The market for comics and graphic novels in comic stores grew more slowly in Q2, as an OK June topped off a solid, but unspectacular quarter, according to statistics released by Diamond Comic Distributors.  Comics and graphic novels grew 2.57% in June (comics were up 5.28% and graphic novels were down 3.35%) and 5.43% in Q2 (comics were up 6.3% and graphic novels were up 3.62%).
   
That compared to a torrid Q1, in which comics were up 21.38%, graphic novels were up 16.22%, and the over-all growth rate was 19.78%. 

Despite the drop-off in growth rate in Q2, the first half growth rate was still pretty great:  comics crew 13.26%, graphic novels grew 9.25%, and the over-all comics and graphic novel growth rate was 11.98%. 

Marvel won the market share battle, with a 32.77% share vs. a 29.57% share for DC.  Image Comics had another strong month at 8.77%, IDW Publishing was at 6.55%, and Dark Horse Comics had a 5.51% share.

DC had the top two periodical comic books, with Superman Unchained #1 and Batman/Superman #1.  The rest of the top ten was a list of the usual suspects, with the exception of Kick-Ass 3 #1, which came in at #10.

The graphic novel list for June is interesting:  Marvel and DC had only five of the top 10 books, and the top three books were all from other publishers.  The Walking Dead Vol. 18 was #1, Saga Vol. 2 was #2, and Adventure Time, following up its strong month last month (see "'Adventure Time' Is #1"), was #3.  Image placed another The Walking Dead volume, and Fatale Volume 3 at #6 and #7, giving non-Big Two publishers five of the top seven (Marvel placed Star-Lord: The Hollow Crown and Deadpool Killustrated at #4 and #5).

For an overview and analysis of comic sales in June, see "Supes’ Million Dollar Book Leads June Titles."

For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on comic books shipped during June, see "Top 300 Comics Actual--June 2013."

For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on graphic novels shipped during June, see "Top 300 Graphic Novels Actual--June 2013."

For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on comic books shipped during May, see "Top 300 Comics Actual--May 2013."

For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on graphic novels shipped during May, see "Top 300 Graphic Novels Actual--May 2013."

For an overview and analysis of the best-selling comics and graphic novels in May, see "'X-Men' #1 Tops 177,000."  For an analysis of the dollar trends in May, see "'Adventure Time' is #1 GN in May."