tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072202919737727496.post6717101257359159773..comments2024-02-03T19:15:40.505-06:00Comments on Back In the Bronze Age: Short Cuts: Comic Book Oddities and Obscurities !Doughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04248324005584963229noreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072202919737727496.post-25943536034208665772021-05-07T18:08:53.983-05:002021-05-07T18:08:53.983-05:00CH sport second time hit publish . Anyhoo Doric is...CH sport second time hit publish . Anyhoo Doric is a dialect of northeast Scotland (Dundee area). If not aware D C Thomson publish an annual (Beano/Dandy) that reprints lots of their strips from 1950s onwards. Lived your comment on Rees Mogg.<br /><br />Oor Wullie and Broons annuals are a traditional Christmas and New Year's ( or Hogmanay as we call it) gift here so maybe that why your grandfather gave you them <br /><br />The Valiant was actually an IPC/Fleetest comic not DCT. Other DCT comics were Topper, Buzz, Wizard,Bullet,Hornet, Warlord, Bunty, Judy, Mandy and Commando .McSCOTTYhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00180091610187270638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072202919737727496.post-8329982376294696762021-05-07T17:55:23.475-05:002021-05-07T17:55:23.475-05:00CH. Good to know you still enjoy the sillyness of ...CH. Good to know you still enjoy the sillyness of UK comics. Oor Willie was my very favourite character as a child the 1960s annuals are imho fun. The character is iconic in Scotland and gas spawned many publications and even a theatre show. The dialogue in the early Oor Willie and Broons books is more Doric Yes I am indeed Scottish and still live in Scotland. McSCOTTYhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00180091610187270638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072202919737727496.post-8340203695833169962021-05-07T17:05:15.131-05:002021-05-07T17:05:15.131-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.McSCOTTYhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00180091610187270638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072202919737727496.post-37608873799361026702021-05-07T11:08:52.988-05:002021-05-07T11:08:52.988-05:00The only odd format I can think of that hasn't...The only odd format I can think of that hasn't already been mentioned is a thing called the Double Double comic.<br /><br />British distributor Thorpe & Porter would take unsold American comics, remove the covers, stitch four issues together, put a new, squarebound, cover on and then sell them.<br /><br />When you bought one, you had no idea what was going to be inside it, as the covers were generally randomly allocated. I've only ever owned one Double Double comic, which featured four JLA tales and was included in a job lot of comics I got from eBay.<br /><br />When I encountered it, I didn't have a clue what it was or how it had come into existence. Thankfully, the internet cleared up the mystery for me.<br /><br />This page has a brief explanation of them: https://britishcomics.fandom.com/wiki/Double_Double_ComicsSteve Does Comicshttps://stevedoescomics.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072202919737727496.post-62387118289021808962021-05-06T21:29:06.038-05:002021-05-06T21:29:06.038-05:00McScotty -
I've never seen anything remotely...McScotty - <br /><br />I've never seen anything remotely like what the Belgiques have done regarding Tintin for displays, murals, etc. nor what Dundee has done for Wullie with "The Bucket Trail" and hundreds of sculptures.<br /><br />Nor would a politician ever consider dressing like a comic character like UK's Rees Mogg trying to look like Walter the Softie from Dennis the Menace.<br /><br />That said...<br /><br />Nearby, in Naperville, Illinois, there is a 9' statue of Dick Tracy b/c the guy who drew Dick for 30 years (Locher) is from Naperville. Coincidentally, I live in Downers Grove, next to Naperville, and at our local comic book shop a former Dick Tracy artist works. He's done a number of free drawings for me. (Red - If we rally again for a C2E2 we can hook you up!)