 #18 - 28,649 ( -1.9%)
Jun 05 Marvel Knights 4 #19 - 28,153 ( -1.7%)
Jul 05 Marvel Knights 4 #20 - 27,548 ( -2.1%)
Aug 05 Marvel Knights 4 #21 - 27,023 ( -1.9%)
Sep 05 Marvel Knights 4 #22 - 26,446 ( -2.1%)
Oct 05 Marvel Knights 4 #23 - 25,100 ( -5.1%)
Nov 05 Marvel Knights 4 #24 - 24,129 ( -3.9%)
Dec 05 Marvel Knights 4 #25 - 22,753 ( -5.7%)
Jan 06 Marvel Knights 4 #26 - 21,365 ( -6.1%)
Feb 06 Marvel Knights 4 #27 - 20,977 ( -1.8%)
6 mnth (-22.4%)
1 year (-30.6%)
2 year (-65.8%)

Cancelled with issue #30. And no, it didn't change its name to FOUR with this month's issue, before you ask.


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.


106. SAGA OF THE SQUADRON SUPREME
Feb 06 Saga of the Squadron Supreme - 18,977

Another clipshow book recapping the plot of SUPREME POWER in preparation for the upcoming SQUADRON SUPREME relaunch. Good numbers for a product of this sort, I'd say.


115. X-STATIX PRESENTS DEAD GIRL
Feb 02 X-Force #125 - 44,404
Feb 03 X-Statix #8 - 32,512
Feb 04 X-Statix #19 - 24,182
======
Jan 06 Dead Girl #1 (of 5) - 20,685
Feb 06 Dead Girl #2 (of 5) - 17,369 (-16.0%)
2 year (-28.2%)

Fairly standard second issue drop, although the figures are depressingly low.


116. ARES
Jan 06 Ares #1 (of 5) - 20,541
Feb 06 Ares #2 (of 5) - 16,884 (-17.8%)

The heavy hints that he's joining the Avengers don't seem to be making much difference.


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.

[iloveclones]

And last but not least (well, actually it is the least)....
121. GIANT-SIZE MS MARVEL
Feb 06 Giant-Size Ms Marvel #1 - 15,808

Not a bad number for a mostly-reprint trailer. The ongoing series will debut on the March charts.


122,124. BLACK WIDOW
Feb 05 Black Widow #6 (of 6) - 21,478 ( -4.9%)
Mar 05 n/a
Apr 05 n/a
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 n/a
Jul 05 n/a
Aug 05 n/a
Sep 05 Black Widow 2 #1 (of 6) - 27,390 (+27.5%)
Oct 05 Black Widow 2 #2 (of 6) - 20,867 (-23.8%)
Nov 05 Black Widow 2 #3 (of 6) - 19,493 ( -6.6%)
Dec 05 Black Widow 2 #4 (of 6) - 16,647 (-14.6%)
Jan 06 n/a
Feb 06 Black Widow 2 #5 (of 6) - 15,595 ( -6.3%)
Feb 06 Black Widow 2 #6 (of 6) - 15,143 ( -2.9%)
6 mnth ( n/a )
1 year (-29.5%)

Probably safe to say we won't see a third miniseries with sales rounding off at this level.


132. DOC SAMSON
Jan 06 Doc Samson #1 (of 5) - 18,240
Feb 06 Doc Samson #2 (of 5) - 13,230 (-27.5%)

Horrific sales.


135. MARVEL LEGACY HANDBOOKS
Feb 06 1960s Handbook - 12,957

A niche product, so a fairly respectable number by those standards. There's a higher price tag as well, of course.


137. UNDERWORLD
Feb 06 Underworld #1 (of 5) - 12,479

Oww. This is a miniseries about a Marvel Universe henchman, which means there's no established fanbase for the character. Launched with the obligatory lack of publicity, it was always going to crash to the lower end of the charts. But this is disappointing even by the standards of this type of book. A surprise, actually, because writer Frank Tieri did unexpectedly well with his WEAPON X miniseries earlier in the year. I thought UNDERWORLD would at least do a few thousand better than this.


142. BOOK OF LOST SOULS
Oct 05 Book of Lost Souls #1 - 24,365
Nov 05 Book of Lost Souls #2 - 20,002 (-17.9%)
Dec 05 Book of Lost Souls #3 - 15,308 (-23.5%)
Jan 06 Book of Lost Souls #4 - 13,455 (-12.1%)
Feb 06 Book of Lost Souls #5 - 11,941 (-11.3%)

An Icon book, so the sales don't matter as long as J Michael Straczynski still wants to publish it. Remarkably low numbers for such a high profile writer, though - I'm amazed this isn't doing much better, given his very loyal fanbase.


146. NEW MANGAVERSE
Jan 06 New Mangaverse #1 (of 5) - 14,403
Feb 06 New Mangaverse #2 (of 5) - 11,462 (-20.4%)

You think they'll take the hint this time?


147. SENTINEL
Feb 04 Sentinel #12 - 15,008
======
Nov 05 Sentinel #1 (of 5) - 18,866 (+25.7%)
Dec 05 Sentinel #2 (of 5) - 14,108 (-25.2%)
Jan 06 Sentinel #3 (of 5) - 12,438 (-11.8%)
Feb 06 Sentinel #4 (of 5) - 11,402 ( -8.3%)
6 mnth ( n/a )
1 year ( n/a )
2 year (-24.0%)

Dire numbers, but the miniseries exists to generate a third digest and resolve the cliffhanger, so it doesn't ultimately matter. If there's an audience for SENTINEL, it's in the bookstores.


150. KABUKI
Feb 05 n/a
Mar 05 n/a
Apr 05 Kabuki #4 - 14,327 ( +3.2%)
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 n/a
Aug 05 n/a
Sep 05 n/a
Oct 05 Kabuki #5 - 11,420 (-20.3%)
Nov 05 n/a
Dec 05 n/a
Jan 06 n/a
Feb 06 Kabuki #6 - 11,349 ( -0.6%)

David Mack's Icon book makes one of its occasional appearances on the shelves. Numbers are virtually unchanged from last month, although from Marvel's point of view it really doesn't matter how much it sells.


154. SABLE & FORTUNE
Jan 06 Sable & Fortune #1 (of 4) - 15,451
Feb 06 Sable & Fortune #2 (of 4) - 10,751 (-30.4%)

Crashing into oblivion. A shame, because it's really not that bad.


163. NICK FURY'S HOWLING COMMANDOS
Oct 05 Howling Commandos #1 - 29,743
Nov 05 Howling Commandos #2 - 17,360 (-41.6%)
Dec 05 Howling Commandos #3 - 13,331 (-23.2%)
Jan 06 Howling Commandos #4 - 11,297 (-15.3%)
Feb 06 Howling Commandos #5 - 9,914 (-12.2%)

This, on the other hand, is precisely that bad. Cancelled with issue #6, and one of the highest profile flops Marvel have published in years.


