Marvel's Sales of August 2017

[Materiel]

Man, those numbers are horrible. And in this climate, when nerd culture is mainstream and attracts such huge numbers, both companies have paid a hefty price for shoddy editorial decisions over the last few years.

'Mainstream' nerd culture is buying a t-shirt, not a book.

[InformationGeek]

Meanwhile, in other sales charts, we have August 2017's Top 20 Adult Fiction Graphic Novel from NPD BookScan! Marvel........... has nothing in the Top 20. DC has two books, but they're just reprints. Image and a few other American publishers have a few, but... My Hero Academia Vol. 9 is the biggest seller of the month.


Checking past lists, Marvel had two books in the Top 20 for July... both Star Wars books. In fact, they only come back into the list in March with two reprints of Millar's Old Man Logan and the bigger edition of Black Panther. Back again for February with Black Panther Book One, Civil War II: Electric Boogaloo, and Star Wars Vol. 4. January again has Black Panther Book One and the Han Solo collection.


Manga eats up a loooooooot of these slots.

[Crimz]

Too many good books are much lower than they should be and I blame Marvel's lack of advertising, which is a symptom of them having too many books to advertise adequately.

They really need to lower the amount as it's hurting their own books in the long run.

[rui no onna]

Meanwhile, in other sales charts, we have August 2017's Top 20 Adult Fiction Graphic Novel from NPD BookScan! Marvel........... has nothing in the Top 20. DC has two books, but they're just reprints. Image and a few other American publishers have a few, but... My Hero Academia Vol. 9 is the biggest seller of the month.


Checking past lists, Marvel had two books in the Top 20 for July... both Star Wars books. In fact, they only come back into the list in March with two reprints of Millar's Old Man Logan and the bigger edition of Black Panther. Back again for February with Black Panther Book One, Civil War II: Electric Boogaloo, and Star Wars Vol. 4. January again has Black Panther Book One and the Han Solo collection.


Manga eats up a loooooooot of these slots.

Manga's price point is usually more friendly to the budget constrained. Typically 200 pages for $9.99-12.99. The 2-in-1 or 3-in-1 volumes for $14.99 are even better deals. The numbering is quite accessible and logical, too. You start with volume 1 and continue from there. No crossovers, either. Everything is self-contained and there's very low barrier to entry.

[Frontier]

Too many good books are much lower than they should be and I blame Marvel's lack of advertising, which is a symptom of them having too many books to advertise adequately.

They really need to lower the amount as it's hurting their own books in the long run.

Well, Legacy seems to be cutting back to some degree, though if it is a stopgap I imagine we'll be seeing a lot of books come to a close...and then the question is what we can expect from the next relaunch.

[goledensilence]

Both DC & Marvel definitely need to cut back on the number of series they release for a particular hero or team. Prime example, I don't understand why Marvel decided to release a regular Guardians of the Galaxy series next to a Groot series next to a Rocket Raccoon series next to a Star Lord series and next to a Telltale Games Guardians of the Galaxy series. They should know from the jump that most of those titles will do bad (don't understand why they decided to release a GotG series for the Telltale Game).

Didn't really want to talk about DC since this is the Marvel forum, but they really need to learn how to make heroes not named Batman or Superman popular. Batman alone has more series going on than the other DC heroes combined.

[Redjack]

Another month, another round of "let fans explain why being the #1 publisher means that you're completely failing!"

Does anyone spend as much time worrying that DC is so frequently a distant second as they do trying to explain why Marvel being #1 so often is a sign of their imminent collapse?

And if being in second place so much doesn't mean that your business is tanking, Marvel shouldn't worry. If they ever fall to second on a regular basis, DC has proved that you can go on like that for years. Indefinitely, even.



Cho's Hulk book sells about as well as Banner's last volume, I believe. Probably higher, actually. Stark is on his way back and in the meantime, Invincible Iron Man has held steady. Old Man Logan is a consistently high seller and Laura's book is steady as well. Both sell about as well or better than the last Logan-starring Wolverine volume. Steve Rogers: Captain America has sold consistently well throughout the Hydra Cap storyline. Again, on par or better than the previous Cap volume from Remender. Mighty Thor is another steady title. One that has kept its sales at a level that Odinson Thor didn't always achieve. And Miles' Spider-Man book is another steady selling book. I mean, it out sold classic heroes from the other side of the aisle like Green Lantern, Green Arrow and Aquaman in August. So it seems like there's a sizable audience for him.

And as Marvel was, again, #1 for the month I don't think anything is "killing" Marvel comics. Certainly not any of these books you listed.

it's almost as if arithmetic actually does matter more than opinions when you're talking about sales and marketplace competition.

[rui no onna]

Didn't really want to talk about DC since this is the Marvel forum, but they really need to learn how to make heroes not named Batman or Superman popular. Batman alone has more series going on than the other DC heroes combined.

I don't think that's a choice of the publisher. Sometimes, there are just some things that click with the audience (e.g. Sandman, Harry Potter, Walking Dead, Ms Marvel).

[rui no onna]

You totally have power point presentations on comic books sells at home don't you? With online, mail order pulls, scholastic (marvel), and trades increasing popularity the direct market LCS though the largest sells point is not the only mark for a book like Moon Girl doing well, Marvel has to be making some kind of money on it or it would not be on issue 23 at the moment. I agree that there is a saturation point when it comes to most titles but there are a few that can be taking out of the equation.

