Comics Sales numbers

[Galactus]

Top 300 for October:
http://www.newsarama.com/marketreport/Oct05charts.html

 

[Galactus]

3. NEW AVENGERS
Oct 01 Avengers #47 - 58,771
Oct 02 Avengers #59 - 53,772
Oct 03 Avengers #70 - 58,878
======
Oct 04 n/a
Nov 04 Avengers #503 - 105,761 ( +13.6%)
Nov 04 Avengers Finale - 101,431 ( -4.1%)
Dec 05 New Avengers #1 - 280,286 (+176.3%)
Jan 05 New Avengers #2 - 155,742 ( -44.3%)
Feb 05 New Avengers #3 - 148,973 ( -4.3%)
Mar 05 New Avengers #4 - 158,303 ( +6.3%)
Apr 05 New Avengers #5 - 168,556 ( +6.5%)
May 05 n/a
Jun 05 New Avengers #6 - 164,592 ( -2.4%)
Jul 05 New Avengers #7 - 158,693 ( -3.6%)
Aug 05 New Avengers #8 - 156,037 ( -1.7%)
Aug 05 New Avengers #9 - 147,501 ( -5.5%)
Sep 05 New Avengers #10 - 143,014 ( -3.0%)
Sep 05 New Avengers #11 - 134,125 ( -6.2%)
Oct 05 New Avengers #12 - 127,949 ( -4.6%)
6 mnth ( -24.1%)
1 year ( +21.0%)
2 year (+117.3%)

The second part of the Ronin storyline, and sales are noticeably dropping off now that the variant covers programme has finished. Of course, these things are relative. 128,000 is still an excellent number, especially when you compare it with the book's previous incarnation.

Strangely, despite the drops, issue #11 picks up re-orders of 2,764 to chart at number 258.

5. FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN
Oct 05 Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #1 - 85,761

With HOUSE OF M almost out of the way, normal service resumes with a new title launch. FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN is the latest title to occupy the third monthly Spider-Man slot, following on from PETER PARKER, SPIDER-MAN and SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN. This time it's by Peter David and Mike Wieringo, and the debut issue charts very respectably in the top five.

For reasons best known to themselves, Marvel chose to launch this book with a very strange promotional gimmick. Issue #1 is also the first part of "The Other: Evolve or Die", a twelve-part crossover running through this title, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN and MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN over four months. On top of that, Peter David writes all of this month's books, Reginald Hudlin writes all of the November books, and J Michael Straczynski writes all of the December books. This odd arrangement was not met with much enthusiasm online, but it certainly hasn't hurt sales, with the new title debuting in the top five in a very tough month.

You might think that the other Spider-Man titles would be close behind, what with the story running through all three of them. And you'd be wrong. But we'll come back to that.

This is as good a place as any to mention the awkwardly-titled SPIDER-MAN: THE OTHER SKETCHBOOK, which charts at number 110 with orders of 16,416 - rather impressive for a book of design sketches.

9. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
Oct 01 Amazing Spider-Man #36 - 86,456
Oct 02 Amazing Spider-Man #46 - 98,001
Oct 03 Amazing Spider-Man #500 - 148,928
======
Oct 04 Amazing Spider-Man #513 - 89,615 ( +1.1%)
Nov 04 Amazing Spider-Man #514 - 87,121 ( -2.8%)
Dec 04 Amazing Spider-Man #515 - 83,637 ( -4.0%)
Jan 05 Amazing Spider-Man #516 - 79,842 ( -4.5%)
Feb 05 Amazing Spider-Man #517 - 78,584 ( -1.6%)
Mar 05 Amazing Spider-Man #518 - 77,025 ( -2.0%)
Apr 05 Amazing Spider-Man #519 - 79,668 ( +3.4%)
May 05 Amazing Spider-Man #520 - 76,143 ( -4.4%)
Jun 05 Amazing Spider-Man #521 - 74,117 ( -2.7%)
Jul 05 Amazing Spider-Man #522 - 73,130 ( -1.3%)
Aug 05 Amazing Spider-Man #523 - 72,046 ( -1.5%)
Sep 05 Amazing Spider-Man #524 - 71,065 ( -1.4%)
Oct 05 Amazing Spider-Man #525 - 79,520 (+11.9%)
6 mnth ( -0.2%)
1 year (-11.3%)
2 year (-46.6%)

Part 2 of the Other, and AMAZING gets a healthy jump to put it back in the top ten, and up there with FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN. It's around 6,000 copies behind, which seems fair enough. Oddly, this still leaves the book marginally behind its sales from six months ago, but there's no doubt the crossover has had a noticeable increaes.

