Marvel had almost a third more comics on sale in August than DC Comics. 93 comics to DC's 75.

Yet DC Comics destroyed Marvel Comics on marketshare through August across the board, and placed 9 titles in the top 10.

Harley Quinn #1 took the no 1 spot, beating out All-Star Batman #1 and Suicide Squad #1 with more issues of Harley Quinn, Suicide Squad, Batman, Justice League and Supergirl taking up the rest of the top ten.

It took Amazing Spider-Man #16, kicking off their Dead No More event to get Marvel into the Top Ten. Everything else Marvel published was beaten by four comics starring Harley Quinn – and one by Supergirl.

Which yes, sounds insane. This is both the power of DC Rebirth, but also the lack of reverberation in the market from the poorly performing Civil War II crossover, Star Wars sales slipping and the Inhumans storylines having very little traction.

I don't think it's going to be much different for September's figures. And will take until October before Marvel has a chance to turn the tanker around with the launch of Champions #1, and the sale of hundreds of thousands of copies to Scholastic Book Fairs…

Just to remind you in April , DC Comics had a dollar share of 25.82% and a sales share of 25.13%.

In May, that rose slightly to 26.45% and sales share of 26.34%.

In June, that jumped to 29.93% and 31.69%.

July, that was 35.36% and 40.96%

Well, in August, DC Comics owns 39.27% and 44.59%. In four months that is a move of almost 20 percentage points, a remarkable change.

While Marvel Comics, who back in April had a dollar share of 42.98% and sales share of 47.87% have seen that crash and burn to 30.78% and 32.11% a fall of 12 to 15 points.

However, it's not all bad news for Marvel as overall sales for August 2016 were up over 40% based on those in August 2015. So, even though their marketshare fell lower and faster than any time since Image Comics launched, their sales will still be pretty good.

Indeed Diamond Comic Distributors reports they topped ten million non-promotional comic books shipped during the month for the first time in nearly twenty years, with comic shops purchasing 10.26 million comic books in August. That proviso excludes Free Comic Book Day titles and the like.

July's overall direct market comics sales were pretty good, in August they were up 14.13% in dollars spent. Whtaat this all means is that, despite the year's massive drop in sales at the beginning of 2016, the past few months have made up for it. And, as it stands, 2016 is currently ahead of 2015 at this stage in the year, by 2.71% in dollars.

Hopefully this might mean the other publishers aren't suffering as much from the Big Two Wars. Image Comics' best selling title in August wasThe Walking Dead #157 at #13. IDW Publishing's TMNT Universe #1 was theirs #85. And Dark Horse's Briggs Land #1 was at #127.

TOP COMIC BOOK PUBLISHERS

RETAIL MARKET SHARE PUBLISHER SHARE DC ENTERTAINMENT 39.27% MARVEL COMICS 30.78% IMAGE COMICS 7.66% IDW PUBLISHING 4.92% DARK HORSE COMICS 3.08% BOOM! STUDIOS 1.98% DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT 1.57% TITAN COMICS 1.19% VIZ MEDIA 1.14% ONI PRESS 0.83% OTHER NON-TOP 10 7.58% UNIT MARKET SHARE PUBLISHER SHARE DC ENTERTAINMENT 44.59% MARVEL COMICS 32.11% IMAGE COMICS 7.78% IDW PUBLISHING 3.53% DARK HORSE COMICS 2.28% BOOM! STUDIOS 1.57% DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT 1.14% TITAN COMICS 1.09% VALIANT ENTERTAINMENT 0.88% ARCHIE COMIC PUBLICATIONS 0.64% OTHER NON-TOP 10 4.38%

COMPARATIVE SALES STATISTICS

DOLLARS UNITS AUGUST 2016 VS. JULY 2016 COMICS 13.30% 8.28% GRAPHIC NOVELS 16.50% 19.21% TOTAL COMICS/GN 14.13% 8.95% AUGUST 2016 VS. AUGUST 2015 COMICS 44.58% 44.02% GRAPHIC NOVELS 5.53% 7.15% TOTAL COMICS/GN 31.62% 40.77% YEAR-TO-DATE 2016 VS. YEAR-TO-DATE 2015 COMICS 2.66% 0.06% GRAPHIC NOVELS 2.81% 1.10% TOTAL COMICS/GN 2.71% 0.14%

NEW TITLES SHIPPED

PUBLISHER COMICS SHIPPED GRAPHIC NOVELS SHIPPED MAGAZINES SHIPPED TOTAL SHIPPED MARVEL COMICS 93 35 0 128 DC ENTERTAINMENT 75 33 1 109 IDW PUBLISHING 53 31 0 84 IMAGE COMICS 52 11 1 64 DARK HORSE COMICS 26 16 0 42 TITAN COMICS 20 10 2 32 BOOM! STUDIOS 22 8 0 30 DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT 22 6 0 28 VIZ MEDIA 0 24 0 24 ONI PRESS 10 2 0 12 OTHER NON-TOP 10 144 117 24 285

