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

[Get Marwood & I]

I still look out for the 10d stamped 1966 gap issues occasionally - here's a DD #22, finally:

 

I recognise those labels. 'Scarce in UK' indeed!

A second example:

No #21 example yet though - hard cover to spot it on though:

[Get Marwood & I]

 

I haven't found a 10d or shilling stamped Rawhide Kid #55 as yet, one of the few titles that only missed the one issue in the second main UKPV gap period:

 

I had a quick check at the UKCPG. According to them, 51-60 were "All distributed in the UK. UK variant copies have one shilling cover stamp"

So they missed all the 10d printed UK Price Variants, called the phantom one shilling stamped copies 'variants' and missed the #55 gap.

Apart from that, brilliant 

[Mr Thorpe]

Some war comic 'fills'

 

 

[Get Marwood & I]

1 hour ago, Mr Thorpe said:

Some war comic 'fills'

Some crackers there, Mr T 

Two new 'firsts' too (AAMOW #75 and OAAW #88):

[Garystar]

Following on from @Malacodathoughts regarding missing 1966 issues on page 68, I thought I'd tabulate them by release date. However if anything this may confuse rather than clarify our thinking. As Malacoda says during the three month period there is no cover month with no UKPVs and only September release month has no UKPVs. I'm not sure what if anything this tells us, perhaps one of the others can see something;

Release Date   Issue Cover Date UK Price 30 June Rawhide Kid 54 Oct UKPV   TTA 84 Oct UKPV 7 July Fantastic Four 55 Oct UKPV + 1/- round stamp   Spider-man 41 Oct UKPV   Strange Tales 149 Oct UKPV   TOS 82 Oct UKPV   MCIC 5 Oct T&P Stamp 2 Aug Daredevil 21 Oct Gold Star Stamp   FM 5 Oct T&P Stamp   Kid Colt 131 Nov T&P Stamp   TTA 85 Nov Gold Star Stamp   Thor 133 Oct Gold Star Stamp   Two gun Kid 84 Nov UKPV   X-Men 25 Oct Gold Star Stamp 9 Aug Avengers 33 Oct Gold Star Stamp   Fantastic Four 56 Nov Gold Star Stamp   Marvel Tales 5 Nov T&P Stamp   Sgt. Fury 35 Oct Gold Star Stamp   Spider-man 42 Nov Gold Star Stamp   Strange Tales 150 Nov UKPV   TOS 83 Nov UKPV 01-Sep Daredevil 22 Nov Gold Star Stamp   Rawhide Kid 55 Dec Not Distributed?   TTA 86 Dec Gold Star Stamp   Thor 134 Nov Gold Star Stamp   X-Men 26 Nov Gold Star Stamp 08-Sep Avengers 34 Nov Gold Star Stamp   Fantastic Four 57 Dec Gold Star Stamp   Sgt. Fury 36 Nov Gold Star Stamp   Spider-man 43 Dec Gold Star Stamp   Strange Tales 151 Dec Gold Star Stamp   TOS 83 Nov Gold Star Stamp   MCIC 6 Dec T&P Stamp 04-Oct Thor 135 Dec UKPV 11-Oct Avengers 35 Dec UKPV   Daredevil 23 Dec UKPV   FM 6 Dec T&P Stamp   Sgt. Fury 37 Dec UKPV   X-Men 27 Jan UKPV

[Mr Thorpe]

Showcase 'completed', some serious inroads into the missing House of Mysteries and a few more!

[Get Marwood & I]

1 hour ago, Mr Thorpe said:

Showcase 'completed', some serious inroads into the missing House of Mysteries and a few more!

Excellent, thanks again Mr T. I wasn't expecting that Showcase. I'll add them all in tomorrow 

[Get Marwood & I]

@Mr Thorpe

A lot of bunching in that second cycle number 1 slot...

 

At first glance, the middle three months of the second cycle all look comparatively underpopulated:

Look closer and you'll see the bunching of successive issues for the same title in the first and third thirds is largely the cause. 

