1970 Top Sales Comics from Statement of Publication - Total Paid Circulation 1970 1 1

[Prince Namor]

 

1971's TOP COMICS from Statement of Publication - Total Paid Circulation

Archie Comics flagship title reigns again for the 3rd year in a row as the #1 seller in America. Betty & Veronica jumps to 4th.

DC takes up 6 of the other Top 10 spots, but again only Superman has the numbers to challenge Archie. This is with DC's numbers including 2 - 2 1/2 months of the 25 cent price jump. It'll really hit them in the next report.

Marvel has Amazing Spider-man at #9 for the 2nd year in a row, even though the numbers drop 15,000 copies a month - it's pretty consistent that almost ALL of the numbers drop across the board because of the price increase, so essentially, it stayed the same.

The Fantastic Four minus Kirby holds steady losing only 10,000 more copies a month (it lost 55,000 it's first report without Kirby), but again this is more inline with the price increase and almost a POSITIVE to hold - it's still outsold by Kirby's Jimmy Olsen by almost 25,000 copies a month though. Thor without Kirby loses another 47,000 copies per month on top of 34,000 copies per month from the previous year and... falls to #34. Both these books will decline in sales for the entire decade.

Marvel and DC are both again mostly MIA in 11-20, as only the FF shows up and Jimmy Olsen, with Archie Comics absolutely dominating sales - six of the Ten spots. Dennis the Menace and Harvey's Richie Rich make it. Batman drops out of it from last year, falling to #22 (down almost 50,000 copies a month). 

Casper the Friendly Ghost sells about the same as Batman. 

Adams on Green Lantern? Hey, it went UP, 8,000 copies a month. 

Keep using your Detective skills to help me edit my work! I appreciate the help! And the questions - and the opinions... I'm entertained by this information and it's fun to talk about...

[Get Marwood & I]

On 5/12/2024 at 11:27 AM, Prince Namor said:

For those who DON'T believe there was affidavit fraud... Charlton's Cheyenne Kid outsold a Neal Adams Green Lantern...

 Well of course it bloody did 

[Larryw7]

On 5/14/2024 at 12:33 AM, shadroch said:

Neither Batman Book sold very well by the late 1970s. Detective came close to being canceled or turned into a digest, ala Adventure.

Yeah Detective actually was canceled but was given a last minute reprieve by putting Detective Comics as the banner on Batman Family, using Detective’s numbering and becoming a dollar comic.

[Zonker]

What always amazes me when I see the data organized in this way is how overwhelming the presence of Superman (or Superboy or Supergirl) is in DC's top sellers.  The only DC books in the top 20 are tied to Superman, and this in the waning days of Weisinger's editorship, not a high point in creativity for the Superman line.  Sure, the George Reeves 1950s show was still running in syndication, and Superman did have his own Saturday morning cartoon, but it is still surprising that enthusiasm would extend to something like Lois Lane as a monthly comics purchase.  

Looking at the Top 20, it suggests to me that as of 1971, sales still were dominated not by hobbyists or fans, but perhaps by moms or dads buying known, safe quantities to entertain their kids.  If you exclude Marvel's Spidey & FF, the remaining Top 20 titles are all Archie, Superman, Richie Rich or Dennis the Menace! 

 

[ganni]

Looking at the lists.  Its like DC Jack KIrby's  Fourth world never existed in this time line.

[Prince Namor]

On 5/14/2024 at 6:18 PM, ganni said:

Looking at the lists.  Its like DC Jack KIrby's  Fourth world never existed in this time line.

Well, except for Jimmy Olsen which was the beginning of the 4th World. The others wouldn't have made this list anyway. Or the next one.

1972 would cover roughly July/August of 1971 to July/August of 1972. They were only on their fourth issue by then and wouldn't have had a Statement of Publication anyway. 

Most of the publisher's did not add new titles going into the 70's. Marvel added... none until Ghost Rider and Spider Woman in 1979.

Never saw a Statement of Publication in the 70's for Tomb of Dracula, Defenders, Captain Marvel, IRON MAN, Marvel Team-Up, Marvel Two-In-One, Master of Kung Fu, Werewolf by Night.... so it wasn't uncommon. 

If anyone runs into one for any of these, please let me know. 

