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Ultimate Spider-Man Sales Figures

Circulation as Reported in Publishers' Statements of Ownership

Filed with the United States Postal Service





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One of the key early titles in the revival following the 1990s industry collapse, Ultimate Spider-Man, written by Brian Michael Bendis, launched an entire line of comics reimagining Marvel's characters. Both the title and the ensuing line became one of the success stories for the publisher in the first half of the decade — and Ultimate Spider-Man, in particular, saw significant distribution outside regular Direct Market channels. The book was tailor-made for the purpose; continuity within the title had started from scratch, making it friendly to new readers.



The series was not, however, an immediate top-seller on the Diamond charts; Ultimate Spider-Man #1 placed 15th in the month of September 2000 with preorders of 54,407 copies. Reprints inside and outside the comic shop market in many formats (including the version seen at upper right) would take the number of copies in print far above that; 2000's extremely high total paid circulation of 354,115 copies per issue appears largely due to those early reprints. The amount of regular newsstand distribution evident from the returns listed in the postal statements does not seem particularly high; by 2001 and onward, Diamond orders appear to account for most of the copies reported sold. See more direct-market only information in the monthly reports.



The initial series ended in 2009 with the Ultimatum crossover, only to return with a new #1 (titled inside as Ultimate Comics Spider-Man) after a four-month break; a separate postal license was filed for the new series. The new series' numbering lasted only a little over a year before it resumed the original numbering with #150. That lasted only until #160 in 2011, whereupon after another several-month break a third Ultimate Spider-Man #1 appeared, this time featuring Miles Morales as the titular hero and lasting until #28, cover-dated December 2013. A concomitant series, Marvel Universe: Ultimate Spider-Man, was based on the animated series and ran 31 issues from 2012-14. But only the first two (which may really be one) series had postal sales records.

—John Jackson Miller



2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Issue Statement appearing in: #16 Feb #32 Feb #50 Feb #67 December #84 Dec Date of filing: 10/1/01 10/1/02 10/1/03 10/1/04 8/26/05 Issues published during year: 12 12 17 19 17 Annual subscription price: $27.00 $27.00 $27.00 $27.00 $27.00 Cover price during year: $2.25 $2.99 $2.99 $2.99 $2.50 Total Copies PRINTED (avg): 360,425 150,000 127,101 121,745 112,937 Sales through DEALERS (avg): 350,566 123,102 111,344 107,585 96,991 Sales by SUBSCRIPTION (avg): 3,549 5,122 8,841 7,814 9,966 Total PAID circulation (avg): 354,115 128,224 120,185 115,399 106,957 Samples by MAIL (avg): 600 600 2 0 0 Samples OUTSIDE mail (avg): 0 0 736 510 1,407 Total FREE circulation (avg): 600 600 738 510 1,407 TOTAL DISTRIBUTION: 354,715 128,824 120,923 115,909 108,364 Copies not distributed (office): 0 0 0 0 0 Copies not distributed (RETURNS): 5,710 21,176 6,178 5,836 4,572 Reported % Paid/Requested: 99.0% 99.0% 99.4% 99.6% 98.7% % of RUN RETURNED: 1.6% 14.1% 4.9% 4.8% 4.0% Copies existent: 354,715 128,824 120,923 115,909 108,364 SELL-THROUGH at RETAIL: 98.2% 85.5% 94.6% 94.8% 94.7% 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Issue Statement appearing in: #101 January #116 January #127 December Application pending V2#15 December Date of filing: 9/12/06 9/25/07 9/30/08 9/30/10 Issues published during year: 18 12 12 12 12 Annual subscription price: $27.00 $27.00 $27.00 $27.00 $27.00 Cover price during year: $2.99 $2.99 $2.99 $3.99 $3.99 Total Copies PRINTED (avg): 95,768 102,005 95,055 72,432 Sales through DEALERS (avg): 82,508 90,016 71,391 54,353 Sales by SUBSCRIPTION (avg): 7,211 7,125 7,341 7,267 Total PAID circulation (avg): 89,719 97,141 78,732 61,620 Samples by MAIL (avg): 0 0 0 0 Samples OUTSIDE mail (avg): 2,699 624 1,042 763 Total FREE circulation (avg): 2,699 624 1,042 763 TOTAL DISTRIBUTION: 92,417 97,765 79,774 62,383 Copies not distributed (office): 0 0 0 0 Copies not distributed (RETURNS): 3,351 4,240 15,281 10,049 Reported % Paid/Requested: 97.1% 99.4% 98.7% 98.8% #DIV/0! Copies existent: 92,418 97,765 79,774 0 62,383 #DIV/0!

STATEMENT HISTORY

The first Statement appeared near the end of 2001, and the reports continued to appear until the end of the title's initial run. The postal application was reported as still pending in early issues of Volume 2 in 2009; had it been the same license, results for 2008 might have been expected to appear. The final issue of the second series' numbering had the only Statement for Vol. 2. The run with the original numbering ended in 2010 before a Statement could appear for the year. Neither the third series nor Marvel Universe: Ultimate Spider-Man appear to have run Statements.



The reports of the number of issues published during each year come from the Statements, and are not reflective of the number that actually shipped in some years when the title was biweekly.



