July 2012 Sales - some interesting takes

[xBarryxAllenx]

Newsarama has a good article on the July 2012 sales charts, with a few gems that I thought would be good to note here.

• DC led the industry for both Retail and Unit share, something they had struggled with prior to the New52.
  
• The total for all comics publishers was 22% better in July 2012 than in July 2011.
  
• Year to date sales (Jan-July 2012) were nearly 21% better than the same period one year ago.
  
• The Flash came in at #29 for the month and Teen Titans (with Bart) came in at #34 for July, still respectable when noting they placed well ahead of such Marvel titles as Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, Captain Marvel #1, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Daredevil.
  

For the full story, follow this link:

www.newsarama.com/comics/july-2012-comic-book-sales-charts.html

With DC in particular and the overall comics industry in general showing an uptick at this late stage of the game in the New52/AvX era, it could be considered a plus overall for the changes. That's a hard pill to swallow for those of us who are still looking for Wally, Donna and others...and hopefully we will still see them before long. The changes were made to bring in new readers, and it appears that is what may be happening here...that being said I'd love to hear some other folks' thoughts on this subject.

[jonqcitizen]

While the numbers look good for both of the "Big 2", DC is dominant after you get out the Top 10 for each publisher.

Marvel has hung on with "Mega-Events", but most of their titles have been slipping in sales (Punisher, Incredible Hulk, even the much touted Daredevil isn't knocking off anyone's socks). Without "M-E's" Marvel would look pretty pathetic, which is why they're relaunching their entire line over the next several months.

DC has high numbers, but their titles are falling back into familiar patterns.....Batman titles, Green Lantern titles, & Justice League are selling great.....but titles like Green Arrow, Hawkman, Wonder Woman, etc. are struggling to find their ground.

In my opinion, it's the Inde-Publishers that have really benefited from the "New 52", and I think will benefit even more from Marvel's relaunches....lapsed and new readers show up at LCS's for the "Big 2", then find a whole lot of wonderful Inde work that they begin buying while dropping "Big 2" titles (as I did, dropping 7 DC titles & 1 Marvel to start picking up 8 Inde titles). Image Comics has noticed this; as well as the hordes of creators jumping over to the publisher to put out their works....they are launching boatloads of titles over the next 5-6 months, and a lot of them look better than what DC or Marvel are putting out.

Overall Comic Book Sales are Up, but the percentage of sales for the "Big 2" isn't really rising, those extra sales are going to the Inde-Publishers. I am fully expecting sales at DC & Marvel to start dropping a little in 2013, as inde publishers like Image, IDW, & Dark Horse see increases in sales.