The usual thoughts:
- May is full Event Month and that means a few figures up top will push all the other books down. After all, it has been a while since almost all of the books in the Top 5-10 scored 6 figure sales.
- Marvel dominates in dollar and market share and SECRET INVASION #2 outsells FINAL CRISIS #1 handedly. Naturally, NEW AVENGERS continues to perform strongly.
- Guess the movie helped; INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #1 debuted at #5 of the Top 5 with over 100k sales (it seems). Note that the regular IRON MAN title still sold around it's normal levels within the Top 60. The lesson may be the audience is in the mood for an Iron Man more in line with the films and not Director of SHIELD. Granted, IIM involves that too, just not as blatantly. An Iron Man title hasn't sold this well in ages and this wasn't a CW or INITIATIVE book; I can only conclude that for once, a movie may have sparked interest in a book. The question will be how long this new series can sustain these levels. Will it be in the Top 60 with the other title by issue 12 or sooner? Or are Fraction & Larocca onto something?
- 7 out of the Top 10 selling books from Marvel & DC involve event titles; despite tales from us Internet experts, it appears the average fan isn't suffering "event fatigue".
- The Average Fan apparently doesn't care about horribly late titles; the Whedon/Cassaday AXM run finishes at #6 for the Top 10 despite running about two years behind schedule.
- I hadn't realized so many people cared about AVENGERS/INVADERS, considering this is a seemingly meaningless storyline from Alex "Nothing after 1986 counts" Ross & Co.
- THOR slips out of the Top 10 to #13. Still, that is still more than double what he was selling during the end of his last volume and I am sure had this been a month without several 100k+ selling event titles, it would be in the Top 10 as usual. The law of displacement works for more than cups of water.
- Following the note above, CAPTAIN AMERICA slips out of the Top 15 but still within the Top 20, although sales still remain strong at over 70k. Everyone is expecting Steve to return at some point, but considering how well this book continues to sell without him, waiting a while may be in the franchise's best interests. Superman came back after a year; Steve may have to wait longer.
- ALL-STAR SUPERMAN tumbled towards the bottom of the Top 25. Earlier issues were all Top 10 locks. Guess lateness and the meandering nature of early issues put off people. The ALL-STAR line really hasn't established itself as anything more than dressing up Elseworlds into an Ultimate-esque bow, and it hasn't worked. Especially since the Ultimate line itself has been sagging for the past year or so. The rule of the day seems to be on in-continuity stories.
- FANTASTIC FOUR, selling at #26 despite the Millar/Hitch teaming, may be another example of this. It is obvious that the FF are not involved in the current event and this arc may barely connect to more recent storylines. On the other hand, the SI mini for the Four is only 2 slots below this; unlike CW, this event can't boost the Four. The franchise may be stuck in B-List form and no creative team can lift it for long. Still, FF could be selling a lot worse (and has been).
- AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE #13, the first issue entirely written by Gage, sells at about the same level as the issues written or co-written by Slott did. This title may have shifted from A-List to B-List without crossovers to boost it, but one is coming and that is a healthy sign for the franchise. For a Slott launch series, it still is his best seller outside ASM. I mean, look how SHE-HULK has fallen without him.
- The much delayed MARVEL: 1984 debuts within the Top 35; not bad but not epic. Still, for a random mini it should do alright.
- LOGAN did fairly well for a random 3-issue MK mini that basically told a rather standard Wolverine story.
- OUCH; CAPTAIN BRITAIN & MI-13 #1 debuts at #51. A general rule of thumb is that any ongoing series that can't at least debut within the Top 50 is in for a rough ride surviving past a year. Of course, THE ORDER debuted within the Top 50 and that was gone by issue #10, so it isn't an infallible rule. Obviously, SI isn't CW and can't automatically land any ol' title into the Top 10-40. Shame, because it was pretty good.
- On the other hand, SI boosted a dying title like MS. MARVEL about 30-40 slots.
- GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #1 debuts at #61. Normally, I would be very concerned, but the Annihilation-era space audience has proven to be a small but tenacious bunch; rarely more than 30k per month, but usually solid. NOVA's hung along past a year (it is #82 here), after all.
- IMMORTAL IRON FIST slips slightly, and I wonder if it's small but steady audience will remain to give the new creative team a chance. Current readerships tend to follow certain creators on certain runs and sometimes bail a franchise once that run ends.
- PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL sags 4 slots below the MAX PUNISHER. It may be tumbling.
- THE TWELVE is managing to regain some steam midway through; maybe word of mouth has been positive? Granted, as a Top 80 mini it is in niche market territory, along with Marvel space stuff. Which isn't bad because so long as sales hold steady, those kind of franchises can live on the C-List of sales.
- YOUNG AVENGERS PRESENTS dips below the Top 80, and this is very troubling. Marvel may have seriously crippled this franchise by waiting on a second volume so long. It will be curious how their second RUNAWAYS team-up does, considering Whedon/Ryan's late 6 issue arc has bled readers from what was once a great selling creator change.
- MOON KNIGHT is barely in the Top 90 and GHOST RIDER is in the Top 95; these books are dying. Within 2-3 months they will be outside the Top 100 at this rate. Their next arcs may be their last.
- THE LAST DEFENDERS was never expected to be a great seller, but at #99, below a FINAL CRISIS SKETCHBOOK of all things is fairly embarassing. This may truly be the last hurrah for the faded Silver Age property.
