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Infinite Bronze Horror Thread
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Started by sterlingcomics,

Pick your four favorite Bronze Horror Title:  

13 members have voted

  1. 1. Pick your four favorite Bronze Horror Title:

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14,920 posts in this topic

Zonker

Zonker

Posted
Posted (edited)

1967

H o Mystery 165-171 158,500

 

1968

H o Mystery 172-177 156,350

Unexpected 105-110 165,195

 

1969

H o Mystery 178-183 173,206

Unexpected 111-116 155,110

 

1970

H o Mystery 184-189 180,642 yay.gif

Unexpected 117-122 159,390

 

1971

H o Mystery 190-197 187,408 yay.gif

Unexpected 123-130 178,578 thumbsup2.gif

 

1972

H o Mystery 198-209 175,134 893scratchchin-thumb.gif

Unexpected 131-142 168,430

Witching Hour 18-26 168,005

H o Secrets 96-102 168,256

 

1973

H o Mystery 210-220 178,025

Unexpected 143-153 164,344

Witching Hour 27-37 163,156

H o Secrets 103-114 160,154

 

1974

H o Mystery 221-228 174,504

Unexpected 154-160 175,016

Witching Hour 38-49 175,787

H o Secrets 115-126 161,190

 

1975

H o Mystery 229-238 146,000 yeahok.gif

Unexpected 161-170 141,000

Witching Hour 50-60 188,000 893whatthe.gif

Ghosts (DC) 34 - 44 186,000 893whatthe.gif

 

1976

H o Mystery 239-248 124,000 mad.gif

Unexpected 171-176 131,000

Witching Hour 61-66 134,000

H o Secrets 137-142 116,000

Ghosts (DC) 45 - 50 135,000

 

1977

H o Mystery 249-255 109,191 893censored-thumb.gif

Unexpected 177-182 131,315

Witching Hour 67-75 115,151

H o Secrets 143-148 118,766

Ghosts (DC) 51 - 59 114,734

 

1978

H o Mystery 256-263 75,650 flamed.gif

 

 

1979

 

H o Mystery 264-275 85,569

Ghost Rider 34 - 39 135,107

 

1980

H o Mystery 276-287 88,876

Ghost Rider 40- 51 132,129

Ghosts (DC) 84 - 95 95,317

 

1981

H o Mystery 288-299 86,962

Ghost Rider 52 - 63 121,227

Ghosts (DC) 96 - 107 87,537

Unexpected 206-217 83,000

Edited by Zonker
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Zonker

Zonker

Posted
Posted

Now check out the 1975 data, when the wheels fell off for both HoM and Unexpected. What did they have in common? They both adopted the 100 Page format for that outrageous price of 50 cents (soon to be 60 cents). Their brethern kept the 20 cent price going, and overtook the founding books of DC Bronze Horror.

 

I know the issues reported don't line up perfectly with the 100-pagers. Two possible reasons for this:

1) there may be some ambiguity about which exact issues are referred to in the Statements of Ownership, Management & Circulation (does average paid circulation refer to the previous years' cover dates or on-sale dates?? )

 

or

 

2) it was a delayed reaction as the newstands found that the 100-pagers didn't sell, and they cut orders on subsequent issues.

 

Then they tried again in 1977 with the Dollar Comic experiment on HoM in the low 250s. I guess DC publisher Jennette Kahn had to repeat Carmine Infantino's mistakes instead of learning from them. screwy.gif

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BassGMan

BassGMan

Posted
Posted

Very interesting Zonk. Thanks for putting up those numbers. It would have been interesting to see how TOD and WBN did in the early 70s as well. At least those books stayed with a consistant page count and only increased in cover price with the rest of the market. Yeah, those thick 100 pagers and Dollar books really screwed up total copies sold. Which is surprising as they are actually a much better value page for page. But to kids in the 70s it was harder to scrape up two quarters, a dime and a few pennies for a 100-pager than it was just a quarter and a few pennies for a 36-pager.

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Zonker

Zonker

Posted
Posted

I remember my angst when normal comics rose from 20 cents to 25 cents. Before, a single quarter could get ya the book and pay the sales tax. With a 25 cent price you had to scrounge around for a couple of pennies extra. frown.gif

 

And the first time I bought one of those Dollar Comics (probably the WF 247) the sales clerk at the bookstore cluck-clucked "I can't believe you have to pay a dollar for a comic book." screwy.gif

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joe_collector

joe_collector

Posted
Posted
I remember my angst when normal comics rose from 20 cents to 25 cents. Before, a single quarter could get ya the book and pay the sales tax.

 

You guys had to pay sales tax on comics? 893whatthe.gif

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awe4one

awe4one

Posted
Posted
I remember my angst when normal comics rose from 20 cents to 25 cents. Before, a single quarter could get ya the book and pay the sales tax.

 

You guys had to pay sales tax on comics? 893whatthe.gif

 

Canadians don't pay sales tax?

 

Jim

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joe_collector

joe_collector

Posted
Posted
I remember my angst when normal comics rose from 20 cents to 25 cents. Before, a single quarter could get ya the book and pay the sales tax.

 

You guys had to pay sales tax on comics? 893whatthe.gif

 

Canadians don't pay sales tax?

 

Not when I was a kid, and I remember the hue and cry over adding GST to books awhile back. Canada is not a bad place to live tax-wise, assuming you don't drink, smoke or drive a car. insane.gif

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Jayman

Jayman

Posted
Posted
no sales tax on new comics in new york either. old comics are open to debate.

