AJD's comic notebook 7 7

[Get Marwood & I]

"Oh, they're at it again Dave"

"Embarrassing isn't it Eric. It's like we don't exist"

"It is Dave. I don't know about you, but I don't really want to see that kind of thing. It's disrespectful"

"Yeah. Bacon smells nice though doesn't it"

"It does. Do you think we'll get any?"

""Nah. Hay is all we get Eric, you know that"

"It's making me right hungry though. Here, Dave. Have you ever tried cactus?"

"Once. I didn't like it"

"I'm a bit nervous of the spikes if I'm honest"

"Really Eric? I heard you didn't mind a little prrick, heh heh"

"Yeah all right Dave. Always the comedian..."

[AJD]

10 minutes ago, Get Marwood & I said:

"Oh, they're at it again Dave"

"Embarrassing isn't it Eric. It's like we don't exist"

"It is Dave. I don't know about you, but I don't really want to see that kind of thing. It's disrespectful"

"Yeah. Bacon smells nice though doesn't it"

"It does. Do you think we'll get any?"

""Nah. Hay is all we get Eric, you know that"

"It's making me right hungry though. Here, Dave. Have you ever tried cactus?"

"Once. I didn't like it"

"I'm a bit nervous of the spikes if I'm honest"

"Really Eric? I heard you didn't mind a little prrick, heh heh"

"Yeah all right Dave. Always the comedian..."

Those long winter nights must just fly past in the Marwood household...

[Foley]

A bit late to the party, but I just wanted to say:

[Get Marwood & I]

6 hours ago, AJD said:

Thanks for the thoughts guys, but we're OK. We're far enough from likely fire fronts to not be immediately worried, but close enough to have taken some precautions like clearing dry vegetation and having some buckets handy around the yard and for on the roof. We aren't going to face a main fire, but falling embers could present a spot fire threat. Meanwhile I've been doing some volunteer animal work, hauling water and rescuing distressed/injured animals. It has been so hot and dry that the native wildlife is doing it tough even where the fires aren't.

Good for you Andy. I've been reading some rotten stuff about what is going on and the animals are often a side note so it's good to hear there are people like you helping. I hear today that the two merged fires are four times the size of Greater London which is difficult to comprehend. I tip my hat to you for what you are doing there and look forward to buying you a beer or five when you next visit the happily more temperate shores of Blighty 

[Get Marwood & I]

34 minutes ago, Foley said:

A bit late to the party, but I just wanted to say:

I'd expect you to spot a great craic Ryan, living in Ireland and all 

[AJD]

Now that we all have the Benny Hill humour out of our systems, let's have a look at another comic.

We've seen many a jungle animal/jungle girl splash over these pages, so let me give you a splash from a backup feature. I think this is a pretty dynamic image. Looks like Jack Kamen to me and the GCD agrees - the stories in this issue are from Jumbo #110.

.

[Get Marwood & I]

By Major Thorpe no less. Not the '& Porter' one I'm guessing. Does Rhonda live Andy? And how does the title find it's way into the tale? I'm intrigued. 

[Duffman_Comics]

I'd like to know what the second guy on the cover is doing. Can't be a rifle. Blow gun and dart used by heavy smoker?

Smouldering fire stick that will be deadly "if I can just get close enough".

And was there ever a colloquial expression "lamp that news" or am I missing something?

Probably. I miss lots of things.

[Get Marwood & I]

8 minutes ago, Duffman_Comics said:

I'd like to know what the second guy on the cover is doing. Can't be a rifle. Blow gun and dart used by heavy smoker?

Early form of vaping?

8 minutes ago, Duffman_Comics said:

Smouldering fire stick that will be deadly "if I can just get close enough".

And was there ever a colloquial expression "lamp that news" or am I missing something?

Probably. I miss lots of things.

You got frontispiece to be fair. 

[Beige]

Well thanks Andrew for ensuring my morning list flew past with complete and utter inattention to both patients.

Luckily the ventilator has alarms....

Both surgeons did stop to look at your MD run of books and had a healthy discussion about treating death row prisoners with terminal illnesses.

