Nothing about the Direct Market comic book industry is normal on April 28, 2020, so while it’s a sign of normalcy Diamond Diamond Comic Distributors released their March 2020 sales charts today, the fact it’s 2 weeks late and on a Tuesday instead of the traditional Friday is not.
And while the charts themselves look relatively normal, interpreting what they actually mean and represent isn’t a normal process at all.
Let’s start with a caveat that always applies to Diamond’s charts. They represent what was ordered and shipped to retailers (which is called “sell-in” in the biz) …. not what customers actually purchased from retailers (which is called “sell-through”).
And given the utterly random impact coronavirus had on both comic book stores ability to remain open and service customers and consumer behavior as the crisis unfolded in real time during the month, what March sales really reflect what retailers were thinking in the month’s prior to and in the very beginning of March.
According to figures released by Diamond Tuesday morning overall comic book and graphic novel sales were down almost 15% versus March 2019.
So big coronavirus impact, right?
Not so fast. Sales versus February 2020 when coronavirus was mostly something happening in China and hadn’t impacted North America yet, were only down around a half of 1 percent. The sales decline compared to last year is actually mostly due to last March being a very good sales month.
We usually ask John Jackson Miller of Comichron to summarize the big takeaway for the month at the end of these reports. This month we’re skipping ahead.
“With Detective Comics #1000 as a $5 million ogre in the March comparatives from last year, it’s surprising the sell-in numbers from last month were as close as they were, considering everything that was going on,” explained Miller. “It’s a sign retailers were still relatively bullish on 2020 when they placed their orders, even if they may have needed to adjust them downward to deal with the approaching pandemic.”
Miller goes on to explain the milestone DC issue generated over $5 million in sales by itself in 2020 and if you take that away, March 2020’s unit sales actually come out a little ahead of March 2019’s.
In other words, March 2020 was on its way to being a pretty decent month for comic books, until the roof of the world caved in.
How March was really impacted on the retail level will likely take months to determine.
So moving onto the particulars of March.
Jessica Drew’s return Spider-Woman #1 in a new ongoing by Karla Pacheco and Pete Perez was the best-selling comic book of March in both dollars and units, outpacing DC’s Flash #750, the #2 finisher in both categories.
Marvel dominated both dollar and unit Top 10s 7 to DC’s 3, although the make-up of each chart is slightly different.
Jonathan Hickman and Mike Huddleston’s new Image series debut Decorum #1 was the bestselling non-Marvel or DC title at #20,
Kieron Gillen and Dan Mora’s Once & Future Volume 1: The King Is Undead, published by BOOM! Studios, was the best-selling graphic novel of March.
Marvel’s $500 X-Men: Children of the Atom Hardcover Box Set was the dollar chart-topper. Because, yeah.
Marvel was March’s top publisher as usual with a 40.98% dollar share and a 46.76% unit share. DC was second (as usual) with a 27.34% dollar share and a 27.58% unit share.
Diamond’s March 2020 Market Share, Comparative Sales Data, New Titles Shipped, Top 10 Comic Books (Units and Dollars), and Top 10 Graphic Novels (Units and Dollars) can be seen below.
TOP COMIC BOOK PUBLISHERS
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COMPARATIVE SALES STATISTICS
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DOLLARS |
UNITS |
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MARCH 2020 VS. FEBRUARY 2020 |
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COMICS |
-1.54% |
-0.21% |
|
GRAPHIC NOVELS |
1.76% |
-15.12% |
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TOTAL COMICS/GN |
-0.65% |
-1.35% |
|
TOYS |
-15.00% |
26.16% |
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MARCH 2020 VS. MARCH 2019 |
