2004 Comic Book Sales to Comics Shops

Estimated Comics Shipped to North American Comics Shops
Based on Reports from Diamond Comic Distributors

OVERALL North American Dollar Sales for
Diamond's Comics, Graphic Novels, and Magazines for the year

around $328.25 Million

(up 6% year-over-year)

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

January's start to the year was slow, with few new series launches then or in February. But the appearance of a new Supergirl in Superman/Batman #8 helped boost March strongly over the previous year.

Superman titles topped the list for the second month running in April. Joss Whedon's new Astonishing X-Men title rocketed to the top of the charts in May, which was also the last month with Crossgen titles appearing on the charts. DC's blockbuster Identity Crisis series launched in June, helping the first half of the year close up 9% overall.

The market showed strength heading out of July, with a double-digit increase overall in August. "Avengers Disassembled" continued in September, helping propel the market to another up month.

With an off-month for Avengers, October suffered a 10% drop versus 2003, when the month included some strong releases. But Supergirl again provided a kickstart to sales in Superman/Batman in November. In December, the relaunched Avengers title sent 2004 out on a positive note, up 6% over the previous year overall.

The final rankings for all comics and trade paperbacks during the year appear below. Diamond Comic Distributors reported these issues without indexes, so no sales estimates are calculated. You can find the first-month sales for these issues in the monthly charts; click one of the months at the bottom or use the search tool at the top of the page to find the specific issue. But note that those monthly numbers do not include reorders for the entire year; the rankings below do take the entire year's sales into account.

Click to skip to the Top Graphic Novels for the year.

—John Jackson Miller

This list includes all items on Diamond's end-of-year chart.
If you don't see a book, Diamond released no data for it.
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.

2004 Graphic Novel Sales to Comics Shops

Estimated Graphic Novels and Trade Paperbacks Shipped to North American Comics Shops Based on Reports from Diamond Comic Distributors

This list includes all items on Diamond's Top Graphic Novel charts. If you don't see a book, Diamond released no data for it.

The links lead to title details on Amazon (paid links). You can also find the books at your comics shop.

Graphic novel sales increased strongly this year, led by the Batman: Hush collection.

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