Catwoman sales figures from 1994-today...and what they may reflect

[Huntsman1117]

I did some research on Catwoman's sales from 1994 to 2016 on comichron.com and diamondcomics.com. I've been wondering why Catwoman sales have been so low, especially why they plummeted a few issues ago since they've been the best issues I've read in many years. Now it is assumed the comic is cancelled because it was not mentioned as being included during the Rebirth event.

Catwoman vol 2 (1993-2001) maintained much, much better sales than vol 3 or vol 4. In fact, the final issue of vol 2 in 2001 (the worst selling of the series) sold almost as many copies as vol 3 issue 25 (by Brubaker) in 2003, about 26,000 copies. The 90's Catwoman never ranked below 100 in the monthly Top 100 Comics chart. It only dropped below a rank of 75 around the Fall of 2000. It almost always sold as many issues as Robin, Supergirl, Birds of Pray, often outselling them and usually outsold Wonder Woman consistently.

Volume 3, which ran from 2001-2008, did not sell near as well. Its sales dropped from 49,000 copies of issue #1 to 26,500 copies of issue #12 in only a year. It consistently ranked well under 75 on the Top 100 chart, oftentimes dropping below 100. Its final issue only sold 15,000 copies.

Volume 4, the New 52, sold a little better than vol 3. Issue #1 sold 53,670 copies, but issue #20 was down to 26,900 copies, ranking 85th on the chart and was then one of the 3 worst selling DC titles. Sales from that point on were consistent until issue 42 only sold 22,000 copies. Then issue 47, Frank Tieri's first issue, plummeted to only 15,000 copies, ranking 166 on The Top 200 chart for December 2015.

These sales figures make it pretty obvious that the stories told and the artwork used used in Vol 2 in the 90's was significantly* more desirable than that of Vol 3 & 4.

I believe there were a few problems with Vol 3 from the beginning of it. First, I believe the new costume was simply unattractive. Darwyn Cooke said he wanted to tone down Catwoman's sexiness and make her look more practical and utilitarian. And he gave her bug-eye goggles. Catwoman became the opposite of sexy and I think that was a bad idea.

Next I think focusing on Catwoman in the role of a vigilante sworn to protect Gotham's seedy East End, where she has a controversial history of working as dominatrix, probably wasn't ideal for most comic readers. I think it was too dark and controversial for general audiences to get into. This was not the Catwoman that the public was used to seeing, and not what they wanted for her comic. She has always been glamorous and sensuous. She was fun because she was naughty, but still helped people often. This new Catwoman was a complete opposite, so people didn't buy it.

Vol 4, the New 52, had prettier artwork but the same bug-eye goggles, Emma Peele outfit, and bulky boots. She was a theif again but she was younger and dumber. And she was having sex with Batman while the two of them kept their masks on in the first issue. Yeah because when you wear a mask over the top half of your face, the person you are frequently screwing will never find out your true identity. This is just bad writing, which simply got worse over the next few years and the sales kept dropping.*

It's tragic that the past few issues have such low sales, and that Catwoman won't be included in DC's Rebirth. Frank Tieri's issues have been recieving great reviews, especially issue #50.

But I hope that DC has big plans for Catwoman to make her more attractive, more exciting, and more successful.

Thoughts??

[Kurtzberg]

Comparing sales from the 90's to now is really comparing apples to oranges. Completely different times, completely different markets and market forces. The speculators market that bubbled and crashed, a market boom full of huge print runs with limited edition variant glow in the dark foil stamped covers that ended with the shuttering of comic book stores all over. The numbers are just on a different planet, the Death of Superman sold over 3 million copies in 1992, not even the biggest book or hugest event could ever approach that these days. The rise of the trade paperback market and the diversification of titles and publishers, the rise of the digital market and online piracy. The evolution of the creators, the audience and society at large. Those numbers mean next to nothing today.
You can say that the Catwoman formula of the 90's was significantly more successful, but I just say it was a whole different world then. That book debuted at the height of a bubble, with the main character having a leading role in a major Hollywood movie the year before. Everything was always going to be downhill from there, that was the high water mark for the character, that was peak Catwoman.

[PurpleGlovez]

Still, the book does seem to be doing significantly worse than it has in the past, even adjusting for 90s craziness. Brubaker's run is great, but I really don't like the modern version of Catwoman he helped usher in. She's just a normal chick who steals stuff but gets away with it cuz she's screwing Batman. And I agree her modern costume is just so ugly.

In Batman Returns she just has this mythic feel to her. Even in the earlier stories where she was explicitly villainous, and then the amnesia stuff, I still feel she was a bit more compelling than she's been at certain points in the past 15 years.

