Spider-Woman 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.
Understanding Statements of Ownership
The figures above are taken directly from the annual Statements of Ownership, Management, and Circulation filed by publishers with the United States Postal Service. The sales figure is the Average Paid Circulation figure and includes all copies sold through newsstands, comics shops, and postal subscription. It does not count copies the publisher gave away for free, or copies that were kept for office use.
More information can be found in the FAQ section.
