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

[Get Marwood & I]

Have any of you got T&P 9d stamped copies of the following lurking in your collections? 

• Adventures of Bob Hope #57
• All American Men of War #83, 85, 87
• Blackhawk #150, 153, 155, 159, 160
• GI Combat #79, 81, 86, 87, 88, 89
• Green Lantern #5, 7
• House of Mystery #94, 95, 101, 102, 106, 108, 114, 116
• House of Secrets #29, 42, 47, 50
• My Greatest Adventure #52
• Our Army at War #94, 99, 103, 105, 107, 108, 112
• Our Fighting Forces #55, 56, 59, 62, 63
• Pat Boone #3
• Showcase #26
• Star Spangled War Stories #91, 96, 98
• Strange Adventures #116, 118, 119, 124
• Sugar & Spike #29
• Superboy #84
• Jimmy Olsen #42, 46, 48, 51, 53
• Tales of The Unexpected #52, 55, 58, 61, 68
• Tomahawk #70, 72, 73, 75
• Wonder Woman #115, 117, 118

Here's the latest 'first stamped copy' table:

And looking at the latest first cycle page, do we still think that those six stamped copies are actually late second cycle copies, or are there enough of them now to justify a conclusion that they represent the first ever sequential UK delivery?

[Albert Tatlock]

2 hours ago, Get Marwood & I said:

Morning all 

I'm working through the first four cycles of the DC T&P numbering tables this morning, looking for the missing stamped issues. I'm putting a table together so we can all see which issues are currently absent.

I spotted a new 'first' in doing so, Adventure Comics #266:

Another 'six stamp' to strengthen the Nov 59 potential first UK delivery pot slot:

I'll post the update later today hopefully, along with some analysis of the contents of the UK Price Guide site.

 

2 hours ago, Get Marwood & I said:

Morning all 

I'm working through the first four cycles of the DC T&P numbering tables this morning, looking for the missing stamped issues. I'm putting a table together so we can all see which issues are currently absent.

I spotted a new 'first' in doing so, Adventure Comics #266:

Another 'six stamp' to strengthen the Nov 59 potential first UK delivery pot slot:

I'll post the update later today hopefully, along with some analysis of the contents of the UK Price Guide site.

Well spotted! I knew this would turn up one day, as I had a copy in the very early days, when the only likely source was the local newsagents, or second hand shops. Got my Adventure  # 266 from my mate whose family owned a local chippy. He also provided me at the same time with Wonder Woman  # 110. I managed to find Adventure  # 265 too, but it was the only one I could lay my hands on for several years. Do expect Superboy  # 76 to surface in due course, though, there must be at least one stamped copy out there. My original one was upgraded long ago.

[Get Marwood & I]

3 minutes ago, Albert Tatlock said:

 

Well spotted! I knew this would turn up one day, as I had a copy in the very early days, when the only likely source was the local newsagents, or second hand shops. Got my Adventure  # 266 from my mate whose family owned a local chippy. He also provided me at the same time with Wonder Woman  # 110. I managed to find Adventure  # 265 too, but it was the only one I could lay my hands on for several years. Do expect Superboy  # 76 to surface in due course, though, there must be at least one stamped copy out there. My original one was upgraded long ago.

I found it on eBay USA as it goes. And I then found a second image on Duncans site (a rare occurrence!).

Superboy #76? Duncan doesn't think so:

So I expect to find it soon! 

[Albert Tatlock]

1 hour ago, Get Marwood & I said:

Have any of you got T&P 9d stamped copies of the following lurking in your collections?

Found a small number. Most of this stuff I upgraded years ago, here are a couple that I never got round to, plus a couple in my spares.

Will try to find more, but my comics resent the accusation of lurking. 'Never lurked in my life, thought the sus laws had been scrapped' was the gist of what they said to me.

[Get Marwood & I]

27 minutes ago, Albert Tatlock said:

Found a small number. Most of this stuff I upgraded years ago, here are a couple that I never got round to, plus a couple in my spares.

Cheers Albert!

[Albert Tatlock]

2 hours ago, Get Marwood & I said:

And looking at the latest first cycle page, do we still think that those six stamped copies are actually late second cycle copies, or are there enough of them now to justify a conclusion that they represent the first ever sequential UK delivery?

I think they must be late arrivals, straggling in up to 9 months late, belated returns from the sticks, boondocks and back of beyond in the good ol' US of A.

If they were in the first wave, the obvious anomaly is the absence of 7s.

[Get Marwood & I]

19 minutes ago, Albert Tatlock said:

I think they must be late arrivals, straggling in up to 9 months late, belated returns from the sticks, boondocks and back of beyond in the good ol' US of A.

If they were in the first wave, the obvious anomaly is the absence of 7s.

Don't you find it odd though. They are all stamped a 6, and they are exactly how you would expect a natural sequential grouping to be - within a month or so of each other.

If we look at the second cycle six stamp group...

....all are May and June 1960 books. Merging in the first cycle lot creates a complete anomaly. No other grouping has that many late / out of sequence books. Add to that that there are recollections of some of the six stamped books being 'the first ever' distributed (Duncan for one). If people remember Adventure Comics #266 as being one of the first to land, how does placing that six stamped book in the second cycle fit wit that recollection? That would mean it was nine months later and, therefore, nowhere near being one of the first. 

Are we not missing the obvious? Doesn't all the evidence imply that first set of six stamped books are indeed the first, and of the first cycle not the second?

Maybe T&P just lost the seven stamp for a while? Or maybe that shipment just had no DC comics in it for operational reasons long since lost in time.

