Are Sales on USM Pause for Concern?

[Chris S.]

So I brought this up in the other threads about how USM has been dropping sales. Sales came up a lot on the Spider-Man thread after OMD and into the BND world. We talked a lot about if the new direction was successful or not.

Sales figures since the start of the book courtesy of Spike-X

U.Spider-Man v3 #1 - 95,483 (+143.6%)
09/11 U.Spider-Man v3 #2 - 58,672 ( -38.6%)
10/11 U.Spider-Man v3 #3 - 52,521 ( -10.5%)
11/11 U.Spider-Man v3 #4 - 51,558 ( -1.8%)
12/11 U.Spider-Man v3 #5 - 48,308 ( -6.3%)
01/12 U.Spider-Man v3 #6 - 49,840 ( +3.2%)
02/12 U.Spider-Man v3 #7 - 45,266 ( -9.2%)
03/12 U.Spider-Man v3 #8 - 46,290 ( +2.3%)
04/12 U.Spider-Man v3 #9 - 43,724 ( -5.5%)
05/12 U.Spider-Man v3 #10 - 42,356 ( -3.1%)
06/12 U.Spider-Man v3 #11 - 42,549 ( +0.5%)
07/12 U.Spider-Man v3 #12 - 42,050 ( -1.2%)
08/12 U.Spider-Man v3 #13 - 42,642 ( +1.4%)

And rounding it out:

September 2012 - 40, 435
October 2012 - 39, 676
November 2012 - 38,485

These numbers show a gradual drop off. This has me concerned.

I think what concerns me more is the drop off of Ultimate titles across the board. There are a lot of implications and possibilities for this drop off. A big one is that 7 or 8 years ago Marvel was really focusing on this line and people thought it would slowly replace 616. Now Marvel does not seem to be focusing on it like they used too.

The books quality have all dropped since Ultimatum. We could blame Loeb if we wanted, although I've never been one for hating the man that brought us Batman: The Long Halloween and Spider-Man: Blue, but to each their own.

Thoughts?

Edit: Crap I meant USM in the titles! Could a Mod please edit? Thanks!

[CrazyOldHermit]

It's fairly normal for a title to slowly lose readers.

[Chris S.]

It's fairly normal for a title to slowly lose readers.

That's all you got? Not a successful one. And in a year to loose that many is concerning.

[Codah]

I've been wondering about this too. The Ultimate U is my most beloved line in comics. Ultimate X-Men and Ultimates aren't even in the 30k's anymore. Ultimate Iron Man has been selling around 20k. Those numbers are good if they were creator owned, but as Marvel titles they're not selling up to standard. I'd hate to see the UU go away. I don't even have any suggestions. If people aren't reading Ultimate X-Men right now, they're just stupid. Maybe Marvel could push it more, idk.

[Xistel]

Ultimate Universe has been losing readers consistently since Ultimatum, and rarely getting readers in. Something has to change. I feel it's lost it's flair (at one point is was the only universe I read. I didn't even want to hear about 616, now, it's almost opposite). It used to be so vibrant and tight and very enjoyable. It used to be that even if other title weren't stellar sales-wise, at least USM was always leading the charge...

Basically what I feel is that the UU is simply scattered

I wouldn't mind a reset in the vein of New 52 (but not quite the same) and keep the story going from before ultimatum (since it's regarded as the best period). I mean like New 52 in the way that not all history is deleted, only picked and filtered.

But of course, what I propose is extremely hard to do and would never happen.

[sage6paths]

I've been wondering about this too. The Ultimate U is my most beloved line in comics. Ultimate X-Men and Ultimates aren't even in the 30k's anymore. Ultimate Iron Man has been selling around 20k. Those numbers are good if they were creator owned, but as Marvel titles they're not selling up to standard. I'd hate to see the UU go away. I don't even have any suggestions. If people aren't reading Ultimate X-Men right now, they're just stupid. Maybe Marvel could push it more, idk.

Ultimate X-men is double shipping and it's constantly the same number on both issues.

UCXM 18.1 25,425
UCXM 19	25,419

sO Ucxm is probably making the most money right now because of DS even though it's the same readers. I have said this before and I will say it again the whole ultimate line need to be double shipped. that will definitely help out the company and not cause cancellations.

[Chris S.]

Ultimate X-men is double shipping and it's constantly the same number on both issues.

UCXM 18.1 25,425
UCXM 19	25,419

sO Ucxm is probably making the most money right now because of DS even though it's the same readers. I have said this before and I will say it again the whole ultimate line need to be double shipped. that will definitely help out the company and not cause cancellations.

Hmm... but isn't the cost of production twice as high? I'm not sure how that works. How consistent has the book been at 25k? I know I dropped it about 3 months ago. I don't think any book selling at 25k is doing well.

[Codah]

Ultimate X-men is double shipping and it's constantly the same number on both issues.

