Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Legion of Super-Heroes Sales Figures

December Numbers are in and we're well on our way back to familiar territory saleswise. The main book drops to 25K, which is about where it was at issue #8 this time last year. Legion Lost drops almost the same number of copies (@6.5K), but that puts it down near the 20K mark. We know DC's getting ready to cull some titles, but we also know Tom DeFalco's coming on board, so there may be some rope left here.

The two spin-offs, meanwhile are doing respectably in their lower stratospheres, each dropping about 2K, which isn't bad for a couple of mini series, one out of continuity.



LEGION OF SUPER HEROES

09/2011: Legion of Super Heroes #1 -- 45,362 (*), #47 out of 300 [53,285 after 2nd printing]
10/2011: Legion of Super-Heroes #2 -- 42,504 (*), #50 out of 300
11/2011: Legion of Super-Heroes #3 -- 31,481 (*), #71 out of 300
12/2011: Legion of Super-Heroes #4 -- 25,049 (*), #77 out of 300


LEGION LOST

09/2011: Legion Lost #1 -- 41,726 (*), #56 out of 300 [49,952 after 2nd printing]
10/2011: Legion Lost #2 -- 38,385 (*), #59 out of 300
11/2011: Legion Lost #3 -- 28,103 (*), #80 out of 300
11/2011: Legion Lost #4 -- 21,618 (*), #94 out of 300

LEGION: SECRET ORIGIN

10/2011: Legion Secret Origin #1 -- 38,248, #60 out of 300
11/2011: Legion Secret Origin #2 -- 22,435, #108 out of 300
12/2011: Legion Secret Origin #3 -- 20,033, #101 out of 300


STAR TREK/LEGION OF SUPER HEROES

10/2011: Star Trek Legion of Superheroes #1 -- 20,950, #114 out of 300
11/2011: Star Trek Legion of Superheroes #2 -- 17,782, #124 out of 300
12/2011: Star Trek Legion of Superheroes #3 -- 15,952, #129 out of 300


* denotes returnable issues, so sales are under reported by Diamond (speculation runs from 10-20%).

I fully expect LLOST to be one of the first titles cut simply because the characters already have a home waiting elsewhere.

What I am worried about is DC pulling a DOOM PATROL and killing off the entire cast in the final issue. These were obviously characters Paul Levitz was willing to part with... and that is a bit scary.

At some point I'd love to hear the backgrounder on LLost, because Fabian has stated it was handed to him with the characters and concept already set in stone. So who's idea was it? Paul's? Didio's? What made them think this concept and these characters would fly?

It did seem that at least some of them were characters Paul was willing to clear from the board simply to have more breathing room to focus on the others.

Yera was redundant, particularly if Paul wanted to explore the Durlan experience through Cham in any depth, and, even better, a 'two-fer,' since writing her out made a good excuse for Colossal Boy to get written out as well.

Gates and XS seemed to be thrust upon him, and he didn't seem terribly interested in exploring either of them. (Teleporters have narrative issues, as well. They tend to eliminates travel scenes, useful for mid-trip dialogue and characterization, and for drama. 'Will they get there in time?' <BAMF> 'Obviously.')

Wildfire and Dawnstar have been stuck in the same doomed romance storyline for *decades,* and Paul may have felt that this limits what he could do with them.

Removing Tellus seems to be more a choice to leave the team without a telepath for the moment, which opens up intrigue / mystery / investigative possibilities that wouldn't be as easy to justify (or for the fans to accept) if there was a telepath lying around. For instance, rumors that one of the newbies might be a mole or traitor would seem pretty lame if the team was constantly mind-linking with him/her.

The removal of Timber Wolf and Tyroc are the two that surprise me. Perhaps, since he'd been focusing on Brin's strength, toughness and claws, instead of his unique super-acrobatics and speed/reflexes/agility, he felt that Brin was redundant on a team with characters so many times stronger and tougher.

Tyroc, on the other hand, seemed more unique and with a lot of wiggle room to develop, and none of the 'new character baggage' that comes with 11th hour replacements.

Tyroc, at present, is both established (in a way that Chemical Kid, Dragonwing, etc. are not) and yet also fresh, since his powers are being re-defined and his origin / background may also be undergoing a tweak.

Indeed, in Legion Lost, I was kinda hoping to see the state of 21st century Marzal explored!

January Sales numbers are out. Walt Simonson doesn't exactly reverse the downward trend on the main title, but does slow down the bleeding considerably. Legion Lost also slows down to a "mere" 2K drop, a positive sign things are leveling out for both titles? Secret Origin on the other hand takes a bigger drop from Issue #3 to #4 than it did from #2 to #3, so that's not a good sign. The best performer in terms of retention is actually the Star Trek/Legion Crossover, with less than 1K lost (although it is in a lower tier, sales-wise already).


LEGION OF SUPER HEROES

09/2011: Legion of Super Heroes #1 -- 45,362 (*), #47 out of 300 [53,285 after 2nd printing]
10/2011: Legion of Super-Heroes #2 -- 42,504 (*), #50 out of 300
11/2011: Legion of Super-Heroes #3 -- 31,481 (*), #71 out of 300
12/2011: Legion of Super-Heroes #4 -- 25,049 (*), #77 out of 300
01/2012: Legion of Super-Heroes #5 -- 23,062 (*), #79 out of 300


LEGION LOST

09/2011: Legion Lost #1 -- 41,726 (*), #56 out of 300 [49,952 after 2nd printing]
10/2011: Legion Lost #2 -- 38,385 (*), #59 out of 300
11/2011: Legion Lost #3 -- 28,103 (*), #80 out of 300
11/2011: Legion Lost #4 -- 21,618 (*), #94 out of 300
12/2012: Legion Lost #5 -- 19,394 (*), #94 out of 300

LEGION: SECRET ORIGIN

10/2011: Legion Secret Origin #1 -- 38,248, #60 out of 300
11/2011: Legion Secret Origin #2 -- 22,435, #108 out of 300
12/2011: Legion Secret Origin #3 -- 20,033, #101 out of 300
01/2012: Legion Secret Origin #4 -- 16,585, #115 out of 300


STAR TREK/LEGION OF SUPER HEROES

10/2011: Star Trek Legion of Superheroes #1 -- 20,950, #114 out of 300
11/2011: Star Trek Legion of Superheroes #2 -- 17,782, #124 out of 300
12/2011: Star Trek Legion of Superheroes #3 -- 15,952, #129 out of 300
01/2012: Star Trek Legion of Superheroes #4 -- 15,004, #122 out of 300


* denotes returnable issues, so sales are under reported by Diamond (speculation runs from 10-20%).