Are there pence titles for GA Books? 2 2

[Yorick]

I will look in my collection to see if I can find the US counterpart to one of my Millers for a comparison.  In the meantime, I had a thought that perhaps the "new" Comics Code may have delayed printing in the USA while the UK version was freely released?

[Point Five]

I used to own quite a number of UK GA books. It's a fascinating market, with books rarely surfacing for sale and so much still unknown. Here's a couple I have left:

[Get Marwood & I]

17 hours ago, Yorick said:

I will look in my collection to see if I can find the US counterpart to one of my Millers for a comparison.  In the meantime, I had a thought that perhaps the "new" Comics Code may have delayed printing in the USA while the UK version was freely released?

Sounds reasonable.

It can be quite hard to find the US counterparts to some Millers. This one didn't take too long given the title match...

 

...but this book which came in a recent Charlton parcel has a unique UK cover (none of the Charlton US 'True Life Secrets' have it):

 

GCD isn't much help:

And the book itself is undated:

...but it is copyright Fawcett.

No date clues on the back:

So all we can do is look to the interior splash to see if we can match the title to any Fawcetts on the GCD:

There are two Fawcetts with a 'Tomorrow is Ours' story, one 8 pages and one 11:

Our Miller has an eleven page story, so we assume that it reprints this:

Anyone got a copy who can confirm?

Next up.....

 

[Readcomix]

I can contribute one 40’s pence book to this hen’s tooth party

[Point Five]

1 hour ago, Get Marwood & I said:

Sounds reasonable.

It can be quite hard to find the US counterparts to some Millers. This one didn't take too long given the title match... [...]

If you're not a writer in real life, you really should be. If you can bring this level of suspense to *researching Fawcett reprints* you can bring it to anything!  
 

[Yorick]

4 hours ago, Get Marwood & I said:

...but this book which came in a recent Charlton parcel has a unique UK cover (none of the Charlton US 'True Life Secrets' have it):

I love that hole in the cover.  It makes me see the guy as a robot.  This same artist has done several UK exclusive covers for Miller (but it seems only the earliest).

Most of what I consider to be my earliest Millers are like this one (without any date on the indica).  They all seem to advertise Ellisdon's on the back cover and have a Joan the Wad page somewhere...

[Yorick]

@Get Marwood & I

Images per request:

Side-by-side

 

US copyright

 

UK copyright

 

I was looking at the GCD info on this series and every issue seems to be copyright one year ahead of the US version.  There's even a note from an indexer who is questioning any of the Miller dates.

[Get Marwood & I]

7 minutes ago, Yorick said:

I love that hole in the cover.  It makes me see the guy as a robot. 

I thought the exact same thing Yorick 

Someone in the UK must be reading this thread as they just posted a New Joke Comics #28 on eBay, which I just bought. I'm intrigued by the images on the back cover which show certain other titles, some of which have the English prices showing.

If the Red Hot Comics on the back here shows a UK price under the 10c....

....then the absence of it on here...

....gives me hope that variant copies may exist and, potentially, they could be the first known 'UK Price Variants'.

I'll let you know how it pans out when my copy turns up and I've delved further....

 

 

 

[Get Marwood & I]

4 minutes ago, Yorick said:

I was looking at the GCD info on this series and every issue seems to be copyright one year ahead of the US version.  There's even a note from an indexer who is questioning any of the Miller dates.

That is intriguing isn't it. I'll have a look into it, ask around, and see if I can find anything new out. Good stuff Yorick 

[Yorick]

2 minutes ago, Get Marwood & I said:

New Joke Comics #28. I'm intrigued by the images on the back cover which show certain other titles, some of which have the English prices showing.

If the Red Hot Comics on the back here shows a UK price under the 10c....

I don't collect those titles, but are they not Canadian?  And of course, "Johnny Canuck"! 

[Get Marwood & I]

23 minutes ago, Yorick said:

I don't collect those titles, but are they not Canadian?  And of course, "Johnny Canuck"! 

