Modifying Daughters of the Moon: Federal Comics' World's Finest Comics #4

This is the cover to DC Comics' World's Finest Comics #295: 

And this is a modified black and white print of the cover without the trade dress and Superman:

This is interesting in and of itself, but what's even more interesting is that this is found in Federal Comics' World's Finest Comics #4 - not as a pinup, but as an inserted page in the story Daughters of the Moon. 

Daughters of the Moon is a 23-page story centred on Superman's attempts to rescue Batman from an incurable virus. It is presented as a 24-page story in the Federal edition, and this page has been purposefully inserted after page 8 to symbolically represent Batman's battle with the virus and the Moondancers who infected him, which is referenced in the preceding panel. It is for this reason that the Superman figure has been deleted, and I'm sure this explains why the moon has been modified with globular formations.

It was common practice to accommodate the page count in these Australian editions by deleting pages or reducing the art and merging pages. This is a rare example of a story with an increased page count. 

Kudos to Neil Hansen and AusReprints for spotting this some time ago.

World's Finest Comics #9: The Federal edition

Federal Comics' World's Finest Comics #9 was published c.November 1985:

The cover is from DC Comics' World's Finest Comics #308, October 1984:

The contents:

Night and Day!, originally published in World's Finest Comics #308, October 1984 

[First Face:] The Child "Childhood's End", originally published in Batman Annual #9, July 1985 

Night and Day! is a 23-page story presented here as a 20-page story - 3 pages are omitted.

The Four Faces of Batman is a 4-part story in Batman Annual #9 which begins with this title page: 

The next 4 chapters are each 10-page instalments titled First Face, Second Face etc. The reprint in World's Finest Comics #9 contains only the first part, hence the omission of the First Face chapter title:

Compare to the original page:

Divorced from the context of the title page, this chapter is presented as a standalone short story.

Unfortunately it is also presented as a 9-page story. This is the missing page:

This is quite a striking page with an appealing Batman illustration by Jerry Ordway, an artist whose work I enjoy.

I note that Second Face was published by Federal Comics as a standalone chapter in Batman #19, the final issue in the series - indeed, one of the last Federal DC issues - so it is unlikely that Third Face and Fourth Face were reprinted by Federal.

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #4: The Federal edition

Federal Comics' Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #4 was published c.January 1984. It's a rather anomalous issue and its publication appears to have been delayed.

The series began as Super Heroes in late 1982. Murray Comics published the first issue; the second was published by Federal comics under the transitional Murray the Cat/Federal Comics logo and cover-dated March-April 1983; and the third issue was published by Federal Comics c.July/August 1983.

Federal Comics' one-shot issue The Flash was also published c.July 1983, so it would have been on  newsagency stands at the same time as Super-Heroes #3. The final page of this issue advised that the Flash story Mishmash would be Next in Super Heroes #4:

 By the time Mishmash!! appeared six months had elapsed and the series had changed its name.

The final page of Mishmash!! advises the story is To Be Continued in.. Batman and The Flash:

This issue was published as Batman and The Flash #6 in February 1984, a month after Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #4.

Given the next issues were advertised it suggests the preparation of these issues was well on the way. For this reason I believe Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #4 was delayed.

The new series title did not last beyond this issue. By the fifth issue the series title was shortened and Legion of Super-Heroes #5 appeared c.April 1984 some nine months later. Maybe this wasn't so confusing in 1983/84 but when I first started collecting Australian reprints it took me quite a while to place it in this rather confusing continuum of series titles and logos. And that's without mentioning the Planet Comics iteration of Super Heroes/Album - a mishmash indeed!

The Glob-Thing Cometh in TACC Vol.4 No. 10

And so it came to pass that the Watchmen universe crossed over with the DCU. 

But betcha didn't know there was Swamp Thing/Watchmen crossover years before Alan Moore wrote either of these series... And so, for your edification, here is The Glob-Thing Cometh: A Short Story by Marcus Brazil:

Prescient. Or maybe not. But I did giggle at the smiley t-shirt, and there is a Heap (sic) of swamp monsters in comics, so we can add this one to the list. 

