Get Marwood & I

On 5/3/2022 at 1:34 AM, Yorick said:

Story #2 from They Called Me A Flirt.  What is "TBC"?  To be cited?

I'll start digging around to see if I have any other Streamlines.

To be confirmed, Yorick. I couldn't match the content to an original book despite looking up every comic I could find with a similar title. The GCD record suggests that the title was changed - that seems to be a good call as the 'flirt' wording has clearly been changed in the story text so it follows that the title would have been too. It's quite interesting comparing content actually, and seeing what has been either changed or omitted completely. Anything suggesting domestic violence seems to be out. 

On 5/2/2022 at 6:11 PM, Qalyar said:

There sure aren't. The former location of Streamline Publications on Curtain Road, is now part of trendy "nightclub in a ball pit" Ballie Ballerson. Meanwhile, The New Avenue Press address -- which was a public house before that -- now hosts the Blanca Bar restaurant on its ground floor.

Curtains for Curtain Road! 

Just like the old Miller building.

On 5/2/2022 at 6:11 PM, Qalyar said:

Really excited to see the rest of these, by the way. I ... did not expect there to be quite this many of them.

Me neither - they won't stop coming! 

Definitely more out there, as I left one behind by mistake.

Ahh, I love comics....

• Cover banner: A Streamline Pictorial Romance (6d 'dumbbell' style)
• Priced at 6d
• 28 pages
• Double stapled
• Black and white interior pages
• 7" x 9 & 3/8"

They Called Me A Flirt is one of what I call the 'dumbbell' covers - by that I mean that the cover banner comprises two 6d priced circles connected by the Streamline Pictorial Romance wording, appearing rather like a dumbbell in shape:

There are four issues with that banner style so far.

The indicia reads "Streamline Publications Ltd, 105 Curtain Road, London, E.C.2, Printed by Dyson Bros., Gladstone Street, Peterborough":

The Stories this time are:

Story #1: They Called Me A Flirt (the comic's title):

This story originally appeared in TBC

Story #2: I Was A Slave To Love

This story originally appeared in 1950's My Past Thrilling Confessions #11:

The story here is missing the splash page from the original, possibly due to its rather threatening nature. The 'I Was A Slave to Love' title wording, curiously, is in a different text and missing the exclamation mark of the original.

Story #3: Cheated

This story originally appeared in 1949's My Secret Story #26:

Once again, the rather aggressive splash page of the original is absent. The story title is changed and the top word box of the original is absent to accommodate the new one.

• Cover banner: This is a STREAMLINE Pictorial Romance
• Priced at 6d
• 28 pages
• Double stapled
• 6 & 7/8" x 9 & 7/8"

The Frightened Bride is a little bit naughty really, claiming to be an 'All In Colour' book. Lots of black and white inside, along with single colour pages (much like the Marvel UK weeklies).

The indicia is a 'Streamline Publications Ltd' one, 105, Curtain Road, London, printed by The New Avenue Press Ltd, 3/4 Sherwood Street, London W.I. I must Google those locations at some point, and see whether there are any signs remaining that they were ever there:

The Stories this time are:

Story #1: I Was a Frightened Bride (happily, given the comic's title)

This story originally appeared in 1949's My Experience #19:

Story #2: I Was a Shrew 

This story originally appeared in 1952's Popular Teen-Agers 14:

Note that the UK reprint is missing the original splash page - possibly due to the bottom smacking? 

Story #3: He Turned Me Down

This story also originally appeared in Popular Teen-Agers 14:

Known Issues (the comics, I mean)

In this first post I will list the current known issue titles, and update it every time a new one is discovered.

