Marvel’s Infinity #1 topped the million dollar mark, the third book to do so this year, through a combination of an up-price format ($4.99) and a 205,000+ sale into comic stores in August, according to ICv2’s estimates of the sales on the Top 300 comics in August (see "Top 300 Comics--August 2013"”). The previous books to hit that threshold in 2013 were both DCs: Superman Unchained #1 at 250,000+ copies and $1.25 million (see "Supes' Million Dollar Book Leads June Titles"), and Justice League of America #1 at 307,000+ copies and $1.2 million (see "52 Variants Garner Million Dollar Book"). Late last year, Marvel’s Amazing Spider-Man #700 toped $1.6 million with a 200,000+ sell-in at a $7.99 price (see "Spidey Tops $1.6 Million").
The rest of the sales this month were uninspiring. Three other books, all DCs, topped 100,000 copy sell-ins: Superman Unchained #3 at 136,319, Batman #23 at 128,230, and Justice League #23 at 103,936. All were down substantially from the previous issues.
The paucity of launches certainly affected sales; Batman Incorporated Special #1, the #33 title at 42,807, was the only #1 in the Top 50.
Over on the graphic novel list, things were equally lackluster. An ancient title, The Walking Dead Vol. 1, was the #1 title with 5,603 copies sold (see "Top 300 Graphic Novels--August 2013"). While that’s a great showing, and indicates that there’s still upside for the property as more people start buying the series, the fact that there are no releases that can beat it and the size of the sale are signs of a weak month.
Only two of the top five graphic novels, Chew Vol. 7 and Rocket Raccoon: Tales from Half-World (which is actually just an oversized comic book and not a graphic novel), were new books, and both sold under 5,500 copies. The other two top five books were the two Saga collections, which are also doing great in bookstores (see "August BookScan--Top 20 Graphic Novels")
Only three graphic novels generated over $100,000 retail value in August sell-in, and all were in the popular omnibus format: Thor Omnibus Vol. 2, Sandman Omnibus Vol. 1, and Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus Vol. 1.
For an analysis of the dollar trends in August, see "Comic & Graphic Novel Sales Drop in August."
For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on comic books shipped during August, see "Top 300 Comics Actual--August 2013."
For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on graphic novels shipped during August, see "Top 300 Graphic Novels Actual--August 2013."
For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on comic books shipped during July, see "Top 300 Comics Actual--July 2013."
For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on graphic novels shipped during July, see "Top 300 Graphic Novels Actual--July 2013."
For an overview and analysis of the best-selling comics and graphic novels in July, see "Five Comics Top 100K." For an analysis of the dollar trends in July, see "DC Wins July."
For our index to our reports on the top comic and graphic novel preorders for January 2000 through August 2013, see "ICv2's Top 300 Comics and Top 300 GNs Index."
In Otherwise 'Meh' Month
Posted by ICv2 on September 9, 2013 @ 8:19 pm CT