Our comics sales estimates for March 2018 are now online, and they find a new comic as the bestseller of the year — at least until Action #1000 comes along in April with its reported orders exceeding 500,000-copies. Dark Nights Metal #6 wrapped up that series with orders of more than 187,500 copies, more than any issue in the year so far.
If you didn’t see it last month, our year-to-date list now tabulates all comics and graphic novels reported in the year so far, fusing sales together when reorders are reported; the Top 100 for each category is listed. That chart finds January’s Doomsday Clock #3 and Dark Nights Metal #5 from January in second for the year on strength of reorders — but it also shows a number of March-shipping comics ranked highly. That corroborates the finding discussed here on Friday, which is that while a lot fewer new comics came out this March versus last March (which had one more shipping week), the comics that came out sold relatively better.
The graphic novel shortfall was greater than what the smaller release slate would have predicted, however. Last March had extremely strong graphic novel orders, with both a new Saga and a new Walking Dead volume out. This March had only one of those — and the new Walking Dead Vol 29, while still the bestseller of the year so far, shipped 22% fewer copies than the March 2017 volume did. It’s hard to know what portion of that comes from fewer ordering shops — whether because of closures or because they’ve shifted purchases outside of Diamond to other distributors — or whether the drop is related to the series itself. Twenty-two percent happens to also be the exact ratio by which graphic novel orders overall dropped in March, so at least this one data point correlates with the market’s graphic novel sales overall.
The graphic novel category presents a different competitive environment, with online retailers in play, as well as discount-house retailers (like Ollie’s, earlier this year) selling either remaindered or liquidated trade paperbacks. While I’ve observed here several times that new comic book unit sales haven’t been negatively impacted by digital sales, a recent controversy raises the question of whether graphic novel sales are more vulnerable. I think that requires further research, but the fact that bound collected editions aren’t much of a factor in the aftermarket suggests that at least one of the things insulating print periodicals from defections to digital isn’t as much in play for graphic novel buyers.
One thing that wasn’t as much in play in March: price. The average price of the Top 300 comics dropped to $3.82, the lowest it’s been in several months.
The vital statistics, after the break:
| TOP 300 COMICS SHIPPED (in UNITS) |
||
| March 2018 | 6.08 million copies | |
| 1 Year Ago | 6.64 million copies | -8% |
| 5 Years Ago | 7.2 million copies | -16% |
| 10 Years Ago | 6.09 million copies | 0% |
| 15 Years Ago | 5.59 million copies | +9% |
| 20 Years Ago | 7.14 million copies | -15% |
| Top 500 Comics Shipped (Units) | 6.45 million copies | |
| ALL Comics Shipped in Month (Units) |
6.56 million copies | -12% |
| Year To Date | 17.83 million copies | |
| 1 Year Ago | 20 million copies | -11 |
| 5 Years Ago | 20.93 million copies | -15 |
| 10 Years Ago | 19.11 million copies | -7 |
| 15 Years Ago | 17.05 million copies | 5 |
| ALL Comics Shipped Year to Date (Units) |
19.57 million copies | -15% |
| TOP 300 COMICS SHIPPED (in DOLLARS) |
||
| March 2018 | $23.15 million | |
