January 2008 Sales Rankings

[iloveclones]

1 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #546 BND* 136,109
2 HULK #1* 135,684
3 CAPTAIN AMERICA #34 133,440
4 PROJECT SUPERPOWERS #0* 118,655
5 ASTONISHING X-MEN #24 116,090
6 ULTIMATES 3 #2 (Of 5)* 113,033
7 X-MEN #207 MC* 112,026
8 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #547 BND 108,485
9 UNCANNY X-MEN #494 MC* 105,666
10 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #548 BND 105,122

Here are the hard numbers that go along with the rankings. I've bolded Amazing, since that seems to be all that anyone cares about. And before you start unlatching those top floor windows, please keep in mind these numbers represent what the LCBS's ordered, not what they actually sold.

Still, those are very respectable numbers, even taking the dropoff into account. Unless there's a big drop off on ordering next go around(and I think they'd have to get to the 60-70K/issue to make a dent), I'd imagine these changes to be around for a while.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Yep. So long, normal MJ. We hardly knew ye...

Well, that's not true, we knew her pretty well.

 

[LemonSunday]

Actually JMS' last few issues before OMD were selling much better than BND.

ASM #537 - 114,800
ASM #538 - 142,390
ASM #539 - 137,723
ASM #540 - 119,642
ASM #541 - 108,217
ASM #542 - 105,678
ASM #543 - 106,478

Vindication.

 

[Crosis]

I'm sad that comic fans can't put their money where their mouths are. But it wasn't exactly unexpected.

I wasn't, and I'm still not. But mostly because they still, STILL refuse to utilize the vast amount of villains Spider-Man already has.

As for the sales figures LemonSUnday posted, to me that just means that far, far fewer people are buying comic books now.

 

[LemonSunday]

As for the sales figures LemonSUnday posted, to me that just means that far, far fewer people are buying comic books now.

That's factually incorrect.

 

[CaptainCanada]

Actually JMS' last few issues before OMD were selling much better than BND.

ASM #537 - 114,800
ASM #538 - 142,390
ASM #539 - 137,723
ASM #540 - 119,642
ASM #541 - 108,217
ASM #542 - 105,678
ASM #543 - 106,478

Vindication.

Not really, when you factor in that it's three times a month now, and compare it to the sales of the other two Spider-Man titles; they're making considerably more money than before. Now, I expect a bit more drop-off, but they should be well-ahead of where they were for a good while yet.

 

[Darthphere]

Actually JMS' last few issues before OMD were selling much better than BND.

ASM #537 - 114,800
ASM #538 - 142,390
ASM #539 - 137,723
ASM #540 - 119,642
ASM #541 - 108,217
ASM #542 - 105,678
ASM #543 - 106,478

Vindication.

Yeah, good job omitting the fact that those issues were Civil War tie-ins and part of Back in Black.

 

[LemonSunday]

Not really, when you factor in that it's three times a month now, and compare it to the sales of the other two Spider-Man titles; they're making considerably more money than before. Now, I expect a bit more drop-off, but they should be well-ahead of where they were for a good while yet.

Three times a month will make any book's sales better. What I was pointing out was that Marvel's attempt to make Spider-Man "more accessable" did not affect sales to the point of justifying those retcons. Take JMS' last few issues and put them out thrice monthly. That renders your arguement pointless.

 

[Darthphere]

Three times a month will make any book's sales better. What I was pointing out was that Marvel's attempt to make Spider-Man "more accessable" did not affect sales to the point of justifying those retcons. Take JMS' last few issues and put them out thrice monthly. That renders your arguement pointless.

Yeah, good job omitting the fact that those issues were Civil War tie-ins and part of Back in Black.

 

[LemonSunday]

And?

 

[Darthphere]

And?

And you don't see how those issues being tie-ins to a huge line wide crossover event and a big event that crossed over through all the Spider-Man titles would provide a sales boost? No comics' numbers have been as good since Civil War ended. It's a glaring omission that was purposefully made to make your argument seem much better than it really is.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Tie-ins to events tend to do better in sales than random issues. Of course, BND is itself an event.

