2016-03-08

February 2016 Diamond charts available

The February 2016 Diamond charts are now available, here at Comichron and see the sidebar for the other usual sources.

The Graphic Novel chart has around 129 new entries and 171 backlist, which is more heavy on the backlist than normal. This is mostly due to Marvel providing heavy discounts on some older books to clear out the inventory, which meant that no less than 43 old ESSENTIAL black and white volumes placed on the top 300, as well as a few high priced OMNIBUS volumes.  This was also the case last month with the OMNIBUS books, and partly explains the atypically high Marvel market share in recent months.

Interesting trio at #12 - #14 on the GN chart:

STUMPTOWN HC VOL 02
ALICE COOPER HC VOL 01 WELCOME TO MY NIGHTMARE
PUT THE BOOK BACK ON SHELF BELLE & SEBASTIAN ANTHOLOGY GN

These are all backlist books (though the ALICE COOPER one didn't seem to have made it to the Top 300 the month it was first published), and this month each sold around 3000 copies (3009, 3002 and 3000 respectively, by the Comichron estimates). Their retail rankings indicate that they were sold at a high discount, probably to the Comics Bento subscription box service (that can be verified in a few weeks), which gives us a good idea of what their sales are. There have been a number of older books showing up on the chart in the last year with several thousand in sales, probably due to this Diamond account.

On the comic chart, second issue drops are still big and getting bigger, especially at Marvel, where a 50% drop from #1 to #2 is almost becoming the rule. Expect things to be unsettled for the next few months, as DC's lead-in to the "Rebirth" event, and subsequent double shipping of many titles, distorts the market. 

2016-01-24

Observations on the Diamond 2014 Charts

Sorry I haven't been able to update much here, for those few who might still be following. I have some ideas for things to post, but haven't gotten around to doing the grunt work in getting the data ready.

The year-end 2015 numbers from Diamond did come out recently. Here are the Top 1000 charts at ComiChron, which has the best formatted version, follow the links in sidebar to see them at the other usual sites.

As usual, no real surprises on the Comics side, just the stuff that's in the Top 100 every month, with a few things drifting up or down a few places based on reorders or returns, and possibly some overships from Marvel (it's hard to figure out the Marvel numbers, since they're now relaunching books with the same title in the same calendar year). The only real news is the 25 cent issue of INVINCIBLE, which Diamond didn't include in the monthly numbers under their "promotional items" exemption, but did include in the year-end, so we know it shipped 46.3k, almost four times the normal sales for the book. And had almost no impact on sales of the ongoing book, which jumped up just a bit over normal sales on the next issue, then drifted down and currently sells less than it did before the 25 cent issue.

Much more new information in the Graphic Novels chart. As I noted on both the 2013 and 2014 charts, it's quite possible for a book to make the Top 1000 for the year but never make the Top 300 for any given month. With a cut-off of 1778 copies for the year, average sales of 148 copies a month would suffice. Taking out a few category errors, I come up with 147 such books on the chart, the highest being HULK: WORLD WAR HULK at #333 with 3600 copies, or 300 a month.

DC has the most, with 70 such entries. A mix of stuff, quite a few Vertigo (FABLES, SANDMAN, single volumes of other series), lots of the early New 52 collections and some collections of earlier stuff.

Marvel has 30 books on the list, with over a quarter being DEADPOOL books, plus various old crossovers, single volumes of some series and old standbys like THE PHOENIX SAGA and DAYS OF FUTURE PAST.

Image has 15, including five middle volumes of CHEW, several MANHATTAN PROJECT volumes and a few WALKING DEAD hardcovers.

12 from Dark Horse, most of the them AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER, plus a few HELLBOY books and some single volumes.

IDW has 9, LOCKE AND KEY representing 5 of them (all but the first book, which does make the Top 300 more often than not), plus MY LITTLE PONY twice and a few others.

