https://www.comicbookrevolution.com/december-2023-single-issue-comic-book-sales-rankings/
I recommend this feature at Comic Book Revolution - quantitative analysis of actual retailer orders. There’s a ton of material for discussion here - top sellers, events, franchises, minority leads, female leads, and more - but I want to start with what they call “dead titles walking” - the books that fail to make the top 100, and are selling fewer than 18,000 copies per month. Top line conclusions:
DC had 27 out of their 61 December 2023 titles, or 44%, in this group.
In November ’23, the figure was 32/56, or 57%.
In December ’22, it was 26/53, or 49%.
In December’21, it was 23/43, or 54%.
In other words, around half of DC’s new books last month are in cancellation territory, and that’s an improvement. The list includes a major event (Beast World), female leads (Catwoman, Harley Quinn, Hawkgirl, Power Girl), Blue Beetle, John Stewart, two JSA minis, and Outsiders, tanking after two issues with ten to go.
Granted, almost ⅔ of these titles are one-shots or minis, but even those are Dawn of DC launches or events. Take those out, and you still have eleven ongoing books (including Outsiders) selling in cancellation territory:
111 Catwoman #60
137 Green Lantern War Journal #4
142 Outsiders #2 (Of 12)
148 Power Girl #4
150 Harley Quinn #35
159 Penguin #5
163 Blue Beetle #4
177 Batman the Brave and the Bold #8
Speed Force #2
Cyborg #6
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? #125
Personally, I’m reading only one of these books (and two minis), and it’s out of character loyalty - GL War Journal, Jay Garrick, and Alan Scott are indeed terrible. But the list also includes Bat- and Titans-adjacent titles, and stuff that was supposed to be an exciting new start.
What is DC thinking, that half their line is not finding an audience? Theories welcome.