The Distribution of US Published Comics in the UK (1959~1982) 16 16

[Redshade]

On 10/20/2024 at 12:21 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

Afternoon 

I was lucky enough to snag two of the scarce Thorpe and Porter 1967 Annuals recently - Hawkman and The Atom - with both in uncommonly nice condition. Here they be:

Yippee!

Some of us posted about these over in my DC UK Price Variant thread long before I started this distribution one and we added a further book - Doom Patrol - to the summary which could be found on the Comic Book Price Guide website here:

https://www.comicpriceguide.co.uk/Thorpe & Porter DC Annuals

Here's the amended mock up I posted, showing all 12 known books:

Here is what Duncan's site had to say about the Hawkman Annual:

 

I've not heard of Peter Hansen myself but his seven observations seem sound based on my assessment of my two copies and the scans that I have collected over the years which live in these folders:

You can see that I don't have any examples in some of those folders - including my Hawkman - which I suppose underlines how scarce they are.

Anyway, the contents of my Hawkman - I'll do The Atom another day - are as follows:

-Hawkman #19 (April/May 1967)
-Metamorpho #12 (May/June 1967)
-Teen Titans #6 (November/December 1966)
-Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen #98 (December 1966)
-Detective Comics #361 (March 1967)
-Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane #73 (April 1967)

So, six issues as Peter Hansen said there would be but, alas, none of them are significant. Like the T&P Double Double compendiums, these annuals can include key issues, this example of Blackhawk being one of them:

The Hawkman Annual uses the cover of Hawkman #8, dated June/July 1965, but it isn't one of the issues inside:

 

 

I love the chequered flag style interior pages which can be found front and back:

We'll have to have a competition to see if we can name them all one day.

I'm not sure that I've seen that layout anywhere else, so it may have been made up by Thorpe & Porter themselves. If you apply the Googleation Lens to it, you get this rather similar looking French affair, dated 1970:

Click on that picture and it should take you to the eBonk listing.

The manufacture of the unique hardback cover is a little crude on close inspection - miscuts and frayed edges abound:

Here are some pretty content pictures:

Alas, not a Thorpe & Porter price stamp in sight. They do appear though, as pointed out by our unknown historian on the CBPG site. An example below on this copy in one of the Mystery In Space annuals:

Remainder!

 

The back cover is the same as the front, with a text free coloured spine (this one is blue): 

I'll look at my Atom annual another day - I have scans of other examples of that in the files so I'll be able to see if the 'content differs' statement holds true.

All good fun, and jolly nice books to have acquired 

That is a very nice pick up Steve. I am insanely jealous. They are quite rare, especially in such nice condition.

[Get Marwood & I]

On 10/20/2024 at 6:00 PM, Redshade said:

That is a very nice pick up Steve. I am insanely jealous. They are quite rare, especially in such nice condition.

Cheers Stephen. Yes, they don't pop up often do they. The majority of copies that I've seen pictures of always seem to have those notorious top and bottom spine splits. It's quite nice to see them in this relatively unscathed state. 

I wonder if anyone remembers them actually being on sale? No cover price like the Double Doubles, no stickers or traces of sticker residue. I wonder how they were displayed, and whether that was nationwide or regional. There isn't much information to be found other than the CBPG site, 30th Century and what we posted in the old DC UKPV thread. 

[Redshade]

On 10/20/2024 at 6:26 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

Cheers Stephen. Yes, they don't pop up often do they. The majority of copies that I've seen pictures of always seem to have those notorious top and bottom spine splits. It's quite nice to see them in this relatively unscathed state. 

I wonder if anyone remembers them actually being on sale? No cover price like the Double Doubles, no stickers or traces of sticker residue. I wonder how they were displayed, and whether that was nationwide or regional. There isn't much information to be found other than the CBPG site, 30th Century and what we posted in the old DC UKPV thread. 

I acquired a few of these back in the 60s (I no longer have them) from school (or Church) jumble sales. I do not know how or where these were originally offered for sale, alas.

I've always wanted to say "alas".

[Yorick]

Crazy DC rebound comics!  Wow.  Now I'm wondering who was the first to rebind unsold books into "giant size editions"?  I know St John did in the mid-50's.  And many private collectors prior (but those don't count).