Daredevil Message Board

GrinchieDog · Flying Blind Joined: 06 Oct 2010 Posts: 63

This likely has already been covered but I have always wondered at what sales point does Marvel say a Title like DD isn't lucrative enough to keep producing? I just plotted Kulijt's monthly sales data from this website and there is a steady decline in sales from the start of Vol 2 (K. Smith's run) to today I would insert the graph here if I was more excel savvy.

Vol 2 issue 1 has about 90,000 sales per month compared to today's volume of around 35,000. Each milestone comic (#1, $500, then Waid's #1) spike the volume up dramatically. And certainly when Spiderman is in an issue the numbers go up. But then the numbers go back to where they were, or lower.

The decline seems independent of writer, artist. Even with Waid's run, which has received a lot of attention, glory, awards, etc - there has been a steady continued decline in sales since he took over (note - again, this decline was present before he took over as well). I just don't see a positive sales effect from Waid's run. I suppose if you look at the data, you could argue sales have been at best flat with Waid's run.

40,000 in sales *$3/issue* 12 month/year is around $1.44 millon dollars in gross revenue a year. I don't know if this is considered high or not in revenue to Marvel or how it compares to all the assumedly more popular XMEN titles, or titles with accompanying movie hype like Avengers or Thor. And those movies make well over $1.44 million in the first day of showing.

So, does this math (assuming I did it right) support canceling Daredevil? And why do sales keep dropping? We seem to keep losing DD purchasers, regardless of who is in charge of the comic. Or am I missing something?

--Grinchiedog
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GrinchieDog

qtmxd · Playing to the Camera Joined: 19 Sep 2010 Posts: 149

When it comes to not buying comics, I'm as guilty as anyone. My first issue of DD was #9 for 12 cents in the sixties, when Marvel had maybe a dozen titles and I could get them all for less than a couple of bucks total. Now the sheer volume of 2-3 dollar books that are gorgeous to look at, but which can be read in five minutes, make the comic buying experience feel like shoving money in a slot machine. I still always bought DD for extended periods, and I did pick up DD again steadily with Smith, and got every issue until the middle of Shadowland, when the quality plummeted. I keep reading that comic sales in general are low and getting lower, so the question is how DD compares, but I'm actually most surprised that a perpetually mediocre seller can have lasted an almost uniquely long time. It would never surprise me if it were cancelled, and I thought Marvel originally intended an indefinite hiatus after Shadowland, since they had just done that with Thor. A problem with DD is that he's so disconnected from the MU that he might not survive a hiatus... unlike characters like Fury, Namor, BW, Black Panther, Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, Luke Cage, etc., who never maintain their own books but are always somewhere. DD's Avengers turn was a flop, he doesn't fit there. The only plotline I can think of that might work outside his own loner series would be with SHIELD, where he's at least had a history and his lesser powers wouldn't leave him in the background. If no relaunch is planned, Marvel would have to have something like that in mind to keep him around to reconcile cancellation with a 50th anniversary sales event.

thank god for stilt-man · Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2013 11:06 pm Post subject:

So I just remembered that Spider-Man's 50th was last year and they "killed off" Peter Parker.

Would they do a similar thing a bit over a year later with Daredevil?

Not that I expect Peter to stay dead. And I wouldn't expect Matt to stay dead either if they "killed him off".

Hm, I'm not sure where I'm going with this.

abcdavid01 · Flying Blind Joined: 06 Mar 2013 Posts: 19

Exactly what I was thinking. I don't think they kill DD off, but maybe have him as an agent of Shield. Waid's already writing Hulk that way and Elektra has a history. It's the kind of thing that's already been teased before. Or maybe he becomes a full on ninja like I had hoped for Shadowland. Or something entirely different, but along those lines.

qtmxd · Playing to the Camera Joined: 19 Sep 2010 Posts: 149

I thought Waid said something about a career change, and SHIELD could work, but I still can't see him outside of a solo series. I don't think there's any regular SHIELD book in which he could appear, and his two attempts in groups, Marvel Knights and Avengers, weren't successful.

JoeWithoutFear · Flying Blind Joined: 16 Oct 2013 Posts: 54

When do you think we'll actually KNOW what is going to happen next? Will we have to wait until issue #36 is released, or does stuff like this tend to get announced a few weeks/months in advance?

Daredevil24 · Humanity's Fathom Joined: 06 Apr 2011 Posts: 367

I think our man without fear will be fine.I think Waid already said nothing too life changing is gonna happen to him. I think the next writer will be taking Daredevil on an entirely different ride than Waid so they decided to end volume 3.Volume 3 will now be known as the Mark Waid era.I think Mark Waid might be gearing up to write a Hank Pym series,I mean he is getting a movie so maybe that's what he meant when he said him and Samnee were aiming for new heights,just a theory.Plus he used Hank Pym a lot in Daredevil

Kuljit Mithra · Hardcore Joined: 29 Jul 2004 Posts: 1530 Location: Canada

Solicits for DAREDEVIL #36 will probably be released by the middle of November, so we'll get a better idea of what's really going on by then.
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qtmxd · Playing to the Camera Joined: 19 Sep 2010 Posts: 149

I think DD's lower status actually helps here in that it dictates against having any big dramatic gimmick like a death. He's not Superman, Spider-Man, or Cap... it wouldn't be news in the mainstream media. How many saw the recent PBS show on super-hero history? It focused a bit on Superman's death, and the writers were totally upfront that they couldn't believe anyone would take it seriously. I'm sure the same applies to any such changes. Plus, as a sale gimmick, it gives a short boost, then sales tend to drop even lower.

Disco_Stu · Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2013 1:18 am Post subject:

Personally I would like to see Nathan Edmondson on the writing duties because I love his black ops style and it wolud nice to see DD back to his darker roots but at the same time still be fresh. Also he is going to be writing Black Widow and Punisher so it wolud be cool to see those three characters have thier own little corner of the Marvel U. Also throw Electra in that corner as well obviously.
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Acerbus · Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2013 4:09 am Post subject:

A return to the darker roots is long overdue.
Mark Waid is... yeah, not my favorite. His run has done respectable sales, but... I don't know, to me, Waid's Daredevil reads like... pretty much any other DC or Marvel superhero comic.
Very jokey, insufferably 'hip' and irreverent. Like if Joss Whedon had written Daredevil or something.
I go back and read those first Waid issues, and to me, they already seem dated. Very 'of their time'.

Guardian-Devil · Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2013 10:37 am Post subject:

Personally I would love to see the "dark/noir" vibe i had with Daredevil. I don't care who the next writer will be, i want to read good DD stories!! Mark Waid did a good job with the comic, put DD back in the spot but now it's time to see something else!! Maybe we'll see a change in his suit... a more protective suit like the Armoured Black costume but red...
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Disco_Stu · Posted: Tue Nov 05, 2013 12:18 am Post subject:

Guardian-Devil · Posted: Tue Nov 05, 2013 4:56 am Post subject:

I'm not saying that I want to see a change in the suit but that would be a big change in DD right?
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