by John Jackson Miller
May's orders of comic books and graphic novels in the comics shop market were higher than in any month since last October, but not quite good enough to beat
May 2018, which had
Amazing Spider-Man #800 among other blockbusters in the mix. Retailers ordered almost exactly $47 million in comic books and graphic novels from
Diamond Comic Distributors this May, including 7.27 million comic books; both of those figures were down 4% year-over-year versus last May.
DC's
DCeased #1 led new comics periodicals; we'll report on its estimated sales on Monday, when you'll be able to click here to find
estimated sales figures for May 2019.
The tale of two strategies we've seen in 2019 continued with
Marvel publishing more different periodical titles, and
DC and
Image publishing fewer. Diamond reported that market-share leader Marvel shipped 118 new comic books to market, a figure that's higher than any since Diamond began reporting monthly release counts in 2013. We're not absolutely certain that figure represents only unique new comic books, with no second or later printings included; it depends on how Diamond is keeping track. But if that 118 number holds, it’s likely to be the highest figure this century. Marvel placed 119 comics in the Top 300 in
June 2009, but several of those were previously listed books that had been reordered.
(Update: I've confirmed the understanding I previously assumed to be correct — that second and later printings are not counted as new titles, but $1 reprints like the True Believers books are counted as new and distinct publications. So the 118 number is solid. Variants are only counted separately if they're at a different price point as the "regular" version.)
The month's total wouldn't be an all-time record, though. At the peak of the early 1990s comics boom, Marvel shipped 126 new comic books to retailers in
August 1993, of which 123 issues made Diamond's Top 300. That appears to be the all-time record for it or any other American publisher.
Regardless, Marvel's May total was 26 more comics than it released in May 2018 — and necessary to allow the publisher to come close to its
Spidey-fortified performance from that month. The total retail dollar value of Marvel's shipments to retailers was off single digits percentage-wise from that month. The publisher remains up 6% for the year.
DC's 60 comics released in May 2019 was 14 fewer than last May, yet the publisher does appear to be succeeding at its stated goal: releasing fewer comics while increasing the sales of the ones it releases. Taking four of the top five slots on the comics charts, DC's shipments to retailers were up 5% in dollar terms versus last May, and its year-to-date shortfall narrowed to 4%. DC also had the top graphic novel by units in
Lauren Myracle's
Under the Moon: A Catwoman Tale.
(Update: I've confirmed that DC's 25-cent Year of the Villain #1 was counted toward its unit market share, which is part of why the unit gap between DC and Marvel is narrow.)
Image, meanwhile, cut its offerings even more than DC did versus last May — releasing 38 new comic books in the month, the publisher's smallest slate since at least 2013. That's down from 65 comic books released in May 2018 — and the bottom line shows the impact, as Image's year-to-year sales to retailers for the month were greatly diminished. By this point in 2018, Image had shipped at least $4 million more in comics and graphic novels to retailers; that's twice the size of the industry's year-to-date shortfall.
Dark Horse, meanwhile, benefited from
Umbrella Academy's Netflix show, placing fourth in dollar market share and landing three of the series' collections in the Top 10 Graphic Novels by units. The publisher's overall sales are up significantly year-over-year and also year-to-date.
May had one more shipping week than April (though the same number as last May), explaining part, but not all, of the boost in sales from that month; a 51% increase in graphic novel dollars over April is significant. We saw several hardcover-laden
reorder charts in May, usually an indicator of sales and promotions. Graphic novel units are down versus last May by the same percentage that dollars are up, something explained partially by the fact that the $7.99
Tag & Bink Were Here #1 was classified as a graphic novel last May; it led the charts then with more than 16,000 units but didn't translate to as many dollars.
The year-to-date total slipped into the red for the first time in 2019, down less than 1%; orders through May 31 are $1.4 million shy of the total last year. That's less than a third of what
Spidey #800 brought in last year, so the margin is fairly narrow.
