Please refer to the July 2015 column for a preamble and explanation as to why sales standards for Image books are likely to be different than those for DC or Marvel.
Image shipped a whopping 59 comics in March, compared to 49 in February, 45 in January, 47 in December, 48 in November, 55 in October and 52 in September. They shipped 52 in March 2016.
Warning: The commentary below may contain reasoned analysis, speculation (unfounded and otherwise), opinion, and/or snark. Those looking for a more straightforward analysis are directed to John Jackson Miller's excellent Comichron analysis, posted earlier this month over at Comichron!
Please consider the fine print at the end of the column.
(Note that the percentage comparisons are done with total orders including reorder activity, as opposed to initial orders.)
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9 - THE WALKING DEAD ($2.99) 03/2007: The Walking Dead #36 -- 21,291 03/2012: The Walking Dead #95 -- 33,916 03/2013: The Walking Dead #108 -- 67,426 03/2014: The Walking Dead #123 -- 64,460 [64,691] 03/2014: The Walking Dead #124 -- 64,659 [64,712] 03/2015: The Walking Dead #138 -- 66,778 [67,008] 03/2015: The Walking Dead #139 -- 67,349 [69,652] ----------------------------------------- 03/2016: The Walking Dead #152 -- 67,258 (- 0.2%) 04/2016: The Walking Dead #153 -- 67,358 (+ 0.1%) 05/2016: The Walking Dead #154 -- 68,922 (+ 2.3%) 06/2016: The Walking Dead #155 -- 71,755 (+ 4.1%) 07/2016: The Walking Dead #156 -- 76,355 (+ 6.4%) 08/2016: The Walking Dead #157 -- 97,689 (+ 37.0%) [104,596] 09/2016: The Walking Dead #158 -- 94,316 (- 9.8%) 10/2016: The Walking Dead #159 -- 91,291 (- 3.2%) 11/2016: The Walking Dead #160 -- 88,367 (- 3.2%) 12/2016: The Walking Dead #161 -- 85,459 (- 3.3%) 01/2017: The Walking Dead #162 -- 85,395 (- 0.1%) 02/2017: The Walking Dead #163 -- 750,000 (+778.3%) ** 02/2017: The Walking Dead #164 -- 83,999 (- 88.8%) 03/2017: The Walking Dead #165 -- 70,422 (- 16.2%) ----------------- 6 months: - 25.3% 1 year : + 4.7% 2 years : + 3.1% 5 years : +107.6% 10 years: +230.8%Walking Dead has dropped variant covers for the time being, so this would be closer to its natural sales level, and is in line with where it was selling before it began its run of variants. In other words, while sales have been ebbing and flowing over the past year with variants and pricing stunts, actual readership in the floppies remains relatively stable.
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77 - REBORN ($3.99) 10/2016: Reborn #1 -- 74,967 11/2016: Reborn #2 -- 41,484 (- 44.7%) 12/2016: Reborn #3 -- 36,718 (- 11.5%) 01/2017: Reborn #4 -- 31,102 (- 15.3%) 02/2017: -- 03/2017: Reborn #5 -- 30,721 (- 1.2%)Stabilizes for its final (for now) issue. There continue to be variants with each issue.
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81 - PAPER GIRLS ($2.99) 03/2016: -- 04/2016: -- 05/2016: -- 06/2016: Paper Girls #6 -- 36,385 (- 2.2%) 07/2016: Paper Girls #7 -- 35,392 (- 2.7%) 08/2016: Paper Girls #8 -- 33,731 (- 4.7%) 09/2016: Paper Girls #9 -- 32,320 (- 4.2%) 10/2016: Paper Girls #10 -- 32,119 (- 0.6%) 11/2016: -- 12/2016: -- 01/2017: -- 02/2017: Paper Girls #11 -- 30,562 (- 4.8%) 03/2017: Paper Girls #12 -- 29,047 (- 5.0%) ----------------- 6 months: - 10.1% 1 year : n.a.No need to panic, but one would like to see the percentage drops be a bit less...
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102 - ROYAL CITY ($4.99) 03/2017: Royal City #1 -- 24,597The new comic from Jeff Lemire has a decent debut, especially considering its $5 price tag. There was a a Women's History Month variant cover.