Valentine's run was kind of the nail in the coffin. Decently written, I suppose, but... just dreadfully boring and lost its novelty fast. Can't believe how long that went on. Maybe it's best if they take Selina off the table for awhile and bring her back when they have something interesting to say about her.

[Doctor Bifrost]

She was a theif again but she was younger and dumber. And she was having sex with Batman while the two of them kept their masks on in the first issue. Yeah because when you wear a mask over the top half of your face, the person you are frequently screwing will never find out your true identity. This is just bad writing....

In The So-Called Real World™, masks like that would never work at all - no more than Clark Kent's glasses would - not matter what you were doing to each other. In the DCU they do work, so I have no reason to believe they'd work any less with sex thrown into the mix.

But I don't think that that's why they kept their masks on in any case. You're missing the intended (kinkier) point.

(cf. http://sequart.org/magazine/2664/wat...-make-it-good/.)

[tbgo]

90s Catwoman kicked ass! Her personality, her look, her costume, everything was spot on. I hated what Brubaker did. The costume was ugly and the Robin Hood persona was out of character and just didn't work.

[Huntsman1117]

Inflation & numbers aside, Catwoman comics competed better in the 90's, running neck & neck with Robin, Supergirl, and Birds of Prey and usually outsold Wonder Woman and Aquaman. Catwoman continued to compete well all the way up til its end in 2001, when Selina started losing her mind and had a major identity crisis.

Brubaker is a genius, but he made Catwoman a vigilante who focused on protecting the seedier, downtrodden side of Gotham. Thats not much fun. Its definitely not glamorous, which Catwoman should be. It was Darwyn Cooke that gave Catwoman the huge goggles and work boots, and who wanted to tone down Selina's sexiness and give her a less feminine style. He did the same thing with Batgirl recently. It works for Batgirl because she's young and into having a lot of high tech gadgets. Batgirl isn't supposed to be sexy. I applaude Cooke's Batgirl. Cooke is a great artist and designer. But what he did for Catwoman just wasn't right for a character who is an iconic sexy femme fatale.

[Clark_Kent]

Comparing sales from the 90's to now is really comparing apples to oranges. Completely different times, completely different markets and market forces. The speculators market that bubbled and crashed, a market boom full of huge print runs with limited edition variant glow in the dark foil stamped covers that ended with the shuttering of comic book stores all over. The numbers are just on a different planet, the Death of Superman sold over 3 million copies in 1992, not even the biggest book or hugest event could ever approach that these days. The rise of the trade paperback market and the diversification of titles and publishers, the rise of the digital market and online piracy. The evolution of the creators, the audience and society at large. Those numbers mean next to nothing today.
You can say that the Catwoman formula of the 90's was significantly more successful, but I just say it was a whole different world then. That book debuted at the height of a bubble, with the main character having a leading role in a major Hollywood movie the year before. Everything was always going to be downhill from there, that was the high water mark for the character, that was peak Catwoman.

Yeah, pretty much this. To add to all of that, this was a book where it's star would most likely look naked if seen in black & white (I'm not sure any character ever has defined the term "painted on" more than 90's Catwoman...nothing was left to the imagination), and her adventures often either guest-starred Batman or his villains, or outright crossed over into their stories (Knightquest onward this happened a lot). It was similar to the Triangle period of Superman, where (for example) "Batman" would end on a cliffhanger with the caption "Continued Next Week In Catwoman #5!". It didn't happen every month, but it happened enough that I certainly bought a lot of them (11 year old me didn't mind the cheesecake, either).

On a side note, I do miss that costume...not in a perverted kind of way, of course, but it just seemed to make sense for her character. The tighter-than-skin outfit would come in handy if climbing through air ducts or in and around lazer alarm detectors. Made more sense than the zipper outfit with goggles (her zipper would get caught on everything). Granted, her boobs were a bit on the large size lol I suppose sexing her up makes sense for her, or at least more sense than when they sexed up 16 year old Supergirl just before Infinite Crisis, for example.

[Osiris-Rex]

I sort of share the blame. I am a huge Catwoman fan and have almost every issue of Batman, Detective, etc that had Catwoman in it (some reprints but a lot of originals too) before Catwoman got her own series. I was eagerly looking forward to Catwoman getting her own series and I bought every issue of volume 2 and loved the book. But I was so PO's when they cancelled it that I never bothered to buy volume 3. Picked up some of the New 52 but it didn't seem all that interesting after a while so stopped buying that too. She didn't seem to be having as much fun as before, so it wasn't as much fun to read. Go back to the volume 2 type Catwoman and DC has a customer again. And give her hair again.