Top 100 Comics: September 2012

The Avengers and the X-Men join forces to defeat the Phoenix-possessed Cyclops and Emma Frost and a legendary character falls in the battle in Avengers Vs. X-Men #11 from Marvel Comics, the best-selling comic book to the specialty market in September 2012.

DC Comics' "Zero Month" gave the publisher nine spots in September's top ten. The publisher's top book was Batman #0 at #2, followed by Justice League #0 at #3, Green Lantern #0 at #4, Detective Comics #0 at #5, Action Comics #0 at #6, Batman: The Dark Knight #0 at #7, Batman and Robin #0 at #8, Earth 2 #0 at #9, and Batman, Incorporated #0 at #10.

Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard's The Walking Dead #102 was Image Comics' top book for September at #102.

Dark Horse Comics' top book in September was Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9 #13 at #85.

Rounding out the top ten, IDW Publishing's Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation² #5 crossover was the publisher's top book for the month at #104.

TOP 100 COMIC BOOKS
Based on Total Unit Sales of Products Invoiced in September 2012

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

For retailers, Diamond offers the Top 300 Comics and Top 300 Graphic Novels sales charts on the Diamond Tools page of the Diamond Retailer Services website to provide more information about the industry's top selling publications.

Please note that comics marked with an asterisk have had their reported quantities reduced due to retailer returnability, and thus may rank lower on the charts than their actual sales would reflect.

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 3,500 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, minus any copies that are distributed free of cost.

About the Diamond Sales Index: The Sales Index of selected monthly Best Seller 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.