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

[themagicrobot]

Having just opened an early Xmas present of a single Malt I’ve suddenly forgotten everything I ever knew about comics

Didn’t Mick Anglo package the Super DCs and later, or was it earlier, TV Tornado

The world’s Finest is a real comic but the 1/- is a mock-up replacing the 12 cents that was really there.

The cartoon was actually two pages long and looks to me like something from Denis Gifford that may have originally appeared in a Miller publication a decade earlier.

 

 

[Redshade]

On 12/23/2023 at 9:14 PM, themagicrobot said:

Having just opened an early Xmas present of a single Malt I’ve suddenly forgotten everything I ever knew about comics

Didn’t Mick Anglo package the Super DCs and later, or was it earlier, TV Tornado

The world’s Finest is a real comic but the 1/- is a mock-up replacing the 12 cents that was really there.

The cartoon was actually two pages long and looks to me like something from Denis Gifford that may have originally appeared in a Miller publication a decade earlier.

 

 

I have the Classics Illustrated UK Baron Munchausen by Gifford and you are probably correct, it does look like his style.

[Yorick]

On 12/23/2023 at 1:14 PM, themagicrobot said:

Mick Anglo

 

On 12/23/2023 at 4:48 PM, Redshade said:

it does look like his style

Are you two fairly good at spotting his art?  I have a few Millers that I'd like to have a cover art credit for...  or perhaps put it into the GCD.

Is it time yet to begin a Miller thread?

[themagicrobot]

@Yorick Go for it! This is a "Jolly Miller Production" despite its contents being at odds with the rest of the "Jolly Miller" books for toddlers. It was 1964 and less than a decade since the horror comics ban and yet Len had no fear, including pre-code horror along with the Marvel Monsters.

Here is a real Jolly Miller book. There were many. They probably took all of ten minutes each to write. There were Jolly Miller comics in the early days too.

 

[Get Marwood & I]

I'll be on the road shortly, so

Merry Christmas Boys! 

[Malacoda]

On 12/24/2023 at 2:42 AM, Yorick said:

Is it time yet to begin a Miller thread?

Unless you want to get really specific about the artwork or the Jollies, I think The Architect is already on it. 

 

 

[Get Marwood & I]

On 12/24/2023 at 2:37 PM, Malacoda said:

Unless you want to get really specific about the artwork or the Jollies, I think The Architect is already on it. 

 

 

Architect? Larky Get more like 

I deleted the first 20 pages of what was going to be a 100+ page Charlton focused Miller journal. It was rubbish.

And I never got around to finishing the generic Miller one. That one was looking ok, on paper.

Maybe next year I'll have another go. 

I'm off! Wish me luck on the merry motorways of Englandville! 

[Malacoda]

Working on Christmas Eve and on a Sunday?  Harsh.  Drive safely. At least the roads will be empty.  Merry Christmas, matey. 

[Albert Tatlock]

On 12/24/2023 at 9:11 AM, themagicrobot said:

@Yorick Go for it! This is a "Jolly Miller Production" despite its contents being at odds with the rest of the "Jolly Miller" books for toddlers. It was 1964 and less than a decade since the horror comics ban and yet Len had no fear, including pre-code horror along with the Marvel Monsters.

Here is a real Jolly Miller book. There were many. They probably took all of ten minutes each to write. There were Jolly Miller comics in the early days too.

 

And here is a similar Miller offering, once again reprinting Atlas 1950s horror, although the cover is from Tales To Astonish # 14 (December 1960).

[themagicrobot]

I guess Len was covering his back by adding the words "Adult Comic" (as he did to some of the monthly Mystics/Spellbounds/Voodoos/Zombies) but he couldn't have made it much smaller. I didn't even see it myself until just now. And 2/6d wasn't a great bargain for 100 pages when two 68 page regular Spellbounds would only cost you 2/-!!

Edited December 24, 2023 by themagicrobot

[Redshade]

On 12/24/2023 at 2:42 AM, Yorick said:

 

Are you two fairly good at spotting his art?  I have a few Millers that I'd like to have a cover art credit for...  or perhaps put it into the GCD.

Is it time yet to begin a Miller thread?

I was referring to Gifford in that post Yorick. I don't know anything about Anglo I'm afraid although his Wiki entry does contain a list of publications that he was involved in.

[Redshade]

On 12/24/2023 at 10:32 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

I'll be on the road shortly, so

Merry Christmas Boys! 

And the same to you Steve.

[Yorick]

On 12/24/2023 at 6:37 AM, Malacoda said:

I think The Architect is already on it

 

On 12/24/2023 at 6:52 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

I never got around to finishing the generic Miller one

The Generic Miller Thread! 

And NOT in a journal page, please.  I want everyone to add to it. 

[Albert Tatlock]

 Frederick Ebenezer Thorpe tossed, turned and groaned, but sleep eluded him.

 He was having repeated flashbacks to the previous afternoon.

 It was, he lived through the experience once again, just one minute after 1.30 pm on December 24^th, when the lunch break in the stamping shed is officially over.

 Ethel was gossiping with Myrtle and Cynthia, when the door flew open and a besuited figure strode into the room.

