Comic Book Page: The Mayo Report: 2006-10

Mayo Report for 2006-10


Mayo Report: 2006-10 Comics podcast episode	Mayo Report: 2006-10 Trades podcast episode

In the comics episode, in addition to discussing the top comic book sales for October 2006 we talked about how bookstores could take over the comic book market and what could be learned from older comics and from the Japanese manga industry.

Below are the rough notes I put together in preparation for the podcasts. I've added linked to the charts for the titles mentioned. I use these notes as a guide for the podcast be we never cover all of the titles I have in the notes and we frequently discuss many other things that I don't have in my notes.

Top Comics List Top Comics Breakdown Top Trades List Top Trades Breakdown

2006-10 IndexPointValue:

CBG = ~624.02

Down about ~289.46 from 2006-09 (~913.48)

ICv2 = ~624.31

Up about ~-289.26 from 2006-09 (~913.57)

MARKET SHARES

Marvel

Comic book units: 45.79% (2,792,700)
Comic book dollars: 45.97% ($8,762,883.00)

Comic book units: 39.59% (2,414,300)
Comic book dollars: 37.97% ($7,237,532.00)

Image

Comic book units: 3.23% (197,000)
Comic book dollars: 3.60% ($687,090.00)

Dynamic

Comic book units: 2.62% (159,900)
Comic book dollars: 2.63% ($501,918.00)

Dark Horse

Comic book units: 2.43% (148,300)
Comic book dollars: 2.45% ($467,721.00)

COMICS

Top 300 Comics (~6,097,700)

Down about ~512,800 (-7.75%) from 2006-09 (~6,610,500)

0 titles sold over 200,000 copies

No titles sold over 200,000 copies

10 titles sold between 100,000 and 199,999 copies

New Avengers #24 (~136,700)
52 #22 (~108,600)
52 #23 (~107,900)
52 #24 (~107,400)
Civil War Front Line #7 (~106,500)
52 #25 (~106,300)
Wolverine #47 (~106,200)
Justice #8 (~103,800)
Wolverine Origins #7 (~103,200)
Ultimate Power #1 (~102,600)

7 titles had more than one new issue released this month

52 (4 issues released)
A G Super Erotic Anthology (2 issues released)
Amazing Spider-Girl (2 issues released)
Boys (2 issues released)
Elephantmen (2 issues released)
New Avengers (2 issues released)
Thunderbolts (2 issues released)

MARVEL

New Items: 66, Reorder Items: 19, Total Items: 85

Minimum Cover Price: $1.00, Average Cover Price: $3.17, Maximum Cover Price: $4.99

Rank #1: New Avengers #24 (~136,700)

Top selling title for Marvel
Down about ~18,600 (-11.98%) from #23 (~155,300)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 12 Same: 0 More: 13
New Avengers continues to be a very strong seller for Marvel.
The drop indicates that interest in Civil War may be cooling off with the delay cause by Civil War #4.
This is the 24th issue in a row to sell over 100,000 units. The only title to beat that record is 52.

Rank #5: Civil War Front Line #7 (~106,500)

Down about ~1,900 (-1.75%) from #6 (~108,400)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 6
Civil War Front Line continues to be a strong seller and remain above 100,000 units.

Rank #7: Wolverine #47 (~106,200)

Down about ~1,700 (-1.58%) from #46 (~107,900)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 100 Same: 0 More: 29
Wolverine continues to be selling well above normal thanks to the Civil War tie in.

Rank #9: Wolverine Origins #7 (~103,200)

Up about ~2,200 (2.18%) from #6 (~101,000)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 1 Same: 0 More: 5
Wolverine Orgins is the highest ranking title to make a gain.

Rank #10: Ultimate Power #1 (~102,600)

Ultimate Power launched strong with a bit over 100,000 units.
This may be based much more on the strength of the Uitimate line than on the Squadron Supreme/Supreme Power title.

Rank #18: Ultimate Spider-Man #101 (~78,900)

Down about ~40,300 (-33.81%) from #100 (~119,200)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 29 Same: 0 More: 72
Big drop from issue #100 leaving it about 3,000 units above #99.

Rank #20: Civil War Choosing Sides # (~74,600)

Very strong sales for an item that never appeared in Previews.

Rank #21: Ultimate X-Men #75 (~73,800)

Up about ~4,900 (7.11%) from #74 (~68,900)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 9 Same: 0 More: 65
Nice bump for the first issue in a new storyline by Robert Kirkman.

