DC Comics kept the comic-shop crown in the third quarter. ICv2’s latest ComicHub point-of-sale snapshot puts DC at 33.6% of tracked dollar sales for Q3 2026, ahead of Marvel at 29.8%, according to ICv2.
Both publishers gained share versus Q2, when DC sat at 31.9% and Marvel at 28.3%. The gap between them widened by two-tenths of a percent. ICv2 credits strong sales of the Batman Day special Batman of Two Worlds and the Absolute line for DC, while Marvel got help from premium-priced books including the Blind Bag Variant of Queen in Black #1 and Amazing Spider-Man #1000.
Image slips, Titan rises
Image Comics fell from 15.3% in Q2 to 12.3% in Q3. IDW Publishing gained a full point to 4.5%. Dynamite lost half a point. Titan Comics reached 1.1% and entered the top 10 publishers, buoyed by Conan and Gun Honey, while Oni Press slipped out of the top 10. Everyone outside the top 10 collectively held 8.9%, down slightly from 9.2%.
The full Q3 ranking ICv2 published runs DC, Marvel, Image, IDW, Dark Horse (2.8%), VIZ Media (2.1%), BOOM! Studios (2.0%), Dynamite (2.0%), Titan (1.1%) and Kodansha (1.0%).
How to read the numbers
ComicHub tracked sales at more than 125 stores worldwide during the period. That is a small, non-random slice of the more than 3,000 shops selling American comics, so the percentages are directional rather than a census. Still, they line up with the broader shop recovery story RCG covered when comic shop sales jumped 25.9% in Q3 on related store data.
Those Absolute and Batman Day spikes matter because periodical dollars still drive the monthly conversation even as graphic novels grow. Marvel’s milestone and blind-bag experiments show a different lever: premium SKUs that lift share without necessarily lifting unit breadth.
For retailers watching Absolute Batman and ASM #1000 fight for register space, Q3’s message is simple: DC is still slightly ahead on dollars, Marvel is closing, and mid-tier publishers are reshuffling under them.
