Diamond released sales figures for January 2017 this morning and units and dollars were way down from December – however that’s only to be expected from holiday sales. However, periodicals were up a but from January 201 while GNs were down. Overall comparisons were down quite a bit but it’s hard to make too much of them given seasonal fluctuations. BatmanVol 1 : I am Gotham was the #1 GN while US AVengers was the top periodical.
Marvel won the month and was up quite a bit in units thanks to the overshipping program we’ve been telling you about, but the dollar share gap over DC was smaller.
Since I’m on the road, I’ll defer to John Jackson Miller and Comichron for analysis:
January comics and graphic novel orders got 2017 off to a slightly slower start than last year, according to Comichron’s analysis of data released today by Diamond Comic Distributors. But while the $40.1 million in orders — off 3% — was the lowest one-month total since February 2014, Marvel’s overship promotion offering a free 10% match to retailers’ orders helped create a situation in which more comics were shipped than in any first month of the year since January 1997, 20 years ago.
Diamond shipped 7.57 million comic books to retailers in the month, up 7.21% over January 2016 and even beating out 2015’s massive Star Wars #1 month. Free comics obviously don’t impact dollar sales, so comics dollar sales were only up 0.36%.
That disjoint suggests that while January’s performance was off at the distributor level, it could easily have been an up month at the retail level, depending on how all that extra material sold. Diamond’s comparative sales statistics charts and market share charts are based on wholesale prices and not retail, which is what that $40.1 million figure is; the real dollar value of comics and graphic novels retailers had to sell was probably several million higher.
This isn’t new; every month there’s some level of deep discounting of graphic novels or promotional pricing of comics, and so there’s always a bit more — and some months, a lot more — potential sales out there for retailers than the overall sales number suggests.
TOP COMIC BOOK PUBLISHERS
| PUBLISHER | DOLLAR
SHARE |
UNIT
SHARE |
| MARVEL COMICS | 37.09% | 42.62% |
| DC ENTERTAINMENT | 28.93% | 31.33% |
| IMAGE COMICS | 9.82% | 9.36% |
| IDW PUBLISHING | 5.25% | 3.45% |
| DARK HORSE COMICS | 4.04% | 2.91% |
| BOOM! STUDIOS | 2.09% | 1.91% |
| DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT | 1.65% | 1.47% |
| TITAN COMICS | 1.24% | 1.10% |
| VIZ MEDIA | 1.15% | 0.39% |
| VALIANT ENTERTAINMENT LLC | 0.82% | 0.81% |
| OTHER NON-TOP 10 | 7.92% | 4.65% |
COMPARATIVE SALES STATISTICS
| DOLLARS | UNITS | |
| JANUARY 2017 VS. DECEMBER 2016 | ||
| COMICS | -7.50% | -7.84% |
| GRAPHIC NOVELS | -18.85% | -28.03% |
| TOTAL COMICS/GN | -11.00% | -9.49% |
| TOYS | -38.37% | -39.98% |
| JANUARY 2017 VS. JANUARY 2016 | ||
| COMICS | 0.36% | 7.21% |
| GRAPHIC NOVELS | -11.88% | -8.61% |
| TOTAL COMICS/GN | -3.41% | 6.01% |
| TOYS | -15.43% | -2.28% |
NEW TITLES SHIPPED
