On The Shelves Today in 1988

The CBG I highlighted a few days ago included a Comics In Your Future section which listed the comic books that are expected to ship within the next month or so, along with the expected ship date.  Note the nice logo designed by Joe Staton.

Comics Buyer's Guide #738 (January 8, 1988) pg 20

Using that list, here are the comic books that probably were on the shelf at your local comic book shop this week.  Which ones did/would you pick up? (as usual, click on each for larger images)

Comico

DC

Eclipse

First

Harvey

Hero

Marvel

And a sampling of some more that I'm not sure if they were out this week, but were scheduled this month.

Clean Up By Comics Czar Fallout

Today in Geneva New York in 1955, it was reported that at the Four County Mayors Association meeting the day before, the local wholesaler said "We will not handle any comic books that do not carry the approval seal."

Geneva Daily Times, January 11, 1955 pg 5

What is also worth noting, is that Louis B. Budgar (owner of Seneca News Agency) said that he wouldn't distribute ANY comic books to newsdealers who continued to sell "non-seal" books.  To some extent, this was a hollow threat since every comic book publisher that he could carry was already signed onto the code, except one: Gilberton Publications.  Seneca News Agency was an independent wholesaler, so he couldn't carry Dell Comics which was distributed by the American News Company (ANC).  Classics Illustrated never carried the code and their distributor was Curtis Circulation.

Angel #2 (May-July 1955) [Dell Comics]

I wonder if the Seneca News Agency no longer carried Classics Illustrated?  Several issues were condemned by the New York Legislature including this one.

Classics Illustrated #21 (December 1953) [Gilberton Publications]

It is also interesting to note that Budger also says that it costs a publisher "$100,000 a year to set up the machinery for this…".  That's probably why United Features Syndicate, who'd been publishing comic books since 1936, just got out.

Comics on Parade #104 (February 1955) [United Features Syndicate] - final issue

It is interesting to note that, in the article, no one wanted to be seen as censoring magazines, but it seems that using pressure to do that to kids comics was ok.

Some before and after covers:

Dick Tracy #85 (March 1955) [Harvey Publications]

Dick Tracy #86 (April 1955) [Harvey Publications]

Crime and Punishment #71 (February 1955) [Lev Gleason Publications]

Crime and Punishment #72 (April 1955) [Lev Gleason Publications] 

Comics Buyer's Guide Jan. 8, 1988

Comics Buyer's Guide #738,  Jan. 8, 1988

Dated today, in 1988, is a pretty standard issue of CBG except for things that didn't happen.  The first is this cover item for a new weekly or bi-weekly comic book series by Marvel Comics, titled Marvel Universe.   Now the comic book promoted in this article did come out, just not under that name.  It became Marvel Comics Presents.  The vote came down on the side of bi-weekly and the series lasted for 175 issues until March 1995.  Pretty good for an anthology title in the 1990s.

As you would expect, most of the stories were pretty forgettable, Except for the classic Wolverine origin Weapon X storyline that started with #72.

Marvel Comics Presents #72 (March 1991) [Marvel Comics]

There were other good series, like Coldblood from Paul Gulacy, and a lot of good artists contributed to stories.

The other item in CBG #738 that didn't happen was on page 1, the Marvel history book.

Well, it kind of did happen.  The 400 page book by Brad Elliott and Stan Lee titled The Story of Marvel Comics never came out, but a Marvel history book did come out.  There were some messy disagreements and even legal action (more here).  But eventually, the Les Daniels' book Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics came out in Sept. 1991.  Its too bad.  I think the original concept would have been better.

The highlighted comic book of the issue was Dinosaurs For Hire which came out in March 1988.

This was a fun concept and lasted through 1994 with 2 series and a few specials from Eternity/Malibu.  The second series had some really nice Mitch Byrd art.  An underrated artist in my mind.

This issue also had a great full page ad by underground comix publisher Rip Off Press.  An advertisement in the advertisement was a nice touch.

Rounding out the issue was an ad for the Watchmen role playing game from Mayfair Games.  The Watchmen series hadn't ended that long before, so its full impact had not yet been felt.

