Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill’s latest League of Extraordinary Gentlemen-inspired title Nemo: The Roses of Berlin, co-published by Knockabout and Top Shelf, proved a sales hit last month in terms of sales in specialist comic shops, reaching the Number Three spot in the graphic novel Top Ten Chart.
The second story arc of Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Zero Year reaches its climax in DC Entertainment’s Batman #29, March 2014’s best-selling comic book to specialty retailers (including UK comic shops), according to information provided by Diamond Comic Distributors, the world’s largest distributor of comics, graphic novels, and pop culture merchandise.
Marvel Comics was March’s top publisher, with a 34.31% Dollar Share and 38.17% Unit Share, compared to 25.94% and 29.02% respectively for runner-up DC Entertainment. Image Comics had a strong March with a 11.38% dollar share and 11.04% unit share, and both Dark Horse Comics and IDW Publishing topped 5% in dollar share with 6.19% and 5.29% shares respectively.
Marvel Comics had five of the month’s top ten best-selling comics, led by Dan Slott and Giuseppe Camuncoli’s Superior Spider-Man #29 at #5, while DC Entertainment had four titles and Image Comics one with The Walking Dead #124 at Number 9.
The long-awaited war between the factions of survivors in the wake of the zombie apocalypse erupted in March’s best-selling graphic novel, Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead Volume 20: All Out War Part 1 from Image Comics, one of their four titles in the top ten this month. Also of note in the top ten was Dark Horse Comics with Avatar: The Last Airbender Volume 7: Rift Part 1 at Number 4 and BOOM! Studios’ original Adventure Time graphic novel, Seeing Red, at Number 8.
Running Press’ Doctor Who: Eleventh Doctor’s Sonic Screwdriver Kit, a book and toy kit based on the BBC SF drama, was March’s best-selling book in the comic book specialty market.
McFarlane Toys continued its line of figures based on AMC’s The Walking Dead in March with The Walking Dead TV Series 5 Action Figures, the month’s best-selling Toy product. DC Collectibles also had a strong March, with eight of the month’s top ten best-selling products.
USAopoly’s Monopoly: The Walking Dead Survival Edition returned to the top of the sales charts as March’s best-selling Games product.
Data for Diamond’s sales charts — which include the monthly market shares and all top product charts — are compiled by Diamond Comic Distributors from a universe of over 3,500 comic book specialty shops located in North America and around the world. The account base includes brick-and-mortar comic book specialty shops, Internet merchants, and other specialty stores.
Unit and dollar market shares are calculated based upon orders for comic books, graphic novels, and magazines invoiced and shipped to Diamond accounts during any given month, which comprises initial 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 count of new titles shipped 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.
Based in Baltimore, MD, Diamond is the world’s largest distributor of English-language comic books and pop-culture related merchandise, servicing more than 4,000 specialty retailers worldwide.
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The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: British Comics, British Comics - Graphic Novels, Doctor Who, downthetubes Comics News, US Comics