So I read your thread from start to finish, and we did two procedures instead of 3 due to arguing about comics and the anatomical impossibilities of various Jungle Girls.

The tax payers of Victoria salute you.

Cracking thread you should be very proud of your collection.

I've also just been informed we will be working late to add this mornings patient to the afternoon list.

Which is a little bit wanky.

[AJD]

1 hour ago, Beige said:

Luckily the ventilator has alarms....

Please don't mention me to the coroner...

[AJD]

A change for pace for this one. But first, a pause to note a moment of history. This is the last package I am ever likely to receive from Heritage.

There was nothing wrong with the package, and not much wrong with the contents, but the costs have finally killed it for me. The hammer price (including BP) for the books inside was $816. Once sales tax was added (10% Australian GST) and postage of $86 ( ) - with an additional $8.60 GST on the postage for a total of $94.60 - AND the new 2.5% surcharge on credit card orders, the box cost me $1,010.60. Or, in my money, over $1,500. I don't think I got that much fun in the box, so I won't be going that path again. A pity, because I had lots of fun over the past 12 years going through the auction listings.

But enough whining, what about the funny books? This was one, taken out of an 'other guys' slab. (The first one I've cracked and they're tough suckers!)

This book is pretty full on with racism and vilification of the Japanese. And while I understand the context of the times and am not an apologist for Japanese historical behaviour by any means, I really like Japan and its people, and this book was a bit distressing to read. To be fair, the cover was a bit of a hint of what was to come.

Here's a typical example.

And there's a text story that contains such prose as "The smell of the monkey men was in the air. It was a powerful, musty scent, strong and heavy in the moist warmth of the tropical night..."

Then there's this tale (with an excellent splash panel) that at least has a historical basis, though it's exaggerated here. (You can read about Mitsuru Toyama here.)

There are also some photo features. Here's one I'm happy enough to reproduce.

A couple of pages later there's a piece on Japanese battlefield suicide, with a horrific and uncensored photo of two Japanese soldiers who shot themselves in the head by pulling the trigger of their rifles with their toes. I'll spare you that one.

Times were different then, and this book is an interesting time capsule, if nothing else.

[sagii]

Great post Andrew, love when background accompanies a post, and not just a 'pic'.

Costs for HA are wearing on me here in NY too. Will be letting many a book go there once it goes past a threshold where all those little extras won't make it worth it. Will just wait for a copy to show up on CC, CL or eBay. 

You shouldn't be cracking out other guys slabs when cgc can do that for you 

[Duffman_Comics]

Well?

I can't believe that's the only comic in that box.

Come on!

[AJD]

1 hour ago, Duffman_Comics said:

Well?

I can't believe that's the only comic in that box.

Come on!

There may have been other comics in there, it's true. And we will get to them in good time.

[Duffman_Comics]

As I recall, there were (and are) girls that behaved like this.

The term was something like "tick deasers".

[Robot Man]

On 1/15/2020 at 5:19 AM, AJD said:

A change for pace for this one. But first, a pause to note a moment of history. This is the last package I am ever likely to receive from Heritage.

There was nothing wrong with the package, and not much wrong with the contents, but the costs have finally killed it for me. The hammer price (including BP) for the books inside was $816. Once sales tax was added (10% Australian GST) and postage of $86 ( ) - with an additional $8.60 GST on the postage for a total of $94.60 - AND the new 2.5% surcharge on credit card orders, the box cost me $1,010.60. Or, in my money, over $1,500. I don't think I got that much fun in the box, so I won't be going that path again. A pity, because I had lots of fun over the past 12 years going through the auction listings.

But enough whining, what about the funny books? This was one, taken out of an 'other guys' slab. (The first one I've cracked and they're tough suckers!)

This book is pretty full on with racism and vilification of the Japanese. And while I understand the context of the times and am not an apologist for Japanese historical behaviour by any means, I really like Japan and its people, and this book was a bit distressing to read. To be fair, the cover was a bit of a hint of what was to come.

Here's a typical example.

And there's a text story that contains such prose as "The smell of the monkey men was in the air. It was a powerful, musty scent, strong and heavy in the moist warmth of the tropical night..."

