Comic Book Page: The Mayo Report: 2006-07

Mayo Report for 2006-07

Mayo Report: 2006-07
podcast episode

We talked for about the July 2006 sales estimates for 40 minutes or so this minute around.

Below are the rough notes I put together in preparation for the podcast. I've added linked to the charts for the titles mentioned. I use these notes as a guide for the podcast be we never cover all of the titles I have in the notes and we frequently discuss many other things that I don't have in my notes.

And, as an experiement, I decided to let a few people send in some questions about the numbers. Click here to read those questions and my humble attempts to answer them. I'm undecided if I'll do this again or not. It was fun but it was also a lot of work...

Top Comics List Top Comics Breakdown Top Trades List Top Trades Breakdown

2006-07 IndexPointValue:

CBG = ~1,135.51

Up about ~370.22 from 2006-06 (~765.29)

ICv2 = ~1,135.67

Up about ~370.42 from 2006-06 (~765.25)

General Comments

Over half the comics in the top 300 either held their ground or lost sales from the previous issue
Half of the comics in the top 300 came out on time and 18 came out early. 60 were late and my database doesn't have the expected shipping date for the other 72.
Just under half (149) of the comics on the top 300 list were from Marvel and DC.

MARKET SHARES

Marvel

Comic book units: 47.79% (3,531,000)
Comic book dollars: 48.41% ($10,950,254.00)

Comic book units: 39.43% (2,913,500)
Comic book dollars: 37.85% ($8,560,562.00)

Image

Comic book units: 2.89% (213,600)
Comic book dollars: 3.26% ($737,352.00)

Dark Horse

Comic book units: 2.71% (200,300)
Comic book dollars: 2.45% ($555,714.00)

Comic book units: 1.68% (124,700)
Comic book dollars: 1.81% ($410,603.00)

COMICS

Top 300 Comics (~7,387,200)

Up about ~398,800.0 (5.70%) from 2006-06 (~6,988,400)

1 titles sold over 200,000 copies

Civil War #3 (~290,700)

13 titles sold between 100,000 and 199,999 copies

Justice League of America #0 (~162,400)
New Avengers #22 (~124,600)
52 #11 (~122,000)
Batman #655 (~113,600)
Amazing Spider-Man #534 (~113,500)
Civil War Front Line #3 (~111,400)
Wolverine Origins #4 (~110,800)
Civil War X-Men #1 (~106,100)
Wolverine #44 (~105,200)
Uncanny X-Men #475 (~104,000)
Civil War Front Line #4 (~103,100)
52 #9 (~102,100)
52 #10 (~100,800)

9 titles had more than one new issue released this month

52 (4 issues released)
Civil War Front Line (2 issues released)
Gi Joe Americas Elite (2 issues released)
JLA Classified (2 issues released)
Second Wave War of the Worlds (2 issues released)
Supergirl (2 issues released)
Superman/Batman (2 issues released)
Uncanny X-Men (2 issues released)
X-Men (2 issues released)

MARVEL

New Items: 70, Reorder Items: 17, Total Items: 87

Minimum Cover Price: $2.95, Average Cover Price: $3.21, Maximum Cover Price: $5.99

Rank #1: Civil War #3 (~290,700)

Top selling title for Marvel
Down about ~9,300 (-3.10%) from #2 (~300,000)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 2
There is no question that Marvel has a huge hit with Civil War
Anybody know when the next issue comes out? :P

Rank #28: Eternals #2 (~74,200)

Down about ~33,900 (-31.36%) from #1 (~108,100)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 1
Much bigger second issue drop than I was expecting

I'll admit that I got this because everybody was talking about it when it was listed in Previews

I wasn't expecting too much as I'm not a big Eternals fan
I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected too

Rank #31: Black Panther #18 (~69,900)

Up about ~41,900 (149.64%) from #17 (~28,000)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 58 Same: 0 More: 8
Huge upswing in sales for this issue

It will probably drop right back down with the next

Rank #33: X-Factor #9 (~68,800)

Up about ~3,700 (5.68%) from #8 (~65,100)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 9 Same: 0 More: 22
This issue actually came outa week early�

Rank #38: Cable Deadpool #30 (~56,800)

Up about ~31,400 (123.62%) from #29 (~25,400)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 25 Same: 0 More: 0
And the magic of the Civil War tie-in sales bumps continues�

Rank #49: Civil War #2 (~46,100)

Reorder activity
A reorder ranking in the top 50� wow�

If this isn't a clear indication the Civil War is a huge hit, I don't know what would be

Rank #56: Annihilation Silver Surfer #4 (~39,200)

WatchList: Event: Annihilation
Down about ~2,400 (-5.77%) from #3 (~41,600)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 3

