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

[Malacoda]

On 7/4/2022 at 1:06 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

I took the six stamp of the fourth cycle, which has a mix of predominantly Oct/Nov 1961 cover dates...

...and replaced the cover dates with the 'on sale' dates from Mike's Comic Newsstand:

Date sorted, the on sale dates range from the 5th of July to the 3rd of October.

A single stamp example, with all the usual caveats, but is anything jumping out at anyone?

 

Not to me, but I think multiple months sorted by release date and then see what happens to the stamp numbers over time in relation to the release dates is the thing that would tell us something.  Let me finish off my Marvel dive and ping it over to you.  I think it's strongly indicative. 

[Get Marwood & I]

On 7/4/2022 at 1:51 PM, Malacoda said:

Not to me, but I think multiple months sorted by release date and then see what happens to the stamp numbers over time in relation to the release dates is the thing that would tell us something.  Let me finish off my Marvel dive and ping it over to you.  I think it's strongly indicative. 

Roger that. 

[Albert Tatlock]

On 7/4/2022 at 1:21 PM, Albert Tatlock said:

Yes, the numbers settled down later, will post a few examples soon.

A run of Jimmy Olsen, this lot of stamps are much better behaved.

Edited July 4, 2022 by Albert Tatlock
scan added.

[Malacoda]

On 7/4/2022 at 4:06 PM, Albert Tatlock said:

A run of Jimmy Olsen, this lot of stamps are much better behaved.

This is 1960, so it calmed down pretty quick.   Now I just have to figure out exactly when it fell over.  I've given Table Boy (TM) the first half to chew up and spit out, but he'll probably be through that in a few minutes. 

[Get Marwood & I]

On 7/4/2022 at 6:50 PM, Malacoda said:

This is 1960, so it calmed down pretty quick.   Now I just have to figure out exactly when it fell over.  I've given Table Boy (TM) the first half to chew up and spit out, but he'll probably be through that in a few minutes. 

Table Man™ has spoken! Check your inbox, Richmond, you silly sausage (that's Richmond sausages for any Americans OtherEric reading) 

[Malacoda]

On 7/4/2022 at 7:51 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

Table Man™ has spoken! Check your inbox, Richmond, you silly sausage (that's Richmond sausages for any Americans OtherEric reading) 

[Get Marwood & I]

On 7/5/2022 at 2:35 AM, Malacoda said:

[Albert Tatlock]

On 7/5/2022 at 8:14 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

Can't get much stiller than this.

Only £3 at Morrisons (while stocks last).

Edited July 7, 2022 by Albert Tatlock
add 1 line

[Get Marwood & I]

On 7/5/2022 at 12:26 PM, Albert Tatlock said:

Only £3 at Morrisons (while stocks last).

Can it, Tatlock. 

[themagicrobot]

I'd forgotten what a bargain Marvel comics were in the second half of 1976. DCs and Marvels were both still 10p in June 1976. For the July cover dated issues DCs increased to 12p thanks to T&Ps ability to react to market forces/inflation simply by handing Ethel a fresh ink stamp. Marvel comics would continue to sell for the princely sum of 10p until March 1977. 

This 12p stickered comic would have been 10p when its brothers and sisters were sold in June 1976.

 

 

 

[Get Marwood & I]

Three Detectives here from an original owner collection on eBay with nice consecutive issue number / stamp number sequencing:

• #315, May / stamp 6
• #316, June / stamp 7
• #317, July / stamp 8

I do like Watching the Detectives...

 

[themagicrobot]

 

Detective Comics 317 was one of the first DCs I ever owned. Looking at the cover I thought Batman could fly just like Superman did.

Then 318 goes and spoils the stamp numbering sequence.

Why is this 319 10d?? Other 319s and later issues are still 9d.

 

Edited July 18, 2022 by themagicrobot

[Get Marwood & I]

On 7/18/2022 at 3:26 PM, themagicrobot said:

Why is this 319 10d?? Other 319s and later issues are still 9d.

Latecomer.....

[Albert Tatlock]

On 7/18/2022 at 3:43 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

Latecomer.....

Not necessarily. It could have arrived on schedule, did the rounds at 9d and failed to sell, so T & P obliterated the 9d stamp and sent it out again at 10d. Another indication that retailers got their supplies from T & P on a SOR basis.

Sometimes, stuff can be too cheap for the discerning clientele it is aimed at.

If posh handbags were a tenner, the woman thy name is vanity brigade would spurn them and spend hundreds on a bag to pose with.

Looks like it worked on this occasion, it fell into the clutches of a collector to whom price was no object.

Edited July 18, 2022 by Albert Tatlock
add 1 line

[Get Marwood & I]

On 7/18/2022 at 5:58 PM, Albert Tatlock said:

Not necessarily. It could have arrived on schedule, did the rounds at 9d and failed to sell, so T & P obliterated the 9d stamp and sent it out again at 10d. Another indication that retailers got their supplies from T & P on a SOR basis.

Sometimes, stuff can be too cheap for the discerning clientele it is aimed at.

If posh handbags were a tenner, the woman thy name is vanity brigade would spurn them and spend hundreds on a bag to pose with.

Looks like it worked on this occasion, it fell into the clutches of a collector to whom price was no object.

Of course, I didn't spot the blanked out price Albert.

[Redshade]

On 7/18/2022 at 5:58 PM, Albert Tatlock said:

Not necessarily. It could have arrived on schedule, did the rounds at 9d and failed to sell, so T & P obliterated the 9d stamp and sent it out again at 10d. Another indication that retailers got their supplies from T & P on a SOR basis.

 

Not necessarily an SOR scenario Albert. It might 've been a box of 9d stamped books that were mis-placed and rediscovered at a later date in the warehouse/cupboard under the stairs, and restamped at 10d to conform to the then new price.

 

[Get Marwood & I]

Any more theories? 

 

 

 

[themagicrobot]

My theory is that SOR may have happened as an incentive sometimes if a Newsagent hadn't moved at least half of last months stock and was therefore reluctant to shell out for a fresh batch but I doubt it was the norm (at least in the 1960s) as I recall flipping past some of the same less-loved titles for many months on end. It was amazing how quickly the new issues placed at the front got covered over as the kids did the "comic shuffle" trying to make that momentous decision of which comics to buy with their Half-Crown pocket money (or was that just me?).

[Albert Tatlock]

On 7/18/2022 at 6:52 PM, Redshade said:

Not necessarily an SOR scenario Albert. It might 've been a box of 9d stamped books that were mis-placed and rediscovered at a later date in the warehouse/cupboard under the stairs, and restamped at 10d to conform to the then new price

Possibly, although Occam's Razor steers us in the other direction.

If you are prepared to disregard old Bill, anything is up for discussion.

Let's go with the boring unsold and re-stamped hypothesis. It is not on its own, there are quite a few in the same boat.

[themagicrobot]

Was there however a SOR system in place by the late 1960s/early 1970s so comics were recycled into the Double Double books, hence the need for trimming to smarten up the edges. The fact that the covers were removed suggests they may have been ink stamped.