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

[Get Marwood & I]

Did you buy anything at the A&G auction today, Albert? @Albert Tatlock

[themagicrobot]

There seems to be a variety of stickers. We've seen the half price stickers in the past but this sticker is a price increase.

 

[Albert Tatlock]

On 5/18/2022 at 7:22 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

Did you buy anything at the A&G auction today, Albert?

Not a sausage.

Will watch tomorrow, but probably will not buy.

The standard of what is on offer at A & G has been in decline since Ian Penman's sale.

Also, they have put the buyer's premium up to 30%, so the pips are squeaking a little.

Good luck if you want to get stuck in, though.

[Get Marwood & I]

On 5/18/2022 at 8:03 PM, Albert Tatlock said:

Not a sausage.

Will watch tomorrow, but probably will not buy.

The standard of what is on offer at A & G has been in decline since Ian Penman's sale.

Also, they have put the buyer's premium up to 30%, so the pips are squeaking a little.

Good luck if you want to get stuck in, though.

There was a couple of lots I considered, but let them go as I only wanted one book in them. With the fees, as you say, just too pricey. I agree too that the quality of offerings has been dropping on all auction fronts lately. Maybe we've hoovered all the esoteric stuff up, finally. Far too Marvel / DC-centric for my tastes Albert, today's auctions.... 

[Malacoda]

On 5/18/2022 at 9:11 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

To clarify, I don't view pulps as in scope for my own research into UK distribution which centres around our seven US UKPV comic bearing publishers and all those who imported comics with stamped UK prices. And the dual pricers of course. But this thread has long since moved away from all that and I don't mind discussing things like pulps and such stuff here. Anything published overseas with a UK price on it is interesting to me. 

Couldn't agree more with this sentiment. From looking at DC and even Marvel, I would never have deduced that T&P actually went totally bankrupt in 1966 and were bought out of receivership by IND.  From the continuity of imports, it looks like they maintained business continuity and from everything you read it sounds like IND bailed them out.  It's only when you start reading about Roberts & Vinter and Science Fantasy magazine that you realise that T&P went down in flames. It's not visible in the comics because IND served their own interests, but if you weren't flying about in a cape, you weren't getting saved. Sometimes the answers to our comic-related questions are outside the comics history. 

But I would say that, wouldn't I? 

Edited May 18, 2022 by Malacoda

[Get Marwood & I]

On 5/19/2022 at 12:04 AM, Malacoda said:

Couldn't agree more with this sentiment. From looking at DC and even Marvel, I would never have deduced that T&P actually went totally bankrupt in 1966 and were bought out of receivership by IND.  From the continuity of imports, it looks like they maintained business continuity and from everything you read it sounds like IND bailed them out.  It's only when you start reading about Roberts & Vinter and Science Fantasy magazine that you realise that T&P went down in flames. It's not visible in the comics because IND served their own interests, but if you weren't flying about in a cape, you weren't getting saved. Sometimes the answers to our comic-related questions are outside the comics history. 

But I would say that, wouldn't I? 

You would. It's why we love you Rich.

Even though I'm 99.9% sure it's theirs, I still haven't found that smoking gun to connect Roberts & Vinter directly to this 

Have you? 

[Albert Tatlock]

On 5/18/2022 at 7:22 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

Did you buy anything at the A&G auction today, Albert?

Too little of interest to me, at the prices bandied about.

[Malacoda]

On 5/19/2022 at 10:11 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

You would. It's why we love you Rich.

Even though I'm 99.9% sure it's theirs, I still haven't found that smoking gun to connect Roberts & Vinter directly to this 

Have you? 

Nope, no proof, but I do have an interesting speculation for you.  Charlton were initially distributed by T&P, then went to Millers.  After Len died in 1964, Millers got out of comics and seemingly Charlton went to the mysterious RV.  

T&P were Roberts & Vinter’s printers (not distributors, but printers) for Science Fantasy / New Worlds / Impulse and when T&P went down, it took RV, or certainly these imprints with them.  When IND bought T&P, they let RV go down with the ship, rather than trying to save what was, I believe, a profitable publication.  I always assumed this was because IND only cared about the distribution of their comics (including Marvel, who were a customer), but actually if letting T&P fall and not bailing out their debt to RV knocked out Charlton’s UK distributor, well, that would be a little bonus, wouldn’t it? 

Incidentally, get a load of this bad boy.  Great big roundy 1/3 stamp and a price sticker from the legendary Forever People in Bristol. 
 

[Get Marwood & I]

On 5/19/2022 at 7:14 PM, Malacoda said:

Nope, no proof, but I do have an interesting speculation for you.  Charlton were initially distributed by T&P, then went to Millers.  After Len died in 1964, Millers got out of comics and seemingly Charlton went to the mysterious RV.  

T&P were Roberts & Vinter’s printers (not distributors, but printers) for Science Fantasy / New Worlds / Impulse and when T&P went down, it took RV, or certainly these imprints with them.  When IND bought T&P, they let RV go down with the ship, rather than trying to save what was, I believe, a profitable publication.  I always assumed this was because IND only cared about the distribution of their comics (including Marvel, who were a customer), but actually if letting T&P fall and not bailing out their debt to RV knocked out Charlton’s UK distributor, well, that would be a little bonus, wouldn’t it? 

