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

[Malacoda]

On 3/28/2024 at 4:37 AM, OtherEric said:

Not a comic, but since I just upgraded this I thought I would ask before I got rid of the old copy:  is the 3/2 an UK price, or just an odd stamp?

I agree with @themagicrobot.  3/2 is mathematically possible, three shillings and tuppence or 38d, but this is way expensive.  In 1954, the exchange rate was £1 = $2.80, so 35c was 1 shilling and a ha'penny (12.5d).  So compared to US prices, 2/- was daylight robbery, let alone 3/2. 

As the Robot says, the going rate for these seems to have been 2/- ........

 

 

 

 

However, this one seems to gone up in price when it was sold second hand 

 

Also, seven year old me would never forgive me if I didn't mention....

 

You can't keep an Earthman down!  

 

[Albert Tatlock]

On 3/28/2024 at 4:37 AM, OtherEric said:

Not a comic, but since I just upgraded this I thought I would ask before I got rid of the old copy:  is the 3/2 an UK price, or just an odd stamp?

Date stamp?

Does not look like price stamps usually appear.

[Kevin.J]

On 3/26/2024 at 11:28 PM, Malacoda said:

I have a collection, but I'm no longer collecting because this is the last one I need.  After 48 years. 

My first Fantastic four was #100 and the title was the 2nd Marvel I completed after Amazing Spiderman.

Maybe 10 years or so ago, I pretty much completed all main Marvel titles up to late 90s when I stopped buying new books, apart from a few pre-hero, Western and the Millie the Model type books, I could just never find them.

My first love was always DC though and my collection of DC is much larger than my Marvel and my DC collection is dwarfed by everything else.

I collect all titles from all companies so will never be complete though and continue to upgrade anything if an opportunity rises.

My none DC & Marvel books are boxed and not in any particular order (okay a mess) recently I searched through for Charltons and manage to put together 3 long boxes as I was sick of buying books I already have.

I have never really collected British books since I was a kid, however I am feeling nostalgic lately and that will be what I look for in the next rummage.

Its never the end, there is always something to collect  

 

[Kevin.J]

On 3/27/2024 at 3:04 AM, Malacoda said:

I would imagine being an Adventure Comics completist would be no small challenge. 

On 3/27/2024 at 3:56 AM, OtherEric said:

I'm not crazy enough to try for a complete Adventure Comics run, that would be borderline impossible at this point.  However... I'm currently eight issues short of having Adventure 247-529 complete.

I am short 17 issues from 149 - 523, the latest issue I need is #260, there was a reasonably priced one on here a few months ago but I dithered when I should have grabbed it, it can be pricey due to Aquaman origin 

I wont ever complete this and most DC titles, but c'mon you gotta try 

[Kevin.J]

On 3/28/2024 at 1:43 AM, Malacoda said:

It was sold as a FN 6.0, but I reckon he could have got away with a 7.0 or even VF if it weren't for the flaw / nibble at top left.

Thats really nice and a pity about the top left, I think its a tough book in nice grade, I have upgraded this book a number of times and never been happy with what I got.

I think this is my best copy but still not happy and will go again if I see another and the price is right.

A couple of others that have stamps just to keep my post legit.

All pretty scabby I guess, I just never come across a real nice copy in the UK

Edited March 28 by Kevin.J

[OtherEric]

On 3/28/2024 at 1:43 AM, themagicrobot said:

It certainly looks like it could be a crude stamp of UK £sd old money but again, it seems rather expensive. What years are those two books? For most of the 1960s T&P were happy to sell them to you (not me....I was collecting Michael Moorcocks) for Two Shillings.

PS: There is an Ace Double D-177 written by C H Thames with the best ever title for a book I've ever come across. Violence is Golden. I wonder why no one had thought of that one before?!?

I've actually got the D-177 as well:

The D-44 would be around 1954, so unless they were pricing it as a rare import or hard to find backstock, I agree the price is too high.  But it doesn't look like a regular date stamp either.

