Newsarama.com posted the February 2006 sales charts. The Revolution likes to review the sales charts just to see how each company is doing financially. The Revolution absolutely does not think that a comic’s sales ranks is any indication whatsoever of the actual quality of the title. A good example of that is that Supergirl appears twice in the top 10 as does Uncanny X-Men. Uncanny X-Men hasn’t been good since I don’t know when. It has been that long. And Supergirl just sucks. Period. Having said that, sales means everything, so in order to gauge what direction a company is going to go in, we think that examining the monthly sales charts is an absolute must.
The balance of power in the world of comics is slowly shifting. Marvel is no longer just kicking DC’s ass in the Top 10 sales. Both Marvel and DC had 5 titles apiece in the Top 10. It should be noted that Supergirl and Green Lantern both placed two issues apiece in the Top 10. Marvel placed Astonishing X-Men (#1), New Avengers (#2), Ultimate Wolverine v. Hulk (#5), Amazing Spider-Man (#6) and Uncanny X-Men (#10). DC placed Justice (#3), Supergirl (#4 and #9) and Green Lantern (#7 and #8). Marvel gets the nod as the winner in the Top 10 since they placed 3 in the top 5 and placed 5 different titles in the Top 10 while DC placed 2 titles in the Top 5 and placed only 3 titles in the Top 10. Justic is a great title, and even though Alex Ross can be annoying, The Revolution loves his art. The Revolution is truly revolted that Supergirl is ranked twice in the Top 10. That is a testament to the lack of taste by the comic book reading masses. Luckily, the Revolution is here to shake up the status quo and rip readers from their stupor so they no longer waste their hard earned money on crap like Supergirl. The Revolution does read all of the other titles in the Top 10. The fact that Uncanny X-Men is in the Top 10 is truly a testament to the X-Men franchise. Uncanny X-Men is pretty much crap, yet on name alone, it can still garner a Top 10 finish. Impressive and yet disheartening.
Marvel placed 15 titles in the Top 25 while DC managed 10 titles in the Top 25. Marvel placed 8 titles between 11-20. DC placed only 2 titles between 11-20. This is where Marvel is just killing DC. In the Top 25, Marvel only repeated one title, X-Men who came in at #11, #12, and #25. Marvel placed 13 different titles in the Top 25 compared to DC’s 8 different titles in the Top 25.
Marvel placed 22 titles in the Top 50. DC placed 17 titles in the Top 50. The only independent in the Top 50 was Red Sonja by Dynamic at #49. That is depressing. Just like the Revolution hates the Duocracy of the American political system, we also have the Duocracy of Marvel and DC’s oppressive regimes in the comic industry.
Marvel placed 31 titles in the Top 75. DC placed 28 titles in the Top 75. IDW placed 2 titles in the Top 75, Transformers Infiltration and Transformers Beasts Wars. Dynamic placed 2 titles in the top 75. Darkhorse placed 2 titles in the Top 75, Conan at #64 and Hellboy at #71.
The Revolution really only focuses on the Top 100 since that is where the big boys place. Anything outside of the Top 100 is a title that Marvel or DC would probably cancel. Marvel placed 43 titles in the Top 100. DC placed 38 titles in the Top 100. Darkhorse placed 4 titles in the Top 100. IDW placed 2 titles in the Top 100. Dynamic placed 2 titles in the Top 100. Image placed 1 title in the Top 100, Spawn at #77. Ha! Remember when Spawn was actually good and had great sales ratings? Remember when Image used to dominate the Top 25 sales list? Those days are long gone. What is distressing is that inferior titles like Supergirl, Uncanny X-Men and Son of M are selling better than superior titles like Captain America.
It seems that DC still has an up hill battle. Marvel is still dominating the Top 25 sales. That doesn’t necessarily mean they are putting out better titles. I think a lot of what DC is putting out is flying under the radar since so many fans automatically believe Marvel is better since they were actually better than DC for so many years. Readers should really give DC a chance. What should really be alarming DC is that their two big characters are not selling very well. The highest rated Superman title was Superman at #23. The highest rated Batman title was Batman at #21. When DC’s two heavy hitters are Supergirl and Green Lantern, then you know there are problems. I think Supergirl will eventually fall out of the Top 10. I do think that Green Lantern has the potential to be a consistent Top 10-15 title. If DC can just get Batman, Superman, Flash, JLA and another title like Wonder Woman, Nightwing, JSA or Teen Titans up into the Top 15 then they could really challenge Marvel for control of the comic world.
