December Sales Figures

One of the essays/rants that's been running around in my head for some time now, yet has never cohered enough to be written, is about how I think that obsessing over the monthly Diamond sales figures is unhealthy for comics.

That said, I'm now going to obsess over the Diamond sales figures for December. I am nothing if not inconsistent in my beliefs.

Bad news for those who don't like Brad Meltzer's minutia-dwelling new JLA, as the 4th & 5th issues place as #1 & #2 on the charts. So don't look for things to change unless/until Meltzer wants to leave. (Justice League Unlimited, which is the sort of title that outspoken online JL fans say they want, sells less than 10% of JLofA...)

No issue of Civil War in December, so Marvel's missing a bunch of sales, both for the main title and all of the tie-ins that had to be pushed back as well.

I continue to be surprised though that Civil War: Front Line sells near 100K each month. (Happy though for pal Steve Lieber, as hopefully the payment he gets will allow him to do something less super-hero-y.) Look for DC to try to replicate Front Line's success on whatever their next big crossover is.

Looks like 52 fatigue is starting to creep in, as sales on the weekly comic dip below the 100K mark.

Sales on Supergirl are plummeting. Not that 56K is horrible, but this book used to sell over 100K back when it was plagued with delays.

Sales on newuniversal #1 were 43K, which is good for a Warren Ellis take on the old New Universe.

The Spirit #1 only moved 35K, which is darn near criminal.

Warhammer 40K moves nearly 10K units, which I think is the most that a Boom! title has ever done? Esp. good since the true market for this comic will most likely be looking for it in a trade edition outside of the direct market channels.

Poor sales on WildStorm's new licensed horror titles. I'm sure they're hoping for collected edition sales in the book market, but if those don't materialize look for these to be toast.

In fact, the whole chart shows, as it does most every month, the inability of the direct market to support a midlist (we proved this with graphs a few months ago). Comic sales may be up a healthy 15% for 2006, but that's mainly due to a few top performers in the form of event-driven super-hero comics. So look for DC & Marvel to continue to pursue that strategy for the near-to-mid-future.