By The Numbers: August 2015
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! He’s really amazed that a character he co-created is on the cover of the upcoming IF Anthology from Alterna and seems to be showing up everywhere.
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. Since our podcast started up, he has stopped shouting his top ten comics of the week at random people on the street.
Speaking of our podcast, check us out along with longtime buddy, Brandon James on iTunes with Rabbitt Stew! Don’t ask, I didn’t pick the name.
Sales
Glenn: Welcome one and all once more as myself and Ray go through the comic sales for August 2015, where did the last 8 months go I wonder?
Also, sorry about the lateness, totally my fault. Sleep is my enemy. I’m actually sleeping right now.
At first glance, the August sales tell a very familiar story for this year. Marvel is cleaning house again with their Secret War and Star Wars comics and dominate the top ten. DC has their big hits and…everything else and Image tries to continue to keep a hold of their part of the market while all other publishers try to keep up the pace in a market where it seems there is indeed only Secret Wars.
There are a few things though on closer inspection this month that I think will warrant perhaps more than a cursory glance, perhaps there is more behind the curtain that there appears to be?
Starting off, like I said Marvel dominates the top ten once more, taking up 7 slots with four of those being taken up by Secret Wars related books. The event, like we’ve discussed is solid gold and despite the delays I doubt anyone at Marvel will be worried about the bottom line. The biggest story related to the mega hit event is the expansion to 9 issues. I don’t remember ever seeing a big name comic like this being granted an extra issue and if Marvel feels that is what it will take to tell their story then that’s how it is but I don’t think it’ll hurt to have another issue of a big hit event like this at the end of the year either.
Ray: Yeah, on the surface, this is a very quiet month. Marvel is still in the middle of their big event, and DC is assuming business as usual in the wake of their big semi-relaunch. There’s only two notable debuts near the top of the charts this month, at 17 and 18. First up is House of M, the latest Secret Wars tie-in. As the spin-off of one of their best-reviewed events, this was always going to do well, but I wonder if it lose a bit of momentum by being the very last Secret Wars tie-in out of the gate. And just below it is DC’s sole debut this month, Bombshells. This is a very impressive debut for a digital-first comic starring an all-female cast set during WW2. It’s debuted to a lot of critical acclaim and seems to have done these numbers without many incentives, so this could be a genuine word of mouth hit.
Glenn: The launch of Bombshells is a great number for a digital first book. I definitely think the amazingly positive response is a big factor here and the books seems to be doing a great job at giving the target audience what it wants. I know that sounds like a no brainer but we both know that books can hit the mark all too often. I want to say that the artist on this issue, Marguerite Sauvage is a friend of mine and I’m really pleased for her here.
I would say though that arguably a bigger story than the success of Secret Wars overall is the breakout hit of Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows. There are some mini’s that are selling better than others after a first issue buzz but this particular story seems to stand heads and shoulders above the rest with 2 slots in the top ten (5 and 6 respectfully). I knew there would be some interest in this mini but I didn’t expect this much. Is it the creative team? The story? The fact that since Superior, Spider-Man has become a steady performer once more? Perhaps it is a combination of all of these things but one thing is for certain, Marvel has to be taking note. With Spider-Gwen we’ve seen how Marvel will respond to a hit so it could very well be in the pipeline that we will be getting some sort of comic featuring a married Spider-Man soon, What format that will take of course, remains to be seen.
Ray: With Renew Your Vows, I have to guess it’s a combination of all of them. This is a massive, unmitigated hit that’s outpacing any other tie-in besides Civil War by a good 20K, and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down as it gets towards the end of the run. Given the near-unanimous acclaim the final issue got, I’m sure Marvel is hard at work figuring out how to capitalize on this like they did on Spider-Gwen. Of course, with MJ heading over to the new Iron Man title, that may be a little trickier in coming months.
Glenn: The plans to have MJ in Iron Man were likely in motion before the numbers started to come in. I get the sense that if we are to see Marvel react to the popularity of this tie-in it would be in an out of continuity book. I’m not sure if that would have the same level of success because for all intends and purposes that book wouldn’t ‘count’ but this one does…kinda. Ugh, Battleworld makes my head hurt…
The other big selling Secret Wars mini in the top ten is the second issue of Civil War landing at the number 9 spot with sales over 77k. I don’t think this is a surprise considering how mega successful the original storyline was close to ten years ago. It doesn’t hurt that not only is it very good but Marvel has stuck 2 of their top creators on it. With the movie taking the name from the event being released next year, its clear that there is a lot of milk left in this cash cow.
