DC Comic Sales February

[Captain Nostalgia]

I thought it would be interesting to post DC comic sales for February to see how titles are doing. (I'm sure March will be out in a few weeks)

The numbers are taken from comichub which accounts for somewhere between 4 & 5% of comic shops....so don't be shouting to cancel someone's favourite title, though I do think it gives one a pretty good snapshot as they are geographically dispersed.

The Good:

Zdarsky is keeping DC Comics alive by keeping Batman issues in the top 5
Put a good writer on Wonder Woman and she will sell....who knew?
Good to see NIghtwing remaining solid, and Birds of Prey, Titans and Poison Ivy doing well

The Bad

Worrisome numbers for Flash and Green Arrow, so early into their series.
Blue Beetle sales are in the gutter pretty early

The Ugly

Outside of Batman there is only 1 other DC title in the top 25
A Wallace West led title didn't make the top 200
A former popular elder superhero...who had their continuity changed....didn't even make the top 200.



DC Comics in the top 10

3. Batman #142
4. Batman #143
9. Batman #144

DC Comics 10 to 25 (A wall of Marvel)

16. Justice League Vs Godzilla Vs Kong #5 (Of 7)

Dc Comics top 25 to 50

26. Wonder Woman #6
28. Nightwing #111
29. Action Comics #1062
30. Batman Superman World’s Finest #24
37. Superman #11
39. Birds of Prey #6
42. Green Lantern #8
43. Titans #8
46. Poison Ivy #19
47. Batman and Robin #6

DC Comics Top 50 to 100

54 .Batman City of Madness #3 (Of 3) (Mature)
60. Detective Comics #1082
63. Red Hood the Hill #1 (Of 6)
76. Shazam #8
81. John Constantine, Hellblazer Dead in America #2 (Of 8) (Mature)
92. Suicide Squad Kill Arkham Asylum #1 (Of 5) (Mature)
93. Catwoman #62
98. The Flash #6
100. Green Arrow #9

DC Comics 101 to 150

101. Wesley Dodds The Sandman #5 (Of 6)
106. Power Girl #6
108. Green Lantern War Journal #6
110. Sinister Sons #1 (Of 6)
114. Red Hood the Hill #0
119. Kneel Before Zod #2 (Of 12)
120. DC's How to Lose a Guy Gardner in 10 Days #1 (One-Shot)
124, Green Lantern #87 Facsimile Edition
128. Penguin #7
129. Outsiders #4
136. Superman '78 The Metal Curtain #4 (Of 6)
139. Batman the Brave and the Bold #10
141. Batman Superman World's Finest 2024 Annual #1 (One-Shot)
144. Fire & Ice Welcome To Smallville #6 (Of 6)

DC Comics 150 – 200 (The Cancellation Zone!)

152. Jay Garrick The Flash #5 (Of 6)
156. Blue Beetle #6
159. Detective Comics #1081
162. Batman #141
163. Batman and Robin 2024 Annual #1 (One-Shot)
172. Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries #2
175. Harley Quinn #37
182. Titans Beast World #6 (Of 6)
186. Batman Off-World #3 (Of 6)
191. Power Girl Uncovered #1 (One-Shot)
192. Amazons Attack #5
193. Trinity Special #1 (One-Shot)
197. Wonder Woman #5

Didn’t make the 200. (Sales bombs or limited supply issued)

Alan Scott The Green Lantern #5
Speed Force #4
Batman 89 Echoes #3
The Batman: First Night #1
Scooby Doo Where are you? #126
Batman White Knight Presents: Generation Joker
Spirit World
City Boy
The Vigil

[Psy-lock]

IIRC there was no Alan Scott issue in February.

[Garrac]

Sucks to see Blue Beetle so low, I guess americans hate reading peak

[RogueWhistler]

How is this Flash run performing compared to Jeremy Adams'?

[DanMad1977]

The question is why is DC performing so bad? Even the main characters.

Anyone has an idea?

[HsssH]

How is this Flash run performing compared to Jeremy Adams'?

About the same if I remember right. Adams's got a bit of a boost towards the end with One Minute War. So we are likely going to get new writer in not so distant future.

[skyvolt2000]

The question is why is DC performing so bad? Even the main characters.

Anyone has an idea?

Define performing bad.

Are certain titles really performing bad or are they actually selling at a store and NOT requiring extra copies to be ordered.
Example-Savage Dragon-who is NEVER in the top 200 yet is on issue 270. What happens with that title is a store orders 5 copies. All 5 sold and that is it. Which is a huge trend at ALL the comic book stores in my city.
So lets take City Boy, Vigil and Batman 89 Echoes & Spirit World. They all fit this category. Heck at some stores Speedforce and both Green Lantern books are like that.

