Spider-Woman Vol. 1 Sales Figures
Circulation as Reported in Publishers' Statements of Ownership
Filed with the United States Postal Service
One of two steps — along with She-Hulk — that Marvel took in the 1970s to create female versions of its flagship characters (and protect their trademarks), Spider-Woman first appeared in Marvel Spotlight #32. The regular series followed.
Sales were half or less that of the regular Spider-Man titles — and the Spider-Man character only made guest appearances when the series was over a year old.
With sales slipping in 1981, Marvel took the series bimonthly and cancelled it abruptly with issue #50, the only note that the series was over being a single line pasted onto the bottom of the last page of art.
A mini-series followed in 1993, and an 18-issue revival appeared in 1999-2000, lasting long enough to require a single Statement of Ownership. Limited series followed again in 2009 and 2015, with another regular series in 2016, after Marvel was done publishing circulation statements.
Some direct-market only information for those titles is available in the monthly reports.
—John Jackson Miller
| 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Issue Statement appearing in: | #24 Mar | #37 April | #43 April | #49 Apr | |
| Date of filing: | 10/1/79 | 10/1/80 | 10/1/81 | 10/1/81 | |
| Issues published during year: | 12 | 12 | 6 | 6 | |
| Annual subscription price: | $5.00 | $6.00 | $3.60 | $3.60 | |
| Cover price during year: | $0.40 | $0.50 | $0.60 | $0.60 | |
| Total Copies PRINTED (avg): | 331,645 | 283,001 | 252,763 | 237,059 | |
| Sales through DEALERS (avg): | 126,438 | 127,036 | 99,112 | 94,329 | |
| Sales by SUBSCRIPTION (avg): | 437 | 970 | 3,362 | 5,384 | |
| Total PAID circulation (avg): | 126,875 | 128,006 | 102,474 | 99,713 | |
| Samples by MAIL (avg): | 590 | 636 | 591 | 707 | |
| Samples OUTSIDE mail (avg): | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total FREE circulation (avg): | 590 | 636 | 591 | 707 | |
| TOTAL DISTRIBUTION: | 127,465 | 128,642 | 103,065 | 100,420 | |
| Copies not distributed (office): | 1,619 | 2,160 | 767 | 4,392 | |
| Copies not distributed (RETURNS): | 202,561 | 152,199 | 148,931 | 132,247 | |
| Reported % Paid/Requested: | |||||
| % of RUN RETURNED: | 61.1% | 53.8% | 58.9% | 55.8% | |
| Copies existent: | 129,084 | 130,802 | 103,832 | 104,812 | |
| SELL-THROUGH at RETAIL: | 38.3% | 45.2% | 40.5% | 42.1% |
Statement history
No statements appeared in the first year of the title, in keeping with Marvel's practice on new series.
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