The best-selling comic book of May 2024 was Doom #1. Today is the 62nd anniversary of the introduction of Spider-Man. Bear Pirate Viking Queen gets a gallery show in NYC. All on Comic Book Club News for June 5, 2024.
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Episode Transcript:
Doom comes for May’s best-sellers.
It’s Spider-Man’s 62nd anniversary.
Bear Pirate Viking Queen heads to the art gallery.
This is Comic Book Club News for June 5, 2024.
Doom #1 Was The Best-Selling Comic Of May:
Doom has come for May’s best-selling comics. Doctor Doom, I mean! As Doom #1 by Jonathan Hickman and Sanford Greene was the top seller of the month, per ICv2‘s chart.
In fact, on the units sold, Jonathan Hickman owned the top two slots, as the latest issue of Ultimate Spider-Man came in at number two.
In non-Hickman news, while Amazing Spider-Man #50 was tops on the dollars earned chart thanks to its $9.99 price tag, Amazing Spider-Man #49 was number three on units sold, while issue 50 was at number six.
Skybound and Image’s Transformers continues to be a stronger seller, sitting at number four on the units sold, and number eight on dollars earned. Cobra Commander, Void Rivals, and even the Energon Universe Special, which was available as a Free Comic Book Day giveaway as well, all hit the Top 50.
And in other Image Comics pop-up imprints, Ghost Machine had a solid second month with all three of their titles — Geiger, Rook: Exodus, and Redcoat — hitting the chart.
However, the real story here continues to be DC Comics’ sales. In April, no book cracked the Top 20 on units sold, and only nine books ranked in total. In May, Batman #147 charted at number seven, and Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong #7 at 13. However, including those books, only seven DC books total hit the Top 50, less than April — and only eight ranked on the dollars earned, versus ten in April.
June sees the kick-off of the Absolute Power event, so fingers crossed that turns things around for the publisher. Stay tuned.
Today Is The 62nd Anniversary Of The Introduction Of Spider-Man:
62 years ago today, in the pages of Amazing Fantasy #15, the world first met Spider-Man. And yes, though the issue carries a cover date of August, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s classic tale first hit newsstands on June 5, 1962.
This has nothing to do with Spider-Man, but as a little sidebar the reason for the discrepancy in the date — Google’s super-helpful AI summaries, for example, run with the August date — is because periodicals were given a several-months-later date to make them seem fresh on the newsstand, and let news purveyors know when they could either be returned to a publisher or destroyed. So in this case, the book came out in June and then sat around until August.
Anyway, back to Spider-Man. Not only is today the 62nd anniversary of Peter Parker’s first appearance, it’s also the 37th anniversary of his wedding to Mary Jane. Not the in-continuity wedding… The real wedding, a live-action publicity stunt thrown in New York’s Shea Stadium on June 5, 1987, to promote the comic wedding that occurred in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21. In the live event, Stan Lee officiated, villains appeared, and Spider-Man fought them off. The actress who played Mary Jane, Tara Shannon, even had a wedding dress designed for the occasion.
Later, Peter and Mary Jane’s wedding would be stolen by Marvel’s devil, Mephisto. And perhaps of note, the last time the Mets — who play in Shea Stadium — won a World Series was 1986. So perhaps their winning streak was stolen by Mephisto, too.
Regardless, happy anniversaries, Spider-Man! Even if one of them got retconned.
Bear Pirate Viking Queen Gets A Gallery Show:
Speaking of live events, Image Comics Bear Pirate Viking Queen is getting an art gallery show in New York City on June 6 and 7.
Written by Sean Lewis, with art by Jonathan Marks Barravecchia, the second issue has just hit stores today. But you can check out Barravecchia’s stunning art from the series in person at the Phillipe Labaune Gallery at 534 West 24th Street in New York this Thursday and Friday.
The book, if you haven’t checked it out, pays off on its title, with a bear, a pirate, a viking, and a queen. It’s a wild piece, and well worth studying Barravecchia’s art first hand if you’re near NYC.
For Comic Book Club News, I’m Alex Zalben. And Mephisto, if you’re listening, if you let the Mets win the World Series this year, I will personally kill Aunt May.
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