Direct Market comic book and graphic novel sales got a positive start to the year, with January 2019 sales topping last January’s over 10%, according to figures released by Diamond Comic Distributors Friday morning.
For the second month in a row, Scott Snyder and Jock’s The Batman Who Laughs from DC was the best-selling comic book of the month and its second issue led the publisher’s five titles in the Top 10 that also included four Tom King-written titles at #6 through #9 – Batman #62 and #63 and Heroes in Crisis #4 and #5, respectively.
Marvel Comics split the remaining five titles in the Top 10, led by Kelly Thompson and Carmen Nunez Carnero’s Captain Marvel #1, the second best-selling title of January. Guardians of the Galaxy #1, Conan the Barbarian #1 and Amazing Spider-Man #14 rounded out the Top 5, respectively, with Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #1 completing the Top 10 at #10.
Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard’s The Walking Dead #187 from Image Comics was the highest-charting title from a Diamond Premier publisher other than Marvel and DC at #30.
The collected edition of Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Dark Nights: Metal was the best-selling graphic novel of January.
Marvel remained the top publisher in January leading in both the dollar share (39.24%) and unit share (41.29%) categories. DC was second, with a dollar share of 29.70% and unit share of 33.39%. Image Comics was third, with a 7.56% dollar share and a 7.77% unit share.
Helped along by a more robust selection of new comic book titles by DC (87 in January compared to 52 in December), January posted strong gains over January 2018 (both five week months) in dollar sales with less robust gains in unit sales.
January sold 15.32% more dollars and 5.03% more units in comic books and 11.98% dollars and 2.36% more units in graphic novels for a total 14.33% dollars and 4.82% units increase over January 2018.
According to John Jackson Miller of Comichron, there seems to be some signs of life in the Direct Market, with the just concluded December 2018/January 2019 period outpacing the previous year.
“December’s loss is January’s gain, with a lot of the business and releases that would have appeared in that holiday-truncated month winding up in the five-week January instead. A better comparison is to look at December and January together as a unit: in that case, the current market nets out better, up 6% in dollars and with 300,000 more comics sold than in December 2017/January 2018. We also see that a dozen fewer new comic books were released across the December 2018/January 2019 combo, which means the current per-release average was a little better.
“I will be running the attached table, which adds perspective to that. I won’t say that Christmas Week’s weird schedule cost the Direct Market the full percentage point it was shy of beating 2017, but I do find that the 12 months from February 2018-to-January 2019 did slightly beat February 2017-to-January 2018.”
December-January combined sales since 2010-2011
Credit: Comichron-John Jackson Miller
The January 2019 Market Share, Comparative Sales Data, New Titles Shipped and Top 10 Comic Books Units and Dollars and Top 10 Graphic Novels Units and Dollars charts follow below.
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COMPARATIVE SALES STATISTICS
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DOLLARS |
UNITS |
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JANUARY 2019 VS. DECEMBER 2018 |
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COMICS |
11.93% |
13.49% |
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GRAPHIC NOVELS |
42.79% |
40.93% |
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TOTAL COMICS/GN |
19.47% |
15.18% |
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TOYS |
154.01% |
234.27% |
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JANUARY 2019 VS. JANUARY 2018 |
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COMICS |
15.32% |
5.03% |
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GRAPHIC NOVELS |
11.98% |
2.36% |
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TOTAL COMICS/GN |
14.33% |
4.82% |
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TOYS |
34.53% |
57.58% |
NEW TITLES SHIPPED
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PUBLISHER |
COMICS |
GRAPHIC NOVELS |
MAGAZINES |
TOTAL |
