We crunched the community numbers for all 4 weeks of the first issues DC had for us, and now that the #2 issues have started, we’re going to do the same for the month in general. What does the iFanboy activity say about the DC Relaunch in general? Let us go to the numbers!
Batman #1
Most Pulls:
1. Batman #1 – 1,845 pulls
2. Action Comics – 1,733 pulls
3. Justice League #1 – 1,686 pulls
4. Swamp Thing #1 – 1,529 pulls
5. Animal Man #1 – 1,492 pulls
6. Wonder Woman #1 – 1,439 pulls
7. Batwoman #1 – 1,417 pulls
8. The Flash #1 – 1,401 pulls
9. Green Lantern – 1,383 pulls
10. Aquaman – 1,372 pulls
The numbers suggest some of what we already know. Comic book readers like Batman and they like Superman, but they like Batman more than Superman, and Grant Morrison fills in the difference. Justice League is a no brainer, but it’s a little shocking to see it come in third. Conversely, based solely on creator excitement and talent, Swamp Thing and Animal Man were phenomenally successful. The final order to classic DC characters is a little shocking as well, with Wonder Woman and Batwoman beating out stalwart male characters The Flash, Green Lantern, and Aquaman. It would appear that GL’s name recognition, not to mention Geoff Johns’ influence have faded some.
Batman #1
Highest Average Rating (Out of a possible 5 stars):
1. Batman #1 – 4.7 stars
2. Animal Man #1 – 4.6 stars
3. Aquaman #1 / All-Star Western #1 – 4.5 stars
4. Wonder Woman #1 / Swamp Thing #1 / Batwoman #1 – 4.4 stars
5. The Flash #1 – 4.3 stars
6. Action Comics #1 / Demon Knights #1 – 4.2 stars
7. Justice League #1 – 4.1 stars
8. Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #1 – 4 stars
9. Superboy #1 / Green Lantern #1 – 3.9 stars
10. Resurrection Man #1 / Detective Comics #1 / Nightwing #1 / Supergirl #1 / Justice League Dark #1 – 3.8 stars
To the quality books go the ratings. While a 1-5 star rating is not all encompassing, we’ve seen over and over that when 1000 or more readers pick a number, the final one is usually a pretty good indicator of quality.
Batman #1
Highest Community Pick of the Week Percentage:
1. Batman #1 – 83.1%
2. Justice League #1 – 65.2 %
3. Animal Man #1 – 64.2%
4. Aquaman #1 – 54.8%
5. Batwoman #1 – 32.2%
6. All-Star Western #1 – 19.2%
7. Demon Knights #1 – 17.5%
8. Action Comics #1 – 17.2%
9. Swamp Thing #1 – 9.5%
10. The Flash – 9.1%
Scott Snyder and Jeff Lemire must be feeling good about themselves, as we saw complete dominance by their titles, and a good showing by some of the lower books. Those could have more to do with the competition on a given week as well.
Justice League #1
Most User Reviews:
1. Justice League #1 – 49 reviews
2. Action Comics #1 – 46 reviews
3. Animal Man #1 – 30 reviews
4. Batman #1 – 29 reviews
5. Swamp Thing #1 / Aquaman #1 – 24 reviews
6. Wonder Woman #1 – 23 reviews
7. Red Hood and The Outlaws #1 – 20 reviews
8. Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #1 / Detective Comics #1 – 19 reviews
9. Batgirl #1 – 18 reviews
10. Batwoman #1 / Batman and Robin #1 / Nightwing #1 – 17 reviews
We have never seen an outpouring of reviews like this, and we’re thrilled about it. Also interesting is that you’re much more excited to writer reviews of books that are generally considered to be successful than bashing on books you didn’t like. That flies in the face of many of the stereotypes of comic book readers online. Good showing folks!
Action Comics #1
Most Comments:
1. Action Comics #1 – 188 comments
2. Justice League #1 / Batman #1 – 156 comments
3. Wonder Woman #1 – 113 comments
4. Aquaman #1 – 100 comments
5. Batman and Robin #1 – 99 comments
6. Animal Man #1 – 98 comments
7. Swamp Thing #1 – 93 comments
8. Justice League Dark #1 – 88 comments
9. Catwoman #1 / Red Hood and The Outlaws #1 – 87 comments
10. Green Lantern #1 – 85 comments
You also like to talk. We’re seeing a huge difference in Action Comics and the rest of the field. I could speculate that people really really want to like Superman, and since this is such a different take on the character, it holds a lot of interest and questions. That’s good for the series long term. Also fascinating is that the 2 most controversial books from the relaunch got the same number of comments. Again, you like to talk about books you like more than ones you don’t.
Hawk & Dove #1
Fewest Pulls:
1. Hawk & Dove #1 – 482 pulls
2. Static Shock #1 – 483 pulls
3. Legion of Super-Heroes #1 – 520 pulls
4. Captain Atom #1 – 550 pulls
5. Men of War #1 – 555 pulls
6. Legion Lost #1 – 576 pulls
7. Deathstroke #1 – 595 pulls
8. The Savage Hawkman #1 – 602 pulls
9. Mister Terrific #1 – 608 pulls
10. O.M.A.C. #1 – 615 pulls
While these are generally considered to be the least exciting books of the relaunch, these numbers are still very high in comparison to averages we saw before the relaunch. We do not seem to have a high Rob Liefeld appreciation around here.