Intriguing isn't it. I did a big write up on it all, but haven't posted it. I'm mildly embarrassed to say I've already forgotten the majority of it 

Getting a response from David Gold is hard work though. That I recall.

On 5/19/2022 at 7:14 PM, Malacoda said:

Incidentally, get a load of this bad boy.  Great big roundy 1/3 stamp and a price sticker from the legendary Forever People in Bristol. 
 

Noice. 

[Get Marwood & I]

On 5/19/2022 at 6:35 PM, Albert Tatlock said:

Too little of interest to me, at the prices bandied about.

Yes. No sausages today either. 

[themagicrobot]

What was the publication date of Fightin' Airforce 12? October 1958? One and three?? You could get a 100 page comic for ninepence in the good old days.

 

 

Going all nostalgic I think the highlight of my comic collecting was the wekly visit to my grandparents. They would give me half-a-crown and I'd run down to the shop to get THREE BRAND NEW  10d comics...........I'd never know what to expect until I got there......

[Get Marwood & I]

I've seen quite a few unusual bound collections cropping up lately online.

I had a bid on this recent eBay lot but it went too high - it's quite an interesting collection of stamped UK distributed books and UKPVs with a TGK #60 and FF#7 hiding in plain sight:

 

Content description from the listing:

 

You are looking at a bound volume of vintage comics - as described in a plain black cloth binding 

19 vintage comics all shown in the first photo

including 

• Giant Lois Lane Annual No.1 Summer 1962 80 pages + covers

• Adventure Comics No. 301 October 1962

• Superboy No. 99 September 1962

• Dectective Comics No. 307 September 1962 [1x torn page] features Batman and Robin

• Superboy No. 100 October 1962

• Rip Hunter Time Master No.1 March/ April 1961

• Adventure Comics No.302 November 1962

• Journey into Mystery Vol 1 No.65 February 1961 [1x torn page]

• Adventure Comics No.300 September 1962

• Superboy  No. 94 January 1962 [1x torn page]

• Adventure Comics No.282 March 1961 includes  Aquaman in Aqualand

• The Fantastic Four Vol. 1 No.7 October 1962

• Action Comics No.294 November 1962

• Superman No.155 August 1962

• Rip Hunter Time Master No. 5 Nov-Dec 1961

• [Giant] Superman Annual No.5 Summer 1962 80 pages + covers

[Malacoda]

On 5/18/2022 at 7:18 PM, Albert Tatlock said:

Someone at T & P had an itchy stamping finger.

Stamping UKPVs just to stay in practice.

 

 

The great moment for this is the 1965 annuals which were all PV's.   I think Ethel stamped the whole lot of them to be on the safe side. 

[themagicrobot]

72 big pages? Wotta Swizz. The Direct Competion had 80 page Giants.

To be fair to Ethel the printed UK price on the Kingsize Annuals is clearly an American idea of what One Shilling and Sixpence should look like and is easily overlooked. It looks far more like a fraction "one sixth" to me with the six below the one rather than level with it. The 10d prices on the regular comics were far more obvious being in bold text. (Although Ethel and her friends have been known to ink stamp them too).

 

 

Edited May 26, 2022 by themagicrobot

[themagicrobot]

In 1971 you were square if you were still using £sd 

 

 

[yrag9591]

On 5/18/2022 at 11:19 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

I haven't updated this table for a long time, but still occasionally look for those 'missing list' T&P stamped first issues:

Still no October dated Wonder Woman #109, but when you constantly see this pattern from original owner collections, you start to see why: 

Sorry, I’m probably being a bit dense, but I don’t know what you mean.

[Get Marwood & I]

On 5/26/2022 at 11:11 PM, yrag9591 said:

Sorry, I’m probably being a bit dense, but I don’t know what you mean.

Basically, I've never seen a WW #109 with a T&P stamp, Gary. There technically might be one, being an October 1959 cover date (there are other October '59 T&P stamped books) but every time I see what looks like an original UK owner collection for sale, #110 is always the first issue in the run, or the first to show it (a T&P stamp). So maybe WW#109 was early in the October production run and missed the 'let's ship these unsold copies to the UK from now on' boat. Or something like that. 

[Get Marwood & I]

I quite like this cover, sitting on the Bay. Who doesn't like a pack of naughty space butterflies. 

Nice and early book to be being stamped, too.

[yrag9591]

On 5/30/2022 at 10:43 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

Basically, I've never seen a WW #109 with a T&P stamp, Gary. There technically might be one, being an October 1959 cover date (there are other October '59 T&P stamped books) but every time I see what looks like an original UK owner collection for sale, #110 is always the first issue in the run, or the first to show it (a T&P stamp). So maybe WW#109 was early in the October production run and missed the 'let's ship these unsold copies to the UK from now on' boat. Or something like that. 

Ah, of course. No, I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen a stamped WW 109. But if Showcase 22 can turn up with a stamp, anything can happen! I take it that there hasn’t been any progress with your table lately?

[Get Marwood & I]

On 5/30/2022 at 9:08 PM, yrag9591 said:

Ah, of course. No, I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen a stamped WW 109. But if Showcase 22 can turn up with a stamp, anything can happen! I take it that there hasn’t been any progress with your table lately?

I can't remember the last time I ticked one off Gary. I'm always looking, so the missing issues are either absent because they don't exist or because they're very, very shy.