Marvel led DC again in the ongoing Big Two battle, but overall numbers show that comics and GN sales in 2016 were essentially flat – either up or down by a percentage point. December and the quarter were generally down, although GNs were up from 4Q 2015. December was a four week month compared to November’s five weeks, so direct comparisons aren’t all that useful there.

Love Is Love.jpgJustice League vs. Suicide Squad #1 was the top periodical and Love is Love, the LGBTQ tribute anthology was the top graphic novel.

Marvel’s lead over DC in dollars shrank quite a bit from November, while the unit gap was wider. Given all that talk of overships, one has to wonder….

John Jackson Miller’s commentary is up 

As projected here a ways back, comics shop orders of comic books, graphic novels, and magazines finished up for the year, just barely, after a fourth quarter that lost much of the momentum gained in a strong summer. That’s according to my preliminary analysis of retailer orders just released by Diamond Comic Distributors, which found Direct Market orders at $580.9 million for last year, up just three tenths of a percent — or $1.7 million — over 2015.

That said, it’s the fifth straight growth year, and the comics and graphic novel market overall is doing quite well, thanks to continued strength in the book channel and its reported 12% increase over 2015. And while there will be more analysis here in the coming days, 2016 looks a lot less disappointing when you consider that our year-by-year comparisons are with a black swan (or is that black wampa?) event, the monumental return of Star Wars to Marvel’s comics line in 2015.

2015 also included mega-ships for several loot crate books so there were a lot of extra numbers in the system. All that said, the numbers show a slow down, which might be nothing, painful, mildly painful or pretty troubling depending on many things.

unit-sharedollar-share

TOP COMIC BOOK PUBLISHERS

PUBLISHER DOLLAR

SHARE

UNIT

SHARE

MARVEL COMICS 36.73% 40.50%
DC ENTERTAINMENT 29.47% 29.04%
IMAGE COMICS 8.81% 7.70%
IDW PUBLISHING 5.49% 4.10%
DARK HORSE COMICS 3.17% 2.43%
BOOM! STUDIOS 2.40% 1.64%
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT 1.99% 6.97%
TITAN COMICS 1.16% 0.99%
VALIANT ENTERTAINMENT LLC 1.10% 1.20%
VIZ MEDIA 1.09% 0.34%
OTHER NON-TOP 10 8.59% 5.09%

COMPARATIVE SALES STATISTICS

  DOLLARS UNITS
DECEMBER 2016 VS. NOVEMBER 2016
COMICS -9.01% -1.79%
GRAPHIC NOVELS -11.19% 1.10%
TOTAL COMICS/GN -9.69% -1.56%
TOYS -12.28% -11.75%
DECEMBER 2016 VS. DECEMBER 2015
COMICS -18.84% -8.39%
GRAPHIC NOVELS -4.24% 18.44%
TOTAL COMICS/GN -14.84% -6.66%
TOYS -36.78% -46.07%
FOURTH QUARTER 2016 VS. THIRD QUARTER 2016
COMICS -7.42% -5.96%
GRAPHIC NOVELS 0.07% 1.88%
TOTAL COMICS/GN -5.36% -5.42%
TOYS -1.80% -11.85%
FOURTH QUARTER 2016 VS. FOURTH QUARTER 2015
COMICS -8.92% -0.53%
GRAPHIC NOVELS 1.53% 12.21%
TOTAL COMICS/GN -6.11% 0.30%
TOYS -22.29% -30.42%
YEAR 2016 VS. YEAR 2015
COMICS -0.11% 1.02%
GRAPHIC NOVELS 1.24% 2.10%
TOTAL COMICS/GN 0.30% 1.10%
TOYS -9.74% -14.18%

NEW TITLES SHIPPED

PUBLISHER COMICS SHIPPED GRAPHIC NOVELS SHIPPED MAGAZINES SHIPPED TOTAL

SHIPPED

MARVEL COMICS 89 42 0 131
DC ENTERTAINMENT 84 33 1 118
IMAGE COMICS 47 18 1 66
IDW PUBLISHING 42 17 0 59
BOOM! STUDIOS 26 12 0 38
DARK HORSE COMICS 26 10 0 36
TITAN COMICS 21 5 4 30
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT 18 9 0 27
ARCHIE COMIC PUBLICATIONS 11 2 0 13
VIZ MEDIA 0 13 0 13
OTHER NON-TOP 10 114 133 25 272

TOP 10 COMIC BOOKS

RANK DESCRIPTION PRICE ITEM CODE VENDOR
1 JUSTICE LEAGUE VS. SUICIDE SQUAD #1 $3.99 OCT160147-M DC
2 INHUMANS VS. X-MEN #1 $5.99 SEP160868-M MAR
3 DARK KNIGHT III: THE MASTER RACE #7 $5.99 OCT160259-M DC
4 BATMAN #12 $2.99 OCT160173-M DC
5 BATMAN #13 $2.99 OCT160175-M DC
6 CIVIL WAR II #8 $4.99 SEP161000-M MAR
7 STAR WARS #26 $3.99 OCT160988-M MAR
8 STAR WARS: DOCTOR APHRA #1 $4.99 OCT160975-M MAR
9 HULK #1 $3.99 OCT160788-M MAR
10 ALL-STAR BATMAN #5 $4.99 OCT160160-M DC

