UK Marvel - 2019

March 14, 2019

The Royal Mail (United Kingdom) released a 15-stamp set featuring the most popular Marvel Super Heroes. The main 10-stamps feature Spider-Man, Captain Marvel, Hulk, Doctor Strange, Captain Britain, Peggy Carter, Iron-Man, Union Jack, Black Panther and Thor.

An additional 5-stamps are part of an exclusive story titled "Avengers UK" contained in a miniature sheet showing the heroes in action against Thanos.

The stamps were designed by Alan Davis, an illustrator who has worked with marvel since the early 1980s, and first illustrated Captain Britain in 1985. Davis was assisted by Mark Farmer on inks and Laura Martin on colors

A booklet of stamps features the Marvel heroes along with the definitive Machin stamps featuring  Queen Elizabeth

2 first day covers are available, one featuring the Hulk postmarked with a pictorial postmarks from either Tallents House, Edinburgh or Shield Row, Stanley

There is a first day cover available with the Prestige Stamp Book, featuring the Comics Code surrounded by the Machins' definitive

various other products are also available from the Royal Mail

Warren Moon Landing

July 20, 1984

Any organization or sponsor can request the use of a pictorial postmark from the USPS. These postmarks (as well as first day cancels) are applied on the day of use or during a grace period. In 1977 the USPS starting using a grace period of 30day for first day postmarks. This meant the collector would purchase the stamps after they were issued, apply them to the envelope and send them to the city of original issuance for the first day postmark. This saved time and costs for the postal staff who used to provide the service. 

Eventually this practice was applied to pictorial postmarks. The stamps used  had to be issued either on the day of the postmark or before. This allowed collectors to create unofficial first day covers.

When the Warren Moon postmark was announced, I noticed the date coincided with the 25th anniversary of the moon landing. I had attended the ceremony at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC, so I already had the stamps on hand. I liked the idea of creating a Warren Moon Landing unofficial first day cover.

Warren Moon started his professional football career with the Washington Redskins and then moved to the Houston Oilers. The coincidence of Houston being home to the Oilers football team as well as the Johnson Space Center, was too good to pass up this opportunity.

I am hoping to someday get this signed by Warren Moon, I just have not had the chance to attend any shows he has been at...

Toonerville Trolley

The Toonerville Folks or The Toonerville Trolley That Meets All the Trains was created by Fontaine Fox and was published in newspapers from 1908 to 1955. The daily single panel comic was a look at Toonerville, a town in the suburbs. The Toonerville Trolley was driven by the Skipper to meet commuter trains as it brought in people from the big city. The comic strip would be turned into a silent film series in 1927. By 1936 the Trolley became an animated short. It was these cartoons that I fondly remember watching as a child, along with Felix, Crusader Rabbit, Three Stooges and many others...

Even though a stamp had been issued for the Toonerville Folks as part of the Classic Comic Strip stamps, I decided to add the Toonerville Trolley to the trolley first day cover from 1983, simply for my enjoyment

 Orlando Sentinel editorial comic honoring Fontaine Fox

Fox showing his love of baseball