Current Spider-Man Sales

[clonegeek]

If this were social media I'd attach a gif of an audience applauding here.

But what are the actual numbers of units sold?

[Matt14teg]

But what are the actual numbers of units sold?

I mean he legally can't give that data even if he had the exact numbers.

[Kevinroc]

If this were social media I'd attach a gif of an audience applauding here.

You can still do that on CBR. Just go to insert image on your post screen. You just have to pick from something on your machine or insert the URL of an audience applauding gif.

[Garlador]

But what are the actual numbers of units sold?

The number could be 13 copies and I’d still celebrate it for milestone representation of severely underrepresented peoples.

We have to start somewhere.

[Alex_Of_X]

Since we're talking sales, it's useful to know where the retailers are. Here's a recent SKTCHD article on the matter, and a follow-up annotation from ComicsBeat

https://sktchd.com/longform/july-202...ood-boy-indeed

https://www.comicsbeat.com/comics-re...ertain-future/

Again, this isn't gospel, but a handful of retailers commenting on what works and what doesn't

[Alex_Of_X]

A brief summary:

“It Could Be Better, But It Could Be Worse”: Shops Discuss the Often Difficult Year So Far in Comics Retail

Coming off a multi-year high that began in 2020, things were solid when I checked in with comic shops in January. Sales were steady, manga was popping, and other categories had seen growth. While there were points of consternation, healthy numbers can act as a balm for even the most troubled comic retailer’s soul. Ultimately, the good outweighed the bad last year.

But it was clear there were storm clouds on the horizon, if not there already. It wasn’t because sales were down dramatically, or even across the board. It was because everything was harder and more exhausting than it had been before, with several retailers not even understanding how they came out of 2022 ahead. While success was there, it often felt tenuous. It’s like Bruno Batista from Dublin’s Big Bang Comics put it at the time: “The uncertainty is bigger than ever” for retailers.

Some shops are level or even up from 2022, albeit fewer than before. It’s just a lack of faith in publishing partners and the material itself is taking hold, particularly when it comes to single issues. That’s for good reason. Much of it isn’t working. More than that, the job has gotten harder, and the margins tighter. That was more palatable during the boom times of 2021.

Movie releases like Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse saw surges in interest, as well, with characters like Miles Morales, Gwen Stacy, and maybe especially Spider-Punk generating sales

What's working: Dawn of DC, Void Rivals, James Tynion IV, Saga, Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, evergreen graphic novels
What isn't: floppies broadly, small publishers

How crucial hits you can count on are is exemplified nicely by a pair of answers to the question of “What isn’t working?” One was from Batista, who told me, “Everything, is the succinct answer to this,” before adding, “I don’t remember seeing regular customers so despondent about what they’re buying.” Myland clearly wanted to outdistance his peer in brevity, as his opening line to my query was a simple, pained, “Oof. So much.”

New single-issue comics are the biggest pain point, though. Batista described their single-issue customers as having an energy of, “’I’ll continue to buy them, I guess?’” While the other two main verticals at Big Bang — books (graphic novels, manga, etc.) and action figures — are thriving, single issue comics inspire “a certain ennui” amongst customers. The idea that reading single-issue comics was a duty for customers as much as anything came up multiple times in my conversations.

To emphasize how difficult this time is, though, some even insinuated that Marvel is where the trouble begins. Much of its line, particularly its incessant minis with no clear audience, are unmovable. And that’s the biggest publisher in the direct market.

Either way, many felt there are just too many comics right now. Field said that with 100 plus “new titles coming in every week,” there’s no way his “staff of five can recommend” that many. And the problem is, if they don’t sell immediately, they’re dead when another slate arrives the following week. Combine that with many titles having no clear market and customers lacking the funds to support them even if there was one, and you have a recipe for disaster — or drastically reduced orders, at the very least.

Even more damning is this statement from Batista, who said, “70% of the publishers could disappear tomorrow, and 90% of the customers wouldn’t even notice.” The veteran retailer admitted that might come across as flippant, but it was important for him to note it’s also likely a realistic number. He’s probably not wrong.

Multiple shops emphasized that comics are just getting too expensive. Rising prices cut in two other ways as well. Field has seen customers use $9.99 “anniversary issues” as not a moment of celebration, but a jumping off point. He also finds himself ordering fewer copies of the more expensive titles knowing that customers will bristle at the price. That happened at Big Bang with Ultimate Invasion #1, as they were “super conservative” when ordering because of its price point, despite its towering pedigree. Several shops believed Marvel cost itself significant orders and revenue because of that $8.99 cover price.

This is business as usual at this point, but in an era of multiple distributors for single-issue comics — and everything really — the job of a retailer has gotten more confusing and difficult, especially with each distributor existing as “mini-monopolies,” as King put it. That results in longer hours and more frustration with little added value stemming from that.

Earlier this year, I was talking with a retailer who had a big thought about the state of things. He wondered whether comics retail had died already, effectively, and what we were existing in now was a “zombie direct market.” It continues to operate simply because it doesn’t know how to do anything else — with the massive boost the pandemic proved to be for comic sales fueling its second life.

I bring this up because Field said something that reminded me of that. The veteran retailer emphasized that “publishers are not producing periodicals in a value-driven way,” electing to “pump out more and more variant covers in the vain hopes to find more buyers.” Field doesn’t see that as a winning formula, at least not for a healthy direct market.

“It’s epinephrine for a patient who’s in a coma,” Field said about the current approach of publishers. “That’s the way you keep the heart beating when something might be dying, and it feels desperate. That’s not a good look for anybody.”

Exum said “the vibe seems pretty good in general” amongst his customers, while Anderson — ever the optimist — spoke to the return of lapsed readers and the arrival of new ones as showing promise for the near-term. He has a ton of hope, saying, “2024 is gonna be lit.”

He also views what is currently happening as part of a larger cycle. Anderson’s belief is that every five or ten years, there’s a down time followed by a period of fewer comics that are consistently better, which allows shops to build hits for publishers. Right now, we’re at a point where “the market for single issues (has become) way too crowded.” But he thinks we’re coming out of it.

[clonegeek]

A brief summary:

“It Could Be Better, But It Could Be Worse”: Shops Discuss the Often Difficult Year So Far in Comics Retail

Coming off a multi-year high that began in 2020, things were solid when I checked in with comic shops in January. Sales were steady, manga was popping, and other categories had seen growth. While there were points of consternation, healthy numbers can act as a balm for even the most troubled comic retailer’s soul. Ultimately, the good outweighed the bad last year.

But it was clear there were storm clouds on the horizon, if not there already. It wasn’t because sales were down dramatically, or even across the board. It was because everything was harder and more exhausting than it had been before, with several retailers not even understanding how they came out of 2022 ahead. While success was there, it often felt tenuous. It’s like Bruno Batista from Dublin’s Big Bang Comics put it at the time: “The uncertainty is bigger than ever” for retailers.

Some shops are level or even up from 2022, albeit fewer than before. It’s just a lack of faith in publishing partners and the material itself is taking hold, particularly when it comes to single issues. That’s for good reason. Much of it isn’t working. More than that, the job has gotten harder, and the margins tighter. That was more palatable during the boom times of 2021.

Movie releases like Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse saw surges in interest, as well, with characters like Miles Morales, Gwen Stacy, and maybe especially Spider-Punk generating sales

What's working: Dawn of DC, Void Rivals, James Tynion IV, Saga, Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, evergreen graphic novels
What isn't: floppies broadly, small publishers

How crucial hits you can count on are is exemplified nicely by a pair of answers to the question of “What isn’t working?” One was from Batista, who told me, “Everything, is the succinct answer to this,” before adding, “I don’t remember seeing regular customers so despondent about what they’re buying.” Myland clearly wanted to outdistance his peer in brevity, as his opening line to my query was a simple, pained, “Oof. So much.”

New single-issue comics are the biggest pain point, though. Batista described their single-issue customers as having an energy of, “’I’ll continue to buy them, I guess?’” While the other two main verticals at Big Bang — books (graphic novels, manga, etc.) and action figures — are thriving, single issue comics inspire “a certain ennui” amongst customers. The idea that reading single-issue comics was a duty for customers as much as anything came up multiple times in my conversations.

