Not only did Todd McFarlane’s Spawn enter the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running creator-owned comic book series, but issue #300 ruled the charts, according to information released by Diamond for September sales to comics specialty shops. The Hellspawn ruled in both units and dollars, and at $7.99 a pop that was a hefty win.
That math helped Image hit 11.01% of the dollars chart for publishers, while Marvel and DC had their usual 1-2 rankings.
Elsewhere, the Abrams family Spider-Man #1, various HoX/PoX titles and Harleen #1 charted in periodicals. In graphic novels, Batman: Damned led in both units and dollars.
Since we’ve been talking so much about the shift in GN/periodical sales of late, looking at the top 10 graphic novels in units is of interest. (The dollar chart is dominated by $100+ omnibus collections, so doesn’t give us much info.) Grouping these into rough categories we see:
EVERYONE LOVE BATMAN
BATMAN: DAMNED HC (MR)
BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE HC
BATMAN VOL, 10: KNIGHTMARES TP
BATMAN: NIGHTWALKER: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL
MEDIA TIE-INS (I’ll count Joker as a media tie-in – fight me.)
UMBRELLA ACADEMY VOL. 3: HOTEL OBLIVION TP
THE JOKER: HIS GREATEST JOKES TP
IMAGE CLASSICS
PAPER GIRLS VOLUME 6 TP
MONSTRESS VOLUME 4 TP (MR)
IMMORTAL HULK VOL. 4: ABOMINATION TP
“BLACK LABEL”
HEROES IN CRISIS HC
HiC isn’t actually a Black Label title, but it certainly comes under the heading of “serious, grown-up standalone tales” that fits the goal of the Black Label line.
As mentioned many times before, when you see how many copies The Killing Joke sells month after month after month, 30 years after it came out, you see why growing perennial backlist is such a key goal.
Batman: Nightwalker is yet another solid seller from DC’s YA team – call it Zoom, call it Ink, call it sneezel – these done in one GNs are hitting the mark for retailers and readers.
As pointed out by John Jackson Miller in his analysis, Raina Telgemeier’s Guts, which sold more than 75,000 copies in a week, is nowhere to be found on Diamond’s charts, although, anecdotally, I know many comics shops sold it. I’ll be curious to see where it ranks (if it does) in the top 300 charts, but obviously, comics shops are ordering this and other popular kids’ comics, from distributors other than Diamond. Which is fine, really: diversification is usually a sign of growth. You do see some of Diamond’s dilemma though: relying on a fairly flat category as its main product.
In monthly, yearly and quarterly comparisons, sales were generally up – September beat August in units by a wide margin, although it was mostly from periodicals. In year to date, totals comics/gns remain behind 0.25% in dollars and -3.79% in units.
According to Miller (quoted with permission):
Comics as a category saw improvements both over August and year-over-year. Retailers ordered 7.57 million copies, up 5%; the dollar value of those books was up 11%. Those gains come despite a smaller new release slate: publishers released 443 new comic books in September, a drop of 7%. Image’s number of new comics releases was down significantly, from 66 to 42; its 13% year-to-year sales improvement in September looks more impressive in light of that. Marvel released the exact number of comics it did in the previous September; its dollar sales were up 1%. Marvel is up 7% year-to-date.
So there you have it – September was kind of a month, nothing too shocking either way. Except maybe audacious stealing a march from his old collaborator Dave Sim (whose Cerebus lasted 300 issues – all written and drawn by him) on the 300 issue record!
Oh yeah, and Diamond increased the parallax on their pie charts. I guess they really are upgrading their software!
