Another KGM/DC swipe - but whodunnit?

Here’s another interesting swipe - take the cover to World’s Finest Comics #42, add a few additional characters in Rex the Wonder Dog and Detective Chimp, convert The Wyoming Kid to Hopalong Cassidy, a few little extras here and there, and there you have it - the cover to Century The 100 Page Comic Monthly #4!

I’m not convinced this cover is by Hart Amos. For one thing, it’s unsigned. For another, the Superman figure/linework just doesn’t look like typical Amos, even allowing for stylistic camouflage due to swiping. And even Rex’s tongue looks uncharacteristically flaccid!

However, there is a hint of Amos in Superman’s and Hopalong Cassidy’s eyes… and a couple of other KGManiacs have discerned the Amos touch on this cover… so it’s certainly possible that Amos was involved.

Batman #26: The Back O' Bourke Variant

If DC publish a second volume of Batman: Secrets of the Batcave, I'll be looking forward to seeing the inclusion of "The Atom Cave Raiders", a nifty little Bill Finger and Dick Sprang production which was originally published in Batman #68, cover-dated December 1951-January 1952, and reprinted by K.G. Murray in Batman #26.

This is one of those reprints which has dialogue modified to reflect Australian place names, so in one exchange one criminal says to another: "You made a few mistakes in your past, Duane, and I know all about them! That business in Bourke -- that job in Brisbane - it would ruin you to reveal that now!" Hmmm... now I wonder whether the UK version via K.G. Murray maintained these place names, or substituted them for Hackney and Liverpool...

A colour reprint will also reveal just how much Batman and Robin were glowing due to the radiation after the atom bomb blast...

But I really don't have much confidence that this story will ever be reprinted again, given the apparent suspension of the DC Archives program on the one hand, and their propensity to recycle previously reprinted vintage Batman stories in new editions (Archives to Showcase to Chronicles...) on the other... OK, maybe that's a slight exaggeration, but it does seem that way... Maybe if they do ever deign to give us what we really want - a single hefty collection of all of Sprang's Batman stories - then we will also see this story reprinted... but I'm not holding my breath for it.

The cover to Batman #26 above is also by Sprang, modified from the cover to Detective Comics #136, June 1948. The background has been omitted, and some minor extension work is evident (Batman's cape and right elbow, the bottom portion of robin's chest and emblem), but a bit of judicious cropping would pretty much keep Sprang’s linework intact. The cover is also reprinted in Batman Archives Volume 7, which looks like being the last volume in the series. Here's hoping I'm wrong.

A Mammoth Christmas...

Ringo Kid Western #6: True Maneely and Faux Maneely

The cover to Horwitz's Ringo Kid Western #6 looks like Joe Maneely's art on the cover of Ringo Kid #1 but it’s not quite a true reprint, as the art has been modified.

I doubt any such modification occurs on the reprints inside this magazine, which feature Maneely and John Severin amongst others I have yet to identify.

Bumper Western Comic #3

The cover of Bumper Western Comic #3 is taken from Masked Raider #15, October 1958, but for some reason, all the Masked Raider features reprinted in this issue are from Masked Raider #14, August 1958 - the issue which provided the cover for Bumper Western Comic #2!

The issue contains a mix of Charlton and Atlas reprints, including some by Pete Morisi from each publisher.

The main attraction for me in this issue is the 4 pages by Al Williamson in a story titled "Where Larrabee Rode!" The plot itself is no great shakes, but it's very nice to see Williamson's art in black and white with zipatone. I'm not sure where this story originally appeared, but it was reprinted in the early 1970's in an issue of Rawhide Kid.

I understand copies of Bumper Western Comic #3 are very hard to find, and this is a beaut copy in above-average condition, as you can see from the scan.

...too many digests lurking in the junkyard...

Here's another batch of Yaffa digests which I found lurking in the junkyard... No idea where or when or how I got these... It ain't called the junkyard for nuthin'...

World's Finest Comic Monthly #21: The cover without a story...

What's wrong with this picture...? Well, staring at it for hours might not provide any answer... but flip through the book and you'll realise the problem quicksmart: the story featured on the cover doesn't appear in the book!

That's right - the cover is reprinted from Wonder Woman #162, May 1966, but the story The Return Of Minister Blizzard! had already been printed three months earlier in World's Finest Comic Monthly #18.

The main Wonder Woman feature in this issue of World's Finest Comic Monthly is the back-up feature from Wonder Woman #161, April 1966.

Even with all of the charming quirks of K.G Murray's reprint comics, you could pretty much depend on seeing the cover feature leading the issue - and in the rare instances when it wasn't the lead feature, at least it was represented somewhere in the pecking order.

But not this time. Someone screwed up. Don't blame me. I just call it as I see it.

Another swag of Yaffa digests...

Here's another great little swag of Yaffa digests I picked up yesterday... Haven't had a chance for an intimate look at them yet but they look great on a first cursory browse... and always nice to see the covers for identification purposes anyway... So enjoy!

Death-Face to Face! NN

...signed by Faba...

Quick or Dead NN