MattBrady
02-06-2003, 03:37 PM
<img src="http://classic.newsarama.com/Marvel/ultiamtes1.jpg" width="175" height="263" align="right">Diamond has released its 2002 market share and top seller reports for all products invoiced between January and December 2002. There were few surprises, if you keep track of the month-to-month – it was mostly Marvel’s year, with DC and Dreamwave making strong showings with Dark Knight Strikes Again and Transformers respectively.
Again, as with all figures and rankings released by Diamond, the numbers only reflect orders placed by retailers with Diamond accounts, and not books sold, or a global view of the comic and graphic novel market.
Overall, in both dollar and unit share, Marvel was the #1 publisher in 2002 in regards to product ordered through Diamond. The top five publishers for 2002 were:
Publisher, Dollar Share, Unit Share
Marvel 33.61%, 40.52%
DC 28.35%, 29.44%
Image 6.83%, 6.80%
Dark Horse 6.52%, 4.62%
CrossGen 3.21%, 3.21%
The numbers for both unit and dollar share are actual sales, that is, both the dollar and unit shares reflect both initial orders as well as reorders placed within calendar year 2002. Unit share is a measure of the quantity of comic product ordered through Diamond, while dollar share is a measure of value of product moved, that is, the percentage each publisher makes up of dollars generated by comic sales through Diamond in 2002.
Industry followers won’t see much to raise eyebrows about in the top five publishers, aside from the discrepancy between Marvel and the other publishers in unit share, despite the fact that DC publishes more books than Marvel.
The reasons for the 11 point difference in unit share and only five point difference in dollar share will be explained below, but it largely attributed to The Dark Knight Strikes Again, each issue of which carried a $7.95 price tag.
Other items of note on the dollar/unit share for publishers were the relatively small unit and dollar share Tokyopop has through Diamond, 0.62% and 1.33%, respectively, placing it ninth on the list of publishers, behind Viz.
For the full list of publishers in 2002, click <a href="http://classic.newsarama.com/Top1002002.htm" target="_blank"> here</a>.
2002 was an atypical (or perhaps the first of what will now be seen as typical) year in regards of the Top 100 comics sold, as both Marvel and DC published promotional issues (Batman: The Ten-Cent Adventure and Fantastic Four #60), and DC, Marvel, Dark Horse, and Image produced comics for Free Comic Book Day.
Given the one-time nature of such items, Diamond did not rank them among the rest of the Top 100 for the year, but did list them in quantity rank (but again, did not list numbers). All of the below promotional books ranked higher in quantity than the #1 selling book for the year, which is hardly a surprise, given the multiple hundreds of thousands the promotional and FCBD titles were reportedly ordered.
The promotional books ranked (in terms of quantity) as follows:
1) Batman: The 10-Cent Adventure
2) FCBD Ultimate Spider-Man #1
3) Fantastic Four #60
4) FCBD Star Wars Tales: Jedi’s Weapon
5) FCBD Justice League Adventures #1
In terms of quantity, the FCBD Tomb Raider produced by Image fell between #10 and #11 for 2002, and Gen13 #0 fell between #25 and #26.
In regards to regular comic products for 2002, the Top 10 in terms of quantity was:
1) Ultimates #1
2) Dark Knight Strikes Again #2
3) Transformers G1 #2
4) Origin #4
5) Transformers G1 #1
6) Origin #5
7) Origin #6
8) Batman #608
9) Dark Knight Strikes Again #3
10) Transformers G1 #3
The Top 10 in terms of retail (dollar) rank was:
1) Dark Knight Strikes Again #2 ($7.95)
2) Dark Knight Strikes Again #3 ($7.95)
3) Origin #4 ($3.50)
4) Origin #5 ($3.50)
5) Origin #6 ($3.50)
6) Masters of the Universe #1 ($5.95)
7) Transformers G1 #2 ($2.95)
8) Transformers G1 #1 ($2.95)
9) Transformers G1 #3 ($2.95)
10) A Moment of Silence ($3.00)
Again, the dollar ranking is a function of both quantity and cover price, a high quantity ordered combined with a high cover price would place product at #1 on both charts, while a higher cover price combined with a solid position on the unit ranking (such as Dark Knight Strikes Again) place it at the top of the dollar rank, that is, Dark Knight Strikes Again #2 was the #1 item that brought in the most money to Diamond in 2002.