As far as I know, Moorcock only did one Double, H-36.  I've got a copy somewhere, but not handily scanned, so this is swiped from online:

 

[OtherEric]

On 3/28/2024 at 5:53 AM, Kevin.J said:

I am short 17 issues from 149 - 523, the latest issue I need is #260, there was a reasonably priced one on here a few months ago but I dithered when I should have grabbed it, it can be pricey due to Aquaman origin 

I wont ever complete this and most DC titles, but c'mon you gotta try 

I've got the 260, luckily.  283 (First Zod & Phantom Zone) is the major one I'm still lacking in the post-247 range.

Do you mean 503, or 529?  I'm including the revival where they continued the numbering a few years ago.

Do you have the Frazetta Shining Knight issues complete?  Finding a 150 is driving me nuts at the moment, I've got the other seven.

[Malacoda]

On 3/28/2024 at 1:08 PM, Kevin.J said:

I think this is my best copy but still not happy and will go again if I see another and the price is right.

This one is nice.  Did you buy this really recently?  That crease / colour break from the middle top to the right side looks hauntingly familiar.  

[Kevin.J]

On 3/28/2024 at 4:20 PM, OtherEric said:

I've got the 260, luckily.  283 (First Zod & Phantom Zone) is the major one I'm still lacking in the post-247 range.

Do you mean 503, or 529?  I'm including the revival where they continued the numbering a few years ago.

Do you have the Frazetta Shining Knight issues complete?  Finding a 150 is driving me nuts at the moment, I've got the other seven.

Not sure the exact numbers of Frazetta without looking them up, I have never seen them in hand in years.

This is what I have, my 283 is nice enough I suppose, I had it a long time.

I was a Superboy fan so chased Adventure for the Superboy stories originally, I still need a few, the main Superboy title I need 11 issues, so I may have a realistic chance to complete that.

 

 

[Kevin.J]

On 3/28/2024 at 6:09 PM, Malacoda said:

This one is nice.  Did you buy this really recently?  That crease / colour break from the middle top to the right side looks hauntingly familiar.  

Nah, I have had it years.

The only FF book I have tried to upgrade in recent years is FF 49 from a local auction house (lesson) never bid without seeing for yourself in hand, especially if its partially obscured 

 

[Yorick]

On 3/28/2024 at 1:27 PM, Kevin.J said:

Not sure the exact numbers of Frazetta

My recollection was the odd number issues after 150...  I'd need to look it up as well...

 

FINE.  I'll do it.

 

150, 151, 153, 155, 157, 159, 161, 163...  looks like that's it (checking through 170 of GCD).

[Malacoda]

On 3/27/2024 at 4:25 PM, OtherEric said:

One thing I've discovered working on long-term projects:  there's always something you can figure out to add to it so the hunt isn't over.

On 3/28/2024 at 12:42 PM, Kevin.J said:

Its never the end, there is always something to collect  

 

I agree. When I started collecting again after a 20 year hiatus, I divided the Marvel back catalogue into 4 tiers:

1) everything I had collected up to 1986 (i.e.  if I had finished my collection at that point what would it have looked like). 

2) those same titles, expanded all the way to the end of their volume ones (in fact I've collected most of the vol 2 & 3's anyway). 

The above 2 excluded Hulk & Spider Man because (a) I couldn't afford them (b) they weren't imported (c) I had the UK reprints. 

3) The above including Hulk & Spider Man 

4) Every title, including the legacy titles, back to number 1 (so TTA, TOS, ST & JIM back to number one).  

The last one is a financial impossibility, I'm sure, but it would be the dream.  So yes, you're right, it's never over, but it's nice to measure one's collection against the wants list you had as a child.  It feels like a real achievement.  It feels like you didn't let yourself down and somehow, you are still you, still connected to the little kid who sat utterly absorbed in that world of wonder, for now we see as through a glass, darkly, but then face to face. Or something less pretentious.  

Edited March 29 by Malacoda

[themagicrobot]

I think now is the time to buy Silver Age UK comics before they reach silly Marvel US Silver Age prices. As I found I was only a few issues short of a full run this year I decided to locate a few Fantastics. It proved quite difficult to find issues that didn't have missing back covers. And a few eBay sellers didn't even mention the missing back cover in their ads. Perhaps they actually didn't notice/care?

Of course collecting stuff from your youth is trying to recreate that feeling when you first saw/read that comic for the first time. A free Apollo Space Craft???  Here's MY 9d!!!!!!!

[Albert Tatlock]

On 3/29/2024 at 9:27 AM, themagicrobot said:

I think now is the time to buy Silver Age UK comics before they reach silly Marvel US Silver Age prices. As I found I was only a few issues short of a full run this year I decided to locate a few Fantastics. It proved quite difficult to find issues that didn't have missing back covers. And a few eBay sellers didn't even mention the missing back cover in their ads. Perhaps they actually didn't notice/care?

Of course collecting stuff from your youth is trying to recreate that feeling when you first saw/read that comic for the first time. A free Apollo Space Craft???  Here's MY 9d!!!!!!!

Yeah, go ahead, they are saying.

Take your badges, stickers, pinup pages, etc and mutilate the comic.

It has cost you next to nothing, so don't worry that one day, when you have changed your mind, you will be tearing your hair out trying to find a pristine copy.

I have just bought, quite cheaply, I believe, a bound copy of Eagle Volume 1.

All issues present.

Just one coupon clipped out from the whole run.

From issue # 1. It just would be, wouldn't it?

 

[Albert Tatlock]

On 3/29/2024 at 9:27 AM, themagicrobot said:

I think now is the time to buy Silver Age UK comics before they reach silly Marvel US Silver Age prices.

Remember, not too long ago, when Alan Class fetched next to nothing.

Back in the early days of building my collection, I never saw any AC on sale in the newsagent, but they often turned up in second-hand outlets.

I automatically skimmed past them, I remember pausing for a moment to look at Creepy Worlds # 32, but my pennies stayed in my pocket.

[themagicrobot]

I said I don’t aim to collect full runs and here I am with a full set of Fantastics

What do I do with them now? You can’t really put them upright on a shelf like Annuals. Looks like another trip to Argos for a Metal file/box

And I am one issue away from a full set of Ranger. Alas they aren’t numbered. Just weekly dates and I can never remember which one I need.

If I had a flat cap I’d be able to put my free badge on it. Still looking for the free Apollo. Was it life size?

 

 

[Still Only 35c]

On 3/29/2024 at 2:27 AM, themagicrobot said:

Good call on the Fantastic and Terrific UK books. In case you don't know, most of those Power House Pin-ups were drawn by a very young Barry Windsor-Smith.

I recently shared a video with my almost full run of both titles and showed all the covers and Pin-ups on my YouTube channel. 

https://www.youtube.com/live/pcOn5-WnXsk?si=gJJfe1ZHm45RCN7F

[Malacoda]

On 3/29/2024 at 9:27 AM, themagicrobot said:

As I found I was only a few issues short of a full run this year I decided to locate a few Fantastics.

We know that Transworld took an astonishingly good stab at reprinting the entire Marvel back catalogue in the 1970's, but actually Odham's made a remarkable fist of it as well in the 60's. Considering that they were really only in the super hero biz for a couple of years, they took a swing at every Marvel title, including Nick Fury and Sgt. Fury, except Daredevil who was only in the Fantastic summer special.  They also came pretty close to hitting the buffers on a few of them (they were about 5 issues behind Hulk when they finished, 4 behind the X men and they burnt the whole run of Giant Man). 

---

 

  

[Malacoda]

On 3/29/2024 at 2:57 PM, Still Only 35c said:

I recently shared a video with my almost full run of both titles and showed all the covers and Pin-ups on my YouTube channel. 

@Still Only 35c   Hi - Thanks for the link and welcome to what is surely one of the more niche threads on the CGC.  Can't imagine why I didn't find your channel before, although the number of comic related threads on You Tube is pretty startling. 

[Still Only 35c]

On 3/29/2024 at 8:29 AM, Malacoda said:

@Still Only 35c   Hi - Thanks for the link and welcome to what is surely one of the more niche threads on the CGC.  Can't imagine why I didn't find your channel before, although the number of comic related threads on You Tube is pretty startling. 

Thanks for that, been lurking here for a while.