165,170,179,183. I HEART MARVEL
Feb 06 Web of Romance - 9,442
Feb 06 My Mutant Heart - 8,837
Feb 06 Marvel AI - 8,133
Feb 06 Outlaw Love - 7,588

This month's obligatory set of one-shots, with the theme being Valentine's Day. The whole lot of them sink without trace.


166. FANTASTIC FOUR & IRON MAN: BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 05 Big in Japan #1 (of 4) - 17,690
Nov 05 Big in Japan #2 (of 4) - 12,354 (-30.2%)
Dec 05 Big in Japan #3 (of 4) - 10,313 (-16.5%)
Jan 06 n/a
Feb 06 Big in Japan #4 (of 4) - 9,243 ( -9.4%)

Pretty much disappearing off everyone's radar, unfortunately.


167. FRANKLIN RICHARDS, SON OF A GENIUS
Feb 06 Everybody Loves Franklin - 9,176

Calvin & Hobbes meet the Fantastic Four. Genuinely charming, but it's not doing huge business in the direct market, and I'm struggling to imagine how they could package it for the bookstores.


182. 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%)

Aimed at the digest audience, so the direct market sales don't matter.


186. MARVEL ROMANCE REDUX
Feb 06 But He Said He Loved Me #1 (of 5) - 7,070

Old romance comics with new dialogue. Horrible numbers in the direct market, but it's potentially the sort of thing that might do well as a comedy book - except for the occasional comics fandom in-jokes.


188. 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%)
Nov 05 Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #9 - 6,637 ( -6.4%)
Dec 05 Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #10 - 6,391 ( -3.7%)
Jan 06 Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #11 - 6,107 ( -4.4%)
Feb 06 Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #12 - 6,087 ( -0.3%)
6 mnth (-20.3%)

Again, aimed at the digest readers.


189. MARVEL SPOTLIGHT
Dec 05 John Cassaday & Sean McKeever - 9,763
Jan 06 Warren Ellis & Jim Cheung - 6,843 (-29.9%)
Feb 06 Joss Whedon & Michael Lark - 5,947 (-13.1%)

Okay, if even Joss Whedon's name can't sell more than 6,000, it's time for a serious rethink here. They'd genuinely be better off putting all this material on their website for free, I suspect.


210. MARVEL ADVENTURES: FANTASTIC FOUR
May 05 Marvel Adventures: Fantastic Four #0 - 9,723
Jun 05 Marvel Adventures: Fantastic Four #1 - 9,617 ( -1.1%)
Jul 05 Marvel Adventures: Fantastic Four #2 - 6,864 (-28.6%)
Aug 05 Marvel Adventures: Fantastic Four #3 - 6,447 ( -6.1%)
Sep 05 Marvel Adventures: Fantastic Four #4 - 6,064 ( -5.9%)
Oct 05 Marvel Adventures: Fantastic Four #5 - 5,969 ( -1.6%)
Nov 05 Marvel Adventures: Fantastic Four #6 - 5,522 ( -7.5%)
Dec 05 Marvel Adventures: Fantastic Four #7 - 5,058 ( -8.4%)
Jan 06 Marvel Adventures: Fantastic Four #8 - 4,834 ( -4.4%)
Feb 06 Marvel Adventures: Fantastic Four #9 - 4,711 ( -2.5%)
6 mnth (-26.9%)

Aimed at the digest readers.


252. MARVEL MILESTONES
Feb 06 Dragon Lord, Speedball & Man in the Sky - 2,605

A particularly baffling selection this month. "Man in the Sky" is the first Marvel mutant story from AMAZING ADULT FANTASY #14, but I've no idea why we've got a reprint of Dragon Lord's debut from MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #5. And judging from the sales, neither have the retailers.


Skip months
===========

ULTIMATES
Feb 02 Ultimates #2 - 107,342
Feb 03 Ultimates #9 - 101,490
======
Feb 05 Ultimates 2 #3 - 108,378 ( -5.7%)
Mar 05 Ultimates 2 #4 - 105,255 ( -2.9%)
Apr 05 Ultimates 2 #5 - 104,971 ( -0.3%)
May 05 Ultimates 2 #6 - 102,026 ( -2.8%)
Jun 05 n/a
Jul 05 Ultimates 2 #7 - 99,134 ( -2.8%)
Aug 05 n/a
Sep 05 Ultimates 2 #8 - 95,980 ( -3.2%)
Oct 05 n/a
Nov 05 n/a
Dec 05 Ultimates 2 #9 - 94,493 ( -1.5%)
Jan 06 n/a
Feb 06 n/a

Late.


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

Late.


IRON MAN
Feb 02 Iron Man #51 - 37,526
Feb 03 Iron Man #65 - 32,600
Feb 04 Iron Man #77 - 29,748
======
Feb 05 n/a
Mar 05 n/a
Apr 05 Iron Man #3 - 51,390 ( -6.7%)
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 n/a
Jul 05 n/a
Aug 05 Iron Man #4 - 48,403 ( -5.8%)
Sep 05 n/a
Oct 05 n/a
Nov 05 n/a
Dec 05 n/a
Jan 06 Iron Man #5 - 45,243 ( -6.5%)
Feb 06 n/a

Late.


DAREDEVIL: FATHER
Feb 05 n/a
Mar 05 n/a
Apr 05 n/a
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 n/a
Jul 05 n/a
Aug 05 Father #2 (of 5) - 39,745 (-42.8%)
Sep 05 Father #3 (of 5) - 37,571 ( -5.5%)
Oct 05 n/a
Nov 05 Father #4 (of 5) - 33,562 (-10.7%)
Dec 05 Father #5 (of 6) - 30,249 ( -9.9%)
Jan 06 n/a
Feb 06 n/a

Late.


NEXTWAVE
Jan 06 Nextwave #1 - 31,715
Feb 06 n/a

Late - although it ships in the last week of the month, so it only takes one week and it misses the chart. Issue #1 picks up 3,170 re-orders to chart at number 237, which brings the total to the number shown above. But Warren Ellis points out that according to the numbers he was given by Marvel, the initial orders for issue #1 were 37,000 and re-orders took it over the 40,000 mark.

It's possible, of course, that ICV2 are simply getting their estimates wrong - although in that case, you'd have to explain how they can possibly have that sort of margin of error and still be creating such consistent trends. And for what it's worth, Newsarama's figures are more or less the same.

The other explanation, which is rather more likely, is that the missing copies are going to Europe. Sales outside North America don't register at all on this chart, and that includes sales to Diamond UK. Back in the days when there were separate UK charts, they were often wildly at odds with the American ones. NEXTWAVE may simply be a much bigger hit in the UK than it is in America.


