July 2018 had 6,933,449 units in the top 300 comics list, an increase of 473,642 units from last month. The increase seems small given the six first issues in the top ten and a massive bump in sales on Batman #50. All of the sales increase on Batman #50 was lost and then some on Batman #51. The spoiling of the story a few days before release factors into that, as well as the direction the story took.

This trends of a sales bump on a given issue followed by the the nearly complete evaporation of that sales bump on the next issue is commonplace. Sometime the issue after keeps a little of the sales increase. Sometimes the next issue sold how the title was trending before the sales bump. In most cases, the sales impact the the key plot point or incentive cover is focused on the particular issue with minimal impact, if any, on later issues. The result is an issue not having a multiple covers is less common than those with variant and incentive covers. In some cases this is basic profiteering. Publishers exist to make money and incentive covers do that. In other cases, the additional covers can help keep a title afloat. That isn't a bad thing either, particularly for the creators and fans of those titles.

Marvel Comics placed 3,131,031 units in the top 300 comics and was up 289,143 units in the top 300 compared to last month and accounted for 45.16% of the total units for the top 300 comics.

DC Comics placed 2,466,932 units in the top 300 comics and was up 153,384 units in the top 300 compared to last month and accounted for 35.58% of the total units for the top 300 comics.

Image Comics placed 615,896 units in the top 300 comics and was down 128,907 units in the top 300 compared to last month and accounted for 8.88% of the total units for the top 300 comics.

The premiere publishers accounted for 96.95% of the units in the top 300 comics this month while all of the other publishers with items in the top 300 accounted for 3.05% of the units.

The up-swing of 2,802,126 units from new and increased sales was enough to compensate for the down-swing of -2,328,484 units from lost sales.

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In theory, if the loss in sales magically stopped then next month could have record breaking sales. The flip side is if the gains magically stopped, say by people not getting the next round of first issues or incentive covers losing their sales power, we are only a few months away from zero sales. Obviously, neither of those things is going to happen, so both are extreme cases. We saw in the 1990s how dangerous it can be to cater to the collector market while not properly serving the actual readership of the comics. Cities went from having dozens of comic stores to a fraction of that. Some cities have never really recovered from that crash in the comic book market. Publishers are better served long term by building up readership. Of course, they have to make money in the short term which is often why we see the heavy use of incentive covers.

The continuing titles which gained sales category added 381,251 units compared to last month. Batman overshadowed everything else in this category. Batman #50 had a sales bump of 317,895 units and sold 440,819 units. Batman #51 started a different storyline and sold 111,549 units, a drop of 329,270 units putting it 11,375 units below the sales of Batman #49. The net result was the title selling 318,410 more units in July than it did in June.

Did the Batrimony have the desired sales impact? The is impossible to say since we don't know what the people of DC expected. It did increase the sales of Batman leading up to Batman_ #50 which sold incredibly well. Plus there were the one-shots leading up to Batman #50 and the Batrimony served as an excellent launching point for the new Catwoman #1 which sold 121,056 units. From a sales perspective, it would be hard to call the Batrimony anything other than a success. From a marketing point of view it is a bit more questionable as it depleted some of the good will DC has generated with the readers and retailers over the past few years.

The continuing titles which shipped more issues category added 183,814 units compared to last month. Marvel got two issues out of a couple of titles leading to higher sales for those titles in July versus June.

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The second and third issues of Immortal Hulk combined sold only slightly more than the sales of the Immortal Hulk #1 sold last month. Immortal Hulk dropped 51.64% from the first issue while Immortal Hulk #3 increased by 2.09% over the second issue. The first issue of Immortal Hulk had a regular cover and a 1-in-25 cover, a 1-in-50 cover, a 1-in-500 cover, a 1-in-1,000 cover and two meet-or-exceed 200% of Avengers #684 covers. Immortal Hulk_ #2 had a regular cover and a 1-in-25 cover. Immortal Hulk #3 had a regular cover and a meet-or-exceed 100% of Immortal Hulk #2 cover. Immortal Hulk #4, #5 and #6 each have a regular cover and an open-to-order cover while Immortal Hulk #7 has a regular cover, an open-to-order cover a 1-in-200 cover and a meet-or-exceed 100% of Immortal Hulk #3 cover. Don't be too surprised if we see another sales bump on Immortal Hulk #7 in a few months.

The continuing titles with reasonably stable sales category removed 3,538 units compared to last month. Unbeatable Squirrel Girl was the only Marvel title in this category. Obviously it is better for a title to gain sales than to be in this category. That having been said, it is much better for a title to be in this category than to lose more than 250 units from month-to-month.

The continuing titles which shipped fewer issues category removed 547,748 units compared to last month. Man of Steel #6 concluded the miniseries and was the only issue released in July while four issues were released in June. All five of the previous issues had reorder activity this month. Most of this category was Marvel titles which is in line with Marve's released cadence.

The continuing titles which lost sales category removed 697,216 units compared to last month. Most of the major losses were on titles which launched last month. Tony Stark: Iron Man had a 69.29% second issue drop. Deadpool had a 61.6% second issue drop. Magic Order #2 lost 128,497 units equating to an 80.56% drop selling 31,006 units. The first issues of Justice League, Magic Order, Tony Stark: Iron Man and Deadpool all has some reorder activity this month. X-Men Gold #31 dropped 62.92% putting the sales back down where it had been prior to X-Men Gold #30 which was the end of the recent X_Men wedding storyline in that title.

The new titles category added 1,831,598 units compared to last month.

