After initially announcing that 2018’s annual sales for comics has increased, Diamond Comic Distributors has sent out a correction that in fact, that’s not the case.

Compared to 2017, 2018’s comic and graphic novel sales were down in both units and dollars. The distributor had previously reported that dollar sales were up 0.6%. In reality, that wasn’t true.

Diamond has sent out a correction with overall comic and graphic novel sales down 1.08% compared to 2017 and units down 5.98% over the same time period.

Comics themselves saw dollars increase 2.04% in 2018 compared to 2017 and units decreased 5.67%. Less was sold for more.

Graphic Novels saw the biggest dip with dollars down 8.22% and units down 9.71%. With the explosion of graphic novel sales, it’s possible the bubble has burst slightly or with so many ways to purchase them now, the direct market suffered.

Toys saw a down year as well with dollars down 6.39% and units down 6.48%. 2018 was a volatile year for toys with the closure of Toys R Us which has had ripple effects, this result may be some of that.