The new Black Panther #1 takes the top spot in April in comic stores, reportedly selling over 300,000, beating out the launch of Star Wars title Poe Cameron, one of four Star Wars titles in the top ten. But it's the appearance of the Harley Quinn and Suicide Squad April Fool Special that might promise much for Suicide Squad Rebirth from the same creative team of Rob Williams and Jim Lee.

We are also in a world where the launch of Gwenpool beats out the regular issue of Star Wars.

March saw Boom's Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #1 takes second place in the charts, behind Batman #50. Marvel dropped their dollar share by three points, but gained a little in the numbers they were selling. While DC maintained their dollar share, but the amount of comics they sold dropped three points, possibly because the price of their comics went up with all the $4.99 issue 50 titles.

In April's figures, it's all about the Marvel gains.

Marvel's dollar share has risen rapidly from 37.39% to 42.98% and their sales share has jumped from 42.71% to 47.87%, over five points for each.

While DC Comics' dollar share has slipped back slightly from 26.32% to 25.82% and their sales share has also slipped slightly from 25.94% to 25.13%.

Meanwhile, Image Comics whose share dropped from their usual 10%+, to 8.73%/8,63% in March, saw their dollar share stay pretty much the same at 8.72% and their sales share rise to 8.95%.

While Boom who saw their share top Dark Horse on the back of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, saw their share drop from 3.26% and 4.07% to 2.38% and 2.45% and Dark Horses' share go in both directions, revenue rising from 2.82% to 3.07% and sales falling from 2.47% to 2.42%

As for the overall sales figures, Bleeding Cool has reported on a slump in sales from 2016 based on 2015, and that continues. This year so far, 2016 is down 12% in terms of comcis sold and 4% down in total revenue.

This really isn't good…

TOP COMIC BOOK PUBLISHERS

RETAIL MARKET SHARE PUBLISHER SHARE MARVEL COMICS 42.98% DC ENTERTAINMENT 25.82% IMAGE COMICS 8.72% IDW PUBLISHING 4.41% DARK HORSE COMICS 3.07% BOOM! STUDIOS 2.39% DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT 1.53% TITAN COMICS 1.10% VIZ MEDIA 0.97% ONI PRESS 0.87% OTHER NON-TOP 10 8.12% UNIT MARKET SHARE PUBLISHER SHARE MARVEL COMICS 47.87% DC ENTERTAINMENT 25.13% IMAGE COMICS 8.95% IDW PUBLISHING 3.67% BOOM! STUDIOS 2.45% DARK HORSE COMICS 2.42% DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT 1.45% TITAN COMICS 1.09% VALIANT ENTERTAINMENT 1.03% ONI PRESS 0.63% OTHER NON-TOP 10 5.30%

NEW TITLES SHIPPED

PUBLISHER COMICS SHIPPED GRAPHIC NOVELS SHIPPED MAGAZINES SHIPPED TOTAL SHIPPED MARVEL COMICS 92 35 1 128 DC ENTERTAINMENT 80 31 1 112 IMAGE COMICS 56 17 0 73 IDW PUBLISHING 43 21 0 64 DARK HORSE COMICS 27 19 0 46 BOOM ENTERTAINMENT 27 8 0 35 TITAN COMICS 22 3 1 26 DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT 19 6 0 25 VIZ MEDIA 0 21 0 21 ONI PRESS INC. 8 4 0 12 OTHER NON-TOP 10 46 139 26 211

COMPARATIVE SALES STATISTICS

DOLLARS UNITS APRIL 2016 VS. MARCH 2016 COMICS 8.18% 8.19% GRAPHIC NOVELS -8.81% -8.22% TOTAL COMICS/GN 2.06% 6.50% APRIL 2016 VS. APRIL 2015 COMICS -18.05% -22.28% GRAPHIC NOVELS -11.99% -12.42% TOTAL COMICS/GN -16.19% -21.49% YEAR-TO-DATE 2016 VS. YEAR-TO-DATE 2015 COMICS -7.84% -13.05% GRAPHIC NOVELS 4.87% 5.23% TOTAL COMICS/GN -4.06% -11.69%

