DC Sales & Estimates

[Rakzo]

he is taking about Amazing Spider-man

it was not only a new#1, it was also very very overpriced, with good reason I might add

Not really since most of the stories it contained were just set-ups for future stories.

[inisideguy]

It's surprising how poorly FF, Captain America and Iron Man sell. Those numbers on Eternal are pretty amazing. If it can stabilize anywhere north of 50,000 then we will have a Batman weekly forever

Yea this weekly idea might just be the future. I dont know how writers and artist can keep up quality books that way but it does have the feeling of a tv show almost. I think it can be a huge hit. And you know looking back Cap, and Iron Man have never been huge sellers. They have had high points but really Captain America almost got canceled a few times even during the 1970s. I am not so surprised by them. I predict another reboot for both those titles in less than a year. Now Fantastic Four? How many times can they reboot this concept? It is interesting how tastes change. When I was a kid Fantastic four was a top ten title without even trying. I dont know if the concept is just dated or what. Guys like Batman and Spidey have always been consistent and really I thought a team like Fantastic four would always be as well. Maybe there just isnt enough there to grab people anymore.

[Badou]

April 2014 Comic Book Sales Figures

Batman Eternal 1-4 combined sales of 316,392 units + the 108,998 of Batman 30 = $$$$

Wow. Batman is really holding up the entire line it seems. D:

[Bruce Wayne]

It's surprising how poorly FF, Captain America and Iron Man sell.

No not really. They had a really weak slate of creators on these books who didn't know what they wanted to do and instead went for the most overly-dramatic and dumbest ideas. Gillen for example was promising his book was going to be the next Swamp Thing and making all sorts of comparisons to his stories being Iron Man's Anatomy Lesson. Remender on Captain America did his best to distance himself from Brubaker's run by killing off Sharon Carter and spending a chunk of issues with a parallel world created by Arnim Zola that no one cared about and illustrated by some of JRJR's worst pencils . And poor Robinson has demonstrated unequivocally since his move to Marvel that he can't deliver anything worth reading without a strong editorial presence holding his hand. It's too bad Archie Goodwin isn't around then.

[RKitch]

Yea this weekly idea might just be the future. I dont know how writers and artist can keep up quality books that way but it does have the feeling of a tv show almost. I think it can be a huge hit. And you know looking back Cap, and Iron Man have never been huge sellers. They have had high points but really Captain America almost got canceled a few times even during the 1970s. I am not so surprised by them. I predict another reboot for both those titles in less than a year. Now Fantastic Four? How many times can they reboot this concept? It is interesting how tastes change. When I was a kid Fantastic four was a top ten title without even trying. I dont know if the concept is just dated or what. Guys like Batman and Spidey have always been consistent and really I thought a team like Fantastic four would always be as well. Maybe there just isnt enough there to grab people anymore.

I can see them as series that do better in trade or digitally. If the upcoming Fantastic Four movie is good, it's going to rejuvenate sales, so it has that going for it.

As for DC's sales, I do have to agree that the best is yet to come. While I don't think that New Suicide Squad, Teen Titans or even Star Spangled War Stories will break the Top 10, Grayson has a damn good chance to be there. Plus I could see Futures End and Batman Eternal staying high up in sales.

[GlennSimpson]

Simple, hype.

Where? What did they do?

Personally have seen as much advance information on Sinestro as I have on Superman and Batman stuff, that I can recall.

[RobinFan4880]

Where? What did they do?

Personally have seen as much advance information on Sinestro as I have on Superman and Batman stuff, that I can recall.

The issue is not hype so much as the fact that the book stars Sinestro, who is not exactly a big name brand in the world of solo comics (like Batman, Superman, or many others).

No not really. They had a really weak slate of creators on these books who didn't know what they wanted to do and instead went for the most overly-dramatic and dumbest ideas. Gillen for example was promising his book was going to be the next Swamp Thing and making all sorts of comparisons to his stories being Iron Man's Anatomy Lesson. Remender on Captain America did his best to distance himself from Brubaker's run by killing off Sharon Carter and spending a chunk of issues with a parallel world created by Arnim Zola that no one cared about and illustrated by some of JRJR's worst pencils . And poor Robinson has demonstrated unequivocally since his move to Marvel that he can't deliver anything worth reading without a strong editorial presence holding his hand. It's too bad Archie Goodwin isn't around then.

