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DC UK Price Variants
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236 posts in this topic

On 7/20/2020 at 12:06 PM, rakehell said:

part of a little lot I bagged from ebay UK.

Very nice Melanie :)

Here's a cool one - not only a Five Pee Dee Cee UK Pee Vee (I like that rhyme) but a printing error too!

 941176535_408PrintingError.thumb.jpg.e8b805b1bc360ecbe80fbc7e312e8c46.jpg408.thumb.jpg.02ca8bd555af39f5eb5f2b02a4f8db87.jpg

A distinct lack of black ink to the top right side of the cover, much more noticeable in hand. It seems to start with the shadow under Supergirl's arm and is conspicuously absent from the seated girl's hair, window frame and the colouring around the masthead / issue details.

1227876617_408PrintingErrorca.thumb.jpg.a8891fbb7cd4a4d6666ea87a178bb0fa.jpg408.thumb.jpg.004953f88311624267a64dedfca52dc3.jpg

The only one I've seen like it so far. We like :)

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On 9/19/2020 at 1:48 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

Very nice Melanie :)

Ta Brenda.

On 9/19/2020 at 1:48 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

Here's a cool one - not only a Five Pee Dee Cee UK Pee Vee (I like that rhyme) but a printing error too!

 941176535_408PrintingError.thumb.jpg.e8b805b1bc360ecbe80fbc7e312e8c46.jpg408.thumb.jpg.02ca8bd555af39f5eb5f2b02a4f8db87.jpg

Very nice. I love these weird little outliers.

Nice to have you back, btw. Hope it was nothing serious. :tink: chin chin & all that.

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3 hours ago, rakehell said:

Ta Brenda.

Very nice. I love these weird little outliers.

Nice to have you back, btw. Hope it was nothing serious. :tink: chin chin & all that.

Thanks Una. Just family stuff - it will probably keep me away again soon for a while, so if I go missing again don't fret :foryou:

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Afternoon :)

Every once in a while I revisit one of my old research files and see if there is anything else I can do with it, often in light of discovering new ways of checking things. I've been applying the concept of 'on sale dates' to a lot of my work over the last year or so and sometimes it can help support my conclusions as to what books may or may not exist as pence variants.

There are 839 known DC UKPVs and the first month where they really get going - cover date February 1978 - only has 6 confirmed UKPVs. Lots of titles don't have them. Looking at the extract below, why should it be for example that Action Comics #480 has a UKPV confirmed but that Adventure Comics #455 doesn't? 

dc.thumb.PNG.c428a2cdceda2855a544de04e5f87026.PNG

Both are cover dated February 1978 and both are eligible for a UKPV being 35c comics.

If we apply the 'on sale dates' however, as per our old friend Mikes Comic Newsstand, a telling pattern emerges:

dc2.PNG.571bb26d9298d42dd730ee8b75c91490.PNG

The only six known UKPVs are all at the end of the list. So we can speculate that there was a date driven starting point for the UKPVs and clearly those last six books at least were after it.

It begs the question whether Ghosts #61 should have a UKPV of course and I've started looking again for that book. It's a low distribution title so it may be that any extant copies have snuck under the radar, a bit like those recent Marvel 20p UKPVs that have started surfacing.

Anyway, another little snippet in support of the current number range assessment.

All good fun, eh :)

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...and here it is:

61.jpg.6d566cfe98ecec114f26923cb5f66001.jpg

Now you probably are thinking that I made that up aren't you, and knew all along that it was a UKPV....

Spoiler

No! I've literally found it on my first search!  lol

 

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For those who find UKPV history interesting, my early UK distribution review thread below is developing nicely and touching on many UKPV related points (including DC T&P stamp numbering):

A nice read on a rainy afternoon if you fancy it :)

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Evening :)

Further to my Star Trek example (not a UKPV) here's a candidate for an off the date grid price variant - the 1983 Superman III film adaptation:

UK1b.jpg.f64fe80c520bfa9a774fe0787195181f.jpg

I haven't picked up copies of either yet, but the above certainly looks to be a printed UK price box.

Comparing the US and UK copies side by side, both have the same covers (apart from the UK price overprint), indicias (both 'printed in the US'), inside covers and back covers:

US1.thumb.jpg.c59573515014f553dbd50066ef05f696.jpg UK1.thumb.jpg.e807db957364bd640ec50f655ba5dabb.jpg

US2.thumb.jpg.1be2c24b7416b0130d4c1ccf7718f913.jpg UK2.thumb.jpg.fd02a4f5c465b42e0693a749d9f713bb.jpg

US4.thumb.jpg.ff1120066fe602ca02634dd4ad3135a7.jpg UK4.thumb.jpg.81cf43774a069d0b0f966ab9ec7496b0.jpg

So the only printed difference that I can see at this point is the cover price. Any difference in colour strike may be down to the photos (lifted from the Bay), not the books.

I'll see if I can pick copies up at some point to compare paper and print quality but on the face of it this does seem to be a 'proper' UKPV and, if so, it would become the latest dated copy known.

Interwesting, it is... hm

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Steve, somewhere in your posts there was/is a discussion as to whether or not US imports were SOR or not. I cannot recall if it was in this post or not. I'm sure you'll redirect it if need be.

In a conversation on a FB page I had this brief conversation with Lew Stringer (Comic Artist for nearly 40 years, currently working on strips for the Beano amongst others):

Hello Lew.

I read a comment of yours a few days ago where you mentioned that US comics sometimes "hung around in the racks for years". This chimes with my own memories of the 60s. I remember that we had a paperboy deliver Dad's newspapers and Mum's magazines and my Victor and Hotspur. I used to go into the shop for my US "four color" fix and asked the newsagent why could I not pre-order US titles and being told that they couldn't pre-order them themselves as distribution was patchy and that they had to accept an anonymous batch of comic each delivery. I remember you had to be pretty quick if you wanted specific DC comics because they went pretty sharply.  On another site where I post there is heated debate as to whether or not US comics were SOR back in the day (I say nay). Do you have any knowledge of such arrangements or otherwise?


