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

[OtherEric]

On 4/9/2023 at 7:02 PM, Malacoda said:

I note that the later ones just seem to be direct edition copies, but this is long after the WCP Sparta period I'm interested in.  

This one is handy though because it has an actual subscription copy insert certified by CGC.  (I love how you can see the owners hands in the slab). 

I could be wrong, but I believe the "Marvel Subscription Insert Included" means a subscription ad bound inside the book similar to a Mark Jewelers insert, not that it is somehow a subscription copy.  I can't imagine why a subscriber would get a 3rd print in any case.

[OtherEric]

Oh, one other detail that probably doesn't matter but might be worth mentioning:  the subscription was when my family was living in Germany, on the very off chance the books going international had some further difference.  Which seems highly unlikely, but goodness knows we've run into details that initially seem irrelevant but turn out not to be in this thread more than a few times.

[Malacoda]

On 4/10/2023 at 3:08 AM, OtherEric said:

I could be wrong, but I believe the "Marvel Subscription Insert Included" means a subscription ad bound inside the book similar to a Mark Jewelers insert, not that it is somehow a subscription copy.  I can't imagine why a subscriber would get a 3rd print in any case.

Ah, right.   The seller of this is making a big thing of the 'subscription' angle so I thought that was it.  Nonetheless, there are loads of subscription copies advertised on ebay which seem to be direct editions and you can also tell that they're subscription because they're still sealed in shipping mailers (or so the good sellers of ebay are trying to tell me). 

[OtherEric]

On 4/9/2023 at 7:15 PM, Malacoda said:

Ah, right.   The seller of this is making a big thing of the 'subscription' angle so I thought that was it.  Nonetheless, there are loads of subscription copies advertised on ebay which seem to be direct editions and you can also tell that they're subscription because they're still sealed in shipping mailers (or so the good sellers of ebay are trying to tell me). 

Mine all came in brown paper wrappers.  I've actually got a couple of those in a box somewhere, but not from my personal subscription... a local store bought a lot of books from somebody who had kept the books in them; they were just going to dump them but I asked for and grabbed a few.  No idea where I put them or what books were originally in them, though.

[Malacoda]

On 4/10/2023 at 3:02 AM, OtherEric said:

Well, your one is identical to the direct one, so we can eliminate the Germany issue.  I just need to get my hands on a newsstand one now.  

[Malacoda]

On 4/10/2023 at 3:20 AM, OtherEric said:

Mine all came in brown paper wrappers.  I've actually got a couple of those in a box somewhere, but not from my personal subscription... a local store bought a lot of books from somebody who had kept the books in them; they were just going to dump them but I asked for and grabbed a few.  No idea where I put them or what books were originally in them, though.

Great memento though.  I can imagine the excitement of seeing those brown envelopes arrive and then wishing you'd kept one.  I kept the envelope my first treasury came in for years. 

[Malacoda]

Yup, you called it.  Subscription insert. 

[Malacoda]

You know what's really annoying is that you can actually spot the subscription copies from the silver age because they have that colour-break crease down the front cover.  By the 70's they were being mailed flat, so don't have it.  

OK, Brains Trust, Eric has set the bar high.  Does anyone have any Marvel or DC comics post cd July 1971, ideally before cd June 1976, which they know to be subscription copies? Great will be your reward.   Many thanks, Pence Chums. 

(This has nothing to do with pence, I stress, asking for UK subscription issues would be quite a stretch!). 

[themagicrobot]

I have nicked this image from the Interweb (but doesn't everyone?) which shows that folded comics for subscribers continued for much longer than I thought. It must have been time consuming and a manual job for someone to fold each comic and stuff it in an envelope. If you subscribed to three comics it looks like you got them delivered in three different envelopes. Plastic bags were invented by this time but no one had thought of using them to mail stuff out. I don't think I would have been happy with a folded comic. Even comics that had been much-handled on a spinner rack would have been preferable.

Subscriptions to UK comics in the UK in the 1960s was quite possible but as you could get the local newsagent to deliver them anyway the only people who would need a subscription were kids living on Scottish islands I suspect.

In 1967 on a fortnight holiday at the coast I spent all my money on Alan Class comics and "forgot" to buy my usual Smash comics. Six months later I was still annoyed with myself for having two missing issues from the run. So I sent my postal order for the back issues. I was quite upset that they arrived folded in two.

