Trends in Archives Consumption
| Rank | Archives | Penetrance |
| 1 | Batman #1 | 64% |
|
2 |
All-Star #1 |
56% |
|
3 |
JLA #1 |
54% |
|
4 |
Flash #1 |
51% |
|
4 |
SA GL #1 |
51% |
|
6 |
All-Star #2 |
50% |
|
6 |
Shazam #1 |
50% |
|
8 |
Plastic Man #1 |
50% |
|
8 |
Shazam #2 |
50% |
|
10 |
Hawkman #1 |
48% |
|
11 |
Doom Patrol #1 |
47% |
|
11 |
JLA #2 |
47% |
|
13 |
Legion #1 |
46% |
|
14 |
Superman #1 |
45% |
|
15 |
Black Canary #1 |
45% |
|
16 |
Legion #2 |
44% |
|
17 |
All-Star #3 |
44% |
|
17 |
SA GL #2 |
44% |
|
17 |
Plastic Man #2 |
44% |
|
20 |
GA GL #1 |
43% |
|
21 |
Dark Knight #1 |
43% |
|
21 |
JLA #3 |
43% |
|
23 |
Flash #2 |
43% |
|
24 |
GA Flash #1 |
41% |
|
25 |
Batman #2 |
41% |
|
25 |
JLA #4 |
41% |
|
27 |
Legion #4 |
40% |
|
27 |
Shazam #3 |
40% |
|
27 |
Starman #1 |
40% |
|
30 |
All-Star #4 |
40% |
|
30 |
All-Star #5 |
40% |
|
30 |
Atom #1 |
40% |
|
30 |
Legion #3 |
40% |
|
34 |
Legion #5 |
38% |
|
34 |
Superman #2 |
38% |
|
36 |
All-Star #6 |
38% |
|
36 |
JLA #5 |
38% |
|
38 |
Action #1 |
37% |
|
38 |
All-Star #7 |
37% |
|
38 |
SA GL #3 |
37% |
|
38 |
JLA #6 |
37% |
|
38 |
JLA #7 |
37% |
|
38 |
Supergirl #1 |
37% |
|
44 |
All-Star #8 |
36% |
|
44 |
Batman #3 |
36% |
|
46 |
Legion #6 |
36% |
|
46 |
Plastic Man #3 |
36% |
|
48 |
Flash #3 |
36% |
|
48 |
WF #1 |
36% |
|
50 |
Blackhawk #1 |
35% |
|
51 |
Legion #10 |
35% |
|
51 |
Wonder Woman #1 |
35% |
|
53 |
Legion #7 |
34% |
|
54 |
SA GL #4 |
34% |
|
55 |
GA GL #2 |
33% |
|
56 |
Legion #8 |
33% |
|
56 |
Legion #9 |
33% |
|
58 |
Batman #4 |
32% |
|
59 |
Superman #3 |
32% |
|
60 |
Dark Knight #2 |
32% |
|
60 |
Sgt Rock #1 |
32% |
|
60 |
WF #2 |
32% |
|
63 |
Legion #11 |
31% |
|
64 |
New Teen Titans #1 |
30% |
|
64 |
Wonder Woman #2 |
30% |
|
66 |
Enemy Ace #1 |
30% |
|
67 |
Action #2 |
29% |
|
67 |
Dark Knight #3 |
29% |
|
69 |
Batman #5 |
29% |
|
69 |
Superman #4 |
29% |
|
71 |
Batman WF #1 |
27% |
|
72 |
Superman #5 |
26% |
|
73 |
Wonder Woman #3 |
25% |
|
74 |
Action #3 |
25% |
Archive consumptions patterns remain similar to the reported in previous years. Some noticeable changes in this years data set:
Debuting at #11, the Doom Patrol Archives #1 is the highest rank entry into the list from the past year's selection.
The Batman Archives #1 moves into the first place with 64% of respondents owning this edition. This change (from 57% last year) likely reflects the release of the $20 edition.
New Teen Titans slowly but sure establishes a base in this survey, now at a respectable 30%, compared to 19% the year it was released.
The appearance of Hawkman #1 in the top 10 is particularly impressive since DC released those same stories in a cheaper paperback format just a few years hence. This observation speaks to the power of the format.
Fidelity to a given line is shown in the next table. These data are derived by determined the % of respondents who own the second, third editions and so on as a percentage of the original offering.
| Edition | |||||||
| Issue # | Action | All-Star | Batman | Dark Knight | Flash #1 | GA GL | SA GL |
| 1 | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| 2 | 78% | 90% | 64% | 74% | 84% | 77% | 86% |
| 3 | 66% | 78% | 57% | 67% | 70% | 73% | |
| 4 | 71% | 51% | 66% | ||||
| 5 | 71% | 45% | |||||
| 6 | 68% | ||||||
| 7 | 66% | ||||||
| 8 | 65% | ||||||
| JLA | Legion | Plastic Man | Shazam! | Superman | Wonder Woman | World's Finest | |
| 1 | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| 2 | 87% | 95% | 88% | 99% | 85% | 88% | 89% |
| 3 | 80% | 86% | 72% | 80% | 71% | 73% | |
| 4 | 76% | 87% | 63% | ||||
| 5 | 70% | 82% | 58% | ||||
| 6 | 69% | 77% | |||||
| 7 | 69% | 74% | |||||
| 8 | 71% | ||||||
| 9 | 71% | ||||||
| 10 | 75% | ||||||
| 11 | 67% |
As historically noted there is strong fidelity to any given line. While the average Archive is in the hands of 35-40% of the consumer base, the likelihood that you will find multiple editions of any given line is much higher. Notably, the followers of the SHAZAM! Archives are particularly fidelitous, but most things have their fans. The steep drop off in the Batman series likely reflects the price discrepancy between the first edition and later ones. With any luck, the freebee will inspire more Archive purchases.
Archives Pre-Orders for the year 2002 are listed below. These numbers are the advanced copies sold to comics shops by Diamond outlets. They do not reflect sales to stores or online retailers. They do not reflect re-orders and a 2001 retrospective by Cold Cut Distribution estimated re-orders as ~54% of total sales. That said, they provide some insight into retailer anticipation for any given series. With a couple of exceptions, retailers tend to order consistently. Some drop off in the numbers has occurred but as noted on the previous page, there is a shift from the local retailer to other venues of distribution that may account for this discrepancy.
Jan GA Green Lantern #2 -2554
Feb SA Flash #3 - 2647
Mar Doom Patrol #1 - 2893
Apr Sgt. Rock #1 3061
May Wonder Woman #3 2517
June SA GL #4 2708
July - All-Star #8 2669
September Batman in Worlds Finest 2873
October Enemy Ace #1 2880
October Shazam #3 2374
November Plastic Man - 2348
Archives Sales on Amazon.Com are depicted below. This is a large graph so scroll as needed.
These numbers are the rank numbers placed on sales at Amazon.com. They cannot be correlated to any hard numbers but do provide some evidence of relative performance. As with most rankings, positive data are more meaningful than negative since we have no idea where the bottom is. The simplest conclusion that one can take from this is that the three Silver Age superhero offerings (Doom Patrol, Green Lantern and Flash) performed very well. Sgt Rock less so, despite being the most pre-ordered Archive by local comics retailers. This may indicate the kind of difference that exist between the mass market and the specialty shops.