Tag: Sales Charts

The AVENGERS VS X-MEN crossover continues to dominate most of Marvel's major titles in August, but this month also has the launch of two new titles - GAMBIT and HAWKEYE - plus the official 50th anniversary issue of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, and the start of Neal Adams' FIRST X-MEN mini. DC had a slightly greater share of the North American direct market this month. But it was close, leading Marvel by 36% to 35% in terms of units, and 33% to 32% in dollars.

DC was the top publisher in September by a solid margin, with it's month of Zero issues convincingly beating Marvall, which had the #1 book in AvX #11. The comparative statistics are an interesting case -- sales are down significantly against August, but that was a five week month. Year-to-year this is the first time we're comparing New 52 to New 52, and comcis sales are down while GN sales are up in double digits. Year to date is up for 2012 however. In general, a strong year continues, and Marvel better print up some more variant covers.

While we all know that Amazon rankings are easily gamed and represent dozens not hundreds of copies sold, it's worth noting that Chris Ware's...

As retailers keep slashing their orders on Before Watchmen and the replacement "New 52" titles, DC's overall figures decline again in July. That, in itself, is not surprising, however, and the company is still doing quite well. I see no reason to disagree with anything prominent retailer Brian Hibbs said in his recent look at "New 52" numbers. With regard to DC's overall performance, Hibbs makes some of the same points that I've been making here in the months since the relaunch, and as far as his own store is concerned, his observations seem to match the market climate. "The reboot was a remarkable success," Hibbs says, and: "There hardly could have been a better result." I agree, all things (such as the stifled potential of the comic-book format and the stifling way the major publishers are set up now, structurally) considered. But it's also worth remembering that what we talk about now when we talk about comic-book sales that are "doing quite well" and a relaunch that's "a remarkable success," and note that "there hardly could have been a better result," are the kinds of sales figures we used to see more regularly five years ago, when the DC Universe imprint was publishing fewer comic books than it is now. (From 2007 through 2009, the average number of published DC Universe titles was 52. From 2010 through August 2011, it went up to 57. Since the relaunch in September 2011, it's been an average 63 DC Universe titles per month. "Keeping it at 52"? Not very much, Dan DiDio.)

Although only a few hundredths of a point apart in units, DC edged out Marvel in dollars for a win in August's sales charts. DC was led by BATMAN: EARTH ONE and the rest of its Batman franchise; while Marvel's two issues of AVX led the single issue charts. Sales month over month, year to year and year to date were all up significantly.

By Paul Mellerick 

For a rare change we get the number one book this month, as Walking Dead #100 breaks records all over the place. Saga and Buffy are still doing decent numbers, while the third Valiant relaunch, Bloodshot does very well too. Elsewhere, Adventure Time and the Trek / Who crossover continue to punch above their weight, while new licensed Transformers and Crow titles launch strongly for IDW.

 

145 indie books charted this month, up on last month's 135. The bottom book sold 4,187, up on last month's 3,302. They sold approximately 1,717,229, up on last month's 1,344,491, the difference being almost entirely made up of Walking Dead #100. Average sales are 11,842 per book, also up on last month's 9,959, but without Walking Dead it would have been 9,448. As usual, UK and European sales from Diamond UK are not reported in this chart.

 

Out of the 145 books, 27 went up in sales, a little less th

The AVENGERS VS X-MEN crossover continued to dominate both franchises in July. There are also two new ongoing titles - CAPTAIN MARVEL and X-TREME X-MEN - which unusually launch in the middle of the big crossover. And while Marvel have generally eased off on their miniseries of late, we have two this month - SPACE PUNISHER and INFERNAL MAN-THING. In terms of market share, DC won the month, leading Marvel by 37% to 35% in units and 33% to 32% in dollars. The other big news, of course, is the remarkable sales of WALKING DEAD #100, which topped the charts with an extraordinary estimated sale of over 335,000 - but that's a story for another column. (It also seems like a good opportunity to remind people that these figures only reflect sales to the direct market in North America. Total sales are therefore bound to be higher once you factor in sales through other channels, most obviously to the UK and Europe.)

