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: 

Spidey Super Stories: The Yaffa editions

Yaffa published two digest-sized editions of Spidey Super Stories:

The first edition appears to have been published c.February 1982, and is marked No. 1, with a $0.70 cover price. 

The second edition is unnumbered with a $0.75 cover price. This appears to have been published c.August 1982.

These issues are a curious pairing. They are published with six months of one another and are both in the 'long' digest format. Typically, by mid-1982, the Marvel reprints by Yaffa were cover-priced $0.75 and had largely reverted to the 'short' digest-sized editions (although other 'tall' editions do exist from this period). I would like to find more conclusive data regarding the publication dates of these issues.

The issues contain identical contents and are fully indexed on AusReprints.