It looks like DC Comics’ New 52 and Marvel’s event comics and movie tie-ins are doing the trick. For the month of January, Diamond Comic Distributors reports that comic book sales were up 27.5% over the same month in 2011. This makes this past January the best-selling month since 2008, which only had a 1% increase over 2007.
Diamond reports that both single-issue comics as well as graphic novels and trade paperbacks have shown increased for the month. Comics are up 32% and graphic novels gained 18% over 2011.
The last time comics shot up this much was in May 2006, which jumped up 32% over 2005. That leap was aided aided by the dual release of Marvel’s popular ‘Civil War’ event and DC’s ‘52’. Since that jump in May, only November ’06 and January ’07 have even had gains of over 20%. So that makes this past month’s leap quite an event in the comics market.
January’s top winners were, of course, the big two of comics publishing, DC Comics and Marvel. Marvel won out with pure dollars over DC by 1.62%, while DC took the tops in unit sales, beating Marvel by 2.35%. This is due to Marvel’s higher cover price on their titles. Of course, with that higher unit sales ranking, DC’s New 52 relaunch really paid off and allowed DC to hold all 10 spots on the Top 10 list for January. The last time a single publisher has held all 10 spots was six years ago when Marvel took that honor.
Below are the top 10 lists for both single comic issue as well as graphic novels (in which DC also reigned supreme, holding 5 of the top 10).
Top Ten Comics in January 2012
1. Justice League #5
2. Batman #5
3. Action Comics #5
4. Detective Comics #5
5. Green Lantern #5
6. Batman: The Dark Knight #5
7. Superman #5
8. The Flash #5
9. Batman and Robin #5
10. Aquaman #5
Top Ten Graphic Novels in January 2012
1. Batman: Through the Looking Glass HC (DC)
2. Invincible Vol. 15: Get Smart TP (Image)
3. The Walking Dead Vol. 1: Days Gone Bye (Image)
4. Fear Itself Premiere HC (Marvel)
5. The Unwritten Volume 5: On to Genesis (DC)
6. Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne (DC)
7. The Walking Dead Vol. 15 TP (Image)
8. B.P.R.D.: Hell on Earth Volume 2: Gods and Monsters TP (Dark Horse)
9. Sweet Tooth Vol. 4: Endangered Species TP (DC)
10. Batman: The Dark Knight Vol. 1: Golden Dawn Deluxe Ed. HC (DC)