Federal Marvel comics: May 1984

In confirming a 1984 publication date of a Yaffa Marvel comic I had to ask the question: Did the Yaffa Marvel issues overlap with the Federal Marvel issues? In order to answer this I have quickly checked my box of Federal Marvel comics for any issues which have some supplementary dating evidence on them beyond the 1984 indicia date. I have only spotted one so far but I think it is instructive, if not conclusive.

My copy of The Incredible Hulk #1 has a stamp on the rear cover XX JUL 1984:

This indicates to me a sell-by date, and therefore a publication date of May 1984.

This issue includes an advertisement for Marvel Tales #1:

As I have detailed before, Marvel Tales #1 is actually the first issue in the ongoing The Amazing Spider-Man series.

Marvel Tales #1 contains a complementary cross-promotion advertisement for The Incredible Hulk #1.

I am not surprised that a Spider-Man issue or series operates as a flagship title for launching a publishing program - I think the precedent for Yaffa in Australia was Newton Comics - but assuming my interpretation of the date on The Incredible Hulk  #1 is accurate, and that the stamped date itself is authentic, what the apparent concurrent release of these two issues strongly suggests is that Federal began their Marvel reprints in May 1984. Which dovetails rather neatly with the March 1984 on-sale date of Yaffa's The Legend of Conan.

I'm aware that these conclusions are drawn from a small sample, and I may be suffering confirmation bias. It's quite possible that evidence to refute these end and start dates may arise. For example, I may come across a Yaffa Marvel issue with a date later than March 1984, and a Federal Marvel issue earlier than May 1984. And given my belief that Yaffa's licence had well and truly expired by this time, and that the publication of the recycled and often retitled $0.75 issues was post-licence, indicia notwithstanding, a small overlap on the newsstands wouldn't shock me.

At any rate, the detailed dating and crosschecking of the Federal Marvels is a project for another time. The evidence above is something that popped out at me prompted whilst I was researching the Yaffas. In the meantime, if anyone has anything to add regarding this early period of 1984 - especially date notations or stamps - please do so.

Dating the Yaffa Marvel digests - 1984

Over the last week or two I have been going over my collection of Yaffa Marvel digests trying to identify publication dates. I had been operating on the assumption that Yaffa had ceased publishing Marvel editions by late 1981, but as my collection grew and I started filling in blanks - especially in regards to recycled retitled editions - I found mounting evidence of issues published in 1982. Further interrogation led me to believe issues were published in 1983, and I have now found compelling evidence that they were published as late as early 1984.

About a year ago I purchased a single large batch of Yaffa Marvel digests. This batch included Untamed World of Conan and The Legend of Conan.

The cover to Untamed World of Conan has 10 written in pencil on the cover:

A pencilled note on the first page reads AUG 83:

This strongly suggests that this issue was purchased in August 1983 and was to have a shelf life of two months until October 1983 as per the newsagent's note.

The cover to The Legend of Conan has 3 written in pencil on the cover:

A pencilled note on the first page reads SYD.NEWSTAND JAN 1984:

This strongly suggests that this issue was purchased in January 1984 and was to have a shelf life of two months until March 1984.

Until now, as evidenced in recent posts, I have deemed the sell-by dates indicated by a newsagent's markings as designating an on-sale period of date 3-4 months. I now believe the on-sale period to be 2 months.

The indicia in both of these issues states in part: "The characters included in this issue such as Conan the Barbarian and the distinctive likenesses thereof are the properties of the Marvel Comics Group and this publication is under licence from the Marvel Comics Group." However, I believe there is evidence to suggest that the Yaffa licence had well and truly expired some time earlier - probably as early as 1982 - and that they were publishing recycled reprints of earlier licenced material as a last gasp run on the fumes of an empty tank, hence the numerous $0.75 cover price recycled and retitled digests, not to mention the $1.10 regular sized recycled reprints which typically ended series such as Conan the Barbarian.

This begs the question of whether there was any overlap between Yaffa's Marvel reprints and the beginning of the Federal Comics licence, which I'll deal with in a separate post. For now, the Junkyard is extremely pleased to have found compelling evidence of the publication of Yaffa Marvel comics in 1984. And I have a lot more to say about these in pending blog entries.

Marvel's Greatest Comics! The Yaffa editions

I have two digest-sized Yaffa issues of Marvel's Greatest Comics! featuring Fantastic Four - #'s 3 and 4:

These issues reprint the covers and story contents of Marvel's Greatest Comics #'s 30 and 31 - two Fantastic Four features plus the Human Torch and Thing backups, with the odd page omitted eg. the splash page for Defeated by the Frightful Four! in #3.

I don't know if there were any subsequent issues in this series.

