How many exist?

drbanner · May 7, 2003

Volumes 3 and 4 are all Marvels (silver-modern). Frankly, it's not nearly as interesting/fascinating as Volumes 1 and 2, which contain pictures of all kinds of gold and atom-age books you simply never see on ebay, cons, etc.,. 1 and 2 also have some introductory comic book history information (like a picture of Edgar Church's house), scarcity stuff, and so forth. They're great references!!

sfilosa · May 7, 2003

I'm sure I'm not the only one that did this but:

It sure was cool around 10 years ago (before eBay) when you would get a catalog from a comic dealer (i.e. Comic Heavens Auctions, Worlds Finest, etc.) and then grab your Photo-Journal to see what great books were for sale.

I would spend hours (OK, Days) just looking up all the nice comics and go "cool cover" should I bid/buy this one?

Ahhh, the good old days.

aardvark88 · May 8, 2003

Buy vol. 3 & 4 to quickly research your fave Marvel covers when your computer is turned off. Can't remember if it pictured all the PRE-hero Marvels though.

greggy · May 8, 2003

Buy vol. 3 & 4 to quickly research your fave Marvel covers when your computer is turned off. Can't remember if it pictured all the PRE-hero Marvels though.

You had to buy the deluxe slipcase edition to get the covers to the friggin' pre-hero Marvels!

comicmankev · May 8, 2003

I just found all 4 books and made the purchase straight away! And to top it all off, its only costing $70 to ship them to me

Anyway, I will let you all know what I think, and it's you guys that have pursuaded me to get these, so I'll take it out on you if I think they are a POS

Cheers!

Arty · May 8, 2003

Don't worry, they are great books

I'd really like to have them myself, but those postage fees are killing me

EwanUK · May 9, 2003

really interesting thread

how many comics have the designation of being an "11"?

what are they?

you see, I've always wondered is some comics simply just don't exist anymore - statistically speaking, it's surely a likelyhood?

Golden age onwards of course...

thanks

jonnydouble · May 12, 2003

i've wanted to purchase the gerber volumes - but where do i go to buy something like that? any online site?

Last time I looked on Amozon.com they were selling them for 1/2 price.

comicmankev · May 23, 2003

Gerber books arrived today, what greatness!!!!!! I have been hooked looking at those fabulous covers, and definately a few that I never knew existed!

The books even came in their original shrink-wrap, unfortunately this done a bit of damage to the dust jackets, just shows you what happens when you don't replace those comic bags!

lou_fine · May 27, 2003

What happened to all the posts discussing the Golden Age circulation figures? Is the topic considered to be privileged information and off-limits on the CGC boards. I certainly found the results to be very interesting and I believe so would a lot of other collectors!

Aman619 · May 27, 2003

theres a very informative thread going on right now....try a search. Someone came up with actual sales figures for most GA books by publisher and groups of titles.

greggy · May 27, 2003

theres a very informative thread going on right now....try a search. Someone came up with actual sales figures for most GA books by publisher and groups of titles.

Errr...it was in this thread but the posts got pulled!

Aman619 · May 27, 2003

D'oh!!!

really? I thought the poster had gotten permission of sorts....I wish I had copied it for reference....

tb · May 27, 2003

Lou,

My apologies - it is my fault. After my original post on Saturday evening, I became concerned that this research might be copyrighted (ie. when I read the message more carefully, I became in doubt about the distribution of the mailing list). I asked Arch to pull my post and a couple of follow-ups shortly after, but he did not get my message until today. Then, he deleted it as I had asked him. In the meantime, however, I received a reply from Robert Beerbohm who confirmed that the work was in public domain. Robert is working on a book on the history of comics right now and I did not want to risk spilling any of his beans prematurely. With his permission, I reposted the info.

So, Arch only did what I asked him. I am very sorry that your comments got deleted in the process.

Here it is again:

-----

From: CArchivist@aol.com

Date: Sun, 15 Nov 1998 18:44:17 EST

To: comixschl-list@socolow.com

Subject: Re: Re: Query: DC Management

In a message dated 11/15/98 6:54:43 PM, Paul Gravett wrote:

<

Cheers,

Paul Gravett>>

Russ Maheras, over at the Grand Comics Database reflector posted his

research

at the Audit Bureau of Circulation on that reflector. Following is the

posts I

saved and the information he gave. It is lenghty so be forwarned...all

research is copyrighted by Russ...the data is copyrighted by ABC...

-Ray Bottorff Jr

<

My name's Russ Maheras, and I'm the new kid on the block, thanks to Bob

Beerbohm.

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). There

is no cost to access this data for research purposes. However,

although the

viewer has the capability, you are not allowed to make direct copies of

the

data. ABC's policy is that you must hand write everything. The point

of

contact is Mary Buchanan. I don't have the phone number for ABC with

me,

but it should be easy to get through directory assistance. I went to

the

ABC offices twice before I shipped off to South Korea in December of

last

year (I'm in the Air Force), and I spent a total of about 10 hours

going

blind looking through dozens of spools of microfilm. But the comic

book

(and pulp magazine) circulation data in those ABC spools is priceless,

in my

opinion, and well worth the time I invested in gathering the data

below. It

includes circulation data on Famous Funnies ('37-'42), some pulps,

DC/National ('38-'43, '44, and '49), Fawcett ('42 and '44), Magazine

House

('44, '45) and Archie ('49, '50). Keep in mind that I have already

gone

line-by-line through all the ABC microfilm rolls from 1937-43, and

gotten

every bit of comic book-related data there was. So if any of you

decide to

do follow-up research, I suggest you don't re-invent the wheel -

unless, of

course you are just curious or want to confirm my data - the searching

is

very, VERY tedious. There's plenty of untapped data out there still.