<br /><br />And it is peculiar that two of France's greatest cultural icons - Tintin and Jacque Brel - are Belge. Charlie Horse 47https://www.blogger.com/profile/00906538705798228800noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072202919737727496.post-29085652686337806422021-05-06T20:41:04.328-05:002021-05-06T20:41:04.328-05:00McScotty - I'm going to let you in on a deep, ...McScotty - I'm going to let you in on a deep, dark secret! Not only did I enjoy DC Thomson's Beano, Beezer, Dandy, Dennis the Menace, Hotspur, Sparky Victor, Valiant (what have I forgotten?) but I still do!<br /><br />I still have an ebay set up for Dennis the Menace annuals and will cherry pick them... I want the entire run through the mid-70s. Honestly they make me, my kids, sibling laugh hard!<br /><br />Regarding Oor WUllie and Broons! Jings mate! Love 'em! Occasionally I have bit of trouble with that Scottish Dialect! And let me tell you how my sister flipped when we got her blond-haired boy William a bucket when he was young, to sit on! She laughed and then sternly said, "His name is William or Will! Not Wullie!" (She knows her brothers well!)<br /><br />I had Scottish friends near by (I live outside Chicago) and a few times over the past years I've had to ask them to translate Wullie, LOL! They were laughing their behinds off reading it with their Scottish accents about how Scottish it was. (These were annuals from the 60s or 70s.)<br /><br />McScotty - I assume you are Scottish? You live in Scotland now?<br /><br />The reason I know the annuals is b/c my great grandmother hailed from Dundee and for some reason my great grandfather theoretically would gift each of us great grandkids a DC Thomson Annual for Xmas (this is in the 60s and 70s). Charlie Horse 47https://www.blogger.com/profile/00906538705798228800noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072202919737727496.post-2052008045924869072021-05-06T12:19:35.777-05:002021-05-06T12:19:35.777-05:00CH - Good to hear you are not only aware of D. C. ...CH - Good to hear you are not only aware of D. C. Thomson's output but seem to have enjoyed them when you were younger - simpler times indeed. Did you ever (try to) read Oor Wullie or the Broons? lol <br /><br />The French and Belgians are comic crazy so I'm not too surprised to read the French President opened a comic convention. The walls in the streets of Brussels and Bruges in Belgium are covered in stunningly illustrated murals and statues of comic characters of the Smurfs, Tintin , Lucky Luke etc (who are actually all Belgian creations not French) - Does the US have similar murals etc? <br /><br />Brussels comic murals:<br /><br />https://www.bravodiscovery.com/activity/comic-book-route/McSCOTTYhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00180091610187270638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072202919737727496.post-42069641368281341732021-05-05T20:03:08.592-05:002021-05-05T20:03:08.592-05:00b.t. -
France has it's share of comics but t...b.t. - <br /><br />France has it's share of comics but they were always in the large, hardback form from my experience. I mean, you'd walk into a grocery store in the 1980s - 2010 and there was always a sizable selection of French hardback comics.<br /><br />Notable of course are Tintin, Asterix, Lucky Luke... But there was all sorts of good reading with great art. The former in-laws easily had several dozen going back to the 1950s suggesting that those comics were not viewed as being just for kids. <br /><br />(It was a stitch seeing the unsanitized versions of Tintin... he had an old-fashioned way of viewing some things. On the other hand, one of his first books Tintin in the Soviet Union written in the early 1930s? told it like it was and was banned until the 1990s so as not to offend the Communist Party, lol.<br /><br />I too would go into second hand book stores, which used to be numerous in any city with a population. But for some reason I only discovered French language of American comics. Like in the UK, they'd change the cover and dice / splice the characters inside since the comics were thick like the US king-size annuals, but they seemed to be published monthly providing some level of continuity.<br /><br />I recall a few decades ago that their President Jacque Chirac even kicked off a comic book convention. Man... just writing that made ne feel old as heck!Charlie Horse 47https://www.blogger.com/profile/00906538705798228800noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072202919737727496.post-19785540539792347382021-05-05T19:49:39.794-05:002021-05-05T19:49:39.794-05:00b.t. - Man how could we miss it??? The UK's D...b.t. - Man how could we miss it??? The UK's DC Thomson line of comics!!! I have had many a laugh with those guys and still have my collection of Annuals.