According to the analysis of CBG's John Jackson Miller, orders of comics and trade paperbacks in August increased in all categories, making it the third August in a row in which the "overall" sales category has seen gains of more than 10%.

Diamond's estimated overall sales including all comics, trade paperbacks, and magazines for August 2006, $37.43 million, were 15% higher than its sales for August 2005. But those sales were 18% higher than those for August 2004, which themselves were 11% higher than those for August 2003, reports Miller, F+W Publications editorial director for interactive media and compiler of the world’s largest collection of comics circulation figures, the CBG Standard Catalog of Comic Books.

"Many have said that a steady rate of growth would be preferable to the wild increases — ultimately unsustainable — that we saw at the beginning of the 1990s," Miller said. "The record now demonstrates that the year-to-year gains we're seeing now are not an abrupt departure from recent history, but perhaps part of a more consistent pattern."

For the first eight months of the 2006, Diamond's overall sales including all comics, trade paperbacks, and magazines are at $261.28 million, ahead more than $32 million over last year's pace of $229.98 million.

Looking at sales categories individually, the Top 300 comic books had retailer orders of almost 7.39 million copies in August, almost exactly what they were last month and up 4% over July 2005, which had the same number of shipping weeks (five).

To date in 2006, the Top 300 comics from each month have sold a combined 54.21 million copies, an increase of 8% over the 50.23 million copies sold in the period in the previous year, which demonstrates the industry’s revenue gains are not due to only cover price increases,

"There's some hope that the industry can possibly hit 80 million copies for the year just among the Top 300," Miller said.

The chart leader Justice League of America #1 sold at least 212k copies, the fourth consecutive month at least one issue has had sales over 200k copies, and the fifth time this year.

Comics dollar sales of the Top 300 comic books were $22.94 million, 10% more than August 2005.

To date in 2006, the Top 300 comics from each month have sold a combined $166.14 million, an increase of 15% over the $144.78 million worth sold in the same period in the previous year.

On the trade paperbacks side, the Top 100 trade had orders worth $4.94 million at full retail in August, an increase of a whopping 35% over the same month in 2005. with much of the gain credited to two of DC's new $100 "Absolute" editions of Kingdom Come and Dark Knight Returns, which generated close to $800,000 in sales all on their own, according to Miller.

To date in 2006, the Top 100 trades for each month total $31.14 million, up 5% from the same period in the previous year, when sales were $29.61 million.

Adding those to the Top 300 comics for the month yields $27.88 million, an increase of 14% over the $24.5 million ordered in the same month in 2005.

To date in 2006, the Top 300 comics and the Top 100 trade paperbacks from each month had orders worth $197.28 million, 13% over the $174.39 million ordered in the same period in 2005.

Again, for much more analysis, including CBG<’s exclusive Diamond “Overall” sales analysis (which includes titles not in Diamond’s Top 300/100 and shows even greater year-to-year increases), click on the link. You can also click here for CBG’s archive of every Top 300/100 lists since 1997.

“We're still steering toward what looks like a $400 million year, overall," Miller concluded.

Again, click this link for the full Top 300 Comic Book and Top 100 Graphic Novels sales chart with sales estimates...

End of update...

[Updated with corrected Market Shares]: DCD (Diamond Comics Distributors) released their monthly Direct Market sales charts and Market Share report Monday, this month for titles that went on sale in August 2006, and in a month where there was no issue of Marvel's Civil War due to its scheduling issues, DC Comics took that top spot on the Top 100 Comic Book Chart with issue #1 of Brad Meltzer's Justice League of America #1.

The Top 100 Trade Paperback charts were led by the Marvel's Marvel Zombies hardcover collection, and Marvel led both Market Shares categories in August.

JLofA #1 led an impressive Top 10 finish for DC, with five issues (#13-17) of their weekly series 52 roaring back into the top of the charts. Overall, the Top 20 split 11 DC to Marvel's 9, with Marvel’s New Avengers #23 finishing as the second best-selling title of the month, followed immediately by the still-strong Wolverine: Origins #5.

#63 is as far down you have to go in August to find the top-selling non-Marvel or DC title, which this month was Dynamite's Battlestar Galactica #1, and a fairly average figure of seven represents the number of non-DC/Marvel titles in the Top 100.

Looking closer at Market Share, Marvel led 41.02% Unit Sales to DC's 38.98%, and 38.98% to DC's 36.30% in Dollar Share.

As always, the Market Share report and Top 100 Comic Book and Trade Paperback charts follow below, and we’ll have much more analysis of the July sales figures including sales estimates for every Top 300 Comic Book, from our partners at Comics Buyer’s Guide soon…

DIAMOND's AUGUST '06 MARKET SHARES
Based on Actual Sales for Comics, Magazines, & GNs Invoiced in August 2006