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Posted in: Comics | Tagged: 2011, Comics, dc, marketshare, marvel, october
DC Comics Smashes Marvel Marketshare In October, Takes 51% Of Sales
Back in March this year, Marvel Comics had a 40% share of money spent on comics through Diamond Comic Distributors, and a 45% share of the number of comics sold. DC had only 27.62% and 31.5% share respectively.
Well what a change half a year can make. After taking Marvel on marketshare for the month of September, albeit only by half a percent in dollar marketshare, in October DC Comics has soared ahead, buoyed by sales of second prints from September's issues, and from many of their October titles maintaining or surpassing their initial order numbers for September.
Which means in October DC Comics has 42.47% of dollars spent on comics, to Marvel's 29.1% share, turning that half a point gap into thirteen and a half points. And on actual numbers of products sold, DC has taken 50.97% of sales to Marvel's 20.29%.
Which means more than one in every two comics sold by Diamond in October was a DC comic.
And overall comics sales that were up in September continue to rise in October, by just under 7%. To a figure that is over 30% what is was October last last. That's right folks, in one year, comics sales have risen by a third.
The last two months' performance has seemingly done the impossible and turned the tanker right around, to the extent that in August, overall comics sales of the year were well below that of 2010 at the same point. Now they are above where 2010 was at this point.
It's an incredible performance that can be laid at the feet of DC Comics, and specifically that they haven't increased their sales at the expense of other publishers, rather everyone's sales have either been maintained or are rising, as the DC promotional plan have brought in new readers or brought back lapsed readers – who have then gone on to try other non-DC comics.
Graphic novels have suffered however. They were down last month, they are down again, this time falling 11%, or a third compared to October last year.
Chartwise, DC have taken the top 6 selling books on Diamond's lists, Justice League, Batman, Action Comics, Green Lantern, Flash and Detective Comics with the Marvel's own relaunches of Hulk and X-Men butting into the top ten, along with the last issue of Fear Itself.
Here's the data for October just issued by Diamond. It does not include UK sales.
TOP COMIC BOOK PUBLISHERS
| PUBLISHER | DOLLAR
SHARE |
UNIT
SHARE |
| DC COMICS | 42.47% | 50.97% |
| MARVEL COMICS | 29.10% | 30.29% |
| IMAGE COMICS | 4.49% | 3.98% |
| DARK HORSE COMICS | 4.44% | 3.28% |
| IDW PUBLISHING | 4.00% | 2.97% |
| DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT | 2.81% | 2.42% |
| BOOM! STUDIOS | 1.68% | 1.02% |
| EAGLEMOSS PUBLICATIONS | 1.28% | 0.30% |
| AVATAR PRESS | 0.98% | 0.53% |
| VIZ MEDIA | 0.84% | 0.32% |
| OTHER NON-TOP 10 | 7.91% | 3.92% |
COMPARATIVE SALES STATISTICS
| DOLLARS | UNITS | |
| OCTOBER 2011 VS. SEPTEMBER 2011 | ||
| COMICS | 6.78% | 6.90% |
| GRAPHIC NOVELS | -7.47% | -11.07% |
| TOTAL COMICS/GN | 2.67% | 5.73% |
| OCTOBER 2011 VS. OCTOBER 2010 | ||
| COMICS | 24.37% | 32.12% |
| GRAPHIC NOVELS | -12.90% | -30.75% |
