Diamonds' Top 25 Toys for December 2011

Media Release -- In November Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment released Batman: Arkham City, the long-awaited sequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum, and the characters from the new video game were brought to life with DC Direct's Batman: Arkham City Series 1 Action Figures, the best-selling Toy product to comics specialty retailers in December.

DC Direct had a strong month in December, taking the top eight spots on December's sales charts. In addition to the Batman: Arkham City figures, DC Direct also had the World of WarCraft Series 8 figures at #2, the Green Lantern Series 5 figures at #3, the StarCraft Premium Series 1 figures at #4, the Cover Girls of the DCU: Starfire Statue at #5, the DC Universe Online: Harley Quinn statue at #6, the Blackest Night Power Ring Spectrum Set at #7, and the DC Universe Online: The Joker statue at #8.

Also in the top ten for December were Kotobukiya with the DC x Bishoujo: Batgirl "Black Costume" statue at #9 and Bowen Designs with the PREVIEWS Exclusive Sabretooth "Street Clothes" statue at #10.

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.