[Albert Tatlock]

3 minutes ago, Get Marwood & I said:

Are we not missing the obvious? Doesn't all the evidence imply that first set of six stamped books are indeed the first, and of the first cycle not the second?

Maybe T&P just lost the seven stamp for a while?

 

Quite possibly. Maybe these were in the first batch, and the next lot shipped arrived just too late to be stamped with a 7, as T & P had just switched to an 8.

All speculation, though, and maybe we will never know.

I am still wondering why T & P, who were well aware which titles sold well and which did not (and so did DC), were happy to start with the less popular titles.

[Albert Tatlock]

3 hours ago, Get Marwood & I said:

Have any of you got T&P 9d stamped copies of the following lurking in your collections?

Just told these 2 to stop lurking and do something useful for a change.

Wonder if the guy who invented the emoji had MGA # 52 in his collection.

[Get Marwood & I]

53 minutes ago, Albert Tatlock said:

Quite possibly. Maybe these were in the first batch, and the next lot shipped arrived just too late to be stamped with a 7, as T & P had just switched to an 8.

All speculation, though, and maybe we will never know.

I am still wondering why T & P, who were well aware which titles sold well and which did not (and so did DC), were happy to start with the less popular titles.

Speculation is what it's all about, but there are some physical things which are difficult to ignore. I feel like we are willing the first sixes to be second cycle sixes rather than just accept the obvious. We have absolutely no idea how the contract was entered into originally or the arrangements that were made. And in my experience, saying things like "they knew what sold" rarely plays out - the early days are littered with things that make no sense to our retrospective eyes. We're talking about some of the earliest comics to arrive here in the UK ever. Numbers would be next to non-existent for so many natural reasons. When I get back into the fairs and live hunting, I'm sure more examples will turn up. The first slot may be small, and lacking in high profile titles, purely because it was the first. The further you go back, the scarcer surviving issues would be. That makes sense to me. 

[Get Marwood & I]

6 minutes ago, Albert Tatlock said:

Just told these 2 to stop lurking and do something useful for a change.

Wonder if the guy who invented the emoji had MGA # 52 in his collection.

Keep going Albert, we'll soon fill that table up. I bet Green Lantern used that ring to just reduce the layers every once in a while, if you know what I mean.... 

[Albert Tatlock]

2 minutes ago, Get Marwood & I said:

reduce the layers every once in a while, if you know what I mean.... 

GL and Arnold Layne would have got on great.

[Get Marwood & I]

3 hours ago, Albert Tatlock said:

Do expect Superboy  # 76 to surface in due course, though, there must be at least one stamped copy out there. My original one was upgraded long ago.

More on this, Albert.

Mike's Comic Newsstand has The 10/59 cover dated Superboy #76 (for which we currently have no stamped examples) and the 10/59 cover dated Batman #127 (for which we have several) as being 'on sale' one week apart:

Actual copy shows 18/08 arrival date:

 

Actual copy shows 25/08 arrival date:

 

Given how many US retailers would have been returning their unsold copies, and from different locations, could the onward UK distribution process really have been so precise that one week would make a difference and inform the UK distribution cut off point?

I doubt it so, in theory, it's reasonable to expect there to be a stamped Superboy #76 out there, assuming both titles followed a similar path (i.e. unsold in the US then shipped to the UK).

 

 

[Get Marwood & I]

....and notwithstanding my earlier arguments, is it reasonable to expect that this comic, cover dated November, and released a month later, would beat the October dated Batman #127 to the UK by two shipments 

 

All good fun 

[themagicrobot]

I don't have much to add here. I was going to say that T&P must have distributed Jimmy Olsen 53 because I owned a copy once upon a time on a planet far away but Albert beat me to it.. Bonkers cover.

I noticed these that appear on your list of wants higher up. Poor pictures. One from Silveracre. Never any decent images or descriptions from him.

 

[Get Marwood & I]

5 minutes ago, themagicrobot said:

I noticed these that appear on your list of wants higher up. Poor pictures. One from Silveracre. Never any decent images or descriptions from him.

Thanks Robot. Darryl's pictures are rubbish aren't they. They don't enlarge. And that isn't #56, he misnumbered it. Gets me every time I search...

[themagicrobot]

Really/ Apologies for that. I should have Double Double checked that shouldn't I ? 

PS: Perhaps you can add something to that new Double Double thread ??

[Get Marwood & I]

12 hours ago, themagicrobot said:

Really/ Apologies for that. I should have Double Double checked that shouldn't I ? 

PS: Perhaps you can add something to that new Double Double thread ??

Don't worry about it - the Jimmy #46 was good, another off the list. I saw the DD thread, yes. Will add something later. 

[Albert Tatlock]

5 hours ago, Get Marwood & I said:

Mike's Comic Newsstand has The 10/59 cover dated Superboy #76 (for which we currently have no stamped examples) and the 10/59 cover dated Batman #127 (for which we have several) as being 'on sale' one week apart:

Actual copy shows 18/08 arrival date:

ie, 2 days before the theoretical 'on sale' date.

And the Adventure # 266 has a date of 21 September 1959 (American style) on cover, 8 days before 'on sale' time.

Where is Mike getting his info on sale dates from? Maybe the in-house ads that DC used to run, with 'On Sale 29 September' etc, or often 'On Sale Now'.

[Get Marwood & I]

6 minutes ago, Albert Tatlock said:

ie, 2 days before the theoretical 'on sale' date.

And the Adventure # 266 has a date of 21 September 1959 (American style) on cover, 8 days before 'on sale' time.

Where is Mike getting his info on sale dates from? Maybe the in-house ads that DC used to run, with 'On Sale 29 September' etc, or often 'On Sale Now'.

Yes, they often differ. Library of Congress in this instance, Albert: