Published in Canada

[Chad]

I'm hoping that someone will be able to fill me in on how the value of a copy of Batman 56 is affected by being published in Canada and not the US. I picked up a copy about 12 years ago and in addition to the 'Printed in Canada' imprint near the top of the cover I also noticed that a Penguin story was replaced with a Vigilante tale.

I realise that these boards weren't created to answer a bunch of "Can someone tell me how much this comic is worth" questions but it's something that I've been wondering about for awhile and I'm genuinely curious as to where this Vigilante story came from (presumably from an issue of Action but does that mean there's a Canadian editon of Action Comics which contained a Batman story) and why it was done.

Thanks for any help.

[Lone Ranger]

Hi Chad

It's funny - my first post here at CBR was very similar to yours. I had a Canadian edition of an All-American Western and was wondering about value.

I had traditionally heard that the general rule is that Canadian Editions are worth 50% of the US original. There are some likely exceptions though, as I'll bet some are marketed as 'variants' and oddities. There are generally fewer pages in Canadian edition, and the paper quality can be inferior.

The back-up stories are often different than their US counterparts. Just yesterday I saw a Canadian Superboy (circa 1951) on eBay and it had a Minstrel Maverick story (a feature that ran in All-American Western).

You are right that the Vigilante story is likely from Action, but Vig also appeared in the early issues of Western Comics in the late 40s, so that may be a culprit as well.

I've got a few books with Vig stories - can you described the one in your Batman #56.

I just checked the GCD, and Batman #56 is the only one listed there as published by Simcoe Distribution - no real info, or even a scan though.

There is a copy of Batman #45 listed separately there, as being published by DC - but my guess is that it's really either Simcoe or perhaps Bell Features.

I don't really know the history of these Canadian publishers/distributers. IIRC the office address for Simcoe is Dundas Street West in Toronto - and I don't think it's very far from my house. I've often wanted to check if there's an old building at that address, but I keep forgetting to look it up.

Do you have the comic handy? Who is the publisher listed in the indicia? Do they have an address listed?

[Chad]

Hi Chad

It's funny - my first post here at CBR was very similar to yours. I had a Canadian edition of an All-American Western and was wondering about value.

I had traditionally heard that the general rule is that Canadian Editions are worth 50% of the US original. There are some likely exceptions though, as I'll bet some are marketed as 'variants' and oddities. There are generally fewer pages in Canadian edition, and the paper quality can be inferior.

The back-up stories are often different than their US counterparts. Just yesterday I saw a Canadian Superboy (circa 1951) on eBay and it had a Minstrel Maverick story (a feature that ran in All-American Western).

You are right that the Vigilante story is likely from Action, but Vig also appeared in the early issues of Western Comics in the late 40s, so that may be a culprit as well.

I've got a few books with Vig stories - can you described the one in your Batman #56.

I just checked the GCD, and Batman #56 is the only one listed there as published by Simcoe Distribution - no real info, or even a scan though.

There is a copy of Batman #45 listed separately there, as being published by DC - but my guess is that it's really either Simcoe or perhaps Bell Features.

I don't really know the history of these Canadian publishers/distributers. IIRC the office address for Simcoe is Dundas Street West in Toronto - and I don't think it's very far from my house. I've often wanted to check if there's an old building at that address, but I keep forgetting to look it up.

Do you have the comic handy? Who is the publisher listed in the indicia? Do they have an address listed?

Thank you very much for you help Lone Ranger. I have checked the comic and the substitute story isn't a Vigilante tale as I first claimed but a Captain Compass tale entitled "The Mystery that Couldn't be Solved" (I believe I've seen another issue of Batman from around this time with a Vigilante insert hence my confusion).

The indica reads as follows:

Issued bi-monthly by Simcoe Publishing and Distributing Co., 70 Mutual st. Toronto 2, Ontario, by arrangement with National Comic Publications

Nothing about Dundas street however. Could be that the street was renamed I suppose.

Still curious as to the reasoning behind using a Compass Carson story in place of what was originally intended.

[Mike Kuypers]

The Captain Compass story is from Star Spangled Comics #97:

http://www.comics.org/details.lasso?id=7831

[Lone Ranger]

The indica reads as follows:

Issued bi-monthly by Simcoe Publishing and Distributing Co., 70 Mutual st. Toronto 2, Ontario, by arrangement with National Comic Publications

Nothing about Dundas street however. Could be that the street was renamed I suppose.


I must be thinking of Bell Features or another short-lived Canadian publisher like Superior, maybe their address was on Dundas. It's something I meant to note, but now I don't have any Canadian books handy.

Mutual St. is a fairly small street that is right downtown - my guess is that the address is right near Massey Hall, for anyone who is familiar with Toronto. Dundas pretty much runs the length of the city East/West and the address was in the west end - I believe in an older neighbourhood that would have had more viable businesses back then.

I work pretty close to Mutual St, I should see if there is still an old building there.