Sales of comics and graphic novels to comic stores were down 5.27% vs. the previous year in February, with comics responsible for more of the drop with a 6.06% decline; graphic novels were down 3.16%. Year-to-date sales remained positive. Comics and graphic novel sales are up 4.87% through February, with comics and graphic novels roughly on par; comic sales are up 4.82% and graphic novels were up 5.27%.
The Marvel margin in titles shipped remains high: Marvel shipped 43% more titles than #2 DC in February.
Publisher Comics GNs
Marvel Comics 86 40
DC Comics 59 28
Image Comics 47 19
Dark Horse Comics 24 13
IDW Publishing 22 11
BOOM! Studios 21 10
VIZ Media 0 27
Dynamite Entertainment 20 1
Seven Seas Entertainment 0 21
Oni Press 4 3
Other Non-Top 10 106 131
The margin in titles shipped definitely helps lead in market share, where it has over 11 more share points than DC in February, a fairly typical gap.
February 2019 Comic Store Market Share (Dollar Share)
40.20% Marvel Comics
28.69% DC Entertainment
9.49% Image Comics
3.25% Dark Horse Comics
2.58% Dynamite Entertainment
2.55% IDW Publishing
2.38% Boom! Studios
1.78% VIZ Media
0.60% St. Martins Press
0.56% Oni Press Inc.
7.91% Other Non-Top 10
DC took the top three slots in comic sales by units shipped with Batman titles, in what looks like a fairly weak month at the top of the chart.
Top 10 Comics by Units Shipped – February 2019
1. The Batman Who Laughs #3 (DC Comics)
2. Batman #64 (DC Comics)
3. Batman #65 (DC Comics)
4. Venom #11 (Marvel Comics)
5. Heroes In Crisis #6 (DC Comics)
6. Amazing Spider-Man #15 (Marvel Comics)
7. Uncanny X-Men #12 (Marvel Comics)
8. The Flash #64 (DC Comics)
9. Uncanny X-Men #11 (Marvel Comics)
10. Avengers: No Road Home #1 (Marvel Comics)
The power of aggressive pricing: Uncanny X-Men #11 was the #2 dollar book in February, vs. its #7 showing on the units chart.
Top 10 Comics by Dollars Invoiced – February 2019
1. The Batman Who Laughs #3 (DC Comics)
2. Uncanny X-Men #11 (Marvel Comics)
3. Batman #64 (DC Comics)
4. Batman #65 (DC Comics)
5. Venom #11 (Marvel Comics)
6. Amazing Spider-Man #16 (Marvel Comics)
7. Heroes In Crisis #6 (DC Comics)
8. Return of Wolverine #5 (Marvel Comics)
9. Amazing Spider-Man #15 (Marvel Comics)
10. Uncanny X-Men #12 (Marvel Comics)
DC’s Mister Miracle took the #1 slot in February, but it was the only DC in the Top 10 Graphic Novels by Units Shipped. The first volume of Image’s Man-Eaters debuted at #7.
Top 10 Graphic Novels by Units Shipped – February 2019
1. Mister Miracle TP (DC Comics)
2. Spider-Geddon TP (Marvel Comics)
3. Infinity Wars TP (Marvel Comics)
4. Immortal Hulk Volume 2: Green Door TP (Marvel Comics)
5. My Hero Academia Volume 17 GN (VIZ Media)
6. Deadpool: Secret Agent Deadpool TP (Marvel Comics)
7. Man-Eaters Volume 1 TP (Image Comics)
8. Infinity Gauntlet: Deluxe Edition TP (Marvel Comics)
9. Captain America Vol. 1: Winter in America TP (Marvel Comics)
10. Amazing Spider-Man by Nick Spencer Vol. 2 TP (Marvel Comics)
Mister Miracle clearly had a big margin over the second-best selling title in units, Marvel’s Spider-Geddon, because there were five titles between them on the Dollars chart.
Top 10 Graphic Novels by Dollars Invoiced – February 2019
1. Mister Miracle TP (DC Comics)
2. He Man & The Masters of The Universe Omnibus HC (DC Comics)
3. Captain Marvel/Ms. Marvel: A Hero Is Born Omnibus HC (Marvel Comics)
4. Venomnibus Vol 02 HC (Marvel Comics)
5. Infinity Wars TP (Marvel Comics)
6. Infinity Gauntlet: Deluxe Edition TP (Marvel Comics)
7. Spider-Geddon TP (Marvel Comics)
8. Star Wars by Jason Aaron Omnibus HC (Marvel Comics)
9. Marvel Masterworks: Luke Cage Power Man Vol. 3 HC (Marvel Comics)
10 Wonder Woman by Phil Jiminez Omnibus HC (DC Comics)
For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on comic books shipped during February, see "Top 500 Comics Actual--February 2019."
For our estimates of actual sales by Diamond U.S. from comic specialty stores on graphic novels shipped during February, see "Top 500 Graphic Novels Actual--February 2019."
For links to all previous Top 300 Comic and Top 300 Graphic Novel articles, see "ICv2 Top 300 Comics and Top 300 GNs Index."