Peter David's She-Hulk #23 is second-lowest seller ever

The November sales figures are out and the news isn't good for She-Hulk fans. Peter David's second issue on the comic is the second-worst seller in the history of the book, with fewer than 25,000 copies sold in November, according to ICV2.com.

The only issue with lower sales was She-Hulk #14, which was also the only issue not to show She-Hulk or Jen Walters on the cover. (#14 instead featured mute, faceless supporting character "Awesome Andy" making preparations to commit suicide.)

Conversely, the four best selling issues have been:

1. She-Hulk #8 (Civil War tie-in)
2. She-Hulk #18 (World War Hulk tie-in)
3. She-Hulk #1
4. She-Hulk #22 (Peter David's first issue)

She-Hulk #23 sales were all wetMarvel Comics execs hope that "event" issues, such as a series premier, major crossover or heavily-promoted creative change will sell big and have coat-tails for several subsequent issues. Note that in the case of two of the four top selling She-Hulk issues, the decline following the spike was gradual. So the fact that She-Hulk #23 dropped off so sharply probably has Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Joe Quesada feeling unhappy.

Peter David attempted to minimize the significance of the plunge, writing on the Newsarama Forums that:

I knew this was going to happen. Marvel publishes issue #22 with three different covers which naturally inflates sales, and when #23 comes out without variant covers, fans pop up like whack-a-moles and say, "See! See! Sales are dropping!"

The problem, of course, is not merely that there was a drop between the heavily-promoted #22 and the less-promoted #23, it's that the drop-off represented a loss of 30% versus October sales.

Hopefully the circulation numbers will be higher for She-Hulk #24, which was released earlier this week. It is hard to imagine that Peter David - who has enjoyed commercial success in the past - could so badly botch a book as to cause it to experience a prolonged drop in sales. However, many She-Hulk fans seem a little put out by the abrupt, unexplained departure from the Slott era's cast and setting, as well the character's abandonment of her civilian law career. Past writers Dan Slott and John Byrne both made abundant and successful use of Walters' career as an attorney to drive reader interest and plotting. With luck Peter David's scrapping of past continuity won't kill the book.