action 1000

Everything was coming up Action #1000 for DC in April, as it led Diamond’s just released sales charts, however sales in general weresharply up from March, and even from last April. As previously announced, Action #1000 was announced as having over 500,000 sales, so that alone helped raise the boat quite a bit.

It wasn’t just DC that led the way: Marvel had six comics in the top ten, including three #1s – led by Dan Slott and Stuart Immonen’s Amazing Spider-Man #798 at #2, followed by Amazing Spider-Man #799, Hunt for Wolverine #1, Venomized #1,  Domino #1 and Captain America #700. .

Indeed, comics periodical sales for the year are down a slim 1.51% from 2017. Could we be coming out of the slump? Are coming going to live after all?

The special Superman 80 year collection was the top GN, followed by  Paper Girls Vol. 4. GN sales were flat from a year ago, ut still down 10% in units year to date.

And the original Infinity Gauntlet charts in both dollars and units, no surprise.

All the charts below, we’ll update when John Jackson Miller explains what happened.

UPDATE: For those who like such things, JJM has an explanatory video as well as a post. Short version: It was a good month!

 

dollar-shareunit-share

 

 

TOP COMIC BOOK PUBLISHERS

PUBLISHER

DOLLAR

SHARE

UNIT

SHARE

MARVEL COMICS

37.59%

42.21%

DC ENTERTAINMENT

32.39%

33.02%

IMAGE COMICS

9.16%

9.47%

IDW PUBLISHING

4.08%

3.67%

DARK HORSE COMICS

2.36%

1.79%

BOOM! STUDIOS

2.20%

1.72%

DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT

1.60%

1.29%

VIZ MEDIA

1.19%

0.48%

ONI PRESS

1.13%

0.61%

TITAN COMICS

0.73%

0.55%

OTHER NON-TOP 10

7.57%

5.20%

 

 COMPARATIVE SALES STATISTICS

DOLLARS

UNITS

APRIL 2018 VS. MARCH 2018

COMICS

20.64%

12.39%

GRAPHIC NOVELS

15.40%

24.13%

TOTAL COMICS/GN

19.13%

13.20%

TOYS

-19.63%

-16.16%

APRIL 2018 VS. APRIL 2017

COMICS

15.67%

4.11%

GRAPHIC NOVELS

0.72%

-1.79%

TOTAL COMICS/GN

11.08%

3.64%

TOYS

3.47%

-14.60%

YEAR-TO-DATE 2018 VS. YEAR-TO-DATE 2017

COMICS

-1.51%

-10.12%

GRAPHIC NOVELS

-9.68%

-9.53%

TOTAL COMICS/GN

-3.97%

-10.08%

TOYS

-7.30%

-12.84%

NEW TITLES SHIPPED

PUBLISHER

COMICS SHIPPED

GRAPHIC NOVELS SHIPPED

MAGAZINES SHIPPED

TOTAL

SHIPPED

MARVEL COMICS

86

37

0

123

DC ENTERTAINMENT

81

30

1

112

IMAGE COMICS

62

22

0

84

IDW PUBLISHING

47

19

0

66

BOOM! STUDIOS

23

14

0

37

DARK HORSE COMICS

16

10

0

26

TITAN COMICS

13

8

1

22

VIZ MEDIA

0

22

0

22

DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT

16

5

0

21

ONI PRESS

3

4

0

7

OTHER NON-TOP 10

131

180

19

330

TOTAL

478

351

21

850

 

TOP 10 COMIC BOOKS BY UNITS SHIPPED

RANK

DESCRIPTION

PRICE

ITEM CODE

VENDOR

1

ACTION COMICS #1000

$7.99

FEB180142-M DC

2

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #798

$3.99

FEB180830-M MAR

3

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #799

$3.99

FEB180834-M MAR

4

HUNT FOR WOLVERINE #1

$5.99

FEB180745-M MAR

5

BATMAN #44

$2.99

FEB180164-M DC

6

VENOMIZED #1

$4.99

FEB180796-M MAR

7

BATMAN #45

$2.99

FEB180166-M DC

8

DOMINO #1

$3.99

FEB180770-M MAR

9

CAPTAIN AMERICA #700

$5.99

FEB180754-M MAR

10

THE WALKING DEAD #178 (MR)