Hawk & Dove #1
Lowest Average Rating (Out of a possible 5 stars):
1. Hawk & Dove #1 / Green Arrow #1 – 2.5 stars
2. Legion of Super-Heroes #1 / Batman: The Dark Knight #1 – 2.6 stars
3. Mister Terrific #1 / Legion Lost #1 – 2.7 stars
4. The Fury of Firestorm The Nuclear Men #1 – 2.8 stars
5. Captain Atom #1 / Static Shock #1 – 2.9 stars
6. Blackhawks #1 / The Savage Hawkman #1 / Blue Beetle #1 – 3 stars
7. Superman #1 / Red Lanterns #1 – 3.1 stars
8. Men of War #1 – 3.2 stars
9. Deathstroke #1 / Red Hood and The Outlaws #1 – 3.3 stars
10. Grifter #1 / Suicide Squad #1 / DC Universe Presents #1 / Voodoo #1 / Green Lantern: New Guardians #1 – 3.4 stars
Again, the averages seem to work themselves out, but even these seem a bit high, never getting into the sub-2 area. So they must be doing something right. Or you’re a generous audience.
Hawk & Dove #1
Fewest User Reviews:
1. Hawk & Dove #1 – 3 reviews
2. I, Vampire #1 – 5 reviews
3. Legion of Super-Heroes #1 / Men of War #1 / Static Shock #1 / The Fury of Firestorm The Nuclear Men #1 – 6 reviews
4. Legion Lost #1 – 7 reviews
5. Blackhawks #1 / Blue Beetle #1 – 8 reviews
6. Captain Atom #1 / Red Lanterns #1 / Green Arrow #1 / Green Lantern Corps #1 / The Savage Hawkman #1 / Teen Titans #1 – 9 reviews
7. DC Universe Presents #1 / Batwing #1 / Mister Terrific #1 / Voodoo #1 – 10 reviews
8. Deathstroke #1 / Birds of Prey #1 – 11 reviews
9. Superboy #1 / Resurrection Man #1 / Batman: The Dark Knight #1 / Green Lantern: New Guardians #1 – 12 reviews
10. The Flash #1 / Demon Knights #1 / Supergirl #1 – 13 reviews
We saw the reviews slow down as we got towards the end of the month, but it was still a heck of an output. As evidenced, you’re much more excited to write reviews for books you liked, and want to evangelize.
Green Lantern Corps #1
Fewest Comments:
1. Green Lantern Corps #1 – 17 comments
2. DC Universe Presents #1 / Blackhawks #1 – 20 comments
3. Static Shock #1 – 21 comments
4. The Fury of Firestorm The Nuclear Man #1 – 24 comments
5. Batman: The Dark Knight #1 – 25 comments
6. Men of War #1 / Superboy #1 – 26 comments
7. Birds of Prey #1 – 27 comments
8. Mister Terrific #1 / Deathstroke #1 – 29 comments
9. Green Lantern: New Guardians #1 – 30 comments
10. Captain Atom #1 / Blue Beetle #1 – 31 comments
We’ll call this the boredom meter. This was stuff that was either so much the same, or so non-inspiring that you just didn’t have much to say or argue about.
Daredevil #3
Most Pulled Non-DC Books:
1. Daredevil #3 – 1,149 pulls
2. Daredevil #4 – 1,127 pulls
3. Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1 / Fear Itself #6 – 969 pulls
4. Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #2 – 912 pulls
5. X-Men: Schism #4 – 909 pulls
6. FF #9 – 870 pulls
7. Uncanny X-Force #15 – 830 pulls
8. Captain America #3 – 782 pulls
9. Amazing Spider-Man #669 – 765 pulls
10. Avengers #17 – 757 pulls
DC fans like Daredevil! Look at the steep dropoff. You were much more interested in DC offerings than anything else last month, and only Marvel, it looks like. This is an astonishing set of numbers. Please note that Marvel’s big summer event book, Fear Itself dropped to third.
Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1
Highest Pick of the Week Percentage – Non-DC* Books:
1. Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1 – 13.6%
2. Criminal : The Last of the Innocent #4 – 10%
3. Uncanny X-Force #15 – 7.1%
4. Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #2 – 6.9%
5. X-Men: Schism #4 – 2.5%
6. American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest #4 – 1.4%
7. Atomic Robo: Ghost Station X #1 / Daredevil #3 / Daredevil #4 – 1.3%
8. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 9 #1 / Captain America and Bucky #622 – 1.2 %
9. Ultimate Comics The Ultimate #2 – 1.1%
10. Wolverine: Debt of Death #1 – 1%
*Non-DC Relaunch
Quality will out, but no one other than DC managed a majority in the last month or even close. That’s a critical win for DC by all means.
