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| © Columbia / Sony pictures. Lionel Stander reads Batman #189 |
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| © DC Comics. Batman #189, cd Feb 1967 |
Returning to the topic of how long it took DC comics in the 1960s and 1970s to arrive in British newsagents, I recently watched the sixties film A Dandy in Aspic, a spy yarn starring Laurence Harvey, filmed on location in London and Berlin. In minute 25, we are treated to an image of actor Lionel Stander reading a copy of Batman #189 "Fright of the Scarecrow", cover date Feb 1967, while sat in a car in Cable Street) in London's East End), with St. Mary's Church, Johnson Street in the background.
Now, according to Mike's, Batman #189 hit US stands on December 6th 1966.
According to The Kinematograph Weekly, 25 February 1967, production on A Dandy in Aspic had just begun ‘on location in the East End of London.’ Other reports mention that production had moved to Docklands by 28th Feb for location work with Laurence Harvey, and all London location work was complete by April 9th 1967, before the production moved to Berlin. The crew was tied up with filming Mia Farrow's scenes in central London from March 25th onwards.
We cannot see if the comic Stander is holding has a T&P stamp, but as Stander was an American exile in Europe at this time, we can assume the comic was not a special import.
Anyway, it would appear that Batman #189 was likely filmed around 25th Feb 1967 (81 days after US publication), but potentially as late as April 8th 1967 (123 days after US publication). Based on the notes I made in the mid 1970s on when DC comics appeared on British spinner racks, the quickest I'd seen a comic turn up was 107 days after US publication (Superman #277), with a mean in the region of 145 days, with some late stragglers (Black Magic #1 at 247 days).
Even if the Batman comic in the movie was 123 days after publication, that would be very fast for a comic to arrive in the pre-containerization era.
Did any of you keep track of when specific DC comics arrived in our shops back in the sixties?
Many years ago, someone gave me that comic, which was battered to b*ggery, and even my attentions couldn't improve it too much. (Still got it.) I remember buying Avengers #89 in Largs in, I think, June or July of 1971, and it was cover-dated June, the indicia saying 1971, though it would've been published in March in the US. For a US comic to be on sale in the UK so soon after publication was quite a surprise. I couldn't swear to it, but I don't think that happened too often.
ReplyDeleteI remember getting Batman #189 as either my first or second Batman comic sometime in 1967, Kid. Long gone now, although a quick re-read confirmed my memory that the artwork inside was awful when compared to the Dick Sprang artwork from the 1950s which turned up in the Batman 80-page Giants of the same era.
DeleteThanks for the reminiscences of Avengers #89 and the date it appeared. Do you still have that comic? It would be interesting to know if it had a 1/- price or 5p price either printed on it, or if there was a T&P stamp.
Yeah, the artwork was awful and didn't match that of the cover - something that happened a lot with Batman at this time. I think I was given my copy by an acquaintance sometime in the '90s.
DeleteAs for Avengers #89, I don't have my original, but I've got a replacement I bought (must be) decades ago now. Yes, it's got a T&P stamp on it. If you type Avengers #89 into my blog's search box, you should be able to see it along with a few variations of the cover.