Regards.
Stephen.

 

Hi Stephen,

I can't remember where I said that now, sorry. Yes, I had the same experience in that I tried to order U.S. Marvels but was told I couldn't. When I started buying them in 1967 the first three I bought from the corner shop were 1965 issues, brand new, so distribution was very strange. The latest 1967 ones were there too, and some from 1966. None earlier than '65 though or I'd have snapped them up.

Best, Lew

 

 

Edited by Redshade
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On 1/22/2021 at 12:59 AM, Redshade said:

I used to go into the shop for my US "four color" fix and asked the newsagent why could I not pre-order US titles and being told that they couldn't pre-order them themselves as distribution was patchy and that they had to accept an anonymous batch of comic each delivery.

I think that discussion was in my 'First Distribution' thread Stephen.

It's an interesting debate and my own view is that procedures likely varied in different locations. Certainly there are conflicting personal experiences out there so we may never know. I like to find the smoking guns as you know, and found these examples below interesting.

If you look at this copy of Tarzan from 1970 (Top Sellers Ltd, a division of T&P I believe?), you can see an advert inside for what look like US DC copies with one shilling prices: 

113626805_Tarzan5.thumb.jpg.6776ef103e1b91fea32f0b29e5b1d2a0.jpg            275637614_Tarzan5c.thumb.jpg.75b3081ccf6b6825a450824e40cbda50.jpg

1372997739_Tarzan5b.thumb.jpg.6d4be24342d646433689913156124495.jpg

I double (double) checked to make sure no such UKPVs had escaped my attention but the four issues shown are all March 1970 cover dates and T&P one shilling stamped copies exist for all:

406796434_70mar1969.thumb.jpg.6815830016c13e85047cf03d72de0c15.jpg1343079742_183mar1969.thumb.jpg.03581c181207b22a2fb7fcbda0f13e8b.jpg1837186750_186mar1969.thumb.jpg.4af20aef4c95cc833c691b2698cfe77f.jpg246934334_210mar1969.thumb.jpg.0069e671d2a03a33592f60fcc4f6b83d.jpg

The interior advert says these books are "obtainable from all good newsagents".

In other Top Press publications we see similar adverts:

1373693907_s-l1600(2).thumb.jpg.bf979ecf563fc80b6afbdf1f649331e3.jpg

80038089_s-l1600(3).thumb.jpg.980f4f779309be1cdc2546313c574ce3.jpg

1743713655_s-l1600(4).thumb.jpg.e8e7b4a8ab9fefc385ad8da7294a251a.jpg

Many say 'If in difficulty, please contact Thorpe & Porter".

853272554_s-l1600(1).thumb.jpg.e0958449be0d9c59e75871e48964a6be.jpg

So we can see what was intended for c1970 at least. 

Whether we will ever find something for the earlier period I don't know and I'm always mindful that the memory cheats when it comes to recalling events from ones childhood some 50 years ago. 

One thing I find odd about the above is why the Top Sellers books / T&P would advertise the DC US originals when they (T&P) were producing their own UK compendium at the same time, the 'DC Super' books. I've got one of those on order and will post again when it arrives. I've never bought or owned one before so there may be some surprises inside.

403931015_s-l1600(5).jpg.d5a91f1c640fac06c739c459f8682000.jpg

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14 minutes ago, Redshade said:

Very interesting ad Steve. I know of the DC UKPVs circa 1980 but I've never seen any of these earlier ones. Did  this ad ever come to fruition? Have any of these titles ever been found?
853272554_s-l1600(1).thumb.jpg.e0958449be0d9c59e75871e48964a6be.jpg

What those 3 books are Stephen are just late 1967 cents copies with what looks like one shilling stickers on them - probably just mocked up for the purposes of the advert. T&P were saying they were available from newsagents but in practice they would be cents copies with T&P price stamps (the only true DC UKPV date ranges are the ones documented in this thread):

197.thumb.jpg.79cc27919813e50895db0f35353bb61c.jpg197b.PNG.f574712003236c0590398b22b9602d95.PNG

I thought it was interesting that T&P were clearly saying 'come and get em' while some collectors recollections have indicated that they couldn't order them and 'got what they got'. 

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7 minutes ago, Get Marwood & I said:

What those 3 books are Stephen are just late 1967 cents copies with what looks like one shilling stickers on them - probably just mocked up for the purposes of the advert. T&P were saying they were available from newsagents but in practice they would be cents copies with T&P price stamps (the only true DC UKPV date ranges are the ones documented in this thread).

I thought it was interesting that T&P were clearly saying 'come and get em' while some collectors recollections indicated that they couldn't order them and 'got what they got'. 

So this was presumably just a teaser ad to try and entice punters to visit their local newsagents for any DC comic that might be on the racks? False advertising?
I have never seen any of these in approx 20 years of searching eBay but that's not to say that they don't exist. I would love to see pictures of any that did come to market.

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3 minutes ago, Redshade said:

I have never seen any of these in approx 20 years of searching eBay but that's not to say that they don't exist. I would love to see pictures of any that did come to market.

They don't exist Stephen, the shilling labelled books in the ad on that back cover - they're mock ups. The books that came to our shores were cents copies with T&P stamps.

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2 minutes ago, Get Marwood & I said:

They don't exist Stephen, the shilling labelled books in the ad on that back cover - they're mock ups. The books that came to our shores were cents copies with T&P stamps.

Nefarious practices indeed.:whatthe:

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