Captain Marvel: A sales analysis of 14 years and 8 comic book relaunches

We take a look over 14 years and eight separate reboots of Captain Marvel, from the Brian Reed Ms. Marvel run to current day. How did the title perform over time? Did the Carol Corps online fanbase support the Kelly Sue book? What can we learn from the various relaunches? How did the movie play a role and was Captain Marvel the most popular superhero that they claimed it was?
(Sadly; the numbers do not include the earlier 1977 Ms. Marvel book, as we have neither newsstand nor direct numbers from that run)
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[@cjfhotshot2838]

Marvel: calls Captain Marvel their most popular superhero Captain Marvel: sells less units than pretty much every Headline marvel book

[@docblade3270]

Well, they think they can switch Spiderman by Miss marvel...

[@billybarnett2846]

The purpose for the existence of this character is to keep DC from reclaiming the Captain Marvel name.

[@ferrarriohh]

I'd rather read a weird Alan Davis drawn & written Captain Marvel (Shazam) comic than ever suffer thru Marvel's Captain Marvel propoganda.

[@donaldsmith6814]

Captain Marvel is the Billy Batson /Shazam character PERIOD!

[@omegamark9178]

@SwordSorcery2020 spider-man is,has,and always will be THE flagship character,basically thier superman,,,unfortunately marvel is in a woke dark age now

[@omegamark9178]

@SwordSorcery2020 i meant in the sense of iconic appeal and importance,not power level obviously

[@bloody4558]

@SwordSorcery2020 Meh I always preferred the X-Men, and even among the Spiderman comics my favorites are the side characters and the other Spidermen, Such as Miguel O'hara or Ben Reili(as Scarlet Spider)

[@DrLynch2009]

Keeping Kelly Sue as a writer after she failed twice is beyond me.

[@23paul52]

I think that's the same reason why they won't delete the comic runs written by Leah Williams and Tini Howard.... Lately Marvel is chasing more diversity than actually good stories 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@TheZeroDozer]

Look no further than what happened to Aquaman under her thumb.

[@lancemartin6782]

I really like the sales analysis. I would like to see a review of Detective, Batman, Batman and outsiders over the last 18 months. Obviously the latter did not have similar sales to the 2 former titles.

[@warrenmundy8390]

I kinda love the fact Perch has 3 different photos of Kelly for each run. First photo looks smug but by the third she looks totally pissed off.

[@TheZeroDozer]

@@warrenmundy8390 Reflects the wrathful being she is.

[@jamesalexhowlett]

Let’s be real here: marvel tried to make a D list character into an S rank character. The most interesting thing about her is Rogue.

[@landreaulover]

She was a solid B-list. The concept isn't quite strong enough for an A-list -- no matter how many retcons or retellings Marvel attempts.

[@jamesalexhowlett]

@@landreaulover she was a B list character in the 80’s

[@DuckTheClothesline]

Mother fucking YES. Carol Danvers has been trash since the 90's X-Men cartoon showed her getting scooped by the mom/daughter duo from Heartbreakers

[@nesaiamon8727]

Agree about Rogue

[@B.B.Digital_Forest]

I actually like Rogue less because of what she did to her. Rogue was made into the X-Men's own Supergirl but take away Carol's powers and she is less interesting than any manga character with the same powers.

[@RyanMcCarthy826]

Perch has confirmed that this Captain isn't really that Marvelous. Thanks for the content.

[@sandy34740]

I'm glad Reed's run holds up. I actually liked the way she was written then. They've been trying so hard to make her an icon they made her one dimensional by mistake.

[@hadesshivabuddhachrist8573]

I miss the lightning bolt costume, I really don't care if it's altered to give her all black leggings to be more modest for Disney adaptations, I would like that costume back! I'd also point out the yellow striping merging into the yellow star emblem is terrible from a design standpoint, they blur together and it decentralizes the chest emblem, the Chris Cross designed iterations of the Captain Marvel costume for Genis and Phylla Vell looked so much better. Also not sure how many people thought Reeds was a bestseller, Carol was at best a b-lister here and her sales reflected that, Reeds trendline also looks better if compared by number of issues compared to each run, ex. his first 11 issues compared to the run that only lasted 11 issues

[@landreaulover]

I've argued a similar viewpoint for years. Like it or not-- the black version stood out. The blue version just looks generic. And it was a poor choice to overlay the star on stripes of the same color. I think, though, that if Marvel wants Captain Marvel to sell -- they need an A list creative team.