 ‘Back to work, ladies, back to work’ boomed Fred (for it was he). ‘What d’you think I pay you for?’

  Ethel hurriedly slipped her hip flask of gin back into her corset, hoping Fred had not noticed. She was finding it harder and harder to get through a shift without      at  least a couple of nips.

 From the other side of the room little Daisy, the youngest recruit, timidly spoke up: ‘Mr Thorpe, sir, do you think we could get away a little early today, just half an   hour or so, so we could finish off the Christmas shopping? It would help so much.’

 Fred’s jaw dropped and he felt he was about to faint. Never had he experienced such a mutinous sentiment.

 Regaining his composure, he rallied and pointed to the clock. ‘When that says 5 o’clock’ he announced, ‘that is when the shift is over, and not a minute before.’

 Slamming the door behind him, he was suddenly gone, but the girls never thought of slacking, as Fred wore rubber soled shoes, and could take them unaware   at  any time.

 Ethel knew that the appeal was foredoomed to failure, just like the request to turn up the heating. Fred had brandished the electricity bills and told the girls that   the winter solstice was behind them, and Spring would soon be on the way.

 Sighing, she picked up the top copy in the stack in front of her and wielded her stamp. She crashed it down with vigour on the face of Aquaman, pretending it   was Fred.

 Her Steptoe style fingerless gloves were just about sufficient to keep her circulation going, as long as she kept up a rapid tempo.

 ‘Just (stamp) you wait (stamp), Fred’ she muttered under her breath, ‘when (stamp) my Pools come up (stamp), I’ll buy (stamp) this place (stamp), then you will   need (stamp) at least three promotions (stamp) before we let you be the lavatory cleaner (stamp).

 But it was only a dream, she knew. Where else could a girl get a living around these parts? It wasn’t the West End, it wasn’t even the West End of Leicester, just   a drab and dingy bit of the sticks called Oadby.

 Fred sat up with a jolt. What was that mysterious figure materialising through his bedroom wall?

 ‘I am the ghost of Christmas 1966’, were the words that Fred sensed, rather than heard.

 ‘Unless you mend your miserly ways, I will use my supernatural powers to bring about a hiatus in your supplies. Others, including pornographers, will muscle in   on your racket.’

 Fred trembled and pulled the blankets over his head. When he re-emerged, the figure had vanished.

 ‘Just a cheese sandwich induced nightmare’, he told himself, ‘that could never come to pass’.

 

 

[Malacoda]

On 12/24/2023 at 8:52 PM, Albert Tatlock said:

Fred wore rubber soled shoes, and could take them unaware at any time.

[Kevin.J]

On 12/24/2023 at 8:52 PM, Albert Tatlock said:

 Frederick Ebenezer Thorpe tossed, turned and groaned, but sleep eluded him.

 He was having repeated flashbacks to the previous afternoon.

 It was, he lived through the experience once again, just one minute after 1.30 pm on December 24^th, when the lunch break in the stamping shed is officially over.

 Ethel was gossiping with Myrtle and Cynthia, when the door flew open and a besuited figure strode into the room.

 ‘Back to work, ladies, back to work’ boomed Fred (for it was he). ‘What d’you think I pay you for?’

  Ethel hurriedly slipped her hip flask of gin back into her corset, hoping Fred had not noticed. She was finding it harder and harder to get through a shift without      at  least a couple of nips.

 From the other side of the room little Daisy, the youngest recruit, timidly spoke up: ‘Mr Thorpe, sir, do you think we could get away a little early today, just half an   hour or so, so we could finish off the Christmas shopping? It would help so much.’

 Fred’s jaw dropped and he felt he was about to faint. Never had he experienced such a mutinous sentiment.

 Regaining his composure, he rallied and pointed to the clock. ‘When that says 5 o’clock’ he announced, ‘that is when the shift is over, and not a minute before.’

 Slamming the door behind him, he was suddenly gone, but the girls never thought of slacking, as Fred wore rubber soled shoes, and could take them unaware   at  any time.

 Ethel knew that the appeal was foredoomed to failure, just like the request to turn up the heating. Fred had brandished the electricity bills and told the girls that   the winter solstice was behind them, and Spring would soon be on the way.

 Sighing, she picked up the top copy in the stack in front of her and wielded her stamp. She crashed it down with vigour on the face of Aquaman, pretending it   was Fred.

 Her Steptoe style fingerless gloves were just about sufficient to keep her circulation going, as long as she kept up a rapid tempo.

 ‘Just (stamp) you wait (stamp), Fred’ she muttered under her breath, ‘when (stamp) my Pools come up (stamp), I’ll buy (stamp) this place (stamp), then you will   need (stamp) at least three promotions (stamp) before we let you be the lavatory cleaner (stamp).

 But it was only a dream, she knew. Where else could a girl get a living around these parts? It wasn’t the West End, it wasn’t even the West End of Leicester, just   a drab and dingy bit of the sticks called Oadby.

 Fred sat up with a jolt. What was that mysterious figure materialising through his bedroom wall?

