MARVEL CHECKLIST

Vao · **SUPERBANANE** Moderator Beiträge: 5647

Even with the parent title running late, CIVIL WAR dominated Marvel’s output again in August, with a raft of crossover titles including the newly launched HEROES FOR HIRE. The Ultimate titles ship their second annuals, and the core ANNIHILATION miniseries gets underway. Other than that, it’s a fairly quiet month, as Marvel hold off on the big launches while the massive crossover is still getting all the attention.

As usual, even though DC did take the top spot, Marvel are still the largest publisher in the North American direct market. In unit share, it’s 41.0% to 39.0%; in dollar share, it’s a slightly closer 36.3% to 35.4%. Pretty close, then. But perhaps the most remarkable feature of this month’s chart is the sheer number of high-selling comics. Thirteen comics broke the 100K mark, which is a remarkable figure.

Granted, five of those thirteen comics are issues of DC’s weekly title 52, but a comic is a comic. If ULTIMATES had shipped this month, it wouldn’t have made the top ten. It would have been somewhere in the mid-teens.

Thanks as always to Milton Griepp and ICV2 for permission to use their figures for these calculations.

2. NEW AVENGERS
08/01 #45 - 61,572
08/02 #57 - 55,931
08/03 #69 - 57,850
08/04 —
======
08/05 #8 - 156,037 ( -1.7%)
08/05 #9 - 147,501 ( -5.5%)
09/05 #10 - 143,014 ( -3.0%)
09/05 #11 - 134,125 ( -6.2%)
10/05 #12 - 130,110 ( -3.0%)
11/05 #13 - 126,148 ( -3.0%)
12/05 #14 - 126,583 ( +0.3%)
01/06 #15 - 124,143 ( -1.9%)
02/06 #16 - 124,256 ( +0.1%)
03/06 #17 - 122,847 ( -1.1%)
04/06 #18 - 121,550 ( -1.1%)
05/06 #19 - 125,223 ( +3.0%)
06/06 #20 - 125,600 ( +0.3%)
06/06 #21 - 142,625 ( +13.6%)
07/06 #22 - 143,391 ( +0.5%)
08/06 #23 - 154,262 ( +7.6%)
6 mnth ( +24.1%)
1 year ( -1.1%)
2 year ( — )
3 year (+166.7%)

With CIVIL WAR itself running late, NEW AVENGERS picks up the slack as Marvel’s top selling book of the month. This is, of course, a Civil War crossover storyline, and the title continues to gain sales as the arc continues. Meanwhile, last month’s issue #22 picks up 18,774 reorders to chart at number 112. As usual, those sales are included in the figures above.

These are huge numbers, and although the crossover obviously helps, it’s hardly gratuitous - the storyline really is central to events in this title. Plenty for Marvel to be happy about here, although delays to CIVIL WAR itself mean that this title is set for an unwanted hiatus at the end of the year.

Civil War scheint endlich einzuschlagen wurde aber auch Zeit

3. WOLVERINE: ORIGINS
04/06 #1 - 182,672
05/06 #2 - 131,522 (-28.0%)
06/06 #3 - 116,058 (-11.8%)
07/06 #4 - 110,830 ( -4.5%)
08/06 #5 - 120,448 ( +8.7%)

This is the concluding chapter of the first storyline, so the most likely explanation for the sales boost is Ed McGuinness’s variant cover. Reaction to this title has been somewhat mixed, but there’s no denying the sales are impressive. Even without being part of Civil War, it’s selling in quantities comparable to ASTONISHING X-MEN, and it’s easily outperforming the parent title - which IS a crossover book, and has variants of its own.

gehört sicherlich zu den !uberaschungen des Jahres

4. ASTONISHING X-MEN
08/04 #4 - 145,543
======
08/05 #12 - 134,693 ( +5.4%)
09/05 —
10/05 —
11/05 —
12/05 —
01/06 —
02/06 #13 - 148,244 (+10.1%)
03/06 —
04/06 #14 - 124,129 (-16.3%)
05/06 —
06/06 #15 - 119,991 ( -3.3%)
07/06 —
08/06 #16 - 120,371 ( +0.3%)
6 mnth (-18.8%)
1 year (-10.6%)
2 year (-17.3%)

Holding level. Thankfully, the book returns to a monthly schedule with this issue - a combination of pacing for the trade and a bimonthly schedule means that by the time the current fight concludes, it will have lasted for five months. Nonetheless, sales remain solid.

10. CIVIL WAR: FRONT LINE
06/06 #1 (of 11) - 145,271
06/06 #2 (of 11) - 118,392 (-18.5%)
07/06 #3 (of 11) - 114,454 ( -3.3%)
07/06 #4 (of 11) - 111,868 ( -2.3%)
08/06 #5 (of 11) - 111,435 ( -0.4%)

The Civil War B-title is still shifting huge numbers in its own right, and piling on the re-orders. Issue #4 shifts another 8,715 copies, issue #3 sells a further 3,033, and a variant cover helps issue #1 to add another 18,342 to its total. Quite simply, the crossover is a sales juggernaut.

12. WOLVERINE
08/01 #167 - 70,238
08/02 #180 - 67,892
08/03 #4 - 68,472
08/04 #18 - 65,304
======
08/05 #31 - 75,618 ( -1.3%)
09/05 #32 - 89,026 (+17.7%)
09/05 #33 - 78,508 (-11.8%)
10/05 #34 - 75,664 ( -3.6%)
10/05 #35 - 73,684 ( -2.6%)
11/05 #36 - 94,355 (+28.1%)
12/05 #37 - 73,866 (-21.7%)
01/06 #38 - 73,815 ( -0.0%)
02/06 #39 - 75,285 ( +2.0%)
03/06 #40 - 77,627 ( +3.1%)
04/06 #41 - 70,965 ( -8.6%)
05/06 #42 - 112,209 (+58.1%)
06/06 #43 - 116,540 ( +3.9%)
07/06 #44 - 111,478 ( -4.3%)
08/06 #45 - 108,680 ( -2.5%)
6 mnth (+44.4%)
1 year (+43.8%)
2 year (+66.4%)
3 year (+59.0%)

Another Civil War crossover book, easily outperforming its usual range. And once again, the reorders continue to mount up. There’s another 6,258 copies of issue #44, while a variant adds 14,781 copies of issue #43. This month’s issue holds up nicely, and can presumably look forward to more re-orders topping up the numbers over the next month or so.

