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

[Malacoda]

On 3/16/2023 at 6:20 PM, Albert Tatlock said:

nd the prospective buyer seems to be unaware of the DCs from late 1959 (except that MIS 50 on appears, but as far as I know, # 55 was the first distributed, even though I found a copy of # 54, which probably arrived without the help of T & P).

Well, it was clearly a different world.  Hmmmmm.....I've got 60p to spend, what shall I get?  Xmen #2 and #3, ASM #3, Silver Surfer #1 and #2 and #3, JIM #84 and #85.....or FF #32?    I mean TOS 39 is £1.50 and FF32  is 60p?  ( for reference that means TOS 39 was 2.5 times the value of FF 32.....now it's more like 110 times). 

[baggsey]

On 3/16/2023 at 6:50 AM, CGC Mike said:

I have merged your old account with this one.  You can do a name change if you would like.  (possibly to your old one).

Thanks - much appreciated. I will take a pass at changing my account name to my previous one.

[baggsey]

On 3/16/2023 at 9:02 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

 

Coolio in the Glasshouse! The all important question, Baggs - did your DC#272 have a T&P price stamp?

Sad to say, my memory does not stretch back to remember if my DC#272 had a T&P stamp, but I now recall specifically that I picked it up in a very smelly, long gone, second hand shop on the corner of Knox Rd in Stamshaw (NW area of Portsea Island) - a place long gone, of course.

[OtherEric]

On 3/17/2023 at 9:21 AM, pompeylad said:

Sad to say, my memory does not stretch back to remember if my DC#272 had a T&P stamp, but I now recall specifically that I picked it up in a very smelly, long gone, second hand shop on the corner of Knox Rd in Stamshaw (NW area of Portsea Island) - a place long gone, of course.

It's amazing how we remember certain details about where we got books, even decades later, isn't it? 

[baggsey]

Perhaps this question should be over in a Dell thread, but was the Dell comic Car 54, Where Are You? #3 , cover dated October 1962,  ever on sale in the UK?  

The reason for asking is that it is prominently featured in a scene from the classic British Peter Sellers comedy The Wrong Arm of the Law, alongside what appears to be a British reprint of a Superman strip. The Car 54, Where Are You? comic on show looks pristine and has no import stamp. I wrote a bit about it on the superstuff blog at http://superstuff73.blogspot.com/2022/08/comics-placement-in-movies-wrong-arm-of.html

If anyone has any info to help clear up the mystery, I'd be interested.

 

[baggsey]

On 3/17/2023 at 11:29 AM, OtherEric said:

It's amazing how we remember certain details about where we got books, even decades later, isn't it? 

It certainly is - and I (like pretty much every collector I know who was a contemporary of mine) can remember the exact place where we picked up so many comic books in the early 70s - even a few in the 60s. I suspect the surge of excitement and adrenaline at getting a brand new issue burned it into our synapses. I think part of the excitement of collecting comics was the uncertainty that we'd miss an issue, and so the joy of finding the next issue made it a memorable moment.

[Albert Tatlock]

On 3/17/2023 at 4:34 PM, pompeylad said:

Perhaps this question should be over in a Dell thread, but was the Dell comic Car 54, Where Are You? #3 , cover dated October 1962,  ever on sale in the UK?  

The reason for asking is that it is prominently featured in a scene from the classic British Peter Sellers comedy The Wrong Arm of the Law, alongside what appears to be a British reprint of a Superman strip. The Car 54, Where Are You? comic on show looks pristine and has no import stamp. I wrote a bit about it on the superstuff blog at http://superstuff73.blogspot.com/2022/08/comics-placement-in-movies-wrong-arm-of.html

If anyone has any info to help clear up the mystery, I'd be interested.

 

Car 54 where are you was a spin-off of the Phil Silvers show, aka Bilko.

Many of the Bilko cast featured in Car 54, including Fred Gwynne (Herman Munster).

Bilko also reappeared in the guise of Top Cat.

All well know in their comic book incarnations.

 

[Malacoda]

On 3/17/2023 at 4:34 PM, pompeylad said:

Perhaps this question should be over in a Dell thread, but was the Dell comic Car 54, Where Are You? #3 , cover dated October 1962,  ever on sale in the UK?  

