October Comic Numbers Soar
Avengers/JLA Leads the Pack
Avengers/JLA #2
Takes the Top Spot
November 14, 2003
Though variations in the number of shipping weeks in any month can affect the numbers of comics shipped by Diamond, and October was a five-week month, the preponderance of positive numbers for last month indicates that actual sales of comic books soared in October according to our analysis of rankings supplied by Diamond Comic Distributors. While no book broke the 200,000-copy barrier like Batman #619 did last month (see "Hush Finale Tops Charts"), sixteen of the top 25 titles went up compared with their sales from the previous month's issue while only four titles declined. One of the declining titles, Avengers/JLA #2 actually topped the sales charts for October, selling 176,734 copies at a hefty $5.95 cover price, but its roughly 5% decline was actually far less than the normal drop between the number one and number two issues of a mini-series. Amazing Spider-Man #500 had a huge increase of some 70,000 copies, which can be explained by the special nature of a milestone issue, but Neil Gaiman's Marvel: 1602 #3 actually topped sales of issue 2, an anomaly testifying to increased interest in this series. The same could be said for DC's Superman/Batman #3, which posted a sizable increase over issue #2. Amazingly, last month's leader Batman #619, responsible for a chart-topping total of 233,775 in September, made the list again in October at #17 by selling an additional 77,736 copies.
Marvel still dominated the Top 25 with eighteen titles, while DC placed 5 on the Top 25 (with 3 in the Top 10). Dreamwave, with two titles on the list, was the lone non-premier publisher to make the Top 25. Marvel's Hulk Gray #1 was the top debut issue in October coming in at #18. Jim Starlin's Thanos #1 opened at #22, while Dreamwave's Transformers War Within Vol. 2 #1 followed at #25.
The publisher mix on the Top 25 Graphic Novels list was quite a bit more diverse. DC Comics placed ten titles on the list followed by Marvel with eight. Dark Horse made a strong showing with 3 titles on the list including the Chronicles Of Conan, which took the top spot. Image, Tokyopop, Gemstone and Viz were all represented bringing the publisher total up to seven. Neil Gaiman's Sandman: Endless Nights, which dominated the list last month slipped to the number two spot, but still led all graphic novels in terms of dollars sold due to its $24.95 cover price.
The Top 25 comics, with our estimates of the quantities sold during October, are:
176,734 Avengers/JLA #2
162,176 Amazing Spider-Man #500
140,972 Marvel 1602 #3
130,575 Ultimate Six #2 (of 6)
119,499 Ultimate Six #3 (of 6)
117,729 Ultimate X-Men #38
117,213 Batman #620
115,045 New X-Men #147
112,782 Superman/Batman #3
112,173 New X-Men #148
108,528 Ultimate Spider-Man #47
107,531 Ultimate Spider-Man #48
100,698 Uncanny X-Men #432
89,375 Wolverine #6
83,983 Supreme Power #3
78,040 Spectacular Spider-Man #5
77,736 Batman #619
76,083 Hulk Gray #1 (of 6)
75,227 Teen Titans #4
69,109 X-Treme X-Men #32
68,992 Hulk Gray #2 (of 6)
68,722 Thanos #1
68,546 Transformers Generation One Vol. 2 #6
68,312 X-Treme X-Men #33
68,112 Transformers War Within Vol. 2 #1 |
