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Andrew Cate
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 25 February 2019
Location: United States
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| Posted: 10 July 2019 at 8:29am | IP Logged | 1
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JB - Both comics hitting the stands in January 1987. Was there a competitive nature between you and Jerry at this time, fun or professional? Ever have any side bets on units sold or moved?
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
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| Posted: 10 July 2019 at 8:30am | IP Logged | 2
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No.
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Andrew W. Farago
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Joined: 19 July 2005
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| Posted: 10 July 2019 at 12:58pm | IP Logged | 3
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Anyone have any sales figures on those? It seems like the first comic called "Superman #1" in nearly 50 years would have been seen as a major event when compared to issue #424 of a monthly comic.
My younger brother and I bought Superman #1 off the rack at a local convenience store, and I remember being really confused to see a #1 issue on a book that I knew had been around since the 1940s. Relaunches, reboots, and renumbering were foreign concepts to me as a new comic book reader.
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Jason Larouse
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Joined: 10 May 2011
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| Posted: 10 July 2019 at 1:09pm | IP Logged | 4
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Anyone have any sales figures on those? It seems like the first comic called "Superman #1" in nearly 50 years would have been seen as a major event when compared to issue #424 of a monthly comic.
****
I'm sure that SUPERMAN #1 sold more, given that JB was a big name back then and was coming right off of MAN OF STEEL which was a success.
I also thought that ADVENTURES kicking off the new era with a storyline about middle eastern terrorism was a strange move to say the least.
Edited by Jason Larouse on 10 July 2019 at 1:11pm
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Peter Martin
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 March 2008
Location: Canada
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| Posted: 10 July 2019 at 9:22pm | IP Logged | 5
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Great covers for both those issues. I first experienced both the JB stories and the Wolfman/Ordway ones via UK reprints, which appeared in the same Superman magazine. At the time, I was purely attracted via JB's involvement, and wasn't happy to get the Wolfman/Ordway stuff, but looking back on it, Ordway's art was high quality.
Edited by Peter Martin on 10 July 2019 at 9:22pm
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Adam Schulman
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Joined: 22 July 2017
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| Posted: 11 July 2019 at 5:36am | IP Logged | 6
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Renumbering SUPERMAN was one of DC editorial's many mistakes. BTW, look at the cover that JB drew -- with Superman on the ground, in pain. Doesn't look like it was intended for a #1 cover, does it? Looks more like it was intended for, say, #424 of a series.
And I'm a big Ordway fan too.
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Daniel Gillotte
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Joined: 11 October 2005
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| Posted: 11 July 2019 at 3:56pm | IP Logged | 7
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I wasn't a Superman fan until JB did Man of Steel then I was a fan of the multiple Superman books for a while.
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David Miller
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Joined: 16 April 2004
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| Posted: 11 July 2019 at 5:54pm | IP Logged | 8
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This site has circulation numbers collected from the annual statements. I couldn't find sales for Superman #1, but it does have circulation numbers for Volume 1, including Adventures of Superman, and Action Comics.
There's obviously context lacking, but applying basic math, the 64% increase from Superman to Adventures of Superman is pretty damn impressive, while the TRIPLING of Action's circulation under JB is fucking insane. Ordway and Wolfman increased sell-through from 41% to 52.7%, while on Action JB increased sell-through from 39.4% to 56.9%.
Great Scott!
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Rodrigo castellanos
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 03 July 2012
Location: Uruguay
Posts: 1464
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| Posted: 11 July 2019 at 9:39pm | IP Logged | 9
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Great covers for both those issues. I first experienced both the JB stories and the Wolfman/Ordway ones via UK reprints, which appeared in the same Superman magazine. At the time, I was purely attracted via JB's involvement, and wasn't happy to get the Wolfman/Ordway stuff, but looking back on it, Ordway's art was high quality.
Same thing happened to me with the spanish reprints. I hated the Wolfman/Ordway stories with a passion as a kid, it took me years to "get" what a great artist Ordway is.
Wolfman doesn't get out that easily, though. IMHO his Superman stories were totally inconsistent in tone compared to what JB was doing. They didn't mix well (of course in America you could choose not to buy ADVENTURES but we had it forced on us, heh).
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Shane Matlock
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Joined: 12 August 2012
Location: United States
Posts: 1760
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| Posted: 11 July 2019 at 11:44pm | IP Logged | 10
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I am kind of ashamed to admit that I still haven't read the Adventures of Superman issues by Wolfman and Ordway (though I've enjoyed much of their other work), but I bought and read every issue of JB's Man of Steel, Superman, and Action Comics. Bought them all twice, once when they came out and later to have again after I'd sold my collection. Have read all the issues at least ten times. And will buy and read them again if DC ever puts out an omnibus collection. Still my favorite Superman run to this day. Love the variant covers for issue 1 of Man of Steel, though it's a damn shame that now both major companies took that example as how to sell more issues and do it with almost every comic instead of just something really special.
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Samuel P. Barden
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Joined: 19 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 237
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| Posted: 12 July 2019 at 6:06am | IP Logged | 11
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I didn't hate Wolfman's writing. There was a secret society plot which I hoped was going somewhere. Most of the Clark Kent's stuff was fun and I fell for Cat Grant when they first met. Not being in the know, I didn't understand why Superman was struggling with saving a plane in AoS, when he had lift the Space Plane in Man of Steel; why was his powers working differently.
Wolfman didn't have a signature Lex Luthor story, tho he came up with the new direction for the character.
I think Wolfman put this run under is Writer's Block period, which really upset me. "You mean I read all of this stuff for nothing?"
Nice art tho.
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Adam Schulman
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| Posted: 12 July 2019 at 11:39am | IP Logged | 12
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Much of what Wolfman wrote for NEW TEEN TITANS -- which became NEW TITANS -- after George Perez left is much worse than what he wrote for ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN.
I hated that whole Lord Chaos/Team Titans story. I hated Pantha and Wildebeast and everyone, everyone hated Danny Chase.
Hell, all of CRISIS is worse than what Wolfman wrote for AOS.
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