Sales of comics and graphic novels to comic shops were up nearly 6% in December vs. the previous year, according to numbers released by Diamond Comic Distributors.  Graphic novels were the biggest reason why, with sales up 18.02% for book format comics and only up 1.09% for periodicals.

The market was near flat for Q4, with only a 1.23% increase vs. Q4 2012.  Again, graphic novels were the reason for the increase, up 5.79%, vs. comic sales, which were actually down 0.72% for the quarter. 

Marvel had the dominant share, with 35.42% of the dollars in the direct market, and DC in the #2 slot as usual with 27.22%.  IDW Publishing had a great month with an 8.18% share and the #3 position, helped by sales of its latest Parker volume, Richard Stark’s Parker:  Slayground, which was the #3 grpahic novel for the month at $17.99.

Origin II #1 was the top comic, followed by Avengers #24.NOW at #2.  Both of those were $4.99 books, undoubtedly helping Marvel pile up the dollars that gave it such a significant margin over DC in share. 

Top 10 Comics for December 2013
 1.  Origin II #1 (Marvel)
 2.  Avengers #24.NOW (Marvel)
 3.  Batman #26 (DC)
 4.  Forever Evil #4 (DC)
 5.  Superman Unchained #5 (DC)
 6.  Justice League #25 (DC)
 7.  Harley Quinn #1 (DC)
 8.  Justice League #26 (DC)
 9.  Inhumanity #1 (Marvel)
10.  Superior Spider-Man #23 (Marvel)
 
Over in graphic novels, the latest Fables volume was #1, with the new Adventure Time collection from BOOM! Studios ranking an impressive #2.  Other notables included two Deadpool volumes in the top 10, and the two Saga volumes and The Walking Dead Vol. 1 showing the continuing customer acquisition for those incredibly strong titles from Image.

Top 10 Graphic Novels for December 2013
 1.  Fables Vol. 19 (DC/Vertigo)
 2.  Adventure Time Vol. 2 (BOOM!)
 3.  Richard Stark’s Parker:  Slayground (IDW)
 4.  Deadpool Kills Deadpool (Marvel)
 5.  Star Lord:  Worlds on the Brink (Marvel)
 6.  Nightwing Vol. 3 (DC)
 7.  Saga Vol. 1 (Image)
 8.  Deadpool Vol. 3 (Marvel)
 9.  Saga Vol. 2 (Image)
10.  The Walking Dead Vol. 1 (Image)
 
DC Comics shipped the most books, with 118 releases in December.  Marvel was #2 with 102, and IDW Publishing matched its #3 rank in dollars with the #3 position in releases with 88.

For an overview and analysis of comic sales in December, see "Only Three Titles Over 100K."

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 2013."

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 2013."

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 2013."

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 2013."

For an overview and analysis of the best-selling comics and graphic novels in November, see "'Batman,' 'Walking Dead' Top Charts."  For an analysis of the dollar trends in November, see "Comics Market Up 3.39% in November."