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

[Get Marwood & I]

On 11/7/2023 at 2:46 PM, Albert Tatlock said:

I knew the Dobie Gillis would turn up one day, as I espied one cluttering up a tumbledown shack posing as a stamp dealer's premises on the edge of the local railway line in the dim and distant past, probably 1963.

At the time, however, my interest was confined to the more mainstream titles, so even though it could have fallen into my clutches for 3 old pennies, I spurned it.

Never saw any issues of the two outstanding cartoon titles, though.

The next to fall may be Unexpected # 43, which I added to my collection in about 1965. Alas, it was a victim of a lapse of judgement when I pruned my holdings a few years later. It has since been replaced, but by an unstamped copy.

I always like to hear your recollections, Albert. That old purchase ledger of yours still puts a smile on my face.

I had such an erroneous clear out myself, alas, back in the day when the allure of the stamp had not yet taken hold. It's taken hold now though, happily, and firmly so. Funnily enough, I was crashing Harveys into Charltons earlier, and marvelling at the stamp symmetry.

Well, maybe not Marvelling....

...but Millering! 

 

[Get Marwood & I]

Further to the previous examples, two 10d T&P stamped 10d UKPVs, and two shilling stamped cents:

Assuming the bottom left stamp is a shilling, of course. Hard to tell sometimes...

[Kevin.J]

On 11/7/2023 at 3:43 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

Further to the previous examples, two 10d T&P stamped 10d UKPVs, and two shilling stamped cents:

Assuming the bottom left stamp is a shilling, of course. Hard to tell sometimes...

 

[Garystar]

On 11/4/2023 at 9:31 PM, Malacoda said:

Well, you know the rules.  We confidently assume it doesn't exist. And then @Garystar logs in and sends us a picture (from deep in his labyrinth) of the whole collection sitting on a shelf.  And even the shelf is an autographed limited edition. 

Sorry can't help as my collection is all Marvel, wonder what the poster was. Contemporary Marvel figures would have been Mattel Secret Wars series and none of mine have any stickers. 1990s Toybiz / Tyco figures were more likely to have stickers telling us what we couldn't get.

Edited November 8, 2023 by Garystar

[Get Marwood & I]

On 11/8/2023 at 11:52 AM, Kevin.J said:

 

That's quite a good attempt at a T&P stamp actually, Kev   It just needs the top bit and...

[Albert Tatlock]

A couple of copies of Action # 323, on the cusp of the handover from large to small T & P 10d stamps.

The second scan shows the small one, faint, but just about visible.

Maybe the new stamps were dished out part way through that month's stamping session, or maybe the small stamp was applied to a latecomer, we will probably never know.

Anyway, that is another task for the completist, to assemble a full house of all the large and small stamps from the issues available in this crossover period.

But surely, there cannot be anyone, even on these boards, whose anorak has such a stranglehold.

Unless anyone knows better, of course.

 

[Malacoda]

On 11/9/2023 at 8:47 PM, Albert Tatlock said:

But surely, there cannot be anyone, even on these boards, whose anorak has such a stranglehold.

@Get Marwood & I  I feel like Albert is trying to goad you and I into a full on nerd-off, biggest loser wins.  Are we taking the bait? 

[Albert Tatlock]

On 11/10/2023 at 1:01 PM, Malacoda said:

I feel like Albert is trying to goad you and I into a full on nerd-off, biggest loser wins.  Are we taking the bait? 

I will not be able to rest until I have pedantically corrected the above to 'you and me'.

There, I feel much better now.

[Malacoda]

I stand chastened. Subject and object. 

[Albert Tatlock]

And here is another labour worthy of Hercules, to assemble a complete gallery of the issues crossing the 9d/10d divide of 1964.

The arrival of Action # 317 was when I first noticed, in my local newsagent, the dastardly deed perpetrated upon the stalwart collectors of the day.

My jaw dropped, and my face must have been a blend of the first and second reactions of Superman as depicted below.

My heart sank as I realised that things would never be the same again. 'Where will it end?' read the thought bubble above my head.

But I had no choice, I reluctantly forked out the extra pre-decimal penny.

Edited November 10, 2023 by Albert Tatlock
correct typo

[Garystar]

Off topic but that’s never stopped us,  here’s a curio I wasn’t aware of until recently; Inside Striker 30 September 1972 issue;

what makes this interesting to UK comics (apart from pointing out it took England another 10 years to qualify for World Cup despite Peter’s promise) is the inside ad;

[OtherEric]

On 11/11/2023 at 8:11 AM, Garystar said:

 

I love the incredibly verbose bubble from the Hulk.

[Malacoda]

On 11/11/2023 at 4:11 PM, Garystar said:

what makes this interesting to UK comics is the inside ad;

Indeed. And the most interesting thing about that is the copyright.  As far as I was aware, Stan & Al Landau hired Ray Wergan to publish MWOM and the other titles from 1972 - 1979. So although we all called them 'Marvel UK', the employees in London were actually employees of Transworld.  Tony Isabella's team in NY created the B&W pages and covers with such re-edits as were necessary.  Then the plates were sent to London, where Transworld added the letters pages, editorial notes, adverts and so on, changed any references deemed incomprehensible to UK readers, removed editorial notes relating to US stories that had not yet been published and occasionally made scantily clad ladies less scant.......

