Here’s our weekly look at the best-selling comics on four different digital platforms. The lists are constantly being updated; this is a snapshot of what they were Sunday afternoon.
1. Uncanny X-Men, vol. 3 #13
2. Hawkeye #13
3. Batman/Superman #4
4. Justice League of America #8
5. Avengers, vol. 5 #21
6. Superior Spider-Man #19
7. New Avengers, vol. 3 #11
8. Guardians of the Galaxy, vol. 3 #7
9. The Walking Dead #115
10. Invincible #106
It’s the usual here, Big Two comics that came out this past week, except for The Walking Dead, which is the rare comic that has the staying power to linger on the list for two weeks.
1. Stephen King’s N
2. The Walking Dead, vol. 1
3. Astonishing X-Men, vol. 1: Gifted
4. Spider-Man: Big Time
5. Fables, vol. 1: Legends in Exile
6. The Sandman: Overture #1
7. The Walking Dead #115
8. The Walking Dead, vol. 2
9. Batman: The Killing Joke
10. Fables, vol. 2: Animal Farm
Amazon shoppers are a mixed bag. On the one hand, the two bargain books, Astonishing X-Men and Spider-Man: Big Time, both made the chart. That almost never happens on comiXology, where the charts are dominated by new releases at full price. I’m guessing the Fables numbers were beefed up by earlier buys (it was on sale a few weeks ago). On the other hand, they snapped up the latest issue of The Walking Dead, and they are pre-ordering the first issue of The Sandman: Overture, which, at $4.99 for 19 pages, is the opposite of a bargain. With the new season of The Walking Dead just under way, it’s a good sign that the first two volumes of the collected edition are selling well. That means new people are coming into the series, presumably after watching the show.
1. It’s a Dog’s Life, Snoopy!
2. The World According to Lucy
3. Snoopy at the Bat
4. Sandman #1
5. Injustice: Gods Among Us #1
6. The Walking Dead, vol. 1
7. Big Nate: Game On!
8. Injustice: Gods Among Us #2
9. Injustice: Gods Among Us #36
10. The Walking Dead, vol. 2
Nook readers, on the other hand, are reliably cheap. Free books outnumber paid in their top sellers list by a ratio of almost 5 to 1; that second volume of The Walking Dead was 49th on their list. Of course, Nook is the only platform that commingles free and paid downloads, so it’s the only one where we can see this phenomenon. Still, it’s a pretty static list; it’s all cartoons, The Walking Dead, and Injustice, and that pattern continues after the top ten. If the sales are cumulative over time, that means no one is buying much these days.
Incidentally, that issue of Sandman is the older series, not the one that folks are pre-ordering at Amazon.
iBooks
1. The Walking Dead #115
2. My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic #12
3. My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic #11
4. The Walking Dead #114
5. My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic #8
6. Star Trek: Khan #1
7. The Walking Dead, vol. 1
8. The Walking Dead, vol. 2
9. My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic #7
10. The Walking Dead, vol. 18
As usual, it’s ponies and zombies over at iBooks, except for one new Star Trek comic. And the comics are pretty fresh: That issue #12 of My Little Pony is actually a pre-order, as it doesn’t come out till the end of the month, and the Star Trek comic is just out this week. It’s interesting to see folks reading the last two single issues of The Walking Dead and the latest volume as well as the first two volumes of the trade. That means iBooks is capturing both newcomers and regular readers looking for the latest fix.
A former book editor and newspaper reporter, Brigid Alverson started MangaBlog to keep track of her daughters¹ reading habits and now covers comics and graphic novels for Comic Book Resources , School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly Comics World, Robot 6, and MTV Geek. She also edits the Good Comics for Kids blog at School Library Journal. Brigid was a judge for the 2012 Eisner Awards. Send her an email to wordballoons@gmail.com