These are the sales numbers for DC Comics in January. Please read all the standard provisos and explanations that go with such stuff.
Here is my analysis:
The top regular DCU books seem to be JLA, Superman, Action Comics, Teen Titans, Batman, Detective Comics, Green Lantern, and, when it ships, JSA.
So far, so good. These are all "top tier" DC titles and if they start to suck, the whole house of cards falls. That said, they probably should be going more toe-to-toe sales-wise with Marvel's top tier.
Declining sales for Grant Morrison's Batman is only a problem if it is a harbinger of a degree of reader apathy for his work as a whole -- or rather, for his "mainstream" in-continuity work. There just seems to be more excitement when he is allowed to completely create the world -- a la All-Star Superman, not bound by continuity.
Now, the Superman titles seem rather solid, and that's a good thing. And Teen Titans and Green Lantern, though too are experiencing a little bit of a decline in sales, seems to have built a nice niche for themselves in the upper end of the sales spectrum.
On to the bad news.
"With Justice League of America, DC Comics only had one book selling above 70,000 units in January. As a consequence, the publisher’s average periodical sales saw a steep drop, falling to around 27,000, their lowest level since January 2005. Similarly, average sales of the company’s DC Universe line, which makes up the bulk of their releases, dropped to around 33,000, also the lowest they’ve been in three years."
Lowest-Selling Regular DCU Titles: (with rank on Top 100 list)
The All-New Atom: 144
Infinity Inc: 142
Blue Beetle: 137 -- regular writer is leaving
JSA Classified: 124 -- supposed to be canceled, but a new issue has been solicited
Checkmate: 122 -- regular writer has left
JLA Classified: 113/109 -- canceled as of issue #54
Catwoman: 106
Superman Confidential: 102
Birds of Prey: 93
Robin: 73
Notable Sales Declines:
Green Arrow/Black Canary
Supergirl
The Flash
Wonder Woman
Green Lantern Corps
Something isn't working. I'm not being mean or unfair about it. I'm saying something is not working. I don't even know how the majority of these are referred to as "mainstream" comics. Does "mainstream" = superhero comics?
Buffy The Vampire Slayer is a mainstream comic. Dark Horse is a mainstream publisher. It is not an "indy" publisher. It is a full-fledged mainstream publisher, because it is putting out in big numbers a comic that a broad base of people want to read.
Blue Beetle is an "indy" comic. Catwoman is an "indy" comic. And that's not a bad thing. But the definitions have changed. Maybe, if the definition changes, that actually helps books like Blue Beetle, because instead of comparing its numbers to "mainstream" sales and acting accordingly, its publisher can maximize on its "indy" potential.
Now, a book like Green Arrow is the victim of bad writing decisions. Despite the beautiful art, the writing absolutely killed this book.
And books like Supergirl and The Flash have been wounded by all the creative changes that have happened to it over the last year or so. The lack of stability.
And everything was wounded by not wrapping up the whole "Crisis" thing after 52 and ending this whole multiverse drama on a high note and moving on.
And now a lot is resting on the shoulders on Final Crisis. And the problem is that there shouldn't even *be* a Final Crisis at this point. Final Crisis should have happened where Countdown started.
That said, Final Crisis might be great. Who knows?
If I had to make some decisions on it, I'd do the following:
Cancel:
Atom
Infinity Inc
All the Classifieds
Checkmate
Catwoman
Birds of Prey (sorry)
Supergirl
Green Arrow/Black Canary
The Flash (sorry)
Radically rethink and relaunch:
Birds of Prey
Supergirl
Catwoman
The Flash
Green Arrow (you can keep the art)
Books that should be consistently in the top 20 or higher:
Action Comics
Superman
Batman
Detective Comics
Superman/Batman
JLA
JSA
Teen Titans
Books that should be consistently in the top 30 or higher:
Robin
Nightwing
Green Lantern titles
Wonder Woman
The Flash
Green Arrow
Teen Titans spin-offs
Books that should never dip under the top 50:
Legion of the Superheroes
Supergirl
Birds of Prey
Books that might have "indy" status conferred to them and thus protected:
Blue Beetle
Catwoman
Book that will probably manage to slip under the radar for a long time to come:
Booster Gold
Don't bring back unless you have a damned good plan:
Aquaman
As someone who reads a lot of these books, I agree completely.