I

wanted so bad to get to the '50s, but I forced myself to be as

methodical as

I could. The sad part about ABC listings is that they only include

member

publisher circulation tallies. Hence, for example, there is no ABC

data on

Timely/Marvel during the years up through at least 1944. "Marvel" did

have

a listing in 1949, however, but that data was not included in my

CAPA-alpha

mailing. I will try and provide that and some other miscellaneous data

I

still haven't input from my notes. Here is the data I provided

CAPA-alpha

folks in CAPA-alpha #399 (Jan 98). I hope you get as big a kick out of

it

as I did.

Circulation search: Part II

I managed to stop by the Audit Bureau of Circulation for a few hours

in Schaumburg, Ill., before I left the Chicago area for South Korea. I

found

some more interesting data, but had to skip around a little more than I

wanted to. I've combined the new data with the previous data, which is

here

for your perusal. Instead of a graph, however, I'm just going to list

the

raw circulation figures and let anyone who's interested sort it out. I

apologize for that, but I want the information to get out there as soon

as

possible, and I don't have the tools or time to analyze it here.

Famous Funnies

Jan 37 485,136

Feb 37 460,468

Mar 37 380,427

Apr 37 396,371

May 37 351,913

Jun 37 371,202

Jul 37 438,824

Aug 37 485,151

Sep 37 530,824

Oct 37 440,837

Nov 37 429,298

Dec 37 456,050

Jan 38 438,937

Feb 38 420,162

Mar 38 401,002

Apr 38 349,070

May 38 324,698

Jun 38 323,795

Jul 38 378,122

Aug 38 373,295

Sep 38 425,970

Oct 38 343,233

Nov 38 312,589

Dec 38 331,827

Jan 39 357,386

Feb 39 356,893

Mar 39 348,914

Apr 39 334,377

May 39 280,350

Jun 39 328,153

Jul 39 367,736

Aug 39 389,005

Sep 39 408,545

Oct 39 311,541

Nov 39 310,173

Dec 39 327,685

Jan 40 329,629

Feb 40 319,277

Mar 40 266,483

Apr 40 241,918

May 40 218,009

Jun 40 203,608

Jul 40 239,716

Aug 40 249,258

Sep 40 281,761

Oct 40 225,236

Nov 40 198,228

Dec 40 214,825

Jan 41 251,900

Feb 41 224,942

Mar 41 219,904

Apr 41 227,062

May 41 165,922

Jun 41 175,561

Jul 41 193,805

Aug 41 212,435

Sep 41 204,397

Oct 41 191,517

Nov 41 191,406

Dec 41 186,991

Jan 42 183,938

Feb 42 167,988

Mar 42 163,628

Apr 42 201,141

May 42 185,609

Jun 42 208,536

Street and Smith Publications, Inc. (Pulp magazine circulation listing

sampling)

Data is based on sales of the following pulps: Astounding Science

Fiction

(m), Clues-Detective (m), Crime Busters (m), Detective Story (m), Doc

Savage

(m), Love Story (w), Romantic Range (m), The Shadow (sm), Smart Love

Stories

(m), Sport Story (sm), Unknown (m), Western Story (w), and Wild West

Weekly

(w). "m" denotes monthly; "sm" denotes semi-monthly; and "w" denotes

weekly.

Jul 38 861,805 Nov 38 925,413 Mar 39 993,106

Aug 38 940,995 Dec 38 937,488 Apr 39 960,127

Sep 38 908,271 Jan 39 952,346 May 39 881,480

Oct 38 916,097 Feb 39 977,928 Jun 39 817,628

What I find incredible about the figures above is how low the pulp

magazine

circulation figures are, per issue, at this juncture. By my rough

estimation (which is complicated by the combination of weekly, monthly

and

semi-monthlies in the circulation figures), it looks like Street and

Smith

pulps only averaged about 40,000 - 50,000 copies sold per issue!

Depending

on how pulp production costs compared to comics, the comics may have

been a

lot more lucrative, based on their far larger average circulations. It

surprised the hell out of me, to say the least. This also means, boys

and

girls, that pulp magazines are probably far more rare than their

4-color

counterparts by a factor of 10! This holds true with the pulps

published by

Popular Publications and Thrilling from the same time frame, of which I

also

have figures. For example, Popular Publications' average monthly sales

were

about 1,500,000 during 1938, based on the sales from 26 titles. Using

quick

math, average monthly sales were, at best, in the 59,000 range.

Figuring in

Popular's weekly titles would probably knock that amount down even

more. By

comparison, the sales figures from Golden Age comics kicks butt! How

about

THEM apples!!!

Detective Comics Group, consisting of Action, Adventure, Detective and

More

Fun Comics

Jul 38 494,136

Aug 38 596,480

Sep 38 639,027

Oct 38 647,599

Nov 38 604,671

Dec 38 667,166

Jan 39 709,879

Feb 39 751,549

Mar 39 795,029

Apr 39 830,163

May 39 895,866

Jun 39 955,203

Jul 39 1,081,564

Aug 39 1,299,364

Sep 39 1,393,010

Oct 39 1,432,218

Nov 39 1,406,917

Dec 39 1,465,712

Jan 40 1,585,654

Feb 40 1,828,124

Mar 40 1,823, 896

Apr 40 1,810,849

May 40 1,808,054

Jun 40 1,594,200

Jul 40 1,627,640

Aug 40 1,861,608

Sep 40 1,900,028

Oct 40 1,898,962

Nov 40 1,880,820

Dec 40 1,755,773

Jan 41 1,928,672

Feb 41 2,068,866

Mar 41 1,749,874

Apr 41 1,728,487

May 41 1,685,821

Jun 41 1,318,985

Jul 41 1,332,540

Aug 41 1,403,395

Sep 41 1,549,118

Oct 41 1,381,544

Nov 41 1,181,324

Dec 41 1,233,261

Note: Beginning with January 1942, Star Spangled Comics has been added

to

the Detective Comics group's circulation totals, making a total of five

titles in the group.

