Albert Tatlock

itmmeta=01HWDJ77R5YR602QNMFR0J42WX&hash=item2aca0fac07:g:MKAAAOSwbxpalfWY&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA4B%2Fglx%2BKO5qe0VQhXGqNwSfAJGpqhV7GTKDQibMxvlH2YQq9m55aRmoyeqDrgmABbe5vg1vgTPN8fqM6Hr7dIBEzcVqHIAO0hMDLWJrXSXMz6fazDq76lOJlBH1sG7oMYKNS6kt1b8Zjm4XOxganTmWS35HPGs483DDxQ3bOCLxmXn5dOOly%2F4jpCTc%2BcB28jH3ORpZhpHH0f7yCgLsTseVqa30U1y0fjGD2yQv3kgGf0h1pSB091MiUJJ0yU%2FHh4cN5gqS7I2Zqnar2WWOuULR%2BhO01SolgcJ%2B2c2EwmQll|tkp%3ABk9SR5T8nLLjYw

The seller of this item (Action # 317) on ebay says it is a rare version, not the usual 10d one.

Probably true, all the other stamped copies on ebay right now are 10d ones, but here is one I got locally recently:

Also an 8d stamped copy of # 430.

And Ethel has positioned the stamp on both the #317s within a couple of microns of each other. That's what years of experience can do for you.

On 4/23/2024 at 7:16 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

Back in the day you could sleep eight hours and they'd still be on the first frame 

I used to like Steady Eddie. Selby is in the same mould. 

Eddie Charlton's middle initials,

On 4/22/2024 at 9:04 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

Fell asleep in front of the snooker.

Was it Eddie Charlton v Cliff Thorburn?

If so, don't bother waking up.

On 4/19/2024 at 5:37 PM, Malacoda said:

What's the guide they're talking about? 

Canadian Price Variant

On 4/19/2024 at 7:32 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

     I love that big, awkward looking 15c price font 

    One for the kerning enthusiasts to marvel at...

    DC, sorry.

There is a ton of similar stuff on the SA blog.

The guy who runs it has done some serious spade work.

Wonder why none of this stuff turns up on ebay? You would have expected some of it to have leaked out of the confines of the Dark Continent.

There are many examples of football programmes from the 1950s and 1960s from matches involving British clubs touring SA and Rhodesia (as it was then known)

I would love to get hold of some of the Mystery in Space, they are probably similar to the Strato/T & P run of that title in terms of content.

There are also a lot of DC Romance books, retitled like this:

On 4/19/2024 at 8:03 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

Evidence of mucking about, found in the files...

1 pic = 1k words

On 4/16/2024 at 6:48 PM, OtherEric said:

And if my calculations are correct, no less than 75 of those pages contain posts related to the distribution of US published comics in the UK, at least tangentially.

Yes, indeed.

The original thread has thrown out many roots, branches and even twiglets in a multitude of directions, but I am happy with that.

The material may have originally been published in the US, but much of it has reached us here in the UK by circuitous routes, and I have greatly enjoyed reading about Brazilian and Mexican reprints, and all the research about it.

Below are a few Archie Digests, how they reached our shores I have no idea, but they assuredly did, as I have just taken delivery of them this afternoon from a local auction house, buried among a hotchpotch of other juvenilia.

The stickers price them in Rands, the currency of South Africa.

I have Googled Intermag, and found there a website with a similar thrust to this thread here, and will post a link in case anyone is interested.

https://southafricancomicbooks.blogspot.com/2013/05/chronology-of-south-african-comic-books.html

On 4/10/2024 at 8:48 AM, themagicrobot said:

I wonder if this letter is genuine or really written by the Editor?

I was surprised by the results of a competition. This shows Miller's did have national coverage, reaching Scotland, Northern Ireland and remote outposts like Tottenham, Paddington and even Monument Road Birmingham. I think I can picture the two newsagents round the corner from there where young John may have purchased his Captain Marvel comic. I wonder if he noticed/approved a few weeks later when it turned into Marvelman and his Captain Marvel fan club badge was suddenly obsolete.