Rank #35: Amazing Spider-Girl #1 (~47,300)

Up about ~20,100 (73.90%) from #0 (~27,200)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 1 Same: 0 More: 0
It looks like the relaunch really helped this title. It is selling over twice what the previous series had been doing. It will be interesting to see how much of that is it being a first issue.

Rank #41: Annihilation #3 (~41,300)

WatchList: Event: Annihilation
Down about ~3,200 (-7.19%) from #2 (~44,500)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 2

Rank #59: Cable Deadpool #33 (~30,700)

Down about ~29,500 (-49.00%) from #32 (~60,200)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 21 Same: 0 More: 7
And sales drop the issue after the Civil War tie in ends but are still about 5,000 above what they had been before. So, in this case it looks like the Civil War tie in may have really helped this title.

Rank #70: Amazing Spider-Girl #0 (~27,200)

Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 1
Up about 4,500 from Spider-Girl #100.

Rank #117: Marvel Team-Up #25 (~17,300)

WatchList: Robert Kirkman
Up about ~600 (3.59%) from #24 (~16,700)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 1 Same: 0 More: 23

Rank #133: Agents of Atlas #3 (~12,900)

Down about ~1,500 (-10.42%) from #2 (~14,400)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 2
Not very impressive sales here.

Rank #221: Civil War #2 (~3,900)

Reorder activity
Still seeing reorder activity for Civil War.

Rank #235: Civil War #1 (~3,100)

Reorder activity
Still seeing reorder activity for Civil War.

New Items: 78, Reorder Items: 7, Total Items: 85

Minimum Cover Price: $2.25, Average Cover Price: $2.96, Maximum Cover Price: $3.99

Rank #2: 52 #22 (~108,600)

Top selling title for DC
WatchList: Event: 52
Down about ~3,300 (-2.95%) from #21 (~111,900)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 6 Same: 0 More: 18
52 continues to sell at a fairly steady rate. While there is some expected attrition, the rate is very minor and the title remain over 100,000 units.
52 takes 4 of the top 6 spots this month.

Rank #3: 52 #23 (~107,900)

WatchList: Event: 52
Down about ~700 (-0.64%) from #22 (~108,600)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 5 Same: 0 More: 19

Rank #4: 52 #24 (~107,400)

WatchList: Event: 52
Down about ~500 (-0.46%) from #23 (~107,900)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 4 Same: 0 More: 20

Rank #6: 52 #25 (~106,300)

WatchList: Event: 52
Down about ~1,100 (-1.02%) from #24 (~107,400)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 3 Same: 0 More: 21

Rank #8: Justice #8 (~103,800)

Down about ~4,900 (-4.51%) from #7 (~108,700)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 7
Justice is selling under half what is started at but it still selling above 100,000 units.

Rank #14: Wildcats #1 (~82,500)

Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 6 Same: 0 More: 0
The new Wildcats falls far short of breaking 100,000 units.
This first issue sold about as well as the first half of the Wildcats Nemesis limited series (issue 1-5 out of 9). Not each individual issue but the total for the first five issues (which was ~83,100).
So, for Wildcats, this is a huge success.

Rank #15: Superman Batman Annual #1 (~81,900)

This is a drop from the 90,000-95,000 that the monthly issues have been doing over the past few issues.

Rank #19: Action Comics #844 (~78,800)

Up about ~22,700 (40.46%) from #843 (~56,100)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 117 Same: 0 More: 2
Biggest gain for an ongoing title. The new creative team of Goeff Johns, Richard Donner and A. Kubert seems to be off to a good start.

Rank #27: Authority #1 (~58,100)

Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 29 Same: 0 More: 0
Only about 15,000 over what the previous series had been doing.

Rank #34: Gen 13 #1 (~47,500)

Up about ~35,100 (283.06%) from #16 (~12,400)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 61 Same: 0 More: 8
Not great for a major relaunch of a title but it is selling much, much better than the previous version of Gen 13.

Rank #39: Supergirl & Losh #23 (~41,500)

The bump is probably at least partially due to the variant cover.

Rank #40: Seven Soldiers #1 (~41,300)

Down about ~22,800 (-35.57%) from #0 (~64,100)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 1
Big drop from the start of this event. The delays certainly didn't help any.

Rank #44: Ion #7 (~38,800)

WatchList: Event: Infinite Crisis Aftermath
Down about ~3,000 (-7.18%) from #6 (~41,800)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 6

Rank #45: Nightwing #125 (~38,500)

Up about ~300 (0.79%) from #124 (~38,200)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 48 Same: 0 More: 76
Very minor bump in sales with the new creative team of Wolfman and Jurgens.

