The Civil War family of titles took the top comic slot in October despite the absence of the flagship title; with no Civil War issue in October, New Avengers #24 was on top with an unspectacular 136,811 copies sold to comic stores.  The Civil War family accounted for eight of the top 25 comic titles in the month.

52 took four of the next five slots, with sales ranging from sales around 106,000 to over 108,600.  DC took 10 of the top 25; Marvel had 15.

Sales on most top comics were lackluster during October, with 17 of the top 25 titles down vs. the previous month, and only four were up.

The original Fables hardcover, with sales over 15,000 copies, showed the strength of the property and the willingness of comic store consumers to pay a relatively high MSRP for original work in a premium format. 

Here are ICv2's estimates of the sales by Diamond Comic Distributors to comic stores on the top 25 comic titles in October.

136,811          New Avengers #24 CW
108,624          52 Week #22
107,962          52 Week #23
107,413          52 Week #24
106,588          Civil War: Front Line #7
106,332          52 Week #25
106,201          Wolverine #47 CW
103,829          Justice #8 (Of 12)
103,273          Wolverine Origins #7
102,687          Ultimate Power #1 
  89,052          Uncanny X-Men #479
  88,933          Fantastic Four #540 CW
  88,689          Civil War: X-Men #4 
  82,528          Wildcats #1
  81,928          Superman/Batman Annual #1
  81,816          X-Men #192
  81,323          Captain America #23 CW
  78,963          Ultimate Spider-Man #101
  78,869          Action Comics #844
  74,611          Civil War Choosing Sides
  73,837          Ultimate X-Men #75
  62,893          Ms. Marvel #8 CW
  62,431          Detective Comics #824
  61,576          Flash Fastest Man Alive #5
  61,270          Ultimate Fantastic Four #35

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 October, see 'Hardcovers Drive Graphic Novel Sales.'

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

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

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

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

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