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 is currently ordering the mullet special at the cafe 80’s

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. He is first in line for those flying cars we’re all going to magically have on the 22nd and isn’t going to let a lack of a driving licence stop him.

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.

Sales

Glenn: So its that time again sales fans and now as we near the end of the Summer of Secret Wars which has turned into the Winter of Secret Wars and maybe even the New Year of Secret Wars lets see how comic sales did in September!

So with despite Marvel’s big event being a no show in regards to the main title, the event itself still makes itself known as Marvel win another top ten. It isn’t Secret Wars that take the credit this month for the win, in September it was Star Wars that led Marvel to victory.

Not only did the usual books land but Marvel launched arguably the biggest Star Wars series yet, the prequel comic to the Force Awakens ‘Shattered Empire’ which takes the top spot of sales just under 210k. Marvel keeps producing these books and seemingly no matter who is featured in them or what period they cover, its like they’re printing money.

Of course, this book will be of particular interest because the excitement for the new Star Wars movie is reaching a fever pitch and Marvel is reaping the rewards. Details in regards to plot of the new film are closely guarded so people will be picking up this book for hints of what is to come when the movie hits screens in December.

Even without the strength of the new movie, the other Star Wars books do ridiculously well making up 3 of Marvel’s 5 spots in the top ten (Lando’s comic also just misses out at number 11). It’s just crazy that the success of these books persists and the ‘main’ book continues to do huge numbers of over 135 k at the number 2 spot and is now outselling DC’s bread and butter title, Batman.

Ray: This month is really the calm before the storm. No Marvel launches besides a few minis, as they’re all coming in October, and DC has no new launches either before the return of Eternal next month. That is, of course, besides the new Star Wars launch which dominates the charts.

Glenn: October (quite fittingly) is going to be a scary month. Before we started, you said a top 10 with sales all over 100k but I think we could be looking at a top five (at least) with sales over 200k. Insane month to look forward to.

Ray: Honestly, I was expecting a little more from this newest Star Wars mini. It’s the first comic content that actually directly ties into the new movie as opposed to the old series. However, 208K is nothing to sneeze at, and congrats to the creative team! This one is likely to hold very strong through its whole run. With three issues in October, that top ten is going to be crazy.

Glenn: I think even though it does tie into the movie since its not the ‘main’ book it won’t perform as well initially. I expect it to hold incredibly well and the real money from this book will be the collection which will be out around the time of the movie.

Ray: It definitely seems like at this point, the Star Wars titles are set to continue dominating the charts for the foreseeable future. Once the launch craziness dies down a bit and the comics find their regular level, the top Star Wars titles should be occupying the top spot unless there’s an event on the level of Secret Wars coming out.

Glenn: More success from Star Wars means more titles of the same as Marvel are even now going to try their luck with a book set during the much divisive ‘Prequel Era’ but for right now, they can do no wrong. With Star Wars movies coming out every year for the next 5 years at least, I don’t see that changing.

Marvel also has the other spots in the top ten filled by the ridiculously successful Renew Your Vows and the first two issues of the Deadpool and Thanos mini series.

Renew Your Vows ended in a fantastic fashion and I have to give the creative team here some major props. Given how controversial this particular tie-in comics ‘source event’ was, the creative team of Dan Slott and Andy Kubert managed to tell a classic style Spider-Man story with a lot of new flavour also. The mini finished up at the number 5 slot and was Marvel’s highest selling Secret Wars tie in with sales of over just under 95k. This mini has held up better than any other Secret Wars tie in and these are numbers that I don’t expect Marvel to ignore. Expect to see a title with a married Spider-Man in one form or another soon.

Ray: The only thing that could stop some sort of continuation of Renew Your Vows at this point would be an agenda inside editorial against this version of Peter – but if that was the case, would they really have green lit this? Marvel likes money. This mini gave them an enormous amount of money. I’d be shocked if this didn’t follow in the footsteps of Spider-Gwen (and Gwenpool) soon enough as a comic the fans literally wished into being.

Glenn: Its no secret how much Marvel editorial aren’t fans of the married Spider-Man but these numbers are hard to ignore. Marvel continually says ‘vote with your money!’ and that’s what we’ve seen here. We’ll see how the react in 2016.

