2011 - Marvel Takes Marketshare, DC Takes 9 Out Of The Top 10 Sellers, Walking Dead Dominates The Bookshelf

[Rich Johnston]

Despite DC having a stellar end of year performance, their very rocky start to 2011 and Marvel's recovery in December seems to have given Marvel the edge in marketshare last year, though a reduced lead on 2010.

In 2011, Marvel had a 37% share of dollars spent on comics through Diamond Comic Distributors and 41% of individual comics sold. While DC took 31.5% of dollar and 37% of unit. Image Comics also takes an impressive 5% share.

On 2010, Marvel had a dollar market share of 38% and a unit share of 43%, while DC had 30% of dollar and 34% of unit.

But the true impact of the relaunch can be seen in the top ten for the year, with DC taking nine of the top ten best selling comics of the year, with Justice League #1 at the top and #2 and #3 coming in at fourth and eighth place. Batman #1 and #2 took second and fifth place, Action Comics #1 and #2 on third and ninth place with Green Lantern #1 at seventh place and Detective Comics #1 at tenth place. Marvel's Ultimate Spider-Man #160 featuring the death of Ultimate Peter Parker comes in at number six.

And for graphic novels? It's all Walking Dead with volumes taking first, second, fourth, fifth, eighth and tenth place, with another Image book, Morning Glories, coming in at tenth. League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen comes in at fourth, with Fables at six and Batman Noel at seventh. Marvel are shut out, again showing a lack of breakthrough projects in the book market since the start of the Stephen King books.

PUBLISHER RETAIL MARKET SHARE UNIT MARKET SHARE MARVEL COMICS 37.29% 40.93% DC COMICS 31.41% 36.77% IMAGE COMICS 5.27% 4.71% IDW PUBLISHING 4.73% 3.78% DARK HORSE COMICS 4.71% 3.35% DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT 3.06% 2.85% BOOM! STUDIOS 1.73% 1.43% VIZ MEDIA 1.09% 0.47% EAGLEMOSS PUBLICATIONS LTD 0.96% 0.23% AVATAR PRESS INC 0.79% 0.54% OTHER NON-TOP 10 8.95% 4.93%

TOP 10 COMIC BOOKS

RANK DESCRIPTION PRICE VENDOR 1 JUSTICE LEAGUE #1 $3.99 DC 2 BATMAN #1 $2.99 DC 3 ACTION COMICS #1 $3.99 DC 4 JUSTICE LEAGUE #2 $3.99 DC 5 BATMAN #2 $2.99 DC 6 ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN #160 $3.99 MAR 7 GREEN LANTERN #1 $2.99 DC 8 JUSTICE LEAGUE #3 $3.99 DC 9 ACTION COMICS #2 $3.99 DC 10 DETECTIVE COMICS #1 $2.99 DC

TOP 10 GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS

RANK DESCRIPTION PRICE VENDOR 1 THE WALKING DEAD VOLUME 1: DAYS GONE BYE TP (MR) $9.99 IMA 2 THE WALKING DEAD VOLUME 14: NO WAY OUT TP (MR) $14.99 IMA 3 LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN III: CENTURY #2: 1969 (MR) $9.95 TOP 4 THE WALKING DEAD VOLUME 15 TP (MR) $14.99 IMA 5 THE WALKING DEAD VOLUME 2: MILES BEHIND US TP (MR) $14.99 IMA 6 FABLES VOLUME 15: ROSE RED TP (MR) $17.99 DC 7 BATMAN: NOEL DELUXE EDITION HC $22.99 DC 8 THE WALKING DEAD VOLUME 3: SAFETY BEHIND BARS TP (MR) $14.99 IMA 9 THE WALKING DEAD VOLUME 13: TOO FAR GONE TP (MR) $14.99 IMA 10 MORNING GLORIES VOLUME 1: FOR A BETTER FUTURE TP $9.99 IMA

[Dans07sti]

9 out of 10 of the top 10 selling books seems like a pretty good accomplisment.

[sakaarson]

Well done to Image. I've always been a marvel fanboy but comics like Chew and Walking Dead are starting to bring me around to the smaller publishers

[fredmanson]

9 out of 10 is very excellent for a wide relaunch of the DCU!!! Marvel has the spot with the "death" of Spider-Man in the Ultimate universe, but if this story hasn't been published, it would have been a 10 out of 10 for DC!!!!

For the trades, I fear that the actual prices will change a lot of readers waiting. To pay $25 for a HC of the first arc of 5-6 issues from the New 52 is very expensive. I will wait for the "second market" or that the prices of them will dropped in the months to come.

Wait and see...

[PreacherCain]

So Marvel's best-selling comic of 2011 was #160 of a title. Interesting.

Well done to Image. I bet they're going to have an even stronger 2012. The Big Three?

And wow, Walking Dead sells A LOT of books!! It should be pointed out that 8 of the top 10 trades were from smaller publishers, 7 of which were Image. That's incredibly impressive.

[longlivethelegion]

Surely League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen came in third? Or have I read the table wrong?

[Joe Kalicki]

So with this and the issue 7s solicited with no books cancelled yet is it still too early to call the relaunch a success? I don't want to be too premature you know.

[rahonavis]

I think the fact it did not sink the company was a success for DC (big risk relaunching). That said, given that the market share is not so different from a year ago (even less so than say 3 or 5 years ago) and the middle to lower tier books are fading i don't think its time to pull out the fireworks yet. The fact no book is canceled is because DC has said it would give all books 8 issues to a year before deciding (a smart move in my opinion, give them a chance). If the trend continues, with middle tier books like Green arrow or Mr. Terrific losing large percentages month after month by the summer it may look different. Not saying it will be a failure, I don't believe and seriously hope that it won't turn out to be. That said I think a year from now, when the we can look back with a better understanding of how the trend is shaping up, we will see DC and Marvel back into the same relative positions they have had for the last decade, with little to no net gain in fans. But if it gives DC creators a shot in the arm, than good. And if you like it, and Joe I take it from your comments you do, than I am very happy for you.

I hope that I am too cynical and in a year DC is stronger than ever, I truly do. Though if I had one request, I would like to see Green Arrow changed back to his old, mature and interesting self so i can start buying my favorite character again.

[brian-cs]

I'm not really sure that having nine out of the top ten, is going to mean anything, although it's something to crow about for the next year. It'd mean something if they could build on it. However, unless DC has a publishing plan that's not apparent to me, those numbers can only go down. Of course, they could trot out more speculator bait. After the Death of Superman, it took a few years before people figured out speculating on high print-run comics is a bad investment. I expect it will take less time this go round.

[Comicsfan101]

However, unless DC has a publishing plan that's not apparent to me, those numbers can only go down.

Yes, because they're obviously just publishing anything at random.