Tuesday, June 8, 2021

Century The 100 Page Comic Monthly #24

Century The 100 Page Comic Monthly #24 was published c.May 1958:


It is recoloured and slightly modified version of the cover on DC Comics' The Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog #37:

The story contents:

[Untitled - begins "Chief, you always walk the dog!"], originally published in Tomahawk #51, September 1957

Rex of the Fighting Seventh! Cavalry!, originally published in The Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog #37, January-February 1958

The Man Who Talked to Animals, originally published in Action Comics #236, January 1958

The Creature of 1,000 Disguises, originally published in Action Comics #234, November 1957

Trap of the Sheriff's Hat!, originally published in All Star Western #99, February-March 1958

The Forbidden Game, originally published in Tales of the Unexpected #14, June 1957

[Untitled - begins "Hi, Peter! Going Antiquing?"], originally published in Peter Porkchops #52, October-November 1957

Secret of the Moon Sphinx!, originally published in Mystery In Space #36, February-March 1957

The Treasure of Thunder Island!, originally published in The Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog #37, January-February 1958

Duel of the Twin Indians!, originally published in All Star Western #99, February-March 1958

The Man With Nine Lives, originally published in House of Mystery #70, January 1958

The Prisoner from Pluto!, originally published in Strange Adventures #65, February 1956

Aquaman, Outlaw of the Sea, originally published in Adventure Comics #218, November 1955

Quiz Diz, originally published in Buzzy #70, March-April 1956

The Signalman [of Crime], originally published in Batman #112, Dec 1957 

[The Atom Smasher], originally published in House of Secrets #5, July-August 1957

Why Summer is Hot and Winter is Cold, originally published in Strange Adventures #17, February 1952 

Some notes:

Interesting to see the variety of genres - superhero, western, mystery and sci fi, funny animal  - and Buzzy!

Curiously, this issue begins with a single page filler - an inauspicious opening gambit.

There are two exclamation marks in the title Rex of the Fighting Seventh! Cavalry!. This not an error on my part.

This issue does not appear to have the extensive art modifications we've come to expect from such issues, however there are two notable exceptions. 

Firstly, for some reason, the title of The Signalman of Crime has been modified - compare the splash page in Century #24 with a scan of the page from Batman #112:


Secondly, as mentioned at the outset, the cover image has minor touchups, which I believe may have been done by none other than Hart Amos. Many years ago I was contacted by a member of his family via this blog, and one of the things I received via email was a scan of the cover proof to Century #24 which was in the family's possession. Indeed, I believe this is the image which has been on AusReprints for many years (James can correct me if I am mistaken - unfortunately I can't verify this as my computer at the time died and I lost all such files and contact details). 

Ironically, Century #24 turned out to be the last issue I needed to complete my run of this series. And who would have thought that after eluding me for so many years, it would be sourced at the same time as Mighty #29, which completed my collection of that series. That's just how things roll in the Junkyard.

Thanks to Mark Cannon and Mark Muller for supplying me with scans of House of Mystery #70.

2 comments:

James Zanotto said...

My log for AusReprints indicates the cover came from you and was added in 2008 - https://ausreprints.net/issue/35625.

I don't remember this information about Hart Amos and a quick email search hasn't turned up anything further.

spiros xenos said...

Thanks for checking, James.