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Post by Deleted on Aug 25, 2020 10:50:37 GMT -5
Naive though it was, I presumed a lot of popular comics would, historically speaking, have been monthly. I’m thinking of DC books such as JUSTICE LEAGUE, BATMAN, etc. I do share some comic covers via a FB group. I try to share covers when there’s a milestone, e.g. today I shared the cover of JLA #1 as today marks 60 years since it was published. I’ve also been looking at some other comics from the Golden to Silver Age. I was quite surprised to see how many popular titles weren’t monthly.  I don’t have a definitive list to hand, but quite a few were bi-monthly and quarterly. That certainly did surprise me. I grew up during an era when the majority of US comics were monthly, so I presumed that is the way it had always been. UK comics, such as THE BEANO were weekly; US comics, for the most part, were monthly. As that is what I experienced as a kid, I guess I didn’t expect it to have been different prior to my birth. None of what I have learnt has changed my life, but after checking the credits for JLA #1, I learnt that JLA #2 was published around 8 weeks later. In my naivety, I’d have thought JLA would have been commissioned as a monthly book. It seems even some Super-titles didn’t have a monthly schedule. Does anyone have any historical insight here? Could there be a reason - a pragmatic one - why the companies did bi-monthly and quarterly books? I haven’t asked this question in the “Ask” topic as it could turn out to be an in-depth discussion. I am sure at least two here (two specific members) will have some insight. Obviously, I know, from reading some UK comics, that titles can reduce their frequency when sales are poor, but I am curious as to the reason why something like JLA wasn’t commissioned as a monthly book. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Aug 25, 2020 11:01:16 GMT -5
There was also a time, particularly with DC books in the 70s, when books came out 8 times a year. JLA was one of them, as I recall.
One of the reasons to have books come out bi-monthly and quarterly, particularly new books, is that you didn't have sales figures until many many months after the books were published. So you couldn't tell if a book was going to be a hit until you were six months or so into the process.
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Post by beccabear67 on Aug 25, 2020 11:48:18 GMT -5
I think Marvel in the late '70s-early '80s may've had bi-monthly comics partly from lower sales, but also maybe the inability of the regular creative team on a title to produce a monthly? There was a peculiar Fortnightly schedule I think some British magazines and comics had, which was two issues a month. The majority of UK comics were weeklies or monthlies.  |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 25, 2020 11:53:43 GMT -5
Do you know which ones were fortnightly? I’d be interested to know. :-)
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Post by spoon on Aug 25, 2020 12:14:39 GMT -5
There was also a time, particularly with DC books in the 70s, when books came out 8 times a year. JLA was one of them, as I recall. One of the reasons to have books come out bi-monthly and quarterly, particularly new books, is that you didn't have sales figures until many many months after the books were published. So you couldn't tell if a book was going to be a hit until you were six months or so into the process. I've notice so many DC titles that seem to be on that 8 times a year schedule when I browse through the Newstand section on the Mike's Amazing World of Comics website. I haven't taken any notes, but it seems like monthly titles may have actually been the minority at times. It seems like Action and Detective would be monthly, but Batman and Superman would skip months. Marvel started some of their new titles like X-Men and Daredevil as bi-monthly books before switching to monthly. I think some titles (for both DC and Marvel) that were restarting with old numbering after being canceled for years were revived as bi-monthly. Switching to bi-monthly seems to be a tactic for books that are the ropes. The Silver Age Doom Patrol switched over just before the end of its run. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Aug 25, 2020 12:28:50 GMT -5
There was also a time, particularly with DC books in the 70s, when books came out 8 times a year. JLA was one of them, as I recall. One of the reasons to have books come out bi-monthly and quarterly, particularly new books, is that you didn't have sales figures until many many months after the books were published. So you couldn't tell if a book was going to be a hit until you were six months or so into the process. I've notice so many DC titles that seem to be on that 8 times a year schedule when I browse through the Newstand section on the Mike's Amazing World of Comics website. I haven't taken any notes, but it seems like monthly titles may have actually been the minority at times. It seems like Action and Detective would be monthly, but Batman and Superman would skip months. Marvel started some of their new titles like X-Men and Daredevil as bi-monthly books before switching to monthly. I think some titles (for both DC and Marvel) that were restarting with old numbering after being canceled for years were revived as bi-monthly. Switching to bi-monthly seems to be a tactic for books that are the ropes. The Silver Age Doom Patrol switched over just before the end of its run. Also a little title called Fantastic Four. Yeah. A lot of DC books were 8 times a year. I remember looking at the indicia and it read "published monthly except W, X, Y and Z month." |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 25, 2020 13:25:33 GMT -5
In the US, newsstand sales followed a pattern, some months saw higher sales, other lower sales, a lot of it depended on school calendars since the bulk of the customers were kids. The 8 times a year schedule allowed some titles a longer shelf life during some of the slower periods.
