DC Comic Sales March

[Robotman]

The Superman line of books have been pretty great but honestly in all my years of being a comics reader I currently have the fewest DC books I’ve ever had on my monthly pull list.

The line seems so dull. And I have zero interest in the over arching story of Waller as this one dimensional mustache twirling villain.

To be fair, Knight Terrors (event that nobody asked for and everyone were puzzled why it was even made in the first place) really damaged Dawn of DC momentum.

Yeah I have no idea what the hell they were thinking with Knight Terrors. It stopped their new initiative dead in its tracks and it doesn’t seem like they recovered.

[Frontier]

DC explicitly marketed Dawn of DC as a bright sunny era full of legacy, the kind of thing DC fans have claimed they want. Sales are terrible so I reckon we’re going to be shifting back to a darker tone soon.

I honestly don't see that pushing the needle unless they hype controversy after controversy.

[TheKryptonMan]

Maket share (per dollar), Marvel had 38.9% in Q1 2024 and DC 21.6%. Marvel is naughty, the publisher has increased the price of comics without page enlargement like DC did, and has charged absurd amounts for some releases, especially when Hickman is on the cover.
Even so, it is a considerable change from Marvel's 36.5% in Q1 2023 and DC's 25.5%.
ICv2 data.

Yes Marvel is notoriously naughty with increasing the price and not giving us more pages .
Biggest example is ASM at $4.99 and still 20 pages of content , sometimes only 19 pages . Many times I feel ripped off . I buy it for Peter Parker/Spider-Man and consider it the main book .
Sometimes I just have to skip certain story arcs because of that .

[HsssH]

This month's rankings included the first week of April for some reason (despite being March's ratings).

I looked at Top 50 and it looks like they did the same for Marvel with at least X-Men #33 being listed. Would partially explain why some titles got big drops since some of the big hitters like Batman and X-Men are counted twice this month. On the other hand I wonder how April will look for DC with Batman, Birds of Prey and Poison Ivy being listed in March.

Anyway, since I'm stupid I decided to do another 5-10-15 years comparison for Top 100. 20 in 2024, 32 in 2019, 32 in 2014, 29 in 2009.

2024:
5 Batman #145
23 Justice League Vs Godzilla Vs Kong #6
27 The Bat-Man First Knight #1
28 Batman Superman World's Finest #25
30 Batman #146
32 Wonder Woman #7
47 Action Comics #1063
49 Nightwing #112
53 Superman #12
55 Poison Ivy #20
58 Birds of Prey #7
65 Detective Comics #1083
71 Titans #9
72 Batman Dark Age #1 (Of 6)
73 Green Lantern #9
74 Batman and Robin #7
89 Catwoman #63
90 Batman #144
92 Justice Society of America #9
95 Batman '89 Echoes #2

2019:
1 Detective Comics #1000 DC
2 Batman Who Laughs: The Grim Knight #1
3 Doomsday Clock #9
4 Batman #67
5 Batman #66
6 Heroes In Crisis #7
10 Justice League #20
12 Justice League #19
22 Superman #9
25 Green Lantern #5
28 Harley Quinn #59
29 Catwoman #9
31 Action Comics #1009
36 Flash #66
37 Flash #67
38 Shazam #4
42 Wonder Woman #66
46 Young Justice #3
47 Wonder Woman #67
52 Supergirl #28
54 Justice League Dark #9
69 Teen Titans #28
77 Nightwing #58
80 Aquaman #46
81 Justice League Odyssey #7
83 Batgirl #33
87 Titans #35
89 Dial H For Hero #1
92 Green Arrow #50
93 Deathstroke #41
95 Wonder Twins #2
99 Martian Manhunter #4

2014:
1 Batman #29
2 Superman Unchained #6
3 Forever Evil #6
4 Sandman Overture #2
14 Harley Quinn #4
18 Detective Comics #29
22 Justice League of America #13
24 Batman Superman Annual #1
31 Green Lantern #29
36 Superman Wonder Woman #6
37 Batman and Aquaman #29
47 Nightwing #29
49 Earth 2 #21
51 Batman The Dark Knight #29
52 Forever Evil Arkham War #6
54 Action Comics #29
57 Aquaman #29
59 Superman #29
60 Flash #29
61 Batgirl #29
65 Wonder Woman #29
66 Justice League 3000 #4
70 Justice League Dark #29
76 Green Lantern Corps #29
84 Wake #7
86 Teen Titans #29
87 Worlds Finest #21
88 Green Lantern New Guardians #29
89 Red Lanterns #29
95 Green Arrow #29
99 Supergirl #29
100 Forever Evil Rogues Rebellion #6

