By David Carter

Greetings, sales charts fans! It’s time once again to look at DC’s sales figures.

With Convergence now in the rearview mirror, the DCU returned to normal as returning series picked back up where they left off, and some twenty new series debuted, the largest number of debuts in one month since the New 52 kicked off back in September 2001. So, not really normal after all. DC game this slate of new titles the monicker “Divergence,” meant to signify a broadening away from the house style that typified the New 52 era, both in terms of art styles and types of stories being told.

Several of the new series are limited run, others are reboots of existing series (with varying degrees of change from their previous instances), while still others are meant to be new ongoing series.

The results, sales-wise, are a bit of a mixed bag. While all of the new #1s came in over the 30K mark, if things follow typical sales patterns those in the lower end may quickly find themselves in cancellation land. Of course, the purpose of trying out new books intended to appeal to an overall broader audience is to try and break those old patterns. If you design comics meant to appeal to more than the typical Wednesday DCU diehard, you may need to look for those sales elsewhere, such as digital or trade collections, and show some patience for buzz and word-of-mouth to build. So it will be interesting to see not only where the sales go with these new titles, but also how DC reacts to those sales, and just how much of an influence the non-traditional sales channels have on the process.

A few words about sales incentives this month: Every DCU title (except for one: Batgirl) had a variant cover this month. The new titles all had incentive variants (meaning that retailers could order a special variant cover for every X number of regular covers they ordered), while returning titles have freely-orderable variants celebrating the 75th anniversary of The Joker. This means that many titles which never before had freely-orderable variants got one this month, while Batgirl, which usually has a freely-orderable variant, didn’t. Thus we have an opportunity to peek into the effects of the freely-orderable variants on base sales, and it is not insignificant. Those adding a f.o.v. saw sales ruse over their March numbers around 5 to 6K, while Batgirl dropped about 8K. Given the sales numbers we’re talking about here, these are not insignificant, around 20 to 30% of the total sales for each title.

Additionally, all of the new titles (except for JLA) were returnable (along with Justice League #41). This means that Diamond adjusted their sales levels down for reporting purposes, so in the long-standing tradition of this column we’ve adjusted them up by 10% (see the fine print at the end of this post for an explanation of why this is done). This means that the sales rank order has been adjusted as well, so you’ll find many titles in a slightly different place in the order than you may have seen if you just looked at the charts with the raw numbers.

And finally: price increases. With little fanfare, DC increased the price of many of its long-running titles from $2.99 to $3.99 this month, including Flash, Green Lantern, Harley Quinn and Aquaman. This was also true of several Vertigo titles, where it appears that $3.99 is to be the new normal.

Where does all of this leave us, sales wise? The average sales for all of DC were at 35K, better than the mid- to upper-20K range (for non-event months) that has typified that metric for the past couple of years. They also shipped fewer titles (sixty-seven) than in any month since I started tracking these charts (back in Jan 2014). I’ve long half the belief that flooding the market with titles depresses sales for individual titles across the board (especially in the mid-tier), so getting the number of titles down to a reasonable level is an admirable goal.

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. Thanks to Milton Griepp and ICv2.com for the permission to use their figures. An overview of ICv2.com’s estimates can be found here.

(Note that the percentage comparisons are now done with total orders including reorder activity, as opposed to initial orders as was the practice of this column under the previous administration.)

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4 - JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA ($5.99) 06/2005: JLA #115 -- 95,375 06/2010: JL of America #46 -- 62,754 06/2011: JL of America #58 -- 45,442 06/2012: -- 06/2013: JL of America #5 -- 71,793 ------------------------------ ------- 05/2014: JL of America #14 -- 51,351 ------------------------------ ------- 06/2015: JL of America #1 -- 150,845 (+193.8%) ----------------- 2 years : +110.1% 5 years : +140.4% 10 years: + 58.2%

Even with a $6 cover price, the new Hitchified JLA was DC’s top seller of the first month of the new era. In addition to a Joker variant there were also variants for each of the seven League members, which no doubt contributed to the sales success (though note that unlike most of the other new series this month, JLA was not returnable).

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5 - BATMAN ($3.99) 06/2005: Batman #641 -- 67,208 06/2010: Batman #700 -- 104,755 06/2011: Batman #711 -- 53,113 06/2012: Batman #10 -- 130,265 06/2013: Batman #21 -- 142,088 [156,845] ------------------------------ - 06/2014: Batman #32 -- 130,077 (+ 19.2%) 07/2014: Batman #33 -- 117,996 (- 9.3%) 08/2014: Batman #34 -- 112,186 (- 4.9%) 09/2014: Futures End #1 -- 142,980 (+ 27.4%) 10/2014: Batman #35 -- 118,860 (- 16.9%) 11/2014: Batman #36 -- 115,183 (- 3.1%) 12/2014: Batman #37 -- 113,255 (- 1.7%) 01/2015: Batman #38 -- 110,232 (- 2.7%) 02/2015: Batman #39 -- 118,106 (+ 7.1%) 03/2015: -- 04/2015: Batman #40 -- 131,128 (+ 31.8%) [155,690] 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Batman #41 -- 142,155 (- 8.7%) ----------------- 6 months: + 33.2% 1 year : + 15.8% 2 years : - 3.8% 5 years : + 44.0% 10 years: +124.4%

Sales for the all-new all-different Batman are up 11K from the first-month sales of issue #40, but down from the combined sales of all printings. Given that a combination of factors will likely cause a decent-sized drop in next-month’s JLA sales we can expect Batman to return to the top of the DC sales perch in July.

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9 - JUSTICE LEAGUE ($3.99) 06/2005: JLA #115 -- 95,375 06/2010: JL of America #46 -- 62,754 06/2011: JL of America #58 -- 45,442 06/2012: Justice League #10 -- 130,502 06/2013: Justice League #21 -- 94,054 ------------------------------ --------- 06/2014: Justice League #31 -- 75,803 (- 2.1%) 07/2014: Justice League #32 -- 88,179 (+ 16.3%) 08/2014: -- 09/2014: Justice League #33 -- 79,447 (- 9.9%) 09/2014: Futures End #1 -- 104,246 (+ 31.2%) 10/2014: Justice League #34 -- 75,400 (- 27.7%) 10/2014: Justice League #35 -- 75,264 (- 0.2%) 11/2014: Justice League #36 -- 74,796 (- 0.6%) 12/2014: Justice League #37 -- 72,081 (- 3.6%) 01/2015: Justice League #38 -- 68,989 (- 4.3%) 02/2015: Justice League #39 -- 72,904 (+ 5.7%) 03/2015: -- 04/2015: Justice League #40 -- 78,388 (+ 7.5%) 03/2015: -- 06/2015: Justice League #41 -- 97,584 (+ 24.5%) ----------------- 6 months: + 35.4% 1 year : + 28.7% 2 years : + 3.8% 5 years : + 55.5% 10 years: + 2.3%

Returnable, so the figures have been adjusted up 10% from what was reported by Diamond/ICv2. (For an explanation why this is done for returnable items, please see the fine print at the end of this post.)

The only title this month to be both returnable and have a freely-orderable Joker variant, the kick-off of the “Darkseid War” pushes up near 100K.

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23 - HARLEY QUINN & POWER GIRL ($3.99) 06/2015: HQ & PG #1 of 6 -- 71,402

Returnable, so the figures have been adjusted up 10% from what was reported by Diamond/ICv2. (For an explanation why this is done for returnable items, please see the fine print at the end of this post.)

No big surprise that the top-selling debut title for Divergence month is a mini-series featuring the popular Harley Quinn.

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24 - ROBIN, SON OF BATMAN ($3.99) 06/2005: Robin #151 -- 38,921 ------------------------------ -- 02/2009: Robin #183 -- 31,682 ------------------------------ -- 06/2015: Robin SoB #1 -- 70,505 (+122.5%) ----------------- 10 years: + 81.1%

Returnable, so the figures have been adjusted up 10% from what was reported by Diamond/ICv2. (For an explanation why this is done for returnable items, please see the fine print at the end of this post.)

Also not surprising that the Robin solo title (the first in over six years) comes in as the second best-selling debut title, just a shade under HQ’s mini.

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17 - HARLEY QUINN ($3.99) 04/2014: Harley Quinn #5 -- 63,155 (+ 0.1%) 05/2014: Harley Quinn #6 -- 62,467 (- 1.1%) 06/2014: Harley Quinn #7 -- 93,266 (+ 49.3%) 07/2014: Harley Quinn #8 -- 76,827 (- 17.6%) 08/2014: Harley Quinn #9 -- 71,522 (- 6.9%) 08/2014: Harley Quinn #10 -- 58,500 (- 18.2%) 09/2014: Futures End #1 -- 119,180 (+103.7%) 10/2014: Harley Quinn #11 -- 68,557 (- 42.5%) 11/2014: Harley Quinn #12 -- 71,245 (+ 3.9%) 12/2014: Harley Quinn #13 -- 68,102 (- 4.4%) 01/2015: Harley Quinn #14 -- 64,735 (- 4.9%) 02/2015: -- 03/2015: Harley Quinn #15 -- 66,904 (+ 3.4%) 04/2015: Harley Quinn #16 -- 72,055 (+ 7.7%) 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Harley Quinn #17 -- 68,243 (- 5.3%) ----------------- 6 months: + 5.1% 1 year : + 14.1%

The previous issue had an excess of variants, so this drop back to normal levels with just the one freely-orderable variant isn’t all that dire. Also, as of this month the regular price has jumped up to $4 from $3.

