We’ll have to wait a few days to find out how many copies of Jonathan Hickman and Leinil Francis Yu’s X-Men #1 from Marvel sold in October, but the month’s bestselling comic book helped the Direct Market to its fourth-highest dollar total in ten years and highest in three years.
According to figures released by Diamond Comic Distributors Friday morning, the “Dawn of X” launch title was one of eight titles in a Marvel-dominated Top 10, that included three more mutant titles – Powers of X #6 (#3), House of X #6 (#4) and Marauders #1 (#10).
Todd McFarlane’s Spawn #300 followed up its #1 ranking in September with Spawn #301, the second-bestselling title in October.
DC’s The Joker: Year of the Villain #1, DC’s lone entry in the comic book Top 10, ranked #5.
DC’s Doomsday Clock Part 1, collecting the first half of Geoff Johns and Gary Frank’s sequel to Watchmen-slash-DC Universe mash-up, was October’s best-selling graphic novel.
Marvel was of course, October’s top publisher, leading in both dollar share (39.51%) and unit share (45.20%). DC placed its usual second for the month with a 31.67% dollar share and a 32.02% unit share. Image was third with a 7.59% dollar share and a 7.18% unit share.
But onto the biggest takeaway of October – an estimated $56.35 million in sales, which we’ll leave John Jackson Miller of Comichron to explain the significance of:
“The best month in dollar terms we’ve seen in three years, as well as the first $50 million+ month since [DC Universe: Rebirth #1],” the Direct Market sales analyst reports. “And that’s significant, because there was this much money in the market three years ago. There’s a case to be made that the 2017 dip may have seen its real impact not in closures, in existing stores pushing dollars out of comics and into Funko toys and graphic novels not shipped by Diamond. This month, they found a reason to push those dollars back in.”
Jackson explains further in his full report (which you can read here).
“October 2019 was the fourth best month of the decade in dollar orders, and the best month since August 2016, itself an outstanding month when retailers ordered more than 10 million comic books during the Rebirth event. Last month was also the first month to top $50 million in orders in exactly three years, since October 2016. Retailers ordered 8.82 million comics, an increase of 10% and likewise the most comics ordered in a single month in three years. Yet publishers actually released 1% fewer comics this October, five fewer. It was what the comic books were that mattered more. ”
Year-to-date total comic book and graphic novel Direct Market sales through October are now up 1.81% in dollars and down 2.40% in units vs. 2018.
Diamond’s October 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:
TOP COMIC BOOK PUBLISHERS
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COMPARATIVE SALES STATISTICS
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DOLLARS |
UNITS |
|
AUGUST 2019 VS. JULY 2019 |
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|
COMICS |
22.22% |
16.49% |
|
GRAPHIC NOVELS |
12.88% |
15.87% |
|
TOTAL COMICS/GN |
19.82% |
16.45% |
|
TOYS |
24.94% |
51.89% |
|
AUGUST 2019 VS. AUGUST 2018 |
||
|
COMICS |