$3.99

FEB180713-M IMA

TOP 10 COMIC BOOKS BY DOLLARS INVOICED

RANK

DESCRIPTION

PRICE

ITEM CODE

VENDOR

1

ACTION COMICS #1000

$7.99

FEB180142-M DC

2

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #798

$3.99

FEB180830-M MAR

3

HUNT FOR WOLVERINE #1

$5.99

FEB180745-M MAR

4

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #799

$3.99

FEB180834-M MAR

5

VENOMIZED #1

$4.99

FEB180796-M MAR

6

CAPTAIN AMERICA #700

$5.99

FEB180754-M MAR

7

DOMINO #1

$3.99

FEB180770-M MAR

8

BATMAN #44

$2.99

FEB180164-M DC

9

INFINITY COUNTDOWN #2

$4.99

FEB180740-M MAR

10

THE WALKING DEAD #178 (MR)

$3.99

FEB180713-M IMA

TOP 10 GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS BY UNITS SHIPPED

RANK

DESCRIPTION

PRICE

ITEM CODE

VENDOR

1

ACTION COMICS: 80 YEARS OF SUPERMAN HC

$29.99

DEC170241 DC

2

PAPER GIRLS VOLUME 4 TP

$14.99

FEB180663 IMA

3

THANOS: THE INFINITY SIBLINGS OGN HC

$24.99

DEC170936 MAR

4

SAGA VOLUME 1 TP (MR)

$9.99

AUG120491 IMA

5

BATMAN VOL. 5: RULES OF ENGAGEMENT TP

$16.99

JAN180382 DC

6

THE INFINITY GAUNTLET TP

$24.99

JUL110745 MAR

7

STAR WARS: DARTH VADER VOL. 2: LEGACY’S END TP

$17.99

JAN181040 MAR

8

SAGA VOLUME 8 TP (MR)

$14.99

OCT170715 IMA

9

PHOENIX RESURRECTION: THE RETURN OF JEAN GREY TP

$17.99

JAN181041-M MAR

10

PAPER GIRLS VOLUME 1 TP

$9.99

JAN160645 IMA

TOP 10 GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS BY DOLLARS INVOICED