Conversely, a high quantity ordered combined with a low cover price will place a book lower on the dollar rank. For example, while Ultimates #1 was #1 in terms of quantity shipped, it was #19 in dollar rank, a function of its $2.25 cover price.
Other items of note in the ranking:
Marvel:
- Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do #1 ranked at #14 in quantity for the year.
- Ultimate War #1 came in at #16 for the year.
- Captain America #1 was #41 in quantity for the year.
- All issues of Ultimates, New X-Men, and Ultimate X-Men for 2002 were in the Top 100.
- Amazing Spider-Man was the first regular Spider-Man title to rank, with #40 coming in at #44. The first issue of Ultimate Spider-Man to show up was issue #25 at #55.
- Along with Captain America #1, Daredevil: Target #1 was the only non-Ultimate, non-Spider, non-X book to enter the Top 100, at #59 in terms of quantity.
DC:
- Batman #608-#610 (the first three issues of the Jim Lee/Jeph Loeb run were the only issues of the publishers’ regular series to make the Top 100 books in terms of quantity for the year.
- Thundercats: Reclaiming Thundera #1 ranked at #28 in terms of quantity, while Thundercats #0 ranked at #70.
Image:
- Battle of the Planets #1 ranked at #24 in terms of quantity.
The total tally for the Top 100 in terms of quantity from the top five publishers, counting comics for sale (not promotional items)
Marvel: 80
DC: 8
Image: 2
Dark Horse: 0
CrossGen: 0
Dreamwave: 10
According to <a href="http://www.icv2.com" target="_blank"> ICV2’s</a> estimates, the #100-ranked title (by quantity), Ultimate X-Men #26, which shipped in December had around 87,893 copies ordered by retailers, while the #1-ranked book, Ultimates #1 had roughly 149,289 copies ordered. Roughly, according to Diamond’s chart and ICV2.com’s estimates, comics not making the Top 100 list had less than 87,893 copies ordered of each issue for the calendar year, 2002.
For the full list of Top 100 Comics for 2002, click <a href="http://classic.newsarama.com/Top1002002.htm" target="_blank"> here</a>.
Additionally, Diamond released a listing of the Top 100 graphic novels of 2002, both in quantity and dollar ranks. The Top 10 graphic novels shipped via Diamond in regards to quantity were:
1) September 11th Volume 2 (DC)
2) September 11th Volume 1 (Dark Horse)
3) JLA: Secret Origins
4) Bluntman & Chronic (Image)
5) Ultimate Spider-Man Volume 1
6) JLA/JSA: Virtue and Vice
7) Star Wars: Jango Fett
8) League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Book One
9) Lone Wolf & Cub Volume 17
10) Star Wars: Zam Wesell
In regards to retail (dollar) rank:
1) Origin Hardcover
2) JLA/JSA Virtue and Vice
3) September 11th Volume 2
4) September 11th Volume 1
5) Marvel Encyclopedia
6) Ultimate Spider-Man HC
7) Bluntman & Chronic
8) Ultimate Spider-Man Volume 1 TPB
9) Akira Volume 6
10) League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Book One
For the list of Top 100 graphic novels of 2002, click <a href="http://classic.newsarama.com/Top1002002.htm" target="_blank"> here</a>.
Of note is the strong showing of graphic novels containing original material, as well as the first signs of manga in each Top 10 list from Dark Horse, rather than Tokyopop. Additionally, Dark Horse’s Star Wars trades had a strong showing throughout the Top 100 graphic novel list, along with Lone Wolf and Cub.
Other OGNs in terms of quantity:
9-11 Emergency Relief (Alternative Comics) - #19
Delicate Creatures (Image) - #21
Witchblade Obakemono (Image) - #32
Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones (Dark Horse) - #34
Harlequin Valentine (Dark Horse) - #43
Wonder Woman: The Hiketeia (DC) - #45
Green Lantern: Last Will and Testament of Hal Jordan (DC) - #53
Murder Mysteries (Dark Horse) - #54
Reveal Volume 1 (Dark Horse) - #75
Captain America: Red, White & Blue (Marvel) - #76
Tellos: Sons and Moons (Image) - #83
King David (DC) - #85
Happy Endings (Dark Horse) - #90
Catwoman: Selina’s Big Score (DC) - #98
Diamond’s list for 2002 also demonstrates the evergreen nature of trades, as Watchmen, Transmetropolitan, The Authority, Kingdom Come, Preacher, and early Lone Wolf and Cub volumes made the list.