Accordingly, this page was Last Updated on the: 4th of March 2024

The existence of the following 30 issues are confirmed:

1. Cathy and I
2. For Mother's Sake
3. He Scorned Her
4. He Scorned Her (Squarebound)
5. He Knew My Secret
6. His Love
7. Honeymoon Without Love
8. I Betrayed Him
9. I Dared Not Love
10. I Did Not Love Him
11. I Lied For Love
12. I Lived in Fear
13. I wanted Both Men
14. Long Distance Wife
15. Love Broke My Heart
16. My Fabulous Past
17. My Jealous Heart
18. My Love Memoirs
19. My Love Secret
20. My Love Story
21. My Love Story (Squarebound)
22. My Second Love
23. My Secret (Cover 1)
24. My Secret (Cover 2)
25. My Secret Life
26. Our Secret
27. The Frightened Bride
28. The Storm in My Heart
29. They Called Me a Flirt
30. True Love

Here they all sit, in the Village. Sorry, files...

I'll update this table too as I post the details of each book that I have in the thread:

These 15c variants are proving to be quite hard to find, and I'm starting to wonder how few copies may have been made. It doesn't surprise me that finding 50 year old Harvey comics in the UK is hard going but there are so few copies turning up and there is so little to find about their distribution.

Here is a snippet from a UK fanzine of the time which indicates how scarce Charlton and Gold Key were in 1972 - Harvey doesn't get a mention here or in any of the other copies I have found of the time:

I've been adding to my pence stamped collection though, and here is a nice example from March 1971, which carries a 6p stamp that differs to some of the 15c variant stamped copies that would follow:

Little Dot becomes Big Dotter in this issue, in case you were interested 

I'm kicking myself for saving these two books in my files years ago as examples of UK stamped copies and not, at the time, realising they were US price variants:

I could so easily have bought them just as examples of the stamps, and then had a nice surprise when I went on to discover that 15cvs existed. And I recall that they went unsold for a few rounds on eBay at least. I've yet to see another copy of either. 

Ah well, I'll keep digging....

On 4/22/2022 at 10:07 AM, Buzzetta said:

To start over at my age would be worse as far as quality of life and financially.

To be fair, I was a little further down the track when I jumped ship. 

On 4/22/2022 at 10:07 AM, Buzzetta said:

Eight years and two months to go.  It's not the job, it's where it is and there is no longer room for transfer.  I actually love my work.  So, you deal with it along with the dark humor.  As one of the younger coworkers said, he thinks about hanging himself every day in front of the place as a warning to others . 

I sort of see you as Dilbert. I mean that in a nice way 

On 4/22/2022 at 10:07 AM, Buzzetta said:

Posting habits are already at that point, it is like perusing a newspaper and I post where I want to.  

My collecting habits already changed once I pretty much purchased anything that I would ever have a reasonable chance of owning or should be able to own.  I still have my three AF15's, Spider-man Collection and various other keys.  However, I also have a feeling that around a year after retirement I will probably cash out to put that money into something else in addition to what I have for my retirement. 

Indeed. We sometimes fall into the trap of 'all or nothing' approaches in life. I know I have, at times. Keep what you love - really love - sell, the rest, live comfortably. Keep in the hobby, but don't let it dominate your life. Post here as long as you're happy, walk away when you're not. A nice bit of balance.

Buzz, you sound unhappy in your job to me. You must have resources, that you can put to better effect - could you not use them, to reshape your working life somehow, and find something more fulfilling? I did, and it was one of the best things I ever did. You don't want that feeling for another 3,000 days, do you?

As for this place, there is definitely an addictive element to the boards, I think. And there are some people here who you would not choose to associate with given the choice, as there are in all walks of life. It can be a chore to have them 'in your life' by way of your participation here as some are difficult to block out. The trick, I think, is to stick with what you enjoy. If you enjoy it, carry on. If you don't, then move on. If you can, of course. You enjoy your figures and toys thread - just post there, if you enjoy it, and sod everything else.

For me, the negative aspects of participation here overtook the positive some time ago so I have been visiting less and less as a result. Most of my board friends here have moved on so the desire to log on each day is fading. But the bits I enjoy still give me pleasure so I continue to log on most days, to see what is going on. A bit like reading a newspaper - most days, nothing doing. 

