X-Sales Watch, 2k23 FoX edition

[JB]

Marvel definitely targeted the collectors with the slew of HFG variants from X-Men to Avengers to Spider-Man to Moon Knight.

[Alex_Of_X]

One thing that stands out to me is this strange relationship:

Amazing Spider-Man #29 is basically the top selling Marvel book and #30 is 13th, a normal spread because of the week of the month difference and since ASM keeps topping the chart #30 will sell as well as #29 eventually. That is what we expect with this 'data'.

What is odd is Hellfire Gala comes out the same week as ASM #30 and outsells it. Would we expect HFG to be outselling ASM #29? It is a controversial issue so if retailers ordered big on it then maybe. However Venom #23 also came out on the last week and outsold both HFG and ASM #30. So is it outselling ASM #29? I doubt it. I think being a 'key' comic including a 'key' variant had people rushing to buy online so the sales were immediate as opposed to titles that sell a lot of shelf copies or let people pay in store when they pick up their pull. HFG may have benefitted from a little bit of FOMO as well to help it against the last week sales problem.

A super fair assessment, given that Venom #22 also came out in July and is ranked at #20, as opposed to #23 ranking seventh. Some number mucking is afoot.

When i tried to google Venom 23, the first suggestion by google was "Venom 23 variant" lmao. It was the one with the newly-venomized Black Widow, drawn by Cafu, I believe

[skyvolt2000]

One thing that stands out to me is this strange relationship:

Amazing Spider-Man #29 is basically the top selling Marvel book and #30 is 13th, a normal spread because of the week of the month difference and since ASM keeps topping the chart #30 will sell as well as #29 eventually. That is what we expect with this 'data'.

What is odd is Hellfire Gala comes out the same week as ASM #30 and outsells it. Would we expect HFG to be outselling ASM #29? It is a controversial issue so if retailers ordered big on it then maybe. However Venom #23 also came out on the last week and outsold both HFG and ASM #30. So is it outselling ASM #29? I doubt it. I think being a 'key' comic including a 'key' variant had people rushing to buy online so the sales were immediate as opposed to titles that sell a lot of shelf copies or let people pay in store when they pick up their pull. HFG may have benefitted from a little bit of FOMO as well to help it against the last week sales problem.

What variants did Hellfire, Venom and Amazing all have?

Remember when it comes to the Spider-Man family-they have hidden variants that rarely pop up on Final Order Cutoffs but somehow reach CERTAIN stores( mainly online sellers).
I can think of 10 Miles Morales ones that I can find on Ebay yet NEVER were FOC at any store in my city.

So if there were key Venom variants that might have caused the difference in sales.

[Jackraow21]

July X-books (just the TOP50 per ICv2, TOP200 coming mid-month)

#5 X-Men #24

Takeaways:
-Guggan's X-Men went ham

They must’ve heard Cable shows up in this one… but then I bet were disappointed it wasn’t the OG version. That’s my theory, and no one can prove it’s wrong!

[Uncanny X-Man]

July X-books (just the TOP50 per ICv2, TOP200 coming mid-month)

#5 X-Men #24

#10 X-Men Hellfire Gala #1

#17 Immortal X-Men #13

#26 X-Men: Days of Future Past - Doomsday #1

#29 X-Men Before the Fall Sinister Four #1

Books launched halfway thru the month, i.e. the most likely to sell more past the survey cutoff: NEW MUTANTS LETHAL LEGION #5, WOLVERINE #35, X-MEN RED #13, DEADPOOL #9, STORM #3, THE X-CELLENT #5, X-MEN: HELLFIRE GALA 2023 #1


Takeaways:

-Guggan's X-Men went ham
-Hellfire Gala sold well for a 4 day window. Hard to compare it against anything because of the price. Ultimate invasion #1 ranked above it in its month, but also sold a week longer. Interested in HFG's long term sales.
-Fun fact: last year's HFG cost a dollar less, came out midmonth as opposed to right at the end, and still ranked only 9th as compared to this year's ranking 10th. Safe to say this year's sold better lmao.
-Limp start for Doomsday. Sorry, Googs
-X-Men: Red, where are you? (it's fine, just shipped a week later than in June, hence the sales dip. Same for Wolverine.)
-Sinister Four outpacing its contemporaries by a hair. Well done, Gillen-hive (it's me, i am the hive)
-Ultimate Invasion #2, Fallen Friend #1, Scarlet Witch #6 made the list, but they're not X-Men books in the strict definition of the word (J.D. White's not editing them). Same for Iron Man. Sound off if you want them included!

