Knowledge

Cover date

Source 📝

148:
which had the cover date of July would have been published two months earlier from that date in the month of May, generally speaking. In 1973 the discrepancy between the cover date and the publishing date went from two months to three months. In 1989 the cover date and publishing date discrepancy was
80:
In the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, the standard practice is to display on magazine covers a date which is some weeks or months in the future from the publishing or release date. There are two reasons for this discrepancy: first, to allow magazines to continue appearing "current" to
141:
companies since the creation of the comic book in the 1930s was to date individual issues by putting the name of a month (and much later the year as well) on the cover which was generally two months after the release date. For example, a 1951 issue of
85:
even after they have been on sale for some time (since not all magazines will be sold immediately), and second, to inform newsstands when an unsold magazine can be removed from the stands and returned to the
247:
Cover dates on comics didn't match magazine dating norms, and by 1973 Marvel's cover dates made them appear newer than DC's, so DC decided to skip using May 1973 and go straight to June.
118:
In other countries, the cover date usually matches more closely the date of publication, and may indeed be identical where weekly magazines are concerned.
186: 270: 240: 121:
In all markets, it is rare for monthly magazines to indicate a particular day of the month: thus issues are dated
68:
published the afternoon before its cover date. For some publications, the cover date may not be found on the
265: 164:
opted against putting cover dates on the cover in October 1999; instead, the "cover" date was moved to the
275: 115:) are generally dated a half month ahead, and quarterlies are generally dated two or three months ahead. 17: 209: 35: 149:
changed back to two months, though generally each comic book company now uses its own system.
144: 165: 8: 111: 236: 99: 65: 38:
is the date displayed on the cover, which is not necessarily the true date of
259: 161: 224: 39: 157: 138: 87: 69: 55: 153: 105: 82: 60: 51: 232: 187:"Why are magazines dated ahead of the time they actually appear?" 90:
or be destroyed (in this case, the cover date is also the
72:, but rather on an inside jacket or on an interior page. 109:) are generally dated a week ahead. Monthlies (such as 229:
75 Years of DC Comics: The Art of Modern Mythmaking
125:, and so on, whereas weekly magazines may be dated 152:Of the two major American comic book publishers, 257: 184: 137:The general practice of most mainstream 213:. Vol. 23, no. 6. p. 67. 14: 258: 223: 206: 156:continues to put cover dates on the 207:Head, Will (June 2000). "Letters". 50:); later cover dates are common in 24: 25: 287: 217: 200: 178: 132: 13: 1: 171: 271:Date and time representation 75: 58:publishing. More unusually, 7: 10: 292: 185:Cecil Adams (1990-06-22). 27:Date shown on a periodical 210:Personal Computer World 36:periodical publication 168:on an interior page. 266:Magazine publishing 189:. The Straight Dope 112:National Geographic 276:Comics terminology 97:Weeklies (such as 88:publishing company 242:978-3-8365-1981-6 16:(Redirected from 283: 250: 249: 221: 215: 214: 204: 198: 197: 195: 194: 182: 21: 291: 290: 286: 285: 284: 282: 281: 280: 256: 255: 254: 253: 243: 235:. p. 516. 233:Taschen America 222: 218: 205: 201: 192: 190: 183: 179: 174: 135: 78: 66:daily newspaper 28: 23: 22: 15: 12: 11: 5: 289: 279: 278: 273: 268: 252: 251: 241: 216: 199: 176: 175: 173: 170: 134: 131: 77: 74: 26: 9: 6: 4: 3: 2: 288: 277: 274: 272: 269: 267: 264: 263: 261: 248: 244: 238: 234: 230: 226: 220: 212: 211: 203: 188: 181: 177: 169: 167: 163: 162:Marvel Comics 159: 155: 150: 147: 146: 140: 130: 128: 124: 119: 116: 114: 113: 108: 107: 102: 101: 95: 93: 89: 84: 73: 71: 67: 63: 62: 57: 53: 49: 45: 41: 37: 33: 19: 246: 228: 225:Levitz, Paul 219: 208: 202: 191:. Retrieved 180: 151: 143: 136: 126: 122: 120: 117: 110: 104: 98: 96: 91: 79: 59: 48:release date 47: 44:on-sale date 43: 31: 29: 133:Comic books 127:17 May 2016 40:publication 260:Categories 193:2013-06-28 172:References 139:comic book 56:comic book 32:cover date 18:Cover-date 154:DC Comics 92:pull date 83:consumers 76:Magazines 227:(2010). 145:Superman 123:May 2016 106:Newsweek 61:Le Monde 52:magazine 166:indicia 239:  158:cover 70:cover 64:is a 54:and 42:(the 34:of a 237:ISBN 103:and 100:Time 30:The 94:). 46:or 262:: 245:. 231:. 160:. 129:. 196:. 20:)

Index

Cover-date
periodical publication
publication
magazine
comic book
Le Monde
daily newspaper
cover
consumers
publishing company
Time
Newsweek
National Geographic
comic book
Superman
DC Comics
cover
Marvel Comics
indicia
"Why are magazines dated ahead of the time they actually appear?"
Personal Computer World
Levitz, Paul
Taschen America
ISBN
978-3-8365-1981-6
Categories
Magazine publishing
Date and time representation
Comics terminology

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.