Comic sales to comic stores were down vs. the previous year and graphic novel sales up in July.  With only one title over 100,000 copies, comic sales dropped 12% vs. the year ago period.  But strong sales on all six Scott Pilgrim volumes, along with a new Walking Dead volume, pushed graphic novel sales up 3% vs. the previous year.  

The Scott Pilgrim graphic novels benefited from the run-up to the movie, which despite underwhelming at the box office has proven exceptionally powerful at driving graphic novel sales.  One reason is undoubtedly the very strong connection between the movie and the graphic novels.     

The over-all picture was one of weakness, however, as the increase in graphic novel sales was insufficient to outweigh weak comic sales; over-all sales were down 9% in July.

For an overview and analysis of the best-selling comics and graphic novels in July, see "'X-Men' #1 Tops 140K."

For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on comic books shipped during July, see "Top 300 Comics Actual--July 2010."

For our estimates of actual orders to Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on graphic novels shipped during July, see "Top 300 Graphic Novels Actual--July 2010."

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 2010."

For our estimates of actual orders to Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on graphic novels shipped during June, see "Top 300 Graphic Novels Actual--June 2010."

For an overview and analysis of the best-selling comics and graphic novels in June, see "Four Avengers in Top 10 in June."  For an analysis of the dollar trends in June, see "June Comic Sales Up 1%."

For our index to our reports on the top comic and graphic novel preorders for January 2000 through July 2010, see "ICv2's Top 300 Comics and Top 300 GNs Index."