Welcome back to TBU By The Numbers. Here we take a look at the sales numbers for DC Comics, in particular, the TBU books, as outlined by the TBU Roundups for May 2019. All numbers presented in this article are from the May 2019 Comichron page. These numbers only represent comics distributed by Diamond to United States comic book stores. They do not include outside the US, digital, newsstand, or any other distribution method.
DC and TBU Overall Numbers
* Includes ALL DC comic sales, including reorders
** TBU titles are defined by that month’s releases as featured on TBU Weekly Roundup articles and does NOT include reorders
Main TBU Books
The Batman Who Laughs continues to prove why DC continues to use Snyder, taking the #5 sales spot with 100K. TEC saw a little bump, but sales are still hovering in the 60K region since issue #1000. The only other book that saw some growth is Harley Quinn, which is still continuing it’s “Harley the Hero with a Belt” storyline. Batgirl and Nightwing continue to stay in the danger zone 20K region.
Secondary TBU Books
Batman: Last Knight On Earth did amazing with 110K and taking the #3 spot in sales. Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III pulled a respectable 39K while Batman Beyond continues to flounder.
Main DCU Books
DCeased took the #1 spot for the month with very favorable reviews. It sold 240K, more than double the sales of the book at the number two spot. Doomsday Clock continues to drop in sales, though this issue really was worth getting back into the series. Heroes in Crisis finished up with mixed feelings from fans, but all in all, finishing decently strong, only losing 11K in readership since issue #2. No real improvement from many of the other books, though Teen Titans and Deathstroke appear to be up on average. Dog Days of Summer was the bottom TBU book with only 10K in sales, which is a shame. This writer thought it was actually pretty great.
Overall, sales continue to be all over the place. DC’s market share took another hit this month with the TBU titles dropping even further. The numbers were released on schedule this month, so I will see you in two weeks as we dive into the next TBU Numbers Spotlight, Batgirl: Do Creative Changes Really Affect Sales?