Redartz: Everybody loves a bargain, and comics fans are no different! And extra pages and story? Always welcome, thanks. Thus we have an explanation for the popularity of the digest format. Back in the late 60's, Gold Key Comics started publishing collections of comics in a small size, 5 3/4" x 6 1/2" with a whopping 192 pages. "Walt Disney Comics Digest" and "Golden Comics Digest" hit the stands filled to brimming with stories and art. These were great for my parents: for the price of a couple of comic books, they could keep me occupied with a couple hours of reading. Just about every family trip included the gift of a couple of digests. That Disney digest with Bambi was a favorite, with a really cool ghost ship story featuring Donald and Uncle Scrooge...
The Golden Comics Digests had a wide range of features. I even recall Space Ghost making an appearance. Hanna Barbera characters were commonly seen, and Little Lulu was fun.
By 1973, Archie Comics had entered the digest business. And they took that ball and ran with it. All the way to the present; you can still find Archie digests each week at the supermarket checkout.
DC jumped on the digest bandwagon too. They had a one-shot Tarzan digest in 1972, and by decade's end they were putting out loads of digest collections. The annual "Year's Best Comic Stories" were a good for an overview of the year's action (or should that read Action ?). DC used the digest format to reprint many great Silver age superhero stories, and some fun non-heroic titles : Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Sugar and Spike, and Binky all had digests.
By the late 80's even Harvey Comics were releasing digests with their veterans Casper and Richie Rich (and, believe it or not, New Kids on the Block). Oddly, though, Marvel never did much with the digest format. Although, just this week, I saw news that Marvel is teaming with Archie Comics to start releasing digest collections such as Spider-Man and Avengers. These will be available on newsstands and store checkouts, just like the ubiquitous Archie digests. This sounds like an excellent idea to this reader, and a good way to get some lower cost stories out there for younger readers. There may be hope for comics yet!
And now, here are some more digest covers to pore over. Do you have any 'digestive' memories?
11 comments:
Now you're just hitting me where I live; as I think I mentioned about a gajillion times at the BAB, I *loved* the digests. When I was mainly reading Archies, my favorites were always the digests, and once DC started doing them, got any one I came across.
Nothing better than spending one of those rainy Oregon Saturday afternoons reading a digest or two (or three). Since I was mostly late for the 100-page giants of the earlier '70s, these digests really helped fill me in on DC's Silver Age lore, as well as earlier Bronze Age stuff.
You're right that Marvel never really did any digests of note, but in any discussion of the small-format reprint books of the late '70s and early '80s, it's worth remembering that Marvel did publish the pocketbooks, which were printed on slightly higher-quality paper with better binding. I had most of those (and I have since re-acquired a few of them), and read and re-read them constantly. And I wish they had done more of them.
And yes, I heard about Marvel's plans to publish new digests, distributed by Archie comics, a few months ago. I'm really curious to see what those will be like - and what the sales will be like.
I knew when I got here that Edo would be by at some point and be mighty happy about the topic!
And I would remind everyone that I am in Edo's debt for turning me on to the wonderful Panini Marvel Pocketbooks that reprint all kinds of Marvel goodness from the Bronze Age. They are available from UK book sellers such as The Book Depository (free shipping from these guys!!) and Abe Books, and are a fraction of what we pay for a 10-issue tpb here in the States.
Doug
If I may slip into a Digest tangent...
I bought my kids Archie comics and digests starting about 10 - 12 years ago. That's about the only comic they will read.
We have 3 copy-paper boxes full of the Archie Digests (well over 150?) and they know the contents of each one, by heart, just based on the cover. As I start purging the comics around the house they've really insisted on saving the Archie Digests (and the Plastic Man archives and DC Thomson UK works).
But regarding digests other than Archie / Harvey, I have zero recollection of ever seeing them for sale. How could I have missed them???