Here are some other numbers to take a look at. Keep in mind they’ll change and shift slightly over time. The cumulative numbers for prior weeks were gathered the Monday following the original Wednesday release.
Week One Average Ratings for Top 5 books – 4.14
Week Two Average Ratings for Top 5 books – 4.10
Week Three Average Ratings for Top 5 books – 4.06
Week Four Average Ratings for Top 5 books – 4.14
Week One Average Ratings for Bottom 5 books – 2.96
Week Two Average Ratings for Bottom 5 books – 3.06
Week Three Average Ratings for Bottom 5 books – 3.1
Week Four Average Ratings for Bottom 5 books – 2.94
Week One Average Ratings for all books – 3.56
Week Two Average Ratings for all books – 3.35
Week Three Average Ratings for all books – 3.56
Week Four Average Ratings for all books – 3.52
Week One Total Books Pulled – 11,842 (not including Justice League #1)
Week Two Total Books Pulled – 11,430
Week Three Total Books Pulled – 10,554* (*only 12 books released)
Week Four Total Books Pulled – 11,588
And here are some more numbers that DC released, just for fun.
5 of the Top 5 comic books for the month of September.
8 out of the Top 10 comic books for the month of September.
17 of the Top 20 comic books for the month of September.
19 of the Top 25 comic books for the month of September.
32 of the Top 50 comic books for the month of September.
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go batman!
Yeah Superman, Action Comics, Batman, Catwoman, & All Star Western!
As the Top 5 DCnU titles that I enjoyed most of the 16 that I read.
Leaving Wonder Woman & Stormwatch DROPPED after reading the 1st issue.
Matthew
PS
Wonder Woman was dropped because of the writer, Brian Azzarello Superman For Tomorrow 12 issues that went nowhere & I read WW for 5 years prior to this new NEW #1 issue. Stormwatch was just awful. I do enjoy Daredevil & Criminal miniseries from Marvel.
FYI – You’ve got Hawk & Dove having the 3rd most and the 1st least user reviews.
Fixed.
I’m going to be honest: Bruce Wayne paid me off
What I want to see is what the decrease percentage is in pulls from issue #1 to issue #2
Or the increase. Sorry, I chouldn’t be so negative as to assume there will be a drop.
So far Action 2 is down 8.5%, Swamp Thing down 5.6% and Animal Man is up 0.6%. Pretty impressive.
On the other end Men of War, Static Shock and Hawk and Dove were down about 55%. I think that is a normal drop. Those books were never going to keep a large audience anyway.
That is a stunning performance. I can’t wait to see the numbers for this month.
Looks like I don’t like Snyder as much as the rest of the crew. Interesting numbers. Thanks!
I’m curious. Does Batman #1 have the all-time highest average user PotW percentage?
Even if those are ‘low’ pulls in comparison to the other DC books, that top ten list is still impressive as you said. I doubt a Hawk and Dove book would have that many pulls if there was no relaunch period.
I do wonder if you guys were looking at all the user reviews, comments, and page hits; rubbed your hands and smiled in ecstasy. Best month ever for comic websites.
Numbers don’t lie, do they? What I want to see won’t happen for several months. When sales and numbers level off then, we’ll see just how many of the new 52 books stay on people’s subscription lists, and of course, which books are headed for cancellation. You have to know that, like the new Fall TV season’s first show getting the ax, the first new 52 book cancellation will probably be the headline of the year. (I’m not going to make any predictions. When it comes to comics, nothing is absolute and few people ever get it right.)
Do you mean “Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E.”? Not S.H.I.E.L.D.
No.
(Yes.)
Great page bet Dan Didio will pay close attention.
He should pay you a consultancy fee.
I’m pretty sure he gets better numbers than we do.
Comparing the “Most pulls” rankings for Ifanboy members with the Diamond sales rankings, it is clear that the average Ifanboy member is quite different than the average comic book buyer at large (Animal Man for example didn’t sell many copies overall).
I’m not surprised if that’s what you observed (I haven’t checked myself). The community here is no doubt a niche community within a niche hobby. Followers of this site could likely fall into “group think.” That’s not good or bad, it just is.
Rrrrrrratings.
Ratings. I give it a 3.
Ratings? Ratings (please bring back Ratings).
It’d be awesome to have a Larry King sound bite saying Rrrrratings! iFanboy needs a soundboard for those moments when you need a random MAYHEEEEMMMM!!!!!! or a well placed the Loooooooom of Faaaate!!!!!!!!!!
Let’s please not start that. I still get the Around Comics “Top of the Stack” sound bite stuck in my head occasionally.
I don’t know why they gave Hawk and Dove their own comic in the first place
I think the biggest news from all this wonderful data is that 57 people read Ultimate Spider-Man #1 and then decided not to get #2. Fifty. Seven. This book was great (says I)!
How can there be 57 people on the internet that don’t agree with me?
How many people were reading Ultimate Spider-Man but left the book with the reboot? I think that would be an interesting number.