Rank #67: Annihilation Nova #4 (~35,200)

WatchList: Event: Annihilation
Down about ~1,500 (-4.09%) from #3 (~36,700)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 3

Rank #72: Annihilation Super Skrull #4 (~33,600)

WatchList: Event: Annihilation
Down about ~2,000 (-5.62%) from #3 (~35,600)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 3

Rank #78: Annihilation Ronan #4 (~31,700)

WatchList: Event: Annihilation
Down about ~1,400 (-4.23%) from #3 (~33,100)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 3

Rank #83: She-Hulk 2 #9 (~29,900)

Down about ~28,100 (-48.45%) from #8 (~58,000)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 5 Same: 0 More: 3
And the sales drop back down after the Civil War tie-in

Rank #99: Powers #19 (~23,200)

Down about ~400 (-1.69%) from #18 (~23,600)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 3 Same: 0 More: 37
This issue was 16 weeks late�

Rank #101: Spider-Girl #100 (~22,700)

Up about ~4,800 (26.82%) from #99 (~17,900)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 34 Same: 0 More: 65
Big bump in sales for the magic number 100

Should be interesting to see how the relaunch works out

Rank #107: Thing #8 (~20,400)

Up about ~800 (4.08%) from #7 (~19,600)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 2 Same: 0 More: 5
And the irony is that the sales went up on the last issue�

The last four issue on this title were all around 20,000 or so (19,6000 to 20,600) which isn't too bad.
Given a little more support from Marvel, this could have grown into an good ongoing title.
The Thing has a solo series, a team-up series and even a cartoon series in the past. The character has proven that it is marketable.

This might have found an audience if it was given a little bit longer and if the events were at least referenced occassionally in the Fantastic Four title

Rank #115: Marvel Team-Up #22 (~17,900)

WatchList: Robert Kirkman
Down about ~500 (-2.72%) from #21 (~18,400)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 21

Rank #124: Amazing Spider-Man #533 (~15,700)

Reorder activity
Significant reorder activity on Civil War

Rank #125: Civil War Front Line #2 (~15,600)

Reorder activity
Significant reorder activity on Civil War

Rank #129: Wolverine #42 (~15,100)

Reorder activity
Significant reorder activity on Civil War

Rank #130: Civil War #1 (~15,000)

Reorder activity
Significant reorder activity on Civil War

Rank #146: Thunderbolts #103 (~12,800)

Reorder activity
Significant reorder activity on Civil War

Rank #148: Fantastic Four #538 (~12,000)

Reorder activity
Significant reorder activity on Civil War

New Items: 79, Reorder Items: 9, Total Items: 88

Minimum Cover Price: $1.00, Average Cover Price: $2.94, Maximum Cover Price: $6.99

Rank #2: Justice League of America #0 (~162,400)

Top selling title for DC
Good starting numbers for this relaunch

Over twice what JLA ended at
Will drop for the second issue but probably stay about 90,000 or more

Rank #4: 52 #11 (~122,000)

WatchList: Event: 52
Up about ~21,200 (21.03%) from #10 (~100,800)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 7 Same: 0 More: 4
This saw a noticable bump, presumably because of the Batwoman appearance

Without the Batwoman appearance, this probably would have sold around 99,700 copies or so based on the trend for the series.

Rank #5: Batman #655 (~113,600)

Up about ~35,000 (44.53%) from #654 (~78,600)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 111 Same: 0 More: 11
Good bump up with the new creative team

Rank #13: 52 #9 (~102,100)

WatchList: Event: 52
Down about ~6,700 (-6.16%) from #8 (~108,800)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 2 Same: 0 More: 9
This title seems to be following the standard slow decent of most ongoing titles

Rank #14: 52 #10 (~100,800)

WatchList: Event: 52
Down about ~1,300 (-1.27%) from #9 (~102,100)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 1 Same: 0 More: 10
Fairly minor drop on this issue

Rank #16: 52 #12 (~98,700)

WatchList: Event: 52
Down about ~23,300 (-19.10%) from #11 (~122,000)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 11
This looks like a major drop compared to issue #11 but puts the title back on track from where it had been without the bump caused by the Batwoman appearance.

