Garystar

Sgt Fury 87 was one of the early comics I bought, have been keeping an eye half open for a high grade non-stamped copy.

Shipping strike would make sense in this instance - comics came across but were late. However with Marvels there are so many issues that don’t fit a straight linear pattern there must have been loads of strikes and a few flown over by plane. Just in small sample for my spreadsheet although 4 is the dominant number june-aug 1965 there are several other numbers appearing in that period, FF for instances has different numbers for each month (as well as 4s). Very puzzling.

My mate’s recollections; “comics that I recall buying were usually the current month or a month or two behind so would have been released in the States 3 or 4 months earlier. We were behind US release probably due to slower sea shipping back then. This continued for years I think until the late 70’s or so. Also I’m pretty sure that they were firm sale as you could often find comics a couple of years old on the spinner racks. I can recall buying a Spidey # 37 (1966) in a newsagents in Crownhill in 1968. The newsagent at Peverell where I bought mine would receive his US comics once a month. They were always mixed together DC/Marvel and wrapped in newspaper and tied up with string. I would go up to the shop early on the Saturday morning when they arrived (with pocket money that I had saved each month) and while he was setting out his newspapers he would give me some scissors to open the parcel. I then had first pick of the new books and when finished put what’s left in the spinner. I would sometimes sneakily put books that I couldn’t yet afford behind older comics so that I could come back later when I had more money and could afford them. Happy days!”

By 1973 Marvels were on sale in the UK in the month they were cover dated (World Distributors were distributors by then) so this was a three month lag. Cover dated November were on sale in November which seemed perfectly normal to me at the time, I never gave it any thought that they had been on sale in US three months prior to their cover date. It would seem odd if by 1973 they were taking three months to reach UK that it could be any faster in the 1960s. The brief history of Thorpe and Porter I read states that when T&P first started importing comics they were US returns. A conundrum then if UKPVs hot off the presses especially for UK were taking as long to get to UK as returns. As stated before perhaps Marvel and DC had different routes and/or the method of distribution changed over time. Perhaps Marvels were always new off the presses whilst DC were returns. I'll ask my mate who was buying off the shelf in 1965 what his recollections are.

hardly the dark Knight is he.

Have to have a look on bigger screen pc rather than phone. The eighth eight is odd - no DC but there are Marvel. Did DC perhaps have period when no issues came across like Marvel or is it just the stamping sequence is out?

It shouldn't though really, should it!? Should it......? I think this is a case of US distribution week rather than cover month. November 1965 appears to have preprinted 9d (Kid Colt 119) stamped 10d and stamped 9d. Here's a Strange Tales #126 with a 9d stamp to match my spider-man #18 And a Journey into Mystery 110 with a 10d stamp; The 9d ones are stamped numbers 4 and 5, the 10d stamped one stamped 6. Not sure if that indicates a progression, probably bigger sample needed.

I’m with you on this. I display my autographed music memorabilia, I want to look at and enjoy it everyday, I accept over time it’s going to fade and lose its value so I’m paying depreciation costs to enjoy it in the moment.

One of the reasons I struggle to believe stamp numbers were for returns processes is illustrated on this page - seven different Spider-man comics on this page and I struggle to read the number on six of them.

Is my spreadsheet wrong? I have sept 65 as UKPV 9d - should that be 10d I’ll have to check. my spidey 18 had a 9d stamp. good work all coming together.

Just been looking through Millie 130-158 for the MMMS thread so thought I’d photograph and post here.

MMMS second membership set badge - in my mind the best Marvel badge ever.

The answer is no. As mentioned previously none of the romance books had the MMMS Wants You logo on cover. I’ve looked through the complete Millie run 130-158 and odd issues from other titles at random and they do not have the same in-house adds as superhero mags - no Marvel bulletin pages, no Stan’s soapbox and no MMMS adds or lists of MMMS members.

You also need to consider where you’ll keep this mountain of comics.

Thanks for posting this. I have this record but not having a record player I don’t recall ever hearing it. I never thought to look on YouTube - I thought it was quite good. Despite not being an official Marvel product I recall seeing it get a plug in Marvel comics of the time.

I consider myself a Marvel completist but I have far from everything and my boundaries are all the titles that were extant at the time of FF#1 or since. I built my collection (17,000 ish) by not concentrating on anything particular; I would go to comic fairs and get sales lists and buy whatever seemed a good buy- so if one fair someone had Daredevils at a good price I would stock up on those, at the next fair if someone had Marvel reprints cheap I would get those. As others have said if you’re going for everything you can’t afford to be too picky on grade when it comes to early silver age keys (unless you are a millionaire). The other thing I would say is accept now that you’re not going to ever get everything. I’ve had target of all Marvels since 1990 and even with my boundaries I’ve accepted there are titles I’ll never complete- millie the model, kid colt, patsy Walker etc. If I concentrated on just one of these it’s doable but when I want them all and strange tales and journey into mystery etc etc and all MMMS and Marvelnania memorabilia there’s just too much to fit in a lifetime collecting. I would think attempting to collect a complete DC or Timley/atlas/marvel collection from scratch starting today would be impossible even if you were a millionaire.

No, the ten book average goes all the way back to April 69 Gary, when the UKPVs start up again after their third hiatus. Oh well that’s that theory out the window. The article presumably printed not long before hulk 153, july 1972, says T&P stoped handling them some months ago so presumably sometime in 1971???

Was February 1971 the first month with 10 titles distributed? If so it would seem to be the date World Distributors took over from T&P.

It’s lockdown. All the things I enjoy doing I can’t - no pub, no football, no meeting friends, can’t visit family, no meals out, no gigs, no quiz nights at the pub, but still have to work. Working from home have lost a room which is now filled with work equipment so inconvenienced 7 days a week. Worst of all worlds.

The star stamp signifies that it was sold on a US military base - either in the US or abroad. The inserts as you said were also in comics sold on US military bases aimed at service men buying gifts for their wives and girlfriends back home. I used to live not too far from USAF Fairford in Gloucestershire and the inserts turned up quite often - I used to tear them out as they were unwanted adverts. Mark jewellers are the most common but national diamond and others turn up.

Here's a curio (not mine, found on ebay). UK DC reprint comics with a giveaway of postcards of old US DC comics. The comics they chose for the postcards come complete with T&P stamp.

Are you trying to put 1-9 runs together, if so what numbers are you missing?

Completely off topic but one job I've taken advantage of lockdown/restrictions to do is copy my CDs to USB, I'm just starting The Smiths - every album seems like a greatest hits!

No, my copies are unstamped but I'm pretty sure I've had 22 with the oblong in the past. None on ebay at present but I'll keep an eye out. Good job with the "picture table" however I think the last para here is a bit confusing, perhaps when mentioning hiatus if you said STARTING.... Other comment would be table ends March 1969 - Volunteering even more work for you but there is the period April 69 - July 71 when T&P stamps were still extant (alongside UKPVs). When I did my table I wondered if the titles would line up more uniformly if the table was by distribution date rather than cover month but I decided this would be a major task. Well done good work.

I think Albert identified the oblong stamps as belonging to Gold Star Publications. Here’s the two xmen ( my copies)