Secret-Empire-1

The May sales charts are out from Diamond, and Marvel still leads, with three issues of Secret Empire hitting the Top 10 and issue #1 topping the chart. Marvel widened the gap with DC by a few percentage points in both dollars and units.

Guardians of the Galaxy tie in titles, and the “Origins” Wonder Woman collection by Deadpool-Bad-Blood-Cover.jpgGreg Rucka and Nicola Scott, also made the charts, showing that movie exposure raises interest in the periodicals when readers can find them.

For DC, the lenticular ‘button” covered issues were a hit.

Rob Liefeld’s original Deadpool graphic novel was the #1 GN. However, while graphic novel sales were up in May (A five week month compared to April’s four weeks) they are still down about 9% for the year.

The drop in GN sales is a pretty universal thing and I still don’t have much of a better explanation than I did last month:

I’m not sure what’s behind the big drop in graphic novels, and people I’ve spoken to aren’t quite sure either. Last year’s April GNs included the smash Wonder Woman Earth One, and Deadpool collections were selling briskly after the movie became a phenomenon, so I’m sure that had something to do with it. Marvel’s first Star Wars trades were also big sellers. In general, I’m guessing that maybe the lackluster periodicals of 2016 are now being collected into lackluster trades? Since Diamond never released it’s year end numbers (BOO DIAMOND)  we’ll never be able to make a direct comparison.

I continue to hear that the NY Times dropping its comics bestseller lists had has a negative effect on graphic novel sales across the board. While some people are equally skeptical of this theory, no one has come up with anything that’s more plausible.

Total comics and GN sales are up for the year in units, but down a bit in dollars. We’re not seeing a huge rebound here but it’s not a disaster either, despite Marvel’s seeming slide in periodicals. So just call it…middling. Middling May.

 

 

TOP COMIC BOOK PUBLISHERS

PUBLISHER

DOLLAR

SHARE

UNIT

SHARE

MARVEL COMICS

38.05%

39.91%

DC ENTERTAINMENT

27.93%

30.88%

IMAGE COMICS

10.25%

11.83%

IDW PUBLISHING

4.65%

3.78%

DARK HORSE COMICS

3.05%

2.21%

BOOM! STUDIOS

2.10%

1.74%

DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT

1.72%

1.85%

TITAN COMICS

1.18%

0.99%

VIZ MEDIA

1.12%

0.39%

ONI PRESS INC.

0.89%

0.59%

OTHER NON-TOP 10

9.06%

5.83%

COMPARATIVE SALES STATISTICS

DOLLARS

UNITS

MAY 2017 VS. APRIL 2017

COMICS

16.49%

17.36%

GRAPHIC NOVELS

17.13%

19.52%

TOTAL COMICS/GN

16.69%

17.53%

TOYS

52.15%

52.94%

MAY 2017 VS. MAY 2016

COMICS

10.58%

16.74%

GRAPHIC NOVELS

3.54%

13.65%

TOTAL COMICS/GN

8.31%

16.49%

TOYS

40.46%

29.34%

YEAR-TO-DATE 2017 VS. YEAR-TO-DATE 2016

COMICS

0.11%

8.89%

GRAPHIC NOVELS

-9.23%

-8.72%

TOTAL COMICS/GN

-2.92%

7.35%

TOYS

1.14%

1.10%

NEW TITLES SHIPPED

PUBLISHER

COMICS SHIPPED

GRAPHIC NOVELS SHIPPED

MAGAZINES SHIPPED

TOTAL

SHIPPED

MARVEL COMICS

99

43

0

142

DC ENTERTAINMENT

82

34

0

116

IMAGE COMICS

71

14

1

86

IDW PUBLISHING

59

15

0

74

BOOM ENTERTAINMENT

26

10

0

36

TITAN COMICS

22

7

4

33

DARK HORSE COMICS

20

12

0

32

DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT

23

7

0

30

ONI PRESS INC.

6

4

0

10

VIZ MEDIA

0

9

0

9

OTHER NON-TOP 10

119

203

28

350

TOP 10 COMIC BOOKS

RANK

DESCRIPTION

PRICE

ITEM CODE

VENDOR

1

SECRET EMPIRE #1

$4.99

MAR170901-M MAR

2

VENOM #150

$5.99

MAR171008-M MAR

3

BATMAN #22 LENTICULAR EDITION

$3.99

NOV169207 DC

4

THE FLASH #22 LENTICULAR EDITION

$3.99

NOV169210 DC

5

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY: MISSION BREAKOUT #1

$4.99

MAR171072-M MAR

6

SECRET EMPIRE #2

$4.99

MAR170910-M MAR

7

BATMAN #23

$2.99

MAR170274-M DC

8

SECRET EMPIRE #3

$3.99

MAR170915-M MAR

9

ALL-NEW GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #1

$3.99

MAR170937-M MAR

10

THE WALKING DEAD #167 (MR)

$2.99

MAR170791 IMA

TOP 10 GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS

RANK

DESCRIPTION

PRICE

ITEM CODE

VENDOR

1

DEADPOOL: BAD BLOOD OGN HC

$24.99

DEC161086-M MAR

2

BITCH PLANET VOLUME 2: PRESIDENT BITCH TP (MR)

$14.99

MAY160684-M IMA

3

SAGA VOLUME 7 TP (MR)

