Comic Book Sales Up Nearly 15%

Who says print is dying? While Lois Lane might have made that claim in the relaunched Superman #1, [...]

By Scott Johnson

Who says print is dying? While Lois Lane might have made that claim in the relaunched Superman #1, she evidently hadn't seen the latest print comic book sales numbers. Defying the theory that print is in decline, Diamond Comic Distributors released today that print comic book sales to the comic book specialty market increased nearly 15% in 2012. Graphic novel sales were also up 14% from the previous year. According to Diamond, Marvel Comics was the top publisher with a 34.06% Dollar Market Share and a 37.59% Unit Market Share, followed by DC Entertainment with a 31.94% Dollar Market Share and a 36.75% Unit Market Share. As Comicbook.com previously reported, The Walking Dead #100 was the top selling comic book of the year. After The Walking Dead #100, Marvel Comics took the next nine spots. Marvel's top selling titles included Uncanny Avengers #1, Avengers Vs. X-Men #1, and Amazing Spider-Man #700. "2012 was a terrific year for comic books and graphic novels," said Diamond CEO Steve Geppi. "Our publishers did a tremendous job of creating compelling storylines that comic book fans wanted to see – from Marvel's Avengers vs. X-Men followed by its Marvel NOW! titles later in the year to DC's powerful New 52 ongoing titles. Add in Dark Horse Comics' horror line-up, IDW's My Little Pony and Image Comics' creator-driven hits and it was quite a year. In addition, I would like to mention what a wonderful job comic shop retailers did in 2012, by continuing to establish a great environment that readers and fans want to come and visit." The even better news for the comic book industry is that digital comic are reportedly growing by a significant percentage, which means digital isn't cutting into print. With the success of comic book movies and comic book TV shows, it looks like the entire comic book industry is on its way up.

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