Sales Review: October 2013

Sales figures for October have been released and, as always, I like ICv2's coverage of the market. Here is the link to the top 300 comics from last month: http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/27180.html



I have really hammered DC Comics recently on the direction of their universe, their missteps with classic characters, and their poor understanding of some of their audience. Well, DC Comics can laugh at me. Because last month, DC got, by a whisker, the biggest share of the market. In a business where dollars are everything, that trumps any whining I might do. At least in the short term, and with 'events', gimmicks, and variants puffing things up, DC's dark universe sells.



So go ahead and fire your rotten tomatoes at me DC. Maybe I don't get it.

Last month' Supergirl #24 was the last issue of the Michael Alan Nelson 'era' on the book. Zor-El recreated Supergirl, keeping her body and psyche intact, and allowed her to escape by becoming the Cyborg Superman again.



The issue ended with the I'noxian collective telling Kara to find happiness. We knew that Tony Bedard was on the book the next issue. Things seemed to be looking up.

Unfortunately sales remain in a tail spin. Just around 1500 fewer copies of this comic were sold. Maybe the Villains' Month pause, where there was no Supergirl issue, was a good jumping off point (as I feared). Of course, the comic has continued to crush Supergirl, getting darker and grimmer and sadder.



As I have said before Supergirl fans don't typically want a Dark Supergirl. And fans of Dark characters don't want to read Supergirl. The sales numbers don't lie.



Will a Red Lantern Supergirl continue to fall?



I will point out that My Little Pony outsold Supergirl. I think MLP knows its audience. The primary creators add some humor and nuance for the older readers. It is a high quality all ages book. And it sells.

And what about the other super-book reeling under some creative uncertainty?



Superboy #24 completed Kon's battle with the Psycho Pirate. It was a wild story but with a high school Superboy which was umpteenth rethinking of the character. Who is/was this Superboy?

No surprise that this book also seems to be plummeting in sales. At 18K in sales, the book seems to be on life support unless the villain-led Jon Lane Kent book catches fire. Of course, I won't be there. So sales will go down by one.



I should stop doing these sales reviews as they are depressing. It is clear that the Bat books and big name books continue to flourish while the periphery of the universe seems to struggle.



I worry that 6 months from now Supergirl will be below 20K in sales and then I'll be talking about cancellation.

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