Diamond Comic Distributors has released the initial sales information for comics shipped in the direct market in July 2017. While Dark Days: The Casting #1 may lead sales, the market suffered greatly last month.
The table speaks for itself as the month to month and year to year sales show significant drops in both the number of units shipped and the amount of money brought in.
| DOLLARS | UNITS | |
|---|---|---|
| JULY 2017 VS. JUNE 2017 | ||
| COMICS | -13.55% | -11.04% |
| GRAPHIC NOVELS | -6.41% | -18.21% |
| TOTAL COMICS/GN | -11.56% | -11.61% |
| TOYS | -10.76% | 11.81% |
| JULY 2017 VS. JULY 2016 | ||
| COMICS | -23.18% | -26.60% |
| GRAPHIC NOVELS | -8.33% | -10.96% |
| TOTAL COMICS/GN | -19.31% | -25.64% |
| TOYS | -18.79% | -25.46% |
| YEAR-TO-DATE 2017 VS. YEAR-TO-DATE 2016 | ||
| COMICS | -7.01% | -2.52% |
| GRAPHIC NOVELS | -12.39% | -13.18% |
| TOTAL COMICS/GN | -8.69% | -3.41% |
| TOYS | -5.09% | -9.26% |
Things do indeed look dire, when you take into account that June also had a drop in sales. There could be any number of factors contributing to this drop, including increased cover prices, but it isn’t unusual for comic sales to take a drop during the summer months.
| RANK | DESCRIPTION | PRICE | VENDOR |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DARK DAYS: THE CASTING #1 | $4.99 | DC |
| 2 | ASTONISHING X-MEN #1 | $4.99 | MAR |
| 3 | BATMAN #26 | $2.99 | DC |
| 4 | BATMAN #27 | $2.99 | DC |
| 5 | SECRET EMPIRE #6 | $4.99 | MAR |
| 6 | SECRET EMPIRE #7 | $3.99 | MAR |
| 7 | STAR WARS #33 | $3.99 | MAR |
| 8 | DEADPOOL KILLS MARVEL UNIVERSE AGAIN #1 | $3.99 | MAR |
| 9 | THE WALKING DEAD #169 (MR) | $2.99 | IMA |
| 10 | SPIDER-MEN II #1 | $3.99 | MAR |
How does Diamond calculate the charts? It all starts at the comic book shop.
Data for Diamond’s sales charts — which includes the monthly market shares and all top product charts — are compiled by Diamond Comic Distributors from sales made to thousands of comic book specialty shops located in North America and around the world. Additional sales made to online merchants and other specialty retailers may be included as well.
Unit and dollar market shares are calculated based upon orders for comic books, graphic novels, and magazines invoiced and shipped to Diamond customers during any given month, which comprises pre-orders, advance reorders, and reorders, minus any copies that are received back from a title marked as returnable. Please note that comics marked with an asterisk (*) have had their reported quantities reduced due to retailer returnability, and thus may rank lower on the charts than their actual sales would reflect.
The category tables in this press release are ranked by units sold by Diamond to its accounts for the comic books, graphic novels, and books categories and by the dollars invoiced by Diamond for the toys and games categories.
The New Titles Count Chart includes all titles that were invoiced by Diamond to retailers for the first time during the month and is not the official solicited title count for the month. Variant edition comic books and graphic novels at the same price point count as a single SKU. Variant edition comic books, lenticular covers, digital combo packs, and graphic novels at different price points count as separate SKUs for each edition.
On Monday, Major Spoilers will have a rundown of the complete comic book rankings for July 2017.
via Diamond Comic Distributors
