Keeping track of Post-Rebirth Superman sales

[upgrayedd]

Even bad leaders can make good decisions at times. And Rebirth seems to be one of them, sacrificing a whole initiative in hopes people you dont like will get the boot is just as bad.


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lol, a broken clock is correct twice a day.

[SuperCrab]

Oh and don't be so sure If sales tank DC will still publish Superman comics. I really do think the character and franchise is at the point that if we end up with bad sales for much longer you just might see the Superman line drastically cut down or just canceled outright for a time.

Right now, Superman is published twice monthly, Action Comics is published twice monthly, and soon there will be the twice monthly Justice League comic and the once monthly Trinity comic, both of which include Superman. So, we are ramping up to seven issues of Superman stuff a month, not counting limited run miniseries. Could they cut down on that if sales plummet? Absolutely. Would I be okay with that happening if it facilitated good changes and a status quo I could enjoy, with the possibility of production ramping back up in the future? Absolutely. I'll take Superman or Action Comics once a month publishing a Superman I like and that being the only Superman book over a zillion books, some double shipping, that don't feature what I want to read- although I doubt the drop-off in titles would be that extreme. Keep in mind this is a publisher with 50ish issues a month of various things that they publisher- it's unlikely that sales could drop enough that they wouldn't give some version of Superman an issue or two and try to retool fan and consolidate all the fans around one book and see if that works. It's outsell the bottom third of their books based on name recognition alone, I'd imagine.

Basically, there is a lot they can cut back on as a reaction to slower sales, before they hit no titles at all. Even if they cut back to one title with a retooled Superman, plus Justice league, and the retooled title failed, they might keep him in Justice League, or retool again. Heck, I think Superman is so iconic that if DC Comics in general packed up shop, Marvel or some other publisher would try to license him and see if they could revive interest.

#1s will always sell well, that's why Marvel always releases new #1's every chance they get. DC's just now catching on. It would have been something absolutely unheard of if a main Superman title's #1 sold poorly.

Good point. Things may be different sales wise once the storylines start and people see what they are getting. #1s attract a lot of collectors and fans with certain hopes. Eventually, as the series progresses, the collectors fade a bit (#7s aren't as valuable as #1s), as do some of the people who have their hopes dashed (My feeling is that not everyone who bought that Rebirth #1 or who buys the Superman #1 in a couple weeks is going to be buying it expecting a book with a big focus on Superman's immediate family and a lot of point of view thought bubbles from his superson- I wonder how many of the casual comic store book people know that Tomasi has described the book as featuring Lois and Jon as much as Superman, with a lot of it being told from Jon's point of view, and the first few issues being mostly being quiet tales about their family dynamic. I expect to see drop-off after say #3 of that title when it's Jon focus becomes obvious, that gets even more pronounced if the second arc doesn't change gears. Action Comics' first arc since more Superman vs. Luthor vs Doomsday focused- which I could see retaining an audience, because it's in theory more classic Superman and not this family stuff (That may not be true inside the issues themselves, or on subsequent arcs, but all signs point to it possibly being the case for the first arc, at least).

Of course, many casual fans read Superman because it's Superman, and don't necessarily know that Action Comics is a Superman title. Superman almost always outsells Action Comics. It'll be interested here, because, with Action Comics getting the better story points in the first arc, it's sales may not be nearly as far behind the Superman title as usual.

[Frontier]

Yeah, sorry I have to agree that is childish. It's just as bad as some of the people who were rooting for Nuperman's failure sales wise 5 years ago because hr wasn't wearing the trunks.if you don't like it, don't read it. Simple as that.

Oh and don't be so sure If sales tank DC will still publish Superman comics. I really do think the character and franchise is at the point that if we end up with bad sales for much longer you just might see the Superman line drastically cut down or just canceled outright for a time.

Case in point, Fantastic Four at marvel. It has been one of Marvel's poorest selling of their main franchises and everyone just assumed because of its status as Marvels flagship book that started the modern marvel universe it would always be published regardless of sales. If it can happen there it can happen with Superman.

But with the FF, there was also the added issue of Marvel not having the movie rights, which was another incentive not to publish anymore Fantastic Four comics. It's why the FF have basically no media presence anymore alongside the X-Men, because Marvel doesn't want to promote or push properties they don't have the movie rights to.

