Marvel and DC split the top ten last month with five books each. Rick Remender and Jerome Opena won the big prize with Uncanny X-Force #1, while the other 4 books belonged to DC in the top 5. I like to see these lists and Diamond is good about providing them and reminding consumers that the numbers reflect how many books were sold to shops not costumers.
Variant covers have unfortunately made a huge comeback since the 90’s and they are definitely a factor in how many copies of a book a shop orders. I don’t know how many covers were available for Uncanny X Force #1 but I’ve seen at least three. If publishers can give shop owners more money by offering an issue to sell for twice the cover price or more it makes me wonder how easy it would be to buy your company in the top spot.
I actually purchased 8 of the top 10 books last month and I agree that they all deserve their spot but I have the feeling there’s more than a few copies laying around in shops across North America. At the bottom of the list The Walking Dead #78 came in at #71. It will be interesting to see how well the new weekly Walking Dead reprints.
See the entire list HERE.