 

[Darthphere]

Tie-ins to events tend to do better in sales than random issues. Of course, BND is itself an event.

It's a different event, because it's not a crossover. It's a lot more akin to Byrne's man of Steel reboot than anything. At most, it's a gimmicky advertising push. But clearly, those sales numbers LemonSunday posted are skewed. You can't compare an event tie-in to a reboot/relaunch. The numbers indicate orders, which is why the orders for the other two issues dropped off. retailers expected a dropoff after the initial shock so they ordered less books. Like I said before, we have to wait til next month's numbers to see if any boycott has had an real effect. And according to a lot of retailers online, they underestimated those orders. Of course, it won't be the same everywhere, I'm sure there are stores with unlimited amounts of copies left.

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

Here are the hard numbers that go along with the rankings. I've bolded Amazing, since that seems to be all that anyone cares about. And before you start unlatching those top floor windows, please keep in mind these numbers represent what the LCBS's ordered, not what they actually sold.

Still, those are very respectable numbers, even taking the dropoff into account. Unless there's a big drop off on ordering next go around(and I think they'd have to get to the 60-70K/issue to make a dent), I'd imagine these changes to be around for a while.

So glad Captain America is maintaining some notoriety.

 

[LemonSunday]

It's a different event, because it's not a crossover. It's a lot more akin to Byrne's man of Steel reboot than anything. At most, it's a gimmicky advertising push. But clearly, those sales numbers LemonSunday posted are skewed. You can't compare an event tie-in to a reboot/relaunch. The numbers indicate orders, which is why the orders for the other two issues dropped off. retailers expected a dropoff after the initial shock so they ordered less books. Like I said before, we have to wait til next month's numbers to see if any boycott has had an real effect.

No, we don't. I mean, we can, but we don't need to. It's pretty clear that a married Spider-Man sells just as well, if not better than an unmarried one with an all-star creative team and an unprecedented marketing campaign.

 

[Darthphere]

No, we don't. I mean, we can, but we don't need to. It's pretty clear that a married Spider-Man sells just as well, if not better than an unmarried one with an all-star creative team and an unprecedented marketing campaign.

It's pretty clear that a book with Captain America being Steve Rogers sells just as well as one where Bucky Barnes is Captain America, what exactly is your point? The only thing I'm pointing out is that for all the talk of boycotts and such, Brand New Day was the best selling comic for the month, proving that people are just that, all talk.

 

[LemonSunday]

It's pretty clear that a book with Captain America being Steve Rogers sells just as well as one where Bucky Barnes is Captain America, what exactly is your point?

The point is that all BND did was divide the fan base. I wonder what the sales figures could have been if BND got the same creative team and the same push, but had a much better premise and set up. Much better, I'm betting.

 

[Darthphere]

I'm looking at the numbers, facts, not would've, could've, should've.

 

[gildea]

No, we don't. I mean, we can, but we don't need to. It's pretty clear that a married Spider-Man sells just as well, if not better than an unmarried one with an all-star creative team and an unprecedented marketing campaign.

What exactly is unprecedented about the marketing campaign?

And no disrespect to the creative teams involved but it is not an all star creative team arguably mcniven and jimez are stars but that's it, certainly none of the writers. (again not a quality of writing point i'm making just public perceptions).

Regardless I agree with the central thrust of your point

 

[LemonSunday]

I'm looking at the numbers, facts, not would've, could've, should've.

Cool, me too, that's why I posted them.

What exactly is unprecedented about the marketing campaign?

And no disrespect to the creative teams involved but it is not an all star creative team arguably mcniven and jimez are stars but that's it, certainly none of the writers. (again not a quality of writing point i'm making just public perceptions).

Regardless I agree with the central thrust of your point

Slott is someone with a decent sized following. Bob Gale and Guggenheim have that "Hollywood" vibe, but they're not exactly superstars, yeah. Wells is a no name, but a good writer. It's mostly the combo of Slott and McNiven that I was refering too.