Ray: I’m very much enjoying Secret Wars, but I’ve got to say, the entire rollout feels very scattered. Between the big delays, and now the extra issue, this story is going to be wrapping up months after the relaunch has begun. It reminds me of Civil War a lot, an event plagued with constant delays – that despite this managed to dominate the charts like nothing we’ve seen in a very long time. If people are annoyed by how in flux everything is, it’s not reflecting on the charts.
Glenn: Yeah, once again there are a lot of people annoyed about the delays and about the extra issue online but it doesn’t seem to be effecting the numbers one bit. I have no doubt the extra issue in December will be doing huge numbers because as annoyed as some people might be about having to buy an extra issue, they’ll still want to see how the story ends. I’m also enjoying the event a great deal but there is a sign of mismanagement in some respects but it didn’t hurt the bottom line.
The other 3 Marvel spots are taken up by Star Wars comics. I’m actually surprised to see the Lando book stay in the top ten for another month. It’s not hard to see why Marvel keeps giving every character you can think of their own book and like we talked about last month, the Force Awakens prequel comic is due to be another gigantic success.
Ray: When it comes to Star Wars, Marvel has essentially created a new line of properties that can be guaranteed to occupy the top ten every month. Even their lower-tier books are doing very well, and I’m sure September’s official prequel mini for The Force Awakens will do spectacular numbers. A genuine game-changer the likes of which we don’t see often in comics.
Glenn: All we’ve seen so far from the crazily successful Star Wars is just a continuation of the stories we all know by heart. Delivering brand new in-continuity material is going to do big, big numbers. As we’ve already seen with the insanity around the toys, anything even remotely linked with Force Awakens is going to do insanely well.
The other 3 top ten spots are taken by Image’s The Walking Dead which again shows what a force of nature it is in itself. It doesn’t need events or renumberings or gimmicks or heck, it doesn’t even need colour. Long after Secret Wars has had its day, the Walking Dead will still be shuffling on while it continues to be quite possibly the most successful ‘indie’ book ever.
The other 2 spots are held by DC’s rock solid performers in Batman and Justice League with the latter perhaps seeing a sales boost from the ‘Darkseid War‘ which it has been building to for quite some time. It doesn’t have quite the scope that Johns built in his Green Lantern books when they had a major event but still its received a respectful boost from it. Meanwhile Batman may be the most consistently successful mainstream book on the market right now. I don’t think sales have dropped below 6 figures and the Snyder run is closing in on 50 issues fast, that’s a remarkable achievment.
Of course, its not quite all sunshine and roses for DC as we segway into what will probably be our main talking point this month. Two books in the top ten is nothing to sneeze at but its not 7 books and apart from a few other books like your Hitch League book, Harley Quinn and such. This month isn’t a pretty one for DC is it?
Ray: DC’s top tier books – their leading Batman books, the two JL books, Harley – are still looking very healthy, but no, this was not a particularly good month for them. And that’s the main story of the month – just a few days before the sales came in, DC announced they were starting a big cull of their lower-performing books. Besides Prez, which was cut down to half-size after only one issue, this cull included a few lower-tier books from before the jump, as well as three new launches that will end with 6 or 7. And looking at the sales numbers on their new launches, that can’t be surprising.
After Justice League of America, it’s a while before we even see any of DC’s new titles on the charts. Harley Quinn and Power Girl, which is only a mini, lands at #38 and Robin, Son of Batman seems pretty healthy down at #44. Those books are fine. But then you’ve got Batman Beyond down at #64 after only three issues. Starfire seems to be holding a bit better than the others, staying steady with other mid-level books at #70, but Cyborg is down to #73 with issue 2. That’s got to be a big disappointment. Earth 2, once a big franchise, is down at #75, and even the Bat-family branding can’t lift the critically acclaimed We Are Robin above 83. I was surprised to see Green Lantern: The Lost Army cancelled so quickly, but given that it’s already sunk to #79, DC may have just decided to do it as a mini.
Below that, the news gets even more grim, and well-received titles like Constantine (#95), Black Canary (#101), Martian Manhunter (#108), and Midnighter (#132) are looking like they’re in serious danger very quickly. DC made a valiant effort to diversify their line in more ways than one, but it’s not hard to see how they’re in panic mode right now.