They are, yes. I'll have to flag Jimmers at some point 

[Get Marwood & I]

On 1/27/2021 at 6:26 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

On 1/27/2021 at 6:21 PM, Yorick said:

I was looking at the GCD info on this series and every issue seems to be copyright one year ahead of the US version.  There's even a note from an indexer who is questioning any of the Miller dates.

That is intriguing isn't it. I'll have a look into it, ask around, and see if I can find anything new out. Good stuff Yorick 

@Yorick, here are some quotes from a reference book I own about Miller Western reprints which give an insight into how things were:

In respect of the title 'Andy Devine':

"Fawcett issued numbers 1 and 2 in Dec 1950 and Feb 1951. Miller published 50 (US #2) and 51 (US #1) with badly drawn copies of the Fawcett photo covers. This was a common occurence when the printer couldn't cope with the original photo covers. As usual, the indicia give the Fawcett copyright date, which doesn't help much in dating the Miller issues"

In respect of the title 'Golden Arrow':

"Issues 12 and 13 were Miller & Sons publications... They have a 1943 copyright date but look like mid-fifties reprints"

In respect of the title 'Ken Maynard':

"No's 1 and 2 carry an obviously incorrect copyright date of 1946 in the indicia, rectified to 1950 by no. 3"

There are a few other references to the casual nature of production, indicia dates and the difficulty in dating anything Miller produced accurately. It's likely therefore that your US Fawcett books were copyrighted first as you would expect and anything that implies an earlier UK date in any UK reprints is likely erroneous. 

[Yorick]

22 hours ago, Get Marwood & I said:

@Yorick, here are some quotes from a reference book I own about Miller Western reprints which give an insight into how things were:

In respect of the title 'Andy Devine':

"Fawcett issued numbers 1 and 2 in Dec 1950 and Feb 1951. Miller published 50 (US #2) and 51 (US #1) with badly drawn copies of the Fawcett photo covers. This was a common occurence when the printer couldn't cope with the original photo covers. As usual, the indicia give the Fawcett copyright date, which doesn't help much in dating the Miller issues"

In respect of the title 'Golden Arrow':

"Issues 12 and 13 were Miller & Sons publications... They have a 1943 copyright date but look like mid-fifties reprints"

In respect of the title 'Ken Maynard':

"No's 1 and 2 carry an obviously incorrect copyright date of 1946 in the indicia, rectified to 1950 by no. 3"

There are a few other references to the casual nature of production, indicia dates and the difficulty in dating anything Miller produced accurately. It's likely therefore that your US Fawcett books were copyrighted first as you would expect and anything that implies an earlier UK date in any UK reprints is likely erroneous. 

I appreciate that bit of information.  Thank you.

Essentially, no one has any idea why Miller didn't accurately date his books.    I wonder if anyone has ever tried to track down surviving family members of the Millers to interview regarding their comic output?  I suppose there is still limited interest in reprinted comics and no one thinks that would be worthwhile.

I just read the Wiki page on L Miller.  It appears from that site that Alan Class would be a dead-end in regard to finding L Miller data (he only bought the rights for some material at the closing of Miller's company).  I find it incredible that Class continued to use the asbestos printing plates from Miller's publishing years.  I guess I better wear gloves when handling my Miller books.  I had no idea they are toxic! 

There is a tiny bit of data from Wiki that piqued my interest: "In 1954...operating under different copyright laws..."  Maybe the new rules finally obligated a copyright date, and that is why the early Millers have no date?

Do the Silver Age reprinted books give you copyright month and year?  Do they generally run one month behind the USA printings?  Two months?  No difference?

[Kevin.J]

There is a massive difference between Pence copies ( American comics printed for the UK) and British reprints ( UK comics printed in the UK) I hope the issue is not being confused here 

Edited January 29, 2021 by Kevin.J

[Get Marwood & I]

14 hours ago, Kevin.J said:

There is a massive difference between Pence copies ( American comics printed for the UK) and British reprints ( UK comics printed in the UK) 

Yes, quite right Kevin.  An important distinction! that I occasionally myself mention 

15 hours ago, Yorick said:

I appreciate that bit of information.  Thank you.

