Marvel’s event book Original Sin #1 was the bestselling comic in May with over 147,045 copies shipping to retailers according to ICv2.com. Since ICv2’s numbers do not include sales through Diamond UK, the actual number of copies of Original Sin #1 is likely well north of 150,000. Of course it should be noted that Marvel unleashed a barrage of sales incentives to boost sales of Original Sin #1 (including those intriguing "eyeball" trinkets and several variants). The result of all these promotions was a very big number for the first issue and a steep drop-off for the second, which came in 37% below the first with sales of 92,643.In addition to Original Sin #1, three other titles, Amazing Spider-Man #2, Amazing Spider-Man #1.1, and Batman #31 all topped the 100K mark. In April three titles made it over the century mark, after only one title per month had sales that high in the previous 3 months of 2014. By this standard, it appears that at least the top of the chart titles are beginning to shake off their Q1 torpor.
DC’s new event book New 52 Future’s End #1 debuted inauspiciously at #9, but the delayed finale to the publisher’s previous event Forever Evil was one of only six continuing titles to show gains in circulation. The other five titles in the top 25 that gained sales (16 lost circulation and there were 3 #1s) were Image’s The Walking Dead #127, which has become a fixture in the top 25 and landed at #8 in May, Marvel’s All-New X-Men #27, Avengers #29, and Guardians of the Galaxy #15, along with Image’s Saga #19.
Marvel took the first three spots, but DC had 13 of the top 25 to Marvel’s 10, while Image Comics snagged 2 of the top 25 positions
On the graphic novel side, DC’s Batman took the top two spots with the new hardcover edition of Batman Vol. 4, the first collection of the "Zero Year" storyline, coming in first, followed by the trade paperback reprint of the previous Scott Snyder Batman collection, Batman, Vol. 3 Death of the Family.
Image had six of the top 15 graphic novel titles, and believe it or not none of them were from The Walking Dead series. The Image books that did the best in May were Black Science Vol. 1, which came in at #3, followed by Manifest Destiny Vol. 1 at #6, Manhattan Projects Vol. 4 at #9, plus three potent backlist titles, Saga Vol. 3 at #8, Saga Vol. 1 at #11, and April’s top GN release Matt Fraction’s Sex Criminals Vol. 1, which landed at #15 in May.
Two original graphic novels (containing material that was not first released in periodical form) also made the list, Marvel’s X-Men: No More Humans, which ended up at #4, and DC’s Black Canary and Zatanna Bloodspell HC, which finished at #5. Dark Horse had two titles in the top 15 including Hellboy in Hell Vol. 1 Descent at #7 and True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys at #14.
For an analysis of the dollar trends in May, see "Comics Down Slightly in May."
For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on comic books shipped during May, see "Top 400 Comics Actual--May 2014"
For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on graphic novels shipped during May, see "Top 300 Graphic Novels--May 2014"
For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on comic books shipped during April, see "Top 300 Comics Actual--April 2014."
For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on graphic novels shipped during April, see "Top 300 Graphic Novels Actual--April 2014."
For an overview and analysis of the best-selling comics and graphic novels in April, see "'ASM' #1 Generated Over $3 Million." For an analysis of the dollar trends in April, see "Marvel Surged in April."
For our index to our reports on the top comic and graphic novel preorders for January 2000 through May 2014, see "ICv2's Top 300 Comics and Top 300 GNs Index."
