Titans Sales Watch: November

Thanks again to DeTroyes! He writes 'em, I post 'em.

ICv2 has released sales estimates for November, and.... WOW!!! Blackest Night CONTINUES to be a huge shot in the arm for each title it touches.

As always, figures courtesy of ICv2.

Raw Data:
http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/16433.html

FORMAT:

TITLE
Issue # / Release Month / Year / # Units Sold / +/- Previous Month

Teen Titans (Ongoing)
#77 November 2009 46,239 +17,073

Titans (Ongoing)
#19 November 2009 27,099 -1,116

Tiny Titans (Ongoing)
#22 November 2009 8,100 -159


Vigilante (Ongoing)
#12 (end) November 2009 6,450 -521

Doom Patrol (Ongoing)
#4 November 2009 53,748 +33,712

Analysis

Teen Titans -- I expected a sales bump due to Blackest Night. 3k-4k was what I thought was a reasonable estimate, with 5k being a possibility. After all, the series hasn't been getting good word-of-mouth for months, and the sales have reflected that. But never in my wildest dreams did I expect to see a FREAK'IN 17k JUMP IN SALES just because of a connection to Blackest Night. Wow. And even that pales in comparison to the jump Doom Patrol received. For the future, I still think TT's sales slide has for the most part abated -- next issue will probably be lower than this issue but likely in the same realm, and with it being announced that Bart and Conner will be returning to TT I think post-BN the sales level will settle into some average between TT #76 & TT #77, with the levels increasing once Bart and Conner officially rejoin.

Titans -- Still in a holding pattern. I don't expect this book to get much better sales-wise between now and the Titans Annual in March, when the Deathstroke era kicks off.

Tiny Titans -- Still chugging along its merry way.

Vigliante -- *sigh* Rest in peace.

Doom Patrol -- A testament to the power and popularity of Blackest Night. This was the first issue to come out under the "power rings" promotion; it will be interesting to see where sales fall on the next issue without the enticement of plastic promotions. I expect sales will still fall significantly above sales of the first three issues. Hopefully a good percentage of them will stick around once BN is finished.

*******

Overall analysis: Blackest Night continues to be an impressive sales-force in its own right, turning to gold (or at least, copper) anything it touches. While it won't last, it is providing a welcome shot in the arm to several struggling titles. Hopefully the after-effects will be there for a long, long time to come.

Until next month...

Titans Sales Watch: October

Thanks once again, DeTroyes....

Ack! The October numbers have been up for a week, and I've just been too busy to post this until now. This ones going to be quick and a little light on the analysis.

*******

ICv2 has released the October sales estimates.

Raw data:
http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/16243.html

FORMAT:

TITLE
Issue # / Release Month / Year / # Units Sold / +/- Previous Month

Blackest Night: Titans (3 Issue Mini Series)
#3 October 2009 63,670 -416

Teen Titans (Ongoing)
#76 October 2009 29,166 -3,642

Titans (Ongoing)
#18 October 2009 28,215 -1,939

Tiny Titans (Ongoing)
#21 October 2009 8,259 -176


Vigilante (Ongoing) (Cancelled)
#11 October 2009 6,971 -885

Doom Patrol (Ongoing)
#3 October 2009 20,036 -1,965

Graphic Novels
No Titans-related releases in October.

Analysis

Blackest Night: Titans -- Can't complain. Most successful Titans related title since Geoff Johns left. With that kind of reception, DC would be fools not to put JT Krul on a Titans title permanently.

Teen Titans -- I expected a drop off from last issue, just not one quite that big (although I will point out that if you treat TT #75 as an anomaly due to it being a milestone issue etc., those sales numbers are exactly in line with the previous trend). Nevertheless, there are several factors coming up which I think signal the end of the slide. The next two issues are going to be a Blackest Night crossover, and that alone will probably be good for a 3k-4k bump in sales. After that, Teen Titans will be doing a major Static arc, and sometime after that will see the return of Conner and Bart to the team. All of these have been hotly anticipated. Therefore, I still expect that TT's sales slide will reverse itself in the coming months. Though the lukewarm reception Henderson is getting might mitigate that.

Titans -- Title is in freefall. No more Blackest Night crossovers are planned, so I doubt it will get any bumps in the next few months. A New Direction is coming, but it remains to be seen if Deathstroke will be enough to save the book.

