Like in any industry, comic books and their companies listen most to one thing and that’s your money! What does your money tell them? What does it tell us as fans? What series do people say they adore but can’t seem to catch a break and what books to people hate that sell out? What are the trends? What looks good? What looks rough?

All these questions and more will be answered here, every month in ‘By The Numbers’ by comic writers, editors and fans, Glenn Matchett and Ray Goldfield.

Glenn Matchett is a comic writer and editor. He’s worked in the industry for 6 years but grew up reading comics. He is currently published with Outre Press,Nemeses Studios and Alterna! His New Years revolutions include releasing a sequel to his one shot from 2014, Sparks, getting settled in his new home and exacting bloody and painful revenge!

Ray Goldfield is a fan of comic books for going on 25 years, starting with the death of Superman. He is a writer and editor for Grayhaven Comics and is working on his first novel. Ray also does a weekly roundup of DC comic reviews for website Geekmom and they’re brilliantly entertaining. Ray’s New Years resolutions are to make DC listen to him for a change, find a way to be even earlier for his comics (time travel is on the cards) and to get away with it despite those meddling kids and their dog.

We also do a podcast together with longtime buddy, Brandon James on iTunes with Rabbitt Stew or at the link here! Don’t ask, I didn’t pick the name. If you’d like to hear what me and Ray sound like, give it a listen!

Full top 300 selling comics for December here!

Sales

Glenn: Welcome sales trackers to the first ‘By The Numbers‘ of 2016! We’ve been doing this for one whole year now and I hope you’ve enjoyed reading them as much as myself and Ray enjoy working on them!

With 2016 well underway, we start this year by looking back how last year ended in the market. There was been a pretty heavy precedent for Marvel dominance. However it seems that December had some surprises in story and perhaps some flags of alarm for the new year.

The top ten had a few surprises in it, one of the more minor ones was the return of the very…very…very long running mega Marvel event Secret Wars to the top spot with sales over 169k. This is surprising a little because I felt that one of the new Marvel launches might have gotten this spot. I would have put a fair amount of money on Totally Awesome Hulk taking the top spot this month but it didn’t even make the top ten.

Secret Wars, despite its delays has held very well over the period of its tale. It is by far, the best selling Marvel event since Civil War and has a lot of success for Marvel when you consider all the spin offs it had. There might be a bit of confusion with the orders of issue 8 with some retailers perhaps thinking this is still the last issue as was originally planned. I doubt that is much of a factor here though for it taking the top spot. This is more to do with the main mini’s stable sales and some surprising numbers for new Marvel launches this month.

Ray: Yeah, looking back, Secret Wars did dip a little from the sales numbers for #7, like all comics do. Everything else just dipped a bit more, and it’s one of the most stable and consistent comics on the stands – the other being Batman, as we’ve talked about a lot. I don’t think there’s any true megawatt releases in January, so the odds are #9 will go out on top as well.

Glenn: I think Spider-Man/Deadpool #1 might top it next month. I think that is the one that you could probably put money in. Its true that Secret Wars has been remarkably consistent but unlike Batman its only for 9 issues. We’ll have to see if ‘Civil War II: Now with more Captain Marvel‘ will fare as prosperous as this also.

Taking second spot this month is DC’s 500 pound gorilla, Dark Knight III which as is to be expected, takes a massive slide down to sales over 158k. This still is very good considering the price of the book ($5.99) and that is it destined for a long, healthy sales life in bookstores for decades to come. I’m sure DC are thrilled with numbers like this because this is one of the four titles they have in the top ten which I’m sure they’re very happy about.

Ray: I knew those first month sales for DKIII were an anomaly driven by hype and variant covers, but sales of 154K for the second issue of an out-of-continuity miniseries? Definitely nothing to sneeze at. DC had a big comeback at the top this month, and as usual it’s all down to Batman.

Glenn: Staying with DC and those aforementioned four books, we have a huge launch for the DC/IDW crossover that is Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. We’ve just finished the Star Trek/Green Lantern crossover which did okayish but this has been a big launch for this mini with first issue sales of over 134k giving it the number 4 spot. There’s a number of factors like Batman being in the book, it being written by James Tynion IV and both companies hyping the crossover like there is no tomorrow. I’m sure both companies are thrilled and we could likely see more crossovers between both of them with high profile characters and creators if this is the result.

Ray: I had a feeling Batman/TMNT would do really well, but this just blew me away. 134K? Not even most new Marvel #1s manage that! I wonder if a part of it was the super-enthusiastic way that Tynion promoted it on Twitter. I know I for one got much more excited based on his hype. Still, TMNT is a title that generally sells in the 30K range. A 100K jump for a crossover with Batman? Easily the most out-of-nowhere smash hit I can remember.

Glenn: Even though its DC credited with the publishing, I’m sure IDW is very pleased. It seems that Tynion is becoming a force to be reckoned with perhaps in his own right? DC is need of names that draw names and they’re building up a healthy bunch in house and unlike some of the ones that Marvel has drawn over, I’d say Tynion will stay put as long as Snyder does.

Speaking of Snyder, just below that is the most consistent book on the stands, sales wise which is Batman which continues its massive success after 47 issues still commanding 127k in sales and the number 5 spot. This will be a run on the title for ages I feel, just not because of the quality of the stories (which in my view are brilliant) but because of how well its done sales wise. Like I said last month, I don’t think the entire Snyder run has dipped below 100k which is very hard to do. Marvel is relaunching every 5 minutes to get these type of numbers but here is Snyder and Capullo just keep trucking along and making people care to pull in their numbers. Good storytelling as a method of selling comics, what a fascinating concept.

Ray: Nothing to add about Batman besides the fact that every other title on the stands would kill for these sales. However, the thing that’s most impressive to me is that this Batman run is actually an unconventional arc featuring a replacement hero! At the point where the title might be most likely to run into sales trouble or at least a little attrition from traditionalists, it’s as strong as ever. That’s genuinely incredible.

