Diamond sold almost 202,000 copies of Infinite Crisis #5 to comic stores in March, around an 11% increase over its sales of #4.  The title is a true juggernaut, taking the #1 slot in every month it's shipped.  Although some of the difference in quantity between #4 and #5 may have been the times of the month they shipped (#4 shipped January 18th and #5 shipped March 1st, giving #5 two more weeks to sell reorders), the title certainly isn't losing any steam and may be picking up strength.

 

Over-all, it was a strong month for comic circulations, with 11 titles up and 9 down in the top 25 vs. the previous issues. 

 

DC and Marvel were about the same as last month at the top of the chart, with 16 Marvels out of the top 25, and 9 DCs.   

 

V for Vendetta topped the graphic novel list, with over 7,100 sold the month the movie premiered in U.S. theaters.  Tokyopop's Fruits Basket Vol. 13 was the #2 graphic novel title and the top manga in comic stores, topping Naruto Vol. 9, a reverse of the ranking in bookstores, where Naruto reigns supreme. 

 

The top 25 comic titles in March, with our estimates of the number sold to North American comic stores by Diamond Comic Distributors, are: 

 

201,855          Infinite Crisis #5

121,098          New Avengers #17

110,585          All Star Superman #3

107,912          New Avengers Illuminati

101,315          Superman/Batman #24

  94,900          Ultimates 2 #10

  89,874          Amazing Spider-Man #530

  79,745          Green Lantern #10

  79,389          Uncanny X-Men #479

  78,740          Infinite Crisis Secret Files 2006

  78,286          Uncanny X-Men #471        

  78,000          X-Men #184

  75,773          Ultimate Extinction #3

  75,557          Wolverine #40

  74,684          X-Men: Deadly Genesis #5

  74,028          Ultimate Spider-Man #91

  73,407          Ms. Marvel #1

  72,765          Ultimate X-Men #68

  72,269          Ultimate Spider-Man #92

  69,805          Batman #651

  69,679          Squadron Supreme #1

  67,480          Ultimate Fantastic Four #28

  67,208          Teen Titans #33

  65,966          Batman Annual #25

  65,603          Superman #650

 

We are estimating actual sales by Diamond U.S. (primarily to North American comic stores), using Diamond's published sales indexes and publisher sales data to estimate a sales number for Batman (the anchor title Diamond uses in its calculations), and using that number and the indexes to estimate Diamond's sales on the remaining titles.  We can check the accuracy of our numbers by comparing the Batman number that we calculate using multiple data points; our numbers for Batman are within 1/10 of 1% of each other, ensuring a high degree of accuracy.
 
For an analysis of the dollar trends in March, see 'Healthy Comic Periodical Market in March, Q1.'
 
For our estimates of actual orders to Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on comic books scheduled to ship during March, see 'Top 300 Comics Actual--March 2006.'

 

For our estimates of actual orders to Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on graphic novels scheduled to ship during March, see 'Top 100 Graphic Novels Actual--March 2006.'

 

For our estimates of actual orders to Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on comic books scheduled to ship during February, see 'Top 300 Comics Actual--February 2006.'

 

For our estimates of actual orders to Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on graphic novels scheduled to ship during February, see 'Top 100 Graphic Novels Actual--February 2006.'

 

For our index to our reports on the top comic and graphic novel preorders for January 2000 through March 2006, see 'ICv2's Top 300 Comics and Top 100 GNs Index.'