PULSE
Feb 02 Alias #6 - 34,385
Feb 03 Alias #19 - 26,583
Feb 04 Pulse #1 - 51,130
======
Feb 05 n/a
Mar 05 Pulse #8 - 33,367 ( -4.1%)
Apr 05 n/a
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 Pulse #9 - 32,771 ( -1.8%)
Jul 05 Pulse #10 - 56,628 (+72.8%)
Aug 05 n/a
Sep 05 Pulse #11 - 34,919 (-38.3%)
Oct 05 n/a
Nov 05 Pulse #12 - 30,418 (-12.9%)
Dec 05 n/a
Jan 06 Pulse #13 - 27,671 ( -9.0%)
Feb 06 n/a

Bimonthly, and axed with issue #14.


BOOKS OF DOOM
Nov 05 Books of Doom #1 (of 6) - 34,413
Dec 05 Books of Doom #2 (of 6) - 27,767 (-19.3%)
Jan 06 Books of Doom #3 (of 6) - 25,157 ( -9.4%)
Feb 06 n/a

Late.


DAUGHTERS OF THE DRAGON
Jan 06 Daughters of the Dragon #1 (of 6) - 17,522
Feb 06 n/a

Late.


SPIDER-MAN UNLIMITED
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%)
Feb 06 n/a

Bimonthly.


AMAZING FANTASY
Feb 05 n/a
Mar 05 n/a
Apr 05 Amazing Fantasy #7 - 21,802 ( -8.9%)
May 05 Amazing Fantasy #8 - 17,773 (-18.5%)
Jun 05 Amazing Fantasy #9 - 15,606 (-12.2%)
Jul 05 Amazing Fantasy #10 - 14,729 ( -5.6%)
Aug 05 Amazing Fantasy #11 - 12,788 (-13.2%)
Sep 05 Amazing Fantasy #12 - 11,983 ( -6.3%)
Oct 05 Amazing Fantasy #13 - 11,973 ( -0.0%)
Oct 05 Amazing Fantasy #14 - 11,623 ( -2.9%)
Nov 05 Amazing Fantasy #15 - 13,958 (+20.1%)
Dec 05 Amazing Fantasy #16 - 11,816 (-15.3%)
Jan 06 Amazing Fantasy #17 - 10,517 (-11.0%)
Feb 06 n/a

Cancelled with issue #20.


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


Paul O'Brien

[DBM]

It's always amazing to see how little progress ever get's made with comics. A decline in sales in a comic is pretty much expected across the board.

[iloveclones]

It's always amazing to see how little progress ever get's made with comics. A decline in sales in a comic is pretty much expected across the board.

Sad, but true. It seems like the model is: shake things up (new artist/writer, shocking development, start at #1), and hope that the sales will go up enough that the slide will be slow enough to sustain the title until the next shake-up.

I can think of very few occasions where the title has actually grown over time. Amazing did this after JMS came on board. Most people assume that it jumped immediately to where it is now(or was about a year ago), but it really didn't. About half of it's sales-growth took about 14 issues. But, that seems to be the exception. Which is why Thing (and my favorite, MTU) will soon be heading to the chopping block, despite being pretty solid books. Unless, of course, somebody dies.

[iloveclones]

26. YOUNG AVENGERS
Feb 05 Young Avengers #1 - 112,803
Mar 05 Young Avengers #2 - 79,952 (-29.1%)
Apr 05 Young Avengers #3 - 75,015 ( -6.2%)
May 05 Young Avengers #4 - 69,925 ( -6.8%)
Jun 05 Young Avengers #5 - 69,956 ( +0.0%)
Jul 05 n/a
Aug 05 Young Avengers #6 - 68,733 ( -1.7%)
Sep 05 Young Avengers #7 - 67,036 ( -2.5%)
Oct 05 Young Avengers #8 - 63,873 ( -4.7%)
Nov 05 Young Avengers #9 - 63,213 ( -1.0%)
Dec 05 n/a
Jan 06 n/a
Feb 06 Young Avengers #10 - 56,347 (-10.9%)
6 mnth (-18.0%)
1 year (-50.0%)

Hmm. All is not well.

For one thing, that's a surprisingly big drop from the last issue. Perhaps the delays are starting to take their toll on the book. Also, the title is now scheduled to go on hiatus after issue #12 - an interesting creative decision, given that issue #10 was solicited as part 2 of 6, meaning that the storyline was supposed to run to issue #14. It's now been cut back to a four-parter, but we've clearly deviated from the original plan.

According to Joe Quesada, the delay is due to writer Allan Heinberg's "other commitments." One of those "other commitments", of course, is Heinberg's upcoming monthly run on DC's WONDER WOMAN. No doubt there's an excellent reason why WONDER WOMAN should take priority over completing this book on the advertised schedule, although I have no earthly idea what it might be.

Unacceptable. I don't mind JQ being accommadating (and with Kevin Smith he took it to a ridiculous level), but he is running a business. Young Avengers is one of the titles that fans really like and are actually buying. If Heinberg can't do it, get a fill in. I don't mind the wait, but it's clear that they are shedding readers. And once you've lost them, good luck getting them back.

[DBM]

Continued from this thread (http://www.superherohype.com/forums/showthread.php?p=8566686&posted=1#post8566686)

DBM, recently I've been going round and round on this subject of advertising, and Marvel's seemingly misplacement of ad money. I'm not a business type person, and would like to hear your thoughts on the subject (you can move the discussion over to the Business thread if you want.)
Can you give me an example of what you're talking about?

[iloveclones]

Sure. I keep hearing this thought bandied about that Marvel doesn't advertise certain titles enough (Spider-Girl, MTU, Thing), while they give too much to others (New Avengers, Howling Commandos-hard for me to disagree with that one). While I don't think that a good ad campaign can hurt, I don't think it's the magic bullet that most fans want it to be. I read Joey Q mention that advertising really only works on the high end, not the low end (I'm paraphrasing). In other words, some ads placed about Civil War can mean a couple 10K in sales, where it might bump MTU from 20K to 23K. Just wanted a more business-type perspective on the issue.

[iloveclones]

April Sales ptI


MARVEL SALES
APRIL 2006
============


The busiest month for Marvel in quite some time, as a range of new
projects hit the shelves. The logic, presumably, is that CIVIL WAR
starts in May, so they've got a better chance in April. So say hello to
all four of the ANNIHILATION miniseries, plus new ongoing titles
WOLVERINE: ORIGINS and MOON KNIGHT. Civil War crossovers are already
appearing in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN and FANTASTIC FOUR, and the build-up to
the alleged "wedding of the century" continues in BLACK PANTHER and the
STORM miniseries. On top of that, there's a NEW AVENGERS annual and,
way off on the margins, a POWER PACK/AVENGERS miniseries.


Once again, with INFINITE CRISIS out of the way, Marvel comfortably take
the lead in the charts. They beat DC 38.4% to 34.9% in dollar share,
and 43.9% to 36.1% in unit share. And next month, CIVIL WAR comes along
to tilt matters even further in Marvel's direction - although four
issues of 52 may complicate matters.


Thanks as always to Milton Griepp and ICV2 for permission to use their
figures for these calculations.


