Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Legion of Super-Heroes Sales Figures

All-Star Legion of Super-Heroes featuring Batman, Superman and Monkeys - Absolute Edition.

well let's not forget the art angle. when i shop for comics, i open the sucker up and look at the art. I'm not reading it at all, i'm looking to see if the art it good or not. if it is? i pick it up. if it's not? I check the writer, is it someone i know? someone i trust? no? down goes the book.

i can't really tell if a book is well written or not just by glancing at it, unfortunately. it has to be recommended to me by one of my cohorts or a podcast, etc for me to try to trust something based on writing. it's not like i can read the whole book in the store!

put a good artist on it and johns could write them playing scrabble for 7 issues and i'd be all on it. as sad as it sounds, sometimes it's not really what's happening in the comic, but how its drawn that gets the readers. (or colored or inked...)

That's actually what (IMO) stands DC and Marvel apart. I've always seen Marvel as the "artist" choice, while DC always had a bigger role for the writer. Sure, Marvel does have his share of great writers (usually writing more mediocre material), but it usually is about the art. I mean, get Planet Hulk, which made me instantly drop the book (Pak against Peter David). It became a hit, simply for being this huge splash slugfest.
But your point is correct, Adriana, and maybe one of the reasons Marvel outsells DC for quite a long time. I mean, Infinity Inc (a GREAT book by Peter Milligan) was ruined by a weird choice of artists.

Agreed. Even more to the point was Milligan's "The Programme" which may have been one of the best books of the year, but had horrible art and tanked.

July Sales figures up at ICV2. Because the book missed June it double shipped in July. #43 dropped back only slightly from the previous issue, but #44 roared ahead by over 2,000 copies (alternate cover boost, or Legion interest due to FC?). Good news for a change.


07/2007: LSH #32 -- 29,826, #84 out of 300
08/2007: LSH #33 -- 29,315, #92 out of 300
09/2007: LSH #34 -- 28,294 , #88 out of 300
10/2007: LSH #35 -- 27,370 , #91 out of 300
11/2007: LSH #36 -- 26,814 , #88 out of 300
12/2007: LSH #37 -- 45,803 , #50 out of 300
01/2008: LSH #38 -- 33,045 , #64 out of 300
02/2008: LSH #39 -- 31,123 , #59 out of 300
03/2008: LSH #40 -- 30,377 , #63 out of 300
04/2008: LSH #41 -- 28,939 , #76 out of 300
05/2008: LSH #42 -- 27,940 , #84 out of 300
07/2008: LSH #43 -- 27,531 , #96 out of 300
07/2008: LSH #44 -- 29,954 , #83 out of 300

As far as I know, there wasn't any alternate cover for LSH #44. I'd say it is the huge boost given by Legion of 3 Worlds. Maybe this will help Shooter's run to be extended. I'm excited by what's coming up on the main book.

It had a 1/10 Neal Adams variant:

http://www.comiccollectorlive.com/LiveData/Issue.aspx?id=0f69fc75-965b-4ed6-8470-44e67c80a7b9

My bad. Thanks for reminding me! Though I still think it wouldn't be an exceptional draw to the title at this point.

I so agree.

And in fact, it was the art of Dave Cockrum that made made me a huge Legion fan to begin with. After he left, I kept on through most of the Mike Grell run until I got bored with all of DC Comics.

It was Giffen's artwork in the early 80s that made me try the Legion again (after coming back to DC Comics via the Wolfman/Perez Titans series).

That's why I was a bit perplexed a few years ago when Dan DiDio stated that Legion has always been a writer's series. WTF?!!! Yeah, Shooter and Levitz did great work, but Swan was donig some of the best work of his career when Jim was writing -- and Levitz was never as good when team with a so so artist like Greg LaRoque.

The Legion needs a top notch artist to bring in readers. And it has to be someone who has developed his skills. Coipel was too rough in his early issues. Today, he'd be a big hit.

As much as I liked Manpul's poster/cover with the new Legion costumes, his interiors aren't quite in fan fave category yet.

August Sales figures have been up for a while (sorry, I was on vacation). Numbers aren't good for the main title. After the artificial bump from the variant cover on #44 sales drop by over 4K units. This is now the lowest the title has sold since the Threeboot started. It's not all bad however, as L3W more than doubled the regular title with 68,306 and ranked 20th on the list. I think this may put the writing on the wall for the current version but shows there's at least modest interest out there for a big Legion event.


07/2007: LSH #32 -- 29,826, #84 out of 300
08/2007: LSH #33 -- 29,315, #92 out of 300
09/2007: LSH #34 -- 28,294 , #88 out of 300
10/2007: LSH #35 -- 27,370 , #91 out of 300
11/2007: LSH #36 -- 26,814 , #88 out of 300
12/2007: LSH #37 -- 45,803 , #50 out of 300
01/2008: LSH #38 -- 33,045 , #64 out of 300
02/2008: LSH #39 -- 31,123 , #59 out of 300
03/2008: LSH #40 -- 30,377 , #63 out of 300
04/2008: LSH #41 -- 28,939 , #76 out of 300
05/2008: LSH #42 -- 27,940 , #84 out of 300
07/2008: LSH #43 -- 27,531 , #96 out of 300
07/2008: LSH #44 -- 29,954 , #83 out of 300
08/2008: LSH #45 -- 25,783 , #96 out of 300

Unfortunately, it seems DC doesn't think there is space for Legion at all except for some Geoff Johns event.

