Mayo Report for 2021-09
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Top Comics List Top Comics Breakdown Top Trades List Top Trades Breakdown
September 2021 had 6,395,456 units in the top 300 comics list, an increase of 1,148,283 units from last month. The month is a little lower than average but only by around 200,000 units. Marvel has been averaging 3,260,781 units from June through September 2021. October marked the transition of Marvel distribution to Penguin Random House. Diamond has been able continuing to offer Marvel products so we should continue to see Marvel items in the Diamond sales data just at a lower sales level since only the items sold through Diamond will be included.
The premiere publishers accounted for 91.17% of the total units for the top 300 comics this month while all of the other publishers with items in the top 300 accounted for 8.83% of the total units for the top 300 comics.
Marvel Comics placed 3,571,369 units in the top 300 comics, an increase of 770,084 units and accounted for 55.84% of the total units.
Most of the publishers were up with Image being the notable exception.
As should be obvious, the publisher percentages are going to look very different next month with Marvel moving to Penguin Random House for distribution and some percentage of retailers switching over to Penguin Random House for Marvel items. Fewer units for Marvel means a higher percentage for the other publishers even if sales remain stable.
The up-swing of 3,368,180 units from new and increased sales was enough to compensate for the down-swing of 2,219,897 units from lost sales for the net increase of 1,148,283 units.
This chart shows the inherent volatility in the aggregate comic sales from month to month. Sales shift as many titles come and go each month. This will likely be compounded next month with Marvel moving distribution from Diamond to Penguin Random House. The expected drop in sales through Diamond will be show up here as "lost sales" even if those sales are only lost to Diamond and not Marvel.
The 40 titles across the 14 publishers in the continuing titles which gained sales category accounted for 1,385,513 units in the top 300 comics with an upswing of 441,300 units. Marvel Comics accounted for 74.42% of the change in this category.
The 6 titles across the 4 publishers in the continuing titles which shipped more issues category accounted for 386,734 units in the top 300 comics with an upswing of 244,346 units, a downswing of 5,185 units for a net an increase of 239,161 units. There were four shipping weeks in August and five in September.
Marvel Comics accounted for 79.81% of the change in this category with Amazing Spider-Man accounting for 75.17% of the overall change in this category with no shortage of variant covers on the finale of Nick Spencer's run on the title.
The 9 titles across the 6 publishers in the continuing titles with reasonably stable sales category accounted for 112,079 units in the top 300 comics with a downswing of 1,646 units.
The 3 titles across the 3 publishers in the continuing titles which shipped fewer issues category accounted for 79,605 units in the top 300 comics with a downswing of 99,155 units. Sinister War (2021) accounted for 65.69% of the change in this category.
The 90 titles across the 14 publishers in the continuing titles which lost sales category accounted for 1,651,802 units in the top 300 comics with a downswing of 891,680 units.
King Spawn accounted for 45.40% of the change in this category. This sort of massive drop was expected. The impressive part is that even after that drop King Spawn #2 sold 75,121 units landing just above Spawn #321. Spawn #322, however, only sold 56,322 units.
The 50 titles across the 19 publishers in the new titles category accounted for 1,487,350 units in the top 300 comics with an upswing of 1,487,350 units.
Marvel Comics accounted for 59.13% of the change in this category with strong launches for Inferno, Dark Ages and The Death of Doctor Strange among other. The various Extreme Carnage titles also did well for Marvel.
The 50 titles across the 15 publishers in the returning titles category accounted for an upswing of 1,132,399 units.
The two issues of Spawn released in September help Spawn top this title even though Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin #4 sold better than either issue of Spawn with 97,029 units.
The Ultimate Comics: Fallout #4 is a facsimile edition of the first appearance of the Miles Morale Spider-Man.
The 58 titles across the 24 publishers in the suspended titles category accounted for 0 units in the top 300 comics with a downswing of 427,853 units.
Immortal Hulk and Silk have ended but my database doesn't have ship dates for a few of the variant issues which is why they are showing up as suspended. Trying to figure out if a title is still active or not is harder than it should be normally and the chaos caused by the pandemic and supply chain and multiple distributors hasn't made it any easier.
The 57 titles across the 24 publishers in the defunct titles category accounted for 0 units in the top 300 comics with a downswing of 666,343 units.
Marvel Comics accounted for 62.73% of the change in this category. Most of the titles at the top of the category are one-shots or limited series.
The 5 titles across the 2 publishers in the annuals/specials category accounted for 3,478 units in the top 300 comics with an upswing of 3,478 units, a downswing of 136,698 units for a net a decrease of 133,220 units.
Marvel didn't have an Annuals or Specials in September so they had a net loss for the month. Given how many title Marvel has, it is a little surprising the don't do a better job having a few Annuals each month. Of course, they tend to make up for it with one-shots and extra-length and increased-priced issues such as Amazing Spider-Man #74 this month which had a $9.99 cover price.
The 37 titles across the 12 publishers in the reorders category accounted for 156,496 units in the top 300 comics with an upswing of 137,598 units, a downswing of 69,628 units for a net an increase of 67,970 units.
Marvel has been averaging 3,260,781 units from June through September 2021. October marked the transition of Marvel distribution to Penguin Random House. Diamond has been able continuing to offer Marvel products so we should continue to see Marvel items in the Diamond data just at a lower sales level. Perhaps with DC and Marvel no longer dominating the sales charts we might be able to see some of the rising stars from the other publishers.
For a more in-depth discussion of the sales data, check out the Mayo Report episodes of the Comic Book Page podcast at www.ComicBookPage.com. The episode archives cover the past decade of comic book sales on a monthly basis with yearly recap episodes. If you are looking for more or different comics to read, check out the latest Previews Spotlight episode featuring clips from various comic book fans talking about the comics they love. With thousands of comics in Previews every month, Previews Spotlight episodes are a great way to find out about new comic book titles that may have flown under your comic book radar.