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31 - BATMAN BEYOND ($2.99) 06/2012: Unlimited #5 -- 24,058 06/2013: Unlimited #17 -- 15,464 ------------------------------ ------ 06/2014: Universe #11 -- 14,068 (+ 1.4%) 07/2014: Universe #12 -- 14,419 (+ 2.5%) 08/2014: Universe #13 -- 14,215 (- 1.4%) 09/2014: Universe #14 -- 14,061 (- 1.1%) 10/2014: Universe #15 -- 13,739 (- 2.3%) 11/2014: Universe #16 -- 13,211 (- 3.8%) 12/2014: -- 01/2015: -- 02/2015: -- 03/2015: -- 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Batman Beyond #1 -- 59,151 (+347.7%) ---------------- 6 months: n.a. 1 year : +320.5% 2 years : +282.5%

Returnable, so the figures have been adjusted up 10% from what was reported by Diamond/ICv2. (For an explanation why this is done for returnable items, please see the fine print at the end of this post.)

The top-selling $3 title for DC this month.

The previous two iterations of this title (Universe and Unlimited) were digital-first comics, but even so that’s a huge number for a character that hasn’t had a huge level of support in the recent past. But it was returnable and has Batman in the title, so retailers went fairly big on this one (for the first month at least…)

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28 - DETECTIVE COMICS ($3.99) 06/2005: Detective Comics #807 -- 38,497 06/2010: Detective Comics #866 -- 46,178 06/2011: Detective Comics #878 -- 39,152 06/2012: Detective Comics #10 -- 83,317 06/2013: Detective Comics #21 -- 65,200 ------------------------------ ---------- 06/2014: Detective Comics #32 -- 72,988 (+ 33.9%) 07/2014: Detective Comics #33 -- 62,856 (- 13.9%) 08/2014: Detective Comics #34 -- 58,812 (- 6.4%) 09/2014: Futures End #1 -- 96,081 (+ 63.4%) 10/2014: Detective Comics #35 -- 57,385 (- 40.3%) 11/2014: Detective Comics #36 -- 58,171 (+ 1.4%) 12/2014: Detective Comics #37 -- 54,953 (- 5.5%) 01/2015: Detective Comics #38 -- 51,301 (- 6.6%) 02/2015: Detective Comics #39 -- 54,698 (+ 6.6%) 03/2015: Detective Comics #40 -- 56,126 (+ 2.6%) 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Detective Comics #41 -- 57,648 (+ 2.7%) ----------------- 6 months: + 4.9% 1 year : - 21.0% 2 years : - 11.6% 5 years : + 24.8% 10 years: + 49.7%

A slight uptick, which could easily be explained by the Joker variant.

Apparently Manapul isn’t coming back on art, and a new creative team will be taking over after this arc is over.

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34 - WE ARE ROBIN ($3.99) 06/2015: We Are Robin #1 -- 57,137

Returnable, so the figures have been adjusted up 10% from what was reported by Diamond/ICv2. (For an explanation why this is done for returnable items, please see the fine print at the end of this post.)

So far the top selling debut titles are all Batman-related. So you can call it “Divergence,” but what many of the people really want is Batman-related stuff (at least as filtered through the ordering lenses of comic shop owners…)

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32 - SUPERMAN ($3.99) 06/2005: Superman #218 -- 61,515 06/2010: Superman #700 -- 67,571 06/2011: Superman #712 -- 37,362 06/2012: Superman #10 -- 59,081 06/2013: Superman #21 -- 44,285 ------------------------------ --- 06/2014: Superman #32 -- 89,140 (+155.4%) [103,508] 07/2014: Superman #33 -- 62,998 (- 39.1%) 08/2014: Superman #34 -- 56,568 (- 10.2%) 09/2014: Futures End #1 -- 77,949 (+ 37.8%) 10/2014: Superman #35 -- 53,692 (- 31.1%) 11/2014: Superman #36 -- 52,272 (- 2.6%) 12/2014: Superman #37 -- 50,383 (- 3.6%) 01/2015: -- 02/2015: Superman #38 -- 48,987 (- 2.8%) 03/2015: Superman #39 -- 50,260 (+ 2.6%) 04/2015: Superman #40 -- 52,666 (+ 4.8%) 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Superman #41 -- 53,393 (+ 1.4%) ----------------- 6 months: + 6.0% 1 year : - 48.4% 2 years : + 20.6% 5 years : - 21.0% 10 years: - 13.2%

Gene Yang makes his debut as writer, but the increase is just as likely for the Joker variant as for anything else. There is some buzz around the new “Truth” storyline running (a bit haphazardly) through the Superman titles starting this month, so there may be upward sales adjustments down the road.

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46 - STARFIRE ($2.99) 06/2015: Starfire #1 -- 50,928

Returnable, so the figures… okay, you know the drill by now.

The top debut for a non-Batman-related title. These days, Conner & Palmiotti on a female-headlining comic is pretty much a sure thing.

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37 - BATMAN/SUPERMAN ($3.99) 06/2005: Superman/Batman #20 -- 114,099 06/2010: Superman/Batman #73 -- 31,425 06/2011: Superman/Batman #85 -- 27,581 ------------------------------ -------- 06/2014: -- 07/2014: Batman/Superman #12 -- 68,345 (+ 27.7%) 08/2014: Batman/Superman #13 -- 55,954 (- 18.1%) 09/2014: Futures End #1 -- 87,339 (+ 56.1%) 10/2014: Batman/Superman #14 -- 52,270 (- 40.2%) 10/2014: Batman/Superman #15 -- 50,226 (- 3.9%) 11/2014: Batman/Superman #16 -- 48,581 (- 3.3%) 12/2014: Batman/Superman #17 -- 44,714 (- 8.0%) 01/2015: Batman/Superman #18 -- 41,750 (- 6.6%) 02/2015: Batman/Superman #19 -- 44,134 (+ 5.7%) 03/2015: Batman/Superman #20 -- 43,428 (- 1.6%) 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Batman/Superman #21 -- 49,204 (+ 13.3%) ----------------- 6 months: + 10.0% 1 year : n.a. 5 years : + 56.6% 10 years: - 56.9%

That’s some decent growth there from the previous issue, likely a combination of factors including the Joker variant, the “Truth” storyline, and the new Batman.

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52 - GREEN LANTERN: THE LOST ARMY ($2.99) 06/2015: GL Lost Army #1 -- 47,240

Returnable.

The new non-Hal Jordan Green Lantern title comes in at about the same level as the parent book.

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47 - GREEN LANTERN ($2.99) 06/2005: Green Lantern #2 -- 117,816 [120,636] 06/2010: Green Lantern #55 -- 85,930 06/2011: -- 06/2012: Green Lantern #10 -- 80,615 06/2013: Green Lantern #21 -- 71,870 ------------------------------ -------- 06/2014: Green Lantern #32 -- 56,315 (+ 28.7%) 07/2014: Green Lantern #33 -- 47,279 (- 16.0%) 08/2014: Green Lantern #34 -- 43,846 (- 7.3%) 09/2014: Futures End #1 -- 77,372 (+ 76.5%) 10/2014: Green Lantern #35 -- 45,893 (- 40.7%) 11/2014: Green Lantern #36 -- 46,157 (+ 0.6%) 12/2014: Green Lantern #37 -- 44,033 (- 4.6%) 01/2015: Green Lantern #38 -- 39,342 (- 10.7%) 02/2015: Green Lantern #39 -- 41,997 (+ 6.7%) 03/2015: Green Lantern #40 -- 42,334 (+ 0.8%) 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Green Lantern #41 -- 45,704 (+ 8.0%) ----------------- 6 months: + 3.8% 1 year : - 18.8% 2 years : - 36.4% 5 years : - 46.8% 10 years: - 62.1%

Same creative team, with a new direction for the Hal Jordan character.

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48 - WONDER WOMAN ($3.99) 06/2005: Wonder Woman #217 -- 30,022 [31,687] 06/2010: Wonder Woman #600 -- 53,525 [63,700] 06/2011: Wonder Woman #611 -- 30,874 06/2011: Wonder Woman #612 -- 30,690 06/2012: Wonder Woman #10 -- 47,229 06/2013: Wonder Woman #21 -- 35,999 ------------------------------ ------ 06/2014: Wonder Woman #32 -- 48,235 (+ 57.3%) 07/2014: Wonder Woman #33 -- 37,431 (- 22.4%) 08/2014: -- 09/2014: Futures End #1 -- 69,497 (+ 85.7%) 10/2014: Wonder Woman #34 -- 35,774 (- 48.5%) 10/2014: Wonder Woman #35 -- 35,968 (+ 0.5%) 11/2014: Wonder Woman #36 -- 58,965 (+ 63.9%) 12/2014: Wonder Woman #37 -- 43,066 (- 27.0%) 01/2015: Wonder Woman #38 -- 39,669 (- 7.9%) 02/2015: Wonder Woman #39 -- 42,634 (+ 7.5%) 03/2015: -- 04/2015: Wonder Woman #40 -- 45,172 (+ 6.0%) 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Wonder Woman #41 -- 45,284 (+ 0.2%) ----------------- 6 months: + 5.2% 1 year : - 6.1% 2 years : + 25.8% 5 years : - 28.9% 10 years: + 42.9%

Pretty much picks up where it left off. Also, now a $4 comic.

