Diamond’s sales rankings for October are up, along with ICv2’s sales estimates*. Flash #2 was ranked the #5 comic book, selling an estimated 114,137 copies, and the Flashpoint hardcover was the top graphic novel selling 5,646 copies to comic stores.
That represents am 11.17% drop from issue #1, which sounds like a lot…but for a #2 issue, it’s phenomenal. You expect a lot of people to pick up a #1 out of curiosity, or speculation, or just because they collect #1s. Add in the line-wide relaunch and people who bought every single New 52 first issue (without intending to keep going), and you’d expect this to be a lot higher.
For comparison, Flash vol.3 dropped 24% from issue #1 to #2. Flash: TFMA dropped a staggering 35% between the first two issues.
Also: Look down that list a ways, and you’ll find the Flash #1 second printing at 18,558 copies. That’s more copies of a reprint than the latest new issue of the highest-selling Vertigo book.
| Issue | Rank | Month | Units Sold | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flash v.4 #1 | 4 | September 2011 | 129,260 | |
| Flash v.4 #2 | 5 | October 2011 | 114,137 | -11.7% |
*What these numbers measure: US-only sales, wholesale from Diamond to comics retailers. They don’t count sales through bookstores, they don’t count international sales, and they don’t count how many copies were actually bought and read…but they do measure the same thing every month, which means they can be used to spot trends.