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AJD's comic notebook
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Anyway, there's always another rainbow to chase. Here's my first Australian edition of a Blue Bolt. There are only four Australian issues (that are known), and they seem to be drawn from the second half of the Star Publications run. Covers by L. B. Cole and Wolverton. You can see the Australian issues 2, 3 and 4 here and #1 here.

This #4 has a very cool cover that I think must have been redrawn locally from the interior story, because it seems to be an Australian unique cover.

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Here's the page the main figures came from.

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Here's another interior page. The close-up dialogue panel is kind of cool.

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On 6/29/2018 at 11:37 PM, AJD said:

trip down the paisley-print lined halls of time this post. The comics that set me on the path of a lifetime love of the medium were Australian Disneys. My favourites were the Barks Uncle Scrooge stories

i think pink covers are some of the best....

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I've picked up a few 'odds and ends' Australian comics lately. I grabbed this one because it is very unusual for an Australian book in having the Dell logo. I'm only aware of two Lassie books with it. I love Dells, and it was cheap...

Lassie_17.jpg.1d8f316e44a47f9daae10c049c867214.jpg

My first thought was that the Dell logo just got copied across with the art, but a comparison with the US edition suggests not. The original Dell painted cover has been redrawn (very well) as line work for the Australian version:

Lassie_21_Dell.JPG.07216ad25ccf47f65dca4ace4dbf7139.JPG

It's amazing how many things that are amenable to doggie intervention (and commentary) happen to people in Lassie stories!

Lassie_17_int.thumb.jpg.6c0e705e98b891b8d6a234834a3b1184.jpg

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59 minutes ago, Harry Lime said:

Does she fetch the stick?

That would be cool, but no.

Lassie_17_int_2.thumb.jpg.9ce2b23983acd61f454cdb5e38bced37.jpg

Prediction: Harry Lime will want to know if he eats the dog.

(AJD's safety tip of the day: if you eat Lassie, don't eat her liver. Douglas Mawson can explain. His mate Xavier Mertz could too, except that he ate a dog's liver.)

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I should keep going through the little pile of varied Australian comics I picked up. Not quite sure yet which ones I'll keep. This one is a reprint of a Dell Four Color book (#413 in 1952 and again as #669 in 1955 - I'm assuming that it was reissued when the Richard Todd film did the rounds again).

Not a bad pickup anyway. It's a very presentable copy, and I have in the back of my mind that a good project on reduced retirement income would be a full run of the 2,000+ Australian Disney reprints (I have about 10% of them now). This one appeared as a one shot, rather than as part of an established series, and I haven't seen it around so often, so it's definitely a keeper for now.

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The colour in this edition is just beautiful.

Robin-Hood-int.thumb.jpg.a6418e01f9220aa09531bd18046ea222.jpg

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What on earth is Little John wearing on the cover of this - where he's a-fightin' on the "bridge"? A kilt?

The colouring is interesting, but these aged faculties are finding it a bit hard to immediately work out what's going on with Prince John on the horse, backwards.

Might be easier to distinguish "in the flesh" so to speak.

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Another Australian reprint. I suppose the cover has a certain period appeal...

GI-Jane-9.thumb.jpg.fe6c93b131fd0fb641e1ca0cfe7ddefb.jpg

... but the stories in this comic are very, very ordinary. Here's an example of the side-splitting humour to be found under the covers (you'll see what I did there).

GI-Jane-9-int.thumb.jpg.81000c2caab4006d1ab94103d75dc370.jpg

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2 minutes ago, AJD said:

Another Australian reprint. I suppose the cover has a certain period appeal...

GI-Jane-9.thumb.jpg.fe6c93b131fd0fb641e1ca0cfe7ddefb.jpg

... but the stories in this comic are very, very ordinary. Here's an example of the side-splitting humour to be found under the covers (you'll see what I did there).

GI-Jane-9-int.thumb.jpg.81000c2caab4006d1ab94103d75dc370.jpg

She moved the bed! Quick, get me a needle and thread ! Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah lol

Hahahahahaha lol

Hahaha lol

 

 

 

Ha... 

 

:p

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36 minutes ago, 1950's war comics said:

Lassie was a natural body surfer to get through those breakers ....

Lassie was truly a dog among dogs. There was nothing she couldn't do, as long as opposable thumbs or higher cognitive processes weren't required.

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No banjo-playing 'roo in this book. A local reprint of #1 in a short-lived Fiction House series (of four), and a badly miscut one at that. But one that @1950's war comics might like.

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Inside you'll find this four page ultra-abbreviated account of the "Marianas turkey shoot" - aka the air battle that formed part of the Battle of the Philippine Sea in 1944. While much is made of the extraordinary shootdown rate by the US Navy aviators (which destroyed most of the Japanese aircraft attacking the USN fleet, with 20 lost versus ~ 600 on the Japanese side) it was really the sinking of three Japanese aircraft carriers and two auxiliary oilers in the battle (two of the carriers were sunk by submarines and one by aircraft) that cemented the allied victory. Despite the title, this story focus on the air attack on the Japanese carriers, rather than actual 'turkey shoot' aspect of the battle. And it doesn't mention the important role of the submarines, so exaggerating the success of the air attacks.

Jet-Aces-1-int.jpg.6c38b62b7be908e6988f5dbc5cf66eae.jpg

</prof AJD>

 

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One last Australian GA book before I show off a few furriners. This is an unusually nice Crimson Comet. Even the little 'chip' top left was still there when I looked closely, and has since been carefully unfolded and pressed into place.

Crimson_Comet_39.jpg.e0f14954c1400f685f75a1cdbcb62b91.jpg

John Dixon invented the CC, but he only drew the eralier and later issues in the 70+ book run. This one is credited to Albert De Vine in Bonzer. He wasn't the draughtsman Dixon was.

Crimson_Comet_39_int.jpg.05a7e31bdb7bec97e5d944e4909d2b21.jpg

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OK, for a change of pace here's an American book. I put "a Baker romance comic" on my wants list years ago, then watched prices soar. I thought I'd missed that train, until I spotted this one at the right price point.

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There seems to be a bit of theme in this issue. Between farm girls and the proverbial coal miner's daughter, it seems that the gals of the rust belt are feeling their oats...

PR16_INT.thumb.jpg.f2471abcec369676922b444d54b823a2.jpg

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Back to Oz pence copies with today's offering. In landscape format yet.

CI_Lorna_Doone.jpg.5c363e7709799a211bf17a86ba0ce711.jpg

But I haven't totally sacrificed continuity in this journal, because under the (not so great) locally-added cover you will find the work of M. Baker, cover to cover in glorious detail-revealing black and white. Alas, by printing two pages per landscape page, the result is a little fuzzy.

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147662757_CI_Lorna_Dooneint2.thumb.jpg.01f363e8fb91f4ed0169136941103fab.jpg

 

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