Comic sales rebounded in April from a lousy March (see “No Comic over 100k in March”), with sales at both the top and bottom of the Top 300 list improving substantially. The #1 title in April, Detective Comics #853 (part two of a long delayed Neil Gaiman story), sold around 9% more than the #1 title in March, Dark Avengers #3. And of the top 25 titles, 13 sold more than the corresponding issues in the previous month, an unusually high percentage.
Sales at the top of the list were heavily influenced by multiple covers; nine of the top ten titles had variant versions.
At the bottom of the list, the #300 title in April sold 89% more than the #300 title in March, but that wasn’t necessarily because specific titles at the bottom of the list were selling a lot better. Sales on the #300 title in April, Marvel Adventures Super Heroes #10, were almost identical to those on issue #9 in March. But Marvel Adventures Super Heroes #9 was title #255 in March; there were 45 titles that sold better than MASH that shipped in April that didn’t ship in March. That may have been a fifth week effect, or some other artifact of shipping schedules, but it’s a welcome indicator regardless.
Over-all, these are hopeful signs that comic sales at retail may have bottomed.
DC had half the top 10 comic titles in April, and eight of the top 25. Marvel had most of the rest; Dark Horse placed one title (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) in the top 25.
On the graphic novel front, Watchmen trade paperback sales are calming, with the lowest sales on a Watchmen title since October. It’s still #1, but in a weaker field. Marvel's Dark Tower: Treachery Premiere HC was the #2 book.
Three Naruto volumes placed #12 through #14, the top manga titles. Negima was next, at #27.
Stinky, a great graphic novel for kids from Toon Books (see “Review of Stinky”) placed a surprising #31 in a direct market that’s generally seen as a market for adults.
There were 12 Marvel titles in the top 25 graphic novels, six DC’s, three each from Dark horse and Viz, and one from Avatar (Freakangels Vol. 2).
Here are ICv2's estimates of the sales by Diamond Comic Distributors to comic stores on the top 25 comic titles in April:
104,107 Detective Comics #853
102,429 Flash Rebirth #1 (Of 6)
97,896 Wolverine Weapon X #1
95,854 Dark Avengers #4
93,975 New Avengers #52 DKR
89,120 Batman: Battle for the Cowl #2 (Of 3)
82,726 Hulk #11
81,200 Justice Society of America #26
79,792 Green Lantern #39 (Origins)
79,626 Thor #601
76,665 Green Lantern #40
76,442 Uncanny X-Men #508
71,935 X-Men: Legacy #223
69,185 Uncanny X-Men #509
68,231 Mighty Avengers #24 DKR
67,774 Astonishing X-Men #29
66,415 Amazing Spider-Man #590
66,021 Justice League of America #32
65,940 Amazing Spider-Man #592
65,713 Justice Society of America #25
63,874 Captain America #49
60,916 Buffy the Vampire Slayer #24 Chen Cvr
60,818 Ultimate Wolverine Vs Hulk #4 (Of 6)
60,508 Amazing Spider-Man #591
59,403 Ultimate Wolverine Vs Hulk #5 (Of 6)
For an analysis of the dollar trends in April, see "Comic Dollars Up in April."
For our estimates of actual orders to Diamond
For our estimates of actual orders to Diamond
For our estimates of actual orders to Diamond
For our estimates of actual orders to Diamond
For our index to our reports on the top comic and graphic novel preorders for January 2000 through April 2009, see "ICv2's Top 300 Comics and Top 100 GNs Index."