Glenn: We kind of saw something similar back in the days of Bucky taking the Captain America title from Steve Rogers. However, there the sales soared during the replacement and dipped when the original came back. I bet Marvel wishes that were the case these days!

The final top ten DC book is Harley’s Little Black Book at number 8 with sales over 92k. The success of the crazy clown girl with a heart of gold has been a surprising one since the launch of her book several years ago. Now with the success of the Harley/Power Girl mini, DC has given her a bi-monthly team up book. The concept is an interesting one and although sales will probably depend on who she is teaming up with any given month but its a great launch and another sign that when it comes to current market trends, Harley Quinn is the one exception! It’ll be interesting to see if she can handle two books and command enough of an audience to buy both but I would be willing to bet she will.

Ray: Harley is very clearly DC’s Deadpool – she sells far more than you’d expect from a former franchise villain, and can even elevate spin-offs far above what you’d expect. And this is a $5 anthology title! DC’s got to be very happy here, and while these sales won’t last, it’ll find its level far above what most titles do.

Glenn: DC is had to cut a lot of new books and Harley is offering them another stable selling book. People may complain about the (as of this typing and counting Eternal as one) 10 or so Batman titles but these books are where DC is making its money. They had four titles in the top ten for the first months and all of them were featuring Batman or Batman related characters. If only Marvel/DC could get along long enough for Deadpool/Harley Quinn which may just break everything ever. Wait…probably best they don’t do that then.

Now the other spots in the chart are things get interesting. Yes, Marvel won the top ten again with 6 of the 10 spots and as we discussed, Secret Wars was number one but number 3, 7, 9 and 10 were all Star Wars titles. These titles and their sales were in order, Star Wars (just under 140k), Darth Vader (over 97k), Star Wars Annual (over 89.6) and lastly, Darth Vader annual (over 86.4k) Again, like we’ve said for over a year now, the Star Wars books are a massive success. With the release of the Force Awakens (you may have heard of it) in December thay may have driven sales a bit more but this line does not need it. Star Wars is now Marvel’s best selling line of books by quite a fair margin. This can be viewed a few ways, yay it makes money and yes they sell but could the Marvel brand start to be overshadowed by Star Wars? With this line becoming so dominant over Marvel’s superhero line, its curious to think what thay may mean for the majority of the line. Of course, Marvel might not care if they become known as ‘the Star Wars comic company’ but its an odd thing to consider the possibility of.

Ray: This month really made the difference in fortunes between Star Wars and Marvel proper really stark. Star Wars landed four books in the top ten and Marvel had one. None of the Marvel books save one sold more than 84K. So Star Wars continues to bring an insane amount of sales in for Marvel, but that’s masking some possible serious problems for them down the line.

Glenn: Indeed it does, there’s a lot of unsettling drops to talk about this month. I’d make it a drinking game but Graphics Policy has told me to stop giving people Liver problems (spoil sports).

The last spot in the top ten at number 6 was Marvel’s ONLY main continuity book in this list. To the surprise of myself and Ray, it was Guardians of Infinity with sales of over 121.4k. Consider me completely stumped on this one. This is very much the B list Guardians book and still sold better than the new Hulk title (which had Greg Pak coming back to the book AND Frank Cho) and the new launch of All-New X-Men. Last month’s article I speculated the popularity of the Guardians popularity as individuals (outside of Rocket and Groot) and suggested they may be more dominant as a team. I don’t expect this book to stay anywhere near these numbers of course but considering what it outsold that launched this month, perhaps I wasn’t too far off with my statement.

Ray: Guardians of Infinity is a puzzle. This is a book that’s essentially a relaunch of Guardians 3000, but bringing in the famous Guardians for a sales boost. I thought it would give it some help, but on this scale? Completely surprising. It actually outsold the relaunch of the proper Guardians of the Galaxy title two months ago by 3K! Sure, there was a Rocket Raccoon backup drawn by Jim Cheung in this issue, but that alone doesn’t account for the difference. Easily one of the oddest footnotes in this month’s sales. I really doubt these sales will last – if the regular Guardians book can’t stay above the mid-30s, this will definitely do less.

Glenn: We’ve been stumped Ray! At least there’s no other crazy stuff on this chart like a number one that was released last month selling another 81k, that would be just INSANITY.

Ray: You know, it doesn’t get the hype of Batman, but Justice League – the only other DC title besides Batman to keep its writer for the entire New 52 – is a pretty great success story for them as well. In the middle of the big “Darkseid War” storyline, we’ve got the title doing 84K at #47, above any of Marvel’s ongoing superhero books.

Glenn: Justice League has been sliding but incredibly slowly and has a real solid dedicated audience that books at many other companies lack. From what we saw of the “Darkseid War” one offs, people aren’t interested in the spin offs of the story but are just interested in the title itself. I wonder if DC is starting to reconsider having the decision to having Geoff Johns write only this book on a monthly basis.

Ray: Now we start getting into the Marvel sales. Besides the oddball Guardians of Infinity, Daredevil has the top launch of the month at #12 with 84.5K. This is probably a combination of good buzz from the Waid run and a little Netflix series you may have heard of. The future will tell the tale on how this sells, but it’s a good start.

Glenn: Daredevil always launches very well despite it being on its fourth relaunch in as long but usually settles down to figures ranging in the 35-40k range. Can the popularity of the TV show bump it up a bit? Time will tell but fans of the title can doubtlessly expect some sort of Punisher crossover or appearance around March I’d say so we’ll see then if that happens and if it affects sales. Its second issue sold just over 49k this month which is still good for Daredevil historically but we’ll see if we can maintain around that.

Ray: Marvel’s top-selling ongoings past the first issue, Amazing Spider-Man and Deadpool, seem to have found their levels at #13/#17 and #20/27 respectively. Strong numbers, but it’s got to be disturbing for Marvel that their heaviest hitters are both under 80K by their fifth and third issue.

