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May 2013 Comic Book Sales to Comics Shops

Estimated Comics Shipped to North American Comics Shops

Based on Reports from Diamond Comic Distributors

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There may not have been as many blockbuster titles selling into the six figures in the month of May — just two, versus five in 2012— but the Direct Market still managed to eke out a slight increase against what was a very hard comparative to beat.



X-Men #1, the top seller at nearly 178,000 copies, was the second title by that nomenclature in just three years, readers will recall; 2013's version outsold the 2010 version by more than 30,000 copies. (Though it still lagged behind the 1963 version — which likely sold more than 200,000 copies — and, of course, the 1991 version, which at 8 million copies ordered was the best-selling comic book in history. Or, at least, the most-ordered one!)



A greater variety of publishers than usual appears to have contributed to sales this month. There were also some new publishers in the Top 300 comics list for the first time in a while: Black Mask and Storm King.



It's worth noting that May's $45.12 million in comics and graphic novel orders represents an increase of 90% over the $23.7 million ordered for the same month in 2003. Inflation did not doubled over the course of ten years, so there was definitely substantial growth in the market.



Read more in our preliminary and final analysis posts for the month. You can also click to skip to the Top Graphic Novels for the month.



—John Jackson Miller

This list includes all items on Diamond's Top 300 charts, plus any post-#300 items from its Top 50 Indy and Small Publisher charts. If you don't see a book, Diamond released no data for it.

Items marked with asterisks [*] had their reported orders reduced by 10% due to returnability.

Distributor charts are regional commodity reports, not measures of a work's total reach. Read our FAQ.

The links lead to current listings for each item on eBay. You can also find the books at your comics shop.

May 2013 Graphic Novel Sales to Comics Shops

Estimated Graphic Novels and Trade Paperbacks Shipped to North American Comics Shops Based on Reports from Diamond Comic Distributors

This list includes all items on Diamond's Top 300 charts, plus any post-#300 items from its Top 50 Indy, Manga, and Small Publisher charts. If you don't see a book, Diamond released no data for it.

The links lead to details about each title on Amazon. You can also find the books at your comics shop.

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An Adventure Time original graphic novel led the collected edition charts. In a change from what was the case for much of last year, graphic novel sales beneath 300th place performed significantly better than the top of the list; the Top 300 were off 5%, but the entire graphic novel category was up 1% overall.



