People like this new X-men thing! At least that’s the takeaway from the October sales chart that Diamond just released. X-Men #1 was the top selling periodical, followed by Spawn #301, and the finales of House of X and Powers of X pulling in at #3 and 4. Marvel had 8 out of the top 10, with DC’s The Joker: Year of the Villai #1 coming in at #5. (All of this is units, not dollars.)
With the collected first half of Doomsday Clock leading the graphic novel chart in units, it was a boffo October, with total sales up 19.82% in dollars and 16.45% in units from September.
Perhaps more interestingly for those (still) bemoaning the industry’s demise, combined comics and GN sales were up 14.09% in dollars and 8.68% in units from October 2018 – a brisk increase.
Other best selling graphic novels include the final collections of Wicked and The Divine and The Walking Dead, fan faves My Hero Academia and Critical Role, Spider-Man and Thanos, the latest DC YA GN, as always…and two books by Jeff Lemire – Ascender and Gideon Falls. Looks like he’s got quite a following.
Among publishers, Marvel led as usual followed by DC and Image, as usual. Perhaps of note: Oni has been regularly appearing in the top ten since merging with Lion Forge (both are now owned by the same parent company as this site), indicating that the combined output has moved them up the chart.
John Jackson Miller was almost as excited as Diamond by this month’s charts, calling it a blockbuster month and the fourth best in the decade in dollars, and the biggest month since Rebirth. Quoted with permission:
Where both this October and last October each had five New Comic Book Days, last month almost looks like a six-Wednesday month, as retailers ordered $56.35 million in comic books, graphic novels, and magazines from Diamond Comic Distributors. That’s an increase of 14.09%, or nearly $7 million. Comic shop orders of comics, graphic novels, and magazines from Diamond stand at $446.25 million for the year through October, up nearly $8 million, or 2%. Our full estimates for the month will appear here on Monday.
October 2019 was the fourth best month of the decade in dollar orders, and the best month since August 2016, itself an outstanding month when retailers ordered more than 10 million comic books during the “Rebirth” event. Last month was also the first month to top $50 million in orders in exactly three years, since October 2016. Retailers ordered 8.82 million comics, an increase of 10% and likewise the most comics ordered in a single month in three years. Yet publishers actually released 1% fewer comics this October, five fewer. It was what the comic books were that mattered more.
Miller also notes that despite the controversial announced cut in titles, DC was back up to the number of books released in 2018, with 90 titles, minus printing variants.
In the report from ComicsPRO linked to above, I noted that the industry was lacking “exciting, magical books that people can’t wait to read.” It’s pretty clear that Hickman’s X-line fills that category as closely as anything in recent years. If there’s one good thing that Disney buying Fox did, it’s allowing Marvel to promote the heck out of the X-men again, and it’s clearly a boon to the industry.
You can read all the Beat’s past sales chart reporting here.
TOP COMIC BOOK PUBLISHERS
|
PUBLISHER |
DOLLAR SHARE |
UNIT SHARE |
| MARVEL COMICS |
39.51% |
45.20% |
| DC |
31.67% |