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105 - KILL OR BE KILLED ($3.99) 08/2016: Kill or Be Killed #1 -- 30,050 09/2016: Kill or Be Killed #2 -- 23,812 (- 20.8%) 10/2016: Kill or Be Killed #3 -- 23,883 (+ 0.3%) 11/2016: Kill or Be Killed #4 -- 22,889 (- 4.2%) 12/2016: -- 01/2017: Kill or Be Killed #5 -- 21,261 (- 7.1%) 02/2017: Kill or Be Killed #6 -- 26,312 (+ 23.8%) 03/2017: Kill or Be Killed #7 -- 22,957 (- 12.8%) ----------------- 6 months: - 12.4%Without last month's Image Tribute Variant cover, KobK drops back down to normal (though slightly above issue #5).
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109 - RAT QUEENS ($3.99) 03/2014: -- 03/2015: Rat Queens #9 -- 14,425 --------------------------------- 03/2016: Rat Queens #15 -- 11,997 (- 3.8%) 04/2016: -- 05/2016: Rat Queens #16 -- 12,092 (+ 0.8%) 06/2016: -- 07/2016: -- 08/2016: -- 09/2016: -- 10/2016: -- 11/2016: -- 12/2016: -- 01/2017: -- 02/2017: -- 03/2017: Rat Queens #1 -- 22,461 (+ 85.7%) ----------------- 6 months: n.a. 1 year : + 87.2% 2 years : + 55.7%It's rare for an Image series to start over with a new #1, but in Rat Queens' case it seems entirely reasonable to do so. There were multiple covers, including a Women's History Month variant, and a second printing came along in April.
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123 - I HATE FAIRYLAND ($3.50) 03/2016: -- 04/2016: -- 05/2016: -- 06/2016: I Hate Fairyland #6 -- 26,095 (+ 5.3%) 07/2016: I Hate Fairyland #7 -- 23,742 (- 9.0%) 08/2016: I Hate Fairyland #8 -- 22,562 (- 5.0%) 09/2016: I Hate Fairyland #9 -- 21,265 (- 5.7%) 10/2016: I Hate Fairyland #10 -- 20,534 (- 3.4%) 11/2016: -- 12/2016: -- 01/2017: -- 02/2017: -- 03/2017: I Hate Fairyland #11 -- 18,606 (- 9.4%) ----------------- 6 months: - 12.5% 1 year : n.a.Returns for its third story arc, down from where the previous ended five months ago.
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128 - OLD GUARD ($3.99) 02/2017: Old Guard #1 -- 23,867 03/2017: Old Guard #2 -- 17,991 (- 24.6%)A typical second issue drop, even with a Women's History Month variant. There was a 2nd printing of #1, though it didn't chart (and a 2nd printing of issue #2 dropped in early May).
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130 - EXTREMITY ($3.99) 03/2017: Extremity #1 -- 17,917The new series from Daniel Warren Johnson has a decent debut. There was a 2nd printing in April and a 3rd printing in May.
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131 - OUTCAST BY KIRKMAN & AZACETA ($2.99) 03/2015: Outcast #7 -- 38,077 [38,574] ------------------------------ 03/2016: Outcast #17 -- 21,426 (- 1.7%) 04/2016: Outcast #18 -- 21,261 (- 0.8%) 05/2016: -- 06/2016: -- 07/2016: Outcast #19 -- 22,167 (+ 4.3%) 08/2016: Outcast #20 -- 21,919 (- 1.1%) 09/2016: Outcast #21 -- 20,886 (- 4.7%) 10/2016: Outcast #22 -- 20,347 (- 2.6%) 11/2016: Outcast #23 -- 19,556 (- 3.9%) 12/2016: -- 01/2017: Outcast #24 -- 18,520 (- 5.3%) 02/2017: Outcast #25 -- ?????? 03/2017: Outcast #26 -- 17,820 ----------------- 6 months: - 14.7% 1 year : - 16.8% 2 years : - 52.8%Last month's 25 cent stunt doesn't appear to have moved the sales needle at all going forward.
