Awesome, Amazing All Star Comics Complete Run-They deserve their own thread! 5 5

[sfcityduck]

Ghastly,

I went back through a file I have on my review of the Gardner Fox archive at the UO, and thought you might enjoy the editorial feedback and restrictions Fox was under when he was writing those All Stars.  Very fascinating stuff.  From a 35 year old Xerox of the original letter:

[Ghastly542454]

17 minutes ago, sfcityduck said:

Ghastly,

I went back through a file I have on my review of the Gardner Fox archive at the UO, and thought you might enjoy the editorial feedback and restrictions Fox was under when he was writing those All Stars.  Very fascinating stuff.  From a 35 year old Xerox of the original letter:

@sfcityduckI hadn’t seen this actual letter but it is covered in his biography Gardner Fox-The Forgotten All Star. Thanks for providing it.

Edited October 21, 2020 by Ghastly542454

[MusterMark]

4 hours ago, sfcityduck said:

Ghastly,

I went back through a file I have on my review of the Gardner Fox archive at the UO, and thought you might enjoy the editorial feedback and restrictions Fox was under when he was writing those All Stars.  Very fascinating stuff.  From a 35 year old Xerox of the original letter:

That's a fascinating read!  

[sfcityduck]

9 hours ago, Ghastly542454 said:

@sfcityduckI hadn’t seen this actual letter but it is covered in his biography Gardner Fox-The Forgotten All Star. Thanks for providing it.

Is it a good book?

[Ghastly542454]

5 hours ago, sfcityduck said:

Is it a good book?

I highly recommend it!!

[Jayman]

17 hours ago, Ghastly542454 said:

 

17 hours ago, sfcityduck said:

Ghastly,

I went back through a file I have on my review of the Gardner Fox archive at the UO, and thought you might enjoy the editorial feedback and restrictions Fox was under when he was writing those All Stars.  Very fascinating stuff.  From a 35 year old Xerox of the original letter:

@sfcityduckI hadn’t seen this actual letter but it is covered in his biography Gardner Fox-The Forgotten All Star. Thanks for providing it.

 

It’s interesting that nos. 10, 11 & 12 were marked with an X. Does it mention why in the book?

Edited October 22, 2020 by Jayman

[Ghastly542454]

3 hours ago, Jayman said:

It’s interesting that nos. 10, 11 & 12 were marked with an X. Does it mention why in the book?

No it does not. In the book it just covers this briefly saying there were certain rules that had to be followed. No real details.

[sfcityduck]

Fox's archive includes other guidelines, but I think they are from later in his career, including this one ( again, this is a copy I made 35 years ago - love the note by Sheldon Mayer at the bottom):

I've got another guideline from Fox's files that is very story and character centric, but that one is from 1959 or so.

Edited October 22, 2020 by sfcityduck

[Tri-Color Brian]

On 10/22/2020 at 1:45 PM, sfcityduck said:

Fox's archive includes other guidelines, but I think they are from later in his career, including this one ( again, this is a copy I made 35 years ago - love the note by Sheldon Mayer at the bottom):

I've got another guideline from Fox's files that is very story and character centric, but that one is from 1959 or so.

#7..."We must not roast anybody alive".  Those damn guidelines just took all the FUN out of FUNNY BOOKS...

Edited December 27, 2021 by Tri-ColorBrian

[KCOComics]

On 5/13/2020 at 1:12 PM, Ghastly542454 said:

All Star Comics #8-Well, here’s the one everyone has been waiting for! It’s one of the Big 3 D.C. Grails-Action Comics #1 for Superman, Detective Comics #27 for Batman, and All Star Comics #8 for Wonder Woman. However, unlike Action Comics #1 or Detective Comics #27, All Star Comics #8 featured no drawing or mention of Wonder Woman on the cover. 

