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May 2015 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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Marvel's Secret Wars revival made a big splash in the comics market in May, moving more than 527,000 copies to comic shops in North America. It came in a month when strong six-figure launches from A-Force and Old Man Logan helped push the market to a 13% increase.



The Secret Wars issue edged out a surprise second-place finisher, Bravest Warriors: Tales from the Holo John #1 — and with the comic book, Loot Crate's effect on the Direct Market sales charts reached — pun entirely intended — cartoonish levels. Just over half a million copies of the comic book based on the animated series were shipped by Diamond, and indications are that most of those copies went directly to one customer: Loot Crate, which then doled them out to its subscribers. When the regular Bravest Warriors title appeared on the periodical charts more than a year ago, it was selling around the 4,000 copy level, and while this first issue likely sold more copies than that in comic shops, it's likely that more than 98% of the copies went to one customer. It was Boom's top-seller to date, outpacing even the later 2016 Loot Crate-infused Big Trouble in Little China that got Boom its first first-place comic book.



The massive single order affected the charts in several ways. Comics unit sales were up 20% over the previous May: 7.5% of that came from the Loot Crate copies. Industry sales went up $5.8 million versus the previous May, but $2.5 million of that came from Bravest Warriors. The title cost $4.99, so it helped punch up the weighted average cover price — the price of the average comic book Diamond shipped — to a record $4.17; without the inclusion of the Loot Crate books, that average drops to $4.11. (Still a record, but it only beat the last one — set in April — by nine cents.) It also sent Boom's market share northward, making it the #4 publisher in terms of units sold in May — and #3 in dollar sales within just the Top 300. Where we didn't see the distortion is in Diamond's dollar shares, which only look at the dollars it was paid — and there, Boom was in fifth place.



Read more in our preliminary and final analysis posts for the month. You can also click to skip to the Top Graphic Novels for the month.



This list includes all items on Diamond's Top 3 charts, plus any post-#300 items from its Top 50 Indy and Small Publisher charts. 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.

Items marked with daggers [†] included 400,000 to 450,000 copies from the online reseller Loot Crate.

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

May 2015 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 3 charts, plus any post-#300 items from its Top 50 Indy, Manga, and Small Publisher 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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A dominating performance from Batman: Earth 2 Vol. 2 topped strong graphic novel orders for the month.



