Get Marwood & I

While we're on the subject of Century Publications, there are also 9d priced books with covers out there:

I have this one below and planned to do a comparative piece on it at some point:

Mad cover, isn't it 

On 3/30/2023 at 7:53 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

The IW/Quality is a late 1950s reprint title, but I can't find an original source. Also odd!

From Jon McClure's article on IW:

Full of Fun (1958) #8, from undetermined source, most likely unpublished Bernard Baily Studio material from the mid-1940s

http://www.jonmcclurescomics.com/iw.html

From WiKi:

Looks like we can't find the original Bailey source for "Splash" Waters as it was never published @Bobbi_Betamax - only 'reprinted' in the late 1950s IW/Quality book. So the Century UK distribution copy appears to be its first outing!

Of course, it's on here isn't it!

I haven't woken up yet 

There's another Zor on there too @Bobbi_Betamax, making 3 so far, yes?

Also, you list Zor as "Zor The Mighty (Superior/Century), reprints part of Captain Commando Comics (F.E. Howard, 1945)", but isn't it from Jungle Adventures #10?:

Does JA#10 reprint CCC?

I'm going for coffee....

On 3/30/2023 at 7:10 AM, Bobbi_Betamax said:

Nice - so that's 2 more, and I forgot about 'Splash' Waters too, a feature title which I can't seem to find a point of origin for yet...

This is odd. "Splash" Waters means something to me, but I don't know why. I've found the Century version online, and I recognise it. So I must have looked at it at some point but can I find anything saved in the files? Odd. Anyway, it shares the content of Full of Fun #8:

The IW/Quality is a late 1950s reprint title, but I can't find an original source. Also odd!

On 3/29/2023 at 8:22 PM, Bobbi_Betamax said:

From what I can see, there are now 9 known titles in this Canadian 1946 coverless-style UK edition niche:

1. The Conquerers – (Superior/Century), reprints Conqueror Comics (Albrecht 1945)
2. Bogey Man #2 (Superior/Century), reprints Red Band comics #1 (Rural Home 1944)
3. Dr. Mercy (Superior/Century), reprints Zoom Comics (Carlton 1945)
4. Golden Lad (Superior/Century), reprints Golden Lad #1 (Spark 1945)
5. The Jinx (Superior/Century), reprints???
6. Skunky (Superior/Century), reprints Funland Comics #1 (Croydon 1945)
7. Jack Bradley (Superior/Century), reprints Red Circle Comics #1 (Rural Home 1945)
8. Zor The Mighty (Superior/Century), reprints part of Captain Commando Comics (F.E. Howard, 1945)
9. Mister Lucifer Comics (Crestwood), reprints? Spook Comics #1 (Bailly 1945)

...and maybe more????

Nicely done, BB 

I've had this research on a back burner for a while, but do have another two potentials as follows saved in the files, which I've yet to investigate further:

Not the best images, and they may yet be cover-stripped originals, but both were for sale in the UK at some point. Neither has an overprinted UK price, or sticker, but neither do the other Zor issue and the Conquerors so.....

On 3/29/2023 at 12:37 PM, Redshade said:

These lapses of memory and sense of mine are getting even more worrying to me. I can't seem to see any such numbers at the top of this post. I see :
I feel like an increasingly senile old fool at times.

Not at all. The journals are in a different format to 'regular' threads. The 4K post we were discussing was in the Distribution thread, which is a regular one. Go to it, and you'll see the details at the top as I posted earlier. With the journals, that post and page count summary sits just below the opening entry, above the subsequent comments like so:

Don't ever feel foolish about these things Stephen. Not everyone is completely computer savvy and a lot of these things aren't always intuitive. Most people struggle with the journals format here so you're not alone. It's why I don't post in them anymore - the format has navigation and visibility issues and no one - not CGC or Invision - seem interested in doing anything about it.

On 3/29/2023 at 10:16 AM, Redshade said:

Sorry Steve I hadn't. I saw the post from Bobbi Betamax and just waded in with my massive clodhopping boots. I don't usually go back to the start of threads as they are invariably too long. Once again I seem to have put my massive clodhopping foot in it. 

Don't worry about it Stephen, it's what most people do. If you had to read everything before commenting no one would ever comment!

On 3/29/2023 at 10:16 AM, Redshade said:

On another post I see that you were discussing coming up to 4000 entries and wonder where you glean this information from? On similar sites I've seen that each individual post is numbered but that doesn't seem to be the case here. Unless, once again, I'm missing something?

