Okay. Legion sales have settled in the last few months @ the 24,500 - 25,000 mark. Waid's been spurting hyperbole about how he'll "make LSH DC's #1 book."

My bet - by Legion of Super-Heroes v5 #10, the book will be selling, by icv2's figures, less than 31,000 copies.

Anyone disagree? How many do you think LSH 10 will sell?

Thanks for those sales figures. They support what I've been saying all along: DnA rescued the Legion from oblivion. Now WnK are risking its future all over again. For what? I also predict the low 30s a year from now, and that's generous. Some new readers, mainly WnK fans, will take a gander and stay, some older readers who dropped the book earlier might come back on board, but in the end it will be US -- or what's left of us after they start "messing with the characters".

Reboot=Stupid.

You know what would be helpful here? Sales figures on Waid's and Kitson's recent work. How well has Fantastic Four sold with Waid at the helm? How well has Thunderbolts/Avengers sold with Kitson as penciller? Given that information, I'd be willing to predict sales figures for Legion after the hoopla has died down.

I already have some of those figures (it came up at the DCMB).

Fantastic Four -- In the three months before Waid's debut, estimated sales averaged 43K copies. Today, it's about 51K. An increase of 20% over two years. This does not factor in the "9 cents" debut issue.

Superman: Birthright (maxi) -- Issue #1 sold 48-49K copies. Issue #10 sold about 35K. A decrease of 28% over 10 months.

Empire (mini) -- Issues # 1-6 averaged about 21K copies per month. (Excludes the 2-part issue #0 reprint, which sold about 14-15K).

I have no information about Thunderbold/Avengers, but Kitson only completed two issues.

I don't know how useful A/T or Empire would be - I picked issue 10 as a number where the early issues boost was gone completely, and before the (occasional) one-year boost. Avengers/Tbolts is completely useless in that regard.

Besides, neither of these have useful prior comparison figures. Birthright's probably the best of the DC work to compare with.

I think Waid maybe could make the Legion DC's # 1 title-- but it will take an artist of no less calibre than a Jim Lee or Alex Ross to get it there.

Personally, I'd be happy to see LSH in the top 50.

Uh...isn't it a little premature to be predicting the sales figures of issue #10 when we have little indication what their run is even going to be like.

How can the Legion succeed when even its fans want it to fail?

How can you be a fan of something that hasn't happened yet. We're fans of the established Legion, not a "re-imagined" one. I'll wait and see if I like it. (And probably miss the good old days still.)

I agree. I'm all for giving this a chance since at least it means DC cares enough not to just let the series go for a few years. And Paul Levitz is behind this one, something he really hasn't voiced in years.

But I'll always miss the era that captured me as a fan. The one we have now is a poor reflection of what was but that's just my opinion.

Just don't mess with Garth.

But consider SoM's ultimate point here: Waid has boasted that Legion will be DC top-selling book a year from now. That's an enormous boast. DC's top selling book right now is what? The Superman/Batman title, yes? And if my memory serves correctly, that title consistently sells close to or above 100,000 copies a month. So Waid is boasting that he can nearly QUADRUPLE the current sales of Legion. That achievement would certainly justify (proably not to every Legion fan, but certainly to DC executives and to the general comic book readership) a complete re-boot, yes?

So the boast Waid is making sounds to me like a way to justify a re-boot: "I can quadruple sales on Legion, but I need to completely re-boot it in order to do it."

Now....

REALISTICALLY...

Do you think Legion will be DC's top selling book one year from now? That it will be one of the top 10 comic books sold EVERY MONTH? (In the early 1980s (in the Levitz/Giffen heyday), LSH was DC's #2 selling title behind Wolfman/Perez's Teen Titans, and that was the ONLY time Legion was able to obtain enormous popularity.)

Isn't it more realistic to expect this Waid/Kitson version to sell 40,000 copies a month rather than 100,000 copies a month?

Does a increase from 25,000 copies a month to 40,000 copies a month justify a complete re-boot?

As I see it, that's SoM's implied question.

It's not that we want to see Waid/Kitson "fail." It's that many of us are wondering if a re-boot is justified when there seems to be plenty of story potential left for this current version of the Legion.