ReplyDeleteI kind of seems like DC is making up for their lack of high-selling books by putting out a lot of books, but that can't be a very sound strategy. If I had an unlimited budget I'd probably read more DC titles, but now I try to be pretty careful with my purchases.
Currently reading:
All Star Superman
Batman
Blue Beetle
Booster Gold
Checkmate
Countdown
Countdown to Adventure
Green Lantern
Teen Titans
I recently dropped JLA and JSA because they didn't really get me excited to read them like something like Blue Beetle or Invincible does. Countdown to Adventure has one issue left, Checkmate will probably die without Rucka. I guess soon I'll have room to consider adding something new.
I actually stuck with Supergirl for a long time but the Amazon's Attack crossover finally killed it for me.
Same with Wonder Woman, even with a decent writer up next I was done with that character for a while.
Justice League was pretty weak with Meltzer and never really got that great even after him, so I gave up on that after sticking around a long time.
I don't read any Marvel anymore, love the DC characters, but even for me there isn't much to be excited about in DC-land besides a few very good individual titles.
Superhero comics by the Big Two is a doomed format, because they are essentially recycling the same product again and again and again. As with the real process of recycling, the materials can only be used so many times before they are worthless to the process.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was self-publishing in the 90s, I knew plenty of people who worked for "real" companies and numbers like these would have lost them their books.
I always use the term "mainstream" to refer to companies that pay their creators a living wage (page rate), rather than to the content those companies produce. The page rates at almost every company other than the Big Two are fairly abysmal; thus, the Big Two are the mainstream companies.
ReplyDeleteLikewise, I don't want to see any titles cancelled, because that means lots of talented creators out of work. My husband is working on a couple titles that may not sell very well, but it's our only income at the moment other than my unemployment checks.
--Don't bring back unless you have a damned good plan:
ReplyDeleteAquaman--
but DC only brings back Aquaman when they DONT have a damned good plan! that's what Aquaman is for, apparently--he's the test case for every "new" idea they want to try our but don't want to bother creating a new character for.
I hear and relate to what you are saying, Elayne. But if a company continues to underperform to this level and doesn't put some sort of well-thought out plan in place -- which in some cases means streamlining their consistently lower selling titles -- then many of these freelancers will lose their jobs anyway, as well as I would imagine some of the staff at the company like editors.
ReplyDeleteI saw this first-hand at Acclaim Comics, from soup to nuts, and in the end not only did most of our freelancers get laid off, but we got laid off as well.
The question is, since DC is such a big company, will a calamity befall it of that level if things don't get better. I would argue, given the volatile nature of both the print media industry and Time Warner at the moment, that there might be some cause for concern.
Interesting choices on the cancellations and relaunches. You konw, I'm not even sure I'd relaunch Green Arrow, Supergirl or even Catwoman at this point - I think they need some serious time off, maybe some exposure in a team book to establish a new status quo.
ReplyDeleteThen you have Birds of Prey and Flash...both I think need a radical rethink. BoP has been tanking creatively since Gail Simone left; it desperately needs a new direction and I'm not convinced DC's version of Silicon Valley is it. As for Flash...well I'm sorry but the book has floundered since Johns left. New blood is needed for it stat, and again I'm not convinced Tom Peyer is the answer.
I like the idea of 'protected' indy books; Blue Beetle is a surprisingly good read - its just that very few people read it, sadly.
Just as an aside, in the PR/marketing business we have to often present our progress and "numbers" (in terms of website hits, # of sites linking back to us, etc.) on a *weekly* basis. And if we underperform, we are asked why. So the pressure is on each and every week to do what it takes to keep the numbers up. Our clients are paying us well -- it seems only fair that we deliver.