Newsstands sales without returnability required overprinting, which cut into profitability as you had to pay to print copies that would never sell, so the longer something stayed on sale the more copies it could sell and the less copies were returned. Remember the cover date on the cover was the "off-sale" date after which all remaining copies were pulled off and returned for credit. Bi-monthly put that remove date further off.
When DC was in its infancy, Action and Detective were monthly anthologies (which were more of the norm for comics of the time), but when they launched Superman and Batman they were quarterlies, again allowing more time to be on sale and thus higher sell through rates.
Almost every Marvel title started as a bi-monthly except the anthology books. FF, Spidey, Avengers etc. all started as bi-monthlies. Part of that was uncertainty about sales, part of it was their distribution deal which only allowed them to publish a set number of books each month. If you have 8 slots a month, going bi-monthly lets you publish 16 titles not 8. The proven sellers got a slot every moth, the trial stuff was bi-monthly. If it sold well, it got bumped to monthly (the distribution deal was also responsible for the split books with dual features) . Once the distribution deal change was altered, and Marvel wasn't limited to a set number of books a month, most titles moved to monthly if they were proven sellers. But slower sellers stayed bi-monthly to give them a longer window for sales.
Monthly really only became the industry standard once the direct market was in full force and non-returnability provided guaranteed sales no matter how long the on-sale window was.
-M
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Post by Deleted on Aug 25, 2020 13:29:48 GMT -5
I suspected you might know the facts and provide the context for me. Thanks! It’s been a surprise. It’s proven to me never to presume ANYTHING. I’ve only noticed because I’ve been compiling covers to use in the FB group I am in. I can’t think whether any UK comics, at least in my lifetime, have been bi-monthly. Some reprint titles might have been. To be honest, and it shows the difference in cultures, monthly comics over here did often feature letters from people asking for a shift to weekly (editors usually replied with a playful, “Have a heart, it’s hard enough to get these out monthly.”). I guess our brains were wired differently over here because of what we were used to. I can imagine we’d have all been rioting if a comic had dared shift to a bi-monthly or quarterly schedule. |
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Post by chaykinstevens on Aug 25, 2020 17:14:01 GMT -5
Do you know which ones were fortnightly? I’d be interested to know. :-) The Fleetway comic, Crisis was published fortnightly until it went monthly with #50. |
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Post by beccabear67 on Aug 25, 2020 20:37:46 GMT -5
Do you know which ones were fortnightly? I’d be interested to know. :-) I couldn't begin to say anymore, all I still have are Doctor Who Monthlys and Specials, but there were some late '70s-early '80s Marvel titles where I ran across the term originally. Oh there were a couple funnies types that had Fortnightly right in the title which did run for awhile...   |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 26, 2020 19:31:54 GMT -5
Great topic @taxidriver1980 ! As a kid I sort of liked that many titles only came out 6-8 times a year. I liked that I could "afford" to get more of a variety of different titles than if they were all monthly.
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zilch
Full Member
Posts: 244 
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Post by zilch on Aug 27, 2020 14:02:13 GMT -5
Let's look at some examples...
All-Flash started off as a quarterly (since it featured only one character, which was the standard at the time)
With issue #6 (9-10 '42) goes bi-monthly, as sales indicate that it's a good seller... however...
By issue #12 (fall '43) wartime paper shortages cause rationing and AA/DC decides it would rather spread out its output, so back to quarterly status
#22 brings us completely out of the rationing (4-5 '46) and back to bi-monthly. Returning veterans also give a larger talent pool to work with, along with newer talent begins. All-Flash folds up with issue #32 (12-1 '47-48). With the absorption of AA, DC/National begins to move away from super-heroes and into more kid friendly genres (funny animal, teen (Scribbly gets his own book!) and finding trends like Western and space/SF in the early '50s (pushed by Schwartz and Weisinger, no doubt...)
Action Comics, the big seller, is always monthly, even with wartime rationing.
Detective Comics, a big Batman title, is monthly, even with wartime rationing...
... but sales start to fall off, so becomes a bi-monthly with #435 (6-7 '73), and is nearly cancelled for low sales during the DC Implosion until combined with the better selling Batman Family with #481 (12-1 '78-79) where it becomes a monthly (along with the entire DC line)
Quality Comics vary, some monthly, some 10 times a year (skipping December and another month).
-z
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