Legion sales data: Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics for December 2019 (LSH v8 #2)

On the one hand, issue #1 was a new book with a high-profile launch and it came with four covers and a flight ring; on the other hand, issue #2 had two covers and no flight ring, so it's completely expected that sales would drop.

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES (volume 8) #2 - December 18, 2019

Issue 2 had two variants: one $3.99 regular cover and one $4.99 cardstock cover. Publication was delayed by two weeks (originally supposed to come out on December 4) so it could come out concurrently with Doomsday Clock #12. Sales data below via Comichron.

LSH volume 8 #2 Standard cover Art by Ryan Sook	LSH volume 8 #2 Cheung cardstock variant Art by Jim Cheung

TL;DR version: LSH #2 sold 35,653 copies and was the #50 book for the month and the #17 DC book. 
Context:

• Combining both covers, LSH #2 was the #50 book for the month, with total sales of 35,653. It was the #17 book for DC. The #1 book of the month was Doomsday Clock #12 at 117,926.
• The $3.99 regular cover was the #69 book for December 2019, with sales of  27,177. It was the #22 DC book.
• The $4.99 cardstock cover variant was the #73 DC book and the #215 overall book for December, with sales of 8,476. 
• Too early to guesstimate the point where sales will level off, where the book has found its base.
• For what it's worth: as of 1/21/20, LSH #3 is the top-selling comic on Comixology. Digital sales of issues are generally not known to the public, but anecdotally the digital market as a whole is about 10% of the traditional market. This does not necessarily apply to any particular comic from any particular company. Diamond does not report digital sales, and it's the Diamond data going to Comichron.

Color key for tables below:

• Brown = 5 Years Later
• Orange = Reboot
• Green = Threeboot
• Yellow = Retroboot/New 52
• White = Rebirth
• Blue = none of the above

LSH v8 sales and rank 

Issue	Total sales (all covers)	overall #	DC #	#1 book
1	75,611	10	3	138,434
2	35,653	50	17	117,926

Sales drop historical comparison

Date	Title	#1 to #2	#2 to #3
Dec 1989	LSH v4 (5 Years Later)	-33.5%	-10.2%
May 1993	Legionnaires	n/a	n/a
Dec 2001	The Legion	-14.0%	-0.0%
March 2005	LSH Vol 5 (Threeboot)	-19.0%	-7.7%
Nov 2009	Adventure Comics v3	-16.6%	-6.1%
Aug 2010	LSH v6 (Retroboot)	-22.0%	-7.0%
Dec 2011	LSH v7 (New 52)	-20.2%	-25.9%
Dec 2011	Legion Lost v2	-23.2%	-26.8%
Jan 2012	Legion Secret Origin	-41.3%	-10.7%
Jan 2012	Star Trek/LSH	-53.5%	-10.3%
Oct 2019	LSH: Millennium	-18.4%	n/a
Dec 2019	LSH v8	-52.8%

Note: sales data from April 1993 to October 1994 is not publicly available, which coincidentally covers the entirety of the "Legionnaires" title in the Reboot era. Not counting miniseries, which were known to have a finite end.

What is the bottom of the sales curve?

Year	Series	Sales at series end	Notes
2000	LSH v4 (Reboot)	17,500	Series cancelled for new Abnett/Lanning Legion Lost v1
2000	Legionnaires (Reboot)	17,200	Series cancelled for new Abnett/Lanning Legion Lost v1
2004	The Legion (Reboot)	23,300	Series cancelled for Threeboot
2009	LSH v5 (Threeboot)	22,300	Series cancelled for Retroboot
2011	LSH v6 (Retroboot)	21,400	Series cancelled for New 52
2011	Adventure Comics (Retroboot)	19,200	Series cancelled for New 52
2013	LSH v7 (New 52)	15,500	Series cancelled due to sales
2013	Legion Lost v2 (New 52)	13,500	Series cancelled due to sales

Not counting miniseries, which were known to have a finite end.

Top 20 selling Legion books, 2004-present (since the start of the Threeboot)

Rank	Cover date	Sales	Series	Issue
1	Jan 2010	85,145	Adventure Comics v3	4
2	Nov 2019	75,611	LSH v8	1
3	Oct 2008	73,914	Legion of Three Worlds	1
4	Dec 2008	64,412	Legion of Three Worlds	2
5	Apr 2009	61,358	Legion of Three Worlds	3
6	Oct 2004	61,047	Teen Titans/The Legion Special	1
7	Feb 2005	59,944	LSH v5	1
8	Feb 2010	59,876	Adventure Comics v3	5
9	Jun 2009	56,888	Legion of Three Worlds	4
10	Oct 2009	56,706	Adventure Comics v3	1
11	Sep 2009	55,970	Legion of Three Worlds	5
12	May 2006	54,826	Supergirl & the LSH	16
13	Mar 2010	53,721	Adventure Comics v3	7
14	Nov 2011	53,285	LSH v7	1
15	Jul 2010	50,106	LSH v6	1
16	Nov 2011	49,952	Legion Lost v2	1
17	Mar 2005	48,584	LSH v5	2
18	Sep 2019	48,389	LSH: Millennium	1
19	Sep 2019	47,857	Superman	15
20	Aug 2019	47,777	Superman	14
21	Jun 2006	47,697	Supergirl & the LSH	17
22	Nov 2009	47,296	Adventure Comics v3	2
23	Feb 2008	45,803	Supergirl & the LSH	37
24	Jul 2006	45,520	Supergirl & the LSH	18
25	Apr 2005	44,824	LSH v5	3
26	Dec 2009	44,431	Adventure Comics v3	3
27	Aug 2006	43,918	Supergirl & the LSH	19
28	May 2005	43,408	LSH v5	4
29	Mar 2010	42,514	Adventure Comics v3	6
30	Dec 2011	42,504	LSH v7	2
31	Sep 2006	41,679	Supergirl & the LSH	20
32	Jun 2005	41,664	LSH v5	5
33	Dec 2006	41,554	Supergirl & the LSH	23
34	Jul 2005	40,970	LSH v5	6
35	Oct 2006	39,852	Supergirl & the LSH	21
36	Oct 2019	39,489	LSH: Millennium	2
37	Apr 2010	39,351	Adventure Comics v3	8
38	Aug 2005	39,155	LSH v5	7
39	Aug 2010	39,102	LSH v6	2
40	Dec 2011	38,385	Legion Lost v2	2
41	Dec 2011	38,248	Legion Secret Origin	1
42	Dec 2011	38,248	Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes	1
43	Jun 2010	37,573	Adventure Comics v3	10
44	May 2010	37,515	Adventure Comics v3	9
45	Sep 2005	37,272	LSH v5	8
46	Nov 2006	36,735	Supergirl & the LSH	22
47	Sep 2010	36,360	LSH v6	3
48	Oct 2005	35,834	LSH v5	9
49	Nov 2005	35,800	LSH v5	10
50	Dec 2019	35,653	LSH v8	2