<br /><br />You mentioned the Beezer and I still chuckle when I see the covers. 1968 always reminds me of simpler times as a kid.<br /><br />Though I dare say the Beano cover to the 1973 Annual is my favorite. It's terribly clever and funny IMHO and sums up DC Thomson to the T! <br />Charlie Horse 47https://www.blogger.com/profile/00906538705798228800noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072202919737727496.post-60635297924740223812021-05-05T19:36:23.242-05:002021-05-05T19:36:23.242-05:00Back again for a few more words...
Charlie- "...Back again for a few more words...<br /><br />Charlie- "Tijuana Bibles"; yes, I've also seen a few. Seems there were also some crime-oriented miniatures back in the 40's and 50's, more 'spicy' than even the Crime comics published at the time. And then your Fawcett mini-comic; sounds great. Small size and big vintage!<br />Oh, and do you ever look through your old Overstreet and look longingly at the prices? It seems that currently we're looking at a scorching hot collectibles market; just saw where Amazing Spiderman 252 (first black costume) basically tripled in value. Oy.<br /><br />McScotty- thanks hugely for that link; having seen it, now that Kung Fu Bible Stories is a MUST HAVE item. And you mentioned tabloid newsprint issues; at an auction a couple years ago I picked up some copies of "Cor!" in a batch lot with a bunch of other books. Ah, the thrill of discovery. Nothing quite like that here in the states at the time, as far as I know...<br /><br />b.t.- Will Eisner's "Spirit Casebook"? Man, kudos big time for bringing this up! Holy cow, another item totally new to me. This post this week is going to cost me. Horror stories by the Master? Again, holy cow. Redartzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08221459636234713619noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072202919737727496.post-28942971785519215912021-05-05T19:32:23.646-05:002021-05-05T19:32:23.646-05:00Regarding the logistics of Chic Tracts, which are ...Regarding the logistics of Chic Tracts, which are 3” x 5” comic books…<br /><br />I’ve only seen them handed out sporadically (University, Army) or left anonymously in various places (cafeterias, newspaper racks) but never on sale at an LCBD or anywhere else.<br /><br />The company claims they’ve printed 800,000,000 total issues of over 250 titles over the past 50 years.<br /><br />Chick tracts have been have been investigated for hate speech. UK Police investigated the distribution of Chick publications in Bristol, England in July 2020.<br /><br />That’s about all that’s worth saying about them. I admit they are a compelling read like... Tijuana Bibles (especially Blondie).Charlie Horse 47https://www.blogger.com/profile/00906538705798228800noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072202919737727496.post-41686605800441117622021-05-05T15:52:42.065-05:002021-05-05T15:52:42.065-05:00Oh, speaking of coloring books — when I was a kid ...Oh, speaking of coloring books — when I was a kid I had a CAPTAIN AMERICA one that was based on the first Sharon Carter / Agent 13 story. She’s got this ‘Sinister Cylinder’ full of radioactive whatever, and Batroc’s trying to take it away from her, etc. etc. Anyhow, it was reprinted about thirty years later — I didn’t realize coloring book publishers ever did that — and when I saw it at the local Pic N Save for a buck, well, how could I say no?<br /><br />b.t.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072202919737727496.post-33654278807272376972021-05-05T15:45:43.744-05:002021-05-05T15:45:43.744-05:00For a few years in the late 80s, a newsstand near ...For a few years in the late 80s, a newsstand near me in Reseda carried some of those hardcore European Sex and Horror comics digests — ZORA, SUKIA, WALLESTEIN, etc. There were a few drawn by Leon Frollo that were actually pretty nice to look at but most of them were quite bad, and the content was super-violent, the sex scenes just this side of being outright porn, and badly drawn porn at that. They were in Spanish, so I couldn’t actually read them, even if I’d wanted to :). In any case, the real draw for me was the insanely lurid cover art, So I ended up with a short stack — most of them, I tore off the covers and tossed away the innards.