A look at some old sales information–in this case, from 1966.
April 28, 2007 | 1:00 AM | By Tom_Brevoort | In General
Continuing our discussions of sales figures, the following information is cribbed from John Jackson Miller’s Comics Chronicles site (www.comichron.com). Among other things, John is attempting to catalogue the sales numbers for every title for every year, working off of the best information available to him. In this case, the Statements of Ownership that publishers were required to print by the Post Office in order to secure second-class mailing permits for subscription copies.
This year, 1966, is the first in which there were Statements for most all of the assorted Marvel titles–and by this time, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN has just started to outsell FANTASTIC FOUR. This is also the year that the Batman television show debuted, which propelled the character’s solo title to the top of the sales charts (look at the difference between BATMAN and DETECTIVE COMICS, which also starred Batman.)
John’s got info compiled already for the rest of the 1960s, for anybody who wants to take a look (including the mind-bending fact that, in 1969, ARCHIE was the best-selling title in all of comicdom, a reality that few are aware of, I’d gather.)
Title Publisher Circulation
1) Batman DC 898,470
2) Superman DC 719,976
3) Superboy DC 608,386
4) Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane DC 530,808
5) Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen
DC 523,455
6) World’s Finest Comics DC 513,201
7) Archie Archie 491,691
8) Action Comics DC 491,135
9) Adventure Comics DC 481,234
10) Justice League of America DC 408,219
11) Detective Comics DC 404,339
12) Metal Men DC 396,506
13) Treasure Chest Catholic Guild 348,305
14) Walt Disney’s Comics & Stories Gold Key 346,250
15) Betty and Veronica Archie 342,295
16) Amazing Spider-Man Marvel 340,155
17) Tarzan Gold Key 338,052
18) Flintstones Gold Key 332,362
19) Fantastic Four Marvel 329,379
20) Flash DC 325,404
21) Life with Archie Archie 300,954
22) Uncle Scrooge Gold Key 297,516
23) Thor Marvel 296,251
24) Archie’s Pal Jughead Archie 284,928
25) Laugh Comics Archie 282,731
26) Brave & Bold DC 279,406
27) Bugs Bunny Gold Key 276,949
28) Tom and Jerry Gold Key 271,920
29) Korak Gold Key 270,923
30) Avengers Marvel 269,994
31) Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos Marvel 268,499
32) The Three Stooges Gold Key 266,701
33) Walt Disney’s Donald Duck Gold Key 265,932
34) Archie’s Pals ‘n’ Gals Archie 265,476
35) Porky Pig Gold Key 261,850
36) Strange Tales Marvel 261,069
37) Twilight Zone Gold Key 259,703
38) Tales to Astonish Marvel 256,145
39) G.I. Combat DC 255,496
40) X-Men Marvel 255,070
41) Daffy Duck Gold Key 254,750
42) Mighty Samson Gold Key 254,725
43) Lost in Space Gold Key 253,025
44) Archie Giant Series Archie 252,427
45) Tales of Suspense Marvel 252,239
46) Showcase DC 250,512
47) Pep Comics Archie 248,718
48) Woody Woodpecker Gold Key 248,199
49) Yogi Bear Gold Key 247,356
50) Green Lantern DC 245,699
51) Turok, Son of Stone Gold Key 245,202
52) Little Lulu Gold Key 245,000
53) Our Army at War DC 243,906
54) Magnus Gold Key 236,304
55) Atom DC 232,850
56) Bonanza Gold Key 230,033
57) Blackhawk DC 228,453
58) Aquaman DC 228,403
59) Mickey Mouse Gold Key 225,716
60) Doctor Solar Gold Key 224,936
61) Phantom Gold Key/King 221,141
62) Wonder Woman DC 220,168
63) Madhouse Archie 220,056
64) Star-Spangled Comics DC 215,495
65) Kid Colt Outlaw Marvel 214,555
66) Tomahawk DC 212,954
67) Adventures of Jerry Lewis DC 211,934
68) Challengers of the Unknown DC 210,316
69) Our Fighting Forces DC 207,885
70) Little Archie Archie 206,321
71) Young Romance DC 204,613
72) Sad Sack Harvey 204,253
73) Rawhide Kid Marvel 202,823
74) Adventures of Bob Hope DC 194,004
75) Doom Patrol DC 191,420
76) Sugar & Spike DC 190,515
77) Millie the Model Marvel 190,217
78) Tales of the Unexpected DC 185,650
79) House of Mystery DC 183,934
80) Strange Adventures DC 174,922
81) Sea Devils DC 168,731
82) Unknown Worlds ACG 162,684
83) Thirteen Dell 161,231
84) Forbidden Worlds ACG 160,520
85) Adventures into the Unknown ACG 155,102
86) Teen-Age Love Charlton 148,813
87) Fox & The Crow DC 142,720
88) Army War Heroes Charlton 133,205
89) Fightin’ Army Charlton 129,514
90) Texas Rangers in Action Charlton 125,114
91) Outlaws of the West Charlton 124,813
92) Fightin’ Marines Charlton 123,517
93) Strange Suspense Stories Charlton 123,267
94) Cheyenne Kid Charlton 116,320
Average for comics 271,323
Magazines
Mad EC 1,635,612
More later.
Tom B
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