Ta-Nehisi Coates' Black Panther is this year’s best selling comic

The Marvel title has sold 253,259 copies during its first month on sale.

T'Challa. (Marvel)

Marvel Comic’s Black Panther No 1 is the year’s best selling comic.

Written by Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Atlantic’s national correspondent, and drawn by Bryan Steelfreeze, Black Panther’s first issue has sold 253,259 copies during its first month on sale. Trailing in the second spot is Star Wars: Poe Dameron with 175,000 copies sold.

Sales figures are comparable to fan favorite’s Invincible Iron Man No 1 which sold 279,000 copies, and Spider-Gwen No 1 which sold 254,000 copies. The Hollywood Report notes that its outpaced popular titles such as Spider-Man and X-Men, which generally sell 75,000-100,000 copies a month.

The book re-imagines the story of T’Challa, the prince and warrior hailing from the fictional African nation of Wakanda, is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2016. The character recently made his film debut, played by Chadwick Boseman, in the recent Marvel blockbuster Captain America: Civil War.

Since Black Panther’s first issue debuted, its received rave reviews from critics. “The Black Panther has faced down threats to his rule on multiple fronts before,” The Guardian’s Isaac Butler writes. “In Coates and Stelfreeze’s hands, the comic suggests that this time, maybe he deserves it.”

Marvel’s Black Panther standalone film will hit theaters July 2018.