After a slumping five-month period at the beginning of 2016 in which comics and graphic novel sales to comic stores went down over 5% (see "YTD Comics Down 5+%"), the launch of Marvel’s Civil War II and DC’s broad Rebirth relaunch (along with several Dark Knight releases) brought year-to-date comics and graphic novel sales at mid-year up to a 0.73% decline for the year, according to numbers released by Diamond Comic Distributors based on North American sales to comic stores.

Comic sales were up 23.06% for the month and graphic novels were up 14.37%, for a total growth of 20.26% in June 2016 vs. June 2015.

The market share spread between Marvel and DC, large in recent months, narrowed again, but still remains in double digits, at around 10%.  That’s down from a 17% spread in April and a 13% spread in May.

June 2016 Comic Channel Market Share

40.08%                  Marvel Comics
29.93%                  DC Entertainment
  7.88%                  Image Comics
  5.22%                  IDW Publishing
  2.81%                  Dark Horse Comics
  2.23%                  BOOM! Studios
  1.45%                  Dynamite Entertainment
  1.09%                  Titan Comics
  0.97%                  VIZ Media
  0.75%                  Valiant Entertainment

Marvel took the #1 and #5 comic slots in June with its Civil War II flagship title (both issues up-priced, at $5.99 and $4.99, respectively).  Other than the latest Star Wars launch, DC took the rest of the top ten slots, five of them with Rebirth titles, and two with Dark Knight titles.

Top 10 Comics – June 2016

  1. Civil War II #1
  2. Batman #1
  3. Batman Rebirth #1
  4. Star Wars: Hand Solo #1
  5. Civil War II #2
  6. Dark Knight II: The Master Race #5
  7. Dark Knight Returns: The Last Crusade #1
  8. Superman Rebirth #1
  9. Wonder Woman #1
  10. Superman #1

DC also had a good month on the graphic novel chart, with five of the top ten titles.  Paul Dini’s Dark Knight:  A True Batman Story took the #2 slot (it also did well in the book channel, see "June 2016 BookScan – Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels").

The first graphic novel tied to DC’s new girls property, DC Super Hero Girls, had a strong debut (#4) in a channel that’s not known for doing well with girls titles, a promising sign of increased breadth for the audience that shops at comic stores.

Image Comics took the top slot with the latest volume of Saga, along with two other slots in the Top 10 for its latest Sex Criminals and Outcast volumes.

Marvel had only one title in the Top 10, with Skottie Young’s Color Your Own Young Marvel, surely a sign of an impending apocalypse.

Top 10 Graphic Novels – June 2016

  1. Saga Vol. 6
  2. Dark Knight: A True Batman Story HC
  3. Sex Criminals Vol. 3
  4. DC Super Hero Girls Vol. 1
  5. Color Your Own Young Marvel
  6. Batman: The Killing Joke Dlx. Ed. HC
  7. Preacher Book 1
  8. Outcast Vol. 3
  9. Harley Quinn Vol. 3
  10. Neil Gaiman’s How to Talk to Girls at Parties HC

For an overview and analysis for June, see "Eleven Comic Titles Over 100,000 in June."

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 2016."

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 -- June 2016."

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 2016."

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 -- May 2016."

​For our index to our reports on the top comic and graphic novel preorders for January 2000 through June 2016, see "ICv2's Top 300 Comics and Top 300 GNs Index."