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King Comics UK Price Variants
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195 posts in this topic

Hello everyone :)

We have a home for Marvel and DC pence priced variants, and I will be starting a Charlton one very soon.

 

This thread is for discussions about all other publishers pence copies - Dell, Gold Key, Kings, Archie etc.

I'll be posting some examples soon, and will direct the guys who've recently posted in my Marvel thread here.

Cheers!

 

 

10/09/19 - Update - I have re-titled this thread as the home for King Comics UK Price Variants. Each of the seven known publishers with pence priced variants now has it's own discussion thread :)

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Some posts from my Marvel thread, which we can debate here:

On 07/03/2018 at 10:49 AM, rakehell said:

Greetings All,

Long-time lurker, first-time poster. 

I know it's a little off topic, but only a little...

Anyone ever seen an Archie pence cover? I hadn't until this morning.

Spotted it on E-bay. It's a dog, really, but I've never seen an Archie pence cover. Didn't know they did any.

Marwood? Will there be an Archie page on your list of other publishers with pence variants? Don't mean to add to your workload (Sterling job so far, BTW). lol

 

archie-fly6.jpg

 

On 08/03/2018 at 7:27 PM, Redshade said:

Hello Rakehell. welcome to the forum. Now that you've brought it to our attention we'll all be seeing Archie pence issues in our sleep.

But yes, I have seen Archie pence issues before and some Dell and probably others that I can't recall.

And yes, Marwood's work is awe inspiring and not just the vast amounts of research. The technical stuff is way beyond anything that I am capable of vis-a-vis rearranging them all into folders like that.

Show us any more you find. Perhaps Marwood (our glorious Leader) could start another non DC/Marvel thread?

 

On 09/03/2018 at 12:19 PM, rakehell said:

Cheers Redshade. I've seen some Dell as well; a few with just pence & a few with pence and cents. Also some Gold Key & a ton of Charlton.

Marwood deserves serious credit. I'm using his lists to compile my own Excel charts for each publisher, listing price changes by issue number. It's a PITA & I'm only doing about a third of the work because Marwood has already done the hard stuff.

Maybe a miscellaneous pence thread would be an idea. Just to catch all of the oddments.

Anyway...

Getting back on topic. Four of my favourites. These are a good example of the whole black plate swap out idea. Printed at the same time as the 30 cents copies, and, in the case of #s 2, 3 & 4, at the same time as the 35 cent price experiment copies. So, two slug changes.

 

 

5 hours ago, rakehell said:

Found another Archie...archiejb47.thumb.jpg.09ffa3006ca00cc2bb8e205a75164f3f.jpg

The Fly above was released in May, 1960. Archie's Joke Book 47 was July, 1960. Don't know if that's indicative of anything yet.

 

 

@Redshade @rakehell - Dive in guys! I'll be joining you shortly....

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Spotted this today.

archie-pep139.thumb.jpg.6763ee27fb430bbd7bb6f50f953437c3.jpg

June, 1960. I'm not really into Archies, just curious about how many/few pence covers they did. Doesn't look like much so far. Everything I've seen dated 1961 or later seems to have a T&P stamp.

Looks like an experiment, a bit like the DC pence output for July, 1971.

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On 3/14/2018 at 2:14 PM, rakehell said:

Spotted this today.

archie-pep139.thumb.jpg.6763ee27fb430bbd7bb6f50f953437c3.jpg

June, 1960. I'm not really into Archies, just curious about how many/few pence covers they did. Doesn't look like much so far. Everything I've seen dated 1961 or later seems to have a T&P stamp.

Looks like an experiment, a bit like the DC pence output for July, 1971.

This is interesting.  In my 45 years of collecting comics in the UK, I  never saw an Archie for sale in a newsagents or anywhere else during the 1970's, 80's & 90's, let alone with a pre-printed pence price.  Maybe it was a regional thing?

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I see from my Denis Gifford Catalogue of British Comics that GG Swan reprinted Archie content for the UK market from 1950 to 1953 and then Thorpe and Porter from 1953 onwards with no finish date given.

