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Post by MDG on Aug 8, 2016 11:55:21 GMT -5
One good thing about DC not "catching up" to Marvel was that in the 70s, you could pick up a lot of 60s DCs for next to nothing. If it wasn't by Adams, there was no market for it.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Aug 8, 2016 12:02:17 GMT -5
I'm astounded to see an issue of Eagle's Judge Dredd reprint title on that list. The Eagle Comics titles weren't bad, but they weren't generally well regarded here in the UK, being just colourised reprints of old 2000 AD stories. I think we've had this discussion before, but, as a Brit, I always liked the Eagle Judge Dredd comics. Sure, they were a smaller size to 2000 AD, but I liked that they were all in colour (as opposed to just two pages per episode), that you got a larger slice of Dredd all in one go than you did in 2000 AD, and that the paper quality was superior to the IPC newsprint that 2000 AD used. The series was also my first introduction to the Apocalypse War storyline, which must've passed me by when it originally came out. |
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Post by tingramretro on Aug 8, 2016 12:15:52 GMT -5
I'm astounded to see an issue of Eagle's Judge Dredd reprint title on that list. The Eagle Comics titles weren't bad, but they weren't generally well regarded here in the UK, being just colourised reprints of old 2000 AD stories. I think we've had this discussion before, but, as a Brit, I always liked the Eagle Judge Dredd comics. Sure, they were a smaller size to 2000 AD, but I liked that they were all in colour (as opposed to just two pages per episode), that you got a larger slice of Dredd all in one go than you did in 2000 AD, and that the paper quality was superior to the IPC newsprint that 2000 AD used. The series was also my first introduction to the Apocalypse War storyline, which must've passed me by when it originally came out. I think a lot of 2000 AD fans looked down on them because they were reprints of material often only a couple of years old, and the reproduction often wasn't great (though the Eagle books were admittedly better coloured than the godawful Quality ones which followed). And of course, IPC basically pretended they didn't exist, they were never plugged in 2000 AD itself. I think the classic strip Thargshead Revisited in 2000 AD #500 had one line about "the reprints we don't talk about"... |
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Post by shaxper on Aug 9, 2016 9:40:02 GMT -5
So DC spent three decades in a slump before coming back strong for five years (1986-1990) and then falling back into a slump again? That doesnt seem fiscally possible.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2016 9:48:48 GMT -5
So DC spent three decades in a slump before coming back strong for five years (1986-1990) and then falling back into a slump again? That doesnt seem fiscally possible. DC had better sales than Marvel until the late 60's. Then Marvel overtook DC until the mid 80's. |
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Post by shaxper on Aug 9, 2016 9:55:52 GMT -5
So DC spent three decades in a slump before coming back strong for five years (1986-1990) and then falling back into a slump again? That doesnt seem fiscally possible. DC had better sales than Marvel until the late 60's. Oh, that's right. I forgot that DC controlled their distribution. |
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Post by MDG on Aug 9, 2016 10:19:57 GMT -5
So DC spent three decades in a slump before coming back strong for five years (1986-1990) and then falling back into a slump again? That doesnt seem fiscally possible. Only if you look at it from a "fan" point of view. DC was a highly successful publisher and fiscally pretty healthy from the 40s through the mid-70s. They successfully licensed their characters all over in the 60s and 70s, and the success of the Batman TV show provided DC (if not the whole industry) with a shot in the arm to get through what could've been a rough patch in the 60s. A lot of current fans believe that DC books were immature compared to Marvel, but this may have been because... {Spoiler: Click to show}they were in the business of publishing stories for 7-13 year olds. |
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Post by shaxper on Aug 9, 2016 10:23:02 GMT -5
It's finally happening: MDG and md62 are talking to me at the same time, and I cannot tell who is who!  |
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Post by shaxper on Aug 9, 2016 10:24:44 GMT -5
