As you may recall, DC Comics underwent a remarkable reinvention last year by rebooting a number of comic lines – a move which prompted an impressive jump in digital sales.
Of course, it’s not only been a rejuvenation for DC, but for some comic book stores as well, with fans coming back to peruse the shelves in droves.
And now the Hollywood Reporter confirms DC has outsold Marvel since reinventing itself last fall. Back in September, Foxnews reported that the studio managed to offload five million comic books since the re-launch. Indeed, Justice League sold more than 250,000 copies, and Batman, more than 200,000.
Unsurprisingly, The New York Times dubbed the relaunch “a milestone” that has proven increasingly difficult for comic-book publishers to reach. For example, before rebooting Justice League, DC was selling about 46,000 copies per issue.
In fact, several DC titles went back for addition printings, as Borys Kit and Andy Lewis report. The aforementioned Justice League shipped 361,138 copies, and it went back for five printing, the rebooted Batman sold 262,379 copies, and went back for two printings, and the new Action comics sold 250, 898 copies, going back for three printings.
As the Reporter continues, the DC reboot, “The New 52,” also “helped reverse a four-year industry trend of downward sales.” The numbers, as of mid December, “rank those books as some of the decade’s best.”
Back in the ’90’s, there were quite a few titles that sold 100,000 copies a month, but now only a few titles can break that barrier. The Reporter also mentions that this big surge coincides with DC taking a big dive into digital formats, which Marvel’s doing as well, and it remains to be seen how they’ll do in the age of comic downloading. (In fact, Marvel has the biggest selling comic of the last decade, Amazing Spider-Man, #509, with a guest appearance from none other than Barack Obama himself).