So, by this logic, MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN can only be a few thousand behind, right...?

13. ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN
Oct 01 Ultimate Spider-Man #14 - 78,346
Oct 02 Ultimate Spider-Man #28 - 92,099
Oct 03 Ultimate Spider-Man #48 - 98,747
======
Oct 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #66 - 95,917 ( +1.9%)
Oct 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #67 - 95,071 ( -0.9%)
Nov 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #68 - 91,075 ( -4.2%)
Nov 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #69 - 90,010 ( -1.2%)
Dec 04 Ultimate Spider-Man #70 - 88,960 ( -1.2%)
Jan 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #71 - 83,987 ( -5.6%)
Feb 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #72 - 86,685 ( +3.2%)
Mar 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #73 - 83,943 ( -3.2%)
Mar 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #74 - 83,817 ( -0.2%)
Apr 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #75 - 83,940 ( +0.1%)
Apr 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #76 - 82,244 ( -2.0%)
May 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #77 - 81,034 ( -1.5%)
Jun 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #78 - 79,420 ( -2.0%)
Jul 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #79 - 78,404 ( -1.3%)
Jul 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #80 - 76,906 ( -1.9%)
Aug 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #81 - 75,572 ( -1.7%)
Sep 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #82 - 75,756 ( +0.2%)
Sep 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #83 - 75,539 ( -0.3%)
Oct 05 Ultimate Spider-Man #84 - 74,670 ( -1.2%)
6 mnth ( -9.2%)
1 year (-22.2%)
2 year (-24.4%)

The "Warriors" storyline continues, and the gentle downward slide continues - although to be fair, it's been fairly stable over the last few months. Issue #83 picks up 1,742 reorders and charts at number 294.

23. MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN
Oct 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #7 - 69,918 ( -2.2%)
Nov 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #8 - 68,290 ( -2.3%)
Dec 04 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #9 - 64,461 ( -5.6%)
Jan 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #10 - 61,831 ( -4.1%)
Feb 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #11 - 60,460 ( -2.2%)
Mar 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #12 - 59,983 ( -0.8%)
Apr 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #13 - 60,542 ( +0.9%)
May 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #14 - 57,270 ( -5.4%)
Jun 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #15 - 54,102 ( -5.5%)
Jul 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #16 - 50,876 ( -6.0%)
Aug 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #17 - 48,555 ( -4.6%)
Sep 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #18 - 47,654 ( -1.9%)
Oct 05 Marvel Knights Spider-Man #19 - 66,140 (+38.8%)
6 mnth ( +9.2%)
1 year ( -5.4%)

Well, there's good news and bad news. The good news is that there's a big jump up from last month, no doubt thanks to the "Other" crossover with FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN and AMAZING SPIDER-MAN. The bad news is that the book is still down on a year ago, and more to the point, it's over 13,000 copies below AMAZING, and almost 20,000 below FRIENDLY. And, you know, logically these three crossover books all ought to be selling close together. Watch to see whether they grow any closer over the next few months of the crossover, now that retailers and readers know they really do have to buy them all.

93. MARVEL TEAM-UP
Nov 04 Marvel Team-Up #1 - 44,530
Nov 04 Marvel Team-Up #2 - 37,515 (-15.7%)
Dec 04 Marvel Team-Up #3 - 29,085 (-22.5%)
Jan 05 Marvel Team-Up #4 - 27,216 ( -6.4%)
Feb 05 Marvel Team-Up #5 - 28,141 ( +3.4%)
Mar 05 Marvel Team-Up #6 - 24,762 (-12.0%)
Apr 05 Marvel Team-Up #7 - 24,800 ( +0.2%)
May 05 Marvel Team-Up #8 - 24,270 ( -2.1%)
Jun 05 Marvel Team-Up #9 - 23,530 ( -3.0%)
Jul 05 Marvel Team-Up #10 - 22,549 ( -4.2%)
Aug 05 Marvel Team-Up #11 - 22,150 ( -1.8%)
Sep 05 Marvel Team-Up #12 - 21,240 ( -4.1%)
Oct 05 Marvel Team-Up #13 - 21,048 ( -0.9%)
6 mnth (-15.1%)

Well, at least it's levelling out, I suppose. Despite the poor sales, MARVEL TEAM-UP seems to be safe for the time being.