TOP 10 GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS

RANK DESCRIPTION PRICE ITEM CODE VENDOR
1 LOVE IS LOVE SC $9.99 OCT160480 IDW
2 BATMAN VOLUME 9: BLOOM TP $16.99 SEP160335 DC
3 DESCENDER VOLUME 3: SINGULARITIES TP $14.99 SEP160801 IMA
4 WOLVERINE: OLD MAN LOGAN TP $29.99 JUL100692 MAR
5 I HATE FAIRYLAND VOLUME 2: FLUFF MY LIFE TP $14.99 OCT160683-M IMA
6 INVINCIBLE IRON MAN VOLUME 1: REBOOT TP $17.99 OCT161021 MAR
7 STAR WARS: POE DAMERON VOL. 1: BLACK SQUADRON TP $19.99 AUG160999 MAR
8 DOCTOR STRANGE VOLUME 1: WAY OF WEIRD TP $19.99 SEP161127 MAR
9 BATMAN VOLUME 10: EPILOGUE HC $22.99 AUG160317 DC
10 BLACK SCIENCE VOL. 5: TRUE ATONEMENT TP (MR) $14.99 OCT160677 IMA

 


TOP 10 BOOKS

RANK DESCRIPTION PRICE ITEM CODE VENDOR
1 DOCTOR WHO: DEATH RIDERS SC $9.99 JUN158023 PEN
2 DOCTOR WHO: SYSTEM WIPE SC $9.99 JUN158025 PEN
3 THE PRINCESS BRIDE: A STORYBOOK TO COLOR TP $16.99 SEP160611 IDW
4 BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER ADULT COLORING BOOK $14.99 AUG160020 DAR
5 THE POKEMON COOKBOOK HC $14.99 OCT162035 VIZ
6 STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES ADULT COLORING BOOK $14.99 AUG160018 DAR
7 STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION ADULT COLORING BOOK $14.99 AUG160019 DAR
8 DOCTOR WHO: THE GOOD THE BAD & THE ALIEN SC $9.99 NOV158049 PEN
9 THE SHADOW DOUBLE NOVEL VOLUME 112 SC $14.95 SEP162252 SAN
10 THE WALKING DEAD ADULT COLORING BOOK (MR) $14.99 FEB160615 IMA

TOP 10 TOYS

RANK DESCRIPTION ITEM CODE VENDOR
1 DC DESIGNER SERIES: HARLEY QUINN BY BRUCE TIMM STATUE MAR160333 DC
2 MARVEL GALLERY: THE HULK PVC FIGURE AUG162570 DST
3 DC TV: ARROW/THE FLASH ACTION FIGURE 2-PACK APR160456 DC
4 DC FILMS: ARMORED BATMAN PREMIUM ACTION FIGURE MAR160323 DC
5 BATMAN ANIMATED SERIES: NEW BATMAN ADVENTURES HARLEY QUINN ACTION FIGURE MAR160314 DC
6 HARLEY QUINN: RED WHITE & BLACK STATUE APR160452 DC
7 BATMAN ANIMATED SERIES: NEW BATMAN ADVENTURES CLAYFACE DELUXE ACTION FIGURE MAR160318 DC
8 DC COMICS DESIGNER SERIES BY LEE BERMEJO: BATMAN FIGURE FEB160280 DC
9 DC DESIGNER SERIES: THE FLASH BY FRANCIS MANAPUL STATUE JUL160449 DC
10 DARKSEID AND GRAIL ACTION FIGURE 2-PACK APR160448 DC

TOP 10 GAMES

RANK DESCRIPTION ITEM CODE VENDOR
1 BACK TO THE FUTURE MONOPOLY JUL152198 DST
2 MACHI KORO CARD GAME MAY142831 IDW
3 MOUSE GUARD ROLEPLAYING GAME BOXED SET (2ND EDITION) FEB151158 BOO
4 EXPLODING KITTENS CARD GAME NSFW EDITION OCT163224 EXP
5 EXPLODING KITTENS CARD GAME ORIGINAL EDITION OCT163223 EXP
6 PANDEMIC: IBERIA BOARD GAME AUG163183 ZMA
7 GAME OF THRONES PLAYING CARDS JAN120128 DAR
8 TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: SHADOWS OF THE PAST BOARD GAME APR160482 IDW
9 BATMANL THE ANIMATED SERIES DICE GAME SEP163193 PSI
10 STAR TREK 50TH-ANNIVERSARY 3000-PIECE DIECUT JIGSAW PUZZLE JUN168685 NMR