Image had a great year in graphic novels (and overall), according to information released by Diamond Comic Distributors today, which revealed that Image had nine of the top ten graphic novels in comic stores in 2014.  Two volumes of Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples’ Saga were at the top of the graphic novel chart, beating even the mighty Walking Dead, and all four were in the top ten.  Four Walking Dead volumes and the first volume of Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky’s Sex Criminals rounded out Image’s nine titles.  DC had #9, with a Scott Snyder Batman volume. 

This chart, and all subsequent charts, were provided by Diamond Comic Distributors and reflect sell-in to comic stores in U.S. and Canada by Diamond.   

The market in comic stores grew 4.39% over 2013, with graphic novels rising faster, at 5.18%, and comics still a healthy 4.03%.  The end of the year has been stronger, but a flat first half (see “First Half Direct Market Comics Flat”) held down the overall growth rate in 2014.

Image also had a strong year in market share, with a 9.23% share for the year that was rising at the end (see “Image Share Hits Double Digits”).  Image revealed yesterday that BookScan numbers indicate that it’s the #2 graphic novel publisher in the book channel (see “Image Is #2 in the Book Channel”).  Marvel maintains a 5.5% lead over DC in the top two slots, and IDW is a half point ahead of Dark Horse in the #4 and #5 slots.  Dynamite and BOOM! are in the 6th and 7th slots.

Marvel’s lead over DC is reflected in the top ten comic titles, where Marvel dominated, with nine of the top ten.  Marvel took maximum advantage of those top sellers:  seven of the nine were up-priced books, at $4.99 and $5.99.  Image’s The Walking Dead #132, the only non-Marvel title in the Top 10, was the only book below $3.99, at $2.99.
 

Diamond also released title counts for the top publishers, with DC at the most, 1453 releases, for the year.  Marvel released over 100 fewer titles and still topped DC in dollars, a reflection of the fact that Marvel has higher prices on its periodicals, released more graphic novels than DC, and has more titles at the top of the chart.  The only other position flip was BOOM! and Dynamite; BOOM! released more titles but Dynamite has the larger market share of the two.