Destination Destruction again: War in the Air #4

Further to three other instances, Destination Destruction is also reprinted in Page Publications' War in the Air #4, under another Keith Chatto cover:

In another emerging pattern, it appears that the first printing of a story may be identified not only by the fact that the cover is based on the source material, but that the story title is written on the cover, whilst later recyclings omit the story title under new covers and titles. Too early to pronounce it as a fact, but as I say, another possible pattern to be alert to.

Update: 25/8/2018: Yet another printing of Destination Destruction can be found in War Adventure Series #10:

Falling in Love #70: Sister, don't steal my art....

Falling in Love Romances #70, published by K.G. Murray c.1972, features a cover illustrated by Jay Scott Pike - with some crude art extension and cropping on the left hand portion of the image - and the story Sister, Don't Steal My Man, which originally appeared in Young Romance #183, June 1972:

If these two editions take your fancy but don't quite fill you to the brimful with that lovin' feeling, maybe this fabric will cause your cup to runneth over:

Apparently it's available at some online print design business.

The Murray War Library so far..

In the early 1980's Murray Comics dipped a tentative toe into the digest-sized comic market. Various genres were represented, such as romance comics, westerns and horror comics.

I have copies of the following war digests:

 Fightin' Army NN

 Fightin' Marines NN

Nightmare Mission NN

Like the non-war samples above, these issues are distinguished by the fact that the rear cover is a reproduction of the front cover, which was not typical of Murray. Of course, Murray had previously published digest-sized series, notably a long run of romance comics and, in the mid-1960's, Superman Super Library, but these cross-genre samples from the early 1980's form a particular subset of Murray digests. The timing and price point broadly coincides with the Yaffa digest-sized comics, which may have triggered this program. 

I don't have enough information or samples at the moment to assert or conclude too much, but it appears to me this subset was published over a relatively short time span - maybe a 12-18-month period between late 1981 and end of 1982. 

The romance editions incorporated the Murray Romance Library logo. I think of this subset collectively as the Murray Library series, so the westerns form the Murray Western Library, the war issues become the Murray War Library, etc. I don't recall seeing a science fiction issue, but I wouldn't be surprised to see some pop up.

I say they broadly coincide with the Yaffa digests in timing and price point because, if my timing is accurate, the Murray issues appeared with a $0.60 cover price just as the Yaffas changed to $0.70, and persevered as the Yaffas inflate to $0.75, so the dating is subject to review.

Anyway, this is just my musing on these issues until more information and samples come to hand.

Update: The cover of Nightmare Mission was originally published as the cover to Charlton's Fightin' Army #124, May 1976.

Chatto Confessions: Revealing Confession Stories #1 and Exciting Confessions #4

Page Publications' Revealing Confession Stories #1 is a digest-sized romance comic featuring a Keith Chatto cover, and contains the story Holiday of Love.

This story was also published around the same time by Page Publications in Exciting Confessions #4 with another Chatto cover illustration:

I expect there are other Page Publications reprints of this story.

Update: As expected, a further reprint of Holiday of Love has turned up, under another Chatto cover, in Love Experiences Library #7:

Update: And yet another reprint, under another Chatto cover, in Personal Confessions Library #3:

Update 24/6/2018: And another in Heartbreaking Love Stories #19:

Giant Batman Album #8: The 'missing' piece

K.G. Murray's Giant Batman Album #8 is based on the US edition 80 Page Giant #5 Batman:

Giant Batman Album #8 reprints the cover and main feature contents of the 80 Page Giant, whilst adding a couple of fillers which are different to the ones included in the US edition. 

One of the features reprinted in the local edition is [Rustling on a Reservation], a Complete Sunday Newspaper Syndicated Story, as advertised prominently in both printings.

However, the US edition contains the following single page feature, also a syndicated strip:

It's a shame this wasn't included in the local edition. The art is already in black and white, and assuming the blue background was printed in black, it would have made a stark and bold impact. And I'm not sure whether this piece was reprinted in any other subsequent K.G. Murray comic.

Superman, Batman and Robin at Perisher Ski Resort: The Murray connection

Colossal Comic #26, July 1963

That's Superman, Batman and Robin doing their skiing thing on the cover of Colossal Comic #26, at the Perisher Ski Resort.

Or so I like to imagine. Why?

It turns out that the publisher, KG Murray, was involved in the development of the Perisher Valley. Further, according to Wikipedia, "Murray Publishers...traded under the name of Perisher Ski Resort...(and) in 1995 Murray Publishers Pty Limited and the Alpine Australia Group Pty Limited merged to form Perisher Blue Pty Limited."   

That's evidence enough for a legitimate leap of the imagination.

Master Comics #24: Captain Marvel Jr. and the (Dis)Appearance of the Sydney Harbour Bridge

Would you trade the Statue of Liberty for the Sydney Harbour Bridge? Captain Marvel Jr. did - or rather, Larry S. Cleland did in Master Comics #24:

Here's the original cover to Master Comics #107:

I give Cleland credit for taking advantage creatively of the landscape format of their issue in contrast to the portrait format of the source material - the horizontal bridge for the vertical statue is an aesthetic decision, not just a patriotic turn.

I also give Cleland credit for adapting the interior art:

If you're interested, the original story can be read in full on comicbookplus.com.

My only gripe with the modification is the spelling of Harbor - did Cleland imagine it would be sold back to the Americans?

Daring Love Confessions Library #1: The Forgotten Years

Daring Love Confessions Library #1: The Forgotten Years looks like a Page Publications digest-sized romance comic, but isn't - it's a pulp novel.

Nevertheless the cover by Keith Chatto makes it suitable for filing alongside your other Australian digest-sized romance comics, and there's another issue in the series if you're a completist.

Update: This image was redrawn for Page Publications' Wonderful Love Stories #1:

The story Autumn of Desire had previously been published in Page Publications' Real Romance Library #43:

Autumn of Desire was originally published in MV Features' Dream A Romance Picture Story #14 in 1965.

Update 24/6/2018: Autumn of Desire was also published by Page Publications in Personal Romances #2:

$0.15 for a comic in 1959? You must be dreamin'...!

This is a scan of the front cover of my copy of Yaffa's Two-Gun Kid (Vol.1) #40:

This is a scan of the rear cover of my copy of Yaffa's Two-Gun Kid (Vol. 1) #40:

And just in case the scan above is too small to read, here's a zoom shot of the coupon including the advertiser's date code.

'Nuff said. Anything more would be mansplaining.

The Young Eagles: Four Yaffa editions and counting...

The Young Eagles was originally published in MV Features' Action War Picture Library #15:

It was published by Yaffa in the following digest-sized comics:

  Air Combat Library #1

War Action #1

Second World War Library #30

Air Combat Library #1

As you can see, none of the covers appear to be swipes of Action War Picture Library #15. As the earliest published issue above has a $0.25 cover price, I expect that there is an earlier $0.20 edition with a swipe of the original issue's cover.

The cover of Air Combat Library #1 is from an interior panel:

War Action #1 and Second World War Library #30 are both cover-priced $0.30 - I'm not sure which one was published first.

A loose pattern is emerging in these 1970's Yaffa digests whereby the first publication of a UK digest comic carries a cover swipe, the subsequent recycled editions - often in a new series - feature newly commissioned artwork, and then the last gasp edition is slapped together by reprinting an interior panel for cover art duties. This is parallel to instances in which previously published cover art is itself recycled over 'new' content, or indeed over 'old' content. And this doesn't just apply to material sourced from UK comics - I'm pretty sure it's the case for Marvel westerns and any other Yaffa digest material of this era.