Glenn: Amazing has dropped far below what it was selling at consistently prior to the mass relaunch. Its a curious affect and I wonder if some people just used the relaunch as a jumping off point. As long as it settles at high 70k it’ll be grand but it seems this particular relaunch cost the book maybe about 10-15k of its audience.
Deadpool settling about 70k is a little more expected and I’m sure Marvel is very pleased with that number. I mean its Deadpool, he’s popular they’ve made the mistake of putting Deadpool #1 on there again at 15 with sales of 81k! Wait? What? Its not a mistake. Well, shut my mouth and call me Wade. The Deadpool launch recharts and outsells itself (how meta) and a lot of the new launches from Marvel this month. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a reorder chart this high. I wonder if we’ll perhaps see future issues of Deadpool rechart (a lot lower) and then the book climb in sales until it reaches its proper number? This is just an insane thing in the charts to happen and it seems to be for no other reason than ’cause Deadpool’.

Ray: It’s okay numbers for the debut of All-New X-Men #1, at #14 with 81K. This is definitely the third-tier X-book and promotion was light, but there’s enough X-Men fans out there that this should find an acceptable level.

Glenn: Depends what it drops to, you’d think a new X-Men title no matter its status might have managed a bit better than this. I’ll be curious how Uncanny fares next month. Stop going out and buying every copy you can Ray, that’s cheating!

Ray: I can and will buy every copy of Uncanny on the stands! Maybe that way Magneto will get his own book again!

Oh, hey, there’s the Gwenpool special at #16 with 80K! I’ll give Marvel credit – this is a one-shot holiday special that focused on She-Hulk and the Hawkeyes, and only had a Gwenpool appearance in one story. But because Gwen Stacy is the hottest thing at the moment, a book that would have been lucky to make the top 100 made the top 20. And it’s not even Gwen Stacy! Will the announced Gwenpool ongoing do as well? What is the next meme to become a character and get an ongoing? So many questions.

Glenn: Well if Marvel can’t have Harley Quinn, they now have the next best thing! The decision to actually not make her Gwen Stacy is an odd one, I’m wondering how many people will actually notice and/or care. We’ll find out when Marvel’s own crazy blonde female kinda/sorta hero gets her own book in a few months!

Ray: I’m surprised by Totally Awesome Hulk barely making it into the top 20 with sales of 74K. This seemed to have everything going for it – the return of a fan favorite creator, a new Hulk that plays into Marvel’s new push for diversity, and a top-selling artist in Frank Cho. But the sales on the last Hulk run were disastrous by the end, and maybe the character is going to struggle for a while. People seem to really like the start, so it might have a decent hold.

Glenn: I’m wondering if the lackluster result is for two reasons. Firstly, the involvement of Frank Cho is likely temporary and may lead to delays. Perhaps having him on initially isn’t enough to entice fans/retailers to order the book when they know he may be leaving and might hold the book back for them? Also, Cho has been making a controversial figure of himself the last year or so and that could be influencing people not to buy his books. Could be completely unrelated to him but I think its worth considering. Also, Marvel made no secret about the identity of the New Hulk so perhaps people weren’t driven to read the book to find out who it was. I wonder if numbers had been a bit higher had people been made to read the book to find out who it was. Marvel is well known for leaking their surprises in advance and perhaps this is some of the affect of that?

Ray: The Mighty Thor held very well with sales of 70K, at #21. I think most people are just treating this like Aaron’s run continuing apace, and they’re continuing to order the most consistent Marvel book besides ASM. This book will continue to be a big hit for Marvel.

Glenn: Thor is now a solid seller for Marvel, what a world we live in! This is just another example of I think of people wanting the book more for the story being told than the fancy tricks around it. This is the highest and most consistent a Thor run has been since yesteryear and I’m sure Marvel are very happy to see that and probably wish a few of their other heroes could follow in its footsteps.

Ray Then we have the sales on All-New All-Different Avengers, which dip down to 67K after a top ten debut last month. I think this confirms that people still aren’t really seeing this odd fusion squad as the “real” Avengers, and the sales aren’t as strong as one would expect from the top-tier Avengers title. If the attrition continues, I expect we’ll see some sort of “classic Avengers” book down the line.

Glenn: We already know there’s some kind of Avenger’s book coming on FCBD so this book could only be a place holder. It seems that a lot of people have treated the book with indifference. Now that Hickman’s left the line, the Avenger’s line has to rethink its position in terms of everything else. I don’t think it has the power to hold three or four books like it did once upon a time. I think it might be time to go back to just one Avenger’s book, just for now.
Two launches from the Spider-Man office this month, selling very similar and very good numbers for what they are. The first is at number 24 with Amazing Spider-Man #1.1 which likely sold a little better with sales of over 66k because it shares the same name as the main title. This series was likely numbered as such due to the mass success of the Dan Slott ‘Learning To Crawl‘ mini and the Gerry Conway mini that both were last year. Its a good number for a book that doesn’t feel like a Spider-Man title and seems to center around a very obscure Marvel superhero team that has only been seen in Daredevil: Father way back when. I’m not sure how well the rest of the run of the mini will sell but its an odd duck that’s for sure.

Ray: With the ASM .1 comics, I think most people are simply ordering these at close to the level of ASM. The first one was a really good fit for the title, but the second isn’t quite as much. I could see some significant dips before it’s over.

Glenn: The other launch was Spidey at 25 with sales over 65.5k. This was advertised as a younger reader title set during Spider-Man’s early days as a crime fighter, again likely green lit due to the success of Learning To Crawl last year. The book however does seem to be set in its own universe as it features Peter going to High School with Gwen Stacy among others. All ages books tend to have much lower expectations so this is a great number but the Spider-Man office seems to be able to do little wrong in the market these days. This book would still be considered a hit at half these numbers so we’ll see if it settles around there.

