Review closed on October 3, 2026, covering the first nine months of the year. At DC, the Absolute line dominates: Absolute Batman (Snyder and Dragotta) remains the market's top seller, ahead of Absolute Superman (Aaron and Sandoval). At Marvel, the year belongs to Joe Kelly's Amazing Spider-Man, crowned by #1000 on September 30, and to the end of Ultimate Spider-Man (Hickman and Checchetto, #24 in February). Among the independents, Terminal (Kirkman, Casey and Kubert, Skybound) and two Image creations sold out on release day, D'orc (Brett Bean) and White Sky (Harms and Mavinga), marked the winter. Our all-sources top 10 mixes these titles with Zdarsky's Captain America and Al Ewing's The Mortal Thor. Nothing is said here about the October to December releases.
An annual review written in early October must state its limit from the first line: a quarter is missing, and not just any quarter. October and November 2026 concentrate major launches at both big publishers, and New York Comic Con, October 8 to 11, will bring its share of announcements. None of that is judged here. This text sets out the state of the year as published and read up to October 3, and it will be completed when December has delivered its last issues.
This review does not redo the start-of-year ranking. Our 2026 reads tier list, written in January, ranked promises and announcements. Here, we judge on the evidence: what held, what disappointed, what surprised. And we do not mix years: the 2025 selection has its own editors' best-of.
How this review was built
Three criteria, applied to all publishers. A series must have published at least one complete arc in 2026, so that we judge a story and not an opening. It must have kept its creative team and a readable pace. And it must finally have produced a moment that will last: an ending, a revelation, an unexpected success. Titles launched in the fall are flagged, not ranked.
A word on figures. There is no monthly or annual market share published for 2026. The sales cited here come from two sources only: the weekly register reports of specialty stores and statements from publishers or writers. They serve to situate a success, never to establish a numeric ranking of the year.
DC: the year of the Absolute line
Two years after its launch, the Absolute line remains DC's engine, by far. Absolute Batman, by Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta, keeps its rank as the market's top seller: its writer speaks of about 500,000 copies a month, and the register report of the last week of September still placed it at the top with #24. The cycle closes at #25, on October 28, before a pause announced in December.
Absolute Superman, by Jason Aaron and Rafa Sandoval, had in 2026 its most accomplished year, with three arcs in sequence up to "Get Brainiac." Absolute Wonder Woman and Absolute Flash complete a set that held three of the top places in the same late-September report.
In the main universe, the DC K.O. event, concluded on March 4 at #5, closed the first act of the All In initiative and opened the Next Level label. Matt Fraction's Batman proved that a classic Batman could coexist with his Absolute version. Our reading guide to DC All In places these series in the initiative's timeline.
Marvel: Spider-Man at the center of everything
The Marvel year was organized around a single horizon: Amazing Spider-Man #1000, released on September 30 with a two-week delay due to printing. Joe Kelly's run, launched in April 2025, led there methodically: the Death Spiral event from February to April, the appearance of a philanthropist named Mac Crane in #26, then his transformation into Ravage in the anniversary issue. More than 400,000 copies ordered, seven stories, 104 pages, and a second printing on October 28.
Beside it, Ultimate Spider-Man by Jonathan Hickman and Marco Checchetto did what few series manage: end. #24, in February, closes a complete story, written from start to finish by the same writer. Chip Zdarsky pulled off the editorial coup of the year by making a character from his Captain America, David Colton, the new Miracleman in Avengers: Armageddon #4, on September 16. And Al Ewing continued with The Mortal Thor the publisher's most consistent mythological cycle. Our reading guide to Joe Kelly's run gives the full order up to #1000.
The independents: a winter of surprises
The notable fact on the original creations side came early in the year. At Image, D'orc by Brett Bean, a heroic fantasy comedy released on February 4, and White Sky by William Harms and JP Mavinga, a post-apocalyptic survival story released on February 18, both sold out on the day they went on sale. Two successes with no franchise, no adaptation, no star writer: exactly what the independent market promises and rarely delivers.
