Memories in the comics hobby are often short, a condition Comichron exists to help address. With a poor year for the comics shop market in 2017 and with much of 2018-19 spent bobbing along, neither gaining nor losing much ground, it’s easy to forget that the decade of the 2010s has been a strong one for the industry, with regular and sometimes spectacular sales growth running from the DC “New 52” event in 2011 to DC’s “Rebirth” event in 2016. It’s not simply a story of inflation: by Thanksgiving, retailers will have ordered more new comic books in 2019 than they did in all of 2011 (and that includes that New 52 event). But apart from a few months dominated by big anniversary issues, the last three years really haven’t had one of those blockbuster months like we saw in the earlier part of the decade.
With Walking Dead‘s 15th anniversary and the launch of the Batman: White Knight trade paperback, October 2018 was the strongest month of that year, so it was reasonable to speculate that October 2019 would have had some trouble matching up. It turned out there was no need for concern; in fact, we got the blockbuster. Where both this October and last October each had five New Comic Book Days, last month almost looks like a six-Wednesday month, as retailers ordered $56.35 million in comic books, graphic novels, and magazines from Diamond Comic Distributors. That’s an increase of 14.09%, or nearly $7 million. Comic shop orders of comics, graphic novels, and magazines from Diamond stand at $446.25 million for the year through October, up nearly $8 million, or 2%. Our full estimates for the month will appear here on Monday.
October 2019 was the fourth best month of the decade in dollar orders, and the best month since August 2016, itself an outstanding month when retailers ordered more than 10 million comic books during the “Rebirth” event. Last month was also the first month to top $50 million in orders in exactly three years, since October 2016. Retailers ordered 8.82 million comics, an increase of 10% and likewise the most comics ordered in a single month in three years. Yet publishers actually released 1% fewer comics this October, five fewer. It was what the comic books were that mattered more.
October saw the launch of Jonathan Hickman‘s X-Men title, which placed first in dollars and units, and the wrap-up of Powers of X and House of X, whose finales placed third and fourth in units respectively. But it also would have seen reorders for the latter two titles becoming available in significant numbers, with more reprints in circulation — and Marvel also benefited from Top 10 debuts from Amazing Mary Jane, Ghost Rider, and Marauders.We believe it was Marvel’s best month in dollar terms since Civil War II debuted in June 2016; its year over year sales were up 32% during the month. An improved year for Marvel in 2019 is guaranteed; it will have taken in more revenue by the end of November than it did in all of 2018.
While the X-Men launch may be the most obvious factor, the industry hit on other cylinders as well. As noted several times this year in this space, DC had cut its new comics offerings deeply in 2019, to a point where we estimated that improved per-title sales weren’t going to be able to help 2019 keep pace with 2018 overall. That situation has reversed. DC shipped 107 new comic books in October, a number — as in recent months — partially inflated by its cardstock covers receiving second entries at Diamond. We believe 17 comics fit that description in October, so the real number is more like 90 — but that’s still a dozen more than last year, and DC’s largest offering since November 2017.
The larger slate mattered: DC’s October dollar sales improved by 19% over the same month in 2018; it’s still slightly behind year-to-date, but is at least in striking distance of flipping positive by year-end. The publisher got a big assist from Doomsday Clock Part 1 hardcover, which led graphic novels in dollars; with the Joker movie in theaters, Joker: Year of the Villain #1 was its top debut in comics, placing fifth in units.
Image‘s record-breaking Spawn got a second shot of sales; Spawn #301, which officially passed Cerebus in issue count, placed second, down one slot from September. The publisher also got the top graphic novel by dollars in the Walking Dead Compendium Vol. 4. Image’s new release count, however, remains much lower than in 2018; it sent 50 new comics to market versus 78 last October.
Dark Horse got a new graphic novel franchise rolling (no pun intended) with Critical Role Vol. 1: Vox Machina Origins, which placed eighth among graphic novels in units. The book also was the top product reordered last week, so it’ll see action stretching into the November charts.
The number of new graphic novels offered to market dropped 5% year-over-year to 417. (EDIT: A previous transcription error on our part had stated a number much higher.) Marvel had 50 releases, its most in that six year period.