I have also seen Australian pence reprint issues.

So to be clear, these are NOT what we are looking for in this forum. It is specifically USA printed Pence variants that we are looking for.

I'm sure that Marwood will correct me should I err.

 

 

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12 hours ago, Whizzer said:

This is interesting.  In my 45 years of collecting comics in the UK, I  never saw an Archie for sale in a newsagents or anywhere else during the 1970's, 80's & 90's, let alone with a pre-printed pence price.  Maybe it was a regional thing?

Whizzer, I hadn't seen one either. Been collecting since the early 70's in the US & early 90's in Penceland & I only spotted these in the last few days. I've had a bit of a root around & they're the only three I've managed to find (possibly because they all happen to be currently up on Ebay). All three from consecutive months in 1960, everything 1961 or later with a T&P stamp, so it's looking like a very limited thing.

 

7 hours ago, Redshade said:

I see from my Denis Gifford Catalogue of British Comics that GG Swan reprinted Archie content for the UK market from 1950 to 1953 and then Thorpe and Porter from 1953 onwards with no finish date given.

I have also seen Australian pence reprint issues.

So to be clear, these are NOT what we are looking for in this forum. It is specifically USA printed Pence variants that we are looking for.

I'm sure that Marwood will correct me should I err.

 

 

Redshade, I don't think these are reprints. Mainly because I found this yesterday & it's definitely a reprint...

5aab8d8f7d5b0_archieannual1.thumb.jpg.e75e5f2fbb9f7503f32bc9c4ac63f00e.jpg

It has the characteristics of most other UK reprints: squarebound, slightly different size, black & white & red interior...

5aab8d9dbfd01_archieannual2.thumb.jpg.1899a2c7119a42707827c25bd597f1b8.jpg

& this line instead of a proper indicia...

5aab8dad042d5_archieannual3.thumb.jpg.9fbcfec2395c27f4d00162dc8a090a76.jpg

To be fair, I haven't seen any interior shots of the three I found earlier, so I could just be talking out of my donut. We await Marwood's postman.

 

Edited by rakehell
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29 minutes ago, rakehell said:

Whizzer, I hadn't seen one either. Been collecting since the early 70's in the US & early 90's in Penceland & I only spotted these in the last few days. I've had a bit of a root around & they're the only three I've managed to find (possibly because they all happen to be currently up on Ebay). All three from consecutive months in 1960, everything 1961 or later with a T&P stamp, so it's looking like a very limited thing.

 

Redshade, I don't think these are reprints. Mainly because I found this yesterday & it's definitely a reprint...

5aab8d8f7d5b0_archieannual1.thumb.jpg.e75e5f2fbb9f7503f32bc9c4ac63f00e.jpg

It has the characteristics of most other UK reprints: squarebound, slightly different size, black & white & red interior...

5aab8d9dbfd01_archieannual2.thumb.jpg.1899a2c7119a42707827c25bd597f1b8.jpg

& this line instead of a proper indicia...

5aab8dad042d5_archieannual3.thumb.jpg.9fbcfec2395c27f4d00162dc8a090a76.jpg

To be fair, I haven't seen any interior shots of the three I found earlier, so I could just be talking out of my donut. We await Marwood's postman.

 

Rakehell.

 

This last photo of yours, as you quite rightly say,  IS a reprint of course with a UK publisher and printer clearly indicated (GG Swan as mentioned in my last post).

The "9d" issues you showed earlier ARE variants printed and published in the US with the original US indicias.

My post wasn't aimed at you but at those who periodically ask how to tell the difference between a variant and a reprint.

 

Cheers.

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Ah. I thought that was maybe what you were aiming at, Redshade, but I'm posting on skive-time at work, so I rushed it a bit. Apologies. 

By showing the interior shots of the reprint, I was complementing your post, rather than challenging it (& that'll teach me to keep my flippin' eyes open).

