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

[Malacoda]

On 6/26/2022 at 2:56 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

Here, I'm sitting in a park in Marylebone, knackered, after three hours at the comic fair.

How busy was it?  I assume the transport strikes put a lot of people off. 

[Get Marwood & I]

On 6/26/2022 at 3:22 PM, Malacoda said:

How busy was it?  I assume the transport strikes put a lot of people off. 

No, it was mobbed. I'm on the train now. You'd never know the strike had happened. 

Catch you later Richmond. Here's my stop.

[Malacoda]

Wow.  Right now, there are only 12 copies of JLA 61 on sale in the UK on Ebay, and yet between those 12, there are 5 different number stamps.  Might actually be 6 stamps as there are several illegibles, one of which looks like a 6 (and I have 5,7,8 and 9).  Anyone got a 1,2,4 or 6 ? 

[Get Marwood & I]

On 6/26/2022 at 4:15 PM, Malacoda said:

Wow.  Right now, there are only 12 copies of JLA 61 on sale in the UK on Ebay, and yet between those 12, there are 5 different number stamps.  Might actually be 6 stamps as there are several illegibles, one of which looks like a 6 (and I have 5,7,8 and 9).  Anyone got a 1,2,4 or 6 ? 

Fore!

(p'n'porter)

[Albert Tatlock]

On 6/26/2022 at 2:56 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

It's good to know the word has spread isn't it

The further and faster it spreads, the deeper we will have to dig.

And with inflation set to roar on to heights not seen since the winter of discontent, the more of us will have to turn to crime to fund our addiction.

I will be sneaking out to the Kabin at midnight with my jemmy so I can wet my whistle tomorrow.

[Yorick]

On 6/26/2022 at 10:17 AM, Albert Tatlock said:

The further and faster it spreads, the deeper we will have to dig.

And with inflation set to roar on to heights not seen since the winter of discontent, the more of us will have to turn to crime to fund our addiction.

I will be sneaking out to the Kabin at midnight with my jemmy so I can wet my whistle tomorrow.

We legalized that here in the USA. 

[Albert Tatlock]

On 6/26/2022 at 6:19 PM, Yorick said:

We legalized that here in the USA

Yeah, shoplifting up to about  a grand is OK now.

'California Penal Code 459.5 PC defines shoplifting as entering into an open business with the intent to steal merchandise worth $950 or less'.

Think I will nip over and stock up.

Could say a couple of dozen of us club together and pool our allowance for a couple of grails?

[Malacoda]

On 6/26/2022 at 5:03 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

Fore!

(p'n'porter)

Superb.   It surely can't go 3,4,5,7,8,9.  Six has got to be out there.  

 

[Malacoda]

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

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.

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

I think a bit of this might actually go on after the ampersand replaces the numbering system. After that, it's almost all &, but the three stamp turns up occasionally too.  It's only ever the 3 as far as I can see, so the numbering system seems to be gone, but it's as if Ethel got some help for the afternoon, and she pulled one of the old stamps out and chucked it to Enid. 

[Get Marwood & I]

On 6/26/2022 at 6:54 PM, Malacoda said:

Superb.   It surely can't go 3,4,5,7,8,9.  Six has got to be out there.  

 

I will not be pushed, filed, stamped....

Oh, hang on. 

[Kevin.J]

On 6/26/2022 at 4:15 PM, Malacoda said:

Wow.  Right now, there are only 12 copies of JLA 61 on sale in the UK on Ebay, and yet between those 12, there are 5 different number stamps.  Might actually be 6 stamps as there are several illegibles, one of which looks like a 6 (and I have 5,7,8 and 9).  Anyone got a 1,2,4 or 6 ? 

I cant make mine out with this scan, will look tomorrow

 

[Malacoda]

On 6/26/2022 at 11:11 PM, Kevin.J said:

I cant make mine out with this scan, will look tomorrow

 

Thanks Kev.  While you're rummaging in the JLA box, could you please also see what you have for no 68.  

Currently on ebay, we have 2,3,4,7 & 9. 

If we actually find a single comic that has all 9 stamps, I vote we shut down the thread and just start drinking heavily. 

[OtherEric]

On 6/26/2022 at 4:09 PM, Malacoda said:

Thanks Kev.  While you're rummaging in the JLA box, could you please also see what you have for no 68.  

Currently on ebay, we have 2,3,4,7 & 9. 

If we actually find a single comic that has all 9 stamps, I vote we shut down the thread and just start drinking heavily. 

If we find a single copy with all nine stamps, my counterproposal is we add another 20 pages to the thread while drinking heavily.

Although I'm not sure many people will notice the difference. 

Edited June 26, 2022 by OtherEric

[Kevin.J]

On 6/27/2022 at 12:09 AM, Malacoda said:

Thanks Kev.  While you're rummaging in the JLA box, could you please also see what you have for no 68.  

