All Star Adventure Comic # 7

All Star Adventure Comic #7, February 1961

This issue reprints most of the comics features in Mystic #51, September 1956, omitting the opening story “Man in the Dark”.

The cover image is based on a couple of panels on page 7, but I have not identified the artist.

Blue Bolt: (untitled - begins "During the great emergency of war...")
(Original unidentified, 8 pages)

I Am The Abominable Snowman!
Paul Reinman
(Strange Tales #72, December 1959)

The Locked Room!
Manny Stallman
(Yellow Claw #4, April 1957)

Muggy-Doo and Osh: (untitled – begins "Ah--Tis So Nice and peaceful without Muggy-Doo...")
(Original unidentified, 6 pages)

I Can Live Forever!
John Forte
(Journey Into Mystery #55, November 1959)

Dick Cole: Mid-Winter Scene!
(Dick Cole #7, January 1950)

(Carnival Week at Farr Military Academy!)
(Dick Cole #7, January 1950)

Muggy-Doo and Osh: The Big Fight
(Original unidentified, 6 pages)

Cliff Mason White Hunter: Prize Trophy!
Don Rico/Don Heck
(Jann of the Jungle 11, May 1956)

No One Will Ever Know!
Marvin Stein
(Mystic #51, September 1956)

Think! If You Dare
Harry Lazarus
(Mystic #51, September 1956)

The Unknown Jungle: A Time of Hazard!
Don Rico/Syd Shores
(Jann of the Jungle 11, May 1956)

Behind The Door
Lou Cameron
(Mystic #51, September 1956)

The Cadet featuring Kit Carter: Crime Invades The Cornfield
Nina Albright (?)
(Original unidentified, 8 pages)

Wings in the Night!
John Forte
(Mystic #51, September 1956)

Osh and Voodoo Vermin: (untitled - begins "Gosh--it felt just like someone hit me in the eye!")
(Original unidentified, 5 pages)

The Imperfect Plot
Gray Morrow
(Mystic #51, September 1956)

A rather odd collection of features for an early issue of All Star – quite apart from the funny animal strips, which were best suited to Lot o’ Fun, or even an occasional cameo in an early issue of Century - the Blue Bolt and Dick Cole instalments look as out of place stylistically here as the Hart Amos and Vernon Hayles features did in the first issue of Climax Adventure Comic. Which is not to say they are without charms – the Blue Bolt story in particular is a hoot, a precious example of truly primitive ‘z-grade’ adventure comics which is genuinely fun to read, and I recommend it and its ilk, in small doses – but they hardly blend well with the mature style of, say, Gray Morrow.

Carroll Rheinstrom - K.G. Murray's DC connection?

Hugh Joseph Ward is quite famous for painting ‘spicy’ pulp covers, but is possibly best known in comics circles for his painting of Superman which held pride of place in DC’s foyer for many years, and was later used as the cover image for one of the Limited Collectors’ Edition books put out in the 1970’s.

It is also seen in the background of publicity photos taken at the DC offices, such as this one of DC honchos Harry Donenfeld, Jack Liebowitz and Max Gaines taken in 1941. They would be the most well-known names to DC fans in the photo, apart from the prominent guy on the wall with the cape.

But take a closer look at the gentleman 2nd from the left – his name is Carroll Rheinstrom. At the time this photo was taken he was head of McFadden Publications International. This outfit was DC’s overseas distributor, and as such is likely to have been K.G. Murray's direct line to DC, and hence 'the source' of the DC reprints in Australia in this period.

The pioneer in DC’s overseas distribution was Carroll Rheinstrom, who represented the world’s first super heroes all around the world, initially as head of McFadden Publications International, and after 1952 as president of Carroll Rheinstrom International Editions… (and) took DC’s characters to countries that hadn’t even heard of comics books. (quoted from DC Comics: Sixty Years of the World’s Favorite Comic Book Heroes by Les Daniels, 1995, p. 243.)

(A Google search also advises Rheinstrom is "Described in Fifty Who Made DC Great, p. 19. (New York : DC Comics, 1985)", so there's another lead to follow for more info.)

I’ve been thinking recently about how K.G. Murray sourced the US material they reprinted for over a few decades, prompted in part by reviewing the non-DC material published in All Star Adventure Comic and Climax Adventure Comic, and partly by speculation by my friend Kevin Patrick that it may have been via an agency such as Transworld Features Syndicate.

As Kevin says, Transworld was an agent for US comics published in Australia by Frew Publications in the 1950’s and by Newton Comics in the 1970’s. It is possible they also supplied material to Horwitz Publications in the 1950’s and 1960’s.

If K.G. Murray dealt with an agency such as Carroll Rheinstrom’s or Transworld, it would go a long way to explaining how non-DC material was supplied along with the core DC material. It’s unlikely that an agency would operate exclusively for one company.

It would also explain how it was that DC and K.G. Murray managed to cooperate after the import restrictions were lifted in 1959 and avoid competing directly in the same market for as long as they did, compared to say Alan Class and Marvel in the UK. An agency would have been in the perfect position to broker an arrangement.

Much of this is speculation of course. There is more information I have uncovered over the last week or so which is more or less relevant and I will detail later, but nothing quite as significant as another name to throw into the mix of possible sources for the US material for K.G. Murray – and a face to go along with it!

PS The photo above was scanned from an article on H.J. Ward in Comic Book Marketplace #100, March 2003. Donenfeld, Gaines and Liebowitz are 3rd, 5th and 6th from left.

All Star Adventure Comic #'s 5 and 6

All Star Adventure Comic #5, September 1960

Cover image based on Don Heck's splash page from Tales of Suspense #7, January 1960.

This issue reprints all the main comics features (sans text stories) from Uncanny Tales #42, April 1956; Spellbound #34, June 1957; and Mystic #52, October 1956. It also includes four of the five main features from Tales of Suspense #7, January 1960

I Know The Power of... The Genie!
Don Heck
(Tales of Suspense #7, January 1960)

Mistaken Identity!
(Uncanny Tales #42, April 1956)

They Wait Below
Bernard Krigstein
(Uncanny Tales #42, April 1956)

Which Road To Take!
Bill Benulis
(Uncanny Tales #42, April 1956)

The Silent Shriek
Robert Q. Sale
(Spellbound #34, June 1957)

The Mystery of Mercury
Bernard Baily
(Uncanny Tales #42, April 1956)

The Little Men
Sal Brodsky
(Uncanny Tales #42, April 1956)

The Telepathic Typewriter
Mort Drucker
(Uncanny Tales #42, April 1956)

In the Room of Darkness
Al Williamson/Ralph Mayo
(Spellbound #34, June 1957)

The Crooks Who Couldn't be Caught!
John Forte
(Spellbound #34, June 1957)

The Man Who Was Twice
Richard Doxsee
(Spellbound #34, June 1957)

The Missing Nail!
George Roussos
(Spellbound #34, June 1957)

The Mysterious Cargo
Frank Bolle
(Spellbound #34, June 1957)

My Name is... Robot X!
Paul Reinman
(Tales of Suspense #7, January 1960)

They Wait in the Caves!
(Mystic #52, October 1956)

The Land of Missing Persons
Carmine Infantino
(Mystic #52, October 1956)

The Last Laugh!
Pete Morisi
(Mystic #52, October 1956)

I Was Trapped Inside Of The Martian Maze
Steve Ditko
(Tales of Suspense #7, January 1960)

We Met in the Swamp!
Jack Kirby/Steve Ditko
(Tales to Astonish #7, January 1960)

The Effigy!
Wally Wood
(Mystic #52, October 1956)

The Secret of the Iron Needle!
John Forte
(Original unidentified, Job Number K381, 4 pages)

I Come From The Shadow World!
Steve Ditko
(Tales of Suspense #7, January 1960)

I Saw The Other World!
Dick Ayers
(Tales to Astonish #7, January 1960)

I Lived A Ghost Story!
Paul Reinman
(Tales to Astonish #7, January 1960)

All Star Adventure Comic #6, October 1960.