Walking Dead rules the top of the charts again, in preparation for next month's centennial issue, while new entries for Mars Attacks and Harbinger sandwich the ever improving Saga. Elsewhere, Spawn celebrates its 20th anniversary by almost tripling its regular sales and Brian Wood's The Massive launches encouragingly high, while a bunch of successful recent launches consolidate their figures. Lots of books dropping, further down the charts though.

   

135 indie books charted this month, up on last month's 128. The bottom book sold 3,302, down on last month's 4,477. They sold approximately 1,344,491, down on last month's 1,392,594. Average sales are 9,959 per book, also down on last month's 10,880. As usual, UK and European sales from Diamond UK are not reported in this chart.

 

Out of the 135 books, only 29 went up in sales, far less than last month, and 87 went down, with the rest made up of one-shots and debuts.

 

In May, DC reminded us that the old sales-boosting tricks still work. In June, we're reminded how short-lived those sales increases are. Coming out of the "Night of the Owls" crossover, the Batman line basically dropped right back to its previous levels, and the same applies to other titles participating in other crossovers in May; second, DC cut many of its variant-cover editions in June, with predictable results; third, the six replacement "New 52" titles all show second-issue drops between 20% and 44% in June; finally, a range of "New 52" titles display bigger-than-usual drops for no readily available reason in June, so it seems retailers weren't done yet trying to catch up with actual demand, after all. As a result of all this, DC's numbers were actually slightly down in June, despite the Before Watchmen launch and despite the fact that DC published two more DC Universe (and one more Vertigo) titles than they did in May. The DC Universe imprint's estimated average comic-book unit sales dropped from 39,179 units in May to 37,599, total unit sales from 2.69 million to 2.67 million, and total dollar sales from $9.05 million to $8.98 million. On the up side, though, the numbers are still golden overall, thanks, of course, to the four juggernaut debut issues of the Before Watchmen line, all of which made the Top 10 and cleared between 110,000 and 120,000 units each. Consequently, average DC Universe unit sales were still the 25th highest ever since March 2003, total DC Universe unit sales the 8th highest, and total DC Universe dollar sales the 6th highest. While it seems unlikely that DC will be able to sustain these types of sales levels through the rest of the year, it's well worth mentioning: They're doing very well right now.

The Walking Dead #100 led the charts in July, even as DC just barely edged out Marvel in both dollars and units—a sign that Marvel NOW can't come soon enough perhaps. BATMAN: EARTH ONE led the graphic novel charts, topping a strong month for DC. Sales were generally flat from June, although remain much higher year to year. Comics were down a tad while GNs declined in dollars but gained in units.

by Paul O'Brien

The AVENGERS VS X-MEN crossover continued to dominate Marvel's schedule in June, but the month also saw another high profile release - the SPIDER-MEN miniseries, in which the original Spider-Man meets the new Ultimate Universe version of the character. The Icon imprint also launches a HIT-GIRL miniseries. And other than that, it's a pretty quiet month for new releases, as often tends to be the case in the height of major crossovers. Despite the sales boost from the summer crossover, it was a very close month in terms of market share in the North American direct market, with DC leading Marvel in unit terms by 38.2% to 37.8%, but Marvel leading in retail share by 33.8% to 33.0%. Effectively a tie, then. DC's performance can be attributed in large part to all four BEFORE WATCHMEN titles landing in the top 10 with estimated sales of over 100K each.

By Paul Mellerick--

Walking Dead shoots up in sales with two issues this month, while X_O Manowar marks the return of Valiant with the second best-selling indie book this month. Saga, Buffy and Fatale follow shortly behind, with a nice handful of strong new launches from all of the major players as the indie books continue to make their mark in the upper part of the chart.