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Marvel Comics - UK Price Variants

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Get Marwood & I

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Marvel Comics - UK Price Variants

Hello Reader :)

Here is a summary of the Marvel UK Price Variants that I have discovered hiding between the dates of May 1960 and December 1981 inclusive.

UK Price Variants were printed in the USA at the same time as their cents priced counterparts. They are part of the same first printing run and are not reprints. If you would like to know more about them, please click the picture below and you'll be magically transported to the Archie discussion thread in which we talk about them in more detail:

        Pointer.png.e64f8436930ea4838d48e89ad2c2d4ac.png Marvel.thumb.jpg.93208b0d6490aaafdf9cd89bf1337a38.jpg

In April 2019, CGC changed their labels from "UK Edition" to the more appropriate "UK Price Variant" for these first printing books. You can see their official confirmation of this here :headbang:

Meanwhile, here is an up to date summary of what I have discovered so far, which I hope you will find interesting.

The Headlines

  1. Marvel UK Price Variants (UKPVs) have been found to exist between the cover dates of May 1960 to December 1981 inclusive. Across those cover dates, a total of 6,744 cents priced comics exist spanning 260 titles. At the time of writing, 3,023 of them have a matching single printed price UKPV confirmed spanning 119 of the 260 overall titles.
  2. The comics are believed to have been printed at the same time and in the same location as their US cents priced counterparts, but with pence only printed cover prices and, in the early years, regional UK indicias. There is currently no evidence to determine which books were printed first – cents or pence – or indeed whether they alternated (Matt Nelson of CGC has taken up the challenge of trying to establish the sequence, having noted page quality differences between pence and cents copies).
  3. The first Marvel UKPVs known are Gunsmoke Western #58 and Journey into Mystery #58 cover dated May 1960. No pence copies dated prior to May 1960 have been found:
    • Gunsmoke Western #58 (with a regional L Miller & Co indicia)
    • Journey into Mystery #58 (with a regional Thorpe & Porter indicia)
  4. The last UKPVs are cover dated December 1981. From January 1982, Marvel introduced dual cents / pence pricing for all their Direct Editions, effectively ending the existence of UK Price Variants for Marvel (Newsstand Editions remained cents only priced).
  5. No UKPVs have been found for comics cover dated December 1964 to July 1965 inclusive. Most monthly titles have a 9 or 10 issue gap around these dates, potentially due to shipping strikes.
  6. Almost every title which crosses the cover dates of October 1966 to December 1966 has a two issue pence gap. This may explain why Amazing Spider-Man completists haven’t found #42 and #43 yet - they probably don’t exist.Ditto Avengers 33/34, Daredevil 21/22, Fantastic Four 56/57, Sgt Fury 35/36, Tales to Astonish 85/86. However, Strange Tales only misses one issue (#151) as does Tales of Suspense (#84). Two-Gun Kid has all issues as pence copies but as a bi-monthly title you can see there may have been a missing issue had it been monthly.
  7. No UKPVs have been found for comics cover dated December 1967 to March 1969 inclusive – a 16 issue gap.
  8. No UKPVs have been found for comics cover dated April 1974 to July 1974 inclusive. This 4 issue gap coincides with the transition from 6p to 7p.
  9. No UKPVs have been found for comics cover dated February 1981 to March 1981 inclusive. This 2 issue gap coincides with the transition from 15p to 20p.
  10. Many single issues do not appear to exist when the issue was double sized, e.g. Avengers #200, Astonishing Tales #8, Ghost Rider #50, The Invaders #41, Thor #300, X-Men #137
  11. No UKPVs have been found for the ‘Giant Size’ titles of 1974 and 1975 (72 issues across 28 titles).
  12. Only 5 annuals have been found with pence only printed copies, all cover dated 1965 (Amazing Spider-Man #2, Fantastic Four #3, Journey into Mystery #1, Marvel Tales #2, Sgt Fury #1). A further 96 issues exist without UKPVs across 32 titles.
  13. All UKPVs were requested by and distributed in the UK by Thorpe and Porter. The only known exceptions are the following 9d cover priced issues which were exclusively distributed by L Miller & Co (Thorpe & Porter took over these three titles from September 1961, becoming the sole distributor for Marvel comics in the UK from this point):
    • Gunsmoke Western #58 and 59
    • Rawhide Kid #17
    • Two-Gun Kid #54 and 55
  14. The following pence prices exist: 9d, 10d, 1/- (one shilling), 6p, 7p, 8p, 9p, 10p, 12p, 15p, 20p, 30p and 40p. No other cover prices exist.
  15. In November 1971, UK cover prices changed from ‘old money’ to new as a result of decimalisation. Accordingly, UK copies changed from a one shilling price (1/-) to the modern pence price. The November 1971 US issues of the time were mostly one off 25c over sized issues and ten pence priced copies are known to exist. Of those ten, six were priced at 8p and four were priced at what would become the standard price of 6p. Despite better reflecting the increased content of the oversized issues, the 8p price appears to have been a mistake as many UK copies can be found with a standardised 6p sticker covering the 8p printed price:
    • Amazing Adventures #9, 6p
    • Amazing Spider-Man #102, 8p
    • Avengers #93, 8p
    • Conan The Barbarian #11, 6p
    • Daredevil #81, 8p
    • Fantastic Four #116, 6p
    • Incredible Hulk #145, 8p
    • Sub-Mariner #43, 8p
    • Thor #193, 8p
    • Where Monsters Dwell #12, 6p
  16. As well as the 3,022 ‘regular sized’ comics, 23 Treasury Sized Editions exist with 50p and 75p cover prices (see my discussion thread for the full list). A handful of magazine titles also exist.
  17. Marvel UK Price Variants differ from those of other publishers in as much as they have a number of printed differences between the pence and cents copies, and those differences vary throughout the UKPV production period. Early books have missing cover months, regional UK indicias and, of course, pence cover prices. Later in the run, the cover mastheads were amended to 'Marvel All-Colour Comics' to inform the UK audience that these books were indeed printed in colour (many UK reprints were not). I have covered every known difference in the discussion thread.