21.05% |
9.95% |
|
GRAPHIC NOVELS |
-3.32% |
-7.10% |
|
TOTAL COMICS/GN |
14.09% |
8.68% |
|
TOYS |
15.44% |
1.80% |
|
YEAR TO DATE 2019 VS. YEAR TO DATE 2018 |
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COMICS |
4.19% |
-1.81% |
|
GRAPHIC NOVELS |
-4.16% |
-9.71% |
|
TOTAL COMICS/GN |
1.81% |
-2.40% |
|
TOYS |
21.81% |
22.21% |
NEW TITLES SHIPPED
|
PUBLISHER |
COMICS |
GRAPHIC NOVELS |
MAGAZINES |
TOTAL |
|
MARVEL COMICS |
110 |
50 |
0 |
160 |
|
DC COMICS |
107 |
30 |
1 |
138 |
|
IMAGE COMICS |
50 |
12 |
0 |
62 |
|
IDW PUBLISHING |
39 |
16 |
0 |
55 |
|
DARK HORSE COMICS |
26 |
21 |
0 |
47 |
|
BOOM! STUDIOS |
18 |
15 |
0 |
33 |
|
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT |
15 |
9 |
0 |
24 |
|
VIZ MEDIA |
0 |
22 |
0 |
22 |
|
ONI PRESS |
3 |
9 |
0 |
12 |
|
TITAN COMICS |
6 |
4 |
2 |
12 |
|
OTHER NON-TOP 10 |
147 |
229 |
30 |
406 |
|
TOTAL |
521 |
417 |
33 |
971 |
TOP 10 COMIC BOOKS BY UNITS SHIPPED
|
RANK |
DESCRIPTION |
PRICE |
VENDOR |
|
1 |
X-MEN #1 |
$4.99 |
MAR |
|
2 |
SPAWN #301 |
$4.99 |
IMA |
|
3 |
POWERS OF X #6 |
$5.99 |
MAR |
|
4 |
HOUSE OF X #6 |
$4.99 |
MAR |
|
5 |
THE JOKER: YEAR OF THE VILLAIN #1 |
$4.99 |
DC |
|
6 |
AMAZING MARY JANE #1 |
$3.99 |
MAR |
|
7 |
ABSOLUTE CARNAGE #4 |
$4.99 |
MAR |
|
8 |
GHOST RIDER #1 |
$4.99 |
MAR |
|
9 |
IMMORTAL HULK #25 |
$5.99 |
MAR |
|
10 |
MARAUDERS #1 |
$4.99 |
MAR |
TOP 10 COMIC BOOKS BY DOLLARS INVOICED
|
RANK |
DESCRIPTION |
PRICE |
VENDOR |
|
1 |
X-MEN #1 |
$4.99 |
MAR |
|
2 |
SPAWN #301 |
$4.99 |
IMA |
|
3 |
POWERS OF X #6 |
$5.99 |
MAR |
|
4 |
THE JOKER: YEAR OF THE VILLAIN #1 |
$4.99 |
DC |
|
5 |
HOUSE OF X #6 |
$4.99 |
MAR |
|
6 |
THE JOKER/HARLEY: CRIMINAL SANITY #1 [*] |
$5.99 |
DC |
|
7 |
HARLEEN #2 (MR) |
$7.99 |
DC |
|
8 |
IMMORTAL HULK #25 |
$5.99 |
MAR |
|
9 |
ABSOLUTE CARNAGE #4 |
$4.99 |
MAR |
|
10 |
AMAZING MARY JANE #1 |
$3.99 |
MAR |
TOP 10 GRAPHIC NOVELS BY UNITS SHIPPED
|
RANK |
DESCRIPTION |
PRICE |
VENDOR |
|
1 |
DOOMSDAY CLOCK PART 1 HC |
$24.99 |
DC |
|
2 |
THE WICKED & THE DIVINE VOL. 9 TP |
$17.99 |
IMA |
|
3 |
SPIDER-MAN: LIFE STORY TP |
$24.99 |
MAR |
|
4 |
THANOS: THE INFINITY ENDING HC |
$24.99 |
MAR |
|
5 |
ASCENDER VOLUME 1 TP (MR) |
$9.99 |
IMA |
|
6 |
DC SUPER HERO GIRLS AT METROPOLIS HIGH TP |
$9.99 |
DC |
|
7 |
THE WALKING DEAD COMPENDIUM VOL. 4 TP |
$59.99 |
IMA |
|
8 |
CRITICAL ROLE VOL. 1: VOX MACHINA ORIGINS TP |
$19.99 |
DAR |
|
9 |
MY HERO ACADEMIA VOLUME 1 GN |
$9.99 |
VIZ |
|
10 |
GIDEON FALLS VOL. 3: STATIONS OF THE CROSS TP |
$16.99 |
IMA |
TOP 10 GRAPHIC NOVELS BY DOLLARS INVOICED
|
RANK |
DESCRIPTION |
PRICE |
VENDOR |
|
1 |
THE WALKING DEAD COMPENDIUM VOL. 4 TP |
$59.99 |
IMA |
|
2 |
DOOMSDAY CLOCK PART 1 HC |
$24.99 |
DC |
|
3 |
JOHN BYRN’ES MARVEL CLASSICS ARTIFACT EDITION HC |
$75.00 |
IDW |
|
4 |
NAMOR SUB-MARINER BY BYRNE AND JAE LEE OMNIBUS HC |
$125.00 |
MAR |
|
5 |
SPIDER-MAN: LIFE STORY TP |
$24.99 |
MAR |
|
6 |
THANOS: THE INFINITY ENDING HC |
$24.99 |
MAR |
|
7 |
BATMAN BY SNYDER & CAPULLO OMNIBUS VOL. 1 HC |
$125.00 |
DC |
|
8 |
THE IMMORTAL HULK VOL. 1 HC |
$34.99 |
MAR |
|
9 |
THE BOYS OMNIBUS VOLUME 1 TP (MR) |
$29.99 |
DE |
|
10 |
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: GHOST RIDER VOLUME 1 HC |
$75.00 |
MAR |