‘Batman No. 1’ Comic Sells Over Half a Million Copies

A year after launching a juggernaut publishing line with Batman at its center, DC has another massive Batman comic book hit.

The publisher announced Thursday that its Batman No. 1, a relaunch of the Caped Crusader by writer Matt Fraction and artist Jorge Jiménez, has sold over 500,000 copies.

That number puts the title as the top-selling comic of the year so far, a number that is unlikely to be topped, despite one more big publishing event on the calendar—the two-part company crossover comics involving Deadpool and, you guessed it, Batman.

DC was leading the year with another top-seller, Batman No. 158, which featured the return of DC chief Jim Lee to drawing duties in a sequel to his and writer Jeph Loeb’s now-classic Hush storyline. That comic, published in the spring, has sold over 400,000 copies.

Another comic at that 400,000-plus sales level was Invincible Universe: Battle Beast No. 1 from Robert Kirkman’s Skybound and Image Comics.

BatmanNo.1, which hit stores Sept. 3, has sold out with comic book distributors and has gone back for a second printing, which will arrive in stores Oct. 15 with new variant foil and cardstock cover. Part of the driving force behind the massive sales is that it is only the fourth time DC has renumbered the comic in the title’s 84-year history.

“I was lucky enough to attend the Rose City Comic Convention in my beloved Portland the weekend of Batman No. 1’s incredible launch, and have never felt such a thunderous, immediate embrace from readers before,” Fraction said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. “It was an astonishing end to an incredible week, and it’s only the beginning.”

The comic reimagines Gotham City with what DC describes as a “superhero-forward tone,” a sleek new Batmobile, and a vivid blue-and-gray costume that signals a shift in both style and storytelling.

The sales success of the new Batman title continues a strong year for not just Batman but DC, which has found massive and surprise victory with its Absolute imprint, a line of comics that reinvented key heroes and their villains and that is now nearing its one-year anniversary. The line was led with, what else, Absolute Batman, written by Scott Snyder and drawn by Nick Dragotta, with the first issue selling over 200,000 in its first printing. The issue is now in its ninth (!) printing.

Almost all the Absolute titles have gone to multiple printings, with even the comics featuring lesser known heroes such as Martian Manhunter selling in the six figures with their debut issue. Sales have remained buoyant, and the entire lot has sold well into the millions copies, according to insiders.

The sales continue to show an almost insatiable desire for all things Batman, DC’s dominant hero. The company is not taking its foot off the gas of the Batmobile as the circulation news comes in time for Batman Day, this year being held Sept. 20.