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March 2019 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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As happened with Action Comics #1000 in April 2018, Batman's 80th anniversary gave comics shop market orders a big boost in March 2019. Retailers ordered more than $43.5 million in comic books, graphic novels, and magazines, 13% more than they did in March 2018.



That March, which also had four shipping weeks, was seen as a disappointment compared with the year prior; this March's sales were $5 million greater, and having Detective Comics #1000 and the Detective Comics: 80 Years of Batman hardcover around made much of the difference. Detective #1000 had first-month North American preorders near to 527,000 copies, surpassing Action #1000's figure — despite the fact that the Batman issue cost $2 more. It immediately placed fourth on the list of top-selling comics of the decade, before any reorders had been included.



Orders for the comic book and its many variants were worth more than $5.25 million dollars; the hardcover kicked in more than a quarter million-plus dollars with its nearly 9,000 copies sold.



The month completed a $123.2 million first quarter, up 8% over the same quarter in 2018. Retailers ordered at least 6.34 million new comic books in the month, down 3% versus the same month in the previous year. There were 477 new periodical releases, up 9% year-over-year. Once again, DC offered fewer new comics, 18 less than the previous March; once again, Marvel picked up the slack, releasing 18 more than its 2018 total. That fact combined with the high price on Detective #1000 to result in a month in which DC led dollar sales overall, while Marvel led unit sales.



Such colossal unit sales for a $9.99 comic book drove the average price of comics drove the average weighted cost of comic books in the Top 300 — that is, total dollars divided by total units — to a record far surpassing the old one: $4.67. The average comic book in the Top 300 also set a new cover-price record (by one cent), $4.20. The median and most common cover price for comics remains at $3.99. March marked a full year since the weighted average had been below $4. (Click to see average prices across time.)



DC published the six bestselling comics, and improved on its overall dollar sales by 32% over its performance in March 2019, while Marvel's dollar sales rose 8%. Amazing Spider-Man improved on its February numbers thanks to its "Hunted" arc. With its Captain Marvel movie in release, Marvel's bestseller from January, Captain Marvel #1, saw a second consecutive month with more than 10,000 copies reordered.



Invaders #3 and Marvel Comics Presents #3 received a promotional overship, with retailers receiving one copy free for each one they bought. Since Diamond's dollar statistics are based on what retailers paid in, those added copies have zero influence on the publisher's dollar market shares or the issue's dollar ranking. (Units are counted, of course: Diamond's chart is not a scoreboard, but a commodity report detailing how many books are on the market.)



Read more in our preliminary post for the month. You can also click to skip to the Top Graphic Novels for the month. You can also see the reorders that were placed during the month on our pages for reorders and advance reorders for the year.



—John Jackson Miller

This list includes all items on Diamond's Top 500 charts, plus any post-#500 items from its Top Independent 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.

Distributor charts are regional commodity reports, not measures of a work's total reach. Read our FAQ.

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

March 2019 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 500 charts, plus any post-#500 items from its Top Independent and Manga 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 huge increase in the number of new graphic novels released over the previous March, plus a new Walking Dead volume and the Detective Comics anniversary hardcover, helped graphic novels to a 6% year-over-year increase. 387 new books were released, an increase of 38% over the spare offerings of March 2018, when publishers saw relatively less from the previous year worth reprinting. Marvel's slate grew significantly, while Image went from 13 graphic novel releases to 27; a major sale put a slew of Image's older titles in the charts.