It's a simple lesson in life - do what you enjoy, avoid what you don't, if you can. If you have choices, means and courage, use them. We can spend too much of our lives being inadvertently unhappy, if we're not careful. 

On 4/16/2022 at 1:07 PM, Buzzetta said:

Taken last summer at Jones Beach.  

I gave this place up for over a month.

It was a combination of giving it up for Lent (which I never give anything up nor adhere to... someone said I couldn't do it and I pointed out I could but just don't care... So just to prove I could.)

Work has been hectic anyway... 

However, things I learned while not being here... eye opening. 

It's good to have a break, once in a while. I'm not long back from the coast myself. I like the sea.

Now, what did you learn during your sabbatical Buzz? Don't keep us all in suspence (I spelt that wrong on purpose) 

That looks nice Buzz - have you been away?

On 3/9/2022 at 12:05 PM, AJD said:

It is possible - just - that my quest to better understand the distribution of Harvey comics for a brief period in the UK in the early 1970s can wait.

On 3/9/2022 at 1:42 AM, AJD said:

Might be a while yet Andy, sorry. I've got too many irons in the fire at the moment. Need some time to sort out how to present it.

As well as all that below in the Harvey file, I'm linking the other publishers timelines in too, as that can often be revealing. 

On 3/7/2022 at 8:57 PM, Jeffro. said:

I agree with you on the UK link and I also agree that we'll probably never know the reason why these exist. I think it's pretty safe to say that these were not price test market copies like the 30 and 35 cent Marvels. 

Yes, the UK aspect sort of rules that out doesn't it. If it were a market test - albeit of a lower price for less comic - it would only make sense if they were distributed in a US geographical region. 

I've been tracking the Harvey UK distribution aspect a little more, either side of the variants, and will post more about it soon. It's a bit like a jigsaw, as it turns out. 

On 3/6/2022 at 6:32 PM, Jeffro. said:

I wish we knew the back story of why these 15 versions exist. Speculation is fun but having something from the horses mouth would be great. Speculation and educated guesses are probably what we will have to fall back on. You'd think Harvey kept records but even if they did, do they still exist?

If they did I would imagine that the author of the Harvey Companion would have unearthed them by now, given his contacts and the depth of his exploration into the publisher. It's probably destined to be yet another one of those things we will never know. And only fifty years ago, in this case. The UK link is inescapable I think, but there are a number of reasons why that might have happened. Finding them all will be fun though. That is one of my favourite things to do in life. Pottering outside the circle, trying to join the dots. 

Thirty one....

On 2/23/2022 at 4:01 PM, comicginger1789 said:

Amazing stuff!

YOU should be publishing books. Your level of detail and research on yet ANOTHER price variant that no one knew of is just the best to read about. It really is. Applause all around, I am a fan!

Stop it. You're making me blush, Eric 

On 2/23/2022 at 10:35 AM, rakehell said:

Ok, Velma. I'm in. Sorry I've missed this until now. I knew you had something on the boil. Nice work, as usual. I was just toying with the idea of collecting Harveys & you've given me a gentle shove over the line. 

Seriously though, I admire your tenacity when it comes to research. Really thoroughgoing. I just wish I had the time to devote to some of my own pet projects. So, if it's not clear enough from the rest of this, I'm saying thank you for digging this interesting gem of comicdom from the sh!theap of Western culture. 

On 2/23/2022 at 10:35 AM, rakehell said:

P.S. - how many are we still looking for?

Depends how rubbish my theories are Patricia, but probably anything between none and the nine missing gaps in the chart here:

With an outside chance of a few more. 

