Observations on June 2014 Comics Chart - Second Issue Drops

Always one of the first things I look at in the new chart, the drops on the second issues. And as usual, all of them were drops, though one came close to staying even. The average drop remains just over 30%.

RAI #2 (VAL) - down 54%
29.1k to 13.4k
Pretty typical for Valiant, especially when they make the first issue returnable. Should still remain above average for a Valiant book for a few more issues.

MADAME FRANKENSTEIN #2 (IMA) - down 52%
9.8k to 4.7k
A much higher than normal fall for an Image book these days, not sure why.

CHAOS #2 (DE) - down 47%
19.5k to 10.4k
Hard to believe that the Chaos line of comics was actually a pretty major seller in the 1990s (though primarily with the character Lady Death, not included in this revival). I don't expect any of the books in the line (and it looks like a lot of them are coming up) will be able to maintain sales higher than 10k.

LITTLEST PET SHOP #2 (IDW) - down 44%
8.2k to 4.6k


ORDINARY #2 (TIT) - down 40%
2.7k to 1.7k


BRASS SUN #2 (REB) - down 38%
2.8k to 1.7k


MPH #2 (IMA) - down 38%
35.6k to 21.9k


BEE AND PUPPYCAT #2 (BOO) - down 38%
12.2k to 7.6k


PATHFINDER CITY SECRETS #2 (DE) - down 35%
7.1k to 4.6k


COWL #2 (IMA) - down 35%
20.9k to 13.6k


CYCLOPS #2 (MAR) - down 34%
47.5k to 31.1k


NAILBITER #2 (IMA) - down 33%
22.7k to 15.2k


WOODS #2 (BOO) - down 33%
13.9k to 9.4k


DEADLY HANDS OF KUNG FU #2 (MAR) - down 32%
19.3k to 13.1k


DREAM POLICE #2 (IMA) - down 31%
11.8k to 8.1k
This is about an average second issue drop in 2014, so anything below this is doing relatively okay, if they stabalize quickly.

CLIVE BARKERS NIGHTBREED #2 (BOO) - down 27%
7.8k to 5.7k


UNITED STATES OF MURDER INC #2 (MAR) - down 27%
18.5k to 13.6k
Still well above the 10k that the long running POWERS from the same creators manages.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 1.x #2 (MAR) - down 26%
116.6k to 86.3k
Still doing much better than it would be if it was an independently named and numbered mini-series.

GFT WARLORD OF OZ #2 (ZEN) - down 25%
7.8k to 5.8k


DEJAH OF MARS #2 (DE) - down 24%
7.1k to 5.4k


SHEENA #2 (MOO) - down 23%
3.9k to 3k


TREES #2 (IMA) - down 20%
31.9k to 25.5k
According to the writer final orders on this were just over 30k, which makes sense when you adjust for returnability and UK sales. There were also reportedly substantial re-orders for #1, but not enough to make the Top 300, which is all Diamond reported this month. Decent enough retention of first issue orders.

MILES MORALES ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #2 (MAR) - down 17%
45.9k to 38.2k
Held on to more of those first issue numbers than I expected it to, based on other Marvel launches, and especially recent Ultimate line launches.

ORIGINAL SINS #2 (MAR) - down 9%
39.7k to 36.1k
Spin-off to the ORIGINAL SIN crossover, the first issue was also in June. Selling less than half the parent book, which isn't that great, but at least maintaining those numbers.

STAR WARS DARTH MAUL SON OF DATHOMIR #2 (DAR) - down 7%
17.1k to 15.8k
One of the last Dark Horse STAR WARS comics before they lose the license. Looks like retailers had a good idea of the market for that.

JUSTICE LEAGUE UNITED #2 (DC) - down 2%
64.2k to 62.9k
As already discussed, a beneficiary of DC's variant cover scheme this month. Most of the books got more than a 30% bump instead of their usual 2-3% drop. Without the variant, this probably would have been down below 50k, lower than any issue of the JLA title it replaced.