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  1. #1
    Uncanny Member MajorHoy's Avatar
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    Default How books with female leads / co-leads in the title have done recently

    NOTE: I posted this in a thread ("Who is Marvel's flagship female?") over on the Marvel forum section, but thought it might also be useful / interesting over here.

    The numbers are based on Diamond's Top 500 Comics list for November 2018 using both Marvel and DC's female leads (to the best of my knowledge):
    * 25th - CATWOMAN #5 (DC) - 50,131 copies
    * 33rd - WONDER WOMAN #58 (DC) - 44,467 copies
    * 45th - IRONHEART #1 (MARVEL) - 40,739 copies
    * 49th - WONDER WOMAN #59 (DC) - 37,418 copies
    * 53rd - BATGIRL #29 (DC) - 35,356 copies
    * 56th - SPIDER-GWEN GHOST SPIDER #2 (MARVEL) - 32,715 copies
    * 62nd - X-23 #6 (MARVEL) - 29,682 copies
    * 66th - HARLEY QUINN #54 (DC) - 28,028 copies
    * 68th - HARLEY QUINN #53 (DC) - 27,903 copies
    * 80th - MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #12 (with Invisible Woman - MARVEL) - 24,958 copies
    * 89th - SPIDER-GIRLS #2 (MARVEL) - 23,189 copies
    * 96th - SHURI #2 (MARVEL) - 21,881 copies
    * 100th - SUPERGIRL #24 (DC) - 21,295 copies
    * 102nd - DOMINO #8 (MARVEL) - 21,050 copies
    * 105th - OLD LADY HARLEY #2 (DC) - 20,427 copies
    * 107th - MR AND MRS X #5 (MARVEL) - 19,611 copies
    * 123rd - SUICIDE SQUAD BLACK FILES #1 (Katana - DC) - 16,953 copies
    * 138th - MARVELS CAPTAIN MARVEL PRELUDE #1 (MARVEL) - 13,316 copies
    * 142nd - MS MARVEL #36 (MARVEL) - 12,827 copies
    * 147th - PEARL #4 (DC) - 11,693 copies
    * 155th - RAVEN DAUGHTER OF DARKNESS #10 (DC) - 11,070 copies
    * 165th - SCARLET #4 (DC) - 10,405 copies
    * 168th - SILENCER #11 (DC) - 10,018 copies
    * 169th - HEX WIVES #2 (DC) - 9,869 copies
    * 177th - UNSTOPPABLE WASP #2 (MARVEL) - 9,475 copies
    * 189th - UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL #38 (MARVEL) - 8,298 copies
    * 201st - MARVEL SUPER HERO ADVENTURES CAPTAIN MARVEL #1 (MARVEL) - 7,320 copies
    * 213th - MOON GIRL & DEVIL DINOSAUR #37 (MARVEL) - 6,533 copies
    Hopefully I didn't miss anybody. And remember, these numbers are based on what comic book shops ordered from Diamond, not necessarily how many copies individual readers bought.

    NOTE: December 2018's numbers are also available, but some of DC's title featuring female leads didn't ship during the week of December 26th, instead being bumped to the following week, January 2nd of 2019.

  2. #2
    Moderator Frontier's Avatar
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    Batgirl's sales seem better then I remember it being. Has that picked up, or do we have variants to thank?

  3. #3
    Uncanny Member MajorHoy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Frontier View Post
    Batgirl's sales seem better then I remember it being. Has that picked up, or do we have variants to thank?
    The previous month (October) featured the foil cover.
    While Joshua Middleton has been providing interesting variant covers for this book each month, I'm not sure that would make a huge difference for November's numbers.

  4. #4
    Hey Baby--Wha's Happ'nin? HandofPrometheus's Avatar
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    Dang Catwoman doing good.