2. WOLVERINE: ORIGINS
Apr 06 Wolverine: Origins #1 - 150,283


A very strong debut for WOLVERINE: ORIGINS. Marvel's purpose in
creating this series is a little obscure. The official line is that
they wanted to do a Civil War crossover with the ongoing WOLVERINE
title, so they set up this title to continue Daniel Way's storyline. But
if that was the only problem, they'd have taken the simpler route and
published a CIVIL WAR: WOLVERINE miniseries. Really, it seems more like
Marvel are seizing the opportunity to get some more Wolverine on the
shelves.


Considering that sales on WOLVERINE have been unspectcular during the
Daniel Way period, this has to rate as an extremely impressive start. Of
course, it also benefits from a variant cover by Michael Turner. Issue
#2 will have a variant cover by Bryan Hitch, and issue #3 has a variant
by Simone Bianchi. So it's going to be a little time before we find out
what this book can do without stunts. But then, people said that about
NEW AVENGERS, and in the long run its sales have held up nicely.


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.


4. ASTONISHING X-MEN
Apr 05 n/a
May 05 Astonishing X-Men #10 - 156,298 (+15.5%)
Jun 05 n/a
Jul 05 Astonishing X-Men #11 - 127,768 (-18.3%)
Aug 05 Astonishing X-Men #12 - 134,693 ( +5.4%)
Sep 05 n/a
Oct 05 n/a
Nov 05 n/a
Dec 05 n/a
Jan 06 n/a
Feb 06 Astonishing X-Men #13 - 147,119 ( +9.2%)
Mar 06 n/a
Apr 06 Astonishing X-Men #14 - 119,545 (-18.7%)
6 mnth ( n/a )
1 year (-23.5%)


No, it's not running late - ASTONISHING X-MEN is on a bimonthly schedule
after returning from its hiatus. In part, this is a kind of
second-issue drop, but it's also significant that issue #13 had a
variant and this one doesn't. ASTONISHING figures waver all over the
place depending on the scattershot application of variant covers, and
this isn't an enormous number by the standards the book has reached in
the past, but it's still miles ahead of the rest of the X-books.


6. MOON KNIGHT
Apr 06 Moon Knight #1 - 103,670


You see what happens when you promote a new launch properly? And there
was me thinking Marvel had forgotten how. Moon Knight has been a C-list
hero for years, so Marvel can take justifiable pride in shifting over
100K of his first issue. A large part of the credit, of course, has to
go to artist David Finch, who seems to be a significant sales draw on
his own. There's also - say it with me, now - a variant cover. Still,
a very good start for a Moon Knight series, and the reaction seems to be
generally positive.


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.


11. UNCANNY X-MEN
Apr 01 Uncanny X-Men #393 - 97,780
Apr 02 Uncanny X-Men #405 - 93,909
Apr 03 Uncanny X-Men #421 - 86,503
Apr 04 Uncanny X-Men #442 - 86,975
======
Apr 05 Uncanny X-Men #458 - 85,299 ( -1.2%)
May 05 Uncanny X-Men #459 - 83,547 ( -2.1%)
Jun 05 Uncanny X-Men #460 - 82,457 ( -1.3%)
Jun 05 Uncanny X-Men #461 - 91,221 (+10.6%)
Jul 05 Uncanny X-Men #462 - 91,125 ( -0.1%)
Aug 05 Uncanny X-Men #463 - 87,610 ( -3.9%)
Sep 05 Uncanny X-Men #464 - 85,885 ( -2.0%)
Oct 05 Uncanny X-Men #465 - 84,271 ( -1.9%)
Nov 05 Uncanny X-Men #466 - 82,825 ( -1.7%)
Dec 05 Uncanny X-Men #467 - 81,282 ( -1.9%)
Jan 06 Uncanny X-Men #468 - 79,808 ( -1.8%)
Feb 06 Uncanny X-Men #469 - 79,039 ( -1.0%)
Mar 06 Uncanny X-Men #470 - 79,389 ( +0.4%)
Mar 06 Uncanny X-Men #471 - 78,286 ( -1.4%)
Apr 06 Uncanny X-Men #472 - 79,157 ( +1.1%)
6 mnth ( -6.1%)
1 year ( -7.2%)
2 year ( -9.0%)
3 year ( -8.5%)


Stable over the last few months. A new creative team is just around the
corner.


12. X-MEN
Apr 01 X-Men #113 - 95,696
Apr 02 New X-Men #125 - 104,185
Apr 03 New X-Men #139 - 95,981
Apr 04 New X-Men #155 - 100,088
======
Apr 05 X-Men #169 - 82,793 ( -1.4%)
May 05 X-Men #170 - 81,048 ( -2.1%)
Jun 05 X-Men #171 - 80,307 ( -0.9%)
Jun 05 X-Men #172 - 78,889 ( -1.8%)
Jul 05 X-Men #173 - 77,154 ( -2.2%)
Aug 05 X-Men #174 - 76,342 ( -1.1%)
Sep 05 X-Men #175 - 76,555 ( +0.3%)
Oct 05 X-Men #176 - 74,635 ( -2.5%)
Nov 05 X-Men #177 - 78,405 ( +5.1%)
Nov 05 X-Men #178 - 76,195 ( -2.8%)
Dec 05 X-Men #179 - 77,189 ( +1.3%)
Dec 05 X-Men #180 - 75,559 ( -2.1%)
Jan 06 X-Men #181 - 74,094 ( -1.9%)
Feb 06 X-Men #182 - 78,653 ( +6.2%)
Feb 06 X-Men #183 - 79,477 ( +1.0%)
Mar 06 X-Men #184 - 79,480 ( +0.0%)
Apr 06 X-Men #185 - 78,815 ( -0.8%)
6 mnth ( +5.6%)
1 year ( -4.8%)
2 year (-21.3%)
3 year (-17.9%)


Again, solid sales during the current Apocalypse storyline, although
like UNCANNY, it's done far better in the past. Issue #184 picks up
reorders of 1,480 to chart at number 298; without taking those into
account, the April issue would have been a marginal climber.


15. ULTIMATE X-MEN
Apr 01 Ultimate X-Men #5 - 101,270
Apr 02 Ultimate X-Men #17 - 95,887
Apr 03 Ultimate X-Men #32 - 90,484
Apr 04 Ultimate X-Men #44 - 96,264
======
Apr 05 Ultimate X-Men #58 - 82,606 ( -1.5%)
May 05 Ultimate X-Men #59 - 81,321 ( -1.6%)
Jun 05 Ultimate X-Men #60 - 78,613 ( -3.3%)
Jul 05 Ultimate X-Men #61 - 87,094 (+10.8%)
Aug 05 Ultimate X-Men #62 - 76,229 (-12.5%)
Sep 05 Ultimate X-Men #63 - 74,760 ( -1.9%)
Oct 05 Ultimate X-Men #64 - 75,118 ( +0.5%)
Nov 05 Ultimate X-Men #65 - 74,264 ( -1.1%)
Dec 05 n/a
Jan 06 Ultimate X-Men #66 - 73,720 ( -0.7%)
Feb 06 Ultimate X-Men #67 - 72,700 ( -1.4%)
Mar 06 Ultimate X-Men #68 - 72,765 ( +0.1%)
Apr 06 Ultimate X-Men #69 - 73,188 ( +0.6%)
6 mnth ( -2.6%)
1 year (-11.4%)
2 year (-24.0%)
3 year (-19.1%)


Robert Kirkman seems to have arrested the book's decline, perhaps in
part on the strength of his recent MARVEL ZOMBIES miniseries.