The Glob-Thing Cometh was published in The Australian Comic Collector Vol. 4 No. 10, cover-dated February 1980:

I invite Marcus to give us the lowdown on this story and its publication.

Young Love #29

KG Murray's Young Love #29 was published c.late 1977:

The cover is from Charlton Comics' Secret Romance #31:

The cover also happens to be from the splash page of Stolen Love. 

The stories:

Stolen Love, previously published in Secret Romance #31, March 1975

Tender Loving Care, previously published in Secret Romance #31, March 1975

They Talk About Me, previously published in Secret Romance #31, March 1975

A Bad Scene, previously published in Secrets of Young Brides #3, November 1975

Lovers Can Meet Anywhere, previously published in Career Girl Romances #69, June 1972

Back to Paradise, previously published in Secrets of Young Brides #4, January 1976

Love Cures All, previously published in I Love You #111, March 1975

Not His Way, previously published in Secrets of Young Brides #4, January 1976

Devoted Son-In-Law, previously published in Secret Romance #31, March 1975

Another Place, Another Love, previously published in Career Girl Romances #70, August 1972

This issue is exclusively Charlton reprints, and contains all the stories from Secret Romance #31.

Some of these stories also appeared in other KG Murray issues. For example, Tender Loving Care appeared later in All Love Romantic Stories #20,  and Lovers Can Meet Anywhere was published earlier in Magic Moment Romances #103.

I believe the attributions above are correct but I note the job numbers have been removed from all the stories, so I've based my information on the story titles and page counts as per the GCD links.

Green Arrow: The second Federal edition

Federal Comics' first one-shot Green Arrow issue was published c.April 1983, and the second followed over a year later c.August 1984:

The cover is adapted from Detective Comics #521:

Some elements of the cover were removed eg. the batsignal, and there is certainly some extra linework on the Federal cover eg. the bricks in lieu of the batsignal, the third motion line near Green Arrow's elbow, the rock behind the DC blurb. Some elements are also rearranged eg the rat on the bottom right and the open tin can. The Battling Bowman subtitle has also been added - I'm not sure what this is based on, and it may be a Federal concoction.

The original cover is also notable for being one of the very few covers since Detective Comics #27 not to feature Batman.

The contents:

The High Tech Highwayman!, originally published in Detective Comics #521, December 1982

Automatic Pirate Chapter 2, originally published in Detective Comics #522, January 1983

Mob Rule! [Mob Rule I] Chapter 3, originally published in Detective Comics #523, February 1983

Mob Rule II: Heat of the Moment! Chapter 4, originally published in Detective Comics #524, March 1983

[Mob Rule III: The Irresistible Rise of Machiavelli Part 5], originally published in Detective Comics #525, April 1983

Whatever Happened to the Black Pirate and Son?, originally published in DC Comics Presents #48, August 1982

Getting Up [Part I], originally published in Detective Comics #527, June 1983

[Getting Up II: Poisoned Art], originally published in Detective Comics #528, July 1983

[Getting Up III: Lost in the Ozone], originally published in Detective Comics #529, August 1983

Survival of the Fittest, originally published in Detective Comics #530, September 1983

[Survival of the Fittest II: Shelter from the Storm!], originally published in Detective Comics #531, October 1983

[Survival of the Fittest III] Soft Targets! Chapter 2, originally published in Detective Comics #532, November 1983

Whilst the previous Green Arrow issue mined the backup features from World's Finest Comics, this issue is virtually wholly based on the Detective Comics instalments, beginning with the first entry in the 4-year-long run. The exception is the Black Pirate feature - I don't know why it was included in this issue.

And if you're reading the list of story titles with the excessive parentheses and thinking this is likely  one messed up issue, well, let's just say there's some Newton-standard editing herein.

Many of the Green Arrow shorts have amended titles as Federal added their own chapter numbering to the original instalments. Having said that, the first story has not been amended as Chapter 1, even though subsequent instalments suggest it should have been. The main adjustment to this story is that the next issue advisory has been omitted, which occurs in many of the stories in this issue.

