Diamond announced their best selling graphic novels for the year.
2008 TOP 10 GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS
Quantity
Rank Description Price Publisher
1 WATCHMEN TP $19.99 DC Comics
2 BATMAN THE KILLING JOKE SPECIAL ED HC $17.99 DC Comics
3 JOKER HC $19.99 DC Comics
4 Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 10 WHYS AND WHEREFORES $14.99 DC Comics
5 WALKING DEAD TP VOL 08 MADE TO SUFFER $14.99 Image Comics
6 BATMAN DARK KNIGHT RETURNS TP $14.99 DC Comics
7 FABLES TP VOL 10: THE GOOD PRINCE $17.99 DC Comics
8 WANTED GN $19.99 Image Comics
9 BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER SEASON 8 TP
VOL 02: NO FUTURE FOR YOU $15.95 Dark Horse Comics
10 Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 01 UNMANNED $12.99 DC Comics
Also included were the rankings of the top comic book publishers. (These figures include individual comic book issue sales.)
2008 TOP COMIC BOOK PUBLISHERS
QUANTITY SHARE RETAIL SHARE
MARVEL COMICS 45.82% 40.81%
DC COMICS 31.67% 29.94%
DARK HORSE COMICS 5.05% 6.49%
IMAGE COMICS 3.32% 3.73%
IDW PUBLISHING 2.92% 3.08%
OTHERS 11.22% 15.95%
While this is all very interesting, I would like to see the rankings for all bookstores. I imagine that Viz sneaks in there, probably 3rd behind Marvel and DC. Also, with the popularity of Batman and name recognition of Superman, I wouldn’t be surprised to see DC overtake Marvel in general bookstores.
The other thought is what about traditional comic publishers like Fantagraphics whose entire line is geared toward older, general bookstore readers? Where do they fit in when all the numbers are tabulated?
And of course there are the traditional prose publishing houses such as Del Rey, Pantheon, and Scholastic who have produced popular graphic novels. How do they affect the overall picture?
All things to ponder as comics continue to move away from the specialty stores and into the mainstream.