Get Marwood & I

Then we storm the tower at nightfall! Poxy eBay. First managed payments, now this. I'd do a William Wallace quote pastiche but I can't be bothered. And I'm not Scottish. Thankfully.

Thinking on it, for the top two, Marvel had mostly UKPVs with two spells of T&P stamped copies, and DC had the reverse - mostly T&P stamped copies with two spells of UKPVs

Let's hope so. I'm sure I can recall this happening before? I can get decent results if I play around, but I agree the former structure / simplicity is currently absent. Let's face it though, when do technology enhancements ever actually enhance...

I agree on the duality dates, and that is also what Gary's chart showed. Broadly speaking, and accepting the odd rogue stamped copy, did you think this updated table is accurate: I wish the CGC software didn't compress it like that - zoom in and it gets a lot bigger / clearer. Probably something to do with this... https://www.cgccomics.com/boards/topic/489756-ebay-comic-categories-not-working/?tab=comments#comment-11784196

I see that, yes. Try this: Search only for E.C. Select 'collectibles' from the all categories list To the left of the screen, under 'Collectibles', click on 'more' to reveal 'Comic books & memorabilia' Then the era and genre options appear: It seems that the inclusion of the word 'comics' in the search messes it up, bizarrely (I just typed 'Charlton', not 'Charlton Comics'). But there is a way to get the genres and you can in theory do the above and re-bookmark the lot. I'm not sure how much the exclusion of the word comics will impact the search results though

I just searched eBay.com - the era categories are still there (Gold, Silver etc).... ...as are the genres once you've selected an era: What am I missing Golders? Couldn't you just re-bookmark them?

Trying to plot it simply (zoom in): @Garystar - does that look right? Our only unknown is to what extent the T&P stamped copies extend beyond the 1971 examples you plotted @Malacoda Rich, how far have you gone in your ND work beyond those Hulks you plotted - have you identified a date around which the T&P stamped copies stop for Marvel?

The few examples may have been late of course, found their way into a later unsold shipment Rich, The Hulk is a bad title to use as it starts too late. Look at the extract here from Gary's plotting exercise and you can see that the duality of UKPVs and T&P stamped cents copies kicks off from April 1969, when UKPVs return after their third hiatus: I just rechecked FF #60-68 again and there are no stamped cents copies on eBay. From #69, they start up....

Christ, that settee is uncomfortable. A broken clock is right twice a day, they say, and I usually manage about half that. Usually after lunch. 'Steve, right in the afternoon', they call me. Their is a abroad pattern Rich, it's just bigger than the section you've looked at. @Garystar brought it to life for Marvel with his plotting exercise last year. The comics themselves tell their story. We know the following, for Marvel, because of them: Cents copies exist in the UK Cents copies with UK price stamps exist in the UK UK Price Variant copies exists in the UK UK distribution evidence starts from cover date 05/60 When we plot them out - and we have to plot hundreds if not thousands of examples to prove anything - we can see a broad Marvel pattern as follows (summarised by Gary somewhere in this thread): We start with UKPVs only Then we have our first hiatus in 64/65 where UKPVs stopped but were 'replaced' by stamped cents copies (timing unknown) When UKPVs return, stamped copies cease for those UKPV bearing titles We have a three month UKPV blip in late 1966, staggered, in which oblong and circular unbranded stamps appear on cents copies (timing unknown) UKPVs then continue alone until the next main 1967-1969 hiatus in which, again, the missing UKPV issues appear as stamped cents copies Those stamped cents copies continue this time, once the UKPVs return (end date yet to be established) We've all pointed out that Marvel and DC were different - two suppliers, one receiver (T&P). All the above is factual, as the comics exist and tell the story when plotted in large numbers. The why is all speculation, still. Here's is the most logical 'why' for me: DC are happy to sell T&P their unsold cents copies T&P are happy to buy them and start doing so from cover date 10/59 They sell well, so it continues. No one is fussed about spotty deliveries or missing issues. They sell Marvel aren't happy to sell T&P their unsold cents copies. We don't know why. Maybe they didn't want their developing stories (DC tended to be stand alone) to be interrupted in the UK by spotty distribution? Maybe they were grumpy. Marvel agree to print UKPVs instead. They probably cost more (or less, with no unsold returns process to administer?) but T&P agree Marvel do something else with their unsold US returns For reasons unknown, there are three notable gaps in the UKPV production for Marvel during the 1960s An agreement is made - at the time or subsequently - to replace the missing issues with cents copies, for T&P to stamp as they did DC. That works At the end of the third gap / hiatus, Marvel decide they will now sell T&P their unsold US returns on an ongoing basis, regardless of the agreed UKPV runs. Maybe they saw how well it was going with the DC books and they know that the true collectors will get their sequential UKPV one way or another. T&P are happy to do so too - they're selling regardless. We don't know why T&P didn't seek an increase in Marvel UKPV numbers to satisfy demand, or abandon UKPVs and revert to the 'DC model' of stamping unsold returns (see above comment re the Marvel approach to storytelling). We don't know why it took until 1978 for DC to agree to ongoing UKPV production (after the brief 1971 two month experiment) Returning to the Hulk examples you posted Rich, notice how the later shilling priced UKPVs have 5p on their 15c cousin copies. That implies that they were distributed later than their sequential UKPVs, which makes sense if they were US returns. In summary, the comics themselves tell a story, individually and collectively, and we can establish facts and broad patterns. And we can then speculate reasonably as to what was going on. The application of logic often fails though, as this was a crazy period full of oddities and with different practices by publisher. And we haven't even mentioned Charlton, Archie etc who themselves paint a very odd picture, jumping as they did from one distributor to another. I love that we all get to pull it apart all these years later and I love what the comics themselves can tell us about that wonderful period in comic history. But there remains a limitation on what we can prove 50-60 years later in the absence of reliable first hand testimony or distribution records. In my mind's eye I have the biggest spreadsheet in the world, with all issues plotted for all publishers. That would show some broad patterns, I'm sure. But my God in heaven would some of it seem obtusely random.

Find a TTA#62 and Albert will marry you

They're everywhere!

The only image on there that won't open

Changing tack for a second, in the first main Marvel UKPV hiatus, October 1964 to August 1965, we know that T&P stamped cents copies exist for most of the missing UKPV issues. Here's an extract below from my own spreadsheet which shows what has been confirmed. (Gary, your spreadsheet was missing a FF#32 too - I haven't been able to find one @Garystar): One thing that I found odd was that for FF#39 (and also ASM #27), a second, slim style T&P 10d stamp was used - three examples below (at least one is an 8): The preceding issues have the first bold stamp type, as do the two that follow - all numbered 4: I wonder if 39 came late, hence the 'new' stamp use? Gary - did anything jump out at you when you plotted them last year? Here are the issues I'm missing by the way (no stamped copy as yet): Fantastic Four #32 Kid Colt Outlaw #120, 121, 122, 123 (all of them!) Rawhide Kid #43 TTA #62 (Albert will pass out if this one ever appears) Two-Gun Kid #75, 76

Very romantic!

Odhams Press? Odhams Press was a British publishing company, operating from 1920 to 1968. Originally a magazine publisher, Odhams later expanded into book publishing and then children's comics. The company was acquired by Fleetway Publications in 1961 and then IPC Magazines in 1963. In its final incarnation, Odhams was known for its Power Comics line of titles, notable for publishing reprints of American Marvel Comics superheroes.

@yrag9591 Here's the updated table Gary - I'm crossing my fingers for some more Romance I missed the bidding on this double stamped 'first' Batman - how cool is that?

I don't know, but I doubt it. Who knows - I'll let you devil that one out Albert, given the distinct lack of available examples (even on eBay.ie). As the wife's Dad would say "It's a holy terror"

I posted quite a few magazines studies earlier in the thread, having gathered images to see if they could have represented the missing T&P stamp numbers in the first comic cycle. That progressed and I now have scores of images saved and even bought a few. Almost all of those types of mens magazines were T&P: There were even a few possible 'price variants' with printed UK prices: But I don't have a single example of a magazine with anything remotely like a Gold Star stamp or sticker - it seems T&P had that market cornered.

I remember those knockers, sorry, that advert.

Indeed. How did they get true I wonder, priced one and tree (That was my best Ken Doherty)

I'm here all week