Boy Comics 3 3

[Crimebuster]

So it came to my attention earlier this week that I am not, in fact, the only person on Earth collecting Boy Comics. Needless to say, this came as a bit of a shock, but as I haven't been able to find any threads dedicated to Boy Comics on the forums, I figured I might as well start one since apparently there's at least some interest out there in this title by people other than myself.

 

Short story: About three years ago I decided to dip my toe into the Golden Age market for the first time. Up until that point I hadn't bought any GA books despite collecting since 1984; they always just seemed too pricey and foreign. But finally I got curious enough to check out ebay and on a whim I decided to try and buy a few random Golden Age books as cheaply as possible just to see what they were like.

 

What I ended up with were six issues of Boy Comics between #36 and #52, for the whopping sum of six dollars each. I was really surprised I could afford honest to god Golden Age comics and even more shocked when I read them and discovered they were totally awesome.

 

For the past three years, then, I've been trying to put together a low grade, complete run of Boy Comics as cheaply as possible. My initial goal was to get #36-up for under $10 an issue, something I did manage to accomplish (a few issues were more than $10, but averaged out I think I got in under the wire). Once that was done I started ponying up for the earlier issues and am now five away from a complete run.

 

Personally, I think the writing from Charles Biro is top notch in the Crimebuster strip, particularly from around #31-60 or so. The early issues for me aren't as interesting, as it's kind of more generic superhero stuff until Iron Jaw is killed off in #15 (spoilers!). After that point, though, Biro seems to slowly gain momentum as he turns the strip into a true crime series that happens to have a teenage "superhero" as the main character. By around #31, Crimebuster is in many cases almost more of a narrator than an actual player in the stories, and these are some great issues.

 

Once Iron Jaw comes back from the dead, things go downhill again for me, with the nadir being the issues where Crimebuster loses the cover spot to Iron Jaw and Sniffer, one of the most boring and unfunny strips I think I have ever read. Luckily, Crimebuster still managed to hang on long enough to finally return to prominence for the boy's adventure stuff in the early to mid 1950's; though these are a far cry from the hard boiled crime stories in the #31-60 range, the last dozen issues of the strip have their own charm in a Hardy boys kind of way.

 

I also want to mention that the art in many of these stories is very, very solid, with strong draftsmanship and storytelling; there's rarely anything flashy or eye-catching, but the artists, particularly Norman Maurer and later Joe Kubert, really know what they are doing.

 

Here are a couple of really terrible group shots of my Boy Comics collection. Here's #5-14, with a couple issues missing:

 

 

 

And here's #15-26:

 

 

 

Apologies for the craptastic pics, my camera is on the fritz so I had to use my phone. Hopefully i can get some good shots of these at some point.

 

So is anybody else out there a fan of Crimebuster and Boy Comics? Let's see your comics and hear your stories.

[Timely]

I think Boy Comics are great! #3-17 are all awesome books.

 

 

[sacentaur]

Like many Gleasons, BOY COMICS is somewhat unappreciated in today's marketplace.

 

As with all my GA runs, I like the early issues best - the storytelling and art are very good.

 

The early books are somewhat scarce, I think - I generally look for a nicely presenting mid-grade copy with nice paper, and yet I only have five early issues in my collection (including the 5, 6, 8, the "all time classic story" 19, and the 26).

 

In sum, very cool books that I enjoy very much. Just not an "in" title that doesn't draw a lot of attention (though Timely, as always, has great taste in comics!) nowadays.

 

I enjoyed your initial post background story, btw.

Edited August 21, 2012 by sacentaur

[c-mack]

I think Boy Comics are great! $3-17 are all awesome books.

 

 

 

great cover!

[Crimebuster]

Like many Gleasons, BOY COMICS is somewhat unappreciated in today's marketplace.

 

As with all my GA runs, I like the early issues best - the storytelling and art are very good.