So, only 3,023 books to collect if you want the set. Marvel have the most price variants of any publisher by far and I feel they are the most interesting to study with so many quirks and variations to track. I believe that there are no more UKPV books to be discovered, based on my research into regional indicias and US price fonts. Only time will tell if I'm right.

Happy hunting, if you decide to build a set!

13/03/21

By Stephen Cranch based on v5.1 of the ‘Marvel Comics – UK Price Variants Summary’

 

Confirmed UK Price Variant Titles / Issues    
       
Title Confirmed UKPV Issues Total    Title Count
       
2001: A Space Odyssey 1-10 10 1
Amazing Adult Fantasy 7-14 8 1
Amazing Adventures  5-6 2 1
Amazing Adventures 2nd Series 3-22, 26-39 34 1
Amazing Fantasy 15 1 1
Amazing Spider-Man 1-17, 28-41, 44-54, 71-120, 215-223 101 1
Amazing Spider-Man Annual 2 1 1
Astonishing Tales 2-7, 9-22, 25-36 32 1
The Avengers 1-8, 19-32, 35-45, 63-120, 153-182, 184-199, 201-203, 206-214 149 1
Battle 70 1 1
Battlestar Galactica 2, 9, 19 3 1
Black Goliath 1-5 5 1
Black Panther 1, 7-15 10 1
Captain America 159-171, 176-253, 256-264 100 1
Captain Marvel 12-21, 25-30, 34-48, 53-62 41 1
Chamber of Chills 19, 20, 22, 25 4 1
Chamber of Darkness 6-8 3 1
The Champions 1-12 12 1
Conan The Barbarian 11-35, 41-53, 57-81, 121-129 72 1
Creatures On The Loose 31-37 7 1
Crypt of Shadows 21 1 1
Daredevil 1-3, 9-20, 23-33, 51-108, 112-149, 151-160, 163-168, 170-177 146 1
Dazzler 2-10 9 1
Dead Of Night 10 1 1
Defenders 4-7, 9, 11-12, 15-54, 71-91, 94-102 77 1
Doctor Strange 4-21, 25-34, 46-50 33 1
The Eternals 1-18 18 1
Fantastic Four 1-31, 42-55, 58-68, 85-143, 149-175, 177-189, 212, 229-237 165 1
Fantastic Four Annual 3 1 1
Fantasy Masterpieces 1-2 2 1
Fear (Adventure Into) 23-31 9 1
Frankenstein 12-18 7 1
The Ghost Rider 1-6 6 1
Ghost Rider 1-4, 7, 9-19, 22, 36, 39-49, 51-52, 55-63 40 1
Gunsmoke Western 58, 59, 66-77 14 1
Howard The Duck 1-26 26 1
The Human Fly 1-19 19 1
The Human Torch 8 1 1
Incredible Hulk 1-6, 114-152, 161-166, 258-266 60 1
The Inhumans 1-9 9 1
The Invaders 3-40 38 1
Iron Fist 3-7 5 1
Iron Man 12-42, 47-66, 69, 71-111, 122-142, 145, 147-153 122 1
John Carter Warlord Of Mars 24-28 5 1
Journey Into Mystery 58-60, 62-109, 119-125 58 1
Journey Into Mystery Annual 1 1 1
Journey Into Mystery 2nd Series 8, 9, 12-18 9 1
Jungle Action 11-23 13 1
Ka-Zar, Lord Of The Hidden Jungle 5-18 14 1
Ka-Zar The Savage 1-9 9 1