I did kind of think that given Deadpool’s popularity and Thanos getting a major push in the company due to his prominence in the movies that a mini starring the two would do well but I’m surprised it did this well. Whenever a series releases the first two issues in the same month there is usually a sizable gap between them but here, its not too bad. The first issue comes in with sales over 108 k at the number 4 spot which is great and the second issue comes in at number 10 with sales just under 70k. The difference of 30k can be explained with all the variants number one had but this is a great drop with a mini that seems to mostly be happening just because both the characters are into the same girl. If sales like this continue can a buddy comic starring the two be far behind?

Ray: Deadpool vs. Thanos…well, I thought the “Deadpool’s Secret Secret Wars” mini might have launched that high because people believed it was a tie-in. Guess not. Guess Deadpool is just that hot right now. Looking ahead, Deadpool is going to be really prominent in the upcoming months, with a Spider-Man team-up book and a new Avengers team where he’s one of the headliners. I’m shocked to see Marvel pushing a Fox character this hard, but money talks! As long as people keep buying, he’ll keep getting books.

Glenn: Deadpool seems to transcend such things as movie studio rivalries. With the movie out next year, it’s only going to mean more Deadpool for us all. These Deadpool mini’s all have a solid performance history and are probably more cost effective than a second book (which they tried a few times). It is strange that Deadpool is probably going to be one of the properties that comes out top notch following the All New Marvel relaunch but I guess people like their wisecracking psychopaths!

Ray: I’m going to single out the Batman Annual for a minute, because this is pretty impressive. This book wasn’t by the regular creative team, but it did deliver a story that tied in pretty smoothly with the main arc, and it did incredibly well compared to the other annuals this month. The power of Batman! This might be the highest-selling annual I remember in a while.

Speaking of selling and people getting more books, impressive numbers for the Harley Quinn Road Trip Special this month, at #17 just two slots under the main book. This was an oversized, more expensive special, and yet it still nearly matched the main book. No wonder she’s getting a second title come a few months from now!

Glenn: The success of this book along with the Harley/Power Girl mini (which continues to do pretty good numbers in its own right at the number 45 spot with sales of just over 36k) more than justifies the oversized, bi-monthly team up book. I really think the success of Harley in the last few years is a big reason the big two are launching so many new female led books, especially kookier ones like Squirrel Girl. I think a lot of praise have to go to the creative team as Harley’s popularity continues to grow and she looks to gain new fans from both the Suicide Squad movie and the upcoming DC super hero girls.

Ray: The long-delayed Captain America: White also launched this month after a zero issue arriving eons ago, and it held pretty well. 59K is not bad at all for a book featuring a long-defunct version of the character’s relationship with Bucky Barnes (the Captain America and his boy sidekick version pretty much died out with Brubaker’s run) but the team of Loeb and Sale have a lot of goodwill left over.

Glenn: Jeph Loeb’s name usually pulls in a lot more numbers here and this is his first collaboration with Sale in a while so I would have thought it would have done better. Of course, the delays haven’t probably helped and this being a story featuring the ‘classic’ version of Cap and Bucky makes it hard to be relevant in this market. Sales of 60k aren’t too bad but I don’t think this collaboration will be going down in the annuals of comic history unlike their other projects together. I am wondering if this might be the last comic we see Jeph Loeb do because of his involvement with the television side of Marvel Entertainment.

Ray: And speaking of long delays, Sandman: Overture finally closed out its run at #18 with 48K in sales. Impressive, but I suspect that they’ll be doing much better business in collected editions for years to come.

Glenn: Sandman seems to have lost a lot of sales due to the delays (two years from issue one until this issue) but like you said, it’ll be collected and put on a shelf in comic stores and book shops all across the world and make its money back tenfold. I just hope this is not the last time that Gaiman returns to the series or to comics in general.

Ray: Down the list, most books are assuming their standard position with some attrition. The next new launch we get to is Tokyo Ghost, Rick Remender and Sean Murphy’s sci-fi thriller from Image, at #33 with about 40K in sales. A decent debut for an Image book for sure, but sort of muted compared to some recent launches. This book didn’t seem to have the pre-release buzz of some of Remender’s recent books.