[shadroch]

New titles introduced by Marvel in the 1970s-  Hero for Hire, Defenders, Nova, Master of Kung Fu, Invaders, Super-Villian Team-up, Marvel Team-Up, Marvel Two in One, Nova, Spider-Woman, Ms. Marvel, Marvel Spotlight, Marvel Premiere, Ghost Rider, Son of Satan, Conan

Ghost Rider 1 came out in 1973, and was soon followed by Son of Satan 1

Marvel teamed with Firestone to get its Origins line into bookstores and introduced its Treasury and giant-sized line in an effort to make its product more attractive to vendors. It also helped invent the Direct Market. 

Not too shabby a half a decade.

 

New characters that were introduced during the early/mid-1970s.

Man- Wolf, Punisher, Dracula, Blade, Shang-Chi, Nova, Moon Knight, Star Lord, Falcon, Ms. Marvel, Thanos, Storm, Colossus, Wolverine,

Luke Cage, Misty Knight, Colleen Wing, Drax, StarFox, Death

Edited May 14 by shadroch

[aardvark88]

On 5/13/2024 at 8:14 AM, shadroch said:

These numbers tell me that there was a huge non-superhero market for newsstand comics that was lost when the hobby switched to the direct market. 

I would be very interested in the Richie Rich sell through #s in the early to mid-1970s compared to 'mighty' Marvel.

[shadroch]

On 5/14/2024 at 9:05 AM, aardvark88 said:

I would be very interested in the Richie Rich sell through #s in the early to mid-1970s compared to 'mighty' Marvel.

We would need a breakdown of people buying comics for themselves or for others.  

English Leather sells better to people looking for a cheap gift than it does to people wanting a cologne.  I suspect Archie and Richie Rich benefited from that. 

Back then, my dentist and doctor's offices always had a few Archies and Richie Rich-type books.  25,000 medical offices buying a few copies a month adds up quickly.

[NoMan]

I had no idea Archie comics were such a powerhouse. Thanks for posting this. I believe I also read somewhere that romance comics outsold superhero comics in the 1950 (and maybe 1960s?) by a massive margin

[shadroch]

Around 1974, Dr. Bails wrote a letter to DC that the editors published. The gist of the response was that Mystery and Suspense sold better than superheroes.

It sparked a bit of a controversery in CBG as many people disputed it, but the sales figures supposedly backed DC.  DC published more non-hero books than superhero until they imploded.

[The humble Watcher lurking]

On 5/14/2024 at 1:20 AM, Prince Namor said:

 

 

1971's TOP COMICS from Statement of Publication - Total Paid Circulation

Archie Comics flagship title reigns again for the 3rd year in a row as the #1 seller in America. Betty & Veronica jumps to 4th.

DC takes up 6 of the other Top 10 spots, but again only Superman has the numbers to challenge Archie. This is with DC's numbers including 2 - 2 1/2 months of the 25 cent price jump. It'll really hit them in the next report.

Marvel has Amazing Spider-man at #9 for the 2nd year in a row, even though the numbers drop 15,000 copies a month - it's pretty consistent that almost ALL of the numbers drop across the board because of the price increase, so essentially, it stayed the same.

The Fantastic Four minus Kirby holds steady losing only 10,000 more copies a month (it lost 55,000 it's first report without Kirby), but again this is more inline with the price increase and almost a POSITIVE to hold - it's still outsold by Kirby's Jimmy Olsen by almost 25,000 copies a month though. Thor without Kirby loses another 47,000 copies per month on top of 34,000 copies per month from the previous year and... falls to #34. Both these books will decline in sales for the entire decade.

Marvel and DC are both again mostly MIA in 11-20, as only the FF shows up and Jimmy Olsen, with Archie Comics absolutely dominating sales - six of the Ten spots. Dennis the Menace and Harvey's Richie Rich make it. Batman drops out of it from last year, falling to #22 (down almost 50,000 copies a month). 

Casper the Friendly Ghost sells about the same as Batman. 

Adams on Green Lantern? Hey, it went UP, 8,000 copies a month. 

Keep using your Detective skills to help me edit my work! I appreciate the help! And the questions - and the opinions... I'm entertained by this information and it's fun to talk about...

Sad Sack still hanging in there sales-wise.  ha ha

[shadroch]

From the late '60s through my high school days, a magazine called Children's Digest reprinted Tin Tin stories, often with thirty pages or more per issue. The magazine's circulation was over 700,000.   I guess it was the best-selling comic magazine in the country. I wonder how many comic shops carried it

[The humble Watcher lurking]

On 5/14/2024 at 9:34 PM, shadroch said:

From the late '60s through my high school days, a magazine called Children's Digest reprinted Tin Tin stories, often with thirty pages or more per issue. The magazine's circulation was over 700,000.   I guess it was the best-selling comic magazine in the country. I wonder how many comic shops carried it

Mad Magazine might have bet it in sales, but it`s all about what they considered comic books back then? I guess Mad Magazine meant magazine and not comic book back then? That Children`s Digest I did hear with Tin Tin was good because my older cousins male and female said try it out and they had a subscription to it.

