ICv2 has posted its sales figures for April, so once again, I'll be using those to track the sales trends for the NuSpidey era to date, together with previously released monthly sales figures also drawn from ICv2:

Amazing Spider-Man sales: January 2008-April 2009

Month, Year, #	Issue, #	Estimate	Rank	Issue-to-Issue %	Month-to-Month %
January 2008 #1	Amazing Spider-Man #546	127,958	2	n/a	n/a
January 2008 #2	Amazing Spider-Man #547	101,213	9	-20.9%	n/a
January 2008 #3	Amazing Spider-Man #548	97,959	10	-3.2%	n/a
February 2008 #1	Amazing Spider-Man #549	101,112	3	+3.2%	-21.0%
February 2008 #2	Amazing Spider-Man #550	90,874	9	-10.1%	-10.2%
February 2008 #3	Amazing Spider-Man #551	88,084	13	-3.1%	-10.1%
March 2008 #1	Amazing Spider-Man #552	89,835	4	+2.0%	-11.2%
March 2008 #2	Amazing Spider-Man #553	82,648	8	-8.0%	-9.1%
March 2008 #3	Amazing Spider-Man #554	81,072	14	-1.9%	-8.0%
April 2008 #1	Amazing Spider-Man #555	86,902	8	+7.2%	-3.3%
April 2008 #2	Amazing Spider-Man #556	78,458	14	-9.7%	-5.1%
April 2008 #3	Amazing Spider-Man #557	77,057	16	-1.8%	-5.0%
May 2008 #1	Amazing Spider-Man #558	76,966	20	-0.1%	-11.4%
May 2008 #2	Amazing Spider-Man #559	74,206	21	-3.6%	-5.4%
May 2008 #3	Amazing Spider-Man #560	74,012	23	-0.3%	-4.0%
June 2008 #1	Amazing Spider-Man #561	72,372	17	-2.2%	-6.0%
June 2008 #2	Amazing Spider-Man #562	71,409	19	-1.3%	-3.8%
June 2008 #3	Amazing Spider-Man #563	70,792	20	-0.9%	-4.4%
July 2008 #1	Amazing Spider-Man #564	68,882	22	-2.7%	-4.8%
July 2008 #2	Amazing Spider-Man #565	69,182	20	+0.4%	-3.1%
July 2008 #3	Amazing Spider-Man #566	68,912	21	-0.4%	-2.7%
August 2008 #1	Amazing Spider-Man #567	68,130	21	-1.1%	-1.1%
August 2008 #2	Amazing Spider-Man #568	105,324	7	+54.6%	+52.2%
August 2008 #3	Amazing Spider-Man #569	86,432	14	-17.9%	+25.4%
September 2008 #1	Amazing Spider-Man #570	89,516	10	+3.6%	+31.4%
September 2008 #2	Amazing Spider-Man #571	80,178	14	-10.4%	-24.9%
September 2008 #3	Amazing Spider-Man #572	80,220	13	+0.1%	-7.2%
October 2008 #1	Amazing Spider-Man #573	82,550	8	+2.9%	-7.8%
October 2008 #2	Amazing Spider-Man #574	69,069	17	-16.3%	-13.9%
October 2008 #3	Amazing Spider-Man #575	68,913	18	-0.2%	-14.1%
November 2008 #1	Amazing Spider-Man #576	68,956	12	+0.1%	-16.5%
November 2008 #2	Amazing Spider-Man #577	76,625	6	+11.1%	+10.9%
November 2008 #3	Amazing Spider-Man #578	66,564	13	-13.1%	-3.4%
December 2008 #1	Amazing Spider-Man #579	69,784	19	+4.8%	+1.2%
December 2008 #2	Amazing Spider-Man #580	62,979	27	-9.8%	-17.8%
December 2008 #3	Amazing Spider-Man #581	68,905	21	+9.4%	+3.5%
January 2009 #1	Amazing Spider-Man #582	59,932	15	-13.0%	-14.1%
January 2009 #2	Amazing Spider-Man #583	521,831	1	+770.7%	+728.6%
January 2009 #3	Amazing Spider-Man #584	63,754	12	-87.8%	-7.5%
February 2009 #1	Amazing Spider-Man #585	60,286	16	-5.4%	+0.6%
February 2009 #2	Amazing Spider-Man #586	59,521	18	-1.3%	-88.6%
February 2009 #3	Amazing Spider-Man #587	60,118	17	+1.0%	-5.7%
March 2009 #1	Amazing Spider-Man #588	61,334	12	+2.0%	+1.7%
March 2009 #2	Amazing Spider-Man #589	58,832	13	-4.1%	-1.2%
March 2009 #3	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
April 2009 #1	Amazing Spider-Man #590	66,415	17	+12.9%	+8.3%
April 2009 #2	Amazing Spider-Man #591	60,508	24	-8.9%	+2.9%
April 2009 #3	Amazing Spider-Man #592	65,940	19	+8.9%	n/a

