DC Comics Takes Back the Comic Store Market Share Lead With Just Shy of 40%
The comic shop scoreboard is in for October 20 to October 26, if we can go back that far, and DC Comics has climbed to the top spot. You can catch up on previous bestseller lists and market share reports at the links below.
Leading the charge was Absolute Green Arrow #6, which hit the target and carried DC back into first place with just shy of 40% of the market. Marvel put up a real fight, with a heavy-hitting Wednesday led by Armageddon, Amazing Spider-Man and X-Men, while its Midnight Universe titles were still pulling in readers three weeks after launch. Even so, the House of Ideas had to settle for 32%. That’s just double Image Comics, which posted a strong 16% of its own, leaving the rest of the industry scrambling for scraps.
The surprise of the week came from Bad Idea Comics, which crashed onto the market share pie chart for the first time on the strength of a single book, It Demands Sacrifice #1. One comic was all it took to muscle past the likes of Oni Press and Ignition Press and leapfrog Titan Comics and Mad Cave Studios.
DC Comics — 39.98%
Marvel — 31.56%
Image — 15.75%
Dark Horse — 2.84%
IDW — 2.82%
Dynamite — 2.18%
Boom Studios — 1.50%
Bad Idea — 1.36%
Titan Comics — 1.02%
Mad Cave Studios — 0.98%
So where do these numbers come from? They’re pulled straight from the registers of more than 600 comic book stores running the Manage Comics and Comic Shop Assistant systems, gathered by Prana Direct Market Solutions. Each Prana DM report captures a full week of sales, Monday through Sunday, and lands on Bleeding Cool the following Friday. That’s a solid slice of the estimated 1,800 to 2,000 shops currently ordering through the direct market, giving a real-world snapshot of what fans are actually buying. And no money changes hands in either direction: Bleeding Cool doesn’t pay for the data and isn’t paid to run it. The goal is simply to gather the numbers in one place and share them with readers.
It shows excellent competition within the comic world and reflects the new creative effort by DC Comics to create a new approach with new and old characters that we have grown up with. The Absolute Series has appealed to many to energize the industry and bring back interest in comic book reading. The bottom lie is great ideas with interesting stories will draw readers. This fresh look at old character is a shot in the arm for DC Comics.
I believe the comic book industry will survive and flourish in some form. My hope is that it stays driven by creative artists, who outdo AI in so many ways. In my opinion, the best product is still man-made. Stay tuned for more, Walt 🙂