<br /><br />On a trip to Paris (holy crap, THIRTY years ago), I was disappointed to find that even that long ago, so much of the product in their comics shops was from the U.S. I’d been looking forward to finding Euro stuff that hadn’t made it’s way to the USA, but there just wasn’t much of it in the shops. But I did find some cool stuff going through those great second-hand bookstalls along the Seine. The craziest thing I bought was an issue of the notorious Italian digest-sized fumetti KILLING. 100-plus pages of sleazy, poorly lit b/w photos with the super-creepy costumed ‘hero’ playing rough with all his enemies, including some woefully underdressed ladies. It’s a nasty, tawdry, kinda depressing thing — I don’t take it out of its little baggie to look at very often, but when I do, it’s hard to look away. <br /><br />b.t.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072202919737727496.post-29853862284416972202021-05-05T15:10:15.518-05:002021-05-05T15:10:15.518-05:00Sean, Apologies for the name mix up and calling y...Sean, Apologies for the name mix up and calling you Colin 🥴 McSCOTTYhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00180091610187270638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072202919737727496.post-20823193944183344782021-05-05T13:39:12.904-05:002021-05-05T13:39:12.904-05:00McScotty, I like that Frank Hampson pic precisely ...McScotty, I like that Frank Hampson pic precisely because Spidey does look a bit strange, just like a geek in a home-made costume would.<br />Going a bit off topic, the interesting thing about it is that theres a copyright notice for the artist as well as the publisher - Hampson must be the first creator officially acknowledged as sharing the rights to a Spiderman image with Marvel.<br /><br />-sean (not Colin ;)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072202919737727496.post-83673348222744798612021-05-05T13:14:05.380-05:002021-05-05T13:14:05.380-05:00Red: Yeah, the Spidey colouring book has a storyli...Red: Yeah, the Spidey colouring book has a storyline, but it's not a great one. Something about a guy disguising himself as Spidey to commit crimes; no costumed villains, though ... maybe something to do with publishing rights?Mike Wilsonhttp://eruditegorilla.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072202919737727496.post-71758977961055334572021-05-05T11:35:18.770-05:002021-05-05T11:35:18.770-05:00McSCOTTY: i forgot about WEDNESDAY COMICS — yes, s...McSCOTTY: i forgot about WEDNESDAY COMICS — yes, some really great stuff in there. Ryan Sook doing KAMANDI in quasi Hal Foster style was the highlight for me.<br /><br />Remember when Marvel had a ‘Classic Comics’ line in the late 70s? The first ten or so were originally created by a company called Pendulum Press and sold to schools as study aids. Each was a 62-page b/w booklet, roughly digest-sized, on good paper. They came packaged with a second booklet that had all the non-comic stuff (like a workbook) and I think they even came with an ‘audiobook’ style tape cassette. My Junior High School had a small set, which is how I first saw them. Nestor Redondo and Alex Nino each drew a bunch of adaptations — I’ve been buying them off eBay when I can find ‘em cheap enough. They were blown up a bit for the Marvel reprints, and the print quality was pretty bad at the time, so I much prefer the originals. So far I think I’ve got all the Ninos but am missing one or two the Redondos. <br /><br />b.t.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072202919737727496.post-74362330695346113882021-05-05T11:15:02.882-05:002021-05-05T11:15:02.882-05:00Colin: That link to the Submit to Darksied track w...Colin: That link to the Submit to Darksied track was brilliant -yes I do remember the Frank Hampson centre spreads (think I still have one) and they were indeed most of the 10% good ones (although from memory his Spidey drawing looked strange as Spiderman's costume was "hanging " off I him.<br /><br />b.t I totally forgot all about that Blackmark paperback by Gil Kane (I used to have it as well) I think it was also reprinted in an issue of the Savage Sword of Conan mag as well. I agree 100% on BWS'S Storyteller magazine it was lovely to look at (which I also forgot all about).