Redshade

Nice catch there Marwood.

The four Archie comics in my previous post all seem to be from 1960 too so we could possibly be looking at a very short window when these were produced. Jon McClure's article in Overstreet 40 (where Overstreet finally acknowledges that the pence copies were in fact variants) just has a small paragraph or two under Archie where he states that there were Canadian variants but absolutely no mention of any pence Archie variants. So the hunt is on.

Here are a few pence variants I just found on ebay. They are all from a dealer's site and do seem a tad expensive at from between £14.95 and £19.95 for even these low grades but as this market is new to me I am probably wrong.

Rakehell. This last photo of yours, as you quite rightly say, IS a reprint of course with a UK publisher and printer clearly indicated (GG Swan as mentioned in my last post). The "9d" issues you showed earlier ARE variants printed and published in the US with the original US indicias. My post wasn't aimed at you but at those who periodically ask how to tell the difference between a variant and a reprint. Cheers.

I see from my Denis Gifford Catalogue of British Comics that GG Swan reprinted Archie content for the UK market from 1950 to 1953 and then Thorpe and Porter from 1953 onwards with no finish date given. I have also seen Australian pence reprint issues. So to be clear, these are NOT what we are looking for in this forum. It is specifically USA printed Pence variants that we are looking for. I'm sure that Marwood will correct me should I err.

Hello Rakehell. welcome to the forum. Now that you've brought it to our attention we'll all be seeing Archie pence issues in our sleep. But yes, I have seen Archie pence issues before and some Dell and probably others that I can't recall. And yes, Marwood's work is awe inspiring and not just the vast amounts of research. The technical stuff is way beyond anything that I am capable of vis-a-vis rearranging them all into folders like that. Show us any more you find. Perhaps Marwood (our glorious Leader) could start another non DC/Marvel thread?

At the risk of sounding twee the old advice about collecting what you like is the best way to go. Whilst the print run of pence variants was much smaller than the cents run this scarcity has not in the past translated into higher prices. The pence copies have traditionally sold for 50% - 70% of the cost of their US counterparts. This may be that for various reasons higher grade copies of pence variants are very scarce and I think that in higher grade then they would tend towards nearer the cents prices. I think Pence copies will be selling for close to, or in some cases, above their cents counterparts, relatively soon. Part of the stigma was that collectors, certainly those in the US, always assumed these to be UK reprints printed over here after US versions. Those of us old enough to remember the originals know that this is not the case. This view has been rectified over the years and the fact that these were printed in the US (sometimes in Canada!) along with the cents copies with the same ads and indicias has long been common knowledge. This was "officially " endorsed by Overstreet who acknowledged that these were printed simultaneously with the US Editions & are now officially considered "VARIANT" Originals (See Overstreet #41 Article on pages 1010-1038). I do not have the current (2017) Overstreet but am reliably informed that "Overstreet finally notated pence copies as 1st Print variants of cents copies, in the 2017 Overstreet". So, lower grade pence copies can still be had for less than similar grade cents copies with higher grade pence copies fetching nearer the cents price. I think that in a few years near parity will be the norm.

That's a quest to be sure hunting down all those. Is that where you are Marwood, is that why you rushed off so abruptly yesterday?

I can add another 50+ years to the total. If that GL book went for £113 then trying to track down (and afford) the full set is going to be quite a task and if like the Double Double's the same cover was used with different interiors an almost impossible task to track down all the variants. Now what is my next project going to be? A full set of these or the quest for the 838 DC pence copies?

I'll stick my neck out here and say that they were most likely UK produced, it does mention in the Price Guide piece that sometimes the covers had a T&P pence stamp. Perhaps T&P were the "Double Double" people. Perhaps the hardcovers were a tryout and they subsequently went with the paper cover as being cheaper/quicker to manufacture.

Any idea who this Peter Hansen chap is that Duncan references. All I can find is a comic artist of that name from the 40s which is surely a different person.

Wow, good work in finding these. My memory (wrong as it now turns out) of the Green Lantern was that it was a green cover but that is probably just word association. I do remember that the cropping of these comics was more noticeable when the covers were included.

