Comic and graphic novel sales to comic stores declined 14.84% in December 2016 vs. the previous year, according to numbers released by Diamond Comic Distributors.  That’s comparing a four-week month in 2016 to a five-week month in 2015, but the opposite was true in November and there was still a substantial decline (see "Comic Sales Slide in November").  Comic sales were down 18.84% and graphic novels were down 4.24%.

Comics and graphic novel sales were down 6.11% in Q4 vs. Q4 2015, behind a comic sales decline of 8.92% and a graphic novel increase of 1.53%.

That brings the year, which had been running ahead of 2015, down to roughly flat, with total comics and graphic novel sales up .3% vs. 2015.  Comics were down .11%, and graphic novels were up 1.24%.

Marvel maintained its #1 position in the market share chart, but the spread narrowed, with only a 7% share difference between Marvel and DC.

December 2016 Comic Channel Market Share

36.73%                 Marvel Comics
29.47%                 DC Comics
  8.81%                 Image Comics
  5.49%                 IDW Publishing
  3.17%                 Dark Horse Comics
  2.40%                 BOOM! Studios
  1.99%                 Dynamite Entertainment
  1.16%                 Titan Comics
  1.10%                 Valiant Entertainment LLC
  1.09%                 VIZ Media           

DC had a strong month at the top of the comics chart, with the #1 title, and four of the top five.

Top 10 Comics – December 2016

  1. Justice League Vs. Suicide Squad #1
  2. Inhumans vs. X-Men #1
  3. Dark Knight III:  The Master Race #7
  4. Batman #12
  5. Batman #13
  6. Civil War II #8
  7. Star Wars #26
  8. Star Wars:  Doctor Aphra #1
  9. Hulk #1
  10. All-Star Batman #5

The benefit comic for those affected by the Orlando shootings was the #1 graphic novel in December, behind strong support in comic stores and a solid PR push (see "'Late Night' Push for 'Love Is Love'"). 

Top 10 Graphic Novels – December 2016

  1. Love Is Love
  2. Batman Vol. 9:  Bloom
  3. Descender Vol. 3:  Singularities
  4. Wolverine:  Old Man Logan
  5. I Hate Fairyland Vol. 2:  Fluff My Life
  6. Invincible Iron Man Vol. 1:  Reboot
  7. Star Wars:  Poe Dameron Vol. 1:  Black Squadron
  8. Doctor Strange Vol. 1:  Way of Weird
  9. Batman Vol. 10:  Epilogue
  10. Black Science Vol. 5:  True Atonement
     

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 2016."

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 -- December 2016."

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 2016."

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 -- November 2016."

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