Top Selling Comics & Publisher Market Share: July 2014

I thought the same when I read that comment. People need to chill out a little

@captainhoopla: because it doesn't signify the actually launch popularity of the series or long term consumer interest. truth be told, sale are only used to indicate readership. Readership is really all the matter since Marvel/DC won't be making enough money of sales (even with its price rise). Advertisement pay for nearly all print media, Advertises are forced to pay more for top selling comics. Price is dictates by publisher based on popularity.

However, here is where the artificial sales boast become important. Marvel's whole Marvel Now/All New Now/Death of X/Event practice is based creating pre-order to sales boasts for 1 issue one then using the figure to dictate in the contract the advertisement price for the next 6/12 months of that series, even if issue 2- Onwards faces a decline in sales.

Here with Rocket, Marvel has been very clever in manipulating consumer interest in this series. firstly there are ton of store incentive deals for ordering more then actual demand, using inflated pre-order figures to trick/convince advertisers to pay more adverts in this series. Secondly marvel agreed to Lootcrate deal knowing that it guarantees high pre-order figure by 100,000 (or 150,000 that has been also speculated) but also doesn't guarantee 100,000 readership, in fact odds are maybe 10% to 30% of the subscribers may still stick with series.

The advertises are getting ripped off by marvel manipulating the figures. at a time when print advertisement is on the decline, the result could be a squeeze on amount adverts as advertises become more wary of drastically small readership then marvel promises. The result could be that marvel starts shrinking its portfolio to adjust for loss of revenue caused by a drop in advertisements.

So could I. But yeah I agree with the last part.

@rustyroy: I could go on, but at this point it's not going to get us anywhere. Lets just both agree that WB/DC needs to work on branching out, and we're heading in the right direction.

Agree with the bold part. Flash definitely deserves more than a TV show and I think he'll be getting a movie treatment if the show gets enough attention, the show looks good too. Batman's mythos are very vast, larger than any other characters and needs to be showcased,. If Gotham doesn't rely heavily on Batman and his more popular villains then it could be pretty cool. DC is trying and they did use a game to launch the DC brand, Injustice was successful and a sequel is on the way, Lego is showcasing a lot of DC characters with the help of Batman and DC has announced 9 movies.

@rustyroy: Arrow is (somewhat literally) a Batman clone show. Green Arrow doesn't act like Green Arrow from the comics, he acts like Batman. Part of the reason is because the show was originally going to be about either Batman or Dick Grayson, before Nolan decided to make another film, and they had to change it. Flash damn well deserves more then some lame CW show, and Constantine is pretty cool looking. Gotham is still a Batman show, even if it's not directly about Batman, it's still about his mythos. If DC really was trying, they would use this game to launch the DC brand through a popular game, but instead it's more Batman. Again, counterproductive.

Disagree. DC is promoting their characters. We are getting shows like Arrow(which showcases a lot of DC characters), Flash, Constantine, Gotham(doesn't actually have Batman in it). Injustice showcased many DC characters, Lego Batman may be called Batman ( because Batman brand is more popular than DC) but they are showcasing many DC characters, like I said DC is trying.

@rustyroy: I said we were talking about more then comics. Outside of comics DC practically doesn't exist, instead it's Batman. Look at the new Lego game, it's called Lego Batman again. WB/DC has promoted Batman so much, that they don't even use DC to market anymore, it's just Batman, and that is both pathetic, and counter productive.

Don't know much about toys and Lego isn't the only toy brand, I see many toys, T shirts and merch for many DC characters. And I thought we were talking about comics anyway.

Then why are there no non Batman Lego sets? (not including the MOS movie set)

I don't have the numbers for 7, but issue 6 only sold a tad over 33,000 copies, and rated 64th last month. I doubt that's selling out.

Did they get some too? I heard that Loot Crate may have bought up to 180,000 copies.

@batshrine: I heard that Robinson's F4 #6-7 completely sold out. I'm hoping they do a second printing so I can get those issues. The first five were really good. Same for all new invaders.

Rocket Racoon? Whoa! I honestly did not expect that comic to do well.

I don't know if I get these numbers:

It says units shipped and unit share.

Marvel say has total 129 units shipped out of a total of 891. Thats about 14%. But it's unit share is 38%....

Image has a total of 83 units shipped out of a total of 891. Which is about 9% and it's unit share is 9%...