It's at the top of every thread - posts aren't numbered here but it shows you a summary of how many pages and posts have been made to date under the thread title:

We occasionally muck around with fights and prizes when a nice round figure is looming (Rich won that particular one)....

On 3/28/2023 at 8:57 PM, Redshade said:

I will add that I bought these from a UK dealer on eBay last year sometime. The same dealer keeps advertising these occasionally.  

The three books were quite scarce until they started popping up in multiples. I bought at the early high end, thinking I'd be unlikely to get a second chance, so was a bit deflated when I subsequently realised the seller had a box load of them. He even had a pile on his table at the London fair the other month. He can't give them away now, it seems. 

On 3/28/2023 at 8:34 PM, Redshade said:

Note the 6d overprint on the Skunky. I had certain *ahem* disagreements with a prominent Canadian comic dealer who had these as "stripped covers. . . for the UK market . . .".

Did you read my opening journal post on Skunky? I haven't read it for a while, but I think I prove that our copies aren't the guts of Funland #1. 

On 3/27/2023 at 6:31 PM, Bobbi_Betamax said:

Maybe we'll gradually figure out a list of all in the same vein as these UK versions, the Jack Bradley book looks pretty striking.

I do know Valerie_VHS, I'm gonna fast forward her a link to this post!

You're going to fit right in here, Bobbi 

On 3/27/2023 at 6:12 PM, Bobbi_Betamax said:

Thanks, I had to post when I saw your info. GCD has a sticker less image of the Mister Lucifer showing a price of 6D, so either this issue was in circulation for a while, or inflation was pretty bad in 1946 as there look to be at least 2 price rise stickers on top of the original value.

I see it Bobbi, thanks.

The GCD copy actually looks like it has had a previous sticker removed, about the same size as your one, doesn't it

On 3/27/2023 at 6:12 PM, Bobbi_Betamax said:

I am guessing there are likely many earlier examples of UK-specific reprints of U.S. Comics but these are the earliest I know of in my limited knowledge.

We'll have to keep digging then.....

P.S. Do you know Valerie_VHS by any chance? Nice girl 

How cool are they @Bobbi_Betamax!

I'd sort of given up on this thread so thanks for reanimating it. It's great to see that someone else has been mucking about in this area. I thought it was just me!

Your two comics there make me want to start up investigating again. It's funny how comics do that, isn't it. I saw this issue for sale recently at 30th Century Comics which shares similar characteristics to our books, but it was snapped up pretty quickly:

I wonder how many of these 'coverless' 1940s UK distribution comics are actually out there. And I wonder what is under those price stickers on your two comics there....

All good fun. Thanks for dropping in and welcome to the forum 

On 1/21/2023 at 9:19 PM, paqart said:

I just picked up another Avengers UK price variant. This started with Avengers #93 because I just wanted an Avengers #93 and the first I saw in the grade I wanted for a price I could afford was a UK price variant. After getting it, I thought it would be fun to get the rest of the Kree-Skrull war in UK editions. I did that, then got a couple more before before looking for other titles. One thing I decided I wanted though, was Avengers 1-100 in UK editions. As a step toward that goal, I just picked up a copy of #100, the last in that group. I've seen several of these for sale but always in terrible condition. This one, if you care to check the registry, is the highest graded copy and the only one in this grade. Next highest grade is 3 notches lower, at 7.0.

Nice. Post them in the discussion thread, Paq:

https://boards.cgccomics.com/topic/411880-marvel-uk-price-variants/

No one reads the journals. 

On 1/9/2023 at 3:14 AM, Etreiw said:

Yep....   It goes back into my collection, a story to be told that it was a beautiful 9.6 with a beautiful signature until the graded book was put into a slab......while they were putting the comic between the two plastic slabs there was some kind rub that caused the paper scratch...   At first i thought it was tape or something on the outside of the slab but nope...it's on the inside.     

 

Sorry it happened to you Etreiw. It's a lovely signature. If you haven't already, I'd contact CGC to see if there's anything they can do for you. It wouldn't grade a 9.6 with the scratch, so being inside the slab, and with your before and after photos, I'd like to think it's a clear case (no pun intended) of negligence on their part. Good luck. 

A sodding great scratch across the middle?

On 1/6/2023 at 12:46 PM, ARyan_ said:

I won't be doing full runs anytime soon considering I came across this one by chance! But would I be right to assume the Charlton UKPV are more 'scarce' in comparison to the US editions?