| PUBLISHER | COMICS SHIPPED | GRAPHIC NOVELS SHIPPED | MAGAZINES SHIPPED | TOTAL
SHIPPED |
| MARVEL COMICS | 97 | 33 | 0 | 130 |
| DC ENTERTAINMENT | 86 | 26 | 0 | 112 |
| IMAGE COMICS | 44 | 16 | 0 | 60 |
| IDW PUBLISHING | 41 | 17 | 0 | 58 |
| DARK HORSE COMICS | 27 | 16 | 0 | 43 |
| BOOM ENTERTAINMENT | 26 | 7 | 0 | 33 |
| TITAN COMICS | 24 | 0 | 4 | 28 |
| DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT | 16 | 6 | 0 | 22 |
| VIZ MEDIA | 0 | 21 | 0 | 21 |
| VALIANT ENTERTAINMENT LLC | 9 | 3 | 0 | 12 |
| OTHER | 87 | 96 | 27 | 210 |
TOP 10 COMIC BOOKS
| RANK | DESCRIPTION | PRICE | ITEM CODE | VENDOR |
| 1 | U.S.AVENGERS #1 | $3.99 | OCT160723-M | MAR |
| 2 | BATMAN #14 | $2.99 | NOV160208-M | DC |
| 3 | BATMAN #15 | $2.99 | NOV160210-M | DC |
| 4 | JUSTICE LEAGUE/POWER RANGERS #1 | $3.99 | NOV160283-M | DC |
| 5 | THE WALKING DEAD #162 (MR) | $2.99 | NOV160652-M | IMA |
| 6 | ALL-STAR BATMAN #6 | $4.99 | NOV160195-M | DC |
| 7 | JUSTICE LEAGUE VS. SUICIDE SQUAD #3 | $3.99 | NOV160163-M | DC |
| 8 | MONSTERS UNLEASHED #1 | $4.99 | NOV160745-M | MAR |
| 9 | AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #23 | $3.99 | NOV160827-M | MAR |
| 10 | JUSTICE LEAGUE #12 | $2.99 | NOV160179-M | DC |
TOP 10 GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS
| RANK | DESCRIPTION | PRICE | ITEM CODE | VENDOR |
| 1 | BATMAN VOLUME 1: I AM GOTHAM TP | $16.99 | OCT160291-M | DC |
| 2 | KILL OR BE KILLED VOLUME 1 TP (MR) | $9.99 | NOV160670-M | IMA |
| 3 | THE FLASH VOL. 1: LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE TP | $17.99 | OCT160292 | DC |
| 4 | SUPERMAN VOL. 1: SON OF SUPERMAN TP | $16.99 | OCT160297 | DC |
| 5 | SAGA VOLUME 1 TP (MR) | $9.99 | AUG120491 | IMA |
| 6 | JUSTICE LEAGUE VOL. 1: THE EXTINCTION MACHINE TP | $16.99 | OCT160295 | DC |
| 7 | PAPER GIRLS VOLUME 1 TP | $9.99 | JAN160645 | IMA |
| 8 | STAR WARS: HAN SOLO TP | $16.99 | SEP161136 | MAR |
| 9 | GREEN ARROW VOL. 1: THE LIFE & DEATH OF OLIVER QUEEN TP | $16.99 | OCT160293 | DC |
| 10 | THE BLACK MONDAY MURDERS VOLUME 1: ALL HAIL GOD MAMMON TP (MR) | $19.99 | NOV160656-M | IMA |
TOP 10 BOOKS
| RANK | DESCRIPTION | PRICE | ITEM CODE | VENDOR |
| 1 | DC SUPER HERO GIRLS: BATGIRL AT SUPER HERO HIGH HC | $13.99 | OCT162171 | RAN |
| 2 | STAR WARS: I AM A STORMTROOPER LITTLE GOLDEN BOOK | $4.99 | OCT162204 | RAN |
| 3 | DOCTOR STRANGE LITTLE GOLDEN BOOK | $4.99 | OCT162172 | RAN |
| 4 | GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY: ROCKET TO RESCUE LITTLE GOLDEN BOOK | $4.99 | OCT162173 | RAN |
| 5 | DC SUPER FRIENDS: WONDER WOMAN LITTLE GOLDEN BOOK | $9.99 | OCT162170 | RAN |
| 6 | THE SHADOW DOUBLE NOVEL VOLUME 113 SC | $14.95 | OCT162199 | SAN |
| 7 | DC SUPER FRIENDS: COLD CAPER SC | $4.99 | OCT162168 | RAN |
| 8 | 9 MARVEL SUPER HERO TALES LITTLE GOLDEN BOOK HC | $12.99 | OCT162174 | RAN |
| 9 | I AM JIM HENSON HC | $14.99 | NOV162128 | PUT |
| 10 | SECRET HERO SOCIETY VOLUME 2: FORT SOLITUDE HC | $12.99 | OCT162175 | SCH |
TOP 10 TOYS
| RANK | DESCRIPTION | ITEM CODE | VENDOR |
| 1 | MARVEL SELECT: DOCTOR STRANGE MOVIE ACTION FIGURE | JUN162396 | DST |
