Real Romance Library #41

This is the cover of Page Publications' digest-sized romance comic Real Romance Library #41:

The cover illustration is signed by Keith Chatto, and whilst it's not my favourite type of Chatto cover, I understand from those who know better about such things that it is notable for its accurate portrayal of this particular model of Honda motorbike. 

The motorbike does not feature in the cover story Design For Loving, which appears to have been previously published in MV Features' Dream A Romantic Picture Story #10 via a Spanish comic - TBC.

A Red-Letter Day in the Junkyard

There's mail calls, and then there's mail calls...

These two specimens landed in the Junkyard this morning:

Now, they may not be keys in the world of collectors but they are each significant milestones in my own collections.

The arrival of Batman #172 completes my run of this series from the 'New Look' Batman #164 to the current issue. Some 20 years ago I picked up Batman #200 and decided to fill in the missing issues of my collection to the present day. Once that was achieved I set my goal to complete the run from the 'New Look' onwards. This appeared to me at the time a reasonable cutoff point in terms of the series and the character, but it was also rather personal - I was born 1st July 1964, and the cover date of Batman #164 is June 1964. 

Colossal Comic #10 not only completes my run of this series but it completes my collection of the main super hero titles published by KG Murray since 1956. This was the year Murray began publishing the 100-page titles. This means I've completed series such as All Favourites Comic, Century Comic, The Hundred Comic, Superman Supacomic, Super Adventure Comic, All Star Adventure Comic and Mighty Comic, as well as the inheritors to these titles such as Tip Top Comic Monthly, Wonder Comic Monthly and World's Finest Comic Monthly, and many others. 

A red-letter day in the Junkyard!

Stories of Suspense Planet Series 1 #5

KG Murray's Stories of Suspense Planet Series 1 #5 was published c.May 1978:

The cover is modified from Charlton Comics' Beyond the Grave #4, February 1976:

The stories:

The Devil's House, originally published in Beyond the Grave #4, February 1976

The Elevator, originally published in Ghostly Tales #62, August 1967

The Specialist, originally published in Creepy Things #3, December 1975 

The Greatest Treasure, originally published in Creepy Things #2, October 1975

Beyond Human Help!, originally published in Haunted #2, November 1971

The Flying Dutchman, originally published in Ghostly Tales #58, November 1966

Too Many Happy Endings!, originally published in Charlton Premiere #3, January 1968

The Mouse Tower, originally published in Ghostly Tales #57, September 1966

Old Soldiers Never Die!, originally published in Ghostly Haunts #21, November 1971

Who Will Wear The Crown?, originally published in Ghostly Haunts #23, March 1972

The Meaning of the Scarab, originally published in Ghostly Tales #65, February 1968

The Mine's All Mine, originally published in Ghostly Haunts #27, November 1972

Too Many Happy Endings! is a three-part story featuring Sinistro and Charlton heroes such as Blue Beetle and Peacemaker.

Many of these stories were reprinted by Charlton, and many have been published in other Australian reprint comics. 

Falling in Love Romances #57

KG Murray's Falling in Love Romances was published early 1970:

The cover is from DC's Young Love #70:

The main features:

Life and Loves of Lisa St. Claire [Chapter Two], originally published in Young Love #70, September-October 1968

The Love I Never Held! [Part 1], originally published in Young Love #50, July-August 1965

The Love I Never Held! Part Two, originally published in Young Love #50, July-August 1965

Too Late For Tears!, originally published in Girls' Romances #103, September 1964

Will The Real Prince Charming Please Stand Up?, originally published in Girls' Love Stories #147, November 1969

The Brush-Off, originally published in Young Love #77, November-December 1969

The Girl Who Can't Say No!, originally published in Falling in Love #111, November 1969

This issue includes three full-page installments of Mad Mad Modes for Moderns. The one on the inner front cover appeared in Heart Throbs #106, February-March 1967; the inner rear cover from Young Love #59, January-February 1967; and on the rear cover from Secret Hearts #125, January 1968.

Some of the features in this issue also appear in other KG Murray issues.