Where did I say Moon Girl was doing poorly? I expect Moon Girl is doing very well via school book fairs along with titles such as Ms Marvel, Lumberjanes, DCSHG and Gotham Academy. However, not every book can be sold via that channel and based on Marvel's frequent cancellations/renumberings (Solo, Foolkiller, Prowler, Star Lord, Rocket, Gamora, Elektra, Kingpin, BP WoW, BP Crew, etc), I believe they do expect single issues to be self-sustaining (or even profitable at a predetermined level) on a lot of their titles.

Mind, I expect both BP titles will do well via book channel given the authors on the books. It's a shame Marvel didn't bother waiting for at least the first trade before cancelling.

[rui no onna]

Too many good books are much lower than they should be and I blame Marvel's lack of advertising, which is a symptom of them having too many books to advertise adequately.

They really need to lower the amount as it's hurting their own books in the long run.

Nah. Price point and distribution channel.

Of course, Marvel could be gaining tens of thousands of new readers via Marvel Unlimited, Kindle Unlimited, etc. and that's largely invisible to us. Digital subscription is an area where DC is very much behind Marvel likely because they're far more dependent on backlist TPB sales for revenue and digital subscription could cannibalize that.

[DDM]

What sticks out to me is how poorly the satellite X-titles are doing.

The X-line was a juggernaut (pun fully intended) for many years and anything remotely connected to them sold. I'm enjoying X-men Gold and Astonishing X-men but more needs to be done.

In as much as Legacy is bringing back some of the classic heroes, I think Marvel need to consider fully restoring the X-men to their most popular incarnation. This will mean bringing back adult Cyclops, Jean Grey, Professor X etc. In addition, if Marvel want to bring back Generation X, bring back the original team, I'm pretty sure there lots of people that would love to read the book.

Even with 3 books under 20k it's really not too bad, especially compared to other franchises. Avengers is faring much worse, in fact the main team book there is being outsold by all three core X-Men books and even one satellite team (Weapon X).

[Blueblox]

Same. Specially that LGBT characters don't sell, considering Iceman, Angela, etc.

If your entire personality is "I'm gay" then you are really not doing yourself any favors. LGBT characters can sell, they just need better writers.

As someone that is LGBT I can't tell you how frustrating it is to see a gay character who's only personality is "I'm flamboyantly gay". We aren't all caricatures! It also doesn't create for a good character, "just gay" isn't an interesting character trait.


Also, Iceman being manipulated to be gay has got to be one of the worst character assassinations of all time. 50 years of character development down the toilet. What Jean Grey did to Iceman is barbaric!

[skyvolt2000]

Didn't really want to talk about DC since this is the Marvel forum, but they really need to learn how to make heroes not named Batman or Superman popular. Batman alone has more series going on than the other DC heroes combined.

That is a consequence of letting 2 franchise control everything and having a sense of I got these two and that is all that matters. Let not forget the there can only be ONE mindset with Flash & Green Lantern. Two franchises where you can have something for everybody.

DC wants PROFIT from certain characters. Top 20 of sales and only Batman takes 6 spots?

All DC POC are at the bottom? Books like Motor Crush, Black Panther WOW & Hellcat can beat Green Arrow and others in trades on amazon? Prowler BEAT Titans in trade sales in June. Yet I am suppose to be happy that Batman sells? That's a given. I need Cyborg to sell.

What sticks out to me is how poorly the satellite X-titles are doing.

The X-line was a juggernaut (pun fully intended) for many years and anything remotely connected to them sold. I'm enjoying X-men Gold and Astonishing X-men but more needs to be done.

In as much as Legacy is bringing back some of the classic heroes, I think Marvel need to consider fully restoring the X-men to their most popular incarnation. This will mean bringing back adult Cyclops, Jean Grey, Professor X etc. In addition, if Marvel want to bring back Generation X, bring back the original team, I'm pretty sure there lots of people that would love to read the book.

Of course they are doing badly. How many folks got turned off of X-Men by the behavior towards Inhumans? Especially by comic book store owners. A situation that no Inhuman fan or writer started-that was management.

All these Inhuman bashing threads.....

Maybe some effort should be spent on promoting those X-Men books and what is good about them. Promote the older books and show how interesting the franchise WAS. Instead of this Inhuman bashing.

Because folks are watching and reading. All this Marvel bashing has CONSEQUENCES and for many of the "favorites" that many scream for-are going to suffer for it.

[ZuLuLu]

Didn't really want to talk about DC since this is the Marvel forum, but they really need to learn how to make heroes not named Batman or Superman popular. Batman alone has more series going on than the other DC heroes combined.

Exactly look at the top 20 with the exception of 1 book (Flash) all the other DC's book there are Batman related.

I don't what to make this a DC verses Marvel issue because I do think each company have their problems but I cannot take people serious who look at these numbers every month and see Marvel as on the brink of failure but in the same breath talk about DC's success strategy.

[nandes]

Of course they are doing badly. How many folks got turned off of X-Men by the behavior towards Inhumans? Especially by comic book store owners. A situation that no Inhuman fan or writer started-that was management.

All these Inhuman bashing threads.....

Maybe some effort should be spent on promoting those X-Men books and what is good about them. Promote the older books and show how interesting the franchise WAS. Instead of this Inhuman bashing.

Because folks are watching and reading. All this Marvel bashing has CONSEQUENCES and for many of the "favorites" that many scream for-are going to suffer for it.

What you are trying to imply exactly? The main X-Titles are one of Marvel's best selling ongoings but the satelitte titles (two solos featuring a woman and a gay man & a team book of D-listers) are doing badly because some X-fans were mean to the Inhumans?