2014-03-21

Observations on Feb. 2014 Diamond GN Chart - Marvel

In terms of new book releases, Marvel generally has about two to three dozen books come out a month, and is usually the most prolific publisher in the direct market. February was about average, with 28 new books on Diamond's Top 300. Dividing them into a few broad groups for easy digestion (you'll find I like dividing stuff into groups)...

They're mostly committed to publishing some form of collected editions of their entire mainstream super-hero line, though sometimes an especially low selling and/or quickly cancelled book will slip between the cracks. More than half of what they publish collects recently published (within the last two years) serialized comics. The formats seem pretty chaotic to me, maybe there's a method to them, but some books get quick thin hardcovers (collecting 4-6 issues, only SAVAGE WOLVERINE this month) followed within a year by softcovers (AVENGERS tops that list this month), some books (even a few better selling ones) go straight to softcover (SUPERIOR FOES). It seems if something does especially well the softcover is eventually followed by an oversized hardcover, collecting two or more of the thinner books (DEADPOOL BY POSEHN AND DUGGAN, DAREDEVIL BY MARK WAID). Big events (INFINITY this month) usually get big $75 hardcovers first, which include key crossovers, followed by smaller books which collect only the main story.

INFINITY HC : 3388 copies
AVENGERS TP VOL 01 AVENGERS WORLD : 2637 copies
DEADPOOL BY POSEHN AND DUGGAN HC VOL 01 : 2168 copies
SUPERIOR FOES SPIDER-MAN TP VOL 01 GETTING BAND BACK : 2111 copies
IRON MAN TP VOL 01 BELIEVE : 2012 copies
CAPTAIN AMERICA TP VOL 01 CASTAWAY DIMENSION Z BOOK 1 : 1996 copies
NOVA TP VOL 01 ORIGIN NOW : 1876 copies
SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN TEAM UP TP VERSUS : 1519 copies
SCARLET SPIDER TP VOL 04 INTO GRAVE : 1387 copies
DAREDEVIL BY MARK WAID HC VOL 02 : 1286 copies
UNCANNY AVENGERS TP VOL 01 RED SHADOW : 1267 copies
SAVAGE WOLVERINE PREM HC VOL 02 HANDS ON DEAD BODY : 1258 copies
SECRET AVENGERS TP VOL 02 ILIAD : 1242 copies
FEARLESS DEFENDERS TP VOL 02 MOST FAB FIGHTING TEAM OF ALL : 1195 copies
ULTIMATE COMICS X-MEN BY BRIAN WOOD TP VOL 03 : 1119 copies
INFINITY TP HEIST HUNT : 1059 copies

If there's still perceived demand for a book after a long run by a particular creator, they're likely to get a creator-branded (usually just the writer(s) as few Marvel comics keep consistent artists for long runs) "Complete Collection" softcover or series of softcovers generally collecting between 12 and 20 issues at a time, depending on how long the run was. These were previously branded as "Ultimate Collections" until 2013.

SHE-HULK BY SLOTT TP VOL 01 COMPLETE COLLECTION : 1256 copies
JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY BY GILLEN TP VOL 01 COMPLETE COLL : 1170 copies
X-FORCE BY KYLE AND YOST COMPLETE COLLECTION TP VOL 01 : 1088 copies



And then there are reprints of even older material. This list tends to be heavily influenced by whatever is on deck in the movies, so this month we get a lot of Cap books. The STAR LORD reprint ties in with the upcoming GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY movie, and is Marvel's best selling book on the list, but is also an $8 publication without an ISBN which could just as easily have been classified as Marvel's lowest book on the comics chart where it would have been #340.5 (and where, for example, the also $8 reprint DC COMICS PRESENTS HARLEY QUINN was at #124 this month, selling 15,587 copies).

Also in this category are Marvel's three regular reprint lines, the hardcover Masterworks, the softcover Masterworks and the Epic Collections, each currently publishing one volume a month (the softcover Masterworks for February seems to have shipped to at least some stores in March and didn't make the chart).

STAR LORD ANNIHILATION CONQUEST : 3430 copies
CAPTAIN AMERICA WINTER SOLDIER HC : 1542 copies
CAPTAIN AMERICA TP LIVING LEGEND : 1526 copies
MMW DEFENDERS HC VOL 04 : 1048 copies
X-MEN HC PHALANX COVENANT : 879 copies
CAPTAIN AMERICA EPIC COLLECTION TP DAWNS EARLY LIGHT TP : 866 copies
GOLDEN AGE CAPTAIN AMERICA OMNI HC VOL 01 : 769 copies

In the "everything else" catch-all, we have the creator owned SECRET SERVICE, not doing as well as you'd expect  from the co-creators of WATCHMEN and KICK-ASS teaming up with a mildly successful director, but maybe waiting for the film release to really catch on, and the softcover release of a spin-off from the TV show CASTLE, which isn't going to sell in the direct market but might sell somewhere.

SECRET SERVICE TP (MR) : 1128 copies
CASTLE TP RICHARD CASTLES STORM SEASON : 643 copies

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