"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 |