Glenn: That’s a decent launch but yeah, I would have expected more from this creative team. I don’t think I’ve read anything of Remender’s but his Marvel work seems to have been very divisive. A lot of these Image success stories are due to fan favourites but Remender may be the first creator in a good while that has done more harm than good by venturing to Marvel for a while. Or it could be that the concept didn’t click but the book will still probably have a respectful run.

Ray: Bombshells is continuing to hold really well at #37. The best numbers I’ve seen for a digital-first book in a long time. So that wasn’t just a fluke last month. The book seriously deserves it!

Glenn: This again is fans using a book to tell companies what they want. I’m very happy for Bombshells and we’ll probably be due for even more female orientated books to come I’d say.

Ray: And wow, Invader Zim #3 at #41? What happened here? Some sort of incentive or bundle, likely, because this is easily the highest I have ever seen an Oni comic, and I can’t imagine the nostalgia for a cult hit comic from 14 years ago is driving it all.

Glenn: That is a random, crazy good spike for Zim. Perhaps its found a whole new audience in this format? We’ll see if it can hold these numbers next month because if it can, with October being as crazy as its going to be then it’ll be really something.

Ray: And looking down the list, I have to go to #61 to find the next DC annual, for Green Lantern, with almost 50K sales less than the Batman annual. That just shows you how impressive that performance was.

Glenn: Batman continues to be DC’s MVP and even though the annual this year was the first one since the new 52 without Snyder’s involvement, it was still very closely tied to his main story. Green Lantern had its moment in the sun for a while but night has fallen again and Batman reigns supreme. The main Lantern series is at the 35th spot with sales of just over 39k. Its sort of wading in the middle of a lot of Secret Wars tie in titles so it could drop quite a bit once Marvel gets all their new books out. The bloom has come off the rose and I think we’re seeing the franchise resume its pre-Johns B list status.

Big shout out to The Walking Dead for continuing to hang in there in the top ten and outselling a lot of high profile books. I think it won’t make it in next month but I think the return of the insanely popular TV show will definitely give it a more than respectable number. Much like a zombie, it’ll shuffle along and wait for the crazyness to die down before resuming its dominance.
Another great performing Secret Wars tie in is X-Men 92 which we all know is going to get its own spin off series following the event. The sales of just over 40k have probably been a big surprise for Marvel. I expected this mini to maybe to numbers the likes of some of the more fringe Secret Wars books but its outselling some of the higher profile books by a fair margin. Nostalgia rules for the x-fan so we’ll see how it does once it has to compete against the proper Marvel universe titles.

Superman seems very high this month, I don’t remember the title in the top 25 for a while but there it is at 24th spot with sales just under 44k. This could be because its a relatively calm month, we know now that John Romita Jr will be leaving the book to do a Dark Knight III: Batman does Dallas (still a better title) so it’s going to be interesting to see who DC get to replace their biggest Marvel grab in years and how the title will fare afterwards.

Ray: When it comes to Superman, this is where the Superman identity reveal story finally reached its head and we saw how the whole thing went down. I wouldn’t be surprised if they got a bounce for that event, but without Romita Jr. in the coming months, I expect the sales to drop. This run hasn’t been the best received. The replacement artist is Howard Porter, an old DC hand who has been part of some great runs, but not a huge sales draw.

Glenn: It’ll be interesting to see how sales of the recently released but much lauded Lois and Clark series fares up. If people gravitate towards that book then when Superman’s ID inevitably goes back in the bottle then perhaps we’ll see a return to that status quo? (note: this comment was made prior to Ray telling me of the huge twist in said series)

This month also marks the end of an era with the final issue of Mark Waid and Chris Samnee’s much praised run of Daredevil coming to an end. The final issue of their run checks in at number 60 with sales just under 30k. This is the level that Daredevil has been at for years apart from launches here and there but I thought there might have been a bit more attention to their ending their run which has been praised as one of Marvel’s best for years. Of course, collections and such will benifit Marvel for years to come and I don’t thing anyone is envying the job that Charles Soule and Ron Garney have when they relaunch the book in a few months.

Ray: Daredevil has never been a powerhouse sales force, but this run has been crazy consistent and will be selling in collections for a very long time to come. I’m hoping Charles Soule will be able to keep Daredevil’s hot streak going.

Glenn: Me too for sure and I’ll be curious what this team can do when they move on to Black Widow. No one can accuse Marvel of not trying to make that book work.