This is an interesting month, not in the least because how you see it will depend largely upon which way your bias leans, regarding the current status quo of Spider-Man.

For the NuSpidey supporters, who no doubt see this month's increase in sales as a good sign, allow me to remind you that Amazing Spider-Man #590 and #592 both featured Wolverine variant covers, and Amazing Spider-Man #591 featured the final-page reveal of J. Jonah Jameson's new status quo as mayor of New York City. Allow me to further note that Jonah's new job, which represents a genuinely radical shift in the direction of his character, only managed to deliver a sales increase of 2.9 percent, or 1,676 issues, when compared to the lowest-selling issue of the month prior.

This is not a good sign for Marvel.

It's even less of a good sign that, according to ICv2, comic sales rebounded in April, while, by contrast, the sales ranks of Amazing Spider-Man declined. The reason I mention this is that, for months, the NuSpidey supporters have argued that the fact that this title has often managed to remain in the top 20 necessarily meant that it was doing no worse, relatively speaking, than many of the other titles released by Marvel (or by DC, for that matter) during those same months. This argument is demonstrably no longer valid, if indeed it ever was, because in April, as well as in several previous months listed on the chart above, the rising tides of sales have NOT lifted all boats equally.

As always, our watermarks:

Paul O'Brien's "magic number:" 63,463.
The lowest-selling issue of Amazing Spider-Man in April: 60,508.

And the John Byrne and Howard Mackie "reboot" years:

Amazing Spider-Man sales: August 1998-April 2001

Month, Year	Issue, Original # (Reboot #)	Creators	Estimate	Rank
August 1998	Amazing Spider-Man #440 (n/a)	John Byrne, Rafael Kayanan	64,500	16
September 1998	Amazing Spider-Man #441 (n/a)	John Byrne, Rafael Kayanan	69,100	21
November 1998	Amazing Spider-Man #442 (#1)	John Byrne, Howard Mackie	124,900	4
December 1998	Amazing Spider-Man #443 (#2)	John Byrne, Howard Mackie	102,500	7
January 1999	Amazing Spider-Man #444 (#3)	John Byrne, Howard Mackie	83,900	11
February 1999	Amazing Spider-Man #445 (#4)	John Byrne, Howard Mackie	78,800	11
March 1999	Amazing Spider-Man #446 (#5)	John Byrne, Howard Mackie	76,800	12
April 1999	Amazing Spider-Man #447 (#6)	John Byrne, Howard Mackie	74,500	12
May 1999	Amazing Spider-Man #448 (#7)	John Byrne, Howard Mackie	71,600	15
June 1999	Amazing Spider-Man #449 (#8)	John Byrne, Howard Mackie	70,000	12
July 1999	Amazing Spider-Man #450 (#9)	John Byrne, Howard Mackie	67,300	13
August 1999	Amazing Spider-Man #451 (#10)	John Byrne, Howard Mackie	64,100	11
September 1999	Amazing Spider-Man #452 (#11)	John Byrne, Howard Mackie	61,100	12
October 1999	Amazing Spider-Man #453 (#12)	John Byrne, Howard Mackie	62,000	11
November 1999	Amazing Spider-Man #454 (#13)	John Byrne, Howard Mackie	58,900	13
December 1999	Amazing Spider-Man #455 (#14)	John Byrne, Howard Mackie	61,900	11
January 2000	Amazing Spider-Man #456 (#15)	John Byrne, Howard Mackie	56,400	13
February 2000	Amazing Spider-Man #457 (#16)	John Byrne, Howard Mackie	53,200	15
March 2000	Amazing Spider-Man #458 (#17)	John Byrne, Howard Mackie	54,100	14
April 2000	Amazing Spider-Man #459 (#18)	John Byrne, Howard Mackie	53,200	16
May 2000	Amazing Spider-Man #460 (#19)	Howard Mackie, Erik Larsen	53,000	12
June 2000	Amazing Spider-Man #461 (#20)	Howard Mackie, Erik Larsen	53,500	12
July 2000	Amazing Spider-Man #462 (#21)	Howard Mackie, Erik Larsen	51,900	14
August 2000	Amazing Spider-Man #463 (#22)	Howard Mackie, John Romita Jr.	49,900	13
September 2000	Amazing Spider-Man #464 (#23)	Howard Mackie, John Romita Jr.	49,300	18
October 2000	Amazing Spider-Man #465 (#24)	Howard Mackie, John Romita Jr.	50,200	14
November 2000	Amazing Spider-Man #466 (#25) [foil-enhanced cover]	Howard Mackie, John Romita Jr.	45,400	24
November 2000	Amazing Spider-Man #466 (#25) [regular cover]	Howard Mackie, John Romita Jr.	14,900	142
December 2000	Amazing Spider-Man #467 (#26)	Howard Mackie, John Romita Jr.	49,500	16
January 2001	Amazing Spider-Man #468 (#27)	Howard Mackie, John Romita Jr.	49,200	17
February 2001	Amazing Spider-Man #469 (#28)	Howard Mackie, John Romita Jr.	48,600	16
March 2001	Amazing Spider-Man #470 (#29)	Howard Mackie, Lee Weeks	48,800	16
April 2001	Amazing Spider-Man #471 (#30)	J. Michael Straczynski, John Romita Jr.	77,300	5

