When will we see Supergirl act more like Supergirl, and less like the Punisher?
Didio: “When sales drop.”
Wayne: “I’ll second that.”
Strange, my question would have been when do we get to see the writers and artists handle her more like Supergirl and less like the Bomb Queen?
Anyway, found this information earlier at Kara Lives:
So before Loeb left, Supergirl was a top 10 book. Now that there were creator changes, delays, subpar plots, Supergirl has now been pushed back to the 20s. Here are the sales numbers provided by Newsarama.com :
21. Supergirl #7(res) -- 81.99 (thousand copies sold)
27. Supergirl #8(res) -- 74.07 (thousand copies sold)
Okay, who's still buying? I know I'm not buying. I tried it out for Greg Rucka, and a scan of issue #7 told me the followup writer wasn't for me.
I know the incest love triangle thing is really interesting in a Jer-El Spring-Er sort of way, but if you want a real Supergirl, you're going to need to give it up. Save yourself three dollars. Buy the LSH one instead.
Because if sales keep dropping, we'll get Supergirl back!
I'm afraid you're right there. Although my Supergirl habit is a bit tough to crack, it seems.
ReplyDeleteI love the Jer-El Spring-Er crack, bu the way.
"Kryptonian incest and the fans who watch it and buy it, on the next Op-Ra."
ReplyDeleteThe 81.99 and 74.07 are not "thousands of copies sold." They are index numbers that mean the book is selling 81.99% or 74.07% of the number of copies of the baseline book.
ReplyDeleteAlso, chart position argument being made is kind of pointless given the explosion of all the Civil War books in July.
Not trying to defend Supergirl (I dropped the book after issue #2) but predictions of some big change are wishful thinking. Right now the book's sales trends are no different than Superman/Batman and Green Lantern. None of them may be over 100K anymore but they are still mega-profitable.
I don't think I bought a single copy.
ReplyDeleteI've seen little from the book that suggested that it would appeal to me. Nothing I've seen, so far, as made me regret that decision.
Heh - I flipped through the first issue and decided I wasn't the target audience for this Supergirl book. (I do like what Waid's doing with her in the Legion book, though).
ReplyDeleteI don't believe Didio though. I bet if sales drop off, he'll just say "we HAD a Supergirl book, and it was popular for a while, but things change and now no one wants to read about Supergirl."
Sales statistics are quoted by EICs at random to justify whatever creative approach they were going to take anyway. Extremely high or low sales can overrule personal preferences, but mostly it's a matter of whim and creative interpretation.
ReplyDeleteHmmm...so should one see this as a cynical admission that editorial decisions are driven solely by sales figures?
ReplyDeleteNahhh, that can't be right: if it was, they'd be doing more to get girls to buy comics.
Maybe someone should write a Supergirl character into Smallville. I have a feeling that'd get the comic changed.
ReplyDeleteThe Smallville thing might work. I have a feeling that this version is here for a bit. I have read, even though at times I questioned it. I came into being a reading the comic fan of SG under Peter David, always liked the character, but was a Marvel zombie for years.
ReplyDeleteI sense that whatever the thing with 52 and the new Moniters is going to be part of SG's story as well. Thing is that they seem to be treading water until it is time to get with the other books. I see moments where the book could be great, if they could just tone down the MAXIM type stuff and get on with looking at the character. She is a young woman with tremendous destructive power and tries to walk the straight and narrpw to live up to a cousin's example of what is just and noble. Why can't they get it?
Sorry, I guess I care more than I thought.
While if this was Manhunter, I'd figure on watching the Editors misread a boycott to a lack of interest in the character, but this is a special case. Supergirl has TWO books. If sales drop on the crappy one, and go up on Supergirl and the Legion, that's a pretty clear message.
ReplyDeleteBesides, people have GOT to get over their "But they'll never give us another one!" fear when it comes to dropping crap!!! So what if they misread you, at least they'll stop publishing the offensive drivel.
I don't know about you guys, but as someone who tears down the wall and arranges the new comics every week, I can assure you: Nobody around here is buying Supergirl, and all the has-been writers and creepy incest in the world aren't going to change that.
ReplyDeleteSales on Supergirl and the Legion, however, remain quite brusque.
Anon -- Thanks, just ganked the stats off some pro-Supergirl site and couldn't resist putting the two quotes together.
ReplyDeleteSupergirl Project -- Yeah, and that's what he's got!
Ferrous -- You've forgotten the "There's no sexism in comics" rule they adhere to, so they don't realize WHY they can't sell to women and considr it an uncrackable demographic. Remember? Otherwise, totally sales driven.
Palladin -- That's cool, I had no idea I cared about this character so much either.
Chris -- I think I might retire to your enlightened community. (My LCS clerk says it sells, I'm cosidering asking why to anyone who buys it from now on).
ReplyDeleteBut...Power Girl has been appearing! I love Power Girl!
ReplyDeleteI had such high hopes for the OYL storyline in Kandor, but it's been mostly a dud, especially even after it supposedly got wrapped up, you still don't know what's going on. (seriously, is that Saturn Queen? I have no idea.)
Ragnell: I was mostly being tongue-in-cheek. :-) But there was a bit of a "gee, if your decisions are sales-driven anyway, why don't you just try something radical and shoot for an entirely new audience?" rhetorical question buried in there.
ReplyDeleteCoupled with the realization of just how hide-bound, stubborn, and conservative in their decision making the folks at DC (and Marvel) are, of course.
I had a professor who put it this way: you don't have "20 years of industry experience" if you just do the same thing over and over again; you just have one year's experience repeated 20 times. If your business plan never changes, your business never expands.
Palladin's comment sums up Supergirl's character nicely.
ReplyDeleteIt's the reason I've always cared about Supergirl, and why it's always annoyed me when she's treated like a second-class citizen or considered a character adds nothing to the DC universe, as Marv Wolfman basically said when he decided to kill Kara off in the Crisis.
To me, she was always the human face of the Superman Family - a hero who actually expressed doubt and - in the Action Comics era at least - actually had a somewhat down-to-earth personal life.
"Supergirl has TWO books. If sales drop on the crappy one, and go up on Supergirl and the Legion, that's a pretty clear message."
ReplyDeleteExcept she's part of a team in Legion. If sales drop on her solo title, they might decide that means people don't like SG anymore and Legion does well in spite of her presence, not because fans like Mark Waid's version of SG better.
Stupider conclusions have been drawn before...
I just wanted to note that I think the name 'Ferrous Bueller' is really really cool.
ReplyDeleteI don't know anything about the current Supergirl. Kryptonian incest? Punisher? WTF?