Clean Up By Comics Czar Follow-up

Last week (December 29) I posted various articles on the enactment of the comics code on comic books and Judge Murphy's press conference.  In those articles, he said that the comics would be "circulated in the next few weeks." 

So I wondered, how soon might the comics be on the stands and if all the publishers complied right away?  How soon after the press conference did the code comics hit the stands might be hard to determine, but I got lucky. 

I found Dodo And The Frog from National/DC with a B-1-6 on the cover, which probably is the date it was on the newsstands.  Looks like today in 1955 was the day the code seal started appearing.

Dodo And The Frog #83 (March/Apr 1955) [National Comics Publications]

I also found Hopalong Cassidy #99 (March) from National/DC with T 1/18/55 written on the cover.

Hopalong Cassidy #99 (March 1955) [National Comics Publications]

Since these are both March 1955 cover dated books, these are probably among the earliest comics out with the code seal on them.  On both titles, this is the first time the code seal appeared on their covers.

Atlas/Marvel was all over the place, as Combat Kelly #29 was February and it had the seal, while the monthly Battle #38 was March but it didn't have a seal.  And Western Tales of Black Rider didn't get it until May (#28).

Combat Kelly #29 (February 1955)

Battle #38 (March 1955)

 Western Tales of Black Rider #28 (May 1955)

So, what about other publishers?  Did the seal appear on their March 1955 books?  Some yes and some no.  DC was pretty consistent as most of their titles dated March had the code on them.  For Archie Comics, some of their March issues did, while others didn't get the code until May.  For bi-monthlies, that's not a big difference. 

Ace did not have any code seals on comics until April with most being May and even July.  ACG, which is related to DC, was right away like DC.  While Charlton only had a handful that were March and most were April.  Most of the rest of the publishers were April/May cover dates where the seal first showed up.

Then there was Quality.  The first issue of Plastic Man that had the seal was June 1955 (#54) while T-Man had it in April.  Quality seems to be one of the later ones to adopt the seal.

So looks like most everyone who was going to comply, did so by their May cover dated books.

In the article, Murphy said that the CMAA had gone over 440 comics and found more than 5,500 "lurid drawings" and 126 "unsuitable" stories which had been censored.  So, is there anyone who wants to look at those comics from the Mar-May time period and try and guess what was changed?

Cuban Crack Down On Comics

An AP wire story today in 1967 tells about a possible crack down on old comic books and "sex-and-sin" paperbacks in Cuba.  This is the only article I've seen on this and have not been able to find out if a crack down actually happened.

The Charleston SC News And Courier, January 5, 1967, pg 3A

Now what it really seems to be about is a crack down on used book and magazine dealers, but it is interesting that this newspaper highlights comic books with the headline.  I guess it shows the low esteem comic books still held.

I don't know much about Mexican comics, but I assume that when they say American comics "translated into Spanish in Mexico City years ago", they are referring to issues like these:

Batman #1 (1º de febrero de 1954)

Pepita #1 (Marzo de 1953)

Marinos en Acción #44 ([circa 1959])

El Despertar del Mundo #48 (Mayo 31 de 1959)

Thanks to the Grand Comic-book Database for these cover scans, as usual.

Comic Books Collecting Big Business

In the Miami News today in 1973, they printed a story about the rising prices of old comic books.

Miami News, January 3, 1973, pg 6B

This article had run in the New York Times on January 1st, under the title "Comic Books Can Prove SuperInvestment".  It also ran in the Meriden Conn. Morning Record on Jan. 5,  the Anchorage Daily News on Jan. 7th and probably others.  The Morning Record article titled "Holy Cow, Batman, Comics Are In Great Demand ..." also included the following picture.

Don't you just love the legacy of the Batman TV show?  You can still occasionally see inane headlines like these even today.

Ed Summer of Supersnipe says he has 600 copies of the first Shazam issue and ordered 2,000 more.  He's "stockpiling for the future".    Bet he still has copies if you want any.  This was one of the early comic shop speculation issues where retailers bought copies so that they could sell them later at higher than cover price.

Football Frenzy

Honoring the Rose Bowl and other football classics happening today!