‘Batman’ top selling comic book on February sales list

(CBR) Below you'll find the sales estimates for comics and trade paperbacks sold in the direct market for February, 2014. The sales numbers below are estimates based on the information provided by Diamond Comics Distributors earlier this month. Sales estimates for January, 2014 can be found here.

There are a couple of things to keep in mind when reading this data. These numbers are just estimates for the sales through Diamond to direct market retailers. It does not include any sales outside of the Diamond channel such as newstands, book stores or overseas markets. Since the majority of habitual comic book readers are served through this sales channel, these numbers are a good indicator of the core sales trends at the retail level. While not all copies will sell to readers, each retailer is buying what they think they can sell so the trends at the retail level should be a close enough reflection of the sales trends at the reader level for the purposes of discussion.

The breakdowns are for just the top comics and top trades listed below. These are not the overall market share. I only deal with numbers that I can see and kick around in my ever evolving number crunching system. Sometimes the numbers get a bit battered and bruised in the process.

The estimated total sales for the 300 comics was 6,223,779 comics which is down by 271,073 units from January and down by 783,743 units from February 2013. Marvel Comics had the largest percentage of the top 300 comics with 40.02% of the total units sold followed by DC Comics with 33.01%.

The top selling comic from Marvel Comics was “Wolverine (2014)” #1 in slot 3 with an estimated 88,923 units and for DC Comics was “Batman (2011)” #28 in rank 1 with an estimated 114,089 units.

The estimated total sales for the 300 trades was 311,379 trades which is down by 258,987 units from January and up by 5,258 units from February 2013.

Topping the trades list in February was “Locke and Key v6: Alpha and Omega” by IDW Publishing with 4,532 units.

I've got bar charts of this data over on my website: www.ComicBookPage.com. Every month I discuss the comic book and collected editions sales estimates on my Comic Book Page podcast.

I'll be back later with an analysis of the numbers below.

DIAMOND OVERALL SHARES
Publisher Market Share
By Units
Market Share
By Dollars
MARVEL COMICS 37.36% 34.10%
DC COMICS 31.12% 28.73%
IMAGE COMICS 8.88% 7.85%
DARK HORSE COMICS 5.59% 6.61%
IDW PUBLISHING 5.00% 6.01%
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT 3.40% 3.51%
BOOM! STUDIOS 1.94% 2.05%
EAGLEMOSS PUBLICATIONS LTD 0.27% 1.28%
ZENESCOPE ENTERTAINMENT INC 0.99% 1.05%
VALIANT ENTERTAINMENT LLC 1.08% 1.02%
AVATAR PRESS INC 0.95% 1.01%
RANDOM HOUSE 0.19% 0.66%
ONI PRESS INC. 0.39% 0.65%
ARCHIE COMIC PUBLICATIONS 0.57% 0.53%
VIZ MEDIA 0.19% 0.47%
YEN PRESS 0.11% 0.36%
TOP SHELF PRODUCTIONS 0.11% 0.36%
FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS 0.07% 0.29%
ST. MARTINS PRESS 0.08% 0.28%
HUMANOIDS INC 0.03% 0.19%
OTHER NON-TOP 20 1.70% 2.97%
TOP COMICS BREAKDOWN
Publisher NI RI TI Min
Price
Max
Price
Avg
Price
Total
Reported
Units
Total
Reported
Dollars
Percent of
Top Comics
By Units
Percent of
Top Comics
By Dollars
Marvel Comics 69 0 69 $2.99 $4.99 $3.85 2,368,063 $9,216,054.37 40.02% 42.45%
DC Comics 73 2 75 $2.99 $7.99 $3.36 1,953,271 $6,782,732.29 33.01% 31.24%
Image Comics 39 0 39 $2.99 $3.99 $3.17 535,575 $1,681,872.62 9.05% 7.75%
Dark Horse 22 1 23 $2.99 $3.99 $3.67 277,680 $995,130.46 4.69% 4.58%
IDW Publishing 26 0 26 $1.00 $3.99 $3.88 264,335 $989,045.22 4.47% 4.56%
Dynamite Entertainment 23 0 23 $3.99 $4.99 $4.08 184,491 $746,687.09 3.12% 3.44%
Valiant 9 0 9 $3.99 $3.99 $3.99 75,865 $302,701.35 1.28% 1.39%
Boom! Studios 9 0 9 $3.99 $4.99 $4.10 72,648 $304,056.52 1.23% 1.40%
Zenescope Entertainment 10 0 10 $2.99 $5.99 $3.89 60,930 $234,552.70 1.03% 1.08%
Avatar 7 0 7 $3.99 $3.99 $3.99 53,971 $215,344.29 0.91% 0.99%
Oni Press 2 0 2 $3.99 $3.99 $3.99 17,323 $69,118.77 0.29% 0.32%
Archie Comics 2 0 2 $2.99 $2.99 $2.99 17,227 $51,508.73 0.29% 0.24%
Bongo Comics 3 0 3 $2.99 $3.50 $3.16 16,887 $52,775.40 0.29% 0.24%
Abstract Studios 1 0 1 $3.99 $3.99 $3.99 7,511 $29,968.89 0.13% 0.14%
United 1 0 1 $2.99 $2.99 $2.99 6,377 $19,067.23 0.11% 0.09%
Aspen 1 0 1 $3.99 $3.99 $3.99 4,450 $17,755.50 0.08% 0.08%
Legend: NI = New Items, RI = Reorder Items, TI = Total Items
 
