The numbers are in, and North American orders on DC’s Dark Knight III: The Master Race #1 totaled over 440,000 copies, according to estimates calculated by ICv2 based on indexes released by Diamond Comic Distributors (see "Top 300 Comics--November 2015").  That’s over double the 174,000 copies sold by Diamond of the first issue of Dark Knight Strikes Again, the second Dark Knight series, back in 2001 (see "The Return of the Million Dollar Comic").  The cover price of the 2015 series is substantially lower in constant dollar terms ($5.99 vs. $7.95, which adjusted for inflation would be $10.68), which undoubtedly helped increase the numbers, along with the dozens of variant covers on the 2015 issue.

Dark Knight III #1 was one of 13 issues with sales over 100,000 copies in November, narrowly under last month’s total of 14 issues with sales over the benchmark.

The #2 issue for November, Vader Down #1, sold nearly 385,000 copies, another very strong Star Wars launch for Marvel, and one of four Star Wars issues with orders over 100,000 copies, and six in the Top 25.

Secret Wars #7 hung in there with numbers over 177,000, a strong showing for a late book.

A number of post-Secret Wars Marvel relaunches had orders over 100,000, including Deadpool, Extraordinary X-Men, All New All Different Avengers, All New Wolverine, and Mighty Thor.

There were three Batman titles in the Top 25, including Dark Knight III, the regular Batman series, and Batman: Europa #1, originally announced in 2004 (see "DC Announces 'Batman: Europa'"), which sold in over 80,000 copies.

Big drops from variant-fueled first issues are becoming the norm these days, with Doctor Strange #2, down 80,365 copies from #1, and Spider-Gwen #2, down 134,894 copies from #1 as two examples.

Dynamite Entertainment's James Bond #1 was the top book from a publisher other than Marvel, DC, or Image, with a solid 35,000+ sell-in.

On the graphic novel chart, the hardcover collection of Sandman Overture came in at over 12,000 copies, with Star Wars titles taking the next two slots at around 7,000 copies each.  Comic stores are ready for the release of the movie this month, with five Star Wars titles among the Top 25 graphic novels for November.

For an analysis of the dollar trends in November, see "Comics Turn Around in November."

For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on comic books shipped during November, see "Top 300 Comics Actual--November 2015."

For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on graphic novels shipped during November, see "Top 300 Graphic Novels Actual--November 2015."

For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on comic books shipped during October, see "Top 300 Comics Actual--October 2015."

For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on graphic novels shipped during October, see "Top 300 Graphic Novels Actual--October 2015."

For an overview and analysis of the best-selling comics and graphic novels in October, see “Comics Sales Slide Continued in October”).

​For our index to our reports on the top comic and graphic novel preorders for January 2000 through November 2015, see "ICv2's Top 300 Comics and Top 300 GNs Index."