14. CIVIL WAR: X-MEN
07/06 #1 (of 4) - 113,553
08/06 #2 (of 4) - 99,073 (-12.8%)

Civil War again, and despite being rather peripheral to the story - it’s really more of a sequel to X-MEN: THE 198 - this X-Men miniseries turns in another big number, still outperforming the regular monthly X-Men titles with its second issue. (Well, aside from ASTONISHING, but that’s not really a regular monthly.) Issue #1 picks up reorders of 7,391.

17. FANTASTIC FOUR
08/01 #46 - 50,773
08/02 #60 - 705,109
08/03 #502 - 54,084
08/04 #517 - 50,247
======
08/05 #530 - 51,782 ( -2.2%)
09/05 #531 - 49,745 ( -3.9%)
10/05 —
11/05 #532 - 47,771 ( -4.0%)
12/05 #533 - 46,751 ( -2.1%)
01/05 —
02/06 #534 - 44,573 ( -4.7%)
02/06 #535 - 43,124 ( -3.3%)
03/06 #536 - 79,680 ( +84.8%)
04/06 #537 - 79,576 ( -0.1%)
05/06 —
06/06 #538 - 92,624 ( +16.4%)
07/06 —
08/06 #539 - 89,676 ( -3.2%)
6 mnth (+107.9%)
1 year ( +73.2%)
2 year ( +78.5%)
3 year ( +65.8%)

Yet another Civil War crossover, and FANTASTIC FOUR is still hanging in there. Issue #538 picks up 2,428 in reorders, even though it’s been two months since it came out.

Incidentally, you’ll note that there are an awful lot of blanks in the schedule. In fact, FANTASTIC FOUR has failed to come out in four of the last twelve months. One was a late book which shipped the next month; one was a skip month where Marvel published a one-shot in its place. The other two months just seem to be blanks. Somewhere along the line, this book has dropped down to a de facto 10-times-a-year publishing schedule.

The August 2002 issue was a virtual giveaway priced at 9 cents, hence the ludicrous number. Freebies like that have since been disqualified from the charts. In any event, publishers have become less keen on them, perhaps realising that giving away almost a quarter of a million free comics is a very inefficient way of boosting sales by a few thousand.
da ich FF waren mir diese Verspätungen nicht bewusst, nicht gerade wenige für eine Hauptserie.

18. UNCANNY X-MEN
08/01 #397 - 116,247
08/02 #410 - 87,008
08/03 #429 - 93,866
08/04 #447 - 95,838
======
08/05 #463 - 87,610 ( -3.9%)
09/05 #464 - 85,885 ( -2.0%)
10/05 #465 - 84,271 ( -1.9%)
11/05 #466 - 82,825 ( -1.7%)
12/05 #467 - 81,282 ( -1.9%)
01/06 #468 - 79,808 ( -1.8%)
02/06 #469 - 79,039 ( -1.0%)
03/06 #470 - 79,389 ( +0.4%)
03/06 #471 - 78,286 ( -1.4%)
04/06 #472 - 79,157 ( +1.1%)
05/06 #473 - 79,335 ( +0.2%)
06/06 #474 - 78,140 ( -1.5%)
07/06 #475 - 106,037 (+35.7%)
07/06 #476 - 92,154 (-13.1%)
08/06 #477 - 89,225 ( -3.2%)
6 mnth (+12.9%)
1 year ( +1.8%)
2 year ( -6.9%)
3 year ( -4.9%)

Dropping back towards the title’s usual range after the initial surge of interest from Ed Brubaker and Billy Tan’s arrival. Basically, the book is back where it was this time last year. But Brubaker’s first two issues are picking up reorders - 2,044 copies of issue #475 and 3,379 of issue #476 - so there’s certainly some interest here. A solid enough number, but the X-books still seem to be overshadowed.

20. ULTIMATES ANNUAL
08/06 #2 - 84,407

Not much change from last year, when the first annual sold 82,690. ULTIMATES normally sells somewhere around 95K, so it’s carrying a high proportion of the readership over to the annual.

21. X-MEN
08/01 #117 - 120,414
08/02 #130 - 98,796
08/03 #144 - 99,737
08/04 #160 - 91,790
======
08/05 #174 - 76,342 ( -1.1%)
09/05 #175 - 76,555 ( +0.3%)
10/05 #176 - 74,635 ( -2.5%)
11/05 #177 - 78,405 ( +5.1%)
11/05 #178 - 76,195 ( -2.8%)
12/05 #179 - 77,189 ( +1.3%)
12/05 #180 - 75,559 ( -2.1%)
01/06 #181 - 74,094 ( -1.9%)
02/06 #182 - 78,653 ( +6.2%)
02/06 #183 - 79,477 ( +1.0%)
03/06 #184 - 79,480 ( +0.0%)
04/06 #185 - 78,815 ( -0.8%)
05/06 #186 - 79,536 ( +0.9%)
06/06 #187 - 77,918 ( -2.0%)
07/06 #188 - 95,487 (+22.5%)
07/06 #189 - 85,157 (-10.8%)
08/06 #190 - 82,084 ( -3.6%)
6 mnth ( +3.4%)
1 year ( +7.5%)
2 year (-10.6%)
3 year (-17.7%)

Yes, X-MEN failed to make the top twenty. I told you it was a busy month. As with UNCANNY, this title is drafting back towards its normal range after the initial surge of interest. Issue #189 picks up 2,889 in reorders.

