Speed Force

After six solid months in the top 10, The Flash dropped down to the #11 spot in March and #14 in April in the rankings based on units sold. Not coincidentally, March featured the launch of Marvel’s Avengers vs. X-Men event, and a number of related Marvel books pushed aside the better sellers of DC’s New 52. (The Flash was still DC’s #8 book.)

Estimates at ICv2 have the series selling 64,975 issues in March and 63,702 issues in April.

On the downside, the book is selling half what it sold last September. On the plus side, it’s still ahead of the 53K mark it had reached at this point in the previous volume. Better yet, those month-to-month drops are getting smaller, suggesting that it may find its level soon. I’ve suggested before that if it levels out above 55K (where volume 3 settled), the Flash relaunch is probably a success. Though it may be cutting things a bit close.

Update: Christopher Schmitt brings up digital numbers, which I forgot to look for. CBR has been running monthly interviews with Bob Wayne & John Cunningham in which they discuss the month’s sales, including DC’s own digital rankings (but not actual numbers, which most companies are still keeping quiet about). I’ve mentioned before that The Flash doesn’t rank as well digitally, where it hasn’t even made it into DC’s top 10 yet (here’s March). DC released their April Top 20,** and Flash came in at #18 digitally, compared to #8 in print if you look only at DC’s output.

Numbers

A few key articles covering past sales (with lots of numbers):

• Flash Sales 1996-2002
• Flash Sales 2001-2008
• Flash: Rebirth & Blackest Night Sales
• Flash vol.3 Sales

*What these numbers measure: US-only sales, wholesale from Diamond to comics retailers. They don’t count sales through bookstores, they don’t count international sales, and they don’t count how many copies were actually bought and read…but they do measure the same thing every month, which means they can be used to spot trends.

**It’s not clear how comparable the rankings are, since Diamond’s rankings are for sales over the whole month, and DC’s digital chart here is described as “Best Selling Single issue in a week.” Though since The Flash comes out the fourth week of the month, there probably isn’t much difference.

February estimates at ICv2 have The Flash #6 selling an estimated 68,061 copies, down 5% from the previous month. Given the high profile of the relaunch and the usual trend of series to shed readers over time, it’s hard to say what the numbers really tell us…but the drops are shrinking, the rankings are steady at #8, and it’s still ahead of the 57K sold by Flash vol.3 #6 and the 55K mark where volume 3 settled.

Numbers

It’s worth noting that we’ve had seven issues in a row with no delays and no creative team changes.

Update: I forgot to mention that, like last month, Flash didn’t appear in the digital top 10.

A few key articles covering past sales (with lots of numbers):

• Flash Sales 1996-2002
• Flash Sales 2001-2008
• Flash: Rebirth & Blackest Night Sales
• Flash vol.3 Sales

*What these numbers measure: US-only sales, wholesale from Diamond to comics retailers. They don’t count sales through bookstores, they don’t count international sales, and they don’t count how many copies were actually bought and read…but they do measure the same thing every month, which means they can be used to spot trends.

Diamond has released its sales rankings for February, and The Flash #6 comes in at #8 for units sold.*

This marks the third month in a row that the Flash has been ranked #8, and the sixth in a row that it’s been in the top 10. In fact, every issue of the series since the relaunch has been in the top 10. It’s been a long time since the Flash was ranked that highly. Even the high-profile relaunch of Flash: Rebirth dipped below #10 in the middle of its run, and the Geoff Johns/Francis Manapul series spent most of its time in the 11-20 bracket.

Of course the streak will probably break next month when Marvel launches Avengers vs. X-Men, but during the time between giant events, with the series competing mainly against other regular series, it looks solid.

If DC is nervous about this book, the rankings suggest they shouldn’t be.

*Usual note: These are US print sales only.

Five months into the New 52, the latest relaunch of The Flash is still a top 10 seller, with Flash #5 taking the #8 stop in Diamond’s sales rankings. ICv2′s estimates put it at 71,611 units sold*.

Comichron points out that January is usually low, but this isn’t bad for a January. (via The Beat) And if January is usually down overall, that means the 7.4% drop for The Flash — the lowest drop since the relaunch — may be exaggerated itself. Could the audience for the series be leveling out near 70K, or in the upper 60s? If so, that’s a big win for DC, because the last volume, written by superstar Geoff Johns, stabilized at sales of about 55,000 copies a month.

