{"id":4840,"date":"2013-06-07T18:03:00","date_gmt":"2013-06-07T18:03:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-08-01T15:21:19","modified_gmt":"2020-08-01T20:21:19","slug":"wide-range-of-publishers-help-may-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/2013\/06\/07\/wide-range-of-publishers-help-may-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"Wide range of publishers help May 2013 comics orders top $45 million"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

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Last May was, as the just-posted Flashback column<\/b><\/a> reminds us, a blockbuster \u2014 using attention from the Avengers<\/b><\/i> film release and the first of the DC relaunch hardcovers to post the largest bottom line number, unadjusted for inflation, since at least 1994.<\/p>\n

That figure would be only eclipsed in October 2012 <\/b>\u2014 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<\/b><\/a>.<\/p>\n

October 2012, at $47.2 million, still is the best mark, but the $45.1
\nmillion of this May seems built upon orders from a wide variety of
\npublishers.<\/p>\n

The total market share of the Top 5 producers \u2014 Marvel, DC, Image, IDW, <\/b>and Dark Horse<\/b>, just topped 80%, the lowest sum for that grouping since November 2005<\/b>,
\nwhen IDW was still around 1% of the market. It’s not that the larger
\npublishers sold less merchandise: remember, the pie is larger, so all
\nfive are in the middle to high end of their historic ranges. But nearly
\n$9 million came from publishers outside the top five, and that is a
\nfigure we have not seen since the 1990s, when we had a “Big Six” (with Valiant<\/b> and Malibu<\/b> in the IDW slot). Some of the help came from Boom<\/b>, which topped the trade paperback market with its Adventure Time<\/b><\/i><\/a> graphic novels.<\/p>\n

The aggregate change figures are as follows:<\/p>\n

<\/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
MAY 2013 VS. APRIL 2013<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Comics<\/td>\n6.95%<\/td>\n5.42%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Graphic Novels<\/td>\n15.79%<\/td>\n5.88%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Total Comics\/Graphic Novels<\/td>\n9.76%<\/td>\n5.46%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MAY 2013 VS. MAY 2012<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Comics<\/td>\n0.97%<\/td>\n-2.62%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Graphic Novels<\/td>\n1.00%<\/td>\n3.17%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Total Comics\/Graphic Novels<\/td>\n0.98%<\/td>\n-2.15%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
YEAR-TO-DATE 2013 VS. YEAR-TO-DATE 2012<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Comics<\/td>\n15.04%<\/td>\n12.25%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Graphic Novels<\/td>\n12.01%<\/td>\n11.45%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Total Comics\/Graphic Novels<\/td>\n14.07%<\/td>\n12.19%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The market shares:<\/p>\n