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

[themagicrobot]

On a lighter note here is a Quistmas Quiz. Which comic cover featured Lois reading an issue of Amazing Spidey-Man? All issues of this series are comparative bargains compared to the overpriced tat from the same period currently for sale. 

[Albert Tatlock]

On 12/20/2023 at 1:11 AM, Kevin.J said:

Did you win it Al ?

Its a sweet book

Nope!

Too late was the cry, never spotted it in time.

A bit tatty, but not bad for the price.

[Malacoda]

On 12/20/2023 at 9:35 AM, themagicrobot said:

On a lighter note here is a Quistmas Quiz. Which comic cover featured Lois reading an issue of Amazing Spidey-Man? All issues of this series are comparative bargains compared to the overpriced tat from the same period currently for sale. 

Not Brand Echh, beautifully caricatured by Marie Severin.  Actually looks quite a bit like her.  She might have cheekily done Lois as a self portrait.  

 

 

[themagicrobot]

Not Brand Echh Not imported by T&P?

[Redshade]

On 12/20/2023 at 9:28 AM, themagicrobot said:

So the earlier Black Magic Album sold for £9.99. Some may say that was a bargain. I didn't bid but that's about as much as I would have paid so I won't be bidding on this one.

 

Do you know Robot I was thinking exactly the same thing. "I'd give a tenner for it but not much more in that condition".
The £70 jobbie? Nah! Go whistle son.

[Malacoda]

On 12/20/2023 at 5:49 PM, themagicrobot said:

Not Brand Echh Not imported by T&P?

And our old friend. 

[Kevin.J]

On 12/20/2023 at 10:23 PM, Redshade said:

Do you know Robot I was thinking exactly the same thing. "I'd give a tenner for it but not much more in that condition".
The £70 jobbie? Nah! Go whistle son.

If I had seen that, I would have easy went a tenner, even though I have it, I would have had another at that price 

I think if I didnt have it, I would have went maybe £20, no chance in that condition for £70 though

[Malacoda]

#5 also has those big shilling stamps.  

 

#1 has PV's. 2 should as well. 

I've never got into the humour & romance titles, too much else to do, but NBE does look quite interesting. 

I wonder what lurks beneath this 2/- sticker. 

Also, according to Paul Gambacinni, he coined the termed 'Brand Ecch' to refer to the competition in ASM #7  which would be pretty ironic as he got told off for it at the time. 

 

[Kevin.J]

On 12/21/2023 at 2:09 AM, Malacoda said:

I've never got into the humour & romance titles

I hate Humour, Funny Animal and Romance titles especially from Marvel & DC

I didnt mind the romance stuff from Charlton for some reason and still buy them when they turn up 

[Malacoda]

On 12/21/2023 at 2:13 AM, Kevin.J said:

I hate Humour, Funny Animal and Romance titles especially from Marvel & DC

I didnt mind the romance stuff from Charlton for some reason and still buy them when they turn up 

I've never read the romance titles, but I agree they seem to be (unintentionally) funnier than the funny comics ever were. 

I've never heard anyone express much love for the Love titles (you old softy), but as Charlton practically invented the genre, it would make some sense.  I know people like their 50's horror comics which were supposed to be genuinely nasty.   I have heard it said that Charlton started the whole romance genre, but I think Kirby and Simon got there first at Crestwood the year before and Charlton were just the best & fastest imitators.   Would that be right? 

[Yorick]

On 12/20/2023 at 6:46 PM, Malacoda said:

I've never heard anyone express much love for the Love titles

I LOVE the Love titles!  I'll have to find my photos...

 

[Kevin.J]

On 12/21/2023 at 2:46 AM, Malacoda said:

I know people like their 50's horror comics which were supposed to be genuinely nasty.

Count me in there too 

[Kevin.J]

On 12/21/2023 at 2:46 AM, Malacoda said:

I've never read the romance titles, but I agree they seem to be (unintentionally) funnier than the funny comics ever were. 

I think I am just a sucker for stuff I dont have  and apart from Haunted Love, I didnt have many love type comics back in the day.

When I had pretty much everything else, they became a priority and like anything in this game, its easy to become obsessed 

[Yorick]

Comic from a great Boardie:

[themagicrobot]

@Malacoda You never got into Humour or Romance comics? You don't know what you've missed. Some of the Patsy Walkers produced over the last decade may not have had art to my liking but the plots were fun and you actually cared about the characters. I have all Charlton's Go-Gos. The more light-hearted She-Hulks are comics at their best. I am currently re-reading Barbara Slate's Angel Love from 1986/1987. That straddles Humour and Romance. Interestingly it doesn't display a Comic Code seal of approval but you have to read it to find out why. The story is deceptively dark in contrast to the cartoony art.

 

[OtherEric]

On 12/20/2023 at 6:13 PM, Kevin.J said:

I hate Humour, Funny Animal and Romance titles especially from Marvel & DC

I didnt mind the romance stuff from Charlton for some reason and still buy them when they turn up 

We shall need to respectfully disagree on Humor and Funny Animal books from DC.  But I'm a huge Sheldon Mayer fan.

Charlton romance, I can only think of one issue I've got.  Which is in the weird position of being one of the most wanted and one of the most common, given that it's a classic cover where there was a warehouse find:

[Malacoda]

 

Gents, I need some help, please. 

Does anyone have any T&P's from 1946 to 1959 - I mean from the reprint period during the import ban. What I'm trying to establish is when they started using the Upper Brook St address so what I'm trying to get my hands on is the indicias so I can establish when this first turns up.  Ideally, I'd have a bunch of issues from month/year X none of which mention it and then a bunch from the next month where they all carry it. 

I think the magazines may be more reliable than the comics as they will have the distribution month on them, whereas the comics don't seem to have months in a lot of cases.  If you have any Classics Illustrated that would be great, but they are an absolute dumpster fire in terms of dating anything....both the UK reprints and the US originals, so they are chaos within chaos.  I'll do a couple of posts on them in a while as they're interesting, but absolutely nuts.  With that in mind, any of the other titles would be great.  

I'd particularly like anything from 1953 and 1954, as I think the start date is June 1954.  I think the point where they start publishing the UK edition of Esquire in June 1954 is the first activity out of the Upper Brook St address.  The difficulty is sorting out stuff they actually published through their labyrinth of imprints vs comics that they just distributed on behalf of other publishers.   I think the ones below are all actual T&P publications.  

If anyone has any of these they can access easily, that would be very much appreciated. 

American Eagle Western (1955)

Blackhawk (1956- 58)

Bugs Bunny (1953)

Spellbound (Comics to hold you...) 1953 

Eerie (1952) 

Forbidden Worlds (1950)  This is ABC

Frogman comics (1952)

Gene Autry Comics (1953/4) 

Jesse James Comics  (1952) 

Justice Traps the Guilty (1957/8) 

Kid Colt, Outlaw

Kid Colt, Western Comics

Kid Slade, Gunfighter (1957) 

[themagicrobot]

Easy access! That's a laugh. My "system" of storage is designed to re-discover random things I've forgotten about and lose track of everything else. However I happen to have Frogman Comics images to hand for reasons that escape me. There isn't much in the way of inside indicia in T&P comics. The best you get is either within an advert or on the back cover so here are Frogman Comics Numbers 1 and 4. Note "September" is mentioned. The same advert appears in the Arnold Frankenstein No 2 (which displays ABC comics' Lower James Street London address on the back cover) so I surmise they both came out around the same time.

Edited December 22, 2023 by themagicrobot

[themagicrobot]

This T&P reprint from approx 1963 fills half this big 68 pages comic with ancient Mr District Attorney strips. The cover is obviously different to the Dell original which was a photo. Why did they put a Comic Code stamp on this reprint? There wasn't one on the original comic so the contents wouldn't have been submitted. T&P just made things up as they went along didn't they? The advert for Classics Illustrated on the inside front cover is odd too. It says they cost 1/- when all the images clearly show  they were 1/3d.

[Kevin.J]

On 12/22/2023 at 2:17 AM, Malacoda said:

If you have any Classics Illustrated

Found a couple with sticker/stamps, dunno the dates, I have others that are $, off to the docs today so time is short for now, let me know if you need me to look inside etc

I will look for other stuff on the list later and post if I have any.