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57 - EARTH 2: SOCIETY ($2.99) 06/2012: Earth 2 #2 -- 75,936 [84,740] 06/2013: Earth 2 #13 -- 42,916 ------------------------------ --- 06/2014: Earth 2 #24 -- 47,277 (+ 36.9%) 07/2014: Earth 2 #25 -- 39,726 (- 16.0%) 08/2014: Earth 2 #26 -- 37,396 (- 5.9%) 09/2014: Futures End #1 -- 65,212 (+ 73.7%) 10/2014: Earth 2 #27 -- 37,925 (- 41.6%) 11/2014: Earth 2 #28 -- 31,722 (- 16.4%) 12/2014: Earth 2 #29 -- 30,273 (- 4.6%) 01/2015: Earth 2 #30 -- 28,618 (- 5.5%) 02/2015: Earth 2 #31 -- 27,513 (- 3.9%) 03/2015: Earth 2 #32 -- 27,361 (- 0.6%) 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: E2 Society #1 -- 45,102 (+ 64.8%) ---------------- 6 months: + 49.0% 1 year : - 4.6% 2 years : + 5.1%

Returnable.

A sizable jump for the debut issue of the new E2 series, even given the returnability. Historically the sales of neither the previous Earth 2 series or the World’s End weekly would support such numbers, but on the other hand this is spinning directly out of the main Convergence weekly, so splitting the middle backed up by returnability seems a decent tack to take. But I’d also expect to see sales back down to the upper 20K range in a couple of issues.

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52 - BLACK CANARY ($2.99) 08/2007: Black Canary #4 of 4 -- 28,160 ------------------------------ --------- 06/2015: Black Canary #1 -- 44,865 (+ 52.6%)

Returnable.

Spinning out of the character’s decent depiction in Batgirl, making these decent numbers. We’ll have to see how they hold up in the coming months.

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50 - ACTION COMICS ($3.99) 06/2005: Action Comics #825 -- 43,000 06/2010: Action Comics #890 -- 34,744 [40,039] 06/2011: Action Comics #902 -- 41,960 06/2012: Action Comics #10 -- 80,751 06/2013: Action Comics #21 -- 46,475 ------------------------------ ------- 06/2014: Action Comics #32 -- 55,400 (+ 34.9%) 07/2014: Action Comics #33 -- 49,457 (- 10.7%) 08/2014: Action Comics #34 -- 46,746 (- 5.5%) 09/2014: Futures End #1 -- 74,497 (+ 59.4%) 10/2014: Action Comics #35 -- 45,152 (- 39.4%) 11/2014: Action Comics #36 -- 41,835 (- 7.3%) 12/2014: Action Comics #37 -- 39,168 (- 6.4%) 01/2015: Action Comics #38 -- 35,018 (- 10.6%) 02/2015: Action Comics #39 -- 38,070 (+ 8.7%) 03/2015: Action Comics #40 -- 38,216 (+ 0.4%) 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Action Comics #41 -- 44,083 (+ 15.4%) ----------------- 6 months: + 12.5% 1 year : - 20.4% 2 years : - 5.1% 5 years : + 10.1% 10 years: + 2.5%

A fairly sizable jump. It’s the same creative team, so I’m guessing it must be the “Truth” storyline giving the boost. (And also, the Joker variant cover was by Darwyn Cooke.)

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60 - RED HOOD/ARSENAL ($2.99) 06/2010: Red Hood #1 (of 6) -- 37,197 06/2011: -- 06/2012: Red Hood & Outlaws #10 -- 37,044 06/2013: Red Hood & Outlaws #21 -- 32,416 ------------------------------ ----------- 06/2014: Red Hood & Outlaws #32 -- 33,081 (+ 55.6%) 07/2014: Red Hood & Outlaws #33 -- 20,669 (- 37.5%) 08/2014: Red Hood & Outlaws #34 -- 20,069 (- 2.9%) 09/2014: Futures End #1 -- 54,984 (+174.0%) 10/2014: Red Hood & Outlaws #35 -- 19,837 (- 63.9%) 11/2014: Red Hood & Outlaws #36 -- 19,245 (- 3.0%) 12/2014: Red Hood & Outlaws #37 -- 18,723 (- 2.7%) 01/2015: Red Hood & Outlaws #38 -- 18,014 (- 3.8%) 02/2015: Red Hood & Outlaws #39 -- 17,270 (- 4.1%) 03/2015: Red Hood & Outlaws #40 -- 17,110 (- 0.9%) 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Red Hood/Arsenal #1 -- 44,078 (+157.6%) ----------------- 6 months: +135.4% 1 year : + 33.2% 2 years : + 36.0% 5 years : + 18.5%

Returnable.

A sizable increase from the previous iteration of a Red Hood book. A testimony to the power of “Divergence” or returnability or both?

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54 - NEW SUICIDE SQUAD ($2.99) 06/2012: Suicide Squad #10 -- 29,809 06/2013: Suicide Squad #21 -- 22,907 ------------------------------ ---------- 06/2014: -- 07/2014: New Suicide Squad #1 -- 49,260 (+123.3%) 08/2014: New Suicide Squad #2 -- 38,477 (- 21.9%) 09/2014: Futures End #1 -- 73,599 (+ 91.3%) 10/2014: New Suicide Squad #3 -- 39,498 (- 46.3%) 11/2014: New Suicide Squad #4 -- 34,920 (- 11.6%) 12/2014: New Suicide Squad #5 -- 32,834 (- 6.0%) 01/2015: New Suicide Squad #6 -- 32,304 (- 1.6%) 02/2015: New Suicide Squad #7 -- 30,537 (- 5.5%) 03/2015: New Suicide Squad #8 -- 30,443 (- 0.3%) 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: New Suicide Squad #9 -- 42,225 (+ 38.7%) ----------------- 6 months: + 28.6% 1 year : n.a. 2 years : + 84.3%

Previously NSS wasn’t getting freely-orderable variants. But since this month (nearly) every returning DCU title got a Joker variant, we can see the effect that these variants have on sales, and it’s pretty significant.

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66 - CONSTANTINE: THE HELLBLAZER ($2.99) 06/2005: Hellblazer #209 -- 15,149 06/2010: Hellblazer #268 -- 10,221 06/2011: Hellblazer #280 -- 9,329 06/2012: Hellblazer #292 -- 9,533 06/2013: Constantine #4 -- 26,417 ------------------------------ ------- 06/2014: Constantine #15 -- 16,704 (- 4.1%) 07/2014: Constantine #16 -- 16,235 (- 2.8%) 08/2014: Constantine #17 -- 15,647 (- 2.8%) 09/2014: Futures End #1 -- 51,990 (+232.3%) 10/2014: Constantine #18 -- 15,648 (- 69.9%) 11/2014: Constantine #19 -- 15,716 (+ 0.4%) 12/2014: Constantine #20 -- 15,574 (- 0.9%) 01/2015: Constantine #21 -- 15,209 (- 2.3%) 02/2015: Constantine #22 -- 14,716 (- 3.2%) 03/2015: Constantine #23 -- 14,530 (- 1.3%) 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: The Hellblazer #1 -- 41,888 (+188.3%) ----------------- 6 months: +169.0% 1 year : +150.8% 2 years : + 58.6% 5 years : +309.8% 10 years: +176.5%

Returnable.

The previous Constantine relaunch as part of the DCU sold at 37,564. So this looks like a good move, but how long with the sales boost for the new iteration last?

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55 - FLASH ($3.99) 06/2005: Flash #223 -- 48,013 [49,659] 06/2010: Flash #3 -- 68,804 06/2011: -- 06/2012: Flash #10 -- 55,681 06/2013: Flash #21 -- 38,848 ------------------------------ ---- 06/2014: Flash #32 -- 47,188 (+ 37.8%) 07/2014: Flash #33 -- 39,669 (- 15.9%) 08/2014: Flash #34 -- 37,109 (- 6.5%) 09/2014: Futures End #1 -- 70,368 (+ 89.6%) 10/2014: Flash #35 -- 37,484 (- 46.7%) 11/2014: Flash #36 -- 38,145 (+ 1.8%) 12/2014: Flash #37 -- 37,026 (- 2.9%) 01/2015: Flash #38 -- 35,180 (- 5.0%) 02/2015: Flash #39 -- 43,635 (+ 24.0%) 03/2015: Flash #40 -- 38,382 (- 12.0%) 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Flash #41 -- 41,256 (+ 7.5%) ----------------- 6 months: + 11.4% 1 year : - 12.6% 2 years : + 6.2% 5 years : - 40.0% 10 years: - 16.9%

Another title making the jump up to a $4 book this month. As you may have intuited, DC is no longer interested in “holding the line” at $2.99.

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69 - MARTIAN MANHUNTER ($2.99) 08/2006: Martian Manhunter #8 of 8 -- 22,185 ------------------------------ -------------- 06/2015: Martian Manhunter #1 -- 40,239 (+ 81.4%)

Returnable.

The last Martian Manhunter series (a limited series from 2006-2007) started at 41K and ended at 22K, which may give you some idea of where this series is headed.