Rank #18: Superman/Batman #28 (~92,600)

Up about ~85,500 (1204.23%) from #25 (~7,100)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 4 Same: 0 More: 13

Rank #21: Supergirl #7 (Res) (~85,200)

Down about ~17,600 (-17.12%) from #6 (~102,800)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 77 Same: 0 More: 6
This issue was 12 weeks late after being resolicited�

It was originally schedule to ship on 3/8/06

This is the first issue by Greg Rucka so Jeph Loeb can't really be blamed for this one

Rank #25: Flash Fastest Man Alive #2 (~77,500)

Down about ~47,200 (-37.85%) from #1 (~124,700)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 1
A major drop but an expected one

This title will probably drop a bit more before finding its level

Rank #41: Ion #4 (~50,000)

WatchList: Event: Infinite Crisis Aftermath
Down about ~1,700 (-3.29%) from #3 (~51,700)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 3

Rank #42: All New Atom #1 (~50,000)

Solid start for a new title

Rank #58: Crisis Aftermath Spectre #3 (~38,800)

WatchList: Event: Infinite Crisis Aftermath
Down about ~4,600 (-10.60%) from #2 (~43,400)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 2

Rank #61: Crisis Aftermath Battle For Bludhaven #6 (~37,100)

WatchList: Event: Infinite Crisis Aftermath
Down about ~5,100 (-12.09%) from #5 (~42,200)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 5

Rank #63: Shadowpact #3 (~36,300)

WatchList: Event: Infinite Crisis Aftermath
Down about ~3,700 (-9.25%) from #2 (~40,000)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 2

Rank #68: Checkmate #4 (~34,700)

WatchList: Event: Infinite Crisis Aftermath
Down about ~2,900 (-7.71%) from #3 (~37,600)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 3

Rank #134: Manhunter #24 (~14,600)

WatchList: Cancelled, Extended
Down about ~900 (-5.81%) from #23 (~15,500)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 12 Same: 0 More: 11
Manhunter is still dropping.

Hopefully the relaunch marketing push will help this title

Rank #228: Flash Fastest Man Alive #1 (~4,300)

Reorder activity
Interesting to see reorder activity for this title

Rank #244: 52 #8 (~3,700)

Reorder activity
WatchList: Event: 52
The reorder activity on 52 is important because it tells us that the numbers from last month were solid and returns weren't a factor

Rank #269: 52 #7 (~2,400)

Reorder activity
WatchList: Event: 52
The reorder activity on 52 is important because it tells us that the numbers from last month were solid and returns weren't a factor

Rank #295: 52 #6 (~1,700)

Reorder activity
WatchList: Event: 52
The reorder activity on 52 is important because it tells us that the numbers from last month were solid and returns weren't a factor

IMAGE

New Items: 28, Reorder Items: 1, Total Items: 29

Minimum Cover Price: $1.95, Average Cover Price: $3.38, Maximum Cover Price: $5.99

Rank #70: Witchblade #100 (~33,800)

Top selling title for Image
Up about ~19,300 (133.10%) from #99 (~14,500)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 52 Same: 1 More: 40
Top selling Image title for July is Witchblade #100

"Magic numbers" like 100 frequently help sales

This issue sold well over twice the previous issue
Next issue should be back in line with previous sales

Rank #105: Walking Dead #29 (~20,400)

WatchList: Robert Kirkman
Up about ~300 (1.49%) from #28 (~20,100)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 28 Same: 0 More: 0
Second highest selling title of Image in July

Is Walking Dead becoming a flagship title for Image?

The sales on this title have been slowly increasing over time. This isn't something caused by sales gimmick bumps but are presumably due to good storytelling

Rank #116: Spawn #158 (~17,700)

Down about ~8,600 (-32.70%) from #157 (~26,300)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 20 Same: 0 More: 104
Interesting that Spawn is now being outsold by multiple cancelled Marvel titles like Thing #8 and Marvel Team-Up #22
And, at Image, it was outsold by Walking Dead #29

Rank #194: She Dragon #1 (~6,400)

This issues was an amazing 75 weeks late and was originally solicited in December 2004.

Why wasn't this issue cancelled and resolicited?

Rank #225: Casefiles Sam & Twitch #24 (~4,500)

Down about ~200 (-4.26%) from #23 (~4,700)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 23
This issue was 27 weeks late�

Rank #227: Sidekick #2 (~4,500)

Down about ~3,200 (-41.56%) from #1 (~7,700)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 1
Very harsh second issue drop

Rank #255: Strange Girl #9 (~3,100)

Up about ~300 (10.71%) from #8 (~2,800)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 1 Same: 0 More: 7
This issue was 15 weeks late�

Rank #256: Hawaiian Dick Last Resort #4 (~2,800)

Down about ~300 (-9.68%) from #3 (~3,100)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 3
This issue was 29 weeks late�

Rank #262: Revved #1 (~2,700)

This shipped 5 week early�

DARK HORSE

New Items: 11, Reorder Items: 1, Total Items: 12

Minimum Cover Price: $1.00, Average Cover Price: $2.82, Maximum Cover Price: $2.99

Rank #102: Escapists #1 (~21,700)

This is selling much better than the Michael Chabon Presents Adventures of the Escapist series which sold between 3,200 and 8,800 units.

