The first group is of titles for which U. S. Postal Service Statement of Ownership forms were filed in late 1976. The forms were published in early 1977 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: Kamandi. The series did not publish a Statement of Ownership in 1977. The estimate is the rounded average of the average sales for the 1974-1975 and 1976-1977 sales years.
Mad 1,787,928
Amazing Spider-Man 282,159
Superman 273,000
Superboy 218,000
Action Comics 208,000
Fantastic Four 199,734
Justice League of America 193,000
Incredible Hulk 182,460
Archie 181,827
Batman 178,000
Avengers 172,813
Thor 172,389
Captain America 165,247
Flash 163,000
Superman Family 163,000
Archie’s Girls Betty and Veronica 155,349
Brave and the Bold 153,000
Sgt. Rock (Our Army at War) 152,000
Archie Giant Series 148,964
Detective Comics 148,000
Betty and Me 145,873
Life with Archie 142,353
Archie and Me 141,825
Adventure Comics 141,000
Archie’s Pals ‘n’ Gals 139,943
Kamandi 139,000 (est.)
Weird War Tales 136,000
Laugh 135,257
G. I. Combat 135,000
Ghosts 135,000
Little Archie 134,597
Archie at Riverdale High 134,374
Daredevil 134,319
Witching Hour 134,000
Pep 132,352
Unexpected 131,000
Everything’s Archie 130,998
Jughead 130,919
Archie’s Joke Book 129,941
Archie’s TV Laugh-Out 129,338
House of Mystery 124,000
Unknown Soldier (Star Spangled War Stories) 124,000
Reggie and Me 121,460
Sgt. Fury 120,960
X-Men 116,992
House of Secrets 116,000
Our Fighting Forces 112,000
Jughead’s Jokes 111,876
Rawhide Kid 108,622
Vampirella 90,725
The year's biggest sales story was Marvel's Howard the Duck #1. The comic was the sales-year's principal target for collectible speculators. The majority of the 285,000-copy print run was bought from distributors before it could be delivered to newsstand vendors. The sell-through was believed to be over 70%, with unit sales in excess of 200,000 copies. Marvel ordered print runs of 400,000 for subsequent issues. The company reprinted the issue's story in a Marvel Treasury Edition a year later.
There were few instances of increased sales among reporting titles. Amazing Spider-Man, which reclaimed its spot as the market's top-selling color comic, was the only Marvel title with reported sales that saw an increase. DC had two bright spots: Justice League of America and Batman, whose sales both saw a 16 percent increase over the previous year's.
The following group are titles that had 20 or more issues published by early 1977, but had no Statement of Ownership filed in 1976. 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.
Captain Marvel
Conan the Barbarian
DC Special
Defenders
Doctor Strange
Ghost Rider
Iron Man
Kid Colt Outlaw
Marvel Double Feature
Marvel Premiere
Marvel Spotlight
Marvel Super-Heroes
Marvel Tales
Marvel Team-Up
Marvel Triple Action
Marvel Two-in-One
Marvel’s Greatest Comics
Master of Kung Fu
Power Man
Shazam!
Tomb of Dracula
Weird Western Tales
Weird Wonder Tales
Werewolf by Night
Young Love
Other Comics Sales Posts
--1969-1970
--1970-1971
--1971-1972
--1972-1973
--1973-1974
--1974-1975
--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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