As reported last week, comics and graphic novel orders through Diamond Comics Distributors ended October ahead for the year-to-date, thanks to one additional New Comic Book Day during the month. We also know the month benefited from particularly strong sales of middle-tier titles, thanks to Comichron estimates, just posted: click to see the comics sales estimates for October 2018.
October was generally without the major launches that previous months saw; the major event for the month (besides the Venom movie) was Walking Dead Day on Oct. 13, which saw 15 different “blind bag” editions of previous issues (along with new variant covers) on offer. Batman #56, with its foil edition, finished first in units and dollars among comic books, with Walking Dead #1’s 15th anniversary edition in second. The issues landed around 107,500 and 106,100 copies shipped respectively in North America.
But as noted, the performance of titles in the midsection of the charts was strong. The 150th place title shipped 17,305 copies, the third largest amount at that level in 20 years. The 200th place title sold 12,184 copies, the fourth highest amount in two decades. The 50th, 100th, 400th, and 500th place titles all hit one-year highs.
While in part due to more releases on offer after a year in which publishers had cut their slates back, it appears that, in the absence of a blockbuster title for the month, retailers may have spread their ordering dollars around to other issues. October’s total comics shipment of 8 million copies was the largest since May 2017, which had the 25¢ Saga #43 padding the totals.
The Batman: White Knight trade paperback topped 12,000 copies shipped in October. It’s now also nearly certain that Infinity Gauntlet will be the top-ordered graphic novel from Diamond in 2018; this would be the first time Marvel led that list since Civil War in 2007, after a five-year run with Saga volumes in the lead. Click to see sales for comics and graphic novels for the year to date; you can also see the top titles by year.
The vital statistics for October:
-->| TOP 300 COMICS SHIPPED (in UNITS) |
||
| October 2018 | 7.23 million copies | |
| 1 Year Ago | 7.03 million copies | +3% |
| 5 Years Ago | 7.76 million copies | -7% |
| 10 Years Ago | 7.53 million copies | -4% |
| 15 Years Ago | 7.4 million copies | -2% |
| 20 Years Ago | 7.06 million copies | +2% |
| Top 500 Comics Shipped (Units) | 7.78 million copies | |
| ALL Comics Shipped in Month (Units) |
8.02 million copies | +5% |
| Year To Date | 65.54 million copies | |
| 1 Year Ago | 67.48 million copies | -3 |
| 5 Years Ago | 71.29 million copies | -8 |
| 10 Years Ago | 67.91 million copies | -3 |
| 15 Years Ago | 60.59 million copies | 8 |
| ALL Comics Shipped Year to Date (Units) |
71.73 million copies | -6% |
| TOP 300 COMICS SHIPPED (in DOLLARS) |
||
| October 2018 | $29.45 million | |
| 1 Year Ago | $27.2 million | +8% |
| 5 Years Ago | $28.95 million | +2% |
| 10 Years Ago | $24.9 million | +18% |
| 15 Years Ago | $21.42 million | +37% |
| 20 Years Ago | $18.7 million | +57% |
| Top 500 Comics Shipped (Dollars) |
$31.76 million | |
| ALL Comics Shipped during Month (Dollars) |
+10% | |
| Year To Date | $286.12 million | |
| 1 Year Ago | $260.59 million | +3% |
| 5 Years Ago | $259.47 million | +3% |
| 10 Years Ago | $218.26 million | +23% |
| 15 Years Ago | $171.46 million | +56% |
| ALL Comics Shipped Year to Date (Dollars) |
+2% | |
| TOP GRAPHIC NOVELS SHIPPED (in DOLLARS) |
||
| October 2018 (Top 300 GNs) | $7.26 million | |
| October 2018 (Top 100 GNs) |
$4.13 million | |
| October 2018 (Top 50 GNs) |
$2.57 million | |
| October 2018 (Top 25 GNs) |
$1.83 million | |
| Versus 1 Year Ago |
$7.56 million | -4% |
| Versus 5 Years Ago (Top 300) |
$8.34 million | -13% |
| Versus 10 Years Ago (Top 100) |
$5.79 million | -29% |
| Versus 15 Years Ago (Top 50) |
$2.76 million | -7% |
| Top 500 Graphic Novel Shipped in Month (Dollars) |
$8.59 million | |
| ALL Graphic Novel Shipped in Month (Dollars) |
+5% | |
| Year To Date | $63.33 million | |
| 1 Year Ago | $72.04 million | -14% |
| ALL Graphic Novel Dollars Shipped Year to Date (Dollars) |
-4% | |
| TOP 300 COMICS plus TOP GNs SHIPPED (in DOLLARS) |
||
| October 2018 (including Top 300 GNs) |
$36.7 million | |
| October 2018 (including Top 300 GNs) |
$33.58 million | |
| October 2018 (including Top 100 GNs) |
$32.01 million | |
| October 2018 (including Top 25 GNs) |
$31.28 million | |
| Versus 1 Year Ago |
$34.76 million | +6% |
| Versus 5 Years Ago (Top 300) |
$37.28 million | -10% |
| Versus 10 Years Ago (Top 50) |
$30.69 million | -4% |
| Versus 15 Years Ago (Top 50) |
$24.18 million | +37% |
| Top 500 Comics & Top 500 GNs Shipped in Month (Dollars) |
$40.36 million | |
| All Comics & GNs Shipped in Month (Dollars) |
+8% | |
| Year To Date | $331.45 million | |
| 1 Year Ago | $332.66 million | 0% |
| ALL Comics & GNs Shipped Year to Date (Dollars) |
+0% | |
| ALL COMICS AND GNs SHIPPED (in Dollars) |
||
| October 2018 | $49,394,800.00 | |
| Versus 1 Year Ago |
$45.58 million | +8% |
| Versus 5 Years Ago |
$50.32 million | -2% |
| Versus 10 Years Ago |
$42.05 million | +17% |
| Year To Date | $438.38 million | |
| 1 Year Ago | $436.76 million | 0% |
| TITLE SPECIFICS | ||
| TOP SELLING COMIC BOOK | ||
| Batman #56 | 107,578 copies at | $3.99 |
| 50th PLACE COMIC BOOK |
||
| Batgirl #28 | 37,397 copies at | $3.99 |
| 100th PLACE COMIC BOOK |
||
| Peter Parker Spectacular Spider-Man #311 |
25,555 copies at | $3.99 |
| 150th PLACE COMIC BOOK |
||
| Sideways #9 | 17,305 copies at | $2.99 |
| 200th PLACE COMIC BOOK |
||
| True Believers What If The FF Had Different Super-Powers #1 |
12,184 copies at | $1.00 |
| 300th PLACE COMIC BOOK |
||
| Birthright #32 | 4,897 copies at | $3.99 |
| 400th PLACE COMIC BOOK |
||
| Beyonders #3 | 2,507 copies at | $3.99 |
| 500th PLACE COMIC BOOK |
||
| Doomsday Clock #6 |
1,219 copies at | $3.99 |
| NEW RELEASE VOLUME |
||
| New Comics Released |
526 | |
| New Graphic Novels Released |
440 | |
| New Magazines Released |
38 | |
| Total New Print Items Released |
1004 | |
| PRICING | ||
| Average Cover Price of Comics in the Top 300 |
$4.02 | |
| Average Cover Price of Comics in the Top 300, weighted by orders |
$4.07 | |
| Average Cover Price of Comics in the Top 25 |
$4.15 | |
| 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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