Comic Industry Insider Claims X-Men Line Is Not Selling, And Talent Doesn't Want To Work With Editor Tom Brevoort
The comic book industry is in massive trouble. The only thing moving the needle right now are Elseworlds-style “event” comics that are being bolstered by speculators and incentive-based variant covers to boost up sales. A comic industry insider has come forward to Fandom Pulse whistleblowing on Marvel Comics that the X-Men line is not selling, and many in the industry and in retail shops blame line editor Tom Brevoort for his lack of vision.
With the economy in bad shape, the comic book industry is one of the first industries to suffer, as people cut their disposable spending for expensive products like 20-page comic books that cost a minimum of $4.99 at a retail shop.
The industry’s already been in massive trouble, with COVID-19 causing many comic book readers to drop the habit of going into comic stores. This was followed by a series of bad decisions by Marvel and DC Comics that have made it pointless to try to follow any sort of continuity of their main lines. Not only that, but the rampant identity politics both companies have displayed have turned off many regular readers in favor of an extreme niche.
We’ve seen situations in the past where comic professionals have tried to spin failures into successes by talking “digital sales,” famously exemplified by Tom Taylor’s gay Superman, which he proclaimed was #1 in an obscure Amazon category but was quickly exposed as not having sales that would move the needle as DC Comics canceled that book twice, despite trying to push it hard.
Gail Simone took to X this morning to proclaim an odd benchmark for sales, saying, “Uncanny looks to be the fifth bestselling main universe DC or Marvel book, which is pretty great. :) Number three MU book for the month, yay! But the Ultimate and Absolutely lines are KILLING it right now. Glad to have people stirring it up like that!”
But what does that mean?
Overall comic sales have artificially been bolstered by Marvel’s Ultimate Universe and DC’s Absolute Universe in recent months, with a slate of #1 issues getting speculator action from their variant covers. The hype created around these launches puts these books at the top, though the industry doesn’t show its sales numbers anymore so we can only speculate what the top means at this juncture.
Regardless, sales fall off quickly when getting outside of those speculator titles. One comic retailer told Fandom Pulse that he estimates only 30% of his comic-buying customer base actually reads comics anymore.
A recent sales chart came out from IcV2 showing that the Absolute line is indeed at the top, but what does this mean for the books below? We spoke with industry insiders who gave us the answers, and it isn’t a pleasant one for comic shops.
Of the mainline DC Universe, outside of the new Jim Lee Batman Hush 2 book, comic retailers tell us that nothing is selling. One comic shop isn’t even stocking books anymore on their shelves because the sales have been so dismal. The owner tells us because of all the reboots, the lack of talent they’re putting on the books, and the rampant identity politics, there’s been no reason for people to pick them up.
It gets even worse for Marvel, which has been in a creative rut. X-Men line editor Tom Brevoort has made the news a lot for his bad takes on different political topics and for ignoring comic book fans. An industry insider has told us that the X-Men line is not selling as a result.
“Sales under Brevoort are lower than Jordan White,” the insider told us. “Also, they are having trouble getting talent to work with him, and retailers heavily dislike him.”
Jordan White was the line editor for the universally hated Krakoa storyline prior to this relaunch of X-Men last year. If sales are lower for the line than then, the X-Men are in a state of trouble as that line was canceled and rebooted because they were having trouble getting people to buy in the first place.
What’s interesting is the talent aspect as well. It shows how hard it is to get people to work for Marvel and DC at this juncture, as there’s no creative benefit in doing so. Industry veteran Dustin Nguyen recently said there’s no financial reason to do so either, frustrated by a lack of a decent page rate in recent years.
Marvel’s events aren’t helping, either. According to retailers, one World Under Doom may be in the top 10 listed on IcV2, but sales are dismal. The event is said to be “dead in the water,” one of the lowest-performing events in Marvel history. When events don’t do well, the rest of the line suffers as a result.
It seems the only thing people are tuning into are the Absolute and Ultimate universes right now, checking to see where these Elseworld events go, but as we’ve seen from history, the side universes aren’t sustainable forever. If Marvel and DC can’t bolster their mainline sales, they’re going to be in for a reckoning.
What do you think of the current state of Marvel and DC Comics? Leave a comment and let us know.
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