Diamond's Top 300 Comics for April 2012

Media Release -- The Avengers stormed the beaches of the X-Men's island base of Utopia in Jason Aaron and John Romita, Jr.'s Avengers Vs. X-Men #2, the second chapter of the 12-part event from Marvel Comics and April's best-selling comic book.

In total, Marvel Comics had four of the month's top ten books, all of them tie-ins to the Avengers Vs. X-Men event. AVX Vs. #1, the anthology comic that expands on the battles in the main book, was Marvel's number two book at #4. Kieron Gillen and Greg Land's Uncanny X-Men #11 ranked #9 and Brian Michael Bendis and Walt Simonson's Avengers #25 ranked #10.

DC Comics had six of the month's top ten books, led by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's Batman #8, the first chapter of the "Night of the Owls" events, at #2. Geoff Johns and Carlos D'Anda's Justice League #8 ranked #3, Johns and Doug Mahnke's Green Lantern #8 ranked #5, Grant Morrison and Rags Morales' Action Comics #8 ranked #6, Tony S. Daniel's Detective Comics #8 ranked #7, and and Joe Harris and Ed Benes' Batman: The Dark Knight #8 ranked #8.

Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard's The Walking Dead #96 was Image Comics' top book in April at #47.

Dark Horse Comics' top book in April was Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9 #8, which ranked #74 for the month.

Finally, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #9 was IDW Publishing's top book for April at #102.

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, which comprises initial pre-orders, advance reorders, and reorders, minus any copies that are received back from a title marked as returnable.

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.

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.