Rank #46: Trials of Shazam #3 (~38,400)

Down about ~5,500 (-12.53%) from #2 (~43,900)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 2
Noticable drop on this title. It may be that this isn't what people were wanting in a SHAZAM series.

Rank #65: Mystery in Space #2 (~28,800)

Down about ~17,800 (-38.20%) from #1 (~46,600)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 1
Harsh second issue drop on this title.

Rank #68: Wetworks #2 (~28,200)

Down about ~15,600 (-35.62%) from #1 (~43,800)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 14 Same: 0 More: 11
Massive second issue drop.

Rank #69: Shadowpact #6 (~27,300)

WatchList: Event: Infinite Crisis Aftermath
Down about ~2,700 (-9.00%) from #5 (~30,000)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 5

Rank #74: Worldstorm #1 (~27,000)

Very unimpressive sales for this. Isn't this the lynchpin of the Wildstorm reboot?

Rank #80: Boys #3 (~26,400)

Down about ~5,600 (-17.50%) from #2 (~32,000)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 1 Same: 0 More: 2
This title is dropping in sales but has some reorder activity. If it is given a chance, it can probably find and build an audience.

Rank #81: Checkmate #7 (~26,300)

WatchList: Event: Infinite Crisis Aftermath
Down about ~2,600 (-9.00%) from #6 (~28,900)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 6

Rank #160: Next #4 (~8,000)

Down about ~2,600 (-24.53%) from #3 (~10,600)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 3
And still falling. This has two more issues to go. And I have a really hard time imagining that they will go up in sales.

Rank #197: Manifest Eternity #5 (~5,200)

Down about ~500 (-8.77%) from #4 (~5,700)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 4
This is about as low as I've seen a DC or Wildstorm title go. I'm almost afraid to see how the final issue did�

Rank #259: Boys #2 (~2,200)

Reorder activity
Interesting to see reorder activity for #2.

Rank #270: Boys #1 (~2,000)

Reorder activity
This might be a sleeper hit.

Rank #290: 52 #21 (~1,600)

Reorder activity
WatchList: Event: 52

IMAGE

New Items: 30, Reorder Items: 0, Total Items: 30

Minimum Cover Price: $1.99, Average Cover Price: $3.49, Maximum Cover Price: $6.99

Rank #173: Savage Dragon #129 (~7,200)

Down about ~2,900 (-28.71%) from #128 (~10,100)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 5 Same: 1 More: 92
And there went the bump for the Wanted crossover�

Rank #185: Cross Bronx #2 (~6,000)

WatchList: CGS Indie Challenge: July 2006
Down about ~2,900 (-32.58%) from #1 (~8,900)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 1

Rank #247: Shadowhawk #15 (~2,600)

Down about ~300 (-10.34%) from #14 (~2,900)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 13
And this keeps dropping...

Rank #281: Task Force One #4 (~1,700)

Down about ~300 (-15.00%) from #3 (~2,000)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 3
Another drop for this series which ended with this issue.

DYNAMIC

New Items: 8, Reorder Items: 1, Total Items: 9

Minimum Cover Price: $2.99, Average Cover Price: $3.16, Maximum Cover Price: $3.50

Rank #110: Lone Ranger #2 (~19,300)

Down about ~11,500 (-37.34%) from #1 (~30,800)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 1
Massive second issue drop.

Rank #192: Lone Ranger #1 (~5,500)

Reorder activity
Impressive reorders for this.

DARK HORSE

New Items: 11, Reorder Items: 0, Total Items: 11

Minimum Cover Price: $2.99, Average Cover Price: $3.44, Maximum Cover Price: $7.95

OTHER PUBLISHERS

Rank #125: John Woos Seven Brothers #1 (~14,500)

This is by far the strongest sales of any Virgin Comics title. They should have launched with this in the initial group of titles.

Rank #140: G.I. Joe Declassified #3 Cvr A (~11,700)

Up about ~9,600 (457.14%) from #2 (~2,100)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 1

Rank #190: Snakewoman #4 (~5,700)

Up about ~900 (18.75%) from #3 (~4,800)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 2 Same: 0 More: 1
Good percentage bump for this title.

Rank #223: Mouse Guard #5 (~3,700)

WatchList: CGS Indie Challenge: ???
Down about ~8,700 (-70.16%) from #4 (~12,400)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 4
No doubt there will be massive reorders of this issue next month. There is no way that is suddenly tanked.

