Circulation Data

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. 2550:

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 grooup 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 grouup 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; The three titles in this group are Boy Comics, Crime Does Not Pay and Daredevil; no subscriptions 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); 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; no subscriptions 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 publisshed) 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 publishhed)

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 publisshed) Oct 1944 – 1,803,200 (America’s Best, Exciting, Happy and Thhrilling published) Nov 1944 – 1,873,900 (Black Terror, Coo Coo, Real Life and Startlingg published) Dec 1944 – 1,809,000 (Exciting, Fighting Yank, Goofy and Thrilling ppublished)

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”