By David Colton, USA TODAY
The comic-book industry, helped by the enormous success of films such as The Dark Knight, showed continued growth in the burgeoning graphic novel category, according to an exclusive look at top sellers.
Total sales remained "strong" and the graphic-novel category grew by 5%, says Steve Geppi, CEO of Diamond Comics Distributors, which services more than 4,000 comic-book stores nationwide.
"We remain optimistic about the comic-book industry heading into 2009," he says.
•Marvel Comics' Secret Invasion #1 was the best-selling comic book of 2008. The eight-issue miniseries about the takeover of superheroes by shape-shifting Skrulls took the first six spots. Only Uncanny X-Men #500 (No. 7) and DC Comics' Final Crisis #1 (No. 9) also cracked the top 10. Diamond did not release actual sales figures, but best-selling comic books (priced at $2.99 or $3.99) normally sell more than 100,000 copies.
•Among graphic novels, DC Comics dominated, taking seven of the top 10 positions. DC's reprint of Watchmen, Alan Moore's breakthrough graphic novel from 1986, was the top seller, propelled by anticipation for the film due March 6.
•Marvel and DC continue to dominate the industry: Marvel took in 41% of retail sales, DC 29% and Dark Horse 6.5%.
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