The comics and graphic novel market in the U.S./Canada comic store channel grew 7.17% in 2015, behind 8.99% growth in comics and 3.14% graphic novel growth, according to information released Wednesday by Diamond Comic Distributors.  All three of those numbers are up from the year-to-date increases as of the end of November (see "Comics Turn Around in November"), indicating a second strong month at the end of the year, after a rocky Q3 and October.

Showing that it's Marvel Comics' world and the rest of the publishers just live in it, Marvel doubled its market share lead over DC Comics in the channel, compared to 2014.  Marvel's share was up over four points, DC was down three points, with a 13 point spread between the #1 and #2 publishers.

Rounding, Image Comics' share was up a point, Dark Horse Comics and Dynamite Entertainment's shares were down a point, and IDW Publishing and BOOM! Studios were roughly the same, among the top seven publishers.

Titan Comics is coming on, charting in the top ten publishers by market share for the first time in 2015.

2015 TOP COMIC BOOK PUBLISHERS

PUBLISHER

DOLLAR SHARE

UNIT SHARE

Marvel Comics

38.74%

41.82%

DC Entertainment

25.75%

27.35%

Image Comics

9.93%

10.70%

IDW Publishing

5.59%

4.87%

Dark Horse Comics

3.79%

3.10%

BOOM! Studios

2.28%

2.46%

Dynamite Entertainment

1.99%

1.79%

Titan Comics

1.03%

0.95%

Eaglemoss Publications

0.94%

0.20%

VIZ Media

0.93%

0.35%

Marvel dominated the Top 10 comic titles in the comic store market, with seven of the top ten titles, and Star Wars #1 on top.  Its dominance would have probably been even more dramatic (like the nine of the top ten titles it charted last year), were it not for Loot Crate-fueled titles from BOOM! and IDW.  DC returned to the Top 10 books of the year chart with the first issue of Dark Knight III: The Master Race.

2015 TOP 10 COMIC BOOKS

RANK

DESCRIPTION

PRICE

VENDOR

1

STAR WARS #1

$4.99

MARVEL COMICS

2

SECRET WARS #1

$4.99

MARVEL COMICS

3

BRAVEST WARRIORS: TALES FROM HOLO JOHN #1

$4.99

BOOM! STUDIOS

4

ORPHAN BLACK #1

$3.99

IDW PUBLISHING

5

DARK KNIGHT III: THE MASTER RACE #1

$5.99

DC COMICS

6

STAR WARS VADER DOWN #1

$4.99

MARVEL COMICS

7

DARTH VADER #1

$4.99

MARVEL COMICS

8

SPIDER-GWEN #1

$3.99

MARVEL COMICS

9

INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #1

$3.99

MARVEL COMICS

10

PRINCESS LEIA #1

$3.99

MARVEL COMICS

Image's Saga took the top three slots on the Top 10 Graphic Novels of 2015 chart, and five of the Top 10.  Two The Walking Dead volumes rounded out Image’s seven titles in the Top 10.  The fact that the first The Walking Dead volume is still charting among the bestselling titles in the comic store channel for the year indicates that the run is not over; the property is still adding lots of new readers.

Marvel's first collection of new Star Wars material hit the chart at #10, and two Big Two classics, Marvel's Civil War and DC's Batman: The Killing Joke, filled out the Top 10.

2015 TOP 10 GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS

RANK

DESCRIPTION

PRICE

VENDOR

1

SAGA VOLUME 4 TP (MR)

$14.99

IMAGE COMICS

2

SAGA VOLUME 1 TP (MR)

$9.99

IMAGE COMICS

3

SAGA VOLUME 5 TP (MR)

$14.99

IMAGE COMICS

4

CIVIL WAR TP

$24.99

MARVEL COMICS

5

THE WALKING DEAD VOL. 23: WHISPERS INTO SCREAMS TP

$14.99

IMAGE COMICS

6

BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE SPECIAL EDITION HC

$17.99

DC COMICS

7

SAGA VOLUME 2 TP (MR)

$14.99

IMAGE COMICS

8

THE WALKING DEAD VOL. 1: DAYS GONE BYE TP

$14.99

IMAGE COMICS

9

SAGA VOLUME 3 TP (MR)

$14.99

IMAGE COMICS

10

STAR WARS VOLUME 1: SKYWALKER STRIKES TP

$19.99

MARVEL COMICS

DC, Dark Horse, and Dynamite all cut their output as measured by number of comic titles significantly; Dynamite's title output was down 18%, and DC and Dark Horse both put out 13% fewer new comic issues/titles than they did in 2014.

Marvel’s title count was down somewhat (around 4%), making its share increase pretty impressive.  Image put out 8% more titles, and BOOM! 's output was up 10%.

On the graphic novel side, Marvel’s 15% increase and Image's 24% increase in the number of titles were the big increases.

2015 NUMBER OF TITLES SHIPPED

PUBLISHER

COMICS

GRAPHIC NOVELS

MAGAZINES

TOTAL

Marvel Comics

917

390

2

1309

DC Entertainment

963

331

6

1300

Image Comics

773

187

0

960

IDW Publishing

527

265

0

792

Dark Horse Comics

378

234

0

612

BOOM! Entertainment

385

94

0

479

Dynamite Entertainment

301

68

0

369

VIZ Media

0

270

0

270

Titan Comics

120

67

35

222

Eaglemoss Publishing

0

0

152

152


 

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