A comic book lifer ponders fads and new ideas from the past and for the present and future of collecting. Find industry analysis, statistics, trends, data and forecasts on comic book publishing in the us from ibisworld. Subsequently, for some 20 years, ed owned his own commercial art firm in chicago, acquiring, trading, and selling world class collections of american photography, illustration art, and vintage comic books. Earn points for what you already do as a marvel fan and redeem for cool rewards as a marvel insider. Comicconnect the online marketplace for comic buyers.
It was a massive week for television trailers and promos, with all of the biggest assembled right here. Unit sales were slightly up and dollar sales down in march as the market felt the effects of. Learn more about the new features of our site here. Comic shop retailers voted now find out which suppliers and products have been honored. Marvel and dc are the two biggest comic book companies in the u. Legendary comics creator nicola cuti, creator of eman and moonchild the starbabe, has passed away at the age of 75. Most comics sold by subscription or in comic book stores are titles from marvel comics and dc comics. There are a lot of comic book superheroes onscreen these days. Primarily focused on nonexclusive independent publishers. Comic book publishing in the us industry data, trends. Get up to speed on any industry with comprehensive intelligence that is easy to read. Comics price guide was the first online price guide for comic books back in 1995. Diamond comic distributors is proud to announce the winners of the 2019 diamond gem awards. And between marvel and dc there are filmic fights going down offscreen, too so which studio has it right.
Due to the ongoing global coronavirus covid19 pandemic, diamond comic distributors is suspending new orders from being shipped to its warehouse indefinitely. The only reason the comic book industry evolved and grew out of its stigma from the 1950s is due to the direct market. Until the last few years, the comic book market, particularly the graphic novel segment, has been a market largely untapped by traditional book. Statelevel information can identify areas with higher and lower industry market share than average. Discover all relevant statistics and facts on the u. Bestselling comic books in north america 2019 bestselling comic books in. Posted on november 4, 2011 by rich johnston comments. Bleeding cool news and rumors comics, movies, tv, games. Get the latest news, original content, and special. You can also connect with others in the comic industry to further and enhance everyones comic experience. As of 2017, the largest comic book publisher in the united states is manga distributor viz media, followed by dc comics and marvel comics.
As comics direct market struggles, a surprising publisher rises. Diamond names top direct market comic books, publisher of 2019. The risk is on the publisher, and an undercapitalized publisher has little chance of success more on this in my book how to selfpublish your own comic book, watsonguptill, 1997. A grassroots, diy event focused on the sale of dojin selfpublished works, comiket is a notforprofit, volunteerrun event administered by the comic market preparatory committee. It seems like new comic based tv shows and movies are announced daily. Dc details how comic book retailers will be supported amid. Since most comics are edited digitally anyway, putting them out on the same wednesday through the comic book publisher sites or outlets like comixology is simple. I appreciate this as i was hardcore every week from about 1984 2011 or so then i stopped with the occasional pick up here or there on newsstands which turns out benefitted me. There are three things to know about making it, mosher said as he spoke at the 2011 wondercon panel on indy marketing 101. Sales charts archives the beat the news blog of comics.
It presents diamonds monthly sales for individual titles in relation to diamonds total sales for the issue of dc comics monthly batman comic book. Comic market, komikku maketto, more commonly known as comiket, komiketto and sometimes comike, komike, is a biannual dojinshi fair in tokyo, japan. The premier online comics price guide free comic book values. Image comics have seen their usual ten percent share drop to a 7. Market share of the comic industry in spain in 2018, by comic publisher publisher net sales revenue from comics in finland 2011 2017 share of commercial comic books. Another major comic book market is france, where francobelgian comics and japanese manga each represent 40% of the market, followed by american comics at 10% market share. Back in march this year, marvel comics had a 40% share of money spent on comics. As a service to comics fans, collectors, and retailers, diamond comic distributors provides archives of the publisher market shares by month, going. The direct market is the dominant distribution and retail network for american comic books. In what is undoubtedly the biggest comics announcement in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, diamond comics distributors has told publishers that it. The independent publishers the fortunes of larger comics companies never seem to fluctuate very much.
Diamond postpones free comic book day 2020 as the impact and spread of the coronavirus covid19 continues to evolve, diamond comic distributors has made the. Largest us comics distributor wont ship new books until. That was the jla earth 2 month, and dc had 39 more comics than marvel in the top 300 that month giving dc more than double marvels market share. Raina telgemeiers guts is the bestselling book overall in the us.
Here are 10 reasons comic books are the best investment there is, super salesman vincent zurzolo tells al lewis. How to invest in comic books on the stock market money. With so much hollywood comic book action happening, even we can barely keep up. Our november auction was a near complete sellout and we feature some of the key items below.
