FUN WITH BEST SELLER LISTS PART 2 - COMICS!
Now that we’ve gotten the graphic novels and trade paperbacks out of the way, let’s look at what individual comic series performed best at More Fun Comics and Games in 2019.
A couple notes before I get to the list here. I removed any promotionally priced books like dollar books or DC’s Year of the Villain 25 cent book. I also decided to condense this by series instead of single issues because then the top 20 would be 80% House of X and Powers of X and where’s the fun in that? That said, here’s the top 20 periodical comic series for More Fun Comics and Games in 2019!
Once & Future
House of X
Powers of X
Critical Role Vox Machina Origins
Batman Last Knight on Earth
Spider-Man Life Story
Absolute Carnage
Doomsday Clock
X-Men
DCeased
Harleen
Absolute Carnage vs Deadpool
Batman
Spider-Man (The series by J.J. Abrams, to be exact)
Silver Surfer Black
Heroes in Crisis
Amazing Spider-Man
Tales from the Dark Multiverse
Venom
War of Realms
At the top of that list is a book that is a very pleasant surprise, Once & Future from Boom! Studios. Boom! went out of their way to make this book as retailer friendly as possible and hype the book up, that combined with the book being a very enjoyable read made for an explosive combination. A serious round of congratulations is in order for everyone involved with Once & Future for making that book a big hit! Boom!’s rise in the market over the last few years is well earned. They produce quality books and go out of their way to take feedback to heart. I can’t wait to see what they have in store at ComicsPRO in a few weeks!
After that, in one of the biggest revivals we’ve seen in the comic business, Jonathan Hickman resurrected the moribund X-Men monthly books this fall to commercial and critical acclaim. I didn’t think it was possible to reinvent X-Men and also account for all of the past history at the same time, but Hickman pulled it off and the response has been very positive all around.
More Fun Comics and Games has an exceptional number of Spider-Man fans, and it shows in this list with several Spidey books across the spectrum of showing up. 2019 also gave us a perennial Spider-Man book in Life Story. Not only did the Chip Zdarsky take on Spider-Man aging in real time find a big audience in serial form, but the trade paperback is a good seller already that we expect to be moving for years to come.
Doomsday Clock was also a huge hit, and would have placed higher if not for the delays. The book is fantastic, though, and we can’t recommend it highly enough. I loved it and am working on a post discussing Doomsday Clock and the Watchmen TV series in contrast to each other, that’ll be later!
Critical Role wasn’t just a top selling trade last year, it was also one of our top selling monthly comics. Given our focus on games and comics, it makes sense!
Finally, in the overall view, DC’s Batman books continue to be top sellers no matter the format or line. The main Batman title does very well, but spin offs like Harleen continue to impress and do well.
It was a challenging year for monthly comics, and you don’t have to just read here to be aware of the issues that people are discussing. The number of periodical books being released is a challenge to keep up with by even the most dedicated, and getting a series to stand up above the crowd is not easy. It is exciting to see the quality of the books at the top of the list, though, and I think it points to the fact that people do want to read good periodical comics, it is just important that the publishers make a point of getting the word out about the books they are most excited about!
-Tim