In 2015 in a moment of madness I subscribed to the Eaglemoss DC Graphic Novel Collection. The first issue from WH Smith was a bargain £2.99. Future issues were £9.99 but they were glossy hardbacks and looked good on the bookshelf. There were supposed to be 60 issues. Best not to think that I would be spending £600 eventually and probably only read three or four of them. They also tended to arrive with two books in a box. As this box was too large for my letterbox I often just got a postcard left telling me to collect my parcel from the sorting office. This happened far too regularly.

Then the rotters announced that my subscription would be extended and there would now be a total of 180 books issued. Yikes! I would end up giving them more than £2000 overall at that rate. There were extra costs of 8 "Subscriber only" books featuring Green Lantern, a character I had/have no interest in. Sometime in 2021 when I had received approx 130 of the proposed 180 books the parcels dried up. It seems Eaglemoss went bankrupt in 2022. Again this is not my image but it does show how heavy books are. 

[Malacoda]

On 4/10/2023 at 10:17 AM, themagicrobot said:

I don't think I would have been happy with a folded comic. Even comics that had been much-handled on a spinner rack would have been preferable.

Sweet Jesus.  Whoever created that pic of MS 5, IM 55 and Xmen 94 knew what they were doing. That's too upsetting.  I think I'll go and watch videos of people shooting kittens to cheer myself up. 

[Malacoda]

On 4/10/2023 at 10:17 AM, themagicrobot said:

I was quite upset that they arrived folded in two.

So UK subscription comics arrived like this too.  Did not know that. At one point, Marvel made a big thing of 'now mailed flat' (as opposed to rolled). I had no idea that still meant folded over.

Edited April 14, 2023 by Malacoda

[Malacoda]

On 4/10/2023 at 10:17 AM, themagicrobot said:

Best not to think that I would be spending £600 eventually and probably only read three or four of them.

A friend of mine did exactly the same thing with Marvel. I was astounded, given that he gave up collecting 30 years ago, to see a whole shelf of these. But he said the exact same as you.  He kept meaning to cancel it, but they looked so great on the shelf, he kept 'forgetting' to cancel. 

[Malacoda]

On 4/10/2023 at 10:17 AM, themagicrobot said:

it does show how heavy books are. 

Strangely, this chap has removed the shelf above and is now stacking copies on top of the ones on the second shelf up.  Do you think he finds the banana shaped shelf somehow adds to the aesthetic pleasure of the DC universe?

[Malacoda]

On 4/10/2023 at 10:17 AM, themagicrobot said:

folded comics for subscribers continued for much longer than I thought.

This is really key info, Robot.  Many thanks for this.  I was hoping you or @Albert Tatlock might have some confirmed subscription issues (or pics of comics with obvious subscription creases) in your collections. 

Edited April 10, 2023 by Malacoda

[OtherEric]

By the time I was getting my subscription, they were no longer folded, although otherwise the mailers looked similar... Just twice as wide.

[themagicrobot]

Didn't everyone fold their comics in half when they were kids? It was the only way to get them to fit into the pocket of your school blazer. Many of my comics then were only "reading copies" anyway and would soon be traded at the market stalls mentioned in earlier posts. This image amused me. Last year I purchased an Eaglemoss Zatanna figurine from the Bay. It came well wrapped within an old newsprint-style screwed up 2000AD comic. I should have taken a photo.

Edited April 10, 2023 by themagicrobot

[OtherEric]

On 4/10/2023 at 9:14 AM, themagicrobot said:

Didn't everyone fold their comics in half when they were kids? It was the only way to get them to fit into the pocket of your school blazer. Many of my comics then were only "reading copies" anyway and would soon be traded at the market stalls mentioned in earlier posts. This image amused me. Last year I purchased an Eaglemoss Zatanna figurine from the Bay. It came well wrapped within an old newsprint-style screwed up 2000AD comic. I should have taken a photo.

I recall at least one package of comics I bought from a boardie used coverless comics as the packing material, although they weren't crumpled up... they used enough to fill the box tightly.

[Malacoda]

On 4/10/2023 at 5:14 PM, themagicrobot said:

This image amused me.

But....but...that's an origin issue.  

[themagicrobot]

And is almost 50 years old and still only worth tuppence. Meanwhile thousands pay thousands for Hulk 181 which isn’t even as good a read.

[OtherEric]

On 4/10/2023 at 12:40 PM, themagicrobot said:

And is almost 50 years old and still only worth tuppence. Meanwhile thousands pay thousands for Hulk 181 which isn’t even as good a read.

I’m now tempted to buy a couple low grade copies of the 1986 Incredible Hulk and Wolverine reprint (which was accidentally printed on newsprint, not Baxter paper) just to tear out pages to use as packing material to mess with people.