They have one... in Barry Kitson!


Teen Titans recently debuted well with a less well known artist. Ditto Superman/Batman. DC has the creators cred on the relaunch, as well as the built in fanbase. Now, it's up to them to hype it.

Doesn't really bode well for Waid's boast, does it?

I'd like to point out that Kevin Smith took a second string DEAD character and made it a top 10 book. Isn't it possible for Waid to do the same?

POSSIBLE SURE.

Will Waid do it?

PROBABLY NOT.

#1) I agree that the current Legion is a dim reflection of the Legion I first encountered, the Legion and 30th century I believed in. Therefore, I don't feel like I 'owe' DC a dime for new Legion stories when the team and future they portray have zero emotional resonance for me. I'd rather spend the money on the LSH Archives.

#2) It would take a sharp difference to bring in 80,000 new fans. Will Waid re-envision the 30th century to make it marketable and appealing? Considering his JLA run, I'd have to say NO. I was bored out of my mind and dropped the book while he was writing it. Not enough vision if you ask me. He plays it safe.

#3) For the 90s, I had enough extra money to get LOADS of LSH backissues to fill in my collection. My comic stores were overjoyed to make considerable coin off this product sitting in their bins. Recently, I tried to get my nephew and niece into the Legion (I've gotten them into the Bat Family). Do you know how difficult it is to pass on Legion comics when there are SO MANY reboots? The stories don't make sense anymore; they're not connected. It's difficult to get comic stores to believe in your product AT ALL when the company finds REBOOTS an effective way of dealing with flagging sales (imagine where JSA would be if DC had just done reboots to the Golden Age, rather than allowing Johns to pull ingenious threads together in modern retellings). That's like saying 'ANY BACK ISSUES YOU HAVE ARE CRAP', so stores will be reluctant to order any but the most conservative numbers. I'm not sure how DC is planning on getting the merchants to buy into their 'all-new and improved' title.

With all these factors, I'm really not sure where the new LSH is going. I'll take a dip in it, but I'm not even going to put it on my 'pull' list. The fact that Waid has already chosen to tie LSH into the Teen Titans (rather than JSA or JLA) is not a good sign for me. It shows his emphasis on the 'teen' aspects of the Legion.

Ain't it the truth?

By looking at the numbers I'd guess that there a little over 15000 die hards that always buy the Legion and about another 7000 more that are part timers. I don't know if there is any actual signifigance to that but it's a nice little snigglet.

(I wonder if Green lantern or Wonder Woman have that many die hard fans)

My gut tells me it won't sell much better than the current series. If I like it I hope it sells big numbers but I doubt it will. No offense to Barry but I don't think his name is big enough to be the #1 book. I am looking foward to his work personally and the comment Waid said about Kitson defining the future I think will pay off...so lets see.

Still gut says not a big seller. And if I don't care for it I hope it doesn't do well. Selfish I know.

Jorge

I think we'll see a LSH sales record for the #1 issue. Waid gets lots of fanboy press and the faithful will follow along. Many of them will buy that extra issue to bag and tuck away in their long boxes.

#2 will tell a completely different story.

It'll get a boost, but considering the depressed state of the industry, it will NOT set a new record. And I doubt it'll be in the Top 5, never mind top.

But yeah, expect at least a quarter of issue 1 sales to vanish with 2.

Forgot to post this:

Personally, I think that #1 is going to do shockingly well. I was lurking over at Newsarama's board this morning and it seemed to be on an awful lot of posters' must buy list when the December solicitations came out.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think it will be number one, but it will be on the better side of the top 100.

In terms of its staying power, I think its a fifty-fifty proposition. If they can do something original, edgy, and with a broad appeal, I think it could be a good selling title. That is to say, if the new legion can offer the curious fan boys and Waid lovers something truly different than the majority of Superhero titles it will do well.

Oh, and while Birthright was fairly unspectacular, both in terms of story and sales, I like to think that Waid will be allowed to take way more risks on the Legion than he was on Superman.

