Uncanny X-Men #229 and X-Factor #28 were bigger sellers than... 0

[valiantman]

Uncanny X-Men #229 and X-Factor #28 were bigger sellers than... Amazing Spider-Man #300

https://www.comichron.com/monthlycomicssales/1988/1988-01Diamond.html

Edited January 10, 2022 by valiantman

[Lazyboy]

Um, yeah. The X-Men were the top dog(s) at the time. Spidey was still Spidey, but he wasn't at his peak.

Uncanny was selling in the lower 400k range, with X-Factor in the low-mid 300k range and ASM in the higher 200k range. Spidey would have needed more than a normal anniversary issue bump to even reach X-Factor.

Also, it's funny seeing Action 600 that high considering its cover price.

[valiantman]

On 1/10/2022 at 5:44 PM, Lazyboy said:

Um, yeah. The X-Men were the top dog(s) at the time. Spidey was still Spidey, but he wasn't at his peak.

Uncanny was selling in the lower 400k range, with X-Factor in the low-mid 300k range and ASM in the higher 200k range. Spidey would have needed more than a normal anniversary issue bump to even reach X-Factor.

Also, it's funny seeing Action 600 that high considering its cover price.

Interesting how this snapshot in time (January 1988) plus 30+ years of history only produced one winner out of the Top 10 (selected and ordered by the experts running the comic shops). 

Unless I am mistaken, the other nine can still be purchased (easily) for their original cover price.

[Lazyboy]

On 1/10/2022 at 5:51 PM, valiantman said:

Interesting how this snapshot in time (January 1988) plus 30+ years of history only produced one winner out of the Top 10 (selected and ordered by the experts running the comic shops). 

The shops were (at least mostly) just ordering what their customers wanted, not trying to speculate. Plus, there's almost nothing else of note that would have been ordered that month.

On 1/10/2022 at 5:51 PM, valiantman said:

Unless I am mistaken, the other nine can still be purchased (easily) for their original cover price.

Well, it's really not that easy to find the vast majority of UXM issues in dollar boxes (unless they've spent some time lining a bird cage). The others? Close enough, anyway.

[valiantman]

On 1/10/2022 at 6:03 PM, Lazyboy said:

On 1/10/2022 at 5:51 PM, valiantman said:

Interesting how this snapshot in time (January 1988) plus 30+ years of history only produced one winner out of the Top 10 (selected and ordered by the experts running the comic shops). 

The shops were (at least mostly) just ordering what their customers wanted, not trying to speculate. Plus, there's almost nothing else of note that would have been ordered that month.

True, it speaks to the insanity of the current "hot comics of the month" trend with all the speculation that apart from ASM #300 (the most popular CGC submission of all time), there was nothing in January 1988 that could have been a successful speculation.

All the people trying to pick the hot books for the future from the list of choices seem to forget that the correct answer might be:  None Of The Above.

[jdandns]

I was getting most of my books from the newsstand around then, and I bought all of those except Green Arrow #4  (even though I loved Grell's "Longbow Hunters").

A lot of those are in the middle of some great runs.

Edited January 11, 2022 by jdandns

[jjonahjameson11]

Very surprised to see the Silver Surfer so high on the sales chart.

[GeeksAreMyPeeps]

Keep in mind that Byrne's Superman run revitalized the character. A lot of people were *reading* the book; not sure those numbers are about speculation. (At the same time, Superman's 50th anniversary was a big deal.)

300 was too early in McFarlane's run for orders to have been affected by his popularity. Had he started a few issues earlier, maybe 300 would be in the top spot.

[Crimebuster]

On 1/10/2022 at 6:51 PM, valiantman said:

Interesting how this snapshot in time (January 1988) plus 30+ years of history only produced one winner out of the Top 10

Depends how you define winner, of course. I'd rather read Green Arrow #4 than Amazing Spider-Man #300 any day of the week. 

[valiantman]

On 1/12/2022 at 12:13 AM, Crimebuster said:

On 1/10/2022 at 5:51 PM, valiantman said:

Interesting how this snapshot in time (January 1988) plus 30+ years of history only produced one winner out of the Top 10

Depends how you define winner, of course. I'd rather read Green Arrow #4 than Amazing Spider-Man #300 any day of the week. 

In this case, speculative investment.  "Experts" on Facebook and YouTube trying to pick all the speculative investment winners every month.

Edited January 12, 2022 by valiantman

[HarrisonJohn]

I remember that Silver Surfer title being popular for about a year, can't remember why, Marvel may have been pushing it hard. This was not long after I first got into the X-titles and, pre cartoon, I noticed their popularity in the comic world did not translate into the outside world at all. I always wondered if they would have been selling less on the newsstand, presuming newsstands sold to a more general audience. Marvel Age published the top 10 direct sellers mid to late 80s, have been wanting to compile all that info if someone else hasn't already. 

[mec3437]

First appearance of the Reavers in UXM 229, Infectia in XF 28, and the Skid Row Slasher in Punisher 8?  Heck yeah!

[jdandns]

On 1/13/2022 at 8:52 PM, HarrisonJohn said:

I remember that Silver Surfer title being popular for about a year, can't remember why, Marvel may have been pushing it hard. This was not long after I first got into the X-titles and, pre cartoon, I noticed their popularity in the comic world did not translate into the outside world at all. I always wondered if they would have been selling less on the newsstand, presuming newsstands sold to a more general audience. Marvel Age published the top 10 direct sellers mid to late 80s, have been wanting to compile all that info if someone else hasn't already. 

Marshall Rogers art was exquisite and I think he drew the first year of the late 80's Surfer series. He was always a top of the stack artist for me.