Action Comics Annual #1: The Australian Federal Comics edition

The first Action Comics Annual published by DC was released in 1987 in the post-Crisis era.

However, Federal Comics beat DC to the punch when they published Action Comics Annual #1 a few years earlier c.August 1984:

This issue was based on Action Comics #544, the 45th Anniversary issue:

The two stories in this issue - Luthor Unleashed! and Rebirth! - are the first two features in Action Comics Annual #1. The Federal edition printings were modified in various ways.

This is page 1 of Luthor Unleashed! in Action Comics Annual #1:

The art has been extended in each panel at the bottom of the page - compare to the original page in Action Comics #544:

This is the fifth page of Rebirth! in Action Comics Annual #1:

However, in the original story, this is the final page of the story:

It includes the text box advertising the next issue, which was excised in the Federal printing, but I cannot explain why the sequencing of the pages was adjusted.

Action Comics #544 also contains a few extra features: A three-page text feature titled Happy 45th Anniversary, Superman! by Jerry Siegel; A Short Message from Joe Shuster; a full-page colour pinup by Shuster dated 1983; and two single-page pinups of The New Luthor and The New Brainiac. Only the Luthor pinup is included in the Federal edition. As noted on AusReprints, the credits associated with these absent features still adorned the Federal edition cover.

The next story in Action Comics Annual #1 is ...With But A Single Step! from Action Comics #545. This is a 23-page story presented in 22 pages in the Federal edition. This is achieved by reducing and reformatting the following two pages:

This is the Federal version:

Ironically the art in the second panel needed to be extended in order to be reformatted as a standalone panel from the original inset panel.

The final page of the story was also amended by removing the next issue details:

At least this made sense as the Federal issue contains the next story Showdown! from Action Comics #546. This is also a 23-page story presented in 22 pages. Here's the original pages 18-19:

This is how these two pages are condensed into one page in the Federal edition:

There's some radical surgery on this page: panels are not only reduced but they are variously cropped, reformatted on the page, reshaped and figures are omitted. 

The final page of Showdown! includes a next issue blurb:

This is omitted in the Federal edition:

The two-part Planeteer story advertised at the end of Showdown! appeared in Superman #387 and Action Comics #547. Federal Comics reprinted at least one of these instalments a month later in Action Comics #6. I haven't spotted the other chapter in a Federal edition yet, and if it doesn't exist, that may partly explain why the Federal edition didn't take the opportunity to promote a 'next issue' - and unfortunately, there would not be an Action Comics Annual #2. 

Interestingly, Action Comics Annual #1 was advertised in Federal Comics' Action Comics #5 c.July 1984:

This blurb appears at the end of the story Within These Hands--Power!, originally published in Action Comics #543.

So, we can be certain that Action Comics Annual #1 was published in between Action Comics #'s 5 and 6.

Federal Comics' The New Teen Titans and Supergirl series were advertised on the inner covers

From Silver Star Western Library to Badman Western to Fighting Western Stories

Page Publications' Silver Star Western Library #2 has a cover by Keith Chatto:

Our moustachioed hombre appears to have graduated to Sheriff. Indeed, by the following issue, he can barely disguise his glee:

Silver Star Western Library #2 was recycled as Badman Western Library #7:

It appears one of Chatto's girls found herself in the wrong genre and the Sheriff is nowhere to be seen...!

This issue was recycled later as Fighting Western Stories #38:

There was no reward or promotion for this stolid dude - he was happy just staring meaningfully into space. Indeed, by the time the next issue appeared the cover price had increased to $0.65, and even the impressionistic sky hadn't budged:

Nevertheless, the interior contents sure had shifted. In fact, this may be the only Yaffa western digest I have come across so far without a recycled counterpart. I'm sure one will turn up eventually, and I'll update this post when I see it. In the meantime, the contents of Fighting Western Stories #39 are listed on AusReprints (albeit slightly out of sequence).

Update 3 July 2023: Fighting Western Stories #39 is recycled from Six-Shooter Western #3.

Gun-Fight at Midnight!: Rawhide Western Library #1 and Western Illustrated Stories #9

Rawhide Western Library #1 and Western Illustrated Stories #9 are identical, apart from the Keith Chatto covers. 

The first story in these issues is Gun-Fight at Midnight, a Two-Gun Kid story: 

This story originally appeared in Two Gun Kid #45:

The GCD indexes this story as Gunfight at Midnight - without the dash - as per the cover title of Two Gun Kid #45. I wondered whether the difference between the two was due to a later Marvel reprint, such as the version in The Mighty Marvel Western #24, but that version is different altogether:

This version may appear in another Australian reprint.

Presumably the original Marvel version is the one which appears in Horwitz's Two-Gun Kid #30, which also omits the dash on the cover title:

The ads on the rear covers of the two Page Publications digests are also virtually identical. They both advertise the Peter Hastings stamp collections, and the date codes on each are MPHO/1274. However, they differ slightly in the indicia information - on one, Page Publications is listed before the printer Rotary Colorprint, and vice versa. I've long been sceptical of the reliability of the  MPHO date codes - they appeared too generic and too often, as if they were long range end-of-year use-by dates rather than monthly periodical dates, and the difference in the indicia suggests to me they were not both printed at the same time. 

