{"id":4736,"date":"2014-05-09T17:40:00","date_gmt":"2014-05-09T17:40:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-08-01T14:58:19","modified_gmt":"2020-08-01T19:58:19","slug":"april-2014-comics-sales-amazing-spider","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/2014\/05\/09\/april-2014-comics-sales-amazing-spider\/","title":{"rendered":"April 2014 comics sales: Amazing Spider-Man #1 best-selling issue of 21st Century"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As expected, Marvel<\/b>‘s second reboot of the Amazing Spider-Man<\/b><\/i> title was a record-setter in April: Diamond Comic Distributors<\/b><\/a> reported today that the issue “was the best-selling comic book in both units and dollars in over a decade.” More importantly, the market turned positive for the year, mostly erasing a slow start. Diamond sold nearly $48.2 million in comics and graphic novels to comics
\nshops in the month of April, a larger total than any month in 2013
\nexcept for the record-breaking $50 million October<\/b><\/a>. This brings the
\nfirst third of the year to nearly $165 million, up almost $2 million
\nover the same period in 2013.<\/p>\n

But first, a quick look at Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 3<\/i>. #1<\/a>,<\/b> which had multiple variant covers<\/b><\/a>, including many produced for specific comics shops. Diamond’s wording means the issue outsold (by however much) 2009’s Amazing Spider-Man<\/b><\/i> #583<\/a>, the Barack Obama inauguration issue: according to our Top Comics of the 21st Century<\/b><\/a> list, that issue sold at least 530,500 copies across multiple printings.<\/p>\n

Since that issue beats anything else on the post-1999 list, the next earlier top-selling single issues in the comics market overall<\/i> would be likely be the 1999 issues of Pok\u00e9mon: Pikachu Shocks Back<\/i><\/b><\/a>, which Viz reported sold on average 680,000 copies each through multiple printings on the mass market; its predecessor title, Pok\u00e9mon: The Electric Tale of Pikachu<\/i><\/b><\/a> was the last title to top a million copies, during 1998 and 1999. The last million-seller in the comics shop market alone was likely Batman<\/b> #500<\/b><\/i><\/a> in 1993. Click to read more about the last million-copy sellers<\/b><\/a>.<\/p>\n

It’s unlikely that Amazing Spider-Man<\/i> #1 <\/b>will put those earlier records at risk, given the number of outlets that exist today: it’s possible to top half a million, but the next half a million is a the much harder part. But it will likely wind up being the best-selling single issue in the Direct Market during the Diamond Exclusive Era, which began in 1997. We’ll have a better idea of final sales at the end of the year, once reorders are added and any damaged copies \u2014 which appear to have been a concern<\/b><\/a> \u2014 that are eventually allowed as returns get subtracted out.<\/p>\n

Back to the overall. The sales changes:<\/p>\n

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