Diamond November Numbers

[drice6900]

DC gets 4 of the top 5!!!

 

The Top 25 comics for the month, based on invoiced sales were:

 

1) Superman/Batman #13

2) Astonishing X-Men #6

3) Identity Crisis #6

4) Superman/Batman #14

5) Superman #211

6) Avengers #503

7) Avengers Finale #1

8) Ultimate Fantastic Four #13

9) Ultimate X-Men #53

10) Uncanny X-Men #452

11) Ultimate Spider-Man #68

12) Ultimate Spider-Man #19

13) JLA: Classified #1

14) X-Men #164

15) Amazing Spider-Man #514

16) Green Lantern: Rebirth #2

17) Ultimate Fantastic Four #12

18) Wolverine #22

19) X-Men: The End: Dreamers & Demons #5

20) Iron Man #1

 

Full Report

[awe4one]

Be nice if Newsarama still put the actual circulation numbers to the list. Or they could at least give Batman's numbers so we could do it...

 

I guess we'll have to wait a day ot two for ICV2 to list them...

 

Jim

[OldGuy]

12) Ultimate Spider-Man #19

 

Um, I don't think so.

[whetteon]

4 out of the top 5 are DC books. A changing of the guard?

[Hobgoblin]

4 out of the top 5 are DC books. A changing of the guard?

 

Nah, I take 2 things into consideration here. Superman/Batman 13 and 14 were realeased what, a week apart? And Marvel has seriously been slacking off on getting their books out on time lately. So really DC is on top by default.

[Illiterati-migration]

4 out of the top 5 are DC books. A changing of the guard?

 

Nah, I take 2 things into consideration here. Superman/Batman 13 and 14 were realeased what, a week apart? And Marvel has seriously been slacking off on getting their books out on time lately. So really DC is on top by default.

 

Have you LOOKED at what Marvel is offering lately? It's all garbage. Even the once-great titles (Uncanny X-Men, ASM, and... well, I'm sure there's another one...) stink. Marvel, quite simply, is putting out a VASTLY inferior product at this time.

 

Will that change? I'm starting to doubt it.

[GL13-migration]

 

Have you LOOKED at what Marvel is offering lately? It's all garbage. Even the once-great titles (Uncanny X-Men, ASM, and... well, I'm sure there's another one...) stink. Marvel, quite simply, is putting out a VASTLY inferior product at this time.

 

Will that change? I'm starting to doubt it.

 

I agree. I think it's been that way for a while now and the numbers are finally catching up. I hope the trend continues and they replace Quesada. Get an EIC in there that has some balls and tells these hacks that these "big" ideas (e.g. Sins Past) that they have are $#!+. Either that or send them packing. How I miss the days of Shooter as EIC.

 

The funny thing is, I've recently come back to Marvel. Many of their new, lower selling titles are friendlier to older readers; none of the decompressed, no costumes, no secret identities, no super-villain garbage that they started putting out a few years ago. Thunderbolts, She-Hulk, Cable/Deadpool among others are pretty good. I hope their bigger books eventually start going down the traditional path also.

[Kevin Boyd]

http://www.icv2.com./articles/home/6164.html

 

With sales down on an individual basis on a lot of comic titles and weak graphic novel sales the market struggled to a 2% increase in dollars for November 2003 vs. November 2004. This compares favorably to last month, when dollars were down 16% vs. October 2003.

 

The market found that modest growth in periodical sales, which were up 7%; graphic novels were down 25% vs. the previous year. The big problem on the graphic novel list was at the top, where sales on Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 11 (2004) had to compete with those on JLA Liberty and Justice (2003), which sold almost five times as many copies.

 

We glanced at the quarter to date numbers, to see if the slight increase in sales this month would bring sales for the quarter back in the positive realm. But sales were down around 15% for October and November combined, up only slightly from the 16% decline in October (see "Comic Dollars Skid 16% in October).

 

It will take a good December to bring the total for Q4 into positive growth.

 

Sales Still Sliding on Top Comics - Cover Prices Up:

 

http://www.icv2.com/articles/home/6163.html

 

Sales were soft for most of the top comic titles this month, with five out of the top ten and 16 out of the top 25 dropping in sales. Only five of the top 25 comic titles managed to increase in sales between October and November.

 

But cover prices helped ameliorate the financial impact -- the top seven piece books were all higher than the current base $2.25 price.

 

The top of the list was where the good news could be found, with three of the top six and four of the top ten titles increasing in sales between October and November. Superman/Batman, Identity Crisis, and Avengers were all up in sales.

 

Marvel was slightly less dominant than usual, with only one of the top five titles, six of the top ten, and 16 of the top 25 titles. DC had the rest; no other publishers cracked the top 40.

 

Sales on graphic novels were pusillanimous as well, with the top title, Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 11, only selling around 8,500 during November. And only four titles, one of them a $3.95 Gemstone, sold over 5,000 copies through Diamond during the period.

