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When I was putting together my notes for this segment, the ICv2 numbers weren't out yet for 2006-01. Between that, the fact that we'd used the CBG numbers the previous time and the convenience of using pre-rounded numbers for the estimates, I deciced to use the CBG numbers for the podcast. I still cross-check them against the ICv2 numbers when those become available. The other advantage of the CBG data is that John Jackson Miller does a fairly good job of cleaning up the title data which makes charting the numbers much easier.
At the time, I was in the process of reworking how I put my charts together. Prior to this I was generating the charts for my website in Excel and uploading them. I was in the process of trying to switch to a database driven, server side charting engine. So, it is possible that I made some mistakes and that a few of my numbers might be off.
OVERVIEW
- CBG IndexPointValue = ~623.58 +/- .01
- CBG rounds the sales estimates to the nearest 100
- this introduces a rounding bias that gets more pronounced as you get closer to the bottom of the charts
- 50 copy swing is a bigger percentage of 900 (5.55% or 1/18th) than of 182,600 (>0.03%)
- Rank #279: Devil's Keeper #3 (~1,200) Order Index of 2.00 * 623.58 = 1,247
- Rank #289: Atomika #6 (~1,200) Order Index of 1.85 * 623.58 = 1,154
- 0.15 delta in Order Index is invisible and hides a difference of around 93 copies
- that is a 7.75% "fudge factor"
- Rank #290: Johnny the Homicidal Maniac #6 (~1,100) Order Index of 1.84 * 623.58 = 1,148
- 0.01 delta in Order Index shows up as 100 copy difference
- granularity of the data from Diamond is about +/- 6.24 copies (0.01 * 623.58)
- granularity of the data from CBG is about +/- 50 copies due to rounding
MARKET SHARES
- DC was stronger in both units and dollars in trades than Marvel
- Dark horse did about 0.5 Million in comics and another 0.5 Million in trades
- January is usually the lowest sales month of the year
- people are still paying off holiday expenses, etc
- Only 3 comics above 100,000:
- Infinite Crisis
- All Star Superman
- New Avengers
Comics on the top 300:
- DC: 71 new, 15 reorders, 86 total
- Marvel: 67 new, 19 reorders, 86 total
- Image: 23 new, 2 reorders, 25 total
- IDW: 12 new, no reorders, 12 total
- Archie: 11 new, no reorders, 11 total
- Dark Horse: 11 new, no reorders, 11 total
- Rank #1: Infinite Crisis #4 ~182,600-ish = 100.00% of Rank #1
- Rank #3: Amazing Spider-Man #528 ~95,400-ish = 52.25% of Rank #1
- Rank #30: Transformers Infiltration #1 ~45,000-ish = 24.92% of Rank #1
- Rank #107: Aquaman #38 ~18,300-ish = 10.02% of Rank #1
COMICS
- Rank #1: Infinite Crisis #4 (~182,600)
- no suprise here. down by ~13,200 (-6.74%)
- which isn't bad
- Rank #2: All Star Superman #2 (~124,300)
- huge drop of around ~50,400 copies (-40.55%)
- not a good sign
- Rank #4: Amazing Spider-Man #528 (~95,400)
- bump of ~5,400 (6.00%) from "The Other" storyline
- Rank #8: Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #4 (~78,600)
- bump of ~6,300 (8.02%)
- still well below Amazing Spider-Man
- Rank #9: Marvel Knights Spider-Man #22 (~74,900)
- bump of ~2,600 (3.47%)
- don't understand the big difference in the various parts of "The Other" storyline
- Rank #12: Ultimate X-Men #66 (~73,700)
- only down ~600 (-0.81%) so it doesn't *look* like it is doing bad
- good example of the standard attrition sales slope
- aside from issues #50 and #61, this title has been losing readers since #36
- the bump from #50
- estimates for #52 were about the same as estimates for #49
- the bump from #61 was only for that issue only carried through #52
- Comics & Games Retailer (sister publication to CBG for retailers) polls retailers and ranks titles by how they sell to readers
- Ultimate X-Men has ranked lower in retailers sales versus the final orders for most of the past few months
- this implies that the retailers are slowly chasing the orders down
- Rank #17: Day of Vengeance Infinite Crisis Special (~67,500)
- down 3,000 from Day of Vengeance #6
- Rank #28: Superman Shazam First Thunder #3 (~48,900)
- down ~5,700 (-10.44%)
- this issue was two months late, it shipped on 2006/01/05 and issue #2 shipped on 2005/10/05
- sales are down ~17,500 (-26.36%) from issue #1
- Rank #31: Adventures of Superman #648 (~45,300)
- up ~3,100 (7.35%)
- this title has been bouncing around a bit over the past year
- #642 did about twice what #641 did
- this bump is clearly due to Infinite Crisis
- Rank #35: Spider-Woman: Origins #2 (~43,700)
- down ~23,100 (-34.58%)
- Rank #44: Marvel Zombies #2 (~38,500)