<br /><br />On other formats there was the large tabloid sized " The Wednesday Comics" from DC printed on newsprint in colour that I really liked it had some amazing artists and writers (Sean Galloway, J Garcia Lopez, Joe Kubert etc) . In the UK we used to have (at least ) 2 children's comics printed on large tabloid sized newsprint format called the Topper and the Beezer that lasted for many years.McSCOTTYhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00180091610187270638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072202919737727496.post-72147208715595768612021-05-05T10:46:17.127-05:002021-05-05T10:46:17.127-05:00Anyone remember Joe Kubert’s SOJOURN? It was a tab...Anyone remember Joe Kubert’s SOJOURN? It was a tabloid-sized thing, came folded up like a newspaper, but on decent paper stock. Had several different adventure strips by people like Doug Wildey, Dick Giordano, Lee Elias and a Tor strip by Kubert himself. It was pretty cool but predictably, fans disliked the oversized format and it was cancelled after the second issue. Mine are in a box with Steranko’s MEDIASCENE, I think. <br /><br />Barry Smith’s STORYTELLER was another ‘Treasury’ sized book that I liked a lot. And yes, GIANT-SIZE KUNG FU BIBLE STORIES is a hoot. <br /><br />And now (because I haven’t quite exhausted the ‘Comics In Paperback’ thing yet) a few prose/comics hybrids that were specifically made for the Mass Market Paperback format (not just reprinting pre-existing material, and thus either shrunk down really small or having the panels re-formatted): BLACKMARK by Gil Kane with Archie Goodwin, and Will Eisner’s THE SPIRIT’S CASEBOOK OF TRUE HAUNTED HOUSES AND GHOSTS. <br /><br />BM’s story is fairly routine Sword and Science-Fantasy stuff but Kane does a nice job of threading the needle of the paperback format, successfully balancing the proportion of (typeset) text vs graphics, and varying the layouts so they don’t become repetitive. The pages seem satisfying full of content but never claustrophobic or cluttered. It’s basically the revolutionary ‘Graphic Fiction’ format that Byron Preiss was forever trying to will into existence, and here it is already nearly perfected. But of course, it didn’t sell well and the series was cancelled before the second volume could even be printed. <br /><br />The Spirit book is pretty much what you’d expect from the title. Denny Colt narrates a series of short ‘True’ ghost stories, with (unsurprisingly) a pretty good balance of text and visuals. Not quite sure which age range Eisner thought would be buying this in 1976 — some of the stories are quite gruesome. It says ‘SPIRIT CASEBOOK #1’ on the cover but I don’t know if there was ever a #2.<br /><br />At the height of the ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ craze in the 80s, Preiss put out a paperback series called BE AN INTERPLANETARY SPY that was in comics format with typeset text, initially drawn by Marc Hempel and Mark Wheatley. It must have been fairly successful, as there were about twenty volumes, I think. I bought a few of the early ones out of curiosity (and I’ve always liked Hempel’s stuff) but I was a little too far outside the target demo to appreciate that whole ‘Gamebook’ genre. <br /><br />b.t.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072202919737727496.post-59189126746867329502021-05-05T09:56:41.281-05:002021-05-05T09:56:41.281-05:00McScotty, a couple of those centre page posters we...McScotty, a couple of those centre page posters were by Frank Hampson.<br />They were in the other 10% obviously.<br /><br />Jack Chick - Submit to Darkseid!<br />https://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/1510692.html<br /><br />-seanAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072202919737727496.post-77753706936818532812021-05-05T08:34:24.380-05:002021-05-05T08:34:24.380-05:00Redartz: Kung Fu Bible stories has one of Bruce Ti...Redartz: Kung Fu Bible stories has one of Bruce Timms best ever art jobs (imho) which is saying something so I can highly recommend it just for that strip alone (a superhero parody worthy of Not Brand Echh or Mad) - if you haven’t see the art there is a page of it on the link below - the centre spread (shown ) is a classic <br /><br />Colin: Those religious Chic track comic used to be handed out in the UK (certainly in Scotland ) in the early mid-1970s, as I picked up a few when I was offered them not knowing they were preaching some pretty hideous things. I actually thought they were a parody of religion they were so crazy. I think they still sell them in The US etc and they sell in there hundreds of thousands but I have never seen one since the 1970s in the UK. The landscape UK Marvels also had centre page posters that were 90% awful as well, I always thought they were drawn by the staff members children as some were that “bad”.