The sixth issue of DC's Infinite Crisis mini-series (which shipped with two covers) suffered a small sales decline (3.5%) in April, but finished well ahead of all the other periodical comics listed in Diamond Comic Distributors Top 300.  Infinite Crisis has topped the charts in every month in which it has shipped and is playing a key role in the continuing sales growth of periodical comics so far in 2006.  The strength of the market is also reflected in the fact that among returning issues in the Top 25, 11 series were up while just 8 declined.

 

Marvel had three inaugural issues that finished in the top seven. Wolverine Origins #1 (which shipped with two covers; 50/50 ratio) gave notice that it is going to be a title to be reckoned with by finishing second, while  Moon Knight #1, written by novelist Charlie Huston, came in sixth, and New Avengers Annual #1 took the seventh spot.

 

DC Comics had some strong #1s of its own with the first issue of Ion debuting at #21 and Crisis Aftermath: Battle for Bludhaven #1 finished at #25.

 

Marvel and DC split the top 25 with Marvel claiming 15 spots and DC 10 (up one from last month).

 

Dark Horse's Hellboy Vol. 6: Strange Places topped the graphic novel chart followed by Marvel's Ultimate Fantastic Four Vol. 5 and DC's 100 Bullets Vol. 9. Last month's leader, V for Vendetta dropped to #6, but still sold a solid 5,671 copies.

 

Dark Horse's Berserk Vol. 11 was the top manga title sold through Diamond (at #14) followed by Viz's Inuyasha Vol. 25 (at #21).

 

The top 25 comic titles in April, with our estimates of the number sold to North American comic stores by Diamond Comic Distributors, are:

 

194,431          Infinite Crisis #6 (of 7)

150,283          Wolverine Origins #1

121,550          New Avengers #18

119,545          Astonishing X-Men #14

110,157          Justice #5

103,670          Moon Knight #1

101,877          New Avengers Annual #1

  86,884          Amazing Spider-Man #531

  82,503          Teen Titans #34

  79,391          OMAC Project Infinite Crisis SP

  79,157          Uncanny X-Men #472

  78,815          X-Men #185

  73,778          Villains United Infinite Crisis SP

  73,355          Superman #651

  73,188          Ultimate X-Men #69

  73,151          Ultimate Extinction #4 (of 5)

  72,889          Batman #652

  72,831          Ultimate Spider-Man #93

  70,965          Wolverine #41

  67,554          Ultimate Fantastic Four #29

  66,453          Ion #1

  62,940          Fantastic Four #537

  60,440          Detective Comics #818

  56,613          Young Avengers #11

  56,518          Crisis Aftermath: Battle for Bludhaven #1 (of 6)

 

We are estimating actual sales by Diamond U.S. (primarily to North American comic stores), using Diamond's published sales indexes and publisher sales data to estimate a sales number for Batman (the anchor title Diamond uses in its calculations), and using that number and the indexes to estimate Diamond's sales on the remaining titles.  We can check the accuracy of our numbers by comparing the Batman number that we calculate using multiple data points; our numbers for Batman are within 1/10 of 1% of each other, ensuring a high degree of accuracy.
 
For an analysis of the dollar trends in April, see 'Periodicals Drive April Sales.'
 
For our estimates of actual orders to Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on comic books scheduled to ship during April, see 'Top 300 Comics Actual--April 2006.'

 

For our estimates of actual orders to Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on graphic novels scheduled to ship during April, see 'Top 100 Graphic Novels Actual--April 2006.'

 

For our estimates of actual orders to Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on comic books scheduled to ship during March, see 'Top 300 Comics Actual--March 2006.'

 

For our estimates of actual orders to Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on graphic novels scheduled to ship during March, see 'Top 100 Graphic Novels Actual--March 2006.'

 

For our index to our reports on the top comic and graphic novel preorders for January 2000 through April 2006, see 'ICv2's Top 300 Comics and Top 100 GNs Index.'