Diamond's Top 300 Comics for May 2012

Media Release -- The Avengers and the X-Men continued their pursuit of Hope while the Phoenix Force neared Earth in Avengers Vs. X-Men #4, the best-selling comic book to comics retailers in May 2012.

Overall, Marvel Comics had three of the month's top ten books, all of them part of the Avengers Vs. X-Men event. Avengers Vs. X-Men #3 was the month's #2 book, and AVX Vs. #2, the tie-in comic that focuses solely on the fights from Avengers Vs. X-Men, ranked #6.

DC Comics had the other seven books in the top ten, led by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's Batman #9, part of the "Court of Owls" storyline, at #3. Justice League #9 ranked #4; Batman Annual #1, a tie-in to "Court of Owls," ranked #5; Grant Morrison and Chris Burnham's Batman, Incorporated #1 ranked #7; Detective Comics #9 ranked #8; Action Comics #9 ranked #9; and Green Lantern #9 ranked #10.

Image Comics' The Walking Dead #97, the first of two issues of the Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard zombie series, was the publisher's top-selling comic in May at #28.

Dark Horse Comics' best-selling book for the month continued to be Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9; the ninth issue ranked #94 for the month.

IDW Publishing's top book in May was Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation2 #1. The first part of the long-awaited crossover between these two venerable science-fiction franchises ranked #121.

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.