DC Comics’ new on-going series Superman Unchained got off to a sterling start in June with North American sales of the $4.99 book calculated by ICv2 at 251,456 copies, which equals a cool $1.25 million at retail. Written by DC’s top scribe Scott Snyder (Batman), Superman Unchained #1 featured art by Jim Lee. Despite once again losing the marketshare battle to Marvel (see "Comic Market Growth Slowed in Q2"), DC Comics managed to take the top three spots in June with the launch of the new Batman Superman series at #2 with sales through Diamond in North America estimated at 143,457.
Scott Snyder’s other major ongoing series Batman posted a major 13,000-copy gain in circulation as issue #21 in June kicked off the new “Year Zero” storyline. Issue #10 of Marvel’s event book The Age of Ultron landed in the fourth position with sales calculated by ICv2 at nearly 111,000 copies. Marvel took six spots in the top ten and thirteen out of the top twenty. DC had four of the top ten, but just six of the top twenty including Green Lantern #21, which marked the debut of new writer Robert Venditti--and which was the beneficiary of a new "Lantern Ring" promotion.
Once again Image Comics’ The Walking Dead #111 was the only non-Marvel or DC title in the top 20 as it finished at #13 for the second month in a row. Overall six comics in the top 25 posted gains in circulation while 15 showed declines and four titles were either #1’s or single-issue spin-offs.
On the graphic novel side the debut of Image’s The Walking Dead, Vol. 18, which sold an extremely robust 28,175 copies, topped the charts with by far the biggest sell-in of any graphic novel so far in 2013. In fact this month’s second place title, another Image Comics book Saga Vol.2 would have easily topped the graphic novel chart in any of the previous months of 2013. The third volume of BOOM! Studio’s Adventure Time finished a strong #3 building on the potent May performance of this comic and graphic novel adaptation of the popular Cartoon Network property (see "'Adventure Time' Is #1 GN in May"). While it is true that graphic novel sales were down slightly (3.35%) on a year-over-year basis, it is important to note that June 2012 was a very big month for graphic novels with the release of The Walking Dead Vol. 16, Alan Moore’s League of Extraordinary Gentleman Century 3, a new edition of DC’s Watchmen, as well as other strong titles including Dynamite’s The Boys Vol.11, DC’s first "New 52" Detective Comics collection, and the first trade paperback collection of Image’s Fatale.
Image Comics dominated the graphic novel top ten with four titles followed by DC Comics with three. DC dominated the top 20 with 10 titles including two pricy ($29.99) Before Watchmen collections that came in at #10 and #12. The bestselling manga title in the direct market in June was Dark Horse’s Lone Wolf & Cub Omnibus #1, which ended up at #25.
Here are ICv2’s estimates of the North American sales of the top 25 comics sold through Diamond Comic Distributors in June of 2013:
251,456 Superman Unchained #1
143,457 Batman Superman #1
142,088 Batman #21
110,947 Age of Ultron #10
94,926 Age of Ultron #9
94,054 Justice League #21
84,219 Superior Spider-Man #11
82,338 Superior Spider-Man #12
82,178 All New X-Men #12
78,035 Kick-Ass 3 #1
77,656 All New X-Men #13
75,633 Guardians of the Galaxy #3
74,857 The Walking Dead #111
74,846 Avengers #14
73,719 Uncanny X-Men #7
73,616 Age of Ultron 10A
73,542 X-Men #2
71,870 Green Lantern #21
71,842 Uncanny Avengers #9
71,793 Justice League of America #5
71,575 Guardians of the Galaxy #4
68,624 Avengers #13
65,200 Detective Comics #21
60,601 Batman and Batgirl #21
60,138 New Avengers #7
For an analysis of the dollar trends in June, see "Comic Market Growth Slowed in Q2."
For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on comic books shipped during June, see "Top 300 Comics Actual--June 2013."
For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on graphic novels shipped during June, see "Top 300 Graphic Novels Actual--June 2013."
For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on comic books shipped during May, see "Top 300 Comics Actual--May 2013."
For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on graphic novels shipped during May, see "Top 300 Graphic Novels Actual--May 2013."