And the full issue tracker, which I haven't shown yet:

Updated version:

This post comes with an 'Outrageous Speculation Alert'  so only read on if you're genuinely interested in these books (or Dotty) 

In consideration of what further 15c variants might exist, I have broken the possibilities down into four categories:

1. Books cover dated before April 1972
2. Books cover dated after October 1972
3. Issue gaps among the known 15c variant titles
4. Titles with no 15c variants in the 15c variant cover date range

Before I comment on each, here is a quick recap of what we currently know:

• Earliest cover dated 15c variant – April 1972
• Latest cover dated 15c variant – October 1972
• Number of titles published between those inclusive cover dates – 41
• Number of issues published between those inclusive cover dates – 102
• Number of titles with one or more 15c variant confirmed – 13
• Number of 15c variants confirmed – 30

If the starting assumption is that any Harvey book within the 15c variant cover date window could have a variant copy we have:

• 28 titles with no 15c variants confirmed
• 72 additional issues which could theoretically have a 15c variant extant

Here are my thoughts on what further books might exist in each of the four categories – there is a lot of speculation here, so don’t take any of it as fact. It could all change with one out of pattern book discovery (and often does!).

1. Books cover dated before April 1972

My current assessment is that there will be no 15c variants cover dated prior to April 1972, the date the first known variant appears. Apart from my usual ‘gut feel’ the reasons for this are as follows:

• We haven’t found one yet (very obvious, but currently very true)
• We’ve only found one April variant, followed by six in May, which to me implies a beginning which ramps up
• Harvey published only six titles in April, but seventeen in March. I would expect one of those March issues to have shown by now, if they exist, given that eight of the seventeen are 15c variant bearing titles
• The early April/May 15c variant issues have a ‘getting started’ feel to them, with no standard indicia pattern and some cover dressing mishaps

So for the time being, I’m going for zero additional 15c variants in this time frame.

2. Books cover dated after October 1972

I also believe that we will not see any November cover dated 15c variants. The reasons this time include:

• We haven’t found one yet (still obvious, still true)
• All of the 15c variant bearing titles are priced 20c from this point, a price that was acceptable to the UK market (see my UK lower page count request theory, outlined earlier in the journal). Maybe the September books snuck in before the message to abandon got through. 
• I have evidence of November dated books, circulating in the UK, with price sticker residue and pencilled prices that indicate they were UK distributed. If 15c variants were made especially for the UK market, you wouldn’t expect to see many 20c copies with UK distribution marks - they would be priced 15c

I accept that they’re not exactly smoking guns there, but I think we can discount all books from November onwards at this stage. That brings us back to a starting scope of 41 titles and 102 books.

3. Issue gaps among the known 15c variant titles

In respect of the thirteen confirmed titles, I believe that all the missing issues could have 15c variants. I have plotted the indicia types for the twenty three 15cv copies I own to show which has a unique indicia and which has the regular version (click to enlarge):

As you can see, after a mixture in April, May and June, the unique 15c indicia seems to bed down from July onwards and become standard. If that standard practice was fully observed, then it would follow that any July / August / September dated 25c copy would have the variant indicia on the 11th page and, therefore, a 15c variant should exist. The four missing July / August / September issues are:

• Little Audrey & Melvin #54
• Little Dot Dotland #54
• Playful Little Audrey #102
• Spooky #131

As we can see from the following charts, Audrey #102 and Spooky #131 both have the unique 15c indicias on the 11th page in their 25c copies. So I expect them to have 15c variants:

The other two titles I have yet to see inside the 25c copies, but expect them to have the unique indicias too - I'll update you when I finally find copies - even the 25c versions are hard to get hold of it seems:

So that's July to September done.

If we then look at the first three months, we have one April 15c variant book (Richie Rich #113) of three possible:

If we look on Mikes Comic Newsstand, we see that all three April books have the same ‘on sale date’ of the 15th of January:

If, say, Richie Rich #113 had a later date than the other two books, I could see how it could have made the cut date-wise to be the first and only April 15c variant. But if the three books all have the same production date, then you would imagine, as titles in scope for the 15c experiment, that all three would have had a 15c copy printed.

One word of caution here, though - I mention often in my research that the dates on MCN often don’t correlate with the date stamps that we see on the actual books themselves. Here are two examples (just illustrative).

