LOOKING AT 2003'S NUMBERS

[MattBrady]

Diamond has released its list of the Top 100 comics, graphic novels, books, and other merchandise based on product shipped. Coming as a surprise to maybe four people, DC’s Batman #619 was the #1 book for the year, while JLA: Liberty and Justice topped the OGN chart.

The top 25 books for the year were:

1) Batman #619
2) JLA/Avengers #1
3) Ultimate Fantastic Four #1
4) Avengers/JLA #2
5) Batman #614
6) Superman/Batman #1
7) Batman #612
8) Batman #617
9) Wolverine #1
10) Batman #615
11) Batman #618
12) Batman #616
13) Amazing Spider-Man #500
14) 1602 #1
15) JLA/Avengers #3
16) Batman #613
17) Batman #611
18) 1602 #2
19) Ultimate Six #1
20) 1602 #3
21) 1602 #4
22) Spectacular Spider-Man #1
23) Ultimate Six #2
24) Wolverine: The End #1
25) Superman/Batman #2

For the full listing, click here.

Ballparking, Newsarama estimated that Batman #619 saw 254,618 ship in September, the month it went on sale – which nearly immediately sold out at the publisher level, prompting DC to go back to press on a second printing, which was then available for re-order. The total figures for Batman #619 include the original estimate plus the reorder activity it had seen since September. According to Diamond’s October charts, the reprint of Batman #619 placed at #17.

Given the robust activity of the second print, Newsarama estimates that Batman #619 saw over 310,000 copies ship through Diamond in total. As noted previously, the issue had many factors pulling in its favor – from being the conclusion to the Jeph Loeb/Jim Lee “Hush” storyline to having three variant covers.

The first non DC/Marvel title to break the Top 100 was Transformers Generation One Vol. 1 #1 from Dreamwave, ranking at #26.

Batman #620, the first issue of the Brian Azzarello/Eduardo Risso “Broken City” arc landed at #31 for the year, and was, according to DC, sold out at the publisher level.

Some other numbers from Newsarama estimates:

#6 - Superman/Batman #1 (149,783)
#14 - 1602 #1 (168,134)
#19 - Ultimate Six #1 (143,706)
#36 - New X-Men #150 (116,573)
#39 - Ultimate Spider-Man #50 (115,760)
#70 - Ultimate Six #5 (105,714)
#80 - Ultimate Spider-Man #51 (102,237)
#100 - Amazing Spider-Man #56 (103,043)

Teen Titans #1, with four printings, landed at #32 for the year – the only DC or Marvel book not featuring Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, the X-Men (including Wolverine), set in the Ultimate line, or written by Neil Gaiman.

Roughly stating then, nothing other than superheroes and genre books sold more than 100,000 through Diamond in 2003 - which is great if you're a fan of genre and superhero books, and an indicator that the market is stable, however, it's a tough to make the arguement that (at least through Diamond), the direct market reflects a diverse readership.

The only other non DC or Marvel title to make it into the Top 100 for the year was at #82 - GI Joe/Transformers #1 form Image.

Breaking down the Top 100 list in terms of quantity, the top ten books shipped, by volume were the above listed:

1) Batman #619
2) JLA/Avengers #1
3) Ultimate Fantastic Four #1
4) Avengers/JLA #2
5) Batman #614
6) Superman/Batman #1
7) Batman #612
8) Batman #617
9) Wolverine #1
10) Batman #615

For a flashback, 2002’s Top 10 books by quantity were:

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

2003’s Top 10 books by dollar ranking (i.e., which titles brought in the most money) were:

1) JLA/Avenegrs #1
2) Avengers/JLA #2
3) JLA/Avengers #3
4) Batman #619
5) Amazing Spider-Man #500
6) 1602 #1
7) 1602 #2
8) Superman/Batman #1
9) 1602 #3
10) 1602 #4

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 JLA/Avengers #1) place it at the top of the dollar rank, that is, JLA/Avengers #1 was the #1 comic book item that brought in the most money to Diamond in 2003.

By comparison, 2002’s Top 10 books by dollar ranking were:

1) Dark Knight Strikes Again #2
2) Dark Knight Strikes Again #3
3) Origin #4
4) Origin #5
5) Origin #6
6) Masters of the Universe #1
7) Transformers G1 #2
8) Transformers G1 #1
9) Transformers G1 #3
10) A Moment of Silence

In terms of graphic novels, as mentioned previously, an original graphic novel, JLA: Liberty and Justice ranked at #1 on the chart for 2002, a very strong showing, considering its short “on sale” time at stores as it shipped in November.

