Archie tops the trade paperback sales charts for the first time

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:

The Comichron: The Blog of The Comics Chronicles: Comics sales recover from winter to finish first half of 2014 flat; Archie tops GN list for first time.

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).