Marvel and DC comic shipments were neck and neck in October, according to Diamond Comic Distributors final report of market share numbers for the month, despite a gap of around 8% in advance order market shares.  Marvel's shipment share was 5.6% less than its advance order share; DC's was 2.2% greater.  This shift of roughly 8% is the biggest difference in shares between advance orders and final shipments since we started comparing these number four months ago.  That occurred despite the fact that Marvel's Heroes tribute/benefit book shipped in October, which should have supported Marvel's order share but was not included in its advance order share.  Last month's shift was around 4%, which has been the average so far (see 'DC Closes Share Gap with Reorders in September'). 

The shift between Marvel and DC's shares in past months has always been in the same direction (Marvel's share is lower in shipments than orders, DC's is larger).  We've noted that there are three possible reasons for this shift.  First, there may be a difference in reorder volume between Marvel and DC (DC overprints and reprints, Marvel doesn't).  Second, there may be a difference in backlist volume (DC has a much larger book backlist than Marvel does).  Third, there may be a difference between when books are solicited and when they actually ship.  We suspect that the third reason is a much larger factor for October.  Marvel has been having considerable difficulty shipping its top dollar books on time, and it's not surprising that this is having an effect on the dollars that it's able to bill for the period (see 'Marvel Strives To Get Back on Schedule'). 

The biggest mover among smaller publishers was Viz, which increased its share by 1.28% in shipments vs. advance orders.  We assume that's largely the case because of Viz' extensive backlist of manga trades.