2009:
3 Batman Battle For The Cowl #1
8 Justice League of America #31
16 Green Lantern Corps #34
17 Batman Cacophony #3
22 Superman World of New Krypton #1
28 Action Comics #875
32 Superman #686
33 Superman Batman #56
36 Azrael Deaths Dark Knight #1
37 Batman Battle For The Cowl Commissioner Gordon #1
38 Gotham Gazette Batman Dead #1
42 Titans #11
44 Trinity #40
45 Trinity #41
46 Trinity #42
47 Oracle #1
48 Trinity #43
50 Supergirl #39
51 Wonder Woman #30
57 Outsiders #16
73 Booster Gold #18
76 Solomon Grundy #1
79 Strange Adventures #1
81 Green Arrow Black Canary #18
83 Fables #82
89 Terror Titans #6
91 Saga of the Swamp Thing #21 Special Ed
95 Planetary #1 Special Ed.
98 Batman Confidential #27

[HsssH]

One would obviously need to look at more data, but looking at February, March + doing a quick glance at surrounding months... I think that the whole criticism of DC these days relying too much on Batman is a bit of a bullshit.

Obviously, DC generates lots of sales thru Batman, but it has been the case for years now. 2009 it is about Bruce Wayne dying in Final Crisis, Gaiman doing Whatever Happened issues, whole battle for the cowl aftermath and months later Batman and Robin title will come that will generate lots of momentum as well. 2014 is Snyder's Batman doing great numbers and in 2014 April Batman Eternal weekly will launch that will be a solid seller for the entire year. 2019 Batman and Detective double shipping and hitting 1 000 milestone + Snyder doing these Dark Multiverse Batman's. So you know, Batman was always one of the DC's pillars and consistent top seller.

Some titles drop, some improve, but it is normal for Batman's secondary characters (like Nightwing, Batgirl, Robin, Catwoman, Harley and now Poison Ivy) to have high sales and outsell other "big" characters.

Problem is that Flash is struggling for two runs in a row now despite fandom claiming that Adams was doing what they wanted and "smart comics twitter" claiming that Spurrier is great. Problem is that we don't have even one regular JL title for 2 years now and it is not even clear when we'll be getting one. Titans doing about as well as they always did should put the argument about "JL keeping other teams down" to bed, but probably some people will still insist on it. Problem is that Aquaman is gone entirely. And we could go on.

And well, I don't see how Batman is responsible for DC not being able to figure out what to do with Justice League for two years now.

[Confuzzled]

We aren't talking enough about how consistent Poison Ivy has been in sales over the last two years. Probably the most consistently selling female title since Spider-Girl in the early 00s?

[Reddead]

One would obviously need to look at more data, but looking at February, March + doing a quick glance at surrounding months... I think that the whole criticism of DC these days relying too much on Batman is a bit of a bullshit.

Obviously, DC generates lots of sales thru Batman, but it has been the case for years now. 2009 it is about Bruce Wayne dying in Final Crisis, Gaiman doing Whatever Happened issues, whole battle for the cowl aftermath and months later Batman and Robin title will come that will generate lots of momentum as well. 2014 is Snyder's Batman doing great numbers and in 2014 April Batman Eternal weekly will launch that will be a solid seller for the entire year. 2019 Batman and Detective double shipping and hitting 1 000 milestone + Snyder doing these Dark Multiverse Batman's. So you know, Batman was always one of the DC's pillars and consistent top seller.

Some titles drop, some improve, but it is normal for Batman's secondary characters (like Nightwing, Batgirl, Robin, Catwoman, Harley and now Poison Ivy) to have high sales and outsell other "big" characters.

Problem is that Flash is struggling for two runs in a row now despite fandom claiming that Adams was doing what they wanted and "smart comics twitter" claiming that Spurrier is great. Problem is that we don't have even one regular JL title for 2 years now and it is not even clear when we'll be getting one. Titans doing about as well as they always did should put the argument about "JL keeping other teams down" to bed, but probably some people will still insist on it. Problem is that Aquaman is gone entirely. And we could go on.

And well, I don't see how Batman is responsible for DC not being able to figure out what to do with Justice League for two years now.

I don't think making a direct comparison between the direct market in 2009 (or even 2014) to today makes much sense. It changed too much.

2009 was before the relaunch frenzies of the New 52 and Marvel Now! made the Big Two reliant on new #1s, there were not nearly as many variant covers and most of the series Marvel published made it past 10 issues which isn't the case today.

The DC rankings didn't change all that much (even then, GL used to be a top 3 title back then) but the marvel ones did.

[HsssH]

I have no idea what market changes lead to DC having 0 regular JL titles instead of 2-4.

[Reddead]

I have no idea what market changes lead to DC having 0 regular JL titles instead of 2-4.

To be blunt I don't think the direct markets gives a **** about those sorts of team titles anymore. I checked a random month of 2009 and three out of the top 7 titles were Avengers titles. Where is MacKay's Avengers selling now?

You mention that Titans was selling around as well nowadays as it did back then, but TTA was selling well out of the top 150 and DC congratulated Sheridan for making the best-selling Titans series in a while. Bendis' JL was usually out of the top 50.