The reason for asking is that it is prominently featured in a scene from the classic British Peter Sellers comedy The Wrong Arm of the Law, alongside what appears to be a British reprint of a Superman strip. The Car 54, Where Are You? comic on show looks pristine and has no import stamp. I wrote a bit about it on the superstuff blog at http://superstuff73.blogspot.com/2022/08/comics-placement-in-movies-wrong-arm-of.html

If anyone has any info to help clear up the mystery, I'd be interested.

 

I believe our intrepid founder has established Dell pence variants are confined to 1960 and 61 and that Car 54 was not among them.  That doesn't mean it didn't come over in some form, of course.  I would imagine they would have gone to some lengths to secure a copy.  Obviously, having the police sitting around reading comic books is a joke in itself, but having them reading comic books about inept policemen would have been too good to resist.  This was all filmed around West London, so although there were no comic shops at this time, there would have been dealers & collectors.

Your blog entry is absolutely fantastic in its detail & observation,  by the way.  Even on this thread, where we pride ourselves on a level of nerdery that makes the average stamp collector look like Keith Richards, this is some really impressive work.  Thank you for sharing.    

 

[Malacoda]

On 3/17/2023 at 4:38 PM, pompeylad said:

It certainly is - and I (like pretty much every collector I know who was a contemporary of mine) can remember the exact place where we picked up so many comic books in the early 70s - even a few in the 60s. I suspect the surge of excitement and adrenaline at getting a brand new issue burned it into our synapses. I think part of the excitement of collecting comics was the uncertainty that we'd miss an issue, and so the joy of finding the next issue made it a memorable moment.

Particularly those moments when you found a late arrival or some unexpected treasure that had absolutely no business being there at that time.  Then you'd go back there over & over hoping for lightning to strike twice. 

[themagicrobot]

The price variant experiment may have ended in 1961 but 1962 Dells did find their way to the UK. Maybe they were random ones mixed in with 1963 onward Dells which seem to more often wear T&P stamps. Someone other than T&P was charging an extortionate 1/-. In 1964 and 1965 when I was first buying comics Woolworths had loads of "boring" new but old stock Dells but they definitely sold those here for 6d. I think the price was only displayed on the shelf though rather than stamped on the comics which may explain the existence of quite a number of unstamped 1960s Dells being available here .

 

Talking of stamps, I know this is a pulp/paperback book and probably from the 1950s but I haven't seen too many cases of UK publications that found their way across the Atlantic receiving cents ink stamps there. 

 

 

Edited March 17, 2023 by themagicrobot

[Get Marwood & I]

On 3/17/2023 at 4:34 PM, pompeylad said:

Perhaps this question should be over in a Dell thread, but was the Dell comic Car 54, Where Are You? #3 , cover dated October 1962,  ever on sale in the UK?  

The reason for asking is that it is prominently featured in a scene from the classic British Peter Sellers comedy The Wrong Arm of the Law, alongside what appears to be a British reprint of a Superman strip. The Car 54, Where Are You? comic on show looks pristine and has no import stamp. I wrote a bit about it on the superstuff blog at http://superstuff73.blogspot.com/2022/08/comics-placement-in-movies-wrong-arm-of.html

If anyone has any info to help clear up the mystery, I'd be interested.

 

I have cents priced Thorpe & Porter stamped Dells ranging from mid-1962 through to 1966. Your Car 54 #3 was cover dated October 1962, with an Oct/Dec reprint, so falls into that possible UK distribution date range. I don't have a stamped copy of that particular issue in the files, but do have an issue #4:

I'm just in from a day on the road, so will read your blog tomorrow 

[Get Marwood & I]

On 3/17/2023 at 4:34 PM, pompeylad said:

Perhaps this question should be over in a Dell thread

I've started threads on all seven UKPV bearing publishers Baggs, by the way. I thought I could annoy seven times more people that way.

The journal summary for Dell is here, with a link to the discussion thread within it:

 

[Kevin.J]

On 3/17/2023 at 5:48 PM, Albert Tatlock said:

Car 54 where are you was a spin-off of the Phil Silvers show, aka Bilko.

Many of the Bilko cast featured in Car 54, including Fred Gwynne (Herman Munster).

Bilko also reappeared in the guise of Top Cat.

All well know in their comic book incarnations.

 

 

 

I think the Phil Silvers show is the greatest ever comedy show, I rewatched the lot again last year and it still stands up for the most part.