TOP TRADES BREAKDOWN
Publisher NI RI TI Min
Price
Max
Price
Avg
Price
Total
Reported
Units
Total
Reported
Dollars
Percent of
Top Trades
By Units
Percent of
Top Trades
By Dollars
Marvel Comics 24 113 137 $7.99 $125.00 $21.65 117,403 $2,693,915.33 38.88% 43.61%
DC Comics 22 37 59 $9.99 $75.00 $20.60 69,216 $1,396,776.41 22.92% 22.61%
Image Comics 11 21 32 $9.99 $59.99 $15.62 42,933 $636,421.67 14.22% 10.30%
Dark Horse 16 6 22 $12.99 $49.99 $22.26 23,586 $530,630.38 7.81% 8.59%
IDW Publishing 6 4 10 $17.99 $39.99 $22.99 14,276 $356,043.24 4.73% 5.76%
Top Shelf 2 2 4 $9.95 $14.95 $13.70 5,568 $80,021.60 1.84% 1.30%
Boom! Studios 2 0 2 $14.99 $14.99 $14.99 5,189 $77,783.11 1.72% 1.26%
Dynamite Entertainment 5 1 6 $16.99 $24.99 $20.82 4,603 $95,704.97 1.52% 1.55%
Random House 2 3 5 $10.99 $19.99 $12.79 3,030 $37,538.70 1.00% 0.61%
ONI Press 3 0 3 $19.99 $19.99 $19.99 2,643 $52,833.57 0.88% 0.86%
Slave Labor Graphics 1 2 3 $7.95 $21.95 $15.28 2,148 $29,710.60 0.71% 0.48%
Valiant 2 0 2 $14.99 $14.99 $14.99 1,973 $29,575.27 0.65% 0.48%
Hachette Book Group/Yen Press 4 0 4 $11.99 $13.00 $12.50 1,929 $24,155.88 0.64% 0.39%
Zenescope Entertainment 2 0 2 $15.99 $15.99 $15.99 1,555 $24,864.45 0.51% 0.40%
First Second 2 0 2 $12.99 $12.99 $12.99 1,206 $15,665.94 0.40% 0.25%
Red 5 Comics 1 0 1 $13.95 $13.95 $13.95 1,123 $15,665.85 0.37% 0.25%
Archie Comics 1 0 1 $14.99 $14.99 $14.99 883 $13,236.17 0.29% 0.21%
Avatar 1 0 1 $19.99 $19.99 $19.99 626 $12,513.74 0.21% 0.20%
Touchstone 1 0 1 $9.99 $9.99 $9.99 608 $6,073.92 0.20% 0.10%
Drawn and Quarterly 1 0 1 $21.95 $21.95 $21.95 558 $12,248.10 0.18% 0.20%
Arcana Studio 1 0 1 $29.95 $29.95 $29.95 453 $13,567.35 0.15% 0.22%
Diamond 1 0 1 $49.99 $49.99 $49.99 442 $22,095.58 0.15% 0.36%
TOP COMICS
Qty
Rank
Index Price Pub Title # R Est
Sales
Prev
Issue
Prev
Issue
Est
Sales
Delta Delta % WL
1 100.00 $3.99 DC Batman (2011) 28   114,089 27 117,379 -3,290 -2.80% 0
2 80.65 $3.99 DC Forever Evil (2013) 5   92,014 4 99,350 -7,336 -7.38% 2
3 77.94 $3.99 MAR Wolverine (2014) 1   88,923          
4 75.73 $3.99 MAR Superior Spider-Man (2013) 27   86,405 26 72,581 13,824 19.05% 1
5 70.91 $3.99 DC Justice League (2011) 28   80,901 27 84,662 -3,761 -4.44% 0
6 66.16 $3.99 MAR Superior Spider-Man (2013) 28   75,477 27 86,405 -10,928 -12.65% 1
7 57.65 $3.99 MAR Fantastic Four (2014) 1   65,775          
8 57.19 $2.99 IMA Walking Dead (2003) 121   65,244 120 65,277 -33 -0.05% 0
9 56.81 $2.99 IMA Walking Dead (2003) 122   64,810 121 65,244 -434 -0.67% 0
10 56.64 $3.99 MAR All New X-Men (2012) 23   64,625 22 76,554 -11,929 -15.58% 0
11 56.07 $2.99 DC Harley Quinn (2013) 3   63,967 2 73,349 -9,382 -12.79% 0
12 52.39 $3.99 MAR Avengers (2012) 26   59,775 25 65,582 -5,807 -8.85% 1
13 50.96 $3.99 DC Batman/Superman (2013) 8   58,138 7 61,066 -2,928 -4.79% 3
