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You’ve seen a lot of stories about how comics shops were down five figures in sales in 2017. Now Diamond has released their December and yearend numbers, and they confirm: periodicals were down 10.4% in 2017, graphic novels were down 9.38% for a total decline of 10.09% in the comics market.

Diamond noted that its their fourth largest year ever, so these sales still way up from a decade ago but it’s a significant decline.

Last year Diamond never released its year-end numbers. I’m guessing they wish they had because 2016 was an up year and 2017 is…not.

While this stat will rule the headlines, December 2017 was a horrible month in general, compared to last December. Total sales were down 14.57% in dollars but a staggering 23.23% in units. That’s nearly a quarter drop. The holiday season is traditionally a huge time for shops and this is just awful.

Even graphic novels were down more than 20% from November! That’s very alarming.

And before you ask, it was a four week month to a four week month.

UPDATE: perpetually optimistic John Jackson Miller has his take here with some projections for the year-end market share.

HOWEVER DC did have a great month, with a rare win over Marvel  with Doomsday Clock #2 the top selling periodical and six of the top 10. But Legacy has clearly cooled off and the new thing at Marvel can’t come fast enough.

Saga ruled the graphic novels. That a new volume of this steady seller was not enough to overcome a 20% drop in GN sales shows that whatever the best sellers of last year were, nothing has come along to replace them.

unit-sharedollar-share

TOP COMIC BOOK PUBLISHERS

PUBLISHER DOLLAR

SHARE

UNIT

SHARE

DC ENTERTAINMENT 34.54% 37.65%
MARVEL COMICS 33.80% 38.81%
IMAGE COMICS 8.69% 7.20%
IDW PUBLISHING 3.92% 2.92%
DARK HORSE COMICS 2.69% 2.06%
BOOM! STUDIOS 2.28% 1.98%
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT 2.08% 1.84%
ONI PRESS 1.00% 0.52%
VIZ MEDIA 0.96% 0.35%
VALIANT ENTERTAINMENT LLC 0.96% 1.08%
OTHER NON-TOP 10 9.08% 5.59%

COMPARATIVE SALES STATISTICS

  DOLLARS UNITS
DECEMBER 2017 VS. NOVEMBER 2017
COMICS -16.13% -14.05%
GRAPHIC NOVELS -21.95% -10.88%
TOTAL COMICS/GN -18.11% -13.77%
TOYS -33.23% -30.05%
DECEMBER 2017 VS. DECEMBER 2016
COMICS -16.54% -24.11%
GRAPHIC NOVELS -10.17% -13.37%
TOTAL COMICS/GN -14.57% -23.23%
TOYS -27.60% -37.11%
FOURTH QUARTER 2017 VS. THIRD QUARTER 2017
COMICS -2.41% -5.19%
GRAPHIC NOVELS 8.49% 7.61%
TOTAL COMICS/GN 0.82% -4.24%
TOYS 9.14% 2.15%
FOURTH QUARTER 2017 VS. FOURTH QUARTER 2016
COMICS -13.90% -19.53%
GRAPHIC NOVELS -1.77% -7.71%
TOTAL COMICS/GN -10.37% -18.66%
TOYS -15.67% -24.40%
YEAR 2017 VS. YEAR 2016
COMICS -10.40% -9.69%
GRAPHIC NOVELS -9.38% -11.86%
TOTAL COMICS/GN -10.09% -9.86%
TOYS -12.55% -19.90%

NEW TITLES SHIPPED

PUBLISHER COMICS SHIPPED GRAPHIC NOVELS SHIPPED MAGAZINES SHIPPED TOTAL

SHIPPED

MARVEL COMICS 85 43 0 128
DC ENTERTAINMENT 80 38 1 119
IDW PUBLISHING 35 32 0 67
IMAGE COMICS 55 10 0 65
BOOM! STUDIOS 24 7 0 31
DARK HORSE COMICS 19 9 0 28
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT 21 5 0 26
VIZ MEDIA 0 16 0 16
VALIANT ENTERTAINMENT 6 2 0 8
ONI PRESS 4 3 0 7
OTHER NON-TOP 10 118 164 27 309

TOP 10 COMIC BOOKS

RANK DESCRIPTION PRICE ITEM CODE VENDOR
1 DOOMSDAY CLOCK #2 $4.99 OCT170204-M DC
2 DARK NIGHTS: METAL #4 $3.99 SEP170248-M DC
3 PHOENIX RESURRECTION: THE RETURN OF JEAN GREY #1 $4.99 OCT170824-M MAR
4 BATMAN #36 $2.99 OCT170225-M DC
5 BATMAN #37 $2.99 OCT170227-M DC
6 BATMAN: WHITE KNIGHT #3 $3.99 OCT170238-M DC
7 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN/VENOM: VENOM INC. ALPHA #1 $4.99 OCT170876-M MAR
8 MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #1 $3.99 OCT170834-M MAR
9 HAWKMAN FOUND #1 $3.99 SEP170253-M DC
10 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #792 $3.99 OCT170879-M MAR

