Thursday, April 30, 2020

Legion sales data: March 2020 (LSH v8 #5)

Sales are still leveling off, with just a 5% drop from issue 4 to issue 5, just 1600 copies. We're starting to get into the region where retailers were able to see what the books were actually selling before ordering new issues, so I'd expect steadier sales in the next few months as retailers get a handle on how much to order. Still, it's DC's 18th highest selling book - consistently in the top 20 - 10 of which were Batman or Superman.

The Legion book came out the last week that books were available for sale before stores closed for the COVID-19 pandemic; it remains to be seen at this writing (April 30) when the next issue will come out, so it'll be a couple of months at least until the new sales data comes out (and then it'll have to reflect not just Diamond but the other two companies doing distribution for who knows how long).

Sales data via Comichron.

Legion of Super-Heroes (volume 8) #5 - May 2020
Issue 5 had two variants on 3/25/20.

LSH volume 8 #5
Standard cover
Art by Ryan Sook and Travis Moore
LSH volume 8 #5
Cardstock variant
Art by Alex Garner



TL;DR version: LSH #5 sold 29,058 copies (down from 30,675 the previous month) and was the #59 book for the month and the #18 DC book. 

Context:
  • Combining both covers, LSH #5 was the #59 book for the month, with total sales of 29,058 (down from 30,675 the previous month). It was the #18 DC book (behind 10 Batman books, 2 Superman books, 2 JLAs, 3 Flash books, 1 Green Lantern, plus specials DCeased, Year of the Villain, and the new Strange Adventures). The #1 book of the month was Spider-Woman #1 with sales of 142,089 (no other book broke 100k sales), while the #1 DC book was Flash #750 with sales of 82,432.
  • The $3.99 regular cover was the #78 book for March 2020, with sales of 22,570 (down from 23,075 the previous month). It was the #89 DC book.
  • The $4.99 cardstock cover variant was the #101 DC book and the #241 overall book for March, with sales of 6,488 (down from 7,600 the previous month). 
  • Still too early to say the point where sales will level off, where the book has found its base, but after the relatively small drop from #2 to #5 (about 18%) I'm going to guesstimate it'll level off around 27,000 or so.
  • 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
3
34,732
44
15
167,377
4
30,675
51
18
190,568
5
29,058
59
18
142,089

Sales drop historical comparison: ongoing series *
Date
Title
#1 to #2
#2 to #3
#3 to #4
#4 to #5
Dec 1989
LSH v4 (5 Years Later)
-33.5%
-10.2%
+2.5%
-3.6%
Dec 2001
The Legion
-14.0%
+0.0%
+0.2%
-0.7%
March 2005
LSH Vol 5 (Threeboot)
-19.0%
-7.7%
-7.0%
-0.1%
Nov 2009
Adventure Comics v3
-16.6%
-6.1%
+91.6%
-29.7%
Aug 2010
LSH v6 (Retroboot)
-22.0%
-7.0%
-5.8%
-5.3%
Dec 2011
LSH v7 (New 52)
-20.2%
-25.9%
-20.4%
-7.9%
Dec 2011
Legion Lost v2
-23.2%
-26.8%
-23.1%
-10.3%
Oct 2019
LSH: Millennium
-18.4%
n/a
n/a
n/a
Dec 2019
LSH v8
-52.8%
-2.6%
-11.7%
-5.3%
* 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, so that title is not included in this chart. Also not counting "Valor" or any miniseries except for "Millennium".
** Adventure Comics #4 included a Blackest Night ring promotion


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 are known to have a finite end.


Top 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
51
Jul 2010
34,794
Adventure Comics v3
11
52
Jan 2020
34,732
LSH v8
3
53
Aug 2010
34,663
Adventure Comics v3
12
54
Oct 2010
34,239
LSH v6
4
55
Dec 2005
34,100
LSH v5
11
56
Jan 2007
33,985
Supergirl & the LSH
24
57
Jan 2006
33,500
LSH v5
12
58
Feb 2007
33,288
Supergirl & the LSH
25
59
Mar 2008
33,045
LSH v5
38
60
Apr 2009
32,851
Adventure Comics v3
0
61
Feb 2006
32,730
LSH v5
13
62
Mar 2006
32,513
LSH v5
14
63
Nov 2010
32,417
LSH v6
5
64
Mar 2007
32,342
Supergirl & the LSH
26
65
Apr 2006
31,649
LSH v5
15
66
May 2007
31,525
Supergirl & the LSH
28
67
Jan 2012
31,481
LSH v7
3
68
Apr 2007
31,381
Supergirl & the LSH
27
69
Apr 2008
31,123
LSH v5
39
70
Jun 2007
30,906
Supergirl & the LSH
29
71
Sep 2010
30,897
Adventure Comics v3
516
72
Jul 2007
30,767
Supergirl & the LSH
30
73
Jan 2020
30,675
LSH v8
4
74
Aug 2007
30,385
Supergirl & the LSH
31
75
May 2008
30,377
LSH v5
40
76
Dec 2010
30,246
LSH v6
6
77
Sep 2008
29,954
LSH v5
44
78
Sep 2007
29,826
Supergirl & the LSH
32
79
Oct 2007
29,315
Supergirl & the LSH
33
80
Jan 2020
29,058
LSH v8
5

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