 

 

Very narrow age range in the readership. One at 9, one at 14, the rest all 11 to 13.

Probably a slightly older lot than Beano, etc.

I suppose that in those days, school leavers would develop different priorities on being cast out into the world of work.

My mother left school at 14 on the Friday and went to work in the cotton mill across the road on the Monday.

Stay on at school? Not when you can help with the breadwinning in those pre-safety net days.

Further education was the preserve of the toffs back then.

I would have liked to see Lord Snooty turfed out of Bunkerton and earning a living shovelling coke into the boiler of Bash Street school.

On 4/4/2024 at 5:52 PM, OtherEric said:

Any other thread on these forums, I would read "nice" as dripping with epic amounts of sarcasm in this context.  This thread, we mean it unironically.  You're a wonderful bunch of comic loving geeks to hang out with and I'm happy you've accepted me here even if I am a Yank.

No problem at all.

The only thing that bugs me is that you got the chance to leaf through all those hallowed pages weeks or even months before we did.

While we we waiting for a tramp steamer to make its laborious way to our shores, you had already read the cargo on board, and the next couple of issues too, in all probability.

On 4/2/2024 at 3:10 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

Sorry I haven't been around much boys. Mag's Mum and Dad both died within ten days of each other so there's been lots to do. I'm helping CGC Mike with the grading contest sign up lists, and that's about all I have time for at the mo, but I'll be back at some point to resume the pence ramblings. It's actually quite nice to know that my old threads now have enough pence-participants to carry on without me! Cheers boys 

Sorry to hear this, Steve,

None of us, except the very young, have managed to escape the shadow of ashes to ashes, dust to dust and all that goes with it.

Take as much time as you need, the rest of us will do our utmost to muddle through.

On your return, you can set about putting right whatever we have inevitably managed to botch.

On 3/31/2024 at 9:54 AM, themagicrobot said:

Gotta love some of the eBay sellers across the pond. He claims that issue of Fantastic 71 is rare because the CGC haven't encapsulated any compared to the original Marvel comics.

Even if you had a 9.0 or above of mags such as these, the cost of having it processed by CGC would far exceed the likely sale price.

Maybe they are undervalued at the moment, but 200 quid plus is sheer fantasy.

On 3/30/2024 at 9:01 PM, Albert Tatlock said:

There are different versions of this being offered by US based sellers.

Some are described as officially licensed, with a line of type confirming this at bottom, some not.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/394706416220?itmmeta=01HT8JQHVJPENB0499J7SEV5KE&hash=item5be655f25c:g:YwEAAOSw1Vpkm3z-&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA4MQuIDDBk5ve%2BEKUaAZ7PSqZZDNzK9u3Lgn8LzEPMDKRhLBh2gkTb1cw91e6LGpmAHFAqMAE8jW0B37kz4bV3lHs7EwV4kky0wMg9qVtqPS4tJWeBec00D3jiIcZlyC86K5J07ex2Sxkcd%2B7wsD7PraaS3%2Fum4zNuDO8A0dxhQE%2FIKbd%2BtQl9qgck68ofIlCcm5lurFR4459YujMOFspMF08om13z96YdIvHbYefH2HS2zaowuIX9deA9f6h9fWKp6kso1Q9JJrytMCG5p1WuEPOgbOa5hJ1Ji%2Fq1H8BNgz6|tkp%3ABFBM8p3ektJj

Someone is clearly trying it on.

On 3/30/2024 at 5:57 PM, Yorick said:

I don't like the look of it as "an original".  The dot matrix lines on her legs appear to me as an artifact of a printed scan.

There are different versions of this being offered by US based sellers.

Some are described as officially licensed, with a line of type confirming this at bottom, some not.

On 3/30/2024 at 5:45 PM, themagicrobot said:

Anyone with the right links should be able to visit my Box stuff. There is 9GB of goodness in there. Sorry I have changed the link. Forgot to tick a box in Box. 

