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October 2018 Comic Book Sales to Comics Shops

Estimated Comics Shipped to North American Comics Shops

Based on Reports from Diamond Comic Distributors

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Comics and graphic novel orders through Diamond Comics Distributors ended October ahead for the year-to-date, thanks to one additional New Comic Book Day during the month and particularly strong sales of middle-tier titles. It was the first time the year-to-date figure was positive since December 2016.



Marvel, DC, and Image's dollar sales performances all improved against October 2017, a month with one less shipping week and dominated by Marvel's Legacy event. Marvel's dollar sales of comics and graphic novels to retailers were up $6 million year-to-date; DC's up $4 million, and Image's were back even.



October was generally without the major launches that previous months saw; the major event for the month (besides the Venom movie) was Walking Dead Day on Oct. 13, which saw 15 different "blind bag" editions of previous issues (along with new variant covers) on offer. Batman #56, with its foil edition, finished first in units and dollars among comic books, with Walking Dead #1's 15th anniversary edition in second.



Notable, however, was the performance of titles in the midsection of the charts. The 150th place title shipped 17,305 copies, the third largest amount at that level in 20 years. The 200th place title sold 12,184 copies, the fourth highest amount in two decades. The 50th, 100th, 400th, and 500th place titles all hit one-year highs. While in part due to more releases on offer after a year in which publishers had cut their slates back, it appears that, in the absence of a blockbuster title for the month, retailers may have spread their ordering dollars around to other issues. October's total comics shipment of 8 million copies was the largest since May 2017, which had the 25¢ Saga #43 padding the totals.



Thanks to its graphic novels and the Walking Dead event, Image's market shares vaulted to near 13%, both for units and dollars. A consequence: Marvel and DC's combined market shares were at their lowest level since August 2017.



We have a video walkthrough of the month's preliminary sales report here:









Read more in ourandposts for the month. You can see the reorders that were placed during the month on our pages for reorders and advance reorders for the year. You can also click to skip to thefor the month.

—John Jackson Miller

This list includes all items on Diamond's Top 500 charts, plus any post-#500 items from its Top 100 Independent chart. If you don't see a book, Diamond released no data for it.

Items marked with asterisks [*] had their reported orders reduced by 10% due to returnability.

Distributor charts are regional commodity reports, not measures of a work's total reach. Read our FAQ.

The links lead to current listings for each item on eBay. You can also find the books at your comics shop.

October 2018 Graphic Novel Sales to Comics Shops

Estimated Graphic Novels and Trade Paperbacks Shipped to North American Comics Shops Based on Reports from Diamond Comic Distributors

This list includes all items on Diamond's Top 500 charts, plus any post-#500 items from its Top 100 Independent and Top 50 Manga charts. If you don't see a book, Diamond released no data for it.

The links lead to details about each title on Amazon. You can also find the books at your comics shop.

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The Batman: White Knight softcover led the chart in a month in which new graphic novel releases were up significantly in quantity over the same month in the previous year. Sales were up 5% in dollars overall.



