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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

8 minutes ago, themagicrobot said:

Here's a question I don't know the answer to and I guess it matters not in the great scheme of things but what was the month/year when the T&P stamp became less in-your-face and shrank to the point that you needed to search for it on busy covers?

There's some cross over, but the middle of 1965. And it's a very important question Robot. 

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My tracking doc (unfinished) shows the DC dates (10d vs N10d) - Marvel are a few cover months behind, if we accept the stamp number correlation:

65.thumb.PNG.d713a1bda57268482417406ad33cb529.PNG

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OK. Here's another important question. Why would a comic from 1965 and a comic from 1967 be priced in decimal currency and passed off as new years after they were first published? New-old stock?

I guess everything was recycled and nothing was wasted. T&P certainly wasted no returns, using them up in Double Doubles and even hardback Annuals. Incidentally have you noticed that the Double Double books aren't as tall as Silver Age comics. They have been trimmed to disguise the fact that you were actually buying well-fingered dog-eared returns, 

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Just now, themagicrobot said:

OK. Here's another important question. Why would a comic from 1965 and a comic from 1967 be priced in decimal currency and passed off as new years after they were first published? New-old stock?

I guess everything was recycled and nothing was wasted. T&P certainly wasted no returns, using them up in Double Doubles and even hardback Annuals. Incidentally have you noticed that the Double Double books aren't as tall as Silver Age comics. They have been trimmed to disguise the fact that you were actually buying well-fingered dog-eared returns, 

The Shadow 4.jpgSwing with Scooter 5.jpg

I've seen a lot of examples of things like that and I think you're right - old stuff made it's way through again, as did stuff that (if extant systematic examples are anything to go by) shouldn't have. 

I've got a good one coming up soon. A stamped book that technically should not exist. Kind of the reverse of your scenario above.... 

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24 minutes ago, Get Marwood & I said:
34 minutes ago, themagicrobot said:

Here's a question I don't know the answer to and I guess it matters not in the great scheme of things but what was the month/year when the T&P stamp became less in-your-face and shrank to the point that you needed to search for it on busy covers?

There's some cross over, but the middle of 1965. And it's a very important question Robot. 

A good example of the crossover from old to new 10d stamps here:

1747469570_2627.thumb.PNG.80a18763e3b293e8fefac249e5ec97d5.PNG

Either #26 was late and arrived in a shipment after #27 or...

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6 minutes ago, themagicrobot said:

I look forward to a good one. It's been a slow weekend here in Lockdownville. 

PS: Here is a phantom price stamp on a phantom horseman.

Superman 289.jpg

I'm as confident as I can be that that is a T&P stamp based on some intensive plotting of Charlton examples. I Know Mr T thinks it is. Realistically, who else could it be? A similar scenario exists with unbranded Miller 6d stamps.

Posts on both coming soon...

 

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Either #26 was late and arrived in a shipment after #27 or...

Or the lady sitting to the left of the lady sitting on the right hadn't yet been issued with a new stamperer. (Why do I assume it was women doing the stamping? And how many were there? Two? Twenty?).

And alternate stamps are available for those who prefer the more familiar.

 

289.jpg

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3 minutes ago, themagicrobot said:

Either #26 was late and arrived in a shipment after #27 or...

Or the lady sitting to the left of the lady sitting on the right hadn't yet been issued with a new stamperer.

Exactly.

3 minutes ago, themagicrobot said:

(Why do I assume it was women doing the stamping? And how many were there? Two? Twenty?).

Because stamping is womens work. On pig headed men's heads, usually :bigsmile:

3 minutes ago, themagicrobot said:

And alternate stamps are available for those who prefer the more familiar.

Indeed.

10p1.PNG.b8486cc0f6a7bec28f34b616b3e6fff1.PNG10p2.PNG.2660b5911baedfe2a41fd0ca8d156784.PNG

See?

Just missing the wigwam innit. 

Dorothy got the branded stamp and Ethel lost hers and had to use a standard one. 

 

 

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2 minutes ago, themagicrobot said:

I want to know what happened to the million discarded covers for the Double Double comics. Perhaps they are still in boxes in the attic of the old T&P factory waiting for some enterprising person to frame them and sell them on eEEbygumbay.

If they followed the Alan Class approach, they'd be in the bin (Google his Fantastic Four #1 cover colour guide story) :eek:

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10 minutes ago, themagicrobot said:

Alan wasn't really into comics was he?

I'd say yes, judging by the number of times he'd reprint the same one :bigsmile:

10 minutes ago, themagicrobot said:

Just think what we would have done if we'd had access to all that ACG, Archie, Charlton, early Atlas inventory.....

 

drooling.gif.c0c9efae0a753c9c0b9d71add2ed756d.gif

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On 1/16/2021 at 7:19 PM, themagicrobot said:

I guess everything was recycled and nothing was wasted. T&P certainly wasted no returns, using them up in Double Doubles and even hardback Annuals. Incidentally have you noticed that the Double Double books aren't as tall as Silver Age comics. They have been trimmed to disguise the fact that you were actually buying well-fingered dog-eared returns, 

 

 

Evening MR. I personally doubt that T&P accepted returns on US comics for reasons argued about elswhere in these pages.

But I surmise that when rebinding the unsolds whether in hardback or soft back they had to be trimmed to attain the flat edges for aethetic resons.

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The whole reason for the Double Double books existing remains a mystery to me. Why not sell 4 comics for 4 shillings rather than only get 2/6 for them? There must have been some logical reason. It can't be down to the dates of the issues as no one seemed to worry if the small print showed a comic as being from a year ago back then. Perhaps the covers were spoiled in some way? Maybe with Ethel making a pigs ear of the ink stamp?

PS: It did happen elsewhere. In Australia there were rebound Disney Whitman comics "bought as waste paper from the USA"

 Elsons Presents comics were "returned/remaindered copies which were literally pulled apart and glued back together with a new cover".

 

EP6.thumb.jpg.4e7c2e8c3858427bed5738991de42e7e.jpg

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And could it be that the Double Double comics were purchased from the States as job lots of comics that had already been returned there rather than  T&Ps supplies of the regular fresh copies destined for the spinner racks?

Some of the T&P hardback annuals (that come with comic covers intact) have UK price ink stamps suggesting they may have travelled a bit. 

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My understanding is that the DD's and 1967 T&P annuals were comprised of stock that didn't sell in the UK (hence the occasional cover stamp in the still covered annuals). I've seen it mentioned that the DD's were effectively illegal, but I'm not sure why if T&P had paid for them and had distribution rights.

If it's true that they were unsold UK copies, putting a new cover on would make them appear a new thing and increase the chances of a sale I would have thought. If none of those comics sold on their own, a group together with a lower overall price might encourage a sale.

There are Archie equivalents in the US - repackaged remaindered comics. I'll dig some examples out later as I can't remember where I posted them now.

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14 minutes ago, themagicrobot said:

Today's question that has no answer. Why is DC Special 29 only 12p when earlier issues were 25p and also 60 cents and presumably had the same number of pages?? Perhaps Ethel goofed again.

There are always answers Robot.

The answer this time is that, if you look more closely, you will see that the #28 is actually two and a half pence, and therefore cheaper than the 12p priced #29 by some considerable margin:

961836542_2.5_LI(2).jpg.67f7a53a690830a7163da7555b657b8c.jpg

And that is because Al Milgrom drew it. Most of his covers were "Earth Shattering Disasters" as it happens. 

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