Marvel UKPVs - Thorpe & Porter Indicias (June 1960 ~ November 1964)

Hello Reader 

Here is a summary of the Thorpe & Porter Indicia Types that I have found hiding in Marvels between the dates of June 1960 and November 1964 inclusive. If you'd like to know more about them, please click the picture below and you'll be magically transported to the discussion threads in which we talk about them (it's the Marvel Pence Variants thread):

Notes and Observations

Most people with a passing interest in pence copies will know that the early 1960's Marvels had regional UK indicias in them noting that the book in question had been "Printed exclusively for Thorpe & Porter Ltd", a UK based publisher responsible for the distributing the majority of US comics in the UK. The common assumption is that all pence books had them. During my research into pence copies and US price font variations I began to collect examples of the various different types of Thorpe & Porter indicia wording to see if they had any bearing on, or link to, the 'missing' pence copies. As well as finding that link, I discovered five different types of Thorpe & Porter indicia, some telling phases and even a period with Thorpe & Porter indicias in cents priced copies! 

Thorpe & Porter indicias first appear in issues cover dated June 1960 and make their last appearance in issues cover dated November 1964. Here are the five known types, with the cover date periods of the books you can expect to find them in:

Type 1 - Found in Marvel Comics US cover dated June 1960 to August 1960

The Type 1 Thorpe & Porter Ltd indicia format is characterised by a large lower-case distribution text in place of the regular US indicia details:

(There are no UK regional Thorpe & Porter indicias found in any US distributed 10c priced issues for this time period)

Type 2 - Found in Marvel Comics US cover dated September & October 1960

The Type 2 Thorpe & Porter Ltd indicia format is characterised by a large upper-case distribution text set below the regular US indicia details:

(There are no UK regional Thorpe & Porter indicias found in any US distributed 10c priced issues for this time period)

Type 3 - Found in Marvel Comics US cover dated November 1960 and December 1960

The Type 3 Thorpe & Porter Ltd indicia format is characterised by a large lower-case distribution text set below the regular US indicia details:

(There are no UK regional Thorpe & Porter indicias found in any US distributed 10c priced issues for this time period)

Type 4 - Found in Marvel Comics US cover dated January 1961 to April 1961

The Type 4 Thorpe & Porter Ltd indicia format is characterised by a small upper-case distribution text set immediately following the regular US indicia details:

*** UK regional Thorpe & Porter indicias can be found in US distributed 10c cover priced issues cover dated January to April for issues which have corresponding pence copies ***

Type 5 - Found in Marvel Comics US cover dated September 1961 to November 1964

The Type 5 Thorpe & Porter Ltd indicia format is characterised by a small upper-case distribution text set below the regular US indicia details:

(There are no UK regional Thorpe & Porter indicias found in any US distributed 10c priced issues for this time period)

Thorpe & Porter indicias do not appear in all UK Price Variant books in the May 1960 to November 1964 period - there are some exceptions:

• The expected Type 1 T&P indicia does not appear in the first pence priced Marvel book, Journey into Mystery #58, dated May 1960. This book has the same standard indicia as its US counterpart. This is odd, given that the only other pence priced May 1960 book - Gunsmoke Western #58 - has a regional 'L Miller & Co' indicia. So Len Miller got a regional indicia printed for his pence book, but Thorpe & Porter did not, starting instead with their June 1960 issues. Likely an oversight, wouldn't you say?
• There are no regional T&P indicias in pence or cents copies cover dated May 1961 to August 1961 inclusive
• There are no regional T&P indicias in any book - pence or cents - cover dated December 1964 onwards. Due to a gap in the production of pence copies, the last know T&P indicia in a pence copy is dated November 1964. Pence copies recommenced from August 1965, priced at 10d and with standard US indicias in all copies

Other notable observations:

• The two September 1960 UKPVs, Journey into Mystery #60 and Strange Takes #77, have their own unique indicia with the word ‘Thorpe’ misspelled as ‘Thorp’
• Journey into Mystery #63 bucks the overall trend for its December 1960 cover date period by having a Type 4 indicia in both pence and cents copies when it's UKPV cousins for the month all have Type 3 (an exception likely explained by JIM #63 being printed late in the monthly printing cycle and therefore falling into the next category type - the cut off doesn't have to go by cover month)
• All Type 4 books have regional T&P indicias in both pence and cents copies but only where a UKPV copy exists - the other US distributed 10c copies which do not have a corresponding UKPV have standard US indicias. The only exception is Journey into Mystery #67 which has a standard US indicia in both copies (again, likely due to being printed last in that months cycle). Early indications are that the T&P indicia exists in both US versions where the cents copy has a price font variation (JIM #65 confirmed)
• Every Type 1-4 exception is a JIM!

Finally, here are six summary tables which show all the books produced by Marvel in the T&P indicia period - both cents and pence - and what I can confirm to be in them (click on each page to zoom in):

So, not everyone's cup of tea I'm guessing but I don't think you'll find this information anywhere else online. It's an interesting period in comic production history and, if nothing else, is helpful in determining which pence books may / may not exist (see discussion thread!) and also the potential order of their printing.

For those that noted the references to L Miller, those indicias details can be found here

And if the early distribution of US comics to the UK interests you in general, you might enjoy my thread here:

Have fun 

30/06/21

By Stephen Cranch based on v2.3 of the 'Marvel UK Price Variants -Thorpe & Porter (T&P) Indicia Summary'