[@abloshow91]

Literally yellow lightning on black leather thats like the most striking thing ever. Its a really iconic design that you can use as a logo for people even with some leather pants to cover the thighs

[@abloshow91]

Literally yellow lightning on black leather thats like the most striking thing ever. Its a really iconic design that you can use as a logo for people even with some leather pants to cover the thighs

[@robinthrush9672]

I don't think it would look so good with black leggings, assuming you're keeping the swimsuit as a base. Maybe red or gold legging with the black thigh-highs. Whenever I see an old Captain America with the blue trunks over blue leggings I just ask myself why they did that. The blue pants work so much better for him.

[@abloshow91]

@@robinthrush9672 black pants instead

[@AL-ws5yi]

I’ve been waiting for this. It’s the definition of insanity. I liked Captain Marvel better when she was the original Ms. Marvel. I don’t think Civil War 2 did her character any favors.

[@douglasbriel6103]

Bryan Reed's whole run was freaking epic! I guess sometimes you can only lead a horse to water. I've been Carol's fan since 1977.

[@JurassicRod]

Marvel seem to be in a bit of a fantasy world where they can't accept that the character isn't that popular. They're desperate to make her the Wonder Woman of Marvel.

[@liljenborg2517]

Proof that this series was written by "fake geek girls". Because REAL geek girls know that just saying someone is the most popular over and over and over and over again doesn't make anyone more popular. Ever since they re-branded Carol as "Captain Marvel" they seem to have been trying to make her the "Superman" of the Marvel universe, but they have consistently never written her as a very heroic character (especially in Civil War 2). They just keep giving her more superpowers, as if more powerful means more heroic, utterly missing what being a hero means. At least in the movie, she steps up and does something to actually help and protect people who need a hero to save them.

[@roizcumpexe8588]

To be fair, since her reintroduction into the Avengers in the 90s she has had her cosmic / binary powers reduced, and she has only given a few glimpses of that level of power since then. But I understand your point. And another thing is that, back to Ms. Marvel vol.1, Carol had a strong personality, but not because she was arrogant, stubborn, hot-headed and imperfect, as modern fans praise her for being, instead, she was confident, intelligent and she knew what she was doing and fought for important issues like equal pay and writing a women's magazine that wrote more important things than talking about fashion, issues that are still important today. And she was a heroine who fights against the bad guys and saves innocent people. She is not just a superpower soldier, neither a anti-hero, she are on her basic concept a Hero, modern writers need to put that on their minds. Even if Carol has a military background, it would be more interesting if they focused on Carol to be a writer again (or even a novelist as in vol.2) and talked about important issues for society, rather than focusing on her as a military, that was never very good, I don't like military heroes very much. They shouldn't let only women to write Carol books, because it seems that Marvel female writers identify more with anti-heroes than with real Heroes. They should have made Carol join the X-Men when they got the chance in the 80s, much better place for females heroes than the avengers.

[@Deephouse_Gent66]

@liljenborg - My sense is that they don't really seem to know what to do with this character, and their primary objective is simply to hold her up as this non-feminine feminist icon who everyone else in the MU is suddenly in awe of or afraid of. You're right that she is rarely portrayed as truly 'heroic.'

[@InfamyOrDeath-__-]

Why the hell do they relaunch after 10 issues? If it’s a monthly comic that’s not even a year.

[@stevereynolds5684]

Issue 1 sells better than issue 11, or even issue 2. If they were really smart they would just number every issue as #1 from now on.

[@Slitheringpeanut]

They're not monthly, they're 'limited series'. After the fact.

[@goldenstatewarriors9418]

@@stevereynolds5684 Yeah but then you can get a healthy comic with low decrease stabilizing rend (even if you remove outliers). You no longer get runs like New Avengers, which had insane levels of sales. It stays above 100K consistently for 45 issues and has an average (accounting for outliers though there weren't many) was 114K over 65 issues. Perch is right about relaunch sales not working.

[@Noble0826]

Great analysis Perch. Marvel never should have canceled Ms. Marvel.

[@davida.j.berner776]

The phrase "flogging a dead horse" comes to mind!

