Diamond Comic Distributors has announced that DC Comics lead the direct market in terms of dollars made during the month of August 2012, with Marvel barely edging out DC in terms of copies sold. So once again, the month is split with each of the major publishers getting a chance to strut and crow about their achievement.
While we won’t know the actual dollar number made by DC Comics in the direct market, we do know that the publisher beat Marvel by nearly a full percentage point (33.32% to 32.42%) even though the Top Ten Comic Books has the first DC title appearing in the number three spot. The money appears to come from the graphic novel side with Batman: Earth One topping the charts which has a $22.99 cover price.
| PUBLISHER | DOLLAR SHARE | UNIT SHARE |
|---|---|---|
| DC COMICS | 33.32% | 37.12% |
| MARVEL COMICS | 32.42% | 37.18% |
| IDW PUBLISHING | 5.88% | 4.64% |
| IMAGE COMICS | 5.75% | 5.37% |
| DARK HORSE COMICS | 4.92% | 3.89% |
| DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT | 3.19% | 3.16% |
| EAGLEMOSS PUBLICATIONS LTD | 1.83% | 0.40% |
| BOOM! STUDIOS | 1.52% | 1.48% |
| VIZ MEDIA | 0.96% | 0.41% |
| ARCHIE COMICS | 0.85% | 0.82% |
| OTHER NON-TOP 10 | 9.35% | 5.52% |
I’m sure you could care less about who made the most money, or which company sold the most single issues to lead the race, but seeing IDW Publishing and Image Comics battle it out for third, while Dark Horse falls to fifth place in the month is rather interesting.
What fans of comics tend to be more interested in is the top book of the month, and Marvel can claim that with Avengers VS X-Men #9. DC placed in 60-percent of the top ten, but the two top spots definitely belong to Marvel.
| RANK | TITLE | PRICE | VENDOR |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AVENGERS VS X-MEN #9 | $3.99 | MAR |
| 2 | AVENGERS VS X-MEN #10 | $3.99 | MAR |
| 3 | BATMAN #12 | $3.99 | DC |
| 4 | JUSTICE LEAGUE #12 | $3.99 | DC |
| 5 | AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #692 | $5.99 | MAR |
| 6 | BEFORE WATCHMEN: RORSCHACH #1 (MR) [*] | $3.99 | DC |
| 7 | AVX VS #5 | $3.99 | MAR |
| 8 | BEFORE WATCHMEN: DR. MANHATTAN #1 (MR) [*] | $3.99 | DC |
| 9 | GREEN LANTERN #12 | $2.99 | DC |
| 10 | DETECTIVE COMICS #12 | $3.99 | DC |
For almost a year now, Marvel and DC have each claimed bragging rights for one column or the other, and save for a few occasions, there has not been one publisher that has won everything in every category. Even the trend of seeing IDW and Image fight for third – or for that matter watching Archie move on and off the charts shows that readers are diversifying their reading habits, and I would bet if it came down to a poll, you would be hard pressed to find comic readers who only read comics from one publisher and not any others.
We’ll have the complete breakdown of the Top 300 Comics Sold in the Direct Market for August 2012 next week.
