{"id":3475,"date":"2020-02-14T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-14T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-07-30T15:32:28","modified_gmt":"2020-07-30T20:32:28","slug":"wonder-woman-750-leads-january-comics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/2020\/02\/14\/wonder-woman-750-leads-january-comics\/","title":{"rendered":"Wonder Woman #750 leads January comics sales; orders down on fewer new comic releases"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Longtime readers of Comichron<\/strong> know that the first quarter of the year is smaller than the other three in dollar terms \u2014 and that January is second only to December when it comes to months where year-to-year comparisons have a way of getting messy. For the latter, it’s mostly for the same reason as December: the holidays impact the shipping calendar, and when New Comic Book Day falls makes a difference.<\/p>\n

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This year, for example, it’s a five-Wednesday to five-Wednesday comparison from this January to last, but one of the Wednesdays this year isn’t like the rest. New Year’s Day 2020 was a Wednesday, and publishers slated a number of high-profile issues for release by stores that chose to open that day. Yet the day was lighter on new releases than any other New Comic Book Day in the month, and it also had a third fewer releases than the first week of 2019, when New Year’s Day fell on a Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The result this time out was a month that was down 8% or so in the number of new comic books offered to market once the DC card stock variants (which get counted twice) were weeded out, and unit sales for comics were down by a similar amount. Dollar orders for comic books and graphic novels were down less, off 3% to $43.37 million. One way to normalize the cross-calendar comparisons is to look at November through January; that grouping was up 3% in dollar orders over the same three months in 2018-19.<\/p>\n

Graphic novels appear to have taken more of their share of the focus in January; 52 more graphic novels were offered to market in the month than in the previous January, an increase of 14%. Graphic novel units \u2014 a figure we rarely consider because of how widely pricing varies \u2014 were even from year to year, while dollars were up 6%.<\/p>\n

Wonder Woman<\/em> #750<\/a><\/strong> followed in the footsteps of Action Comics <\/em>#1000<\/a><\/strong> and Detective Comics<\/em> #1000<\/a><\/strong> as a chart-topper for DC; its 80th anniversary issues haven’t missed placing first yet. It is the first time ever that an issue of Wonder Woman<\/i> was the bestselling comic book in the business<\/b>, although she of course appeared in many issues that were #1. Marvel had two Jan. 1 relaunches in second and third place: Thor<\/strong><\/em> <\/a>#1<\/a> <\/strong>and Star Wars <\/em>#1<\/a><\/strong>. (The latter series had previously relaunched with a million-copy seller five years earlier, in\u00a0January 2015<\/a><\/b>.)<\/p>\n

\"<\/span>Batman<\/strong><\/em> #86<\/b><\/a>, beginning James Tynion IV<\/strong>‘s run on the title following Tom King<\/strong>, placed seventh, but note that the card stock copies are not included in that calculation, so it could well move higher.<\/p>\n

To repeat: the Top Five may not necessarily remain the Top Five when our final report appears here next week<\/a><\/strong>. Stay tuned!<\/p>\n

The Absolute Carnage<\/a><\/strong><\/em> trade paperback led graphic novels in units, while the Incredible Hulk by Peter David Omnibus Vol. 1<\/a><\/em><\/strong> hardcover was the top graphic novel in dollars.<\/p>\n

The comparative sales statistics<\/strong> are here:<\/p>\n