[@WhiteDude-yd6ws]

Carol Danvers was never interesting to me but I never hated her until Marvel tried cramming her down my throat. I liked looking at her though, when she was Ms. Marvel and had the black onesie with the yellow bolt on the front and that long blonde hair. Helloooo, nurse!

[@TheZeroDozer]

I have to admit, she wasn't that bad as Ms. Marvel.

[@richmcgee434]

That era actually had quite a few decent stories - the kind of simple superheroics that dominated the 70s and early 80s. But yeah, for better or worse she was up there with Power Girl for being a fan service design back in the day. Or Tigra, if you're more into catgirls.

[@bloody4558]

Pretty much this, the character has always been welcome in stories but never really popular. Until they decided on brainwashing her into something unrecognizable. @RichMcGee I actually liked Power Girl a lot, specially her solo run right before the New 52 which was more of a comedy story like the 80's to 90's Justice League of America, the one with Guy Gardner, Captain Atom, Power Girl, Martian Manhunter, Batman, Booster Gold and Blue Beetle.

[@josephvalenzuela311]

@@bloody4558 i agree. Grey and Palamiotti with Amanda Conner art, was a fun series to read.

[@docblade3270]

In prehistoric times she was a really cool character, when she lost her power, then turned into Binary working with the X-Men, she only became hateful when was kidnapped by the SJW!

[@PhantomHarlock78]

"Let's have a woman as our main hero. But not that black one."

[@tomburkert4718]

The trouble is that I don't think Wonder Woman is that popular either. The movie wasn't bad....but it's not like she has an army of fans of either sex

[@porassrivastava8242]

@@tomburkert4718 wonder Woman is popular dude she's got millions of fans

[@rayvenkman2087]

8 relaunches within 14 years is a bad sign that the IP’s just can’t sustain itself period.

[@gabriels9919]

Nah, they should just get her back to ms marvel and let a man or someone with non feminist agenda write her

[@mythical5586]

​@gabriels9919 The last time a man wrote Carol, he massacred her and ruined her reputation. It's best if it's a female writer.

[@drewwill6497]

Proof that Marvel props certain books up for social reasons alone even though they may fail on a consistent basis financially. They have to know what's going on, and can run the numbers just like you. In the old days if this book began to fail, they would cancel it, and then the character would be supported in other books with guest appearances BEFORE launching the title again with a NEW team.

[@lordultimus559]

I just want the Life of Captain Marvel retcons undone.

[@treymykel]

I think most fans ignore the Life of Captain Marvel just like the whole Maxioff twins not being mutants or the children of Magneto

[@sidjames9515]

Perch. I just want to thank you for being as impartial as you can be in an age where everything is back & White.

[@reinoe]

I appreciate this video because I lost track of the number of times she's been rebooted and the period of time that the reboots took place.

[@maverickmuezzin]

For me, Marvel at its best is kinda soap opera, where equal time is spent between super-hero and alter-ego, where the characters have their own flaws and real-world problems to deal with. It's why I really enjoyed the Brian Reed run, and grew to really care about Carol Danvers. Physically and personality-wise I'm nothing like her, but she was someone who realised she hadn't lived up to her potential, and was trying to do better - and that made her so relatable. In contrast, after reading the first issue of the 2014 run, I just felt annoyed. They made Carol completely unrelatable. Heck, Karla Sofen/Moonstone was way more relatable as Ms/Captain Marvel!

[@HonduranHoneymoonhon]

I have zero interest in defending an "eh" series like Ms. Marvel, but at the same time, it had 50 issues. The rest had like 10; its high Sales Decline seems almost unfair to compare. Either way: good job, I appreciate the work you put into this.

[@CombatCoder]

I actually liked much of Brian Reeds run. Back than Carol was still a feminin woman not the Carol Manvers that she is today. Also the story lines was much more interesting for the most part.

