{"id":4647,"date":"2015-01-16T18:19:00","date_gmt":"2015-01-16T18:19:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-08-01T14:35:33","modified_gmt":"2020-08-01T19:35:33","slug":"december-2014-batman-leads-market-but","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/2015\/01\/16\/december-2014-batman-leads-market-but\/","title":{"rendered":"December 2014: Batman leads the market \u2014 but which issue? Another Loot Crate conundrum"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n
\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/CCBat37\"<\/div>\n

The missing pieces from the sales picture for comics in 2014, December’s comics orders, were provided today by Diamond Comic Distributors<\/b><\/a> \u2014 and they depict a market that closed out the year on a positive note. It is, in fact, probably more positive than it looks. Meanwhile, we have a curious situation in that while Batman<\/i> #37<\/b><\/a> was the top-seller in the Direct Market in December, the highest-circulation comic book in North America was probably actually November’s issue, #36<\/b><\/a>, which had a Loot Crate<\/b><\/a> edition not distributed by Diamond.<\/p>\n

More about that in a moment. December’s sales of comic books and trade paperbacks to comics shops amounted to around $43.4 million, up 2.83% from the same month in 2013. December
\n2013 only had four Wednesdays, but Diamond did a small shipment on New
\nYear’s Eve, which was a Tuesday \u2014 making it effectively a five-week
\nmonth. This December was a five-Wednesday month, as well, and while comics were up. graphic novels were down considerably:<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nDollars<\/td>\nUnits<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DECEMBER 2014 VS. NOVEMBER 2014<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Comics<\/td>\n1.77%<\/td>\n0.31%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Graphic Novels<\/td>\n-18.50%<\/td>\n-21.51%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Total Comics\/GN<\/td>\n-5.14%<\/td>\n-1.64%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DECEMBER 2014 VS. DECEMBER 2013<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Comics<\/td>\n6.67%<\/td>\n4.50%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Graphic Novels<\/td>\n-5.41%<\/td>\n-8.39%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Total Comics\/GN<\/td>\n2.83%<\/td>\n3.46%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
YEAR 2014 VS. YEAR 2013<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Comics<\/td>\n4.03%<\/td>\n0.25%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Graphic Novels<\/td>\n5.18%<\/td>\n5.28%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Total Comics\/GN<\/td>\n4.39%<\/td>\n0.64%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4th QUARTER vs. 3rd QUARTER 2014<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Comics<\/td>\n-2.90%<\/td>\n-1.57%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Graphic Novels<\/td>\n6.31%<\/td>\n4.02%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Total Comics\/GN<\/td>\n-0.20%<\/td>\n-1.16%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4th QUARTER vs. 4th QUARTER 2013<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Comics<\/td>\n7.89%<\/td>\n7.05%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Graphic Novels<\/td>\n7.56%<\/td>\n6.13%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Total Comics\/GN<\/td>\n7.78%<\/td>\n6.98%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2nd HALF 2014 vs. 2nd HALF 2013<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Comics<\/td>\n9.10%<\/td>\n6.60%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Graphic Novels<\/td>\n7.31%<\/td>\n5.16%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Total Comics\/GN<\/td>\n8.55%<\/td>\n6.49%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2nd HALF 2014 vs. 1st HALF 2014<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
All Products<\/td>\nDollars<\/td>\nUnits<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Comics<\/td>\n19.34%<\/td>\n18.58%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Graphic Novels<\/td>\n10.54%<\/td>\n4.26%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Total Comics\/GN<\/td>\n16.53%<\/td>\n17.36%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

But there’s a reason for the evident softnesss in the graphic novel market: it may not be there. As we reported last year, <\/b><\/a>December 2013 had about the same number of new
\ngraphic novel releases, but there was a huge amount of holiday-season (or
\nend-of-fiscal-year
\nclearance) graphic novel discounting going on that month: more than $3
\nmillion in sales came from older Omnibus hardcovers from Marvel which
\nwere steeply discounted. December 2013 set a record that stands for dollar value of Top 300 Graphic Novels ordered, topping $10 million \u2014 but publishers realized a relatively smaller portion of that money.<\/p>\n

