March From Defeat in Yaffa comics

This is the cover to Page Publications' digest-sized World War Library #14:

This is Chatto's rendition of the cover to MV Features' Action War Picture Library #18:

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This issue was recycled as War in the Jungle #4:

I expect more editions of this story to turn up.

Pit of Evil #10

Gredown's Pit of Evil #10 was published c.mid/late 1978:

This cover was recycled a few years later on Eternal Hell:

The image appears to be loosely based on the splash page for the second story Walk the Edge of Darkness:

Curiously, the first story The Ghoul is titled Susanne The Ghoul on the cover.

The inner front cover has a list of contents:

Note the issue is incorrectly designated No. 11. 

The decorative illustrated border of the contents page is as per Gredowns of this period however it does not have excerpts from the stories as per earlier issues such as Tales of Horror #1.

The contents of this issue are indexed on AusReprints.

Tales of Horror #1

Gredown's Terror of Horror #1 was published c.June 1975:

The cover by Phil Belbin is partially based on interior art from the lead and cover story The Devil's Lies:

The contents of this issue are fully indexed on AusReprints. Indeed, they are listed on the inner front cover of this issue:

The images associated with each title are excerpts from the related stories. Curiously, There's Life in the Old Girl Yet! is titled The Witch's Spell on this contents page. I am unaware of this story being titled The Witch's Spell elsewhere.

The art on the surrounding the border of this page appears in other Gredown issues of this era. I don't have information on the artist.

Giant Superman Album: Where did that Superman cover image originally appear...?

Here's something I think will fascinate collectors of KG Murray comics. This panel appears in the tabloid-sized Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man:

It's an auspicious moment for superhero fans in general, but it's also of note for readers of the Giant Superman Album series- the Superman figure was modified for use on a few issues of this series, beginning with Giant Superman Album #33:

It also appeared on the covers of Giant Superman Album #35, #38 and #40.

There was a tradition of such Australian made covers in the 1970's - an image of Superman would be pulled from an issue originally published by DC Comics and used to introduce the contents of the issues via panels related to some of the stories contained within. All of these Superman images have been identified over the years, and are catalogued on AusReprints. However, this image has proved particularly elusive, and its source been bugging me for years, so you can imagine I'm quite chuffed to have solved this mystery.

It begs another question - if KG Murray had access to this image, does this mean they also had rights to the Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man issue? Presumably so. It's a shame a local edition of this issue doesn't exist. If it did, it might have been a regular-sized issue printed in black and white, like the Batman vs. The Incredible Hulk published by Federal.

Batman #105: The Australian and UK editions

KG Murray's Batman #105 was published c.February 1959:

The contents are indexed on AusReprints.

Of interest here is the UK edition of this issue:

The issues are identical - the stories, the filler strips, and the advertisements, including the Australian address for the Rocket Stamps collection on the inner rear cover - are indistinguishable from one another. 

The only difference is the cover price, and the fact that the cover of the UK edition has been cropped along the right hand side. The UK edition is also a bit brighter, but this may be due to exposure to light on my Australian edition.

Considering the cover to Batman and Robin #1

KG Murray's Batman and Robin #1 was published in September 1976:

The cover image by Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson did not originally appear on a DC Comics cover. It was a centrefold pinup in Batman #181:

This image is one of the most iconic images of Batman and Robin from the 1960's, and has been used and adapted in a variety of forms, for example, on posters, postcards and games and other related promotional items.

It was adapted as a painting, credited to Wallace Fax, on the cover of Limited Collectors' Edition #C-44:

Note the difference in the cape between the pinup and the painted version. This version of the image also appeared in a black and white pencil and ink rendition the inside cover:

Batman and Robin #1 was on the stands within six months of Limited Collectors' Edition #C-44, and there is another connection between the two issues -they both include the story Paint a Picture of Peril! However, there are some differences between the two printings of the story which leads me to think the connection between the two issues is likely coincidental rather than direct.

Consider also this inhouse Murray advertisement:

This image is from Blazing Tales of the Old West from September 1981, a year or so after the Batman and Robin series ceased publication. However it does provide evidence that Murray had access to original image, complete with the Batman shadow in the background.

