Wednesday, January 13, 2021

Superman Supacomic #6

 Colour Comics' Superman Supacomic #6 was published c.October 1961:


The cover is modified from the cover of DC Comics' Action Comics #254.

The contents:

The Battle With Bizarro!, originally published in Action Comics #254, July 1959 
The Bride of Bizarro!, originally published in Action Comics #255, August 1959 
The Satellite of Gotham City, originally published in Detective Comics #266, April 1959 
Batman's Armoured Rival, originally published in Detective Comics #271, September 1959 
The Flying Girl of Smallville!, originally published in Superboy #72, April 1959 
Superbaby in Scotland Yard, originally published in Superboy #73, June 1959
Superboy's Glass House, originally published in Superboy #73, June 1959 
The Man Who Discovered Superman's Identity, originally published in Superman #114, July 1957 
The Mystery of the Batman Bus, originally published in Batman #117, August 1958 
The Super-Weakling from Space, originally published in Superboy #65, June 1958 

My copy of this issue is rather poor. There are pieces missing from the cover, the rust from the staples has stained the pages and front cover, and insects have gorged on it ravenously. It is also missing the back cover, so I'm grateful to Mark Muller's scan of his copy:


The reason I'm grateful is because Mark's copy is date stamped 25 JAN 1960. Presumably this is a newsagent's stamp, and presumably this means the book was on the stands a bit earlier c.October 1959. 

This makes sense to me. I have previously argued that the first five issues of this series, titled Superman's Supacomic, is a distinct series with it's own profile, title and a roughly quarterly publication schedule, and that this issue is the first monthly issue of Superman Supacomic. Superman's Supacomic #5 was published c.September 1959, which would mean the first monthly issue was published one month after the initial series. It's a bit of guesswork but the pieces fit.

Another interesting point about my copy is the HUBS stamp on the front cover. This copy was purchased from a NZ seller and I have seen many comics from the late 1950's/early 1960's with this stamp. For years I assumed this to be the mark of a NZ distributor or chain of outlets, but Geoff Harrison informs that it was the name of an antique/secondhand bookshop in the North Island.


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