Creatures on the Loose!: The complete Yaffa cover gallery

Here's a cover gallery of my complete run of Page Publications' Creatures on the Loose!:

Creatures on the Loose! #1, c.March 1978

Creatures on the Loose! #2, c. July 1978

Creatures on the Loose! #3, c.February 1980

Creatures on the Loose! #4, c.September 1980

Creatures on the Loose! #5, c.March 1981

Creatures on the Loose! #6, c.August 1981

Creatures on the Loose! #7, c.September 1981

Creatures on the Loose! #8, c.April 1982

The first three issues are regular/magazine-sized issues. The rest are digest-sized - #'s4-6 are the 'short' editions, and #'s 7-8 are the 'tall' editions.

The dates are all based on verified data, albeit from a small sample, so I think they are correct give or take a month or two either side.

I have not seen any retitled editions from this series but expect there may be some that turn up in future.

Super Adventure Comic #1

KG Murray's Super Adventure Comic #1 is cover-dated 1 February 1960:

The cover image is from Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #40:

The contents:

The Invisible Life of Jimmy Olsen!, originally published in Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #40, October 1959

The Girl Atlas!, originally published in Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #12, October 1959

The Great Supergirl Mirage!, Action Comics #256, September 1959

How Jimmy Olsen First Met Superman!, originally published in Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #36, April 1959

The Superwoman of Metropolis!, originally published in Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #8, April 1959

The Secret of the Super-Orphan!, originally published in Action Comics #253, June 1959

Batman For Hire, originally published in Batman #115, April 1958

Lois Lane's Super-Perfume!, originally published in Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #11, August 1959

The Three Magic Wishes!, originally published in Action Comics #257, October 1959

Lois Lanes's Super-Seance!, originally published in Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #10, July 1959

The Million-Pound Mistakes!, originally published in Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #39, September 1959

Lois Lanes's Stone-Age Suitor!, originally published in Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #9, May 1959

Most of the stories were subsequently republished by KG Murray in other titles.

The Million-Pound Mistakes! was originally titled The Million-Dollar Mistakes!, not to be confused with The Million-Dollar Mistake!, which I have covered in a previous post.

The inner front and inner rear covers contain full page advertisements, and there are no filler strips in this issue. The rear cover ad includes an advertiser's date code from which I've drawn the cover date mentioned at the beginning of this post.

This series is the second volume of this title from KG Murray. Super Adventure Comic Vol. 1 ran for 114 issues between 1950-1959.

Batman Album #2: The UK edition

Batman Album #2 is a UK edition published c.1966 by Randlecourt Printers Ltd.:

The cover is slightly redrawn or traced from the splash page to the first story in this issue, The Great Batman Swindle, with idiosyncratic colouring.

The contents are as follows:

The Great Batman Swindle!, originally published in Detective Comics #222, August 1955

Batman the Magician!, originally published in Detective Comics #207, May 1954 

Bruce Wayne's Aunt Agatha!, originally published in Batman #89, February 1955

The New Batman!, originally published in Batman #94, September 1955 

The Puzzle of the Perilous Prizes!, originally published in Batman #170, March 1965

The Batman Museum, originally published in Detective Comics #223, September 1955

This is a curious book, and there is little information on it online. 

The GCD lists two issues in the series, with a queried date of 1960. The inclusion of The Puzzle of the Perilous Prizes! clearly indicates this book could not have been published before 1965. The Zonk! Pow! Blam! exclamations on the rear cover pinup offer suggest it was published 1966 on the heels of the 1966 Batman tv show:

I have also seen a comment on a chatboard by a collector who says they purchased this in 1966.

I am aware of KG Murray reprints of DC material being made available in the UK up to around 1959, and I'm also aware of some connection between between KG Murray and UK Atlas. I have not encountered Randlecourt before, but it appears to me there is likely a connection between this book and the Australian reprints.

Consider the last story in the book, The Batman Museum:

This was originally titled The Batman Dime-Store Museum:

KG Murray routinely edited US references in the Australian editions of the comics, for example converting dollars to pounds. In this instance it appears the reference to dimes was omitted rather than converted, and the edited Australian version was duly reprinted in the UK.