At Skybound, Terminal, a crime series by Robert Kirkman and Joe Casey drawn by Andy Kubert, was printed at 300,000 copies, a volume independent creations very rarely reach. Other titles marked the year: the return of Mind MGMT, or The Exorcism at Buckingham Palace, sold out before it was even released. At Image, several notable launches, including Death Fight Forever, Narco and Tigress Island, confirmed the publisher's vitality.
The independent year-end remains to be written: the Luther Strode anniversary edition on October 7, and above all Chainkata, Daniel Warren Johnson's new creation expected at Image in November. Our profile of Daniel Warren Johnson explains why this launch is being watched.
Our top 10 of the year, all sources combined
Absolute Batman
The only title of the year that is both the best-selling and one of the most accomplished. Two years after its launch, the original team is still there, and will return at #27 after the pause.
Amazing Spider-Man, by Joe Kelly, up to #1000
A round-number issue prepared over six months, with a real villain and a real stake. The anniversary stories gather writers from every era of the character.
Ultimate Spider-Man (end of series)
Twenty-four issues, a single writer, a real ending. The series now reads in one go, which makes it the best Marvel gift of the year for a reader who does not follow the news.
The rest of the ranking, tighter:
- Absolute Superman (DC, Jason Aaron and Rafa Sandoval): the Absolute line series that progressed the most in 2026.
- Captain America and Avengers: Armageddon (Marvel, Chip Zdarsky): Miracleman's entry into the Marvel universe, built over more than a year. Our sheet Who is Miracleman? gives the context.
- Terminal (Skybound, Kirkman, Casey and Kubert): the biggest independent launch of the year, and a crime thriller that keeps its promises.
- The Mortal Thor (Marvel, Al Ewing): the catalog's most consistent series, the same writer and the same course from the start.
- D'orc (Image, Brett Bean): the surprise of the winter, a fantasy comedy carried by word of mouth alone.
- Absolute Wonder Woman (DC, Kelly Thompson): the most singular voice of the Absolute line.
- White Sky (Image, William Harms and JP Mavinga): the most noted survival science fiction of the year.
Our ranking of ongoing series to follow in 2026 takes up several of these titles from another angle: that of the monthly subscription rather than reading.
What held, what disappointed
What held are the series entrusted for a long time to the same writer. Snyder on Absolute Batman, Kelly on Spider-Man, Hickman on Ultimate Spider-Man, Ewing on Thor, Zdarsky on Captain America: each big success of the year rests on a stable team and a long-term plan. It is the clearest lesson of 2026, and there is nothing new about it.
What disappointed is less a title than a trend: the accumulation of launches. In the fall, Marvel opens a whole line, a seventh volume of Venom, several miniseries and a new Avengers in under two months. DC relaunches three series on the same day in September. For a reader on a limited budget, this density makes choosing harder than it has ever been. Our analysis of the Marvel fall relaunches offers a method for sorting.
What surprised, finally, were the independent successes of February. Two creations with no franchise sold out on release day, in a market dominated by the two big publishers: it is the best news of the year for the diversity of the medium.
To judge in December: the last quarter
At Marvel
The Midnight line (October 7), Venom volume 7 (October 14), the end of Avengers: Armageddon (October 21), DNX until November 18, and Zdarsky's new Avengers (November 4).
At DC
The #25s of the Absolute line (late October and early November), DC All In Saga: Darkseid vs. The World #1 (October 28), Absolute Batman: Beyond Ark M #1 (November 11) and the follow-up to the three Next Level relaunches.
Among the independents
Chainkata by Daniel Warren Johnson (November) and the Luther Strode anniversary edition (October 7).
And cinema
Avengers: Doomsday comes out on December 18. Its effect on comic sales, if any, will be measurable only in 2027.
How to use this review
For a reader who followed the year little, the best strategy is to catch up in collections on the series that are finished or have reached a boundary: Ultimate Spider-Man in full, Absolute Batman up to #25, Absolute Superman up to #25, Kelly's run up to #1000. These are readable sets, with a beginning and a provisional end. French editions follow with several months' delay, at Panini Comics for Marvel and Urban Comics for DC.
For a collector, the right question is not "what will this issue be worth," which nobody can honestly answer for current-year titles, but "what do I want to keep." Issues printed in hundreds of thousands of copies will remain abundant. Independent creations that sold out on release day are another case: their first printing was limited by store demand.