April sales were definitely a pick-me-up for the comics industry. Even the sedate industry news site ICv2 used the blurb “Comics and Graphic Novel Sales Surge”
April was the first up month since May of last year (see “Good News for Comics Market, But…“), which in turn was the only up month in all of 2016. Things started to look better in March, which had sales fairly typical for flat comps in a five to four week comparison (see “Q1 Comic Sales Down Around 9%“). These trends reflect our reporting on comic retailer sentiment earlier this year (see “Cautious Optimism in Comic Stores“).
Year-to-date sales improved substantially as a result of the strong April. Comics and graphic novel sales through the first four months of 2018 were down 3.97%, with comics down 1.51% and graphic novels down 9.68%
Ther rest of ICV2’s sales analysis and numbers for April can be found here
BIG NUMBERS FOR THE ‘ACTION’ TITLES
TOP 300 COMICS–APRIL 2018
TOP 300 GRAPHIC NOVELS–APRIL 2018
Action #1000 shipped nearly 450,000 copies to North America in the month; first-week May reorders and British copies would easily bring it to DC’s reported 500,000 level. Amazing Spider-Man #798 vaulted to 233,000 copies. There were six comics above 100,000, most we’ve seen in a while.
Lastly, we find that the number of comics sold in the Top 300 in April this year exists within a very narrow range with that sold in past Aprils from 1, 5, 10, 15, and 20 years ago:TOTAL SALES OF COMIC BOOKS IN
DIAMOND’S TOP 300
April 1998: 7.0 million copies
April 2003: 6.0 million copies
April 2008: 6.7 million copies
April 2013: 6.8 million copies
April 2017: 6.5 million copies
April 2018: 6.8 million copies
A sign of enduring stability in the category, and a counterpoint to narratives that call into question the viability of the periodical.
I’m fully on board with embracing all channels — I think even back in that “Death to the Death of the Floppy” column back in CBG in ’04 my take was give people the formats they want.
I think the contributions of the periodical (helping to get the work produced, advertising the trade paperback, and providing material for an aftermarket that does low nine figures annually) are necessary and underrated, and that the numbers behind them are not as widely understood as they could be. But the format’s not the only piece in the puzzle, for sure.
Good to hear, all of this. May this Summer be a good one, with some interesting books coming out
And May is only going to be crazier. Lots of specials, milestones, events, and new launches this month and next. (My poor wallet)
If comic sales were consistent for april imagine the numbers if the top 4 books were not so variant laden. its not a surge based on more people coming into comics but the same people buying more copies in hopes to flip them on ebay or paying for college in a number of years. No one in my social circles gives a damn about the actual stories.
“its not a surge based on more people coming into comics but the same people buying more copies in hopes to flip them on ebay or paying for college in a number of years. No one in my social circles gives a damn about the actual stories.”
It’s 1991 all over again. When the speculator bubble bursts, expect the direct market to crash even worse.
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