The Top 100 for October 1984/Cover date February 1985

[Kevin Boyd]

I came across this list in an issue of Amazing Heroes I was reviewing. (#65 - John Bolton Black Dragon cover).

 

If the circulation information was available in the standard guide then I've included it below the title. You'll notice that some titles with lower circulation numbers rank higher than those with a greater circulation number - this list is for comics sold via the direct market, while most circulation numbers are all-encompassing (direct + newsstand)

 

First number is the position on the list, the second the average number of comics sold per store in the direct market.

 

01 - 236.2 Secret Wars #10 MAR

02 - 165.2 X-Men #190 MAR

>> 449,170

03 - 128.8 Kitty Pryde and Wolverine #4 MAR

04 - 123.4 Marvel Team-Up #150 (last issue) MAR

05 - 116.2 Alpha Flight #19 MAR

06 - 111.4 Amazing Spider-Man #261 MAR

>> 326,291

07 - 108.8 New Mutants #24 MAR

08 - 106.2 DC Sampler #3 (free) DC

09 - 106.1 New Teen Titans #5 DC

10 - 097.8 Fantastic Four #275 MAR

>> 264,760

11 - 095.7 Tales of the Teen Titans #50 (wedding issue) DC

>> 182,189

12 - 089.9 Thor #352 MAR

>> 234,795

13 - 081.6 Beauty and the Beast #2 MAR

14 - 081.1 Iceman #2 MAR

15 - 074.2 Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #99 MAR

>> 247,916

16 - 073.8 Avengers #252 MAR

>> 241,966

17 - 066.5 Iron Man #191 MAR

>> 201,092

18 - 063.1 Marvel Age #23 MAR

19 - 057.0 Daredevil #215 MAR

>> 177,884

20 - 055.4 G.I. Joe #32 MAR

>> 290,080

21 - 052.6 Thing #20 MAR

22 - 049.8 Legion of Super-Heroes #6 DC

23 - 049.0 Power Pack #7 MAR

24 - 045.6 Dr. Strange #69 MAR

25 - 044.6 Captain America #302 MAR

>> 169,964

25 - 044.6 America vs. the JSA #1 DC

27 - 043.9 Superman: The Secret Years #1 DC

28 - 042.9 Defenders #140 MAR

29 - 042.1 Incredible Hulk #304 MAR

>> 172,033

30 - 040.5 Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes #319 DC

>> 109,126

31 - 040.1 Rom #63 MAR

32 - 040.0 Micronauts #5 MAR

33 - 038.8 Batman and the Outsiders #17 DC

34 - 038.2 Jonni Thunder #38.2 DC

35 - 038.1 Sisterhood of Steel #1 EPIC

36 - 037.8 Batman and the Outsiders #18 DC

37 - 036.7 Star Trek #11 DC

38 - 035.4 Blue Devil #8 DC

39 - 035.2 Infinity, Inc. #10 DC

40 - 035.1 Blue Devil #9 DC

41 - 034.8 Void Indigo #1 EPIC

41 - 034.8 Alien Legion #5 EPIC

43 - 034.2 Doctor Who #4 MAR

44 - 033.9 Starriors #4 MAR

45 - 033.0 American Flag #17 FIRST

46 - 032.9 Elementals #2 COMICO

47 - 032.4 Vigilante #15 DC

48 - 031.9 Conan the Barbarian #167 MAR

>> 176,397

49 - 030.4 Justice League of America #235 DC

>> 96, 281

50 - 029.9 Epic Illustrated #27 EPIC

51 - 029.3 Rocketeer #1 COMICO

52 - 029.0 Grimjack #7 FIRST

53 - 028.4 Barren Earth #1 ?

