Marvel Regains Marketshare Dominance From DC And Puts Five Books In The Top Ten, Walking Dead #103 Gets Ninth Place - October 2013

[Rich Johnston]

Well that's a turnup for the books. Marvel's books that is. It was a five week month which generally benefits Marvel as they plan to publish more in the fifth week, but DC's recent dominance of the top ten was also challenged as well as their marketshare. MarvelNOW! seems to be working...

September was a four week month,that saw DC dominate both the share of dollars spent and the units sold. But in October DC?s dollar marketshare fall from 36.41% to 31.51% while Marvel?s rose from 31.04% to 35.14% turning a 5.5 point deficit from Marvel into a 4,5 point lead. On volume marketshare, Marvel rose from 33.65% to 39.54% while DC?s fell from 41.10% to 34.4%, turning DC's 7.5 point lead to a 5 point deficit.

The five week month was mirrored by October adding a fifth onto the dollar sales of September. October 2013 was only 7% up on dollar sales of the four week October 2011, and fell slightly on unit sales, but that month last year was buoyed by reorders and second prints from the DC relaunch, which saw DC grab 50% of the market. 2012 is still significantly up on 2011.

And while the zero issue month of September saw DC grab nine out of the top ten slots, in October Marvel are back in force taking five of them, including the top two spots with Uncanny Avengers #1 and Avengers Vs X-Men #12, the big surprise is that The Walking Dead is back in the top ten with #103, as the new series starts. Most people had thought the book would move back down to the top twenty after Walking Dead #100 but now it's back up and grabbing a top ten spot. Walking Dead graphic novels also grab three spots on the graphic novel chart, though are all beaten by Saga at the number two spot, and Superman Earth Two at the top.

RETAIL MARKET SHARE PUBLISHER SHARE MARVEL COMICS 35.14% DC COMICS 31.51% IMAGE COMICS 8.47% IDW PUBLISHING 4.62% DARK HORSE COMICS 3.81% DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT 2.71% BOOM! STUDIOS 1.29% AVATAR PRESS INC 1.26% RANDOM HOUSE 1.19% ZENESCOPE ENTERTAINMENT INC 1.03% OTHER NON-TOP 20 8.96% UNIT MARKET SHARE PUBLISHER SHARE MARVEL COMICS 39.54% DC COMICS 34.40% IMAGE COMICS 7.60% IDW PUBLISHING 3.82% DARK HORSE COMICS 3.11% DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT 2.78% BOOM! STUDIOS 1.39% AVATAR PRESS INC 1.04% ZENESCOPE ENTERTAINMENT INC 1.03% ARCHIE COMIC PUBLICATIONS 0.80% OTHER NON-TOP 10 4.49% COMPARATIVE SALES STATISTICS

DOLLARS UNITS OCTOBER 2012 VS. SEPTEMBER 2012 COMICS 20.02% 16.15% GRAPHIC NOVELS 24.41% 13.11% TOTAL COMICS/GN 21.45% 15.90% OCTOBER 2012 VS. OCTOBER 2011 COMICS 7.44% -0.82% GRAPHIC NOVELS 53.87% 52.85% TOTAL COMICS/GN 19.50% 2.11% YEAR-TO-DATE 2012 VS. YEAR-TO-DATE 2011 COMICS 15.89% 12.31% GRAPHIC NOVELS 17.97% 17.10% TOTAL COMICS/GN 16.55% 12.68% TOP 10 COMICS

RANK DESCRIPTION PRICE VENDOR 1 UNCANNY AVENGERS #1 $3.99 MAR 2 AVENGERS VS. X-MEN #12 $4.99 MAR 3 BATMAN #13 $3.99 DC 4 JUSTICE LEAGUE #13 $3.99 DC 5 A PLUS X #1 $3.99 MAR 6 GREEN LANTERN #13 $2.99 DC 7 DETECTIVE COMICS #13 $3.99 DC 8 AVX VS. #6 $3.99 MAR 9 WALKING DEAD #103 (MR) $2.99 IMA 10 AVX: CONSEQUENCES #1 $3.99 MAR TOP 10 GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS

RANK DESCRIPTION PRICE VENDOR 1 SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE VOLUME 2 HC $22.99 DC 2 SAGA VOLUME 1 TP $9.99 IMA 3 THE WALKING DEAD COMPENDIUM VOL. 2 TP $59.99 IMA 4 THE WALKING DEAD VOL. 1: DAYS GONE BYE TP $9.99 IMA 5 THE WALKING DEAD VOL. 2: MILES BEHIND US TP $14.99 IMA 6 BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT VOLUME 1: KNIGHT TERRORS HC $24.99 DC 7 DEADPOOL KILLS THE MARVEL UNIVERSE TP $14.99 MAR 8 NIGHTWING VOL. 1: TRAPS AND TRAPEZES TP $14.99 DC 9 V FOR VENDETTA: BOOK AND MASK SET $24.99 DC 10 BATMAN VOL. 1: THE COURT OF OWLS HC $24.99 DC

[downlikecharlie]

No one should be surprised by this. DC's numbers for September were high because of the Zero Month stunt, and Marvel's are high this month because of Uncanny Avengers and AvX 12. I'd put money on Marvel maintaining a slight lead for November and December. I'd like to see where the Top 300 numbers fall.

[ChrisMcFeely]

A+X, really? I can't see that holding that spot for long.

[Jonathan Strange]

I just like it because it makes more evident that the big ones have to make "stunts" to sell a lot. Next move: Dc relaunches everything!!!

But Batman, Superman, Justice League and Green Lantern still sell, maybe because they are Batman, Superman....

[Peter J Poole]

Getting in ahead of the inevitable pissing matches, it does look more and more like an equal(ish) 3 way split these days with Marvel, DC and Indies.

That's probably not the worst way things could pan out...

Cheers

[NielsVanEekelen]

A+X, really? I can't see that holding that spot for long.

Agreed. The only real shocker.

[atrocitus]

A+X was ridiculous its basically a team up book. Poor retailers for over ordering.
As it can be shown, all those AVX consequences lying around.

[Cavemold]

A+X lol what the hell.. That one i just didnt see making a big splash ,also AVX 12 still popular despite media critics.

[Cavemold]

Interesting Batman Tec still gets over main books..

[Cavemold]

Marvel should and did take the market share with the Marvel NOW launch