Penguin Random House has been the exclusive direct market distributor of Marvel Comics for a couple of years now. It started off awfully, possibly with the worst comic book distribution history of any company ever in its first month, but since then has done a much better job of it. They are also now exclusive direct market distributors for IDW and Dark Horse, as well as bookstore distributors for many publishers. Which means they can now start putting out charts. No sales numbers attached, and heavily biased towards the publishers they exclusively distribute, given all of that, they still make interesting reading.
As well as National Charts and Direct Market Charts, they also break the sales down into three types:
Initial Sales – These would be the sales orders for titles beginning from when first solicited, up to the release/on-sale date. What jumped out of the gate with the biggest anticipation!
FrontlistSales – These are the sales orders from the first on-sale date up until a title has been released for a single year. This is a great "heat check" index or to look for momentum builders.
BacklistSales – These are the sales for titles that have already been in the market for over a year. This is a good area to look for future evergreen options, what's seasonally or unusually hot, and reorder leaders.
And then there are the top twenty for Marvel and IDW. Dark Horse to come next month I'm sure.
Penguin Random House noted a strong presence for the comic adaptation of the Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation and the Dungeons & Dragons movie prequel graphic novel. DC Comics' middle-grade and young adult titles break through to bookstores, and Marvel's Epic format works for bookstores too.
K. O'Neill's middle-grade fantasy The Moth Keeper also works across both markets, and went straight to reorder. Turtles future spinoff, The Last Ronin continues to put on sales, and Blue Lock is a big manga seller that a number of stores have inexplicably missed out on. The first two volumes of Lore sell well, despite some time until the third volume is out. While Grumpy Monkey continues to be a perennially popular early graphic novel series for children. The Disney100 variant outsold Amazing Spider-Man #21's main cover at the top of Marvel's chart, while the Alex Ross variant outsold the Venom: Lethal Protector II #1 main cover.
Direct Market Graphic Novels – Initial Sales (Units) – March 2023
Rank
Title
Author Short
Onsale Date
Publisher Division
1
MOON KNIGHT VOL. 3: HALFWAY TO SANITY
MACKAY, JED
3/21/2023
Marvel
2
SPIDER-PUNK: BATTLE OF THE BANNED
ZIGLAR, CODY
3/21/2023
Marvel
3
MOON KNIGHT: BLACK, WHITE & BLOOD TREASURY EDITION
HICKMAN, JONATHAN
3/28/2023
Marvel
4
WOLVERINE: WEAPON X DELUXE EDITION
WINDSOR-SMITH, VARRY
3/28/2023
Marvel
5
DAREDEVIL EPIC COLLECTION: WATCH OUT FOR BULLSEYE
GERBER, STEVE
3/28/2023
Marvel
6
ALIENS EPIC COLLECTION: THE ORIGINAL YEARS VOL. 1
VERHEIDEN, MARK
3/14/2023
Marvel
7
AVENGERS EPIC COLLECTION: ACTS OF VENGEANCE
FINGEROTH, DANNY
3/28/2023
Marvel
8
Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi (The Comic / Manhua) Vol. 1
MO XIANG TONG XIU
03/07/23
Seven Seas Entertain
9
GAMBIT: THICK AS THIEVES
CLAREMONT, CHRIS
03/07/23
Marvel
10
CARNAGE EPIC COLLECTION: WEB OF CARNAGE
DEMATTEIS, J.M.
3/28/2023
Marvel
11
DEADPOOL BY KELLY THOMPSON
THOMPSON, KELLY
3/14/2023
Marvel
12
THE VARIANTS
SIMONE, GAIL
3/14/2023
Marvel
13
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN EPIC COLLECTION: THE GOBLIN LIVES
LEE, STAN
03/07/23
Marvel
14
FANTASTIC FOUR EPIC COLLECTION: THE DREAM IS DEAD
ENGLEHART, STEVE
3/21/2023
Marvel
15
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves–The Feast of the Moon (Movie Prequel Comic)
LAMBERT, JEREMY
03/07/23
IDW Publishing
National Market Graphic Novels – Initial Sales (Units) – March 2023
Rank
Title
Author Short
Onsale Date
Publisher Division
1
Berserk Deluxe Volume 13
MIURA, KENTARO
3/21/2023
Dark Horse Comics
2
Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi (The Comic / Manhua) Vol. 1
MO XIANG TONG XIU
03/07/23
Seven Seas Entertain
3
Thousand Autumns: Qian Qiu (Novel) Vol. 1
MENG XI SHI
3/14/2023
Seven Seas Entertain
4
Teen Titans: Robin
GARCIA, KAMI
03/07/23
DC Comics
5
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves–The Feast of the Moon (Movie Prequel Comic)
LAMBERT, JEREMY
03/07/23
IDW Publishing
6
The Moth Keeper
O'NEILL, K.
03/07/23
RH Childrens Books
7
Dai Dark Vol. 5
HAYASHIDA, Q
3/28/2023
Seven Seas Entertain
8
orange -to you, dear one-
TAKANO, ICHIGO
03/07/23
Seven Seas Entertain
9
Bruce Wayne: Not Super
GIBBS, STUART
3/14/2023
DC Comics
10
YoRHa: Pearl Harbor Descent Record – A NieR:Automata Story 02
Founder of Bleeding Cool. The longest-serving digital news reporter in the world, since 1992. Author of The Flying Friar, Holed Up, The Avengefuls, Doctor Who: Room With A Deja Vu, The Many Murders Of Miss Cranbourne, Chase Variant. Lives in South-West London, works from Blacks on Dean Street, shops at Piranha Comics. Father of two. Political cartoonist.
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