Cover illustration may be an Australian original based on a panel on page 3 of "In the Darkness", originally from Mystic #50, August 1956.

This issue reprints the entire main feature contents (sans text-only features) of Spellbound #24, October 1955; Spellbound #25, December 1955; and Mystic #49, July 1956 (apart from "The Pushovers!"). The three stories identified as reprints from Mystic #50, August 1956 are the only stories listed for the issue on the Atlas Tales site, based on the titles on the cover. It is possible some of the unidentified stories below also hail from Mystic #50.

In the Darkness
(Mystic #50, August 1956)

Girl in a Trance
Lou Cameron
(Mystic #49, July 1956)

Prisoner in Nowhere
Pete Morisi
(Mystic #49, July 1956)

They're Coming Closer
Robert McCarty
(Mystic #49, July 1956)

The Frightened Man
Paul Reinman
(Spellbound #24, October 1955)

Behind the Mask
Dave Berg
(Mystic #49, July 1956)

Torn and Tattered
Manny Stallman
(Mystic #49, July 1956)

The Storm!
Dick Ayers
(Spellbound #25, December 1955)

Want Ad
Joe Orlando
(Spellbound #25, December 1955)

The Hired Man!
Ed Winiarski
(Spellbound #25, December 1955)

Look Into My Eyes!
(Spellbound #25, December 1955)

Thelma!
John Romita
(Spellbound #24, October 1955)

When The Door Opens
Paul Hodge
(Original unidentified, Job Number J825, 4 pages)

The Frozen Food!
John Forte
(Spellbound #25, December 1955)

Eye Over The City
Bill Benulis
(Spellbound #24, October 1955)

Where Did Danny Go?
Bob Forgione/Jack Abel
(Spellbound #24, October 1955)

The Long Night
John Tartaglione
(Spellbound #24, October 1955)

Man of Mystery
Vic Carrabotta
(Mystic #50, August 1956)

The Thing Called...X!
(Original unidentified, Job Number J856, 4 pages)

Creature in Hiding!
(Mystic #50, August 1956)

The Master!
(Original unidentified, Job Number J-501, 3 pages)
Ed Moore?/Wanda Moore? TBC

The Trap
(Yellow Claw #3, February 1957)

I Saw The Elephant's Graveyard!
John Forte
Strange Tales #72, December 1959

Scream #3: The Australian Skywald

There’s some conjecture as to whether there were Australian editions of the Skywald horror magazines published in the 1970’s.

I'm no expert on the Skywald magazines.

I’m very familiar with the Gredown Pty. Limited magazines which reprint plenty of pre-Code (and post-Code!) horror comics from a variety of publishers (and also happen to be a good source of Ditko reprints).

I’m also very familiar with the K.G. Murray horror titles such as Doomsday and Haunted Tales which also carry pre-Code horror comics in their first dozen or so issues.

These are the Australian horror reprint titles which personally interest me the most, and I plan on writing up some entries on them in future. (A comprehensive index of the contents of the various Gredown titles, including identification of original sources is sorely needed!)

I’m not as intimately familiar with the horror output of Page Publications, or Yaffa/Page as they are also known. I recognise them mostly for publishing Marvel superhero comics after the Newtons, but I do know they also published many Marvel horror titles, which I believe are complete facsimiles (or near to) of Marvel horror magazines such as Tales of the Zombie and The Haunt of Horror, and comics such as Vault of Evil, Chamber of Chills and Creatures on the Loose. They also published local versions of horror titles from other publishers such as Stanley Publications’ Shock and Chilling Tales of Horror, which I find more interesting.

I can also confirm they published local versions of Skywald titles such as Psycho and Scream. I have a copy of Scream #3, so to satisfy my curiosity I’ve indexed it and compared it to the US version.

Scream #3, $0.50 cover price, Page Publications, no cover date.

Index

The Oblong Box of Horrors
Edgar Allan Poe (credited)/Al Hewetson (adaptation)/Maro Nava

Lady Satan Chapter 3: Satan Wants A Child
Alan Hewetson (as Howie Anderson)/Ricardo Villamonte

Edgar Allan Poe in the Movies
(Article)

The Skull of the Ghoul Part One: ...She Came Upon A Midnight Clear...
Alan Hewetson/Ferran Sostres

The Legend of the Cannibal Were-Wolf
Ed Fedory/Ricardo Villamonte

The Lunatic Mummy
Alan Hewetson (as Howie Anderson)/Cesar Lopez

The Tales of Nosferatu Chapter Four: When The Dusk Falls... So Does Death...
Alan Hewetson/Zesar Lopez

The Skull of the Ghoul Part Two:…She Died Upon a Decrepit Dawn…
Alan Hewetson/Ferran Sostres

Based on the GCD the Australian Scream #3 is virtually a complete reprint of Skywald’s Scream #4, February 1974. The only differences appear to be:
The order of the stories (and allowing for some variance in interpreting the correct titles of each story, not helped by the fact that the titles in the index on page 2 of the Australian edition differ slightly from those within the magazine!);
A 2-page Ed Fedory Profile and letters pages/column is omitted from the Australian edition;
The wraparound cover on the US edition is a single front cover on the local edition.

Also, the GCD lists Skywald’s Scream #4 as 68 pages; Page’s Scream #3 is 60 pages including the covers - given the inner rear cover carries the last page of the last story, I think that’s pretty close to a complete copy of the Skywald edition.

I’m sure there are other Australian editions of the Skywald magazines. If anyone is interested I’ll check my copies of Psycho and compare them to the US editions too.

All Star Adventure Comic #'s 2, 3 and 4

All Star Adventure Comic #2, October 1959

Cover reprinted from Strange Suspense Stories #38, September 1958. Artist unidentified. See previous blog entry for cover scan.

I have included reprint information for some of the unidentified stories. The 1990's reprints may provide original source information.

Country Road
(Original unidentified, 7 pages)

Robin Hood: The Queen's Ruby
(Original unidentified, reprinted in Swords of Valor's Robin Hood #1, 1991, Job Number S3717, 5 pages)

Rod Hathway Space Detective: Bandits of the Starways!
Wally Wood
(Space Detective #1, July 1951, Avon, TBC; reprinted in Strange Planets #10, Super Comics, I. W. Publishing)

Second Chance
(Original unidentified, Job Number 3575, 5 pages)
Note: This is not the Ditko story of the same name

Robin Hood: The Mysterious Arrows
(Original unidentified, reprinted in Swords of Valor's Robin Hood #1, 1991, 5 pages)

The Barefoot Baron
Joe Gill/ Sam Glanzman
(Original unidentified, 6 pages)

The Man Who Wasn't!
(Original unidentified, 3 pages)

Robin Hood: The Lady in Distress
(Original unidentified, reprinted in Swords of Valor's Robin Hood #1, 1991, Job Number S3715, 4 pages)

Rod Hathway Space Detective: Spaceship of the Dead!
(Original unidentified, 7 pages)

Robin Hood: Pledged to Plunder
(Original unidentified, reprinted in Swords of Valor's Robin Hood #1, 1991, 5 pages)

Specimen
(Original unidentified, Job Number 3846, 5 pages)

Robin Hood: Champion of the Oak
(Original unidentified, Job Number S4268, 3 pages)

The Village Crusader
(Original unidentified, Job Number S3675, 6 pages)

Robin Hood: Lure of the Maiden
Steve Ditko
(Robin Hood and his Merry Men 38, August 1958)

The Professor's Visitors
(Original unidentified, Job Number 3395, 5 pages)

Robin Hood: A Foe in Common
(Original unidentified, Job Number 3984, 5 pages)

The Opium Smugglers of Venus
(Original unidentified, 7 pages)

Robin Hood: The Witch of Sherwood Forest
(Original unidentified, Job Number 3949, 5 pages)


All Star Adventure Comic #3, circa June 1960

Cover based on Yellow Claw #2, December 1956, by John Severin.

