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

December Sales estimates are up at ICV2. Adventure loses the Legion, the ring promotion and 25,000 readers. I'm really only posting this to keep some continuity so that two years from now people aren't griping "Why did that slacker skip issue 5?" I'll even throw a little asterix in there to denote a Non-Legion issue.

Anyway, here's the breakdown:
08/2009: Adventure Comics #1 -- 56,706, #30 out of 300
09/2009: Adventure Comics #2 -- 47,296, #44 out of 300
10/2009: Adventure Comics #3 -- 44,431 #40 out of 300
11/2009: Adventure Comics #4 -- 85,145 #6 out of 300
12/2009: Adventure Comics #5 -- 59,876 #21 out of 300 *

This was still a Blackest Night tie-in so I suspect there was a sales bump even though it dropped from the Ring issue. Still, interesting to see it outsell #1. If Adventure stayed somewhere in the 55,000 range, it would make the ring and BN tie-in promotions completely worth it for DC.

Really as the title bounces around so much before Levitz comes on board (it's a Superboy story this month, then back to BN X-over, then part of the Superman/Brainaic/Legion story) it's impossible to tell if these numbers mean anything. It would be nice to have a 55K lauch pad for when the Legion takes over, but I expect that won't be the case.

January Numbers are in. Johns ties up his Superboy run. Without the Legion, or the Blackest Night tie-in, the title tumbles down to 42K. Comparing Apples to oranges, V5 #6 was 31K. Next month is another BN tie-in, then Legion centric stuff starts again in issue #8.


08/2009: Adventure Comics #1 -- 56,706, #30 out of 300
09/2009: Adventure Comics #2 -- 47,296, #44 out of 300
10/2009: Adventure Comics #3 -- 44,431 #40 out of 300
11/2009: Adventure Comics #4 -- 85,145 #6 out of 300
12/2009: Adventure Comics #5 -- 59,876 #21 out of 300 *
01/2010: Adventure Comics #6 -- 42,514 #33 out of 300 *

(* denotes no Legion content)

February numbers are in for Adventure Comics (technically retitled "Adventure Comics with Black Lantern Superboy". It's the third month without the Legion, but the return of the Blackest Night Crossover bumps the numbers up. Two Legion issues slated for March, tied in with the Superman Crossover. Should get interesting.

08/2009: Adventure Comics #1 -- 56,706, #30 out of 300
09/2009: Adventure Comics #2 -- 47,296, #44 out of 300
10/2009: Adventure Comics #3 -- 44,431 #40 out of 300
11/2009: Adventure Comics #4 -- 85,145 #6 out of 300
12/2009: Adventure Comics #5 -- 59,876 #21 out of 300 *
01/2010: Adventure Comics #6 -- 42,514 #33 out of 300 *
02/2010: Adventure Comics #7 -- 53,721 #23 out of 300 *

(* denotes no Legion content)

March numbers are in, with Adventure double-shipping. The Legion comes back to the title and jumps right into the "Last Stand on New Krypton" crossover (subtitled "Brainiac and the Legion of Super-Heroes") and the numbers are about in line with the average drops we've seen discounting all the Blackest night craziness. 39K and 37K aren't setting the charts on fire, but they are relatively good numbers and sit comfortably above the other two crossover participants, "Superman" and "Supergirl" (#8 actually sold higher than Last Stand #1 too). So believe it or not, Adventure is the anchor for this crossover, sales wise. That may be a good sign for the future.

08/2009: Adventure Comics #1 -- 56,706, #30 out of 300
09/2009: Adventure Comics #2 -- 47,296, #44 out of 300
10/2009: Adventure Comics #3 -- 44,431 #40 out of 300
11/2009: Adventure Comics #4 -- 85,145 #6 out of 300
12/2009: Adventure Comics #5 -- 59,876 #21 out of 300 *
01/2010: Adventure Comics #6 -- 42,514 #33 out of 300 *
02/2010: Adventure Comics #7 -- 53,721 #23 out of 300 *
03/2101: Adventure Comics #8 -- 39,351 #39 out of 300
03/2010: Adventure Comics #9 -- 37,515 #44 out of 300

(* denotes no Legion content)

By the way, if we head back to LSH v.5, issues 8 and 9 clocked in at 37,272 and 35,834 respectively, so we appear to be on the same curve, but an issue ahead. Of course all bets could be off with the launch of the second title.

