"B" is for "Briscoe"? The story behind the B copies. 1 1

[october]

A few people have asked about comics with a cursive "B" on them from the Silver Age. If you are curious, your comic likely came from one of these two sources. I'll summarize what I know, but maybe @Retroheavy can add some more. 

Retroheavy's dad amassed a high grade Silver Age collection as a kid, primarily from a drug store chain called Briscoe's in Ottowa, Kansas. It's possible the "B" stands for "Briscoe", an easy way for the distributor to mark copies bound for those shops. Anyway, his dad and uncle would pick up new comics from that local chain and race another kid to the new comics each week. His uncle would sometimes have to buy comics off the other kid that he missed out on. That "other kid" was almost certainly the OO of a collection I bought about 12 years ago with the exact same "B" markings and distributor overspray. The other kid was cousin of a famous sci-fi writer (Harlan Ellison maybe?). Both Retroheavy's dad and the other OO were meticulous about condition. I got a bunch of super high grade books out of the collection I bought, including Thor 126 9.8, Batman 171 9.6, ASM 51 9.8, FF 52 9.6, Flash 139 9.6, etc. They were all sold off to fund some Gold purchases, but I have some left (and a few from Retro). A few were so fresh (like the Metamorpho 1 that came back 9.8) that the distributor overspray was uncracked...he had never read them. I think every book came back at least OW/W, with most coming back White. 

Pretty neat that there are two "B" collections out there, both kept beautifully by two kids pedaling furiously to the stores to beat the other to the new comics. I think it's a great story anyway and figured others (especially people who have these) would like to hear it. 

Retroheavy found a book written by the drug store owner's kid. 

https://www.amazon.com/Lessons-Back-Store-Gerald-Briscoe/dp/1532910983

I'll post a few from my collection, would love others to do the same. 

[october]

[october]

[Azkaban]

On 7/3/2023 at 11:58 AM, october said:

A few people have asked about comics with a cursive "B" on them from the Silver Age. If you are curious, your comic likely came from one of these two sources. I'll summarize what I know, but maybe @Retroheavy can add some more. 

Retroheavy's dad amassed a high grade Silver Age collection as a kid, primarily from a drug store chain called Briscoe's in Ottowa, Kansas. It's possible the "B" stands for "Briscoe", an easy way for the distributor to mark copies bound for those shops. Anyway, his dad and uncle would pick up new comics from that local chain and race another kid to the new comics each week. His uncle would sometimes have to buy comics off the other kid that he missed out on. That "other kid" was almost certainly the OO of a collection I bought about 12 years ago with the exact same "B" markings and distributor overspray. The other kid was cousin of a famous sci-fi writer (Harlan Ellison maybe?). Both Retroheavy's dad and the other OO were meticulous about condition. I got a bunch of super high grade books out of the collection I bought, including Thor 126 9.8, Batman 171 9.6, ASM 51 9.8, FF 52 9.6, Flash 139 9.6, etc. They were all sold off to fund some Gold purchases, but I have some left (and a few from Retro). A few were so fresh (like the Metamorpho 1 that came back 9.8) that the distributor overspray was uncracked...he had never read them. I think every book came back at least OW/W, with most coming back White. 

Pretty neat that there are two "B" collections out there, both kept beautifully by two kids pedaling furiously to the stores to beat the other to the new comics. I think it's a great story anyway and figured others (especially people who have these) would like to hear it. 

Retroheavy found a book written by the drug store owner's kid. 

https://www.amazon.com/Lessons-Back-Store-Gerald-Briscoe/dp/1532910983

I'll post a few from my collection, would love others to do the same. 

 I've seen those before and wondered what was up with the B

[mosconi]

On 7/3/2023 at 9:58 AM, october said:

A few people have asked about comics with a cursive "B" on them from the Silver Age. If you are curious, your comic likely came from one of these two sources. I'll summarize what I know, but maybe @Retroheavy can add some more. 

Retroheavy's dad amassed a high grade Silver Age collection as a kid, primarily from a drug store chain called Briscoe's in Ottowa, Kansas. It's possible the "B" stands for "Briscoe", an easy way for the distributor to mark copies bound for those shops. Anyway, his dad and uncle would pick up new comics from that local chain and race another kid to the new comics each week. His uncle would sometimes have to buy comics off the other kid that he missed out on. That "other kid" was almost certainly the OO of a collection I bought about 12 years ago with the exact same "B" markings and distributor overspray. The other kid was cousin of a famous sci-fi writer (Harlan Ellison maybe?). Both Retroheavy's dad and the other OO were meticulous about condition. I got a bunch of super high grade books out of the collection I bought, including Thor 126 9.8, Batman 171 9.6, ASM 51 9.8, FF 52 9.6, Flash 139 9.6, etc. They were all sold off to fund some Gold purchases, but I have some left (and a few from Retro). A few were so fresh (like the Metamorpho 1 that came back 9.8) that the distributor overspray was uncracked...he had never read them. I think every book came back at least OW/W, with most coming back White. 

Pretty neat that there are two "B" collections out there, both kept beautifully by two kids pedaling furiously to the stores to beat the other to the new comics. I think it's a great story anyway and figured others (especially people who have these) would like to hear it. 

Retroheavy found a book written by the drug store owner's kid. 

https://www.amazon.com/Lessons-Back-Store-Gerald-Briscoe/dp/1532910983

I'll post a few from my collection, would love others to do the same. 

It's really interesting to read and learn the history of these letters and codes! So your thoughts are these were written by the distributor and not the drug store employees who put them out for sale at the store?  All the "B's" appear to be written by different hands, so there was definitely some type of classification system in place for the books.  But if the distributor was writing a letter "B" for the Briscoe store, would they not also have been writing other letters on books for the various stores they shipped to besides Briscoe?  You would then have a different letter written on every book for every store in the distribution area.  Or maybe it's a distributor code written by the drug store employees representing the name of the distributor that unsold copies would be returned to?  It would be a fun mystery to solve and maybe Retroheavy can add more thoughts.  Very cool collecting story! 

[Sweet Lou 14]

Here's mine!  (Or what used to be mine.)

[october]

On 7/3/2023 at 1:40 PM, mosconi said:

It's really interesting to read and learn the history of these letters and codes! So your thoughts are these were written by the distributor and not the drug store employees who put them out for sale at the store?  All the "B's" appear to be written by different hands, so there was definitely some type of classification system in place for the books.  But if the distributor was writing a letter "B" for the Briscoe store, would they not also have been writing other letters on books for the various stores they shipped to besides Briscoe?  You would then have a different letter written on every book for every store in the distribution area.  Or maybe it's a distributor code written by the drug store employees representing the name of the distributor that unsold copies would be returned to?  It would be a fun mystery to solve and maybe Retroheavy can add more thoughts.  Very cool collecting story! 

I think distributors marked comics so that they knew where the returns came from, or maybe to code which comics should go where. The stripes on the top were a code so that they knew which to exchange on the sales rack when the comic's time was done. Someone else on here likely knows more and correct me if I am wrong. 

[BuscemasAvengers]

Not sure if this 'B' is the same as the others ...

[davidpg]

Here in Montreal we have a TON of comics with the B on the cover.  Here, the B stood for Benjamin News, the biggest local periodical distributer in the area back in the day. I have local OO collections from the 50s I've picked up as well as a ton of books I personally picked up off the racks myself in the 80s and they all have that same cursive B (I swear it must have been the same lady as the writing is the same ;) ).  

If anyone's interested I can dig some out and post pics.

[MattTheDuck]

I always figured it was a kid who did this.  I bought this book at an LCS in probably 1974 or 1975.