• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

BA grail (of sorts!) acquired...
0

41 posts in this topic

 

Been looking for a sealed, "two-for-25¢" pack of coverless (and illegal!) affidavit returns copies for many, many years now, and I finally lucked into one:

 

70s-two-pack.jpg

 

Does anyone else remember these?

 

Nearly all of the comic books I owned and read between 1972 and 1976 or so were purchased in exactly these sealed bags, mostly from a chain of "Handy Market" convenience stores in central PA.

 

The monetary value is zilch, I know, but the sentimental/nostalgic value of seeing one of these unopened packs is off the charts for me.

 

So many great memories of my dad buying me a pack or two when he stopped at the market for cigarettes, or my mom doing the same thing when I was dragged along with her to buy milk, etc.

 

A buddy and I also sometimes hiked a mile or more form his house in a rural area to a Handy Market next to a gas station, and closer to Interstate 83. We'd carefully inspect each two-pack (the comics inside were packaged back-to-back), and would scoop up as many of the best ones (usually Marvels) that we could afford.

 

Btw...the "back" book in this pack is an Omac #8, also from 1975.

 

What a weird feeling to see this again after 40+ years!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've never seen them bagged in my area, but seeing books like this was common when I was a kid. Generally with the top of the cover cut off and sold for a dime (normal cover price was .25 at the time). I even picked up a Hulk 181 like this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I seem to recall back in the late 50s or early 60s, my older brother would buy comics for 5¢ from a mom-and-pop store. The comics didn't have a front cover, but had a yellow or amber color cellophane cover.

 

I remember a comic book dealer at a flea market with the cellophane covered books. He claimed that's how they were made and if I recall they were mostly western comics.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The monetary value is zilch, I know, but the sentimental/nostalgic value of seeing one of these unopened packs is off the charts for me.

 

So many great memories of my dad buying me a pack or two when he stopped at the market for cigarettes, or my mom doing the same thing when I was dragged along with her to buy milk, etc.

 

A buddy and I also sometimes hiked a mile or more form his house in a rural area to a Handy Market next to a gas station, and closer to Interstate 83. We'd carefully inspect each two-pack (the comics inside were packaged back-to-back), and would scoop up as many of the best ones (usually Marvels) that we could afford.

 

What a weird feeling to see this again after 40+ years!

 

Theres so much truth and innocence in these paragraphs...

There's no greater high than reuniting with childhood memories after so many decades. None!

I salute you on your finding

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm now wondering if these were unique to Pennsylvania. I grew up in the Harrisburg area, and the sealed pack I just got came from Johnstown... hm

 

 

 

We had the same thing in Chicago when I was a kid :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

I'm now wondering if these were unique to Pennsylvania. I grew up in the Harrisburg area, and the sealed pack I just got came from Johnstown... hm
We had the same thing in Chicago when I was a kid :)

Cool, and very interesting.

 

Were the bags identical to the one picture in my first post? And do you recall where, exactly, they were sold?

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm now wondering if these were unique to Pennsylvania. I grew up in the Harrisburg area, and the sealed pack I just got came from Johnstown... hm

 

 

 

We had the same thing in Chicago when I was a kid :)

 

(thumbs u

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think it's important to point out a slight error in the original post. These were not "affidavit" returns.

 

Originally the newsstand was required to clip off the logo and return it for credit with their distributor. Subsequently it was decided to strip off the entire front cover (like yours).

 

Finally, sometime in the 1980s (I believe), distributors were required to provide publishers only an affidavit that stated how many copies were sold and how many were returned from newsstands. They were then instructed to destroy the unsold copies.

 

This practice led to the infamous Mile High II collection.

 

 

Edited by Moondog
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm now wondering if these were unique to Pennsylvania. I grew up in the Harrisburg area, and the sealed pack I just got came from Johnstown... hm
We had the same thing in Chicago when I was a kid :)

Cool, and very interesting.

 

Were the bags identical to the one picture in my first post? And do you recall where, exactly, they were sold?

 

 

 

I think the bags were a bit different-- this would have been probably the late '60s, not the '70s. I bought mine in a little hole in the wall convenience shop on the bottom floor of an apartment building on the South Side of Chicago.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think it's important to point out a slight error in the original post. These were not "affidavit" returns.

 

Originally the newsstand was required to clip off the logo and return it for credit with their distributor. Subsequently it was decided to strip off the entire front cover (like yours).

 

Finally, sometime in the 1980s (I believe), distributors were required to provide publishers only an affidavit that stated how many copies were sold and how many were returned from newsstands. They were then instructed to destroy the unsold copies.

 

This practice led to the infamous Mile High II collection.

 

 

:cool::hi:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

I think it's important to point out a slight error in the original post. These were not "affidavit" returns.

 

Originally the newsstand was required to clip off the logo and return it for credit with their distributor. Subsequently it was decided to strip off the entire front cover (like yours).

 

Finally, sometime in the 1980s (I believe), distributors were required to provide publishers only an affidavit that stated how many copies were sold and how many were returned from newsstands. They were then instructed to destroy the unsold copies.

 

This practice led to the infamous Mile High II collection.

 

(thumbs u

 

Thanks, my mistake.

 

I tend to refer to any of these re-sold "black-market" comics from the '70s as "affidavit returns". But there's clearly a difference between stripped logo/cover copies (under the old system) which weren't pulped and then re-sold, and in-tact copies with their covers which were declared as unsold, and then hoarded & trafficked for re-sale.

 

The common denominator, of course, is that it was all shady.

 

Here's how Jim Shooter explains the system, and how it was gamed, back then:

 

http://www.jimshooter.com/2011/11/comic-book-distribution.html

 

What's interesting to me is that the traffic in these "illegal" copies was in many cases being conducted in broad daylight.

 

Just more evidence, I guess, that the comic book business was still relatively small potatoes back then, and that it would have cost more than it was worth in time and legal fees to crack down on the violators...

 

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the link. Interesting reading. Guys have been "jobbing" returns for years. The fellow who sold me the Windy City collection in 1986 was a jobber back in the early 40s. That always struck me as ironic - one of the nicest GA collections in history was ultimately acquired by a guy who once bought returns for a penny and sold them for 2 pennies!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
0