This issue reprints the entire main feature contents (sans text pieces) of Jann of the Jungle #8, November 1955 and Jann of the Jungle #9, January 1956. I believe it likewise reprints the complete Yellow Claw #1, October 1956, and Yellow Claw #2, December 1956, pending confirmation of a couple of the untitled stories.

The Yellow Claw: The Coming of The Yellow Claw
Stan Lee/Joe Maneely
(Yellow Claw #1, October 1956)

The Yellow Claw: The Yellow Claw Strikes!
Joe Maneely
(Yellow Claw #1, October 1956)

The Yellow Claw: (untitled - begins "Foiled in his first attempt to cripple Western defences...") Al Feldstein/Joe Maneely
(Yellow Claw #1, October 1956, TBC, Job Number K260, 5 pages)
Note: The Atlas Tales site identifies the story by job number, but lists it as being 6 pages. The GCD also lists it as 6 pages, and attributes a title to it [Trap For Jimmy Woo] without advising the job number. This title may be from a subsequent reprint in Giant-Size Master of Kung Fu #2, December 1974.

The Yellow Claw: Concentrate on Chaos!
Jack Kirby
(Yellow Claw #2, December 1956)

The Yellow Claw: The Mystery of Cabin 361!
Jack Kirby/Paul Reinman
(Yellow Claw #2, December 1956)

The Yellow Claw: (The Trap) (- begins "Suwan, niece of the Yellow Claw, is torn by a terrible conflict...")
Jack Kirby/Roz Kirby
(Yellow Claw #2, December 1956)
Note: Title from cover of Yellow Claw #2, as per GCD. There is another feature titled “The Trap” in Yellow Claw #3, February 1957, Job Number L-81, reprinted in All Star Adventure Comic #6, October 1960.

The Yellow Claw: Temujai... The Golden Goliath!
Jack Kirby/Paul Reinman
(Yellow Claw #2, December 1956)

For Services Rendered!
Stan Lee/Werner Roth
(Yellow Claw #1, October 1956)

Cliff Mason White Hunter: Most Dangerous Game
Don Rico/Don Heck
(Jann of the Jungle #8, November 1955)

The Unknown Jungle: The Hunter and the Hunted
Don Rico/Syd Shores
(Jann of the Jungle #8, November 1955)

Waku Prince of the Bantu: The Pool of Doom!
Don Rico
(Jann of the Jungle #8, November 1955)

The Unknown Jungle: The Judgment of the Beasts!
Don Rico/Syd Shores
(Jann of the Jungle #9, January 1956)

Cliff Mason White Hunter: The Haunted Swamp!
Don Rico/Don Heck
(Jann of the Jungle #9, January 1956)

Footsteps in the Dark
(Yellow Claw #2, December 1956)

Jann of the Jungle: Jungle Outlaw!
Don Rico/Jay Scott Pike
(Jann of the Jungle #8, November 1955)

Jann of the Jungle: With Fang and Talons!
Don Rico/Jay Scott Pike
(Jann of the Jungle #9, January 1956)

Jann of the Jungle: Lost River!
Don Rico/Jay Scott Pike
(Jann of the Jungle #9, January 1956)

Jann of the Jungle: Sudden Fury!
Don Rico/Jay Scott Pike
(Jann of the Jungle #9, January 1956)

Jann of the Jungle: Jungle Night!
Don Rico/Jay Scott Pike
(Jann of the Jungle #11, May 1956)

Note: Many of the features in this issue have also been reprinted in Climax Adventure Comic and Super Giant.


All Star Adventure Comic 4, July 1960

Cover based on Joe Maneely's cover illustration for Jann of the Jungle #11, May 1956

Jann of the Jungle: The Bottomless Pit!
Don Rico/Jay Scott Pike
(Jann of the Jungle #11, May 1956)

Jann of the Jungle: The Pearls of Peril!
Don Rico/Jay Scott Pike
(Jann of the Jungle #10, March 1956)

I Was Trapped on the Ghost Ship!
Don Heck
(Strange Tales #72, December 1959)

I Entered The Doorway To Doom!
Steve Ditko
(Strange Tales #72, December 1959)

The Yellow Claw: The Microscopic Army
Jack Kirby (w/a)/Roz Kirby
(Yellow Claw #3, February 1957)

The Yellow Claw: (untitled) – subtitled Also Introducing UFO The Lightning Man!
Jack Kirby (w/a)/Roz Kirby
(Yellow Claw #3, February 1957)

The Yellow Claw: Captured!
Jack Kirby (w/a)
(Yellow Claw #3, February 1957)

Jann of the Jungle: Revenge of the Totem!
Don Rico/Jay Scott Pike
(Jann of the Jungle #10, March 1956)

Jann of the Jungle: The Jackal's Lair!
Don Rico/Jay Scott Pike
(Jann of the Jungle #10, March 1956)

I Fought The Colossus!
Jack Kirby/Steve Ditko
(Strange Tales #72, December 1959)

I Was a Prisoner of the... Ape Creatures!
Joe Sinnott
(Original unidentified, Job Number T-438, 5 pages)

Cliff Mason White Hunter: The Marauder!
Don Rico/Don Heck
(Jann of the Jungle #10, March 1956)

The Yellow Claw: Sleeping City!
Jack Kirby (w/a)/Roz Kirby
(Yellow Claw #3, February 1957)

The Yellow Claw: The Living Shadows!
Jack Kirby (w/a)/Roz Kirby
(Yellow Claw 4, April 1957)

The Yellow Claw: The Screemies!
Jack Kirby (w/p)/John Severin
(Yellow Claw 4, April 1957)

Jann of the Jungle: Tribal Warfare!
Don Rico/Jay Scott Pike
(Jann of the Jungle #11, May 1956)

I Found The Giant In The Sky!
Steve Ditko
(Journey Into Mystery #55, November 1959)

The Unknown Jungle: Jungle Odds!
Syd Shores
(Original unidentified, Job Number H-372, 4 pages)

The Yellow Claw: Five Million Sleep-Walkers! - Introducing Sleepy Eyes The Mentalist
Jack Kirby (w/p)/John Severin
(Yellow Claw 4, April 1957)

The Yellow Claw: The Thought Master
Jack Kirby (w/p)/John Severin

(Yellow Claw 4, April 1957)

All Star Adventure Comic #1, July 1959

The cover is based on the original from Robin Hood and His Merry Men #38, August 1958, and appears to be traced, probably by a K.G. Murray staff artist.

Some sources cite Steve Ditko as the original cover artist. The original cover is signed by Rocke Mastroserio, but the signature is omitted from this cover.

The Ditko story from Robin Hood #38 is not included in this issue, it appears in All Star #2. This issue features six other Ditko stories, five of which are from Strange Suspense Stories #39, November 1958. I don't know all the contents of Strange Suspense Stories #39, but I expect this is all the Ditko content from that issue.

