DC’s Doomsday Clock #1 took both the first and second spots on the new comics sales charts in November, its sales divided almost exactly in half between its lenticular and standards editions. Comichron estimates that North American retailer orders for the two versions combined for nearly 239,000 copies, making the issue one of the year’s top three sellers so far. Click to see estimated comics orders for November, as well as the projected top sellers for 2017 thus far.
As reported here Friday, while the Justice League movie released in November, DC’s first outperformance of a Rebirth month from 2016 probably had more to do with Doomsday Clock #1, its continuing Batman-related event, and an expanded slate that took advantage of a five-week month to include several annuals and new series launches. DC outpaced its November 2016 performance by 21%.
It was enough to give the Direct Market its second-best month of 2017, as retailers ordered almost exactly $47 million in comic books, graphic novels, and magazines from Diamond in the month. It would have been better had DC’s strength been matched elsewhere — but orders for the market minus DC were down 15% year-over-year, including, unusually, Image, which had been pacing ahead of its 2016 performance all year. The overall market was down 5.8%, the smallest decline since the Rebirth comparative months began.
The average price for all comics in the Top 300 was $3.99, the first time it’s ever been exactly that price. It had topped $4 just once, earlier in the year.
The vital statistics:
| TOP 300 COMICS SHIPPED (in UNITS) |
||
| November 2017 | 6.54 million copies | |
| 1 Year Ago | 7.65 million copies | -15% |
| 5 Years Ago | 7.41 million copies | -12% |
| 10 Years Ago | 6.95 million copies | -6% |
| 15 Years Ago | 6.22 million copies | +5% |
| 20 Years Ago | 7.91 million copies | -17% |
| ALL Comics Shipped in Month (Units) |
7.25 million copies | -13% |
| Year To Date | 74.01 million copies | |
| 1 Year Ago | 81.96 million copies | (10.0) |
| 5 Years Ago | 73.62 million copies | 1 |
| 10 Years Ago | 78.25 million copies | -5 |
| 15 Years Ago | 64.27 million copies | 15 |
| ALL Comics Shipped Year to Date (Units) |
83.21 million copies | -8% |
| TOP 300 COMICS SHIPPED (in DOLLARS) |
||
| November 2017 | $25.73 million | |
| 1 Year Ago | $29.32 million | -12% |
| 5 Years Ago | $26.37 million | -2% |
| 10 Years Ago | $21.75 million | +18% |
| 15 Years Ago | $17.58 million | +46% |
| 20 Years Ago | $19.78 million | +30% |
| ALL Comics Shipped during Month (Dollars) |
-9% | |
| Year To Date | $286.32 million | |
| 1 Year Ago | $315.65 million | -9% |
| 5 Years Ago | $260.21 million | +10% |
| 10 Years Ago | $247.39 million | +16% |
| 15 Years Ago | $180.33 million | +59% |
| ALL Comics Shipped Year to Date (Dollars) |
-10% | |
| TOP GRAPHIC NOVELS SHIPPED (in DOLLARS) |
||
| November 2017 (Top 300 GNs) | $9.5 million | |
| November 2017 (Top 100 GNs) |
$5.39 million | |
| November 2017 (Top 50 GNs) |
$2.96 million | |
| November 2017 (Top 25 GNs) |
$1.83 million | |
| Versus 1 Year Ago |
$8.71 million | +9% |
| Versus 5 Years Ago (Top 300) |
$7.06 million | +35% |
| Versus 10 Years Ago (Top 100) |
$5.99 million | -10% |
| Versus 15 Years Ago (Top 50) |
$2.73 million | -33% |
| ALL Graphic Novel Shipped in Month (Dollars) |
+2% | |
| Year To Date | $81.54 million | |
| 1 Year Ago | $86.59 million | -6% |
| ALL Graphic Novel Dollars Shipped Year to Date (Dollars) |
-9% | |
| TOP 300 COMICS plus TOP GNs SHIPPED (in DOLLARS) |
||
| November 2017 (including Top 300 GNs) |
$35.23 million | |
| November 2017 (including Top 300 GNs) |
$31.11 million | |
| November 2017 (including Top 100 GNs) |
$28.69 million | |
| November 2017 (including Top 25 GNs) |
$27.55 million | |
| Versus 1 Year Ago |
$38.03 million | -7% |
| Versus 5 Years Ago (Top 300) |
$33.43 million | -7% |
| Versus 10 Years Ago (Top 50) |
$27.74 million | -7% |
| Versus 15 Years Ago (Top 50) |
$20.91 million | +46% |
| All Comics & GNs Shipped in Month (Dollars) |
-6% | |
| Year To Date | $367.89 million | |
| 1 Year Ago | $401.62 million | -8% |
| ALL Comics & GNs Shipped Year to Date (Dollars) |
-10% | |
| ALL COMICS AND GNs SHIPPED (in Dollars) |
||
| November 2017 | $46,994,400.00 | |
| Versus 1 Year Ago |
$49.89 million | -6% |
| Versus 5 Years Ago |
$40.82 million | +15% |
| Versus 10 Years Ago |
$36.27 million | -10% |
| Year To Date | $483.76 million | |
| 1 Year Ago | $535.86 million | -10% |
| TITLE SPECIFICS | ||
| TOP SELLING COMIC BOOK | ||
| Doomsday Clock #1 | 119,412 copies at | $4.99 |
| 50th PLACE COMIC BOOK |
||
| X-Men Blue #15 | 36,204 copies at | $3.99 |
| 100th PLACE COMIC BOOK |
||
| Cable #151 | 22,256 copies at | $3.99 |
| 150th PLACE COMIC BOOK |
||
| Descender #26 | 13,122 copies at | $3.99 |
| 200th PLACE COMIC BOOK |
||
| Betty and Veronica Vixens #1 |
9,779 copies at | $3.99 |
| 300th PLACE COMIC BOOK |
||
| Tarot Witch of the Black Rose #107 |
4,763 copies at | $2.95 |
| NEW RELEASE VOLUME |
||
| New Comics Released |
542 | |
| New Graphic Novels Released |
455 | |
| New Magazines Released |
38 | |
| Total New Print Items Released |
1035 | |
| PRICING | ||
| Average Cover Price of Comics in the Top 300 |
$3.99 | |
| Average Cover Price of Comics in the Top 300, weighted by orders |
$3.93 | |
| Average Cover Price of Comics in the Top 25 |
$3.91 | |
| Median Cover Price of Comics in the Top 300 |
$3.99 | |
| Most Common Cover Price of Comics in the Top 300 |
$3.99 |
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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