From Jerry Bails in D.C. All Star Comics Archive Edition Volume 2: “All Star Comics #8 was a very special issue. There was nothing on the cover to indicate it carried an extra 9-page story heralding one of the greatest icons ever created for comics.  To my knowledge, All Star was the first comic ever to provide a free bonus insert introducing a brand-new character. This was the very first appearance of Wonder Woman. Nothing like this had happened before in comics, nor would it happen again for decades-and then only with much fanfare. Ten cents bought 66 pages of full-color pages of action-a Justice Society tale introducing two new members-Starman and Dr. Mid-Nite who were created earlier in 1941, along with a back-up feature, the origin and first appearance of Wonder Woman. While the comics reader would never see a better bargain, there was no mention of the bonus story on the cover. Can you imagine that happening today?

Wonder Woman was created by Dr. William Marston, an internationally renowned psychiatrist and developer of the lie detector. Dr. Marston had been a member of D.C. Comics Editorial Advisory Board. He had long argued that the comics needed a feminine hero. Max Gaines, the ‘Father Of Comic Books” and publisher of D.C.’s All-American line of comics (All Star Comics would remain under Max Gaines’s All-American line until issue #32 when it is sold and absorbed completely by D.C.), turned the challenge back on Marston: “If that’s what you think comics need, then create the strip and write it.” Marston took up the challenge and the result was the creation of one of the most original concepts in the comics, the Amazon Princess from Paradise Island.”

According to Roy Thomas’ All Star Companion the writer of All Star Comics #8 was Gardner Fox and the artists included Hibbard: cover and JSA, Aschmeier: Dr. Mid-Nite, Dr. Fate, Johnny Thunder, Flinton: Atom, Young: Sandman, Burnley: Starman, Moldoff: Hawkman, and Baily: Spectre. The “Introducing Wonder Woman” 9-page bonus was written by Charles Moulton and artwork by H.G. Peter. 

“All Star Comics were in the forefront of presenting many ideas we now expect in our comics-editors talking directly to the readers and involving them in the editorial processwhich started in All Star Comics #8, the announcement of upcoming issues, and even the concept of book length adventures.”

As I wrote about at the beginning of this thread, towards the end of 2018, I was just about to throw in the towel collecting All Star Comics since I thought I would never have the money to get a #3 and #8 especially in the conditions I wanted them in. However, a change of fortunes occurred in March of 2019 although the money I needed to purchase #3 and #8 would not arrive until mid-October of 2019. Once I knew that I would have the money I needed, I began my search looking at eBay, Heritage, Comic Link, and Comic Connect. But what I would also need is to find someone who would work with me where I could put down a down payment and they would have to accept and wait until October when I got my money. 

Fast forward to July 2019 and the Torpedo Con that was held in Hollywood a few days before the SDCC. It was there that I met Danielle Smith AKA “Nerdy Girl” for the first time in person. She had been a friend on Facebook but I had never actually met her. I also met Rick Whitelock  for the first time in person at the Torpedo Con and he was sharing a booth with Danielle. As it turned out, Danielle had a beautiful All Star Comics #8 for sale that was a Universal 5.0. I explained to Danielle my situation and she was willing to work with me. I gave her a $2,000 deposit (a drop in the proverbial bucket). She asked me if I would be able to give her a larger deposit and I told her that by the end of August, I would be able to give her another $6,000. I also told her that I was looking for an All Star #3. She told me she thought she had one and would check when she got back home to Florida. Well it turned out she and her partner, Adam Perlman, did have a great All Star #3. So, what suddenly had been a high five figure deal had now become a 6 figure deal!!! I’m not going to reveal what I actually paid for the both of them but I’m sure many of you who are dealers or are familiar with both books have a good idea. Danielle and Adam were great working with me and trusted me that even though I did not even give them a 10% deposit, that I would come through in the end. Within 2 days of getting my money, I did a wire transfer for the complete balance. The next day, October 31, 2019, I had both books which arrived by Fed Ex Next Day by 10:00 AM. 

The story is not quite over as there was more icing added to the cake. If you were a kid back in 1941, you certainly didn’t buy All Star Comics #8 because the origin and first appearance of Wonder Woman was inside. You had no idea! Most likely, the reason you would be buying it was because two new superheroes, Starman and Dr. Mid-Nitewho had been introduced earlier in 1941, became new members of the Justice Society. Just around this time, @Ricksneatstuff had a gorgeous Billy Wright pedigree Adventure Comics #61 which featured the first appearance of Starman and a seller I had dealt with several times on eBay, Steve Zuvich of New York, happened to have an All-American Comics #25 which featured the origin and first appearance of Dr. Mid-Nite. Both arrived within 3 days of my acquiring All Star Comics #8. 

