Diamond's Top 300 Comics for October 2011

Media Release -- While Green Lantern and Batman reason with Superman, The Flash joins the heroes in their investigation of the alien attacks on Gotham City and Metropolis, bringing these heroes together for the first time in Geoff Johns and Jim Lee's Justice League #2 from DC Comics, the best-selling comic book to comics retailers on the month of October.

In addition to Justice League, DC Comics had six more titles in the top ten comics sold in October. Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's Batman #2 ranked #2; Grant Morrison, Rags Morales, and Brent Anderson's Action Comics #2 ranked #3; Geoff Johns, Dough Mahnke, and Christian Alamy's Green Lantern #2 ranked #4; Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato's The Flash #2 ranked #5; Tony S. Daniel's Detective Comics #2 ranked #5; and George Per&eactue;z and Jesus Moreno's Superman #2 ranked #10.

Marvel Comics rounded out the top ten with three titles at the top echelons of the sales chart. Jason Aaron and Marc Silvestri's The Incredible Hulk #1 was the publisher's top book at #7. Aaron and Chris Bachalo launched a new era for the X-Men with Wolverine and the X-Men #1 which ranked #8 for the month. Finally, the conclusion of Matt Fraction and Stuart Immonen's Fear Itself crossover event, Fear Itself #7, ranked #9.

Among the Premier publishers, Dark Horse Comics' top book for October was Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9 #2 at #64 which continued the adventures of Joss Whedon's vampire slayer. The Walking Dead #90 from Robert Kikrman was Image Comics' top book at #78. Finally, IDW Publishing's top comic for October was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #3 at #109.

How does Diamond calculate the charts? It all starts at the comic book shop.

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.