Comichron

 

September 2020 Comic Book Sales to Comics Shops

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

September 2020 was the third full month in which DC retailers had to order comics from Lunar Distribution or UCS Comic Distributors or one of those firms' subdistributors, such as Universal Distribution in Canada. And again, the Joker — and the "Joker War" titles — dominated retailer orders from them.

Comichron projects that the $6.99 Black Label title Batman: Three Jokers #2 was the top-ordered comic book from DC's distributors in the month in units, with the anniversary issue Detective Comics #1027, priced at $9.99 with many variants, the top dollar comic book. The expense of the latter issue helped propel the average comic retailers ordered from DC's distributors above the $5 mark for the first time since we began tracking the publisher separately.

Batman continued to chart highly in advance of its 100th issue in October — and three new Death Metal releases made DC's top ten. Superman #25 also made the top ten, placing ninth.

The performance of Three Jokers #2 followed the success of its first issue, which continued to appear atop the Best Sellers section on the UCS website through September.

As in previous months, the charts in that section co-mingled both preordered items and those that had not shipped yet; that can be seen from the September 28 snapshot at right, which had no September issues at all in the Top 4. UCS did not include information about what specific timeframe was being measured in the rankings, and the titles listed updated dynamically through the month. Lunar, meanwhile, released no data at all.

Given the lack of official information, Comichron has drawn upon a subset of known retail orders both to determine approximate rankings and to project the relative order volumes of comic-book releases. The subset represents a sizable number of copies, but it is not possible at present to know what portion of the overall population of store orders it represents, particularly as many stores were closed, had their accounts on hold, or had not established accounts with DC's distributors. Only periodicals were examined, and order totals are believed to be as of Final Order Cutoff. No statistical adjustments have been made for returnability and no later returns have been subtracted out.

Note, further, that our process only looks at first-month orders for comics, so no reordered titles from the month before or reprints appear in the chart below. Thus, Batman: Three Jokers #1, which surely would have charted again on a Diamond-style report, does not reappear.

The chart below features every new comic book released by DC in September 2020. Variant editions have been merged into single entries, following longtime industry practice. The release dates are from UCS. We make no attempt here to distinguish between the distributors DC sold through; the intent is to describe DC's business in the Direct Market.

The order volumes are expressed in relation to Justice League #53, which has been chosen as the order index issue for DC's distributors this month, as well as for Diamond. Note that a Death Metal crossover made it a much better seller than the other Justice League issue of the month.

For example, for every 100 copies of Justice League #53 in the order set, there were 79 copies of Nightwing #74.

DC offered 12 comic books with cardstock variants at a different price; their sales have been fused by default below. You can find the component versions at the bottom of the chart, or by sorting by "Units" to see where its variants would have placed. Dollar rankings are based on the fused title's sales and account for the two different prices.

Things to remember: A difference of a single point on the chart may not be meaningful, due to rounding; projections for issues at the lower extremes are subject to more error due to the small quantities involved. Projected relative sales levels here are likely most reliable for regular series issues in the middle of the chart: orders for the highest sellers and first issues may tend to show more variation.

Rankings in these charts should also be expected to differ — often significantly — from the sales-to-consumers charts available at other outlets. Those report sell-through and not sell-in, and different retailers are sampled in each, with no known overlap in reporting stores as of the generation of the below charts.

As is the case with all data on Comichron, it is subject to revision without notice in the event more authoritative and complete information about orders becomes available.

—John Jackson Miller
Updated March 18, 2021


This list includes all items on Diamond's Top 500 charts, plus any post-#500 items from its Top Independent Publisher charts.
If you don't see a book, Diamond released no data for it.
The Order Index Number by each comic book indicates how many copies were ordered within the sample for every 100 Justice League #53s that were ordered.
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.