A couple of months after I got All Star Comics #8, I had the amazing Chris Kohler do a 18”x24” cover re-creation that is now hanging in my master bedroom. 

A final point of interest, 23 years after All Star Comics #8 appeared in 1941, the crystal ball cover would inspire the cover of Justice League of America #29  in 1964 which featured the second meeting of the Justice League and the Justice Society.

Sorry for coming to this thread late. In stunned by these stories, the details and the drive to finish this run. 

This is really incredible and I've got allot of reading ahead of me! 

Congratulations! 

[Ghastly542454]

1 hour ago, KCOComics said:

Sorry for coming to this thread late. In stunned by these stories, the details and the drive to finish this run. 

This is really incredible and I've got allot of reading ahead of me! 

Congratulations! 

Thank you so much! I appreciate it.  It was a real labor of love and I’m glad new collectors are getting to read it. 

[KCOComics]

37 minutes ago, Ghastly542454 said:

Thank you so much! I appreciate it.  It was a real labor of love and I’m glad new collectors are getting to read it. 

Aside from #3 and #8 that obviously took a ton of work, is there one you get the most excited about? 

[bpc3qh]

On 5/13/2020 at 12:12 PM, Ghastly542454 said:

All Star Comics #8-Well, here’s the one everyone has been waiting for! It’s one of the Big 3 D.C. Grails-Action Comics #1 for Superman, Detective Comics #27 for Batman, and All Star Comics #8 for Wonder Woman. However, unlike Action Comics #1 or Detective Comics #27, All Star Comics #8 featured no drawing or mention of Wonder Woman on the cover. 

From Jerry Bails in D.C. All Star Comics Archive Edition Volume 2: “All Star Comics #8 was a very special issue. There was nothing on the cover to indicate it carried an extra 9-page story heralding one of the greatest icons ever created for comics.  To my knowledge, All Star was the first comic ever to provide a free bonus insert introducing a brand-new character. This was the very first appearance of Wonder Woman. Nothing like this had happened before in comics, nor would it happen again for decades-and then only with much fanfare. Ten cents bought 66 pages of full-color pages of action-a Justice Society tale introducing two new members-Starman and Dr. Mid-Nite who were created earlier in 1941, along with a back-up feature, the origin and first appearance of Wonder Woman. While the comics reader would never see a better bargain, there was no mention of the bonus story on the cover. Can you imagine that happening today?

Wonder Woman was created by Dr. William Marston, an internationally renowned psychiatrist and developer of the lie detector. Dr. Marston had been a member of D.C. Comics Editorial Advisory Board. He had long argued that the comics needed a feminine hero. Max Gaines, the ‘Father Of Comic Books” and publisher of D.C.’s All-American line of comics (All Star Comics would remain under Max Gaines’s All-American line until issue #32 when it is sold and absorbed completely by D.C.), turned the challenge back on Marston: “If that’s what you think comics need, then create the strip and write it.” Marston took up the challenge and the result was the creation of one of the most original concepts in the comics, the Amazon Princess from Paradise Island.”

According to Roy Thomas’ All Star Companion the writer of All Star Comics #8 was Gardner Fox and the artists included Hibbard: cover and JSA, Aschmeier: Dr. Mid-Nite, Dr. Fate, Johnny Thunder, Flinton: Atom, Young: Sandman, Burnley: Starman, Moldoff: Hawkman, and Baily: Spectre. The “Introducing Wonder Woman” 9-page bonus was written by Charles Moulton and artwork by H.G. Peter. 

“All Star Comics were in the forefront of presenting many ideas we now expect in our comics-editors talking directly to the readers and involving them in the editorial processwhich started in All Star Comics #8, the announcement of upcoming issues, and even the concept of book length adventures.”