The Top 25 graphic novels for 2003 were:

1) JLA LIBERTY & JUSTICE
2) LOEG BOOK ONE TP
3) SANDMAN ENDLESS NIGHTS HC
4) 30 DAYS O/NIGHT TP
5) DEATH AT DEATHS DOOR SC
6) ORIGIN TP
7) Y THE LAST MAN VOL 1 TP UNMANNED
8) BATMAN HUSH VOL 1 HC
9) ULTIMATE X-MEN VOL 5 ULTIMATE WAR TP
10) ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN VOL 5 PUBLIC SCRUTINY TP
11) ULTIMATE X-MEN VOL 4 HELLFIRE & BRIMSTONE TP
12) ULTIMATES VOL 1 TP
13) LONE WOLF & CUB VOL 28 LOTUS THRONE TP
14) ULTIMATE X-MEN VOL 1 TOMORROW PEOPLE TP
15) ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN VOL 6 VENOM TP
16) ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN VOL 1 POWER & RESPONSIBILITY TP
17) FABLES VOL 1 LEGENDS I/EXILE TP
18) ULTIMATE X-MEN VOL 2 RETURN TO WEAPON X TP
19) BATMAN HUSH VOL 2 HC
20) ULTIMATE X-MEN VOL 3 WORLD TOUR TP
21) MARVEL ENCYCLOPEDIA VOL 2 X-MEN HC
22) TRIGUN VOL 1 TP
23) WATCHMEN TP
24) BATMAN CHILD O/DREAMS HC
25) ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN VOL 4 LEGACY TP

Again, while several of the Top 25 were newcomers in 2003, the list also shows the evergreen nature of trade paperbacks. That is, no, your eyes didn’t deceive you, the Watchmen trade ranked at #23 for the year. Over 15 years since it was published, the collected edition of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ classic is still essentially schooling newer titles. While reportedly, some at DC still marvel (no pun intended) at the evergreen nature of Watchmen, the success of the trade also goes to show how important collected editions can be to the bottom lines of both companies and creators.

Not in a sinister manner, but consider Alan Moore – in Watchmen he has created, in essence, a machine that makes him money. True – DC gets a sizable chunk of it, but for over 15 years, Moore (and Gibbons, of course) has been collecting royalties on the work. And with League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Moore will conceivably collecting royalties for years and years to come.

The same, of course, goes for Frank Miller, as Batman: The Dark Knight Returns ranked at #53 for the year. Or Garth Ennis (Preacher trades still make the list), Neil Gaiman (Sandman collections are always on the list), Grant Morrison (New X-Men), and Brian Bendis (all Ultimate Spider-Man trades, as well as a couple of HCs are on the list)

This year’s list showed five Tokyopop titles, up five from last year’s number – 0.

And also making a strong showing was MATRIX COMICS VOL 1, which placed at #37 for the year, and JOHNNY HOMICIDAL MANIAC DIRECTORS CUT SC at #39

Taking the comics, trades, graphic novels, books, apparel, and everything else shipped by Diamond into account, the market share for the year looked like this:



Marvel took the unit and dollar share for the year, while DC held on to the reorder dollar share.

[gOgIver]

Nice work MattBrady

[Moonbeam]

Originally posted by MattBrady
Ballparking, Newsarama estimated that Batman #619 saw 254,618 ship in September, the month it went on sale.

Wow, that's quite a specific "ballpark estimate" there. Must have been some scientific method that got that number.

Originally posted by MattBrady
Teen Titans #1, with four printings, landed at #32 for the year – the only DC or Marvel book not featuring Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, the X-Men (including Wolverine), set in the Ultimate line, or written by Neil Gaiman.

LOL! Neil has to love that he's been looped in with Supes, Bats and Spidey as a factor for high sales figures.

There are no great surprises here for me -- I thought the best books of the year were superhero books, and the buzz about Batman was so strong that nobody wanted to miss it. I'm not surprised at the strong showing of the top superheroes.

I am a little surprised by the outstanding numbers on 1602. While it's turned into an awesome title with this last issue in particular, I haven't heard as much chatter about it as some of the other titles in the top. Are people "closet" 1602 fans?

[Cartoon Jay]

Does anyone track numbers for newsstands or other retail outlets other than bookstores?

[WebHobbit]

WOW

Jim Lee's Batman really kicked ass all year.

Just proves that SOMETIMES something great does sell!

[blankpoint]

Do these Diamond statistics incorporate sales through Diamond UK, who service (to the best of my knowledge) at least all of Europe and Asia?

[Hdefined]

Originally posted by WebHobbit
WOW

Jim Lee's Batman really kicked ass all year.

Just proves that SOMETIMES something great does sell!

Nah, it just proved that something hyped up with nice artwork sells no matter how crappy the story. I mean, hey, I bought it, and the artwork is very much worth the admission price, but that doesn't mean the book in its entirety is all that good. It isn't. Eye candy and nothing more.

What's really impressive is that Marvel and DC evenly, EVENLY share the top 25 selling books list. 11 from DC, 11 from Marvel, and 3 co-published (or, one could say, two of those from Marvel and one from DC, but that wouldn't quite be fair as the sales wouldn't be there without the combination of the two, and you know the fourth would've made the list too).

But that list very much heralds DC's massive comeback. Sure, they only had a couple books in the top 25, but that was only the, I believe, first year of Dan Didio. And now he's reinventing the Superman line, AND Flash gets a better artist, AND New Frontier is about to ship, AND Green Lantern is rumored to be relaunched, AND Claremont/Byrne on JLA, AND Metzer's big project, AND . . .

