Image Sells More Trades In December Through Diamond Than Marvel. Mostly Walking Dead.

[Rich Johnston]

According to estimates made by John Mayo, DC Comics sold the most of the Top 300 trade paperbacks and hardcovers in December 2011, taking 27.21% marketshare by volume (and 32% by dollar) against Marvel Comics' 20.09% marketshare by volume (and 25.62% by dollar).

But inbetween them snuck Image Comics, taking 24.4% share of all the hardcovers and tradepaperbacks sold to comic shops by Diamond Comics Distributors. Marvel still took more by dollar, with Image Comics only taking 19.62% of money spent, but it's still a whopping great amount, certainly compared with Image's 5.62% of 2011 comic book sales.

Image's performance usually gathers them from around 9 or 10% marketshare. December saw that boom, pushing them well into second place.

The truth is that many of these sales are of Walking Dead, and some will point to the TV series as the only reason for Image's sucess. But Marvel also saw the release of X-Men First Class, Thor and Captain America last year with Avengers trailers, the Avengers cartoon and Ultimate Spider-Man trailers towards the end of the year.

Yet the Walking Dead clearly outsold any of those single handed. And, as we've seen, the likes of Morning Glories still outsold every single Marvel trade paperback in 2011.

This is probably also symptomatic of some deep problems that Marvel seems to be having with their backlist of trade paperbacks, unable to keep many runs in stock.

Now this list doesn't include bookstore sales, but then it's worth remembering that Walking Dead has dominated those as well.

[Lemurion]

Marvel seems to have problems understanding the idea that in order to sell trades you need to have books in stores (and in print).

[Victorian Squid]

Cue the usual people to the stage to insist Robert Kirkman is a horrible person who has no great affect on the comics industry.

[Victorian Squid]

Marvel seems to have problems understanding the idea that in order to sell trades you need to have books in stores (and in print).

Even if they were all in print, it doesn't mean they'd be getting WD numbers. Hell, if I were Marvel I wouldn't want to be reminded of most of the stuff they published recently either.

[obii]

Good for Image and I think it also helps that on average Image trades are cheaper per page count.
And their $10 price for the first trade is a really good incentive to try them out.

[The Xenos]

Marvel has too damn many stories going on. Hell, DC too. Image sells self contained stories in easily nmbered trades. Marvel and DC need damn checklists to sell their damn stories. Even as a long time fan I cannot be bothered with this crap anymore. Let thosr models remain in the 90s along with giant shoulder pads and holofoil covers every four issues.

I hoped DC had learned with their reboot, but it seems they are hellbent on maki.g things overly convolouted still.

To me, Imange and Dark Horse andbother smaller publishers actuall have the more new reader friedly books. If DC and Marvel didn't have nostalgia and brand name recognition, their publishing prelactices would put them out of buisiness. Hell, some days Iwonder if their giant.parent companies would be happier if they didnt even waste their money actually publishing comics. At the same time, if it wasnt for them, they'd be dead with such poor publishing practices. Hell. Imported Japanese comics are selling better than native American ones. And Image's publishing is closer to how those are released. DC and Marvel need to take a page from Image and others and stpp their silly games.

[ahlhelm]

Walking Dead has become an unstoppable juggernaut, so this doesn't surprise me.

And I'm pretty sure Marvel has been behind Image in sales for the book market for ages. DC & Dark Horse are ahead of them too. Despite the fact that Marvel produces more trades than anyone their inability to keep a full series in print hurts them in sales.

[MechanicalClavicles]

Not surprised in the least, so good for Image. I've got to say that in the 20... oh god.... almost 24 years now that I've been reading comics, it's really rare to see something spread in popularity like the Walking Dead has. Just in the past year, I'd say that maybe a dozen of my co-workers have picked up the collections and monthlies and the majority of them are folks who've never read a comic before in their lives. That's a huge accomplishment for something that critics would write off as 'just a little zombie book.'

I'll say that for all of 2011, the release of a new Walking Dead issue was the only Wednesday of the month that I was guaranteed I'd be in the shop. Nothing else came even close.

[Super-Roff]

My first posting so if I'm breaking some sort of etiquette or going to places already well trodden please forgive me?

I realise that I'm a little older than many fans (I'm 38 and have been reading comics for on and off 30 years) but I think The Xenos above has hit the nail on the head. To me the apparent gap between the quality of the material being produced in a vast majority of Marvel and DC books and that which can be read in (titles like) the Walking Dead is vast. Unless something really piques my interest within the Big Two these days I'll rarely risk my hard earned pennies on purchasing one of their mainstream superhero collections. As has previously been mentioned it's convoluted, poorly written fodder with overblown, badly drafted art that does nothing to inspire or hold the attention.

And there's SO MUCH OF IT!! Even if I was tempted to impulse buy something there's very little to attract me to one title more than one of the myriad of others. Maybe I'm speaking out of turn here as I didn't actually buy any of them (single monthly issues haven't been my bag for many a year) but I read that when DC re-launched a short time ago it was with over 50 'new' series. 50! I mean 50!?!?! To me this just kinda guarantees a lack of quality and seems like a 'let's just throw everything out there and see what sticks' approach which in the case of the vast majority of titles will see them doomed to failure.

I presume that the line is aimed at the younger market because of the way that the comics are written so where do the company think that this demographic is gonna get the money for all these? And so we're back to the Walking Dead again. One consistently well scribed, drawn and indeed crafted book that has created its own audience that spans outside of the usual 'fanboy' clique market and is therefore outselling the numerous 'mainstream' titles that are available. This isn't news to me, just common sense really.

Rant over. BTW I love superheroes. Thanks for listening.

[Troy Brownfield]

I'd say that it's also possible that Marvel isn't selling trades to the regular buyers of individual issues, whether they be paper or digital. Granted, some fans will buy collections of a series that they like a lot, but I get the sense that we're talking about two types of consumer making the difference here: the Marvel-loyal-hit-the-shop-every-Wednesday-wants-every-issue-as-it-hits consumer, and the more casual bookstore buyer that the industry has tried to court for years.