"Batman" maintained its spot as the #1 selling comic in America for March 2014, leading DC Comics to take four of the top five positions on Diamond's monthly sales charts. Meanwhile, Marvel, led by "Superior Spider-Man" #29 at position #5, took five of the remaining top ten positions, with Image's "The Walking Dead" #124 landing at #9.

But DC's Top Ten domination didn't translate into the publisher ruling the charts overall. Marvel commanded 34.31% of the Direct Market's dollars, and 38.17% in units to DC's 25.4% and 29.02%, respectively. Image Comics, meanwhile, increased significantly over March's numbers, grabbing an 11.38% / 11.04% share of the market.

Buoying Image's numbers was the latest collection of "The Walking Dead," which was the best selling graphic novel of the month, followed by "Saga" volume 3.

Overall, March saw a boost over February in both Dollars and Units; though it was down significantly from March 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

34.31%

38.17%

DC COMICS

25.94%

29.02%

IMAGE COMICS

11.38%

11.04%

DARK HORSE COMICS

6.19%

5.72%

IDW PUBLISHING

5.29%

4.51%

DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT

2.61%

2.56%

BOOM! STUDIOS

1.99%

1.84%

EAGLEMOSS PUBLICATIONS

1.59%

0.35%

AVATAR PRESS

1.14%

0.94%

RANDOM HOUSE

1.04%

0.26%

OTHER NON-TOP 10

8.53%

5.59%

COMPARATIVE SALES STATISTICS


DOLLARS

UNITS

MARCH 2014 VS. FEBRUARY 2014

COMICS

4.11%

6.32%

GRAPHIC NOVELS

24.00%

25.00%

TOTAL COMICS/GN

10.22%

7.93%

MARCH 2014 VS. MARCH 2013

COMICS

-9.47%

-11.83%

GRAPHIC NOVELS

18.31%

22.85%

TOTAL COMICS/GN

-1.48%

-9.28%

FIRST QUARTER 2014 VS. FOURTH QUARTER 2013

COMICS

-14.30%

-13.77%

GRAPHIC NOVELS

-11.59%

-1.59%

TOTAL COMICS/GN

-13.45%

-12.82%

FIRST QUARTER 2014 VS. FIRST QUARTER 2013

COMICS

-6.89%

-11.40%

GRAPHIC NOVELS

1.39%

10.06%

TOTAL COMICS/GN

-4.40%

-9.85%

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

COMICS

-6.89%

-11.40%

GRAPHIC NOVELS

1.39%

10.06%

TOTAL COMICS/GN

-4.40%

-9.85%

TOP 10 COMIC BOOKS

RANK

DESCRIPTION

PRICE

ITEM CODE

VENDOR

1

BATMAN #29

$4.99

JAN140290-M

DC

2

SUPERMAN UNCHAINED #6

$3.99

OCT130160-M

DC

3

FOREVER EVIL #6

$3.99

DEC130197-M

DC

4

SANDMAN OVERTURE #2 (MR)

$3.99

DEC130330-M

DC

5

SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #29

$3.99

JAN140720-M

MAR

6

DAREDEVIL #1

$3.99

JAN140630-M

MAR

7

SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #30

$3.99

JAN140722

MAR

8

SILVER SURFER #1

$3.99

JAN140650-M

MAR

9

THE WALKING DEAD #124 (MR)

$2.99

JAN140624

IMA

10

UNCANNY X-MEN #19.NOW

$3.99

JAN140665-M

MAR

TOP 10 GRAPHIC NOVELS

RANK

DESCRIPTION

PRICE

ITEM CODE

VENDOR

1

THE WALKING DEAD VOL. 20: ALL OUT WAR PART 1 TP (MR)

$14.99

JAN140559

IMA

2

SAGA VOLUME 3 TP (MR)

$14.99

JAN140556

IMA

3

NEMO: ROSES OF BERLIN HC (MR)

$14.95

JAN141334

TOP

4

AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER VOL. 7: RIFT PART 1 TP

$10.99

NOV130064

DAR

5

CHEW VOLUME 8: FAMILY RECIPES TP (MR)

$12.99

JAN140548

IMA

6

JUSTICE LEAGUE: TRINITY WAR HC (N52)

$29.99

NOV130226

DC

7

HARLEY QUINN: WELCOME TO METROPOLIS TP

$19.99

DEC130313

DC

8

ADVENTURE TIME VOL. 3: SEEING RED OGN

$11.99

JAN141027

BOO

9

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN VOL. 1 TP

$24.99

NOV082434

MAR

10

STRAY BULLETS UBER ALLES EDITION TP (MR)

$59.99

JAN140530

IMA