As I wrote about at the beginning of this thread, towards the end of 2018, I was just about to throw in the towel collecting All Star Comics since I thought I would never have the money to get a #3 and #8 especially in the conditions I wanted them in. However, a change of fortunes occurred in March of 2019 although the money I needed to purchase #3 and #8 would not arrive until mid-October of 2019. Once I knew that I would have the money I needed, I began my search looking at eBay, Heritage, Comic Link, and Comic Connect. But what I would also need is to find someone who would work with me where I could put down a down payment and they would have to accept and wait until October when I got my money. 

Fast forward to July 2019 and the Torpedo Con that was held in Hollywood a few days before the SDCC. It was there that I met Danielle Smith AKA “Nerdy Girl” for the first time in person. She had been a friend on Facebook but I had never actually met her. I also met Rick Whitelock  for the first time in person at the Torpedo Con and he was sharing a booth with Danielle. As it turned out, Danielle had a beautiful All Star Comics #8 for sale that was a Universal 5.0. I explained to Danielle my situation and she was willing to work with me. I gave her a $2,000 deposit (a drop in the proverbial bucket). She asked me if I would be able to give her a larger deposit and I told her that by the end of August, I would be able to give her another $6,000. I also told her that I was looking for an All Star #3. She told me she thought she had one and would check when she got back home to Florida. Well it turned out she and her partner, Adam Perlman, did have a great All Star #3. So, what suddenly had been a high five figure deal had now become a 6 figure deal!!! I’m not going to reveal what I actually paid for the both of them but I’m sure many of you who are dealers or are familiar with both books have a good idea. Danielle and Adam were great working with me and trusted me that even though I did not even give them a 10% deposit, that I would come through in the end. Within 2 days of getting my money, I did a wire transfer for the complete balance. The next day, October 31, 2019, I had both books which arrived by Fed Ex Next Day by 10:00 AM. 

The story is not quite over as there was more icing added to the cake. If you were a kid back in 1941, you certainly didn’t buy All Star Comics #8 because the origin and first appearance of Wonder Woman was inside. You had no idea! Most likely, the reason you would be buying it was because two new superheroes, Starman and Dr. Mid-Nitewho had been introduced earlier in 1941, became new members of the Justice Society. Just around this time, @Ricksneatstuff had a gorgeous Billy Wright pedigree Adventure Comics #61 which featured the first appearance of Starman and a seller I had dealt with several times on eBay, Steve Zuvich of New York, happened to have an All-American Comics #25 which featured the origin and first appearance of Dr. Mid-Nite. Both arrived within 3 days of my acquiring All Star Comics #8. 

A couple of months after I got All Star Comics #8, I had the amazing Chris Kohler do a 18”x24” cover re-creation that is now hanging in my master bedroom. 

A final point of interest, 23 years after All Star Comics #8 appeared in 1941, the crystal ball cover would inspire the cover of Justice League of America #29  in 1964 which featured the second meeting of the Justice League and the Justice Society.

This is a delightful story, especially as someone who aspires to a similar level of collector.

[Ghastly542454]

On 7/7/2020 at 2:20 PM, Ghastly542454 said:

All Star Comics #45-Cover by Irwin Hasen and the story “The Case of the Cosmic Criminals” by John Broome.

Felix Egri tells the JSA that he bathed several everyday objects in cosmic radiation to give them “cosmic power” when a certain “nova or new star “is burning. JSA teams head to four places where cosmic radiation has increased during the past 24 hours. The JSAers defeat the gang’s cosmic powers-but when they grab the irradiated objects, they are teleported back to Egri’s lab in suspended animation. Egri, a would-be master criminal, was merely using the gangsters as guinea pigs. Black Canary manages to free the JSA. When Egri tries to use six everyday objects against the JSA at once, he is destroyed by their sheer power. 

An oddity in this issue is the cover and a similar splash scene show the JSAers converging on a costumed man with a multi-barreled ray gun. There is no scene like this in the actual story! This is the first issue in which the JSA operate out of Civic City, which will be their base, their new equivalent of New York Citryfor the remainder of the series. 

