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Anybody have any pre-SOTI books?
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81 posts in this topic

On 2/2/2018 at 12:59 PM, Bo_Hogg1 said:

This is the only one I have from 1948. I was drawn to the ultra cool superhero cover. There is all text inside.

 

 

pre-SOTI 001.jpg

Well, I finally dug around in the vaults and found some fun pre-SOTI books.  

I'll start with my copy of The Comics, by Sister Mary Clare.  From 1943, it's my earliest anti-comics item.  Including the one pictured above, I've seen two instances of the red cover version, and one instance of a yellow cover version (which I bought).  Separately, I bought another pamphlet from the same author, "What Is A Nun?"

I believe this was referenced by Wertham on pp. 228-229 of SOTI.  

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1943_Comics_likely_SOTI_pp228_229_2.thumb.jpg.4d286c2b44a9ea43c13a7d86fed78eaf.jpg1943_Comics_likely_SOTI_pp228_229_3.thumb.jpg.adcad5726c412131472c9ae5587b094b.jpg

 

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Moving forward chronologically, the next I have is from American Scholar, in the winter of 1943/44.  This isn't the whole magazine. It's a reprint of just William Moulton Marston's article "Why 100,000,000 Americans Read Comics," saddle-stitched with a copy of the cover to that magazine. 

1943_12_American_Scholar_1.thumb.jpg.f40f0fa455a7a573aaf4b74f2884e6ac.jpg1943_12_American_Scholar_2.thumb.jpg.d5e9516137865b0074c1c1a1f226c7f9.jpg1943_12_American_Scholar_3.thumb.jpg.2911b08b123508c6c0ae9c7c6eee599d.jpg1943_12_American_Scholar_4.thumb.jpg.79efbd3093fb17a5d692f271269ea9a9.jpg1943_12_American_Scholar_5.thumb.jpg.9283771d3ecd4b98c9ee1d0c6482449d.jpg

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In the fall of 1945, there was this issue of Arizona Quarterly.  In it, Walter Ong writes "The Comics and the Super State."

1945_10_Arizona_Quarterly_1.thumb.jpg.091860cc727241314f6dad776cd9ce7e.jpg1945_10_Arizona_Quarterly_2.thumb.jpg.b8f550f327123ab5dcae31af8cc9b6fe.jpg

More to come... as we hit 1948 and Wertham's first nationally-published anti-comics article, the number of comic book-related publications increased significantly.

 

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On 12/1/2018 at 4:37 PM, SOTIcollector said:

Moving forward chronologically, the next I have is from American Scholar, in the winter of 1943/44.  This isn't the whole magazine. It's a reprint of just William Moulton Marston's article "Why 100,000,000 Americans Read Comics," saddle-stitched with a copy of the cover to that magazine. 

Are you sure that is a reprint?  Typically, law and academic journals give authors the opportunity to obtain a bunch of copies of their articles in that format for personal distribution.  They are typically printed the same time as the journal. I still have copies of the article I did in law school in that format.

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8 hours ago, sfcityduck said:

Are you sure that is a reprint?  Typically, law and academic journals give authors the opportunity to obtain a bunch of copies of their articles in that format for personal distribution.  They are typically printed the same time as the journal. I still have copies of the article I did in law school in that format.

I am precisely zero percent sure this is a reprint -- that was just conjecture on my part.  I was trying to indicate that I don't have the whole magazine, and have just this standalone article in a cover. I should have chosen my words more carefully. 

If it is typical to produce such a copy at the time of the original publication, then I'd say that's likely what happened here.  Thanks!

Edited by SOTIcollector
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Oh, and we can't leave 1947 without a nod to Colton Waugh's The Comics.

In this book, we learn that newspaper comic strips are great.  And then at the end, there's a chapter that politely informs us that comic books are .

I love the description of Schomburg's cover to Speed #33.

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7 minutes ago, SOTIcollector said:

I am precisely zero percent sure this is a reprint -- that was just conjecture on my part.  If it is typical to produce such a copy at the time of the original publication, then I'd say that's likely what happened here.  Thanks!

I used to own one of these myself (the Marston article with the cover wraps) and in bibliographic and antiquarian book collecting circles it is called an "offprint"

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