ComiXology tops iPad apps top-grossing list for six Wednesdays

Comics by comiXology has topped the iPad charts for six Wednesdays in a row, according to a news release from comiXology.

“When have comic books, not comic book movies, not comic book merchandise, but the actual comic books been #1 in anything, much less high tech?” asked comiXology co-founder and CEO David Steinberger said in the release. “Being the number one grossing iPad application six Wednesdays in a row isn’t just a huge milestone for comiXology, but a huge milestone for comics as a medium…and we could not be prouder.”

While actual numbers aren’t released on this chart, this does seem to indicate a desire for comic-book reading from people who own an iPad.  Wednesday is new release day for print comics, and many comics, including the entire DC Comics’ superhero line, have moved to same-day digital release.

Print numbers were also strong in September, largely on the strength of DC Comics “The New 52,” and comiXology states in the news release that it appears that print and digital sales can grow simultaneously.

- Matt Price
Click past the cut for the full news release.

October 27th, 2011 – New York, NY – Yesterday marked the sixth Wednesday in a row that the Comics by comiXology app charted as the top grossing iPad app in Apple’s entire App Store — beating out Apple’s own Pages and Keynote applications. Long known as “new comic book day” to print comic fans across the nation, Wednesday has now become an online comic book event thanks to more and more publishers going digital same day as print with new releases available on the Comics by comiXology iPad app.

Created by comiXology, the leading distributor of digital comics, the Comics by comiXology app on iPad is just one part of the Comics by comiXology ecology — also available on the iPhone, Android, and the Web — offering more than 14,000 comic books from top-selling publishers.

“When have comic books, not comic book movies, not comic book merchandise, but the actual comic books been #1 in anything, much less high tech?” asked comiXology co-founder and CEO David Steinberger. “Being the number one grossing iPad application six Wednesdays in a row isn’t just a huge milestone for comiXology, but a huge milestone for comics as a medium…and we could not be prouder.”

Through a quirk of history and economics, comic books for the last thirty some odd years have been a destination item, sought out by a hard-core fan following and serviced by a dedicated group of independent retail brick and mortar stores. And while this network of stores rescued the comic book industry from near oblivion as newsstands disappeared in the 1970s, the unfortunate byproduct was that if you didn’t live near a comic shop or actually go to a comic shop, you would most likely be denied the experience and enjoyment of comic books — one of the great American art forms.