Hawkeye Volume 2.jpgComics sales were up in double digits in nearly every comparison in July, according to figures just released by Diamond. July was a five-week month so the totals are naturally bigger; however, sales were strong even without the extra week. Graphic novel sales were up sharply vs last year, but combined comics and GN sales are up 12.71% in dollars and 10.35% in units for the year.

DC bounced back to the top of the charts with a razor thing .14% win over Marvel in dollars, but fell behind in units, 34.07% to Marvel’s 36.47%. Still it was a strong month for DC with Superman Unchained #2 toping periodicals, and six of the top ten months. Marvel had a sales success with Hawkeye Volume #2 topping the GN charts—and also, mysteriously with a Black Bolt collection? ???

Black Bolt.jpg
For the first time, Diamond added a “unit count” table showing how many items were released each month, causing people like John Mayo and John Jackson Miller to cackle with glee.

Speaking of Miller, his preliminary reactions are out:

Orders of $46.8 million would appear to make this the best month in non-inflation-adjusted terms for total order dollars in the Direct Market in the Diamond Exclusive Era, behind only last October. It was a five week month, but graphic novel sales in particular appear to have exceeded what the extra week would have normally added.

The interesting thing Diamond added this time out was a count of actual new items shipped in each category, which really does illustrate the extent to which the middle-tier publishers have expanded their comics lines. This is different from the Top 300 Items Count that I have been doing for eons (http://www.comichron.com/vitalstatistics/itemcount.html), obviously, since it’s everything they shipped: we’ll be able to look at the two together and see how much of each publisher’s line is in the Top 300.

 

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TOP COMIC BOOK PUBLISHERS

PUBLISHER

DOLLAR

SHARE

UNIT

SHARE

DC COMICS

32.50%

34.07%

MARVEL COMICS

32.34%

36.47%

IMAGE COMICS

6.56%

6.79%

IDW PUBLISHING

6.09%

4.53%

DARK HORSE COMICS

5.43%

4.61%

DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT

2.54%

2.76%

BOOM! STUDIOS

2.20%

2.25%

AVATAR PRESS

1.09%

0.99%

ZENESCOPE ENTERTAINMENT

0.97%

0.96%

VALIANT ENTERTAINMENT

0.93%

1.05%

OTHER NON-TOP 10

9.35%

5.52%

 

NEW TITLES SHIPPED

PUBLISHER

COMICS SHIPPED

GRAPHIC NOVELS SHIPPED

MAGAZINES SHIPPED

TOTAL

SHIPPED

DC COMICS

91

29

1

121

MARVEL COMICS

81

37

0

118

IMAGE COMICS

42

14

0

56

IDW PUBLISHING

38

22

0

60

DARK HORSE COMICS

35

20

0

55

DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT

37

1

0

38

BOOM! STUDIOS

24

2

0

26

AVATAR PRESS

18

1

1

20

ZENESCOPE ENTERTAINMENT

15

1

0

16

VALIANT ENTERTAINMENT

7

1

0

8

OTHER NON-TOP 10

77

167

42

286

 


COMPARATIVE SALES STATISTICS

 

DOLLARS

UNITS

JULY 2013 VS. JUNE 2013

COMICS

7.65%

7.59%

GRAPHIC NOVELS

24.80%

31.39%

TOTAL COMICS/GN

12.72%

9.26%

JULY 2013 VS. JULY 2012

COMICS

12.65%

11.02%

GRAPHIC NOVELS

26.11%

18.11%

TOTAL COMICS/GN

16.73%

11.59%

YEAR-TO-DATE 2013 VS. YEAR-TO-DATE 2012

COMICS

13.16%

10.36%

GRAPHIC NOVELS

11.72%

10.18%

TOTAL COMICS/GN

12.71%

10.35%

 

TOP 10 COMIC BOOKS

RANK

DESCRIPTION

PRICE

ITEM CODE

VENDOR

1

SUPERMAN UNCHAINED #2

$3.99

MAY130128 DC

2

BATMAN #22

$3.99

MAY130151 DC

3

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #5

$3.99

MAY130589 MAR

4

JUSTICE LEAGUE #22

$3.99

MAY130099 DC

5

BATMAN ANNUAL #2

$4.99

MAY130155 DC

6

BATMAN SUPERMAN #2

$3.99

MAY130147 DC

7

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #6

$3.99

MAY130103 DC

8

SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #13

$3.99

MAY130627 MAR

9

SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #14

$3.99

MAY130628 MAR

10

SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN TEAM UP #1

$3.99

MAY130638 MAR

 


TOP 10 GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS

RANK

DESCRIPTION

PRICE

ITEM CODE

VENDOR

1

HAWKEYE VOL. 2: LITTLE HITS TP

$16.99

MAR130726 MAR

2

AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER VOL. 5: THE SEARCH PART 2 TP

$10.99

MAR130020 DAR

3

SAGA VOLUME 2 TP (MR)

$14.99

APR130443 IMA

4

SAGA VOLUME 1 TP (MR)

$9.99

AUG120491 IMA

5

BLACK BOLT: SOMETHING INHUMAN THIS WAY COMES

$7.99

MAY130610 MAR

6

KICK-ASS 2 PRELUDE: HIT-GIRL TP (MR)