ReplyDeleteThis is not to say that such a relatively draconian policy should govern books like Blue Beetle and true "indy" offerings that have niche audiences. But titles like Flash, Green Arrow, Supergirl, etc are STAPLES. They are, in the end, brands that were carefully developed over time and should be producing much better. When you are managing 50+ books a month, you need a system to evaluate on a regular basis the performance of those books. You need a system that of course has some breathing room for new or especially creative/"cult" books, but that also understands that if the staple titles do poorly, it brings the whole company down.
Which is why I think if you had a benchmark for each title as to how well it *should* be performing, and make it a point to evaluate this on a monthly basis, it would help a lot.
How bout we make Supergirl not suck anymore?
ReplyDeleteYou know it's funny, the ratings were a lot higher when Loeb and Churchill were doing it, AND IT WAS GOOD.
Bring back that Supergirl, the high school issue, and stuff like that.
That's the supergirl I want to read, not this random WTF is going on stuff!!
The Flash needs a good writer, right now it's all over the place.
And I like GA/BC.
Couple of comments here myself:
ReplyDelete1 - Supergirl is so uneven because no one seems to know what the heck the character is supposed to be like. I can remember a time where a Supergirl book was excellent and sold fairly well. That was Peter David's run. I WANT to buy and enjoy Supergirl because she is one of my favorite characters (heck, my wife's nick-names are Supergirl and Kara) but I just CAN'T these days. The book needs a constant creative team and a real DIRECTION for the character. Me? I vote for Peter David. He knows how to treat the characer. Hell, go back to his idea for the defunct title and bring back Linda Danvers to mentor Kara.
2 - DC's BEST title right now? Booster Gold. Heck, right now I feel this is the best superhero comic being put out overall (with Invincible a close second). They should be hyping the HELL out of this title. The writing and artwork is TOP NOTCH. See what can be done when your creative team has a firm handle on the characters and the direction the book should be going in?
3 - DC needs to look for more solid commitments from creative teams (or treat the creative teams well so that we get a minimum 12 issues, if not 18 issues).
4 - Throw some weight behind the 'indie' books. Stuff Like Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, The New Atom... this is some of their best titles right now. Maybe some proper promotions and merchandise will give people more of a cause to try out the books and drive up the sales. also, a new Question series, a Batwoman series, Manhunter returning, hell... a Black Adam series... these all could be solid titles for DC.
I have issues with the direction DC is going in because it feels like so many things are being editorially mandated. The titles that don't seem to have this issue are the ones that feel 'right' to me.
I wonder if there would be more top-selling DC stuff if every character wasn't tied to continuity. Might open up story possibilities and give the writers more freedom. Of course this isn't a new idea or anything but Supergirl is such a big and recognizable name you'd think that you could sell it pretty easily with some PR.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I thought the Leob era Supergirl was the worst by far, so keep that guy at Marvel please :) Even if he sells.
I say just have more books written by Geoff Johns. That guy has been consistantly golden for years now. Has there been a story arc thats been as good as Sinestro Corp War?
ReplyDeleteMy two cents, not knowing anything about the "business":
ReplyDelete1. Less editorial mandate. I mean, how can this not cause creative freedom from suffering. Dwayne McDuffie and Kelly Puckett both had their storylines alter because editorial interfered. Greg Rucka supposedly ended his ecxclusive because of it.
2. Start new titles when you have strong concept for them and then keep with that concept. The classified books were supposed to be showcases for top name talent doing great stories. They quickly turned into try-out books for new or non-mainstream creators. I think there should be books like that, but if you start one way, stay the course.
3. Fans are at times vocal and obnoxious, but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't listen to them or respect them. Killing of established characters the fans love without a great, fleshed out story behind it certainly is good for stirring up Internet chatter, but creates a toxic situation. There is no such thing a bad publicity, unless all you get is bad publicity.
4. Keep the books consistent. Hey, use fill in artists if you have too, if it keeps storylines from getting several month holes in them. The best idea would be to get these late artists to keep their deadline, either with a long enough lead time or just, I don't know, remind them that that is their job, to meet deadlines and such.
These are just my rantings. Put as much stock in them as you wish.
I think you need to rethink what went wrong with a book.
