Malacoda

I've never seen this site before. Check it out. ( Or am I the last person on Earth to know about it....this would not be the first time). Recalled Comics - Iron Man #19 Error Variant:

(In response to the Iron Mans, now 2 above). I like it. It kind of makes sense. If you did a print run starting with the lightest colour, you'd start with yellow and then add cyan to make green, so if they forgot to cyan that bit, it would stay yellow. Is it me or does the yellow of the first one (the Iron Man logo itself) have a tinge of green about it too?

Eric's point is very interesting to me. I would think that if the UKPV's were all red and US cents copies were all yellow, then the stampies would all have to be yellow. If there are both red and yellow US copies, and the PV's are all red, but the stampies are both red and yellow, that would indicate to me that the US cents copies sent to the UK were taken from (at least 2) different places in the print run, rather than that they were e.g. the first 5k cents copies, or the last 5k, or even 5k out of the middle. If they were taken from different parts of the run, that would make it more likely that they were returns, but the stamping absolutely indicates the opposite. If there are both red and yellow stampies of Iron Man #19, one of my treasured theories goes for a right Burton.

Good catch. All the stamps I've seen are yellow but if there are red cents copies, there could be red cents stampies too.

@Get Marwood & I To your point about colour variations in the pence vs cents print runs, check out the O.

@LowGradeBronze @themagicrobot @Albert Tatlock Lordy Mama. So you know that diamond shaped stamp we've chatted about in the past. This one is a cracker. So we have a cents copy with what I assume was originally a 1/- stamp from T&P (it's from 5 months before the 5p stamps started). Then it's been overwritten in pen with 5p, so presumably didn't sell for some time by which time people had their decimal hats on, but then it has acquired a subsequent stamp, which you'd expect to be a reduced price sale stamp, but it's one of those diamond stamps, and instead of reducing the price it substantially increases it AND puts it back into old money. Those diamond stamps are their own little theatre of mystery and suspense.

@Get Marwood & I Can't remember if you have this one, so I thought I'd moon at you to be on the safe side.

I think he was swiping Adams.

That's absolutely tragic. I imagine everyone remembers the first time they log onto Mike's. Like Dorothy stepping into Technicolor, it's the site you dream exists somewhere, and suddenly there it is. The terrible thing is, I don't think he made it to 50. It has said on the site for ages that he's semi retired, which makes you think he was older, but whatever took him must have been something dreadful. I think he was younger than most of the people using his site. I hope he knows how much his tribe will mourn him.

BTW, not rel, but the award for most well orchestrated exit surely goes to Son of Satan. Issue #7 was the last issue, and announced as such on the letters page, but it then says that there is an inventory story they would love to use up so there might be an 8th issue. This then happens, with it being explained that this was a leftover, but it means that the very last issue of SOS has a letters page addressing the last issue, which must be unique.

It could that if the PV's were a % of the print run and the US print run was significantly decreased for the last issue, then the number of PV's printed was tiny, the number sold teeny and the number that survived teeny weeny. Another factor might be sudden unexpected cancellation. Many comics announce their last issue as you'd expect: ST #188 last panel says 'follow Dr Strange in his own title and in the Defenders' so seems to indicate this is the last issue. Sgt Fury #167, Machine Man #19 and Adventure Into Fear #31 announce it on the cover, COTL #37 contains a letter from Dave Kraft explaining it's the last issue. Amazing Adventures #39 has a farewell letter. Kazar #20 also announces it on the letters page, and so on. However, many cease unannounced often actually indicating there will be a next issue: Captain Savage was ND, went distributed again with the last issue and gives no indication it was being cancelled - the letters page encourages readers to keep writing in. Captain Marvel #19 gives no indication it was the last issue, #21 says it's going on hiatus pending sales results, #62 looks like it was cancelled suddenly. Says there will be a next issue, then a note on the letters page says it's the last issue but will return in Marvel Spotlight v2. Marvel Spotlight v1 also announces its closure and says it will continue in 2 in 1 (meaning the Deathlok story, unfortunately). Nothing indicates that Rawhide #151 or Nick Fury #18 would be the last issues. Doc Strange Strange #183 & Silver Surfer #18 actively advertise the next issue. Where Monster's Dwell #38, Western Gunfighters #33 & Outlaw Kid 30 all cease with no mention (although these were reprint issues with no letters page), likewise Where Creatures Roam #8. It might be that some last issues get PV's in a desperate attempt to either boost sales or offload a dead 'un. But it might also be that some get PV's in a move to boost sales NOT KNOWING it would be the last issue and then it got cancelled anyway.

Yes, I've noticed that too. Most commonly, the last issue is ND, but in some cases a previously ND title shows up for the last issue. Usually it's the horror titles (Chamber of Chills, Supernatural Thrillers, Crypt of Shadows, Vault of Evil, Tomb of Darkness, World's Unknown) but also Human Torch & Rawhide Kid.

