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

[Albert Tatlock]

On 1/3/2023 at 10:31 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

Yep, let's hope it's a good one all round

The old year will be next year's good old days.

[Get Marwood & I]

On 1/3/2023 at 11:21 AM, Albert Tatlock said:

The old year will be next year's good old days.

 That's the spirit, Leonard! 

 

[Malacoda]

Another one bites the dust....

[Albert Tatlock]

 

On 1/4/2023 at 3:06 PM, Malacoda said:

Another one bites the dust....

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/64163755

Yep, whatever comic-related secrets he held have been taken to the grave.

A common comment at times like this is 'we shall not see his like again'.

Amen to that.

Edited January 4, 2023 by Albert Tatlock
add 1 word

[Get Marwood & I]

On 1/4/2023 at 3:06 PM, Malacoda said:

Another one bites the dust....

That's a shame. A good long, interesting life though. Comics and West Ham. As my Dad used to say, "Well that's pretty good"

RIP 

[nmtg9]

What was his link to comics? 

[Get Marwood & I]

On 1/5/2023 at 8:39 AM, nmtg9 said:

What was his link to comics? 

Gold Star:

Here's a link to his autobiography, which is a fun read with comic related exploits in the early sections:

http://www.davidgold.co.uk/Autobiography/Autobiography.pdf

[Malacoda]

He also part-owned Moore Harness, a niche high street distributor which was set up in the 60's to distribute alternative, counter-culture publications like Private Eye & Oz (later Viz and Time Out).  They became the UK distributor for DC after Windham shut T&P down. 

[Malacoda]

On 1/5/2023 at 10:28 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

Here's a link to his autobiography, which is a fun read with comic related exploits in the early sections:

Fully agree it's a fun read and clearly not really ghost written. It has the rambling '...and another thing....' feel of someone you got chatting to in a pub, which I think is deliberate.  That said, I think the bits that Albert & I quoted back on page 182/3 are literally the sum total of the comic related info. 

@Get Marwood & I @Albert Tatlock  Would you agree, gents, that he just kind of blasts past all the stuff we'd be interested in? One minute he's buying up the lease on 4 shops in London and the next minute he's a running an airline, a football team and Anne Summers.  

[Get Marwood & I]

On 1/5/2023 at 2:24 PM, Malacoda said:

Fully agree it's a fun read and clearly not really ghost written. It has the rambling '...and another thing....' feel of someone you got chatting to in a pub, which I think is deliberate.  That said, I think the bits that Albert & I quoted back on page 182/3 are literally the sum total of the comic related info. 

@Get Marwood & I @Albert Tatlock  Would you agree, gents, that he just kind of blasts past all the stuff we'd be interested in? One minute he's buying up the lease on 4 shops in London and the next minute he's a running an airline, a football team and Anne Summers.  

Yes, on reflection it is rather limited on the comic anecdote front. Hopefully Neil hasn't gone out and bought a copy following my earlier, somewhat misleading comment 

[Malacoda]

On 1/5/2023 at 10:28 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

Gold Star:

Here's a link to his autobiography, which is a fun read with comic related exploits in the early sections:

http://www.davidgold.co.uk/Autobiography/Autobiography.pdf

Good catch on Portman.  I completely forgot about them. Strange that Gold took on another imprint for these when they were already distributing Conan and DHOKF through Gold Star, but then they presumably bought the company for it's portfolio. It's weird that Transworld stamped their little feet about these but let others which were more central to the MU be reprinted (....but then I'm probably getting confused. Conan was actually reprints but DHOKF were imports).  

[Malacoda]

On 1/5/2023 at 2:38 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

Yes, on reflection it is rather limited on the comic anecdote front. Hopefully Neil hasn't gone out and bought a copy following my earlier, somewhat misleading comment 

Well, given that you pasted a PDF of the whole book, I think your conscience is clear. 

[Malacoda]

On 12/17/2022 at 9:47 PM, Malacoda said:

It would indeed surely have been Millers.  Gold lived at 442 Green St Newham.  Millers, which was at 342 Hackney Road, is about a 30-40 minute bus ride.  

Speaking of David Gold corrections, I should pull myself up on this one.  This could also have been United Anglo American on the Holloway Road. They advertised their reprints of US comics as 'American comics'. 

[Albert Tatlock]

On 1/5/2023 at 2:24 PM, Malacoda said:

Would you agree, gents, that he just kind of blasts past all the stuff we'd be interested in? One minute he's buying up the lease on 4 shops in London and the next minute he's a running an airline, a football team and Anne Summers.  

Yes, he liked to get his finger in as much as possible.

[Malacoda]

On 1/5/2023 at 4:25 PM, Albert Tatlock said:

Yes, he liked to get his finger in as much as possible.

[Albert Tatlock]

On 1/5/2023 at 2:49 PM, Malacoda said:

Speaking of David Gold corrections, I should pull myself up on this one.  This could also have been United Anglo American on the Holloway Road. They advertised their reprints of US comics as 'American comics'. 

It was indeed Miller's.

Excerpts below courtesy of the scribbling sibling, Ralph, younger brother and henchman-in-chief of David Gold of fond memory.

Published by Robson Books in 1997.

No doubt where the aforementioned Steve Holland got his info.

[Malacoda]

Blimey.  Thanks Albert.  More info there than the whole of Brothers Dave's magnum opus.  

[Malacoda]

I assume this Jerry Levine worked for Capital Distribution, which was the in-house distributor of Charlton based in Derby, Connecticut.  Does this mean that Goldstar became the UK distributor of Charlton?  

[gadzukes]

Picked up this UK Cow Puncher 4 with some nice GGA on the cover.

I noticed that the innards have 2 staples and then the cover was added with 1 staple later (so 3 staples total).  Was that common for some UK titles in the 40's?  Or is this just a freak manufacturing defect.

I don't see this comic in the GCD..... is this super rare?

Edited January 6, 2023 by gadzukes

[OtherEric]

On 1/6/2023 at 8:29 AM, gadzukes said:

Picked up this UK Cow Puncher 4 with some nice GGA on the cover.

I noticed that the innards have 2 staples and then the cover was added with 1 staple later (so 3 staples total).  Was that common for some UK titles in the 40's?  Or is this just a freak manufacturing defect.

I don't see this comic in the GCD..... is this super rare?

My guess... and it's purely a guess... is that the interiors were printed with the US editions, then the cover was added at another stage.  Maybe they shipped the interiors over and printed the covers in the UK?  It's not remaindered, given that the cover matches the interior correctly.