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Post by Farrar on Sept 9, 2016 12:27:20 GMT -5
... I remember going into another store & seeing a lot of the comics on the newsstand with the covers torn off; I'm sure there was a reason for this, but I always wondered who would want to buy comics without covers - and why a store would bother selling them like that... Way back when, during the Silver Age: I remember buying a coverless copy of Avengers #40 at a bodega across the street from my elementary school. The comic was about a year old at the time I bought it but since I was an Avengers fan who was into both current and back issues, I greedily snapped it up. I don't recall if I paid full price for it (twelve cents) or if it was discounted. And I never saw the issue's actual cover until a few years ago (thanks to the Essentials, online sites, etc.) There's plenty on this subject online, but briefly, back then retailers could get a refund/credit for unsold comics by returning the covers as proof that they hadn't sold the particular comic. However some retailers would then turn around and sell the coverless comic...to people like me!  |
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Post by rom on Sept 9, 2016 12:52:38 GMT -5
Good info. - Thanks. Fortunately, I only saw this happen at one newsstand - and, I didn't have any $ to buy comics that day anyway.
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Post by Red Oak Kid on Sept 9, 2016 16:15:56 GMT -5
Eventually it got to the point that distributors didn't have to return any portion of the comic. They just had to fill out a form listing the comics that did not sell and turn it in to the publisher for a refund.
This may explain a bag of comics I bought at a well known chain drug store in the early 70s. It was a plain plastic bag with three mint looking comics in it. It was sealed with two pieces of scotch tape. It had FF 107 and an issue of Tower of Shadows. There was one more comic that may have been a Charlton war comic.
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Post by Farrar on Sept 9, 2016 17:21:52 GMT -5
Eventually it got to the point that distributors didn't have to return any portion of the comic. They just had to fill out a form listing the comics that did not sell and turn it in to the publisher for a refund. That's right-- later on all that was required in terms of "proof" was an affidavit. Jim Shooter has a pretty interesting column on the distribution system and how it changed over the years: jimshooter.com/2011/11/comic-book-distribution.html/ |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2016 18:58:02 GMT -5
I had a lot of comics without covers that I picked up at flea markets before LCS existed.
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Post by Farrar on Sept 12, 2016 10:11:28 GMT -5
I mentioned Avengers #40 earlier as the only coverless comic I came across. Well, that was the only coverless comic I came across in a store selling new comics (although the issue was at least a year old when I bought it). But it hit me the other day that I did have another coverless comic, which I bought at the collectibles store on my block that sold back issues. Here's the first page of the comic in question:  You can see there's no indicia at the bottom of the page. So when I bought this I didn't have any idea where it fit in terms of the Fantastic Four chronology. I remember being impressed by the structure of the story: it began with the ending of one adventure--the Inhumans, capped by Johnny and Crystal's separation--and seamlessly moved right into a different adventure, the Watcher warning the FF about the impending menace of Galactus. I was familiar with these characters since I was a reader of the current FF comic, but this issue helped fill in their backstories for me. I figured out the issue number (#48) from the comic's Bullpen Bulletins checklist, but I didn't have any of the surrounding issues at the time. Over the next couple of years I picked up a lot of older FF issues, but this was the only one that was coverless. I never actually saw the cover of this until a few years ago, when I got back into comics after decades away. |
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Post by tingramretro on Sept 12, 2016 10:27:58 GMT -5
I had a lot of comics without covers that I picked up at flea markets before LCS existed. I stil have several coverless comics, bought from a local newsagent who'd strip the covers from unsolds and then sell them for a couple of pennies. This would have been in the mid to late 70s. A few years later on, he'd sell "out of date" comics whole, but with the covers marked with a black X, for half cover price. I have several like that, too, from the early 80s. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 12, 2016 10:35:16 GMT -5
I had a lot of comics without covers that I picked up at flea markets before LCS existed. I stil have several coverless comics, bought from a local newsagent who'd strip the covers from unsolds and then sell them for a couple of pennies. This would have been in the mid to late 70s. A few years later on, he'd sell "out of date" comics whole, but with the covers marked with a black X, for half cover price. I have several like that, too, from the early 80s. I heard of this before I consider it a no-no in my book and I hated people deface Comic Books like this and I would not buy them at all. I seen a lot of those in the early 80's and that's makes this one reader very mad when they do this sort of thing. This is defacing to the extremes ... |
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Post by tingramretro on Sept 12, 2016 10:57:11 GMT -5
I stil have several coverless comics, bought from a local newsagent who'd strip the covers from unsolds and then sell them for a couple of pennies. This would have been in the mid to late 70s. A few years later on, he'd sell "out of date" comics whole, but with the covers marked with a black X, for half cover price. I have several like that, too, from the early 80s. I heard of this before I consider it a no-no in my book and I hated people deface Comic Books like this and I would not buy them at all. I seen a lot of those in the early 80's and that's makes this one reader very mad when they do this sort of thing. This is defacing to the extremes ... It was thirty five years ago, Juggy. To the retailers and the majority of the buyers, these books were disposable entertainment for kids. If I was getting a Ghost Rider I hadn't read for half price, eleven year old me was happy, black X or no black X. After all, it meant I could pick up two comics for the price of one. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 12, 2016 11:25:08 GMT -5
I heard of this before I consider it a no-no in my book and I hated people deface Comic Books like this and I would not buy them at all. I seen a lot of those in the early 80's and that's makes this one reader very mad when they do this sort of thing. This is defacing to the extremes ... It was thirty five years ago, Juggy. To the retailers and the majority of the buyers, these books were disposable entertainment for kids. If I was getting a Ghost Rider I hadn't read for half price, eleven year old me was happy, black X or no black X. After all, it meant I could pick up two comics for the price of one. I know that and it's was aimed to the kids - but in the eyes of young adults and older it's not and I was 22 years old when this happen and this went on another 3-5 years in my area seeing these comics gets in that condition(s) and that's one of the many sore spots that I didn't like one bit. For you - I understand completely and knowing that you were very happy ... but in my eyes I wasn't. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2016 17:24:48 GMT -5
I don't remember coverless comics being sold in any of the retail outlets that I frequented, perhaps it had to do with location? I can see why the coverless comics would irritate you though Juggernaut. I had a somewhat similar experience with my local comic shop in the early 80's, all of the comics that were put in the 25 cent bins were mutilated by taking a magic marker and drawing a line across the cover! I hated that!!
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