RANK

DESCRIPTION

PRICE

ITEM CODE

VENDOR

1

ACTION COMICS: 80 YEARS OF SUPERMAN HC

$29.99

DEC170241 DC

2

PAPER GIRLS VOLUME 4 TP

$14.99

FEB180663 IMA

3

THANOS: THE INFINITY SIBLINGS OGN HC

$24.99

DEC170936 MAR

4

THE INFINITY GAUNTLET TP

$24.99

JUL110745 MAR

5

X-MEN: GRAND DESIGN TP

$29.99

DEC170935 MAR

6

BATMAN VOL. 5: RULES OF ENGAGEMENT TP

$16.99

JAN180382 DC

7

HARLEY QUINN & THE GOTHAM CITY SIRENS OMNIBUS HC

$75.00

OCT170369 DC

8

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: AVENGERS VOLUME 18 HC

$75.00

OCT170990-M MAR

9

STAR WARS: DARTH VADER VOL. 2: LEGACY’S END TP

$17.99

JAN181040 MAR

10

SUPERMAN: EXILE AND OTHER STORIES OMNIBUS HC

$125.00

OCT170379 DC

TOP 10 BOOKS BY UNITS SHIPPED

RANK

DESCRIPTION

PRICE

ITEM CODE

VENDOR

1

MOEBIUS LIBRARY: ART OF EDENA HC

$34.99

MAY170010 DAR

2

BE PREPARED GN

$12.99

FEB181570 STM

3

THE SHADOW DOUBLE NOVEL VOLUME 128 SC

$14.95

JAN182170 SAN

4

STAR TREK: LIGHT & SOUND TRICORDER KIT

$12.95

FEB182114 HAC

5

STAR TREK: LIGHT & SOUND BORG CUBE KIT

$12.95

FEB182113 HAC

6

POWER RANGERS ARTIST TRIBUTE HC

$24.99

NOV171318 BOO

7

HARRY POTTER: TALKING DOBBY WITH BOOK KIT

$12.95

FEB182109 HAC

8

THE ART OF GOD OF WAR HC

$39.99

OCT178150 DAR

9

LITTLE BOOK OF BATMAN FLEXICOVER

$10.00

FEB182054 TAS

10

POKEMON SEEK & FIND: LEGENDARY POKEMON HC

$9.99

FEB181955 VIZ

TOP 10 TOYS BY DOLLARS INVOICED

RANK

DESCRIPTION

ITEM CODE

VENDOR

1

PACIFIC RIM UPRISING SELECT ACTION FIGURES SERIES 1 AUG178888 DST

2

DC: SUPERGIRL RETURNS BISHOUJO STATUE JUL178830 KOT

3

DEADPOOL LEGENDS 6-INCH ACTION FIGURES JUL178751 HAS

4

MARVEL SELECT: THOR RAGNAROK: GLADIATOR THOR FIGURE JUL172802 DST

5

AVENGERS LEGENDS 6-INCH ACTION FIGURES JUL178781 HAS

6

DRAGONBALL Z SCULTURES: SON GOKU SPECIAL COLOR FIGURE JAN178942 BAN

7

ONE PIECE SCULTURES: BIG ZOUKEIO SHINING ZORO FIGURE JAN178948 BAN

8

DC COMICS BOMBSHELLS: GREEN LANTERN JESSICA CRUZ STATUE OCT170394 DC

9

KINGDOM HEARTS 3: SORA 2ND FORM BRING ARTS FIGURE SEP178239 SQU

10

HARLEY QUINN: RED WHITE & BLACK STATUE BY BABS TARR OCT170395 DC

TOP 10 GAMES BY DOLLARS INVOICED

RANK

DESCRIPTION

ITEM CODE

VENDOR

1

DARK SOULS CARD GAME NOV178550 STE

2

STRANGER THINGS MONOPOLY NOV178199 HAS

3

DARK SOULS BOARD GAME OCT178117 STE

4

DRAGON BALL Z: PERFECT CELL GAME FEB180490 IDW

5

RICK AND MORTY MUNCHKIN JAN182866 USA

6

STRANGER THINGS: OUIJA GAME NOV178196 HAS

7

THE X-FILES: CONSPIRACY THEORY GAME FEB180491 IDW

8

VAMPIRELLA TAROT CARDS SET AUG171626 DE

9

STARFINDER RPG: PACT WORLDS HC JAN182863 PAI

10

STRANGER THINGS: SCREEN TEST GAME NOV178198 HAS

 

How does Diamond calculate the charts? It all starts at the comic book shop.

Data for Diamond’s sales charts — which includes the monthly market shares and all top product charts — are compiled by Diamond Comic Distributors from sales made to thousands of comic book specialty shops located in North America and around the world.  Additional sales made to online merchants and other specialty retailers may be included as well.

Unit and dollar market shares are calculated based upon orders for comic books, graphic novels, and magazines invoiced and shipped to Diamond customers during any given month, which comprises pre-orders, advance reorders, and reorders, minus any copies that are received back from a title marked as returnable. Please note that comics marked with an asterisk (*) have had their reported quantities reduced due to retailer returnability, and thus may rank lower on the charts than their actual sales would reflect.

The New Titles Count Chart includes all titles that were invoiced by Diamond to retailers for the first time during the month and is not the official solicited title count for the month. Variant edition comic books and graphic novels at the same price point count as a single SKU. Variant edition comic books, lenticular covers, digital combo packs, and graphic novels at different price points count as separate SKUs for each edition

10 COMMENTS

  1. How does Venomized 1 end up in the 90,000+ unit range? It’s like the third mini series telling the ongoing Venomverse crossover storyline, and the sentiment generally seems to have been lukewarm on that storyline so far.

  2. So what does this mean?
    “Are coming going to live after all?”
    And what is ut?
    “GN sales were flat from a year ago, ut still down 10% in units year to date.”

    This needs an editor…

  3. Things still look pretty bleak. There’s only going to be one Action #1000. Detective will have an #1000 book too, but after that . . .

    The numbering stunt on Cap will have no effect next month. Nobody will care about Domino. Hunt for Wolverine got awful reviews.

  4. I know DC is really banking on Benids, but there’s two problems with that:

    1. Bendis hasn’t sold big in a while.

    2. Bendis hasn’t written anything good in a while.

  5. My article suggests that dismissing comics as outliers isn’t the soundest practice in terms of judging industry health. There was $46 million (or rather, whatever the equivalent was in wholesale prices) to be spent in the industry on products, whatever they happened to be — and while there won’t be another Action #1000, that book’s contribution to retail coffers would presumably be reflected in some manner in purchases two and three months down the road. Not all hit issues spark a “virtuous cycle,” but they’re more likely to happen than in than in markets where there are no hit comics.

  6. “1. Bendis hasn’t sold big in a while.

    2. Bendis hasn’t written anything good in a while.”

    Skip, you may be right that this move won’t work out, who’s to say really at this early a juncture?…but to these two above points…I could be mis-remembering, but his X-Men was the last time I can recall that franchise gracing the top 10 (do feel free to correct me if I’m off there, I’m too hazy on the specifics and too lazy to look them up). I’m not sure anyone can make Iron Man comics a big seller.

    As to the quality…well…that’s subjective, but what I read of his Doom as Iron Man comic was fun. And I can’t recall many complaints about his long run with Miles Morales Spider-Man.

  7. “I can’t recall many complaints”

    Maybe try paying attention? Making excuses for his weak numbers – oh nobody can sell Iron Man, oh X-Men numbers have sank since (how about because of) Bendis – only strengthens my points.

Comments are closed.