Charlton Comics - UK Price Variants
Hello Reader
Here is a summary of the Charlton UK Price Variants (UKPVs) that I have found hiding between the cover dates of 1960 and December 1963 inclusive.
UK Price Variants were printed in the USA at the same time as their cents priced counterparts. They are part of the same first printing run and are not reprints. If you would like to know more about them, please click the picture below and you'll be magically transported to my Charlton discussion thread in which we talk about them in more detail:
The Headlines
- Charlton UK Price Variants have been found to exist between the cover / indicia dates of January 1961 and December 1963 inclusive. Three UKPV issues are indicia dated 1960 - Konga #1, The Best of Marmaduke and Gorgo #1 - which I can place inside the Jan 61~Dec 63 date run using arrival dates on US copies.
- Across the Jan 61~Dec 63 cover dates, a total of 834 cents priced comics exist spanning 76 titles. At the time of writing, 592 of them have a matching single printed price UKPV confirmed spanning 74 of the 76 overall titles. There is currently no evidence to suggest that any pence copies were missed, so an equivalent 834 pence copies are therefore theoretically possible.
- Some titles have number runs which are ‘split’ across different titles, e.g. High School Confidential Diary becomes Confidential Diary and then becomes Three Nurses. In these cases, each title is counted separately and not as one continuous title.
- The first known Charlton UKPVs are Gorgo # 1, The Best of Marmaduke First Edition and Konga #1, all priced at 6d, and all with indicias dated as 1960 only.
- Four titles have been found to exist with indicia dates of January 1961 – Atomic Mouse #40, Sheriff of Tombstone #13, Sweetheart Diary #59 and Teen-Age Love #18 all priced at 6d.
- The remaining titles start from February/March 1961 and are priced at 6d (note all Charltons are bi-monthly titles).
- The last known UKPV copies are indicia / cover dated December 1963 and priced at 9d. From January 1964, all copies revert to single US pricing (until 1973 when dual cents/pence priced books begin to appear – see later note).
- Of the 76 titles in scope, 74 are confirmed as having one or more UK Price Variant. A full issue list follows these notes.
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At the time of writing, no UK Price Variants have been found for the remaining 2 eligible titles of (the eligible issue numbers are shown in brackets):
- Caroline Kennedy (one shot)
- Teen Secret Diary (#9-11)
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All known UK Price Variants are priced at either:
- 6d - cover dates June 1960 to March/April 1963 inclusive
- 9d - cover dates April/May 1963 to December 1963 inclusive
- All known UKPVs are standard sized 10c / 12c comics – no ‘oversize’ copies are known to exist (e.g. double size, giant sized or annuals).
- Unlike Marvel and DC books, which were all distributed by Thorpe & Porter (with the exception of five titles distributed by L Miller for one year), all Charlton UK Price Variants were distributed by L Miller & Co ltd and all copies carry the ‘LM’ publisher logo underneath their UK price.
- The only difference between a pence priced UKPV and its cents priced equivalent is the replacement UK cover price and the addition of a small ‘LM’ beneath it to indicate the distributor. No other elements differ for Charlton books and the indicias are the same in both editions. This is true of every copy I have found so far.
- With one or two specific exceptions where titles have copies in sequential months (although never more than two), all Charlton titles are bi-monthly during the UKPV production dates with one two month gap on or in the early months following January 1962.
- No Charlton comics in the UKPV production period have issue numbers on the covers with only a small handful of copies saying ‘first edition’ where applicable. In most other cases, only the price and month appear on the cover with the indicia showing the full publication year, month and issue number.
- Note – Please do not confuse any Charlton books dated April 1973 onwards with pence prices on them with genuine UK Price Variants. They are not, as every copy is the same when dual pricing occurs. The only true Charlton UK Price Variants are those documented above between the 1960 to December 1963 period.
Happy hunting, if you decide to build a set!