[Get Marwood & I]

 

 

[Get Marwood & I]

#11 confirmed 

 

Superman #132 continues to elude - two separate UK auction lots of #132 and 133:

[Get Marwood & I]

18 hours ago, Garystar said:

Following on from @Malacodathoughts regarding missing 1966 issues on page 68, I thought I'd tabulate them by release date. However if anything this may confuse rather than clarify our thinking. As Malacoda says during the three month period there is no cover month with no UKPVs and only September release month has no UKPVs. I'm not sure what if anything this tells us, perhaps one of the others can see something;

Release Date   Issue Cover Date UK Price 30 June Rawhide Kid 54 Oct UKPV   TTA 84 Oct UKPV 7 July Fantastic Four 55 Oct UKPV + 1/- round stamp   Spider-man 41 Oct UKPV   Strange Tales 149 Oct UKPV   TOS 82 Oct UKPV   MCIC 5 Oct T&P Stamp 2 Aug Daredevil 21 Oct Gold Star Stamp   FM 5 Oct T&P Stamp   Kid Colt 131 Nov T&P Stamp   TTA 85 Nov Gold Star Stamp   Thor 133 Oct Gold Star Stamp   Two gun Kid 84 Nov UKPV   X-Men 25 Oct Gold Star Stamp 9 Aug Avengers 33 Oct Gold Star Stamp   Fantastic Four 56 Nov Gold Star Stamp   Marvel Tales 5 Nov T&P Stamp   Sgt. Fury 35 Oct Gold Star Stamp   Spider-man 42 Nov Gold Star Stamp   Strange Tales 150 Nov UKPV   TOS 83 Nov UKPV 01-Sep Daredevil 22 Nov Gold Star Stamp   Rawhide Kid 55 Dec Not Distributed?   TTA 86 Dec Gold Star Stamp   Thor 134 Nov Gold Star Stamp   X-Men 26 Nov Gold Star Stamp 08-Sep Avengers 34 Nov Gold Star Stamp   Fantastic Four 57 Dec Gold Star Stamp   Sgt. Fury 36 Nov Gold Star Stamp   Spider-man 43 Dec Gold Star Stamp   Strange Tales 151 Dec Gold Star Stamp   TOS 83 Nov Gold Star Stamp   MCIC 6 Dec T&P Stamp 04-Oct Thor 135 Dec UKPV 11-Oct Avengers 35 Dec UKPV   Daredevil 23 Dec UKPV   FM 6 Dec T&P Stamp   Sgt. Fury 37 Dec UKPV   X-Men 27 Jan UKPV

There's no informative pattern that I can see Gary, from which any date driven conclusions could be drawn (e.g. this doesn't exist because it's after this date etc.) 

Even if you strip out those titles that were not actively producing UKPVs at the time you still have UKPVs interspersed within the "Gold Star" stamp examples.

With all that we know, you can make some factual observations for the Oct/Nov/Dec 66 period, based purely on what exists, and they would be:

• Printed UKPVs stopped for most (but not all) titles where they were being produced - some missing two copies, some missing one (TGK none)
• For the titles which weren't producing UKPVs at the time, T&P stamped copies exist / continue
• For the missing UKPV issues, cents stamped copies exist with unbranded 10d and one shilling price stamps

That is the limit to which the books themselves tell their story.

Unless I've missed it, there is still no definitive proof that the unbranded 10d oblong and one shilling circle stamps are Gold Star. They probably are, but there's nothing concrete to prove it. And, again unless I've missed it, there is nothing to confirm definitively when the stamped copies materialised in the UK.

I love all the speculation and historical piecing together though.

I haven't added it to the table yet, but here's a new 10d oblong, way out of date sync:

 

[Malacoda]

On 5/8/2021 at 9:24 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

I still look out for the 10d stamped 1966 gap issues occasionally - here's a DD #22, finally:

 

I recognise those labels. 'Scarce in UK' indeed!

