Last May was, as the just-posted Flashback column reminds us, a blockbuster — using attention from the Avengers film release and the first of the DC relaunch hardcovers to post the largest bottom line number, unadjusted for inflation, since at least 1994.
That figure would be only eclipsed in October 2012 — and again by 1% now, one year later. Direct Market orders for comics and trade paperbacks topped $45 million for only the second time in the Diamond Exclusive Era, according to Comichron’s interpretation of data released today by Diamond Comic Distributors.
October 2012, at $47.2 million, still is the best mark, but the $45.1
million of this May seems built upon orders from a wide variety of
publishers.
The total market share of the Top 5 producers — Marvel, DC, Image, IDW, and Dark Horse, just topped 80%, the lowest sum for that grouping since November 2005,
when IDW was still around 1% of the market. It’s not that the larger
publishers sold less merchandise: remember, the pie is larger, so all
five are in the middle to high end of their historic ranges. But nearly
$9 million came from publishers outside the top five, and that is a
figure we have not seen since the 1990s, when we had a “Big Six” (with Valiant and Malibu in the IDW slot). Some of the help came from Boom, which topped the trade paperback market with its Adventure Time graphic novels.
The aggregate change figures are as follows:
| DOLLARS | UNITS | |
| MAY 2013 VS. APRIL 2013 | ||
| Comics | 6.95% | 5.42% |
| Graphic Novels | 15.79% | 5.88% |
| Total Comics/Graphic Novels | 9.76% | 5.46% |
| MAY 2013 VS. MAY 2012 | ||
| Comics | 0.97% | -2.62% |
| Graphic Novels | 1.00% | 3.17% |
| Total Comics/Graphic Novels | 0.98% | -2.15% |
| YEAR-TO-DATE 2013 VS. YEAR-TO-DATE 2012 | ||
| Comics | 15.04% | 12.25% |
| Graphic Novels | 12.01% | 11.45% |
| Total Comics/Graphic Novels | 14.07% | 12.19% |
The market shares:
|
PUBLISHER
|
DOLLAR
SHARE
|
UNIT
SHARE
|
|
Marvel
|
33.36%
|
37.44%
|
|
DC
|
28.27%
|
30.84%
|
|
Image
|
7.48%
|
8.11%
|
|
IDW
|
6.28%
|
4.77%
|
|
Dark Horse
|
4.73%
|
4.36%
|
|
Dynamic Forces/Dynamite
|
3.50%
|
3.30%
|
|
Boom
|
2.97%
|
2.63%
|
|
Eaglemoss
|
1.57%
|
0.37%
|
|
Avatar
|
0.92%
|
0.76%
|
|
Zenescope
|
0.90%
|
0.82%
|
|
Other
|
10.02%
|
6.60%
|
| RANK | DESCRIPTION | PRICE | VENDOR |
| 1 | X-Men #1 | $3.99 | Marvel |
| 2 | Batman #20 | $3.99 | DC |
| 3 | Justice League #20 | $3.99 | DC |
| 4 | Age of Ultron #7 | $3.99 | Marvel |
| 5 | Age of Ultron #8 | $3.99 | Marvel |
| 6 | Superior Spider-Man #9 | $3.99 | Marvel |
| 7 | Superior Spider-Man #10 | $3.99 | Marvel |
| 8 | Justice League of America #3 | $3.99 | DC |
| 9 | All New X-Men #11 | $3.99 | Marvel |
| 10 | Detective Comics #20 | $3.99 | DC |
| RANK | DESCRIPTION | PRICE | VENDOR |
| 1 | Adventure Time Vol. 1 Playing Fire | $11.99 | Boom |
| 2 | Saga Vol. 1 | $9.99 | Image |
| 3 | Walking Dead Vol. 1 Days Gone Bye | $14.99 | Image |
| 4 | Superman Earth One Vol. 1 | $12.99 | DC |
| 5 | Adventure Time Marceline & The Screamqueen Vol. 1 | $19.99 | Boom |
| 6 | Deadpool Vol. 1 Dead Presidents | $15.99 | Marvel |
| 7 | My Little Pony Friendship is Magic Vol. 1 | $17.99 | IDW |
| 8 | Superior Spider-Man Vol. 1 My Own Worst Enemy | $17.99 | Marvel |
| 9 | Superman Action Vol. 1 Superman Men of Steel | $16.99 | DC |
| 10 | Girl with the Dragon Tattoo HC Vol. 2 | $19.99 | DC |
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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