PS: Someone in the US is selling a back cover of a Fantastic comic for $28.79 claiming it is a print produced by Marvel UK on "heavy stock". Dunno about that! He says:-

Offered here is a Vintage POWER PIN-UP Print featuring PEPPER POTTS. These awesome pin-ups were only available in Europe and distributed thru Marvel / UK originally released in 1960's on the back covers of the Marvel magazines.  These were purchased from a UK collector as original prints but we have yet to find info to back it up. These are likely later releases in the UK, they are copyrighted but there is no date on them to actually determine when they were released but they have never been released in the US. The print is in great condition, quality printing on heavy stock, and are 10" x 14"

According, some say, to PT Barnum: 'There's one born every minute'.

And according, some say to WC Fields: 'Never give a sucker an even break'.

Don't touch this with a barge pole.

On 1/28/2024 at 10:52 PM, Malacoda said:

Indeed. He was the last person ever prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act. Perhaps more impressively, he was also the first person to have been prosecuted under it for 25 years.  I imagine barristers were queuing up to get that one. 

In fact, prosecutions continued under the 1959 Obscene Publications Act The Britton case was a landmark as it was the last time that a book had been banned outright.

Below is an ad from a magazine of the time:

£1.25 seems cheap when compared to this offering from a US bookdealer (admittedly a dedicated copy):

https://www.jamescumminsbookseller.com/pages/books/315469/david-britton/lord-horror

According to the House Of Lords Library here:

https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/LLN-2019-0103/LLN-2019-0103.pdf

The Children and Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act 1955 banned comics that children were likely to read that contained acts of violence or cruelty, the commission of crimes, or incidents of repulsive or horrible nature. However, in seven years, the Home Office only received twelve complaints against comics, five of which the Attorney General refused to act on,

Talk about a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

On 3/29/2024 at 9:20 PM, OtherEric said:

Amusingly, this arrived in the mail for me today, ordered before you mentioned it here:

 

Space Willies OK.

Space Philip Ks streng verboten!

On 3/29/2024 at 9:27 AM, themagicrobot said:

I think now is the time to buy Silver Age UK comics before they reach silly Marvel US Silver Age prices.

Remember, not too long ago, when Alan Class fetched next to nothing.

Back in the early days of building my collection, I never saw any AC on sale in the newsagent, but they often turned up in second-hand outlets.

I automatically skimmed past them, I remember pausing for a moment to look at Creepy Worlds # 32, but my pennies stayed in my pocket.

On 3/29/2024 at 9:27 AM, themagicrobot said:

I think now is the time to buy Silver Age UK comics before they reach silly Marvel US Silver Age prices. As I found I was only a few issues short of a full run this year I decided to locate a few Fantastics. It proved quite difficult to find issues that didn't have missing back covers. And a few eBay sellers didn't even mention the missing back cover in their ads. Perhaps they actually didn't notice/care?

Of course collecting stuff from your youth is trying to recreate that feeling when you first saw/read that comic for the first time. A free Apollo Space Craft???  Here's MY 9d!!!!!!!

Yeah, go ahead, they are saying.

Take your badges, stickers, pinup pages, etc and mutilate the comic.

It has cost you next to nothing, so don't worry that one day, when you have changed your mind, you will be tearing your hair out trying to find a pristine copy.

I have just bought, quite cheaply, I believe, a bound copy of Eagle Volume 1.

All issues present.

Just one coupon clipped out from the whole run.

From issue # 1. It just would be, wouldn't it?

On 3/28/2024 at 4:37 AM, OtherEric said:

Not a comic, but since I just upgraded this I thought I would ask before I got rid of the old copy:  is the 3/2 an UK price, or just an odd stamp?

Date stamp?

Does not look like price stamps usually appear.