To emphasize how difficult this time is, though, some even insinuated that Marvel is where the trouble begins. Much of its line, particularly its incessant minis with no clear audience, are unmovable. And that’s the biggest publisher in the direct market.

Either way, many felt there are just too many comics right now. Field said that with 100 plus “new titles coming in every week,” there’s no way his “staff of five can recommend” that many. And the problem is, if they don’t sell immediately, they’re dead when another slate arrives the following week. Combine that with many titles having no clear market and customers lacking the funds to support them even if there was one, and you have a recipe for disaster — or drastically reduced orders, at the very least.

Even more damning is this statement from Batista, who said, “70% of the publishers could disappear tomorrow, and 90% of the customers wouldn’t even notice.” The veteran retailer admitted that might come across as flippant, but it was important for him to note it’s also likely a realistic number. He’s probably not wrong.

Multiple shops emphasized that comics are just getting too expensive. Rising prices cut in two other ways as well. Field has seen customers use $9.99 “anniversary issues” as not a moment of celebration, but a jumping off point. He also finds himself ordering fewer copies of the more expensive titles knowing that customers will bristle at the price. That happened at Big Bang with Ultimate Invasion #1, as they were “super conservative” when ordering because of its price point, despite its towering pedigree. Several shops believed Marvel cost itself significant orders and revenue because of that $8.99 cover price.

This is business as usual at this point, but in an era of multiple distributors for single-issue comics — and everything really — the job of a retailer has gotten more confusing and difficult, especially with each distributor existing as “mini-monopolies,” as King put it. That results in longer hours and more frustration with little added value stemming from that.

Earlier this year, I was talking with a retailer who had a big thought about the state of things. He wondered whether comics retail had died already, effectively, and what we were existing in now was a “zombie direct market.” It continues to operate simply because it doesn’t know how to do anything else — with the massive boost the pandemic proved to be for comic sales fueling its second life.

I bring this up because Field said something that reminded me of that. The veteran retailer emphasized that “publishers are not producing periodicals in a value-driven way,” electing to “pump out more and more variant covers in the vain hopes to find more buyers.” Field doesn’t see that as a winning formula, at least not for a healthy direct market.

“It’s epinephrine for a patient who’s in a coma,” Field said about the current approach of publishers. “That’s the way you keep the heart beating when something might be dying, and it feels desperate. That’s not a good look for anybody.”

Exum said “the vibe seems pretty good in general” amongst his customers, while Anderson — ever the optimist — spoke to the return of lapsed readers and the arrival of new ones as showing promise for the near-term. He has a ton of hope, saying, “2024 is gonna be lit.”

He also views what is currently happening as part of a larger cycle. Anderson’s belief is that every five or ten years, there’s a down time followed by a period of fewer comics that are consistently better, which allows shops to build hits for publishers. Right now, we’re at a point where “the market for single issues (has become) way too crowded.” But he thinks we’re coming out of it.

So DC has soild momentum right now which does fit that vibe I'm getting.

I think what's unsaid is important as well, there is no mention of the X-Books at all. So, they aren't selling as well as the internet wants you to think.

The Comics Beat article mentions that Batman and Spiderman are the top sellers. But that's more due to name recognition then anything.

[Matt14teg]

A brief summary:

“It Could Be Better, But It Could Be Worse”: Shops Discuss the Often Difficult Year So Far in Comics Retail

Coming off a multi-year high that began in 2020, things were solid when I checked in with comic shops in January. Sales were steady, manga was popping, and other categories had seen growth. While there were points of consternation, healthy numbers can act as a balm for even the most troubled comic retailer’s soul. Ultimately, the good outweighed the bad last year.

But it was clear there were storm clouds on the horizon, if not there already. It wasn’t because sales were down dramatically, or even across the board. It was because everything was harder and more exhausting than it had been before, with several retailers not even understanding how they came out of 2022 ahead. While success was there, it often felt tenuous. It’s like Bruno Batista from Dublin’s Big Bang Comics put it at the time: “The uncertainty is bigger than ever” for retailers.

Some shops are level or even up from 2022, albeit fewer than before. It’s just a lack of faith in publishing partners and the material itself is taking hold, particularly when it comes to single issues. That’s for good reason. Much of it isn’t working. More than that, the job has gotten harder, and the margins tighter. That was more palatable during the boom times of 2021.