22,37. ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR
08/04 #10 - 90,670
======
08/05 #22 - 71,767 (-21.4%)
09/05 #23 - 71,494 ( -0.4%)
10/05 #24 - 70,549 ( -1.3%)
11/05 #25 - 70,032 ( -0.7%)
12/05 #26 - 69,689 ( -0.5%)
01/06 —
02/06 #27 - 67,922 ( -2.5%)
03/06 #28 - 67,480 ( -0.7%)
04/06 #29 - 67,554 ( +0.1%)
05/06 #30 - 103,837 (+53.7%)
06/06 —
07/06 #31 - 84,460 (-18.7%)
08/06 #32 - 80,730 ( -4.4%)
08/06 #33 - 65,191 (-19.2%)
6 mnth ( -4.0%)
1 year ( -9.2%)
2 year (-28.1%)

Two issues this month, as the book finally gets back on schedule after failing to ship in June. Issue #32 is the final Mark Millar issue, and comes complete with a Marvel Zombies storyline and a variant cover. Issue #33 sees the debut of new creative team Mike Carey and Pasqual Ferry, and sales drop back to the normal range. Not a spectacular start, but then the creators aren’t as prominent, and the book is still doing just fine. It’ll be interesting to see where it goes from here.

23. CIVIL WAR: YOUNG AVENGERS & RUNAWAYS
07/06 #1 (of 4) - 91,297
08/06 #2 (of 4) - 78,600 (-13.9%)

Back to Civil War, and a perfectly healthy second issue drop. Issue #1 picks up another 5,951 sales.
würde mich nciht wundern würde es noch tiefer fallen

24,25. ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN
08/01 #12 - 78,407
08/02 #25 - 96,382
08/03 #44 - 102,429
08/04 #63 - 96,279
======
08/05 #81 - 75,572 ( -1.7%)
09/05 #82 - 75,756 ( +0.2%)
09/05 #83 - 75,539 ( -0.3%)
10/05 #84 - 74,670 ( -1.2%)
11/05 #85 - 74,264 ( -0.5%)
11/05 #86 - 76,864 ( +3.5%)
12/05 #87 - 74,537 ( -3.0%)
12/05 #88 - 74,213 ( -0.4%)
01/06 #89 - 71,935 ( -3.1%)
02/06 #90 - 71,470 ( -0.6%)
03/06 #91 - 74,028 ( +3.6%)
03/06 #92 - 72,269 ( -2.4%)
04/06 #93 - 72,831 ( +0.8%)
05/06 #94 - 74,051 ( +1.7%)
05/06 #95 - 73,564 ( -0.7%)
06/06 #96 - 73,472 ( -0.1%)
07/06 #97 - 76,612 ( +4.3%)
08/06 #98 - 77,304 ( +0.9%)
08/06 #99 - 76,075 ( -1.6%)
6 mnth ( +6.4%)
1 year ( +0.7%)
2 year (-21.0%)
3 year (-25.7%)

Holding on to last month’s gains. Either there’s a surprising amount of interest in the Ultimate Clone Saga or people are jumping aboard as the book builds to issue #100. I suspect it’s more likely to be the former.

26. HEROES FOR HIRE
08/06 #1 - 74,367

Another Civil War tie-in, and the only ongoing title launching this month. This is a sequel to the recent DAUGHTERS OF THE DRAGON miniseries, which launched with 17,522 sales and quickly dropped to the 11-12K range. HEROES FOR HIRE is obviously in a different league where sales are concerned. The crossover naturally deserves a lot of the credit for that, although artist Billy Tucci should be drawing in some fans as well.

If Marvel can actually launch this series successfully then it’ll be a great example of how to use a crossover effectively. I’ll be fascinated to see what happens when this book moves on from the crossover and has to stand on its own feet. HEROES FOR HIRE isn’t really a Civil War spin-off book - it’s a freestanding concept that just happens to be launching in the middle of a crossover.

wohl die !uberaschung des Monats

28. ETERNALS
06/06 #1 (of 6) - 110,269
07/06 #2 (of 6) - 77,341 (-29.9%)
08/06 #3 (of 6) - 72,188 ( -6.7%)

Levelling out at a respectable but unspectacular level. Issue #1 picks up another 2,112 sales, and issue #2 sells another 3,148.

wohl die Enttäuschung des Jahres

29. ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL
08/06 #2 - 71,535

Not much change from last year, when the first annual sold 70,811.

31. ULTIMATE X-MEN
08/01 #9 - 100,109
08/02 #21 - 93,216
08/03 #36 - 110,492
08/04 #50 - 103,154
======
08/05 #62 - 76,229 (-12.5%)
09/05 #63 - 74,760 ( -1.9%)
10/05 #64 - 75,118 ( +0.5%)
11/05 #65 - 74,264 ( -1.1%)
12/05 —
01/06 #66 - 73,720 ( -0.7%)
02/06 #67 - 72,700 ( -1.4%)
03/06 #68 - 72,765 ( +0.1%)
04/06 #69 - 73,188 ( +0.6%)
05/06 #70 - 72,235 ( -1.3%)
06/06 #71 - 71,314 ( -1.3%)
07/06 #72 - 70,593 ( -1.0%)
08/06 #73 - 70,153 ( -0.6%)
6 mnth ( -3.5%)
1 year ( -8.0%)
2 year (-32.0%)
3 year (-36.5%)

Still on a gentle downward slide.

33. MS MARVEL
03/06 #1 - 73,407
04/06 #2 - 46,204 (-37.1%)
05/06 #3 - 43,048 ( -6.8%)
06/06 #4 - 40,627 ( -5.6%)
07/06 #5 - 38,874 ( -4.3%)
08/06 #6 - 68,330 (+75.8%)

Another Civil War tie-in, and another huge gain. Only the debut issue has performed better.

34. MOON KNIGHT
04/06 #1 - 114,533
05/06 #2 - 77,552 (-32.3%)
06/06 #3 - 72,206 ( -6.9%)
07/06 —
08/06 #4 - 67,802 ( -6.1%)

Running a month late - issue #5 was solicited for August but didn’t come out. These are good sales figures for a Moon Knight title, but the 6% drop is worrying - by issue #4 I’d have expected things to level out a bit more than that.
fällt weiterhin, bezweifle wenn Finch mit der 8 weg ist, dass die serie es weiter als die 12 bringt

38. ULTIMATE X-MEN ANNUAL
08/06 #2 - 65,028

Slightly down on last year, when the first annual sold 67,910.

