Captain Britain and MI-13

[TheCorpulent1]

Maybe they're waiting to see how the trade does.

 

[chamber-music]

There is only one thing for it. We gotta call up Obama and ask for a bailout t:

I blame Blade. The title started to drop sales when he turned up, his comic kryptonite. He kills every book his in.......................kidding!

 

[Dread]

I think people might be thinking Captain Britain & MI-13 is just like New Excalibur (the latest one) which is why they might not of been picking it up.

I think that may be why retailers and readers have dwindled on this book. Marvel has had some 2-3 prior stabs at EXCALIBUR within the last four years and neither of them lasted very long or were exceptional. They usually amounted to "random adventures in Europe" with Claremont back when he could almost command an audience of about 50-35k readers a month; which now seems like ages ago (his NEW EXILES is barely outselling SPIDER-GIRL, and BIG HERO 6 barely outsold BETTY & VERONICA).

As has been stated, though, CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI-13 has little to do with prior Excalibur installments aside for the location and involvement of certain characters. If anything, it borrows from Cornell's WISDOM series that no one read and various fill-in work he did when Claremont took ill a few years ago. However, it may look similar enough to Excalibur that retailers and readers haven't bitten. Which is a shame, really, as it is quite good.

I feel sorry for artist Leonard Kirk. He's worked on some great series over the years, but many of them tank in terms of sales.

Still, sales are slowly getting stable. The question is how lower they will go before fully stabilizing. While the book may have a reprieve for now, books that sell below 20k are usually dead. Of course, trade sales may help, and we have no idea how well it is selling in the U.K. That may not account for much, but it is something. It also may have editorial support, which has helped prolong the life of some books that were tanking for over a year, like MARVEL TEAM-UP (that made it to issue #25 despite spending over a year below the Top 100) and NEW WARRIORS, which will end after 20 issues (twice the length of THE ORDER).

 

[The Englishman]

I say we all just have positive thoughts from now on and stop talking about it getting cancelled...

 

[TheCorpulent1]

But what if we do that and it still gets canceled and all of our hopes and dreams are shattered forever and we're left with no recourse but to kill ourselves in a mass suicide that puts Jonestown to shame?

 

[chris moore]

Has no one read the interview about it on (I think) Newsarama or CRB? http://www.newsarama.com/comics/010923-Captain-Britain.html

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Yeah, that was posted a while ago. Not being canceled right now doesn't really mean much, though, given that Captain Britain's sales seem to be holding steady at a dangerously low level.

 

[Dread]

Indeed. But, we can enjoy it while it lasts. Marvel has been willing to allow some series to go on another 6 months or more despite abysmal sales; NEW WARRIORS and MARVEL TEAM UP being recent examples. Both spent at least a year well below the Top 100. If Cornall has editorial support, he may linger a bit longer with his great book.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Here's hoping the UK and US trade sales are good.

 

[Dread]

That would help, too.

 

[CaptainCanada]

The first British trade is already out, and sold out quickly. The American one's been held up because Marvel seems to be wanting to release all the SI trades around the same time.​

 

[Dread]

That may be why it has been spared the axe; Marvel wants to see the full trade sales. After all, digest sales kept RUNAWAYS around a while.

At least there is some interest in the U.K. It may not be enough, but it should help.

 

[squeekness]

How are sales of this versus Moon Knight? Nobody ever talks about that book like they do this one...

 

[Dread]

I gave up on MOON KNIGHT about a year or so ago.

In terms of sales, MOON KNIGHT has bled plenty of readers since the start of the year. Currently, though, it sells about 23k while CB&MI13 sells about 21k. Considering it has been around over two years, though, it's falling sales don't look as bad in comparison.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Ugh, really? Moon Knight sells more than Captain Britain? Moon Knight?

 

[Dread]

Ugh, really? Moon Knight sells more than Captain Britain? Moon Knight?

Yes, Moon Knight.

