While that is a great summary of reaching a profit, breaking even or a small amount of profit is rarely considered a success especially if that is the criteria for sequels/continuations/similar products.
So a one off single comic that has zero expectations might be a success if it makes a small profit, but as a test to see if it should become a series a significant amount of profit would be needed.
It was mostly sarcasm (a la Fight Club recall/no recall equation), but thank you for the compliment and the more detailed writeup of what actually matters.
The size of the first run is calibrated to expected sales and production costs. If it sells out, it met whatever expectations led to the decision to print it.