We’re back with the second part of my breakdown as to how DC’s New 52 venture is doing. Last week, I took a much more subjective view on the whole exercise, looking at how my pull list has dramatically decreased in size and my thoughts as to why (hint: the comics really aren’t that great).
This week, we’re going to get much more objective, looking the cold hard sales facts with a little subjectivity thrown in the mix because that’s just a whole lot more fun.
Before we get to that, a few notes about the data.
1. All data is taken from John Jackson Miller’s most excellent site Comichron
2. All of the data is as accurate as we can get without getting into the world of actual Diamond orders. We don’t have that, so we use these sales estimates – but they are at least consistent!
3. No reorders are factored into these sales. These are strictly first month orders.
Now, on with the show! Find all the gritty details after the jump.
Before we start jumping into the serious nitty gritty, let’s talk about how the whole endeavor has been trending.
Let’s just say…downwards.
As you can see above, the total sales started at 3,370,440 #1 comics sold for the whole of the New 52. Since then, the total has dipped to 2,029,419 at issue #6, which represents a decrease of 39.79% since that first issue. A substantial amount, without a doubt, but when you dig deeper, you can see that the downward trend is improving after a couple catastrophic months. Check out the month-to-month decreases below to see what I mean.
Between #1 and #2: Decrease of 5.02%
Between #2 and #3: Decrease of 17.40%
Between #3 and #4: Decrease of 15.09%
Between #4 and #5: Decrease of 4.10%
Between #5 and #6: Decrease of 5.75%
After pretty large drops in months 2 and 3, things have started to normalize a bit. What could the reasons be for that? I have some ideas: retailers not wanting to put too much stock in issues 3 and 4 when readers tend to start turning more heavily away from books in that timeframe; DC retailer incentives being more favorable early on; retail store incentives for readers focusing mostly on getting as many as they can onboard up front.
There are plenty of ideas, but either way, after a period of rapid decline, things are looking to stabilize a bit now. I’m guessing DC is pretty happy about that indeed.
Getting smaller…
When you start drilling down a bit, you start to notice some interesting tidings in terms of the decline in sales for the New 52.
Now take a guess…which book has had the lowest percentage decline since its first issue? I bet I could give you 26 guesses and you wouldn’t get it. Why?
Because it’s Tony Daniel’s “Detective Comics.”
This Batman-centric book is the only book whose sales have decreased by less than 10% since the first issue, dropping a comparatively tiny 8.68% since month one. Not only that, but it has followed the oddest trend I can even imagine for the sales of a comic. Actually, trend isn’t even the right word. Trends imply some sort of pattern. It hasn’t followed one.
Detective’s sales jumped up more than 7,000 after the first issue, saw 10k+ losses months three and four, jumped up by nearly 10k month five, and, finally, dropped by about 5,000 this latest month. I’d share a chart, but it’s pointless: just imagine a roller coaster.
Besides the oddity that is “Detective Comics,” the other smaller decreases are easier to predict. The increasingly fan beloved (and oft maligned before) “Aquaman” was #2, less than 4% behind ‘Tec. Breakout hit “Animal Man” was the third lowest percentage decrease and the smallest overall sales drop. Flagship title “Justice League” has carried substantial (and undeserved) buzz into the #4 spot, only dropping 20.99% so far. Bringing up fifth is David Finch’s “Batman: The Dark Knight,” proving once again that Batman comics are recession proof…just like Bruce Wayne.
Continued belowAnd smaller still…
Now for the bad side.
On one end, you have the biggest percentage decrease titles, which are easy to predict. Four of the five largest decreases in percentage are already canceled (the dominant “Blackhawks” (70%+ decrease!!!), “Mister Terrific,” “Men of War,” and “Static Shock”), while the fifth is the assuredly soon-to-join “Captain Atom.”
Then you have the really crazy decrease. The total sales decrease, not percentage decrease.
Here’s my favorite title to look at: Grant Morrison’s “Action Comics.”
Say what you will about this book (my take: it’s not very good after a very promising start), but when it launched, it was huge. It had the second highest month one orders of anything, with 182,748 total issues distributed by Diamond.
Since that first month, its sales have dropped by more than 86,000 units.
Think about that. That is an insane drop off, with its audience nearly halving since launch.
Now think about this. The amount of unit sales “Action” has dropped since its (new) inception are more total comics than any DC comic sold in the month before the relaunch, as well as 46,000+ more than what the issue of “Action” sold that month.
In short, yeah, sure. Sales are dropping in a precipitous fashion. But just because of that doesn’t mean DC isn’t ecstatic about where they are now rather than where they were.
What it all means
Subjectively, I shared last week that DC’s New 52 at a half year is suffering creatively and it is causing me to drop books like they’re a bad habit. But I also shared that I’m still buying way more DC than I was before.
Objectively, I shared this week that sales are way down from launch. Scary down in a lot of places. But I also shared that they are in a far healthier place than they were before.
As much as I want to be a naysayer about all of this New 52 business, I’m still finding it hard to really kill DC for their decision. Six months in, you’ve got to call a spade a spade: DC’s New 52 is still a successful venture, and something that warranted the hard decision that they made.
I just hope that between now and their next relaunch that they start increasing the quality of the books. But what do I know? They’re the ones that held every spot in the top ten in February.