Then there's this tale (with an excellent splash panel) that at least has a historical basis, though it's exaggerated here. (You can read about Mitsuru Toyama here.)

There are also some photo features. Here's one I'm happy enough to reproduce.

A couple of pages later there's a piece on Japanese battlefield suicide, with a horrific and uncensored photo of two Japanese soldiers who shot themselves in the head by pulling the trigger of their rifles with their toes. I'll spare you that one.

Times were different then, and this book is an interesting time capsule, if nothing else.

Yeah, that is a pretty brutal book as well as the rest of the issues in that run. By today’s standards, this is totally inappropriate. But in the early 1940’s we were at war against a country that attacked us and was killing our countrymen. Very understandable. It spilled over into every American’s daily life no matter what your age. This book was probably aimed at adults and servicemen. Times are different now. But it happened and it is just history. If you don’t like that one, I suggest you don’t get any of the rest of them. 

And considering your original topic. Yeah, that is amazing. I thought fees, taxes, shipping ect. were bad here... Having to pay double your original (probably aggressive bids), is rough. I rarely if ever bid in any of the big auction houses for this and another reasons. Sadly, living where you do makes this hobby rough and expensive. 

[Beige]

12 hours ago, Robot Man said:

Yeah, that is a pretty brutal book as well as the rest of the issues in that run. By today’s standards, this is totally inappropriate. But in the early 1940’s we were at war against a country that attacked us and was killing our countrymen. Very understandable. It spilled over into every American’s daily life no matter what your age. This book was probably aimed at adults and servicemen. Times are different now. But it happened and it is just history. If you don’t like that one, I suggest you don’t get any of the rest of them. 

 

Australia suffered badly at the hands of the Japanese forces as well. Our population back then was under 7,000,000. We lost 40,000 troops.

Darwin was bombed, Over 600 died and 1500 wounded on Kokoda (with most wounded dying during the Japanese 'death marches' from camp to camp) and Bangka Island when Japanese soldiers machine gunned 22 Nurses -  21 died along with 60 out of 62 wounded Australian troops who were shot and bayoneted. The troops and Nurses had surrendered long before being killed)

I think because now, we have so many Japanese,Chinese Koreans etc living in Australia (a very, very significant number), that wounds healed a lot quicker. Certainly now and for some time, Asian-Australians are very welcome, and contribute hugely to the well-being and financial growth of the country.

I'm sure back in WW2 Australians had exactly the same feelings about the Japanese as the USA.

[AJD]

Thanks for the comments Andy and Bob. The issue I have is not vilifying the enemy - that's natural enough when they attack you and are actively trying to kill you. It's the overt and really nasty racist element that grates. I have some similar books centred on the European war and they are very keen on killing Germans and calling out Nazi badness in all its forms, but there isn't the same 'subhuman enemy' angle. Anyway, as I said, it's an interesting snapshot of the times. I also have this one in the series. I don't recall it being quite so nasty, but it has been a while since I read it. (And the cover certainly doesn't inspire confidence!)

Meanwhile, back at funny book central, let's go in a different direction with this one.

Another one from the Heritage box and a very presentable copy of the only New Direction book I didn't have. Alas, when I opened the front cover to look inside the small chip on the bottom right corner fell off! In fact - and undisclosed by Heritage - there's a good-sized water stain throughout the book on that corner that has made the cover stock brittle. At least I saw the chip go and recovered it. It's just pressed into place in the scan above. Next time I have some japan paper and paste handy I'll put it back for good.

Because of the brittleness, here are some photos rather than scans of the interior. This is the splash panel that introduces the series.

And here's the first case. Get ready to do some reading kids - this is a wordy series! (Beware: dysfunctional parenting ahead...)

[Robot Man]

US Marines #3 takes over where #2 leaves off. Equally racist and brutal. Also not aimed at kids.

And I won’t even go into the internment camps in the US...

And comics pulled no punches when it came to Nazis. I have nothing to post on hand but they were very often portrayed as green skinned, long tooth vampire monsters. Often threatening women and children. 

There was no holding back on the enemy during WWII. 

At this point it is simply history.