 

so what on earth was 'Magazine Management London Ltd.'?  After Goodman's departure, Perfect Film re-structured everything under Magazine Management, so if there had been some kind of parent company overseeing the UK end, that would have been the name, but what was it? I assume it was just a company in name only so Marvel could re-register the copyrights under UK law, but I think that's the first reference I've seen to any such thing.  Note how the Conan reprint above is credited to Magazine Management in the original but Marvel International in the reprint.  That's because after Perfect morphed into Cadence, they subsumed everything under Marvel, not MM.  

Edited November 12, 2023 by Malacoda

[baggsey]

On 10/25/2023 at 4:19 AM, Malacoda said:

 

Yes.

Sorry to jump into this excellent thread a bit late in the day - fantastic research, @Malacoda - absolutely spiffing.

In terms of why DC stopped printing the PV's directly on the comics, it seems to me that a major economic upheaval was in play at this time - the removal of the "pseudo Gold Standard", which had pegged the exchange rate of dollar to the pound as $2.40 = £1 since the devaluation of the pound in 1967. (Prior to this, Bretton Woods agreement in 1945 had set the exchange rate as $4 = £, if I remember correctly).

The "pseudo" Gold Standard enabled comics to be priced in the UK for many years at a set and predictable exchange rate. By early 1971 US inflation was on the rise, and a run on gold was looming.   And on August 15th, President Nixon announced the suspension of the convertibility of dollars into gold, effectively removing the last vestiges of the Gold Standard. Britain was then forced to "float" the pound against the dollar and exchange rates were no longer predictable.

I suppose the question is whether DC set the pricing on those 5 UKPV issues, having made the decision themselves, or was the price printed at the request of the UK distributors? I'm guessing that there was so much worry about the future fluctuating nature of the currency that T&P decided it made more sense to price manually in the UK.

[Malacoda]

On 11/22/2023 at 2:01 AM, baggsey said:

Sorry to jump into this excellent thread a bit late in the day - fantastic research, @Malacoda - absolutely spiffing.

Please don't apologise, your contributions are always excellent.  Also, extra points for using the word 'spiffing' which really doesn't get out enough. 

[Malacoda]

On 11/22/2023 at 2:01 AM, baggsey said:

In terms of why DC stopped printing the PV's directly on the comics, it seems to me that a major economic upheaval was in play at this time - the removal of the "pseudo Gold Standard", which had pegged the exchange rate of dollar to the pound as $2.40 = £1 since the devaluation of the pound in 1967. (Prior to this, Bretton Woods agreement in 1945 had set the exchange rate as $4 = £, if I remember correctly).

The "pseudo" Gold Standard enabled comics to be priced in the UK for many years at a set and predictable exchange rate. By early 1971 US inflation was on the rise, and a run on gold was looming.   And on August 15th, President Nixon announced the suspension of the convertibility of dollars into gold, effectively removing the last vestiges of the Gold Standard. Britain was then forced to "float" the pound against the dollar and exchange rates were no longer predictable.

I agree, the turbulent times affect things much more than we think.  @OtherEric previously made a very insightful point about economic policy to combat inflation which was probably the real answer to the long-pondered 1971 price increase and immediate (in the case of Marvel) decrease. 

Re:  the PV's, One might think "well, it wouldn't be that. They wouldn't have initiated an experiment only to call it off so quickly" but it's worth remembering that 'the Nixon Shock' was exactly that: a bolt from the blue.  As you say, the removal of the Gold standard (which was announced as a temporary measure, but I think they all knew it was the end of Bretton Woods forever) happened in August so I don't think it was a direct factor, but I think the point you're making is the general economic instability, and more specifically currency instability and inflation, leading up to August 15th was the reason that DC/T&P were dabbling.   I think that instability was responsible for a lot of things, but I suspect not the DC PV's for the following reason......

[Malacoda]

(Sorry, got to go out, but be back to finish off later)...

[Albert Tatlock]

On 11/22/2023 at 2:01 AM, baggsey said:

In terms of why DC stopped printing the PV's directly on the comics, it seems to me that a major economic upheaval was in play at this time - the removal of the "pseudo Gold Standard", which had pegged the exchange rate of dollar to the pound as $2.40 = £1 since the devaluation of the pound in 1967. (Prior to this, Bretton Woods agreement in 1945 had set the exchange rate as $4 = £, if I remember correctly).

Harold Wilson, announcing (through his puppet James Callaghan) the decision to devalue from £1 = $2.80 to £1 = $2.40 in late 1967, famously said that the pound in your pocket or purse had not been devalued.

https://moneyweek.com/415830/19-november-1967-harold-wilsons-pound-in-your-pocket-fib

Of course, it meant that the sterling funds that T & P were using to provide us with our escapist literature of choice bought 14% less product, so a price increase at our end was inevitable.

[Albert Tatlock]

.......and of course, this is the grassy knoll time of year, so if anyone wishes to fill us in on details of anything mystifying in our hobby, fire away.

[OtherEric]

On 11/22/2023 at 3:52 AM, Albert Tatlock said:

.......and of course, this is the grassy knoll time of year, so if anyone wishes to fill us in on details of anything mystifying in our hobby, fire away.

The glorious season where those that call it grassy knoll time can all get along peacefully with those of us who celebrate Doctor Who eve instead.

Here, have a look at something I just noticed on a book I've had for a while:  a handwritten 2/6 price.  If I recall I picked this up at a comic show several years ago, no idea how it got back to the US: