Diamond Announces Top Products for February 2014 #ForeverEvil #Wolverine #WalkingDead #Locke&Key

Diamond Comic Distributors has released their February 2014 product sales data. Included are Top Comic Book Publishers by Retail Market Share & Unit Share, Comparative Sales, Top 10 Comics, Graphic Novels, Toys, and Games. Marvel held onto both Market Share and Unit Share this month but DC again had the top units sold and held the top 2 titles in unit sales. Image's again dominated the TPB sales with Fatale, Invincible, Saga, & Revival (amazing enough the Walking Dead didn't make the top 10 for the first time since July).

"(BALTIMORE, MD) — (March 14, 2014) — Batman and his new partner Bluebird discover that Catwoman, Gotham City's new crime lord, holds a prisoner who could save Gotham City in Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, and Dustin Nguyen's Batman #28, a flash-forward to the upcoming DC Comics weekly comic Batman Forever and February 2014's best-selling comic book to specialty retailers, according to information provided by Diamond Comic Distributors, the world's largest distributor of comics, graphic novels, and pop culture merchandise.

Marvel Comics was February's top publisher, with a 34.10% Dollar Share and 37.36% Unit Share, compared to 28.73% and 31.12% respectively for runner-up DC Entertainment. Marvel Comics had five of the month's top ten best-selling comics, led by Paul Cornell and Ryan Stegman's Wolverine #1 at #3, while DC Entertainment had three titles and Image Comics two, led by The Walking Dead #121 at #8.

Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez's Locke & Key series for IDW Publishing came to a close with February's Locke & Key Volume 6: Alpha & Omega, the collected edition of the series' final two storylines and the best-selling graphic novel for the month. Image Comics had four of the month's top-ten graphic novels, including Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips' Fatale Volume 4 at #2.

Sanctum Publishing's The Shadow Double Novel Volume 81, a collection of classic pulp-era stories of The Shadow, was February's best-selling book in the comic book specialty market. Dark Horse Comics had three books in the top ten, led by the Alabaster novel Pale at #3, along with perennial best-sellers The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia and The Hellboy Companion.

Ant Lucia's 1940's pin-up redesign of Batgirl inspired DC Collectibles' DC Comics Bombshells: Batgirl Statue, February's best-selling toy product.

The 31st-century heroes of the Legion of Super-Heroes starred in WizKids/NECA's DC HeroClix: Legion of Super-Heroes Boosters, an expansion for the fan-favorite miniatures game and the best-selling game product in February."

TOP COMIC BOOK PUBLISHERS

RETAIL MARKET SHARE
PUBLISHER	SHARE
MARVEL COMICS	34.10%
DC COMICS	28.73%
IMAGE COMICS	7.85%
DARK HORSE COMICS	6.61%
IDW PUBLISHING	6.01%
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT	3.51%
BOOM! STUDIOS	2.05%
EAGLEMOSS PUBLICATIONS LTD	1.28%
ZENESCOPE ENTERTAINMENT INC	1.05%
VALIANT ENTERTAINMENT LLC	1.02%
OTHER NON-TOP 10	7.78%

UNIT MARKET SHARE
PUBLISHER	SHARE
MARVEL COMICS	37.36%
DC COMICS	31.12%
IMAGE COMICS	8.88%
DARK HORSE COMICS	5.59%
IDW PUBLISHING	5.00%
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT	3.40%
BOOM! STUDIOS	1.94%
VALIANT ENTERTAINMENT LLC	1.08%
ZENESCOPE ENTERTAINMENT INC	0.99%
AVATAR PRESS INC	0.95%
OTHER NON-TOP 10	3.70%

COMPARATIVE SALES STATISTICS

	DOLLARS	UNITS
FEBRUARY 2014 VS. JANUARY 2013
COMICS	-5.48%	-4.47%
GRAPHIC NOVELS	-4.48%	5.98%
TOTAL COMICS/GN	-5.17%	-3.65%
FEBRUARY 2014 VS. FEBRUARY 2013
COMICS	-10.39%	-14.77%
GRAPHIC NOVELS	2.83%	14.99%
TOTAL COMICS/GN	-6.71%	-12.83%
YEAR-TO-DATE 2014 VS. YEAR-TO-DATE 2013
COMICS	-5.53%	-11.18%
GRAPHIC NOVELS	-6.69%	3.16%
TOTAL COMICS/GN	-5.89%	-10.15%
TWELVE MONTH ROLLING COMPARSION
COMICS	8.52%	4.61%
GRAPHIC NOVELS	2.57%	2.48%
TOTAL COMICS/GN	6.63%	4.44%