rakehell

This was part of a price change mix up, when the US prices went from 15c to 20c. They over-stickered most (but not all!) of them with a 6p. Not sure whether they did it at the printers or the distributors, but it was part of the distribution process. They also did it with ASM 102, Avengers 93, Daredevil 81, Hulk 145, & Submariner 43.

Trying to re-acquire a set of the first Captain Britain series - This is the first to land. No boomerang, but it was cheap.

Just one this week - Trying to re-acquire a full Captain Britain run. It smells like it was rescued from a fire. At a tobacco plantation. Still, it's a start.

Also, I just noticed... The 139 shows Morbius giving Spidey a taste of the glove outside on a roof somewhere, while the image from ASM101/SMCW140 shows Morbius b&*%$-slapping him down some stairs in a spooky mansion-type setup. I guess what I'm asking is, why does Spider-Man lead with his face?

Maybe that explains why I have three copies of 139 & only one of 140.

Two small lots from ebay UK - 140 reuses the cover from ASM 101, but 139 is where the reprint of the story starts.

Two small lots from ebay UK - 140 uses the cover from ASM 101, but 139 is where the reprint of the story starts.

I was going to suggest checking out the Grand Comics Database page for Secret Wars UK - https://www.comics.org/series/87934/ but when I looked at it myself, I noticed that none of the issues have been indexed. Sigh. Another project, then... This is correct. The first 9 or so pages are from the US Secret Wars series. The rest are various bits of things like Avengers, Alpha Flight, Zoids, etc. The tricky part about collecting the UK series is tracking down all the freebies - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MARVEL-SUPER-HEROES-SECRET-WARS-1-WITH-FREE-GIFT-AND-COMPETITION-CARD-UK-1985/283775941352?hash=item42125d3ae8:g:ZdwAAOSw4dxeEGRq They ain't cheap.

We (they) also did their own versions of a lot of the Skywald & Stanley Morse titles. I got this - a couple of weeks ago in a lot with a bunch of other 70s horror stuff. It's #3 of the UK series published by Top Sellers. It reprints stories from the Skywald series. There were also a bunch of Hammer magazines around then, weren't there?

If only it was as easy as that... Exactly. The copies printed in the US for distribution in the UK are variants in the strictest meaning of the word because they all have a US cents price indicia. The only difference is the price point on the cover (& later the Marvel All Colour Comics gubbins); the interior pages are from the same print run as the main cents copies. My favorite example of this is Marvel Star Wars 2. It was printed in a single run with 3 different cover prices: 30c, 35c & 12p. The 12p variant is a variant and not a UK Edition because it has a US indicia & was printed in the US at the same time as the regular US & price experiment US copies. The UK Edition of Star Wars 2 looks like this - I would never think to call this a variant because it is clearly a product designed, printed & distributed for & in a foreign market, rather than an incidental variant produced as a cost saving/money making exercise by Marvel (or DC, or Western, or Charlton, etc, etc.). This whole thing touches on the issue at hand (tangentially, at least) by answering the question "Can we all agree that Marvel Whitmans are not a thing?" with a quiet "probably not." There is still a lot of back and forth about the whole pence variant/foreign edition thing & in the end it boils down to personal preference. I can't make anybody call my 12p Star Wars 2 a variant, even though I know that's what it is. Similarly, if a collector has labored under the misapprehension that his bagged multi-pack comics are Whitmans, it'll be an uphill struggle to get him to call them something else.

Might go for that. Probably won't win it cos I'm chintzy, but at least I can clog up the works with unsuccessful low-end bids.

Snap. Always too much Days of Our Lives & not enough Nosferatu.

Here's a start for you. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Gold-Key-Comic-TRAGG-and-the-SKY-GODS-1975-1977-5-issues/153737178829 Condition wise, they don't look like much, but they're cheap enough. I was debating about this one myself, though I've always bent more towards the Twilight Zone type stuff. I'd love a set of the Dell Outer Limits.

I had a ton of these when I was a kid. Mostly Twilight Zone & Ripley's & suchlike. Just getting around to re-acquiring a few runs. Also, I've seen the fun catalog. You're right. Booooriiing.

On topic for once. These just landed on my desk - Alas - no Giant Barnabas Collins Poster Inside! Ho hum. Still, a pound for the pair, I ain't complaining.

These just arrived - Is the poster still there? Not bloody likely. Were they worth a quid for the pair of 'em? Yes. Yes they were.

Yeah, I was wondering about the Cole cover. I thought it might be one of his last. The Psycho is #3 of the UK series. It only ran for three issues, reprinting (I assume) various bits of the originals. When I get a chance, I'll go through it and edit the index on GCD. Like I said, I bought the lot for the Witchcraft & Sorcery, which are text stories instead of comics & the Ghoul Tales #1. Of course, now I need the whole run of Ghoul Tales, so the #1 doesn't get lonely. And then I'll have to get all the Stark Terror, Witches Tales, etc, etc...

These landed on my desk this morning - More stuff I didn't know I needed 'till I saw it. Can't resist a Buy It Now I'd never seen these before - so I pretty much had to grab the lot. Been hemming & hawing about starting a run of the Stanley titles - Got no excuse, now.

This one's my favorite. Mostly because I'm trying to track down a couple of decent, but not too expensive, copies. These buggers are hard to find, even in Penceland.

That's the trick thing with a lot of the weeklies. A ton of 'em came with premiums. They're really tough to find. I've got one - And I'm sure I've only got this because the guy I bought the lot from either forgot or never knew it was in there. I found it about 5 pages in. Just goes to show: always check inside!

I'd say 7 all day long. If your grader was having a bad day, he might drop it to a 6.5. There's what looks like a tiny spine tear on your image of the back cover. That worries me a little. 6.5 seems to be a popular number; there are 4 in the census, but only one each at 7 & 7.5 & two 8s.

They always say grading is subjective, but I think it's a nice book. Way better than the one just above. I'd submit it just to see where it fall on the census. You're almost guaranteed a top 10. Nice find anyway. Good luck with it.

A word on scarcity for this book. I just checked the census. There are only 40 pence variant ASM 6 in the census (nothing higher than an 8), compared to 2242 cents copies. Expressed as a percentage that makes the pence variants 1.75% of the total graded copies. I'm calling that scarce. Nice find.

It depends on two things, really: condition (really good or really bad) & whether or not it's a key. As a rule of thumb for middle of the road conditions/issues 60% is not far off. If you're after a high grade pence AF 15, TOS 39, JIM 83 or Hulk 1, it'll cost you more than the equivalent cents copy, simply because there are so few of them around. Likewise, if you're after... I don't know... a pence Conan 65 or a Power-Man 27 reader copy or gap filler, you're over-paying at 5 bucks whether it's a cents or pence cover. Also, a few issues are so rare as a pence variant (some of the pre-hero titles & obscure stuff like My Girl Pearl 7 & Patsy & Hedy 70 & 71) that they'll claim a premium in any grade.

Looks like a nice lot. I just recently unloaded my pence Silver Surfer 11. Making room for other obscurities.