September's Top 300 Comics

Me reading ICv2's list of top-selling comics from Diamond for September...

"I wonder where the books that I bought fell on the list? Let's see... didn't buy that... or that... or that... no... no... no... no... Ah! Umbrella Acadamy #1 came in at... #58! What else have we got here? No... no... no... Aquaman comes in at... #140? Wow, only sold 13,000? Geez, I knew I wasn't buying popular stuff but this is nuts! What else is on here? Uh... no... no... Doktor Sleepless: 11,000... Galactic Bounty Hunters - holy crap! Only 4,000? Killing Girl only 3,000? And... that's it? I know I bought more than that last month -- does that mean everything else I bought sold less than 1500 copies each? Wait -- what about graphic novels? Er... nothing? What the hell? I can't be THAT far outside the mainstream, can I?"

Now, admittedly, by and large I'm not buying the superhero stuff that sells the most these days, but I don't honestly think my buying habits are THAT different from the rest of the United States that half the items on my pull list are special orders or anything. I'm inclined to think that what this disconnect speaks to is just how inaccurate these types of lists are. (Through no fault of ICv2, mind you! They're only working with what they can get from Diamond.) Off the top of my head, I don't see any manga at all and there are at least a few trade paperbacks that I know came out that aren't showing up on the list.

I used to think that these types of numbers were imprecise, but at least gave a general sense of scale. X-Men is selling better than Superman for example. But I think my focusing on the bottom portion of the list instead of the top showcases the inaccuracies more poignantly, and begins to speak more towards why the industry collectively needs a better system. Not that I necessarily know what would be best, but I think it's becoming increasingly obvious that there's lots of room for improvement.

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