ReplyDeleteCheckmate has been a top notch book for a while one I think should be published no matter what the numbers are because it is just that well done. We will have to see if this level continues under Jones. I was not impressed with his Nightwing run. So I am not hopeful he can keep this book afloat.
Birds of Prey, poor Oracle from being Wizard's #1 female hero a few years ago to basically an underused b rank hero a few years later. You can't rip out both the premise (Oracle and Dinah's dynamic, All ties to the Bat Team) and the books soul (Dixon/Simone both really got this book) and then just hope it will find a new direction without help. If Barda had lived there was potential, but without the physical vs mental dynamic the soul isn't there. Plus Mckeever was turning it into a teen book during his short run.
What I would do is ditch Birds and put Oracle in charge of checkmate.
Perhaps DC should put out better written books? To me, JLA and Teen Titans have been just awful. Reading Countdown is like being punched in the face and having your money stolen.
ReplyDeleteFor me, DC's bright spots are the Johns books, Tomasi's Nightwing, CheckMate, Morrison's Batman & All Star Superman and Starlin's Death Of The New Gods.
Most of the other books DC is putting out are terrible to middling. With so many options for great comics out there, why bother with ho-hum superhero fare?
DC need to be more selective. Get good writers to write good comics and good artists to draw them. Cut the fat from their main line of comics. And get a little more aggressive in promoting their books. How about a trade program that actually works?
Why is it if you want to put a book that's been around for a while you need to cancel and relaunch it. Are comic readers really that lame that we can't figure out when a creative shift has happened unless it has a #1 on the cover and half a dozen alternate covers? I think a few of the books you mentioned (flash, BOP, supergirl) could be saved without even changing the direction, but just by keeping talent around long enough to do something with the characters.
ReplyDelete"Why is it if you want to put a book that's been around for a while you need to cancel and relaunch it. "
ReplyDeleteI hear you on this, Kevin.
The quandary is that books like BOP, Supergirl, and The Flash that has been played around with a bit with unstable creative teams and directons -- it scares off readers after a while. It hurts the brand.
Whether relaunch or not, BOP deserves a lot better. Is it up to 100 yet? I'd do a big hard-hitting storyline leading up to 100, cancel it when it's on top, and let it rest for a while while planning a big relaunch with top talent and a new direction.
"I say just have more books written by Geoff Johns."
ReplyDeleteThe man should be cloned, I tell you.
I think listing Green Lantern Corps under "Notable Declines" needs some qualification. Though the series has certainly dropped off from its Sinestro Corps numbers, the current numbers are still higher than they were before the crossover. If anything, this is a lesson on how a crossover's success should be measured: how many new readers stick around after it's done?
ReplyDeleteAlso, Cliff Chiang is off Green Arrow/Black Canary after issue 6, though this news has gotten almost no press. This reduces the reasons to read this series down to zero.
I also found it interesting that Blue Beetle and Catwoman are designated "indy" books, as both either are or will be written by Will Pfeifer. I think Pfeifer is the most underrated writer working for DC, and Catwoman is the book I look forward to the most every month, followed by Booster Gold (and will that book maintain its audience after Johns leaves with issue 11?). But I would be in favor of anything that designated quality series like these as having special status that gave them a lower sales threshold than other books. It would be the equivalent of a network keeping on a critically successful series that wasn't bringing in the ratings.
Val, amazing that you understood what I was trying to say even though I mistyped it. It should have read "if you want to PUSH a book that's been around for a while" not "PUT a book"... I'm not sure how you would put a book.
ReplyDeleteI have one big concern with hyping up a series finale and leading into a relaunch. If the relaunch is fumbled (ie. The Flash) you're left with a way bigger mess than you started with.
Birds of Prey is a little over a year past 100.
ReplyDeleteI can only say why I don't buy DC anymore.
ReplyDelete(1) No one wants to invest interest into an "All-New" character, ill-conceived or not, when their most likely fate is cancellation then getting disemboweled, skinned alive, or burned to death in the background of a panel in the semi-annual "event." (I'm surprised Manhunter hasn't been cracked off; whatever happened to the promised relaunch?)
