Diamond Announces Top Products for December 2014 #Batman #Axis #Saga

January 20, 2015

Diamond Comic Distributors has released their December 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.

"(BALTIMORE, MD) — (January 16, 2015) — The Joker's "Endgame" ramps up in Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's Batman #37 from DC Comics, December 2014's best-selling comic book according to information provided by Diamond Comic Distributors, the world's largest distributor of comics, graphic novels, and pop culture merchandise.

December 2014 saw a rare split between the month's top publisher in units shipped and dollars invoiced, with Marvel Comics taking the top honors in the month's dollar share (32.07% to DC Comics' 31.76%) while DC took the top spot in units (36.17% to Marvel's 34.10%). Marvel Comics had seven of the month's top ten comics, led by Dan Slott and Olivier Coipel's Amazing Spider-Man #11 at #2, and DC Comics took the other three spots. Image Comics had a strong December as the month's number three with a 9.89% dollar share and 10.40% unit share. In fourth was IDW Publishing with a 6.10% dollar share and a 4.17% unit share. Dark Horse Comics was fifth with a 3.47% dollar share and a 2.95% unit share.

On the year, comics sales increased by 4.03% over 2013 and graphic novel sales increased by 5.18%. The second half of 2014 saw an increase of 19.34% in comics and 10.54% in graphic novels over the first six months of the year.

The newest collection in Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples' acclaimed and award-winning sci-fi epic, Image Comics' Saga Volume 4, was December's best-selling graphic novel. In total, Image had five titles among the top ten. DC Comics had four titles, led by Scott Snyder and Jim Lee's Superman Unchained Deluxe at #6, and Marvel Comics one, Captain America: Peggy Carter: Agent of SHIELD at #2.

Dark Horse Comics' Dream Logic, the career-spanning artbook by Kabuki creator David Mack, was the best-selling book in December 2014. Also among the top ten books for the month from Dark Horse was Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia at #10.

The DC Comics Bombshells: Holiday Harley Quinn from DC Collectibles, based on the pin-up-style artwork of Ant Lucia, was the best-selling toy product in December and one of the manufacturer's six products among the top ten. Diamond Select Toys' top product in December was the Marvel Select: Venom Action Figure.

USAopoly's Monopoly: The Walking Dead Survival Edition, a special edition of the venerable board game with a custom board based on the best-selling Image Comics series by Robert Kirkman, was December's best-selling game product."

TOP COMIC BOOK PUBLISHERS

PUBLISHER	DOLLAR SHARE	UNIT SHARE
MARVEL COMICS	32.07%	34.10%
DC ENTERTAINMENT	31.76%	36.17%
IMAGE COMICS	9.89%	10.40%
IDW PUBLISHING	6.10%	4.17%
DARK HORSE COMICS	3.47%	2.95%
BOOM! STUDIOS	2.66%	2.82%
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT	2.58%	2.26%
EAGLEMOSS PUBLICATIONS LTD	1.22%	-
ARCHIE COMIC PUBLICATIONS	0.88%	0.91%
VALIANT ENTERTAINMENT LLC	-	0.91%
AVATAR PRESS INC	0.86%	-
TITAN	-	0.87%
OTHER NON-TOP 10	8.50%	4.43%