By Stephen Cranch based on v10.2 of the ‘Charlton Comics – UK Price Variant Summary’
Confirmed UK Price Variant Titles / Issues - Charlton Comics | |||||
Indicia Title | Eligible UKPV Number Range* | Confirmed Issue Numbers | Total | ||
Army War Heroes | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
Atomic Mouse | 40-52 | 40-45, 48-50 | 9 | ||
Attack | 1-2 | 1-2 | 2 | ||
Battlefield Action | 34-50 | 34-38, 41-46, 48-49 | 13 | ||
Billy the Kid | 26-43 | 27-42 | 16 | ||
Black Fury | 28-45 | 29-35, 37-40, 43-45 | 14 | ||
Brides in Love | 22-39 | 23-25, 27, 30-33, 37, 38 | 10 | ||
Caroline Kennedy | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
Cheyenne Kid | 26-43 | 27-43 | 17 | ||
Confidential Diary | 12-17 | 12-14, 17 | 4 | ||
Cynthia Doyle, Nurse in Love | 66-73 | 66, 67, 69, 72 | 4 | ||
D-Day | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
Doctor Tom Brent, Young Intern | 1-5 | 1, 4, 5 | 3 | ||
Drag-Strip Hotrodders | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
Emergency Doctor | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
Fightin' Air Force | 25-41 | 25-36, 38-41 | 16 | ||
Fightin' Army | 39-55 | 41-48, 50-52, 54-55 | 13 | ||
Fightin' Marines | 39-56 | 41-50, 53-56 | 14 | ||
Fightin' Navy | 96-113 | 97-108, 110, 112, 113 | 15 | ||
First Kiss | 18-35 | 20, 29, 31, 34 | 4 | ||
Freddy | 26-43 | 27-29, 31, 34-37, 40-43 | 12 | ||
Gorgo | 1-16 | 1-15 | 15 | ||
Gorgo's Revenge | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
High School Confidential Diary | 5-11 | 7-10 | 4 | ||
Hot Rods and Racing Cars | 50-66 | 50-61, 63-65 | 15 | ||
Hunk | 1-11 | 1, 2, 4, 7, 9-10 | 6 | ||
I Love You | 32-49 | 33-35, 39-40, 42-43, 46, 48 | 9 | ||
Just Married | 17-34 | 19-21, 23, 25, 28, 33-34 | 8 | ||
Kid Montana | 27-43 | 27-33, 36-43 | 15 | ||
Konga | 1-15 | 1-15 | 15 | ||
Konga's Revenge | 2 | 2 | 1 | ||
Lash La Rue Western | 82-84 | 82-84 | 3 | ||
Li'I Genius | 31-47 | 31-36, 38-39, 41, 42, 44, 47 | 12 | ||
Love Diary | 14-30 | 14-17, 22, 24-25, 27, 30 | 9 | ||
Marco Polo | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
Masked Raider | 28-30 | 28-30 | 3 | ||
My Little Margie | 34-50 | 34-39, 41, 44-47 | 11 | ||
My Secret Life | 38-47 | 38-42 | 5 | ||
Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds | 22-39 | 23-38 | 16 | ||
Nurse Betsy Crane | 14-25 | 12-13, 15-18, 22-23, 25 | 9 | ||
Outlaws of the West | 29-46 | 30-38, 40-44 | 14 | ||
Registered Nurse | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
Reptilicus | 1-2 | 1 | 1 | ||
Reptisaurus | 3-8 | 3-8 | 6 | ||
Reptisaurus Special Edition | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
Romantic Secrets | 31-47 | 32-33, 35, 45 | 4 | ||
Romantic Story | 53-69 | 53, 54, 56, 58, 59, 61, 68, 69 | 8 | ||
Secrets of Love and Marriage | 23-25 | 24-25 | 2 | ||
Secrets of Young Brides | 23-40 | 26-28, 32, 34, 35, 37-40 | 10 | ||
Sheriff of Tombstone | 13-17 | 13-17 | 5 | ||
Six-Gun Heroes | 61-77 | 61-77 | 17 | ||
Space Adventures | 38-54 | 38-54 | 17 | ||
Space War | 9-25 | 9-25 | 17 | ||
Strange Suspense Stories | 51-68 | 52-67 | 16 | ||
Submarine Attack | 26-42 | 26-34, 36-42 | 16 | ||
Sue and Sally Smith, Flying Nurses | 48-54 | 48-50, 52-54 | 6 | ||
Sweetheart Diary | 56-65 | 56-57, 60, 64 | 4 | ||
Sweethearts | 58-74 | 59, 60, 63, 66, 68, 69, 71, 74 | 8 | ||
Teen Confessions | 9-26 | 10-12, 20, 24-25 | 6 | ||
Teen Secret Diary | 9-11 | 0 | 0 | ||
Teen-Age Confidential Confessions | 4-21 | 6, 13, 15, 16, 21 | 5 | ||
Teenage Hotrodders | 1-5 | 2-4 | 3 | ||
Teen-Age Love | 18-35 | 18, 19, 21, 22, 25, 29, 30 | 7 | ||
Texas Rangers in Action | 26-42 | 26-32, 34-35, 36, 38-40, 42 | 14 | ||
The Best of Marmaduke | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
The Green Planet | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
The Return of Gorgo | 2 | 2 | 1 | ||
The Return of Konga | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
The Young Doctors | 1-6 | 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 | 5 | ||
Three Nurses | 18-21 | 21 | 1 | ||
Timmy the Timid Ghost | 25-41 | 25-31, 35, 37, 38, 39, 41 | 12 | ||
U.S. Air Force | 14-30 | 14-19, 23, 24, 26-30 | 13 | ||
Unusual Tales | 26-42 | 26-42 | 17 | ||
War at Sea | 40-42 | 40-42 | 3 | ||
War Heroes | 1-6 | 1-5 | 5 | ||
Wyatt Earp, Frontier Marshal | 34-51 | 35-50 | 16 | ||
Confirmed UKPV Total: | 592 | ||||
*Assuming only January 1961 - December 1963 cover dates exist | |||||
Excludes cents priced titles with UK price stamps that exist prior to / after the confirmed printed UKPV date window |
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Here are just a few of my favourite covers
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