The reason DC isn't publishing a JL book is because they are trying to make people miss it while they don't publish it. I'm not sure it will actually work. They employed the same strategy with Superman replacing it with SOKE but I'm not sure it gave Williamson's Superman that much of a boost.

[Confuzzled]

Could someone be kind enough to clarify when JL was at its peak in terms of sales? If I had to guess, it was probably in the late 90s/early 00s when DCAU JL and JLU were airing but I am just blindly spitballing.

[Reddead]

Could someone be kind enough to clarify when JL was at its peak in terms of sales? If I had to guess, it was probably in the late 90s/early 00s when DCAU JL and JLU were airing but I am just blindly spitballing.

Morrison was the peak iirc. Geoff Johns in the New 52 also did very high numbers.

[Captain Nostalgia]

DC explicitly marketed Dawn of DC as a bright sunny era full of legacy, the kind of thing DC fans have claimed they want. Sales are terrible so I reckon we’re going to be shifting back to a darker tone soon.

I guess I should have been more specific. I prefer vigilante heroes over metahumans, so gritty for me just means a writer who can write a really good street fighting story with broken bones, dislocated shoulders ect....seems to have become a lost art at DC.

Covid layoffs and Didio's failed 5G resulted in people, both creators and editors, leaving. I think it's clear we are still dealing with the aftermath of these decisions. The only reason for example Williamson became their top writer is because of these decisions left a gaping hole in DC's editorial/creative rosters. The fact that bat-editorial has been decimated since Rebirth shows there's serious structural problems within that corner of DC.

I see, well I think that's part of it, but I also think that DC had some questionable hiring practices the last few years, in which at one point (it seems to have stopped) writers felt like they were getting hired on their political persuasion instead of merit.

Vita Ayala, Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad, & Meagan Fitzmartin to name a few have to be some of the worst writers I've ever come across at DC, and apparently it's just not me, because they sunk every title they worked on.

I’m not ideologically aligned with any part of the political spectrum, so I don’t really care if a writer is left wing or right wing….I do care if they can write well though.

Today Frank Miller or Chuck Dixon would most likely not be hired by DC because of their personal politics, which is a shame because they can write 1000 times better than Becky Cloonan and Michael Conrad.
Barring something morally serious, merit should be the only consideration when hiring writers at DC.

[RogueWhistler]

I don't know what the sales looked like, but the mid 90's and late 2010's also had the peak number of monthly JL ongoings (three), like the JLU and New 52 eras.

I've heard that DC's had trouble getting artists for team books because of the heavier workload. Recent team books like Doom Patrol, Outsiders, and Suicide Squad have been minis instead of ongoings, which probably helps with this, and of course JSA has its own problems.

TTA being a relatively strong seller makes some sense, even if it wasn't especially well-received. I think it was meant to consolidate the audience of Titans and Teen Titans, which might cannibalise each other otherwise, which might also be part of why there's no current Teen Titans book.

[Confuzzled]

@Reddead @RogueWhistler Thanks guys!

Morrison was the peak iirc. Geoff Johns in the New 52 also did very high numbers.

Okay that makes sense

I don't know what the sales looked like, but the mid 90's and late 2010's also had the peak number of monthly JL ongoings (three), like the JLU and New 52 eras.

I've heard that DC's had trouble getting artists for team books because of the heavier workload. Recent team books like Doom Patrol, Outsiders, and Suicide Squad have been minis instead of ongoings, which probably helps with this, and of course JSA has it's own problems.

Interesting. This also explains why they haven't really seriously committed to bringing back Gotham City Sirens despite all 3 members now having successful solos. Also interesting that Harley is actually the worst performing one right now thanks to overexposure and Ivy the best performing one as she's never had a long-running solo before. There was a Poison Ivy fan on Twitter who had told me a decade back that Didio had confided in her saying that there were a couple of people on DC Editorial who didn't want to push Ivy as a solo character as they felt she would dilute Harley's popularity, so they felt she served better as Harley's support.

While those people pissed me off as an Ivy fan, turns out their concerns were right because once you give Ivy a chance to shine, she outshines Harley easily. Funny how the undeniable success of G Willow Wilson's mini literally forced DC to make it a long running book. Ivy's first 2016 mini by Amy Chu and Clay Mann also performed decently, and the TPB sales were really strong, but the single issues didn't quite breakout like Willow's book as there were barely any variants. Which was weird as Poison Ivy may actually be the most variant cover friendly character in all of comics. But back then most people weren't tired of Harley with the Suicide Squad film just around the corner, and the mini was not much more than a bone thrown at the Ivy hashtag folks.

[LAWtoyoto 432]

I've heard that DC's had trouble getting artists for team books because of the heavier workload. Recent team books like Doom Patrol, Outsiders, and Suicide Squad have been minis instead of ongoings, which probably helps with this, and of course JSA has it's own problems.

Meanwhile, the X-books have like 3 or 4 ongoing team books back in "Dawn of X" started. Yet, nothing complain about heavier workload happen at the X-Office. The same goes for the Avengers run.