Regardless, the charts are valuable information and we applaud Diamond’s return to being an important source of information on sales to comic stores.
For charts of comic and graphic novel bestsellers based on sell-throughs by comic stores using the ComicHub POS system, see "Top 20 Comics – August 2020" and "Top 20 Graphic Novels – August 2020"). The differences in how the data behind these charts is collected are many. Here are some:
Sell-in charts show all the launch sales happening on the same day, while sell-through sales happen over time, moving sales into different periods.
Sell-in shows what retailers think they will sell, while sell-through shows what they actually do sell.
Sell-in sales are influenced by incentive variants, which increase the number of copies ordered (to get a variant that can be sold at a premium price), but may not increase the number of copies sold at retail by the same amount.
And, as we’ve noted in the ComicHub chart articles, the ComicHub stores are a non-random sample of the total, which may or may not be representative of what the total universe of stores sell.
One obvious take-away from Diamond’s first COVID era top comic chart is that Marvel isn’t releasing anywhere near as many first issues as they normally do.
Top 10 Comics by Units Shipped – August 2020
1. Venom #27 (Marvel Comics)
2. Thor #6 (Marvel Comics)
3. Maestro #1 (Marvel Comics)
4. X-Men #11 (Marvel Comics)
5. Amazing Spider-Man #47 (Marvel Comics)
6. Wolverine #4 (Marvel Comics)
7. Amazing Spider-Man #46 (Marvel Comics)
8. Empyre #4 (Marvel Comics)
9. Venom #25 (Marvel Comics)
10. Empyre #5 (Marvel Comics)
Fewer up-priced Marvel comics in the COVID era has meant that there’s not a lot of difference between the dollar and units charts.
Top 10 Comics by Dollars Invoiced – August 2020
1. Venom #27 (Marvel Comics)
2. Thor #6 (Marvel Comics)
3. Maestro #1 (Marvel Comics)
4. Amazing Spider-Man #47 (Marvel Comics)
5. X-Men #11 (Marvel Comics)
6. Amazing Spider-Man #46 (Marvel Comics)
7. Wolverine #4 (Marvel Comics)
8. Venom #25 (Marvel Comics)
9. Empyre #4 (Marvel Comics)
10. Empyre #5 (Marvel Comics)
The Deadpool franchise was responsible for four of the top 10 graphic novels by units in August.
Top 10 Graphic Novels by Units Shipped – August 2020
1. Deadpool Classic Vol. 1 TP (Marvel Comics)
2. Spider-Man/Deadpool Vol. 0: Don’t Call It Team Up TP (Marvel Comics)
3. Inhumans By Paul Jenkins And Jae Lee TP (Marvel Comics)
4. Gideon Falls Vol. 4 TP (Image Comics)
5. House of X/Powers of X TP (Marvel Comics)
6. Deadpool Vs. Carnage TP (Marvel Comics)
7. Pulp HC (Image Comics)
8. Return of the Living Deadpool TP (Marvel Comics)
9. Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 1: Revival TP (Marvel Comics)
10. Deadpool Firsts TP
As usual, omnibi and other up-price collections make up a big portion of the top graphic novels by units.
Top 10 Graphic Novels by Units Shipped – August 2020
1. House of X/Powers of X TP (Marvel Comics)
2. Solomon Kane: The Original Marvel Years Omnibus HC (Marvel Comics)
3. Conan the Barbarian: The Original Marvel Years Omnibus Vol. 1 HC (Marvel Comics)
4. Cruel Summer HC (Image Comics)
5. Marvel Masterworks: Fantastic Four Vol. 22 HC (Marvel Comics)
6. Steranko Is Revolutionary King-Size HC (Marvel Comics)
7. X-Men Epic Collection: Proteus TP (Marvel Comics)
8. Uncanny X-Force By Remender Omnibus HC (Marvel Comics)
9. Pulp HC (Image Comics)
10. World of Cyberpunk 2077 HC (Dark Horse Comics)
For the rankings of comic book sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on comic books shipped during August, see "Top 500 Comics--August 2020."
For the rankings of graphic novel sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on graphic novels shipped during August, see "Top 500 Graphic Novels--August 2020."
For links to all previous Top 500/300 Comic and Top 500/300 Graphic Novel articles, see "ICv2 Top 500 Comics and Top 500 GNs Index."