There is a Marvel's Greatest Comics! #2:

Based on the cover I don't think it's related to #'s 3 and 4 in the way one might expect. The cover is clearly a Yaffa contrivance, and doesn't appear to contain Fantastic Four reprints as per the preceding U.S issues of the series - but I note that the Marvel's Greatest Comics! issues published before #30 did feature Dr Strange stories, so maybe it is loosely related after all.

I don't have information on a Yaffa Marvel's Greatest Comics! #1, but I have a suspicion #2 is a reprint of #1.

Or I may be thinking of Marvel Tales #1, which has a similar montage featuring Dr Strange and The Hulk, and which I can confirm was reprinted as the second issue in the series:

Update: I can confirm Marvel's Greatest Comics! #2 ($0.60) is a reprint of Marvel's Greatest Comics! #1 ($0.50).

Ghost Rider #10: MAY 1982

Speaking of evidence re: Yaffa publishing Marvel reprints in 1982, the newsagent's stamp on my copy of the digest-sized Ghost Rider #10 states MAY 1982:

Presumably a sell-by date, this issue was likely published February/March 1982.

Further, the $0.75 cover price on the second King Conan digest-size issue has a 9 pencilled in the top left hand corner. If this is indeed a newsagent's mark, as it appears, designating a sell-by date of September, it suggests a publication date of July 1982, as Yaffa's digest-sized issues in 1981 had a $0.70 cover price, as does the Ghost Rider #10 above.

A further note - my impression is that the digest issues which ended the runs of various titles were taller than regular issues. The Ghost Rider issue above and the King Conan issue are both 21cm tall compared to the regular 19cm for digest-sized issues. It will take me some time to sort through all my taller digests to confirm any pattern eg. that the 21cm issues were all published late 1981 onwards, but it's another lead I'm following.

Cover gallery of the complete Yaffa Conan the Barbarian

I've just completed my run of the Yaffa/Page Publications Conan the Barbarian series so here's a cover gallery of my copies with some notes:

The first issue was published late 1977 with a $0.50 cover price. The indicia confirms 1977, and the rear cover advertises the Fantastic Four series @$0.35 an issue. Given the first issue of Fantastic Four was cover dated October 1977 it indicates this Conan series began October or later.

The second issue was published 1978 as per the indicia with a $0.50 cover price. My copy suffers from dodgy cropping, hence the white sliver at the top of the book.

The third issue was also published in 1978 with a price increase to $0.60. MAY is written on the rear cover by an adult hand, presumably by the newsagent, so it appears this issue was published March 1978.

The fourth issue was published 1979 as per the indicia with a $0.60 cover price, and was the last full-sized issue before the digest-sized issues took over.

The fifth issue was published the following year in 1980 as per the indicia and maintained the $0.60 cover price. The number 8 is written in pen on the front cover, and the rear cover advertises The Incredible Hulk The Movie, both of which indicate this issue was published circa June 1980.

The sixth issue was also published in 1980 with a $0.60 cover price.

The seventh issue was published circa April 1981 - the number 6 is written in pen, presumably by the newsagent. As I understand it, notations by newsagents indicated a sell-by date, that is, the shelf life of a magazine, not the on-sale date.

The eighth issue was published circa August 1981 - again, courtesy of the 10 marked in pen on the front cover.

The ninth issue was published in 1981 according to the indicia, and the cover price is increased to $0.75. There is a 1 written in pen on the cover, suggesting a sell-by date of January 1982, therefore suggesting a publication date of  November 1981.

The tenth issue has a $0.70 cover price, but no indicia date. I have seen a copy with 7 written on the front cover  so given #9 was on the stands in January 1982, I would date to April 1982.

The final issue is a regular-sized reprint of the first issue - an established pattern for many Yaffa series - with a $1.10 cover price. As per #10 there is no indicia date. This was likely published mid/late 1982.

My thanks to James for his contributions to this dating issue. I'm going to follow up on a lead of his which may help provide some answers. TBC.

Tracking Destination Destruction in Air Battle Library

Destination Destruction was originally published in Action War Picture Library #26.

It was reprinted in three issues of Page Publications' digest-sized Air Battle Library series:

The first two printings featured new Keith Chatto covers, the first of which was based on the cover to Action War Picture Library #26. The third edition, issued after the Chatto era, had a cover image copied from the story itself, in this instance, from the splash page:

 I noted this pattern in reference to Jungle Graveyard. Another publishing pattern to be alert to.

Update: https://notesfromthejunkyard.blogspot.com.au/2018/01/destination-destruction-again-war-in.html

Tracking Jungle Graveyard in Page Publications issues

I don't have any information regarding the first publication of the story Jungle Graveyard, but I do know that it was published at least four times by Page Publications, in the following issues:

 War in the Jungle #1

War in the Jungle #3

 Blazing War Picture Library #1

Blazing War Library #3

The first three issues were published circa 1973-74, and feature covers by Keith Chatto.