Jan 42 1,363,886

Feb 42 1,364,307

Mar 42 1,509,812

Apr 42 1,360,771

May 42 1,347,487

Jun 42 1,338,917

Jul 42 1,462,750

Aug 42 1,505,136

Sep 42 1,839,439

Oct 42 1,966,019

Nov 42 2,013,468

Dec 42 1,847,213

Note: Beginning with January 1943, Detective Comics Group was

redesignated

National Comics Group, incorporating 11 titles from four "different"

companies. Detective Comics, Inc., included Action, Adventure, Batman,

Detective, More Fun, and Star-Spangled Comics; JoLaine Publications,

Inc.,

published Green Lantern Comics; J.R. Publishing Co., included

All-American,

Flash, and Sensation Comics; and Superman, Inc., published Superman

Comics.

This clumping of titles makes it more difficult to guesstimate

individual

title circulations.

Jan 43 4,772,559

Feb 43 5,170,229

Mar 43 4,780,450

Apr 43 4,134,302

May 43 4,191,653

Jun 43 3,898,392

Note: Some comics historians have speculated that there was a surge in

comic sales during World War II due to the fact that many

servicemembers

supposedly read comics in great numbers. A note in the ABC circulation

pamphlet for average sales for the six months ending June 30, 1943

casts

serious doubt on that theory. The note read as follows: "Net single

copy

sales to Men in Service averaging 3,261 copies per group (per month),

representing copies sold in bulk to War Department." The reason the

note

says "per group" is because also included in the pamphlet were the

circulation figures for National's "Quarterly Unit," which I haven't

included in this 'zine. In any case, an average of only 3,261 copies

of

National's comics per month went directly to the War Department's PXs

in

1943. The rest of the average circulation per month (4,226,613) were

sold by

newsdealers. So direct sales of National's comics to the War

Department was

really just a paltry drop in the bucket. This is not to say that GIs

didn't

buy comics at their local Walgreens or something and carry them to

places

overseas. But there was apparently nothing like the equivalent

government

sponsored paperback program for the comics industry - at least not in

1943.

Note: Data from Jul 43 through Jun 44 not transcribed. Circulation

data

below is still based on the 11 National Comics Group titles listed

earlier.

Jul 44 4,738,317

Aug 44 4,945,727

Sep 44 5,269,861

Oct 44 5,362,669

Nov 44 5,328,510

Dec 44 5,019,734

Jan 45 5,144,925

Feb 45 5,401,673

Mar 45 5,317,467

Apr 45 4,925,711

May 45 4,540,463

Jun 45 4,518,967

Note: Data from Jul 45 through Jun 49 not transcribed. Circulation

data

below is for National Comics' Blue Unit, which consists of the

following 19

titles: Action, Star Spangled, Sensation, All American Western, Batman,

Date

With Judy, Leave it to Binky, Funny Folks, Real Screen, Superboy, Mr.

District Attorney, Wonder Woman, World's Finest, Buzzy, Animal Antics,

Alan

Ladd, Jimmy Wakely, Peter Porkchops, and Miss Melody Lane.

Jul 49 3,372,786

Aug 49 4,065,464

Sep 49 4,421,716

Oct 49 4,091,799

Nov 49 4,181,928

Dec 49 3,917,153

Jan 50 3,854,656

Feb 50 4,334,984

Mar 50 3,913,729

Apr 50 4,010,162

May 50 3,448,955

Jun 50 3,729,116

Note: Circulation data below is for National Comics' Red Unit, which

consists of the following 20 titles: Detective, Adventure, Funny

Stuff,

Mutt & Jeff, Gangbusters, All Star, Comic Cavalcade, Leading, Scribbly,

Ozzie & Harriet, Superman, Dale Evans, Miss Beverly Hills, Romance

Trail,

Western, Boy Commandos, Real Facts, Bob Hope, Peter Porkchops

(Transferred

from Blue Group Jan/Feb 50), and Feature Films.

Jul 49 3,758,229

Aug 49 3,546,216

Sep 49 4,521,347

Oct 49 3,899,713

Nov 49 3,696,278

Dec 49 3,556,656

Jan 50 3,585,858

Feb 50 4,225,909

Mar 50 4,004,854

Apr 50 3,943,393

May 50 3,379,022

Jun 50 3,589,073

Fawcett Comics Group. Circulation data below is for Fawcett's Blue

Unit,

which consists of the following 4 titles: Whiz (every 4 weeks); Master

(monthly to Oct., then every 4 weeks); Wow (quarterly until Aug., then

bi-monthly); and Captain Marvel Jr. (established Oct. 42).

Jul 42 577,278

Aug 42 878,143

Sep 42 756,853

Oct 42 793,441

Nov 42 1,302,124

Dec 42 1,064,024

Note: Circulation data below is for Fawcett's Red Unit, which consists

of

the following 3 titles: Captain Marvel Adventures (every 4 weeks);

Captain

Midnight (every six weeks until Nov, then monthly); and Funny Animals

(monthly).

