Planet of the Apes Sunday Observer Special #2

I don’t know if the recent earth tremors felt in Melbourne have had anything to do with shaking loose so many hard to find comics but it’s been an unexpectedly bumper period for collectors of scarce Australian comics. I can report off the top of my head from the last week or two:

Copies of Giant Batman Album #’s 14 and 16 surface on eBay;

A second copy of Colossal Comic #18 has been brought to my attention, hot on the heels of my own copy and Colossal Comic #14;

A few other stubbornly elusive (if not bone fide scarce) issues such as Giant Flash Album #5, All Star Adventure Comic #50 and Superman Supacomic #113 were retrieved in, shall we say, somewhat irregular circumstances;

A bunch of very early Superman Supacomics and similar pre-decimal material was secured in a single lot with some fellow KGM Kronies;

And now comes confirmation of the long-rumoured second edition of the Planet of the Apes Sunday Observer Special. This cover scan was generously sent to me a couple of days ago from a fellow who says he has a few copies of each in pristine condition. The date on this issue is 15th June 1975, two weeks after the first supplement.

Bumper Western Album #75: More Toth

I picked up a few more K.G. Murray Westerns over the weekend, including this Bumper Western Album #75, which has an Alex Toth reprint: "The Real Johnny Thunder", originally from All-American Western #122, 1951, and presented here via Johnny Thunder #3, 1973 (full issue contents details available on the Ausreprints site).

It appears I've missed this in previous instalments of The Alex Toth Stocktake so I think a new stocktake might be due.

True Junkyard Tales: Colossal Comic Annual NN/#1

It was two and a half years ago. I remember I was ill with the flu and a fever. I had resolved to stay in bed for the next couple of days and not move an aching muscle. My wife was at work and my son had gone to his playgroup for the day, so there would be no distractions from much needed rest and sleep. I was dead set on not moving and had dosed myself up with sudafeds and whatnot appropriately.

Then the phone rang. This guy reckons he's got some comics I might be interested in. I'd dealt with him a few times before and admittedly scored some gold off him, but the last time I'd seen him he'd been dry, and I thought that would be it. So I wasn't in the mood for indulging him in conversation. Besides, he was prone to popping over armed with books and hanging around for one coffee too long. You know the sort.

So I just asked what he had, prompting him a bit to keep him on track but not really concentrating. I didn't really care about his digest-sized westerns and romance comics and whatever other narcotic titles he was reeling off.

But then he said the magic words. Colossal Comic Annual. He continued... no number... no back cover... a bit rough... Superman and Batman standing on one another...

I've never injected but I immediately knew what a hit must feel like. I didn't ask for any more information. I didn't ask for a price. I didn't ask him to deliver. I just told him to sit tight and I'd be there in 20 minutes. And I was off like a rocket!

I have no idea how I navigated traffic in my drug-induced stupor. All I know is that an hour later I was driving back home with the above Colossal Comic Annual NN/#1 on the passenger seat, and I've never been so distracted by a comic whilst driving. I'm sure I stalled at traffic lights and probably caused accidents along the way, completely oblivious like Mr. Magoo. But I couldn't resist. I just kept looking over to it and muttering to myself: I'm sitting next to my own copy of Colossal Comic Annual #1! I can only blame some of that on the drugs.

Needless to say, it sure cleared my sinuses.

Colossal Comic #18

If you're just interested in the contents you can probably crib together a facsimile of Colossal Comic #18 by ransacking later issues of the series, along with a couple of issues of All Star Adventure Comic and Tip Top Comic Monthly, an issue of All Favourites Comic and Super Adventure Comic, and one or two other pamphlet issues.

And I wouldn't blame you if you resorted to this. Issues like this one are very difficult to find. The earlier issues may have more cachet, and may fetch the highest prices, but there's also more chance of finding copies of them. The Colossals numbered in the teens are some of the most difficult issues to find.

But there's more to Colossal Comic #18 than the contents, and it's all evident on the cover. Another beautiful outer space cover by Hart Amos, this time with a satellite front and centre (Space Station No 1? Not Sputnik I guess...) And Australia even makes a cameo appearance on the green mudball in the bottom left hand corner (Earth tended to be green on Colossal Comic outer space covers for some reason - see Colossal Comic #13 - let's call it another Amos trademark!) This cover is unsigned but, unlike Colossal Comic #15 discussed yesterday, the style is typical and representative of Colossal Comic and Amos of this period.

Oh, and just in case there’s any doubt, no, I haven't seen another copy besides this one, and yes, this one is also mine, and yes, I scored them both together, and... BWAHAHAHAHAHAAHAAAAAAA!!!!