Nice Konga 

Compared to the US versions, the UK Price Variants are extremely scarce, yes. Of the 601 that are currently confirmed to exist (by me, I'm the only one who gives a serious hoot) I have 554. Of those I would say the copy I own is the only one I've ever seen in the vast majority of cases and I've been on the hunt for over five years now. Some pence copies exist in multiples -  I call them the 'usual suspects' - and there are even a small group of romance issues that turn up often in the US. But in the main they crop up very infrequently. Happily, most collectors are completely indifferent to Charlton, pence copies especially, so their scarcity doesn't routinely translate into value. But I love them, especially the 1959-1965 books. And UKPVs are my thing in general of course, if you hadn't already noticed! Thanks for dropping in ARyan. 

P.S. Here's what a double cover Konga UKPV looks like:

Now that's scarce.

On 11/18/2021 at 9:31 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

On 11/18/2021 at 4:34 AM, androolx said:

Sorry about that!

Don't worry about it. There's two confirmed copies out there. Maybe I'll get lucky one day if there's a third 

There was, and I did:

I've got all 11 now 

On 10/13/2022 at 2:17 PM, Deutero said:

I now know I owe a 15c copy of Space War #15 so thank you for taking the time to do this

They're things of beauty, Deutero. Welcome to a very exclusive club!

On 9/19/2022 at 9:59 AM, AJD said:

Cool arcana, as ever. But that Little Dot Dotland image you have is marked page (7) - allowing two pages for the covers, it seems to be the 9th page. Why do you say that's page 11 - is there an unnumbered ad page in between?

I don't have the book in hand, so can't say with certainty, but I believe there are indeed ad pages which make up the additional ones, yes. The chap who provided the image understood my request and said "I believe this to be the 11th page (if your counting the cover as page 1".

If you look closely at the image though, the page appears to be the second page of the 5 page story "He's a Good Man!" (see GCD), so you'd wonder how it could be page seven at all. Maybe the 'part 2' that I think I can see plays a part in the numbering. As soon as I snag a copy, I'll let you know!

Morning 

Fifty years ago to the month, Harvey put out the following twenty September 1972 cover dated titles (screenshot courtesy of Mike's Comic Newsstand):

Of that twenty, ten are currently known to be 15 Cent Variant bearing titles (highlighted below in yellow)

Of that ten 15cv bearing titles, 8 are currently confirmed as having 15 Cent Variant issues cover dated September 1972. The only two 15cv bearing titles for which a September 15cv has yet to materialise are Little Audrey & Melvin #54 and, coincidentally, Little Dot Dotland #54. Two inconclusive fifty fours.

As we know from my earlier observations, September cover dated books tend to have a 15cv indicia on the 11th page of the 25c regular copy. Here are my 15c and 25c copies of Hot Stuff #112 to illustrate:

The 15c copy has it's own, slimmed down single line indicia, compared to the regular, full indicia of the 25c copy:

This is because the 15c variant copies that I own all have the first four internal wraps of the 25c copies missing and, presumably, a replacement indicia was required to keep things legal.

First internal wrap:

Second internal wrap:

Third internal wrap:

Fourth internal wrap:

As we can see above, when we turn the page of the fourth internal wrap of the 25c copy, we are then presented with the 11th page which is the first page of the slimmed down 15c copy. Both show the 15c indicia, as the printers cleverly realised that printing it on all the pages removed the need for additional work.

So, returning to my spreadsheet extract, we can see that in all 8 of the confirmed 15cv cases, the 25c copy has the 15c indicia on the 11th page:

The ten titles that do not have any 15c variants confirmed do not have 15c variant indicias on the 11th pages of their 25c copies. This can't be a coincidence, and is a strong indication as to whether a 15c variant will exist for those issues and also our two outstanding #54 titles.

My 25c copy of Little Audrey & Melvin #54 has the 15c indicia on its 11th page:

So I think this issue will have a 15c variant.

I don't yet have a 25c copy of the other #54, Little Dot Dotland, but a kindly eBay seller sent me this image which shows that the 15c indicia is not present:

Little Dot Dotland is a 15c variant bearing title though, #53 exists, so if issue #54 does not have a 15c copy, as the 25c copy indicia absence appears to indicate, that will buck the trend for all the other September cover dated issues. It happens though. There's always one troublemaker. 

I can post a similar assessment of the other months, but they are less conclusive as the indicia scenario does not really get established until the August cover date. Time will tell whether these September conclusions will be borne out. 