[@evilchaosboy]

The first run was (as I recall anyways) easily the best (in my opinion). I think she was more relatable and more "human". Besides the fact that she looked like a woman...A beautiful sexy woman (oh, chaos still believes in beautiful girls and how good they look on the drawn page.) I love Carol Danvers as Ms.Marvel because she LOOKS like a "Ms. Marvel" and not a zit faced teenager with DUMB powers! I think the problem she never found her "hook" ya know like a song has a hook (which is why everyone listens to it) In all those issues, I don't think she "carved" out her unique spot. I am having trouble recalling it, but I'll pull the run and read the whole thing if I have to, just to prove what a blunder it was to turn her into Captain Marvel. I mean if I remember even further back the previous Captain Marvel was nothing more than a sporadic supporting character. (and please correct me if I'm wrong) But that previous Captain Marvel ditched the mantle and went on to be a way better character...I THINK. When they Carol Danvers was ruined into the role of Captain Marvel and BANG she is the Most Powerful Person in Marvel comics, well she didn't know what to do with that which meant the writer (a 3-time loser according to the video) so she essentially did NOTHING. I do remember during the "Hydra Captain America Crossover" she basically did nothing for most of it because she was cut off from Earth. She used to hang out with Jessica Jones N HellCat N stuff and now I don't have a clue about what it is she does. I mean if she's the most powerful then she doesn't need a team and no one can beat her. The target audience, it seems, is 5-year-old girls!! Brie Larson didn't do any favours for the character being a crummy actor and such a sunshiney person either. Ya can't force people ta eat stuff they don't want to. I'd wager every person at Marvel know that...so why don't they know that ya can't force people to read something they don't want to? \m/

[@Eyrrll]

This one was epic Perch. As I type this, there is a lot of crazy crap going on in DC, but this made for a fantastic break from the lunacy.

[@Inkkink]

I'm curious to how the figures stack up against Peter David's Captain Marvel.

[@ronb113]

I, for one, am shocked to find out that Captain Marvel was not, in fact, the most popular Marvel character...

[@superthorc6894]

I think I respect the title like Captain marvel more if they didn’t need to relaunch it dozen more time They learn the wrong lesson form marvel now

[@TheZeroDozer]

Marvel's relaunch obsession is just absurd.

[@td1559]

It seems like there are multiple instances where apart from an initial spike it isn't affecting the overall trend.

[@jal051]

@@TheZeroDozer But it works. Look at the graph

[@linusgustafsson2629]

Relaunches is a good idea though. I've refused to buy a ton of comics that were on number 12+ because I'd feel like I missed out on development and content. With Manga I always pick the titles up at volume 1. And I've bought a lot of manga. The problem is more that they relaunch it without ever caring to actually make a story worth following. They end up relying on selling volume 1s to ebayers who try and make cash.

[@jal051]

@@linusgustafsson2629 Definitely. I don't think it's a good thing, quite the opposite. But we can't deny it works. We can't blame them when so many people keep buying them.

[@terskatti4994]

How kelly sue decunt still has a job is beyond comprehension

[@barrybend7189]

Captain Marvel in the relevance war lost to a 1990's manga character when Marvel decided to try and pit their "fans" against the Gunnm/Battle Angel Alita fanbase.

[@danwasabi1808]

umm the alita movie bombed lmao.

[@barrybend7189]

@@danwasabi1808 not without giving Disney/Marvel a run for its money. Afterwards Disney buys Fox way over the original price. Also Alita broke even by film standards. Also how much popular did Carol Danvers/ Brie Larson get popular afterwards?

[@marcho1651]

@@barrybend7189 run for it´s money? it made half of what captain marvel and the live actions disney films did lmao. Captain Marvel is gettin a sequel that will probably make more money than aelita lmao. Aelita needed 500 mil to break even and failed lmao

[@barrybend7189]

@@marcho1651 Captain Marvel was propped up by being sandwiched between 2 blockbuster movies. Alita actually made money without having to use other films. Marvel also tried doing a twitter and friendly media campaign to slander the movie. Also didn't Disney buy alot of seats for Captain Marvel to try and prop up initial cinema numbers? Also did you even check the DVD and overseas cinema numbers?

[@ComicsPerch]

I enjoyed Alita (and I really enjoy Robert Rodriguez's work)... but it didn't do well in the theatre. Which is a shame. But... still got pummeled by Disney/Captain Marvel. www.indiewire.com/2019/02/alita-battle-angel-200-million-box-office-flop-fox-1202041681/

[@Swanzy89]

I feel there's some low key shade in here but Perch did his best to hide it.

[@InfamyOrDeath-__-]

How are they able to claim she’s the most popular hero in the world with sales like that? Are they just trying to gaslight people? Or are they actually delusional?

[@jorgamund07]

Say the big lie enough times, and eventually people will believe it.

