boyajian@akov68.DEC (JERRY BOYAJIAN) (12/12/85)
> From: unmc!ma3752af (The Anti-Marvelor) > And for all you Marvelites out there, don't give me a lecture on > how Marvel outsells D.C. With a 2-to-1 ratio of regular titles, it > is a wonder why Marvel doesn't really outsell D.C. In proportion, each > of D.C.'s titles sells the same as any Marvel title. What hogwash. Just to test your theory, I examined the "Top 100" list of comic sales in shops around the country that appeared in AMAZING HEROES #78 (1 September 1985). This is a most recent such list in AH, and it is for comics that went on sale last March. One can reasonably assume that it is an average list of the monthly Top 100. Obviously, this isn't a definitive study, since it doesn't take newstand sales into consideration, nor does it represent comics not in the Top 100, nor is it necessarily balanced with respect to bi-monthly or less frequent comics. But it is, within limits, a statisticly valid sample. The structure of AH's Top 100 list is to, of course, list the 100 top selling comics of the month in order, along with a figure that represents the average number of copies sold per store for each comic listed. So, I counted up the number of titles each company (as a comparison, I also lumped all of the independents together into a third "company") had listed in the Top 100. Then, I calculated the average number of comics sold per store for each company. Then, the average number of copies per comic sold per store for each company. Lastly, I calculated the average position in the list for each company (in the case of ties, though the list gives separate positions, ie. STAR WARS #98 is 59 and MACROSS #2 is 60, even though they sold the same average number of copies per store, I gave each one the same position number [in the case cited, I gave both comics a position of 59]). The results are as follows: NUMBER OF TITLES ON THE TOP 100 LIST: Marvel 44 DC 38 independent 18 TOTAL NUMBER OF COMICS SOLD PER STORE: Marvel 2984.8 DC 1583.6 independent 468.2 AVERAGE NUMBER OF COPIES PER COMIC SOLD PER STORE: Marvel 67.8 DC 41.7 independent 26.0 AVERAGE POSITION IN THE TOP 100 LIST: Marvel 36 DC 55 independent 75 So, Marvel sells approximately twice as many comics as DC does. But is it because they publish twice as many titles? Obviously not, as they only have six more comics on the Top 100 list that DC has. And the average sales per comic for Marvel is about 1.5 times that for DC. One more list, just for the record. Here is a breakdown of the number of comics in each group of five positions (each ten positions after 30) for each company: Marvel DC independent 1-5 4 1 6-10 4 1 11-15 3 2 16-20 5 21-25 4 1 26-30 4 1 31-40 3 6 1 41-50 4 4 2 51-60 4 4 2 61-70 5 3 2 71-80 1 8 1 81-90 2 3 5 91-100 2 3 5 Now, I hate doing this, because it makes me look like a "Marvelite", which I am not. I hate it when I come across someone who talks about Marvel comics as if they are the only ones that count. But I hate it just as much when I come across someone who claims that nothing that Marvel publishes is worth a bird fart. I've never understood this type of mentality. Why can't everyone just like or not like each comic on its own merits rather than by what company it comes from? Marvel publishes both diamonds and river-mud. DC publishes both diamonds and river-mud. The independents publish both diamonds and river-mud. None of the companies are perfect, but none of them are worthless, either (even Americomics, since they started publishing POWER PLAYS :-)). --- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, Acton-Nagog, MA) UUCP: {decvax|ihnp4|allegra|ucbvax|...} !decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-akov68!boyajian ARPA: boyajian%akov68.DEC@DECWRL.DEC.COM