TOP 10 GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS

RANK DESCRIPTION PRICE ITEM CODE VENDOR
1 SAGA VOLUME 8 TP (MR) $14.99 OCT170715 IMA
2 BATMAN VOL. 4: THE WAR OF JOKES & RIDDLES TP $19.99 SEP170400 DC
3 STAR WARS VOL. 6: OUT AMONG THE STARS TP $19.99 AUG171044 MAR
4 BATMAN: DETECTIVE COMICS VOL. 4: DEUS EX MACHINA TP $16.99 SEP170399 DC
5 BLACK HAMMER VOL. 2: THE EVENT TP $19.99 AUG170013 DAR
6 JUSTICE LEAGUE VS. SUICIDE SQUAD TP $24.99 SEP170405 DC
7 SHIRTLESS BEAR-FIGHTER TP (MR) $16.99 SEP170681-M IMA
8 DEADLY CLASS VOLUME 6 TP (MR) $16.99 AUG170634 IMA
9 VENOMVERSE TP $15.99 OCT171003 MAR
10 RICK AND MORTY VOLUME 6 TP (MR) $19.99 SEP171801 ONI

 

TOP 10 BOOKS

RANK DESCRIPTION PRICE ITEM CODE VENDOR
1 TERRY MOORE 25TH-ANNIVERSARY SKETCHBOOK $16.99 OCT171030 ABS
2 OVERWATCH ANTHOLOGY VOLUME 1 HC $19.99 JUN170080 DAR
3 LITTLE BOOK OF SPIDER-MAN FLEXICOVER $9.99 AUG172292 TAS
4 LITTLE BOOK OF AVENGERS FLEXICOVER $9.99 AUG172289 TAS
5 LITTLE BOOK OF CAPTAIN AMERICA FLEXICOVER $9.99 AUG172290 TAS
6 THE SHADOW DOUBLE NOVEL VOLUME 124 SC $14.95 SEP172221 SAN
7 LITTLE BOOK OF FANTASTIC FOUR FLEXICOVER $9.99 AUG172291 TAS
8 ROBOTECH VISUAL ARCHIVE: MACROSS SAGA HC $44.99 JUN172052 UDO
9 DOCTOR WHO: T IS FOR TARDIS HC $9.99 SEP168058 PEN
10 THE ART OF STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI HC $40.00 OCT172093 ABR

TOP 10 TOYS

RANK DESCRIPTION ITEM CODE VENDOR
1 OVERWATCH: MEI “CLASSIC SKIN” NENDOROID FEB178956 GOO
2 MARVEL GALLERY: THOR RAGNAROK: THE HULK PVC FIGURE AUG172642 DST
3 MARVEL SELECT: SPIDER-GWEN FIGURE MAY172533 DST
4 DBZ: GOKU SUPER KAMEHAME-HA PREMIUM COLOR FIGURE JAN178994 BAN
5 ONE-12 COLLECTIVE: DC COMICS: BLACK ADAM FIGURE AUG168741 MEZ
6 ONE-12 COLLECTIVE: DC COMICS: SUPERMAN RED SON FIGURE AUG168743 MEZ
7 BORUTO: NARUTO NEXT GENERATIONS: BORUTO FIGURE MAY178021 BAN
8 DRAGONBALL Z SCULTURES: TRUNKS SHINING FIGURE JAN178996 BAN
9 DRAGONBALL SUPER DRAGON STARS ACTION FIGURES DEC168933 BAN
10 MARVEL GALLERY: GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2: DRAX & BABY GROOT PVC FIGURE MAY172524 DST

TOP 10 GAMES

RANK DESCRIPTION ITEM CODE VENDOR
1 STAR TREK HEROCLIX: AWAY TEAM: ORIGINAL SERIES BOOSTER BRICK JUL173390 NEC
2 VALERIAN ALPHA MISSIONS BOARD GAME APR178031 ULT
3 BACK TO THE FUTURE MONOPOLY JUL152198 DST
4 DC HEROCLIX: HARLEY QUINN AND THE GOTHAM GIRLS BOOSTER BRICK JUN173406 NEC
5 STARFINDER RPG CORE RULEBOOK HC JUN173371 PAI
6 TMNT: SHADOWS OF THE PAST BOARD GAME APR160482 IDW
7 MOUSE GUARD ROLEPLAYING GAME BOXED SET (2ND EDITION) FEB151158 BOO
8 DOCTOR WHO: TIME OF THE DALEKS BOARD GAME JUL173367 GAL
9 STAR TREK HEROCLIX: AWAY TEAM: ORIGINAL SERIES STARTER SET JUL173391 NEC
10 YU-GI-OH!: CIRCUIT BREAK SPECIAL EDITION OCT172955 KON

 

7 COMMENTS

  1. Maybe its not really a publisher/content problem. The economy sucks unless you’re already rich. The costs of living in most metropolitan area is just ridiculous now. Stuff like comics is the first thing to get cut from your budget when you’re trying to stay above water.

  2. Hawkman’s led reorders for the last two weeks — and was a top advance reorder book back in October. I’ve started archiving the reorder lists related to the monthly reports; December’s is here (at least until it’s replaced by the final orders on Monday): http://www.comichron.com/monthlycomicssales/2017/2017-12.html

    (And I would like to e-mail my new sobriquet to the 1990s, and select publishing executives aggrieved that my reports were anything but optimistic!)

  3. “The new thing at Marvel can’t come fast enough..” It has in the form of Cebulski who has already started taking steps to clean up the mess Alonso and Breevory oversaw for the past few years.

  4. “The economy sucks unless you’re already rich. The costs of living in most metropolitan area is just ridiculous now. Stuff like comics is the first thing to get cut from your budget when you’re trying to stay above water.”

    This might have been the case a few years ago, but at least around my parts (midwest) this most certainly is not the case any longer nor have I heard it being the case in other parts of the country.

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