For information about and analysis of these numbers, see 'The Return of the Million Dollar Comic'.  For analysis of over-all dollar trends for the month, see 'December Comic Orders Up 7% Over Last Year.'
 
QtyRank  GUIDEDescription  PricePUBEst.Qty
133.17LONE WOLF & CUB VOL 17 WILL OF FANG TP (MR)$9.95 DAR13,433
224.22AMERICAS BEST COMICS SKETCHBOOK$5.95 DC9,808
315.28POWERS VOL 2 ROLEPLAY TP$13.95 IMA6,188
412.34HAMMER O/T GODS COLOR SAGA$4.95 INS4,997
510.25CAPTAIN BRITAIN TP$19.95 MAR4,151
610.07ESSENTIAL CAPTAIN AMERICA VOL 2 TP$14.95 MAR4,078
78.51ESSENTIAL HOWARD THE DUCK TP$14.95 MAR3,446
87.56SGT ROCK ARCHIVES VOL 1 HC$49.95 DC3,061
97.51WILL EISNERS SPIRIT ARCHIVES VOL 6 HC$49.95 DC3,041
107.13X-MEN FALL O/T MUTANTS TP$24.95 MAR2,887
116.91BTVS CREATURES OF HABIT GSA$17.95 DAR2,798
126.61WORLDS FINEST ARCHIVES VOL 2 HC$49.95 DC2,677
136.33DAREDEVIL PARTS OF A HOLE TP$16.95 MAR2,563
146.29AVENGERS CELESTIAL MADONNA TP$19.95 MAR2,547
156.04LUCIFER VOL 2 CHILDREN AND MONSTERS TP (MR)$17.95 DC2,446
165.99FANTASTIC FIRSTS TP$29.95 MAR2,426
175.67STAR WARS TALES VOL 1 TP$19.95 DAR2,296
185.62SUPERMAN TIL DEATH DO US PART TP$17.95 DC2,276
195.49PETER PARKER SPIDER-MAN ONE SMALL BREAK TP$16.95 MAR2,223
205.48CYBERTRONIAN TRANSFORMER FIELD GUIDE 2002*$34.95 ANT2,219
215.46WHATS MICHAEL VOL 5 MICHAEL FAVORITE SPOT TP$8.95 DAR2,211
225.32DIRTY PAIR RUN FROM FUTURE TP$14.95 DAR2,154
235.31WORLD DARKNESS VAMPIRE MASQUERADE THEO BELL GN$5.95 MNS2,150
245.25INU YASHA VOL 10 TP$15.95 VIZ2,126
255.11DRAGONBALL Z VOL 7 TP$12.95 VIZ2,069

 

For the top comics orderd for December, see 'Top 300 Comics -- December 2001.'

Notes on this chart:

Some titles have been truncated or abbreviated for space reasons.

Publisher abbreviations have also been used.

Mar = Marvel

Dar = Dark Horse

Ima = Image

Bla = Black Bull

Car = Cartoon Books

Har = Harris

Cro = Crossgen

Bon = Bongo

Tok = Tokyo Pop

Cha = Chaos

 

The quantities in this chart are ICv2 estimates of initial raw orders to Diamond North America on titles scheduled for shipment in December 2001. 

 

Marvel, DC, Dark Horse and Image distribute 100% of their comic store orders through Diamond.  Some other publishers distribute directly to stores or through other distributors and as a result this analysis may underestimate their sales. 

 

Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, and Image distribute some of their titles through channels other than comic specialty stores, e.g., newsstands and bookstores.  These quantity estimates do not reflect distribution through those channels. 

 

The quantities above do not include advance reorders, late orders, or reorders.

 

Most of the titles on this chart are also distributed to Europe by Diamond UK, which can account for significant sales for the publisher, ranging from 3-20% of the US numbers.   Sales by Diamond UK are not included in the numbers above.

 

Even given the above, however, it is probably safe to say that these quantities reflect 80% or more of the total North American sales by the publisher on most periodical comics.   

 

One other factor to consider is that sales through Diamond and other comic distributors are non-returnable to retailers.  That means that there is a considerable unknown percentage of books unsold at the retailer level.  If that percentage is 10-20% of sales (a reasonable assumption), the estimates above may be quite close to actual sales to consumers.

For last month's top comic list, see 'Top 300 Comics -- November.'

 

For last month's graphic novel list, see 'Top 25 Graphic Novels -- November.'

 

For an overview and analysis of last month's numbers, see 'November Comic Orders Continue Strong Trend.'