Diamond's Top 300 Comics for September 2011

Media Release -- Bruce Wayne resumed his role as Gotham City's sole Dark Knight as acclaimed writer Scott Snyder and fan-favorite artist Greg Capullo teamed for Batman #1, relaunching the character as part of "the New 52" and giving DC Comics the best-selling comic book for the month of September.

DC Comics had a strong month in September as the month's top comics publisher, with eight of the top ten best-selling comics for the month and all fifty-two titles of "the new 52" in the top 100. Also in the top ten for DC Comics were Grant Morrison and Rags Morales' Action Comics #1 at #2; Geoff Johns, Christian Alamy, and Dough Mahnke's Green Lantern #1 at #3; Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato's The Flash #1 at #4; George Perez and Jesus Merino's Superman #1 at #5; Tony Daniel's Detective Comics #1 at #6; David Finch and Paul Jenkins' Batman: The Dark Knight #1 at #7; and Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason's Batman and Robin #1 at #10.

Marvel Comics had two titles in the top ten, led by Matt Fraction and Stuart Immonen's Fear Itself #6, the penultimate chapter of the crossover event, at #6. Also in the top ten was Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli's Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1 at #9, which garnered mainstream media coverage for its introduction of the new Spider-Man of the Ultimate Universe, Miles Morales.

Dark Horse Comics' top book for September was Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9 #1, the first chapter of the "Freefall" storyline which continues the comic book adventures of Joss Whedon's fan-favorite television characters, which ranked at #52 on the charts. Robert Kirkman and Rob Liefeld's new superhero saga continued in The Infinite #2, which was Image Comics' top-selling book for September, ranked at #143. Finally, rounding out the Premier Publishers, IDW Publishing's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #2 was the publisher's top book for September at #113.

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.

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.