Are the X-Books still selling well?

[johnnysv75]

I can’t seem to find any charts anywhere. The only one I have found is this: https://icv2.com/articles/markets/vi...ics-april-2021 , but that is only for stores using the ComicHub system (100 out of 3000 stores if I understood correctly). The X-books are doing poorly on that chart, but the number of stores the chart is based on is too small to make anything of it.

[Dthirds3]

I can’t seem to find any charts anywhere. The only one I have found is this: https://icv2.com/articles/markets/vi...ics-april-2021 , but that is only for stores using the ComicHub system (100 out of 3000 stores if I understood correctly). The X-books are doing poorly on that chart, but the number of stores the chart is based on is too small to make anything of it.

There always highly ranked on comicology. Comichron is obsolete now that there going to random house publishing. Even still those were never sales numbers there the number stores bought not consumers. They could have a low number but fast turnaround then the books ordered in larger numbers. Sales numbers are and always have been bullshit

[pkingdom]

Its genuinely hard to say. Between COVID and the shakeups with Diamond sales numbers are hard to come by and its difficult to determine how accurate they are or if Marvel is adjusting their back end numbers to compensate. Before covid they largely didn't take digital sales into account at all, and focused entirely on the direct market. No one really knows now.

The numbers we've gotten indicate that the line is selling about the same as it was before the relaunch, after an initial big bump. The only ones that appear to consistently sell badly are Cable and X force, and Cable is ending. But again, no idea if that's certain.

[Vordan]

Safe to assume the HoX/PoX hype has worn off by now. Wolverine is still selling well but the rest, not so much. Hickman needs to start advancing the plot again.

[cranger]

Short answer: no one knows.

Safe to assume the HoX/PoX hype has worn off by now. Wolverine is still selling well but the rest, not so much. Hickman needs to start advancing the plot again.

Diplomatically speaking, probably no better or worse than any other cross section of Marvel comics.

[Phoenixx9]

I have oft wondered this same question.......

[johnnysv75]

Before covid they largely didn't take digital sales into account at all, and focused entirely on the direct market. No one really knows now..

It’s like Nielsen that took a really long time to adjust their ratings to how people consume tv shows today.

I read my comics on the Marvel Unlimited app and the Marvel Comics app. Made me fall in love with reading comics again, and everything is accessible so I can binge read comics wherever I am as long as I have my iPad. I wonder if Marvel analyzes how people use their apps. I only heard of Young Avengers the other year when I read an article about good LGBTQ representation in comics. I binge read everything with Young Avengers - several times. If Marvel analyzes old comics that do well on Marvel Unlimited, maybe they will give some titles a new chance.

[Houseofhick]

It’s like Nielsen that took a really long time to adjust their ratings to how people consume tv shows today.

I read my comics on the Marvel Unlimited app and the Marvel Comics app. Made me fall in love with reading comics again, and everything is accessible so I can binge read comics wherever I am as long as I have my iPad. I wonder if Marvel analyzes how people use their apps. I only heard of Young Avengers the other year when I read an article about good LGBTQ representation in comics. I binge read everything with Young Avengers - several times. If Marvel analyzes old comics that do well on Marvel Unlimited, maybe they will give some titles a new chance.

I read my comics on MU too. Do you find you are reading more of the old stuff rather than keeping up with the new stuff?

[johnnysv75]

I read my comics on MU too. Do you find you are reading more of the old stuff rather than keeping up with the new stuff?

Mostly older stuff. I wasn’t reading comics for more than a decade - they took up too much space. So when I discovered digital comics I almost didn’t know where to begin. I caught up on the X-books, and then I read all comics with Young Avengers, and then I read John Byrne’s run on Fantastic Four. I am buying the X-books on the Marvel Comics app - I don’t have the patience to wait three months until they are added to Marvel Unlimited.
For me Marvel Unlimited is a great way to try new comics. I read Strange Academy the other day. I really enjoyed it. I think I will read Elektra’s solo books next. Or maybe original Spider-Woman, Jessica Drew. Marvel Unlimited is a smorgasbord for a Marvel comics junkie.

[DAHX]

Its genuinely hard to say. Between COVID and the shakeups with Diamond sales numbers are hard to come by and its difficult to determine how accurate they are or if Marvel is adjusting their back end numbers to compensate. Before covid they largely didn't take digital sales into account at all, and focused entirely on the direct market. No one really knows now.

The numbers we've gotten indicate that the line is selling about the same as it was before the relaunch, after an initial big bump. The only ones that appear to consistently sell badly are Cable and X force, and Cable is ending. But again, no idea if that's certain.

JDW talked about sales and different formats a bit in a recent X-Men Monday interview:

"The digital sales are absolutely accounted for in the sales that Marvel keeps track of and looks at when Marvel is doing its accounting for what books have made money.

They’re(floppies) very important to us because if all floppy sales ended tomorrow, that would be a huge problem for us. And if it was all digital sales ending, that would be a problem for us, but it wouldn’t be nearly as big of a problem.

Two years ago, a lot of people were putting a lot of stock in the Diamond sales charts. These are not 100% accurate charts. Obviously, they showed something that reflected true data, and that data was saying this book sells better than that book in American direct Diamond comic book shop sales. But those are not the same. They don’t reflect any of the digital sales. Obviously, they don’t reflect bookstore sales and things like that for trades. All of these things get accounted for when we are internally looking at our numbers. So a digital sale counts just as much as a floppy sale.

if you look at the Comixology bestseller chart, it’s different than the one that we used to get from Diamond. The X-Books do better, proportionally, on digital than other books.

Our digital sales go up more than your average book. But all of that is considered. All of that is taken into account. Every sale counts."

[pkingdom]

That's kind of what I figured. But like he says in that interview, for the longest time they heavily prioritized what was selling in brick and mortar stores. These days its hard to say for certain.

[Rang10]

That's kind of what I figured. But like he says in that interview, for the longest time they heavily prioritized what was selling in brick and mortar stores. These days its hard to say for certain.

they are still doing that, new distribution deal is all about that. Print comics still the most important market

[rcaguy]

I can’t seem to find any charts anywhere. The only one I have found is this: https://icv2.com/articles/markets/vi...ics-april-2021 , but that is only for stores using the ComicHub system (100 out of 3000 stores if I understood correctly). The X-books are doing poorly on that chart, but the number of stores the chart is based on is too small to make anything of it.

Because the only opinion that matters is Marvel's. They have the final say in the matter.