16. ULTIMATE GALACTUS TRILOGY
Apr 05 Ultimate Secret #2 (of 4) - 77,914 (-12.6%)
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 n/a
Jul 05 n/a
Aug 05 n/a
Sep 05 Ultimate Secret #3 (of 4) - 67,046 (-13.9%)
Oct 05 Ultimate Secret #4 (of 4) - 64,909 ( -3.2%)
Nov 05 n/a
Dec 05 n/a
Jan 06 Ultimate Extinction #1 (of 5) - 85,439 (+31.6%)
Feb 06 Ultimate Extinction #2 (of 5) - 75,869 (-11.2%)
Mar 06 Ultimate Extinction #3 (of 5) - 75,773 ( -0.1%)
Apr 06 Ultimate Extinction #4 (of 5) - 73,151 ( -3.5%)
6 mnth (+12.7%)
1 year ( -6.1%)


Perfectly normal miniseries numbers, as the trilogy nears its
conclusion.


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.


19. WOLVERINE
Apr 01 Wolverine #163 - 67,457
Apr 02 Wolverine #175 - 75,528
Apr 03 Wolverine #189 - 61,282
Apr 04 Wolverine #13 - 71,060
======
Apr 05 Wolverine #27 - 101,228 ( -6.9%)
May 05 Wolverine #28 - 80,961 (-20.0%)
Jun 05 Wolverine #29 - 79,951 ( -1.2%)
Jul 05 Wolverine #30 - 76,651 ( -4.1%)
Aug 05 Wolverine #31 - 75,618 ( -1.3%)
Sep 05 Wolverine #32 - 89,026 (+17.7%)
Sep 05 Wolverine #33 - 78,508 (-11.8%)
Oct 05 Wolverine #34 - 75,664 ( -3.6%)
Oct 05 Wolverine #35 - 73,684 ( -2.6%)
Nov 05 Wolverine #36 - 94,355 (+28.1%)
Dec 05 Wolverine #37 - 73,866 (-21.7%)
Jan 06 Wolverine #38 - 73,815 ( -0.0%)
Feb 06 Wolverine #39 - 75,285 ( +2.0%)
Mar 06 Wolverine #40 - 77,627 ( +3.1%)
Apr 06 Wolverine #41 - 70,965 ( -8.6%)
6 mnth ( -3.7%)
1 year (-29.9%)
2 year ( -0.1%)
3 year (+15.8%)


A fill-in story between the Daniel Way run and the Civil War crossover,
so the sales drop is only to be expected. Issue #40, which was Way's
final issue, picks up re-orders of 2,070.


20. ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR
Apr 04 Ultimate Fantastic Four #5 - 102,648
======
Apr 05 Ultimate Fantastic Four #17 - 72,207 ( -2.4%)
May 05 Ultimate Fantastic Four #18 - 71,478 ( -1.0%)
Jun 05 Ultimate Fantastic Four #19 - 70,300 ( -1.6%)
Jun 05 Ultimate Fantastic Four #20 - 69,097 ( -1.7%)
Jul 05 Ultimate Fantastic Four #21 - 91,321 (+32.2%)
Aug 05 Ultimate Fantastic Four #22 - 71,767 (-21.4%)
Sep 05 Ultimate Fantastic Four #23 - 71,494 ( -0.4%)
Oct 05 Ultimate Fantastic Four #24 - 70,549 ( -1.3%)
Nov 05 Ultimate Fantastic Four #25 - 70,032 ( -0.7%)
Dec 05 Ultimate Fantastic Four #26 - 69,689 ( -0.5%)
Jan 06 n/a
Feb 06 Ultimate Fantastic Four #27 - 67,922 ( -2.5%)
Mar 06 Ultimate Fantastic Four #28 - 67,480 ( -0.7%)
Apr 06 Ultimate Fantastic Four #29 - 67,554 ( +0.1%)
6 mnth ( -4.2%)
1 year ( -6.4%)
2 year (-34.2%)


Holding level.


22. FANTASTIC FOUR
Apr 01 Fantastic Four #42 - 48,996
Apr 02 Fantastic Four #54 - 44,808
Apr 03 Fantastic Four #68 - 51,405
Apr 04 Fantastic Four #512 - 52,953
======
Apr 05 Fantastic Four #525 - 45,561 ( -2.4%)
May 05 Fantastic Four #526 - 44,935 ( -1.4%)
May 05 Fantastic Four #527 - 75,525 (+68.1%)
Jun 05 Fantastic Four #528 - 55,937 (-25.9%)
Jul 05 Fantastic Four #529 - 52,963 ( -5.3%)
Aug 05 Fantastic Four #530 - 51,782 ( -2.2%)
Sep 05 Fantastic Four #531 - 49,745 ( -3.9%)
Oct 05 n/a
Nov 05 Fantastic Four #532 - 47,771 ( -4.0%)
Dec 05 Fantastic Four #533 - 46,751 ( -2.1%)
Jan 05 n/a
Feb 06 Fantastic Four #534 - 44,573 ( -4.7%)
Feb 06 Fantastic Four #535 - 43,124 ( -3.3%)
Mar 06 Fantastic Four #536 - 60,999 (+41.5%)
Apr 06 Fantastic Four #537 - 62,940 ( +3.2%)
6 mnth (+31.8%)
1 year (+38.1%)
2 year (+18.9%)
3 year (+22.4%)


Issues #536 and #537 are Civil War crossovers, on top of which they're
teasing the return of Thor. Sales duly go through the roof, which has
to be great news for next month's Civil War tie-ins. Issue #536 picks
up a healthy 3,054 re-orders to chart at number 242.


24. YOUNG AVENGERS
Apr 05 Young Avengers #3 - 75,015 ( -6.2%)
May 05 Young Avengers #4 - 69,925 ( -6.8%)
Jun 05 Young Avengers #5 - 69,956 ( +0.0%)
Jul 05 n/a
Aug 05 Young Avengers #6 - 68,733 ( -1.7%)
Sep 05 Young Avengers #7 - 67,036 ( -2.5%)
Oct 05 Young Avengers #8 - 63,873 ( -4.7%)
Nov 05 Young Avengers #9 - 63,213 ( -1.0%)
Dec 05 n/a
Jan 06 n/a
Feb 06 Young Avengers #10 - 56,347 (-10.9%)
Mar 06 n/a
Apr 06 Young Avengers #11 - 56,613 ( +0.5%)
6 mnth (-11.4%)
1 year (-24.5%)


Holding steady after last issue's alarming drop-off, but it does seem
that the erratic schedule has taken its toll slightly. It took the book
five months to drop from 70K to 63K, and then only one month to drop
from 63K to 56K? In mid-storyline? That's a worrying sign.


