“Batman” Tops Comic Book Sales Charts for November

(December 13, 2013 – Burbank, CA) – Super Heroes dominated the November comic book sales charts, with DC Entertainment taking four of the month’s top five spots. Landing at #1 and #2 respectively were “Batman #25” — the continuation of bestselling writer Scott Snyder and superstar artist Greg Capullo’s reimagining of Batman’s early days — and “Harley Quinn #0,” the debut issue of a new comic book series featuring the bombastic Batman femme fatale from co-writers Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti. Also on the list were “Superman Unchained #4” – by Snyder with cinematic art by DC Entertainment Co-Publisher Jim Lee - and the villain-centric “Forever Evil #3” by megastar writer and DC Entertainment Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns and popular artist David Finch, which took the #3 and #4 positions, respectively, according to Diamond Comic Distributors, the largest comic book distributor in the world. The November numbers continued to cement 2013 as a success for DC Entertainment, a period that saw the company bring the world’s greatest Super Heroes to fans across the globe on all entertainment platforms and top the comic book sales charts eight of the last 12 months. “We’ve had a banner year at DC Entertainment, where we experienced record-breaking sales, published compelling and captivating stories and continued to bring innovation to the comics industry featuring some of pop culture’s most beloved characters, including Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman,” said Diane Nelson, DC Entertainment President. “We also continued to bring the best and brightest creators into the fold to work on our beloved characters and re-energized the market with a wave of new concepts from our DC Comics and Vertigo imprints.” The year was also punctuated by an unprecedented array of in-development TV shows - including The CW’s successful drama “Arrow,” the launch of the entertainment web-series “DC All Access” – which brought fans behind the curtain into the world of DC Entertainment - and the historic return of The Sandman with “The Sandman: Overture.” And with the close of the year comes the end of a year-long celebration of the world’s first Super Hero, Superman, as the company spent 2013 celebrating the character’s historic 75th anniversary, which was capped off with the announcement of a new theatrical release that will see Superman and Batman together for the first time on the big screen – both of whom will be joined by Wonder Woman, making her motion picture debut. Looking forward, 2014 is positioned to be equally remarkable, kicking off with a Hall of Fame-level collection of talent contributing to January’s “Detective Comics #27,” which celebrates the first appearance of Batman. The issue boasts a jaw-dropping list of contributing talent, including Brad Meltzer and Bryan Hitch, Scott Snyder and Sean Murphy, the legendary Frank Miller and more. Batman will also take center-stage as the company returns to weekly comics with “Batman Eternal,” focusing on the Dark Knight and his stories, supporting cast of heroes and villains. A second weekly series, “The New 52: Futures End,” will give readers a glimpse at a possible dystopian future for our heroes later this year. On the book trade side, “Batman Vol. 3,” “The Joker: Death of the Family,” “Batman: The Killing Joke,” “Batgirl Vol. 3,” “Green Lantern: The End,” “Justice League Vol. 3,” “Batman Vol. 2,” “Earth 2: Vol. 2” and Vertigo’s “The Sandman Omnibus Vol. 2,” appeared on The New York Times Hardcover Graphic Book Bestseller list while “Smallville Season 11 Vol. 3,” “Batman Vol. 2,” and “Watchmen” all landed on The New York Times Paperback Graphic Book Bestseller list. DC Entertainment’s November sales and promotions leading into Black Friday and Cyber Monday met with great success, with Digital First titles like “Legends Of The Dark Knight,” “Batman Beyond 2.0,” “Adventures of Superman,” “Batman ’66” and “Smallville Season 11” taking seven of the top 10 rankings for the month. New Digital First title “The Vampire Diaries” also posted strong numbers for the month and entered the top 20. This rounds out a strong year for DCE’s critically acclaimed Digital First titles, lead by juggernaut “Injustice: Gods Among Us,” which will return in January 2014. Leading developer and publisher of digital entertainment, Telltale Games, in cooperation with DC Entertainment, launched “Faith” Episode 1 of the five episode game series, “The Wolf Among Us,” based on Bill Willingham's award-winning comic book series “FABLES.” It’s that time of year when The Usual Gang of Idiots at MAD Magazine compile “The 20 Dumbest Things” issue. This year’s MAD 20 cover, stars Miley Cyrus and Alfred as her unfortunate twerkee! In addition to the former Hannah Montana, this year’s compendium of the year’s dumbest people, events and things features President Obama, Anthony Weiner, Alex Rodriguez, Paula Deen, and many, many more! It’s on sale everywhere December 17. About DC Entertainment:
DC Entertainment, home to iconic brands DC Comics (Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, The Flash), Vertigo (Sandman, Fables) and MAD, is the creative division charged with strategically integrating its content across Warner Bros. Entertainment and Time Warner. DC Entertainment works in concert with many key Warner Bros. divisions to unleash its stories and characters across all media, including but not limited to film, television, consumer products, home entertainment and interactive games. Publishing thousands of comic books, graphic novels and magazines each year, DC Entertainment is the largest English-language publisher of comics in the world. DC Entertainment, in collaboration with Warner Bros. and Time Warner divisions, launched We Can Be Heroes—a giving campaign featuring the iconic Justice League super heroes—to raise awareness and funds to fight the hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa. ###