Sex Cells?

Does sex sell comic books? It's hard to say. There are relatively few female superheroes that have their own solo titles, and the top seller in the female superhero category, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Joss Whedon has described Buffy as such in interviews) ties in with a television series. Despite the television tie-in, I think it is worth pointing out that Buffy is in the top twenty best-selling comic books and outsells all of her female counterparts and most of her male competitors without having to wear a skimpy costume.



As further proof that more flesh doesn't always lead to more sales, Power Girl, Spider-Woman, and Batgirl all started relatively late in 2009, and either went on to surpass, or closed the gap relatively quickly (in terms of sales) their more scantily clad counterparts, Red Sonja and Witchblade.

Spiderman, Batman, and Superman outsell their female analogues, however, the distance between Superman and Supergirl - in terms of sales - is not that great.



While the sales of Batgirl are eclipsed by that of Batman, it is interesting to note that the disparity between Batgirl, and another Batman spinoff, Red Robin is not that significant, if the sales figures for the first five issues are anything to go by.



Co-relation doesn't always equal causation, but if the sales of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Batgirl are anything to go by, the editors of Wonder Woman and Power Girl might want to think long and hard about serving up more cheesecake in 2010.

All sales figures can be found here.

Update: Slightly tangential, but an interesting post on marketing comic books to women can be found here.