Sales Review: January 2018

The numbers for January sales are out and posted over on ICv2. Here is a link:
https://icv2.com/articles/markets/view/39601/top-300-comics-january-2018

It is the usual combination of gloom and doom and interesting tidbits. DC and Marvel seemed to be in dead heat, splitting most sales and most dollars. DC took 6 of the top ten but that was Doomsday Clock or all-Batman.

But we are here to talk about Supergirl sales.

And Supergirl panic ...

Supergirl #17, by Orlando, Houser, Rocha, and Henriques,  came out last week.

It continued the new approach of Supergirl, hiding from the DEO and struggling with high school issues, all while trying to be a hero.

Since the ending of the Fatal Five story arc, which in retrospect felt a little rushed, things have been clicking for the book. Add to that the Stanley 'Art Germ' Lau variant covers and it feels like the book was on an upturn.

This issue sold 26,466 units. It put her at #78. It is nestled between Suicide Squad and Justice League of America. I can't imagine either of those books being on watch for cancellation.

And with these sales, Supergirl shouldn't be either. Now these numbers are down from last issue, which sold 28,540. And this is down from the first Artgerm cover book which sold north of 31K.

But these numbers should be healthy.

And yet ...

We know that Brian Michael Bendis is taking over the Superman books in a couple of months. And there is an almost John Byrne feel to this takeover. The main Superman books are going on hiatus. A weekly mini-series called Man of Steel is being out out. So there is a big shake-up.

And then we heard from Artgerm that the cover for Supergirl #20 is his last cover.

And thennnn last week, Steve Orlando put out a long-ish tweet thread talking about how much he loves writing Supergirl, how proud he is of the title, and how much he loves Kara and her character. He ends it with 'we're still going strong' but it seems all like a 'I'm leaving soon'.

Is the book being cancelled? Is there a new creative team coming on board? Is Bendis going to diminish Supergirl's role?

Long term Supergirl fans have plenty of baked-in anxiety. So suddenly it all seems worrisome.

Fire up a flare DC. Give us some info!!!

Posted in: Reviews