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The Distribution of US Published Comics in the UK (1959~1982)
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5,836 posts in this topic

13 minutes ago, Albert Tatlock said:

Sounds reasonable, in which case DC did not let the grass grow under their feet. They recalled these (or gathered up copies that had not been sent out), chucked them on a ship and told the captain to get his foot down. They would have been in the shops here by the end of 1959, possibly.

Exactly, and that's why I think it's so hard to call the dates for each UK stamping event.

Speculating though:

boone.thumb.PNG.2f741658c559d98818444c466d7d1cf8.PNG

  • Pat Boone #2 on sale in the US on the 3rd September 1959
  • Newsagents takes off the unsold copies after one month - say 3rd October - and initiates their returns
  • US collation point collates all returns for onward shipping to the UK around mid-October
  • 3 month shipping window (the anecdotal standard)
  • Arrives in the UK mid-January 1960 for stamping and onward distribution to UK newsagents the same month

 

This from the CBPGUK website:

image.thumb.png.321805d4c323c91dd63e7bb858d34f31.png

https://www.comicpriceguide.co.uk/features.php?id=25

Is that sufficient anecdotal evidence to indicate that the first use of the number 6 stamp - and therefore UK DC comic arrival - was January 1960?

 

 

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7 minutes ago, Get Marwood & I said:

Is that sufficient anecdotal evidence to indicate that the first use of the number 6 stamp - and therefore UK DC comic arrival - was January 1960?

If it was, and given this cover date cycle I posted:

Capturev.PNG.da444d7804cf29033da172f33a27a688.PNG

...I calculate that the fourth use of stamp #9 as below...

Capture.PNG.5db144712348e744231b4f0e86cf566b.PNG

...would have been July 1962 assuming every month had a shipment. Or June, if the first #7 shipment never came (no examples yet).

That is only 4-5 months from the cover date, so not a million miles off. There were bound to be a delay or two along the way I would have thought, bringing the date / stamp correlation even closer hm

 

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5 hours ago, Get Marwood & I said:

Is that sufficient anecdotal evidence to indicate that the first use of the number 6 stamp -

 

5 hours ago, Get Marwood & I said:

Is that sufficient anecdotal evidence to indicate that the first use of the number 6 stamp -

Unlikely to have been the Number 6 stamp, if there were only 2 items in that batch.

More likely the Number 7 stamp, on a bundle of October 1959 issues, on sale 3 months after their cover date.

Maybe Bob did not notice the first trickle of Number 6's a month earlier, or, more likely, T & P held those back until they could provide a decent range.

I know - ask Bob what number stamp was on that boxful back in January 1960 Southend. They are probably on top of his wardrobe somewhere.

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10 hours ago, Albert Tatlock said:

 

Unlikely to have been the Number 6 stamp, if there were only 2 items in that batch.

That's not uncommon though in my experience, very low start numbers, and there may be more we've yet to find of course - some of the early Marvel UKPV's took years to materialise

Quote

More likely the Number 7 stamp, on a bundle of October 1959 issues, on sale 3 months after their cover date.

And yet we don't have a single 'first use' 7 stamped example Albert - they're certainly hiding well, if they do exist (see above comment :bigsmile:)

Quote

Maybe Bob did not notice the first trickle of Number 6's a month earlier, or, more likely, T & P held those back until they could provide a decent range.

I know - ask Bob what number stamp was on that boxful back in January 1960 Southend. They are probably on top of his wardrobe somewhere.

:grin:

I would if I could find a contact for him.