A second example:

No #21 example yet though - hard cover to spot it on though:

Superb find. I usually (and by usually I mean once in a million years) find this one with this T&P  O.P.  stamp which must surely be a rarity.  The fact that there are issues with both this and the Gold oblong must put DD #22 in a class by itself.  Anyone have a theory about what the O.P. stamp denotes?  I think it sits nicely in our theories about stamps denoting months/batches as it was presumably a remainder which T&P distributed later.  Really great find though. 

[Get Marwood & I]

5 minutes ago, Malacoda said:

Superb find. I usually (and by usually I mean once in a million years) find this one with this T&P  O.P.  stamp which must surely be a rarity.  The fact that there are issues with both this and the Gold oblong must put DD #22 in a class by itself.  Anyone have a theory about what the O.P. stamp denotes?  I think it sits nicely in our theories about stamps denoting months/batches as it was presumably a remainder which T&P distributed later.  Really great find though. 

A dyslexic Post Office?

The stamps that aren't regular T&P stamps around this period are an enigma. Here's another OP on a November 66 FF#56:

This June 67 Daredevil #29 is an odd one - not one but two double stamped copies?

Although the second example is likely just a coincidental double stamp of the same stamp though.

 

[Malacoda]

14 minutes ago, Get Marwood & I said:

A dyslexic Post Office?

The stamps that aren't regular T&P stamps around this period are an enigma. Here's another OP on a November 66 FF#56:

This June 67 Daredevil #29 is an odd one - not one but two double stamped copies?

Although the second example is likely just a coincidental double stamp of the same stamp though.

 

This probably doesn't mean anything because it's probably just the exact same copy, but my copy of DD 29 has the exact same double stamp.  I mean the other thing is, of course, is that DD 29 is actually a UKPV, so why are there stamped copies at all, let alone Gold stamps and what are 1/- higher priced, roundy T&P style stamps presumably from the 1967-1969 period with no PV's? 

[Get Marwood & I]

1 minute ago, Malacoda said:

This probably doesn't mean anything because it's probably just the exact same copy, but my copy of DD 29 has the exact same double stamp.  I mean the other thing is, of course, is that DD 29 is actually a UKPV, so why are there stamped copies at all, let alone Gold stamps and what are 1/- higher priced, roundy T&P style stamps presumably from the 1967-1969 period with no PV's? 

What was my theory again - Mr Gold Star saw the UKPV gap, popped over to the States and brought some back in a suitcase. Picked up a few others while he was at it 

I might have to add a third column to the table for the 'OP' stamps - there's more than I realised:

           "O.P. Shilling Stamp"                   "One Shilling Circle"                     "10d Oblong"

[Get Marwood & I]

Some of the in scope covers are so dark and busy that there aren't many opportunities to place the stamp where it will be seen - case in point 

[Malacoda]

39 minutes ago, Get Marwood & I said:

Some of the in scope covers are so dark and busy that there aren't many opportunities to place the stamp where it will be seen - case in point 

True dat.  Though on other copies, Ethel went pretty accurately into the Corinthian columns. Sits really well here, don't you think? What is the term for something that sits well on a SHIELD cover?  A Jasper, perhaps?

[Get Marwood & I]

7 minutes ago, Malacoda said:

True dat.  Though on other copies, Ethel went pretty accurately into the Corinthian columns. Sits really well here, don't you think? What is the term for something that sits well on a SHIELD cover?  A Jasper, perhaps?

Carrot?

The addition of the OPs changes the picture a little:

[Malacoda]

The 66'ers really are the gift that keeps giving, aren't they?  One thing I think we can at least be clear about is that the cause & the outcome are potentially not linked. In a lot of cases, you can say issue X arose, they responded with Y and it caused Z.  It might be, if my pet theory about the T&P bankruptcy is correct, that Gold were sounded out, possibly as a permanent replacement, possibly as a temporary one, but the final result was just these few months of leftovers fell into their hands. It might be that there was never any suggestion of Gold taking over for T&P and they ended up with these in a one off Del Boy deal. 

[Malacoda]

I think X men 25 is definitely out there as a 1/-  OP.   I think this is it, but too faded except for the 1/-