After a year in which DC’s comic store market share fell well below its Big Two competitor, DC scored a big win in July, with its share topping Marvel’s 35.36% to 34.20%, according to information released today by Diamond Comic Distributors.  The win was behind a second full month of Rebirth launches, with twice-monthly series from man of the company’s flagship titles, launched in the new line the month before, adding to the dollar volume.

July 2016 Comic Channel Market Share

35.36%                                  DC Entertainment                           
34.20%                                  Marvel Comics  
  8.15%                                  Image Comics   
  4.49%                                  IDW Publishing 
  2.83%                                  Dark Horse         
  2.05%                                  BOOM! Studios
  1.36%                                  Archie Comics   
  1.19%                                  Dynamite Entertainment
  1.14%                                  Oni Press            
  1.06%                                  Valiant Entertainment  
  8.18%                                  Other Non-Top 10            

The success of DC’s rebirth launch was reflected in the comic store Top 10 Comics for July, with DC taking eight of the top ten slots for the month.  Six of those eight were first issues; the other two were the second and third issues of Batman, a good sign for the response to the new creative team.

Marvel’s Civil War took the 4th and 7th slots.

Top 10 Comics -- July 2016

  1. Justice League #1
  2. Justice League Rebirth #1
  3. Batman #2
  4. Civil War II #3
  5. Batman #3
  6. Nightwing Rebirth #1
  7. Civil War II #4
  8. New Super Man #1
  9. Nightwing #1
  10. Hal Jordan & The Green Lantern Corps Rebirth #1

Image Comics continued to show strength in the graphic novel chart, with the first volume of Monstress taking the top slot for the month, and Huck and the latest volumes of Southern Bastards and Saga also placing in the Top 10.

Two Suicide Squad-related titles took the #2 and #3 spots for DC, and the Bone: Coda 25th Anniversary (the Cartoon Books edition, Scholastic’s Graphix has the book channel) made a welcome return to the Top 10.  Marvel had three of the top ten graphic novels in comic stores in July.

Top 10 Graphic Novels -- July 2016

  1. Monstress Volume 1 TP
  2. Harley Quinn’s Greatest Hits TP
  3. Batman: The Killing Joke Special Edition HC
  4. Star Wars: Obi-Wan and Anakin TP
  5. Huck TP
  6. Southern Bastards Volume 3: Homecoming TP
  7. Saga Volume 6 TP
  8. Bone: Coda 25th Anniversary TP
  9. Wolverine: Old Man Logan Volume 1: Berzerker TP
  10. Agents of Shield Volume 1: Coulson Protocols TP

DC’s market share win did come in the context of a down month, but the decline was only 3.01% in a four-week to five-week comparison.  Comics were up4.32% for the month, graphic novels were down 19.12%.  Year to date sales are down 1.08% year over year, with comics down 2.59% and graphic novels up 2.42%.

For an overview and analysis for July, see "16 Comic Titles Over 100,000."

For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on comic books shipped during July, see "Top 300 Comics Actual -- July 2016."

For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on graphic novels shipped during July, see "Top 300 Graphic Novels -- July 2016."

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