I also note the other difference is that one includes an incomplete P.P., date code reference on the coupon and the other doesn't. The P.P. date codes have been rather reliable indicators of dates. Now I'm wondering whether this is a transitional moment from one form to the other, alongside the change in indicia information. I don't have any firm conclusions yet - just musing on something which I need to delve into further.

Man Hunt! in triplicate: Western Adventure Library #2, Gunsmoke Western Picture Library #3 and Real Western Library #47

Page Publications' Western Adventure Library #2 was published c.February 1970:

This issue was recycled as Gunsmoke Western Picture Library #3 c.May 1971:

It was also recycled as Real Western Library #47 c.April 1972:

All three covers are by Keith Chatto.

Contrary to my theory few days ago, it is not only the first edition which carries the lead story title - Man Hunt! - on the front cover. However, note that this is a single 64-page story whereas the other samples feature a number of shorter stories.

This is the splash page to Man Hunt!:

I agree with AusReprints that this may be from a UK - or European - source.

There are possibly more Page Publications editions of this issue.

The dates are based on the advertiser's date code on the rear of each issue.

The Defenders: The complete Yaffa cover gallery

Here's a cover gallery of my complete run of Page Publications' The Defenders:

 The Defenders #1, c.December 1977

The Defenders #2, c.February 1978

 The Defenders #3, c.August 1979 

The Defenders #4, c.July 1980 

 The Defenders #5, c.January 1981 

 The Defenders #6, c.May 1981 

 The Defenders #7, c.February 1982 

The Defenders #NN, 1983

Notes:

1. The dates attributed are accurate within a month or so, based on newsagency date markings and indicia information.

2. The first 4 issues are regular-sized, the rest are digest-sized - #7 being a 'tall' edition.

3. It is possible The Defenders #8 exists but I have not seen a copy.

4. The Defenders #NN is a reprint of The Defenders #1.

5. I am not aware of any recycled retitled editions but they may exist.

Gunshot Western Library #24 and Gunsmoke Western Picture Library #5

Page Publications' Gunshot Western Library #24 was published c.February 1971:

This issue was recycled a short time later as Gunsmoke Western Picture Library #5:

Both covers are by Keith Chatto, and I much prefer the second to the first - not only for the return of the gleeful moustachioed figure in black, but for the bolder, inventive perspective and scratchier linework, and light caricature, compared to the blander conventional realism of the medium shot in the first issue. Or, put another way, Gunsmoke Western Picture Library #5 looks like a comic with badass outlaws, whereas Gunshot Western Library #24 looks like a boring frontier tale

I note that the first edition carries the title of the opening story on the cover, whereas the subsequent edition opts for the title of another story in the collection. If this is a consistent pattern it should help identify the first editions of these oft-recycled digest-sized comics.

The advertiser's date code on the rear cover of my copy of Gunshot Western Library #24 says PP2.7 - the rest of the year is omitted . AusReprints records the Mitchell Library Stamp 17 May 1971. The illegible writing on the cover of my copy is not much help in this regard.

Maverick Western Library #1 and Fighting Western Stories #31

Maverick Western Library #1 was published by Page Publications c.March 1971:

The cover is by Keith Chatto.

The stories:

The Fangs of the Fox!, originally published in Two Gun Kid #67, January 1964

Vince Wilkins, Badman!, originally published in Two Gun Western #5, July 1956

The Man Called: Durant!,originally published in Two Gun Kid #67, January 1964

The Masked Outlaw!, originally published in Western Outlaws #17, October 1956

High Stakes!, originally published in Wild Bill Hickok and Jingles #68, August 1958

The Haunted Mine, originally published in Wild Bill Hickok and Jingles #68, August 1958

Homesteader's Headache, originally published in Sheriff of Tombstone #2, February 1959

The Fighter, originally published in Sheriff of Tombstone #2, February 1959

The Silver Colt, originally published in Wild Bill Hickok and Jingles #70, December 1958

Poor Willie Hickok, originally published in Wild Bill Hickok and Jingles #70, December 1958

Decoy Draw, originally published in Wild Bill Hickok and Jingles #70, December 1958

I was not able to source scans for all these stories to verify their original publication so, if there are errors, let me know.

This issue was also published by Page Publications as Fighting Western Stories #31:

This cover is also by Chatto, and presumably published shortly after Maverick Western Library #1.

Recycling the Yaffa westerns: Chatto and post-Chatto

The cover to Page Publications' Shotgun Western #1 is by Keith Chatto:

This is a rather dynamic image, with a familiar moustachioed Chatto figure in the dark suit delivering his own brand of gun-slinging action.

This issue was reprinted a few years later as the final issue in the series - Shotgun Western #3:

The cover of this issue is recycled from the opening panel of one of the interior stories in this issue, The Mystery of the Missing Herd!:

This was a regular move by Page Publications in the short post-Chatto period. 

However, Chatto did provide another cover for this issue when it was recycled a short time earlier as Gunman's Western #7:

I'm sure there are more iterations of this issue with Chatto covers to be unearthed and I'll update this post when they come to light.