For an overview and analysis of the best-selling comics and graphic novels in May, see "'X-Men' #1 Tops 177,000." For an analysis of the dollar trends in May, see "'Adventure Time' is #1 GN in May."
For our index to our reports on the top comic and graphic novel preorders for January 2000 through June 2013, see "ICv2's Top 300 Comics and Top 300 GNs Index."
Scott Snyder’s other major ongoing series Batman posted a major 13,000-copy gain in circulation as issue #21 in June kicked off the new “Year Zero” storyline. Issue #10 of Marvel’s event book The Age of Ultron landed in the fourth position with sales calculated by ICv2 at nearly 111,000 copies. Marvel took six spots in the top ten and thirteen out of the top twenty. DC had four of the top ten, but just six of the top twenty including Green Lantern #21, which marked the debut of new writer Robert Venditti--and which was the beneficiary of a new "Lantern Ring" promotion.
Once again Image Comics’ The Walking Dead #111 was the only non-Marvel or DC title in the top 20 as it finished at #13 for the second month in a row. Overall six comics in the top 25 posted gains in circulation while 15 showed declines and four titles were either #1’s or single-issue spin-offs.
On the graphic novel side the debut of Image’s The Walking Dead, Vol. 18, which sold an extremely robust 28,175 copies, topped the charts with by far the biggest sell-in of any graphic novel so far in 2013. In fact this month’s second place title, another Image Comics book Saga Vol.2 would have easily topped the graphic novel chart in any of the previous months of 2013. The third volume of BOOM! Studio’s Adventure Time finished a strong #3 building on the potent May performance of this comic and graphic novel adaptation of the popular Cartoon Network property (see "'Adventure Time' Is #1 GN in May"). While it is true that graphic novel sales were down slightly (3.35%) on a year-over-year basis, it is important to note that June 2012 was a very big month for graphic novels with the release of The Walking Dead Vol. 16, Alan Moore’s League of Extraordinary Gentleman Century 3, a new edition of DC’s Watchmen, as well as other strong titles including Dynamite’s The Boys Vol.11, DC’s first "New 52" Detective Comics collection, and the first trade paperback collection of Image’s Fatale.
Image Comics dominated the graphic novel top ten with four titles followed by DC Comics with three. DC dominated the top 20 with 10 titles including two pricy ($29.99) Before Watchmen collections that came in at #10 and #12. The bestselling manga title in the direct market in June was Dark Horse’s Lone Wolf & Cub Omnibus #1, which ended up at #25.
Here are ICv2’s estimates of the North American sales of the top 25 comics sold through Diamond Comic Distributors in June of 2013:
251,456 Superman Unchained #1
143,457 Batman Superman #1
142,088 Batman #21
110,947 Age of Ultron #10
94,926 Age of Ultron #9
94,054 Justice League #21
84,219 Superior Spider-Man #11
82,338 Superior Spider-Man #12
82,178 All New X-Men #12
78,035 Kick-Ass 3 #1
77,656 All New X-Men #13
75,633 Guardians of the Galaxy #3
74,857 The Walking Dead #111
74,846 Avengers #14
73,719 Uncanny X-Men #7
73,616 Age of Ultron 10A
73,542 X-Men #2
71,870 Green Lantern #21
71,842 Uncanny Avengers #9
71,793 Justice League of America #5
71,575 Guardians of the Galaxy #4
68,624 Avengers #13
65,200 Detective Comics #21
60,601 Batman and Batgirl #21
60,138 New Avengers #7
For an analysis of the dollar trends in June, see "Comic Market Growth Slowed in Q2."
For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on comic books shipped during June, see "Top 300 Comics Actual--June 2013."
For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on graphic novels shipped during June, see "Top 300 Graphic Novels Actual--June 2013."
For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on comic books shipped during May, see "Top 300 Comics Actual--May 2013."
For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on graphic novels shipped during May, see "Top 300 Graphic Novels Actual--May 2013."
For an overview and analysis of the best-selling comics and graphic novels in May, see "'X-Men' #1 Tops 177,000." For an analysis of the dollar trends in May, see "'Adventure Time' is #1 GN in May."
For our index to our reports on the top comic and graphic novel preorders for January 2000 through June 2013, see "ICv2's Top 300 Comics and Top 300 GNs Index."
