April 2007 Sales Charts

[PhotoJones]

I not too surprised now....but, Marvel really hit it big getting Stephen King onboard for his Dark Tower comic. When I went into the LCS at Pike Place Market in Seattle, I saw four people come into the store to buy three issues of title (one of them were sold out, otherwise they would have sold four)...and, two of them were women! If they did sales charts at that store, the top books for the month would probably be those four issues, regardless of whether it's a reprint or not.

52 continually drops on the chart each month...it will be interesting the difference of sales in issue #1 of 52 and issue #51 of Countdown. It is fitting that DC's best title is in the top ten, Justice League of America.

I don't understand why Superman/Batman is so high, still. And, X-Men (the worst of the X-Men titles currently being released) should not be as high as it is.

I'm not surprised with Nova. He's never been successful in his own title, his name doesn't make people run out and grab his book, and he would only be grabbing sales from those who followed Annihilation, which was never as high as it should have been on the chart, anyway. Maybe by linknig it up with Civil War, it's sales will go up. But, it's Nova...what do you expect?

Finally, great to see Death Dealer #1 charting so high. It's well deserved.

I wanted to get Death Dealer #1, but my shop was sold out before I got there.

 

[King_Mungi]

http://www.newsarama.com/marketreport/apr07sales.html

Sad to see Nova #1 at #53, though it's consistent with Annihilation's numbers.

Omega Flight at #39 is promising for the Flight fans me thinks.

Which is sad, as Annihilation and the satellite mini's deserve more credit

Is #39 good? To me that's a "meh!" level

 

[Darthphere]

Top 40 should never be meh level.

 

[GNR]

I've loved Brad's approach to JLA,glad it's selling so highly.Only question is whether DC can keep the momentum going with the new writer after #12.Glad to see JSA up there too.

The Spirit numbers aren't looking good.Cooke did confirm though that he will be pulling double duty on the book until the end of 2008 in an interview with CBR.

Slott in the top 10 has been a long time coming.Great debut,when it does fall down the charts though,I fully expect it to be a consistent top 10 to 30 book.

Iron Fist and War Journal around the same spots is good news.

 

[King_Mungi]

Top 40 should never be meh level.

True enough as it did beat out some well known on-goings so that's good at least.

 

[Red]

You know I'm always surprised at where DD comes. Was it any higher on the chart during the Bendis/Maleev era?

 

[Dread]

The biggest thing of interest to me was seeing the sales boost to RUNAWAYS #25 from regular issues, since the Whedon/Ryan 6-month run was hyped heavilly. That book sold at #42, which is a staggering 23 or so sales slots from #24, BKV's last issue, which sold around #85 or so in March. The first 41 titles on the list also seemed to have sold 100k or more issues, which is huge compared to prior months.

THE LONERS #1, a spin-off from RUNAWAYS, however, sold at #86, about where BKV's RUNAWAYS sold. Interestingly, that's better than the final issue of the X-MEN: FIRST CLASS mini, which is being elevated to ongoing status. I read both and have enjoyed both so far, but I'd rather THE LONERS become an ongoing. As much as I have enjoyed XM:FC, I'm stunned that despite some rather low sales for a Top 100 book, Marvel has made it an ongoing. Marvel's CANCELED X-books that sold as low as XM:FC is; JUBILEE, GAMBIT, NIGHTCRAWLER, MYSTIQUE, and SABRETOOTH all come to mind. The only X-title from that 2004, besides ASTONISHING of course, that is still around is CABLE & DEADPOOL. The only explaination is either Marvel sees XM:FC doing well on newstands as a "Marvel Adventures" X-Men title, although it's really too tied into 60's 616 continuity for that, or because Marvel is doing better now than they were, say, 1-3 years ago, that they may not be as trigger happy with some books, or have more realistic expectations.

IRREDEEMABLE ANT-MAN is still not selling in the Top 100, proving once and for all that innovation is not rewarded in Big Two books. You want a success? You need either an A-List creative team, and/or another addition to a bloated line. Yet another Spidey, X, Avengers, Batman, or Superman book basically.