On 3/27/2024 at 8:48 PM, Malacoda said:

Lots of other goodies too. Hard to ignore JLA #1, but the silver trophy surely takes the biscuit. 6,000 comics doesn't sound like THAT much in the context of this guys madhouse, but for context, it's pretty much the whole of Marvel through the Silver & Bronze ages and well into the 90's. 

Britain's biggest hoarder amassed 60,000 items worth £4m crammed into terraced house - Mirror Online

He was probably a beginner compared to some of the regular contributors here.

On 3/26/2024 at 11:28 PM, Malacoda said:

So....has anyone else ever had this feeling?  

This is FF #171. I bought it off a spinner rack in June 1976 (actually off a shelf, I'm using spinner rack as shorthand here).  It was the first issue to cost 10p.  It was also the first issue to have a bar code.  But neither of those is the reason it's special to me.  It's special to me because it was the first issue of FF that I ever owned. There was a moment, in June 1976, when this was my entire FF collection. 

Today, I got FF Annual #1.  It arrived in this envelope. 

Normally, when a comic I really want arrives I can't wait to open it, but the minute I open this one,  I am no longer collecting the Fantastic Four.  I am still an FF collector in the sense that I have a collection, but I'm no longer collecting because this is the last one I need.  After 48 years. 

You know that bit in Psychoville where Lomax throws the Beanie Baby back into the sea?  (Sorry to US readers, that was a local reference) (for local people). I feel a bit like that.  I doubt I will ever afford AF 15, ASM 1 or Hulk 1.  I need a couple of Caps, a couple of X men and 1 Thor, but they're not expensive or rare ones and can be picked up any time.  I've bid on FF Ann 1 many times and lost, but this time I won and it's the last time I'll buy a key/grail and complete a run. 

I'm sitting here like Schrodinger, savouring the last moments before I open the envelope and end it all. 

Anyone else had a moment like this? 

A few offerings from the current Excalibur sale.

Three of them are cents, but have had pence stamps applied, so they are likely to be among the few from the pre-decimal era to have arrived without the involvement of T & P.

The Kid Colt is a UKPV 9d, repriced 10d after failing initially to find a home, then repriced again by PBC at 8d.

On 3/26/2024 at 11:40 PM, OtherEric said:

The day this book arrived:

Beat but complete, finally getting it was at once joyful and satisfying… but also a sense that a massive project and important part of my life was done, or at least entering a new stage.

I’ve since tracked down the Whitman variants of Legion appearances.  Maybe I should start looking for the pence variants as well.

The DCs from this time are all cents only, so no variants.

The ones we got (first LSH was #267, just after the real deal, not reprints, started flooding in) were all defaced/enhanced with the familiar T & P 9d stamp).

On 3/25/2024 at 5:25 PM, themagicrobot said:

House of Mystery 173 contains a Statement of Ownership statement. The average print run was stated to be 306,000. An average number of 157,000 reached circulation. How many of those would be returns that would end up in the UK at Thorpe & Porter? An average number of 147,000 are classed as Office Use/Left Over/Unaccounted for/Spoiled after Printing. How many of those (if any) would end up in the UK at Thorpe and Porter? I've pondered this question before, but what did they do with half the print run (of this title and many others) that they never ever distributed in the US?? And as they had these figures why did they continue to print 300,000 of each issue if they didn't intend to distribute 300,000??

But does 'Left Over' include returns?

Would DC not have made every effort to distribute as close to 100% of the print run as possible?

Could be that of  100 copies which were sent out into the distribution network, 50 were sold, and eventually paid for, and 50 were eventually returned, some of them destined for T & P, maybe only 10 or so, which would equate to .30,000 mags.

Say T & P had a similar sell-through rate, that would mean that they took back 15,000 copies.

If so, they must have been stacking up in Leicester faster than they could be disposed of.

Before too long, most of T & P's holdings would have been deadstock.

After recirculating some of it at reduced prices, there would have been no realistic alternative to selling it to a waste paper merchant.

And similarly back at DC's HQ.

That is how I read it.