July 2007 Sales Charts & Market Share Report

[PhotoJones]

The highest I ever saw Thor on the charts was in the mid-40s a few years ago, but I admittedly don't look at sales numbers too often. I think I only looked that time to prove a point about Thor selling about as well as Cap and Iron Man but Thor's comic being the only one that was canceled in Disassembled, in fact.

It didn't get cancelled, Corp. He died.

 

[venom892]

Dude then why is cap still going?

 

[PhotoJones]

Right over the head.

 

[2112ad]

I wish Nova was a little higher in the rankings.

 

[PhotoJones]

As do we all.

 

[hippie_hunter]

Dude then why is cap still going?

Because as Darthphere said: That book defies all logic.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

It didn't get cancelled, Corp. He died.

Shut up. He died better than you ever could.

 

[Penismightier]

I didn't realize that Marvel has that wide of a margin over DC in market share.

 

[Darthphere]

Because as Darthphere said: That book defies all logic.

Indeed it does.

 

[PhotoJones]

Shut up. He died better than you ever could.

My death will be legendary.

 

[Darthphere]

I have seen it.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Can you show me? I need a pick-me-up today.

 

[Darthphere]

Can you show me? I need a pick-me-up today.

Spoiler

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Haha, PJ turns into a woman before he dies horribly. That is legendary--legendarily embarrassing.

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

Maybe Jones is exploding and that's one of his victims that he takes along with him.

 

[Dread]

Comments:

- I was pleasantly surprised that THOR #1 was the top book of the industry, even outselling WWH. It's a good thing for Thor, which either proves that after a wait of 3 years he'd built an appeal, or it could be just another case of an A-List creative team being able to sell anything. Of course, Bendis & the Luna Bros. couldn't make SPIDER-WOMAN sell at #1. Considering Thor is due to have a movie soon, the fact that he's become a #1 seller is a good sign. It shows that Marvel can hit a home run with characters that have been left aside in recent years, and this is an improvement from times when they relied exclusively on the X-Men or Spider-Man or so on. Marvel is becoming more well rounded, which may be a major hassle for DC because they're still not.

- Marvel dominates in sales and dollar share. Really, this is old school. Nice to see Dark Horse make some gain to a whopping 5%. Granted, while I like those HELLBOY DTV's, I'd rather see Image get some crap together, for INVINCIBLE, WOLF-MAN and DYNAMO 5.

- WWH proves that events can provide a temporary boost in sales figures. GHOST RIDER, which'd slipped into the Top 40's, has climbed 7-10 slots for it's WWH two-parter. And ANT-MAN, a great overlooked book that has been canned and selling below the Top 100 for about 7 issues (at least), suddenly sees a boost to #75, a good 20+ point climb, solely for WWH. HEROES FOR HIRE also saw a boost with WWH that all the cheesecake in the world couldn't provide.

- Speaking of cheesecake, the fact that MIGHTY AVENGERS with Frank "Boobs" Cho isn't outselling NEW AVENGERS should be more evidence in the long, long, LONG laundry list of examples to show that cheesecake doesn't sell by itself anymore and this limiting solicts and premises to milking it, like with HEROES FOR HIRE or SHANNA THE SHE-DEVIL, are wastes of time.

- Death continues to have been the best thing to happen to Cap's sales in a decade.

- I am a bit disgusted seeing that so many shops are biting on ALL-STAR BATMAN.

- Dan Slott's AVENGERS: INITIATIVE is still selling within the Top 15. He's A-List, baby.

- WWH is selling strongly and able to boost other books, although it isn't breaking as much bank as CW did. But that is fine, as it is turning out better anyway.

- ANNIHILATION CONQUEST, on the other hand, seems to be selling a little worse than ANNIHILATION. Some of those debut #1's were nowhere near the Top 60. Even NOVA tumbled to #65.

- IMMORTAL IRON FIST #7, the filler issue, tumbled at least 10-15 slots in sales to #70. Not a good sign. Hopefully as the story picks up, the sales do.

- RUNAWAYS is still selling about double what it did at BKV's finale, but even with Whedon, it is slipping a bit and with the questionable team coming it, it's future afterwards may be troublesome; Whedon may very well leave the book barely 10 slots above where he found it, and then we have Moore/Ramos aboard. The fact that every issue is slipping about 10 slots a month isn't great.

- NEW WARRIORS is still selling modestly, we'll have to see how far it dips with #3 and so on. It has been a very troubled franchise and this relaunch is blending bare bones of NW with X-leftovers. While it makes for an interesting story, it remains to be seen how the casual fan will buy it. It's at least doing better than some of the CONQUEST books. And RUNAWAYS.

- OMEGA FLIGHT's prenultimate issue is still selling within the Top 50. This has been a strong selling mini and Marvel would be daft not to give Oeming/Kolins an ongoing with these sorts of numbers. As the list can see, plenty of ongoings with far "hotter" characters sell worse. A story in MCP's is nice, but we want more OF! Marvel challenged fans to support it, and they have; time to put up.

- It was a shame seeing the GLI/DEADPOOL special sell so poorly, although at least it is technically in the Top 100 (at #100).