I'm certain it's going to sell really well. We already know it's going to have 2 big name creators, a re-pre-post-das-jack boot to end the slow descent into bordom and capture the interest of new readers, a decent amount of hype and it's "hey Presto!! decent sales again"

Well thats my opinion anyway And I bet a set of Bevis's gorgeous Queen of Diamond books against the first poster who disagrees that in Dec 2005 the Legion will be back in the top 10 again best selling DC comics.

Imo, the new generation of fans they yearn for will consist largely of current comic book readers who USED TO be Legion fans but dropped the book for one reason or another, plus followers of Waid and/or Kitson. I just don't see how this will translate into DC's stated goal of 50-60K new readers (or even 50-60K steady readers total). Their expectations for this franchise seem highly unrealistic. That's dangerous, because if sales don't match the numbers DC is dreaming of, the LSH will find itself in trouble again this time next year, even if it's selling at a perfectly decent 35K.

I think the marketing machine is more strongly behind this one than the previous Legion #1, leading to some pretty strong sales for the franchise (which has been dying a slow and painful death for over a decade now) and I'm hearing some of the fans who I remember loudly complaining about Legion of the Damned (I just grew indifferent) show interest in the franchise again. Taking in all factors, I'm thinking a debut in the low 40s.

Number ten's sales really depends on the marketing, IMO. If DC were to put a digest-sized collection behind the relaunch (I've always thought the Legion was a good fit for the manga audience and this one seems an even stronger fit) they might finally manage to bring the franchise to a new audience.

'course that's expecting good marketing. I expect marketing to quickly forget about the Legion after the first issue, as usual. (Aside from the typical underprinting and 'issue one sold out' press releases.) In that case my prediction for issue ten falls at about 32K.

BTW, what do those ICV2 numbers reflect? Pre-orders or total orders?

Yeah. Green Arrow sold like gangbusters because of Kevin Smith (and Brad Meltzer), not Oliver Queen. Superman/Batman and Superman are similarly being carried by Mike Turner & Jim Lee (as Lee boosted Batman before that). Meltzer's carrying ID Crisis now.

Neither Waid nor Kitson have anything LIKE that level of cache.

Apparently, Levitz said on the Baltimore panel that DC would support the new Legion series with a quick turnaround on a TB of the first story arc, priced at around $10. This action has proven incredibly successful with Fables and Y The Last Man, and has kept Losers and Human Target alive.

Granted, these are Vertigo books - though certainly a wide spread in terms of subject material and style - and the DCU superhero side has not seemed to benefit the same way from this tactic (Dial H for HERO, Aquaman, Fallen Angel, Gotham Central). But if the Legion can stretch beyond the appearance of a DCU Superhero book and return to its Superhero/Science Fiction straddling roots, then it's certainly possible that the series could be supported in similar fashion. Right?

Just wanted to point another avenue of sales support on this thread.

I collect most my comics in trade. Only get a handful of monthly titles and about 3 to 10 trades depending on the month.

Great idea to release this in trade so quickly.

Jorge

The scariest thing about all this is that Mark Waid believes his own prediction. This isn't a Stan Lee type boast to boost sales, it's what he actually believes. It just goes to show how delusional Waid has become, and how impaired his judgement is. Those sales figures on Birthright and FF are nothing to write home about. Waid is descending to Peter David levels of sales, where a loyal readership will follow him around, but not much else.

At least Stan Lee knew when he was full of shit - Waid doesn't.

After seeing the buzz generated by the mere solicit and cover image for LSH # 1, I predict that both LSH # 1 AND # 2 will place solidly within the Top 50.

# 3 and # 4 will see a drop, but based on the book's quality, # 5 and #6 will either see a jump back up or a continuation of the standard comic sales erosion.

And don't forget:

Lashie Poo is a famous advice columnist, so he has insight that few others have.

If he says it, then it will be so!

The Princess is correct!

Well, considering that July's 50th place was Thor #82, with estimated sales of 36,094, if it doesn't keep above that level, there's no buzz there and it'll be lucky to see out the year.

Doom Patrol #1: 39,309 (46)
Doom Patrol #2: 33,595 (58)

On the other hand, how can you hate something that hasn't happened yet, either...

