Diamond's Top 300 Comics for April 2013

Media Release -- A bank robbery committed by Bruce Wayne poses a mystery that Batman must solve in Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's Batman #19 from DC Comics, the best-selling comic book to retailers in April.

In total, DC Comics had three of the top ten best-selling comics in April. Also in the top ten were Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis' Justice League #19 at #5 and Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason's Batman and Red Robin #19 at #9.

Marvel Comics had five titles in the top ten, led by Jason Aaron and Simone Bianchi's Thanos Rising #1 at #2. Three issues of Brian Michael Bendis' Age of Ultron placed in the top ten; issue #4 ranked #4, issue #5 ranked #6,and issue #6 ranked #7. Finally, Bendis and Steve McNiven's Guardians of the Galaxy #2 ranked #10.

Rounding out the top ten, Mark Millar and Frank Quitely's Jupiter's Legacy #1 from Image Comics ranked #3 for the month.

Among the Premier Publishers, Brian Wood's Star Wars #4 from Dark Horse Comics was that publisher's top book for the month at #40.

Finally, IDW Publishing's top book for April was My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #6 at #65.

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.

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.

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.