Circulation Data

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Russ Maheras wrote on GCD main, 2005-05-02:

For the industrious on the error list, Circulation data to that needs to be added to the database.

All info needs to be credited to Russ Maheras in each issue.

Posted May 2. 2005:

Hi all! It's been awhile (like 8 years!), but pasted below is some more Audit Bureau of Circulations data for member comic book publishers -- this time for calendar year 1944. Some listings are for publisher "groups" -- making individual circulations for group titles a best guess only -- but there are some single titles registered with ABC as well. Hopefully, some of you will find this rare Golden Age circulation data enlightening! Have fun! -- Russ Maheras

Captain Marvel Adventures
Jan 1944 – 1,245,638
Feb 1944 – 1,340,438
Mar 1944 – 1,364,264
Apr 1944 – 1,339,950
May 1944 – 1,360,524
Jun 1944 – 1,299, 428
Jul 1944 – 1,155,730 (data digit missed during transcription; zero iinserted as best guess)
Aug 1944 – 1,250,692
Sep 1944 – 1,264,726
Oct 1944 – 1,239,400
Nov 1944 – 1,216,168
Dec 1944 – No issue published

Famous Funnies-Heroic Comics Group Jan 1944 – 370,775 (Famous Funnies only)
Feb 1944 – 756,226 (Famous Funnies and Heroic)
Mar 1944 – 373,856 (Famous Funnies only)
Apr 1944 – 777,938 (Famous Funnies and Heroic)
May 1944 – 374,919 (Famous Funnies only)
Jun 1944 – 816,868 (Famous Funnies and Heroic)
Jul 1944 – 422,725 (Famous Funnies only)
Aug 1944 – 1,250,692 (Famous Funnies and Heroic)
Sep 1944 – 455,275 (Famous Funnies only)
Oct 1944 – 868,754 (Famous Funnies and Heroic)
Nov 1944 – 451,375 (Famous Funnies only)
Dec 1944 – 864,025 (Famous Funnies and Heroic)

Fawcett Comics Group
Blue Unit (Subscriptions: 1,204)
The four group titles are Whiz Comics, Master Comics, Wow Comics and Captain Marvel Jr.
Jan 1944 – 2,141,025
Feb 1944 – 2,149,319
Mar 1944 – 2,225,041
Apr 1944 – 2,285,349
May 1944 – 2,353,540 (data digit missed during transcription; zero iinserted as best guess)
Jun 1944 – 2,140,940
Jul 1944 – 2,062,600
Aug 1944 – 2,159,124
Sep 1944 – 2,166,104
Oct 1944 – 2,150,143
Nov 1944 – 2,108,101
Dec 1944 – No issues published

Fawcett Comics Group
Red Unit (Subscriptions: 3,293)
The four group titles are Captain Marvel Adventures, Captain Midnight, Funny Animals and Don Winslow of the Navy.
I do not know why CM Adventures is listed both as a separate title and as part of this group.
Jan 1944 – 2,102,160
Feb 1944 – 2,198,258
Mar 1944 – 2,261,488
Apr 1944 – 2,239,602
May 1944 – 2,279,818
Jun 1944 – 2,184,806
Jul 1944 – 2,027,652
Aug 1944 – 2,135,893
Sep 1944 – 2,154,624
Oct 1944 – 2,124,097
Nov 1944 – 2,132,807
Dec 1944 – No issues published

Magazine House Group
No subscriptions
The three titles in this group are Boy Comics, Crime Does Not Pay and Daredevil
Jan-Feb 1944 – 1,564,265
Mar-Apr 1944 – 1,562,152
May-Jun 1944 – 1,712,819
Jul 1944 – No issues published
Aug-Sep 1944 – 1,854,000
Oct-Nov 1944 – 1,882,904
Dec 1944 – No issues published

National Comics Group (Monthly Unit)
No subscriptions
The 11 group titles are Action Comics (monthly), Detective Comics (monthly), Star Spangled Comics (monthly), Adventure Comics (bimonthly), More Fun (bimonthly), Batman (bimonthly), Flash Comics (did not transcribe publication frequency), Sensation Comics (did not transcribe publication frequency), All American (8 times per year), Green Lantern (quarterly) and Superman (bimonthly); titles were staggered so 8 group issues were published per month
Jan 1944 – 4,956,930
Feb 1944 – 4,997,961
Mar 1944 – 4,893,123
Apr 1944 – 4,546,324
May 1944 – 4,768,021
Jun 1944 – 4,531,899
Jul 1944 – 4,739,892
Aug 1944 – 4,946,184
Sep 1944 – 5,272,526
Oct 1944 – 5,366,622
Nov 1944 – 5,343,523
Dec 1944 – 5,065,805