I have identified credits and original appearances of many of the stories via various online sources, but there is some information still missing. For some stories I have noted subsequent reprints as they may contain some information regarding the original publication. I've also included page counts for some stories to help identify them. I've noted the source of one story is TBC.

All Star Adventure Comic #1, July 1959.

Strange Voyage
(Original unidentified, Job Number 3571, 5 pages)

218 B.C.
Sam Decker
(Original unidentified, reprinted in Battlefield Action #63, July 1980, Job Number 4378)

Mystery From Mars
Steve Ditko (w/a)
(Strange Suspense Stories #39, November 1958)

Buccaneers of Old: Pirates for the King
(Original unidentified, reprinted in Swords of Valor #3, 1990)

Doorway Into Tomorrow
Steve Ditko (w/a)
(Strange Suspense Stories #39, November 1958)

December 2, 1805
Sam Glanzman
(Original unidentified, reprinted in Battlefield Action #63, July 1980, Job Number S4290)

Glow Of Woe
Steve Ditko (w/a)
(Strange Suspense Stories #39, November 1958)

The Boy With Freckles!
(Original unidentified, Job Number 3666, 5 pages)

Robin Hood: Untitled [The High Sheriff's Ball]
Joe Gill/ Sam Glanzman
(Original unidentified, 5 pages)

Jewel of Sincerity
(Original unidentified, Job Number 3839, 6 pages)

July 15, 1918
Sam Glanzman
(Original unidentified, reprinted in Battlefield Action #63, July 1980, Job Number S4290, 5 pages)

The Cave Dwellers
Paul Reinman
(Original unidentified, 5 pages)

Robin Hood: Robin Hood and The Tax Collector
Bill Molno
Robin Hood and His Merry Men #29, July 1956 (TBC)

Orgo Serves!
Steve Ditko (w/a)
(Strange Suspense Stories #39, November 1958)

Sir Lancelot: The King's Armor
(Original unidentified, 5 pages)

The Dancing Cat!
Steve Ditko
(Strange Suspense Stories #37, July 1958)

490 B.C.
Sam Glanzman
(Original unidentified, reprinted in Battlefield Action #63, July 1980, Job Number 4327, 5 pages)

They Say It's Haunted
Steve Ditko (w/a)
(Strange Suspense Stories #39, November 1958)

Robin Hood: Robin Hood's Defeat
(Original unidentified, 5 pages)

Climax Adventure Comic: 'All Star Adventure Comic Vol. 1 Redux'

When Climax Adventure Comic was launched in 1962 it appeared at first glance as just another regular addition to the growing stable of K.G. Murray titles - from the trade dress on the spine to the text box proclaiming “100 Pages!”, to the “No 1” suggesting an ongoing series. Even the “Adventure Comic” type/font was similar to the one found on other recently launched titles from 1959/1960 (eg. All Star Adventure Comic, Super Adventure Comic, the reformatted Devil Doone Adventure Comic).

Based on the timing and the contents, it appears Climax was launched specifically to pick up where All Star Adventure Comic Vol. 1 left off. As discussed previously, All Star was in a transitional phase after #12 with the DC/ACG axis. I don’t believe Climax was advertised as such at the time – the only in-house advertising for Climax which I can recall dates from the 1970’s – but it makes sense that Climax was regarded in-house as the new ‘non-DC’ title carrying the balance of non-DC/ACG material originally earmarked for All Star Adventure Comic.

However, as is often the case when analysing the K.G. Murray comics, there is a kink to the order of things. For one thing, rather than building up momentum to make an impression on the comics buyer, Climax would ease into a casual annual publishing frequency for the first 10 years or so, before a late spurt of another dozen or so issues on an almost quarterly frequency saw it out in 1976. Hardly a typical schedule for an ostensibly mainline K.G. Murray title.

For another, some of the contents in the first issue are quite disarming. The cover features a jungle/adventure scene, and sure enough there are jungle stories and Ka’a’nga features, all reassuring and familiar from the last few issues of All Star Vol. 1. But balanced awkwardly alongside these jungle stories, westerns and tales of espionage are unexpected reprints by Australian artists Hart Amos and Vernon Hayles from K.G. Murray’s original 1940’s Climax title, A Climax Color Comic. These Australian features may be of considerable interest to aficionados of vintage Australian comics in 2007, but they most likely appeared to be oddly crude inclusions to the reader in 1962 accustomed to the slicker US product (and not without reason – for example, why these strips insisted on narrative captions beneath the panel rather than the conventional placement across the top is quite bewildering!)

It’s not until the second issue of Climax, published in 1963 that Climax looks wholly like the series it was intended to be. Or, put another way, Climax #2 is what the 13th issue of All Star Vol. 1 would have looked like if it didn’t feature a Murphy Anderson cover and DC/ACG contents. Turn over the cover and the reader is confronted with a page by Bernard Krigstein; a few pages further on some admirably coarse Joe Kubert; further on, some lush Wambi, Charlie Chan and western pages add flavour to the overall mix.

(Note: the cover to Climax #2 is based on a panel on page 4 of the first story, “Eric the Red” illustrated by Krigstein, which originally appeared in Explorer Joe #2, October-November 1952 (Ziff-Davis), and was subsequently reprinted in High Adventure #1, October 1957 (Farrell) and Top Adventure Comics #1, 1958 (Super Comics, I. W. Publishing). The Super Comics version is most likely the source of the Climax #2 copy. I have not seen the cover to either the Ziff-Davis or the Super Comics editions so I am unsure whether the cover to Climax #2 is a copy of one of these issues, or another illustration by an Australian artist.)

And so it is for the next 10 or so issues. Jungle and SF stories, westerns and mystery stories, Kirby and Ditko and Krigstein and Toth and Heck and Powell… starting to sound a bit like those early All Stars, right? No surprise. In fact – just in case any more evidence was required that Climax Adventure Comic is 'All Star Adventure Comic Vol. 1 Redux' in all but name - Climax #9 features no less than 5 stories previously published in All Star #3!

To my surprise Climax #6 appears to contain ACG material, at least based on the cover which features Nemesis. I have yet to confirm the contents of this issue, but in true K.G. Murray fashion, it’s another little kink in the neat schema I am attempting to outline. (I do not have a copy of Climax #6 so if anyone has a copy they would like to loan or sell to me, please send me an email.)

This leads to the broader question of the source of the non-DC material published by K.G. Murray in this period. It is worth noting for the moment that there does appear to be a supply-line issue with the non-DC material in Climax. Apart from the annual frequency and the curious mix of contents in the first issue mentioned above, the title is riddled with reprintings of its own material. For example, a large portion of Climax #2 is reprinted in Climax #7 and #8.

Other issues also have a conspicuous concentration of material. Climax #4 reprints the entire main feature contents (sans text story) of Rugged Action #3, April 1955 (Atlas/Marvel), and the bulk of Rugged Action #2, February 1955 (Atlas/Marvel). Similarly Climax #5 reprints the entire main feature contents of Journey Into Unknown Worlds #39, November 1955, as well as a swag of other Atlas/Marvel stories from Mystery Tales between #23 and #40.

Consider also that beginning with issue #10 in 1971, rather than presenting reprints of predominantly 1950’s material, Climax Adventure Comic began reprinting contemporary Marvel comics such as Conan the Barbarian, amongst a range of other titles and genres from a variety of publishers. In this short yet active phase of a few years Climax would resemble other second tier titles in the K.G. Murray stable such as Super Giant or the various Charlton-dominated titles such as the horror or Planet Series titles more than it would the mainline titles.