Kid Colt Outlaw 91, 95-119, 124-129, 133-137 37 1
Kull The Conqueror / Destroyer 7-11, 18 6 1
Logans Run 1-7 7 1
Luke Cage / Power Man & Iron Fist 20-57, 65-66, 68-76 49 1
Machine Man 10-18 9 1
Man-Thing 8-22 15 1
Man-Thing 2nd Series 1, 6 2 1
Marvel Chillers 1-5 5 1
Marvel Classics Comics 5, 7, 9-36 30 1
Marvel Double Feature  10 1 1
Marvel Feature (2nd Series) Feat. Red Sonja 2-7 6 1
Marvel Premiere 22, 24, 26-34, 37-57, 59-61 35 1
Marvel Presents:  1-9 9 1
Marvel Spotlight 8-13, 17, 26-31 13 1
Marvel Spotlight (Volume 2) 1-7, 9-10 9 1
Marvel Super Action 30-37 8 1
Marvel Super Heroes 72, 80, 103, 104 4 1
Marvel Tales 104, 126-134 10 1
Marvel Tales Annual 2 1 1
Marvel Team-Up 24-37, 39-80, 82-99, 101, 111-112 77 1
Marvel Triple Action 28, 30, 32, 43-47 8 1
Marvel Two-in-One 11-71, 74-82 70 1
Marvel's Greatest Comics 68, 93 2 1
Master Of Kung Fu 36-96, 99-107 70 1
The Micronauts 28-36 9 1
Monsters on the Prowl 9-12, 15-16 6 1
Moon Knight 1-3, 6-14 12 1
Ms. Marvel 1-23 23 1
My Girl Pearl 7 1 1
Night Rider 5 1 1
Not Brand Echh 1 1 1
The Man Called Nova 1-16, 20-24 21 1
Omega The Unknown 1-6 6 1
Patsy And Hedy 70-71 2 1
Patsy Walker 89 1 1
Rawhide Kid 17, 24-42, 48-54, 56-60, 151 33 1
Red Sonja 1, 7-14 9 1
ROM Space Knight 1-3, 17-22, 24-25 11 1
Sgt. Fury And His Howling Commandos 1-10, 21-34, 37-47, 107-117, 128, 132, 152, 163-167 54 1
Sgt. Fury And His Howling Commandos Annual 1 1 1
She-Hulk, The Savage 9-10, 15-23 11 1
Shogun Warriors 4-20 17 1
The Silver Surfer 11-18 8 1
Skull The Slayer 2-8 7 1
Son Of Satan 1-4 4 1
(Peter Parker) The Spectacular Spider-Man 1, 53-61 10 1
Spider-Woman 5-34, 37, 38, 40, 41 34 1
Star Trek 13, 14, 16, 17 4 1
Star Wars 2-5 4 1
Strange Tales 75-77, 79-125, 136-150, 152-162, 175-187,  89 1
Sub-Mariner 12-69 58 1
Super Natural Thrillers 13, 15 2 1
Super-Villain Team-Up 3-9 7 1
Tales of Suspense 10, 13-58, 69-83, 85-95 73 1
Tales To Astonish Volume 1 10, 14-61, 71-84, 87-97 74 1
Tales To Astonish Volume 2 4-14 11 1
Tarzan 24-29 6 1
Thor 126-132, 135-146, 163-221, 226-282, 285-299, 301-303, 306-314 162 1
Tomb Of Darkness  10-20, 23 12 1
Tomb of Dracula 7-18, 23-28, 55-62 26 1
Two-Gun Kid 54-55, 60-72, 77-90 29 1
Vault Of Evil 23 1 1
Warlock 4-5, 9-15 9 1
Weird Wonder Tales 5-11 7 1
Werewolf By Night 6-14, 20-39, 41 30 1
Where Monsters Dwell 3-23, 25-27, 30, 32-37 31 1
Worlds Unknown 8 1 1
Wyatt Earp 29 1 1
Uncanny X-Men 1-7, 13-24, 27-37, 55-66, 73-86, 89-93, 96-101, 108-120, 123-136, 138-141, 144-152 107 1
       
