Mayo Report for 2017-09
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Top Comics List Top Comics Breakdown Top Trades List Top Trades Breakdown
September 2017 had 6,831,536 units in the top 300 comics list, an increase of 238,261 units from last month. Marvel Comics placed 2,969,942 units in the top 300 comics and was down 18,763 units in the top 300 compared to last month and accounted for 43.47% of the total units for the top 300 comics. DC Comics accounted for 37.53% of the total units with 2,563,852 units and was up 196,158 units compared to last month.
Image Comics placed 562,366 units in the top 300 comics and was up 23,088 units in the top 300 compared to last month and accounted for 8.23% of the total units for the top 300 comics. IDW was up 54,620 units with a total of 217,066 units which accounted for 3.18%. Dark Horse placed 95,967 units and was up 4,868 units compared to last month and accounted for 1.40%.
The premiere publishers accounted for 93.82% of the units in the top 300 comics this month while all of the other publishers with items in the top 300 accounted for 6.18% of the units. Albatross Funnybooks, Benitez Productions, Devil's Due/1First Comics and Abstract Studios dropped out of the top 300 comics this month.
The up-swing in September was 2,015,528 units with the new title category being the majority of it with 1,163,456 units. The down-swing was 1,777,267 units with defunct titles being the majority of it with 927,331 units.
The continuing titles which gained sales category added 207,096 units compared to last month. _Teen Titans_ was the title with the largest gain in sales in September with 23,925 units. _Teen Titans_ #12 was a Dark Nights: Metal tie-in issue and was up 71.56% over the sales of the previous issue. _Nightwing_ #29 was up 55.45% and _Suicide Squad_ #26 was up 50.59%. Both were Dark Nights: Metal tie-in issues. _Mister Miracle_ #1 sold 33,493 units last month and the reorder activity put the total known sales at 48,175. My system calculated a "drop" of 6,600 units from the total known sales but it would be equally valid to consider _Mister Miracle_ #2 to be up by the 8,082 units shown on this chart.
The continuing titles which shipped more issues category added 32,885 units compared to last month. August has five shipping weeks while September only had four. Only two titles, _Ben Reilly, Scarlet Spider_ and _Royals_ shipping more issues in September than in August.
The continuing titles with reasonably stable sales category removed 2,724 units compared to last month. _Kamandi Challenge_ is selling better than I thought it might. This sort of series might be a bit indulgent on the part of the publisher and creators but it seems to be selling reasonably consistently from month-to-month after large second issue drop.
The continuing titles which shipped fewer issues category removed 169,420 units compared to last month. _Star Wars_ and _Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe Again_ accounted for 108,557 of the units and the single issue of each title which shipped in September dropped by 1,044 units for _Star Wars_ and 2,193 unit son the final issue of _Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe Again_.
The continuing titles which lost sales category removed 374,106 units compared to last month. The title with the biggest month-to-month drop was _Dark Nights: Metal_ which dropped by 112,510 units. _Dark Nights: Metal_ #2 sold 149,487 units after a 44.86% drop. While the drop is large, the sales are still well above the 100,000 mark and the tie-in issues are seeing strong bumps in sales.
The new titles category added 1,163,456 units compared to last month. The various _Generations_ one-shots accounted for 254,584 units of those units. These one-shots are showing up in this category because they were assigned series codes which normally implies future issues are expected. _Venomverse_ accounted for 271,733 units across the four issues which shipped in September. The title launched with 105,398 units, dropped to 57,279 units on the second issue, followed by the third issue selling 55,111 units and ending the month with 53,945 units on _Venomverse_ #4.
_Journey to Star Wars: The Last Jedi: Captain Phasma_ launched with 71,339 unit and dropped to 45,906 units on the second issue. _Star Wars Adventures_ #1 launched strong for IDW with 49,184 units and dropped to 32,134 units with the second issue.
The returning titles category added 287,815 units compared to last month. There were 41 titles which returned to the top 300 list in September. _Wild Storm_ and _Doom Patrol_ was the top sellers of that group but the other titles averaged sales of around 6,418 units. Perhaps the most notable return was _4 Kids Walk Into a Bank_ #5 which concluded the five issue miniseries after four month hiatus with an issue which is a nearly year late. Delays like this on a miniseries are unfortunate as they can really hurt the story momentum and sales.
The suspended titles category removed 303,686 units compared to last month. _All Star Batman_ was the top seller in this category. _All Star Batman_ #14 shipped on October 4th and concludes the series.
The defunct titles category removed 927,331 units compared to last month. _Secret Empire_ accounted for 244,683 units and the various _Generations_ one-shots accounted for another 324,440 units. The _Edge of Venomverse_ miniseries accounted for 81,822 units in the category but that gap was more than filled by the _Venomverse_ miniseries.
The annuals/specials category added 60,935 units compared to last month. The Lenticular Editions of _Action Comics_ #987 and #988 are treated as specials like I did for the _Batman_ and _Flash_ issues of The Button storyline. In this case, the regular versions sold around 25,00 units, down in sales over 37% compared to _Action Comics_ #986, while the Lenticular Editions of _Action Comics_ #987 and #988 sold 71,550 and 66,335 units respectively. That puts the net sales of _Action Comics_ #987 at 96,867 units and _Action Comics_ #988 at 91,303, units. If the two cover version had been at the same price point, the sales would have been combined and _Action Comics_ #988 would have landed at rank 7 and _Action Comics_ #988 at rank 8. The reason for the lenticular covers and the bump in sales is the OZ Effect storyline which ties into the meta-arc for the DC Universe.
The non-series category added 220,677 units compared to last month. There were a couple of high sellers in this category in September. _Marvel Legacy_ #1 topped the top 300 comics list with 298,242 units. The loss 295,096 units from the various DC and Marvel Kirby specials last month is why this category is up only 220,667 units while having 572,394 units in sales in September. The _Batman: The Murder Machine_ and _Batman: The Red Death_ averaged sales of around 80,000 units and is yet another indicator of strong interest in the Dark Nights: Metal storyline.
The reorders category added 42,664 units compared to last month. The reorder activity of 14,682 units on _Mister Miracle_ #1 is a good sign for that title as is the increase of 8,082 units on _Mister Miracle_ #2.
The trend in cover prices towards $3.99 is something I think we've all noticed. In September 78.67% of the items in the top 300 comics were $3.99. With 41 items at the $2.99 price point is is safe to say it isn't gone yet but it is clearly being phased out. Here is a chart of the minimum, average and maximum cover prices from month-to-month for the top 300 comics:
Unsurprisingly, the average has been slowly going up from a little over $2.99 back in early 2003 to a little below $3.99 now. What I find more interesting is that the number of different price points has dropped significantly during that same time period from a high of 25 different price points down to the 5 price points.
Part of what this means is publishers seem less willing to do smaller incremental price hikes in favor of jumping from one "standard price point" to another. The other interesting thing about pricing in September was the range between the cheapest item in the top 300 and the most expensive item was the lowest it has been since early 2003 with just $3.04 between the lowest price of $2.95 and the highest price of $5.99. At this point this could be nothing more than a random fluke of the data. Just a few months ago, the range was as high as $12 between the lowest and highest price items on the top 300 comics list. One thing is certain: as the average price goes up, the ability for the average consumer to afford something costing two or three times the average cover price decreases. The ability for a publisher to put a higher price point on a event title because they think readers will buy it regardless of the price becomes more and more questionable. Ultimately, it comes down to how interested the consumers are in the story.
