Diamond Graphic Novels Chart - Perennials

My favourite of the regular charts is the Diamond "Graphic Novel" chart. Over on the periodical comics side, things are mostly predictable once a series launches.  There's going to be a big drop-off with #2, a smaller one with #3, eventually the series will either keep dropping fast until cancelled or settle into a 1% to 3% drop per issue, so predictable that it's become a running joke, "standard attrition". Every now and then there'll be a crossover or gimmick which will bump up sales, which will almost always be followed by a corresponding drop after the event which will drop the sales trend back in line. It's the rare book which maintains steady sales for an extended period, and an exceeding rare one which increases sales month after month.

Comparatively the "Graphic Novel" side is much more fluid. By the way Diamond seems to define the terms somewhat capriciously, but generally will match at least two of the three criteria: bound instead of stapled, priced $9.95 or higher, having an ISBN. Probably 99% of releases fall firmly on one side or the other, but there are some that could go either way. A good number of the listings each month are re-orders of books which came out before, especially since Diamond increased the number of books they list from 100 to 300 back in 2008. I'll work up some more detailed numbers later, but about 40% of the listings each month are backlist items. Of course, those aren't spread equally.  It looks like about 85% of books only make the charts once and then drop off, another 10% make the charts twice and are never seen from again (and a few of those it looks like the second appearance is just the publisher liquidating excess inventory at bargain prices, the direct market equivalent of remaindering). A very few books show up more often, and add substantially to their first month sales. And then there are a handful which will continue to show up more often then not, often selling better than most new releases. So a quick look at some perennial evergreen sellers.

There were 25 books from four publishers which made Diamond's top 300 list for every month of 2013

Boom
ADVENTURE TIME TP VOL 01 - 19349 copies (around 1610 per month)

A fairly new entry on the list, first published in late 2012. Shows no real sign of slowing down, and the subsequent volumes frequently show up (though not every month).




DC

BATMAN THE KILLING JOKE SPECIAL ED HC - 23366 copies (around 1950 per month)
BATMAN HUSH COMPLETE TP - 16045 copies (around 1340 per month)
BATMAN DARK KNIGHT RETURNS TP - 14703 copies (around 1230 per month)
SANDMAN TP VOL 01 PRELUDES & NOCTURNES NEW ED - 13050 copies (around 1090 per month)
WATCHMEN TP - 11440 copies (around 950 per month)
SUPERMAN RED SON TP - 11345 copies (around 950 per month)
BATMAN YEAR ONE DELUXE SC - 11196 copies (around 930 per month)
SANDMAN TP VOL 02 THE DOLLS HOUSE NEW ED - 8134 copies (around 680 per month)
BLACKEST NIGHT TP - 7852 copies (around 650 per month)

Pretty much what you'd expect from DC.  Six of the nine books are from 20-30 years ago and have been selling pretty consistently ever since (with THE KILLING JOKE joining that list late with the new edition coming out in 2008, but even then the original "prestige format" version was one of the few books in that format DC kept in print, with at least 14 known printings).  Of the more recent stuff, HUSH is pretty much designed to be a standalone intro to Batman, and BLACKEST NIGHT is a fairly straightforward event book.  I wouldn't be surprised it if stops being a consistent top 300 entry soon. RED SON is a bit mystifying, but I guess it's a standalone somewhat attractive Superman book, which is an unfortunate rarity, and the writer is more popular now than when he wrote it.

Image

SAGA TP VOL 01 - 60650 copies (around 5050 per month)
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 01 DAYS GONE BYE - 55633 copies (around 4640 per month)
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 02 MILES BEHIND US - 32758 copies (around 2730 per month)
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 03 SAFETY BEHIND BARS - 22587 copies (around 1880 per month)
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 17 SOMETHING TO FEAR - 21318 copies (around 1780 per month)
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 04 HEARTS DESIRE - 17934 copies (around 1490 per month)
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 05 BEST DEFENSE - 14811 copies (around 1230 per month)
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 06 SORROWFUL LIFE - 12571 copies (around 1050 per month)
MANHATTAN PROJECTS TP VOL 01 SCIENCE BAD - 12497 copies (around 1040 per month)
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 07 THE CALM BEFORE - 11407 copies (around 950 per month)
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 08 MADE TO SUFFER - 10749 copies (around 900 per month)
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 16 A LARGER WORLD - 10467 copies (around 870 per month)
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 09 HERE WE REMAIN - 9908 copies (around 830 per month)
CHEW TP VOL 01 - 8644 copies (around 720 per month)

WALKING DEAD is of course what you'd expect, and much discussed elsewhere. The early volumes will continue to sell, the most recent ones will probably drop off a bit, maybe not chart every month, as they're replaced by newer volumes. SAGA is doing remarkably well, and if anything seems to be gaining steam as more new volumes are published. The later volumes of MANHATTAN PROJECTS are also doing well, and CHEW is solid, especially considering the more modest sales it has in serialized form compared to the other books.


Marvel

CIVIL WAR TP - 8972 copies (around 750 per month)

And of course Marvel has always had a reputation for not being able to keep things in print, so the only surprise here is that there wasn't at least one month in the year where this book wasn't available. Anyway, CIVIL WAR seems to have a reputation as the Marvel crossover that reads fairly well with no tie-ins, has all the big-name characters and is attractively drawn, so no surprise that it keeps selling.

And those are the books which you can currently bet on being on the chart every month.  Later, the books which charted on the top 300 in 2013 almost every month, missing only once or twice.