What Wine Goes With Superman Cape, Mr. Millar?

Mark Millar recently stated in an interview (that Kevin Melrose covered over at Blog@Newsarama) that Civil War was the best selling comic in the last 15 years.

When people called him on the hyperbole that ignored the facts, he got cranky. I don't necessarily blame him, because you can't expect him to research everything he might say in an interview. The point that it was an amazing sales success is true. This is the sort of thing that only obsessed comic book fans would gripe about.

But...

In his crankiness, he said the following:

Groan.

If someone can show me another monthly comic series published in the American market that has outsold Civil War then I will eat my Superman cape. You can go all the way back to the collapse in 1994.

This is truly pathetic and pedantic, but typical of some aspects of the Internet, unfortunately.

MM

Oh my. You should really not put a challenge out like that. While you should be able to speak extemporaneously in an interview without being expected to have researched every bit of what you say, there's really no excuse for sitting at your computer and not doing a bit of research before making a bold statement, fueled largely by thin skin and thick ego. Sorry, Mr. Millar, but as much as you can do some great work, you certainly make sure no one forgets it and rail against any who don't tend to agree.

Courtesy of MyComicShop.com:

X-Men (1991-) 42
Published July 1995
Original cover price: $1.95

Deluxe edition on glossy paper. "Heaven Can Wait." Script by Fabian Nicieza, pencils by Paul Smith, inks by Matt Ryan. Statement of ownership--average print run 800,625; average paid circulation 614,075. Andy Kubert/Ryan cover.

Let's see. July 1995 actually came out in May. The statement of ownership would then go back into May of 1994, I believe. (Edit: It has been pointed out to me that the likely period covered by the statement of ownership is January 1994 to December 1994, still within Millar's range)

The lesson today, boys and girls, is to quit while you're behind and just admit a mistake when you make one instead of getting into a pissing match with people that have more free time than you and know how to work a Google search properly.