Ray: The promotion of Spidey has been a bit weird. I bought it assuming that this was untold in-canon stories from Spider-man’s teen years, continuing from Learning to Crawl. However, the rather significant character changes and continuity twists make me wonder if it’s either out of continuity now – or if there have been some Crisis on Infinite Earths-like changes to Spider-Man’s past. Either way, this is impressive sales for a flashback mini, but it goes to show that Spider-man is absolutely Marvel’s prestige franchise now.

Glenn: I would find it strange if Marvel is using this book to showcase a new timeline without making a bigger deal of it. I would say its more akin to the Marvel Age books we used to have so by those standards, this book will be around for a long stretch.

This month has a few other Marvel launches too that landed a little lower, the first being Uncanny Inhumans at number 28 with sales over 58k. The thought of Marvel having not one but two Inhuman books is staggering but the secondary one selling 58k is something else. That’s very good for a property that has a lot of speculation about its long term future in regards to Marvel studios. Even with its slide down with issue 2 this month at over 34k at number 75 is fantastic for an Inhuman book historically, never mind the secondary Inhumans book. The book that is very much the ‘A’ Inhuman title sold over 43k at number 54 so they’re not a million miles apart. If they both stay were they’re at, Marvel could probably keep both around for a good period.

Another big launch for Marvel this month is James Robinson’s Scarlet Witch which makes number 29k with sales of 58.7. Given Scarlet Witch’s introduction in Age Of Ultron and her prominence in major Marvel events over the last number of years, these numbers don’t surprise me too much. Its a very strong launch for a character that has never held her own ongoing title before (to my recollection). The title is somewhat of an odd one where there will be a different artist and story every issue. Its an interesting experiment and I’m wondering if an untested character like Scarlet Witch is the one to do it on. Time will tell, this one could be a lot seller but if it makes over 30-35k, Marvel will probably be happy enough.

Ray: Those are good numbers for All-New Inhumans and Scarlet Witch, better than I would have expected, in fact. We’ll have to see how they fold, but it seems like this relaunch may have finally succeeded in turning Inhumans into a franchise. As for Scarlet Witch, reception of the first issue was sort of mixed and with the constant art changes, I’m a bit skeptical about just how well it’ll hold up.

Glenn: There’s a random Deadpool/Cable mini that launches this month at number 31 with sales over 57k. I can’t remember the last time Cable was involved in anything major so its probably Deadpool driving people to buy it, as well as those that are nostalgic from the long running title starring the two from yesteryear. Over the past number of years, Marvel has been tossing out these random Deadpool mini’s and the results are usually very good. Its not enough to warrant giving him a secondary ongoing (by himself) but Marvel can throw out assorted Deadpool mini’s every so often and expect a certain audience to keep coming back which is more than most characters.

Ray: I think the big appeal of Deadpool/Cable: Split Second was the return of fan-favorite writer Fabian Nicieza to the characters. That in and of itself likely brought a lot of old-school Deadpool fans back to the title, and I suspect it’ll be a strong seller for its entire run.

Glenn: In among all the Marvel madness and Batman titles we see Image’s two rock solid performers Walking Dead at 26 with sales of over 65.4k and Saga at 41 with sales over 51.8. You can set your watch by these two books. Perhaps the 150th issue of Walking Dead is another one that could perhaps be the dark horse (no relation to the company) to stop the finale of Secret War’s finale reaching the top spot? Either way, with a big number and lots of variants I expect to see some zombie action in the top ten next month!

Very big slide for Batman Europa which is all the way down to 40 with sales over 52k. Its alright for a mini being priced at 4.99 that should have come out 10 years ago but I’d say under normal circumstances, DC would expect more from a mini starring Batman and the Joker. It still outsold the rest of DC’s line and the majority of Marvel’s too.

Ray: Some of the earlier books to launch are finding their levels now, and they include Invincible Iron Man, Guardians of the Galaxy, Doctor Strange, and Spider-Gwen all settling in comfortably in the 57K-53K range. That’s a little bit disappointing for the former two, which are established huge franchises – and pretty amazing for Doctor Strange and Spider-Gwen, which seem to be proving themselves as long-term new hits for Marvel. All-New Wolverine‘s third issue landed at 50K, which is pretty solid as well, but it’s clear that Wolverine’s day as a name that drives massive sales are over.

Glenn: I’m surprised that Iron Man and Guardians didn’t land a lot higher earlier. It would make me believe that no matter what Marvel throws at Iron Man to make it sell, much like Fantastic Four, it is always destined to end up at this level. It’ll be interesting to see how the secondary book does after what will probably be a very strong launch. I don’t think the fanbase is there for Iron Man, Thor is a much bigger success and it only has one book so Marvel might be going to a well that isn’t very filled to begin with.

As for Guardians, this one has dropped quite a lot after the relaunch which in this case has done more harm than good. If you don’t look at recent history, its obviously fantastic numbers for Guardians if we look at what it would have been doing only a number of years ago. I wonder if possibly that Rocket and Groot might become a higher performer consistently?

Ray: It seems to me like a lot of Marvel’s top-selling books are slipping a lot from before. Ms. Marvel is the exception, but it seems like both Amazing Spider-Man and Guardians are going to wind up settling down a bit lower than they did in the previous run. The only exception so far seems to be Ms. Marvel, which is likely going to land about 10K above its previous run. As for Guardians vs. Rocket and Groot, you might be right. The previous Rocket run was a big hit. Of course, I’m sure they’ll be outsold by Gwocket Raccoon and Gwoot, which will be announced any week now.

Glenn: I think its likely a combination of frequent reboots and lots of $3.99 (or more) from the company. You have to wonder how often than they can continue to gain boosts from new number ones when its unusual for a Marvel book to even reach the 20’s nowadays. Its definitely hurt Amazing (even though its still doing very well overall) and a few others (I still will say Spider-Gwen had her momentum hurt by the stop, start). If the numbers are concerning to Marvel on the majority of their line, they will likely just think another relaunch is the cure…

With Wolverine, considering that X-23 has never been setting the sales chart alight, 50k is really solid but yeah with the Wolverines weekly under performing, its clear that a Wolverine book without Logan is not going to just sell on its own merits. You have Spider-Man 2099 in contrast doing respectfully at 77 with sales over 32k and Peter Parker only makes occasional appearances there. Wolverine’s time as Marvel’s MVP when it comes to sales has long past, it’ll be curious how long Marvel keeps him dead with that in mind.

