Marvel Comics’ Amazing Spider-Man #1 was the best-selling comic book published in 2014 based on total unit sales to comic book specialty retailers, according to Diamond Comic Distributors, the world’s largest distributor of comics, graphic novels, and pop-culture merchandise.
Written by Dan Slott and illustrated by Ramon K. Perez, Amazing Spider-Man #1 was the industry’s best-selling comic book in over a decade and marked the return of Peter Parker as the friendly neighbourhood wall-crawler and saw his return to heroism after a year and a half of Doctor Octopus in control of his body.
Comics and graphic novels continued their upward trend in 2014, with annual sales increasing 4.39% over the previous year, as comic book sales specifically were up 4.03%, while graphic novel sales rose by 5.18%.
Marvel Comics finished the year as the comic book specialty market’s top publisher, leading both Dollar and Unit Market Shares, with a 34.38% Dollar Market Share and a 36.78% Unit Market Share. Marvel Comics had nine of the year’s top ten comics, with the all four issues of the Death of Wolverine limited series among the top sellers, along with Rocket Raccoon #1, Thor #1, Original Sin #1, and Superior Spider-Man #31. On the year, Marvel had 53 of the 2014’s top 100 best-selling comics.
DC Entertainment was the comic book specialty market’s number two publisher in 2014 with a 28.86% Dollar Market Share and a 32.47% Unit Market Share. The publisher celebrated the Dark Knight’s 75th Anniversary throughout the year, publishing a number of bestselling titles and declaring July 23rd Batman Day with retailers and libraries nationwide. DC Entertainment’s top comic, Batman #32 by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo, charted at #14; overall, DC had 43 of the top 100 comics for the year.
The third volume of Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples’ science fiction epic, Saga from Image Comics was the year’s top-selling graphic novel and boosted Image Comics to the year’s third largest comic book publisher, with a 9.23% Dollar Market Share and a 10.41% Unit Market Share. Image Comics took nine of the top ten graphic novel spots, including all four collections of Saga as well as four volumes from Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead, along with Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky’s Sex Criminals Volume 1 at #7. Also among the top comics for the year from Image was Kirkman’s The Walking Dead #132, the #2 best-selling comic book for 2014.
IDW Publishing’s was the comic book specialty market’s fourth largest publisher, propelled by its licensed titles such as My Little Pony, Transformers, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, among others. The company’s market share was 5.69% dollar market share for the year. Transformers Vs. G.I. Joe #1, pitting the beloved Hasbro toy franchises in battle, was IDW’s top-selling comic book for the year, and the publisher had two volumes of Joe Hill’s Locke & Key among the year’s top 100 graphic novels.
Dark Horse Comics mix of licensed comic books and creator-owned titles helped the company to be the fifth leading comic book publisher to the comic book specialty market in 2014 with a 5.07% retail dollar market share. Two volumes of Avatar: The Last Airbender, based on the Nickelodeon television series, ranked among the year’s top 100 graphic novels along with Mike Mignola’s Hellboy In Hell: Descent.
TOP 10 COMIC BOOKS
| RANK | DESCRIPTION | PRICE | ITEM CODE | VENDOR |
| 1 | AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #1 | $5.99 | FEB140672-M | MARVEL COMICS |
| 2 | WALKING DEAD #132 (MR) | $2.99 | AUG148104-M | IMAGE COMICS |
| 3 | ROCKET RACCOON #1 | $3.99 | MAY140803-M | MARVEL COMICS |
| 4 | DEATH OF WOLVERINE #1 | $4.99 | JUN140593-M | MARVEL COMICS |
| 5 | DEATH OF WOLVERINE #4 | $4.99 | APR148362-M | MARVEL COMICS |
| 6 | THOR #1 | $3.99 | AUG140785-M | MARVEL COMICS |
| 7 | ORIGINAL SIN #1 | $4.99 | MAR140616-M | MARVEL COMICS |
| 8 | DEATH OF WOLVERINE #2 | $4.99 | APR148360-M | MARVEL COMICS |
| 9 | DEATH OF WOLVERINE #3 | $4.99 | APR148361-M | MARVEL COMICS |
| 10 | SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #31 | $5.99 | FEB140659-M | MARVEL COMICS |
TOP 10 GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS
| RANK | DESCRIPTION | PRICE | ITEM CODE | VENDOR |
| 1 | SAGA TP VOL 03 (MR) | $14.99 | JAN140556 | IMAGE COMICS |
| 2 | SAGA TP VOL 01 (MR) | $9.99 | AUG120491 | IMAGE COMICS |
| 3 | WALKING DEAD TP VOL 20 ALL OUT WAR PT 1 (MR) | $14.99 | JAN140559 | IMAGE COMICS |
| 4 | SAGA TP VOL 02 (MR) | $14.99 | APR130443 | IMAGE COMICS |
| 5 | WALKING DEAD TP VOL 01 DAYS GONE BYE | $14.99 | NOV128157-M | IMAGE COMICS |
| 6 | WALKING DEAD TP VOL 21 ALL OUT WAR PT 2 (MR) | $14.99 | MAY140652 | IMAGE COMICS |
| 7 | SEX CRIMINALS TP VOL 01 (MR) | $9.99 | JAN140558 | IMAGE COMICS |
| 8 | WALKING DEAD TP VOL 22 A NEW BEGINNING (MR) | $14.99 | SEP140657 | IMAGE COMICS |
| 9 | BATMAN TP VOL 01 THE COURT OF OWLS | $16.99 | DEC120323 | DC ENTERTAINMENT |
| 10 | SAGA TP VOL 04 (MR) | $14.99 | OCT140644 | IMAGE COMICS |
NEW TITLES SHIPPED
| PUBLISHER | COMICS SHIPPED | GRAPHIC NOVELS SHIPPED | MAGAZINES SHIPPED | TOTAL SHIPPED |
| DC COMICS | 1107 | 340 | 6 | 1453 |
| MARVEL COMICS | 953 | 387 | 3 | 1343 |
| IMAGE COMICS | 717 | 151 | 0 | 868 |
| IDW PUBLISHING | 515 | 257 | 0 | 772 |
| DARK HORSE COMICS | 432 | 260 | 0 | 692 |
| BOOM ENTERTAINMENT | 354 | 82 | 0 | 436 |
| DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT | 367 | 57 | 0 | 424 |
| RANDOM HOUSE | 14 | 203 | 0 | 217 |
| AVATAR PRESS INC | 130 | 29 | 7 | 166 |
| EAGLEMOSS | 0 | 0 | 150 | 150 |
Dollar Market Share – 2014
Unit Market Share– 2014
How does Diamond calculate the charts? It all starts at the comic book shop.
Data for Diamond’s sales charts — which includes the monthly market shares and all top product charts — are compiled by Diamond Comic Distributors from sales made to thousands of comic book specialty shops located in North America and around the world. Additional sales made to online merchants and other specialty stores may be included as well.
Unit and dollars sales are calculated based upon orders invoiced and shipped to Diamond accounts during January to December 2014, which comprises initial pre-orders, advance reorders, and reorders, minus any copies that are received back from a title marked as returnable.
The New Titles Count Chart includes all titles that were invoiced by Diamond to retailers for the first time during 2014. Variant edition comic books and graphic novels at the same price point count as a single SKU. Variant edition comic books, lenticular covers, digital combo packs, and graphic novels at different price points count as separate SKUs for each edition.
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