Comic Book Resources

There '9d' in the box is also an indication-- it's the price, which is, in pre-decimal British currency (and notation for currency), 9 pence.

The Man of Steel covers predate (but not by much) Marvel's Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21 -- the wedding issue (hey remember when Peter & MJ were married?!?) which featured 50/50 covers of featuring Spider, heroes and villains on one, and Peter and the supporting characters on the other. I wonder if that was in fact Marvel's first stab at the alternate cover game -- anyone know for sure?

Here's a dumb question related to the UK versions: back during the 60s -- before email/computer/fax took hold -- how did Marvel get their artwork over to UK to be published at the same time as the US versions? Did they just mail the finished/inked/colored pages overseas and time their print runs together? Must've taken a lot of coordination back then.

The US/UK thing has sparked many an argument at my local comic conventions as to which is worth more, th "original" american edition, or the "lower print-run" UK version.

Here’s a dumb question related to the UK versions: back during the 60s — before email/computer/fax took hold — how did Marvel get their artwork over to UK to be published at the same time as the US versions? Did they just mail the finished/inked/colored pages overseas and time their print runs together? Must’ve taken a lot of coordination back then.

I doubt it would have been original artwork (after all, it's not just the UK a publisher might reprint in-- they also reprinted across Europe and the southern hemisphere) . Either proofs or printing plates would have been shipped. And they would have been far from published concurrently with US publication. It might be months sometimes years after American publication. So the coordination isn't quite as intense as you might have thought.
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What I'd like to know is whether DC had a British repackager the same way Marvel did. Certainly any DC comics I've collected from the 60s from Britain (that have orginated there) simply was the original US comic book with a "9d" stamped on it to indicate the British price.

I think the first UK editions I ever owned were a Jungle Action set I bought off an eBay seller 3 or so years ago. When I opened them up, I think I was half-expected to see that the ads were by British merchants ... which of course wasn't the case. Did U.S. advertisers have to pay for listings that only readers across the pond would see? I'm presuming not ...

hey remember when Peter & MJ were married?!?

No, can't remember this.
It's like someone erased it from my memory.

Variant covers go back nearly as far as comics themselves, but I'm not so sure you would consider these true variants. Walt Disney Comics and Stories #4 (January, 1941) had a variant cover with "Complimentary Copy Not to be Sold" printed on the covers, that was sent to subscribers of the Mickey Mouse Magazine only. Then there were all of the price variants Marvel tested in 1976 & 1977. In 1979 & 1980, Whitman reprinted many titles from a variety of publishers with a Whitman logo replacing the original publisher's logo. In 1986, Silverwolf published variant covers for Tim Vigil's Grips with different coloring.

But I don't think we see variant covers with significantly different cover art until Man of Steel #1 (June, 1986) and Fury of Firestorm #61 and Justice League #3 (July, 1987) and Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21 (August, 1987).

The real question is when will The Last Variant Cover be printed?

Did the UK print *all* of Marvel's titles, or just a selection? Could Britons buy, for instance, Thorpe & Porter, Ltd. editions of MILLIE THE MODEL or TWO-GUN KID?

Dr. Strange?? I assume this one pre-dates the more famous one. So, whatever happened to this Iron Man villain?

This Dr. Strange predates the more familiar Master of the Mystic arts by only two months (but there was an unrelated Dr. Strange in the '40s that Alan Moore recently revived as a parallel-earth Tom Strong). A

s far as I know this particular Dr. Strange has never been seen again, which would make him an extreme rarity among Marvel characters.

There ‘9d’ in the box is also an indication– it’s the price, which is, in pre-decimal British currency (and notation for currency), 9 pence.

Right, hence me saying "The dates and the prices on the covers would be changed"

Variant covers go back nearly as far as comics themselves, but I’m not so sure you would consider these true variants. Walt Disney Comics and Stories #4 (January, 1941) had a variant cover with “Complimentary Copy Not to be Sold” printed on the covers, that was sent to subscribers of the Mickey Mouse Magazine only. Then there were all of the price variants Marvel tested in 1976 & 1977. In 1979 & 1980, Whitman reprinted many titles from a variety of publishers with a Whitman logo replacing the original publisher’s logo. In 1986, Silverwolf published variant covers for Tim Vigil’s Grips with different coloring.

Oh yeah, totally, David, I should have been clearer there.

There have been different covers done of books for years - just not in the sense, as you note, that Tom was asking about.

Heck, one funny thing a lot of indie comics did in the 70s would be that they would create a new cover for an issue every time it sold out!

David, my understanding, gleaned from price guides over the years, was that ASM Annual #21 wasn't a 505/50 split, rather the Spidey cover was for newstands and Peter Parker was for the direct market (where readers were more likely to recognize spidey out of costume).

Being a UK resident quite a few of my comics from the 1960's have the British price marked on. Some like the example you give, some with just an ink stamp with the price (not nice at all!) and, later (in the 1970's), even the banner at the top was changed to "Marvel All Colour Comics" - not "Marvel Comic Group"

I'm sure that I read in a UK price guide that these comics were printed at the same time and place as the US versions but near the end of the print run the cover plates were changed. They were they sent over to the UK by boat, which explains why we used to get them quite a bit later than they were on sale in the US. Ironically, closer to the cover date!

I'm surprised to read that you think that they were printed in the UK.

It's also noteworthy that the Man of Steel #1 "S-Shield" Cover was only available in comic shops, whereas the "Exploding Krypton" cover was available in both retail and direct market shtores.

I’m surprised to read that you think that they were printed in the UK.

I don't think that. I said in the piece "they were printed at the same time," just at a smaller print run, as you note.

Sorry , you're right. I didn't pick that up reading the above first time. Perils of reading the blog quickly when at work and wanting to fire-off a comment!

I dunno. I guess it depends on your classification for alternate artwork. Whether it was totally different art or art done by another artist or whatnot. There was a promotional comic way back in the 40's. Superman's Christmas Adventure. A good number of them had 1 set of artwork done, but another set have slightly different points of articulation. I bought 2 of them (not back in 1940, but online.) 1 I got was a Royal Crown cola copy and the other was a Boston Store copy. They were both manufactured same time, but have slightly different artwork. It's close enough that if you don't check it out really good, you might think it's the same. But, the S on his chest and especially his feet and legs were not drawn the same at all. Plus, his face is a bit different too. Anyways, there's probably something even before that, but that's about the earliest that I have seen so far.

I dunno. I guess it depends on your classification for alternate artwork.

Yep, that's true.