UnitDollarComic-book TitleIssuePriceOn salePublisherOrder Index
11Batman Three Jokers2$6.9909/29/20DC400
22Detective Comics1027$9.9909/15/20DC256
34Batman98 (All)$3.9909/01/20DC232
45Batman99 (All)$3.9909/15/20DC224
53Batman The Joker War Zone1 (All)$5.9909/29/20DC180
66Dark Nights Death Metal Speed Metal1$5.9909/22/20DC124
77Dark Nights Death Metal Trinity Crisis1$5.9909/08/20DC113
89DCeased Dead Planet3 (All)$3.9909/01/20DC104
98Dark Nights Death Metal Multiverses End1$5.9909/29/20DC102
1013Justice League53$3.9909/15/20DC100
1112Strange Adventures5$4.9909/01/20DC83
1216Nightwing74$3.9909/08/20DC79
1310Superman25 (All)$5.9909/08/20DC72
1419Justice League52$3.9909/01/20DC65
1517Wonder Woman763 (All)$3.9909/29/20DC63
1614Catwoman25 (All)$5.9909/15/20DC62
1718Batman The Adventures Continue4 (All)$3.9909/01/20DC61
1811Hellblazer Rise And Fall1$6.9909/01/20DC60
1924Batgirl49$3.9909/22/20DC59
2025Flash761$3.9909/08/20DC59
2126Batman Superman12$3.9909/22/20DC58
2227Flash762$3.9909/22/20DC57
2320Wonder Woman762 (All)$3.9909/08/20DC57
2428Legion of Super-Heroes9$3.9909/29/20DC54
2515Joker Harley Criminal Sanity5$5.9909/08/20DC53
2630Green Lantern Season Two7$3.9909/08/20DC52
2731Action Comics1025$3.9909/22/20DC51
2829Batman's Grave10 (All)$3.9909/15/20DC49
2922Justice League Annual2 $4.9909/29/20DC49
3023Batman Superman Annual1 $4.9909/29/20DC48
3134Wonder Woman 19841$3.9909/29/20DC47
3233Justice League Dark26 (All)$3.9909/22/20DC45
3321Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey3$5.9909/29/20DC41
3432Shazam14$4.9909/01/20DC41
3535Young Justice18 (All)$3.9909/01/20DC40
3636Suicide Squad9$3.9909/22/20DC37
3737Shazam15$3.9909/22/20DC37
3838John Constantine Hellblazer10 $3.9909/29/20DC31
3939Batman Beyond47$3.9909/22/20DC27
4041Justice League Odyssey24$3.9909/08/20DC27
4142Aquaman63$3.9909/22/20DC27
4243Red Hood Outlaw49$3.9909/29/20DC27
4344Batman and the Outsiders16$3.9909/08/20DC25
4445Hawkman27$3.9909/08/20DC24
4550Dollar Comics Batman663$1.0009/01/20DC23
4646Teen Titans45$3.9909/15/20DC22
4740Last God9 $4.9909/22/20DC22
4847Dreaming Waking Hours2 $3.9909/01/20DC19
4948Metal Men10$3.9909/15/20DC19
5049Books of Magic23 $3.9909/22/20DC12
5151DC Classics The Batman Adventures4 $1.9909/08/20DC10
5253Dollar Comics Catwoman (2002)1$1.0009/01/20DC9
5352Looney Tunes256 $2.9909/22/20DC5
n.a.n.a.Batman98 Regular$3.9909/01/20DC148
n.a.n.a.Batman98 Card Stock$4.9909/01/20DC84
n.a.n.a.Batman99 Regular$3.9909/15/20DC147
n.a.n.a.Batman99 Card Stock$4.9909/15/20DC77
n.a.n.a.Batman The Adventures Continue4 Regular$3.9909/01/20DC45
n.a.n.a.Batman The Adventures Continue4 Card Stock$4.9909/01/20DC16
n.a.n.a.Batman The Joker War Zone1 Regular$5.9909/29/20DC122
n.a.n.a.Batman The Joker War Zone1 Card Stock$6.9909/29/20DC58
n.a.n.a.Batman's Grave10 Regular$3.9909/15/20DC37
n.a.n.a.Batman's Grave10 Card Stock$4.9909/15/20DC12
n.a.n.a.Catwoman25 Regular$5.9909/15/20DC33
n.a.n.a.Catwoman25 Card Stock$6.9909/15/20DC29
n.a.n.a.DCeased Dead Planet3 Regular$3.9909/01/20DC48
n.a.n.a.DCeased Dead Planet3 Card Stock$4.9909/01/20DC56
n.a.n.a.Justice League Dark26 Regular$3.9909/22/20DC29
n.a.n.a.Justice League Dark26 Card Stock$4.9909/22/20DC16
n.a.n.a.Superman25 Regular$5.9909/08/20DC60
n.a.n.a.Superman25 Card Stock$6.9909/08/20DC12
n.a.n.a.Wonder Woman762 Regular$3.9909/08/20DC33
n.a.n.a.Wonder Woman762 Card Stock$4.9909/08/20DC24
n.a.n.a.Wonder Woman763 Regular$3.9909/29/20DC32
n.a.n.a.Wonder Woman763 Card Stock$4.9909/29/20DC31
n.a.n.a.Young Justice18 Regular$3.9909/01/20DC30
n.a.n.a.Young Justice18 Card Stock$4.9909/01/20DC10




