Marvel had a big month in March, as Diamond Comic Distributors’ comic and graphic sales to comic stores rose 22.59% over March 2012, Diamond announced.   Marvel topped DC by nearly 13 points of market share, with Marvel at roughly 40% of March sales and DC at around 27%.

March comic sales were up 26.28% over March 2012, and graphic novel sales were up 14.33% to produce that 22.59% over-all year-over-year growth in March. 

The first quarter was outstanding in comic stores, with a nearly 20% increase in comics and graphic novel sales this year vs. 2012.  Comics were up 21.38%; graphic novels were up 16.22%; and comics and graphic novel sales were up 19.78% over-all in Q1 vs. Q1 2012. 

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Marvel’s great March was clearly visible at the top of the charts, where it took the top two comic slots with Guardians of Galaxy #1 and Age of Ultron #1.  Marvel had seven of the top ten comics in March. 

And although DC had the top two graphic novel slots, with Batman: City of Owls Vol. 2 HC and Batman: Court of Owls Vol. 1 TP, and three of the top ten, Marvel also had a good month, with four of the top ten graphic novels in March (Hawkeye Vol. 1 TP, Avengers vs. X-Men TP, Kick-Ass 2 TP, and Kick-Ass 2 Prelude Hit-Girl HC).

For an overview and analysis of comic sales in March, see "'Guardians' Debuts Over 200K."

For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on comic books shipped during March, see "Top 300 Comics Actual--March 2013."

For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on graphic novels shipped during March, see "Top 300 Graphic Novels Actual--March 2013."
 
For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on comic books shipped during February, see "Top 300 Comics Actual--February 2013."

For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on graphic novels shipped during February, see "Top 300 Graphic Novels Actual--February 2013."

For an overview and analysis of the best-selling comics and graphic novels in February, see "52 Variants Garner Million Dollar Book."  For an analysis of the dollar trends in February, see "Comic Market Continues Growth."
 
For our index to our reports on the top comic and graphic novel preorders for January 2000 through March 2013, see "ICv2's Top 300 Comics and Top 300 GNs Index."