102. SPIDER-GIRL
Oct 01 Spider-Girl #39 - 23,514
Oct 02 Spider-Girl #52 - 24,907
Oct 03 Spider-Girl #65 - 22,561
======
Oct 04 Spider-Girl #79 - 21,893 ( -0.8%)
Nov 04 Spider-Girl #80 - 21,146 ( -3.4%)
Dec 04 Spider-Girl #81 - 20,419 ( -3.4%)
Jan 05 Spider-Girl #82 - 20,005 ( -2.0%)
Feb 05 Spider-Girl #83 - 20,382 ( +1.9%)
Mar 05 Spider-Girl #84 - 20,050 ( -1.6%)
Apr 05 Spider-Girl #85 - 19,682 ( -1.8%)
May 05 Spider-Girl #86 - 19,452 ( -1.2%)
Jun 05 Spider-Girl #87 - 19,605 ( +0.8%)
Jul 05 Spider-Girl #88 - 18,983 ( -3.2%)
Aug 05 Spider-Girl #89 - 18,538 ( -2.3%)
Sep 05 Spider-Girl #90 - 18,344 ( -1.0%)
Oct 05 Spider-Girl #91 - 18,159 ( -1.0%)
6 mnth ( -7.7%)
1 year (-17.1%)
2 year (-19.5%)

Fairly steady over the last few months.

135. SPIDER-MAN FAMILY
Oct 05 Spider-Man Family #1 - 13,666

Another of the Giant-Size format books, this time with assorted oddball Spider-Man spin-offs. Considering that the book offers eight pages of Spider-Girl and reprints of such oddities as MARVEL TAILS FEATURING PETER PORKER, THE SPECTACTULAR SPIDER-HAM #1, it's actually a surprisingly good number. Marvel seem to be tinkering with this format, with longer original stories included in November's Fantastic Four wedding book, and February's GIANT-SIZE MS MARVEL #1

191. MARVEL ADVENTURES SPIDER-MAN
Mar 05 Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #1 - 14,351
Apr 05 Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #2 - 10,305 (-28.2%)
May 05 Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #3 - 9,110 (-11.6%)
Jun 05 Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #4 - 8,878 ( -2.5%)
Jul 05 Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #5 - 8,075 ( -9.0%)
Aug 05 Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #6 - 7,636 ( -5.4%)
Sep 05 Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #7 - 7,199 ( -5.7%)
Oct 05 Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #8 - 7,088 ( -1.5%)
6 mnth (-31.2%)

6 month comparisons
===================

+68.0% - Mutopia X / District X
+21.9% - Exiles
+16.5% - New X-Men
+ 9.2% - Marvel Knights Spider-Man
+ 0.1% - Cable & Deadpool
- 0.2% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 1.2% - Uncanny X-Men
- 2.3% - Ultimate Fantastic Four
- 3.8% - New Thunderbolts
- 3.9% - Captain America
- 4.4% - Punisher
- 6.4% - Powers
- 7.6% - Daredevil
- 7.7% - Spider-Girl
- 9.1% - Ultimate X-Men
- 9.1% - X-Men Unlimited
- 9.2% - Ultimate Spider-Man
- 9.9% - X-Men
-10.6% - Black Panther
-11.6% - Runaways
-12.3% - Incredible Hulk
-14.0% - Marvel Knights 4
-14.9% - Young Avengers
-15.1% - Marvel Team-Up
-16.7% - Ultimate Secret
-24.1% - New Avengers
-27.2% - Wolverine
-31.2% - Marvel Adventures Spider-Man
-36.4% - AraÒa
-37.9% - Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
-46.7% - Amazing Fantasy

1 year comparisons
==================

+49.3% - She-Hulk
+25.3% - Mutopia X / District X
+21.0% - New Avengers / Avengers
+21.0% - Captain America
+16.4% - Exiles
+13.2% - Incredible Hulk
- 2.9% - X-Men Unlimited
- 5.4% - Marvel Knights Spider-Man
- 8.7% - New X-Men
-11.3% - Amazing Spider-Man
-13.4% - Punisher
-13.6% - Cable & Deadpool
-15.2% - Daredevil
-15.8% - X-Men
-16.4% - Ultimate Fantastic Four
-17.0% - Uncanny X-Men
-17.1% - Spider-Girl
-18.4% - Powers
-19.9% - Ultimate X-Men
-22.0% - Ultimate Galactus Trilogy
-22.2% - Ultimate Spider-Man
-31.6% - Black Widow
-31.8% - Marvel Knights 4
-37.8% - Wolverine
-46.3% - Thor
-51.3% - Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
-54.7% - Araña / Amazing Fantasy
-55.9% - Amazing Fantasy