September 2020 DC Graphic Novel Sales

Graphic Novels and Trade Paperbacks Ordered and Preordered by North American Comics Shops Based on Reports from UCS Comic Distributors

Comichron did not sample retailer sales data for DC's Direct Market graphic novel sales, but UCS Comic Distributors did break out graphic novels in its bestsellers page on its website.

As mentioned above, the UCS charts appear to include both items which had shipped and had not yet shipped.

Based on UCS's charts appearing in July, August, and September, the top two graphic novels that shipped for the first time in September appear to have been Batman: Curse of the White Knight hardcover and the Joker: Killer Smile hardcover.


A list of all the graphic novels DC released appears below.

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


Trade Paperback titlePriceOn salePublisher
Absolute Dark Knight HC$99.9909/22/20DC
Animal Man By Grant Morrison Book 2 HC 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition$39.9909/08/20DC
Aquaman Vol. 3 Manta Vs. Machine$17.9909/08/20DC
Basketful of Heads HC$24.9909/08/20DC
Batman By Paul Dini Omnibus HC$125.0009/22/20DC
Batman Curse of the White Knight HC$29.9909/15/20DC
Batman Detective Comics Vol. 2 Arkham Knight$17.9909/08/20DC
Batman Detective Comics Vol. 3 Greetings From Gotham$17.9909/29/20DC
Batman Knight Out HC$39.9909/29/20DC
Batman The Demon Trilogy HC$75.0009/22/20DC
Batman The Golden Age Omnibus Vol. 8 HC$125.0009/15/20DC
Booster Gold Future Lost HC$39.9909/01/20DC
Dark Knight Returns The Golden Child Deluxe Edition HC$17.9909/15/20DC
DC Poster Portfolio Francesco Mattina$24.9909/22/20DC
DC Super Hero Girls Midterms$9.9909/01/20DC
Doom Patrol Weight of the Worlds$19.9909/22/20DC
Flash Savage Velocity$39.9909/01/20DC
Flash Vol. 11 Greatest Trick of All$17.9909/22/20DC
Green Arrow The Longbow Hunters Saga Omnibus Vol. 1 HC$150.0009/01/20DC
Hawkman Vol. 3 Darkness Within$16.9909/15/20DC
He Man and the Masters of the Multiverse$17.9909/01/20DC
Hellblazer Vol. 23 No Future$29.9909/01/20DC
John Constantine Hellblazer Vol. 1 Marks of Woe$19.9909/29/20DC
Joker Killer Smile HC$29.9909/15/20DC
Legion of Super-Heroes Five Years Later Omnibus Vol. 1 HC$150.0009/22/20DC
Low Low Woods HC$24.9909/29/20DC
Powers The Best Ever HC$29.9909/01/20DC
Robin 80 Years of the Boy Wonder HC$29.9909/15/20DC
Spectre The Wrath of the Spectre Omnibus HC$125.0009/01/20DC
Supergirl Cosmic Adventures In The 8th Grade$9.9909/01/20DC
Teen Titans Beast Boy$16.9909/01/20DC