[@jonbodhi]

Nah! I don’t think ANYONE buys it.

[@TheZeroDozer]

It's both, they're BOTH trying to gaslight people, and they're delusional.

[@richmcgee434]

@@jorgamund07 Current events suggest that you are correct, although it doesn't work on people who do some research into actual facts.

[@linusgustafsson2629]

It is popularity measured in twitter praise, with all "comicsgate" people blockbotted. So about as popular as a Dictator.

[@eschnabel.4665]

I followed Carol all the way back to her first series in the 70's. The series with the enormous belly window and the scarf. I continued jn whatever place she showed up. But when Kelly Sue redid her, I lost interest. That and I found the art inferior to what had come before. So between the writing, art, and the price point, I dropped it and never looked back. Peace to whomever still enjoys it.

[@Peecamarke]

Thanks, her recent books got me back into comics but i understand most people dont like her

[@richmcgee434]

I'm an old fan myself, although I think I preferred the "black swimsuit & sash" days. The modern books are somewhat disconcerting to me but I don't really get the vitriol the character attracts. No dog in the fight for me, though. When I was reading her as a kid my mother objected to the book on several occasions. Weirdly it wasn't the somewhat fan-service-y costume, it was because "Ms." screamed "liberal hippy feminist" to her.

[@skytowergnome4664]

@@richmcgee434 The main problem I had with the costume and name switch was the way KSD and all the new fans tore at the old costume, saying that she wore 'hooker boot's and that if you liked the old costume you were just a dumb sexist fanboy.

[@jeangentry6656]

same.

[@VerneditheSnail]

@@richmcgee434 Goodness, your mother's wasn't so far off. She is WORSE than a Liberal hippy feminist.

[@maris4137]

If you look at the sales of any issue 1 compared to its issue 2, you'll see why Marvel is always relaunching the title.

[@jeangentry6656]

I loved Reed's run, but as a long time fan of Carol (until the Capt Marvel reboot) I had long made peace w/the fact that she was never a big seller.

[@L0RDNIK0N001]

I really miss my flawed, beautiful, quirky Ms Marvel/Carol Danvers. I really want her back.

[@doommega]

Perch, let’s be honest, what was good about these books was the covers LOL

[@vivekpal7220]

Wait, caption marvel is Marvel's most popular character ! Good to know that, btw i never heard of black widow, scarlet witch or jean grey

[@masterprick1]

You can fit 4 cap Danvers runs in the Brian Reed run and still have 4 issues left over. I wonder how the sales would have looked without the relunch.

[@deveraalmestica5838]

When Captain Marvel movie came out . I got Captain Marvel book that had the story backstory of Carol Danvers from vol1 to 6 .what like about this book it was special edition it has a part where it's show all of Carol Danvers different powers and from Ms marvel to her being Captain Marvel . I really like that marvel comics put a little bit about character past . Something that DC comics does not do .

[@Peecamarke]

Truuuue. Same here! 👍🏿

[@benderrodriguez4067]

im always hearing we need to listen to women so when she said dont buy my book ...

[@tkol123]

Is this issues sold, or issues sent to the stores analysis? There is a difference. One is people buying the comics, the other is stores getting stuck with merchandise. I personally don't know anyone reading Captain Marvel.

[@neckrofkr]

Was driving so had to do audio only for most of this video but now at the 22min mark I get to see all the glorious graphs...back to the beginning. Thanks ;)

[@douglasbriel6103]

Reed's run still clocks in at 30,000 for like 30 of 50 issues.

[@DarthBobCat]

So I remember, back when I was buying comics pretty regularly (I have a bunch of marvel trades from the 2012-2015 era on Nook), I thought they kept relaunching for audience convenience. Being a sweet, summer child, I thought "oh, the new #1 tells you this is a good jumping on point because it's a new creative team or a new direction." Not being a collector at all (I read it for the plot, not the resell value), it would never have occurred to me to have them try and juice things like they do.

[@londonrhodes2429]

I'm loving these analysises. I'd like to see more done on successful runs.

[@sanroman3461]

Two cents: i've always seen crappy art on Captain Marvel series. Marvel choose her as their face, and don't put heavy attention to her book's art.

[@ComicsPerch]

True. The book has never really had a top known artist.

[@brettjansen8053]

You earned the like with this one.