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.


28. MARVEL ZOMBIES
Dec 05 Marvel Zombies #1 (of 5) - 71,332
Jan 06 Marvel Zombies #2 (of 5) - 55,197 (-22.6%)
Feb 06 Marvel Zombies #3 (of 5) - 59,932 ( +8.6%)
Mar 06 Marvel Zombies #4 (of 5) - 60,399 ( +0.8%)
Apr 06 Marvel Zombies #5 (of 5) - 52,961 (-12.3%)


Once again, MARVEL ZOMBIES continues to sell more copies of its earlier
issues. The second printing of issue #4 hits the shelves, and sells
16,087 to chart at 122. There are also re-orders of issues #2 (3,827)
and #3 (3,236). All of that's shown above, which makes April's final
issue look like it's dropped. In fact, it's a big climber from the
first-month sales of issue #4, and no doubt it'll continue to sell in
the next few months. This has been an unexpected sleeper hit of the
sort that we very rarely see.

[Darthphere]

Alright, lets punch some numbers.

http://media.nasaexplores.com/lessons/04-054/images/accountant.gif

[iloveclones]

part II

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.


31. SQUADRON SUPREME
Apr 04 Supreme Power #9 - 64,284
======
Apr 05 Supreme Power #16 - 55,068 ( -0.8%)
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 Supreme Power #17 - 52,288 ( -5.0%)
Jul 05 n/a
Aug 05 Supreme Power #18 - 50,594 ( -3.2%)
Sep 05 n/a
Oct 05 n/a
Nov 05 n/a
Dec 05 n/a
Jan 06 n/a
Feb 06 n/a
Mar 06 Squadron Supreme #1 - 61,625 (+21.8%)
Apr 06 Squadron Supreme #2 - 51,197 (-16.9%)
6 mnth ( n/a )
1 year ( -7.0%)
2 year (-20.4%)


Issue #1 ships another 1,946 in re-orders. But the bigger story is that
April's number crashes straight back to the level of the Max book from
the end of its run. The stated aim of this relaunch was to expose the
book to a wider audience by making it all-ages, enable Marvel to promote
it more enthusiastically (which was duly done), and thereby boost sales.
It appears to have failed.


32. X-MEN: THE 198
Jan 06 The 198 #1 (of 5) - 68,698
Feb 06 The 198 #2 (of 5) - 58,540 (-14.8%)
Mar 06 The 198 #3 (of 5) - 53,882 ( -8.0%)
Apr 06 The 198 #4 (of 5) - 50,038 ( -7.1%)


Holding up quite well.


33. IRON MAN
Apr 01 Iron Man #41 - 36,482
Apr 02 Iron Man #53 - 37,636
Apr 03 Iron Man #67 - 32,479
Apr 04 Iron Man #79 - 29,138
======
Apr 05 Iron Man #3 - 51,390 ( -6.7%)
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 n/a
Jul 05 n/a
Aug 05 Iron Man #4 - 48,403 ( -5.8%)
Sep 05 n/a
Oct 05 n/a
Nov 05 n/a
Dec 05 n/a
Jan 06 Iron Man #5 - 45,243 ( -6.5%)
Feb 06 n/a
Mar 06 Iron Man #6 - 40,264 (-11.0%)
Apr 06 Iron Man #7 - 49,404 (+22.7%)
6 mnth ( n/a )
1 year ( -3.9%)
2 year (+69.6%)
3 year (+52.1%)


A remarkably large jump, considering that the new creative team on this
book are the writers of the not-exactly-mainstream CARNIVALE and the
artist from CABLE & DEADPOOL. But wait! What's this? Why, there's a
Bryan Hitch variant cover as well, on a 1-in-15 ratio, which distorts
the numbers. Still a very solid debut, though, even allowing for that
factor.


35. ANNIHILATION: SILVER SURFER
Apr 04 Silver Surfer #8 - 25,542
======
Apr 06 Silver Surfer #1 (of 4) - 49,120


The first of the four ANNIHILATION lead-in miniseries. Not surprisingly,
the Silver Surfer gets the best sales, since he's far and away the
biggest star. It's a big improvement from two years ago, when the
Surfer was appearing in a swiftly cancelled and horrendously pretentious
ongoing series.


36. SON OF M
Dec 05 Son of M #1 (of 6) - 62,254
Jan 06 Son of M #2 (of 6) - 52,704 (-15.3%)
Feb 06 Son of M #3 (of 6) - 52,227 ( -0.9%)
Mar 06 Son of M #4 (of 6) - 49,973 ( -4.3%)
Apr 06 Son of M #5 (of 6) - 48,785 ( -2.4%)


Again, the Decimation tie-in miniseries performs very solidly.


37. DAREDEVIL
Apr 01 Daredevil #17 - 59,122
Apr 02 Daredevil #32 - 47,576
Apr 03 Daredevil #46 - 60,517
Apr 04 Daredevil #59 - 54,398
======
Apr 05 Daredevil #72 - 48,803 ( -1.8%)
May 05 Daredevil #73 - 48,681 ( -0.2%)
Jun 05 Daredevil #74 - 48,175 ( -1.0%)
Jul 05 Daredevil #75 - 47,800 ( -0.8%)
Aug 05 Daredevil #76 - 46,424 ( -2.9%)
Sep 05 Daredevil #77 - 45,945 ( -1.0%)
Oct 05 Daredevil #78 - 45,071 ( -1.9%)
Nov 05 Daredevil #79 - 44,250 ( -1.8%)
Dec 05 Daredevil #80 - 43,309 ( -2.1%)
Jan 06 Daredevil #81 - 44,252 ( +2.2%)
Feb 06 Daredevil #82 - 53,058 (+19.9%)
Mar 06 Daredevil #83 - 46,804 (-11.8%)
Apr 06 Daredevil #84 - 47,123 ( +0.7%)
6 mnth ( +4.6%)
1 year ( -3.4%)
2 year (-13.4%)
3 year (-22.1%)


A very marginal increase, which at least shows continuing interest in Ed
Brubaker and Michael Lark's run.


39. MS MARVEL
Mar 06 Ms Marvel #1 - 73,407
Apr 06 Ms Marvel #2 - 46,204 (-37.1%)


Erk. That's an awfully big drop. But then, MS MARVEL #1 had two
variant covers by Michael Turner - one normal cover, on a 1-in-15 ratio,
and one sketch cover, on a 1-in-35 ratio. MS MARVEL #2 doesn't. The
"real" drop - from the actual readers on issue #1, rather than the
number including variant collectors - is probably much more sensible.
Nonetheless, it's a powerful illustration of the degree to which variant
covers are now distorting sales.