 ‘I am the ghost of Christmas 1966’, were the words that Fred sensed, rather than heard.

 ‘Unless you mend your miserly ways, I will use my supernatural powers to bring about a hiatus in your supplies. Others, including pornographers, will muscle in   on your racket.’

 Fred trembled and pulled the blankets over his head. When he re-emerged, the figure had vanished.

 ‘Just a cheese sandwich induced nightmare’, he told himself, ‘that could never come to pass’.

 

 

[Malacoda]

Just because I know it's on everybody's mind,  X men has become the latest title where I've found a stamp for every issue in the 7th era of T&P Marvel distribution (i.e. there are both stamps and PV's for every issue).   I think it will ultimately be the case that there are stamps for every issue of the key titles... not so sure about Chamber of Darkness!  That said, and I know you can't prove anything from the leftovers 50 years later, but the fact that you can find 6 or 7 copies of some issues at any time on ebay, and yet it will take you literally years to find one instance of some others, I think indicates that the numbers were very variable at the time. 

For example, while you can find 6 or 7 copies of Sub Mariner 24 and 25 any time you like, it will take you a couple of years to find a copy of Xmen 58.  I think we can all agree that X men has been VASTLY more collectible than Sub Mariner since the mid 70's, and #58 in particular (first Havok  in costume) so I can't imagine that the survival rate for X men 58 has been less than Sub Mariner 25.  If it indicates anything (and maybe it doesn't), it's that there were a lot more stamped copies of Subby 25 than  X men 58. 

 

 

Edited December 25, 2023 by Malacoda

[themagicrobot]

@Malacoda Last week you were asking about T&P and the Upper Brook Street address. I think you'd need a full run of Tomahawk or Kid Colt to see exactly when they adopted the Strato Publications Ltd address in the indicias rather than Thorpe and Porter or Jenson. Certainly all the 68 page comics starting from Blackhawk 1 in 1956 and on to the end of the runs in 1959 say Strato. Yet, taking this comic as an example they still displayed a teepee logo on the cover and used the Oadby address for internal adverts. And they complicate things again on the back cover giving Strato Publications a Leicester address. In fact many Classics Illustrateds are attributed to Strato of London but although they started publication in the UK in 1951/1952 as they had multiple print runs (especially of the more popular titles) those issues could be post 1956.

https://www.comics.org/indicia_publisher/247/

 

 

[Malacoda]

On 12/26/2023 at 10:04 AM, themagicrobot said:

Last week you were asking about T&P and the Upper Brook Street address. I think you'd need a full run of Tomahawk or Kid Colt to see exactly when they adopted the Strato Publications Ltd address in the indicias rather than Thorpe and Porter or Jenson. Certainly all the 68 page comics starting from Blackhawk 1 in 1956 and on to the end of the runs in 1959 say Strato. Yet, taking this comic as an example they still displayed a teepee logo on the cover and used the Oadby address for internal adverts. And they complicate things again on the back cover giving Strato Publications a Leicester address. In fact many Classics Illustrateds are attributed to Strato of London but although they started publication in the UK in 1951/1952 as they had multiple print runs (especially of the more popular titles) those issues could be post 1956.

Thank you.  Yes, I agree, there's a lot of complications. I think that the UBS address was used primarily as a flagship office.  I think that when the likes of Bill Kanter (Gilbertons), Nat Fleischer (the Ring) or Arnold Gingrich (Esquire) were in town, Fred entertained them from there. It's hard to imagine them using that property for any kind of storage or distribution, particularly given that they had a variety of depots, lock ups, garages and other storage facilities throughout London. I think it probably was used for some actual publication work, mostly editorial  (the UK version of Esquire opens each issue with a Harrod's London Journal column which would have required some imagination to write from Oadby).  Also where you see it printed in London or nearby, it wouldn't make much sense to do all the pasting up and creation in Oadby, then drive it down to London to print, then drive tens of thousands of copies back to Oadby for distribution.   I think some of the assembly work was managed from London, though this could also be about resources (paper was still on the ration well into the 50's).  

So I think the reason Strato has 2 addresses is that UBS was the official head office (for business correspondence) but all the distribution was done from Oadby, which is why they give that address on the back (for subscriptions). 

When visiting dignitaries rocked up, they must have landed in London (Birmingham didn't start flights to NY until 1967, East Mids wasn't a passenger airport until 1965), so I suspect meeting them at his Mayfair offices made exactly the right impression (although Nat Fleischer for one definitely toured the site at Oadby). 

Having said all of that, I have an entirely separate theory about UBS, for which I have absolutely zero evidence, so I'll keep quiet about it for the moment (and then pretend it was something far cleverer when I know more). 

Edited December 26, 2023 by Malacoda

[baggsey]

On 12/26/2023 at 4:04 AM, themagicrobot said:

I think you'd need a full run of Tomahawk or Kid Colt to see exactly when they adopted the Strato Publications Ltd address in the indicias

I took a quick look in the phone books for Strato Publications......they only appear in the 1958, 1959 and 1960 directories for London, at 39 Upper Brook St.  No record of Strato in England in the phone books either before 1958, or after 1960.@Malacoda