       
  Confirmed UKPV Total:              3,023  
       
    Title Total: 119

 

Titles With No UK Price Variant Issues Produced / Confirmed
   
Title Title Count
   
A Date With Millie 1
Adventures On The Planet Of The Apes 1
Amazing Adventures Feat. X-Men 1
America's Best TV Comics 1
ARRGH! 1
Beware! 1
Captain Savage 1
The Cat 1
Chili 1
Combat Kelly & The Deadly Dozen 1
Crazy 1
The Deep 1
Dennis The Menace 1
Devil Dinosaur 1
Doc Savage 1
Doctor Strange (1st Series) 1
Dragonslayer 1
Dynomutt 1
Fantasy Masterpieces (2nd Series) 1
The Flintstones 1
For Your Eyes Only 1
Francis, Brother Of The Universe 1
Fun & Games Magazine 1
Giant Size.. Titles (See separate tab) 28
Godzilla 1
Groovy 1
Gunhawks 1
Gun-Slinger 1
Harvey 1
Homer The Happy Ghost 1
Iron Man & Sub-Mariner 1
Island of Dr. Moreau 1
Kathy 1
Ka-Zar (1st Series) 1
King Conan 1
Laff-A-Lympics 1
Life With Millie 1
Li'l Kids 1
Li'l Pals 1
Linda Carter, Student Nurse 1
Love Romances 1
Mad About Millie 1
Man From Atlantis 1
Marvel Adventure Featuring Daredevil 1
Marvel Collector's Item Classics 1
Marvel Feature  1
Marvel Spectacular 1
Mighty Marvel Western 1
Millie The Model 1
Modeling With Millie 1
My Love 1
My Own Romance 1
Nick Fury Agent Of Shield 1
Night Nurse 1
Our Love Story 1
The Outlaw Kid 1
Patsy Walker's Fashion Parade 1
Peter The Little Pest / Petey 1
Raiders Of The Lost Ark 1
Red Wolf 1
Ringo Kid 1
Scooby-Doo 1
Shanna The She-Devil 1
S.H.I.E.L.D, Nick Fury And His Agents Of  1
Special Marvel Edition 1
Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends 1
Spidey Super Stories 1
Spoof 1
Spotlight (Hannah-Barbera) 1
Tales of Asgard 1
Teen-Age Romance 1
Tower Of Shadows 1
TV Stars, Hanna-Barbera 1
Uncanny Tales (From The Grave) 1
War Is Hell 1
Western Gunfighters 1
Western Kid 1
Western Team-Up 1
What If? 1
Where Creatures Roam 1
Yogi Bear 1
Annual.. Titles (See separate tab) 32
   
Title Total:  140

 

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20 Comments


Recommended Comments

Surprised I'm the first to comment here...

Thanks, Steve & well done for all your hard work on this. I've enjoyed watching your research develop over the past couple of years. This will prove to be an important addition to our hobby. Can't wait for the article in Overstreet!

Chin, chin!

:golfclap:

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7 hours ago, rakehell said:

Surprised I'm the first to comment here...

Thanks, Steve & well done for all your hard work on this. I've enjoyed watching your research develop over the past couple of years. This will prove to be an important addition to our hobby. Can't wait for the article in Overstreet!

Chin, chin!

:golfclap:

Cheers Linda. Less of an article, more of an addition to John McClures market report. Gotta start somewhere...

3 hours ago, Gnasher said:

Not as funny as your Fart Journals, but more valuable (thumbsu

Still full of hot air though (thumbsu

Edited by Get Marwood & I
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19 minutes ago, Get Marwood & I said:

Cheers Andy. Less of an article, more of an addition to John McClures market report.

That's what I meant, I just didn't want to diminish your contribution. :insane:

And, you're doing that name thing again. You've got me trying to check the label in my underpants... :baiting:

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6 minutes ago, rakehell said:

That's what I meant, I just didn't want to diminish your contribution. :insane:

And, you're doing that name thing again. You've got me trying to check the label in my underpants... :baiting:

doh!

Sorry Dave. Harry. ......Robert!

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1 hour ago, oakman29 said:

I am amazed at the brilliance of your knowledge, you are a wealth of information. 

 

.His contribution has been invaluable. (thumbsu

It's a shame no one likes him lol

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2 hours ago, oakman29 said:

I am amazed at the brilliance of your knowledge, you are a wealth of information. 