LSH #1 will chart in the Top 25, over 50k sales. There will be a higher than usual drop for #2, but also WAY higher than usual reorder activity. After increasingly small drops for #3 & #4, we will see that initial orders on #5 actually beat out the initial orders on #2.

After that, standard decline of 2%, plus or minus, each month.

By #12, sales will still be over 40k, with a TOP 35 ranking.

Thanks to addiional new material in the collections, these trades will sell MUCH better than expected, and will continue on a regular basis.

Although it will not have much effect on sales, Legion characters will begin popping up on Smallville towards the end of this season.

By issue 25, DC will have secured a distribution deal to get it's comics into Wal-Mart. At that time they will also exercise their option and buy Diamond, who will handle the Wal-Mart deal.

At this point, the book will increase to 150-200k in sales, and will actually slowly INCREASE over time. The book will actually rise in ranking relative to the other DC books, which also see hugh jumps in sales due to the Wal-Mart deal.

Sales on the trades, offered through Wal-Mart as well as books stores, will also increase exponetially.

By 2007 there will be a cartoon network series. It will be based on the current versions of the characters. A flood of action figures will follow.

By 2008 LSH will not only be the best selling DC book, but also the best selling comics book PERIOD.

So sayeth the soothsayer!

Cause it's replacing something you do love?

And I didn't say I hate what they've created, just the concept of rebooting. I'm waiting for judgement on that.

Yeah it can be the best comic ever...still something I liked very much is over.

It's funny cause we have people that one the most obscure factors of Legion history thrown in yet get upset when it is pointed out that it may be another small legion speed bump that reduces sales.

The reason the Legion is getting a reboot is b/c of sales. The reason many Legion fans have suffered is b/c sales. I rather sacrifice some of my small personal wishes to make this book more of a hit.

But who knows maybe the Super-Pets and Super-Subs can really make this a #1 book.

Jorge

The ICV2 August sales figures are out. The Simone/Jurgens arc failed to deliver saleswise, ending the series on a weak note with a drop of 1,538 copies from issue #33. DnA couldn't have done worse with their Cub story, imo. So what was the point of cutting their run short for a story that portrays a not-too-distant future that will never occur? Beats the heck out of me.

Legion #33 -- rank 89 -- 24,865
Legion #34 -- rank 105 -- 23,903
Legion #35 -- rank 97 -- 24,207
Legion #36 -- rank 99 -- 23,717
Legion #37 -- rank 99 -- 23,479
Legion #38 -- rank 100 -- 23,327 (--6.2%)


Furthermore, it looks like DC readers aren't embracing reboots of any kind these days.

The Firestorm reboot is tanking fast. Issue #1 debuted at 34 on the May charts (46,292 copies + 1,671 reorders in June). Issue #4 ranked 80 (28,402 copies) in August.

Bryne's Doom Patrol reboot is doing just as poorly. Issue #1 debuted at 46 in June (39,303 copies + 1,981 reorders in July). Issue #3 ranked 82 (28,098 copies) last month.

The trend doesn't bode well for the new LSH, though LSH enjoys the advantage of an installed base of some 23-25K steady readers, most of whom will probably jump back on board after the relatively short (3 month) publication hiatus. Plus, Waid and Kitson have greater sales pull than Dan Jolley and a healthier reputation than John Byrne. Even so, the predictions on this thread of 30-35K after 10 months seem realistic, even generous, in light of these examples.

To be honest, I don't think the first three issues' sales can be used to say so much about readers' interest than it does about retailers'. Typically, for the first three issues you're mostly seeing the retailers' predictions for how many people will sample and drop the title. At least that used to be the case when I would look through sales numbers, but it's been a while since I was that much into the hobby.

How is the Byrne Doom Patrol doing compared to the Arcudi run? I thought that one started pretty low, but stayed consistent. If so, there's a slight bump there, one probably not big enough to justify Bryne's pay, tho.

Still, I'm not sure if the most important factor, buzz, is there. I don't think it was there for Doom Patrol or Firestorm and I'm not seeing it for the Legion. Like I said, this needs promotion and so far I'm kinda underwhelmed by DC's efforts.