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61 - SUPERMAN/WONDER WOMAN ($3.99) 06/2014: Superman/Wonder Woman #9 -- 62,659 (+ 31.1%) 07/2014: Superman/Wonder Woman #10 -- 50,254 (- 19.8%) 08/2014: Superman/Wonder Woman #11 -- 50,550 (+ 0.6%) 09/2014: Futures End #1 -- 77,169 (+ 52.7%) 10/2014: Superman/Wonder Woman #12 -- 47,885 (- 37.9%) 11/2014: Superman/Wonder Woman #13 -- 44,013 (- 8.1%) 12/2014: Superman/Wonder Woman #14 -- 41,231 (- 6.3%) 01/2015: Superman/Wonder Woman #15 -- 36,877 (- 10.6%) 02/2015: Superman/Wonder Woman #16 -- 38,550 (+ 4.5%) 03/2015: -- 04/2015: Superman/Wonder Woman #17 -- 39,868 (+ 3.4%) 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Superman/Wonder Woman #18 -- 39,787 (- 0.2%) ----------------- 6 months: - 3.5% 1 year : - 36.5%

However, no boost here for the “Truth” storyline, so ???

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62 - GRAYSON ($3.99) 06/2005: Nightwing #109 -- 36,601 06/2012: Nightwing #10 -- 50,585 06/2013: Nightwing #21 -- 43,353 ------------------------------ --- 06/2014: -- 07/2014: Grayson #1 -- 81,433 (+ 85.4%) 08/2014: Grayson #2 -- 56,486 (- 30.6%) 09/2014: Futures End #1 -- 76,551 (+ 52.7%) 10/2014: Grayson #3 -- 52,849 (- 31.0%) 11/2014: Grayson #4 -- 47,590 (- 10.0%) 12/2014: Grayson #5 -- 42,611 (- 10.5%) 01/2015: Grayson #6 -- 38,505 (- 9.6%) 02/2015: Grayson #7 -- 41,164 (+ 6.9%) 03/2015: Grayson #8 -- 40,859 (- 0.7%) 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Grayson #9 -- 39,610 (- 3.1%) ----------------- 6 months: - 7.0% 1 year : n.a. 2 years : - 8.6% 10 years: + 8.2%

No Divergence boost here, but as this is a fairly new title simply carrying on as usual we wouldn’t necessarily expect there to be one. And it jumps up to being a $4 title, which likely didn’t help things either.

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70 - DOCTOR FATE ($2.99) 06/2015: Doctor Fate #1 -- 39,558

Returnable.

There hasn’t been a Doctor Fate series in over a decade, so it’ll be interesting to see how this one fares.

—

64 - DEATHSTROKE ($2.99) 06/2012: Deathstroke #10 -- 19,722 ------------------------------ ---- 10/2014: Deathstroke #1 -- 54,059 (+359.4%) 11/2014: Deathstroke #2 -- 36,356 (- 32.7%) 12/2014: Deathstroke #3 -- 34,010 (- 6.5%) 01/2015: Deathstroke #4 -- 33,011 (- 2.9%) 02/2015: Deathstroke #5 -- 32,863 (- 0.4%) 03/2015: Deathstroke #6 -- 31,666 (- 3.6%) 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Deathstroke #7 -- 38,807 (+ 22.6%) ----------------- 6 months: + 14.1%

Also a new title carrying on as usual, but with its first taste of a freely-orderable variant it takes a nice jump up in sales.

—

71 - BIZARRO ($2.99) 06/2015: Bizarro #1 of 6 -- 38,511

72 - BAT-MITE ($2.99) 06/2015: Bat-Mite #1 of 6 -- 38,204

A couple of returnable first issues of humorous mini-series. There hasn’t been this sort of thing in the DCU for quite some time, so it looks like retailers just ordered straight up the middle.

—

82 - DOOMED ($2.99) 06/2015: Doomed #1 -- 35,485

Returnable.

Meant to be an ongoing, but even though the first issue sales are at a decent level given the typical drop-offs one sees over the first few issues of a series I don’t see this lasting out a year.

—

83 - MIDNIGHTER ($2.99) 06/2008: Midnighter #20 -- 9,917 ------------------------------ --- 06/2015: Midnighter #1 -- 35,420 (+257.2%)

Returnable.

Will also have standard drop-off problems, but there’s been pretty good word-of-mouth on this one in some quarters so maybe it’ll hang on until DC sees what the trade sales will bring.

—

84 - JUSTICE LEAGUE 3001 ($2.99) 06/2014: Justice League 3K #7 -- 24,172 (- 6.1%) 07/2014: Justice League 3K #8 -- 22,604 (- 6.5%) 08/2014: Justice League 3K #9 -- 20,974 (- 7.2%) 09/2014: -- 10/2014: Justice League 3K #10 -- 19,623 (- 6.4%) 11/2014: Justice League 3K #11 -- 18,642 (- 5.0%) 12/2014: Justice League 3K #12 -- 18,659 (+ 0.1%) 01/2015: Justice League 3K #13 -- 17,432 (- 6.6%) 02/2015: Justice League 3K #14 -- 16,778 (- 3.8%) 03/2015: Justice League 3K #15 -- 16,604 (- 1.0%) 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Justice League 3K1 #1 -- 35,391 (+113.1%) ----------------- 6 months: + 89.7% 1 year : + 46.4%

Returnable.

A good bump for the post-Convergence relaunch, but this is essentially the same title as before so I’d expect it to be back down under 20K within a handful of issues.

—

85 - ALL-STAR SECTION EIGHT ($2.99) 06/2015: A-S Section 8 #1 of 6 -- 34,209

Returnable.

Another humorous mini-series, with a last-minute addition of All-Star to the title presumably so that DC can pretend that Ennis & McCrea’s spin-off from their old Hitman series is safely residing in the same alternate DC Universe as All-Star Batman and Robin.

—

76 - AQUAMAN ($3.99) 06/2005: Aquaman #31 -- 18,402 06/2012: Aquaman #10 -- 59,288 06/2013: Aquaman #21 -- 46,832 ------------------------------ --- 06/2014: Aquaman #32 -- 44,853 (+ 39.8%) 07/2014: Aquaman #33 -- 36,140 (- 19.4%) 08/2014: Aquaman #34 -- 33,380 (- 7.6%) 09/2014: Futures End #1 -- 65,212 (+ 95.4%) 10/2014: Aquaman #35 -- 32,238 (- 50.6%) 11/2014: Aquaman #36 -- 32,838 (+ 1.9%) 12/2014: Aquaman #37 -- 31,198 (- 5.0%) 01/2015: Aquaman #38 -- 28,356 (- 9.1%) 02/2015: Aquaman #39 -- 32,162 (+ 13.4%) 03/2015: Aquaman #40 -- 32,404 (+ 0.8%) 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Aquaman #41 -- 33,629 (+ 3.8%) ----------------- 6 months: + 7.8% 1 year : - 25.0% 2 years : - 28.2% 10 years: + 82.7%

Yet another established series making the leap up to $4.

—

77 - TEEN TITANS ($2.99) 06/2005: Teen Titans #25 -- 70,542 06/2010: Teen Titans #84 -- 24,593 06/2011: Teen Titans #96 -- 24,738 06/2012: Teen Titans #10 -- 47,491 06/2013: Teen Titans #21 -- 34,710 ------------------------------ ---- 06/2014: -- 07/2014: Teen Titans #1 -- 52,358 (+103.7%) 08/2014: Teen Titans #2 -- 40,687 (- 22.3%) 09/2014: Futures End #1 -- 62,915 (+ 54.6%) 10/2014: Teen Titans #3 -- 39,198 (- 37.7%) 11/2014: Teen Titans #4 -- 36,364 (- 7.2%) 12/2014: Teen Titans #5 -- 34,101 (- 6.2%) 01/2015: Teen Titans #6 -- 30,955 (- 9.2%) 02/2015: Teen Titans #7 -- 34,051 (+ 10.0%) 03/2015: Teen Titans #8 -- 38,363 (+ 12.7%) 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Teen Titans #9 -- 33,412 (- 12.9%) ----------------- 6 months: - 2.0% 1 year : n.a. 2 years : - 3.7% 5 years : + 35.9% 10 years: - 52.6%

Whatever caused the mysterious rise in issue #8’s sales appears to have departed for issue #9.

—

79 - BATGIRL ($2.99) 06/2005: Batgirl #65 -- 26,796 06/2010: Batgirl #11 -- 28,563 06/2011: Batgirl #22 -- 23,323 06/2012: Batgirl #10 -- 47,050 06/2013: Batgirl #21 -- 40,252 ------------------------------ --- 06/2014: Batgirl #32 -- 47,304 (+ 50.1%) 07/2014: Batgirl #33 -- 37,186 (- 21.4%) 08/2014: Batgirl #34 -- 34,590 (- 7.0%) 09/2014: Futures End #1 -- 67,933 (+ 96.4%) 10/2014: Batgirl #35 -- 62,644 (- 7.8%) 11/2014: Batgirl #36 -- 50,247 (- 19.8%) 12/2014: Batgirl #37 -- 45,060 (- 10.3%) 01/2015: Batgirl #38 -- 45,096 (+ 0.1%) 02/2015: Batgirl #39 -- 40,880 (- 9.3%) 03/2015: Batgirl #40 -- 41,729 (+ 2.1%) 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Batgirl #41 -- 33,220 (- 20.4%) ----------------- 6 months: - 38.6% 1 year : + 25.6% 2 years : - 19.3% 5 years : + 35.1% 10 years: + 45.1%

Batgirl is the only returning DCU title this month without a freely-orderable (or for that matter, any) variant cover, so while sales take an expected hit it does give us a glimpse into the ongoing effects of DC’s freely-orderable variant program. In this case it appears that a freely-orderable variant would have been worth another 8-10K in sales.