Ray: It didn’t hold the same sales as Spider-Gwen, but Ms. Marvel #2 landing at #48 with 46K sales is pretty impressive. I think it’s safe to say this book has transitioned from “cult hit” to just plain “hit”.

Glenn: Ms. Marvel is unquestionably the biggest hit a new character has had in decades in the main Marvel universe. It has a really passionate audience and its another book that Marvel can really depend on, lets hope they don’t relaunch it on a regular basis, I have a feeling this book quite possibly more than any other in the line is reaching an audience beyond traditional comic buyers. If there’s multiple stops and starts, they may leave and Ms. Marvel deserves better.

Ray: This is where we start seeing the other new Marvel books debut with less than impressive sales. Squadron Supreme at 46 with 48K, and Patsy Walker AKA Hellcat at 49 with 46K aren’t terrible numbers, but that still doesn’t really give them a lot of room to breathe once the standard slides kick in – especially since neither of them got great reviews. Sure enough, Squadron Supreme slides right down to 98 the same month and loses close to half its sales.

Glenn: Squadron Supreme has a long and troubled history of Marvel trying to get people to buy it and having similar results. The book also has two spin off books coming which will probably launch at the same level but if the ‘main’ title slid so low, so fast then it may be troubling for those books. I don’t expect this book or its aforementioned spin offs lasting very long and possibly the characters going into indefinite hiatus until we get another Supreme Power-like reinvention.

Hellcat is another character that has never held their own ongoing (again, to my recollection) but has debuted far lower than Scarlet Witch. She hasn’t benefited from Wanda’s exposure the last number of years outside of her being a supporting character on Jessica Jones (even though she’s largely called another name). All that considered, this is a good launch but I think we’re both expecting this one to fall hard. The book appears to be going for the same audience Squirrel Girl is aimed towards and that book is at 108 this month with sales just over 25k. The market isn’t crying out for another book like that one and this book will probably crash hard. That’s all speculative of course, if it can land in the 32-35k and prove me wrong then it could have a long life ahead of it. I’m just going on what we’ve seen in todays market and it doesn’t bode well for Hellcat.

Ray: That’s still better news than other titles got, though. Red Wolf could only manage 39K sales at #64, which is pretty bad for a much-hyped new character. No wonder Marvel is boosting orders to get more eyes on the book. Meanwhile, for Weirdworld at 85 with 30K, and Starbrand/Nightmask at 94 with 27K, I think the eight-issue cancellation notice is calling. Shame, because both those books are pretty entertaining.

Glenn: These are all books that seemed like odd choices when they were announced. Like you said, Red Hawk in particular got some heavy promotion but not many people seem to care too much. Another oddball title in Black Knight is down to 123 with sales just over 22k so I would expect Red Wolf and the others you mentioned to drop to around this number…if not lower. Its not going to be a pretty sight before we get to April-July for a lot of these books.

Ray: I see the launch of the Robin War crossover for DC hit at #52 with 45K sales. I’d have expected more from a Bat-event, but then I remembered that this event only included Grayson, We Are Robin, Detective, and Robin Son of Batman (plus tie-ins in a few other low-tier books) that don’t get near this level of sales save Detective, so it’s still a nice boost for them. Looking down the charts a bit, I can see that all those books increased nicely from November, so I think we can say this crossover is a modest success.

Glenn: Perhaps its because the main Batman title isn’t included? In the past the stories that have created spin offs such as Court Of Owls, Death Of The Family, Zero Year and such have done have hugely benefited the other already very solid bat books. Still, if it raises sales and can pull those numbers on its own, I’m sure DC is very pleased. It’ll probably take anything it can get this month.

Ray: Batman and Robin Eternal seems to have found its level around 40K, and stays incredibly steady this month, losing only 2K from issue 9 to 13. At the halfway mark, this book will clearly finish with very solid numbers.

Glenn: Both Eternal‘s will have a long shelf life a collections I’d wager also. I don’t think we’ll get a third chapter but I can very much envision the mad scientists at DC wondering how they can make another weekly that has the same success this and its predecessor have experienced.

Ray: I’m sure DC will be rolling out the red carpet for the creative team to do a third Eternal – Batman and Batgirl Eternal, perhaps? – but I think Tynion and Co. may be ready to move on to other projects. If DC is smart, they’re going to look at who’s delivering the strongest work here – Tynion, Orlando, Valentine, to name some – and offer them spin-off books featuring the characters. I know we’re at Bat-overload, but this title has introduced some amazing concepts and there’s a lot of potential for DC to parlay this into some new hits.

Glenn: I don’t think they’ll be able to float a third Eternal so best to go out on a high. Like you say, they’ll be better having most of the writers take the lead on spin off books. We may have tons of Batman titles currently but its clear the market is always open to more.

Ray: Wonder Woman is a book that does decent if unspectacular numbers for DC 47 issues in, charting with about 40K sales. So I think it’s interesting to note which Marvel titles have already fallen below that threshold after only two or three issues. That includes Silk, Ultimates, New Avengers, Vision, Hawkeye, Carnage, Venom, All-New Inhumans, Howard the Duck, Spider-Man 2099, Web Warriors, Contest of Champions and Spider-Woman, just while staying in the top 100. We’ll get to the real bottom rung in a bit, but none of these books are looking that healthy for their second or third month.

Clearly the biggest disaster for Marvel, though, is Captain America: Sam Wilson, which takes another ugly slide this month to #89 and dips under 30K for the first time. To put this into perspective, Captain America only landed six spots ahead of Ant-Man and sold 2K more. When Captain America and Ant-Man are in the same sales sphere, you have Captain America problems. CC Marvel. We’ll see if like the last time, Civil War brings big changes to Cap’s world. Because next month may very well take Cap out of the top 100.