In fact an overview of Climax Adventure Comic prompts many questions regarding the supply-line for Climax, and indeed for All Star. How did K.G. Murray source this material? Why does it appear to arrive in bursts and chunks and hiccups? Why the retreads within a few issues? Was the material sourced via DC, as unlikely as that sounds? Was it via an agency such as Transworld Features Syndicate, a possibility which my friend Kevin Patrick has thrown into the ring, or another third party? Was it a third party which was responsible for the wave of non-DC material published by K.G. Murray in the 1970’s? All good questions and fodder for speculation, and I’ll be addressing all of this along with the ACG/DC issues of All Star Adventure comic shortly.

All going well I will list the contents of the early Climax issues and the All Star Vol. 1 issues over the next few days, even if I’m not able to identify the source of each and every story.

Century The 100 Page Comic Monthly #1 and the Australian Silver Age

Century The 100 Page Comic Monthly #1 is quite a momentous issue in the K.G. Murray line of reprint comics: it inaugurates a new format for the DC reprints; it introduces a new style of cover by Hart Amos; and it marks the beginning of the Australian Silver Age experience.

Let’s begin with a rundown of the contents:



Superman: The Million-Pound Mistake (original title: The Million Dollar Mistake)
Al Plastino
(Superman #102, January 1956)

The Adventures of Rex The Wonder Dog: The Two Four-Legged Champions!
John Broome/Gil Kane/Bernard Sachs
(The Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog #26, March-April 1956)

Hopalong Cassidy starring William Boyd: The Time Bandits of Twin Rivers!
France Herron/Gene Colan/Ray Burnley
(Hopalong Cassidy 105, #September 1955)

The Green Arrow: The Bewitched Bow!
George Papp
(World's Finest Comics #80, January-February 1956)

Superboy The Adventures of Superman When He Was a Boy: The Great Kryptonite Hunt!
Curt Swan/John Fischetti
(Superboy #39, March 1955)

The Legends of Daniel Boone: Boone--Son of Chief Black Fish
Nick Cardy
(The Legends of Daniel Boone #1, October-November 1955)

Batman with Robin The Boy Wonder: The Joker Announces Danger
Bill Finger/Sheldon Moldoff/Charles Paris
(Batman #97, February 1956)

Zatara The Master Magician: Arabian Knight!
Ralph Mayo
(World's Finest Comics #51, April-May 1951)

Superman: The Rainbow Doom
Al Plastino
Superman #101, November 1955

Detective Chimp: The Mystery of the Missing Mummy!
John Broome/Carmine Infantino/Joe Giella
(The Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog #26, March-April 1956)

Johnny Quick and his Magic Formula: Robinson Crusoe, 20th Century
Ralph Mayo
(Adventure Comics #155, August 1950)

Superboy The Adventures of Superman When He Was a Boy: Superboy, Stowaway!
Otto Binder/Curt Swan/Creig Flessel
(Superboy #42, July 1955)

The Legends of Daniel Boone: The Fugitive of Cherokee Point
Nick Cardy
(Legends of Daniel Boone #1, October-November 1955)

plus fillers:
Misnamed Animals (0.33 pages); Bygone Prisons! Al McLean (0.5 pages)

A New Format
The publication of Century #1 inaugurated a new format in the K.G. Murray stable - it was the first of the regular 100-page anthology titles, which superseded the 24- and 32-page pamphlet format in the mid/late-1950’s (note: the page count includes front and rear covers).

My friend James Zanotto argues that the impetus for this revamp was a perceived range of threats to the viability of the line, such as the introduction of television in Australia in 1956 and the lifting of import restrictions in 1959, as well as reflecting changes in the content of the material published by DC. I agree with James that these and possibly other domestic factors were instrumental in the format changes. K.G. Murray does appear to have been driven to experiment with the format in the search for a competitive edge.

This appears to be the rationale behind the colour experiment of 1956 in which 24-page black and white titles such as Superman, Superboy, Batman and Super Adventure Comic were upgraded to 32-page “color” (sic) titles for approximately a year without a price rise. They reverted to black and white for the duration of their tenure, suggesting that particular experiment was not feasible long-term. Either that, or the ‘bang for buck’ factor of the 100-pagers made the black and white anthologies a far more attractive prospect to the Australian comics reader who was already accustomed to reading superhero and adventure comics in black and white.

Century #1 features contemporary DC material published for the first time in Australia. Along with non-superhero features such as Hopalong Cassidy, Rex, The Wonder Dog and Daniel Boone, the title also offered first-time printings of the popular Superman, Batman and Superboy superhero stories. This was parallel to the 32-page eponymous titles which were still being published, and would run for another 2 or 3 years. The prominence of the popular superheroes on the cover suggests they were still deemed to command 'top billing'.

That the top tier characters shared space with second or third tier characters was no great surprise to the K.G. Murray comics reader in 1956. One was accustomed to seeing a Johnny Quick feature alongside Superman and Batman in Super Adventure Comic, or a Green Arrow back-up story in Batman’s comic.

What would have surprised the young reader picking up Century #1 is the array of genres presented under the one cover. Century #1 not only contained westerns and adventure stories alongside the superhero stories, but also some more oddball features such as Detective Chimp. Future issues would include humour and funny animal strips. To my knowledge, this range of variety was a first for K.G. Murray, at least in terms of packaging DC properties.

I expect this mix of genres and repackaging of features was also instrumental in the change of policy regarding the titles in the K.G. Murray line. As the 24- to 32-page pamphlets were phased out and the new line of 100-page anthologies took over, the traditional eponymous titles such as Superman, Batman, Jimmy Olsen etc. were replaced on the stands by the generic Century, The Hundred Comic Monthly, Five-Score Comic Monthly, All Favourites Comic etc. They may have been generic titles without a hint of the specific features contained inside, but they certainly evoked largesse in terms of the amount of material.

There were two exceptions to this rule - Super Adventure Comic, which already sported a suitably generic title, but would nevertheless also be upgraded to a 100-page anthology with a new #1 issue; and Superman’s Supacomic, which was launched in 1958 and had the proverbial ‘bet each way’ by retaining the Superman name in the title, yet still managing to sound like an anthology (the title was changed to Superman Supacomic with the sixth issue).

The important factor is that all the regular monthly and bi-monthly titles would be anthologies, and although most would settle into extended periods of featuring a particular character or property as the main drawcard (eg. Justice League of America in Mighty Comic and All Favourites Comic), or rotating a major feature on cover duties (eg Flash and Wonder Woman on The Hundred and World’s Finest Comic Monthly), or mainly focusing on third-tier superhero features or non-superhero features (All Star Adventure Comic and Five-Score Comic Monthly), the day of the standard eponymous 24- to 32-page pamphlet K.G. Murray title was numbered.

The New Amos style
It is not only the first of the new anthology titles to feature a cover illustration by Hart Amos, but it introduces a new style of cover by Amos.

Amos was already a dab hand at producing new K.G. Murray covers for series such as Superman and, in particular, Super Adventure Comic. The covers he produced for these series were largely generic images, typically featuring Superman, Batman and Robin in a style based on the US World’s Finest covers as exemplified by Win Mortimer. This was no coincidence as, similarly to the US World’s Finest series, Super Adventure Comic contained both Superman and Batman stories, and hence generic shots of the two main players together conveyed the contents to the buyer.

With the advent of the larger anthology titles, a similar challenge was presented, but on a larger scale. Contriving a situation in which Superman and Batman and Robin (or, as was often the case, Superboy) appeared together was one thing; exercising the same creative staging for cross-genre characters was another. And besides, there was no longer the crutch of adapting existing US covers for this little task.

