Best Sellers of 2014!
Big Planet Comics Best Sellers for 2014
2014 was a great and interesting year for comics! We’ve compiled all of our records to list the best selling comics and graphic novels of the year. We’ve also listed each of our four store’s best sellers separately too, so you can see the interesting variations from store to store.
We saw new series, continuing trends, crossover events, relaunches of classics in a new direction, and surprise sleeper hits.
Brand new series included Pakistani-American Kamala Khan becoming the new Ms. Marvel, a group of girl scouts fighting off mysterious monsters at camp in Lumberjanes, the dimension jumping stories of Grant Morrison’s Multiversity, a teen look at a familiar city in Gotham Academy, a man who might be able to exorcise demons in Outcast from Robert Kirkman who writes the Walking Dead, the return of the ancient gods as pop stars in The Wicked and the Divine, a weekly Batman story called Batman: Eternal, and a dark noir story in Alabama called Southern Bastards.
New directions for old characters (or the return of old characters) had the insanity of Doc Ock taking over Peter Parker’s body in Superior Spider-Man, and Peter Parker’s return in The Amazing Spider-Man, Wolverine dying in Death of Wolverine, a mysterious woman taking on the power of Thor, a prequel to The Sandman in Sandman Overture, Nightwing going undercover in Grayson, Falcon becoming the All-New Captain America after Steve Rogers is drained of the super soldier serum, She-Hulk written by real lawyer Charles Soule, Warren Ellis taking on the reins of Moon Knight, and Jim Lee drawing Superman in Superman Unchained.
Perennial powerhouses included Saga, Batman, Justice League, and the return of Joss Whedon’s Serenity cast for Leaves in the Wind, a sequel to the film.
And the big crossovers of the year were the secrets of The Watcher revealed in Original Sin, the attack of the Crime Syndicate in Forever Evil, and the X-Men and Avengers turning evil in AXIS.
So here are the best selling comics of 2014 for Big Planet Comics as a group!
Comics
1. The Amazing Spider-Man
2. Ms. Marvel
3. Death of Wolverine
4. Thor
5. Original Sin
6. Saga
7. Sandman Overture
8. Batman
9. Lumberjanes
10. Forever Evil
11. Grayson
12. Multiversity
13. Avengers/X-Men: AXIS
14. Batman: Eternal
15. All-New Captain America
16. Justice League
17. Gotham Academy
18. Outcast
19. She-Hulk
20. The Wicked and the Divine
21. Moon Knight
22. Superior Spider-Man
23. Southern Bastards
24. Serenity: Leaves on the Wind
25. Superman Unchained
The amount of great stories being collected in books or just be published as books in the first place continued to grow! More and more series became better sellers in book form than they did as issues. And a few books had huge boosts from the creators appearing at our stores for events!
New books by popular creators included Bryan Lee O’Malley finally finishing his next book after his breakout hit Scott Pilgrim with Seconds, Alan Moore writing new stories of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen in Nemo, and Raina Telgemeier following up Smile with her crosscountry trip in Sisters.
Several creators leaped to larger projects, like Box Brown’s first graphic novel through a large publisher, the saga of wrestling superstar Andre the Giant: Life and Legend, and Becky Cloonan’s fantasy-horror self-published minicomics being collected in By Chance or Providence. They both appeared at our stores for signings, as did Shaun Simon, the co-writer on Becky’s The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, and Kurtis Wiebe and Roc Upchurch for their breakout fantasy series Rat Queens.
Mainstream buzz on comics brought in lots of new people for books like Ms. Marvel, and Guardians of the Galaxy got a huge boost from their movie.
Perennial favorites Saga, the Walking Dead, Amulet, Locke & Key, and Batman stayed strong.
Image Comics continued to publish a great amount of innovative new series, like Sex Criminals, East of West, Black Science, Pretty Deadly, Nowhere Men, Lazarus, The Wicked and the Divine, Deadly Class, and Alex + Ada. Whew!