The second story is renumbered. This is the original splash page of Automatic Pirate!:

And this is the amended splash page in the Federal version:

The Chapter font used here is the same for all the amended chapters.

This is the original last page of Automatic Pirate!:

And this is the Federal version without The End:

Also note the image of Hi-Tek on the screen in the first panel is omitted in the Federal version, no doubt due to the absence of black linework.

The splash page to Mob Rule III: The Irresistible Rise of Machiavelli is omitted in the Federal printing. This is the missing page:

The End advisory is included at the end of this three-part story in the Federal version.

Getting Up was originally a 3-part story. The Federal version is presented as a single 18-page story. 

The first 7 pages are reprinted intact as per Detective Comics #527, without the Next Issue blurb.

Following these 7 pages are 6 of the 7 pages of the next instalment from Detective Comics #528, sans the splash page: 

This is the final page of Getting Up II: Poisoned Art:

This page has been modified in the Federal edition:

The panels have been reduced, rearranged and reordered on the page, and some elements also modified. Two panels have been inserted between the fourth and fifth panels of the original page.and the next issue blurb is omitted.

The panels not native to page 7 of Getting Up II: Poisoned Art are from the second page of Getting Up III: Lost in the Ozone from Detective Comics #529:

The second panel from this page is omitted from the Federal version.

This is the missing splash page to Getting Up III: Lost in the Ozone:

Survival of the Fittest is a 21-page three-part story presented as two chapters in the Federal edition. This is the last page from the first instalment in Detective Comics #530:

This is the version published in the Federal edition:

The integrity of the page design has been maintained, however the large third panel is different - because it is adapted from the splash page to Survival of the Fittest II: Shelter from the Storm! from Detective Comics #531:

The remainder of this instalment is reprinted intact apart from the Next Issue blurb. 

This is the splash page to Survival of the Fittest III: Soft Targets! from Detective Comics #532:

This instalment has been retitled Soft Targets! Chapter 2:

Beyond the two one-off Federal issues many of the Green Arrow backup features - in particular those originating in World's Finest Comics - can be found as support features in various Murray and Federal series and issues.

Green Arrow: The first Federal edition

Federal Comics published two eponymous Green Arrow issues. The first of these is cover-dated April-May 1983:

The cover is from DC Comics Presents #20:

Note the CCA stamp is also on the cover, as it was on other Federal Comics in this period.

The contents:

Inferno From The Sky!, originally published in DC Comics Presents #20, April 1980

The Falcon's Lair!, originally published in The Brave and the Bold #185, April 1982

A World Gone Mad!, originally published in World's Finest Comics #270, August 1981

A Bloody Crown for a Cold Corpse!, originally published in World's Finest Comics #272, October 1981

Assault on Kastle Vertigo!, originally published in World's Finest Comics #273, November 1981

Shackles of the Mind!, originally published in The Brave and the Bold #168, November 1980

I Shot an Arrow into the Air, originally published in World's Finest Comics #266, December 1980-January 1981

Here's the first three pages of The Falcon's Lair! as they appear in The Brave and the Bold #185:

These three pages were condensed into two pages in the Federal version. The first page was modified by taking advantage of the space reserved for the indicia and slotting in the title at the top of the page:

The next two pages were crammed into the second page with all manner of reformatting including cropping, resizing, reshaping and some omission:

A Bloody Crown for a Cold Corpse! was also heavily edited. This is the splash page from World's Finest Comics #272:

The top tier Green Arrow origin banner has been omitted and the caption box and speech balloon  slightly adjusted in the panel:

However this is a minor outpatient procedure compared to the radical surgery on the next page. Here's the next two pages as they appear in the DC comic:

These two pages are represented on one page in the Federal version:

Six of the ten panels are omitted, and the remaining four panels - the first two and the last two - have art extensions.

There may be slight modifications to some of the other stories but these are the two conspicuously altered by the page count.

This issue is cover-dated April-May 1983 but I think it may have been on the stands late March 1983.