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.

Superman #127

Superman #127 was published by KG Murray c.February 1958:

The cover is illustrated by Curt Swan and Stan Kaye and originally appeared on the cover of Superman #117:

The main features are as follows:

The Man with the Zero Eyes, originally published in Superman #117, November 1957

The Trial of Jimmy Olsen, originally published in Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #20, April 1957

The Secret of Fort Superman, originally published in Superman #117, November 1957

This issue contains two full-page filler strips. The first is a Peg strip on the inner front cover, originally published in A Date with Judy #17, June-July 1950, however the print in this issue is likely related to the reprint of this strip in Girls' Love Stories #45, January-February 1957. The inner rear cover contains a Professor Eureka strip originally published in House of Mystery #64, July 1957.

A UK edition of this issue was also published.

I have not identified subsequent reprints of any of these features in other KG Murray issues, but I will not be surprised to find some or all are in undocumented issues of Colossal Comic or Superman Super Library.

Love Song Romances #64 and Alex Toth on 20 Miles to Heartbreak

The cover to Love Song Romances #64 is from DC's Secret Hearts #141, but unlike the DC issue, the KG Murray edition promotes the full title of the cover story 20 Miles to Heartbreak. 

Well, almost - this story was originally published in 4 parts, serialised across issues of Young Love and Secret Hearts - and this issue contains 20 Miles to Heartbreak [Part 2]. 

I was vaguely aware of this as an Alex Toth title, and would have liked the whole story to be in this issue. However, beginning as it does with the opening of page of part 2, it does so in impressive fashion:

It's the final panel spread across the page which draws me in - ominous and abstract, it's an effective tease of an invitation to turn the page to find out what happens next. It could have been an unnerving closing panel to a chapter or a story too - one might read the 4 headlights as ellipses.

I'm sure the other chapters to this story appeared in other KG Murray issues - likely in issues of Love Song Romances, but they could well be in other titles.

The first chapter can be found on this blog post.

Colossal Comic #16

Colossal Comic #16 has a proxy cover date 1 January 1961 courtesy of an advertiser's date code. The cover is unsigned but certainly appears to be by Hart Amos:

This cover promotes the other ongoing series featuring DC characters published at the time by KG Murray. The focus of this promotion appears to be the expanded page count of the titles boasting 116 pages, the earliest of which appeared very late in 1960.

The story contents:

The Return of the Bathound!, originally published in Batman #97, February 1956

The Case of the Crying Clown!, originally published in Superboy #33, June 1954

The Varmint and the Wizard!, originally published in World's Finest Comics #42, September-October 1949

The Invisible Clues!, originally published in Gang Busters #47, August-September 1955

The Superman Stamp!, originally published in Superman #91, June 1954

The Lagoon of Doom!, originally published in Adventure Comics #204, September 1954

The Mystery of the Four Batmen!, Batman #88, December 1954

Haunted Superman!, originally published in Action Comics #186, November 1953

Jimmy Olsen's Martian Pal, originally published in Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #10, February 1956

The Day Aquaman Couldn't See, originally published in Adventure Comics #217, October 1955

The Journey of the Second Superboy!, originally published in Adventure Comics #205, October 1954

T.N.T. Olsen, the Champ!, originally published in Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #11, March 1956

The Haunted Island!, originally published in Adventure Comics #206, November 1954

Fighting Fools!, originally published in Action Comics #141, February 1950

The Spectral Superman!, originally published in Action Comics #188, January 1954

The Son of Batman!, originally published in Batman #88, December 1954

Uncle Superboy!, originally published in Adventure Comics #203, August 1954

The Man of Steel's Substitute!, originally published in Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #1, September-October 1954

The Human Circus!, originally published in Action Comics #200, January 1955

This issue contains a number of filler strips, including full-page instalments of Professor Eureka from Detective Comics #219, May 1955; Ollie from Adventure Comics #278, November 1960 and Superboy #83, September 1960; Bebe from Superboy #39, March 1955; Varsity Vic from Superman #90, July 1954; and the partial page fillers Casey the Cop from Detective Comics #252, February 1958 and Ton o' Fun from All-American Comics #76, August 1946.

There are some notable editorial interventions in the reproduction of some of these stories. The Return of the Bat-Hound! is an 8-page story, but this version is expanded to 10 pages - two pages have been blown up to three panels per page. Haunted Superman! and The Spectral Superman! each have their final pages reduced to fit, which is far more common in such issues. The Varmint and the Wizard! has grey tone shading. My guess is that each of these modifications is present in previous KGM publications. TBC.

I've been collecting KGMs of this period for over 25 years, and those of us obsessed by such things had not spotted a copy. As recently as a couple of years ago James was querying whether we should deem this issue non-existent. Shortly afterwards a collector came forward with a cover scan of his copy wondering what all the fuss was about. Naturally I offered him my kidney for it, but my generous offer was rebuffed. This copy appeared on eBay a week ago so I kept my kidney but paid more for this than I've ever paid for a KGM. So of course, another copy turned up on eBay the next day. It's still scarce, but not as scarce as it used to be.

Update 9 July 2025: James has confirmed the altered versions of these stories were previously published in KGM pamphlet issues, as suspected.

Batman #53: The Belgian edition

Batman #53 is another Belgian issue published by Interpresse which I picked up on my recent trip to Paris and Brussels:

Similarly to Batman #12, I picked up this sealed copy on the basis of recognising the cover image. In this instance, the image is sourced from the main contents:

This is the second page of the story [A Vow from the Grave!]. 

