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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.)
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