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| © Marvel |
The comic you see before you is a rara avis indeed.
Neither this particular comic, nor any other copies, ever appeared in the spinner racks of newsagents in the UK or drug stores in the US in the late months of 1964.
The eagle-eyed among you will have noticed that the comic - Kid Colt #119 - is the UK-variant edition, printed as usual by World Color Press in Sparta as part of the US print-run, but never shipped to the UK. I don’t believe that Duncan McAlpine’s Comic Price Guide for the UK has it tagged as ND (Non-distributed in the UK), but that it surely was.
Here’s the story, as related by friend of this blog @malacoda, corroborated by @Get Marwood & I.
Up until Sept 1st 1964, all Marvel comics printed in the US for Thorpe & Porter distributors to be shipped to the UK were printed with a price of “9d” (nine old pence) and with the cover month removed. After Sept 1st 1964, all Marvel comics heading to the UK were US cents copies, and the comics were hand-stamped with the prevailing UK price upon arrival in the UK.
Why did this occur? The most likely explanation is that in the run-up to the 1964 General Election, the topic of increasing import duties was mooted, and Thorpe & Porter decided they needed the flexibility to price their comics closer to home in the UK to cope with potential upcoming import duties. So they notified World Color Press to cease printing 9d on comics destined for the UK. But the run of Kid Colt #119 had already been printed with the old price - 9d - but had not yet been shipped.
For whatever reason, the batch of 9d Kid Colt #119s were never shipped to the UK, as World Color Press switched to shipping US cents comics, and the cents version of Kid Colt #120 appeared on UK shores.
Thorpe & Porter subsequently decided to increase the price of Marvels sold in the UK to 10d, and the run of Kid Colt #119 languished in a warehouse somewhere in the US.
At some point - probably years later - the batch of UK Price Variant Kid Colt #119s eventually surfaced, and found their way into the collector’s market.
Which is why pretty much every Kid Colt #119 with a UK price is in very good nick. It was never in a spinner rack.
Take a look on eBay for a 9d copy - they’re all for sale in the US. I picked up this beauty a few months back. Some great Kirby artwork in the backup story. Stan Lee wrote the main story, illustrated by Jack Keller. I’m not aware of any critiques of Stan Lee’s Western tales?
H'm, this post is now showing in my bloglist as being published 10 hours ago, but has only just not long appeared - strange. Anyway, that is indeed a rare item, B, so well done on acquiring it for your collection. I'm known in some circles under a similar name - Kid C**t, Outlaw. Not fair, is it?
ReplyDeleteYou must move in some dodgy circles, Kid :-) . Strange that you didn't get notification of the new blog....perhaps Google just run an overnight batch notification job these days. I suspect that the days of blogger are numbered, and Google has little interest in investing in it.
DeleteIt's strange, 'cos sometimes when I click on an advertised post on Mark Evanier's blog in my bloglist, there can be one or two new posts which aren't what I clicked on. Whereas, with McS's blog, new posts don't show on my bloglist or his blog until hours later. I hope Blogger doesn't expire 'cos I'd have nothing to occupy my time if it did - apart from more dozing.
DeleteReally interesting post Ian and a rare find indeed. Was the actual story ever published anywhere else like a collection etc?
ReplyDeleteMy last post actually took 3 days to appear on all other blogs. I read on a few Google/ blogger sites where it stated that isn't uncommon so I just waited to see when it would appear. Like yourself, I think bloggers days are numbered.
According to Mike's Amazing World of Comics, the story "The Saga of Bassett the Badman" was reprinted in Mighty Marvel Western #10 as well as in Kid Colt's own comic #195 in 1975. I'll scan a couple of pages and update the blog in a few days time.
DeleteHave added a couple of pages of artwork to the Kid Colt post, Paul. Some powerful Kirby stuff in the backup story.
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