 

[gildea]

While, I can't see how a coimic could ruin anyones life, it is impossible to seperate omd and bnd since bnd could never exist without the horrible plot twist that make omd bad in the first place. How some manage to do that, I don't know. I only can guess that when humans really want to enjoy something, they'll ignore any bad associated with it. Its kind of like how some battered women ignore their husbands beating them.

Ignoring the really icky bit of the post I'll just consider the logic.

Logically because marvel publish continuity heavy superhero comics I now assume that you drop every marvel (and DC i suppose) title once they have a bad story as they can't exist without whats gone before.

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

The point is that all BND did was divide the fan base. I wonder what the sales figures could have been if BND got the same creative team and the same push, but had a much better premise and set up. Much better, I'm betting.

Where's the division? I mean, is that YOUR opinion? If so, then that's fine. But current sales dont back that opinion up one bit, sorry.

 

[IFryKids]

Actually JMS' last few issues before OMD were selling much better than BND.

ASM #537 - 114,800
ASM #538 - 142,390
ASM #539 - 137,723
ASM #540 - 119,642
ASM #541 - 108,217
ASM #542 - 105,678
ASM #543 - 106,478

Vindication.

Considering that the 2 extra issues are basically replacing Spectacular Spiderman and Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman, the overall sales for the Spiderman line will probably go up. I'm not gonna look up numbers right now, but it's probably safe to assume that these extra issues are gonna strongly outsell the 2 above mentioned comics.

There's no real vindication to be had.

 

[Dread]

Yeah, I didn't expect angry ASM fans to "vote with their dollars". Firstly, comic fans, myself included, rarely if ever seem to do that circa the 21st century, at least not with "big" or "well hyped" or "well connected" books. Oh no, any dross from Bendis on Avengers will sell well, but THE ORDER, oh, THAT book the fans wallet-vote with. It is the kind of logic that wants to make you shake people sometimes; "trade-wait" on the HUGE sellers that can afford it, not the little-known, barely hyped mint comic that struggles to sell 30k a month. Makes you want to SCREAM.

Secondly, the hard fact is that even if sales for ASM 3 times a month dropped moreso, they would STILL outsell the sum total of ASM, SSM, & FNSM per month. Last year, I believe those three sold about 2.5 million copies per year, combined, on a "thrice a month" schedule for Spidey. Under that ratio, each issue of ASM per week only has to sell around 65k in order to reach that number per year (I estimated so the numbers may be off a few). A comic can sell 65k and not even be in the Top 30.

Yes, BND is not selling as well as some of JMS' later issues of ASM, or even BACK IN BLACK. But they are selling over 100k three times a month, which is better than the three seperate titles were doing before the merge.

And thirdly, retailer pre-orders create sales, not how many actually leave the shelves. CAPTAIN MARVEL #3 was hyped as "selling out" 2 days before it hit shops. And that's hardly a Top 30 seller (it barely struggles into the Top 65). The first BND issue sold well enough to warrent a reprint but the demand may have teetered somewhat after that. Still, I honestly doubt ASM sales per week will fall below 100k and defintely not to 90k, which will still make the merge a success over last year's status quo. ASM is a book shops will overorder, and do so for a while. Hell, AXM is a Top 10 book and any shop I go to ALWAYS has a dozen copies of the last 1-2 issues on the shelf for months.

Hey, I can't blame myself. I like Slott as a fan but I still decided to wait it out, "trade wait" and so on. I flipped through maybe 1-2 issues but I didn't buy. So I at the very least can still be irked about OMD. I get my fix with A:TI.

And yeah, XM:FC doesn't sell within the Top 100, but it sells to be acting as a Marvel Adventures-esque title which means it sells outside the direct market, and on those standards it outsells the MA books.

 

[Docker2.0]

How did Onslaught Reborn outsell Annihilation and Nova?!