 

Top 300 Comics November 2004 (Top 25 below):

 

http://www.icv2.com/articles/home/6161.html

 

1 SUPERMAN BATMAN #13 $2.95 DC 157,949

2 ASTONISHING X-MEN #6 $2.99 MAR 134,840

3 IDENTITY CRISIS #6 (Of 7) $3.95 DC 132,384

4 SUPERMAN BATMAN #14 $2.95 DC 121,831

5 SUPERMAN #211 $2.50 DC 106,469

6 AVENGERS #503 (#88) $3.50 MAR 105,761

7 AVENGERS FINALE #1 $3.50 MAR 101,431

8 ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #13* $2.25 MAR 96,820

9 ULTIMATE X-MEN #53 $2.25 MAR 92,133

10 UNCANNY X-MEN #452 $2.25 MAR 92,051

11 ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #68 $2.25 MAR 91,075

12 ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #69 $2.25 MAR 90,010

13 JLA CLASSIFIED #1 $2.95 DC 88,747

14 X-MEN #164 $2.25 MAR 88,620

15 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #514 $2.25 MAR 87,121

16 GREEN LANTERN REBIRTH #2 (Of 6) $2.95 DC 86,273

17 ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #12 $2.25 MAR 84,417

18 WOLVERINE #22 $2.25 MAR 81,841

19 X-MEN END BK 1 DREAMERS & DEMONS #5 (Of 6) $2.99 MAR 69,642

20 IRON MAN #1 $3.50 MAR 68,992

21 MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN #8 $2.99 MAR 68,290

22 CAPTAIN AMERICA #1 $2.99 MAR 67,225

23 BATMAN #634 $2.25 DC 63,769

24 JLA #108 $2.25 DC 63,355

25 TEEN TITANS #18 $2.50 DC 61,537

 

Top 100 Graphic Novels (Top 20 below):

 

http://www.icv2.com/articles/home/6162.html

 

1 ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN VOL 11 CARNAGE TP $12.99 MAR 8,405

2 Y LAST MAN VOL 4 SAFEWORD TP (MR) $12.95 DC 7,665

3 SW VOL 2 CLONE WARS ADVENTURES TP $6.95 DAR 6,211

4 WALKING DEAD VOL 2 MILES BEHIND US TP (MR) $12.95 IMA 5,624

5 WALT DISNEYS MICKEYS TWICE UPON A CHRISTMAS $3.95 GEM 4,904

6 SILENT HILL AMONG DAMNED (MR) $7.49 IDW 4,878

7 LITTLE ENDLESS STORYBOOK HC (MR) $9.95 DC 4,834

8 WALT DISNEYS CHRISTMAS PARADE #2 $8.95 GEM 4,719

9 DOT HACK SIGN VOL 3 GN $9.99 TKP 4,196

10 SUPERMAN SECRET IDENTITY TP $19.95 DC 4,170

11 PULSE VOL 1 THIN AIR TP $13.99 MAR 4,145

12 SHE-HULK VOL 1 SINGLE GREEN FEMALE TP $14.99 MAR 3,877

13 RUROUNI KENSHIN VOL 8 GN (RES) $7.95 VIZ 3,871

14 OUTSIDERS SUM O/ALL EVIL TP $14.95 DC 3,852

15 DAREDEVIL VOL 10 WIDOW TP $16.99 MAR 3,514

16 PUNISHER MAX VOL 2 KITCHEN IRISH TP $14.99 MAR 3,488

17 JLA VOL 15 TENTH CIRCLE TP $12.95 DC 3,418

18 AI YORI AOSHI VOL 6 GN (MR) $9.99 TKP 3,329

19 ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN VOL 5 HC $29.99 MAR 3,239

20 COMPLETE PEANUTS VOL 2 1953-1954 HC $28.95 FAN 3,188

[Kevin Boyd]

Some of the things I found interesting in the Top 25:

 

Wolverine is falling rock. Down to 81K in less than three months. It will be back to pre-Millar numbers before long.

 

Astonishing X-Men returns to (near) the top. If an issue of AXM had shipped in October the monthly sales would have been stronger.

 

JLA Classified was kind of a disappointment sales-wise. However, DC had a VERY strong month compared to Marvel, which I take as a sign of Marvel's growing decline in the marketplace. DC's consistancy and quality are winning out for them. Books are very stable, with some increases. Marvel's are all over the map.

 

Iron Man and Captain America more than doubled their previous print runs for the relaunch. I predict that in 6 months or less they will be back to pre-relaunch numbers.

[awe4one]

DC had a VERY strong month compared to Marvel, which I take as a sign of Marvel's growing decline in the marketplace. DC's consistancy and quality are winning out for them. Books are very stable, with some increases. Marvel's are all over the map.

 

Marvel should be very worried. DC has taken the momentum and ran with it. Take a look at Marvel and there is nothing to stimulate the reader's imagination over the next 6 months. DC on the otherhand is already tuning up for Countdown and hinting at the Crisis story to follow.

 

Meanwhile Marvel titles remain stagnant while at the same time alienating the majority of their Spider-Man and Avengers readers. I'm sure they are counting their blessings Astonishing was released but even that gravy train will be hard pressed to keep up once Josh leaves.

 

Kudos to DC and shame on Marvel...

 

Jim

[drice6900]

Marvel should be very worried. DC has taken the momentum and ran with it. Take a look at Marvel and there is nothing to stimulate the reader's imagination over the next 6 months. DC on the otherhand is already tuning up for Countdown and hinting at the Crisis story to follow.

 

Meanwhile Marvel titles remain stagnant while at the same time alienating the majority of their Spider-Man and Avengers readers. I'm sure they are counting their blessings Astonishing was released but even that gravy train will be hard pressed to keep up once Josh leaves.

 

Kudos to DC and shame on Marvel...

 

Jim

 

 

Excellent summation and analysis!!!

 

Signed,

 

Alienated Avengers Fan