The Walking Dead #100 Is The Best Selling Indie Comic So Far This Century

Robert Kirkman’s Image comic, The Walking Dead, is getting some very well-deserved attention these days. Of course there’s the hit AMC television show, the panel in Hall H at Comic-Con, not to mention the huge zombie apocalypse course they put together for fans but it’s the original comic making news today. Issue #100 has sold more than any other indie comic this century. So how many comics does it actually take to achieve that important title? Read on to find out! 

Drum roll please…..

383,612

That’s a lot of comics. But before we move on, let’s clarify a few things. Firstly, we’re living in the 21st century so this record means The Walking Dead #100 is the best-selling indie comic since 2001. It actually stretches a bit before that as far as records go but there you have it. Secondly, these numbers are based on initial orders and their subsequent sell out on July 11. But the way things are going, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a second printing giving it even bigger numbers. The Walking Dead #100 also had 13 variant covers, which certainly helps sales where collectors are concerned.

“This is a remarkable achievement,” said Image Comics Publisher Eric Stephenson in a press release. “It’s extremely uncommon, if not flat-out rare, for a comic book to see a sustained increase in sales following its first issue, but The Walking Dead steadily climbed up and up since its launch in 2003, and we couldn’t be more proud of Robert, Charlie and the whole Walking Dead team.”

The last indie comic to have a number like this was back in 1997 with Image Comics/Top Cow’s The Darkness #11 (15 variants) with 357,000. As far as comics in general, it’s Amazing Spider-Man #583 (the one with President Obama on the cover) that holds the #1 spot with 530,500 in overall sales according to Comichron. Also of note, the press release said “initial orders” so The Walking Dead numbers don’t seem to include digital copies.

“The Walking Dead continues to greatly exceed all my expectations in all forms,” said Kirkman. “I am especially excited for what this means for comics as an industry, that this is an independent comic hitting that number…The future of comics couldn’t be brighter as more and more readers are embracing new ideas in a big way.”

If only all comics sold this well all the time…

(via The Beat)

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Jill Pantozzi

Jill Pantozzi is a pop-culture journalist and host who writes about all things nerdy and beyond! She’s Editor in Chief of the geek girl culture site The Mary Sue (Abrams Media Network), and hosts her own blog “Has Boobs, Reads Comics” (TheNerdyBird.com). She co-hosts the Crazy Sexy Geeks podcast along with superhero historian Alan Kistler, contributed to a book of essays titled “Chicks Read Comics,” (Mad Norwegian Press) and had her first comic book story in the IDW anthology, “Womanthology.” In 2012, she was featured on National Geographic’s "Comic Store Heroes," a documentary on the lives of comic book fans and the following year she was one of many Batman fans profiled in the documentary, "Legends of the Knight."

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