39. GHOST RIDER
09/05 #1 (of 6) - 119,575
10/05 #2 (of 6) - 71,473 (-40.2%)
11/05 #3 (of 6) - 62,914 (-12.0%)
12/05 #4 (of 6) - 59,678 ( -5.1%)
01/06 #5 (of 6) - 56,958 ( -4.6%)
02/06 #6 (of 6) - 55,802 ( -2.0%)
03/06 —
04/06 —
05/06 —
06/06 —
07/06 #1 - 98,826 (+77.1%)
08/06 #2 - 61,793 (-37.5%)
6 mnth (+10.7%)

At first glance, this is an awfully heavy second issue drop. But issue #1 had a variant cover to boost its sales further, so it’s probably not as bad as it looks.
so gut wie Ausgabe 3 der Mini, kein gutes Vorzeichen

40. THUNDERBOLTS
08/01 #55 - 33,747
08/02 #70 - 28,092
======
08/05 #11 - 37,036 ( +42.6%)
09/05 #12 - 25,912 ( -30.0%)
10/05 #13 - 29,250 ( +12.9%)
10/05 #14 - 27,864 ( -4.7%)
11/05 #15 - 25,245 ( -9.4%)
12/05 #16 - 25,084 ( -0.6%)
01/06 #17 - 23,417 ( -6.7%)
02/06 #18 - 23,735 ( +1.4%)
03/06 #100 - 26,798 ( +12.9%)
04/06 #101 - 24,170 ( -9.8%)
05/06 #102 - 23,741 ( -1.8%)
06/06 #103 - 60,823 (+156.2%)
07/06 #104 - 54,092 ( -11.1%)
08/06 #105 - 61,467 ( +13.6%)
6 mnth (+159.0%)
1 year ( +66.0%)

Civil War again, and THUNDERBOLTS grabs back some more sales for the concluding part of its three-part crossover arc. This is one of several mid-to-low end books that have seen huge sales boosts on the back of the crossover.

41. ANNIHILATION
08/06 #1 (of 6) - 61,006

A big jump with the first part of the ANNIHILATION miniseries proper. Marvel have been building to this for four months with four separate miniseries - the best selling one was ANNIHILATION: SILVER SURFER, which only debuted at 49K and dropped to 39K by the end of its run. So for ANNIHILATION to debut at 61K is impressive - retailers seem to have bought into the idea that this is the main event, and everything up to now was just warm-up.

42. ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL
08/06 #2 - 60,449

Last year’s annual sold 65,384 copies, but then it had Mark Millar, and this one doesn’t. A perfectly good number.

44. CABLE & DEADPOOL
08/04 #6 - 31,033
======
08/05 #18 - 25,304 ( -26.4%)
09/05 #19 - 25,298 ( -0.0%)
09/05 #20 - 24,982 ( -1.2%)
10/05 #21 - 25,030 ( +0.2%)
11/05 #22 - 23,746 ( -5.1%)
12/05 #23 - 23,296 ( -1.9%)
01/06 #24 - 23,542 ( +1.1%)
02/06 #25 - 22,918 ( -2.7%)
03/06 #26 - 25,584 ( +11.6%)
04/06 #27 - 26,153 ( +2.2%)
05/06 #28 - 25,665 ( -1.9%)
06/06 #29 - 25,368 ( -1.2%)
07/06 #30 - 59,333 (+133.9%)
08/06 #31 - 55,583 ( -6.3%)
6 mnth (+142.5%)
1 year (+119.7%)
2 year ( +79.1%)

Another Civil War crossover book seeing enormous gains. Issue #30 picks up re-orders of 2,515.

45. SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN
08/04 #5 - 75,562
======
08/05 #17 - 48,555 ( -4.6%)
09/05 #18 - 47,654 ( -1.9%)
10/05 #19 - 75,461 (+58.4%)
11/05 #20 - 73,262 ( -2.9%)
12/05 #21 - 76,763 ( +4.8%)
01/06 #22 - 74,923 ( -2.4%)
02/06 #23 - 59,051 (-21.2%)
03/06 #24 - 53,910 ( -8.7%)
04/06 #25 - 51,992 ( -3.6%)
05/06 #26 - 52,496 ( +1.0%)
06/06 #27 - 50,721 ( -3.4%)
07/06 #28 - 58,532 (+15.4%)
08/06 #29 - 55,420 ( -5.3%)
6 mnth ( -6.1%)
1 year (+14.1%)
2 year (-26.7%)

47. FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN
10/05 #1 - 100,430
11/05 #2 - 82,988 (-17.4%)
12/05 #3 - 81,309 ( -2.0%)
01/06 #4 - 78,672 ( -3.2%)
02/06 —
03/06 #5 - 59,900 (-23.9%)
03/06 #6 - 58,853 ( -1.7%)
04/06 #7 - 55,381 ( -5.9%)
05/06 #8 - 53,910 ( -2.7%)
06/06 #9 - 50,177 ( -6.9%)
07/06 #10 - 48,902 ( -2.5%)
08/06 #11 - 50,995 ( +4.3%)
6 mnth (-14.9%)

Not officially Civil War tie-ins, but SENSATIONAL and FRIENDLY both see modest gains from the unmasking of their lead characters. To be honest, with all the attention, I’m surprised they haven’t gained more.