Jul 42 479,674

Aug 42 573,717

Sep 42 651,935

Oct 42 979,063

Nov 42 952,352

Dec 42 1,324,599

Note: By Jan 44, the circulation for Whiz Comics had increased such

that

Fawcett decided to give the title a separate ABC listing. Thus, the

following data is for Whiz Comics only:

Jan 44 788,871

Feb 44 779,920

Mar 44 779,899

Apr 44 775,230

May 44 763,432

Jun 44 755,229

Jul 44 696,639

Aug 44 735,306

Sep 44 739,325

Oct 44 732,217

Nov 44 712,549

Dec 44 No issue

Note: By Jan 44, the circulation for Captain Marvel Adventures had

increased such that Fawcett decided to give the title a separate ABC

listing. Thus, the following data is for Captain Marvel Adventures

only:

Jan 44 1,245,600

Feb 44 1,340,299

Mar 44 1,364,090

Apr 44 1,339,859

May 44 1,360,051

Jun 44 1,285,516

Jul 44 1,157,530

Aug 44 1,250,661

Sep 44 1,264,668

Oct 44 1,239,036

Nov 44 1,213,412

Dec 44 No issue

Magazine House Group. Circulation data below consists of the

circulations of

the following three titles: Boy Comics, Crime Does Not Pay, and

Daredevil.

Aug/Sep 44 1,854,000

Oct/Nov 44 1,882,397

Dec/Jan 45 1,856,624

Feb/Mar 45 1,980,553

Apr/May 45 1,968,834

Archie Comics Group. The circulation data below is based on the

circulations of the following six titles of the group: Archie, Laugh,

Pep,

Wilbur, Super Duck, and Suzie.

Jul/Aug 49 3,559,964

Sep/Oct 49 3,813,941

Nov/Dec 49 3,477,429

Jan/Feb 50 3,671,906

Mar/Apr 50 3,645,549

May/Jun 50 3,358,622

Russ Maheras

russell.maheras@osan.af.mil

Russ Maheras wrote:

>Bob

>The article below is a perfect example of a glaring circulation error

in

>understanding by whoever wrote this back in 1950:

>

>>"1950 (July): COMIC SALES CLIMB

>Newest Tabulation by ABC ID Leaders

>In Same Top Four Positions of S-M Box Score

>

>>The strength of Independently-distributed comics is reflected in the

current

>S-M News Co's BOX SCORE, an authoritative and reliable guide for

display of

>periodicals. The Audit Buerau of Circulations (popularly known as

"ABC")

>which compiles the sales performances of magazines so accurately, also

shows

>that 14 of 22 comics publishers reporting sales are from the

>Independently-distributed family.

>Those titles with the ID symbol accounted for a total of 3,881,519

average

>newsstand sales per issue during the last six months of 1949. The

gain in

>average sales per issue over the same period of 1948 was 906,129

(though one

>publisher was unreported in the 1948 period). This is certainly an

>excellent showing and one in which every dealer must be keenly

aware."<<

>Whoever wrote this, did not understand what he was looking at. The

number

>"3,881,519 average newstand sales per issue" should actually say "per

>month." These numbers are for the entire GROUP, per month, and have

been

>misconstrued as a single issue number. It ISN'T, and if you looked at

as

>many of the ABC pamphlets on microfiche as I did, you'd understand.

This

>guy is assuming he's looking at a single magazine, like Time or

Reader's

>Digest. But comics and pulp magazines usually were lumped together in

a

>group. "Famous Funnies" was one of the few exceptions. Occasionally,

>another single title would pop up, as did "Captain Marvel Adventures"

in

>1944, mainly due to the fact that its circulation had by then

consistently

>jumped over the 1 million mark each and every month. But single comic

book

>titles with their own ABC listing were NOT the norm. That article is

a big

>time error in fact!

Actually, what the distribution fellow who wrote the COMICS SALES CLIMB

article for the July 1950 NEWSDEALER has one do is divide the number

3,881,519 by 6 since it is a 6 month's accumulated number. That is how

i

interpret the paragraph. One gets an average monthly number of 646,920

that way for all comics published using that number. Is this closer to

what you show from ABC records?

Back in 1950, when these numbers were "new", there most likely were

more of

them to use for statistical purposes. Now, 50 years later, all we have

are

ABC, Avery's, and a few other sources which all have to be taken with a

few

grains of salt before we use any as gospel.

However, your take on the numbers game might be entirely correct. Me,

I

just want the "truth" for my book as near as we can collectively figure

out. I surely appreciate you sending me all that ABC circulation info

you

spent the time to transcribe.

Bob Klein had already done the Avery's numbers so that saved me a lot

of

work digging those out. Do you have those numbers? I (or Bob Klein)

could send them onto you you if you need them.

Maybe in the near future we will get that much closer to a partial

reality.

>Regarding this info you provided:

>"Superman-DC Publications, we can say with full authority, sold

26,264,000

>copies in the first four months of 1945 . . . and 34,020,000 copies in

the

>same period od 1946 - a gain of 29 per cent!"

>

>Superman-DC Publications means EVERY title DC puts out.

That is exactly what the NEWSDEALER writer was saying. Group sales.

>Divide the first

>number by four, and you get a publishing house monthly sales average

of

>6,566,000. In 1945, how many titles was DC publishing? If you only

count

>the 11 they had ABC tally in 1944, you get an average monthly

circulation

>per individual title of about 597,000. That's very, very consistent

with

>the data I've dug up. And by 1946, I'll bet my paycheck DC's total

number of

>monthly titles was 20 or more, pumping up the group's total

circulation even

>though INDIVIDUAL titles' circulations may have been dropping.

>Russ Maheras

Here is the list of titles used for this article as DC listed them back

then in this ad trying to show circulations were OK and actually

growing.

Of course any company wants to bend statistics to make them in the most

favorable light possible.