Digital Difference

Interestingly, while The Flash is holding steady in the top 10 for North American print sales, it doesn’t appear even in DC’s top 10 digital sales for the month. This could mean that digital readers are less interested in the Flash than print readers, but I don’t think the market is quite so simple as having digital readers and print readers. I suspect that most people who buy digital comics still buy at least some of their comics in print form, and with the art being a big selling point for the book, I’d imagine a lot of them are choosing to keep The Flash on the print side of their list.

Numbers

A few key articles covering past sales (with lots of numbers):

• Flash Sales 1996-2002
• Flash Sales 2001-2008
• Flash: Rebirth & Blackest Night Sales
• Flash vol.3 Sales

*What these numbers measure: US-only sales, wholesale from Diamond to comics retailers. They don’t count sales through bookstores, they don’t count international sales, and they don’t count how many copies were actually bought and read…but they do measure the same thing every month, which means they can be used to spot trends.

Last week we reported that Flash #4 ranked #8 for the month of December. ICV2 has released its December sales estimates, figuring that the comic sold 77,336 copies. Despite the slight climb in rank, that’s a 14.5% drop from previous issue. Not as big as the the drop from #2 to #3, but still big. And it’s a whopping 40% drop from #1. On the plus side, it’s still above any issue of vol.3 after the first, and above the 55K threshold I pulled out of thin air last year.

What does it mean?

To be honest, I have no idea. The New 52 was an unprecedented event, with all of DC’s books seeing a sales spike. The drop is big, sure, but the numbers are still high, and the ranking is phenomenal for the Flash. Is this just a reflection of the overall market re-adjusting after DC’s line-wide sales spike a few months ago? Is DC worried about The Flash dropping faster than other top-tier titles, or are they glad it’s not dropping as quickly as the lower tier? Obviously they’re not too concerned, because they haven’t changed the creative team — something DC hasn’t shied away from in the short time since the launch.

The more I report on sales figures, the less I understand the implications. And that’s assuming the numbers are consistent enough to analyze to begin with.

A few key articles covering past sales (with lots of numbers):

• Flash Sales 1996-2002
• Flash Sales 2001-2008
• Flash: Rebirth & Blackest Night Sales
• Flash vol.3 Sales

*What these numbers measure: US-only sales, wholesale from Diamond to comics retailers. They don’t count sales through bookstores, they don’t count international sales, and they don’t count how many copies were actually bought and read…but they do measure the same thing every month, which means they can be used to spot trends.

Diamond’s December sales rankings are out, and The Flash #4 is ranked the month’s #8 comic by units sold. Four issues in a row in the top 10 is, as far as I know, a first for The Flash (at least in recent memory). Volume three spent most of its time in the 10-20 range, and even Flash: Rebirth dropped to #14 in the fourth issue. Only Flashpoint held in the top 10 longer…for all five issues of the miniseries, in fact, including both August issues.

Detailed estimates will likely be available sometime next week.

Diamond has released its November sales rankings, placing The Flash #3 in the #9 spot for units sold. ICv2′s November 2011 sales estimates have it selling roughly* 90,417 comics during the month.

Three issues in, it’s still well ahead of all but the first issues of The Flash vol.3 and Flash: Rebirth. It’s the sixth-highest selling Flash comic book in over a decade, or eighth if you include Flashpoint. And it’s still a Top 10 book.

On the other hand, it’s also a 20% drop from the previous issue. That’s awfully steep for anything but the second issue of a series.

Then again, the normal patterns may not apply here. By releasing 52 first issues in one month, DC managed to get a lot of people to try out more comics than they would have otherwise. The sales boost on the early issues was probably higher than it would have been for a more traditional relaunch, so the sharper drop may be less of a concern than it would be otherwise. And it’s still way above the 55K mark that I suggested might be the ultimate test of the relaunch.

Lastly, there’s been a lot of discussion in the comics blog scene the last few weeks over whether these sales estimates are even accurate enough to be worth analyzing. If they have as little to do with reality as Ivan Brandon and Steve Wacker suggest, then neither the drop nor the comparisons to other issues mean much of anything.

