February was a good month for key British creators working for US publishers, with writer Paul Cornell and artist Sean Phillips both working on some of the top selling books on sale that month in comic shops on both sides of the Atlantic, according to information provided by Diamond Comic Distributors, the world’s largest distributor of comics, graphic novels, and pop culture merchandise.

Batman and his new partner Bluebird discover that Catwoman, Gotham City’s new crime lord, holds a prisoner who could save Gotham City in Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, and Dustin Nguyen’s Batman #28, a flash-forward to the upcoming DC Comics weekly comic Batman Forever and February 2014’s best-selling comic book to specialty retailers,

Marvel Comics was February’s top publisher, with a 34.10% Dollar Share and 37.36% Unit Share, compared to 28.73% and 31.12% respectively for runner-up DC Entertainment. Marvel Comics had five of the month’s top ten best-selling comics, led by Paul Cornell and Ryan Stegman’s Wolverine #1 at #3, while DC Entertainment had three titles and Image Comics two, led by The Walking Dead #121 at #8.

Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez’s Locke & Key series for IDW Publishing came to a close with February’s Locke & Key Volume 6: Alpha & Omega, the collected edition of the series’ final two storylines and the best-selling graphic novel for the month. Image Comics had four of the month’s top-ten graphic novels, including Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ Fatale Volume 4 at #2.

Sanctum Publishing’s The Shadow Double Novel Volume 81, a collection of classic pulp-era stories of The Shadow, was February’s best-selling book in the comic book specialty market. Dark Horse Comics had three books in the top ten, led by the Alabaster novel Pale at #3, along with perennial best-sellers The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia and The Hellboy Companion.

Ant Lucia’s 1940’s pin-up redesign of Batgirl inspired DC Collectibles’ DC Comics Bombshells: Batgirl Statue, February’s best-selling toy product.

The 31st-century heroes of the Legion of Super-Heroes starred in WizKids/NECA’s DC HeroClix: Legion of Super-Heroes Boosters, an expansion for the fan-favourite miniatures game and the best-selling game product in February.

TOP COMIC BOOK PUBLISHERS

NEW TITLES SHIPPED

COMPARATIVE SALES STATISTICS

TOP 10 COMIC BOOKS

TOP 10 GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS

TOP 10 BOOKS

TOP 10 TOYS

TOP 10 GAMES

Data for Diamond’s sales charts — which include the monthly market shares and all top product charts — are compiled by Diamond Comic Distributors from a universe of over 3,500 comic book specialty shops located in North America and around the world. The account base includes brick-and-mortar comic book specialty shops, Internet merchants, and other specialty stores.

Unit and dollar market shares are calculated based upon orders for comic books, graphic novels, and magazines invoiced and shipped to Diamond accounts during any given month, which comprises initial pre-orders, advance reorders, and reorders, minus any copies that are received back from a title marked as returnable.

Please note that comics marked with an asterisk have had their reported quantities reduced due to retailer returnability, and thus may rank lower on the charts than their actual sales would reflect.

The count of new titles shipped includes all titles that were invoiced by Diamond to retailers for the first time during the month and is not the official solicited title count for the month. Variant edition comic books and graphic novels at the same price point count as a single SKU. Variant edition comic books, lenticular covers, digital combo packs, and graphic novels at different price points count as separate SKUs for each edition.

Based in Baltimore, MD, Diamond is the world’s largest distributor of English-language comic books and pop-culture related merchandise, servicing more than 4,000 specialty retailers worldwide.

• For more information, visit Diamond on the web at www.diamondcomics.com.

© 2014 Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. All rights reserved. Diamond, the Diamond logo, Diamond Books logo, and PREVIEWS are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Diamond Comic Distributors in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective copyright owners.

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.

Categories: downthetubes Comics News, US Comics

Tags: Comic Sales Figures, DC Entertainment, Diamond Comic Distributors, Marvel Comics, Paul Cornell, Sean Phillips, US Comic Sales Figures