DC’s ‘New 52’ Getting Huge Initial Launch Orders. JLA #1 Past 200,000.

Initial orders and copies sold aren’t the same. Initial orders of enormous flagship titles aren’t indicative of how smaller titles of that publisher will sell, nor if the flagship will sustain the orders after the hype. Even with that in mind, I’m impressed at the initial orders for DC’s ‘New 52’ titles.

Robot 6:

Justice League #1 has garnered initial orders of more than 200,000, DC Comics tells the Los Angeles Times, with another six titles from the publisher’s much-discussed September relaunch each surpassing 100,000 copies.

That figure will make DC’s new flagship title, by Geoff Johns and Jim Lee, the bestselling direct-market comic of 2011 – Marvel’s Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #160 now has the honor, with about 168,000 copies – and the first since January 2009′s Amazing Spider-Man #583 to break the 200,000-copy mark. (In case you’re wondering, that was the issue with the Barack Obama variant cover, which sold more than 350,000 copies.)

[cont]

With at least seven titles selling more than 100,000 copies – retailers have until Monday to adjust orders on the first issues of such high-profile series as Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and The Flash – DC will be able to trumpet “The New 52″ as a success, with the publisher dominating Diamond Comic Distributors’ Top 10 in September. Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1 could very well be the sole Marvel title on that list.

As I stated above, I know that initial orders aren’t directly correlated with sustained success. Yet for someone who has been skeptical of the relaunch bringing any sort of steam to the comics game, I have to admit that I’m a bit impressed. Now I’ll just be skeptical that there will be any sort of momentum.

Brief aside:  The JLA logo and cover design is disgusting. I hadn’t seen it until this.