{"id":4796,"date":"2013-12-13T17:37:00","date_gmt":"2013-12-13T17:37:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-08-01T15:09:37","modified_gmt":"2020-08-01T20:09:37","slug":"november-2013-graphic-novels-drive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/2013\/12\/13\/november-2013-graphic-novels-drive\/","title":{"rendered":"November 2013 graphic novels drive slight increase in overall orders"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n


\n<\/a><\/p>\n

\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/WDVol19\"<\/div>\n

As predicted, total North American comics shop orders for 2013 from January through November matched the amount ordered for all of 2012, according to figures released today by Diamond Comic Distributors<\/b><\/a>. The release was later than usual, owing perhaps to the late-falling Thanksgiving holiday: but it was that Black Friday week that sales likely topped the 2012 total.
\n
\n<\/a>
\n\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/CCBatm25\"Retailers ordered more than $42 million in comics products in November, bringing the year-to-date total to more than $475 million. The November amount was 3% more than was ordered in November 2012, the margin due entirely to graphic novel sales, led by Walking Dead Vol. 19<\/i><\/b><\/a>.<\/p>\n

This October was a big month<\/b><\/a> in the Direct Market: it was the first time since Diamond became the exclusive distributor for all the major publishers that orders for comic books and trade paperbacks topped $50 million in a month. There was no topping that five-week month in four-week November, with sales off 16% from month to month; but we saw the same dropoff last November<\/a><\/b>.<\/p>\n

The aggregate changes are below:<\/p>\n

COMPARATIVE SALES STATISTICS<\/b><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nDOLLARS<\/b><\/td>\nUNITS<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
NOVEMBER 2013 VS. OCTOBER 2013<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
COMICS<\/td>\n-18.80%<\/td>\n-18.95%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
GRAPHIC NOVELS<\/td>\n-9.72%<\/td>\n-14.98%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
TOTAL COMICS\/GN<\/td>\n-16.07%<\/td>\n-18.65%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
NOVEMBER 2013 VS. NOVEMBER 2012<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
COMICS<\/td>\n-1.21%<\/td>\n-8.43%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
GRAPHIC NOVELS<\/td>\n14.59%<\/td>\n11.44%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
TOTAL COMICS\/GN<\/td>\n3.39%<\/td>\n-7.12%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
YEAR-TO-DATE 2013 VS. YEAR-TO-DATE 2012<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
COMICS<\/td>\n11.09%<\/td>\n7.69%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
GRAPHIC NOVELS<\/td>\n5.55%<\/td>\n3.92%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
TOTAL COMICS\/GN<\/td>\n9.33%<\/td>\n7.39%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
Every issue in the Top 10 last November had orders of more than 110,000 copies: this November, unit sales were slightly off. <\/b>The Zero Year issue Batman<\/i> #25<\/a><\/b> led the list of top-selling comics for the month:<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
RANK<\/b><\/td>\nDESCRIPTION<\/b><\/td>\nPRICE<\/b><\/td>\nVENDOR<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1<\/td>\nBATMAN #25<\/a><\/td>\n$4.99<\/td>\nDC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2<\/td>\nHARLEY QUINN #0<\/td>\n$2.99<\/td>\nDC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3<\/td>\nAMAZING X-MEN #1<\/td>\n$3.99<\/td>\nMAR<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4<\/td>\nSUPERMAN UNCHAINED #4<\/td>\n$3.99<\/td>\nDC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
5<\/td>\nFOREVER EVIL #3<\/td>\n$3.99<\/td>\nDC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
6<\/td>\nINFINITY #6<\/td>\n$5.99<\/td>\nMAR<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
7<\/td>\nALL-NEW X-MEN #18<\/td>\n$3.99<\/td>\nMAR<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
8<\/td>\nSUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #22<\/td>\n$3.99<\/td>\nMAR<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
9<\/td>\nBATMAN\/SUPERMAN #5<\/td>\n$3.99<\/td>\nDC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
10<\/td>\nSUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #21<\/td>\n$3.99<\/td>\nMAR<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
<\/div>\n

As mentioned above, graphic novels, on the other hand, were the strong point for the month, up nearly 15% over last November \u2014 thanks in part to the Walking Dead Vol. 19: March to War<\/b><\/i><\/a>, which led the list:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
RANK<\/b><\/td>\nDESCRIPTION<\/b><\/td>\nPRICE<\/b><\/td>\nVENDOR<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1<\/td>\nTHE WALKING DEAD VOL. 19: MARCH TO WAR TP<\/a><\/td>\n$14.99<\/td>\nIMA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2<\/td>\nYU-GI-OH! 5DS VOLUME 5 GN<\/td>\n$9.99<\/td>\nVIZ<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3<\/td>\nFAIREST IN ALL THE LAND HC<\/td>\n$22.99<\/td>\nDC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4<\/td>\nBATMAN: NIGHT OF THE OWLS<\/td>\n$19.99<\/td>\nDC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
5<\/td>\nTHE MANHATTAN PROJECTS VOLUME 3<\/td>\n$14.99<\/td>\nIMA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
6<\/td>\nINJUSTICE: GODS AMONG US VOLUME 1 HC<\/td>\n$19.99<\/td>\nDC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
7<\/td>\nNOWHERE MEN VOLUME 1: FATES WORSE THAN DEATH<\/td>\n$9.99<\/td>\nIMA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
8<\/td>\nBATMAN IN DETECTIVE COMICS VOL. 2: SCARE TACTICS<\/td>\n$16.99<\/td>\nDC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
9<\/td>\nS.H.I.E.L.D. ORIGINS<\/td>\n$7.99<\/td>\nMAR<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
10<\/td>\nHAWKEYE VOLUME 1 HC<\/td>\n$34.99<\/td>\nMAR<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\nThe market shares and total number of titles released appear below.\u00a0 (UPDATE<\/b>: Heidi MacDonald<\/b>‘s article<\/b><\/a>
\ncaused me to look again at these figures: I thought Marvel and DC’s
\ncombined dollar share of 59.21% looked low-ish, but it is in fact the
\nfirst time it’s been under 60% since April 2003<\/b><\/a>, when Dreamwave<\/b> had the #2 book. The lowest the combined total has been in the Diamond Exclusive Era is 48.03% in February 1998<\/b><\/a>, when bankruptcy-era Marvel had a truncated slate of titles. Click to see market shares across time.)<\/b><\/a><\/i><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
MARKET SHARE<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
PUBLISHER<\/b><\/td>\nDOLLAR SHARE<\/b><\/td>\nUNIT SHARE<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Marvel<\/td>\n29.97%<\/td>\n33.65%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DC<\/td>\n29.24%<\/td>\n31.90%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Image<\/td>\n8.67%<\/td>\n9.77%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
IDW<\/td>\n6.68%<\/td>\n6.26%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Dark Horse<\/td>\n6.11%<\/td>\n4.91%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Dynamite<\/td>\n3.20%<\/td>\n3.00%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Boom<\/td>\n1.90%<\/td>\n1.92%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Eaglemoss<\/td>\n1.86%<\/td>\n0.44%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Valiant<\/td>\n1.58%<\/td>\n1.74%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Viz<\/td>\n1.19%<\/td>\n0.42%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Other<\/td>\n9.59%<\/td>\n5.99%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
PUBLISHER <\/b><\/td>\nCOMICS SHIPPED<\/b><\/td>\nGRAPHIC NOVELS SHIPPED<\/b><\/td>\nMAGAZINES SHIPPED<\/b><\/td>\nTOTAL SHIPPED<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DC<\/td>\n85<\/td>\n29<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n115<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Marvel<\/td>\n74<\/td>\n34<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n108<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
IDW<\/td>\n46<\/td>\n31<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n77<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Dark Horse<\/td>\n37<\/td>\n31<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n68<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Image<\/td>\n42<\/td>\n14<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n56<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Dynamite<\/td>\n30<\/td>\n18<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n48<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Viz<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n25<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n25<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Boom<\/td>\n20<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n23<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Valiant<\/td>\n8<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n10<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Eaglemoss<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n9<\/td>\n9<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Other<\/td>\n64<\/td>\n116<\/td>\n16<\/td>\n196<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
TOTAL<\/b><\/td>\n406<\/b><\/td>\n303<\/b><\/td>\n26<\/b><\/td>\n735<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

We can now project that overall Direct Market orders for the year are likely to land at the lower end of the range estimated last month: likely between $514-516 million. A double-digit gain for the year would require December to be up nearly 17%; odds instead are that the market will just miss that, coming in up 8-9% for the year.<\/p>\n

The final estimates will be along next week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As predicted, total North American comics shop orders for 2013 from January through November matched the amount ordered for all of 2012, according to figures released today by Diamond Comic Distributors. The release was later than usual, owing perhaps to the late-falling Thanksgiving holiday: but it was that Black Friday week that sales likely topped … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4797,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[76,17],"class_list":["post-4796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-2013-sales","tag-diamond-monthly-reports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4796","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=4796"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4796\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6447,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4796\/revisions\/6447"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}