Batman Print Run in the 70s and 80s

[naits]

Hey to all of you,

 

does anyone know what the print run of "Batman" Comics in the 70s and 80s was?

 

thanks for all information.

naits

[Davenport]

Here's some paid circulation charts 1960-87: CLICK

[naits]

Here's some paid circulation charts 1960-87: CLICK

 

oohhh, thank you very much!

[the blob]

and you wonder why comic cos were happy to ditch the newstand when half or more of the copies were being returned!

 

actually, by 1984-86 the direct (non-returnable) market was perhaps 50% or more of the market (though that might have been more the case with the more (then) collectable marvels), so we're talking about what, 70-80% of the newstand copies going unsold?

[the blob]

turok's big 1960's circulation #s are interesting in that you don't see that many of them out there

[1Cool]

WOW - almost a million copies sold in 1966. That's crazy numbers considering it dropped to almost a 1/5 of that number within a few years.

[naits]

Thats why it is so hard to find high grades in the first half of the 80s.

 

1985 only 75 thousands...

[ComicConnoisseur]

WOW - almost a million copies sold in 1966. That's crazy numbers considering it dropped to almost a 1/5 of that number within a few years.

yea very interesting that during the Batmania run of 1966, monthly sales were close to a million

which was combined higher sales then the early 70`s run of 1970,1971 and 1972 which was 293,897 244,488 and 185,283. Either readers didn`t like that style or that is when interest started to wane for some reason.

 

 

[shadroch]

Batman books,like most DC comics, were really an after-thought at most comic shops.

It was DCs utter lack of sales that allowed them to experiment by bringing in guys like Alan Moore, Brian Bolland, and Frank Miller.

Do you think DC would have allowed Miller to do what he did to Bats if they thought the character was still marketable? Especially after Millers utter failure with Ronin.

I might be mistaken, but weren't Batman and Detective bi-monthly books for awhile during the 100 page era?

[JohnJacksonMiller-migratio]

Yes, Batman and Detective were bimonthly in 1974. That should be reflected in the formal Statement of Ownership; in some cases, I have only the sales number and need clear scans of the statements to add the rest of the data. I have an e-mail address for receiving those at the side of the Batman page there, if you should run across any.

 

I am trying to add a few more titles to the Spotlight section every week. I haven't blogged about it yet, but I just added everything that was published for Vampirella.

[Zonker]

There is that often-quoted anecdote about Detective Comics being cancelled around issue #481, until someone reminded the suits what "DC" Comics signified.

 

That's why it became a Dollar Comic with #481, assumed the "Batman Family" logo for a while, and began to use old Batman Family inventory stories-- it was Batman Family that was apparently the more popular title.

[Batty Scrooge]

There is that often-quoted anecdote about Detective Comics being cancelled around issue #481, until someone reminded the suits what "DC" Comics signified.

 

That's why it became a Dollar Comic with #481, assumed the "Batman Family" logo for a while, and began to use old Batman Family inventory stories-- it was Batman Family that was apparently the more popular title.

 

Correct, Batman Family was selling more than DC, but DC had the heritage so the changes were made. The drop-off was mostly due to the show fizzling out, not because Neil Adams wasn't doing good books. There was so much Batmania merchandise out there that people really got numb to it, and the show grew stale.

[wee_s2e-migration]

There is that often-quoted anecdote about Detective Comics being cancelled around issue #481, until someone reminded the suits what "DC" Comics signified.

 

That's why it became a Dollar Comic with #481, assumed the "Batman Family" logo for a while, and began to use old Batman Family inventory stories-- it was Batman Family that was apparently the more popular title.

 

Correct, Batman Family was selling more than DC, but DC had the heritage so the changes were made. The drop-off was mostly due to the show fizzling out, not because Neil Adams wasn't doing good books.

 

The show was cancelled in early 1968 and issue # 481 came out in late 1978

[Sekowskyfan10]

I went thru my run of Detective in the 70s and found this information -- I'm going mostly by cover dates rather than the information in the indicia, but it seems accurate...

