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The Distribution of US Published Comics in the UK (1959~1982)
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5,828 posts in this topic

3 minutes ago, Albert Tatlock said:

I will try, when I get time, to dig out a few mid 1960, to try and beef up that quite thinly populated area.

In the meantime, here are a couple from March, both stamped as expected with a 3.

comicbb28.jpg

Thanks Albert - accepting that I've only got eBay, eBid and some UK sellers sites as reference points, some titles - and individual issues within runs - are remarkably scarce I've found. 

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Here's an example, Superboy:

sb.thumb.PNG.441e6c92a9d5bd41f1e4191e680d2fa2.PNG

Three copies of 77, three of 78, three of 79 then only one 80 and no 81's.

Six 92's, one 91.

Erratic!

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From trawling through second hand shops and markets in the period 1963-66, the only ones from 1959 and 1960 that were plentiful were Superman and Batman titles, and even then Lois Lane were scarce. Some of the 'mystery' titles, MGA, Unexpected, etc, were hard to find. Probably the most lesser-spotted was JLA # 1. Marvels were almost non-existent until 1961/62.

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3 minutes ago, Albert Tatlock said:

From trawling through second hand shops and markets in the period 1963-66, the only ones from 1959 and 1960 that were plentiful were Superman and Batman titles, and even then Lois Lane were scarce. Some of the 'mystery' titles, MGA, Unexpected, etc, were hard to find. Probably the most lesser-spotted was JLA # 1. Marvels were almost non-existent until 1961/62.

Indeed - another benefit of this exercise - an indication of how scarce some titles / issues are (accepting that we're now looking at surviving examples some 60 years later). 

I find that with some of my early Charlton UKPVs - some copies are plentiful and turn up frequently, others, you'll be lucky to find one copy in ten years. 

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27 minutes ago, Albert Tatlock said:

I will try, when I get time, to dig out a few mid 1960, to try and beef up that quite thinly populated area.

In the meantime, here are a couple from March, both stamped as expected with a 3.

comicbb28.jpg

One last quick one before I log off - I've added these two in, thanks - have you got a B&TB #27 or #32 Albert?

The only two missing mate:

Capture.thumb.PNG.61ad708e767dc0110ec76c1331982705.PNG

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17 hours ago, Albert Tatlock said:

My # 27 is unstamped, but I have a #32 with stamp, will send tomorrow.

Cheers Albert :)

I've nearly finished repopulating the tables - should be able to complete it tomorrow and post all four cycle pages. I've added in the remaining titles within the first four stamp cycles so we're up to 55 now. The six titles for which I don't have a single stamped example are in pale orange:

Capture.thumb.PNG.198e1737f16ce475dd436f137d206e99.PNG

 

I'm surprised by how many of the titles I've managed to find a full run of issue images really - there are 1,124 images saved in here:

1124.thumb.PNG.6f3146e63118739d520803a5e0be1c73.PNG

 

At some point I'll put a list together of the issues for which no stamped copy is held - it would be great if we could gather complete sets for all the stamped titles. Here's all 27 Flashes:

flash.thumb.PNG.227851efea2c6d083c2bc343cde7e173.PNG

 

A job for another day, along with the long overdue, much promised, top end thread summary! :headbang:

 

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15 minutes ago, Mr Thorpe said:

Where do these 'X's' fit in?!! I was looking through my collection of IW's/Supers for an elusive first cycle '7' and instead found these. The third one you can just about make out it's an 'X'. They certainly look like T&P stamps although the font is slightly different.

img406.jpg

Cor! I've never seen one of those before Mr T.  Very cool :golfclap:

I haven't posted much about IW as they are impossible to date / plot.

I don't have any T&P examples saved in the files, but I do have a multitude of L Miller stamped copies who, I thought until now, were the only ones who distributed them in the UK. Here are the Miller stamp examples:

1480776667_BlazingSixguns8LMStampCrop.jpg.c4170a295a892c0975fa587d542c1430.jpg1910575582_LoveandMarriage2LMStampCrop.jpg.d3e88ed2b05998f12a8a26fc7bd0c280.jpg

 

As for them being T&P stamps, well, lets see:

437202536_16(2).jpg.ca0d64ccc6d62da9af459e170453df74.jpg1.jpg.b80097979925fe9422d0c09b97e42b26.jpg

hm

I don't see it. 'X' could be the numerical equivalent of ten I suppose, or it could signify a brand of some sort - shop or local distributor. Completely different font but the familiar T&P split circle with shaded upper half. Hmmm.

How many examples have you got Mr T? And any other info about them (e.g. all purchased 'oop North', stuff like that)?

Cool. 

 

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They are the only 3 in my (IW/Super) collection. I would have bought them in London, probably at a mart and probably all three together. Pure speculation but possibly comics that can't be returned? I'm sure if it was the equivalent of a '10', we would have seen more of them. It's almost like a rare limited edition T&P stamp. Another one for the back burner.

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13 minutes ago, Mr Thorpe said:

They are the only 3 in my (IW/Super) collection. I would have bought them in London, probably at a mart and probably all three together. Pure speculation but possibly comics that can't be returned? I'm sure if it was the equivalent of a '10', we would have seen more of them. It's almost like a rare limited edition T&P stamp. Another one for the back burner.

The X almost certainly means unreturnable; the IW/Super books didn't use normal distribution channels and were not, as far as I know, returnable in the US.

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2 minutes ago, Mr Thorpe said:

I do have a fair few L Miller stamps on my IW's/Supers. I also found these two 9d stamp examples, which I think you have already. They were the only copies. Most of my IW's/Supers seemed to not have a UK stamp at all.

 

img410.jpg

Snap! :grin:

313940059_LoveandMarriage11LMStamp.thumb.jpg.8bf0f1dba5baf0278fdca787bd8b571d.jpg

 

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7 minutes ago, OtherEric said:
23 minutes ago, Mr Thorpe said:

They are the only 3 in my (IW/Super) collection. I would have bought them in London, probably at a mart and probably all three together. Pure speculation but possibly comics that can't be returned? I'm sure if it was the equivalent of a '10', we would have seen more of them. It's almost like a rare limited edition T&P stamp. Another one for the back burner.

The X almost certainly means unreturnable; the IW/Super books didn't use normal distribution channels and were not, as far as I know, returnable in the US.

Makes sense, X indicating non-returnable. Only 3 examples though.... If T&P were the culprits I'd have expected to see more of them maybe? And given Millers stamp proliferation....

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41 minutes ago, Get Marwood & I said:

Makes sense, X indicating non-returnable.

So the regular numbers indicate returnable in that case.

And the sequence of them indicates the end of the shelf life.

I suggested this some time back, but the response I got was 'Pshaw!!', or words to that effect.

Worth having another look at?

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