[Barry]

Interesting. I wonder how Endless Nights fared in the general bookstore market, where I believed I read somewhere that it sold quite a bit more copies than the direct market.

[Bytor-Snowdog]

Safe to say it was the Year of the Bat.

[antpicnic]

Batman #619 was the top book!?!?
When did this happen!!!!
huh?

[Charles RB]

The Top 25 list is full of Batman issues from Hush. Despite Hush not being good enough to justify such sales.

Yet Three Strikes languished far down the Top 300 list.

There is no God.

[Noah]

Originally posted by blankpoint
Do these Diamond statistics incorporate sales through Diamond UK, who service (to the best of my knowledge) at least all of Europe and Asia?

They don't reflect sales through Diamond UK, though its American counterpart supplies most of Europe. I don't have a country by country breakdown handy.

[Moonbeam]

Originally posted by Charles RB
Despite Hush not being good enough to justify such sales.

Obviously, almost the entire comic-book-reading world disagreed with you. Including me.

[Charles RB]

Originally posted by Moonbeam
Obviously, almost the entire comic-book-reading world disagreed with you.

Really? That'll surprise all the Japanese people buying their manga anthologies in the millions. "I disagree about what now?"

[Moonbeam]

Originally posted by Charles RB
Really? That'll surprise all the Japanese people buying their manga anthologies in the millions. "I disagree about what now?"

Cool. I'll email them and let them know.

[Charles RB]

And they'll say "Wait, this comic only sold that much? And it's the top seller? Geez, you guys have a crap comic market! Ha ha!".

And they'll be right to say it.

What, exactly, was so good about Hush anyway? The cliche's? The not-really-that-good art? What?

[Moonbeam]

ok ok ... I respect your opinion. And you actually have a great point about the sales in Japan. I was just saying the numbers indicate that a lot of people DID like Hush. But hey -- the fact you don't like it is cool.

[benyms]

And with this market share, where's the room for non-superhero books?

[Santo]

This proves how useless the monthly pre-order rankings are (and likewise how stupid Marvel's no-reprint policy is).

Marvel may own the top slots in the pre-order counts, but once all the printings and refills have been tallied it is apparent that DC moves more product

[gwangung]

Originally posted by Santo
This proves how useless the monthly pre-order rankings are (and likewise how stupid Marvel's no-reprint policy is).

Marvel may own the top slots in the pre-order counts, but once all the printings and refills have been tallied it is apparent that DC moves more product

????

The table clearly shows that Marvel beats DC in units shipped (39% to 30%). And this even though DC publishes more titles than Marvel does.

[Xaraan]

Nice to see comics doing better that's for sure. Still worries me that the market is held aloft by a small handful of characters with all the great stuff out there though. And scared me even more that it will just re-enforce the idea of putting out ten different titles of the same characters. But hey, give the people what they want I guess.

[grphxkindaguy]

Originally posted by benyms
And with this market share, where's the room for non-superhero books?

Superheroes (seem to) have always dominated the industry, so this is no surprise.

Still, it would have been *nice* to see a non-superhero book in the top 25!

*cough* Fables Last Castle *cough*

[GenXMaverick]

Originally posted by MattBrady
Teen Titans #1, with four printings, landed at #32 for the year – the only DC or Marvel book not featuring Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, the X-Men (including Wolverine), set in the Ultimate line, or written by Neil Gaiman.

Proving once again Teen Titans is DC's #1 super-team franchise in terms of sales by a wide margin. With 2004 being their 40th anniversary and next year being Wolfman & Perez's New Teen Titans 25th anniversary, it just amazes me DC isn't trying to milk that for all its worth with their long-promised X-Men/Titans 2. Especially since DC has Jim Lee, John Byrne and George Perez all working for them at the same time and as yet all three have nothing scheduled for 2005.

Contrast this with the 80's and 90's when DC would have the commercial smarts to exploit all their hottest-selling franchises: all the Superman books in the wake of the sales boost from his death, all the Titans spinoffs, all the Batman books after the movie franchise took off, etc. Meanwhile, "Hush" is over, Lee isn't coming back for at least 11/2 to 2 years and we're being inundated with "Hush" action figures, hardcovers, TPBs, etc. I'm glad they're taking advantage of its success -- good for them! But Jim Lee's Batman is NOT the only hot franchise they've got. DC needs to diversify the merchandising and exploit their other bestsellers, too.

[Snowspinner]

Originally posted by Barry
Interesting. I wonder how Endless Nights fared in the general bookstore market, where I believed I read somewhere that it sold quite a bit more copies than the direct market.

It cracked the NYT Bestseller list, so I'm thinking that it probably fared pretty well. I'm sure that, had its bookstore sales counted on this list, it would have easily been on the top of the graphic novel list, and that it probably outsold Batman #619 as well.

[StoneGold]

Originally posted by grphxkindaguy
Superheroes (seem to) have always dominated the industry, so this is no surprise.

Still, it would have been *nice* to see a non-superhero book in the top 25!

*cough* Fables Last Castle *cough*

This is all your fault Grph. You wanted it to be in the top 25, you should have bought more copies. You personally doomed the comics industry.