The comparative sales statistics:
| Dollars | Units | |
|---|---|---|
| October 2019 Vs. September 2019 | ||
| Comics | +22.22% | +16.49% |
| Graphic Novels | +12.88% | +15.87% |
| Total Comics/GNs | +19.82% | +16.45% |
| Toys | +24.94% | +51.89% |
| October 2019 Vs. October 2018 | ||
| Comics | +21.05% | +9.95% |
| Graphic Novels | -3.32% | -7.10% |
| Total Comics/GNs | +14.09% | +8.68% |
| Toys | +15.44% | +1.80% |
| Year To Date 2019 Vs. Year To Date 2018 | ||
| Comics | +4.19% | -1.81% |
| Graphic Novels | -4.16% | -9.71% |
| Total Comics/GNs | +1.81% | -2.40% |
| Toys | +21.81% | +22.21% |
The market shares:
| Publisher | Dollar Share | Unit Share |
|---|---|---|
| Marvel | 39.51% | 45.20% |
| DC | 31.67% | 32.02% |
| Image | 7.59% | 7.18% |
| IDW | 3.42% | 3.16% |
| Dark Horse | 2.93% | 2.11% |
| Boom | 2.32% | 2.21% |
| Dynamite | 2.21% | 1.67% |
| Viz | 1.33% | 0.51% |
| Oni | 0.56% | 0.33% |
| Titan | 0.48% | 0.42% |
| Other | 7.98% | 5.19% |
The top-selling comics by units:
| TOP COMIC BOOKS (by units) | PRICE | PUBLISHER | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | X-Men #1 | 4.99 | Marvel |
| 2 | Spawn #301 | $4.99 | Image |
| 3 | Powers of X #6 | $5.99 | Marvel |
| 4 | House of X #6 | $4.99 | Marvel |
| 5 | The Joker: Year of The Villain #1 | $4.99 | DC |
| 6 | Amazing Mary Jane #1 | $3.99 | Marvel |
| 7 | Absolute Carnage #4 | $4.99 | Marvel |
| 8 | Ghost Rider #1 | $4.99 | Marvel |
| 9 | Immortal Hulk #25 | $5.99 | Marvel |
| 10 | Marauders #1 | $4.99 | Marvel |
The top-selling comics by dollars:
| TOP COMIC BOOKS (by dollars) | PRICE | PUBLISHER | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | X-Men #1 | 4.99 | Marvel |
| 2 | Spawn #301 | $4.99 | Image |
| 3 | Powers of X #6 | $5.99 | Marvel |
| 4 | The Joker: Year of The Villain #1 | $4.99 | DC |
| 5 | House of X #6 | $4.99 | Marvel |
| 6 | Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity #1* | $5.99 | DC |
| 7 | Harleen #2 | $7.99 | DC |
| 8 | Immortal Hulk #25 | $5.99 | Marvel |
| 9 | Absolute Carnage #4 | $4.99 | Marvel |
| 10 | Amazing Mary Jane #1 | $3.99 | Marvel |
Criminal Sanity has the asterisk because it was returnable; its orders were reduced slightly for the charts to compensate.
The top-selling graphic novels by units:
| TOP GRAPHIC NOVELS (by units) | PRICE | PUBLISHER | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Doomsday Clock Part 1 HC | $24.99 | DC |
| 2 | The Wicked & The Divine Vol. 9 | $17.99 | Image |
| 3 | Spider-Man: Life Story | $24.99 | Marvel |
| 4 | Thanos: The Infinity Ending HC | $24.99 | Marvel |
| 5 | Ascender Volume 1 | $9.99 | Image |
| 6 | DC Super Hero Girls At Metropolis High | $9.99 | DC |
| 7 | The Walking Dead Compendium Vol. 4 | $59.99 | Image |
| 8 | Critical Role Vol. 1: Vox Machina Origins | $19.99 | Dark Horse |
| 9 | My Hero Academia Vol. 1 | $9.99 | Viz |
| 10 | Gideon Falls Vol. 3: Stations of The Cross | $16.99 | Image |
The top-selling graphic novels by dollars:
| TOP GRAPHIC NOVELS (by dollars) | PRICE | PUBLISHER | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Walking Dead Compendium Vol. 4 | 59.99 | Image |
| 2 | Doomsday Clock Part 1 HC | $24.99 | DC |
| 3 | John Byrne’s Marvel Classics Artifact Edition HC | $75.00 | IDW |
| 4 | Namor Sub-Mariner By Byrne And Jae Lee Omnibus HC | $125.00 | Marvel |
| 5 | Spider-Man: Life Story | $24.99 | Marvel |
| 6 | Thanos: The Infinity Ending HC | $24.99 | Marvel |
| 7 | Batman By Snyder & Capullo Omnibus Vol. 1 HC | $125.00 | DC |
| 8 | Immortal Hulk Vol. 1 HC | $34.99 | Marvel |
| 9 | Boys Omnibus Vol. 1 | $29.99 | Dynamite |
| 10 | Marvel Masterworks: Ghost Rider Volume 1 HC | $75.00 | Marvel |
Finally, the number of new items offered:
| Publisher | Comics shipped |
Graphic Novels shipped |
Magazines shipped |
Total shipped |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marvel | 110 | 50 | 0 | 160 |
| DC | 107 | 30 | 1 | 138 |
| Image | 50 | 12 | 0 | 62 |
| IDW | 39 | 16 | 0 | 55 |
| Dark Horse | 26 | 21 | 0 | 47 |
| Boom | 18 | 15 | 0 | 33 |
| Dynamite | 15 | 9 | 0 | 24 |
| Viz | 0 | 22 | 0 | 22 |
| Oni | 3 | 9 | 0 | 12 |
| Titan | 6 | 4 | 2 | 12 |
| Other | 147 | 229 | 30 | 406 |
| TOTAL | 521 | 417 | 33 | 971 |
The Direct Market as expressed through Diamond orders entered November $8 million to the good, meaning that prospects for a positive year are excellent. Last November and December were weak months, marked by large cuts to DC’s line; even flat months for the rest of 2019 would result in a year up 1.5%. Two months with increases similar to October’s, however, could push the year-over-year increase closer 3 or 4% — numbers that would look quite in line with the growth years earlier in the decade.
FLASHBACKS: Check out our charts from 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 years ago!
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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