Note however that there was a 2nd printing of Batgirl #41, indicating that at least some retailers cut too deeply, and that many of the sales that they had attributed to the variant covers were actually sales to people interested in the comic itself.

—

86 - THE OMEGA MEN ($2.99) 06/2015: Omega Men #1 -- 33,174

Returnable.

Meant to be an ongoing, but as with Doomed this is likely not going to last out a year.

—

94 - PREZ ($2.99) 06/2015: Prez #1 of 6 -- 31,140

Returnable.

The lowest-selling of the Divergent launches, which likely explains why it has been reduced from a twelve- to a six-issue series.

(DC is now claiming that it will be a series of mini-series. We’ll see…)

Also, IMHO, the best of the Divergent launches. This is why we don’t get to have nice things.

—

87 - GREEN ARROW ($2.99) 06/2005: Green Arrow #51 -- 31,346 06/2010: Green Arrow #1 -- 54,400 [57,544] 06/2011: Green Arrow #13 -- 27,552 06/2012: Green Arrow #10 -- 25,769 06/2013: Green Arrow #21 -- 26,924 ------------------------------ ----- 06/2014: Green Arrow #32 -- 23,602 (+ 0.5%) 07/2014: Green Arrow #33 -- 23,452 (- 0.6%) 08/2014: Green Arrow #34 -- 22,927 (- 2.2%) 09/2014: Futures End #1 -- 61,915 (+170.1%) 10/2014: Green Arrow #35 -- 23,346 (- 62.3%) 11/2014: Green Arrow #36 -- 21,842 (- 6.4%) 12/2014: Green Arrow #37 -- 20,904 (- 4.3%) 01/2015: Green Arrow #38 -- 20,207 (- 3.3%) 02/2015: Green Arrow #39 -- 19,651 (- 2.8%) 03/2015: Green Arrow #40 -- 19,792 (+ 0.7%) 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Green Arrow #41 -- 29,545 (+ 49.3%) ----------------- 6 months: + 41.3% 1 year : + 25.2% 2 years : + 9.7% 5 years : - 48.7% 10 years: - 5.7%

Another returning title that sees the benefit of a previously-unseen freely-orderable variant.

—

89 - WONDER WOMAN ANNUAL ($4.99) 06/2015: Wonder Woman Annual #1 -- 29,189

Delayed from March.

This was the final installment of the “War-Torn” story arc, so it’s surprising that the sales are 16K below that of the parent title, even accounting for that book’s Joker variant.

—

91 - SINESTRO ($2.99) 06/2014: Sinestro #3 -- 30,422 (- 12.2%) 07/2014: Sinestro #4 -- 28,095 (- 7.6%) 08/2014: Sinestro #5 -- 26,867 (- 4.4%) 09/2014: Futures End #1 -- 60,761 (+126.2%) 10/2014: Sinestro #6 -- 33,621 (- 44.7%) 11/2014: -- 12/2014: Sinestro #7 -- 33,549 (- 0.2%) 12/2014: Sinestro #8 -- 31,509 (- 6.1%) 01/2015: Sinestro #9 -- 26,346 (- 16.4%) 02/2015: Sinestro #10 -- 28,698 (+ 8.9%) 03/2015: Sinestro #11 -- 28,384 (- 1.1%) 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Sinestro #12 -- 28,848 (+ 1.6%) ----------------- 6 months: - 11.3% 1 year : - 5.2%

Picks up pretty much where it left off.

—

93 - SECRET SIX ($2.99) 06/2010: Secret Six #22 -- 21,941 06/2011: Secret Six #34 -- 19,562 ------------------------------ --------- 12/2014: Secret Six #1 -- 44,065 (+130.7%) 01/2015: -- 02/2015: Secret Six #2 -- 26,579 (- 39.7%) 03/2015: -- 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Secret Six #3 -- 28,458 (+ 7.1%) ----------------- 6 months: - 35.4% 5 years : + 29.7%

Any damage caused by the extra-long gap between issues appears to have been mitigated by the introduction of freely-orderable variants.

—

97 - CATWOMAN ($2.99) 06/2005: Catwoman #44 -- 21,574 06/2012: Catwoman #10 -- 37,158 06/2013: Catwoman #21 -- 25,611 ------------------------------ --- 06/2014: Catwoman #32 -- 33,694 (+ 67.3%) 07/2014: Catwoman #33 -- 18,945 (- 43.8%) 08/2014: Catwoman #34 -- 23,497 (+ 24.0%) 09/2014: Futures End #1 -- 56,939 (+142.3%) 10/2014: Catwoman #35 -- 25,970 (- 54.4%) 11/2014: Catwoman #36 -- 26,237 (+ 1.0%) 12/2014: Catwoman #37 -- 25,154 (- 4.1%) 01/2015: Catwoman #38 -- 22,386 (- 11.0%) 02/2015: Catwoman #39 -- 26,450 (+ 18.2%) 03/2015: Catwoman #40 -- 26,534 (+ 0.3%) 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Catwoman #41 -- 27,034 (+ 1.9%) ----------------- 6 months: + 3.0% 1 year : - 19.8% 2 years : + 5.6% 10 years: + 25.3%

An uptick of 500 copies for a book that actually began its new direction back with issue #35. So far it’s been holding pretty steady.

—

98 - GOTHAM ACADEMY ($2.99) 10/2014: Gotham Academy #1 -- 43,338 11/2014: Gotham Academy #2 -- 31,110 (- 28.2%) 12/2014: Gotham Academy #3 -- 26,509 (- 14.8%) 01/2015: Gotham Academy #4 -- 22,576 (- 14.8%) 02/2015: Gotham Academy #5 -- 20,844 (- 7.7%) 03/2015: Gotham Academy #6 -- 20,361 (- 2.3%) 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Gotham Academy #7 -- 26,594 (+ 30.6%) ---------------- 6 months: + 0.3%

The combination of a freely-orderable variant Joker cover and a Damien Wayne guest appearance give Gotham Academy a 6K boost.

—

110 - GOTHAM BY MIDNIGHT ($2.99) 11/2014: Gotham by Midnight #1 -- 38,436 12/2014: Gotham by Midnight #2 -- 27,849 (- 27.5%) 01/2015: Gotham by Midnight #3 -- 21,330 (- 23.4%) 02/2015: Gotham by Midnight #4 -- 18,643 (- 12.6%) 03/2015: Gotham by Midnight #5 -- 17,604 (- 5.6%) 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Gotham by Midnight #6 -- 22,366 (+ 26.9%) ---------------- 6 months: - 19.7%

Gains a freely-orderable Joker variant and a bit fewer than 5K copies.

—

113 - BATMAN: ARKHAM KNIGHT (Digital-First) ($3.99) 03/2015: Batman Arkham Knight #1 -- 73,266 04/2015: Batman Arkham Knight #2 -- 25,479 (- 65.2%) 04/2015: Batman Arkham Knight #3 -- 23,370 (- 8.3%) 05/2015: Batman Arkham Knight #4 -- 21,083 (- 9.8%) 06/2015: Batman Arkham Knight #5 -- 21,317 (+ 1.1%)

The top non-DCU title for the month. Adds a couple hundred copies, so maybe it has found its level?

—

115 - MAD MAX FURY ROAD (Vertigo) ($4.99) 05/2015: Nux & Immortan Joe #1 -- 11,569 [18,776] 06/2015: Furiosa #1 -- 20,733 (+ 10.4%)

The top Vertigo title of the month. Another one-shot tie-in to the movie, and last month’s one-shot gets an additional 7K in sales as well.

—

126 - LOBO ($2.99) 10/2014: Lobo #1 -- 39,047 (+190.6%) 11/2014: Lobo #2 -- 25,881 (- 33.7%) 12/2014: Lobo #3 -- 20,208 (- 21.9%) 01/2015: Lobo #4 -- 16,889 (- 16.4%) 02/2015: Lobo #5 -- 14,770 (- 12.5%) 03/2015: Lobo #6 -- 13,715 (- 7.1%) 04/2015: -- 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Lobo #7 -- 19,281 (+ 40.6%) ----------------- 6 months: - 4.6%

Gets a good sized sales boost from its freely-orderable Joker variant, but it’s still the lowest-selling DCU title so I suspect its days are numbered.

