Marvel's World War Hulk #1 was the best-selling comic of June with estimated sales of 178,408 copies through Diamond Comic Distributors. Two other World War Hulk titles made the top 25, other series tied in to the event also prospered, and the Skrull-driven New Avengers #31 posted a huge gain over its previous issue.
While some top 25 comics such as Marvel's Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born #5 and Dark Horse's Buffy the Vampire Slayer #4 varied only slightly from previous issues, a number of other comics displayed far greater volatility -- DC's Flash, the Fastest Man Alive #13 (which featured the unexpected death of Bart Allen and two covers; 50/50) upped its circulation by more than 60%, and Superman/Batman #37 (new creative team/story) and Iron Man #19 (WWH tie-in) posted major gains as did X-Men #200 (featuring three covers). On the other side of the ledger Captain America #27, Amazing Spider-Man #541 and DC's weekly Countdown series all suffered substantial declines. Overall eight titles in the top 25 posted gains, while 13 declined and four new series debuted in the top 25.
Marvel dominated the top 25 with seven out of the top ten (including the top 5) and 16 out of the top 25 titles. DC placed only two titles in the top 10, Justice League of America #10 at #6 and Justice #12 at #7. Dark Horse's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which is written by Joss Whedon (and cited in Time Magazine by mystery writer Janet Evanovich as her favorite summer reading), held on to its circulation gains and broke the Marvel/DC stranglehold on the top ten.
Once again Marvel did better than normal on the graphic novel list earning five of the top ten spots--and while Marvel's Incredible Hulk: Planet Hulk Hardcover was #2 in unit sales (behind DC/Vertigo's Fables Vol. 9: Sons of Empire), it was far and away the top book in terms of dollar sales. Dark Horse placed two graphic novels, Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures Vol. 8 (at #6) and Hellboy Animated Vol. 2 (at #8) in the top ten and the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus at #11.
Mention should be made of Marvel's Civil War-related trades, which have played such a major role in the strong graphic novel sales in April, May and June. The Civil War: Iron Man trade paperback came in at #4 followed by the Civil War: Marvel Universe trade at #5. Marvel's original Civil War trade, which was the #1 graphic novel in April and the #6 book in May, was the #13 title in June. Over the past three months Diamond has sold approximately 32,100 copies of the basic Civil War collection, which is roughly the same as the number sold in bookstores (based on Nielsen's BookScan numbers).
Viz Media place two manga titles in the top 25 graphic novels including Death Note Vol. 12, which came in at #9, and Bleach Vol. 20, which ended up at #15.
Here are ICv2's estimates of the sales by Diamond Comic Distributors to comic stores on the top 25 comic titles in June:
178,408 World War Hulk #1 (of 5)
160,911 New Avengers #31
136,672 X-Men #200
133,956 Fallen Son: Spider-Man
132,090
129,265 Justice League of
112,471 Justice #12
108,284 Amazing Spider-Man #541
106,931 Incredible Hulk #107
102,430 Buffy the Vampire Slayer #4
99,108 Captain America #27
92,339 Avengers Initiative #3
87,973 X-Men: Endangered Species 1-Shot
85,073 World War Hulk: X-Men
84,386 World War Hulk: Front Line
81,481 Uncanny X-Men #487
77,504 Countdown #47
76,860 Flash, the Fastest Man Alive #13
76,362 Countdown #46
75,096 Iron Man #19
74,918 Countdown #45
73,971 Countdown #44
73,646 Ultimate Spider-Man #110
72,635 Superman/Batman #37
69,610 Fantastic Four #547
We are estimating actual sales by Diamond U.S. (primarily to North American comic stores), using Diamond's published sales indexes and publisher sales data to estimate a sales number for Batman (the anchor title Diamond uses in its calculations), and using that number and the indexes to estimate Diamond's sales on the remaining titles. We can check the accuracy of our numbers by comparing the Batman number that we calculate using multiple data points; our numbers for Batman are within 1/10 of 1% of each other, ensuring a high degree of accuracy.
For an analysis of the dollar trends in June, see 'Graphic Novels Spur June Sales.'
For our estimates of actual orders to Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on comic books scheduled to ship during June, see 'Top 300 Comics Actual--June 2007.'
For our estimates of actual orders to Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on graphic novels scheduled to ship during June, see 'Top 100 Graphic Novels Actual--June 2007.'
For our estimates of actual orders to Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on comic books scheduled to ship during May, see 'Top 300 Comics Actual--May 2007.'
For our estimates of actual orders to Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on graphic novels scheduled to ship during May, see 'Top 100 Graphic Novels Actual--May 2007.'
For our index to our reports on the top comic and graphic novel preorders for January 2000 through June 2007, see 'ICv2's Top 300 Comics and Top 100 GNs Index.'