 

The early books are somewhat scarce, I think - I generally look for a nicely presenting mid-grade copy with nice paper, and yet I only have five early issues in my collection (including the 5, 6, 8, the "all time classic story" 19, and the 26).

 

In sum, very cool books that I enjoy very much. Just not an "in" title that doesn't draw a lot of attention (though Timely, as always, has great taste in comics!) nowadays.

 

I enjoyed your initial post background story, btw.

 

It does seem that most of the interest is on the early issues, probably due to the fact that a) they are more superheroey, b) they have some cool war covers with crossover appeal and c) around #30 Biro started getting really text heavy on the covers and as a result, the covers mostly suck for the last 85 issues or so. As I mentioned, I personally find the middle period, particularly in the #30's and 40's, to be the best. But then, I am specifically interested in the Crimebuster strip and not so much in some of the other interesting early strips like Briefer's Yankee Longago.

 

I'm happy to see you mention #19, as it's one of my favorite comics of all time. #9 gets a lot of attention thanks to He-She, but for my money the story in #19 takes the cake. For those who haven't read it, it's about a guy who murders a double amputee for the insurance money. What he doesn't know is that the victim put a clause in his will saying the money can only be claimed if the killer loses both of his own legs. So he has his legs amputated and, well, things go downhill from there really fast.

 

 

 

Culminating in one of Biro's most innovative and gruesome deaths, where an angry associate picks him up and throws him around the room like a football until he dies:

 

 

"This is what happens to guys who hire guys to kill another guy!"

Edited August 21, 2012 by Crimebuster

[sacentaur]

Classic - Biro really had a special talent about him, and I rank him right up there with the Golden Age greats.

[Crimebuster]

I think Boy Comics are great! $3-17 are all awesome books.

 

 

 

great cover!

 

Awesome copy (thumbs u

 

This is one of the five issues I'm still missing. The war covers seem to be the hardest to get, particularly #10, but it's fun searching. And after Captain America #1 and #2, you'd think Hitler would learn to stop building offices with giant picture windows.

[cheetah]

It's not a focus for me, but I've picked up a couple of these.

 

[cheetah]

[vaillant]

Hi CB, I think I have contributed to trigger your post, so here I am.

 

As you know I am italian, and in Italy the whole golden age production remains for a good 95% unpublished (well, it's more a 99%).

 

It happened I started to get interested in golden age books (which I considered out of my reach, and mostly I did not know). With the help of online resources presenting scans of golden age stories I was able to glimpse into the "unknown world" of golden age comic books, and I was in awe.

It happened while I was doing a research on italian comics of the same period, especially where there was a direct reference to the war, and on how that impacted readers from the various countries.

 

I started by chance with Daredevil Comics, last november. I did not know much about the character, but I have been totally fascinated by his appearance (and the cover images) since I bought my early overstreet guides in late 1980s-early 1990s.

I had a late issue (46, I thought) but nothing more, and then I realized golden age comics were a lot easier to obtain now, even via eBay.

I bought my first issues and the interest in Boy Comics came as a consequence (but don’t like Iron Jaw), although I am more interested in Daredevil.

Right now I have Daredevil issues 2, 6, 8, 9, 11, 17, ranging in G- to VG, and a number of issues between 30 and 50 ranging from VG to F+.

 

In fact, I have no collecting goals with Boy Comics, except for specific issues which interest me for various reasons, and/or are related to the climate of the war.

I am mostly looking for a copy of issue #13 right now, although I would need a #4 as well, but even a coverless copy could be fine. I am mostly interested in the "On to Berlin" game page and the Crimebuster story.

Edited August 21, 2012 by vaillant

[pmpknface]

The series had a crime fighting monkey? What's not to like? Great stuff!

