APDallas Posted October 13, 2021 Share Posted October 13, 2021 (edited) I am doing some research on comics and I wonder does anyone know when they started adding the UPC code on comics?I know they started in the mid-late 1970's. Does anyone know what the first comic to have it was. I have to say the UPC has changed the look and esthetic of the comic book cover. Thanks in advance. Edited October 13, 2021 by APDallas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveinthecity Posted October 13, 2021 Share Posted October 13, 2021 (edited) First barcodes on comics from the mainstream publishers: DC & Charlton w/ cover dates - May 76 Marvel - June 76 Archie - September 76 Gold Key - June 77 Harvey - August 78 Charlton - Oct 75 Edited October 14, 2021 by steveinthecity Correction to Charlton info MR SigS, KCOComics, MAR1979 and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
50YrsCollctngCmcs Posted October 13, 2021 Share Posted October 13, 2021 I remember going to one of the drug stores where I bought comics and having them scan them for the first time. It was a larger outfit so I guess they could afford the scanners. The smaller newstands still did it the old fashioned way by tallying up the marked price. Of course now all of this is ubiquitous and no one can do simple math let alone count change on their own. MAR1979 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
APDallas Posted October 14, 2021 Author Share Posted October 14, 2021 On 10/13/2021 at 12:26 PM, steveinthecity said: First barcodes on comics from the mainstream publishers: DC & Charlton w/ cover dates - May 76 Marvel - June 76 Archie - September 76 Gold Key - June 77 Harvey - August 78 thank you! steveinthecity 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Get Marwood & I Posted October 14, 2021 Share Posted October 14, 2021 On 10/13/2021 at 6:26 PM, steveinthecity said: First barcodes on comics from the mainstream publishers: DC & Charlton w/ cover dates - May 76 Marvel - June 76 Archie - September 76 Gold Key - June 77 Harvey - August 78 Charlton was October 1975. MAR1979 and steveinthecity 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spider-Variant Posted October 14, 2021 Share Posted October 14, 2021 On 10/14/2021 at 11:16 AM, Get Marwood & I said: Charlton was October 1975. Prove it! Post it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Get Marwood & I Posted October 14, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted October 14, 2021 On 10/14/2021 at 5:04 PM, Spider-Variant said: Prove it! Post it! ADAMANTIUM, OtherEric, Spider-Variant and 2 others 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Get Marwood & I Posted October 14, 2021 Share Posted October 14, 2021 @APDallas The House of Yang #2 that I posted above is cover dated October 1975, so Charlton (as usual) seems to have got in first. Of the Charlton books cover dated 10/75, the book also has the joint earliest 'on sale date' (July 3rd) so technically could be the joint first barcoded comic that you are looking for (tied with Billy The Kid #114). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spider-Variant Posted October 14, 2021 Share Posted October 14, 2021 On 10/14/2021 at 12:08 PM, Get Marwood & I said: Nicely done. I can honestly say I have never seen the cover to this issue nor do I recall ever seeing this title. ADAMANTIUM 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Get Marwood & I Posted October 14, 2021 Share Posted October 14, 2021 On 10/14/2021 at 5:20 PM, Spider-Variant said: Nicely done. I can honestly say I have never seen the cover to this issue nor do I recall ever seeing this title. Charlton were the first at a lot of things as it goes Reggie. They beat Marvel (Jan 1982) and DC (Oct 1981) to dual UK/US printed cover pricing (where no separate UK Price Variant exists) by quite a margin: Charlton - April 1973 Not bad for a company using a cereal box printer, eh - the first to realise that you only needed to print one issue type if you put both target prices on it! Spider-Variant and ADAMANTIUM 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Get Marwood & I Posted October 14, 2021 Share Posted October 14, 2021 On last interesting snippet - you can see by the obliterated signature (Sanho Kim) how the barcode placement in that first month wasn't the layout consideration that it would soon become... MAR1979, Spider-Variant and ADAMANTIUM 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themagicrobot Posted October 14, 2021 Share Posted October 14, 2021 Remember this is Charlton you are talking about. Those barcodes on House of Yang issues from 1975 and 1976 don't look real as they have numbers 0 to 9 or 9 to 0 rather than a the expected10 digit code a scanner could read. I think "real" barcodes came later. But don't ask me to search for when/where..... Perhaps October 1976?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Get Marwood & I Posted October 14, 2021 Share Posted October 14, 2021 Spider-Variant and MAR1979 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveinthecity Posted October 14, 2021 Share Posted October 14, 2021 On 10/14/2021 at 8:16 AM, Get Marwood & I said: Charlton was October 1975. Thanks for catching that. I had no memory of the barcodes being that early. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Get Marwood & I Posted October 14, 2021 Share Posted October 14, 2021 On 10/14/2021 at 7:09 PM, steveinthecity said: Thanks for catching that. I had no memory of the barcodes being that early. Charlton Comics give you more! Spider-Variant 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themagicrobot Posted October 14, 2021 Share Posted October 14, 2021 Barcodes had been used in industry for a while when they first appeared in supermarkets in June 1974. 2000AD prog 633 Tharg proudly announced that the next issue(s) would contain a free barcode for every reader. That was as recently as 1989 here in UKville. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themagicrobot Posted October 14, 2021 Share Posted October 14, 2021 So you still think Charlton comics dated October 1975 qualify as the first comics with barcodes even though they are pretend bar codes ? Action comics May 1976 has a code that retailers with the technology could actually scan through their cash registers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stronguy Posted October 14, 2021 Share Posted October 14, 2021 It wasn't until a couple of weeks ago that I realized, the digits of the smaller barcode on the right are the publication month. greggy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Get Marwood & I Posted October 14, 2021 Share Posted October 14, 2021 On 10/14/2021 at 8:35 PM, Stronguy said: It wasn't until a couple of weeks ago that I realized, the digits of the smaller barcode on the right are the publication month. See the pictures at the bottom of this journal entry Stronguy: Stronguy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Get Marwood & I Posted October 14, 2021 Share Posted October 14, 2021 On 10/14/2021 at 8:13 PM, themagicrobot said: So you still think Charlton comics dated October 1975 qualify as the first comics with barcodes even though they are pretend bar codes ? Action comics May 1976 has a code that retailers with the technology could actually scan through their cash registers. What was the point of putting them on then Robot, if they were pretend? Do you know or are you guessing? Where've you been anyway? I don't know, you don't ring, you don't write... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