Tiny Titans -- Aw, yeah! Titans!

Vigilante -- An ignoble end to an otherwise decent title.

Doom Patrol -- Wow. The drop-off has been pretty bad, despite the generally positive reviews. I have a feeling this title is going to become something like REBELS and Jonah Hex are -- well liked, well reviewed, but low selling.

Overall Analysis: Pretty much a holding pattern. Both main titles are awaiting the full reveal of their new directions (though we have some hints in Teen Titans), but unfortunately we're some months away from full implementation, and even further away from finding out if any of it will resonate with the readers. Economic factors are probably also playing a role, and will probably hamper any sales efforts to turn these titles around.

*****

Thanks for reading, and I hope these little exercises are of some use to someone.

Titans Sales Watch: September

Thanks again to Detroyes! He writes 'em. I post 'em.

September Sales estimates are out, so its time to crunch the numbers. And there's actually some good news to offer, all things considered.

As always, raw data courtesy of ICv2.

http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/16022.html
http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/16023.html

FORMAT:

TITLE
Issue # / Release Month / Year / # Units Sold / +/- Previous Month

Blackest Night: Titans (3-Issue Mini Series)
#2 September 2009 64,086 -7,235
(NOTE: See sales note below)

Teen Titans (ongoing)
#75 September 2009 32,808 +2,428

Titans (ongoing)
#17 September 2009 30,154 -1,254

Tiny Titans (ongoing)
#20 September 2009 8,435 +3


Booster Gold (ongoing)
#24 September 2009 21,732 -376 -- NTT Crossover

Doom Patrol (ongoing)
#2 September 2009 22,001 -6,266

Vigilante (ongoing) (cancelled)
#10 September 2009 7,856 -531

Graphic Novels:
Titans: Lockdown
September 2009 1,722

Analysis:
Blackest Night: Titans -- First off, I must mention that Blackest Night: Titans #1 had a significant number of re-orders in September; 6,554 units, to be exact. Thus, Blackest Night: Titans #1 sales figures now look like this:

#1 August 2009 71,321 N/A
(August Numbers - 64,767; September Numbers - 6,554)

So for those of you who are looking at the post for August figures above in comparison, that's the reason behind the discrepancy. It still hasn't passed Titans #1 as the best selling Titans title of the last two years, but its getting close. And Blackest Night: Titans #2 did almost as well as the first issue's initial numbers; clearly, BN:T has been the best thing to happen Teen Titans-wise in a very, very long time. And what's more, author JT Krul has received almost universal praise for the series. With those number and those reviews, I think DC would have a hard time justifying not handing the him a Titans title. Good chance we may yet see more re-orders for both issues in next month's numbers.

Teen Titans -- Actually managed to get a 2.5k increase. Several factors probably contributed to that - landmark issue number, first issue of new writer, indications in solicits that old characters would return. What's more, there's some good indications that - for at least the next few months - those numbers are not likely to go down significantly. Upcoming we have a two issue Blackest Night crossover, and that is being followed by a long-anticipated foray in Milestone Comics territory with Static. Thus, I suspect Teen Titans will stay mostly at an even keel for the foreseeable future. It is now quite possible that the worst is now behind us.

Titans -- Back to its normal sales slide, although this one was smaller than average. Didn't get below the 30k mark like I expected, but it seems unlikely to escape it next month. With this title still doing nothing but one-shot filler stories and its "new improved direction" still months away, I'm expecting the slide to continue for the next few months. Only time will tell if Deathstroke Titans will save the book.

Tiny Titans -- Basically broke even.

Booster Gold -- Another smallish drop, most likely due to NTT nostalgia.

Doom Patrol -- Yikes. Not liking that drop. But the new series is proving to be somewhat controversial for old fans of the DP, so perhaps it was to be expected.

Vigilante -- Sadly, its about to be put out of its misery.

Graphic Novels
Since its rather pointless to do a month-by-month analysis of TPB releases, here instead are what the totals have been like for new Titans TPB/HC released this year. Same format as above, except no issue numbers and no +/- change:

Titans: Old Friends (HC)
January 2009 1,853

Tiny Titans Vol. 1: Welcome to the Treehouse
February 2009 2,603

Teen Titans Spotlight: Cyborg
March 2009 1,144

Tiny Titans Vol. 2: Adventures in Awesomeness
May 2009 2,056

Terror Titans
July 2009 1,862

Teen Titans: Changing of the Guard
August 2009 1,975

Titans: Lockdown
September 2009 1,722

All sales are about average for TPB releases. Keep in mind, however, that these figures are ONLY for those copies sold through the Diamond distribution chain; they DO NOT include sales to, say, bookstories like Barnes & Noble and Borders. Those stores get their copies directly from the publisher (via Random House) in the normal book sales distribution chain.

******

Overall Analysis: Definite signs that the Titans franchise has mostly bottomed out. Titans
remains the stinker, but the flagship title looks on the verge of turning things around - or at the very least, settling itself into a range. We probably won't know for certain until early next year, but I would say that there are reasons to be cautiously (very cautiously) optimistic.

Titans Sales Watch: August

Thanks again to Detroyes! He writes 'em. I post 'em.

August sales numbers are now out, so its time for the monthly tilting at numerical windmills.

As always, all sales estimates are courtesy of ICv2:
http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/15820.html

FORMAT:

TITLE
Issue # / Release Month / Year / # Units Sold / +/- Previous Month

Blackest Night: Titans (3 Issue Mini Series)
#1 August 2009 64,767 N/A

Titans (Ongoing)
#16 August 2009 31,408 -14,781

Teen Titans (Ongoing)
#74 August 2009 30,380 -610

Tiny Titans (Ongoing)
#19 August 2009 8,432 -144


Vigilante (Ongoing)
#9 August 2009 8,387 -1,555

Doom Patrol (Ongoing)
#1 August 2009 28,267 N/A

Booster Gold (ongoing)
#23 August 2009 22,108 -306 (NTT Crossover)


Analysis:

Blackest Night Titans: Impressive start, all things considered. That's the best any Titans-related title has gotten since Titans #1 in April, 2008 (75,584). But I should also note that, of the three Blackest Night related mini's, it was also the one that sold the least. Still, between those sales numbers and the overwhelmingly positive reviews, this mini has been the biggest shot in the arm for the franchise in years.

Titans: Knew that wasn't going to last; what Blackest Night giveth, Blackest Night taketh away. The previous month's Titans got a +13k boost for having a Blackest Night-related issue; sadly, that boost did not translate to renewed interest in the title with the next issue, as it immediately gave back not only the boost but a little more. While long time fans seem to be enjoying the "Day in the Life" series of one-shots, the format is clearly not bringing in new blood. For the most part, this series is stuck in a holding pattern until the latest New Direction starts up, probably sometime early next year. Until then, the sales slide will probably continue; expect it to break below 30k next month.

Teen Titans: A smaller drop than usual, probably due to it being the last issue of the arc and the curiosity factor of "Another Titan Dies!". Like Titans, this series is basically going into yet another holding pattern, while we await how things shake-out with Blackest Night. The upcoming Blackest Night crossover issues will probably give it a smallish spike, not as big as the one Titans got but probably good for 4k-5k. After that, it will depend in large part on how it all shakes out after the first of the year.

Tiny Titans: While still quite healthy sales-wise for a title of its type, it is worth noting that the sales trend remains on a downward trajectory. If it gets to around 6k, it might be time to start worrying.

Vigilante: Sales continue to dwindle. This time, it actually found itself outsold by Tiny Titans. A pity.

Booster Gold: Included for the NTT crossover. While the title does record a smallish drop, I would like to point out that the drop appears to be much smaller than the title has lately been dropping, almost certainly due to the Titans fanbase crossover.

Doom Patrol: Like Vigilante, this is a title that is at best peripherally related. I'm not sure I'll keep up the coverage, but I thought it was worth noting where it starts.

Overall, slides continue, but we have a clear light in the darkness with Blackest Night: Titans. If only DC could find a way to capture that interest in the main titles...

Titans Sales Watch: July

DeTroyes has posted another excellent sales watch analysis:

Actually, I just looked at ICv2's main page, and they do have the July estimates after all. They just didn't post it to the index page yet. So, here we go with the monthly sales analysis.

As always, all figures are courtesy of ICv2:
http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/15633.html

FORMAT:

TITLE
Issue # / Release Month / Year / # Units Sold / +/- Previous Month

TITANS
#15 July 2009 46,189 +13,868

TEEN TITANS
#73 July 2009 30,990 -1,522

TINY TITANS
#18 July 2009 8,576 -64


BOOSTER GOLD
#22 July 2009 22,414 N/A (NTT Crossover)

VIGILANTE
#8 July 2009 9,942 -1,541

Analysis:
Titans: Wow, is that a shot in the arm. Too bad it probably won't last. Titans #15 was, of course, the Blackest Night crossover, which certainly accounts for most of the big spike. It also had the first appearance in ages of a beloved older Titan, which probably contributed to the bump. But since the next several issues are all more of the "Day in the Life" filler issues, and since by all accounts the current team's days on the title are numbered, I really doubt that the sales level will hold. Maybe the next couple of issues will see numbers a little higher than Titans #14 saw, but probably not much higher. But still, its nice to see the spike, even if its only temporary.

Teen Titans: Continues its downward trend. After briefly outselling Titans in June, it couldn't compete with the Blackest Night craze and recorded a number not much above the 30k mark. Part of it is probably due to the fact that the current arc is being done by a fill-in writer, but I think most of the drop-off is simply due to death fatigue. Titans fans are sick and tired of stories where a Titan gets killed and simply have no desire to read another one, no matter how well it is written. Next month's figures will probably take the title to below 30k. The future of the title? Anyone's guess. The debut of new writer Felicia Henderson might give it a boost; the addition of Titans Beast Boy and Raven might also help; but in the end, this title needs to find a voice. And with the new writer being such a newcomer, there is no way to tell with any certainty what the next "exciting new direction" will bring.

Tiny Titans: Same old, same old. Lost a small amount of readers in July, but nothing to worry about.

Booster Gold: Included for the New Teen Titans crossover. Just for comparison purposes, that figure is about 800 units less than the previous month.

Vigilante: Included because, well, its Marv Wolfman and some Titans fans wanted to know. Sales figures were as dreadful as feared. The Death-Knell was sounded with November solicits; the title is canceled at issue #12.

******

Overall, its nice to see the spike on Titans, but mega-event crossovers can't make up for the fact that both Titans titles are facing some very real problems in the near future, with both titles being taken over by untried and untested writers and in general with huge question marks about their long-term viability. The only bright light on the horizon is that the advance buzz on Blackest Night: Titans appears to be quite favorable. But beyond that... ?

Titans Sales Watch: June

DeTroyes from ComicBloc has posted another excellent sales analysis:

June sales estimates have now been posted. Time for the monthly sales analysis.

As always, sales estimates courtesy of ICv2:
http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/15338.html

FORMAT:

TITLE
Issue # / Release Month / Year / # Units Sold / +/- Previous Month

Teen Titans (Ongoing)
#71 May 2009 3,734 n/a (NOTE: REORDERS!!)
#72 June 2009 32,512 -1,598
(see note below concerning these numbers!)

Titans (Ongoing)
#14 June 2009 32,321 -2,022

Tiny Titans (Ongoing)
#17 June 2009 8,640 -204

Superman/Batman (Ongoing)
#61 June 2009 38,228 -1,303 w/The Justice Titans

*******

Analysis:

Teen Titans: OK, this is going to take some explaining. You may remember that last month the following sales figures were reported for Teen Titans:

Teen Titans (Ongoing) #71 May 2009 30,376 -5,036

Note the 5k drop. That seemed a pretty steep drop-off, far more than the title has been trending for the last few years. A variety of reasons were speculated, but even so, that still seemed like an ominous number. It didn't seem likely that there would be any significant reorders, since none worth recording have ever shown up before. But low and behold, a significant number of re-orders (or more likely, lagging orders that for some reason did not get figured into the original May numbers) did show up in the June numbers. This means that the May numbers for Teen Titans #71 now officially look like this:

Teen Titans (Ongoing):
#71 May 2009 34,110 -1,302
(May - 30,376; June - 3,734)

A much smaller drop-off, and one that fits much more securely in the title's general trend. Still not great, considering where the title was, but at least not as much as was originally feared.

Titans: As I originally predicted a few months ago, Titans has now officially dipped below Teen Titans in sales numbers. This has happened not because of better sales for Teen Titans, but because Titans drop-off numbers have been generally steeper than Teen Titans have been. *sigh* Titans #14 was a "Day in the Life" issue, so the dip was pretty much expected. The real test will be next issue, which will have the return of Tempest and is being billed as a Blackest Night tie-in. Still, the numbers keep going down, which does not bode well.

Tiny Titans: While I don't think its bad news, I would point out that the sales numbers for June were the lowest they've ever been for this title. Still, for a Johnny DC title, those numbers are quite healthy. And the compilations sell very well, so there's no chance this one is going anywhere.

Overall: The sales numbers have resumed their downwards trends. While they haven't reached cancellation levels yet, both titles are starting to run out of room. With permanent writers announced for both titles we can hope that those numbers will stabilize, but if so, it has to happen soon.

************

Supplement:

I had at least one request to keep tracking the numbers on Vigilante, so here they are for June:

Vigilante (Ongoing)
#7 June 2009 11,483 -7,394

Wish I had better news to report on this title, but I don't. Vigilante has gone right back to the numbers it had prior to "Deathtrap", and that's a shame.

Cancellation by the end of this year. Sorry, but that's my prediction.

Titans Sales Watch: May

Sales on TITANS and TEEN TITANS are slowly eroding peice by piece, month by month. I'm re-posting DeTroyes' excellent "Titans Sales Watch" analysis (thanks, DeTroyes!) from ComicBloc:

May sales figures have been posted, so I guess that means its time again to bore everyone with numbers and statistics.

Here is the raw data for May 2009, courtesy of ICv2:

http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/15147.html

FORMAT:

TITLE
Issue # / Release Month / Year / # Units Sold / +/- Previous Month

Titans (Ongoing)
#13 May 2009 34,343 -1,671

Teen Titans (Ongoing)
#71 May 2009 30,376 -5,036

Tiny Titans (Ongoing)
#16 May 2009 8,844 -363

Vigilante (Ongoing)
#6 May 2009 18,877 -2,413

Superman/Batman (Ongoing)
#60 May 2009 39,531 N/A w/The Justice Titans

Analysis:

Titans - Titans managed to hold on to the top spot, but it's drop-off was pretty bad. That's rather disheartening, since it was starting to level off in the months leading up to "Deathtrap". I'd say Titans #14 is probably going to be not much better, but Titans #15 will be a shot in the arm due to its connection with Blackest Night (especially considering the number of Titans fans who seem genuinely pumped for BN:T). After that, no idea. A lot will depend on who they ultimately give the title to as the permanent writer; if its another unknown like Felicia Henderson, then the title may be toast.

Teen Titans - Huge, huge drop-off. Several factors would be my guess: people just aren't interested in the "new" new-new-new line-up, the loss of Sean McKeever, and the failure for the teen team to be anything more than just walk-ons for "Deathtrap" come immediately to mind. And with fill-in writers for the next several months and a complete unknown as the new ongoing writer, I just don't see how TT can pull out of its dive anymore - and what's more, I think DC knows it. Further evidence, I think, that DC is just putting this title on "holding pattern" status and gearing up for some kind of big relaunch next year.

Vigilante - Sorry guys, but its toast. If "Deathtrap" couldn't get it to stay above 20k on the very last issue of the crossover, then nothing will. Marv Wolfman might be able to string it along for a few more months, but he'll be trying to outrun the devil in doing so. My guess is, the title will survive long enough to get one or perhaps two TPBs, then they'll pull the plug on the monthly and maybe make it a back-up feature somewhere.

BTW, this is probably a good point to recap the sales figures for "Deathtrap":

Deathtrap Prologue: Teen Titans Annual 2009 #1 - 32,525
Deathtrap, Pt. I: Titans #12 - 36,014
Deathtrap, Pt. II: Vigilante #5 - 21,290
Deathtrap, Pt. III: Teen Titans #70 - 35,412
Deathtrap, Pt. IV: Titans #13 - 34,343
Deathtrap, Pt. V: Vigilante #6 - 18,877

I'd say that was evidence for some serious disinterest in this crossover. Vigilante #6, which was suppose to be the climax of the crossover, SHOULD have carried numbers comparable to the other titles. Instead, no one seemed interested in the outcome, and the sales numbers showed it.

(BTW, unless people want me to continue with it, I plan to drop coverage of Vigilante with next month's sales figures, as the title will then be moving away from interaction with the Titans)

Superman/Batman - Included for the Justice Titans. This was actually the biggest selling Titans-related title for the month of May.

Tiny Titans - A negligable drop-off. This one is doing just fine.

*****

*sigh*

That's it for this month.