By comparison, Superman still features in cartoons, animated movies, live-action films, and his cousin is now starring in a popular live-action TV show heading to the CW. And we've got multiple books in the line coming out in contrast to to just the one FF book out before the big cancellation.

Superman is still a valuable IP for DC Comics, even if some of the creative decisions surrounding the line seem questionable.

[adrikito]

It's a hunch .. I think Action Comics will sell at more than Superman..

Without the child the character could highlight more.

Although I not interested in it, unlike any comments, I think I have not thrown flashes of hate.. Just my opinion

[Kuwagaton]

To be clear people: that "venting" stuff is over. Anyone who might care what you think about the line already knows.

And yeah CWII is twice the price but that honestly doesn't stop a slam dunk. I think DK3 and one or two others came out super expensive like that, too.

[DragonPiece]

Sales will continue to be the best they have been in years, DC Rebirth will spark a new light for the company.

[Tony]

Superman Rebirth #1 is the 4th best selling of the day on Comixology, even selling more than Civil War 2 #1. Other new comics of note that it's outselling are All-New, All Different Avengers, Invincible Iron Man, Amazing Spider-Man, Old Man Logan. These comics chart well digitally, placing close to Ms. Marvel when they are released on the same week, so it's fair to say that Superman Rebirth is off to a great start in terms of digital sales.

It's placement in the digital charts, means it sold at least a 1000 copies digitally on its first day.

I picked it up digitally, I'm over floppies. I do think they need to implement a subscription discount. For now I'm going with only Action and Superman at full price and will pay $1.99 for some others but most will have to be $.99 sales. If they implement yearly subscription discounts like they always did with print I'd follow a whole lot of DC in real time.

[L.R Johansson]

As title of the thread suggests, this thread is to keep track of and comment on the sales of the Superman line after the relaunch. Whatever your feelings about the current direction, good sales are more likely to help the Superman line than hurt it in the good run.

We we won't have the numbers for print sales until a month from now, but we do have some info on digital sales.

Superman Rebirth #1 is the 4th best selling of the day on Comixology, even selling more than Civil War 2 #1. Other new comics of note that it's outselling are All-New, All Different Avengers, Invincible Iron Man, Amazing Spider-Man, Old Man Logan. These comics chart well digitally, placing close to Ms. Marvel when they are released on the same week, so it's fair to say that Superman Rebirth is off to a great start in terms of digital sales.

It's placement in the digital charts, means it sold at least a 1000 copies digitally on its first day.

If some of you are wondering how I got that number when digital numbers aren't released, it's actually quite simple. Comixology has a best sellers list which keeps track of the best selling comics on a daily basis. There are 1004 comics on the list, meaning the the 1004th comic on the list has to sell at least 1 copy to make in onto the list, the 1003rd comic the list has to sell at least 2 copies to be ahead of the 1004th comic, etc. This means the 4th comic on the list, Superman Rebirth #1 has to have sold at least 1000 copies in order to secure it's placement on the list.

As I said, this is a good start for Superman in terms of sales. It's not the first time the Superman books have charted this well digitally, but selling more than Civil War #2, Spider-Man, Avengers, and Iron Man is an achievement.

Interesting - when was the last time Superman charted this high on comixology?

This certainly also proves that there's definitely still interest in Superman - all DC have to do is keep to the basics and give him some proper marketing. = )

(when I say basics, I mean, DON'T do stuff like "Truth" or "New Krypton")

[Dolores - The Worst Poster Ever]

Interesting - when was the last time Superman charted this high on comixology?

This certainly also proves that there's definitely still interest in Superman - all DC have to do is keep to the basics and give him some proper marketing. = )

(when I say basics, I mean, DON'T do stuff like "Truth" or "New Krypton")

Superman #52 charted very well, maintaining the number 3 position for almost the entire week. It dropped to number 4 when the week was just about up, and moved down to number 4 while Steve Rogers #1 took the number 3 spot.

"Truth" was actually charting very well for its first few issues, at least one issue of Superman or Action outsold an issue of Ms Marvel, but it couldn't maintain that momentum. DC's had a few titles that were doing very well digitally until eventually something went wrong. Batgirl and Grayson are two examples of that. Both were selling very well, outcharting bigger name comics, but have since charted much lower than they used to. With Batgirl I think it's due to delays and the loss of Babs Tarr as the only artist on the book, and with Grayson I think it's the loss of the original creative team.

