No more Foxing around: Complete run of WEIRD COMICS, 1940-1942! 1 1

[Boba]

A great accomplishment - congrats Jon

[jbcomicbox]

Weird Comics #17, August 1941. Another great anti-Nazi cover, still well in advance of Pearl Harbor and America's entry into the war.

 

While it's hard to know for sure, IMO this is most likely the rarest issue of the run, even beating out #20. With just about all of the other issues I'm aware of at least one copy that was up for sale years ago or is currently in someone's collection, but I've never seen another #17 anywhere. (That said, if you're reading this and you've got one, please post it!) The print runs of all of the Fox titles were dwindling towards the end, making the late 1941/early 1942 issues the hardest to find. Verrry tough book.

 

 

 

 

that is a "can do"........then again i got it in 1998.........jb

[Point Five]

that is a "can do"........then again i got it in 1998.........jb

Awesome! And likely the best existing copy out there.

 

Sorry folks, crazy day today. I'll finish posting the run very soon.

 

 

[Point Five]

I believe the same question was asked several years on the boards and someone mentioned this message on Russ Maheras' research on circulation data from the Audit Bureau of Circulation.

http://www.hoboes.com/pub/Comics/About%20Comics/Business/Top%20Comics%20and%20Publishers/Comic%20Book%20Circulation%20Data/

 

Here is a relevant excerpt for Fox Comics from that message:

 

Below is comic book circulation data I gleaned from the Audit Bureau of

Circulations microfilm covering the period of 1937-'43, '44, and '49-50. The

only ABC location that has data more than 15 years or so years old is the main

branch in Schaumburg, Ill. (a suburb just west of Chicago).

 

Fox Comics Group. Consists of the following three titles: Fantastic Comics,

Mystery Comics, and Wonderworld Comics. To find average monthly circulation

of a single title in the group, divide the monthly amount by three.

 

Jul 1939 - 227,533

Aug 1939 - 418,597

Sep 1939 - 628,529

Oct 1939 - 683,698

Nov 1939 - 657,364

Dec 1939 - 890,701

 

Fox Comics Group: During the reporting period, the Fox group

consisted of the following 11 titles - Fantastic Comics, Mystery Men

Comics, Wonderworld Comics, Science Comics, Weird Comics, The Blue

Beetle, The Flame, The Green Mask, Samson, Rex Darter, and Big 3. To

calculate the average monthly circulation of any one title in the

group, divide the numbers below by 11. Sorry, that's the best that

can be done under ABC's lump sum format.

 

Jan 1940 - 990,171

Feb 1940 - 1,372,230

Mar 1940 - 1,123,279

Apr 1940 - 1,136,476

May 1940 - 1,412,872

Jun 1940 - 862,878

Jul 1940 - 1,164,251

Aug 1940 - 965,441

Sep 1940 - 1,121,828

Oct 1940 - 959,991

Nov 1940 - 1,008,529

Dec 1940 - 1,077,887

Sorry, meant to respond to this. Thanks for the info. This is great!

 

The 1939 circulation numbers are pretty straightforward. Looks like Fantastic Comics, Mystery Men Comics and Wonderworld Comics were averaging about 300,000 each by the end of the year. (Which is absolutely staggering.)

 

The 1940 numbers are lower, but still pretty impressive. The text suggestion to "divide the numbers below by 11" is actually misleading, as some of the titles given were short runs which didn't overlap, and Rex Dexter was even a one-shot. There were probably more like 6 or 7 titles running during any one month... so dividing by those approximate numbers, the earlier guess of 100,000 to 200,000 for a title like Weird Comics still looks pretty good to me.

 

 

[rjpb]

There were 52 Fox books cover dated 1940, so to come up with the average you'd have to divide that into the total. Without being exact on the math, it looks like around 250,000 copies for each issue on average.

[lpsunburst]

that is a "can do"........then again i got it in 1998.........jb

Awesome! And likely the best existing copy out there.

 

Sorry folks, crazy day today. I'll finish posting the run very soon.