41. CAPTAIN AMERICA
Apr 01 Captain America #42 - 36,754
Apr 02 Captain America #1 - 90 567
Apr 03 Captain America #12 - 51,804
Apr 04 Captain America #25 - 38,584
======
Apr 05 Captain America #5 - 46,976 ( +0.7%)
May 05 Captain America #6 - 58,660 (+24.9%)
Jun 05 Captain America #7 - 47,160 (-19.6%)
Jul 05 n/a
Aug 05 Captain America #8 - 51,842 ( +9.9%)
Aug 05 Captain America #9 - 44,638 (-13.9%)
Sep 05 Captain America #10 - 52,609 (+17.9%)
Oct 05 Captain America #11 - 45,162 (-14.2%)
Nov 05 Captain America #12 - 45,038 ( -0.3%)
Dec 05 Captain America #13 - 44,954 ( -0.2%)
Jan 05 n/a
Feb 06 Captain America #14 - 44,041 ( -0.2%)
Feb 06 Captain America #15 - 43,350 ( -1.6%)
Mar 06 Captain America #16 - 44,717 ( +3.2%)
Apr 06 Captain America #17 - 45,541 ( +1.8%)
6 mnth ( +0.8%)
1 year ( -3.1%)
2 year (+18.0%)
3 year (-12.1%)


Nudging slightly up this month. In the absence of stunts and
crossovers, CAPTAIN AMERICA continues to place solidly in the mid-40K
range.


42. X-FACTOR
Dec 05 X-Factor #1 - 64,861
Dec 05 X-Factor #2 - 52,705 (-18.7%)
Jan 06 n/a
Feb 06 X-Factor #3 - 48,307 ( -8.3%)
Mar 06 X-Factor #4 - 48,183 ( -0.3%)
Mar 06 X-Factor #5 - 46,490 ( -3.5%)
Apr 06 X-Factor #6 - 45,220 ( -2.7%)


Still finding its level, but nothing to worry about.


43. INCREDIBLE HULK
Apr 01 Hulk #27 - 33,608
Apr 02 Hulk #39 - 44,517
Apr 03 Hulk #53 - 57,837
Apr 04 Hulk #71 - 46,837
======
Apr 05 Hulk #80 - 48,404 (+11.3%)
May 05 Hulk #81 - 43,822 (-10.5%)
Jun 05 Hulk #82 - 43,248 ( -1.3%)
Jul 05 Hulk #83 - 63,881 (+47.7%)
Jul 05 Hulk #84 - 58,583 ( -8.3%)
Aug 05 Hulk #85 - 53,177 ( -9.2%)
Sep 05 Hulk #86 - 52,992 ( -0.3%)
Oct 05 Hulk #87 - 42,454 (-19.9%)
Nov 05 Hulk #88 - 41,141 ( -3.1%)
Nov 05 Hulk #89 - 39,635 ( -3.7%)
Dec 05 Hulk #90 - 36,924 ( -6.8%)
Jan 06 Hulk #91 - 35,980 ( -2.6%)
Feb 06 Hulk #92 - 53,661 (+49.1%)
Mar 06 Hulk #93 - 47,437 (-11.6%)
Apr 06 Hulk #94 - 44,907 ( -5.3%)
6 mnth ( +5.8%)
1 year ( -7.2%)
2 year ( -4.1%)
3 year (-22.4%)


Issues #92 and #93 both pick up re-orders (2,012 and 3,746
respectively), which tends to support Marvel's claim that Planet Hulk is
generating real buzz. On the other hand, it's still not delivering
especially high numbers by the historical standards of this book. Mixed
signals, then.


45. X-MEN: THE END
Apr 05 Book Two #2 (of 6) - 63,005 (-11.5%)
May 05 Book Two #3 (of 6) - 58,870 ( -6.6%)
Jun 05 Book Two #4 (of 6) - 54,875 ( -6.8%)
Jul 05 Book Two #5 (of 6) - 51,949 ( -5.3%)
Aug 05 Book Two #6 (of 6) - 49,565 ( -4.6%)
Sep 05 n/a
Oct 05 n/a
Nov 05 n/a
Dec 05 n/a
Jan 06 Book Three #1 (of 6) - 52,891 ( +6.7%)
Feb 06 Book Three #2 (of 6) - 47,370 (-10.4%)
Mar 06 Book Three #3 (of 6) - 44,899 ( -5.2%)
Apr 06 Book Three #4 (of 6) - 44,586 ( -0.7%)
6 mnth ( n/a )
1 year (-29.2%)


Remaining solid as the end draws near, which tends to be the way things
go on titles like this. After all, if you've stuck with it this far,
you're not going to give up now. Fortunately, since no co-writers have
been announced, Chris Claremont presumably completed his scripts on this
book before his recent ill health.


47. ANNIHILATION: SUPER-SKRULL
Apr 06 Super-Skrull #1 (of 4) - 42,779


48. ANNIHILATION: NOVA
Apr 06 Nova #1 (of 4) - 42,458


I'd have expected NOVA to be the number two title in ANNIHILATION, but
it turns out that he's officially 321 copies less popular than the
Super-Skrull. Funny old world, isn't it? Still, good solid numbers for
the start of a miniseries.


49. NEW EXCALIBUR
Nov 05 New Excalibur #1 - 58,333
Dec 05 New Excalibur #2 - 48,816 (-16.3%)
Jan 06 New Excalibur #3 - 47,196 ( -3.3%)
Feb 06 New Excalibur #4 - 45,071 ( -4.5%)
Mar 06 New Excalibur #5 - 43,523 ( -3.4%)
Apr 06 New Excalibur #6 - 40,687 ( -6.5%)


Still dropping, and rather too quickly for comfort by this point. Writer
Chris Claremont is absent for the time being with ill health, which
can't help matters - NEW EXCALIBUR seems to exist for the purpose of
catering to the Claremont fanbase, which is a perfectly good reason to
exist, but only if you've got Chris Claremont to write it.


50. NEW X-MEN
Apr 04 New Mutants #11 - 34,148
======
Apr 05 New X-Men #12 - 35,779 ( +0.6%)
May 05 New X-Men #13 - 35,033 ( -2.1%)
May 05 New X-Men #14 - 34,579 ( -1.3%)
Jun 05 New X-Men #15 - 34,007 ( -1.7%)
Jul 05 New X-Men #16 - 49,217 (+44.7%)
Aug 05 New X-Men #17 - 43,908 (-10.8%)
Sep 05 New X-Men #18 - 43,286 ( -1.4%)
Oct 05 New X-Men #19 - 41,691 ( -3.7%)
Nov 05 New X-Men #20 - 59,466 (+42.6%)
Dec 05 New X-Men #21 - 43,473 (-26.9%)
Jan 06 New X-Men #22 - 42,923 ( -1.3%)
Feb 06 New X-Men #23 - 41,463 ( -3.4%)
Mar 06 New X-Men #24 - 42,044 ( +1.4%)
Apr 06 New X-Men #25 - 40,176 ( -4.4%)
6 mnth ( -3.6%)
1 year (+12.3%)
2 year (+17.7%)


Dropping back somewhat, but still considerably up on the book's previous
incarnations.


