After hearing endlessly about each and every DCnU comic selling out and going to reprints, it wasn’t a surprise when we heard that DC came out on top of Marvel in the initial month of the DCnU.
DC topped Marvel in both units sold (43.04% vs. 37.88%) and total dollars (a substantially closer 35.74% vs. 35.37% due to Marvel’s highest cover prices) for the month, with the former number representing the significant difference in actual comics being moved.
On top of that, somewhat surprisingly (but not really) Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Batman #1 beat out Grant Morrison and Rags Morales’ Action Comics #1 for the price in total units sold (the latter won in dollars generated with its cover price of $3.99), with 6 other DCnU titles joining them in the top 10 for the month. Only Fear Itself #6 and Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1 managed to crash the party, but really, this month was DC’s party.
Of course, most industry pundits believed DC would take month one, so this lives up to expectations. The real question will be answered in the months to come: can DC keep the momentum going? Can they continue to be the top of the pops?
We’ll see. No matter what, it was a boon to the industry. This was likely the biggest month of the year, crushing September 2010 in sales and moving 2011 significantly in the direction of catching up with 2010’s sales pace (at least in terms of comics, not graphic novels/collections).
