Despite the fact there are an awful lot of comic book adaptations in theaters and on television/streaming, comic books themselves remain a relatively niche product. Even many hardcore fans no longer pick up monthly titles, either opting to wait on digital releases or choosing not to read them at all due to recent creative decisions.
That may go some way in explaining this list of 2023's 10 best-selling comic books in 2023. Roughly 150 comic book stores were surveyed across North America and the UK and the ranking below has been created based on sales.
And, only two superheroes dominate the list: Batman and Spider-Man.
Chip Zdarsky's current Batman run has dominated the charts, taking up a total of seven spots on the list (including #1). Amazing Spider-Man joins it for that widely-touted issue featuring the short-lived death of Ms. Marvel and the debut of new symbiote character Rek-Rap.
There's only one other title that's managed to make the cut and it's Robert Kirkman's (The Walking Dead, Invincible) Void Rivals. That introduced readers to the Energon Universe, uniting properties like Transformers, GI Joe, and more.
Here's the full top 10 (via Bleeding Cool).
1. Batman #131 (Chip Zdarsky, Mike Hawthorne)
2. Batman #135 (Chip Zdarsky, Jorge Jiménez, Mike Hawthorne)
3. Batman #132 (Chip Zdarsky, Mike Hawthorne)
4. Batman #133 (Chip Zdarsky, Mike Hawthorne)
5. Batman Knight Terrors #1 (Joshua Williamson, Guillem March, David Lafuente)
6. Batman #136 (Chip Zdarsky, Belén Ortega)
7. Amazing Spider-Man #26 (Zeb Wells, John Romita Jr.)
8. Batman #134 (Chip Zdarsky, Mike Hawthorne)
9. Amazing Spider-Man #17 (Zeb Wells, Ed McGuinness)
10. Void Rivals #1 (Robert Kirkman, Lorenzo De Felici)
It's interesting, but perhaps not surprising, to see Batman and Spider-Man all over this list. They remain two of the world's most popular superheroes (perhaps the most popular) and it makes sense that even lapsed readers are likely still keeping up with their monthly adventures if nothing else.
In terms of the presence on screen, The Batman was released in 2022 and Michael Keaton's Caped Crusader took centre stage in The Flash this summer. Next up for the character is The Batman II and DC Studios' reboot, The Brave and the Bold.
As for the wall-crawler, countless versions of the hero appeared in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse back in June and Marvel Studios is thought to be in the midst of developing Spider-Man 4, the long-awaited follow-up to Spider-Man: No Way Home. Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse remains undated.