Action

Adventure

All-American

All-Flash

All-Funny

All-Star

Batman

Boy Commandos

Buzzy

Comic Cavalcade

Detective

Flash

Funny Folk

Funny Stuff

Green Lantern

Leading

More Fun

Mutt & Jeff

Real Fact

Real Screen

Sensation

Star Spangled

Superman

Wonder Woman

World's Finest

A total of 25 altogether. Obviously, SUPERMAN and a few others were

much

higher than the average norm. Maybe books like the 25 cent COMIC

CAVALCADE

or MORE FUN were lower. These are a year or two before the radical

format

changes from super heroes to funny animals, war and western - or

cancelation.

Robert Beerbohm

I dug out my notebook to transcribe the Audit Bureau of Circulations

circulation data that was not published in CAPA-alpha 399, and after

thumbing through the pages, it looks like there's more data left than I

realized. This may take several more installments. If a title or

company

is not listed in this data or the previous data I sent out, then it was

not

an ABC member during that time frame, and thus, no ABC circulation data

exists.

Remaining 1937 data:

Dell Comics Group: This two title group consists of "The Funnies" and

"Popular Comics." The numbers below are the monthly circulation totals

for

both titles put together. So obviously, average monthly circulation

for one

title would be approximately half.

Jul 1937 - 463,262

Aug 1937 - 544,981

Sep 1937 - 562,411

Oct 1937 - 557,599

Nov 1937 - 471,724

Dec 1937 - 460,154

Jan 1938 - 486,936

Feb 1938 - 503,688

Mar 1938 - 465,838

Apr 1938 - 410,804

May 1938 - 328,401

Jun 1938 - 278,661

Feature Funnies: Note that this is a single title entry, making the

monthly

circulation easy to track.

Jan 1938 - 240,014

Feb 1938 - 250,432

Mar 1938 - 231,555

Apr 1938 - 227,622

May 1938 - 221,928

Jun 1938 - 245,757

Mickey Mouse Magazine: 10 cents per copy. Note that this is a single

title

entry, making the monthly circulation easy to track.

Jan 1937 - 109,685

Feb 1937 - 95,663

Mar 1937 - 94,782

Apr 1937 - 95,508

May 1937 - 95,936

Jun 1937 - 85,395

Jul 1937 - 91,474

Aug 1937 - 111,355

Sep 1937 - 106,800

Oct 1937 - 91,169

Nov 1937 - 95,069

Dec 1937 - 112,436

Tip Top Comics: Note that this is a single title entry, making the

monthly

circulation easy to track.

Jan 1937 - 308,083

Feb 1937 - 320,366

Mar 1937 - 297,684

Apr 1937 - 286,310

May 1937 - 287,258

Jun 1937 - 269,938

Jul 1937 -- 351,196

Aug 1937 - 381,762

Sep 1937 - 404,793

Oct 1937 - 358,464

Nov 1937 - 379,834

Dec 1937 - 364,756

Remaining 1938 data:

Comics on Parade: Note that this is a single title entry, making the

monthly

circulation easy to track.

Apr 1938 - 194,358 (first issue)

May 1938 - 153,164

Jun 1938 - 160,361

Jul 1938 - 189,362

Aug 1938 - 219,642

Sep 1938 - 236,052

Oct 1938 - 189,265

Nov 1938 - 177,173

Dec 1938 - 203,100

Dell Super Comics Group (Apparently, I did not transcribe this group

from

the microfilm for the 1938 year - can't remember why - so I don't have

any

data available)

Feature Comics: Note that this is a single title entry, making the

monthly

circulation easy to track.

Jul 1938 - 248,622

Aug 1938 - 272,131

Sep 1938 - 324,134

Oct 1938 - 299,688

Nov 1938 - 253,757

Dec 1938 - 302,106

Jan 1939 - 304,798

Feb 1939 - 323,532

Mar 1939 - 316,196

Apr 1939 - 282,337

May 1939 - 284,645

Jun 1939 - 280,169

Popular Publications -- Note: this is for the pulp magazine group,

consisting of 26 titles. To figure approximate average circulation for

one

title (which is about all you can do under this group lump sum format),

divide the numbers below by 26. I'm not going to list all the pulps in

this

group, but they include stuff like Adventure, The Spider, Dime Mystery,

Terror Tales, Rangeland Romances, Captain Satan, etc. If you REALLY

have to

know, e-mail me separately.

Jan 1938 - 1,836,466

Feb 1938 - 1,845,240

Mar 1938 - 1,809,954

Apr 1938 - 1,544,651

May 1938 - 1,447,181

Jun 1938 - 1,362,691

Jul 1938 - 1,326,365

Aug 1938 - 1,382,064

Sep 1938 - 1,409,193

Oct 1938 - 1,503,569

Nov 1938 - 1,503,096

Dec 1938 - 1,468,209

Tip Top Comics: Note that this is a single title entry, making the

monthly

circulation easy to track.

Jan 1938 - 354,822

Feb 1938 - 354,432

Mar 1938 - 347,751

Apr 1938 - 324,717

May 1938 - 322,364

Jun 1938 - 265,336

Jul 1938 - 316,315

Aug 1938 - 366,104

Sep 1938 - 424,781

Oct 1938 - 333,340

Nov 1938 - 318,812

Dec 1938 - 320,556

That's it for this installment. More to follow. Hope some of you find

this

data useful.

Russ Maheras

Here's even more historical comic book circulation data from the

microfilm

rolls of the Audit Bureau of Circulations in Schaumburg, Ill. If a

title or

company is not listed in this or previous data, then it was not an ABC

member during that time frames listed, and thus, no ABC circulation

data

exists.

Remaining 1939 data:

Comics on Parade: Note that this is a single title entry, making the

monthly

circulation easy to track.

