Redshade

Both very valid conjectures which prompted me to get the old atlas out. I see that Belize, a British Colony bordering Mexico had English, Spanish and a local Creole as their official languages. I suppose these could have been stamped in pence for sale in the Naafi but would British troops and civilian workers buy periodicals in Spanish when there surely would have been English language magazines present? I wonder if we'll ever know definitively.

It's a Mexican comic from 1963. I've just taken a few more photos.:

It looks like one of the stampers took his stamping kit on holiday. How on Earth did this happen?

Yes I've thought that myself when I've come across an instance of this (oddly enough usually on annuals). I've wondered if perhaps the "stamping operatives" were a little trigger happy or the comics weren't sorted properly and a few pence variants got mixed in with the cents ones?

Hmm! Nice. I don't usually go for bound volumes but if this had been all pence issues I might have been interested. Still worth consideration though at its current price although it's early days and that is *ahem* bound to change. Are you having a pop? If so I'll stand down. Just off to vote and do some shopping toodle pip.

They are getting too expensive to take a chance on raw copies from civilian sellers where "an excellent looking comic" invariably turns out to be absolute $h*te. I bagged this one at the weekend although it has not arrived yet. Someone somewhere really doesn't like NRs.

Hello Steve. I trust that you had an enjoyable holiday? Rakehell has already pointed this out. When I mentioned the barcode strike-through I should have mentioned that some had the Spidey face as well, although my point was that the vast majority of all pence editions were newsstand editions.

Morning Rakehell. You are quite right of course, I should have made my meaning more evident. Up until July 1979 all UK editions were newsstand editions. It was the very short period between then and the onset of dual pricing in Jan 1982 that UK pence variants had the barcode struck through identifying them as direct editions. What I meant to say was that the vast majority of all pence editions were newsstand editions. (I hope that that doesn't sound too pompous, I'm a bit foggy until my second cup of coffee).

Forgive me if this has been pointed out but these UK Pence Variants were also newsstand editions. I hope this is also picked up on with the new nomenclature.

As I stated above there are thousands of examples in the GCD. I'm sorry Aman but I fear that this conversation is going nowhere. Good day sir.

It wasn't just the UK that used the fuller artwork, many foreign editions did the same:

Hi Aman. I'm not sure what you are saying here? If you look closely at the UK reprints that you show it can be ascertained that there is slightly more artwork on them than the original US comics although I admit not as much as on the images that I supplied. Alan Class being a pretty much one-man-band used many different printers and the comics were never a uniform size, some were taller/shorter or wider/thinner. I remember some issues that had gone to a different printer and the covers were glossier than normal and the page stock was better than usual, these comics being stapled and not the usual AC glued squarebound issues. Below is a copy of a Marvel UK comic where as before the artwork was supplied by Marvel US. Once again the original artwork was cropped on the US original.

It's not really that daunting. When one does a search of a specific US title the reprints are all listed onscreen, one does not have to go searching for them. The reverse of course is to look up the UK reprint and the information is there as to the US comic the issue was reprinted from. I am not really conversant in the esoteric arts of screen grabs but I am sure that if Marwood were here he would be able to explain it more effectively. PS. I chose the Astounding Stories 1 at random but not only was Strange Suspense Stories 56 reprinted in AS1( an anthology title) but Charlton also printed a Pence Variant. As you can see because this was produced in the US that the same cropped artwork was used. (There you go Steve, back on topic).

As I said Aman there are thousands of examples in the GCD. What sayest thou Marwood (this being slightly off-topic, but you did start it )?

And here the art on the US cover has been cropped on the left. These images are from the GCD who size all their photos to the same dimensions. In reality the Astounding Stories as with other Class titles were wider than the US comics, which is why more of the artwork could be shown.

Hi. I've been looking at a lot of UK 70s reprints such as Spider-Man and Hulk ( Rampage) titles on the GCD site, and in every instance the artwork was a lot wider than that of the original US titles (as well as the 1000s of Alan Class reprints). There is NO WAY that these publishers would have commissioned artists to "add" artwork. I'm sorry but the original artwork was cropped in the US and used fully in the UK reprints. Log into the GCD and see for yourselves.

Hi. I've been looking at a lot of UK 70s reprints such as Spider-Man and Hulk ( Rampage) titles on the GCD site, and in every instance the artwork was a lot wider than that of the original US titles (as well as the 1000s of Alan Class reprints). There is NO WAY that these publishers would have commissioned artists to "add" artwork. I'm sorry but the original artwork was cropped in the US and used fully in the UK reprints. Log into the GCD and see for yourselves.

Mr Adam, you do not know how reassuring that your reply has been to this silly old duffer who is about as technologically competent as a squashed frog.

This post was not meant to be about Hulk 181 specifically. I tried to put these images in another post. I apologise for my technological deficiencies.

I'm sorry that these images have appeared here. They were not meant to be. I fear that as I do not know what I am doing technologically that my PC has taken over.

Hi. I've been looking at a lot of UK 70s reprints such as Spider-Man and Hulk ( Rampage) titles on the GCD site, and in every instance the artwork was a lot wider than that of the original US titles (as well as the 1000s of Alan Class reprints). There is NO WAY that these publishers would have commissioned artists to "add" artwork. I'm sorry but the original artwork was cropped in the US and used fully in the UK reprints.

Not a bad effort at all Steve. I do remember once reading somewhere that the reprinted covers on Alan Class comics showed more of the original art and that it was the US companies who cropped said art. It seems that anything and everything went on back in the day. I'm sure, for instance, that I have seen 3 different versions of the Hulk 181 cover.

Is that because the #18 doesn't exist or that one has yet to be found. I must admit that I've been looking all over the 'net just now and cannot find one. I started to go through this post again looking for the AS-M pence lists but got sidetracked.

My poor little collection is hiding behind the settee blubbing with shame and embarrassment.