‘Absolute Batman’ #1 Claims Bestselling Comic Of 2024 Slot With Nearly 400,000 Copies Sold

Absolute Batman from DC Comics has a big Batman, and is a big hit… And now we know how big, as DC has claimed the title of bestselling comic book of 2024.

While exact sales figures for comics often remain a mystery, we’re told that Absolute Batman #1, across all printings sold through the direct market, has sold just under 400,000 copies. That means copies sold directly to comic book stores, and includes the first printing, which sold out at the distributor level in October, the second printing which also sold out in October, and the third printing, which will go on sale in stores on November 27, 2024. In addition, there has been an Absolute Batman: Noir Edition which just hit stores on November 13, highlighting artist Nick Dragotta’s pen and inks.

So how do we know this is the best-selling comic of 2024, based on this number? Well, we don’t exactly, though DC likely has access to internal metrics that we’re not privy to. However, earlier in the year, IDW revealed that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 had sold 300,000 copies to comic book retailers. This — doing some quick math here — is about 100,000 more than that. And back in January, Dynamite announced that ThunderCats #1 sold over 180,000 copies, before heading back for a second printing. Marvel, meanwhile, generally doesn’t share sales figures as they consider them “proprietary business information.” However, it seems feasible that despite their blockbuster Ultimate Universe line, Absolute Batman #1 sales still dwarfed the sales of the competitor.

The best part of this story, though, is that while this is a far cry from the millions of copies of comics sold in the ’90s and 2000s, people are A) buying comics again, and B) anecdotal, but seem to be actually reading them rather than purely collecting them to sell later. There’s certainly plenty of that too. I don’t, for example, think the guy I saw getting seven copies of Absolute Batman #1 signed by Nick Dragotta at New York Comic Con was keeping them all for his loving family. But at the same time my local shop seemed thrilled with the DC All In launch… And Absolute Batman in particular, which they said was bringing new readers into the shop.

Per a press release from DC, the publisher noted that the book by Scott Snyder, Dragotta, Frank Martin and Clayton Cowles is “undisputedly the bestselling comic of 2024. Thanks to fans and retailers for their enthusiastic support of DC’s All In publishing initiative!”

And for any publishers wondering why these sales figures are important to share, to get editorial here for a moment… Not only are they helpful to retailers in terms of understanding the scope and scale of demand with other stores… But to be frank, it creates a healthy sense of competition — both with the publishers, and with the fans. The illusion of popularity is often as important as the reality of it. Seeing that Absolute Batman is a big hit encourages readers to check it out. Same with TMNT, ThunderCats, and anything else that seems like a lot of other folks are interested

While I doubt this will lead to overall sales charts including all publishers, it’s good to see comics getting people excited again. Or as DC puts it: we’re all in.

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