Lists of Marvel Titles that Alpha Flight OUTSOLD in Sep 2011

[rplass]

Here are two lists of Marvel publications that Alpha Flight OUTSOLD in Sep 2011.

NOTE: There are some amazing and wonderful issues in this list and any title's inclusion on this list is in NO way an indication of poor quality, undesirability or suckitide whatsoever. Also of course some of these were published in Aug 2011.

Data taken from http://www.comichron.com/monthlycomicssales/2011/2011-09.html

For comics, Alpha Flight #4 outsold:
X-Factor 224.1
Fear Itself Wolverine 3
Thunderbolts 163.1
Annihilators Earthfall 1
Ghost Rider 3
Spider-Island Avengers 1 Spi
Daken Dark Wolverine 14
Generation Hope 11 Schism
Fear Itself Hulk Vs Dracula 1
John Carter A Princess of Mars 1
Black Panther Man Without Fear 523
Wolverine Best There Is 10
Fear Itself Home Front 6
Fear Itself Hulk Vs Dracula 2
Heroes For Hire 11
Punishermax 17
Spider-Island Spider-Woman 1 Spi
Wolverine Debt of Death 1
Black Panther Most Dangerous Man Alive 523.1
Spider-Island Cloak And Dagger 2 Spi
Fear Itself Deep 4
Dark Tower Gunslinger Battle of Tull 4
Heroes For Hire 12
Iron Man 2.0 9
Fear Itself Youth In Revolt 5
Spider-Island Amazing Spider-Girl 2 Spi
Spider-Island I Love New York City 1 Spi
Herc 7 Spi
Herc 8 Spi
Red Skull 3
Deadpoolmax 12
Ultimate Comics Fallout 4 Dosm
Fear Itself Fearsome Four 4
Marvel Universe Vs Wolverine 4
Stand Night Has Come 2
Spider-Island Deadly Hands of Kung Fu 2 Spi
Vengeance 3
Criminal Last of Innocent 4
Fear Itself Monkey King 1
Wolverine And Black Cat Claws 2 3
Ultimate Comics Ultimates 1
Dorothy And Wizard In Oz 1
Captain America Corps 4
Thor Heaven And Earth 4
Supreme Power 4
Mystery Men 5
All Winners Squad Band of Heroes 4
Halo Fall of Reach Covenant 3
Mystic 2
Casanova Avaritia 1
Ultimate Comics Hawkeye 1
FF 50 Fantastic Years 1
Anita Blake Circus Damned Scoundrel 1
Ka-Zar 4
Spider-Man 18
X-Men Schism 3

For Graphic novels, Alpha Flight Classic Vol. 2 outsold:

Fantastic Four Prem HC Overthrow of Doom
Emma Prem HC
Avengers Assault on Olympus Prem HC
New X-Men By Grant Morrison Book 5
New Avengers HC Vol. 7
Anita Blake Prem HC Circus of Damned Ingenue Book 2
Zombies Christmas Carol HC
Shadowland Blood On Streets
Marvel Masterworks Golden Age Marvel Comics HC Vol. 6
Marvel Adv Avengers Thor Captain America Digest
Dark Tower Omnibus HC Slipcase Set
Powers Prem HC Vol. 2 Roleplay
Shadowland Power Man
Iron Man Industrial Revolution
Off Handbook of Marvel Universe A To Z Vol. 1
Captain America By Dan Jurgens Vol. 2
Captain Britain HC Vol. 2 Siege of Camelot
Avengers Off Index To Marvel Universe
Nam Vol. 3
Evolutionary War Omnibus HC
Fantastic Four Worlds Greatest Comics Magazine HC
Dracula
Civil War
Astonishing X-Men By Whedon & Cassaday Omnibus HC
Essential Spider-Man Vol. 2 New Ed
Essential Spider-Man Vol. 3 New Ed
Marvel Ghost Stories Gn
Essential Spider-Man Vol. 4 New Ed
Thor By Walter Simonson Omnibus HC
X-Men Second Coming
Captain America By Ed Brubaker Omnibus HC Vol. 1
Art of Marvel Studios HC Slipcase
Spider-Man Prem HC Vol. 2 Brand New Day

[Jason Eberly]

I'm guessing Marvel is about to do some slimming down, title-wise (and truthfully, they need to pretty badly), so I wouldn't be surprised if some of the regulars above get the axe, too.

