We’re back with our monthly coverage of Diamond Comics Distributor direct market orders. Based on the data provided by Comichron, February was a much slower month than January. With no Dark Nights: Metal or Doomsday Clock coming out in February, the most noticeable drop is undoubtedly that of the top seller of the month. While Doomsday Clock #3, a top seller of January, sold 157,714 copies, Dark Nights Rising: The Wild Hunt stands at a little over 100 thousand. On a more palpable comparison, this represents one issue of Detective Comics less, a title that is continuously of the top 20.
Interesting to notice is the fact that all three of the newer titles are standing very close to each other in the Batman ranking. Batman and the Signal, which shows a considerable drop in sales, and the two debuting titles: Brave and the Bold and Batman: Sins of the Father. Considering the overall market, Brave and the Bold did have a considerable headstart, figuring on the 28th position when it comes to units sold. Besides Batman and the Signal, another title dropping in the ranking is Super Sons. The title is coming out of an event, though, which always brings sales down.
BATMAN
Tom King’s Batman continues to be a wild ride both for readers and retailers. It has become usual to see the title have a rise in sales followed by a fall of around the same number of copies, leaving the title in an everlasting ninety-something thousand sales. And speaking of everlasting, issue #40 followed the controversial #39, featuring Batman and Wonder Woman fighting the everlasting hordes of myth. It is uncertain to say without confirmation from actual comic shops if there was any time to adjust orders for this one, but the one fact is that the Wonder Woman arc sold more than the Superman arc, which took place in issues #36 and #37.
White Knight continues climbing those sales steps, and it is going faster with each passing month as retailers adjust their orders to reader demand. With how the title has been successful, it is likely that White Knight might reach its final issue with orders as high as they were for the first issue (86,791). Those numbers, of course, only cover the initial orders for the first printing.
The death of Clayface and the subsequent trial of Batwoman moved the sales of Detective Comics very little, but the title continues to be one of the most stable ones. Also stable is The Shadow/Batman, despite its not-so-high ranking position. In fact, it is the title with the lowest drop rate out of all the ones selling around the same, namely Batgirl, Red Hood and the Outlaws, Batman Beyond and Batwoman. Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II, on the other hand, has a continued high drop rate even at its fourth issue.
GREATER GOTHAM
Coming out of its debut issue, Batman and the Signal had a huge drop in orders. Drops this big usually happen to hyped up books which end up not selling so well in the stores, like big events (Doomsday Clock had an eighty-thousand drop, for example). The one title that had a similar first-to-second issue drop was Harley and Ivy meet Betty and Veronica, with 23,119.
Harley Quinn, following the debut issue of Frank Tieri on the title, had its usual monthly drop rate reduced from around 800 to less than 300 copies, which might be a good sign, considering the same trend was not seen on either Nightwing or Justice League after both titles went through creative changes.
Another title moving the scales is Mother Panic/Batman. Before it went on hiatus, Mother Panic #11 sold 8,019 copies, a very low order. The current result might be due to the involvement of Batman and the entire Justice League meets Young Animal effort, but it might be bringing new readers to the title. Most other titles continue having their usual drop in orders, except for Batgirl and the Birds of Prey, Ragman and Batman Beyond. All three of them went from having over one thousand drop rates to around 700 copies for Beyond and Ragman, and 400 for the Birds.
GREATER DC UNIVERSE
The orders of Dark Nights Rising: the Wild Hunt are here being compared with Dark Nights: Metal #5. While it sold considerably less, it did stay on average when compared to the one-shot tie-ins, selling just a little less than Batman Who Laughs, the best selling out of all of them. It was enough to secure the first position on the overall market though.
In a rare occasion, a virtually equal number of copies were ordered for Justice League #37 and #38, but the lower order for #39 put the title at the same average monthly drop as it has been having since before Christopher Priest took over. A similar pattern of a rise for the first issue and then a drop for the second issue of the month happened with Justice League of America and Suicide Squad, as they also continue with their usual trend. Also continuing with the same drop rate are Teen Titans and Titans.
As the title comes out of the Super Sons of Tomorrow crossover, the orders for Super Sons are now back to where they were before the event. The one title coming out of the curve is Trinity, as after months upon months of continuous lower orders, Trinity #18 brought a considerable rise to the title. The issue was the second part of “No Home for You Here.”
