CBR: Sales Estimates for November, 2008

[CBR News]

John Mayo crunches the numbers for the Top 300 Comics & Top 100 Trades for November, 2008. Marvel took the top spot with "Ultimatum" #1, while DC Comics debuted at #2 with "Batman" #681.


Full article here.

[thefourthman]

I have a very hard time believing that Batman 681 sold less copies than Batman 680.

[Ray R.]

"The estimated total sales for the 300 comics was 5,765,097 comics which is down by 1,763,925 units from October and down by 1,185,793 units from November 2007."

23% drop in sales in ONE month? Down almost 20% from the same time period last year?

That can't be good.

[StoneGold]

"The estimated total sales for the 300 comics was 5,765,097 comics which is down by 1,763,925 units from October and down by 1,185,793 units from November 2007."

23% drop in sales in ONE month? Down almost 20% from the same time period last year?

That can't be good.

It must be because Spider-Man isn't married.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

"The estimated total sales for the 300 comics was 5,765,097 comics which is down by 1,763,925 units from October and down by 1,185,793 units from November 2007."

23% drop in sales in ONE month? Down almost 20% from the same time period last year?

That can't be good.

Yep.... I'm wondering how that price increase next year will factor in.

[JimmyDee]

Definitely a down month, but that said there was no issue of Final Crisis or Secret Invasion shipped this month. That accounts for about 350,000 individual unit sales, which is going to affect the overall month's numbers.

That said, if I were a retailer and found both Final Crisis and Secret Invasion skipping a month, I'd be hella pissed.

[suttercain]

This was the first month all year I didn't purchase any comics. But that's how it is for me ever December. I take a break and spend money on others. January will be back on though.

[bebopeva88]

"The estimated total sales for the 300 comics was 5,765,097 comics which is down by 1,763,925 units from October and down by 1,185,793 units from November 2007."

23% drop in sales in ONE month? Down almost 20% from the same time period last year?

That can't be good.

It looks bad, just based on the numbers, but in reality, it a large part of the drop was due to 6 of the top 10 comics from October (Secret Invasion, Final Crisis, New Avengers, Mighty Avengers, Astonishing X-Men, and Justice League of America) didn't have any issues that shipped in Nov. That's around 650k right there, if not more, depending on how big of an increase SI #8 might have had, compared to #7.

[Shellhead]

Maybe sales are still good, but DC and Marvel are sneaking in this large price hike to make up for all the late-shipping titles.

[Ray R.]

It looks bad, just based on the numbers, but in reality, it a large part of the drop was due to 6 of the top 10 comics from October (Secret Invasion, Final Crisis, New Avengers, Mighty Avengers, Astonishing X-Men, and Justice League of America) didn't have any issues that shipped in Nov. That's around 650k right there, if not more, depending on how big of an increase SI #8 might have had, compared to #7.

I give you a generous allotment of 750,000 for your 6 books and it's still down a MILLION books in one month.

And irrespective of the book sales in October, down over a MILLION from the same time last year.

There's Enron-like spinning going on here.

When books are shipping in quantities of 20,000 or so as medium-to-high sellers, a million is hardly a number to dismiss.

[Shellhead]

Maybe part of the problem is the price hike. Did anybody else notice that the average sales price on Marvel's comics in November was $3.57? And what Marvel comic was selling for $10.00 an issue last month? Jeez. I have trouble justifying $3.00 an issue for most of Marvel's fare, $4.00 is just way too much for their decompressed, deadline-missing, antiheroic, Bendis-directed crap. The second that Iron Man goes to $4.00, I'm done buying new Marvel comics.

[ZeoVGM]

Maybe part of the problem is the price hike. Did anybody else notice that the average sales price on Marvel's comics in November was $3.57? And what Marvel comic was selling for $10.00 an issue last month? Jeez. I have trouble justifying $3.00 an issue for most of Marvel's fare, $4.00 is just way too much for their decompressed, deadline-missing, antiheroic, Bendis-directed crap. The second that Iron Man goes to $4.00, I'm done buying new Marvel comics.

Looks like you don't know what you're talking about.

Saying "paying $4 for Bendis-directed crap is part of the problem" is factually incorrect. Bendis' books are constantly top sellers.

(Oh, and it's not crap. Most of what Bendis does is great. But I get the he one of the most popular writers, so it's cool to hate on him now.)

[Tadhg]

Except he didn't say that. You are quite literally putting words in his mouth. He asked a question(is the price hike part of the problem) and gave an opinion(that he wasn't willing to pay 4.00 for "decompressed, deadline-missing, antiheroic, Bendis-directed crap").

And even if he did posit that Bendis' books were part of the problem, their being top-sellers wouldn't definitively disprove that if(I'm using if instead of since since I didn't bother to investigate Bendis' sales in relation to the market as a whole since I'm not saying that he is the problem, rather just illustrating that your refutation isn't necessarily correct) his sales are shrinking along with the rest of the market.

Of course, it's really too early to tell whether these sales numbers are a blip or a trend but it is not good regardless.

[howyadoin]

It looks bad, just based on the numbers...

Well, numbers are generally what we use to estimate sales and profits.

[K'Nort]

(Oh, and it's not crap. Most of what Bendis does is great. But I get the he one of the most popular writers, so it's cool to hate on him now.)

You do realize that your saying that is equally shallow? (And equally popular.) Yes?


I happen to like Bendis. But no one is required to.