Glenn: Despite the critical reaction to the book, Wonder Woman is arguably DC’s third most recognizable character and possibly the most recognized female superhero in comics. There’s always going to be people buying a Wonder Woman title but using it as a benchmark for the titles you mentioned seems fair. Wonder Woman’s book will get to issue 52 no question but some of the others you mentioned will not even make it to 12 perhaps.

If Spider-Man 2099, Hawkeye, Vision and Web Warriors can stay in their current range they’ll be fine. With its inclusion in Spider-Man/Deadpool #1 and reissuing past issues for the heck of it, Marvel is pushing Vision hard. I would have thought that for a Vision book to be doing 36k would be cause for celebration but then again perhaps their current action on the book bears some potentially troubling news for issue 3. If these books drop much below 28k its going to be REALLY ugly come April-July.

Captain America is a title that is as of this typing, probably the one that has been the biggest disappointment of the mass relaunch. Is it the direction, the lack of Steve Rogers or something else? We may already see what effect this is having by seeing that it will be in fact Captain Marvel opposing Iron Man in “Civil War II: Go See The Movie” even though Sam Wilson was featured in the initial teaser art. Could mean nothing but its an unusual change from what the initial teaser image indicated. I would say that the title is stuck in flux until the movie comes out but with these numbers, the current Captain America, Sam Wilson may not make it out of the event this year prompting Steve Rogers to take back the title. Marvel has announced a major character death after all…

Ray: And now we start getting into the serious trouble zone for Marvel books, as we exist the top 100 and find a lot of Marvel books approaching or below the 20K range very fast. Nova and Star-Lord falling this fast is a bit of a surprise, since they were selling fine before. Might be the new flashback-heavy direction in Star-Lord. Lower-tier titles like Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Illuminati, and Drax are a bit less of a surprise. Meanwhile, to no one’s shock, Black Knight, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Angela Queen of Hel, Hercules, and Howling Commandos are bringing up the rear. Marvel’s going to have a lot of trouble spots to figure out in the next few months.

Glenn: Apart from their main ringers, both Marvel and DC lines seem rather unhealthy at the moment. On the surface everything looks grand but get beyond you Batman books, Star Wars titles, Spider-Man books and the like and things are troubling for both companies. It just so happens that right now, Marvel has more ringers it can depend on. For those of you keeping score, the highest selling non Batman related book this month from DC was Superman at 47 with sales of over 47 k. Outside of books that were already selling well and some great launches, Marvel is managing at best around 60kish and that’s only with a few books. Are times changing or is these some problems both companies need to work out? Marvel will have Civil War riding in to boost sales on most of its books most likely (whether it will replicate the INSANE sales effect its predecessor had remains to be seen) but what of DC? We both speculate something big happening with some of their books coming up to issue 52 but the company is being very, very quiet about it. There’s a lot of question marks this year which probably makes both companies more uncomfortable than they’d ever admit.

Meanwhile over at Image they continue to have another success in the form of Brian K. Vaughn’s Paper Girls which continues to do spectacularly at 53 with sales over 43.7. BKV is also racking up another solid performer in We Stand On Guard which has sales over of 35k at 72. We all know that Walking Dead is Image’s big money spinner but BKV now has three books in the top ten with the company doing incredibly well and outselling a lot of DC/Marvel books. These are the kind of performances that most titles and creators can only dream of.

Ray: BKV has made a serious comeback lately, going from very little output to three titles, and now he seems to be Image’s most consistent hit maker. I’m sure they’ll be ready to green light any new idea he has for years to come. These are some seriously impressive numbers for any creator-owned title.

Glenn: The final Image book in the top 100 is another hit in the form of Scottie Young’s I Hate Fairyland at number 96 with sales of over 27.8k. It may drop out of the top 100 next month but this is another book Image is very happy with I’m sure. Scottie Young also has a very wide appeal outside the direct market and Marvel will only continue to reinforce that the more they put him on various variant covers. Ultimately it all leads to people picking up this over the top comic that makes another big winner for DC.

Dark Horse finishes the 8 issue sequel to the cult hit movie, Fight Club 2 this month at 81 with sales over 31.5. This entire series has performed really well and will have a long life in collected form I’m sure. Since the loss of Star Wars, Dark Horse is in need of books that perform like this so it could be possible that we may see future similar projects soon.

The final company to make it in the top 100 this month is Oni with their Invader Zim ongoing which sells just over 30k giving it the 86th spot on the charts. This is a spectacular number for the title and something that seems quite bizarre when you look at it outselling a lot of bigger properties. Perhaps if the sales of this, Deadpool, Gwenpool and Harley are to be taken at face value is that people just love zany characters doing zany things…as long as it involves violence? Perhaps Patsy Walker should take up beating to people for kicks in her basement…

Ray: I’m not personally an Invader Zim fan, but I will say I’m glad to see Oni finally get a legitimate hit. Anything that keeps the company in strong shape so they can keep bringing us their great creator-owned comics.

Glenn: Another mini that finishes this month is the much delayed Captain America: White which has sales 29.6 and charts at 88. Again, this probably would have been a lot better performing had it been released about 10 years or so like it was supposed to. At least its done now to sink or swim in the trade market. I don’t think this one is going to be looked back on as fondly as Spider-Man: Blue, Daredevil: Yellow or Hulk: Gray. I do hope this isn’t the last hurrah for Loeb/Sale together it would be shame to see them kind of fizzle out like this.

Ray: Captain America: White does not seem to have gone over all that well as a whole. I think a big part of that is that this take on Cap and Bucky feels, frankly, irrelevant. Future generations aren’t going to know Bucky as the spunky kid sidekick who had a father-son relationship with Cap before dying a hero in the war. They’re going to know him as Cap’s war buddy who eventually becomes the Winter Soldier and then a hero in his own right. That makes this comic an odd fit.