Thanks for sharing the rankings and your comments!

I daresay Doomsday #1 didn't do horribly for what it is, if we consider the X-Men Legends and affiliate minis the benchmark.

Ultimate Invasion #2 ranked 23rd by the way, which isn't bad and one also has to keep in mind it's a $6 book... yet I have to wonder how happy Marvel is with that considering it will be the springboard for the new Ultimate Universe. Obviously knowing what we know about these rankings and taking them with a big pinch of salt.

I was also surprised to see Big Game #1 ranking 50th considering how successful Mark Millar's launches usually are and also considering this is drawn by Pepe Larraz and features a big crossover with all the Millarworld properties. I wonder if it released too late in the month to be correctly ranked here?

[Alex_Of_X]

July X-books (TOP200)

#5 X-Men #24

#10 X-Men Hellfire Gala #1

#17 Immortal X-Men #13

#26 X-Men: Days of Future Past - Doomsday #1

#29 X-Men Before the Fall Sinister Four #1
------------------------------------------------
#52 X-Men Red #13

#57 X-Force #42

#72 Wolverine #35

#87 Deadpool: Badder Blood #2

#94 Rogue & Gambit #5

#114 X-Men #101 Facsimile Edition

#116 Deadpool #9

#117 X-23: Deadly Regenesis #5

#128 X-Men Before The Fall Heralds of Apocalypse #1 (Resolicitation; was #51 in June)

#146 New Mutants Lethal Legion #5

#163 Storm #3

#173 Deadpool #8 (Resolicitation; was #98 in June)

#Unranked: The X-Cellent #5

Books launched halfway thru the month, i.e. the most likely to sell more past the survey cutoff: NEW MUTANTS LETHAL LEGION #5, WOLVERINE #35, X-MEN RED #13, DEADPOOL #9, STORM #3, THE X-CELLENT #5, X-MEN: HELLFIRE GALA 2023 #1

Takeaways, part 2:

-X-Men: Red's fine, just shipped a week later than in June, hence the sales dip. Same for Wolverine.
-Rogue\Gambit barely squeezing into the top 100 is a worrying sign for the FoX minis. These are A-listers, after all. I assume the aim was trade sales.
-Bye, Badder blood! We hardly knew ye
-Heh, Heralds of Apoc spiked in resolicits while First Strike did not! Sorry, Orlando, Ewing is top dog once again.

I was also surprised to see Big Game #1 ranking 50th considering how successful Mark Millar's launches usually are and also considering this is drawn by Pepe Larraz and features a big crossover with all the Millarworld properties. I wonder if it released too late in the month to be correctly ranked here?

Yup, July 19th!

And thanks! c;

[Malachi]

July X-books (TOP200)

#5 X-Men #24

#10 X-Men Hellfire Gala #1

#17 Immortal X-Men #13

#26 X-Men: Days of Future Past - Doomsday #1

#29 X-Men Before the Fall Sinister Four #1
------------------------------------------------
#52 X-Men Red #13

#57 X-Force #42

#72 Wolverine #35

#87 Deadpool: Badder Blood #2

#94 Rogue & Gambit #5

#114 X-Men #101 Facsimile Edition

#116 Deadpool #9

#117 X-23: Deadly Regenesis #5

#128 X-Men Before The Fall Heralds of Apocalypse #1 (Resolicitation; was #51 in June)

#146 New Mutants Lethal Legion #5

#163 Storm #3

#173 Deadpool #8 (Resolicitation; was #98 in June)

#Unranked: The X-Cellent #5

Books launched halfway thru the month, i.e. the most likely to sell more past the survey cutoff: NEW MUTANTS LETHAL LEGION #5, WOLVERINE #35, X-MEN RED #13, DEADPOOL #9, STORM #3, THE X-CELLENT #5, X-MEN: HELLFIRE GALA 2023 #1

Takeaways, part 2:

-X-Men: Red's fine, just shipped a week later than in June, hence the sales dip. Same for Wolverine.
-Rogue\Gambit barely squeezing into the top 100 is a worrying sign for the FoX minis. These are A-listers, after all. I assume the aim was trade sales.
-Bye, Badder blood! We hardly knew ye
-Heh, Heralds of Apoc spiked in resolicits while First Strike did not! Sorry, Orlando, Ewing is top dog once again.