Also of note is the first appearance of an independent publisher on the list, with Slave Labor’s Johnny Homicidal Maniac Directors Cut ranked at #60. The first volumes of CrossGen’s Forge and Edge (which bowed in April) also made the list, at #74 and #87, respectively.
Breaking down the list by publisher shows a slightly different makeup than the Top 100 comics:
Marvel: 30
DC: 30
Image: 9
Dark Horse: 25
CrossGen: 2
Wizard: 1
Alternative: 1
Dreamwave: 1
Slave Labor: 1
Again, an interesting note is the absolute absence of Tokyopop and Viz on the list, as the two companies have very strong showings in bookstores.
According to ICV2.com’s estimates, the #100 ranked trade, Universe X Volume 2 had roughly 3,493 copies ordered, while the #1 ranked trade, September 11th Volume 2 had roughly 8,377 copies ordered. However, given that trades are re-orderable and are on Diamond's Star System, intial orders are a inaccurate means of guesstimating quantity.
Perhaps a better estimator would be JLA/JSA: Virtue and Vice which was released in November, and, according to ICV2, saw an estimated 16,000 copies ordered. Given it's late-year release, Virtue and Vice could have only had one month's worth of re-orders to increase its numbers, but for a very rough estimator, 16,000 is a good value for the #6 ranking on the list. That is, anything above #6 in Diamond's quantity ranking most likely had more than 16,000 copies ordered in total.
Similarly, another good index title would be JLA: Secret Origins, which also had a November release, and had an estimated 31,695 copies ordered, and ranked at #3 on Diamond's Top 100 in terms of quantity. So, roughly again, between position #6 and position #3, there appears to be a 16,000 copy difference.
Additionally, according to ICV2, initial orders for September 11th Volume 2 were around 8,000 copies, yet it ranked at #1 in terms of quantity for the year, meaning that reorder activity on the title was somewhere over 24,000 copies (which would be needed to place it ahead of JLA: Secret Origins at #3).
For the full list of Top 100 Graphic Novels for 2002, click <a href="http://classic.newsarama.com/Top1002002.htm" target="_blank"> here</a>.
Again, as with all figures and rankings released by Diamond, the numbers only reflect orders placed by retailers with Diamond accounts, and not books sold, or a global view of the comic and graphic novel market.
Overall, in both dollar and unit share, Marvel was the #1 publisher in 2002 in regards to product ordered through Diamond. The top five publishers for 2002 were:
Publisher, Dollar Share, Unit Share
Marvel 33.61%, 40.52%
DC 28.35%, 29.44%
Image 6.83%, 6.80%
Dark Horse 6.52%, 4.62%
CrossGen 3.21%, 3.21%
The numbers for both unit and dollar share are actual sales, that is, both the dollar and unit shares reflect both initial orders as well as reorders placed within calendar year 2002. Unit share is a measure of the quantity of comic product ordered through Diamond, while dollar share is a measure of value of product moved, that is, the percentage each publisher makes up of dollars generated by comic sales through Diamond in 2002.
Industry followers won’t see much to raise eyebrows about in the top five publishers, aside from the discrepancy between Marvel and the other publishers in unit share, despite the fact that DC publishes more books than Marvel.
The reasons for the 11 point difference in unit share and only five point difference in dollar share will be explained below, but it largely attributed to The Dark Knight Strikes Again, each issue of which carried a $7.95 price tag.
Other items of note on the dollar/unit share for publishers were the relatively small unit and dollar share Tokyopop has through Diamond, 0.62% and 1.33%, respectively, placing it ninth on the list of publishers, behind Viz.
For the full list of publishers in 2002, click <a href="http://classic.newsarama.com/Top1002002.htm" target="_blank"> here</a>.
2002 was an atypical (or perhaps the first of what will now be seen as typical) year in regards of the Top 100 comics sold, as both Marvel and DC published promotional issues (Batman: The Ten-Cent Adventure and Fantastic Four #60), and DC, Marvel, Dark Horse, and Image produced comics for Free Comic Book Day.