14 49.63 $3.99 DC Detective Comics (2011) 28   56,619 27 90,323 -33,704 -37.31% 0
15 49.31 $3.99 DC Justice League of America (2013) 12   56,259 11 65,356 -9,097 -13.92% 0
16 49.23 $3.99 MAR Uncanny X-Men (2013) 17   56,163 16 58,668 -2,505 -4.27% 0
17 48.61 $3.99 MAR Guardians of Galaxy (2013) 12   55,454 11 63,488 -8,034 -12.65% 0
18 47.82 $3.99 MAR Punisher (2014) 1   54,558          
19 47.02 $3.99 MAR Origin II (2013) 3   53,640 2 64,622 -10,982 -16.99% 0
20 46.61 $3.99 MAR Uncanny Avengers (2012) 17   53,181 16 54,662 -1,481 -2.71% 0
21 46.00 $3.99 MAR X-Men (2013) 10   52,486 9 49,405 3,081 6.24% 0
22 44.76 $4.99 DC Batman: Joker's Daughter (2014) 1   51,066          
23 44.41 $3.99 MAR New Avengers (2013) 14   50,668         3
24 44.08 $2.99 MAR Ms Marvel (2014) 1   50,286          
25 43.12 $2.99 DC Green Lantern (2011) 28   49,200 27 48,824 376 0.77%  
26 42.21 $3.99 MAR Amazing X-Men (2013) 4   48,161 3 51,424 -3,263 -6.35% 0
27 41.63 $3.99 MAR X-Men (2013) 11   47,498 10 52,486 -4,988 -9.50% 0
28 41.57 $3.99 MAR X-Force (2014) 1   47,427          
29 41.49 $3.99 MAR Wolverine (2014) 2   47,339 1 88,923 -41,584 -46.76%  
30 40.11 $3.99 MAR New Warriors (2014) 1   45,765          
31 39.31 $3.99 DC Superman/Wonder Woman (2013) 5   44,847 4 47,343 -2,496 -5.27% 0
32 38.02 $2.99 DC Batman and … (2013) 28   43,380 27 45,456 -2,076 -4.57%  
33 37.41 $3.99 DAR Star Wars [Lucas Draft] (2013) 5   42,686 4 47,292 -4,606 -9.74% 0
34 36.84 $3.99 MAR Thor God of Thunder (2012) 19   42,034 18 38,185 3,849 10.08% 0
35 36.74 $2.99 MAR Loki: Agent of Asgard (2014) 1   41,921          
36 36.72 $2.99 MAR She-Hulk (2014) 1   41,894          
37 36.12 $2.99 MAR Deadpool (2012) 23   41,204 22 41,759 -555 -1.33% 0
38 36.05 $2.99 MAR Deadpool (2012) 24   41,130 23 41,204 -74 -0.18% 0
39 35.06 $3.99 MAR Avengers World (2014) 3   39,999 2 53,686 -13,687 -25.49% 0
40 34.66 $2.99 MAR Hawkeye (2012) 15   39,546 14 39,863 -317 -0.80% 22
41 34.65 $4.99 MAR Kick Ass 3 (2013) 6   39,534 5 38,639 895 2.32% 12
42 33.86 $3.50 DAR Serenity: Leaves On the Wind (2014) 2   38,630 1 54,385 -15,755 -28.97% 0
43 33.28 $3.99 MAR Night of the Living Deadpool (2014) 3   37,974 2 40,235 -2,261 -5.62% 0
44 32.38 $2.99 DC Nightwing (2011) 28   36,940 27 38,320 -1,380 -3.60% 0
45 32.02 $3.99 MAR Captain America (2012) 16   36,534 15 33,428 3,106 9.29% 0
46 31.38 $3.99 MAR Wolverine and X-Men (2011) 41   35,800 40 36,850 -1,050 -2.85% 0
47 31.32 $2.99 DC Earth 2 (2012) 20   35,732 19 36,098 -366 -1.01% 0
48 31.17 $2.99 DC Forever Evil: Arkham War (2013) 5   35,564 4 37,968 -2,404 -6.33% 0
49 31.08 $2.99 DC Batman: The Dark Knight (2011) 28   35,455 27 37,893 -2,438 -6.43% 0
50 31.02 $4.99 MAR Wolverine and X-Men (2011) 42   35,392 41 35,800 -408 -1.14% 0