Comic dollars were up a dramatic 27% over the previous year in November, pulling the comics and graphics novel total up 21% over sales in November 2005. Graphic novels were near flat at 2% decline.
A fifth week of 52 and other effects of a fifth shipping week in the month certainly contributed to the comic increase.
Civil War, the top dollar comic, had nearly double the dollars of the #2 book. On the graphic novel list, the top dollar book was way down in the piece rankings; New X-Men Omnibus at #58 was the top dollar graphic novel for the month. Continuing to drive dollars, the Marvel Zombies hardcover made its third appearance in the graphic novel top ten in the last three months.
We are estimating actual sales by Diamond U.S. (primarily to North American comic stores), using Diamond's published sales indexes and publisher sales data to estimate a sales number for Batman (the anchor title Diamond uses in its calculations), and using that number and the indexes to estimate Diamond's sales on the remaining titles. We can check the accuracy of our numbers by comparing the Batman number that we calculate using multiple data points; our numbers for Batman are within 1/10 of 1% of each other, ensuring a high degree of accuracy.
For the top 300 comics in November, see 'Top 300 Comics Actual--November 2006.'
For the top 100 graphics novels in November, see 'Top 100 Graphic Novels Actual--November 2006.'
For an overview and analysis of the best-selling comics and graphic novels in November, see ''Civil War' Ekes Out Increase.'
For the top 300 comics in October, see 'Top 300 Comics Actual--October 2006.'
For the top 100 graphics novels in October, see 'Top 100 Graphic Novels Actual--October 2006.'
For an over-view and analysis of the best-selling comics and graphic novels in October, see 'Civil War Wins Despite Absence.' For an analysis of the dollar trends in October, see 'Hardcovers Drive Graphic Novel Sales.'
For our index to our reports on the top comic and graphic novel preorders for January 2000 through November 2006, see 'ICv2's Top 300 Comics and Top 100 GNs Index.'