First up, Wendy #74 which has an ‘on sale’ date of the 15th of May, according to MCN:

Sure enough, here is my regular 25c copy with a 16th May date:

A very close match 

Not so close here though, for my copy of Devil Kids #55, which has an eleven day difference:

The word of caution here, is that the dates on MCN might not relate closely to the printing order. This opens the possibility that our Richie Rich #113, whilst having the same ‘on sale’ date as the other two in scope April books, may have been printed later and, therefore, be the only April book that made the cut. Pure speculation of course, but worth pointing out.

All that said, for now, I’m going to stick my neck out and expect our other two April books – Wendy #72, and Sad Sack & The Sarge #94, to appear one day. I can’t rely on the indicia to be informative in these copies by the way, neither 25c copy has the 11th page 15c indicia, but we know that doesn't discount them as the indicia correlation scenario is only cemented from July onwards.

The three missing May and June books are:

• Little Lotta #101
• Spooky #130
• Wendy #73

My charts for these three show that Wendy #73 has a unique 15c indicia on the 11th page of the 25c copy, so that I expect to see it as a 15c variant:

Spooky #130 doesn't have the unique indicia in the 25c copy, but we know that the 15c variant may still exist as May dated 15c variants have a mixture of regular / unique:

Little Lotta #101 I have yet to see, but the same theory applies:

So I think all nine of the missing books may exist in this group.

4. Titles with no 15c variants in the 15c variant cover date range

There are 41 titles in the April to September 1972 15c Variant cover date window with 13 having one or more variant confirmed. I believe there could be a fourteenth title – Richie Rich Riches. I believe that because issue #1, dated July 1972, has the unique 15c variant indicia on the 5th wrap / 11th page of the 25c regular copy. This to me is a strong indication that a 15c variant will exist as that indicia scenario exists in all the July 15c variant books I have checked to date. We have a fly in the ointment however, in that the 25c copy of issue #2, cover dated September, doesn’t have the 15c indicia on the 11th page. So we have a conflicting picture there. All eight September 15c variants have the unique indicia so for issue #2 of Riches to not have it pushes me to think that the #1 may have it in error or that it's an odd one issue variant wonder. Time will tell – Richie Rich Riches #1 is a could be, #2 an unlikely.

Turning to the remaining 27 titles, I have the following three groups:

Titles where no 15c Variant is expected to exist due to the August / September cover dated 25c issues having no 15c Variant indicia on the 5th internal wrap (page 11):

• Casper & Nightmare (#35-38) – #37 (August) has no 15cv indicia
• Casper Space Ship (#1-2) – #1 (August) has no 15cv indicia
• Casper's Ghostland (#66, 67, 68) - #68 (September) has no 15cv indicia
• Devil Kids (#54-56) – #54 and 55 (August) have no 15cv indicia
• Hot Stuff Sizzlers (#49, 50, 51) - #50 (August) has no 15cv indicia
• Richie Rich Diamonds (#1-2) – #1 (August) has no 15cv indicia
• Richie Rich Dollars & Cents (#48, 49, 50, 51) - #50 (August) has no 15cv indicia
• Richie Rich Fortunes (#4-6) – #4, 5 and 6 (September) have no 15cv indicia
• Richie Rich Millions #53-55 – #54 and 55 (September) have no 15cv indicia
• Richie Rich Money World #1 – #1 (September) has no 15cv indicia
• Sad Sack Navy Gobs 'n' Gals (#1-2) – #1 (August) has no 15cv indicia
• Sad Sack with Sarge and Sadie (#1) – #1 (September) has no 15cv indicia
• Sad Sad Sack World (#36, 37, 38, 39) - #38 (August) has no 15cv indicia
• Spooky Spooktown (#44, 45) - #45 (September) has no 15cv indicia
• TV Casper and Company (#36, 37) - #36 (August) has no 15cv indicia
• Wendy Witch World (#44-45) – #44 and 45 (September) have no 15cv indicia

As we know, it’s looking very likely that all July, August and September 15c variants have unique 15cv indicias. If true, then the absence of a variant indicia on the 11th page of a 25c priced book for those months is a very strong indication that no 15c variant will exist. I have discounted all the above titles on that basis.

