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

[Get Marwood & I]

On 8/25/2022 at 2:36 PM, Malacoda said:

I'm useless at grading.  The fact that you can still have tanning, corner blunting, spine roll, creases up to a quarter of an inch with colour break & discoloured staples with tearing on a 7.0 FN/VF is bonkers to me.  The system should take account of an accumulation of defects (I know good graders do, but it's not inherent in Overstreet's grading tables). 

Ah, shame, we could've had a laugh.

Just me and you then @Albert Tatlock. We'll battle it out over there for the UK subsidiary prize of a can of Tizer, a Texan bar and a bag of pickled onion Monster Munch. To the loser, the spoils!

[Garystar]

On 8/25/2022 at 3:07 PM, Malacoda said:

The ten that you have that I still don't are: 

Thor 167, Hulk 125, Avengers 84,  X men 63, DD 57,  Iron Man 16, 17 & 18, 23, 25. 

I did my “research” over a period of about two weeks looking on eBayUK and my own Collection although most of mine from this period are unstamped cents. The one below is mine, I’ll do some more lookouts;

[Get Marwood & I]

16...

23...

  

...and 25 with 23...

[Garystar]

EBay sticker and stamp;

IRON MAN #25, 15c MARVEL 1970, POOR CONDITION WITH FAKE SIGNATURE

[Garystar]

another on eBayUK 

X-MEN #63 1969 MARVEL COMIC Lorelei 1st Appearance Roy Thomas Neal Adams FN/VF 7

 

[Get Marwood & I]

Bloody stickers!

[Kevin.J]

On 8/25/2022 at 3:07 PM, Malacoda said:

Hi Gary, 

Great to see you  When you previously sent me your work on this, I  took it as Gospel and went from there (i.e. I didn't repeat any of your work). Over the year+ of searching. I've obviously stumbled onto most of the ones you sent me, but there are a few of yours I've never found.  If you have any scans, these would be lovely as they'd complete my record.  The ten that you have that I still don't are: 

Thor 167, Hulk 125, Avengers 84,  X men 63, DD 57,  Iron Man 16, 17 & 18, 23, 25. 

At the start, I was finding scans of your ones all the time, but obviously as my focus has tightened, I'm not stumbling across these ones any more (and I was always focussing on the ones that neither of us had).  If you (or anyone) has scans of stamped copies of these, it would great to have a full record of all the covers. 

I dont have any of these titles scanned except Xmen 63 which has no stamp and Avengers 84 which has a stamp, but its very faint, will check out the others later if I have time.

[Redshade]

On 8/25/2022 at 11:45 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

Guys, any of you want to play in Point Five's grading contest?

https://boards.cgccomics.com/topic/511833-point-fives-3rd-annual-grading-contest-signup-thread/#comments

It's a nice and easy one, and we can have a laugh seeing how badly we all do. Or well! 

Over ten spots left, I think - deadline approaching!

@Kevin.J @Malacoda @themagicrobot @rakehell @Yorick @Albert Tatlock @Redshade @OtherEric @Garystar

Grading used to be so easy back in the 80s at comic marts. Just knock two whole points off whatever the seller said it was.

Most  " normally worn " comics are easy enough to grade, but in competitions like this I would expect there to be obscure and esoteric flaws that would not normally be seen 99% of the time in the real world, and are included just to to engender debate and argument. So, thanks for the shout Steve but not for me.

 

[Redshade]

On 8/25/2022 at 11:36 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

How about this for a sequence. Redelephantman has an OO collection up on eBay, and I just plotted 16 consecutive issues of T&P stamped My Greatest Adventures as follows:

Do you have a link for this Steve? I would love to have a look at these.

 

 

 

[Get Marwood & I]

On 8/25/2022 at 9:06 PM, Redshade said:

Do you have a link for this Steve? I would love to have a look at these.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204076493114?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=x6qdv2alStO&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=3MQXJMJlSYu&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 

[Redshade]

On 8/25/2022 at 9:10 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204076493114?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=x6qdv2alStO&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=3MQXJMJlSYu&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 

Oh I see why I couldn't find them. I was looking for a "collection" not individual issues, silly me.

