Garystar

Here's my copy of UK reprint, Creepy Worlds #36. These were published by Alan Class who released a number of titles many of which reprinted, virtually at random, Marvel and Atlas issues. Used to be you could pick these up for pennies but in the last 5 years or so they have been swept along in the rush for key issues. The last sale on ebay for Creepy Worlds #36 was a staggering £565.

40 minutes ago, Frisco Larson said:

It looks like you've done pretty well finding them! 

Late silver/Bronze Age issues do turn up and inexpensive so long as you aren’t fussy about grade. However it’s rare for high grade issues to be on sale here. 

1 hour ago, Get Marwood & I said:

You haven't got a 64 with a Miller indicia have you Mike?

This is my copy;

On 9/19/2020 at 6:40 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

On 9/19/2020 at 5:28 PM, Garystar said:

This is the stamp on Rawhide #10. I can’t make it out even in hand or under a light (also tried a black light).

 

Looks a bit like a variation of a 9d Miller stamp actually (and they did do westerns):

Make more sense to be a UK stamp, a reduction from 10 cents to 9 cents wouldn't be much of a reduction. 1956 so that would be too early for official distribution?

8 hours ago, KirbyJack said:

If you don’t already have a Gunsmoke Western 66, I enthusiastically recommend you pick one up! I don’t as a rule buy comics for the cover, but...

Apart from a few keys and few issues to complete Rawhide Kid title I don't actively seek westerns I just pick them up when I see them cheapish. However after seeing Gunsmoke #66 on one of the threads here a few months back I went straight out and bought one - it's fantastic isn't it. Although I like Jack's art his covers don't usually pop for me but surely Gunsmoke #66 is one of his very best - it's double fantastic.

1 hour ago, Frisco Larson said:

WOW, what an amazing goal to accomplish!!! Don't give up on the other two runs!!!

Thanks. Unfortunately I need about 120 issues across the two titles and they’re so difficult to come by in UK. A shorter run title like Gunsmoke Western may be more attainable. Strange Tales and JIM are higher up my wants lists - although more expensive I don’t need many issues of either so I’m more focused on these. 

2 hours ago, Get Marwood & I said:

.... joking aside, I'm going to wait until I find a second copy of this book before adding it to the list. Whilst I don't necessarily distrust it, I am wary of images on the GCD which are cropped and which may have been tampered with. Very easy to add that top left corner box to an image like that. So I'll keep looking for a second copy, preferably one in hand. Damn cool though, that, after all this time. 

I think there's a chance with Sgt Fury #167. It fits the pattern of final issues and same month as the recently found Marvel superheroes #104. It makes some sense that titles with falling sales are sent to UK to find some more buyers and perhaps save them from cancellation. Sgt Fury #167 would have had a declining print run, with UKPV being a small fraction of the overall print then they would be quite scarce. I would have only looked for Sgt fury #167 when i was looking to complete my set, I obviously didn't see any UKPV at the time because mind is cents. I'll keep an eye out now though.  

11 hours ago, Get Marwood & I said:

What more do you know / recall of the distribution shake up by the way? That's not an area I've looked too deeply into really. I always tend to focus on what exists, the associated connections and nuances, and then draw conclusions and observations from them.

Mostly recollection with some fact: Early 1970s distribution rights for US Marvel comics transferred from T&P to World Distributors. I believe WD were the distributors of US Marvels when MWOM was published in October 1972, a (very) quick search on Ebay shows T&P stamps on Marvels cover dated July 1971 but no T&P stamps on Marvels post August 1971 so I assume this is when the change over occurred.

I started collecting in May 1973 but Marvels were incredibly hard to find, I could find no regular source of Marvels, those I found titles were pretty scattergun and dates ranged from late 1960s to present and were a mixture of 15c T&P, UKPV 1/- and UKPV 6p. Then in December 1973 current UKPV Marvels started appearing in all the newsagents whilst the older T&P ones disappeared. However they only appeared for a few months until March 1974 when only six issues appeared (possibly the six earliest printed for cover date March) then none at all April – July anywhere in UK. In August 1974 UKPV 7p Marvels re-appeared everywhere and were easy to find. However distribution was now aligned with Marvel’s UK B&W reprint and several titles which had UK reprints were no longer available – Avengers, Spider-man, Hulk etc. Spider-man and Hulk had already been non-distributed since 1973, I suspect that once Marvel UK started publication with MWOM in October 1972 Marvel took much more interest in distribution – not from a collector/readers point but from a financial one.