Byrne's DP is doing somewhat better (about 5K iirc) than the Arcudi run at the same juncture, but perhaps not well enough to justify the expense of a reboot. The numbers are at the DCMB/DP board.

Even if DP and Firestorm leveled off at around 30K, they would still be a disappointment. It's hard to imagine a signficant upsurge in sales for either title unless there's a change of direction or a change in the creative team.

The new LSH is featured on the cover of October's Diamond Previews (a big deal) but I agree that DC Marketing hasn't done a very good job so far.

DP was fairly weak it's first two issues, as it was still wrapping up the JLA tie-in. #3, however, KICKED ASS> Highly recommended.

To be fair, other titles have recovered from a weak start. The 1994 LSH reboot is a good example. It started very poorly saleswise, but caught on by Annual #2 and did respectable if not exciting sales (roughly 26-28K) until the end of the interminable 20th century arc. After that, it began to tank.

I've never yet had a book drop in sales. Not to point fingers at anyone, but I believe the immediate reaction when people found out the book would be rebooted was that many would just wait. That's what we unfortunately expected. I believe Mark will deliver a hit, and I frankly think I could have, as well, given a stint at the regular book.

However, I am with ya on wishing DnA had been given space to finish their story. Don't really know what happened there, and DnA are too professional to get into details.

We did okay--I think they were expecting a much bigger drop.

Gail

I re-read your whole arc a couple days ago in one sitting, and one of the things I discovered at the end? I WAS CURIOUS TO SEE WHAT YOU WOULD DO NEXT!

You really had a different edge to your Legion. I was completely involved in the interactions between members, cadets and civilians, and the larger sense of scope of the Legion and the 30th century (DnA, for all their galactic journeys, stayed on Earth for most of their regular series run).

I also enjoyed the innovative foes they faced across the ENTIRE team (the prison break, the anti-reason JLA, and the hyper-evolving bug aliens). I liked that method of handling the size of the Legion: break them up into teams handling crises across the universe and connect the dots through the support staff (which makes a lot of sense). You managed to juggle those stories well, considering the constraints of working it into a monthly serial form and the editorial edicts incorporated into the arc.

When the next creative change comes up, I definitely hope they come to you 2nd. (I always wanted to see a Morrison Legion of Super Heroes -a 30th century filled with his mad vision & idealism & energy, so he's 1st on my list, then you. But he'd only stay for 6-8 issues before moving onto his next project anyway. THEN you'd get it. )

I have been a die hard Legion fan and have gotten tired of the reboots as well. I am going to give this new Legion a try because I am a Legion fan and want them to continue. Continue into what is the question. Is Waid going to change what we know and love about this group? Will the changes be so far out there that the die hard fan walks away? I hope not.

Long Live the Legion !!

The success of the new LSH will depend a lot on how strongly the first issue starts. Too many series these days are into the whole "decompression" thing. But writers and editors need to recognize that today's comics fan IS NOT GOING TO WAIT AROUND for the book to get going.

Examples and exceptions.......

Ultimate Spider-Man: the title that showed the industry that this slow pace could be done. The same origin story that took 10 pages in 1962 was stretched over what? 4 months? In any case, it worked because readers knew exactly where the story was going; this time they could enjoy the ride.

New Firestorm: didn't because A) fans of the original were alienated before issue one, B) fans of the concept got ZERO gratification as to the how and why of the new Firestorm in issue one and C) new readers got treated to a boring story with a nonsensical payoff at the end.

The Ultimates: plods along actionless for a solid 3 issues. But it worked because issue one delivered World War Freakin' TWO as the TEASER which gave readers a taste of the widescreen action to come.

Essentially, comics need to take a cue from 1980s anime. In the first episode of any series, there'd be *something* cool to tease viewers with. The spaceship would fire its Big Gun. The hero would dazzle with his Incredible Fighting Prowess. The heroine would Service the Fans. (Or something. Or all three.)

