Posted in: Comics, Recent Updates | Tagged: Comics, dc, marvel

The DC/Marvel Battle For Marketshare

Published Mon, 20 Dec 2010 13:30:59 -0600

The following is based on a combination of bar and party talk in and around the blocks of Manhattan that separate DC from Marvel. Use your own judgement, sprinkle plenty of salt and knock back with a slice of lemon. This is the kind of stuff I used to put a red traffic light on, just to be safe.

Number one, I'm told that Dan DiDio had all but vowed that DC Comics would beat Marvel in terms of marketshare, where units sold or dollars earned, at least one month this year. And he'd chosen November to bring out the big guns.

And certainly, in headline figures, having eight of the top ten selling books, with strong Bat and Green Lantern performances looked like they would do it. But no – Marvel having more books in total that held their numbers throughout the line saw them keep the number one spot for marketshare. It was close, it was very close, closer than before, but Marvel still had it.

The feeling expressed to me is that if DC can't win marketshare for a month, even with all the November big guns, is there any point trying to compete?

It is worth pointing out that other DC staffers indicate that no such conversations have taken place to their knowledge. But right now the former sources outweigh the latter, in numbers if nothing else.

But it's not exactly peaches and cream for Marvel either. A number of high profile stores have hit a watershed moment, the decision not to order any issues of certain Marvel Universe mini-series at all, as they have no demand. Sales on such books have plummetted for a number of stores, to an unprecedented zero for some stores. The Marvel zombie is properly dead. The $3.99 price point can't have helped, but will a return to $2.99 for such books bring those customers back? Can they be brought back at all?

Because the statistics are coming in for DC's January $2.99 books, and DC are not seeing an increase in sales for titles at the new price point. Indeed, overall the standard attrition of sales is continuing. Can they turn things round in the long term?

Why do I think that 2011 is going to see an awful lot of shake out?

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