Batman Poche #6: There Is No Hope In Crime Alley

If you're even vaguely familiar with Batman lore I'd wager the cover to Detective Comics #457 needs no introduction:

Nor do I need to relate the relevance of There Is No Hope In Crime Alley to Batman continuity other than to say Leslie Thompkins made surprisingly few subsequent appearances in Batman pre-Crisis but has a rather more prominent profile post-Crisis.

I'm note sure where I first read this story - probably in Detective Comics #457, but it was possibly in Batman Album #40:

The impact of the original cover is diminished in this quadrant of covers, but not so the full-size splash page which has an impact all its own in black and white:

Anyway, it was my fondness for the original cover which prompted me to seek out the French edition of this story:

Batman Poche #6 ("Batman Pocket") is dated April-May 1977, a year or more before Batman Album #40, and this edition does justice to the cover image with a black bleed and minimal intrusion by trade dress. Indeed the Batman title logo is both bolder and less intrusive than the original Detective Comics masthead which blocked the ears, and the cover design is much less cluttered by the DC type and banners and logos. 

The GCD lists two other international editions of this cover c.1977 - Swedish and Norwegian - and interestingly they both opt for black and white versions of the cover which are also appealing, but the French version is the best to my eye.

Batman Poche #6 is also interesting in that it contains another classic Batman tale The First Batman:

I like the colours on this page - even the incorrectly coloured Robin costume - and the overall palette is more appealing to me than the brown version published on the cover of Planet Comics' Batman Album #32:

However, Batman Poche #6 is only partially printed in colour. Each two-page spread alternates between a colour and a black and white printing. Such machinations, not uncommon in certain Murray editions, have always irritated me - they come off as cheap and desperate - which is a shame  as the French colour pages are so appealing.

The 'unpublished' inventory Ghost Rider stories in Australia: The Second Thunder Valley

The Second Thunder Valley is another of the ME inventory Ghost Rider stories.  This was published by K.G. Murray in Bumper Western Comic #32:

Thanks to Mark Cannon for the scans.

The 'unpublished' inventory Ghost Rider stories in Australia: The Vanishing Herd!

The Vanishing Herd is another ME inventory Ghost Rider story, published by K.G. Murray in All Favourites Comic #62 c.September 1967:

The 'unpublished' inventory Ghost Rider stories in Australia: Vigilantes of Hate!

Seven Ghost Rider stories were completed but unpublished by Magazine Enterprises. Some of these inventory stories were licensed by Vin Sullivan in Australia.

Vigilantes of Hate! was published by K.G. Murray in All Favourites Comic #61 c.July 1967:

The 'unpublished' inventory Ghost Rider stories in Australia: The Scream in the Night!

Magazine Enterprises' Ghost Rider has a rather labyrinthine history which I don't wish to rehash in detail here. What interests me for the moment is the original stories illustrated by Dick Ayers.

Or rather, the stories not published.

When Mark Cannon exchanged some emails with Dick Ayers c.2000, he mentioned reading Second Thunder Valley, a Tales of the Ghost Rider story that didn't appear to have been published in the US during the original Ghost Rider run. Ayers told him that a number of Ghost Rider stories were completed but weren't published in the US as the series was cancelled due to the Comics Code. He recalled ME publisher Vin Sullivan  once mentioned licensing a lot of ME material for publication in Australia, some of which may have been inventory stories 'leaked' onto the Australian market. 

Bill Black's Best of the West: Golden-Age Greats Vol. 7 contains a checklist of Dick Ayers' work for ME which lists the following Ghost Rider inventory stories:

The Small Green Snake

Warrior From The Dead

Scream in the Night

Vigilantes of Hate

Second Thunder Valley

Man of Gold

The Vanishing Herd 

To date I have found four of these stories in K.G. Murray issues published c.August 1967:

The Scream in the Night!: All Star Adventure Comic #46

Vigilantes of Hate!: All Favourites Comic #61

The Vanishing Herd!: All Favourites Comic #62

The Second Thunder Valley: Bumper Western Comic #32

Ghost Rider was also published in Australia by Apache Comics in King Size Comic, so it is possible some of the missing stories appeared in this series.

And so, for your edification, here's The Scream in the Night! as it appeared in All Star Adventure Comic #46:

I will post the other inventory Ghost Rider stories I have in my collection over the next few days and update the links.

I began this post by saying I didn't want to rehash the publishing history of Ghost Rider. That's my way of inviting Mark Cannon to fill in the details in the comments section. Mark knows more about Ghost Rider and ME than I do, and was invaluable in providing much of the information above, spurred by my query when I couldn't locate a source for The Scream in the Night! For ages now I've been urging Mark to run his own blog on Australian reprint comics. I've even suggested a title: Shots from the Cannon - but to date he has resisted the temptation, preferring to lie low as one of my operatives. So consider this a proxy Shots from the Cannon post.

