Does Absolute Batman sell half a million copies a month? Sabrina the Teenage Witch hops on Marvel’s Midnight sales. Uncle Scrooge celebrates A Christmas Carol.
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Episode Transcript:
Does Absolute Batman sell half a million copies a month?
Sabrina hops on Midnight sales.
Uncle Scrooge celebrates A Christmas Carol.
This is Comic Book Club News for August 17, 2026.
Does Absolute Batman Sell Half A Million Copies A Month?
Last week, we brought you the news of the top-selling comics of July via ICv2, which gets data from 125 stores using the ComicHub POS — meaning Point of Sale — service, as well as 100 stores using Comic Shop Assistant. So that means 225 stores… It’s a representative sample, not the total sales to customers for the entire industry.
Enter Prana Direct Market Solutions, which has its own POS service, and along with Manage Comics and Comic Shop Assistant presents data from 600+ stores, and not the same stores as ICv2. Again, just a snapshot; not the full picture, but perhaps a slightly fuller picture? And why is this needlessly confusing? The answer is: it’s comics, baby.
In any case, while I personally will mull switching this podcast’s monthly Top 10 list to Prana versus ICv2, Heidi MacDonald over at The Beat made an interesting discovery via Prana: Absolute Batman may be selling close to half a million copies a month.
This is also just a wild estimate, but Prana — unlike ICv2 — provides relative percentages of sales. And Terminal #1, which came in at number five on their July list was 62% versus Absolute Batman #22 at 100%. At San Diego Comic-Con, writer Robert Kirkman revealed Terminal sold 300,000 copies, so using “math” AbsBat #22 may have sold around 483,871 copies. Possibly. Maybe.
While this is speculation based on small numbers based on blustering from Kirkman, even if this is all off it points to a surprisingly robust comic book industry, with the Top 10 all potentially selling well over 100,000 copies every month… A far cry from where things were a few years back.
Sabrina The Teenage Witch Hops On Marvel’s Midnight Sales:
Oni Press is offering up tricks AND treats with a midnight release for Sabrina the Teenage Witch #1. And in the process, they’re cursing Marvel with a wickedly good joke.
Written by Corinna Bechko with art by Kano, Sabrina the Teenage Witch #1 is hitting stores on October 7, 2026 at 12:01am… TOTALLY coincidentally the same day and time that Marvel is launching their new Midnight Universe titles, Midnight Fantastic Four #1, Midnight Spider-Man #1, and Midnight X-Men #1.
And Oni is having a little fun with it, with a promo designed like Marvel’s Midnight Universe promo, teasing “Oni Press Presents A Delightful New Universe,” along with “Riverdale had its turn.”
To celebrate, Oni will craft a variant cover just for participating midnight release retailers: a Pyre Satanic variant, which, per PR, are “a new subset of surprise variant covers echoing a unique chapter of Archie Comics history in a playfully subversive way.”
The Sabrina one will feature artwork by Chloe Brailsford. And also as a bonus, Oni will match Marvel’s bulk discount for retailers for the Archie Comics issue.
Uncle Scrooge Celebrates A Christmas Carol:
In a bit of news that will make you think “wait, this isn’t a reprint?” legendary writer Louise Simonson will tackle the all-new one-shot Uncle Scrooge: A Christmas Carol for Marvel.
Featuring art by Disney regulars, the twist on the classic Dickens story sends Uncle Scrooge on a journey to the stars and back. Per PR from Marvel, “Scrooge chooses gold over Christmas and ends up spending the holiday all alone! Three magical adventures force him to revisit the treasures that truly matter! Will Scrooge learn that family is worth more than all the gold in his Money Bin? Guest-starring Donald Duck, Huey, Dewey, Louie, Ludwig Von Drake, Gyro Gearloose and more!”
And as a crazy bonus, the cover is by none other than Walter Simonson. How is this just being published now, in 2026? Wild!
Uncle Scrooge: A Christmas Carol #1 hits stores on November 18, 2026.
For Comic Book Club News, I’m Alex Zalben. And coming tomorrow, my ranking of competing sales charts! Just kidding.
Got tips or stories you’d like us to cover? Email us at comicbookclublive@gmail.com.
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