Over-hyping plagued Marvel NOW but, it worked for a long while. Can't blame creators for thinking they will pen a masterpiece.

I actually really liked Dimension Z. The issue with it was that it did not affect Cap in other books as much as one would have hoped or desired (thus the entire adventure was meaningless).

Forget ultimate FF. Just look at regular FF sales. Its down to 60 on the list after three issues. What the heck has happened to this one time flagship title?

We went from Hickman's amazing run to Fraction's take which amounted to a vacation (which was never really happening, sort of, given how Mr. F was so important to New Avengers) and b-list fill-in heroes teaching a legion of students with Allred's art (which though beautiful is not popular). Add to this Fraction basically phoning it in then abandoning the two books and, well, it is easy to see why it tanked. Beyond that, Robinson's run looks to tell the story of Johnny Storm becoming a man... Again.

The problem with the Fantastic Four is that there is little variance in how the team is constructed. They only really ever lose one member of the family. Compare this to the Avengers, the X-Men, the Justice League or most other teams that have simultaneously larger rosters and more more variability in their composition. Variety is the spice of life. There's only so many times you can show Johnny pranking Ben, or Mr. Fantastic neglecting his wife before it becomes a bit ho-hum.

Fraction's run would have been vastly more interesting if he had split the family, the fill-ins and the students differently. Like, say, Mr. Fantastic, Johny, Ant-Man and Darla (as well as Franklin and a handful of the other kids) go off on a space-bound adventure, while Ben, Sue, Medusa and She-Hulk (as well as Valeria and the rest of the kids) stay in New York and deal with earth-based problems. Those two Fantastic Four teams feel very different than the bog-standard composition and would have allowed for different kinds of story telling. Plus by splitting the rugrats up, Fraction could have really given each of them more depth and thus make them individually more interesting.

Wow. Batman is really holding up the entire line it seems. D:

When you don't release many of your other big guns, it is understandable how that would become a reality.

[Damos40]

Where? What did they do?

Personally have seen as much advance information on Sinestro as I have on Superman and Batman stuff, that I can recall.

Superman's own book isn't selling super (so much that Johns was brought in to write it again). Stuff like Unchained and Superman / Wonder Woman came at the right time, as well as the fact that DC basically went out of their way to make those books "apparent", through large marketing, something they just don't seem to do with other books besides big events, Sinestro included.

[Username taken]

It's surprising how poorly FF, Captain America and Iron Man sell. Those numbers on Eternal are pretty amazing. If it can stabilize anywhere north of 50,000 then we will have a Batman weekly forever

FF, Captain America and Iron Man are selling pretty much at their standard level. Outside of Heroes Reborn and the Death of Captain America, these titles haven't been big sellers for decades. At this point, those characters are movie stars more than comic book stars. That being said, lots of popular characters are selling around the level those titles are; Flash, Superman and Wonder Woman are all in the 30k range. DCs line is being heavily carried by Batman which is a good thing for DC but not so good for fans who don't really have interest in Batman.

I'm pretty sure that Batman Eternal will stabilize around 50,000 but I don't think DC will want to keep the title around forever. Looking at the main Batman book sales drop, there's a possibility of that book cannibalizing sales of the other Bat-family books if it's around for too long.

Marvel's flagship books have been the X-men, Avengers and Spider-man now and those continue to sell well, same with DC with Batman, Justice League and the other team up books.

[RobinFan4880]

FF, Captain America and Iron Man are selling pretty much at their standard level. Outside of Heroes Reborn and the Death of Captain America, these titles haven't been big sellers for decades. At this point, those characters are movie stars more than comic book stars. That being said, lots of popular characters are selling around the level those titles are; Flash, Superman and Wonder Woman are all in the 30k range. DCs line is being heavily carried by Batman which is a good thing for DC but not so good for fans who don't really have interest in Batman.

I'm pretty sure that Batman Eternal will stabilize around 50,000 but I don't think DC will want to keep the title around forever. Looking at the main Batman book sales drop, there's a possibility of that book cannibalizing sales of the other Bat-family books if it's around for too long.

Marvel's flagship books have been the X-men, Avengers and Spider-man now and those continue to sell well, same with DC with Batman, Justice League and the other team up books.