A shame, because I get at least 4 of those titles above...Dark Tower, Thunderbolts, Herc, and The Stand.

Oh, but the last two are ending in a couple months anyway.

[Phil]

Looking at your list:-

X-Factor 224.1 - A .1 issue which doesn't sell as well
Fear Itself Wolverine 3 - Limited series ending with #3
Thunderbolts 163.1 - .1 issue
Annihilators Earthfall 1 - Oneshot
Ghost Rider 3
Spider-Island Avengers 1 Spi - Limited series
Daken Dark Wolverine 14
Generation Hope 11 Schism
Fear Itself Hulk Vs Dracula 1 - Limited series
John Carter A Princess of Mars 1 - Licensed product with different sales levels
Black Panther Man Without Fear 523
Wolverine Best There Is 10 - Ending with #12
Fear Itself Home Front 6 - Limited series
Fear Itself Hulk Vs Dracula 2 - Limited series
Heroes For Hire 11 - Ending with #12 (though rebooting as Villains for Hire limited series)
Punishermax 17 - Max Title so different sales targets
Spider-Island Spider-Woman 1 Spi - Limited series
Wolverine Debt of Death 1 - Oneshot
Black Panther Most Dangerous Man Alive 523.1 - .1 issue
Spider-Island Cloak And Dagger 2 Spi - Limited series
Fear Itself Deep 4 - Limited series
Dark Tower Gunslinger Battle of Tull 4 - Licensed property
Heroes For Hire 12 - Final issue
Iron Man 2.0 9 - Ending with #12
Fear Itself Youth In Revolt 5 - Limited series
Spider-Island Amazing Spider-Girl 2 Spi - Limited series
Spider-Island I Love New York City 1 Spi - Oneshot
Herc 7 Spi - Ending with #9
Herc 8 Spi - Ending with #9
Red Skull 3 - Limited series
Deadpoolmax 12 - Max title with different sales targets, also final issue of Vol.1
Ultimate Comics Fallout 4 Dosm - 2nd print of Limited series
Fear Itself Fearsome Four 4 - Limited Series
Marvel Universe Vs Wolverine 4 - Limited Series
Stand Night Has Come 2 - Licensed Property
Spider-Island Deadly Hands of Kung Fu 2 Spi - Limited series
Vengeance 3 - Limited series
Criminal Last of Innocent 4 - Icon Title with different sales targets
Fear Itself Monkey King 1 - Oneshot
Wolverine And Black Cat Claws 2 3 - Limited series, final issue
Ultimate Comics Ultimates 1 - 2nd print
Dorothy And Wizard In Oz 1 - 2nd print, Licensed Property
Captain America Corps 4 - Limited series
Thor Heaven And Earth 4 - Limited series
Supreme Power 4 - Limited series
Mystery Men 5 - Limited series
All Winners Squad Band of Heroes 4 - Limited series, reduced to 5 issues rather than 8
Halo Fall of Reach Covenant 3 - Licensed property
Mystic 2 - Licensed property
Casanova Avaritia 1 - Icon Title
Ultimate Comics Hawkeye 1 - 2nd print
FF 50 Fantastic Years 1 - Oneshot
Anita Blake Circus Damned Scoundrel 1 - Licensed property
Ka-Zar 4 - Limited series
Spider-Man 18 - All ages book, different target levels
X-Men Schism 3 - 2nd printing, limited series

So, the only un-cancelled ongoing titles it's above are:

