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

[Malacoda]

On 3/30/2023 at 9:49 AM, themagicrobot said:

I could get exotic things like Practical Wireless or Coin Collector magazine.

You went full nerd.  Everyone knows you never go full nerd, man.  

[OtherEric]

On 3/30/2023 at 10:16 AM, Malacoda said:

You went full nerd.  Everyone knows you never go full nerd, man.  

I think I went full nerd about age 4.  But the stuff I got grief about in school now just looks like I was ahead of the curve.

Seriously, we live in a world where almost nobody seems to think collecting comic books is a weird hobby for a grown adult... even if some people don't get us enjoying the books as well as them being a potential investment.  It's a much nicer place in than regard than when I was growing up.

[Malacoda]

On 3/30/2023 at 10:14 AM, yrag9591 said:

I bow to no-one in my love for Walthamstow, but a seaside paradise? No. I was born there, and lived there and in Chingford for about 40 years. I’d move back if I could!

Sorry to hear you're a lost soul, mate.  Moving out of London is a real one way ticket, isn't it?  I was lucky enough to hang on. In my teens and early 20's, when I walked down my local high street, I would be constantly nodding and saying hello to people I was at school with (or my siblings were).  The amount of times I bump into an old school friend now is literally never.  

[yrag9591]

I’m working on a plan to move back before I’m too old!

[Malacoda]

On 3/30/2023 at 6:22 PM, OtherEric said:

Seriously, we live in a world where almost nobody seems to think collecting comic books is a weird hobby for a grown adult

What a time to be alive!  (seriously).  I agree, the combo of madly high prices, a world that collectors can genuinely nerd up over and movies that are undeniably brilliant - even if you hate them, you can't argue with the production values & effects - has really enabled us to finally stumble, blinking and coughing, into the light.   

[Malacoda]

On 3/30/2023 at 10:20 AM, themagicrobot said:

The thing that has changed is that back then an old comic was sold for half its original cover price. The modern equivalent of those Market stalls is the Antique Centres which have sprung up everywhere. Often containing dozens if not hundreds of different sellers many of which who now think any old comic (often in poor condition) is worth a fortune.

I used to cycle round a variety of dusty old shops as I'm sure everyone on this thread did.  When you went into a new high street you could sniff out the shop that might have a box of silver age gold from half a mile away.  Particularly if you had dust allergies.  My favourites were Books, Bits & Bobs in Kingston and the intriguingly named West Middlesex Books And Things (not least intriguing because it was on Middlesex's eastern border with Richmond) but the one that always annoyed me was Marion Pitman Books down by Twickenham Green, because despite just having a few random comics in a tatty box on a shelf, they actually knew the value of the comics. B'stards.   

[Malacoda]

On 3/30/2023 at 10:24 AM, chaddesden33 said:

Anything over two years old made you feel like you'd discovered an ancient --script!

This is something I try not to think about.  Whenever I'd go through a box of old comics looking for (relatively recent) Marvel comics, I'd always been disappointed at all the old 'rubbish' I had to wade through whilst panning for Marvels. I can only imagine what treasures I dismissed because they didn't have the right logo.  

[Malacoda]

On 3/30/2023 at 5:00 PM, LowGradeBronze said:

Today's silly nonsense....

As ever, the Inedible Bulk is asking all the right questions.  Love the Green Shield stamp, btw. 

[themagicrobot]

@ Everyone in this thread.

[themagicrobot]

Here is a Metamorpho dated June 1967. It has a date stamp inside probably put there by whoever in the UK purchased it new in 1967. The three month time scale matches my memory of when DCs arrived in the UK in the 1960s. (Things did change in the 1970s).

 

[Malacoda]

On 3/30/2023 at 6:55 PM, themagicrobot said:

@ Everyone in this thread.

Cool.  Love the dual Aus & UK pricing.  Some of these have UK, Aus, NZ and SA pricing. 

[Malacoda]

The first Marvel comic I ever owned was Mighty World of Marvel 138.  

 

I mention this because tonight I finished my MWOM collection.  I only needed 2 and I just got them. Of course, I always imagined that if I completed my collection I would run round the playground showing off to everyone.  It's now 48 years later...and, well, basically, you guys are the playground.

 

[Albert Tatlock]

On 3/30/2023 at 8:21 PM, Malacoda said:

you guys are the playground

I have no intention of growing up anytime soon.

Lines, detention, bring it on!

I scoff even at the now consigned to history leather strap.

[OtherEric]

On 3/30/2023 at 12:46 PM, Albert Tatlock said:

I have no intention of growing up anytime soon.

Lines, detention, bring it on!

I scoff even at the now consigned to history leather strap.

I’ve been emotionally 12 years old for roughly 40 years now.

[Albert Tatlock]

On 3/30/2023 at 9:49 AM, themagicrobot said:

Many areas of London were (still are?) famous for their saturday street markets. In the regions market stalls appeared in the appropriately named Market squares often held on Fridays and Saturdays. In the 1960s I regularly visited 5 different local towns by bus or bicycle to buy (or swap two for one) old comics. Where I live the Market stalls are long gone. You bump into people you know in Tesco rather than when you're standing in the rain buying something from the Fish stall. But in their heyday every decent Market had at least one secondhand paperback book/comic stall. In this image the comic stall is just out of shot to the left and was there weekly until the early 1980s.