(thumbsu

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Regarding Archie, I ordered this book which came today:

pep138uk.thumb.jpg.a61679030364277541b654d2bc8a4352.jpg

 

He looks a bit fed up doesn't he? Probably trying to work out why Miller Marvel Indicia books exist hm

Archie is not my territory, so I'm learning with the rest of you. It certainly looks like a first printing pence variant of the US original, rather than a reprint. If we compare it to  a cents copy from eBay...

pep138uk.thumb.jpg.a61679030364277541b654d2bc8a4352.jpg  pep138us.thumb.jpg.f856abe81c0d87de0548767f23cf57fe.jpg

 

...the only difference is the 9d price:

pep138uk9d.jpg.0fdbdf40c4f7a40f759f0d80a7a5c7c0.jpg

 

The indicia is as you would expect, the US version stating 10c / printed in the USA etc:

pep138uki.thumb.jpg.55782ab3044118b6072b68d5b20d17a8.jpg

 

The date is interesting - April 1960. Marvels first printed pence priced book is May 1960, Charltons is April so we can see a pattern. All titles seem to have Thorpe & Porter stamped copies for 1959 through to early 1960 then pence printed prices begin. Not sure who the importer is here - there is no additional indicia data to show whether it's T&P, L Miller or someone else.

I've seen a good few examples on eBay so, probably, I'll begin documenting them as I have done for Marvel, DC and Charlton. So do post any examples you find so I can add them to the list. Cost might be a barrier here - they seem quite expensive.

I think there is so much we still don't know here. I'd love a historian to pick up the 1959/1960 period and plot who imported what under what terms. 

The Charlton thread is coming tomorrow guys, all being well, so keep em peeled. I think you're going to like it :headbang:

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The four Archie comics in my previous post all seem to be from 1960 too so we could possibly be looking at a very short window when these were produced.

Jon McClure's article in Overstreet 40 (where Overstreet finally acknowledges that the pence copies were in fact variants) just has a small paragraph or two under Archie where he states that there were Canadian variants but absolutely no mention of any pence Archie variants. So the hunt is on.

 

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1 hour ago, Marwood & I said:

Regarding Archie, I ordered this book which came today:

pep138uk.thumb.jpg.a61679030364277541b654d2bc8a4352.jpg

 

He looks a bit fed up doesn't he? Probably trying to work out why Miller Marvel Indicia books exist hm

Archie is not my territory, so I'm learning with the rest of you. It certainly looks like a first printing pence variant of the US original, rather than a reprint. If we compare it to  a cents copy from eBay...

pep138uk.thumb.jpg.a61679030364277541b654d2bc8a4352.jpg  pep138us.thumb.jpg.f856abe81c0d87de0548767f23cf57fe.jpg

 

...the only difference is the 9d price:

pep138uk9d.jpg.0fdbdf40c4f7a40f759f0d80a7a5c7c0.jpg

 

The indicia is as you would expect, the US version stating 10c / printed in the USA etc:

pep138uki.thumb.jpg.55782ab3044118b6072b68d5b20d17a8.jpg

 

The date is interesting - April 1960. Marvels first printed pence priced book is May 1960, Charltons is April so we can see a pattern. All titles seem to have Thorpe & Porter stamped copies for 1959 through to early 1960 then pence printed prices begin. Not sure who the importer is here - there is no additional indicia data to show whether it's T&P, L Miller or someone else.

I've seen a good few examples on eBay so, probably, I'll begin documenting them as I have done for Marvel, DC and Charlton. So do post any examples you find so I can add them to the list. Cost might be a barrier here - they seem quite expensive.

I think there is so much we still don't know here. I'd love a historian to pick up the 1959/1960 period and plot who imported what under what terms. 

The Charlton thread is coming tomorrow guys, all being well, so keep em peeled. I think you're going to like it :headbang:

Nice catch there Marwood.

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6 minutes ago, Redshade said:

The four Archie comics in my previous post all seem to be from 1960 too so we could possibly be looking at a very short window when these were produced.