Movie releases like Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse saw surges in interest, as well, with characters like Miles Morales, Gwen Stacy, and maybe especially Spider-Punk generating sales

What's working: Dawn of DC, Void Rivals, James Tynion IV, Saga, Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, evergreen graphic novels
What isn't: floppies broadly, small publishers

How crucial hits you can count on are is exemplified nicely by a pair of answers to the question of “What isn’t working?” One was from Batista, who told me, “Everything, is the succinct answer to this,” before adding, “I don’t remember seeing regular customers so despondent about what they’re buying.” Myland clearly wanted to outdistance his peer in brevity, as his opening line to my query was a simple, pained, “Oof. So much.”

New single-issue comics are the biggest pain point, though. Batista described their single-issue customers as having an energy of, “’I’ll continue to buy them, I guess?’” While the other two main verticals at Big Bang — books (graphic novels, manga, etc.) and action figures — are thriving, single issue comics inspire “a certain ennui” amongst customers. The idea that reading single-issue comics was a duty for customers as much as anything came up multiple times in my conversations.

To emphasize how difficult this time is, though, some even insinuated that Marvel is where the trouble begins. Much of its line, particularly its incessant minis with no clear audience, are unmovable. And that’s the biggest publisher in the direct market.

Either way, many felt there are just too many comics right now. Field said that with 100 plus “new titles coming in every week,” there’s no way his “staff of five can recommend” that many. And the problem is, if they don’t sell immediately, they’re dead when another slate arrives the following week. Combine that with many titles having no clear market and customers lacking the funds to support them even if there was one, and you have a recipe for disaster — or drastically reduced orders, at the very least.

Even more damning is this statement from Batista, who said, “70% of the publishers could disappear tomorrow, and 90% of the customers wouldn’t even notice.” The veteran retailer admitted that might come across as flippant, but it was important for him to note it’s also likely a realistic number. He’s probably not wrong.

Multiple shops emphasized that comics are just getting too expensive. Rising prices cut in two other ways as well. Field has seen customers use $9.99 “anniversary issues” as not a moment of celebration, but a jumping off point. He also finds himself ordering fewer copies of the more expensive titles knowing that customers will bristle at the price. That happened at Big Bang with Ultimate Invasion #1, as they were “super conservative” when ordering because of its price point, despite its towering pedigree. Several shops believed Marvel cost itself significant orders and revenue because of that $8.99 cover price.

This is business as usual at this point, but in an era of multiple distributors for single-issue comics — and everything really — the job of a retailer has gotten more confusing and difficult, especially with each distributor existing as “mini-monopolies,” as King put it. That results in longer hours and more frustration with little added value stemming from that.

Earlier this year, I was talking with a retailer who had a big thought about the state of things. He wondered whether comics retail had died already, effectively, and what we were existing in now was a “zombie direct market.” It continues to operate simply because it doesn’t know how to do anything else — with the massive boost the pandemic proved to be for comic sales fueling its second life.

I bring this up because Field said something that reminded me of that. The veteran retailer emphasized that “publishers are not producing periodicals in a value-driven way,” electing to “pump out more and more variant covers in the vain hopes to find more buyers.” Field doesn’t see that as a winning formula, at least not for a healthy direct market.

“It’s epinephrine for a patient who’s in a coma,” Field said about the current approach of publishers. “That’s the way you keep the heart beating when something might be dying, and it feels desperate. That’s not a good look for anybody.”

Exum said “the vibe seems pretty good in general” amongst his customers, while Anderson — ever the optimist — spoke to the return of lapsed readers and the arrival of new ones as showing promise for the near-term. He has a ton of hope, saying, “2024 is gonna be lit.”

He also views what is currently happening as part of a larger cycle. Anderson’s belief is that every five or ten years, there’s a down time followed by a period of fewer comics that are consistently better, which allows shops to build hits for publishers. Right now, we’re at a point where “the market for single issues (has become) way too crowded.” But he thinks we’re coming out of it.

This dude better hope the economy doesn't hit a major crash next year, we've been teetering on the edge for like the past year.

[Vordan]

So DC has soild momentum right now which does fit that vibe I'm getting.

