BOOM! Studios had a great graphic novel month in May, with the #1 title, Adventure Time Original Graphic Novel Vol. 1:  Playing with Fire, and the #5 title as well:  Adventure Time Marceline & the Scream Queens Vol. 1, according to information released by Diamond Comic Distributors on Friday.  Playing with Fire is the first Adventure Time OGN, and Marceline & the Scream Queens collects an Adventure Time miniseries (see "BOOM!'s Ross Richie and Filip Sablik talk to ICv2, Pt. 2"). 

Image Comics' Saga Vol. 1 actually moved up a notch since its debut in April, ranking #2 in graphic novel sales in May. 

Marvel had the top comic with the Brian Wood-penned X-Men #1, and DC Comics had the second best-selling comic with Batman #20. 

Diamond’s sales of comics and graphic novels to comic stores were up 1% vs. May 2012, an incredible sign of market strength when you consider that May 2012 sales were up an astounding 43.4% vs. sales in May 2011.   Year-to-date growth is 14.07%, with comics leading the way with a 15.04% growth rate and graphic novels growing 12.01% through May.

It’s really been an incredible run over the last year, and the first part of 2013 has been gangbusters.  Here are the growth rates from May 2012 through May 2013:

1%          May 2013
14%        April 2013
22%        March 2013
10%        February 2013
27%        January 2013
15%        December 2012
(1%)       November 2012
20%        October 2012
(4%)       September 2012
18%        August 2012
20%        July 2012
11%        June 2012
43%        May 2012

Marvel had the top share in May, with 33.36% vs. #2 DC’s at 28.27%.  Behind its two hit graphic novels, BOOM! Studios approached 3% with a 2.97% share.  Image Comics had 7.45%, IDW Publishing 6.28%, Dark Horse Comics 4.73% and Dynamite Entertainment 3.5%.

For an overview and analysis of comic sales in May, see "'X-Men' #1 Tops 177,000."

For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on comic books shipped during May, see "Top 300 Comics Actual--May 2013."

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 Actual--May 2013."

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 2013."