<br /><br />Kung Fu Bible stories<br />https://m.comixology.co.uk/Kung-Fu-Bible-Stories/digital-comic/140276<br />McSCOTTYhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00180091610187270638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072202919737727496.post-66905146525013797592021-05-05T07:46:06.925-05:002021-05-05T07:46:06.925-05:00McScotty- nice call on the Mad paperbacks. Between...McScotty- nice call on the Mad paperbacks. Between those and "Peanuts", "Pogo" and "BC", my shelves were full.<br />Also, glad you brought up "Free Comic Day". A great event each year, and it usually offers several oddities such as we're discussing. <br />And that tabloid you picked up had a Bruce Timm story? Love his work, thus another book added to the 'must find' list.<br /><br />Mike W- so the Spidey coloring book actually had a storyline? Good or lame, it's news to me that a coloring book was more than just a collection of pinups!<br /><br />B.t.- ah yes, those landscape mini comics were frequently used as promos. I too had one of the Batman issues, those are pricey now (of course, nearly everything collectible is these days).<br />And thanks for the terrific rundown on paperback collections. I recall seeing those horror books but failed to try one.<br /><br />Sean- oh yes, "Raw" was amazing. Frustrating to those of us who tried to bag and board it, but great reading. <br /><br />More to come, guys...<br />Redartzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08221459636234713619noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072202919737727496.post-164488293293147532021-05-05T07:44:56.706-05:002021-05-05T07:44:56.706-05:00Charlie, I am fascinated to learn religious morons...Charlie, I am fascinated to learn religious morons in the army hand out Chic tracks. Which ones in particular - Le Freak? Good Times? Everybody Dance?<br />Sorry mate, I couldn't resist (I was raised by followers of the Great Whore of Babylon, so what would you expect? Mea culpa)<br /><br />-seanAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072202919737727496.post-83424801344450436532021-05-05T06:23:24.790-05:002021-05-05T06:23:24.790-05:00There was one drawback to Marvel UK's landscap...There was one drawback to Marvel UK's landscape weeklies - the original US covers had to be re-drawn to fit the landscape format and the quality of those re-drawn covers was mixed. Some were excellent but others were merely OK or downright awful. 'The Titans' lasted for 58 issues and #27-52 featured the Fantastic Four as the cover stars - those issues reprinted the original FF #84-109 which was an important period in FF history which saw the end of Jack Kirby's long run, the brief John Romita issues and the start of the John Buscema era so a lot of great covers but we only saw re-drawn versions on the covers of The Titans #27-52. Colin Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13564469551279026689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072202919737727496.post-87257773553629768852021-05-05T06:05:30.614-05:002021-05-05T06:05:30.614-05:00Paul, I buy Fortean Times every month and I rememb...Paul, I buy Fortean Times every month and I remember the Frankenstein poster-comic. It was a cartoon summary of Mary Shelley's original novel and I agree that a similar treatment of other sci-fi/horror classics would be very welcome!<br /><br />And a couple of years ago Fortean Times had an article about the religious tracts of Jack T. Chick mentioned by bt and Charlie (in fact it was that issue's cover story). I'd never heard of Jack Chick before and I don't know if his religious comics appeared in the UK.Colin Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13564469551279026689noreply@blogger.com