I could shock you with other titles that outsell CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI-13, at least as of Dec. 2008:

- SPAWN (22k sales)
- VENOM: DARK ORIGIN (the mini that just ended)
- WHAT IF: NEWER FANTASTIC FOUR one shot
- PUNISHER MAX X-MAS SPECIAL 2008 (by ten copies, but still)
- TERROR TITANS (24k)
- Moore/Ramos RUNAWAYS
- WOLVERINE: FLIES TO A SPIDER (an obligatory, random Logan one-shot; outsold it by over 500 copies)
- CIVIL WAR: HOUSE OF M (22k too)
- GHOST RIDER outsells it by about 3-4,000 copies, but that book is actually kind of good.
- MS. MARVEL also is vastly outselling it; SI gave her title quite a bump
-Even PUNISHER MAX outsells CB&MI13, and it costs an extra dollar

Sales in Dec. were a little over 21,000 copies. It isn't as bad of a one month drop as the last three months, but still a drop. Interest in the U.K. may help offset some domestic drops, but it can't last forever. Still, if Marvel wants to wait to see trade sales, and genuinely likes Cornell's run, they may keep it around a good 6-12 months longer than expected. For all the complaining Robert Kirkman does about Marvel, they allowed him to end MARVEL TEAM UP on his own terms with issue #25 despite over a year spent selling below the Top 100 with sales dropping every month. Marvel clearly felt they owed him for MARVEL ZOMBIES.

 

[chamber-music]

Out of curiosity how are books like Hellblazer that may sell 6 to 8k a month still in print?

 

[StreetWarrior]

Yes, Moon Knight.

I could shock you with other titles that outsell CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI-13, at least as of Dec. 2008:

- SPAWN (22k sales)
- VENOM: DARK ORIGIN (the mini that just ended)
- WHAT IF: NEWER FANTASTIC FOUR one shot
- PUNISHER MAX X-MAS SPECIAL 2008 (by ten copies, but still)
- TERROR TITANS (24k)
- Moore/Ramos RUNAWAYS
- WOLVERINE: FLIES TO A SPIDER (an obligatory, random Logan one-shot; outsold it by over 500 copies)
- CIVIL WAR: HOUSE OF M (22k too)
- GHOST RIDER outsells it by about 3-4,000 copies, but that book is actually kind of good.
- MS. MARVEL also is vastly outselling it; SI gave her title quite a bump
-Even PUNISHER MAX outsells CB&MI13, and it costs an extra dollar

Sales in Dec. were a little over 21,000 copies. It isn't as bad of a one month drop as the last three months, but still a drop. Interest in the U.K. may help offset some domestic drops, but it can't last forever. Still, if Marvel wants to wait to see trade sales, and genuinely likes Cornell's run, they may keep it around a good 6-12 months longer than expected. For all the complaining Robert Kirkman does about Marvel, they allowed him to end MARVEL TEAM UP on his own terms with issue #25 despite over a year spent selling below the Top 100 with sales dropping every month. Marvel clearly felt they owed him for MARVEL ZOMBIES.

In fairness, Punisher MAX is amazing and should be selling twice that many copies. But, House of M: Civil War? Seriously!? Why!?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Out of curiosity how are books like Hellblazer that may sell 6 to 8k a month still in print?

Lower expectations because they're smaller publishers' books. No Vertigo or MAX or 3rd-party title sells particularly well by the larger market's standards.

 

[chamber-music]

Perhaps Captain Britain and MI-13 is surviving then because of lower expectations then. Cap Brit has never had a huge global fanbase and Cornell isn't an A-list comic book writer. I would expect the title to sell about as well as Alpha Flight when that was popular.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Yeah, but there have been other series without A-list characters or creators that were still canceled for low sales around this level, so people are still worried.

 

[Franklin Richards]

Dan Slott's The Thing comes to mind.


Just finished the new issue. Was good to see The Mindless Ones getting some air time. Haven't seen them since Unthinkable.

 

[CaptainCanada]

The guys at "House to Astonish" remarked in their latest podcast that the standard Marvel method when they've got a critically-acclaimed low-seller is to relaunch it with a new number #1 (which has generally worked for them, actually, to some extent; She-Hulk got an extra 38 issues out of it, for example), and speculated that that may be in the cards.

 

[Manic]

Hm. Worked a while for She-Hulk, Runaways, and Spider-Girl. Why not?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

There's only been like 10 issues.