October was a rough month, with all comics, trade paperbacks, and magazine dollar orders at Diamond down 19%. The month had one less shipping week than the one the year before, a major factor. While this month sent the year-to-date total back into the red, it was only just so — less than $5 million in orders separated this 2008 and 2009 to this point. There was a steep drop of 30% in dollar orders for the Top 100 Trade Paperbacks; DC had Watchmen and a heavily ordered Joker hardcover in the previous October.
Comparatives were tough on the comics side, too, with issues of Secret Invasion and Final Crisis topping the charts in the previous October. Dark Avengers was, thus far, not playing the same kind of regular chart-dominating role that Marvel's stand-alone "event hub" limited series (Civil War, Secret Invasion) played in recent years.
DC, however, swept the top of the list with the six-best selling comic books of the month, as ordered by retailers — the first time that had happened in the Direct Market era, exclusive or otherwise. Blackest Night again led the market, its fourth issue taking the top spot. (DC only had five of the six in the "Superman Returns" month of April 1993.) Marvel still led in overall unit and dollar market shares, though by a narrower margin than in many previous months.
Trades suffered against strong year-to-year comparatives in October.
One point on the chart released by Diamond equals 714 copies.