Looking at the unit to dollar change spreads, I would expect that this December did not have the same
\nlevel of deep-discounting. With Saga<\/i> Vol. 4<\/b> topping the December graphic novels chats, I would expect that when comparing only new material that sold for regular price, this year’s December graphic novel bottom line probably compares rather better with last December’s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Loot Crate Edition of #36 (pic from Boxesfordays.com)<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Batman<\/i> #36<\/b>,
\nwhich released to the Direct Market in November, was in the December Loot Crate <\/b><\/a>\u2014 but Diamond did not distribute it to the repackager: its
\nplacement in the end-of-year rankings Diamond posted earlier this week
\ndo not reflect the colossal boost Loot Crate previously gave Rocket Raccoon<\/i> #1<\/b><\/a> and Walking Dead<\/i> #132<\/a><\/b>.
\nThis creates yet another unusual circumstance, because it’s quite
\nlikely that #36 \u2014 and not #37 \u2014 is the comic book that had the most
\ncopies enter circulation in the month of December.<\/p>\n

Now,
\nbefore we lament that we’re running out of symbols to use for
\nasterisks, it’s important to remember what the charts are: a record of
\nwhat Diamond sold. It happens that increasingly, some of its sales each
\nmonth are going to places other than comic shops\u00a0 \u2014 but in general, its
\ntables are a fairly good expression of the sales picture for the Direct
\nMarket. There have always<\/i> been comics selling other places \u2014 the
\nnewsstand, obviously! \u2014 and while we count those sales in broader
\nindexes, we don’t worry with them in the monthly charts. Diamond can’t rank what Diamond didn’t ship.
\n
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

\"http:\/\/www.starwars.com\/news\/loot-crate-star-wars-1-variant-exclusive-reveal\"<\/div>\n

Since
\nthe Direct Market’s sales of comics surpassed those for the newsstand
\nin the mid- to late 1980s, there have been only a few rare cases where
\nthe highest-circulation comic book in a month hasn’t been sold in the
\nDirect Market. Pok\u00e9mon: The Electric Tale of Pikachu<\/b><\/i> #1<\/b>
\nsold a million copies, almost all of them in bagged editions retailing
\nin toy and department stores, over the course of 16 printings from
\nNovember 1998 until early 2000. It’s possible several of those printings
\nwere large enough to top the feeble sales numbers leading the Direct
\nMarket in those dark months. <\/i>Gears of War <\/i>#1<\/b> was distributed in huge numbers in 2008, but almost entirely in game stores. Star Wars<\/i> #1<\/b>, which released this week, has distribution through a number of different channels, including a just-announced Loot Crate edition<\/b><\/a>: there’s enough Direct Market copies that it will clearly be the top seller on our 21st Century charts here, but we’ll have to see from the numbers in a few weeks just how many of them moved through Diamond.<\/p>\n

If there are companies that deal directly with repackagers like Loot Crate <\/b>\u2014
\nas appears to be the case with DC here \u2014 we might expect there to be
\nquite a few more months where the top comic book in the industry isn’t
\nreflected in the Direct Market. Since Comichron’s monthly charts are
\nbased on what Diamond sells, we’ll continue to keep to that in our
\ncharts \u2014 though we might acknowledge what else is out there
\nparenthetically when we know about it. (More parenthetically than this!)<\/p>\n

With all that said, the Top 10 comics Diamond sold in the month of December:<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nTitle<\/td>\nPrice<\/td>\nPublisher<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1<\/td>\nBatman #37<\/td>\n$3.99<\/td>\nDC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2<\/td>\nAmazing Spider-Man
\n#11<\/td>\n		$3.99<\/td>\nMarvel<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3<\/td>\nShield #1<\/td>\n$4.99<\/td>\nMarvel<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4<\/td>\nBatman Annual #3<\/td>\n$4.99<\/td>\nDC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
5<\/td>\nThor #3<\/td>\n$3.99<\/td>\nMarvel<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
6<\/td>\nJustice League #37<\/td>\n$3.99<\/td>\nDC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
7<\/td>\nAmazing Spider-Man
\nAnnual #1<\/td>\n		$4.99<\/td>\nMarvel<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
8<\/td>\nAvengers and X-Men
\nAxis #7<\/td>\n		$3.99<\/td>\nMarvel<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
9<\/td>\nAvengers and X-Men
\nAxis #9<\/td>\n		$4.99<\/td>\nMarvel<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
10<\/td>\nAvengers and X-Men
\nAxis #8<\/td>\n		$3.99<\/td>\nMarvel<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
<\/div>\n

