Revealed on social media by series artist Ryan Ottley (I spotted it while mindlessly browsing Tumblr this morning and haven’t found any “exclusive announcements” anywhere), it has been revealed that “Invincible’s” 118th issue will cost you just a quarter to take it home.

A currently unsolicited issue (the latest issue solicited so far being #117 currently slated for January, with no issues being solicited for February), a 25 cent comic is quite a bold marketing initiative, to say the least. It’s a pretty daring move, one that should easily pop-up off the shelves for the stray readers who might be curious, and the low cost would assumedly allow retailers to have faith in bumping up their orders a bit higher than usual at a low-risk profit margin. At the very least it allows for easy impulse purchasing from new or lapsed fans in shops, and given that “Invincible’s” current story is cooling down I would imagine this is designed as an easy jump-on point.

However, I couldn’t help but be curious not as to why a 25 cents comic would make sense to help boost sales for the series, but rather why the tag-line: “We really want you to try this comic, that’s why…” Call me cynical, but that seemed kind of self-depricating for a comic that boasts it being the best in the universe at the top — and I wasn’t sure if there was need for it. After all, Robert Kirkman is a popular writer, Ryan Ottley is an amazing artist (seriously — have you seen what he’s capable of?), and I imagined “Invincible” was doing as well as any other Kirkman-written title. Surely “Invincible” was doing okay, I assumed.

So as I was thinking about this, I felt the need to do some analysis using sales data for the year up through October, since November sales aren’t available (with all numbers provided by Comichron). Take a look:

The chart above shows monthly sales of “The Walking Dead,” “Invincible” and Kirkman’s newest title “Outcast.” It felt natural to compare “Invincible” to “The Walking Dead” together, all things considered, particularly since “The Walking Dead” is Kirkman’s most successful endeavor, in spite of “Invincible” debuting first.

And as you can see, “The Walking Dead” had a pretty good year, starting the year off within the midst of the ‘All Out War’ mega-arc that saw healthy re-orders for every issue in January and double-shipping for the duration of the story before the book had a soft re-launch (of sorts — new logo, slightly new direction) in May. “The Walking Dead” also had a pretty nice bump in October with a nice sales bump thanks to a reported/estimated 250,000 sales to the ever-popular Loot Crate, through which “Rocket Raccoon” debuted at similar success (which, at the time, was confusing). “The Walking Dead” has also never strayed too far from the Top 10 each month this year, either being solidly in there or flirting around the edges.

“Outcast” also had a pretty even year so far, with a nice bump for its first issue that is typical for every first issue before evening out into a nice rhythm. I added that title in after comparing just “The Walking Dead” and “Invincible” mainly due to curiosity, but looking at it is interesting.

Because “Invincible”, on the other hand, did not have a great year. I’m not sure to what personal measures the book’s success is rated by, but in the spectrum of numbers we’re looking at here the book’s sales are basically hovering around the same area that gets your average Marvel book cancelled, or lower. I suppose it’s worth mentioning that when “Invincible” debuted in January 2003, it debuted in the same general area of sales with 10,751 units sold — though, in complete fairness, it is important to note that the comic buying market was very different in 2003 (look where “The Walking Dead” debuted) and that the first issue of “Invincible” is a pretty highly-priced and sought after collector’s item now.

If you look carefully, as well, you’ll notice a slight bump in May, which was the same time that “The Walking Dead” began its new era. This makes a lot of sense as this was the release of “Invincible” #111, which was the beginning of a big arc for the book and was solicited with the note that it “packs the punch of THREE relaunched number one issues! IN ONE BOOK!” and — and I’m not making this up, this is actually in the solicit — “THE WALKING DEAD CREATOR ROBERT KIRKMAN WRITES INVINCIBLE!!!”

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The cover itself also noted that it would work as a jumping on point for new readers, stating “1st Issue In a BOLD New Direction! 1st Issue of a STARTLING New Era! 1st Issue for a NEW Generation!” Looking at the numbers and how “Invincible” dropped back into a steady groove, it appears that despite building it, the readers didn’t inherently come. And it’s not the first time they’ve tried, either, as seen with “Invincible” #89 and “Invincible” #101.

And that’s not even mentioning that the book is frequently delayed, as well. While there are a few missed months, the book is rather behind on its solicited schedule in general — such as, for example, “Invincible” #115 originally being solicited for September and then debuting in November.

If I may editorialize a bit, though, with all of that information out of the way I’ll note that “Invincible” is a book that is firmly in my pull list, and has been for a few years now. It has its ups and downs as all titles do, and I think it may have accidentally peaked during the obscenely good ‘Viltrumite War’ arc, but “Invincible” is never the less month-in and month-out a rather smart superhero title. It has its ups and downs as all comics do, maybe I don’t recommend it to people as much as I used to, but when “Invincible” is on, it’s on; and the recent arc that tore Mark’s world apart has been rather entertaining to read.

Clearly I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole in trying to suss out what’s going on with “Invincible.” I couldn’t possibly explain things beyond this, as there’s no real reason to account for reader apathy. “The Walking Dead” would naturally get some additional attention and continued healthy trade sales thanks to the show that grows increasingly popular every season, but it’s odd to me to see “Invincible” not do as well. The 25 cents issue is perhaps the first time I’ve really been aware that the book isn’t just doing poorly, but it’s apparently really struggling — and apparently there have been signs of this now for a while that I’ve just not noticed.

Perhaps it’s indicative of the world we live in, and the way we measure success for comics now by how well it performs thanks to other media. Maybe it’s that the book is at issue #118, and we’re conditioned to be afraid of hopping in to books with high numbers because of the constant relaunches seen at Marvel and DC that have turned the tide for the market somewhat (new #1s always do better than new #2s). Maybe the book is too dark as it dabbles in grimmer and more morose subject matter, though the popularity of Batman would indicate that that shouldn’t be a turn-off for most comic readers. I’m not sure.

Whatever the case may be, though, it’s also worth noting that no matter what delays have hit the book and despite (or perhaps in spite) of low sales the book continues to come out. Usually these kind of sales would spawn hashtags like #SaveInvincible, but I’m not sure if it’s needed; it seems like the creative team is intent on doing the book no matter what. Heck, Ryan Ottley is continuously doing his career-best work per issue, and to me that’s worth the price of admission no matter the span of time between months that the book comes out.

So whenever “Invincible” #118 debuts — perhaps in March, given that it wasn’t solicited for February, but I’d expect we’d see it in May given delay trends — I’d say it’s worth checking out. For 25 cents, I think that’s a pretty easy gamble. After all, according to the cover, it’s the best superhero comic in the universe; seems silly to miss out on that.

Update: “Invincible” #118 was indeed solicited for March. I would still probably expect a May release date. Here’s the solicit:

INVINCIBLE #118

STORY: ROBERT KIRKMAN

ART / COVER: RYAN OTTLEY, CLIFF RATHBURN & JEAN-FRANCOIS BEAULIEU

MARCH 25

24 PAGES/FC/T+

$0.25 ONLY TWENTY FIVE CENTS!

Invincible and Atom Eve set off on the adventure of a lifetime: PARENTHOOD! They’ve taken to the stars and left their troubles on Earth behind them. As things take a drastic turn for our heroes, you’ll find yourself asking… is this book still about superheroes?

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