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AJD's comic notebook
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1,132 posts in this topic

8 hours ago, Harry Lime said:

Extra is a comic based on journalism?

Yes. Here's the cover of #4

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I just pulled my copy out to re-read it. It was a little better than I recalled, but nothing to write home about. There's some nice Johnny Craig, John Severin and Reed Crandall art in it. Here's the Crandall splash.

Extra_4_int.thumb.jpg.1a4faa38f4b8edc9febfff66ff9cf962.jpg

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One final book from my more recent care parcel from the Heritage. (Though there's one on its way from MCS  too - really looking forward to that one.)

Jungle_108.thumb.jpg.9ecc28622d2ddb8366cccfa194efdd43.jpg

And here's a demanding quiz from the good folk at Fiction House:

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Where did they find the model sheet for that kangaroo?

 

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On 9/22/2017 at 9:45 PM, AJD said:

I can't recall the last time I upgraded a book in my collection, but this VF Piracy #5 was headed for too low a price on Heritage to resist.

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Here's a fun Jack Davis drawn "house ad" for the New Direction titles. I have all issues of all of the titles except for Extra. I have one issue (#4) - it has an excellent cover, but it's a pretty dull read.

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What happened to "Psychoanalysis"? It was around at the same time, and surely a candidate for the strangest title (and content) ever for a funny book.

I have wondered whether "Psychoanalysis" as a title was Gaines' attempt at an "up you" to Wertham.

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35 minutes ago, Duffman_Comics said:

What happened to "Psychoanalysis"? It was around at the same time, and surely a candidate for the strangest title (and content) ever for a funny book.

I have wondered whether "Psychoanalysis" as a title was Gaines' attempt at an "up you" to Wertham.

Yes, both Psychoanalysis and M.D. are missing from the 'New Direction' titles. For that matter, Incredible Science Fiction wasn't a ND title - just a renamed follow-on to Weird Science Fantasy since Gaines thought (incorrectly) that the word 'weird' was on the taboo list with 'crime' and several others. If you read back a little in this thread ( :baiting:) you'll see that Feldstein explained that he and Gaines were in therapy and thought they'd spread the gospel about it. 

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15 hours ago, AJD said:

For that matter, Incredible Science Fiction wasn't a ND title - just a renamed follow-on to Weird Science Fantasy since Gaines thought (incorrectly) that the word 'weird' was on the taboo list with 'crime' and several others.

Incorrectly, huh? So the name was changed for no good reason. That's wild, I didn't know that.

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OK, a trip back to my first love in comics for today's post - Australian Disney comics, especially ones with Barks stories. Of course I had no idea who Carl Barks was when I bought my first comics in 1968-69, but I could spot a "that guy" story a mile away.

This one predates my childhood Disneys by 15 years, and it's the earliest "G series" book I own. That was our equivalent of the Four Color series, and had a range of titles within it. But the first 20 was very Barks heavy - check them out here. Must have been a good time to be reading the local reprints! G stands for giant, and I recall puzzling over that as a kid, because they were the same size and page count as the other Disney books. But the first half dozen were 64 pages at a time when most Australian books were 24. Those six are very hard to find: a copy of G1 with a tear down 75% of the FC sold for over $2k a few years ago and I haven't seen one since. I don't think I've ever seen a #3 or #4 except in a complete collection of the 2,000+ Australian Disneys I had the pleasure of seeing once.

Perhaps explaining their scarcity, these books were 1/- (a shilling) when most others were 6d (sixpence - half the price). This one has 32 pages, all Barks.

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They were also in color at a time when most Australian books were B&W. And what color! Much stronger than the Dell four colours:

G17_int.thumb.jpg.2670238886e944da8709d941050bfd78.jpg

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Nice book AJD and it prompted unbidden a statement from many years ago.

Barks collectors in the "olden days" (read:1970's ) whilst of course actively pursuing the first print, US editions would also chase Australian reprints due to the superior page quality (pretty glossy) and the consequent vibrant colours.

Is this G17 the "censored/edited" version?

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10 minutes ago, Duffman_Comics said:

Nice book AJD and it prompted unbidden a statement from many years ago.

Barks collectors in the "olden days" (read:1970's ) whilst of course actively pursuing the first print, US editions would also chase Australian reprints due to the superior page quality (pretty glossy) and the consequent vibrant colours.

Is this G17 the "censored/edited" version?

Yes, it is the cut version of the story.

The Australian paper stock in the Disneys was nice, much better than in other local comics. It ages well in terms of whiteness, but also seems to be susceptible to foxing, which isn't uncommon on them.

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Another nice Australian book for the 'Oz box'. This Rangers #5 has a locally drawn cover (pretty sure) and great colours - well, on the front.

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My choice of interior page this time is ghost story. I thought this might have been from an issue of Ghost, but the GCD says it's from the US edition of Rangers #43.

59d043ddca67c_Rangers5Australianint.thumb.jpg.43dfcc4ea1ca8e61f42ae322a0fb8101.jpg

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1 hour ago, Point Five said:

That cover is awesome. The knife in the big kitty though, ouch. Harsh. (Was there ever an Australian equivalent of Wertham?)

