Though it has receive mixed reviews, DC Comics’s Convergence series was able to push almost every other property out of the top ten comics sold in the direct market in April 2015. Only the power of the force was able to keep DC from dominating the month.
Marvel’s Star Wars #4, Darth Vader #4, Kanan: The Last Padawan #1, and Princess Leia #3 all found places in the top ten last month, keeping DC from owning all of the slots. Even though all of the Convergence books were returnable by the retailers, the first four issues placed quite well.
| RANK | TITLE | PRICE | PUBLISHER |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | STAR WARS #4 | $3.99 | MAR |
| 2 | CONVERGENCE #0 [*] | $4.99 | DC |
| 3 | CONVERGENCE #1 [*] | $4.99 | DC |
| 4 | BATMAN #40 | $4.99 | DC |
| 5 | DARTH VADER #4 | $3.99 | MAR |
| 6 | CONVERGENCE #2 [*] | $3.99 | DC |
| 7 | CONVERGENCE #3 [*] | $3.99 | DC |
| 8 | KANAN: THE LAST PADAWAN #1 | $3.99 | MAR |
| 9 | CONVERGENCE #4 [*] | $3.99 | DC |
| 10 | PRINCESS LEIA #3 | $3.99 | MAR |
Interestingly, Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Batman #40 is the only DC non-Convergence book to make it into the top ten.
Marvel Comics, April’s top publisher with a 34.15% dollar share and a 36.33% unit share, had four comics among April’s top ten, including Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larroca’s Darth Vader #4 at #4 and Greg Weisman and Pepe Larraz’s Kanan: The Last Padawan #1 at #8. DC Entertainment was the month’s #2 publisher with a 30.91% dollar share and a 33.90% unit share, and the publisher had six titles among the top ten including Dan Jurgens, Jeff King, and Ethan Van Sciver’s Convergence #0 at #2 and Scott Synder and Greg Capullo’s Batman #40, the conclusion to the “Endgame” storyline, at #4. Image Comics ranked third for the month with a 10.23% dollar share and a 11.18% unit share. IDW Publishing came in fourth with a 6.00% dollar share and 4.78% unit share. In fifth was Dark Horse Comics with a 3.65% dollar share and a 2.92% unit share.
While many people may scratch their heads wondering why Convergence did so well, keep in mind these numbers represent the totals sold by Diamond Comic Distributors to the comic book retailers, and does not represent the number of comics sold to comic book readers.
Where did everyone else fall? We’ll have the rundown of the top 300 comics sold in the direct market next week!
2 Comments
Way too expensive.
Even if it is the top seller among readers, I posit that that has less to do with its quality and more to do with the fact that it has been deemed important. DC and Marvel tend to starve other comics of any relevant developments so that eventscan have all of the big changes, then declare that events are what drive sales instead of plot developments with repercussions.