Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Top 100 Comics Chat "DC Sales in the Crapper"

Just a little thread for general discussion of the top 100 comics.


So I checked December's list and found it interesting that TEEN TITANS is outselling JLA. TT is in the top 20 (# 18 I think), JLA was at # 21 iirc.

I wonder which cartoon gets better ratings?

Can you post a link where we can see the top 100? (it might be too much to list them all here) That way we'd know which books qualify for discussion.

I'll have to let Scott field that one.

I entered Top 100 Comics into MSN's search and went to a website... ICv I think it was...

Here's the link:
comic sales December 2003

(They don't appear to let you copy the text out anyways.)

There certainly are a lot of Ultimates titles in the top sellers. I gotta run but will comment more tomorrow.

Whoa! Superman/Batman is doing phenomenally well -- issues #4 and #5 occupy TWO of the top ten spots, and constitute the two best-selling DC titles! Who'd've thunk?

Also good to see some of my current faves, G.I. Joe/Transformers and Transformers/G.I. Joe (two separate mini-series), and non-guilty guilty pleasure Street Fighter, doing so well...

I'm not surprised that JLA has slipped a bit, given the response to the latest arc.

I will admit I'm surprised and pleased at the response to Supes/Bats. I knew it would do well, but I wasn't thinking Top 10.

I'l admit that the success of the SM/BM title plus the announcement of the upcoming Michael Turner/Supergirl arc (and not to mention the cameos of lower-tier DC characters in the series I've heard about) has me wishing I'd bought the title from the get-go.

Guess I'll have to collect it in TPB form...


I'm extremely pleased that the Giffen/Maguire FORMERLY KNOWN AS JUSTICE LEAGUE series seems to have been a top 40/50 hit...

A few items surprised me - not a regular follower of the sales lists - 1602 was the #2 seller - there's been very little discussion/mention of it here at LW. What comments there were gave me the impression that it was no great shakes.

On the other hand, I read quite a few positive reactions to Negation, both here and from other sources. Yet Negation doesn't even make the cut for the top 100 (it's down at 158).

Two other rankings were a surprise as well: Planetary and Plastic Man in the mid-50s. Planetary is interesting, but a bit offbeat; not much story to the book and I would have thought it would suffer from that long interruption in publishing. Perhaps absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Plastic Man is another offbeat book, very cartoony. Of course, that was the first issue - I wonder if succeeding ones will hold the same rank. (I've liked it so far - but most of my regular comics were below the top 100, some not even in the top 300, so I'm no guide.)

I wonder if the readership for the top 40-50 books is very cohesive - the hard core superhero/action set - and below the 50 mark or so, you start to get a more diverse readership. Would Pareto's Law apply to comics - 20% of the readers buy 80% of the books (by volume)?

It's come in for a fair share of criticism to be sure. Some of that, I think, has to do with the expectations that come with any Neil Gaiman project.

Here's another list for discussion. The Top 100 Books and GN of 2003 . I'm not surprised that the final chapter of Hush topped the list but I am that Ultimate Fantastic Four #1 finished the year in third when it was released in the final days of the year.

Not to get away from the discussion, but I am really enjoying Gaiman's 1602. The latest issue was very well done, and I think Gaiman's writing is great like always. I think a lot of people just don't like his style or the way he paces a book. I know that it seems like a lot doesn't happen in one issue and then a ton does in the next, but I like every issue he likes because his story-telling sucks me right in.

Superman/Batman is a great, great book. I also expect to see Superman break the Top Ten soon now that Jim Lee is drawing. With good reason too, the art looks great and I have high expectations for Brian Azzerelo.

Negation deserves to be phenomenonally higher. It is a far better book than most of DC and Marvel's these days.

The Ultimate Books continue to do well, yet I keepp wondering why I even buy them. I'm starting to hate Ultimate X-Men and Ultimates and Ultimate Spider-Man is hit and miss every week. Bendis is a great writer, but there are too many issues that he writes that I can read in under a minute. But I guess a $2.25 price tag has a lot to do with what kids buy.

Nice to see SUPREME POWER at # 17. I am worried, however, about X-STATIX at # 74. Marvel doesn't keep titles at # 74 around forever, y'know.

WOW-- TEEN TITANS GO! no. 2 placed at # 96, not bad at all for a kiddie-cartoon-based comic. This also means the brand name of TEEN TITANS has TWO slots in the Top 100...

Oh, and I'm also pleased to see OUTSIDERS doing so well, with no. 7 placing safely within the top 40 at # 37! I love that book!

I took a look at OUTSIDERS at the store today. I liked what I saw -- is it a different penciller? I got the first issue way back when, and I remember not being blown away by the art.

I wasn't super-impressed with Raney either other than his cool rendition of Metamorpho.

However, since he returned from a several-issue break after being sick, his art has improved in my eye BIG time.

*deleted crappy cut & paste job*

Well, that copy/pasted crappy but you can get the gist of it...

MAN!

It's offical-- TEEN TITANS is DC's second-highest selling comic (and it isn't TOO far from # 1 seller BATMAN). Also again scoring in the top 100 is TEEN TITANS GO! Looks like the Teen Titans franchise has been officially revitalized!

Willikers! OUTSIDERS is now a Top-30 comic!

Notice how EVERY title in the Top 10 sold at LEAST 100K? Wonder when the last time THAT happened was?

Yay! LEGION outsold AQUAMAN!

I'm happy to see that "Supreme Power" came in #15! That's great for a non-franchise kinda book.

I had to delete that terrible cut/paste. I'll do links from here on!

*sigh* Another crappy cut/paste.

TEEN TITANS inches up another slot, EVER so close to the Top 10...

Can I point out that the number beside the rankings (left of the title) is relative to Batman (where Batman = 100, regardless of actual sales), not a number.

And, on the March sales (where you got the estimated numbers I see ), ouch on Captain Marvel - it's rivalling Spider-Girl here, and not in a good way...

June 2005!

Top 300

DC continues to see massive success for the IC stuff. House of M is a sales success for Marvel. With IC ruling all, Morrison scores a batch of quiet hits with his 7 SOLDIERS stuff for DC.

The days of the 100K comic seem to be firmly back. That's a good thing, I think.

TEEN TITANS continues to be a top seller.

GLA probably didn't score big enough numbers to warrant an ongoing, with # 3 (of 4) placing at 85. The rank for # 1 of the NEW WARRIORS mini, though, was wretched!