 

Here in NJ I still have fond memories being a kid and getting 4 comics for $1.00 = .25 ea. cloud9.gif

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Zonker

Zonker

Posted
Posted

Sales tax was charged on everything where I grew up. At the time it was 6%. I believe it was only later when the state started raising the rate that they began to institute things like exemptions for food and such.

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Point Five

Point Five

Posted
Posted

Hey Zonker, thanks for those sales numbers! That's really interesting. It's so funny to me, b/c I was a kid in the late '70s and I really loved those Dollar Comics...so it's wild to see what a sales disaster they were for House of Mystery. Is it safe to assume that the same was true for all the other DC titles that became Dollar Comics circa '77/'78?

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Zonker

Zonker

Posted
Posted

I've been trying to figure out how to estimate the circulation of ToD, since the Marvel horror series are not listed in the Standard Guide. What I was able to find was Sgt Fury, a genre series that was bi-monthly for most of the time in question. Based on the Fury sales figures, I think it likely the more-popular Tomb of Dracula outsold the DC horror books for most of its run.

 

 

For reference, ASM had a paid circulation from 322,195 (1970) to 258,156 (1978)

 

 

1967

H o Mystery 165-171 158,500

 

1968

H o Mystery 172-177 156,350

Unexpected 105-110 165,195

 

1969

H o Mystery 178-183 173,206

Unexpected 111-116 155,110

 

1970

H o Mystery 184-189 180,642 yay.gif

Unexpected 117-122 159,390

 

1971

H o Mystery 190-197 187,408 yay.gif

Unexpected 123-130 178,578 thumbsup2.gif

Sergeant Fury 83-93 205,326

 

1972

H o Mystery 198-209 175,134 893scratchchin-thumb.gif

Unexpected 131-142 168,430

Witching Hour 18-26 168,005

H o Secrets 96-102 168,256

Sgt. Fury 94 - 105 176,011

 

 

1973

H o Mystery 210-220 178,025

Unexpected 143-153 164,344

Witching Hour 27-37 163,156

H o Secrets 103-114 160,154

Sgt. Fury 106 - 116 184,640

 

 

1974

H o Mystery 221-228 174,504

Unexpected 154-160 175,016

Witching Hour 38-49 175,787

H o Secrets 115-126 161,190

Sgt. Fury 117 - 123 163,913

 

1975

H o Mystery 229-238 146,000 yeahok.gif

Unexpected 161-170 141,000

Witching Hour 50-60 188,000 893whatthe.gif

Ghosts (DC) 34 - 44 186,000 893whatthe.gif

Sgt. Fury 124 - 130 162,894

 

 

1976

H o Mystery 239-248 124,000 mad.gif

Unexpected 171-176 131,000

Witching Hour 61-66 134,000

H o Secrets 137-142 116,000

Ghosts (DC) 45 - 50 135,000

Sgt. Fury 131 - 137 120,960

 

 

1977

H o Mystery 249-255 109,191 893censored-thumb.gif

Unexpected 177-182 131,315

Witching Hour 67-75 115,151

H o Secrets 143-148 118,766

Ghosts (DC) 51 - 59 114,734

Sgt. Fury 138 - 143 112,882

 

 

1978

H o Mystery 256-263 75,650 flamed.gif

 

 

1979

 

H o Mystery 264-275 85,569

Ghost Rider 34 - 39 135,107

 

1980

H o Mystery 276-287 88,876

Ghost Rider 40- 51 132,129

Ghosts (DC) 84 - 95 95,317

 

1981

H o Mystery 288-299 86,962

Ghost Rider 52 - 63 121,227

Ghosts (DC) 96 - 107 87,537

Unexpected 206-217 83,000

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the blob

the blob

Posted
Posted

that shows that DC has much lower expectations when it came to circulation figures than marvel. sgt. fury gets cancelled at 112K circulation and most of the DC books are well under 100K. on top of that, sgt. fury was a lot of reprints at that point.

 

(although i wonder if there were tons of newstand returns of fury, so not much paid circulation? i certainly see a lot more of those various DC horror titles than late sgt. fury books when rummaging through bargain bins.

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Zonker

Zonker

Posted
Posted

I think you're correct about the lowered DC expectations, but just a couple of points...

 

Sgt. Fury didn't get cancelled until 4 years after the last data available above. So we don't really know where Marvel's exact cutoff point was for dropping the hammer.

 

I think the sales numbers I copied from the Standard Guide reflect paid circulation-- the print run minus the "returns." I say "returns" because there's a lot of speculation that a significant portion of today's back issue dealer inventory is actually third-hand books that should have been returned and destroyed, but instead fell off the truck (a la the Mile High 2 stash).

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rjpb

rjpb

Posted
Posted
I remember my angst when normal comics rose from 20 cents to 25 cents. Before, a single quarter could get ya the book and pay the sales tax.

 

You guys had to pay sales tax on comics? 893whatthe.gif

 

Ohio had sales tax on comics - fortunately only 4% when I was a kid - so my 25¢ allowance afforded me two 12¢ comics plus tax. When they went to 15¢ I was screwed - although the corner store sold second hand comics for a nickel apiece - pretty ratty for the most part - but when i was 10 I didn't care that much about condition. It was a couple years before I really started buying back issues at cons - once I was flush with that paper route money.

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