Archie continues to hold up pretty well with sales just under 28k and the number 55 spot. This is a long way from where it was before so if it can stay around this number, I think the company can call the relaunch of their main title a massive success.

Ray: Archie wasn’t any sort of force in the direct market for the longest time, and now they’re doing healthy numbers there in addition to their newsstand sales, so they’ve got to be very happy here. It’ll be interesting to see how Jughead’s solo title does in October.

Glenn: We see this month the beginning of the reprinting of the legendary run of Miracleman by Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham. Both have gone on the be power houses in the industry so sales of over 27 k at the number 69 spot on the surface look disappointing at first but again, this is a reprint comic of old material. I think if/when we see the new material from these two on the character it will be quite a different story but I’m sure Marvel is very pleased with the numbers a series they paid for years ago is making them.

Ray: I still expected slightly higher numbers for Miracleman, given how legendary this run is, but it is a $4.99 book in a polybag. I do think when it comes time for those last few issues that were lost, and anything that comes after, sales will shoot up significantly.

Glenn: Agreed and like I said, the Miracleman material has been paid for. I’m sure the creators are perhaps getting something for reprinting it but it surely won’t be anywhere near as much as they would be paid for new material. It’s a cost effective book and will be a big asset for Marvel’s catalogue for a long time no doubt.

There was also the Agent Carter of SHIELD anniversary issue this month which came in at the number 72 spot with sales of just under 26.5k. That’s pretty damn good for a throwaway anniversary issue for a secondary character. I’m actually surprised with the increasing popularity of Peggy Carter in the MCU and Marvel’s recent batch of female books that we’re not getting a series of her featuring an all star creative team.

Ray:In general, all five of the SHIELD specials did pretty well, landing in the top 100. That’s better than I would have expected from one-shots focusing on non-costumed characters. No surprise, Agent Carter and Fury did the best, with Mockingbird, Quake, Cavalry all lagging behind a bit. Good news for Marvel, though.

Glenn: We see Jeff Lemire’s new Image book Plutona debut with sales over 25 k at the number 78 spot. Not quite the success story of say Descender or Wytches but really good numbers for a mini featuring a superhero outside the big two. It’s clear Lemire is turning himself into a bankable name and that will only continue when his new Marvel books are released in the coming months.

Ray: I expected a bit more of Plutona, but this is the mainstream comic debut for Emi Lennox, so it doesn’t have the same pull as Descender does. Still, it’s a pretty strong debut for an Image book and I expect it’ll hold pretty well, as well as it’s been reviewed.

Glenn: I think the indie market (if Image can still be called ‘Indie’) is harder with superhero books of any kind. Marvel and DC are flooding the market with much more recognizable superheroes and even though this isn’t marketed or presented the same as a superhero book, I think that might be a key factor. I think it’ll also do very well in collections as Lemire’s star continues to rise.

Ray: We’ve got the Valiant event comic Book of Death hanging around the 25K mark, at 85. It’s a solid performance, well above the ratings of any other Valiant book. Valiant seems to be moving more towards a model of short runs and limited series, and that might be smart given the performance of some of their other books.

Glenn: It seems that Valiant want to make themselves a force to be taken seriously and they’re not doing a bad job of it. Outside of Marvel or DC or Image, most companies find it hard to market or make an ‘event’ successful but I think Valiant is just doing that. They’ve also got rumblings of movies coming and they could be one to watch for the foreseeable future.

Ray: As always, the news is not good for DC’s new launches this month, with more and more of them slipping towards the bottom of the top 100 or even out of it. There’s a few, like Starfire and Robin, Son of Batman holding on pretty well, but beyond that we’ve got We Are Robin almost out of the top 100 despite a great reception and an upcoming crossover. A big chunk of the line is under 20K already, including fan favorite Secret Six. Shockingly, two of the cancelled titles – Doomed and Prez – are even in the four-digit range after only four issues.

Glenn: Those are really some rough numbers. I am really surprised especially by We Are Robin and Secret Six. Both have a great hook and one is tying into the mega successful Batman book and the other has Gail Simone who usually can command an audience of much more than what we’re seeing here. These two books may not be long for this world so if you’re supporting them, spread the word now.