The
comparative sales statistics:
| Dollars | Units |
|---|
| May 2019 Vs. April 2019 | | |
| Comics | +15.60% | +14.51% |
| Graphic Novels | +50.97% | +44.63% |
| Total Comics/Graphic Novels | +24.51% | +16.35% |
| Toys | +27.91% | +46.27% |
| | |
| May 2019 Vs. May 2018 | | |
| Comics | -7.81% | -4.30% |
| Graphic Novels | +5.36% | -5.36% |
| Total Comics/Graphic Novels | -4.15% | -4.38% |
| Toys | +40.65% | +40.25% |
| | |
| Year To Date 2019 Vs. Year To Date 2018 | | |
| Comics | -0.45% | -5.12% |
| Graphic Novels | -1.21% | -5.94% |
| Total Comics/Graphic Novels | -0.66% | -5.18% |
| Toys | +23.04% | +30.09% |
The
market shares:
| Publisher | Dollar Share | Unit Share |
|---|
| Marvel | 40.46% | 39.75% |
| DC | 28.22% | 38.58% |
| Image | 6.88% | 5.53% |
| Dark Horse | 3.78% | 2.19% |
| IDW | 3.61% | 2.98% |
| Boom | 2.21% | 1.76% |
| Viz | 1.84% | 0.65% |
| Dynamite | 1.78% | 1.50% |
| Oni | 0.84% | 0.56% |
| Titan | 0.67% | 0.49% |
| Other | 9.72% | 9.72% |
The
top-selling comics by units:
| TOP COMIC BOOKS (by units) | PRICE | PUBLISHER |
|---|
| 1 | DCeased #1 | $3.99 | DC |
| 2 | Doomsday Clock #10 | $4.99 | DC |
| 3 | Batman: Last Knight on Earth #1 | $5.99 | DC |
| 4 | Savage Avengers #1 | $4.99 | Marvel |
| 5 | The Batman Who Laughs #5 | $4.99 | DC |
| 6 | Amazing Spider-Man #21 | $3.99 | Marvel |
| 7 | The Immortal Hulk #17 | $3.99 | Marvel |
| 8 | Batman #70 | $3.99 | DC |
| 9 | Batman #71 | $3.99 | DC |
| 10 | Amazing Spider-Man #22 | $3.99 | Marvel |
The
top-selling comics by dollars:
| TOP COMIC BOOKS (by dollars) | PRICE | PUBLISHER |
|---|
| 1 | DCeased #1 | $3.99 | DC |
| 2 | Batman: Last Knight On Earth #1 | $5.99 | DC |
| 3 | Doomsday Clock #10 | $4.99 | DC |
| 4 | The Batman Who Laughs #5 | $4.99 | DC |
| 5 | Savage Avengers #1 | $4.99 | Marvel |
| 6 | The Immortal Hulk #17 | $3.99 | Marvel |
| 7 | Amazing Spider-Man #21 | $3.99 | Marvel |
| 8 | War Of Realms #3 | $4.99 | Marvel |
| 9 | War Of Realms #4 | $4.99 | Marvel |
| 10 | Batman #70 | $3.99 | DC |
The
top-selling graphic novels by units:
| TOP GRAPHIC NOVELS (by units) | PRICE | PUBLISHER |
|---|
| 1 | Under The Moon: A Catwoman Tale | $16.99 | DC |
| 2 | Umbrella Academy Vol. 1: The Apocalypse Suite | $17.99 | Dark Horse |
| 3 | Middlewest Book 1 | $9.99 | Image |
| 4 | Umbrella Academy Vol. 2: Dallas | $17.99 | Dark Horse |
| 5 | East Of West Vol. 9 | $16.99 | Image |
| 6 | DC Super Hero Girls: Spaced Out | $9.99 | DC |
| 7 | The Immortal Hulk Vol. 3: Hulk In Hell | $15.99 | Marvel |
| 8 | Legend Of Korra Part 1: Ruins Of Empire | $10.99 | Dark Horse |
| 9 | Rat Queens Vol. 6: Infernal Path | $16.99 | Image |
| 10 | Saga Deluxe Edition Vol. 3 HC | $49.99 | Image |
The
top-selling graphic novels by dollars:
| TOP GRAPHIC NOVELS (by dollars) | PRICE | PUBLISHER |
|---|
| 1 | Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus Vol. 4 HC | $125.00 | Marvel |
| 2 | Saga Deluxe Edition Vol. 3 HC | $49.99 | Image |
| 3 | Amazing Spider-Man By J. Michael Straczynski Omnibus Vol. 1 Hc | $125.00 | Marvel |
| 4 | Umbrella Academy Vol. 1: The Apocalypse Suite | $17.99 | Dark Horse |
| 5 | Under The Moon: A Catwoman Tale DC Ink | $16.99 | DC |
| 6 | Umbrella Academy Vol. 2: Dallas | $17.99 | Dark Horse |
| 7 | East Of West Vol. 9 | $16.99 | Image |
| 8 | Six Days: The Incredible Story Of D-Day's Lost Chapter HC | $24.99 | DC |
| 9 | Absolute Batman: The Black Mirror HC | $99.99 | DC |
| 10 | Batman: White Knight HC | $29.99 | DC |
Finally, the
number of new items offered:
| Publisher | Comics
shipped | Graphic
Novels
shipped | Magazine
shipped | Total
shipped |
|---|
| Marvel | 118 | 36 | 0 | 154 |
| DC | 60 | 33 | 0 | 93 |
| Image | 38 | 23 | 0 | 61 |
| IDW | 37 | 18 | 0 | 55 |
| Dark Horse | 22 | 30 | 0 | 52 |
| Viz | 0 | 45 | 0 | 45 |
| Boom | 22 | 13 | 0 | 35 |
| Dynamite | 19 | 4 | 0 | 23 |
| Titan | 10 | 6 | 2 | 18 |
| Oni | 9 | 5 | 0 | 14 |
| Other | 151 | 190 | 27 | 368 |
| Total | 486 | 403 | 29 | 918 |
While April and May of 2018 were banner months for the business,
last June represented a slight pause in that year's momentum, so getting back to even this month is at least possible. (Then
July 2018's
Batman #50 sales will presumably lend that year a boost, before August's Marvel Comics #1000 sends the pendulum back in 2019's direction.)
Comichron founder John Jackson Miller has tracked the comics industry for more than 20 years, including a decade editing the industry's retail trade magazine; he is the author of several guides to comics, as well as more than a hundred comic books for various franchises. He is the author of novels including Star Wars: Kenobi, Star Wars: A New Dawn, and the Star Trek: Prey trilogy — and, releasing on July 30, Star Trek: Discovery - The Enterprise War. Read more about them at his fiction site.
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