[@ComicsPerch]

I earned a shot.

[@epobirs]

Character has been around since 1968, given super powers in 1977. So, has been around 43 or 52 years, depending on how you count. Has had her own title well less than half of either number. Went almost 25 years after first book was canceled to get another title role. Has been given the Captain Marvel title solely to maintain the copyright and hand the Ms. Marvel name over to another character scarcely anyone wanted.

[@carlroy]

Thanks for the great deep dive on this comic sale.

[@shotsavereboundscore]

Like a fool..I've read almost all of these books. Brian reeds run is a very good read. Some of Kelly Thompsons run is ok. The 2nd ksd wasn't as bad as I expected. The rest aren't very memorable.

[@Peecamarke]

Same here. I still like her comics and her character, I dont care if it doesn't sell high or a lot of people trash her

[@richardcahill1234]

The movie sold 40m+ tickets in the US alone, so any help it gave the comic was a mere drop in the ocean.

[@roizcumpexe8588]

Marvel: Let's make this character turn into a big deal in our universe Also Marvel: Let's not get any A-class Villain, and any A-class artists in the books. (and destroy her in the only big event she was important)

[@kerravon4159]

I love how the only one where she looks attractive is the ONE run written by a guy.

[@johnwycough1955]

Noone at my store buys it, so for this entire year so far I haven't ordered any. NOBODY has asked about it.

[@waelse1]

Brilliant analysis, thanks. These videos are a lot of fun.

[@Flashshadow]

We appreciate your hard work, Perch.

[@DIOBrando-ij2bp]

That Captain Marvel movie was in development for so long it actually started as a Ms. Marvel movie. I wonder how much of just keeping the title running was because because Marvel Studios had a movie planned, and letting the title die would look back. Like it already looks bad enough that they had to reboot the thing once a year for that “First Issue” boost, (and keeping the same writer for the reboots is maybe the most utterly bizarre and boneheaded move they could have made) but people might really wonder what’s going on when you’re next hundred million plus dollar movie can’t even sustain a comic. A worrier sign for Marvel Comics with Captain Marvel, outside of just the sales numbers, should probably have been when the writers of the movie said in some interview in the run up to it that there basically wasn’t anything in the Captain Marvel comics for them to use. Back when the comic sales first starting going downhill people would say: Well, Disney will keep them around because at least they’re a cheap IP farm to test out ideas. But they don’t really even seem to be that anymore. With the Captain Marvel movie the biggest things they seemed to draw on was stuff from the original Mar-Vell Captain Marvel.

[@worldcomicsreview354]

Are there really that many people still buying every No. 1 because "it might be worth something one day!"?

[@arcanask]

Yea. The comics speculators are still around and they still skew numbers.

[@historyeraserbutton6657]

There's also a lot of overships from Marvel when they do a #1 so they can try to crow about it in the "media."

[@ShinKais3r]

Well done Perch! These are always appreciated - just so you know. Thanks for all your hard work! :)

[@ea_gaming]

Appreciate the insight Perch!

[@Newinfluential]

Perch, this is awesome. Kudos to your hard work. What worries me is, Carol Danvers is actually a cool character. But Marvel is abusing the reader's patience. I believe not even a high profile creative team could save this kind of reputation, see Dr. Strange getting through Aaron, Cates and Waid.

[@legocitybuilder8652]

I was a big fan of the Ms Marvel run. I liked the idea of her trying to be the best but not getting traction. I haven’t read anything since then but the movie was really good. I think the real takeaway is that an ageing comic reading community is looking for jumping off points not jumping on. They took on legacy numbers and relaunched more than half of the titles within a year utter madness.

[@fmc291]

Like every character, all they need is a good writer . Someone to make the character relatable and with heart but also build a mythology around them.

[@mangamegs]

Carol Danvers would have to go go a brothel to get some love out here.

[@InfamyOrDeath-__-]

Oh snap, that’s why I got so confused with your last *Ms* *Marvel* video, when I read *Marvel* she was called “Ms Marvel”, not “Captain Marvel”, and I’m only realising this now, I actually forgot they completely changed her name, back when I read *Marvel* Mar-Vell was Captain Marvel.

[@richmcgee434]

It's even worse - Captain Marvel is Billy Batson's supranym, and Marvel's lawyers can go to Hell (where they'll have plenty of company). :) Although to be fair, Mar-Vell was a consistently good read.

