Marvel Comics’ Amazing Spider-Man #1 was the best-selling comic book published in 2014, based on total unit sales to comic book specialty retailers, including those in the UK, according to Diamond Comic Distributors.

Written by Dan Slott and illustrated by Humberto Ramos, Amazing Spider-Man #1 marked the return of Peter Parker as the friendly neighbourhood wall-crawler and saw his return to heroism after a year and a half of Doctor Octopus in control of his body.

Comics and graphic novels continued their upward trend in 2014, with annual sales increasing 4.39% over the previous year, as comic book sales specifically were up 4.03%, while graphic novel sales rose by 5.18%.

Marvel Comics finished the year as the comic book specialty market’s top publisher, leading both Dollar and Unit Market Shares, with a 34.38% Dollar Market Share and a 36.78% Unit Market Share. Marvel Comics had nine of the year’s top ten comics, with the all four issues of the Death of Wolverine limited series among the top sellers, along with Rocket Raccoon #1, Thor #1, Original Sin #1, and Superior Spider-Man #31. On the year, Marvel had 53 of the 2014’s top 100 best-selling comics.

DC Entertainment was the comic book specialty market’s number two publisher in 2014 with a 28.86% Dollar Market Share and a 32.47% Unit Market Share. The publisher celebrated the Dark Knight’s 75th Anniversary throughout the year, publishing a number of bestselling titles and declaring July 23rd Batman Day with retailers and libraries nationwide. DC Entertainment’s top comic, Batman #32 by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo, charted at #14; overall, DC had 43 of the top 100 comics for the year.

Walking Dead #132. Art by Britain’s Charlie Adlard

The third volume of Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples’ science fiction epic, Saga from Image Comics was the year’s top-selling graphic novel and boosted Image Comics to the year’s third largest comic book publisher, with a 9.23% Dollar Market Share and a 10.41% Unit Market Share. Image Comics took nine of the top ten graphic novel spots, including all four collections of Saga as well as four volumes from Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead, along with Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky’s Sex Criminals Volume 1 at #7. Also among the top comics for the year from Image was Kirkman’s The Walking Dead #132, the #2 best-selling comic book for 2014.

IDW Publishing‘s was the comic book specialty market’s fourth largest publisher, propelled by its licensed titles such as My Little Pony, Transformers, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, among others. The company’s market share was 5.69% dollar market share for the year. Transformers Vs. G.I. Joe #1, pitting the beloved Hasbro toy franchises in battle, was IDW’s top-selling comic book for the year, and the publisher had two volumes of Joe Hill’s Locke & Key among the year’s top 100 graphic novels.

Dark Horse Comics mix of licensed comic books and creator-owned titles helped the company to be the fifth leading comic book publisher to the comic book specialty market in 2014 with a 5.07% retail dollar market share. Two volumes of Avatar: The Last Airbender, based on the Nickelodeon television series, ranked among the year’s top 100 graphic novels along with Mike Mignola’s Hellboy In Hell: Descent.

2014 TOP 10 PUBLISHERS

2014 TOP 10 COMIC BOOKS

2014 TOP 10 GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS

2014 NUMBER OF TITLES SHIPPED

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 stores may be included as well.

Unit and dollars sales are calculated based upon orders invoiced and shipped to Diamond accounts during January to December 2014, which comprises initial pre-orders, advance reorders, and reorders, minus any copies that are received back from a title marked as returnable.

The New Titles Count Chart includes all titles that were invoiced by Diamond to retailers for the first time during 2014. 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.

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John Freeman

John  is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of  comics such as 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.

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Categories: downthetubes Comics News, US Comics

Tags: Amazing Spider-Man #1, Batman, Brian K. Vaughan, Charlie Adlard, Dan Slott, Dark Horse Comics, DC Comics, DC Entertainment, Diamond Comic Distributors, IDW, Image Comics, Marvel Comics, Ramon K. Perez, Robert Kirkman, The Walking Dead, US Comic Sales Figures