You may not have noticed but the country still seems to be in the midst of an economic “situation.” Things are not so great out there and as people tighten their belts entertainment purchases like comic books and graphic novels tend to decline. Given all that’s happening, it’s not much of a surprise that sales of comic books and graphic novels are down in 2010.

According to statistics from Diamond Distributors and compiled by ICv2, sales were off when compared with the first eleven months of 2009. Dollar sales of comics were down by 5.79% and graphic novels were down a bit less but still declined 4.35%. Total sales of comics and graphic novels are down 5.66%.

Even with sales down there was at least one bright spot. Sales of graphic novels, while down overall for the year, spiked upwards in November by 14.8% over 2009′s numbers. The reason? Robert Kirkman’s 13th volume of The Walking Dead was released.

In addition, the first volume also was a good seller in November and was in the top ten for overall sales. I guess it helps sales when you have a hugely popular TV series and people want to read all about it. Still, not so great news for the rest of the comics industry. Let’s hope things get better in 2011 — for all of us.

As reported by Comic Book Resources, Marvel Comics has issued a press release stating that for every 50 copies of unsold DC Comics revolving around their recent Blackest Night ring promotion, retailers will be sent a rare Deadpool-centric variant for Siege #3, the publisher’s current event series. Requesting the covers of the unsold issues only, Marvel claims this initiative was put in place to “provide assistance to comic retailers in 2010.”

It should be noted that Diamond Distributors is not involved in this trade promotion, and should not be contacted for information regarding it. Marvel did provide all of the relevant information within the press release (which can also be found below), and further questions can be directed to helpme@marvel.com.

All submissions must be received at the Marvel office by Tuesday, February 16, 2010.

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