[@paulspence2815]

I really enjoy the videos where you analyze the numbers. Kelly Sue DeConnick (KSD) is a sales killer. Sales on Aquaman dropped 15,000 issues a month under her leadership. The title has been cancelled, and for the first time in more than a decade, DC won't be publishing an Aquaman title. Congratulations on killing interest in a character who had a billion dollar movie, KSD. Even her creator owned titles don't sell. Bitch Planet was originally planned to go for 30 issues, but ended after 10 because of dwindling sales. KSD is all hype. She never delivers success. She continues to fail upwards.

[@tomburkert4718]

Loved the graphics on the graph.

[@fernandezalecluigi]

Finally, a nice, objective criticism of the Captain Marvel title. Excellent work, man!

[@hardsellcomixreviews7514]

I wonder how the male captain marvel from marvel sold because I doubt they would have killed him off if his book sold well

[@davidblue819]

Eight number ones in fourteen years!? For a moment I misunderstood that as a claim that on eight occasions in its fourteen years Captain Marvel had been the world's best selling comic book. No.

[@GartheKnightReturns]

If you replace Captain/Ms. Marvel with Perch and use this progression chart as reference it all becomes far more entertaining. I especially like that part where Perch gets a Goth Pooh costume and murders everything. EVERYTHING. Except...for all of the world's hunny supply.

[@aurelion4994]

I don't know what's more shocking, the fact that Marvel kept relaunching this book thinking it was a good idea, or that almost 15 years ago, they had a midlist to low selling monthly comic go past issue 25 without a relaunch or some kind of renumbering.

[@Hellismary]

I love these type of videos ! 👏🏾

[@iDEATH]

I'm still subbed, but I could swear I didn't see this in my feed. I could have just missed it, though! Props to Zach for steering me here. Very interesting. I actually liked the first bit of DeConnick's run, but just the first dozen issues or less. It was a fun space romp, but I can't remember exactly what began to sour me on it. Civil War II made me _hate_ Carol, after having been fan since the 80s, mostly because of how she and Rogue and tied together. These days I just mean what I used to say as joke: the best thing Carol Danvers ever did was almost get killed by Rogue. But I'd like to like Carol again. Is Kelly Thompson's run any good? She can do good stuff, but she's pretty hit and miss. PS, best version of the character ever was in the Avengers: EMH cartoon. Best costume too. VA by Jennifer Hale just made it epic.

[@MightyDesperado]

funny enough, even tho deconnick’s run tanked in sales, it’s also the only captain marvel run i ever see recommended on reddit and what not. (that also probably says something about the popularity of the character)

[@ericjohnson6105]

This is an excellent collation of this data. One thing that is painfully apparent is that the #1 issue needs to be thrown out of the data. The quantity of #1 issue sold has no basis on what the rest of the series is going to do at all. It's both the comic stores buying more on the hype of a new series and leaving it to speculators to buy them. Also an indictment of their incentive program that allows the #1 issue to have it's sales artificially increased beyond whatever it really will do in continued sales. This leads me to think what would happen if a series didn't even have anything but #1 issues, would people see though it or would it be the greatest comic book ever sold!

[@DirigoDuke]

133k to 37k indicates a book with very low reader interest, that moved a lot of alternate covers to #1 directly from buyer to CGC without ever being opened.

[@mfekett]

Marvelous work!

[@Peter_Morris]

Since I don’t read comics and only know the characters from childhood shows like Superfriends, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, and then later animation, I had to ask my comic friends lots of questions when the Marvel movies were coming out. I remember when Ms. Marvel was about to release, I was asking one friend about her and her backstory and powers abs all that, abs he was explaining her to me, and I remember him saying something like, “And apparently she’s the most popular character in the Marvel Universe, but I have only read some of her books and some older stuff.” And I remember thinking, if she’s so popular, how come she’s only just now getting a movie, near the end of the whole thing?

[@Christophermanastasi]

Excellent analysis, Perch. Really thought provoking; how no 1 issue speculation still feeds the industry and its marketing. Also, I need Ms DeConnick’s agent for my job. To consistently underperform, and not only keep getting hired; but lauded as a superstar, is like a slacker’s dream come true.

