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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 135442
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| Posted: 14 August 2018 at 4:24am | IP Logged | 1
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None of you remember the "six-packs" that used to be seen in some mom&pop stores? Half a dozen random issues in a plastic bag, all with the logos torn off?
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Doug Centers
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 February 2014
Location: United States
Posts: 5774
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| Posted: 14 August 2018 at 4:57am | IP Logged | 2
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I used to see stacks and stacks of coverless comics at the Flea market years ago. I didn't understand why anyone would tear all those covers off until decades later.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 135442
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| Posted: 14 August 2018 at 5:51am | IP Logged | 3
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For those who don't know, when comics were distributed thru venues before the rise of the DSM, unsold issues were "returnable". But what that meant was the cover (or just the logo) would be torn off and sent back to the publishers. The idea was that the books themselves would go to the dump, or be destroyed.In theory.
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Greg McPhee
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 25 August 2004
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 5160
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| Posted: 14 August 2018 at 7:27am | IP Logged | 4
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That's interesting. I had always assumed that the sales went sky high during the Claremont / Smith era, but it appears moreso with the Claremont / Romita, Jr. period.
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Eric Sofer
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 31 January 2014
Location: United States
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| Posted: 14 August 2018 at 9:38am | IP Logged | 5
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Mr. Byrne, I occasionally frequented a book store near where my father worked. On the odd days I worked with him, I'd visit it, as there was a display table COVERED with such books in neat stacks. They were a nickel each or six for a quarter, and it was very obvious that someone had just taken stacks of unsold comics and used a box knife to remove the logos... because sometimes the first few pages were also bisected. :)
I did not care. I was young enough to want to read the books, and smart enough to figure out which book it was by the index on the first page. Ah, good times... and they still re-read just fine, save for a partial cover.
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Rebecca Jansen
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 12 February 2018
Location: Canada
Posts: 4560
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| Posted: 14 August 2018 at 9:59am | IP Logged | 6
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My Mom used to tell me about nickel comics and for years insisted that she never paid ten cents for comics in the late '40s and early '50s. With my first Price Guide I tried to show her she must be wrong because the only 5 cent comic listed had Bulletman in the early '40s and she'd never bought that one.
I found out Mom was right, she was buying comics with the top third of the covers ripped off. Plus her Donald Ducks might've all been the Canadian editions anyway on top of that, and she may've bought some British comics that were very thin and could've had a five cent price put on them.
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Joe Smith
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 29 August 2004
Location: United States
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| Posted: 14 August 2018 at 12:19pm | IP Logged | 7
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I should’ve made it clear in my initial post up above, but, there were
months worth of stacks of comics in the loading dock. Jerry told me the
driver refused to take them, telling him to throw them away or sell them
himself if he wanted. The driver only took the logo that was ripped off
the top.
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Robbie Parry
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 June 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 12185
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| Posted: 14 August 2018 at 1:26pm | IP Logged | 8
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That Comicchron website is interesting, Robert! Might follow them via social media!
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Joe S. Walker
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 611
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| Posted: 14 August 2018 at 1:45pm | IP Logged | 9
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I remember as a kid seeing paperback books with a notice that said “This book is not to be sold in a torn or mutilated condition” and wondering why it was there - who’d buy a book that was torn or mutilated?
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Nathan Greno
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Joined: 20 April 2006
Location: United States
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| Posted: 14 August 2018 at 2:08pm | IP Logged | 10
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JB: None of you remember the "six-packs" that used to be seen in some mom&pop stores? Half a dozen random issues in a plastic bag, all with the logos torn off?
---
Yep. Had a bunch of those. One of the few ways I could find back issues before our town had a comic shop.
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Eric White
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 October 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 1085
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| Posted: 14 August 2018 at 2:49pm | IP Logged | 11
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None of you remember the "six-packs" that used to be seen in some mom&pop stores? Half a dozen random issues in a plastic bag, all with the logos torn off?
======================
I did see them when I was a kid but only when my family traveled to Chicago to visit my Aunt. All the local mom and pop shops in her vicinity were selling them. In the suburb where I grew up I never saw those six packs for sale.
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Jeffrey Rice
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 10 September 2011
Location: United States
Posts: 1161
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| Posted: 14 August 2018 at 5:21pm | IP Logged | 12
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Supersnipe used to "throw out" the coverless books into a two-for-a-penny bin.
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