TOP COMIC BOOK PUBLISHERS
|
PUBLISHER |
DOLLAR SHARE |
UNIT SHARE |
| MARVEL COMICS | 38.81% | 45.51% |
| DC | 27.80% | 29.15% |
| IMAGE COMICS | 11.01% | 8.32% |
| DARK HORSE COMICS | 3.26% | 2.27% |
| IDW PUBLISHING | 3.08% | 2.92% |
| DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT | 2.70% | 2.02% |
| BOOM! STUDIOS | 2.48% | 2.53% |
| VIZ MEDIA | 1.57% | 0.62% |
| ONI PRESS | 0.76% | 0.63% |
| ARCHIE COMICS | 0.65% | 0.63% |
| OTHER NON-TOP 10 | 7.87% | 5.42% |
COMPARATIVE SALES STATISTICS
|
|
DOLLARS |
UNITS |
|
SEPTEMBER 2019 VS. AUGUST 2019 |
||
| COMICS | 5.20% | 9.97% |
| GRAPHIC NOVELS | 2.90% | -1.98% |
| TOTAL COMICS/GN | 4.60% | 9.12% |
| TOYS | -14.00% | -33.26% |
|
SEPTEMBER 2019 VS. SEPTEMBER 2018 |
||
| COMICS | 10.87% | 5.25% |
| GRAPHIC NOVELS | -11.54% | -20.44% |
| TOTAL COMICS/GN | 4.09% | 3.13% |
| TOYS | 9.99% | -17.90% |
|
YEAR TO DATE 2019 VS. YEAR TO DATE 2018 |
||
| COMICS | 2.05% | -3.29% |
| GRAPHIC NOVELS | -4.26% | -10.04% |
| TOTAL COMICS/GN | 0.25% | -3.79% |
| TOYS | 22.69% | 25.47% |
|
QUARTER 3 2019 VS. QUARTER 2 2019 |
||
| COMICS | 13.25% | 8.20% |
| GRAPHIC NOVELS | 1.68% | 3.50% |
| TOTAL COMICS/GN | 10.01% | 7.88% |
| TOYS | 29.24% | 26.14% |
|
QUARTER 3 2019 VS. QUARTER 3 2018 |
||
| COMICS | 5.41% | 0.01% |
| GRAPHIC NOVELS | -7.95% | -15.17% |
| TOTAL COMICS/GN | 1.59% | -1.16% |
| TOYS | 19.23% | 22.45% |
NEW TITLES SHIPPED
|
PUBLISHER |
COMICS SHIPPED |
GRAPHIC NOVELS SHIPPED |
MAGAZINES SHIPPED |
TOTAL SHIPPED |
| MARVEL COMICS | 99 | 43 | 0 | 142 |
| DC | 83 | 26 | 0 | 109 |
| IMAGE COMICS | 42 | 19 | 0 | 61 |
| DARK HORSE COMICS | 19 | 21 | 0 | 40 |
| IDW PUBLISHING | 25 | 15 | 0 | 40 |
| VIZ MEDIA | 0 | 33 | 0 | 33 |
| BOOM! STUDIOS | 18 | 14 | 0 | 32 |
| DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT | 15 | 5 | 0 | 20 |
| ARCHIE COMICS | 11 | 3 | 0 | 14 |
| ONI PRESS | 4 | 4 | 0 | 8 |
| OTHER NON-TOP 10 | 127 | 186 | 19 | 332 |
| TOTAL | 443 | 369 | 19 | 831 |
TOP 10 COMIC BOOKS BY UNITS SHIPPED
|
RANK |
DESCRIPTION |
PRICE |
ITEM CODE |
VENDOR |
|
1 |
SPAWN #300 |
$7.99 |
JUN190014-M | IMA |
|
2 |
SPIDER-MAN #1 |
$4.99 |
JUL190833-M | MAR |
|
3 |
HOUSE OF X #5 |
$4.99 |
JUL190857-M | MAR |
|
4 |
POWERS OF X #5 |
$4.99 |
JUL190873-M | MAR |
|
5 |
POWERS OF X #4 |
$4.99 |
JUL190865-M | MAR |
|
6 |
HOUSE OF X #4 |
$4.99 |
JUL190849-M | MAR |
|
7 |
DOOMSDAY CLOCK #11 |
$4.99 |
MAR190507-M | DC |
|
8 |
ABSOLUTE CARNAGE #3 |
$4.99 |
JUL190885-M | MAR |
|
9 |
DCEASED: A GOOD DAY TO DIE #1 |
$4.99 |
JUL190514-M | DC |
|
10 |
HARLEEN #1 (MR) |
$7.99 |
JUL190510-M | DC |
TOP 10 COMIC BOOKS BY DOLLARS INVOICED
|
RANK |
DESCRIPTION |
PRICE |
ITEM CODE |
VENDOR |
|
1 |
SPAWN #300 |
$7.99 |
JUN190014-M | IMA |
|
2 |
SPIDER-MAN #1 |
$4.99 |
JUL190833-M | MAR |
|
