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

[Get Marwood & I]

On 6/19/2022 at 12:55 PM, Malacoda said:

My next hiatus theory will be in the form of interpretive dance. I've already bought the leotard. 

Unless you closely resemble Kate Bush circa '79, we can skip that one Rich 

[Malacoda]

On 6/19/2022 at 12:58 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

Unless you closely resemble Kate Bush circa '79, we can skip that one Rich 

It's not the first thing people notice, I have to admit. 

 

 

[Get Marwood & I]

On 6/19/2022 at 1:10 PM, Malacoda said:

It's not the first thing people notice, I have to admit. 

 

 

Better days 

[Malacoda]

On 6/19/2022 at 9:11 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

@Malacoda

Rich, you've probably already found / read this, but it has some great content about the Golds, R&V etc:

Steve Holland might be someone you would want to contact if you haven't already - he has a lot of knowledge of the time and industry. I contacted him to see if he could confirm the RV stamp as being that of Roberts & Vinter - he says it is, but had no smoking gun. The book has the most info about R&V that I've come across to date.

 

Nope, this is all new to me.  Thanks -  great catch.  

[Get Marwood & I]

On 6/19/2022 at 1:12 PM, Malacoda said:

Nope, this is all new to me.  Thanks -  great catch.  

It's really interesting and will be right up your alley.

(Chortle, chortle)

[Malacoda]

On 6/19/2022 at 9:11 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

@Malacoda

Rich, you've probably already found / read this, but it has some great content about the Golds, R&V etc:

Steve Holland might be someone you would want to contact if you haven't already - he has a lot of knowledge of the time and industry. I contacted him to see if he could confirm the RV stamp as being that of Roberts & Vinter - he says it is, but had no smoking gun. The book has the most info about R&V that I've come across to date.

 

It says in the blurb for this that during the whole 1950's crackdown on obscene literature, 350k books and magazines were confiscated. On one day in 1975, T&P had 500k publications seized and 200k of them confiscated. It makes you realise the scale of the hit and why Warners decided to dump them. 

[Get Marwood & I]

On 6/19/2022 at 1:37 PM, Malacoda said:

It says in the blurb for this that during the whole 1950's crackdown on obscene literature, 350k books and magazines were confiscated. On one day in 1975, T&P had 500k publications seized and 200k of them confiscated. It makes you realise the scale of the hit and why Warners decided to dump them. 

Yes. Order a copy now and read it. Lots about Gold in there too - they bought R&V out, it seems. I'm trying to making the links between their respective stamps and dates 

[Get Marwood & I]

....and they fit! On Charltons, the 9d RV stamps end when the 10d 'Goldstar' ones start 

[Malacoda]

On 6/19/2022 at 1:45 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

....and they fit! On Charltons, the 9d RV stamps end when the 10d 'Goldstar' ones start 

Fantastic.  I love it when.....wait....oh my God, Steve, behind you....

[Get Marwood & I]

On 6/19/2022 at 1:58 PM, Malacoda said:

Fantastic.  I love it when.....wait....oh my God, Steve, behind you....

Here, get your teeth into this one, Richmond (I've posted similar before).

Tarzan of The Apes #3, Top Sellers, c1970:

Inside ad:

Two shillings, from your newsagents now (c1970)!

Superman #212 (Jan 1969 cover date) - every copy I see with a T&P stamp is 1/9:

But here's a 2 shilling sticker, just like the one in the Tarzan ad:

Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

[Malacoda]

On 6/19/2022 at 2:08 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

Here, get your teeth into this one, Richmond (I've posted similar before).

Tarzan of The Apes #3, Top Sellers, c1970:

Inside ad:

Two shillings, from your newsagents now (c1970)!

Superman #212 (Jan 1969 cover date) - every copy I see with a T&P stamp is 1/9:

But here's a 2 shilling sticker, just like the one in the Tarzan ad:

Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

Indeed.  You know, it would be sacrilege to peel those stickers off, but if we did, and we had a run of them, and mapped the batch numbers to the increase from 1/9 to 2/- on the stamped copies, we'd pretty much have proof that these came in as a bunch and were held over.  It is, of course, possible, if you think round enough corners that it might indicate that they came in across multiple months (if you imagine that it was stamped at 1/9, circulated, not sold, came back to Thurmaston, since which time there'd been a price increase, and they re-priced it and sent it out again), but it seems a lot more likely  that it came in with a 'bunched' bunch, acquired the 1/9 stamp, got put on the shelf behind Ethel waiting for the appropriate month, by which time prices had gone up and poor Ethel had to sit putting stickers on everything she'd already stamped.  I take it the latter is what you're thinking?

