DC Comics placed 5 Convergence titles in the Top 10 along with Batman #40, a strong showing that allowed DC, which had been reduced to 23.1% marketshare in March (vs 38.82% for Marvel) to boost its share to 30.91% and narrow the gap with Marvel (34.15%), which had averaged over 15% for the first three months of the year. Once again Image Comics was the clear #3 publisher with 10.23%, followed by IDW Publishing (6.0%), Dark Horse Comics (3.65%), and BOOM! Entertainment (2.15%).
March 2015 Comic Market Share
34.15% Marvel Comics
30.19% DC Comics
10.23% Image Comics
6.00% IDW Publishing
3.65% Dark Horse Comics
2.15% BOOM! Studios
2.05% Dynamite Entertainment
0.95% Titan Books
0.94% Avatar Press
0.89% Oni Press
Although Marvel did publish four titles that made it into the Top 10, including the #1 comic for the month, all four books are Star Wars titles. Even during the launch of DC’s New 52 there was always a Marvel character in the Top 10, but for the first time since ICv2 has been tracking comic book sales, in April no comic featuring a Marvel character made it into the Top 10. The successful launch of DC’s Convergence initiative (along with Batman #40) gave DC six of the Top 10. While the Marvel Universe characters were shut out in April, look for them to rebound in May with the launch of Secret Wars, and there is little doubt now that the Marvel Star Wars books have proven to be the most impressive launch of a series or related titles to hit the comic market in a long, long time.
Top 10 Comics--April 2015
- Star Wars #4
- Convergence #0
- Convergence #1
- Batman #40
- Darth Vader #4
- Convergence #2
- Convergence #3
- Kanan, The Last Padawan #1
- Convergence #4
- Princess Leia #3
Media connections definitely figured in the graphic novel sales in April with two volumes of Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead in the Top 10, just weeks after the AMC TV series The Walking Dead’s season ended in March, and Marvel’s original graphic novel Avengers: Rage of Ultron clearly benefiting from the publicity surrounding the release of Joss Whedon’s Avengers: Age of Ultron blockbuster film. Like Image, DC placed four GNs in the Top Ten including Bill Willingham’s popular Fables, Vol. 21, and three Batman-related titles including Harley Quinn, Vol. 1. The first volume of Image’s Jupiter’s Legacy made the list as did the first volume of Noelle Stevenson’s Lumberjanes from BOOM! Studios.
Top 10 Graphic Novels--April 2015
- The Walking Dead Vol. 23
- Avengers Rage of Ultron HC
- Fables Vol. 21
- Batman Vol. 5: Zero Year: Dark City
- Saga Vol. 4
- Jupiter’s Legacy Vol. 1
- Harley Quinn Vol. 1
- Batman Vol. 6: The Graveyard Shift HC
- The Walking Dead Vol. 1
- Lumberjanes Vol. 1
For an overview and analysis of comic sales in April, see "Eleven Titles Over 100K in April"
For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on comic books shipped during April, see "Top 300 Comics Actual--April 2015."
For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on graphic novels shipped during April, see "Top 300 Graphic Novels Actual--April 2015."
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 2015."
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 2015."
For an overview and analysis of the best-selling comics and graphic novels in March, see "'Howard the Duck' Outsells Top DC." For an analysis of the dollar trends in March, see "Comic Market Up Nearly 10% in Q1."
For our index to our reports on the top comic and graphic novel preorders for January 2000 through April 2015, see "ICv2's Top 300 Comics and Top 300 GNs Index."