Ray: The sequel to the Disney comic “Figment” debuts at 109, with sales of 20K. Not terrible, but Marvel hasn’t been able to get their Disney properties off the ground yet in terms of the direct market.

Glenn: These Disney books are destined to be sold in gift shops at theme parks so I doubt Marvel is too concerned about the direct sales of these.

Ray: Even with no new issue this month, here comes Spider-Gwen! The $1 True Believers reprint lands at 123, with sales over 17K. It even outsold two other major female character hits, Thor and Ms. Marvel, in their reprints.

Glenn: Stop invading our sales column Spider-Gwen! I’m wondering how many much higher tier characters she’s going to outsell when all the new number one numbers come in.

Ray: Another Image debut this month, Faster Than Light, promised an enhanced reading experience with digital tie-ins, and it was rewarded with a strong debut of about 15K. No name creators on this book, but it was marketed very well.

The news wasn’t quite as good for the fantasy epic “From Under Mountains“, which was a challenging read and only managed to get sales of about 11K. Still, if people respond to this title, it has room to grow and isn’t in immediate danger.

Speaking of Image fantasy, the quarterly oversized swords-and-sorcery book Head Lopper transitioned smoothly from webcomic to print with sales of 11K. This is one book I would heavily recommend, if you can get your hands on it. A blast to read, and a ton of comic for $5.99.

I can’t believe how many DC titles, even some strong ones like Manhunter or Omega Men, we’re seeing down here in the lower 100s. DC brought the quality, but they didn’t market these new launches well enough to keep them alive, it seems.

Glenn: Producing fringe books to go up against small press books is an interesting strategy that DC seems to have missed the mark on. I think they were hoping for another surprise hit like Harley Quinn and while there will be a few that end up with decent sales, there’s not really any major hits apart from the books that were already doing well.

They are doing well with Arkham Knight with the main title pulling sales of just under 19k at number 115 and the annual not being too far behind it with sales of just over 17k at the 124th spot. This is not too bad at all for a game tie-in and seems to have warranted a ‘promotion’ for the books writer to a main Batman book!

Ray: Arkham Knight definitely seems to be the biggest hit out of the Arkham spinoff titles. I put part of that on the A-list writer they put on the book, and part of it on the fact that the title character has a dedicated fan base who will follow him anywhere he goes. All in all, I think DC’s got to be extremely happy here, even if it’s fallen a lot from its top ten debut.

Glenn: Back to Marvel for a moment, showing that much like Captain America, Bucky’s time in the sun has ended. The Winter Soldier book is coming to an end, fizzling out with sales of just under 12k. Maybe its something to do with making a gritty espionage character into a space cop of sorts? Just speculating.

Ray: Yeah, I don’t think this take on Winter Soldier clicked with fans at all. It was a very odd story with a complicated structure, alternate realities, and a writer and artist whose style seemed more suited to indie comics. It really didn’t resemble the Bucky Barnes that people knew at all. I suspect he may get a second chance, though – there’s a movie coming up, and that would be a good time to bring the character back in a title with a new creative team. Maybe by the team of the Black Widow book that just ended, which was well-received and featured him in an issue midway through?

Glenn: We’ll be seeing Bucky again and in a much more traditional setting for him (apart from him being you know…dead). I would say that this interpretation will be quietly put under the giant continuity rug at Marvel along with Spider-Man: Chapter One and that time Moon Knight thought he was a bunch of other heroes.

A new launch from Dynamite this month is Aliens/Vampirella. The character is due for a major rebranding in a few months but sales of just over 11k for a bizarre tie in featuring a character that is…controversial at best is…alright I suppose?

I also want to point out that Jimbo Jones made the comic chart at spot 260 with sales just under 6.5k. He isn’t even the Simpsons most popular bully but there you go…

Ray: There’s always some oddballs in the top 300. I would never have expected an Aliens/Vampirella crossover, but Dynamite tends to be good at getting first issue sales with variant covers. As for Jimbo Jones, I will congratulate him and say nothing more because I fear my nurples being purpled.

Glenn: It looks like Sex Criminals is about to drop out of the top 300 despite its critical acclaim and award winning/award refusing. Perhaps people are worried about being seen with the book? In all seriousness, it seems to do decently in trade but I wouldn’t be surprised if the creative team maybe pair up on something a bit more marketable to a wider audience soon.