Why is the comics direct market so important anyway. Estimated overall north american market size, including both print and digital estimates by. Digital comics have been acknowledged as a growth area for the comic book industry. We have values for any marvel, dc, image, idw, darkhorse, or dell comic book that is in your collection. Marvel stretches market share lead over dc in 2018 december 2018 actual.
October 2011 comic book sales to comics shops comichron. Book stores industry price trends rise and fall in market prices are affectedd by supply, demand, and the cost of goodsservices sold. New comics delayed across industry in wake of coronavirus. Discussions about the comic market are limited in scope.
It includes japanese manga, american comic books, and european comics. Ranking of comic book publishers by market share and number of titles published ansuz on september, 2015 0 comments when looking at the comic book sales figures every month, it is quickly apparent that the top two constantly have their swords clashed. Direct market comic book sales fell yeartoyear for the first time since 2011, with 2017 finishing up about 10% off from 2016. From our humble beginnings, we have grown to the largest, most complete comic book price guide with well over 1,000,000 comics in our database. Comic book realm use our database to track your comic. Diamond is the comic book direct market s largest distributor, responsible for shipping books from publishers such as marvel, dc, image, dark horse, dynamite, boom. The december 2017 market share, comparative sales data, and. Marvel and dc have regularly traded places at the top of the various charts since dc rebooted but neither has ever really taken a commanding lead. Victory the new york times graphic novel bestseller list is coming. Image comics was the years third largest comic book publisher with an.
Dc is making all periodicals and books with instore dates between march 18 and june 24 fully returnable by comic book retailers at no cost, and plans to look into adding new distribution methods. Image, idw, and dark horse comics also sell large quantities of their respective titles, but nowhere near these two comic giants. Direct market comic book and graphic novel sales got a positive start to the year, with. Dc entertainments share in comic stores amounted to 29. The series are listed according to the highest sales estimates as reported in reliable sources. Currency all prices are in aud currency all prices are in aud. Your key for reading marvel unlimited and digital comic purchases across multiple devices. Market share archives diamond comic distributors, inc. The january 2019 market share, comparative sales data, new titles shipped. Ed brought his vast experience and expertise in collectibles to heritage auctions in 2002. Market share of the comic industry in spain in 2018, by comic publisher publisher net sales revenue from comics in finland 2011 2017 share of commercial comic books published in spain in 2018, by type. Ranking of comic book publishers by market share and.
The impact of these cutbacks across the direct market have only begun to be felt by the comic book industry, but there have been multiple notable announcements in the last week alone. Comic book and graphic novel market 20102011 is a guide for. Studios, chip mosher gave the following advice for individuals who want to market their comic in an independent way. Chartwise, dc have taken the top 6 selling books on diamonds lists, justice league. The market share reported by diamond includes all invoices sales for comics, trades and magazines while the breakdown of the top 300 comics only includes the top.
Marvel comics tops 50% in april 2019 marketshare for the first. Market comic book sales fell yeartoyear for the first time since 2011. On thursday diamond comics distributors began releasing their preliminary sales figures and market share for products sold to the. Auctions of british and us comics, artwork, and comic book ephemera. Publishers of any size considering entering the comic. Data on the distribution of comic store sales in the united states according to publisher revealed that. With modern technology, the first derivative market of the direct one is the digital comics market. For comics publishing, its the best of times and the worst of times, as. Diamond comic distributors exclusive distributor of dc comics, marvel comics, and image comics will stop shipping new books for an indefinite period. Regular market share charttopper marvel was of course 2019s top. Bleeding cool is your independent source for news about comic books, film, tv, games, collectibles, and more. This week, our artists paired sonic the hedgehog and sonicrelated characters with other comic book characters. Last week i wrote about how we can build a better comic book industry. Dc comics smashes marvel marketshare in october, takes 51% of.
Spiderwoman, star wars, batman, robin, spawn, the resistance, firefly, and more. Updated 0914 with top 100 comic books with sales indexes below. This page provides lists of bestselling comic book series to date. This week i wanted to get more specific and identify discrete problems and the possible opportunities therein that were facing. Comic collecting costs on the rise comic book daily. Icv2 conference supplies a snapshot of a changing comics industry. January 2019 comic book sales kickstart the year on a positive note.
Korky kicked off with a great run of 42 consecutive dandys numbered 110151 from 1940 and these propaganda war issues in mainly higher grades made. How to support local shops while comic book shipments are. The weakening canadian dollar got me to thinking about the effect it is having, if any, on the back issue comic book market. Weve been covering the entertainment industry since 1998. Comic books are like oil in that they are traded in u. These comic book retailers are in a unique situation because they operate in the direct market, where each store has to decide how many issues of each comic it believes it can sell and pay upfront. Dc comics pulls ahead of marvel in march s direct market sales.