It's a rainy old day here today so I may add a few more titles to the table - I think I'll continue and add examples of every title DC were publishing at the time. As well as that, I'd like to start to maintain a summary of the earliest known DC stamped examples, so if any one reading has a T&P stamped book in the late 1959 cover date range, do chime in:

21_10_20.thumb.PNG.82e7a6a480ed1834690d98ffcc06382a.PNG

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23 minutes ago, Get Marwood & I said:

It's a rainy old day here today so I may add a few more titles to the table - I think I'll continue and add examples of every title DC were publishing at the time

:p

21_10_20b.thumb.PNG.67ac3c7f450888ffd69dada1af085a3e.PNG

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Another 6 with the right 1959 cover date to be a potential first use alongside the Boones and GI Combat - very faint, but just about legible:

1724565672_1959.11BraveandtheBold26.thumb.jpg.46142596a40b088c824ddce5da012444.jpg

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The arrival dates on Mike's Comic Newsstand turn out to be quite accurate at times - two examples:

Wonder Woman #126 - spot on!

1136343028_WonderWoman126ArrivalDate-MCN.thumb.PNG.97f23723871bb470086495ca69133912.PNG 1925233851_WonderWoman126ArrivalDateCrop.jpg.37a5c12082a635e9ba4db38026a59bf2.jpg 1449702914_WonderWoman126ArrivalDate.thumb.jpg.0eb1d3560b50584a366fdec38ccc4681.jpg

 

Batman #130 - 12th of Jan on MCN - 14th Jan arrival penned to cover:

1489141441_Batman130ArrivalDate-MCN.thumb.PNG.190adbaa3f60a55f96efbe4aa93a8851.PNG 2048625829_Batman130ArrivalDateCrop.jpg.f4230a62d98f442f9b0310540209b95b.jpg 1624608651_Batman130ArrivalDate.jpg.93d69b5f5ba68c0e868e24931fee9dc1.jpg

Quite reliable :)

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3 hours ago, Kevin.J said:

I gave you the contact details for Bob, what happened ?

I forgot you'd done that Kevin. Sign of getting old :eek:

I emailed him when I saw your post though and, alas, he hasn't kept any of the old books. He did what many did - upgraded to unstamped copies long ago. We had a nice PM discussion though, and his recollections of certain books arriving out of sequence happily matched some of my research.

I'm waiting to hear if he saw any Charltons in the batches....

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12 minutes ago, Get Marwood & I said:

he hasn't kept any of the old books

At least he was spared the ordeal of his mother chucking them out, telling him it's time to grow up.

All mine were stamped copies back in the day, too. If only I had known then what I know now.................................

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9 hours ago, Get Marwood & I said:

And yet we don't have a single 'first use' 7 stamped example Albert - they're certainly hiding well, if they do exist

The first use of the 7 stamp is theoretically on the October 1959 cover dates, but if none can be found, then the sequence would start with 8, and the number 6 examples would have to be very late arrivals. Best place to look for October 1959 with a 7 stamp would be in the monthly titles.

In the meantime, here is another Flash 109, stamped 9. As a bimonthly (Oct - Nov) it would be expected to be a 7, or possibly an 8.

Another late arrival, if only by a month?

 

comicflash109.jpg

Edited by Albert Tatlock
scan added.
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1 hour ago, Albert Tatlock said:

At least he was spared the ordeal of his mother chucking them out, telling him it's time to grow up.

:eek:

No luck from Bob Mandry on Charlton - he was a DC man only. I told him I'm still waiting to find a Charlton man. 

hm

That didn't sound right did it. 

1 hour ago, Albert Tatlock said:

All mine were stamped copies back in the day, too. If only I had known then what I know now.................................

Blimey, imagine that Antoni - knowing then what we know now....

I'd still buy the Charltons. 

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9 hours ago, Get Marwood & I said:

And yet we don't have a single 'first use' 7 stamped example Albert

A while back, I posted this Flash 109 in a batch of others, and identified it as a 7, maybe because I expected to see a 7.

It is a bit indistinct, though, and now I am pretty sure it is a 9.

