Marvel NOW! Helps Industry Keep Pace with 2011 Sales Highs

[Omega Alpha]

UA#2 lost more than two thirds of the "readers" of the first issue, nice...

Of the top 30, there's only two books with Wolverine in it, and in the two of them he's a supporting player and clearly not the most important character in the story. Overexposure finally catching up? People don't care for Professor Runt, Role Model For Kids and Family Friendly Superhero? Or it's just coincidence?

[USERNAME TAKEN]

UA#2 lost more than two thirds of the "readers" of the first issue, nice...

Of the top 30, there's only two books with Wolverine in it, and in the two of them he's a supporting player and clearly not the most important character in the story. Overexposure finally catching up? People don't care for Professor Runt, Role Model For Kids and Family Friendly Superhero? Or it's just coincidence?

Wolverine is over exposed and his appearances really doesn't have much appeal anymore.

I mean, think about it, if I really wanted to get a Wolverine fix, I'd simply pick up either Wolverine and the X-men or Uncanny Avengers or Avengers or Uncanny X-force (although he's leaving this one soon).

Too much of anything is bad and the whole "Wolverine must be in this book to sell it" mentality has killed what was once unique about the character.

[Captain M]

I think the sales are low due to double ship. :/

[new_onslaught]

I think the sales are low due to double ship. :/

I hope so. Don't get me wrong, I don't want any publisher to have bad sales. That's bad for the industry. But Marvel has to learn that a lot of people don't like double shipping.

[Omega Alpha]

I think the sales are low due to double ship. :/

Sales for most titles are higher than they were years ago, so that's not it.

[Ari Gold]

Sales for most titles are higher than they were years ago, so that's not it.

Any examples?

[Omega Alpha]

Any examples?

From the same page we're getting these numbers:

One point on the Diamond chart equals 1,597 comics.

The Top 300 Comics sold
7.41 million copies
(up 6% vs. same month
previous year)
(up 7% vs. same month
5 years earlier)
(up 19% vs. same month
10 years earlier)

[Ari Gold]

From the same page we're getting these numbers:

Oh, ok, then perhaps it was a semantics issue. Overall the month sold better, but that's simply because there were so many #1's released.

And I question if "most titles are higher than they were years ago".

Thor #1 (2007): 165,267
Thor #1 (2012): 110,443

X-Men Legacy (2008): 88,076 [1st issue relaunched as X-Men Legacy]
X-Men Legacy (2012): 87,081

Hulk (2008): 133,895
Hulk (2012): 118,200

And judging by the drops we've seen so far from #2 to #1, I doubt the other books which exceeded recent relaunches (Capt. America, Iron Man, etc.) will remain ahead of their titles from recent years.

[Omega Alpha]

Oh, ok, then perhaps it was a semantics issue. Overall the month sold better, but that's simply because there were so many #1's released.

And I question if "most titles are higher than they were years ago".

Thor #1 (2007): 165,267
Thor #1 (2012): 110,443

X-Men Legacy (2008): 88,076 [1st issue relaunched as X-Men Legacy]
X-Men Legacy (2012): 87,081

Hulk (2008): 133,895
Hulk (2012): 118,200

And judging by the drops we've seen so far from #2 to #1, I doubt the other books which exceeded recent relaunches (Capt. America, Iron Man, etc.) will remain ahead of their titles from recent years.

The comparison doesn't work here exactly. For Thor, he was dead for 3 years, and it was his eagerly awaited return written by the writer of ASM at that time, with a big name artist in Oliver Coipel. Now it comes written by someone that doesn't have the name as JMS had at the time (even if he might be a better writer) nor with an artist as popular as Coipel, and after a very unpopular run, plus Thor is appearing in 3 Avengers books already.

Hulk was written by another very hyped team, and right after a big event that was focused on him. Now Hulk is coming from a very poorly received run.

X-men Legacy now has Legion, a C-lister at best, with a writer that is not so well known. Meanwhile, Mike Carey was coming off a popular X-men run.

[USERNAME TAKEN]

Oh, ok, then perhaps it was a semantics issue. Overall the month sold better, but that's simply because there were so many #1's released.

And I question if "most titles are higher than they were years ago".

Thor #1 (2007): 165,267
Thor #1 (2012): 110,443

X-Men Legacy (2008): 88,076 [1st issue relaunched as X-Men Legacy]
X-Men Legacy (2012): 87,081

Hulk (2008): 133,895
Hulk (2012): 118,200

And judging by the drops we've seen so far from #2 to #1, I doubt the other books which exceeded recent relaunches (Capt. America, Iron Man, etc.) will remain ahead of their titles from recent years.

Bah, those were order shipped in the month. I think a better comparison can be made with the year end sales figures which includes re-orders and total sales through the year for the titles.

Besides, Thor and Hulk have been relaunched recently, why go all the way back to 2008 to make comparisons? Hulk was just coming off a massive crossover (World War Hulk) and Thor had been gone for a number of years.

Regarding the second issues, one can't read too much into drops though since they were all double shipped.

Retailers filled out the order forms without actually being able to estimate demand for #2 because they were both shipped in the same month.

I think a clearer picture will emerge in the third month. That being said, (according to Bleeding Cool) most of the Marvel NOW titles have strong re-order activity.

[HaveAtThee]

Both Thor and Hulk titles were strong reads. I'm surprised they didn't do as well as Cap or Iron Man.

[USERNAME TAKEN]

Both Thor and Hulk titles were strong reads. I'm surprised they didn't do as well as Cap or Iron Man.

Those were just initial orders.

As things pan out, it's likely you'll see a very different picture.

[BrotherUnitNo_4]

Regarding the second issues, one can't read too much into drops though since they were all double shipped.

Retailers filled out the order forms without actually being able to estimate demand for #2 because they were both shipped in the same month.

I think a clearer picture will emerge in the third month. That being said, (according to Bleeding Cool) most of the Marvel NOW titles have strong re-order activity.

I don't know why people don't understand this.

And comparing to recent relaunches, all of the Marvel NOW books so far launched higher than the immediately preceding volume with the exception of the aforementioned X-Men Legacy.

[USERNAME TAKEN]

I don't know why people don't understand this.

And comparing to recent relaunches, all of the Marvel NOW books so far launched higher than the immediately preceding volume with the exception of the aforementioned X-Men Legacy.

Exactly.

I suspect the re-order activity will keep the sales on those titles pretty high.

At least, they've been doing strong business on comixology and those generally reflect sales in the direct market.

http://www.comixology.com/comics-best-sellers

A strong example of this was with Deadpool Kills. The mini completed dominated comixology but the retail orders were relatively low. However, the book had very,very high re-order activity that if added back to its original sales would have put the book in the top 30.