themagicrobot

I was wondering if that Mandrake 23 was indeed a fake. It had rusty staples. Was that a clue. All square bound Class Comics were just glued. No staples ever used. So I pulled out an old (genuine) Miller. It is definitely glued AND stapled. You can just make out the bottom staple on the back cover. The ad on the inside cover talks of 9d comics and 1/- comics. I presume the 9d comics refer to Archies/Charltons/Marvels. You'd think he'd give them more ad exposure in his other comics. Interesting too that this issue contains a 1950s Human Torch story. Talking of staples, some Thorpe and Porter comics use them and some from virtually the same time period don't. It's an odd world where odd people are dissecting old comics like this.

Fanzines eh? Like a horse and cart compared to the Mustang V8 of today's instant communication. Once a month or more often quarterly. Writing letters of comment or sending in wants lists. Lists of comics for sale but no mention of the condition of the comic concerned. I think mine were thrown away about the same time as I disposed of all my Gary Glitter records. Talking of people we don't talk about, I found this in the loft last year.

So what is Mr Whitworth's story? Did he just copy/reproduce issues as and when he received orders? Or did he actually make copies of everything in that booklet? In the 1980s demand for 99% of that stuff was non-existent. With inventory and no sales he would soon go bust. There was no Interweb to facilitate sales. But if too many fakes are still around now won't they fool the CGC graders?? And where did he stand legally, especially copying Superadventure/Superboy/Superman comics. I think I will start a business copying Gold Token comics. As I will have gullible investors despite zero sales I will still become rich like Max Bialystock in The Producers.

1962 so 62 years young. I think they are original and genuine. I will know for sure when mine arrives 😊 I thought the only 1980s facsimiles were Marvelman family stuff?

There are currently still two available on the Bay

Someone has recently been selling a stack (nine?) of these classed as "New Old Stock" but not mint as they suffer from rusty staple syndrome.

In the news this week there is talk of withdrawing 1p (and 2p?) coins from circulation. Until 1984 we had a halfpence coin. In the 1960s you could still buy a lollipop or bubblegum for a halfpence coin (which was bigger in size than a 10p coin is now!) so selling a second hand comic for 3 and a half pence happened. Regarding Class Comics there are dozens of interesting anomalies to look to look out for. Alan re-used covers and content but also reduced the page count over the years from 68 to 52. (Yes I know there were a few 100 pagers produced for reasons unknown). Have a look at Tales of Suspense 2 (he would shortly change the title to ensure he wasn't sued by the House of ideas) and 133, 161, and 199. A story featured on the cover of No 2 was omitted in No 133. So the cover was altered accordingly. But he had forgotten by the time he came to Nos 161 and 199 which advertised a story that wasn't inside (as well as still having the old "wrong" title for the comic when the first four issues were reprinted). Bonkers!?!

It's funny what you remember. Some things you just cannot ever forget. I've already recounted acquiring my first ever DCs. I may have mentioned this before too............My first ever Marvel comic was a couple of days later. It was Tales of Suspense 64 which I purchased second hand along with a couple of Gold Keys. My local newsagent stocked new DCs but not Marvels or Gold Keys. It would be a few months later when visiting my Grandparents that I discovered my first ever BRAND SPANKING NEW Marvel comic purchased off a T&P spinner rack. It was this comic. In just the one comic I was introduced to the whole of the Marvel Universe as it existed in those days!!! PS: There were pence (1/6) variants in circulation but obviously some cents copies were sent over too entailing more work for Ethel.

A rear view of Vampirella?!? Despite what it says on the back of number 4 there was no number 5. PS: Something that strikes me as unusual is number 4 was actually cheaper than the previous three. It still had colour interiors. Perhaps they reduced the page count. How odd!

Originally published 30 years ago and I am only getting round to reading it now. I'll give it 4 stars. It would have had 5 stars if only there had been more colour inside. Black and white doesn't do the images justice.

I assumed the diamond stamps were used when the comics were current (and pre 1971) as they did have different numbers as well as the £sd price but now seeing the Kamandis you have to wonder if a random batch of old periodicals turned up and found their way back into circulation. The stickers sometimes had numbers as well as prices too. PS: I really ought to make the effort and visit a comic shop this year before they all disappear like record shops haven't. When I lived in Birmingham in the mid 1970s I visited two comic shops regularly. And Birmingham Virgin records sold Underground comics and (of course) LPs that Richard obtained by some dubious scheme where they were supposed to be exported but weren't. When I moved to Nottingham in 1977 there was a comic shop (either already trading or would be shortly) that were up a flight of stairs above a convenience store. They then moved to ground floor premises on Mansfield Road I recall. It was just mad people with a passion for comics with the shops before the shops who shall be nameless cornered the market.

