Todd Allen looks at the sales for the Marvel NOW! books so far from Marvel:
We’re still not seeing a Batman - level breakout hit or Justice League, for that matter. Avengers looks to be retaining a some readers, but seems like it might be joining All-New X-Men in the 70K-80K range, longer term. You can see the 50-60K sales band starting to form.
The best-selling non-relaunched title is Wolverine & The X-Men at 44.7K/43.9K. Hawkeye is next at 37K. Notice a big difference between the existing lineup and the relaunch? Wolverine & The X-Men was one of Marvel’s better sellers before the relaunch. I don’t know if that’s normal attrition or some people switched their money to new #1s. It’s something to keep an eye on.
That last point has been something I’ve noticed; has the launch of the Marvel NOW! books accidentally pushed previously best-selling titles to a second tier in terms of sales and reader interest? On the one hand, seeing Wolverine & The X-Men suddenly become a mid-list book for the publisher makes sense, considering it’s far past its launch and not included in the grand creative reshuffle, but on the other, it’s strange to see it apparently lose… “importance,” I guess, for want of a better word, within the line just because of that.
February 14th, 2013 at 10:15 am
AvX took all the fun out of Wolverine and The X-men, and it no doubt lost a lot of readers from that. Now it’s getting back on track but I’m sure people who would’ve stayed on through Marvel NOW are hesitant to jump back on when they could just try something new.
February 14th, 2013 at 10:29 am
I know I dropped it due to the AVX tie ins.
February 14th, 2013 at 11:55 am
I do not believe WATX has lost its importance, but rather the market has suffocated the title. I believe the accelerated scheduling of Marvel Now titles have lead to the sales decline of comics such as WATX. Retailers and readers can only purchase so many $3.99 titles.
The three pillars of the X-universe are clearly ANX, Uncanny, and WATX. The X-titles are clearly operating on the dichotomy established in Schism. Wolverine on one side and the adult Cyclops on the other. The younger X-Men represent a new pillar stuck in the middle. Bendis’ interviews and Uncanny issue one seems to support this argument.
February 14th, 2013 at 3:47 pm
The biggest fear I would have is not the new titles pushing down older ones because they are new. It would be the double shipping on a lot of them might. People who are choosing a title that is shipping twice a month my hold off a on a book that ships monthly because of budget or another reason.
February 14th, 2013 at 9:51 pm
disagree on Todd,its too early to tell
,but if looking for Batman level hit than Superior Spiderman is the closest one on that,hence the sales of #2 still at 100k.
anyway,both DC&Marvel have its own strengths and
shortfall,you need to see past those 2(JL&Batman) to decide whether DC in its entirety were better or worse off than Marvel
February 15th, 2013 at 10:30 am
I think we’re just seeing the breaking point for the audience. Those of us who read comics only have so much money to spend. Marvel and DC might be able to convince us to dig deep in the short term, but in the long term it’s a limited resource.
Unless we really and truly bring in new readers, there’s always going to be a ceiling.