Western comics. 11 11

[mica]

On 7/6/2020 at 2:52 AM, fett said:

lucked out on this Atlas one shot years ago-pretty early Ditko 4 page story. 

How would I file that away? Under "T" for TWO or should it go before the "A" section next to 2001 space Odyssey?  I'd probably put it after the Two Gun Kid.

[Dr. Love]

"10 cent stuff" could include Atlas western - if so, make sure you walk out with at least those.  And come straight to the boards.  Cherry pick the snot out of those westerns, pardner!

[Electricmastro]

15 hours ago, comicginger1789 said:

Hi everyone,

I am relatively new to Golden Age stuff in general (within the past 5 years I have really tried to grown my knowledge) and while I feel I have a slight handle on superhero, horror and sci fi stuff, I am kinda clueless when it comes to Westerns. I was wondering if anyone here who is a diehard Western collector might shoot me a message as I am going to be looking at a collection in the coming week. Lady says she has a bunch of 10 cent stuff and I just want to know what to look for or even if I don't end up buying, extend the olive branch to someone who is genuinely interested. For me, I go based of covers a lot of the time with Western stuff...if I like it, I will buy it but I do not have much at all in the personal collection. 

Anyway, I will likely do a post once I see this collection and go from there but wanted to message here in case anyone can give me some ideas heading in of stuff to go for and stuff to just avoid. 

Well, I’ve been looking through all sorts of comics, including Westerns, from more obscure publishers, and what caught my attention and interested me included:

Tom Mix Comics (Ralston-Purina Company)

Blazing Western (Timor)

Masked Ranger (Premier Magazines)

Star Ranger (Chesler)

Outlaws (D.S. Publishing)

Death Valley (Comic Media)

The Westerner Comics (Orbit-Wanted)

Billy the Kid Adventure Magazine (Toby Press)

And a particular recommendation of looking into Avon’s Western comics as well, such as Cow Puncher Comics, Frontier Romances, Geronimo, and generally any Westerns drawn by Everett Kinstler.

Edited September 15, 2020 by Electricmastro

[lou_fine]

15 hours ago, comicginger1789 said:

Hi everyone,

I am relatively new to Golden Age stuff in general (within the past 5 years I have really tried to grown my knowledge) and while I feel I have a slight handle on superhero, horror and sci fi stuff, I am kinda clueless when it comes to Westerns. I was wondering if anyone here who is a diehard Western collector might shoot me a message as I am going to be looking at a collection in the coming week. Lady says she has a bunch of 10 cent stuff and I just want to know what to look for or even if I don't end up buying, extend the olive branch to someone who is genuinely interested. For me, I go based of covers a lot of the time with Western stuff...if I like it, I will buy it but I do not have much at all in the personal collection. 

Anyway, I will likely do a post once I see this collection and go from there but wanted to message here in case anyone can give me some ideas heading in of stuff to go for and stuff to just avoid. 

Well, all I will say if it's a Western collection like this one here and you can get them for $1 a piece, it's best to go ahead and grab them as fast as you can:

https://www.cgccomics.com/boards/topic/475388-recent-collection-from-canada/#comments

5 hours ago, cheetah said:

Updated video.  He paid $1 a book.

 

 

5 hours ago, MrBedrock said:

I would avoid anything with a $2.95 cover price.

Richard is correct here and you'll notice that all of those in the video above were 10 cent cover price books only.      

[mikeyc67]

A new addition

 

[Scrooge]

Recently acquired this Gene Autry, # 41 from 1950. If you look at the cover gallery for the Autry's at the GCD - https://www.comics.org/series/12576/covers/ , this cover stands out -

It also reminded me of the recent work by Roseta Santiago. She had made the cover of last year's August issue of Western Art Collector so it came to mind immediately -

You can see more of her work at her website - https://www.rosetasantiago.com/archive or at the Blue Rain Gallery - https://blueraingallery.com/artists/roseta-santiago/view-all She has used that composition before.

Here's the Autry's back cover -

Edited September 20, 2020 by Scrooge

[damonwad]

6 hours ago, Scrooge said:

Recently acquired this Gene Autry, # 41 from 1950. If you look at the cover gallery for the Autry's at the GCD - https://www.comics.org/series/12576/covers/ , this cover stands out -

 

 

I like this one too. A huge improvement over the boring monochromatic backgrounds before and after this one (and scattered throughout the series).

They really hit their stride with the watermelon eating cover though.