It depends when the increase to 2/- happened.  If it was actually anything like the full 15+ months between these two, neither theory works, so I'm assuming they went up to 2/- some time early in 1969.  Marvels were all over the shop with that increase (Mighty Marvel Western & Silver Surfer  = Feb, Marvel Tales = March, MCIC = April, MSH = July).  

The beauty of that sticker is that it's actually a T&P branded sticker. 

[Get Marwood & I]

On 6/19/2022 at 5:54 PM, Malacoda said:

The beauty of that sticker is that it's actually a T&P branded sticker. 

Over a stamp, from the looks of it, which wasn't uncommon. 

[themagicrobot]

This Bonanza T&P reprint from 1970 (?) incorrectly shows the 1967 small print and subscription info from K K/Western. Why did T&P bother with their own comics when they could just import the genuine articles?

This back cover appears to show blurry images of stickers over price stamps for the regular comics too.

This tatty Miracleman comic complete with a "Terry's Books" stamp is yours for a mere £2000.

I prefer the stamp on this Rin Tin Tin comic.

The magazines seized in 1975, were they pornography or horror?

Edited June 19, 2022 by themagicrobot

[Get Marwood & I]

On 6/19/2022 at 7:19 PM, themagicrobot said:

This Bonanza T&P reprint from 1970 (?) incorrectly shows the small print from Western. Why did T&P bother with their own comics when they could just import the genuine articles?

And then use them to advertise imports 

[OtherEric]

On 6/19/2022 at 11:23 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

And then use them to advertise imports 

Is it possible it's the original book with a different cover for the different market?

[Get Marwood & I]

On 6/19/2022 at 7:34 PM, OtherEric said:

Is it possible it's the original book with a different cover for the different market?

Which one Eric - the Supes 212?

[OtherEric]

On 6/19/2022 at 11:37 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

Which one Eric - the Supes 212?

I was thinking the Bonanza, with the original indicia.  

[Get Marwood & I]

On 6/19/2022 at 7:42 PM, OtherEric said:

I was thinking the Bonanza, with the original indicia.  

Oh, sorry. Miles away. Without checking, I don't think so. I think they were just cheap and lazy! @themagicrobot Robot, would you agree?

[Get Marwood & I]

....less lazy in the Tarzan:

No 'Double Doubling' here.

[themagicrobot]

@OtherEric That is an extremely interesting theory that I never considered before. It wouldn't have been the first time that T&P had ripped covers off comics. A clue is to be found top left of the cover where it says "32 pages in full colour". Gold key (and DC and Marvel etc) had 36 pages. The T&P Bonanza doesn't have the same middle pages though. What was on the other sides of those middle pages? If they were ads too then Ethel could have ripped out the middle pages with her left hand whilst ink stamping comics with the other hand. But I think the Gold Key Bonanza had a house ad on the last page before the inside back cover. It looks like this comic wasn't printed in Poughskeepsi.

@Get Marwood & I Just thinking out loud here. The Jim Shooter article where he talks about US returns not being returned but instead just the titles of the covers being torn off and returmed. When did that practice begin/end as everyone here has decided it was DC "returns" coming to the UK at least in the 1960s. Would it be feasible for T&P to have access to a big heap of comics all missing their cover titles for a really super cheap price. Ethel could have torn off the rest of the covers before they were rebound as Double Doubles?!?

I tend towards the theory that most if not all "returns" never saw a Stateside spinner rack and just sat in various distributors warehouses for a few weeks before being gratefully offloaded onto us.

The Superman family comics I began buying new in 1964 looked shiney and new to me, even though they had already been handled by Ethel at T&P and Stan at my friendly neighbourhood newsagents.

Edited June 19, 2022 by themagicrobot