Top 100 Comics: June 2009

The new Batman title from Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely, Batman and Robin #1, saw the debut of former Robin and Nightwing Dick Grayson as the new Dark Knight and gave DC Comics the bestselling comic book title for the month of June, according to information from Diamond Comic Distributors.

In total, DC Comics had four of the top 10 comics for the month of June — Batman #687, a follow-up to Batman: Battle for the Cowl, placed at #4, Green Lantern #42 placed at #9, and The Flash: Rebirth #3 ranked #10.

Marvel Comics had six titles in the top 10 for the month of June, led by Captain America #600, the anniversary issue that leads into the highly-anticipated Captain America: Rebirth mini-series, at #2. The Dark Reign event continued to be felt in the Marvel Universe, with Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Utopia #1 ranked #3, Dark Avengers #5 at #5, Dark Avengers #6 at #6, and New Avengers #54 at #7. Ultimatum #4, part of the Ultimate Universe crossover event, placed at #8.

Please Note: While this chart contains only the top 100 comics, Diamond makes available to retailers a complete list of the top 300 comics as a text file for download here.

TOP 100 COMIC BOOKS
Based on Total Unit Sales of Products Invoiced in June 2009

This information may not be reproduced in any format without the express permission of Diamond Comic Distributors.

How does Diamond calculate the charts? It all starts at the comic book shop.

Data for Diamond’s sales charts – which include the monthly market shares and all top product charts – are compiled by Diamond Comic Distributors from a universe of over 4,000+ accounts, comprised of comic book specialty shops and other merchant stores and buyers. The shops are primarily located in North America, with a percentage of sales also to international stores and buyers located throughout the world. The account base includes not only brick-and-mortar comic book specialty shops, but also Internet stores, chain stores, and other specialty stores.

Unit and dollars sales are calculated based upon orders invoiced and shipped to Diamond accounts during any given month, which comprises initial pre-orders, advance reorders, and reorders, minus any copies that are received back from a title marked as returnable.

About the Diamond Sales Index: The Sales Index of selected monthly Bestseller Charts is presented as a comparative tool for retailers and publishers. It presents Diamond’s monthly sales for individual titles in relation to Diamond’s total sales for the issue of DC Comics' monthly Batman comic book. (Batman is used as the control title – with a value of 100 – because sales of Batman usually remain relatively stable.) This allows for easy comparison to other titles and helps retailers gauge their orders for all other titles. This formula is only a guide, other factors may impact a titles’ ability to sell in certain locations and clientele.