For these anthology covers Amos adopted a light and playful montage style for scenes or situations contrived to incorporate a variety of characters within a single frame. For example, Century #1 features Hopalong Cassidy, Batman, Daniel Boone, Superboy and Rex, The Wonder Dog, all duly labeled as if by introduction, envisaged in the smoke bombs erupting from the cannon fired by Superman who, of course, needs no introduction.

The imperative for character identification was obviously felt in the early stages of the new anthologies. The characters are namechecked again on the covers for Century #2 and Superman Supacomic #1, but labelling would not be the norm.

The style of cover image Amos produced for the early Century issues would shortly feature on a range of titles, in particular Colossal Comic, Mammoth Annual and Gigantic Annual, but also early issues of All Favourites, Mighty Comic and Superman Supacomic. Future illustrations would feature these and other heroes making snowmen, eating ice cream, singing Christmas carols, or appearing on cards and photos or decorations, but the general template was set here. Indeed, Amos produced two distinct styles for the anthology covers, but I will address this in another blog entry on Amos.

The Australian Silver Age
In effect, the launch of Century #1 heralds what I think of as the Australian Silver Age Experience. By coincidence or providence, Century #1 appears almost simultaneously on Australian stands as Showcase #4 appears on US stands. The cover date for Showcase #4 is September-October 1956; Roy Thomas confirms Showcase #4 was on the stands on July the 4th 1956 (see Alter Ego #60, July 2006 editorial p.2); the advertiser’s date code for Century #1 is 1/7/56, suggesting Century #1 was on the stands on or about the 1st of July 1956. That’s close enough for me!

Just as the Silver Age marks a revitalisation of the superhero comic which builds up a head of steam over the next few years, so does Century #1 kickstart a revamped format for the presentation of the silver age material for an Australian audience. In the ensuing two decades the various titles will change in size, shape, price and even name (especially in 1965), but the preeminence and longevity of the K.G. Murray line of predominantly US DC reprints of the Silver Age can all be traced back to the launch of Century #1.

Now, I’m quite aware that the question of what does and does not constitute the beginning or the end of the Silver Age or the Golden Age or the Bronze Age is a hoary old chestnut in fandom, and I’m loathe to stir debate on this front here. For my purposes, I simply acknowledge that the Silver Age is a useful shorthand periodising term with broadly accepted currency which is relevant to superhero comics from the mid-1950’s through the 1960’s, with particular emphasis on the DC range of superhero comics.

All I am claiming for Century #1 is that it marks the start of the Australian ‘experience’ of the Silver Age DC comics, nothing more, nothing less. (I am certainly not claiming it takes the hallowed place of Showcase #4 or any other such candidate - so keep the knives at bay, fanboys!)

For the record, I have been able to verify as of a few days ago that “The Mystery of the Human Thunderbolt” was reprinted in Australia, in The Hundred Comic Monthly #3, circa December 1956, around the same time as Century #6 was published. (If anyone has a copy of The Hundred Comic Monthly #3 they would like to sell or trade, please contact me via email.)

Another curious fact about Century #1 is that the contents have all been reprinted 12 years later circa early/mid 1968 in various other K.G. Murray issues. Superman Presents Wonder Comic Monthly #36, Superman Presents World’s Finest Comic Monthly #’s 34 and 37, Mighty Comic #’s 63 and 64, and All Star Adventure Comic #49 each contain reprints sourced from Century #1, amounting to a virtual reprint of this issue. (Well, almost all – I have not yet spotted reprints of the Johnny Quick feature and the “Chief Black Fish” Daniel Boone story – but I would not be surprised to find them in other comics circa 1968.)

This is not an unprecedented practice by K.G. Murray – for example, much of All Favourites Comics Annual #1 was reprinted in Colossal Comic #39; and indeed, the Colossal title itself is filled with reprints sourced from the K.G. Murray pamphlet era. Yet it is curious to see the contents of Century #1 plundered for miscellaneous back-up features in a range of issues within a relatively short concentrated period of time. I plan to cover this odd phenomenon in a later blog.

Lest I forget, I would like to formally acknowledge the Grand Comics Database and the AusReprints site as two of my main references for credits and other data quoted in my blog. I’d also like to thank my friends Mark Cannon, Mark Muller, Kevin Patrick and James Zanotto for their various contributions.

All Star Adventure Comic Volume 1: The First 1200 Pages

The K.G. Murray line of comics amounts to a massive reprint program of vintage DC material.

K.G. Murray also reprinted some non-DC comics in the 1970’s, in series such as Super Giant and Johnny Galaxy; the short-run Charlton series reprints such as Blue Beetle, Judo Master and Scary Tales; the horror titles Haunted Tales and Doomsday; the romance titles such as Magic Moment Romances; and various genre one-shots grouped under the Planet Series umbrella.

Ask an Australian comics collector about earlier pre-decimal non-DC reprints from the K.G. Murray stable and the first series to come to mind is likely to be Climax Adventure Comic, which popped up in 1962. This is a very interesting title with quite an eclectic resume of contents. It looks like a regular 100 page monthly title, but was actually published on an annual basis for approximately 10 years. A further dozen or so 48 page issues were issued between 1972-1976 before it was cancelled altogether.

However, in the late 1950’s-early 1960’s, before Climax Adventure Comic, K.G. Murray published a treasure trove of non-DC material in what was to become one of its long-standing core titles, All Star Adventure Comic. Beginning with the first issue published circa July 1959, the first 12 issues are comprised exclusively of non-DC reprints from publishers such as Charlton, Marvel (Atlas), Novelty Press, ACG, Star Publications, Fiction House, St. John Publications and Ziff-Davis.

Consider that the roster of artists in these 12 issues includes the likes of Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Wally Wood, Al Williamson, Bernard Krigstein and Basil Wolverton, as well as Dick Ayers, Don Heck, Maurice Whitman, Bob Powell, Joe Maneely, Syd Shores and Jay Scott Pike. Consider also the range of genres such as science fiction, adventure and jungle stories, mystery and suspense, spy stories, monster stories – not to mention the odd superhero story - that’s almost 1200 pages of vintage comics presented in a single title over 12 consecutive issues, much of it not reprinted to this day. Not too shabby at all!

I would like to list the complete contents of each issue but as there are still quite few stories yet to be identified, I’ll reserve that option for future blog entries, and for the moment just briefly review some highlights from the first dozen issues.

All Star Adventure Comic #1 is a Ditko bonanza featuring “The Dancing Cat” from Strange Suspense Stories #37, July 1958, and 5 stories from Strange Suspense Stories #39, November 1958: “Mystery From Mars”; “Doorway Into Tomorrow”; “ Glow Of Woe”; “Orgo Serves!”; and “They Say It's Haunted”

All Star Adventure Comic #2 features a swag of Robin Hood reprints, including Ditko on “Lure of the Maiden” from Robin Hood and his Merry Men #38, August 1958. The cover image to Robin Hood and his Merry Men #38 is used as the cover image for All Star Adventure Comic #1 rather than for this issue, which is a bit perverse, but I must say quite fortuitous as it allows for the cover from Strange Suspense Stories #38, September 1958 to be used on All Star Adventure Comic #2, and it’s a ripper! (see image above)

All Star Adventure Comic #’s 3 and 4 are predominantly Yellow Claw/Jann of the Jungle issues featuring Yellow Claw chapters by Joe Maneely and Jack Kirby from Yellow Claw #’s 1-4, and a swag of Jay Scott Pike reprints from Jann of the Jungle #’s 9-11. All Star #4 also features a few more Ditko stories.