$19.99

MAY130706 MAR

7

FAIREST VOLUME 2: HIDDEN KINGDOM TP (MR)

$14.99

APR130255 DC

8

BEFORE WATCHMEN: COMEDIAN/RORSCHACH DELUXE HC (MR)

$29.99

MAR130265 DC

9

INVINCIBLE VOL. 18: THE DEATH OF EVERYONE TP

$16.99

MAY130459 IMA

10

BEFORE WATCHMEN: NITE OWL/DR. MANHATTAN DELUXE HC (MR)

$29.99

MAR130266 DC

 

TOP 10 TOYS

RANK

DESCRIPTION

ITEM CODE

VENDOR

1

GREEN LANTERN 1:1-SCALE POWER BATTERY PROP WITH RING FEB130261 DC

2

THE DARK KNIGHT TRILOGY PLAY ARTS ~KAI~: THE JOKER ACTION FIGURE JAN131785 SQU

3

MARVEL SELECT IRON MAN 3: WAR MACHINE FIGURE DEC121591 DST

4

BATMAN: ARKHAM CITY PLAY ARTS ~KAI~: HARLEY QUINN ACTION FIGURE FEB131687 SQU

5

THE DARK KNIGHT TRILOGY PLAY ARTS ~KAI~: CATWOMAN ACTION FIGURE JAN131784 SQU

6

THE WALKING DEAD SERIES 2: THE GOVERNOR/PENNY ACTION FIGURE 2-PACK JAN138175 TMP

7

BATMAN: ARKHAM CITY PLAY ARTS ~KAI~: POISON IVY ACTION FIGURE FEB131688 SQU

8

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES: BATMAN MAF EX SEP128116 MED

9

MARVEL: KITTY PRYDE BISHOUJO STATUE JAN131764 KOT

10

DC: THE NEW 52 — MARTIAN MANHUNTER ACTION FIGURE APR130278 DC


TOP 10 GAMES

RANK

DESCRIPTION

ITEM CODE

VENDOR

1

MAGIC THE GATHERING TCG: 2014 CORE SET BOOSTERS MAY132333 WIZ

2

MARVEL HEROCLIX: WOLVERINE & THE X-MEN JUN132402 NEC

3

MAGIC THE GATHERING TCG: 2014 CORE SET FAT PACK MAY132335 WIZ

4

MAGIC THE GATHERING TCG: MODERN MASTERS BOOSTERS APR132231 WIZ

5

YU-GI-OH! TCG: NUMBER HUNTERS BOOSTERS MAR138416 KON

6

CLUE: THE BIG BANG THEORY EDITION MAR132256 USA

7

PACIFIC RIM HEROCLIX MAR138261 NEC

8

MAGIC THE GATHERING TCG: 2014 CORE SET INTRO DECKS MAY132336 WIZ

9

STAR WARS RPG: EDGE OF THE EMPIRE CORE RULEBOOK MAR132242 FAN

10

YU-GI-OH! TCG: EPIC DAWN 2 WAR OF THE GIANTS BOOSTERS FEB138643 KON

11 COMMENTS

  1. The “units offered” table is actually one that we’ve been able to do by hand before (and it could be done retroactively) but it’s a lot of work. The other question is what counts as a distinct item — my guess is they’re fusing item codes on variants, but I could see some falling into a gray area.

  2. Glad to see Saga taking two spots in the top ten graphic novels. Well deserved sales for an excellent comic book series.

  3. The Black Bolt “collection” is simply an expensive comic book — it is even saddle-stitched! Diamond programatically calls any comic book priced at over $6.99 a “book”, regardless of format or page count or binding. That’s a rule, as I recall, from the late 90s.

    -B

  4. http://marvel.com/comics/issue/47352/black_bolt_something_inhuman_this_way_comes_2013_1

    “Black Bolt, monarch of the Inhumans, wanders the streets of San Francisco ? his memory stolen and his identity forgotten! Maximus the Mad has usurped the throne ? and Medusa, Gorgon and Karnak are forced to flee the Inhumans’ hidden city! What strange new force has wiped Black Bolt’s mind? When he’s targeted by criminals, revolutionaries and the mutant called Magneto, will his fellow Inhumans find him in time? Guest-starring Thor and the Avengers! Collecting AMAZING ADVENTURES (1970) #5-10 and AVENGERS (1963) #95.”

    Black Bolt mystery solved.
    UPC, not EAN, on the front cover = magazine.

  5. The market share race between the Big Two is close in July. Marvel should clearly take August with the debut of Infinity. But September to December will be very interesting to watch because DC have tons of high profile launches and events including Villains month, Forever Evil, Superman/Wonder Woman, Son of Batman, Zero Year, Lighs out, Krypton Returns, Harley Quinn and several Vertigo launches including Neil Gaiman’s Sandman project. They also have a lot of big titles on their graphic novels release schedule.

  6. One would assume the DC news is too positive for Marc-Oliver to doom and gloom it like he does every month.

    But the man can doom and gloom world peace breaking out.

  7. Big two: 64 and 70 percent share.
    Is this within normal patterns, or are we seeing a stronger market for “third party” publishers?

Comments are closed.