Books
1. Saga
2. Sex Criminals
3. Seconds
4. East of West
5. Black Science
6. Walking Dead
7. Ms. Marvel
8. Guardians of the Galaxy
9. Rat Queens
10. Nemo: Roses of Berlin
11. Pretty Deadly
12. Nowhere Men
13. Andre the Giant: Life and Legend
14. Amulet
15. Lazarus
16. The Wicked and the Divine
17. Hawkeye
18. Deadly Class
19. By Chance or Providence
20. Princeless
21. The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys
22. Alex + Ada
23. Locke & Key
24. Sisters
25. Batman
Big Planet Comics in Bethesda
Our Bethesda store rocked out Gaiman’s Sandman prequel, as well as two Mark Millar projects, Jupiter’s Legacy and Starlight. Rocket Raccoon also became a superstar, and Mark Waid’s Daredevil stayed strong.
Comics
1. Sandman: Overture
2. Multiversity
3. Saga
4. The Amazing Spider-Man
5. Forever Evil
6. Original Sin
7. Death of Wolverine
8. Ms. Marvel
9. Batman
10. Batman: Eternal
11. Avengers/X-Men: AXIS
12. Justice League
13. Grayson
14. Jupiter’s Legacy
15. Thor
16. Rocket Raccoon
17. Superman
18. Daredevil
19. Future’s End
20. Starlight
21. All-New X-Men
22. Moon Knight
23. Avengers
24. Guardians of the Galaxy
25. Uncanny X-Men
Our Bethesda store rode some more mainstream attention to classics, like the X-Men movie for Days of Future Past, Raina Telegemeier’s Smile still a bestseller, Hedge Knight, a prequel to Game of Thrones, Adventure Time becoming a breakout cartoon show, and Civil War being announced for the next Captain America movie.
In addition, a new Mike Mignola Hellboy story and a new Blacksad adventure moved up the charts! In all-ages awesomeness, The Smurfs and Paul Pope’s Battling Boy stayed dominant.
Books
1. Saga
2. Nemo: Roses of Berlin
3. Black Science
4. Amulet
5. Seconds
6. Walking Dead
7. Sisters
8. X-Men: Days of Future Past
9. Guardians of the Galaxy
10. Smile
11. Hedge Knight
12. Adventure Time
13. Sex Criminals
14. Hellboy in Hell
15. Batman: The Black Mirror
16. Age of Ultron
17. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
18. Ms. Marvel
19. Blacksad
20. The Smurfs
21. Civil War
22. Hawkeye
23. Battling Boy
24. East of West
25. Through the Woods
Big Planet Comics in College Park
Our College Park gets an interesting boost from all the students at the nearby University of Maryland. The unique best sellers there are the death of Damian in Robin Rises, the team up of Superman and Wonder Woman, and the time jumping stories of All-New X-Men.
Comics
1. The Amazing Spider-Man
2. Death of Wolverine
3. Thor
4. Forever Evil
5. Ms. Marvel
6. Batman
7. Original Sin
8. Lumberjanes
9. Superior Spider-Man
10. Justice League
11. Superman Unchained
12. Batman: Eternal
13. Robin Rises Omega
14. All-New Captain America
15. Grayson
16. Avengers/X-Men: AXIS
17. Serenity: Leaves on the Wind
18. Sandman Overture
19. Saga
20. Southern Bastards
21. Superman Wonder Woman
22. Guardians of the Galaxy
23. Multiversity
24. All-New X-Men
25. Future’s End
Several signings at our College Park store boosted book sales even higher! Rat Queens became a breakout hit, and Princeless stayed one of our most popular books. All ages books still did great, especially Bone and the 19th century adventure Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant! One of the favorite new superhero stories was the video game spinoff Injustice: Gods Among Us. The Lewis & Clark alternate history adventure Manifest Destiny was a hit, as was the fantastic storytelling of Bride’s Story, and the amazing young adult story This One Summer!
Books
1. Rat Queens
2. Saga
3. Princeless
4. Sex Criminals
5. Locke & Key
6. Batman
7. Ms. Marvel
8. Alex + Ada
9. Lazarus
10. Bone
11. Injustice: Gods Among Us
12. East of West
13. Walking Dead
14. Seconds
15. The Wicked and the Divine
16. Amulet
17. Guardians of the Galaxy
18. Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant
19. Manifest Destiny
20. Civil War
21. Hawkeye
22. This One Summer
23. Black Science
24. Bride’s Story
25. Pretty Deadly
Big Planet Comics in Vienna
Our Vienna store also enjoyed the signing presence of Brooke Allen and Grace Ellis of Lumberjanes for Free Comic Book Day. They also sold tons of the pop art relaunch of Silver Surfer, and the send up of ’70s exploitation prison movies Bitch Planet got onto the best seller list even though it only came out in December!
