For the fifth consecutive month, beginning last November, sales of comics and graphic novels to the comic store channel by Diamond Comic Distributors fell in March, according to numbers released by Diamond.  A 15.36% decline in graphic novel sales vs. the year ago period pulled the overall category down 1.68% in March despite a 6.02% increase in comic sales.

Q1 comics and graphic novel sales were down 3.01%, with graphic novel sales down 10.68% and sales of comics up .70%.

Marvel had the top dollar share by over six points, and DC had the top unit share by a similar margin.

March 2017 Comic Channel Market Share

35.41%                 Marvel Comics
28.75%                 DC Entertainment
10.71%                 Image Comics
  5.68%                 IDW Publishing
  3.48%                 Dark Horse Comics
  2.15%                 BOOM! Studios
  1.76%                 Dynamite Entertainment
  1.15%                 Titan Comics
  1.14%                 Viz Media
  1.14%                 Valiant Entertainment

Up-price books were the top two comic titles in March, with the $9.99 Amazing Spider-Man taking #1.

Top 10 Comics – March 2017

1. Amazing Spider-Man #25
2. Dark Knight III:  The Master Race
3. Batman #18
4. Batman #19
5. Iron Fist #1
6. X-Men Prime #1
7. Star Wars #29
8. All-Star Batman #8
9. The Walking Dead #165
10. Justice League #16

Image Comics had the top two graphic novel titles in March, and three of the top 10.  Half of the top ten titles were from DC Comics, and the remaining two from Marvel Comics.

Top 10 Graphic Novels – March 2017

1. Saga Vol. 7
2. The Walking Dead Vol. 27
3. Harley Quinn Vol. 1
4. Suicide Squad Vol. 1
5. Death of X
6. Titans Vol. 1
7. Wolverine:  Old Man Logan
8. Deathstroke Vol. 1
9. Batgirl Vol. 1
10. Deadly Class Vol. 5

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 2017."

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 2017."

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 2017."

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 2017."