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

[Albert Tatlock]

On 12/22/2023 at 1:28 PM, Kevin.J said:

off to the docs today so time is short

Not too short, I hope, Kev.

Patient:  I can take, it, doc, level with me. How long have I got?

Doctor:  Ten.

Patient:  Ten? Ten?? Ten what? Ten years, ten months, what?

Doctor:  Nine.....

[Kevin.J]

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

Kid Colt, Outlaw

[OtherEric]

On 12/22/2023 at 3:07 AM, themagicrobot said:

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.

 

It's not a comics code stamp, exactly... it's a drawing of a comics code stamp.  I'm guessing the artist included it to make it look more like an American comic?

[themagicrobot]

By Miracle Man No 3 they had reduced the price of Classics Illustrated in the adverts (and presumably at the shops) to 1/-

This advert has been posted in the forum before. Seen in Miracle Man 11 so this issue must be published after May 1965.

[Yorick]

On 12/22/2023 at 9:32 AM, Kevin.J said:

Wasn't Atlas being reprinted by Miller?

[Malacoda]

On 12/22/2023 at 10:25 AM, themagicrobot said:

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.

That could be a quote from Douglas Adams. 

[Yorick]

On 12/21/2023 at 6:17 PM, Malacoda said:

Does anyone have any T&P's from 1946 to 1959

ONLY Love books!! 

 

[Malacoda]

On 12/22/2023 at 10:25 AM, themagicrobot said:

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.

Thanks for these.  Interesting.  I see no 4 credits Hillman Periodicals which is the US originator but the earlier one doesn't. Also a handy list of some titles actually published (not just distributed) by T&P.   Thanks. 

[Malacoda]

On 12/22/2023 at 11:07 AM, themagicrobot said:

The cover is obviously different to the Dell original which was a photo.

Most likely a copyright issue? Presumably Dell only paid for the US rights to this photo. 

[Malacoda]

On 12/22/2023 at 11:07 AM, themagicrobot said:

T&P just made things up as they went along didn't they?

I sometimes think the hardest part is getting past all the fake, made up nonsense written about them so you can get the real, made up nonsense that actually happened. 

[themagicrobot]

As this comic advertises a 1974 calendar so I guess it must date from the second half of 1973.

Edited December 22, 2023 by themagicrobot

[themagicrobot]

Is this written by anyone currently frequenting the CGC Boards??

https://g1rm.wordpress.com/2023/05/23/a-short-history-of-newsagents-and-how-you-bought-your-american-comics-from-them/

[Malacoda]

On 12/22/2023 at 11:07 AM, themagicrobot said:

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.

Indeed.  You'd imagine this was because of a sudden price increase, but it was actually a decrease from 1/3 to 1/-.  This doesn't come close to capturing the chaos of Classics Illustrated.  In the US, they were distributed in a different order to how they were printed, so the numbers are meaningless, some numbers were used twice, some contents were used twice (so they were effectively reprints but not marketed as such), some of the US editions weren't printed at all, so the UK reprints were actually the first time they saw the light of day, some of the US ones were re-issued with new art and revised text.  When Twin Circle bought the company, they reissued them as giveaways with catholic newspapers, so there are some without prices that look like knock-offs, but actually aren't.  The UK reprints are in a completely different order to the US, though it's hard to tell what that means as the US ones were distributed in a completely different order to the numbering.  It's a hot mess.  Collectors of CI are made of stern stuff. 

[Malacoda]

On 12/22/2023 at 1:28 PM, Kevin.J said:

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.

Many thanks, Kev.  Hope all went well at the doctors. 

Yes, these CI's are another level of confusion because these are US ones probably distributed after the ban lifted, but possibly before.  20k Leagues was number 47 in the US numbering, but was actually the 67th one published, but then it became no 2 in the UK reprint run.  I assume, as they're US ones, they just have the UK sticker / stamp, and apart from that nothing was changed by T&P, but please check if you have a minute.  

[OtherEric]

On 12/22/2023 at 11:48 AM, Malacoda said:

Indeed.  You'd imagine this was because of a sudden price increase, but it was actually a decrease from 1/3 to 1/-.  This doesn't come close to capturing the chaos of Classics Illustrated.  In the US, they were distributed in a different order to how they were printed, so the numbers are meaningless, some numbers were used twice, some contents were used twice (so they were effectively reprints but not marketed as such), some of the US editions weren't printed at all, so the UK reprints were actually the first time they saw the light of day, some of the US ones were re-issued with new art and revised text.