49. DAREDEVIL
08/01 #22 - 52,810
08/02 #36 - 50,210
08/03 #50 - 65,398
08/04 #63 - 52,090
======
08/05 #76 - 46,424 ( -2.9%)
09/05 #77 - 45,945 ( -1.0%)
10/05 #78 - 45,071 ( -1.9%)
11/05 #79 - 44,250 ( -1.8%)
12/05 #80 - 43,309 ( -2.1%)
01/06 #81 - 44,252 ( +2.2%)
02/06 #82 - 53,058 (+19.9%)
03/06 #83 - 46,804 (-11.8%)
04/06 #84 - 47,123 ( +0.7%)
05/06 #85 - 47,899 ( +1.6%)
06/06 #86 - 48,280 ( +0.8%)
07/06 #87 - 51,989 ( +7.7%)
08/06 #88 - 50,554 ( -2.8%)
6 mnth ( -4.7%)
1 year ( +8.9%)
2 year ( -2.9%)
3 year (-22.7%)

Issue #87 picks up 2,553 in reorders, which is the only reason this issue is shown as dropping. In fact, in terms of first month sales, it’s a climber. Ed Brubaker’s slow and steady progress on this title continues, building a regular audience without stunts.

50. INCREDIBLE HULK
08/01 #31 - 33,683
08/02 #44 - 49,184
08/03 #59 - 59,336
08/04 #75 - 44,066
======
08/05 #85 - 53,177 ( -9.2%)
09/05 #86 - 52,992 ( -0.3%)
10/05 #87 - 42,454 (-19.9%)
11/05 #88 - 41,141 ( -3.1%)
11/05 #89 - 39,635 ( -3.7%)
12/05 #90 - 36,924 ( -6.8%)
01/06 #91 - 35,980 ( -2.6%)
02/06 #92 - 53,661 (+49.1%)
03/06 #93 - 47,437 (-11.6%)
04/06 #94 - 47,966 ( +1.1%)
05/06 #95 - 49,089 ( +2.3%)
06/06 —
07/06 #96 - 49,209 ( +0.2%)
08/06 #97 - 48,893 ( -0.6%)
6 mnth ( -8.9%)
1 year ( -8.1%)
2 year (+11.0%)
3 year (-17.6%)

The Planet Hulk storyline seems to have found its level.

52. X-FACTOR
12/05 #1 - 64,861
12/05 #2 - 52,705 (-18.7%)
01/06 —
02/06 #3 - 48,307 ( -8.3%)
03/06 #4 - 48,183 ( -0.3%)
03/06 #5 - 46,490 ( -3.5%)
04/06 #6 - 45,220 ( -2.7%)
05/06 #7 - 44,315 ( -2.0%)
06/06 #8 - 76,150 (+71.8%)
07/06 #9 - 68,799 ( -9.7%)
08/06 #10 - 44,603 (-35.2%)
6 mnth ( -7.7%)

One of the first books to emerge from its Civil War crossover storyline and go back to normal. Sales drop right back where they came from, which isn’t entirely unexpected, but suggests that a lot of books could be looking at a nasty hangover in a few months when Civil War packs up and moves on. Thanks to a variant cover, issue #8 picks up 11,000 extra sales.

niemand von den CW Leuten istd ran geblieben :(

53. SQUADRON SUPREME
08/04 #12 - 61,798
======
08/05 #18 - 50,594 ( -3.2%)
09/05 —
10/05 —
11/05 —
12/05 —
01/06 —
02/06 —
03/06 #1 - 61,625 (+21.8%)
04/06 #2 - 51,197 (-16.9%)
05/06 #3 - 49,205 ( -3.9%)
06/06 #4 - 48,035 ( -1.8%)
07/06 #5 - 46,029 ( -4.2%)
08/06 #6 - 44,564 ( -3.2%)
6 mnth ( — )
1 year (-11.9%)
2 year (-27.9%)

Still on the slide.

58. NEW X-MEN
08/04 #4 - 51,902
======
08/05 #17 - 43,908 (-10.8%)
09/05 #18 - 43,286 ( -1.4%)
10/05 #19 - 41,691 ( -3.7%)
11/05 #20 - 59,466 (+42.6%)
12/05 #21 - 43,473 (-26.9%)
01/06 #22 - 42,923 ( -1.3%)
02/06 #23 - 41,463 ( -3.4%)
03/06 #24 - 42,044 ( +1.4%)
04/06 #25 - 40,176 ( -4.4%)
05/06 #26 - 40,073 ( -0.3%)
06/06 #27 - 39,785 ( -0.7%)
07/06 #28 - 39,771 ( -0.0%)
08/06 #29 - 40,303 ( +1.3%)
6 mnth ( -2.8%)
1 year ( -8.2%)
2 year (-22.3%)

Looking pretty solid at the 40,000 mark, which has to be a good sign.

60. CLAWS
08/06 #1 (of 3) - 39,967

Fairly standard orders for a generic Wolverine miniseries - which is pretty much what this is.

hatte dies viel höher erwartet

64. IRON MAN
08/01 #45 - 36,754
08/02 #58 - 36,051
08/03 #71 - 30,823
08/04 #87 - 33,512
======
08/05 #4 - 48,403 ( -5.8%)
09/05 —
10/05 —
11/05 —
12/05 —
01/06 #5 - 45,243 ( -6.5%)
02/06 —
03/06 #6 - 40,264 (-11.0%)
04/06 #7 - 49,404 (+22.7%)
05/06 #8 - 38,860 (-21.3%)
06/06 #9 - 37,650 ( -3.1%)
07/06 #10 - 38,102 ( +1.2%)
08/06 #11 - 37,279 ( -2.2%)
6 mnth ( -7.4%)
1 year (-23.0%)
2 year (+11.2%)
3 year (+20.9%)

Hovering in the high 30K range. IRON MAN has yet to catch up with Civil War, although it’ll do so at the end of this storyline. Despite Marvel’s protestations of impartiality, the general perception seems to be that Civil War has amounted to a remarkable hatchet job on this character - although arguably that makes him more interesting, and it’s certainly also made him a central figure in the Marvel Universe in a way that he hasn’t been for years. I’m intrigued to see what happens with this title’s sales over the next year or so.

