Paul O’Brien looks at Marvel’s December sales figures, and where others may see snark, he sees only truth:
With CIVIL WAR missing, NEW AVENGERS is Marvel’s top book of the month, although it was beaten into third place by two issues of JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA. The CIVIL WAR tie-in arc is over, and sales duly drop straight back to their previous levels.
This month also marks the second anniversary of the book’s relaunch. Some purists continue to protest that this isn’t really the Avengers, and that the upcoming MIGHTY AVENGERS sister title isn’t the Avengers either. Metaphysically, they might have a point, but the reality is that even two years after the relaunch, it’s still selling more than twice as well as the previous version of the book. No wonder Marvel see this as the way forward for the franchise.
Lots more in the link; pay attention to his comments for the Spider-Man franchise in particular, I think.
January 24th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
Looks like the unmasking is driving readers AWAY from the books, even though FNSM and SSM are really creatively well done right now.
January 24th, 2007 at 4:24 pm
Yeah, I was going to say. I’ve been reading both titles and I’ve been impressed with the story telling by both authors.