I was pleasantly surprised to see AVENGERS: INITIATIVE #1 debut at #6, Dan Slott's first Top 10 debut. Amazing what happens when you give a writer proper oppurtunity and hype, huh? MIGHTY AVENGERS #2 dipped a bit from the debut issue, but only so that NEW AVENGERS was able to continue it's dominance as Marvel's best selling ongoing title. DC only has 3 books in the Top 10, about on par with where they were before INFINITE CRISIS, which can't be good. Even worse, the end of 52 dropped off (out of the Top 10), ALL-STAR SUPERMAN and JUSTICE were way off the Top 10 list, when they used to be locks. I mean we're talking losing tens of thousands of readers on both. Dark Horse's BUFFY #2 dipped a bit from the debut, but any company getting a book into the Top 15-20 that isn't Marvel/DC is an accomplishment. Both WW and ACTION COMICS have been taking a dive, so I guess DC's strategy to try to combat lateness from A-List creative teams was a noble effort, but a failed one. Marvel denies the problem exists, and does nothing to fix it; DC admitted the problem exists but bungled fixing it and made it worse. The dilemma of late comics endures.

MOON KNIGHT remains steady within the Top 30, which is still incredible for a B-List relaunch. GHOST RIDER is falling off a bit and is past the Top 50, so the WWH tie-in may just be delaying the inevitable. IRON-FIST isn't selling as well as it should, considering Brubaker's sales on CAPTAIN AMERICA or UNCANNY X-MEN, but appears to be holding steady within the Top 60, which ain't blazin' hot, but isn't in "danger of being canned" territory at all, what one calls "moderate". After all, EXILES has been selling about the same for the past few years, and it's going nowhere (within the Top 75-80). NOVA #1 debuted at #53, disappointing I guess, although considering that was about where ANNIHILATION books were selling and he is an 0-fer-3 B-List character, that's a moderate debut (and better than anyone may have guessed, say, 3 years ago). Hopefully the drop-off won't be severe. He has crossovers coming up but I am wondering if the CW brand has been stretched to the limit. Neither GHOST RIDER nor PUNISHER: WAR JOURNAL have been dramatically boosted from their CASUALTIES OF WAR banners. Methinks the audience is finally starting to see that not all CW/Initiative books are created equal. I enjoy both, though. But if Marvel is getting a lesson that their days of believing any tie-in would be instant money is not 100%, that can only mean stronger launches later.

HEROES FOR HIRE, for any who read that book, seems to be fading fast.

Always a shame to see SPIRIT selling so low, and no notches for Image books I enjoy like INVINCIBLE and DYNAMO 5.

And, yes, I believe DAREDEVIL was selling better when Bendis was still aboard, for the poster who asked. His DD was always within the Top 35-40 or so, so it has seen some drop-off. But any sales within the Top 50 are considered healthy.

Marvel branching out to doing Anita Blake/Stephan King stuff hasn't sparked my interest, but has been netting them more sales.

Marvel's "event" launches all were in the Top 10 while pushing DC's WWIII into the Top 15, so you have to see who the winner is. But that is nothing new. It's been more than year since DC outsold Marvel for a month and even that was a rarity. No matter how good or bad either company is during a particular span, Marvel's domination continues, almost unchallenged.

Slott's JLA CLASSIFIED story, FYI, sold better than Milligan's seems to. But that book is essentially like X-MEN UNLIMITED in that die-hards and only die-hards buy it and it offers little to the line.

Good to see that Whedon almost quadrupled sales for RUNAWAYS, because they will need that buffer to survive the dip when he exits in October.

Finally, the success of FALLEN SON re-inforces one sad comic reality; nothin' sells quite like a well milked death.

 

[Sebastos]

Good to see Immortal Iron Fist and PWJ in their same spots.

 

[PhotoJones]

Good to see Immortal Iron Fist and PWJ in their same spots.

Now if only we can get them to move up a few slots.

 

[Sebastos]

Now if only we can get them to move up a few slots.

With time I think they will. I believe there are fans of Punisher, and some people are getting interested in Immortal Iron Fist. Both are great books, so I think they'll move up in time.

 

[Arkady Rossovich]

For April,Marvel had more percent than DC..damn.