It's not often I get out-nerded, but I am humbled by this. "I counted them from the phone book". Fantastic. And you still remember the number.

DC collectors do often seem to remember this kind of bunching up. Some months when every comic that turned up had already been round before and other months where multiple new copies would turn up. Actually, here's a verbatim quote: "I remember that it could be a real letdown when local shops had a new delivery of American comics during a 'repeat' month. On the plus side this meant that there were other months when you could get three consecutive issues of a title released all in one go!" As you say, it's anecdotal, but it would be a pretty weird coincidence if someone else had the exact same memory as you of it being so unusual and erratic and you were both wrong.

The old break bulk cargo system involved shipping cargo to a warehouse near the docks where it would await its loading date, where it might then take up to 3 weeks to load a ship, and then a similar unloading process at the other end. Containers simply removed all of that and reduced loading to a matter of hours, so it could easily have reduced the lag from 3 months to 2. It was probably more like 6 weeks.

Another improvement by Starlin, though the Hulk vs FF is not actually the Hulk story, it's the reprint of FF#12 at the back.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Starlin improved a bit on Ditko's original.

But not quite the fastest falling out of a window change. That would be the 2nd one of these.....

Well. here's one you probably have. I posted this elsewhere, but it seems to belong with the preceding ones. On ASM #79, Peter Parker is getting defenestrated which obviously presents some peril (can't change into Spidey in plain view). However, he has suited up in the Marvel Tales reprint, which makes no sense (since when did pushing Spider Man out of a window kill him) and then the UK version retains him being in costume, but changes the shape of the 'to prowl no more' blurb and adds speech bubbles for both Jonah and the Prowler.... EXCEPT....that's not what happened. The UK reprint actually predates the US reprint, so they redrew PP as Spidey for the UK cover and then retained it for the US MT reprint, putting the 'to prowl no more' blurb back as it was (or just lifting Spidey off the UK plate). Interesting to note how the colours change. Jonah's suit changes from brown to orange in the UK and back to a paler brown on MT, also his shirt & tie change colour. Also the sky and building are different colours in the UK print and different again in the MT reprint. Another fun difference is that for the UK reprint, they had to add more buildings to the NY back drop because the UK covers were wider, but when they did the US reprint, there's actually less of NY even than the original because the title takes up more room. Also when they reprinted for MT, they took out the nonsensical speech balloons.

Of course, another causal factor might be the presence of a rep there. We've heard many times that comics were far more plentiful and regularly supplied in coastal / seaside towns, and, as far as I can tell, despite being very Midlands-centric, T&P did go out of their way to hire reps in coastal towns (Bristol, Bridgend, Colwyn Bay, Liverpool, Runcorn, Widnes, Llandudno etc). They had a depot in Plymouth which wasn't much different in size to Portsmouth in those days. I can't believe the South Coast was handled from London, so I can easily imagine there was a rep in or near Portsmouth.

I feel like you would remember this accurately. If it was a one-off or once-in-a-blue-moon memory of something to which you were somewhat indifferent, you might well misremember, but this would have been every month for ages and in relation to something that (I imagine) was life and death to you. I've told this before, but the thing I remember really vividly was always walking to Twickenham rail station for Marvels because the news vendor there seemed to have a better selection than normal newsagents and, when last month's comics had all disappeared from every newsagent in the world, you could still get them at the station. I later assumed I must have....well, not exactly imagined it, but remembered it as a far more definite thing than it was. What I have subsequently discovered is that the rail stations had a different distributor to the newsagents, hence the changeover date and selection was different. Simple as that. I would trust your gut on this one.

That's very interesting. It's significantly at odds with the memories of other DC collectors, although maybe that's at different times. After 1971, everything is moving in containers, so it would get massively faster and potentially more cohesive, even if we're talking about the returns.

One thing that is pretty much as you'd expect: the PV's seem to be much more plentiful than the stamped cents copies.

Not that I know of. Apart from the memories of collectors such as yourself, and, of course, Albert's Necronomicon, I think the only things that would deliver that would be (a) some kind of documentary evidence like a film or photo from the time (b) a date stamp - which, if it existed on a PV would be a giveaway, but then how would you reconcile to the arrival of the stamped cents copy? or (c) a price change. This last one is the gold standard - it's how you can tell that the Marvel stamped cents that arrived, ending at this point in time, were exported at the same time as the PV's. However, the DC PV's have the same prices as their stamped counterparts, so no smoking gun there.

It doesn't, but it's kind of perfectly in the sweet spot. If it was a first US distribution in the last months of 1958 and got returned, it could easily have still been hanging around when the ban lifted in 1959. When the opportunity to get hold of American magazines resumed, it was 'give us your poor, your tired, your huddled masses' ....they took anything they could get with a glossy cover. Also, you can see there is a massive disparity in price - 2/6 was about 84c at that point, so if Fred got it for a few cents on the dollar he made a fortune.