A few other publishers had a handful of books in this category, usually one volume of a longer series, titles like ATTACK ON TITAN, BONE, CROSSED, SCOTT PILGRIM and others.

For those curious, here's the full list:

#333 - Hulk WWH (Marvel) - 3600
#368 - Deadpool By Daniel Way Complete Coll Vol. 3 (Marvel) - 3381
#377 - Sandman Vol. 4 Season of Mists (DC) - 3325
#395 - Batgirl Vol. 1 The Darkest Reflection (DC) - 3213
#403 - Wonder Woman Vol. 2 Guts (DC) - 3188
#410 - Justice League Vol. 4 The Grid (DC) - 3145
#417 - Green Lantern Vol. 1 Sinestro (DC) - 3103
#426 - Batman The Man Who Laughs (DC) - 3043
#428 - American Vampire Vol. 1 (DC) - 3038
#432 - Locke & Key Vol. 2 Head Games (IDW) - 3027
#441 - Deadpool Classic Vol. 2 (Marvel) - 2992
#456 - Infinity War (Marvel) - 2952
#480 - Death of Superman (DC) - 2838
#486 - Harley Quinn Welcome To Metropolis (DC) - 2819
#490 - Deadpool By Daniel Way Complete Coll Vol. 4 (Marvel) - 2805
#496 - Harley Quinn Night And Day (DC) - 2778
#505 - Batman Rip (DC) - 2758
#514 - Aquaman Vol. 2 The Others (DC) - 2720
#518 - Fables Vol. 4 March of the Wooden Soldiers (DC) - 2716
#535 - Avatar Last Airbender Vol. 5 Search Part 2 (Dark Horse) - 2686
#537 - Civil War Captain America (Marvel) - 2682
#547 - Fables Vol. 20 Camelot (DC) - 2661
#551 - Batman HC Vol. 3 Death of the Family (DC) - 2652
#553 - Nightwing Vol. 2 Night of the Owls (DC) - 2641
#562 - Avatar Last Airbender Vol. 7 Rift Part 1 (Dark Horse) - 2604
#568 - Teen Titans Vol. 1 Its Our Right To Fight (DC) - 2593
#575 - True Lives of Fabulous Killjoys (Dark Horse) - 2575
#577 - Avatar Last Airbender Vol. 9 Rift Part 3 (Dark Horse) - 2572
#581 - Deadpool Vs. Marvel Universe (Marvel) - 2568
#582 - Batman Dark Knight Vol. 1 Knight Terrors (DC) - 2567
#591 - Avatar Last Airbender Vol. 6 Search Part 3 (Dark Horse) - 2535
#592 - Harley Quinn Vengeance Unlimited (DC) - 2534
#598 - Manhattan Projects Vol. 2 (Image) - 2515
#599 - Avatar Last Airbender Vol. 2 Promise Part 2 (Dark Horse) - 2514
#609 - Justice League Trinity War (DC) - 2487
#612 - Chew Vol. 8 Family Recipes (Image) - 2480
#613 - Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 2 Starfire (DC) - 2479
#621 - Crossed Vol. 1 (Avatar) - 2457
#628 - Miles Morales Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 1 Revival (Marvel) - 2439
#630 - Superman Earth One Vol. 1 (DC) - 2437
#632 - Life After Vol. 1 (Oni) - 1924
#633 - Thor God of Thunder Vol. 1 God Butcher (Marvel) - 2429
#634 - New Teen Titans Vol. 1 (DC) - 2428
#635 - Bone Color Ed Sc Vol. 1 Out Boneville (Scholastic) - 2427
#636 - Sandman Vol. 5 A Game of You (DC) - 2425
#638 - Chew Vol. 4 Flambe (Image) - 2411
#641 - Inhuman Vol. 1 Genesis (Marvel) - 2407
