Previously,
books which appeared on every monthly Diamond Top 300 in 2013, and those
that appeared in 10 or 11 months. Now those that appeared in 8 or 9 months (sometimes still all the months they were available, for new releases), 23 books in all.
Dark Horse
AVATAR LAST AIRBENDER TP VOL 04 SEARCH PART 1 - 14234 copies, 9/10 months (around 1580 per month)
Appears to be quite solid, following the same sales pattern as Vol 1, so I'm sure we'll see it again for a while. And Vol 7 starts another storyline, so if the pattern holds it'll sell well throughout 2014.
DC
AQUAMAN TP VOL 01 THE TRENCH (N52) - 8527 copies, 8/8 months (around 1070 per month)
ARKHAM ASYLUM ANNIVERSARY ED SC - 5087 copies, 9/12 months (around 570 per month)
BATMAN HC VOL 02 THE CITY OF OWLS (N52) - 16505 copies, 8/10 months (around 2060 per month)
NIGHTWING TP VOL 01 TRAPS AND TRAPEZES (N52) - 6135 copies, 8/12 months (around 770 per month)
SANDMAN TP VOL 03 DREAM COUNTRY NEW ED - 5440 copies, 8/12 months (around 680 per month)
TRANSMETROPOLITAN TP VOL 01 BACK ON THE STREET - 4580 copies, 9/12 months (around 510 per month)
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 01 UNMANNED - 7754 copies, 9/12 months (around 860 per month)
Another batch of the more popular "New 52" books. The CITY OF OWLS hardcover was on the charts steadily until the softcover came out, which will probably replace it on the chart next year. Old standby ARKHAM ASYLUM isn't going anywhere, and SANDMAN might actually pick up some steam if they ever release another issue of the SANDMAN OVERTURE series.
We also have the first volumes of two long-running Vertigo books. Most of the subsequent volumes of those usually sell below the threshold to be on the top 300, but steadily enough that sometimes they show up on the year-end list. For example, Y VOL 04 and Y VOL 10 never appear on the top 300 in 2013, but John Jackson Miller's year-end estimate is that they shipped around 3000 and 1700 copies respectively through Diamond. Which makes sense, that means they averaged 250 and 140 copies per month, well below the threshold to make the chart, but enough to add up over time.
IDW
LOCKE & KEY TP VOL 01 WELCOME TO LOVECRAFT - 7228 copies, 9/12 months (around 800 per month)
The first IDW book that's close to being a perennial. It'll be interesting to see if it can sustain sales like this now that the serialization is over. Sometimes books tend to fade away after that point, other times they become permanent fixtures. By the way, for reference, John Jackson Miller's
estimate of total direct market sales for the book are 7700 copies, so it averages about 150 copies on the three months it didn't make the top 300.
If the bubble doesn't burst by then, expect MY LITTLE PONY to join or replace this on the list for 2014.
Image
FATALE TP VOL 01 DEATH CHASES ME - 5552 copies, 9/12 months (around 620 per month)
MANHATTAN PROJECTS TP VOL 02 - 10947 copies, 9/9 months (around 1220 per month)
REVIVAL TP VOL 01 YOU'RE AMONG FRIENDS - 6975 copies, 9/12 months (around 780 per month)
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 11 FEAR THE HUNTERS - 7424 copies, 9/12 months (around 820 per month)
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 12 LIFE AMONG THEM - 6904 copies, 9/12 months (around 770 per month)
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 13 TOO FAR GONE - 6777 copies, 9/12 months (around 750 per month)
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 14 NO WAY OUT - 6833 copies, 9/12 months (around 760 per month)
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 15 WE FIND OURSELVES - 7351 copies, 9/12 months (around 820 per month)
The balance of the WALKING DEAD books from the middle of the run, selling a little bit less the early and more recent once, but better than 90% of everything else. A few other books there that seem to have potential to keep appearing on the list on a regular basis.
Marvel
DEADPOOL TP VOL 01 DEAD PRESIDENTS NOW - 12979 copies, 8/8 months (around 1620 per month)
INFINITY GAUNTLET TP - 5340 copies, 9/12 months (around 590 per month)
KICK-ASS 2 TP - 10228 copies, 8/10 months (around 1280 per month)
KICK-ASS TP - 5856 copies, 8/12 months (around 730 per month)
SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN TP VOL 01 MY OWN WORST ENEMY NOW - 9459 copies, 8/8 months (around 1180 per month)
X-MEN DAYS OF FUTURE PAST TP - 6960 copies, 9/12 months (around 770 per month)
DEADPOOL and SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN appear to be the two big successes after HAWKEYE of Marvel's current book program. It probably helps that those books go to softcover first (eventually followed by a thicker hardcover), instead of a quick thin hardcover followed by a softcover almost a year later. INFINITY GAUNTLET got a big bump up to near-perennial status thanks to the Avengers film, and Marvel seems to be doing a better job of keeping it available. The KICK-ASS books probably benefited from the second movie, unless there's a third movie I'd expect those books to start fading away.
X-MEN DAYS OF FUTURE PAST benefits from the upcoming movie taking the title and some plot points from the story, and also from being a well regarded run of comics that Marvel only recently started to keep available in a suitable format. Unfortunately, Marvel is getting ready to obfuscate the issue before the movie by releasing a
hardcover also called X-MEN DAYS OF FUTURE PAST, not with the contents of the softcover (the original two issue story and surrounding issues of the comic) but rather the original two issue stories and all the later often misguided sequels and prequels. Seriously instead of a simple solid run of early 1980s X-MEN, the book they want to put in front of people has "X-MEN (1963) #141, UNCANNY X-MEN (1963) #142, X-MEN ANNUAL (1970) #14, EXCALIBUR (1988) #52 and #66-67, and WOLVERINE: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST #1-3; and material from FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL #23, NEW MUTANTS ANNUAL #6, X-FACTOR ANNUAL #5 and HULK: BROKEN WORLDS #2". Who thought that was a good idea?
