I had mentioned on Twitter earlier this week that while last September was a strong month for the Direct Market thanks to DC’s Rebirth program, the month’s sales levels offered a relatively reachable target. While information released today by Diamond Comic Distributors shows that September 2017 comics and graphic novel orders, at $43.52 million, fell six points short, that represents the smallest year-over-year drop since May.
Perhaps more significant, given the narrative we’ve seen in 2017, is that according to Comichron’s analysis, orders for Marvel comics and graphic novels were up 14% in dollar terms over last September. That’s an increase of about $2 million at retail, representing the publisher’s best year-over-year performance since June 2016. The chart-topping Marvel Legacy #1 has something do with it, of course, and while there’s always some level of deep-discounting on graphic novels, Marvel’s unit and dollar shares were pretty close to one another — right around 38% — so there can’t be too much of it involved. Marvel’s 88 new comic books in September was also the smallest number of periodical releases for the publisher in any month this year.
Marvel’s improvement relative to its past performance continues the reversal noted here last month of the trend seen earlier in 2017, in which the publisher was entirely responsible for the industry’s decline in dollar terms; as of September it was DC, up against last year’s Rebirth numbers, which accounts for the lion’s share of the loss. But there, too, DC’s rate of decline in September was nearly half what it was in August, thanks to the continuation of its Dark Multiverse event and the fact that Rebirth was starting to come down off its heights this time last year.
Does that mean that October, when DC’s comparatives get easier and in which Marvel’s Legacy event will be fully underway, will turn positive? Perhaps not a bet to take, as it will be a challenge: Marvel’s October and November last year, while off from 2015, were relatively strong. An important question is whether graphic novels continue to under-perform: whereas periodicals pared their rate of loss for the year in September, graphic novels, led by Walking Dead Vol. 28, were down 13% in dollars. The number of new graphic novels in September was nearly the same as in August, which had an extra shipping week; new comics volume may seem high, but 365 new graphic novels is more than we’ve seen in a four-week month in three years.
The percentage changes:
| Dollars | Units | |
|---|---|---|
| September 2017 Vs. August 2017 | ||
| Comics | -0.44% | 1.26% |
| Graphic Novels | -14.41% | -15.46% |
| Total Comics/GNs | -4.81% | -0.08% |
| Toys | -18.35% | -15.27% |
| September 2017 Vs. September 2016 | ||
| Comics | -2.98% | -5.49% |
| Graphic Novels | -13.14% | -16.98% |
| Total Comics/GNs | -6.07% | -6.37% |
| Toys | -13.86% | -30.78% |
| Year-to-Date 2017 Vs. Year-to-Date 2016 | ||
| Comics | -9.20% | -6.15% |
| Graphic Novels | -11.83% | -13.22% |
| Total Comics/GNs | -10.00% | -6.71% |
| Toys | -11.33% | -18.24% |
While the rate of decrease, as noted, did improve in September, the overall quarter was off 16%, the largest quarterly drop since 2003, when final orders began being reported by Diamond. There aren’t too many events like Rebirth to be found in previous years.
The market shares:
| DOLLAR SHARE |
UNIT SHARE |
|
|---|---|---|
| Marvel | 37.97% | 38.13% |
| DC | 30.21% | 36.68% |
| Image | 9.55% | 8.81% |
| IDW | 4.30% | 3.67% |
| Dark Horse | 2.44% | 1.70% |
| Boom | 1.99% | 1.77% |
| Dynamite | 1.94% | 1.91% |
| Viz | 1.40% | 0.49% |
| Titan | 1.16% | 0.85% |
| Oni | 1.10% | 0.72% |
| Others | 7.94% | 5.27% |
The top-selling comics:
| COMIC BOOK | PRICE | PUBLISHER | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marvel Legacy #1 | 5.99 | Marvel |
| 2 | Dark Nights: Metal #2 | $3.99 | DC |
| 3 | Venomverse #1 | $4.99 | Marvel |
| 4 | Batman #30 | $2.99 | DC |
| 5 | Batman #31 | $2.99 | DC |
| 6 | Harley Quinn 25th Anniversary Special #1 | $4.99 | DC |
| 7 | The Walking Dead #171 | $2.99 | Image |
| 8 | Batman: The Red Death #1 | $3.99 | DC |
| 9 | Batman: The Murder Machine #1 | $3.99 | DC |
| 10 | Action Comics #987 Lenticular Edition | $3.99 | DC |
The top-selling graphic novels:
| GRAPHIC NOVEL | PRICE | PUBLISHER | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Walking Dead Vol. 28 | $16.99 | Image |
| 2 | Batman: The Dark Knight III: Master Race HC | $29.99 | DC |
| 3 | Star Wars: Darth Maul | $16.99 | Marvel |
| 4 | East of West Volume 7 | $16.99 | Image |
| 5 | DC Super Hero Girls Vol. 4: Past Times At Super Hero High | $9.99 | DC |
| 6 | Sex Criminals Volume 4: Fourgy | $16.99 | Image |
| 7 | All-Star Batman Vol. 1: My Own Worst Enemy | $16.99 | DC |
| 8 | Royal City Vol. 1: Next Of Kin | $9.99 | Image |
| 9 | Harley Quinn Vol. 3: Red Meat | $16.99 | DC |
| 10 | Wolverine: Old Man Logan Vol. 5: Past Lives | $17.99 | Marvel |
And the volume of new releases:
| Publisher | Comics shipped |
Graphic Novels shipped |
Magazines shipped |
Total shipped |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marvel | 88 | 42 | 0 | 130 |
| DC | 77 | 34 | 0 | 111 |
| Image | 58 | 25 | 0 | 83 |
| IDW | 40 | 21 | 0 | 61 |
| Viz | 0 | 43 | 0 | 43 |
| Boom | 28 | 10 | 0 | 38 |
| Dynamite | 29 | 7 | 0 | 36 |
| Titan | 19 | 10 | 3 | 32 |
| Dark Horse | 16 | 13 | 0 | 29 |
| Oni | 8 | 6 | 0 | 14 |
| Others | 123 | 154 | 17 | 294 |
| TOTAL SHIPPED | 486 | 365 | 20 | 871 |
I’m appearing this weekend at New York Comic-Con, so look for the estimates next week as soon as I can get to them. But in the meantime, if you missed it, check out our feature on legacy numbering across time; my thanks to Bradley Glynn for helping to double-check some of the data there.
Comichron founder John Jackson Miller has tracked the comics industry for more than 25 years, including a decade editing the industry’s retail trade magazine; he is the author of several guides to comics, as well as more than a hundred comic books for various franchises.
He is the author of novels including Star Wars: Kenobi, Star Wars: A New Dawn, Star Trek: Discovery – The Enterprise War, and his upcoming release, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – The High Country. Read more about them at his fiction site.
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