The March preliminary data is out, and Comichron has its initial analysis here:
Some points of interest:
• We're up 20% year over year despite the first quarter only having 12 shipping weeks versus 13 for last year. (Remember, we lost the first week of January because it was accounted for in December.)
• I'm told that people are reading market shares and trying to interpret drops in share as declines for one company or another. That's silly. The majors are all up year over year. Image's March sales were up 47.4% in dollar terms; Marvel's, up 35.3%. DC's were up 7.3%. What's been visible in the market shares is that other publishers have been catching up to DC's blistering pace of gains from late 2011 and early 2012. But DC's sales are, in fact, ahead for 2013 overall, as are practically everyone else's. You can't judge corporate health from a market share alone; if the pie doubles in size, you can lose a third of your market share and still be ahead.
The Flashbacks column is also online, which includes notes on these March market leaders past:
2008: Dark Tower: Long Road Home #1
2003: Batman #613
1998: X-Men Vol. 2 #75
1993: Maxx #1
1988: Uncanny X-Men #231
1983: Uncanny X-Men #171 (Rogue joins the X-Men)
1978: Star Wars #12
1923: Superman #264
1968: Superman #206
1963: Superman #161
Replies
Diamond Announces Top Products For March 2013
(BALTIMORE, MD) — (April 5, 2013) —Iron Man joins forces with Star Lord and the Guardians of the Galaxy as they embark on an interstellar quest in Brian Michael Bendis and Steve McNiven's Guardians of the Galaxy #1 from Marvel Comics, the best-selling comic book to specialty retailers in March 2013, according to information provided by Diamond Comic Distributors, the world's largest distributor of comics, graphic novels, and pop culture merchandise.
Marvel Comics was March's leading publisher with a 39.96% market share in retail dollars and a 43.78% market share in units. DC Entertainment was second with a 27.09% share in dollars and a 29.88% share in units. Comics sales were up in March over February by 3.05%, and graphic novels sales climbed by 7.77%
Batman's confrontation with the Court of Owls for the soul of Gotham City reaches its climax in Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's Batman Volume 2: The City of Owls from DC Comics, the best-selling graphic novel for March.
For the third month in a row, Dark Horse Comics' The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia was the best-selling book to comic retailers.
More fan-favorite characters from AMC's top-rated The Walking Dead were brought to life in McFarlane Toys' The Walking Dead Series 3 Action Figures, March's best-selling toy product to comic book specialty retailers.
Hasbro's Risk Legacy, a new version of the venerable game that features multi-game gameplay mechanics, returned to the top of the sales charts for the first time since October as March's top-selling games product to comic book specialty retailers.
TOP COMIC BOOK PUBLISHERS
PUBLISHER
DOLLAR
SHARE
UNIT
SHARE
MARVEL COMICS
39.96%
43.78%
DC COMICS
27.09%
29.88%
IMAGE COMICS
8.01%
7.88%
IDW PUBLISHING
6.34%
5.24%
DARK HORSE COMICS
4.72%
4.16%
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT
2.16%
1.87%
BOOM! STUDIOS
1.68%
1.49%
EAGLEMOSS PUBLICATIONS LTD
0.97%
0.20%
VALIANT ENTERTAINMENT LLC
0.86%
0.84%
AVATAR PRESS INC
0.83%
0.60%
OTHER NON-TOP 10
7.38%
4.06%
COMPARATIVE SALES STATISTICS
DOLLARS
UNITS
MARCH 2013 VS. FEBRUARY 2013
COMICS
3.05%
2.78%
GRAPHIC NOVELS
7.77%
17.00%
TOTAL COMICS/GN
4.36%
3.71%
MARCH 2013 VS. MARCH 2012
COMICS
15.91%
14.75%
GRAPHIC NOVELS
-1.47%
0.90%
TOTAL COMICS/GN
10.48%
13.73%
FIRST QUARTER 2013 VS. FOURTH QUARTER 2012
COMICS
-4.13%
-3.62%
GRAPHIC NOVELS
-6.00%
-2.09%
TOTAL COMICS/GN
-4.70%
-3.51%
FIRST QUARTER 2013 VS. FIRST QUARTER 2012
COMICS
21.38%
18.62%
GRAPHIC NOVELS
16.22%
12.38%
TOTAL COMICS/GN
19.78%
18.15%
TOP 10 COMIC BOOKS
RANK
DESCRIPTION
PRICE
ITEM CODE
VENDOR
1
GUARDIANS OF GALAXY #1
$3.99
JAN130642
MAR
2
AGE OF ULTRON #1
$3.99
JAN130627
MAR
3
BATMAN #18
$3.99
JAN130234
DC
4
WOLVERINE #1
$3.99
JAN130653
MAR
5
AGE OF ULTRON #2
$3.99
JAN130634
MAR
6
JUSTICE LEAGUE #18
$3.99
JAN130205
DC
7
AGE OF ULTRON #3
$3.99
JAN130637
MAR
8
SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #5
$3.99
JAN130712
MAR
9
