Tuesday, 20 December 2022

IT'S A DATE - OR IS IT?


Copyright relevant owner

Heads up, heroes.  As almost everyone and their granny knows, UK weekly comics are usually dated up to seven days in advance in order to give them a week's shelf-life (or close to it) until the next issue goes on sale.  Sometimes, though, it was only a few days, and to confound matters further for historians, the above issue (as an example) is cover-listed as going on sale on Wednesday, but the cover-date of the 13th was a Saturday.  Confusing, eh?

So here's a question for serious comics historians,  TV Century 21 #1 is dated January 23rd, but I seem to recall reading somewhere that it went on sale around the 18th or 19th, which isn't a full week.  Number 43 is dated November 13th, but I recollect buying it on or just before the 8th, which, if so, would mean that the comic had by then adopted a longer delay between its on sale date and the cover date.

I'm trying to pin down precisely which house I was living in when I first bought it, so is there anyone out there who knows (or knows how to find out) whether this issue went on sale before or after November 8th?  I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can assist.

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8 comments:

  1. Pete Hale20 December 2022 at 16:59

    I guess you're a big fan of supermarionation?

    Some good art has been posted too! No lines!

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  2. Kid20 December 2022 at 20:11

    I'm certainly a fan of some of the comic strips (based on Supermarionation shows) which I read as a kid, BH. The art in them by some of Britain's finest was fantastic.

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  3. McSCOTTY20 December 2022 at 21:51

    I would never be able to recall the day I purchased any comic Kid so I am less than useless on this one, sorry. But wouldn't the year alone be a hint as to what house you lived in at the time or was this the week/ month you moved?

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  4. Kid21 December 2022 at 01:03

    Well, the year of the comic is 2065 so it's not much help, McS, as I wasn't born yet. (Yes, I know - that makes no sense.) We moved that very week, and I've always associated that issue with the previous house, but if it came out after the 8th (when we flitted) then my memory is playing tricks as then I couldn't have bought it until after we'd moved into our new abode. So I'm just trying to narrow things down and pinpoint which house I was in at the time.

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  5. Colin Jones22 December 2022 at 13:32

    I was still in the womb at that time and I'd never heard of TV Century 21 until I started reading your blog, Kid, so I can't comment on that issue but on the subject of magazines, I haven't bought the Radio Times Christmas Double-Issue this year and it'll be my first Christmas without the Xmas RT since about 1974. I hadn't intended to not buy it but due to a huge distribution blunder my local Tesco has no copies. My local WH Smith's closed in 2014 and I can't be bothered trudging around trying to find a newsagents that might have the Radio Times double-issue so here ends an unbroken annual festive tradition that stretched back to childhood!

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  6. Kid22 December 2022 at 18:28

    With perhaps one or two exceptions, I haven't bought the Christmas Radio Times for years and years. I used to buy both Radio Times and TV Times out of habit every year, but it could well have been the '90s when I stopped buying them. (Having said that, I may have bought the Millennium editions.)

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  7. baggsey22 December 2022 at 19:23

    I'm always trying to track down specific dates of events in the past, Kid, so understand your desire to nail this down. My thinking is that you need to find a newspaper or trade magazine archive that has a TV21 ad saying "in your newsagents every ....".
    I looked at the British Newspaper archive index and found an article in the Birmingham Daily Post for Tuesday 23rd Feb 1965 headed "The Serious Business of Comics". The snippet of the article highlighted in the index says ",,,,The newest arrival in the field, TV Century 21. published by the British concessionaries for Yogi Bear and Huckleberry Hound. features Stingray. Supercar, The Daleks ..."

    I have no idea if the article contains the info you need, or enough info to make an educated guess, but you'll need to cough up a few quid for a month's subscription to find out.

    Here's the link https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/search/results?basicsearch=%2b%22tv%20century%2021%22&phrasesearch=tv%20century%2021&retrievecountrycounts=false&sortorder=dayearly

    I'm sure the info is out there somewhere. Maybe there is a discussion forum around this similar to the Thorpe & Porter discussions on the CGC boards. https://boards.cgccomics.com/topic/432413-thorpe-and-porter-stamps/

    Good luck! And Happy Christmas!

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  8. Kid22 December 2022 at 19:55

    Thanks for that, B, I'll maybe do as you suggest in the New Year. In the meantime, comics historian (and all sorts of other comics-related things) Steve Holland suggests that the comic went on sale on Wednesday 10th, though was dated for the weekend (13th), and that seems more than likely. Sometimes, though, there may have been a little flexibility in distribution and I cling to the possibility that it may have gone on sale on the 8th, which would explain why I associate it more with one house than the other. (I flitted on the 8th, so may have bought it at the newsagent's around the corner from my old house before moving to my new one.)

    And a Merry Christmas and a great 2023 to you.

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