The Distribution of US Published Comics in the UK (1959~1982) 15 15

[Get Marwood & I]

On 2/22/2021 at 6:53 PM, themagicrobot said:

I have renamed Emmerdale time as eBay time. I can have a peaceful half an hour saying "I'm just looking" whilst the others fry their brains with the mad antics of a village of crazy people and criminals.

Five days later another parcel appears and I get "I thought you were just looking?"

I'll change my ploy to "Doing important resarch for the good of the Interweb".

Sorry, Robot, I was having dinner again. A nice, healthy salmon stir fry with vegetables. Which, no doubt, I will supplement in a few hours time with 'three cheesers' (the family name for grilled cheese on white doorstop bread) 

As for Emmerdale, is there anyone left alive? I always thought they should shut the place down to avoid all the imminent plane crashes, explosions and other such disasters. It would likely wipe out 90% of all Yorkshire based organised crime as well as reducing the national death toll. Bring back the Cedar Tree, that's what I say.

On 2/22/2021 at 6:54 PM, OtherEric said:

"Fight the Enemy" has always been a bit of an eye-rolling title... what else are you going to do with the Enemy in a war comic?

 "Invite the Enemy to Dinner"

No, you're right Eric. Doesn't work, does it. 

On 2/22/2021 at 7:21 PM, themagicrobot said:

I thought they were supposed to cost 1/6d (or even 1/9d or 2/-) not 10d?

Couldn't make their bleedin minds up could they, on the Tower pricing. Six quid was a bit much though, eh...

 

Two more 10d's, one sticker, one stamp...

One sticker, one stamp, one arm, one leg, one nod of the head keep moving...

 

[Get Marwood & I]

14 minutes ago, Get Marwood & I said:

1 hour ago, OtherEric said:

"Fight the Enemy" has always been a bit of an eye-rolling title... what else are you going to do with the Enemy in a war comic?

 "Invite the Enemy to Dinner"

"Show the Enemy Your Rare Mounted Butterfly Collection"

 

No. No, it still doesn't work.

Spoiler

 

"Smash the Enemies Mother Fing Teeth In"

 

Yes. Yes, that works. 

 

 

[Redshade]

2 hours ago, Get Marwood & I said:

"Show the Enemy Your Rare Mounted Butterfly Collection"

 

No. No, it still doesn't work.

  Hide contents

 

"Smash the Enemies Mother Fing Teeth In"

 

Yes. Yes, that works. 

 

 

Mostra al nemico le tue abilità di fuga.

[Kevin.J]

Turn the other cheek 

[Get Marwood & I]

On 2/15/2021 at 1:20 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

Nuvver one! 

Here's a third 3p example, that I spotted online yesterday:

I'm not going to buy this one as it has a dirty great marker pen mark on it, but it shows that a little group of G&G copies must have found their way over here at some point. Maybe unsold Australian copies, who knows. 

I'll keep looking for a 2p T&P stamped comic. Bound to be one, aint there? 

[Get Marwood & I]

On 2/22/2021 at 11:22 PM, Redshade said:

Mostra al nemico le tue abilità di fuga.

Sorry, Stephen, I don't speak French. 

[Get Marwood & I]

I spotted a stamped Three Mouseketeers hiding in this auction lot:

I see you.

That leaves us with just five titles now where no T&P stamped example has been found within the first four cycles:

I added another MGA to the first #1 stamp bunch of the second cycle too:

 

Busy shipment.....

[Get Marwood & I]

Sometimes it's hard to believe that there was ever a time when you could pick up Fly Man from the local Spar for 9d...

Where did that world go, eh...?

[Get Marwood & I]

And on the subject of a world gone by, it's hard to see how Little Lotta would stand up in today's climate:

Nice "A.M. Co" 9d stamp there though, to go with my other two...

 

[Get Marwood & I]

Breaking news - T&P price stamps aren't susceptible to sun fade...

[Get Marwood & I]

Worth reposting here....

Just now, Get Marwood & I said:

Ironically perhaps, the two discernable Marvels, Strange Tales #135 (August 1965 cover date) and The Avengers #18 (July 1965), are both cents only produced issues and also the issues immediately prior to the next issue in the title which was made as a pence issue:

   

In theory, although not always in practice, the copies in the film photo should have 9d T&P price stamps on them. I can't quite see them though...

Very cool, thanks again @David Buck

 

[Get Marwood & I]

Regarding the above film, just a thought, if the Marvel comics on the rack are all July/August 1965 cover dates, and the film was released in 1966, then it's reasonable to assume that the film was filmed in 1965, perhaps around the summer July/August window (it's not raining ). Given that the comics appear to be the stamped cents copies which predated the return of pence printed copies after the hiatus, it again could indicate that the comics were getting through, around the right time (a 3 month shipping window places the books on our racks with cover dates matching the calendar dates) and, therefore, this is further evidence that the UKPV hiatus may not have been due to shipping strikes as previously suggested. It looks like the stamped cents comics were getting through, being on sale around the right time, and that the printed UKPV gap was likely something contractual.

I'm going to watch the film and see if there is anything in it to date it - maybe a newspaper or something 

 

[Get Marwood & I]

Looks like a Gold Token Super Mag there above the FF#41.