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130 - EAST OF WEST ($3.99) 03/2013: East of West #1 -- 49,518 [54,470] 03/2014: East of West #10 -- 28,853 03/2015: East of West #18 -- 23,080 ----------------------------------- 03/2016: -- 04/2016: East of West #25 -- 19,297 (+ 4.5%) 05/2016: East of West #26 -- 17,645 (- 8.6%) 06/2016: East of West #27 -- 18,146 (+ 2.8%) 07/2016: East of West #28 -- 17,019 (- 6.2%) 08/2016: East of West #29 -- 16,613 (- 2.4%) 09/2016: -- 10/2016: -- 11/2016: -- 12/2016: East of West #30 -- 15,635 (- 5.9%) 01/2017: -- 02/2017: East of West #31 -- 16,964 (+ 8.5%) 03/2017: East of West #32 -- 16,281 (- 4.0%) ----------------- 6 months: n.a. 1 year : n.a. 2 years : - 29.5%There was a Women's History Month variant, mitigating the drop from last month's Image Tribute variant.
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151 - SPAWN ($2.99) 03/2007: Spawn #165 -- 24,519 03/2012: Spawn #217 -- 12,686 03/2013: Spawn #229 -- 16,355 03/2014: Spawn #241 -- 11,766 03/2015: Spawn Resurr #1 -- 29,787 [32,746] ---------------------------------- 03/2016: -- 04/2016: Spawn #262 -- 18,775 (+ 10.8%) 05/2016: Spawn #263 -- 16,109 (- 14.2%) 06/2016: -- 07/2016: Spawn #264 -- 17,157 (+ 6.5%) 08/2016: Spawn #265 -- 15,927 (- 7.2%) 09/2016: -- 10/2016: Spawn #266 -- 22,304 (+ 40.0%) 11/2016: Spawn #267 -- 16,976 (- 23.9%) 12/2016: Spawn #268 -- 16,652 (- 1.9%) 01/2017: Spawn #269 -- 16,257 (- 2.4%) 02/2017: Spawn #270 -- 15,778 (- 2.9%) 03/2017: Spawn #271 -- 15,517 (- 1.7%) ----------------- 6 months: n.a. 1 year : n.a. 2 years : - 52.6% 5 years : + 22.3% 10 years: - 36.7%---
156 - GOD COUNTRY ($3.99) 01/2017: God Country #1 of 6 -- 14,322 [19,357] 02/2017: God Country #2 of 6 -- 17,701 (- 8.6%) 03/2017: God Country #3 of 6 -- 15,321 (- 13.4%)Multiple covers, and so far there have been four printings of issue #2, three of #2, and two of #3.
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157 - MOONSHINE ($2.99) 10/2016: Moonshine #1 -- 34,533 [41,012] 11/2016: Moonshine #2 -- 20,217 (- 50.7%) 12/2016: Moonshine #3 -- 17,574 (- 13.1%) 01/2017: Moonshine #4 -- 15,664 (- 10.9%) 02/2017: Moonshine #5 -- 14,561 (- 7.0%) 03/2017: Moonshine #6 -- 15,289 (+ 5.0%)In addition to the regular two covers, issue #6 adds a Women's History Month variant for a little boost.
So far no additional issues are on the schedule, though the trade collection is labelled as 'Volume 1' so Azzarello & Risso are likely planning to come back at some point.
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161 - THE WICKED + THE DIVINE ($3.99) 03/2015: Wicked + Divine #9 -- 20,360 -------------------------------------- 03/2016: -- 04/2016: Wicked + Divine #18 -- 17,722 (- 4.1%) 05/2016: Wicked + Divine #19 -- 16,929 (- 4.4%) 06/2016: Wicked + Divine #20 -- 17,831 (+ 5.3%) 07/2016: Wicked + Divine #21 -- 16,283 (- 8.7%) 08/2016: Wicked + Divine #22 -- 15,969 (- 1.9%) 09/2016: W + D 1831 one-shot -- 16,408 (+ 2.7%) 10/2016: -- 11/2016: Wicked + Divine #23 -- 15,238 (- 7.1%) 12/2016: Wicked + Divine #24 -- 14,666 (- 3.8%) 01/2017: Wicked + Divine #25 -- 14,164 (- 3.4%) 02/2017: Wicked + Divine #26 -- 15,651 (+ 10.5%) 03/2017: Wicked + Divine #27 -- 14,589 (- 6.8%) ----------------- 6 months: - 11.1% 1 year : n.a. 2 years : - 28.3%There was a Women's History Month variant (as well as a regular variant), mitigating a smidge the drop from last month's Image Tribute variant.