A curious thing about this image is that many of its adaptations opt to use the Batman figure but omit the Robin figure. Apart from the Limited Collectors' Edition #C-44 above, consider the following examples:

Batman merchandise infringement warning in Toys and Novelties, 15 April 1976 

Batman robot packaging, Japan 

Corgi Batmobile underside

In this context, it is rather ironic that whilst Robin appears on the cover of the first issue of Murray's new Batman and Robin series, Robin does not appear in the issue - indeed, he does not appear on another cover of this series until #16, a few issues before the end of the series - and the title on the spine of Batman and Robin #1 is "Batman No. 1".

I am unaware of any other comic book apart from Murray's Batman and Robin #1 to use the pinup image as a cover feature, apart from a run of issues of DC Comics' Detective Comics beginning in 1968 which used the two figures either side of the logo:

I expect to find the pinup image was used on the cover of an international edition somewhere at some point. TBA.

Federal Comics' Comicpack #2

Some years ago I posted on a Federal Comics comic pack. I have come across another sealed one with a different design:

The issues in this pack are The Avengers #2, The Defenders #7, The Mighty Thor #9, Conan the Barbarian #9 and The Invincible Iron Man #12.

All of these issues date to late 1985 - indeed three of them appear to be from December 1985, which suggests it was released early or mid-1986. The Avengers issue has a newsagency marking on the cover, so it's a safe assumption these are unsold issues repackaged. It also suggests this pack was released after the one I previously posted.

Again, I don't have any other information about these packs, such as who put them together or how they were distributed, and I'm curious to know if there are any other variations of such packages. TBA.

Joker #10

Joker #10 is a digest-sized Page Publications issue with a cover signed by Keith Chatto:

This issue is not a comic book but rather a collection of gag cartoons with a few 'girlie' pics as they were known in the day. Here's a sample two-page spread:

There are also two single-page text pieces which I assume are included for the issue to qualify as a certain type of periodical for distribution or other arcane reasons - someone more knowledgeable on these matters can chime in and educate me.

The 56 pages in this issue contain a vast variety of artists, and some of them have quite an attractive style, but I know little about them, and I haven't gone down that particular rabbit hole with the few samples of copies like this issue which I own. I see many of them in my rounds but I only pick up copies with covers by Chatto. 

Having said that, if this wasn't by Chatto I think I might have been interested in it for the references to the classic adult Australian tv shows Number 96 and The Box, and presumably a reference to Never on Sunday.

I have a few more such issues to present in future posts.

Superman Super Library #39

 KG Murray's Superman Super Library #39 was published c.August 1967:

As per the established pattern for this series, the cover is drawn from the splash page to the lead story:

Also as per the established pattern, the stories in this issue are reformatted for the digest-sized edition and recycled from previously published KG Murray issues. The three stories in this issue are as follows:

The Girls in Superman's Life!, originally published in Superman #78, September-October 1952, previously published in Super Adventure Comic #47.

Superman's Super Hold-Up!, originally published in World's Finest Comics #59, July 1952, and previously published in Super Adventure Comic #42.

Superman's Secret Workshop, originally published in Superman #81, March-April 1953, and previously published in Super Adventure Comic #46.

A one -page Casey the Cop filler strip appears on the inside rear cover which originally appeared in Superboy #109, December 1963. I have not identified an earlier printing of this in a KG Murray comic.

The date code on the rear cover advertisement is KGMSSL867. My copy is also stamped 22 SEP 1967.

Dating Terror Tales Album #13

This is the cover to my copy of Terror Tales Album #13:

If you look closely right between the eyes of the axe you can see it is date stamped 7 APR 1980. This publication date was reinforced by another copy I was privy to which had a 7 written on the cover.

This morning I spotted a copy of this issue listed on eBay which includes a closeup of the rear cover:

As you can see this appears to have two dates - a 7 circled, denoting July as the final on-sale date, and 21/3, presumably the on-sale date. This date is over two weeks earlier than the date on my copy. I assume this difference relates to a lag in distribution and newsagency processing.

I guess this means that even verified dates of such Australian reprint comics must, to some degree, always be deemed contingent on further information or data. It doesn't mean I'll stop trying to get this right, but it does remind me once again of the essentially Sisyphean nature of this project.

And so, to work.