32.02% |
| IMAGE COMICS |
7.59% |
7.18% |
| IDW PUBLISHING |
3.42% |
3.16% |
| DARK HORSE COMICS |
2.93% |
2.11% |
| BOOM! STUDIOS |
2.32% |
2.21% |
| DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT |
2.21% |
1.67% |
| VIZ MEDIA |
1.33% |
0.51% |
| ONI PRESS |
0.56% |
0.33% |
| TITAN COMICS |
0.48% |
0.42% |
| OTHER NON-TOP 10 |
7.98% |
5.19% |
COMPARATIVE SALES STATISTICS
|
|
DOLLARS |
UNITS |
|
OCTOBER 2019 VS. SEPTEMBER 2019 |
||
| COMICS |
22.22% |
16.49% |
| GRAPHIC NOVELS |
12.88% |
15.87% |
| TOTAL COMICS/GN |
19.82% |
16.45% |
| TOYS |
24.94% |
51.89% |
|
OCTOBER 2019 VS. OCTOBER 2018 |
||
| COMICS |
21.05% |
9.95% |
| GRAPHIC NOVELS |
-3.32% |
-7.10% |
| TOTAL COMICS/GN |
14.09% |
8.68% |
| TOYS |
15.44% |
1.80% |
|
YEAR TO DATE 2019 VS. YEAR TO DATE 2018 |
||
| COMICS |
4.19% |
-1.81% |
| GRAPHIC NOVELS |
-4.16% |
-9.71% |
| TOTAL COMICS/GN |
1.81% |
-2.40% |
| TOYS |
21.81% |
22.21% |
NEW TITLES SHIPPED
|
PUBLISHER |
COMICS SHIPPED |
GRAPHIC NOVELS SHIPPED |
MAGAZINES SHIPPED |
TOTAL SHIPPED |
| MARVEL COMICS |
110 |
50 |
0 |
160 |
| DC COMICS |
107 |
30 |
1 |
138 |
| IMAGE COMICS |
50 |
12 |
0 |
62 |
| IDW PUBLISHING |
39 |
16 |
0 |
55 |
| DARK HORSE COMICS |
26 |
21 |
0 |
47 |
| BOOM! STUDIOS |
18 |
15 |
0 |
33 |
| DYNAMITE |
15 |
9 |
0 |
24 |
| VIZ MEDIA LLC |
0 |
22 |
0 |
22 |
| ONI PRESS INC. |
3 |
9 |
0 |
12 |
| TITAN COMICS |
6 |
4 |
2 |
12 |
| OTHER NON-TOP 10 |
147 |
229 |
30 |
406 |
| TOTAL |
521 |
417 |
33 |
971 |
TOP 10 COMIC BOOKS BY UNITS SHIPPED
|
RANK |
DESCRIPTION |
PRICE |
ITEM CODE |
VENDOR |
|
1 |
X-MEN #1 |
$4.99 |
AUG190845-M | MAR |
|
2 |
SPAWN #301 |
$4.99 |
JUL190084-M | IMA |
|
3 |
POWERS OF X #6 |
$5.99 |
AUG190879-M | MAR |
|
4 |
HOUSE OF X #6 |
$4.99 |
AUG190870-M | MAR |
|
5 |
THE JOKER: YEAR OF THE VILLAIN #1 |
$4.99 |
AUG190440 | DC |
|
6 |
AMAZING MARY JANE #1 |
$3.99 |
AUG190933-M | MAR |
|
7 |
ABSOLUTE CARNAGE #4 |
$4.99 |
AUG190902-M | MAR |
|
8 |
GHOST RIDER #1 |
$4.99 |
AUG190978-M | MAR |
|
9 |
IMMORTAL HULK #25 |
$5.99 |
AUG191030-M | MAR |
|
10 |
MARAUDERS #1 |
$4.99 |
AUG190863-M | MAR |
TOP 10 COMIC BOOKS BY DOLLARS INVOICED
|
RANK |
DESCRIPTION |
PRICE |
ITEM CODE |
VENDOR |
|
1 |
X-MEN #1 |
$4.99 |
AUG190845-M | MAR |
|
2 |
SPAWN #301 |
$4.99 |
JUL190084-M | IMA |
|
3 |
POWERS OF X #6 |
$5.99 |
AUG190879-M | MAR |
|
4 |
THE JOKER: YEAR OF THE VILLAIN #1 |
$4.99 |
AUG190440 | DC |
|
5 |
HOUSE OF X #6 |
$4.99 |
AUG190870-M | MAR |
|
6 |
THE JOKER/HARLEY: CRIMINAL SANITY #1 [*] |
$5.99 |
AUG190443-M | DC |
|
7 |
HARLEEN #2 (MR) |
$7.99 |
AUG190524-M | DC |
|
8 |
IMMORTAL HULK #25 |
$5.99 |
AUG191030-M | MAR |
|
9 |
ABSOLUTE CARNAGE #4 |
$4.99 |
AUG190902-M | MAR |
|
10 |
AMAZING MARY JANE #1 |
$3.99 |
AUG190933-M | MAR |
TOP 10 GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS BY UNITS SHIPPED
|
RANK |
DESCRIPTION |
PRICE |
ITEM CODE |
VENDOR |
|
1 |
DOOMSDAY CLOCK PART 1 HC |
$24.99 |
JUL190638 | DC |
|
2 |
THE WICKED & THE DIVINE VOL. 9 TP |
$17.99 |
JUN190046 | IMA |
|
3 |
SPIDER-MAN: LIFE STORY TP |
$24.99 |
JUL191106 | MAR |
|
4 |
THANOS: THE INFINITY ENDING HC |
$24.99 |
JUN191038 | MAR |
|
5 |
ASCENDER VOLUME 1 TP (MR) |
$9.99 |
AUG190065 | IMA |
|
6 |
DC SUPER HERO GIRLS AT METROPOLIS HIGH TP |
$9.99 |
JUL190526 | DC |
|
7 |
THE WALKING DEAD COMPENDIUM VOL. 4 TP |
$59.99 |
JUL190111 | IMA |
|
8 |
CRITICAL ROLE VOL. 1: VOX MACHINA ORIGINS TP |
$19.99 |
JUN190303 | DAR |
|
9 |
MY HERO ACADEMIA VOLUME 1 GN |