TOP 10 COMIC BOOKS

RANK DESCRIPTION PRICE PUBLISHER 1 BLACK PANTHER #1 $4.99 MAR 2 STAR WARS: POE DAMERON #1 $4.99 MAR 3 DARK KNIGHT III: THE MASTER RACE #4 $5.99 DC 4 STAR WARS SPECIAL: C-3PO #1 $4.99 MAR 5 BATMAN #51 $3.99 DC 6 GWENPOOL #1 $4.99 MAR 7 STAR WARS #18 $3.99 MAR 8 DARTH VADER #19 $3.99 MAR 9 HARLEY QUINN & SUICIDE SQUAD APRIL FOOL'S SPECIAL #1 $4.99 DC 10 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #10 $3.99 MAR

TOP 10 GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS

RANK DESCRIPTION PRICE PUBLISHER 1 WONDER WOMAN: EARTH ONE BOOK 1 HC $22.99 DC 2 STAR WARS: VADER DOWN TP $19.99 MAR 3 RAT QUEENS VOLUME 3: DEMONS TP (MR) $14.99 IMA 4 I HATE FAIRYLAND VOL. 1: MADLY EVER AFTER TP (MR) $9.99 IMA 5 THANOS: THE INFINITY FINALE OGN HC $24.99 MAR 6 CIVIL WAR TP $24.99 MAR 7 DEADPOOL: WORLD'S GREATEST VOLUME 1: A MILLIONAIRE WITH MOUTH TP $15.99 MAR 8 BLACK MAGICK VOL. 1: AWAKENING PART ONE TP (MR) $9.99 IMA 9 BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE SPECIAL EDITION HC $17.99 DC 10 RICK & MORTY VOLUME 2 TP $19.99 ONI

TOP 10 BOOKS

RANK DESCRIPTION PRICE PUBLISHER 1 SPAWN ADULT COLORING BOOK $14.99 IMA 2 STAR WARS LITTLE GOLDEN BOOK: THE FORCE AWAKENS $4.99 RAN 3 THE SHADOW DOUBLE NOVEL VOLUME 105 SC $14.95 SAN 4 STAR WARS CHARACTER ENCYCLOPEDIA UPDATED EXPANDED HC $16.99 DK 5 FIREFLY DICTIONARY AND PHRASEBOOK HC $21.95 RAN 6 NARUTO: SAKURA STORY SC $10.99 VIZ 7 LEGO DC COMICS SUPER HEROES CHARACTER ENCYCLOPEDIA $18.99 DK 8 CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO FIRST AVENGER HC $24.99 DK 9 STAR TREK: MAD LIBS $4.99 PUT 10 DC SUPER HEROES: MY FIRST BOOK OF GIRL POWER BOARD BOOK $9.99 POC

TOP 10 TOYS

RANK DESCRIPTION PUBLISHER 1 BATMAN V SUPERMAN DAWN OF JUSTICE: BATMAN STATUE DC 2 GHOSTBUSTERS SELECT SERIES 2 ACTION FIGURES DST 3 MOVIE REALIZATION STAR WARS: TEPPO ASHIGARU SANDTROOPER ACTION FIGURES BLU 4 HATSUNE MIKU PLAY ARTS KAI: TETSUYA FIGURE SQU 5 DC COMICS BOMBSHELLS: THE JOKER & HARLEY QUINN STATUE 2ND EDITION DC 6 POP! STAR WARS: RANCOR WITH LUKE & SLAVE OOLA 3-PACK FUN 7 MARVEL SELECT: DEADPOOL ACTION FIGURE DST 8 MARVEL SELECT: BLACK WIDOW ACTION FIGURE DST 9 GHOSTBUSTERS SELECT SERIES 1 ACTION FIGURES DST 10 BATMAN PREMIUM COLLECTION: MAD LOVE HARLEY QUINN STATUE DST

TOP 10 GAMES

RANK DESCRIPTION PUBLISHER 1 MARVEL HEROCLIX: UNCANNY X-MEN BOOSTER BRICK NEC 2 TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES HEROCLIX NEC 3 SHADOWS OVER CAMELOT DAY 4 SMALL WORLD DOW 5 MARVEL HEROCLIX: CAPTAIN AMERICA CIVIL WAR NEC 6 MAGIC THE GATHERING TCG: SHADOWS OVER INNISTRAD BOOSTERS WIZ 7 DC HEROCLIX: BATMAN ARKHAM ORIGINS QUICK START KIT NEC 8 MEMOIR '44 DOW 9 TICKET TO RIDE DOW 10 DC DICE MASTERS: WORLDS FINEST NEC

Dollar Market Share – April 2016 Unit Market Share – April 2016