54 - 028.1 Dr. Fate #2 DC

54 - 028.1 Firestorm #32 DC

56 - 027.9 Green Lantern Annual #1 DC

57 - 027.5 Star Wars #92 MAR

>> 141,489

58 - 027.4 Swamp Thing #33 DC

59 - 027.3 Robotech: Defenders #1 COMICO

60 - 026.8 Crystar #11 MAR

61 - 026.4 Green Lantern #185 DC

>> 80,765

62 - 026.3 Spanner's Galaxy #2 DC

63 - 025.8 Green Lantern #184 DC

>> 80,765

63 - 025.8 Groo Special #1

65 - 025.6 Jemm #6 DC

65 - 025.6 Atari Force #14

65 - 025.6 Batman #380 DC

>> 75,303

68 - 024.3 Judge Dredd #13 Eagle

69 - 024.2 All-Star Squadron #41 DC

>> 69,398

70 - 024.0 Amethyst #2 DC

71 - 023.8 Marvel Tales #172 MAR

>> 120,059

72 - 023.7 Judge Dredd #14 Eagle

73 - 023.6 Indiana Jones #26 MAR

74 - 023.5 Power Man & Iron Fist #114 MAR

>> 102,109

75 - 023.3 Detective Comics #546 DC

>> 66, 739

76 - 023.1 Red Sonja #6 MAR

77 - 022.5 Warlord #90 DC

>> 85,629

78 - 020.7 Judge Child Quest #5 Eagle

79 - 020.3 Savage Sword of Conan #108

>> 138,183

80 - 019.9 Sun Devils #7 DC

81 - 019.1 Kull The Conqueror #8 MAR

81 - 019.1 Flash #342 DC

>> 69,881

83 - 018.4 Action Comics #563 DC

84 - 018.1 Pressbutton #1 Eclipse

85 - 017.5 DC Comics Presents #78 DC

>> 89,571

86 - 017.3 Starslayer #25

87 - 017.0 Superman #404 DC

>> 98,767

87 - 017.0 Crash Ryan #3 Epic

89 - 016.4 Myth-Adventures #3 Warp

90 - 016.0 Coyote #9 Eclipse

91 - 015.2 Buckaroo Banzai #2 MAR

92 - 014.8 Nemesis #4 EAGLE

92 - 014.8 Cerebus #67 AV

>> 21,000

94 - 014.4 Arion #27 DC

95 - 014.2 Cerebus #66 AV

>> 21,000

96 - 013.8 Sheena #2 MAR

97 - 012.5 World's Finest #311 DC

>> 82,415

98 - 012.3 E-Man #22 First

99 - 010.8 Arak #41 DC

100- 010.3 Crossfire #5 Eclipse

 

Since Cerebus was sold only to the direct market in order to get the 14.8 ranking there would have to be, at most, 1419 outlets that make up the direct market.

 

If this is an accurate number, then ~234,418 copies of X-Men #190 were sold in the direct market. (1419 x 165.2)

 

Definitely not an accurate number, but it gives you some sense of how much support the Direct Market was giving to certain Marvel and DC titles. For example, Batman has a circulation run of 75,303 and sold an average of 25.6 copies per store in the direct market. If there are 1419 stores in the direct market, then there were 36,326 copies sold in comic book stores and the remaining copies were sold to subscribers and on newsstands.

 

----

In the previous month (September 1984/January 1985 cover) the sales breakdown was:

58.5% Marvel

31.5% DC

02.0% Eclipse

02.0% First

[Point Five]

Thanks, Kevin, very interesting!

I was avidly buying new books at this time, and remember a lot of these specific issues.

 

Not ice that Marvel had 17 of the top 20 books (!)... from DC, only the New Teen Titans books were selling enough to crack the top twenty. And Alpha Flight in the #5 slot...boy, that was a long time ago, wasn't it?

[Kevin Boyd]

It was kind of fun to revisit that era and think about what I was buying at the time. I was a committed Marvel Zombie then and there were very few DC titles that I was getting at the time - given those sales stats I guess I wasn't an anomaly.

 

But some of the stuff in the top 20? Sheesh... IceMan? Beauty and the Beast? Kitty Pryde and Wolverine?

[rob_react]

Kitty Pryde and Wolverine?

 

EVERY collection from that period seems to have a copy of that series

[Kevin Boyd]

Here's what I bought at the time. What a great month:

 

Secret Wars #10 MAR

- Almost over. I'm not certain I was still buying this series at that time. I think I had given up by then it was so awful... but compared to later crossovers it's Shakespeare.

 

X-Men #190 MAR

- a favourite of mine. Hyborian sorcerer Kulan Gath transforms the world into a Conan-like era. Only Spider-Man remembers and is untouched. I bought a page of original art from this issue a couple of years ago.