Omega the Unknown: The complete Yaffa cover gallery

Here's a cover gallery of my complete collection of Page Publications' Omega the Unknown:

Omega the Unknown #1, c.late 1977

Omega the Unknown #2, c.May 1979

Omega the Unknown #3, 1980

Omega the Unknown #4, 1980

Omega the Unknown #NN, c.1982

The first two issues are regular/magazine-sized, and the rest are digest-sized.

As per the covers, #1 was recycled twice.

There may be more Omega issues published by Yaffa. I note there are no 'tall' digest editions, no reprints of #'s 2 and 3, and no recycled and retitled editions in this set. 

Each issue reprints three stories from the US series. This means there is one US issue unaccounted for in the Yaffa series. So, there is scope for a 1981 'tall' digest edition with some miscellaneous backup features. However, if this has been published by Yaffa, my guess is it is more likely to lurk as backup feature in another title.

Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #25: The K.G. Murray edition

K.G. Murray's Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #25 was published c.April 1957:

The main features are:

Jimmy Olsen in the 50th Century, originally published in Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #17, December 1956

The Phantom Space Ship!, originally published in  Action Comics #171, August 1952

The Daredevil of the Seven Seas!, originally published in Adventure Comics #198, March 1954

There is also a full-page Shorty filler from Action Comics #195, August 1954, and smaller fillers Quick Quiz and Movie Mirth at the end of the Tommy Tomorrow and Aquaman features respectively. The three main features were subsequently recycled by K.G. Murray in Colossal Comic #27. They were accompanied by the associated shorts.

This issue contains an in-house advertisement for the Superboy series:

The cover to Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #25 is by an Australian artist. This was necessary as the lead story was not the cover feature in Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #17 - and besides, that cover had already been published in the previous K.G. Murray issue.

Gredown's Ghosts of Terror #1

Gredown's Ghosts of Terror #1 was published in 1976:

The cover - likely by Phil Belbin - is swiped from Tom Sutton's cover for Charlton's Ghostly Haunts #49:

The ghostly background figure is inspired by panels on the final page of the lead story The Edge of Fear:

The Edge of Fear also appeared in Gredown's Edge of Fear, which recycled the cover to Ghosts of Terror #1:

The contents:

The Edge of Fear, originally published in Ghostly Haunts #49, April 1976

...To Die A Witches' Death, originally published in Ghost Manor #27, January 1976

A Special Victim, originally published in Beyond the Grave #4, February 1976

A Quiet Place To Die!, originally published in Beyond the Grave #4, February 1976

That Personal Touch!, originally published in Ghostly Tales #120, March 1976

...If Gold Be Life!, originally published in Ghostly Haunts #48, February 1976

The Exorcism, originally published in Ghostly Haunts #48, February 1976

The Hell Pit, originally published in Ghostly Tales #118, November 1975

The Werewolf's Ghost, originally published in Haunted #26, March 1976

The Whispering Box, originally published in Haunted #25, January 1976

This issue also has a contents page:

Contents pages such as this were a staple of US horror magazines, and the earliest Gredown magazines followed this trend - however, the contents page was readily sacrificed if the prime real estate was required for a story. Note also the rather formal No. 1 Vol.1. 

All of the stories in this issue hail from Charlton, and I can confirm that almost all of these stories were reprinted - sometimes more than once - in other Gredown issues, predominantly in the $1.00 editions. Indeed, some of these stories were also published in K.G.Murray titles. (There are two stories I have yet to see reprinted, but I daresay in the fullness of time these will also be confirmed).

Spider-Woman #6: The Yaffa edition

Page Publications' Spider-Woman #6 was published c.April 1982:

The cover is from Marvel Comics' Spider-Woman #14:

The contents are as follows:

Suddenly...The Shroud!, originally published in Spider-Woman #13, April 1979

[Cults and Robbers], originally published in Spider-Woman #14, May 1979

Into the Heart of Darkness!, originally published in Spider-Woman #15, June 1979

The first page of Cults and Robbers is omitted, so Suddenly...The Shroud is presented as a single 33-page story. I also note that the editorial commentary boxes directing the reader to events in previous issues are omitted too.

This is likely the final issue in Yaffa's Spider-Woman series.

The Mighty Thor #8: The Yaffa edition

Page Publications' The Mighty Thor #8 was published early 1982:

The cover is from Marvel Comics' Journey Into Mystery #104:

The contents are as follows:

Giants Walk The Earth!, originally published in Journey into Mystery #104, May 1964

The Cobra and Mr. Hyde!, originally published in Journey into Mystery #105, June 1964

The Thunder God Strikes Back!, originally published in Journey into Mystery #106, July 1964

This issue also contains a black and white print of the cover to Journey Into Mystery #105:

The Mighty Thor #8 is a digest-sized edition and is, to the best of my knowledge, the final numbered issue in this series.