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COMICS |
-15.59% |
-6.56% |
|
GRAPHIC NOVELS |
-13.05% |
-26.54% |
|
TOTAL COMICS/GN |
-14.90% |
-8.21% |
|
TOYS |
-6.43% |
19.43% |
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YEAR-TO-DATE 2020 VS. YEAR-TO-DATE 2019 |
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COMICS |
-5.51% |
-4.48% |
|
GRAPHIC NOVELS |
-1.51% |
-5.43% |
|
TOTAL COMICS/GN |
-4.39% |
-4.55% |
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TOYS |
-0.02% |
-6.56% |
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Q1 2020 VS. Q4 2019 |
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COMICS |
-19.13% |
-16.76% |
|
GRAPHIC NOVELS |
-6.04% |
-2.58% |
|
TOTAL COMICS/GN |
-15.74% |
-15.84% |
|
TOYS |
-15.32% |
-16.23% |
NEW TITLES SHIPPED
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PUBLISHER |
COMICS |
GRAPHIC NOVELS |
MAGAZINES |
TOTAL |
|
MARVEL COMICS |
99 |
38 |
0 |
137 |
|
DC COMICS |
83 |
24 |
0 |
107 |
|
IDW PUBLISHING |
36 |
16 |
0 |
52 |
|
IMAGE COMICS |
39 |
11 |
0 |
50 |
|
DARK HORSE COMICS |
19 |
25 |
0 |
44 |
|
BOOM! STUDIOS |
22 |
9 |
0 |
31 |
|
DYNAMITE |
21 |
1 |
0 |
22 |
|
ONI PRESS INC. |
6 |
5 |
0 |
11 |
|
VIZ MEDIA LLC |
0 |
10 |
0 |
10 |
|
VALIANT ENTERTAINMENT LLC |
6 |
2 |
0 |
8 |
|
OTHER NON-TOP 10 |
140 |
156 |
16 |
312 |
|
TOTAL |
471 |
297 |
16 |
784 |
TOP 10 COMIC BOOKS BY UNITS SHIPPED
|
RANK |
DESCRIPTION |
PRICE |
VENDOR |
|
1 |
SPIDER-WOMAN #1 |
$4.99 |
MARVEL COMICS |
|
2 |
THE FLASH #750 |
$7.99 |
DC COMICS |
|
3 |
THOR #4 |
$3.99 |
MARVEL COMICS |
|
4 |
X-MEN #8 |
$3.99 |
MARVEL COMICS |
|
5 |
WOLVERINE #2 |
$3.99 |
MARVEL COMICS |
|
6 |
STRANGE ACADEMY #1 |
$4.99 |
MARVEL COMICS |
|
7 |
BATMAN #90 |
$3.99 |
DC COMICS |
|
8 |
X-MEN #9 |
$3.99 |
MARVEL COMICS |
|
9 |
THE IMMORTAL HULK #33 |
$5.99 |
MARVEL COMICS |
|
10 |
BATMAN #91 |
$3.99 |
DC COMICS |
TOP 10 COMIC BOOKS BY DOLLARS INVOICED
|
RANK |
DESCRIPTION |
PRICE |
VENDOR |
|
1 |
SPIDER-WOMAN #1 |
$4.99 |
MARVEL COMICS |
|
2 |
THE FLASH #750 |
$7.99 |
DC COMICS |
|
3 |
ROBIN 80TH-ANNIVERSARY 100-PAGE SUPER SPECTACULAR #1 |
$9.99 |
DC COMICS |
|
4 |
THE IMMORTAL HULK #33 |
$5.99 |
MARVEL COMICS |
|
5 |
STRANGE ACADEMY #1 |
$4.99 |
MARVEL COMICS |
|
6 |
STRANGE ADVENTURES #1 [*] |
$4.99 |
DC COMICS |
|
7 |
X-MEN #8 |
$3.99 |
MARVEL COMICS |
|
8 |
WOLVERINE #2 |
$3.99 |
MARVEL COMICS |
|
9 |
HELLIONS #1 |
$4.99 |
MARVEL COMICS |
|
10 |
X-MEN #9 |
$3.99 |
MARVEL COMICS |
TOP 10 GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS BY UNITS SHIPPED
|
RANK |
DESCRIPTION |
PRICE |
VENDOR |
|
1 |
ONCE & FUTURE VOL. 1 TP |
$16.99 |
BOOM! STUDIOS |
|
2 |
SOMETHING IS KILLING CHILDREN VOL. 1 TP |
$14.99 |
BOOM! STUDIOS |
|
3 |
THE IMMORTAL HULK VOL. 6 TP |
$15.99 |
MARVEL COMICS |
|
4 |
DC SUPER HERO GIRLS: POWERLESS TP |
$9.99 |
DC COMICS |
|
5 |
HISTORY OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE |
$29.99 |
MARVEL COMICS |
|
6 |
NEW MUTANTS BY HICKMAN VOL. 1 TP |
$15.99 |
MARVEL COMICS |
|
7 |
KING THOR TP |
$15.99 |
MARVEL COMICS |
|
8 |
THE ORACLE CODE TP |
$16.99 |
DC COMICS |
|
9 |
STAR WARS VOL. 13: ROGUES AND REBELS TP |
$17.99 |
MARVEL COMICS |
|
10 |
RICK AND MORTY VS. DUNGEONS & DRAGONS II: PAINSCAPE TP |
$19.99 |
ONI PRESS |
TOP 10 GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS BY DOLLARS INVOICED
|
RANK |
DESCRIPTION |
PRICE |
VENDOR |
|
1 |
X-MEN: CHILDREN OF ATOM HC BOX SET |
$500.00 |
MARVEL COMICS |
|
2 |
UNCANNY X-FORCE BY REMENDER OMNIBUS HC |
$100.00 |
MARVEL COMICS |
|
3 |
WONDER WOMAN: THE GOLDEN AGE OMNIBUS VOLUME 4 HC |
$150.00 |
DC COMICS |
|
4 |
HISTORY OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE |
$29.99 |
MARVEL COMICS |
|
5 |
BATMAN: WHITE KNIGHT DELUXE EDITION HC |
$49.99 |
DC COMICS |
|
6 |
ONCE & FUTURE VOLUME 1 TP |
$16.99 |
BOOM! STUDIOS |
|
7 |
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: DAZZLER VOL. 1 HC |
$75.00 |
MARVEL COMICS |
|
8 |
POWER PACK CLASSIC OMNIBUS VOL. 1 HC |
$125.00 |
MARVEL COMICS |
|
9 |
THE WICKED & THE DIVINE VOLUME 4 HC (MR) |
$64.99 |
IMAGE COMICS |
|
10 |
SOMETHING IS KILLING CHILDREN VOL. 1 TP |
$14.99 |
BOOM! STUDIOS |