Colossal Comic #15

It might not be slab-worthy, but I don't care - Colossal Comic #15 is incredibly hard to find, and this is the only copy I've ever seen. And it's mine!

Contents-wise it's very similar to the issues immediately preceding it, with Captain Triumph and Taxi O'Hara (Hack O'Hara) features from Quality Comics brushing shoulders with regular DC features such as Superboy, Superman, Batman and Green Arrow. I haven't quite completed indexing this issue, but it does appear all the features previously appeared in K.G. Murray issues (TBC).

I'm curious about the origins of the cover image. It's odd enough that it doesn't feature Superman (this was more common in the last dozen or so issues of the series), but the fact that the figures are arranged so that their facial features are hidden is even stranger, especially for a cover. It looks like it may have been based on a panel rather than a cover. I'm quite sure it's illustrated by an Australian artist, and it may be that the Batman and Robin figures were adapted ie: dressed.

Another KGM/DC swipe - but whodunnit?

Here’s another interesting swipe - take the cover to World’s Finest Comics #42, add a few additional characters in Rex the Wonder Dog and Detective Chimp, convert The Wyoming Kid to Hopalong Cassidy, a few little extras here and there, and there you have it - the cover to Century The 100 Page Comic Monthly #4!

I’m not convinced this cover is by Hart Amos. For one thing, it’s unsigned. For another, the Superman figure/linework just doesn’t look like typical Amos, even allowing for stylistic camouflage due to swiping. And even Rex’s tongue looks uncharacteristically flaccid!

However, there is a hint of Amos in Superman’s and Hopalong Cassidy’s eyes… and a couple of other KGManiacs have discerned the Amos touch on this cover… so it’s certainly possible that Amos was involved.

Batman #26: The Back O' Bourke Variant

If DC publish a second volume of Batman: Secrets of the Batcave, I'll be looking forward to seeing the inclusion of "The Atom Cave Raiders", a nifty little Bill Finger and Dick Sprang production which was originally published in Batman #68, cover-dated December 1951-January 1952, and reprinted by K.G. Murray in Batman #26.

This is one of those reprints which has dialogue modified to reflect Australian place names, so in one exchange one criminal says to another: "You made a few mistakes in your past, Duane, and I know all about them! That business in Bourke -- that job in Brisbane - it would ruin you to reveal that now!" Hmmm... now I wonder whether the UK version via K.G. Murray maintained these place names, or substituted them for Hackney and Liverpool...

A colour reprint will also reveal just how much Batman and Robin were glowing due to the radiation after the atom bomb blast...

But I really don't have much confidence that this story will ever be reprinted again, given the apparent suspension of the DC Archives program on the one hand, and their propensity to recycle previously reprinted vintage Batman stories in new editions (Archives to Showcase to Chronicles...) on the other... OK, maybe that's a slight exaggeration, but it does seem that way... Maybe if they do ever deign to give us what we really want - a single hefty collection of all of Sprang's Batman stories - then we will also see this story reprinted... but I'm not holding my breath for it.

The cover to Batman #26 above is also by Sprang, modified from the cover to Detective Comics #136, June 1948. The background has been omitted, and some minor extension work is evident (Batman's cape and right elbow, the bottom portion of robin's chest and emblem), but a bit of judicious cropping would pretty much keep Sprang’s linework intact. The cover is also reprinted in Batman Archives Volume 7, which looks like being the last volume in the series. Here's hoping I'm wrong.

A Mammoth Christmas...

Ringo Kid Western #6: True Maneely and Faux Maneely

The cover to Horwitz's Ringo Kid Western #6 looks like Joe Maneely's art on the cover of Ringo Kid #1 but it’s not quite a true reprint, as the art has been modified.

I doubt any such modification occurs on the reprints inside this magazine, which feature Maneely and John Severin amongst others I have yet to identify.

Bumper Western Comic #3

The cover of Bumper Western Comic #3 is taken from Masked Raider #15, October 1958, but for some reason, all the Masked Raider features reprinted in this issue are from Masked Raider #14, August 1958 - the issue which provided the cover for Bumper Western Comic #2!

The issue contains a mix of Charlton and Atlas reprints, including some by Pete Morisi from each publisher.

The main attraction for me in this issue is the 4 pages by Al Williamson in a story titled "Where Larrabee Rode!" The plot itself is no great shakes, but it's very nice to see Williamson's art in black and white with zipatone. I'm not sure where this story originally appeared, but it was reprinted in the early 1970's in an issue of Rawhide Kid.

I understand copies of Bumper Western Comic #3 are very hard to find, and this is a beaut copy in above-average condition, as you can see from the scan.