—

133, 136 - INJUSTICE: YEAR FOUR (Digital-First) ($2.99) 06/2013: Injustice #6 -- 26,011 ------------------------------ ----- 06/2014: Injustice Y2 #6 -- 19,353 (- 2.4%) 07/2014: Injustice Y2 #7 -- 19,811 (+ 2.4%) 07/2014: Injustice Y2 #8 -- 18,931 (- 4.4%) 08/2014: Injustice Y2 #9 -- 18,397 (- 2.8%) 08/2014: Injustice Y2 #10 -- 18,068 (- 1.8%) 09/2014: Injustice Y2 #11 -- 18,086 (+ 0.1%) 09/2014: Injustice Y2 #12 -- 17,829 (- 1.4%) 10/2014: Injustice Y3 #1 -- 19,307 (+ 8.3%) 10/2014: Injustice Y3 #2 -- 17,884 (- 7.4%) 11/2014: Injustice Y3 #3 -- 17,243 (- 3.6%) 11/2014: Injustice Y3 #4 -- 16,741 (- 2.9%) 12/2014: Injustice Y3 #5 -- 16,611 (- 0.8%) 12/2014: Injustice Y3 #6 -- 16,141 (- 2.8%) 01/2015: Injustice Y3 #7 -- 15,796 (- 2.1%) 02/2015: Injustice Y3 #8 -- 15,816 (+ 0.1%) 02/2015: Injustice Y3 #9 -- 15,345 (- 3.0%) 02/2015: Injustice Y3 #10 -- 15,417 (+ 0.5%) 03/2015: Injustice Y3 #11 -- 15,526 (+ 0.7%) 03/2015: Injustice Y3 #12 -- 15,322 (- 1.3%) 04/2015: -- 05/2015: Injustice Y4 #1 -- 17,958 (+ 17.2%) 05/2015: Injustice Y4 #2 -- 15,653 (- 12.8%) 06/2015: Injustice Y4 #3 -- 15,982 (+ 2.1%) 06/2015: Injustice Y4 #4 -- 15,493 (- 3.1%) ---------------- 6 months: - 5.8% 1 year : - 20.3% 2 years : - 40.7%

And we’re pretty much back to where we were at the end of year three.

—

143 - MORTAL KOMBAT X (Digital-First) ($3.99) 01/2015: Mortal Kombat X #1 -- 21,062 02/2015: Mortal Kombat X #2 -- 13,277 (- 37.0%) 02/2015: Mortal Kombat X #3 -- 12,581 (- 5.2%) 03/2015: Mortal Kombat X #4 -- 14,038 (+ 11.6%) 04/2015: Mortal Kombat X #5 -- 14,741 (+ 5.0%) 05/2015: Mortal Kombat X #6 -- 14,603 (- 0.9%) 06/2015: Mortal Kombat X #7 -- 14,720 (+ 0.8%)

Looks like we’re going to hang out in the mid-14K area for a while.

—

122 - BATMAN '66 (Digital-First) ($2.99) 06/2014: Batman '66 #12 -- 17,286 (- 7.3%) 07/2014: Batman '66 #13 -- 17,264 (- 0.1%) 08/2014: Batman '66 #14 -- 21,456 (+ 24.3%) 09/2014: Batman '66 #15 -- 16,842 (- 21.5%) 10/2014: Batman '66 #16 -- 15,923 (- 5.5%) 11/2014: Batman '66 #17 -- 15,585 (- 2.1%) 12/2014: Batman '66 #18 -- 15,409 (- 1.1%) 01/2015: -- 02/2015: Batman '66 #19 -- 14,770 (- 4.1%) 02/2015: Batman '66 #20 -- 14,525 (- 1.7%) 03/2015: Batman '66 #21 -- 14,238 (- 2.0%) 04/2015: Batman '66 #22 -- 14,135 (- 0.7%) 05/2015: Batman '66 #23 -- 20,045 (+ 41.8%) 06/2015: Batman '66 #24 -- 13,653 (- 31.9%) ----------------- 6 months: - 11.4% 1 year : - 21.0%

Whatever the reason for last month’s mysterious leap up, it’s gone. Just one of those things, I guess…

—

164 - ASTRO CITY (Vertigo) ($3.99) 06/2005: Dark Age #1 -- 32,690 06/2010: -- 06/2011: -- 06/2012: -- 06/2013: Astro City #1 -- 27,700 ------------------------------ ------ 06/2014: Astro City #13 -- 13,419 (- 2.7%) 07/2014: -- 08/2014: Astro City #14 -- 13,069 (- 2.6%) 09/2014: Astro City #15 -- 12,660 (- 3.1%) 10/2014: Astro City #16 -- 12,480 (- 1.4%) 11/2014: Astro City #17 -- 12,055 (- 3.4%) 12/2014: Astro City #18 -- 11,985 (- 0.6%) 01/2015: Astro City #19 -- 11,734 (- 2.1%) 02/2015: Astro City #20 -- 11,603 (- 1.1%) 03/2015: Astro City #21 -- 11,492 (- 1.0%) 04/2015: Astro City #22 -- 11,359 (- 1.2%) 05/2015: Astro City #23 -- 11,215 (- 1.3%) 06/2015: Astro City #24 -- 11,226 (+ 0.1%) ----------------- 6 months: - 6.3% 1 year : - 16.3% 2 years : - 59.5% 5 years : n.a. 10 years: - 65.7%

Holding steady.

—

170 - SENSATION COMICS FEAT WONDER WOMAN (Digital-First) ($3.99) 08/2014: Sensation Comics #1 -- 29,640 09/2014: Sensation Comics #2 -- 22,085 (- 25.5%) 10/2014: Sensation Comics #3 -- 17,996 (- 18.5%) 11/2014: Sensation Comics #4 -- 16,573 (- 7.9%) 12/2014: Sensation Comics #5 -- 14,323 (- 13.6%) 01/2015: Sensation Comics #6 -- 12,927 (- 9.7%) 02/2015: Sensation Comics #7 -- 12,115 (- 6.3%) 03/2015: Sensation Comics #8 -- 11,399 (- 5.9%) 04/2015: Sensation Comics #9 -- 11,007 (- 3.4%) 05/2015: Sensation Comics #10 -- 10,565 (- 4.0%) 06/2015: Sensation Comics #11 -- 10,761 (+ 1.9%) ---------------- 6 months: - 24.9%

A slight correction upward; maybe it has found its level? If so, it’s the same level that Adventures of Superman found, and it was cancelled after seventeen issues.

—

179 - THE FLASH: SEASON ZERO (Digital-First) ($2.99) 10/2014: Flash Season 0 #1 -- 23,501 11/2014: Flash Season 0 #2 -- 14,287 (- 39.2%) 12/2014: Flash Season 0 #3 -- 12,247 (- 14.3%) 01/2015: Flash Season 0 #4 -- 10,806 (- 11.8%) 02/2015: Flash Season 0 #5 -- 10,450 (- 3.3%) 03/2015: Flash Season 0 #6 -- 10,188 (- 2.5%) 04/2015: Flash Season 0 #7 -- 10,152 (- 0.4%) 05/2015: Flash Season 0 #8 -- 11,037 (+ 8.7%) 06/2015: Flash Season 0 #9 -- 9,689 (- 12.2%) ---------------- 6 months: - 20.9%

After last month’s mysterious rise, a correction back down.

—

180 - YOUNG GOTHAM SAMPLER ($1.00) 06/2015: Young Gotham Sampler -- 9,686

A bargain-priced reprint of stories from Grayson, Gotham Academy, and Batgirl.

(Excluded from the averages and analyses below, due to its being primarily a promotional item.)

—

190 - TEEN TITANS GO! (Digital-First) ($2.99) 06/2005: Teen Titans Go! #20 -- 14,114 ------------------------------ -------- 06/2014: Teen Titans Go! #4 -- 8,667 (+ 5.9%) 07/2014: -- 08/2014: Teen Titans Go! #5 -- 8,688 (+ 0.2%) 09/2014: -- 10/2014: Teen Titans Go! #6 -- 8,677 (- 0.1%) 11/2014: -- 12/2014: Teen Titans Go! #7 -- 8,254 (- 4.9%) 01/2015: -- 02/2015: Teen Titans Go! #8 -- 7,917 (- 4.1%) 03/2015: -- 04/2015: Teen Titans Go! #9 -- 8,395 (+ 6.0%) 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Teen Titans Go! #10 -- 8,883 (+ 5.8%) ----------------- 6 months: + 7.6% 1 year : + 2.5% 10 years: - 37.1%

The second straight issue with small but measurable growth.

—

193 - SUICIDERS (Vertigo) ($3.99) 02/2015: Suiciders #1 -- 18,275 03/2015: Suiciders #2 -- 10,585 (- 42.1%) 04/2015: Suiciders #3 -- 9,891 (- 6.6%) 05/2015: Suiciders #4 -- 9,316 (- 5.8%) 06/2015: Suiciders #5 -- 8,731 (- 6.3%)

The percentage drops are getting to be a bit uncomfortable at this point.

—

197 - ARROW: SEASON 2.5 (Digital-First) ($2.99) 06/2013: Arrow #8 -- 9,671 ------------------------------ -------- 10/2014: Arrow Season 2.5 #1 -- 17,364 (+113.1%) 11/2014: Arrow Season 2.5 #2 -- 11,121 (- 36.0%) 12/2014: Arrow Season 2.5 #3 -- 9,862 (- 11.3%) 01/2015: Arrow Season 2.5 #4 -- 9,302 (- 5.7%) 02/2015: Arrow Season 2.5 #5 -- 9,060 (- 2.6%) 03/2015: Arrow Season 2.5 #6 -- 9,055 (- 0.1%) 04/2015: Arrow Season 2.5 #7 -- 8,671 (- 4.2%) 05/2015: Arrow Season 2.5 #8 -- 8,644 (- 0.3%) 06/2015: Arrow Season 2.5 #9 -- 8,592 (- 0.6%) ---------------- 6 months: - 12.9% 2 years : - 11.2%

Seems to have found its level. Is it enough to give a go to a Season 3.5? Probably, as DC will want to keep a comic tying in to their TV properties. DC have cancelled the print version and kept the digital version going for a television tie-in before (see Vampire Diaries), but the print will have to drop a lot further on Arrow before it comes to that. Maybe they’ll try something kind of novel for the next go-around, like a Flash/Arrow crossover comic.