- Fraction's THE ORDER #1 debuted at #39, solidly within the Top 40 along with his other title, PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL. That's pretty good considering it is a book with entirely new characters. The dropoff for the next few issues should be watched to see how safe the book is.

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

Dread, while I pretty much agree with everything you posted, as far as New Avengers outselling Mighty Avengers I think it has less to do with cheesecake or any failing of MA (its the better of the two Avengers titles even if it has its own deep flaws) and more to do with Spider-Man and Wolverine.

 

[Darthphere]

- ANNIHILATION CONQUEST, on the other hand, seems to be selling a little worse than ANNIHILATION. Some of those debut #1's were nowhere near the Top 60. Even NOVA tumbled to #65.

It's to be expected I think.

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

Did Nova lose in terms of sales figures or did they simply get pushed down the line because of new books debuting?

 

[Dread]

Dread, while I pretty much agree with everything you posted, as far as New Avengers outselling Mighty Avengers I think it has less to do with cheesecake or any failing of MA (its the better of the two Avengers titles even if it has its own deep flaws) and more to do with Spider-Man and Wolverine.

That is also possible. Ironically, while MIGHTY AVENGERS has it's flaws, at least it offers more superhero fare against worthy opponents (even if Ultron turning into Wasp Lite and issuing statements like, "I love you all" makes no F'ing sense).

But then you have to list the many, many, MANY books that seemed made or relied heavily on cheesecake, and realize they didn't sell too hot, either. Marvel needs to realize that those kind of titles enforce stereotypes and don't sell by themselves anymore. People like heroines who are fleshed out characters, not excuses for T & A.

It's to be expected I think.

It still stinks.

Did Nova lose in terms of sales figures or did they simply get pushed down the line because of new books debuting?

That also may be possible.

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

But then you have to list the many, many, MANY books that seemed made or relied heavily on cheesecake, and realize they didn't sell too hot, either. Marvel needs to realize that those kind of titles enforce stereotypes and don't sell by themselves anymore. People like heroines who are fleshed out characters, not excuses for T & A.

I completely agree.

As much as I personally am enjoying Mighty Avengers (even if in a lower expectations sort of way), I would be embarrassed to show that to somebody who doesn't read comics because when you get right down to it, Ultron's a naked woman with large **** at the moment.

But, I doubt many of us expected Mighty Avengers to outsell New Avengers. I was surprised when that happened with MA debut.

The NA have been established longer (relatively), they have more popular characters, not to mention that the MA are made up of Pro-registration heroes and I know that left a bitter taste in some people's mouths.

 

[PWN3R]

Holy crap. I wouldn't have predicted that at all. Then again, I wouldn't have thought Wolverine would've landed in the #4 slot.

My mind can't compute this. I know it's Loeb but still #4? How can this sell so freaking high?

Yet books like Blue Beetle, Iron Fist, DD, The Spirit, etc will most likely never break the top ten. Comic book readers suck.

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

It really grates me that Daredevil and Nova aren't higher, regardless of anything else. Those two are Marvel's best books, bar none.

 

[Eros]

It really grates me that Daredevil and Nova aren't higher, regardless of anything else. Those two are Marvel's best books, bar none.

well they sure are, but ofcourse thousands of comic buyers would disagree.

 

[Dread]

I completely agree.

As much as I personally am enjoying Mighty Avengers (even if in a lower expectations sort of way), I would be embarrassed to show that to somebody who doesn't read comics because when you get right down to it, Ultron's a naked woman with large **** at the moment.

But, I doubt many of us expected Mighty Avengers to outsell New Avengers. I was surprised when that happened with MA debut.

The NA have been established longer (relatively), they have more popular characters, not to mention that the MA are made up of Pro-registration heroes and I know that left a bitter taste in some people's mouths.

I think Marvel was questioning whether Cho's T & A art would propell it beyond NA, and it did for a whole month.

MIGHTY AVENGERS at this point pisses me off less than NA tends to. Even if, taking November's solicts correctly, it does get irkful that Bendis, naturally, is 100% faithful to his own continuity while picking and choosing what to remain faithful with others. I mean, other writers like Kirkman & Slott maintain little "universes" within their own books, but at least they also acknowledge the works of others.

My mind can't compute this. I know it's Loeb but still #4? How can this sell so freaking high?

Yet books like Blue Beetle, Iron Fist, DD, The Spirit, etc will most likely never break the top ten. Comic book readers suck.

I'd love to see books like INVINCIBLE, DYNAMO 5 and WOLF-MAN just sell within the Top 100.

On a sadder note, I noticed that the 3rd issue of SPIDER-MAN & THE FANTASTIC FOUR dipped out of the Top 90 and off the Top 100; that, of course, turned out to be 'Ringo's last work, and it was greatly underappreciated because it was Jeff Parker, who insists on mostly doing "old school, light adventure". If you want to know why comic books kill or mutilate characters for "shock value", watching lighthearted mini's or so on type series like this fall into sales oblivion is why. If the comic company/fanboy expectation equation is a "Chicken or Egg" debate, fans have to start realizing what part they add to the decisions of the big boys.