A few key articles covering past sales (with lots of numbers):

• Flash Sales 1996-2002
• Flash Sales 2001-2008
• Flash: Rebirth & Blackest Night Sales
• Flash vol.3 Sales

*What these numbers measure: US-only sales, wholesale from Diamond to comics retailers. They don’t count sales through bookstores, they don’t count international sales, and they don’t count how many copies were actually bought and read…but they do measure the same thing every month, which means they can be used to spot trends.

Diamond’s sales rankings for October are up, along with ICv2′s sales estimates*. Flash #2 was ranked the #5 comic book, selling an estimated 114,137 copies, and the Flashpoint hardcover was the top graphic novel selling 5,646 copies to comic stores.

That represents am 11.17% drop from issue #1, which sounds like a lot…but for a #2 issue, it’s phenomenal. You expect a lot of people to pick up a #1 out of curiosity, or speculation, or just because they collect #1s. Add in the line-wide relaunch and people who bought every single New 52 first issue (without intending to keep going), and you’d expect this to be a lot higher.

For comparison, Flash vol.3 dropped 24% from issue #1 to #2. Flash: TFMA dropped a staggering 35% between the first two issues.

Also: Look down that list a ways, and you’ll find the Flash #1 second printing at 18,558 copies. That’s more copies of a reprint than the latest new issue of the highest-selling Vertigo book.

*What these numbers measure: US-only sales, wholesale from Diamond to comics retailers. They don’t count sales through bookstores, they don’t count international sales, and they don’t count how many copies were actually bought and read…but they do measure the same thing every month, which means they can be used to spot trends.

Flash #1 Sells Estimated 129K in US, Over 150K Worldwide

ICv2′s September sales estimates are out, and The Flash #1 is ranked #4 on the charts with 129,260 units sold. Those are US-only numbers, based on sales through Diamond, and DC states that the book has sold over 150,000 copies worldwide. Let’s stick with the ICv2 numbers for now, though, because they’re the ones I’ve been tracking over the last few years, which means we can compare trends over time.

The new Flash #1 does in fact beat the previous record-holder, Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #1 (2006, starring Bart Allen), which sold an estimated 126,741 copies after reorders.

I’m only listing the launches here, since none of the series lasted long enough to find its level and start building back up. Flash: TFMA (Bart) dropped to around 46K before experiencing a Countdown-powered uptick. The relaunched Flash vol.2 (Wally) dropped into the 20s, about half the numbers it was pulling in before Infinite Crisis, when it peaked at 50K for the final issue of Geoff Johns’ first run. Flash: vol.3 (Barry) seemed to level out around 54K over its last few issues.

It’s obvious that a lot of the success of this issue is due to the massive relaunch. But at the same time, while DC’s 52 #1s sold phenomenally well overall, they didn’t all sell over 100,000 copies. This has driven home the fact that the Flash really is one of DC’s top-tier characters. Even if half the general public thinks his name is Gordon, they at least know he’s the guy in red who runs fast. He really is cancellation-proof.

The real question now, of course, is how many of those readers who picked it up to try it out will stick around. Based on the last six years, I think if the book is still selling well over 55K a year from now, DC can count this Flash relaunch a success. If not, well…fifth time’s the charm, right?

A few key articles covering past sales (with lots of numbers):

• Flash Sales 1996-2002
• Flash Sales 2001-2008
• Flash: Rebirth & Blackest Night Sales
• Flash vol.3 Sales

Diamond has released its September sales charts, and The Flash #1 takes the #4 spot on the chart. DC dominated the charts with 9 of the top 10 comics, and Flash was beat only by Batman #1, Action Comics #1, and Green Lantern #1.

From what DC has said before, we know that The Flash sold somewhere between 126K and 200K copies (more links in that article to older sales figures). And if three of DC’s books sold over 200K, and Flash is #4, it’s probably at the high end of that range.

Detailed sales estimates will no doubt be available soon at Comic Chronicles & ICv2.

Update: I had an interesting thought. Is this the first time sales have gone up with the next issue after Geoff Johns has left a series? Obviously the circumstances are unusual, but still…