So DC spent three decades in a slump before coming back strong for five years (1986-1990) and then falling back into a slump again? That doesnt seem fiscally possible. Only if you look at it from a "fan" point of view. DC was a highly successful publisher and fiscally pretty healthy from the 40s through the mid-70s. They successfully licensed their characters all over in the 60s and 70s, and the success of the Batman TV show provided DC (if not the whole industry) with a shot in the arm to get through what could've been a rough patch in the 60s. A lot of current fans believe that DC books were immature compared to Marvel, but this may have been because... {Spoiler: Click to show}they were in the business of publishing stories for 7-13 year olds. More specifically, 12 year olds living in Dayton Ohio, according to Bob Haney. Yeah, the licensing component certainly helped, and I'm sure that's what drove the Warner Bros. acquisition. Batman and Wonder Woman on TV, Superman in the theaters, and all the cartoons to boot. |
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Post by Nowhere Man on Aug 9, 2016 11:53:31 GMT -5
So DC spent three decades in a slump before coming back strong for five years (1986-1990) and then falling back into a slump again? That doesnt seem fiscally possible. DC had better sales than Marvel until the late 60's. Then Marvel overtook DC until the mid 80's. I believe Marvel official passed DC sometime around 1971/72 when Amazing Spider-Man overtook Superman for the first time. I believe from that point on Marvel outsold DC until...the mid 90's? Those early 90's issues of X-Force and X-Men sold millions. |
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Post by shaxper on Aug 9, 2016 12:39:00 GMT -5
I believe from that point on Marvel outsold DC until...the mid 90's? Those early 90's issues of X-Force and X-Men sold millions. Industry sales figures I have from 1991 show Marvel already holding nearly 70% of the market to DC's 30%. I suspect it happened in 1990, around the time the adjective-less Spider-Man #1 was launched. By the time X-Force #1 launched that summer, Marvel was holding each of the top 13 of the Top 100 comics of the month. |
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Post by The Captain on Aug 9, 2016 13:06:52 GMT -5
I believe from that point on Marvel outsold DC until...the mid 90's? Those early 90's issues of X-Force and X-Men sold millions. Industry sales figures I have from 1991 show Marvel already holding nearly 70% of the market to DC's 30%. I suspect it happened in 1990, around the time the adjective-less Spider-Man #1 was launched. By the time X-Force #1 launched that summer, Marvel was holding each of the top 13 of the Top 100 comics of the month. Pretty much this. I worked in an LCS while in college (91 -94) and we couldn't give DC titles away, outside of the mega-events like Death of Superman or Bat-crossovers. Most customers' pull lists consisted of X-titles and Spider-Man books, with some folks picking up Marvel solo books (Cap, Iron Man, Thor) and Avengers. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2016 13:19:52 GMT -5
I believe from that point on Marvel outsold DC until...the mid 90's? Those early 90's issues of X-Force and X-Men sold millions. Industry sales figures I have from 1991 show Marvel already holding nearly 70% of the market to DC's 30%. I suspect it happened in 1990, around the time the adjective-less Spider-Man #1 was launched. By the time X-Force #1 launched that summer, Marvel was holding each of the top 13 of the Top 100 comics of the month. And when Valiant & Image launched this pushed DC to the #3 slot for awhile. However Marvel's woes in the late 90's & Valiant going out of business helped DC to rebound. |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Aug 9, 2016 16:53:41 GMT -5
As I wrote before, except for a particular month or so in some years, event-driven such as the launch of Nu52, DC never topped Marvel in annual sales after the early 70s. Never- not even with Marvel in bankruptcy and cut back to minimum titles. its sad to say for some years DC was far superior in quality and variety in my opinion. But it fell down and ain't getting back up
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Post by shaxper on Aug 9, 2016 19:38:08 GMT -5
Industry sales figures I have from 1991 show Marvel already holding nearly 70% of the market to DC's 30%. I suspect it happened in 1990, around the time the adjective-less Spider-Man #1 was launched. By the time X-Force #1 launched that summer, Marvel was holding each of the top 13 of the Top 100 comics of the month. And when Valiant & Image launched this pushed DC to the #3 slot for awhile. However Marvel's woes in the late 90's & Valiant going out of business helped DC to rebound. DC was at the #4 slot for most of 1992 and 1993 (I track all of this in my Guide to Wizard, the Guide to Comics thread). At one point, I believe Dark Horse was even neck and neck with them. People malign the Knightfall and Death of Superman stunts, but it was survival mode for DC. |
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