66. NEW EXCALIBUR
11/05 #1 - 58,333
12/05 #2 - 48,816 (-16.3%)
01/06 #3 - 47,196 ( -3.3%)
02/06 #4 - 45,071 ( -4.5%)
03/06 #5 - 43,523 ( -3.4%)
04/06 #6 - 40,687 ( -6.5%)
05/06 #7 - 38,744 ( -4.8%)
06/06 #8 - 37,428 ( -3.4%)
07/06 #9 - 36,466 ( -2.6%)
08/06 #10 - 36,108 ( -1.0%)
6 mnth (-19.9%)

Still sliding, but at least levelling out over the last few months. NEW EXCALIBUR is current in an extended run of fill-in stories caused by the illness of regular writer Chris Claremont, but readers seem to be accepting the situation.

68. PUNISHER
08/01 #3 - 70,017
08/02 #15 - 44,501
08/03 #30 - 37,370
08/04 #10 - 45,396
======
08/05 #24 - 37,022 ( -0.9%)
09/05 #25 - 37,149 ( +0.3%)
10/05 #26 - 36,450 ( -1.9%)
11/05 #27 - 36,072 ( -1.0%)
12/05 #28 - 35,535 ( -1.5%)
01/06 #29 - 34,708 ( -2.3%)
02/06 #30 - 34,293 ( -1.2%)
03/06 #31 - 34,505 ( +0.6%)
04/06 #32 - 34,076 ( -1.2%)
05/06 #33 - 34,480 ( +1.2%)
06/06 #34 - 34,161 ( -0.9%)
07/06 #35 - 34,116 ( -0.1%)
08/06 #36 - 34,227 ( +0.3%)
6 mnth ( -0.2%)
1 year ( -7.5%)
2 year (-24.6%)
3 year ( -8.4%)

Rock solid. Since the beginning of 2006, PUNISHER sales have fluctuated by less than 700 copies.

70. EXILES
08/01 #3 - 48,259
08/02 #16 - 39,133
08/03 #30 - 41,269
08/04 #50 - 37,958
======
08/05 #68 - 33,815 ( +0.2%)
09/05 #69 - 43,794 (+29.5%)
09/05 #70 - 42,434 ( -3.1%)
10/05 #71 - 41,131 ( -3.1%)
11/05 #72 - 34,329 (-16.5%)
11/05 #73 - 34,008 ( -0.9%)
12/05 #74 - 33,881 ( -0.4%)
01/06 #75 - 33,485 ( -1.2%)
01/06 #76 - 32,843 ( -1.9%)
02/06 #77 - 32,998 ( +0.5%)
03/06 #78 - 33,506 ( +1.5%)
04/06 #79 - 34,119 ( +1.8%)
05/06 #80 - 34,039 ( -0.2%)
05/06 #81 - 33,908 ( -0.4%)
06/06 #82 - 33,342 ( -1.7%)
06/06 #83 - 33,143 ( -0.6%)
07/06 #84 - 32,866 ( -0.8%)
08/06 #85 - 33,978 ( +3.4%)
6 mnth ( +3.0%)
1 year ( +0.5%)
2 year (-10.5%)
3 year (-17.7%)

Another book still hovering in its regular range. Apparently retailers were enticed by this issue’s gimmick - a new Exiles team consisting of six Wolverines.

83. BEYOND!
07/06 #1 (of 6) - 35,728
08/06 #2 (of 6) - 28,727 (-19.6%)

Fairly normal drop for a second issue.

84,87. SHE-HULK
08/04 #6 - 24,751
======
10/05 #1 - 37,220 ( +60.4%)
11/05 #2 - 31,610 ( -15.1%)
12/05 #3 - 29,428 ( -6.9%)
01/06 #4 - 28,214 ( -4.1%)
02/06 #5 - 27,183 ( -3.7%)
03/06 #6 - 26,631 ( -2.0%)
04/06 —
05/06 #7 - 26,561 ( -0.3%)
05/06 #8 - 58,053 (+118.6%)
06/06 —
07/06 #9 - 29,902 ( -48.5%)
08/06 #10 - 28,555 ( -4.5%)
08/06 #11 - 27,393 ( -4.1%)
6 mnth ( +0.8%)
1 year ( — )
2 year ( +10.7%)

Issue #8 was a Civil War crossover, and while most of the boost evaporated immediately, SHE-HULK still hasn’t quite dropped to pre-crossover levels.

85. BLACK PANTHER
08/01 #35 - 19,465
08/02 #48 - 19,496
======
08/05 #7 - 42,905 ( +21.7%)
09/05 #8 - 46,239 ( +7.8%)
10/05 #9 - 40,173 ( -13.1%)
11/05 #10 - 31,987 ( -20.4%)
12/05 #11 - 29,327 ( -8.3%)
01/06 #12 - 27,933 ( -4.7%)
02/06 #13 - 26,054 ( -6.7%)
03/06 #14 - 28,809 ( +10.6%)
04/06 #15 - 28,361 ( -1.6%)
05/06 #16 - 28,091 ( -1.0%)
06/06 #17 - 27,993 ( -0.3%)
07/06 #18 - 69,912 (+149.7%)
08/06 #19 - 28,372 ( -59.4%)
6 mnth ( +8.9%)
1 year ( -33.9%)

Whether last issue’s high sales were due to Civil War or the wedding, one thing’s for sure: they didn’t stick around. BLACK PANTHER goes straight back to its normal range. With all the hype, and the introduction of a major character from a much more popular book, this really has to be seen as a failure, at least in direct market terms. Interestingly, a belated CIVIL WAR tie-in storyline has now been announced.

93. RUNAWAYS
08/03 #5 - 19,332
08/04 #17 - 18,563
======
08/05 #7 - 27,063 ( -1.1%)
09/05 #8 - 26,954 ( -0.4%)
10/05 #9 - 26,800 ( -0.6%)
11/05 #10 - 25,761 ( -3.9%)
12/05 #11 - 25,260 ( -1.9%)
01/06 #12 - 24,989 ( -1.1%)
02/06 #13 - 24,313 ( -2.7%)
03/06 #14 - 24,536 ( +0.9%)
04/06 #15 - 24,046 ( -2.0%)
05/06 #16 - 23,842 ( -0.8%)
06/06 #17 - 23,654 ( -0.8%)
07/06 #18 - 24,678 ( +4.3%)
08/06 #19 - 25,042 ( +1.5%)
6 mnth ( +0.2%)
1 year ( -7.5%)
2 year (+34.9%)
3 year (+29.5%)

Edging slowly upwards. RUNAWAYS is going to be Joss Whedon’s next comic for Marvel, so it’s going to be rocketing up the charts fairly soon.