| 1 Year Ago | $26.06 million | -11% |
| 5 Years Ago | $25.93 million | -11% |
| 10 Years Ago | $19.14 million | +21% |
| 15 Years Ago | $15.69 million | +48% |
| 20 Years Ago | $17.47 million | +33% |
| Top 500 Comics Shipped (Dollars) |
$24.71 million | |
| ALL Comics Shipped during Month (Dollars) |
-13% | |
| Year To Date | $69.38 million | |
| 1 Year Ago | $75.4 million | -8% |
| 5 Years Ago | $75.2 million | -8% |
| 10 Years Ago | $59.79 million | +16% |
| 15 Years Ago | $47.77 million | +45% |
| ALL Comics Shipped Year to Date (Dollars) |
-7% | |
| TOP GRAPHIC NOVELS SHIPPED (in DOLLARS) |
||
| March 2018 (Top 300 GNs) | $5.71 million | |
| March 2018 (Top 100 GNs) |
$3.61 million | |
| March 2018 (Top 50 GNs) |
$2.18 million | |
| March 2018 (Top 25 GNs) |
$1.56 million | |
| Versus 1 Year Ago |
$9.89 million | -42% |
| Versus 5 Years Ago (Top 300) |
$8.97 million | -36% |
| Versus 10 Years Ago (Top 100) |
$4.33 million | -17% |
| Versus 15 Years Ago (Top 50) |
$2.54 million | -34% |
| Top 500 Graphic Novel Shipped in Month (Dollars) |
$6.49 million | |
| ALL Graphic Novel Shipped in Month (Dollars) |
-22% | |
| Year To Date | $15.87 million | |
| 1 Year Ago | $24.21 million | -34% |
| ALL Graphic Novel Dollars Shipped Year to Date (Dollars) |
-13% | |
| TOP 300 COMICS plus TOP GNs SHIPPED (in DOLLARS) |
||
| March 2018 (including Top 300 GNs) |
$28.86 million | |
| March 2018 (including Top 300 GNs) |
$26.76 million | |
| March 2018 (including Top 100 GNs) |
$25.34 million | |
| March 2018 (including Top 25 GNs) |
$24.71 million | |
| Versus 1 Year Ago |
$35.95 million | -20% |
| Versus 5 Years Ago (Top 300) |
$34.89 million | -23% |
| Versus 10 Years Ago (Top 50) |
$23.47 million | -1% |
| Versus 15 Years Ago (Top 50) |
$18.23 million | +48% |
| Top 500 Comics & Top 500 GNs Shipped in Month (Dollars) |
$31.2 million | |
| All Comics & GNs Shipped in Month (Dollars) |
-16% | |
| Year To Date | $85.25 million | |
| 1 Year Ago | $99.65 million | -14% |
| ALL Comics & GNs Shipped Year to Date (Dollars) |
-9% | |
| ALL COMICS AND GNs SHIPPED (in Dollars) |
||
| March 2018 | $38,482,000.00 | |
| Versus 1 Year Ago |
$45.79 million | -16% |
| Versus 5 Years Ago |
$41.33 million | -7% |
| Versus 10 Years Ago |
$31.21 million | +23% |
| Year To Date | $114.45 million | |
| 1 Year Ago | $125.67 million | -9% |
| TITLE SPECIFICS | ||
| TOP SELLING COMIC BOOK | ||
| Dark Nights Metal #6 |
187,583 copies at | $4.99 |
| 50th PLACE COMIC BOOK |
||
| Invincible Iron Man #598 |
31,717 copies at | $3.99 |
| 100th PLACE COMIC BOOK |
||
| Hit-Girl #2 | 21,185 copies at | $3.99 |
| 150th PLACE COMIC BOOK |
||
| Amazing Spider-Man #795 |
13,047 copies at | $3.99 |
| 200th PLACE COMIC BOOK |
||
| Witchblade #4 | 7,971 copies at | $3.99 |
| 300th PLACE COMIC BOOK |
||
| Grass Kings #13 |
3,803 copies at | $3.99 |
| 400th PLACE COMIC BOOK |
||
| Doomsday Clock #3 |
1,675 copies at | $3.99 |
| 500th PLACE COMIC BOOK |
||
| Archie and Me Comics Digest #5 |
552 copies at | $3.99 |
| NEW RELEASE VOLUME |
||
| New Comics Released |
449 | |
| New Graphic Novels Released |
318 | |
| New Magazines Released |
26 | |
| Total New Print Items Released |
793 | |
| PRICING | ||
| Average Cover Price of Comics in the Top 300 |
$3.82 | |
| Average Cover Price of Comics in the Top 300, weighted by orders |
$3.81 | |
| Average Cover Price of Comics in the Top 25 |
$3.87 | |
| 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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