- up ~3,000 (8.45%) from #1
- #1 ranked #56 in final orders and 31 in what retailers told CGR that they sold
- retailers are chasing these numbers up
- Rank #84: All New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #1 (~23,400)
- not bad starting numbers
- might drop off initially due to people expecting it to be more comprehensive than it is
- should have some minor attrition after issue #3 or #4
- Rank #99: Marvel Team-Up #16 (~19,900)
- minor drop of ~100 (-0.50%)
- #14 did well with Invincible guest starring
- seems to be starting to level off
- Rank #107: Aquaman #38 (~18,300)
- down ~1,300 (-6.63%)
- this seems to be the "Danger zone" for mainstream DC books
- Rank #112: Spider-Girl #94 (~17,100)
- no change from #93
- has been cancelled
- in the "Danger zone" for Marvel
- except for #70, #71 & #75, this title has been losing a readers each month since #57
- minor sales increases for #70, #71
- bump from #75 lasted until #85
- minor single issue bumps with #83, #87
- Rank #140: Nick Fury Howling Commandos $4 (~11,300)
- down ~2,000 (-15.04%)
- cancelled with #6
- I'm amazed that is was cancelled, I thought it was a mini-series not an ongoing title
- #1: ~25,000
- #2: ~17,400 - down 8,600 - sold around 69.6% of #1
- #3: ~13,300 - down 4,100 - sold around 53.2% of #1
- #4: ~11,300 - down 2,000 - sold around 45.2% of #1
- bad coloring in early issue and preview killed this book
- rotating artists didn't help either
- even Mike Norton couldn't save this book
- Rank #146: Amazing Spider-Man #527 reorders of ~10,700
- Rank #173: Savage Dragon #122 (~7,200)
- down ~1,000 (-12.20%)
- Resolicited
- Shipped 2006-01-25, previous issue shipped 2005-04-20
- only 2 issue released in 2005, only 7 in 2004
- I dropped the title after #112 when I switched over to DCBS
- should I pick it up again?
- Rank #176: Infinite Crisis #3 reorder (~6,900)
- Rank #209: Infinite Crisis #2 reorder (~3,800)
- Rank #240: Infinite Crisis #1 reorder (~2,100)
- strong reorder numbers
- total sales to date:
- #1: ~261,200 - originally ~249,100 + reorders of ~12,100
- #2: ~215,300 - originally ~207,600 + reorders of ~7,700 - sold around 82.43% of total of #1
- #3: ~195,800 - originally ~188,900 + reorders of ~6,900 - sold around 74.96% of total of #1
- #4: ~182,600 - originally ~182,600 - sold around 69.91% of total of #1
- Rank #188: Uncle Scrooge #350 (~4,800)
- up ~100 (2.13%) from #349
- $6.95 cover price
- Solictation: A new Don Rosa cover and pin-up page accompany this issue’s reprint of his early classic, "Last Sled to Dawson," which reunites Scrooge with Glittering Goldie and Soapy Slick in the Yukon. Also featured are Uncle Scrooge and Beagle Boys stories by Kari Korhonen/Vicar, Pat and Carol McGreal/Nunez and Lars Jensen/Marco Rota.
- I just wanted to mention this to give Peter a hard time about the Ducks
- Rank #202: Noble Causes #16 (~4,200)
- seems to have found the "sweet spot"?
- no change from #15 (~4,200) ICv2 estimates: 4,212
- no change from #14 (~4,200) ICv2 estimates: 4,240
- down ~100 from #13 (~4,300) ICv2 estimates: 4,263
- ICv2 estimates show a small decline of about two dozen readers per issue
- sold about as well as the reorders for X-Men: Deadly Genesis #1
- Rank #220: Maze Agency #2 (~3,100)
- down ~1,200 (-27.91%)
- mentioned on the forums when it was solicited
- Rank #247: PS238 #14 (~2,000)
- down ~100 (-4.76%)
- sold about the same at the reorders for Prelude to Infinite Crisis
- good book, check it out
- Rank #264: Surrogates #4 (~1,500)
- down ~200 (-11.76%) from #2
- #3 didn't seem to make the charts
- #3 shipped in 2005-12 so it sold less than ~1,700
- Rank #285: Metadocs Type A #1 (~1,200)
- not good opening numbers
- Rank #289: Atomika #6 (~1,200)
- down ~3,500 (-74.47%) from #5
TRADES
- Rank #12: Essential Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Vol. 1 (~4,600)
- hard to go wrong with this classic reference series
- great price ($16.99)
- lack of color unfortunate but works
- might make for good source of black and white images for potential color artists to play with
- Rank #52: Watchmen (~1,500)
- Rank #99: Crisis on Infinite Earths (~800)
OTHER TRENDS
Covers
- Alex Ross covers on JSA 73-81
- JSA 73 had a ~6,700 copies bump from 72
- series is hovering between ~51,000 to 55,000 copies per issue from 73-81
- series was hovering between ~41,000 to 45,000 copies per issue before that
- JSA 73-75, 77 = Day of Vengeance tie-in
- JSA 76 = OMAC project tie-in
- JSA 78-80 = Infinite Crisis tie-in
- JSA 82 = Infinite Crisis tie-in
- JSA 68 & 69 also had an Alex Ross cover and a bump in sales