[Prince Namor]

For Mad Magazine in the 60's:

1961: 1,209,918

1962: 1,293,705

1963: 1,429,080

1964: 1,424,628

1965: 1,532,926

1966: 1,635,612

1967: 1,789,555

1968: 1,831,648

1969: 1,884,502

and then per John Jackson Miller at Comichron.com:

"(MAD Magazine) The title reached its peak circulation in 1974, the culminating year for Watergate, with average sales per issue of 2,132,655 copies...."

[Dr. Haydn]

On 5/15/2024 at 2:00 AM, Prince Namor said:

For Mad Magazine in the 60's:

1961: 1,209,918

1962: 1,293,705

1963: 1,429,080

1964: 1,424,628

1965: 1,532,926

1966: 1,635,612

1967: 1,789,555

1968: 1,831,648

1969: 1,884,502

and then per John Jackson Miller at Comichron.com:

"(MAD Magazine) The title reached its peak circulation in 1974, the culminating year for Watergate, with average sales per issue of 2,132,655 copies...."

In a related matter, Cracked, founded in 1958 as another satirical magazine in competition with MAD, had (per Wikipedia) about a third of MAD's circulation. In the late 60s, that would be a print run of over 600,000. This number exceeds just about every comic book title being published at that time.  

[Brock]

On the Richie Rich front, my friends an I really got into collecting about 2 or 3 years after these figures. We were all DC guys (my favourites were Justice League and Brave & Bold), but we also all read Richie Rich. Star Wars broke the DC monopoly, and we slowly started reading Marvel as well. By the time of Micronauts, we were Marvel converts, and probably gave up Richie Rich as we made that transition.

Archies were everywhere, but they were "girl" comics. My younger sister had hundreds of them, and I read them all, but I didn't know any boys who bought Archies.

[Dr. Haydn]

On 5/15/2024 at 2:07 PM, Brock said:

On the Richie Rich front, my friends an I really got into collecting about 2 or 3 years after these figures. We were all DC guys (my favourites were Justice League and Brave & Bold), but we also all read Richie Rich. Star Wars broke the DC monopoly, and we slowly started reading Marvel as well. By the time of Micronauts, we were Marvel converts, and probably gave up Richie Rich as we made that transition.

I grew up on a steady diet of Harvey Comics from 1969-73 until I discovered Marvel and DC's superhero fare. Fun stuff. Inoffensive and professionally done. (As I later discovered, industry veteran Joe Rosen was their house letterer.) Good entertainment for a young reader.

[Prince Namor]

On 5/16/2024 at 2:07 AM, Brock said:

On the Richie Rich front, my friends an I really got into collecting about 2 or 3 years after these figures. We were all DC guys (my favourites were Justice League and Brave & Bold), but we also all read Richie Rich. Star Wars broke the DC monopoly, and we slowly started reading Marvel as well. By the time of Micronauts, we were Marvel converts, and probably gave up Richie Rich as we made that transition.

People forget how big Richie Rich was. Harvey had at one time in the 70's, like 5 different Richie Rich comics.

On 5/16/2024 at 2:07 AM, Brock said:

Archies were everywhere, but they were "girl" comics. My younger sister had hundreds of them, and I read them all, but I didn't know any boys who bought Archies.

Never heard that. The whole premise of Archie is him having the hots for any attractive girl that he sees. 

[Prince Namor]

It's weird how nostalgia and talking about different things can make you remember something that is completely forgotten...

Tin Tin was something I didn't read until much later... probably the mid-90's, but it reminded me of something that I couldn't quite... put together that I read in the mid-70's. I didn't have the research tools in the mid-90's that I do now of course, so someone mentioning it, made me do some searching and...

Does anyone remember Trots and Bonnie from National Lampoon?

Wow...  I went and did some research on this and... man, was it controversial.... yet relatively unknown! It's probably what influenced my interest in alternative/independant comics of the 90's (I also didn't get into Crumb and the others until then). Some of it is probably offensive by today's standard's, but as 12-13 year old kid in the 70's, my eyes were wide open. No way it would've been printed in a regular comic at the time...

Spoilered.... to keep from 'offending' anyone...

Spoiler

 

 

 

Edited May 15 by Prince Namor