95. NEXTWAVE: AGENTS OF H.A.T.E.
01/06 #1 - 41,041
02/06 —
03/06 #2 - 29,911 (-27.1%)
03/06 #3 - 27,126 ( -9.3%)
04/06 #4 - 26,728 ( -1.5%)
05/06 #5 - 30,818 (+15.3%)
06/06 #6 - 24,626 (-20.1%)
07/06 —
08/06 #7 - 24,245 ( -1.5%)
6 mnth (-18.9%)

August was a skip month, so the book is now back on schedule. Strictly speaking, it’s now the lowest-selling Marvel Universe title that hasn’t been cancelled yet - although in fairness, if it wasn’t for their Civil War tie-ins, CABLE & DEADPOOL and THUNDERBOLTS would be down here as well. On top of that, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that NEXTWAVE does disproportionately well in the UK. Moreover, it’s a good 7,000 clear of MARVEL TEAM-UP, which actually is at the cancellation point, so there’s a margin of safety here.

102. ANNIHILATION: NOVA CORPS FILES
08/06 Nova Corps Files - 21,740

A respectable number for this ANNIHILATION fact file tie-in, slightly outperforming this month’s HANDBOOK.

105. MYTHOS
01/06 X-Men - 30,364
02/06 —
03/06 —
04/06 —
05/06 —
06/06 —
07/06 —
08/06 Hulk - 20,214 (-33.4%)

The second MYTHOS one-shot, and they’re not exactly setting the charts alight.

107. OFFICIAL HANDBOOK OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE
08/04 Hulk - 22,011
======
08/05 Ultimate - 25,436 ( +7.5%)
09/05 Alt Universes - 18,680 (-26.6%)
10/05 Horror - 15,849 (-15.2%)
11/05 X-Men - 22,986 (+45.0%)
12/05 Ultimates - 20,795 ( -9.5%)
01/06 #1 (of 12) - 23,423 (+12.6%)
02/06 #2 (of 12) - 21,828 ( -6.8%)
03/06 #3 (of 12) - 21,681 ( -0.7%)
04/06 #4 (of 12) - 21,531 ( -0.7%)
05/06 #5 (of 12) - 21,331 ( -0.9%)
06/06 #6 (of 12) - 20,731 ( -2.8%)
07/06 #7 (of 12) - 20,124 ( -2.9%)
08/06 #8 (of 12) - 19,926 ( -1.0%)
6 mnth ( -8.7%)
1 year (-21.7%)
2 year ( -9.5%)

Holding up very well.

110. AGENTS OF ATLAS
08/06 #1 (of 6) - 19,292

Well, it’s about as good a number as could reasonably be expected with these characters. Reviews have been decent, but realistically, miniseries like this tend to drop to fairly dire levels by the time they finish.

117. MARVEL TEAM-UP
08/05 #11 - 22,150 ( -1.8%)
09/05 #12 - 21,240 ( -4.1%)
10/05 #13 - 21,048 ( -0.9%)
11/05 #14 - 26,200 (+24.5%)
12/05 #15 - 20,000 (-23.7%)
01/06 #16 - 19,955 ( -0.2%)
02/06 #17 - 19,422 ( -2.7%)
03/06 #18 - 18,944 ( -2.5%)
04/06 #19 - 19,891 ( +5.0%)
05/06 #20 - 18,843 ( -5.3%)
06/06 #21 - 18,397 ( -2.4%)
07/06 #22 - 17,944 ( -2.5%)
08/06 #23 - 17,709 ( -1.3%)
6 mnth ( -8.9%)
1 year (-20.0%)

Axed with issue #25.

119. X-MEN: FAIRY TALES
05/06 #1 (of 4) - 22,922
06/06 #2 (of 4) - 18,817 (-17.9%)
07/06 #3 (of 4) - 18,103 ( -3.8%)
08/06 #4 (of 4) - 17,123 ( -5.4%)

The mystifying high concept miniseries wraps up with a fairly solid performance. The solicitations for issue #4 are wildly inaccurate, describing the story that actually appeared in issue #3 and crediting the wrong artist altogether.

121. SPIDER-MAN FAMILY
08/06 Amazing Friends - 16,519

One-shot containing an original story plus some reprints, celebrating the 25th anniversary of SPIDER-MAN AND HIS AMAZING FRIENDS. A perfectly good performance for something like this.

122. FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST FAMILY
03/06 #1 (of 6) - 26,435
04/06 #2 (of 6) - 21,444 (-18.9%)
05/06 #3 (of 6) - 19,314 ( -9.9%)
06/06 #4 (of 6) - 17,761 ( -8.0%)
07/06 #5 (of 6) - 16,921 ( -4.7%)
08/06 #6 (of 6) - 16,423 ( -2.9%)

A disappointing underperformance here.

150. KABUKI
08/05 —
09/05 —
10/05 #5 - 11,420 (-20.3%)
11/05 —
12/05 —
01/06 —
02/06 #6 - 11,349 ( -0.6%)
03/06 —
04/06 —
05/06 —
06/06 —
07/06 —
08/06 #7 - 10,798 ( -4.9%)
6 mnth ( -4.9%)

An Icon book, so it doesn’t really matter what it sells as long as creator David Mack is happy. It’s also wildly late - this issue was solicited for May.

165. JACK KIRBY’S GALACTIC BOUNTY HUNTERS
07/06 #1 - 13,514
08/06 #2 - 9,301 (-31.2%)

Yes, well. This is another Icon book, but heaven only knows what the economics are. There doesn’t seem to be a huge amount of interest in this book, and it’s probably heading for some very nasty numbers very quickly.