FANS-As much as we hear the crying for BLANK to get a book. How many folks do the GREATEST gymnastic routines to NOT touch the book? Red Hood-too many times I heard complaints of WHY IS THIS BLACK WOMAN ON THE COVER be it the current mini or the last two issues of his series. BEFORE the books come out. After they came out-you didn't hear those complaints as much.
Or my favorite-can't stand the art on a title! Yet put that SAME artist or writer on a certain character (Mainly X-Men or Batman)-NOBODY has an issue with them. Looking at you Scott Lobdell and Greg Land and Tom King.

Hatred of certain characters-like we are seeing with the JSA kids. They don't even have a book announced YET and folks are taking issue with it. WANTING it to fail. We got too many folks who don't want certain books made at all.
Certain characters in books are DEAL BREAKERS. How many folks did not bother with Birds of Prey because of Harley? Remove Wallace out of Speed Force and put in ANYBODY else-does it sell better? Would Pre New 52 versions of Alan Scott, Jay Garrick, Superboy and Tim Drake sell better? An Outsiders book WITH Jefferson, Kantana, the HATED Duke Thomas and Batman instead of the Outsider book that is really a Planetary book with out of character Batwoman and Batwing.

The various ways to get COMICS and WHEN you get them. One thing I have learned in collecting comics-PATIENCE is a virtue when it comes to certain books.

A lot of this is OUT of DC and any publisher's hands. Once they put the book out.

It's NOT DC's fault-I can WAIT on collecting say Nightwing.
Because I know if I wait till free comic book day at my store and the 25 cent boxes come out.
When I KNOW I can get the last 2-3 years of Nightwing (pretty much ALL the Batman line) and get either all or 95% of complete run.
And any issue I need I can WAIT till Midtown Comics have 75% off sale and fill in the gaps.
Now there are some books I can't do that with. Poison Ivy, Flash, Harley, Superman (Post Bendis), Green Lantern (post Hal Jordan and TGLC) & Milestone books.

Finally the HUGE Elephant in the room.....

You got better competition.

Comic book Nostalgia is NOT why Transformers and GI Joe, Spawn, House of Slaughter, Something is Killing Children and Conan is beating some titles.

There are better done books out there without the drama of editors and toxic behavior of fans and store owners that folks are buying and enjoying.

And some of the creators are seeing that. Folks see the empire of Spawn. Spawn got the empire of titles Black Panther, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Superman and even Flash should have. Yet can't.

[Robotman]

The Bat books really haven’t been good lately but people keep buying them.

Also, is this actual sales or what the shop is ordering?

[Bruce Wayne]

The Bat books really haven’t been good lately but people keep buying them.

Also, is this actual sales or what the shop is ordering?

It's non-random sampling of ~3000 stores iirc. In other words, it's only an approximation of real sales and will probably fall short due to its nonrandom nature.

If we take the data as gospel:

WW is probably overperforming under King.

Superman/Action, GL, Titans, Batman & Robin, Flash, etc are all underperforming for various reasons.

[Leancarp900]

It's non-random sampling of ~3000 stores.

It's a sample of 125 stores, not 3000.

Also, the problem with ICV2 is that it heavily overestimates books released on the first week of the month and underestimates books released on the second week of the month.

People shouldn't put too much money on these ICV2 lists. From what I've heard they are not very accurate.

[Reddead]

The question is why is DC performing so bad? Even the main characters.

Anyone has an idea?

It's always been this way.

If you think this is bad, this is actually an improvement over the Infinite Frontier days.

[Bruce Wayne]

It's a sample of 125 stores, not 3000.

Also, the problem with ICV2 is that it heavily overestimates books released on the first week of the month and underestimates books released on the second week of the month.

People shouldn't put too much money on these ICV2 lists. From what I've heard they are not very accurate.

ICv2 says it's a non-random sampling of 3000 stores:

As this is a small, non-random sample of over 3,000 stores selling American comics worldwide, these rankings may not be typical for all stores, but do represent a variety of locations and store emphases.

I agree that relying on it is probably a mistake, but it's the best we have at the moment I think.

[Hypo]

It's a sample of 125 stores, not 3000.

Well technically ICv2 says its data from "over 125 stores" - but yes there are no sales numbers that capture the full set of stores anymore, these numbers are based off the shops that use the ComicHub point of sale software, which would represent roughly 4% of comic book stores.

[Leancarp900]

ICv2 says it's a non-random sampling of 3000 stores:



I agree that relying on it is probably a mistake, but it's the best we have at the moment I think.

I think you are reading that wrong. The sample is 125.

During the period for which these reports were generated, there were over 125 stores using the ComicHub system.

3000 is the amount of stores selling western comics.

[Digifiend]

IIRC there was no Alan Scott issue in February.

Yeah. #4 January 30, #5 March 26.