Comichron

 

1988 Comic Book Sales to Comics Shops

Estimated Comics Shipped to North American Comics Shops
Based on Reports from Direct Market Distributors

 

#1 Most Ordered Issue
#1
#2 Most Ordered Issue
#2
#3 Most Ordered Issue
#3
#4 Most Ordered Issue
#4
#5 Most Ordered Issue
#5

Covers and issue links on this page lead to current eBay listings. This site may be compensated if you make a purchase.

In the wreckage that followed the black-and-white comics collapse, many distribution changes occured in the Direct Market in 1988. The biggest news was that Diamond Comic Distributors purchased Bud Plant Inc., a major West Coast distributor, giving it a national reach for the first time and making it the largest Direct Market distributor. Its Previews catalog launched later in the year.

Neither Capital City Distribution nor Diamond released bestseller lists for year overall, but we can tell from Capital's known orders that the twin launches of Wolverine #1 and Excalibur #1 were likely the top sellers in the Direct Market in 1988. While Batman: The Killing Joke did lead its release month at Capital, it did so only just barely, edging past Uncanny X-Men #231. It was not able to beat the X-Men issue at Diamond, and probably is not in the top five comics of the year for that reason and because of its extremely high cover price. Killing Joke was, of course, reprinted many times, boosting its sales considerably higher — but there was no mechanism in 1988 for reporting reorders or reprint sales.

We have not yet located Diamond charts for January, October, and November 1988; we presume the top-ranked comics to be the same as Capital's, which were just regular issues of Uncanny X-Men.

Only some of the monthly charts for 1988 are live, but we do have most of them. They will be added in the future. Stay tuned!

—John Jackson Miller


DIAMOND TOP SELLERS BY MONTH

Listed are all the top sellers for each month at Diamond.
Where months are linked, click to see the full Diamond chart for that month.
Distributor charts are regional commodity reports, not measures of a work's total reach. Read our FAQ.
Title links below lead to current listings for the issues on eBay. As an eBay Partner, this site may be compensated if you make a purchase.

MonthComic-book TitleIssuePricePublisher
January 1988Uncanny X-Men229 $0.75 Marvel
February 1988Uncanny X-Men230 $0.75 Marvel
March 1988Uncanny X-Men231 $0.75 Marvel
April 1988Uncanny X-Men232 $0.75 Marvel
May 1988Uncanny X-Men233$1.00Marvel
June 1988Excalibur1$1.50Marvel
July 1988Wolverine1$1.50Marvel
August 1988Wolverine2$1.50Marvel
September 1988Wolverine3$1.50Marvel
October 1988Uncanny X-Men241$1.00Marvel
November 1988Uncanny X-Men242$1.50Marvel
December 1988Uncanny X-Men243$1.00Marvel


CAPITAL CITY TOP SELLERS BY MONTH

Listed are all the top sellers for each month at Capital City.
Where months are linked, click to see the full Capital chart for that month.
Est. units are the number of copies preordered just from Capital, Overall totals would be much higher.
Distributor charts are regional commodity reports, not measures of a work's total reach. Read our FAQ.
Title links below lead to current listings for the issues on eBay. As an eBay Partner, this site may be compensated if you make a purchase.

MonthComic-book TitleIssuePricePublisherEst. units
January 1988Uncanny X-Men229$0.75Marvel71,800
February 1988Uncanny X-Men230$0.75Marvel67,800
March 1988Batman: The Killing Joke $3.50DC67,300
April 1988Uncanny X-Men232$0.75Marvel66,600
May 1988Marvel Comics Presents1$1.25Marvel70,100
June 1988Excalibur1$1.50Marvel93,800
July 1988Wolverine1$1.50Marvel108,800
August 1988Wolverine2$1.50Marvel78,700
September 1988Wolverine3$1.50Marvel71,100
October 1988Uncanny X-Men241$1.00Marvel69,900
November 1988Uncanny X-Men242$1.50Marvel76,100
December 1988Uncanny X-Men243$1.00Marvel75,400




My analyses of preorders from Diamond Comic Distributors for individual months can be found here, when available:

January
January
February
February
March
March
April
April
May
May
June
June
July
July
August
August
September
September
October
October
November 1988
November
December 1988
December

My analyses of preorders from Capital City Distribution for individual months can be found here, when available:

January
January
February
February
March
March
April
April
May
May
June
June
July
July
August
August
September
September
October
October
November 1988
November
December 1988
December