$14.99

JAN170850 IMA

4

WONDER WOMAN VOLUME 2: YEAR ONE TP

$16.99

FEB170298 DC

5

MOONSHINE VOLUME 1 TP (MR)

$9.99

FEB170696-M IMA

6

THE FLASH VOLUME 2: THE SPEED OF DARKNESS TP

$14.99

FEB170294 DC

7

CHAMPIONS VOLUME 1: CHANGE THE WORLD TP

$15.99

FEB170982 MAR

8

BATMAN: DETECTIVE COMICS VOLUME 2: VICTIM SYNDICATE

$16.99

FEB170293 DC

9

THE UNWORTHY THOR TP

$15.99

FEB170983 MAR

10

DOOM PATROL VOLUME 1: BRICK BY BRICK TP (MR)

$16.99

FEB170287 DC

TOP 10 BOOKS

RANK

DESCRIPTION

PRICE

ITEM CODE

VENDOR

1

HE-MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: A CHARACTER GUIDE AND WORLD COMPENDIUM HC

$49.99

JAN170145 DAR

2

HARRY POTTER: TALKING SORTING HAT & STICKER BOOK

$12.95

FEB172232 HAC

3

THE SHADOW DOUBLE NOVEL VOLUME 117 SC

$14.95

FEB172238 SAN

4

NEIL GAIMAN COLORING BOOK

$15.99

FEB172228 HAR

5

WONDER WOMAN: ULTIMATE GUIDE TO THE AMAZON WARRIOR HC

$24.99

APR172263 DK

6

THE ART AND MAKING OF WONDER WOMAN HC

$39.95

MAR172111 RAN

7

SPECTACULAR SISTERHOOD OF SUPERWOMEN HC

$24.95

MAR172334 RAN

8

THE ART AND MAKING OF ALIEN: COVENANT HC

$39.95

FEB171976 RAN

9

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: OFFICIAL PIZZA COOKBOOK HC

$24.99

MAR172348 POC

10

NIGHT NIGHT GROOT PICTURE BOOK

$12.99

FEB172210 HAC

TOP 10 TOYS

RANK

DESCRIPTION

ITEM CODE

VENDOR

1

POWER RANGERS LEGACY: DRAGONZORD FEB142135 BAN

2

WONDER WOMAN MOVIE: WONDER WOMAN ON HORSEBACK DELUXE STATUE NOV160368 DC

3

FINAL FANTASY VII: VINCENT VALENTINE STATIC ARTS GALLERY AUG168855 SQU

4

DARK SOULS II DXF V1: BEARER OF THE CURSE FIGURE AUG168152 BAN

5

MARVEL UNIVERSE VARIANT PLAY ARTS KAI: DEADPOOL FIGURE OCT168088 SQU

6

MARVEL NOW! SUPER DEADPOOL ARTFX STATUE OCT162924 KOT

7

POP! DC HEROES: DARK KNIGHT RETURNS CARRIE KELLY VINYL FIGURE OCT158905 FUN

8

POWER RANGERS LEGACY: DRAGON DAGGER FEB142136 BAN

9

GOTHAM CITY GARAGE: WONDER WOMAN STATUE DEC160416 DC

10

DCTV: SUPERGIRL ACTION FIGURE NOV160373 DC

TOP 10 GAMES

RANK

DESCRIPTION

ITEM CODE

VENDOR

1

MARVEL HEROCLIX: AVENGERS/DEFENDERS WAR BOOSTER BRICK JAN173249 NEC

2

MAGIC THE GATHERING TCG: AMONKHET BOOSTER PACKS DEC168751 WIZ

3

PATHFINDER ROLEPLAYING GAME BEGINNER BOX NEW EDITON SEP138188 PAI

4

DC COMICS HEROCLIX: WONDER WOMAN JAN173247 NEC

5

YU-GI-OH! MAXIMUM CRISIS MAR173362 KON

6

MONOPOLY DRAGON BALL Z EDITION MAR173383 USA

7

MIRACULOUS THROWDOWN CARD GAME JUN161009 ACT

8

MACHI KORO CARD GAME MAY142831 IDW

9

ESCAPE FROM 100 MILLION BC BOARD GAME AUG160552 IDW

10

AMC’S THE WALKING DEAD MONOPOLY APR173290 USA

 

6 COMMENTS

  1. The ten-point spread between graphic novel units and dollars — which obtains again in the May figures — is really the telling point, I think. The graphic novels that are selling — and they are up for the year in units now — are down in dollars, and that comes from books either being cheaper to start with or being deep-discounted when they’re sold to retailers.

    We know a LOT of the latter has been going on; it might even be enough to be the decisive factor. It also could be why retailers have reported to me better conditions than our figures suggest. The Diamond percentage changes reflect wholesale trends, not retail ones.

    I’ll take a closer look at that in the Monday report. My preliminary report is here, in the meantime: http://blog.comichron.com/2017/06/comics-orders-rebound-in-five-week-may.html

  2. So DC really had the Top 2 books again?

    Plus Marvel had 17 more books than DC and 9 more trades? …. Yeah I wonder why their % is greater.

    Why is Secret Empire 1 and 2 $5 and 3 $4? More pages?

  3. “Why is Secret Empire 1 and 2 $5 and 3 $4? More pages?”

    Because issue #1 was published by Marvel and Hydra published issue #3.
    Hail Hydra!

  4. Azzarello and Risso’s MOONSHINE is a great book. I wish DC would reprint their JONNY DOUBLE mini-series.

Comments are closed.