November 2018 comics sales estimates online: Uncanny X-Men tops 176,000 copies in U.S., Canada

As reported here on Friday, the momentum in Direct Market stores’ purchases of comics and graphic novels from Diamond Comic Distributors hit a bump in November due, in part, to significantly smaller slates from comics publishers. Click to visit our page for November 2018 comics sales estimates.

Already at a disadvantage against November 2017, which had one more shipping week, November 2018 saw 121 fewer comics released, a drop of 22% and the smallest new comics slate since April 2016, before the DC Rebirth event began. Marvel‘s 79 new comic books was its lowest number of new releases since October 2015 — and DC’s 67 new comics were down from 95 the previous year. (Note that the number of items retailers had to choose from didn’t necessarily go down; all variants are merged in these calcuations.)

Despite the month’s drop overall and its smaller slate, Marvel actually had a better month than it did the year before; its overall dollar sales were up 3%. The publisher had the top comic book in dollar and unit sales in Uncanny X-Men #1, priced at $7.99; it had North American orders topping 176,000 copies.

It was also a big month for Venom. In addition to the surprisingly strong performance of the character’s film in theaters, Marvel had the top graphic novel in Venom by Donny Cates Vol. 1 and a top-three new-comics finisher in Web of Venom: Carnage Born #1; it had sales topping 104,000 copies. Amazing Spider-Man #10 did better than #9 thanks to a J. Scott Campbell variant, seen at right.

It was a much softer month for DC comparatively, year-over-year, largely because of the aforemetioned smaller slate, but also because November 2017 saw the launch of Doomsday Clock. It did have a significant launch in The Green Lantern #1, which shipped more than 113,000 copies to North America.

November’s performance makes a return to a positive year saleswise in December more unlikely;
click to see some of our scenarios for 2018’s final totals. 2018 will join four other years in the last decade with sales either up by less than 2% or down by less than 2%; it will be a much smaller drop than we saw in 2017, regardless.

Here are the vital statistics for the month:

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TOP 300 COMICS SHIPPED (in UNITS)
November 2018	6.09 million copies
1 Year Ago	6.53 million copies	-7%
5 Years Ago	6.62 million copies	-8%
10 Years Ago	5.76 million copies	+6%
15 Years Ago	6.08 million copies	0%
20 Years Ago	6.49 million copies	-6%
Top 500 Comics Shipped (Units)	6.34 million copies
ALL Comics Shipped in Month (Units)	6.44 million copies	-11%
Year To Date	0 million copies
1 Year Ago	74.01 million copies	-3
5 Years Ago	77.91 million copies	-8
10 Years Ago	73.67 million copies	-3
15 Years Ago	66.67 million copies	7
ALL Comics Shipped Year to Date (Units)	78.17 million copies	-6%
TOP 300 COMICS SHIPPED (in DOLLARS)
November 2018	$25.88 million
1 Year Ago	$25.73 million	+1%
5 Years Ago	$24.69 million	+5%
10 Years Ago	$19.32 million	+34%
15 Years Ago	$17.65 million	+47%
20 Years Ago	$16.79 million	+54%
Top 500 Comics Shipped (Dollars)	$27 million
ALL Comics Shipped during Month (Dollars)		-5%
Year To Date	$293.82 million
1 Year Ago	$286.32 million	+3%
5 Years Ago	$284.16 million	+3%
10 Years Ago	$237.58 million	+24%
15 Years Ago	$189.11 million	+55%
ALL Comics Shipped Year to Date (Dollars)		+1%
TOP GRAPHIC NOVELS SHIPPED (in DOLLARS)
November 2018 (Top 300 GNs)	$5.48 million
November 2018 (Top 100 GNs)	$3.1 million
November 2018 (Top 50 GNs)	$1.92 million
November 2018 (Top 25 GNs)	$1.06 million
Versus 1 Year Ago	$9.5 million	-43%
Versus 5 Years Ago (Top 300)	$7.37 million	-26%
Versus 10 Years Ago (Top 100)	$6 million	-48%
Versus 15 Years Ago (Top 50)	$3.31 million	-42%
Top 500 Graphic Novel Shipped in Month (Dollars)	$6.46 million
ALL Graphic Novel Shipped in Month (Dollars)		-30%
Year To Date	$68.79 million
1 Year Ago	$81.54 million	-16%
ALL Graphic Novel Dollars Shipped Year to Date (Dollars)		-7%
TOP 300 COMICS plus TOP GNs SHIPPED (in DOLLARS)
November 2018 (including Top 300 GNs)	$31.36 million
November 2018 (including Top 300 GNs)	$28.98 million
November 2018 (including Top 100 GNs)	$27.8 million
November 2018 (including Top 25 GNs)	$26.95 million
Versus 1 Year Ago	$35.23 million	-11%
Versus 5 Years Ago (Top 300)	$32.06 million	-10%
Versus 10 Years Ago (Top 50)	$27.63 million	-6%
Versus 15 Years Ago (Top 50)	$20.96 million	+47%
Top 500 Comics & Top 500 GNs Shipped in Month (Dollars)	$33.46 million
All Comics & GNs Shipped in Month (Dollars)		-14%
Year To Date	$362.81 million
1 Year Ago	$367.89 million	-1%
ALL Comics & GNs Shipped Year to Date (Dollars)		-1%
ALL COMICS AND GNs SHIPPED (in Dollars)
November 2018	$40,597,200.00
Versus 1 Year Ago	$46.99 million	-14%
Versus 5 Years Ago	$42.24 million	-4%
Versus 10 Years Ago	$33.06 million	+23%
Year To Date	$478.98 million
1 Year Ago	$483.76 million	-1%
TITLE SPECIFICS
TOP SELLING COMIC BOOK
Uncanny X-Men #1	176,125 copies at	$7.99
50th PLACE COMIC BOOK
Marvel Knights 20th #2	36,094 copies at	$3.99
100th PLACE COMIC BOOK
Supergirl #24	21,295 copies at	$3.99
150th PLACE COMIC BOOK
Neil Gaiman American Gods My Ainsel #8	11,540 copies at	$3.99
200th PLACE COMIC BOOK
Weatherman #6	7,350 copies at	$3.99
300th PLACE COMIC BOOK
Night Moves #1	2,943 copies at	$3.99
400th PLACE COMIC BOOK
Monstrous #1	1,107 copies at	$3.99
500th PLACE COMIC BOOK
Amazing Spider-Man #8	391 copies at	$3.99
NEW RELEASE VOLUME
New Comics Released	423
New Graphic Novels Released	396
New Magazines Released	22
Total New Print Items Released	841
PRICING
Average Cover Price of Comics in the Top 300	$4.11
Average Cover Price of Comics in the Top 300, weighted by orders	$4.25
Average Cover Price of Comics in the Top 25	$4.39
Median Cover Price of Comics in the Top 300	$3.99
Most Common Cover Price of Comics in the Top 300	$3.99