Blazing War Library #3 is published much later, circa 1981-82. There is a pencilled date on the cover -  2/82. This may be accurate, but given Page Publications digest-sized issues of Marvel material were cover-priced $0.70 - or even $ 0.75  - in 1981, this issue may have hit the stands in 1981. I'm not sure. (I've started some digging around Yaffa/Page digest pricing and dates, and there is some evidence that Marvel digests may not have terminated in 1981 as I've previously assumed but were published into 1982... but I'll detail that investigation when I have more data.)

The other thing that is evident is that in rehashing earlier material at this stage of the game Page Publications no longer had Chatto's services to call upon, so they recycled interior art for cover duty, as per this instance:

And speaking of War in the Jungle, there was a fourth issue in the series:

This featured a story titled March From Defeat. I wouldn't be at all surprised if this story appeared in War in the Jungle #2 - a kooky kind of symmetry if the odd-numbered issues featured Jungle Graveyard and the even-numbered issues carried March From Defeat. I'll be looking for a copy of War in the Jungle #2 just to satisfy my curiosity.

Update 6/7/2018: Jungle Graveyard originally appeared in MV Features' Action War Picture Library #3:

The cover was swiped by Chatto for War in the Jungle #1, which suggests this was the first Page Publications edition of this story.

Neal Adams, Batman and the Beatles - a Tip Top opportunity!

As a self-avowed - some may say unreconstructed - Beatles-nut, one of my enduring disappointments with my beloved K.G. Murray comics is that they didn't manage to publish this cover on an issue of Tip Top Comic Monthly:

Batman #222 featured the Batman and Robin story "Dead...till Proven Alive!" which referenced the Paul is Dead urban myth of the late 60's. Not only that but the cover was drawn by Neal Adams at the peak of his Batman stint. In other words, a perfect storm of personal obsessions. A K.G. Murray edition would have capped the quadrella!

Of course, the story did appear locally, albeit hidden in the back of Mighty Comic #89.

And there was some minor compensation - the cover was cropped and adapted in the service of an inhouse advertisement for Batman comics in the Planet Comics era:

Hmmm... moreso a tease and a reminder of a lost opportunity rather than compensation...

The Mighty Thor Giant 100 Page Annual by Newton Comics

Newton Comics' The Mighty Thor Giant 100 Page Annual was published in 1975* and reprints the main Thor features - not the backups - from Journey into Mystery #'s 113, 117, 120-123.

The cover is a recoloured reprint of Journey into Mystery #120:

The first story reprinted in this issue is A World Gone Mad! from Journey into Mystery #113. However, instead of beginning with the splash page to this story...

...the Newton reprint begins with a black and white reprint of the cover to Journey into Mystery #113:

Newton Comics published quite a few Thor stories from the Journey into Mystery run, mainly as backups in their The Amazing Spider-Man title, and in the two issues of The Mighty Thor which were published in 1976. A few also appeared in various one-shots and specials.

Update 24/2/2019: When I posted this entry in April 2017 I had an incomplete copy of this issue. It was missing the rear cover. At the time I based the date on the indicia which states in part "Copyright 1975 by Newton Comics Pty. Ltd." Even with this information I asterisked the date in the entry. My copy had a 6 marked on the cover, presumably by the newsagency. This would mean the issue was published c.March 1975, which would be manifestly incorrect, so I knew the 1975 date warranted further investigation. In October 2018 I purchased an upgraded complete copy. I have since completed some research on the advertisements on the outer covers and can confirm this issue was published March 1977. This accords with the newsagency dating. In due course I will index this issue fully.

Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #34: The Hart Amos cover

Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #34 features a Hart Amos cover for the lead story The Luckiest Boy in the World!, which originally appeared in the U.S issue Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #24 cover-dated October-November 1957. In the original issue The Luckiest Boy in the World! was not the lead story as it would be in the Australian issue so Amos was charged with coming up with an appropriate cover image.

To do this he adapted a panel from the story:

As you can see, Amos closely reproduces the staging of the original image, including the model of the car, but I like how he modifies Jimmy's walk from a step to a strut, which emphasises his boldness in the context of the story. And I also like the annoyed expression on Superman's face as he arrives to save Jimmy - the inclusion of Superman serves as a synopsis of the story in a single image more fully than the original single panel. The urban background is omitted by Amos, but this also works for the cover, leaving room for the various text requirements, and making it suitably abstracted.

Even the modified text in the speech balloon works. In the original, Jimmy is overconfident that something will save him, and is surprised when Superman saves him, expecting some other magic or chance to intervene on his behalf. In the cover version we see that Superman knows Jimmy's lucky turban won't help him and appears annoyed and frustrated at Jimmy's blind faith. The reader senses that this has happened before.