Jon McClure's article in Overstreet 40 (where Overstreet finally acknowledges that the pence copies were in fact variants) just has a small paragraph or two under Archie where he states that there were Canadian variants but absolutely no mention of any pence Archie variants. So the hunt is on.

 

I agree, likely a short window of pence printed copies. I feel a chart coming on Redshade....

I quote Jon McClure's Overstreet article in one of my Charlton posts. He has clearly done extensive research but perhaps spread himself too thin to catch everything?  No mention of Miller Marvels either. Let's face it, he failed :D

3 minutes ago, Redshade said:

Nice catch there Marwood.

Ta. It was the cheapest one I could find in the name of research :bigsmile:

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14 hours ago, Get Marwood & I said:

The Charlton thread is coming tomorrow guys, all being well, so keep em peeled. I think you're going to like it :headbang:

Bobby's here! :headbang:

 

I've got a few more Archie's on the way, and will try to put a table together to track them. It doesn't look like there are too many titles actually so it may be easier than I first thought if they only exist for 1960/61 :wishluck:

Meanwhile, here's a pence priced variant of a publisher you don't see often - King Comics! king.PNG.19ff619cd87193fd23313089b698c150.PNG

5aace9bde5621_FlashGordon810dcrop.jpg.457b526adb56fd7690d8ff2cc4f367e1.jpg

5aace9c20ce00_FlashGordon810d.thumb.jpg.6e3f2f0358c0672f8dc478603dc99cf8.jpg

 

That's one cool cover, and one cool space ostrich! ostrich.PNG.125f9809d6c2334d9efb100238230eba.PNG

No differences to the US version other than the cover price that I can see, and no evidence of who imported it.

I dunno, Kings, Dell, Gold Key... This is going to take forever!  :D

 

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No Space Ostrich fans in I see... ostrich.PNG.1c60f088a5928a7c863d5f81efcfad14.PNG

 

I've gathered 12 Archie's so far from eBaz and this fred:

5aae75950101b_archies8.thumb.PNG.bead14cb9b8d9cb6234bea47c4fbaa67.PNG

 

The dates funnily enough cover all 6 months of March to August 1960. So perhaps it was a half year experiment? I'll keep looking and gathering and see what we come up with. I've got a couple due in the post, so maybe we'll learn more then.

In the meantime, if anyone has one of these titles in their collection (which cover 1960), take a look for a 9d price:

  • Adventures of the Fly
  • Adventures of Little Archie
  • Adventures of Pipsqueak
  • Adventures of Super Duck
  • Archie
  • Archie's Girls Betty and Veronica
  • Archie's Joke Book
  • Archie's Mad House
  • Archie's Pal Jughead
  • Archie's Pals n Gals
  • Archie Fly's over Niagara Falls whilst Fixing a Loose Fascia Board with a Mastic Bonding Gun
  • Jughead's Fantasy
  • Katy Keene
  • Katy Keene Pin Up Parade
  • Laugh
  • Life with Archie
  • Pep
  • Super Duck

(Some of these books are 25c 'giant' sized comics, so I don't think we'll see a pence version accordingly. Same with annuals)

:headbang:

 

Edited by Get Marwood & I
Reason for edit: Low ceilings
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1 hour ago, rakehell said:

I might be a Space Ostrich fan. Just need to make room between Cthulhu & that furry thing that lives (lived?) on Hoth. :insane:

CTdu.gif.51fc91a2aa3699144dbdeab39812b5b7.gif  :headbang:  tumblr_o0piv6a5Ah1v1qefxo2_500.gif.810c6178691d7d8a6c45588e26eea319.gif

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1 hour ago, Juswuh said:

That art looks very much like Steve Ditko??

Hmmm, in places maybe. But I don't think the girl looks very Ditkoesque?

The artist is Alex Raymond according to the inside of the book (assuming he did the cover and interiors):

thumbnail.thumb.jpg.0678bf4e586d30776ac8fde48e615805.jpg

Edited by Get Marwood & I
Reason for edit: Work, love-life, miscellaneous. And low ceilings.
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