I can care less about how much Rocket sold.

im just happy to see at least Lazarus is in the top 10 selling trades! that's a comic that everyone should give a try.

If Greg Rucka and Michael Lark isn't enough to convince you

then how about that i's pretty much a dystopian future + Game of thrones.

It's really good i recommend everyone read it and purchase the single issues so that Greg Rucka can continue to build this awesome world!

Also good to see Saga is still up there

Comics are getting better with this? um what? it's a gimmick buddy,comics need a LOT LESS OF THOSE.

I have no issue with Raccoon getting the top spot,he won it fair and square,(I'm not gonna get in to the technicalities of his win),I take issue with people knocking Batman down,see Raccoon just beat TWO Spider-Man books and TWO Marvel event books,GEOFF JOHNS books etc but no one seems to be talking about that. If you ignore the stats and look at the comments you'll almost get the impression that Batman WAS THE ONLY BOOK Raccoon beat.

And we still have too much Avengers and X-Men. DC is giving many of their characters chances, some people are just blind to see that.

@rustyroy: Doesn't change the fact that we still have too much Batman. The comics are getting better with this, but DC as a whole needs to embrace all of their characters both in and out of comics.

DC's books usually take the majority of the top 10, if it wasn't for Marvel's #1 gimmick then Marvel wouldn't even get the top spot.

LOL at people happily pointing out that Rocket Raccoon beat Batman. Let's just ignore that he beat everyone including Spider-Man, Superman, Justice League, the Avengers, the X-Men, etc. It's like people have blinders on and only look for things to bring Batman down or mock him with. This is less "Hooray Rocket was number 1!" and more" Hooray that jerk Batman wasn't number 1!" But this forum isn't biased against Batman, no...

Not rants, logical explanations, better than the childish 'lol a raccoon beat Batman, DC comics is trash, their characters are trash, DC fans are losers'

Nice to see an underdog take the top spot.

Lol @ Bat-fans posting rants because their feathers got ruffled by a raccoon :P

@manwhohaseverything said:

So I had a previous post that agreed with most everything you said and supplements it well. There is something that I don't agree and thats the bold.

There is definitely a correlation and very plausible connection why Marvel isn't putting much energy into FF and that connection is movie rights. Sure they don't have the rights to Spider-Man, but Spider-Man is making big bucks right now (well Spider-Man is always making money), so they can capitalize on his success. Fantastic Four isn't so there isn't much to take advantage of.

Now let's look at the reverse, if they don't treat the Fantastic Four well, the fanbase may decrease (kinda like how the fanbase for Iron Man skyrocketed when they did treat him well, or the Guardians of the Galaxy having #1s to match the new movie), then when the Sony movie comes out, if it flops then Sony may stop making FF movies, slowly losing their rights over the characters.

So does that mean Marvel wants the FF to fail? No, but its like a Xanatos Gambit. If FF movie comes out and it is good, Marvel can almost instantly up the quality of the FF comics to capitalize on it's success. If FF movie is a flop, then the quality can remain poor to keep FF movies down, so they can get the rights again, and bring FF back up. In the end Marvel wins regardless, and eventually FF...though in an agonizing process.

So does this mean that Marvel wants Sony, DC, Warner Bros, Dark Horse, etc. to fail? Well it may want Sony to fail, just to get it's characters back. But Marvel wants the rest of these companies to succeed, just as long as Marvel has the leading edge. Reason being is that the more success in the genre, the more interest in the genre, meaning the more customers. So all you non-Marvel or DC haters out there, by hating you are rooting against your own company's interest. Let's not forget Superman, Batman, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles convinced the movie industry that superhero movies can be successful and worth the investment.

@silverpool said:

@madeinbangladesh said:

Rocket Raccoon, a character that barely ANYONE knew 2 years ago now beat everybody including Batman.

Marvel is smart.

ANd wow Harley Quinn still selling so good.

This is surprising... how?

A major movie with the character came out and it's a #1 issue, totally expected this.

? I never said it was surprising. Pointing out that a character who was absolutely unknown 2 years ago now took the #1 spot. Marvel is smart and knows how to build their brand.

@madeinbangladesh said:

Rocket Raccoon, a character that barely ANYONE knew 2 years ago now beat everybody including Batman.

Marvel is smart.

ANd wow Harley Quinn still selling so good.

This is surprising... how?

A major movie with the character came out and it's a #1 issue, totally expected this.

