| Title | Monthly Rank | Estimated Sales | Last Estimated Sales | Percent Change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Han Solo | 1 | 4 | 152,596 | N/A | N/A |
| Star Wars | 20 | 14 | 96,047 | 95,156 | +0.94% |
| The Force Awakens | 1 | 20 | 79,626 | N/A | N/A |
| Darth Vader | 21 | 21 | 79,065 | 86,641 | -8.74% |
| Darth Vader | 22 | 23 | 77,610 | 79,065 | -1.84% |
| Poe Dameron | 3 | 43 | 60,889 | 68,962 | -11.71% |
June was a very good month, thanks to the new Han Solo title, with overall Star Wars sales of over half a million units. The main Star Wars title saw a negligible increase in units sold. The bump Darth Vader saw last month with issue #20 has disappeared with less than 800 units separating the initial sales for Darth Vader #22 from Darth Vader #19. Both Star Wars and Darth Vader have fallen out of the top 10 comics for June.
The other ongoing title, Poe Dameron, had a less severe drop from last month, only losing 11.71% of unit sales. Poe Dameron #3 sold approximately 4,500 more units than Kanan #3. Kanan continued to see decent drops until the fifth issue. If Poe Dameron can find a sales floor above 50,000 units, this title will be a success for Marvel. We should know in the next couple of months.
As expected, Han Solo #1 was the top selling Star Wars title in June. The Princess Leia, Lando, and Shattered Empire mini-series debuted with stronger numbers, but the Chewbacca and Obi-Wan & Anakin mini-series had weaker numbers. Overall, Marvel has to be happy that Han Solo has bucked the trend of each subsequent mini-series selling less than the previous mini-series. This title has received praise as the best art on a Star Wars title yet; in fact, George Lucas has reportedly purchased the original art for this mini-series. It will be interesting to see if these good positive reviews helps this title maintain sales.
The Force Awakens #1 movie adaptation moved just over half the number of units of Han Solo #1. It is well known that movie adaptations do not typically have strong sales. Initial sales for the previous three Star Wars movie adaptations were:
| Title | Issue | Date | Estimated Sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Phantom Menace | 1 | May 1999 | 88,437 |
| Attack of the Clones | 1 | April 2002 | 40,211 |
| Revenge of the Sith | 1 | March 2005 | 28,291 |
The Force Awakens initial issue sold much better than the first issue of Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, but less than The Phantom Menace. Several factors differentiate this adaptation from the previous adaptations however. Dark Horse published the previous mini-series a month or two earlier than the movie's release date and a trade paperback was released the same week as the first issue. Additionally, Dark Horse didn't wait a month between publishing issues, they were scheduled to be released weekly. Because of the tight scheduling, the units sold for the Dark Horse mini-series were very similar throughout the mini-series and Marvel seeing similar unit sales for The Force Awakens mini-series is questionable. Marvel also published far more variant covers to achieve the sales for The Force Awakens, where Dark Horse had two covers for the first two prequel adaptations and only one cover for the Revenge of the Sith.
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. Note this chart does not include reprints.
| 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 |
The average sale per issue would rank 17th on the top 300 chart for the month of June. Star Wars trade paperbacks are selling well and reorders remain strong but are not accounted for with these numbers.
Take a look at the Star Wars Sales Estimate Chart and please read the blog posting Civil War II #1 sells 381k copies, Batman #1 280k; June comic unit sales best since 1997.
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