—

210 - FABLES: THE WOLF AMONG US (Vertigo) (Digital-First) ($3.99) 01/2015: Fables: TWAU #1 -- 13,620 02/2015: Fables: TWAU #2 -- 10,224 (- 24.9%) 03/2015: Fables: TWAU #3 -- 9,352 (- 8.5%) 04/2015: Fables: TWAU #4 -- 8,793 (- 6.0%) 05/2015: Fables: TWAU #5 -- 8,378 (- 4.7%) 06/2015: Fables: TWAU #6 -- 8,019 (- 4.3%)

Still dropping a few hundred per month.

—

249 - INFINITE CRISIS: FIGHT FOR THE MULTIVERSE (Digital-First) ($3.99) 07/2014: Infinite Crisis FftM #1 -- 26,096 08/2014: Infinite Crisis FftM #2 -- 15,340 (- 41.2%) 09/2014: Infinite Crisis FftM #3 -- 13,884 (- 9.5%) 10/2014: Infinite Crisis FftM #4 -- 11,348 (- 18.3%) 11/2014: Infinite Crisis FftM #5 -- 8,920 (- 21.4%) 12/2014: Infinite Crisis FftM #6 -- 7,809 (- 12.5%) 01/2015: Infinite Crisis FftM #7 -- 7,231 (- 7.4%) 02/2015: Infinite Crisis FftM #8 -- 6,498 (- 10.1%) 03/2015: Infinite Crisis FftM #9 -- 6,236 (- 4.0%) 04/2015: Infinite Crisis FftM #10 -- ????? (< 6,352) 05/2015: Infinite Crisis FftM #11 -- 5,959 06/2015: Infinite Crisis FftM #12 -- 6,211 (+ 4.2%) ---------------- 6 months: - 20.5%

Sales rise a bit for the final issue.

—

281 - COFFIN HILL (Vertigo) ($3.99) 06/2014: Coffin Hill #8 -- 8,764 (- 8.2%) 07/2014: Coffin Hill #9 -- 8,396 (- 4.2%) 08/2014: Coffin Hill #10 -- 7,710 (- 8.1%) 09/2014: Coffin Hill #11 -- 7,422 (- 3.7%) 10/2014: Coffin Hill #12 -- 7,136 (- 3.9%) 11/2014: Coffin Hill #13 -- 6,752 (- 5.4%) 12/2014: Coffin Hill #14 -- 6,410 (- 5.1%) 01/2015: -- 02/2015: Coffin Hill #15 -- 5,933 (- 7.4%) 03/2015: Coffin Hill #16 -- 5,785 (- 2.5%) 04/2015: Coffin Hill #17 -- ????? (< 6,352) 05/2015: Coffin Hill #18 -- 5,423 06/2015: Coffin Hill #19 -- 5,319 (- 1.9%) ----------------- 6 months: - 17.0% 1 year : - 39.3%

The price rises to $3.99, which appears that it’s going to be the new standard for Vertigo going forward.

Ending with issue #21. Or rather it was. An issue #21 was solicited, but it was recently cancelled by the publisher and issue #20 sure seemed like a final issue.

—

292 - SCOOBY-DOO, WHERE ARE YOU? (All-Ages) ($2.99) 06/2005: Scooby-Doo #97 -- 4,819 06/2010: Scooby-Doo #157 -- ????? 06/2011: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #10 -- 4,774 06/2012: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #22 -- 4,968 06/2013: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #34 -- 4,881 ------------------------------ ----------------- 06/2014: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #46 -- ????? (< 4,560) 07/2014: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #47 -- ????? (< 6,594) 08/2014: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #48 -- ????? (< 5,357) 09/2014: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #49 -- ????? (< 6,262) 10/2014: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #50 -- ????? (< 6,298) 11/2014: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #51 -- ????? (< 5,214) 12/2014: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #52 -- ????? (< 5,053) 01/2015: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #53 -- 4,703 02/2015: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #54 -- ????? (< 4,804) 03/2015: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #55 -- ????? (< 4,917) 04/2015: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #56 -- ????? (< 6,352) 05/2015: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #57 -- 4,794 06/2015: Scooby-Doo Where Are You? #58 -- 5,033 (+ 5.0%) ----------------- 6 months: ???% 1 year : ???% 2 years : + 3.1% 5 years : ???% 10 years: + 4.4%

It’s been a while since Scooby-Doo has had recorded sales over 5K (November 2012), though who knows what it was doing all those months there the Top 300 cut-off was above that mark.

—

+300 - THE KITCHEN (Vertigo) ($2.99) 11/2014: The Kitchen #1 of 8 -- 14,066 12/2014: The Kitchen #2 of 8 -- 7,403 (- 47.4%) 01/2015: The Kitchen #3 of 8 -- 6,328 (- 14.5%) 02/2015: The Kitchen #4 of 8 -- 5,153 (- 18.6%) 03/2015: The Kitchen #5 of 8 -- ????? (< 4,917) 04/2015: The Kitchen #6 of 8 -- ????? (< 6,352) 05/2015: The Kitchen #7 of 8 -- 4,473 06/2015: The Kitchen #8 of 8 -- ????? (< 4,684) ----------------- 6 months: ???%

+300 - STRANGE SPORTS STORIES (Vertigo) ($4.99) 03/2015: Strange Sports #1 of 4 -- 9,003 04/2015: Strange Sports #2 of 4 -- ????? (< 6,352) 05/2015: Strange Sports #3 of 4 -- ????? (< 4,462) 05/2015: Strange Sports #3 of 4 -- ????? (< 4,684)

+300 - EFFIGY (Vertigo) ($3.99) 01/2015: Effigy #1 -- 11,656 02/2015: Effigy #2 -- 6,408 (- 45.0%) 03/2015: Effigy #3 -- ????? (< 4,917) 04/2015: Effigy #4 -- ????? (< 6,352) 05/2015: Effigy #5 -- ????? (< 4,462) 06/2015: Effigy #6 -- ????? (< 4,684)

+300 - FBP: FEDERAL BUREAU OF PHYSICS (Vertigo) ($3.99) 06/2014: FBP #11 -- 6,958 (- 3.9%) 07/2014: FBP #12 -- ????? (< 6,594) 08/2014: FBP #13 -- 6,189 09/2014: -- 10/2014: FBP #14 -- ????? (< 6,298) 11/2014: FBP #15 -- 5,288 12/2014: FBP #16 -- ????? (< 5,053) 01/2015: FBP #17 -- 4,707 02/2015: FBP #18 -- ????? (< 4,804) 03/2015: FBP #19 -- ????? (< 4,917) 04/2015: -- 05/2015: FBP #20 -- ????? (< 4,462) 06/2015: FBP #21 -- ????? (< 4,684) ----------------- 6 months: ????% 1 year : ????%

Four Vertigo series miss the Top 300 this month. It’s the final issues for The Kitchen and Strange Sports Stories, while Effigy and FBP increase their price to Vertigo’s new $3.99 standard.

+300 - LOONEY TUNES (All-Ages) ($2.99) 06/2005: Looney Tunes #127 -- 2,991 06/2010: Looney Tunes #187 -- ????? 06/2011: Looney Tunes #199 -- ????? 06/2012: Looney Tunes #208 -- ????? 06/2013: Looney Tunes #213 -- ????? ------------------------------ ---------- 06/2014: Looney Tunes #219 -- ????? (< 4,560) 07/2014: -- 08/2014: Looney Tunes #220 -- ????? (< 5,357) 09/2014: -- 10/2014: Looney Tunes #221 -- ????? (< 6,298) 11/2014: -- 12/2014: Looney Tunes #222 -- ????? (< 5,053) 01/2015: -- 02/2015: Looney Tunes #223 -- ????? (< 4,804) 03/2015: -- 04/2015: Looney Tunes #224 -- ????? (< 6,352) 05/2015: -- 06/2015: Looney Tunes #225 -- ????? (< 4,684) ----------------- 6 months: ????% 1 year : ????% 2 years : ????% 5 years : ????% 10 years: ????%

And Looney Tunes rounds out the bottom of the sales chart, as it does every even-numbered month.

I’m sure that there’s a good reason why this continues to be published, though I’m surprised that they haven’t converted this to being a Digital-First title by now.