(Yes, I included J. Michael Straczynski's first issue of Amazing Spider-Man at the end of the chart, but only for the purposes of comparison.)

We're now 16 months into the NuSpidey status quo, at least in terms of recorded sales. In terms of their respective sales, the NuSpidey issues have finally diverged significantly from the Byrne-and-Mackie "reboot" issues, which they had only done previously for "New Ways to Die" and the Obama issue. The NuSpidey issues have also now diverged significantly from the Byrne-and-Mackie "reboot" issues in terms of their respective ranks, albeit not in a positive direction. As in several previous months, the NuSpidey issues' April ranks are significantly underperforming the Byrne-and-Mackie "reboot" issues. At 16 months in, the lowest "reboot" rank was 15, whereas the lowest NuSpidey rank has been 27, well after the onset of the economic downturn that the NuSpidey supporters have blamed for this title's sales downturn. In April, the title's lowest rank was 24. NuSpidey has frequently dropped out of the top 20 rank chart, while the "reboot" arguably never did (so long as you combine the regular and foil-enhanced cover sales of Amazing Spider-Man #466).

All that being said? We NuSpidey detractors should not be surprised to see the title's sales level out, or even uptick slightly, on a month-to-month basis, in these months leading up to Amazing Spider-Man #600, which is the biggest event of the NuSpidey era since "New Ways to Die." In the months leading up to "New Ways to Die," the closer the title came to the first issue of that event, the more that sales leveled out, until they finally increased just a hair beforehand, and Amazing Spider-Man #600 is unquestionably a much bigger event than "New Ways to Die." It's worth remembering, however, that as soon as "New Ways to Die" ended, sales not only returned immediately to their previous level, but actually began falling at an accelerated rate of speed. I've seen many readers online, who were initially positively inclined toward the NuSpidey status quo, describe "New Ways to Die" as their "jumping-off point," and unless Amazing Spider-Man #600 manages to pull a rabbit out of its hat, I'm fairly confident that it will be the same, only more so.

Footnote on how to read the charts: I've purposefully color-coded these two charts so that the official start of each respective status quo begins with red (the two Byrne issues listed before the official start of the "reboot" were basically his equivalent of "One More Day"), and each rainbow of colors always recycles after six months. So, if you want to compare respective months in, or else figure out at a glance how many months in any given issue is, just remember; every six months, the rainbow recycles back to red.