I think I’ll look to getting some UK fanzines from around the early 1970s and see what they have to say. I recall a lot of discontent with the non-appearance of several titles.

2 hours ago, Get Marwood & I said:

Duncan's 'distributed in the UK' doesn't mean a printed UKPV - he means a distributed cents copy.

Agree Duncan has lots of inaccuracies regarding distribution. I know you’re going to educate me better but I don’t (until your next post) believe there were any stamped cents Marvels after distribution shake up August 1974. After this date Marvels were either non-distributed or were UKPV. 

I see Duncan McAlpine’s last UK guide has Sgt Fury #167 as distributed scarce in U.K. Does he know or seen something we haven’t or just got this one wrong?

Some strange patterns/thinking with distribution of last issues; Jungle Action, strange Tales and Where Monsters Dwell, generally distributed but last issue not, crypt of Shadows and Vault of Evil no issues distributed bar the last. We also missed last issues of Nova and Invaders (double size) machine man. I’m sure there are more and you’ve exhausted searches, seems odd how many last issues break the distribution pattern. 

On 9/19/2020 at 11:59 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

It begs the question, again, whether others are missing and, of course, I’ve reassessed all the 20p books again and again in recent months. I always look for the patterns though remember, and this one may tell a story – both MSH and MTU both have the two final issues sitting there in 20p covers:

Looking for patterns you’ve touched on one yourself - last/late run issues. MSA 37 last issue, MSH last two issues before pence issues ended. Rawhide Kid was non-distributed for many years but the last issue turned up over here, similarly Sgt Fury non-distributed for years but the last few issues were distributed. What chance Sgt Fury #167 exists in pence, or a couple of those later Rawhides, or last issues of some of the horror reprints? Perhaps worth looking at last few issues of titles ended during the 80s which were otherwise non-distributed. 
Just a thought. 

3 hours ago, Get Marwood & I said:

That should get their attention. I mean three quid is three quid. 

I can never understand the thinking of someone selling a comic for £4,450 asking another £2.95 postage. Surely you’d dangle the carrot of free postage that would have swung it for me, if I hadn’t blown my budget on those Marvel   Tales. 

This is the stamp on Rawhide #10. I can’t make it out even in hand or under a light (also tried a black light).

Kid colt I have from 100 to last issue and a few earlier, two gun from 60 to last issue and a few earlier including #1. At the rate of 2 or 3 a year I will be 100 by the time I complete.

Another problem collecting in UK is the time difference; I was recently outbid, by one bid, on a Kid colt #1 towards the end of the auction, it ended in the middle of the night here so I wasn’t able to react  to being outbid. 

44 minutes ago, Get Marwood & I said:

Indeed, they're really scarce in pence or cents over here.

Number 91 for the first Kid by the way Gary (then 95):

 

My Rawhide #10 has a stamp - it’s 9 something or other but unfortunately too dark to see properly. Could it be an early T&P? but could be 9 cents second hand stamp.

Nice KC #91, it’s one I haven’t got. Was kid colt distributed from 95 or 96?

16 minutes ago, Sweet Lou 14 said:

Amazing accomplishment!  Help me understand, is assembling those other two runs difficult because you literally can't find copies of some of the books?  Since you're collecting raw copies, and you willing to buy lower grades just to fill the slots, or are you holding out for a specific minimum grade?

Thanks. Finding them in UK is the problem. Kid colt was not distributed in UK until #96, TGK until #54, westerns were not as popular as superhero titles so dealers nor collectors didn’t make the effort/expense to import them. Pre-internet these issues were rare to non-existent in UK. I’m not fussy about grade of westerns, if I was I wouldn’t have found more than a handful here. Of course I can now source them from all over the world but then shipping is often twice the cost of the comic and a mental barrier prevents me paying $50 for a $15 comic. 
Rawhide kid was distributed from #17 so fewer difficult issues to track down. To my mind it was generally the best read of the westerns so perhaps others thought the same and hence more copies in circulation here. 

MMMS Sweatshirt. Front;

Back;

This one is in comic book style. Issued recently to raise funds to support road crews who have no work whilst gigs and tours cancelled due to Covid.