[@Deephouse_Gent66]

What's incredible is that the more they tried to push this comic, the less it sold.

[@brandenwalton2914]

Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers) is essentially the most narratively stagnate character post-Kelly Su. The sales of the character and the multiple relaunches just solidifies her as one of the least popular Marvel characters.

[@TheVanillaQueen]

I'm early enough that the sex bots haven't been purged yet. I finally know what you meant when you complained about them in that other video

[@benderrodriguez4067]

wut?

[@worldcomicsreview354]

@@benderrodriguez4067 It's the commenters with sexy avatars saying things like "great video bby 😍😘💖"

[@richmcgee434]

Want lovely? :)

[@crash6674]

""""sold""" a.k.a. foisted on stores with no returns, i would be interested to know how many were actually purchased and how many ended up in the dumpster

[@ferrarriohh]

Marvel Comics pitch: Captain Marvel rejoins the Starjammers and then continually crosses paths with Guardians of the Galaxy, X-people & S.W.O.R.D. Title: “The Peak” - after the base of S.W.O.R.D., which would be the base of operations. She’d be the Odo character Abigail Brand would go to for all kinds of security measures. Its Deep Space Nine meets Serenity/Firefly.

[@ferrarriohh]

*Add a shapeshifting Super-Skrull type guy, like the Durlan of L.E.G.I.O.N. as Carol’s sounding board “conscious” And hell while we are add it let *J M DeMatteis* write the first 2 arcs and set the tone

[@ferrarriohh]

And give her a small 2 person catamaran starcraft, call it the Binary Star as a throwback.

[@WaltsComicBookChannel]

Thomson's series is just plain good. That's why it sells. Weird, huh?

[@ComicsPerch]

Solid writing and leverages characters and settings people know. Simple formula.

[@GODemon13]

The only issue I got is an Absolute Carnage tie-in.

[@timogul]

I think a good way to rate a run is judging by somewhere in issue 4-6 sales, because those books are ordered after customers and store owners already had issue #1 in hand and are judging how they like it, rather than how they _think_ they'll like it. Shenanigans aside.

[@31altair]

Secret Invasion was actually why I asked About Bendis' New Avengers I heard that event and its tie ins pushed people away.

[@drewtheunspoken3988]

I've been pretty much collecting Captain Marvel since the Brian Reed series. I'm not saying she's the greatest character with the best stories but it was entertaining to me. It certainly got frustrating with the continuous reboots. It was like, launch with one story arc, then a crossover arc, end series, repeat. It's obvious that I am part of an extremely small minority when it comes to Carol Danvers.

[@mynardomacaraig2697]

Maybe they should put Brian Reed back on the character (along with the artist of that era)

[@InfamyOrDeath-__-]

A lot of work went into this video, great job, I don’t envy you haha.

[@bigdaddy0614]

Because the character is not as beloved as Marvel wants you to believe. Plus she's like the 10th Captain Marvel to exist in the Marvel Universe.. If a book doesn't sell, you cancel it.. You don't keep relaunching it.

[@michaelsmith5769]

And don't forget, these aren't real sales to individual customers. These are the number of non-refundable copies that comic stores were forced to "buy" so they could keep their access to the better comics.

[@ComicsPerch]

Keep in mind shops have to buy a volume amount for the publisher, not of specific titles. Also, nearly every comic to the direct market is non-refundable/non-returnable with very, very few exceptions.

[@tonebone7449]

My overall memory of the Brian Reed Ms. Marvel, is that she was a character who was deeply flawed, with a complex, rich history. I read the first De Connick run, and it was laughably awful.

[@masterprick1]

Looking at this graph, it would seem they got the wrong Kelly to follow up the Brian Reed run.

[@LarryKingUndead]

Thank you for the hard work you put into for this. I do have to wonder though, would the first female and best(out of all of the Marvel versions) Captain Marvel aka Monica Rambeau get the same Roman Reigns push that Carol did? Seeing as Monica got buried in the 90s, and ended up doing the Marvel version of the Outlaw Mudshow scene in NEXTWAVE: Agents of HATE.

[@ReallyCoolSite]

Black Vortex was one of the first comixology trades I ever got for $5. It contained the main series and EVERY cross over. Every cross over was exactly the same. I now know what it was "only" $5...

[@penmanovicxxxxxx2694]

Great job. That was very enlightening!