Jason Aaron's Era Ends in October

October is only the second month where there are two different publishers of ongoing Star Wars titles, Marvel and IDW.  I will analyze the numbers from both publishers separately.

Comichron released the October 2017 estimated sales in November and there was no noticeable movement in sales of the Marvel titles.  In October, Marvel returned to their original numbering on their superhero books, a gimmick that saw many of the titles place higher than normal on the charts.  DC also had many Batman derivative one-shots spinning out of the Dark Nights Metal event.  The top selling Marvel book was Mighty Thor #700 in 2nd place and the top selling DC issue was Dark Nights Metal #3 in 1st place.  No Star Wars title placed in the top 10 and I expect this to be the case for the foreseeable future.  Despite Star Wars #37 coming in 20th place on the chart, it remains Marvel's top selling ongoing title.  IDW's Star Wars Adventures all-age title fell out of the top 100 in October.

Marvel

Title	Issue	Monthly Rank	Estimated Sales	Last Estimated Sales	Percent Change
Star Wars	37	20	65,606	64,899	+1.09
Darth Vader	6	28	56,594	59,477	-4.95%
Captain Phasma	3	49	40,628	45,906	-11.50%
Captain Phasma	4	62	37,443	40,628	-7.84%
Doctor Aphra	13	66	34,405	35,470	-3.00%
Jedi Republic - Mace Windu	3	71	33,453	38,844	-13.88%
Poe Dameron	20	82	31,045	31,887	-2.64%

The main Star Wars title saw an insignificant increase for Jason Aaron's final issue.  Next month, Kieron Gillen begins writing this title and he is starting things off with The Ashes Of Jedha arc which should see a bump in sales.

Darth Vader #6 was the final issue in the inaugural 6 story arc.  Despite an appearance by the Inquisitor from the Rebels animated series, the number of initial copies sold was down almost 5%; I was expecting a slight boost in units sold.  It appears this title is still trying to find it's sales level.

The ongoing Doctor Aphra and Poe Dameron both saw insignificant drops.

The Captain Phasma mini-series double shipped again in October and finished with respectable numbers for a mini-series when compared to other comics based on the sequel trilogy.  It is clear that, so far, comics based on characters from the new trilogy are not big sellers like comics based on original trilogy characters.  Because Disney is being so careful with content surrounding the new movies, it holds back publishers from running with significant stories.  A story about how Captain Phasma survived the destruction of Starkiller base is interesting, but apparently not compelling enough to garner more attention.

Jedi Republic - Mace Windu is the lowest selling non-movie adaptation mini-series.  I feel the artwork on this title has been detrimental to sales.

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
July 2017	326,062	7	46,580
August 2017	425,473	9	47,274
September 2017	418,023	9	46,447
October 2017	299,174	7	42,739

The average sale per issue of 42,739, the lowest so far, would rank 47th on the top 300 chart for the month of October.  Marvel's Star Wars trade paperbacks, reprints, and reorders are not accounted for with these numbers.  The Star Wars trade paperbacks are strong sellers.

IDW

Title	Issue	Monthly Rank	Estimated Sales	Last Estimated Sales	Percent Change
Star Wars Adventures	3	104	23,739	32,134	-26.12%

Star Wars Adventures fell out of the top 100 comics in October; the third issue shed over 25% of the previous issue's sales.  For Marvel, this would no doubt be troubling, but considering IDW's next best selling issue in October is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #75 with 14,855 estimated units sold, I suspect IDW is okay with sales, for now.

Month/Year	Total Estimated Sales	# Issues	Average Sale per Issue
September 2017	81,318	2	40,659
October 2017	23,739	1	23,739

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Take a look at the Star Wars Sales Estimates Charts and please read the blog posting October 2017 comics sales estimates: Metal #3 near 159k copies, four over 100k.