I think what's unsaid is important as well, there is no mention of the X-Books at all. So, they aren't selling as well as the internet wants you to think.

The Comics Beat article mentions that Batman and Spiderman are the top sellers. But that's more due to name recognition then anything.

The Krakoa era has thoroughly petered out at this point. Without Hickman they couldn’t maintain the momentum, not helped by the books declining in quality. Supes has a new cartoon out now and a film coming soon, which explains why he’s on the rise. Bats and Spidey always haven’t high profile adaptions coming out to help build their fanbases. It’s why Spider books sell well regardless of quality.

[Alex_Of_X]

So DC has soild momentum right now which does fit that vibe I'm getting.

Lol. Lmao

From the same article:

“So many of these ‘big moves’ landed nowhere healthy for us, and that is highly worrying,” Batista said.

The one that hit was Dawn of DC, and even it comes with a downside. As enthusiastic as retailers were about that initiative, the fact that all its titles are almost immediately going away for two months so a line-wide horror event in Knight Terrors can replace them is enough to drive retailers mad. Batista described it as “not just shooting their own foot, (they did it with) a bazooka.” It could cost the publisher all the gains they made during the beginning of Dawn of DC.

I think what's unsaid is important as well, there is no mention of the X-Books at all. So, they aren't selling as well as the internet wants you to think.

Not their best two quarters, admittedly. If only there was a huge event on the horizon. Something with an Autumn zest

[CaptainUniverse]

Not their best two quarters, admittedly. If only there was a huge event on the horizon. Something with an Autumn zest

Secret Civil War 5: Death of the X-Men-verse? or as Marvel calls it "Fall of X".

[Username taken]

Lol. Lmao

From the same article:

“So many of these ‘big moves’ landed nowhere healthy for us, and that is highly worrying,” Batista said.

The one that hit was Dawn of DC, and even it comes with a downside. As enthusiastic as retailers were about that initiative, the fact that all its titles are almost immediately going away for two months so a line-wide horror event in Knight Terrors can replace them is enough to drive retailers mad. Batista described it as “not just shooting their own foot, (they did it with) a bazooka.” It could cost the publisher all the gains they made during the beginning of Dawn of DC.



Not their best two quarters, admittedly. If only there was a huge event on the horizon. Something with an Autumn zest

The whole "Knight Terrors" thing DC is doing is quite odd.

They're in the middle of a pretty big relaunch and then they decided to take a detour just a few issues in.

That's a pretty weird strategy. I for one, am not reading any Knight Terror book because I don't have interest in it.

[Matt14teg]

A brief summary:

“It Could Be Better, But It Could Be Worse”: Shops Discuss the Often Difficult Year So Far in Comics Retail

Coming off a multi-year high that began in 2020, things were solid when I checked in with comic shops in January. Sales were steady, manga was popping, and other categories had seen growth. While there were points of consternation, healthy numbers can act as a balm for even the most troubled comic retailer’s soul. Ultimately, the good outweighed the bad last year.

But it was clear there were storm clouds on the horizon, if not there already. It wasn’t because sales were down dramatically, or even across the board. It was because everything was harder and more exhausting than it had been before, with several retailers not even understanding how they came out of 2022 ahead. While success was there, it often felt tenuous. It’s like Bruno Batista from Dublin’s Big Bang Comics put it at the time: “The uncertainty is bigger than ever” for retailers.

Some shops are level or even up from 2022, albeit fewer than before. It’s just a lack of faith in publishing partners and the material itself is taking hold, particularly when it comes to single issues. That’s for good reason. Much of it isn’t working. More than that, the job has gotten harder, and the margins tighter. That was more palatable during the boom times of 2021.

Movie releases like Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse saw surges in interest, as well, with characters like Miles Morales, Gwen Stacy, and maybe especially Spider-Punk generating sales

What's working: Dawn of DC, Void Rivals, James Tynion IV, Saga, Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, evergreen graphic novels
What isn't: floppies broadly, small publishers

How crucial hits you can count on are is exemplified nicely by a pair of answers to the question of “What isn’t working?” One was from Batista, who told me, “Everything, is the succinct answer to this,” before adding, “I don’t remember seeing regular customers so despondent about what they’re buying.” Myland clearly wanted to outdistance his peer in brevity, as his opening line to my query was a simple, pained, “Oof. So much.”