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #2
$3.99
JAN130195
DC
10
ALL NEW X-MEN #8
$3.99
JAN130674
MAR
TOP 10 GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS
RANK
DESCRIPTION
PRICE
ITEM CODE
VENDOR
1
BATMAN HC VOL 02 THE CITY OF OWLS (N52)
$24.99
NOV120259
DC
2
BATMAN TP VOL 01 THE COURT OF OWLS (N52)
$16.99
DEC120323
DC
3
HAWKEYE TP VOL 01 MY LIFE AS WEAPON NOW
$16.99
DEC120744
MAR
4
AVATAR LAST AIRBENDER TP VOL 04 SEARCH PART 1
$10.99
NOV120020
DAR
5
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 01 DAYS GONE BYE
$14.99
NOV128157-M
IMA
6
AVENGERS VS X-MEN TP
$34.99
JAN130771
MAR
7
KICK-ASS 2 TP (MR)
$19.99
AUG120686
MAR
8
KICK-ASS 2 PRELUDE HIT-GIRL PREM HC (MR)
$24.99
OCT120679
MAR
9
SAGA TP VOL 01
$9.99
AUG120491
IMA
10
EARTH 2 HC VOL 01 THE GATHERING (N52)
$22.99
NOV120262
DC
TOP 10 TOYS
RANK
DESCRIPTION
ITEM CODE
VENDOR
1
WALKING DEAD TV SERIES 3 AF ASST
JAN130620
TMP
2
BATMAN ARKHAM CITY PLAY ARTS KAI ROBIN VER
AUG128201
SQU
3
MARVEL LEGENDS 6-IN AF ASST 201301
DEC121644
HAS
4
BATMAN ARKHAM CITY PLAY ARTS KAI BATMAN DKR VER
AUG128200
SQU
5
SAVAGE HULK STATUE
JUL121857
BOW
6
WE CAN BE HEROES JUSTICE LEAGUE 7 PACK BOX SET
AUG120308
DC
7
BATMAN DARK KNIGHT RETURNS CALL TO ARMS STATUE
DEC120379
DC
8
VERTIGO COVER GIRLS DEATH STATUE
NOV120314
DC
9
DC COMICS FLASH ARTFX+ STATUE NEW 52 VER
SEP121780
KOT
10
SUPERMAN THE MAN OF STEEL STATUE BY LEE BERMEJO
JAN130346
DC
TOP 10 GAMES
RANK
DESCRIPTION
ITEM CODE
VENDOR
1
RISK LEGACY
JUN118204
HAS
2
BATMAN GOTHAM CITY STRATEGY GAME
OCT122010
NEC
3
MTG TCG GATECRASH BOOSTER DIS
DEC121918
WIZ
4
STAR WARS X-WING MINIS GAME CORE SET
JUN122181
FAN
5
MTG CCG DUEL DECKS SORIN VS TIBALT DISPLAY
JAN138121
WIZ
6
WALKING DEAD COMIC BOARD GAME
JUL112185
Z-M
7
YU GI OH TCG ZEXAL TIN COLLECTION CASE
NOV128237
KON
8
LORD OF THE RINGS DICE BUILDING GAME
NOV122065
NEC
9
STAR WARS X-WING MINIS GAME MILLENNIUM FALCON EXP PACK
NOV122047
FAN
10
STAR WARS X-WING MINIS GAME SLAVE-I EXP PACK
NOV122048
FAN
How does Diamond calculate the charts? It all starts at the comic book shop.
Data for Diamond’s sales charts — which include the monthly market shares and all top product charts — are compiled by Diamond Comic Distributors from a universe of over 3,500 comic book specialty shops located in North America and around the world. The account base includes brick-and-mortar comic book specialty shops, Internet merchants, and other specialty stores.
Unit and dollars sales are calculated based upon orders invoiced and shipped to Diamond accounts during any given month, which comprises initial pre-orders, advance reorders, and reorders, minus any copies that are received back from a title marked as returnable.
The most surprising thing to me, that I didn't realize, is that IDW has a bigger dollar and unit share than Dark Horse and Dynamite.
I thought for sure that at least Dark Horse was putting out more than IDW. Guess not.
I'm bumping this. It needs more eyes on it.
This is a nice counterpoint to a lot of negativity all over the internet, including here at the Cave, sadly. Don't like the output these days from Marvel, DC, or elsewhere? Fine, everyone is entitled to their opinion. I like ripping on the bad stuff as much as anyone.
But frankly, I am sick to death of reading diatribes - mostly directed at the new 52, but not entirely - where people are, frankly, making things up to bolster their opinions.
DC's sales are not in the toilet, as a company they are not circling the drain, DC is not floundering, etc. The same goes for Marvel. Argue all you want that creatively they are in some sort of decline, but that is an opinion, not a fact. Focus on the creator upheaval or editorial interference if you wish, or the handful of cancelled series, and ignore the successes. That's your right as a reader and fan. It's easy to bash.
Overall, the DC new 52 has been a great sales success. Marvel Now!, which I personally feel was a reaction to it, is also selling like hotcakes.
Are sales an indication of quality? Of course not, and I would never argue that. But I see a lot of quality out there, regardless of where books end up on the sales charts. I'm enjoying a lot more series than I was a few years ago. I know that might make me a bit of an oddball around here, but I can live with that.
I'm just asking that we tone down the doom and gloom a bit.