The one I vividly remember is a Green Lantern Annual, although no mention of that specific one is mentioned here. It seems as if Duncan MacAlpine hadn't known about these until it was brought to his attention in 2015 so I wonder where he gets his prices from? Total value for all issues of this title listed: Condition PR 1.0 FR 1.5 GD 2.0 VG 4.0 FN 6.0 VF 8.0 VF/NM 9.0 NM- 9.2 NM 9.4 MINT 10.0 Issues 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Total £ 5.00 10.00 15.00 30.00 60.00 125.00 150.00 175.00 200.00 Note: some PR issues may have no value. Selected issues in FN, VF or VF/NM may not exist in some titles.

Sorry the link doesn't go to the page I wanted. Here's a cut and paste of the text. I found it by google searching "uk annual with remaindered comics". There is a photo which doesn't copy. ATOM ANNUAL Publishers: ATLAS PUBLISHING Dates: 1967 Issues: CLICK HERE to view issues, super-size cover images and values in 9 grades A new find for me as at Dec 2015. Never seen this one before in all my travels. One of the DC remaindered comics bound-together annuals (like Showcase Annual or Hawkman Annual). Features Atom #30, World's Finest #163, Superman #196, Lois Lane #74, World's Finest #164, Detective Comics #358. Some thoughts from comics' historian and collector Peter Hansen: 1 - The comics in every single annual were all DC comics, no Marvel at all. 2 - The vast majority of the annuals had only uncirculated issues. Two or three only had one of what must have been a return as they had a pence stamp on the cover. 3 - Every annual had six comics in it, with only one or two relating to the title character or group on the cover. 4. Every annual had at least one and sometimes two issues in the annual that did not match with the duplicate annual I have of that same annual. This practice seems to me to be completely random, and I wouldn't be surprised if no two annuals are the same in this regard. 5 - All comics are either 1966, or 1967 DC Comics issues. 6 - No annual had any kind of indicia relating to who published the annuals? and I wonder if DC even knew T&P were doing this? 7 - No annual had a price on it either printed or even a sticker?

I just found this : http://www.comicpriceguide.co.uk/uk_comic.php

I remember purchasing these in the late 60s. There were also some with hard covers, similar to the a British annuals. I may be a doddering old fool but I remember these as having the covers included. I have never seen one since on ebay or elsewhere. Perhaps I dreamt it all?

There is no way I want to go down that road. I won't pretend that I didn't think of it, after all they're all only bronze age so should be very easy to pick up in high grade and very cheaply, no?

I read this post a few weeks ago being steered here by Marwood's explanation of "signatures". And blow me down with a feather if I didn't see one of these whilst scrolling through ebay and bought it on impulse. It has normal wear and slight discolouration of staples so is not a hot-shot high grade, perhaps a Very Good with a "value" of only a few dollars. Now I don't know what to do with it, I'm a Marvel collector. Anyone want it?

Marwood. Got it. Thank you.

Hi Marwood. Sorry to bother you again but as you are online at the moment could you explain to this old duffer how to access/activate this "signatures" thingy?

Hi Gaard. Thank you for your kind comments (even if they weren't meant for me). I don't mind researching comics at all. As a proponent of the hobby I enjoy it very much. When things get tedious, then that is the time to start a different hobby. Regards. Redshade.

But surely mate this IS a reprint

If you look in the Grand Comics Database for instance for Amazing Spider-Man 45 you will see that the US and UK variants are side by side in the US section. These have the same publisher/printer indicia and ads for US goods EXACTLY as the US issue because they were published/printed in the US at the same time.. All others are reprints and are listed as such in the foreign section and will have a DIFFERENT publisher and printer as well as ads for the country in which the comic was reprinted. The layouts and titles will also be noticeably different. This is as true for foreign language reprints as it is for English language reprints : Sometimes the artwork may even be altered in foreign reprints : Hope this helps.

Very nice comics. I love those high grade pence X-Men, hard to get hold of in such nice condition.

Yes. Yes it was time to show this again. Any time is a good time to show this again. Sigh!