@DanCooper gave you the correct answer earlier in this thread if you accept the hypothesis that the Silver Age began with Showcase 4. Showcase 4 is actually a bi-monthly so it was September/October 1956. Displayed cover dates (in this case October) are when they go OFF the newsstands. Showcase 4 was available to purchase on the 3rd of July according to https://www.comics.org/issue/13042/ The next DC comic released was Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen 15 on the 17th of July 1956 and Lois (not Louis!?!) appeared in one page of that issue. Lois featured in the September Action (not sure about the September Superman) but both went on sale a week or so AFTER the Jimmy Olsen.

I've told this tale before but that is how it happened for me. I had purchased new UK comics previously but the first time I came across DC comics was.................. It was the Summer or possibly early Autumn of 1964. There was some kind of Fete event at my Junior school one Saturday. Sales tables set up in the playground. Lots of stuff going on. Tombola. Lucky dip in a barrel of sawdust. Mad stuff like that odd game where someone would drop a toy rat down a drainpipe and you had to hit it with a bat as it came out the bottom to win a prize. Anyway one sales table was full of second hand comics. 4 comics rolled up and tied with string so you didn't see exactly what you got till you bought them. The price would be something ridiculously cheap like 3d per bundle. As I only arrived with 1/- I spent my funds on 4 bundles of comics. I didn't even untie the strings till I got home because I was busy pestering my dad to have a go on the Lucky Dip and Whack-a-Rat. 3 bundles of comics were the usual UK comics like Dandy/Beano/Lion/Hornet/Hotspur/Buster/Eagle. One bundle had a Beano on the outside and 3 American comics hidden within. I had never heard of DC Comics until that day. My mind was blown.

Has anyone mentioned the Marvel UK hardback annuals which are suddenly getting expensive. Well, lets be honest, everything is getting expensive. I regret not picking up multiple copies when I used to see them in Charity shops for 50p. In hindsight I regret not picking up multiple copies of comics that are now "valuable keys".

See also: https://ia804501.us.archive.org/15/items/ucl_uwtd155_002_0/ucl_uwtd155_002_0.pdf

It appears Jayar is the name of the cover artist or packaging studio that produced/packaged content for a number of Australian publishers in the 1950s. Gordan and Gotch were/are? distributors of numerous periodicals. Regal was the publisher. It is on the GCD but without an image. https://ausreprints.net/issue/98327/0 https://www.comics.org/series/120520/

Is the above Digest sized? Is it Australian? In the UK digests were 1/- for many years but I have seen 1/- Micron digests also with 1/3 or 1/6 prices. Of course the KG Murray/Atlas Supermans etc had different prices for the UK and Australia.

£29 seems expensive considering the condition and the mis-aligned cover. And auctions often contain additional charges. According to the Royal Mail website it costs £6.75 to send an economy parcel weighing up to 2kg from the UK to Brazil. For twice the price a parcel can be delivered in 3-5 days signed and tracked. On another matter that has nothing to do with the above or anything at all......I have found a few TV Tornados and thought how interesting they were with their unique content of text stories. The painted covers are fun. I assume the Phantom and Flash Gordon strips originated in (sunday?) newspapers though?

For a few weeks during the summer of 1974 Ethel and Gladys had a reduced workload as all Charltons were pre-priced. This was handy as Ethel, hubby and the twins had a week in Skegness planned. The shop on the Caravan site only operated in-season so was beyond the reach of T&P reps. It was however well stocked with Alan's dateless fare. Alas it was a period when Daredevil or Spider-Man no longer featured. All current titles mostly featured "boring" mid 1950s Atlas "horror". Still, even an Alan Class comic was preferable to yet another game of snakes and ladders as the twins looked out on a rainswept Caravan site. Once back at work Ethel found the UK priced Charltons were now the wrong price anyway and needed 8p stickers on them. The following month it was back to the trusty old ink stamps.

I like the blue Comic Code stamp on this one.

Shari Elf has a solution. Simply press a button. As well as pottering about with comics I find it therapeutic to scan spines to remind myself what I didn't know I owned.

In 1965 just my owning three or four growing piles of comics on a bedroom dressing table was considered eccentric enough. I've been going through old photos this afternoon and there are loads of the lounge and dining room taken in the 1960s full of gurning relatives surrounded by cigarette smoke. But no photos exist of my childhood bedroom. Shots taken at 6 month intervals from 1965 up to 1974 would be fascinating to me now.