2010 was both a good year and a bad year for comic book sales. The total units sold for the top 300 comics each month bounced between a low of an estimated 5,384,957 units in February to a high of 6,148,778 in May. Four of the ten lowest selling months during the final order era which started in March 2003 happened during 2010.

This should come as no surprise that since most comics published are from Marvel and DC and those publishers tend to publish primarily superhero titles, most of the top comics sold in 2010 were superhero titles from Marvel and DC. Perhaps the most notable exception to that trend appears in rank 405 with "American Vampire" #1 from DC's Vertigo imprint. Other notable exceptions to the domination of the traditional superhero genre are the numerous MillarWorld issues published through the Icon imprint at Marvel Comics, including the first issue of "Kick Ass 2" weighing in at 103, the final issue of the first "Kick Ass" series at 338, all four issues of "Nemesis" at 136, 249, 348 and 360 and the first issue of "Superior" at 399.

Issue over issue declines continued to be a problem in 2010 with the total declines each month averaging around 372,609 units per month while the average issue over issue advances averaged a total of only 66,822 per month. In other words, the total decline in sales each month from the previous issue for all of the issues losing sales from the previous issue exceeds the total increase in sales for all issues selling better than the previous issue during that same month by a wide margin. Higher selling titles continually replace lower selling titles, giving the perceived sense of stability in the monthly total of the top 300 comics.

The top 7 items for December (all of which were published by DC Comics) came in at ranks 40, 89, 93, 95, 104, 108 and 121 for the year. Marvel's top seller -- Avengers #8 -- came in at 137 for the year. This is a direct result of the unfortunate truth that most titles are unable to maintain a steady level of sales from issue to issue without resorting to sales gimmicks. All but seven of the items in the top 100 comics list had multiple order codes ,which usually equates to retailer incentive covers. These covers inflate sales by incentivizing retailers to order a few more copies of the regular cover to qualify to be able to order the incentive cover which can be sold at a premium price. This feeds into the collector mentality in a very dangerous way. The collector boom and bust of the 1990s inflated sales for a while, but when that bubble burst, it did so very quickly with devastating results. With the top selling title in December 2010 doing roughly 90,000 units and January historically being a weak month, having a collector bubble burst in 2011 could make for a very rough year for the comic book industry.

My challenge to all of the creators and publishers is to aggressively focus on retaining sales during 2011. Treat the standard attrition of sales as a content and editorial problem, not as a marketing problem. Make the issues so accessible that the concept of a "jumping on" issue becomes meaningless since all issues would a suitable place for new readers to start with. Make the stories so compelling readers can't wait for that next issue. Get the issues out on time so the story momentum doesn't suffer due to long delays between issues. Make each issue worth the cover price as a standalone issue, even if it is part of a bigger story. Stop relying on marketing gimmicks like incentive covers and massive event storylines that dominate the content of the entire publishing line. There is no guarantee this approach will work -- indeed, a case could be made that it won't. Even so, it is the right approach to take to attempt to build maintainable sales that won't plummet the minute the wind shifts.

The monthly total units of the top 300 trades during 2010 had a low of 277,269 in August and a high of 385,952 in July. Marvel and DC continue to be aggressively challenged by the other publishers in this area, with the other publishers maintaining an average of half the market share for the top 300 trades over the course of the year. That market share for the other publishers dropped only as low as 39.71% in March but stayed above 43% in every other month, hitting a high of 58.03% in September.

Most of the top ten trades for 2010 were volumes of "Walking Dead," "Kick Ass" and "Scott Pilgrim." The sole Marvel or DC owned superhero entry into the top ten trades for 2010 was the "Superman: Earth One" hardcover in rank 5. The "Blackest Night" hardcover from DC in rank 12 was the only other superhero trade in the top 30 trades for the year. Image and Oni had very strong showing at the top of the trades list with the Vertigo imprint at DC also doing well.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email me at John.Mayo@ComicBookResources.com.