 

Detective -

 

Monthly thru #434 (4/73).

Bi-Monthly from #435 (7/73) thru 445 (3/75). (End of 100 page run)

Monthly from #446 (4/75) thru 466 (12/76).

Bi-Monthly from #467 (2/77) thru 468 (4/77).

Roughly "eight times a year" from #469 (5/77) thru 475 (2/78).

Bi-Monthly from #476 (4/78) thru 488 (3/80).

 

So DC seems to have had circulation troubles as early as 1973. The title was still a standard 32-pager with the bi-monthly status and didn't go to a 100-pager until #438.

 

 

 

[shadroch]

The whole comics industry had huge problems in 1973-74, as did the country in general.

There was a tremendous paper shortage at the time, and 20 cent comics had to compete with $1 magazines for paper, press time and most importantly -for newstand space. If a vendor had to choose between making a quarter off a Time Magazine or four cents off a Batman, which do you think got the display space?

Declining sales meant they needed more ad pages per issue, which turned off fans and pros made less per book as the story pages shrank.

[naits]

Interesting information.

 

thx shadroch

[shadroch]

I tried googling the paper shortage of 1973, and ended up reading about the toilet paper shortage instead. I don't recall that one.

[Batty Scrooge]

There is that often-quoted anecdote about Detective Comics being cancelled around issue #481, until someone reminded the suits what "DC" Comics signified.

 

That's why it became a Dollar Comic with #481, assumed the "Batman Family" logo for a while, and began to use old Batman Family inventory stories-- it was Batman Family that was apparently the more popular title.

 

Correct, Batman Family was selling more than DC, but DC had the heritage so the changes were made. The drop-off was mostly due to the show fizzling out, not because Neil Adams wasn't doing good books.

 

The show was cancelled in early 1968 and issue # 481 came out in late 1978

 

Every year after 69 the print run shrank more and more, finally by 1978 the format changes were made. If you look at the data, what I said isn't a

[ComicConnoisseur]

There is that often-quoted anecdote about Detective Comics being cancelled around issue #481, until someone reminded the suits what "DC" Comics signified.

 

That's why it became a Dollar Comic with #481, assumed the "Batman Family" logo for a while, and began to use old Batman Family inventory stories-- it was Batman Family that was apparently the more popular title.

 

Correct, Batman Family was selling more than DC, but DC had the heritage so the changes were made. The drop-off was mostly due to the show fizzling out, not because Neil Adams wasn't doing good books.

 

The show was cancelled in early 1968 and issue # 481 came out in late 1978

Strange is the Batman Adam West tv show brought in more comic buyers than the Batman/Ledger billion dollar blockbuster movie did with current print runs averaging between 50,000 to 80,000 a month. so those low 1970`s print runs look huge when compared to the under 80,000 print runs of today.

[wee_s2e-migration]

There is that often-quoted anecdote about Detective Comics being cancelled around issue #481, until someone reminded the suits what "DC" Comics signified.

 

That's why it became a Dollar Comic with #481, assumed the "Batman Family" logo for a while, and began to use old Batman Family inventory stories-- it was Batman Family that was apparently the more popular title.

 

Correct, Batman Family was selling more than DC, but DC had the heritage so the changes were made. The drop-off was mostly due to the show fizzling out, not because Neil Adams wasn't doing good books.

 

The show was cancelled in early 1968 and issue # 481 came out in late 1978

 

Every year after 69 the print run shrank more and more, finally by 1978 the format changes were made. If you look at the data, what I said isn't a

 

If you're talking about the Batman title linked at Comichron above, that's incorrect. The print run went up in 1973 and 1976, and they sold more in 1974 than in 1972, and in 1977 they sold more than in 1975.

 

But we're talking about Detective Comics, which I can't find on the site (do you have a link to where you got your data? I'd be happy to acquiesce after seeing the numbers). I just think a 10 year direct link between the show's cancelation and the DC Implosion in 1978 is tenuous at best.