The comics industry has gotten so used to the hardcore fanbase that it's forgotten the old basics. 1) every issue is someone's first (hopefully). 2) every issue should stand on its own merits somehow, even if it's a multi-parter. 3) Make 'em want to come back next month. The last is the only one many creators bother to address, but they usually rely on a weak mystery or cliffhanger to do so instead of peppering the whole story with reasons to back for more.

Sigh. Comics ain't what they used to be.

Bottom line, again, is that WnK need to start strong. They already have the fan alienation thing against them, but they can win fans of the concept over fairly easily with the right approach. With 30 pages of story, pacing shouldn't be difficult. And Waid isn't given to the drawn-out storytelling, anyway (his longest arc in Fantastic Four was maybe 5 issues. Most are two- or three-parters). Thus, the curious non-fans may be given ample reason to come back for the next issue and thus become new fans.

Odds of Waid beating Superman/Batman (presuming Turner doesn't slow Pacheco's arc down still more): 100:1

Odds of Waid beating Superman: 100:1

Odds of Waid beating Astonishing X-Men: 100:1

Odds of Waid beating Ultimates 2 #1: 10 000:1

We're getting closer - anyone think this has any chance of being DC's top-selling book, let alone the top seller full stop?

In the wake of the Wizard Hype Machine blowing over Waid's LSH, found this here , with a short hype article on Superman: Birthright, excerpted from Wizard. At the end was this:

The reality: http://www.legionworld.net/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=002307;p=2#000017

'boot, just come out of that closet and admit you the new look Legion already will ya? All this posturing smacks of shades of "the laddie protesteth too much"

'Binger, swear to God I'm being 100% honest here. I don't like this half-revert half-new concept for the Legion, I don't like that the Legion I like is being shoved aside for it, and damn me for all eternity if I've lied in this sentence.

If I'm "posturing," it's because it seems like everyone else is being sugary-sweet positive about it. It's like living in a bad Disney movie.

I think Mark was overselling the book if he thinks it will be number one, but I do think it will do better than the previous Legion book.

I think the first issue will be in the 30-40 range on the top 100, drop to the 50s for issues 2...and maybe lower for issue 3.

Of course, this will be based on retailer orders. It won't be until issue 4 where consumer demand controls the number of issues ordered/sold.

Really can't make a prediction without seeing a couple of completed issues, but based on the previews for issue 1, I think Legion will be a solid, if not stellar, performer.

/shrug

If you don't like Mark and Barry's work, don't buy the books. The majority of posts I've read here are from people who are genuinely excited about the new team and Barry K has been gracious enough to upload some sneak-peaks of his art.

I wasn't very impressed with the DnA run and ended up picking up maybe about 10-12 back issues of the stories (at discount). From what I remember, one of the biggest knocks on the Legion series was that it was too big. There were too many members and such a large amount of history that people felt it was too difficult to get into it. Granted, these were the things that we liked about the title but for a new reader, trying to get involved was a daunting task.

Mark has stated that the intends to simplify things in the sense that he's going to concentrate on a smaller core of members and totally fresh storyline without rehashing old villians. If he can keep the characters / arcs interesting, I'll certainly be buying and I'm sure that other people who pick up the #1 (if only for speculative collecting) will keep reading it too.

The key is to make it accessible to new readers.

fair do's sweetheart, I was only teasing you, sorry if you thought I was being mean.

Incidentally I felt the same after the introduction of the SW6 Legion and all the Archie stuff.

Not meaning to talk for anyone else but personally I'm being "sugary sweet" because I see a fresh creative team try to salvage a tired format of a group of characters I've grown very fond of. Like you I'm miffed that the last lot faded out without sorting out the loose ends, but that won't stop me giving the new team a chance.

And you can't deny that Barry's art is GORGEOUS, can you?

In the 70's when Legion was one of DC's top sellers, it was distributed at 7-11 and competed with with maybe 30 or 40 other titles in mass distribution retailers. Do they sell $3 comics at 7-11 anymore? I've never noticed. The days of the big spinning rack are long gone.

So a new Legion competes with hundreds of titles mostly at comic shops, and it's distinguished how? I walked into a comic shop for the first time in almost 15 years last month. I don't see how the Legion is going to distinguish itself to the people who are not already Legion readers.

