Dark Knight III #3 Is Top-Selling February Comic
By Nick Tylwalk
DC put a lot of stock in the third chapter of its Dark Knight saga, and it looks like that faith is paying off. Dark Knight III: The Master Race #3 was the top-selling comic of February according to the charts recently released by Diamond Comic Distributors.
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Batman #49 was third for the month, giving DC two of the top three spots. Those Batman books were sandwiched around Star Wars #16 from Marvel, whose top superhero book was Spider-Man #1, giving Miles Morales his introduction to the prime Marvel Universe.
Unlike January, where The Walking Dead #150 was the No. 1 single issue, all of the February top 10 were Marvel or DC books. Justice League #48 was DC’s other top 10 book, while Marvel’s other top sellers included both new (Power Man and Iron Fist #1) and ongoing (Amazing Spider-Man #7) entries.
Like most months, Marvel still controlled a large slice of the Direct Market in February, racking up almost 41 percent of the dollar share and just over 42 percent of the unit share for the month. DC was second with 26 percent and 29 percent, respectively, while Image came in third with around 9 percent of dollars and 10 percent of units sold.
Dark Knight III has been an unqualified sales success so far, with issues #1 and #3 leading the way in their months of release and issue #2 finishing a close second to Secret Wars #8 in December. Other than Batman, few other DC titles have had much top 10 success as of late, but even with most fans lukewarm on DK2, the marriage of original masterminds Frank Miller and Klaus Janson with top comic talent like Brian Azzarello and Andy Kubert has revitalized the franchise.
Next: Dark Knight III Interview: Andy Kubert and Klaus Janson
DC doesn’t have an issue of Dark Knight III in March, as #4 is due in mid-April. But while March may be a little tougher as a result, there’s also The Dark Knight Returns: The Last Crusade #1, a one-shot prequel to the original Dark Knight Returns that could give DC two top-sellers in April.
(via Comic Book Resources)