Fool’s Gold: Searching for Longbox Treasure: Sales Figures!

So I like to paw through the back issue bins at conventions, judging books by their cover, buying cheap ($1-3) copies of old comics!  Usually it’s something from the Silver or Bronze Age, usually published by DC Comics.  (Marvel’s covers never seem to grab me…they might be well-designed, but there’s no “hook”.  Of course, it was Amazing Spider-Man #254 which got me hooked as a collector…)

I found quite a few interesting and fun comics at New York Comic Con.  The stories, for the most part, were fun, although a few had continued stories.  Sometimes the ads would be interesting, like a fly caught in amber, of companies long extinct, of toys long since forgotten.  But the best find?  Statements of Ownership!

What?  You don’t know what those are?  Well, we’ll let Beat Best Friend John Jackson Miller explain!

Q: When did circulation figures first appear in comics?

A: The Statement of Ownership, found in the most recent U.S. Code as Section 3685, Title 39 (it was once under Section 4369, Title 39), has been required of publishers who ship Second Class since the 19th Century. But it was in 1960 that it became the Statement of Ownership and Circulation, as that was the year that publishers were first required to list their average paid circulation for the year.

Second Class mail was used to ship magazines at a cheaper rate.  Once publishers qualified for this, once a year they had to publish some basic information, usually who owned the publisher, and circulation figures!  Not estimates, like the current numbers from Diamond, but the real deal!

So, what were numbers like back then?  Here’s a few snapshots!  BBF JJM has a bigger database.  Go spend a few hours at The Comic Chronicles (and try not to dispair)!

Wonder Woman #211

April-May 1974  (Date of filing, October 1, 1973)

Section 11A.  Total number copies print (Net Press Run)

Average number copies of each issue during preceding 12 months: 313,000

Actual number of copies of single issue published to filing date: 319,000

11B. Paid circulation

1.  Sales through dealers and carriers, street vendors and counter sales:

Average number copies of each issue during preceding 12 months: 145,054

Actual number of copies of single issue published to filing date: 121,585

[46% for the year, 38% for the latest month  Basic rule of newsstand sales: you print three copies to sell one.]

2. Mail subscriptions:

Average number copies of each issue during preceding 12 months: 717

Actual number of copies of single issue published to filing date: 1,009

[one-third of one percent of all copies printed were for subscriptions]

11C. Total paid circulation:

Average number copies of each issue during preceding 12 months: 145,771

Actual number of copies of single issue published to filing date: 122,594

11D. Free distribution by mail carrier or other means:

1. Samples, complimentary, and other free copies:

Average number copies of each issue during preceding 12 months: 100

Actual number of copies of single issue published to filing date: 100

2.  Copies distributed to news agents, but not sold:

Average number copies of each issue during preceding 12 months: 164, 709

Actual number of copies of single issue published to filing date: 195,255

[What happened to these unsold copies?  The covers were ripped off and sent back for credit.  The rest of the comic was supposed to be destroyed (sent to a landfill or recycled) but sometimes, these coverless comics were sold on the grey market.]

11E.  Total distirbution (Sum of C and D):

Average number copies of each issue during preceding 12 months: 310,580

Actual number of copies of single issue published to filing date: 317,949

11F.  Office use, left-over, unaccounted, spoiled after printing:

Average number copies of each issue during preceding 12 months: 2.420

Actual number of copies of single issue published to filing date: 1,051

11G.  Total (Sum of E & F–should equal net press run shown in A):

Average number copies of each issue during preceding 12 months: 313,000

Actual number of copies of single issue published to filing date: 319,000

Sales figures for Wonder Woman in the 1960s:

1960  213,000  (25)

1961  230,000  (29)

1962  215,000  (27)

1963  NO DATA

1964  NO DATA

1965  209,918  (64)

1966  220,168  (62)

1967  175,000  (76)

1968  166,365  (50)

1969  171,197  (44)

1973  145,054

— —

Got all that?  From now on, I’ll list everything by the section numbers, with the figures being annual and latest month.

Superboy #154

March 1969 (Date of Filing: October 1, 1968)

A.   892,000   992,000
B.1  531,000   590,000
B.2    1,135       819
C.   532,135   590,819
D.       386       386
..[No D.2, see F below.]
E.   532,521   591,205
F.   359,479   400,795
G.   892,000   992.000

Paid total circulation (C) equals 60%!

According to JJM, this series was #4, behind Superman, Archie, and Batman.  Charlton’s Fightin’ Army was the lowest selling title for that year, with paid circulation of 111,820.
—

World’s Finest Comics #165

March 1967 (Date of Filing: October 1, 1966)

A.    766,000   856,000
B.1.  508,000   580,000
B.2.    5,201     5,766
C.    513,201   585,766
D.        330       330
..[No D.2, see F below.]
E.    513,531   586,096
F.    252,469   269,904
G.    766,000   856,000

67%  sell-through!  Quite good!

#6 for the year.
—
Superboy #127

March 1966

Hmmm… a statement, but no numbers. Let’s see if JJM has the numbers…

672,681 (#2 for 1965!)

— — — — —

This, of course, is quite different from today (although few publishers currently report Statements of Ownership).  Most sales are via the non-returnable Direct Market (and represent sales to retailers, not to actual readers like in the 1960s), but the sales data does not differentiate between newsstands, comics shops, or other retailers.  Subscription fulfillment rates are higher.  Was it unusual for children to subscribe to magazines in the 1960s?  (It was sort of a big deal for me as a child in the 1970s.)

For Amazing Spider-Man in 2008, only 17,515 of 125,019 copies (average) were returned.  If that number represents a 2/3 return rate, then roughly 26,000 copies were distributed through newsstands.

Will digital comics return comics to the numbers of the 1960s?  How will we know?  Does the Audit Bureau of Circulations track comics publishers, either in print or via consolidated media reports?  (And do digital comics contain advertisements?)  Or do we rely on graphic novel sales to track influence from single issues, since digital copies, either paid or pirated, encourage sales of paper editions?  Or will we have to rely on creators royalty statements?  How do you audit those sales, if there are no independent agencies tabulating sales?

Periodical comics existed for twenty years before the federal government required publishers to file Statements of Ownership, so much of the data before then is general or apocryphal.  Even now, many publishers do not ship comics via Second Class (such as DC), so even that data source is unreliable or sparse.

Like an advertisement for some long forgotten toy or novelty, these Statements provide a nice look back at a bygone era.  Like a gorilla or motorcycle on the cover, they provide a bit of fun for collectors.