Marvel and DC Comics are leading the way in comic books with Spider-man and Batman respectively, and also some lesser known comic book publishers are helping to boost sales in print and digital downloads.

After the second quarter of June of this year, Marvel, DC Comics and some newer comics have created an increase in comic book sales. Some critics who agree can see the increase in print and digital sales, while others are skeptical.

According to The New York Times, whether they were single issues, collected editions or digital downloads, the North American sales of comic books rose to $870 million for 2013, from $635 million in 2012; while digital sales saw an increase of $20 million, now $90 million from $70 million.

The increased sales for the digital realm is great news for entrepreneurial writers and artists. This could help new comic book companies such as Thrillbent and Panel Syndicate. Thrillbent is a website for free digital comics that emerged in 2012; they have even introduced a $3.99 per month subscription, The New York Times reported.

Thrillbent was created and developed by: Mark Waid, a popular comic book writer; John Rogers, a television writer and producer; and Lori Matsumoto.

"We've been really good at doing what I've been wanting to do," Waid said about Thrillbent and their comics. "[We are] creating a situation where we can provide content and fans can pay a fair price for it."

Panel Syndicate, on the other hand, is a pay-what-you-want realm for original comics. It started out last year, and it was created by the writer Brian K. Vaughan and artist Marcos Martin, The New York Times reported. The duo's first original was "The Private Eye," a detective story set in the future where the Internet is no longer used. For Vaughan, the month of May was the most "successful yet in terms of downloads."

Vaughan is no slouch when it comes to comic books. He has written the acclaimed series for Marvel "Runaways" and the DC imprint Vertigo's "Y the Last Man." Vaughan's current series, "Saga," is published by Image Comics, The New York Times reported. June 25 came as a big surprise for Vaughan; the last issue of his comic "Saga" was the most downloaded comic of that week on Comixology.

"I never imaged that digital sales of 'Saga' would represent a quarter of our sales," Vaughan said.

Do not draw any big celebrations from this as yet -- some critics are calling this last quarter a static year for comic books. Comparatively speaking, sales of June 2014 are almost identical to the ones of June 2013. Marvel is leading the market share in both print and digital categories, while DC Comics almost ties with Marvel, Newsarama reported.

DC had the bestselling comic books for the month of June, with five in the top 10 bestsellers. DC comics' Batman Issue #32 led the way in June, while Superman Issue #32 was the fifth bestseller, and Marvel's Amazing Spider-Man Issue #3 was in the top 10, Newsarama reported. Archies Comics was the bestselling trade paperback with Volume One of their "Afterlife with Archie" collection.

According to June estimates by ICv2, an online trade publication that covers pop culture, only two comics series came out on top: Batman and Spider-Man. They both sold more than 100,000 copies in comic book stores, The New York Times reported.

Brian Hibbs, the owner of the Comix Experience in San Francisco, says that "the problem for the longest time for the comic book industry is that we were off the newsstand. We had no way to expose people to comics."

Interested comic book readers nowadays would have to visit their local comic book store, or they could just get theirs by pointing and clicking online.