2 year comparisons
==================

+117.3% - New Avengers / Avengers
+ 23.4% - Runaways
+ 9.9% - Weapon X
+ 6.6% - Captain America
+ 1.0% - Exiles
+ 1.0% - Powers
+ 0.9% - New X-Men / New Mutants
- 8.9% - Uncanny X-Men
- 10.2% - Wolverine
- 13.5% - Punisher
- 19.5% - Spider-Girl
- 19.6% - Thor
- 23.1% - Daredevil
- 23.5% - Incredible Hulk
- 24.4% - Ultimate Spider-Man
- 29.4% - X-Men / New X-Men
- 30.5% - Ultimate X-Men
- 46.6% - Amazing Spider-Man
- 75.4% - Marvel 1602

 

[Arkady Rossovich]

I hope that the Ultimate Line is eventually droped.

 

[Galactus]

Top 300 for November:

http://www.newsarama.com/marketreport/Nov05charts.html

 

[Dragon]

"The Other" is selling worse than "Sins Past".............

 

[Themanofbat]

"The Other" is selling worse than "Sins Past".............

But "The Other"'s numbers have increased compared to what was before.

And I'm kind of surprised that ASM is selling better than USM, which is good in my opinion.

 

[Dragon]

But "The Other"'s numbers have increased compared to what was before.

And I'm kind of surprised that ASM is selling better than USM, which is good in my opinion.

The Other is selling better than the previous issues, but Sins Past, which was considered a sales flop, sold higher than The Other. I'm sure they were expecting sales of this to at least match SP.

 

[Venom_uk]

"The Other" is selling worse than "Sins Past".............

This makes me happy.

 

[Zenien]

Wow, it's nice to see that comic books are still on the downward spiral.... How many years do you think we have left until we start reaching critical lows?

 

[Dragon]

Wow, it's nice to see that comic books are still on the downward spiral.... How many years do you think we have left until we start reaching critical lows?

The real question is, will the morons running Marvel realize the error of their ways before its too late?

 

[Venom_uk]

The real question is, will the morons running Marvel realize the error of their ways before its too late?

The answer is, probably not.

 

[Zenien]

If you compare averages for the majority of titles in the comics industry, I'm pretty sure they've been going down for a while. I wouldn't say that this is necessarilly a Marvel thing.

 

[Dragon]

If you compare averages for the majority of titles in the comics industry, I'm pretty sure they've been going down for a while. I wouldn't say that this is necessarilly a Marvel thing.

At least, it's easy to trace the problems in Marvel's comics to their editorial decisions.

 

[Zenien]

That doesn't really address the issue at all.

 

[ragingdemon155]

The real question is, will the morons running Marvel realize the error of their ways before its too late?

You know, I'm not disagreeing with you in the fact that Marvel has made a bunch of mistakes and that is of coarse one reason for the decline in sales....but at the same time, comics in general just aren't selling as well as they use to. Even the "well written" comics aren't. Year after year comics have continued to decline in sales. They aren't as popular as they use to be and that goes for both DC and Marvel.

 

[LarryLegend]

Yeah it is interesting that The Other is selling worse than Sins Past. Its also interesting that 13,000 less people bought MKSM, which had part 3 of The Other. Wonder what this months will be like?

 

[Symbiotica]

"Sales are plummeting? We're seeing double-digit decreases? Everyone gather 'round, I know exactly how we'll fix this ... WE'LL GIVE THEM MORE OF THE SAME!"

Absolutely brilliant marketing strategy.

 

[Dragon]

You know, I'm not disagreeing with you in the fact that Marvel has made a bunch of mistakes and that is of coarse one reason for the decline in sales....but at the same time, comics in general just aren't selling as well as they use to. Even the "well written" comics aren't. Year after year comics have continued to decline in sales. They aren't as popular as they use to be and that goes for both DC and Marvel.