This story was originally published in Detective Comics #410, April 1971 - here's a scan of the original page from my copy:

The reproduction of the linework is clearer on the Belgian copy - but this may be due to the age of my US copy.

A Vow from the Grave! was published twice in Australia - in Superman Presents World's Finest Comic Monthly #92 and Bumper Batcomic #15. Neither of these issues used the cover to the story from Detective Comics #410, and I'm unaware of any other international edition of this story which uses the original cover.

Given the contents of this issue aren't indexed on the GCD I will detail them here. The other two stories in this issue are as follows:

[Alfred, Armchair Detective!], originally published in Batman #31, October-November 1945. This reprint is from the version published in Detective Comics #417, November 1971;

[The Penny Plunderers!], originally published in World's Finest Comics #30, September-October 1947. This reprint is from the version published in Batman #256, May-June 1974.

The rear cover of this issue advertises the Belgian Superman #105:

This cover image is from DC's Action Comics #446.

The inner front and rear covers contain non-comics related activities.

Curiously, the Batman typeface on the cover differs from the others in this series - it is linear, whilst the others in this series are curved within the masthead.

Postscript: After I completed this post I discovered this edition was published in other countries with the same cover and contents, in local translations - for example, as Batman Classics #77 in The Netherlands, Laderlappen #8 in Sweden, and Lynvingen #8 in Norway. This is the pattern I noted in yesterday's post on Batman #12. A note on the GCD connected to this series states "[t]he cover is part of the Joint European Series (JES) representing titles and issues printed across Europe." This goes some way to explaining the connection between these various editions.

Update 15 May 2025: 

“The reproduction of the linework is clearer on the Belgian copy - but this may be due to the age of my US copy.”

 

Nope. Age has nothing to do with reproduction – except for the stock yellowing.

 

Here’s a numbered comparison of one of the panels between the original printing and the Belgium reprint

 

          1.        The linework on Batman’s forearm where it joins the upper arm is ‘murky’ 

2.        Some of the finer lines of the grass on the left of “2” are missing

3.        The evidence of a moiré pattern on the rock (and throughout the panel) shows the (original) printing is misregistered

4.        If anything, the Belgium printing is slightly heavier but is okay because the paper stock appears (marginally) better than the 1971 version where US publishers were using crap plates and crappier newsprint. 

Conclusion: better stock, better printing. Belgium wins! 

So, ultimately, Spiros is correct in stating “The reproduction of the linework is clearer on the Belgian copy”.

Mark Muller 

Batman #12: The Belgian edition

As I was browsing through boxes and piles of vintage comics on my recent trip to Paris I spotted this issue of Interpresse's Batman #12, March 1973:

It was sealed but I picked it up because I was curious about the cover. It's an image I recognised immediately, even as I understood it was redrawn, and couldn't quite identify off the top of my head where it originated. 

Of course, it's one of many iconic - or at least memorable - images of Batman by Neal Adams from the early to mid-1970's. This one originally appeared in a panel in Ghost of the Killer Skies! in Detective Comics #404:

It was also a Super-Hero Stick-On:

This page is scanned from Batman #270.

I'm pretty sure this image was used in other promotional materials, and I will update this post as I come across them in due course.

The story contents of this issue are as follows:

[The Demon Lives Again], originally published in Batman #244, September 1972 

[Not All Thorns Come from Roses!], originally published in Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #120, March 1972

Postscript: After indexing this issue and posting this entry I realised this issue has been published in other international editions with the same cover and contents, with local translations - for example as Lynvingen #2 in Norway; Laderlappen #4 in Sweden; and Batman Classics #36 in The Netherlands.

I now recall reading online something about the connection between these titles, but the reference escapes me for the moment. TBA.

Spectral #5 - Saga of the Swamp Thing #20: The French edition

Swamp Thing fans will readily and fondly recognise this splash page, given it is the first page of Alan Moore's celebrated run on the title. Originally published in Saga of the Swamp Thing #20, this is the French edition of Loose Ends, as it appears in the digest-sized series Spectral.

So of course I recognised it immediately as I was browsing in a comic book store in Paris and I saw this image on the cover of Spectral #5:

This copy is marred by the removal of a price sticker - yes, all my fault - but I couldn't resist it for the princely sum of 5 Euro.

This is the third series titled Spectral, and it appears to be an anthology series of mystery and supernatural stories from DC, often featuring Swamp Thing on the cover.

I like that this story managed to get front cover prominence. Whilst it's a lesser piece of work than the justly celebrated The Anatomy Lesson - Loose Ends is just that, Moore tying up loose ends from the previous run in order to set up his own take on the character - it is still significant as his first issue on the series, and I recall my disappointment that the first edition of the trade paperback collecting his run on the series omitted this issue, beginning the collection with Sage of the Swamp Thing #21. And IMO, the splash page on the cover image works better than the original cover to Saga of the Swamp Thing #20.

There's not a lot more I have to say about this issue, as it is fully indexed on the GCD. It's just a neat little comic I enjoyed finding and picking up in the Latin Quarter of Paris.

Update 24 May 2025: For Robert Thomas - the image of Swamp Thing on the top left hand corner is indeed by Wrightson, and it hails from the splash page of A Clockwork Horror in Swamp Thing #6: