Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! LSH # 1 was #25!

The top 300 titles for December have been released and LSH#1 clocked in at # 25! Too bad we don't get "real" numbers, too.

http://www.newsarama.com/forums/sho...5287&highlight=December+2004+Top+300

Not a bad start.

What was the #26 next to its rank? Legion never made it as high at 26.

I've never figured that out. Some statistical variation?

Well in any case, we're off to a good start. I've got a full on subscription, which seems remarkably cheap for 12 issues from DCU.

So I'm tapped for contribution unless I can convinevce my university to do these for class like they do the Uncle Sam comic.

It's money rank (i.e., price × no of sales ranked). And cut the link down to http://www.newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=25287 - it's stretching the board (preferably, oc, linking to the actual index data rather than a MB thread discussing them would be better, but CBR seems to be down)

And I see that LSH 1 isn't exactly "DC's #1 book" (© ™ Mark Waid 2004). If Marvel had hyped something to the level LSH #1's been hyped, it would have been top 10, not scraping into the top 25.

Looks like it is in DC's top ten, and there was a limited series and two issues of Superman/Batman to compete with.

But we didn't beat one of the X books at least. I was thinking we'd be more Top 15 but this is okay if we keep the ranking. Right around the level of the Titans. I'm okay with this for now.

Marvel hasn't hyped anything like this unless its built in with characters that people love. Had this included Supergirl, Kyle Raynar, and/or been a return to the "original" Legion timeline then the book would definitely be Top Ten.

At present, this is a respectable beginning. Alot of Legion fans are honestly waiting to see how the book is by word of mouth.

Based on November's sales figures, I'd venture to say it sold in the low-to-mid 50s, only slightly higher than the forecasts of 50K made on this board months ago. For example, the two titles directly below it, Daredevil and Fantastic Four, sold 51,347 and 51,685 in November, respectively. Supreme Power, two ranks above LSH, sold 57,768 copies. (Iron Man, directly above LSH, had a #1 issue in November, so no telling how #2 did in December.)

So it looks like they succeeded in doubling the prospective readership, and I wouldn't be surprised to see reorders on the January list. Not bad, but frankly not an awesome start either. I hope it can retain a position in the top 50 for the next three years, but there's no guarantee given the startling attrition rates most recent DC relaunches have suffered. Waid and Kitson still have a long road ahead of them.

An explanation for all the numbers is at the CBR News website.

83.24 25 26 ** OCT040295 LEGION OF SUPER HEROES #1 $2.95 DC

83.24 is the Index, 25 is the quantity rank & 26 is the retail rank.

So, is that sales for the month of December specifically? Does it make a difference that December ended three days after LSH #1 was released? Will January show more sales, or does that not matter? Is it fair to compare a book released in the final week of the month to ones released earlier?

If answering these questions strike your fancy, please don't expend too much effort. They're only slightly above the level of purely rhetorical.

I believe those figures are for initial orders only. Reorders have been very strong! I'm told - DC are very happy
Thanks again guys for helping spread the word!

Yeah, these are only the initial orders. Reorders will be in NEXT month's listings. Excellent news about DC being pleased! So are most of the fans. =)

Always a nice confluence.

J

For comparison, here are some older numbers I found stowed away on my hard drive - unfortunately I don't recall exactly where I copied them from.

Given these numbers, I'd say #25 is a pretty strong showing. Especially when you compare it to the numbers for Superboy's Legion #2, which I thought was a great mini that was universally well-recieved.

Format is Title Issue Rank.

Superboy's Legion 2 85

Worlds 1 75
Worlds 2 75
Worlds 3 87
Worlds 4 95
Worlds 5 90
Worlds 6 96
Legion 1 81
Legion 2 95
Legion 3 76
Legion 4 83
Legion 5 66
Legion 6 69
Legion 7 82
Legion 8 80
Legion 9 79
Legion 10 85
Legion 11 89
Legion 12 81
Legion 13 79
Legion 14 89
Legion 15 85
Legion 16 71
Legion 17 75
Legion 18 94
Legion 19 97
Legion 20 92
Legion 21 92
Legion 22 101
Legion 23 98
Legion 24 94
Legion 25 87
Legion 26 81
Legion 27 86
Legion 28 119
Legion 29 82
Legion 30 77
Legion 31 78
Legion 32 91
Legion 33 97
Legion 34 89
Legion 35 105
Legion 36 97
Legion 37 99

Here's another historical comparison:

August 1994
LSH #0 ranked 93
LGS #0 ranked 102

And that was GOOD compared to previous rankings.

"Real" numbers places Legion at around 50,000. Based on previous Batman numbers, it would have sold approximately 53,000. Remember, that's only what retailers initially ordered, not what was printed or re-ordered. DC normally over-prints by about 15% on average. On books they consider "hot" it can be as much as 25%. I suspect Legion is in that category which gives us about 65,000 printed and probably eventually sold.

It's not what was "initially ordered" - that ended figures-wise in March 2003. It's based on initital orders + "advance reorders" (which is what cause those "sold out" messages that DC like to keep putting out on their "hot" titles like ID Crisis. Anyone see one of them for LSH?)

There is no way to spin this negatively.

LSH # 1 was a big success, saleswise. Period. End of story.

I've been keeping up with LSH sales figures for many years now, and this is the highest rank I have **EVER** seen the book at.

Yay!

The only question is how do we keep it there. I really hope they do something like bring Kyle Raynar onto the team or something to steal the unwanted fans of Lantern or some other team

You put Rayner on the team and you lose me as reader. Period.

APB:

It is actually something of a misnomer to refer to these numbers as "sales." They are actually the pre-orders placed by comic book store retailers with Diamond Distributors. The orders would have been placed in October.

Given that distribution to comics shops are non-returnable, these are sales only in the sense that they are sales to retailers. They are in no way reflective of sales to actual readers, other than that retailers seemed to think that they could move this many books.

Given that the last issues of The Legion were ranked out of the top 100, with sales, IIRC, around 22-23k, the December numnbers would appear to be fairly spectacular, even if LSH is not, as Wiad predicted, DC's best selling book.

As we go forward, there will be some additional number sot look for:

Sales on #2 will likely be anywhere from 10-20% lower than #1. No need to panic, that's normal. Retailers order heavier on a number 1 and then cut back. Remember, when they placed their orders for #2 in November, the first issue had still not been released yet.

What we will want to look for next month are two things: Is the drop-off less than 12%? If so, thet may be indicitive of retailer confidence in the title. And, are there any re-orders for #1? If so, that would indicate that retailers picked up additional intrest from their customers after they placed their orders but before the book came out. We could well see re-orders as LSH#1 was never announced as "sold out from the publisher."

After that, we will want to look at salem #3, whic can also be expected to drop 8-15%, and then #4. By the time orders are placed for #4, retailers will be basing their orders on how well #1 actually sold in their shops.

If the drop for #4 is anything under 5%, we're doing okay. 2% is usually said to be mere "statistical noise." If sales for #4 actuall go up from #3, we have an unqualified success in today's marketplace.

They already tried sticking the new Superboy (I'll never be able to think of him as anything but the "new" Superboy, old fogey that I am becoming) on the team with no effect on sales at all.

I think the "add an existing character" ship has sailed, thankfully.

My bold prediction: the standard drop in sales for # 2 and # 3 issues will be LESS than the norm for LSH, and the book will remain in the top 40 for those issues!

It'd keep me forever. Now that they're ressurecting Old Moldly (Hal Jordan) I have no use for Green Lantern the comic.

Nothing against Kyle Rayner, but if there's going to be a Green Lantern in in this Legion, it should be Rond Vidar.