3 |
HOUSE OF X #5 |
$4.99 |
JUL190857-M | MAR |
|
4 |
HARLEEN #1 (MR) |
$7.99 |
JUL190510-M | DC |
|
5 |
POWERS OF X #5 |
$4.99 |
JUL190873-M | MAR |
|
6 |
POWERS OF X #4 |
$4.99 |
JUL190865-M | MAR |
|
7 |
HOUSE OF X #4 |
$4.99 |
JUL190849-M | MAR |
|
8 |
DOOMSDAY CLOCK #11 |
$4.99 |
MAR190507-M | DC |
|
9 |
ABSOLUTE CARNAGE #3 |
$4.99 |
JUL190885-M | MAR |
|
10 |
DCEASED: A GOOD DAY TO DIE #1 |
$4.99 |
JUL190514-M | DC |
TOP 10 GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS BY UNITS SHIPPED
|
RANK |
DESCRIPTION |
PRICE |
ITEM CODE |
VENDOR |
|
1 |
BATMAN: DAMNED HC (MR) |
$29.99 |
MAR190571 | DC |
|
2 |
UMBRELLA ACADEMY VOL. 3: HOTEL OBLIVION TP |
$19.99 |
MAR190279 | DAR |
|
3 |
PAPER GIRLS VOLUME 6 TP |
$14.99 |
JUL190107 | IMA |
|
4 |
MONSTRESS VOLUME 4 TP (MR) |
$16.99 |
JUL190105-M | IMA |
|
5 |
IMMORTAL HULK VOL. 4: ABOMINATION TP |
$15.99 |
JUN191051 | MAR |
|
6 |
HEROES IN CRISIS HC |
$29.99 |
JUN190600 | DC |
|
7 |
BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE HC |
$17.99 |
JUN190574 | DC |
|
8 |
BATMAN VOL, 10: KNIGHTMARES TP |
$17.99 |
JUN190562 | DC |
|
9 |
BATMAN: NIGHTWALKER: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL |
$16.99 |
MAY190358 | DC |
|
10 |
THE JOKER: HIS GREATEST JOKES TP |
$19.99 |
JUN190604 | DC |
TOP 10 GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS BY DOLLARS INVOICED
|
RANK |
DESCRIPTION |
PRICE |
ITEM CODE |
VENDOR |
|
1 |
BATMAN: DAMNED HC (MR) |
$29.99 |
MAR190571 | DC |
|
2 |
UMBRELLA ACADEMY VOL. 3: HOTEL OBLIVION TP |
$19.99 |
MAR190279 | DAR |
|
3 |
MONSTRESS VOLUME 4 TP (MR) |
$16.99 |
JUL190105-M | IMA |
|
4 |
MARVEL HORROR OMNIBUS HC |
$150.00 |
MAR190992 | MAR |
|
5 |
HEROES IN CRISIS HC |
$29.99 |
JUN190600 | DC |
|
6 |
PAPER GIRLS VOLUME 6 TP |
$14.99 |
JUL190107 | IMA |
|
7 |
TIMELY’S GREATEST: GOLDEN AGE SUB-MARINER BY EVERETT HC |
$150.00 |
MAR190993-M | MAR |
|
8 |
UMBRELLA ACADEMY LIBRARY EDITION VOL. 1 HC |
$39.99 |
JUN190309 | DAR |
|
9 |
BATMAN ETERNAL OMNIBUS HC |
$125.00 |
JAN190658 | DC |
|
10 |
SPIDER-MAN BY JOHN BYRNE OMNIBUS HC |
$125.00 |
MAR191002 | MAR |
TOP 10 BOOKS BY UNITS SHIPPED
|
RANK |
DESCRIPTION |
PRICE |
ITEM CODE |
VENDOR |
|
1 |
THE YEAR’S BEST SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY 2019 EDITION |
$19.95 |
NOV188362 | PRI |
|
2 |
FREE S$$T: THE CHARLES BURNS ZINE COLLECTION HC |
$19.99 |
JUL191904 | FAN |
|
3 |
THE DARK CRYSTAL LITTLE GOLDEN BOOK |
$4.99 |
JUL191956 | GOL |
|
4 |
GRIMM FAIRY TALES ADULT COLORING BOOK VOL. 1 SC |
$12.99 |
OCT151871 | ZEN |
|
5 |
FRANK CHO: BALLPOINT BEAUTIES SC |
$19.95 |
JUN191759 | FLE |
|
6 |
BLOODBORNE OFFICIAL ARTWORKS SC |
$44.99 |
MAR172148 | UDO |
|
7 |
THE SHADOW DOUBLE NOVEL VOL. 144 SC |
$14.95 |
MAY191887 | SAN |
|
8 |
