Diamond's Top 300 Comics for September 2013

Media Release -- The Crime Society of America invades the Earth of the New 52 in Geoff Johns and David Finch's Forever Evil #1, the first issue of DC Entertainment's autumn crossover event and the best-selling comic book in September.

In total, DC had five of the month's top books. All part of the Villains Month event, the lenticular edition of Batman #23.1: The Joker ranked #5, the lenticular edition of Batman #23.2: The Riddler ranked #6, the lenticular edition of Batman #23.4: Bane ranked #8, and the lenticular edition of Batman #23.3: Penguin ranked #10.

Marvel Comics also had five titles in the top ten, led by Jonathan Hickman and Jim Cheung's Infinity #2 at #2. Also in the top ten were Infinity #3 at #3, Brian Michael Bendis and Frank Cho's X-Men: Battle of the Atom #1 at #4, and Avengers #19 at #9.

Dark Horse Comics' top book in September was The Star Wars #1, the first issue of the adaptation of George Lucas' original screenplay for Star Wars, at #14.

Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead #114 from Image Comics was the publisher's top book for the month at #19.

Rounding out the premier publishers, The Powerpuff Girls #1 was IDW Publishing's top book for September at #50.

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.

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 accounts, comprised of comic book specialty shops and other merchant stores and buyers. The shops are primarily located in North America, with a percentage of sales also to international stores and buyers located throughout the world. The account base includes not only brick-and-mortar comic book specialty shops, but also Internet stores, chain stores, and other specialty stores.

Unit and dollars sales are calculated based upon orders 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.

About the Diamond Sales Index: The Sales Index of selected monthly Best Seller Charts is presented as a comparative tool for retailers and publishers. It presents Diamond's monthly sales for individual titles in relation to Diamond's total sales for the issue of DC Comics' monthly Batman comic book. (Batman is used as the control title – with a value of 100 – because sales of Batman usually remain relatively stable.) This allows for easy comparison to other titles and helps retailers gauge their orders for all other titles. This formula is only a guide, other factors may impact a titles' ability to sell in certain locations and clientele.