Glenn: I mean, there’s a lot of talk again about how we’re getting such a big cull of books from DC. People aren’t happy but at the end of the day, DC are here to make money. They can’t keep books going if the numbers are concerning across the board. I mean, where there has been success in Harley/Power Girl like you mentioned, DC is responding and giving us a new Harley team up book. These sales indicate that people want more Harley so yeah, DC will give the market more of that. I mean there are a few books like Starfire that are holding up okay for what they are but nothing that will inspire DC to give her any more prominence and like you said, there’s other books that must be seen as a disappointment. DC has to be given credit for trying but if sales keep telling them that people just want Batman, the Justice League and Harley Quinn while it might be hard to lose some really good solid books but if no one is supporting them with their money, what are they supposed to do?
Ray: It seems like when it comes to DC, they’re likely to go back to more tried and true concepts after the struggles of this wave. Harley’s getting a new title, and Batman: Eternal is coming back in a few weeks. Those will definitely make the top of the chart a bit more competitive for a while. But if they can’t launch lower-tier books effectively the way Marvel did for Ms. Marvel, they’re going to have a hard time down the line.
Glenn: I think Ms. Marvel is helped by both digital sales and the fact that I think if Marvel cancelled it, people would literally show up at their offices with pitchforks and torches. Also, Marvel seems to guy by collection sales too but they’re not waiting to see if they can find a market these for these books, it really is sink or swim. They tried a few risks but yeah you’re right, it’ll be the ones that deliver for the foreseeable future probably.
Ray: I definitely suspect we’re going to see just how far Marvel can push their new direction. Ms. Marvel was a perfect storm of critical acclaim and audience response. Will the same happen for Devil Dinosaur or Hellcat? I’m skeptical, especially on the latter.
Glenn: I’m skeptical for both but Hellcat might find some claim some of the audience that Squirrel Girl has and may benefit from her apparent role in Netflix’s Jessica Jones series.
Glenn: I think that’s a great point. Secret Wars has made popular story lines (and not so popular ones) relevant again, some of which are over 25 or so years old! I would like these books chances without the Secret Wars banners and surely, Marvel had to expect that at best, some of these were going to be for a very niche audience. It does make me wonder how some of the new books they’ve announced like Devil Dinosaur will fare. Clearly they’re looking for more offbeat hits like Hawkeye and Ms. Marvel but I’m wondering if we’ll have a discussion similar to the one we’re having to DC in a few months time, just on a much smaller scale.
Ray: This is also the month we see two of the oddest Secret Wars tie-ins, Howard the Human at 87 and Secret Love at 91. Both fairly impressive numbers for books out of the Marvel mainstream like that.
Glenn: This month also marks the end of the Amazing Spider-Man mini ‘Spiral‘ by legendary writer, Gerry Conway at number 15 with sales of just over 65k. Pretty damn good numbers for a mini that deals with some characters we haven’t seen in a long time from a creator that hasn’t worked in comics for at least over a decade. It’s been a really good mini and its success has caused Marvel to green light another Spider-Man ‘point’ book which launches in November. Again, this is a good example of how success can inspire companies to give people more of the same.
Obviously a massive drop for Archie but its still over double the sales of where it was previously. It’ll be interesting to see how it performs in trades too but if it can stay around these numbers, it won’t have done too bad. It was never going to hold the numbers it did last month but people were talking about the company again and that was a big deal. I’ll be very interested to see how the rest of their launches do in the next coming months and into 2016.
Ray: While I wasn’t expecting Archie to maintain last month’s numbers, I think it still did its job – people are talking about Archie again, and the book is doing decent numbers in the direct market for the first time in ages. Archie Comics is making a serious effort to become relevant again, and I think it’s working.
Glenn: This month also sees 3 of the five issues of the Titan Doctor Who event ‘The Four Doctors‘ with the first part landing at the 74th spot on the chart with sales just under 29K. The other two issues it produces come in at spots 147 and 151 respectfully. Firstly, considering they’re all coming out in the same month I thought the issues would be closer together, there’s a big significance in sales between issue 1 and 2 (almost 14k in sales between the two). That puzzles me a bit, did retailers think crazy Whovians wouldn’t come back to shops the next week? I also thought considering the event saw a number of variants, a story featuring the last 3 Doctor’s and a great creative team in Paul Cornell and Neil Edwards that it would have performed a bit stronger. Sales of 30k for a Titan book are good number and the first issue outsells the rest of Titan’s Who books by a good portion but I wonder given the hype they had for the book and how cool it is to have the 10th, 11th and 12th Doctor’s in the same comic that it didn’t do better. Of course, we’ve talked a lot about media tie ins and how they pretty much have minimal (at best) effect on the market but I thought this one might be the one to break the mold. Its done okay but maybe I overestimated how well it would do.
