The first issue of DC Comics’ year-long maxi-series Brightest Day, which deals with the aftermath of the extremely popular Blackest Night event, topped the chart of periodical comics sold through Diamond Comic Distributors in April. DC is planning to release two issues of Brightest Day per month. The series will recount what happens to the characters resurrected in Blackest Night. Sales of issue #0 were aided by a 1:50 variant cover.
With Marvel’s Siege #4 delayed until May, DC managed to take the top four spots. Two Brightest Day tie-ins, Flash #1, which benefited from a ring promo (retailers who ordered 10 copies could buy a bag of 25 rings) plus a 1:25 variant cover, and Green Lantern #53 took the second and thirds spots, while Batman and Robin #11, which ties in to the Return of Bruce Wayne, finished fourth.
Although Marvel’s lead Siege title was MIA, six Siege tie-ins made the top 25 including New Avengers #64, which came in at number five. Retailers had to order some of the Siege tie-ins such as Siege: Captain America, Siege: Spider-Man , and Siege: Loki blind with very little information on stories or creators up front, which probably depressed the numbers.
In addition to Siege, Marvel has another event going on in its X-Books. Second Coming, as it is known, has performed well. At number six Uncanny X-Men #523 was the top Second Coming title followed by X-Force #26 at number 12 and X-Men Legacy #235 at number 14.
Overall sales were up for nine titles, while circulation declined for eight and there were eight number one (or #0) issues.
Mention should be made of Image’s Walking Dead #1, which sold more than 59 thousand comics. Of course the $1 price point didn’t hurt, but this is material that has been available in TPB form through many reprints (over 1,500 of the first volume of The Walking Dead TPB were sold by Diamond in April). Watch out for sales of this increasingly potent property when The Walking Dead TV series debuts.
Movie-fueled sales of Marvel’s Kick-Ass Premiere Hardcover, which also topped the graphic novel charts in March and finished a close second in February, helped boost graphic novels to their biggest year-over-year sales increase in more than a year.
Led by Batman and Robin Deluxe HC Vol.1 and the Flash Rebirth HC, which came in second and third respectively, DC topped all publishers with eleven out of the top 25 graphic novels in April. Two of Toon Books’ graphic novels for very young readers, Benny and Penny in the Big No No (#8) and Jeff Smith’s Little Mouse Gets Ready (#15) both made the top 25 as did Oni Press’ Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life (another movie tie-in with major potential) at #12 and Dan Clowe’s Wilson HC from Drawn & Quarterly at #14.
Two Dark Horse titles created at least in part by Mike Mignola, BPRD Vol. 12: War on Frogs (#4), and Witchfinder: In the Service of Angels (#7) made the top ten as did the post-apocalyptic horror series Crossed written by Garth Ennis and published by Avatar, which ended up at #6.
The top manga graphic novel was Yotsuba & Vol. 8 for Yen Press, which landed at #32.
Here are ICv2's estimates of the sales by Diamond Comic Distributors to comic stores on the top 25 comic titles in April:
129,446 Brightest Day #0
100,903 Flash #1
100,356 Green Lantern #53
84,006 Batman & Robin #11
75,430 New Avengers #64
74,090 Uncanny X-Men #523
73,694 Invincible Iron Man #25
72,163 Green Lantern Corps #47
64,811 Ultimate Comics Avengers 2 #1
64,522 Thor #609
62,342 Justice League of
62,200 X-Force #26
60,934 Batman #698
60,649 X-Men Legacy #235
59,152 Image Firsts: Walking Dead #1
59,051 Captain America #605
57,797 Amazing Spider-Man #628
54,686 Siege: Captain
53,560 Amazing Spider-Man #629
53,438 Ultimate Comics Avengers #6
51,840 Siege: Spider-Man #1
50,252 Mighty Avengers #36
48,956 Iron Man Legacy #1
48,072 Siege: Loki #1
47,996 Ultimate Comics X #2
For an analysis of the dollar trends in April, see "Comic Sales Dip in April."
For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond
For our estimates of actual orders to Diamond
For our estimates of actual sales by 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 2010, see "ICv2's Top 300 Comics and Top 300 GNs Index."