51. ANNIHILATION: RONAN
Apr 06 Ronan #1 (of 4) - 39,010


The straggler of ANNIHILATION, but he's not too far behind the pack. And
39K for the debut issue of a Ronan the Accuser miniseries is pretty
good, to be fair.


52. SPIDER-WOMAN: ORIGIN
Dec 05 Origin #1 (of 5) - 66,791
Jan 06 Origin #2 (of 5) - 43,684 (-34.6%)
Feb 06 Origin #3 (of 5) - 40,553 ( -7.2%)
Mar 06 Origin #4 (of 5) - 39,768 ( -1.9%)
Apr 06 Origin #5 (of 5) - 38,602 ( -2.9%)


A fairly typical miniseries decline, bearing in mind that issue #1 was
boosted by variants.


58. SENTRY
Sep 05 Sentry #1 (of 8) - 93,021
Oct 05 Sentry #2 (of 8) - 53,384 (-42.6%)
Nov 05 Sentry #3 (of 8) - 47,903 (-10.3%)
Dec 05 Sentry #4 (of 8) - 41,901 (-12.5%)
Jan 06 n/a
Feb 06 Sentry #5 (of 8) - 39,257 ( -6.3%)
Feb 06 Sentry #6 (of 8) - 37,230 ( -5.2%)
Mar 06 Sentry #7 (of 8) - 35,203 ( -5.4%)
Apr 06 Sentry #8 (of 8) - 34,192 ( -2.9%)
6 mnth (-36.0%)


Levelling off in the later months, but still a bit of an underperformer
considering that he's in NEW AVENGERS.


59. EXILES
Apr 02 Exiles #12 - 38,766
Apr 03 Exiles #25 - 36,414
Apr 04 Exiles #45 - 37,878
======
Apr 05 Exiles #62 - 33,965 (-19.5%)
Apr 05 Exiles #63 - 33,728 ( -0.7%)
May 05 Exiles #64 - 34,033 ( +0.9%)
Jun 05 Exiles #65 - 34,484 ( +1.3%)
Jul 05 Exiles #66 - 34,092 ( -1.1%)
Jul 05 Exiles #67 - 33,751 ( -1.0%)
Aug 05 Exiles #68 - 33,815 ( +0.2%)
Sep 05 Exiles #69 - 43,794 (+29.5%)
Sep 05 Exiles #70 - 42,434 ( -3.1%)
Oct 05 Exiles #71 - 41,131 ( -3.1%)
Nov 05 Exiles #72 - 34,329 (-16.5%)
Nov 05 Exiles #73 - 34,008 ( -0.9%)
Dec 05 Exiles #74 - 33,881 ( -0.4%)
Jan 06 Exiles #75 - 33,485 ( -1.2%)
Jan 06 Exiles #76 - 32,843 ( -1.9%)
Feb 06 Exiles #77 - 32,998 ( +0.5%)
Mar 06 Exiles #78 - 33,506 ( +1.5%)
Apr 06 Exiles #79 - 34,119 ( +1.8%)
6 mnth (-17.0%)
1 year ( +0.5%)
2 year ( -9.9%)
3 year ( -6.3%)


Nudging slightly upwards as "World Tour" continues. This time, it's the
Future Imperfect world from Peter David's INCREDIBLE HULK run.
Basically, though, EXILES continues to hover stubbornly in the mid-30K
range. One of Marvel's most consistent mid-table performers.


60. PUNISHER
Apr 02 Punisher #11 - 44,956
Apr 03 Punisher #24 - 40,503
Apr 04 Punisher #5 - 34,234
======
Apr 05 Punisher #19 - 38,753 ( +1.1%)
Apr 05 Punisher #20 - 38,130 ( -1.6%)
May 05 Punisher #21 - 37,998 ( -0.3%)
Jun 05 Punisher #22 - 37,811 ( -0.5%)
Jul 05 Punisher #23 - 37,376 ( -1.2%)
Aug 05 Punisher #24 - 37,022 ( -0.9%)
Sep 05 Punisher #25 - 37,149 ( +0.3%)
Oct 05 Punisher #26 - 36,450 ( -1.9%)
Nov 05 Punisher #27 - 36,072 ( -1.0%)
Dec 05 Punisher #28 - 35,535 ( -1.5%)
Jan 05 Punisher #29 - 34,708 ( -2.3%)
Feb 06 Punisher #30 - 34,293 ( -1.2%)
Mar 06 Punisher #31 - 34,505 ( +0.6%)
Apr 06 Punisher #32 - 34,076 ( -1.2%)
6 mnth ( -6.5%)
1 year (-12.1%)
2 year ( -0.5%)
3 year (-15.9%)


Another book with extremely solid sales, although there's a slow
downward slide visible in the long run.


66. X-MEN: APOCALYPSE VS DRACULA
Feb 06 Apocalypse vs Dracula #1 (of 4) - 37,057
Mar 06 Apocalypse vs Dracula #2 (of 4) - 31,719 (-14.4%)
Apr 06 Apocalypse vs Dracula #3 (of 4) - 29,010 ( -8.5%)


Pretty good numbers when you consider that it's an Apocalypse versus
Dracula miniseries.


69. BLACK PANTHER
Apr 01 Black Panther #31 - 19,699
Apr 02 Black Panther #43 - 19,883
Apr 03 Black Panther #57 - 16,431
======
Apr 05 Black Panther #3 - 44,925 ( -5.5%)
May 05 Black Panther #4 - 40,804 ( -9.2%)
Jun 05 Black Panther #5 - 37,401 ( -8.1%)
Jul 05 Black Panther #6 - 35,256 ( -5.7%)
Aug 05 Black Panther #7 - 42,905 (+21.7%)
Sep 05 Black Panther #8 - 46,239 ( +7.8%)
Oct 05 Black Panther #9 - 40,173 (-13.1%)
Nov 05 Black Panther #10 - 31,987 (-20.4%)
Dec 05 Black Panther #11 - 29,327 ( -8.3%)
Jan 06 Black Panther #12 - 27,933 ( -4.7%)
Feb 06 Black Panther #13 - 26,054 ( -6.7%)
Mar 06 Black Panther #14 - 28,809 (+10.6%)
Apr 06 Black Panther #15 - 28,361 ( -1.6%)
6 mnth (-29.4%)
1 year (-36.9%)
2 year ( n/a )
3 year (+72.6%)


Part two of a five-part arc leading into the wedding. It's arrested the
slide, bt that's really all you ca