The first group is of titles for which U. S. Postal Service Statement of Ownership forms were filed in late 1973. The forms were published in early 1974 in the titles' letter columns. The accompanying numbers are the average per-issue paid circulations reported in the forms. The titles are listed from the highest sellers to the lowest.
An estimate is provided for one title, Archie's Josie and the Pussycats. It's not clear whether the series printed a Statement of Ownership in 1974 or not. But if it did, the form was not available for review.
Mad 2,059,236
Archie 345,087
Superman 309,318
Amazing Spider-Man 273,204
Archie’s Girls Betty and Veronica 249,541
World’s Finest 246,871
Action Comics 240,558
Superboy 238,992
Life with Archie 228,041
Fantastic Four 225,671
Laugh 219,111
Archie Giant Series 212,486
Jughead 211,450
Tarzan 209,790
Pep 205,082
Archie’s Pals ‘n’ Gals 201,791
Archie’s Joke Book 200,838
Batman 200,574
Betty and Me 198,142
Thor 195,239
Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen (Superman Family) 195,157
Archie and Me 190,892
Brave and the Bold 190,047
Incredible Hulk 187,318
Justice League of America 187,051
Avengers 185,039
Sgt. Fury 184,640
Little Archie 184,395
House of Mystery 178,025
Captain America 175,738
Daredevil 170,669
Adventure Comics 168,379
Reggie and Me 165,379
Unexpected 164,344
Flash 163,604
Our Army at War 163,221
Witching Hour 163,156
G. I. Combat 161,702
House of Secrets 160,154
Our Fighting Forces 160,154
Detective Comics 153,942
Phantom Stranger 149,760
Jughead’s Jokes 147,341
Wonder Woman 145,771
Star Spangled War Stories 144,292
Rawhide Kid 138,720
Josie and the Pussycats 134,000 (est.)
X-Men 127,663
Mad House Glads 127,247
Young Romance 119,583
Young Love 117,690
The most positive event of the sales year were the numbers shown by Mad. The publication, the perennial top-seller of periodical comics, saw its per-issue average exceed two million copies for the first time. Its upward trend would continue into the next year.
The rest of the field seemed stuck in the doldrums. Sales tended to be either static or lower for the titles that publicly reported their numbers.
This was the first year in which the comic-book collectible market demonstrated it could impact sales. In December of 1972, DC published the first issue of Shazam!, a revival of the Captain Marvel character of the 1940s and '50s. Collectible speculators targeted the comic, and managed to buy up the majority of the print run before it could be distributed to newsstand vendors. Sales of the issue are believed to be more than 250,000 copies. Subsequent issues are reputed to have shown a substantial drop after the first one.
The following group are titles that had 20 or more issues published by early 1974, but had no Statement of Ownership filed in 1973. Publishers often did not file the form for titles that had not published at least 20 issues when forms were due to be submitted, so those are not listed. Titles that were published during the sales year, but were cancelled before the Statement of Ownership could be printed, are not listed, either.
Amazing Adventures
Archie’s TV Laugh-Out
Astonishing Tales
Captain Marvel
Conan the Barbarian
Everything’s Archie
Ghosts
Iron Man
Kid Colt Outlaw
Marvel Super-Heroes
Marvel Tales
Marvel’s Greatest Comics
Mighty Marvel Western
Outlaw Kid
Reggie’s Wise Guy Jokes
Sub-Mariner
Two-Gun Kid
Weird War Tales
Western Gunfighters
Where Monsters Dwell
Other Comics Sales Posts
--1969-1970
--1970-1971
--1971-1972
--1973-1974
--1974-1975
--1975-1976
--1976-1977
--1977-1978
--1978-1979
--1979-1980
--1980-1981
--1981-1982
--1982-1983
--1983-1984
--1984-1985
--1985-1986
--1986-1987
--1987-1988
--1988-1989
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