 

No single Wertham-like figure, but lots of chatter about comics in state legislatures. And there was the Queensland Literature Review Board, which managed to get a dozen titles banned outright.

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An enigmatic Australian book today. Three weeks ago I had never heard of this book, until @Point Five PM'd me to say that he'd found it in MCS eBay listings and that I needed to own it. He was, of course, absolutely correct that I needed to own it. I have both a geographical and a professional connection to this book. Geographical because it's set in Canberra. Professional because there really was a very significant KGB spy ring in Canberra in the 1950s and I use it as a case study in my Intelligence & Security class at the national university.  It's a great book. It's big for a start - larger than the early GA size. And it's in lovely condition, which is always a bonus for these thin newspaper stock comics. On the front cover you can see 'Old Parliament House' out the window. Interestingly, you'd almost get that view from the restaurant diagonally opposite. It used to be called The Lobby, but now it's the Pork Barrel. :)

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Here's another piece of Canberra scenery - the Australian War memorial. My wife worked there as a curator for five years. My uncle was at the Battle of Tobruk, so the plaque was a nice find in the book.

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Now, the funny thing is that I have no idea where this story originated. Steve Roper was an American character who had a five issue run in 1948. There's no story with the 'Canberra spy ring' title, and I can't track it down from the first line or the characters. I thought it might be locally drawn, but it's not in the Bonzer checklist. My next thought was that it was a modified story from elsewhere - so maybe 'Canberra'  had been subbed in for something else. Looking at the middle panel in the bottom line, that might be the case - the font looks a little different. Likewise, maybe the 'Tobruk' plaque (see how all the secondary lettering is scuzzed out?) and possibly even the War Memorial are add-ins? Otherwise, I got nothin', except for this cool book.

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I think you are correct, AJD, in that this is an American yarn that has been adapted for Australian consumption.

The cover is a local production, of course, thus the Old Parliament House illustration and the prominent "Canberra" statement.

Internally, the shot of the War Memorial exterior looks nothing like the ACT offering - in fact it looks far more "American" ala their Supreme Court, National Archives etc. I cannot think of any building in Canberra that looks like it - except for the US embassy lol

Interesting book. First one I have seen.

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Another Australian Fiction House reprint.

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I was unreasonably pleased to see the back cover. Not because of the ad or the "skid mark" :eek: - but because of the date stamp.

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Almost all of the Australian comics of the era are undated, so the arrival date stamp of "8 JUL 1953" allows us to pin down at least this one. I sent the data off to the GCD folks.

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While it's difficult to keep up with all of the responses here, I shall push on regardless. </sarcasm>

All of you ardent readers of this thread (oh, wait, the sarcasm flag was off) will recall me posting this photo of B-17 gunners, which I thought was probably the reference photo for a Wings issue:

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Well, I now have a presentable copy of that issue of Wings in my FH box. :banana:

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And if that isn't enough for you, here's a chorus line of Cossack dancing women (and a Bell P-63 Kingcobra)...

59d859c954a85_Wings61int.thumb.jpg.2de7343936a16734925102a2cf1e1d0f.jpg

 

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Hey, you think your thread gets little response, mine is like the Gobi with the world's biggest tumble weed blowing slowly across it. lol

I love the cover to that Wings and the quintuplet dancing action. Also surprising to see the old-fashioned spelling of Romania used, relatively, recently.

Any idea what that Japanese poster(?) pinned on the gunner's back is supposed to signify? 

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3 hours ago, AJD said:

While it's difficult to keep up with all of the responses here, I shall push on regardless. </sarcasm>

All of you ardent readers of this thread (oh, wait, the sarcasm flag was off)

 

8 minutes ago, Harry Lime said:

Hey, you think your thread gets little response, mine is like the Gobi with the world's biggest tumble weed blowing slowly across it. lol

 

Keep going boys. Posting on these boards often feels like scoring the winning goal in the FA Cup and then turning to see that the rest of the team are in the dressing room and the fans are all down the pub (talking about famous people dying and terrorism usually). If you enjoy what you do, that's as much as you can hope for. We spend most of our lives talking to ourselves anyway so keep doing your thing here (thumbsu

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3 hours ago, Marwood & I said:

 

Keep going boys. Posting on these boards often feels like scoring the winning goal in the FA Cup and then turning to see that the rest of the team are in the dressing room and the fans are all down the pub (talking about famous people dying and terrorism usually). If you enjoy what you do, that's as much as you can hope for. We spend most of our lives talking to ourselves anyway so keep doing your thing here (thumbsu

All good - I was just having a bit of lame fun. I run this thread because I like to document the building of my collection. If anyone else gets any value from it, well, that can't be helped. lol

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3 hours ago, Harry Lime said:

Any idea what that Japanese poster(?) pinned on the gunner's back is supposed to signify? 

It's the Chinese Nationalist insignia. The history of China before, during and after WW2 was fascinating and complicated. The Nationalists under Chiang kai-shek did the lion's share of the fighting against the Japanese, before going on to lose the civil war against Mao's communist forces in the period 1945-49. The Chinese Communist Party has largely written the Nationalists out of history. I was in Taiwan when the 70th anniversary of the end of WW2 passed, and the locals were plenty bitter about the way that Beijing was taking the credit.

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