As we continue our series of Throwback Thursday articles drawn from the pages of Internal Correspondence, we were once again struck by how little has changed in some parts of the comics market in the last 25 years. 

Marvel had just wrapped up their distributor sales meeting, talking about plans for the following year, and was stressing their desire to add girls to the mix of their customers with titles like Barbie and Sweet XVI, both supported by magazine advertising.  And we wrote at the time, “It is up to retailers to make these young female customers feel welcome and comfortable in their stores.” 

Marvel was licensing more of its titles at the time, announcing books tied to Terminator II, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, and American Tail II.

The Flash was on TV (on CBS) and despite competing in its time slot with shows that had stronger lead-ins (The Simpsons and The Cosby Show!), was hanging in with middle-of-the-pack ratings (probably a multiple of the ratings for the current Flash show on the CW).  A Gallup poll had found that The Flash was the #2 best-liked new show of the season, finishing just behind Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

The 1990 holiday season was starting “OK,” according to comic retailers interviewed by Internal Correspondence, with tough comparables because of the release of DC’s Arkham Asylum hardcover, the highest dollar book ever in the direct market, in November the year before. 

And as was the case in 2015, the big book for December was an up-price Frank Miller book; the market was awaiting the release of Elektra Lives Again, a $24.95 hardcover.  It turned out to be a little more adult than planned, as a late notice appeared that the book was designated “Suggested for Mature Readers” after solicitation due to “incidental male and female nudity.”

The VHS version of the Akira anime was due for shipment in the next month, dubbed in English, and it was noted that it would not be available to video stores until several months later.

{IMAGE_3}The top ten dollar comics and graphic novels of the month, based on orders placed with Capital City by comic stores for December (which may or may not have actually shipped in December), multiplied by the cover price (listed here in parentheses), were:

  1. Elektra Lives Again HB ($24.95)
  2. Spider-Man #7 ($1.75)
  3. Aliens vs Predator #4 ($2.50)
  4. Greatest Flash Stories HB ($29.95)
  5. X-Men #273 ($1.00)
  6. Batman:  Legends of the Dark Knight #15 ($1.50)
  7. Excalibur: Weird War III ($9.95)
  8. Stacked Deck: Greatest Joker Stories ($34.95)
  9. Wolverine #36 ($1.75)
  10. Ghost Rider #10 ($1.50)

Click here to see the world of hobby games in December 1990.

For last month’s Throwback Thursday report on comics in November 1990, click here.