Also in the 1960s the family made many Saturday shopping trips to Derby or Nottingham. Derby Indoor Market was a favourite haunt. The two Newsagents within had a far greater range of periodicals than my local shops. I could get exotic things like Practical Wireless or Coin Collector magazine. They also had literally stacks of new comics. Often the newest arrivals hung on pegs on rope above the vendors head and you had to point to the Adventure or Worlds Finest you required. This photo was taken in the 1950s but hadn't changed a decade or more later. In fact the interior and exterior of this Victorian building stayed the same until quite recently when it finally was updated for the C21st.

 

 

Yes, the local markets were a godsend back in the day, before mail order dealers or specialist comic shops were dreamt of.

When I had exhausted the holdings of nearby collectors known to me, I was at an impasse until I discovered various second-hand outlets.

The most productive of these were the street markets in nearby (within bicycle range) districts.

I found that the down-at-heel areas were the best, the children in the snootier suburbs presumably were not under as much pressure to recycle their comics, as mummy (more likely mater) would supply fresh funds on demand, so little Algernon or Tristan could lay in stocks at full cover price from the local newsagent, and deny others the chance to inherit their cast-offs.

A great advantage was that the stallholders had not the slightest inkling of the resale value of their comics.

As soon as the fourpence or sixpence had changed hands, the purchase, if it were a duplicate not needed for the collection, could be sold on for double, treble, or even more. Of course, these transactions were completed out of earshot of the mug on the stall.

When I was building my first collection (of pre-hero Marvels), I never knew what was around the corner, as there were no in-house ads, so no way of knowing what a back issue in the gaps looked like until it crossed my path for the first time.

I had Journey Into Mystery # 66 and Tales To Astonish # 18, but could only speculate on which issues told the tale of how the Hulk and Gorgilla first menaced mankind. I conjectured, however, that a prequel in say, Tales of Suspense would be continued in the same title, as all the examples I knew of fitted that pattern.

No such problem with DC, as they printed ads for current publications, which whetted my desire to lay my grubby paws on them.

Who could resist setting off in search of such gems as these?

[Get Marwood & I]

On 4/2/2023 at 3:48 PM, Malacoda said:

Have you noticed how GBD carried on using the old T&P stamps up to (cover date) Nov 1977 and then bought a new bunch of non-branded stamps exactly 3 months before they went over to PV's?  If you allow for the production/distribution window, it ties up  i.e.  the Feb cover dated comics were the first PVs and they were on sale in the US in November, so the point at which GBD start using non-branded stamps is the same point at which they must have commissioned the first PV's to be printed.   So this is potentially the point at which MH take over GBD.  Need to do some more work there. 

Yes, it's fun plotting the stamp / sticker types and seeing how they match up. I've studied what I call the 'second' T&P phase for Charlton in this respect - example below - and the use of branded and unbranded stamps, and also stickers, is quite consistent across the titles during the 72~77 five year window:

The use of stickers to reprice already dual UK/US priced books stands out quite clearly here too.

All good fun 

 

[Malacoda]

So in November 1973,  Charltons cost 20c and are stamped at 6p. 

Then in December, they're stamped at 7p or have dual pricing, but if dual pricing it's at 6p. 

Then in January 1974, they're dual priced at 6p, but with 7p stickers over the 6p, or are cents copies stamped at 7p. 

Then in Feb dual priced at 6p, but with 8p stickers. 

Then the 74 hiatus. 

Then in May 74, the US price goes up to 25c, but the dual printed price remains at 6p, however the dual price is again stickered over at 8p.

 

OK, well that seems like a pretty smooth operation.  The 1978 DC thing reminds me of decimalisation at T&P.  It's weird how T&P carried on using the old stamps for years after the numbers had stopped meaning anything, and then right before decimalisation, they changed to the ampersand stamp, but still at old money when that was clearly the moment to go new or dual.  Then they introduce a dual old/new money stamp which was clearly a great idea, except they only use it for one month and then go over to a third new set of stamps with decimal pricing.  I'm guessing that a very pretty girl started working at the stamp shop.  I can't work out why else it suddenly became necessary to buy a new set of stamps every month.  Even more weirdly (and don't take this to the bank because I've only checked it on 2 or 3 titles),  they go over to unbranded stamps from (cd) Aug 1975, which makes a lot of sense as the company has just restructured and the T&P warehouse is now the GBD warehouse.  However, when the price changes from 10p to 12p in August 1976, the newly minted 12p stamps say T&P again, which is weird because I think T&P barely exists at this point except as a largely defunct imprint of Warner Communications. Then right before they go over to PV's (or more likely at the same time), they change back to a new set of (unbranded) stamps. Must be new because they're 12p.  But these are not created for a price change. They just happen. 

My theory about the dual stamps in 1970 was always that they were made without a T&P brand deliberately but without enough forethought.  The dual pricing 5p and 1/- was the best idea, but I think it caused issues identifying the distributor as the T&P logo was so familiar. I theorised they realised their mistake and ordered new stamps with the name back on.  The stamp was too small to legibly support the name and 2 different price variations so they did the unthinkable and went decimal. 

However, all the malarky over the next 8 years makes me think it could have been anything.  Just anything, I tell you!!!

 

 

 

[themagicrobot]

 

 

[Malacoda]

On 4/6/2023 at 7:41 PM, themagicrobot said:

 

 

 

 

I assume that 9d is a sticker?

Also, is there a phone number for Miss Smooth & Fragrant?

[Albert Tatlock]

On 4/6/2023 at 10:32 PM, Malacoda said:

I assume that 9d is a sticker?

Also, is there a phone number for Miss Smooth & Fragrant?

Miss Smooth and Fragrant is involved, so we are told, with a mob of vicious assassins.

As opposed to a mob of touchy-feely nurturing assassins?