#648 - X-Men Days of Future Past (Marvel) - 2381
#649 - Deathstroke Vol. 1 Legacy (DC) - 2378
#650 - Marvel Zombies Vol. 1 Complete Collection (Marvel) - 2378
#651 - Locke & Key Vol. 3 Crown of Shadows (IDW) - 2377
#659 - Avatar Last Airbender Vol. 8 Rift Part 2 (Dark Horse) - 2362
#667 - Civil War Amazing Spider-Man (Marvel) - 2340
#670 - Batman HC Vol. 1 The Court of Owls (DC) - 2332
#671 - Flashpoint World of Flashpoint Batman (DC) - 2324
#677 - Avatar Last Airbender Vol. 3 Promise Part 3 (Dark Horse) - 2311
#679 - Captain Marvel Vol. 1 In Pursuit of Flight (Marvel) - 2307
#683 - Attack On Titan Vol. 3 (Random House) - 2290
#684 - Teen Titans Go Titans Together New Ptg (DC) - 2290
#688 - Preacher Book 6 (DC) - 2284
#693 - Sandman Vol. 6 Fables And Reflections (DC) - 2273
#695 - Wonder Woman Vol. 3 Iron (DC) - 2272
#696 - TMNT Ongoing Vol. 1 (IDW) - 2271
#713 - Venom Vs. Carnage (Marvel) - 2238
#719 - All New X-Men Vol. 1 Yesterdays X-Men (Marvel) - 2226
#721 - Avengers Vol. 1 Avengers World (Marvel) - 2219
#724 - Fables Vol. 5 The Mean Seasons (DC) - 2217
#725 - Locke & Key Vol. 6 Alpha & Omega (IDW) - 2217
#732 - Batman Detective Comics Vol. 2 Scare Tactics (DC) - 2202
#734 - Prophet Vol. 1 Remission (Image) - 2201
#738 - Phonogram Vol. 1 Rue Britanna (Image) - 2191
#746 - Aquaman Vol. 3 Throne of Atlantis (DC) - 2180
#751 - Nightwing Vol. 1 Bludhaven (DC) - 2170
#753 - Nightwing Vol. 3 Death of the Family (DC) - 2168
#754 - Batman & Robin Vol. 2 Pearl (DC) - 2155
#756 - Batman Superman Vol. 1 Cross World (DC) - 2153
#758 - Chew Vol. 5 Major League Chew (Image) - 2147
#760 - Green Lantern Rebirth New Edition (DC) - 2143
#764 - Locke & Key Vol. 4 Keys To The Kingdom (IDW) - 2136
#766 - Chew Vol. 7 Bad Apples (Image) - 2135
#769 - Manhattan Projects Vol. 3 (Image) - 2128
#770 - Manhattan Projects Vol. 4 Four Disciplines (Image) - 2128
#773 - Legend of Zelda Vol. 3 Majoras Mask (Viz) - 2122
#783 - She-Hulk Vol. 1 Law And Disorder (Marvel) - 2093
#788 - Game of Thrones HC Vol. 1 (Random House) - 2080
#791 - Green Lantern Vol. 2 Revenge of Black Hand (DC) - 2075
#798 - Justice League Dark Vol. 1 In The Dark (DC) - 2068
#800 - Walking Dead HC Vol. 2 (Image) - 2067
#802 - Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 3 Death of Family (DC) - 2066
#803 - Revival Vol. 2 Live Like You Mean It (Image) - 2064
#808 - Transmetropolitan Vol. 2 Lust For Life (DC) - 2054
#809 - Wolverine Origin (Marvel) - 2053
#810 - Green Arrow Vol. 4 The Kill Machine (DC) - 2050
#811 - I Kill Giants Fifth Annv Ed (Image) - 2046
#814 - Green Arrow Vol. 2 Triple Threat (DC) - 2038
#815 - Batman And Robin Vol. 1 Batman Reborn (DC) - 2037
#816 - Civil War Road To Civil War (Marvel) - 2036
