May 2014 Charts overview

So, let's see what we have on the May 2014 Diamond Charts...

The Top 300 Graphic Books Chart has around 163 new items and 137 backlist items, depending on which new printings and new editions you classify as new and which you classify as backlist (I'm treating the new version of WATCHMEN as a continuation of the regular edition, so backlist, but the new version of MURDER MYSTERIES as a new item, or example). Of the 137 backlist, about 100 are in the "perennial" category, I might do a post about the others later this month. Of the 163 new items, you have the usual selection from DC and Marvel making up over a third, the other "premier" publishers (IDW, Image, Dark Horse) another third and then the rest, including the major manga publishers, supplying the balance. Note that Diamond's summary has 246 "graphic novels" shipping, so that means there are a significant number of books which Diamond carried which sold less than the 384 unit threshold needed to make the Top 300. Presumably to be worth publishing a lot of those are primarily aimed at markets outside the comics direct market. I might have a list of those books later this month, too.

The Top 400 Comics Chart had 371 new entries and 29 repeat entries from earlier months (mostly re-orders and new printings, occasionally a sign of the initial order being split across two months). Note that Diamond's summary has 427 new comics. There's some duplication in that count, from variant issues at different prices (like DC's "combo packs"), but that still leaves a few dozen books published which fell below the 1671 copies needed to make the chart, a few of which appear on the extended "small press" chart. Not this month, but someday I want to do some research for a post about those books. Of the new entries that did make the chart, there are 42 second issues, which averaged a drop of over 30%, not surprisingly led by AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #2, dropping over 75% from #1. I'll have the usual post about second issue drops soon, and a post about newly launched books and how far I see them falling.

I also want to start doing a few publisher specific posts, where I look at three-to-six months of publishing activity for a particular publisher, both in periodical comics and books. If anyone has a preference on what publisher to start with, let me know, in a comment here, on twitter (@salescharts) or by e-mail (salescharts on gmail).