Sales of comics and graphic novels to comic stores finished the year with a big December, increasing 21.85% over the same month in 2014.  Comics were up 25.05%, and graphic novels up 14.12%.  Marvel’s share was down six points from last month and DC’s up about three points, narrowing the spread between the two to around 8%, a very low number compared to most recent months.

December 2015 Comic Store Market Share
37.09%                  Marvel Comics
29.32%                  DC Entertainment
10.29%                  Image Comics
  5.31%                  IDW Publishing
  3.05%                  Dark Horse Comics
  1.91%                  BOOM! Studios
  1.63%                  Dynamite Entertainment
  1.38%                  Titan Comics
    .89%                  Oni Press
    .82%                  VIZ Media

Driving the dollars in comics from Marvel were the penultimate issue of Secret Wars, which was the #1 book of the month, four Star Wars titles in the Top 10 for the movie release month, and Guardians of Infinity #1 at #6.  From DC, the second issue of Dark Knight III: The Master Race placed at #2, joined by three other DCs in the Top 10, again a relatively high number compared to most recent months.  In addition to Dark Knight, Batman, the Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover and Harley’s Little Black Book rounded out the group.

Top 10 Comics – December 2015

  1. Secret Wars #8
  2. Dark Knight III:  The Master Race #2
  3. Star Wars #13
  4. Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1
  5. Batman #47
  6. Guardians of Infinity #1
  7. Darth Vader #14
  8. Harley’s Little Black Book #1
  9. Star Wars Annual #1
  10. Darth Vader Annual #1

The top graphic novel of the month was the digital-first The Private Eye by Brian K. Vaughan and Marcos Martin, which at $49.99 also had a big dollar impact.  A perhaps unexpected title in the Top 10 was Black Mask’s We Can Never Go Home, the $9.99 collection of a miniseries by Matthew Rosenberg & Patrick Kindlon, with art by Josh Hood.

Top 10 Graphic Novels – December 2015

  1. The Private Eye Deluxe Edition HC
  2. Harley Quinn Vol. 2
  3. Avatar the Last Airbender Vol. 11
  4. Batman vs. Superman
  5. Saga Vol. 5
  6. We Can Never Go Home
  7. Harley Quinn Vol. 3
  8. Star Wars: Darth Vader Vol. 1
  9. Civil War
  10. Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows
     

For an overview of comic sales in December, see "Variants' Influence Felt in December Comic Numbers."

For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on comic books shipped during December, see "Top 300 Comics Actual--December 2015."

For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on graphic novels shipped during December, see "Top 300 Graphic Novels Actual--December 2015."

For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on comic books shipped during November, see "Top 300 Comics Actual--November 2015."

For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on graphic novels shipped during November, see "Top 300 Graphic Novels Actual--November 2015."

For an overview and analysis of the best-selling comics and graphic novels in November, see "'Dark Knight III' #1 Orders Top 440,000."

​For our index to our reports on the top comic and graphic novel preorders for January 2000 through December 2015, see "ICv2's Top 300 Comics and Top 300 GNs Index."