The March sales numbers from Diamond have several headline worthy metrics: DC surpassed Marvel in units – but not dollars – for the first time in a non-relaunch period. True it was just a tad – DC had 35.4% of the months units compared to Marvel’s 34.3% – but given that Marvel was 18 points ahead in units when Rebirth launched, you can see why The Big M is having sales conferences. Marvel retained its 7 point dollar lead same as February.

Part of that lead may have been due to the #1 comic, Amazing Spider-Man #25, that $9.99 comics David Gabriel was telling us about last week. At more than 70 pages, this was sort of a mini-graphic novel in itself. Marvel had four books in the top ten, including Iron Fist #1, showing that media tie ins do work.

The top graphic novel was Saga Vol 7, followed by The Walking Dead. Old Man Logan also made the chart, reflecting the strong sales in the wake of the Logan movie. With these and a Harley Quinn GN you’d think graphic novels would have been up in most comparisons but they were down by double digits. Was that just the lack of the Killing Joke effect from 2016?

Indeed, the other big number is a bit harder to quantify: comics and GN sales are down overall 3% in dollars from the same period last year, but up 8.89% in units. DC’s lower cover price strikes again? The first quarter is way down from Q4 2016 but that was the holiday season. March was also a five week month to February’s four weeks.

I think the pros called these kinds of numbers “mixed.” Sales aren’t in free fall but we’ve hit a slow patch. And Marvel Now 2016 was a huge dud.

As usualy I’ll link to Comichron with its more number crunchy analysis when it’s out.

TOP COMIC BOOK PUBLISHERS

PUBLISHER DOLLAR SHARE UNIT SHARE MARVEL COMICS 35.41% 34.34% DC ENTERTAINMENT 28.75% 35.46% IMAGE COMICS 10.71% 10.02% IDW PUBLISHING 5.68% 4.72% DARK HORSE COMICS 3.48% 3.09% BOOM! STUDIOS 2.15% 1.86% DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT 1.76% 2.00% TITAN COMICS 1.15% 1.06% VIZ MEDIA 1.14% 0.43% VALIANT ENTERTAINMENT LLC 1.14% 1.37% OTHER NON-TOP 10 8.62% 5.64%

COMPARATIVE SALES STATISTICS

DOLLARS UNITS MARCH 2017 VS. FEBRUARY 2017 COMICS 15.00% -4.72% GRAPHIC NOVELS 15.44% 19.72% TOTAL COMICS/GN 15.14% -3.13% TOYS 34.66% 55.98% MARCH 2017 VS. MARCH 2016 COMICS 6.02% 8.93% GRAPHIC NOVELS -15.36% -17.47% TOTAL COMICS/GN -1.68% 6.21% TOYS -9.24% 0.51% YEAR-TO-DATE 2017 VS. YEAR-TO-DATE 2016 COMICS 0.70% 11.05% GRAPHIC NOVELS -10.68% -13.49% TOTAL COMICS/GN -3.01% 8.89% TOYS -2.52% -0.31% FIRST QUARTER 2017 VS. FOURTH QUARTER 2016 COMICS -15.15% -12.69% GRAPHIC NOVELS -11.42% -16.73% TOTAL COMICS/GN -14.06% -12.98% TOYS -20.45% -23.92%

NEW TITLES SHIPPED

PUBLISHER COMICS SHIPPED GRAPHIC NOVELS SHIPPED MAGAZINES SHIPPED TOTAL SHIPPED MARVEL COMICS 92 39 0 131 DC ENTERTAINMENT 92 31 0 123 IMAGE COMICS 61 16 2 79 IDW PUBLISHING 60 19 0 79 DARK HORSE COMICS 25 14 0 39 TITAN COMICS 24 6 5 35 BOOM ENTERTAINMENT 24 10 0 34 VIZ MEDIA 0 26 0 26 DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT 21 1 0 22 VALIANT ENTERTAINMENT LLC 7 2 0 9 OTHER NON-TOP 10 130 161 20 311

TOP 10 COMIC BOOKS

RANK DESCRIPTION PRICE ITEM CODE VENDOR 1 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #25 $9.99 JAN170988-M MAR 2 DARK KNIGHT III: THE MASTER RACE #8 $5.99 JAN170324-M DC 3 BATMAN #18 $2.99 JAN170237-M DC 4 BATMAN #19 $2.99 JAN170239-M DC 5 IRON FIST #1 $3.99 JAN170951-M MAR 6 X-MEN PRIME #1 $4.99 JAN170940 MAR 7 STAR WARS #29 $3.99 JAN171083-M MAR 8 ALL-STAR BATMAN #8 $4.99 JAN170228-M DC 9 THE WALKING DEAD #165 (MR) $2.99 JAN170772 IMA 10 JUSTICE LEAGUE #16 $2.99 JAN170285-M DC