OTHER PUBLISHERS

Rank #195: Snakewoman #1 (~6,400)

Not bad starting numbers for a new title from a new publisher
This issue shipped a week early
It will be interesting to see if the Virgin Comics titles go up or down in the future

Presumably the North American direct market sales are not the main source of income for these titles
No data is currently available to me on how these titles are doing in India which seems to be the primary market for them

Rank #204: Devi #1 (~5,900)

Not bad starting numbers for the first comics from a new publisher
This issue shipped a week early

Rank #224: Zoom Suit #3 (~4,600)

Down about ~1,400 (-23.33%) from #2 (~6,000)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 2
This title is still dropping.

Looks like it isn't as big of a hit as it first looked like

Rank #236: Sadhu #1 (~3,900)

Much lower sales on this title than the other Virgin Comics titles
This issue shipped a week early

Rank #237: Mouse Guard #1 (~3,900)

Reorder activity
WatchList: CGS Indie Challenge: ???
More reorder activity on Mouse Guard

Rank #247: Hero Squared Ongoing #2 (~3,300)

Down about ~700 (-17.50%) from #1 (~4,000)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 0 More: 1
Not a good sign

I hope this book sticks around and finds an audience

Rank #248: Shark-Man #1 (~3,300)

WatchList: CGS Indie Challenge: June 2006
Not bad numbers for a new indy title

Rank #257: Black Plague One Shot # (~2,800)

WatchList: CGS Indie Challenge: April 2006
This was a really good read. I think that this has a lot of potential.

Rank #258: Mouse Guard #2 (~2,800)

Reorder activity
WatchList: CGS Indie Challenge: ???
More reorder activity on Mouse Guard

Rank #281: Lost Squad #5 (~2,000)

Unchanged from #2 (~2,000)
Number of new issues (since 1996-09) that sold:
Less: 0 Same: 1 More: 1
This issue shipped 21 weeks late...
Issue #3 and #4 didn't make it onto the top 300 list and therefore must have sold less than 2,600 and 2,800 copies respectively

Rank #296: Revere #1 (~1,700)

WatchList: CGS Indie Challenge: April 2006
These aren't bad numbers for an Alias title.
But, as somebody that has done some research in the past on publishing comics, I honestly don't understand how any comic can survive at this level. When I run the profit/loss numbers for publishing a comic, I have a hard time getting it to breakeven at 10,000 copies much less 1,700.

Don't get me, wrong, I'm glad that they can and do as some titles need a little time to build an audience.
If you can make money at this level, more power to you. I hope that this is just one of the many advantages of being a smaller press.

TRADES

Rank #1: Fables Vol. 7 Arabian Nights & Days (~10,700, Total Sales: ~10,700)

Top selling trade for Dark Horse
Nice to see Fables at the top of the chart

Rank #2: Halo Graphic Novel HC (~10,500, Total Sales: ~10,500)

This is one of the very few original content trades (OCTs?)

Rank #24: Walking Dead Vol. 1 HC (~3,500, Total Sales: ~3,500)

Good starting numbers

Should be interesting to see how/if this impats sales of the first two trades

Rank #41: Ultimates Vol. 2 Homeland Security (~2,400, Total Sales: ~19,200)

The Ultimate line seems to have better long term sales than the mainstream Marvel Univese line

Rank #52: Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 11 Carnage (~1,900, Total Sales: ~10,300)

The Ultimate Spider-Man trades seems to be strong long term sellers

Rank #66: Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 8 Cats & Kings (~1,700, Total Sales: ~11,400)

The Ultimate Spider-Man trades seems to be strong long term sellers

Rank #78: Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 9 Ultimate Six (~1,500, Total Sales: ~12,000)

The Ultimate Spider-Man trades seems to be strong long term sellers

Rank #81: Watchmen (~1,500, Total Sales: ~27,200)

WatchList: Book of the Month: March 2006

Rank #86: Walking Dead Vol. 1 Days Gone Bye (~1,400, Total Sales: ~42,800)

WatchList: Robert Kirkman, Book of the Month: August 2005
Once again, Walking Dead v1 is on the charts

Rank #88: Y The Last Man Vol. 7 Paper Dolls (~1,400, Total Sales: ~13,500)

This trade seems to be selling well

Rank #91: Walking Dead Vol. 4 Hearts Desire (~1,300, Total Sales: ~20,100)

WatchList: Robert Kirkman
Once again, Walking Dead v4 is on the charts

Rank #98: Walking Dead Vol. 3 Safety Behind Bars (~1,300, Total Sales: ~22,600)

WatchList: Robert Kirkman
Once again, Walking Dead v3 is on the charts