A substantial drop in sales for a second issue of a comic book is rarely surprising, but we’ve got a bit of an odd situation with Wonder Woman. These big drops usually come after a new #1 issue; some people try out the new book to see if they like it, but a lot of people get the number ones just as a collector’s item, and then #2 doesn’t do as well. When a book doesn’t relaunch, such a big swing is less common; there’s not such a huge difference between #36 and #37. However, Wonder Woman #37 took quite a tumble on the charts.
First, let’s go back a bit. In October, Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang wrapped up their run in Wonder Woman #35, which sold 35,968 copies. This isn’t a lot, as evidenced by the book taking the 77th spot on the chart that month, though it was still a lot better than Wonder Woman had been doing pre-New 52 relaunch.
In November, Meredith and David Finch’s Wonder Woman #36 had a very strong debut. It sold 58,956 copies, a 64% jump from the previous issue, and rose to the 18th spot on the charts. This was a massive improvement, though perhaps somewhat less impressive than DC was hoping for seeing as David Finch’s last few projects for DC premiered much higher. Nonetheless, it was a very good jump for Wonder Woman, which hasn’t been a Top 20 book for some time.
Then in December, Wonder Woman #37 fell to sales of 43,006, a drop of 27% from the month previous, and dropped to the 42nd spot on the sales chart. Such a drop is in the higher range of typical for a #2 issue of a new series, but oddly high for a continuing series, especially one with such a well known artist.
As a comparison, let’s take a quick look at Superman/Wonder Woman, which saw a creative change in the same month as Wonder Woman:
- In October, Superman/Wonder Woman #12 sold 47,885 copies for 49th place on the charts.
- In November, with the new team of Peter J. Tomasi and Doug Mahnke, Superman/Wonder Woman #13 sold 44,013 copies for 40th place on the charts (despite a sales drop, it rose on the charts because the charts are dependent on what other books came out that month; fewer books, or books that dropped further, can result in a jump on the charts despite a sales drop).
- In December, Superman/Wonder Woman #14 sold 41,231 copies for 45th place on the charts.
So the new team didn’t provide a bump, likely because October’s issue was a “Doomed” event tie-in, and those tend to sell better than regular comics, but the second issue drop for the new creative team was very minor compared to Wonder Woman, only 6% compared to 27%.
This suggests that the new Wonder Woman creative team may not have gone over well with readers of the first issue, and that retailers saw a big drop in interest. To get a better sense of how the book is doing, we’ll need a few more months of data. If Wonder Woman continues to tumble, obviously the audience is leaving, but if it stabilizes quickly, and at a higher level than the Azzarello/Chiang run, then it will be in a pretty good spot for Wonder Woman, historically. How the numbers go will also probably play a big role in whether DC brings back the Finches for a second arc after the “Convergence” event in April and May. Such a big second issue drop doesn’t arouse much optimism, but you never know. I’m going to keep an eye on things moving forward, and will report any significant changes.
TIM HANLEY 
I hope it drops more, or DC will just let Finches keep writing a bad WW book. Hope drops on smww book too.
It’s a tricky scene for me because I always want Wonder Woman to do well, but I also want a decent Wonder Woman comic. I hate to hope for it to fail, but that may be the only way to get different creators onboard.
I said the same about the New 52 Constantine book in hopes that the four headed kraken can wake up and smell the cigarettes and revive the Hellblazer title
To be honest… I’d rather see the book cancelled than in the hands of the Finches. Diana deserves better.
I could not agree more.
It is kind of depressing that a Wonder Woman comic drawn by Cliff Chiang, one of the best artists working in comics today, is outsold by “cheesecake extraordinaire” artist David Finch. But I guess thats just how it is in the world of superhero comics.
Yeah when I read the headline I was actually kind of happy, but then I saw the numbers and the happiness was gone. Yeah it dropped a lot but it’s still selling surprisingly well so more whiny pinup-y Wonder Woman for the foreseeable future and when Finch’s done we might even get Benes! and his wife
It’s a pretty big second issue drop, and the book’s only about 7,000 copies above where it was pre-Finches now. We’ll get a much better idea of how things are going with the January numbers.
Tim, Just a cursory glance at sales figures shows that Azzarello’s final issue wasn’t even close to being a dramatic improvement over pre-Nu52. In the last quarter of 2010, the title was consistently in the 35K range.
Just before the relaunch, Wonder Woman was under 30K, and a year or so before, at the end of Simone’s run, it was in the mid-20K range. So 35K wasn’t a dramatic improvement, but it was certainly better than pre-New 52, especially after 35 issues of the same team without any sales bumps from events, crossovers, or the like. The JMS bump pre-New 52 had almost entirely evaporated after a year, so the Azzarello/Chiang run was far more stable as well.
Am I the only person that didn’t like Azzarello/Chiang’s run? I liked some of the stories, but I absolutely hate Chiang’s Wonder Woman art.
No you are not the only one and their are legions of fans who hated the run and what those two butchers did to WW
There were elements of it that I disliked, but overall I thought it was a fairly good run. And I think Chiang was the very best part of it. I absolutely love his Wonder Woman.
As a Wonder Woman Fan it is difficult to see the book not selling well, but the character has been so badly mishandled since the whole 52debut, Chiang an Azrello butchered the character and her history, essentially creating a new character with the same name. The Finches follow up with not undoing any of the damage and further irritated fans with their handling of the hugely popular Donna Troy character.. DC just cannot seem to get it right with WW. And the whole Superman Wonder Woman romance thing has gone on to long for most fans taste
I dropped the Wonder Woman comic when they made Zeus her father. her father should have been Hercules.