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MARVEL COMICS |
102 |
40 |
0 |
142 |
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DC |
87 |
31 |
0 |
118 |
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IMAGE COMICS |
57 |
10 |
0 |
67 |
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IDW PUBLISHING |
39 |
17 |
0 |
56 |
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DARK HORSE COMICS |
27 |
19 |
0 |
46 |
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BOOM! STUDIOS |
25 |
11 |
0 |
36 |
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DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT |
19 |
6 |
0 |
25 |
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VIZ MEDIA |
0 |
25 |
0 |
25 |
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TITAN COMICS |
10 |
9 |
0 |
19 |
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ARCHIE COMICS |
13 |
5 |
0 |
18 |
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OTHER NON-TOP 10 |
136 |
186 |
37 |
359 |
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TOTAL |
515 |
359 |
37 |
911 |
TOP 10 COMIC BOOKS BY UNITS SHIPPED
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RANK |
DESCRIPTION |
PRICE |
VENDOR |
|
1 |
THE BATMAN WHO LAUGHS #2 |
$4.99 |
DC |
|
2 |
CAPTAIN MARVEL #1 |
$4.99 |
MAR |
|
3 |
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #1 |
$4.99 |
MAR |
|
4 |
CONAN THE BARBARIAN #1 |
$4.99 |
MAR |
|
5 |
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #14 |
$3.99 |
MAR |
|
6 |
BATMAN #62 |
$3.99 |
DC |
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7 |
BATMAN #63 |
$3.99 |
DC |
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8 |
HEROES IN CRISIS #4 |
$3.99 |
DC |
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9 |
HEROES IN CRISIS #5 |
$3.99 |
DC |
|
10 |
FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN #1 |
$4.99 |
MAR |
TOP 10 COMIC BOOKS BY DOLLARS INVOICED
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RANK |
DESCRIPTION |
PRICE |
VENDOR |
|
1 |
CAPTAIN MARVEL #1 |
$4.99 |
MAR |
|
2 |
THE BATMAN WHO LAUGHS #2 |
$4.99 |
DC |
|
3 |
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #1 |
$4.99 |
MAR |
|
4 |
CONAN THE BARBARIAN #1 |
$4.99 |
MAR |
|
5 |
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #14 |
$3.99 |
MAR |
|
6 |
FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN #1 |
$4.99 |
MAR |
|
7 |
YOUNG JUSTICE #1 |
$4.99 |
DC |
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8 |
BATMAN #62 |
$3.99 |
DC |
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9 |
BATMAN #63 |
$3.99 |
DC |
|
10 |
HEROES IN CRISIS #4 |
$3.99 |
DC |
TOP 10 GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS BY UNITS SHIPPED
|
RANK |
DESCRIPTION |
PRICE |
VENDOR |
|
1 |
DARK NIGHTS: METAL TP |
$19.99 |
DC |
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2 |
THE INFINITY GAUNTLET TP |
$24.99 |
MAR |
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3 |
THE LIFE OF CAPTAIN MARVEL TP |
$15.99 |
MAR |
|
4 |
STAR WARS: DARTH VADER: DARK LORD OF THE SITH VOLUME 4: FORTRESS VADER TP |
$19.99 |
MAR |
|
5 |
COSMIC GHOST RIDER: BABY THANOS MUST DIE TP |
$15.99 |
MAR |
|
6 |
BLACK HAMMER VOL. 3: AGE OF DOOM PART I TP |
$19.99 |
DAR |
|
7 |
FARMHAND VOLUME 1 TP (MR) |
$12.99 |
IMA |
|
8 |
DARK DAYS: THE ROAD TO METAL TP |
$19.99 |
DC |
|
9 |
BATMAN: WHITE KNIGHT TP |
$19.99 |
DC |
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10 |
SPIDER-GEDDON: EDGE OF SPIDER-GEDDON TP |
$15.99 |
MAR |
TOP 10 GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS BY DOLLARS INVOICED
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RANK |
DESCRIPTION |
PRICE |
VENDOR |
|
1 |
CONAN THE BARBARIAN OMNIBUS VOLUME 1 HC |
$125.00 |
MAR |
|
2 |
THE INFINITY GAUNTLET TP |
$24.99 |
MAR |
|
3 |
DARK NIGHTS: METAL TP |
$19.99 |
DC |
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4 |
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: UNCANNY X-MEN VOL. 11 HC |
$100.00 |
MAR |
|
5 |
HOUSE OF MYSTERY: THE BRONZE AGE OMNIBUS VOL. 1 HC |
$99.99 |
DC |
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6 |
INFINITY TP |
$49.99 |
MAR |
|
7 |
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: MARVEL TEAM-UP VOL. 4 HC |
$75.00 |
MAR |
|
8 |
STAR WARS: DARTH VADER: DARK LORD OF THE SITH VOLUME 4: FORTRESS VADER TP |
$19.99 |
MAR |
|
9 |
BLACK HAMMER VOL. 3: AGE OF DOOM PART I TP |
$19.99 |
DAR |
|
10 |
SPIDER-MAN: BEN REILLY OMNIBUS VOLUME 1 HC |
$125.00 |
MAR |