May 2008 Sales and Market Share

[Hans]

Personally, I'm in it more for the Young Avengers. I'm trying to cut all ties to Runaways so it'll hurt less when the series starts up again and I don't pick it up.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I'm giving Moore and Ramos a shot. More Moore than Ramos, really. I'll get at least two issues and go from there.

 

[Hans]

I just can't do it. I really do not like Ramos' art at all. I never have. And while Moore is a great writer, I'm not convinced that this is his bag.

 

[Themanofbat]

Here are CBR's "estimated" sales numbers for the top 25 for May...

You can see the rest here...

http://comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=16836

1 Secret Invasion #2 - 200,344
2 Final Crisis #1 - 159,036
3 New Avengers #41 - 119,898
4 Avengers Invaders #1 - 118,746
5 Invincible Iron Man #1 - 116,251
6 Giant Size Astonishing X Men #1 - 115,860
7 Batman #676 - 115,345
8 Mighty Avengers #13 - 106,397
9 Batman #677 - 105,547
10 Mighty Avengers #14 - 104,630
11 Justice League of America #21 - 98,869
12 Dark Tower Long Road Home #3 - 96,229
13 Thor #9 - 95,648
14 Uncanny X Men #498 - 90,144
15 Buffy the Vampire Slayer #14 - 90,122
16 X Force #4 - 88,041
17 X Men Legacy #211 - 87,650
18 Captain America #38 - 87,135
19 Justice Society of America #15 - 85,994
20 Amazing Spider Man #558 - 84,518
21 Amazing Spider Man #559 - 81,487
22 X Men Legacy 212 - 81,297
23 Amazing Spider Man #560 - 81,274
24 All Star Superman #11 - 77,259
25 Green Lantern #31 - 72,337

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Ugh, that list depresses me every time.

 

[Darthphere]

Think of it this way Corp, Thor would be higher up if you remove the big two events, and the debut issue of Invincible Iron Man which trust me, will fall.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

As long as it stays around 90,000 or 100,000 copies, I guess it's not too bad.

 

[Darthphere]

Almost every comic dropped because of the considerable bumpage of having two Mighty Avengers comics come out in the month.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I'll never understand how the hell Bendis manages to enrapture so many people so consistently...

 

[Hans]

It's the dialogue. Like or not, Bendis' dialogue has a realism that few comics have. To the overwhelming majority of readers, that's more important than continuity, characterization or plot.

 

[Doc Destruction]

It's NOT realistic, though. All his characters talk like HIM. And the constant stammering and interruptions. God, it's painful to get through.

 

[iloveclones]

As long as it stays around 90,000 or 100,000 copies, I guess it's not too bad.

I can't believe you're complaining about Thor selling at that level. Even if it steadily drops, that will ensure it's around for years. Be happy.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I know, it's still doing well. I just get paranoid, all right? I had to go for almost 3 years without any Thor not too long ago.

 

[moraldeficiency]

Ugh, that list depresses me every time.

You're crazy. You've got the two main events for the two main universes, most people buying SI are also buying the Avengers titles as well as they're a lot more than simple tie ins, the giant sized X-men that even a casual x-reader like myself picked up just to see what all the fuss was about (analysis, just so-so, too many plot threads brought up and then never mentioned again) so that's six books you should expect to beat thor. It's still almost selling 100,000 copies despite lateness and the economy and it's kicking the crap out of marvel's flagship ASM which barely cracked the top twenty. You really can't ask for much more than that.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

He must be number 1!!!!

 

[Hans]

It's NOT realistic, though. All his characters talk like HIM. And the constant stammering and interruptions. God, it's painful to get through.

People stammer and interupt themselves and each other. That's a fact. Personally, I think Bendis overdoes it a bit at times, but at least I can recognize that people do actually speak more like the characters in a Bendis comic book than in, say, a Busiek written comic book. That said, I'd rather read a Busiek written comic book any day of the week.

 

[moraldeficiency]

People stammer and interupt themselves and each other. That's a fact. Personally, I think Bendis overdoes it a bit at times, but at least I can recognize that people do actually speak more like the characters in a Bendis comic book than in, say, a Busiek written comic book. That said, I'd rather read a Busiek written comic book any day of the week.

I completely agree, and I'd add that while I don't like bendis events one bit his overall ideas and outlines are excellent. House of M, Secret Invasion, the formation of the NA and MA, the raft breakout, a supervillian union.... all excellent ideas that were just poorly excuted. I'd love to see another writer take those concepts and make good stories out of them, because the outline and synopsis for these are pretty stellar. The problem comes when you've got.

As much hate as bendis gets (and I certianly add to that) he's got some good points, I think half his problem is lack of editorial oversight in continuity and characterization and the other half comes from a general disregard for the work of anyone that's not him.

 

[Hans]

I completely agree, and I'd add that while I don't like bendis events one bit his overall ideas and outlines are excellent. House of M, Secret Invasion, the formation of the NA and MA, the raft breakout, a supervillian union.... all excellent ideas that were just poorly excuted. I'd love to see another writer take those concepts and make good stories out of them, because the outline and synopsis for these are pretty stellar. The problem comes when you've got.

As much hate as bendis gets (and I certianly add to that) he's got some good points, I think half his problem is lack of editorial oversight in continuity and characterization and the other half comes from a general disregard for the work of anyone that's not him.

Yep. I know a lot of people, myself included, harp on Bendis because the continuities and characterizations don't mesh very well with the rest of the MU, but that simply is not his fault 100% of the time. That's the editor's job.

For example, I know next to nothing about Superman's current continuity. I don't hate the character, but I just don't read his books for various reasons. But if given the chance, I'd certainly write Action Comics or Superman. Not being familiar with the past 20 years of Superman continuity and not having the time to catch up on it, I'd be bound to make some mistakes here and there. But that's where the editor is supposed to come in and catch things. At Marvel, with Bendis, they don't do that. Frankly, I don't know what Bendis' editors do do. Spell check?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Probably stroke his ego and do damage control with fans. We all know Brevoort, for example, has his lips firmly affixed to Bendis' taut, supple bum.

 

[Doc Destruction]

The editors had all their power taken away the day Joey Q took over. The creative talent runs the show there.

 

[Hans]

Probably stroke his ego and do damage control with fans. We all know Brevoort, for example, has his lips firmly affixed to Bendis' taut, supple bum.

Burn. Brevoort used to be alright, too. The need for a steady paycheck can change a man.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

The editors had all their power taken away the day Joey Q took over. The creative talent runs the show there.

Yeah... which apparently isn't all it's cracked up to be. I know traditionally the editors have been made out to be the villains, but apparently they're the ones who keep the ship running smoothly.

 

[Hans]

It should be an equal balance, and I don't why people think it's gotta be all in one side's hands or the other.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Well, the slightest intrusion from editorial and creators cry foul. Fandom usually sides with the creators too, since they're viewed as the makers of the art while editors are viewed as money-grabbing bastards. Then fans and third parties blow things out of proportion. Within the publishers, unless someone's got a particularly bad temper, things seem to stay fairly professional, like you'd expect at any business.

 

[Hans]

If the creators do not want to work within the confines of company owned characters, than there's always creator owned. You know what you're getting into when you sign the contract.