Marvel, DC Can Both Claim Victory In December Comic Sales
By Nick Tylwalk
As Diamond itself says in its newly released December comic book sales info, it’s rare that there’s a month when one publisher doesn’t “win” both the unit and dollar sales. Yet that’s exactly what happened to close out 2014, with DC selling the most comics, and Marvel controlling the largest percentage of the market by dollars — though DC was quite close there as well.
DC shipped the most comics in December, with 102 to Marvel’s 77, and one of those was the best-selling issue of the month. That would be Batman #37, the latest chapter in the “Endgame” arc pitting the Dark Knight against the Joker by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. Other DC issues to land inside the top 10 included Batman Annual #3 and Justice League #37.
(Read More -> Our Batman “Endgame” interview with Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo)
Marvel claimed the rest of the top 10 spots, with Amazing Spider-Man #11 and S.H.I.E.L.D. #1 leading the way in second and third, respectively. The latter may have been aided by its December 31 on-sale date, when very few new comics hit the shelves, even more than its introduction of some of the Agents of SHIELD characters to comic book continuity. AXIS also performed well down the stretch, with its last three issues all cracking the top 10 for the month.
The graphic novel and trade paperback top 10 also had a relatively rare Marvel entry, with Captain America: Peggy Carter: Agent of SHIELD finishing second for December. Image and DC split the remainder of the list, as they normally do, thanks to volumes of Saga, The Walking Dead, Superman Unchained and Nightwing, among others.