Currently on ebay, we have 2,3,4,7 & 9. 

If we actually find a single comic that has all 9 stamps, I vote we shut down the thread and just start drinking heavily. 

My 61 is an 8 and my 68 is a slab, cant put my hands on it but I bought it from a US seller so I assume no stamp  

[Get Marwood & I]

 

On 6/27/2022 at 12:48 AM, OtherEric said:

If we find a single copy with all nine stamps, my counterproposal is we add another 20 pages to the thread while drinking heavily.

Although I'm not sure many people will notice the difference. 

 

[themagicrobot]

Why does this short run of Flash reprints exist? If they were first published in 1960 then why when T & P were just getting to grips with distributing the real things in full colour. Or perhaps was Flash 1 planned/published just before they got the go-ahead to import the 10c comics hence the plug was pulled after 5 issues. That cleared more bench space for Ethel now she was getting into the swing of price stamping.

There were also 4 Challengers of the Unknown reprints cica 1960 too. I think the Tomahawk, Blackhawk and Mystery in Space reprints finished before 1960. Oddly there were four more Flash comics reprinted by Thorpe and Porter (starting again at number one). They may have been published in 1962/1963 but I bought one (number 4 I think) Brand New in 1966 along with a Saint comic (ask your grandparents) and a Charles Rand comic. Not putting dates on comics made perfect sense in regards extending the shelf-life of slow-moving (ie: cr ap) titles.

 

[Albert Tatlock]

On 6/27/2022 at 7:00 PM, themagicrobot said:

They may have been published in 1962/1963

One of the later ones in this run contains an ad for records released in 1964. Will try to dig it out.

[Get Marwood & I]

On 6/27/2022 at 7:00 PM, themagicrobot said:

Why does this short run of Flash reprints exist? If they were first published in 1960 then why when T & P were just getting to grips with distributing the real things in full colour. Or perhaps was Flash 1 planned/published just before they got the go-ahead to import the 10c comics hence the plug was pulled after 5 issues. That cleared more bench space for Ethel now she was getting into the swing of price stamping.

There were also 4 Challengers of the Unknown reprints cica 1960 too. I think the Tomahawk, Blackhawk and Mystery in Space reprints finished before 1960. Oddly there were four more Flash comics reprinted by Thorpe and Porter (starting again at number one). They may have been published in 1962/1963 but I bought one (number 4 I think) Brand New in 1966 along with a Saint comic (ask your grandparents) and a Charles Rand comic. Not putting dates on comics made perfect sense in regards extending the shelf-life of slow-moving (ie: cr ap) titles.

 

I never quite got top grips with these 'British Edition' reprints myself. Your Flash is a T&P, but has no T&P cover logo, and the reprints of ACG titles were by Arnold but did carry a T&P logo:

This from a GCD entry:

Notes Later issues at least up till #18 have Arnold Book Company as the indicia publisher, but a cover brand of "TP" (Thorpe & Porter), possibly because Thorpe & Porter distributed the issues for Arnold.

When I plotted T&P stamps on ACGs I tried to match the reprints up, but they are all undated.

[Kevin.J]

I never liked or collected the British reprints, but as always managed to gain some at some point, here are a few

 

 

[Malacoda]

On 6/27/2022 at 7:00 PM, themagicrobot said:

Why does this short run of Flash reprints exist? If they were first published in 1960 then why when T & P were just getting to grips with distributing the real things in full colour. Or perhaps was Flash 1 planned/published just before they got the go-ahead to import the 10c comics hence the plug was pulled after 5 issues. That cleared more bench space for Ethel now she was getting into the swing of price stamping.

There were also 4 Challengers of the Unknown reprints cica 1960 too. I think the Tomahawk, Blackhawk and Mystery in Space reprints finished before 1960. Oddly there were four more Flash comics reprinted by Thorpe and Porter (starting again at number one). They may have been published in 1962/1963 but I bought one (number 4 I think) Brand New in 1966 along with a Saint comic (ask your grandparents) and a Charles Rand comic. Not putting dates on comics made perfect sense in regards extending the shelf-life of slow-moving (ie: cr ap) titles.

 

I suspect they had already bought the print matrices for these ones and weren't about to waste them.  This cover is Flash 105 from March 1959, so predates the lifting of the ban by some way.  The lifting of the import ban wasn't like a new measure that was debated.  When the balance of payments got to a certain point, it was always supposed to trigger the lifting of the ban, but no one knew exactly when that was going to happen (including the government) and a lot of businesses were caught on the hop with their various ways round the ban.  Hank Marvin famously privately imported a Fender Stratocaster from California at eye-watering cost and then a week later the ban lifted and music shops started importing them by the boatload. 

That said, I have absolutely no idea about the ones in 62/63/66.