As expected, the return of Peter Parker powered "Amazing Spider-Man" #1 to the top of the sales charts in April 2014, with the 'final' issue of "Superior Spider-Man" in the number two position. "Hulk" #1 and "Original Sin" #0 rounded out Marvel's Top Ten offerings, while DC's "Justice League" took the #5 slot and the Dark Knight accounted for the remaining five. Knocked from it's typical #1 position, "Batman" settled for #3 in April, while the weekly "Batman Eternal" took positions 4, 6, 9 and 10.

Overall, the picture remained relatively stable compared to March's numbers, with Marvel taking 39.27% of the Direct Market's dollars, and 41.15% in units to DC's 23.65% and 27.24%, respectively. Image Comics dropped slightly, taking 9.34% / 10.31% share of the market, though the numbers are somewhat skewed thanks to "ASM" #1's higher-than-average $5.99 price tag accompanying it's over 500K in sales - the best numbers for a single issue in over a decade..

"Sex Criminals" debuted strong on the graphic novel charts, landing in the top position, followed by editions of "Saga," "East of West," "Pretty Deadly" and "The Walking Dead," giving Image seven of the top ten. Marvel's OGN "Amazing Spider-Man: Family Business" hardcover debuted at #5 on the charts.

Overall, April saw a massive boost over March in both Dollars and Units, as well as year-to-year over April 2013.

Check out the charts and graphs below and come back next week for John Mayo's look at the Top 300 and in-depth analysis.

TOP COMIC BOOK PUBLISHERS

PUBLISHER

DOLLARSHARE

UNITSHARE

MARVEL COMICS

39.27%

41.15%

DC COMICS

23.65%

27.24%

IMAGE COMICS

9.34%

10.31%

DARK HORSE COMICS

5.54%

5.18%

IDW PUBLISHING

5.10%

4.24%

DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT

2.49%

2.47%

EAGLEMOSS PUBLICATIONS LTD

2.14%

0.54%

BOOM! STUDIOS

2.07%

1.97%

AVATAR PRESS INC

1.15%

1.03%

VALIANT ENTERTAINMENT LLC

1.04%

1.18%

OTHER NON-TOP 10

8.21%

4.69%

COMPARATIVE SALES STATISTICS


DOLLARS

UNITS

APRIL 2014 VS. MARCH 2014

COMICS

23.22%

14.36%

GRAPHIC NOVELS

8.90%

-0.33%

TOTAL COMICS/GN

18.27%

12.90%

APRIL 2014 VS. APRIL 2013

COMICS

17.37%

6.96%

GRAPHIC NOVELS

16.78%

11.20%

TOTAL COMICS/GN

17.18%

7.32%

YEAR-TO-DATE 2014 VS. YEAR-TO-DATE 2013

COMICS

-0.89%

-6.91%

GRAPHIC NOVELS

5.44%

10.38%

TOTAL COMICS/GN

1.04%

-5.61%

TOP 10 COMIC BOOKS

RANK

DESCRIPTION

PRICE

ITEM CODE

VENDOR

1

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #1

$5.99

FEB140664-M

MAR

2

SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #31

$5.99

FEB140659-M

MAR

3

BATMAN #30

$3.99

FEB140198-M

DC

4

BATMAN ETERNAL #1 [*]

$2.99

FEB140140-M

DC

5

JUSTICE LEAGUE #29

$3.99

JAN140243-M

DC

6

BATMAN ETERNAL #2 [*]

$2.99

FEB140142

DC

7

HULK #1

$3.99

FEB140684-M

MAR

8

ORIGINAL SIN #0

$4.99

FEB140657

MAR

9

BATMAN ETERNAL #3 [*]

$2.99

FEB140143

DC

10

BATMAN ETERNAL #4 [*]

$2.99

FEB140144

DC

TOP 10 GRAPHIC NOVELS

RANK

DESCRIPTION

PRICE

ITEM CODE

VENDOR

1

SEX CRIMINALS VOLUME 1 TP (MR)

$9.99

JAN140558

IMA

2

SAGA VOLUME 3 TP (MR)

$14.99

JAN140556

IMA

3

EAST OF WEST VOLUME 2: WE ARE ALL ONE TP

$14.99

DEC130494

IMA

4

SAGA VOLUME 1 TP (MR)

$9.99

AUG120491

IMA

5

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN: FAMILY BUSINESS HC

$24.99

DEC130759

MAR

6

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 1: COSMIC AVENGERS TP

$19.99

JAN140800

MAR

7

THE JOKER: DEATH OF THE FAMILY TP (N52)

$24.99

JAN140340

DC

8

SAGA VOLUME 2 TP (MR)

$14.99

APR130443

IMA

9

PRETTY DEADLY VOLUME 1 TP (MR)

$9.99

FEB140533

IMA

10

THE WALKING DEAD VOLUME 1: DAYS GONE BYE TP

$14.99

NOV128157

IMA