I bought all of the Disney and Golden Digests that I could find when I was a little kid … I still have a number of them … but their condition are all very “Well read”
Those Disney Digests introduced me to the Carl Barks ‘Ducks’ adventures via reprint and those probably stoked my interest in adventure that would later transfer to Marvel and DC as a teenager.
The Golden Digests were a treasure in their own right … I was a Saturday morning cartoons kids (much to the dismay of my mother who wanted to drag me to catechism those mornings) and to see the adventures of Penelope Pitstop, Space Ghost, Flintstones and others in print was a treat at that time and probably spurned on my interest in the reading as a kid …
I do remember … and have … a few “Marvel Digests”, but they were not put out by Marvel but a different paperback publisher and were often displayed with the paperback books … or “pocket books” as they were referred to by some at the time …
Still own a few of the old DC Digests and wish I had more … TwoMorrow’s Back Issue magazine did a great survey of those just a few issues ago ….
I am a little concerned that my enjoyment of them may be on the other side of the threshold created by my ageing eyesight. . . (!)
HB
Yep, Doug, I suppose the Panini books can be seen as modern-day digests. They are indeed a good deal, and the format is somewhat larger - so they're not as hard on the aging eyes as the digests of yore.
One thing I have to add is that however much I loved the DC digests, if you asked me back then what my favorite single one was, I'd have said the second Archie Superhero Comics Digest. The first one came up recently in a $1 Challenge post, but back in the day I only had the second one, which just captivated me: it was purchased during a family vacation, and I recall sitting in the back seat of the car as it barrelled down the freeway, reading with utter fascination those stories of heroes I'd never heard of before. I read it many more times afterward...
By the way, the guys at the Fire & Water network recently (earlier this year) launched a podcast dedicated specifically to digests. There's three episodes so far, and they're all pretty enjoyable.
I loved the DC Special/Blue Ribbon digests; I still have a bunch of them. I especially liked the Secret Origins ones, since they reprinted stories I never would've otherwise seen.
The only Archie Digests I ever bought were the Superhero ones, with Captain Hero, Pureheart, and Superteen.
One of my favorite memories as a kid was discovering the Adventure Comics digests back in the early 80's. I had started reading comic books in the late 70's and first got hooked on the Legion of Super-Heroes during Earthwar, but had never read their Silver Age run. I was absolutely hooked each month on those, and were my first introductions to a lot of other characters I had missed along the way like the Challengers of the Unknown, Metal Men, the Ray, Newsboy Legion, etc.
I was so bummed out when it was cancelled, thankfully the Legion Archives finally came out and I could pick back up many years later where I left off!
Thanks for commenting, everyone!
Edo- you and those Panini books were on my mind as I started this post. From one digest lover to another...Oh, and thanks for that podcast link!
Doug- yeah, I must look into those Paninis (sounds like a sandwich).
RayAtl- the Disney and Golden Digests truly were fantastic. With the great variety of stories, and all the puzzle pages and features. Perfect for keeping a kid interested and busy.
HB- sympathies on the eyesight situation! Best thing is to ditch the bifocals and pull that comic up close. Of course, then you have to remember where you set the glasses down...
Ewan- remembering when Adventure Comics converted to digest format: it was disappointing to lose the new features, but they put the book to good use!
Some of my first reading was the Gold Key digests (Disney, Bugs Bunny, Tarzan, and the Hanna Barbera) and the Dennis the Menace digests from Fawcett. I also had the Tarzan digest from DC and a boatload of their early 80's digests, plus a few Marvel Pocketbooks. Did I say "had?" I still have a bunch of these that I have to my children to read when they were getting started Of course, the print's too small for me to read on some of them. :)
A day late here...but just wanted to say we used to buy Archie digests for road trips. They were great for that.
My son just started getting into Sonic the Hedgehog comics. It is his first real foray into comic reading. The books are in digest format and he is devouring them. Kind of fun to see. I bought him a couple Archies as well. We'll see what he will gravitate to.
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