| 2 | MARVEL UNIVERSE: THANOS FINE ART STATUE | JUN162696 | KOT |
| 3 | AMAZING SPIDER-MAN SPIDER-MAN ARTFX+ STATUE | JUL162983 | KOT |
| 4 | MARVEL: DEADPOOL 1/4-SCALE ACTION FIGURE | MAY168389 | NEC |
| 5 | MARVEL GALLERY: SPIDER-MAN PVC FIGURE | SEP162538 | DST |
| 6 | BATMAN V SUPERMAN: WONDER WOMAN MAF EX FIGURE | NOV158387 | MED |
| 7 | MARVEL SELECT: CABLE ACTION FIGURE | OCT142189 | DST |
| 8 | POP! DC HEROES: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS: SUPERMAN FIGURE | JUL162707 | FUN |
| 9 | DC COMICS: WONDER GIRL BISHOUJO STATUE | JUL162984 | KOT |
| 10 | GHOSTBUSTERS SELECT ACTION FIGURES SERIES 4 | SEP162532 | DST |
TOP 10 GAMES
| RANK | DESCRIPTION | ITEM CODE | VENDOR |
| 1 | 4D CITYSCAPE: BATMAN: GOTHAM CITY PUZZLE | JUN168000 | 4D |
| 2 | 4D CITYSCAPE: LORD OF THE RINGS: MIDDLE-EARTH PUZZLE | JUN168003 | 4D |
| 3 | MAGIC THE GATHERING TCG: AETHER REVOLT BOOSTER PACKS | NOV162988 | WIZ |
| 4 | 4D CITYSCAPE: GAME OF THRONES: ESSOS PUZZLE | JUN168001 | 4D |
| 5 | 4D CITYSCAPE: THE HOBBIT: MIDDLE-EARTH PUZZLE | JUN168002 | 4D |
| 6 | TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: SHADOWS OF THE PAST BOARD GAME | APR160482 | IDW |
| 7 | TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES HEROCLIX: SHREDDER’S RETURN | SEP168871 | NEC |
| 8 | RICK AND MORTY: TOTAL RICKALL CARD GAME | AUG168447 | CRY |
| 9 | MACHI KORO: BRIGHT LIGHTS BIG CITY CARD GAME | SEP160613 | IDW |
| 10 | MEGA MAN BOARD GAME | NOV162976 | JAS |
I can only speak for myself, but I do not believe that we sold-through more than a tiny handful (like under 10 copies total) of the entire 10% extra overship.
-B
I would classify as the surer “more potential sales” months the ones we’ve seen with millions of dollars of hardcovers blown out. They may not wind up going for cover price, but they’ve got shelf life on the periodicals.
Ditto here on the Marvel overships. We sold a tiny fraction of them, and they didn’t really contribute to the bottom line of sales.
Marvel did also run the typical holiday blow out sale of trades, and DC offered an extra 5% off on initial orders of their Reborth collections that started shipping in January, giving retailers incentive to order a few more than they might of otherwise.
I was really looking forward to the release of the DC Rebirth trades in January expecting them to sell really well, but so far DC Rebirth trade sales are underwhelming at best. There were scores of customers looking for them in December, but not after that.
Non-super hero trades are still on fire. Trade sales are still increasing.
Floppy sales continue their steady death spiral. I can’t reduce my Marvel orders fast enough and DC Rebirth sales are quickly approaching N52 levels. When Marvel has their rebirth in the fall, don’t expect the good times to last long. The Big 2 are simply out of tricks. Super-hero books will never be what they once were. Comic fans are growing up and demanding more sophisticated fare…..
ed – Plenty of people love superhero books and buy them.
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