DC Comics' Rebirth relaunch was rocking and rolling in August 2016, and this year Marvel sales are pulling store traffic and the overall market down. August is hopefully the nadir, as Secret Empire wraps up and Marvel turns to its Generations and Legacy initiatives, which are designed to pull the line back toward more traditional characters in the hopes of recapturing departed readers.
Year-to-date comics and graphic novel sales in comic stores are now down 10.47% for the first eight months of 2017, with comics down 9.94% and graphic novels down 11.68% vs. the year ago period.
Marvel’s market share lead over DC was down to less than 7% in August, with Image holding at over 10% and all the other publishers below 5% share of direct market comics and graphic novel sales.
August 2017 Comic Channel Market Share
35.01% Marvel Comics
28.18% DC Comics
10.06% Image Comics
4.81% IDW Publishing
3.16% Dark Horse Comics
2.50% Dynamite Entertainment
2.19% BOOM! Studios
1.48% Titan Comics
1.42% VIZ Media
1.28% Oni Press
9.91% Other Non-Top 10
As was the case last month, DC Comics had the top book, Dark Nights: Metal #1, which along with two Batman issues all topped Marvel’s top issue, the final issue of Secret Empire. Marvel placed three issues of Secret Empire, two Generations #1s, and two issues of Star Wars in the Top 10.
Top 10 Comics – August 2017
1. Dark Nights: Metal #1 (DC Comics)
2. Batman #28 (DC Comics)
3. Batman #29 (DC Comics)
4. Secret Empire #10 (Marvel)
5. Generations: All-New Wolverine/Wolverine #1 (Marvel)
6. Secret Empire #8 (Marvel)
7. Secret Empire #9 (Marvel)
8. Generations: The Mighty Thor/Unworthy Thor #1 (Marvel)
9. Star Wars #34 (Marvel)
10. Star Wars #35 (Marvel)
Image Comics had the top graphic novel in comic stores again in August, and half of the Top 10. The Big Two took the other five slots, with DC beating Marvel three to two.
Top 10 Graphic Novels – August 2017
1. Paper Girls Vol. 3 TP (Image Comics)
2. Batman Vol. 3 TP (Rebirth) (DC Comics)
3. God Country TP (Image Comics)
4. Kill or Be Killed Vol. 2 TP (Image Comics)
5. Wonder Woman Vol. 3 (Rebirth) (DC Comics)
6. X-Men Gold Vol. 1 TP (Marvel)
7. Reborn HC (Image Comics)
8. Superman Vol. 3 TP (Rebirth) (DC Comics)
9. Old Guard Book 1: Opening Fire TP (Image Comics)
10. X-Men Blue Vol. 1 TP (Marvel)
For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on comic books shipped during August see "Top 300 Comics Actual--August 2017."
For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on graphic novels shipped during August, see "Top 300 Graphic Novels Actual--August 2017."
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 links to all previous Top 300 Comic and Top 300 Graphic Novel articles, see "ICv2 Top 300 Comics and Top 300 GNs Index."