TOP 10 COMIC BOOKS

RANK DESCRIPTION PRICE ITEM CODE VENDOR 1 HARLEY QUINN #1 [*] $2.99 JUN160218 DC 2 ALL-STAR BATMAN #1 [*] $4.99 JUN160203 DC 3 SUICIDE SQUAD #1 [*] $2.99 JUN160230 DC 4 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #16 $3.99 JUN160844 MAR 5 SUICIDE SQUAD REBIRTH #1 [*] $2.99 JUN160228 DC 6 BATMAN #4 [*] $2.99 JUN160242 DC 7 BATMAN #5 [*] $2.99 JUN160244 DC 8 JUSTICE LEAGUE #2 [*] $2.99 JUN160266 DC 9 HARLEY QUINN #2 [*] $2.99 JUN160220 DC 10 SUPERGIRL REBIRTH #1 [*] $2.99 JUN160226 DC

TOP 10 GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS

RANK DESCRIPTION PRICE ITEM CODE VENDOR 1 STAR WARS: DARTH VADER VOL. 3: THE SHU TORUN WAR TP $16.99 MAY160924 MAR 2 BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE SPECIAL EDITION HC $17.99 NOV070226 DC 3 BLACK PANTHER BOOK 1: NATION UNDER OUR FEET TP $16.99 JUN160956 MAR 4 SPIDER-MAN/DEADPOOL VOL. 1: ISN'T IT BROMANTIC TP $17.99 MAY160926 MAR 5 STAR WARS VOLUME 3: REBEL JAIL TP $19.99 MAY160922 MAR 6 BATMAN/TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES HC $24.99 APR160380 DC 7 SAGA VOLUME 6 TP (MR) $14.99 MAR160684 IMA 8 TEEN TITANS EARTH ONE VOLUME 2 HC $22.99 APR160323 DC 9 HARLEY QUINN BOOK AND MASK SET $34.99 APR160377 DC 10 HARLEY QUINN & THE SUICIDE SQUAD: AN ADULT COLORING BOOK TP $15.99 MAY160307 DC

TOP 10 BOOKS

RANK DESCRIPTION PRICE ITEM CODE VENDOR 1 CHILDREN OF LOVECRAFT TP $19.99 APR160081 DAR 2 TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES ADULT COLORING BOOK $14.99 MAY162065 RAN 3 ODYC ADULT COLORING BOOK (MR) $14.99 MAY160682 IMA 4 MARVEL: ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW HC $19.99 JUN162060 DK 5 THE SHADOW DOUBLE NOVEL VOLUME 109 SC $14.95 MAY162071 SAN 6 SENSUOUS FRAZETTA SC (MR) $24.95 MAY161913 VAN 7 THE WALKING DEAD ADULT COLORING BOOK (MR) $14.99 FEB160615 IMA 8 ART OF COLORING DISNEY VILLAINS HC $15.99 JUN162067 HAC 9 THE OVERSTREET COMIC BOOK PRICE GUIDE VOL. 46 SC $29.95 APR161669 GEM 10 YOSHITAKA AMANO: ILLUSTRATIONS SC $19.99 JUN161954 VIZ

TOP 10 TOYS

RANK DESCRIPTION ITEM CODE VENDOR 1 SUICIDE SQUAD: HARLEY QUINN STATUE JAN160369 DC 2 SUICIDE SQUAD: THE JOKER STATUE JAN160371 DC 3 MARVEL GALLERY: SPIDER-GWEN PVC FIGURE MAR162236 DST 4 MARVEL SELECT: DEADPOOL ACTION FIGURE MAR101468 DST 5 POP! GODZILLA: ATOMIC BREATH GODZILLA 6-INCH FIGURE APR162788 FUN 6 SUICIDE SQUAD: DEADSHOT STATUE JAN160368 DC 7 BATMAN ARKHAM KNIGHT: HARLEY QUINN II ACTION FIGURE FEB160276 DC 8 DC ICONS: THE JOKER "A DEATH IN THE FAMILY" ACTION FIGURE NOV150323 DC 9 X-MEN LEGENDS 6-INCH ACTION FIGURES APR168678 HAS 10 DC COMICS BOMBSHELLS: POWER GIRL & SUPERMAN STATUE JAN160372 DC

TOP 10 GAMES

RANK DESCRIPTION ITEM CODE VENDOR 1 MARVEL HEROCLIX: SUPERIOR FOES OF SPIDER-MAN BOOSTER BRICK MAY163107 NEC 2 MAGIC THE GATHERING TCG: ELDRITCH MOON BOOSTER PACKS MAY163104 WIZ 3 MAGIC THE GATHERING TCG: ELDRITCH MOON FAT PACK MAY163105 WIZ 4 FINDING DORY: DON'T WAKE GAME JUL158674 BAN 5 4D CITYSCAPE: GAME OF THRONES: WESTEROS PUZZLE AUG132098 4D 6 MARVEL HEROCLIX: SUPERIOR FOES OF SPIDER-MAN FAST FORCES 6-PACK MAY163109 NEC 7 MACHI KORO CARD GAME MAY142831 IDW 8 DEADPOOL BATTLE YAHTZEE JUN163093 USA 9 MUNCHKIN MARVEL UNIVERSE 2: MYSTIC MAYHEM MAY163102 PSI 10 YU-GI-OH! TCG: DARK SIDE OF DIMENSIONS MOVIE BOOSTER PACKS MAY168708 KON

Dollar Market Share – August 2016 Unit Market Share – August 2016

It's all about the Big Blue…