Essentially, no one has any idea why Miller didn't accurately date his books.    I wonder if anyone has ever tried to track down surviving family members of the Millers to interview regarding their comic output?  I suppose there is still limited interest in reprinted comics and no one thinks that would be worthwhile.

Yes, the long and short of it seems to be that it was a touch haphazard so perhaps don't place too much emphasis on conflicting dates accordingly. I did think of trying to contact Miller the younger once, yes. Maybe I'll try again but I suspect all the salient details died with Miller the elder.

Quote

There is a tiny bit of data from Wiki that piqued my interest: "In 1954...operating under different copyright laws..."  Maybe the new rules finally obligated a copyright date, and that is why the early Millers have no date?

Yes, could be. That or a general lack of attention  

Quote

Do the Silver Age reprinted books give you copyright month and year?  Do they generally run one month behind the USA printings?  Two months?  No difference?

I'm not an expert on the Miller reprint material as I said but the books I have owned, and those I see online aren't detailed enough to make any specific comparisons as far as I can see.

Now, maybe you Gold guys can help me out here in an area that I know little about. 

Take a look at this copy of the 1946 Joke Comics #28 from Bell Features that I mentioned earlier with the dual 10c / 9d cover price:

I've seen it referred to as a 'Canadian White'. The indicia has the US subscription rate first and US copyright data:

So was this a book printed in Canada for distribution in the US as well as Canada?

On the back cover, a number of other titles are shown:

Whilst they are presumably mock ups, you can see that a few carry the 'England 9d' cover price, including Red Hot Comics #3. Here's a zoom in on that advert mock up, clearly showing the 9d price under the 10c:

The copies I have seen don't carry that 'England 9d':

But, if you zoom in, you can see that the English price did seem to be there, faintly, on this copy:

I've seen three copies with that scenario.

So was the price deliberately removed during production? And could there be examples of these 1946 titles where single price and dual price copies exist?

Who's the expert on these things in Gold Land?

[Get Marwood & I]

1 hour ago, Get Marwood & I said:

Maybe I'll try again but I suspect all the salient details died with Miller the elder.

Died in 2014, I've just discovered 

[Yorick]

8 hours ago, Get Marwood & I said:

1946 Joke Comics #28 from Bell Features that I mentioned earlier with the dual 10c / 9d cover price

As Kevin was stating in regard to the UK vs Australian "pence" books, the same should be said about Canadian vs United States "cents" books.

I believe the original intent of the thread was to find more books like that Wonder Comics 8 you had posted.  However, let's just hi-jack this thread and discuss ANYTHING with a pence price that is Golden!!!

I know practically nothing of Canadian GA (please, someone educate me).  I do have some Superior "reprints" of St John books.

[Kevin.J]

1 hour ago, Yorick said:

As Kevin was stating in regard to the UK vs Australian "pence" books, the same should be said about Canadian vs United States "cents" books.

UK comics are just reprints, Pence copies are original American comics.

1 hour ago, Yorick said:

However, let's just hi-jack this thread and discuss ANYTHING with a pence price that is Golden!!!

Better to start a new thread, this is how people get the wrong idea of what Pence copies are 

[Yorick]

23 hours ago, Kevin.J said:

UK comics are just reprints, Pence copies are original American comics.

Better to start a new thread, this is how people get the wrong idea of what Pence copies are 

So this thread is about American published comics with a pence price on the cover?

[Kevin.J]

4 hours ago, Yorick said:

So this thread is about American published comics with a pence price on the cover?

That is what Pence copies are 

This is a dead thread from 4 years ago where someone asked a question, the answer to that is no, the thread ended and should stay ended.

Pence copies are American comics, British comics are just that, British comics, to post random foreign comics with pence prices on them in this thread is wrong and can lead to confusion.

If you wish to start a thread say titled "Foreign comics of the GA" we can all post anything you like.