  5. #5
    Titans Together!! byrd156's Avatar
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    Who is currently on Batgirl? I haven't read her since Simone.
    "It's too bad she won't live! But then again, who does? - Gaff Blade Runner

    "In a short time, this will be a long time ago." - Werner Slow West

    "One of the biggest problems in the industry is apathy right now." - Dan Didio Co-Publisher of I Wonder Why That Is Comics

  6. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by byrd156 View Post
    Who is currently on Batgirl? I haven't read her since Simone.
    Mairghread Scott

  7. #7
    Ultimate Member
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    Quote Originally Posted by Frontier View Post
    Batgirl's sales seem better then I remember it being. Has that picked up, or do we have variants to thank?
    The variants. Now if that book is good that is an added bonus.

  8. #8
    Extraordinary Member kjn's Avatar
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    FWIW, I like how Scott has approached and written Batgirl.

    On one hand, it's depressing to look at the relative numbers. Joëlle Jones's Catwoman is excellent, but still doesn't manage more than #25, and Wonder Woman was badly hurt by Robinson's run. Wilson started off a little bit shaky, but I believe her opening story was badly damaged by Cary Nord's art (we have discussed that extensively in the Wonder Woman forum).

    But more than that I think it's clear that the comic book market is deeply bifurcated, and that the demographics might very well be dissimilar between who buys floppies (which the statistics above show) and those who buy trades.

  9. #9
    Astonishing Member Korath's Avatar
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    Well damn.

    The Silencer isn't doing great, but it isn't the worst out there. Really, it really trails off behind books with far larger brand recognition (Harley Quinn, Catwoman, etc.).

    What's surprising is how steep the difference is : you've got a lot of books in the 20K+ range, two in the 15K and then it's clear decline through 12k to 6k.

    I didn't expect such wide ranging differences.

  10. #10
    Extraordinary Member kjn's Avatar
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    Another factor that I can see here is that despite all the talk about how a hot seller Harley Quinn is, and how much DC pushes her, she is still far below Catwoman and Wonder Woman. Meaning, that if DC wanted to meaningfully push any of their superheroines, they should first look to Catwoman and Wonder Woman.

  11. #11
    Fantastic Member hotroddii's Avatar
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    Wow ... some of those books (especially from the “other” company) really need to be cancelled.

    Awful sales ... actually that’s books ‘shipped’ ... not sold.

  12. #12
    Extraordinary Member kjn's Avatar
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    Note that today's market is very much bifurcated. My understanding is that titles like Ms Marvel and Squirrel Girl sells like hotcakes as trades and collections, due to different demographics of the trade/collections market versus the floppies/LCS market. Sometimes, you also have out-of-market things, like trademark disputes or licensing deals (what kept Wonder Woman being published for a long time).

    Bleeding Cool had a nice article on this a year ago: So… Why Is Marvel Not Cancelling Their Lowest-Selling Comics?

  13. #13
    Uncanny Member Digifiend's Avatar
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    Yeah, Unstoppable Wasp actually got cancelled after only eight issues, too soon to judge TPB sales... only to then get brought back because those trades sold well.

    And two points about Ms Marvel - one, her original writer has now moved on to Wonder Woman, so DC must've been impressed by it, and two, not only is Ms Marvel relaunching with a new creative team, she's also getting a second book, Marvel Team-Up.
    Last edited by Digifiend; 01-24-2019 at 04:42 AM.
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  14. #14
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    It's interesting how DC is out in front with some of their leading ladies who have been around forever, like Wonder Woman and Catwoman and Batgirl and Supergirl.

    Meanwhile, looking at Marvel's grand dames, Invisible Woman, Wasp/Janet, Scarlet Witch, Jean Grey, Storm, and there's not as much interest in headlining the classic ladies over at the other company. Marvel seems to be fine with the younger ones, invented more recently, like Ms. Marvel and Shuri and Spider-Gwen and Ironheart, but they get too long in the tooth, and it's back to the cornfield with you.

  15. #15
    Death becomes you Osiris-Rex's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by HandofPrometheus View Post
    Dang Catwoman doing good.
    For December Catwoman #6 only dropped to 28th and is still the top selling female character, with Wonder Woman #60 in 2nd place at 45th place overall. Nice to see that although Harley Quinn
    is DC's current "it" girl, the grand old lady Catwoman can still hold her own. (Harley Quinn #55 is in 63rd place for December)

    http://www.comichron.com/monthlycomi...8/2018-12.html

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