Ray: I think it’s very hard for a smaller company like Titan to compete for shelf space with the bigger guns, even on a relatively big event like this, so I’m not shocked it fell hard with its second month. Still, a Titan book selling 28K and 14K is a pretty big hit for them, so I expect they’ll green light more events like this as long as they have the license. And it seems to have held steady from 2 to 3.
Glenn: That’s true. Maybe because I’m such a massive Whovian, that’s why I wanted it to do a lot better? You’re quite right that given their size, Titan are probably thrilled with the numbers. If it leads to Paul Cornell writing more Who (or heck, more comics in general) than I will recant my opinion and call this mini an unbridled success! It’ll probably find a lot of life on the trade market too.
With the last issue before a brief hiatus, Descender finishes in the top 100 with sales of 24,615 giving it the number 92 spot. I’m sure everyone involved is thrilled and given how quick Image is throwing out the first trade (which I’m also sure will do very well) I wonder if that will give time for the sales of issue 7 to be even better, we’ll find out in a few months.
Ray: Descender deserves those sales and more. I think it’s going to be a long-term hit for Image.
Glenn: Yeah, seriously the book is amazing. I hope they find a way to freeze Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen so they can keep it going forever. If there’s anyone out there reading that hasn’t read it, pick up the first trade and send us a thank you in the mail. I’ll take anything Spider-Man related and Ray will take all your Chinese food.
Ray: Going back to unusual crossovers, IDW’s Star Trek/Green Lantern crossover is doing pretty well at 25K sales. This bodes well for the Batman/TMNT crossover coming soon, as both are hotter properties at the moment.
Glenn: I didn’t even know Batman/TNMT were doing a crossover, that sounds so awesome on paper how can it NOT do well? Yeah, its good to see the mini do quite well, especially when (as we’ve discussed) Green Lantern is past its moment in the sun and slipping back into the shade since Johns left the book. It’s a surprising crossover I never would have expected but on paper it makes a lot of sense!
Ray: Batman/TMNT has a strong creative team as well, with James Tynion as the writer on the book. It’s going to be one of the biggest inter-company crossovers in a while.
Glenn: Oh wow, Tynion being involved gives it a lot of credibility! Considering how involved he has been in the Bat books over the last few years, that’s a big deal. I had been wondering who the villains might be in this story but now surely a Footclan/Court Of Owls mega gang war/team up is a must?
Ray: There’s only a few notable launches this month, with the new Image book The Beauty doing solid numbers at #105. The one-off gag comic from Marvel, Hank Johnson, Agent of Hydra, disappointed at #107, but that’s not a surprise for a seemingly random comedy book in the middle of an event. Howard the Human at least had the title to spin out of.
Phonogram: The Immaterial Girl launched at #134, but this is a cult series returning from a long hiatus, so I’m sure the creative team is happy with that. This same team is doing the excellent The Wicked + The Divine concurrently, which is unusual for a team these days.
Glenn: With regards to the Wicked and the Divine, I think McKelvie is jumping off art for an arc to do Phonogram. They’re having a guest artist for each issue for a bit which is something quite different for an indie book. There was some false reports about Wicked and the Divine coming to an end but the creative team have been very much saying that is not the case. They are a fantastic team and seem to be able to pull a good amount of support no matter what they do.
Ray: There’s the seemingly random appearance of two issues of Lady Mechanika, a steampunk comic by Joe Benitez from his private studio, at #138. It’s always interesting to see the semi-random books sneaking onto the charts after the top 100.
Glenn: I think the Lady Mechkanika book got some press a while back, so maybe that’s why? Also, Steampunk is a big thing at the moment (see also: Bombshells) so maybe that’s why? It could be just a random blip but I guess we’ll find out next month.
Ray: Dark Corridor, a fairly unheralded mob comic from Image that got strong reviews, debuted with 12K sales at #163. Not bad given the lack of big names on the book.
Glenn: The market at the moment is very much driven by not only character recognizably but also how well the creators are known so that’s great numbers for that book. Everyone has to start somewhere and it could be that this writer or artist or both will be the next big thing in comics. You just never know.