Given the one-time nature of such items, Diamond did not rank them among the rest of the Top 100 for the year, but did list them in quantity rank (but again, did not list numbers). All of the below promotional books ranked higher in quantity than the #1 selling book for the year, which is hardly a surprise, given the multiple hundreds of thousands the promotional and FCBD titles were reportedly ordered.
The promotional books ranked (in terms of quantity) as follows:
1) Batman: The 10-Cent Adventure
2) FCBD Ultimate Spider-Man #1
3) Fantastic Four #60
4) FCBD Star Wars Tales: Jedi’s Weapon
5) FCBD Justice League Adventures #1
In terms of quantity, the FCBD Tomb Raider produced by Image fell between #10 and #11 for 2002, and Gen13 #0 fell between #25 and #26.
In regards to regular comic products for 2002, the Top 10 in terms of quantity was:
1) Ultimates #1
2) Dark Knight Strikes Again #2
3) Transformers G1 #2
4) Origin #4
5) Transformers G1 #1
6) Origin #5
7) Origin #6
8) Batman #608
9) Dark Knight Strikes Again #3
10) Transformers G1 #3
The Top 10 in terms of retail (dollar) rank was:
1) Dark Knight Strikes Again #2 ($7.95)
2) Dark Knight Strikes Again #3 ($7.95)
3) Origin #4 ($3.50)
4) Origin #5 ($3.50)
5) Origin #6 ($3.50)
6) Masters of the Universe #1 ($5.95)
7) Transformers G1 #2 ($2.95)
8) Transformers G1 #1 ($2.95)
9) Transformers G1 #3 ($2.95)
10) A Moment of Silence ($3.00)
Again, the dollar ranking is a function of both quantity and cover price, a high quantity ordered combined with a high cover price would place product at #1 on both charts, while a higher cover price combined with a solid position on the unit ranking (such as Dark Knight Strikes Again) place it at the top of the dollar rank, that is, Dark Knight Strikes Again #2 was the #1 item that brought in the most money to Diamond in 2002.
Conversely, a high quantity ordered combined with a low cover price will place a book lower on the dollar rank. For example, while Ultimates #1 was #1 in terms of quantity shipped, it was #19 in dollar rank, a function of its $2.25 cover price.
Other items of note in the ranking:
Marvel:
- Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do #1 ranked at #14 in quantity for the year.
- Ultimate War #1 came in at #16 for the year.
- Captain America #1 was #41 in quantity for the year.
- All issues of Ultimates, New X-Men, and Ultimate X-Men for 2002 were in the Top 100.
- Amazing Spider-Man was the first regular Spider-Man title to rank, with #40 coming in at #44. The first issue of Ultimate Spider-Man to show up was issue #25 at #55.
- Along with Captain America #1, Daredevil: Target #1 was the only non-Ultimate, non-Spider, non-X book to enter the Top 100, at #59 in terms of quantity.
DC:
- Batman #608-#610 (the first three issues of the Jim Lee/Jeph Loeb run were the only issues of the publishers’ regular series to make the Top 100 books in terms of quantity for the year.
- Thundercats: Reclaiming Thundera #1 ranked at #28 in terms of quantity, while Thundercats #0 ranked at #70.
Image:
- Battle of the Planets #1 ranked at #24 in terms of quantity.
The total tally for the Top 100 in terms of quantity from the top five publishers, counting comics for sale (not promotional items)
Marvel: 80
DC: 8
Image: 2
Dark Horse: 0
CrossGen: 0
Dreamwave: 10
According to <a href="http://www.icv2.com" target="_blank"> ICV2’s</a> estimates, the #100-ranked title (by quantity), Ultimate X-Men #26, which shipped in December had around 87,893 copies ordered by retailers, while the #1-ranked book, Ultimates #1 had roughly 149,289 copies ordered. Roughly, according to Diamond’s chart and ICV2.com’s estimates, comics not making the Top 100 list had less than 87,893 copies ordered of each issue for the calendar year, 2002.
For the full list of Top 100 Comics for 2002, click <a href="http://classic.newsarama.com/Top1002002.htm" target="_blank"> here</a>.