#818 - Locke & Key Vol. 5 Clockworks (IDW) - 2035
#820 - Sandman Vol. 7 Brief Lives (DC) - 2033
#821 - Superman Action Comics Vol. 1 Superman Men of Steel (DC) - 2033
#822 - JLA Vol. 1 (DC) - 2032
#823 - Wonder Woman Vol. 4 War (DC) - 2032
#825 - Black Butler Vol. 1 New Ptg (Hachette) - 2027
#826 - Chew Vol. 6 Space Cakes (Image) - 2026
#829 - League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Omnibus (DC) - 2022
#837 - Nightwing Vol. 5 Setting Son (DC) - 2014
#852 - God Is Disappointed In You HC (IDW) - 1996
#853 - Hellboy In Hell Vol. 1 Descent (Dark Horse) - 1993
#858 - Fables Vol. 6 Homelands (DC) - 1991
#861 - Batgirl Vol. 2 Knightfall Descends (DC) - 1985
#863 - Princeless Vol. 1 New Ptg (Action Lab) - 1981
#876 - Batman & Robin Vol. 3 Death of the Family (DC) - 1954
#877 - Nightwing Vol. 4 Second City (DC) - 1953
#883 - New Avengers Vol. 1 Everything Dies (Marvel) - 1941
#884 - Scott Pilgrim Color HC Vol. 2 (Oni) - 1941
#889 - Deadpool Vs. X-Force (Marvel) - 1934
#891 - Spider-Man Maximum Carnage (Marvel) - 1929
#892 - Saga of the Swamp Thing Book 2 (DC) - 1927
#893 - Avatar Last Airbender Lost Adventures Vol. 1 (Dark Horse) - 1926
#896 - Batman Knightfall Vol. 2 Knightquest (DC) - 1925
#898 - Deadpool Classic Vol. 3 (Marvel) - 1924
#902 - Batman HC Vol. 2 The City of Owls (DC) - 1916
#904 - My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic Vol. 2 (IDW) - 1916
#910 - Deadpool By Posehn And Duggan HC Vol. 1 (Marvel) - 1908
#911 - X-Men Dark Phoenix Saga (Marvel) - 1908
#917 - Earth 2 Vol. 1 The Gathering (DC) - 1894
#921 - Attack On Titan No Regrets Vol. 1 (Random House) - 1888
#926 - My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic Vol. 3 (IDW) - 1882
#932 - Superman Vol. 1 What Price Tomorrow (DC) - 1877
#938 - Daredevil By Mark Waid Vol. 1 (Marvel) - 1864
#939 - Sandman Vol. 9 The Kindly Ones (DC) - 1863
#940 - Blacksad HC (Dark Horse) - 1859
#944 - 100 Bullets Book 1 (DC) - 1850
#946 - Hellboy Vol. 2 Wake The Devil (Dark Horse) - 1848
#952 - Aquaman Vol. 4 Death of A King (DC) - 1844
#957 - Izombie Vol. 3 Six Feet Under And Rising (DC) - 1838
#958 - Fables Deluxe Edition HC Vol. 1 (DC) - 1836
#966 - Superior Spider-Man Vol. 2 Troubled Mind Now (Marvel) - 1827
#967 - Morning Glories Vol. 1 For A Better Future (Image) - 1825
#968 - Astonishing X-Men Whedon Cassaday Ult Coll Book 1 (Marvel) - 1823
#969 - Walking Dead HC Vol. 10 (Image) - 1822
#975 - Shazam Vol. 1 (DC) - 1811
#976 - Joker Death of the Family HC (DC) - 1810
#978 - Green Arrow Vol. 5 Outsiders War (DC) - 1809
#980 - Legend of Zelda Vol. 2 Ocarina Time Pt 2 (Viz) - 1807
#992 - Deadpool Vol. 4 Monkey Business (Marvel) - 1786
#998 - Fables Vol. 19 Snow White (DC) - 1780