Kid Colt #119 - a rara avis

© 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.