Comic sales in the direct market staged a rebound in May, up around 15% over May 2009.  This reverses a 15% year over year decline in April; the shift was primarily due to a change in five-week months between 2009 and 2010.

Graphic novel sales were down 13% vs. the previous year in May, continuing a multi-month negative trend.  And the drop can’t be blamed on Watchmen comparisons; May 2009 was the first month in 2009 with no sales on the core Watchmen trade paperback (as returns from consignment programs offset new sales).

But the over-all trend was positive, with an 8% incease in direct market comic and graphic novel sales combined in May 2010 vs. May 2009.

For an overview and analysis of the best-selling comics and graphic novels in May, see "'Avengers' Launch Over 163K."

For our estimates of actual orders to Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on comic books shipped during May, see "Top 300 Comics Actual--May 2010."

For our estimates of actual orders to Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on graphic novels shipped during May, see "Top 300 Graphic Novels Actual--May 2010."

For our estimates of actual orders to Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on comic books shipped during April, see "Top 300 Comics Actual--April 2010."

For our estimates of actual orders to Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on graphic novels shipped during April, see "Top 300 Graphic Novels Actual--April 2010."

For an overview and analysis of the best-selling comics and graphic novels in April, see "'Brightest Day' Tops in April."  For an analysis of the dollar trends in April, see "Comic Sales Dip in April."

For our index to our reports on the top comic and graphic novel preorders for January 2000 through May 2010, see "ICv2's Top 300 Comics and Top 300 GNs Index."