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The GA in Australia
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336 posts in this topic

On 12/15/2017 at 3:06 AM, AJD said:

Well, not quite as many now. I went back and reloaded as many as I could, because I'd like to keep this thread alive.

The biggest gap in the thread so far is Cheetah's wonderful collection of Australian Fiction House reprints. Luckily, I copied most of them and got his permission to repost them just before he disappeared from the boards. So I'll put those back up when I get a chance. (Incidentally, he also agreed to sell them to me, but went incommunicado just before we closed the deal. If anyone still talks to Jeff, please let him know I'm still up for it!)

Anyway, here are a couple of my own recent purchases to get things back on the road.

A really nice grade Fight Comics reprint:

large.Fight_21_Australian.jpg.8ea3e13968a419fc49fd51c4a2b08022.jpg

And one of my favourite Australian original series, the Crimson Comet.

large.CC_38.jpg.58d1a5aaa1195130490bb9b9bd743424.jpg

How hard are GA comics to find there? My wife is from there and I've been several times. Always get out to flea markets and shops but seldom find any GA comics. I have found some other stuff though...

supeaustrailanpins.jpg

phantompin.jpg

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On 12/17/2017 at 7:27 AM, Robot Man said:

How hard are GA comics to find there? My wife is from there and I've been several times. Always get out to flea markets and shops but seldom find any GA comics. I have found some other stuff though...

They certainly aren't common. I've found one or two in the wild at antique shops, and one at a flea market, but it doesn't happen very often. There are a few dealers, but almost everything available for public sale is on eBay. I think I've bought 80% of the Fiction House reprints that have come up in the past few years, and I have about 30 of them. So, yeah, it's a pursuit for the patient!

And great Superman items there R-man!

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11 hours ago, AJD said:

They certainly aren't common. I've found one or two in the wild at antique shops, and one at a flea market, but it doesn't happen very often. There are a few dealers, but almost everything available for public sale is on eBay. I think I've bought 80% of the Fiction House reprints that have come up in the past few years, and I have about 30 of them. So, yeah, it's a pursuit for the patient!

And great Superman items there R-man!

Finding GA comics in the wild over here is a rare occursance too. Finding GA comics related Pinbacks are even harder. They are so small that kids lost them pretty quick. These were found on three different trips down under. My favorite is the Phantom who is apparently real big there. It was a gift from my wife's uncle who had it when he was a kid.

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6 hours ago, AJD said:

While this thread is still bouncing around on page one, here's a link to the gallery I created to show off my modest but (slowly) growing collection of Australian GA books.

 

I'm especially impressed by the Crimson Comets. Years ago an Australian dealer listed a load of stuff on Ebay - and I recall they said that this is one of the hardest titles to acquire. Any chance of a splash page?

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5 hours ago, Flex Mentallo said:

I'm especially impressed by the Crimson Comets. Years ago an Australian dealer listed a load of stuff on Ebay - and I recall they said that this is one of the hardest titles to acquire. Any chance of a splash page?

They come up from time to time, and aren't especially expensive when they do. There are just a few of us chasing them these days. Here's #23 from the first series (there were two series, with confusingly overlapping numbers doh!). This one opens at the top, so you have to turn the book sideways to read it. Here's a photo, but I'll scan the splash when I get a chance.

Crimson_Comet_23.jpg.65cb799aa8b741614fa429807b8e204c.jpgCrimson_Comet_23_int.thumb.jpg.dc0d0b6a9142408501615bc2eb7347e2.jpg

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I went to the local newsagent yesterday to get a magazine, and a lifetime of habit made me look at the comics. Usually there are a few copies of the Phantom and maybe a Marvel or two. Imagine my surprise to spot the Crimson Comet on sale for the first time in about 60 years*!

This is the third issue of the really nicely produced Giant Size Phantom. Frew publishing have been putting out the Phantom in Australia since 1948, and the latest copy is the 2017 Christmas Special - #1800 in the series! The Crimson Comet wasn't one of the Frew stable, so it's a real surprise. The publisher's intro says it's reproduced courtesy of Dixon's family. (He died last year - the obit is earlier in this thread).

Giant_Phantom_3.thumb.jpg.80ee2f2cfb3ec59bd7481629d8aa3fb5.jpg

Here's the back cover, with a really nice drawing of the CC and Tim Valor, his two best selling 1950s comics.

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And here's the reprinted cover to CC #1 from 1949 (you know what they say about guys with big holsters...)

Giant_Phantom_3_CC1.thumb.jpg.04202631e8f37f428cc8c1ced49154cf.jpg

And here is the CC origin story. Any resemblance to Batman, Hawkman, Red Raven or other GA characters is purely coincidental.

Giant_Phantom_3_CC2.thumb.jpg.b7c7a3e7dd1786f13d5f3df365c63136.jpg

Giant_Phantom_3_CC3.thumb.jpg.29a5ec70eccaef48997e1b22d0dac4b5.jpg

 

*edit before @Duffman_Comics beats me to it: the CC appeared briefly in the Southern Squadron series that ran for a few issues in the 1980s.

 

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On 12/17/2017 at 11:15 PM, AJD said:

Ah, dang, I forgot to bid on that one. At least it went to a good home. According to Heritage that is a pre-release proof copy. Can you show us the COA?

Let me dig it out and scan it. 

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Well, here comes a flurry of activity . . .

Further to AJD's "Giant Size Phantom" I present the following:

The first GS Phantoms were offered in Australia in the late fifties and early sixties. They were 100 pages of black and white fun wrapped in a glossy four colour cover. Here's a link to the GCD.

Note the prominence of the Phantom and the strip down the left side of the (later) covers proclaiming "100 Pages". It should also be noted that the characters only interact on the cover. All the stories are character "stand alone".

Fast forward to 2017 and a new Frew crew has taken control of the, let's face it, moribund publisher since the death of Jim Shepherd..

This year a new series of "Giant Size Phantoms" is started and with a lovely nod to the history of "the brand" here's the first issue:

 

GSPhantom #1.jpg

Edited by Duffman_Comics
Now it makes sense.
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