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165 - DESCENDER ($3.99) 03/2015: Descender #1 -- 61,910 [71,989] -------------------------------- 03/2016: Descender #11 -- 18,842 (- 2.6%) 04/2016: -- 05/2016: -- 06/2016: Descender #12 -- 19,782 (+ 5.0%) 07/2016: Descender #13 -- 17,783 (- 10.1%) 08/2016: Descender #14 -- 17,296 (- 2.7%) 09/2016: Descender #15 -- 16,386 (- 5.3%) 10/2016: Descender #16 -- 15,963 (- 2.6%) 11/2016: -- 12/2016: Descender #17 -- 15,296 (- 4.2%) 01/2017: Descender #18 -- 14,526 (- 5.0%) 02/2017: Descender #19 -- 15,753 (+ 8.4%) 03/2017: Descender #20 -- 13,974 (- 11.3%) ----------------- 6 months: - 14.7% 1 year : - 25.8% 2 years : - 80.6%No variant this month.
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169 - LOW ($3.99) 03/2015: -- -------------------------- 03/2016: Low #12 -- 14,494 (- 3.0%) 04/2016: Low #13 -- 13,956 (- 3.7%) 05/2016: -- 06/2016: Low #14 -- 13,903 (- 0.4%) 07/2016: -- 08/2016: Low #15 -- 12,955 (- 6.8%) 09/2016: -- 10/2016: -- 11/2016: -- 12/2016: -- 01/2017: -- 02/2017: -- 03/2017: Low #16 -- 13,478 (+ 4.0%) ----------------- 6 months: n.a. 1 year : - 7.0% 2 years : n.a.Returns from its hiatus up a bit, thanks to multiple variants, including a Women's History Month variant.
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174, 261 - SEX CRIMINALS ($3.50/$4.69) 03/2014: Sex Criminals #5 -- 22,593 03/2015: -- -------------------------- 03/2016: -- 04/2016: Sex Criminals #15 -- 25,937 (- 1.9%) 05/2016: -- 06/2016: -- 07/2016: -- 08/2016: -- 09/2016: -- 10/2016: -- 11/2016: -- 12/2016: -- 01/2017: -- 02/2017: Sex Criminals #16 -- 22,494 (- 13.3%) 03/2017: Sex Criminals #17 -- 19,020 (- 15.4%) ----------------- 6 months: n.a. 1 year : n.a. 2 years : n.a.Combined sales for the regular and XXX variants.
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179 - LAZARUS ($3.99) 03/2014: Lazarus #7 -- 20,150 03/2015: -- ------------------------------ 03/2016: -- 04/2016: -- 05/2016: -- 06/2006: Lazarus #22 -- 14,177 (+ 5.9%) 07/2006: Lazarus #23 -- 12,300 (- 13.2%) 08/2006: Lazarus #24 -- 12,098 (- 1.6%) 09/2016: -- 10/2006: Lazarus #25 -- 11,922 (- 1.5%) 11/2016: -- 12/2016: -- 01/2017: -- 02/2017: -- 03/2017: Lazarus #26 -- 12,348 (+ 3.6%) ----------------- 6 months: n.a. 1 year : n.a. 2 years : n.a.Gets a little boost from a Women's History Month variant.
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185 - CURSE WORDS ($3.99) 01/2017: Curse Words #1 -- 18,162 02/2017: Curse Words #2 -- 15,248 (- 16.0%) 03/2017: Curse Words #3 -- 12,116 (- 20.5%)Just a normal variant this time.
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188 - INVINCIBLE ($2.99) 03/2007: -- 03/2012: -- 03/2013: Invincible #101 -- 15,540 03/2014: Invincible #109 -- 12,748 03/2015: Invincible #118 -- 46,292 ---------------------------------- 03/2016: -- 04/2016: Invincible #127 -- 12,038 (- 3.2%) 05/2016: Invincible #128 -- 11,982 (- 0.5%) 06/2016: Invincible #129 -- 12,510 (+ 4.4%) 07/2016: -- 08/2016: Invincible #130 -- 11,921 (- 4.7%) 09/2016: -- 10/2016: -- 11/2016: Invincible #131 -- 11,579 (- 2.9%) 12/2016: -- 01/2017: -- 02/2017: Invincible #132 -- 11,505 (- 0.6%) 02/2017: Invincible #133 -- ?????? 03/2017: Invincible #134 -- 11,605 ----------------- 6 months: n.a. 1 year : n.a. 2 years : - 74.9% 5 years : n.a. 10 years: n.a.---
201 - UNDERWINTER ($3.99) 03/2017: Underwinter #1 -- 10,555The new horror series from Ray Fawkes launches with two covers.
