Diamond's Top 300 Comics for May 2013

Media Release -- The women of the X-Men — among them, Storm, Rogue, Rachel Summers, and Jubilee — join forces in Brian Wood and Olivier Coipel's X-Men #1 from Marvel Comics, the best-selling comic book in May.

In total, Marvel Comics had six of the month's top ten comic books. In addition to X-Men #1, Age of Ultron #7 ranked #4, Age of Ultron #8 ranked #5, Superior Spider-Man #9 ranked #6, Superior Spider-Man #10 ranked #7, and All-New X-Men #11 ranked #9.

DC Comics had four titles in the top ten, led by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's Batman #20 at #2. Also in the top ten were Justice League #20 at #3, Justice League of America #3 at #8, and Detective Comics #20 at #10.

Among the other premier publishers, Image Comics' The Walking Dead #110 by Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard was the publisher's top book for the month at #13.

Dark Horse Comics' top book in May was Brian Wood and Carlos D'Anda's Star Wars #5, ranking #41 for the month.

Finally, IDW Publishing's My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic #7 was the publisher's top book at #68.

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.