Make It So Marketing's Comics And Pop Culture Blog

Seeing 'Double Double' !

(Update On Alan Class UK Reprints AND New 'Double Double' Comics!)

This Is 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!!

(continued top of next column...)

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
 
Alan Class Reprint Sources! 

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!  

 

Alan Class Reprint Sources! 

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!  

 

 

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saenzmom
Howdy Doooooo! Nekkid Chicken dancing through. 14,652
Aug-30-07 10:05:24 PDT Report this comment
make_it_so_marketing
saenzmom: Just looked back in to our blog post, and see two more
danced thru since you!!

Thanks for waltzing by!!!!
Aug-30-07 10:08:15 PDT Report this comment
qualitywarrior
Before it becomes accepted lore (because it's on the internet, so it must be true) I'm afraid I must disagree with Des. Having worked for Thorpe & Porter in the 1970s, let me assure you they were NOT bought by DC Comics. They imported US titles immediately after the sanction was lifted (beginning with Nov 1959 cover dates) and continued to do so until they went into liquidation around 1995. They had prior to that created 68 page b&w reprint titles as a way around the embargo, but of 1950s titles not Golden Age. Reprints being primarily, but not exclusively Atlas/Marvel and DC. As a distributor they were wonderful... they brought in EVERYTHING for national federated distribution, Charltons, Archies, Harveys, Tower, DC and -- when they were reborn -- Marvel, following their importing those hokey Atlas monster titles. Sadly, by the 1990s they were down to DC only and with new management, sticking huge ugly (und unremoveable) barcode labels on them, making the returns useless to the dealers who had previous gobbled them up at cost price.
The Double-Double Comics referred to were a popular marketing move to redistribute unsolds. By rebinds, as we knew them, we were able to get unsold returns back in circulation, albeit somewhat mutilated, with covers removed invariably and a new or composite cover created. ith DC rebinds, it was random, so the same cover could have many different "versions" of content. With MAD Magazine, as we had larger quantities, it was less chaotic, and numerical. TP - as they were wittily known with their Indian teepee symbol on the pre-distributed line - also published the UK Classics Illustrated, with sterling cover prices. They also launched my own comics career beyond being a mere sub-editor, by distributing my House of Hammer title in the mid to late 1970s.
That's a sweeping overview, but I hope it helps. Dez Skinn
Sep-11-07 08:59:53 PDT Report this comment

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