DC grew its market share in the third quarter of 2025, but Marvel still stays strong. Oni Press to publish annotated Gender Queer. Dynamite brings Warner Bros. Blind Bags to Kickstarter.
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Episode Transcript:
DC grows market share.
Oni Press to publish annotated Gender Queer.
Warner Bros. Blind Bags hit Kickstarter.
This is Comic Book Club News for October 29, 2025.
DC Grows Market Share In Third Quarter Of 2025, But Marvel Stays Strong:
DC Comics grew its share of the comic book market significantly in the third quarter of 2025, though Marvel is still holding strong at number one.
Per ICv2, DC jumped nearly 10 points from where it was in the third quarter of 2024, likely on the strength of the monster hit Absolute Universe line, as well as the dominant Compact Comics line — as well as interest in the Superman movie spilling over into robust graphic novel sales. DC was at a 20.1% share of the market one year ago, before the launch of Absolute and the DC All In initiative; now, it stands at 29.5% of the comic book market.
Some of that growth whittled off Marvel, which is down from 39.9% of the market one year ago, now at a still strong 36.6%. DC also chipped off Image Comics and other publishers, with Image at number three with 11.9% of the market, down from 14.4% last quarter.
However, the site also clarifies that this market share, not a drop in sales: overall, comic book and graphic novel sales have grown 27% through August of 2025, according to the ComicHub system, meaning everyone is seemingly doing better across the board — despite some serious blows, thanks to the Diamond Comics bankruptcy and others. And corroborating this news is a report from The Beat about different data — specifically point of sale data from Manage Comics, showing a growth of 18% at comic book shops. Whether you go with the ComicHub data or Manage Comics, both of which offer info from point of sale at 100 or so comic book shops: things are looking great! And will never be bad again!
Can DC push its market share even higher in the final quarter of the year? Stay tuned.
Oni Press To Publish Annotated Edition Of Gender Queer:
Maia Kobabe’s Gender Queer is getting an annotated edition from Oni Press.
Per the publisher, the book, “will feature all-new commentary from academic and creative communities to further shed light on the creation of Kobabe’s work, from exploring the technicalities of comic creation to highlighting personal anecdotes from a host of writers and artists discussing their own experiences growing up queer and genderqueer.”
The best-selling and award-winning book has also been one of the most banned books in America for the past few years, due to the subject matter. The new edition will feature annotations from Jadzia Axelrod and Ashley R. Guillory, Justin Hall, Kori Michele Handwerker, Phoebe Kababe, Hal Schrieve, Rani Som, Shannon Watters, and more.
Gender Queer: The Annotated Edition hardcover will hit stores on May 5, 2025.
Warner Bros Blind Bags Hit Kickstarter:
Dynamite is bringing Warner Bros. comics Blind Bags to Kickstarter, in one of the more curious uses of the crowdfunding platform.
Already live and fully funded, this does not seem to be raising money for a project so much as selling Dynamite’s line of Warner Bros. comics, including ThunderCats, Space Ghost, The Powerpuff Girls, Captain Planet, and The Herculoids, among others.
While the bottom level is $20 and includes 10 random comics to start your collection, starting at $100 you get one Blind Bag comic that, per PR from the publisher, is “guaranteed to have a minimum value well past that with rare variants, premiums, ashcans, and more.”
The $100 level does include four more items beyond the Blind Bag, which includes a new variant cover made for the campaign, a “buy-back” issue stamped and signed by Dynamite publisher Nick Barrucci, a Warner Bros. blank sketch cover, and a Supernatural #1 ashcan.
There are plenty more levels and stretch goals, but to editorialize for a bit this continues to, er, stretch what Kickstarter is supposed to be. Sure, it’s morphed into a sales tool for big companies over the past few years; but this project is merely operating as a shop, not a tool to help kickstart a project.
Regardless, if you are a fan of what Dynamite has been putting out, and are hungry for variants? This is live now.
For Comic Book Club News, I’m Alex Zalben. And that’s great news about it only being up, up, up for the comic book industry! I’m relentlessly positive!
Got tips or stories you’d like us to cover? Email us at comicbookclublive@gmail.com.
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