TOP 10 GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS

RANK DESCRIPTION PRICE ITEM CODE VENDOR 1 SAGA VOLUME 7 TP (MR) $14.99 JAN170850 IMA 2 THE WALKING DEAD VOLUME 27: THE WHISPERER WAR TP $14.99 AUG168569 IMA 3 HARLEY QUINN VOLUME 1: DIE LAUGHING TP $16.99 DEC160373 DC 4 SUICIDE SQUAD VOLUME 1: THE BLACK VAULT TP $16.99 DEC160375 DC 5 DEATH OF X TP $17.99 DEC161096 MAR 6 TITANS VOLUME 1: THE RETURN OF WALLY WEST TP $16.99 DEC160376 DC 7 WOLVERINE: OLD MAN LOGAN TP $29.99 JUL100692 MAR 8 DEATHSTROKE VOLUME 1: THE PROFESSIONAL TP $16.99 DEC160372 DC 9 BATGIRL VOLUME 1: BEYOND BURNSIDE TP $16.99 DEC160370 DC 10 DEADLY CLASS VOLUME 5: CAROUSEL TP (MR) $14.99 JAN170822 IMA

TOP 10 BOOKS

RANK DESCRIPTION PRICE ITEM CODE VENDOR 1 STAR WARS: DARTH VADER & FAMILY COLORING BOOK $14.95 JAN172321 CHR 2 WORLD OF WARCRAFT CHRONICLE VOLUME 2 HC $39.99 NOV160049 DAR 3 LEGEND OF ZELDA: ART & ARTIFACTS HC $39.99 JUL168360 DAR 4 THE SHADOW DOUBLE NOVEL VOLUME 115 SC $14.95 DEC162213 SAN 5 THE LEGION OF REGRETTABLE SUPERVILLAINS HC $24.95 JAN172281 RAN 6 THE ART OF MASS EFFECT: ANDROMEDA HC $39.99 NOV160081 DAR 7 DOCTOR WHO: T IS FOR TARDIS HC $9.99 SEP168058 PEN 8 ICHI-F: A WORKER’S GRAPHIC MEMOIR OF THE FUKUSHIMA NUCLEAR PLANT SC $24.99 JAN171863 RAN 9 OTOMO: GLOBAL TRIBUTE TO THE GENIUS BEHIND AKIRA HC $29.99 OCT168151 RAN 10 BATGIRL: NEW HERO OF THE NIGHT SC $5.99 JAN172287 SCH

TOP 10 TOYS

RANK DESCRIPTION ITEM CODE VENDOR 1 DC REBIRTH: JUSTICE LEAGUE ACTION FIGURE 7-PACK AUG160372 DC 2 POWER RANGERS LEGACY 6-INCH ACTION FIGURES NOV169036 BAN 3 ONE-12 COLLECTIVE: MARVEL: THE PUNISHER DELUXE ACTION FIGURE JUN168911 MEZ 4 BATMAN ANIMATED: BATMAN EXPRESSIONS PACK SEP160384 DC 5 DC DESIGNER SERIES: BOMBSHELLS HARLEY QUINN ACTION FIGURE OCT160334 DC 6 SONIC THE HEDGEHOG: SONIC NENDOROID EZ AUG169297 GOO 7 MARVEL: LADY LOKI BISHOUJO STATUE SEP162765 KOT 8 DC DESIGNER SERIES: SUPERMAN & LOIS LANE BY GARY FRANK STATUE AUG160368 DC 9 DC COMICS: BATMAN & ROBIN ARTFX+ STATUE 2-PACK OCT162923 KOT 10 ONE-12 COLLECTIVE: DC: REVERSE FLASH ACTION FIGURE MAY168197 MEZ

TOP 10 GAMES

RANK DESCRIPTION ITEM CODE VENDOR 1 MARVEL HEROCLIX: DEADPOOL AND X-FORCE BOOSTER BRICK NOV162996 NEC 2 LEGEND OF ZELDA CHESS DEC163202 USA 3 MACHI KORO CARD GAME MAY142831 IDW 4 MAGIC THE GATHERING TCG: ELDRITCH MOON BOOSTER PACKS MAY163104 WIZ 5 MARVEL HEROCLIX: DEADPOOL AND X-FORCE FAST FORCES 6-PACK NOV162997 NEC 6 D&D: MONSTER MENAGERIE MINIATURE BOOSTER BRICK AUG169525 NEC 7 FINDING DORY: DON’T WAKE HANK GAME JUL158674 BAN 8 TRIVIAL PURSUIT: STAR WARS GAME OCT168253 HAS 9 TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: SHADOWS OF THE PAST BOARD GAME APR160482 IDW 10 TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: SHADOWS OF THE PAST: APRIL O’NEIL ADVENTURE PACK AUG160440 IDW