October 20c titles where no 15c Variant is expected due to there being no preceding issues in the 15c Variant date window:

• Baby Huey, the Baby Giant (#98) - #97 is dated October 1971
• Casper and Spooky (#1) – First issue
• Casper and Wendy (#1) – First issue
• Little Lotta Foodland #29 - #28 is dated October 1971
• Richie Rich Bank Book #1 – First issue
• Richie Rich Jackpots #1 – First issue
• Spooky Haunted House (#1) – First issue

Whilst not conclusive, it’s difficult to see Harvey printing 15c variant copies for books that have their first issue in October, the final 15cv month. Similarly, books that have an October issue, but no preceding issue in the variant window are also unlikely to appear. I have discounted this group too, on that basis.

TBC (yet to check indicias):

I have yet to locate a copy of these following books, so cannot make a judgement at present. None of them have a UK distribution history however, so are unlikely to feature I think.

• Little Dot's Uncles and Aunts #42, 43 (no August/September issues)
• Richie Rich Success Stories #43, 44, 45, 46
• Sad Sack Laugh Special #65, 66, 67
• Sad Sack's Army Life Parade #39, 40, 41, 42

(August / September issues in bold)

I'll update this as and when I pick up a copy.

Conclusion

So, if we recap on the four categories, we can see a projection of a further 10 15c variants potentially being out there, making an overall total of 40:

• Books cover dated before April 1972:
  • 0 additional 15c variants
• Books cover dated after October 1972:
  • 0 additional 15c variants
• Issue gaps among the known 15c variant titles:
  • 9 additional 15c variants
• Titles with no 15c variants in the 15c variant cover date range:
  • 1 additional 15c variant (Richie Rich Riches #1)

In other words, after all that, the nine blanks on this chart...

...plus one - maybe two (maybe none) - Richie Rich Riches.

Time will tell if I'm right. I probably won't be, but it was fun putting this all together and gathering up 25c copies to look inside. They did like a yellow cover didn't they:

Yellow comic! 

On 2/15/2022 at 7:24 PM, Jeffro. said:

Considering that we're talking about low value comics that are not on many collector's radar and were probably consumed by younger kids at the time, it doesn't surprise me one bit that dealers don't have them. I'm sure many of them don't want to take up inventory space for comics that very few will want. That's why I think the best place to find these is at flea markets, antique fairs or shops, or junk type stores. Maybe at a tag (car boot or jumble) sale? 

Yeah, it's Marvel and DC all the way over here. Very few dealers with eclectic stock I'm afraid Jeffro. And you just don't see comics much at boot sales or in charity shops anymore. There's nothing like the flea markets that I see people like Robotman post stuff from. I worked for a charity with 9 retail shops for 8 years and saw two comic collections come in in all that time.  Anything like that tends to go straight in the eBay pile anyway now, alas. They're all wise to it now, charity shops, with the internet. I'll keep looking though. 

I finished the first pass of my 'what might exist / what likely won't' review last week and it runs to four pages of A4 commentary before I add the charts and pictures 

There doesn't seem to be much interest in this journal, so rather than bore everyone with it now I'll wait for a few more books that I've ordered to turn up, then try to pair it down a bit. With a bit of luck, a whole segment will disappear if the content of a handful of books turn out to be as I expect 

In the meantime, no new 15c variant examples to report. Notwithstanding what I have discovered, and the theory I have presented, Harvey comics are exceptionally scarce in the UK. Hardly any dealers have any and even eBay is a comparative graveyard. If any others do exist, it might take a good while for them to show.

Hands up who doesn't love their Postman? 

A nice big pile of 25c/20c copies arrived today, to help me work through the indicia comparisons and, hopefully, drive out a target maximum 15c variant list 

What else can we do on a Monday?

I'll keep you all posted.  Of course, I say 'all'....