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DC Comics is currently beating perennial arch-rival Marvel in sales, thanks in large part to its Compact Comics line, which has led to a massive surge in DC’s numbers over the past six-plus months. The Compact Comics line offers new paperback versions of classic DC graphic novels, and the result has been waves of new readers discovering iconic titles like Watchmen, All-Star Superman, and more for the first time.
As reported by Popverse, DC currently holds “a 37% market share” when it comes to the best-selling comics over the past year, with DC’s Compact Comics being responsible for a major portion of that.
This is especially notable because, as Popverse notes, the Compact Comics initiative from DC only began last summer, signifying how impressive these numbers actually are. Given that success breeds imitation, this has also, as one might expect, led Marvel to develop its own version of this successful line.
DC Compact Comics Is A Smash Hit, Giving Them A Competitive Edge Over Marvel
DC Launched Compact Comics In June 2024
DC Compact Comics has had an immediate, tangible impact on the comic book industry, since the first slate of Compact titles hit shelves at the start of summer 2024. That means there is less than a full year of sale data available for the books – making their dominant presence in the top-selling books of the past year even more noteworthy. Most critically, the release of these new editions of iconic stories has not stopped fans from buying the regular-sized format graphic novels either. As noted by Popverse:
The Compact Comics edition of Watchmen outsold the full-size edition by 21% in 2024 despite only being on sale for 7months, becoming the second-highest selling DC comic in bookstores – second only to a full-size reprint of 1987’s Batman: Year One (which hasn’t had a Compact Comics edition to date). Having two primary editions of Watchmen didn’t seem to cannibalize each other, as in 2023 the full-size edition of Watchmen sold roughly 100 copies more. Meaning that about double the amount of people who bought the Watchmen comic (in two formats) in 2024 than did in 2023.
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Popverse further illustrated the quantifiable success of DC Compact Comics by pointing out that sales of these new editions actually outperformed all Marvel sales, which is a stunning divide when looked at numerically. Popverse wrote:
To put it another way, among the Top 20 bookstore bestsellers in 2024, DC’s Compact Comics line alone accounted for 15% of sales by units, with Marvel as a whole accounting for just 12%. It’s no wonder Marvel announced their own version of Compact Comics format in October 2024 with the Marvel Premier Collections, which began hitting shelves in February 2025.
It will be some time before there is concrete data on how Marvel Premier Collections is doing, but fans who follow the comic book industry as much as they invest in their favorite characters and comic lore are already questioning whether the House of Ideas will be able to close this gap that DC Comics has opened up in their constant race for supremacy.
Fans Are Eager For The Next Batch Of DC Compact Comics To Be Announced
The Publisher Should Chase Its Success Now
DC released ten Compact Comics titles in its initial wave, including Watchmen, Batman: Hush, Harley Quinn & The Gotham City Sirens, just to name some of the stand-outs. The break-out success of these editions makes it a no-brainer that the publisher will release another round, presumably sometime this year, featuring more legendary DC Comics stories. This will be the true litmus test of how sustainable the sales for DC Compact Comics are – and certainly, it seems as though the time is now for DC to at least announce the next installments in the imprint.
For the first time in many years, Marvel and DC Comics have announced crossovers between their most iconic characters, but the two publishers nevertheless remain fiercely competitive rivals.
At least, the conventional wisdom is that would make the most sense, in order for DC to make the most of the buzz surrounding their sales numbers so far. It will be fascinating to learn how the imprint continues to do in the long run, and whether Marvel Premier Collections can lead to a corresponding boost in market share for rival Marvel Comics. For the first time in many years, Marvel and DC Comics have announced crossovers between their most iconic characters, but the two publishers nevertheless remain fiercely competitive rivals as they continue to dominate the comic book industry.
Source: Popverse.com
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