April Numbers are in and Adventure actually went UP a handful of copies! It also stayed comfortably ahead of Last Stand and all the other participants of the crossover. After next month's wrap-up we jump into the Levitz era. Not a bad launch point, but I expect DC wants to see Paul's name make that number jump.

08/2009: Adventure Comics #1 -- 56,706, #30 out of 300
09/2009: Adventure Comics #2 -- 47,296, #44 out of 300
10/2009: Adventure Comics #3 -- 44,431 #40 out of 300
11/2009: Adventure Comics #4 -- 85,145 #6 out of 300
12/2009: Adventure Comics #5 -- 59,876 #21 out of 300 *
01/2010: Adventure Comics #6 -- 42,514 #33 out of 300 *
02/2010: Adventure Comics #7 -- 53,721 #23 out of 300 *
03/2101: Adventure Comics #8 -- 39,351 #39 out of 300
03/2010: Adventure Comics #9 -- 37,515 #44 out of 300
04/2010: Adventure Comics #10 -- 37,573 #41 out of 300

(* denotes no Legion content)

So my local CBS totally sold out of Legion #1 and they ordered a lot of copies. They were able to price up the variant covers and those all sold before I even got to the shop.

Another store I visited sold out of Legion #1 on the first day it came out! I'm not sure how many copies they ordered though.

So that's a good sign!

I'll be watching this for sure!

Diamond sales are out, but the ICV2 estimates aren't done yet. So we won't have final estimates just yet, but I'll do a little guess work here:

LSH #1 was 39th for the month selling about 70% the level of Batman #699

Adventure #11 was a little further down at #54 (55% of Batman)

Assuming Batman is hanging in at 60K, that puts LSH around 42K, and Adventure down at 33K. Now if Batman jumped in anticipation of #700, these numbers could be higher.

We'll know for sure in a few days.

Wow. Surely the numbers have to better than that.

Yeah, that seems really low!

How many did they print?

Hmm... even if you assume Adv. held steady at 37.5K, that puts Batman at about 68K, which would still leave LSH about 48K, which still seems really low.

Especially considering the two covers...

and the selling out/demand for a second printing.

Well, the selling out & second printing certainly don't preclude low numbers if they underprinted #1. I guess it will depend how large the second printing is. Re-orders could also factor in (we'll know next month). I know my shop got a few more in last week.

I see Batman didn't even crack the top 10 because of all the other #1's: Avengers, Secret Avengers, Return of Bruce Wayne #1&2, Brightest Day #1&2.

Maybe the entire month was up given all the #1's?

EDIT- I see Batman was #18.

Other #1's: Birds of Prey, JLI: Generation Lost, Astonishing Spider-Man/Wolverine, and others.

You probably already saw this rogue but the order index for LoSH #1 was 71.20 to Batman #699.

Adventure was 55.78 to Batman #699.

Yep, that where I pulled the 70% and 55%, rounding down to be conservative. ICV2 estimates shouldn't be too much longer.

Someone posted a link to the sales figures on the DC boards.

LSH V6#1 - 44415

Adventure #11 - 34794

Adventure looks like an expected decline. The V6#1 doesn't look that good for a #1 issue, although the second printing will need to be added. Comparing it to previous figures in the thread:

LSH V5#1: 59944 (#25)
LSH V5#16(Supergirl and the Legion): 54826 (#41)
LSH V5#37 (Shooter run starts): 45803 (#50)
Legion of Three Worlds #1: 68306 (#20)
Adventure #1: 56706 (#30)
LSH V6#1: 44415 (#39)

It didn't even beat Shooter's debut (although it ranked better).

I would guess that DC wasn't expecting LSH #1 to do all that great, otherwise they would have printed more copies. Some of the other DC numbers were downright depressing.

The prices are going up, I bet their expectations are getting lower and lower on what they consider acceptable sales.

[snerk] It's almost as if the never-ending tide of "news" stories about "recovery" was just a bunch of... piffle that nobody with functioning senses could possibly believe.