 

Marvel Team-Up #150 (last issue) MAR

- Thank God.

 

Alpha Flight #19 MAR

- Byrne.

 

Amazing Spider-Man #261 MAR

- The next issue of ASM (#262 - the photo cover issue) was so bad it made me give up the title for three years. It was well timed because Spidey "dies" in UXM 191.

 

New Mutants #24 MAR

- Sienkiewicz

 

DC Sampler #3 (free) DC

- I don't know if I remember #3. The first two had great prose pieces by Alan Moore in the Swamp Thing adverts. Great stuff.

 

New Teen Titans #5 DC

- The end of the Perez Trigon arc.

 

Fantastic Four #275 MAR

- Byrne

 

Tales of the Teen Titans #50 (wedding issue) DC

- Great issue! Very moving.

 

Thor #352 MAR

- Simonson

 

Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #99 MAR

- Boy did I hate Al Milgrom's art then.

 

Dr. Strange #69 MAR

- Paul Smith

 

Void Indigo #1 EPIC

- for some reason I really liked VI. Not sure about the transvestite hooker murder sequence at the beginning though. I met Val Mayerik at a con almost right after this came out.

 

American Flag #17 FIRST

- still Chaykin at that time.

 

Elementals #2

- For some reason, Willingham's art on this title was a revelation.

 

Rocketeer #1 COMICO

- loved the Rocketeer.

 

Swamp Thing #33 DC

- Alan Moore changed the way I read comics with his run on the book.

 

Cerebus #67 AV

Cerebus #66 AV

- Cerebus was Pope at this time and he was really letting loose in these issues. Actually, AV in 3-D came out in between these issues and features a dream sequence that Cerebus refers to in #67.

[Earl Davis]

Thanks Kevin. Great post. Bad? thing is I have almost all of those issues.

 

Earl.

[uclapeterg]

Kitty Pryde and Wolverine?

 

EVERY collection from that period seems to have a copy of that series

 

That is, until I donated them to Comics4Kids. I also had Iceman 1 and Beauty and the Beast 1.

[the blob]

one of my local shops must have 20 copies of each of the kitty pryde books in it's discount bin. you just had to have those mini-series back then, right? i remember buying all that junk. the falcon mini, hercules, vision and scarlet witch, etc. oh yeah, wolvie as well, that was pretty good and why we HAD to buy all the others! if it was a mini, it had to be good!

[Point Five]

Yep, I faithfully bought the Kitty Pryde/Wolverine series as well, though I'm not sure I ever completed it. Remember (if you can) back when a Wolverine appearance in ANY book was a big deal?

 

Kevin, I agree with a lot of your comments above. It's interesting that Tales of the Teen Titans #50 (the very emotional & thoughtfully-crafted wedding issue, still one of my very favorites) and New Teen Titans #5 (end of the VERY graphic & intense Trigon arc) came out the same month. To me both represent high watermarks of the NTT series, yet are about as different as two books can possibly be...it's hard to think of many titles with this kind of range. Just excellent storytelling and art in both. Unfortunately, IMO, both titles would run out of steam very shortly afterwards.

[Sal]

great post, Kevvy Kev. You mind if i call you kevvy kev? yes? howabout Waterbed Kev? sorry, both are somewhat obscure Sugar Hill Gang references.

 

anyway, here's what i was buying:

 

Secret Wars #10

Duh. At this point, i think i might have still been interested. the whole "Dr. Doom achieves immortality only to have it stripped by the Beyonder who is residing within Klaw" thing just threw me.

 

X-Men #190

Subscription. at this point in my collecting, the concept of NOT buying this title every month was as alien as giving up breathing.

 

Kitty Pryde and Wolverine #4

Allen Milgrom. uuuuggggghhhh. even when i was buying it, i hated it. what you gonna do though? at least i stayed away from the Iceman series.

 

Alpha Flight #19

Byrne. not great, not terrible. around this time i think Mr. Byrne had some sort of aneurysm that kept him from being great. the descent continues even now. arguably, without Terry Austin, he might have never gotten higher than Pablo Marcus status. excepting of course the Dan Green Avengers issues. god i used to love John Byrne's work.

 

New Mutants #24

Mutant book. Sienkiewicz was getting away from his Neal Adams clone period, and really starting to do some amazing stuff.

