The 10 Best-Selling Comic Books of All Time

Discover which are some of history's most popular comic books that have sold millions of copies worldwide.

The 10 Best-Selling Comic Books of All Time

There are decades of comic book history in which the industry's numerical calculations only counted how many numbers the Superman and Captain America kiosks ordered, leaving historians with only solid sales figures starting in 1997. And that's not taking into account the comparison of apples to oranges from the United States' unique number distribution method with, for example, the Japanese weekly anthological journals. If you want to base everything on confirmed numbers, you have to include quite a few warnings. You end up with one more list like “The 10 best-selling American single-issue comics of all time for which we have concrete data. With that in mind, here is a comprehensive list of the top 10 best-selling single-issue American comics, based on the most concrete figures in the industry's irregular history.

The almost 75 versions of covers probably didn't hurt either. But a cliffhanger can't sell a comic before it hits the stands. The promotional price for The 10 Cent Adventure (i.e. 10 cents red) probably had more to do with that.

Beano is the oldest British comic book series, with characters such as Dennis the Menace, Minnie the Minx and Bash Street Kids. Over the years, comics have been known for glorifying immoral behavior such as theft and harassment, although there has recently been pressure to change this message. And for more immoral hilarity in text form, check out these 30 funniest celebrity books. Captain America was designed as a patriotic supersoldier during World War II, fighting against Axis powers and showing pride in American soldiers. Captain America was the first Marvel Comics character to appear in the media outside of the comic strip when it became a movie in 1944 starring Dick Purcell.

Golgo 13, a Japanese comic book series, follows the main character, a hired killer. Part of the appeal of this series is the creepy mystery of the main character, who carries out murderous missions with indifference and cold calculations. The Adventures of Tintin is a French comic book series, often referred to as one of the most popular 20th century series in Europe. The series follows a young Belgian reporter and his canine sidekick, Snowy. Amar Chitra Katha is India's best-selling comic book series, started by Anant Pai, who set out to teach Indian students about their cultural heritage. The Phantom is an American comic book series that follows the main character, The Phantom, as he fights crime in the fictional African country of Bangalia.

In Slam Dunk, a Japanese comic book series, the main character, Hanamichi Sakuragi, doesn't just stay with the girl (after 50 other girls deny it) and discovers what's really good at basketball. There are also annual pages for every year starting from 1989 onwards, where unit and dollar sales are added together and showing the best-selling comics of each month. Asterix, or The Adventures of Asterix, is a French comic book series that follows a town of Gauls that resists Roman occupation in the year 50 BC. C. Here we've put together the best-selling comic book series in history according to Guinness World Records and Education Week experts. The Batman books will always dominate DC's discourse but “Detective Comics has done everything possible to tell Batman stories different from what readers were used to embodying the rest of Gotham and its inhabitants. DC Comics printed the 80-page giant with 11 different covers which is at the height of a book of its magnitude and time.

But I couldn't claim the influence of a Marvel Comics writer's first DC Comics play in years or a costume change to sweeten the deal. While the dream team has since changed to include other prominent superheroes Marvel Comics has found most of its success in this comic book series. This list provides an overview of some of history's most popular comic books that have sold millions of copies worldwide.

Will Isidro
Will Isidro

Typical thinker. Hardcore travel specialist. Incurable twitter fanatic. Total pop culture fanatic. Hipster-friendly tea buff.