Ray: I think Sex Criminals was always going to be a niche book of sorts, despite critical response. I know that it’s the one book I won’t take out to read in public! Still, the team has a lot of pull, and I suspect they’ll be able to keep it going as long as they want. Remember, Fraction and DeConnick have the production studio now, so they have more than enough clout to keep some low-selling passion projects going.

Glenn: If much like Kirkman’s other long running comic ‘Invincible‘, they can run it on the sheer joy of doing it, then fair enough. I still wouldn’t be surprised if the book took a break and the team did something else more profile together to get more of an audience for their baby.

2 other launches this month, Boom’s Wilds End Enemy Within and Dark Horse’s Colder Toss The Bones barely scrape in the top 300 this month with sales just over 5 k each. Not good launches for either and I doubt we’ll ever see or hear from them again. This is not the year to try your luck with a new book unless you happen to already be a major sales driver in your own regard.

Ray: Both Colder and Wild’s End are actually sequels to previous minis which also had low sales, so maybe they’re doing well in trades? Wild’s End is a personal favorite of mine, so buy this book, people! It’s talking animals vs. HG Wells Martians!

Glenn: You learn something new every day!

Ray: There’s a few other books scattered around, like the Tyson Hesse all-ages Steampunk Adventure “Diesel”, that landed near the bottom of the top 300. Seems to be that most small creator-owned books land here if they don’t have a big name. Hopefully they’ll be able to find their footing and pick up more audiences in trade.

That’s about it for September, and looking ahead, we’ve got…*is buried under an avalanche of new #1s”

Clearly, October is one of the biggest months we’ve ever had. The big story, of course, is All New All Different Marvel Now, landing three months or so before the event that leads to it even concludes. But that won’t matter to audiences, and in October alone we’re getting the launches of Amazing Spider-Man, Invincible Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Uncanny Avengers, New Avengers, Uncanny Inhumans, new #1s for Captain America and Ant-Man, and a pair of sampler issues that show off some of the new titles. Underdog titles Howling Commandoes and Unbeatable Squirrel Girl are going to try to make an impact, and as for the Juggernaut that is Star Wars, Chewbacca’s getting his own mini. So Marvel will clearly dominate, and –

Oh, what’s that? DC’s here to play as well! Obviously, the big story of the month for them is the return of Batman Eternal, now rebranded Batman and Robin Eternal. Coming off a smash hit first volume and delivering four issues a month, this is clearly going to ease a good deal of DC’s sales chart pain all by itself. They’re also debuting a trio of new series coming out of Convergence. Lois and Clark, featuring the return of the classic married Superman, and Titans Hunt, promising to revitalize the struggling franchise, seem likely to be fan favorites. The third book, Telos, a solo spotlight for the event’s villain, seems like a much more questionable choice. This is also when Vertigo rolls out a new series every week, including new outings from Gail Simone and the powerhouse team of Darwyn Cooke and Gilbert Hernandez.

Even in the advance of this juggernaut, we’ve still got some really interesting indie launches as well. Image has the new Brian K. Vaughn 80’s teen thriller Paper Girls, the Shane Davis video game thriller Axcend, the Skottie Young ultraviolent fantasy I Hate Fairyland, and the new Greg Rucka thriller Black Magick, among others. Top Cow is trying to reboot the Witchblade franchise with “Switch“, while Cullen Bunn debuts another original horror property with Oni’s “Blood Feud” and James Tynion spins another tale of the apocalypse for Boom with “Cognetic“. And of course, we can’t forget Dynamite’s blockbuster entry next month, with countless variant covers and a mass media rollout – Grumpy Cat #1! Will this foul-tempered feline ruin everyone else’s sales day?

Probably not, but it’ll be fun to see where it places.

Glenn: I’LL SAVE YOU RAY! Well maybe next month, you look like you’ll be warm until then

Next month is going to be insane. I think a little too insane, I was talking to my local comic ship (shout out to the great dudes at Comic Book Guys NI) that they felt there was far too many number one’s this month and all at high prices. I think next month, due to the juggernauts that Marvel are rolling out at $4.99 or $5.99 a pop we’ll see a lot of other new books kind of struggle.

This has been a verly quiet month but the next few months are going to be some of the wildest sales wise so stay tuned for that, folks!

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