 

New Teen Titans #5

Great issue. once Perez left the title, in i think two or three issues later, man did it suck and suck hard.

 

Fantastic Four #275

subscription. see the Alpha Flight note above.

 

Tales of the Teen Titans #50

great issue, even if that Terry guy was the goofiest looking dude in comics. no way in hell does Donna Troy go for that guy in any other universe

 

Thor #352

Simonson. Subscription. i can't remember which ish it was, but that arc where Thor turns into a bullfrog has to be the stupidest arc in the Copper age

 

Beauty and the Beast #2

bought it, but i don't remember ever reading it. Dazzler was a stupid idea from the get go, even without the roller skates

 

Daredevil #215

subscription. Frank Miller, why hast thou forsaken me? seriously, the span between Miller and Mazzuchelli represents some absolutely execrable work. The Jester as Cyrano de Bergerac, anyone? oy.

 

Power Pack #7

why, God, why? interesting concept, but seriously, who was the market for this, besides insufficiently_thoughtful_persons like yours truly?

 

Incredible Hulk #304

subscription. hey, issue 300 was pretty killer. this crossroads universe stuff was the p-i-t-s pits, tho

 

Micronauts #5

Michael Golden

 

American Flag #17

Bingo, baby. Find the first 10 issues of this series and read them. i guarantee you will not be disappointed. excellent, excellent stuff. until, of course, Chaykin stops drawing the **** thing

 

Elementals #2

Willingham. Anyone who pored over their D&D manuals like i did already knew Mr. Willingham. the fact that he was doing a comic was like some sort of wonderful dream.

 

Epic Illustrated #27

Underrated title, no doubt.

 

Groo Special #1

i've got so much Groo stuff i can't keep track of it, but i am pretty sure i bought this book. if i didn't, it was certainly an oversight.

 

looking back, that's a lot of [embarrasing lack of self control] there. i'm sure i was buying other titles that didn't crack the top 100, but who can remember...Dreadstar, maybe? not exactly raising the average there

[uclapeterg]

Hey, I loved Power Pack.

 

Thor turning into a bullfrog was Thor 366, I believe.

[joe_collector]

but that arc where Thor turns into a bullfrog has to be the stupidest arc in the Copper age

 

I totally agree. Just pure stupidity then, and totally embarassing to read now.

[FlyingDonut]

01 - 236.2 Secret Wars #10 MAR

04 - 123.4 Marvel Team-Up #150 (last issue) MAR

06 - 111.4 Amazing Spider-Man #261 MAR

09 - 106.1 New Teen Titans #5 DC

10 - 097.8 Fantastic Four #275 MAR

11 - 095.7 Tales of the Teen Titans #50 (wedding issue) DC

27 - 043.9 Superman: The Secret Years #1 DC

41 - 034.8 Alien Legion #5 EPIC

45 - 033.0 American Flag #17 FIRST

46 - 032.9 Elementals #2 COMICO

47 - 032.4 Vigilante #15 DC

51 - 029.3 Rocketeer #1 COMICO

58 - 027.4 Swamp Thing #33 DC

92 - 014.8 Cerebus #67 AV

95 - 014.2 Cerebus #66 AV

[Point Five]

X-Men #190

Subscription. at this point in my collecting, the concept of NOT buying this title every month was as alien as giving up breathing.

 

Yeah, exactly! In those days, pretty much any X-title that came out was a must-buy for me. However, Marvel would quickly cure me of that attitude...

[the blob]

yup, i had an x-men subscription then too!

 

plus a subscription to "The Thing" because I though Byrne would be drawing the series

 

plus a subscription to Alpha Flight

 

Somehow my copies managed to not get mangled in the mail! Perhaps being in NYC they didn't have as far to go?

 

I'm pretty sure I wound up getting doubles of X-Men and Alpha Flight because right after I got the subscription my LCS at the time starting selling new, 60 cent cover price, books 3/$1 and I think he'd get the books before I got them in the mail. 3/$1 for books off the rack seemed like too good a deal to pass up!

[Silver Surfer]

Secret Wars #10 and Thor #352 talk about two awesome books. The Doom cover just rocks.

[jbud73]

Ya the story may have been way out there at this point but that Mike Z. Dr. Doom Cover is