$9.99 |
AUG192431 | VIZ |
|
10 |
GIDEON FALLS VOL. 3: STATIONS OF THE CROSS TP |
$16.99 |
AUG190124 | IMA |
TOP 10 GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS BY DOLLARS INVOICED
|
RANK |
DESCRIPTION |
PRICE |
ITEM CODE |
VENDOR |
|
1 |
THE WALKING DEAD COMPENDIUM VOL. 4 TP |
$59.99 |
JUL190111 | IMA |
|
2 |
DOOMSDAY CLOCK PART 1 HC |
$24.99 |
JUL190638 | DC |
|
3 |
JOHN BYRN’ES MARVEL CLASSICS ARTIFACT EDITION HC |
$75.00 |
JUL190826 | IDW |
|
4 |
NAMOR SUB-MARINER BY BYRNE AND JAE LEE OMNIBUS HC |
$125.00 |
APR190937-M | MAR |
|
5 |
SPIDER-MAN: LIFE STORY TP |
$24.99 |
JUL191106 | MAR |
|
6 |
THANOS: THE INFINITY ENDING HC |
$24.99 |
JUN191038 | MAR |
|
7 |
BATMAN BY SNYDER & CAPULLO OMNIBUS VOL. 1 HC |
$125.00 |
APR190526 | DC |
|
8 |
THE IMMORTAL HULK VOL. 1 HC |
$34.99 |
APR190949 | MAR |
|
9 |
THE BOYS OMNIBUS VOLUME 1 TP (MR) |
$29.99 |
DEC181256-M | DE |
|
10 |
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: GHOST RIDER VOLUME 1 HC |
$75.00 |
APR190942-M | MAR |
TOP 10 BOOKS BY UNITS SHIPPED
|
RANK |
DESCRIPTION |
PRICE |
ITEM CODE |
VENDOR |
|
1 |
SHIGENORI SOEJIMA & P-STUDIO ART UNIT ART WORKS 2 TP |
$39.99 |
AUG192423 | UDO |
|
2 |
SHIGENORI SOEJIMA ART WORKS TP |
$39.99 |
AUG192422 | UDO |
|
3 |
DARKSTALKERS OFFICIAL COMPLETE WORKS HC |
$44.99 |
AUG192425 | UDO |
|
4 |
DRAGON’S CROWN OFFICIAL ARTWORKS HC |
$49.99 |
JUL192399 | UDO |
|
5 |
OVERLORD VOLUME 11 HC |
$20.00 |
JUL192435 | YEN |
|
6 |
NO GAME NO LIFE VOLUME 9 SC |
$14.00 |
MAY192173 | YEN |
|
7 |
DOCTOR WHO: TALES OF TERROR SC |
$11.99 |
APR198763 | BBC |
|
8 |
FRANK CHO: BALLPOINT BEAUTIES HC (MR) |
$29.95 |
MAY191709 | FLE |
|
9 |
BLOODBORNE OFFICIAL ARTWORKS SC |
$44.99 |
MAR172148 | UDO |
|
10 |
HARRY POTTER POP UP BOOK: GUIDE TO HOGWARTS |
$75.00 |
AUG182035 | INS |
TOP 10 TOYS BY DOLLARS INVOICED
|
RANK |
DESCRIPTION |
ITEM CODE |
VENDOR |
|
1 |
POP! MARVEL: SPIDER-MAN INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE: CASUAL MILES MORALES VINYL FIGURE | JAN199071 | FUN |
|
2 |
POP! DC HEROES: THE RED DEATH VINYL FIGURE | JUN192566 | FUN |
|
3 |
OVERWATCH: D.VA FIGMA | JUL188939 | GOO |
|
4 |
POP! DC HEROES: BATWOMAN VINYL FIGURE | JAN199072 | FUN |
|
5 |
MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: FAKER 1/6-SCALE COLLECTIBLE FIGURE | NOV188738 | MON |
|
6 |
MARVEL SELECT: UNLEASHED HULK ACTION FIGURE | AUG118205 | DST |
|
7 |
ONE-12 COLLECTIVE: MARVEL: CYCLOPS ACTION FIGURE | JUL188503 | MEZ |
|
8 |
MARVEL MILESTONES: THOR RAGNAROK: GLADIATOR HULK STATUE | MAY182309 | DST |
|
9 |
MARVEL: DOMINO BISHOUJO STATUE | JAN199191 | KOT |
|
10 |
MARVEL SELECT: CARNAGE ACTION FIGURE | NOV142179 | DST |
TOP 10 GAMES BY DOLLARS INVOICED
|
RANK |
DESCRIPTION |
ITEM CODE |
VENDOR |
|
1 |
PATHFINDER: LOST OMENS CHARACTER GUIDE HC (P2) | AUG193363 | PAI |
|
2 |
MY HERO ACADEMIA CARD GAME | JUL183082 | S7 |
|
3 |
CRITICAL ROLE: TAL’DOREI CAMPAIGN SETTING HC | JUN173357 | GRE |
|
4 |
MUTANTS & MASTERMINDS RPG GAME: MASTERS GUIDE REVISED EDITION HC | MAR198040 | GRE |
|
5 |
PATHFINDER CORE RULEBOOK HC (P2) | MAY193227 | PAI |
|
6 |
TOME OF BEASTS HC | JUN168476 | PAI |
|
7 |
POP! FUNKOVERSE STRATEGY GAME: DC COMICS 100 BASE SET | JUN198702 | FUN |
|
8 |
POP! FUNKOVERSE STRATEGY GAME: HARRY POTTER 100 BASE SET | JUN198705 | FUN |
|
9 |
PATHFINDER RPG: BESTIARY 6 POCKET EDITION | JUL193268 | PAI |
|
10 |
PATHFINDER RPG: VILLAIN CODEX POCKET EDITION | JUL193269 | PAI |
