Best Selling Comic and Graphic Novels of 2008

The Skrulls hostile invasion of the Marvel universe translated to a domination of the sales chart while older DC books benefit from renewed interest thanks to films.

Throughout 2008, comic book fans were left wondering who they could trust as the likes of Elektra, Black Bolt and even Spider-Woman revealed themselves to be none other than one of the shape-shifting Skrulls. The Secret Invasion arc lived up to its promise of changing the Marvel universe in significant ways and so the fans placed their trust in the only thing they could, Marvel comics, with all eight issues of the crossover series ranking within the top ten books sold in 2008, making Marvel the top publisher for the year.

Diamond Comics annual list of the top selling comic book and graphic novels shows a successful Skrull takeover, with the only DC book in the top ten being their very own crossover book, Final Crisis #1 placing ninth with Marvel's own Uncanny X-Men #500 just ahead in the eight position.

While Marvel cleaned house in individual book sales, the exact opposite is true with graphic novels as the House of Ideas failed to chart within the top ten, and DC leading the pack with seven of the top slots. The 1986 classic Watchmen was the best selling trade paperback of the year, thanks heavily in part to the upcoming film. Likewise, Batman: The Killing Joke, widely regarded as the all-time greatest Joker story, found its way to the number two spot thanks to the success of the Joker-heavy film, "The Dark Knight." Smaller publishers made themselves known in the trade and graphic novel space as well, with Image Comics' zombie favorite The Walking Dead volume eight placing fifth while Dark Horse and Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer volume two ranked ninth.

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Still havn't read any of secret invasion, got to get round to that one. Killing Joke is another one should read. I've read so many comics this year, but most of them have been wierd 80s stuff like Hellbrazer and Swamp Thing. Also got to read The Sandman, easially my faviourite comic now.

Secret Invasion itself was alright, but it was better for what it introduced. The follow-up arc, Dark Reign, is actually shaping up to be pretty interesting, if not totally unbelievable. Norman Osbourne (Green Goblin, former leader of Thunderbolts) is now head of SHIELD, renamed it HAMMER, is leading up the Dark Avengers, complete with the Sentry and possible clones of classic Wolverine and Black suit Spidey and is possibly Iron Patriot, which is Captain America style Iron Man.

Its craaaaaaaazy.

Jared Rea:
Secret Invasion itself was alright, but it was better for what it introduced. The follow-up arc, Dark Reign, is actually shaping up to be pretty interesting, if not totally unbelievable. Norman Osbourne (Green Goblin, former leader of Thunderbolts) is now head of SHIELD, renamed it HAMMER, is leading up the Dark Avengers, complete with the Sentry and possible clones of classic Wolverine and Black suit Spidey and is possibly Iron Patriot, which is Captain America style Iron Man.

Its craaaaaaaazy.

Hu...I can never keep up with whats going on in the Marvel and DC universe. Generally I only read series like the Watchmen and Sandman, novels that have a begining and end. I only dive into the main universes now and then, and it can get pretty confusing. I'm not sure if i'm going to pick any of this up, I've just got so much stuff to read.

i kinda wished i had kept up with comic book collecting, missed some awesome books, tho i do like being able to get graphic novels

i'm just upset Brian Bolland wasn't signing the Killing Joke at fan expo this year, tho i did get some kick ass art from Kevin Eastman and some by a guy named Marc Wolfe

i'm bad enough collecting books, cds and dvds, i don't need to collect comics too, tho i do like some of the ones i have, like my Silver Surfer hardcover by Stan Lee

Jared Rea:
Secret Invasion itself was alright, but it was better for what it introduced. The follow-up arc, Dark Reign, is actually shaping up to be pretty interesting, if not totally unbelievable. Norman Osbourne (Green Goblin, former leader of Thunderbolts) is now head of SHIELD, renamed it HAMMER, is leading up the Dark Avengers, complete with the Sentry and possible clones of classic Wolverine and Black suit Spidey and is possibly Iron Patriot, which is Captain America style Iron Man.

Its craaaaaaaazy.

It's actually Wolverine's son, (whose name i don't feel like looking up) and Venom, Moonstone, Ares, Sentry, Bullseye and whoever Iron Patriot is.

It's kind of pathetic that three of the bestselling graphic novels are from 20 years ago and anther few were released four or five years back

Pseudonym2:

It's actually Wolverine's son, (whose name i don't feel like looking up) and Venom, Moonstone, Ares, Sentry, Bullseye and whoever Iron Patriot is.