Yup, July 19th!

And thanks! c;

R&G started out strong in sales but fell off. It had bad word of mouth and even the reviews seemed to sour on it. So perhaps this is a case off a not so hot product and not a test of popularity.

[cranger]

Takeaways, part 2:

-X-Men: Red's fine, just shipped a week later than in June, hence the sales dip. Same for Wolverine.
-Rogue\Gambit barely squeezing into the top 100 is a worrying sign for the FoX minis. These are A-listers, after all. I assume the aim was trade sales.
-Bye, Badder blood! We hardly knew ye
-Heh, Heralds of Apoc spiked in resolicits while First Strike did not! Sorry, Orlando, Ewing is top dog once again.

First Strike was a week 1 release and HoA was a cutoff title, so of course HoA has 'resolicitation' sales (which are actually just sales of the comic that shipped on time the month prior but arrived late enough in the month that enough sales occurred in the following sales period to rank on the chart. Whoever made that chart needs a new term for that btw and no one should copy their misleading terminology).

[Alex_Of_X]

First Strike was a week 1 release and HoA was a cutoff title, so of course HoA has 'resolicitation' sales (which are actually just sales of the comic that shipped on time the month prior but arrived late enough in the month that enough sales occurred in the following sales period to rank on the chart. Whoever made that chart needs a new term for that btw and no one should copy their misleading terminology).

Cranger's spitting facts. Sorry, Steve. Please don't have Sara Pichelli stuff me in a sexy dominatrix suit so that Wanda can kick me in the shins, please.

I have family, man

[johnnysv75]

Really hope ”Jean Grey” #1 will make the top 10.

[cranger]

I hate myself for doing this for multiple reasons but if anyone needs to fill the void of following somewhat useful sales charts, BC is now doing their own weekly top 10.

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/top-...h-august-2023/

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/top-...h-august-2023/

While I do not vouch for the representativeness of the numbers, they are at least keeping things on par as each chart is just the sales from Tuesday to Friday (or so it says) of that week so it should portray how the 10 hottest comics released that week did. It won't do much for tracking sales of comics month to month but the ICv2 numbers fail at that too.

[EmeraldGladiator]

Really hope ”Jean Grey” #1 will make the top 10.

I am rooting for Dark X-Men #1

[sbp1972]

I hate myself for doing this for multiple reasons but if anyone needs to fill the void of following somewhat useful sales charts, BC is now doing their own weekly top 10.

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/top-...h-august-2023/

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/top-...h-august-2023/

While I do not vouch for the representativeness of the numbers, they are at least keeping things on par as each chart is just the sales from Tuesday to Friday (or so it says) of that week so it should portray how the 10 hottest comics released that week did. It won't do much for tracking sales of comics month to month but the ICv2 numbers fail at that too.

I
I just can't put much faith in those numbers as a reliable barometer of overall sales. Doesn't ComicsHub account for less than 10% of the whole volume of stores? I mean, you get a couple of those guys that don't make the effort to stock things based on their own personal tastes, and that would really skew things.

[cranger]

I
I just can't put much faith in those numbers as a reliable barometer of overall sales. Doesn't ComicsHub account for less than 10% of the whole volume of stores? I mean, you get a couple of those guys that don't make the effort to stock things based on their own personal tastes, and that would really skew things.

Other than pointing out that these numbers are from about 3% of the worldwide stores that could be part of it and that the ICv2 numbers are also using ComicHub, I certainly am not going say anything else good about these numbers.

[JB]

It's like what we were saying earlier in the thread. If we can agree that there's no reliable sales chart out there depicting true overall sales then we can just have fun with it.

Good for UA and Dark X-Men! Ewing starting out strong with Immortal Thor. And I chuckled at X-Force popping up because the Percy train just won't stop lol