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Average Periodical Sales (not counting reprints, reorders shipping after the initial month of release, and magazines)

DC COMICS 06/2005: 32,001 06/2010: 25,788 06/2011: 25,814 06/2012: 37,599 06/2013: 34,517 --------------- 06/2014: 32,834 (+ 3.4%)** 07/2014: 32,760 (+ 0.2%)** 08/2014: 28,951 (- 11.6%)** 09/2014: 46,869 (+ 61.9%)** 10/2014: 31,598 (- 32.6%)** 11/2014: 28,654 (- 9.3%)** 12/2014: 29,047 (+ 1.4%)** 01/2015: 24,289 (- 16.4%) 02/2015: 24,537 (+ 1.0%)** 03/2015: 23,466 (- 4.4%)** 04/2015: 38,318 (+ 63.3%)** 05/2015: 31,237 (- 18.5%)** 06/2015: 35,318 (+ 13.1%)** ----------------- 6 months: + 21.6% 1 year : + 7.8% 2 years : + 2.3% 5 years : + 37.0% 10 years: + 10.4%

DC UNIVERSE 06/2005: 39,888 06/2010: 34,612 06/2011: 28,673 06/2012: 43,082 06/2013: 37,133 --------------- 06/2014: 42,733 (+ 8.0%) 07/2014: 40,945 (- 4.2%) 08/2014: 36,645 (- 10.5%) 09/2014: 63,401 (+ 73.0%)** 10/2014: 39,978 (- 36.9%) 11/2014: 36,710 (- 8.2%) 12/2014: 34,882 (- 5.0%) 01/2015: 30,680 (- 12.0%) 02/2015: 32,403 (+ 5.6%) 03/2015: 28,559 (- 11.9%) 04/2015: 49,845 (+ 74.5%) 05/2015: 42,635 (- 14.5%) 06/2015: 46,980 (+ 10.2%) ----------------- 6 months: + 34.7% 1 year : + 9.9% 2 years : + 26.5% 5 years : + 35.7% 10 years: + 17.8%

VERTIGO 06/2005: 14,165 06/2010: 10,995 06/2011: 10,415 06/2012: 11,448 06/2013: 17,368 --------------- 06/2014: 11,372 (- 3.4%) 07/2014: 15,803 (+ 39.0%)** 08/2014: 9,082 (- 42.5%) 09/2014: 10,022 (+ 10.4%)** 10/2014: 9,066 (- 9.5%)** 11/2014: 8,511 (- 6.1%)** 12/2014: 13,195 (+ 55.0%)** 01/2015: 8,361 (- 36.6%) 02/2015: 8,612 (+ 3.0%)** 03/2015: 7,055 (- 15.6%)** 04/2015: 7,257 (+ 2.9%)** 05/2015: 10,616 (+ 46.3%)** 06/2015: 8,011 (- 24.5%)** ----------------- 6 months: - 39.3% 1 year : - 29.6% 2 years : - 53.9% 5 years : - 27.1% 10 years: - 43.4%

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6 month comparisons =================== +169.0% - Constantine +135.4% - Red Hood/Arsenal (Red Hood & the Outlaws) + 89.7% - Justice League 3001 (JL3K) + 49.0% - Earth 2 + 41.3% - Green Arrow + 35.4% - Justice League + 33.2% - Batman + 28.6% - Suicide Squad + 14.1% - Deathstroke + 12.5% - Action Comics + 11.4% - Flash + 10.0% - Batman/Superman + 7.8% - Aquaman + 7.6% - Teen Titans Go! + 6.0% - Superman + 5.2% - Wonder Woman + 5.1% - Harley Quinn + 4.9% - Detective Comics + 3.8% - Green Lantern + 3.0% - Catwoman + 0.3% - Gotham Academy - 2.0% - Teen Titans - 3.5% - Superman/Wonder Woman - 4.6% - Lobo - 5.8% - Injustice - 6.3% - Astro City - 7.0% - Grayson - 11.3% - Sinestro - 11.4% - Batman '66 - 12.9% - Arrow Season 2.5 - 17.0% - Coffin Hill - 19.7% - Gotham by Midnight - 20.5% - Infinite Crisis: Fight for the Multiverse - 20.9% - Flash Season Zero - 24.9% - Sensation Comics feat. Wonder Woman - 35.4% - Secret Six - 38.6% - Batgirl

1 year comparisons =================== +320.5% - Batman Beyond +150.8% - Constantine + 46.4% - Justice League 3001 (JL3K) + 33.2% - Red Hood/Arsenal (Red Hood & the Outlaws) + 28.7% - Justice League + 25.6% - Batgirl + 25.2% - Green Arrow + 15.8% - Batman + 14.1% - Harley Quinn + 2.5% - Teen Titans Go! - 4.6% - Earth 2 - 5.2% - Sinestro - 6.1% - Wonder Woman - 12.6% - Flash - 16.3% - Astro City - 18.8% - Green Lantern - 19.8% - Catwoman - 20.3% - Injustice - 20.4% - Action Comics - 21.0% - Batman '66 - 21.0% - Detective Comics - 25.0% - Aquaman - 36.5% - Wonder Woman - 39.3% - Coffin Hill - 48.4% - Superman

2 year comparisons =================== +282.5% - Batman Beyond +110.1% - Justice League of America + 84.3% - New Suicide Squad + 56.6% - Constantine + 36.0% - Red Hood/Arsenal (Red Hood & the Outlaws) + 25.8% - Wonder Woman + 20.6% - Superman + 9.7% - Green Arrow + 6.2% - Flash + 5.6% - Catwoman + 5.1% - Earth 2 + 3.8% - Justice League + 3.1% - Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? - 3.7% - Teen Titans - 3.8% - Batman - 5.1% - Action Comics - 8.6% - Grayson (Nightwing) - 11.2% - Arrow - 11.6% - Detective Comics - 19.3% - Batgirl - 28.2% - Aquaman - 36.4% - Green Lantern - 40.7% - Injustice - 59.5% - Astro City

5 year comparisons =================== +309.8% - Constantine (Hellblazer) +140.4% - Justice League of America + 56.6% - Batman/Superman (Superman/Batman) + 55.5% - Justice League (JLA) + 44.0% - Batman + 35.9% - Teen Titans + 35.1% - Batgirl + 29.7% - Secret Six + 24.8% - Detective Comics + 18.5% - Red Hood + 10.1% - Action Comics - 21.0% - Superman - 28.9% - Wonder Woman - 40.0% - Flash - 46.8% - Green Lantern - 48.7% - Green Arrow

10 year comparisons =================== +176.5% - Constantine (Hellblazer) +124.4% - Batman + 82.7% - Aquaman + 58.2% - Justice League of America + 49.7% - Detective Comics + 45.1% - Batgirl + 42.9% - Wonder Woman + 25.3% - Catwoman + 8.2% - Grayson (Nightwing) + 4.4% - Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? + 2.5% - Action Comics + 2.3% - Justice League (JLA) - 5.7% - Green Arrow - 13.2% - Superman - 16.9% - Flash - 37.1% - Teen Titans Go! - 52.6% - Teen Titans - 56.9% - Batman/Superman (Superman/Batman) - 62.1% - Green Lantern - 65.7% - Astro City

Sales Indices ============= DCU: Average: 46,980. Median: 40,013. 3.2 - Justice League of America 3.0 - Batman 2.1 - Justice League 1.5 - Harley Quinn & Power Girl 1.5 - Robin, Son of Batman 1.5 - Harley Quinn 1.3 - Batman Beyond 1.2 - Detective Comics 1.2 - We Are Robin 1.1 - Superman 1.1 - Starfire 1.0 - Batman/Superman 1.0 - Green Lantern Lost Army 1.0 - Green Lantern 1.0 - Wonder Woman 1.0 - Earth 2 Society 1.0 - Black Canary 0.9 - Action Comics 0.9 - Red Hood/Arsenal 0.9 - New Suicide Squad 0.9 - COnstantine: The Hellblazer 0.9 - Flash 0.9 - Martian Manhunter 0.8 - Superman/Wonder Woman 0.8 - Grayson 0.8 - Doctor Fate 0.8 - Deathstroke 0.8 - Bizarro 0.8 - Bat-Mite 0.8 - Doomed 0.8 - Midnighter 0.8 - Justice League 3001 0.7 - All-Star Section Eight 0.7 - Aquaman 0.7 - Teen Titans 0.7 - Batgirl 0.7 - The Omega Men 0.7 - Prez 0.6 - Green Arrow 0.6 - Wonder Woman Annual 0.6 - Sinestro 0.6 - Secret Six 0.6 - Catwoman 0.6 - Gotham Academy 0.5 - Gotham By Midnight 0.4 - Lobo Vertigo: Average: 8,011*. Median: 5,319* 2.6 - Mad Max Furiosa 1.4 - Astro City 1.1 - Suiciders 1.0 - Fables: The Wolf Among Us 0.7 - Coffin Hill 0.6 - The Kitchen * 0.6 - Strange Sports Stories * 0.6 - Effigy * 0.6 - FBP * Digital First & Other: Average: 11,093*. Median: 10,255* 1.9 - Batman Arkham Knight 1.4 - Injustice Year Four 3 1.4 - Injustice Year Four 4 1.3 - Mortal Kombat X 1.2 - Batman '66 1.0 - Sensation Comics feat. Wonder Woman 0.9 - Flash Season Zero 0.8 - Teen Titans Go! 0.8 - Arrow Season 2.5 0.6 - Infinite Crisis: Fight for the Multiverse 0.5 - Scooby-Doo Where Are You? 0.3 - Looney Tunes *

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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.

Titles released under the All-Ages line and magazines, such as Mad, mostly sell through channels other than the direct market, so direct-market sales don’t tell us much about their performance. For most Vertigo 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. To learn (a little) more about Vertigo’s collection sales, go right here.

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 300/400 chart in that month. In those cases, it’s assumed that said releases sold as many units as the No. 300/400 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 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 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 is you need to contact me).

As always, we welcome your comments and corrections below. Please try to keep things civilized.