This comic doesn’t exist

There never was a UK edition of World’s Finest 180 (or a UK price variant for that matter).

And despite the blurb telling you to order DC comics in this advert from 1968 it was something I never managed to do despite having a friendly neighbourhood newsagent at the time. A request to deliver Superman and Action Comics every month as well as my weekly “Pow” fell on deaf ears. It seems it was just too complicated for him as individual titles weren’t available to be ordered via the Thorpe and Porter rep. The newsagent received a monthly assortment of comics that may or may not include the latest Superman (but usually did) and an added complication was that most 1960s DC titles were published 8 or 9 times per year rather than the far more logical 12 times a year as would have been the norm here in the UK.

As I was in competion with a few other local “comic collectors” in those days I often had to cycle round every shop within a three mile radius that posessed a spinner rack to get the titles I required. Still, in hindsight, all that exercise and spending all my pocket money on comics rather than sweets perhaps wasn’t that bad a lifestyle.

No comic code stamps??

I’ve often wondered how this comic code approval stuff actually worked. Wikipedia says the CCA allowed comic publishers to self-regulate their content. So didn’t the comic companies actually submit every comic for approval every month to some offices where teams of people read them from cover to cover to see if they were considered safe to print? But there must have been someone somewhere deciding what words could/couldn’t be used as comicbook titles and later relaxing some restrictions and allowing certain words/subjects previously prohibited to be used as time went on.

In 1971 it was considered a big thing that Amazing Spider-Man 96, 97 and 98 were published WITHOUT the approval of the Comic Code in the top corner. Stan was considered brave in not getting the story re-written/re-drawn to remove the subplot of drug taking. But it seems Marvel had been asked by the Dept of Health Education and Welfare if they could do a story showing that taking drugs wasn’t such a good idea. They thought kids would take more notice of a story in their favourite comic than of a worthy but boring poster or a TV advert.

One day I hope to catalogue ALL of the comics I own most of which are currently boxed up completely randomly. I opened a box the other day and came across issues 96 and 97. No 98!! Did I ever own a copy? A quick look at eBay and copies are changing hands for £100. So I bought Marvel Tales 191 instead which squeezes reprints of all three issues into the one comic. Although the Marvel Tales 191 Direct edition doesn’t have a CCA seal of approval the newsstand version does despite being unabridged according to the cover.

These three issues had already been reprinted in Marvel Tales 77, 78 and 79. Those comics also have the comic code seal of approval on the covers. Had the storyline now become acceptable just a few years after the original issues or have the comics been abridged in some way to enable them to get code approval? Looks like it’s back to eBay to buy them too to satisfy my curiosity.

IW Super comics

Israel blah Waldman blah unauthorized reprints blah circa 1958 yawn comic printing plates yadda yadda Golden Age mutter mutter. Odd numbering three packs more words again circa 1964 blah blah Super seal some new original covers see the Interweb to research these 332 comics across 118 different titles.

There don’t seem many of these comics around in high grade, not that it matters much to me. I just like to own, look at the covers of, sometimes read, sometimes chuck in the bin, those comics by smaller more obscure publishers that aren’t *yawn* Marvel comics.

Originally sold in packs of three (?) and distributed by different means rather than the usual way and possibly found in shops that didn’t normally sell comics. Were the IW/Super comics that made it to the UK also sold in packs? Perhaps not as this particular issue bears a Len Miller price stamp. Although I must say that I’ve seen a fair number of IW/Super comics over the years and this is the only one I’ve ever seen with a UK price stamp. 

Comics sold in bags of three/four/five were quite a thing in the States. Not so much here. Although I do recall buying packs of Gold Key comics in department stores in the 1960s. I always was wary that although the comic on the front may look interesting I could easily be saddled with Cowboy/Romance/Funny Animal comics that I had no interest in for the rest of the selection. 

Only saving one cent and buying comics blind doesn’t seem that great a deal to me but at least DC do tell you on the bag what you’re likely to find inside.

 

 

Alan Austin

People of a certain age (ie: me) bought comics from (and sold comics to) Alan Austin in the 1970s. I think he’s right that there were probably only a couple of hundred “serious” comic collectors in the UK in the early 1970s and his mail order lists were received by many of them. He was perhaps the first full time comic dealer here in the UK, starting at a very young age, but later moved away from comics into the book trade. But he kept a love for comics eventually writing this little book about his early years. Recently published four years after his death it is a fitting tribute to a nice guy.

I can’t say I totally agree with his assertion that adults only collect the comics they recall from when they were children. Yes I recently purchased Wham number 1 out of nostalgia but have no desire to revisit the 100s of Beanos and Valiants that came through the letterbox weekly. I think Marvel and DC comics from the 1960s onwards grew up as their readers did.

Alan Austin 1955 – 2017