Shades of black predominated in the top comic titles in July 2009, as three story arcs with noirish titles accounted for 14 of the top 25 comics, according to the rankings release today by Diamond Comic Distributors. DC’s Blackest Night was the strongest, with seven of the top 25 titles, but Marvel’s Dark Reign (3) and Dark Avengers/X-Men Utopia (4) storylines together accounted for another seven of the top 25.
Captain America: Reborn #1 held the #1 slot with over 193,000 copies sold in to comic stores, behind heavy promotion (two covers (50/50) plus multiple order incentive variants and a discount incentive).
DC’s Blackest Night #1, the first book in the anchor series for its big summer crossover, came in second by selling over 177,000 copies. This first issue was promoted with two variant cover incentives and Black Lantern Rings. The two Green Lantern books also had sizable bumps over the previous issues, after some increases in the run-up issues.
The four issues of DC’s Wednesday Comics in July came in at #36, #43, #52 and #58, a very respectable showing for something in a totally different format from every other title on the list.
A five week month and Comic-Con meant there were tons of releases in July, including tons from Marvel and DC. That pushed the top books from other publishers down on the chart, with not a single book from a publisher other than Marvel and DC in the top 75 titles.
Seven of the next 25 (ranked #76 to #100) were from Dynamite Entertainment (3), Dark Horse (2), IDW (2), and Image (1). That compares with nine comics from smaller publishers in the top 100 in July 2008 (also a five week month), when the top title from a publisher other than the Big Two was at #10.
Another impact of the massive shipping month was the increase in the sales of the #300 title, which was up to 4,062 in July vs. 2,918 in June. Perhaps more telling was the year over year change, with the #300 title in July this year (4,062) selling around 5% less than the #300 title in July last year (4,256).
Eleven titles of the top 25 went up in sales between June and July, vs. seven drops. There were an unusually high 11 books from new titles among the top 25 titles.
In the graphic novel world, the top title, 100 Bullets Vol. 13 TPB, sold in only around 8,700 copies in a relatively quiet month. The Boys Volume 2 TPB from Dynamite was the #2 title, and three more DCs (featuring Batman, Green Lantern, and Superman) rounded out the top five. The next five were a nice mix, with Archaia’s Mouse Guard Vol. 2: Winter 1152 HC, IDW’s Parker the Hunter (already sold out of its first printing), Dark Horse’s Star Wars Adventures Vol. 2, and then the top two manga, Viz’s Naruto Vol. 45 and the final volume of Toyopop’s hit, Fruits Basket Vol. 23.
Here are the top 25 comics, with the amount sold in to North American comic stores by Diamond Comic Distributors:
193,142 Captain America: Reborn #1
177,105 Blackest Night #1
117,986 Batman and Robin #2
116,857 Amazing Spider-Man #600
109,426 Green Lantern #43
105,063 Green Lantern #44
94,189 Dark Avengers #7
92,343 Incredible Hulk #600
87,844 Captain America #601
86,748 Ultimatum #5
84,745 New Avengers #55
83,466 Blackest Night Tales of the Corps #1
83,399 Uncanny X-Men #513
83,040 Batman #688
82,415 Green Lantern Corps #38
77,278 Blackest Night Tales of the Corps #2
75,136 Blackest Night Tales of the Corps #3
74,017 Dark Wolverine #76
72,415 Amazing Spider-Man #599
69,052 Dark X-Men Beginning #1
68,317 Justice League Cry for Justice #1
64,680 Mighty Avengers #27
61,205 Detective Comics #855
61,104 X-Force #17
59,298 X-Men Legacy #226
For an analysis of the dollar trends in July, see "Comic Up Again in July."
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 July 2009, see "ICv2's Top 300 Comics and Top 300 GNs Index."