I also spot the launch of the X-Files Season 11 book at 159 with sales just over 12k. Yes, yes its a media tie in and we know by now how well they do but I thought with the show starting up again, there might have been a bit more hype here. I am wondering if they perhaps should have waited closer to the launch of the show? Then again, if popular shows translated in comic sales then the second issue of the Blacklist would be fairing better than its 262 spot with sales just over 5,700 (sheesh).
Ray: I think a lot of the problems with these comic tie-ins to popular TV shows is that, by their nature, they can’t do anything too radical because the show takes priority. The reason Buffy does fairly well is because it’s now the primary continuity and anything can happen, with with X-Files and Blacklist, both of which are still going, they’re sort of guaranteed to only tell side stories.
Glenn: That’s a great point and in that case, the return of the X-Files show might be hurting the book rather than helping it. If Buffy had some sort of continuation through say..Netflix I would suspect that the books there would take a hit too because Buffy fans like myself would have their fix somewhere else.
Ray: Two animated tie-ins, TMNT Amazing Adventures from IDW and Over the Garden Wall from BOOM!, both debuted with roughly similar numbers. I expect these will make a lot of their money in newsstand/bookstore sales, though, much like Archie has.
Glenn: There are also a few new launches from IDW in Boy-1 at the 282nd spot, Stringers from Oni at 289 and Adam.3 from Dark Horse at 290 all selling below 4750 units. The Oni one will probably be seen as acceptable but I don’t see the others long for this world…or even in the top 300 ever again. Its a hard market for untested properties by untested creators and underlines that Dark Corridor did pretty well in comparison.
There was also a pretty decent launch from Dark Horse in Zodiac Starforce #1 which sets course for spot 216 with sales just over 8k. At least its doing near double to the books I mentioned earlier.
Ray: Dark Horse seems to have trouble launching creator-owned books on the same level as Image in recent years. Same for IDW, aside from its established properties. It’s surprising, since Dark Horse has been around as long or longer than Image. I will say, though, that Zodiac Starforce is excellent and definitely deserves the extra success compared to the rest of this month’s launches.
Glenn: I think Dark Horse to me, seemed like the company that was ‘Oh they do Star Wars‘ and they’re trying to recover from losing the franchise that was their bread and butter for a long time. They aren’t like Image who have been doing what they’re doing since day 1 but better than ever. Dark Horse needs to almost rebuild their brand and taking chances on unknown creators and new properties may be a good way to do it because any one of them could be the next Walking Dead but its going to take time.
Ray: Looking ahead to September, this is once again the calm before the storm of a new wave of launches from Marvel and DC. While there’s a few notable launches from Marvel – namely the SHIELD 50th anniversary one-shots and the long-awaited return of Captain America: White – it seems like all the big news in September is on the creator-owned side. I’m especially watching two a-list Image debuts, Tokyo Ghost from Rick Remender and Sean Murphy, and one of my favorite new titles, Plutona from Jeff Lemire and Emi Lennox. I’m expecting both of these to make a significant splash on the charts. Besides that, the sci-fi adventure Faster than Light from Image, and the return of cult favorite Wild’s End from Boom are looking to make a mark in this market as well. And come the last week of the month, we’ve got the fantasy epic From Under Mountains, one of Image’s most hotly anticipated launches.
It’s nothing compared to October, though, when All-New All-Different Marvel Now debuts against the return of Batman: Eternal and the launch of Dark Knight III.
Glenn: As we wait around for Secret Wars to continue slowly churn out, it will be a similar story in all likelihood next month. Perhaps we’ll see a surprise or two, who knows? When we get to October that’s when DC might see a big swing due to Dark Knight III (which I want to say on the record, has the worst subtitle) but after that? I’m not quite so sure. I think Marvel has already won 2015 as it where so I’m wondering if DC are starting to think about next year and a market post Secret War. With Marvel launching so many books, this could be their time to move.
With DC though, that might just take this as a chance to rearrange some furniture, who knows?
Ray: DC will definitely rebound a bit in the coming months, as they roll out more and more sure things – in addition to Eternal 2 and Dark Knight III, they’ve got the married Superman book that will beat the hopefully inevitable married Spider-man book to the market, plus a new maxi series designed to save the Teen Titans line – but they’ve still got a lot of ground to make up. It’ll be interesting to see what their next move is, and how Marvel’s newest relaunch delivers.
Until next month, then!
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