(BALTIMORE, MD) — (March 14, 2014) — Batman and his new partner Bluebird discover that Catwoman, Gotham City’s new crime lord, holds a prisoner who could save Gotham City in Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, and Dustin Nguyen’s Batman #28, a flash-forward to the upcoming DC Comics weekly comic Batman Forever and February 2014’s best-selling comic book to specialty retailers, according to information provided by Diamond Comic Distributors, the world’s largest distributor of comics, graphic novels, and pop culture merchandise.

Marvel Comics was February’s top publisher, with a 34.10% Dollar Share and 37.36% Unit Share, compared to 28.73% and 31.12% respectively for runner-up DC Entertainment. Marvel Comics had five of the month’s top ten best-selling comics, led by Paul Cornell and Ryan Stegman’s Wolverine #1 at #3, while DC Entertainment had three titles and Image Comics two, led by The Walking Dead #121 at #8.

Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez’s Locke & Key series for IDW Publishing came to a close with February’s Locke & Key Volume 6: Alpha & Omega, the collected edition of the series’ final two storylines and the best-selling graphic novel for the month. Image Comics had four of the month’s top-ten graphic novels, including Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ Fatale Volume 4 at #2.

Sanctum Publishing’s The Shadow Double Novel Volume 81, a collection of classic pulp-era stories of The Shadow, was February’s best-selling book in the comic book specialty market. Dark Horse Comics had three books in the top ten, led by the Alabaster novel Pale at #3, along with perennial best-sellers The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia and The Hellboy Companion.

Ant Lucia’s 1940’s pin-up redesign of Batgirl inspired DC Collectibles’ DC Comics Bombshells: Batgirl Statue, February’s best-selling toy product.

The 31st-century heroes of the Legion of Super-Heroes starred in WizKids/NECA’s DC HeroClix: Legion of Super-Heroes Boosters, an expansion for the fan-favorite miniatures game and the best-selling game product in February.

TOP COMIC BOOK PUBLISHERS

NEW TITLES SHIPPED

COMPARATIVE SALES STATISTICS

TOP 10 COMIC BOOKS

TOP 10 GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS

TOP 10 BOOKS

TOP 10 TOYS

TOP 10 GAMES

How does Diamond calculate the charts? It all starts at the comic book shop.

Data for Diamond’s sales charts — which include the monthly market shares and all top product charts — are compiled by Diamond Comic Distributors from a universe of over 3,500 comic book specialty shops located in North America and around the world. The account base includes brick-and-mortar comic book specialty shops, Internet merchants, and other specialty stores.

Unit and dollar market shares are calculated based upon orders for comic books, graphic novels, and magazines invoiced and shipped to Diamond accounts during any given month, which comprises initial pre-orders, advance reorders, and reorders, minus any copies that are received back from a title marked as returnable.

Please note that comics marked with an asterisk have had their reported quantities reduced due to retailer returnability, and thus may rank lower on the charts than their actual sales would reflect.

The count of new titles shipped includes all titles that were invoiced by Diamond to retailers for the first time during the month and is not the official solicited title count for the month. Variant edition comic books and graphic novels at the same price point count as a single SKU. Variant edition comic books, lenticular covers, digital combo packs, and graphic novels at different price points count as separate SKUs for each edition.

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