TOP50 Best-Selling Single Issues in May 2025
Single Issue Bestsellers & Chart Notes
(by Walt)
OK, so this month we have a little treat: an official sales chart for single issues! Ever since I got my hands on my first Previews catalog in late 1992, those sales chart pages held a special kind of magic. But thanks to COVID and the split of the direct market’s distribution, those charts are gone and I miss them! Since our business only started after all that chaos, consider this our way of joining the party late: Diamond-style charting!
Every variant for a single issue is combined into one A-cover slot, so yeah, it does look a bit like 1992 all over again. Kind of cool, right? Oh, and if you’re wondering about the percentages: Diamond never gave exact sales numbers, just rankings relative to Batman (which was always set at 100). That’s the method we’re following here.
One last note: most of our single-issue revenue comes from pre-orders, anywhere from 70-90%, or even 100% for smaller titles. Since those are invoiced at month’s end, it can take weeks (and a few gentle nudges until all, well, most invoices have been paid) before something like complete numbers settle in Shopify. So I’ve picked the 10th of each month as the best cutoff point, and I’ll keep using it for consistency.
Now, the comics!
Battle Beast is (unsuprisingly) the king of the hill by the farthest margin possible. If we add webshop pre-orders from March for the 50- and 100-bundles, the sales total hits crazy heights. Image’s reported 400K on issue #1 is… well, let’s just say we’re a very respectable decimal point of that. Right now, I can’t imagine any single issue surpassing these numbers unless someone cooks up another killer gimmick!
Big shoutout to Kirkman for making bagged comics cool again, not just a 90s fad.
Above the regular Batman, it’s the usual suspects: everything Absolute and the one Ultimate title that keeps Marvel’s lights on in the Top10. The older Absolute issues are outselling most of Marvel’s new releases by a long shot! And you know DC’s killing it (and Marvel's in trouble) when Absolute Martian Manhunter #3, #2, AND #1 are all charting higher than the latest Star Wars relaunch.
Marvel’s endless parade of new #1s isn’t helping them right now, we need a proper initiative! Still, they’re holding a solid second place behind DC, since Image can’t fight a whole superhero universe with just one Invincible spin-off… although it’s getting close!
Publisher market share this month:
DC Comics 37.00%
Marvel Comics 28.25%
Image Comics 26.01%