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Bleeding Cool Bestseller List, 22nd December 2019 – "One Of The Largest Diamond Bills In Recent Memory"

Published Sun, 22 Dec 2019 12:00:45 -0600

This is the Top Ten Bleeding Cool Bestseller List, as compiled by a number of comic stores from their sales on Wednesday and Thursday. It measures what are known as the "Wednesday Warriors", those who can't wait till the weekend to get this week's comics. The final issue of Doomsday Clock takes it. The final issue of Batman: Last Knight On Earth was close behind. And Tom King's final Batman after that. And the Marvel mutant hegemony was beaten thoroughly – just for this week. But talking of which, while all these books pushed Excalibur off the top ten, Fallen Angels has dropped way down. It appears that this is the Dawn Of X book that people are okay with missing. Harleen finished strong, and Star Wars got a movie-based boost…

Top ten bestselling comics of the week

Doomsday Clock #12
Batman Last Knight on Earth #3
Batman #85
X-Force #4
New Mutants #4
Harleen #3
Marauders #4
Justice League #38
Star Wars: The Rise of Kylo Ren #1
Spider-Man #3

Thanks to the following retailers…

Ssalefish Comics, Winston-Salem & Greensboro, North Carolina.
Fat Jack's Comicrypt, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Famous Faces & Funnies of West Melbourne, Florida.
Dr. No's Comics & Games Superstore of Marietta, Georgia.
Rodman Comics, Ankeny, Iowa.
Comix Experience, San Francisco, California.
Comix Experience Outpost, San Francisco, California.
Comics Paradise, Pasadena, California.
Graham Crackers Comics – 12 stores in IL/WI/CA

If you would like to contribute to the retailer charts, let me know at richjohnston@bleedingcool.com.

Who had this to say:

Another week dominated by DC at FFF with the first five spots and seven overall in our Weekly Top Ten. Doomsday Clock's looooooooooong overdue final issue was a big hit with our customers who have been waiting patiently (ish) for the last installment. If any other book took two years to come out it wouldn't sell anywhere near the numbers this last issue did. But those books aren't written by Geoff Johns. Batman Last Knight and Batman Last Tom took the #2 and #3 spots. Tom King's run had its ups and downs but overall it kept solid numbers. Hopefully, Tynion's run can maintain it. On the Black Label side of things, Harleen and Joker Killer Smile both sold well. The Harleen series actually sold better than Joker which is actually kind of surprising. Kylo Ren and Guardians of the Galaxy are the only Marvel books to crack the Top Ten. I hate to say it but if the X-Books had variants they'd probably squeak their way in. Once and Future was likewise the only indie book. I wish we were selling more of such a great series, but listening to other retailers makes me realize we actually sell more copies than most stores. Boom is great at putting out first issues and then staggering a bit with the rest of the series. But it really isn't on them, it's the spec driven market that we'll one day have to come to terms with. One day maybe.

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Huge week, tons of titles. Our top 10 is split pretty clean between Batman and the X-Men, though the final issue of Doomsday Clock, naturally, won the week. Batman's numbers were way up, and despite the increased foot traffic this week, I think it's got more to do with it being King's last issue. Star Wars Rise of Kylo Ren was a surprising contender in this week's bestseller list — new movie sold the book more than we were expecting — ranking just below the Dawn of X titles, but beating out Marvel's other heavy hitters, like Spider-Man and Avengers.

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DC easily took the top 4 – but MARVEL took the 6 remaining slots. A massive week, one of the largest in recent memory, which unfortunately also equated to one of the largest Diamond bills in recent memory.

Would have preferred to see this spread over this week and next week a little more evenly, but not something we can control.

If ever there was a week with something for everyone – this was it!

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Great sales week. Doomsday Clock 12 easily won the top spot. I read it, I really liked it. Hope to see Geoff Johns pick up another second title soon. Star Wars Rise of Kylo Ren did really well. Marvel was smart having it come out right before the latest Star Wars movie. Had multiple people remark there is a new Suicide Squad? It was a surprise to many. Happy holidays everyone.

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As I am sure you are all aware, it was a preposterously massive release week this week. Among the endless sea of releases were a handful of high-profile conclusions, which were the dominant sellers for us. DOOMSDAY CLOCK managed to squeak its finale just under the wire for wrapping before 2020 and was by far our biggest seller.

Following that was our ubiquitous Caped Crusader, with both the conclusion to Snyder and Capullo's Dark Knight swan song BATMAN LAST KNIGHT ON EARTH and the finale to Tom King's epic run on the main BATMAN title. That's one busy Bat!

In the middle of the pack we've got the JJ Abrams (and Son) SPIDER-MAN hanging out with fully *half* of the Dawn of X titles. Whew, Marvel's really after X-Fan holiday dollars this week!

The tail end of the list shows strong sales for the final installment of the excellent Harleen by Stjepan Sejic, and the most recent issues of JUSTICE LEAGUE and EXCALIBUR.

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Busy busy week. The Big Two reign supreme.

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DC manages to take four of our store's top ten slots this week thanks to an amazing release schedule–but there were disappointments nevertheless. Batman/Superman, Legion of Super-Heroes, Joker: Killer Smile, Wonder Woman: Dead Earth, Joker: Killer Smile… none of these books could crack the top ten for us. Readers are complaining about the overuse of the oversized "prestige plus" format and passing on books in that size, complaining that they cost too much and are too difficult to store. But most of all, they're complaining about the content–the books just aren't fun any more, according to our customers.