Glenn: Its a sign of where Cap was creatively when the book was green lit most likely. I suppose you could look at it as something the army commissioned to try and reshape history :p. Yeah, this one is going to be at best a footnote and didn’t quite have the successful nostalgia trip the other colour books they did together managed which is a shame.

Back To The Future continues to do amazingly well, it is now IDW’s highest selling book with over 25.9k giving it 106 charts. Acting like a company that makes good decisions based on things like this, IDW has decided to make the title an ongoing! If it continues to do these numbers, the company will be beyond thrilled and I don’t see why it wouldn’t. I’m not sure if they’re going for a relaunch, I hope not as they’re never going to get the buzz the initial launch of the book had.

There’s a Street Fighter book at 11 with sales of 24.5. I remember getting a Street Fighter issue in a Loot Crate I got…is this why this is here? Street Fighter is a game for the Super NES right? Wait, I think I see those kids on my damn lawn again…

Another solid performer for Image is Tokyo Ghost at 112 with sales of 24. These type of books will never be up at the top at first but what they need is a solid audience around this level and Image has plenty of of books like that. Marvel and DC are making all the headlines but Image at the moment is probably the most consistent company on average in the market currently.

Ray: Rick Remender’s books for Image seem to be doing well. Tokyo Ghost is still new, but there’s also Black Science selling 14K and Deadly Class selling 11K further down. These aren’t smash hits, but Remender has become a solid player for Image and will likely continue to deliver hits for them.

Glenn: It seems like Remender has found a decent niche for himself. Not as strong as other former Marvel stars but like you say, I’m sure ha and Image are more than happy with the numbers he can manage. Considering the majority of his Marvel tenure was treated luke warm at best, He’s probably very pleased to be out of that firing line and doing well with his own properties.

The digital first Bombshells continues to do well at 114 with sales over 23.6k. These are amazing numbers for a female led, out of continuity digital first book. It’ll be interesting how the relaunched A-Force book from Marvel does in comparison over the months following its launch, I have a gut feeling the result might be surprising.

Ray: Bombshells has easily been the best-received digital-first comic out of DC for a while, so I’m not surprised it’s holding well. This has been a surprise hit for DC, and I would be surprised if Bennett wasn’t given a more prominent book out of DC soon.

There weren’t all that many new Image launches this month, but two that did debut were Matt Hawkins’ sci-fi Dystopia at 147 with 17K sales, and Ed Brisson’s dark crime thriller The Violent at 185 with 11K. Neither of these got much advance hype and they don’t have name creators attached, so these are decent numbers. Symmetry seems to be in fine shape, and The Violent is only a mini, so it should keep decent numbers throughout. The only other Image launch, sci-fi western Black Jack Ketchum, was much, much lower with sales of just over 8K, so I think that one might have slipped under the radar.

Down here, we see a lot more trouble spots for DC, as many books are slipping below the critical 20K mark. Cyborg, Constantine, Sinestro, Martian Manhunter, Gotham Academy, Catwoman, Secret Six, Justice League 3001, and Doctor Fate are all hitting the danger zone, and Midnighter – one of my favorite books in the new line – has sunk below the level of the cancelled Gotham by Midnight. I expect there’s going to be a lot of changes made when the main books hit 52. And with Cyborg so low, I would expect Walker to commit to Marvel sooner rather than later.

Glenn: DC went to a lot of effort to make Cyborg a hit and it doesn’t seem to have paid off. I am wondering if we’ll see Marvel characters of a similar level have the same results after a few months. A character/title like Scarlet Witch who like Cyborg has been a main focus of the company the last few years and featured in many high selling books as part of an ensemble might face similar numbers before so long.

Ray: Oh, I very much think a lot of the mid-level Marvel books will be falling quickly as well. In seven months, there’ll be a lot of Marvel books in the same fix as Cyborg – hell, we see quite a few approaching that zone after only two or three. But it’s a rather scary state of affairs when not even solid B-list characters like Cyborg can even carry their own titles amid the wave of powerhouses.

Meanwhile, with Omega Men under the 10K mark, that 12-issue run feels more like a gift to a very talented creator doing a lot of work for them than anything else. It’ll wrap up with microscopic numbers in five months and then hopefully find a second life in collections.

Glenn: This is Tom King, right? It seems that there seems to be efforts by both Marvel (with Vision) and DC (with this title) to earn his goodwill. I don’t think this book will find a new audience in collection as you hope, maybe in a few years when it is released when King is a much bigger name like when DC rereleased Arkham Asylum: Living Hell after its writer, Dan Slott made himself a superstar on Spider-Man

Ray: Yeah, it’s Tom King behind Omega Men. It’s an incredibly original and interesting series, but with virtually no name characters besides Kyle Rayner, who doesn’t have a GL ring in this book. The market’s very rough on things like this, but it seems DC hasn’t missed a beat in moving King from low-profile projects to big ones.

It’s another month, another wave of Vertigo launches as well. No surprised that the relaunch of Lucifer does the best, with 17K sales. Tom King’s Sheriff of Babylon, one of the most critically acclaimed books in the line, managed 10K with its first issue, which is a bit disappointing and shows Vertigo still has a way to go to get its buzz back. Oddball titles New Romancer and Last Gang in Town, meanwhile, only managed just over 8K sales, so I expect those to run into trouble soon. The other Vertigo titles that DC launched have numbers ranging from respectable (Clean Room, Twilight Children) to shocking as we head to the bottom of the top 300.

Glenn: As we’ve discussed, Vertigo has been on auto pilot for the last decade or more with Fables providing enough of an excuse on its own to ensure the lines survival. It will take time to rebuild the lines reputation and some books will likely sink or swim depending on who the creators are. The Wake showed the market that a Vertigo series can sell amazingly well but that had Snyder at the helm. Most names that could have similar results with Vertigo are seemingly preferring to go to Image (like Snyder who hasn’t done a creator owned book with DC since the Wake wrapped).