I can understand those who are thinking: "I won't spend any more buck on a doomed book"...

It's so sad that Shooters run has come too late...

September sales are out and the book sheds another 800 copies. It will be interesting to see what happens now that it's known there are only 4 issues left. I don't think it will be pretty.


09/2007: LSH #34 -- 28,294 , #88 out of 300
10/2007: LSH #35 -- 27,370 , #91 out of 300
11/2007: LSH #36 -- 26,814 , #88 out of 300
12/2007: LSH #37 -- 45,803 , #50 out of 300
01/2008: LSH #38 -- 33,045 , #64 out of 300
02/2008: LSH #39 -- 31,123 , #59 out of 300
03/2008: LSH #40 -- 30,377 , #63 out of 300
04/2008: LSH #41 -- 28,939 , #76 out of 300
05/2008: LSH #42 -- 27,940 , #84 out of 300
07/2008: LSH #43 -- 27,531 , #96 out of 300
07/2008: LSH #44 -- 29,954 , #83 out of 300
08/2008: LSH #45 -- 25,783 , #96 out of 300
09/2008: LSH #46 -- 24,959 , #98 out of 300

Also, Legion of Three Worlds picks up another 5,608 issues. It isn't labeled as "2nd printing" so these may be straight up re-orders.

Ok, I'm off work today and it's raining so, computer time!

rouge's posts on sales and the impending cancellation got me to thinking if there are similar books to the Legion (sales wise) that have been around longer and are languishing, yet not being cancelled? I just sort of noticed Birds of Prey. Birds of Prey is a DC Comic showcasing primarily female members. Core and supporting cast, according to Wikipedia, are
Core members
Oracle
Huntress
Lady Blackhawk
Manhunter
Misfit
Infinity
Rotating Members
Big Barda
Black Alice
Black Canary
Catwoman
Katana
Lady Shiva
Gypsy
Hawkgirl
Judomaster
Power Girl
Vixen

A few things I did some research on, with the help of ICv2:

1. Birds of Prey has CONSISTENTLY sold below Legion and or Supergirl and the Legion.
Going back to Threeboot Issue #1, December 2004,
only once has it outsold Legion, and that was on its 83rd issue, an OMAC tie-in, by a scant 622 copies.

2. In December 05 there was no Legion due to a scheduling slip, and instead there were 2 issues in February 06, with issue #14 coming in at 32,513 and #15 at 31,649 in sales, totaling 64,162. Birds of Prey in January and February did not top any of those individual sales figures.

3. The same thing happened in March 07-no Legion but two issues in April. Again Birds of Prey sales did not surpass any individual issue sales.

4. Biggest gaps in sales rank:
In December 07 Shooter and Manapul began, and there were two covers. Legion #50, Birds of Prey #99.
January 08 Legion #64, Birds of Prey #93
February 08 Legion # 59, Birds of Prey #91

5.Since April 08, Birds of Prey has been ranked 101 or lower, coming in at #111 in September, with under 22K in sales 4 out of those 5 months.
Threeboot Legion has never been below 22K.

6. Sales of Birds of Prey have fallen considerably in the same time frame as the Legion's Threeboot run.
Legion is canceled,Birds of Prey is on issue #123 for Oct 08, no cancellation in sight.
Good thing it has such a long and storied history...Oh, wait.

****BONUS****
Since issue 118, Birds of Prey has been written by...

<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">Tony Bedard, the hailed hope for L.E.G.I.O.N.</span></span>

I'm just sayin'............

I don't think they're cancelling Legion purely for sales reasons, but because there's a plan from DC comics for yet another Legion reboot/reimagination/return to origins.

i wonder how the hardcover sold?

Birds of Prey was one of the most solid sales staples in the DCU under Gail Simone. While it never rose considerably, it never dropped that much either. Since she left it's been in a nose-dive of sorts while they sorted out a creative team (with Bedard finally getting the nod). If recent trends continue, it may be in a bit of trouble.

That said, I don't think Legion's sales levels are the sole reason for cancellation. There are a few books besides Birds of Prey selling well below Legion's level that have continued their runs (Blue Beetle for example). I suspect there's a revamp plan in the works.

The Hardcover is an October release. It will be an other month before we see the numbers. "Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes" had initial numbers of around 3K though.

I think DC wants Legion to be a fan favorite again as it was in the 70s and early 80s.

Maybe that's impossible given the reboots, but it does seem that they are planning to make a go of it with a more classic Legion after L3W.

I want monkeys to fly outta the butts of DC's powers-that-be for jerking us around this year, but I don't know how to make that happen anymore than they know how to make them a fan favorite again.

Also AFOB - Birds of Prey just got canned too (along with Robin & Nightwing). Hope you're happy now.

Obviously I'm not happy and never intended to see any books cancelled, but this is a tough economy and hard decisions have to be made. I wouldn't be surprised to see 4 or 5 more before next summer.

Blue Beetle is axed too. Keep'em comin'.

Anthology books sell well enough in countries other than the US. Seems to me that when they're done well they can be great. The previously named series would make fantastic entrants to a Bat-Anthology monthly. If Robin, Nightwing and Birds of Prey would headline one of these I could finally afford to follow them.