Half a Million Star Wars Comics Ship in June

Comichron released the June 2017 estimated sales last week.  Darth Vader returned to shelves and the second volume debuted at #3 on the chart.  Star Wars remains Marvel's best selling ongoing title.

Title	Issue	Monthly Rank	Estimated Sales	Last Estimated Sales	Percent Change
Darth Vader	1	3	118,644	N/A	N/A
Star Wars	32	11	70,184	70,907	-1.02%
Darth Vader	2	12	66,416	118,644	-44.02%
Darth Maul	4	17	58,240	54,949	+5.99%
Doctor Aphra	8	30	50,216	43,763	+14.75%
Droids Unplugged	1	59	35,918	N/A	N/A
Poe Dameron	16	61	34,826	32,658	+6.64%
Poe Dameron Annual	1	67	32,888	N/A	N/A
Rogue One	3	84	28,256	31,966	-11.61%

The big news for June is the return of an ongoing Darth Vader title to the Star Wars line of books.  Issue #1 sold over 118,000 copies, but issue #2 fell 44% to move just over 66,000 copies.  In comparison, the lowest selling issue from the first volume was #24 which sold over 75,000 units.  I suspect retailers under ordered Darth Vader #2 and we'll see higher numbers for the third issue.

Sales on the main Star Wars title remain relatively flat despite issue #32 being part of the Screaming Citadel event.  Despite a modest gain last month, Doctor Aphra saw a much better 14.75% gain in unit sales this month due to the event.  If the Doctor Aphra title can hold on to some of these gains next month, this will be very positive for this title which had been drifting down into Poe Dameron numbers.

Poe Dameron #16 saw a slight rebound off last month's all time low.  The Poe Dameron Annual which reads like a slightly longer version of a standard issue sold in similar numbers.  I'm predicting this title will survive until The Last Jedi movie is released in December, but I anticipate it will be either replaced or have a completely new direction at that time.  The Droids Unplugged one-shot which contains reprints of backup droid stories sold just as well as this ongoing title.

Darth Maul #4 saw an increase in units sold of approximately 6%.  This mini-series has been very well received, on par with the Han Solo mini-series from last year.

Rogue One #3 sold over 3,000 less units this month.  There is a Cassian & K2SO one-shot coming based on characters from the movie which should sell better.

In a couple of months, IDW will begin selling an all-age Star Wars title, Star Wars Adventures.  With Marvel ramping up the number of Star Wars comic offerings (Mace Windu, Captain Phasma, and Thrawn mini-series as well as a Doctor Aphra and Star Wars Annual are forthcoming), it will be interesting to see if there is demand for the increased number of Star Wars comic offerings.  While Star Wars Adventures is aimed at a younger reader than Marvel's line, a large number of Marvel's readers will be trying the IDW title.

The following table shows the total number of Star Wars units sold per month since January 2015 along with the average number of sales per issue.

Month/Year	Total Estimated Sales	# Issues	Average Sale per Issue
January 2015	985,976	1	985,976
February 2015	526,451	3	175,484
March 2015	596,299	4	149,075
April 2015	537,812	4	134,453
May 2015	324,835	3	108,278
June 2015	396,931	4	99,232
July 2015	597,023	5	119,404
August 2015	430,241	5	86,048
September 2015	551,880	5	110,376
October 2015	953,289	10	95,329
November 2015	1,003,954	8	125,494
December 2015	507,545	6	84,591
January 2016	465,698	5	93,139
February 2016	288,355	4	72,088
March 2016	355,554	5	71,110
April 2016	533,976	5	106,795
May 2016	299,189	4	74,797
June 2016	545,833	6	90,972
July 2016	359,166	5	71,833
August 2016	322,499	5	64,500
September 2016	174,420	3	58,140
October 2016	339,778	5	67,956
November 2016	269,975	5	53,995
December 2016	303,886	4	75,972
January 2017	161,014	3	53,671
February 2017	262,889	4	65,722
March 2017	214,603	4	53,650
April 2017	274,262	5	54,852
May 2017	285,363	6	47,560
June 2017	495,588	9	55,065

The average sale per issue of 55,065 would rank 20th on the top 300 chart for the month of June.  Star Wars trade paperbacks, reprint titles, and reorders are not accounted for with these numbers.  The Star Wars trade paperbacks are strong sellers.

Take a look at the Star Wars Sales Estimate Chart and please read the blog posting June 2017 comics estimates: Average comic offered tops $4 for first time; our 250th consecutive monthly report!