MY LITTLE PONY: BEST GIFT EVER PERFECT PINKIE PRESENT LITTLE GOLDEN BOOK |
$4.99 |
JUL191958 | GOL |
|
9 |
CATS OF THE LOUVRE MANGA HC |
$29.99 |
JUL192406 | VIZ |
|
10 |
DOCTOR WHO: RESURRECTION OF THE DALEKS HC |
$16.99 |
JUL191682 | BBC |
TOP 10 TOYS BY DOLLARS INVOICED
|
RANK |
DESCRIPTION |
ITEM CODE |
VENDOR |
|
1 |
MARVEL GALLERY: AVENGERS ENDGAME: IRON MAN MK85 PVC FIGURE | FEB198521 | DST |
|
2 |
DC MULTIVERSE 6-INCH FIGURES: LOBO WAVE | NOV188888 | MAT |
|
3 |
ONE-12 COLLECTIVE: MARVEL NETFLIX: THE PUNISHER FIGURE | MAR188817 | MEZ |
|
4 |
BATMAN BLACK AND WHITE BY MARC SILVESTRI STATUE | FEB190627 | DC |
|
5 |
MARVEL SELECT: CAPTAIN MARVEL MOVIE FIGURE | JAN192554 | DST |
|
6 |
DC COMICSl CATWOMAN RETURNS BISHOUJO STATUE | JAN198158 | KOT |
|
7 |
DARK NIGHTS METAL: BATMAN THE DEVASTATOR STATUE | FEB190623 | DC |
|
8 |
DC ESSENTIALS: RED HOOD ACTION FIGURE | FEB190631 | DC |
|
9 |
POP! MARVEL: SPIDER-PUNK VINYL FIGURE | SEP188215 | FUN |
|
10 |
JOHN WICK SELECT FIGURE | SEP182329 | DST |
TOP 10 GAMES BY DOLLARS INVOICED
|
RANK |
DESCRIPTION |
ITEM CODE |
VENDOR |
|
1 |
PATHFINDER CORE RULEBOOK HC (P2) | MAY193227 | PAI |
|
2 |
PATHFINDER: LOST OMENS WORLD GUIDE HC (P2) | MAY193231 | PAI |
|
3 |
STARFINDER RPG: ALIEN ARCHIVE 3 HC | JUN193098 | PAI |
|
4 |
MARVEL HEROCLIX: X-MEN ANIMATED SERIES DARK PHOENIX BOOSTER BRICK | MAY193279 | NEC |
|
5 |
PATHFINDER BESTIARY HC (P2) | MAY193229 | PAI |
|
6 |
CRITICAL ROLE: TAL’DOREI CAMPAIGN SETTING HC | JUN173357 | GRE |
|
7 |
PATHFINDER: CORE RULEBOOK HC SPECIAL EDITION (P2) | MAY193228 | PAI |
|
8 |
PATHFINDER RPG: CORE RULEBOOK POCKET EDITION | APR168770 | PAI |
|
9 |
PATHFINDER ADVENTURE PATH: AGE OF ASHES PART 2 (P2) | MAY198358 | PAI |
|
10 |
PATHFINDER GM SCREEN (P2) | MAY193238 | PAI |
How does Diamond calculate the charts? It all starts at the comic book shop.
Huh? So IMMORTAL HULK somehow qualifies as an “Image Classic”? And HEROES IN CRISIS as a “Black Label”, despite being very continuity heavy (how is it standalone if it has a separate companion book of crossovers https://www.previewsworld.com/Catalog/JUN190599) and not a mature readers book. But BATMAN DAMNED you don’t put under “Black Label”, despite it explicitly being that. THE KILLING JOKE is more of a Black Label, despite not being re-released with the actual logo. And putting UMBRELLA ACADEMY as a “Media Tie-In” doesn’t seem right, in the direct market at least, since it sold perfectly fine (maybe even better, in single issues at least) in the direct market a decade ago, before the Netflix series was even imagined.
Oh, and someone should tell a Diamond the new pie charts are less clear and useful. You know what kind of charts don’t benefit from faux 3D? Pie charts.
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