It's kind of pathetic that three of the bestselling graphic novels are from 20 years ago and anther few were released four or five years back

Ah, I'm an idiot! I read Thunderbolts but I couldn't get my hands on the last issue. That makes total sense. As for Wolverine's son ... yeah, who cares :)

And I wouldn't call it pathetic, since its the exact same thing thats happening to the games industry. Who made sure that Watchmen and The Killing Joke were the top trades of the year? Mainstream audiences with little to no interest in comic books but were intrigued by The Dark Knight and all the hype for the upcoming Watchmen movie. It's just like what we're seeing with Nintendo's Touch Generation games and the insane success of Guitar Hero III.

The logic behind it is that there's more of "them" than there are of us and when it comes to comic books, real comic book fans are fairly small in number. Still, all that said, I'm happy to see a Buffy trade land in the top ten. It's been a fantastic series.

SomeBritishDude:
Still havn't read any of secret invasion, got to get round to that one. Killing Joke is another one should read. I've read so many comics this year, but most of them have been wierd 80s stuff like Hellblazer and Swamp Thing. Also got to read The Sandman, easially my faviourite comic now.

If you like those you have to pick up Animal Man during Grant Morrison's run. Unfortanly it comes in three volumes, but is worth to read to the very end.

I'm actually kind of surprised the Batman didn't get on that list with RIP.

sheic99:

SomeBritishDude:
Still havn't read any of secret invasion, got to get round to that one. Killing Joke is another one should read. I've read so many comics this year, but most of them have been wierd 80s stuff like Hellblazer and Swamp Thing. Also got to read The Sandman, easially my faviourite comic now.

If you like those you have to pick up Animal Man during Grant Morrison's run. Unfortanly it comes in three volumes, but is worth to read to the very end.

I'm actually kind of surprised the Batman didn't get on that list with RIP.

The batman R.I.P storyline didn't really get much attention to be honest, and until the last few issues, or unless you had been reading all of Morrisons output since he took over batman, it didn't make much sense at the beginning of the arc. Confusion = lack of sales

I'm more surprised that all star superman didn't sell that well. Considering the praise critics gave it I would have though people would be snapping it up. Oh I forgot, Superman is 'boring'.

I just wish DC had been noticed a bit more this year. Americans got so worked up over another Marvel disappointment (thats what I'm calling the secret invasion) that they forgot the DC comics can produce overall a lot better quality of work.

Doesn't bother me much anyway. I've been enjoying myself with the new booster gold and ambush bug series. Booster gold in particular I would recommend.

blackcherry:

The batman R.I.P storyline didn't really get much attention to be honest, and until the last few issues, or unless you had been reading all of Morrisons output since he took over batman, it didn't make much sense at the beginning of the arc. Confusion = lack of sales

Morrison has built his career on mindfuck.

Indigo_Dingo:
This, in a nutshell, is why I've never tried to get into comics.

And it's why I stopped reading them.

Indigo_Dingo:

Jared Rea:
Secret Invasion itself was alright, but it was better for what it introduced. The follow-up arc, Dark Reign, is actually shaping up to be pretty interesting, if not totally unbelievable. Norman Osbourne (Green Goblin, former leader of Thunderbolts) is now head of SHIELD, renamed it HAMMER, is leading up the Dark Avengers, complete with the Sentry and possible clones of classic Wolverine and Black suit Spidey and is possibly Iron Patriot, which is Captain America style Iron Man.

This, in a nutshell, is why I've never tried to get into comics.

My sentiments exactly.

Although you do have to read Watchmen.

Watchmen, Killing Joke and Final Crisis make me touch my self in naughty places.

Huge comic last year was Halo: Uprising, set between Halo 2 and 3. Halo Graphic Novel plus Uprising were both bestsellers last year, even though there were so many delays with Uprising and the fourth and final issue still hasn't been released. Just a shame none of Uprising is in the UK yet, we always have to wait... :(

So has anyone read the Buffy comic book? I'm just curious if they ever grow out of the teen drama feel that the show had. Don't get me wrong, I loved the show, but it when it should have matured, he instead added a bunch of younger characters to make sure no one grew up.

Also I'm quite curious about The Killing Joke, partly because I've been reading about it and it sounds excellent, but also because that's a great monty python skit. I didn't really like comic books when I was younger, though a lot of kids had them so I struggled my way through stories halfway through and bought comics with neat covers which subsequently no one cared about. It wasn't until later when I heard of Warren Ellis and Watchmen and Neil Gaiman (OK, I already knew about him, but only through books) that I found an interest in comic books.

Der Flivvermaus Gaschputt anyone?

Also I'll admit to being one of the guys who bought Watchmen recently, but only because I used to room with a guy who supplied me with all the comics I could want, and then he left.