171. MARVEL ADVENTURES AVENGERS
05/06 #1 - 13,891
06/06 #2 - 9,359 (-32.7%)
07/06 #3 - 9,006 ( -3.8%)
08/06 #4 - 8,610 ( -4.4%)

Fairly standard performance for a Marvel Adventures book. This titles aren’t really aimed at the direct market, so their performance on this chart is largely irrelevant.

175. WOMEN OF MARVEL POSTER BOOK
08/06 Women of Marvel - 8,331

Not much interest, but again, something like this may not be aimed specifically at the direct market.

183. MARVEL WESTERNS
06/06 Two-Gun Kid - 11,257
06/06 Outlaw Files - 7,285
07/06 Kid Colt/Arizona Girl - 8,597
07/06 Western Legends - 8,268
08/06 Strange Westerns - 7,727

Another micro-selling western book.

190. SPIDER-MAN LOVES MARY JANE
08/04 #3 - 17,725
=====
12/05 #1 - 11,171
01/06 #2 - 8,590 (-23.1%)
02/06 #3 - 7,648 (-11.0%)
03/06 #4 - 7,672 ( +0.3%)
04/06 #5 - 7,165 ( -6.6%)
05/06 #6 - 7,069 ( -1.3%)
06/06 #7 - 6,834 ( -3.3%)
07/06 #8 - 6,769 ( -1.0%)
08/06 #9 - 6,719 ( -0.7%)
6 mnth (-21.8%)
1 year ( — )
2 year (-62.1%)

Aimed at the digest audience, so the sales here don’t matter.

195. MARVEL ADVENTURES SPIDER-MAN
08/05 #6 - 7,636 ( -5.4%)
09/05 #7 - 7,199 ( -5.7%)
10/05 #8 - 7,088 ( -1.5%)
11/05 #9 - 6,637 ( -6.4%)
12/05 #10 - 6,391 ( -3.7%)
01/06 #11 - 6,107 ( -4.4%)
02/06 #12 - 6,087 ( -0.3%)
03/06 #13 - 5,899 ( -3.1%)
04/06 #14 - 5,970 ( +1.2%)
05/06 #15 - 6,165 ( +3.3%)
06/06 #16 - 6,114 ( -0.8%)
07/06 #17 - 6,133 ( +0.3%)
08/06 #18 - 6,220 ( +1.4%)
6 mnth ( +2.2%)
1 year (-18.5%)

Surprisingly, this book is turning around and beginning to edge its way back up the charts.

220. MARVEL ADVENTURES FANTASTIC FOUR
08/05 #3 - 6,447 ( -6.1%)
09/05 #4 - 6,064 ( -5.9%)
10/05 #5 - 5,969 ( -1.6%)
11/05 #6 - 5,522 ( -7.5%)
12/05 #7 - 5,058 ( -8.4%)
01/06 #8 - 4,834 ( -4.4%)
02/06 #9 - 4,711 ( -2.5%)
03/06 #10 - 4,663 ( -1.0%)
04/06 #11 - 4,526 ( -2.9%)
05/06 #12 - 4,836 ( +6.8%)
06/06 #13 - 4,752 ( -1.7%)
07/06 #14 - 4,668 ( -1.8%)
08/06 #15 - 4,569 ( -2.1%)
6 mnth ( -3.0%)
1 year (-29.1%)

This, on the other hand, is just your typical Marvel Adventures book.

Number 236 is a Marvel Milestones book, reprinting a Claremont/Lee X-Men story from 1991. It sells 3,599. Number 259 is also a Marvel Milestones book, reprinting stories from Millie the Model and Patsy Walker. Not surprisingly, it doesn’t do as well, and clocks in at 2,640.

238. MARVEL SPOTLIGHT
12/05 Cassaday/McKeever - 9,763
01/06 Ellis/Cheung - 6,843 ( -29.9%)
02/06 Whedon/Lark - 5,947 ( -13.1%)
03/06 Finch/Sacasa - 4,146 ( -30.3%)
04/06 Way/Coipel - 3,309 ( -20.2%)
05/06 —
06/06 Millar/McNiven - 7,668 (+131.7%)
06/06 Gaiman/Larroca - 5,449 ( -28.9%)
07/06 Kirkman/Land - 3,963 ( -27.3%)
08/06 Brubaker/Tan - 3,580 ( -9.7%)
6 mnth ( -39.8%)

Still sliding into oblivion, but reportedly the book is doing much better outside the direct market. Upcoming solicitations suggest a shift of focus, with an issue devoted to Ghost Rider.

kip months
===========

CIVIL WAR
05/06 #1 (of 7) - 331,669
06/06 #2 (of 7) - 312,931 (-5.6%)
07/06 #3 (of 7) - 303,638 (-3.0%)
08/06 —

Running late, although the knock-on effects haven’t really sunk in yet. Re-orders continue to mount up, with another 5,269 copies of issue #1, 12,967 copies of issue #2 and 12,929 of issue #3. That puts all three issues over the 300K mark, a remarkable achievement.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
08/01 #34 - 79,588
08/02 #44 - 100,070
08/03 #56 - 92,277
08/04 #511 - 88,118
======
08/05 #523 - 72,046 ( -1.5%)
09/05 #524 - 71,065 ( -1.4%)
10/05 #525 - 91,707 (+29.0%)
11/05 #526 - 90,343 ( -1.5%)
12/05 #527 - 89,922 ( -0.5%)
01/06 #528 - 97,807 ( -8.8%)
02/06 #529 - 132,329 (+35.3%)
03/06 #530 - 101,226 (-23.5%)
04/06 #531 - 96,213 ( -5.0%)
05/06 #532 - 119,083 (+23.8%)
06/06 #533 - 135,798 (+14.0%)
07/06 #534 - 123,552 ( -9.0%)
08/06 —-

Late. Heavy re-order activity continues, as issue #533 picks up 7,064 re-orders, and issue #534 has another 10,030.

http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2006/09/26/marvel-month-to-month-sales-august-2006/