Comics are tough to get here in the UK though, I think I am missing 10/18 or something and the Dobermans are even worse, I think I have 3 and I dont think any are stamped  

 

 

[Malacoda]

On 3/17/2023 at 7:36 PM, themagicrobot said:

Talking of stamps, I know this is a pulp/paperback book and probably from the 1950s but I haven't seen too many cases of UK publications that found their way across the Atlantic receiving cents ink stamps there. 

Wow.  I think that's exactly what you have there, except it didn't cross the Atlantic as a lone rando and get stamped there.  Archer were a UK publisher of these kind of lurid pulps from 1948 to 1954, but from 1950 to 1952, there were US reprints of the books, which bafflingly retained the UK price and then had a US price stamped on them. Presumably it was cheaper than creating a new plate or maybe a UK price was a guarantee of hard core smut and it was a selling point to emphasise it was an import.  Funny when you consider that they were trying to emulate US writers to begin with.

 

 

 

Nurse! The screens! Quickly! 

 

Edited March 18, 2023 by Malacoda

[baggsey]

On 3/17/2023 at 3:27 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

I have cents priced Thorpe & Porter stamped Dells ranging from mid-1962 through to 1966. Your Car 54 #3 was cover dated October 1962, with an Oct/Dec reprint, so falls into that possible UK distribution date range. I don't have a stamped copy of that particular issue in the files, but do have an issue #4:

 

I'm just in from a day on the road, so will read your blog tomorrow 

@Get Marwood & IThanks for confirming that Car 54 #3 probably did find its way to our shores. If you were able to read my blog entry,I still wonder if the brief sequence in the film was an insert for US audiences. The comic on display looks to be pristine, and the timing of the publication (Oct 1962) seems to be at odds with the date of a newspaper in an adjacent scene.

It's always great to catch a glimpse of a contemporary comic in an old film. 

[baggsey]

On 3/17/2023 at 1:50 PM, Malacoda said:

 

Your blog entry is absolutely fantastic in its detail & observation,  by the way.  Even on this thread, where we pride ourselves on a level of nerdery that makes the average stamp collector look like Keith Richards, this is some really impressive work.  Thank you for sharing.    

 

Thanks for the "level of nerdery" kudos, @Malacoda - it means more than I could say!

I obviously have too much time on my hands.

[Get Marwood & I]

On 3/18/2023 at 3:54 PM, pompeylad said:

@Get Marwood & IThanks for confirming that Car 54 #3 probably did find its way to our shores. If you were able to read my blog entry, I still wonder if the brief sequence in the film was an insert for US audiences. The comic on display looks to be pristine, and the timing of the publication (Oct 1962) seems to be at odds with the date of a newspaper in an adjacent scene.

Great blog - I took a peek this morning. It makes me want to do something similar. Maybe one day.

Yes, it's one of those things we may never know, isn't it. Keep digging though, and I'll keep an eye for a Car 54 #3.....

On 3/18/2023 at 3:54 PM, pompeylad said:

It's always great to catch a glimpse of a contemporary comic in an old film. 

You might enjoy this thread below, Baggs. Some UK stuff in there too:

 

[themagicrobot]

Can't say I've seen many T&P 9d stickers.

And if they had gone to the trouble of getting stickers printed why didn't they adopt them entirely rather than persevere with the antique hand stamping. Wouldn't using Price "guns" have been quicker?

[Malacoda]

On 3/18/2023 at 6:24 PM, themagicrobot said:

And if they had gone to the trouble of getting stickers printed why didn't they adopt them entirely rather than persevere with the antique hand stamping. Wouldn't using Price "guns" have been quicker?

I think those kind of pricing guns didn't exist until c. 1972, but the real answer is, of course, our friends.... the stamp numbers.  It would have been possible to get stickers printed with the numbers on, I guess, but maybe bespoke stickering was still in its infancy in the 50's and 60's (those stickers that us Gen Xers used to trade in the playground were only invented in 1970).    

[Malacoda]

On 3/18/2023 at 6:24 PM, themagicrobot said:

Can't say I've seen many T&P 9d stickers

Indeed you do not.  Great spot. And even more interestingly, this is a sale price one (comics were 1/- by this point), so why did they sticker rather than using that triangular sale price stamp we've seen many times?  Are there only 6d versions of the stamp? Can't remember.