It looks like Marvel PR has been leaning on Diamond Comic Distributors' press folks a little. Do I detect the hand of Marvel SVP David Gabriel in the opening line of their presentation for October direct market sales and marketshare?

Not with the lead that Big Trouble in Little China/Escape from New York #1 from Boom! was the most-ordered comic book through the North American direct market in October (which is was, thanks to Loot Crate) but that "The Marvel universe's teenaged heroes form their own super-team in the wake of Civil War II in Mark Waid and Humberto Ramos' Champions #1 from Marvel Comics, the best-selling comic book of October 2016 in terms of dollars invoiced, while BOOM! Studios' Big Trouble in Little China/Escape from New York #1, a crossover between two classic John Carpenter films starring Kurt Russell, was October's best-selling comic book by units sold."

Gabriel!!!!

Because, yes, Marvel was denied the chance of saying that the launch of Champions #1 was the best selling comicin the month of October, despite all the work Marvel did to push numbers up, plenty of exclusive covers for retailers, added to special deals for certain retailers, if they would only up their numbers. Reportedly, Marvel got over 400,000 pre-orders for the comic, and then Loot Crate came along with their half a million subscribers and knocked Champions #1 off its perch with a particularly cutting stare.

Aside from that, though, the Marvel news was stellar!

We'd been reporting how DC Comics had humiliated Marvel Comics in recent months regarding marketshare, taking a lead on them, month after month, after a long period where Marvel had been at the top.

But we also stated that Marvel looked like they were heading to turn things around. And in October, they have done just that.

Marvel Comics was October's top publisher with a 35.89% dollar share – the money brought in – and a 36.58% unit share – the actual amount of comics sold.

That's a marked improvement on September's figures of 31.1% and 30.75%, up four to six points.

While DC Comics drops down to 30.70% dollar share and a 34.76% unit share. In September they were on 39.27% and 44.59% respectively, an eight to ten point drop. This is still a much improved performance from before DC Rebirth but, as the returnable titles start to drop away, this may be more like the ongoing status quo. Marvel ahead but only just…

But it wasn't just the launch of Champions that did well for Marvel at second place, but Doctor Strange And The Sorcerors Supreme. Ironically, that was included in the Funko Marvel Collectors Corps box… which doesn't have anywhere near the subscribers that Loot Crate does.

The success of these titles, and Dark Knight III, pushed the traditional chart-topping Batman monthly title down to fifth and sixth place. And with Civil War II and Darth Vader, Marvel took four places in the top ten, far more than they have achieved in recent months. DC were reduced to four, far fewer than in recent month. And The Walking Dead from Image rounded off the top ten. Dark Horse Comics' Serenity: No Power in the 'Verse #1 was their top book at #73, and IDW Publishing's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Universe #2 was their top book at #130.

Comic book sales were also up 18.38% between September and October, both four week months. And looking at the year to date, comics sales are up almost 3% on 2015.

There looks like there's some more spin on the graphic novels list with the reprint comic Champions: No Time For Losers #1 priced at $7.99 being counted as a graphic novel, against Diamond's usual rules, knocking The Wicked + The Divine Vol 4 into second place. Again, I expect that there were "conversations" before this list went public…

There are those that complain that hardly any of the Big Trouble in Little China/Escape from New York #1 copies counted actually sold in comic stores. To which I would counter that, according to retailer reports, it was a similar story with Champions. At least Big Trouble in Little China/Escape from New York will actually get into readers' hands, rather then holed up in the stock room, ordered for bigger discounts and exclusive variants to flip on eBay.

TOP COMIC BOOK PUBLISHERS

PUBLISHER DOLLAR SHARE UNIT SHARE MARVEL COMICS 35.89% 36.58% DC ENTERTAINMENT 30.70% 34.76% IMAGE COMICS 9.45% 8.83% IDW PUBLISHING 4.70% 3.44% DARK HORSE COMICS 3.47% 2.27% BOOM! STUDIOS 2.85% 5.55% DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT 2.00% 1.54% TITAN COMICS 1.23% 1.13% VIZ MEDIA 0.88% 0.29% ONI PRESS 0.81% 0.58% OTHER NON-TOP 10 8.00% 5.02%



COMPARATIVE SALES STATISTICS

DOLLARS UNITS OCTOBER 2016 VS. SEPTEMBER 2016 COMICS 18.42% 18.38% GRAPHIC NOVELS -7.01% -9.67% TOTAL COMICS/GN 10.69% 16.23% TOYS -1.07% -26.26% OCTOBER 2016 VS. OCTOBER 2015 COMICS 5.74% 13.61% GRAPHIC NOVELS -10.40% -5.82% TOTAL COMICS/GN 1.09% 12.23% TOYS -15.81% -23.92% YEAR-TO-DATE 2016 VS. YEAR-TO-DATE 2015 COMICS 3.59% 2.86% GRAPHIC NOVELS -0.01% -1.28% TOTAL COMICS/GN 2.48% 2.52% TOYS -5.05% -7.94%



