Observations on March 2014 Comics Chart - Second Issue Falls

Notable changes (always negative) for second issues on the March comics chart. I wrote about the launches for most of these last month, with predictions on where I thought the sales would head. In most cases I was too optimistic. Format is:

TITLE (PUB) : Percentage drop including re-orders for #1 (drop without reorders) : Sales of second issue

TUROK DINOSAUR HUNTER (DE) : -66% (-63% without re-orders) : 11.3k
That's a pretty massive fall, even bigger than I expected, which was already high ("maybe over 50%"). Doesn't speak well for the future of Dynamite's Gold Key line, unless they can stem the bleeding quickly.

ONE HIT WONDER (IMA) : -45% : 5.4k
BUNKER (ONI) : -45% (-24% without re-orders) : 7.9k
CITY THE MIND IN THE MACHINE (IDW) : -44% : 2.3k
Kind of some oddly high drops. Sometimes these smaller books end up with their shipments split across months, maybe that's the case here. We'll see with future issues if this is a trend.

NEW WARRIORS (MAR) : -43% : 26k
FANTASTIC FOUR (MAR) : -43% : 37.6k

A typical Marvel drop these days, it's more surprising that the other second issues from Marvel this month didn't fall as much. For comparison, last time Marvel did an FF #2 it sold 58k, and the last NEW WARRIORS #2 was at 46k, so both of these are doing substantially worse.

APOCALYPSE AL (IMA) : -43% : 8k
REVENGE (IMA) : -42% : 10.1k
FUSE (IMA) : -38% : 9.9k
UNDERTOW (IMA) : -38% : 9.2k

Most of the mid-range Image launches of last month, all falling around around the same amount. I said before "I'd expect at least a 20-25% range drop for #2 on each", so I guess I was overly optimistic. I still expect at least one of these to quickly level off and perhaps start gaining sales soon.

ROYALS MASTERS OF WAR (DC) : -38% : 7.9k
That's a much bigger fall for this Vertigo mini-series than I was expecting. I predicted before it would be down around 7k by the last issue, so I'll have to revise that to 5k.

LOKI AGENT OF ASGARD (MAR) : -37% (-33% without re-orders) : 28k
LOKI RAGNAROK & ROLL (BOO) : -35% : 2.7k

Kind of funny that the two Loki books are falling almost in lockstep, with one at 10% of sales of the other.

SHE-HULK (MAR) : -36% : 26.7k
MS MARVEL (MAR) : -33% (-24% without re-orders) : 38.4k

X-FORCE (MAR) : -30% : 33.1k

More on-going Marvels, not falling quite as fast as most recent ones. MS MARVEL is the only one with enough re-orders on #1 to chart, so it's the most likely to stabilize quickly, maybe at the 30k level.

TOMB RAIDER (DAR) : -26% : 13.6k

About the drop I expected, and it might settle down around 10k. For comparison, the last time there was a TOMB RAIDER #2, published by Image in 1999, it sold over 105k.

WOLVERINE AND X-MEN (MAR) : -26% : 40.4k
On one hand, a better than normal Marvel drop (from the first issue also out in March). On the other hand, the last time a book had this title, way back in 2011, the second issue sold 83k.

GFT ASCENSION (ZEN) : -25% : 4k
GHOST (DAR) : -24% : 7.4k
WHITE SUITS (DAR) : -24% : 3.8k
TERMINATOR ENEMY OF MY ENEMY (DAR) : -23% : 4.7k
MERCENARY SEA (IMA) : -21% : 8.5k
WINTER SOLDIER BITTER MARCH (MAR) : -20% : 24.8k
DEXTER DOWN UNDER (MAR) : -19% : 10.7k
This is pretty much the standard range for a second issue drop until recently, so not too shabby. It'll be a few issues before we know if these can stabilize at a sustainable level, for those that aren't mini-series.

ELFQUEST FINAL QUEST (DAR) : -15% : 8.4k
Dropped a bit more than I expected, I figured retailers would think at this point that the people who are still in for buying ELFQUEST in serialized form are there, but I guess it's been long enough since there was an ELFQUEST series that there's not much history to go on.

SANDMAN OVERTURE (DC) : -14% (-4% without re-orders) : 89.7k
Held onto the initial orders for the first issue remarkably well, with the larger drop only because that first issue continued to sell well in re-orders in the long gap between issues (plus the "Special Edition" uncoloured version sold well, over 14k, not counted here). Might still be over 75k by the final issue, which might be out in 2015 if they pick up the pace a bit.

LEGENDS DARK KNIGHT 100 PAGE SUPER SPECTACULAR (DC) : -11% : 9.9k
Not bad for a $10 quarterly anthology of material already published digitally.

KING CONAN CONQUEROR (DAR) : -12% : 8.5k

GFT WONDERLAND CLASH OF QUEENS (ZEN) : -10% : 6.1k

LOBSTER JOHNSON GET LOBSTER (DAR) : -7% : 7.7k
About as small as a drop on a #2 can get. HELLBOY spin-offs, CONAN minis and random Zenescope stuff are pretty much known quantities at this point, so retailers know to order a few extra of #1 for the browsers and samplers and adjust for a modest drop after that..