Right. But there's a reasons that they're becoming less popular. If you're constantly given stories that run for 6 months with only story enough for 2 months, you're not going to buy them. If the month following the last issue of an arc a TPB is released with all of the issues of the arc, you're not going to buy them.

If Marvel continuously sucker punches their readers with nonsense like SP and The Other, they're not going to buy them.

You can see from the sales charts that the comics have dramatic changes from issue to issue, and often due to some "Big Event". There's a clear indicator that fans are jumping ship because the omcics aren't well produced.

As for the overall decline, it's because many of the readers who drop these books don't come back, and no new readers are being brought in. I meantioned on The Other thread how the comics are so repugnant in terms of graphc violence that kids simply can't read them. And few teens are going to start picking up the comics.

 

[Dragon]

That doesn't really address the issue at all.

Oct 04 Amazing Spider-Man #513 - 89,615 ( +1.1%)
Nov 04 Amazing Spider-Man #514 - 87,121 ( -2.8%)
Dec 04 Amazing Spider-Man #515 - 83,637 ( -4.0%)
Jan 05 Amazing Spider-Man #516 - 79,842 ( -4.5%)
Feb 05 Amazing Spider-Man #517 - 78,584 ( -1.6%)
Mar 05 Amazing Spider-Man #518 - 77,025 ( -2.0%)
Apr 05 Amazing Spider-Man #519 - 79,668 ( +3.4%)
May 05 Amazing Spider-Man #520 - 76,143 ( -4.4%)
Jun 05 Amazing Spider-Man #521 - 74,117 ( -2.7%)
Jul 05 Amazing Spider-Man #522 - 73,130 ( -1.3%)
Aug 05 Amazing Spider-Man #523 - 72,046 ( -1.5%)
Sep 05 Amazing Spider-Man #524 - 71,065 ( -1.4%)
Oct 05 Amazing Spider-Man #525 - 79,520 (+11.9%
Nov 05 Amazing Spider-Man #526 - 79,700

You can see from this that the sales rise and fall due to the start of new arcs, followed by displeasure with the arcs leading to fall off.

 

[stillanerd]

Right. But there's a reasons that they're becoming less popular. If you're constantly given stories that run for 6 months with only story enough for 2 months, you're not going to buy them. If the month following the last issue of an arc a TPB is released with all of the issues of the arc, you're not going to buy them.

If Marvel continuously sucker punches their readers with nonsense like SP and The Other, they're not going to buy them.

You can see from the sales charts that the comics have dramatic changes from issue to issue, and often due to some "Big Event". There's a clear indicator that fans are jumping ship because the omcics aren't well produced.

As for the overall decline, it's because many of the readers who drop these books don't come back, and no new readers are being brought in. I meantioned on The Other thread how the comics are so repugnant in terms of graphc violence that kids simply can't read them. And few teens are going to start picking up the comics.

That last comment is also why, in part, movies have also done poorly this year. Initially, more mature PG-13 and R rated films start of high at the box office but then fall after opening weekend while more family oriented or films geared for all ages are by and large far more successful.

Comics have been having the same problem and have since the last decade. Ever since Alan Moore and Frank Miller got popular, many comic creators assumed that part of their success had to do with their "dark and gritty" themes, so they adopted it for their own books, whether it was appropriate or not. After the initial appeal wore off, sales started to decline. Sure part of it had to do with attempting to catter to investment speculators, but I think that many readers just got turned off by what they were reading.

I think one of the reasons DC is kicking Marvels butt right now is because they're implying that the past 20 years or so have been TOO DARK and they want to LIGHTEN UP a bit. It is possible to tell stories that deal with dark themes and yet still make them appealing for readers of all ages. Its also possible to tell more upbeat stories without making them seem juvenile.

 

[Galactus]

Top 300 for December:

http://www.newsarama.com/marketreport/Dec05charts.html

 

[Norman Osborn]

Is Punisher selling that bad it's not even in the top 300?...or did I just miss it?....Nice to see New Avengers doing well....ASM appears to have dropped another 400 readers.....

 

[stillanerd]

Is Punisher selling that bad it's not even in the top 300?...or did I just miss it?....Nice to see New Avengers doing well....ASM appears to have dropped another 400 readers.....

Nor is ASM quite at the same levels that it was during Sins Past.

 

[Citizen_Kaine]

Punisher's number 58, What If

Good to see T-Bolts and Deadpool are still doing " well "

 

[Norman Osborn]

edit because (Never mind, now I see it)