The top-selling graphic novels:<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nTitle<\/td>\nPrice<\/td>\nPublisher<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1<\/td>\nSaga Vol. 4<\/td>\n$14.99<\/td>\nImage<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2<\/td>\nCaptain America Peggy
\nCarter Agent of Shield #1<\/td>\n		$7.99<\/td>\nMarvel<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3<\/td>\nJust the Tips HC<\/td>\n$12.99<\/td>\nImage<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4<\/td>\nManhattan Projects
\nVol. 5 The Cold War<\/td>\n		$14.99<\/td>\nImage<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
5<\/td>\nSunstone Vol. 1<\/td>\n$14.99<\/td>\nImage<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
6<\/td>\nSuperman Unchained
\nDeluxe Ed HC<\/td>\n		$29.99<\/td>\nDC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
7<\/td>\nBatman the Jiro
\nKuwata Batmanga Vol. 1<\/td>\n		$14.99<\/td>\nDC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
8<\/td>\nNew 52 Futures End
\nVol. 1<\/td>\n		$39.99<\/td>\nDC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
9<\/td>\nNightwing Vol. 5
\nSetting Son<\/td>\n		$16.99<\/td>\nDC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
10<\/td>\nWalking Dead Vol. 1
\nDays Gone Bye<\/td>\n		$14.99<\/td>\nImage<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
<\/div>\n

The market shares:<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nDollar Share<\/td>\nUnit Share<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Marvel<\/td>\n32.07%<\/td>\n34.10%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DC<\/td>\n31.76%<\/td>\n36.17%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Image<\/td>\n9.89%<\/td>\n10.40%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
IDW<\/td>\n6.10%<\/td>\n4.17%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Dark Horse<\/td>\n3.47%<\/td>\n2.95%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Boom<\/td>\n2.66%<\/td>\n2.82%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Dynamic Forces<\/td>\n2.58%<\/td>\n2.26%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Eaglemoss<\/td>\n1.22%<\/td>\n0.22%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Archie<\/td>\n0.88%<\/td>\n0.91%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Avatar<\/td>\n0.86%<\/td>\n0.74%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Other<\/td>\n8.50%<\/td>\n5.25%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Finally, the number of new items released to the market:<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Publisher<\/td>\nComics shipped<\/td>\nGraphic Novels
\nshipped<\/td>\n		Magazines shipped<\/td>\nTotal shipped<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DC<\/td>\n102<\/td>\n36<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n139<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Marvel<\/td>\n77<\/td>\n24<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n101<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Image<\/td>\n52<\/td>\n18<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n70<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
IDW<\/td>\n44<\/td>\n24<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n68<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Boom<\/td>\n42<\/td>\n6<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n48<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Dark Horse<\/td>\n30<\/td>\n12<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n42<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Dynamite<\/td>\n33<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n36<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Viz<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n22<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n22<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Action Lab<\/td>\n15<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n16<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Hachette<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n16<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n16<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Other<\/td>\n94<\/td>\n81<\/td>\n31<\/td>\n206<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
TOTAL<\/td>\n489<\/td>\n243<\/td>\n32<\/td>\n764<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

That’s a considerable number from Action Lab, appearing on this chart for the first time.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/a><\/div>\n

The December estimates will appear here Monday, to be followed by the estimates for the top sellers of 2014. We’ll also amend our Comics of the Century lists at that time as well.
\n <\/b><\/i><\/i><\/p>\n

<\/i><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The missing pieces from the sales picture for comics in 2014, December’s comics orders, were provided today by Diamond Comic Distributors \u2014 and they depict a market that closed out the year on a positive note. It is, in fact, probably more positive than it looks. Meanwhile, we have a curious situation in that while … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4648,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[72,21,17,40],"class_list":["post-4647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-2014-sales","tag-diamond-annual-reports","tag-diamond-monthly-reports","tag-loot-crate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4647"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6413,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4647\/revisions\/6413"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}