Comics Sales, 1974-1975

This post features the sales of established comics titles published by Marvel, DC, and Archie during the 1974-1975 sales year. A few series from other publishers are also included. Established titles are ones that have had 20 issues or more. The sales year is approximately the spring of 1974 through the 1974-1975 winter.

The first group is of titles for which U. S. Postal Service Statement of Ownership forms were filed in late 1975. The forms were published in early 1976 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, Avengers. The series did not publish a Statement of Ownership in 1976. The estimate is the rounded average of the average sales for the 1973-1974 and 1975-1976 sales years.

Mad 1,928,139
Superman 296,000
Amazing Spider-Man 273,773
Action Comics 231,000
Superboy 222,000
Fantastic Four 216,260
Archie 199,291
Thor 197,216
Incredible Hulk 196,499
Our Army at War 191,000
Witching Hour 188,000
Ghosts 186,000
World’s Finest 186,000
Captain America 180,156
Avengers 180,000 (est.)
Swamp Thing 176,000
Flash 169,000
Superman Family 169,000
G. I. Combat 168,000
Kamandi 167,000
Justice League of America 166,000
Betty and Me 162,788
Archie’s Girls Betty and Veronica 161,275
Adventure Comics 160,000
Brave and the Bold 160,000
Daredevil 159,591
Weird War Tales 159,000
Archie Giant Series 156,002
Archie’s Pals ‘n’ Gals 154,110
Batman 154,000
Life with Archie 153,467
Weird Western Tales 152,000
Archie and Me 151,741
Little Archie 151,253
Everything’s Archie 150,190
Wonder Woman 150,000
Laugh 148,942
Our Fighting Forces 148,000
Archie at Riverdale High 147,604
Detective Comics 146,000
House of Mystery 146,000
Star Spangled War Stories 145,000
Tarzan 145,000
Jughead 144,619
Rawhide Kid 143,972
Pep 142,807
Reggie and Me 141,118
Unexpected 141,000
Archie’s Joke Book 139,205
Jughead’s Jokes 128,740
Archie’s TV Laugh-Out 125,786
Josie and the Pussycats 111,643
Tarzan Family 103,000
Vampirella 97,530

There wasn't much good news in the year's comics sales. A few titles--Superman, Our Army at War, Witching Hour--saw modest single-digit gains. But overall, sales were in decline.

The year's biggest loser was Archie Comics. The sales of Archie, the company's top-seller, fell by more than 25 percent. Similar drops were felt across the company's line of titles. The Archie books would never recover their readership.

The following group are titles that had 20 or more issues published by early 1976, but had no Statement of Ownership filed in 1975. 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. Marvel did not file forms for any new titles from 1968-onward until 1978. 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
Astonishing Tales
Captain Marvel
Chamber of Chills
Conan the Barbarian
Deadly Hands of Kung Fu
Defenders
Ghost Rider
Iron Man
Jungle Action
Kid Colt Outlaw
Marvel Premiere
Marvel Spotlight
Marvel Super-Heroes
Marvel Tales
Marvel Team-Up
Marvel Triple Action
Marvel’s Greatest Comics
Master of Kung Fu
Mighty Marvel Western
My Love
Plop!
Power Man
Ringo Kid
Sgt. Fury
Strange Tales
Tomb of Dracula
Two-Gun Kid
Werewolf by Night
X-Men

Other Comics Sales Posts

--1969-1970
--1970-1971
--1971-1972
--1972-1973
--1973-1974
--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