“Harley Quinn” tops comic sales for August 2016

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Last updated on December 10th, 2021

DC’s “Rebirth” once again dominated comic sales in August. Leading the pack as the top-selling book this month is “Harley Quinn” #1.

Comics

Listed below are the top 10 selling comics for August, according to Diamond. Asterisks indicate the books are returnable, as part of DC’s “Rebirth” promotional effort.

Rank Title Price Publisher
1 HARLEY QUINN #1 [*] $2.99 DC
2 ALL-STAR BATMAN #1 [*] $4.99 DC
3 SUICIDE SQUAD #1 [*] $2.99 DC
4 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #16 $3.99 MAR
5 SUICIDE SQUAD REBIRTH #1 [*] $2.99 DC
6 BATMAN #4 [*] $2.99 DC
7 BATMAN #5 [*] $2.99 DC
8 JUSTICE LEAGUE #2 [*] $2.99 DC
9 HARLEY QUINN #2 [*] $2.99 DC
10 SUPERGIRL REBIRTH #1 [*] $2.99 DC

As shown above, DC completely dominates the top 10 selling books this month. Comichron notes it’s DC’s highest sales in several years. It’s also another month with sales led by a book starring a woman. Fortunately, that’s an occurrence that’s becoming more and more common in recent years.

Presumably coming out biweekly is helping “Batman” a lot, as it has two slots.

Marvel’s one entry in the top 10 is an issue of “Amazing Spider-Man.”

Trade paperbacks/graphic novels

Below are the top 10 trade paperbacks and graphic novels. Information also taken from Diamond.

Rank Title Price Publisher
1 STAR WARS: DARTH VADER VOL. 3: THE SHU TORUN WAR TP $16.99 MAR
2 BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE SPECIAL EDITION HC $17.99 DC
3 BLACK PANTHER BOOK 1: NATION UNDER OUR FEET TP $16.99 MAR
4 SPIDER-MAN/DEADPOOL VOL. 1: ISN’T IT BROMANTIC TP $17.99 MAR
5 STAR WARS VOLUME 3: REBEL JAIL TP $19.99 MAR
6 BATMAN/TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES HC $24.99 DC
7 SAGA VOLUME 6 TP (MR) $14.99 IMA
8 TEEN TITANS EARTH ONE VOLUME 2 HC $22.99 DC
9 HARLEY QUINN BOOK AND MASK SET $34.99 DC
10 HARLEY QUINN & THE SUICIDE SQUAD: AN ADULT COLORING BOOK TP $15.99 DC

Marvel’s “Darth Vader” topped the TPB/GN list. Following it in second place is perennial “Family Ties”-era best seller “The Killing Joke.”

Other top sellers include “Black Panther,” “Saga,” and a few Harley Quinn books. “Saga” for some reason is the only non-Big Two book in the top 10 this month.

In contrast to the above, the New York Times paperback best-seller list (for the week of September 25) is available here. The top sellers are “Angel Catbird, vol. 1” (hardcover) and “March, Book Three” (paperback). Other best-sellers include “Maus,” “Persepolis,” and “American Born Chinese.”

Miscellaneous

The top five comic publishers’ dollar and unit share respectively:

  1. DC Comics, 39.27%/44.59%
  2. Marvel, 30.78%/32.11%
  3. Image, 7.66%/7.78%
  4. IDW, 4.92%/3.53%
  5. Dark Horse, 3.08%/2.28%

Sales rose (by dollars/units) by 14.13%/8.95% over July. They’re up by a whopping 31.62%/40.77% over August 2015. (This August had five shipping weeks in it, on top of “Rebirth.”) Sales for 2016 are up by 2.71%/0.14%.

Overall, things look positive for the comics industry, with sales still up. While “Rebirth” won’t keep DC aloft forever, it might give a boost to the industry as a whole, like the New 52 did in 2011.

Anthony Dean

Anthony Dean is the owner of Diverse Tech Geek and Diverse Media Notes.

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