On 9/15/2022 at 1:53 PM, AJD said:

So I reckon these came off the same presses, with only a swap of price and back cover between, a bit like the UK Marvel variants.

It certainly looks that way Andy, thank you mate. It's the whole point of the thread really - to identify whether books like these could reasonably be called UK Price Variants. The dual indicias are quite interesting, now I've put my glasses on. Two different printers? Cover and guts printed separately...?

On 9/14/2022 at 4:20 AM, AJD said:

I'm not quite sure what I'm being asked here, but I'll make a few probably unhelpful remarks.

Thanks for answering the call, Andy! Who better than The King of Australia to respond on behalf of the Aussie books 

The purpose of the thread is to gently wander through the pre-1960 era to see if there are any examples of books which could fit the definition of a UKPV. So a book with a UK cover price which came from the same print run, but is junior to, a book priced in the home countries currency. It's not the most robust review, as you can see, and is more of an excuse to look at nice old books and comment on them but in a way, perhaps, that hasn't been commented on before.

I'm sure there will be some gold era experts out there who's reaction to all this would be "Ah, bless", but it's something fun to muck about on now that I've exhausted all the post 1960 'what exists' UKPV possibilities.

On 9/14/2022 at 4:20 AM, AJD said:

The 'tall' issues are likely from the Australian home market. I have quite a few different titles like that, including 'home grown' titles like Crimson Comet as well as reprints. I think it's a rainforest canopy type thing - if there are a few tall books on the rack then shorter ones run the risk of not getting enough exposure if they don't grow to the same height. When exported into other markets (see the next point), the same selection pressure wouldn't necessarily apply and you could save some paper by going shorter.

On 9/14/2022 at 4:20 AM, AJD said:

There are plenty of examples of Australian printings of books for markets overseas, even of reprints of American material. I have some Australian printed NZ and UK editions, usually with different pricing and sometimes with ads for the intended market. Here's an example of Australian (8d) and UK (6d) issues of a US Wings Comics, under the Rangers title. (they are the same size - the scans are just different res.) The back cover ads differ.

 

So those two Rangers have the same cover dimensions, but differing, targeted back cover ads? I take it you have them in hand - the AusReprints site has no details on the 6d 'UK' copy - are you able to determine whether the books came from the same print run? A plate change or two for the price slug and ad swap, maybe? Or are there any indicia notes that contradict that possibility (e.g. the words "printed somewhere else" being on one of them )?

On 9/14/2022 at 4:20 AM, AJD said:

Finally, I don't think printing plates were routinely shipped around. I'm pretty sure that photostats of some kind were sent to overseas publishers, which could explain the lower quality reproduction in some cases - maybe second generation 'copies of copies'?

I agree, that's what I think was going on with many of these books.

On 9/13/2022 at 9:03 PM, Yorick said:

So....  Australia subleased the printing rights to the UK as a work-around for the UK restriction on US imports.  -whew-

That explains the matched cover plates on the AUS & UK prints.

We got there in the end 

@Yorick!

They've nicked your upside down Miller triangle mate 

I have issue #67 of Super Adventure Comic and that also has 6d and 9d copies in existence.

Here's my 6d copy:

It's quite a nice copy, for a 65 year old comic. No turbans though.

Sydney Australia's K. G. Murray had this printed by Morrison & Gibb of Edinburgh, Scotland, for distribution in the UK by Atlas Publishing of London:

Here is the book on the AusReprints site:

https://ausreprints.net/issue/75257/0

I can only find one image of the 9d (actually looks like 9p) copy and it's on the AusReprints site and lists the internal contents as:

It says there is no indicia but attributes the book to 'Colour Comics Pty. Ltd'.

My 6d copy has 28 pages to the 9d copy's 24, the same shorter cut and differing story contents, just like my #57.

I don't think that either publisher/printer used the original DC plates from World's Finest #78:

But there is clearly a relationship between the 6d and 9d copies, as they share the 'Colour Comics Pty Ltd' cover logo and each have the same pricing circle location. And yet each were printed in different locations, for different publishers.

Turns out that Colour Comics Pty Ltd was part of the K G Murray group, so that's the link:

One must have shared the plates with the other, I'm guessing.

@AJD Andrew! Anything else to add, oh King? It's quite fun just starting from scratch in an area you're unfamiliar with and digging around...

Shall we summon The King of Australia, and see if he knows anything?  @AJD