National Comics Group (Quarterly Unit)
The 8 group titles are All Flash Comics, All Star Comics, Boy Commandos, Comic Cavalcade, Leading Comics, Wonder Woman, World's Finest and Mutt & Jeff
First quarter 1944 – 4,291,492
Second quarter 1944 – 4,540,123
Third quarter 1944 – 5,021,113
Fourth quarter 1944 – 5,170,204

Quality Comics Group
The 7 group titles are Feature Comics, Smash Comics, Crack Comics, National Comics, Hit Comics, Military Comics and Police Comics
Jan 1944 – 1,745,348
Feb 1944 – 1,701,400
Mar 1944 – 1,668,418
Apr 1944 – 2,144,452; Crack (spring) and Hit (spring) were publishedd with the other 5 titles this month
May 1944 – 1,671,113
Jun 1944 – 882,106 (Police, Crack and Hit published)
Jul 1944 – 1,084,114 (Feature, Military and Police published)
Aug 1944 – 1,683,806 (Feature, Military, National, Police and Smash published)
Sep 1944 – 1,591,426 (Crack, Feature, Hit Military and Police published)
Oct 1944 – 1,690,092 (Feature, Military, National, Police and Smash published)
Nov 1944 – 1,094,771 (Feature, Military and Police published)
Dec 1944 – 1,490,115 (Crack, Hit, National, Police and Smash published)

Street and Smith Comics Group
The 5 group titles are Super Snipe, Air Ace, True Sport Picture Stories, Shadow Comics and Super Magician
Goes from quarterly to monthly in July 1944
First quarter 1944 – 3,352,284
Second quarter 1944 – 3,021,442
Jul 1944 – 1,133,440 (data digit missed during transcription; zero iinserted as best guess)
Aug 1944 – 1,026,040
Sep 1944 – 1,221,000
Oct 1944 – 1,078,500
Nov 1944 – 1,214,500
Dec 1944 – 1,090,500

Thrilling Comics Group
The 10 group titles are America's Best Comics, The Black Terror, Coo Coo Comics, Exciting Comics, The Fighting Yank, Goofy Comics, Happy Comics, Real Life Comics, Startling Comics and Thrilling Comics
Jul 1944 – 2,183,097 (America's Best, Coo Coo, Happy, Real LLife and Startling published)
Aug 1944 – 1,749,725 (Black Terror, Exciting, Fighting Yank and Thriilling published)
Sep 1944 – 1,823,610 (Coo Coo, Goofy, Real Life and Startling published)
Oct 1944 – 1,803,200 (America's Best, Exciting, Happy and Thrilling published)
Nov 1944 – 1,873,900 (Black Terror, Coo Coo, Real Life and Startling published)
Dec 1944 – 1,809,000 (Exciting, Fighting Yank, Goofy and Thrilling published)

True Comics
Jan 1944 – 475,854
Feb 1944 – 536,058
Mar 1944 – 529,302
Apr 1944 – 507,149
May 1944 – 507,797
Jan 1944 – 504,638
Jul 1944 – 490,482
Aug 1944 – 505,831
Sep-Oct 1944 – 530,853
Nov 1944 – 548,979
Dec 1944 – 539,969

True Aviation Picture Stories
Fall 1944 (#9) – 379,289
Winter 1944 (#10) – 284,691

United Feature Comic Group
The 3 group titles are Sparkler Comics, Tip Top Comics and Comics on Parade
Jan 1944 – 737,701 (Sparkler, Tip Top only)
Feb 1944 – 740,206 (Sparkler, Tip Top only)
Mar 1944 – 1,302,478 (Sparkler, Tip Top and Comics on Parade)
Apr 1944 – 770,797 (Sparkler, Tip Top only)
May 1944 – No issues published
Jun 1944 – 1,269,547 (Sparkler, Tip Top and Comics on Parade)
Jul 1944 – 884,874 (Tip Top and Sparkler)
Aug 1944 – 882,434 (Tip Top and Sparkler)
Sep 1944 – 1,330,382 (Tip Top, Sparkler and Comics on Parade)
Oct 1944 – 879,357 (Tip Top and Sparkler)
Nov 1944 – 884,557 (Tip Top and Sparkler)
Dec 1944 – 1,427,979 ((Tip Top, Sparkler and Comics on Parade)

Whiz Comics
Jan 1944 – 788,950
Feb 1944 – 779,982
Mar 1944 – 779,956
Apr 1944 – 775,477
May 1944 – 762,936
Jun 1944 – 757,022
Jul 1944 – 696,768
Aug 1944 – 735,369
Sep 1944 – 739,481
Oct 1944 – 732,536
Nov 1944 – 721,481
Dec 1944 – No issues published

Miscellaneous notes for ABC listing Jan-Jun 1944:
American Comics Group – ABC membership cancelled
Detective Comics Group – ABC membership cancelled
Fawcett Comics sent “military service destination unknown: 266 copies
National Comics Group sent “military service destination unknown: 15,343 copies
Quality Comics Group sent “military service destination unknown: 7,440 copies

(end of list)



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