No, I'm Not Ordering A Burger!! (Update On Alan Class UK Reprints AND New 'Double Double' Comics!) This is compiled from two e-mails received from an UK eBayer that introduced the Alan Class series of reprints to our blog. The previous post is linked here. Here are his recent e-mails to us. (First e-mail presented here:) Hi,
I read your blog and it was nice to see the Alan Class genre highlighted by yourselves. It brings to the forum a whole wide rangeing aspect to comics and their history. Alan Class is a logistical minefield and tracking down which original issues featured in the reprints is an even harder task. As a quick note I tracked down several copies which featured the covers of original marvel greats such as Fantastic Four #1 and Tales of Suspense #39.
I even came across a bunch of UK bound comics, which I had initially thought were reprints similar to Alan Class. (A new can of worms opening up here). These are Called 'Adventure Double Double Comics'. Originally priced at 10p so Im guessing early seventies here (as their is no publisher info or any info to be precise). Looks to me like a whole bunch of Silver Age US origin comics were bought up, covers removed and put into these sort of DC Annual editions. I am pretty sure that these are NOT reprints. One of the examples has complete comics of: Adventure Comics 368, Worlds Finest 175, Wonder Woman 163 and Aquaman 28. I'll let you know of any more info I dig up. (The second e-mail follows:) Looked into the Double Double Comics a bit more. Thorpe & Porter (A UK distributor) who repackaged a lot of old US Golden age comics, were later bought out by DC, to act as their sole distributor to the UK. Any of the unsold DC comics were then removed from their covers and repackaged into these 'bumper' value comics.
The interesting thing about this is, as Ive just found out, each one was unique (say Batman Double Double Comics Number 3) having a random selection of comics put into a glue bound cover. One copy could have say, Batman 172,189,191 and possibly a Detective Comics in there for good measure, whilst the same issue could have four different Batman related comics!!
I've rummaged around and found that the occasional Marvel, or other publishing house comic could find its way in there by accident!! Along with this I've noted several different versions of this (I could write a book about this area of comic collecting), Justice League Double Double, Action Comics Double Double, Batman Double Double, Adventure Double Double, Superman Double Double & Jimmy Olsen Double Double so far. I'm suspecting that titles such as Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Superboy, Aquaman, Brave & Bold etc would be found in some of these issues. These in my opinion are rather scarce, given the fact that British Collectors would shy away from such comics. As Ive mentioned with Alan Class getting a little revival, I've a feeling these too will gain added interest. Primarily due to the fact that these are not reprints. They are unique in the fact that DC sanctioned what could effectively be seen as more than an 80 page Giant (some I believe have these in them!!). It's opened new avenues as a collector and puts me I suppose in a frame of 'Historian'. Imagine, these books could contain gems which are out of reach for a lot of collectors. Original cover or not, the original story pages are there!
What a wonderful thing comics are!!!
Regards,
Des (Desmond Jukes / United Kingdom / fortunefaded72@hotmail.com)
Des is definitely right in that comics are a wonderful thing! There are the beginnings of a Alan Class publications revival at eBay.com (USA), as can be seen in that there are currently 10 auction listings listed ! Thank you Des for bringing these updates to our attention, and your permission to post them in this blog!! We at Make It So Marketing usually have several of the original publications the Alan Class reprints reproduced for sale in our eBay Featured Store. However they are not categorized (separated) as Alan Class source materials. You would have to just search our listings. To do so just click on the top right comic book cover to view all of our store listings to see if we have it in stock for you. Thanks for reading this popular culture - comics - comic books blog post and feel free to post your comment below! Michael |  Above is an example of the Alan Class UK reprint publications. This 'Creepy Worlds' title has The Phantom featured on the cover! The Alan Class UK reprints are in black and white and worth checking out!  Above is another example of the Alan Class UK reprint publications. This 'Sinister Tales' title has Mandrake the Magician featured on the cover! The Alan Class UK reprints are in black and white and worth checking out for a less expensive avenue of reading the original stories!   Note From Make It So Marketing: Each comic / comics book or magazine in our eBay Featured Store is individually graded, inventoried, priced, bagged and boarded, before being listed for sale! We attend several pop culture and comic books conventions during the year to replenish our inventory for resale!  For information on this past year's 2007 SDCC SAN DIEGO COMIC CON INTERNATIONAL just click on the Photo Above! Thank YOU for being one of our |
d'oh
a-ok
caffeinated