(2) Guts, guts, guts, guts, guts. Piles of bodies, everywhere. I remember when "powerful drama" didn't equal "torture porn." (Also, the DCU seems to kill fifteen billion people annually. They must breed like mad to keep the population up.) Gee, if DC is concerned about real-life violence, maybe they shouldn't feed raw meat to sociopaths.
(2a) Important distinction: Marvel kills characters and background figures violently all the time as well (the noob cannon fodder in Initiative #9 is an example)--but rarely in "stupid" numbers, and rarely for the sake of pure titillation. Overkill's normally corralled into a few take-it-or-leave-it titles like Punisher, while DC plows it everywhere.
(3) Interviews with creators don't give hope. I read the "Final Crisis" coverage in Wizard and it sounded like fifteen-year-olds trying to sell to ten-year-olds. "We're going to kick Marvel's ass!!"
Not likely, sport. Not until you grow up.
I sure as heck hope this will be the "Final" Crisis, because I should care about a Crisis and this time, I sure as heck don't. I keep reading all these comments from DC that it's going to be great and important and crap like that, and every time, I just think "Yeah, whatever. Wake me when you're gonna tell me even one tiny plot point. Right now, I guess it's something with Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman in it, and boy, that sucks me in to buy it, let me tell you!"
ReplyDeleteNot that I care much more about the impending Millennium crossover at Marvel with a secret Manhunter sleeper agent in every book. Huh? Skrulls, you say, not Manhunters? Oh, that's different then!
Great post.
ReplyDeleteTotally makes sense, and you didn't even recommend that a Teen Titan be disemboweled!
First time posting here, but it seems to be a nice site. I pretty much agree with your list, as much loyalty as I have for Birds of Prey. However, I wouldn't expect 15 DC comics to be in the top 30. Maybe they should share the space, but I don't see it happening. As a sidenote, I was wondering if you were going to put Blue Beetle under "Cancel." That really is my favorite DC book at the moment, though we'll see if that holds up. Too bad it doesn't sell more.
ReplyDeleteOther than that, I haven't liked Morrison's Batman (though I like All-Star), JLA, or Teen Titans lately. Batman because I feel like Morrison's making up his own world anyway, JLA because this is the book that should have been the driving force behind Countdown instead of a bunch of tie-ins that go nowhere, and Titans because...I don't know, this is one of the series where I want the characters to be likeable. Too esoteric to be real criticism, I know.
Jim Drew: Er, Morrison and Didio have talked about the premise of Final Crisis, which is that evil has finally won, in multiple interviews. They've also revealed multiple characters that will play big roles (Libra, the Alpha Lanterns) and some interesting little tidbits as teasers.
ReplyDeleteAlso, yes, the main premise of Secret Invasion is somewhat similar to that of Millennium. But considering how it's all in the execution, and Millennium was really bad, I'd say it's fair to give Marvel a shot at it. I don't see why it needs to be "different" to be good.
I'm sorry, but "Evil has won" is a theme, not a plot point. It's meaningless in terms of what Final Crisis will be *about*.
ReplyDeleteLibra (the return of a one-shot character from a 30-year-old JLA story) and the Alpha Lanterns (who would obviously be involved, since they are freshly created), I'll barely grant you.
But still:
"Worlds will live, worlds will die", or "The search for the next level of human evolution", or "The gods of all the pantheons fight it out", or "The devil gives villains a power boost in exchange for their souls" are teasers or descriptions that tell me *something* about why I should buy a big events crossover. Right now, the reason to buy Final Crisis is "Dan Didio says it's gonna be important. And Grant Morrison agrees with him." Oooooohhh, where's my wallet?
Thus far, nothing about it feel either "Crisis" or "Final", and especially not "Final". (The last one at least did get a bit of "Infinite" into it.)
This may be the straw to wean me off the camel's back of singles pretty much completely. Maybe I'll just pass on the series and then pick it up a year from now in one volume, after seeing if anyone actually cared and said it hangs together.
Three words on how to fix The Flash: Kill the kids.
ReplyDeleteI mean, that seems where they're going anyway but the sooner, the better.
Killing Bart was dunderheaded, and came about after a lack of ideas for the character led to one really bad idea. But here it's the right call.