Jan 1939 - 195,849

Feb 1939 - 206,395

Mar 1939 - 204,154

Apr 1939 - 200,402

May 1939 - 182,910

Jun 1939 - 164,320

Jul 1939 - 192,180

Aug 1939 - 273,128

Sep 1939 - 271,383

Oct 1939 - 197,510

Nov 1939 - 217,154

Dec 1939 - 196,237

Dell Super Comics Group. This group consisted of four titles: The

Funnies,

Popular Comics, Crackajack Funnies, and Super Comics. I don't know

what

this means, but the circulation for this group is broken down by

"Dell,"

"Whitman," and "total" each month. (D) denotes Dell; (W) denotes

Whitman;

and (T) denotes total. A "---" denotes that there was no tally in that

category for that month.

Jan 1939 - (D) 312,736; (W) 391,943; (T) 704,679

Feb 1939 - (D) 343,533; (W) --- ; (T) 343,533

Mar 1939 - (D) --- ; (W) 355,170; (T) 355,170

Apr 1939 - (D) 294,072; (W) 319,799; (T) 613,871

May 1939 - (D) 319,125; (W) 331,380; (T) 650,505

Jun 1939 - (D) 278,997; (W) 300,337; (T) 579,334

Jul 1939 - (D) 350,832; (W) 328,609; (T) 679,441

Aug 1939 - (D) 413,016; (W) 409,123; (T) 822,139

Sep 1939 - (D) 463,568; (W) 406,253; (T) 869,821

Oct 1939 - (D) 410,774; (W) 388,963; (T) 799,737

Nov 1939 - (D) 348,739; (W) 370,442; (T) 719,181

Dec 1939 - (D) 356,125; (W) 311,098; (T) 667,223

Feature Comics. Note that this is a single title entry, making the

monthly

circulation easy to track.

Jul 1939 - 310,910

Aug 1939 - 327,483

Sep 1939 - 387,914

Oct 1939 - 355,660

Nov 1939 - 305,721

Dec 1939 - 320,961

Jan 1940 - 312,567

Feb 1940 - 339,588

Mar 1940 - 284,220

Apr 1940 - 258,072

May 1940 - 227,463

Jun 1940 - 184,045

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

Tip Top Comics. Note that this is a single title entry, making the

monthly

circulation easy to track.

Jan 1939 - 354,845

Feb 1939 - 341,378

Mar 1939 - 386,103

Apr 1939 - 347,569

May 1939 - 342,227

Jun 1939 - 326,893

Jul 1939 - 351,794

Aug 1939 - 420,351

Sep 1939 - 441,618

Oct 1939 - 409,269

Nov 1939 - 333,833

Dec 1939 - 348,630

That's it for now. More to follow.

Russ Maheras

Deja vu all over again. Here's even more historical comic book

circulation data from the microfilm rolls of the Audit Bureau of

Circulations in Schaumburg, Ill. If a title or company is not listed

in this or previous data, then it was not an ABC member during that

time frames listed, and thus, no ABC circulation data exists.

Remaining 1940 data (some '41 data mixed in):

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

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

consisted of the following eight titles - Feature Comics, Smash

Comics, Crack Comics, Hit Comics, National Comics, Police Comics, The

Doll Man Quarterly, and Uncle Sam Quarterly. To calculate the average

monthly circulation of any one title in the group, divide the numbers

below by eight. I'm not sure which months the quarterly issues were

published. This info is in the ABC pamphlet, but I did not have time

to copy down all the additional detailed data.

Jul 1940 - 773,361

Aug 1940 - 854,238

Sep 1940 -- 1,064,712

Oct 1940 - 1,117,508

Nov 1940 - 1,014,636

Dec 1940 - 1,055,832

Jan 1941 - 1,114,935

Feb 1941 - 1,202,213

Mar 1941 - 1,070,922

Apr 1941 - 1,007,391

May 1941 - 939,261

Jun 1941 - 774,450

Jul 1941 - 1,195,820

Aug 1941 - 1,286,912

Sep 1941 - 1,810,589

Oct 1941 - 1,276,592

Nov 1941 - 1,096,423

Dec 1941 - 1,130,534

United Feature Comics Group: During the reporting period, the United

Feature group consisted of the following five titles - Comics on

Parade, Okay Comics, Sparkler Comics, Tip Top Comics, and United

Comics. To calculate the average monthly circulation of any one title

in the group, divide the numbers below by five. I do not know why

there was a spike in circulation during the months of July and August

1940.

Jan 1940 - 503,187

Feb 1940 - 593,926

Mar 1940 - 435,624

Apr 1940 - 512,717

May 1940 - 376,679

Jun 1940 - 336,986

Jul 1940 - 862,860

Aug 1940 - 796,664

Sep 1940 - 498,048

Oct 1940 - 291,048

Nov 1940 - 250,454

Dec 1940 - 275,316

Remaining 1941 data

All American Comics Group (JR Publishing Company): This group had to

be a subsidiary of DC/National, otherwise they were later bought out

by them. The All American group consisted of the following two titles

- All American Comics and Flash Comics. To calculate the average

monthly circulation of any one title in the group, divide the numbers

below by two.

Jan 1941 - 523,973

Feb 1941 - 646, 720

Mar 1941 - 540,587

Apr 1941 - 550,854

May 1941 - 505,896

Jun 1941 - 446,891

Jul 1941 - 460,034

Aug 1941 - 477,177

Sep 1941 - 529,259

Oct 1941 - 510,076

Nov 1941 - 451,769

Dec 1941 - 423,242

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

consisted of the following nine titles - Feature Comics, Smash Comics,

Crack Comics, Hit Comics, National Comics, Police Comics, Military

Comics, The Doll Man Quarterly, and Uncle Sam Quarterly. To calculate

the average monthly circulation of any one title in the group, divide

the numbers below by nine. I'm not sure which months the quarterly

issues were published. This info is in the ABC pamphlet, but I did

not have time to copy down all the additional detailed data.

