Many of DC's 'new 52' titles have gone on to second, third and fourth printings; so it came as no surprise to fans when the publisher revealed that Batman #1 became the "#1 comic book units for September" and that the first issue of Action Comics is #1 in dollars for September. But that's not all. According to DC's press release, five of the tope five comics in September were DC titles.
5 of the Top 5 comic books for the month of September.
o 8 out of the Top 10 comic books for the month of September.
o 17 of the Top 20 comic books for the month of September.
o 19 of the Top 25 comic books for the month of September.
o 32 of the Top 50 comic books for the month of September.
While we won't have a really good idea of the actual sales numbers until next year, it's important to note (as Heidi has done on The Beat) that the numbers these statistics are based upon are actually 10% lower than the actual sales because of DC's "return clause." Additionally, as another source has reported, these numbers may not be incorporating the second, third and fourth printings of these titles. We should also mention that digital sales are not included in the following statistics since these are strictly based on Diamond sales.
== TEASER ==What this means is that DC comics may have finally beat out Marvel in sales; something they haven't been able to do in years. Marvel Comics has consistently remained in first place for as long as we can remember, with DC in second place.
According to an article on Newsarama, DC Comics came in second place after Marvel Comics in terms of overall yearly sales for 2010; which means they beat the Batman publisher by nearly a full 10% in Unit Market Share for the year.
Marvel finished the year as the comic book industry’s top publisher, leading both the Dollar and Unit Market Share categories, with a 38% Dollar Share, and a 43% Unit Market Share. DC Comics - whose best-selling title of the year was Blackest Night #8, good for third place on the year-end chart - was the industry’s second leading publisher in 2010 with 30% Dollar Share, and a 34% Unit Share.
It will be interesting to see in the coming months whether DC can maintain these sales numbers and continue to beat Marvel's dollar and unit sales on a monthly basis. Since the real numbers won't be available to us until the end of the year (and will likely not incorporate the digital sales of comics), all we can really do is wait. Perhaps 2011 will be DC's year? Do you think they will keep their numbers up? How much do you think sales will decline? What do you think Marvel has to do to get back to the #1 spot?
Image Source: Comics Alliance