This is also very difficult issue to obtain especially in 6.0 or above. There is something about the cover, perhaps it is the Wonder Woman pose, that makes it especially appealing to me. Around 2017, there was a 9.0 of it for sale on eBay for $2,800 but I didn’t have the money at the time and even if I had, I don’t know if I would have spent that much to for #45. As I mentioned in my coverage of issue #44, @BarristerBakerhad a very nice #45, it was at least a 6.0, in the Comic Connect auction where I won #44 and #55. Unfortunately for me, I did not win the #45 which created a problem. I had told myself that I planned to finish off the All Star Comics series by the end of 2019. Now there was no #45 to be found. I don’t know how it happened, but a few weeks later I just happened to stumble on the Etsy website. Just for the heck of it, I typed in All Star Comics, and to my amazement, a #45 popped up. It was a 4.5 and it was for sale by Basement Comics out of Maryland. It was reasonably priced at $500. However, it was also a wanna-be pedigree book and not in my opinion in a good way. The listing said it had come from the “Mary Collection”. As I looked at the cover, the name “Mary” was written on it in several places. I inquired about it and it turned out that Basement Comics had bought a collection of comics from a lady named Mary out of Pennsylvania several years earlier. Growing up in the 40’s, Mary had two brothers who were constantly stealing her comic books. To prevent her brothers from saying that the comics were theirs, Mary began writing her name on the covers so there would be no doubt about the ownership. I’m not a fan of writing on covers but can tolerate a little. But this cover has too much for my liking so I hope to someday upgrade it.

@50YrsCollctngCmcsand @sagii well I finally upgraded  my “Mary” copy of All Star Comics #45. It’s a MAJOR upgrade too! It’s the highest graded copy in the CGC Census!

[sagii]

8 hours ago, Ghastly542454 said:

@50YrsCollctngCmcsand @sagii well I finally upgraded  my “Mary” copy of All Star Comics #45. It’s a MAJOR upgrade too! It’s the highest graded copy in the CGC Census!

Boy did you ever! 

Wowza! Absolutely stunning copy my friend.

Big congrats on that one !

[50YrsCollctngCmcs]

18 hours ago, Ghastly542454 said:

@50YrsCollctngCmcsand @sagii well I finally upgraded  my “Mary” copy of All Star Comics #45. It’s a MAJOR upgrade too! It’s the highest graded copy in the CGC Census!

Beauty! Thanks for sharing. I'm really enamored with this era of the DC hero's and more these characters than Superman or Batman. I'd love to get a run of Flash 95-104 someday.

[Ghastly542454]

I took some new group photos of my All Star Comics #1-#57 as well as the reincarnated Bronze Age All Star Comics #58-#74 (I know they’re not Golden Age but where else are you going to see All Star Comics #1-#74?)

[sagii]

On 12/26/2021 at 11:07 PM, Ghastly542454 said:

I took some new group photos of my All Star Comics #1-#57 as well as the reincarnated Bronze Age All Star Comics #58-#74 (I know they’re not Golden Age but where else are you going to see All Star Comics #1-#74?)

 Absolutely incredible! What a run to complete!

On the Bronze side, Roy Thomas really did love the golden age comics! His revival on All Star and it's 'sister' title over at Marvel (Invaders) are a testament to that. 

Cool seeing all of these together, no easy feat!  

[Terry JSA]

On 12/26/2021 at 11:07 PM, Ghastly542454 said:

I took some new group photos of my All Star Comics #1-#57 as well as the reincarnated Bronze Age All Star Comics #58-#74 (I know they’re not Golden Age but where else are you going to see All Star Comics #1-#74?)

Impressive that you were able to complete this run! 

[Sarg]

On 10/22/2020 at 3:45 PM, sfcityduck said:

Fox's archive includes other guidelines, but I think they are from later in his career, including this one ( again, this is a copy I made 35 years ago - love the note by Sheldon Mayer at the bottom):

I've got another guideline from Fox's files that is very story and character centric, but that one is from 1959 or so.

I presume this dates from the late 1940s or '50s, when other publishers were indulging in all these taboos. 

Thanks for sharing. Good to see some actual insider memorabilia.