Jul 1940 - 773,361

Aug 1940 - 854,238

Sep 1940 - 1,064,712

Oct 1940 - 1,117,508

Nov 1940 - 1,014,636

Dec 1940 - 1,055,832

Jan 1941 - 1,114,935

Feb 1941 - 1,202,213

Mar 1941 - 1,070,922

Apr 1941 - 1,007,391

May 1941 - 939,261

Jun 1941 - 774,450

Jul 1941 - 1,195,820

Aug 1941 - 1,286,912

Sep 1941 - 1,810,589

Oct 1941 - 1,276,592

Nov 1941 - 1,096,423

Dec 1941 - 1,130,534

Th-th-th that's all, folks! More to follow...

Here's the fifth chunk of data I gleaned from the microfilm files of

the Audit Bureau of Circulations in Schaumburg, Ill.

Remaining data from 1941 through 1943

United Features Comics group: Consisted of the following titles - Tip

Top Comics (monthly), Comics on Parade (quarterly), and Sparkler

Comics (monthly). Since the numbers below are the sum total of the

circulations of all three titles combined, and Comics on Parade is a

quarterly, it's easy to see from the data that COP was probably

published in January, April, July, and October of 1941. I'm not sure

why December's numbers are so large, however.

Jan 1941 - 657,095

Feb 1941 - 314,720

Mar 1941 - 311,102

Apr 1941 - 668,811

May 1941 - 295,312

Jun 1941 - 253,433

Jul 1941 - 776,090

Aug, 1941 - 513,701

Sep, 1941 - 545,863

Oct 1941 - 853,058

Nov 1941 - 269,992

Dec 1941 - 779,410

Street & Smith Comics Group: The S&S group consisted of the following

eight titles - Army and Navy Comics, Bill Barnes American Ace Comics,

Doc Savage Comics, Pioneer Picture Stories, Shadow Comics, Sports

Comics (later True Sports Picture Stories), Super Magician Comics, and

Trail Blazer Comics (later Trail Blazer Picture Stories). I'm not

sure why the circulation data for the group below is reported only on

a quarterly basis, unless these were all quarterly titles. If they ARE

all quarterlies, then to calculate the average circulation of any one

title, divide the figures below by eight. Otherwise, go punt -

because I don't have a clue how to guesstimate the individual

circulations at this point.

Third quarter 1941 - 1,082,466

Fourth quarter 1941 - 1,405,278

All American Comics Group: The All American group consisted of the

following three titles (one more than in last year's reporting period)

- All American Comics, Flash Comics, and Sensation Comics. To

estimate the average monthly circulation of any one title, divide the

numbers below by three.

Jan 1942 -- 607,025

Feb 1942 -- 649,188

Mar 1942 -- 629,683

Apr 1942 -- 589,121

May 1942 -- 641,492

Jun 1942 -- 596,154

Jul 1942 - 627,290

Aug 1942 - 691,572

Sep 1942 - 806,603

Oct 1942 - 889,803

Nov 1942 - 929,709

Dec 1942 - 970,744

Comic House Group: The Comic House Group consisted of the following

three bimonthly titles - Boy Comics, Crime Does Not Pay, and

Daredevil. To figure out the average bimonthly circulation totals for

any one title, divide the total by three.

Jan-Feb 1943 - 767,929

Mar-Apr 1943 - 838,491

May-Jun 1943 - 923,991

Famous Funnies/Heroic Comics Group. When this ABC reporting period

started, the only title being tracked was Famous Funnies. Part-way

through the reporting period, the publisher added another title to the

tracking process, in effect making a group of two titles. And from

the looks of the numbers, Heroic comics must have started out as a

bimonthly.

Jul 1942 - 205,493 (FF only)

Aug 1942 - 226,995 (FF only)

Sep 1942 - 279,705 (FF only)

Oct 1942 - 237,332 (FF only)

Nov 1942 - 234,611 (FF only)

Dec 1942 - 407,395

Jan 1943 - 265,717

Feb 1943 - 407,165

Mar 1943 - 266,753

Apr 1943 - 469,819

May 1943 - 273,623

Jun 1943 - 524,723

National Comics Group (Quarterly Unit): National's quarterly unit was

separate from their monthly unit, and consisted of the following seven

titles - All-Star Comics (BM), Comic Cavalcade (Q), All-Flash Comics

(BM), Wonder Woman (BM), Boy Commandos (Q), Leading Comics (Q), and

World's Finest Comics (Q). What really makes these numbers difficult

to make individual title circulation assumptions from is the fact that

there are bimonthly titles mixed with quarterlies in the final

circulation tallies. I think the best way to guess an individual

title's average unit circulation is to divide each quarterly total

below by 10. This is assuming the three bimonthly titles would have

two issues published in any quarterly period. Hence, quarterlies (4)

+ bimonthlies (3x2=6) gives you a total of 10 equivalent units per

quarter. (BM) denotes bimonthly; (Q) denotes quarterly.

First quarter 1943 - 3,707,593

Second quarter 1943 - 4,752,155

Quality Comics Group: The Quality group consisted of the following

nine titles - Feature Comics, Doll Man Quarterly, Smash Comics, Crack

Comics, Hit Comics, Military Comics, National Comics, Police Comics,

and Uncle Sam Quarterly. The ABC pamphlets break down which month the

quarterly issues are published, unfortunately, I did not have time to

copy all that info down. Keep in mind the numbers below are the

cumulative totals of ALL titles published in that month.

