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| © Marvel 1973. Photo by Jon Browne |
Having been interested in the history of UK price variant editions of both DC and Marvel for many years, I was surprised to see a post by Jon Browne in the London Loves Comics Facebook group which highlighted a page in the UK-price variant of Daredevil #101, July 1973 which had a full-page ad for Mighty World of Marvel and Spider-Man Comics Weekly.  |
| © Marvel. The only ad for UK editions in a UK Price Variant |
Was this the only time that more than the price, indicia and minor cover changes had been made to the print-run of a US Marvel comic? I searched out my US copy of Daredevil #101 and the same page contained an ad for the Marvel B&W magazine Haunt of Horror. See below. |
| © Marvel. Same ad page from US edition of DD #101. |
Question: are there any other US Marvel comics with entire pages replaced with an ad for the UK weeklies? I wonder why it was done. Obviously the Haunt of Horror was not on sale in the UK, but that never made Marvel replace other ads for ND (Non-Distributed) issues. Perhaps the 1970 prosecution under the terms of the UK 1955 Children and Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act made Marvel err on the safe side.
According to Wikipedia, the Children and Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act 1955 banned the printing or sale of any publication which "consists wholly or mainly of stories told in pictures" that portrayed "(a) the commission of crimes; or (b) acts of violence or cruelty; or (c) incidents of a repulsive or horrible nature; in such a way that the work as a whole would tend to corrupt a child or young person into whose hands it might fall".
What's interesting is that the ad for SMCW contains the figures used on the cover of the first issue. (Spidey by Steve Ditko, and Thor by John Romita, unless I'm very much mistaken.)
ReplyDeleteYes, Kid. Good point. Also, the spelling of "neighbourhood" in the ad has the "U" us in the UK spelling, which indicates that someone from Marvel UK produced the page in question. I no longer have any 6p UK price variants of Marvel comics from July 1973....do you have any issues from that period that you could peruse to see if other issues have the same ad?
ReplyDeleteToo much of a task to dig 'em all out and look through them, B, but when I did MWOM and SMCW cover galleries a few years back, I included all the ads and pin-ups, so if Marvel UK published the same ad, it'll be on the blog somewhere. Even if they didn't do the exact same one, it's likely there were similar ads. I'll take a look through the SMCW posts and see what I can find.
DeleteJust realised you meant US mags with UK prices, not the weeklies. (Brain fog.) I don't think I've seen the ad in any of my US comics, though I probably saw it back in the day. I'll keep an eye out for it when I'm browsing.
DeleteJust waiting for this ish to arrive, B - bought it via eBay just recently, after responding to your query.
DeleteFollowing some research by various contributors over at the CGC forum, it appears that of all the July 1973 comics which have UK prices, only four have the MWOM and SMCW ad (DD #101, FF #136, Hulk #165 and Thor #213). The remaining comics seem to still contain US ads. There appears to be no rhyme or reason to the choice of comics, and so far no-one has identified MWOM/SMCW ads in other months.
DeletePerhaps the UK versions of the four comics above will acquire a price premium?
Comic arrived today, B, and as I perused its contents, a dim memory resurfaced from the cavernous confines of my brain. Although I can't recall if it was this ad, I remember seeing an ad for UK weeklies in a US mag back in the early '70s. I was in Glasgow that day with a cousin and had bought a few US comics (Swamp Thing #2 being one of them) and I recollect seeing an ad for MWOM and/or SMCW in one of the Marvel mags I'd purchased. Can't remember which mag, nor whether it was a full-page or half-page ad, but I definitely saw it. Which leads me to wonder if it was this ad or a different one I saw? Perhaps time will tell, eh? I don't bother too much about a comic's monetary value (except when I have to pay through the nose for one), it's just the thrill of ownership that rings my bell.
DeleteInteresting stuff I don't recall seeing UK Marvel ads in US comics although I don't have any of those 4 comics you mentioned Ian. I checked a few 1973 titles I have with pence covers and they have the US ads.
ReplyDelete