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

Yep, that’s true.

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.

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.

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!

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”

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

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).

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

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.

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.