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207 - DEADLY CLASS ($3.99) 03/2014: Deadly Class #3 -- 18,536 03/2015: -- ----------------------------------- 03/2016: Deadly Class #19 -- 10,440 (- 0.4%) 04/2016: Deadly Class #20 -- 10,366 (- 0.7%) 05/2016: -- 06/2016: Deadly Class #21 -- 10,892 (+ 5.1%) 07/2016: -- 08/2016: -- 09/2016: Deadly Class #22 -- 9,865 (- 9.4%) 10/2016: -- 11/2016: Deadly Class #23 -- 9,215 (- 6.6%) 11/2016: Deadly Class #24 -- 8,757 (- 5.0%) 12/2016: Deadly Class #25 -- 8,567 (- 2.2%) 01/2017: -- 02/2017: Deadly Class #26 -- 9,760 (+ 13.9%) 03/2017: Deadly Class #27 -- 9,339 (- 4.3%) ----------------- 6 months: - 5.3% 1 year : - 10.5% 2 years : n.a.Start of a new story arc, with three covers!
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211 - MOTOR CRUSH ($3.99) 12/2016: Motor Crush #1 -- 21,801 01/2017: Motor Crush #2 -- 12,643 (- 42.0%) 02/2017: Motor Crush #3 -- 9,757 (- 22.8%) 03/2017: Motor Crush #4 -- 9,071 (- 7.0%)The first three issues were returnable, but this one was not. It does however sport a Women's History Month variant to go along with its other two covers.
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212 - INJECTION ($2.99) 03/2016: Injection #8 -- 11,855 (- 4.8%) 04/2016: Injection #9 -- 11,433 (- 3.6%) 05/2016: -- 06/2016: Injection #10 -- 11,771 (+ 3.0%) 07/2016: -- 08/2016: -- 09/2016: -- 10/2016: -- 11/2016: -- 12/2016: -- 01/2017: -- 02/2017: -- 03/2017: Injection #11 -- 9,052 (- 23.1%) ----------------- 6 months: n.a. 1 year : - 23.6%Out of sight, out of mind.
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225 - MAGDELENA ($3.99) 03/2012: Magdalena #11 -- 5,176 04/2012: -- 05/2012: Magdalena #12 -- 4,978 -------------------------------- 03/2017: Magdalena #1 -- 7,567 (+ 52.0%)The Top Shelf character returns in a new series with a Women's History Month variant. Don't get too used to seeing this in the top 300 chart...
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237 - GREEN VALLEY ($2.99) 10/2016: Green Valley #1 of 9 -- 16,091 11/2016: Green Valley #2 of 9 -- 9,713 (- 39.6%) 12/2016: Green Valley #3 of 9 -- 8,219 (- 15.4%) 01/2017: Green Valley #4 of 9 -- 7,553 (- 8.1%) 02/2017: Green Valley #5 of 9 -- 7,187 (- 4.8%) 03/2017: Green Valley #6 of 9 -- 7,204 (+ 0.2%)Stabilizing?
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240 - MANIFEST DESTINY ($2.99) 03/2014: Manifest Destiny #5 -- 14,152 03/2015: -- --------------------------------------- 03/2016: -- 04/2016: -- 05/2016: Manifest Destiny #19 -- 9,900 (- 5.7%) 06/2016: Manifest Destiny #20 -- 9,399 (- 5.1%) 07/2016: Manifest Destiny #21 -- 8,763 (- 6.8%) 08/2016: Manifest Destiny #22 -- 8,526 (- 2.7%) 09/2016: Manifest Destiny #23 -- 8,039 (- 5.7%) 10/2016: Manifest Destiny #24 -- 7,815 (- 2.8%) 11/2016: -- 12/2016: -- 01/2017: Manifest Destiny #25 -- 7,403 (- 5.3%) 02/2017: Manifest Destiny #26 -- 9,007 (+ 21.7%) 03/2017: Manifest Destiny #27 -- 7,028 (- 22.0%) ----------------- 6 months: - 12.6% 1 year : n.a. 2 years : n.a.No variant this month.
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246 - BIRTHRIGHT ($2.99) 03/2015: -- --------------------------------- 03/2016: Birthright #15 -- 9,344 (- 1.8%) 04/2016: -- 05/2016: -- 06/2016: Birthright #16 -- 9,015 (- 3.5%) 07/2016: Birthright #17 -- 8,264 (- 8.3%) 08/2016: Birthright #18 -- 8,146 (- 1.4%) 09/2016: Birthright #19 -- 7,832 (- 3.9%) 10/2016: Birthright #20 -- 7,567 (- 3.4%) 11/2016: -- 12/2016: -- 01/2017: Birthright #21 -- 7,147 (- 5.6%) 02/2017: Birthright #22 -- 7,025 (- 1.7%) 03/2017: Birthright #23 -- 6,756 (- 3.8%) ----------------- 6 months: - 13.7% 1 year : - 27.7% 2 years : n.a.---
247 - HEAD LOPPER ($5.99) 03/2016: Head Lopper #3 of 4 -- 7,494 (- 14.4%) 04/2006: -- 05/2006: -- 06/2016: Head Lopper #4 of 4 -- 7,928 (+ 5.9%) 07/2016: -- 08/2016: -- 09/2016: -- 10/2016: -- 11/2016: -- 12/2016: -- 01/2017: -- 02/2017: -- 03/2017: Head Lopper #5 -- 6,736 (- 15.1%) ----------------- 6 months: n.a. 1 year : - 10.1%Guess it wasn't finished after all. Maybe the trade sales were good?
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249 - NAILBITER ($2.99) 03/2015: -- -------------------------------- 03/2016: -- 04/2016: -- 05/2016: Nailbiter #21 -- 8,196 (- 2.1%) 06/2016: Nailbiter #22 -- 8,477 (+ 3.4%) 07/2016: Nailbiter #23 -- 7,938 (- 6.4%) 08/2016: Nailbiter #24 -- 7,780 (- 2.0%) 09/2016: Nailbiter #25 -- 7,474 (- 3.9%) 10/2016: -- 11/2016: Nailbiter #26 -- 7,239 (- 3.1%) 12/2016: Nailbiter #27 -- 6,989 (- 3.5%) 01/2017: Nailbiter #28 -- 6,666 (- 4.6%) 02/2017: Nailbiter #29 -- 6,574 (- 1.4%) 03/2017: Nailbiter #30 -- 6,560 (- 0.2%) ----------------- 6 months: - 12.2% 1 year : n.a. 2 years : n.a.Final issue.
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253 - COPPERHEAD ($3.99) 03/2015: -- --------------------------------- 10/2015: Copperhead #10 -- 8,662 (- 4.3%) --------------------------------- 03/2016: -- 04/2016: -- 05/2016: -- 06/2016: -- 07/2016: -- 08/2016: -- 09/2016: -- 10/2016: -- 11/2016: -- 12/2016: -- 01/2017: -- 02/2017: -- 03/2017: Copperhead #11 -- 6,369 (- 26.5%) ----------------- 6 months: n.a. 1 year : n.a. 2 years : n.a.Nearly a year and a half between issues means people aren't going to remember you exist.
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265 - THE FEW ($4.99) 01/2017: The Few #1 of 6 -- 10,571 02/2017: The Few #2 of 6 -- 8,431 (- 20.2%) 03/2017: The Few #3 of 6 -- 6,067 (- 28.0%)No variant this month.
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276 - THE BEAUTY ($3.99) 03/2016: -- 04/2016: -- 05/2016: The Beauty #7 -- 9,178 (- 13.4%) 06/2016: The Beauty #8 -- 9,577 (+ 4.3%) 07/2016: The Beauty #9 -- 8,340 (- 12.9%) 08/2016: -- 09/2016: The Beauty #10 -- 7,986 (- 4.2%) 10/2016: The Beauty #11 -- 7,210 (- 9.7%) 11/2016: -- 12/2016: -- 01/2017: -- 02/2017: The Beauty #12 -- 6,179 (- 14.3%) 03/2017: The Beauty #13 -- 6,067 (- 1.8%) ----------------- 6 months: - 24.0% 1 year : n.a.---
289 - BLACK ROAD ($3.99) 04/2016: Black Road #1 -- 16,572 05/2016: Black Road #2 -- 10,131 (- 38.9%) 06/2016: Black Road #3 -- 10,484 (+ 3.5%) 07/2016: Black Road #4 -- 7,292 (- 30.4%) 08/2016: Black Road #5 -- 6,912 (- 5.2%) 09/2016: -- 10/2016: -- 11/2016: -- 12/2016: -- 01/2017: Black Road #6 -- 5,748 (- 16.8%) 02/2017: Black Road #7 -- 5,340 (- 7.1%) 03/2017: Black Road #8 -- 5,030 (- 5.8%) ----------------- 6 months: n.a.---
297 - LOOSE ENDS ($3.99) 01/2017: Loose Ends #1 of 4 -- 10,847 02/2017: Loose Ends #2 of 4 -- 5,858 (- 46.0%) 03/2017: Loose Ends #3 of 4 -- 4,912 (- 16.1%)---
Image titles shipping but not making the Top 300 in March (cutoff at 4,812) include: Casanova, Circuit Breaker, Eclipse, Elephantmen, Hadrian's Wall, Horizon, Invisible Republic, Island, Mayday, Mirror, No Mercy, Planetoid Praxis, Postal, Ringside, Rockstars, Savage Dragon, She Wolf, Shutter, Spread, Stray Bullets, Think Tank, Throwaways, Violent Love.
Note that this doesn't necessarily mean that any of them are in danger of being cancelled; there are many reasons that the creators of these books may desire to keep them going.
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The Fine Print (Disclaimers, et cetera)
The numbers above are estimates for comic-book sales in the North American direct market, as calculated by ICv2.com according to the chart and index information provided by Diamond Comic Distributors.
ICv2.com's estimates are somewhat lower than the actual numbers, but they are consistent from month to month, so the trends they show are fairly accurate. Since it's a "month-to-month" column, the comments, unless otherwise noted, are on the most recent month.
Bear in mind that the figures measure sales of physical comics to retailers, not customers. Also, these numbers do not include sales to bookstores, newsstands, other mass-market retail chains or the United Kingdom. Re-orders are included, so long as they either reached stores in a book's initial calendar month of release or were strong enough to make the chart again in a subsequent month. Keep in mind that sales for some titles may include incentives to acquire variants and not every unit sold is necessarily even intended to be sold to a customer.
If additional copies of an issue did appear on the chart after a book's initial calendar month of release, you can see the total number of copies sold in brackets behind those issues (e.g. "[36,599]"). Should more than one issue have shipped in a month which is relevant for one of the long-term comparisons, the average between them will be used.
Titles which are returnable have their numbers artificially adjusted down by Diamond. To make up for that this column increases the reported numbers for those titles by 10%. Which is likely also wrong, but it's a different and likely less wrong kind of wrong, and experience has shown that this leads to sales figures which are more consistent.
Image is not a normal comics publisher, and the typical metrics for sales success may not apply. For many titles, collection sales tend to be a significant factor, so the numbers for those books should be taken with a grain of salt as well.
Please keep in mind that raw sales numbers do not tell us about how profitable a book is for a publisher or for the creators.
Above all, do not allow sales numbers to dictate your purchasing and enjoyment of a particular comic. If you enjoy reading a comic series then go right on buying and reading that comic, no matter what the sales figures say.
** Two asterisks after a given month in the average charts mean that one or more periodical release did not make the Top 300 chart in that month. In those cases, it's assumed that said releases sold as many units as the No. 300 comic on the chart for that month for the purposes of the chart, although its actual sales are likely to be less than that.
Opinions expressed in this column are mine alone, and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer, Heidi MacDonald or anyone at The Comics Beat, The National Organization of Rheumatology Managers, or my former neighbor's dog Miles.
The author of this column does weekly snapshots of Amazon comic sales charts at http://yetanothercomicsblog.blogspot.com/ and tweets about comics and related subjects on Twitter at @davereadscomics (PM me there if you need to contact me).
As always, we welcome your comments and corrections below. Please try to keep things civilized.
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