 

 

There is however a Mile High copy of 17 which I believe is in the 8-9 range.

[buttock]

253,766 on avg. But I'd like to see the breakdown from May-Jun-Jul where there's a big variance to see if there are any other insights to be gleaned.

[Point Five]

that is a "can do"........then again i got it in 1998.........jb

Awesome! And likely the best existing copy out there.

 

Sorry folks, crazy day today. I'll finish posting the run very soon.

 

 

There is however a Mile High copy of 17 which I believe is in the 8-9 range.

Aha, my bad. I was figuring that if there were a Mile High, JB would probably have it!

 

 

[Point Five]

253,766 on avg. But I'd like to see the breakdown from May-Jun-Jul where there's a big variance to see if there are any other insights to be gleaned.

It does make you wonder. 253,766 on average is a crazy high number. Where did all those Weirds go?

 

 

[Point Five]

Weird Comics #18, September 1941. I love the bizarre creatures and the extremely unusual color mix (deep purple, orange, yellow and the flag colors) on this one. Owned this one for a long while before I realized this was actually a war cover too (text blurb, tiny swastika on the boat in the background). Another toughie.

 

 

 

[HRCostigan]

Great cover. Show us your spider monkeys!

[gino2paulus2]

Weird Comics #18, September 1941. I love the bizarre creatures and the extremely unusual color mix (deep purple, orange, yellow and the flag colors) on this one. Owned this one for a long while before I realized this was actually a war cover too (text blurb, tiny swastika on the boat in the background). Another toughie.

 

 

 

my gosh this is neat!! those creatures are CRAZY creepy lookin!!! spider monkeys

[gino2paulus2]

Great cover. Show us your spider monkeys!

 

OMG not to be too off topic but this is my second straight post I said the same thing as another person!!! I actually typed this and had to set my phone down before I hit submit

 

im tellin you I'm not crazy check this out...WEIRD!!!!!!!

 

http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=252316&Number=8155975#Post8155975

Edited November 7, 2014 by gino2paulus2

[HRCostigan]

Great minds think alike (thumbs u

[gino2paulus2]

Great minds think alike (thumbs u

 

I just got off a 12 hr shift and thought I was taking wacky pills!!! I will accept your answer good sir if it happens again Im buyin a lottery ticket or somethin'

[TheEyeSees]

Weird Comics #18, September 1941. I love the bizarre creatures and the extremely unusual color mix (deep purple, orange, yellow and the flag colors) on this one. Owned this one for a long while before I realized this was actually a war cover too (text blurb, tiny swastika on the boat in the background). Another toughie.

 

 

 

Awesome Jon!

[Jayman]

Weird Comics #18, September 1941. I love the bizarre creatures and the extremely unusual color mix (deep purple, orange, yellow and the flag colors) on this one. Owned this one for a long while before I realized this was actually a war cover too (text blurb, tiny swastika on the boat in the background). Another toughie.

 

 

 

My favorite cover! Great book.

[buttock]

253,766 on avg. But I'd like to see the breakdown from May-Jun-Jul where there's a big variance to see if there are any other insights to be gleaned.

It does make you wonder. 253,766 on average is a crazy high number. Where did all those Weirds go?

 

 

That number isn't right. By my count there were over 60 Foxes in 1940. I'm hoping to break down the numbers in detail tonight. There are some unusual results at first glance.

[Point Five]

253,766 on avg. But I'd like to see the breakdown from May-Jun-Jul where there's a big variance to see if there are any other insights to be gleaned.

It does make you wonder. 253,766 on average is a crazy high number. Where did all those Weirds go?

 

 

That number isn't right. By my count there were over 60 Foxes in 1940. I'm hoping to break down the numbers in detail tonight. There are some unusual results at first glance.

(thumbs u

 

 

[Point Five]

Weird Comics #19, November 1941. Another cool war cover with a very distinctive, very "Fox" color scheme. From the cover date, it looks like the title had moved to a bimonthly schedule with this issue... an ominous sign.

 

Another real toughie of a book, though I have seen a few copies over the years, more so than #17 and #18.