In May, DC Comics took had 36.72% of the sales numbers of and 32.73% of the dollars spent on comics through Diamond in North America.

While Marvel had 38.64% of the sales numbers of and 35.32% of the dollars spent.

In June… it's a little closer.

DC Comics have taken 38.23% of the sales numbers of and 33.03% of the dollars spent while Marvel have 37.82% of the sales numbers and 33.77% of the dollars spent.

Which means DC have taken the two point lead Marvel had over the number of comics sold, now ahead by a half point of their own. And in dollars spent, DC have closed Marvel's two-and-a-half point lead to three-quarters of a point.

A considerable amount of this may be due to Before Watchmen, as DC put four issue into the top ten, though Marvel take the top two with Avengers Vs X-Men, followed by DC's Batman and Justice League. Surprisingly the Peter Parker/Miles Morales meet up, Spider-Men #1, only gets 9th place, followed by AVX #3.

This may alkso be the first time Diamond has had four mature readers comics in its top ten,…

Image Comics have also built on their increasing share price, now taking 7.36% of dollars spent and 6.45% of comics sold.

We can also still see an increase year on year, from June last year, full of Flashpoint and Fear Itself. And while it's a drop on May, that may be because May was a five week month and June was four weeks…

PUBLISHER MARKET SHARES

RETAIL MARKET SHARE PUBLISHER SHARE MARVEL COMICS 33.77% DC ENTERTAINMENT 33.03% IMAGE COMICS 7.36% IDW PUBLISHING 6.22% DARK HORSE COMICS 4.51% DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT 2.82% BOOM! STUDIOS 1.25% EAGLEMOSS PUBLICATIONS LTD 1.21% AVATAR PRESS INC 0.84% TOP SHELF PRODUCTIONS 0.83% OTHER NON-TOP 10 8.16% UNIT MARKET SHARE PUBLISHER SHARE DC ENTERTAINMENT 38.23% MARVEL COMICS 37.82% IMAGE COMICS 6.45% IDW PUBLISHING 4.16% DARK HORSE COMICS 3.49% DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT 2.35% BOOM! STUDIOS 1.49% AVATAR PRESS INC 0.87% VALIANT ENTERTAINMENT LLC 0.70% ARCHIE COMIC PUBLICATIONS 0.52% OTHER NON-TOP 10 3.91%

COMPARATIVE SALES STATISTICS

DOLLARS UNITS JUNE 2012 VS. MAY 2012 COMICS -6.28% -6.50% GRAPHIC NOVELS -15.42% -14.72% TOTAL COMICS/GN -9.35% -7.16% JUNE 2012 VS. JUNE 2011 COMICS 14.97% 12.14% GRAPHIC NOVELS 2.51% -3.66% TOTAL COMICS/GN 10.74% 10.79% YEAR-TO-DATE 2012 VS. YEAR-TO-DATE 2011

(FIRST HALF 2012 VS. FIRST HALF 2011) COMICS 20.47% 19.21% GRAPHIC NOVELS 13.49% 9.53% TOTAL COMICS/GN 18.16% 18.40% SECOND QUARTER 2012 VS. FIRST QUARTER 2012 COMICS 16.79% 14.86% GRAPHIC NOVELS 23.81% 18.98% TOTAL COMICS/GN 18.97% 15.18% SECOND QUARTER 2012 VS. SECOND QUARTER 2011 COMICS 15.81% 23.34% GRAPHIC NOVELS 23.33% 11.53% TOTAL COMICS/GN 18.14% 22.33%

TOP 10 COMICS

RANK DESCRIPTION PRICE VENDOR 1 AVENGERS VS. X-MEN #6 $3.99 MAR 2 AVENGERS VS. X-MEN #5 $3.99 MAR 3 BATMAN #10 $3.99 DC 4 JUSTICE LEAGUE #10 $3.99 DC 5 BEFORE WATCHMEN: MINUTEMEN #1 (MR) $3.99 DC 6 BEFORE WATCHMEN: COMEDIAN #1 (MR) $3.99 DC 7 BEFORE WATCHMEN: SILK SPECTRE #1 (MR) $3.99 DC 8 BEFORE WATCHMEN: NITE OWL #1 (MR) $3.99 DC 9 SPIDER-MEN #1 $3.99 MAR 10 AVX VS #3 $3.99 MAR

TOP 10 GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS

RANK DESCRIPTION PRICE VENDOR 1 THE WALKING DEAD VOLUME 16: A LARGER WORLD TP (MR) $14.99 IMA 2 LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN III: CENTURY #3: 2009 (MR) $9.95 TOP 3 WATCHMEN TP $19.99 DC 4 THE BOYS VOLUME 11: OVER THE HILL WITH THE SWORDS OF A THOUSAND MEN TP $19.99 DE 5 BATMAN: DETECTIVE COMICS VOLUME 1: FACES OF DEATH HC $22.99 DC 6 FATALE VOLUME 1: DEATH CHASES ME TP (MR) $14.99 IMA 7 BATWOMAN VOLUME 1: HYDROLOGY HC $22.99 DC 8 THE WALKING DEAD VOL. 1: DAYS GONE BYE TP $9.99 IMA 9 DMZ VOLUME 12: THE FIVE NATIONS OF NEW YORK TP (MR) $14.99 DC 10 MORNING GLORIES VOLUME 3: P.E. TP $14.99 IMA

Unit Market Share– June 2012