I had another laugh yesterday. A couple of vloggers -You Tube comic bloggers- laughed when they showed their bagged copies of the Death of Superman. One said "Hey, guys ~remember when we thought these would be worth a million?"
The crushed look as a copy of the white bagged Superman is alive issue was held up.
Of course, Superman, and every other DC comics character has, like those at Marvel, died over and over. But excluding the imaginary stories comics of the old DC, Superman had died before The Death of Superman. All I have to write is Crisis On Infinite Earths (how'd that seal your future occupation with DC, Marv?).
When Crisis On Infinite Earths appeared it was a bolt out of the blue. Back then, seeing your heroes ~I was never a big DC fan but Justice League and Justice Society of America and other characters I liked~ killed off was...well, it was like being kicked in the balls. Supergirl dead? Flash dead?? WTF???
Well, this was before DC insulted fans by saying "F*** continuity!"
Look at these comics sales figures for March 2017 from Comichron http://www.comichron.com/monthlycomicssales/2000/2000-03.html
| Units | Dollars | Comic-book Title | Issue | Price | Publisher | Est. units |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Amazing Spider-Man | 25 | $9.99 | Marvel | 113,934 |
| 2 | 2 | Dark Knight III Master Race | 8 | $5.99 | DC | 107,892 |
| 3 | 6 | Batman | 18 | $2.99 | DC | 98,100 |
| 4 | 7 | Batman | 19 | $2.99 | DC | 97,501 |
| 5 | 4 | Iron Fist | 1 | $3.99 | Marvel | 89,652 |
| 6 | 3 | X-Men Prime | 1 | $4.99 | Marvel | 83,689 |
| 7 | 8 | Star Wars | 29 | $3.99 | Marvel | 72,017 |
| 8 | 5 | All Star Batman | 8 | $4.99 | DC | 71,809 |
| 9 | 12 | Walking Dead | 165 | $2.99 | Image | 70,422 |
| 10 | 18 | Justice League | 16 | $2.99 | DC | 62,515 |
| 11 | 21 | Justice League | 17 | $2.99 | DC | 61,165 |
| 12 | 13 | X-O Manowar | 1 | $3.99 | Valiant | 60,524 |
| 13 | 11 | Star Wars Darth Maul | 2 | $3.99 | Marvel | 60,415 |
| 14 | 25 | Detective Comics | 952 | $2.99 | DC | 59,722 |
| 15 | 28 | Detective Comics | 953 | $2.99 | DC | 59,160 |
| 16 | 31 | Superman | 18 | $2.99 | DC | 57,879 |
| 17 | 33 | Superman | 19 | $2.99 | DC | 56,439 |
| 18 | 35 | Flash | 18 | $2.99 | DC | 54,959 |
| 19 | 22 | Batwoman | 1* | $2.99 | DC | 54,849 |
| 20 | 38 | Flash | 19 | $2.99 | DC | 53,918 |
| 21 | 27 | Justice League of America | 2* | $2.99 | DC | 53,349 |
| 22 | 9 | IVX | 6 | $4.99 | Marvel | 52,811 |
| 23 | 16 | Spider-Man Deadpool | 15 | $3.99 | Marvel | 50,691 |
| 24 | 10 | Inhumans Prime | 1 | $4.99 | Marvel | 50,422 |
| 25 | 39 | Justice League of America | 3* | $2.99 | DC | 48,504 |
| 26 | 51 | Wonder Woman | 18 | $2.99 | DC | 47,484 |
| 27 | 19 | Old Man Logan | 19 | $3.99 | Marvel | 47,428 |
| 28 | 17 | Action Comics | 975 | $3.99 | DC | 47,382 |
| 29 | 20 | Deadpool | 28 | $3.99 | Marvel | 47,026 |
| 30 | 42 | Super Sons | 2* | $2.99 | DC | 47,021 |
| 31 | 52 | Action Comics | 976 | $2.99 | DC | 46,846 |
| 32 | 53 | Wonder Woman | 19 | $2.99 | DC | 46,745 |
| 33 | 23 | All New Wolverine | 18 | $3.99 | Marvel | 46,731 |
| 34 | 26 | Unworthy Thor | 5 | $3.99 | Marvel | 45,298 |
| 35 | 56 | Suicide Squad | 13 | $2.99 | DC | 45,064 |
| 36 | 14 | Neil Gaiman American Gods Shadows | 1* | $3.99 | Dark Horse | 44,885 |
| 37 | 24 | America | 1 | $3.99 | Marvel | 43,592 |
| 38 | 61 | Suicide Squad | 14 | $2.99 | DC | 43,388 |
| 39 | 60 | Harley Quinn | 15 | $2.99 | DC | 43,264 |
| 40 | 29 | Man-Thing | 1 | $3.99 | Marvel | 43,131 |
| 41 | 62 | Harley Quinn | 16 | $2.99 | DC | 42,767 |
| 42 | 65 | Titans | 9 | $2.99 | DC | 42,557 |
| 43 | 34 | Star Wars Doctor Aphra | 5 | $3.99 | Marvel | 42,465 |
| 44 | 36 | Doctor Strange | 18 | $3.99 | Marvel | 41,801 |
| 45 | 15 | Clone Conspiracy Omega | 0 | $4.99 | Marvel | 41,179 |
| 46 | 71 | Nightwing | 16 | $2.99 | DC | 40,289 |
| 47 | 73 | Nightwing | 17 | $2.99 | DC | 39,467 |
| 48 | 41 | Captain America Steve Rogers | 13 | $3.99 | Marvel | 39,454 |
| 49 | 74 | Trinity | 7 | $2.99 | DC | 39,380 |
| 50 | 43 | Avengers | 5 | $3.99 | Marvel | 39,204 |
| Comic-book Title | Issue | Price | Publisher | Est. preorders | |
| 1 | X-Men | 100 | $2.99 | Marvel | 144,878 |
| 2 | Uncanny X-Men | 380 | $2.99 | Marvel | 115,158 |
| 3 | Wolverine | 150 | $2.99 | Marvel | 99,054 |
| 4 | JLA | 41 | $2.99 | DC | 77,145 |
| 5 | Magdalena | 1 | $2.50 | Image | 76,364 |
| 6 | Avengers | 28 | $1.99 | Marvel | 76,125 |
| 7 | Spawn | 96 | $1.95 | Image | 68,967 |
| 8 | Daredevil | 13 | $2.50 | Marvel | 67,544 |
| 9 | Punisher | 2 | $2.99 | Marvel | 67,365 |
| 10 | Fantastic Four | 29 | $1.99 | Marvel | 59,062 |
| 11 | Tomb Raider | 4 | $2.50 | Image | 58,405 |
| 12 | Cable | 79 | $1.99 | Marvel | 55,907 |
| 13 | X-Force | 102 | $1.99 | Marvel | 54,395 |
| 14 | Amazing Spider-Man | 17 | $1.99 | Marvel | 54,097 |
| 15 | Thor | 23 | $1.99 | Marvel | 52,490 |
| 16 | Generation X | 63 | $1.99 | Marvel | 51,982 |
| 17 | Gear Station | 1 | $2.50 | Image | 51,938 |
| 18 | Peter Parker Spider-Man | 17 | $1.99 | Marvel | 51,579 |
| 19 | Batman | 577 | $1.99 | DC | 49,749 |
| 20 | Iron Man | 28 | $1.99 | Marvel | 49,729 |
| 21 | Batman Dark Victory | 6 | $2.95 | DC | 49,724 |
| 22 | Batgirl | 2 | $2.50 | DC | 49,465 |
| 23 | Captain America | 29 | $1.99 | Marvel | 49,057 |
| 24 | Detective Comics | 744 | $2.50 | DC | 48,032 |
| 25 | X-Man | 63 | $1.99 | Marvel | 47,744 |
| 26 | Mutant X | 19 | $1.99 | Marvel | 47,445 |
| 27 | Rising Stars | 6 | $2.50 | Image | 47,266 |
| 28 | Soul Saga | 3 | $2.50 | Image | 46,774 |
| 29 | Gambit | 16 | $1.99 | Marvel | 43,376 |
| 30 | JSA | 10 | $2.50 | DC | 42,814 |
| 31 | Batman Gotham Knights | 3 | $2.50 | DC | 41,709 |
| 32 | Superman | 156 | $1.99 | DC | 41,192 |
| 33 | Nightwing | 43 | $1.99 | DC | 41,048 |
| 34 | Witchblade | 39 | $2.50 | Image | 40,520 |
| 35 | Batman Legends of the Dark Knight | 129 | $1.99 | DC | 40,391 |
| 36 | Action Comics | 765 | $1.99 | DC | 40,252 |
| 37 | Astro City Vol. 2 | 22 | $2.50 | DC | 39,859 |
| 38 | Green Lantern | 124 | $1.99 | DC | 39,859 |
| 39 | Superman The Man Of Steel Coll Ed | 100 | $3.99 | DC | 39,257 |
| 40 | Preacher | 61 | $2.50 | DC | 39,252 |
| 41 | Amazing Spider-Man 2000 | $3.50 | Marvel | 39,177 | |
| 42 | Flash | 160 | $1.99 | DC | 38,953 |
| 43 | Darkness | 30 | $2.50 | Image | 38,789 |
| 44 | Crimson | 17 | $2.50 | DC | 38,630 |
| 45 | Steampunk | 2 | $2.50 | DC | 38,530 |
| 46 | Incredible Hulk | 14 | $1.99 | Marvel | 38,157 |
| 47 | X-Men The Hidden Years | 6 | $2.50 | Marvel | 38,157 |
| 48 | Adventures Of Superman | 578 | $1.99 | DC | 37,476 |
| 49 | Thunderbolts | 38 | $1.99 | Marvel | 37,436 |
| 50 | Avengers Two Wonder Man And Beast | 1 | $2.99 | Marvel | 36,923 |
Notice how the sales are not incredibly high? So ask a question: how can all these comic 'experts' claim that "a Marvel title has average sales of 25,000 these days"? Where is this quote from because I searched from 2200hrs to 0100 hrs (yeah, I am that kind of idiot) and cannot find a source just lots of bloggers/vloggers and "fans" quoting it.
If you know let me know where this figure came from! The lowest figure for a Marvel title in March, 2017 is 39, 204 which is for The Avengers at no. 50 -a low placing but still far more than "25, 000".
And here is the major problem: the figures talk of established orders. Not actual sales. To get a rough estimate of a title and its sales you would need to contact every retailer -shops, online sellers and so on. We know comics is a crooked business and there are many reasons why one of these sources would report bad sales....or good sales. And here we are only talking about orders to the United States not international orders.
Comics are not selling as well as they used to. Yes, insulting and exploiting fans with bad stories and even some bad art. Also the "Big fans" of comic book originated characters on TV or in the movies do not necessarily read comics. Despite all the screw ups, DC comics is still has more titles in the top 10 than Marvel. Yes, the Dollar comic bins are far more wide spread now in the US, in fact they seem to be more prominent than new comic book displays.
In the UK, of course, unscrupulous dealers are charging vast amounts for back issues. Comic titles (I went by two that were commonly featured in $1 and $2 bin features from the US) that were being bought for $1-$2 or in a pack of "Five for $5" are on sale in the UK for between £7.00 to £20.00 which is between $9.00 to $26.00!! And these comics are not rare and neither are they in short supply.
The UK gets hit like this on everything. I was watching some gamer (RPG) videos and they were showing figure purchases of HeroClix and other figures in bulk "These things average 35 cents a piece to 75 cents. The most I've ever paid for a particular figure was $1!" Every video. UK? One of those same figures (a SINGLE one) was £19.00 to £23.00 which is $25.00 to $35.00. Not rare. Not scarce. It is just people trying to be greedy and make a lot of money ~oh, and that price was before UK postage!
But getting back to new comics, it seems that everyone is being ignorant or lying or twisting facts for their own cases whether SJWs, anti-SJWs or anti-Brevoort (Brevoort just outrightly lies like breathing, it's just natural to him.
So, please, take this "average of 25,000 copies sold" on every title with a sack of salt until you can find the source. I cannot.
Just looking at data from the Top 50 best selling titles of the month will naturally give a skewed result. If you take the Top 300 sales and crunch numbers it reveals that on average each Marvel title sells a shade under 30,000 units to retail stores (Top seller: Amazing Spiderman 113,954; bottom seller Foolkiller 5210). But, as you say, this isn't the full story, this is just what Diamond have sold to the stores. With a world population of over 7 billion, there's approximately one copy of Amazing Spiderman per 60,000,000 people! (Although the maths does depend on your definition of a billion!)
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