Rank #234: X Isle #3 (~3,100)

WatchList: CGS Indie Challenge: March 2006
Up about ~300 (10.71%) from #2 (~2,800)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 1 Same: 0 More: 1

Rank #238: Damned #1 (~3,000)

WatchList: CGS Indie Challenge: August 2006
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 3

Rank #257: PS238 #18 (~2,300)

Up about ~300 (15.00%) from #14 (~2,000)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 14 Same: 0 More: 0
This is an excellent title and really frustrates me that it isn't doing better. It is a very well done all-aged title.

Rank #262: E-Man Recharged # (~2,100)

WatchList: CGS Indie Challenge: July 2006

Rank #267: Leading Man #3 (~2,000)

WatchList: CGS Indie Challenge: April 2006
Down about ~300 (-13.04%) from #2 (~2,300)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 2
Hopefully this will do better as a trade.

Rank #268: Civil Wardrobe # (~2,000)

Not bad sales for a parody title.

TRADES

Rank #1: Fables 1001 Nights of Snowfall HC (~15,300, Total Sales: ~15,300)

Top selling trade for Dark Horse
Impressive opening numbers for this hardcover.
I'm a bit surprised that it isn't all that much above the sales of the trades for the series since this is all new material.

Rank #2: Infinite Crisis HC (~11,700, Total Sales: ~11,700)

These are good starting numbers for a hardcover. It will be interesting to see how this does over time given both the importance to the DC Universe continuity and the fact that it is an "improved" version of the story.

Rank #3: Ultimate X-Men Vol. 14 Phoenix? (~6,500, Total Sales: ~6,500)

This opened strong than v13 (6,100) but not as strong as v12 (8,000).

Rank #4: Ultimate Fantastic Four Vol. 6 Frightful (~5,800, Total Sales: ~5,800)

This opened better than v3 (5,300) and v4 (5,000) but not as strong as v5 (6,200).

Rank #5: Infinite Crisis Companion (~5,200, Total Sales: ~5,200)

No surprise that this does decent numbers with the release of the Infinite Crisis hardcover.

Rank #6: Absolute Sandman Vol. 1 HC (~5,100, Total Sales: ~5,100)

Strong sales here gvien the $99.00 price tag.

Rank #7: Wolverine Origin Prem HC (~5,100, Total Sales: ~5,100)

Okay, I give up, what is the difference between a Premiere Hardcover and a regular hardcover? This is also listed at rank 20.

Rank #8: Marvel Zombies HC (~5,100, Total Sales: ~17,200)

Very impressive reorder activity.

Rank #9: Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories Vol. 1 (~5,000, Total Sales: ~5,000)

One tenth the price of the Absolute Sandman and opens 100 units lower�
If this were considered a comic book, it would have ranked around slot 200.

Rank #10: Invincible Vol. 7 Threes Company (~4,800, Total Sales: ~4,800)

The opening numbers for the Invincible trades keeps going up: v1 (2,000), v2 (2,700), v3 (2,500), v4 (3,500), v5 (4,000), v6 (4,100)
Also, 6 of the 10 Image trades on the list this month are by Robert Kirkman�

Rank #19: Pride of Baghdad HC (~4,000, Total Sales: ~14,700)

Solid reorder activity on this.

Rank #20: Wolverine Origins Vol. 1 Born I/Blood Prem HC (~3,600, Total Sales: ~3,600)

I'm still confused�

Rank #25: Walking Dead Vol. 5 Best Defense (~2,900, Total Sales: ~13,000)

Good reorder activity for this.

Rank #65: Marvel Masterworks Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 8 HC Var Ed 68 (~1,500, Total Sales: ~1,500)

The variant edition sold about 20 units more than the regular edition.

Rank #70: Watchmen (~1,400, Total Sales: ~32,200)

WatchList: CGS Book of the Month: March 2006

Rank #74: Marvel Masterworks Atlas Era Tales Suspense Vol. 1 HC New Ed (~1,300, Total Sales: ~1,300)

The regular edition sold about 15 units more than the variant edition.

Rank #77: Walking Dead Vol. 1 Days Gone Bye (~1,300, Total Sales: ~45,800)

WatchList: Robert Kirkman, CGS Book of the Month: August 2005
And still selling�

Rank #85: Walking Dead Vol. 3 Safety Behind Bars (~1,200, Total Sales: ~25,000)

WatchList: Robert Kirkman

Rank #94: Walking Dead Vol. 4 Hearts Desire (~1,100, Total Sales: ~22,400)

WatchList: Robert Kirkman