The problem here is that I do not have access to an Australian or UK edition of The Batman Museum from the 1950's to closely compare to this version. The closest I have is an early 1970's reprint of The Batman Museum in Giant Batman Album #21, which appears to be a recycled edition of the earlier KG Murray printing in that in-story references to dimes are omitted, evident by blank spaces in the text,  and such edits match those in Batman Album #2.

I also note that three of the other four 1950's stories were published in Australia and the UK in the 1950's (I don't have confirmation of The New Batman!).

I also have not found a contemporaneous Australian printing of The Puzzle of the Perilous Prizes! - the only one I've turned up so far is in Bumper Batcomic #8, c.April 1978.

I'd like to see copies or scans of the books I don't have access to in order confirm my theory of a  connection between the KG Murray material and Randlecourt.

Superman Comics #35

KG Murray's Superman Comics #35 was published c.April 1950:

The cover image is illustrated by Wayne Boring and Stan Kaye, and originally appeared on the cover of Superman #61:

The main features:

The Courtship of the Three Lois Lanes!, originally published in Superman #61, December 1949

A Dog-Catcher's Life!, originally published in World's Finest Comics #34, May-June 1948

Superman Returns to Krypton!, originally published in Superman #61, December 1949

There are two filler features in this issue. The first is a two-page Varsity Vic feature, originally published in Superboy #5; and the second is a Little Pete segment which appears on the inner rear cover and was originally published in Superman #55. This printing is likely related to the subsequent reprint in Superboy #6.

There is another full-page comics feature, Muskle - an advertisement for Kellog's Bran Flakes:

I do not have any information on the artist.

The inner front cover carries an inhouse advertisement for the Superboy Comics series which had launched around a year earlier:

The Superboy image is from the cover of Adventure Comics featuring Superboy #1:

Many of the pages in this issue include short text advertisements for the Superman radio serial by various sponsors on a range of radio stations. See the sample below:

The main features in this issue are reproduced in black and white with a grey highlight/shading. All three main features are reprinted in this fashion in Mammoth Comic Annual [#1] 1956.

Superman #135

KG Murray's Superman #135 was published c.late 1958:

The cover is a slightly modified version of the cover by Al Plastino from Superman #115:

The main features:  

The Three Substitute Supermen, originally published in Superman #115, August 1957

Superman's Greatest Enemy, originally published in Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #30, August 1958 

The Human Missile, originally published in Superman #120, March 1958

This issue also contains two full-page filler strips. The inner front cover strip is titled Mankind's Greatest Inventions and Discoveries!, which originally appeared in Strange Adventures #26, November 1952. This was reprinted in Tales of the Unexpected #27, July 1958 in modified form as per the GCD entry. The Australian edition is missing a text box - I assume this is the modification referenced above. The filler on the inner rear cover is a Shorty strip originally published in Adventure Comics #163, April 1951, but this one is related to the later reprinting in Wonder Woman #99, July 1958.

The Human Missile was subsequently reprinted by KG Murray in Colossal Comic #37.

Superman #136

KG Murray's Superman #136 was published c.November 1958:

The cover is illustrated by Curt Swan and Stan Kaye and originally appeared on the cover of Superman #124:

The main features:

The Super-Sword, originally published in Superman #124, September 1958

The Mad Hatter of Metropolis, originally published in Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #31, September 1958

The Secret of the Space Souvenirs, originally published in Superman #122, July 1958

This issue also contains two full-page filler strips. The Moolah the Mystic strip on the inside front cover was originally published in Tales of the Unexpected #27, July 1958, and the Tricksy strip on the inner rear cover originally appeared in Action Comics #239, April 1958.

All three main features were subsequently reprinted by KG Murray in Colossal Comic #35, November 1965. Interestingly, there is conclusive evidence that Colossal Comic was comprised of recycled KG Murray material. Consider the photo below:

On the left hand side is the final page of The Mad Hatter of Metropolis as it appears in Colossal Comic #35, and on the right is the same page from Superman #136. They both include an inhouse advertisement for the Superboy series, which had ended in 1960 - and I don't think this advertisement was referencing the annual Giant Superboy Album. Clearly the material was recycled in Colossal Comic just as it appeared in Superman #136 some seven years earlier.

There is also a UK edition of this issue.