[Get Marwood & I]

On 8/25/2022 at 9:17 PM, Redshade said:

Oh I see why I couldn't find them. I was looking for a "collection" not individual issues, silly me.

Chap seems to have an endless supply of books, doesnt he. Been on the bay forever.

[Garystar]

On 8/25/2022 at 9:21 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

Chap seems to have an endless supply of books, doesnt he. Been on the bay forever.

Yes. Seems to get everything- unstamped, stamped, UKPVs, silver, bronze, copper, modern, variants - everything. I used to buy off them but then few years back their grading got very loose although I think I may be detecting it getting a bit better again. 

[Albert Tatlock]

On 8/25/2022 at 9:10 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204076493114?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=x6qdv2alStO&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=3MQXJMJlSYu&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 

Looks like this lot sold last month 

https://fieldingsauctioneers.co.uk/lot/244006

Hammer price was £900 plus premium, so £1100 - £1200.

39 issues, averaging near as dammit 30 quid apiece.

Perhaps not a shrewd investment, we shall see.

[Kevin.J]

My Greatest Adventure is a great title, I was given 3 comics when I was a kid and one of them was MGA #37, we didn't have much cash in those days so comics were few and far between and I read them every night and I guess it shows 

MGA comics are what got me started collecting.

-and I still need 8 issues 

 

Edited August 25, 2022 by Kevin.J

[Redshade]

On 8/25/2022 at 11:33 PM, Albert Tatlock said:

Looks like this lot sold last month 

https://fieldingsauctioneers.co.uk/lot/244006

Hammer price was £900 plus premium, so £1100 - £1200.

39 issues, averaging near as dammit 30 quid apiece.

Perhaps not a shrewd investment, we shall see.

Plus the wodge taken by the packing and posting contractors. People do seem to get carried away in these auctions Albert. I think the fact that issue 80 (Introduction and Origin of the Doom Patrol) may have helped this lot to fetch what it did. Still too much for me.

[Albert Tatlock]

On 8/26/2022 at 2:11 AM, Redshade said:

People do seem to get carried away in these auctions Albert.

Can you help me? I have thought about nailing my hand down so I can't raise it, but the auctioneer might take my grimaces of pain as a bid.

[Kevin.J]

On 8/25/2022 at 11:48 PM, Kevin.J said:

My Greatest Adventure is a great title, I was given 3 comics when I was a kid and one of them was MGA #37, we didn't have much cash in those days so comics were few and far between and I read them every night and I guess it shows 

MGA comics are what got me started collecting.

-and I still need 8 issues 

 

 

Make that 6 issues needed, just got #5 and #27 in the post today 

[Albert Tatlock]

On 8/25/2022 at 11:48 PM, Kevin.J said:

My Greatest Adventure is a great title

Couple have Kirby artwork, nos. 21 and 28 off the top of my head. Maybe others too.

[Redshade]

On 7/24/2022 at 1:39 AM, Malacoda said:

 

OK, so for proponents of this theory (yourself, Albert & others) .....do you accept Marwood's contention that the system broke down around 64/65 and if so, what's your take on that?  I mean, how is it possible that it broke down if it was an indispensable part of the distribution system and what, if anything, could have replaced it?  And if some easier, more efficient & readily available system existed, why wasn't it put into effect before Ethel stamped literally millions of comics? 

I want to believe. 

 

 

 

I've had an idea about just this for some time but have hesitated from further advocating this because (1) I don't, these days, have the long runs of comics needed to check this, and (2) to see if someone else had a similar idea.
When did US comics start preprinting the colour-coded squares at the top of the pages? If this was 1964/65 this would have coincided with the expansion of Air Freight as opposed to the much slower sea shipping and thus a more regular delivery cycle. Whatever the reason for these colours (and I suspect that it had to do with the US distribution system) perhaps they were co-opted by T&P to sort out shipments instead of the numbered price stamps.