 

 

[damonwad]

Some random westerns.

 

[Scrooge]

3 hours ago, damonwad said:

They really hit their stride with the watermelon eating cover though.

[Electricmastro]

Everett Kinstler, Leonard Starr, and Jill Elgin:

[fett]

1 hour ago, Electricmastro said:

Everett Kinstler, Leonard Starr, and Jill Elgin:

ERK!! great Avon there.  

[Electricmastro]

On 9/21/2020 at 3:17 AM, fett said:

ERK!! great Avon there.  

A lot of people don’t seem that interested in Western comics in the first place, and I said this before, but if there’s only one publisher from the 40s and 50s I can recommend to anyone willing to check out more Westerns, then it would be Avon, if only for Everett Kinstler’s art. He has such a lush and profound way showcasing it, all with a distinct style as well.

Edited September 22, 2020 by Electricmastro

[fett]

can't get enough of this guy-ive been asking around for a list of his pulp illustrations if anyone has any info  love the Death cowboy vig from Wild Bill #13 

[fett]

still my favorite western though 

[Marty Mann]

[comicginger1789]

Just wanted to pop back over here and thank everyone for some guidance. I am excited because while I am not a die hard Western collector, I do have a couple random issues and do love the cover and art. I am going to view this collection in a week or so, and I will report back with news regardless of whether I buy or not!

[Electricmastro]

Recently checked out Magazine Enterprises and their western comics, which they seemed to focus on the most and put a lot of care into, having artists such as Fred Meagher, Joe Certa, Bob Powell, and DickAyers working on Tim Holt, Straight Arrow, Charles Starrett as the Durango Kid, and the like. These samples in particular are from Best of the West #1 (September, 1951):

There’s also Frank Bolle (Tim Holt #22, February 1951):

Edited October 22, 2020 by Electricmastro

[Scrooge]

7 hours ago, Electricmastro said:

Recently checked out Magazine Enterprises and their western comics, which they seemed to focus on the most and put a lot of care into, having artists such as Fred Meagher, Joe Certa, Bob Powell, and DickAyers working on Tim Holt, Straight Arrow, Charles Starrett as the Durango Kid, and the like. These samples in particular are from Best of the West #1 (September, 1951):

I have always loved the consistent quality of the ME output. As a Western fan & collector, their focus on Western put them in my sights. Best of the West is a fantastic series which allows them to showcase indeed their Best output, no filler or back-up series allowed! I will add Fred Guardineer to the list above. ME used Powell a lot though Powell on Western is not the best fit at times though still enjoyable, esp. the Red Hawk back-up in Straight Arrow.

The entire output is probably under 500 issues or at 500. Here's a partial GCD list with the longest series spotlighted -

The total count is misleading as it includes the 25 issues of Rodeo (a Spanish language publication) and it conflates / double-counts most (all?) of the books listed under the A-1 series. ME is the only company with Dell to have an umbrella series from where series launched. Tim Holt had 3 issues under A-1 before spinning off. All the Best of the West issues were A-1 issues. So, once you take out these, I believe the count is under 500 over a 15 year period. By not over-stretching, the editors were able to control quality. 

Question: do we know why Ghost Rider had such an erratic publishing schedule? Tim Holt, Straight Arrow, Durango Kid came out like clockwork but Ghost Rider has many breaks, spurts and restarts to its schedule. Did Ayers ever talk to that?

My most recent ME pick-up is a nice copy of American Air Forces # 8, a.k.a. A-1 # 65 just last month. All comics stories by Powell.

 

Edited October 22, 2020 by Scrooge

[mica]

10 hours ago, Electricmastro said:

Recently checked out Magazine Enterprises and their western comics, which they seemed to focus on the most and put a lot of care into, having artists such as Fred Meagher, Joe Certa, Bob Powell, and DickAyers working on Tim Holt, Straight Arrow, Charles Starrett as the Durango Kid, and the like. These samples in particular are from Best of the West #1 (September, 1951):

 

There’s also Frank Bolle (Tim Holt #22, February 1951):

 

Thank you for posting this.

[Electricmastro]

3 hours ago, Scrooge said:

ME used Powell a lot though Powell on Western is not the best fit at times though still enjoyable, esp. the Red Hawk back-up in Straight Arrow.

I wasn’t too familiar with Bob Powell’s work to begin with until I saw his western art, which stuck out to me:

Edited October 22, 2020 by Electricmastro