'Absolute Batman' stays at No. 1 for February
Word Balloons #1259: Looking at February 2025 sales
Absolute Batman continued to absolutely dominate the sales charts in February 2025.
Looking back at the in-store sales at Speeding Bullet Comics in Norman, OK, for February, “Absolute Batman” #5 topped the sales charts at #1. But in a surprising turn of events, two more “Absolute Batman” issues landed in the top 10, with #4 — last month’s #1 – landing at #5, and issue #3 landing in the sixth spot. Rarely would a comic book released in a previous month land in our top 10 sales for the month, but here it happened twice. This is both a testament to the strength of the title and an endorsement of DC’s program encouraging retailers to get more copies of the “Absolute” and other “All In” titles on the shelves at comic shops.
“Absolute Superman” #4 landed at #2 in February, with “Absolute Wonder Woman” #5 at #4.
With this kind of success, it’s no surprise that “Absolute Flash,” “Absolute Green Lantern” and “Absolute Martian Manhunter” are rolling out soon from DC.
DC’s “Batman” #157 took the #3 spot; “Justice League Unlimited” #4 closed out the top 10 at #10.
Marvel’s “Ultimate” line saw a slight dip from last month, with “Ultimate Spider-Man” #14 at the #12 spot. Marvel’s highest-ranking title was the regular “Amazing Spider-Man” #67 at #7, followed by #68 at #8.
The highest-charting Image title for January was “G.I. Joe” #4, landing at #9.
On the book side of things, the compact comics edition of “Batman: Hush” topped the list, as fans prepare for “Hush 2” to kick off in March, with Jim Lee and Jeph Loeb returning to the “Batman” title. I expect to see that issue make a strong performance next month.
“Batman” and “Detective Comics” led back-issue sales in February, which isn’t an entirely surprising phenomenon with the number of Bat-fans in the market and the interest around “Absolute Batman” and “Hush 2.”
“Captain America” saw back-issue interest around the release of the “Captain America: Brave New World” film in February, while trailers for “Fantastic Four” drove back-issue sales for Marvel’s first family. “Buffy: The Vampire Slayer” and “Superman” continue to see above-average back-issue interest, also potentially driven by upcoming media adaptations.
Matthew Price, matthew@matthewLprice.com, has written about the comics industry for more than two decades. He is the co-owner of Speeding Bullet Comics in Norman.