Originally posted by: THX
I started collecting in the UK and the Spiderman titles were released in a totally different format with different numbering there, so the Australian thing doesn't surprise me, redbaron. What does surprise me is that you said your #6 is dated 1982, while the US #238 came out in March 1983 - I find it hard to believe the Aussie release would be first.
I started collecting in the UK and the Spiderman titles were released in a totally different format with different numbering there, so the Australian thing doesn't surprise me, redbaron. What does surprise me is that you said your #6 is dated 1982, while the US #238 came out in March 1983 - I find it hard to believe the Aussie release would be first.
I had another look at it this morning, and there is no actual dating on there per sé (as in, it doesn't have the month and year prominently displayed). The '1982' was written on the spine, and it's actually just a copyright - "(c)1982 Marvel Comics Group". So, it could well be that the comic was finished in 1982, then mass-produced and distributed from '83 onwards. On the inside page, it says that Marvel copyrighted it, and the "Federal Publishing Company Pty. Ltd." copyrighted it in 1985. This is probably because Marvel didn't have a subsidiary in Australia - and American copyrights aren't binding in Australia - so Federal Comics probably took the liberty of copyrighting it and distributing it in Australia.
There are a few interesting stories about Australian fast food copyrights that I know of, but that's a story for another thread...