Get Marwood & I Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 On 5/19/2019 at 2:15 PM, Get Marwood & I said: The examples above tell a story. Note how the pence copy has the UPC associated with the US Direct Edition but the square price box and Curtis Circulation symbol of the newsstand edition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadroch Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 Did Curtis handle the overseas distribution? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theCapraAegagrus Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 5 minutes ago, shadroch said: Did Curtis handle the overseas distribution? I don't think that my older brother ever distributed comics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Get Marwood & I Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 26 minutes ago, shadroch said: Did Curtis handle the overseas distribution? Not sure for the time period in question here Shadroch. I haven't looked too deeply into the post Miller / Thorpe and Porter era yet. Let me tag a few of the Brits who might know@Gnasher @rakehell @Redshade Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comicwiz Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, Get Marwood & I said: The time period follows that of the US priced slashed barcode UPCs. They would have had two US cents priced starting point choices from which to create the pence covers from June 1979 - the newsstand and the diamond 'early directs'. They chose the latter for reasons unknown to me. It may have been deliberate, it may have been the flip of a coin or an unconcious decision. Price Variants are usually 'newsstand' books, i.e. they follow the US newsstand barcode UPC format. Canadian and Australian price variants are all barcode UPCs. I'm not sure why pence copies have the direct style slashed barcode and then picture UPCs which are associated with directs. I did a piece about this in my Marvel pence thread a while back. Maybe someone reading here will have some insight. For their US counterpart, crossed-out UPC's had a practical function if they were in a sealed multipack, and the person at the register tried to scan it at the individual issue price instead of the 2-3 issue mutlipack price. In not sure I've ever seen a UK multipack. Is it possible the crossed-out UPC saw temporary use to remove the chance that someone scanned it across the pond and it came up with a US price rather than pence? At least until the Spidey head art filled that spot. If it wasn't currency accurate, perhaps it was not updated to the change in price. I mean if you look at the Cap 198's barcode with a 10p cover price, and the Cap 234 with a 12p cover price, they seem to have the same barcodes despite there being a 2p increase. Edited March 5, 2020 by comicwiz Get Marwood & I 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Get Marwood & I Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 1 minute ago, comicwiz said: For their US counterpart, crossed-out UPC's had a practical function if they were in a sealed multipack, and the person at the register tried to scan it at the individual issue price instead of the 2-3 issue mutlipack price. Not always But yes, I understand that that was the rationale for the later slashed versions. 1 minute ago, comicwiz said: In not sure I've ever seen a UK multipack. Me neither. 1 minute ago, comicwiz said: Is it possible the crossed-out UPC was just seen as a temporary remove the chance that someone scanned it across the pond and it came up with a US price rather than pence? At least until the Spidey head art filled that spot. I mean if you look at the Cap 198's barcode with a 10p cover price, and the Cap 234 with a 12p cover price, they seem to have the same barcodes despite there being a 2p increase. It's the most likely / logical reason, yes, but I've not seen anything definitive myself one way or the other. Warlord 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Get Marwood & I Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 1 hour ago, theCapraAegagrus said: 1 hour ago, shadroch said: Did Curtis handle the overseas distribution? I don't think that my older brother ever distributed comics. Too busy with the drugs no doubt... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comicwiz Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 I forgot to include the image with the post, I updated it now. The 12p (pence) editions in the photo did have the CC for Curtis Circulation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theCapraAegagrus Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 3 minutes ago, Get Marwood & I said: Too busy with the drugs no doubt... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Get Marwood & I Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 From page one.... On 2/15/2020 at 9:21 AM, Get Marwood & I said: ....regular members have said all there is to say on the subject of newsstand vs direct, CGC labelling etc. So don't be disheartened if you don't get many responses here. 3 weeks later... Warlord 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redshade Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 1 hour ago, shadroch said: Did Curtis handle the overseas distribution? No I don't think so, in fact I'd stick my neck out and say never! As Marwood says above they (the US publishers/printers) used the US cover and changed the price from cents to pence but did not bother to change much else including the Curtis logo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadroch Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 13 minutes ago, Redshade said: No I don't think so, in fact I'd stick my neck out and say never! As Marwood says above they (the US publishers/printers) used the US cover and changed the price from cents to pence but did not bother to change much else including the Curtis logo. I don't think they did, either, but it's strange they would change the price and eliminate the month but leave not only the Curtis logo but also leave the Curtis id codes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Get Marwood & I Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 3 minutes ago, shadroch said: I don't think they did, either, but it's strange they would change the price and eliminate the month but leave not only the Curtis logo but also leave the Curtis id codes. The month eradication is quite erratic as it goes in the later stages. Lots of quirks and oddities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadroch Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 UK Whitmans, obviously. It's amazing how many things were staring us in the face or years without anyone noticing. I ended up buying dozens of thirty five cent variants from a midwest dealer and never noticing them for years. Turns out I also had a couple of the More Fun Classics, as well. I returned an early EBay lot because it had Whitman DCs that I considered reprints. Warlord 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Get Marwood & I Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 5 minutes ago, shadroch said: UK Whitmans, obviously. 5 minutes ago, shadroch said: It's amazing how many things were staring us in the face or years without anyone noticing. I ended up buying dozens of thirty five cent variants from a midwest dealer and never noticing them for years. Turns out I also had a couple of the More Fun Classics, as well. I returned an early EBay lot because it had Whitman DCs that I considered reprints. It is. I'm always discovering new things when revistiting books. Sometimes you're so preoccupied with a particular variation type that you miss another right under your nose. I missed the Australian Price Variant barcode numbering differences for ages, being too preoccupied with the prices and dates. Amazing what you can miss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redshade Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 15 minutes ago, shadroch said: UK Whitmans, obviously. Do you mean that there were pence variants of Whitman editions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Get Marwood & I Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 12 minutes ago, Redshade said: Do you mean that there were pence variants of Whitman editions? I thought he was joking Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warlord Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 On 3/4/2020 at 6:40 PM, Warlord said: Maybe it would help to better define some terms. What are the defining characteristics of the "direct" market of the early 1970s, ie, what made an issue of a comic a "direct" book? For early 70s, I'm specifically referring to the period prior to 1977. Also, why do we use the word "direct" to refer to this method of distribution? And did they use that word, "direct", in the early 1970s for this method of distribution or is it a later invention introduced when? Anyone else up for taking a shot at these questions? I'll post my own random musings on the first two questions eventually but was hoping we'd get some other opinions too. For the third question, I have no idea and wonder what would be the oldest example usage that could be found. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnasher Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 10 hours ago, Get Marwood & I said: Not sure for the time period in question here Shadroch. I haven't looked too deeply into the post Miller / Thorpe and Porter era yet. Let me tag a few of the Brits who might know@Gnasher @rakehell @Redshade Not a scooby, sorry Get Marwood & I 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rakehell Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 14 hours ago, Get Marwood & I said: Not sure for the time period in question here Shadroch. I haven't looked too deeply into the post Miller / Thorpe and Porter era yet. Let me tag a few of the Brits who might know@Gnasher @rakehell @Redshade It's not something that I've looked that deeply into either. Though just glancing through some of my books (& a couple of things on my ebay watchlist) I noticed a couple of things. This is one from 1965, so a lot earlier, but deffo T&P. They were still on it in 1969 - In the 70s, though, these stickers seem to be the norm - Don't know at what point in the distribution process the stickers were stuck, or by whom. They look too uniform to be shop stickers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