The impressive thing with Superman Rebirth #1 is that it's outselling Civil War #2. Only Batman Rebirth #1 and Walking Dead #155 are outselling it, and the Walking Dead is a massive digital seller which outsells Ms Marvel when they are released on the same day.

[Dolores - The Worst Poster Ever]

Day 4

Superman Rebirth #1 remains in the number 3 position.

Minimum sales at 4003.

[vasir12]

Day 4

Superman Rebirth #1 remains in the number 3 position.

Minimum sales at 4003.

The fact that is continues to beat Civil War is very good.

[Darkspellmaster]

A few things come to mind in regard to this, and I'm really glad that Superman is charting at #3 here. Sad that he can't beat out Batman, but I'm not surprised by that given that Batman has been given priority treatment over Superman for years by WB. But anyway:

The first thing in regard to Civil War II being in fifth place. I don't think it's just the price tag, Secret wars was just as high, I think, but I also suspect that it has something to do with the fact that a lot of Marvel fans right now are burned out from the delayed SW in the first place and it feels like Civil war came way to fast. Second thing is the story line in regard to what they're fighting over and why. It's very much a Minority Report sort of thing, and I think people are tired from the infighting with the marvel heroes right now and want some sort of break from it.

Second thing is that I'm betting a good number of readers that ditched Superman when the 52 series came out are coming back and probably fans of Smallville as well are picking it up as it sort of feels like a continuation of the story in that respect. As well as younger readers who are now going into college or are older then they were when the new 52 came out, as well as fans of Supergirl and some fans of Man of Steel are buying into this. Price point too is a good way to go, and I think the fact that DC is pitching this as a more up beat feeling superman helps a lot.

Lastly I don't get why some are thinking this change is due to shipping? The pairing of Lois and Clark has been around for ages, but I doubt that that drove DC to make this choice. I think they wanted to try something different with Superman that other series aren't willing to try. Also I have a feeling that they saw some of the numbers of Renew Your Vows and that helped them push this a bit more in that they probably can see Superman being more of a Family guy, also it works opposite of Batman who already has a son. So I don't think Shipping had anything to do with the choices made here.

[SuperCrab]

This certainly also proves that there's definitely still interest in Superman - all DC have to do is keep to the basics and give him some proper marketing. = )

(when I say basics, I mean, DON'T do stuff like "Truth" or "New Krypton")

Or kill off Superman and replace him with a Superman from another dead universe that turns out to be sort of kind be our universe in disguise but manipulated by a guy from the Watchmen, and have this Superman be old and married with a 10 year old son who has powers and likes to fight bad guys, with the new old Superman who was wearing a black suit for a while but is now wearing a traditional Superman costume starting Wednesday and doesn't live in Metropolis, and where there is a separate guy named Clark Kent who works at the Daily Planet who is not this Superman. Oh, and some guy named Mr. Oz says both the dead Superman and Superdad are not who they think they are. Sounds like they are keeping to basics to me. Wait, um, no.

Keeping to basics would have been to restore the new52 Superman's secret identity and job at the Daily Planet. That's simple. That's the classic Superman setup.

[vasir12]

Or kill off Superman and replace him with a Superman from another dead universe that turns out to be sort of kind be our universe in disguise but manipulated by a guy from the Watchmen, and have this Superman be old and married with a 10 year old son who has powers and likes to fight bad guys, with the new old Superman who was wearing a black suit for a while but is now wearing a traditional Superman costume starting Wednesday and doesn't live in Metropolis, and where there is a separate guy named Clark Kent who works at the Daily Planet who is not this Superman. Oh, and some guy named Mr. Oz says both the dead Superman and Superdad are not who they think they are. Sounds like they are keeping to basics to me. Wait, um, no.

Keeping to basics would have been to restore the new52 Superman's secret identity and job at the Daily Planet. That's simple. That's the classic Superman setup.

Do we really need to keep the classic Superman setup, though?

[SuperCrab]

Do we really need to keep the classic Superman setup, though?

The premise of the post I was replying to seemed to be that, yes, we do. I was just taking it and running with it with the purposes of my reply. You're right that it's a debatable premise. I just didn't want to get into all that at the time I was posting.