June 2014 comics direct market sales figures are in, via the sold direct distributor Diamond. While sales are reported as being flat (“Batman” #32 the top-selling single-issue comic), there’s this surprising news: “Afterlife With Archie””s first trade paperback collection is the top-selling TPB for the month. This marks the first time an Archie trade’s ever topped the sales charts. Further sales information is here:
As Chomichron notes, the central “Archie” regular comic title also has topped the sales charts before. It was the top selling comic in 1969; that was the height of popularity of that year’s biggest-selling single “Sugar, Sugar” (by The Archies). There was also the success of “The Archie Show” on CBS.
Also of interest is that out of the five Marvel/DC trades that did make the top 10 (Image and Archie taking other half), only two take place in their canonical superhero universes: “Superior Spider-Man” and “Batman.” The other three: a Deadpool book that satirizes zombie movies, and two “Injustice: Gods Among Us” books (based on the video game with the crass fridging-of-Lois Lane premise).