http://classic.tcj.com/history/a-comics-journal-history-of-the-direct-market-part-one/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-comics-journal-history-of-the-direct-market-part-one The Comics Journal is a magazine that covers the comics medium from an arts-first perspective. Fri, 04 Mar 2011 23:56:39 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 http://classic.tcj.com/history/a-comics-journal-history-of-the-direct-market-part-one/comment-page-1/#comment-479 patford Mon, 15 Feb 2010 22:50:44 +0000 http://www.tcj.com/?p=5575#comment-479 Great story, I'm looking forward to the rest. One thing I'd point out is there was no, "Marvel-led resurgence of the 1960s." The fact is if you ignore total sales (Marvel was restricted because they were distributed by the DC owned Independent News), and focus only on the best selling individual titles, Marvel's best selling comic book Spider-Man didn't break the top ten until the last two years of the decade, and even then was far from the top. For almost the entire decade Spider-Man was being out sold not just by Superman, and Archie, but by Tarzan, Lois Lane, Superboy, even books like the Metal Men. Where Marvel stood apart from the other comic book companies in the 60's was their sales were increasing year by year (until 1968) while the sales of DC, Dell/Gold Key, and Archie were in decline, but Marvel's best selling books never reached the top, and only Spider-Man ever made the top ten. By the time Spider-Man cracked the top ten in 1968 it's own sales had peaked, and begun to erode. Great story, I’m looking forward to the rest.
One thing I’d point out is there was no, “Marvel-led resurgence of the 1960s.”
The fact is if you ignore total sales (Marvel was restricted because they were distributed by the DC owned Independent News), and focus only on the best selling individual titles, Marvel’s best selling comic book Spider-Man didn’t break the top ten until the last two years of the decade, and even then was far from the top.
For almost the entire decade Spider-Man was being out sold not just by Superman, and Archie, but by Tarzan, Lois Lane, Superboy, even books like the Metal Men.
Where Marvel stood apart from the other comic book companies in the 60′s was their sales were increasing year by year (until 1968) while the sales of DC, Dell/Gold Key, and Archie were in decline, but Marvel’s best selling books never reached the top, and only Spider-Man ever made the top ten. By the time Spider-Man cracked the top ten in 1968 it’s own sales had peaked, and begun to erode.

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