Golden-Age DC Cover Variants

[Metarog]

I just read a letter sent to CBM about 15 cent cover variants for DC comics from September 1940. Supposedly, there are 15 cent covers for many if not all DC comics from that month and sent to Canada for distribution. Other than the cover price the comics should be identical to the regular 10 cent editions.

 

I know of the More Fun 59 variant that was posted here a while back and I have also seen the Batman 2 variant. Does anybody know of any other variants for that month and why was this only done for this month...test marketing Canada maybe?

 

The comics for that month were:

More Fun 59

Detective 43

Adventure 54

Superman 6

Flash 9

All American 18

Batman 2

Action 28

 

The only one in the CGC census is the More Fun BTW.

[Timely]

I only know of the Bat#2 and MF #59, but i do belive they exist in all the DC titles.

 

What I find interesting is, if you look at More Fun #60-63 you see the 10 cent price and underneath that you see, "15 cents in Canada." It is like that on Batman #3 and Action #29-31 etc...

 

What I do find interesting is that on Action #32 the little box where the "15 cents in Canada" would normally go is empty, and on Action #33 the box is gone, never to be seen again.

 

My guess is DC finally got the go ahead to distribute to Canada in 1940. No doubt they printed the US versions first and then added the 15 Cent plate onto the press for the Canadian markets and ran the press again. After that first rerun on the press (which no doubt was extra work and cost more money) I'm sure some bright individual at DC said, "Hey lets just make one 10 cent cover price and put a '15 cents in Canada' imprint underneath it so we don't have to go to the presses a second time for the Canadian price difference."

 

Apparently our distribution to Canada was short lived as it only lasted 4 months on the DC titles. I've read something before about Canada closing it's boarders to certain US goods back then, comics must have been on the list.

 

It may have caught DC by surprise based on the fact that the Action #32 has the spot for the Canadian price but the box is blank. DC must have been just about to print Action #32 when they got the news that their books were no longer going to Canada. They only had enough time to remove the "15 cents in Canada" from the book, leaving the removal of the box to Action #33.

 

Timely

[Metarog]

Thanks Timely... some very good info there. What you say makes a lot of sense as to why these variants didn't continue. I assume that they must be very rare although I believe the author of the article in CBM stated that he had an Action 28 and Flash 9 variant (I will check tonight at home and make sure).

 

This would be a great variant set to acquire but probably extremely difficult to find.

[Metarog]

It was the Detective 43 and the Action 28 that were mentioned in the letter as being 15 cent variants. Anybody else seen any of the others? Any scans?

The letter was in CBM 48 BTW and was written by John Albernaz.

 

Here is a copy of the More Fun variant snagged from a previous thread.

 

[RushComics]

I'll put up a scan of my Batman # 2 15 cent variant in a couple of days.

 

I looked up all the books listed here on CGC's Census--if there are 15 cent variants of any of them, they either have never been CGCed or they've been CGCed too recently to have made the census.

 

My 15 cent Batman #2 has been CGCed, but it hasn't made the census yet.

(It's an apparant 5.5)

 

Charlie

[CGCMINT]

The 15 cents in Canada variant is also on Detective Comics #44.

[Metarog]

Bumping this thread to see if anybody has seen any of the variants besides the Batman #2 and More Fun #59 in the past few months.

[ft88]

Does the Superman 75 labelled 74 come into this discussion?

[dgillock]

Apparently our distribution to Canada was short lived as it only lasted 4 months on the DC titles. I've read something before about Canada closing it's boarders to certain US goods back then, comics must have been on the list.

 

This is my understanding as well. There was a push to keep Canadian culture Canadian in origin. It can also be linked to the "boom", of sorts in home-grown Canadian comics.

 

BTW I've seen a Batman #2, but that's it.

[Metarog]

Here are the More Fun 59 and the Batman 2. The Batman 2 is RushComics'.

 

 

 

I don't know what the Superman 74/75 reference is about. I know there are various DCs which are marked Canadian edition.

[Thegoldenage]

A friend of mine has a Batman 3 with a 15 cent price on the cover.

 

I am not so sure I would call these books "variants." I know the term is popular these days, but I don't see why a book that was intentionally printed for sale in Canada gets a "variant" label. In my mind it is simply a Canadian issue.

[Metarog]

It's strange that there would be a 15 Cent cover for Batman 3 and Detective 44 since the editions that I have seen contain a "15 cents in Canada" blurb right under the 10 cent price and you would think that printing another run of these covers would not be necessary. Anybody have a scan of one of these?

 

These can be called Canadian editions or variants since they are different from the majority of copies printed.

[Rob]

On the Batman 2, how do you know that the restorer didn't add a piece to where the price is, and just make it 15¢?

[Stronguy]

Back in the day a friend of mine inherited a small GA collection. In it was a few early Strange Adventures. #4 used the cover to #2 and #6 used the cover that was originally on #4. IIRC the covers had the titles (on the cover) of the correct stories for issues 4 and 6 but they used the art from the previous issues. I asked around back then if anyone knew anyting a/b this and was told it was possiblly the Canadian printing.

 

Anyone know anyting a/b this?

 

Original #2

 

Original #4

[Metarog]

That is very unusual... the Canadian editions that I have seen from this era have either "Canadian Edition", "Published in Canada", CDL or something similiar somewhere on the cover. I also think that Canadian editions used the same cover and stories as the U.S. editions. Anyone have any other ideas?

 

[dgillock]

It's new to me.

It's a shame we can't see scans of these books and the indicias (sp?). There may have been some interesting info there. I'm convinced that there are a lot more GA oddities out there than much of the documentation would suggest.

[Stronguy]

All of this was a/b 12-15 years ago. I am looking to see if I can track down my friend. This may take some time.

 

Anyway, this whole thing was pretty odd. I don't recall the books saying anything a/b Canada. But, then again, I don't remember actually looking for it either. I think one of the dealers would have pointed it out if it had been printed on the cover anywhere.

 

I'll keep digging and see if I can come up with something. Who knows...

[tb]

Thanks to GPAnalysis for pointing this out. Scan from Heritage.

 

[nearmint]

I've seen Canadian editions of Nedors that have covers from different issues. Earlier this year, a seller on eBay was selling a Fighting Yank #12 that had the cover for #10, but said #12 right on the cover. It didn't say "Canadian Edition" on the cover, but probably did in the indicia.

[Metarog]

Nice find, I saw a picture of the Tec #43 variant in CBM awhile back but it was in black and white. These are obviously very rare as I have only ever seen the 3 posted in this thread.