With DC’s Blackest Night miniseries skipping January, Marvel’s new Siege #1 took the top spot on the “Top 300” chart of periodical comics. Two other Siege tie-ins, New Avengers #61 (at #5) and Dark Avengers #13 (at #8) also made the top ten.
Even though the Blackest Night miniseries skipped the month of January, the DC Comics’ “event” continues to influence the charts. Three Blackest Night tie-ins made the top ten including Green Lantern #50 (at #2), Green Lantern Corps #44 (at #7), and Blackest Night: The Flash #2 (at #9). Also the last issue of the miniseries, Blackest Night #6, which was the best-selling comic in December when it sold 100,351 copies, sold an additional 35,344 copies in January, the majority of which probably came from retailers who didn’t participate in DC’s “Green Christmas” promotion. This puts the total sales for Blackest Night #6 at 135,695, which is much closer to the ring-aided November total for Blackest Night #5 (144,395).
The Blackest Night effect continued well down the list with numerous mid-tier titles getting a tie-in boost including Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #2 (at #15), Blackest Night: JSA #2 (at #16), Catwoman #83 (at #38), Starman #81 (at #40), Atom and Hawkman #46 (at #44), Suicide Squad #67 (at #45), Power of Shazam #48 (at #47), The Phantom Stranger #42 (at #50), and Weird Western Tales #71 (at #54).
Not all the top titles were event-related. Grant Morrison’s Batman and Robin continues to do well as issue #7 came in at #3, while the delayed final issue of the Captain America: Reborn miniseries finished at #6. Captain America #602, the controversial “tea bagger issue” (see “Tea Party in Cap Gets Slammed”), finished at #11. Aided by a barrage of variant covers Amazing Spider-Man #617 finished at #6, well ahead of the two other ASM titles. The return of Joss Whedon as the “writer” of Buffy the Vampire Slayer #31 helped the Dark Horse title become the only non-Marvel and DC comic in the top 25.
Marvel dominated the top 25 with 15 titles while DC had nine and Dark Horse one. Overall 9 titles posted increases while 14 declined.
Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead Vol. 11: Fear the Hunters published by Image totally dominated graphic novel sales in January selling nearly three times as many copies as the second place book, The Unwritten (Vertigo), a clever contemporary fantasy by Mike Carey about the “son” of the author of a series of Harry Potter type books whose father disappears. Another Vertigo release, the Vertigo Crime volume The Chill by Jason Starr finished at number five.
Led by Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 22 Marvel managed a better than average performance by putting four volumes in the top 10. Dark Horse’s Blade of the Immortal Vol. 22 was the top manga at number 8 followed by Viz Media’s Full Metal Alchemist Vol. 22 at #18.
Here are ICv2's estimates of the sales by Diamond Comic Distributors to comic stores on the top 25 comic titles in January:
108,484 Siege #1
106,444 Green Lantern #50
87,780 Batman & Robin #7
84,844 Captain America: Reborn #6
78,202 New Avengers #61
76,730 Amazing Spider-Man 617
76,458 Green Lantern Corps #44
73,712 Dark Avengers #13
69,381 Blackest Night: The Flash #2
65,758 Uncanny X-Men #520
63,948 Captain America #602
63,467 Batman #695
62,262 Justice League of
61,969 Amazing Spider-Man #618
61,372 Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #2
58,751 Blackest Night: JSA #2
56,837 Amazing Spider-Man #619
55,353 Thor #606
54,266 Hulk #19
53,170 Siege: Embedded #1
52,015 Dark Wolverine #82
50,848 X-Force #23
49,200 X-Men Legacy #232
49,193 Justice League: Cry for Justice #6
47,013 Buffy the Vampire Slayer #31
For an analysis of the dollar trends in January, see "Comics Inch Up in January."
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 January 2010, see "ICv2's Top 300 Comics and Top 300 GNs Index."
