DC Comics Vs. Marvel: DC Overtimes Rival For First Time Since 2002

PHILADELPHIA -- Call it a relaunch bump and jump.

DC Comics overtook long-time rival Marvel for the first time since 2002 after figures for October sales of comic books showed the publisher of relaunched versions of Superman, Batman, the Flash and others, gathering 51 percent of the market share for the month compared with nearly 30.3 percent for Marvel.

They were followed by Image Comics, Dark Horse Comics and IDW Publishing.

That's according to Diamond Comic Distributors Inc., the Baltimore, Md.-based distributor of comics to more than 4,000 retailers worldwide. Diamond Comic Distributors released the sales data on Friday.

DC accounted for seven of the top 10 selling comic books last month, including "Justice League" No. 2 and "Action Comics" No. 2, while Marvel had three.

DC recently relaunched its superhero titles earlier this year, dubbed "The New 52," featuring new origins and costumes for its many characters.

"We like what `DC Comics – The New 52' is doing to bring new attention to comics and to comic shop retailers. And we like hearing that other publishers are being helped too," said John Rood, executive vice president of sales, marketing and business development at DC Entertainment.

The sales, while a victory for DC, were also a positive sign for the industry, which has fretted about declining readership and the availability of more and more titles on digital platforms from personal computers to smartphones.

Buoyed in part by demand for DC's titles, along with the conclusion to Marvel's epic "Fear Itself" miniseries, the start of "Wolverine & the X-Men" and "Incredible Hulk," the number of titles sold were up 32.1 percent from a year earlier.

"The market-share battle is not the one we care to win," Rood said. "We are battling to deliver great stories and characters, and to support comic shops so that they're the ones who win every month."

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Comments

[bigshotprof]

01:03 PM on 11/07/2011

I can speak from personal experience. I am reading the first few issues of several titles just to experience the reboot. I am going to drop most of them in a couple of months. I love comics, they are just not something I choose to afford right now. I imagine that a significant percentage of the people mentioned are like me.

[rsavacool]

08:56 PM on 11/05/2011

DC better enjoy it because we all know it won't last

[LLNYRN]

07:38 PM on 11/05/2011

No one could stop talking about the DC "Reboot" at NYC Comic-Con a few weeks ago. Even the DC panels were filled beyond capacity. Regardless of how many fans feel about the "reboot", you can't deny DC's move has been a major boost to the industry.

And some of the titles have been standouts.

[bigshotprof]

01:04 PM on 11/07/2011

Which ones would you say are standouts? (That's not a challenge. I really want to know.)

[LLNYRN]

03:46 PM on 11/07/2011

Sorry. I meant to mention titles.
But I had to run.

My top favorite right now: ANIMAL MAN. I'm glad to see this character back. It is pretty existential for a comic book title.

After that...
AQUAMAN: Great take on the character's role in the DCU
BATMAN
BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT
BATMAN AND ROBIN
DETECTIVE COMICS
JUSTICE LEAGUE
JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK
I, VAMPIRE
ALL-STAR WESTERN
O.M.A.C: Pure, Destructive FUN!!!
WONDER WOMAN
STORMWATCH
SUPERMAN ; I LOVE the new costume!
ACTION COMICS
SWAMP THING
GREEN LANTERN
GREEN LANTERN CORPS.
SUICIDE SQUAD

I read all the first issues. These were the ones that I liked the most.

[William Blomberg]

04:14 PM on 11/05/2011

See this much as I see an opening weekend of a movie. The true staying power of this DC reboot effort will be in the continual/ongoing sales of the titles. I do not imagine that comic book speculation sales are a high as they were a decade or so ago, but how much of the sales is about the art/writing as much as it is about the newness of the title (and hoping that it is better then it used to be)?

Personally, I always preferred DC over Marvel (being a child of the 70s verus a kid of the 80s).

[CRoeber]

12:41 PM on 11/05/2011

Except Superman was so bad that they fired the writer. I guess we'll see if sales can actually be maintained

[Bor Zoi]

11:17 AM on 11/05/2011

They need to bring back the Earth-2 Huntress, Helena Wayne.
In the old costume.

[Gronkie]

11:44 PM on 11/04/2011

I don't bother with comics anymore, but when I was a kid, in the 60s & 70s, I was always a DC guy. I much preferred Superman and Batman over Spiderman and the Fantastic Four.

[henrus]

04:30 PM on 11/04/2011

Does this count digital sales? Marvel has had a more robust offering of digital products than DC for a while now and it's possible that has eaten into retail sales.

[Krikkitwars]

10:48 PM on 11/04/2011

No, this does not include digital. Also Marvel may have been winning the digital war before, but not anymore because DC offers everything digitally the same day as print, while Marvel only offers their most popular books the same day.

[bigshotprof]

01:04 PM on 11/07/2011

I am buying all of my reboot titles in digital.