Paul O'Brien writes Well, it was bound to happen eventually. DC were the number one publisher in the direct market in October - the first time they’ve been able to say that since May 2006. It’s close, mind you. The margin is 34.2% to 33.7% in dollar share, and 39% to 37% in unit share. But it’s DC’s chart, nonetheless.
Marvel had a rather bad month in terms of delays. In theory, October was supposed to be the final month of WORLD WAR HULK, but the series slipped into the start of November, taking several tie-in issues with it. So, there’s not many WWH crossover books on this chart.
“One More Day” continues to drag on far beyond the original schedule, leaving Marvel with only one Spider-Man book instead of the scheduled three. ASTONISHING X-MEN and THOR both missed shipping as well, along with a raft of lesser titles that slipped into the start of November. None of this did Marvel any favours in the charts.
What does that leave us with? Well, there are a few WORLD WAR HULK titles still around, and there’s the start of the X-Men crossover, “Messiah Complex.” There are a scattering of unusual new miniseries, including three old Steve Gerber concepts - FOOLKILLER, HOWARD THE DUCK and OMEGA THE UNKNOWN.
And there are zombies, as MARVEL ZOMBIES 2 reaches the stores. In celebration, and on the grounds that October includes Hallowe’en, Marvel have commissioned even more gratuitous zombie variant covers that usual, on some of the most unlikely books imaginable. We’ll be seeing them scattered throughout the list.
