Any info on past publication dates?

[VictorMancha]

I'm wondering if anybody has any info or where to find such on actual publication or distribution dates for comics from the 70s, or maybe just the lead time (for example, the cover dates for today's comics are about 6 months ahead of when they hit the shelves, while in the late 60s it was only about 2 months). Specifically, I'm wondering when Avengers 113 hit the shelves, and the same for whatever issue the Vision and Scarlet Witch's marriage became public. Thanks! :)

[VictorMancha]

Ha! Found something for anybody's who's also interested or can use it later on. Marvel.com/digitalcomics (http://www.marvel.com/digitalcomics) has printing dates for all the comics that they've converted. I don't think that's neccessarily the same as the shipping/distribution date or the date it hit the shelves, but... :wink:

[VictorMancha]

Grrr! Scratch that. All those poseurs are doing is taking the cover date and the year and assigning it a random date. :evilangry: It seemed fishy when pretty much every single issue of the Avengers came out on the 10th. I thought maybe it might be that the older issues actually did hit stands in the same month as on their covers, but checking relatively recent issues ('88) of some others shows that they're just making them up rather than indexing real (-world) dates.

[Ventura]

I would be interested in such a resource on lead times too...I don't know of one, sorry.

However, I do know that Avengers #113 was on sale in April 1973. At the time, the Avengers (and most of Marvel's monthly comics) had cover dates 3 months in advance of the actual month of release. So Avengers #113 was cover dated July 1973 but was on sale in April 1973.

Prior to Avengers #93, the Avengers (and a couple of other Marvel monthlies) were cover dated only 2 months ahead instead of 3 like most of the other Marvel comics. In 1971, the Avengers "caught up" with the big gun books--FF, Spidey, etc.--by "omitting" the October issue. So Avengers #92 was cover dated September 1971 (and on sale in July)... and a mere month later, #93 was cover dated November 1971 (on sale in August).

(Note: Most of the Marvel books on sale that August contained more pages than previously and the famous price increase from 15 cents to 25 cents. A month later the page count reverted back to what it had been and Martin Goodman "reduced" the price to 20 cents. DC was caught offguard by the 20 cents gambit, as they had also increased the price/page count of their books in an attempt to keep up with Marvel.)

[VictorMancha]

I would be interested in such a resource on lead times too...I don't know of one, sorry.

However, I do know that Avengers #113 was on sale in April 1973. At the time, the Avengers (and most of Marvel's monthly comics) had cover dates 3 months in advance of the actual month of release. So Avengers #113 was cover dated July 1973 but was on sale in April 1973.

Prior to Avengers #93, the Avengers (and a couple of other Marvel monthlies) were cover dated only 2 months ahead instead of 3 like most of the other Marvel comics. In 1971, the Avengers "caught up" with the big gun books--FF, Spidey, etc.--by "omitting" the October issue. So Avengers #92 was cover dated September 1971 (and on sale in July)... and a mere month later, #93 was cover dated November 1971 (on sale in August).

*Gasp!* You're right; they jumped an entire month! Musta been Kang's doing. :tongue:

Thanks much for the info on the "time differential" lead time between cover dates and release dates, both for 113 and the 70s in general. As you pointed out, you've even got one of the transitions pinned down. Good job! :biggrin:

I'm keeping my eye out for anything more extensive, but I plan on emailing Marvel and seeing if they can/will provide anything, maybe assigning it to some lowly intern, so that they have less questionable (ie, false) information for the digital comics, CD-ROMS, etc. for collectors, "historians" and the like.