[vaillant]

The best thing is that Crimebuster's costume is more or less a pajamas, like Super-Goof's…

[Scrooge]

I buy issues of Boy and Daredevil when I find them cheap. I mostly try to get the '50's issues. Maurer is woefully underappreciated, same as Bill Overgard. These books make for some fun (and loooong) reading as they are typically text-heavy, but your comparison to Hardy Boy-ish is dead on and I enjoy them for that. :thumbsup:

 

I still regret not bidding more aggressively on a recent (last couple of months) lot offered by Neat Stuff on eBay. Won't find those books for that price again

[Crimebuster]

The best thing is that Crimebuster's costume is more or less a pajamas, like Super-Goof's…

 

One thing I love about the series is that Crimebuster, while ostensibly a superhero, is really just a very talented kid detective. Nobody else in the series wears a costume, not even the bad guys, and that's in part because Crimebuster's outfit isn't actually a superhero costume at all, it's just a hockey uniform with a cape.

 

Biro went out of his way to keep the series grounded, including the explanation for the costume. Basically, Crimebuster was playing in a high school hockey game when he got word that his father had been shot by Nazi agents. So he grabbed his cape -- the school he was attending was some kind of pseudo-military academy, so they had these uniform overcoats or great capes -- and rushed out to the hospital. There's another kid with him from his school who is shown donning an identical cape. Long story short, CB's dad dies, CB chases Iron Jaw and the other Nazis, CB's mother ends up dead and CB just never stops wearing the outfit. It's like he was too traumatized by the experience to take it off.

 

But it's not really a superhero costume, it's just his high school hockey uniform.

 

That eventually led to one of my favorite moments in the whole series -- or any series -- in #60. CB is set up as a chaperone to show Loover's niece around New York City. But before they head out, Loover and CB's friends hold an intervention because they want him to know that, well... he looks ridiculous. Turns out everyone thinks he looks silly in this superhero costume, but nobody had the balls to say anything. Crimebuster gets pissed off and is like, dammit, this is my outfit! But they keep hammering away at him, presenting him with a pair of pants as a present. He eventually grudgingly gives in and tries them out, the girl thinks he's cool and he decides to ditch the cape and hockey shorts for regular, grown up pants.

 

It's just a hilariously meta commentary on superheroes. And it's also interesting that the issue came out in 1949, right when pretty much every other superhero book was getting cancelled. For the rest of the series, CB kept wearing his "C" hockey sewater, but the rest of his outfit was just regular clothes -- and he outlasted everyone but Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman in the process.

 

A good pair of pants can do wonders!

[Crimebuster]

Maurer is woefully underappreciated, same as Bill Overgard. These books make for some fun (and loooong) reading as they are typically text-heavy

 

Agreed on both counts

 

Maurer was a great draftsman, he really knew perspective and anatomy. And Biro didn't stint on the words. I particularly love Biro's introductory essays at the beginning of every story, where he ruminates on American values, the dangers of fascism and pretty much whatever the hell he happens to be thinking about. Here's a prime example of Biro and Maurer at work:

 

[vaillant]

Hi CB, thanks for the well-thought explanation. I have still not enough familiarity with Crimebuster, so it’s great to read. I have sent you a PM.

Actually, I think Biro wrote very naturally: he was asked to invent something, and every time he had always a very original take on something already existing (i.e. super-powered people). See for example Airboy's origin. Really too much…

 

About Maurer: he got a lot better as he progressed, but the early Daredevil stories aren’t so good, in my opinion. I prefer the few ones drawn by Dan Barry (awesome!) and Irv Novick (see Corporal Collins and Steel Sterling). More than often stories (where uncredited) were probably penciled by Biro and inked by others.

 

BTW we should not forget the term "superhero" just happened, as it is with most label, used later on to classify, but Biro had the specific originality of writing stories based on solid plots and ideas, trascending any possible genre classification.

Mostly they were about human relationships, and in this sense, in my opinion in some way he pre-dated the silver age with Stan Lee's intuitions.

[sacentaur]

 

Fantastic - what issue is that from?

[Crimebuster]

That is the splash from #40.

[Moondog]

It's not a focus for me, but I've picked up a couple of these.

 

 

Death by flag stick! Classic!

[Straw-Man]

i have only one, having sold my okajima copy of 20 to jamie.