Pages removed/cut out? 2 2

[Susanville]

Just picked up a comic through the boards and was flipping through it and saw a couple of pages that look like they were either cut out or are just an oddity of the way the book was put together. The "cut" is pretty clean/straight which I wouldn't necessarily expect from some kid (presumably) cutting out these two pages back in the 40s but was wondering if anyone has seen this or if anyone has a perspective on things. Thanks.

 

 

 

 

[Lightning55]

The pages appear to be numbered.  Are there any skips?

[Susanville]

1 hour ago, Lightning55 said:

The pages appear to be numbered.  Are there any skips?

No

 

[Lightning55]

1 hour ago, Lightning55 said:

The pages appear to be numbered.  Are there any skips?

15 minutes ago, Susanville said:

No

 

So it would seem that a couple of pages, or a few pages were bound in as half wraps.  I haven't seen that before, but I have limited GA experience.  Maybe someone with more history in that area could speak to that possibility.

Of if something was cut out and it didn't affect the numbering of pages to the story itself, they must have been ad pages or editorial pages.  Still odd.

 

[Qalyar]

I would check with a reliable page listing (or an owner of a confirmed intact copy of whatever issue this is) to get a full page count to see if you're missing an advertising page or the like. If not, and this book's pagination is complete, well, GA production was never a hotbed of consistency.

[walclark]

This was a common practice in the Golden Age to conserve paper for the war effort.

[OtherEric]

It's most common on books dropping from 64 pages (+cover) to 56 pages (+cover) that I've seen.  I have a few like this.  Let us know exactly which book it is and we can help figure out what the count and content should be.

[The Lions Den]

One of the clues here is the way the pages are cut. Usually someone removing a page or wrap won't leave a straight edge like the one shown; it's often cut much closer to the spine in an attempt to disguise the removal. 

And as other members have pointed out, the era the book is from is another important clue. This book looks exactly like other books I've seen from this era with multiple missing pages...

[skypinkblu]

DC did this in the mid 40's. It's hard to figure out how it preserved paper because an entire wrap was not removed, just one side.

This book should help. In the book, covers count as pages. I have a number of Sensations that have those cuts.

https://twomorrows.com/alterego/media/Golden Age Index.pdf

I started to write that there were strange DC pages counts in 1952, 20 pages on some superhero books instead of 16, but I don't want to make it more confusing.  It's late and I'm rambling;)

Edited October 12, 2020 by skypinkblu

[OtherEric]

28 minutes ago, skypinkblu said:

DC did this in the mid 40's. It's hard to figure out how it preserved paper because an entire wrap was not removed, just one side.

This book should help. In the book, covers count as pages. I have a number of Sensations that have those cuts.

https://twomorrows.com/alterego/media/Golden Age Index.pdf

I started to write that there were strange DC pages counts in 1952, 20 pages on some superhero books instead of 16, but I don't want to make it more confusing.  It's late and I'm rambling;)

Those weird page counts in 1952 lasted, in some cases, into 1954 on the more popular titles, assuming by 16 or 20 you mean both sides of the page.  They're worth noting, but unlike the wartime cut wraps like in the original post, they were just normal wraps with an unusual total page count for the books.

[Susanville]

6 hours ago, walclark said:

This was a common practice in the Golden Age to conserve paper for the war effort.

It's a 4 Most comic from 1943 so this makes sense. And the cut is straight from top to bottom.

[theCapraAegagrus]

I've seen this before.

[ttfitz]

What Sharon said.

Another source for page counts and other info is the Grand Comics Database, comics.org.