Sales Review: November 2016

I freely admit that I am a 'Wednesday Warrior', one of those people who is in the comic store every week, picking up my monthlies which have been pulled from the rack for me. I'm on a first name basis with the staff at the store who knows what comics I like and recommend things to me.

I also know I am a dinosaur.

I know that the death knell of comics has been ringing for decades. And I am not a doomsayer. But this months sales discussion over on ICv2 was a bit interesting for me. Actual comic sales were down significantly in comparison to last November - 12.7%!.

That said, trade sales were up 25% from the year prior. When folks like me complain about 'writing for the trade' and bemoan comics being canceled because monthly sales were low while people 'waited for the trade', this number should be shoved in our faces. Trades is where the money is clearly at.

Anyways, ICv2 does its usual job breaking things down for me. Here is the link to the list of the top 300 books from last month:

http://icv2.com/articles/markets/view/36281/top-300-comics-actual-november-2016

And now onto individual title sales review.

Review: Supergirl #3

Supergirl #3 came out this week and was a very solid issue for this new title. I have said all along that I'm not a big fan of Zor-El as the Cyborg Superman which made this opening arc something of a tough sell for me. But writer Steve Orlando did the miraculous and actually had me care for the Cyborg Superman, sympathize for him. It is clear that this Zor-El simply wants to do anything he can for his daughter. But the path to Hell is paved with his good intentions.

And Kara really shines in this issue as a teenager coming to grips with her new life, her new role as a hero, and someone still in mourning. She runs the gamut of emotions here and is proactive in fighting against injustice and abominations. There are great moments between her and the Danvers and her and her birth parents which provide some nice grist for the literary mill. It is a nice contrast to play up. And both sets of parents are thinking of her as their daughter and want to care for her.

Add to that a nice new wrinkle in the Cat Grant arc and overall I was very pleased. This is the type of story I am hoping to read in Supergirl. I closed the book and was already wanting to read the next installment.

The art is done by Brian Ching and his style is slowly winning me over. It is rougher than I thought it would be. His expressive work is very good. But his not drawing any face on smaller renditions irks me a bit. And I had to include the Bengal cover as it really emphasizes the pressure Kara is feeling. It reminded me of the classic scene in Spider-Man #33 where Peter is buried under wreckage.

On to the story!

November 2016 Solicits

DC Comics' solicits for November came out last week and continued to build on the general optimism that Rebirth has garnered. While I have some questions about where things are going, at least books seem to be going somewhere. By month three of the New 52, I was already questioning the overall grim tone. Here, things feel different.

Here is a link to Newsarama's coverage:http://www.newsarama.com/30736-dc-comics-full-november-2016-solicitations.html

I have my usual quibbles. So read on!

SUPERGIRL #3
Written by STEVE ORLANDO
Art and cover by BRIAN CHING
Variant cover by BENGAL
“REIGN OF THE CYBORG SUPERMEN” part three! At last, Supergirl returns to Argo City! But when Kara Zor-El arrives back to her childhood home, a grim discovery awaits, courtesy of the Cyborg Superman! Supergirl must battle for the fate of not one but two worlds as yet another face from her past returns to stop her!

So a couple of things here.

One, I don't know if I will every get used to the sort of warped style of Brian Ching. Limbs seem thin and stretched. Everything is angular. I don't mind stylized art. I just think I will have to become accustomed to this look.

Next, it looks like Cyborg Superman has quasi-resurrected the dead on Argo City. In Supergirl Rebirth we learned from Lar-On that the soil of Argo had turned to Red Kryptonite.

It made me go back to look at what actually happened to Argo City in the New 52. Here was my post way back when:http://comicboxcommentary.blogspot.com/2012/03/argo-city-dcnu.html

So who knows if in the spirit of Rebirth that continuity will be forgotten. Or if the city didn't disintegrate in a blue sun. Or why Kara didn't get whammied by Red K back then. I suppose it is a sort of new world. We'll have to see how it all plays out.