It's not Treasure Island, looks like a "Walt Disney's" something or other, but I can't find a cover match 

   

[Get Marwood & I]

Might be this one though - indicia January 1965:

  

[Malacoda]

Hi Everyone - sorry I got to this thread late.  Did I miss much? No? Excellent. I'd like to pile in with a few responses to all this erudite research, if I may...?

[themagicrobot]

@Malacoda Off you go then...otherwise I'll have to post something about yawn....Young World Publication/Gold Token comics. I'm sure any issues with a T&P stamp will be the rarities.I recall seeing them in stacks in Bookshops, Toy Shops and Department stores in 1964/1965. Perhaps they were issued in batches rather than monthly (weekly?) like "real" comics?

There were One Shilling Super Mags and Half Crown Giant Super Mags. Oddly the Action Series cost 1/3d for the first 8 issues and from No 9 onwards the price was reduced to One Shilling. Not often do things like that happen. bigger yawn. 

 

 

 

 

[Malacoda]

On 6/30/2020 at 5:26 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

I find it odd that there are no Marvels with T&P stamps in late 1959 / early 1960 - only the printed price variants from May. Duncan's site noted the DCs came over in waves across late 59 cover dates. Why would they have beaten Marvel by 6 months? Why were no Marvels dated 1959 brought over too, before the formal arrangement of UKPVs commenced? Given their current market dominance, it's a little ironic that Marvel appear to have been beaten by DC, Archie, ACG and Charlton doesn't it.

I must express my surprise at your surprise, m’colleague.

If we put our Timely 1959 hats on: originally Timely comics were distributed to newsstands by Kable News.  In 1951, Goodman started his own distribution company, Atlas, and put the logo on the comics even though Kable continued to distribute until August 1952.  Atlas self-distributed until 1956 when Goodman shut it down and threw in with ANC.  ANC had been fighting a monopoly indictment since 1952.  After only a year, ANC liquidated and Goodman, having completely p’d off the wholesalers and retailers (newsstand vendors made 3c or max 4c on a 10c magazine with ANC) couldn’t reopen his own distribution network and had to throw in with Independent News from October 1957.  IND restricted Timely to only 8 titles (later 11).  Famously, at the same time Goodman discovered that Stan Lee had been hoarding what he regarded as substandard material to use in-an-emergency and to keep the writers and artists onside.  Goodman insisted that Lee commission no further work from any writers or artists until the backlog was used (he didn’t care about the quality) and for his second time in Timely, Lee had to fire all the staff, leaving Stan as the sole employee.  On top of this, the US comics market had collapsed post Wertham/Senate hearings/CCA and many publishers had got out altogether. 

From 1957, Timely was one employee operating out of a disused elevator (I seem to recall?) printing a cupboard full of not-good-enough aged stories.  Timely Comics was as close to non-existence as it’s possible to get in 1958/59.  In 1958, Jack Kirby (King of Diplomacy) said that he came back to Marvel to find them carrying the furniture out and Stan Lee crying in a corner. Lee himself said 'I don't know why Goodman kept me on. I guess he just felt that if there was any chance at all he wouldn't give up the comics completely.' Kirby, at this time drawing for 14 hours per day because the page rate was so low, had his first published work in December 1958.  So are we really surprised Timely were the last to realise the UK opportunity in 1959? I’m astonished at how fast they got their act together, considering what their act was at this point. 

[Malacoda]

10 minutes ago, themagicrobot said:

 

 

Again, odd that this is printed with the UK price and then stamped with the same price.  Mind you, if I'd been sat at a table for 8 hours stamping comic books for fourpence a year (and had t' pay mine owners t' let us work there), I'd just be stamping anything that came out of the box. 

[themagicrobot]

Regarding Timely in 1958 perhaps they used up some inventory for Strange Tales etc but Stan must have still been churning out new scripts for Patsy and Hedy and the Westerns. It couldn't be a one man operation as there were artists to pay, accounts to deal with, ads to solicit and there must have been others dealing with layouts and design of the books. Not to mention whoever dealt with licensing/despatching the material being reprinted in black and white over here. Stan may have been busy but he must have had help. He was no Alan Class.

[Malacoda]

On 10/11/2020 at 3:30 AM, Kevin.J said:

When comics were returned they tore off the logo and just returned that as proof of no sale, comics not sold were of no value and this saved postage costs.

They were supposed to destroy the comic but I think most newsagents still sold remaindered books at a knock down price or bagged them and sold them as a set

Just like my poor Batman 83  

 

 

When I were a lad, in the 70's, I used to see (and still do, though far less), Marvel comics with the Ditko box cut out like the Cap pictured.  As a nipper, I assumed that this was something like MVS and kids clipped them and sent them somewhere. I thought that because MVS was the only time I had witnessed the horror of someone taking a pair of scissors to a comic.  When I came back to collecting in my 40's, I immediately rationalised that it must be the same thing Kevin is highlighting here because the corner not only contains the name & number of the comic (although this one has just the picture removed)  but cutting the whole box out effectively makes the comic ungradeable and clearly a return. 

I don't recall seeing much written about this, but I'm sure someone here has some hard facts? (Vague recollections? Random gossip?)