As far as I know, the first editions in the US were all published in order, starting with the early ones under the title of Classic Comics.  The numbers were used a second time for the Classics Illustrated Special Issue books, generally with the letter 'A' following the number, but the number wasn't actually on the cover of the Special Issue books.  I don't believe the contents were ever used twice on different issues, but most of the issues were constantly reprinted, and only distinguishable by the highest reorder number on the back issue order page.  As far as I know, all US editions were printed in the sense that there's no gap between issue numbers at any point, but the UK series (and other international editions) did continue after the US series ended, with new books.  And many of the books were reissued with new art, removed art to drop the page count, and revised text, as well as new cover art.  The addition of new cover art might or might not involve a change to the interiors as well, they seemed to love changing one on one printing and then later changing the other.

So my perception of the chaos of Classics Illustrated is almost completely different from your perception of the chaos of Classics Illustrated.  But we can agree on the level of chaos, at least.

I look forward to somebody rapidly coming forward to correct my corrections any second now, I'm miles from an expert on the Classics.

And for some color, here's the one cover Matt Baker did for the Classic Comics/ Classics Illustrated line:

[Malacoda]

On 12/22/2023 at 5:32 PM, OtherEric said:

It's not a comics code stamp, exactly... it's a drawing of a comics code stamp.  I'm guessing the artist included it to make it look more like an American comic?

I think you're dead on.  Some of them actually say "AMERICAN COMIC!!!" and then British Edition a lot more quietly somewhere else on the cover. 

[Redshade]

On 12/22/2023 at 7:04 PM, themagicrobot said:

By Miracle Man No 3 they had reduced the price of Classics Illustrated in the adverts (and presumably at the shops) to 1/-

This advert has been posted in the forum before. Seen in Miracle Man 11 so this issue must be published after May 1965.

 

 

 

I collect the British series of Classics Illustrated so I have a little (but not much) info regarding dates.

The British series ran from 1951 to 1963. Apart from the first few issues non of these were dated (NB The issues were not issued in a 1,2,3 order but randomly).
The 1/3 editions were issued from 1951 to 1952 and there was some customer resistance to this price and so it was dropped to 1/- from 1953 to 1955. A lot of 1/3 issues had a 1/- sticker over the 1/3 price but there were 1/- printed issues as well.
1/3 then became the standard price from 1956 to 1963.
The earlier editions also had multi prices for various other countries Aus, NZ, SA then this was dropped as the British series started producing separate variants for the NZ 1/6) and Aus (2/-) markets. (Not to be confused with a late 40s Aus series in b/w). There were never any British separate variants produced for SA.

I am trying to collect all the price variants and reprinted editions. As these were reprinted up to a dozen times (or more) without any dates this is, indeed, a complicated and frustrating task.

[baggsey]

On 12/21/2023 at 8:17 PM, Malacoda said:

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. 

I've not got any of the magazines of that era, but went through the UK Phone Directories on Ancestry for the period 1948-1959 for T&P addresses, @Malacoda The results for that period are below, plus up to 1963 in London:

1947,1948   86 London Rd, Leicester

1958 - Thorpe & Porter, Wholesalers,  171 Southampton Way, SE 5   (Rodney)   [Nothing at this address outside 1958]

1959,1960  153 Usk Rd, SE 11  (Battersea)  

1949-1959   East St Oadby

1959 2 Gate St Nottingham

1959 18A Halesown Rd, Cradley Heath

1959 Lloyd old Mill Butler St 4, Collyhurst

1959 Stafford Com Passenger Station

1959 66 Palmer St, Weston Super-Mare

1963,1964  39 Upper Brook St, Hyde Park

This is not complete. There are a further 80-odd records of addresses of various other locations around the country across the 1950s and 1960s that I could document, if you'd like?  But as far as I'm aware, Brook St was only listed as a London address in 1963, and 1964. Southampton Way in 1958, and Usk Rd in 1959 and 1960.

Hope this is of some help.

 

 

 

[baggsey]

On 12/22/2023 at 4:15 PM, baggsey said:

This is not complete. There are a further 80-odd records of addresses of various other locations around the country across the 1950s and 1960s that I could document, if you'd like?

Further to my post above, I'll do the full 111 phone book entries and document in a spreadsheet with addresses as rows and years in columns. Watch this space.

[Malacoda]

On 12/22/2023 at 5:32 PM, Kevin.J said:

Thanks Kevin, anything in the Indicia for this one?