'Harley Quinn Rebirth' No. 1 does heroic sales for a villain

Well, all the orders and reorders are done and one thing is clear-"Harley Quinn" has reached rarified air as far as comic book sales go.

The incredibly popular anti-heroine/villainess saw her popularity reach new heights in August with the release of the Suicide Squad film.

That doesn't always translate to sales. But in her case it has.

Historic sales.

The 400,000 copies of "Harley Quinn Rebirth" No. 1 have comic book shop registers smoking and the title easily became the top-selling comic in August.

More impressive than that is that by crossing that threshold, "Harley Quinn Rebirth" No. 1 became one of only nine comics to cross that threshold this century!

And two of the previous eight-"Bravest Warriors: Tales From The Holo John" No. 1 from BOOM! and "Orphan Black" No. 1 from IDW reached that level because of massive orders from the genre service Loot Crate, which included a copy of those titles as part of their monthly "crate" sent to subscribers.

That means that only six other comics in the past 16 years have sold over 400,000 copies due to individual fan interest.

They are: the first Disney/Marvel "Star Wars" No. 1; the return of Peter Parker-after he was thought dead in last year's "Amazing Spider-Man" No. 1 relaunch; last year's "Secret Wars" No. 1, which affected virtually every Marvel character; "Amazing Spider-Man" No. 583, which featured a backup story and cover tying in with the inauguration of President Barack Obama; "Dark Knight II: Master Race," which launched a tale that may be the last one Frank Miller tells of the character he is most known for and "Star Wars: Vader Down" No. 1, which launched an event that crossed over with the main "Star Wars" book.

"With these numbers comes a waterfall of new readers getting turned on to Harley Quinn because of the Suicide Squad movie," said Jimmy Palmiotti, who writes and draws the book with his wife, Amanda Conner. "The book was one of the top 3 selling titles before the 'Rebirth' event, so looking forward, once the first issue is out of the way and the regular books comes out every other week, we already see a huge percent of new readers. We welcome them with open arms."

Some have criticized the numbers as being the result of multiple variant covers, which Palmiotti finds ridiculous.

"The people that do not like exclusive variant covers are never forced to buy them, so I really don't see a problem. In this case, each alternate cover was done for a exclusive store and event and I personally know five stores that have done them-and and the Boston Con did one, and I know they all did very well with them, some even selling out. For us, any way to get the books into new hands is a good thing "

For Palmiotti, the reason for the staggering numbers is simple.

"The character, in the last three years, has become a pop icon."