New single-issue comics are the biggest pain point, though. Batista described their single-issue customers as having an energy of, “’I’ll continue to buy them, I guess?’” While the other two main verticals at Big Bang — books (graphic novels, manga, etc.) and action figures — are thriving, single issue comics inspire “a certain ennui” amongst customers. The idea that reading single-issue comics was a duty for customers as much as anything came up multiple times in my conversations.

To emphasize how difficult this time is, though, some even insinuated that Marvel is where the trouble begins. Much of its line, particularly its incessant minis with no clear audience, are unmovable. And that’s the biggest publisher in the direct market.

Either way, many felt there are just too many comics right now. Field said that with 100 plus “new titles coming in every week,” there’s no way his “staff of five can recommend” that many. And the problem is, if they don’t sell immediately, they’re dead when another slate arrives the following week. Combine that with many titles having no clear market and customers lacking the funds to support them even if there was one, and you have a recipe for disaster — or drastically reduced orders, at the very least.

Even more damning is this statement from Batista, who said, “70% of the publishers could disappear tomorrow, and 90% of the customers wouldn’t even notice.” The veteran retailer admitted that might come across as flippant, but it was important for him to note it’s also likely a realistic number. He’s probably not wrong.

Multiple shops emphasized that comics are just getting too expensive. Rising prices cut in two other ways as well. Field has seen customers use $9.99 “anniversary issues” as not a moment of celebration, but a jumping off point. He also finds himself ordering fewer copies of the more expensive titles knowing that customers will bristle at the price. That happened at Big Bang with Ultimate Invasion #1, as they were “super conservative” when ordering because of its price point, despite its towering pedigree. Several shops believed Marvel cost itself significant orders and revenue because of that $8.99 cover price.

This is business as usual at this point, but in an era of multiple distributors for single-issue comics — and everything really — the job of a retailer has gotten more confusing and difficult, especially with each distributor existing as “mini-monopolies,” as King put it. That results in longer hours and more frustration with little added value stemming from that.

Earlier this year, I was talking with a retailer who had a big thought about the state of things. He wondered whether comics retail had died already, effectively, and what we were existing in now was a “zombie direct market.” It continues to operate simply because it doesn’t know how to do anything else — with the massive boost the pandemic proved to be for comic sales fueling its second life.

I bring this up because Field said something that reminded me of that. The veteran retailer emphasized that “publishers are not producing periodicals in a value-driven way,” electing to “pump out more and more variant covers in the vain hopes to find more buyers.” Field doesn’t see that as a winning formula, at least not for a healthy direct market.

“It’s epinephrine for a patient who’s in a coma,” Field said about the current approach of publishers. “That’s the way you keep the heart beating when something might be dying, and it feels desperate. That’s not a good look for anybody.”

Exum said “the vibe seems pretty good in general” amongst his customers, while Anderson — ever the optimist — spoke to the return of lapsed readers and the arrival of new ones as showing promise for the near-term. He has a ton of hope, saying, “2024 is gonna be lit.”

He also views what is currently happening as part of a larger cycle. Anderson’s belief is that every five or ten years, there’s a down time followed by a period of fewer comics that are consistently better, which allows shops to build hits for publishers. Right now, we’re at a point where “the market for single issues (has become) way too crowded.” But he thinks we’re coming out of it.

crazy the change between variants in 2020 - 2022
2022-YearEndReleases by Type.jpg

[clonegeek]

crazy the change between variants in 2020 - 2022
2022-YearEndReleases by Type.jpg

Yeah, this industry is on thin ice. DC is doing more Variants then I've ever seen. This can't be healthy

[Garlador]

The whole "Knight Terrors" thing DC is doing is quite odd.

They're in the middle of a pretty big relaunch and then they decided to take a detour just a few issues in.

That's a pretty weird strategy. I for one, am not reading any Knight Terror book because I don't have interest in it.

I have no idea why we’re doing Knight Terrors. It’s crazy having so many books mid-run go “and now the story is on hold for a few months while we do a bunch of unrelated horror stories in SUMMER”…