Amazing Spider-Man #1 launched the new volume with 289,102 units. It dropped by 60.59% on he second issue which sold 113,944 units. The first issue had a regular cover, a 1-in-25 cover, a 1-in-50 covers, a 1-in-100 cover, a 1-in-200 cover, a 1-in-1,000 cover, a 1-in-2,000 cover, a meet-or-exceed 100% of Amazing Spider-Man_ #798 cover and three meet-or-exceed 250% of Amazing Spider-Man #796 covers. The second issue had a regular cover, a 1-in-10 cover and a 1-in-25 cover while the third issue only had a regular cover and a 1-in-25 cover. Amazing Spider-Man #3 and #4 have a regular cover and an open-to-order cover. Amazing Spider-Man #5 had a regular cover and a 1-in-10 cover. Amazing Spider-Man #6 and #8 both have a regular cover and an open-to-order cover while Amazing Spider-Man #7 has a regular cover, a meet-or-exceed Amazing Spider-Man #3 cover and a 1-in-200 cover. Once you untangle that information, it becomes obvious we'll probably see a sales bump on Amazing Spider-Man #7 in a few months.

X-23 launched with 93,880 units followed by a second issue drop of 61,29% landing that second issue at 36,340 unit. The first issue had a regular cover, a 1-in10 cover, a 1-in-25 cover and two meet-or-exceed X-Men Red #3 covers. The second issue of X-23 had a regular cover and a 1-in-25 cover while the next three issues each have a regular cover and a single open-to-order cover.

It should be clear by now 1-in-X incentive covers are an easy way to increase sales on an issue. Stack multiple 1-in-X and meet-or-exceed covers on an issue and sales go up higher. Marvel uses this more than any other publisher but partially because they publisher more issues a month than most other publishers. Open-to-order covers can also increase sales but the increase is much more dependent on the popularity of those specific covers.

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Die!Die!Die! launched unexpectedly in July and was sent to retailers matching the orders for the launch of Oblivion Song. The information reported by Diamond works out to 9,975 units, which is far below the 80,287 units for Oblivion Song. Perhaps the units for Die!Die!Die! #1 are only reorder activity.

While I understand what Robert Kirkman is trying to do with this series, it is difficult for me to support him in that attempt as much as I might want to. I preorder my comics, and I can't preorder the second issue which is apparently scheduled for release on August 22nd because this title is sidestepping the preorder process. Still, this is an interesting experiment. I'd say that we'll see how it does but given the way the first issue ales were reported, I'm not entirely sure if we will know any time soon just how this title does from the Diamond data.

The returning titles category added 405,463 units compared to last month. DC only had two titles in this category this month but still accounted for 52.9% of the units in the category. Doomsday Clock #6 dropped another 11.23% and sold 135,155 units. The title has been dropping around 9% on average since the third issue so the delays aren't helping the sales. The next issue set to be released September 26th, meaning the title will go back into the suspended category next month. Action Comics #1001 sold about twice what the title was usually selling over the past year or so, excluding the Oz Effect storyline.

The suspended titles category removed 297,245 units compared to last month. The most notable titles which didn't ship in July were Mister Miracle, Black Panther and Batgirl. Mister Miracle #10 shipped on August 1st, Black Panther #3 ships on August 22nd and Batgirl #25 ships on August 15th so all three of those titles will be returning in August.

The defunct titles category removed 441,105 units compared to last month. Marvel had five titles in this category and accounted for 56.31% of the units for it. The most notable titles in this category are Amazing Spider-Man and Captain America both of which had newer volumes start up this month.

The annuals/specials category removed 64,319 units compared to last month. Only one annual was was in the top 300 in July versus the three in June.

The non-series category removed 156,817 units compared to last month. Marvel had 30 of the 38 titles in this category with the True Believers line being 18 of them. Some annuals and specials fell into this category because they weren't assigned a series code in the initial solicitations.

The reorders category removed 120,496 units compared to last month. Only eight reorder items made it into the top 300. Another 50 reorder items were between ranks 301 and 500 totaling up to 78,160 units. The retail rankings of a number of reorder items last month indicated they were heavily discounted. With eight items selling over 100,000 units and totaling to 1,512,742 units, there might not have been a much room left in the retailer budgets for reorders this month.

Looking at the top ten items of the list, we can expect a downswing of at least 800,000 units next month based on the actual or expected losses of those titles or, in the case of Doomsday Clock the title simply not shipping in August. Infinity Wars #1, Fantastic Four #1 and Sandman Universe #1 might be a strong enough upswing to help offset those losses. Given the number of incentive covers on _Fantastic Four _ #1 along, there is a good chance sales could go up next month.

Regardless if the total for the top 300 is higher or lower next month than it was this month, there is a clear volatility in comic book sales from month to month. The current level of churn in sales and titles isn't a solid foundation to grow lasting a readership and stable sales. But that is the long game. Right now, it seems the short game is the concern. The problem is the over use of incentive covers, event titles and things like the two recent wedding storylines which might be propping up the market in the short term are might be doing so at the cost of the long term. Sacrificing long term sales health for short term benefits makes it harder and harder as time goes on to win in either short term or long term.

For a more in-depth discussion of the sales data, check out the Mayo Report episodes of the Comic Book Page podcast at www.ComicBookPage.com. The episode archived cover the past decade of comic book sales on a monthly basis with yearly recap episodes. In addition to those episodes on the sales data, every Monday is a Weekly Comics Spotlight episode featuring a comic by DC, a comic by Marvel and a comic by some other publisher. I read around 200 new comics a month so the podcast covers a wide variety of the comics currently published. If you are looking for more or different comics to read, check out the latest Previews Spotlight episode featuring clips from various comic book fans talking about the comics they love. With thousands of comics in Previews every month, Previews Spotlight episodes are a great way to find out about new comic book titles that may have flown under your comic book radar.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email me at John.Mayo@ComicBookResources.com.