Still no 7s, so 6s starting to look a bit wobbly for 1959.

comicflash109B.jpg

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22 minutes ago, Albert Tatlock said:

The first use of the 7 stamp is theoretically on the October 1959 cover dates, but if none can be found, then the sequence would start with 8, and the number 6 examples would have to be very late arrivals. Best place to look for October 1959 with a 7 stamp would be in the monthly titles.

In the meantime, here is another Flash 109, stamped 9. As a bimonthly (Oct - Nov) it would be expected to be a 7, or possibly an 8.

Another late arrival, if only by a month?

comicflash109.jpg

My, you've got a lot of Flashes Albert :cloud9:

I've been adding to the table all day and it's filling up. I'm currently undecided on whether 8 is the start so I'll keep going until I've added every DC title of the time to the first stamp use at least and then lets discuss then. I can get my head around a batch of books being late, but 9 months late? I don't know. Then again, no 7's at all is weird and does imply the 6's are out of sequence.

We'll see!

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1 minute ago, Albert Tatlock said:

A while back, I posted this Flash 109 in a batch of others, and identified it as a 7, maybe because I expected to see a 7.

It is a bit indistinct, though, and now I am pretty sure it is a 9.

Still no 7s, so 6s starting to look a bit wobbly for 1959.

comicflash109B.jpg

Yeah, that's a 9. 

See previous comment re the dodgy 6's :bigsmile:

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No UK angle here, but another near spot on arrival date from a book I was looking at today:

1015875426_FAF42Arrival.PNG.0d973c3454974ca5271883253c64961d.PNG

Now't on cover...

2137971729_FightinAirForce42.thumb.jpg.d35cfd21a4ad76419e3e9d970ce532da.jpg

But on't back...

1539089891_FightinAirForce42bc.jpg.e1bcc991ecbd9cdcea81c761e12d9c3b.jpg

:)

 

 

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16 minutes ago, Get Marwood & I said:

:eek:

No luck from Bob Mandry on Charlton - he was a DC man only. I told him I'm still waiting to find a Charlton man. 

hm

That didn't sound right did it. 

Blimey, imagine that Antoni - knowing then what we know now....

I'd still buy the Charltons. 

Yeah I could have told you he was a DC guy 

I am a Charlton, DC, Marvel and everything else type of guy, I am complete with everything-ish (not romance or cartoon books) from around 1957 to 90s.

I bought a lot of stuff from the US when i couldnt find what I needed here so a lot of cents mixed in with Pence and I didnt care which, so no notes of what is what.

I dont have a lot of energy but will pull a title and do a full run if someone gives me a starting point as I have totally lost track in this thread now lol

I can do any Marvel/DC main title, I did my Charltons for pence copies but not for stamps if you recall

 

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5 minutes ago, Kevin.J said:

Yeah I could have told you he was a DC guy 

I am a Charlton, DC, Marvel and everything else type of guy, I am complete with everything-ish (not romance or cartoon books) from around 1957 to 90s.

Some of them are the best Kevin! Just look at my avatars! <3<3

Quote

I bought a lot of stuff from the US when i couldnt find what I needed here so a lot of cents mixed in with Pence and I didn't care which, so no notes of what is what.

I dont have a lot of energy but will pull a title and do a full run if someone gives me a starting point as I have totally lost track in this thread now lol

It's Alberts fault. I had it all under control until he arrived :bigsmile:

Quote

I can do any Marvel/DC main title, I did my Charltons for pence copies but not for stamps if you recall

I think we've cracked the stamp numbering pattern now Kevin, but we need more examples of the early books to see which 'first use' number came first - 6 or 8.

So if you could look for any T&P stamped DC books cover dated September/October/November 1959, that would be lovely :wishluck:

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....when I've added in all the titles I can find by the way, I'll post a big comprehensive summary of what I think we've all learned so far in this thread. I may do a journal summary page over at The Pence Palace of Doom too. I think there's enough here to put together some decent information, for the few that are interested. I'm quite pleased with how this thread has grown really. It was only supposed to last a page or two. Brief review my arse :grin:

 

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