Throwback Thursday - Top 50 April 1997 Comic Book Sales

A year and a half of uncertainty and disruption came to an end in April 1997 as comic-book distribution in the Direct Market was unified in a single distributor when Marvel folded Heroes World and signed with Diamond Comic Distributors. Marvel immediately reassumed the top slot in market share, which it had had anyway during the months of divided distribution.

Marvel and DC joined for another round of "Amalgam" cross-over issues. Each publisher produced titles for the event, with their copies going toward their own totals for market share purposes. The Amalgam titles from the previous year were also offered again.

1	1	Uncanny X-Men	345	$1.95	Marvel	179,378
2	2	X-Men	65	$1.95	Marvel	177,828
3	3	Fantastic Four	8	$1.95	Marvel	154,912
4	5	Spawn	61	$1.95	Image	141,123
5	6	Wolverine	114	$1.95	Marvel	139,554
6	7	Exciting X-Patrol	1	$1.95	Marvel	135,341
7	8	Iron Lantern	1	$1.95	Marvel	135,298
8	9	JLX Unleashed	1	$1.95	DC	134,484
9	10	Magnetic Men Featuring Magneto	1	$1.95	Marvel	134,350
10	11	Challengers of the Fantastic	1	$1.95	Marvel	133,833
11	12	Spider-Boy Team-Up	1	$1.95	Marvel	131,097
12	13	Iron Man	8	$1.95	Marvel	130,696
13	14	Dark Claw Adventures	1	$1.95	DC	130,404
14	15	Super Soldier: Man of War	1	$1.95	DC	127,808
15	17	Bat Thing	1	$1.95	DC	123,339
16	18	Thorion of the New Asgods	1	$1.95	Marvel	121,661
17	19	Generation Hex	1	$1.95	DC	121,430
18	20	Avengers	8	$1.95	Marvel	120,937
19	23	Captain America	8	$1.95	Marvel	114,669
20	24	Generation X	28	$1.95	Marvel	112,936
21	26	Lobo the Duck	1	$1.95	DC	108,625
22	27	X-Man	28	$1.95	Marvel	103,925
23	4	X-Men Unlimited	15	$2.99	Marvel	99,171
24	28	JLA	6	$1.95	DC	98,818
25	29	X-Factor	135	$1.95	Marvel	98,490
26	16	Gen13	18	$2.50	Image	98,295
27	30	X-Force	67	$1.95	Marvel	96,441
28	31	Curse of the Spawn	8	$1.95	Image	94,039
29	21	Witchblade	14	$2.50	Image	93,304
30	22	Darkness	5	$2.50	Image	90,878
31	32	Cable	44	$1.95	Marvel	90,033
32	34	Incredible Hulk	454	$1.95	Marvel	83,795
33	38	Excalibur	110	$1.95	Marvel	80,074
34	39	Amazing Spider-Man	424	$1.95	Marvel	79,143
35	41	Superman	124	$1.95	DC	77,046
36	43	Action Comics	734	$1.95	DC	74,298
37	44	Spider-Man	81	$1.95	Marvel	74,067
38	45	Adventures of Superman	547	$1.95	DC	73,951
39	46	Superman: The Man of Steel	68	$1.95	DC	72,273
40	25	Cable and X-Force '97	1	$2.99	Marvel	72,024
41	47	Spectacular Spider-Man	247	$1.95	Marvel	69,482
42	49	Sensational Spider-Man	17	$1.95	Marvel	66,807
43	51	Batman vs. Aliens	2	$4.95	Dark Horse	64,934
44	36	Deadpool	6	$1.95	Marvel	64,594
45	53	Beast	2	$2.50	Marvel	60,800
46	42	Batman	543	$1.95	DC	59,706
47	61	Gen13: Bootleg	6	$2.50	Image	55,529
48	35	Detective Comics	710	$1.95	DC	55,389
49	37	X-Files	29	$2.95	Topps	54,155
50	62	Batman: The Long Halloween	7	$2.95	DC	53,686