The best-selling comic book of 2024 is DC Comics’ Absolute Batman #1 (so far)

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DC has announced that October 2024’s Absolute Batman #1 is the best-selling comic book of 2024 – and it’s only been on sale for 42 days.

This is a bold claim claim by DC given the privacy surrounding sales numbers by comic publishers and the dissolution of a centralized comics sales chart in 2020 (due to the dissolution of a comics distribution monopoly, but that’s another story). But DC’s claim that Absolute Batman #1 outsold everything else is the capper to a huge year for comic books in general, with multiple publishers reporting massive sales on certain #1 issues. All of these numbers are comic books sold to retailers, who then re-sell it to readers.

How many copies of Absolute Batman #1 did DC really sell?

While DC did not disclose the sales numbers of Absolute Batman #1 that has led to their claim of being “2024’s bestselling comic book,” it’s my understanding that to date it has sold just under 400,000 copies. That goes across three printings, as well as a black-and-white ‘Noir’ edition, for four printings in total (so far). Of course, that doesn’t count digital editions or non-English editions of Absolute Batman #1, which are even harder to track, even for the people who own the books. (Believe me, I have asked publishers & creators numerous times over the years.)

Digging deeper, I have learned that the first printing of Absolute Batman #1 sold well over 200,000 copies – currently estimated by one source familiar with the process at around 275,000 copies. That in itself is great news, but for those with a competitive streak its under IDW Publishing’s 300,000 sales reported for the first printing of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1. One thing to note in that however, is at least 100k copies of TMNT #1 were pre-sold to the online marketplace WhatNot in a structured deal between it and IDW with terms not immediately clear. A sale is a sale, but this unique deal did help to get IDW’s TMNT #1 numbers from the sub-200k mark to where it is now. At press time, sales numbers for subsequent printings of TMNT #1 were not available.

The first printing of Image Comics & Skybound Entertainment’s recent G.I. Joe #1 sold 225,000 copies to retailers (according to what they’re telling partners), but there’s no data floating out there about sales of additional printings.

How Absolute Batman #1 got to that near-400k number is due to positive word-of-mouth following the book’s initial debut. I understand that the second printing of Absolute Batman #1 sold roughly 20-35k copies as it hit stores October 30. But then retailers saw a growing appetite for the book leading to orders for November 27’s Absolute Batman #1 third printing to be double what it was for the second printing, so roughly 40k – 70k. 

What Absolute Batman #1’s success says

Given that Absolute Batman #1 sold 200,000 copies before the first issue was on stands, then went on to sell almost that much again in subsequent reprints shows that it was more than a speculator market or those of us (yeah, I’m one too) that come for first issue of the cool new thing. The word-of-mouth on Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta’s Absolute Batman #1 was palpable – following its early October release, as well as in and around the five-day comics meet-up that was New York Comic Con 2024.

Did Ultimate Spider-Man #1 outsell Absolute Batman #1?

The closest other possible contender is one that is keeping its sales numbers to itself. The big question to most individuals I talk to about what is the best-selling comic book of 2024 is that of January’s Ultimate Spider-Man #1 from Marvel Comics. To date that has been reprinted six times, however, Marvel is fiercely private about revealing its sales numbers to outside parties – and in some cases, even the creators working on the book themselves. Based on the limited data I have available, I would estimate Ultimate Spider-Man #1 has sold more than 300,000 copies (but again, Marvel: I’d love to get more concrete data!).

Marvel Comics has been telling partners that 2000’s Ultimate Spider-Man #1 sold in excess of 20 million copies, but that number counts over a dozen reprints, non-English editions, and of course 24 years of selling.

But to underline something here, Absolute Batman #1 came out just six weeks ago and has 400,000 in sales. Marvel’s Ultimate Spider-Man #1 has been on-sale for eleven months, and IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 has been on shelves for almost four. DC’s Absolute Batman #1 did that in a month-and-a-half.

This uncertainty about the larger comic book marketplace – both in downtimes but also in successful times like we seem to be having today – is a reason that Marvel Comics publisher Dan Buckley has begun partnering with others to get a broader picture.

“Yes, we know our sales numbers, but we need context to actually set a meaningful course forward,” Buckley told retailers in a closed-door meeting in early 2024, saying Marvel realizing 2023 that they were “unsure of where we actually were from an industry and company perspective.”

Of course, all of these figures are strictly for printed comic books – not digital comics, not manga, and not graphic novels. March’s Dog Man: The Scarlet Shredder has sold over 900,000 copies this year I’m told – and that’s a higher price ($14.99), and to a different audience.

At the end of the day, people bought a lot of comics in 2024, and very specifically these four comics mentioned. Together, Absolute Batman #1, Ultimate Spider-Man #1, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1, and Dog Man: The Scarlet Shredder alone have sold over 2 million copies together in 2024. And in there DC and Marvel have created whole new lines – the Absolute line and the Ultimate line – that sit alongside the historic comic book titles of those characters, not replacing it – which grows the playground that is comics.

The third printing of Absolute Batman #1 goes on sale November 27 – but your local comic shop or mail-order comic retailer might still have copies of the previous printings for you.