Ray: I see Snow Blind, a crime thriller that got great reviews from BOOM!, landing very low on the list at #260. BOOM! still seems to have a lot of problems launching new titles unless there’s a big name or established property involved, but I could see this one selling well in trades.

Glenn: Boom are trying for a slice of the pie that Image seems to have domination over. They don’t seem to be able to create the same buzz yet though. However, nothing became successful overnight so all Boom can do is put out the best product they can and hope that something they release catches on much like Walking Dead did.

Ray: Meanwhile, The Massive: Ninth Wave, a prequel to Brian Wood’s long-running DH series, landed exactly at #300 with sales in the 5.8K range. I don’t think anyone was really clamoring for a sequel here, so this isn’t a bit surprise. Fight Club 2 aside, Dark Horse still doesn’t have many comics that are lighting up the charts.

Glenn: Dark Horse is in the same boat but struggling to find its place after losing Star Wars which has now, following leaving the company has become the most successful franchise in the market today. Whenever I think of Dark Horse, I don’t think of creator owned, I think more of licenced properties but they seem to be becoming more popular at Titan and IDW these days. Dark Horse finds itself in an awkward position because these days, they’ve even got less buzz than Archie. The solution is difficult to say, they need a replacement for the Star Wars line essentially and there seems to be nothing available. They have enough popular properties like Buffy to keep them afloat but they could become increasingly irrelevant in today’s market as hard as that is to believe.

Speaking of IDW and license properties, a new Judge Dredd ongoing from them launches at 187 with sales over 11.6k. Obviously Dredd is going to be doing most of his business in the pages of the insanely successful 2000AD. Its a decent number, you would have thought maybe some Dredd heads could have bumped it up a bit further but I think fans of the character aren’t going to be much interested in a comic published by another company. This one is going for fans of the movies and such. If it can stay around this, it’ll be okay and probably do better in trade form.

IDW also released another title this month in the form of the Rocketeer At War which launched at 227 with sales of over 8.6k. The Rocketeer has a small but loyal audience. It seems at this stage the character is for nostalgia fans and the odd collection by some big comic names who love about writing about a guy with a jet pack and an awesome costume. This book is the type of thing that IDW does these days and they seem to be in turn taking business away from the aforementioned Dark Horse, in this market today if they need to do this to keep the lights on then more books like the Rocketeer will be on the way.

Mostly the bottom of the charts this month is made up of reorders for the likes of Star Wars, moderate selling indie titles and not to be forgotten, the last issue of Prez. At 247 and selling just over 7.7 it has to be the least successful title from either of the big two in recent memory. Half the audience despised it and half the audience thought it was brilliant. It seems DC are promising some sort of relaunch but with numbers like these, they must be hoping for some major trade sales to justify that. When it was announced it seemed like a bizarre choice and this has been the result. No disrespect to Prez but I’d wager DC will be rather keen to sweep this one under the rug and never speak of it again.

Ray: Prez was…I don’t know what DC was thinking with this one. A completely weird book with no sales base. It felt more like an experimental mini that Dark Horse would put out than a DC book. Given that, these sales don’t really surprise me. That being said, I don’t think it’s quite the least successful title in recent years from DC – Klarion‘s sixth issue released right before Convergence sold just over 5000 copies! Congratulations, Prez – you’re off the hook!

Glenn: Well there you go folks its official Prez>Klarion

There’s a few new number ones launching at the 7k or 6k range from a company credited as AFT. I have no idea what the books are about or who the company is. I doubt I’ll be seeing them in the top 300 again in any case.

Ray: Looking ahead to the new year, the battle for dominance is set to continue as Marvel finishes up Secret Wars and continues to roll out their new lineup. There’s quite a few headliners launching this month, including Rocket Raccoon and Groot, Uncanny X-Men, and the title that may very well keep Secret Wars from going out on top – Spider-Man/Deadpool. It was one of the surprise hits of Secret Wars, and A-Force is back for a regular series engagement. It’ll be interesting to see how that performs compared to the current main Avengers book. Cult hits Captain Marvel and Silver Surfer are back for new engagements, with Captain Marvel sporting a shiny new creative team. These two are definitely hoping to follow Ms. Marvel’s lead from cult hit to hit, although I think only Captain Marvel has a real chance. The battle of the Wolverines is bringing us the launch of Old Man Logan, and we get to find out whether the fans prefer their Wolverine female or geriatric. Agents of SHIELD is hoping the TV series translates to success here as well, although this is one of the lower-profile series launching. And the juggernaut that is Star Wars is bringing us a new prequel-era miniseries starring Obi-Wan and Anakin. Not quite as big as past months, but they’ve still got a lot of new books coming out.

DC doesn’t have quite the same scale of output, since they’re only six months away from their last big relaunch, but there’s quite a few interesting new titles from them. Swamp Thing and Poison Ivy are getting their own solo miniseries, Tom Taylor is launching a new Green Lantern Corps series, and a new Suicide Squad title featuring Deadshot and Katana looks to spin out of the movie buzz. There’s also a new Wonder Woman origin launching from the digital-first line, and if it gets half the buzz that Bombshells is getting, it could be one to watch.

The non-big-two books don’t seem to be quite as busy this month as they did other months. Red Sonja from Dynamite and Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers from BOOM! look to be fairly big, with top-tier creative teams attached. Valiant is spinning off fan-favorite character Faith into her own miniseries, continuing their pattern of short-run series rotating in and out. Meanwhile, Image only seems to have a few books launching, including military werewolf thriller Cry Havoc, and Ted McKeever’s latest oddball title, Pencil Head. Plus, the return of Prophet, which is always good for some decent numbers from Brandon Graham fans.

Glenn: Marvel will be just playing it relatively low key until Civil War starts to warm up. In the meantime, DC has the potential to gain some ground with the 50th issues of some of their original new 52 books coming and whatever they have planned after the 52nd issue.

2016 is going to be an interesting one for sales! I can’t wait to see how it goes.