The Distribution of US Published Comics in the UK (1959~1982) 15 15

[Malacoda]

On 6/5/2022 at 3:55 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

They don't have to be secondary to the price or anything else. 

They don't have to be, but surely they clearly are, because the price is always there and in the case of tens of thousands of Marvel comics the number is not? Also, PV's, which excluded the numbering system,  were the default for Marvel all the way to the end, and, I think we can say, T&P's preferred pricing solution.  If it served an important purpose, they had 12 years to bring Marvel into the system and never did.  I think we're on an agree-to-disagree with this one.  

[Malacoda]

On 6/5/2022 at 4:15 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

Whoops!

Red mark against Ethel for double stamping. It wastes ink. 

Nice.  That actually looks like the right hand stamp is over the left hand one.  You'd think she would have mis stamped it because the book is off cut and then re-stamped further to the left, but it doesn't look like that. 

[Get Marwood & I]

On 6/5/2022 at 4:17 PM, Malacoda said:

They don't have to be, but surely they clearly are, because the price is always there and in the case of tens of thousands of Marvel comics the number is not?

That's not true, Rich.

T&P used price stamps with numbers for a long time period and then dropped the numbers around the point of decimalisation as this grid of examples shows. 

Marvels - whether cents or erroneously stamped UKPVs - were stamped using those same stamp versions above in the applicable time periods.

  

The point at which the numbering stopped was the same for DC and Marvel and every other publisher. The salient point is that T&P needed the numbers for cents distributed books during the time period and that applied to all publications in the time window, including Marvel.

Am I misunderstanding you somehow?

On 6/5/2022 at 4:17 PM, Malacoda said:

Also, PV's, which excluded the numbering system,  were the default for Marvel all the way to the end, and, I think we can say, T&P's preferred pricing solution.  If it served an important purpose, they had 12 years to bring Marvel into the system and never did.  I think we're on an agree-to-disagree with this one.  

PVs only excluded the numbering system because they were not stamped (as a rule, by design). 

Something different was happening there, between solicited UKPVs versus stamped cents copies. In the applicable numbered stamp time period, numbers were needed for cents imports for a reason we have yet to decipher. They weren't for solicited UKPVs. That doesn't make the stamp numbers secondary, where used, in my opinion. 

[Get Marwood & I]

On 6/5/2022 at 4:21 PM, Malacoda said:

Nice.  That actually looks like the right hand stamp is over the left hand one.  You'd think she would have mis stamped it because the book is off cut and then re-stamped further to the left, but it doesn't look like that. 

Carpal tunnel syndrome, I reckon. A case of the old stamping jitters, as they used to call it. 

[Get Marwood & I]

On 6/5/2022 at 4:27 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

Something different was happening there, between solicited UKPVs versus stamped cents copies.

....which wasn't limited to Marvel by the way. I see the same with Archie - T&P stamps on cents copies and some UKPVs (but definitely not as a rule, if the extant volumes are any indicator). 

[OtherEric]

I have nothing to contribute at this point but want everyone who is to know I'm loving the discussion.  Thank you all.

[Get Marwood & I]

On 6/5/2022 at 4:58 PM, OtherEric said:

I have nothing to contribute at this point but want everyone who is to know I'm loving the discussion.  Thank you all.

 

[Malacoda]

On 6/5/2022 at 4:58 PM, OtherEric said:

I have nothing to contribute at this point but want everyone who is to know I'm loving the discussion.  Thank you all.

You know, the internet is such a hive of scum and villainy, that when someone drops in for no other reason that to be a ray of sunshine, it's mesmerising. 

Thank you Eric. 

[Beyonder123]

I'll have to read this thread all the way at some point. For now here's some of mine. The Hulk book could be an American stamp but I somehow doubt it.

[Malacoda]

On 6/5/2022 at 4:27 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

The point at which the numbering stopped was the same for DC and Marvel and every other publisher. The salient point is that T&P needed the numbers for cents distributed books during the time period and that applied to all publications in the time window, including Marvel.

Am I misunderstanding you somehow?

No. That's fascinating and something I had not picked up at all.  Give me a second to have a little breakdown. 