Additionally, Diamond released a listing of the Top 100 graphic novels of 2002, both in quantity and dollar ranks. The Top 10 graphic novels shipped via Diamond in regards to quantity were:
1) September 11th Volume 2 (DC)
2) September 11th Volume 1 (Dark Horse)
3) JLA: Secret Origins
4) Bluntman & Chronic (Image)
5) Ultimate Spider-Man Volume 1
6) JLA/JSA: Virtue and Vice
7) Star Wars: Jango Fett
8) League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Book One
9) Lone Wolf & Cub Volume 17
10) Star Wars: Zam Wesell
In regards to retail (dollar) rank:
1) Origin Hardcover
2) JLA/JSA Virtue and Vice
3) September 11th Volume 2
4) September 11th Volume 1
5) Marvel Encyclopedia
6) Ultimate Spider-Man HC
7) Bluntman & Chronic
8) Ultimate Spider-Man Volume 1 TPB
9) Akira Volume 6
10) League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Book One
For the list of Top 100 graphic novels of 2002, click <a href="http://classic.newsarama.com/Top1002002.htm" target="_blank"> here</a>.
Of note is the strong showing of graphic novels containing original material, as well as the first signs of manga in each Top 10 list from Dark Horse, rather than Tokyopop. Additionally, Dark Horse’s Star Wars trades had a strong showing throughout the Top 100 graphic novel list, along with Lone Wolf and Cub.
Other OGNs in terms of quantity:
9-11 Emergency Relief (Alternative Comics) - #19
Delicate Creatures (Image) - #21
Witchblade Obakemono (Image) - #32
Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones (Dark Horse) - #34
Harlequin Valentine (Dark Horse) - #43
Wonder Woman: The Hiketeia (DC) - #45
Green Lantern: Last Will and Testament of Hal Jordan (DC) - #53
Murder Mysteries (Dark Horse) - #54
Reveal Volume 1 (Dark Horse) - #75
Captain America: Red, White & Blue (Marvel) - #76
Tellos: Sons and Moons (Image) - #83
King David (DC) - #85
Happy Endings (Dark Horse) - #90
Catwoman: Selina’s Big Score (DC) - #98
Diamond’s list for 2002 also demonstrates the evergreen nature of trades, as Watchmen, Transmetropolitan, The Authority, Kingdom Come, Preacher, and early Lone Wolf and Cub volumes made the list.
Also of note is the first appearance of an independent publisher on the list, with Slave Labor’s Johnny Homicidal Maniac Directors Cut ranked at #60. The first volumes of CrossGen’s Forge and Edge (which bowed in April) also made the list, at #74 and #87, respectively.
Breaking down the list by publisher shows a slightly different makeup than the Top 100 comics:
Marvel: 30
DC: 30
Image: 9
Dark Horse: 25
CrossGen: 2
Wizard: 1
Alternative: 1
Dreamwave: 1
Slave Labor: 1
Again, an interesting note is the absolute absence of Tokyopop and Viz on the list, as the two companies have very strong showings in bookstores.
According to ICV2.com’s estimates, the #100 ranked trade, Universe X Volume 2 had roughly 3,493 copies ordered, while the #1 ranked trade, September 11th Volume 2 had roughly 8,377 copies ordered. However, given that trades are re-orderable and are on Diamond's Star System, intial orders are a inaccurate means of guesstimating quantity.
Perhaps a better estimator would be JLA/JSA: Virtue and Vice which was released in November, and, according to ICV2, saw an estimated 16,000 copies ordered. Given it's late-year release, Virtue and Vice could have only had one month's worth of re-orders to increase its numbers, but for a very rough estimator, 16,000 is a good value for the #6 ranking on the list. That is, anything above #6 in Diamond's quantity ranking most likely had more than 16,000 copies ordered in total.
Similarly, another good index title would be JLA: Secret Origins, which also had a November release, and had an estimated 31,695 copies ordered, and ranked at #3 on Diamond's Top 100 in terms of quantity. So, roughly again, between position #6 and position #3, there appears to be a 16,000 copy difference.
Additionally, according to ICV2, initial orders for September 11th Volume 2 were around 8,000 copies, yet it ranked at #1 in terms of quantity for the year, meaning that reorder activity on the title was somewhere over 24,000 copies (which would be needed to place it ahead of JLA: Secret Origins at #3).
For the full list of Top 100 Graphic Novels for 2002, click <a href="http://classic.newsarama.com/Top1002002.htm" target="_blank"> here</a>.