Turok Sales Figures
Circulation as Reported in Publishers' Statements of Ownership
Filed with the United States Postal Service
Years before Sid & Marty Krofft produced Land of the Lost, Turok, Son of Stone followed a hunter to a world where dinosaurs ruled the earth. A quarterly after it spun out of Dell Four Color, the series entered the 1960s as a Top 20 title and may have been Dell's best-selling action series in 1960, behind only Lone Ranger.
Sales began sliding gradually once the title came under Gold Key imprint, and it went from bimonthly back to quarterly. It was one of the last Gold Key action titles around, surviving into the Whitman bagged-only era, where it was available only in three-packs.
Interestingly, Turok's best days lie ahead, as Valiant Comics got the rights to part of Gold Key's action stable. The first issue of Turok, Dinosaur Hunter in 1993 had sales of 378,400 copies at one distributor alone, Capital City, meaning its overall sales were somewhere in the neighborhood of 1 million copies. The revival lasted until 1996.
Some issues under the Acclaim and later imprints can be found in the monthly sales reports.
—John Jackson Miller
| 1957 | 1958 | 1959 | 1960 | 1961 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Issue Statement appearing in: | #11 March-May | #15 March-May | #19 March-May | #23 March-May | #27 March-May |
| Date of filing: | 10/1/57 | 10/1/58 | 10/1/59 | 10/1/60 | 10/1/61 |
| Issues published during year: | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Annual subscription price: | $0.40 | $0.40 | $0.40 | $0.60 | $0.60 |
| Cover price during year: | $0.10 | $0.10 | $0.10 | $0.10 | $0.10 |
| Total Copies PRINTED (avg): | |||||
| Sales through DEALERS (avg): | |||||
| Sales by SUBSCRIPTION (avg): | |||||
| Total PAID circulation (avg): | 359,013 | 377,145 | |||
| Samples by MAIL (avg): | |||||
| Samples OUTSIDE mail (avg): | |||||
| Total FREE circulation (avg): | |||||
| TOTAL DISTRIBUTION: | 359,013 | 377,145 | |||
| Copies not distributed (office): | |||||
| Copies not distributed (RETURNS): | |||||
| Reported % Paid/Requested: | |||||
| % of RUN RETURNED: | |||||
| Copies existent: | 359,013 | 377,145 | |||
| SELL-THROUGH at RETAIL: | |||||
| 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | |
| Issue Statement appearing in: | #32 April | #38 March | #44 March | #50 March | #56 March |
| Date of filing: | 10/1/62 | 9/27/63 | 9/28/64 | 9/28/65 | 9/28/66 |
| Issues published during year: | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Annual subscription price: | $0.65 | $0.65 | $0.65 | $0.65 | $0.65 |
| Cover price during year: | $0.15 | $0.12 | $0.12 | $0.12 | $0.12 |
| Total Copies PRINTED (avg): | 408,910 | 413,285 | 404,849 | 375,135 | |
| Sales through DEALERS (avg): | 274,100 | 272,617 | 246,633 | 244,550 | |
| Sales by SUBSCRIPTION (avg): | 3,063 | 2,550 | 2,297 | 3,683 | 652 |
| Total PAID circulation (avg): | no data printed | 276,550 | 274,914 | 250,316 | 245,202 |
| Samples by MAIL (avg): | 635 | 508 | 804 | 573 | |
| Samples OUTSIDE mail (avg): | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total FREE circulation (avg): | 635 | 508 | 804 | 573 | |
| TOTAL DISTRIBUTION: | 277,285 | 274,914 | 251,120 | 245,775 | |
| Copies not distributed (office): | |||||
| Copies not distributed (RETURNS): | 131,625 | 138,371 | 153,729 | 129,360 | |
| Reported % Paid/Requested: | |||||
| % of RUN RETURNED: | 32.2% | 33.5% | 38.0% | 34.5% | |
| Copies existent: | 277,285 | 275,422 | 251,120 | 245,775 | |
| SELL-THROUGH at RETAIL: | 67.6% | 66.5% | 61.8% | 65.4% | |
| 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | |
| Issue Statement appearing in: | #61 April | #65 April | #69 April | #73 April | #77 Mar |
| Date of filing: | 9/28/67 | 9/27/68 | 9/30/69 | 9/30/70 | 9/30/71 |
| Issues published during year: | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Annual subscription price: | $0.45 | $0.50 | $0.75 | $0.75 | $1.00 |
| Cover price during year: | $0.15 | ||||
| Total Copies PRINTED (avg): | 433,385 | 358,964 | 364,961 | 334,786 | 296,609 |
| Sales through DEALERS (avg): | 232,065 | 229,150 | 209,500 | 192,100 | 190,000 |
| Sales by SUBSCRIPTION (avg): | 500 | 407 | 313 | 281 | 325 |
| Total PAID circulation (avg): | 232,565 | 229,557 | 209,813 | 192,381 | 190,325 |
| Samples by MAIL (avg): | 563 | 499 | 593 | 599 | 459 |
| Samples OUTSIDE mail (avg): | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total FREE circulation (avg): | 563 | 499 | 593 | 599 | 459 |
| TOTAL DISTRIBUTION: | 233,128 | 230,056 | 210,406 | 192,980 | 296,104 |
| Copies not distributed (office): | 505 | ||||
| Copies not distributed (RETURNS): | 200,257 | 128,908 | 154,555 | 141,806 | 105,320 |
| Reported % Paid/Requested: | |||||
| % of RUN RETURNED: | 46.2% | 35.9% | 42.3% | 42.4% | 35.5% |
| Copies existent: | 233,128 | 230,056 | 210,406 | 192,980 | 191,289 |
| SELL-THROUGH at RETAIL: | 53.7% | 63.9% | 57.5% | 57.5% | 64.2% |
Statement history
Before 1960, sales figures were not required in postal statements. Only the sales figures appeared in 1960 and 1961 in Dell comics, and, perhaps due to the transition to Gold Key, only subscription numbers appeared for 1962. All Statements have been found in issues after that; the last appeared in 1971. Turok appeared under simultaneous printings from Gold Key and its sister company Whitman from 1973 to 1980; it was only Whitman after that.
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.