[Get Marwood & I]

On 6/5/2022 at 5:19 PM, Malacoda said:

No. That's fascinating and something I had not picked up at all.  Give me a second to have a little breakdown. 

Just wait until you try to factor in all the other publishers. There are so many bloody plates spinning in this short distribution window even I* can't put a single chart together to make sense of it all. And God knows I've tried. 

 

*Apologies for bigging myself up there. I like charts, in case you hadn't noticed. 

[Malacoda]

On 6/5/2022 at 5:19 PM, Beyonder123 said:

I'll have to read this thread all the way at some point. For now here's some of mine. The Hulk book could be an American stamp but I somehow doubt it.

 

 

I used to think these were Canadian re-stamps, but this looks like a discount. 

Hello, btw, enjoy reading the thread, but definitely pack some sandwiches. It's a mission, even for the Beyonder, but well worth it. 

[Malacoda]

On 6/5/2022 at 5:19 PM, Beyonder123 said:

I'll have to read this thread all the way at some point. For now here's some of mine. The Hulk book could be an American stamp but I somehow doubt it.

 

 

Those popular book centre ones are all over, but that roundy one is a rarity.  To me, at least. 

[Get Marwood & I]

On 6/5/2022 at 5:19 PM, Beyonder123 said:

I'll have to read this thread all the way at some point. For now here's some of mine. The Hulk book could be an American stamp but I somehow doubt it.

Popular Book Centre 

On 6/5/2022 at 5:19 PM, Beyonder123 said:

Cents reduction, but who cares. I still like it. 

On 6/5/2022 at 5:19 PM, Beyonder123 said:

Oh, taboo do you think you're trying to impress there, Beyonder!?

 

Me. Love it! 

[Malacoda]

BTW, please join me in wishing a happy 60th birthday to our friend....

.

 

[Get Marwood & I]

On 6/5/2022 at 7:03 PM, Malacoda said:

BTW, please join me in wishing a happy 60th birthday to our friend....

.

 

Is that the birthday date from Mike's or the birthday date stamped on the actual comics themselves? 

[themagicrobot]

Quote

The IM/SM one shot is, of course, a total maverick for us to as a yardstick (not surprised it sticks in your memory though). I can easily imagine a newsagent hanging onto that 'once in a lifetime issue' and even more so in a holiday/camping area. Might have been re-distributed there.  Can you remember where you were for that camping holiday? Cheers   

It was rainy Whitby in a field in clear view of Dracula's Abbey.

And Iron Man and Sub-Mariner No 1 is perhaps not a good example to pin down in time as there are T4P, T5P and 5p stickered versions of this 1968 comic currently for sale. 

[themagicrobot]

Back in the day I (wrongly?) imagined that the numbers applied to individual people. Ethel was number 1 and Enid and her friends made up the team of 2 to 9. I always imagined at least ten people would be required to stamp a million comics a month.

In the 1970s the quality of the stamping declined. Ethel had moved on after suffering repetitive strain injury. Why hadn't they invented a Jetson-style stamper where they just needed to place a comic underneath as the robot arm went up and down? To answer my own question it was because they needed a human being to locate a mostly-clear area on the cover to place the stamp.

But different stamps were obviously handed out to different people as per these different 8ps.

 

Paging @Get Marwood & I When did the stamping ink colour change from black to blue? Quink ink (usually blue) advertised that their ink was quick drying, with old-fashioned blotting paper not required.

Edited June 5, 2022 by themagicrobot

[Malacoda]

On 6/5/2022 at 7:42 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

Is that the birthday date from Mike's or the birthday date stamped on the actual comics themselves? 

Mikes  + Marvel Fandom.  Go Collect lists it as July 31st, but that would mean it was published 1 day ahead of the cover date. 

Edited June 5, 2022 by Malacoda

[Get Marwood & I]

On 6/5/2022 at 8:22 PM, themagicrobot said:

Paging @Get Marwood & I When did the stamping ink colour change from black to blue? Quink ink (usually blue) advertised that their ink was quick drying, with old-fashioned blotting paper not required.

I'd have to dig the exact date out of the files, I'm on my tablet now, but it was when they changed from the big ones: