Sales of comics and graphic novels to comic stores dropped 19.31% vs. the previous year in July, according to information provided by Diamond Comic Distributors.  Reversing the year-to-date trend, comic sales were down more than graphic novels:  a 23.18% decline for direct market comic sales in July vs. an 8.33% decline for graphic novel sales.

July’s sales represented the biggest decline of the year so far; the 21% decline in June compared a 4-week month to a 5-week month the previous year (see "Direct Market Comic Sales Down 21% in June").  And the year-to-date numbers, more important to watch than the monthly fluctuations, hit an 8.69% decline after July, with a 12.39% decline in graphic novel sales and a 7.01% in comic sales.

The year-over-year decline was magnified by a big month in the year-ago period; July 2016 was one of the biggest months of DC’s Rebirth relaunch, and Marvel’s Civil War II was also contributing significant sales.

Marvel Comics maintained a roughly 10% lead over DC Comics in market share, with Image Comics having a big month at over 11% market share.

July 2017 Comic Channel Market Share

36.89%                  Marvel Comics
26.94%                  DC Entertainment
11.47%                  Image Comics
 3.83%                  IDW Publishing
 3.40%                  Dark Horse Comics
 2.32%                  BOOM! Studios
 2.16%                  Dynamite Entertainment
 1.63%                  Oni Press
 1.12%                  VIZ Media
 0.95%                  Titan Comics

DC Comics published the #1 comic in comic stores in July, Dark Days: The Casting #1, an event book with top talent.  Both Secret Empire issues are top ten titles for Marvel, with Astonishing X-Men #1 the publisher’s top title in July, at #2.

Top 10 Comics – July 2017    

1. Dark Days:  The Casting #1
2. Astonishing X-Men #1
3. Batman #26
4. Batman #27
5. Secret Empire #6
6. Secret Empire #7
7. Star Wars #33
8. Deadpool Kills Marvel Universe Again #1
9. The Walking Dead #169
10. Spider-Men II #1   

Image Comics’ latest Monstress volume took the #1 slot on the comic store graphic novel chart for July, but the big surprise was Rick and Morty from Oni Press, which took the #2 slot.  The first volume of Charles Soule and Ryan Browne’s Curse Words, from Image Comics, debuted at #4.  Dark Horse Comics’ Legend of Korra graphic novel, the first featuring the property, came in at #6.

It was striking that there were no Marvel Comics superhero titles in the Top 10.

Top 10  Graphic Novels – July 2017        

1. Monstress Vol. 2 (Image Comics)
2. Rick and Morty Vol. 1 (Oni Press)
3. Star Wars Vol. 5 (Marvel Comics)
4. Curse Words Vol. 1 (Image Comics)
5. The Flash Vol. 3 (DC Comics)
6. The Legend of Korra Vol. 1 (Dark Horse Comics)
7. Batman / TMNT  (DC Comics)
8. Batman / TMNT Adventures  (IDW Publishing)
9. Black Science Vol. 6 (Image Comics)
10. Serenity Vol. 5 HC (Dark Horse Comics)                              

For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on comic books shipped during July, see "Top 300 Comics Actual--July 2017."

For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on graphic novels shipped during July, see "Top 300 Graphic Novels Actual--July 2017."

For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on comic books shipped during June, see "Top 300 Comics Actual--June 2017."

For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on graphic novels shipped during June, see "Top 300 Graphic Novels Actual--June 2017."

For links to all previous Top 300 Comic and Top 300 Graphic Novel articles, see "ICv2 Top 300 Comics and Top 300 GNs Index."