TOP 100 COMICS FOR 2004 DATA RELEASED

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Source:newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=25290

For the actual figures, click on the below link:
www.newsarama.com/pages/2004Numbers.htm

Diamond has released its numbers for 2004, based on actual sales. By the straight numbers, it’s hard to say any one company won the year – many top five publishers had high points, and the top 100 books for the year is populated by more than a few surprises.

So – given the banner year for “event” issues, let’s dig into the numbers.

In both unit and dollar share (top chart) for comics, magazines and graphic novels, Marvel was on top of the listing, beating DC (the next closest publisher) 36.54% to 30.63% in dollars, and 43.19% to 32.23% in units. Carry the comparison over to reorder numbers, and the rankings flip – DC beats Marvel in both reorder dollars and units: 34.41% to 23.09% in dollars, and 37.87% vs. 25.57% in units.

Given the double-digit drubbing DC handed Marvel in terms of reorders, one can only wonder if Marvel is looking at the same numbers, and realizing that there just may be money left on the table when it comes to overprinting and making reorders available for retailers. Recently, Marvel has been seemingly experimenting with making more copies of its comics available, relaxing its policies somewhat, and returning to print on a handful of recent in-demand titles.

The market share chart (again) demonstrates the utter dominance of the Direct Market (or portion of the DM serviced by Diamond) of Marvel and DC, as the next highest dollar share ranking (#3) is Dark Horse, who accounted for 5.58% of the solar share of comics sold through Diamond in 2004.

For 2004, the top five publishers (both in dollars and units) were:

1) Marvel
2) DC
3) Dark Horse
4) Image
5) Tokyopop

What will be interesting to watch in the coming year will be the reach for Dreamwave's market share, probably coming from both IDW and Devil's Due (both who look solid, if not strong based on 2004's numbers). While the bulk of Devil's Due's sales can still be attributed to GI Joe, the company's reorder standings would seem to bode well for the future - likewise for IDW.

In terms of the Top 100 comics (scroll down) for 2004, DC held the #1 spots in both quantity and dollars, with Superman #204 (Brian Azzarello and Jim Lee’s first issue on the series) being the highest selling comic through Diamond in 2004, and Identity Crisis #1 being the #1 comic for the year, based on dollars.

The Top 10 comics for 2004 in terms of quantity (purely the number of comics shipped) were:

1) Superman #204
2) New Avengers #1
3) Superman/Batman #8
4) Identity Crisis #1
5) Astonishing X-Men #1
6) Superman #205
7) Superman/Batman #10
8) Identity Crisis #2
9) Superman #206
10) Superman/Batman #9

Again, the 2004 Top 10 list represents a virtual reversal of any monthly Top 10 list from the year, that is, usually; Marvel would hold eight or so slots, with DC holding two. Unarguably, the numbers were higher for DC on their top 10 books due to overprinting and heavy reorder/reprint activity on many of the Top 10 titles.

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The Top 10 comics for 2004 in terms of dollars (a function of both cover price and amount shipped) were:

1) Identity Crisis #1
2) Avengers/JLA #4
3) Superman/Batman #8
4) Identity Crisis #2
5) Astonishing X-Men #2
6) Superman #204
7) Green Lantern: Rebirth #1
8) Superman/Batman #10
9) Identity Crisis #3
10) Identity Crisis #4

Looking at the Top 25 briefly, Marvel held six slots, while DC held the remaining 19.

Following through the rest of the Top 100, the balance quickly shifts, and DC is overtaken by Marvel. A totally tally of the Top 100 comics for 2004 then:

Marvel: 68
DC: 31
Dark Horse: 1

The above demonstrates why Marvel, despite not having the top dollar or quantity book, still held more market share in both dollars and units in 2004, compared to DC. The sole non DC/Marvel title in the Top 100 for 2004 was Conan.

Of course, the Top 100 also represents, as it does most years, of the continued strength of the established brand - aside from Conan and, perhaps 1602 (just because for a while, no one knew what in the hell was going on), the entirety of the Top 100 are the marquee characters - the known brands. Or, in other words, there is not one comic in the Top 100 for 2004 (this time counting Conan) that was created less (or based on one created) than 40 years ago.

In terms of graphic novels and trades (scroll down), the Top 100 of 2004 was a little more heterogeneous, but not by much. Unsurprisingly, DC led the pack with Hush volume 1 by Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee, followed by the trade collection of Superman: Red Son by Mark Millar and Dave Johnson. The book at #3 shows what some cite as an inherent flaw in Diamond’s categorization system: Spawn: Simony, the French-produced Spawn story was, in the eyes of many, a slightly larger than usual, prestige format comic book, not graphic novel. However, given Diamond’s categorization system, it is listed with trades and OGNS, and comes in at #3 in terms of quantity (by #44 in dollars, due to its low, comic book style, cover price).

Sometime in 2005, someone, somewhere is going to have to set cutoffs for what qualifies as a graphic novel, and what is just a big comic book.

The Top 10 trades/OGNs in terms of quantity then:

1) Batman: Hush Volume 1
2) Superman: Red Son
3) Spawn: Simony
4) Hellboy: Seed of Destruction
5) Ultimates Volume 2: Homeland Secutiry
6) Teen Titans: A Kids Game
7) Y The Last Man Vol 3: One Small Step
8) Superman/Batman: Public Enemies HC
9) Walking Dead Vol 1: Days Gone Bye
10) Ultimate X-Men Vol. 7: Blockbuster

The #1 trade/OGN in terms of dollar share for 2004 (through Diamond) was the JLA/Avengers slipcase edition (which came in at #85 in quantity).

As mentioned above, the trades and OGN list represents a wider selection of publishers, as can be seen in the Top 10 alone, with Hellboy, Spawn (despite controversy), and The Walking Dead making appearances.

By the numbers, the Top 100 trades/OGNs, which serve as a reminder that this isn't a two-horse town (although its residents still heavily prefer capes over regular clothes) - and shows that Dark Horse is far from out of the game as some pundits occasionally claim:

DC - 37
Marvel - 25
Dark Horse - 20
Wizard - 2
Tokyopop - 2
Viz - 2
IDW - 2
Cartoon Books - 2
Aspen - 1
Fantagraphics - 1
Gemstone - 1
Slave Labor - 1

Something that's interesting to note comes out in the lower echelons of the trade/OGN list, that is, the minimal number of entires for Tokyopop, Viz, and Fantagraphics in the list. Viz and Tokyopop are consistantly at the top of the Bookscan charts for bookstore/booktrade sales, with Viz's Rurouni Kenshin volume 1 reprotedly the #1 trade/OGN for 2004 according to Bookscan tracking. The volume didn't chart on the Top 100 trades/OGN list for Diamond in 2004, but did show up at #14 on Diamond's Top 50 Manga list for 2004 (scroll to bottom).

The discrepancy represents the well known differential in manga sales between the bookstore and direct markets. The Top 50 Manga list also shows Dark Horse's strength in the Diamond-serviced portion of the Direct Market, in that it stands shoulder to shoulder with Topkyopop and Viz, occupying seven of the Top 10 slots for manga sold through Diamond in 2004. Quite possibly, the absence of Rurouni Kenshin volume 1 from the Top 100 trades list could suggest that there is very little to no meaningful overlap between bookstore and comic shop (direct market) traffic.

Of course, with regards to Fantagraphics, their entry, The Complete Peanuts Volume 1, which ranking at #97 in terms of quantity, was a New York Times best seller when it was released. Again, it begs the question of if there is any crossover between bookstore/mass market customers and those who frequent the direct market.

If, going by a criteria of “original graphic novel” meaning story written and drawn intended to be a in the graphic novel format from the start (not a collection of previously published material – including manga), Dark Horse’s Creatures of the Night at #48 comes close…and after that…well, there aren’t any. Again, not counting manga, or any other previously issued material, not one original graphic novel published in 2004 made it to the Top 100. Though many are claiming it to be the format of the future, the full-length, original graphic novel didn't make a large dent in the charts in 2004 - at least via comics shipped through Diamond.

Some interesting mileposts on the list though – first, in terms of evergreens: Kingdom Come at #11, Watchmen at #18, Sandman vol 1: Preludes and Nocturnes at #34, Origin at #55, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen vol. 1 at #70, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns at #73, Sandman vol. 2 at #82, 100 Bullets volume 1 at #93, and Preacher volume 1 at #100 all show how valuable a backlist of quality material can be for a publisher. The youngest titles in this list are heading towards five years old at the least, while the oldest are scratching 20 - any they’re still selling or, in other words, making money for the publisher.

That’s right – almost 20 years after it was published, the Watchmen collection still sells well enough to beat a majority of the other trades offered in any given year by any other publisher. Around this time of year, a tongue-in-cheek intra-office joke at DC usually goes around, wondering just who is still buying the Watchmen collection, as the sheer volume of collections sold in the past years could fill many warehouses. Of course, as we mentioned when last year’s Top 100 came out, Watchmen, while being a good story, is also a perpetual (to date) money-making machine for Alan Moore, who, along with artist Dave Gibbons, gets a nice check from DC for Watchmen royalties.

It’s also interesting to note in the trade/OGN list that many titles whose monthly issues wouldn’t have a prayer of finding their way onto 2004’s Top 100 comic list are well represented, including The Walking Dead, Fables, Lucifer, Runaways and others. At this point, something which was recently confirmed by Runaways writer Brian K. Vaughan, more people have bought the first Runaways digest than had ever bought one of the monthly issues.

Obviously, there’s much more that can be gleaned and theorized from these lists…