Who cares? Sales don't mean that the product is good.

Shingeki no Kyojin has better sales than JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, but JoJo's is a lot better than SnK.

Here's to hoping Spider-Man 2099 will be a better success and longer run than the firs one.

I hope all the people thinking Rocket Raccoon beating Batman means much aren't really that naive. Rocket Raccoon NUMBER ONE...beat Batman number 33. Next month, Batman will out sell everyone again, unless someone else has a number one. What I really means for Marvel is that GoTG is doing well. It doesn't mean Rocket Raccoon will sell better/is more popular than Batman. (Stating the obvious, I know.)

Not that I'm "rooting" against Marvel. One of my more common rants on here lately has been the poor way they've put the FF out there. Not saying it's a bad book, I like the new run. But how they can go sooo out for GoTG and not for the FF makes me sad. :( And I don't buy that's it's solely that they don't have the movie rights to the FF. They don't have the rights to Spider-Man either.

Um Ok. There is really no need to hate on a company that holds the two most recognized characters in all of comics,. The same two characters that are older than Marvel itself. Not to mention, many of Marvel's characters are based upon DC's characters.

Well said. People forget about the 100,000 orders for one store. Yes the comic was great but it's sales were bloated by that. Also, this doesn't show if there is any correlation between a movie and it's impact on a comic sales. There is so much hate between fans that it's off-putting.

EDIT: Also, I believe Diamond tracks orders and not individual sales. So it is a whole different stat if we look at individual issues sold.

Can one really say that Batman lost? He is the standard that comic sales are still measured by. Out of all the DC books in the top 10, they are all Batman related comics. While Marvel needed three #1 issues, and two event issues to make it to top 10, Batman only had one #1 issue. And while Batman's main team, the Justice League, made it to top 10, where is Rocket Raccoon's main team? For that matter where is the Avengers, or the far superior X-Men (sorry X-Men will always trump Avengers in my opinion). Oh and let's not forget 100,000 of Rocket Raccoons books were given out in a subscription, not willingly purchased by individuals like the Batman comics. And on top of that the Batman issue sold at the highest price, and still had the most costumers relative to price.

Statistics can fool even the brightest of minds, so it's no shock that it fools most of the minds on here too. And as far as you out there that thinks Marvel taking a higher percentage of the market means every comic brand out there is by default bad, then that is also faulty logic. Cause for anyone that likes something that isn't Batman, then I can use that logic to say you're favorite comics are by default bad. Can we accept that most of our comics that we like, we like for a reason, and that other people's interests don't need to match our own.

Geez would be nice if you weren't at each other throats. What are you achieving here by putting down company and then proping up another. Nothing. We are all comic fans we read what love end of story. And Batman is never going away.

I guess Batman forgot to use the Chew Force this month to secure his top spot. Let it be known that on this day, you can add this feat to the Rocket Raccoon Respect. IN THE MONTH OF JULY ON THE YEAR OF 2014, ROCKET RACCOON DEFEATED BATMAN (in sales)!!!

Image are killing it on the trades maybe this will convince DC to hurry up they can make money from the trade market if there wasn't an 8 month delay.

Marvel still the top dog.

I guess the reason why Rocket Raccoon sold so well was because it was a #1 issue and Guardians of the Galaxy happened to premiere around the same time the issue came out.

Glad to see that Grayson sold well in July, I hope the sales won't drop by too much in August, the comic book is really good so far, best thing that happened to Dick since the New52.

True, at first I was a bit disturbed because of some of the covers but then I decided to read it and I must say the book is really funny and I'm glad I gave it a chance.

@novemberx2: Umm, I'm pretty sure Marvel didn't print a hundred thousand copies and give them to Loot Crate for free. Meaning they ordered and paid for those copies thus constituting a sale. Why should an article about sales figures be amended to reflect this?

Good day to be a Raccoon.

That's what's really sad about all this.

@novemberx2: True.

LOL ONE MANGA SELLS MORE THAN THESE COMBINED

@patrat18: he does already (In All But Name), he's the central character of New Avengers

Damn.

Ah, more #1's by Marvel.

Give Black Panther a book.

Well, marvel charges a whole dollar more, so, figures.

I'm happy for Rocket. It was a great issue, issue 2 was excellent as well.

On another note, I wish Mat would wait another week for these monthly sales articles to include the numbers for all titles. Just listing the top ten is pretty predictable.