| TOTAL COMICS/GN | 11.93% | 25.89% |
| YEAR-TO-DATE 2011 VS. YEAR-TO-DATE 2010 | ||
| COMICS | -0.23% | 1.86% |
| GRAPHIC NOVELS | -5.39% | -12.07% |
| TOTAL COMICS/GN | -1.93% | 0.64% |
TOP 10 COMIC BOOKS
| RANK | DESCRIPTION | PRICE | ITEM CODE | VENDOR |
| 1 | JUSTICE LEAGUE #2 | $3.99 | AUG110160 | DC |
| 2 | BATMAN #2 | $2.99 | AUG110186 | DC |
| 3 | ACTION COMICS #2 | $3.99 | AUG110179 | DC |
| 4 | GREEN LANTERN #2 | $2.99 | AUG110202 | DC |
| 5 | FLASH #2 | $2.99 | AUG110167 | DC |
| 6 | DETECTIVE COMICS #2 [*] | $2.99 | AUG110190 | DC |
| 7 | INCREDIBLE HULK #1 | $3.99 | AUG110584 | MAR |
| 8 | WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN #1 | $3.99 | AUG110653 | MAR |
| 9 | FEAR ITSELF #7 | $4.99 | AUG110568 | MAR |
| 10 | SUPERMAN #2 [*] | $2.99 | AUG110182 | DC |
TOP 10 GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS
| RANK | DESCRIPTION | PRICE | ITEM CODE | VENDOR |
| 1 | FLASHPOINT HC | $22.99 | AUG110244 | DC |
| 2 | THE WALKING DEAD VOLUME 7 HC (MR) | $34.99 | AUG110454 | IMA |
| 3 | BATMAN: ARKHAM CITY HC | $22.99 | JUN110266 | DC |
| 4 | THE UNWRITTEN VOLUME 4: LEVIATHAN TP (MR) | $14.99 | JUL110296 | DC |
| 5 | STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS: STRANGE
ALLIES TP |
$7.99 | JUN118158 | DAR |
| 6 | AMERICAN VAMPIRE VOLUME 1 TP (MR) | $19.99 | JUL110284 | DC |
| 7 | THE WALKING DEAD: SURVIVOR'S GUIDE TP | $12.99 | AUG110455 | IMA |
| 8 | ALL-STAR SUPERMAN TP | $29.99 | JUL110247 | DC |
| 9 | ALAN MOORE'S NEONOMICON TP (MR) | $19.99 | JUL110881 | AVA |
| 10 | ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN: DEATH OF SPIDER-MAN PREMIERE HC | $24.99 | AUG110700-M | MAR |
TOP 10 TOYS
| RANK | DESCRIPTION | ITEM CODE | VENDOR |
| 1 | THE WALKING DEAD COMIC SERIES 1 ACTION FIGURES | MAY110543 | TMP |
| 2 | THE WALKING DEAD SERIES 1: PREVIEWS EXCLUSIVE ZOMBIE ACTION FIGURE 2-PACK | FEB118234 | TMP |
| 3 | THANOS MUSEUM STATUE | FEB111668 | BOW |
| 4 | UNIVERSAL MONSTERS SELECT: FRANKENSTEIN FIGURE | APR111706 | DST |
| 5 | BACK TO THE FUTURE: TIME MACHINE CAR | JUN098008 | DST |
| 6 | UNIVERSAL MONSTERS SELECT: DRACULA FIGURE | APR111705 | DST |
| 7 | AME-COMI HEROINE SERIES 3 MINI FIGURES | FEB110281 | DC |
| 8 | BATMAN BLACK & WHITE STATUE: CLIFF CHIANG | MAR110413 | DC |
| 9 | MARVEL UNIVERSE ACTION FIGURES (ASST. 201105) | AUG111777 | KEN |
| 10 | MARVEL UNIVERSE ACTION FIGURES (ASST. 201106) | AUG111778 | KEN |
TOP 10 GAMES
| RANK | DESCRIPTION | ITEM CODE | VENDOR |
| 1 | DC HEROCLIX: SUPERMAN BOOSTER BRICK | JUL112183 | NEC |
| 2 | MAGIC THE GATHERING TCG: INNISTRAD BOOSTER PACKS | AUG112115 | WIZ |
| 3 | HALO HEROCLIX: 10TH-ANNIVERSARY BOOSTER PACKS | MAY118238 | NEC |
| 4 | MAGIC THE GATHERING TCG: INNISTRAD FAT PACKS | AUG112117 | WIZ |
| 5 | MAGIC THE GATHERING TCG: AJANI VS. NICOL BOLAS
DUEL DECKS |
AUG112114 | WIZ |
| 6 | THE WALKING DEAD COMIC BOARD GAME | JUL112185 | Z-M |
| 7 | MAGIC THE GATHERING TCG: INNISTRAD INTRO DECKS | AUG112118 | WIZ |
| 8 | YU-GI-OH! TCG: LEGENDARY COLLECTION 2 | JUN118254 | KON |
| 9 | MAGIC THE GATHERING TCG: INNISTRAD EVENT DECKS | AUG112116 | WIZ |
| 10 | STAR TREK: FLEET CAPTAINS MINIATURES GAME | MAY118042 | NEC |
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