In addition to Batman: The Dark Knight, DC Comics placed two Green Lantern titles and two Brightest Day books in the top five followed by Batman Incorporated #2 and Batman and Robin #18. DC secured eight of the top ten spots in December and 13 out of the top 25.
The top Marvel title was New Avengers #7, which came in at number eight. Although Marvel nosed out DC in the Unit Share of titles sold via Diamond with 38.9% to DC’s 36.99%, DC scored a relatively rare victory over Marvel in December in Dollar Share with 33.07% to Marvel’s 32.28%.
DC’s market share was aided by a strong showing on the graphic novel side, where led by Bill Willingham’s Fables Vol. 14 and JMS’ Superman: Earth One HC, DC dominated the list with six of the top ten titles. The TV success of Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead was reflected in the presence of three Walking Dead volumes in the top ten, led by Volume 1, which came in at number 3, indicating that new readers are jumping on the series. Dark Horse’s Star Wars: Clone Wars Vol. 6 rounded out the graphic novel top ten.
Tite Kubo’s Bleach Vol.33, which is published by Viz Media and came in at #14, was the top manga title in the direct market in December.
Here are ICv2’s estimates of the sales by Diamond Comic Distributors to comic stores on the top 25 comic titles in December:
89,985 Batman: The Dark Knight #1
76,360 Green Lantern #60
75,450 Brightest Day #15
74,871 Brightest Day #16
72,302 Green Lantern #61
71,544 Batman Incorporated #2
68,814 Batman and Robin #18
67,840 New Avengers #7
67,056 Avengers #8
63,262 Batman #705
57,348 Wolverine: Best There Is #1
56,304 Flash #7
55,996 Amazing Spider-Man #650
55,770 Uncanny X-Men #531
55,520 Uncanny X-Force #3
54,387 Green Lantern Corps #55
54,048 Secret Avengers #8
53,975 Flash #8
53,005 X-Men #6
52,812 Wolverine #4
48,501 Justice League of America #52
46,072 Nemesis #4
45,142 Thor #618
44,261 Shadowland #5
44,077 Green Lantern Emerald Warriors #5
For an analysis of the dollar trends in December, see "December Comic Sales Down."
For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond
For our estimates of actual sales by 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 December 2010, see "ICv2's Top 300 Comics and Top 300 GNs Index."