Fantastic Four #587, which featured the death of one of the original members of the Fantastic Four, sold over 115,000 copies, the highest total for a direct market comic book since X-Men #1 launched in July of 2010.  Both FF #587 and the #2 dollar book in January Spawn #200, an oft-delayed anniversary issue that was aided by something like six variant covers, are getting second printings that will help February sales, but they won’t ship in time to boost January’s totals.
 
On the periodical side FF #587 didn’t get much help.  The #2 book for the month sold fewer than 73,000 copies.  Four DC titles that had placed in the top 12 in December, Batman: The Dark Knight, Green Lantern, Batman Incorporated, and Flash did not ship in January.  The missing DC heavy hitters meant that Marvel easily dominated the top of the list with 15 of the top 25 titles, while DC had eight and Image and Dark Horse each had one title.
 
The negative sales trend in January was reflected in the fact that nineteen of the top 25 titles suffered circulation declines in January compared with just five that scored gains.
 
The news wasn’t any better in the graphic novel category.  Vertigo’s Jack of Fables Vol. 8 sold just 3,913 copies according to ICv2’s estimate, the lowest monthly total for a #1 graphic novel since ICv2 began its graphic novel sales reporting in late 2001.  The #2 graphic novel with sales of under 3,000 copies was the first volume of Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead from Image Comics.  The Walking Dead has been aided by the success of the TV adaptation on AMC and the series remains strong across the board.  Certainly sales of nearly 3,000 copies for a book that was released in 2006 and has been in print ever since is a remarkable thing, but its presence in the second spot with sales under 3K also testifies to the weakness in graphic novel sales during January.
 
DC placed eight titles in the top 25, while Marvel had ten. Image had four, while Dark Horse had two and Viz had one, Full Metal Alchemist Vol. 24, which was the top manga title at #15.
 
Here are ICv2’s estimates of the sales by Diamond Comic Distributors to comic stores on the top 25 comic titles in January, 2011:
 
115,448           Fantastic Four #587
 72,841           Brightest Day #17
 72,090           Brightest Day #18
 65,448           Spawn #200
 64,867           Avengers #9
 64,615           X-Men #7
 61,785           Batman & Robin #19
 61,169           New Avengers #8
 60,231           Batman #706
 56,749           Amazing Spider-Man #651
 54,186           Invincible Iron Man #500
 54,071           Uncanny X-Men #532
 53,646           Green Lantern Corps #56
 52,050           Amazing Spider-Man #652
 51,381           Uncanny X-Force #4
 50,748           Secret Avengers #9
 47,093           Justice League of America #53
 47,050           Age of X Alpha #1
 46,920           Wolverine #5
 43,471           Green Lantern Emerald Warriors #6
 42,899           Thor #619
 42,119           Captain America #614
 41,843           Superman #707
 40,193           X-Men Legacy #244
 39,486           Buffy the Vampire Slayer #40

For an analysis of the dollar trends in January, see "Lack of Big Titles Hurts."

For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on comic books shipped during January, see "Top 300 Comics Actual--January 2011."

For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on graphic novels shipped during January, see "Top 300 Graphic Novels Actual--January 2011."

For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on comic books shipped during December, see "Top 300 Comics Actual--December 2010."

For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on graphic novels shipped during December, see "Top 300 Graphic Novels Actual--December 2010."

For our index to our reports on the top comic and graphic novel preorders for January 2000 through January 2011, see "ICv2's Top 300 Comics and Top 300 GNs Index."