All Star Adventure Comic #5 reprints the entire main feature contents (sans text-only stories) of Uncanny Tales #42, April 1956; Spellbound #34, June 1957; and Mystic #52, October 1956. Ditko, Krigstein, Williamson, Kirby, Morisi, Wood, Reinman, Drucker and even Infantino contribute to the roll call in this issue.

All Star Adventure Comic #6 reprints the entire main feature contents (sans text-only features) of Spellbound #24, October 1955; Spellbound #25, December 1955; and Mystic #49, July 1956 (apart from "The Pushovers!"), with art contributed by Orlando, Reinman, Stallman, Ayers, Berg, Morisi and others.

All Star Adventure Comic #7 is notable for reprints from Dick Cole #7, January 1950, and a few stories from Mystic #51, September 1956, interspersed with some reprints from Jann of the Jungle #11, May 1956 by Shores and Heck.

All Star Adventure Comic #8 reprints the entire main feature contents (sans text-pieces) of Journey Into Unknown Worlds #42, February 1956, and Journey Into Unknown Worlds #47, July 1956. It also features stories from Blue Bolt #110, August 1951, including the cover-featured The Target and the Targeteers, and Wolverton’s “Spacehawk and the Blazing Death”, as well as a 4-page Kirby feature, “My Neighbor's Secret!”, from Journey Into Mystery #55, November 1959.

All Star Adventure Comic #9 reprints the entire main feature contents (sans text-only features) of Astonishing #53, September 1956; Journey Into Unknown Worlds #41, January 1956; and Journey Into Unknown Worlds #59, August 1957 (apart from “I Wake Up Screaming” which is reprinted in All Star Adventure Comic #10). Williamson, Ayers and Ditko are the main drawcards in this issue.

All Star Adventure Comic #10 is a Jungle Comics special featuring a selection of stories from Jungle Comics #159, Summer 1953 and
Jungle Comics #160, Fall 1953, including some Matt Baker art. Also of interest is a reprint from Dick Cole #9, April-May 1950.

All Star Adventure Comic #11 is another Jungle Comics-centric issue featuring reprints from Jungle Comics #152, August 1952; Jungle Comics 155, November 1952; and Jungle Comics #158, Spring 1953 with more Matt Baker cameos.

All Star Adventure Comic #12 contains even more jungle stories from Jungle Comics #152, plus Jungle Comics #161, Winter 1953 and Jungle Comics #162, Spring 1954, and is rounded out with space adventure stories from Planet Comics #73, Winter 1953. Of special note is a printing of Star Pirate by Murphy Anderson (as ‘Leonardo Vinci’).

As I said earlier – a pretty impressive 1200 pages of vintage comics!

The complexion of the series altered with the next 12 issues. There was no announcement of any such change – no New Direction! exclamation - and it may not have dawned on the reader at the time that something akin to a new editorial mandate was being enacted. But I consider the changes instituted with #13 to be substantial enough to validate designating the first 12 issues as All Star Adventure Comic “Volume 1”.

For one thing, All Star Adventure Comic #13 is the first issue in the series to feature a DC cover, as would all subsequent issues. A subtle change in one respect, but a portent nevertheless.

For another thing, whilst the following 12 or so issues (between #13 and #23) also contain non-DC material, the mix is refined so that the non-DC material is exclusively from ACG, published alongside a smattering of DC material. For example the DC content in All Star #13 accounts for about a third of the issue, the rest of it is all from ACG. Some issues such as #14 and #19 have an even higher ratio of ACG to DC content, yet the cover and lead feature is invariably a DC story – even if it is the only DC story in the issue!

This second batch of a dozen or so issues typically begin and end with DC features, including the cover feature, but sandwiched in-between for the bulk of the magazine are ACG reprints. To be uncharitable about it, at times the ACG material appears to be treated as the ‘seafood extender’ of the K.G. Murray line! Indeed it is not until All Star Adventure Comic #24 that the magazine consists of almost 100% DC content.

I say “almost 100%” for the following reasons:

1. There is one story in #24 I have yet to identify - but the rest are definitely DC reprints;
2. Of the first 45 issues I do not have a copy of #26 to test the tracking I have laid out, but I expect it will conform to this pattern. (If anyone has a copy they would like to loan, trade or sell to me, please send me an email);
3. There are still some non-DC stories which appear intermittently in later All Star issues, and I will detail them in a later post.

These points notwithstanding, it is fair to say that an overview of the first 24 issues reveals a substantial change in the complexion of the series - dramatically so after the first 12 issues, and subtly and incrementally over the following 12 issues - so that for all intents and purposes, by the 24th issue, All Star Adventure Comic has fully morphed into another conventional mainline DC reprint comic in a stable of other such titles.

But to my mind, considering the range and source of comics reprinted in the first 12 issues - and the conspicuous absence of DC content - All Star Adventure Comic #'s 1-12 constitute "Volume 1" in all but name.

In the next blog entry I will discuss the ACG/DC issues of All Star Adventure Comic in a bit more detail, including some theories and speculation as to how this particular mix came to be, along with a more detailed look at the launch of Climax Adventure Comic, and the possible role played by Transworld Features Syndicate in each of these titles.

The Curious Case of Giant Superman Album #1

Giant Superman Album #1 is one of my favourite vintage K.G. Murray reprint comics. Published in time for the Christmas period in 1961, it’s a very scarce issue, and also a noteworthy item in the K.G. Murray DC reprint catalogue for a number of reasons, not the least of which is for inaugurating the popular and longstanding line of “Giant Albums” (which included Batman, Flash, Supergirl, Superboy, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern varieties).

Paradoxically, it is also an anomalous rather than a typical "Giant Album".

The format - cover style and contents - is modeled on the US Giant Superman Annual series. This series had been in publication since mid-1960 - indeed, the “annual” in the title notwithstanding, by the time Giant Superman Album #1 appeared on Australian newsstands, the 4th issue of Giant Superman Annual to be published in the intervening 18 months or so would have already been on sale in the US.

Clearly the editors at K.G. Murray decided to replicate the format established in Giant Superman Annual. For example, Giant Superman Annual #1 was sub-titled “An All-Star Collection of the Greatest Super-Stories Ever Published!" It was basically a bumper collection of previously published key ‘Superman family’ stories, such as “Superman's First Exploit”, “The Supergirl from Krypton!” “The Girl in Superman's Past!”and “The Super-Key to Fort Superman”, all presented behind a bold new anthology-style cover.

Based on their own back-catalogue of Superman stories, The K.G. Murray editors settled on a new theme, writ large on the cover - “An All-Star Collection of Stories featuring The Mysterious Powers of Superman!” – and, sporting a specially commissioned new cover illustration by Hart Amos, also based on the Giant Superman Annual template, a new Australian anthology series was born.

The contents are pre-Silver Age Superman material:

The Golden Superman
Al Plastino
(Action Comics #193, June 1954)

The Super-Hallucinations
Otto Binder/Curt Swan/Ray Burnley
(Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #22, August 1957)

Superman Loses His Powers
Jerry Coleman/Wayne Boring/Stan Kaye
(Action Comics #230, July 1957)

The Soundproof Superman
Jerry Coleman/Wayne Boring/Stan Kaye
(Superman #114, July 1957)

The Man With the Triple X-Ray Eyes
Wayne Boring/Stan Kaye
(Action Comics #227 April 1957)

The Boy Who Saved Superman!
Wayne Boring/Stan Kaye
(Action Comics #190, March 1954)

The New Superman
Wayne Boring/Stan Kaye
(Action Comics #181, June 1953)

Also included is some filler material, such as Moolah the Mystic (0.66 pages); Professor Eureka (1 page); and Superman says "Lend A Helping Hand!" (PSA).