UCXM 18.1 25,425
UCXM 19	25,419

sO Ucxm is probably making the most money right now because of DS even though it's the same readers. I have said this before and I will say it again the whole ultimate line need to be double shipped. that will definitely help out the company and not cause cancellations.

That's a good point. I was pondering on that too and I think you're right. Double shipping probably would be beneficial for the line. Spider-Man seems like it takes forever to come out. I've been enjoying the extra helping of X-Men a lot.

EDIT:

Even so, the standard being 25k isn't great. It would take Marvel acknowledging that the Ultimate line is the "creator-owned" flair of their company and be okay with the low sales. They certainly aren't losing money on the books but they're never going to be at the top of the sales charts.

[Shade 20x6]

It's fairly normal for a title to slowly lose readers.

Taking away the bump from issue #1, a 35% loss of readership in a little over one year is certainly a cause for concern.

I gave the series five issues to pull me in, but it didn't, so I dropped it. I'm sure many others did the same.

[Chris S.]

Even so, the standard being 25k isn't great. It would take Marvel acknowledging that the Ultimate line is the "creator-owned" flair of their company and be okay with the low sales. They certainly aren't losing money on the books but they're never going to be at the top of the sales charts.

I feel like that isn't the right attitude. The book was called the Gold Standard of the Marvel line 10 or so years ago. In that amount of time they've shifted to accepting 25k sales? That is awful.

For the people that have been around here awhile, I used to say that once the original creative teams left the books that the quality would quickly start sliding off. It took longer then I thought, but that is generally what we are seeing across the board.

I've also said this before, but I see Marvel preparing to move Bendis off this book. When they can plop him on any 616 title and have it sell in the top 20, what would they gain in leaving him on here? The only reason I could see him staying is because it is his brain child.

And Shade, I agree on the 5 issue cap; heck I usually only give it 3 or so. I've given Bendis longer, but this book just isn't cutting it anymore. Show me something already Bendis!

[Spiderman 1]

While I kept reading Miles Spidey's stories I can honestly say I'm not interested on the title half as much as when Peter was the lead man. And I don't blame it on Miles, he is interesting but the "Spider-Man" name is a heavy one to carry. Maybe if Miles had been a friend of Peter and we had grown to at least like him and know about his family before the change, it could be more interesting to me. Ben Reilly suffered from it to, and I really liked him, maybe some titles are not made to have the passing of the mantle. Spidey's a good example of this, so was Dragon Ball Z when the author wanted Gohan to be the lead character but people kept wanting Gokou back.

Passing of the mantle that I personally think worked would be Robin-Batman and Bucky Cap.

[Xistel]

While I kept reading Miles Spidey's stories I can honestly say I'm not interested on the title half as much as when Peter was the lead man. And I don't blame it on Miles, he is interesting but the "Spider-Man" name is a heavy one to carry. Maybe if Miles had been a friend of Peter and we had grown to at least like him and know about his family before the change, it could be more interesting to me. Ben Reilly suffered from it to, and I really liked him, maybe some titles are not made to have the passing of the mantle. Spidey's a good example of this, so was Dragon Ball Z when the author wanted Gohan to be the lead character but people kept wanting Gokou back.

Passing of the mantle that I personally think worked would be Robin-Batman and Bucky Cap.

The passing of the mantle is much more common in the DC Universe, with Green Lantern, Flash, Batman to some extent.

I just don't see that kind of idea working in Marvel.

As I've said repeatedly, Miles is a cool character. But he is not Spider-Man. (For me of course)

[StepsOntheMoon]

Maybe Marvel factors in sales of the collected volumes? Like I didn't buy the first ten issues of UCSM individually, I bought Vol 1 and 2 that collected them, and have since got the issues. I mean I'm sure Marvel adjusts sales expectations for an era where people don't buy individual comics like they would have in the past....

also Peter is great....but he isn't Spider-man. He's dead.

[Robbie_Jee]

In 15 months, UC: Spider-Man has dropped 50 places in the charts, from 9 to 59.

UC: X-Men continues to be the worst selling Ultimate ongoing.

UC: Iron Man is out of the top 100.

We no longer have any Ultimate comics in the top 50.

Each book is now struggling to sell more than 30k physical sales each month.

State of success for the Ultimate line is in steady decline.

Not good. Hopefully after the hype surrounding Marvel NOW! has calmed down in a few months time, the Ultimate titles will start to go UP the charts instead of down.

[atlasjj]

It makes me a depressed to think the sales are as low as they are for Ultimate Spider-Man and even Ultimate X-Men. Though there are other series that have much lower sales that are still being published. So I only hope Marvel stays happy with how the Ultimate line is selling so they won't cancel.

And as Robbie_Jay posted maybe after the whole Marvel Now thing is done, the three series could go up in sales. Heck with all the positive talk of Ultimate X-Men it could go up soon.