Jan 1942 - 1,117,696

Feb 1942 - 1,243,309

Mar 1942 - 865,696

Apr 1942 - 765,426

May 1942 - 711,809

Jun 1942 - 964,086

Jul 1942 - 1,006,411

Aug 1942 - 913,406

Sep 1942 - 1,419,546

Oct 1942 - 1,702,093

Nov 1942 - 1,327,729

Dec 1942 - 1,863,778

Street & Smith Comics Group: The S&S group consists of the following

titles (Due to a little confusion in my notes on my part, I'm placing

question marks in the two places I'm not sure about) - Army and Navy

Comics (becomes Supersnipe???), Bill Barnes America's Ace Comics, Doc

Savage Comics, Pioneer Picture Stories, Shadow Comics, Super Magician

Comics, Trail Blazers Picture Stories (becomes Red Dragon???), and

True Sport Picture Stories. Again, I don't know if these are all

quarterly titles or not, it's just that they were only reported by ABC

on a quarterly basis. The numbers below are cumulative totals of all

books in the group.

First quarter 1942 - 1,247,032

Second quarter 1942 -- 1,541,438

Third quarter 1942 - 1,912,254

Fourth quarter 1942 - 2,263,605

True Comics: This is one title, making the actual monthly circulation

a no-brainer.

July 1942 - 272,866

Aug 1942 - 304,088

Sep 1942 - 344,466

Oct 1942 - 346,636

Nov 1942 - 337,841

Dec 1942 - 324,303

That's it for this time around -- there's more to follow.

Any help that can be obtained from possible older DC archives would be

appreciated. I have been conducting an intensive examination of the

scope

and breadth of the entire comics field.

***********************************

Detective Comics Group

consisting of Action, Adventure, Detective and More Fun Comics

extrapolating figures Russ obtained from Audit Bureau of Circulation

and other information I have gotten from Mike Uslan. Maybe Mike has

more

info.

Unless I missed something in Russ's posts, we only have A.B.C. sales

figures from July 1938 onwards. Anything earlier?

TOTAL SALES ACTION SALES DIFFERENCE AVERAGE OF

for all four titles OTHER THREE

#1 130,000 *

Jul 38 494,136 #2 136,000 358,136 119,379

Aug 38 596,480 #3 159,000 437,480 145,827

Sep 38 639,027 #4 190,000 449,027 149,675

Oct 38 647,599 #5 197,000 450,599 150,200

Nov 38 604,671 #6 195,000 409,671 136,557

Dec 38 667,166 #7 222,000 * 445,166 148,389

Jan 39 709,879 #8 227,000 482,880 160,960

Feb 39 751,549 #9 263,000 488,549 162,850

Mar 39 795,029 10 316,000 * 479,029 159,676

Apr 39 830,163 11 340,000 490,163 163,388

May 39 895,866 12 375,000 520,866 173,622

Jun 39 955,203 13 415,000 * 540,203 180,068

Jul 39 1,081,564 14 445,000 636,564 212,188

Aug 39 1,299,364 15 550,000 * 749,364 249,788

Sep 39 1,393,010 16 625,000 768,010 256,003

Asterisk (*) denotes Superman cover. What this doesn't take into

account

is when DC listed SUPERMAN #1 (Summer) which appeared for sale in June

1939

with the following history:

#1 FIRST PRINT 500,000

#1 2ND PRINT 250,000

#1 3RD PRINT 150,000

TOTAL 900,000

***************************

We need to figure out when SUPERMAN #2 2nd and 3rd printings came out

to

factor the numbers plus SUPERMAN #2 appeared towards the end of 1939:

#2 FIRST PRINT 850,000

#2 2ND PRINT 150,000

TOTAL 1,000,000

to be worked upon yet:

Oct 39 1,432,218

Nov 39 1,406,917

Dec 39 1,465,712

Jan 40 1,585,654

Feb 40 1,828,124

plus NEW YORK WORLD'S FAIR 1939 figures into the mix for the above

numbers.

We need a reporting date if it was ever reported at all.

***************************************

Here are Russ's other ABC circ numbers for DC Comics so I can keep this

archive nice & tidy.

Mar 40 1,823, 896

Apr 40 1,810,849

May 40 1,808,054

Jun 40 1,594,200

Jul 40 1,627,640

Aug 40 1,861,608

Sep 40 1,900,028

Oct 40 1,898,962

Nov 40 1,880,820

Dec 40 1,755,773

Jan 41 1,928,672

Feb 41 2,068,866

Mar 41 1,749,874

Apr 41 1,728,487

May 41 1,685,821

Jun 41 1,318,985

Jul 41 1,332,540

Aug 41 1,403,395

Sep 41 1,549,118

Oct 41 1,381,544

Nov 41 1,181,324

Dec 41 1,233,261

Note: Beginning with January 1942, Star Spangled Comics has been added

to

the Detective Comics group's circulation totals, making a total of five

titles in the group.

Jan 42 1,363,886

Feb 42 1,364,307

Mar 42 1,509,812

Apr 42 1,360,771

May 42 1,347,487

Jun 42 1,338,917

Jul 42 1,462,750

Aug 42 1,505,136

Sep 42 1,839,439

Oct 42 1,966,019

Nov 42 2,013,468

Dec 42 1,847,213

All American Comics Group: The All American group consisted of the

following three titles (one more than in last year's reporting period)

- All American Comics, Flash Comics, and Sensation Comics. To

estimate the average monthly circulation of any one title, divide the

numbers below by three.

Jan 1942 -- 607,025

Feb 1942 -- 649,188

Mar 1942 -- 629,683

Apr 1942 -- 589,121

May 1942 -- 641,492

Jun 1942 -- 596,154

Jul 1942 -- 627,290

Aug 1942 -- 691,572

Sep 1942 -- 806,603

Oct 1942 -- 889,803

Nov 1942-- 929,709

Dec 1942 -- 970,744