Thanks largely in part to X-Men#1, relaunching the Marvel series from writer Jonathan Hickman, October 2019 was the best month for comic sales since August 2016 -- and the fourth best month in the last decade! While much of the sales benchmark can be attributed to the historic and high-profile X-Men #1, there are other titles that more than likely helped October sales as well, including the conclusions to both House of X and Powers of X.
Elsewhere, Top 10 titles like Amazing Mary Jane #1 (ditching Spidey), the launch of Kate Pryde's new Marauders, and a relaunched Ghost Rider were large contributors as well from Marvel. On the DC side of things, the arrival of the blockbuster Joker film only added to the attention for the Joker: Year of the Villain one-shot from director John Carpenter. And while fans may have had to wait much, much, much longer than expected for Doomsday Clock to conclude, the hardcover sales confirm fans still need to know. Add in the continued rollover in sales surrounding Spawn #301's record-setting release, and the totals kept on climbing.
The report comes courtesy of Comichron, which provides further details on the great sales month. According to the report, October brought in a record-breaking $56.35 million in comic sales in total, suggesting comic book sellers were continually reordering said titles at a higher rate, due to the higher demand for these larger profile titles in comparison to past months.
It's no surprise that Hickman's X-Men #1 was such a big contributor for October's overall sales. Over the years, Hickman has been the mastermind behind Avengers, Infinity, and 2015's Secret Wars. Now known as the new "Head of X", Hickman is now in charge of creating (and supervising) a brand new direction for the X-Men which began with House of X and Powers of X. X-Men #1 was also met with some pretty positive reception and excitement towards the new dawn Hickman is ushering in for the X-Men.
Is it possible that this could be the start of an upward trend for comic book sales? Perhaps. Thanks to new film and television comic adaptations coming out every other day, more and more people are looking back to the source material that inspired them in the first place. Furthermore, publishers like Marvel and DC have been determined to continually create game-changing stories and series (like X-Men's new direction) so as not to become dull, and to avoid the perception that major comics publishers are dying, and not growing. Here's hoping the uptick in sales keeps going.
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Source: Comichron