Marvel Comics’ 2019 sales figures demonstrate the scale of the challenge facing Marvel’s Chief Creative Officer, Kevin Feige. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has become something of a legend in Hollywood. He’s the mastermind behind the MCU, and frankly appears to be the darling of Disney Pictures; in his autobiography The Ride of a Lifetime, Disney CEO Bob Iger rhapsodizes over Feige’s skill and creative vision.

In October, Feige was officially promoted to Chief Creative Officer of Marvel Entertainment. This expanded his remit, meaning he’s no longer responsible only for the MCU’s blockbuster films and upcoming Disney+ TV series. That means he has oversight on creative, editorial, and narrative decisions across all mediums - including the comics themselves. It doesn’t quite mean he’s now in charge of Marvel Entertainment; Marvel’s controversial and reclusive chairman Ike Perlmutter is still in the picture, albeit increasingly sidelined. But it does mean Feige is now one of the main driving forces of Marvel Comics. No doubt one of his first corporate priorities is establishing a synergy between Marvel’s big-screen success and their comic book sales.

Unfortunately, the 2019 comic book sales figures demonstrate the scale of Feige’s challenge. On the face of it, they’re good news for Marvel, who dominate in the weekly releases. No less than seven of the top 10 books are Marvel.

  • Detective Comics #1,000 (DC Comics) Spawn #300 (Image Comics) X-Men #1 (Marvel Comics) Black Cat #1 (Marvel Comics) DCeased #1 (DC Comics) Absolute Carnage #1 (Marvel Comics) Marvel Comics #1,000 (Marvel Comics) House of X #1 (Marvel Comics) Powers of X #1 (Marvel Comics) War of Realms #1 (Marvel Comics)

But a careful look at this list demonstrates a massive problem; there’s essentially no identifiable synergy between the comics and the latest Marvel movies.

2019 was the biggest year in the history of the MCU, with the releases of Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame, and Spider-Man: Far From Home. Together, these three films grossed over $5 billion in the global box office, with Avengers: Endgame breaking Avatar’s record as the highest-grossing movie of all time. And yet, for all that’s the case, there’s no evidence of this success in the comics themselves. Captain Marvel may have made over $1.12 billion worldwide, but she’s entirely absent from the top 10; Kelly Thompson’s 2019 relaunch got off to a strong start in February, ahead of the character’s MCU debut, but it’s since been overtaken by the X-Men.

The Avengers books are performing fairly strongly, but there’s no evidence of any major spike in sales as a result of Avengers: Endgame. Amazing Spider-Man #25, a well-timed anniversary issue that released shortly before Spider-Man: Far From Home, was a strong performer that nevertheless failed to make the top 10. While Marvel Comics is still the dominant publisher in the comic book market, with a market share of 40.20 percent, there’s no clear evidence of any kind of synergy between the comics and the blockbuster success of the MCU.

Kevin Feige will probably be further concerned by the graphic novel sales stats, which were dominated by rival publishers Image and DC. Here, there’s clear potential for well-timed graphic novel reissues and collected editions, given the small-screen successes of both Watchmen and The Umbrella Academy led to associated TPBs hitting the top 10. Marvel has clearly missed a trick here, and the publisher needs to up its game to compete, taking advantage of the potential boost it can receive from the MCU.

Fortunately, the Disney+ TV shows offer another opportunity; Feige will be hoping those prove as popular as The Mandalorian, and if so, Marvel should be able to release character-focused TPBs to capitalize on them. Imagine a Winter Soldier collection that came out at the same time as Falcon & Winter Soldier, or an Ultimate Scarlet Witch TPB to coincide with WandaVision. These will surely be the kind of ideas Feige will want to push; unfortunately, the current scheduling issues facing Marvel Studios may cause further problems, given they seem to be constantly shuffling the production order of their Disney+ TV series.

More: Kevin Feige’s New Marvel Role Explained: What It Means For The MCU