 

.... none of which is interesting :grin:

45 minutes ago, Gnasher said:

.His contribution has been invaluable. (thumbsu

...to insomniacs across the globe.

45 minutes ago, Gnasher said:

It's a shame no one likes him lol

That's not true! :mad:

 

hm

 

OK, it's true :)

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15 minutes ago, Get Marwood & I said:

.... none of which is interesting :grin:

...to insomniacs across the globe.

That's not true! :mad:

 

hm

 

OK, it's true :)

OK, I kinda like ya....You're good fun(thumbsu

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This seems interesting. I feel like this is the right place to ask...but how do you price value of pence variants? I feel like i've heard they are worth less than the US regular counterparts, but I cant seem to find any real knowledge of this.

 

I recently picked up a wwbn 32 pence variant from a fellow because I was in the market for a book for a doug moench signing. I would put it in the 6.0 range, but don't know if there's a  SS Pence in census and what the value would be at? I hope I didnt overpay for the book. I paid close to fmv of an english book, and since I was in a time crunch I was a little more flexible on terms, but I just want to make sure I didnt head dive into a concrete pool (:.

 

Thanks for the help.

 

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On 1/28/2021 at 7:22 AM, 956Ref said:

This seems interesting. I feel like this is the right place to ask...but how do you price value of pence variants? I feel like i've heard they are worth less than the US regular counterparts, but I cant seem to find any real knowledge of this.

 

I recently picked up a wwbn 32 pence variant from a fellow because I was in the market for a book for a doug moench signing. I would put it in the 6.0 range, but don't know if there's a  SS Pence in census and what the value would be at? I hope I didnt overpay for the book. I paid close to fmv of an english book, and since I was in a time crunch I was a little more flexible on terms, but I just want to make sure I didnt head dive into a concrete pool (:.

 

Thanks for the help.

 

Looking at GPA for bronze age keys, I'd say the gap is closing.  UK variants go for around 65-80% of their US counterparts.

Given that numerous sources put the print run of the UK editions between 2-5% of the US printings, I'd say it's an untapped gold mine.

Canadian Price Variants and newsstand (don't get me started) command a premium - that the UK editions don't is beyond me.

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Great work, very much appreciated.

One question remains: Do you know how many of the UK books were usually printed (and how many cent issues)? Thanks.

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On 1/12/2022 at 10:08 AM, Panpe said:

Great work, very much appreciated.

Thanks Panpe :)

On 1/12/2022 at 10:08 AM, Panpe said:

One question remains:

Only one? :grin:

On 1/12/2022 at 10:08 AM, Panpe said:

Do you know how many of the UK books were usually printed (and how many cent issues)? Thanks.

I don't think anyone knows the precise answer to that one, and perhaps never will. I've certainly never seen anything concrete on it. The overall print run will have varied over the 20 year period that UKPVs were in existence of course, and the suggestion has always been that the pence component may have been anything between two and five percent of the whole. I suspect that percentage started very low, and perhaps increased as the process bedded in, but that is just a gut feel based on my many years of looking for and at them. 

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I just picked up another Avengers UK price variant. This started with Avengers #93 because I just wanted an Avengers #93 and the first I saw in the grade I wanted for a price I could afford was a UK price variant. After getting it, I thought it would be fun to get the rest of the Kree-Skrull war in UK editions. I did that, then got a couple more before before looking for other titles. One thing I decided I wanted though, was Avengers 1-100 in UK editions. As a step toward that goal, I just picked up a copy of #100, the last in that group. I've seen several of these for sale but always in terrible condition. This one, if you care to check the registry, is the highest graded copy and the only one in this grade. Next highest grade is 3 notches lower, at 7.0.

AV100.jpg

Link to comment
On 1/21/2023 at 9:19 PM, paqart said:

I just picked up another Avengers UK price variant. This started with Avengers #93 because I just wanted an Avengers #93 and the first I saw in the grade I wanted for a price I could afford was a UK price variant. After getting it, I thought it would be fun to get the rest of the Kree-Skrull war in UK editions. I did that, then got a couple more before before looking for other titles. One thing I decided I wanted though, was Avengers 1-100 in UK editions. As a step toward that goal, I just picked up a copy of #100, the last in that group. I've seen several of these for sale but always in terrible condition. This one, if you care to check the registry, is the highest graded copy and the only one in this grade. Next highest grade is 3 notches lower, at 7.0.

AV100.jpg

Nice. Post them in the discussion thread, Paq:

https://boards.cgccomics.com/topic/411880-marvel-uk-price-variants/

No one reads the journals. 

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