February 2019 Sales

[capandkirby]

For those who follow this, link to the February 2019 comic sales here.

Not a lot of new comics this month, in fact, of the top ten only one title was a first issue, which explains the decline between January and February. Also, apparently DC cut several titles, so while dollar amount looks healthy, unit amount has gone down significantly.

Venom is doing well. Good for Cates!

[Digifiend]

Venom is outselling Amazing Spider-Man, and is beaten only by three Batman books. That IS impressive.

[Snoop Dogg]

cool
cool
buy more doc strange

[Witchfan]

Team books

Uncanny X-Men 12 68,636
Uncanny X-Men 11 66,962
Avengers No Road Home 1 64,505
Fantastic Four 7 55,375
Avengers 14 48,887
Avengers 15 48,050
GOTG 2 43,662
Star Wars 61 40,683
Avengers No Road Home 2 36,396
Avengers No Road Home 3 34,837
Invaders 2 19,792
Champions 2 18,953
Asgardians of the Galaxy 6 16,235
West Coast Avengers 8 13,640

The first issue of the Avengers miniseries beat the regular Avengers series, and the second issue beat the first issue of West Coast Avengers.
Invaders, Champions, and Asgardians of the Galaxy did poorly. WCA is already cancelled.

Black Widow 2 did worse than any issue of her previous series.

[Snoop Dogg]

Every issue of NRH went back for second printings, so demand for those is actually higher.

[capandkirby]

Team books

Uncanny X-Men 12 68,636
Uncanny X-Men 11 66,962
Avengers No Road Home 1 64,505
Fantastic Four 7 55,375
Avengers 14 48,887
Avengers 15 48,050
GOTG 2 43,662
Star Wars 61 40,683
Avengers No Road Home 2 36,396
Avengers No Road Home 3 34,837
Invaders 2 19,792
Champions 2 18,953
Asgardians of the Galaxy 6 16,235
West Coast Avengers 8 13,640

The first issue of the Avengers miniseries beat the regular Avengers series, and the second issue beat the first issue of West Coast Avengers.
Invaders, Champions, and Asgardians of the Galaxy did poorly. WCA is already cancelled.

Black Widow 2 did worse than any issue of her previous series.

That Invaders is doing poorly breaks my heart. It is such an excellent book. Zdarsky has the perfect blend of characterization and plot. I really wish more people were buying it. After Cap it's my favorite title presently. And speaking of Zdarsky, I'm a bit surprised that the first issue of Daredevil didn't break the top ten.

What the February sales especially illustrate, however, is that a character's popularity within the MCU does not translate to comic sales. The titles of Shuri, Killmonger and Winter Soldier are all doing very poorly. And, as you pointed out, Black Widow as well.

[Crimz]

I'm happy about the Fantastic Four doing pretty well.

Still not a fan of the current arc though.

[Prof. Warren]

What the February sales especially illustrate, however, is that a character's popularity within the MCU does not translate to comic sales. The titles of Shuri, Killmonger and Winter Soldier are all doing very poorly. And, as you pointed out, Black Widow as well.

None of these were planned as ongoings, I don't believe. Were the sales to demand it, I'm sure they'd continue but if they only have the one arc, it's fine.

I'd rather Marvel put a book out there and see what the demand is than not try. And even if these books have short runs, at least they exist and fans of the character can catch up with the trade at whatever point they discover it.

[Prof. Warren]

The first issue of the Avengers miniseries beat the regular Avengers series.

First issues do tend to perform well, you know. The main Avengers title is doing just fine.

[Prof. Warren]

Nice to see The Punisher doing well. I've been worried that it might be cancelled after the current arc but if it's holding at its current numbers, I don't see them pulling the plug any time soon.

Also happy to see Superior Spider-Man hanging tough.

[capandkirby]

None of these were planned as ongoings, I don't believe. Were the sales to demand it, I'm sure they'd continue but if they only have the one arc, it's fine.

I'd rather Marvel put a book out there and see what the demand is than not try. And even if these books have short runs, at least they exist and fans of the character can catch up with the trade at whatever point they discover it.

I don't disagree. Absolutely everything should be tried. I don't particularly like to see any title fail. There is too much work that goes into producing a comic, too many mouths a single comic feeds. In fact, the industry as a whole can use all the sales it can get. I do find it curious, however, from more of a business stand-point, why it is that Marvel comics cannot seem to draw in any of the MCU crowd. Were I in upper management, I'd be examining ways to bridge the gap.

[Frontier]

I don't disagree. Absolutely everything should be tried. I don't particularly like to see any title fail. There is too much work that goes into producing a comic, too many mouths a single comic feeds. In fact, the industry as a whole can use all the sales it can get. I do find it curious, however, from more of a business stand-point, why it is that Marvel comics cannot seem to draw in any of the MCU crowd. Were I in upper management, I'd be examining ways to bridge the gap.

At this point I think the "MCU" books are mostly there for the trades rather then the actual issue-by-issue sales.

Supposedly Shuri's trades sell well on Amazon.

[Iron Maiden]

Sad to see Runaways so low at around 8,000. Truly enjoyable series.

[Personamanx]

Sad to see Runaways so low at around 8,000. Truly enjoyable series.

It's not encouraging, but the trades are luckily doing well. Those things can't seem to stick around on the shelves of any of the shops I frequent, and I hear that it does solid numbers digitally in single issues.

Selling less than Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but more than Power Rangers isn't the best place to be. But it could be worse, breaking 10,000 with regularity would be nice however.

[Mary Jay]

I don't disagree. Absolutely everything should be tried. I don't particularly like to see any title fail. There is too much work that goes into producing a comic, too many mouths a single comic feeds. In fact, the industry as a whole can use all the sales it can get. I do find it curious, however, from more of a business stand-point, why it is that Marvel comics cannot seem to draw in any of the MCU crowd. Were I in upper management, I'd be examining ways to bridge the gap.

Maybe it's because those are two separate crowds that don't have the same expectations nor tastes. The MCU crowd likes the live-action, the special effects and the actors. They don't want to waste time reading comic books (for which they had no interest to begin with and IMO still don't for the most part). The comic books fans go to see the MCU movies to see a live depiction of the characters they have been reading about for years, and the adaptations of the story arcs they have read before. I don't see a day where the MCU fans will come rushing to the stores to buy comic books. It's just not their cup of tea, with maybe one in 50 people being the exception (and I'm being generous here).

Fun fact: apparently Captain Marvel 's new #1 sold for 111,391 in January, making it the #2 top-seller. In February, it dropped to around 37 000 (which is still good numbers IMO). But it's interesting to see such a drop in the very month the movie came out.

At this point I think the "MCU" books are mostly there for the trades rather then the actual issue-by-issue sales.

Supposedly Shuri's trades sell well on Amazon.

Shuri already has trades?? It's like up to issue #5 so far...

And looking at the charts, there are some books that, while being confirmed to be ongoings, will definitely not last through July... some numbers are abyssimal, books a few years back have been canceled with twice or eve three times those numbers. That's just beating a dead horse at this point. Like capandkirby said, there is nothing wrong in trying things, and I'm glad they still do, but sometimes it's better to try for a mini and let the numbers speak.