Waid and Kitson are outstanding, but I don't see this new title being marketed to anyone except the people who've been buying the Legion all along. I don't think 50,000 potential Legion readers are even aware of this relaunch.

I am an anomaly -- the 15YG Legionnaire.

Will the new Legion be on your xBox (whatever that is -- another cultural icon that I've resisted)? Is the Legion at WalMart? Is my six year old looking for a Barbie Saturn Girl? Will Starbucks sell the Legion beside its CDs of songs that Willie Nelson really likes?

Is there a big shelf-hogging Alex Ross Legion book at Barnes and Noble? Alex Ross brought me back into the world of comics -- an article in the Washington Post a year ago. And though I have nothing but the highest regard for awesome work of Barry Kitson, there is probably no one except Alex Ross who has the drawing power (double meaning intended) to bring non-comic buyers into the world of any new DC title.

To get the Legion out of the 20's and 30's in sales numbers, it will take some aggressive, innovative marketing as well as a talented creative team. DC seems to have done only half its work.

What if:

They brought back the Slurpee cups....

One can only hope

Great idea, Starbucks Kid! Except that the slurpees would be "smart drinks", since they obviously had to eliminate a lot of junk food to make everyone look so naturally fabulous. (Except poor Chuck, who had to have his poster up for all of Metropolis to see.)

The hype that Waid personally created will probably help sales a little in issue 1, but I don't believe it'll survive past issue 12 because it sounds like a reimaging of the Archie Legion and his ideas don't sound that good. It'll fail if it's like Birthright which wasn't the success that he think it was and his reasons for the reboot sounds like something he made up, and he didn't do that very well either.

Poppin' Parakats! I was right about sales of LSH # 1! Were YOU?!?! Check this thread and see! And will I be right about LSH # 2?!?!

I'm not quite sure of the margins of error, but this is coming very close to a statistical dead heat with Birthright #1. If that pattern kept up, it'd be selling ~35k at issue 10. Bit more than I expected, but not superlatively so if the comparison holds.

LEGION O/SUPER HEROES #1: Rank - 25; Numbers - 50,691 ¹
LEGION O/SUPER HEROES #2: Rank - 30; Numbers - 42,261 ² <font size="5">↓</font s>
LEGION O/SUPER HEROES #3, Rank - 40; Numbers - 39,951 ³ <font size="5">↓</font s>

If #4's sales are higher than #3, then we're looking at about 2x what we were at #38 of the previous run.

You'll have to stick your Mark Waid voodoo doll a little bit harder, naysayers.

Realised I haven't updated this for a while...

LEGION O/SUPER HEROES #1: Rank - 25; Numbers - 50,691 (1)
LEGION O/SUPER HEROES #2: Rank - 30; Numbers - 42,261 (2) <span style="font-size: 22px;">↓</span>
LEGION O/SUPER HEROES #3, Rank - 40; Numbers - 39,951 (3) <span style="font-size: 22px;">↓</span>
LEGION O/SUPER HEROES #4, Rank - 46; Numbers - 41,756 (4) <span style="font-size: 22px;">↑</span>
LEGION O/SUPER HEROES #5, Rank - 44; Numbers - 41,664 (5) <span style="font-size: 22px;">↓</span>
LEGION O/SUPER HEROES #6, Rank - 42; Numbers - 40,970 (6) <span style="font-size: 22px;">↓</span>
LEGION O/SUPER HEROES #7, Rank - 44; Numbers - 39,155 (7) <span style="font-size: 22px;">↓</span>
LEGION O/SUPER HEROES #8, Rank - 54; Numbers - 37,272 (8) <span style="font-size: 22px;">↓</span>


After a brief rally, it's spiralling downward again, with #8 outside the top 50. Right now, it's on course to hit 31k on issue 11, one issue later than I bet in the opening post.

okay that's it . we are just going to have to take a page from the L. Ron Hubbard fan club. go out and buy up all issues of LSH. this will generate a false impression of its popularity, which will in turn lead to acutual sales.

so get cracking people! the next issue will be a sellout.