Comics
1. The Amazing Spider-Man
2. Lumberjanes
3. Thor
4. Death of Wolverine
5. Ms. Marvel
6. Original Sin
7. Grayson
8. Gotham Academy
9. Saga
10. Sandman Overture
11. Outcast
12. Batman
13. The Wicked and the Divine
14. Multiversity
15. Silver Surfer
16. She-Hulk
17. Moon Knight
18. Deadly Class
19. Guardians of the Galaxy
20. Serenity: Leaves on the Wind
21. Batman: Eternal
22. All-New Captain America
23. Inhumanity
24. Rocket Raccoon
25. Bitch Planet
Our Vienna store was where Becky Cloonan and Shaun Simon signed, so By Chance or Providence and The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys became instant best sellers.
Kevin and Kelly’s love of the creepy stories of Emily Carroll made Through the Woods one of their best sellers, as they did with Sam Alden’s fantastically drawn Wicked Chicken Queen. Fables also remained atop the pile for year after year!
Books
1. Saga
2. By Chance or Providence
3. True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys
4. East of West
5. Nemo: Roses of Berlin
6. Nowhere Men
7. Pretty Deadly
8. Walking Dead
9. Black Science
10. Ms. Marvel
11. Seconds
12. Andre the Giant: Life and Legend
13. Fables
14. Guardians of the Galaxy
15. The Wicked and the Divine
16. Sex Criminals
17. Through the Woods
18. This One Summer
19. Deadly Class
20. Velvet
21. Wicked Chicken Queen
22. Hawkeye
23. Blacksad
24. Sisters
25. Amulet
Big Planet Comics in U Street
Our U Street store gets a lot of benefit from being the most convenient location for a lot of people who don’t often buy comics but are interested in comics that get mentioned in the mainstream press! This lead to Ms. Marvel being the most popular title. Warren Ellis’ ambitious scifi story Trees and Ed Brubaker’s noir The Fade-Out also broke out, as did the underwater scifi of Low.
Comics
1. Ms. Marvel
2. The Amazing Spider-Man
3. Saga
4. Thor
5. Sandman Overture
6. Lumberjanes
7. Original Sin
8. Death of Wolverine
9. All-New Captain America
10. Forever Evil
11. Avengers/X-Men: AXIS
12. Grayson
13. Batman
14. Trees
15. Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man
16. Southern Bastards
17. Multiversity
18. She-Hulk
19. The Fade-Out
20. All-New X-Men
21. The Wicked and the Divine
22. Moon Knight
23. Outcast
24. Daredevil
25. Low
Since our U Street store is our most downtown one, it gets the most interest in graphic novels! This made Saga stay massively popular, as well as pushing a few unique books higher, the uber-popular online comics that were put out as Hyperbole and a Half, and Yumi Sakugawa’s I Think I Am in Friend-Love With You (though it helps Yumi came for a signing!) Box Brown’s appearance for Andre the Giant: Life and Legend did the same. His anthology series Number also moved onto the charts! And of course a few favorites likes The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen never get old.
Books
1. Saga
2. Sex Criminals
3. East of West
4. Rat Queens
5. Pretty Deadly
6. Andre the Giant: Life and Legend
7. Nowhere Men
8. Deadly Class
9. Seconds
10. Black Science
11. Hawkeye
12. Lazarus
13. Number
14. Guardians of the Galaxy
15. Ms. Marvel
16. Battling Boy
17. The Wicked and the Divine
18. I Think I Am in Friend-Love With You
19. Captain America
20. Watchmen
21. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
22. Walking Dead
23. Alex + Ada
24. Fables
25. Hyperbole and a Half
And there you have it! Thanks for being part of a great 2014 everyone!
Our best of the year podcast will be coming soon too!