If DC does continue the weekly Bat-title, then it will definitely have to star some (or even many) of the lesser family characters that cannot sustain big numbers (like Batwing, Batwoman... Pretty much anyone that is not named Bruce or Dick, really). That may not be a bad route to go either. If you take four weak selling characters and put them into a weekly that sells double what each character sold individually, then that creates a big financial incentive to enact that plan. Even if the weekly title sells just 30k an issue and uses characters that only sell 10-25K individually, then that would still present an incentive to do it. Beyond that, you could probably use the weekly to re-launch a character and turn him/her into a bigger selling property (i.e. exposure makes you popular).

[HsssH]

FF, Captain America and Iron Man are selling pretty much at their standard level. Outside of Heroes Reborn and the Death of Captain America, these titles haven't been big sellers for decades.

I think its still to early to tell for FF with only 3 issues being out. Thou Invaders seems to be dropping rather fast, already at 23k with fourth issue so maybe FF has intead stabilized.

At this point, those characters are movie stars more than comic book stars. That being said, lots of popular characters are selling around the level those titles are; Flash, Superman and Wonder Woman are all in the 30k range. DCs line is being heavily carried by Batman which is a good thing for DC but not so good for fans who don't really have interest in Batman.

When talking about Superman sales its important to keep in mind that he has multiple titles: Action, Superman, Unchained, B/S, S/WW. There is also that Smallvile series and Adventures of Superman I think? Anyway, I think that if Superman didn't have so many titles then his sales would be higher.

[Username taken]

I think its still to early to tell for FF with only 3 issues being out. Thou Invaders seems to be dropping rather fast, already at 23k with fourth issue so maybe FF has intead stabilized.



When talking about Superman sales its important to keep in mind that he has multiple titles: Action, Superman, Unchained, B/S, S/WW. There is also that Smallvile series and Adventures of Superman I think? Anyway, I think that if Superman didn't have so many titles then his sales would be higher.

Agreed about Superman.

At this point in time, I think the only character that can support multiple titles is Batman.

Superman, X-men, Avengers e.t.c will do better with a single title.

[RobinFan4880]

A single title might sell really well but can it sustain equivalent numbers to all of the titles it is replacing? Given how many people will not buy/read comic x because of creator y or concept z, I doubt it. plus let us be honest - how many of those sales from titles starring characters that headline multiple titles are in fact double dips? I myself buy Batman, 'Tec, Batman and... and Eternal. If they consolidated Batman into one book, DC would lose 6 sales a month from me. If this happened to Superman, they would lose 2, with X-Men, 3. The market is not large enough to really sustain the idea that one character starring in one book will bring in big, sustainable numbers (especially once you factor in sales atrophy).

[GlennSimpson]

A single title might sell really well but can it sustain equivalent numbers to all of the titles it is replacing? Given how many people will not buy/read comic x because of creator y or concept z, I doubt it. plus let us be honest - how many of those sales from titles starring characters that headline multiple titles are in fact double dips? I myself buy Batman, 'Tec, Batman and... and Eternal. If they consolidated Batman into one book, DC would lose 6 sales a month from me. If this happened to Superman, they would lose 2, with X-Men, 3. The market is not large enough to really sustain the idea that one character starring in one book will bring in big, sustainable numbers (especially once you factor in sales atrophy).

I think the idea is that rather than Superman, Action, Superman Unchained, and Superman/WW coming out monthly, you just do a weekly Superman book. Then people like you and me would largely just keep buying the same amount, but people who have been picking and choosing titles would have a harder time passing on the books.

Rather like when Marvel cancelled all of the extra Spider-Man books and instead put Amazing out three times a month or whatever it was.

[AlexanderLuthor]

I understand what people are saying about weeklies cannibalizing the main titles, but I think Eternal is the perfect example of that being ok if it's at the levels of the numbers this month. Batman dropped about 17k and 'Tec slightly, so you lost let's say 25,000. But if Eternal is selling 50,000 a week that's really a drop in the bucket and worth the sacrifice. The weekly should also allow you to consolidate the titles and make the Bat story flow so much better. Dark Knight is already gone and I assume Batwing is close behind. I also wouldn't be surprised if Catwoman doesn't wrap up by the end of the year and then take a break before relaunch. Batwoman is also likely to be cancelled by the end of the year I suspect. Roll all of those characters into Eternal, showcase the GCPD and have Batman be enough of the story that the changes in the weekly affect the main books. I really think that's how it's going to go for Batman, Superman and JL with Earth 2 and GL doing a weekly every few years. Personally, I'm loving the weekly concept as it really keeps you engaged in the story - even if in the future there is going to be some sacrifice on the quality of the art