All of the feature material – and presumably the filler material too – had previously been published by K.G. Murray. I assume the Superman stories were sourced directly from the 32-page Superman issues which K.G. Murray published before Superman Supacomic (originally Superman’s Supacomic) was launched in 1958. As such, any editing, corrections or adjustments made in the initial prints would be evident in these reprints.

This may sound like an odd observation to stress, but it’s all part of the curious and idiosyncratic publishing history of these comics.

The line of DC comics which K.G. Murray reprinted and published in Australia were broadly contemporaneous with their US counterparts, which were otherwise unavailable in Australia. They were generally published within a few months of the US publications. This also applied to material which itself was being reprinted in the US. In other words, a reprint appearing in the US in a current title would be likely to also find itself reprinted in Australia from the same source.

Parallel to this – and, come to think of it, quite possibly contra to the license agreement - some pre-Silver Age K.G. Murray material, which had already been published in the relevant Australian title, was being routinely recycled in the Colossal Comic series through to 1970. (To this day this series is a great repository of a wide range of pre-Silver Age DC material, a period which is still somewhat under-represented in DC’s reprint programs which, understandably, tend to focus on the beginning stages of the Golden Age and Silver Age periods – a topic to be discussed further in a forthcoming blog!).

By the time Giant Superman Album #1 was being compiled, the practise of recycling material previously published for the Australian market was well and truly institutionalised, whether or not it was sanctioned by the DC’s licensing department.

Indeed, “The Golden Superman” had already been recycled before, in Colossal Comic #13, circa April 1960, and it appears the version in Giant Superman Album #1 is sourced directly from Colossal Comic #13, as the same two pages have been reduced to fit on the one page in each copy. I have yet to confirm whether the same edit appears in the original K.G. Murray print in Superman 88, circa September 1954, or whether this was a new edit required in Colossal Comic #13, but it is most likely the same version in all three instances.

“The New Superman” was also recycled, for Colossal Comic #51, but this was published late in the life of the Colossal Comic series, circa November 1969. This story was originally published as a 12 page story, but some panels have been enlarged to make it a 14 page story in its Australian incarnation, and I can confirm that the print in Colossal Comic #51 is the same 14 page version as the one which appears in Giant Superman Album #1. I expect “The New Superman” appeared in the K. G. Murray Superman series circa 1953, but have yet to confirm which issue, or whether it appears as a 12 page or 14 page story, so if anyone has a copy of this story in an Australian edition apart from Colossal Comic #51 and Giant Superman Album #1, please send me an email advising the title, issue number and page count so I may update my records.

(Note: There are at least three stories titled “The New Superman”, each clearly distinguishable by the artists: 1.Action Comics #181, Boring/Kaye, as above; 2.Action Comics #291, Plastino, reprinted in Superman Supacomic #40; 3.Superman #172, Swan/Klein, reprinted in Superman Supacomic 66).

I can only speculate as to why the K.G. Murray editors decided to print their own version of Giant Superman Annual rather than to reprint the US edition. As I mentioned above, there were a number of issues of Giant Superman Annual already published in the US by the time the Australian version was published.

It may have been due to the unavailability of the material, but this seems unlikely.

It seems more likely that a conscious decision had been made to stall publication of the Giant Superman Annual material. It may have been deemed an excessive cost to pay the license for a new compilation of material K. G. Murray had already published in other issues. If this was the case, then it makes sense that faced with the popularity of the Giant Superman Annuals in the US, a decision was made to test the market in Australia with a similar product, but based on existing material which had already been purchased, and foregoing the costs associated with licensing ostensibly new material via the US compilation.

Another factor may have been that the Giant Superman Annuals actually made their way into Australia, so K. G. Murray’s license may have prohibited them from issuing a local version at the same time as the US edition.

This is all just speculation on my part.

Regardless of the reason, for the follow-up issue, Giant Superman Album #2 in 1962, the editors at K.G. Murray opted to offer a facsimile reprint of Giant Superman Annual #1 (at least, the cover and main features are all reprinted from Giant Superman Annual #1 – the source of the filler material is yet to be confirmed) rather than to fashion their own compilation.

This would set the general pattern for the duration of the Silver Age Superman Annuals and 80-Page Giants. The Australian Giant Superman Album series would henceforth effectively be the local version of the US edition, allowing for occasional variations in the contents, often instigated to pad out the page count.

This general rule also applied to the other “Giant Album” series, with some notable exceptions to be discussed at a later stage.

The Giant Superman Album series ran for 20 years, winding up with issue #44 in 1981. By this time, Giant Superman Annual and the 80-Page Giants had gone through a few phases, such as being superseded by 100-Page Giants and other similar titles, and cancelled altogether.

Towards the end of its tenure Giant Superman Album was once again a local compilation, but rather than showcasing choice cuts from the glory years of the Silver Age, or even notable stories from the earlier Schwartz era, it mainly comprised ‘leftover’ contemporary Superman stories from Action Comics, Superman or Superman Family which had not made the cut in the regular Superman titles.

By 1981 Superman Supacomic itself had been cancelled and replaced with other short-lived Superman series and one-off titles which carried the then-current US Superman stories. Given the similar contents of the two series, the rationale for an intermittent companion series of specials like Giant Superman Album alongside the regular titles must have seemed rather redundant. And, truth be told, by this time, Giant Superman Album was a pale imitation of its former self, and did its legacy little justice.

Much of the allure of this comic stems from the Amos cover. Amos was recognised and beloved for his superhero covers on anthologies such as Mammoth Annual, Gigantic Annual, Colossal Comic and Century. For all their charm and whimsy, these covers were generally generic images rather than content-related images, featuring a group of superheroes at play, and apart from certain seasonal images, or a concession to including particular characters on the cover image which appeared within a particular issue, say Robin Hood or Nighthawk, the images could be used at random within particular series.

However, as mentioned above, the cover for Giant Superman Album #1 is clearly commissioned with set guidelines as it reflects the contents by name in the panels on the cover, and reflects the emergent house style for the US Annuals.

Just to get a bit psychoanalytical, I believe Giant Superman Album #1 also appeals to the nostalgia of collectors of vintage comics as it is presented as a virtual alternate issue of Giant Superman Annual from the 1960’s US canon.

Nostalgia is all about ‘lost objects’, and in the recent past DC has appealed to this desire to reclaim a ‘lost’ object with a variety of ‘facsimile’ editions of ‘lost’ specials which could have appeared in the nostalgic past, such as the 1975 Justice Society 100-Page Super Spectacular published in 2000, or the 1969 Brave and the Bold 80-Page Giant published in 2001.

Similarly to these editions, yet with a twist, I believe Giant Superman Album #1, whether consciously or unconsciously, taps into this desire for ‘lost’ or ‘alternate’ objects, and its manifestation all the way from the true past of Christmas 1961 lends this found object an aura of authenticity not quite granted to the recent facsimile editions.

Rather more prosaically, it is also a "#1", which to the collector of vintage comics automatically bestows upon it an aura not afforded higher numbered issues.

It also happens to be a particularly scarce comic, which certainly helps in the mystique stakes – I know of only one other copy apart from mine, and I also know of quite a few collections whose status would be greatly enhanced with a copy.

So there you have it – a short overview and speculative account of the rather curious case of an anomalous yet key issue in the K.G. Murray stable.