Ghost Rider 3
Daken Dark Wolverine 14
Generation Hope 11 Schism
Black Panther Man Without Fear 523

Ghost Rider will probably have a similar cancellation in a few issues after AF but there's also the Ghost Rider film out soon so having material available in trades for it probably goes a long way, Daken has ups & downs in his popularity & sales but even that may face the chop soon, they need en Hope to carry on going until his summer's X-event s they can tie-up the Jean Grey/Hope thing once and for all so they've put a new creative team on and put advertising & variants into it, and from a multicultural point of view it's important for Marvel to publish a Black Panther solo book so that probably gets some leeway.

From a business point of view it does make sense for AF's bleeding numbers to be capped.
It's just annoying on a personal level that they rushed an ongoing announcement just for Fan Expo without seeing if numbers stabilised high enough.

[Alpha Rider]

Blame DC's #1s that hogged up the top 100 spots. How many of those title would AF outsell if they were not #1s?

[EccentricSage]

Blame DC's #1s that hogged up the top 100 spots. How many of those title would AF outsell if they were not #1s?

I'm content to blame Marvel for being too short-sighted to even take that into consideration.

[rplass]

Looking at your list:-

...
Dorothy And Wizard In Oz 1 - 2nd print, Licensed Property
...


Actually, Phil, small correction to your detailed analysis... it's a 1st printing, and not Licensed. Most of the Oz stuff is in the public domain. And to spread around the love: this particular book is by far the 2nd best book published in Sep 2011 (behind AF #4 of course). Eric Shanower and Skottie Young's entire Oz series (this is the 1st issue of the 4th series so far!) have been nothing less than completely stellar. My daughter owns this book and it is really incredible.


Blame DC's #1s that hogged up the top 100 spots. How many of those title would AF outsell if they were not #1s?

I intentionally removed the DC titles just to rank the Marvel titles amongst themselves.

[Flightpath07]

Blame DC's #1s that hogged up the top 100 spots. How many of those title would AF outsell if they were not #1s?


I'm content to blame Marvel for being too short-sighted to even take that into consideration.

Over-saturation of the market. Don't blame DC, they took the bull by the horns and took a huge risk, and they put a massive dent into Marvel by doing so. They fired the first salvo that they have fired off in a long time, and nearly sunk Marvel's ship entirely.

Over-saturation of the market, thouhg, even more applies to the short-sighted and greedy Marvel, who never recognized that they cannot possibly have enough fans to justify all the freakin' books they put out every month. Not to mention how their yearly 'events' eat into the comic-buyers' budgets.

[Phil]

Actually, Phil, small correction to your detailed analysis... it's a 1st printing, and not Licensed.

I apologise on the Printing, that's my mistake.
The Licensed property still stands; it's not Marvel's intellectual property as it's the public domain.
Correct me if I'm wrong but do the issues still state 'Based on the works of...' at the start/end?
Either way, these are titles that make money in the non-Direct Market as hardcovers.
They'll sell far more to non-traditional comics readers in traditional bookstores and are more likely to appear on NYT Bestseller lists, so there's a return on the money lost putting them out as monthlies. The monthlies enable the artist to get a steady paycheck.

[Le Messor]

The Stand.

Oh, but the last two are ending in a couple months anyway.

I'd have expected that, since they're rounding on the end of the book.
Unless they're doing Night Surfing.


Oz... is by far the 2nd best book published in Sep 2011

Really? I saw the art and couldn't look at it and never even considered getting it.
But to each their own, I guess.


The Licensed property still stands; it's not Marvel's intellectual property as it's the public domain.

I'd say it's a quibble; 'licensed', no, technically, in legalese - because (being public domain) there's nobody they need to license it from.
But, the way you're using the word 'not Marvel characters / 616', yes, true.

- Le Messor
"If every man could act as he chose, the whole of history would be a tissue of disconnected accidents."
~ Leo Tolstoy