TOP 10 COMIC BOOKS

RANK DESCRIPTION PRICE ITEM CODE VENDOR 1 BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA/ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK #1 $3.99 AUG161297-M BOO 2 CHAMPIONS #1 $4.99 AUG160733-M MAR 3 DOCTOR STRANGE AND THE SORCERERS SUPREME #1 $3.99 AUG160798-M MAR 4 DARK KNIGHT III: THE MASTER RACE #6 $5.99 JUN160290-M DC 5 BATMAN #8 $2.99 AUG160197-M DC 6 BATMAN #9 $2.99 AUG160203-M DC 7 CIVIL WAR II #6 $4.99 JUL160889-M MAR 8 DARTH VADER #25 $5.99 JUN160929-M MAR 9 ALL-STAR BATMAN #3 [*] $4.99 AUG160186-M DC 10 THE WALKING DEAD #159 (MR) $2.99 AUG160675-M IMA

TOP 10 GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS

RANK DESCRIPTION PRICE ITEM CODE VENDOR 1 CHAMPIONS: NO TIME FOR LOSERS #1 $7.99 AUG160750 MAR 2 THE WICKED & THE DIVINE VOL. 4: RISING ACTION TP (MR) $14.99 JUL160868 IMA 3 EAST OF WEST VOLUME 6 TP (MR) $14.99 JUL160823 IMA 4 TOKYO GHOST VOLUME 2 TP (MR) $14.99 JUL160853 IMA 5 LOW VOLUME 3: SHORE OF THE DYING LIGHT TP (MR) $14.99 MAY160689 IMA 6 UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL BEATS UP THE MARVEL UNIVERSE HC $24.99 JUN160947 MAR 7 DOCTOR STRANGE: FLIGHT OF BONES TP $24.99 JUL161070 MAR 8 COLOR YOUR OWN STAR WARS TP $9.99 JUL161075 MAR 9 TREES VOLUME 2 TP (MR) $12.99 NOV150698 IMA 10 BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS BOOK & MASK SET $39.99 APR160376 DC

TOP 10 BOOKS

RANK DESCRIPTION PRICE ITEM CODE VENDOR 1 SERENITY ADULT COLORING BOOK TP $14.99 JUL160124 DAR 2 BAIT: OFF-COLOR STORIES FOR YOU TO COLOR HC $19.99 AUG160017 DAR 3 THE ART OF ATARI HC $39.99 JUL161467 DE 4 THE WALKING DEAD: RICK GRIMES ADULT COLORING BOOK (MR) $14.99 JUL160872 IMA 5 AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER ADULT COLORING BOOK TP $14.99 JUL160111 DAR 6 THE ART OF FIRE EMBLEM: AWAKENING HC $39.99 APR160139 DAR 7 DC COMICS ENCYCLOPEDIA UPDATED HC $40.00 AUG162215 DK 8 MOUSE GUARD COLORING BOOK $14.99 JUN161233 BOO 9 DC SUPER HEROES: BIG BOOK OF GIRL POWER HC $16.99 JUN162064 POC 10 DC SUPER HEROES: BIG BOOK OF SUPERPOWERS HC $16.99 JUN162065 POC

TOP 10 TOYS

RANK DESCRIPTION ITEM CODE VENDOR 1 BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES: DELUXE BATMOBILE FEB160290 DC 2 THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: LINK BETWEEN WORLDS: LINK FIGMA DX NOV158470 GOO 3 MARVEL: SPIDER-GWEN BISHOUJO STATUE MAR162521 KOT 4 DC COMICS: THE NEW 52: JUSTICE LEAGUE FIGURE 7-PACK BOX SET NOV138235 DC 5 THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: LINK BETWEEN WORLDS LINK FIGMA NOV158469 GOO 6 MARVEL PREMIUM COLLECTION: SPIDER-GWEN STATUE APR162612 DST 7 MARVEL GALLERY: DEADPOOL PVC FIGURE JUN162394 DST 8 STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS: C-3PO & R2-D2 WITH BB-8 ARTFX+ STATUE 3-PACK DEC152336 KOT 9 BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES: BATMAN & ROBIN WITH BATSIGNAL 2-PACK JUN160386 DC 10 BATMAN V SUPERMAN: SUPERMAN MAF EX FIGURE NOV158137 MED

TOP 10 GAMES

RANK DESCRIPTION ITEM CODE VENDOR 1 TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES HEROCLIX: HEROES IN A HALF SHELL AUG163181 NEC 2 MAGIC THE GATHERING TCG: KALADESH BOOSTER PACKS AUG163175 WIZ 3 BACK TO THE FUTURE: OUTATIME DICE GAME MAR160336 IDW 4 GAME OF THRONES RISK JUN152759 USA 5 GAME OF THRONES MONOPOLY APR152735 USA 6 BED WED DEAD: A GAME OF DIRTY DECISIONS CARD GAME JUN160573 IDW 7 MAGIC THE GATHERING TCG: KALADESH BUNDLE PACK AUG163176 WIZ 8 MARVEL HEROCLIX: NICK FURY AGENT OF SHIELD BOOSTER BRICK MAY152783 NEC 9 TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES HEROCLIX: HEROES IN A HALF SHELL FAST FORCES 6-PACK AUG163182 NEC 10 ARCANE ACADEMY CARD GAME JUN160572 IDW